WWE Backlash
April 18, 2004 Sunday Night Heat
La Resistance meets up with Eric Bischoff in his office. They're not happy that Conway lost a match last Monday to The Hurricane because Eugene distracted him. To appease them, Bischoff books a tag match for the PPV between La Resistance and Hurricane and Rosey.
Lilian interviews Ric Flair. Flair plugs his match with Benjamin. He's going to show Benjamin why he's the dirtiest player in the game.
Matt Hardy vs Val Venis
These two had a short little program around this time. I said program instead of feud since it was just a series of matches. Matt Facts of the night: 1. Matt always uses cash to pay for things. 2. Matt loves people movers. Hardy works over Val's backs with elbows. Sign Effect only gets a 2 count. Venis goes to the top rope. Hardy tries hitting a top rope Twist of Fate, but Venis shoves him off. Money Shot connects and Venis gets a rare victory. For a throwaway Heat match, this was fairly good. The crowd seemed into it and the match was given plenty of time. IIRC, the next night these two would be booked again in a mixed tag. Lita and Venis vs Gail and Matt. However, before the match, Kane came out and chokeslamed Venis. Hardy turns face and tries to save his ex. This would be the start of the worst storyline from Raw in 04. Oh well, at least Matt got a push.
8 Minutes. 2 Stars. PPV Ric Flair vs Shelton Benjamin
This all came about after Shelton won back to back matches with Triple H. Flair tries to do his trademark taunts early on, but Shelton knocks him out. Flair bump. Shelton does some Flair taunts. Flair is in control when he decides to randomly grab a chair. The ref pulls it out of his hands before he can use it. Okay, that was pointless, especially since Flair was in charge. Later on Flair tries to use a pair of brass knuckles, but Shelton Stinger Splashes him. Benjamin finishes him off with his top rope closeline. The top rope closeline looked good, but it wasn't really great as a finisher. Thankfully, Benjamin soon started using the T-Bone. A decent match, but Shelton's least memorable one with Evolution. Flair really looked old in this match. All he could really do well was the Flair flops.
10 Minutes. 2 Stars.
Backstage, Randy Orton is interviewed. He plugs his IC title match against Foley.
Tajiri vs The Coach
This all started the Raw after the brand draft. Tajiri was talked into misting the first person who walked in to the lockerroom by La Resistance and Lance Cade. The first person walking in ended up being The Coach. Pretty simple, but fun. On to the match. Coach gets cocky early on, so Tajiri kicks the shit out of Coach's hamstrings. Coach outwrestles Tajiri for most of the match. On the outside, Tajiri misses a kick to the Coach and nails the post. Coach spends the rest of the time working over the leg. Tajiri comes back putting Coach in a Tree of Woe and hitting the low dropkick. Tarantula~! With the ref distracted looked upon the de-tarantulaed Coach, Garrison Cade runs out and punches Tajiri, Coach rolls him up for the 3. What the hell? Tajiri lost to a fuckin' punch?! Lance (Garrison is such a bad name) Cade's partnership with Coach didn't make any sense since Cade was responsible for getting Tajiri to mist Coach in the first place. The finish was lame, but the rest of the match was fairly good. Even though Coachman was really only using moves that any guy learns in his first month of training, it's a sight to see a wrestler in this decade using such technical moves. Even experienced Divas can't even execute a proper leglock. This wasn't meant to be a 5 star match, but it was much better than expected.
7 Minutes. 1 3/4 Stars.
Backstage, Eugene is looking at the latest Diva's special magazine when he walks in the women's lockerroom. Gail Kim is just in her underwear. When seeing him, she screams, so Eugene screams as well. Molly Holly comes out without her wig (She was shaved bald at Wrestlemania) and yells at Eugene. William Regal rushes in the lockerroom to pull Eugene out. Regal tries to apoligze for Eugene, but Kim's lack of clothes makes him forget what he was saying. Holly yells at him. Regal is the true star of this. Unlike Eugene, he plays comedy by small touches that really work.
