Written by: Justin Rozzero
Monday Night Raw
October 1, 2007
Gund Arena
Cleveland, Ohio
Announcers: Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler
– Raw opens with Mr. McMahon strutting to the ring, where three nondescript Superstar-era jobbers await. The Boss runs down Triple H, pimping their match for later. He then runs a video package detailing all the beatings he has laid down on the Game. Vince introduces the jobbers as a state Sumo Champion, a national Karate champion and an All-American wrestler. This, of course, leads to the return of Umaga from the suspension list. Umaga comes down and lays a good old ass whooping on the jobbers, making him look primed and ready to go for his showdown with the Game on Sunday
1) Jeff Hardy, Paul London & Brian Kendrick defeat Shelton Benjamin, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch when Jeff Hardy pinned Lance Cade with the Swanton Bomb.
Energetic six man opener that blends together a couple of ongoing feuds. Good to see Londrick on Raw every week, as I was nervous they would lost in the shuffle when they were drafted to Mondays. Hardy continues to be on a roll as I-C Champ, and the crowd continues to dig him. Hardy picks up the win over half of the tag champs. Solid TV tag match to get the crowd up. Grade: 2
– William Regal is back as GM and Vince welcomes him with open arms and says he did a great job setting up tonight’s Main Event. he then puts Regal in charge of his son for the night. Regal asking “Shane?” was amusing, but Vince obviously means Hornswoggle.
– Randy Orton joins us via satellite for another interview with JR. Orton claims he didn’t want to show up tonight because Cena is not in a sane frame of mind. He said he will get his piece at No Mercy and the next time he is on Raw, he will be the Champ
– William Regal, while searching for Junior McMahon, runs into the Highlanders, who are now decked out in black kilts. Regal mentions that the Highlanders turned down a match with Londrick and they confirm it is because they only want a match with the champs.
2) Hardcore Holly defeats Cody Rhodes with the Alabama Slam
A quick match that puts over the “grizzled veteran” once again. This is obviously leading to a respect angle to set up the rumored Holly/Rhodes team. Hopefully it leads to some camera time for Big Dust as well. Grade: 1
– Beth Phoenix comes out and demands Lillian Garcia announce her as the new Women’s Champion. Lillian adds a big maybe to that announcement, and Beth threatens to crush Lillian’s throat. Out comes Candice, who tosses some quick rights at Beth, and knocks her to the floor with a running punch. Beth backpedals as Candice stares her down from the ring. This seemed to tip a Beth title win, but that isn’t as big of a lock as it used to be.
– Quick cryptic promo runs again. This week it reads “8.2.11/SAVIOR_SELF”. Let the speculation begin.
3) Vince McMahon defeats Triple H by Disqualification
After the entrances, Vince announced Carlito as the special guest referee, once again stacking the deck on the game. The two stall and chase for a few minutes before Trips finally catches the Boss and lines up a Pedigree. However, before he can lock it in, Carlito nails him with the Backstabber. Trips kicks out at 2 and eventually nails a low blow on Vince, drawing a DQ. This draws Umaga out and he lays a beating on the Game, eventually knocking him from the ring. Trips grabs the sledgehammer and Umaga backs off. Grade: .5
– We get a swank graphic for “Marella at the Movies” and everyone’s favorite Italian Warrior comes to the ring with Maria in tow. He sits down in the director’s chair and lets everyone know he is reviewing the Condemned. Marella craps on the movie with a condescending tone and then rolls a funny video which is cut halfway through by Santino on screen crapping on the film some more. The clip ends with “FIN” across the screen. Marella tells Austin that his acting should be condemned, which brings Val Venis out. Santino nails a funny line about Val remaking Shrek and doing nasty things with the donkey. Val says he is remaking Mr Woodcock next and invites Maria along for the ride. He says Santino is remaking Superbad, a film about his skills in the bedroom. Santino attacks and lays out the Big Valbowski.
– The Grish interviews Cena in the back, who gives his usual angry, motivated promo.
4) Mickie James defeats Melina with a Roll Up
Quick match to further the Hornswoggle/Melina angle, as Hornswoggle pops up from under the ring and distracts Melina. Melina goes under the ring to find him, and Hornswoggle emerges with Melina’s clothing in hand and scampers to the back. Grade: .5
– William Regal finally catches up to Junior McMahon and gets back Melina’s clothing, which he proceeds to stare creepily at. Dr. Steve-O is in the house and pokes fun at the GM before wandering off.
– Steve-O runs into Ron Simmons and offers to toughen him up. Simmons grabs him and throws him through a door and drops the DAMN on him.
5) John Cena defeats Mr. Kennedy by submission with the STFU
Basic back and forth TV main event which saw Kennedy get a fair share of offense in. Nothing spectacular, but nothing bad either. It was basically the first half of a solid PPV title match. Kennedy taps clean to the STFU and the Champ rolls on. Grade: 2
– As Cena celebrates, Randy Orton flies in the ring and jumps him from behind with an RKO. He beats him down more, landing a solid shot with the steps and then the monitor. Orton clears the table and drops Cena with another nasty RKO on the table, which didn’t break. Cena is out as Orton gets in his face and counts to 10, playing up the Last Man Standing stip for Sunday. The show ends with Cena down while Orton stands alone in the ring.
Final Analysis:
Solid show that did a good job building for Sunday. We didn’t get the long anchor match that we had been used to lately, but that is acceptable on the go home show. It was good seeing Umaga, Regal and Kennedy back on TV as well. The McMahon/Triple H stuff is getting gold already, but I don’t think it will ending any time soon. The six man was fun, and the women’s feud progressed nicely. Final Grade: C
MVP: Randy Orton/John Cena
Runner Up: Santino Marella
Non-MVP: Triple H/Vince McMahon/Carlito
Runner Up: Cody Rhodes