WWE Raw
May 3, 2004

It's The Showdown in the Desert! As usual, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are our hosts as we eminate live from Phoenix, Arizona! JR and King hype the show, most notably the main event between Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Title to start as Evolution's music hits.

- Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton & Batista) vs. Shelton Benjamin, Tajiri & Edge.
Orton and Shelton open the match and early going, Shelton teases the dragonscrew heel kick. Tajiri comes in and wrestlers Orton to the mat. Everyone on the face team gets a go until Edge comes in and he and HHH have a quick checkmate exchange. He gets the better of him and forces Triple H to back off, scared. Collar and elbow and HHH goes low then tags in Orton. European uppercut. Batista gets a tag and nails Edge with a running power slam. Pinfall, but Shelton breaks things up. HHH comes in and the work on Edge's broken hand continues. Batista and Orton both come in and continue working on the arm as well, not to mention Batista releasing anger all about the rest of Edge's body. Triple H gets back in and Edge finally comes out with a desperation spinning heel kick on Trips but both men are out. Edge goes for the tag and gets it and Tajiri comes in and hits the springboard elbow, the kick on Orton and a dropkick on Batista. Tornado DDT on Triple H. Pinfall, but Batista breaks up the count. Springboard elbow attempt, but a huge clothesline stops him dead in his tracks. Commercial at this point, but as we return, Orton is in and is beating down Tajiri. Batista is in and he hits some power moves, then Triple H comes in. Out of nowhere, a backslide, but Triple H kicks out. Orton comes in and goes for a chinlock, but gets kicked in the head. Edge gets a tag and cleans house of Evolution. DDT on Trips, Batista thrown over and a top rope double clothesline on Orton and Triple H. Edge calls for the Spear, Batista runs in and knocks out Edge mid move, though. Benjamin comes in hits the Stinger Splash on Batista and throws him to the floor. Orton goes for the RKO on Edge, but Tajiri kicks him in the chest. Edge backdropped over the top rope by Orton. Batista goes for the Batista Bomb on Tajiri, but the green mist is the result. Orton throws Tajiri out, Edge hits the Spear on Orton and picks up the win! Didn't time the match, but it was somewhere in the vicinity of 15 minutes or so. ***1/2
Winners: Shelton Benjamin, Tajiri & Edge

- Backstage, Coach and Lance (Garrison) Cade are discussing the ugly Phoenix women when Vince McMahon walks up. He says he's in town for the World Title match. It's the essence of the business and that's the very reason he's here. They definately made the match feel special. Meanwhile, JR and Lawler break news that Eddie's mom had a heart attack.

- In Bischoff's office, Triple H is bitching at him about how terrible his life is. Johnny Nitro tells Bischoff that Vince is in town. Bischoff takes order and books Tajiri vs. Batista for the next week. Also, Shelton vs. Triple H is booked and last but not least, Randy Orton will defend the Intercontinental Title against Edge! Orton doesn't looked too pleased, though.

- Rob Conway with Sylvan Grenier vs. The Hurricane with Rosey
Conway dominates to start, going for a hammerlock on Hurricane. It's fought out of, but to no avail for Helms as he gets it anyway. Roll up, kickout, backslide, respectibely. Conway with an atomic drop and a swinging neckbreaker to follow. Conway mounts Hurricane and nails him repeatedly. Conway with an inverted chinlock on Hurricane. USA chants break out around the arena. Hurricane fights out of it. Neckbreaker in the middle of the ring. Pinfall, but Conway kicks out. Shining Wizard attempt, but it misses. Hotshot by COnway and then he hits the Ego Trip off the ropes, makes the cover, and that's all she wrote. Extended, semi competitive squash match here. Post match, he takes the stick and cuts a promo on Eugene, his opponent for next week in Eugene's 1st match. 3/4*
Winner: Rob Conway

- Tale of the Tape for the main event. Surprisingly, Shawn Michaels is 10 pounds heavier than Benoit. I smell bullshit!

- Kane vs. Steven Richards
Dominance. Clothesline followed by a big boot. Richards is up, goozle, Chokeslam and he's right back down. Kane makes the cover, and as expected, it's all over. I won't rate this because it's nothing more than a 20 second squash match. Post match, Kane literally runs from the ring like an insane freak. Oh, that's right. He is!
Winner: Kane

- Highlight Reel! Jericho thinks it's been far too long since he's had a World Title match of his own. He challenges the winner of the main event. He says that for once, the initials challenging for the title won't be H-H-H, but rather Y-2-J! He brings out his guest, Matt Hardy. Hardy says he's made mistakes in his life, and he'll rectify them. If that means going up against Kane, then so be it. He asks Lita to come to the ring. She doesn't come though, instead appears on the titantron. She says that she never loved him, and she's found somebody else. Lita demans that he stay away from her and Hardy is befuddled. Suddenly, she begins screaming and says that she's in the basement next to the boiler room. Hardy sprints from the ring and runs after her. This leaves Jericho without a guest... for like, 3 seconds as Christian, Trish and Tomko come to the stage. He sends Tomko after Jericho and a brawl is on. Christian comes in and Tomko nails Jericho with a big boot. Chokebomb to Jericho and Christian picks up the scraps like a true heel. Trish kicks him in the nuts and then the Unprettier ends it all.

