Storylines
On the December 13 episode of Raw, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff scheduled an Elimination Chamber match between Triple H, Edge, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Batista and Randy Orton for New Year's Revolution for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship.[3][4] On the December 27 episode of Raw, all of the match's participants competed in singles matches, with the length of their match determining the entrance order at the Elimination Chamber match. If any of the participants lost their matches, the person who beat them would replace them in the Elimination Chamber match. All six participants won their matches, but Batista won his match in three minutes and two seconds, which turned out to be the shortest match length out of all participants. As a result, Batista earned the right to enter the Elimination Chamber match last. That same night, Bischoff made Shawn Michaels the special guest referee for the match.[5][6] On the January 3 episode of Raw, the six participants wrestled each other in three separate matches. In the first match, Batista pinned Benoit after a Batista Bomb. Next, Edge pinned Jericho to score the victory. In the final match, Orton pinned Triple H after delivering an RKO. During the last match, the other four Elimination Chamber participants interfered when the referee was knocked out.[7][8]
On the September 13 episode of Raw, during a No Disqualification match between Kane and Gene Snitsky, Snitsky accidentally pushed Kane on top of his on-screen wife Lita, who had interfered in the match. The match came to an immediate end as trainers and Emergency medical technicians took Lita on a stretcher to an ambulance, as she needed medical attention.[9][10] In the storyline Lita was pregnant and as a result of the accident she suffered a miscarriage.[11][12] Despite Snitsky's protestations, that the miscarriage was not his fault, Kane attacked Snitsky, leading to a bloody brawl on the October 4 episode of Raw, which led to a Weapon of Choice match between the two for Taboo Tuesday. The match was voted to be a steel chain match, where the only weapon that could be used was a steel chain. Snitsky defeated Kane after locking a steel chair around Kane's neck, and jumping onto it from the top rope, causing Kane to bleed from the mouth.[13]
Lita also feuded with Trish Stratus over the WWE Women's Championship. On the October 25 episode of Raw, Stratus approached Lita backstage and told her that she had gained weight from her pregnancy, which led to Lita attacking Stratus. That same night, a match was made between the two for the Women's Championship at Survivor Series,[15] in which Stratus defeated Lita by disqualification after Lita hit Stratus with a steel chair.[19][20] On the November 22 episode of Raw, Stratus defeated Lita and Molly Holly in a Triple Threat match to retain the title. After the match, Lita attacked Stratus and caused Stratus's nose to bleed.[21] On the December 6 episode of Raw, Lita defeated Stratus in the main event to capture the Women's Championship after performing a moonsault.[22] On the January 3 episode of Raw, a rematch for the title was set for New Year's Revolution.[7][8]
