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By James Caldwell, Torch columnist

WWE Raw Live Report
April 14, 2008
London, England

The show started with William Regal sitting backstage having a cup of tea. Big reaction from the crowd. JBL then walked in and said he doesn't care about Regal being in his home country because he's a spineless puppet just like this country. He asked Regal how he can just give Hunter and Cena title shots at Backlash. Regal said it's a good thing he made it a four-way because otherwise he would have been making people pay to see a crappy match between JBL and Orton. JBL said he just wants a chartered jet out of here so he can return home to NYC. Regal said he's been too accommodating lately, so he's going to make some changes. He started by booking JBL in a match tonight...against Triple H. Crowd liked that. JBL sneered and turned away.

Announcers: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler welcomed us to the show. Ross announced 17,363 in attendance tonight.

In-ring: Shawn Michaels started the show dressed for a night of county dancing. Ross with a good line that everyone is talking about Michaels vs. Batista wherever he goes. Crowd was red-hot for Michaels here. Michaels said the last thing he wants to do is address the issue between himself and Batista (boos). He recapped the Ric Flair issue of them achieving closure, and everyone being able to accept that except for Batista (more boos). Michaels said he knows it's tough for Batista to no longer Flair in his life anymore. Did Flair die? He said they got to the real issue on Smackdown, though, when Batista made it plain that he just doesn't like Michaels.

Michaels said he loves this job and he knows this is what he was made to do. He said he's apologized for a lot of his actions in the past, but now he's sick and tired of apologizing for his past. Michaels said beating Flair didn't boost his ego, but kicking Batista's teeth down his throat will boost his ego.

Suddenly, Ric Flair's music hit, but there was no sign of Flair. Instead, after a lengthy pause, Chris Jericho strutted out on stage. Jericho said he had to do that to make a point. He said we'll never hear that music again because of Michaels. Dr. Jericho accused Michaels of being a phony... at least that's what Batista thinks. Jericho said Michaels loves being Shawn Michaels more than anything else. He said that deep down inside, Michaels enjoyed retiring Flair. Jericho then said it's true that Michaels enjoyed screwing Bret Hart because he was built to do it. He said if Michaels would just admit he was built to screw others, then Batista could get over it.

Jericho then suggested Michaels must have suggested the Flair retirement stipulation to Vince McMahon in the first place. Michaels smirked, then took a few steps back before smashing Jericho square in the jaw with the superkick. Big pop for Michaels. Michaels then stood over Jericho and gave him a wry smile. "I admit, that felt pretty darn good," he said. Michaels put his Cowboy hat back on and took his finger around the brim before walking out of the ring. That segment took forever, but Michaels got the point across. Depending on how much this was edited, it was surprising to see Michaels getting such a strong reaction, but it's consistent with post-Flair crowd reactions.

[Commercial Break]

[Q2]

Announcers: Ross and Lawler announced the return of the King of the Ring tournament next Monday. He said it will be a one-night deal to determine the next King of the Ring.

1 -- SANTINO MARELLA & CARLITO vs. BRIAN KENDRICK & PAUL LONDON -- #1 Contender match to World Tag Titles

Two minutes into the match, they cut backstage to show the tag champs Holly & Rhodes watching the action on a monitor. After basic tag action, all four men ended up in the ring, but Kendrick flew over the top rope and ate the floor. London cleared Santino, but then Carlito caught London from behind with the backstabber for the pin and the win.

WINNERS: Carlito & Santino in 4:00. Fine match with good focus on the tag division. (*)

Post-match: Carlito cut a promo in Spanish on Holly & Rhodes. Santino then cut a promo in his great broken English. He said there are three keys to being World tag champs: strength, agility, and being international superstars. Santino said they are the real wieners. "You mean winners?" Carlito asked. Santino said, yes, wieners! They hugged and Santino's music hit. I love tag wrestling.

[Commercial Break]

[Q3]

Ringside: Ross and Lawler plugged the new WWE Kids magazine. Lawler was enthralled by the puzzles and educational resources. Ross said it's fun for the whole family and debuts tomorrow.

2 -- Women's champion BETH PHOENIX vs. MICKIE JAMES -- Women's Title match

The shoulda-been-at-WrestleMania match was given the formal ring intro from Lillian Garcia. Could have used a pre-match promo from Mickie, but Ross and Lawler effectively established the storyline of Mickie never being able to beat Beth heretofore. Beth dominated for three minutes, including a crazy rocking horse submission hold. Mickie then smashed Beth into the corner turnbuckle before landing a spinning head scissors. Beth came back with a double chicken wing submission attempt, but Mickie spun into a victory roll and scored a three count for the pin and the win. Mickie celebrated with the belt afterward, while Beth was in a state of shock from losing the belt.

