Raw is War - June 29th, 1998

Austin vs. Kane II

Video recap of the finish to the King of the Ring, where after interference from The Undertaker and Mankind, Stone Cold was seemingly “accidentally” busted open by The Undertaker to hand Kane the WWF Championship. It hammers home the “who lowered the cell?” and “why did Undertaker put the referee back in the ring?” questions (the second one seems more important to me, as that seems like The Undertaker was intentionally trying to get Austin to lose the title. Jerry Lawler is already at ringside to open the show with JR whereas up until now, it’s always been Michael Cole for the first hour. They appear to have done away with “Raw is War” and “WarZone” being two different, one-hour shows. They’re actually back to just calling the show “WWF Raw” and the logo has changed, but still has the old school block WWF logo. Vince McMahon comes out with Gerry Brisco and Sgt Slaughter. Pat Patterson isn’t here tonight due to a death in the family sadly.The WWF title belt is in a glass case in the middle of the ring. The fans chant “Vince is gay” which is very uncool, guys. Be an ally. Vince is jubilant. He talks about how perfect Kane is as champion. He has never drank an alcoholic beverage, he has never swore, he salutes the flag of the USA. Kane is a role model apparently. He gives him a big build up. Paul Bearer is quite the proud papa. Vince has wild, crazy eyes and a demented smile as he watches Bearer talk about Kane as champion. They’re still pushing this whole “Kane is a victim, he’s overcome so much in his life” narrative which, yeah given his backstory? Fair. Kane hangs his head sadly as Bearer talks about how Kane as a child used to watch his brother on TV and want to be just like him. The Undertaker is now in Kane’s shadow. Vince gets the title belt out of the case and officially presents it to the new champion. I think they might have redesigned the belt already. It still has the blocky WWF logo but the strap looks black now instead of the navy blue it's been since Mania. Austin comes out. He’s pissed. The rules said that the person who draws first blood wins the match. Kane never bust him open - the Undertaker did. He wants his title rematch tonight and will beat the ass of all five men in the ring to get it. He still has his right elbow badly bandaged for the staph infection. Vince won’t agree to it and in fear, defers to Paul Bearer. They’re all scared to be the one who says no because that’s the one Austin will beat up. Bearer fearfully says it's ok with him if it's ok with Kane. Austin goads Kane into not being a coward. He says Undertaker won the title for him so he’s still in his shadow and he needs to prove he’s a man. Kane agrees to the rematch here tonight with a big nod. Vince is furious, Bearer looks like he’s going to cry.

Later, Kevin Kelly interviews Kane and asks why he granted Austin a rematch. Kane uses his voice box to say that he can beat Stone Cold and he’s a better champion than Undertaker. Notably, Mankind is with him which is just mind blowing. He should be in bed after his performance in Hell in a Cell last night.

We see Undertaker arriving at the arena in his normal people's clothes. He's dressed as the American badass, two years early. 

Stone Cold interview by Michael Cole. Kane didn’t beat him but Kane does have the title so that’s who he’ll beat and take it back tonight.

Later, In ring Michael Cole interviewed The Undertaker. Undertaker says there is no love lost between him and Kane, but the blame for that lies squarely with Paul Bearer. He basically admits to costing Austin the title on purpose because he didn’t want to see his little brother set himself on fire. Vince comes out and says that this apparent compassion for his brother is false and the real reason he cost Austin the title is because he thinks he can beat Kane easier than Stone cold. 

The only real attention paid to Hell in a Cell tonight is a short “slam of the week” replay

It's weird to me that in the adverts, they’re using the Kane/Austin stuff to hype the replay of the PPV for sales and not Hell in a Cell - the most shocking and most famous wrestling match of all time. They’ve hardly mentioned Hell in a Cell tonight.

Austin vs. Kane main event and yes, the WWF title is on the line. Kane still has his arm covered and he’ll keep this gear until after Summerslam. This is a great match. A wild brawl all around the ring in front of a red hot crowd. Late in the match, The Undertaker comes to ringside but just stands and watches. Austin hits the stunner after a few counters and regains the title to a monstrous ovation from the live crowd. Stone Cold’s second title win perhaps gets a louder reaction than his first at Wrestlemania. The Undertaker enters the ring and stares down Austin but as Taker glances over at Bearer, Stone Cold drops him with a stunner too. In the ring, Kane and Taker both sit up simultaneously and amazingly don’t fight each other - they stand together glaring at Austin instead. 

Extra attitude has Undertaker and Kane fighting each other after all and Taker chokeslams his brother and leaves, punching Paul Bearer as he does. 