Chris Jericho vs Trish Stratus and Christian
Since Trish turned on Jericho at Wrestlemania, this handicap match was made. Christian starts off for his team, but Jericho humiliates him in the ring. Trish provides some distraction and Jericho is left playing the role of the face in peril for the rest of the match. Trish slaps Jericho around for her big offensive moves. Later on, Jericho spanks Trish several times. Christian uses the distraction to hit the Unprettier on Jericho. Trish is tagged in, but only gets a 2. Christian tags himself back in, but also gets a 2. Christian locks in the weakest Texas Cloverleaf I've ever seen. Jericho puts the Walls of Jericho on Trish. Christian is catapult into Trish in the corner, taking her out of the match. Step up enzuigiri to Christian gets Jericho the win. For a mixed tag, this was pretty good. Even though Trish was forced into this match, we got a lot of Christian vs Jericho which made this a fun rematch from WM. These two would have a rubber match on Raw in a steel cage match. Also right after this PPV, Christian brought in Tomko as a problem solver. Anyways, easily the best match of Trish's career. As for Jericho and Christian, just another day at the job.
11 Minutes. 2 3/4 Stars.
We get a recap of Chris Benoit's return to Edmonton. He visits his old school, the building of his first match and we get short clips of interviews with his friends and family. All of this was filmed for the Hard Knocks DVD that would come out in a few months.
At ringside, we see that most of Benoit's family are in the first row. Everyone from his parents, sister to Nancy and Daniel are there.
Victoria (c) vs Lita - Women's Title Match
Lita won a battle royal to become the number 1 contender. This was fairly early on in Victoria's rave face gimmick. Lita manages to botch nearly everything she does. Victoria works her ass off trying to showcase a lot of moves not seen in women wrestling (Such as the surfboard), but it takes two to tangle and she's working with Lita at her absolute worst. Meh, thank god it was short. Victoria wins with a roll up.
7 Minutes. 3/4 Star. Randy Orton (c) vs Cactus Jack - IC Hardcore Title Match
For nearly a year, Orton has been punking Foley out. Finally, Foley realized that Orton was right. Mick Foley was a washed up old fool. Cactus Jack on the other hand... Great promos by Foley leading up to this match on Raw. Orton comes down to the ring with a piece of wood (I think) with barbed wire wrapped around it. The sorry excuse for a weapon ends up having the barb wire fall off before Cactus even gets to the ring. Jack on the other hand, has the real Barbie (Barbed wire wrapped baseball bat). The two battle over Barbie until Orton starts being cut by it. Foley brings out Mr Socko, but realizes that he's not hardcore enough, so he picks Barbie up again. Cactus goes under the ring and pulls out a can of gasoline and a lighter. The fans are going apeshit. Before he's about to light barbie on fire, Eric Biscoff comes out and threatens to stop Backlash if he uses the gas. Cactus throws the gas down and then just uses a cookie sheet. Orton in control goes to a box and pulls out a bag full of thousands of thumb tacks. Randy positions Jack for the RKO, but Foley avoids the RKO and Randy lands on the tacks~! Randy has a great face of pure pain, agony and disbelief. Randy tries going to the back, but Cactus catches him and throws him off of the stage and through a table. Cactus Elbow from the stage only gets a 2. Back in the ring, Orton hits an RKO for a 2 count. Another RKO on barbie is enough to finally win the match for Orton. Orton did a lot more than anyone imagined him to do. Everyone knew Foley was going to take some insane bumps, but Orton did his fair share of them too. This was really the match that turned people's heads and made them feel as if Orton could be a main eventer. In my opinion, for over 4 years, Orton has tried putting on a better performance, but has failed every time. The thing that helped this match the most was that Foley hadn't whored himself out to be a jobber as much as he did in future years. Beating Foley meant something. It's also safe to say that on this night, Mick Foley MADE Randy Orton. Outstanding match and a surefire MOTYC.
23 Minutes. 4 1/4 Stars. The Hurricane and Rosey vs La Resistance
After the IC title match, a lot of people left to get food or take a bathroom break. Because of that, the crowd is DEAD for this match. The ONLY time they even made a peep was when Eugene came out at the end. Eugene would even get in the ring and hit the ropes while the actions continued. With the Eugene distraction, The Hurricane hit the Eye of the Storm on Conway to win. Completely meaningless match. The only positive thing that came out of this was that it helped build towards Eugene's first match against Conway. ANY kind of crowd support would of made this somewhat decent.
