WWE: "An Alternate Reality"

Friday Night SmackDown, Friday, June 10, 2005

“Rise Up” by Drowning Pool plays while SmackDown’s tron plays on the screen of the titantron highlighting SmackDown’s superstars, including recent additions, Batista, Chris Jericho and Muhammad Hassan. When the tron ends, the screen displays SmackDown’s audience anticipating the beginning of the show, which kicks off with Chris Jericho’s theme song and cheering from the crowd. Jericho makes his way down to the ring in his casual attire. The ring has a huge flat screen in the middle of it and the mat is a red carpet which can only mean one thing - it’s time for the Highlight Reel! Jericho opens SmackDown thanking the crowd for the welcoming and then he welcomes everyone to SMACKDOWN… IS… JERICHOOOOOOOOOO! Which gets the crowd hyped again. Once the mass calms down Chris Jericho, without further or due, introduces his guest of the Highlight Reel - John “Bradshaw” Layfield. JBL’s theme song hits quickly, nearly interrupting Jericho, as he makes his way down to the ring.

JBL thanks Jericho for having him and The Cabinet on the show, he asks Jericho if he can pull the video of him beating Chris Benoit four nights ago on RAW. Jericho laughs and takes a few digs at JBL cheating to win and tells JBL that instead, he’s going to play the clip of JBL losing the WWE Championship to John Cena at WrestleMania! Jericho runs the clip but in no time, JBL is on his feet with the rest of The Cabinet in Jericho’s face. Jericho responds by standing up but before things boil over, Muhammad Hassan’s theme song hits - he and Daivari come out to a wave of boos that they both suck in. Hassan asks Jericho why he would even interview JBL when he hasn’t done anything noteworthy since he won the WWE Championship. Jericho laughs, mocking JBL but Hassan quotes “I’m not joking, this isn’t funny idiot” going on to explain that Jericho should have had the most prolific superstar to come to SmackDown since The Rock - Muhammad Hassan. The crowd’s boos pick up until Teddy Long’s theme song hits and he comes out to the stage.

Long cuts a promo about how he’s excited to see SmackDown’s newest talents so eager to jump into the mix and find their way on SmackDown but he’s going to ask them to be civil to each other for one night because they’ll be representing SmackDown in tonight’s main event against RAW’s top stars, per RAW GM Eric Bischoff, Triple H, Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels! He also says that it will be for two picks, and he also wants to kick SmackDown off with a two pick match to get things rolling so after the commercial break we will see a 20-man battle royale with 10 superstars representing RAW and 10 superstars representing SmackDown with the winner earning 2 picks for their brand and a shot at their brand’s “secondary” championship! (US or IC)

20-Man Battle Royale

The screen comes back from commercial to the opening match, an interbranded 20-man battle royale with two draft picks on the line. A majority of the competitors stand in the ring already, splitting off into two separate groups right away, RAW on one side of the ring, SmackDown on the other side. From RAW, we see names like William Regal, Tajiri, Chris Masters and Sylvain Grenier; SmackDown shows names like Chavo Guerrero, Mark Jindrak and Mark Henry when Rey Mysterio’s theme song hits and he flies out to his pyros like he usually does. He makes his way to SmackDown’s side and specifically Billy Kidman’s. Next out is Christian and Tomko, who both appear in their in-ring gear. The commentators point out that only 19 people are in the ring when Carlito’s theme song hits and he comes out with a microphone. Carlito talks about “Carlito’s long anticipated return to SmackDown” after being drafted to RAW just four days ago. When he rolls in he is still posing in the middle of the ring when, for one elimination, everyone in the match bonds together throwing Carlito over the top first.

