Raw is Raw - September 5th, 1998

The Undertaker and Kane ruin everything

Vince McMahon opens the show and is suspiciously all smiles despite Austin retaining the WWF title at Summerslam. He’s the “biggest star in the WWF” according to King. JR mentions WWF.com a lot. Pushing that new website hard. Vince is all smiles because he has a master plan (he’ll say that a lot in the coming weeks) and Stone Cold is going to suffer a “physical and emotional breakdown” on Sept 17th. Which is the date of the next PPV. Named Breakdown. The WWE Network has censored Vince calling Kane “a retard” and he calls Undertaker an idiot for not using Kane at Summerslam to win the title. He says The Undertaker cares more about earning Austin’s respect and calls both he and Kane a pair of “putrid pussies” which the fans react strongly to, and to which Taker and Kane march to the ring with no music and Vince runs, climbing the security barrier and being chased through the crowd by the Brothers of Destruction. JR and King sell this huge - what is Vince thinking, provoking the Undertaker and Kane like this?

The Undertaker and Kane would show up and attack everyone at the end of almost every match or segment for the rest of the night so the details are featured in the “Other Happenings” section. It was a bit much to be honest and as a result it didn’t really feel like anything else happened on this Raw.

Late in the show, Kane and The Undertaker use a sledgehammer to force their way into a room labelled “Mr. McMahon” which makes them look stupid for not just trying that first. They get the door open but it doesn’t appear that Vince is inside. 

Jeff Jarrett vs. Scorpio is the main event and as the match starts, there is less than 7 minutes left of this episode of Raw on the WWE Network which makes me think something big has been removed from the end of the episode? This is short but still somehow slow. X-Pac comes out to brawl with Jeff Jarrett and they disappear through the crowd and the show ends with Undertaker and Kane coming out one final time to chokeslam and spike tombstone Scorpio. Vince comes out to watch and looks very proud of himself for getting Taker and Kane so worked up, but runs when the Brothers pursue him. And that’s where the show ends. JR plugs Stone Cold Steve Austin appearing on Sunday Night Heat tomorrow so I guess the two were filmed back to back or something and they booked the whole weekend as one big show. 

The Nation starts to crumble

Backstage interview with The Nation’s The Rock and Mark Henry who will challenge The New Age Outlaws for the tag team titles tonight. The Rock is full The Rock now, wearing his sunglasses and rattling through a chain of effortless insults directed at DX and his catchphrases. Following a quick ad break, The Rock’s music is playing in the arena and he gets, what I thought, was a bit of a cheer. He’s too damn entertaining to stay a bad guy for much longer. Once they’re in the ring, Michael Cole has an interview with The New Age Outlaws. They are very happy to be Tag Team Champions again. I might have spoken too soon about The Rock as the fans in the arena chant “Rocky Sucks' ' Big give away how much of this Raw was pre-taped as Roaddogg has entirely different hairstyles in the seconds between his backstage interview and being in the arena. Billy Gunn has his fingers on his left hand heavily taped. Must have broken his hand at Summerslam. Classic Outlaws match where Roaddogg gets worked over for ages until a hot tag. The commentators do for the first time make a really big deal about The People’s Elbow which gets a massive reaction from the crowd too. That move is so over. The match ends when Chyna runs in to attack Mark Henry and cause the DQ. She is still angry about that uncomfortable segment the other week where he tried to force a kiss on her. She taunts him by licking her lips.

DX’s X-Pac challenges The Nation’s D’Lo Brown for the European title. D’Lo shows so much personality with his taunts and shouting at the crowd. The crowd aren’t really behind X-Pac but they do pop for the Bronco Buster in the corner. X-Pac hits the X-Factor (still doesn’t have a name but that’s what the move is) but before the three count, Double J with his new short haircut and new short ring gear to match breaks up the cover to cause another DQ finish. Jeff and X-Pac brawl off through the crowd. The Undertaker and Kane then come out and look like they have their sights set on D’Lo but the leader of The Nation, The Rock, runs out to defend his buddy. He stands in front of the Brothers talking trash as D’Lo takes his leave, sliding out and escaping and leaving The Rock to face the music and take a chokeslam in his stead. 

