Raw House Show in Spokane (5-15)

[cawthon777 0]

Credit: Wrestling Observer

 

 

WWE house show report 5-15 Spokane

 

 

 

by Mike Sweetser

 

Coach came out and introduced himself as the announcer for the night, and led the National Anthem, which was interrupted by La Resistance.

 

Hurricane & Rosey defeated La Resistance after a distraction by Eugene led to Conway falling prey to the old Three Count "Countdown" finisher - Rosey lifted Conway up in a Samoan drop while Hurricane executed a neckbreaker. A very straightforward tag team match, which really set the tone for the night.

 

Christian, Trish Stratus and Tyson Tomko came out for an interview, where Christian claimed he suffered a back injury from the cage match on Monday night and had a doctor's note stating he could not compete tonight. Chris Jericho came out to rebutt and throw the usual names at Christian and Trish, which drew out Johnny Nitro to change the match for tonight to Jericho v. Tyson Tomko in a cage.

 

Chuck Palumbo defeated Steven Richards with a big boot to the face. Steven really got the crowd going due to his tremendous selling of Palumbo's beatdown - pulling himself up on the ropes to get back up, bouncing off to try an attack, etc. Again, a very basic but effective match.

 

Garrison Cade defeated Val Venis with a rollup thanks to a distraction by Coach, who was still at ringside. Not exactly a great match but it still had good heat, especially on Val's part.

 

Matt Hardy defeated A-Train with a rollup - which was literally Matt's ONLY offensive maneuver throughout the short match. A-Train clubbered Matt in the corner but missed a charge in the corner, which let Matt schoolboy him for the pinfall. A-Train went bonkers afterward, throwing chairs into the ring.

 

Batista defeated Shelton Benjamin by sitting down on a sunset flip attempt and grabbing the ropes for leverage. This was a surprisingly good match, especially on the part of Batista, who really stepped up his wrestling here. The crowd was going crazy for Shelton by the end. Shelton hit two Stinger Splashes and went for the sunset flip, which Batista sat down on, then grabbed the ropes over the referee for the pin.

 

10-minute intermission time, which gave the crew time to set up the steel cage - which they actually accomplished inside the 10 minutes. Interesting note: Mike Chioda was in charge of assembling the cage, and was standing on the top rope throughout to lock the cage sections in place.

 

Chris Jericho defeated Tyson Tomko in a steel cage match by escaping over the top of the cage. Jericho held the match together as best he could, basically pinballing for Tomko. Christian stopped Jericho from escaping at one point and was ejected. Later on, Trish came in with a steel chair, but was caught and spanked by Jericho. Tomko attempted to escape, but Jericho caught him and rammed his head three times into the top of the cage, causing him to fall and allowing Jericho to escape.

 

While the same crew disassembled the cage, Coach and the t-shirt guy started shooting t-shirts into the crowd, but were interrupted by Eugene, who took over the gun. Johnny Nitro ran out and apologized for Eugene's behavior, and took a shirt in the groin for his trouble.

 

Victoria retained the WWE Women's title over Gail Kim, Jazz and Molly Holly in a Fatal Four Way elimination match. The three heels triple-teamed Victoria for quite some time until Jazz attempted a pinfall and was pulled off by Molly. A double pinfall on rollups (Victoria on Molly, Gail Kim on Jazz) made the match Victoria v. Gail Kim. Gail Kim executed the Christo but was sideslammed out of it by Victoria, who quickly put Gail away with the Widow's Peak.

 

Randy Orton retained the WWE Intercontinental title over Edge with a tights-assisted rollup. Orton was WAY over with the women in the crowd, and especially played with a group in the front row, leaning back into them a la WCW Chris Jericho and even mooning them at one point. The match went back and forth with Edge getting the advantage later, nearly pinning Orton with the Edge-O-Matic. Batista came down and distracted Edge from hitting the spear, but got speared for his trouble. When Edge got back up, Orton rolled him up and hooked the tights for the pinfall.

