WWE: "An Alternate Reality"

June 26, 2005

Vengeance opens to a rowdy Las Vegas crowd and the screen cuts instantly to commentary team, Tazz, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. Jim Ross talks about RAW’s matches from the WWE Championship match between John Cena and Carlito Caribbean Cool to the singles match between “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters and “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show! Jim Ross talks about RAW’s side of the show, Michael Cole takes over noting the World Heavyweight Championship match between Batista and John Bradshaw Layfield and he says that The Cabinet has a chance of leaving tonight with two belts, because Orlando Jordan is opening the show in his rematch clause against Chris Benoit for the United States Championship.


Chris Benoit’s theme song hits as Lillian Garcia stands in the ring and the United States Championship flashes on the screen and she announces that it’s on the line. Garcia introduces Chris Benoit as the United States Champion and the crowd pops for him as he makes his way down to the ring with his title over his shoulder. After he settles in his corner of the ring, JBL’s theme song hits and Orlando Jordan makes his way down to the ring alone as Garcia introduces him as the challenger. There are a few boo’s as Jordan makes his way down to the ring but it’s mostly crickets.

The bell rings when Jordan gets to the ring and Benoit and Jordan start the match by locking up. Orlando overpowers Benoit pushing him down the ground while they’re locked up and stomping on his back. Eventually, Benoit gets a window in a match that was dominated by Orlando for a few minutes, by showing some athleticism and reversing an arm drag by landing on his feet and delivering chops to the chest of Orlando Jordan. It wasn’t long until Jordan took back over, Chris Benoit went to clothesline Jordan out of the ring and Jordan ducked it and sent Benoit over the top rope. Jordan grabbed the rope with both of his hands and launched himself catching Benoit with a crossbody and crashing outside of the ring. The two brawled outside of the ring for a little bit with Benoit regaining control, smacking Jordan’s head off the steel stairs and rolling him back into the ring. Benoit broke the referee’s count at 8, getting on the top rope with Jordan perfectly positioned for a Diving Headbutt. It connects and Benoit covers but Jordan kicks out on a close 2 count. Benoit stomped him a few times and then went to the top rope and hit him with the Diving Headbutt again. This time, Benoit flipped Jordan over afterwards instead of covering and locked on a Crippler Crossface in the middle of the ring forcing Orlando Jordan to tap out.

Winner and STILL WWE United States Champion: Chris Benoit via. submission in approx. 11 mins

Chris Benoit has his hand raised by referee Charles Robinson while Robinson hands the United States Championship off to Benoit after a successful defense over Orlando Jordan. Jordan, on his feet now, intercepts the handoff of the United States Championship and bashes Benoit in the head with it and signals towards the stage… Right on cue, JBL runs down with the Bashams but JBL has a bull rope in his hands. The Bashams stomp on Benoit until JBL wraps his rope around Benoit’s neck and starts to choke him out until his opponent tonight, Batista’s theme song hits. JBL drops Benoit, who’s purple in the face and rolls out of the ring, meeting Batista at the stage, exchanging punches with him until The Cabinet catches up and it becomes a four-on-one attack on the champion until Teddy Long’s theme song hits and he comes out to the stage to tell Orlando Jordan and The Basham Brothers to leave the arena immediately or they’re fired. Once they brush past him in anger he tells JBL to go backstage right now and get ready for his match because up next is a RAW represented match to give Batista time to recover and their match will follow! JBL is obviously unhappy as a WWESHOP.COM advertisement plays as a transition.

After the WWESHOP.COM advertisement, the screen transitions to Lillian Garcia standing in the ring prepared to announce for the next match as sparks stream at the entrance ramp and Chris Masters’ theme song hits and he arrogantly makes his way to the the ring basking the the boo’s that he receives while his name is announced. Big Show is cheered on the way out while he enters to his theme song, Big Show and Masters has been at each others necks since June 10th’s edition of SmackDown where Big Show came to the aid of the injured Rob Van Dam, who Chris Masters wanted to challenge in the Masterlock challenge.

Big Show steps over the top rope and Chris Masters is in his corner flexing his muscles. This enrages Big Show and he charges Masters but is separated by the referee, back into his own corner until the referee signals for the bell to ring. When the bell rings Big Show instantly locks arms with Masters and shows Big Show his strength, pushing him into his corner but it’s Big Show’s power that gets him the offense right away, picking Masters up and basically tossing him into the corner - delivering a few hard, closed fists to the head by Big Show. The match progressed in a similar manner with Big Show and Masters both using power moves and reversals in attempts to one up each other and came to an end when Masters kicked Big Show in the gut and bounced off the ropes, kicking Big Show in the face when he was in range. Big Show’s head whipped upwards and Masters flexed his muscles getting booed from the crowd but the kick to the face obviously snapped Big Show back into the match because he immediately grabbed Masters by the throat and hoisted him up for a Chokeslam! Masters used Big Show picking him up as leverage to jump over the shoulder of the World’s Largest Athlete. Masters followed up kicking Big Show in the back of the knee and then locking on a Masterlock when Big Show’s leg gave out, forcing Big Show to pass out and referee Nick Patrick to call for the bell.

Winner: Chris Masters via. KO in approx. 9 min

The camera cuts to the backstage area where Batista is warming up for his match that’s coming up next when Simon Dean walks into his locker room. He wishes the champion luck on his title match but he says he hopes Batista doesn’t get drug tested if he wins. Dean promotes his line of a “legal alternative to steroids,” assuming Batista is on them. Batista is obviously offended and hits a spinebuster on Simon Dean through a bench as his theme song hits and the screen cuts back to the arena with Lillian Garcia in the ring ready to announce the World Heavyweight Champion.


Batista’s pyros hit as he begins his walk down to the ring with the crowd cheering him on and Lillian Garcia announcing him as the champion. Once Batista is settled in his corner, the bells from the beginning of JBL’s theme song rings through the arena and JBL begins his way down to the ring after entering in his limo, but for the first time in a while - without The Cabinet at ringside. Teddy Long suspended them from the arena for the rest of the night after their 4-on-2 attack on Batista and Chris Benoit earlier tonight. After JBL enters the ring, the referee shows the crowd the World Heavyweight Championship before handing it off to Justin Roberts who then rings the bell, marking the match underway.

