Grilling JR - May 23, 2005 Raw [Show Notes] (Patreon)

May 23, 2005 Raw 

The May 23rd, 2005 Raw took place from Green Bay, Wisconsin

We're one night after the Judgement Day pay per view & we're on the road to the first ECW One Night Stand pay per view. What do you remember about that?

There was a shakeup at WWE's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling, involving Jim Cornette.

Keller reported - John Laurenaitis is no fan of Jim Cornette and hasn’t been for a while. Cornette gave Laurenaitis the excuse he needed to suspend him for five weeks from any involvement with Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE’s developmental territory affiliate. There is speculation that Cornette won’t be brought back, but that depends on a number of factors. At this point, the booking and TV writing duties have been taken over by Tommy Dreamer, and he has been told not to change things too much from the direction Cornette set. 

Cornette has a well–earned reputation for being a hot–head and not playing the political game with the WWE front office well. There have been numerous times over the years that political forces within WWE were so anti–OVW or anti–Jim Cornette, that there was consideration given to pulling the plug on the affiliation. Pro–Cornette and pro–OVW forces convinced Vince McMahon to stay the course.

At the May 4 TV tapings, in a dark match, Kevin Fertig (a/k/a Mordecai) wore a baseball cap to the ring for a tag team match where he teamed with Daniel Puder against Kenzo Suzuki & El Diablo Negro (Ken Dohne). During the match, Cornette noticed that Fertig was wearing the cap backwards on his head. Backstage, Cornette said that it looked stupid and sent word for him to take it off. Fertig did. 

But then during the match, Fertig took a sombrero from a fan and wore that, perhaps as a way to get under Cornette’s skin. It worked, as Cornette blew up backstage afterward, chewing out Fertig. 

Al Snow will be taking over on commentary for the TV shows and Dreamer, with assistance from Lance Storm, will be scripting the TV shows 

Keller reported - WWE sends wrestlers back to coach for overseas flights in future WWE sent a memo to all talents that they are no longer paying for business–class or first–class seats for overseas trips. It’s purely a budget cutback at a time when WWE is touting publicly the massive success of its recent all–sold out tour in Europe and profitable trip to Australia. Wrestlers, needless to say, aren’t thrilled with the move, and point out the hypocrisy of talent relations director John Laurenaitis forcing wrestlers to dress and act like businessmen because of the image it projects to those who see them outside of arenas and at airports, but now having them fly in coach on long flights. 

“John should know better because he was a wrestler who took those killer long flight when he worked in Japan,” says one wrestler. “But here he goes now, asking us to cram ourselves into coach for a 12 hour flight after wrestling for five straight days. Everyone is going to find a way to be sure WWE pays for this in other ways. This is a morale buster that tells everyone here they care more about their stockholders than treating us as professionals.” Says another wrestler: “You just don’t trim that area of the budget. You take care of your guy 

Keller reported - The buzz on head writer Brian Gewirtz taking a leave of absence is that he was burned out, and had been for a while, from the TV writing schedule. He also has hinted that he feels he has done all he can as a wrestling writer and is interested in branching out. WWE kept him in–house by offering him the chance to stay on payroll and create a script for the WWE movie division. 

“He had a chemistry with Vince (McMahon),” says one WWE source. “He could talk Vince into his ideas, but mostly he knew it was best to go along with what he thought Vince wanted.” Ed Koskie, now the senior writer under Stephanie McMahon along with Michael Hayes, is known for being more creative and less logic– and detail–oriented. He also is said to be weaker when it comes to continuity and internal logic issues than Gewirtz was 

Keller reported - UPN moves Smackdown from Thursdays to Fridays this fall In a move that blindsided WWE, UPN announced last week that come this fall, Smackdown will be moved from Thursday nights to Friday nights. Friday is considered a weaker night because overall viewership is down. WWE, though, may be the type of product that has a loyal enough folllowing that its viewers will find it and still watch no matter what night it’s on. Another up side is that Smackdown no longer will go head–to–head with some of the toughest prime time programming competition out there, including CSI, The Apprentice, The OC, and Will & Grace. 

UPN is shifting Smackdown to Fridays and replacing it with a block of half–hour comedies starring Chris Rock ("Everybody Hates Chris"), Shannen Doherty ("Love Inc."), and Denis Richards. There is some speculation that Vince McMahon may adjust his plans for the draft—which is a well guarded secret among a small inner–circle at this point (even Kurt Angle has said he doesn’t know where he’ll end up). McMahon may choose to shift some bigger names toward Smackdown to strengthen the show, yet he also wants to impress USA Network with strong ratings, so he’s being pulled in two directions.

Another potential problem is that Smackdown will face more preemptions for local sports games on Friday nights. Because Friday was such a weak night for network TV, many Smackdown affiliates have agreements with local sports teams to air games on Friday nights. This includes baseball games in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia. Smackdown already faced preemptions in many markets due to local sports, but will face more on Fridays than Thursdays 

The Edmonton Sun interviewed Steve Austin regarding his WWE movie career. Excerpt: “I’m really excited about it,” said the 40–year–old, who hasn’t been a regular in a WWE ring since 2003, due to a severe neck injury. “Vince McMahon is the kind of boss who puts his money where his mouth is—that should make things interesting. 

