Raw is War - April 30th, 2001

Continued Dominance

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley arrives at the arena solo. Michael Cole asks what happened to her face - she has a huge bruise from Kane’s big boot last night at Backlash. She says that Kane will pay for what he did but she also plans on making Test pay for what he did last night too (helping her brother Shane win his Last Man Standing match with Big Show). He goes to find Test and tells him that he is NOT part of their family and he’ll pay for what he did by facing Triple H tonight where Vince has ordered him to “be taken out”. Test is unintimidated. 

In the trainer room, Kane’s arm gets wrapped and bandaged up and we get a good look at how hideously bruised and discoloured it is. I’d imagine that’s make-up but it certainly looks fantastic.

Mr. McMahon and his daughter Stephanie make their way down to the ring together. Vince addresses Test helping Shane last night and announces the match with Triple H tonight like it’s the first time we’ve heard it making me wonder what the point in the Stephanie backstage segments were. He then shows Kane kicking Steph in the face last night at Backlash and causing her large bruise and says that since Stone Cold is a fighting champion he’ll defend the title tonight against Kane. JR announced that earlier too and he and Heyman have speculated all show long that he picked Kane to defend the title against because he’s already so badly injured. Stephanie then gives a big introduction for the new WWF Tag Team Champions, the WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Intercontinental Champion Triple H. They come out together to Mr. McMahon’s music as Heyman really hammers home how big of a sign that is. Austin really has sold out. Before any of them can speak, Linda McMahon’s music plays and everyone feigns confusion. Linda is live at WWF New York and on the titantron.

She says that since they’re targeting the injured Kane she’s going to give Kane the night off and Austin can defend the title against the perfectly healthy Undertaker instead. The McMahon regime is very upset by the news. After a commercial break, Austin tells Vince that he better think of something.

Lillian Garcia interviews The Undertaker. He points out that it took Austin, Triple H “that bitch” and McMahon to beat a one armed man at Backlash. Kane’s arm will heal and he knows his brother will make them pay. He says that if you screw with him or his family, he’s going to hurt you. He is hell bent on making Austin hurt tonight. 

Triple H faces Test in a non-title match. The Game does look awesome with both his title belts. I still kind of miss his My Time theme song though. Triple H gets himself disqualified quickly with a brutal chair shot to the head and several to the back. He hammers Test violently into the ring post and ring steps and finishes with an uncharacteristic powerbomb off the ring steps through the announce table! Triple H doesn’t get long to celebrate as Kane hobbles to the ring holding his bad arm tight to his body and fighting Triple H and sending him running.

Kane chases after him and after a commercial break Triple H is furious in McMahon’s office and promises that after tonight neither Kane or Undertaker will stick their noses in his business ever again.

In the main event, The Undertaker challenges Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship. I’ve commented on this before but its amazing just how much of Austin’s entire run as WWF Champion from 1998, 1999 and now in 2001 involved The Undertaker and/or Kane. Austin’s music plays but he doesn’t come out. Eventually we cut to the backstage to see Austin and Triple H violently assaulting Kane with trash cans and steel chairs. They beat the life out of him until Undertaker gets backstage to save him. He slams Triple H into a wall and brawls with Stone Cold, fighting with him out onto the stage in the arena. Taker has the advantage and beats Austin all the way back to the ring. The match hasn’t started but for some reason referee Earl Hebner is there hovering around and getting in the way and on camera as much as humanly possible - his normal MO. They finally fight into the ring and the bell rings and we officially have a WWF title match. The match lasts no time until Triple H arrives with a sledgehammer. Undertaker gets a low blow and then a disgusting sledgehammer shot to the back of the head while he was on his knees - something that would have killed him in real life. Kane comes down to make the save but with one arm and having already taken a beating he’s no help and Austin catches him with a stiff running chair shot and for what feels like the 20th time in the past month, Austin and Triple H give Kane a brutal steel chair assault, finishing by posting his arm across the ring steps and hammering it with chair shot after chair shot. Undertaker can barely move in the ring after basically being executed with that sledgehammer shot. Raw ends with Undertaker and Kane laying side by side outside the ring barely moving having absorbed roughly 2.8 million chair shots each. 

Stolen Valor 

The show opens with Kurt Angle who lost the Ultimate Submission match last night in sudden death overtime. He gives praise to Chris Benoit for being so tough but asks how he can live with himself? He calls him a cheater and a liar and shows footage from the finish of the match last night. Angle’s point is that because Benoit tapped out seconds after the official time limit expired, Kurt should have won. In the Olympics, if a match goes to overtime then the overtime begins immediately after the buzzer. Angle is the rightful winner! He has a point but that’s not the WWF rules I’m afraid Kurt. He says that the one thing no one - not even Benoit - can take from him is his gold medal. That makes him a hero, an immortal and the best in the world. That brings Chris Benoit out to confront Angle. He continues to tell Benoit that he stole the match last night, and taunts him with the gold medal which he’ll never have. Benoit goads Angle about having lost last night and that’s too much for Kurt to handle. He tackles Benoit and they scramble for their respective submission moves. Benoit drops Kurt with a pair of German suplexes and then gives him one up and over the top rope where Kurt takes a bump on the back of his head. While he’s down on the outside, Benoit steals Kurt Angle’s Olympic medals and leaves!

After the break Kurt runs into Smackdown’s announce team - Tazz and Michael Cole. Tazz doesn’t tell Angle that Benoit has left the building and lets him look in vain a little longer, calling him a jackass. Who knew Tazz and Cole had become so friendly? 

Kurt Angle goes and demands Edge and Christian help him get his Gold medals back. They’re more focused on their failed attempts to become European champion and actually get a little short with the Olympic hero. Trouble in paradise between the friends.

Chyna Chases Competition 

Commissioner Regal tells Trish that she has a non-title match with Women’s Champion Chyna tonight. It's apparently because she impressed when she defeated Ivory last week but really this is more of Mr. McMahon punishing Trish for turning on him back at Wrestlemania.

Trish faces WWF Women’s Champion Chyna in a non-title match. Trish was diligently working to become a better in-ring worker behind the scenes but hasn’t had much of a chance to show it off on TV yet. The fans are still pervy to her - the WWF has trained the fans to see women as only sex objects and it’ll take years to retrain them. Chyna is in the same bright purple ring gear she was wearing at Wrestlemania. Chyna easily dominates Trish with a smile on her face and it looks like Mr. McMahon got what he wanted when Chyna beat her with a powerbomb. Chyna doesn’t look like she broke a sweat. After the match, Chyna gets on the mic and says that while she respects all of the women on the roster she doesn’t feel like she has much competition. That brings out former WWF women’s champion Lita, who also has a mic. Lita gives Chyna praise for being an inspiration and a trailblazer but says she can be her competition and challenges her to a WWF Women’s title match. Chyna calls Lita a bad girl and tells her to “come and get her spanking”. Lita laughs it off and says she’s serious and thankfully Chyna changes tone and says that she’s serious too. There’s some playful teasing here but it's all in good humour. It’s quite an odd promo honestly. It was made official on WWF.com after this show aired and announced on the following Smackdown that Chyna will defend the title against Lita at Judgment Day. 

