WWE Raw 8/16/04

Rhyno vs. Sylvain Grenier – 2

Grenier does a decent flapjack/kip-up combination, but later, his kneedrop completely whiffs. Rhyno took a nasty Irish whip into the buckles, hitting awkwardly and violently. Rhyno was selling more than I’m used to from him, a lot of it being strange convulsions like he was imitating a Jason Vorhees victim. Slyvain doesn’t look like much fun to work—he’s preoccupied with his own shit and doesn’t seem to give a lot. Grenier does a really odd delayed back suplex that looked crappy. Tajiri sprays green mist in the Frenchman’s face and he gets hit with a gore to secure a Rhyno victory.

Victoria vs. Gail Kim – 4

Victoria hits her patented Jigglesault as I’m now officially naming it. I love it when Gail kicks chicks right in the stomach, here, two hard shots to the gut sends Victoria spilling out to the floor. You can tell at this point Kim had the moves but not the method. There was one moment where she got whipped into the ropes and you could get a clear look at her face, scrutinizing it showed she was obviously performing and not fighting. Victoria, bless her, was working her ass off for Kim though. Victoria did a crossbody off the second buckle out of the corner that got botched. Victoria hits a sickening Widow’s Peak for the finish. Afterward, Trish and Tomko get involved until a “mystery woman” chased them off, which was completely preposterous as it was Stevie Richards in a bright red wig and dressed like a 1950’s school librarian.

Kane vs. Edge – 5

Edge starts off doing sloppy legwork on Kane, which Kane sells like a Hanna Barbara cartoon character. Kane pushes Edge off the top turnbuckle out onto the barricade. Jim Ross says Kane and Lita have a wedding registry at Satan ‘R Us. Coming back from commercial break Kane’s got a real loose “chinlock” on Edge, and I use the term lightly, because it looked hideous. Edge sells a hotshot on the ropes armpit first—that was stupid. Kane cajoles Edge into a swinging neckbreaker like he cajoled his babysitter to play with his phallus. Edge later return the favor from earlier, shoulderblocking Kane off the apron and out onto the barricade. Edge hits a swank missile dropkick that he should bust out more often. Then there’s a ref bump, Matt Hardy runs down and gives Kane a Twist of Fate, followed by a spear by Edge for the win. The match rested on Edge’s work, he didn’t yet show signs of laziness like he would a couple years later, and it felt like he was maybe giving about 65% effort here and yet still made this watchable.

Chris Jericho vs. Batista – 3

Jericho started off with some leg kicks. Its weird seeing Dave with hair. Ax handle off the top by Jericho. Batista is still pretty stiff and rigid at this point, including a couple particularly nasty shots to the back of Jericho’s head. Batista fights off a Lion Tamer, but soon after he eats a tasty dropkick. You can tell Chris gets fired up working against such a big, dangerous, greenhorn neophyte and lays in some of his stuff, too. Orton at ringside trips Jericho while attempting a Lionsault leading to the DQ. Aftermath sees Edge come, presumably to make the save, but then he just leaves Jericho to the wolves, which results in Chris taking a real hard spinebuster and sitdown powerbomb.

Randy Orton vs. Chris Benoit –7

This is a rematch from their Summerslam ’04 main event the night prior. Benoit fast, aggressive to start. Orton just gets annihilated for a while, really selling his ass off, although his sells while good aren’t up to par with his more recent stuff. An Orton European uppercut is countered by a backslide. Nobody pulls off a superplex more suddenly and intensely than Benoit. Soon after, Benoit hits a Northern Lights suplex, then starts working for submissions that Orton valiantly fights off. Orton gets out to the floor, only to get drilled with an awesome flying dropkick by Benoit off the apron that was Pegasus Kid reborn. Then, Benoit drops Orton knee-first on the steel ringsteps like a complete asshole. Back from commercial break and Orton is in trouble in a Boston Crab. Afterward, Randy does a good job of selling the damage of the leg. An Orton dropkick sends Benoit off the apron and crashing into the barricade. Randy works a deep side headlock sequence for a while. They exchange shots until Chris brutalizes Orton with a knee to the gut. Benoit does a real nasty front layout suplex on Randy. Going into the finishing sequence, Chris hits a diving headbutt, then three German suplexes directly into a Crippler Crossface. Evolution interferes leading to an RKO on Benoit, but this is the night where they turn on Orton, so we’re privy to a big beatdown as Batista, Triple H, and Flair all take turns mounting Randy and punching the hell out of his head. Immediately after a shot to the face with the belt Orton blades, then a bloodied Randy takes all their finishers to end it. Even though they worked their asses off the night prior on pay-per-view, both guys brought it here, Benoit looking immaculate as always, and Orton feeding himself to tons of chops and other assorted punishment.