 

Trish came to the ring and made it clear she was very upset with the cage match tonight, and was looking forward to taking out Lita on Raw this week - but was interrupted by Lita coming down and jumping her. Johnny Nitro came back down and made the match official.

 

Lita defeated Trish Stratus with a DDT. That's about the best thing to say about this match, as Lita was VERY sloppy throughout the match.

 

Chris Benoit retained the World heavyweight championship over Kane via tapout to the Crippler Crossface. If this is the Bad Blood main event, you're all in for a treat, as this was a REALLY good match. The crowd was heavily into both wrestlers and went crazy any time Benoit was on offense. Benoit started by countering all of Kane's offense with takedowns and attempts at the Sharpshooter, but ran into a big boot and was dominated by Kane, who bent Benoit back against the ringpost at one point. Kane eventually got frustrated and grabbed a chair, but was German suplexed three times by Benoit. Benoit scored with two diving headbutts and locked in the Crossface, but Kane powered out of it with a sideslam. Kane went up top for the diving clothesline, but Benoit caught him into the Crossface again on the way down. Kane attempted to power out again but Benoit kept him down, and Kane finally tapped out.

 

All in all, a VERY good house show and it looked like everybody left happy with the performance tonight.

 

 

 

I think regardless of who Benoit is matched up against at the PPV, be it Jericho or Kane, we're in for a quality title defense.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Damn it! That looked like a fun show and everything! This is what I get for not getting tickets. What was I thinking?

[Guest Choken One]

I'm sure Kane/Benoit would be a good match but I saw Benoit carry sid at Souled Out 2000.

 

I want him to face some on equal footing like Jericho at Bad Blood instead.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Benoit/Kane guarantees a Kane victory in this week's Battle Royale.

 

And by putting Jericho and Tomko in the Cage, it wears out the gimmick a bit, especially for this feud.

 

It's always stupid to have a PPV main event given out at a House Show, but I guess there are two exceptions:

 

1. It's being tested on a smaller audience.

2. Smaller audience.

3. 99% of us don't see it, and in this case, it looks like we're in for a damn good match.

 

Fuck I wish I had regular House Shows in my neck of the woods... The next is a WCW show very soon, but that'll be about it for a long time.

[Guest TigerDriver91]

The next is a WCW show very soon, but that'll be about it for a long time.

Um, in case you haven't noticed, WCW has been dead and buried for a while now.

[Guest Choken One]

WCW show? Is that a subtle Smackdown shot?

 

I love having three exceptions for the two exceptions you said there were.

 

House Shows are a CRUCIAL aspect of business now...Having a Main event caliber card is important....Wrestling in the 80's DEPENDED on those house shows...just like vince and co. will have to do again.

 

Flair/Steamboat worked house shows all the time...some said to be better then the wrestle war/clash matches.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

The next is a WCW show very soon, but that'll be about it for a long time.

Um, in case you haven't noticed, WCW has been dead and buried for a while now.

I'm obviously not talking about that WCW, moron.

[Guest Choken One]

ummm...

 

Vince owns WCW properties.

 

So whoever is running a WCW show is a god damn idiot.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

This is an indy fed by the name of WCW.

 

They are not affiliated with the World Championship Wrestling that we all know. They're not even North American.

 

Hope that clears a bit up.

[Guest TheAustralian]

I believe young ib means WCW(A), a local indy fed in Australia, that is based on the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

 

and can best be described as shit

[Guest Choken One]

I believe young ib means WCW(A), a local indy fed in Australia, that is based on the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

 

and can best be described as shit

Good to see that they are following in the footsteps of the old WCW company.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

I believe young ib means WCW(A), a local indy fed in Australia, that is based on the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

 

and can best be described as shit

Indeed that is what "young ib" means.

 

They're doing a Gatton show soon, so I figured I'd check them out.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Here's a report of the 5/16 show from Pro Wrestling Insider

 

5/16 RAW BRAND RESULTS FROM EVERETT, WA

by Matthew Bradley @ 9:52:00 PM on 5/16/2004

 

 

Here are the results for the Raw brand house show on 5/16 from Everett, WA.

