WWE: RAW
November 19, 2007
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
BankAtlantic Center

The current Raw champions are as follows:
WWE Champion: Randy Orton (10/7/2007)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy (9/3/2007)
World Tag Team Champions: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch (9/8/2007)
WWE Women’s Champion: Beth Phoenix (10/7/2007)

The show opens with a kid running by the arena carrying an Olympic torch. Not sure what that’s about, but I’m sure it’s going to be explained – RIGHT?

Your host is Jim Ross. Jerry Lawler will be joining us later.

Shawn Michaels comes out to the ring and admits that the better man won last night. He wants Randy Orton to come out so he can shake his hand, but Orton shows up on the TitanTron instead showing a big bruise on his head due to Sweet Chin Music. It’s on his forehead, but HBK’s superkick is called Sweet CHIN Music. Anyways, Orton isn’t falling for Shawn’s invitation because he knows Shawn just wants to kick him again. HBK naturally wants a rematch, but Orton has nothing left to prove. Orton explains that the guy running with the torch at the top of the show is coming from Miami to Fort Lauderdale to symbolize a “passing of the torch” from the older generation to the Orton generation. Mr. Kennedy of all people interrupts. As he reaches for the mic to drop down, Shawn punches and clotheslines Kennedy out of the ring. To the floor, Kennedy whips Shawn into the ringpost and goes back into the ring to get on the mic to say that Shawn had his shot and now it’s his time. Michaels pulls Kennedy out for some more abuse and gets on the mic to challenge him to a match. Kennedy feels nicknames are given and not chosen. He points out Shawn’s few losses (ladder match at WM10, Cena at WM23, his smile…) and calls him a “loser”. William Regal comes out and brings a ref with him saying the match will start right now, but commercials first.

After the break, Shawn and Kennedy are brawling around ringside and the match never officially started. Ref Mike Chioda never really tries to get them in the ring. The action culminates with Kennedy bringing a chair into the mix and getting SWEET CHIN MUSIC and the chair back in his face. Next thing we know, Shawn’s music hits and that’s that. HUH?

• Jerry Lawler vs. Santino Marella

Rematch from last week on RAW where Lawler SHOCKED THE WORLD and pinned Santino with an inside cradle. While Santino runs his mouth, Lawler surprises him with a standing dropkick. Santino avoids a corner charge though and delivers an armbreaker DDT. He even gives the shoulder a flying headbutt. Now he gets the bright idea of putting on Lawler’s crown and mocking the King. He cuts a promo saying he’s going to “beat Lawler like a government dog”. He goes into the ring and continues to mock Lawler. That earns him a barrage of punches though. Lawler delivers a hiptoss and blocks one from Santino into a backslide for the win. (3:42) Just as Lawler stands up after the pinfall, Randy Orton appears and gives him an RKO FROM OUTTA NOWHERE. He apologizes to Lawler, but he just couldn’t help himself. He’s got an update on his torch runner. According to the footage, it looks like he just left the American Airlines Arena in Miami. Wait a minute, Orton says that was actually yesterday and now it’s only a matter of time until the official “passing of the torch”. Oh, the match was okay. *

Backstage, Todd Grisham talks with Mr. Kennedy. He wants to know what the deal is with him and Shawn. All Kennedy did was try to show HBK some respect, but we all saw how that went down. Kennedy thinks Shawn sees his career evaporating and wants to do everything he can to hold him down. FATHER TIME CATCHES UP TO ALL OF US, SHAWN. When they meet again, Shawn won’t have to worry about Father Time – he’ll have to worry about Mr. Kennedy.

Let Us Take You Back: Survivor Series 2007. They show clips of Khali versus Hornswoggle highlighting Finlay’s face turn.

Elsewhere, Vince McMahon meets up with Jonathan Coachman and William Regal. He thought that Survivor Series was awesome, but all Coach and Regal can talk about is the Hornswoggle nonsense. Vince looks concerned that the Hornswoggle segments were the best part of the show. Carlito walks in and lets Vince know he appreciated the “tough love” he showed Hornswoggle last night. Vince questions Carlito’s toughness and puts him in a match with Hornswoggle for tonight. Coach, Regal, and Carlito all laugh. Vince just angrily stares at them.

They show the finish of last night’s Survivor Series match.

• Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga

Lawler joins JR at the announce table for the rest of the show. Hardy tries the stick and run strategy to start until he’s run down with a shoulderblock. Umaga turns to the nerve hold. When Jeff gets up, he tries to come back only to get shoved off the apron into the barricade to take us into commercial. We return to more of the nerve hold. Umaga picks up the pace with some STIFF kicks, but can’t pin Jeff. Hardy gets punched out to the apron and snaps Umaga’s throat on the top rope, but flies down into a NASTY Black Hole Slam for 1-2-NO! Back to the nerve hold. The crowd continues to cheer on Jeff, but Umaga keeps cutting him off. Umaga tries a Flying Headbutt, but Hardy moves. Here comes the Buttalanche, but Jeff moves and hits Whisper in the Wind for 1-2-NO! Jeff can’t get the Twist of Fate, but avoids an avalanche causing Umaga to hit his head on the ringpost. As Umaga falls to the mat, Jeff goes up top for the Swanton Bomb only to crash and burn. There’s the Samoan Drop. Time for the Samoan Spike, but Jeff ducks and hits the TWIST OF FATE! Umaga rolls out to the floor as Jeff dropkicks him through the ropes and wipes him out with a pescado. Leaving Umaga on the floor, Hardy tries to get the countout win. Next thing we know, SNITSKY is in the ring attacking Jeff for the DQ. (14:06 shown) Umaga joins Snitsky on the beatdown until TRIPLE H hits the ring and sends them both packing. Imagine that. Gee, is that Jeff Hardy still a world beater now? Bad finish to a decent match. **½

SAVE_US.X29. ANSWER. THE CODE. TONIGHT.