The Brawl for All (!!!)

They’re talking about the Brawl for ALL! Holy shit. We’ve already seen Marc Mero and Steve Blackman warming up backstage separately. JR runs through the rules. I cannot believe it’s Brawl for All time! 

For those not in the know - the Brawl for All was created in an attempt to drum up ratings and interest as the WWF was still going head to head with WCW Monday Nitro every Monday night. This is devised as a “legit fight” tournament, where the guys in the back volunteered if they fancied a go. It is legendary for how badly it went as the fans rejected it en masse, finding the bouts slow and dull and all it really did was injure most of the performers taking part as they were untrained. If something can’t be awesome? It better be famously terrible. The entire Brawl for All concept is the latter.

They dim the lights and give us the logo across the screen. So excited! None of the talent come out to their theme music or playing up to their gimmicks - this is 100% a shoot. Steve Blackman and Marc Mero scrabble around and shoot-fight as the crowd instantly loses interest and starts booing. Blackman is dominating Mero. A fighter will always beat a boxer. Blackman has a huge lead on points and dominates to a victory. There is a polite, almost sarcastic muted cheer for the outcome. It’s not mentioned here, and wouldn’t come up until his next scheduled match in the tournament, but Steve Blackman actually sustained an injury somewhere during this and ends up bowing out of the tournament so Mero ends up advancing anyway. 

Another Brawl for All match! Mark Canterbury - one half of Southern Justice/the Godwins - vs. Brawshaw who looks stupid in his tiny ring gear vs. someone in jeans and a t-shirt. The fans don’t care and are loudly confused by this basically. Brawshaw throws some big stiff right hands. They’re both exhausted, very quickly. The crowd starts chanting “boring” and JR starts promising us that Austin and Kane are still to come so that people don’t tune out. Brawshaw is eventually declared the winner. I do at least get to hear his theme music which I like a lot. 

King Shamrock (plus The Nation and D-Generation X)

Ken Shamrock comes out in jorts and a camo t-shirt. He looks like the kind of man that owns 86 guns. It’s for an in ring interview with Michael Cole about how good it is to be King. His talking cadence is very, very odd as he pauses in very unnatural places in every sentence. The King of the Ring is the hardest thing he’s ever had to do and he takes great pride in having won. He gives credit to The Rock as a true champion and warrior. He’s eventually interrupted by Owen Hart (thank God) Owen is also a former King and he’s better than Shamrock, he says. (he’s right) Owen challenges him tonight, and Shamrock accepts. Then another former King of the Ring - European Champion Triple H - comes out. He says that the match tonight will be for the “king of kings'' which is funny foreshadowing given that by 2006 Triple H would be calling himself the King of Kings regularly. They make it a triple threat to determine “the king of kings” Shamrock awkwardly recaps the promo content thus far and then accepts. He even says he's sometimes a little slow and trips over his words. Jesus Ken, this was a very bad promo. 

The following “King of Kings” contest…says Tony Chimmel during Triple H’s entrance. The foreshadowing here is hilarious. JR over explains the rules of a triple threat match to us. They’re still very new. This is good and gets a little time. The crowd is really confused as a bell rings mistakenly during the match after a near fall. As Owen and Shamrock fight on the far side, The Rock comes out and knocks out Triple H with the IC title belt allowing Shamrock to pin him. Owen jumps Shamrock after the match. Then DX attacks The Rock up on the stage, followed by The Nation and for however many weeks in a row, The Nation and DX have a gang brawl while Owen works over Shamrock’s leg in the ring. Shamrock’s music actually keeps playing as Owen does the ring post figure four until referee’s break it up. 

