Raw is War - November 16th, 1998

The Corporate Champion

Tony Chimmel introduces “the owners of the World Wrestling Federation” Mister and Shane McMahon. They’re flanked by The Big Bossman, Sgt. Slaughter, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco. They get a lot of hate and “asshole” chants from the live crowd. The McMahon boys are very happy at having tricked everyone and calls Stone Cold a damn fool for “doing things the hard way” and for “embracing middle class ethics and values'' which gets a loud “Austin chant” He says that all the people kiss their bosses ass so Stone Cold should do too. He brings out someone who is no damn fool. He was never the people’s champion, he was always MY champion - the new WWF Champion, the corporate champion, The Rock. The crowd gives Rocky one of the loudest boos I’ve heard so far on any of these classic Raws. He broke people's hearts. He has a swagger and a leopard print shirt. He is bemused by the fans ``Rocky sucks' ' chants. The Rock says he never “sold out” he just got ahead. It's nice to see The Rock with the WWF title belt and it's the newer version with the scratch WWF logo on it. He calls the fans uneducated pieces of trash for booing him. He says the fans are even bigger pieces of trailer park trash than Stone Cold Steve Austin. His promo gets drowned out by more “Austin'' chants. It’s really nice to see a heel champion standing alongside Vince speaking for himself and not being overshadowed. The Rock is the star and the focus here, not Vince and it's the first time since Wrestlemania that that’s been true. He rechristened the People’s Eyebrow and the People’s Elbow as the Corporate Eyebrow and the Corporate Elbow. He busts out his “most electrifying move in sports entertainment today” line for the first time too. This was a great promo and got so much hate and heat from the live crowd! Shane and The Rock laugh about how it’s pretty good to kiss Vince McMahon’s ass with their success and millions of dollars.

Vince wants to show the replay of the Survivor Series events but instead we get footage of Stone Cold arriving at the arena and the fans lose it. Vince does then recap all the previous few week’s of Raw and Shane’s heel turn, his using Mankind and pretending he was at odds with The Rock. It was all designed to make Austin’s life miserable and upset the people. Revenge for supporting Austin all this time. After all this crowing and bragging, Stone Cold finally interrupts them, showing no fear by getting into the ring. Austin shows footage of Shane promising him a title shot, and shows his legally binding contract which guarantees him a title shot against The Rock tonight on Raw. Austin even had the contract confirmed by a local judge and shows footage of the judge announcing that Stone Cold will get his title match with The Rock here tonight on Raw. 

Mankind arrives at the arena screaming and bellowing about being betrayed by Vince, promising revenge. Vince in his hospitality suite says that he has enough to worry about with the title match tonight so tells Bossman to stay by his side and protect him and sends Patterson off to talk to Mankind for him.

Patterson returns from his expedition saying he can’t find Mankind, then he sends Brisco who comes back and says he was too scared to go into the boiler room. He sends Slaughter off and he does the same thing. Vince has worked Mankind up so much, the stooges are all afraid of confronting him so Vince sends all three of them together. 

The Stooges are all wrapped up in football helmets and hockey pads and the three of them go into the boiler room calling out that they love Mick and that Mr. McMahon loves him too. Mankind explodes out of the shadows with weapons and attacks them, slamming them around the boiler room and choking them with chains. He beats the hell out of them.

Before the main event, Vince and Shane McMahon along with their new heavies The Big Bossman and the Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock (see the other sections). Vince says that he’s not happy about this title match and after some waffle introduces The Corporate Champion The Rock. I’ve got full nostalgia now as this is The Rock coming out to the theme song and with the look and title belt he held when I first started watching wrestling a few months after this. Stone Cold gets a reaction that's just as loud as the one he got at the start of the show. Stone Cold vs. The Rock for the WWF title in the main event of Raw is a hell of a sentence in hindsight. The match starts fast and aggressive and The Rock tries to just leave but gets caught and takes a couple of clotheslines and a big bump on the entrance ramp. The match is mostly a brawl around the ringside but entertaining as hell as these two together always are. The fans are loud for this and hang on their every movement exploding into cheers whenever Austin goes on offence and loudly chanting “Austin” when he’s on defence. The fans boo and jeer for the first ever Corporate Elbow on the Texas Rattlesnake. This match is officiated by Earl Hebner who true to form keeps getting in the way because he’s terrible. As The Rock locks in a sleeper in the ring, Mankind appears and attacks Bossman and Shamrock at ringside, trying desperately to get to Vince McMahon. The two on one odds are too much for him though. Austin does hit a stunner but before the referee gets to three, Shamrock pulls the referee out of the ring! Austin gets back inside but before he can get back to his title match, The Undertaker and Paul Bearer arrive with Undertaker blasting Stone Cold in the face with a shovel! 

He goes to hit him again but Paul Bearer stops him from apparently killing the Rattlesnake. The Rock grabs his title and gets out of there with the McMahons and the show ends in mass confusion.

Team Corporate is born

Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock comes out and says he isn’t happy about Survivor Series either and he got screwed. He doesn’t want to talk, he wants to fight. He challenges Bossman who has screwed him twice (cost him the hardcore championship match against Mankind, and then cost him his match with The Rock at Survivor Series) and even says he’ll put the IC title on the line to make it happen.

