Not really happy with this, but I don't know if I want to re-write it, so there we go, one show down.
Oh, and by the way, I am reading a lot of people's threads, but not reviewing. I really should start doing that. I'd appreciate any reviews, but they're not really necessary.
Enjoy.
--
MONDAY NIGHT RAW - 28/01/2008
The RAW opening following the Royal Rumble was indeed a hot one. It started with the events surrounding the Rumble that involved RAW, including Ric Flair keeping his career, Randy Orton beating Jeff Hardy to retain the championship and John Cena winning the Royal Rumble, last defeating Triple H. It finishes the shot with Cena looking up at the Wrestlemania sign. The video is following by the normal pyrotechnics and Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introducing this “huge” show that is coming up. They talk about Ric Flair’s challenge and who could be his next challenger, and whether the feud between Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton will continue all the way into No Way Out, which will be in 4 weeks. That is when the very expected musicof John Cena hit to the mixed reactions of the crowd.
As he entered the ring, Cena waited for the cheering the booing to die down before beginning: “Well look who’s back. The Champ is HERE!” Once again garnering cheers and boos. “See, I went in last night, not expecting to win, what coming back from an injury and all, so I haven’t really decided what to challenge for. Should I go after the WWE Championship and Randy Orton and the championship I never lost, or go over to Smackdown and challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship and Edge. Now, I’ve had a lot of history with both of these men.” Understatement of the century. “So I’m going to leave it to the fans to decide.” The crowd actually cheers at this, like, almost universal cheers, which is pretty impressive for Cena.
He uses his hands to gesture to the titantron now as he points up where a picture of Orton and the WWE Championship. “Now there’s Randy Orton and the WWE Championship. That would be mean I’d stay right where I am standing at least until Wrestlemania.” A mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd that are quite loud anyway. Cena smiles and once again gestures to the titantron where Edge and the World Heavyweight Championship come up on screen. “Or maybe I could head over to Smackdown and battle with “La Familia” and rekindle my ‘relationship’ with Edge.” He laughs a little to himself. “Somehow, I don’t think Vickie would be too happy with me doing that.” The crowd are cheering slightly, with some small polite laughter. It really wasn’t that funny.
Cena begins to walk around the ring and pace it animatedly: “So, I put the choice to all of you. What do you want to see at the big one? At WRESTLEMANIA! Do you want to see John Cena and Edge duke it out?” Small cheers for that idea, not the loudest, but also not really that quiet. “Or do you want to see Randy Orton and John Cena ONE. MORE. TIMEEEE?” The cheers come in about the same volume, maybe a tad louder as Cena raises a cupped hand to his ear to see if that helps. Trust me, I’ve tried it, it doesn’t. “Seems like the crowd is just as undecided as I am.” The crowd boo a little at this. As if he just insulted them. “So Philadelphia, what’s it going to be!?” The crowd begin to boo again, even at the cheap name mention, but Cena seems to look past it.
“I risked my health last night to enter the Royal Rumble. I was supposed to be out for a year and now here I am. Going to Wrestlemania, and perhaps, I don’t have to make that decision right now.” This calls for more boos for Cena, who has basically just wasted everybody’s time with his thing. His cap comes off as he throws it into the crowd. For a moment, the fans sprint for the invaluable piece of merchandise, but Cena simply smiles. “I guess this means, for the next few weeks, until I can decide, I’m going to be a free agent.” The crowd boos again. That means he will still be here on RAW and on Smackdown, twice the Cena and double the amount of muted televisions. Thankfully for Cena, someone else that the crowd hates somewhat more comes out on stage as the General Manager of RAW, William Regal makes his way out onto stage holding a clipboard with a piece of paper.
“Now Mr. Cena. You still have a contract with me. You have been gone for a few months, let me remind you what will happen now. You will continue to compete on RAW and you won’t go near Smackdown until you come to your decision.” The crowd cheers Regal’s decisions, they don’t want to see Cena twice a week. “So, unless you come to your decision tonight, you won’t be on Smackdown Friday night, or any Friday night after that.” Cena is not happy at this, in fact he is kind of fuming. He smiles as his English accent continues to shine through. “In fact, I can make you compete tonight.” It’s seems like it is just all Cena all the time. “You got to enter the Royal Rumble last, and so you didn’t have to go through as many superstars as everyone else in the match. Not like Triple H, or Batista or Shawn Michaels or any of the other superstars. Which means we don’t know if you actually deserve the Wrestlemania shot.” Cena is look very pissed off at what is coming.
