Connor McGrath
Welcome to the first edition of my new monthly-ish article “Ten Years After” where I look back at WWE as it was a decade ago. We start in 2005, a year that I’m honestly not very familiar with. I’ve only having seen the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 21 from this year. I was in the midst of a three or so year hiatus from watching WWE. I had stopped watching right around the time of WrestleMania XIX during the midst of Triple H’s reign of terror as a droll, dominant heel and picked up watching again during the build of WrestleMania 22, which incidentally is when Triple H’s reign of terror as a droll, dominant heel was winding down.
At the beginning of 2005, WWE was really at somewhat of a low point, both creatively and commercially. They had attempted to rebuild after the slow burnout of the Attitude era with a combination of that era’s holdovers (Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Edge & Christian), internet darlings (Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit), and veteran workhorses (JBL, Booker T) to little success. I think people kind of underestimate how devastating Brock Lesnar’s departure in March of ’04 was. WWE had built him up in ’02/’03 as the guy to lead the company through the ’00s but Brock rejected the chance to become the Hulk Hogan/Steve Austin of his era like it was a bowl of raspberries.
At the beginning of the halfway point of the ’00s, WWE hadn’t found “the man” that would become the face of the company in that decade (even if it would pain Triple H to admit that…) but before the end of ’05, they would find a few pretty good candidates.
RAW Presents: WWE New Year’s Revolution
January 9th, 2005
Live from Coliseo De Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Announcers: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, and Jonathan Coachman (last two matches only)
Kind of a sign of how far WWE had fallen in popularity is that they were doing a pay per view in Puerto Rico. Now the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has a rich wrestling history and a rabid fanbase but if WWE was remotely hot, there would be little to no chance they’d hold a pay per view there. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Puerto Rico hasn’t hosted another WWE televised event since this show. However, in an era where WWE house shows were routinely drawing less than 1,000 people, WWE was probably glad to be doing a show in front of a city with a great rasslin’ fanbase.
Another sign of how far WWE had fallen in popularity by the beginning of ’05, they would have a PPV called “New Year’s Revolution,” that’s a TNA level dumb pay per view name. Way more on the nose than it seems like WWE is used to.
Opening video package is a rare misfire by WWE’s production team (who even in this off era usually did a bang up job with this show openers) that contrasts Puerto Rico’s beauty with the brutality of the Elimination Chamber match.
Hugo and Carlos seem psyched to be doing a PPV held in a place where they’re the primary announce team. I hope nobody gets flung through their table.
World Tag Team Titles Match: Eugene and William Regal (c) Vs Christian and Tyson Tomko
Christian definitely seems to be competing in a tag team match because they couldn’t fit him into the Elimination Chamber. I know him and Tomko were a duo for some time but I don’t remember them actually teaming up that much. Then again, like I said… only seen a few shows from this era.
Ah Eugene. One of the biggest reasons I wasn’t watching during this era. Just a dumbfounding gimmick, especially considering how many mentally handicapped fans WWE has. Did WWE actually think that this gimmick was inspirational to them? Maybe it was. This whole gimmick just reminds of a similarly plotted Johnny Knoxville bomb The Ringer! 2005… what a crappy year all round! I wonder if Nick Dinsmore could do it all over again if he would pitch the Eugene gimmick for himself to Vince McMahon. It gave him more exposure than some of his contemporaries like Charlie Haas and Rob Conway and he got some big PPV matches with Hall of Fame guys like Kurt Angle and Triple H. But at the end of the day, he’s gonna be remembered more for this ridiculously goofy (and to most, including me, offensive) gimmick than he is to be remembered for being a genuinely talented worker.
Putting personal opinion aside, this is a not bad standard tag team opener. Christian was really coming to his own as a singles guy in this era, Regal is one of the great workhorses in the history of the company (and since he’s been an arrogant heel most of his run in WCW and WWE, I forget how good he is as a fiery babyface), and for all the faults of the gimmick, Eugene was a really good comedy wrestler from a workrate standpoint. Tomko was green as grass but he does well enough in the limited role they have him in here as the heel brute. At one point, Regal gets his nose broken by Christian and he has a bloody nose for most of the match. These guys are showing an unusual amount of motivation for a makeshift thrown together tag match.
Poor Eugene legit blows out his left knee during the finish of the match but manages to get a fluke rollup on Tomko for the win. **1/2
Future Impact Wrestling Ring Announcer Christy Hemme walks around the pool in a bikini and since it’s not the TV PG era yet, Lawler still can blather about “puppies.”
