Raw is War
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
July 18, 2005
Cena overcomes the odds
July 18, 2005
RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff and Chris Jericho did everything they could to
stack the deck against WWE Champion John Cena one week after enduring a painful
F-U. Chris Jericho will be facing Cena for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam,
so he came up with what he thought was a brilliant plan to soften him up in the
weeks leading up to their clash. At the beginning of RAW, Bischoff informed the
raucous Philadelphia crowd at the Wachovia Center that Cena would face Snitsky
in a Lumberjack Match. To make matters worse for Cena, Bischoff would be
hand-picking the lumberjacks. It seemed as though Cena would be in for an
awfully long night.
Just as the WWE Champion has done ever since coming to RAW, however, he overcame
all the obstacles in front of him, and at the end of the night, he was the one
with his arm raised in victory. Every time Cena looked to be going on the
offensive, the lumberjacks (Kurt Angle, Intercontinental Champion Carlito, Rene
Dupree, Rob Conway, Danny Basham, The Heart Throbs, Kerwin White, Chris Masters,
Tyson Tomko and Chris Jericho) attacked like a pack of rabid dogs. But help was
on the way.
Just as it seemed like Cena was down and out, Big Show, Shelton Benjamin, The
Hurricane, Rosey, Tajiri, Val Venis and Viscera came to the champion’s aid.
Amidst the chaos, Jericho snuck into the ring with a chair, but Cena cut him off
and took him out of the equation. Snitsky picked up the chair and went for a big
blow, but he missed and Cena scooped him up for the F-U and the win, once again
overcoming all odds.
Not only did the Wachovia Center witness a heroic effort from John Cena, but
earlier in the night they found out if Hulk Hogan would accept Shawn Michaels’
challenge for a match at SummerSlam. The Philadelphia crowd went crazy when the
Hulkster hit to the ring, greeting him with a deafening “Hogan” chant. Hogan
admitted that Shawn Michaels got his attention, but he didn’t want to answer the
challenge without being face-to-face with HBK. Shawn Michaels came out to the
rampway, but decided not to go to the ring, saying that if he did he might knock
Hogan out once again and deprive the people of hearing his answer. HBK reminded
Hogan that immortality has a price and asked Hogan if he had what it takes to
pay that price.
Hogan said he has been paying the price for years and accepted the challenge. He
then left Michaels with one question to think about in the weeks leading up to
what will surely be a classic confrontation: “Whatcha gonna do, brother, at
SummerSlam when Hulkamania destroys you?!”
Kane and Edge also continued their bitter rivalry on RAW, this time in the
brutal confines of a steel cage. Kane was busted wide open early on, but he came
back on numerous occasions to gain the upper hand. Edge tried to escape through
the cage door, but Kane caught him. Before the door was closed, though, Lita
tossed Edge’s briefcase. Kane survived two briefcase shots, but then Edge
started to scale the cage. Kane caught him once again, but Edge nailed him with
the briefcase again, causing him to fall to the mat. With Kane down, Edge was
finally able to escape with a victory over the Big Red Monster.
One week after coming within one second of losing his Olympic Gold Medal to Matt
Striker in the Angle Invitational, Angle put the gold on the line once again.
Striker, this time using the name of Matt Martel, answered the challenge. Angle
said that Striker or Martel or whatever his name was already had his chance. As
Martel was getting ready to exit the ring, Angle cheap-shotted him and said that
he had changed his mind. Angle went on the offensive, but Martel surprised him
with a vicious choke. No matter what Angle tried to do, Martel would not
relinquish his hold. Finally, Angle was able to throw Martel throat-first into
the ropes and hit the Angle Slam, following it up with the Ankle Lock for the
win with 24 seconds remaining.
It was also time for the second elimination in the 2005 RAW Diva Search contest.
Earlier in the day, all of the remaining contestants revealed who they thought
should be voted out next. Leyla and Summer both said Simona, Ashley said
Cameron, Cameron said Ashley, Kristal said Elisabeth, Elisabeth said Kristal and
Simona said Summer. The fans agreed with Leyla and Summer and voted out Simona.
Who will be the next to go home? You will decide!
Chris Masters opened up the Master Lock Challenge once again, this time upping
the ante to $20,000. One half of the World Tag Team Champions, Rosey answered
the challenge. Masters knew he was in for his toughest challenge to date, but
didn’t back down and made the big man submit. Masters then claimed that it
didn’t matter how big his opposition was, no one was a match for the Master
Lock. Then Big Show came down and wanted to give the Master Lock Challenge a
try, but Masters denied him that chance.
After defeating Carlito by a count-out last week, Shelton Benjamin got another
crack at the Intercontinental Champion – except this time if Carlito lost by
count-out, he would lose the championship. Carlito looked to have things going
his way hitting a DDT and Flapjack, but Benjamin kicked out and went for the
T-Bone. Carlito reversed it and hit a low-blow, thus causing a disqualification.
Benjamin won again, but just like last week, was denied the Intercontinental
Championship.
Matches
Shelton Benjamin def. Intercontinental Champion Carlito (DQ)
Chris Masters def. Rosey (Master Lock Challenge)
Kurt Angle def. Matt Martel (Angle Invitational)
Edge def. Kane (Steel Cage Match)
WWE Champion John Cena def. Snitsky
(Lumberjack Match)