Al Snow interview

We get the first part of a two part sit down interview with Al Snow. Jim Ross explains the mannequin head and his ECW run. Al Snow clutches Head close as he explains that in ECW he was able to see and prove that he is capable of being a star there. He is not a joke, he’s not a freak, he is a normal, serious person with a wife and kids. JR wants to know what “they” sound like. What is Head’s voice like? Al Snow compares Head to God. Blind faith. His sanity is arguable but he is a talented wrestler with a strong desire. There’s lots of ECW footage here as well as some from Smokey Mountain. Al doesn’t want to talk to Vince McMahon anymore, but Head still does. This is pretty good. We’re told the next half of the two part interview will air next week but it’s not on that episode of Raw so must have been removed from the WWE Network for some reason. Or maybe they just never ended up airing it.

Other Happenings

• This episode of Raw aired on a Saturday night due to the USA Network’s coverage of the US Tennis Open and is heavily and very obviously pre-taped. 
• The first match is DOA vs. Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman, who’ve apparently made up after their fall out last week. The match doesn’t really get going as Kane and Undertaker come back out and attack Steve Blackman with a chokeslam, and then aggressively work over his leg with elbow drops and a “UFC style submission hold” Undertaker wants to break Blackman’s leg. Weirdly, the DOA continues to work over Shamrock on the floor during this until finally running off, being pursued up the ramp by Kane and Undertaker. Ken Shamrock is furious at this whole turn of events as he checks on Blackman.
• Backstage skit of Val Venis in a bathroom stall with a woman
• Val is facing Vader. I don’t recap Val’s innuendo laced promos because I was never a fan but he does one before every match. During this, we’re told that Vader and Bradshaw tried to form a tag team but it hasn’t worked out because they just don’t get along. Dustin Runnels makes an appearance during this carrying a big “He is coming back” sign. Jim Ross explains that “He” presumably means Jesus, but King isn’t so sure. Foreshadowing. Vader overpowers Val and bullies him with clubbing blows on the mat. Val does kick out of a second rope splash, which JR blames on Vader’s cover technique. Bradshaw wanders out to confront Vader but before they get into it, Kane and The Undertaker come out. Bradshaw gets out of the ring like a smart person and Val Venis and Vader team up to try and fight them both, unsuccessfully. Val takes a gorgeous chokeslam from Kane and then Vader gets a double chokeslam which got some impressive height! JR tells us that on this week’s Sunday Night Heat Kane and Undertaker will team up for the first ever time to face DOA.

• Tiger Ali Signh is going to once again prove Americans have no self respect. He recaps all the previous segments where he’s paid people to strip, eat dog food, lick his servants feet and eat a worm. His man-servant Babu, who I'm sure is a different actor from previously, is messily eating sardines and has been for days apparently. Tonight’s challenge is for an American to French kiss Babu. A very attractive young lady who MUST be a plant, comes out of the crowd. Even Tiger comments on it and offers her an extra $100 to do it because she’s attractive. This is utterly repulsive. She does it and Babu throws the cash on the floor for her to pick up. Thankfully, The Undertaker and Kane come out and destroy Tiger and Babu with a pair of chokeslams. 
• Southern Justice faced The Headbangers and I was sure this one would be interrupted by Undertaker and Kane again but Knight and Canterbury won clean. They seem to be setting up that they’ll challenge The New Age Outlaws. Double J and Southern Justice are still feuding with DX and will face them in a 6 man tag at Breakdown.
• Marc Mero, with Jacqueline, vs. Edge. Edge comes out through the crowd. He is a “strange enigma” who doesn’t talk, doesn’t dress in the locker room or travel with the other wrestlers. JR speculates about his history with the other newcomer, Gangrel. Edge hits an amazing dive over the top to the floor but before this goes any further, Gangrel jumps Edge on the floor. They brawl in the ring and Mero just…leaves. He doesn’t get far before Undertaker and Kane jump him at the top of the ramp. In the ring, referees struggle to separate Edge and Gangrel. 