WINNER: Mickie James in 5:00 to capture the Women's Title. Nice moment for Mickie, and hopefully (maybe, just maybe) the start of a resurgence in the Women's division. Crowd was quiet for this, so WWE has an uphill battle getting people to care about women's wrestling that doesn't involve heavy focus on T&A. (*1/4)

[Commercial Break]

On-stage: They showed Maria and Ashley celebrating with Mickie James on stage with the new champion. Todd Grisham then brought in Mickie to comment on the victory. She was so elated that she lost control of her senses and planted a big kiss on Grisham, who collapsed to the stage. Mickie then hugged the other divas again. Ringside, Lawler said Mickie did the unthinkable... kissed Grisham. Ross laughed, then plugged the Backlash card.

Backstage: Mike Adamle brought in William Regal for an interview while Regal was doing warm-up squats. Adamle asked Regal why he decided to take on the best in world. He said he wanted to prove he could beat the very best. Chris Jericho then walked in and said he wanted to be in the middle of Michaels vs. Batista at Backlash. Regal said he could be special referee. Jericho said that's not good enough because he wants to wrestle. Regal said Jericho can wrestle Umaga tonight. Jericho complained, so Regal said he would be defending the IC Title on top of that. Regal went back to his squats.

[Q4]

[Commercial Break]

Video package: They plugged Mick Foley in a movie, Anamorph starring William Dafoe, and showed clips of Foley in action. Movie starts this Friday in New York.

In-ring: Cryme Tyme came to the ring and did their Money Money routine. Shad said people like to get those Euros, Euros, yeah yeah. That was interesting. Cade and Murdoch interrupted, though. An inset promo from earlier in the day aired, showing Lance Cade giving Murdoch a pep talk.

3 - J.T.G. (w/Shad Gaspar) vs. TREVOR MURDOCH (w/Lance Cade)

Early in the match, Murdoch went up top for a big splash, but JTG rolled through the cross body block and scored a quick pin for the win. Afterward, Murdoch, who was lost a considerable amount of weight, tried to explain himself to Cade, who simply patted him on the shoulder and left. Murdoch needed something more, though. Poor guy.

WINNER: JTG in 2:00. That was short. (1/2*)

Backstage: They showed WWE champion Randy Orton walking backstage. He turned down the hallway and stared into space with the camera focusing on his piercing glare.

[Commercial Break]

ECW plug: Kane and The Undertaker unite to face destruction.

Video package: They focused on past kings through history, and now it's King of the Ring on Raw next week featuring stars from Raw, Smackdown, and ECW.

[Q5 -- second hour]

In-ring: Randy Orton came to the ring and took the mic. Orton said people think he got lucky at WrestleMania, but he prefers being called WWE champion. Orton said he's beaten everyone there is to beat, but tonight he gets the added bonus of beating the Raw GM, William Regal, in his own country. Orton said it doesn't matter what continent we're on because everyone is living in the Age of Orton. William Regal then strutted out to the ring in a fine robe to a nice reaction.

4 -- WWE champion RANDY ORTON vs. WILLIAM REGAL -- non-title match

Really intense match to start off with. Gotta love the football crowd chants from the audience to get under Orton's skin. Regal made a comeback on Orton with a reverse fisherman suplex, dropping Orton on the back of his neck for a nearfall. Regal landed more suplexes before smashing Orton with a running knee lift for a close count. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Orton dropped Regal with the RKO in center ring. Orton made the cover for the win.

WINNER: Orton in 6:00. Very physical, tight match. Nice display of offense from both men in presenting a more believable contest that we typically see on TV. A light version of Joe vs. Angle. They did a fine job prior to this match of building up Regal as a half-way credible wrestler to hang with the WWE champion despite being an authority figure. (**)

Backstage: Umaga cut a promo in his native tongue.

[Commercial Break]

SD plug: They focused on The Undertaker vs. Batista on Smackdown this Friday night.

In-ring: Umaga came out to face Jericho. Ross and Lawler plugged the three-hour Raw next week presented by USA Network to determine the King of the Ring. Jericho then came out selling a sore and potentially injured jaw. Lillian Garcia handled the formal intros for the IC Title match. Boos for Umaga. Mix of boos and cheers for Jericho.

[Q6]

5 -- IC champion CHRIS JERICHO vs. UMAGA -- Intercontinental Title match

The bell sounded and Umaga went right after Jericho's jaw. Jericho blocked a corner splash, but Umaga came right back with a big clothesline and knee-slapping splash for a nearfall. Umaga then used Jericho's momentum against him and lifted Jericho into the air and over the top rope onto the floor. Cut to a break.

