Raw spolers for 4/24/06

[Nightfall 0]

- Edge & HHH promo to start Raw. Cena runs in and beats up HHH. Spirit Squad comes out, I think they want a 5 on 3 match vs. HHH, Cena and Edge but it was hard to understand what they said!

 

- Maria announced a bikini contest, but was interrupted by Matt Striker.

 

- Maria "Kiss Cam" followed by a Vince McMahon promo about God, saying that last week's pyro was not an act of God. Now Shane cuts a promo saying he will beat Shawn Michaels tonight.

 

- A video of Torrie changing into a bikini.

 

- Kane beats up Big Show backstage because he mentions May 19th too much.

 

- Todd Grisham asks people to show their signs. Someone has a "God Will Tap" sign.

 

- Coach hosts the bikini contest next. Candice wins (despite being booed) and cCoach asks Candice to make out with him. Viscera comes out, humps Coach and makes out with her himself.

 

- Raw Rewind is shown of Stephanie's "Black Wedding" in 1999. Big pop for when Steve Austin appears in the clip.

 

- Vince McMahon has now come out to the ring to talk about Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels. No contest, Shane elbows Shawn through the announce table, Vince cuts promo on Shawn saying God can't protect him. No winner was ever announced.

 

- Edge and Cena backstage video promo. Nearly every mention of Cena gets huge boos.

 

- Jobber vs. Umaga up next. The jobber is Steve Billington of England. Umaga wins.

 

- Mickie James promo, no longer dressed as Trish. says she knows who she is and she's Mickie James. Trish comes out, still dressing like Mickie, quick promo and quick fight (which didn't look too good).

 

- Main event (Triple H, Cena & Edge vs. Spirit Squad) is another non-finish. After both hitting their finishers, the Game and Cena fight each other. Edge sneaks back in and spears the Game, but then gets an FU from Cena. Raw probably ends here, and Cena cuts a post match promo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, they didn't have that HBK/Shane match that was advertized on WWE.com, I wonder why.

 

 

 

edit - I swear I read these results like 10 minutes before I posted them, and that wasn't there. All it said was Vince talked about the match.

[RedJed 0]

Re-read the results man, the Shane/Shawn match is in there.

 

Show doesnt sound too bad for a lead-in to the ppv. The HHH/Cena/Edge interaction I am digging and it makes me want to see that match. With HHH getting punked by Edge two weeks in a row, I smell a receipt at the ppv unfortunately. Likely to be a HHH win over Edge so Cena keeps his credibility with a loss. Should be Edge over Cena, leading to a HHH/Edge feud long term.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

No Benjamin or RVD.

 

Guess I don't have to watch RAW next week.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Doesn't look like too many matches this week and those that are being contested are non-finishes....

 

I think I'll pass.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I WAS JOKING about Cena/Edge/HHH vs the Spirit Squad..

 

GOD..between that and "I think it would be cool if Mickie James dyed her hair and called herself Mickie Cumulus", I think someone at the WWE headquarters is reading my posts..

 

STOP STEALING MY STUFF AND GET SOME ORIGINAL IDEAS ya BASTARDS

[Carnival 0]

RAW sounds lame, but I may watch just for the Shane McMahon match.

 

no RVD/Shelton is very dumb....maybe they just aren't listed in the spoilers.

[algrim 0]

Apparently, the person that posted the results forgot to mention that there was a match before the swimsuit contest. It was RVD, Carlito and Haas going over the team of Shelton, Masters and Striker.

 

-Credit: PWInsider.com-

[dh86 0]

RVD and Carlito teaming?...only in wrestling lol

[Guest J0bber]

Uhh, where the fuck are RVD, Benjamin, Masters and Carlito? This has to be one of the shittiest Raws in months. Both main event matches ending in a no contest, a squash, and a bikini contest. Put a little effort in, creative.

 

EDIT: My mistake. I just read the post above when they were in a six man. Still doesn't do much for the rest of the crap on the show.

[Caliban 0]

From the Observer:

 

Raw TV spoilers from London

 

 

 

by Andi Turner and Rich Southby

 

Quick Raw taping report for you from London... The order might be a bit off as this is from memory.

 

Looked pretty much like a full house. Opened up with Lillian Garcia singing the National Anthem, then into Heat matches.

 

Big Show came out to huge pop, mainly as he was the first wrestler to appear. He beat 2 jobbers pretty quickly, managing to nearly drop one guy during the choke slam finish.

