Connor McGrath
I might be in the minority here but I’m kind of glad that Triple H has gotten a critical reappraisal by the internet wrestling community in the past year or two. My assessment of him has always been that he’s a lot better than his critics give him credit for but maybe not quite as great as he himself thinks he is. I’m not sure if he’s on the top of the list but if he’s not in the first tier than he’s in the tier right below and he’s certainly not the marginally talented egomaniac that his critics (most notably Bret Hart) would say he is.
I feel like 90% of the criticsm of Triple H derives from the era in the early-mid ’00s that ended with this show. It’s not hard to defend this era in retrospect and it did give birth to Evolution as well as help cement Randy Orton and Batista as superstars but boy, watching RAW from ’02 to ’05 could be quite the slog. And even though Triple H made Orton and Batista, he undercut countless other guys (RVD, Chris Jericho, Booker T, and Kane being the four most notable) and spent an inordinate amount of time doing the lame revival of his feud with his BFF Shawn Michaels. Plus I may be misremembering things but it seems like there were countless RAWs in the mid ’00s that opened with Triple H cutting a droning twenty minute promo that would ground the show to a halt before it could even really start. When all is said and done, I think Triple H will be remembered for his classics against Mick Foley and The Rock in the late ’90s/early ’00s or against The Undertaker earlier this decade. Few are going to wax poetic about his hour long Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels (the Sell in a Cell match). It’s going to be interesting to rewatch his transition from top dog to elder statesman over the next few years.
RAW Presents… WWE Vengeance
June 26th, 2005
Live from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
Announcers: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, and Jonathan Coachman
This card seems really loaded for a brand exclusive show. I think for two reasons. 1. They had just had another roster draft to reset the rosters for RAW & Smackdown and RAW ALWAYS got the much better haul in those things and 2. After the immense success of ECW One Night Stand two weeks earlier, I don’t think WWE wanted their own guys to be outshadowed.
Speaking of the roster draft, we open with a clip of WWE Champion John Cena being drafted to RAW. He’s defending the belt against Christian and Chris Jericho tonight in a Triple Threat Match! Our other main event will be Batista defending the World Title against Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match. We get a nice recap of the history of Hell in a Cell with soundbites from JR, Eric Bischoff, and the competitors. John Cena’s run on RAW (which would last till the end of the brand split era) begins and Triple H & Batista’s feud comes to an end tonight!
WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Carlito (c) Vs Shelton Benjamin
Carlito was recently drafted over from Smackdown! and in his first match on RAW, won the Intercontinental Title from Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin’s looking to win the title back tonight. Shelton is a bit shaken up from crashing to the floor after an unsuccessful attempt at a dive to Carlito on RAW. Announcers do a pretty good job of explaining Carlito’s strategy of using his weaselly heel tactics to try and wear down the injured Benjamin to win the match. Hey! The We Hate Cena guy (who, at this point, still might have loved Cena) is in the front row. We’ll see in a few minutes.
I still think Shelton Benjamin was a good manager away from being a top level guy. He had a good look and freakish athleticism. I think his marginal mic skills was the biggest reason he never quite broke outside of the midcard. This match is a styles clash but intentionally so. There’s a vocal contingent of fans rooting for the heel Carlito. Maybe we can blame them for Carlito’s ill advised face turn a year or so after this show. Carlito wins with a fistful of tights after Shelton rams into an uncovered turnbuckle after a failed Stinger Splash attempt. Effective but rote opener. **1/2
Triple H (in ugly/awesome red & white suit) and Ric Flair arrive at the arena. Flair mutters that Triple H is gonna be an 11 time World Champion after tonight.
Video package for Christy Hemme Vs Victoria. This feud started when Victoria freaked out and attacked everyone in a Divas Bikini Contest. Hemme’s acting skills here are atrocious. Hemme’s been in a non-wrestling role for so long that I forgot that she was briefly supposed to be the future of the Divas division.
Victoria Vs Christy Hemme
Notice Justin Roberts ring announcing. Had no idea he was around this early but Wikipedia tells me he was doing the B shows (Heat and Velocity) and house shows as early as ’02. Hemme runs into the ring to show that she means business. “Christy Sucks” chant from the crowd. Fans don’t lie. Hemme had good looks and I guess a likable enough personality but that was about it. Victoria wins by countering a sunset flip and grabbing the ropes for leverage. Christy says this isn’t over but it pretty much was as she’d be shifted into a managerial role thankfully after this (and would be out of WWE entirely by the end of 2005). Zero stars.
