RAW LIVE Coverage & Discussion Thread - 9th February, 2009
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RAW Results - 9th February 2009
Location -
Announcers - Michael Cole and Jerry 'The King' Lawler
The Super Bowl of professional wrestling is just under two months away and the next pay per view offering will follow the Super Bowl of auto racing. What will happen tonight during Raw with the return of Ric Flair. Will he address Chris Jericho about Chris’s comments regarding Mickey Rourke’s portrayal of Randy the Ram in The Wrestler? Will Ric Flair discuss proper roadside behavior? What is next for the Legacy after their sneak attack on Shane McMahon? Will Stephanie seek revenge for what they did to her brother other than what she negotiated last week? What will happen when The Undertaker returns to Raw and faces Randy Orton? Will Bradshaw and Shawn Michaels discuss their match on Sunday? Will there be any new developments with the Elimination Chamber match? Will we find out any more inductees to the WWE Hall of Fame (at least an official announcement)? Will any more matches be announced for the pay per view?
We are live from Oakland, California and your announcers are Michael ‘Crossing Guard’ Cole and Jerry ‘If Bradshaw needs another employee who had financial problems, I am sure Hammer is available’ Lawler.
Ric Flair comes to the ring and he woooos and says that he misses everyone. He points out that he was fighting for his career at this time last year. The time came for him to retire and it took place at Wrestlemania 24. He faced the great Shawn Michaels and he couldn’t have lost to a man he respected more.
Chris Jericho comes out and tells Flair that this is enough and he will not let Flair wax nostalgic about his career and waste air time. Jericho says that he has a comment for Flair and he wants Ric to think about last year and the night after Wrestlemania when he said goodbye to the business for good. We see footage from last year when Flair and Jericho hugged. Jericho says that he hugged Flair out of respect, but if he had known that Flair would prostitute himself for any two bit promoter or hog the spotlight and set a bad example for the current generation of wrestlers, he would have slapped Flair in the face.
Flair says that if he would have known that Jericho was a condescending punk who was insecure with himself. Flair says that he has never sold out and he will never wrestle again. Flair says that he is losing respect for Jericho by the minute. Flair says that he respects everyone in the crowd. Jericho does not believe that Flair respects the hypocrites because he knows that Flair will appear for any promoter. Jericho says that Flair is the problem because he has to be the center of attention. Flair says that he has to be the center of attention. He will never retire from the business. He wants to take pictures with the fans and tells stories. He will never let Jericho tell him how to run his life because he can.
Jericho tells Flair that when you are an honest person like him, it is his business because he is a locker room leader. The people in the locker room respect him more than Flair. Jericho says that Flair can pat himself on the back for not getting back into the ring yet, but Flair cannot leave the business without any dignity. Jericho says that Flair has missed the point of the movie The Wrestler because the fans couldn’t care about him. As soon as the show is over, they are going to post their photos on Facebook and then forget about Flair forever. Jericho says that Flair will end up like Mickey Rourke’s character but there is no director to say cut. Jericho says that he will be the one to tell Flair to cut and to stop letting the people leech off of him. Jericho wants Flair to tell the fans that he is better than they are.
Flair tells Jericho no. Jericho tells Flair to have it his way. Jericho tells the fans if they want to see a clown who falls on his face for your entertainment, because they can take their pictures of Flair. Jericho tells Flair to do all of his tricks like a good little dog. Every picture is a reminder of how low Flair has gotten. Jericho tells Flair that he has no one to blame but himself. Flair slaps Jericho and Jericho leaves the ring. Flair takes off the jacket and then he hits the ropes and struts.
We take a look back at last week’s announcement that Randy Orton will face Shane McMahon at No Way Out and the events that led to Orton’s match with the Undertaker tonight.
We go to commercial.
Jillian Hall and Beth Phoenix vs 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 at No Way Out.
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.
Backstage
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
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, JTG 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.
6 Man Tag Match
Kane, Mike Knox and Chris Jericho vs Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Kofi Kingston
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
Backstage
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.
Shawn Michaels vs Mark Henry.
HBK's music then hits, 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
After the match
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.
Intercontinental Title Match
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.
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 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 in 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.
