WWE: RAW
November 26, 2007
Charlotte, NC
Bobcats Arena

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)

Read along if you have the WWE Network!

Your hosts are Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler.

• Triple H & Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga & Snitsky

Snitsky starts off throwing around Hardy and HHH, but ultimately runs his shoulder into the post. Hardy winds up taking both Umaga and Snitsky to the floor where he decides to launch himself into them. Of course he gets caught, but Triple H runs down the apron and everybody gets squashed. Commercials! When we return, Umaga destroys Jeff with a Black Hole Slam. Tag to Snitsky, he keeps Jeff contained with a double underhook hold. Back to Umaga, he kicks Hardy around and twists on his neck. Jeff comes back after flipping away from a pumphandle slam and dropkicks Snitsky into the corner. Umm, come get him Snitsky. There we go. Jeff connects with the mule kick and hot tags HHH. He sends Umaga’s head on the top of the ringpost TWICE. There’s a clothesline, HHH Facebuster, and the AA Spinebuster. Snitsky interferes to prevent the Pedigree, but then takes a ride out to the floor. In comes Hardy, but he’s getting abused by Umaga. Meanwhile, HHH clotheslines Snitsky over the barricade. Meanwhile, Triple H saves Jeff from a buttalanche. There’s the Whisper in the Wind and then the PEDIGREE. SWANTON BOMB by Jeff gets the win. (7:42 shown) This Jeff Hardy and Triple H team ain’t too bad to watch, I gotta say. Of course just when things are going well, here comes an authority figure to ruin things. RAW GM William Regal comes out and makes Jeff Hardy and Triple H for Armageddon – and the IC title will not be on the line. The crowd doesn’t seem all that interested. **½

Backstage, we see THE MAN RIC FLAIR getting out of a limo.

And we’re back! Ric Flair is coming out to the ring. As they pan the front row, we’ve got an Ashley Flair sighting with short brown hair. Her brother David is right there beside her on her left with her douchebag boyfriend that her father Ric may or may not have gotten into a fight with in 2008. This is Ric’s first appearance in WWE since back in August when he gave his notice he was leaving the company. People thought this was going to be his retirement speech, but Ric tells the world that he will NEVER RETIRE! He’s got TOO MUCH JUICE LEFT, BROTHER! WOOOOOOOO! Well, Mr. McMahon has something to say about this matter and struts down to the ring. Vince tells Ric that his career can only continue as long as he wins – because the next time he loses a match, his career is OVER. He then declares Ric’s career is over and hopes he doesn’t die any time soon. Wow, well that was uncalled for considering the year of 2007. Known for being a sort of “Legend Killer” himself, the WWE champ Randy Orton must be salivating at the thought of ending Ric Flair’s career and waltzes down to the ring. He shows Ric a ton of respect and then thanks him for the opportunity to end his career. Vince then announces Orton vs. Flair – for TONIGHT. Orton draws close to Ric and thanks him again before stepping back and staring him down. Man, Randy looks like a real sociopath wanting to “get off” by ending Flair’s career. Gotta start calling him Brian Lefevre from now on.

• Hardcore Holly, Cody Rhodes, Jim Duggan & Super Crazy vs. Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch & The Highlanders

This seems like a match that only people who still watch WWE HeAt would understand why it’s happening. After Duggan does some HOOO stuff on one of the Highlanders, the rookie Cody gets trapped by the heels. Holly has got to be pissed. He gets the hot tag and runs wild on Robbie McAllister. The match breaks down as Holly kicks Robbie in the balls and gives him the ALABAMA SLAM for the win. (3:24) I don’t think Super Crazy was ever tagged in. Thanks for coming, pal. ¼*

In the back, Todd Grisham speaks with Jeff Hardy concerning the announcement that Jeff faces Triple H at Armageddon. Whatever weird bond he’s formed with Triple H seems to be working – he just hopes it doesn’t get in the way during their match. I guess Triple H has the ability to hear his name spoken from any distance because he interrupts Jeff out of nowhere and reminds him that he’s not so good with the whole “friends” thing. He feels Hardy needs to forget he’s stepping in the ring not with a buddy, but with THE GAME-uh.

Let Us Take You Back, RAW 11/19/07. Shawn Michaels and Mr. Kennedy TORE IT UP all over the arena – culminating in Kennedy taking Sweet Chin Music when a chair got in the way.

Now over to Mr. Kennedy, he shills the Shawn Michaels: Heartbreak & Triumph three-disc DVD set available everywhere tomorrow including WWEshopzone.com and reviewed right here at PDRwrestling.net. Kennedy’s pitch is full of backhanded compliments and passive aggressive insults. Some comments weren’t so passive aggressive as he mentions Shawn using his political power to hold younger guys like him down. He then wraps it up saying that none of the lows in Shawn’s career will ever compare when he steps in the ring with Mr. Kennedy. Hmm, maybe he should have thought that last sentence through a little more.

Elsewhere, we see Barry Windham and Arn Anderson talking to Ric Flair.

