Raw is War

Charlottesville, Virginia
August 14, 2006

 

Cena goes off
By Zack Zeigler
August 14, 2006

As RAW began, WWE Champion Edge and his girlfriend Lita had everything to smile about. He’d successfully lured the challenger to his championship, John Cena, out of the arena, and Lita defeated Mickie James to become the new Women’s Champion—making them the first couple in WWE history to possess double gold. Unfortunately for Edge, the night would quickly turn into a nightmare as an unexpected appearance by John Cena turned his giddiness into fear of Cena’s wrath.

The evening kicked off with Edge shedding light on the details that took place at the Cena residence in West Newbury, Mass. earlier in the day. WWE.com reported that an incident had occurred that was serious enough to cause Cena to leave the arena to head back to his father’s home. After Edge and Lita forced their way into the house and were asked to leave, he responded by slapping Cena’s father with enough force to knock him to the ground. Upon leaving, Edge laughed at Mr. Cena laying there in pain on his living room floor.

The laughs continued as the Rated R Superstar helped Lita get a victory over Women’s Champion Mickie James. He distracted the referee which allowed Lita to smash James in the head with the Women’s Championship belt to get the pinfall and her third championship. The two were all smiles as their momentum for the night seemed to be building. Trying to keep the momentum rolling in his non-title match with Carlito was another story, though.

Prior to the match, Carlito gave Trish a kiss to match the one she gave him last week on RAW. Each week we’ve seen their relationship grow, but what has it grown into? In the match, both Superstars landed high-risk moves and Carlito nearly had a pinfall, but Lita pulled Edge’s foot onto the rope. Stratus was at ringside to level out the playing ground by keeping Lita at bay—for the most part.

As the match continued, out of nowhere, an irate John Cena bum rushed the ring and clobbered the WWE Champion. The fire that burned in Cena was present in the fact that it took a half dozen security personnel to restrain him. As Edge fled to the locker room area to safety, one has to wonder what’s going through his head. With the rage and fury John Cena possessed for Edge involving his family, did the Champion make a huge mistake less than a week before SummerSlam? Can Cena bring that rage with him to SummerSlam? Was involving the Cena family a huge mistake for Edge?


Edge learned a harsh lesson that stepping over the line and involving the Cena family is potentially a horrible mistake. The same can also now be said for Randy Orton. The insults that the Legend Killer has issued towards the Hulkster and the entire Hogan family over the past few weeks brought Hogan into a new level of intensity on RAW.

Orton was on RAW to call out Hogan, seemingly to test the strength in the partially torn meniscus that nearly kept Hogan out of SummerSlam. There was no sighting of Hogan earlier in the evening, which left fans questioning whether or not the WWE Hall of Famer would show or not. When Hogan’s music sounded, the expectation was that Hogan was on his way down to the ring to confront Orton. But it wasn’t. It was the imposter from Orton Knows Best. Orton mocked the fake Hogan and told the look-alike that he was going to kill the Hogan legend at SummerSlam. Then, the real Hulk Hogan appeared—and the power in his glare as he walked down the ramp spoke much louder than any words ever could.

After Hogan fought through Orton’s stomps as he entered the ring, he tossed the Legend Killer out of the ring and pummeled the imposter with body slams, elbows and right hands. He then had a message for Orton.

“There’s one legend that the Legend Killer can’t kill, and that’s the legend of Hulkamania, brother. So I guess we can say, that there’s one question: Whatcha gonna do when the power of all these millions and millions of all these Hulkamanicas runs wild on you?”

The McMahons have used the divide and conquer strategy to essentially run wild on DX for the past two weeks. The plan has worked impeccably well, but on RAW, DX was finally back in full force. The McMahons told their SummerSlam opponents that as the biggest name in the history of sports-entertainment, they have unlimited resources and “will bring down the wrath of Satan upon you” to ensure a victory.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels admitted that the last two weeks had been “a little rough” and “pretty undesirable” for DX, but Triple H told the McMahons:

“At SummerSlam, we are going to kick your ass. Bring whoever you want…we don’t’ care. Someone from the street…we don’t’ care. The 82nd airborne…we don’t’ care. Satan himself…we will look the devil dead in his eye, spit in his face and tell him the exact same thing we’re about to tell you.”

Then Triple H gave the Chairman and his son their customary two words. After DX gave the McMahons two words, someone else had a few words for the Chairman and his son Shane—Armando Alejandro Estrada. After Umaga remained undefeated by decimating another opponent, Estrada approached with the news that his man, Umaga, was just the resource they were looking for. Does this mean that Umaga is going to be in the McMahons corner at SummerSlam?

Someone else who will apparently do anything for a victory is Mick Foley. Foley appeared on the TitanTron and didn’t look like he was in the arena. He extended an invite to Ric Flair to show up on ECW on Sci Fi – Foley’s old stomping grounds – where the Hardcore Legend promised to be “competing in an event so extreme it has never been done in my career.”

But Flair didn’t have to wait for ECW because Foley got into the ring during the Nature Boy’s match with Intercontinental Champion Johnny Nitro to unleash an ambush. The Hardcore Legend nearly crushed Flair’s head with the steel steps before retreating to the locker room with his two friends, Nitro and Melina. After the beating he suffered, will Flair be in any condition to accept Foley’s invitation and show up on ECW on Sci Fi? How will this beating effect Flair in his “I Quit” Match with the Hardcore Legend at SummerSlam?

Jeff Hardy will be making his triumphant return to RAW next Monday night for the first time since his release in May of 2003. How will the refocused Hardy fare against today’s Superstars of RAW?

The Spirit Squad was in action against “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Eugene in a non-title match. The numbers game was in the Squad’s favor until the Highlanders made their way to the ring. Rory and Robbie McAllister have only one loss in the tag team division, and it was because the Spirit Squad used their numbers to overwhelm them in a World Tag Team Championship Match. On RAW, the Highlanders got some payback, sneaking into the ring when the referee was distracted to hit Mikey with the Scot Drop to give Eugene and Duggan the victory.

Also, the 2006 $250,000 Diva Search is down to the final three. Milena Roucka was voted out on RAW, but immediately afterwards the final three competed against three RAW Divas in a Diva Beat the Heat Water Fight. The RAW Divas were declared the winners via fans applause.

 Matches

Lita def. Mickie James (Women's Championship Match)

Umaga def. Alex Sage

Ric Flair def. Intercontinental Champion Johnny Nitro (DQ)

Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Eugene def. Spirit Squad (Non-Title Match)

Carlito def. WWE Champion Edge (DQ)