Lashley Steps Up: WWE RAW Results, 7-9-07

King Booker v. Bobby Lashley
The two locked it up and eventually ended up in the ropes. Of course our King fought back with punches and forearms after a dirty eye rake. The two exchanged some blows before Lashley caught Booker in a nasty power slam and assumed control of the match. Lashley hit some shoulder thrusts before bringing booker out to the middle of the ring and hitting a sit down gut buster for a near fall.

Lashley connected with a suplex before going for another cover. Booker whipped Lashley to the ropes but found it quickly reversed and ended up eating a back elbow and yet again, Lashley almost scored a victory over the former World Champ. Booker came back looking for a back heel kick but Lashley quickly caught it and nailed the dominator. Lashley went for the cover but Booker kicked out miraculously.
Winner: Bobby Lashley via DQ

Lashley hit a standing vertical suplex before Kennedy showed up out of nowhere to cause the DQ. Booker and Lashley went to work on Lashley on the ropes much to the chagrin of the fans in attendance.

The beat down ceased when Coach’s music hit and he came out to the ramp. He said Lashley deserved a fighting chance. Coach said the main event would be Kennedy and Booker T against Lashley and a partner of his choosing. If Lashley couldn’t find a partner, he’d be in a handicapped match. After paying attention for a little while Booker went for some more cheap shots but ended up getting clotheslined to the floor by the Lash to end the segment.

William Regal was in the back before Coach came back to congratulate him on the job he did last week. Regal said his performance was a breath of fresh air. Regal and Coach started to get a little snippy with each other before Coach made a match with Regal and the Sandman. Regal called Sandman a maniac. Coach said for entertainment’s sake it’d be very very effective.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Umaga v. Santino Marella
Marella looked like someone hit him with a truck. Marella hit a few punches before Umaga just picked him up and slammed him down like a coconut. Umaga hit some stomps and hit a nasty chop in the corner before following the fighting Italian around the ring and leaving him in a heap in the corner. Maria showed up pretty quickly to cheer on her hubby.

Umaga batted Marella around the ring some more before almost chopping his head into the upper deck. Umaga dropped a knee across Marella’s sternum before picking up his challenger and smashing him into the corner.

Marella staid plucky with some punches but Umaga was overwhelming. He hammered Marella back to the mat and choked him out on the bottom rope before hitting some hard shots to the chest in the corner. Umaga ‘talked’ with the official before whipping Marella hard to the buckle and making love to the crowd.

Marella looked like a gerbil that had been stepped on accidentally in the middle of the ring as Umaga went for the flying Harley Race like head butt off the middle rope. Umaga missed and Marella had a chance. He hit some drop kicks and got a one count. Marella looked like he might be gaining some momentum before he ate a crescent kick in the face. Umaga lined Marella up in the corner and beat him for fun before backing up and hitting the running back side to the face. Umaga hit the spike and that’s it. Let’s eat belts.
Winner and STILL Intercontinental Champion: Umaga via pin fall

Cade & Murdoch v. The Highlanders
Cade grabbed a headlock on Rory before being tossed off. Cade kept momentum in his favor, flat backing his foe with a shoulder block before going back to the hold. Cade hit a nice fireman’s carry take over before gloating a little bit for the crowd.

The two locked it up again before Rory hit a shot to the gut. The advantage was short lived though as he was bullied to the opposition corner and Murdoch tagged in. Murdoch grabbed a nice side headlock and worked over Rory on the mat. The hold evolved into a rear chin lock before the Highlander fought out and hit a nice jaw breaker. Robbie tagged in and hit some forearms and some drop kicks before trying to get the crowd behind him. Rory hit a flap jack before all hell broke loose. Eventually it ended up with Rory getting decapitated by the lariat-chop block combo behind the ref’s back. Three seconds later, this one’s in the books.
Winners: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch via pin fall

Santino was in the back with Maria and she said she felt sorry about his match. Maria said the two could go out and have some fun. Santino said it was embarrassing to lose his title and he was scared of being looked at as just ‘the fan.’ Santino asked her if she could come to his hotel room and help him. Maria said they could watch a movie.

Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas were acting weird in the back and Haas was busting his chops about kissing Booker’s ring. Haas asked him if he wanted to kiss his hand as a birthday present. Shelton said if he lost tonight, he’d kiss Haas on the lips. Shelton left and Haas looked a little confused.

A video aired putting over the John Cena-Lashley match at the Great American Bash.

Snitsky v. Super Crazy
The two locked up before Crazy got flung across the ring by the huge Snitsky. Snitsky rammed Crazy into the corner and hit some forearms to the back of the head before putting the boots to the insane luchadore. Snitsky continued the beat down with some shots to the kidneys before setting up and hitting yet another Irish whip. Snitsky mauled Crazy with a pump handle slam and that’s all she wrote.
Winner: Snitsky via pin fall

A recap aired of the Randy Orton-Rhodes family encounter last week. Dusty Rhodes is on his way out to the ring to confront Randy Orton next!

Dusty Rhodes came out to his music and climbed up on the mic. He immediately called out Orton who came down to the ring. The two exchanged some words before Rhodes called him a disrespectful, snot nosed punk. Rhodes asked him if he was just going to stand there and look stupid.

Orton said he heard the legends speech a hundred times. Rhodes went nuts on Orton and told him it was much bigger than basic disrespect, it was disrespect to the people who built the business. Orton said people like Rhodes that lived off the past didn’t deserve respect. He said he gets respect for things he’s accomplished.

Rhodes asked him what made him such a bad boy. Orton said he was the youngest world champion in history. He also put over ending the careers of HBK and RVD. Rhodes said having a great match wasn’t what it was all about. When you kick someone in the head, it degraded everything the business was about.

