SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report originally published 20 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…
WWE Raw house show report
May 16, 2004
Everett, Wash.
Report by Mike Roe, Torch Team Contributor
WWE decided to run the Everett Events Center, which is about half an hour north of Seattle. It was a smaller venue, but it was still fairly sparsely populated. The floor had several fairly empty sections, the 100 level was half full, and the 200 level had a couple dozen people.
The acoustics at this venue were absolutely horrendous. The Coach came out to set up the show, informing the audience that there would be an Intercontinental title rematch between Edge and Randy Orton, a cage match rematch between Chris Jericho and Christian, a fatal four-way elimination match for the Women’s Title, and a no disqualification match for the World Heavyweight Title between Chris Benoit and Kane. The originally advertised main event was Benoit versus Batista, but Kane seems a much more suitable main event opponent. Everyone stood for the playing of the National Anthem, but La Resistance pulled the old “interrupt the National Anthem” bit. In a nice touch, they waved their Quebec flags high, so those of us on the floor could still tell it was them.
(1) Hurricane & Rosey defeated La Resistance (Sylvan Grenier & Rob Conway) when Hurricane and Rosey hit their double team move for the pin on Sylvan Grenier. Early in the match, a guy at ringside dressed like Hulk Hogan was getting into it with La Resistance. Hurricane went over and gave the Hulkster his extra mask. Eugene came out in the middle of the match and started riding one of the flags like a pony.
Christian, Trish Stratus, and Tyson Tomko came to the ring. Christian was wearing street clothes, including track pants, a “Peep Show” t-shirt, and a visor. Christian told us that the reason he was wearing street clothes was because he wouldn’t be wrestling tonight, as he injured his back in the cage match on Raw last Monday night. He claimed to have a doctor’s note saying that he couldn’t wrestle. Chris Jericho came to the ring and sat on the turnbuckle. Jericho said that he had a doctor’s note as well, but his says that Christian is an ass clown. Jericho also claimed that CLB stands for “Christian Likes Boys,” and he did his dirty, disgusting, filthy, etc. rant on Trish Stratus. Eric Bischoff’s apprentice, Johnny Nitro, came to the ring to say that yes, Christian does have a doctor’s note, but that Jericho will be in action in a steel cage match against Tyson Tomko.
(2) Steven Richards defeated Chuck Palumbo with a handful of Palumbo’s tights, exposing his bare behind, a la Dawn Marie on the Judgment Day pay-per-view. Palumbo grabbed the microphone and cut a promo before the match to get some heat, though the crowd was largely indifferent. A guy dressed up as Randy Savage in the front row got into it a bit with Palumbo. Richards defeated Palumbo with a handful of tights, which seemed odd, since Richards was apparently supposed to be the babyface.
(3) Matt Hardy defeated the A-Train with a roll-up. This was the shortest match of the night, actually insanely short. A-Train came out and threw around some steel chairs and the ring steps, a gimmick he’s been doing since near the end of his run on Velocity. Hardy quickly defeated A-Train with a roll-up that came quite unexpectedly.
(4) Garrison Cade defeated Val Venis with the aid of brass knuckles. Coach put over his protege Garrison Cade on the mic before the match. Coach distracted the referee and threw Cade a pair of brass knuckles, which Cade used to hit Venis while the ref was distracted before tucking them into the back of his tights and getting the pin. I’m not positive it was during this match, but I believe that Eugene came out in the middle of the match and tried grabbing Coach’s hat, before being turned away and cartwheeling on his way to the back.
Batista walked to the ring and complained about Shelton Benjamin, demanding a match.
(5) Batista defeated Shelton Benjamin with the aid of the ropes.
(6) Victoria defeated Molly, Gail Kim, and Jazz in a fatal four-way elimination match when Victoria eliminated Gail Kim after hitting the Widow’s Peak. Molly and Gail Kim went on offense against Victoria before Jazz came to the ring. Jazz seemed to be acting friendly with Victoria at first, but she turned on Victoria, hitting a front dropkick to Victoria. Victoria pulled off Molly’s wig (a short brunette one this time), causing Molly to lose her focus and get eliminated via roll-up at the same time as Gail Kim was eliminating Jazz via roll-up. Gail went for her legscissors/armbar submission move, but Victoria reversed out of it.
