The opener, taped for Heat I think, was Carly Colon, son of Puerto Rico’s greatest wrestling hero Carlos Colon, taking on some jobber listed as being from San Jose. Neither guy looked great, but they at least got a little heat. The second match was Steven Richards vs. Rhynno, who got a solid pop and maintained a strong level of crowd response the whole way through. I was shocked, as he doesn’t get much TV time, but every time he’s in San Jose, he always gets a strong reaction. The third match was Hurricane and Rosie vs. a Tall Jobber and a really tiny Jobber. Tiny jobber was there to get thrown around and he did that remarkable well. I went to the bathroom during Garrison Cade vs. Val Venis. I am told I missed nothing.

RAW itself kicked off with Shelton Benjamin taking on HHH in a match that was all Shelton, but ended when Shawn Michaels ran in to beat on The Game. It wasn’t a bad match, but Shelton didn’t get the response he should be getting for the level of push. They need to put him in a program and keep it running with Shelton getting the spotlight. Nothing else will work, really. Bischoff came out and suspended Michaels, who beat on HHH a little more after that, then left the building.

Batista beat Tajiri in a match that was far better than I expected. Batista is nothing if not athletic, but I can’t get over the roid-rage monster look. He takes offense well, but his own moves are only so-so. Tajiri was great, working in all his spots and making sure that all Batista’s spots looked good. Batista choked Tajiri after he pinned him and The Japanese Buzzsaw had green mist pouring out of his mouth.

cat fight, anyone?.

Stacey Kiebler came out to plug the Divas South of the Border DVD and they showed a video. Gail Kim and Molly came out and started doing the old ‘I just beat the champ and you’re getting all the airtime’ routine that everyone used in the 1980s. They beat on her a little until Victoria came out for the save. Jazz then returned and beat on Victoria, who was then saved by Nidia to set up the six-chick match for later in the show.

Randy Orton and Edge had a match that I thought was really strong. Randy got a great reaction, very similar to the Road Warriors right after they would turn where they would get a ton of heel heat but also you could tell that there were a lot of the fans who loved them. Edge did not get a great response, but it’s growing. The crowd really got into the near-falls and Randy used an excellent new neck vice on Edge. In a strange twist of logic, everyone is using neck submissions on the guys who have had the surgeries. The match went long, worked very well and was a strong end to the first hour.

They showed Eugene, who was over huge, backstage doing Hindu Thrusts, noting that they were a favored warm-up of Karl Gotch. Bischoff came along and said that he only promised his sister that Eugene would get a shot and that Regal should try and help prevent him from winning so he can just go away. Regal said that he would make sure the best man won.

The Six-woman match was next and it wasn’t bad when Jazz was in with Victoria. She did a Bridging Necklock on Victoria, which ruled. Neither Nidia nor Stacey got tagged in, which may be for the best, and Gail eventually got the pin with a Hammerlock / HalfCrab combo.

Backstage, they showed an interview with Christian, Tyson Tomko and Trish which was pretty good. Trish then broke off and went to talk to Lita saying that she was sorry for everything that she had been going through. She then did an amazing psyche job, saying that Kane was right behind Lita, and then laughing when Lita freaked out. Really, Trish was a hundred times better at playing terrified than Lita has been. Lita got freaked and attacked Trish until Matt pulled her off and led her to the ring.

Matt was supposed to have a match with Val, but Kane came on the screen and said that he had taken care of Val and would wait until next week to have Lita’s answer to whatever the question was that he whispered in her ear last week. Weird, as it wasted a fair amount of time, but it keeps the Matt focus rolling!

Regal and Eugene had a touching moment backstage that showed that Regal may be human underneath it all, even though he was planning on betraying Eugene. The match against Rob Conway then took place and everyone was really into Eugene’s stuff. He’s great! He did a bunch of old school moves, including Randy Savage’s Double Sledge off the Top. Regal eventually tripped Eugene, but claimed that it was the ring apron. Conway went to take advantage, but Eugene managed a roll-up with a bridge for the pin. Regal didn’t seem happy, as he wanted to get the spot back on the active roster, but they sorta celebrated after.

Bisch came out again and said that he had signed Trish vs. Lita for next week and a twenty man Battle Royal to see who got a shot at Benoit at Badd Blood. The last RAW Battle Royal I remember was to decide the new IC champion and it came down to Razor Ramon and Rick Martel.

Great ending to a good, though sometimes spotty, show.