Tonight's show was live from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Last night at New Year’s Revolution Triple H injured his quad and gutted it out til the end of the match.  In case you missed it, the highlights were shown.  Triple H is many things, and legitimate tough guy is at the top of the list.   

Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler welcomed viewers to the show and promised (or threatened, depending on your “View” of this feud) a match between Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell.

John Cena’s music hit and he headed out to a good pop.  He’d retained his title last night, thus breaking Umaga’s winning streak.  “The Champ is here,” Cena said quietly.  He said that last night Armando Alejandro Estrada had gone on WWE.com to say Cena’s win had been a fluke.  Cena said it wasn’t a fluke—it was an ass kicking and one of the toughest fights of his life.  With all the talk about flukes, he was in the mood to give Umaga a rematch.  He asked the crowd what they thought, and they apparently liked the idea of a rematch.

Jonathan Coachman, Mister McMahon’s executive secretary…err...executive assistant came out and said he had given Umaga the night off.  Cena didn’t quite believe Coach’s definition of “night off.” 

Coach said Umaga did, indeed, have the night off.  However, Cena did not and he would be facing the Great Khali later in the show.  The same Great Khali who has bounced from Smackdown to ECW and now to Raw.  The two stood facing each other and there was a bit of a size difference. 

In case you’ve missed it, Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell have been engaging in a war of words in the media.  The key word there is “media,” something Mister McMahon will follow to the ends of the earth in order to get publicity of any kind.

Mister McMahon appeared on the screen with a sly look on his face.  He was proud to have the match America has been waiting for:  The Donald vs. The Rosie.  Tonight.  On this very show. 

(Commercial break) 

McMahon was in “Rosie’s” dressing room.  He’d arranged for a Carvel ice cream Fudgey the Whale cake, just as she had requested in her list of perks.  The Rosie look-alike dug right into the cake and started shoveling it into her big mouth.  The dining experience appeared to be orgasmic.

(1)  Intercontinental Championship Match:  Jeff Hardy vs. Kenny Dyskstra.    Kenny had beaten Ric Flair last night and Hardy and survived a cage match with Johnny Nitro.  Dykstra expected to have the advantage since Hardy was so battered from last night, but Jeff Hardy was more resilient than he thought.

(Commercial break)

During the break, Jeff had fallen face-first into the retaining wall.  Ouch.  Back in the ring, Kenny was throwing punches that were missing by a mile.  He tried to sell the punches by shaking the pain out of his hand.  Jaw jacker by Hardy and a Whisper in the Wind.  Jeff went for a pin, but Kenny kicked out.  Johnny Nitro came out and tried to interfere.  While the ref was dealing with Nitro, Ric Flair came out and gave Kenny a low blow.  Jeff capitalized with a Swanton and the winning pin and retained his belt.

When Kenny realized what had happened, he was alternately throwing a fit and holding his nuts in pain.

Rosie was stuffing her face with an ice cream sandwich when she walked by the door to the Divas’ dressing room.  She snuck inside.

(Commercial break)

Silly Axe commercial with awesome music –the “Dias Irae” from Karl Jenkins’ “Requiem.”

J.R. provided an update on Triple H’s condition.  The Game had traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, today to see Dr. Jim Andrews.  He will have surgery tomorrow afternoon and will be out four to six months.

Rosie was visiting with the Divas and checking out the T and A.  Maria said she thought Rosie liked her outfit.

Todd Grisham was interviewing the Great Khali.  (I hope he’s not expecting Khali to verbalize anything.)  “Mumblemumblemumble,” said Khali.  “What?” the audience chanted, wanting to know what the heck he was talking about.

Sound bites of the real Rosie/Donald feud aired.

(Commercial break)

(2)  Tag Match:  Melina & Victoria vs. Maria & Mickie James.  Not much technical excellence in this match, but it was a golden opportunity for The King to drool into his microphone.  Melina pinned Maria for the win.   

In the hair and make-up area, “The Donald” was getting his hair combed over.

(Commercial break)

Mister McMahon pranced to the ring to make the introductions for the Celebrity Death Match—Double-Chinned Diva Rosie vs. his close personal friend, The Donald.  J.R. said The Donald had on his customary red power tie, but The Donald is famous for his pink power ties.