Shamrock’s IC title defence against The Bossman is only Bossman’s second match since returning last month (after his first round match with Stone Cold at Survivor Series) The match falls apart as while they brawl in the corner, they both punch out the referee together for trying to separate them. They continue fighting after the bell until a lot of referees and officials finally split them apart but while they’re in the ring still going for each other, Vince and Shane come out. Mr. McMahon tries to talk some sense into Shamrock as he demands Bossman calm down and stop fighting. He says he can use a man like Shamrock. Vince and Shamrock are a lot alike apparently. He offers Shamrock something he’s never had - family. This is the genesis of The Corporation with Shamrock being the third member after Big Bossman and then the new Corporate Champion The Rock. Shamrock shakes Vince’s hand and then Bossman’s, leaving with them.

Hawk hits rock bottom

Gangrel and Edge of The Brood, accompanied by Light Heavyweight Champion Christian take on Droz and Animal of the Legion of Doom. This ends up being one of the more famously tasteless segments in Raw history as shortly after the match starts, Hawk comes out in his street clothes and climbs the titantron. Animal and Droz abandon the match to go and check on him. After an ad break, Paul Ellering has come out too as he and Animal try and talk some sense into Hawk. Paul has basically dropped character here. The fans either aren’t paying attention or something else has happened in the crowd because they start cheering and reacting at inappropriate times. Droz takes it upon himself to climb up and “rescue” Hawk but he reacts violently to him, screaming for him to get away. Droz seemingly grabs Hawk to try and help him but to me and to everyone else watching it's very obvious Droz pushes Hawk. The commentators react to it with quiet shock. They do show a replay of it after another ad break and King and JR debate whether Droz meant to push Hawk. Hawk is loaded into an ambulance as DOA consoles a crying Paul Ellering.

Other Happenings

• The debut - at last - of the attitude era Raw is War opening, finally replacing that old footage of Bret Hart fighting in a warehouse. They’ve updated all the in show graphics too and gotten rid of the Warzone stuff.
• The first match of the night is The Oddities taking on The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac in a six man tag team match. The match isn’t very long and as Shaggy 2 Dope jumps off the top rope he misses Billy Gunn and lands on Golga, costing The Oddities the match. The two groups bicker and argue with each other as they go up the ramp. The Roaddogg is jumped by The Headbangers as DX are leaving.
• Val Venis vs. Mark Henry. We haven’t seen Chyna since Mark had her arrested for sexual harassment a few weeks ago. In reality she’s recovering from more plastic surgery. Chyna does return during this (with a totally different looking face) and stands silently on the ramp which distracts Mark and allows Val to win with a schoolboy rollup and run off. Mark doesn’t seem to mind the loss and is all smiles when he pops up and sees Chyna, asking her to go on a date with him in exchange for him dropping his legal proceedings against her and reading her another love poem. She walks off as D’Lo pretends to cry being so touched by the poem and hugs his buddy in the ring.

• Goldust teams with Steve Blackman against Jeff Jarrett and The Blue Blazer. JR has no time for this and keeps saying that The Blazer is Owen Hart while King plays dumb. A lot of talent in this match. JR is still being way nastier about Debra than is necessary considering how little she’s actually done since debuting. Blackman wins this for his team with a big martial arts kick to The Blue Blazer and as he tries to unmask him, he’s jumped by Jeff Jarrett and...Owen Hart? JR concedes that Owen Hart isn’t The Blue Blazer then. No one’s connected the dots here but it’s pretty obvious that Owen has different people playing The Blazer for stunts like this, including Jarrett himself at one point.
• Real Man’s Man Steven Regal vs. The Godfather. Godfather is now in his full colourful pimp attire and has three hoes with him. Godfather offers Regal the option to take the hoes instead of fighting him. A couple of the girls lift their skirts and show their asses and the crowd (and King) lose their mind. Regal takes the women of course (after a joke about Elton John) and gets a little “Regal” chant from the crowd which is funny. Before they can leave, Godfather for some reason calls England “a place full of faggots” (which is beeped on the network) which riles Regal up and the two of them fight at ringside until being pulled apart by referees. The WWF in 1998 clearly banking on being homophobic making someone a babyface. Russo definitely wrote that.
• Kane is rampaging through the backstage and beats up some stage hands in the parking lot. There’s another Kane on the warpath moment as he’s approached in the parking lot for some autographs by a group of fans who he threatens and snatches one around the throat. Police sirens intensify as Kane releases the fan and heads off.

• Back in the arena, the fans pick right back up after the Hawk suicide angle for the new WWF Women’s Champion Sable who comes out for an in ring interview with Michael Cole. Sable wants to dedicate her title victory to the fans but she’s interrupted by Shane McMahon who gives all of her credit to Mr. McMahon. Vince made her a star. She fires up and says she’s self made and her voice once again goes really screachy. Shane implies that Sable did all her work on her back and walks off. Sable says the only women Shane can get are the ones he pays for,
• Extra attitude on the network gives us the post-show shenanigans of Austin dropping Shane, Bossman and Shamrock in succession with Stunners while the fans lose their minds. 