The next elimination came as an ice breaker, everyone looked at each other after eliminating Carlito and Mark Jindrak was the one to grab Tajiri by the hair and throw him over, which lead to just everybody starting to throw punches at each other and quickly bodies start flying out of the ring left and right, Tomko and Christian eliminating Scotty 2 Hotty then quickly moving onto Shannon Moore and working together on eliminating him too. Despite being on separate brands, former teammates, Sylvain Grenier and Rene Dupree worked well together, eliminating the World’s Largest Love Machine, Viscera and their partnership continued until Mark Henry eliminated the two of them. The final four came down to Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio, Chris Masters and Christian. Christian was the first eliminated of the four, he went for an Unprettier on Rey Mysterio but Rey drop kicked him in the back and sent him over the top rope. Rey went to join Henry in eliminating Masters and secure the pick for SmackDown but Henry was not having it. Henry pushed Rey away and Rey responded with a few kicks to the leg of Henry which forced Henry to shove Rey to the ground. Rey was back on his feet quickly and snapped upwards for a hurracarrana and sent Henry flying over the top rope. Rey waved bye to Henry who was throwing a fit over his elimination and Masters capitalized with a Masters lock. Rey struggled and Masters backed up into the middle of the ring until Rey was asleep and then tossed him over the top rope like he was nothing, picking up the win.

Winner: Chris Masters via over the top rope elimination in approx. 16 mins.

Chris Masters celebrates the victory in the battle he shuffle screen shows on the titantron screen, the same draft shuffle screen that was depicted on RAW, shuffling through all members of both rosters until the shuffle screen goes black and the suspense builds… “One Of A Kind” by Breaking Point hits and the crowd goes crazy and RVD comes out with his RAW shirt on and crutches after injuring his knee 6 months ago, in January.

Chris Masters tells RVD it’s a blessing that he doesn’t need his knee to attempt the Masterlock challenge, once RVD gets down to the ring. RVD declines multiple times and Masters keeps insisting until the shuffle screen plays again.

Big Show’s theme song hits and the Big Show walks down to the ring, he tells Masters that he’s up for the Masterlock challenge but when Big Show rips off his RAW shirt and makes his way down to the ring, Masters instead rolls out of the ring and retreats as the show goes to commercial break.

Orlando Jordan vs. Shelton Benjamin

Shelton Benjamin’s theme song hits and he comes out wearing his Intercontinental Championship around his waist, to a warm welcome from the SmackDown crowd; despite representing RAW, as told on his nameplate. His opponent, SmackDown’s United States Champion, Orlando Jordan waits in the ring for him, as he’d made his way out during the commercial break. A graphic is shown acknowledging that it’s a champion vs. champion match as the bell rings. The commentators make it clear that this match is only worth one pick despite being a champion vs. champion match. Shelton Benjamin controlled the match the whole length of the match and the crowd loved it. That’s why they were disappointed when it came to an end - Shelton Benjamin launched Orlando Jordan off the ropes and caught him with a T-Bone Suplex. The referee was at 2 on the count when Doug Basham grabbed him by the foot and argued with him. Danny joined the argument, both screaming at referee Earl Hebner. While the two had Hebner distracted, JBL slipped in the ring and caught Benjamin with a Clothesline From Hell and rolled out of the ring. Earl Hebner kicked The Basham Brothers out of the arena and rolled back into the ring, finding Orlando Jordan crawling to cover Shelton Benjamin. Hebner counted Orlando the winner.

Winner: Orlando Jordan via. Pinfall in approx. 8 mins

As The Cabinet celebrate their win, the screen focuses on the titantron rapidly flashing superstars from each brand until it stops and goes black once again - then the graphic pops up… Sylvain Grenier has been drafted to SmackDown! The crowd boos and JBL and The Cabinet return to celebrating their win when they realize it wasn’t somebody threatening to them that was drafted to SmackDown, but instead of Sylvain Grenier’s theme song hitting, Chris Benoit’s did and he headed out to the ring with nefarious intentions, getting revenge for JBL cheating to beat Benoit on RAW last week in a similar fashion The Bashams and JBL just cheated Shelton Benjamin.

Benoit rolls into the ring and the first line of duty, The Bashams charge him but he ducks and sends them both over the top rope, Orlando Jordan steps up but is knocked down after a few forearms to the head, from Benoit, leaving only Benoit and JBL standing. JBL swung for a clothesline but Benoit ducked it and bounced off the ropes and caught JBL with a dropkick. JBL instinctively jumped back to his feet but that’s what led to Benoit pulling him to the ground and locking on a Crippler Crossface until referees have to pull Benoit off of him.

