Match-by-match results
and television rating of this edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.
Quick Results
Money In The Bank Qualifying Match:
Jeff Hardy def. Shelton Benjamin
Melina def. Maria
Carlito def. Kenny Dykstra World Tag Team Championship Match:
John Cena & Shawn Michaels def. Rated RKO
Detailed Results
TV Rating
4.3
We open with a "story so far" recap of the McMahon-Trump
war. No theme music tonight. That's five times in seven weeks.
Maybe they're thinking of changing theme songs again? Anyway,
ring announcer Lillian Garcia is back after a week off, and
supposedly, the tag title match is our first contest, but
it isn't. Shawn Michaels & John Cena make their way down,
but Rated RKO is backstage, stalling. They're not ready just
yet, but instead are looking to plant seeds of dissent between
the champs by playing a "highlight reel" of HBK
turning on partners and friends dating back 15 years. Marty
Jannetty. Kevin "Diesel" Nash. X-Pac. Booker T.
Hulk Hogan. Food for thought, eh? Ah, but the best laid plans
of mice & men often go astray........
Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin [Money in the Bank
Qualifying Match] Easily the match of the night.
Benjamin has been in the MOTB match before, and could've gotten
himself in position to get there again. To stress the importance
of this match, they had Lillian wait until both men were in
the ring to make intros. Benjamin sprang up to the top and
hit a belly-to-back overhead superplex that sent Hardy to
the floor before a break. Unfortunately, Benjamin's penchant
for high-risk cost him dearly. An attempted springboard off
the top rope backfired badly, as Benjamin took a spill, and
Hardy got a near fall out of that. A missed corner splash
led to the Twist of Fate and the Swanton Bomb. Winner: Jeff
Hardy. Jeff makes his way up the ramp when Chairman Wackjob,
Vince McMahon appears on the TitanTron and cuts a promo for---what
else?---his Battle of the Billionaires match at Wrestlemania.
The man is getting to be a bigger spotlight hog than ever
before.
Mick Foley promotes his new book, "The Hardcore Diaries".
Ashley Massaro's behind the scenes video for her Playboy layout
is shown. Women's champ Melina is upset because the spotlight
is not on her. Well, too bad for you, Little Ms. Selfish.
Melina also is bothered by the fact that Mickie James has
invoked her rematch clause and will have a Falls Count Anywhere
match vs. the Poser Princess next week. Johnny Nitro has heard
enough and tells his lady fair to just shut up. He's still
buggin' after losing to CM Punk last week on ECW, and decides
to go it alone for the next match......
Johnny Nitro vs. Super Crazy.The match never
really got started, as Nitro did a baseball slide between
the ropes to attack Crazy on the floor. Took out his frustrations
on the "Insane Luchador" and left him lying after
a wheelbarrow facebuster.Winner: None.
Melina vs. Maria. Maria debuts a leopard
skin outfit. She frustrates the champion by staying with her
all the way. As with Benjamin earlier, however, Maria makes
one critical mistake, which happens to be the central theme
of the matches tonight as we'll see. Maria goes for the bronco
buster, but Melina gets a knee in between the legs, then schoolgirls
Maria for the win. Winner: Melina.
Chairman Wackjob is back out, and calls out Umaga & Armando
Estrada. Another promo on Donald Trump. Like I said earlier,
the best laid plans of mice & men often go astray, and
Vince needs to be reminded of the words of Santayana as well,
since he's ignoring the fact that he has never won at Wrestlemania.
Trump appears via video and introduces his selection: ECW
Champion Bobby Lashley. The predictable pull-apart follows.
Later, McMahon learns that a "board member" has
made a proposal for a special referee for the match, to be
revealed next week. If you've been following the press, you
already know who it is. The insane chairman will show up on
ECW tomorrow night, hoping to start the mind games with Lashley.
Chris Masters is setting up for a Masterlock challenge, but
it is the Great Khali who answers the call. Masters can't
get the full nelson applied because of Khali's greater size,
but then Kane shows up to collect a receipt for Khali's trespass
on Smackdown. Masters takes a chokeslam and a chair shot.
In between, Kane gets rid of Khali, so we might as well pencil
that match in for Mania.
The 3rd inductee into the 2007 class of the WWE Hall of Fame
is Jerry "The King" Lawler, with Lillian making
the announcement. Lawler gets a big pop from the fans in Fresno
Carlito (w/Torrie Wilson) vs. Kenny Dykstra.
Dykstra, fresh from beating Val Venis on Heat over the weekend,
doesn't get an intro, and the match is joined in progress
after a commercial. He acquits himself well vs. Carlito, and
used the abdominal stretch for much of the match. JR mentioned
Wilbur Snyder, who created the hold. The finish saw Dykstra
miss a corner charge, and found himself seated on the middle
turnbuckle. Carlito hit the backcracker and cradled Dykstra
for the win. Ric Flair came out to the stage post-match and
applauded. By the way, belated birthday wishes to the Nature
Boy, who turned 58 on Sunday. Winner: Carlito.
John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Rated RKO.
It came down to which team had better continuity. Early on,
the former champs worked like a well-oiled machine. JR brought
up that a win here would give Edge his 13th tag title, adding
to his WWE record total. If you add up all the titles Edge
has won, you'd see that he's the most decorated wrestler on
the roster, ahead of HHH. HBK went to his moveset way too
early, and a superkick intended for Randy Orton nearly hit
Cena instead, but the WWE champ blocked it. The challengers
took advantage during the commercial. A ref bump proved to
be the difference maker. Edge tried to take the cheap way
with one of the belts, but then HBK took a page from the late
Eddie Guerrero and hit Edge with the belt, then passed it
to an incredulous Orton. Edge left Orton behind to eat a superkick
and an FU. Rated RKO is history. We think. Winners: John Cena
& Shawn Michaels.
Money In The Bank Qualifying Match:
Jeff Hardy def. Shelton Benjamin
WrestleMania 13: Bret Hart vs. Stonecold