Other Happenings

• Edge (with Christian) challenges Matt Hardy for the European Championship. Matt does have Jeff with him tonight too. These two teams are still feuding after all this time but at least it's over a singles title now and not the Tag Titles so it’s a little bit new. Edge actually has the match won with a Spear but as the referee counts, Jeff throws Christian into the ring and he bumps into the referee to stop the count. Matt capitalises with a Twist of Fate to win and retain the title.
• Commissioner Regal calls Johnathan Coachman to his office and informs him that while he’s done with Chris Jericho he still deserves to be punished for putting the “Duchess” in the Walls of Jericho last night so puts him in a Hardcore championship match with Rhyno later.

• Spike Dudley (with Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) faces X-Factor’s X-Pac (with Albert and Justin Credible). X-Factor won last night at Backlash but The Dudleyz had the last laugh with a 3D through a table on X-Pac. Spike puts up a good fight but X-Pac counters a Dudley Dog and plants Spike with an X-Factor to win the match. It's confusing that his finisher has the same name as his stable. 
• Crash Holly is playing poker with the APA, pounding beers and losing a lot of money to him. I feel like we’ve seen a lot of variations of this segment with Crash and the APA becoming friends before. Hardcore Holly busts in and after telling off his cousin for being drunk and wasting time throws a beer in Bradshaw’s face and challenges them to a tag team match later. Hardcore and his very drunk acting cousin Crash do take on the APA. Crash was drowning his sorrows as last night on Sunday Night Heat he lost the Light Heavyweight title to newcomer Jerry Lynn. This is basically a handicap match as Crash is pretty useless. Hardcore loses and then blames Crash and slaps him around after the match. I feel like we’ve seen this story before too.
• William Regal goes down to ringside and joins commentary to watch Chris Jericho challenge for the Hardcore title. Rhyno is really building a bit of a following and there’s some Rhyno signs in the crowd. He’s been booked pretty strongly since his debut! This is another really good hardcore match and gets very physical. Jericho seems to have the match and championship in hand until Rhyno’s buddies Edge and Christian run down and distract Y2J leading to a Gore and a victory for Rhyno. Edge and Christian had a busy night. Post match, Regal tries to jump Jericho but he stops him and beats him with a trash can over and over and over until a swarm of referees rescue the Commissioner and the trash can has fallen apart at the seams (which is probably quite dangerous - sharp edges!)

Smackdown! - May 3rd, 2001

Undertaker gets some payback

Smackdown opens with Undertaker carrying a chain. It’s been made official that Austin will defend the WWF title against the American Badass at Judgment Day. Kane isn’t here tonight due to his arm injury, and Michael Cole shows us exclusive footage shot after Raw went off the air of Stone Cold attacking Undertaker’s treasured motorbike with a steel chair and damaging it. He says he’ll be proud to take the title from Austin at Judgment Day but he’s focused on tonight and making the two “phony tough guys” pay. He also gives a nice little tribute to Kane saying he doesn’t sweat a broken arm and he’ll make both of them pay himself when he returns. They beep him saying “asses” (see my comments about the opening video package for why I’m mentioning that) and the chain carrying Undertaker calls them both out.

Mr. McMahon comes out onto the stage instead with a big smile Vince taunts him about Kane not being there and gives him a whole “who the hell do you think you are?” speech. He books Undertaker tonight against someone who “has a personal score to settle with him” and tells him to leave, so Taker dares him to come down and make him. That’s where the segment just ends. I haven’t mentioned it before, or not for a long time at least, but Vince has been trying very hard for well over a year now to get “in…that…very…ring” over as his catchphrase. He says it a LOT, and Stephanie, Shane and Linda have all said it too, usually in reference to Vince like its his “thing”. The fans never react to it, and its probably the kind of thing you only notice while watching about 7 of these shows back to back like I’m doing.

Triple H defends the Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy, who he has some recent history with involving that title. Stone Cole comes out to join commentary before the match and spends it bickering with Cole and Tazz and does his best to explain his heel turn again. He sold his soul to be WWF Champion again and he’s happier than he’s ever been in his life. That’s the bottom line, I guess. The Undertaker comes through the crowd and attacks Austin, choking him with the chain and chasing him backstage. The distraction allows Jeff some offence on Triple H but it’s not enough and The Game plants him with a Pedigree to retain the title before rushing off to help Stone Cold handle Undertaker. Backstage, Austin tries to jump Taker from behind but the Deadman fights back and throws Austin through a window! A team of security arrives to lead the Undertaker away but the damage has been done! After a commercial break, Austin has some blood around his eye and is saying he has something in there, so the medical staff say he needs to go to the hospital.

With Austin laying on a stretcher and being dramatic about his eye injury, loudly complaining “I don’t deserve this!” over and over, he’s wheeled through the back to an ambulance in the parking lot. Triple H, Vince and Stephanie are all with him and they’re all being comically dramatic about the injury. Triple H goes with him in the ambulance. “I don’t deserve this, I didn’t do nothing!” He also says “My name is Stone Cold Steve Austin” over and over. Before the ambulance leaves, Undertaker emerges from the driver's seat! “Hello boys!” He beats up Triple H and with Stone Cold strapped to the stretcher and helpless he peppers him with punches too! Security scrambles to get him away but the Deadman has gotten in another well deserved retaliation against the Two-Man Power Trip. This whole segment was brilliant.

Debra is next shown arriving at the arena with presumably no idea what’s happened to her husband so far tonight! Vince and Stephanie fill her in, but encourage her to go and speak to Undertaker and hear it from him. He tells her to calm down and stay out of it so she slaps him. He tells her that she's turning into Stone Cold herself.

Jonathan Coachman tries to get a medical update on Stone Cold from Triple H who is hilariously walking around the hospital in his ring gear. He berates Coach about how serious Austin’s condition is and a doctor asks The Game to keep the noise down so he dares him to call “all of the police”.

Mr. McMahon and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley head down to the ring to address the Undertaker and all that has gone on tonight. Maybe he’ll tell us who Undertaker’s opponent is tonight too? Affer berating the fans for cheering his daughter getting kicked in the face by Kane at Backlash and cheering for Austin being thrown through a window earlier, The Undertaker comes out. He doesn’t speak, he just punches Vince in the face which seemingly knocks him out cold. He then backs a cowering Stephanie into the corner and tells her to let “daddy” know that the Undertaker has taken back his yard. That was pretty cool, Undertaker is having a good night!

Stone Cold is shown arriving back at the arena with a big bandage on his eye. He looks very angry and is alone. You’d have to assume if he’s back then so is Triple H but when he gets back to Vince and Stephanie’s office he tells them that Triple H got himself arrested. That’s funny. “My name is Stone Cold Steve Austin, I am the WWF Champion and I don’t deserve this!” He grabs a steel chair and goes off hunting for The Undertaker. 

Smackdown must have been running short on content this week as before the main event they spend 5 minutes recapping everything Undertaker has done tonight so far, showing the full clips rather than just highlights. In McMahon’s office, he gives Undertaker’s mystery opponent a pep talk and tells him not to forget what Undertaker has done to him and to make him pay. Undertaker rides out to the ring on his motorbike with the steel chain still hanging around his neck. That’s been a good weapon for him tonight. His opponent is the returning Rikishi! He certainly does have history with Undertaker - he threw him off Hell in a Cell in December.