After the break, we see Triple H and Jeff Hardy give each other approving nods and go their separate ways. Todd Grisham comes by and sticks a mic in Triple H’s face asking why he helped out Jeff tonight. Helmsley says he’s the good Samaritan of the WWE, but Todd isn’t buying it. NO ONE IN THE WWE CAN THINK THEY’RE A BADASS EXCEPT TRIPLE H. He switches gears and makes a transvestite joke at Grisham’s expense. Grisham makes the mistake of trying to keep the joke going and no one cares.

• Hardcore Holly vs. Cody Rhodes

Not sure why they are wrestling again. While Cody lost the RAW tag titles match last night, it isn’t like Holly gave Cody a punch in the face afterwards. Anyways, Holly pounds the crap out of Cody’s back and slams him a bunch, but Rhodes continues to stand back up and take his licks. I want to know why Cody wants a midcarder’s respect so bad. Rhodes comes back with a Russian Legsweep, but Holly hits the Best Dropkick in the Business. He wants the Alabama Slam, but Cody counters and hits a DDT for the win. (2:50) Right after the bell sounds, Randy Orton appears and drops them both with RKOs FROM OUTTA NOWHERE. The torch runner is almost here, btw. *

After the break, Ross leads us into a “Randy Orton Tribute Video”. It’s clips of him beating up John Cena, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels.

Backstage, Vince McMahon meets with Finlay. He thought Finlay showing up in the match with Hornswoggle was a surprise, but Vince doesn’t always like surprises. Finlay and Vince try to show who has the bigger Irish dick. When they talk about going for a drink after the show, Finlay suggests perhaps a big tall glass of warm milk for Vince before he goes to bed hinting that maybe Vince is a little old to be out drinking that late at night. Just as Vince looks SUPER PISSED, Finlay lets him know he’s just joking. We get a VINTAGE VINCE MCMAHON BELLY LAUGH as Finlay leaves, but Vince gives a look that he’s not sure Finlay was actually joking.

RIC FLAIR RETURNS NEXT MONDAY NIGHT ON RAW!

• Mickie James & Maria vs. Melina & Jillian Hall

Before the match, Jillian Hall points out Cuban pop singer Jon Secada in the front row. He’s here to promote Lillian Garcia’s new album. Jillian gets some heat at Lillian’s expense and then wonders why Secada is even here since no one in Florida understands “Mexican talk”. YES. Before Jillian starts singing, here comes Mickie and Maria to wrestle. Maria starts off with Melina and shows her the Bronco Buster. It wasn’t very convincing to say the least. Anyways, Maria gets tripped up and stuck in the wrong corner. Jillian tries a 450 Splash and hits Melina by mistake. Tag to Mickie, she delivers a headscissors out of the corner and gets a nearfall with a reverse neckbreaker. Jillian elbows Mickie back and calls over to Melina for a double team move, but Maria pulls out Melina to the floor. Mickie rolls up Jillian for two. Jillian then rubs Mickie’s face in her boobs, but we get some more lesbian smooching followed by the roundhouse kick to Jillian for the win. (2:52) They are calling that finish the Long Kiss Good Night now. Secada is aggressively clapping for that win like Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. ¾*

• No-DQ Match: Carlito vs. Hornswoggle

Comedy match, obvs. Horny bites Carlito on the butt and gets chased around the ring. He goes under the ring and brings out a pail of water to throw in Carlito’s face. Hornswoggle tries to fly at him from the apron, but gets caught and thrown back into the ring. Carlito wants to spit apple in his face, but here comes Finlay to save his little buddy. Carlito then spits the apple in Finlay’s face. Bad idea jeans. Finlay drills Carlito with a clothesline and slam dunks Horny on top of him for the win. (4:05) Afterwards, Hornswoggle spits the rest of the apple at Carlito. What on earth has he done to deserve all this treatment over the past few years? ¼*

THE TORCH BEARER IS FINALLY HERE!

NEXT WEEK: Triple H and Jeff Hardy will take on Snitsky and Umaga! Plus, the RETURN OF THE NATURE BOY RIC FLAIR! WOO!

The WWE champ Randy Orton comes out for his “Passing of the Torch” ceremony. Orton says he’s beaten everybody and now it’s time for the torch to be passed to him. Just as the runner makes it inside the arena, he’s put down with a clothesline! The camera zooms out to show the back of none other than CHRIS JERICHO! Orton looks confused. The crowd chants for Y2J and the SAVE_US.Y2J video plays. The countdown clock counts down from ten and here we get the second coming of Chris Jericho. AWESOME. He looks rested and refreshed, but more like a gay bartender with the sparky vest and short haircut – like a blonde Paul Rudd. Of course this wasn’t as cool as his WWF debut back in 1999 when he interrupted the Rock in Chicago, but it’s pretty dope to have him back after a two year hiatus. This crowd is pretty into it though. He promises 100% entertainment, 100% electricity, and 100% JERICHO. Orton interrupts and says it’s a good thing he was fired from RAW because if he had stayed, Orton would have kicked him in the head and ended his career. He wants to know what Jericho thinks he’s saving the people from. Jericho is quick to say he’s saving us from Orton’s boring personality, stupid looking face, robotic voice, and his subscription from Blue Balls magazine. What a terrible magazine idea. Most of all, he’s here to save the WWE title and take it away from Randy Orton. And the universe will never EVERRR be the same agayne. Now break the walls down. Jericho enjoys the crowd some more as we close the show.