Your Announcers are Jonathan Coachman and-Todd Grisham?
No pyros, we get straight to business...
1st Match: Mr. Shelton Benjamin vs. (self-proclaimed) Heat GM Steven Richards. Referee is Mike Chioda.
As the guys make their entrances Coach announces that he and Todd are the new Heat team-it seems our pal Al Snow has been re-assigned. I'm guessing he's headed to Smackdown to work with the new Tough Enough contestants.
Anyways, decent pop for Shelton, good heat for Steven. Circling into the lockup, Shelton cinches in a waistlock, he and Steven trade armbars until Shelton gets the takedown. Steven gets to the ropes to force the break, then charges into an awkward looking armdrag. Shelton again applies the armbar, Steven gets his feet on the ropes, another break is ordered. Steven in with trash talking and a cissy shove, Shelton easily blocks a right and scores with a fireman's carry takedown. Forearms to the face follow, Steven tries to bail, as Shelton drags him back in Steven connects with an enzugiri. Shelton drops, Steven lays in the boots and scores with the neckbreaker. Elbow drop gets 2. Steven goes for the very blatant choke on the ropes, he follows with a dropkick that sends Shelton crawling to a corner. Steven keeps Shelton mat bound with a rear chinlock, Shelton gets to his feet and escapes via jawbreaker. Steven recovers quickly and looks for the bellowing suplex, Shelton floats over and scores with a neckbreaker. Both men rise at the count of 7, Shelton fires off straight shots to the gut and wild haymakers to the face, right cross and clothesline send Steven to the canvas. Shelton hauls him to ropes, Steven gets shot to opposite and rebounds into a back elbow. He quickly rises, only to go down to a side leg sweep that gets 2. Boys take places in opposite corners, Steven ducks under the Stinger Splash-Shelton scouts it and leaps to the top turnbuckle, Steven rises on rubber legs, Shelton connects big with a flying clothesline. Steven appears out for the count as he slowly rises in a corner, Shelton catches him from behind with the S. Splash, Steven staggers into an overhead slam, 1-2-3. Pretty good opener.
Winner: Shelton Benjamin.
During the match Coach and Todd reminded us that either man could get a shot at Living Legend Chris Jericho's Intercontinental title at this week's Taboo Tuesday PPV, hey even Coach could get the nod! Voting begins tomorrow night at 10 p.m. Check for details here on PWI or at WWE.com.
Later on: Molly Holly & Gail Kim vs. Victoria & Nidia. Break.
Back, video rehashes the Lita/Kane/Gene Snitsky pregnancy/miscarriage angle. At TabTues Kane and and Geno will square off in a 'Weapon of Choice' match.
Raw recap: Last week a tag match, Steven R. and Val Venis vs. The Hurricane and Rosey, never took place due to Kane going ballistic on all 4 men. Brunt of his fury was felt by Val, who took a hellish series of chair shots as he attempted to crawl up the ramp. He ended up being stretchered to the back.
Coach and Todd recon that Mr. Snitsky may meet the same, or a worse, fate at TabTues. Break.
WWE Rewind: From last Monday, Batista (another cat looking for the IC title shot) beats the hell out of Y2J.
Back to the ring...
2nd Match: Chuck Palumbo vs. Tajiri (both guys are also on the IC title shot ballot). Referee is Jack Doan.
Mild heat for Chuck, surprisingly light pop for the Buzzsaw. Bell rings, circling into the lockup, Chuck scoops Tajiri up and casually rams him back first into a corner. Chuck hauls him out and looks for his modified Samoan Drop early, Tajiri floats through and lays in a series of kicks to the lower legs. Tajiri goes off ropes, Chuck whiffs on a haymaker, Tajiri bounces back and scores with a flying head scissors takedown. Tajiri in with kicks in the corner, Chuck easily puts the brakes on a whip attempt, Tajiri to opposite corner, Chuck charges, Tajiri springboards over and locks in the Tarantula. Ref demands the break, Tajiri sets for the Kick of Death, Chuck catches the boot and connects with a clothesline. Tajiri drops, Chuck takes a quick pose break before hauling him up, Tajiri again gets rammed back first into a corner. Chuck whips Tajiri into a short arm clothesline, laying in of the boots follows, Tajiri rises and goes back to work on the legs with kicks, Chuck stays up and gets a knockdown with a straight punch. Tajiri gets hauled up and snapmared, effortless boots to the gut and back follow, Chuck finally goes for the cover and gets 2. Chuck rakes the jaw, ref insists on a break, Tajiri gets hauled up in a side chinlock, he elbows out but Chuck keeps the momentum with a forearm to the back, Tajiri to ropes, Chuck whips him to opposite and sets for the back body drop, Tajiri scouts it and issues a nice stiff kick to the face. Tajiri goes off ropes, lying cross body sends Chuck down for a quick 2. Both men up, Chuck scores with a running clothesline and gets 2. Boots to the downed man are issued, Chuck goes back to the side chinlock, Tajiri tries to use the knees to escape but gets shoved into a corner. Chuck whips him to opposite, Tajiri connects with a pair of boots to the face as he charges in, spinning heel kick follows, both men go down but rise at the count of 5. Punches and kicks are exchanged, Chuck gets backed to the ropes, Tajiri goes for the whip, Chuck reverses, Tajiri rebounds and connects with the handspring elbow, body scissors into a bulldog follows, Chuck down for 2. Both men up, Chuck scores with a kneelift, Tajiri floats through a suplex attempt, Chuck decides to forget about this 'wrestling' stuff and lays him out with a straight right, good for 2. Chuck hauls Tajiri up in a corner, Chuck stays in close as he whips him to opposite, Tajiri springboards and looks for a hurricanrana, Chuck catches him and sets for a powerslam. Tajiri pushes off and lands on his feet, he blocks a boot and connects with a superkick RIGHT on the button, Chuck drops, Tajiri covers and gets all 3. Meat and potatoes, but pretty good meat and potatoes.