Todd Grisham talks to John Cena about Cena’s move to RAW. Cena cuts a promo about being the new kid. Grisham talks about being a nerd and pissing his pants in high school (and being nicknamed “Todd Pissham”). I think they were trying to replicate The Rock and Coach’s dynamic. It didn’t work out. Cena compares Christian to the kid who eats his boogers and Chris Jericho being the kid who stuffes his crotch at school dances. Yeah, can definitely see why people started turning against Cena around this time.
We get some footage of the fountains outside of the Bellagio Hotel since WWE is in Vegas tonight, baby!
Video package recapping the feud leading up to the Kane Vs Edge match. This feud was an indirect result of the “You Screwed Matt” chants after Matt Hardy was released from his WWE contract following the real life love triangle between him, Edge, and Lita. After the crowd turned on Lita, they really had no choice to turn her heel. What I don’t get is how Kane became a face again and how we were supposed to be upset Lita was leaving him considering he forced her to marry him! Eh. Mid ’00s WWE is convoluted and I guess it’s best to turn my brain off. Anyway, thing is Edge was such a good heel during this era that people didn’t mind rooting for a guy like Kane who was a raging, demonic psychopathic heel a few months before over him.
Oh man. Edge & Lita’s wedding is over the top, even by pro wrestling wedding standards. Edge saying that he’s not only Money in the Bank but money in the sack and Lita proudly calling herself the “slut of the century” are moments that would probably make even Vince Russo’s eyes roll. Kane popping out from underneath the ring and tombstoning the priest (and JR’s call of it) is definitely a classic so bad, it’s good moment in WWe history.
Kane Vs Edge (with Lita)
Understandably, most of this match is Kane kicking Edge’s ass with Edge and Lita using heel shenanigans to take control. Crowd chants “She’s a crack whore” at Lita, perhaps inspired by the ECW reunion. Coach doesn’t understand why the crowd thinks being a slut is considered a bad thing. One of the moments that surely helped him get hired by ESPN. This match kind of feels like a dry run for Edge’s matches with Undertaker a few years later. Snitsky runs in. I thought his and Kane’s issues were long done by this point but I guess not? Or maybe Edge and Snitsky and some alliance I don’t remember? Kane tries to break Lita’s neck but Snitsky and Edge make the save. Edge accidentally hits Snitsky with the Money in the Bank briefcase and Kane hits Edge with the chokeslam for the win. Huh? Not see why they put Kane over here. Edge was obviously one of the guys they were building around and Kane’s Kane. **
We see some highlights from Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle’s classic at WrestleMania 21! Tonight is the rematch.
Shawn Michaels talks to Todd Grisham. He’s in goofy, annoying mode and vows vengeance. Michaels guarantees that he’ll get the victory tonight.
Kurt Angle Vs Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels’ entrance ring gear is pretty silly, even by his standards. JR waxes poetic about being there for HBK’s first match in Shreveport, Louisiana when HBK was just 19 years old. I got to say the buildup of this match being partly based around Shawn Michaels winning his first World Title the same year that Angle won his Olympic Gold Medal was a bit silly. This match is obviously another great one and I like the story of Angle using his vastly superior chain wrestling skills to humiliate Michaels but Michaels using his old dawg, veteran smarts to stay in the match. Shawn Michaels wins with the Sweet Chin Music, catching Kurt Angle flying off the top. Not as good as their WrestleMania 21 match but still really damn good. ****
We get an ad for The Great American Bash next month, centered around Torrie Wilson in sexy Uncle Sam gear.
The Coach interviews World Champion Batista. Coach tries to troll Batista but Batista yells at him and calls him an “ass sucker”. Batista rules! Big Dave’s not afraid of Triple H or The Cell! Triple H will have to kill him to take the title. Triple H storms in and the fight starts early. Ric Flair and an army of road agents (including Arn Anderson, Steve Keirn, and I think Johnny Ace) breaks it up.
Lillian Garcia enters to one of her own songs (which sounds like an Evanesence ripoff. 2005!) . Lillian introduces the love of her life, “The World’s Largest Love Machine” Viscera. JR mentions that he got married in Vegas. Oh God. Lillian sings a love song to Big Daddy V. I rented this show on DVD and I think they might have edited this out. Either that or my brain tried to block it out. Crowd does not enjoy this much more than I do.