A ten minute intermission was taken in order to set up the steel cage.
(7) Chris Jericho defeated Tyson Tomko (with Christian and Trish Stratus) in a cage match via escape. Jericho went for the door early in this match, but Christian slammed the door into Jericho’s face. The referee sent Christian to the back for this infraction. Tomko dominated and was about to leave through the door, but Jericho taunted Tomko into coming back for more. Trish Stratus came into the cage wielding a steel chair, but Jericho avoided the steel chair and set up Stratus for a serious spanking. Stratus sold the spanking afterwards like she had been shot in the butt. Tomko was in the midst of escaping, but Jericho caught Tomko and escaped himself.
While the cage was being torn down, the T-shirt guy came out to shoot T-shirts into the audience. Eugene came down again, wearing a Hurricane mask and holding a Triple H inflatable sledgehammer. Eugene bonked Coach on the head with the hammer. Eugene grabbed the T-shirt gun and shot shirts into the crowd. Johnny Nitro came down and demanded that Eugene put down the T-shirt gun, or he would be suspended. Eugene did so, pouting all the while. As Nitro left the ring, Eugene got a mischievous look on his face and picked up the gun again, shooting Nitro in the crotch. For some reason, William Regal was nowhere to be seen all night. Won’t Bischoff be angry? As Eugene was leaving, he gave his Hurricane mask to a fan at ringside. After Nitro and Eugene left, Coach picked up the shirt Eugene shot Nitro with and teased throwing it to the crowd, before telling everyone to sit down because he wouldn’t be giving it out.
(8) Randy Orton defeated Edge with the RKO to retain the Intercontinental Title. Orton whispered something to an attractive blonde in the front row on his way to the ring. She appeared to be there with her boyfriend, which made the move even funnier. Orton started walking to the back at the beginning of the match, but he eventually came back to the ring. He went to the outside several times early in the match and had the crowd all over him. Orton got into it with a fan at ringside wearing overalls, and Edge went over to the fan and raised the fan’s arm. Batista ran down to the ring when it looked like Edge might win. Edge speared Batista.
(9) Lita defeated Trish Stratus (without Christian or Tyson Tomko) with a swinging DDT. Before the match, Trish argued that she isn’t a slut because she wouldn’t sleep with anyone in the crowd, since all she saw was a sea of losers. Lita ran to the ring wearing a ridiculous pink outfit. Trish didn’t want to wrestle Lita, but Johnny Nitro came out and made the match. Trish went for the Stratusfaction at one point, but Lita reversed it, leading into the finish.
As Lita was walking to the back after the match, Kane’s music hit and he started walking to the ring. Lita turned around and walked into the ring, but apparently not fast enough to escape Kane’s steady, plodding walk. Matt Hardy ran out for the save. Lita ran to a safe position as Kane threw Matt out of the ring. Kane told Lita that she has one day to answer his question.
(10) Chris Benoit defeated Kane via submission to retain the World Heavyweight Title when Kane tapped out to Benoit’s Crippler Crossface. This main event was pretty hot, far better than I had anticipated, and if this ends up making it on the next pay-per-view, that won’t be a bad thing. Kane managed to reverse several Sharpshooter and Crippler Crossface attempts. Benoit hit the three German Suplexes for a short pin cover. Kane had Benoit up for the chokeslam, but Benoit reversed into the Crossface. Kane reversed out of it, but Benoit locked on the Crossface one last time for the tap-out victory.
After the match, Benoit said that Kane had just joined the “You Tapped Out” club. Coach started shaking his head at ringside. Benoit asked Coach if he wanted to join the club, but said that he didn’t think Coach was man enough to get in the ring with him. Coach did get in the ring and said that all of Benoit’s victories, including at the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, on Raw, at this show, etc., had been lucky. Benoit quickly applied the Crippler Crossface and Coach immediately tapped out furiously.
Top Pops
1. Chris Jericho
2. Eugene (Huge Eugene chants every time he came out)
3. Chris Benoit (not as over as the World Champion should be)
4. The Hurricane
5. Matt Hardy (lots of V1 hand signals in the crowd)
Top Heat
1. Trish Stratus/Christian (Huge “Slut” chants at Trish)
2. Randy Orton
3. La Resistance
4. Batista
5. Coach
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