 

Coach comes out and tells us there will be a return IC title match, a cage match between Jericho and Christian, a fatal four way elimination match for the women's title, and a no dq for the heavyweight title featuring Chris Benoit and Kane.

 

Coach asks us to stand for the national anthem, but out comes La Resistance to interrupt. They prance around the ring with their flags until out comes The Hurricane and Rosey. The match starts out with Rosey and Conway. Eventually Hurricane gets tagged in for the middle of the match. Hurricane fights back and tags Rosey, who cleans house. Out comes Eugene, who starts playing with the flags, riding one like a horse. Conway runs after Eugene, and the Hurricane and Rosey hit their modified 3D to score the pinfall. Why not give these guys the belt? At least they've been a team for more than two weeks.

 

Out comes Christian next with Trish and Tomko. Christian claims he can't wrestle tonight and has a doctor's note. Out comes Y2J, who claims that Christian hangs out with Tomko too much, making CLB stand for Christian Likes Boys. Jericho says he also has a doctor's note and it reads: "Christian is an Ass Clown." Johnny Nitro comes out and says if Jericho wants to wrestle, he'll be in a steel cage match tonight, but with Tyson Tomko, not Christian.

 

Next match is Steven Richards vs. Chuck Palumbo. Palumbo said something about how the Northeast is better than the northwest in an attempt to get heat, but most of the crowd agreed with him, so it didn't work. Most people didn't even know his name. Fairly standard match, but Stevie was wearing tights like Crash Holly that said Stevie on them. Some bozo got a boring chant started. Poor guys. They work hard on a match and no one appreciates it. Stevie got the win. After the match, a guy dressed like Randy Savage at ringside was talking smack to Palumbo. Palumbo acted like he was going to hit him, and the guy fell backwards over his chair. Another guy was Hulk Hogan and one was Bret Hart. Hey dudes, live in the now!

 

Next up is A-Train vs. Matt Hardy. I was dying to see Hardy, but the match is way short. Back and forth, then A-Train goes for a splash in the corner and misses. Hardy gets the roll-up in about forty-five seconds. I figured that he has a nagging injury and he isn't trying to damage it further. I also figured we'd see him later on, too. Still, I would have loved to see more.

 

Next match is Garrison Cade vs. Val Venis. Another standard match. Venis went for the Money Shot, but Cade rolled to the other side of the ring. Coach got up on the apron to distract the ref, and also got the attention of Venis. Coach threw some knucks across the ring, but threw them too far, and Cade had to get out of the ring to find them. Cade hits Venis, and gets the win.

 

Batista comes out and says Shelton Benjamin has never beat him, so they should have a match. Good back and forth action, but nothing major stands out. Batista got the win after Shelton went for a sunset flip and Batista grabbed the ropes for leverage.

 

Next is the fatal four way for the women's title. Victoria, Molly and Gail all get introduced, but the monkey rung the bell too early. Jazz had to run out without an intro. Jazz played face for a little while, then turned on Victoria. Victoria pulled the wig off Molly, and Victoria and Gail rolled up Molly and Jazz for a simultaneous pin. Gail went for her submission move, but Victoria reversed it into a slam. Gail tried to go up top, but Victoria countered it into the Widow's Peak to get the win.

 

Coach calls for an intermission to set up the cage.

 

Y2J comes out first and tests the cage for stability. The thing practically fell over. They claimed it was fifteen feet high, but they must have been measuring from the floor. It couldn't have been more than nine feet above the ring. Tomko and crew come out and the match gets underway. Tyson played a generic monster heel, and looked a lot like Batista when he first started. Jericho knocked down Tyson and went for the door, but Christian slammed the door on his head. The ref sent Christian to the back, who was selling a lower back injury. Back in the ring, Tyson gains control, and even gets his foot out the door, but Trish convinces him to beat on Jericho some more. This doesn't work, so eventually Trish comes in with a chair. Jericho slaps Trish on the BUTT while Tyson tries to escape. Jericho catches him, and throws him down off the top rope and climbs out for the victory.

