After JR and King hyped the main events of Orton © vs. RVD IC title match and Booker T vs. Kane Coach joined the announce team once again to start the show. He claimed Vince liked the friction between them last week. Jazz and Molly defeated Trish Stratus and Lita via pin fall while the announcers argued over having to be together. After the match Theodore Long attacked Trish and Jericho made the save. Mark Henry then attacked Jericho.
Matt Hardy is in the ring, claiming that Stone Cold is holding him back, and not letting him kick ass. Austin comes out on his ATV. He says Matt Hardy is breaking the law. Austin wants to go, but Hardy backs down because they’ve wrestled before. So Austin calls down someone who has never wrestled Matt Hard… Goldberg. Goldberg defeated Matt Hardy via pin fall after the jackhammer. Bill said that he was back with a purpose, to win the Royal Rumble and regain his World Title at Wrestlemania.
Bishoff has words with Austin over the reactivation of Goldberg. Eric says that he clarified Austin’s new role, and found that he cannot make matches. Austin agrees and threatens Eric anyway. The excellent Mick Foley, the coward, vignette (Paid for by the friends and supporters of Randy Orton) played. Backstage, Randy Orton called Foley out. He even bought him a ticket in the front row (Between two that look suspiciously like independent wrestlers to me) before challenging him to a match tonight.
Batista defeated D-Von Dudley via pin fall clean with the sit down power bomb. Flair brawled with Bubba outside the ring during the match. Afterward they teased both teams going through a table, but each managed to escape one another’s grasp.
In the garage Randy Orton informs that Mick Foley has yet to pick up his ticket, so he has arranged for a stretch limo to pick him up at his house and come to the arena. Mark Henry, Jazz and Teddy Long talk in the backstage about how Bishoff put his Austin problem on him last week. He claims Eric has decided to make amends by giving Mark Henry a match with Chris Jericho tonight. Scott Steiner chases down Goldberg backstage and claims he is going to win the Rumble. They make a match for next week on Raw. Standing on the announce booth Coach announces his interview with Triple H and Shawn Michaels is next.
In the ring, which has been carpeted in red and set up for an interview, Coach announces his guests. Hunter and HBK come down for an excellent interview. They talked about their past, Hunter said that Shawn always held him down. His success while Shawn was injured ate at the Heartbreak Kid and that jealousy was why. They bring up who won the street fight and who actually walked away. Hunter claimed that in the history of the sport there are only one or two who were as good as Shawn Michaels – but as good as Shawn was he was just that much better. The Last man Standing match may come down to one second, but it will be enough to determine who the better man was. “In reality, it’s here one second” insert split-second super kick to Coachman from a standing position here, “the next it is gone. See ya, at the Royal Rumble.”
Booker T now enters to his WWE Origins theme. They should probably keep those songs off TV if they want that album to sell. Booker T defeated Kane via disqualification after Kane through him into the ring steps twice in a row. I do not mind that decision, but if they want that to be the new rule they’d better let wrestlers do it anymore. After the match Kane destroyed Booker T, finally tombstoning him in the center of the ring. Medics attended to Booker.
A new vignette detailing the “Hardcore Legend” (paid for by the friends and supporters of Randy Orton) is shown. After the best match one could expect Mark Henry defeated Chris Jericho via pin fall after Trish ran in to beat Jazz, distracting the referee from Henry who was actively tapping out to the Walls of Jericho. This allowed Henry to blindside a celebrating Jericho.
Backstage Stacey, blessed Stacey, told Trish that Jericho obviously cared about her and she had to tell him how she really felt. Christian tells Jericho that he has to give up on Trish, because she is trying to screw him over now. He decides to take him out on the town, and Chris decides that he is right. Just after they leave, Trish walks into his locker room looking for him. In the garage the Four Horsemen: Evolution wait to escort Mick Foley to the ring. Austin drives up and his ATV and chases them back to ringside by doing threatening doughnuts on the wet floor.
RVD and Orton began an excellent match which was filled with Hardcore Spots, one which was in many ways better than their PPV pairing. By the commercial break Orton was in the chair reserved for Foley, bleeding like a stuck pig, as the cameras revealed the limousine returning to the arena.
The match continued, filled with spots that were far more worthy of a DQ than what Kane was called on. After tons of excellent psychological wrestling, all on Orton’s part, Randy Orton © defeated RVD to retain the IC Title via pin fall with a DDT off the ropes.
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