• The Insane Clown Posse are here with The Oddities. They’ve once again removed the entrance from the Network. Hawk came out dressed all goofy and tried to join in with The Oddities. He’s drunk again. The Oddities are facing Animal and Droz, who has kind of half joined the LOD as Hawk’s stand in. Hawk starts a drunken brawl with ICP on the outside. Hawk joins the LOD on the apron and this instead seems to be a 6 man tag. I’ve said it before - this storyline is really sad but it is at least well performed. Hawk drunkenly tags in Kurrgan instead of his own partners. Silva hits a scary looking powerbomb on Hawk for the pin and the win. The Oddities have defeated LOD and Droz which JR sells as being really sad and disappointing. (which it is) 
• Another tag team match and I’m suddenly struck by how many tag team matches there have been tonight. I guess the tag division is deeper than I thought. Too Much are facing Jesus and Miguel of Los Boricuas. They’re actually the only two members left after Edge accidentally broke Jose’s neck, and Savio Vega injured himself during the Brawl for All. Too Much win. The best part of this was JR and King’s banter about King being Brian’s dad. Funny.

Raw is Raw - September 12th, 1998

Raw is Pre-taped

This Raw was on a Saturday night too. I guess still for the US Tennis Open coverage. Almost nothing happens on this show to be blunt.

The arena has a very different layout, almost like a PPV stage. I think the entrance way is set up for a band performance but there isn’t one on the show. (at least not on the WWE Network version) 

A video package recapping all of Undertaker and Kane’s going ons since before Summerslam and it shows us what happened on Sunday Night Heat last week which seems to be where the bulk of the story continued. Undertaker and Kane threatened Brisco and Patterson to draw Vince out, which didn’t work. He did eventually come to the ring and apologise to them, and explained that it was just a motivational tactic to call them “putrid pussies” last week. He was trying to get them riled up to see how strong they are together and announced that at Breakdown they will face Stone Cold in a triple threat match for the WWF title. The Master Plan. 

They’re heavily promoting that they’ll be showing the Lion’s Den match from Summerslam, and some footage of Sable wrestling at Mania and Summerslam. This is the most pre-taped pre-taped Raw in history. 

They show the Lion’s Den match from Summerslam in full, which is odd. JR and King put over Shamrock pretty strong. He’s had a great summer with the king of the ring and then winning his feud with Owen Hart.

“Exclusive footage” of Sable wrestling which is just the highlights of her mixed tag team matches at Wrestlemania and Summerslam. 

Babyface Rocky

After a recap of The Rock’s interaction with Undertaker and Kane last week - where he bravely stepped in to save D’Lo who returned the favour by abandoning him, The Rock comes out to the ring for an interview. The Rock saunters to the ring and gives the People’s Eyebrow to the fans in the front row. The crowd and signs are mixed in their support of him. He talks a bit about the ladder match at Summerslam and doesn’t heel out on Triple H, talking about himself as the People’s champ. He turns his attention to “two jabroni who don’t know their damn role” The Undertaker and Kane. He says he knew he’d get his ass whooped but he’s a man and so he took it on the chin. This is definitely a babyface promo. He says he’s going to lay the smack down on Kane’s candy ass which gets a cheer. 

DX Shenanigans

D’Lo and Mark Henry vs. The Headbangers. They make a comment about feeding Mark Henry bananas which feels VERY racist. This match goes for a bit until Chyna runs down to attack Mark Henry again. She busts his nose and is all over him until The Outlaws and Triple H rush down to restrain her. 