Orton told Rhodes to put his money where his mouth was and challenged him to a match. Rhodes said he wouldn’t have even had to hear that out of Orton’s mouth to accept the challenge. Rhodes said he was in no shape to meet him at the Bash. Orton said if he wouldn’t do it for himself, he should do it for his son. Orton said he’d end Cody’s career before it even started if he had to.

Rhodes told him what he’d do. He said he would meet him at the Bash but on his terms. Rhodes said he would do the match, but it’d be a Texas Bull rope match. Orton accepted the challenge. Orton told Rhodes to tell his son to bring a broom to clean up whatever was left of him.

Cody Runnels came running down to the ring and stared down Orton. Orton told him to leave before he got hurt. Orton stared down Cody and slapped him stupid. Orton looked at Cody before slowly leaving the ring. Orton stared up at the Rhodes family in the ring as he backed up the ramp.

Paul London v. Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin took the action to the mat, trying to use his size to his advantage before London eventually flung him into the ropes only to eat a really nasty shoulder block. London came blazing back with some ultra-fast wheel kicks that sent Shelton to the apron. London pressed his advantage grabbing a chancellery but ended up bullied into the corner.

Shelton charged London but got caught n a side headlock before lifting up the smaller Paul and hammering him down across his knee with a vicious backbreaker. Shelton grabbed an arm bar on the mat. London wiggled out and hit some kicks to Shelton’s face before hitting a double leg drop kick and an inside cradle for a two count.

London rebounded only to get plastered with a big boot to the face. Shelton connected with a high scoop body slam before the former All American stuck some boots to London. Shelton went for a hurricanranna but London somehow reversed it and rolled up Benjamin out of nowhere and got the victory. That was a really fun match.
Winner: Paul London via pin fall

Shelton was in the back with Charlie and said he wanted to make sure the whole kiss on the lips thing was a joke. Haas said that was fine but Haas was pretty insistent about a kiss on the hand. Charlie hugged him and Shelton grabbed his face all lovingly. Homo-erotic moment of the night. Ron Simmons walked in and gave us a ‘damn.’ Fun skit.

Mickie James & Candice Michelle v. Melina & Jillian Hall
Melina came out to the ramp with a limp. Melina said she would be invoking her rematch clause at the Great American Bash. She wouldn’t compete tonight because of a sprained ankle and instead, Beth Phoenix will take her place.

Mickie came right at Beth before getting tossed to the corner. Beth picked Mickie up to power bomb her before Mickie got nailed by Jillian Hall on the outside. Beth tossed Mickie around like a freaking rag doll before Mickie caught her with a lariat.

Candice Michelle tagged in and hit a pair of clotheslines and some drop kicks to clean house. Jillian went for a scoop slam but got hit with a side Russian leg sweep. Beth Phoenix popped up out of nowhere to break up the cover before Mickie intercepted her. Jillian hit a side slam for a two count. Candice managed to catch a back slide for the one, two, three.
Winners: Candice Michelle & Mickie James via pin fall

Sharmell and Booker were in the back. Kennedy interrupted him and said he took care of Super Crazy but they needed to take care of Lashley. Booker interrupted him and said Lashley was lucky to do what he did earlier tonight and he’d do just fine tonight.

William Regal v. The Sandman
Regal jumped Sandman before the bell and proceeded to do a number on Sandman in the corner. Regal hit some brutal knees before hitting a nice left to the face of Sandman and getting a near fall. Sandman fought back before Regal made him his woman again with some stiff elbows. Regal went for yet another cover before Sandman again fought back with some knees and some left hands.

The two exchanged blows in the middle of the ring before Regal shoved him to the outside. Carlito went after Sandman but got canned out of nowhere. Sandman noticed Regal whimpering in the corner and gave him a shot for the heck of it, but earning a disqualification in the process.
Winner: William Regal via DQ

King and JR welcomed John Cena onto the show and they asked him a ton of softball questions before getting into the Great American Bash main event. Cena called Lashley’s spear ‘competitive intensity’ but he would tend to Lashley next week. Cena said Lashley’s an uncrowned champion. He said there were two dogs but only one championship. JR asked him how he would beat a guy like Lashley. Cena said he’s stood toe to toe with everyone he ever faced. He said he would persevere like he always does.

King Booker & Mr. Kennedy v. Bobby Lashley & Mystery Partner
King called him a sucka and whatnot before cuffing him in the chops. Booker continued in with some forearms before hardy reversed an irish whip only to eat an elbow in the corner. Jeff Hardy made a little bit of a comeback with a double leg drop to the groin area for a near fall.

Booker regained the advantage and tagged in Kennedy who put a beat down on Hardy briefly before getting a mule kick to the chest. Hardy hit his catapult drop kick in the corner before going for a cover and getting a two count. Hardy quickly tagged in Lashley.

Kennedy wanted no part of Lashley and looked for a tag to Booker who ran from the apron. Lashley nabbed Kennedy and hit a standing vertical suplex for a two count. Kennedy came back with some forearms before Lashley tossed Kennedy into Booker who accidentally was tagged…. I think.

Anyways Lashley made the tag to Jeff and got down on all fours to do the leap frog. Fun stuff. Kennedy eventually reversed an irish whip and Booker nailed Jeff with a knee. Kennedy seized the opportunity and hit a lariat for a two count before tagging in the real king of kings.

Booker hit a kick to Hardy’s grill and whipped him into the buckles only to get hit with whisper to the wind. Lashley desperately looked for the tag and eventually got it. Lashley came in a house of fire, connecting with a pair of clotheslines and a fall away back breaker. All hell broke loose and Hardy took Booker over the top rope and to the floor. Lashley leap frogged a charging Kennedy and nailed him with a spear for the win. VERY good match.
Winners: Jeff Hardy & Bobby Lashley via pin fall