Raw is War - November 23rd, 1998

There’s a new sheriff in town

The show opens properly with Vince, Shane and the stooges. Vince categorically denies having anything to do with The Undertaker’s attack of Stone Cold last week. “I never lie. Tonight, a new WWF commissioner will be appointed to replace Sgt. Slaughter because “everything we do, we do for you” Vince says that an independent free thinker will be at the helm, and they will not answer to Mr. McMahon. He’s appointing an independent body who can oversee everyone on the roster - apart from Stone Cold. Vince will make all decisions pertaining to Austin. Vince introduces the new WWF commissioner - the only grand slam winner in WWF history, the heartbreak kid Shawn Michaels! JR and King are shocked and the fans are delighted. Jim Ross seems very confident that Vince cannot control Shawn Michaels. “Why would he make him commissioner then?” It’s a good point. Do you think Vince and Shane might be up to something? Shawn books his first match - tonight, The Rock will defend the WWF Championship against DX member X-Pac. The DX theme song plays and Shawn crotch chops at the McMahon entourage with the implication being that Shawn is going to do favours for his old buddies. 

Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon are shown having a heated exchange backstage.

The main event is our WWF Championship match. The European champion X-Pac is accompanied by the Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws. King and JR have discussed Shawn Michaels’ new role as commissioner all night. If he’s not going to do as Vince wants, why would Vince appoint him? And is he just going to give opportunities and favourable treatment to his former DX buddies? The WWF Champ The Rock is accompanied by The Big Bossman and the Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock. A LOT of championship gold involved and at ringside for this one. Shawn Michaels makes his way to the ring too. We saw him earlier apparently giving instructions to referee Earl Hebner too. Michaels ejects Shamrock, Bossman and The New Age Outlaws all from ringside. This match is good but also quite short. Vince and Shane come out to watch this match too and when The Rock tries to use a steel chair, Shawn Michaels disarms him…and whallops X-Pac with a brutal shot to the head himself. The Rock drags a limp X-Pac into position and delivers the Corporate Elbow to win the match and retain the WWF Championship. The Outlaws rush the ring but The Rock and HBK escape and the show closes with the new commissioner, WWF Champion and both McMahon’s mockingly crotch chopping at DX from the top of the ramp. 

R.I.P Rattlesnake

Austin apparently collapsed yesterday and is in a local hospital. One would assume due to having a shovel cracked across his head last week.

A video recap of Kane’s warpath lately where he’s destroying everyone and doesn’t know right from wrong. It’s all Undertaker and Paul Bearer’s fault and now Kane has no guidance. This might not seem connected to the Stone Cold stuff but stick with me.

Footage of Stone Cold passing out on a house show the previous night as JR and King speculate about Austin’s medical condition after taking that shovel to the head from The Undertaker. He’s been suffering from dizziness and headaches all week.

Live via satellite from the hospital, Austin tells us he won’t be taking any time off and he’ll be back very soon and then later in a second similar Austin in the hospital segment he gets really fired up when discussing his buried alive match at Rock Bottom. He says that he’ll get his hands on Bearer and Undertaker. The nurse increases his sedatives to help him sleep and he starts to get groggy. As JR throws it to the ad break, we see a hearse arriving at the hospital. JR isn’t concerned about it because it's a hospital but King (correctly) points out that a hearse isn’t used to transport freshly departed bodies and that it is very unusual.

Back at the hospital we find out that the hearse did contain The Undertaker and Paul Bearer who abduct the heavily drugged and sedated Stone Cold, driving off in the hearse.

The Undertaker and Paul Bearer unload an unconscious Stone Cold at a graveyard as Undertaker continues digging a grave. Paul Bearer starts to read the last rights to the Rattlesnake but Austin revives and grabs Bearer! Undertaker is there to quickly choke Stone Cold back out while Bearer uses an ether soaked rag to knock him back out properly. The Undertaker has changed his mind - he doesn’t want to bury him alive anymore, he wants to embalm him alive. They load him back into the hearse. JR and King would continue to talk about how that is worse than death and will be tortuous agony.

The Undertaker and Paul Bearer arrive at a funeral home and carry the unconscious Stone Cold inside. Undertaker lays Austin out on the mortician's slab and tells him that this is what he gets for getting in The Undertaker’s way and interrupting The Ministry’s business. Bearer starts making preparations to embalm the Rattlesnake and cuts his t-shirt off him. This is fully attempted murder, right? The Undertaker begins chanting in latin and slowly raises a long sharp needle, about to stab Stone Cold in the heart but before he does, Kane bursts into the room and starts to brawl with The Undertaker. Bearer tries to stab Austin with a pair of scissors but Austin wakes up and stops him, rolling off the table and crawling away just as the camera feed cuts out.

What does everybody want? (The JOB squad)

Mankind defends his Hardcore Championship in a triple threat against the Corporation’s Big Bossman and also the Corporation’s Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock. A pretty transparent attempt by the McMahon’s to soften up Mankind before his WWF title match at Rock Bottom. Shamrock and Bossman are all buddy-buddy as Mankind makes his entrance. The new Corporate team works over Mankind two on one as JR talks about how heartless Vince McMahon is, wanting to take the last thing Mankind has which is the hardcore title. To be fair, he does also have two kids at this point (four eventually). Vince and Shane come out onto the ramp to watch this match as the vicious two on one beating continues. Very little weapons use considering this is a hardcore rules match. Bossman does let his new best buddy Shamrock use his nightstick on Mankind’s ribs. Mankind is able to mount a comeback with a broom he pulled from under the ring, breaking it over Shamrock’s back but that doesn’t last long. Mankind does have another big hope spot when Bossman accidentally hits Shamrock with a chair and Mankind double arm DDTs Bossman onto the chair but it's not enough to win. In the end, as Shamrock gets the ankle lock on Mankind the Job Squad comes from through the crowd and as Scorpio and a fluffy blonde mullet sporting Bob Holly brawl with Bossman on the outside, Al Snow hits Shamrock with Head and allows Mankind to retain his Hardcore title. The Job Squad take off and Mankind tries to chase the McMahons but is shut down by Shamrock and Bossman again.

