Source: Pro Wrestling Torch
WWE RAW REPORT
DECEMBER 11, 2006
LIVE FROM CONNECTICUT AT MOHEGAN SUN CASINO
-Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the show as the camera panned the crowd. They plugged the “highly charged” main event of Triple H vs. Edge.
-John Cena came out. Then Armando Alejandro Estrada walked out, but in his usual suit and hat, not dressed to fight. Lawler said he heard that Estrada had tried to get out of the match every which way, but it didn’t work. Estrada entered the ring and nervously told Cena that it’s obvious nobody wants to see them wrestle. He then offered him a box of Cuban cigars and said in exchange, he should call off the match. “That’s not a peace offering, that’s a bride,” said Lawler. Cena sniffed a cigar, then broke it in half. Ross said, “That may be symbolic for no.” Estrada said, “Okay, smoking’s bad.” He said he had another offer. He said a man of his stature needs a nice watch, a diamond watch. He offered to give him his watch off of his wrist. Cena threw the watch to the mat. Estrada handed Cena a wad of money. He said he could have an easy night. Cena walked out of the ring with the money and began throwing it to the fans. Then he walked back into the ring. He cornered Estrada, took off his hat, and stomped it into the mat. The bell rang and the match began.
1 — JOHN CENA vs. ARMANDO ALEJANDRO ESTRADA
Estrada tried to use brass knuckles against him, but Cena blocked it, took them, and handed them to the ref. Cena then ripped open Estrada’s shirt and chopped his chest. Then he lifted Estrada and gave him an FU and scored the pin. The crowd counted along 1-2-3.
WINNER: Cena in 2:00.
STAR RATING: 1/4* — Not much of a match, but it was what it was supposed to be an needed to be. No need for Cena to destroy and bloody him and go overboard.
-After the match, he applied the STFU. Johnny Nitro kicked Cena from behind. He had a big smile as he backtracked up the aisle. Melina met Nitro on the ramp with a mic. He said if he liked that, he’ll get more of it on Jan. 1 because that’s the type of move he’s showing Kevin Federline as he trains him for his match. Ross said he wondered what the spread would be for that one.
[Commercial Break]
-Todd Grisham asked Cena backstage for a comment. Cena challenged Nitro to a match. He kept his comments brief.
-They showed Ross and Lawler at ringside reacting to Cena’s challenge. Lawler then headed to the ring.
2 — JERRY LAWLER & CARLITO vs. CHRIS MASTERS & VISCERA
Ross said Viscera has quite the appetite for women and food, and added, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” During ring intros, they played a clip of Carlito helping Lawler pin Masters on a previous Raw. Ross said nobody has broken Masters’s Masterlock, so last week’s escape by Cena doesn’t count officially due to the circumstances. Carlito broke up a pin attempt by Viscera after a sitdown powerbomb. At 5:00 Masters went for the Masterlock, but Carlito escaped and knocked Masters into Viscera, then he schoolboyed Viscera for the three count.
WINNERS: Lawler & Carlito in 5:00.
STAR RATING: 1/2*
-Ross plugged Hunter vs. Edge as the TV main event.
[Commercial Break]
-They went to clips inside the Mohegan Sun Casino of Cryme Tyme playing The Highlanders in Three Card Monte. Cryme Tyme of course won. Charlie Haas accused them of advancing racial stereotypes. JTG imitated a white person and mocked Charlie Haas. Shelton Benjamin walked up and said he’s ashamed of those two jokers. He challenged them to a tag match with Haas as his partner. The crowd popped for their reuniting. “The World’s Greatest Tag Team is back,” said Shelton. Conway shouted, “Dynomite. Moschnizzle.” Rory whispered to Cryme Tyme, “I had no idea Charlie Haas is black.”
-Ross talked about Kenny wanting to be part of Team Rated RKO and would do anything to gain acceptance. They went to clips of Kenny last week trying to help Rated RKO.
-Backstage, Kenny approached Edge and Orton backstage. He credited himself with their win last week. Orton said he didn’t. Kenny said he sacrificed himself. Orton said they would have won with or without them. Edge said he should kick back and watch what he does to Triple H later tonight if he wants a lesson on what it takes to be at their level.
[Commercial Break]
-Ross and Lawler, setting a record for how many times they’ve been shown on camera during one hour of Raw, plugged next week’s special three hour Raw, including a 30 man battle royal at the start of the show and the winner faces Cena for the WWE Title. Sure, it’s hotshot way to draw a rating, but giving away a WWE Title match on a Raw based on a battle royal win cheapens the unique prize at stake in the Royal Rumble each year, siphoning off a little bit of the PPV’s selling point.
-Ross and Lawler plugged the Armageddon Press Conference at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Va. tomorrow at noon. They’ve made almost no mention of Cena teaming with Batista on that event. Why not just go ahead and plug it since it’s next Sunday, and Raw doesn’t have a PPV for a while. It’s amazing when they choose to honor the sanctity of the brand separation and when they don’t.
