A
CAREER CHANGING NIGHT
In some
ways, WrestleMania XX was the greatest event in the
history of sports entertainment. In other ways, it was simply the calm before
the storm. Eight days after WrestleMania, on one of
the most wild nights in the storied history of RAW, it
all began, again ... over and over again. And by the end of the night, the
foundations of both RAW and SmackDown! were rocked with several shocking changes as a result of the
draft lottery ordered by Mr. McMahon. Now there are new World Tag Team
Champions, Triple H is on SmackDown!,
Edge is on RAW, and there is no current SmackDown!
General Manager!
The night
was headlined by a shocking turn of events involving Triple H and now former SmackDown! General Manager Paul Heyman
took full advantage of the situation by convincing Mr. McMahon to set up a
match for the WWE Championship between Triple H and Eddie Guerrero, a SmackDown! main event during RAW!
The match featured a dramatic conclusion when Evolution came to aid Triple H
for perhaps the final time. Suddenly, all hell broke loose when both locker
rooms emptied as a Civil War of sorts began! When RAW went off the air, order
had not been restored as the battle had only just begun.
The
conclusion to RAW was indicative of an evening of shocking surprises as nobody
on either roster was exempt from the draft lottery. So when Heyman
himself was drafted by RAW, the now former SmackDown!
GM decided he was better off quitting entirely than working for Eric Bischoff
and, as a result, the trade deadline has been extended until 9 PM ET Tuesday
evening by Mr. McMahon, when a new SmackDown! General
Manager will be named and all trades will be announced.
In the
ring, the night was headlined by three Championship Matches. While both the
World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship remained in place, there
are new World Tag Team Champions. The Evolution duo of Batista & Ric Flair regained the Championship as they defeated Rob
Van Dam & Booker T. The match would prove to be RVD's
final one on RAW as he was later drafted to SmackDown!
It was
simply a wild night that not only changed many careers but changed the faces of
both RAW and SmackDown! What will the first night out
for the "new" RAW bring? How will the RAW Superstars react to the
changes? Who will be the first to target the new additions to RAW? Only one way
to find out -- watch RAW next week at 9/8 CT on Spike TV!
PICKED
TO GO FROM RAW TO SMACKDOWN!:
Rene
Dupree
Mark Jindrak
Triple H
Rob Van Dam
Theodore Long
Spike
PICKED
TO GO FROM SMACKDOWN! TO RAW:
Shelton
Benjamin
Nidia
Rhyno
Edge
Tajiri
Paul Heyman
Match Results:
Chris Jericho defeated Rene Dupree
Kane defeated Rico
Christian defeated Spike Dudley
Batista & Ric Flair defeated Rob Van Dan &
Booker T to win the World Tag Team Championship
Chris Benoit defeated Rhyno
Eddie Guerrero defeated Triple H via disqualification