After the commercial break, footage is reeled of the backstage area moments before Chris Benoit stormed out to the ring and attacked The Cabinet. The tape shows Sylvain Grenier getting ready to walk out to the ring as he’d just received word that he’d been drafted to SmackDown, when Chris Benoit flies out of nowhere, cutting him off and throwing him into equipment.

After the footage is shown, the screen cuts back to the commentary team of Michael Cole and Tazz, Tazz talks about the attack like it’s some sort of brand war attack with Benoit representing RAW but Cole looks at it as more personal where he doesn’t want JBL and the Cabinet to keep winning because of the numbers advantage.

Superheroes in Training vs. MNM

Tazz and Cole transitioned the conversation of Benoit’s attack on Sylvain Grenier by mentioning that Grenier and Rene Dupree worked well together during the battle royal to open the show, despite not getting the win. Tazz says the team might be a team to look out for on SmackDown because of their experience together and team chemistry. Cole isn’t so convinced because of the depth in the tag team division, mentioning the tag team champions, MNM whose theme song hits and the two make their way down to the ring with their manager, Melina, for their signature entrance as they’re introduced as representing SmackDown - we have another champion vs. champion match up under way here on SmackDown’s draft night.

“Stand back… there’s a Hurricane coming through” rings through the arena as green lights flash and The Hurricane and Rosey make their way to the ring. The most exciting part of the match was Melina and Stacy Kiebler getting into a scuffle at ringside. Kiebler was watching the match while MNM were controlling, when Melina snuck up behind her and ripped her mask off. Kiebler turned around reacting with a slap to Melina and the two started brawling and pulling hair at ringside. The scuffle distracted Joey Mercury, as it distracted many fans, Tazz and Michael Cole from the match, but The Hurricane stayed in the zone and caught Joey with a Shining Wizard and captured the win for his team and RAW.

Winners: Superheroes in Training via pinfall in approx. 7 mins

Right after the pinfall and the bell, the focus goes onto the titantron screen channeling through WWE superstars of both rosters when it stops and goes black, as it always does before revealing the draftee. That’s when the graphic appears - John Cena has been drafted to RAW! The crowd boo’s as SmackDown is losing one of their World Champions, making Batista the sole World Heavyweight Champion on SmackDown and John Cena bringing the WWE Championship to Monday Nights. Superheroes in Training celebrate the draft pick harder than the duo celebrated their victory over SmackDown’s tag team champions. John Cena’s theme song hits and he makes his way down to the ring with his championship and a microphone. Cena tells the Superheroes in Training that he’s grateful they brought him to RAW but he’s been itching to tear someone apart and since fate has brought them here together - who better than two phony superheroes with a gold chasing side piece. The crowd laughs and Kiebler gets offended. Cena tells Hurricane that Kiebler’s going to leave as soon as they lose the titles reminding them what she did to Randy Orton in 2002. He tells Rosey that he’s the joke of his family, Jimmy Snuka, The Rock, Rikishi… Rosey. He was a little harsh for a face on face promo but the crowd loved it and Cena is going to look like a face no matter who he’s tearing into.

Triple H, Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho, Muhammad Hassan and JBL

After the commercial break and excitement of SmackDown’s WWE Champion, John Cena, being drafted to RAW, commentators Tazz and Michael Cole reveal that it’s time for SmackDown’s main eventing worth two picks, where three of RAW’s top superstars square off against three of SmackDown’s top superstars. “Rise Up” by Drowning Pool plays and all three members of SmackDown’s team make their way to the ring together, in SmackDown t-shirts. Jericho has energy, interacting with the fans but Hassan and JBL are treating this match like a chore. After all three members are introduced and settled in the ring, “Across The Nation” by The Union Underground hits and RAW’s team of Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Chris Benoit make their way down to the ring. If you remember the history between these three, only a little over one year ago, Chris Benoit won the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 20 in a triple threat match against Triple H and Shawn Michaels, so this team is by no means on the same page either, but you have to wonder if they have it together a little more than team SmackDown.