Rikishi was injured during a match with Undertaker and Kane in February. He has a relationship with Triple H but that was ironically built off the plan to run over Stone Cold so it’ll be interesting to see how he meshes with the new heel Stone Cold - the man he ran over. The commentators don’t really make mention of it but I guess if the Rattlesnake forgives Triple H then he probably forgives Rikishi. This is bad and forth but with Undertaker dominating and planting Rikish with a chokeslam, the one-eyed WWF Champion walks down to the ring with a steel chair. Undertaker grabs his chain and dares the Rattlesnake to come and fight him. He charges the ring and drops the chair in the process so Undertaker grabs it and smashes Rikishi in the head with it before hammering the big man over and over - Austin style - bending it on Rikishi’s body.  Smackdown ends with Undertaker standing over Rikishi with a chair and Austin on the ramp scowling at his next challenger. 

Benoit taunts Angle

Kurt Angle walks around demanding to know where Chris Benoit is, who stole his Olympic medals on Raw. He tells the makeup lady that if she sees Benoit she’s to come and tell him even if it's in the middle of his match! Angle’s opponent tonight is Hardcore Holly who I assumed was a heel now after he beat up his cousin Crash (again) on Raw. Benoit’s music plays mid-match and he comes out to taunt Angle with his own medals, distracting him. Kurt tries to leave the match to go and get the medals instead but Hardcore won’t let it happen and keeps him in the match. Angle gets the ankle lock but Benoit gets on the mic and taunts him about the medals and the distraction allows Holly to roll up the Olympian and win the match. Kurt doesn’t even care and just leaves to chase after Benoit instead. I’ll talk a lot more about the medals themselves at Judgment Day. 

A Smackdown debut

Grandmaster Sexay faces newcomer Jerry Lynn for the Light Heavyweight Championship. Lynn is another former ECW talent and a former ECW World Champion. That company closed in January but officially ceased to be in April. Paul Heyman always had a strong friendship with Vince McMahon so since late 1999 we’ve seen most of ECW’s top stars show up in the WWF and even more since ECW closed its doors. The match begins and Lynn wrestles for a few minutes with the title belt still around his waist which is unique. Lynn shows some personality, putting on Sexay’s goggles to taunt him and then winning with a roll up and holding the ropes for the advantage. Tazz is mystified by his actions as he always knew Lynn as a stand up guy who’d never cheat, it seems.

Other Happenings

• During Smackdown’s opening video recapping Raw, I'm struck by how edited it is. They mute JR calling Undertaker a “badass” and don’t show the sledgehammer blow or any of the chair shots. They did the same thing previously with chair shots, and have started putting a black and white filter on when someone bleeds. This is all in response to the Parents Television Council targeting the WWF and Smackdown in particular which was on network TV (the American version of terrestrial) and is the WWF trying to keep their sponsors happy by massively toning things down on Smackdown as compared to Raw. Another little production thing on this show that I can’t find another spot to mention - Michael Cole is BADLY losing his voice on this show. 
• Edge and Christian team up with the Hardcore Champion, their buddy Rhyno to face the team of European Champion Matt Hardy (with Lita) and Chris Jericho in a 2 on 3 handicap match. This is Commissioner Regal continuing to punish Chris Jericho. I really thought their feud was over. Eddie Guerrero comes down to the ring presumably to cost Matt Hardy the match as he beat him for the European title last night but bizarrely he hangs Edge up on the top rope and actually helps Matt and Y2J pick up the victory! What are Latino Heat’s motives? 

• X-Pac (with Justin Credible and Albert) faces Raven. Tazz talks a lot about Raven’s growing popularity which I agree with. Despite Credible and Albert’s distractions Raven spikes X-Pac with a DDT to win the match in a very rare clean loss for the usually super-protected X-Pac. Albert flattens him with a Baldo-Bomb afterwards (his two-handed choke into a spinebuster move).

(Note: This next Raw takes place after the UK Exclusive PPV Insurrextion which I’ve also covered so go and read that before picking the Preview back up here!)

Raw is War - May 7th, 2001

A Stinky Face Turn

Raw opens with a pretty good recap of the events of Smackdown so here that is to make up for how few video packages I got from Insurrextion (which you’ve gone and read right? Here’s the updated Raw intro too!). JR opens the show telling us that due to the chaotic rivalry between Austin and Undertaker, Mr. McMahon has ordered a 24 hour cooling off period and Undertaker is not here tonight.

In the arena, the show opens with Mick Foley. They’re in Long Island so he’s happy to be in his hometown. He promotes his book (Foley is Good, it’s not as good as the first book but well worth a read) and has some fun talking about Undertaker kicking Austin’s ass on Smackdown. He says that as a person who probably knows the most about being “made famous” by the Undertaker (when he threw him off the Hell in a Cell) he says it's not that bad. As Mick rambles, Vince and Stephanie are shown arriving on the titantron where Commissioner Regal meets them and tells them Mick Foley is in the ring, so the three of them rush out to confront him. I think there was a bit of a timing issue as Mick was left filling time with nothing to say for a long longer than you’d expect until McMahon’s music finally hit. A fan rushes the ring to try and attack Vince and is tackled by security before he gets there thankfully. Vince spends a couple of minutes recapping everything that's happened since Wrestlemania, presumably for people who haven’t been watching the show? He does at least tell us that Triple H isn’t here tonight due to “an illness”. He then says he’s going to get someone to throw Mick out of the arena and brings out his henchmen from Smackdown, the returning Rikishi.

Mick stops Rikishi and asks him to stop and think about it - he points out that Vince is using him. He got beat up on Smackdown because of him, and he deserves better than to be a pawn for McMahon and Regal. William cuts him off and the Commissioner and former Commissioner argue. Stephanie chimes in and they all try to persuade Rikishi to listen to reason. She screaches and in her shrill voice (which she puts on, that's not her real voice) demands Rikishi give Foley a stinkface. He continues to hesitate so Stephanie slaps him. Rikishi has had enough and drops Regal with a superkick! Vince and Stephanie run away and that leaves Rikishi - a babyface again which seems impossible after all he did at the end of 2000 - in the ring with Mick Foley. Mick asks Rikishi’s music to play. Not his new boring heel music, but his old music. The fun music. Long Island wants to see the big man dance like old times! It takes a little coaxing but Rikishi does indeed dance and the fans love it. Vince stops the party and says he’s going to have the police throw Foley out of the building and books Rikishi against Stone Cold Steve Austin (in a non-title match). 

Live from the WWF’s TV studios at their HQ, Undertaker is standing by for a sit down interview. He tells Stone Cold that he saw fear in his eyes and he should be afraid too. It’s not much of a promo, but he gives Austin credit for how good he is but promises to skin the rattlesnake and turn him into boots at Judgement Day. 

Just before the main event, Mick Foley returns. He was kicked out by the McMahons earlier but he’s bought a ticket and he takes a seat behind JR and Paul Heyman, even handing them signed copies of his new book! 