Backstage, Christian berates Tomko. Edge interrupts them with an opportunity for Christian. Edge wants to know if Christian would like to be World Champion. The three of them walk off camera. JR wants to know what the heck is going on here!?
Video package for Lita-Trish Stratus. Trish Stratus make fun of Lita for getting pregnant. Lita miscarried then broke Trish Stratus’ face. This was some Vince Russo-esque storytelling. Thankfully, this storyline is more remembered for the fact that Trish and Lita actually got to main event an episode of RAW (unprecedented for a Women’s Title match) and tore the house down.
WWE Women’s Title Match: Lita (c) Vs Trish Stratus
This match is over before it can really start as Lita tears out her left ACL jumping off the apron a minute or two into the match. Geez. Second match in a row that ended with one of the wrestlers having a catastrophic injury. Action awkwardly continues for another minute or two before Trish finally wins with a weak Chick Kick. DUD. Boy, so far WWE’s having almost as catastrophic trip to Puerto Rico as Bruiser Brody’s visit in 1988!
*ducks bottle of urine*
JR waxes poetic about the roads of Puerto Rico being built in the 1500s. Lawler makes a joke about Puerto Ricans being bad drivers.
Chris Jericho gets pumped for the Elimination Chamber Match.
Maria strips down to a bikini and lounges around poolside. Connor be beatin’.
Eric Bischoff talks to Edge. Edge has no shot at the World Title if Shawn Michaels is reffing the Elimination Chamber. Edge proposes Christian replace him in the main event. Eric Bischoff says he’s got sponsors to think about and millions of fans! He can’t change things in the middle of a show! This isn’t Monday Nitro! Was Bischoff a quasi babyface at this point?
Edge storms off and meets up with Referee Shawn Michaels. Fortunately, Shawn Michaels is not wearing booty shorts with his ref gear this go around.
WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Shelton Benjamin (c) Vs Maven
Oh Thank God… Maven’s theme music is back on the network. Another thing I missed during my time not watching apparently… Maven being an arrogant heel. This match was set up by Maven winning a non-title match on RAW, which I feel like is the set up for every other U.S./Intercontinental Title match from 2003 to present. Fans chant “Paco” at Maven and Maven flips them off. I guess Maven speaks Espanol. It speaks how passionate that the Puerto Rican fans are that they’re getting riled up by Maven.
Maven does some Memphis style heeling, cutting a promo in the middle of the match. Maven tells the fans to shut up in Spanish. Maven finally gets in the ring and gets rolled up by Benjamin in a few seconds. Maven flips out. He says that didn’t count! He wants a rematch! Maven immediately gets T-Bone Suplexed and pinned. Surprisingly very entertaining segment although not enough of a match to give it a rating. Seems like they could have found a better use of Benjamin who was one of their most promising up and comers of the moment too. Also I’m wondering why they had Maven go over Benjamin in a non title match (even if it was in cheap fashion) if he was just gonna get killed at the PPV. Still, logic aside, a fun enough mid-card time killer.
One of the mid ’00s Divas I’m forgetting the name of rubs down Christy Hemme and with Jim Ross as my witness, I can almost see some side nip! JR’s glad he’s married! BAH GAWD!
Chris Benoit works out in the weight room to prepare for Elimination Chamber! Hide the women and kids!
We see Muhammad Hassan and Daivari attacking Jerry Lawler at their Arab-American Debate the previous week on RAW. I’m sure Lawler debating Arab-American relations was one step above Scott Steiner debating the War on Terror with Harvard graduate Chris Nowinski.
Future ESPN SportsCenter Anchor Todd Grisham interviews Muhammad Hassan and Daivari. This is around the time Muhammad Hassan’s gimmick was shifting from Arab-American challenging racism and discrimination to the much less interesting character of generic evil Arab.
Muhammad Hassan (with Daivari) Vs Jerry “The King” Lawler (with Jim Ross)
Anti-American heel Muhammad Hassan gets a mixed to apathetic reaction in American territory Puerto Rico. Jim Ross reminds us that Muhammad Hassan and Daivari do not remind all Arab Americans. I guess that’s progress. JR is seconding Lawler to the ring so we get no commentary for this match which is kind of unique. They couldn’t have the Coach and Todd Grisham fill in? Well, maybe no commentary is preferable to Coach doing PBP…
This is Hassan’s in-ring debut. I’m surprised at how over Lawler is. He musta worked Puerto Rico back in the day since he’s obviously not getting cheered for his color commentary skills. Match is way too competitive for a match between a debuting heel (who was being pegged to be one of the top new baddies) and a semi-retired wrestler/doughy color commentator. It’s baffling Lawler was wrestling PPV matches in 2005 (and would get a World Title Shot on a PPV six years after that!) To add further embarrassment, Hassan goes nose to nose arguing with JR. A small boring chant breaks out. Yeah, Hassan was screwed by the clique-ish, bullying locker room and the narrow-minded/borderline racist thinking of the front office but that doesn’t hide the fact that the dude sucked in the ring and should have been in the development territories for a few more years. JR chases away Daivari. This distraction leads to Daivari pinning Lawler with a Flatliner. This match sucked. DUD. I wonder why they didn’t put a younger mid-card dude like Hurricane against Hassan?