Batista wastes no time pursuing JBL as the bell rings but JBL uses the ropes, ducking between the middle and the top rope, forcing the referee to pull Batista off of him. As referee Jimmy Kordeas pulls Batista off, JBL pokes him in the eye without Kordeas noticing. That allowed JBL to take control of the match early on and control it for about five to six minutes until he went to deliver a Clothesline From Hell to the World Heavyweight Champion but Batista ducked under it and delivered a strong spinebuster. From that point, the script flipped with Batista picking up momentum and beginning to dominate the match. That lasted until JBL blindly whipped Batista into Kordeas, reversing Batista’s irish whip. Batista was alarmed by it but JBL capitalized on it, catching Batista with a big boot and falling to the ground. With all three, Batista, JBL and Kordeas down, Simon Dean makes his way down to the ring carrying a spray bottle of something. He goes over to the ropes that Batista is helping himself up with and sprays it in his eyes. Batista stands up grabbing his face, he turns around and is instantly caught with a Clothesline From Hell and covered. Jimmy Kordeas was faded but noticed the pinfall struggling to count but Batista kicked out at two! JBL punched Batista in the head a few times and covered again for another two count. JBL argued with the referee a little bit before grabbing Batista by the head, attempting to pull him to his feet but Batista punched JBL in the gut on the way up and then delivered another Spinebuster. This time Batista gave the thumbs up and thumbs down sign, waiting for JBL to get to his feet. When he does, Batista hits a Batista Bomb and picks up the win over JBL, retaining his championship.

Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Batista via. pinfall in approx. 12 mins

The camera cuts to the commentary booth after Batista is handed the World Heavyweight Championship where Tazz and Michael Cole are ecstatic about how that match went pointing out all the obstacles that Batista has overcome early on in tonight’s PPV and still walked away with the successful title defense. They note that the future of SmackDown is bright! Jerry Lawler steps in mentioning that the future of RAW is just as bright with John Cena defending his WWE Championship against Carlito Caribbean Cool in tonight’s main event noting that both competitors are under 30. A video package plays of Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels history leading up to them teaming tonight to take on Christian and Tomko and it sounds like that is the next match.


Shawn Michaels theme song hits and he and Hulk Hogan make their way down to the ring together with the crowd behind them both. They have an elaborate team entrance almost as if the two have rehearsed it, despite this only being their second time teaming. Christian and Tomko are boo’d on their way out to the ring while they’re announced by Lillian Garcia.

Tomko and Michaels start out the match, Shawn Michaels rides the momentum from the cheering crowd getting the initial offense until he bounces off the ropes and is on the receiving end of a spinning elbow from Tomko, allowing Tomko to make a tag to Christian. Christian controls the match over Michaels for a few minutes until reversing a Killswitch, pushing Christian into Tomko and then making the hot tag. Christian turns around after taking out his partner, realizing he’s alone in the ring with Hulk Hogan, who points at him. Christian charges Hogan quickly but is taken down by multiple clotheslines with Hogan getting momentum. He notices Tomko back up on the apron and continues his momentum by knocking him back down to the concrete floor getting a pop from the crowd. Hogan controlled Christian for a while until throwing him into his corner and making the tag to Michaels. Michaels transitioned back into the ring, kicking Christian in the gut and maintaining the control that Hogan gained until Tomko rolled into the ring. The referee was yelling at Tomko to get out but Shawn Michaels took it into his own hands throwing fists until Tomko rolled out of the ring but that moment of distraction gave Christian time to recover, he caught Michaels with a few hard fists and began taking offense. Christian beat on Shawn Michaels for a while until trying to jump off the top rope with a flying ax handle and Shawn Michaels caught him with a Sweet Chin Music. Both Michaels and Christian started crawling to make a tag, both dove to make it, Christian connected, tagging in Tomko but Hogan jumped down off the apron not allowing his partner, Shawn Michaels to make the tag! The camera zoomed in on both Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels face showing Hogan shaking his head and smiling while Shawn Michaels defenselessly stared at him, shocked. Michaels used the ropes to help himself to his feet but as soon as he made it, Tomko caught him in the head with a Big Boot, knocking Shawn Michaels out and picking up the win for his team.

Winners: Christian and Tyson Tomko via. pinfall in approx. 14 mins

After the match while Christian and Tomko have their hands raised and roll out of the ring, Hulk Hogan rolls back into the ring receiving boo’s from every member of the crowd, the loudest the arena’s been all night. Hogan puts his hand to his ear in his signature taunt, realizing how loud the crowd is in the moment. Michaels hasn’t moved since the Big Boot from Tomko. Hogan just delivers a Leg Drop, furthering the boos that continue as Hogan leaves the arena, passing the medical crew on his way up the ramp, who come down and tend to The Heartbreak Kid. While they get Michaels out of the ring, the camera cuts to the commentary team talking about the despicable act by Hulk Hogan and then they talk about the upcoming match, the Unsanctioned Falls Count Anywhere contest between Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, showing a video package of the build up from Eddie Guerrero turning on Rey Mysterio to the brawl that ending with Eddie Guerrero putting Rey through the windshield of a car just two days ago on Friday Night SmackDown.


After the video package of his rivalry with Eddie Guerrero is shown, Rey Mysterio pops out to the stage and makes his way to the ring, high fiving fans while Lillian Garcia announces him first. His ribs are wrapped in tape as the screen shows Eddie Guerrero putting him through the windshield of a car one more time. That’s when Eddie’s theme song hits and he makes his way down to the ring being accompanied by Chavo Guerrero but once Eddie Guerrero makes it to the ring, referee Jimmy Kordeas makes sure to eject Chavo Guerrero from ringside. He’s upset but Chavo abides, when Eddie rolls into the ring the bell rings too.