 

Randy Orton faces Edge for the Intercontinental title. Randy played a great smarmy heel, soaking on the applause for the willing to give it to him. Edge comes out and the two face off in the ring, locking up and breaking off a few times before finally going at it. Good work from both guys, about a half-star below Monday night. Edge looks to have the upper hand, so out comes Batista, who eats a spear. Randy Orton came back with an RKO to retain the title. While leaving, Randy and Batista made sure to give as many lewd gestures as possible.

 

Next Trish comes out for the third time and no one complains. She says she isn't a slut because she wouldn't sleep with anyone in the crowd. Lita gets called a skank, then runs out to the ring. Nitro makes the match official and the two whack away at each other. Both looked very good in the ring, and I didn't notice any rust on Lita's part. Trish went for the Stratusfaction, but Lita countered it into a back suplex. She then hit a swinging DDT and got the pin. Everyone turned towards the curtain, and, of course, Kane comes out. He chases her around the ring until Matt Hardy comes out and distracts Kane (i.e. gets thrown out of the ring) long enough for Lita to run away. Kane says Lita has one more day until she has to answer him, and tonight she can fly away but she better be prepared for tomorrow night. He says has to rip Benoit's head off tonight and win the title.

 

Out comes Benoit and we start the main event. This is an excellent, excellent match, and Benoit fights with intensity. Kane hits numerous bear hugs, and Benoit locks on the Crossface about as many times, but Kane always lifted up Benoit out of it into a sidewalk slam. Benoit hit three Germans on the monster, but can't get the pin. He worked on the arm of Kane all match, setting up the Crossface. Kane went for a chokeslam, but Benoit floated out and locked on the Crossface again. Kane got out, but Benoit locked it right back on again. Kane tapped out.

 

Benoit says Kane joined the "ludicrous" club of those who have tapped out to the Crossface. Crowd cheers, but Coach shakes his head. Beniot invites Coach to join the club. Coach gets in the ring and calls all of Benoit's victories lucky, but then Benoit slaps on the Crossface to end the show.

 

This was a great event and I'm glad on was on the floor to see it. There were maybe 2000-2500 people, and the entire top section was empty. Strangely, everyone popped for each wrestler when they first came out, but Trish got a lot of slut chants and La Resistance was the only team to get any major heat. Many USA chants. I was surprised that they was no mention of Judgment Day at all. I know their separate brands, but they could have said something like, "If you want to waste your money on that other show, Smackdown is having Judgment Day tonight on PPV." I would think people who pay for tickets to live shows would be a good bet to buy PPVs.

[Guest TigerDriver91]

I'm obviously not talking about that WCW, moron.

Cut out the silly insults, I am not aware of every little wrestling fed on the planet.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

I'm obviously not talking about that WCW, moron.

Cut out the silly insults, I am not aware of every little wrestling fed on the planet.

Well, why would I mean that WCW show?

 

Ok, let's quit it now.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I'm obviously not talking about that WCW, moron.

Cut out the silly insults, I am not aware of every little wrestling fed on the planet.

Considering moron is the most intelligent insult of a 14 year old, don't be insulted.

 

And like every other argument, if you want to fight with each other, go to Hardcore Discussion.

 

 

As for the topic, I can't wait to see Benoit vs. Kane, mainly because its a FRESH MATCH (Kane/Benoit has never happend 1 on 1 on PPV before) and Benoit is capable of working around Kane's weaknesses.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

I'm obviously not talking about that WCW, moron.

Cut out the silly insults, I am not aware of every little wrestling fed on the planet.

Considering moron is the most intelligent insult of a 14 year old, don't be insulted.

 

And like every other argument, if you want to fight with each other, go to Hardcore Discussion.

