Submitted by Rajah on January 20, 2004 at 2:48 AM

WWE Raw House Show
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
January 18, 2004
By: Brian Jacques, rajah.com reader

The arena probably had around 4,000 people there.
Don’t know if it was the cold, the NFL games on TV, or
just the product, but it was by no means a great
turnout. I was able to watch some of the wrestlers
pull into the arena parking lot. Bubba Ray and Spike
came together. We saw Booker T, RVD, Jericho, and
Flair pull in and then run into the arena. The only
one that came over to where we were standing was Molly
Holly. She was pretty nice and cool to brave the cold
to talk to the few of us that were stupid enough to
wait out there. She gave some autographs. At least
some of the wrestlers pretend like the fans exist.

The show itself was great. It was my first time
seeing a live WWE event. The guy next to me said he
enjoys house shows more because the wrestlers have
more time to work a match (not those four minute TV
specials) and you don’t have to wait for all the
commercial breaks and backstage segments. As long as
you don’t mind not having the pyros and Titantron, I
agree.

Coach came out first and was the ring announcer for
the entire evening. He got great heat from the crowd
and kept it up throughout the night. Made the usual
comments about Green Bay losing to Philly and wanted
to personally thank Donovan McNabb because now nobody
had anything else to do but show up for the show. He
said some other stuff I can’t recall and then gets
interrupted by a backstage worker that tells him he
just got off the phone with the WWE Board of Directors
and they are changing the supposed main even from Ric
Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista vs. the Dudleys and
Shawn Michaels to Flair and Batista against the
Dudleys for the Tag Titles and Orton against HBK for
the Intercontinental. Pretty excited to get two great
matches, even though any smart in attendance knew the
titles weren’t changing hands. Coach got all mad
about the changes until the Dudleys came out and
reminded him that if he didn’t like it, there was a
new sheriff in town now by the name of Stone Cold
Steve Austin (all the marks in attendance go crazy
thinking Stone Cold is going to show).

Match #1

Scott Steiner and Test vs. Hurricane and Spike Dudley

Decent match, though very slow to develop (thank you,
Steiner). Spike gets tossed around like usual.
Victoria and Steven Richards came out and battled Test
into the back, which allowed Spike to hit the Dudley
Dog and then Hurricane to connect with the Shining
Wizard on Steiner to get the win.

Match #2

Cade and Jindrak vs. Storm and Venis

Storm pretty much carried this match (no surprise
match). Again, a longer tag match than anything I can
remember recently on TV. Lots of Venis doing his
pelvis dance. Can’t remember how, but Cade and
Jindrak picked up the win. Afterwards, Venis and
Storm hang around and do their best Hogan impression
to see what side of the arena cheers the loudest.
They finally toss Venis’s towel to some lady in the
front row (what a prize!).

Match #3

Christian vs. RVD vs. Matt Hardy

Christian and Matt came our first and second with Matt
getting a surprisingly big cheer. RVD comes out next
and gets an even bigger pop. It looks like Christian
and Matt are planning on double-teaming RVD. They all
do their taunts in the ring to get crowd reaction and
of course RVD gets the biggest cheers. Pretty good
match with Christian and Matt taking it to RVD
throughout until they start to argue with one another
at the end and RVD gets the win with a Five Star Frog
Splash on Christian (I think). Afterwards, Christian
and Matt both hit their finishers on RVD. Suddenly,
Kane’s music plays and he comes out (with the only
special effect of the night as a red spotlight shines
on him). He climbs in the ring as Christian and Matt
bail and picks up RVD for a chokeslam. He gets
interrupted by Booker T, who runs in and leads to . .
.

Match #4

Booker T vs. Kane (No DQ)

Another decent match with Booker T doing all his usual
spots. Couple of times outside the ring fighting and
Kane nails Booker T with the ring bell. At one point,
Kane throws in a chair and goes to use it on Booker,
but RVD comes in and connects with the Van Daminator.
Booker picks up the win shortly thereafter and the
crowd can dig that, sucka!

Match #4

The Dudleyz vs. Ric Flair and Batista (Tag Team
Championship Match)

Cool to actually see Flair live and in person.
Another long and pretty well told match with Flair
working like mad on Bubba’s leg and Bubba doing a
pretty good job of selling. At one point, Flair grabs
a mic and taunts the crowd, which gets him mad heat.
Batista picks up the win for his team after a good ten
minute match.

Match #5

Chris Jericho and Trish Stratus vs. Jazz and Mark
Henry

Guess they are going ahead with Trish and Jericho
getting back together or just thought the fans
wouldn’t remember histories outside the show. Teddy
Long challenged any white boy or girl in the audience
to come on in and fight Jazz and Henry. Jericho
carried this match and if you could look past Henry’s
three moves he constantly used, it wasn’t that bad.
Best spot of the night came when Jericho and Trish had
both Jazz and Henry in the Walls of Jericho at the
same time. At the end of the match, Henry was just
standing on the outside like he was waiting for a bus.
I think Trish got the win. Either her or Jericho.
At the end, Jericho gets back in the ring and helps up
Trish. He extends his hand for a shake, which Trish
finally accepts, but holds on as Jericho walks away
and pulls him back into a hug. They continue to
celebrate in the ring for a while. Don’t know if this
reflects on their booking going forward, but Jericho
played the babyface the whole time.

Match #6

Molly Holly vs. Lita (Women’s Title match)

Lita got probably the second biggest pop of the night
(why, God, why?), followed by, according to Coach, the
greatest Women’s Champion ever (probably have to agree
on that one) Molly Holly. Decent match with Lita
showing some improvement in the ring. Either that or
I couldn’t catch all her mistakes up in the cheap
seats. Molly wins by holding onto the ropes as she
rolls up Lita. Once again, the faces stay in the ring
and celebrate, this time with Lita celebrating her
loss.

Main Event

Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton (Intercontinental
Championship)

Orton came out first, followed by HBK, which got the
crowd as loud as they would be all night. Long and
pretty damn good main event which saw HBK connecting
with Sweet Chin Music on Orton, only to have Flair and
Batista storm the ring and get Shawn the win via DQ.
They continue to beat on Shawn until the Dudleys come
down and make the save, eventually 3Ding Batista.
Coach comes into the ring to check on Flair as Shawn
makes his way back, but Shawn returns to deliver some
more Sweet Chin Music to the Coach. HBK takes the
Coach’s hat and sunglasses and makes his exit as Coach
is eventually helped from the ring by medics. The
Dudleys stick around to ask the crowd if they like the
new Original CD (for some reason, the crowd yells yes)
and to tell them they will be signing copies at a
local Wal-Mart. I had to restrain myself from running
out the door to buy a copy (they subjected the crowd
to the CD before the show and during intermission –
still can’t believe they actually put a song on their
called “Put a Little Ass on It”).

Overall, pretty good show which I loved seeing as how
it was my first live event ever. Recommend checking
out a house show if they ever come by you.

Biggest Pops

(1) HBK
(2) Lita
(3) Matt Hardy

Best Match

The Dudleys vs. Flair and Batista