The match starts off with Rey Mysterio, angrily throwing a flurry of punches and kicks to Eddie Guerrero but Eddie overpowers him, grabbing him by the head and pushing him down hard. Eddie is relentless, pursuing Rey as he sends him flying, stomping on the injured ribs of Rey. Eddie throws Rey out of the ring and begins the torture pulling a chair out from under the ring but when he swings it at Rey, Rey moves out of the way and Eddie just connects with the steel stairs. Eddie instantly turned around and swung again but Rey ducked under it again. Rey started gaining momentum, kicking both of Eddie’s legs until Eddie swung the chair again and Rey athletically kicked the chair back up into Eddie’s face. Rey grabbed Eddie by the hair and threw him over the barricade into the crowd. The two brawled through the crowd the whole way to the top level possible before entering the backstage area. Rey Mysterio threw Eddie Guerrero into a hot dog stand, taking it out with Guerrero, controlling the whole way up to it. He covers but now Chavo Guerrero, who was ejected from ringside is intervening backstage, breaking up the count. Mysterio and Chavo brawl for a little bit and Mysterio makes sure Chavo won’t involve himself in the rest of the match, knocking him out with a wrench that was backstage. As Rey stood over Chavo, Eddie threw Rey into the wall, showing even more aggression than before. Eddie grabbed Rey and walked him a little further, throwing him into a door, breaking the door down on contact leading to the parking lot again. Eddie pulls Rey Mysterio over to a car, making sure he knows that it’s the weapon of choice once again. Eddie grabs the bandaging on Rey’s ribs and rips it off, exposing the injured ribs before pulling him up for a powerbomb, powerbombing him on top of the car. Eddie crawled over the hood of the car and met Rey on the top of it, once again hoisting him up on his shoulders. This time Eddie’s powerbomb sends Rey onto the hood and through the glass windshield. Rey Mysterio rolled off the roof of the car holding his ribs and Eddie only continued his assault, standing on the top of the car then jumping off the roof colliding with a Frog Splash and then forcing the referee to make the count, counting Eddie as the winner of the match.

Winner: Eddie Guerrero via. pinfall in approx. 15 mins

After the match, Chavo Guerrero comes into the parking lot surprised but pleased with what Eddie Guerrero has done to Rey Mysterio, Chavo helps Eddie to his feet but Eddie pushes Chavo away and kneels back down in front of Rey, delivering hard punches to the head of the knocked out Rey until blood stains his mask red from the inside. Chavo is now trying to pull Eddie Guerrero off of Rey and that doesn’t happen until Eddie rips Rey’s mask completely off, exposing his face to the crowd. Eddie waves Rey’s mask around and then throws it back down on Rey. When the screen cuts to the ring, Lillian Garcia stands in it ready to announce the next match, represented by Monday Night RAW.


Shelton Benjamin’s theme song hits and the Intercontinental Championship flashes on the screen showing that it will be defended in this match as Lillian Garcia announces the champion to the ring. Shelton Benjamin high fives the members of the crowd while on his way down to the ramp, definitely at a high point in his career, when opponent and challenger for the Intercontinental Championship, Randy Orton runs down to the ring and attacks him from behind. Orton bashes Benjamin’s face off the steel stairs then rolls him into the ring and covers instantly as referee Charles Robinson calls for the bell to be rung and the match to be underway.

Robinson counts a close two fall for Orton but Orton knows that he’s going to need to inflict a little more damage on the champion before covering again stomping on each limb of Benjamin. Orton doesn’t let up, pulling Benjamin to his feet and delivering a few good european uppercuts followed by a very athletic dropkick, knocking Benjamin back down to his back. Orton controlled the match for a little while before irish whipping Benjamin into the ropes and Benjamin stayed attached while Orton went for a dropkick and just collided with the mat, this time it was Benjamin who showed athleticism on the hangtime of a dropkick, taking Orton down, Orton jumped back up just to eat an arm drag, the motion repeated two more times until Orton retreated, rolling out of the ring. Benjamin wisely pursued Orton launching himself over the top and rolling him back into the ring for the cover but to no avail. The two stayed back and forth for a little longer and Orton ended up on the top rope waiting for Benjamin to get in range but Benjamin noticed it and charged, jumping onto the top turnbuckle with him and immediately delivering a belly to belly off the top. Benjamin beat the referee's count, making it to his feet at the count of eight and pursuing Randy Orton who was in the corner, trying to use it to help himself up. Charles Robinson prevented Shelton from following through and Benjamin got into an argument with him which allowed Orton to attempt an RKO, but Benjamin tossed him off, pushing him into the turnbuckles again and then hitting a T-Bone Suplex and covering for the win!

Winner and STILL Intercontinental Champion: Shelton Benjamin via. pinfall in approx. 13 mins

Shelton Benjamin is having his hand raised by Charles Robinson after he’s handed his Intercontinental Championship when he’s hit in the back by a very familiar face getting the crowd to boo as soon as they recognize who it is - A-Train! In A-Train’s first appearance in WWE in over a year, he picks Shelton Benjamin up over his shoulder and hits a devastating Trainwreck, seemingly breaking the champions’ back. A-Train was released from his contract in November of 2004 after sustaining a rotator cuff injury in June of 2004. Clearly A-Train has recovered to the point of a return and he’s made his presence very felt, targeting the Intercontinental Champion, Shelton Benjamin in his return, seemingly joining the RAW brand.

The camera shows commentary with dropped jaws over the return of A-Train. Tazz says that Vengeance has been eventful so far but there’s still so much in store for tonight, once again noting the main event, John Cena vs. Carlito for the WWE Championship, as they’re talking they’re interrupted by the voice of Paul Heyman, Michael Cole isn’t happy to hear it. Paul Heyman once again claims Mark Jindrak as the future of the WWE noting his impressive win over Heidenreich in his first match under the representation of Heyman. Heyman talks the whole way down the ramp and until he and Jindrak enter the ring. Heyman boasts about being responsible for developing the careers of the likes of The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin and anybody who has ever been contracted by ECW he then goes on to degrade all of those mentioned, saying Mark Jindrak has more talent than all of those names combined because PAUL HEYMAN made those guys. Booker T’s theme song hits and he tells Heyman the only thing he made was a bad choice in a barber, saying Heyman has been riding people's coattails his whole career. Heyman takes a cheap jab at Booker’s wife, Sharmell, which prompts Booker to make his way down to the ring and get the match underway.