“Tonight. John Cena will be running the gauntlet.” Regal goes on to say that it will be as many superstars as he wants, and it could be anywhere from1 to 30, and that he should be prepared for anyone. “ And if you lose at any point in the match Mr. Cena, the man who pins you will get your shot at Wrestlemania. Good luck Mr. Cena.” I’m not sure if this was meant as an incentive to stay on RAW or to get him over to Smackdown, but whatever it is was, Regal sounded pretty confident doing what he was doing.
>>> COMMERCIAL BREAK <<<
We return to RAW with a quick recap of what happened in the opening scene as JR and King begin talking about what else is on the line for Cena. They continue to discuss it as the first match is about to get underway as Mr. Kennedy makes his way down to the ring, and foregoing his usual introduction, goes off on a small tangent, “Now last night, I would have loved to win the chance to fight it out at Wrestlemania, but I think right now, we have more important issues to attend to. You see, I wasn’t the only loser last night. There was another loser in that ring, but that came a little earlier in the night. Jeff Hardy lost to Randy Orton. Now, Mr. Regal won’t give me a shot at the WWE Championship straight away, so what does Mr. Kennedy have to do while he waits, well, that’s simple.” He continues to vigorously chew his gum as he looks down at his custom drop down microphone. “Jeff Hardy, the name of the man coming for your Intercontinental Championship is...” You know the rest, but I want to write it out anyway. “MISTTEEEERRRRR... KENNNEEDDDYYYYYY... KENNEDY!” Okay, that felt really awkward to write actually.
Out comes the man himself, as he bursts out through the curtains as the crowd cheers for the Intercontinental Champion. Throwing his hands around like he does, he makes his way down to the ring with his face paint being the highlight of his entrance. Kennedy’s microphone slowly rises up to the roof as Hardy slides into the ring. Jim Ross hypes up the match as one that could cement Kennedy as the number one contender to the Intercontinental Championship, and that both competitors competed last night, but Hardy looks to be in worse condition, both mentally and physically.
MATCH ONE – SINGLES MATCH
MR. KENNEDY vs. INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION JEFF HARDY
The match starts off slow, inKennedy’s favour, as Hardy hasn’t had the chance to pick up the pace. They go back and forth in test of strength, with Mr. Kennedy getting Hardy on the mat. He takes the chance to land a hard forearm, but Hardy takes the opportunity to rally back, taking Kennedy down two times in a row with flying shoulder blocks. A standing moonsault gets a two count, before Kennedy wrestles back control of the match. By taking him to the mat, Kennedy controls the Intercontinental Champion, batting him down any time he tries to get up.
The crowd are slowly rising to their feet when Hardy begins to build the momentum back up by taking Kennedy down multiple times over. Clothesline after clothesline, Hardy keeps Kennedy down after laying into him with tough forearms. He lands a stiff bulldog before ascending to the top rope. Waiting a moment before... whisper in the wind! Misses! He really should stop going for that move. Kennedy takes the advantage back and lands a quick Mic Check before pinning and ending the match with a strong brawler’s victory.
WINNER: Mr. Kennedy after 10:12
After performing his usual stick, he exits the ring as we head backstage where Randy Orton is with Maria. She asks him his thoughts on who Cena should challenge. “I know how much of an idiot Cena is, but he is not dumb enough to challenge the One Man Dynasty. The Legend Killer. Besides, he still has to make it through tonight.” Orton continues talking about how Cena is not worthy of stepping up against a third generation superstar, and that he will walk into, and walk out of Wrestlemania as a champion.
Once again the General Manager makes an appearance to tell him to come out to the ring later in the night for an announcement regarding his championship at No Way Out. It’s not hard to figure out what it’s going to be, but if you can’t, just scroll down a little. Go on. I’ll wait, just come back up here. I promise.