It’s Team RAW right off the bat when the bell rings, with Shawn Michaels and JBL starting, but Benoit tagging in instantly, JBL tries to tag in Jericho but Jericho jumps off the rope, wanting to see Benoit beat on JBL. JBL tags Hassan in instead, and Benoit gets a quick jump on him as he’s entering the ring. Eventually JBL tagged himself in while Jericho was in the ring, when Benoit finally tagged out and Jericho was controlling the match, but Benoit regained control quickly, forcing JBL to tag in Hassan again. It ended up Hassan and Michaels when Daivari started making waves at ringside, Michaels rolled out to confront him and JBL caught Michaels with a clothesline from behind and rolled him in. Hassan locked on the Camel Clutch until Shawn passed out and Team SmackDown was victorious.

Winners: Team SmackDown via KO in approx. 18 mins

Daivari rolls into the ring and yells at Hassan as Hassan keeps his Camel Clutch locked on to Shawn Michaels even after the bell, causing the bell holder to ring it again multiple times and forcing the referee to try to pull him off. It’s Chris Jericho who finally rolls into the ring and pushes Muhammad Hassan off of Michaels which starts an argument between Jericho, Hassan and Daivari when the graphic flashes on the screen that Simon Dean has been drafted to SmackDown. Simon Dean rides down to the ring to his theme song on a segway. He says that he can sense the tension in the ring, as he helps Shawn Michaels to his feet. He says that his products can not only go on his lower back to heal him from that fierce Camel Clutch, but he also has anti-aging cream for Michaels, who clearly isn’t what he used to be with the ladies. Michaels laughs for a second and catches Simon Dean with a Sweet Chin Music, this breaks the ice and Hassan attacks Jericho and Michaels smacks Daivari with a Sweet Chin Music too. Hassan sits on top of Jericho punching him when Michaels grabs him by the head and pulls him off, he goes to hit a Sweet Chin Music but JBL clotheslines him - Michaels sold it well looking like his head was taken off, flipping in the air. JBL stomped on Jericho and Hassan locked on a Camel Clutch but another graphic popped up on the screen, not even showing the shuffle - Chris Benoit has been drafted to SmackDown.

JBL looks up at the tron and notices in and immediately rolls out of the ring as Benoit’s theme song hits, Benoit rolls into the ring as he’d already been outside of it due to being in the main event match. Hassan didn’t get the memo and Benoit managed to lock on a Crippler Crossface on Hassan who still had Jericho in a Camel Clutch. Benoit held the hold until Hassan passed out and pointed at JBL who was making his way up the ramp on a getaway to close SmackDown!

Monday Night RAW Monday, June 13, 2005

“Across The Nation” by The Union Underground plays behind RAW’s updated tron, current to the post draft roster, showing highlights of John Cena, Kurt Angle and Big Show. After the intro tron plays on the titantron screen, without any words in from commentary, WWE Champion, John Cena’s theme song hits and the excited RAW crowd goes crazy. He enters, interacting with the crowd and allowing them to calm down before he begins talking. He thanks the crowd for the warm welcome, he says he truthfully didn’t expect to end up on RAW but he’s excited for what the future holds. After a typical face promo, Carlito’s theme song hits, Carlito reminds Cena of this past October, Carlito’s SmackDown debut - Carlito defeated John Cena for his United States Championship. Carlito says it would be cool for him to win the WWE Championship on his RAW debut. Cena laughs and tells Carlito being WWE Champion is about more than looking like Moochie Norris and acting like a teenager in Hawaii trying pot for the first time. Before Carlito could retort, Christian’s theme song hit and he walks out with Tyson Tomko, Christian admits that he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of John Cena coming to RAW but he does raise some good points about Carlito and he also brings the WWE Championship to Monday Nights, which would look great around Christian’s waist. John Cena makes fun of Tomko’s beard and asks him if he’s that bald on purpose and admits he’s impressed by the level of baldness on Tomko’s head.