In the McMahon coalition office, Vince praises Debra for slapping Undertaker on Smackdown and then goes to get his own coffee instead of making her do it for him. Vince, Austin and Stephanie are working hard to get Debra on-side and onboard with her husband's heel turn. 

Jonathan Coachman interviews Stone Cold who is fired up and pissed off. He says Undertaker isn’t here because he’s a coward and is lying about being banned from the building by Vince McMahon, and says that Rikishi dances like a jackass. He couldn’t get the job done in a car and he won’t get the job done tonight. The whole “running him over” thing muddies the water a little with who is really the good guy and bad guy in tonight’s main event but let's try not to overthink it. 

Rikishi enters to his original babyface music and that makes the character change official. The fans are quiet for him - I don’t think he’ll ever recapture his original popularity after his hard heel turn in October. It’s only been about 6 months since he was trying to murder The Rock with a sledgehammer. After Rikishi is already in the ring, Vince and Stephanie come out and after a confrontation with Mick Foley, stay at ringside to watch the main event. Given the interactions with The Rock just before he left and Mick Foley being back on TV and at odds with McMahon and Austin, at the time people were excited that this might lead to Austin and Triple H vs. The Rock n’ Sock Connection but sadly that doesn’t happen. Great fantasy booking though right?

Rikishi uses his size to throw Austin around who bumps his ass off to make Rikishi looks good. Thanks to a distraction from Vince and a low blow, the WWF Champion controls but Rikishi continues to fight back and dominate, trying multiple times for the ultimate insult - a Stink Face to the WWF Champion, something he promised earlier tonight. Austin tries to use a chair but it backfires and Rikishi leg drops him across the back of the head as he slides back into the ring. Vince gets in to save Austin and takes a superkick and a leg drop and Rikishi gets a close near fall by sitting on the Rattlesnake. He almost has a Banzai drop but gets distracted wanting to give Stephanie a Stink Face. Austin attacks him from behind but it crushes Stephanie by mistake. Austin gives Rikishi a Stone Cold Stunner to win the match but when he goes to get a steel chair, Mick Foley stops him! The former commissioner brawls with Austin but Rikishi gets hold of the chair and with Foley holding Austin at bay with a steel chair, Rikishi gives the “Billion Dollar Princess” a Stink Face! Raw ends with the McMahons and Austin in shambles. 

Cat and mouse

Backstage as Edge and Christian mock Eddie Guerrero (who cost them a match and helped out Matt Hardy on Smackdown), Kurt Angle approaches and apologies for snapping at them and asks them to help him get his Gold medals back from Chris Benoit. They agree but after he leaves say it's mostly just so he’ll shut up about them.

Kurt Angle faces the APA’s Bradshaw. During Bradshaw’s entrance, they recap the events between him, Big Show and Test at Insurrextion. I’m a little surprised they mentioned it but I suppose it makes Bradshaw look like a threat to Kurt Angle. As Kurt locks in the ankle lock, Chris Benoit’s music plays and he appears on the titantron. He’s at WWF New York trying to pay for his meal with Kurt’s gold medal. Angle is distracted and walks right into a clothesline from hell and Bradshaw pins a former WWF Champion for the second time in four days. Kurt barely sells it and gets out of the ring rushing off to confront Benoit. Tonight’s Raw is in Long Island New York so it's actually not a huge drive to get to WWF New York at Times Square before the show ends. He steals someone’s car in the parking lot and takes off. 

Much later in the show, Benoit arrives at the arena wearing Kurt’s Olympic medals around his neck. He heads down to the ring as Kurt arrives at WWF New York having just missed each other. With Angle on the titantron, Chris tells him that he can try to take the medals back at Judgment Day, a challenge which Angle accepts. Benoit then stuffs the medals down the front of his trousers for safe keeping. After a commercial, Benoit is confronted by Edge and Christian backstage who want to take the medals back for Kurt. He refuses and they get into a fight, brawling into the locker room. Chris Jericho is there and he helps out Benoit and they fight off Edge and Christian together.

End of a War

William Regal faces Chris Jericho in a steel cage match in what is hopefully the end of this feud which has been ongoing since Regal became Commissioner in February! Before the match Regal promises Rikishi payback for what he did earlier tonight too. This is also decent but too short to be great. The highlight is Regal’s comedy selling from a low blow. Jericho climbs up and over and as Regal tries to get out of the door, Jericho kicks it shut and slams it on Regal’s head on his way to the floor for the victory and to come out on top of this long standing feud. 

Other Happenings

• Backstage in the locker room, Matt, Jeff and Lita are with Eddie Guerrero. They’re being forced to team up against Edge, Christian and Rhyno tonight. Matt doesn’t trust Eddie. He tries to explain himself - he helped them win their match on Smackdown, and maybe he wants to see Lita beat his former girlfriend Chyna at Judgment Day and so wants to be friends with them on that basis. He tells them he’ll lead by example. Out in the ring, Edge, Christian and Hardcore Champion Rhyno have already made their entrance. Eddie does hold up his end in this short but sweet six man tag as Rhyno tries to give Lita a Gore, Latino Heat gets in the way and takes the bullet for her. They lose the match but Eddie did rescue Lita and she and Matt seem shaken up by their close call.

• Triple H and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley were on Sunday Night Heat last night. I don’t mention Sunday Night Heat that often but it was on MTV in this era and they’d clearly made some big promises regarding ratings as its heavily promoted, broadcast from WWF New York, always has big name guests and often has big news grabbing headlines like Backlash’s main event being announced on there. This is Heat’s Third phase as it was a big deal when it launched, became mostly filler when Smackdown launched but is getting another massive push as an A show due to the arrangement with MTV. That doesn’t last long and it’ll soon enter its fourth and final phase - back to being filler that was hardly ever mentioned up until it’s final episode in 2006. 
• Jerry Lynn defends the Light Heavyweight Championship against Crash Holly and Grandmaster Sexay and Taka Michinoku in a fatal four match match. This is pretty cool. This is Lynn’s first appearance on Raw after winning the title on Sunday Night Heat and then retaining it last week on Smackdown. This is too short to be good and Lynn retains wth a DDT on Crash Holly before giving him a few more kicks after the bell. It’s lovely to see the Light Heavyweight title being treated like “a thing” again for a while. I’ve spoken about the title and this division a few times and always thought it could be something great. We’ll see how long this era lasts.
• WWF Women’s Champion Chyna joins commentary for the next match which is her Judgment Day opponent Lita taking on Molly Holly. Chyna on commentary sets back the women’s division a couple of years by talking almost exclusively about spanking and wanting to spank Lita and how much she enjoys being spanked. Her and Heyman say “spank” about 46 times during this short match. Paul is at least funny as he flirts with Chyna. He plays the pervert a lot less annoyingly than Jerry Lawler ever did. Lita wins the short match with a moonsault and then Chyna gets into the ring and raises Lita’s arm. She goes to help Molly up too as they’re all babyfaces so Lita playfully spanks Chyna. They all laugh it off. I am…underwhelmed. 

