First hand account of Raw house show

[Guest NoSelfWorth]

Report by A.B. Lipkin, PWTorch.com correspondent

 

This was the first WWE show at the University of Delaware in six years.

 

(1) The Hurricane & Maven beat Chief Morely & Lance Storm when Hurricane hit the Chokeslam on Morely. A very energetic match. Hurricane got a great pop, and the heels got good heat. Hurricane did his Val Venis impression with his cape at the beginning.

 

(2) Christian beat Tommy Dreamer with the Unprettier. Before the match Dreamer cut a promo about wanting to cane someone who really sucks. Christian started a posedown, and intentionally slipped on the turnbuckles. Dreamer's cane wasn't used at all. The crowd hated Christian.

 

(3) Jazz (w/Theodore Long) beat Trish Stratus and Victoria (w/Steven Richards). The finish came when Jazz pinned Trish after Victoria hit the Widow's Peak, but couldn't cover. Before the match, Long cuts a typical promo against Whitey. Most of the match featured the heels double teaming Trish or arguing amongst themselves. Post-match, Trish hit the Stratusfaction on both Victoria and Richards.

 

(4) La Resistance beat Scott Steiner & Test (w/Stacy) when Grenier pinned Test after the double spinebuster. La Resistance look like Vega from the Street Fighter games. They cut a bilingual promo bashing the University of Delaware's sports teams. Steiner was comforting Stacy when the pinfall occurred. After the match, Test leaves, and Steiner beats up La Resistance. Grenier and Dupree look a little green, but they appear comfortable in the ring.

 

Earl Hebner comes out to a nice pop.

 

(5) Bubba Ray & D-Von & Spike Dudley beat Rosey & Jamal & Rico in a 6-Man Tables match. The crowd didn't care much about 3MW, but they loved the Dudleys, and they detested Rico. Jamal teased removing his jersey throughout the match. D-Von used his "Reverend" finisher on Rico, who in turn hit a nice flapjack-powerslam onto Spike. The finish came when Jamal removed his jersey, and then turned into a 3D through a table. After the match, the Dudleys brought a little kid into the ring, gave him a piece of the table, took some photos, and celebrated with the crowd for about ten minutes.

 

Intermission

 

(6) Kane beat Rodney Mack (with Theodore Long) with the Chokeslam. Before the match Long blames The Man for not having a Five Minute White Boy Challenge last Monday on Raw. Chris Nowinski answers the White Boy Challenge, but then agrees with Long and Mack. Nowinski calls Mack the "shiznit", and "the hizzle fo' shizzle, my nizzle!" Kane comes out (with red spotlights) to a nice pop. Nowinski offers to fight Kane instead, but is beat down. Mack jumps Kane, and the match starts. Just what you would expect from Kane/Mack.

 

(7) Chris Jericho's Hi-Lite Reel ended when Hurricane pinned Jericho in about ten seconds. The scheduled match was Booker T vs. Jericho, but no explanation was given for Booker's absence. They did do a good job covering with the Hi-Lite Reel, though. The Fink brings out two chairs, and introduces Jericho, who gets a mixed pop. Jericho starts the Hi-Lite Reel, and brings out his guest – Hurricane, who gets another great pop. After some back and forth insults, including Jericho accusing Hurricane of being Gregory Helms ("A superhero? P'shaw!") and Hurricane insulting Jericho's weenie ("Ridiculous, and I mean re-dick, you less!"), Jericho challenges Hurricane to a match. Before he can finish talking, Hurricane gives him the Chokeslam (while Jericho still had the mic – he did a nice choking sound) and pins him quickly. Y2J calls back Hurricane, and asks for five more minutes… tomorrow. He then bails. If they do this segment on Raw, it would be great. Best of the night.

 

(8) Triple H beat Kevin Nash when Nash's head hit an exposed turnbuckle. Both men got mixed cheers and boos. This match was just as bad as the ones at previous hose shows. The crowd begins to leave as soon as the match begins. Triple H works on Nash's knee, and uses a Figure Four, which only draw isolated whooos. After the match, Nash jackknifes Triple H, and leaves. Triple H gets up, bashes Delaware, then leaves.

 

With RVD not on the card, Booker T missing in action, and no one really caring about Kevin Nash, Hurricane was the default super-face on the card. It's not a good sign when the crowd cares more about Hurricane then the main event for Judgment Day.

 

Credit - PWTorch.com

 

I wonder what excuse they'll give for people walking out on Cripple H v Big Lazy.

[Guest eiker_ir]

Kane doesn't backs the mack

[Agent_Bond34 0]

Fans walk out just on the Nash/HHH match? That sounds familiar. Reminds me of when fans were walking out on the HHH/Buh Buh Ray Dudley matches last year at house shows.

 

Either way, it's quite sad, but I just knew this shit was bound to happen when they put Nash in the main event.

[Guest the pinjockey]

So will they abort this like they did the Bubba/HHH angle last year?

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

People were so happy that the war was over that they could hardly be contained in their seats. By the last match they couldn't take it any more and had to leave to celebrate into the streets.

 

-WWE Spin Doctor.