Booker T is fired up to start the match after the comments that Paul Heyman made about his wife, rolling into the ring and hitting Jindrak with a spinning leg kick as the bell sounds. Booker keeps the offense pulling Jindrak to a turnbuckle and bashing his head off of it, Jindrak bounces off of it and grabs Booker T and repeats the action back to him, taking the offense. Jindrak didn’t let up the rest of the match, looking very impressive with Paul Heyman shouting from ringside - not making any real contribution to the match. Mark Jindrak picked up a clean win with a “Mark of Excellence” in a fairly dominant fashion.

Winner: Mark Jindrak via. pinfall in approx. 6 mins

Immediately after Jindrak’s win over Booker T, the screen cuts to the tron screen showing the backstage area where A-Train is being interviewed by Maria, speaking for the first time since his return, earlier tonight when A-Train attacked the Intercontinental Champion, Shelton Benjamin. Maria asks him why he targeted Shelton Benjamin. A-Train says that the highlight of his career was when he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship in 2002 and it was the highlight of his career and he met the low point of his career when he was released 8 months ago after being sidelined with a rotator cuff injury. A-Train noted that he has been rehabbing for over a year and is now physically better than he was before he was released and he wants to pick up at the highest point of his career and go up from there.

After the interview, the camera cuts back to the ring where Lillian Garcia is prepared to announce the next match and Kane’s theme song hits with his pyros exploding at the ramp and fire shoots from the turnbuckle. While Kane makes his way to the ring, a video package is shown of Edge and Lita antagonizing the Big Red Machine for the past few weeks including Lita flushing her engagement ring to him. Edge’s theme song hits and he comes out to a showy entrance with Lita, where he makes out with her before walking up the stairs to enter the ring for his match.

As Edge enters the ring, referee Earl Hebner signals for the bell and Kane takes early offense getting some gruesome hook punches in on Edge, Kane controls for a majority of the match. After throwing Edge around the ring for over five minutes, Kane notices Lita yelling at him from outside of the ring. Kane isn’t able to ignore Lita and he rolls out in pursuit of her as she slowly backs away until she backs herself into the guard rails, she tries to jump into the crowd but Kane grabs her by the hair and pulls her back. Kane grabs her by the throat and lifts her in the air for a chokeslam when Edge smacks Kane in the back with a steel chair and the bell sounds

Winner: Kane via. DQ in approx. 7 mins

After the match, Edge realizes that he’d already lost so he takes another shot to the back of Kane… and another… and another until Kane is flat on his stomach out cold. That’s when Edge slides the chair under Kane’s head and grabs another chair from under the ring, Lita cheers Edge on as Edge hits a conchairico on Kane, sandwiching his head between two steel chairs as security comes out to tell Edge to go backstage.

The camera cuts to Muhammad Hassan and Daivari preparing for Muhammad Hassan’s match against Chris Jericho when Paul London enters the room, he says he knows Daivari is going to be at ringside so he’s going to be in Jericho’s corner to make sure Daivari isn’t trying to cheat. Hassan asks what it has to cost Paul London to learn to mind his own business, noting that this heroism that London tries to display has made him look like a fool two weeks in a row. An advertisement for this week’s SmackDown plays, revealing Batista will be defending his title for a second time this week. After the SmackDown advertisement, Lillian Garcia is in the ring ready to announce for the match.


Muhammad Hassan’s theme song hits and Hassan and Daivari make their way down to the ring amassing a large amount of boos while Lillian Garcia announcse it as a singles match and only names Hassan. Once Hassan is in the ring and Daivari is outside of it on Hassan’s side, talking to him between ropes, Chris Jericho’s theme song hits and he comes out with Paul London similar to Daivari coming to the ring with Hassan except the two of them interact with the fans that are cheering them on.

The bell rings and Jericho charges Hassan but is caught off guard by a few arm drags to set the pace. There was a fun spot where Jericho went for a lionsault but Daivari grabbed Hassan by the leg and pulled him out of the ring, helping him regroup. Jericho saw Daivari grab Hassan’s leg and was able to manage his body in mid-air to land on his feet, bounce off the opposite ropes and fly high over the top of the side Daivari and Hassan are on, taking them both out in the process. Jericho continued brawling with Hassan outside of the ring until Daivari was back on his feet, he went to charge Jericho but Paul London was waiting to help out starting to brawl with Daivari, those two continued brawling outside of the ring even after Jericho and Hassan made it back into the ring, eventually, Paul London climbed up on ringside and hit a 450 splash onto Daivari who was laying on the hard concrete. Meanwhile, Jericho was trying to lock on the Walls of Jericho but Hassan rolled out of it and rolled Jericho up in one motion, grabbing the tights and getting the win.

Winner: Muhammad Hassan via. pinfall in approx. 8 mins

Muhammad Hassan has his hand raised as Chris Jericho rolls out of the ring in shock that Hassan got one over on him. After the match, Hassan rolls out of the ring to help his manager and friend, Daivari up to his feet and to the back as a video package rolls for the WWE Championship contest showing clips of all the gold rush tournament matches leading up to Carlito getting the WWE Championship match and main eventing Vengeance mostly thanks to a Big Boot from Tomko to Michaels during the number one contendership triple threat match between Carlito, Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels.


The WWE Championship flashes on the screen meaning it’s time for the main event as the champion, John Cena’s theme song hits and the crowd goes crazy. Lillian Garcia announces that the following is scheduled for a one fall and it is for the WWE Championship! She then introduces John Cena as the champion, while he slides into the ring, showing his title to the crowd before handing it off to referee Chad Patton, who hands it off to Justin Roberts outside of the ring. Carlito’s theme song hits as he’s boo’d. His popularity is at an all time high, this being his first PPV main event and his first ever shot at the WWE Championship.