Other Happenings

• Droz comes out for a match and then instead of an opponent, Sable comes out all smiles and waves. Vince McMahon has sent her out to introduce “the signing of one of the greatest wrestling talents in the world, Steven Regal!” He comes out to janky guitar music, still wearing his WCW robes. JR puts him over strong as a tremendous technical wrestler. Having Sable introduce him like this at Vince’s request is cool but his theme song utterly ruins this. This was during Regal’s “massively into pills” phase and makes me sad having read his autobiography. Sable joins commentary during this and JR asks her for details on why Vince brought her back after Marc Mero forced her out but she's “unable to discuss the terms” They’re basically implying she’s whoring herself out to Vince for a job which is neither particularly feminist, nor babyface. This match gets almost no reaction from the fans. Regal’s offence looks good though. JR is really putting over Regal which is nice to see. King gets a few laughs from Sable but she politely rebuffs his advances in a way that screams “she thinks he's a creep but she’s on TV and has to be cool” which I am extremely confident is a shoot. Regal’s signing shows the difference between WWF and WCW. WCW signed all of the WWF’s main eventers that fans were already getting tired of. WWF signed all of WCW’s underused mid-carders like X-Pac, Regal and more to come that fans had barely seen. Regal wins clean by submission with the Regal Stretch. He desperately needs better theme music. He’ll get it.
• Val Venis is facing Dick Togo from Kaientai. Val grabs a chair and chases Yamaguchi-san. He’s obviously braced for interference. We see Yamaguchi-san’s pretty young wife in the front row. As they wrestle, Dustin Runnels comes to ringside and joins commentary. He wants JR and King to use their platform to spread the word of God. Lawler won’t talk about his religious beliefs. He quotes some scripture and casts judgement on Val Venis’s behaviour. Val wins with a big slam and Money Shot. As Val leaves, he stops to flirt and dance for Yamaguchi-san’s wife who seems kinda into it. Kaientai jumps him and then he knocks them all out with a chair. He’s being very predatory towards Mrs. Yamaguchi-san who honestly looks disgusted now. Pick a lane. (I think she’s just a bad actress who doesn’t quite understand the angle)
• Edge is sitting in the crowd again.
• The LOD 2000 comes out sans Sunny who is officially done. They bring out Precious Paul Ellering - their original manager - to lead them again. “I thought he was dead,” says JR. Hawk bigs him up. “Times have been tough, and now they’re reborn” Paul is their friend, their mentor and they trust him. The DOA comes out (Christ is this feud still going?) and Paul says they’re his new team and they jump the LOD 2000. Paul Ellering has betrayed LOD as Skull and 8-Ball beat them down.

Raw is War - July 6th, 1998

Austin’s next challenger decided

The Undertaker opens the show this week. He wants a WWF title shot and he wants it right now. We cut to Michael Cole wandering around backstage looking for Austin to see if he’ll accept the challenge. He has a mic and is looking in cupboards and calling his name which is a bit hilarious. He eventually finds him and Steve walks past and seems to be heading to the ring anyway. The cameras follow him through the arena and out to the ring. I like this, it feels gritty and unpolished and real compared to modern WWE. Unscripted. Before they can get into it, Vince comes out and stops them. Undertaker isn’t the number 1 contender, and Stone Cold doesn’t get to just hand out title shots. He defends the title when Vince says so and against who Vince chooses. He seems to book them against each other at Fully Loaded but then corrects himself - it’ll be a tag team match against Kane and Mankind. He does say that he’ll announce a new number 1 contender for Stone Cold’s title tonight. Vince gives Austin the bird which sets him off and he jumps out the ring and charges up after Vince and they disappear into the back. 

Vince McMahon comes out in the middle of the show to officially name the number 1 contender. If it's not Undertaker, he’s going to go even more off the wall than he has tonight. I quite like this as the commentators put over that every WWF superstar is sitting backstage on pins and needles hoping it's going to be them. Vince drags this out before introducing the likely suspects one by one - Mankind, Kane and Undertaker, who all get their full entrance (extra long in some people’s case as both Mankind and Undertaker’s music play for ages before they finally appear) Vince takes a moment to sincerely thank Mankind for what he did at Hell in a Cell which felt like a genuine moment honestly. He calls Kane ``one of the stupidest men he’s ever met” for giving Austin that title match last week. Kane riles up but he holds his temper because he wants to be named number 1 contender. After running through all three men’s reasons why they should get the title shot, he books a triple threat main event with the winner becoming the number 1 contender (for Summerslam, which he doesn’t say here but that is the case)

Paul Bearer and Vince McMahon come out together to watch the main event. Vince joins commentary but is dismayed as Austin then comes out next. Vince says that Stone Cold steals the spotlight. He joins Vince also for commentary. Mankind and Kane make their entrances but when Taker’s music hits he doesn’t come out. They play it a couple of times with no Undertaker. Vince gets in the ring and makes Tony Chimmel call him “chickenshit” so this is now Kane vs. Mankind one on one, no holds barred, falls count anywhere. Mankind doesn’t seem keen. He doesn’t want to fight his friend and so he sits on the outside next to the ring steps. Vince rings the bell and tells Kane to attack him anyway. Kane does follow out of the ring, grabbing a chair and cracks Mankind in the head which makes an almighty bang against the ring steps. He gently rolls Mick into the ring, drags him to the middle of the ring and pins him. Everyone is confused. Kane unmasks, and it's The Undertaker in disguise! He has tricked everyone by turning this into a singles match that he then won easily when Mankind refused to fight back. The Undertaker is apparently the number one contender. I see what they were going for here but it didn’t really work in my opinion. A very confusing end to Raw. 