DX faces Kaientai in an 8 man tag. Pretty rare to see all four members of DX team up. There’s a lot of title belts in this match. Taka brings out his WWF Light Heavyweight title for the first time in ages presumably because DX have all of theirs. DX takes Kaientai lightly as Triple H doesn’t even take off his hat. This is really good but short - Kaientai gets some offence in and the exchange between Taka and X-Pac makes me wish they’d take the Light heavyweight title seriously. That would be a great match. He pins Taka off the X-Factor and after Chyna knocks out Yamaguchi-san, the show ends with DX celebrating. 

Other Happenings

• Double J (still called as such, but he’s just Jeff Jarrett now) opens this show just as he closed the previous one. He’s facing Edge who makes another entrance through the crowd.  Southern Justice comes down to ringside to watch Jeff’s back. They distract the referee and Edge which allows Jeff to smash a guitar over Edge’s head to cause the DQ. Edge remains undefeated and Jeff seems very pleased considering he lost the match. Southern Justice leave their business card with Edge’s body which I do quite like as a gimmick.
• Bradshaw’s new heel theme song is technically the same song as his previous one but it’s just not as good. He’s facing Droz which allows King and JR to talk about the Brawl for All. Why? Why bring it up again? Droz is wrestling with a torn left bicep which he has heavily taped. That would never happen these days. JR mentions that Hawk has now checked himself into rehab and King makes some classless jokes about alcoholism. Hilarious. This match is ok but the crowd is pretty dead for it. Droz is a weird case where he has an outlandish look and gimmick and they’ve given him a few video packages about his “alternative lifestyle” but he wrestles like a bland boring babyface. Bradshaw wins with a roll up and his feet on the ropes, and then clotheslines Droz while he’s arguing with the referee. 
• Marc Mero with Jacqueline vs. Miguel Perez of Los Boricuas. JR talks a lot about Sable and the fans chant for her - the Mero/Sable storyline is now entering month 11. Mero wins clean with the TKO. 
• The Oddities, following a pre-match promo by ICP who say they aren’t wrestlers but are happy to mix things up, face DOA. The Oddities are really pretty over! Golga puts his plushy Cartman on the commentary desk and puts King’s crown on it. The top rope breaks during this which might have been planned because the match continues. In the end, ICP jumped DOA and as it’s about seven or eight vs. two, the DOA ran off on their motorbikes. They do hit ICP with a pair of powerbombs which they sell really strongly to their credit. 

• Too Much vs. Southern Justice. Two teams who won their matches last week so it makes sense they’d then face each other if we’re trying to decide who deserves a tag title match. JR is complimentary about Too Much in ring skill, but does get on King’s case about Brian being his son again. I love this whole gimmick. Southern Justice won this heel vs. heel match to near silence. 
• Dustin Runnels vs. Vader. As they wrestle, Val Venis walks around in the crowd holding up a Dustin-style sign “I have come” which is pretty funny. Val gets to ringside, he and Dustin get into a debate with lots of pointing at the sky and such, and the distraction allows Vader to lay out Dustin and beat him with the Vader Bomb. 
• Al Snow comes out in front of the live crowd and does his “what does everybody want/need/love?” bit. These are the actual sound bites they end up using for his theme song too. He calls out any WWF official to discuss his job prospects. The stooges come out, and Al gets the fans to chant “stooge” He calls them Sgt  McChin, Geraldine Brisco and Pat the Platypus which makes JR laugh. The fans chant for “head” Al Snow says that Head is the new WWF commissioner and that they’ve given him a job. He wants to know who his opponent is tonight but he still doesn’t work for the WWF so the stooges ask him to leave. He offers them a lovely parting gift of “some head” and then hits Patterson below the belt with the head before running away! 

Raw is War - September 14th, 1998

The Master Plan

Back on a Monday and live thank God, the previous two pre-taped weeks have been lacklustre.