[Guest alkeiper]

Sounds a lot like the one I saw. I did see a few people leave during Nash/HHH, but in all fairness they might've just wanted to beat the crowd. It wasn't like the finish was in doubt or anything.

[Guest Sakura]

I wonder what excuse they'll give for people walking out on Cripple H v Big Lazy.

The fans didn't want to ruin the excitment of the PPV match by seeing it early.

[Guest the pinjockey]

I thought it was because if they saw this match live in all its greatness it would ruin all future wrestling they saw, because nothing would be able to live up to this match.

[Guest treble charged]

I know having already seen Kevin Nash vs. Triple H live and in person, my life will never be the same again.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Or everyone felt compelled to go find the nearest salon...

[Guest the pinjockey]

Maybe they didn't want to witness a potential quad tear and see one of their heroes go down.

[Guest NoSelfWorth]

Maybe they were rushing out to file their ballots in Match Of The Year voting ?

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

I was close to going to the show, but I ended up not going, mainly because Newark is still quite a distance away from where I live and I didnt really have the time/money to go.

[Guest CanadianChick]

I wonder why RVD wasn't there....anyone know why?

[Guest treble charged]

Wouldn't surprise me if RVD just got the weekend off.

[Guest CanadianChick]

Wouldn't surprise me if RVD just got the weekend off.

That's what I was thinking...I just remember that back in Feburary, I remember noticing that Edge wasn't on house shows for some reason and we know what happened there...

[Guest Austin3164life]

The fans didn't want to ruin the excitment of the PPV match by seeing it early.

 

Vince is probably in agreement with this.

[Guest the pinjockey]

The fans didn't want to ruin the excitment of the PPV match by seeing it early.

 

Vince is probably in agreement with this.

Good lord, so when the PPV buyrate sucks he will think that the people didn't want to see it now and wanted it to be a big Summerslam ME. Thus giving us a whole summer of HHH/Nash buildup.

[Guest jester]

Sounds a lot like the one I saw. I did see a few people leave during Nash/HHH, but in all fairness they might've just wanted to beat the crowd. It wasn't like the finish was in doubt or anything.

That shouldn't matter. Your main events should be so enticing that nobody leaves early.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

And keep in mind that house show crowds are smaller, so a group of fans leaving would be quite noticable. I wouldn't have left (I hate it when people leave early during games, movies, etc..) but I would have probably heckled them to death.

[Guest evilhomer]

Maybe the fans heard about those surveys that the WWE has been handing out lately and wanted to make sure they got one to fill out. They had to let the WWE know that they wanted more of HHH and Nash.

[Guest JHawk]

For the record, Booker's got flu-like symptoms and missed the show for that reason. (There's probably already a thread about that somewhere, but I haven't seen it yet).

[Guest geniusMoment]

RVD's knee's have been shot for the past year and a half. Haven't you noticed how dramatically he has changed his style since the begining of 2002. Watch him move in the ring and then watch an old tape from ECW and you will notice the difference. It's not just WWE style, he's not capable of pulling off the same moves with the same impact. A lot of it is from the 5 star frog splash, as RVD lands on his knees and shoots upward with force. I remember one time Mikey Whipwreck saying that he no longer would perform moonsaults or splashes with regularity because of the damage it does to your knees. Watch RVD walk outside the ring, he arches his back now and walks without his distinctive ECW slouch, this takes pressure off your knees but also puts more pressure on your back.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

The main event probably sucked, but Nowinski using ebonics and a Hi-Lite Reel would make the show worth twenty bucks to me.

[Guest Sturgis]

I was there. HHH/Nash was watchable for being under 10min.

 

I met the following:

Teddy Long

Earl Hebner

Blackjack Lanza

Lance Storm

Christain

Hat Guy from ECW

 

I also had Charles Robinson wink at me.

 

Saw Jamal and some ref hit on a chick.

 

And slapped Trish's hand.

 

All and all I'm Happy

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

I know having already seen Kevin Nash vs. Triple H live and in person, my life will never be the same again.

Was it worse than Rock/Nash from the Ottawa Smackdown last year? Because, oh lord, that was terrible.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

I was there. HHH/Nash was watchable for being under 10min.

 

I met the following:

Teddy Long

Earl Hebner

Blackjack Lanza

Lance Storm

Christain

Hat Guy from ECW

You met Hat Guy? Spiffy.

[Guest CanadianChris]

I know having already seen Kevin Nash vs. Triple H live and in person, my life will never be the same again.

Was it worse than Rock/Nash from the Ottawa Smackdown last year? Because, oh lord, that was terrible.

Let us not ever speak of that match again.

[Guest Anglesault]

I know having already seen Kevin Nash vs. Triple H live and in person, my life will never be the same again.

Was it worse than Rock/Nash from the Ottawa Smackdown last year? Because, oh lord, that was terrible.

I missed that. I heard it was bad, but no unspeakable. What is it on the Kane/Test No Mercy scale?

[Guest BorneAgain]

I know having already seen Kevin Nash vs. Triple H live and in person, my life will never be the same again.

You mean its not going to be great? After that exciting brawl on Raw I was expecting a 5 star classic.