Carlito knows this may be his only shot at the gold so he waists little time running to Cena with fists flying as the referee rings the bell. These two have almost been synonymous in their careers with Carlito debuting last year on SmackDown, beating John Cena and capturing the United States Championship, both making the jump from SmackDown to RAW during this year’s draft and now Cena defending his WWE Championship against Carlito and Carlito has been one of the few people to have John Cena’s number in his young career. Carlito shows nothing but animosity early on in the match, throwing Cena out of the ring and using the announcers table as a weapon, bouncing Cena’s head off of it. He shoves Cena’s face in his own title then rolls him back into the ring. After controlling for a little while longer, Carlito has Cena sitting in the corner against the turnbuckles stomping him until the referee tries pulling him away. Carlito goes right back at it but the referee pulls him away again. This time Carlito shoves Chad Patton to the ground and Patton threatens to DQ Carlito, which angers him. Carlito argues with the referee for a second and that moment of hesitation is enough for Cena to throw Carlito shoulder first into the turnbuckle post. Cena uses that to take a break and recover. Once Carlito turns around, Cena is healthy enough to throw some punches and gain momentum, eventually pumping it up to flat out offense. Cena controls for a little bit until he attempts an FU on Carlito! Carlito lands it and Cena doesn’t realize. John Cena turns around expecting to cover but is caught in the face with a superkick and then covered but he kicks out. Carlito once again takes over with some angry elbows to the head of John Cena until Cena is bleeding. Once Carlito draws blood he covers again for another two count, he once again went over to referee Chad Patton looking for an argument or explanation, this time cranking it up a notch, backing Patton into the corner, screaming in his face. Right before Patton was about to ring the bell and DQ Carlito, John Cena caught him with an FU and covered! NO! CARLITO KICKED OUT! The fans are shocked that Carlito is still in this and Cena is too. Cena covers again but this time the referee doesn’t even get to the two count. Cena pulls Carlito up to his feet by his hair and puts him on his shoulder for another FU when Kurt Angle’s theme song hits and Angle starts his way down the ramp. John Cena tosses Carlito aside, watching Kurt Angle make his way down when Carlito jumps on Cena’s back for a Backstabber! Cena holds onto the ropes and Carlito crashes to the mat, Cena turns around as Carlito charges him again and Cena catches him with an FU into a pinfall where he’s counted winner!

Winner and STILL WWE Champion: John Cena via. pinfall in approx. 18 min

John Cena is handed his WWE Championship by Chad Patton as Kurt Angle stays at the bottom of the ramp clapping his hands. John Cena points at Kurt and smiles before raising the title over his head and yelling “THE CHAMP IS HERE!” at Kurt Angle to close Vengeance.

The SmackDown intro reels through highlights of the top superstars on SmackDown playing “Rise Up” by Drowning Pool over the tron. After the tron the camera cuts to the fired up crowd on the first day of July. A crowd who gets even more fired up when their World Heavyweight Champion, Batista’s theme song hits and he makes his way to the ring with the World Heavyweight Championship strap over his shoulder. He has a microphone and opens SmackDown talking about the hell of a battle he fought at Vengeance against John “Bradshaw” Layfield… and Simon Dean… His next breath was going to be a continuation of his promo but as quick as you could imagine, Simon Dean’s theme song hits and the crowd erupts in boo’s. Batista invites Simon Dean into the ring which alerts Simon Dean. Dean rejects the offer and stands at the bottom of the ramp. Dean starts by congratulating Batista on his successful championship defense over JBL and he apologizes for his involvement in the match. He points out that he’s been trying to get Batista to try his line for weeks now and he refuses so Dean says he saw the opportunity there to force Batista to try it. He then reiterates his apology and asks for a truce between himself and “The Animal” Batista. Batista tells Simon Dean what he’d prefer more than an apology is to kick Simon Dean’s ass around the ring. Dean denies the challenge despite the pop it got from the crowd and decided to start exiting the arena when Teddy Long’s theme song hits and he tells Simon Dean not to go anywhere because when the World Heavyweight Champion wants a match against you - he gets a match against you. Especially when the crowd wants it too. The crowd pops and SmackDown cuts to its first commercial break before the match gets underway.

This match went down exactly how you would have expected it to - a lot of Batista chasing Simon Dean who was just running for his life every chance he got. Eventually Simon Dean made an offensive move, rolling into the ring and trying to stomp Batista while he came into the ring but Batista fought through it and was able to catch Simon Dean with a spinebuster and it was straight domination from Batista from that point on where he delivered two more spinebusters and then a Batista Bomb to pick up the clean, dominant win.

Winner: Batista via. pinfall in approx. 5 mins

Batista has his hand raised as victor and he’s announced by Lillian Garcia in a good opening to SmackDown, something everyone wanted to see - Batista getting his hands on Simon Dean in a clean match and SmackDown cuts to commercial, when it cuts back, it shows a video package of Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio in an unsanctioned Falls Count Anywhere match. The video starts off light with Chavo getting ejected and shows them brawling into the crowd and backstage. It gets dramatic when Chavo intervenes and Rey smacks Chavo with the wrench and that’s when the music crescendos and it just shows Eddie Guerrero going on a complete rampage putting Rey Mysterio through a car nearly and being pulled off by Chavo before waving Rey’s mask in his face. After the video package the screen shows a close up of Eddie Guerrero’s face and pans out to show him standing beside Chavo Guerrero, who wears a bandaid on his head from the wrench attack, and backstage interviewer, Josh Matthews. Matthews asked what caused Eddie to snap on Rey the way he did. Eddie says “Rey isn’t blood essay” he talks about how Rey wants to act like he’s his friend and they’re tight but he knows Rey wouldn’t ride for him like his cousin Chavo would because Chavo’s blood and you can’t trust anyone but family. This was a very intense segment and it seems like Eddie has just gone off the rails.