3 — THE HIGHLANDERS vs. CHARLIE HAAS & SHELTON BENJAMIN
Ross and Lawler joked that Haas was hanging out with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Lawler pointed out that Shelton has a shady past, saying every time he entered a mall, they called security. Lawler told Shelton to lighten up on Cryme Tyme.
WINNERS: Haas & Benjamin in 3:00 when Haas pined Rory with a yank on his tights.
STAR RATING: 3/4* — Not much to it. Paced pretty methodically for such a short match.
-Ross plugged that Hunter vs. Edge was next.
-An ECW plug aired for the special Saturday timeslot. All they plugged as new ECW Champ Bobby Lashley in action.
[Commercial Break]
-This Week in Wrestling History featured highlights of Super Clash III, the 1988 AWA PPV, featuring Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich in a title unification match ending with that lame finish of the ref stopping it due to excessive bleeding by Von Erich and giving the win to Lawler. Back live, Ross said the match is on the AWA DVD, “so you’ll finally get paid for that match.”
4 — TRIPLE H vs. EDGE
Ross announced Rated RKO vs. DX as a headline tag match at New Year’s Revolution during ring intros. If this was going to be much of a match, they would have hyped it more during the show and featured it at the end of the show. Instead, it began at 9:50 p.m. Hunter punched away at Edge at the start of the match. Hunter bashed Edge into the announcers’ table at ringside, then elbowed his chest as he lay chest-exposed on the ring apron. Edge retreated up the ramp, so Hunter jumped him from behind. Orton then ran out and attacked Hunter, prompting the quick DQ by the ref. Michaels ran out for the save. Kenny then joined in on attacking DX. Ric Flair ran out and made the save. Flair chopped Kenny to the mat, then knocked him over the top rope to the floor. Coach walked out and demanded that they stop it right now. He said if those six want to fight so badly, he was booking a six-man tag match and it begins “right now.”
WINNER: Triple H via DQ in 3:00.
STAR RATING: 1/4* — It was just Hunter dominating Edge to, you know, make sure that the top heel in the company retains his credibility and all.
[Commercial Break]
5 — TRIPLE H & EDGE & RIC FLAIR vs. RANDY ORTON & EDGE & KENNY
Ross said, “The spirit of the Horsemen lives on.” Michaels choked Kenny with his own headband. Flair tagged in and threw Kenny into his corner and then spit on Edge, egging him on so he would tag in. Edge did, and Flair beat on him. You watch this and you wonder how much better it would have been for business to, you know, advertise Flair’s revenge against RKO ahead of time and save it for PPV. That beat down was so severe, and Flair has such a track record of drawing, so why not utilize that angle to draw something rather than just throw it into an impromptu tag match?
[END FIRST HOUR]
Orton did the Ron Garvin Stomp, and in the process “stomped” Flair’s arm while it was lifted a few inches above the match and the “stomp” didn’t actually force Flair’s arm to the mat. Lawler informed Ross that he was told it’s now the Randy Orton Stomp, not the Ron Garvin Stomp, as Ross had been calling it. When is that Ron Garvin DVD going to be produced, by the way? He was a former NWA World Hvt. Champion, after all. Flair ended up taking a beating for a couple of minutes until hot-tagging Michaels at 7:00. He beat on all three heels, then hit a top rope elbow. Michaels superkicked Edge, prompting Orton to charged into the ring and give Michaels a quick RKO.
[Commercial Break]
Michaels side-stepped a diving Edge and hot-tagged Hunter just as Edge tagged in Kenny. Hunter decimated Kenny. Edge came in. Hunter decimated him. Orton then attacked Hunter. Hunter sold briefly, but quickly decimated Orton with a kneelift and a clothesline over the top rope. Then he backdropped Edge over the top rope. Then he spinebustered Kenny. Boy, Hunter rocks! He’s so freakin’ good. He can beat up three heels at once. He tagged in Flair, who went for a figure-four on Kenny. Orton and Edge jumped in. Hunter and Michaels fended off Orton and Edge. Flair then reversed Kenny’s figure-four attempt into a small package for the win. Ross said Kenny was going to try to be cute and use the figure-four to win, but Flair countered it. After the match, the three heels “got their heat back” at least with a post-match beatdown of Michaels. Oh wait, nope. Hunter cleared the ring of the heels quickly with his sledgehammer to stop the conchairto attempt on Michaels. Hunter destroyed the chair with his sledgehammer.
WINNERS: Flair & DX in 14:00.
STAR RATING: **1/2
-Backstage, Nitro and Melina talked to K-Fed on speaker phone backstage. Melina said Nitro is going to beat down Cena. Nitro told K-Fed that he will “bitchify” him. Coach walked in and gave a shout out to K-Fed, who pretended not to know who he was. Coach said he was giving Nitro an IC Title match against Jeff Hardy at New Year’s Revolution in a cage match. Nitro looked into the sky and smiled. He said he liked it. They walked out of the room and K-Fed began saying, “Hello. Hello. Anybody there. Somebody say something.” Ron Simmons walked into the room and yelled, “Damn!” into the speaker.