>>> COMMERCIAL BREAK <<<
We come back from the break with one man standing in the ring, not really recognisable though so we’ll just go from there. ‘JR’ and The King run us through a little bit of last night before the music of Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly hits as the World Tag Team Champions make their way out to the ring. Cody in wrestling gear, Holly isn’t. They carry the titles over their shoulders as they enter in the ring, master and apprentice.
MATCH TWO – SINGLES MATCH
CODY RHODES vs. PHIL PATTERSON
The two men lock up in the middle, but it is clear who has the advantage, with Rhodes taking him down to the mat and instantly pounding on him. Patterson has no time at all in this match, as Rhodes dominates him with an intensity not usually seen in the second general superstar. He smiles as he lands another boot to the back of Patterson before lifting him up and nailing his Silver Spoon DDT and pinning to end the match.
WINNER: Cody Rhodes after 1:21
Rhodes is up quickly as Holly comes into the ring and gestures that they should leave the ring. Rhodes shakes his head and calls for a microphone as he fellow tag team champion tells him not to do this. Rhodes is seemingly shaking as he brings the microphone to his mouth. “Last night, the Rumble was my chance to make a statement. I had the opportunity to step out into the Rumble and go into Wrestlemania as a champion. Instead I was eliminated by Triple H after 23 minutes.” He seemingly seethes in the microphone after this, the crowd cheer for the mention of Hunter though. I guess that’s a good thing. “I lasted longer than 23 other competitors in that match, and then my shot was robbed some someone who was in the ring for 10 minutes less than I was.” That doesn’t seem fair. Wait, yes it does. “I deserved that shot at Wrestlemania. I still deserve a shot.”
The crowd boos this idea, but begins to cheer as Triple H steps out onto the stage with his music in the background. “Look, Cody, can I call you Cody? I know you’re bitter about what happened, but it’s just the name of the game. You got beaten. You LOST. Let me spell that out for your, L-O-S-T. Were you in the final four? No...” Cody is visibly frustrated in the ring, for no real reason to be honest. It’s pretty much the dumbest reason to be angry. “So you weren’t in the final four, and you’re pretty much blaming me for getting a good number? Doesn’t make sense does it. You deserve... nothing. Nadda. You might have been able to coast on your ‘pappi’s’ name to get this far, but it’s not going to fly around me.” Hardcore Holly has to grab a hold of Cody Rhodes as Triple H takes his microphone and his presence into the back as we go to the backstage area.
John Cena is seen walking down the hallway, rolling his shoulders and smiling as he walks down to the ring, he doesn’t look visibly frustrated with the idea of entering into the Gauntlet, when none other than Chris Jericho, Y2J steps onto the scene. Jericho razzes him up in the way only Jericho does, and tells him that he will see him out there as Cena looks a little confused, but getting a first look at who he might face tonight.
>>> COMMERCIAL BREAK <<<
We’re straight into the ring with William Regal who is standing with a microphone. “It is my pleasure to announce the main event for No Way Out here tonight. It will be the return, of the ELIMINATION CHAMBER.” The crowd cheer at this, but seriously, did you not see this coming. If you did, scroll back up to where I told you to scroll down. “4 Pods. 6 Superstars and 10 tonnes of steel. With 6 of RAW’s best to be entering into the chamber, we need to know who they are. One of them will be the defending champion, Randy Orton.” There is a fair bit of dislike coming from the crowd at that announcement.
“However, that still leaves 5 slots for 5 of RAW’s top players. Who they are? Not even I know. But what I do know is that over the next 4 weeks, we will decide on the next 5 competitors with 5 qualification matches. The first 4 will be hand-picked one on one matches chosen by me. The other match will be a battle royal the week before No Way Out with any superstar that wishes to compete.” This garners a positive response to Regal who smiles in the middle of the ring. “The first match will be coming up next week. Keep your eye on WWE.com and enjoy the rest of the show.”
Regal’s music hits as he leaves the ring with some swagger to his step, but his music stops as he leaves the arena and different music hits. This time it is the music Brian Kendrick and Paul London who come running down and sliding into the ring. The longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions haven’t had much success in the ring as of late, but look to change that around tonight. Their opponents then come down to the ring in the form of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, the heavy laden Texan pair. Climbing into the ring, they stare down their younger pair as King and JR talk up the big men and their power in the ring.