 

 

As for the topic, I can't wait to see Benoit vs. Kane, mainly because its a FRESH MATCH (Kane/Benoit has never happend 1 on 1 on PPV before) and Benoit is capable of working around Kane's weaknesses.

Seriously, shut the fuck up - it has nothing to do with you, and it's over.

 

Back on topic, the main reason that I want to see Benoit/Kane is because both can work. Seeing as Benoit is not exactly a huge guy in height and Kane is, it should be an excellent match.

 

Kurt Angle carried The Big Show to a match such as that at Armageddon '02. Imagine what Chris Benoit could do for Kane.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Palumbo said something about how the Northeast is better than the northwest in an attempt to get heat, but most of the crowd agreed with him, so it didn't work.

 

*Slaps forehead.*

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Palumbo said something about how the Northeast is better than the northwest in an attempt to get heat, but most of the crowd agreed with him, so it didn't work.

 

*Slaps forehead.*

So Palumbo's still working heel?

[Guest Deviant]

Sounds like a damn good show, and I'm glad they're going with Kane-Benoit as I think that'll be an excellent match. Sure, Jericho-Benoit would be better, but I'm going to second the love for a "fresh match".

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Seriously, shut the fuck up - it has nothing to do with you, and it's over.

 

Back on topic, the main reason that I want to see Benoit/Kane is because both can work. Seeing as Benoit is not exactly a huge guy in height and Kane is, it should be an excellent match.

 

Kurt Angle carried The Big Show to a match such as that at Armageddon '02. Imagine what Chris Benoit could do for Kane.

First off, don't flame people or someone will ban you. I highly doubt anyone would be nice considering how many people you piss off here(also keep in mind that up to this point I've stood clear of your bullshit and let it pass).

 

Second, how can Kane work? Obviously Benoit can, working all over the Earth with kickass matches to back it up. But what "work" has Kane contributed since he has arrived? Kane has never been anything but a "Hoss" to be carried by all the workers in the company(thus, why him fighting the Taker at Wrestlemania XX was a terrible idea) that could effectively get him over. Also calling Big Show vs. Angle from Armageddon 02 excellent is quite laughable.

[cawthon777 0]

Each and every one of the Kane / Angle matches from 01 - 02 were very solid. If that's any indication, Kane / Benoit should be a sure thing.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

When motivated, Kane can work a good match. I will never call his matches anywhere near ****, but he's not horrible unless he's dogging it, which he's been doing now and then as of late because of the lack of anything they've done with him after last year.

[Guest Brian]

Kane and Benoit had a pretty good match. Started out as the usual big man-small man power stuff with the knockdowns, built towards Benoit working the leg to counter the crossface, and moved over to the arm going for the crossface. Alot of cool reversals. The match was built off the basic big man-small man match.

[Guest wildpegasus]

built towards Benoit working the leg to counter the crossface,

WP -- What exactly do you mean by that? Can you elaborate? Thanks.

[Guest Brian]

Kane was countering the crossfaces by getting up (and in general using other power moves), so Benoit went to the leg to counter those.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Chris Benoit retained the World heavyweight championship over Kane via tapout to the Crippler Crossface.

 

Holy shit! Must see! Has Kane even lost by submission before?

[Guest wildpegasus]

Kane was countering the crossfaces by getting up (and in general using other power moves), so Benoit went to the leg to counter those.

That sounds pretty cool. I'll just bug you one more time here. Did Benoit kick out of any Kane's big moves like the chokeslam or did Kane just attempt the chokeslam? Did Kane add any new offence in the match that he doesn't usually do?

Thanks once again.

[Guest Brian]

I think he kicked out, but my memory on the exact movements of that match are really hard to remember. I think he kicked out, which came after the sharpshooter heat spot, and then Benoit moved to the arm for the crossface. But he might have just missed it, and Benoit countered into the crossface before Kane's foot got the ropes.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Chris Benoit retained the World heavyweight championship over Kane via tapout to the Crippler Crossface.

 

Holy shit! Must see! Has Kane even lost by submission before?

Kurt Angle has made Kane submit.