 

Next up Lance Cade def. Eugene in a comedy match. Eugene was over with the crowd.

 

Goldust & Snitsky def. 2 more jobbers (one of whom was German, so he got lots of heat) in another comedy match, revolving around Snitsky's foot fetish.

 

Finally, Kane beat Trevor Murdoch with the choke slam in a nothing match. Fans chanted May 19th throughout.

 

The announcers came out next. Joey Styles needs some music and an entrance video 'cos he's the only one who hasn't got one and it makes him look like a chump.

 

Re-cap of HBK beating up Shane at WM22 on the screen leads us into Raw.

 

Edge is out first and harps on about having beaten Cena and HHH already. HHH comes interupts to a HUGE pop. He's SO over. HHH spends a while talking about how Edge's title reign didn't last very long, and makes several jokes about his performance in the bedroom. Calls him the "Premature Superstar" (to rhyme with "R"). Very funny, but I'm confused as to whether HHH is supposed to be a heel or not. Cena came out to thunderous boo's and went for HHH, bit of a brawl before Edge and HHH bail and out come the Spirit Squad. I wish they'd talk in time with eachother. No idea what they said but we have a 5 on 3 handicap match for later apparently.

 

During the Ad break Matt Striker talks to Maria backstage and does the usual heel interview.

 

6 man tag now. Masters, Striker and Shelton Benjamin versus Carlito, Charlie Hass and RVD. Good match live with a couple of cool spots, although I have a feeling it might come across as a mess on TV. RVD pinned Shelton clean with the 5 star frog splash. Don't quite understand why they did that but hey!

 

Maria came out to do Kiss Cam in the break, which was quite good fun. One guy proposed to his girlfriend. Biggest pop went to the 2 girls that really went for it.

 

Kane and Big Show had a row backstage and Kane gouged out one of Big Show's eyes. No, really. They used blood and everything!

 

Vince and Shane cut a promo backstage about acts of God and Shawn Michaels.

 

Diva Bikini contest between Candice, Torrie, Maria and Victoria and hosted by Coach was next. Candice won apparently, although the crowd wanted Maria. Afterwards Coach said the prize was a chance to make out with him. Candice didn't look too pleased and out came Viscera. He beat up Coach and did his usual rape act, then left with Candice. Crowd didn't seem to care. During the break Coach said he'd had enough and left, which will probably make the rest of the show much easier to watch on TV.

 

Shane vs HBK next. Decent match, Shane missed a moonsault and Shawn did his comeback thing before Vince stopped the superkick. Shawn set Vince up on the announce table and teased the elbow off the top rope before Shane stopped him. They hit him with the ring bell (I assume the ref called a dq there) and Shane did his own elbow off the top rope onto Shawn and through the announce table. Crowd loved it. Vince then got on the mic and said Shawn had "no chance in hell" at backlash.

 

Lots of Backlash promos on the screen and some backstage stuff of no importance was followed by Umaga def. Jobber from London (I think it was the same guy who challenged Angle for his medal last year). Quick match followed by a run-in by Ric Flair, who got a great reception. The screen then announced a match between the two at Backlash.

 

Spirit Squad did a backstage promo about David Beckham and the Spice Girls, before HHH ran into Lita. He asked her for advice on how to take on 5 guys at once. More cheers and laughs from the crowd for Uber-heel HHH!

 

Mickie James came out and said she didn't want to be like Trish any more and she was just gonna be herself. Trish came out as Mickie, wound her up and then attacked her. Mickie looked confused and annoyed. Segment died live.

 

Main event time. Spirit Squad are really annoying. Good match, HHH and Edge kept tagging each other with hard slaps to the chest. Cena took a beating to cheers from the fans and made the hot tag to that heel HHH again. Crowd went nuts. It got a bit confusing to watch from there on in. Edge did a lot of standing around. In the end HHH and Cena did their finishers at the same time on 2 members of the Spirit Squad for the double pin, before getting into a brawl of their own ("Boo", "Yay" like WM). Edge speared HHH and Cena FU'd Edge to close the show as the last man standing.

 

Afterwards Cena took the mike, called London a tough crowd and orchestrated a cheering contest between the "Triple H D-X fans" and the "Chain Gang". The Chain Gang lost. He then did the hard sell for Backlash. Obviously no-one told him it wasn't a pay-per-view in the UK.