[Commercial Break]

They returned with Jericho going for ten punches, only to have Umaga push-shove him off the turnbuckle to the mat. Umaga slapped on a nervehold at 7:00, then broke free and pulled the ropes down to cause Umaga to fly over the ropes to the floor. Jericho followed with a baseball slide dropkick through the ropes, but Jericho ran into a clothesline when he tried to follow up on the floor. Back in the ring, Jericho blocked a rear end splash, then went for a body slam, but Umaga collapsed on his chest for a two count. Umaga went back on the attack at 11:00 with repeated blows to the jaw. He dragged Jericho to the corner and set up for the big running rear end splash at 13:00, but Jericho moved and Umaga ate turnbuckle. Jericho then went up top and landed a forearm smash to the back of the head.

[Q7]

Both men recovered to their feet and Jericho landed successive forearm blows to the head before running into a lift-up slam. Jericho avoided a splash, then hit a dropkick before trying to apply the Walls of Jericho. Umaga blocked, though, and then waited for Jericho to run into a Samoan Drop for a close nearfall at 14:00. Suddenly, Umaga measured Jericho for the Spike, but Jericho moved. He then avoided a big corner splash and rolled up Umaga with his feet on the ropes for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Jericho in 15:00 to retain the IC Title. Up and down match, but overall, a pretty good TV match based on that final sprint to the finish line with believable counters and reversals. Good move from WWE giving them a full quarter-hour worth of TV time to work out a challenging match. It might not rate well with audiences having short attention spans, but it will work well in the long-term. Well done. (***)

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Hacksaw Jim Duggan came out for some reason. He's having a match for some reason. And his opponent is Paul Burchill, who came out with sister Katie Lea. Apparently WWE is testing the London audience on whether they'll cheer for the comical American institution known as Hacksaw Duggan or the Englishman with no credibility named Paul Burchill. This should be fun.

6 -- HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN vs. PAUL BURCHILL (w/Katie Lea)

The bell sounded and Burchill blindsided Duggan. He finished him off in a minute with the Curb Stomp.

WINNER: Burchill in 1:00. Well, that wasn't very fun. (n/a)

Video promo: They aired the invite for Clinton and Obama on next week's Raw.

[Commercial Break]

[Q8]

Backstage: Grisham plugged Triple H's DVD, then brought in Hunter to comment on facing JBL for the first-time ever. Hunter mocked Grisham's line of questioning and asked why he would reveal his strategy beforehand. Hunter said he can comment on Backlash, though, as there will be no flukes when he regains the WWE Title. He addressed JBL and said he should have kept that cushy announcing job because now it's time to play the game.

Announcers: Ross and Lawler plugged the Backlash card. They're equating Big Show vs. Khali to Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd.

In-ring: Triple H's music hit and the crowd came to its feet as one. Before Hunter could finish his traditional water-spit intro, JBL's music interrupted. Hunter was not a happy camper. The white limo pulled up and JBL emerged to resounding boos. It's up next.

[Commercial Break]

7 -- TRIPLE H vs. JBL

They picked up the match already in progress with JBL stomping on Hunter, who looks very cut after dropping a considerable amount of muscle mass. They had an intense staredown followed by an exchange of clubbing blows. JBL dominated after the exchange and slapped on a full nelson. Hunter went down to one knee, then tried to break the Masterlock, but JBL released before Hunter could make a clean break. Hunter came up with a high knee to the face, though, then he clotheslined JBL over the top rope to the floor.

[Q9 -- over-run]

On the floor, JBL came back with right hand blows until Hunter slammed him into the railing along the entrance ramp. Suddenly, Randy Orton came out of nowhere and smacked Hunter from behind, causing a DQ.

Post-match: Orton took Hunter into the ring and teed off on him until Hunter landed a spinebuster. He then measured Orton for the Pedigree, but JBL cut him off with a big boot to the head. Orton and JBL ganged up Hunter, then Orton dropped him with the RKO in center ring. JBL stood over Hunter's fallen body while some fans tried to build up a "Cena" chant. JBL then told Hunter to prepare for a punt to the head on Hunter. JBL held Hunter's head, and Orton charged for a punt, but JBL came to his feet and smashed Orton with a clothesline. He waited for Hunter to get up and he smashed him with a clothesline for good measure. JBL held the WWE Title belt in the air to close the show.

WINNER: Hunter via DQ in 7:00. What was that line Regal had earlier in the night about no one wanting to pay to see JBL vs. Orton? Well, as good as a heel JBL is, people aren't going to be running to their wallets to pay for Backlash with JBL standing tall to close one of the final shows prior to the PPV after Regal basically said JBL isn't worth spending money on. (*)

They closed with a plug for the three-hour Raw next week.

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