-A commercial aired for Armageddon pushing the teaming of Cena and Batista.
-A commercial aired saying that fans can contribute a Holiday Greeting for the troops and it will be hand-delivered by a WWE superstar or diva. Are they going back to Iraq again soon? They just got back.
[Commercial Break]
-Backstage, Carlito approached Torrie Wilson about her upcoming match against Victoria. Torrie said she doesn’t want to wrestle Victoria because she’s crazy. Carlito told her not to worry about her checklist. “She almost killed Maria last week,” said Torrie. Carlito told her to take a deep breath and realize things will be okay. Then he kissed her for good luck, and it was more than a quick peck.
6 — VICTORIA vs. TORRIE WILSON
“A lot of beautiful things come out of Los Angeles,” said Ross. “Victoria’s personality is not one of them.” She set her checklist on the announcers’ desk before the match. Victoria dominated Torrie with a relatively brutal assault and quick win after the Widow’s Peak. The last woman on her list is Mickey James. Masters entered the ring and put Torrie in the full nelson. Carlito charged into the ring, so Masters fled quickly. Lawler had also made a move toward the ring.
WINNER: Victoria in 2:00.
STAR RATING: 1/4*
-They plugged that IC Champ Jeff Hardy would face Umaga, and it was up next. (Coach had briefly mentioned this earlier.) All they had to do was hype that as one of the main events of the night, and they could have skipped one of the other two and saved them for another week. Not positioning IC Champ Hardy against top heel Umaga as a main event worthy match needlessly cheapens Hardy, Umaga, and the IC Title in general. Their philosophy is not to overload the viewers with too much to think about, but more damage is done by throwing this out there like it’s a throwaway match.
[Commercial Break]
7 — JEFF HARDY vs. UMAGA
Umaga got in some early offense, but Hardy came back in a minute and took Umaga down with a flip off the top rope. They cut to a break at 2:00.
[Commercial Break]
Umaga dominated for a few minutes, including a hard clothesline that turned Hardy to a heap of mush. He then went to the top rope, but Hardy moved as Umaga flew through the air. Hardy then made his way to the top rope and he hit the Swanton Bomb. Umaga kicked out with force, sending Hardy a few feet away. Umaga came back with a Samoan Drop. He followed with a running butt crash into the corner twice, knocking Hardy silly. The ref called for the bell, saying Hardy “can’t go no more!” Ridiculous finish. Umaga slammed into Hardy again after the bell. When the ref intervened, Umaga gave the ref a Samoan Spike, then lifted the KO’d Hardy and gave him a Samoan Spike. Ross wondered aloud if Cena had watched that beating.
WINNER: Umaga via decision in 11:00.
STAR RATING: ** — Good match until the ridiculous copout finish. Since when does a wrestler who is knocked out not just get pinned? Had they DQ’d Umaga because he wouldn’t pin Hardy, but kept beating on him, that might fly, but just calling the match like that is one of the most ludicrous finishes I’ve seen in WWE. Now, that having been said, the match was competitive and probably helped Hardy’s credibility despite the finish since he held his own against someone being built up as indestructible. Umaga looked tough, too, especially with the post-match beatdown.
[Commercial Break]
8 — JOHNNY NITRO (w/Melina) vs. JOHN CENA
Cena went after Nitro fast at the start. At 3:00 Nitro showed signs of life by escaping an FU attempt with an eye rake and then dropkicked Cena from behind, sending him to the floor. Melina screamed. Nitro went after Cena at ringside. When plugging next week’s Raw, Lawler said, “I haven’t seen a good battle royal in a looong time, J.R.” Not sure if he meant that as it sounded, but it came across as an all-too-honest comment on the sad state of battle royals. At 6:00 Cena began throwing return fire punches at Nitro, but Nitro jumped onto Cena’s back and applied a sleeper. They went into a hard sell of next week’s three hour Raw special. After Cena escaped the sleeper, Melina distracted him. Nitro slammed Cena to the mat and scored a near fall at 9:00. Nitro went for a corkscrew moonsault, but he didn’t exactly land on much of Cena, gracing his knee perhaps with the side of his head. He went for a cover anyway, but Cena kicked out at two. Cena went into full comeback mode with a couple clotheslines. Ross they weren’t pretty, but they are effective. Cena did the Five Knuckle Shuffle, the salute, and an FU for the win. Ross said, “Hey, K-Fed, are you paying attention?”
WINNER: Cena in 11:00.
STAR RATING: **1/4 — Pretty one-sided, and overall an okay average TV match.
-Ross and Lawler, shown on camera again, wondered aloud whether Cena would be WWE Champion at the end of next week’s Raw. They went off the air with Cena celebrating his win.