Todd Grisham interviews Batista. Batista thinks he’s got a good shot at winning the title. Orton confronts Batista and asks him if he’s gonna go for the title or just be Triple H’s stooge? Orton says he helped Triple H win the last Elimination Chamber and he repaid him by stabbing him in the back. Orton wants to know if it comes down to Batista and Triple H, will Batista kick ass or KISS ass!? At this point, I think Vince still wanted to do Batista Vs Orton as WrestleMania 21. So he’s wanted to do that as a main event level match at Mania for a decade now! It’s too bad both guys kind of suck at being babyfaces.
WrestleMania Recall: Shawn Michaels wins the WWF World Title at WrestleMania 12. We get a closeup of the WrestleMania 21 sign.
JR says he’s sorry Lawler did not win but he tried and that’s all that counts. Hopefully, Lawler comes back but right now we’ve got to deal with The Coach. Coach is rocking a Livestrong Bracelet. 2005!
We take a look back at the ridiculous Kane/Snitsky feud. This is the “IT WASN’T MY FAULT!” feud where Snitsky caused Lita to miscarry her Demon Baby. At one point, I believe Snitsky punted a toy baby. Unbelievably, Vince Russo was NOT writing for WWE at this point.
Kane Vs Snitsky
JR gives this match “the bowling shoe ugly” designation to tell us it’s probably not gonna be very good. Coach says this match is between “two ugly men who hate each other.” Snitsky is another guy who could’ve used a lot more seasoning before being brought up to the big show. I think one of the biggest downfalls of the brand split era is a lot of young guys were brought up to the main show before they were really ready. It’d be one thing if the development roster was as good as it is now but OVW, at this point at least, was no NXT.
This match is a little bit better than I expected but I think anything would look OK following the last few matches. It says something how bad this undercard is when a generic Kane/monster heel of the week match is a breath of fresh air. Kane wins with the Tombstone obviously. *
We get an ad for “The Rise and Fall of ECW” DVD. This is the first of many mentions of ECW that we’ll get this year.
Jerry Lawler rejoins us in the commentary booth. Just in time for some final clips of the Divas stripping down to their bikinis poolside. Some RAW mid-carders not included on the show also join in on the fun in the sun. Simon Dean shoves a fatty in the pool. Val Venis horses around the pool with Stacy Keibler. The Divas and the mid-carders engage in a big chicken fight. Glad to see Hurricane and Rosey maintaining kayfabe by wearing their masks in the pool. Maria’s top almost falls off.
Video package for Elimination Chamber. The title was held up after a Triple Threat Match between Champ Triple H, Edge, and Chris Benoit for the World Title on the 11-29-04 RAW where Chris Benoit made Edge tap to the Crippler Crossface. Eric Bischoff declared the vacant title would be decided in the Elimination Chamber at New Year’s Revolution. Batista won the Beat the Clock Challenge to enter in last in the Elimination Chamber and Triple H is pissed that Batista went into business for himself. Now this is the start of the build for the feud of the actual WrestleMania main event this year.
Ric Flair brokers an uneasy peace between Triple H and Batista.
“I’m Back” brings out Eric Bischoff. His beard and gray hair look makes him look a villainous boss on a daytime soap opera. Well, I guess RAW isn’t too far off from daytime soap operas. He cuts a little heel promo to hype/explain the rules of the match. I always forget that he (kayfabe) created the Elimination Chamber.
Elimination Chamber for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship (Special Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels): Edge Vs Chris Benoit Vs Triple H (with Ric Flair) Vs Chris Jericho Vs Batista Vs Randy Orton
This is the third Elimination Chamber. It’s easy to forget now (or maybe not since Elimination Chamber’s being discontinued as a yearly PPV) but the match wasn’t a surefire instant success. I thought the first edition at Survivor Series ’02 had its moments but overall was more sizzle than steak. The second EC at SummerSlam ’03 is definitely one of my least favorite Elimination Chamber matches of all time (in the top two for sure with December to Dismember. We’ll get to that one in about two years.)
