Monday Night Raw – October 10, 2005: Guess Who’s Back
IMG Credit: WWE
Monday Night Raw
Date: October 10, 2005
Location: American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Jonathan Coachman
Last week was a big show with Homecoming and now we get to build towards the next big thing with Taboo Tuesday. There is a lot of fallout to deal with from last week, including HHH turning on Ric Flair and beating him to a bloody pulp last week. Other than that, Steve Austin Stunned every McMahon in sight, including Linda for the first time. That doesn’t bode well so let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We look back at Homecoming, which means the Austin/McMahons segment.
Opening sequence.
Here’s Stephanie McMahon to open things up. She’s livid at Austin for Stunning every member of her family last week and there was even a poll on WWE.com asking which of them they liked seeing get Stunned. It was her, and that’s because everyone is intimidated by her looks and her mind, but also because she’s Vince McMahon’s daughter.
That means no one can stop her…and something has her attention. A production worker is telling Stephanie to wrap it up so we can go to a commercial (six minutes into the show). Stephanie slaps him, plus Lilian Garcia for looking at her wrong, with Stephanie promising that Vince is going to fire someone. She goes to leave but Stephanie gets up on the announcers’ table and says the b**** is back. And it’s going to take her years to leave isn’t it?
Doink the Clown vs. Rob Conway
Doink starts fast with some rollups for two each and a poke to the eye annoys Conway even more. That’s too far for Conway, who knocks him into the corner and chokes a bit, setting up the Ego Trip for the quick win.
Post match, Conway calls out the legends, saying he’s coming for them. Cue Eugene for the save but Conway beats him down as well. Conway vs. low level legends would be fine enough, as long as he’s on a different show than Randy Orton.
Video on HHH returning and attacking Ric Flair last week.
It’s time for Carlito’s Cabana. Carlito talks about how people are wondering who should be the #1 contender and after last week’s Iron Man match….but here’s Kurt Angle to interrupt. Before he can yell at Carlito, here’s Shawn Michaels to interrupt him. Shawn says nothing was clear last week, which is why he wanted sudden death but Angle walked away. That tells Shawn that either Angle doesn’t want to be WWE Champion or he doesn’t want any more of Shawn.
Angle doesn’t like that but here’s Big Show to interrupt as well (with Shawn grabbing a drink out of a coconut). Big Show has realized something but here are Edge and Lita to interrupt. Edge says he’s the only one with a guaranteed title shot and he retained it last week. He thinks Stephanie and Vince should freeze all title shots until he cashes in the briefcase.
Carlito doesn’t think so because he should be #1 contender. Cue John Cena and the place is rather pleased to see him. Cena raps about all of them (believe it or not, there are a lot of gay jokes), including that Lita is just a sl**. He also gets in the line about how he’s a pinwheel so Edge can blow him, which he would use on Rock in his first big response in 2011. In short, Cena doesn’t care who he faces.
Chris Masters vs. Tajiri
Tajiri jumps him during the entrance and strikes away for two inside. Masters gets in a few shots to knock Tajiri down, only to get kicked in the head a few times. The Tarantula does its thing, followed by a superkick for two. Masters is right back with the Masterlock for the fast win.
HHH runs into Shawn in the back. Shawn says last week was too much but HHH just laughs at him and keeps walking. Next up is Big Show with a threat, followed by Cena, who has lost respect for HHH. That doesn’t work for HHH, who says Cena should watch his place. Cena says come get some, so HHH says when he wants it, he’ll take it. There’s your seed planted.
Here’s HHH for the big fallout interview. HHH laughs at people thinking he went too far because no one was a bigger Flair mark than him. That’s why he was so excited when Flair came here in 2001, but Flair was a shell of himself. Then HHH let Flair sit at his right hand and Flair appeared to be great again. HHH spent some time at home though and he saw Ric Flair getting spat on, with apple hanging off his face. Then the people cheered when Flair fought back and won the Intercontinental Title, when Flair reveled in his newfound mediocrity.
That’s when HHH knew what he had to do: he took the horse behind the barn and pulled the trigger. The fans want Flair but HHH tells Flair not to listen to that. They’re just driving him further into the ground because without HHH, Flair is nothing. He’s not the dirtiest player in the game because he’s not in the game anymore. For Flair, the game is over. That’s a good explanation and last week’s beatdown was good, but Flair’s promo better be as fiery as it can be to live up to the hype.