- During the commercial break. Hardy finds Lita and they have an emotional moment as Hardy demands to know if Kane touched her.

- Non Title Match: Gail Kim with Molly Holly vs. Victoria
Before the match, Kail says she doesn't feel sorry for Lita. Before she can reach the point of her rant, Victoria comes out. Elbow in the corner by Gail and a huge clothesline. Victoria reverses and hits a gorilla press slam and drops Gail on her ass. Scoop slam and a standing moonsault. Pinfall, but Molly pulls her off the cover. Gail from behind with a dropkick. Gail throws Victoria from the ring where Molly gets in some cheap shots. Back in the ring, a leg drop. Kick out by Victoria. Gail drops a knee on Victoria's head and locks on a headlock and then turns it into a Dragon sleeper. Another pinfall, but Victoria kicks out again. Victoria gets a hot shot in and a backdrop too. The momentum changes completely. Big right hands from Gail that send Gail to her face three times. Gail goes for the headscissors, but locks on the arm bar while in headscissors position. She completely takes down Victoria and she is forced to tap out. Surprisingly, a very good match here. **
Winner: Gail Kim

- WWE Stamford Training Facility presents to us the footage of Regal and Tom Pritchard plotting to torture Eugene through his training session. However, Eugene picks up everything with quickness and performs all of it to perfection.

- Next Week: Batista vs. Tajiri, Rob Conway vs. Eugene, Shelton Benjamin vs. Triple H, IC Title Match: Randy Orton vs. Edge. Pay per view quality line up. Eric Bischoff and Johnny Nitro come to the top of the stage and says that those matches for next week are amazing, but there's more. It will also be Christian vs. Chris Jericho and it'll be inside a 15 foot high Steel Cage. That's 5 ppv matches on live TV. Up next, the World Title!

- World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Benoit © vs. Shawn Michaels
Each man tries to one up each other with a collar and elbow tie up and get the advantage, but to no avail for either man. This repeats 5 times before Michaels throws a bunch. Flair chops to follow. Back body drop by Benoit and a clothesline over the top rope to the floor. Back in the ring, Michaels takes control. Flying forearm shot followed by the nip up. Atomic drop attempt, but Benoit goes for the Crossface. Michaels fights out of it and hits a polish hammer to the face of Benoit. Commercial break at this point. During the commercial Shawn took control, tossing the Champion over the top to the outside. In the ring, HBK used an abdominal stretch and a vertical suplex to control the punishment on Benoit. Huge Irish Whip into the corner. Another, but Benoit gets an inside cradle, but HBK kicks out. Benoit with a backslide attempt. Kickout! Benoit with an Oklahoma roll. Kickout! Elbow drop from the top. Sweet Chin Music coming -- No! Benoit with 3 German suplexes! Michaels gets up and gets another one. Michaels goes up top but Benoit stops him with a bunch of chops and it knocks him to the apron. Michaels suplexes Benoit from the inside to the outside. He springboards off the top rope and hits a moonsault to the floor! HBK throws Benoit into the ring post which busts him open. Another commercial break here. We come back and a dropkick from Michaels. Pinfall, but Benoit kicks out. Bridging German suplex from Benoit, but Michaels kicks out. Michaels has had a dominating hold on this match for at least 10 minutes now. Exchange of chops from both men. Michaels trips up Benoit and locks on a picture perfect Liontamer, knee in the back and all. Fans are going apeshit as Benoit fights (and successfully) gets to the ropes. Michaels whipped upside down into the turnbuckle. Crossface is locked on! Michaels gets to the ropes, but Benoit grabs him and locks it on again, but the same result. Sweet Chin Music, but it's blocked. Sharpshooter attempt, but Michaels gets to the ropes once again. Benoit jerks him back to the center of the ring, but the ref gets knocked down. Michaels is up to his feet as is Benoit. SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Michaels crawls for Benoit, but Triple H is in the ring. Pedigree! He quickly exits the ring. Benoit rolls over, drapes an arm across Michaels for the cover and picks up the victory. Awesome, classic match. ****1/2
Winner: Chris Benoit

After the match, Triple H taunts Michaels from the front row as Benoit celebrates with the title to close the show as JR calls him an indignant bastard.

Thoughts: God, we were so spoiled back in 2004. Raw produced a least one four star match each week. So amazing. Both the opener and the main event were great matches, not to mention some good stuff in between. Definately a must see show. 4.5/5

Nice review, Cage. Raw was untouchable from about Wrestlemania XX until around August or so in 2004. Undoubtably one of my favorite eras of the last five years.

All thanks to Benoit's jump.