• X-Factor face Bubba, D-Von and Spike Dudley in a six man table match. Paul Heyman has mentioned this match a few times tonight and continually told us that this is the END of this rivalry and whoever wins this match is the ultimate winner of the feud. It settles in as a normal six man tag with tagging in and out of the match despite the no disqualification rules and only being able to end via table break. Bubba avoids a Bronco Buster and he and D-Von follow up with a Wazzup on X-Pac. In an awesome spot as Bubba and D-Von carry a table, Albert gives it a bicycle kick which snaps the table in two and knocks them both down. That doesn’t count as a finish of course. Albert sets up a table on the outside and sets his sights on Spike but Raven arrives with a kendo stick to Albert’s back and Spike follows up with a Dudley Dog running up the ropes and up and over the top rope driving Albert through the table on the outside. A great finish and thanks to Raven, The Dudleyz win this feud. Raven’s motives presumably being X-Factor beating him up on Smackdown for daring to pin X-Pac. 

Smackdown! - May 10th, 2001

Squatter’s Rights

Undertaker is shown arriving at the arena where he’s stopped by Mr. McMahon. Vince asks him to promise that he and Austin don’t fight and ruin the show again. He tells him that if he gets physical with Austin he “might” lose his title shot at Judgment Day. He doesn’t seem to take this advice as after asking someone where he can find Austin he pulls out his metal chain and wraps it around his neck saying he has a present for Stone Cold.

After the next match, Taker bursts into Austin’s locker room looking for him but the Rattlesnake isn’t there so the Deadman just sits down and decides to wait on him. He’ll certainly be back - both of his title belts are still there. Elsewhere, Austin and Debra are in Vince’s office and he’s furious. He needs Undertaker to get away from his stuff! He rants about how Taker needs his chain and if he didn’t have it, he’d go in there and take him out! The Deadman makes himself at home, helping himself to Austin’s chewing tobacco (an utterly repulsive habit) and takes his beer delivery and cracks one open.

Austin and Vince are watching on a monitor and trying to think of a plan. This was all spread out over multiple short backstage segments. Vince’s idea is that they should send Debra in to get Stone Cold’s stuff - Undertaker would never hurt a woman! Austin seems against the idea at first but ultimately cares more about his stuff than he cares about Debra’s well being and demands she goes and does it. 

Debra does as she's asked and calmly asks Undertaker to leave the dressing room and let her husband get his stuff back. Taker refuses and gives her a message to take back to Steve and spits his chewing tobacco onto her white jacket! That’s beyond rank. Taker sits back down and admires Austin’s WWF title belt. 

Debra goes back to her husband and Vince to show off what Undertaker did to her jacket. Austin is outraged and is pretty funny berating Vince for it after previously loving the idea to send her in there. His heel turn isn’t quite getting the crowd reactions they wanted but there’s no denying he’s awesome at playing the part and is clearly enjoying this gimmick change. Vince’s plan is to send William Regal in to recover Stone Cold’s stuff. “He’ll listen to reason and you’re a reasonable man”. Regal is unconvinced but does as he’s told.

William Regal goes to confront Undertaker who by now has gone through several of Austin’s beers. Taker dumps his cup of tobacco spit over Regal’s head which is the worst thing he’s ever done. I gagged. In the final one of these backstage segments, Undertaker has gotten bored of waiting for Austin to be a man and come and confront him so he puts on one of Austin’s waistcoats he wears for his entrance, picks up the WWF title belt and decides to go and find him instead. 

No main event match tonight as Undertaker rides his motorbike out to the ring wearing one of Stone Cold’s ring jackets and his WWF title belt, chain around his neck to call out Stone Cold Steve Austin. He says that tonight wasn’t about the WWF title or Judgment Day, it was about seeing if Austin is man enough to come and take his stuff back. He’s proven he wasn’t so now he wants to see if he’s man enough to come out and get his title belt back. Vince McMahon comes out instead and says Austin is more man than Taker and he doesn’t need a weapon. He says Stone Cold is a real man, and tells Taker to take the chain off and drop it out of the ring so Stone Cold can fight him fair and square. Taker is unbothered and is happy to drop the chain out of the ring - he doesn’t need it, and will still kick Austin’s ass. Finally Stone Cold does come out but predictably its a setup as Austin fights with Taker, Vince hits him with a steel chair in the back. Undertaker shrugs it off and plants Vince with a chokeslam but its enough time for Steve to get the chair and get in a shot.

He’s about to give Undertaker another steel chair beat down until Kane’s pyro explodes! The big red machine is back, with a cast on his left arm. I’m not sure the cast placement quite matches where his arm injury was previously but whatever, he’s here to save his brother. They chase Austin around the ring who has to scramble over the announce desk to escape through the crowd. Smackdown ends with the Brothers of Destruction standing tall.

Attempted Stink Face Revenge

Jonathan Coachman interviews Triple H, who’ll face Rikishi tonight. They did have a business relationship in the past but he’s going to end Rikishi for giving his wife a Stink Face on Raw.

Triple H vs. Rikishi in a non-title match. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley is with her husband and I’d be remiss if I didn't mention how good she looks in her little blue shorts on this episode of Smackdown. I’m only human. Before Rikishi makes his entrance, Stephanie gives a graphic and deeply unflattering description of the Stink Face and Rikishi’s ass. This is all Vince McMahon’s writing I’m sure - he famously has a really low brow sense of humour. Any time you see toilet humour in WWF or WWE, that’s ALL Vince. This is a back and forth match. Rikishi uses a superkick and has the match won but Stephanie distracts the referee so theres no count. Triple H gets himself disqualified with a stiff chair shot to the head and after a Pedigree, holds the big Samoan in place for Stephanie to slap.

Test who still has taped ribs from the beating Triple H gave him last week, comes down for a save and then that brings out Big Show who Test cost his Last Man Standing match at Backlash. Its chaotic and with Triple H down and Big Show busy with Test Stephanie almost gets a Stink Face again but Triple H saves her. The McMahon-Helmsleys make their getaway but thanks to a Test big boot, Big Show gets the Stink Face tonight! Out in the parking lot, Stephanie insists that she and Triple H leave the building and so they do in their limo.

Canadian Warfare

Chris Jericho faces Christian in the opening match. This comes out of Jericho saving Benoit from a two on one attack backstage on Raw, but he had a couple of run-ins with Edge, Christian and Rhyno the week before that too. Benoit and Edge are both at ringside providing backup, and are scheduled to face each other later too. After some interference and distractions by Benoit and Edge who are fighting on the outside, Christian rolls up Y2J and picks up a big victory. Somewhat of an upset for a tag team wrestler to defeat an established singles guy.

Edge (with Christian) faces Chris Benoit (with Chris Jericho) later in the show. Benoit has the match won with a diving headbutt but Christian pulls him out of the ring to break the count. Jericho attacks and he and Christian brawl up the ramp leaving Benoit and Edge in the ring. Benoit gets Edge in the Crossface and wins via submission but there's no referee to call it - he was knocked down in the brawl. Jericho is busy putting Christian in the Walls of Jericho on the ramp so Kurt Angle slips into the ring and plants Benoit with an Olympic slam. The referee recovers and Edge pins Chris Benoit. Two big singles victories for Edge and Christian tonight! 

