[loopydate]

JANUARY 3, 2005 - MONDAY NIGHT RAW

It's the first show of 2005, and the last RAW before the Royal Rumble! 22 men have already been announced for the Rumble match, and tonight three more Superstars will join: Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Christian, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Matt Hardy Version 2.0, Rey Mysterio, Damien, Paul London, Rico Constantino, Rob Van Dam, Shelton Benjamin, The Hurricane, Billy Gunn, Dave Batista, the Dudley Boyz, Haas, Rene Dupree, Sean O'Haire, and Test!

Last week, Dupree qualified by defeating Tommy Dreamer's tag-team partner Lance Storm, a loss which would wind up being the last match of Storm's WWE career! Tonight, Tommy looks to avenge that loss as he takes on Sylvain Grenier in another Rumble qualifier! Sort of an underwhelming way to start the new year, but Tommy does pick up the win to advance.

The 24th slot in the Rumble is up-for-grabs in our next match as Payne takes on William Regal. Regal looks really sloppy throughout, but he winds up picking up the win with the Power of the Punch. Is Regal starting to slip?

The last RAW slot is on the line next when A-Train faces Natural Born Ministry member Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli! These two brawlers put on the match of the year (...considering there have only been four so far), and it ends with Train hitting the Derailer for the win and a Rumble berth.

Matt Hardy Version 2.0 is backstage preparing for tonight's big triple-threat match against John Cena and Christian for the Intercontinental Title. But first, he hypes his falls-count-anywhere Cruiserweight Title match against Paul London at the Royal Rumble. These two have put on some great matches during their feud, and it's going to come to an end at the Rumble. Can Hardy finally end London's underdog reign?

Okay, fuck the Train/Stamboli match, Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho put on an absolute clinic after the break! Jericho gets the first great near-fall of the match with a brutal top-rope DDT. RVD gets another one a couple minutes later with a sweet Diamond Dust. RVD looks about to put Jericho away when his longtime rival Randy Orton makes it to the ring and hangs him out across the top rope, allowing Jericho to clamp on the Walls of Jericho. RVD has no choice but to tap out! After the match, Orton pummels RVD with big right hands, then walks off, leaving RVD laying. This one might actually hold up the rest of the year as a serious MotY candidate!

Unfortunately for Shelton Benjamin and Chris Benoit, they put on a fantastic match, but that was way too much to try to follow. Shelton looks like he might be about to put Benoit away, but Undertaker once again involves himself in Benjamin's business, blasting him with a Last Ride, allowing Benoit to pick up the cheap pin. After the match, Undertaker hits two more Last Rides, and the medics finally get him pulled away long enough to check on Shelton.

Undertaker stays in the ring because his non-title match with the World Champion Rhyno is next! Undertaker takes the champ down early, but misses his legdrop. Rhyno spike slams him, hits a Death Valley driver, then puts him away quickly with a Gore! After the match, an injured Shelton Benjamin hobbles to the ring to confront Undertaker. He tries to throw a kick, but Taker catches it. Shelton turns it around into a Dragon Whip kick, then rolls to ringside, having temporarily gotten the better of his rival.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoooooa!" WWE Chairman Eric Bischoff appears on the TitanTron. "Look, if you two want each other so bad, let's do it one last time on pay-per-view. This Sunday night, the run-ins end. You two want to keep dragging each other down? Here, I'm giving you your chance. Run with it."

Okay, remember how the RVD/Y2J match was match of the year? Not anymore! This Sunday night, Randy Orton has a chance at becoming World Champion for the first time in his career as he challenges Rhyno, but tonight he must face a man who - up until recently - was the WWE Champion, The Rock! Rock gets a good nearfall with a lariat, but Orton manages to battle back. Rock fights back with a big backdrop, and amid a bit of confusion, Rob Van Dam gets some revenge by hitting the Five-Star Frogsplash, allowing Rock to pick up the win. After the match, RVD takes a page out of Undertaker's book when he hits two more Five-Stars to lay Orton out.

Intercontinental Champion John Cena has no opponent this Sunday night (other than the other 29 Rumble participants), but he's got two tonight as he takes on Christian and Matt Hardy Version 2.0 in a triple-threat for his Intercontinental Title! Two old rivals of his spend most of the match double-teaming Cena, but the champ overcomes the odds (!!!!!) by hitting Hardy with the F-U for the win.

And a night of great matches draws to a close as United States Champion Rey Mysterio teams with co-World Tag Team Champion Eddie Guerrero to take on WWE Champion Tajiri and Brock Lesnar! While not on par with the amazing Rock/Orton match from earlier, but it's right up there with the RVD/Y2J contest, and a fantastic cap to the night. Unfortunately, the ending is marred by the interference of Canadian Violence, who take out Eddie with a double-DDT to set up Tajiri's Kick of Death for the win. After the match, The Rock hits the ring to help drive off the heels and check on Rey and Eddie as RAW comes to an end!