Highlights of last weeks Cena vs. Orton with HHH as the special referee. Cena hits the FU for a trip to Wrestlemania… PEDIGREE! On Cena! PEDIGREE! On Orton!
“The sign of things to come.”
-Jim Ross; WWE RAW 2/25/08
Regal comes out for a “photo opportunity” with all three men in the ring. An interesting way to start off the show with no music or fanfare.
Cena goes first and gets lots of boos. He thanks HHH and Orton. WTF? Says he has a problem with somebody. He gets in HHH’s face but not in the way he should. HHH says he did what was right. he wants Cena in the ring. HHH gets the best promos. People cheer the Pedigree. HHH is burying Cena here. Orton’s in the backdrop, looking like he’s totally not in the picture here. Cena says HHH tapped out to him once before. They face off but Randy butts in. No one wants him there, it seems, not the fans, not me, believe it or not. Randy isn’t even in focus. His promo doesn’t really get over. His promo isn’t half as good as HHH’s. They dismiss him quickly. HHH and Cena go at it. HHH was getting the best of Cena but RKO’s for everyone! Randy poses in the ring with the belt as the fans chant “You suck!”. Poor Randy.
Orton walking backstage runs into Kennedy. He says he will win MITB at Wrestlemania. Good segment.
Santino Marella & Carlito w/ Maria vs. Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes (c):
Ross says opposites attract, like Holly and Rhodes. Just say this tag team has been a failure, Jim. Santino and Rhoades kick it off. Nice STO by Marella on Rhodes as the heels tak over. Carlito in there on fire. Then a rear chinlock by carlito, slowing things down. Nice reverse neck breaker on Cody. Marella tags in and they keep the heat on Cody until he turns a punch into a Russian legsweep. Holly is on and he cleans house a little. He does his patented kick on Carlito. Lawler keeps trying to call Maria to the announce table. Marella gets distracted and eats an Alabama Slam. Holly and Cody are your winners. Big whoop. So they tease Lawler/Marella AGAIN?
Show quick highlights of Mayweather vs. Show press conference, coming up next. 3-1 odds ESPN was not there.
RAW re-cap of last week with Show and Mayweather, plus the No Way Out PPV. Good press conference, very professional. It’s official, Mayweather vs. Big Show at Wrestlemania.
Regal is in the back with Grisham to make a match for the main event. Kennedy & Orton vs. HHH & John Cena. Jericho pops into the room. Cockatoo hair! Jericho wants a MITB spot. Regal gives him a qualifier match against… Jeff Hardy!?
Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho: Why would anyone care about this match except if they pull out all the stops? Its a little sloppy at first but there’s enough energy in the building to keep it interesting. The commercial break almost helps I think. They come back to have a good match with some nearfalls, trademark moves, reversals, and the finish which sees Jericho go over. Don’t feel like Hardy lost anything of his heat here, it just was innevitable that Jericho was going to MITB and they needed Hardy to put in his time, get a good match our of Chris, and build a little tension between the two men… which will be quickly forgotten… umm… what was I talking about?
Clips of Hornswoggle’s destruction last week. VKM will make a formal apology next.
Vince McMahon comes out next in a nice suit. He wants to apologize and he does, then says that someone else owes Hornswoggle an apology as well. JBL comes out. He looks like a scolded dog. VKM wants an apology, NOW! JBL drops a bombshell and says Hornswoggle isn’t his son, Hornswoggle is Finlay’s son. And that this lie, this ruse, came straight from the top of the McMahon family. This is ridiculous that Finlay would be Horny’s son. This is silly. But, if it was Linda McMahon, that would be gold. But I dunno where it would go from there. But this is silly. I guess it leaves some questions they can build off of for the coming weeks and the PPV.
Cena and HHH backstage, with Trips doing all the talking. HHH is totally cool. Ha ha! Extra bottle of water! Cena’s threats seem hollow to me. The crowd goes “ooooh”! The big fight will be in the playground after school.
Umaga vs. DH Smith: Nice kick by Umaga takes Smith over the top. Umaga vs. Smith as a feud would be cool. Even if DH loses it would be good for both guys IMO. Big splash by Umaga off the top rope and I thought it was gonna be a squash match… and I was right. Samoan spike to the throat and Umaga wins.
Regal, Burchill, and Katie Lea are in the back. Vickie Guerrero sent a letter about something like SD! being better then RAW. Regal wants to send “UmaNga” to represent RAW. Katie Lea Burchill talks Regal into sending “The Ripper” Paul Burchill to SD! Regal wants proof. Probably a match coming up next for Paul Burchill. Burchill intimates that if Regal wants, he can bang his sister. NICE! Katie Lea looks good. Better then when I saw her on OVW, and she seemed to have good mic skills too in the seg. Sexy mama!
HBK vs. Lance Cade: They played HBK introducing Flair from last week and mention the Hall of Fame induction. Is Flair gonna run in on this when Murdoch interferes? Bread and butter match before Murdoch runs in but HBK cleans house and wins by DQ. THEN the Nature Boy comes out. HBK kneels and bows to the Man. Flair says he wants HBK at Wrestlemania. HBK says he doesn’t want to end Flair’s career. Flair says “is that a given?”, and I thought they were going for something there but they didn’t, pussied out, and HBK vs. Flair is on for Wrestlemania without any serious storyline… for now.
Shaquille O’Neal weighs in on Mayweather vs. Show and he picks Mayweather. Good segment.
High Cheif Peter Maivia is named to be inducted to the Hall of Fame. Rocky Johnson as well. The Rock will be inducting his grandpa and his poppa. Rocky Johnson has not aged well.
Maria and the Playboy shoot seg. Cover unveiling next week.
Randy Orton & Mr. Kennedy vs. HHH & John Cena:
In seconds Cena and HHH clear the ring and face off as we go to commercial. Gimme a break! They come back and it’s the HHH and Cena show, not that it isn’t entertaining. Kennedy took the bumps to start but he tags Orton in on the Cena/HHH shenanigans and does the Garvin Stomp for a two count. Kennedy comes back in and scores the face wash boot on HHH. Orton tags in and slaps on the Headlock of Orton. It’s like the Wand of Orcus only not as deadly or “blingy”. Deadly to your attention span. Orton hits the elevated DDT on HHH. Isn’t Trips such a considerate, generous man to allow these two to get some offense on him? Looking for the hot tag to Cena, Orton cuts HHH off and hits his patented backbreaker. Trips counters the RKO, hot tag to Cena. Good flurry by Cena followed by the Blue Thunder Bomb and the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Looking for FU, Orton breaks it up and we end up with Cena reversing Kennedy’s finisher into the STFU. Face off now with Cena and HHH. Kennedy gets in the Mic Check on Cena as HHH watches. Now is he gonna Pedigree the Professor of Thuganomics? And why does the show go off with Kennedy’s music?
