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)