DX goes too far

This was the episode of Raw that featured a famous segment wherein D-Generation X dressed up as The Nation. They actually hyped it a couple of times early in the show but then never showed the segment. It’s because DX blacked-up during it. The Roaddogg was “B’Lo Brown'', Billy Gunn was The Godfather, X-Pac wore very dark makeup and a fat suit to be Mizark Henry, and Triple H was “The Crock” complete with jerry-curl wig and slapping IC (for Intercontinental) in masking tape on his European title. It’s juvenile but the funniest part is outsider and comedian Jason Sensation dressing up as Owen Hart with a big fake nose and doing a really spot-on Owen Hart impression and lots of jokes about his nose.

The Brawl for All

More Brawl for All this week! The “German Superman” Brakus, whose goal is to be the first German WWF Champion. I think he’ll be disappointed. He’s facing Savio Vega. Savio won in front of another quiet and confused audience. Brakus injured his arm and while this wasn’t his last ever match, he’d end up retiring early in 1999 because of it.

In the second fight tonight it’s Droz taking on his pal Hawk of the LOD 2000. Another terrible fight where they try to box rather than grapple. Somewhere in the middle of this, Hawk hurt himself legitimately. The match is declared a draw after three rounds as the two men hug after the fight. Because Hawk was injured, they didn't do the fourth tie-breaking round and Droz just advanced. For those keeping track, we’re four fights deep into this tournament and three men have sustained real life injuries. Spoilers - there’s more to come. 

King Shamrock

Ken Shamrock vs. Double J. Jeff doesn’t have Southern Justice with him again which begs the question why he bothered introducing them as his muscle? A “fan” gets in the ring but they realise it’s actually King Mabel (Viscera) He’s another former King of the Ring. He's over 500lbs and enormous and splashes Shamrock who sells broken ribs. I guess they want Shamrock to run through as many former KOTRs as possible.

Later in the show, King Mabel is in the ring in his gold King Mabel gear for an impromptu match with Shamrock who sprints to the ring still selling his ribs. It is short as Shamrock sidesteps a clothesline off the middle rope into an armbar and then makes Mabel submit to the ankle lock. That’s the third former King of the Ring tournament winner that our current King has beaten in two weeks. He won’t release the hold as Mabel cries in pain. 

Other Happenings

• Still no update of the Raw intro which is starting to bug me. The show does flow better without the whole two separate hours thing though.
• More shots of Edge in the crowd during the show.
• Vader vs. Bradshaw. JR puts over these “two big bulls” and talks about how Vince could make either one of them number 1 contenders. I don’t see Bradshaw vs. Stone Cold main eventing Summerslam somehow. They’re really pushing that narrative and how is Vince going to decide. This is alright but before it gets going, Kane and Mankind come out and beat them both up with mandible claws and tombstones respectively.
• The DOA with Paul Ellering vs. The Headbangers. Ellering joins commentary and with a very hoarse voice calls the LOD old and past it and apparently this is the era of the web, and the era of DOA. The DOA wins to almost perfect silence.
• Terry Funk vs. D’Lo Brown. Funk hits a nice piledriver but D’Lo kicks out. He’s wearing his chest protector now. D’Lo is starting to hit his stride and getting singles matches now is a big show of faith. Funk does the moonsault off the middle rope to the floor and his legs crack on the railing. The Godfather, who is phasing out his Kama Mustafa name, hits Funk with his gold necklace and D’Lo wins with the frog splash. As The Nation lads celebrate, The Undertaker comes out and gives them both Chokeslams. Then after a pause/tease, Terry Funk too. 
• Jacqueline and Marc Mero come out. Jackie takes the blame for Mero’s loss last week because she tired him out the night before. With sex, I assume. She says that Sable looks good but she can’t perform. Sable comes out to defend herself. They call each other nasty names like skank and hoe and make more sexual innuendo until Jackie challenges Sable to a bikini contest at Fully Loaded. King offers to referee it for free, which is what ends up happening. This was really low brow but the live crowd were into it. Sign of the times.
• Val Venis vs. pre-match-praying Dustin Runnels. He’s in white and light denim and offers a handshake before the bell which Val rebuffs. Dustin is an annoying Christian but is the babyface here really. He’s preachy but innocent. Kaientai jumps Val Venis causing a disqualification and Yamaguchi-san comes out with his smiling young wife who seems happy to see Val get demolished for disrespecting her last week. Yamaguchi-san gives us a weird rambly promo as they attack Val while Mrs.Yamaguchi look, who is a terrible actress, looks bored at ringside. 