MATCH THREE – TAG TEAM MATCH
LANCE CADE AND TREVOR MURDOCH vs. BRIAN KENDRICK AND PAUL LONDON
The match is fairly quick paced at the start, with multiple covers made by the Hooligans being broken up by the Murdoch. Kendrick and London rotated in and out of the ring like the professionals they are and worked seamlessly together, but all it needed was a tag from Murdoch to change it all. From there, the two bigger men began working over Kendrick, who was beginning to wear down, and almost fell twice to pin attempts. Keeping him isolated in the corner proved easy for Cade and Murdoch as the ******* Wrecking Crew seemed on point. However, it was as soon as they proved too cocky that Kendrick was able to make the tag.
As Paul London came screaming (not literally) into the ring, the Hooligans regained the advantage, with London knocking both members of the other team down with dropkicks. Cade rolled out of the ring as Murdoch was worked over by London’s speed. After climbing to the top rope, he is almost floored by Cade, but Kendrick knocks Cade down to the floor, before London lands the London Calling backflip and that was all she wrote. (Well, I’m a he, but still).
WINNER: Brian Kendrick and Paul London after 7:04
The former tag team champions roll out of the ring as they see Lance Cade come running in after his tag partner who had just been pinned. They walk up the ramp, holding their hurting body parts, the crowd getting a good cheer for them as we head to a commercial break.
>>>COMMERCIAL BREAK<<<
Returning to RAW, we have none other than Fit Finlay standing in the ring despite being a Smackdown superstar. Hornswoggle is clinging to the leg of the Irish man and is looking to be visibly scared. In his thick Irish accent, it’s safe to say the Celtic brawler is quite frustrated as he talks about the Rumble and being the first man to be ever be disqualified from the Rumble. He says he is sick of how Hornswoggle is being treated by Mr. McMahon and that he expects Mr. McMahon to explain himself next week for the treatment of a man he is supposed to be calling his son. Hornswoggle climbs underneath the ring. Finlay waits in the ring as Cool hits and Carlito makes his way down to the ring to a decent outpour of boos from the fans.
MATCH FOUR – SINGLES MATCH
CARLITO vs. FINLAY
Despite an impressive showing by Carlito, the raw power of the small brawler was too much in the beginning, as he battled him down to the ground. Carlito did manage to pick himself up about halfway through the match, and even come close to landing the Backstabber, but Finlay held strong and let him fall to the ground. Finlay hit the Celtic Cross and the match didn’t last very long.
WINNER: Finlay after 4:21
Finlay stands in the ring as Hornswoggle crawls back in and spits on Carlito before we cut to the backstage area. The backstage area is indeed impressive as Beth Phoenix, the Glamazon stands next to Maria, who is kind of visibly scared. Maria asks her about who she things should be the number one contender for the Women’s Championship. “It certainly won’t be you. It certainly won’t be Melina and god help me, no, god help her if it is Mickie James. This championship has a long line of great champions from Victoria to Trish Stratus, but the one stain on it. The one blotch on the record. Mickie James. This is a championship that has a rich history behind it, and I won’t let it be stained again.” Phoenix smiles as she walks away leaving Maria with a stunned look on her face. We follow the Glamazon as she walks through the hallway until she is stopped by William Regal.
Regal informs our Woman’s Champion that she will be defending her championship at No Way Out and Phoenix just laughs in his face. He lets he know that he has booked the match that will decide the Number One Contender next week and it will be a Triple Threat match, between Melina, Jillian Hall, and Mickie James. You can hear the crowd cheering this announcement. Phoenix just scoffs and leaves Regal standing there who continues walking forward. The commentators tell us that the Gauntlet match will come up next and John Cena’s fitness will be put to the test after coming back after only four months of his scheduled yearly break. They hype up No Way Out now that we know what will be on the cards so far, with the two Elimination Chambers already on the card.