That’s when GM Eric Bischoff’s theme song hits and he makes way out to the stage. He starts to talk about how he knows everyone wants a shot at John Cena but it’s an honor that has to be earned. That’s when Kurt Angle’s theme song hits. Angle said that two weeks ago on SmackDown he won a “Winner’s Choice” Battle Royal which means he gets to pick a match of his choice and HE wants the match against John Cena. Bischoff says the trade voided his victory in that battle royal but he WILL take it into consideration - Bischoff reveals there will be a Gold Rush tournament to determine the #1 Contender for John Cena’s WWE Championship with Kurt Angle getting a first round bye. He tells Carlito that he’s happy he’s dressed for action because his match is up next - against the monster, Kane!

WWE Championship #1 Contendership Tournament Preliminaries - Carlito Caribbean Cool vs. Kane

The screen comes back on from commercial break with Carlito already waiting in the ring, Kane’s pyros explode and his theme song hits as he is announced by ring announcer Lillian Garcia. When he gets to the ring, he steps over the top rope and Carlito tries to get the head start throwing forearms at Kane as he’s making his entrance, forcing the bell holder to ring the bell and get the match underway. Carlito maintained offense for as long as he was able to, keeping a high pace in the ring, flying off ropes and forcing Kane to match his pace. Eventually, Kane was able to catch Carlito with an uppercut when Carlito tried to jump off the middle turnbuckle with an ax handle to Kane. Kane maintained offense until Edge and Lita appeared on the titantron mocking Kane. Kane was left distracted and Carlito caught him with a Backstabber and picked up the win, advancing to the semi-finals of the WWE Championship #1 Contendership tournament.

Winner: Carlito Caribbean Cool via. pinfall in approx. 9 mins

After RAW comes back from the commercial break, Chris Masters is in the ring with a steel chair which only means one thing… It’s time for a Masterlock Challenge. Masters has a microphone and before the challenge, talks a little bit. He says Rob Van Dam was a coward this past Friday on SmackDown for refusing to compete in the Masterlock challenge. Masters says that his handpicked Masterlock challenger has more balls than Rob Van Dam ever will. He then introduces Eugene to the ring. Eugene takes a seat as Masters prepares for the Masterlock challenge and it’s really over before it starts, Eugene obviously didn’t stand a chance of breaking the lock. Masters continued the lock even after putting Eugene to sleep when Big Show’s theme song hit and Big Show started making his way down to the ring. Once again, Masters took this as a sign to abort, rolled out of the ring and started exiting through the crowd.



RAW takes another short commercial break and when it comes back on, Big Show is already in action with Gene Snitsky in a hard hitting match and Chris Masters clearly didn’t run too far because he’s on commentary for this one. Masters didn’t add a lot of value to the commentary team, mocking Big Show for being out of shape for pretty much the entire length of the match. There was a funny moment where Jim Ross pointed out that Chris Masters has ran from Big Show twice in the past 5 days and Masters asks Jim Ross if he thinks he could break out of the Masterlock. This turned into Jerry Lawler and Masters making fun of Jim Ross for a little bit. Big Show got the clean win in this one when Snitsky bounced off the ropes and Big Show caught him with a chokeslam and pinned him for the clean victory.

Winner: Big Show via. pinfall in approx. 7 mins

Big Show is having his hand raised by the referee when Chris Masters leaves his commentary seat, folds it up and rolls into the ring with it. He smacks Big Show in the back dropping him down to one knee, smacks him in the back again dropping him down to two, throws the chair down and locks on a Masterlock. Referees run to separate Masters and the screen goes to commercial break.



After the commercial break, commentary reveals that the next match will be the second of three preliminary matches held tonight - Intercontinental Champion, Shelton Benjamin takes on former World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton. The match starts with Randy Orton controlling the tempo, using the ropes to his advantage for dirty tactics but Shelton started gaining some offense when he’d catch Orton lacking, with kicks to the mid section. The match came to a close when Orton went to catch Benjamin with an RKO but Benjamin reversed it, tossing Orton off, Orton retaliated by bouncing off the ropes but Shelton Benjamin hit a T-Bone Suplex and picked up the win over Orton to advance to the semi-finals to take on Carlito Caribbean Cool next week.

