by Logan Scisco
-A video package
recaps Shane McMahon ranting at his father on last week’s show. Will Vince hand over the company to his son
tonight?
-Jim Ross and Jerry
“The King” Lawler are doing commentary and they are live from Houston, Texas.
-Shane McMahon
walks out and says that as acting chairman of the WWF, due to his father’s
absence, Steve Austin will get a WWF title shot the night after Survivor
Series. Austin then comes to the ring as
a limo pulls in backstage, carrying Vince McMahon. McMahon is quickly wheeled out and chastises the
crowd for thinking he was stepping down, as that will only happens when he dies. Shoot comments… He gives an entertaining rant on how he does
not want the crowd to attend his funeral and how he wants to go to
hell when he dies. He proceeds to relieve Shane of
his corporate responsibilities and reassigns him as a referee. As far as Austin is concerned, his title shot
is switched to the Survivor Series as he is entered into the WWF title
tournament. His opponent in the opening
round? The Big Bossman. McMahon is simply perfect at trolling the
crowd, which made this opening segment great.
1 for 1
-Footage is shown
of Vince McMahon chewing out the announce crew during the commercial
break. McMahon guarantees that someone
will be paying “hard time” in the steel cage hanging above the ring later
tonight.
-Opening Contest: X-Pac & The New Age Outlaws wrestle The Brood
to a no contest at 3:37:
X-Pac is announced as being part of the Deadly Game
tournament, so the number of known entrants keeps growing. Edge and Christian showcase some nice double
team maneuvers before the lights go out and Kane arrives to a huge pop. You know, they need to go back to this type
of character for Kane where he does not wrestle much but just comes and out and
destroys things. Kane destroys Edge,
X-Pac, and Christian, and Billy Gunn as Road Dogg and Gangrel brawl in the
crowd. I will give this a point more for
the clever booking than in-ring action. Rating:
* (2 for 2)
-McMahon interrogates
Michael Cole backstage about Cole’s questioning of him last week. The Big Bossman chokes Cole as McMahon asks
him how he feels.
-The next match is
supposed to be Droz against Hawk, but Hawk shows up in no condition to
compete. Ross says that Hawk is “pulling
a Kerry Collins.” It should be noted
that the Hardy Boys beat LOD 2000 on Sunday Night Heat due to an argument
between both men. That was the first step in the WWF's rebuilding of the Hardy's into something more than enhancement talent. Droz beats up Hawk as
Animal comes to the ring and does nothing to help his old partner. He eventually gets into the ring and yells at
Hawk for flushing the team’s history down the toilet. This storyline is growing on me. 3 for 3
-McMahon runs into
Jim Cornette backstage and tells him to stop wearing ridiculous clothes, change
his announcing, and stop “the 1980s wrestling crap.” Talk about life imitating art.
-Cole interviews
Mankind and Al Snow. Mankind jokes about
the NBC special on revealing wrestling’s greatest secrets and he and Snow
continues arguing over whether Socko or Head is better.
-Golga &
Kurrgan (w/The Giant Silva & Luna Vachon) beat Mankind & Al Snow
(w/Head) when Golga pins Snow after a running seated senton at 4:36:
ZZ Top is shown in the crowd before the match. This is probably the best Oddities tag match
prior to this point, as the action moves quickly. Well, that is until Mankind cannot find Socko
and leaves Snow to fend for himself. The
referee loses all control as Snow tries to fight off both men before succumbing. Rating: ** (4 for 4)
-McMahon finds
Shaquille O’Neal backstage and interrogates about him about whether he has a
backstage pass. He tells him to get
lost, but Shaq just sits back down as McMahon drives off.
-Mankind still
cannot find Socko, so he tries to find McMahon, who he thinks can help him find
it.
-Steven Regal wrestles
Goldust to a no contest at 4:50:
Despite the “Real Man’s Man” gimmick being pretty dumb,
the theme music for it was pretty enjoyable.
Regal is also in the Deadly Game tournament. In this contest, he issues an open challenge
for anyone willing to fight him like a man so we get a laugh as Goldust walks
out to answer it. With regards to the
Goldust-Val Venis feud, Terri Runnels announced on the Heat prior to this that
she was pregnant withVenis’s child.
Runnels comes out to the ring dressed in her Marlena garb in her attempt
to become a gold digger. Get it? Anyway, this match is a mess until Goldust
sets up Shattered Dreams and the lights go out and Kane wrecks both men. When Marlena comes to Goldust’s aid he nearly
chokeslams her until WWF officials intervene.
Tony Garea takes the bump for her.
Keep jobbing Tony! Rating:
½* (4 for 5)
-The Deadly Game
Tournament bracket is revealed. Instead
of it being a sixteen man tournament, the field is reduced to fourteen
men. Kane and the Undertaker get a bye
to face each other in the quarter-finals.
Other matchups include The Rock-Triple H, Goldust-Ken Shamrock,
Mankind-Mystery Opponent, Al Snow-Jeff Jarrett, X-Pac-Steven Regal, and Steve
Austin-Big Bossman.
-McMahon gets
Mankind to promise not to interfere in the upcoming Ken Shamrock-Rock match in
return for a present. Mankind is excited
so he promises to live up to that and receives the Hardcore title in
return. McMahon tells him that he thinks
he has gained a son and as he wheels himself away Mankind hilariously screams “Thanks,
dad!” causing McMahon to stop and give a
look of disgust.