After the interview the screen cuts to the commentary crew of Tazz and Michael Cole talking about how speechless they are about Eddie’s recent actions and words. They then begin talking about Muhammad Hassan and his dastardly victory over “Y2J” Chris Jericho at Vengeance. That’s when Jericho’s theme song hits and he comes down to the ring with a microphone to a pretty solid pop. Once he gets to the ring he talks about how everybody saw how his match with Hassan ended and he’s as disappointed as everybody else but officials make bad calls all the time - it’s just a part of the sport - these things happen. Jericho says that everybody also knows that if that bad call hadn’t happened, Jericho was whooping Hassan’s ass all over that Vengeance ring and he would have got the win in a fair fight so he proposes Hassan comes out here right now and they settle this once and for all. This gets the crowd excited, wanting a rematch of the PPV match on free television but instead of Muhammad Hassan’s theme song hitting, Mark Jindrak’s does and Paul Heyman follows him down to the ring doing the talking. Heyman tells Jericho to quit whining about his loss to Hassan and get over the fact that he didn’t win. Vengeance is over, he had his chance last night - get over it! Heyman starts ripping into Jericho saying that “Y2J” was all about the future, Chris Jericho coming into a new company right at the new millennium ready to show the world what he’s got but now 6 years later and Chris Jericho is using the same nickname but Chris Jericho has become a thing of the past. He introduces his client, Mark Jindrak… The REAL future of the WWE. Jindrak and Jericho have a temporary staredown until Hassan attacks Jericho from behind. He and Jindrak start stomping on Jericho and he locks in a Camel Clutch when Mark Jindrak’s opponent at Vengeance, Booker T, runs down to the ring and exchanges punches with Hassan and tosses him over the top rope then chases Jindrak away, saving Chris Jericho from an attack that could have potentially gotten very out of hand.


After a commercial break, Billy Gunn is standing in the ring already as Rene Dupree’s theme song is playing and he is getting announced by Tony Chimel. Despite his lack of recent screen time he still has a surprising amount of heat behind him. Gunn looked pretty strong during this match but Sylvain Grenier came out during the match and hit Gunn in the back while he was bouncing off the ropes which allowed Rene Dupree to roll him up and get the victory.

Winner: Rene Dupree via. pinfall in approx. 6 min

Directly after Dupree’s victory over Billy Gunn the camera cuts to the parking lot where it shows a limousine arrive at the building and all four members of The Cabinet get out of it and commentary reveals that they’ll be in the ring next to deliver some words! The segment then cuts to commercial break.

Once the screen comes back from commercial break, all four members of The Cabinet are in the ring but JBL’s the only one with a microphone. He says that they had a bad night last night because Orlando Jordan didn’t recapture the WWE United States Championship and he didn’t capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Before he can continue, Chris Benoit’s theme song hits and the crowd pops as Benoit walks out to the stage with his US Championship around his waist. Benoit tells JBL to cut the sob story because everybody saw him and his Cabinet goons try to end his career this past Sunday and he thinks they would have if it weren’t for the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista. Chris Benoit tells JBL that he’s scheduled up next to fight the World’s Strongest Man, Mark Henry but if JBL’s in the same mindframe next week, Benoit knows a certain Animal who wouldn’t be opposed to to teaming up with him next week to take on all four members of The Cabinet! JBL and the Cabinet back down for now and move towards the commentary table where JBL takes a seat and joins Michael Cole and Tazz while he forces Jordan and the Bashams to stand behind him.


Chris Benoit keeps his gaze locked on JBL, who’s locking eyes with Benoit from his seat on commentary when Mark Henry’s theme song hits and he comes out announced as the opponent of Chris Benoit. Benoit, taking his frustrations out on Mark Henry starts with the offense locking Henry in a side headlock and delivering a few punches to the head of Henry. Henry eventually uses his strength to stay standing when Benoit went for a clothesline almost like hitting a brick wall. Henry controlled for a little bit longer before taking Benoit to the middle turnbuckle going for a powerslam but Benoit slips over his shoulder and pushes Henry off. He followed up with a diving headbutt and then flipped Henry over and locked on a Crippler Crossface, prompting The Bashams and Orlando Jordan to leave commentary and start stomping on Benoit, getting Mark Henry DQ’d.

Winner: Chris Benoit via. DQ in approx. 7 mins

While The Bashams and Jordan continue stomping on Chris Benoit, JBL goes to Tony Chimel and aggressively takes Benoit’s United States from Chimel and rolls into the ring while The Cabinet holds Benoit on his feet for JBL. JBL yells at Benoit for a little bit and is about to hit Benoit with the title when Batista’s theme song hits and Batista runs down the ramp. JBL drops the title and The Cabinet runs away through the crowd as Batista checks up on Benoit as SmackDown cuts to commercial break.


When the commercial break is over, Tony Chimel stands in the ring with a microphone and the Cruiserweight Championship flashes over the screen as the champion’s theme song hits and Paul London makes his way out to the ring for a pretty solid pop. There was a little bit of confusion among the crowd on who London was going to be defending his championship against tonight but Muhammad Hassan’s theme song hits and Tony Chimel ends that confusion introducing Hassan’s manager, Khosrow Daivari. These two get tremendous heat walking out to the ring interacting with the fans who are booing them in the front row by the ramp.

Paul London fed off the crowd’s energy more than Daivari though, despite having less of a reaction early on - he did a good job of getting the fans cheering for him but Hassan’s heel work at ringside helped that a lot too. In fact, Hassan’s heel tactics are what turned things around for Daivari when Paul London went to bounce off the ropes keeping the high energy pace but Muhammad Hassan tripped him up. Daivari capitalized on this by stomping on London and controlled for a little bit but didn’t maintain it for very long until London regained control when Daivari went for a flying leg drop but London rolled out of the way. London controlled for a little bit longer until attempting a catapult crossbody after launching off the middle rope but Hassan predicted it and pulled the rope away causing London to crash hard on the back of his head. Daivari quickly headed to the top and landed a diving leg drop this time and picked up the win and the Cruiserweight Championship

Winner and NEW Cruiserweight Champion: Khosrow Daivari via. pinfall in approx. 7 mins

After the match, Muhammad rolled in to the ring unsatisfied with costing Paul London his Cruiserweight Championship, Hassan stomps on Paul London and then for the third week in a row locks on the Camel Clutch, completely humiliating London once again. He was adamant on not releasing the hold until Booker T, who saved Chris Jericho from Hassan, Daivari and Mark Jindrak earlier, ran out to the ring and made the save for London this time - chasing away Hassan and Daivari. As Hassan and Daivari are retreating by the ramp, Booker T requests a microphone and then starts talking; he says that he knows exactly who Hassan and Daivari are… They want to play the victims like they’re oppressed or something when they run around with their noses in the air taking advantage of people through the numbers game, when they’re not looking AND attacking people who are already down and out. He tells Hassan and Daivari that they have no class and it’s going to be his pleasure embarrassing Hassan one-on-one next week!


