Raw is War

San Jose, California
January 31, 2005

Night of the Monster

Jan. 31, 2005

Sunday night belonged to Batista. Monday night belonged to Kane.

The Big Red Monster decisively defeated Gene Snitsky inside a Steel Cage on RAW, chokeslamming Snitsky onto the Cage door itself and picking up the three-count. Snitsky threw away an earlier chance at victory, opting to rip off the Cage door and go after Kane rather than walk out the door to the floor. The opportunity arose when Trish Stratus, wearing a neck brace, interfered in the match in an attempt to pay back Kane. But ultimately it was the Big Red Monster who got the last laugh on both Trish and Snitsky.

Despite suffering a concussion at the hands of Triple H at the Rumble, Randy Orton decided to compete in a tag match on RAW. He wanted to do his family proud and prove that he’s still the “Legend Killer” by taking down Ric Flair and Triple H. Orton’s partner Shawn Michaels had plenty of frustration of his own after losing to Edge in Fresno, Calif. But Orton’s decision to wrestle proved to be a very bad idea.

Despite eking out a victory — thanks, in part, to an errant spear by Edge — Orton seemed to suffer his second concussion in two days after smacking his head executing the RKO. After the match, Michaels clearly appeared to be worried about his tag team partner. It took help from HBK and the referee for a dazed Orton to even make his way to the backstage area. Only time will tell just how serious a situation this is for the young Superstar.

Now that Evolution’s animal has won the Royal Rumble Match, he has a career-altering decision to make: Which World title will he attempt to win at WrestleMania? On RAW, Triple H seemed happy to give Batista a much-deserved shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. But footage shown in the arena depicted WWE Champion JBL talking trash, saying, “Dave Batista, as good as he is, is not in my league.”

Will Batista take JBL’s brash challenge — and SmackDown! GM Theodore Long’s lucrative offer — to jump ship to the other WWE brand? Triple H certainly wouldn’t mind, envisioning a WWE in which Evolution controls both World titles.

For once, it seemed as if the belligerent Edge would leave RAW a happy man. General Manager Eric Bischoff recognized his strong, double-duty performance at the Royal Rumble and ordered a World Heavyweight Championship Match against Triple H at next week’s show in Japan. But before Edge could gloat, HBK caught him with “Sweet Chin Music.”

La Resistance was embarrassed by what happened against Batista last week, and vowed never to let something so humiliating occur again. And they backed up their talk on RAW in a World Tag Team Championship Match against the formidable duo of Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho. Sylvain Grenier & Robert Conway held their own and ultimately forced a double-DQ.

After the match, Y2J and Benoit literally butted heads, upset that neither had given his best effort. When Bischoff saw the exchange, he ordered a Submission Match between the two next week in Japan. He also declared that William Regal & Tajiri will face La Resistance in Tokyo.


Also, Shelton Benjamin wants to be a fighting champion, so he signed an open contract allowing anyone on RAW to challenge him for the Intercontinental Championship. First up was Simon Dean, who didn’t fare very well. After a near-fall, Dean was caught with a spinning heel kick, knocking him down for the cover. After his victory, Shelton returned for a Stinger Splash just for good measure.



MATCH RESULTS

Shelton Benjamin def. Simon Dean

Maven def. The Hurricane

Muhammad Hassan def. Sgt. Slaughter

La Resistance vs. Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho (Double-DQ)

Shawn Michaels & Randy Orton def. Triple H & Ric Flair

Kane def. Gene Snitsky (Steel Cage Match)