Christian defends his Light Heavyweight Championship against Duane Gill. JR speculates that the new commissioner Shawn Michaels gave him this title match to help him build some self esteem after Vince made a joke of him at Survivor Series. Christian beats Duane up and appears to have won the match a couple of times but releases his own pin to keep the match going. He hits his Unprettier (unnamed) and finally goes for the cover but the Job Squad appear again to fight with Edge and Gangrel. As the referee is distracted by that, Scorpio dives off the top rope knocking out Christian and reversing the pin and Duane Gill becomes the new Light Heavyweight Champion! Michael Cole stops him on the ramp and calls this the greatest upset in WWF history.

The New Age Outlaws take on Scorpio and Bob Holly of the Job Squad. They have their apparent new member, the new light heavyweight champion Duane Gill and Al Snow with them. This is your classic New Age Outlaws match as Roaddogg gets worked over until the hot tag to Billy. Mankind comes to the ring and hits Billy Gunn with a leafblower allowing the Job Squad to win the match! He’s returning the favour for helping him win his match earlier. Bossman and Shamrock run down and attack Mankind and in a very odd twist, The Outlaws work together with Bossman and Shamrock to beat down Mankind and the Job Squad. Shamrock wails on everyone with the leaf blower which has its motor loudly running the entire time. The stooges come out to congratulate the New Age Outlaws and walk out with them on an apparent  recruiting mission. Vince wants all of the WWF title holders in his Corporate team.

Other Happenings

• JR and King reveal that two huge main events have been set for the Rock Bottom PPV - The Rock will defend the WWF title against Mankind, and Stone Cold will face The Undertaker in a buried alive match where the winner will qualify for the 1999 Royal Rumble match in January.
• Backstage, The Insane Clown Posse convince The Oddities to wrestle The Headbangers in their place. After an ad break that's the match we get but before it gets going, Violet J sprays spray paint into Giant Silva’s eyes and ICP turns on The Oddities. They cut off all of Luna’s dreadlocks which is quite upsetting to see.
• Steve Blackman vs. The Blue Blazer. King has come round to JR’s way of thinking and that The Blazer is Owen Hart. They’ve gotten wise to the scam and Owen has different people dressing up as The Blazer. He and JR debate it and they aren’t sure. Blackman wins but is jumped by Owen Hart as he tries to unmask The Blazer who runs off covering his ears from the “nugget” chants.
• Gangrel and Edge of The Brood take on D’Lo Brown and Mark Henry. King has started calling Mark “Sexual Chocolate” which would stick. Chyna once again comes out to distract and Mark loses to another roll up. Post match, Chyna agrees to the date on the grounds that Mark will drop the sexual harassment lawsuit against her.
• Marc Mero vs. Goldust. Mero dumped Jacqueline last night on Sunday Night Heat for costing him matches and she comes out to watch this match at ringside. So too does Terri Runnels, Goldust’s estranged and apparently pregnant wife. Terri and Jackie end up working as a team as Terri distracts the referee and Jackie lowblows Goldust. They both get in the ring and Terri kicks Mero with a low blow and the two women high five, hug and leave together!
• The Godfather vs. Tiger Ali Singh in a rematch from a few weeks ago. Thankfully Tiger hasn’t been on Raw much since those gross segments paying fans to do undignified things to prove that Americans have no class. Godfather offers Tiger the hoes instead of fighting him as normal. Steven Regal comes out and says that Tiger can’t take the deal because he did last week and the Godfather betrayed him. Tiger and Regal attack Godfather but he’s rescued by Val Venis - they’re apparently united by their love of the ladies and Val leaves with Godfather and a couple of hoes on his arm.

Raw is War - November 30th, 1998

Stone Cold is out for revenge

The show opens with The Headbangers being led to the ring by the now heel Insane Clown Posse. They turned on The Oddities last week after a month or so of teasing that they had become too violent for the fun loving almost child-like Oddities. As they’re in the ring, Austin arrives at the arena carrying a shovel and drops his bag walking directly through the back and out into the arena. The crowd sees him coming on the big screens but still explode when his music hits. He drops Violent J, Thrasher and then Mosh with Stone Cold Stunners and sends them packing. Austin is pissed off at the world and has sworn swift violent revenge on The Undertaker and Paul Bearer for their actions over the past two weeks. Austin promises to get them tonight and we’ll get multiple shots of him backstage looking for them throughout the night, asking random people and looking in the cupboard etc.

As Austin looks for Undertaker and Bearer in the back, he peeks inside what looks like a big walk in fridge and The Undertaker appears behind him shoving him inside and locking the door on him.

