Battle Royale RAW!

Another strong show this week, though it lacked the wrestling content of last week, the two long in ring segments were still fun.

- Show starts off with Trish Stratus beating Lita when Kane appeared on the Titantron and distracted Lita leading to Trish rolling her up with her feet on the ropes for the win. OK match though. Kane then sent Lita an ultimatum saying he wants an answer from her tonight, and it better be the right answer.
- Randy Orton comes out and starts talking about his favorite subject: HIMSELF. Don't know about your guys, but I'm tired of Orton rehashing the same role every week where all he does is talk about himself till someone interupts him. This week that honour would go to Shelton Benjamin. It was a good verbal exchange between the two, but I didn't agree with Orton's cheap racial remarks. The usual brawl ensues before Orton runs off.
- GM Bischoff meets Eugene and William Regal backstage and privately informs Regal that he's setup interview time for Eugene in hopes of publicly berating him enough to break his spirit and get out of the wrestling business.
- Next match is Kane destroying Val Venis in just a minute with a chokeslam. Matt Hardy then runs in and attacks Kane but get overpowered and chokeslammed before Kane wraps a chair around his neck and chokes him with. This prompts Lita to run out and give Kane a 'yes' answer. Kane releases Matt and gives Lita a hug from behind as he whispers something in her ear. He then walks off smiling. This angle is kinda like Jeopardy: We know the answer, but have to guess the question.
- Next up is the best match of the night as Chris Benoit and Edge defend the tag team titles against Randy Orton and Batista. Great lengthy back and forth match. Orton almost stole the win as he hid his IC title when Benoit went up top and hit a diving headbutt right on the belt but managed to kick out! Finish sees Benoit counter the RKO into the Crippler Crossface to retain the titles.
- Backstage Regal informs Eugene he has to go out alone to do his interview. I really like the way their handling Regal as being sympathetic to Eugene and putting him ahead of himself.
- Todd Grisham is about to start his interview with Eugene in the ring when Jonathan Coachman comes out and takes over sending Grisham to the back. Coach than starts berating Eugene and seemingly gets the job done in breaking his spirit as Eugene is in tears as he walks up the ramp. But who should then come out but THE ROCK! Mr. Hollywood is back and I actually marked out for a moment! What follows is a real fun segment as Rock berates Coach and states he came to RAW especially to meet Eugene. It was real fun when Rock asked Eugene who his favorite wrestler is and Eugene answered Triple H! Garrison Cade then runs in and attacks Rock and Eugene from behind. Coach and Cade beat down the faces before the faces make the comeback. Rock send Cade out of the ring sets up Coach so Eugene could hit the People's Elbow! This was a really great segment having Rock come out and give Eugene the rub. Reminds me of the time WCW used Goldberg to put over General Rection when he finally won the US title back from Lance Storm. Eugene just might be the 'feel good' story of the year if they play it out right.
- The main event 20-man battle royal for the world title shot at Bad Blood turned into an 18-man battle royal as Matt Hardy was out due to his beating from Kane, and Christian still suffering from last week's cage match. Maven made his return replacing the re-released Grand Master Sexay. Match itself saw Kane dominate early on as everyone ganged up on Evolution except Johnny Nitro, who Kane quickly tossed out, followed by Steven Richards and Rosey. Then in a cool spot, Kane gorilla pressed Hurricane out of the ring, but Rosey caught him in mid air and rolled him back in the ring! The match soon came down to all 4 Evolution members, Chris Jericho, Kane, Edge and Shelton Benjamin. Y2J eliminated Flair, but himself was thrown out rather dangerously by Batista as his legs hit the ring steps pretty hard on the way down. Kane went wild and chokelammed everyone else till he stood toe-to-toe with Batista, which really brought the crowd alive as the two monsters slugged it out. Batista escaped Kanes chokeslam and delivered a wicked spine buster on the Big Bald Machine. Batista's celebration was short lived as he was soon eliminated by Edge, who in turn was eliminated by Orton. I was pretty sure Edge was gonna win when Y2J was eliminated. Benjamin came close to elimination several times as he was doubled on by HHH & Orton. Benjamin managed to eliminate Orton before HHH tossed him out. HBK then runs in and tosses out HHH! KANE WINS! Show ends with an angry HHH seething in the ring.

This was a strong show, though now I bet everyone on the internet is gonna moan and groan about Kane getting a title shot after Bradshaw gets one against Eddie Guerrero. The HHH/HBK storyline has been furthered, though since HBK is suspended, I wouldn't be suprised if they make the Bad Blood main event a 3-way with HHH in anyway while probably saving the Hell In The Cell match with HBK for Summer Slam. They also started the Randy Orton/Shelton Benjamin feud as well as taking a step in the right direction with Eugene. This is the first time in a few weeks that they haven't announced anything for next week though.