Raw is War - July 13th, 1998

Main event Tag Team Champions

The Undertaker opens the show with a match rather than a promo, which is a surprise. He is officially the number 1 contender to the WWF title. This is the Raw with a very famous botch as Kane’s pyro is accidentally triggered while Taker stands on the ring steps and signals for his own pyro and he almost takes a jet of flame right in the face on live TV. He simply moved his head and no-sold it. They actually end up using that shot in his titantron video because it makes him look badass. Taker is facing Vader but before Vader is even in the ring, Kane’s music cuts him off and he comes out with Mankind and Paul Bearer. JR speculates that Kane and Undertaker may have been working together last week as how else would Undertaker have gotten Kane’s gear and mask to dress up as him? While Vader is distracted by Kane, Taker jumps him from behind. This match is slow but decent. Undertaker hits a tombstone and covers for the win. Mankind grabs a chair and goes to hit him but Kane stops him. He takes the chair from Mick and after Taker leaves the ring, he blasts Vader with it instead as Undertaker just watches on. 

The New Age Outlaws defend the tag titles against number 1 contenders Kane and Mankind who won a tag team Royal Rumble before the King of the Ring. Roaddogg again goes on about how the tag titles were ice cold and are now red hot etc. He’s said that a lot. He’s overcompensating. Chyna gets a good pop at ringside. She’s getting really popular. Before Kane and Mankind finish their entrance, Undertaker enters and stands at ringside to watch this title match. Further into the match, The Rock and Owen Hart come out. This is followed by DX and a brawl up the ramp as the match continues and Undertaker watches on. With everyone distracted, D’Lo runs in and hits a frog splash on Roaddogg. Kane spikes him with a tombstone and Kane and Mankind are the new tag team champions. 

After an ad break, DX is talking to Vince McMahon demanding revenge and a rematch here tonight. 

Later in the show, Vince McMahon enters. He introduces “the most demonic, twisted soul in the WWF” The Undertaker who makes his full entrance. We’ve seen him a lot tonight “What won’t you do to become WWF champion?” He almost killed Mick Foley at KOTR, he’s chokeslammed everyone on the roster, he pulled that stunt last week and Vince demands to know if he’s in cahoots with Kane. Undertaker’s roots are badly showing here which distracts me. Taker doesn’t answer Vince’s question and tells him to go to hell. Which isn’t a no. Stone Cold comes out and confirms that he will face Undertaker at Summerslam for the title. He respects that Taker came to him man to man but since they have a tag match at Fully Loaded first, he needs to know if it's really 2 vs 2 or actually 3 vs. him? Taker tells Steve to go to hell too. DX’s music interrupts before any more can happen and the entire stable makes their way to the ring. They want a rematch for The Outlaws against Kane and Mankind tonight. Taker and Austin stare down while all this happens. Triple H wants three referees for the rematch - a normal one in the ring, and then Undertaker and Austin on the outside to keep the peace! Austin seems into it! 

The New Age Outlaws rush to the ring for their tag title rematch in the main event. Shawn Michaels, who had joined the commentary team at the start of the show, waffles on during the ring announcer and I can't hear a word he says. Kane and Mankind are next, the new Tag Team champions. Our referees come out last of course because Stone Cold is the biggest star. I’m getting sick of Undertaker’s entrance now, this feels like the 4th or 5th time tonight. When Stone Cold comes out it's carrying a cooler of beers. The fans don’t really react. I think they’re burned out from having already seen him so much tonight. HBK steals one of Austin’s beers which was funny. Kane is too important to be selling for Roaddogg. The finish comes when, after a big referee bump, Roaddogg small packages Kane. Austin tries to count and Undertaker stops him. Then Kane chokeslams Roaddogg and Undertaker tries to count and Austin stops him. Kane attacks Austin. Mankind attacks Undertaker. The Nation attacks The Outlaws. DX attacks The Nation. Raw goes off the air in chaos as Austin hits stunners on everyone who comes near him, and Undertaker chokeslams everyone that comes near him.

