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AUGUST 23, 2004 - MONDAY NIGHT RAW
WWE.com announced earlier today that tonight would be the kickoff of a tournament to crown a new number-one contender for Sean O'Haire's World Title. After the champ drove Kurt Angle from World Wrestling Entertainment last night at Summerslam, no one has stepped up as an obvious contender, thus a night of first-round action tonight! Weeeeeeeeeeeell, it's a duuuuuuuud shooooooow!
The night kicks off with Tom Howard taking on La Resistance's Rene Dupree. Mediocre match that ends with Dupree slapping the Figure Four Leglock on Howard to advance to next week's second round.
Luther Reigns is out next, hoping to pick up his first WWE victory. Unfortunately, his opponent is the rookie monster Damien. Damien hits the ring, lands a piledriver and a chokeslam, and the match is over. Damien continues to pummel Reigns after the bell. Apparently his big win last night over Shelton Benjamin has him fired up!
Earlier tonight, Rene Dupree defeated Tom Howard. Up next, their respective tag-team partners do battle in another tournament match. This match again ends in submission. Although, this time it's Fred Williams slapping a Canadian backbreaker on Sylvan Grenier to pick up the win.
Terri Runnels' Playboy Lance Cade is out next for a contest with William Regal. These two put on a good match, but the crowd isn't into it, and the stupid dud show drags it down. Regal puts Cade away with the Power of the Punch.
Another good technical match follows as Lance Storm takes on Rob Conway. Good back-and-forth contest that ends with Storm laying Conway out with an elbow and getting him to tap out to the Straightshooter.
Last night, Rob Van Dam dropped his United States Title to Chris Benoit in a fatal fourway match, and hopes to bounce back in a big way tonight against one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, Kane. Kane was supposed to be involved in a title match tonight, but the tournament has postponed that match indefinitely. RVD looks to be about to put Kane away, but Benoit puts his stamp on the match by capitalizing on a distracted referee and clamping the Crippler Crossface on Van Dam. Kane gets the cheap win, but Benoit isn't done, laying Van Dam out with the US belt and giving him a drop toehold onto it, bloodying the former champ. Why did he just do that?
Terri Runnels' third client, Val Venis, takes on co-tag champ Big Show next, and both champs manage to advance, as Show hits the Showstopper for the win. After the match, he pummels Val some more. Is Big Show's climb up the ranks starting again?
Charlie Haas was supposed to be teaming with A-Train tonight to take on the tag champs, but as mentioned before, that match has been postponed due to the tourney. Haas takes out his frustration tonight on Johnny Stamboli, pinning him following Haastruction.
Damien made Shelton Benjamin bleed last night in their First Blood match, and now Shelton looks to bounce back against Mark Jindrak. Jindrak nearly gets the win with a big backbreaker, but Shelton kicks out, ducks a clothesline, and superkicks him to pick up the win.
Back-to-back losses for the Natural Born Ministry, and Chuck Palumbo is looking to turn things around against Tommy Dreamer. Unfortunately, Tommy has other ideas, as he advances via the Dreamer Driver.
Our final match of the evening for the last spot in next week's round of sixteen pits A-Train against Shawn Stasiak. Train hopes to join the other participants in the Tag Match That Wasn't in the second round, while Stasiak hopes to avoid four straight losses for the original Natural Born Thrillers. Train hits a big slam on Stasiak, and NBM leader (and World Champion) Sean O'Haire has seen enough. He hits the ring to take out Train, but accidentally clotheslines Stasiak! Amid the confusion, the ref missed it all and Train pins Stasiak with the Train Wreck! A shocked O'Haire and a defeated Stasiak both get run off as A-Train (?!?) stands tall to end RAW.
Next week's round two features the following eight matches:
Rhyno vs. William Regal
Big Show vs. Undertaker
Tommy Dreamer vs. Chris Benoit
Shelton Benjamin vs. Rene Dupree
Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho
A-Train vs. Damien
Fred Williams vs. Kane
Charlie Haas vs. Randy Orton
One of those sixteen men will be facing O'Haire at Unforgiven for the World Title!
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