Winner: Shelton Benjamin via. pinfall in approx. 10 mins

Immediately after Benjamin’s victory over Randy Orton, the screen cuts to Triple H backstage with Ric Flair, both entering Bischoff’s office. Triple H goes on a rant to Bischoff about how there’s a WWE Championship tournament and the longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion in RAW’s recent history isn’t even involved in the tournament. Eric Bischoff tells Triple H to calm down and assures Triple H that his shot at John Cena is coming - The Great American Bash just isn’t the right time. Flair tells Bischoff that he better be right because Triple H is banging the boss’s daughter and he can have Bischoff fired in the snap of a finger and HHH and Flair storm off

Rosey vs. Robert Conway

A bit of a breather match, after the commercial break Robert Conway is already in the ring and Rosey, accompanied by The Hurricane and Super Stacy, makes his way to the ring. Prior to the draft, Conway was a thorn in the side of S.H.I.T. with his partner, Sylvain Grenier, but Sylvain was drafted to SmackDown just this past Friday. Rosey gets the easy win with a frog splash - this was a short match, seemingly to either put Rosey over or further bury Rob Conway.

Winner: Rosey via. pinfall in approx. 6 mins

Rosey has his hand raised by the referee as The Hurricane and Super Stacy roll into the ring to celebrate with him when suddenly William Regal and Tajiri run down to the ring, luckily S.H.I.T. realized what was happening and were able to fight back, but Tajiri tried to blow mist in The Hurricane’s face, The Hurricane ducked and the mist went right in Stacy Keibler’s eyes, Regal noticed and he and Tajiri ran away as The Hurricane and Rosey tended to Keibler.

WWE Championship #1 Contendership Tournament Preliminaries - Shawn Michaels vs. Christian

After the commercial break, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler discuss Keibler’s well being while a replay of Tajiri blowing green mist in her face is shown. After they replay that, Shawn Michaels theme song hits and the commentary team says the main event is underway, the final preliminary match in the WWE Championship #1 Contender tournament. Shawn Michaels is introduced as he gets a huge pop from the crowd. Christian’s pop is equally as big when his theme song hits but it’s boos that fill the arena, not cheering like when Shawn Michaels was introduced. Christian just fed into the hatred from the crowd getting the advantage early and maintaining it for a good portion of the match. Anytime it looked like Michaels was going to get back into the match, Tomko would make an impact, from distracting the referee to tripping Michaels from outside the ring. Shawn Michaels finally got offense when he hit Tomko with a Sweet Chin Music after being thrown outside by Christian, and riding the momentum from that, rolling back into the ring, and getting Christian with some forearms to the head. Shawn maintained offense for the rest of the match until he was in the corner setting up a Sweet Chin Music and Tomko attacked Michaels, his first time being seen since being hit with a Sweet Chin Music of his own. Christian joins Tomko in the attack on Michaels as the referee calls for the bell disqualifying Christian.

Winner: Shawn Michaels via. disqualification in approx. 16 mins

Christian shows an aggressive side that he hasn’t shown before slamming Michaels head against the mat after realizing that he’d not be the one advancing in the tournament. Even Tomko was trying to talk Christian away from Michaels when Hulk Hogan’s theme song hits and the crowd goes crazy. Hogan hasn’t been seen since Backlash over a month ago, where he teamed with Michaels to beat Hassan and Daivari, the pair that is now on SmackDown. Hulk Hogan ran down to the ring and caught Tomko with a scoop powerslam as Tomko charged at him. Christian charged him too but Hogan picked him up in the air and held him up for seconds before dropping him down with a press slam and following it up with a signature Leg Drop to get the crowd on their feet. Hogan helps Michaels up after clearing the ring and the crowd cheers the two on to close RAW!

Monday Night RAW, Monday, June 20, 2005

“Across The Nation” by The Union Underground plays as RAW reels the same tron as last week, presumably the same tron that they’ll use for a while, highlighting their top stars. After the tron finishes, Christian’s theme song hits and he and Tyson Tomko make their way down to the ring, Christian wears his cape while Tomko just sports blue jeans and a wifebeater. Christian talks about how he was seconds away from ending Shawn Michaels career if Hulk Hogan hadn’t stuck his nose in his business and now he’s going to put Hulk Hogan in a retirement home the next chance he gets. Hogan’s theme song hits and he gets a similar pop to last weeks, he stays on the stage but he asks Christian what he’s waiting for, if Christian wants to put him in a retirement home, now’s his chance. Eric Bischoff appears on the titantron and he tells Hogan he’s happy to have him here on RAW but if he wants to show up on a weekly basis, he’s going to have to be expected to compete so later tonight he'll be taking on Tyson Tomko!