 

All in all, quite a good show. Not a great deal of wrestling and could well suck on TV. Quite a lot of filler, but crowd was hot for the most of it.

 

Biggest Pops:

1. HHH

2. HBK

3. RVD

4. Austin (on the "This week in Wrestling History" package)

5. Angle (on Smackdown preview)

 

Biggest Heat:

1. Cena

2. Edge

3. Vince

4. Rey Mysterio (on Smackdown preview)

 

Cheers for reading!

 

Andi Turner, London, England.

 

 

From Rich Southby:

 

 

My name is Rich Southby, and I attended the RAW taping at the Wembley Arena in London. Overall it was a very enjoyable show with a little bit of everything. Here's a brief rundown of the show...

 

HEAT

Lillian Garcia came out to a great reception and plenty of wolf-whistles. She graciously sang the English National Anthem, and welcomed us to Heat. She also wished the Queen a happy 80th birthday, which was a nice touch.

 

Big Show vs. 2 jobbers

As expected, a total squash. Big Show received an incredible response, being the first superstar we saw. He seemed appreciative of such a big reaction and it showed. He won with the Showstopper in quick time.

 

Lance Cade vs. Eugene

A pretty competitive match, complete with Cade working on Eugene's arm a heck of a lot, while Eugene did his usual antics. After Eugene scored with a Rock Bottom, however, Cade eventually got the pin with a Stan Hansen/JBL-style Lariat.

 

Goldust & Gene Snitsky vs. 2 jobbers

Another squash. Only thing of note was Snitsky's foot fetish. He tried to remove the boots of the opponents, then Goldust after the pin, chasing him up the ramp.

 

Trevor Murdoch vs. Kane

Squash. Chokeslam. Kane got a good face reaction, however. Chants of "May 19th" from the know-it-all English crowd.

 

RAW

The show started with Edge & Lita coming out to a thuderous reaction for an in-ring promo. Quickly interrupted by Triple H, who made some hilarious jokes about Edge that had the crowd in stitches. Seeing his new video and music was awesome. When John Cena came out, the crowd was mixed, although on TV it may seem he got a lot of boos. The 3-way stand-off was ended by the arrival of the Spirit Squad, who danced around like idiots before announcing that the night's main event would feature Edge, John Cena and Triple H vs. the entire Spirit Squad.

 

Matt Striker cut a promo having a pop at the English. Maria stuck up for the Brits in her own dense, loveable way. She later hosted the Kiss-cam, which got quite a few good snogs, including a full-on HLA kiss and another one with a guy kissing anohter guy on the cheek.

 

Chris Masters, Matt Striker & Shelton Benjamin vs. Rob Van Dam, Charlie Haas & Carlito

Enjoyable match which ended with a cluster of finishers, including Rob Van Dam's rolling thunder and flying kick before pinning Matt Striker with the 5-Star Frog Splash.

 

Kane & Big Show were backstage, With Show asking Kane what May 19th was all about. Kane told Big Show not to mention that date, but Show did anyway, receiving a beating for his troubles. Kane badly hurt Show's eye during the assault, leaving the 7-footer in agony. Movie promotion if ever I saw it.

 

Todd Grisham came out to a curious set of boos and did a quick trivia round, focussing on English wrestlers (Bulldog and Regal).

 

Diva Bikini Contest

Torrie Wilson, Candace Michelle, Maria & Victoria all took part, and all looked hot! The crowd was hottest for Maria, but Coach announced Candace as the winner. When he tried to get off with her, Viscera interrupted and did unspeakable things to the Coach before getting a kiss from Candace.

 

Umaga vs. jobber

I went to the toilet during this match, but it was a quick squash. Only notable because Ric Flair ran in and attacked Umaga after the bell, and strutted around doing his "Wooo" thing. Umaga won, by the way.

 

Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels

Vince was at ringside for this one, and intervened sparingly. When it looked like HBK had it won after his elbow drop, and was tuning up the band for Sweet Chin Music, the tables were turned by Vinnie Mac, and Shawn was laid out on the announcers table for Shane to hit an incredible elbow drop from the turnbuckle. "Holy shit" chants followed, then Vince proclaimed that at Backlash, God would abandon HBK.

 

Mickie James came out, in normal gear, to state that she was done copying Trish Stratus and didn't need to be her any more, as she was now better than Trish. Miss Stratus then came out wearing exactly the same outfit as Mickie, and cut her off whenever she attempted to speak. Having had enough, Mickie instigated a brawl which ended with Trish hitting the Chick Kick and prancing away all happy-like.