After a short commercial break, Tony Chimel is in the ring announcing the next match as the main event of the night - Chris Jericho’s theme song hits as he receives about the same pop he did when he interrupted Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari earlier tonight. Although Jericho’s reaction was solid, his opponent, Eddie Guerrero’s was LOUD. Eddie was booed his whole way down the ramp while he was accompanied by his cousin Chavo.

When the bell rang Jericho got the upper hand after locking up and out-wrestling Eddie Guerrero to start the match. When Jericho got the upper hand he was able to control the match for a while and ride the momentum. There was even a spot where Jericho threw Eddie over the top rope and continued his pursuit while Eddie was outside of the ring. Chavo caught in between the two of them and Jericho redirected his attention to Chavo Guerrero delivering punch after punch and eventually stomping him into the corner of the barricade until Eddie grabbed Jericho by the hair and rolled him in the ring. Eddie controlled for a little bit from that point with near the same evil look in his eyes he got when Rey hit Chavo with a wrench, but with Chavo out of the picture, Jericho was able to eventually regain control. Jericho controlled for a little bit longer until he noticed Paul Heyman and Mark Jindrak making their way to the ring. Jericho only was distracted for a second but that was long enough for Eddie to recover and catch him with a low blow while the referee was also distracted by Heyman and Jindrak. Eddie then went to the top rope and landed a Frog Splash and picked up the win in the main event!

Winner: Eddie Guerrero via. pinfall in approx. 17 mins

Eddie is quick to have his hand raised and leave as he brushes past Paul Heyman. After Eddie has completely left the arena, Heyman orders Mark Jindrak to “Go, now!” prompting him to roll into the ring and hit a Mark of Excellence on Chris Jericho. Jericho yells for help but Jindrak just grabs him and hits him with it again before standing over him menacingly getting booed by the crowd as SmackDown closes

“Rise Up” by Drowning Pool hits and SmackDown’s tron rolls highlighting the top superstars and when it’s over Mark Jindrak’s theme song hits and the amped up crowd boos him pretty loudly as he makes his way down to the ring with his manager, Paul Heyman. Paul Heyman has the microphone doing the talking about his client Mark Jindrak. He repeats the nickname he gave to Mark Jindrak last week of “The Real Future of WWE” also calling him, “The Reflection of Perfection” and a future World Heavyweight Champion. Chris Jericho’s theme song hits and he gets a louder pop than last week, probably because the crowd wants to see him rip Jindrak’s head off. Instead, Jericho stays at the top of the ramp. Jericho says that last week Mark Jindrak tried to humiliate him by standing over him to close SmackDown but Jindrak really just embarrassed himself because he took a man who was already down for the count and acted like THAT was winning his world championship that he’s so desperately after. Jericho says he knows that Jindrak wants to be a future world champion but Chris Jericho HAS BEEN a world champion and was the first ever Undisputed WWE Champion! Paul Heyman interrupts him, pointing out that he said “Has been” and “was.” He acknowledges Jericho’s great past but wants to leave the past in the past. Jericho starts heading down the ramp when Theodore Long’s theme song hits. Teddy Long comes out and stops Jericho from getting the ring. He tells Jericho that he’ll have his chance to get his hands on Mark Jindrak tonight because he’ll be teaming with Booker T to take on the tag team of Mark Jindrak and Muhammad Hassan!


After SmackDown rolls its opening commercials, Hardcore Holly is shown in the ring as his theme song plays in the background when Mark Henry’s theme song hits and the commentators begin hyping him up as the World’s Strongest Man but he doesn’t bring much heat from the crowd on his way out - but he hasn’t really given any reason to garner heat.

Once the bell rings it’s Mark Henry’s match right away using power moves like scoop slams and standing splashes to weaken the abdomen of Hardcore Holly. Holly started turning things around elbowing Henry in the head while he was in the corner but when he continued up on it, Henry caught him with a World’s Strongest Slam and picked up the win,

Winner: Mark Henry via. pinfall in approx. 4 mins

Mark Henry’s hand is raised when the camera cuts backstage. We have Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero in a locker room together when they hear a knock on the door, Eddie yells come in and Simon Dean enters. Simon Dean says that he looks at himself a lot like Eddie Guerrero because they’re both rejects, suggesting they form an alliance but Eddie isn’t buying it saying he isn’t a reject and he doesn’t like Simon Dean. He warns him to stay away or he’ll suffer the same fate as Rey Mysterio did.

After a commercial break Heidenreich stands in the ring receiving a large amounts of boos, which isn’t a good pop as he’s a face right now, but he cuts a Disaster Piece poem promo about how hard the backstage workers are to go unrecognized and invites staff member Finlay to the ring to watch his match. He hypes Finlay up saying about how big of a star he was in WCW and although settling into a non-wrestling role in WWE we can think about how good he used to be. Finlay was obviously offended by this comment although it wasn’t meant to be rude.