>>> COMMERCIAL BREAK <<<
We come back to hear the final bars of MY TIME IS NOW as John Cena slides into the ring and throws his gear out into the crowd, as there seems to be visible strapping on his torn pectoral muscle. He looks to the ramp as the crowd cheer for the upcoming match. We wait for his first opponent, as ‘JR’ talks about how we don’t know how many opponents Cena could have face and that it could range from 1 to 30. We get the traditional Limo set up as JBL is revealed as the first opponent for Cena. He climbs out of his limo and makes his way out to the ring.
MATCH FIVE –GAUNTLET MATCH | WHOEVER DEFEATS CENA GETS HIS CHANCE AT WRESTLEMANIA XXIV
JOHN CENA vs. JOHN BRADSHAW LAYFIELD & an UNDISCLOSED AMOUNT OF OTHERS
The match begins as expected, with Cena coming out of the gate fast, trying to get Layfield out of the match quickly. He takes him down with running blocks and comes out swinging. Eventually, JBL is able to slow the match down a tad and puts the match in his terms, taking Cena to the mat, trying hard to finish the match. Cena won’t stay down as he walks himself back up to his feet and tries to end the match quickly, already worn down after the match so far after not competing outside of the Rumble in months. He manages to stagger Layfield, land a clothesline, land a five knuckle shuffle and hook the STFU on to win the match and move forward one more opponent.
As JBL rolls out of the ring, we hear the music of the Samoan monster who comes barrelling down to the ring. He climbs into the ring as you see Cena visibly frustrated. Umaga takes advantage of the tired Cena and takes him out. He destroys any chance Cena had left with the Samoan Wrecking Ball and leaves Cena visibly dazed. Lifting him out the corner, he goes to land the Samoan Spike, but Cena ducks and begins layout into the Samoan monster, seemingly with a second, or maybe third wind. This doesn’t work though, as Umaga takes him right back down. Umaga grabs the Royal Rumble winner and puts him in position for the Samoan Slam. Cena struggles to get out, but manages to kick the referee in the mouth. The referee goes down as Umaga hits the Samoan slam. He makes the cover, but there is no referee to count. The crowd cheers as Triple H comes down to the ring in full wrestling gear and begins laying into Umaga. He knocks him to the ground as the commentators, rightfully stupefied, wonder the motives of the Game.
Hunter manages to take Umaga down with a Pedigree and drags Cena onto the Samoan Monster to make the cover. Cena is still not quite with it as the referee has managed to recover and despite the confusing, makes the three count and Cena is considered victorious. Hunter stands on the outside of the ring, waiting for Umaga to roll out of the ring. His music then hits, and he slides into the ring as his full intentions become clear for this match. He smiles as he helps the still delirious Cena to his feet, landing a kick to the sternum and looking to hit the pedigree. The crowd begins to boo as we see Cody Rhodes running down to ringside. He slides into the ring behind the game, but holds his hands up around ‘The Game’ and walks around to stand in the corner as ‘The Game stares at him as Cena hangs there limply. He lands the Pedigree and doesn’t take his eyes off of Rhodes who waits until Hunter turns around before pouncing on Cena and the referee calls for the bell.
WINNER: John Cena after 13:31 by Disqualification
Rhodes leaves the ring quickly as Hunter stares back at him. Rhode taunts him as he walks back up the ramp, stating that “You cost me my chance, there goes yours.” Hunter is visibly frustrated as Cena is still out cold in the middle of the ring. Triple H leaves the ring to chase after Rhodes as Cena continues to lie out on the mat.
BURN IN MY LIGHT
There is nothing stopping Orton as he slowly walks out onto the stage with his championship. He walks down to the ramp with a cold look on his face, visibly focused and with his eye on the prize. He slides into the ring and looks down on Cena. Grabbing hold of the returning superstar, he brings his (formerly) injured arm to the side and lands a hard stomp. He begins to do this methodically, landing kicks constantly before lifting up his championship. He places his underneath the arm of Cena as he stomps on his arm again. He grabs his championship again, before bringing it close to the challengers face, who is still pretty much out cold but managing to writhe in pain from the kicks. “THIS IS AS CLOSE AS YOU’RE GOING TO GET TO THIS CHAMPIONSHIP CENA. AS CLOSE AS YOU’RE GOING TO GET!” We end the show with Orton holding up his title and standing over John Cena.