Winner: Tajiri.
Women's tag match is hyped before we break.
Back, we hear from some U.K. WWE fans.
Taboo Tuesday gets hyped. Full rundown of the card is available elsewhere on PWI. Nothing new announced tonight. Break.
More Raw recap. Last Monday Edge, Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels (the 3 cats looking for a World title shot at TabTues) got a win over Ric Flair, Batista and the man that currently holds the big belt, HHH. Edge (the only one of the 'fan favorite' crew to recieve boos throughout) nearly cost his team the match, but ended up being the one to pin Hunter after HBK scored with Sweet Chin Music (out of Edge's line of sight). Post-match the boos increased as the Edgester talked trash on his partners and demanded the title shot. Crippler was ready to do more than cripple him when Shawn decided to play voice of reason. He conducted an impromptu poll of the fans-who did they want to see face HHH, Edge? MAJOR boos. Benoit? Big cheers. Himself? Cheers until Edge laid him out with the Spear. At that point our beloved Raw GM Eric Bischoff appeared to restore order. He announced that all 3 will get the chance to prove their worthiness of a title shot next week (tomorrow night); they'll square off in a Triple Threat match. Benoit then went to check on HBK-as Edge laid him out with another Spear.
Coach points out that the real winner of the Triple Threat will be HHH-he'll get to sit back and watch his potential opponents beat the hell out of each other. Nice point actually, since TabTues will take place the following night. Break.
Slam of the Week: From last Monday, after Molly H. had gotten a win over Stacy Keibler, she was joined by Women's Champion Trish Stratus and Gail K. for a post-match beatdown. Save was made by Victoria and Nidia.
Main Event:
3rd Match: Gail Kim & Molly Holly vs. Victoria & Nidia. Referee is Chad Patton.
Decent heat for the heel girls, BIG pop for the sweethearts (who treat the fans to some mildly lewd dancing before making their way down-the ramp, that is). Bell rings, Victoria and Molly start and circle, quick lockup, Molly goes on the attack immediately with a kneelift and forearms to the back, Victoria eats canvas. Victoria gets whipped into a neutral corner, Molly gets leapfrogged as she charges in, Victoria takes her down with an armdrag. Both ladies up, Victoria scores with another great looking armdrag, Molly staggers up into a slam, Victoria backflips, covers, gets 2. Molly gets hauled up, issues a rake of the face, Victoria drops, Gail gets the tag. She charges RIGHT into a powerslam (DAMN Victoria seems fired up tonight!) that gets a quick 2. Victoria drags Gail up and wrings the arm, tag is made, Gail gets the double team whip into the double team hiptoss into the double team elbow drop! Ref tells Victoria to git back to her corner as Nidia covers for 2. Gail gets hauled up and clubbered at the ropes, Nidia scores with a Northern Lights suplex into a bridge, Gail again down for 2. Another NLS into a bridge, this time Molly graciously makes the save with a kick to the back. I love Molly. Gail gets in a quick boot before making the tag, Molly keeps Nidia grounded with elbow drops and gets a 2 count. Choke on the ropes by Molly, ref insists on a break. Nidia fires off weak punches to the gut before being dragged into heel girl corner, tag is made, Molly and Gail lay in the boots, Nidia tries to pull herself up at the ropes, Molly grabs her legs and drops her back first onto Gails knees. Nice! Molly exits as Nidia writhes in pain, Gail hauls her up and shoves her face first into 2nd rope, Nidia back to the canvas. Boots to the back by Gail, Nidia gets snapmared, knee to the small of the back follows, Nidia tries to make the tag, Gail drags her back and makes the tag. Molly takes over on the back before cinching in a rear chinlock, Nidia staggers up and elbows out, Molly keeps the momentum with a kneelift into a backbreaker. Nidia appears in agony as Molly lays in a quick slap, from out of nowhere she manages a rollup, Molly down for 2. Short arm clothesline puts Nidia back on the canvas. From behind Molly rakes the face, ref demands a break. Molly breaks off to knock Victoria off the apron with a cheap shot, she quickly recovers and looks for payback without benefit of the tag, ref shoos her off as Molly and Gail lay in the boots to Nidia out of his line of sight. Nefarious heel tactics. LOVE 'EM.
Funny bit here worthy of DeMott and Mathews over on Velocity. Coach opines that Chad should be named 'referee of the year'. Todd: "As Gorilla Monsoon used to say to Bobby Heenan, you are a fountain of misinformation." Looks like someone set him down with a handful of tapes-smart move!
Back to business. Nidia gets whipped into heel corner, Gail keeps her propped up as Molly goes for the handspring back elbow, Nidia manages to duck under, Molly into 'buckles. Nidia crawls to make the tag, Molly tries to prevent but gets kicked back to her corner, Victoria finally gets the tag (man England seems to love her!). Molly and Gail rush in and get laid out by straight rights, latter goes down to a sidewalk slam, Molly makes the save. Nidia charges in and Spears Molly, they both roll out, Victoria blocks a punch from Gail before MURDALIZING her with the dreaded Widow's Peak, cover is made, 1-2-3. Damn good match.
Coach and Todd quickly hype tomorrow night's Raw to end the show.
Short form match results (all victories by pinfall):
1. Shelton Benjamin defeated Steven Richards.
2. Tajiri defeated Chuck Palumbo.
3. Nidia & Victoria defeated Gail Kim & Molly Holly.