Women’s Title: Trish Stratus vs. Victoria
Trish is defending and starts fast with the Matrish but Stratusfaction is broken up with straight power. Victoria stands on her hair and pulls before the spinning side slam gets two. Some forearms get Trish out of trouble but the Stratusphere is countered into the Boston crab. That’s broken up as well and Trish grabs a northern lights suplex to retain.
Rating: C. It was rather action packed but there is only so much you can do in just shy of four minutes. Trish is still dying for some fresh competition and Victoria really doesn’t qualify. It’s better than having her face Torrie or Candice though, as that would be little more than a disaster.
Post match the beatdown is on but a woman runs in through the crowd and beats up Victoria before handing the title to Trish.
Post break Trish is hobbling through the back when the woman comes up and introduces herself as Mickie James (and she’s recently signed with Raw so security isn’t as bad as it seems). Trish recognizes the name and Mickie says she’s written Trish a bunch of letters because she’s Trish’s biggest fan. Trish seems a bit weary.
Carlito/Kurt Angle/Edge vs. Shawn Michaels/John Cena/Big Show
Lita is here too. Cena and Edge start things off with the Canadian getting a boot up in the corner. It’s already off to Show, who chops Carlito hard in the corner. For some reason Edge tries to suplex Show and gets sent into the corner for his efforts. A triple splash crushes the villains and we take a break.
Back with Angle suplexing Cena and it’s Edge coming in for a kick to the head. Cena gets over for the tag to Shawn anyway though and Sweet Chin Music is loaded up, only to have Angle clothesline him down. Angle snaps off a German suplex and we hit the bodyscissors to work on the ribs. A quick distraction lets Angle throw Shawn outside for a spear from Edge and we take another break.
Back again with Angle suplexing Shawn for two as Cena makes a save. Carlito’s chinlock doesn’t last long so he hits a dropkick for two instead. Shawn fights up on Carlito and almost falls over to make the tag to Show, meaning house can be cleaned. Show even throws in a You Can’t See Me to Angle so Cena NEEDS to come in. The Shuffle gets two on Angle and Show superkicks Edge over the barricade. The FU to Angle is broken up so Cena grabs an ankle lock, only to get rolled up to give Angle the pin.
Rating: B. This was your big time main event and the pin should set up the title match at Taboo Tuesday, in case you didn’t get enough of Cena vs. Angle so far. They could get another match or two out of this one as well so that’s some rather efficient booking. Rather good main event style tag match and that’s what they were going for with this one.
We look back at Stephanie being a psycho.
Kane is back next week.
Here’s Vince McMahon to fire someone. He recaps the situation and says someone has to be blamed because that’s what Americans like to do. Maybe Eric Bischoff should be fired, but that’s too easy. It’s Steve Austin who should be blamed, but Vince won’t do that either. Instead, he blames the fans for encouraging the Steve Austins of the world. Therefore, everyone around the world should consider themselves a WWE employee. Therefore, they’re ALL FIRED!
There were three people who enjoyed it too much though so the announcers need to get in the ring. Vince and Shane can take care of themselves but the three of them let Stephanie and Linda take Stunners last week. Vince wants an apology and yes their jobs depend on it. Coach apologizes as you would expect him to and Lawler says if he has to in order to save his job, then so be it. Lawler and Coach are dismissed and JR apologizes that Linda got Stunned.
Vince accepts that as well…..but he wants JR to apologize to Stephanie personally. Stephanie demands her own apology so JR says he’s sorry her mama got Stunned. Vince calls Shane out but gets Linda instead, with Vince and Stephanie being rather surprised. Linda can’t let this keep going because the only way to get what you want is by taking action. Therefore, JR is fired, as well as kicked low to end the show with Vince being very pleased, even mocking the Rockette kicks for a funny moment.
Overall Rating: C. This show flew by and while they have a few interesting things coming up, the heavy focus on the McMahons is not exactly giving me hope for the near future. It seems that they are going to be the focal point for a long time to come and that is rarely a good thing. If nothing else, having Stephanie back as the Billion Dollar Princess could get old in a hurry and that seems to be where we’re going. Maybe the rest of the stuff can overcome it, but that has rarely been the case before.
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