The Nation vs. D-Generation X

The Nation is backstage waiting to be interviewed. Jason Sensation has joined the commentary team. He was the guy who played Owen Hart in the DX impressions segment last week that was cut from the network version of that show. King gets him to impersonate Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels says “who’s that? Some midcarder?” which made me laugh more than it should have. He does decent impressions of Undertaker, Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels too but his Owen one is his funniest one. He keeps making fun of his nose. Jason turns babyface, saying that he’s a huge fan and has the most respect for the WWF superstars and he’s humble and grateful to be here having fun. We then get The Nation interview where The Rock takes his sunglasses off and fires up. They each badmouth the members of DX who played them one by one. Jason does some more Owen Hart at King’s urging. Owen Hart then rushes to the ring and beats the life out of poor, skinny little Jason. He gives him a stiff slap and puts him in the sharpshooter in the ring as the fans chant for HBK to make the save (he doesn’t) Jason sells the sharpshooter really well. He looks like he’s dying. The Nation comes out and laughs about it and then DX runs out. Another wild and crazy brawl as the good guys clear the ring. 

Back from a commercial, The Rock and Owen Hart are in the ring for a tag match with Triple H and X-Pac. It actually makes me oddly happy to see Rocky and Owen palling around in the ring waiting for DX. It looks legit, almost like they don’t know they’re on camera. We learn during this that at Fully Loaded, Triple H will meet The Rock in a title-for-title 2 out of 3 falls match. As prominent as both men have been lately, both their actual titles have been mostly ignored for a couple of months now. Triple H hasn’t defended his European title since Unforgiven. HBK refuses to talk about what his relationship with DX is like these days and that he’s happy here on commentary. We also learn here that D’Lo Brown will face X-Pac at Fully Loaded as part of the wider Nation and DX feud. X-Pac pins The Rock off an X-Factor to end this tag match. That’s a huge win. The move is still not called the X-Factor but it wins the match.

The Nation and DX were all over this show with D’Lo getting involved in that opening tag title match and then both stables coming out to brawl again at the end of the night. 

Other happenings

• HBK Shawn Michaels opened the show! This IS a shocker. He gets a warm reaction from the crowd. He takes so long with his entrance that his theme music actually loops. He doesn’t address the live crowd which I think was a mistake after getting the crowd all wound up but he takes his position at the commentary desk to join King and JR for the whole show. JR does ask him about when he’ll be back in the ring but he doesn’t answer. He does strongly insist that if he ever does wrestle again it will only ever be for the WWF. I suspect that in real life at the time there were lots of rumours floating about him moving to WCW and this is to squash those. 
• Taka Michinoku teams with Too Much against Kaientai. Weird to see Too Much (heels) and especially Brian Chrisopher who has fully feuded with Taka loads teaming with babyface Taka. Taka doesn’t even have his title belt with him - he’s still the Light Heavyweight Champion. It ends in tears as his team argue and Taka dropkicks Scott Taylor into a move by Kaientai who then wins the match. Shawn Michaels gets all over Taka calling him a sneaky cheat which also feels racist. As Kaientai celebrates in the ring, Val Venis comes out onto the stage and issues an apology to Yamaguchi-San before showing his newest video which is him in bed with Mrs.Yamaguchi who seems to have warmed up to Val Venis nicely! Yamaguchi-san freaks out in the ring (understandably) Personally I think Val Venis is the heel in this whole situation but you wouldn’t know it from the fans or the commentary.

• More shots of Edge in the crowd. He has yet to have a second match after ending Jose’s career in his debut before King of the Ring.
• Returning from an ad break, we see shots of the city they’re in as JR and King do the advertising which is nothing but we can hear the live crowd chanting “asshole” in the background. When we go back inside, Sable is making her entrance so i’ve no idea who they were talking to. She joins commentary for this Marc Mero and Steve Blackman match. She promises that her bikini at Fully Loaded will be extra skimpy. That will probably sell more PPVs. King relentlessly sex pests her. JR asks about her connection to Vince again but she won’t answer. Shawn Michaels calls Jackie ``sexual chocolate” which is probably offensive. The fans aren’t into this match and are too busy shouting and whistling at Sable. Steve Blackman wins with a martial arts kick after Sable knocks Mero off the top rope, crotching him.

Raw is War - July 20th, 1998

Who’s side is The Undertaker on? 