-The Rock giving
Darren Drozdov a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow on last week’s RAW is the 989
Studios Slam of the Week.
-McMahon is shown
conferencing with Ken Shamrock backstage, but tells the camera crew to get lost.
-Intercontinental
Championship Match: The Rock beats Ken
Shamrock (Champion) by disqualification when Shamrock hits him with a chair at
7:57:
Before the match, McMahon comes out and says he has a
problem with him because he’s the “People’s Champion” and he hates the
people. He says that if the Rock does
not win the Intercontinental title in this match he loses his place in the
Deadly Game Tournament. This is the
abbreviated version of their previous encounters, just with the heel/face roles
reversed, and the crowd pops like the Rock won the WWF title when he makes the
ropes to escape the ankle lock. The
referee gets bumped on a Rock clothesline and when he comes to, he sees
Shamrock nail the Rock with a chair.
That allows the Rock to win, but he does not win the belt and is thereby
eliminated from the Deadly Game Tournament.
Fun match that the crowd made into a big deal. Shamrock is eating lots of losses since
winning the Intercontinental title, though.
Rating: ***½ (5 for 6)
-The Rock is shown
destroying his locker room backstage, irate that he has been removed from the
Deadly Game Tournament.
-Val Venis beats Double
J” Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra McMichael) by disqualification when the Blue Blazer
interferes at 2:29:
The entire Runnels angle has been somewhat damaging for
Venis as he was never clearly made a heel or face and lost the big blowoff to
Goldust. After a few minutes of
back-and-forth action, the Blue Blazer runs out and crotches Venis on the top
rope and Jarrett gives Venis the Stroke for good measure. That sounds much more dirty than I meant it.
-Police officers
are shown arriving at the arena.
-Call 815-734-1161
to get your Rock “Layin’ the Smackdown” t-shirt for $25 (plus $6 shipping &
handling)!
-Vince McMahon
tells police officers that the Rock is threatening his life, so he asks them to
arrest him.
-#1 Contenders
Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship:
The Headbangers wrestle D-Lo Brown & Mark Henry to a no contest at
6:00:
The Headbangers come to the ring dressed as the New Age
Outlaws and do a non-humorous mocking of their introduction. Without their skirts, the Headbangers
actually look like generic jobbers.
Since this is heel-heel, the crowd really does not know how to cheer
for, but fans in the front row are vocal D-Lo Brown supporters, with several
shouting “You go, dawg!” When all hell
breaks loose the lights go off and Kane wrecks a match for the third time
tonight. You know Russo, there can be
too much of a good thing. And where is
McMahon while all this is going on? I would like to think this was a subtle reminder that the show gets out of control when
McMahon becomes obsessed with personal grudges backstage. Rating: ** (6 for 7)
-Police are shown
handcuffing the Rock in his locker room and as he is taken away he lets them
know that he has donuts for all of them.
As he is put into the police cruiser, McMahon taunts him by saying that
he is now the “People’s Chump.”
-Owen Hart comes to
the ring to meet with Dan Severn and reminds us that he is retired. Severn walks out and says he is not seeking
an apology. Instead, he wonders why Owen
is running around like the Blue Blazer.
When he says that he thinks Owen is scum, Owen clotheslines him and
Steve Blackman makes the save before more damage is done. After the commercial break, medics race
Severn to an ambulance backstage. When
Owen comes near the ambulance, Blackman gives him a pump kick but then Blackman
is attacked by the Blue Blazer. 7 for 8
-The steel cage
above the ring – a hybrid of the blue bar cage and the modern steel top – is
lowered with some musical accompaniment, which reminds me of the old NWA War
Games brawls. After the break, McMahon
and the stooges come out and establish themselves by the announcers. McMahon sends the Bossman into the cage with
the stooges – Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and Commissioner Slaughter – to inspect
it and then has the Bossman turn on them for failing to come back from getting
a cup of coffee two weeks ago. That was
when Austin abducted him. After McMahon
orders the Bossman to strip the stooges, Austin runs out, comes into the cage
and attacks the Bossman. Patterson gets
the night stick, but chooses to hit Austin in the knee and that allows the
Bossman to give him a beating. Shane
McMahon runs in, but Vince calls the Bossman off, which is a nice piece of
storytelling, but Shane does not appreciate it and flips him off. After all of that, the Undertaker walks to
the ring and into the cage and he and Austin brawl, with the Undertaker
eventually gaining the upperhand.
However, that’s not all as the lights go out and Kane makes his way into
the cage, parts of which he sets on fire, and he, the Undertaker, and Austin
brawl in a really awesome visual as the show ends. 8 for
9
The Final Report Card: The wild ending of this RAW was vintage
Russo, but if you watch these RAWs in sequence it is still entertaining
today. Having Kane interfere in so many matches
did get a little repetitive, but at least it had a payoff at the end of the
show. The show also continued our
gradual build to Survivor Series and the multiple storylines intersecting with
each other (Vince-Shane, Vince-Austin, Vince-Mankind, Vince-Rock, and
Kane-Undertaker) are helping to keep the show fresh and exciting.
Monday Night War Rating: 4.8 (vs. 4.1 for Nitro)
Show Evaluation: Thumbs Up