Other Happenings

• Paul Heyman is handling commentary tonight with Michael Cole instead of Tazz. That’s good, I can’t get enough Heyman commentary. It must have been a last minute change as the name plate still says Tazz, but Heyman gives a shout out to Tazz who’s handling some “family matters” and he and Cole both send their love to the human suplex machine. This show was filmed around a week after his son, future AEW wrestler Hook’s second birthday which probably isn’t a coincidence. 
• Raven faces X-Factor’s Albert, with X-Pac and Justin Credible on commentary. They talk a lot about how X-Pac has always been a follower before but now he’s a leader. He puts over Credible and Albert a lot. This is all good for this group and their future prospects. Raven did beat X-Pac last week and cost them the Tables match with The Dudleyz on Raw so Albert is motivated to hurt Raven. He puts a good effort up but a big Baldo Bomb from the giant Albert wins it. For fans of keeping track of this kind of thing, they didn’t play Uncle Kracker for their entrance, but do play it when Albert wins. 

• Rhyno defends the Hardcore Championship against Bradshaw, who has been on a bit of a roll picking up wins over Big Show and Kurt Angle this week. Highlights of both are shown during his entrance for this match. They trade shots with ring steps and brawl backstage with Bradshaw pulling a metal bar out of a security rail to use as a weapon. They fight up to a height and it looks like we’re building to a big spot in the parking lot but Big Show appears and snaps a 2x4 over Bradshaw’s back before spiking him through some wooden pallets with a chokeslam allowing Rhyno to cover and retain his Hardcore title.

• In the parking lot, Spike Dudley and Molly Holly arrive together. They’re discussing how tough they both are. Molly’s cousin Crash arrives and seems to take issue with Spike “flirting” with his cousin! He gets in his face and challenges him to a match tonight. 
• Matt and Jeff Hardy with Lita take on Bull Buchanan, the Goodfather and Ivory in a six person tag. Michael Cole discusses the rumours that the Right to Censor have broken up, but rather seem to want to stay together but are seeking new leadership as they’re all sick of Steven Richards. Eddie Guerrero comes down to ringside and for the third show in a row he helps out the Hardyz, continuing the RtC losing streak too.
• Spike Dudley takes on Crash Holly. Bubba, D-Von, Hardcore and Molly are all at ringside to watch as the two smallest men in their families go one on one. Spike picks up the victory despite all the interference from the Hollys and The Dudleyz.

Raw is War - May 14th, 2001

Tragedy Strikes

Raw opens with the Tag Team Champions, WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and Intercontinental Champion Triple H, along with his wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. They enter separately, but this feels like the first time we’ve seen them together in a couple of weeks. Stephanie gives her husband a big introduction, and The Game speaks first addressing Kane.

He basically calls Kane for stupid for returning on Smackdown when he should have stayed at home nursing his broken arm. He offers Kane a shot at the Intercontinental Championship at Judgment Day and proposes it be a “chain match”. That’s quite smart as that involves having a chain linking the two men at the wrist, but of course Kane has a broken arm. He dares Kane to come out and accept the challenge, but Austin snatches the mic and says that the “dumb son of a bitch” won’t come out here, and won’t be dumb enough to accept the challenge either. Austin is demented, pacing around the ring ranting and raving about how he cannot be stopped and how Undertaker doesn’t stand a chance. He says that he doesn’t need a steel chair and doesn’t need to attack people from behind - something he has done relentlessly since Wrestlemania. He says that he and Triple H have talked about it and tonight they want to defend their WWF Tag Team titles for the first time against Undertaker and Kane. He certainly sounds confident, and says that they cannot stop Austin and Triple H. Finally, Undertaker does come out onto the stage to answer their challenge. He tells Austin that on Sunday he better go to church and give his soul to the Lord because his ass belongs to the Undertaker. He accepts Triple H’s challenge on Kane’s behalf. He also accepts the Tag Team title match for tonight. He walks down the ramp keeping them distracted allowing Kane - pyro and all - to approach from behind! Austin bails out of the ring in time but Kane catches Triple H and rocks him with several shots to the chest with a chain. The Two-Man Power Trip cower on the ramp as Undertaker and Kane stand tall in the ring swinging chains above their heads. 

Backstage, Jonathan Coachman has a couple of updates as the police have come to the arena to speak to the Undertaker. Taker explodes out of his locker room with his bag and goes running out of the arena. The detective does provide a vague update - the Undertaker’s wife Sara has been in a car accident. This is the era where he has “Sara” tattooed across her throat. He doesn’t have the tattoo anymore, but we’ll actually meet and see quite a lot of Sara over the summer. 

As the detective who told Undertaker about his wife’s accident leaves the arena, Stone Cold stops him and asks him to describe how upset Undertaker was when he heard the news as he struggles to contain his sinister smirk.

Kane is about to leave the arena until he’s stopped by William Regal. He tells him that he will still have to compete tonight without Undertaker, or else he’ll fire them both. Kane is furious, and Regal has a big smile on his face as the big red machine walks back into the building.

Stone Cold goes to see Commissioner Regal and out of the goodness of his heart and to be fair to Kane, he insists that the WWF Tag Team titles are still on the line in tonight’s handicap main event. Later in their locker room as Stephanie and Debra discuss how sad it is that Undertaker’s wife was in a car accident, Triple H and Austin speculate about how badly hurt she is and Austin again struggles to conceal a smirk as he describes how mangled and twisted her face is.

Michael Cole asks Kane how he’s feeling ahead of tonight’s main event. Kane dedicates the match to Sara and his big brother. I always liked it when Kane and Undertaker would call each other “big brother” and “little brother”. Coachman interviews Stone Cold who says that Kane is an animal and he shows no mercy and has no pity on animals. He cannot be stopped - not tonight, and not at Judgment Day. 

For the main event, Kane brings a chain to the ring to use as an equaliser but he’s forced to get rid of it before the match can begin. Kane holds his own and beats up the WWF and Intercontinental Champion for a few minutes before Triple H grabs the chain and uses it as a weapon to get he and Austin disqualified. The fans sadly chant “Rocky” as the two of them beat Kane senseless two on one with the chain, wrapping it around their fist and pounding him in the head, in his injured arm and with low blows. Austin grabs the mic and says he doesn’t want anything to think he’s a heartless bastard. He is going to kick Undertaker’s ass at Judgment Day but he has a feeling his wife will be just fine, with a smile. 

Matches and Stipulations added to Judgment Day

Kurt Angle goes to see Commissioner Regal and asks what his match with Rikishi has to do with getting his gold medals back. Regal tells him that if he makes sure Rikishi is punished for attacking him last week and for giving Stephanie a stink face, he will allow Kurt to pick the stipulation for his match with Chris Benoit at Judgment Day. That match is next and it does still feel odd to see Rikishi back to being fun loving babyface dancing Rikishi like his career from October to February never happened. They go back and forth and there's a bit of a timing issue as Rikishi sets up a Stink Face on Kurt and has plenty of time to do it but he stands and waits for ages, so that William Regal can come down and stop him. The Commissioner gets Angle disqualified but the two of them leave the big Samoan laying.