The characters I see myself playing are not a far cry from being Stone Cold. Everything will be in the action–adventure genre. 

I’m not looking to be a twinkle–toes or a guy like (Marlon) Brando or (Robert) De Niro. I admire those guys a great deal but I have a unique niche and I’ll find stuff that easily fits my image. I’d like to play the lead in a movie but I’d love to be sort of a heel  lead. As long as it’s good material. It’s not so much about the character per se because I’m willing to consider anything that comes down the pike. I just want to give Stone Cold fans exactly what they want—solid stuff that is entertaining and intense.” 

Regarding his career being cut short, he said: “I loved being on the road every day wrestling and those checks were great. It was such a blast to me. It’s been an adjustment to life outside the ring, but life is too short to feel sorry for myself. Really, I’ve got nothing to be sorry about” 

That takes us to Raw

A lot of security guards come down the aisle and line up in it. Edge’s music hits and he comes out holding the hand of Lita. Lita gets on the mic and tells the people to go ahead and pass judgement. She says women do it all the time, use their husbands. She talks about the stalking, the sex, and the boiler room, and the marriage. Kane owes her, so she used him. He used her to take care of Trish among other things. He was wrapped around her finger. The crowd calls her a slut and she says just because she gets action, don’t be jealous of her. She then looks into the camera and says she never loved Kane and could never love a big freak like him. 

She says she fell in love with a real man. She then kisses Edge as the crowd chants  for Matt. She says no man she has ever been with could have satisfied her, except one, the next world heavyweight champion; Edge. Edge gets on the mic and says this feels really good. He says you can call her a slut, but she’s my slut. 

He says they are all jealous. He says he is on top of the world. He has the girl and tonight he gets the world title. He talks about his win at WrestleMania and his gold Rush Tournament victory and tonight he will go through Batista. The crowd chants “bullshit” when he says he will become the champion tonight. You then call them two pathetic human beings

The camera pans to the back where Kane is moving back and forth

Eric Bischoff is in the back talking to a setup guy and he talks about setting up a funeral for ECW tonight. Benjamin shows up and Bischoff tells him he has a match right now. Shelton says his partner is not here. Bischoff says it’s not his problem and he has a lot on his mind, like the draft. He then says it’s a handicapped match. Benjamin says it’d be great to get Cena on Raw, the only thing better would be if Eric went to Smackdown 

Muhammad Hassan & Davari beat Shelton Benjamin

Finish was Daivari grabs a chair and heads into the ring with it. Doan grabs it from his hands and Shelton is about to T-Bone Daivari but Hassan clubs his back and drops him with the facebuster. Hassan rolls out of the ring and Daivari covers Shelton to get the win. 

Chris Jericho arrives and Todd Grisham says hello to him. Jericho says he has to go and do a match but Todd tells him it’s over already. Todd explains what happened out there and Jericho says he’s just been busy as of late and everything. He says Shelton is a good competitor and one loss won’t hurt him. He says to tell Bischoff he will face anyone tonight because he equals ratings. Todd asks if he feels guilty, Jericho says to spare him the lecture and that he is sorry. 

Christian is shown with Tyson Tomko and he is looking at the Smackdown Roster saying that show needs him. Calls Cena a poser. Tomko says “Who is Mark Jindrak?” Christian says “I don’t know but I’d beat him.”  Edge shows up and tells the guards to watch the doors. He then says he saw what Batista did to Christian and Tomko last week, so they might want a little revenge. Christian asks what is in it for them and Edge says if he wins tonight, and a certain someone helps him, he won’t need the briefcase anymore and that someone who helps him might be able to have it. Christian says he gets the drift and they will meet up later. 

Next match was Chris Masters vs Steven Richards. 

Highlights are shown of what happened to Steven Richards awhile back when Masters broke his nose and orbital bone.

Masters won with the Master Lock

Eric Bischoff is in the back with Todd. Eric says Jericho will have a match up next. He also knows that Kane is in the building. Todd asks if he wants security to bring Kane to the office. Eric says he has a better idea; Todd will interview Kane

Next match is Jericho vs Sylvan Greinier. Finish saw Jericho win with the walls of Jericho

Shelton Benjamin shows up but Jericho leaves the ring and grabs a mic before they can meet each other. He tells Shelton he is a great athlete and so is he but he’s so busy being a rock star, movie star, pop culture icon, and so many other things, so he will have to put up with Jericho being late. And he can afford all these things because he is Chris Jericho. Jericho walks up the ramp and says the Jericho-holics will always love him. 

The next segment was a very memorable one; Vince, Bischoff and Paul Heyman all in the ring together at the same time

The ring is filled with carpet and a stand up with an ECW logo surrounded by barbed wire. Bischoff says before he gives his eulogy he wants to talk about ECW. He talks about ECW starting in a bingo hall in south Philadelphia. 