Charlie Haas’s theme song hits cueing the beginning of Heidenreich’s match as Haas makes his way down to the ring yelling at the fans and being accompanied by his wife, Miss Jackie, which is new - obviously indicating he’d turned heel. Once he gets to the ring the bell rings and they lock up. Heidenreich controls off the start hip tossing him and then stomping him in the corner. He maintained control the whole match until bouncing off the ropes and his guest, Finlay, climbing to the apron and smacking him in the back of the head with a Shilelele, knocking Heidenreich down and Haas locked on a Haas of Pain forcing Heidenreich to tap out

Winner: Charlie Haas via. submission in approx. 5 mins


The screen fades to commercial as Heidenreich is shocked that Finlay would betray him like that, zooming in on his face. When the screen comes back, Tony Chimel is in the ring and Muhammad Hassan’s theme song rings to a massive amount of boo’s and his opponent’s boo’s nearly match, but not quite as Jindrak and Hassan walk down to the ring with Jindrak meeting Hassan half way. Chris Jericho and Booker T do the same with Jericho coming out first. Jericho doesn’t get nearly as big of a pop as Hassan and Jindrak did but still bigger than his partner, Booker T’s.

The bell rings with Booker and Hassan locking up to start. Hassan gets the upper hand, backing Book into a corner and kneeing him in the gut, it wasn’t until Booker made the tag to Jericho that their team started getting some momentum with Jericho still having a bone to pick with Hassan after not having a clean ending to their match but eventually Hassan is able to make the tag to Jindrak. Jindrak has been targeting Jericho but Jericho fights him off for a little bit until Jindrak’s stamina comes into play catching Jericho with a few dropkicks. Jericho reversed a Mark of Excellence and hit a backstabber but it took both men down and forced the referee to start counting. The count was broke with a hot tag on both sides, making Booker T and Muhammad Hassan the legal men. Booker T got momentum initially but Hassan quickly regained it and kept it until Paul London came out and attacked the Cruiserweight Champion, Daivari. Muhammad Hassan went to go help Daivari but Booker T cradled him and got the victory for his team.

Winners: Booker T and Chris Jericho via. pinfall in approx. 16 mins

As Booker T and Jericho have their hands raised while Paul Heyman and Jindrak are both very upset outside of the ring, the camera cuts to backstage where Billy Gunn is being interviewed by Josh Matthews. Josh mentions the numbers game coming into play in his match with La Resistance last week and asks if he has any concerns about La Resistance making an appearance in his match next. Billy Gunn calls La Resistance cowards and says that he wasn’t prepared last week and that was his fault. He’s not worried about La Resistance because he’s prepared now. Josh thanks him and the screen cuts to a commercial break


The commercial break is quickly over and Billy Gunn is on his way out to the ring and it shows his opponent, Kenzo Suzuki already standing in the ring. When Gunn enters the ring the bell rings and he quickly gains control of the match. He doesn’t hold it long before Kenzo takes control and they flop back and forth for a few minutes in a match that was better than anticipated. Despite the two upping their game, the crowd was not happy about La Resistance attacking Billy Gunn from behind forcing a DQ finish.

Winner: Billy Gunn via. DQ in approx. 6 mins

After causing the match to end in a DQ, La Resistance continues their beatdown on Billy Gunn when Road Dogg’s theme song hits and the crowd goes crazy. Michael Cole points out that this was what Billy Gunn meant when he said he was prepared this week and Road Dogg just lays into both members of La Resistance until the two of them retreat. He helps Billy Gunn to his feet and the Outlaws are back in business!


A commercial break is taken and when the screen comes back it shows a replay of Road Dogg returning to save his former partner, Billy Gunn from La Resistance and after the commercial break Tony Chimel is standing in the ring and announces that the next match is the main event and Batista’s theme song hits and he makes his way to the ramp and Benoit’s song hits. The two walk out and are announced together as a team, both receiving similar, positive pops. Once they get to the ring, JBL’s theme song hits and a limo drives out to the stage. All four members of The Cabinet exit the limo receiving boo’s from everyone in attendance.

Orlando Jordan starts out with Chris Benoit and similar to their mini-feud, Benoit gets the upper hand using his high energy offense to bounce off the ropes and keep Orlando Jordan off balance despite his impressive athleticism as well. Benoit locked in an early Crossface but JBL broke it up. Eventually Jordan tagged in Doug Basham and the Cabinet kept him contained in the corner for a while until he ducked and made Doug catch Danny with a right hook. As Doug was shocked he hit his brother, Benoit capitalized with a roll up but Doug kicked out. Benoit made the tag to Batista and Batista took offense for a while, even after Doug tagged in Danny, Batista continued ripping through The Bashams, JBL tagged himself in while Batista had Danny up ready for a Batista Bomb and was upset when the referee wouldn’t count. JBL controlled Batista from there until he went for a Clothesline From Hell but Batista ducked it and caught him with a spinebuster. Batista made the hot tag to Benoit who climbed to the top and hit a Diving Headbutt on JBL and pinned but JBL kicked out which shocked everyone in the crowd. Benoit tried to lock in a Crossface but JBL managed to grab hold on the ropes and wouldn’t let go forcing referee Brian Hebner to break him up. As Hebner was pulling Benoit away, JBL poked him in the eye and Hebner moved out of the way accidentally allowing JBL to hit a Clothesline From Hell - but Benoit ducked and it hit Hebner instead! Benoit locks on the Crossface and there’s no referee to see JBL tapping out. Benoit tries to wake the referee up while Orlando Jordan grabs the US title and sneaks it into JBL. Benoit is still trying to wake the referee up as JBL stands over him with his title waiting for Benoit to turn around. Once he does, JBL takes his head off with the US belt flipping him upside down and bloodying him. JBL covers but Hebner is still down and can’t count. It’s JBL who’s trying to wake him up now when Batista rolls into the ring and gets a huge pop from the crowd - the audience members who weren’t into the match at the beginning are now. Batista turned JBL around and hits a Batista Bomb and covers but nothing from Hebner still. Suddenly Eddie Guerrero is in the ring with the World Heavyweight Championship instead of the US Championship - this is a message! Eddie smacks the World Champion with his own title and pulls JBL on top. He looks over and notices Hebner moving a little bit now and pulls Hebner over to count. Hebner sees it and groggily gets a three count off.

Winners: The Cabinet via. pinfall in approx. 19 mins

After the match, JBL, Brian Hebner, Batista, Chris Benoit, everyone is laid out as Eddie Guerrero bends over, still holding the World Heavyweight Champion. He puts Batista’s face to the title yelling “This is my title amigo! This is my title essay!” as SmackDown closes.