Raw

Card Information:
 Held in: KAISER CONVENTION CENTER
Location: CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
          on December 2004 at 9:00pm

Interview:
Orton's nWo status...
Click here to see highlights.

Hollywood Hogan fires Randy Orton from the nWo, but the Legend Killer reveals
that he has used his nWo power to book a WWE title match for tonight.


Funaki pinned Marty Jannetty after a power bomb in 0:08:50.
Rating: ***
[Danny Basham interfered against Marty Jannetty.]

Funaki, with a little bit of unexpected help from the Bashams, defeated the
nWo turncoat Marty Jannetty.  After the match, X-Pac attacked Funaki, leaving
Al Snow to come down and make the save.


Kane and Eddie Guerrero defeated Val Venis and Hurricane Helms when Kane pinned
Venis with the Choke Slam in 0:22:07.
Rating: **** 3/4

Fantastic tag match, which Val and the Hurricane could have won on several
occasions, had it not been for the suspect officiating.  Kane eventually gave
Venis a third choke slam in as many shows for the win.  But will Val be able
to reverse this trend at Armageddon?


Interview:
Hogan gets challenged...
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Booker T challenges Hollywood Hogan to a match at Armageddon, a match which the
Hulkster accepts.


Matt Hardy and Tajiri defeated Rey Mysterio and Maven when Tajiri defeated
Rey Rey by countout in 0:04:37.
Rating: ***

A disappointgly short match, which ended when Rey was left out cold outside the
ring.  After the match, Tajiri sprayed mist in Maven's eyes, while Matt Hardy
taunted Mysterio as he was helped out of the arena.


Interview:
More nWo trickery...
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Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner add Brock Lesnar to the mix to make the upcoming
tag match into a 3 on 2 handicap match.


Handicap-Match:
Triple H and Chris Jericho defeated
nWo (Brock Lesnar, Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner) when HHH pinned Lesnar
 with the Pedigree in 0:20:06.
Rating: ****

Great match, which saw the nWo's 3 on 2 plan backfire, as Triple H put down
the former WWE champion Brock Lesnar with the Pedigree.


Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels and Booker T defeated
nWo (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and X-Pac) when Benoit defeated Nash when Nash
 passed out in the Crippler Crossface in 0:01:53.
Rating: **

It took less than 2 minutes for Benoit to make Nash tap to the crossface, as
the nWo suffered yet another defeat here tonight.  Not one thing has gone right
for them here tonight, which certainly doesn't bode well for Goldberg's match,
up next.


Interview:
Benoit speaks out...
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Chris Benoit sends a message to both participants in the upcoming title match.


No-Countout-No-DQ-Match with Special Referee Randy Orton:
Goldberg pinned Rob Van Dam after a roll up in 0:01:09.
Rating: ** 1/4
(Goldberg retained the WWE Championship.)
Click here to see highlights.

Orton showed his true colours by fast-counting RVD after a roll-up.  It emerged
that Orton had never been fired from the nWo after all, and that this was all
just a set-up.  RVD then became the victim of a spear from Goldberg, and an RKO
from the Legend Killer.  After a short while, Chris Benoit ran down to make the
save, but the damage was already done.



Card rating: ***


Match observations: 

Once again, the nWo has managed to play everyone for fools.  Just when we all
that Randy Orton had seen the light, he stabs everybody in the back to reveal
that this was all a plan to screw Rob Van Dam again.  I hope Orton is happy
with himself, because following his actions tonight, it's doubtful that anyone
will ever trust him again.  It's been announced now that Orton will face RVD
in a one on one contest at Armageddon, so let's hope that Van Dam hands that
little punk's ass to him.

Other than the nWo's little ruse, it was a rather bad night for them, as Marty
Jannetty, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Brock Lesnar and the Wolfpac all picked
up losses.  However, I would imagine that Hogan is happy to let those defeats
go knowing what else the nWo were able to accomplish here tonight.  He'll have
to step up his game now though, seeing as he must face Booker T at Armageddon.

This Thursday on Smackdown should be very interesting, as two big tag matches
have been signed.  The first is Chris Benoit and RVD versus Goldberg and Randy
Orton, while the other is the Million $ Team, X-Pac and Marty Jannetty versus
Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Al Snow and Funaki.  These should prove to be rather
interesting previews of Armageddon indeed.  

Next Show: Smackdown