For the first time in what feels like ages we get to hear The Undertaker’s awesome late 1998 theme song as he makes his way into the arena without Paul Bearer. The Undertaker says that his Ministry grows stronger, and his plague of evil over the WWF grows stronger. I’m not really sure what he means. He calls out his brother Kane. They brawl and The Undertaker very quickly tombstones his brother. He calls to the back and Paul Bearer leads a small platoon of men all dressed in white carrying a straight jacket. The Undertaker is attempting to have Kane put in an asylum. Kane escapes through the crowd being chased by the men in white coats.

A shot of the fridge that Austin was locked inside - it's open, and the Rattlesnake is free.

Split screen footage of Austin looking for The Undertaker, and The Undertaker, Paul Bearer and the men in white coats all looking for Kane. There’s a lot going on backstage tonight.

Paul Bearer and The Undertaker have found Kane and Taker and Kane brawl furiously in what looks like a dark function suite. None of the lights are on. The Undertaker uses a chair to level his brother and he starts to seal him up in a bodybag, sending Bearer to get the orderlies. Before he can do it, Stone Cold appears and knocks The Undertaker out cold by breaking a shovel over his head.

Paul Bearer smugly leads the orderlies into the room to cart Kane away who is seemingly sealed inside the body bag. He has no idea that Stone Cold rescued Kane. The body bag is strapped down to a gurney and taken away by the men in white. 

Paul Bearer waves goodbye to the ambulance as it takes away the bodybag he thinks contains Kane. Then we see Stone Cold and Kane watching it together on a TV monitor backstage. It was The Undertaker in the body bag (duh)

Paul Bearer is running around looking for The Undertaker believing that Kane is gone. He runs into Austin and Kane who grab Bearer and drag him out to the ring. Kind of wild seeing Kane come out to Stone Cold’s music after everything they’ve been through this year. They’re united in their hatred of Paul Bearer and The Undertaker. Austin recaps Bearer’s actions last week as he tries to blame The Undertaker. Austin asks for a cold beer. “If ya wanna see Kane beat the living hell out of Paul Bearer, gimme a hell yeah?” It gets one. “Kane, get ‘em' ' Stone Cold stops him and suggests Kane set Bearer on fire and Kane is far too keen to do it. Austin shows a pair of scissors and Paul pretends to faint which made me laugh. Austin cuts Bearer’s shirt off him and then cuts his tie as Bearer begs for his life, for Kane to save him. “Jesus take me home!” Bearer is hilarious here. Austin says it would be too easy to “gut him like a fish” and tells Kane to grab him because he has an idea. They drag Bearer through the arena and the backstage area, outside to the street in front of the arena. Kane lifts a manhole cover and Austin and Kane stuff Bearer down the drain and into the sewer headfirst! Kane puts the cover back on and Austin’s music plays and that's how Raw ends - on a shot of the manhole cover. 

This whole show long story was a lot of fun, with all the twists and turns and hiding and finding each other. Great stuff. 

Corporate abuse of power and a new Hardcore Champion

European champion X-Pac comes out to address Shawn Michaels turning on his friends DX last week, and The New Age Outlaws being courted by the McMahon’s. He says if you want to know what's going on with them you should ask them. He demands HBK come out to confront him so he can beat his ass. Shawn has gone full corporate as he’s ditched the cowboy hat and is wearing a much more traditional suit than last week. He lays down the law with X-Pac. “If i want any crap from you, I’d pick it out of your teeth” He tells him that if he so much as looks at him the wrong way “i’ll send you down to that money pit in Atlanta” He books X-Pac against the World’s Most Dangerous Man Ken Shamrock. The Intercontinental title won’t be up for grabs but X-Pac’s European title will be. 

Mankind defends his Hardcore Championship against The Big Bossman in a ladder match. Shawn Michaels accompanies Bossman to the ring, pausing to stand on the ladder on the ramp. Mankind is accompanied by Bob Holly, Scorpio and Light Heavyweight Champion Duane Gill, the JOB squad. Shawn ejects the JOB squad from ringside and then joins the commentary team to watch. Shawn takes it upon himself to judge this match as the master of the ladder match and holds up score cards after each use of the ladder. This is a decent little ladder match with them using the ladder a lot more than I expected. Mankind dominates (as he should, he has a PPV world title match in a week or two) As the two fight at the top of the ladder, Mankind locks the mandible claw on Bossman with Socko who falls off the ladder with Socko still in his mouth. The Rock runs to the ring, shoving over the ladder and sending Mankind crashing to the mat. Bossman climbs as The Rock holds the ladder for him but Mankind low blows The Rock and starts to climb but The Rock dumps him off the ladder again and plants him with a Rock Bottom. Bossman is then able to climb and become the new WWF Hardcore Champion. The Rock even gives him a hug! The Corporate champion, Corporate commissioner and new Hardcore champion put the boots to Mankind before leaving together. 