5 Minutes. 1/2 Star. Edge vs Kane
Edge had just returned when he was drafted to Raw. Before even wrestling for the first time, he broke his wrist. I believe the only reason this match happened was as revenge to Edge for attacking Bischoff. For whatever reason, the fans just hated Edge at this point. As for the match, as bad as the women's title match was, that at least kept me awake. With the ref down, Edge hits a low blow, a shot with the cast and the spear to win the match. This was purely a way to bring Edge back. Kane just happened to be doing jack shit and was a big enough name to make this match seem like a big deal.
6 Minutes. 1 Star. Chris Benoit (c) vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels - World Heavyweight Title Match
This is the Final Encounter Match which means there can never be another triple threat between these three. I remember laughing at this match stipulation with a friend back in 2004. This was the only 2nd triple threat with these two and it's already being treated like it's been done to death.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. With this being in Canada and Chris Benoit's home town, the fans had three main chants. For what Michaels in control there was the ever popular "You Screwed Bret!" chant. For when Benoit was in control, "Benoit Benoit Benoit". Finally, when Hunter was in control, "You're An Asshole." Ha, I love Canadian crowds. Each man takes his turn on the outside of the ring. Early on Hunter and Michaels keeps Benoit out of the ring. Benoit has enough of it and just German Suplexes both of them and starts chopping the hell out of them. After that, Hunter is thrown out of the ring. Shawn goes for a flying forearm, but Benoit ducks and ref Mike Chicoda is knocked out cold. Shawn locks in a sharpshooter with no ref. Speaking of the sharpshooter, for a guy who's been locked in it as many times as Shawn was, you'd think he'd actually know how to do it. Because he had no idea how to do it, it ends up being a cross between a cloverleaf and sharpshooter. The fans are going crazy with the evil Michaels using Bret's move. Out comes Earl Hebner from the back and the crowd goes even more crazy. Thankfully, Hunter gets back in the ring and Michaels stops the sharpshooter. Had Michaels won the match like that, Hebner wouldn't have made it out of the arena alive.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. JR and Lawler are so annoyed at the crowd for still chanting "You Screwed Bret". To me, that's typical WWE bullshit. That just shows you how much Bret meant to Canadians and what you did to him was such a shitty thing to do. Learn to live with the chants, you earned them. Benoit and Hunter are fighting on the outside when Michaels dives over them from the top rope and crashes on the announcer's tables. I don't know what Michaels was doing, he wasn't even close to hitting them. JR and The King plays up the fact that Michaels was just so upset with the fans' chants that he wasn't thinking clearly. Surprisingly, I can believe it. Triple H pedigree's Benoit, but Michaels breaks it up. Hunter is knocked out of the ring and Benoit locks in the Sharpshooter on Michaels. Michaels almost gets to the ropes when Benoit pulls him right back in the middle of the ring. With Hunter slowly crawling back in the ring, Michaels can't survive any longer and finally taps out. The fans are going crazy with the best possible finish they could of booked. The hated Michaels tapping out to the move of Hart's with the hometown boy retaining was PERFECT. This was a damn near flawless match. The crowd may of not been the best earlier on in the night, but they were red hot during the entire match. Sadly, this match gets forgotten about due to their first match a month earlier. Maybe had they did this a few months later, it would get the appreciation it deserves. I think I actually like this match BETTER than their WM one. Yet another MOTYC.
30 Minutes. 4 1/2 Stars. Overall
So there is some complete crap on this show. In fact, there's 3 horrible matches. On the flip side, there's TWO MOTYC's. On top of that, you have a strong handicap match and a surprisingly good Coach match. If only they would of replaced one of the shitfests for the Heat match. This was the first Raw PPV since December 2003. It's a HUGE improvement from Armageddon 2003. Raw had such an amazing roster at this time that you could almost do no wrong. I'd also be willing to say that Raw wouldn't have been hurt if Triple H stayed on SD AND the Dudleys/Booker still went to SD. That's just how good I feel Raw could be as long as everyone was healthy. I'd easily be willing to say it's one of the best (if not the best) brand PPV's.
Best Match: Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels vs Triple H
Worst Match: Hurricane/Rosey vs La Resistance
Grade: B (Stupid 1 star and under matches ruining their A grade.)
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