Raw is War
TD Banknorth Garden, Boston,
Massachusetts
December 12, 2005
Elimination Chamber set
December 12, 2005
Last week, just moments before being fired, then-General Manager Eric Bischoff
said that John Cena would be defending the WWE Championship in the Elimination
Chamber at New Year’s Revolution. After Mr. McMahon took out the trash last
week, though, there was no General Manager to fill out the participants for the
match. But Mr. McMahon had everything under control. While there was no
full-time General Manager for RAW yet, Mr. McMahon took the reigns as interim
GM. And his first order of business was to set up five Elimination Chamber
qualifying matches.
A possible shot at an unprecedented 17 World Championships loomed heavily for
the Nature Boy Ric Flair, but he would have to get past the Olympic Gold
Medalist, Kurt Angle to earn his ticket into the Elimination Chamber. Angle was
able to hook the Ankle Lock early on, but the wily veteran Flair was able to
fight to the ropes. Angle later went for a steel chair, but Flair was able to
stop Angle before he could use the foreign object. When the referee went to
clear the ring of the chair, Angle grabbed his gold medal and knocked Flair out
with a shot to the head. The 1-2-3 was academic.
Shelton Benjamin told Shawn Michaels that last week HBK was too busy trying to
be the “Showstopper” instead of a team player. Shelton said that he gave HBK the
attitude he asked for last week and he was going to give Carlito another dose of
that attitude in his Elimination Chamber qualifying match. Carlito, though, went
to work early on Shelton’s back, even utilizing the Boston Crab, while
ironically in Boston. Shelton was able to battle through the pain and hit the
T-Bone on Carlito. Instead of going for the pin, however, Shelton went to the
outside and picked up one of Carlito’s apples. Shelton’s new attitude proved to
be costly. As Benjamin went to spit apple in Carlito’s face, Carlito rolled him
up with a small package for the pin.
Shawn Michaels, who won the first-ever Elimination Chamber match, was looking
for a shot at the gold again, but had to get past the largest athlete in the
world today, Big Show. Big Show manhandled HBK in the beginning, but Michaels
came back with a series of clotheslines and a flying forearm. With Big Show
dazed, HBK tuned up the band and landed Sweet Chin Music. Normally, that move
would be enough to take down any man, but Big Show somehow absorbed it and was
only brought to one knee. Baffled, HBK went to the well once more, but Big Show
knocked the kick out of the way. Big Show followed it up with a Chokeslam, but
then Triple H made his way to ringside armed with a chair. Instead of going
after Big Show, who he’s had problems with in weeks past, he waffled HBK with
the chair, causing Big Show to be disqualified and costing him a shot at the WWE
Championship.
Big Show would get his revenge, though. Triple H faced Big Show’s World Tag Team
Championship partner Kane in another Elimination Chamber qualifying match. After
Kane gained the advantage, the Big Red Monster went for a big boot, but Triple H
ducked, and he knocked out the referee by accident. Triple H then went for his
trusty sledgehammer, but Big Show came out before he could use it. With Triple
H’s attention turned towards Big Show, Kane grabbed The Game by the throat for a
chokeslam. Before the ref came to, Big Show got in on the fun as well and made
it a double chokeslam, giving Kane the easy pin and a ticket into the
Elimination Chamber.
Chris Masters and Viscera battled it out for a shot at the WWE Championship as
well. Masters went for the Master Lock a couple times early on, but Viscera was
too big for The Masterpiece. After sending Big Vis head-first into the
turnbuckles, though, Masters went for his patented maneuver once again, With Big
Vis already grounded, The Masterpiece was able to lock his hands and make Vis
submit to the devastating Master Lock. So, at New Year’s Revolution, John Cena
will defend the WWE Championship against Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Carlito,
Chris Masters and Kane in the Elimination Chamber.
The Champ also had his hands full on RAW. After Angle’s win over Flair, he said
that he’s tired of the fans taking him for granted. He mentioned that several
WWE Superstars were going to Afghanistan to support the U.S. troops, but he
wasn’t one of them. He said that there’s no way he would go visit troops that
defend a country that doesn’t respect him. Then Daivari appeared on the Titan
Tron and Angle told him to disrespect Boston’s idols like the fans disrespected
him. Daivari then spit on a statue of Larry Bird, but before he could get any
further, he was stopped by Cena. Cena said that without those troops, there’s no
America. And without America, there’s no American heroes. And if Kurt Angle
couldn’t see that, then Angle couldn’t see Cena.
Angle was irate and demanded that Mr. McMahon put himself in a match against
Cena on RAW. Mr. McMahon vehemently denied the request, but instead said that
Cena would face Daivari in the first-ever You Can’t See Me Match. Cena was
blindfolded throughout the match, while Daivari’s vision was crystal clear.
Daivari was able to move around the ring early on without Cena knowing where he
was. But The Champ soon turned to the crowd to direct him towards Daivari. Cena
was able to grab him in a waist lock and took him down to the mat. He pounced on
Daivari and locked in the STF-U for the submission victory. Angle attacked after
the match, but Cena was able to shoo him from the ring and hit an FU on Daivari
for good measure.
There will also be a Women’s Championship Match at New Year’s Revolution. Mickie
James went one-on-one with Victoria to determine who would face Trish Stratus at
the pay-per-view. Victoria was able to reverse a Mick-a-rana, but James came
back with a vicious standing Tornado DDT for the win. Mickie jubilantly
celebrated in the ring, realizing she would face her idol one-on-one for the
Women’s Championship.
Matt Striker also addressed the Boston crowd and talked to them about family
values. He said that they should start looking for new role models and that he
is their teacher.
Throughout RAW, Mr. McMahon also bumped into several people who were interested
in becoming the new GM of RAW including Trevor Murdoch, Candice, Chris Nowinski
and the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.
Matches
WWE Champion John Cena def. Daivari (You Can't See Me Match)
Kurt Angle def. Ric Flair (Elimination Chamber qualifier)
Shawn Michaels def. Big Show (Elimination Chamber qualifier, DQ)
Kane def. Triple H (Elimination Chamber qualifier)
Carlito def. Shelton Benjamin (Elimination Chamber qualifier)
Chris Masters def. Viscera (Elimination Chamber qualifier)
Mickie James def. Victoria (No. 1
Contender's Match)