Edge and Christian, who scored two singles victories on Smackdown, face Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho.

They formed a friendship against Regal and Angle and that seems to have become a more permanent thing as they accompanied each other to the ring on Smackdown too. This is a good match with lots of near falls but as Edge and Christian get frustrated at being unable to win, try a con-chair-to on Jericho. He dicks and Benoit dropkicks both chairs back into their faces and Jericho follows up with a Lionsault to win the match. Angle slips down to ringside and grabs his medals which Benoit left laying in his corner. Benoit gets on the mic and tells Angle that those medals are sweet - literally, they’re made of chocolate! Benoit has the real ones tucked away safely inside his ring gear. We’re still waiting for Angle to tell us what the stipulations are for their match at Judgment Day, something Michael Cole asks him about as he leaves the arena. I guess we’ll find out on Smackdown.

Kevin Kelly interviews Chris Jericho about his victory backstage. He's jumped from behind by Edge and Christian who beat him around backstage and finish with a con-chair-to!

William Regal comes down to the ring and after giving some false sentiment to the Undertaker about his wife’s condition announces that tonight’s main event is now Stone Cold and Triple H against Kane in a handicap match. He then adds himself vs. Rikishi to Judgment Day and promises him a thrashing. He’s then interrupted by Grandmaster Sexay, who knows Rikishi pretty well from the old Too Cool days. He basically says he's going to teach the Commissioner how to chill and brings some women out of the front row into the ring to dance with him. Regal stands there shocked as the four women grind against him.

Finally William’s had enough and attacks Sexay quite viciously with stiff punches, a neck breaker and then a Regal Stretch. This was an odd segment but it has added another match to Judgment Day at least.

Is Love in the Air? 

Crash Holly goes to see Molly. She is having to team up with Ivory against her will thanks to Regal, but that’s not what he wants to talk about. He tells her that The Dudleyz put women through tables and can’t be trusted. She says that Spike isn’t like that - he’s sweet! And tough too. Crash says he’ll show her what tough is when he wins the Hardcore title from Rhyno tonight.

Rhyno defends the Hardcore title against Crash Holly. It’s a short match. Spike Dudley runs down and the commentators point out that he doesn’t have a referee with him so he isn’t trying to use the 24/7 rule - he’s just trying to help Crash, presumably to impress Molly Holly. 

Other Happenings

• In the Radicals locker room, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko ask Eddie about his growing friendship with The Hardyz and Lita. They have a tag match with The Hardyz tonight and they need to know he has their back, and not Matt and Jeff’s. Eddie is non-committal. 
• Trish Stratus comes down to the ring and says that Mr. McMahon won’t approve of what she’s about to do. She wants to show us all “more of her” and introduces a sneak peak at the “Divas in Hedonism” VHS, on sale everything. This is just a big sales plug but the whole video and magazine which goes with it was the birth of the WWF and WWE calling their women’s division “Divas” which stuck until around 2015.
• European Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy face Petter Saturn and Dean Malenko. Eddie does come out with his Radical buddies, but Lita isn’t with The Hardyz as she has a match later to get ready for. They actually play Eddie’s music again after everyone has entered so I think he was supposed to come out separately on his own, but clearly messed up by walking out with Perry and Dean. He has a lot of marks on his face which I suspect gives us an idea of why he messed up his entrance - around this time, Eddie was in a drink driving accident caused by his substance abuse issues. He won’t be around for much longer as the WWF sent him to rehab. He remained under contract until November 2001 but was eventually released. I’m not sure which of these pending shows will be his last appearance for now but I’ll flag it up when we get to it. Saturn tries to use a steel chair, Eddie stops him and that distraction ends up costing the Radicals the match as Matt gives Perry a Twist of Fate and pins him. Dean questions Eddie and so Latino Heat hits him with the steel chair. That gets big “Eddie” chants. Sadly we’ll never find out where this storyline with Eddie and The Hardyz was going for the reasons I’ve just given.
• Judgment Day opponents Women’s Champion Chyna and Lita team up against the odd team of Molly Holly and the RtC’s Ivory. The women’s division is so shallow and there is only one heel. Chyna refuses to tag in, but her whole thing has been lacking competition and so she wants Lita to prove herself and win this single handedly to prove how tough she is, which she does with a moonsault on Molly. Lita seems pretty annoyed after the match that Chyna made her go it alone, but they’re still all smiles. After the match, Michael Cole interviews Lita and she’s annoyed at Chyna, who approaches and explains herself. It’s basically what I just said. She does end by telling Lita that she and The Hardyz definitely shouldn’t trust Eddie Guerrero. This was Chyna's final appearance on Raw. 

• Test and the APA face Big Show, Bull Buchanan and the Goodfather in a six man tag. The state of the RtC is unknown but Val Venis hasn’t been around for weeks and JR seems confident that Steven Richards is no longer the leader of this group that is now seemingly just Goodfather, Bull and Ivory. During this match, JR also confirms that Big Show has challenged Test to a match at Judgment Day, which Test has accepted.Show hits Test in the head with the ring steps allowing Bull to pin him and just like that, Big Show has ended the Right to Censor’s losing streak.

Smackdown - May 17th, 2001

The Blame Game

The Undertaker and Kane open the show. Undertaker quickly explains that the car accident his wife was in during Raw on Monday was fictional and says that “when he finds out who” did these things to rile him up. It was pretty obviously Stone Cold, no? He does at least accuse Austin of it. He says he’s got some questions for the WWF Champion tonight and he better have the right answers. He’s warned him not to mess with the Deadman’s family. He even called Undertaker’s wife and told her that it was her own mother who’d been in a car wreck, presumably to make sure she was too busy/distracted to answer Undertaker’s calls and explain that she was fine. Amazingly given that it was only 2001 there’s a decent chance none of them had cell phones yet so this is more plausible of a storyline than it would be nowadays. Kane, who has a chain match with Triple H at Judgment Day, was carrying a big metal chain as he would be all night long whenever we see him in backstage segments with Undertaker.

Stone Cold and Debra arrive at the arena. Things still seem tense between the Austins. Commissioner Regal goes to see them and lets them know what Undertaker said at the start of the show. Stone Cold plays dumb - he had no idea the accident wasn’t real and he had nothing to do with the hoax. That’s even more dark if it's true as he was smirking about it on Raw.

Backstage, Undertaker explodes through a line of security guards to get his hands on Austin. Stone Cold manages to calm Taker down long enough to explain that he didn’t make those hoax calls about Undertaker’s wife - it was Triple H! In the next segment, Undertaker makes a call to the police station and finds out that both calls were made from Triple H’s cell phone.

Undertaker goes to see Commissioner Regal and tells him that when Triple H arrives, he needs to book them in a No Holds Barred match tonight which the Commissioner agrees to (under duress).

Triple H and Stephanie arrive at the arena and are shocked to see everyone giving them dirty looks, now knowing about the nasty hoax they pulled on Undertaker. It crossed the line. This segment would make more sense if some of the people giving them dirty looks weren’t babyfaces who’d give them dirty looks regardless. Triple H goes to see Paul Heyman and demands that he explain what's going on. Heyman lets him know that Austin threw him under the bus, and Triple H plays dumb too. He had no idea it was a hoax. He’s been setup by Stone Cold it seems and he’s furious about it.