Bischoff talks about stealing all of ECW’s stars when he ran WCW and in the end, ECW just died. He says he is shocked about seeing commercials for ECW’s pay per view on his show. He said he killed ECW once and this funeral signifies the fact that he is going to kill it again. He says he is on a crusade and the next few weeks he will put together a group of volunteers that will buy tickets and go to the show in New York and put an end to ECW once and for all. And nobody is going to stop him. 

Vince comes to the ring. Bischoff says he’s glad Vince is here and he probably has a few words to say about ECW. McMahon says it’s actually the opposite. He says for a few years, behind the scenes, his organization funded ECW. He says he liked ECW and hoped the stars of ECW would one day become the superstars of the WWE. He names a few like Foley, The Dudley Boys, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, after being fired from WCW

He talks about what WCW did to ECW and how it was wrong. Vince says if you look at the bankruptcy, you will see how the they loaned them some $500,000. Vince says he wants the ECW PPV to thrive. He says he put the commercials there. Vince then says the ECW rules match that was cancelled last week will actually go on tonight. Vince then says he can recall one brand that is totally dead, the WCW brand. He says enough about him talking about it, he didn’t create it, but there is a man who did have a hell of a lot to do with it and he is here tonight

Paul Heyman comes out to the old ECW theme. Heyman grabs a mic and Vince introduces them.  Heyman says Vince can own it, but he still controls it. He says Bischoff is all wrong about ECW, it was about the lucha libres and the hardcore. He then says it was about the entire audience believing in their favorite wrestlers and such. He talks about RVD and before RVD was WWE, he was ECW. He talks about all the wrestlers that were in the ECW. He then invites Eric to experience ECW. 

Vince says he wants to see a damn good fight and Eric Bischoff can bring men to the One Night Stand ppv. Heyman says it will be gang warfare and he will take it straight to the extreme

Heyman says Eric will start a fire that he cannot put out & lights the wreath on fire

You asked what have we just seen and bear witness to

A very memorable moment in wrestling history, especially for the fans that were apart of the magical time in the business when all 3 promotions were going strong in the mid to late 90s

Benoit beat Tajiri with the crossface

Grisham interviews Kane. Kane starts crying. He says maybe he deserves this for all the things that he has done. He says he does not want this pain. He then screams and says get it off me. He says he wants to give give pain.  He says he wants to be left alone. Todd looks at him and leaves the room as Kane shakes and  back and forth in his seat. 

Maria is in the ring and she welcomes Big Vis, The world’s largest love machine. Maria says she has an interior motive for bringing her out here tonight. Maria then calls Lilian into the ring. Based on what happened last week, Maria came up with a theory, Viscera likes Lilian. Viscera says she is right and he is feeling Lilian Garcia but he does not know if she feels the same way. He says she didn’t show last week at the hotel room. He says he has a surprise. He then tells Maria to get him a hotdog

Maria gets him a hotdog and he says he has a hotdog for her too. He bites into it and says it’s really good. Viscera says it’s time to show her what she’s been missing. He says last week he sang and he was pretty damn good and this week he is going to dance. He’s eating and dancing at the same time. Lilian kind of gets into it and he starts to disrobe a little bit. 

He wraps Lilian with the tie and jokes with her a bit. He then takes off his belt and drops his pants and he is wearing red boxers. The Coach’s music hits and he says the last thing Bischoff needs is a sexual harrassment law suit. He says Viscera must be having a good time in Green Bay where even he is considered thin. The Coach then asks him to step. The Coach then goes to talk to Lilian but Viscera grabs him by the throat and chops him.b He then drops him with a samoan drop. Lilian raises his hand and he kisses her

The next match was for the World Title, Batista defending against Edge

Christian and Tomko came out during the match, and the finish was Batista gives a spinebuster to Tomko and Christian. He knocks them both out of the ring with a clothesline.

Edge hits Batista with the spear. He makes the cover but Batista kicks out Lita tosses Edge the briefcase and then she distracts the referee. 

Edge makes a run with the briefcase, but Batista hits him with the spinebuster. Batista then hits Edge with the Batista bomb for the pin

After the match Batista hugs Flair and they celebrate. Then all of the sudden HHH’s music hits and he walks at the top of the ramp with a sledgehammer. Flair is looking on and then all of the sudden he gives Batista a low blow. 

HHH comes to the ring and hits Batista with the sledgehammer knocking him out of the ring. HHH jumps out of the ring and starts punching Batista. Batista is busted open as HHH slams his face off the steps several times. They go back into the ring and Batista tries to stand and fight, but HHH hits him again with the hammer to the face. 

Batista is down and Flair picks him up and holds him against the ropes. HHH grabs the mic and says “you want to fight me? Hell in a Cell.” Flair pushes Batista over but he crawls to HHH still trying. 

HHH picks him up and gives him a pedigree right on top of the world title. HHH and Flair leave the ring as Batista lays there bleeding to close the show.