Lillian proposes marriage to Big Daddy V. But The Godfather interrupts with The Ho Train. This might be the first nostalgia appearance from The Godfather. The Godfather asks if Viscera wants to leave all of this behind. The Godfather says Vis’ appetite for sex is even greater than his appetite for food and invites him to take a ride on the Ho Train. Vis teases saying yes before saying “ALL ABOARD THE HO TRAIN” and dancing with the hos. JR: “He’s gots to have it!” Lillian cries. Well, that was a waste of ten minutes of our time.
We see a video package for the John Cena/Chris Jericho/Christian Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title. ’04-’05 era Cena is kind of weird to look back on now. Weird to see the Face of the TV PG era flipping people off and cutting “edgy” promos.
Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: John Cena (c) Vs Christian Vs Chris Jericho
The Coach and Jerry Lawler’s dueling heel color commentators schtick is pretty grating as they argue over who their pick is in this match. Even JR seems annoyed. This is Christian’s first main event level match on a WWE PPV. This match might be the last pay per view before the Cena backlash. They hated him at the ECW PPV but that was kind of an outlier. Cena’s already in Super Cena mode maybe this match was one of the turning points. Cena wins with the FU on Christian. ***
Ad for the Legion of Doom DVD set. This was another one of WWE’s earliest DVD anthologies. It must have sold well because we’d get a lame revival of LOD but we’ll talk about that more next month.
Video package for Batista Vs Triple H
Hell in a Cell Match for the World Title: Batista (c) Vs Triple H
Triple H, at this point, had never been pinned in a Hell in a Cell match. He had defeated Cactus Jack, Chris Jericho, Kevin Nash, and Shawn Michaels in all of his singles HiaC matches. He was in the six man HiaC at Armageddon ’00 but wasn’t part of the deciding fall. Announcers play this up with them pointing out that Batista is out of his element in the Cell. Of course, he is! He’s wearing white tights in the Cell! JR tells the fans to take the kids out of this room because this match is not family friendly and could get nasty. Batista really did make a great foil for Triple H and was ultimately a good choice to end Triple H’s ’02 to ’05 reign of power. He was just an animalistic, powerhouse that “The Cerebral Assassin” couldn’t mentally breakdown and couldn’t physically match. This is definitely more in the school of the Undertaker Vs Brock Lesnar school of Hell in a Cell matches where it’s just two hosses throwing down and bleeding like stuck pigs rather than the Mick Foley school of Hell in a Cell with huge bumps. Triple H gets busted open early then brings in a barbed wire wrapped chair. Triple H getting hit in the face with the barbed wire chair gets JR in classic screaming mode. This match makes me miss JR. He seemed a little bit checked out at this point but for big time matches, he still brought it and elevated mediocre partners like JR and Coach as well. Great spot where Batista hits Triple H in the face with the sledgehammer and Helmsley spitting out blood on impact. Batista actually gets to kick out of a Pedigree. Triple H goes for the Pedigree on the steps but Batista counters with a spinebuster. Cool finish when Triple H tries to grab the sledgehammer while being positioned for the Batista Bomb but can’t make it to hit Big Dave. Dave retains and ends Triple H’s reign of terror. In my book, Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker, The Undertaker Vs Mankind, and Brock Lesnar Vs The Undertaker are the three greatest Hell in a Cell matches. Everything else is a step below them. Cactus Jack Vs Triple H is #4 and this match rounds out the Top 5. Then everything after that is another step below. Still, this is a hell of a brawl and a nice way to end Triple H’s reign of terror. Even though, it was long overdue, it was a cool moment to see Triple H get his comeuppance. **** Triple H and Ric Flair would be gone for the summer and Batista would move to Smackdown, thus ending Evolution. Actually, there’s a cool segment on the DVD of a bloodied Batista & Triple H (and Ric Flair) mending fences in the locker room after this match and hugging.. Even though, character wise, kind of wonky for them to immediately shake hands after such a hate filled feud.
This is the third solid pay per view in a row for WWE. This card was somewhat uneven but the top matches all delivered. It’s obvious that WWE was restocking the coffers of RAW’s roster with two WrestleMania quality matches (Angle/HBK II and the main event) plus the Triple Threat match for the WWE Title would have been a good main event on 99% of these brand exclusive pay per views
Next Time on Ten Years After…. The Animal comes to Smackdown! Batista makes his Smackdown! PPV debut, taking on JBL in a World Title Match! Plus The Undertaker defends the honor of the Good ol’ US of A against the controversial Muhammad Hassan! I take a look back at the 2005 Great American Bash!
