FIT Challenge Slag People
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APRIL 12, 2004 - MONDAY NIGHT RAW
Two weeks away from Backlash, and a huge six-man tag-team main event has been signed for tonight! It's Kurt Angle and the World's Greatest Tag Team against Chris Benoit, Undertaker, and Big Show!
But first it's a triangle tag-team match pitting La Resistance against their own stablemate Rob Conway and Lance Cade as well as the team of Booker T and Luther Reigns. Cade and Conway take turns working over Booker in the early-going until Booker manages to tag in Reigns, who takes out Cade. Cade tags in Dupree, but Reigns tags in Conway, and it's La Res versus La Res! In the end, though, Conway winds up tagging Reigns back in so that Dupree can finish him off with a Figure Four.
The Big Red Machine Kane is out next to take on Rikishi. Kane dominates almost the entire match, but ultimately, interference from the newcomer Damien is what costs Rikishi the match. After the match, Kane and Damien pound on the giant Samoan.
Two of the top contenders for the Women's Title are up next as Victoria takes on Jazz. Sadly, this battle between two of the better female wrestlers in the world isn't very good and is fairly repetitive. Victoria picks up the win with the Widow's Peak.
Speaking of underwhelming performances, both Val Venis and William Regal have struggled mightily in recent weeks, and now both are looking for a much-needed win at the other's expense. Lots of back-and-forth action in this one that ends with Regal getting out of a suplex attempt to hit Power of the Punch for the win.
Our second Divas match is a big improvement, largely because the crowd was really into Lita vs. Molly Holly. Both women get in their spots, but Lita takes the win with the Litacanrana.
Chris Jericho is on a mission to clamber back to the top of the card, and after last week's win over Val Venis, he looks well on his way. But in his way tonight is the massive A-Train. Train utilizes his power advantage early, but Jericho's speed is just too much. Train gets in a bit of offense (honestly, more than I would have expected), but he winds up tapping out to the Walls of Jericho.
After the match, Jericho grabs the ringside mic and proclaims that the days of Chris Jericho: Midcarder are over! Now begin the days of Chris Jericho: ...UPPER MIDCARDER!
For weeks, the Natural Born Thrillers have made life difficult for Rob Van Dam and his friends. Tonight, it's an eight-man war pitting NBT against Van Dam, Rhyno, Tommy Dreamer, and Lance Storm! Storm and Dreamer work over Palumbo early, then Rhyno and Jindrak work their way into the match, and Rhyno continues the assault. RVD tags in, and he uses his martial arts background to pummel Jindrak. Storm tags back in and continues the punishment until Sean O'Haire manages to tag in and turn things back in NBT's favor. O'Haire and Stamboli work on Storm for a while until Tommy Dreamer tags in to reverse the momentum. RVD and O'Haire tag in, and the Backlash opponents go at it until RVD catches O'Haire with a flying cross bodyblock to set up the Five-Star Frogsplash and the win!
Our featured title match of the evening pits Women's Champion Trish Stratus against her friend Mickie James. Both women look like a million bucks (both in the technical execution of the match and the fact that they're gorgeous), and the crowd is way into it. Mickie almost picks up the win following her trademark DDT, but Trish's experience winds up being just too much as she wins following Stratusfaction. After the match, the friends hug it out and... start making out! OMG, this is... Wait, what? Oh, no, wait. It was just a hug. Sorry. Overactive imagination.
The Shawn Michaels Not Giving A Shit World Tour continues as the World Champion takes on Edge in our next contest. HBK controls the early part of the match, but Edge fights back with a big neckbreaker. HBK takes to the skies to regain the lead, and the match ends as he whips Edge to the ropes, where he hits a chair being held up by Chris Benoit, allowing HBK to roll Edge up for the win. After the match, Kurt Angle hits the ring and goes after Michaels! He chases the champ off while Edge clears Benoit from the ring.
The evening's main event is the aforementioned six-man tag match! Former partners Benoit and Angle go at it early on until Benoit tags in Undertaker, who repeatedly slams Angle before tagging in Show. The Ministry partners hit a double suplex, and Angle continues to get pounded until he manages to tag in Haas. Haas uses his speed to take the advantage, then tags in Shelton, who shows impressive power before Show tags Benoit back in. Benoit works over Benjamin until Angle tags in. Amidst the confusion, the referee doesn't notice Shawn Michaels hit the ring for Sweet Chin Music on Angle! The referee turns around just in time to see Benoit cover Angle, and the heels have stolen one as RAW goes off the air!
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