After the opening commercials, Shelton Benjamin’s theme song hits and he’s introduced for this non-title, #1 Contender Tournament match. He receives a warm welcoming from the crowd expecting an exciting night with the conclusion of this tournament coming up. After he gets to the ring, his opponent, Carlito, is introduced as his theme song hits. Carlito’s welcoming isn’t as warm as the crowd boos him his whole way down to the ring. He’s been persistent on getting a shot at Cena’s WWE Championship since the two were on SmackDown together that’s why he’s shown a more aggressive side throughout this tournament, continuing that to take offense in the start of the match after a lock up. Carlito maintained offense over the Intercontinental Champion until going for a premature backstabber, and Shelton reversed it, remaining standing. After Shelton controlled the match for a little bit, he was in the process of pulling Carlito to his feet by his hair when Randy Orton’s theme song hit. Orton walked out to the stage and did his pose while capturing Benjamin’s attention. While Benjamin was distracted, Carlito caught him with a backstabber and picked up the win advancing to tonight’s main event.

Winner: Carlito via. pinfall in approx. 10 mins

After Carlito’s victory, RAW takes a commercial break. When RAW comes back on, it shows a replay of Randy Orton costing Shelton Benjamin his spot in the main event tonight to get a shot at John Cena’s WWE Championship moments ago. After the replay, Randy Orton is shown backstage with Maria Kanellis. Maria asks Randy Orton why he went out to the stage during Shelton Benjamin’s match. Orton says he doesn’t expect a bimbo like Maria to be able to connect the dots but Shelton Benjamin cost Orton his shot at the WWE Championship, so he wanted to cost Benjamin his shot.

William Regal vs. The Hurricane

After the interview, ring announcer Lillian Garcia, stands in the ring prepared to announce the next match when William Regal’s theme song hits. Commentary notes that Tajiri is facing a two week suspension after blowing mist in Stacy Keibler’s face on accident last week as the replay is shown in the bottom left corner, this suspension is forcing Tajiri to miss this week’s RAW and Vengeance. After Regal is announced, his opponent, The Hurricane comes down to the ring with his partner, Rosey and Super Stacy. Thanks to Tajiri being away, this is a nice clean match on both ends and comes to an end when Regal ducked a Shining Wizard and hit a Double Arm Hooked DDT to win the match.

Winner: William Regal via. pinfall in approx. 7 mins

After the match, Super Stacy slides in to tend to The Hurricane and William Regal starts screaming at her, blaming her for Tajiri’s suspension. Rosey rolls in and pushes Regal; Regal pushes back. After Regal pushes back, Rosey has had enough and gives Regal a large push, basically throwing him across the ring. Regal retreats, rolling out of the ring and exiting with the ramp, transitioning to a commercial break.

After the break, Chris Masters is in the ring with a foldable chair sitting in front of him and holding a microphone, which if we know one thing, we know that means it’s time for a Masterlock Challenge. Masters cuts a promo talking about how last week he didn’t only claim one victory in the Masterlock challenge last week, but two, counting his attack on Big Show, making himself 9-0 in the Masterlock challenge. He says he’s going to give one lucky person in the locker room a chance at breaking the undefeated streak of the Masterlock challenge or even having the honor of being the 10th victim to fall to it. Big Show’s theme song hits and the crowd pops for a second, Big Show stands on the stage and says he wants to accept the challenge - Masters tells Big Show that he had his shot at the challenge last week and failed. Masters doesn’t believe in second chances. Big Show reminds Masters that he was already out of it when he locked on the move last week. Masters reiterates that Big Show had a chance to break the hold and he failed. That’s when Big Show drops his microphone and makes his way down to the ring. As he pulls himself up on the apron, Masters grabs the chair that was meant to be used for the Masterlock challenge and starts hitting Big Show with it, Big Show fights through the chair shots and punches it back in Masters face, causing Masters to drop it and then catching Masters with a chokeslam sending Masters rolling out of the ring. The screen fades to commercial as the commentary team reveals that Chris Masters will be in action after the break!