Vince opened the show. JR and King’s audio is a LOT louder than the crowd noise and even Vince’s mic. I dunno if that’s a network issue, or if it's because this Raw was pre-taped and JR and King went back and added their audio separately. Vince shows us some clips - when Undertaker became number 1 contender while disguised as Kane and then Undertaker refusing to answer Vince when he asked if he and Kane are in cahoots. He is laying it out for us that Taker and Kane are working together in secret. That, plus Taker helping Kane win the title because he didn’t want to see him set himself on fire, plus Taker seemingly trying to help Kane and Mankind win and retain the tag titles last week. It really does seem like they’re working together. Paul Bearer has said more than once that all Kane wanted as a child was to be like his brother, and Undertaker has said that Kane has had his mind poisoned by Paul Bearer. It does seem that if not for Bearer, Kane and Undertaker might have never been at odds! It’s a surprisingly subtle and well written story for this era of wrestling. He does bring out the Undertaker to answer for himself. Vince says he’s disappointed in Undertaker and that he hurt his feelings last week. Vince now seems to be trying to get Taker on side. If he wants to be “a champion for the ages” he has to show respect for the proper people. He means himself. The audio levelling is all over the place here. The commentators are very loud throughout, but the crowd and Vince keep going up and down seemingly at random. It must be a WWE Network issue. He gets angry, demanding answers from the Deadman. He’s going to teach Undertaker a lesson “that will hurt me a lot more than it will hurt you” He has to learn and it’ll make him a better champion. He books Undertaker vs. Kane and Mankind in a handicap match for tonight’s main event. As Undertaker leaves, Vince tells him to go to hell so Undertaker chokeslams him (which JR calls a tombstone) and then gives chokeslams to Patterson, Brisco and Sgt. Slaughter when they all run in one by one. He has laid out four old men. Hilariously, as they try to help Vince out of the ring he trips and they drop him and he lands on Patterson who loses his temper and starts bickering with Brisco and even Vince.

Shortly after, we see The Undertaker just leaving the arena. His bag is packed and according to Michael Cole, all he said was “tell Austin I'll see him on Sunday” on his way out.

Stone Cold then comes out to the ring to a rowdy reaction from the live fans. Austin speculates that Taker might have left because he didn’t want to fight Kane, or might have left because he wanted to screw Vince McMahon. He just wants to know if at the Fully Loaded tag match, is it he and Taker vs. Kane and Mankind, or Austin vs. all three of them. Vince tells Stone Cold that he can take Taker’s place in the handicap main event. Stone Cold says he’s not stupid and he’ll just leave too. Vince says that he’ll strip Austin of the belt if he doesn’t wrestle the handicap match tonight. 

Interview with Paul Bearer who says that Undertaker is NOT working with Kane as Kane stands in the background not looking at him, with his head hung. Mankind is happy that it's Austin against them tonight because beating him up gives him inner peace.

The main event is the WWF Tag Team Champions, Kane and Mankind vs. WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin in a handicap match. He still has a big protective pad on his right elbow for that staph infection. He works hard and fast, brawling around the ring. The Undertaker does appear, taking his position on the apron as if this is a tag team match. Austin stuns Mankind but Kane breaks up the three count. He goes to stun Kane but Undertaker swings a chair. It's unclear who he was aiming for but he hits Kane, causing Kane and Mankind to win by DQ. Austin stuns Kane and then lays out Mankind, Kane and even The Undertaker with big swinging chair shots to close the show as the victor. 

Triple H vs. The Rock

Triple H defends his European title for the first time since Unforgiven against a mystery member of The Nation. As he walks to the ring, Triple H acts like his water bottle is a penis and spurts water at the camera. Hilarious. Triple H’s match with The Rock at Fully Loaded is slated to be for both the IC and European title but that won’t be the case if Triple H loses his title here of course. First advert for WWF Warzone for the PS1 and N64 I’ve seen. Big pop. I played that game so much. The roster in it was badly out of date by this point sadly. We find out that it will be D’Lo Brown challenging Triple H. He has The Rock at ringside with him. They talk about D’Lo’s chest protector. We’ve hit the point where he probably shouldn’t need it anymore (for the pretend injuries he got from Dan Severn over a month ago) but is still wearing it and “maybe it’s a weapon” I’m a big fan of D’Lo and of this chest protector gimmick. Chyna has gotten really popular in the last month or so. The crowd goes wild for her rocking D’Lo with a big forearm. She’s the only woman in the entire WWF that isn’t just eye candy. D’Lo is showing a lot of character in this match when he mocks Triple H and DX and barks orders at the referee. Mark Henry comes down to distract Chyna and the referee. Triple H has the match won but The Rock slides in and lays him out with a Rock Bottom to give D’Lo the win and his first championship. D’Lo Brown and The Nation have stolen the European title from Triple H. 

Lovely shot backstage of D’Lo celebrating with the rest of The Nation backstage, and then Triple H flipping out. X-Pac will challenge The Rock for the IC title tonight and Triple H promises that Rocky isn’t leaving with his gold either.

