WWE Monday Night Raw Results from Oakland, California: February 9th, 2008
We kick things off tonight with Lillian Garcia in the ring introducing us to WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. Flair made his way down to the ring, and after a few classic Woos, he told everyone how great it felt to be back in the ring in front of everyone. He informed us that this time last year he was fighting for his job in WWE when he was suddenly interrupted by an entering Chris Jericho. Jericho told him to pay attention to the Titan Tron as he rolled footage of him and Y2J hugging at Flair’s retirement ceremony. Y2J then went on to say he hugged Flair out of respect, but that he wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t "prostituted" himself after leaving WWE. He said had he known he would end up like that he would have slapped him in the face. Flair responded by saying that he has never sold out, and that he has too much respect for Shawn Michaels, WWE and the fans to get back into the ring. He said he never sold himself out. Jericho accused him of being a spotlight hog, to which Flair said yes, he crave’s being in the business and performing for the fans. He said he’ll live his life the way he wants to and will not listen to Y2J telling him what to do and how to do it. Jericho then said Flair will listen to him, and called himself a locker room leader and that the guys in the back all respect him. This drew a ton of heat from the crowd. He accused the fans of not really respecting the Nature Boy, and that once they go to bed tonight, they will forget all about him tonight on Raw. Y2J then demanded that Flair tell the fans he thinks he’s better than all of them because he knows Flair is selfish and thinks higher of himself than anyone else. He then accuses Flair of pandering, and says all the Woos, and the strut and the autographs is just Flair being a puppet, and he asks Flair to be a "good dog" and perform for the crowd. At this point Flair interrupts Jericho by hitting him with the microphone, then proceeds to do the classic Woo and strut as Jericho rolls out of the ring and heads to the back humiliated.
Lawler and Cole then promoted The Undertaker’s appearance on Raw tonight vs Randy Orton as a highlight reel plays from last week showing what went down between Shane McMahon, Stephanie and Randy Orton. This took us to a commercial break.
Back from break and Lillian announces our first match of the night as the team of Jillian Hall and Beth Phoenix will take on Melina and Kelly Kelly. Kelly and Jillian start and Kelly works some early offense hitting a dropkick and then tagging in Melina. Melina in and she and Jillian go back and forth for a bit until Beth Phoenix distracts Melina with a hair pull and gets the tag in. Santino and Rosa watch from outside as Phoenix works Melina with some good offense. Melina then counters with a Matrix like punch duck, and then hits a great looking split kick. Rosa then distracts Melina after her offensive streak by tripping the women’s champion, and Beth Phoenix hits her face plant finisher for the win. It is then announced by Cole that Phoenix will challenge Melina for the title next week on Raw.
Winners: Beth Phoenix and Jillian Hall
We then head to a video preview package of classic Wrestlemania moments. This leads to our next commercial break.
Back from break and we head to the back where JBL is in the locker room and he is approached by HBK. JBL reminds Michales that even though they have No Way Out this Sunday, in their All-or-Nothing Match, HBK is still JBL’s employee and tonight he will face Mark Henry in a tune up match that JBL has booked for him.
Cut back to ringside, "Voices" hits, and Randy Orton makes his way to the ramp with Legacy. Orton reminds everyone that he did in fact win the Royal Rumble and he will face one of the two heavyweight champions at Wrestlemania. He then delcares he WILL be champion at mania. He says no McMahon can stand in his way from this. He then says that he never had any intentions of punting Stephanie last week, and that he was just showing Shane what he could have done if he wanted to. He then says that The Undertaker will not stop him and tonight and asks Shane "If the Undertaker can’t beat me, what kind of a chance do you think you have?" Priceless’ music then hits and in tag team action, after commercial break, it will be Priceless vs Cryme Tyme.
Back from break and Shad starts off against Cody Rhodes. Shad hits a few power moves before DiBiase gets a blind tag off Rhodes and attacks Shad from behind. He works him over and he and Rhodes exchange a few quick tags while working some double team offense on Shad. Shad then counters a boot attempt and gets a tag in on JTG. JTG comes in with quickness and hits a clothesline followed by a flying elbow to drop DiBiase. He then whips Ted to the corner and hits the mugshot, however DiBiase is able to get a tag off on Rhodes when JTG isn’t looking, and Rhodes hits his finisher which he now calls the "Crossroads," and gets the 1,2,3.
Winners: Priceless
The announce team then hypes a 6 man tag tonight when Kane, Mike Knox and Chris Jericho will take on Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Kofi Kingston. They then roll a video package of Cena appearing at the Gillette show this past weekend.
Back from break as the camera pans the crowd and some members of the Oakland Raiders are shown sitting ringside. The entrances for the 6 man tag hit and all men are eventually introduced. Definitely an insane crowd pop for John Cena, or at least that’s how it came off on TV. Following the intros, we head to commercial and the match is next.