Chris Jericho comes out to remind us he’s back. Since Randy Orton hasn’t responded to his challenge, he calls Randy stupid and provides visual aids up on the TitanTron to say “ME WANT TITLE MATCH!” No Orton, but we do get Santino Marella. It quickly devolves into an old comedy routine when Jericho says he doesn’t know who Santino is. When that’s over, Santino says Jericho doesn’t deserve a WWE title match and he could beat him up – right now. Jericho says, “OK” and calls for a ref. Santino slides out of the ring and agrees to a match, but he says he needs a warm up first including a massage from Maria. YES. Before the match could begin though, Santino gives Jericho something to think about by blindsiding and attacking Jerry Lawler. Once he’s done beating up the King, Marella says he’s going to do the same to Jericho. Commercials!

• Chris Jericho vs. Santino Marella

This is Jericho’s first televised match since SummerSlam 2005. It seems to me though I would have waited until Armageddon for his first match, but here we are. Jericho ran through his early offense without much problem until he whiffs on a dropkick. He comes back starting with a Marufuji clothesline and debuts the CODEBREAKER for the win. (3:50) After the bell, Jericho invites Lawler into the ring to pick at the bones of Santino, but he doesn’t seem to know how to take his stuff. The Flying Fist Drop lands though, but how can Santino screw that up? ½*

Having the privilege of hindsight, you can already feel this face run for Jericho is going to fail.

Backstage, Ric Flair meets Shawn Michaels in the locker room. Shawn says he’s not ready for a wrestling business without Ric Flair. Randy Orton has been on a roll lately, but he’s talking to the Nature Boy Ric Flair and this is Charlotte NC. HBK says Flair was still the best wrestler in the world, and that to be the man you had to beat the man, and he didn’t think Randy could beat the man tonight. Flair said thank you, and he promised him for all that respect and all that admiration, he was going to give him everything Shawn just talked about and more. He said worst case scenario he was going out in a blaze of glory. WOO! This was GREAT.

• Mr. Kennedy vs. Brian Kendrick

Former tag team champ Brian Kendrick gets no entrance. Kennedy annihilates Kendrick and wins with the MIC CHECK in 1:19. Afterwards, Kennedy calls for the mic to drop and explains that what we just saw was an example of what Kennedy will do to Shawn Michaels at Armageddon. ¼*

The Smackdown Rebound is brought to you by the WWE Magazine: Smackdown, 11/23/07. Vickie Guerrero chastises Edge for his interference at Survivor Series and then awards him with a world title shot against Batista. Also, they are lovers now. Bats tells them he doesn’t care about their sick relationship, but neither does Taker who showed up and TOMBSTONES Vickie in a non-sexy way.

Elsewhere, Vince McMahon is talking to his son Hornswoggle. He thinks it’s a good idea to book Finlay versus Great Khali at Armageddon. He then asks Horny to get him an ice cream sandwich, which is something he adds that he would NEVER eat. Anyways, Hornswoggle goes to find his pop an ice cream sandwich. Horny comes across an empty ice cream sandwich box lying on the floor, but then sees a door with a sign that says “Free Ice Cream Sandwiches”. Have the RAW writers been watching Looney Tunes all week? When Horny opens the door and walks in, Carlito is waiting to grab him. Horny pulls out a can of spray-paint and paints a black doorway on the wall. SERIOUSLY? This just doesn’t end. Of course, he escapes through the wall and Carlito can’t. While Carlito is lying down pissed at himself, Ron Simmons shows up for a “DAMN” moment.

• Mickie James vs. Melina

Winner gets a women’s title match at Armageddon, which given how dominating the champ Beth Phoenix is, sounds more like a punishment than a reward. She sticks around ringside to see who her competition will be. Not much of a struggle since they weren’t given any time, but the MICKIE-DT wins in 1:57.

As Flair headed to the ring, the babyface wrestlers were in the back giving him a standing ovation. Triple H then shook his hand and gave him a hug telling him to “show them who you are”.

• Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair

Champ enters first, obvs. This is non-title which sort of gives away the ending, right? Flair hits chops early and backdrops Orton. I’m digging the way Orton is selling here. This is great. He gives Flair just enough before he hammers him down in the corner. Crowd chants NATURE BOY. Orton finds a backdrop, but Flair counters a suplex into a small package for two. Flair tries to keep Orton back with chops, but he’s overpowered and gets stomped. Orton follows up with the Best Dropkick in the Business for two. A standing dropkick gets two as well. Now he grabs a chinlock. Flair fights out, but Orton clotheslines him to the floor for a suplex to tease a countout loss. He’s back in at the count of NINE. Orton stays on him with a headlock, but Flair counters with a back suplex. He tries the RKO, but Flair shoves him off to the ropes for a chop. Now here comes the chopblock. WOO! The shinbreaker leads to the FIGURE-FOUR! OH MY GOSH. The crowd is dying for Orton to tap, but he’s the WWE champ. Come on now. Orton makes the ropes and hits the RKO out of nowhere. Flair lands near the ropes to save himself. If you’ll notice, Orton does a great job selling the knee as he slides over to Flair for the nearfall. While Orton continues to abuse Flair, the crowd chants for NATURE BOY again. When Orton feels its time to end Flair with another RKO, Chris Jericho jumps the rail for the distraction allowing Flair to low blow Orton and roll him up with a HANDFUL OF TIGHTS for the perfect Ric Flair finish. (10:30) Everybody creams over an athletic over-the-top contest these days, but how many times do you just really want to see one guy win over the other? It may happen sometimes in 2018 when everything is just right, but not enough because we don’t have guys like Ric Flair still around and everything has changed. **½

Until next time, so long for now.