 

Triple H, Edge & John Cena vs. Spirit Squad

Even though the SS got in some offence, it wasn't enough to look credible. Edge and HHH exchaned hard tags in the early part of the match before Cena got involved, to a cacophony of boos. The match ended when Cena and HHH executed their finishers simultaneously, and Edge hoped to seize the advantage by hitting HHH with a Spear. Attempting to do the same to Cena, he was hoisted up and FU'ed, the match forgotten. After the show, Cena cut a long rambling promo which basically stated that he didn't mind if "The London Chain Gang" cheered him or for "DX" (HHH) but either way he would win at Backlash.

 

The crowd was mega-hot throughout, cheering both faces and heels. The biggest pop, however, would have to go to HHH. Loudest boos befell Cena. The crowd chanted "England" a few times, and seemed genuinely hacked off by Striker's promo, and a later one with the Spirit Squad belittling England's chances in the upcoming World Cup. Quick note to WWE though: stop mentioning the Spice Girls when trying to get UK heat. They broke up years ago. There wasn't a shirt-gun, but WWE did a good job of getting the fans involved and keeping them occupied. We even got a Mexican wave going, which was a laugh. Plenty of kids about too, who cheered for Cena when the adults booed him. Loads of people were doing the "Mr. Kennedy...." line, oddly enough. People were chanting Wooooo everywhere, in the arena before the show, at the train station on the way home, waiting for the show to start, everywhere! Flair was over like Jehovah.

 

Anyway, hope that helps,

Rich Southby

[CanadianChris 0]

- Jobber vs. Umaga up next. The jobber is Steve Billington of England. Umaga wins.

Any relation to Dynamite Kid, I wonder?

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Big Show got his eye GOUGED out? Are you friggin' kidding me? If this isn't wrestlecrap I dunno what is.

 

I shudder to think about what we'll see when John Cena becomes THE MARINE!!!!

[cabbageboy 0]

Maybe Cena can form a tag team with Booker T. under his G.I. Bro gimmick? They can hire Greg Gagne as their manager and he can don the Rambo gear once more.

 

I'm baffled at that 6 man tag. Now RVD is teaming with Carlito, the very man who reinjured his knee and kept him out of action for 6 months?? I have to wonder what that means, the clean 5 star on Shelton like that. I'm telling you, this has lame DQ written all over it at the PPV.

[k thx 0]

Ken Doane and Johnny Jeter in the main event?

 

Fuck it, I'm there.

[Si82 0]

Likely to be a HHH win over Edge so Cena keeps his credibility with a loss.

Cena has "credibility"?

[Silence 0]

Maybe Cena can form a tag team with Booker T. under his G.I. Bro gimmick? They can hire Greg Gagne as their manager and he can don the Rambo gear once more.

 

I'm baffled at that 6 man tag. Now RVD is teaming with Carlito, the very man who reinjured his knee and kept him out of action for 6 months?? I have to wonder what that means, the clean 5 star on Shelton like that. I'm telling you, this has lame DQ written all over it at the PPV.

 

I'm thinking that Cena's going to "shoot" HHH with a machine gun or something while wearing warpaint.

 

As for RVD teaming with Carlito, it seems as if WWE continues to act as if two wrestlers have no issues anymore due to them both being face/heel now, much like with HHH/Austin, or Jericho/Eddie in 2000 when it was Eddie who beat Jericho for the European title the night after Wrestlemania.

[Dark Age 0]

How does one confuse Matt Striker and Shelton Benjamin? They're nowhere NEAR the same size.

[haVoc 0]

We always complain about guys like Benoit and RVD not being used right, but Kane puts up with more crap then all the work-rate guys. Kane deserves a push and a pay raise for all the bullshit he puts up with.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah but the thing is this goofy Kane stuff is part of his character and gimmick. He's a lunatic nutjob character. This psycho shit he's doing right now is likely their idea of giving him a bigger push.

 

Can we get a clarification on that 6 man? Did RVD pin Shelton or Striker? If he pinned Striker that makes sense, but pinning Shelton clean before Backlash would be moronic.

[pochorenella 0]

Can we get a clarification on that 6 man? Did RVD pin Shelton or Striker? If he pinned Striker that makes sense, but pinning Shelton clean before Backlash would be moronic.