Triple H surprisingly gets a huge pop from the crowd. I think Puerto Rico was just psyched to see all of the WWE Stars up close. Randy Orton is nearing the end of his (first) unsuccessful run as a fiery, main event babyface. He goes nose to nose with Triple H (or nose to the plexiglass in front of Triple H’s chamber) before he climbs into his Chamber.
Lifelong rivals/pals Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit get this match started off. This was during the stupid era where Benoit and Jericho were announced from their current US residences instead of their Canadian birthplaces, for reasons beyond me. Interesting to see the fans counting down in Spanish. Entrant #3 is Triple H. He goes right after Benoit. I guess they were still beefing a bit from WrestleMania XX. Chris Benoit gets busted open pretty badly. Edge is entrant #4. Even though he’d been an Intercontinental Champion and King of the Ring before, I really consider 2005 to be Edge’s breakout year as a main event level guy. Will be fun to watch that over the next few months. These four just have great chemistry and have a good mini-four corners match. Jericho is second guy in this match to wear the crimson mask. Just as I type that, Triple H starts bleeding a little bit. Suck it, TV PG era. Jericho eats a Pedigree. JR is on full on freakout mode.
Randy Orton is #5. Even lame babyface Orton seems over with this crowd. Jericho eats an rKo. He goes for the same on Benoit but Crippler blocks it and puts Orton in the Crippler Crossface. Triple H trolls Orton and slaps him while he’s in the Crossface. This pisses off Benoit who decides to put Triple H in a Sharpshooter.Orton hits Benoit with the rKo. Everybody’s knocked out. Edge gets hit with the Sweet Chin Music by Guest Referee Michaels because he accidentally speared him earlier. Jericho hits the Lionsault on Edge and the Rated R Superstar is Elimination #1. Triple H tries to pedigree Jericho again but Benoit grabs him and hits him with the Rolling Suplexes in a cool spot. Benoit goes for the Flying Headbuttt from the top of a chamber. JR calls it a “suicide headbutt.” Woo boy. Awkward.
Jericho and Benoit do the Walls of Jericho/Crippler Crossface Spot on Triple H. Just in time, Batista comes in as the final entrance. Technical difficulties with his chamber but he emerges to fight off the Chrises and Orton. Batista and Triple H have a stare down but the babyfaces recover and team up on them before they come to blows. Batista spinebusters Jericho on top of Benoit to make Benoit the #2 guy eliminated. Batista hits the Batista Bomb on Jericho to make Jericho Elimination #3. It’s down to the three members of Evolution. Triple H sits back as Batista pummels Orton. Batista goes for the Batista Bomb but Orton blocks it by hitting him in the dick and rKos Batista for Elimination #4.
It’s down to Triple H and Randy Orton. Now the crowd remembers that they’re supposed to hate Triple H. Orton hits an rKo on Triple H but HBK is distracted trying to shoo Batista away from the ring. Ric Flair runs in because the door is open so Batista can leave. HBK kicks his ass. Batista clotheslines Orton while Michaels is distracted. Pedigree from Triple H on Orton with a lazy cover finishes it. Another LOL Triple H wins finish that was typical of mid ’00s WWE. Triple H is a 10 Time World Champion. A slightly pissed looking Batista carries him on his shoulder. SIGNS OF DISSENSION in Evolution? Predictable finish aside, I think this was the first really good, maybe even first great Elimination Chamber. Everybody brought their A game for this one and really salvaged this lame duck show. ****
This is a definitive one match show as the main event was the only match really worth writing home about. Undercard was riddled with goofiness and legit injuries. I think as the roster thinned out, the brand split looked like worse and worse of an idea and I think that’s gonna show on some of these brand exclusive PPVs.
Match of the Night: Elimination Chamber
Worst Match of the Night: Muhammad Hassan/Jerry Lawler
Top Heel: Triple H
Top Face: Oh man. Technically Orton but (and I hate to say it) I think Benoit did the best work tonight in the main event as a face.
Next Time on Ten Years After: It’s Time to Rumble! I take a look back at the Royal Rumble ten years ago! 30 Superstars (15 from RAW, 15 from Smackdown!) compete for a World Title Shot at WrestleMania 21. Plus Triple H defends the World Title against Randy Orton, JBL defends the WWE Title against The Big Show and Kurt Angle in a Triple Threat, and Edge looks to settle the score with Shawn Michaels.