The show opens with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Awesome. I’ve missed him a lot the past two weeks as he’s been exclusive to Heat, which was still live while Raw was pre-taped. Vince, Undertaker and Kane are all already in the ring! Vince says that he has a Master Plan that will guarantee that Stone Cold will lose the WWF title at Breakdown. But the plot thickens, as Vince tells us that there has been a little business arrangement made as Undertaker and Kane will do something for Vince in return for being given this title shot. Undertaker and Kane will serve as his bodyguards against Austin. And furthermore, Austin can pin either Kane or Taker to win, but they can only pin him. It’s very much a handicap match. “Vince McMahon didn’t screw Stone Cold, Stone Cold screwed Stone Cold!” Austin throws a punch and Vince’s business deal immediately works out as Taker and Kane attack and beat down Stone Cold with a double chokeslam. It seems that after failing to win the title at Summerslam, Undertaker has accepted this deal with Vince. Undertaker speaks as he leaves “Nothing personal, it's just business” Vince then books Austin in a title defence tonight against Ken Shamrock! 

We see some footage of Shamrock on Sunday Night Heat challenging Stone Cold which appears to be why Vince has given him the title shot tonight.

Kane vs. The Rock. Kane has Undertaker with him and looks intimidating as all hell. We see The Nation arguing backstage, refusing to take The Rock’s directions so in the end he tells them to keep their candy asses backstage and he’ll beat Kane on his own.

There’s a big babyface shift going here. The Rock got chokeslammed by Kane a couple of week’s ago on Saturday Night Raw, and The Rock returned the favour with a couple of big chair shots to Kane on Heat this past Sunday. I’d love to watch Heat, especially during this era where it was as important as Raw some weeks, but it’s not on the Network. You can tell Rocky is shifting babyface because JR is being a lot more complimentary about him. The fans are getting behind him too and explode for the People’s Elbow. It’s amazing to see him slide up the card towards the main event so effortlessly and naturally. The fans boo loudly when The Undertaker attacks The Rock and while this goes on, Mankind comes through the crowd and hits Kane in the back with a sledgehammer to a massive pop. The first time we’ve seen Mankind since Summerslam. Undertaker chases Mankind and The Rock is able to pin Kane! This was all awesome and the fans were electric for it. Kane struggles to sit up and Undertaker shows him some concern which was wild to see. Undertaker grabs the mic and challenges Mankind to a match later here tonight. 

Mankind with Michael Cole. His face is badly bruised and bashed, presumably from Kane hitting him with the sledgehammer at Summerslam. He accepts Undertaker’s challenge so that he can show off his new scientific wrestling skills, and then smashes up some debris backstage with the sledgehammer. I think he’s kidding about his wrestling skills.

Mankind backstage gathers weapons in a dumpster which he brings to the ring for his match with The Undertaker. He has wooden boards and a ladder and chairs and other various things. And of course his new best friend - that sledgehammer. When The Undertaker comes out, it’s with Kane who is walking awkwardly and looks to still be struggling from that earlier sledgehammer blow, and carrying his own hammer! Mankind swings for Taker’s head but the ref stops him from using it, so Mankind catches him with the mandible claw instead! No one has more victories over Undertaker than Mankind does - their series of matches in 1996 was amazing. This is an entertaining brawl around the ring and Mankind takes a lot of abuse. The Undertaker attempts to murder Mankind with a sledgehammer multiple times but he rallies with some chair shots. He takes a chokeslam and then a tombstone onto a steel chair. Instead of going for a pin, he grabs the sledgehammer to use again but The Rock comes out of the dumpster! He hits Undertaker and throws Mankind out of the ring and over the security wall - presumably to keep him safe from Undertaker and Kane. The brothers grab a sledgehammer each and chase after The Rock. 