(3)  The Donald vs. The Rosie.  I guess this is considered a match, although it’s more like comedy.  Bad comedy.  The referee tried his best to explain the rules while the opponents trashed talked each other.  Then Rosie spotted Fudgey the Whale on the announce desk and got out of the ring for a snack.  They finally locked up and Rosey shoved The Donald down.  She did it a second time.  Trump pulled off his suit jacket and got down to the business at hand.  He put Rosie in a headlock.  The Donald was in trouble when Rosie started mussing up his hair.  “BORING,” came the chants from the crowd.  Rosie tried to channel Hulkamania, but the crowd was having none of it.   The Donald finally found Rosie’s weakness…he picked up Fudgey the Whale and hit her in the face with it.  The Donald came off the second rope with a head butt and made the winning pin.  Rosie was reduced to tears because her precious Fudgey the Whale had ended up in her hair.

I have an idea.  With K-Fed, The Donald and The Rosie gracing the ring in recent weeks, maybe it’s time for a celebrity version of Tough Enough.

(Commercial break)

(4)  Carlito vs. Chris Masters.  This was a rematch of last night’s epic battle.  Carlito wasted no time and they started throwing right away.  Masters started tossing Carlito from pillar to post, and Torrie came out to lend support to Carlito.  Masters got a near fall.  Masters, the master of the obvious, walked over and asked Torrie what she was doing out there like he’d just seen her.  She’d only been pounding on the apron for five minutes.  Torrie smacked Masters in the hip with the ring bell, and that gave Carlito an opportunity to make the winning pin.  Torrie and Carlito celebrated while Masters limped away in pain.

Clips were shown of the tag match between DX and Rated RKO and the damage to Triple H’s quad.  It had been a bloody war and no one had walked away unscathed.

Edge and Randy Orton came out to celebrate.  Orton had on a neck brace and Edge was limping badly.

(Commercial break)

The audience was booing Orton and Edge.  J.R. said this was Orton’s hometown, but he wasn’t getting any love.  Orton whined about the injuries they’d received last night, but they were content in knowing that Triple H had received a serious injury.  Rated RKO took credit for ending DX.  Edge reminded the crowd that they talk big, but they can back it up.  The “What?” chants started.  Edge said that they intended to kill DX, so next week it would be HBK vs. Edge and Orton.  He said DX was on life support and next week they’d pull the plug.

“Are you ready?” came the familiar lyrics.  Shawn Michaels walked out on the stage and said he’d come out tonight out of respect for the people of St. Louis and the viewers at home and to address whether this was the end of Degeneration X.  He said he didn’t know, but his partner and best friend was in the hospital and would have surgery tomorrow.  HBK said he would be there by his side.  As for Rated RKO, he would deal with them next week.

(Commercial break)

Yo, yo, yo...

 (5)  Cryme Tyme vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch.  Cryme Tyme won.  Are you surprised?

(Commercial break)

Raw is celebrating its 14^th birthday.  Ahh…the teen years.

Rosie was still crying backstage.  Ron Simmons watched the spectacle, shook his head, and said DAMN!!!

The King was speaking with mixed martial artist/sambo expert, Vladimir Kozlov, who said he could beat John Cena.  And he said he loved double-double-eee.  We’ve got Boris…where’s Natasha?

Eugene ran into Khali backstage and wisely got out of Dodge.

(Commercial break)

(6)  John Cena vs. Great Khali.   Armando Alejandro Estrada joined The King and J.R. on commentary.  Khali lumbered out first.  Cena followed, ready to take on the Even Bigger Show.  Cena tried his best to do some damage to Khali, then Estrada tried to smack Cena with a chair.  Cena grabbed it and smacked Khali and the ref called for the DQ.  Khali had won by disqualification, but he had to have the last word (or move, actually) and slammed Cena to the mat.  Estrada called for Umaga to come out, and the Samoan Bulldozer “picked the bones,” as J.R. put it.  Cena got a Samoan Spike and probably quite a headache.

* * *

Good show tonight.  Mostly.  Even with Triple H’s injury, the DX/Rated RKO feud continued with subtle drama instead of the usual bloody beat down, which was a nice change of pace.  The Rosie/Donald thing went on far too long.  What was initially amusing became tedious.  I’m not sure that the Great Khali is such a valuable addition to Raw.  Bigger isn’t always better and he just scares me.

* * *


You are cordially invited to become a member of ClubWWI.com. Just click on the banner at the top of the page to learn more.

Club WWI--the place to be!

* * *