X-Pac defends his European title against the Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock. Shamrock is also accompanied by the Corporate commissioner Shawn Michaels. He’s had a busy night. He joins commentary again as Shamrock works over the European champion. During this we get another skit of The New Age Outlaws talking with Vince and the stooges. He appears to be holding a contract and The Outlaws are all smiles. Shamrock works on X-Pac’s neck just as he did the last time they wrestled. X-Pac does come back with a series of stiff looking kicks to the head and face and hits the bronco buster in the corner. Shawn pulls the referee out of the ring for a word as X-Pac hits the X-Factor and has the match won. The Big Bossman runs to the ring and knocks out X-Pac with his nightstick and it looks like Shamrock is ready to become a double champion until Triple H returns to make the save, attacking Shamrock and ending the match via DQ. Triple H was stripped of the IC title and when Shamrock won it he attacked Triple H during the title handing over ceremony so that seems like a natural feud for the IC title but it ends up not happening. It's nice to see Triple H though, he’s been missing for a couple of months with more knee issues.

Al Snow, leader of the JOB Squad who’ve been all over Raw the last two weeks, is facing the WWF Champion The Rock in a non-title match. The Rock comes out to a totally different theme song - it's a sort of tuneless electro beat. There was no WAY this was ever going to work as a theme song for a main eventer. It doesn’t last and he’s back to his previous theme by the end of this match. This is decent and Al Snow gets a good bit of offence in too, including a bodyslam on the floor and his moonsault off the ring barrier. During a back and forth Al accidentally clotheslines the referee. The Rock uses the Rock Bottom and looks like he’s going to Corporate Elbow Al Snow but instead rolls him off to the ride and does it to Head instead which actually makes the fans laugh. Head recovers and hits The Rock with Head and has a visual three count but the referee is still down. The Hardcore and Intercontinental Champions Bossman and Shamrock come to the ring and that's enough distraction for The Rock to deliver a second Rock Bottom which gets a three count from the recovered referee. Mankind attacks Bossman and Shamrock from behind but it's two on one so he doesn’t get far. Eventually the rest of the JOB Squad run in for the save and with a numbers advantage and Head, they manage to send the three corporate singles champions packing. Mankind chases and attacks The Rock at the top of the ramp and they brawl backstage. 

Love is in the Air

Mark Henry is all dressed up for his date with Chyna. Mark asks D’Lo to come along with him for his confidence. 

Mark Henry continues getting ready for his date and he's hired a limo. He has a jacket, sunglasses and a hat for D’Lo. He didn’t want him to just tag along, he wanted him to drive the limo for himself and Chyna! The reveal actually gets a laugh from the live crowd in the arena. After the break, Mark picks up Chyna from her hotel with some flowers. She’s showing a lot more personality than usual as she tells Mark not to touch her. D’Lo holds the limo door open for them.

When Chyna and Mark Henry arrive at the restaurant for their date, she finds a $1.99 price tag on the flowers he gave her. Some guys whoop and holler at Chyna like she’s a stripper as they walk inside. I wonder if they were plants or just people the camera crew couldn’t keep away.

Mark and Chyna have their date. They must have been playing copyrighted music in the scene as it's been dubbed over so loudly here that I can hardly hear what Mark is saying. Chyna downs her wine and grabs the bottle for another glass as Mark says that they’re going dancing next now that they’ve had dinner. 

Mark Henry and Chyna at a bar as Mark dances. Chyna has a big smile on her face which might be what they wanted out of this angle but I suspect she actually just corpsed and thought this was funny. The music once again is clearly loudly dubbed. Mark goes off to the bathroom and some guys dance at Chyna and are generally a bit creepy towards her. One of them does an Austin Powers impression which was hilariously current in 1998. Chyna ends up punching one of them as Mark returns from the bathroom and knocks out the other two. Chyna leads Mark away. The date seems to have gone really well! 