X-Pac challenging The Rock for the IC title is next. The Nation comes out first, and then DX sprint to the ring and it turns into a wild 8 man brawl. Billy Gunn is wearing little baby blue shorts and no knee pads and so looks like he’s in his boxer shorts. Odd. Back from commercial, it’s quietened down and the match starts. This is a good match. JR does take the time to talk about Dr. Death Steve Williams during this match too - he’s a big fan. (see the Brawl for All) There’s a lot of interference from Chyna and Triple H but in the end, a second referee comes out and disqualifies X-Pac. The Rock retains his title. DX and The Nation brawl again but DX holds the ring and sends them all packing. Post match, Triple H spots a lovely lady with huge fake boobs in the crowd and encourages her to expose her breasts (it's censored) . The crowd goes wild for it, obviously. She was a plant. JR does confirm that Triple H and The Rock’s match at Fully Loaded is now only for the The Rock’s IC title (obviously)

The Brawl for All (it’s already slipping down the card)

Brawl for All! Pierre of the Quebeccers vs. Dr. Death Steve Williams, who the WWF had just signed. JR puts him over STRONG and they show comments from some random football person about Steve Williams and how tough he is. He’d wrestled in Japan and had strong credentials as an amateur wrestler, and as a football coach. A minor celebrity, I’d say. He’s from Oklahoma and had a close friendship with Jim Ross in real life. This guy was supposed to be the big story of the whole tournament - the expectation was that with his history and skills, he’d win this whole thing easily and could then be a viable challenger for Stone Cold Steve Austin. If that’s what they wanted, they maybe should have scripted it? This match especially gives away that this show was pre-taped more than the weird audio levels as the editing and camera angles are really slick here, and the crowd sound like they’ve been muted so we can’t hear them booing and chanting. Dr. Death uses lots of takedowns and punches and is clearly the better fighter but the main thing I'm paying attention to is how hilariously the crowd has been sweetened. Dr. Death wins. 

Brawl For All - we see highlights of 8-Ball vs. Scorpio which apparently happened earlier before the show went live. They’re already trying to find ways to cut down on how much screen time this terrible idea is getting.

Other Happenings

• We see a replay of Val Venis’ sex tape with Yamaguchi-san’s wife. Kaientai is all at ringside and he berates his poor wife (with his tie around his head cos drunk Japanese businessman stereotype I guess?) Yamaguchi-san is the heel here but he’s honestly fair enough to be raging. His wife is the villain here. Her name is Yoko apparently. He makes her kneel in the ring. He’s going to make her crawl around and spank her with a paddle as punishment for what he did to him. Maybe quite extreme but again, he’s right to be furious. Val Venis runs in, grabs the paddle and makes the save, running off Kaientai and rescuing Yamaguchi-san’s wife.
• DOA comes out next and one of the twins is facing Animal of the LOD. Animal comes out without Hawk and doesn’t seem to realise until he gets to the ring that Hawk isn’t with him. DOA and Paul Ellering jump Animal and try to run him over with one of their motorbikes but Hawk does finally arrive to make the save before that can happen. 
• Double J is out to wrestle…are you kidding? Steve Blackman AGAIN. They even recap the big moments from the past three months. Blackman sees that Jeff has Southern Justice, so he goes backstage and re-emerges with Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn who appear to be friends now. Or at least both friends with Blackman I guess? It’s mentioned during this that Shamrock is facing Owen Hart at Fully Loaded inside the Hart Family Dungeon, and that Dan Severn will be the special referee for that. Blackman wins this.
• Faarooq vs. Owen Hart. “Owen is a nugget” chant which sticks with him for the rest of his career. It came from the segment where DX impersonates The Nation that was edited out of the July 6th Raw due to the black face. He even tells the fans to stop chanting it on the house mic. He wins clean with the sharpshooter. Shamrock runs in and chases him through the crowd.
• Marc Mero and Jackie are out next. JR says that the bikini contest at Fully Loaded “may get physical” The audio issues on the network are horrific here. I can’t hear a word Jackie is saying. King says “you go girl” which feels racist. She does offer to let Sable forfeit because she can’t possibly win. Sable comes out in a big loose fitting floaty gingham dress. More “skank” and “bitch” back and forth. Jackie strips her dress off and Sable is in black lingerie and heels. The crowd goes wild and so did King on commentary. Edge picks this moment to slide into the ring and lay out Marc Mero with the Downward Spiral (self-Rock bottom) and leaves through the crowd. 
• Shawn Michaels was on commentary for the second hour of Raw. He’s actually quite good fun on commentary, I’d be happy if this became a common thing (it doesn’t)