Chris Masters vs. Val Venis

As mentioned, after the commercial break, Masters is in action already, dominating Val Venis and despite the match starting during the commercial break, the live audience knows it’s been that way since the initial bell. Quickly after the end of the commercial break, Masters locked on a Masterlock and put Val Venis to sleep. The match only ran for about 3 minutes on television as nearly half of it was during commercial break.

Winner: Chris Masters via KO in approx. 5 mins

After Masters’ victory, the screen cuts to Edge and Lita on a fancy date - for live viewers, it’s shown on the titantron. The two are in a dark room, only lit by the candle on their table that’s covered in rose petals. Edge tells Lita that messing around with her and messing with the “big sweaty machine” Kane have been among some of the best weeks of his life. He gets down on a knee and proposes to Lita. He says he wants to get married next week on RAW - the night after he beats Kane at Vengeance! Lita is ecstatic screaming yes and hugging Edge. After the proposal, the screen goes back to the ring with Lillian Garcia preparing to announce the next match.


Lillian Garcia announces the following match as a semifinals match for the WWE Championship #1 Contender tournament, which means it’s Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle, reigniting the interpromotional feud between the two, which we saw came to an end at WrestleMania with Angle defeating Michaels, this match has received lots of MOTY chatter since Mania. Shawn Michaels comes down to the ring to a pop as he’s introduced by Lillian Garcia. His opponent, Kurt Angle, is introduced in a similar fashion and the bell rings as soon as he gets to the ring. The match keeps the same pace as their WrestleMania match off the bat, it looks like we may be in store for a classic. After a fast paced match, it came to a close when Michaels and Angle were brawling outside of the ring and Michaels caught Angle with a Sweet Chin Music which propped him up on the commentary table. Shawn Michaels rolled back into the ring as the referee continued counting. Michaels could have very well won on a countout, but he disregards the referee and heads to the top rope - diving with an elbow from the ring to the commentary table, taking himself out in the process. The referee counts both men out to 10.

Winner: Draw via. double countout in approx. 13 mins

Immediately after Lillian Garcia announces the match as a double countout, Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle both struggle to get up, confused on what’s going to happen now when Carlito’s theme song hits and he walks out to the stage with a microphone, he says that since there is no winner of the match, he’s the sole winner of the tournament - Eric Bischoff appears on the titantron and says that although neither Shawn Michaels nor Kurt Angle lost either so Carlito better head down to the ring because he DID qualify to compete in the main event - a triple threat match to determine John Cena’s challenger at Vengeance!

WWE Championship #1 Contender Tournament Finals - Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle vs. Carlito

The match starts off with Carlito and Kurt Angle being the heels of the match and working on Shawn Michaels, treating the match like a 2-on-1 handicap match, that partnership boiled over when Michaels pushed Angle away and attempted a Sweet Chin Music, but Angle caught it and locked on an Ankle Lock. Before Michaels could tap, Carlito broke up the hold and the two of them had a one on one for a little bit. This was a pretty good main event, it came to an end when Kurt Angle threw Carlito out of the ring and had a collision with the steel stairs. The referee went out of the ring to check on him and Shawn Michaels got a Sweet Chin Music on Kurt Angle and covered. After Michaels realized the referee wasn’t there to count he stood up and got caught with a big boot to the side of the head from Tomko, who then retreated out of the ring. The referee rolled Carlito back into the ring and Carlito instantly crawled onto Michaels and got the pinfall for the victory, earning a match against John Cena at Vengeance this Sunday!

Winner: Carlito via. pinfall in approx. 16 mins

When I think back to my earliest memories of wrestling - this is the time I remember... I vividly remember Christian and Cena's mini-feud during this month before Christian was drafted to SmackDown... I was 5 at the time but I have a lot of memories from WWE in mid-late 05.