 

From 411Mania.com:

 

1) Rob Van Dam & Charlie Haas & Carlito defeated Chris Masters & Matt Striker & Shelton Benjamin. The crowd was very into Carlito despite the fact he was not involved too much in the match until the end. In fact I think the most popular t-shirt there was Carlito's. Pretty good six man action, live anyway, with RVD being singled out by the heels for a beat down. The usual disintegration into a brawl happened and ended with RVD going up for the Five-Star Frog Splash on Striker (I think - he and Masters looked very similar from where we were way back). Good pop for all the faces here.

[Neil-o-Mac 0]

Big Show got his eye GOUGED out? Are you friggin' kidding me? If this isn't wrestlecrap I dunno what is.

 

Big Show's new gimmick: Cheatum the One-Eyed Giant?

[reign 0]

Are they just testing the D-X thing or what? The set up is being built up pretty good...stick Cena with Vince and we could then have a DX reunion that would almost for sure bring WWE out of this slump...and it would propel Edge into more of a heel as well if he turned against them...

[Hawk 34 0]

Are they just testing the D-X thing or what? The set up is being built up pretty good...stick Cena with Vince and we could then have a DX reunion that would almost for sure bring WWE out of this slump...and it would propel Edge into more of a heel as well if he turned against them...

 

How would DX 4.0 change anything and bring them out of the "slump". Dragging DX from it's grave is no different then the various incarnations of the NWO that never worked. DX coming back wouldn't be any different from the way Foley and Austin are used now. The same act from 1998 and would hold very little impact. DX, would get inital interest based off curiosity but like in the case of Austin and Foley, it wouldn't change anything.

 

How are you supposed to improve when you keep relying on things that used to work but aren't going to work again.

[Guest croweater]

Edge pretty much has a DX esque gimmik at the moment, reforming DX would do nothing but dilute Edge's character.

[Angle-plex 0]

I wonder if WWE will edit the crowd reactions at all.

[Hawk 34 0]

Edge pretty much has a DX esque gimmik at the moment, reforming DX would do nothing but dilute Edge's character.

 

Edge, is a watered down Brian Pillman. He isn't a DX-type character. There is a difference.

[Si82 0]

Are they just testing the D-X thing or what? The set up is being built up pretty good...stick Cena with Vince and we could then have a DX reunion that would almost for sure bring WWE out of this slump...and it would propel Edge into more of a heel as well if he turned against them...

Personally I don't think they are going anywhere with this DX thing. Shawn probably just decieded to do it as a spur of the moment thing and when Triple H heard the pop it got thought he would do it to. That's why I think they keep doing it, to get a cheap pop.

[Guest treecelightning]

I don't think they should recreate DX. Neither Tripple H or Shawn Michaels fit in a DX type stable anymore. They've both moved past it in one way or another. Tripple H just isn't that juvenile anymore. He's the King of Kings, The Monarch of the Matt, The Cerebral Assassin. Restarting DX is a HUGE step backwards for him. Shawn Michaels won't work as a heel unless you plan to use him exclusively in Canada. I just don't see it working.

 

All that being said, I think it's time for them to make a concerted effort to establish a new stable on at least one of the shows.

 

I'd actually be interested in seeing Flair go to Smackdown and establish a new 4 Horsemen. I'm thinking Benoit, Gunner Scott, Finlay, and either Flair as their fourth, or (what I'd prefer) Lashley with Flair as their manager. That's probably wrestling sacrillage, but hell just throw that stable together (w/ Flair managing) and call it something else. Either way, you've got a legitimate Main Title contender (Benoit), two immediate midcard Title contenders (Finlay and Lashley), and a new promissing up-and-comer (Gunner Scott). Any combination of the four works as a contender for the tag titles (I'd probably go Finlay/Gunner Scott).

 

All 4 currently have different variations on "intense" as their gimmicks, so it shouldn't be that difficult to convincingly throw them together and have them mesh well. All of them have looked good in the ring together and with others. Hell, I'm not even really a fan of Finlay, but he just seems to "fit" to me.

 

I'm probably babbling nonsense, but that's what just popped into my head, so there ya go.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Now if HHH took the High Spirits, I'd definitely tune in for that.

[Enigma 0]

Meltzer said if they do a HBK/HHH DX Reunion, they would be faces and HHH would be turned full face after Backlash IF they did it. There's still no promises.