Other Happenings

• They promote the commemorative covers of TV Guide which feature wrestling personalities including Stone Cold and The Undertaker. JR says that those ones will be sold out because the WWF is so popular so fans might have to settle for the covers featuring “recent retiree” Hulk Hogan or “Stone Cold wannabee” Goldberg. 
• Last night on Heat, there was a private meeting between the New Age Outlaws and the McMahons. Vince seemingly wants to recruit all of the champions in the WWF into his Corporation. The Outlaws were all smiles during it. The New Age Outlaws face Edge and Gangrel of The Brood. There’s a really nice move here as Billy Gunn counters an attempted top rope hurricanrana by Edge into a powerbomb. The fans go mental with boos and “asshole” chants and it's because The Corporation (minus WWF Champion The Rock) are watching this match from the top of the ramp. The match ends via DQ when Christian hits Billy Gunn with one of the tag title belts and as The Brood try to three on two The Outlaws, Bossman and Shamrock run down to their rescue and The Outlaws once again leave with The Corporation. 
• Goldust faces Jeff Jarrett. We get some footage from three weeks ago before Survivor Series when Debra distracted Goldust allowing him to be blasted with a guitar and then Jeff and Goldust’s pull apart brawl backstage. Owen Hart is on commentary for this match and continues to deny that he’s The Blue Blazer. Owen still says he's retired. Goldust very quickly hits the Curtain Call but he’s too close to the ropes and Debra puts Jeff’s foot on the ropes. Goldust gets out of the ring and chases Debra which lets Jeff regain control. Debra gets in the ring and blocks Goldust from delivering the Shattered Dreams and holds his attention long enough for Owen Hart to jump him from behind. The Blue Blazer comes out and Owen is happy to see him until he clotheslines Owen and unmasks - it's Steve Blackman! He continues the beating until the referees pull him off of Owen.
• Marc Mero is in the ring. He calls out “that jobber” the Light Heavyweight champion Duane Gill and says that if he doesn’t win this match, this is the last time we’ll see Marc Mero. Gill is accompanied by the youth football team he coaches. He does a lap of the ring with an army of 9 year olds. Mero dominates Duane for a couple of minutes and has the match won with the TKO. Bob Holly and Scorpio come out to watch as Mero sets up Marvelocity. The Blue Meanie, who debuted last night on Heat, shoves Mero off the top rope and Duane rolls him up to win! The Blue Meanie has apparently joined the JOB squad and thanks to Duane Gill, Marc Mero is gone. This is Marc’s last WWF TV appearance. He’d remain under contract until early 1999 partly due to his real life connection to Sable who was a much bigger star but would eventually be released (around the same time she is)
• Val Venis has The Godfather and some hoes with him for his singles match with Tiger Ali Singh who doesn’t get an entrance. He’s waving an Indian flag, but still announced as being “from the continent of Asia”. Val does a great sell off of a DDT. He was always good at that. The Godfather sends the three hoes around the other side of the ring to distract Babu. Terri Runnels and Jacqueline make their way to the ring during this match and Jackie distracts The Godfather as Terri gets into the ring and hits Val low. Jackie and Terri seem to be on a mission to get even with all of the men who have wronged them recently (they did the same to Goldust and Marc Mero last week). 
• Before he’s able to leave the ring, The Acolytes - the new team of Bradshaw and Faarooq in matching ring gear - rush the ring lead by The Jackyl and beat Tiger Ali Singh senseless with a Dominator and a powerbomb. This team formed on Sunday Night Heat recently.
• Shane McMahon comes out and wants to remind Sable where she came from - she used to model WWF t-shirts. He brings her out to show off and model the new WWE Fragrance (it is real, and it was gross) She smiles and actually models it like she doesn’t understand what the point of this story is. Shane gets a little too close and then Sable sprays it in his face/mouth and leaves.

• Extra attitude has Stone Cold coming back out into the arena. He’s interrupted by The Rock who takes multiple Stone Cold Stunners while Austin has a beer bash. The Rock seems to be trying to make Austin laugh by overselling the Stunner and it actually works a couple of times. 

Raw is War - December 7th, 1998

Double main event for the PPV

The Rock, Vince and Shane grill Paul Bearer backstage to make sure that The Undertaker is good to team up with The Rock in tonight's main event.

Stone Cold enters the arena to a loud ovation - as you’d expect - and has a big main event tonight as he teams with Mankind to take on The Rock and The Undertaker. Stone Cold says that Vince McMahon has thrown everything at him and he always finds a way to scrape by but this Sunday is the highest the deck has ever been stacked. Austin promises no mercy at Rock Bottom. The Undertaker’s music plays as a huge crucifix looking symbol lowers from the arena roof. The Undertaker’s voice booms out over the arena speakers threatening Stone Cold and promising to sacrifice Stone Cold’s soul to the Ministry of Darkness. Lightning strikes The Undertaker’s symbol and it bursts into flames as Austin looks on. Is that concern in Stone Cold’s eyes? This is a pretty effective segment as this new evil side of The Undertaker might be too much for even Stone Cold Steve Austin. 

Mankind goes into Stone Cold’s locker room carrying a garbage bag. It doesn’t make a ton of sense that Austin would have a private locker room given his being at odds with the McMahons and their corporation.

Mankind leaves Stone Cold’s locker room and then after a break, we see Stone Cold entering his locker room - he was never in there with Mankind. He finds a handwritten note in crayon offering friendship and the garbage bag was full of beer which he’s left behind. Stone Cold calls Mankind a silly bastard and opens one of the beers. 

The Corporate WWF Champion enters first for the main event tag team match. He looks incredible with the WWF title belt around his waist. Some people just suit a title belt better than others and as much as I think of that WWF title design as being “Stone Cold’s belt”, The Rock is a close second. Mankind enters first for his team and doesn’t wait for his partner, getting right into the ring to try and fight The Rock and Undertaker single handedly which he does for a few seconds until Stone Cold’s music hits. He pauses at the top of the ramp and The Rock and Undertaker both charge him. Mankind follows and the four main eventers brawl all over the entrance ramp. Mankind and Undertaker fight back to ringside and Austin and The Rock fight to the top of the ramp first. They stay in those two pairs and brawl all around ringside and in the crowd until it finally settles in the ring with The Undertaker and Mankind as the legal men. Mankind takes a chokeslam, bodyslam and a huge leg drop before The Rock gets tagged in. The match goes a little longer until The Big Bossman runs in causing a DQ. He handcuffs Mankind to the corner of the ring and he and The Rock leave. The Undertaker and Austin brawl and Taker hits Stone Cold with a chair shot seemingly knocking him out. He carries him up to the top of the ramp and as loud latin chanting comes out of the arena speakers, hooded druids help The Undertaker strap Austin to the huge symbol at the top of the ramp and its raised into the air. The show closes on that image as The Undertaker’s voice threatens him over the speakers and Austin helplessly hands from symbol above him. 

The Corporate Outlaws?