Ken Shamrock looks much cooler in his new electric blue ring gear when he comes out for the main event. Stone Cold comes out in his ring gear and a t-shirt rather than his vest which is unusual. He goes right at Shamrock as the bell rings. He is all business and has been backed into a corner by McMahon. There’s an urgency and almost desperation about Stone Cold. This is good and it's nice to see Stone Cold doing some actual wrestling rather than straight up brawling. Technically, going by old school rules, he’s working as the heel in this match. He really dominates and Shamrock isn’t able to string two moves together before getting shut back down by another big counter. Austin absolutely dominates here and even uses eye pokes and low blows to keep control. In the end, Vince sends Undertaker and Kane to the ring to attack Austin and they do, plus chokeslam Shamrock too. The Rock and Mankind come out too and during the brawl, Stone Cold knocks out Taker and Kane with a pair of big swinging chair shots before taking off after a now unprotected Vince.

D-Generation X

Roaddogg comes out with Billy Gunn and X-Pac as backup to face Jeff Jarrett who has now formally dropped Double J as a name. They do recap all of Jeff and Roaddogg’s history as Double J and the Roadie in 1995. Jeff ends up using the neck of his guitar across Roaddogg’s throat behind the ref's back to win the match.

DX comes out as Triple H defends his Intercontinental title against The Nation’s Owen Hart. An old rivalry with a new title involved. This is good but short. The Nation (minus The Rock and The Godfather, who has already quietly left the group) tries to get involved, then DX makes the save and Triple H wins with the pedigree. Afterwards, Mark Henry challenges X-Pac to a match and tells him to bring “my girlfriend Chyna” and make it a handicap match.

X-Pac and Chyna face Mark Henry in a handicap match. JR and King are really misogynistic about a woman facing a man but the crowd really want to see it. Chyna is definitely the most popular member of DX. D’Lo comes down to watch at ringside, followed shortly after by Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice who still have issues with X-Pac and DX. Triple H comes out with a chair to even the score and stand guard. The crowd loses it for X-Pac and Chyna double suplexing Mark Henry. Chyna tags in and spears Henry for a massive cheer. To his credit, Mark sells for Chyna like she’s the strongest person who ever lived. In the end, Mark pins Chyna after catching her top rope dive and spinning her into a scoop slam. JR immediately goes on the defensive explaining that it’s fine that he hit a woman because she asked for it. It’s like he knew the sponsors would kick off (they did)

Other Happenings

• Dustin Runnels in the ring who welcomes us to Hell. The WWF is stained with violence, aggression and sex. More “He is coming” talk. He promises that Val will repent. Val Venis interrupts and shows his newest video “The Preachers Wife” starring Dustin’s estranged wife Terri, which gets a big reaction from the crowd. It’s as graphic as they could get away with. JR says that he thought Dustin and Terri were trying to reconcile. They were actually married in real life and had separated by this point. 

• Video package for “a real man’s man” Steven Regal! He’s in flannel, he’s chopping wood. This gimmick doesn’t go anywhere but the plan was for him to act all tough and manly like this, but then be extremely camp and gay when he finally debuted. Hilarious.
• Gangrel vs. Edge after a few weeks of build up and alluding to their past together, and it starts hard and fast. Their unexplained past with each other is very heated, whatever it is. This is good but ends unexpectedly as Gangrel sidesteps Edge’s dive over the top rope and then spikes him with a DDT on the floor. The bell rings and I think the official finish was a double count. Gangrel sprays blood all over the downed Edge before he leaves. 
• Jacqueline vs. Sable in Raw’s first ever Evening Gown match. This is only the second one in history after Sable and Luna at Unforgiven. There’s a long history of men having tuxedo matches so in theory this is fair enough. They even show highlights of Harvey Whippleman and Howard Finkle’s tuxedo match on Raw back in 1994. Sable is introduced as “the lovely Sable” There’s blurring and it cuts to a wide shot as Jacqueline’s boobs spill out of her bra. Sable “stays in character” and is relentless, not giving her a chance to cover up. She powerbombs Jackie and I think wins? This was awful. We see a shot of a stoic woman sitting in the crowd watching on. They don’t acknowledge her but I know that’s Tori who’d even up being an onscreen character and wrestler for the next couple of years. Sable does strip her own dress off for the whooping and cat calling fans. I wouldn’t have bothered.