Triple H goes to confront Stone Cold and the two argue about who was really responsible for the hoax calls and fake accident. The Two Man Power Trip is starting to crumble it seems. Debra looks happy about it - she doesn’t want her husband associating with Triple H or the McMahons to begin with. Later, Triple H goes to see William Regal and demands that he cancel tonight’s main event with Undertaker or at least remove the No Holds Barred stipulation. Regal stands up to Triple H and tells him that he deserves what Undertaker is going to do to him for those prank phone calls and messing with a man’s wife.

Debra goes to see Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and taunts her about Triple H and says she hopes he gets what he deserves from the Undertaker. The two man power trip’s wives argue about who was really responsible.

Undertaker apologises to Kane backstage and says that his Intercontinental title match at Judgment Day might not happen because if he has his way, Triple H won’t be able to compete after tonight’s main event. Kane doesn’t speak but nods and agrees. 

Before the main event, Stephanie and Triple H discuss Austin’s setting him up - Stephanie suddenly remembers that Stone Cold asked to use The Game’s cellophane during Raw. Triple H wraps a chain around his neck and shoulders and heads off to the ring.

In a no holds barred match, the pissed off and motivated Undertaker faces Triple H (in a non-title match, of course). Undertaker doesn’t even let Triple H finish his entrance and goes up to meet him at the top of the ramp, throwing him around and bodyslamming Triple H on the steel ramp.

It has been the case for a little while but I noticed it especially strongly during this match - Undertaker has grown out his hair and let his natural colour come through. He’s very ginger. This is a physical brawl all around the ring and in and out of the crowd - basically a shortened version of their very good match at Wrestlemania X7. After some back and forth Undertaker plants Triple H with an awesome looking chokeslam. Triple H might take the best chokeslam in wrestling history - always looks amazing. He doesn’t go for a cover and brings the ring steps into the ring instead. Earl Hebner is the referee so of course as this massive spot is being setup, he wanders around and gets himself on camera as much as possible. He takes The Game up the steps and teases giving him a Last Ride off the ring steps from the inside of the ring to the outside but before he can do it, Stone Cold shows up on the titantron and reveals that he was the one who made the hoax calls (duh) and that Triple H was in on it (double duh).

The Game clobbers Undertaker from behind with a balled up steel chair, Stone Cold sprints to the ring to make the beating two on one, but fortunately Kane is shortly behind with his own chain to clear out Austin and Triple H at the end of Smackdown. The main event is officially a no-contest as Austin and Triple H look back at the Brothers of Destruction from the ramp - a sight we have seen many times in the past month. 

What is Latino Heat up to? 

The Hardyz and Lita discuss whether they can trust Eddie Guerrero. He took a Gore for Lita, and saved Matt on Raw and even turned on Malenko and Saturn. Eddie walks in on their conversation and with a smile says that he wouldn’t trust himself either before leaving.

The Hardyz (with Lita, who looks incredible on this edition of Smackdown. Not that she doesn’t always anyway) team with Eddie against Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Light Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lynn. I mention it all the time but I am once again thrilled to see the Light Heavyweight title and champion being featured regularly. This is a fun match with six talented workers/high flyers and after Jeff takes out the Light Heavyweight champion with a dive to the outside, Eddie and Matt make a good team and help each other out allowing Eddie to lock Malenko in a confusing looking leg lock for the submission victory. Eddie continues to prove his worth.

WWF Women’s Champion Chyna faces the same forced-make shift team of Molly Holly and Ivory that Lita defeated more or less single handedly on Raw. Chyna easily smashes them both and pins Ivory after a powerbomb. Lita comes down after the match and patronisingly raises Chyna’s arm in victory just like she did to her. As they stand in the ring, Eddie Guerrero comes out onto the stage. Chyna did mention Eddie last week so it seems like maybe his motives with The Hardyz and Lita is related to her match with Chyna afterall. This was Chyna's final appearance on Smackdown. 

Two out of Three Falls

Jonathan Coachman interviews Kurt Angle to try and find out what the stipulations are for his match with Chris Benoit. Angle seems to have decided and is very confident about them.

Kurt Angle tonight teams with William Regal against their Judgment Day opponents Chris Benoit and Rikishi. Before the match, Angle explains the stipulation - he wants a straight up wrestling match with no gimmicks. Benoit basically calls it a boring idea and suggests a 2 out of 3 falls match instead where the first fall will be pinfalls only and the second fall will be submissions only, with the third fall (if needed) being a ladder match with the Olympic medals hanging above the ring. Angle is strongly against the ladder match idea but Benoit goads him into it by calling him chicken.

A short match with Kurt actually has won fair and square with an Olympic slam on Benoit but instead of going for the cover he tries to reach into Benoit’s tights to get his medals back. He kisses them without thinking and winces which gets a laugh but it backfires as he celebrates, Benoit clamps him in a Crossface from behind. Angle must decide whether to hold onto the medals or tap out, which he does and Benoit wins and reclaims the medals, dropping them back down his tights for safe keeping. 

Other Happenings

• During The Big Show’s entrance Michael Cole lets us know that his Judgment Day match with Test has had Rhyno added to it to make it a tripl threat for the Hardcore title. His opponent tonight is Brawshaw who he’s also had some run ins with, mostly at Insurrextion in London but he did cost him the Hardcore title last week. Bradshaw’s APA partner Faarooq joins commentary. Test comes out to watch this physical match from the top of the ramp and Faarooq must not watch the show because he’s utterly baffled as to why Test is here. A Big Boot from Test behind the referee’s back and a stiff Bradshaw clothesline gives the Texan another victory. 
• Spike Dudley (with Bubba Ray and D-Von) faces Hardcore Holly (with Crash). There’s no hint of romance between Spike and Molly so far, they just like each other. Bubba Ray and D-Von have so far been silent on this friendship. Hardcore wins after drilling Spike with an Alabama slam. He’s angry at Crash for trying to help him win a match he needed no help with and leaves his little cousin alone. Crash pays for getting involved with a 3D from Bubba and D-Von.

• Chris Jericho faces Edge (with Christian). Earlier in the night, Michael Cole informed us that a six team Tag Team Turmoil match was added to Judgment Day where the winners become number one contenders for the Tag Team titles. Edge and Christian are one of the teams in that match. In another one of those “they’d never do this angle now” stories, Jericho is apparently wrestling with a concussion after the con-chair-to he got on Raw, and Edge focuses his offence on Jericho’s head. Christian distracts the referee and Edge uses a steel chair to crack Jericho and win the match. Backstage afterwards, Lillian Garcia interviews Y2J who says that he’s entering himself into Tag Team Turmoil. He doesn’t have a partner but he doesn’t even care if he wins - he just wants to make sure Edge and Christian lose.
• Molly Holly goes to see Hardcore Holly and asks him if he’ll back her up in her friendship with Spike. Crash doesn’t trust a Dudley. They put women through tables! To her surprise, Hardcore agrees with Crash and says he’ll finish the job tonight.