Triple H, Chyna and X-Pac come out together to the DX theme song and the commentators speculate on the whereabouts of The New Age Outlaws who seem to be being courted by The Corporation lately. Chyna looks totally different after her recent time off and has changed up her ring gear/attire a lot too to show more skin. Triple H gets right to business, saying that if The Outlaws have made a business decision then that’s fine but they need to have the balls to tell DX to their face. The Outlaws then come out in very well tailored suits carrying their tag team title belts and sipping water from tiny bottles, lifting their pinkies as they drink. Roaddogg delivers his normal opening spiel but adding that “Vincent K. McMahon proudly brings to you HIS” tag team champions, The New Corporate Outlaws. Roaddogg brings out the WWF Commissioner, Corporate Shawn Michaels. Shawn calls himself the founding father of DX and says Triple H owes him an apology for gimmick infringement. The two argue for a bit until Shawn books Triple H and X-Pac in a tag team match aginnst Bossman and Shamrock tonight with anything goes.

Shawn and The Outlaws leave and meet The Corporation at the top of the ramp - this is the start of them officially being given that name as a faction too. The New Age Outlaws have signed up officially. After an ad break, X-Pac and Triple H react angrily to the news in private.

Triple H and European Champion X-Pac take on Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock and Hardcore Champion The Big Bossman in a no holds barred tag team match. The commentators have speculated all night that The New Corporate Outlaws will be defending their tag titles against Triple H and X-Pac at Rock Bottom as there will be a tag title defence with no challengers yet announced. This one is a wild brawl and they contest it under tornado rules which makes it a lot more fun than it would have otherwise been. The Outlaws and Shawn Michaels do make their way to ringside during this and King says that Bossman and Shamrock are softening up X-Pac and Triple H ahead of their expected tag team title match with The New Corporate Outlaws at the PPV.  Shawn helps The Corporate team cheat and even gets a chair. Billy asks for him to be allowed to hit Triple H with a chair but he swerves and hits Shamrock instead (another brutal stiff chairshot right to the head for Shamrock). That bizarrely causes a DQ despite this being an anything goes match. The Outlaws strip off their suits and it was all a ruse - The New Age Outlaws are DX through and through and celebrate in the ring with Triple H and X-Pac, crotch chopping at a furious Bossman, Shamrock and HBK. All five members of DX celebrate in the ring together for the first time in months. They have two words for McMahon “suck it”

DX celebrate together and laugh about their ruse in their locker room. 

Striptease

Recap of Sunday Night Heat as Goldust challenged Jeff Jarrett to a match at Rock Bottom where if Goldust wins, Debra has to “show her tasty cakes” Jeff Jarrett is wrestling D’Lo Brown who debuts new theme music here. This match is decent but short. Goldust comes out dressed as a flasher in a trenchcoat and flashes Debra which distracts Jeff and allows D’Lo to win.

Owen Hart came out of retirement on Sunday Night Heat, challenging Steve Blackman to a match at Rock Bottom. He’s facing Goldust here. During this one, Jeff Jarrett comes out with Debra who is wearing a trenchcoat like a flasher, the same as Goldust earlier. She flashes Goldust but it backfires and distracts Owen Hart instead allowing Goldust to win with a schoolboy. The commentators react like Debra was actually nude under the coat.

Other Happenings

• This Raw is the start of Michael Cole replacing Jim Ross on commentary. Sadly JR suffered another bell’s palsy attack while they were on tour in the UK after learning his mother had passed away. He’s gone for a while and he’s missed. This Raw was pre-taped and JR can actually be seen sitting at ringside next to King, he obviously just wasn’t available to re-record the audio afterwards.
• The Headbangers take on Edge and Gangrel of The Brood. The Headbangers as slated to face The Oddities at Rock Bottom and The Brood are facing the JOB Squad. Luna runs in during this with her new shorter hair thanks to The Headbangers and attacks them to cause a DQ. The Oddities run in too for a big brawl and for some reason, Tiger Ali Singh ran in too? Babu takes a bodyslam from Luna.

• The Godfather and Val Venis out for a tag team match. King says that after tonight, The Godfather will be the most popular superstar in the WWF. He obviously knows there’s something planned. He does - The Godfather is going to offer one of his hoes to someone in this audience. The crowd cheer and Godfather pics a heavyset lad out of the front row that's waving money. The fans boo him. He gives both hoes to the fan - whose name is Bob - and he leaves. I thought there would be more to it than that? They’re facing the new team of Bradshaw and Faarooq, The Acolytes. They’re still managed by The Jackyl. This isn’t a real match as the four men brawl and it's called off.
• Steve Blackman takes on Tiger Ali Singh with Babu. Babu distracts and Tiger uses his Indian flag to get the advantage. They don’t even say which flag it is on commentary. Blackman wins and is attacked by The Blue Blazer and then Owen Hart. The Blazer runs off and Owen locks his dragon sleeper in on Blackman as referees try to get him to break the hold and leave.
• Mark Henry comes out to the same new theme song as D’Lo Brown earlier. Mark is taking on Droz of the Legion of Doom who’s accompanied by Animal. They’ve been having issues since Hawk’s apparently suicide threat the other week. Chyna comes out and Droz assumes it's to help him due to her issues with Henry but she shockingly punches Droz instead and helps Mark win!