Raw is War - September 21st, 1998

More WWF title contenders

The Rock opens the show - Vince McMahon is already in the ring with Ken Shamrock and Mankind. Vince tells Austin that if he wants to attack him, he better think again as Undertaker and Kane are standing guard at the top of the ramp. Vince reminds us that he has guaranteed that Stone Cold will lose the title in the triple threat match at Breakdown. Sensing that Rock, Mankind and Shamrock’s interest in the WWF title might disrupt his Master Plan, he appeases them by giving them a triple threat of their own for the number 1 contendership tonight. He says Stone Cold can find a partner to face Undertaker and Kane in a tag team match tonight, and so he also wants to make sure that none of the three of them volunteer to be Stone Cold’s partner tonight. 

Later in the show, we get a nice wide shot of the crowd so we can see everyone stand up and lose their minds in unison when the glass shatters for Stone Cold’s theme music. Austin is fired up and focused. He doesn’t care that it’s two on one at the PPV and he doesn’t care if anyone wants to be his partner tonight. He will kick everybody’s ass and no one can finish him off. At Breakdown it’s not going to be Austin 3:16, it’s going to be Austin 666. 

The Undertaker and Kane are shown arriving in their normal clothes and look a bit ridiculous.

Michael Cole interviews The Undertaker. He issues his warning to Stone Cold. He needs to get his effects in order before there’s a funeral tonight.

The Undertaker and Kane make their entrances and then Stone Cold. We all assume that no one has stepped up but to everyone’s surprise - especially Vince and the stooges - Bad Ass Billy Gunn has stepped up and is going to be Austin’s tag partner. Honestly? A smart move to inject yourself into the WWF title picture like this. Get yourself in the conversation. This is short and in the end, Undertaker and Kane win when Undertaker pins Billy Gunn off a chokeslam. Stone Cold lays them both out with more big swinging chair shots and takes his leave before they’re able to attack him two vs. one.

The Rock interviewed by Michael Cole. The Rock tells “Vinny” that he can’t be controlled and that the only reason he agreed to this match is to get a shot at the WWF title. He makes fun of Mankind and Shamrock. 

The main event triple threat match between Rock, Shamrock and Mankind gets a decent bit of time as well and all three men take their moment to shine. It’s interesting to see post-Summerslam the WWF trying to flesh out the main event scene from being all about Austin and McMahon. The crowd comes alive for the People’s Elbow on Shamrock and even Jim Cornette on commentary enjoys it. Mankind almost has it off a double arm DDT but The Rock kicks out. After a double sleeper spot and Mankind getting some control, Undertaker and Kane make their way to the ring followed by Mr. McMahon. Mankind gets the mandible claw on Rocky, but then Shamrock gives him the big belly to belly suplex and locks him in the ankle lock. The Rock wipes out Shamrock with a clothesline and then Rock Bottom. Mankind breaks up the three counts. But then it all turns as Undertaker pulls Mankind out of the ring and Kane and Taker put the boots to him on the floor. The match continues a little longer as a one on one match between The Rock and Shamrock but then they meet the same fate as Mankind and get pummelled too. While Taker and Kane are in the ring fighting with the three prospective number 1 contenders, Stone Cold attacks Vince at the top of the ramp. 

Val Venis vs. marital bliss

Val Venis asks us to stay tuned as he has another video to show us.

Dustin Runnels joined commentary to watch the Val Venis vs. Owen Hart match. Val Venis would appear to be the babyface in this whole situation but much like with Kaientai, what he has done is scummy and makes him a bad person. Dustin performs pretty well here. I believe he’s really heart broken and wanted to make up with his wife and Val has ruined it. Dustin gets needled and picked on by Cornette and Shane until he finally snaps and attacks Venis. Val gets the upper hand and then ties Dustin up in the ropes so he can taunt him with a mic and show him another video with Terri. “There’s something about Terri” (“There’s something about Mary” had just come out) Terri explains that she was going to get back with Dustin but Val talked her out of it. Val comes across as dead creepy here and Dustin cries. I just feel sorry for him. I guess because Dustin has been playing a holier than thou preacher man for months we’re supposed to think he deserves this? I mean he was annoying but this is brutal.