Back from break and Kane and Kofi are starting off the action. Kofi hits some nice offense on Kane including a high cross body off the top and his signature "Boom" double leg drop. Kane back to his feet and quickly counters with a huge clothesline and then tags Mike Knox into the action. Knox works Kofi briefly, but Kofi’s able to get a quick tag to Cena who hits the ring and drops Knox. He then hits the spin-out suplex, follows it with the 5 knuckle shuffle, but has the Attitude Adjustment interrupted by a right hand from Kane. Kane works Cena in the corner and tags Jericho in, as Y2J hits some hard offense on the champ. He then slows the pace with a sleeper hold and eventually tags in Kane. Kane works Cena for awhile then eventually goes for the Chokeslam, which is countered by Cena into an Attitude Adjustment. Both men are down, but eventually make it to the corner where Cena tags Rey and Kane tags Jericho. Jericho and Rey exchange offense before Rey gets a quick tag to Kofi Kingston. Kofi goes to work on Jericho as Mike Knox is thrown to ringside. Rey is eventually thrown out to ringside by Kane, who goes after him by the announce booth. Back in the ring, Kofi attempts a cross body from the top on Jericho but Y2J reverses it into a mid-air Codebreaker. He then presses Kofi for the pinfall.
Winners: Kane, Mike Knox and Chris Jericho
We then cut to the back where we see GM Stephanie McMahon in her office on her cell phone talking to who is presumably. She says that she knows what she’s doing and that she is not provoking Randy Orton by being there at the arena doing her job as GM of the show. We then head to commercial break.
Back from break and we see a recap of the HBK/JBL in-ring segment from last week. HBK’s music then hits and in singles action we have Shawn Michaels vs Mark Henry. Both men are introduced and then JBL’s music hits prompting the Wrestling God to head to the announcers booth at ringside. MIchales starts with a flurry of offense on Henry, attacking him with punches and an onslaught of forearms to the back. The brawl heads to the outside where Henry counters an HBK attack and hits a gut punch. HBK side steps an oncoming attack from Henry and sends him head first into the ring post. A chair is then tossed into the ring and HBK uses it on Henry as he hits him with Sweet Chin Music ala the Van Daminator. The ref calls for the bell and HBK is disqualified.
Winner: Mark Henry via DQ
JBL then grabs a mic and tells Michales that at No Way Out he cannot get disqualified or JBL will own him for life. JBL then tells Michaels to bring a guest with him to No Way Out and suggests that he bring his wife, so she can see the broken down old man that Shawn is get beaten by the wrestling god. JBL goes to leave the ring then finally tells Shawn that there will always be room in his office for a "talented" lady like Shawn’s wife. HBK is left seething in the ring as the announcers hype the main event for tonight and inform us that CM Punk vs William Regal for the Intercontinental Title is next.
Back from break, and with the title on the line, it’s CM Punk vs William Regal. Both guys are introduced and the action starts off with Regal hitting a few very stiff knees before moving Punk into the corner with some hard rights and lefts. The ref calls the action out to the center where Punk hits a very stiff kick to Regal’s gut and the two exchange some hands. Punk goes for an early GTS but it’s countered by Regal and Punk is taken down into a submission hold. Regal counters a sunset flip attempt with a head butt and follows with an exploder suplex. As he measures Punk for a running knee, Punk hits a quick roundhouse, picks up Regal and hits the GTS for the pinfall.
Winner and Still IC Champion: CM Punk
Another Wrestlemania video package is run as we head to a commercial break.
Back from break and the announcers mention that Saliva’s "Hunt You Down" is the official theme song for No Way Out. They then take us to the BAFTA Awards from this past weekend where we see highlights of Mickey Rourke winning the Best Actor Award for "The Wrestler." WWE has pushed the film very hard throughout the broadcast, which tells me we will more than likely see some kind of appearance from the actor at Wrestlemania in exchange for the heavy promotion.
After a replay of tonight’s Flair/Y2J segment, the No Way Out PPV is plugged as we head to the back and see Randy Orton on his way out to the ring. Up next is our main event of the evening The Undertaker vs Randy Orton.
Back from break, both wrestlers are introduced, and the match up is underway. Orton starts off first, backing Taker into the corner with some rights and lefts. Taker reverses, tosses Orton into the corner and unloads some hands of his own. Taker whips Orton off the ropes, who ducks out of the ring, but winds up taking a right hand from the Dead Man on the outside as we head to commercial break.
Back from break and Orton has Taker in a head lock. Taker reverses it into a pin attempt before breaking the hold and landing some haymakers. After a whip off the ropes, Randy Orton counters Taker’s attack with a big power slam and then goes to work on the grounded Undertaker with the Garvin Stomp. Taker makes it to his feet and the two trade blows until The Undertaker hits the snake eyes followed by the big boot. He then calls for the chokeslam, but ends up positioning Orton for the Tombstone. Legacy hits the ring to assist Taker and the bell rings. The group work over Undertaker for a few moments and then Shane McMahon hits the ring to help The Dead Man! Shane goes straight for Orton, who is able to roll out of the ring as Taker hits the chokeslam on Cody Rhodes. Shane then turns his focus to Ted DiBiase, he hits some punches, and Ted walks into a chokeslam of his own. Shane drags Ted into the corner, grabs a trash can and sets up for a Coast to Coast. He climbs the opposing turnbuckle, points to Orton who’s on the entrance ramp, and hits a huge Coast to Coast on DiBiase! The show goes off the air with Shane and The Undertaker in the ring.
Winner: The Undertaker via DQ
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