Golden DX

The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac come out and because Roaddoog has no voice thanks to Jeff Jarret’s brutal attack on his throat with the guitar last week, Mr. Ass does the entrance and The Outlaws opening spiel. Roaddogg holds cue cards for Billy which I thought was funny. Jeff Jarrett is facing Billy Gunn one on one, and he brings Southern Justice with him. With all the other guys ejected from ringside, Jeff tries to use his guitar and then as he bickers with the referee about it, Billy hits a neckbreaker for the three count in a flat finish but I guess he had to save some energy for coming back out in the Austin tag match later.

X-Pac gets a rematch with D’Lo Brown for the European title. It's funny to hear Shane McMahon on commentary being such a big X-Pac fan during this given their intense rivalry for the next few months. This is a good match, these guys really click. D’Lo hits the Sky High but is too tired to make the cover which gives X-Pac time to kick out. D’Lo goes up top and dives, being caught in an X-Factor! X-Pac wins the European title! Just like that, all four male members of DX have title belts with X-Pac as European champion, The New Age Outlaws as tag team champions and Triple H as the Intercontinental champion.

Other Happenings

• Shane McMahon is on commentary! It’s him and Jim Cornette, who have been the commentary team for Sunday Night Heat since its debut. Odd to hear them here on Raw. Shane has a lot of loud chaotic energy. They’re filling in because JR and King are off filming for the Jim Carrey fronted Andy Kauffman movie “Man on the Moon” Shane is objectively a terrible commentator but I enjoyed having him for this show because I'm a big Shane McMahon fan. He works as an annoying heel character. His calling Vince “my Pops” all night was the right kind of irritating.
• The Headbangers faced The Oddities. Their music is really heavily dubbed over on the network for copyright reasons - I know, I say it every time - but the fans and even The Headbangers seem quite into the song. The Oddities are really over. The Headbangers turn heel here as they blind Golga with spray paint before the match, shred the plushy Cartman and beat up The Oddities before bailing out. 

• Sable vs. Jacqueline in a straight up wrestling match. Amazingly, this is Sable’s first one on one wrestling match ever. Sgt. Slaughter has decreed that the winner of this match will be the WWF Women’s champion totally out of the blue. Definitely the way to make a title feel prestigious. This is decent for what you’d expect. Shane McMahon is really excited for it, the fans are really into it and it's short. Jackie wins when Marc Mero trips Sable during a suplex and even holds down Sable’s foot. Jacqueline is the first WWF Women’s champion in years and doesn’t even have a championship belt to celebrate with. 
• The DOA vs. Southern Justice. They’ve done a good job lately with the tag division. This match breaks down shortly as Jeff Jarrett shows up and smashes a guitar over Paul Ellering’s head. 
• Another Steven Regal “real man’s man” video. He’s shaving with a straight razor in the woods. How manly.

• Al Snow faces Sgt. Slaughter in a Boot Camp match, which is basically just a no DQ match but using army stuff. If Al wins, he earns a job with the WWF at long last! Sgt whips poor Al with his belt. Little does he know - Al Snow will be associated with hardcore matches for most of his WWF career. Al gets clocked with a chairshot to the head and has a big smile on his face. This is really good! In the end, Al wins with a shot from Head. Before he can celebrate finally winning a job, Gerry Brisco and Pat Patterson jump him and Shane makes me laugh on commentary calling them “Uncle Gerry” and “Uncle Pat'' Scorpio, Snow’s fellow ECW alum, runs in to make the save and Al Snow officially has a job after months of trying.