Raw is War - January 25th, 1999

Corporate Unity

The entire Corporation is in the ring and Shane introduces the winner of the 1999 Royal Rumble, Mr. McMahon! The entire team had a great night last night with Bossman, Shamrock and The Rock all winning their matches too. He comes out to the No Chance in Hell theme for the PPV and it’ll stay that way for a long time. “I’m going to Wrestlemania! I came, I saw and I kicked Stone Cold’s ASS!” He congratulates The Rock on regaining the WWF title last night and gives him the $100k bounty for eliminating Austin from the Rumble match “in cash.” Vince says that he knows The Rock woke up in a cold sweat last night because he’s scared to defend against Vince at Wrestlemania, but Vince has signed the paperwork and waves all rights and privileges as the number one contender. He will personally hand pick The Rock’s Wrestlemania opponent and he repeats his promise that Stone Cold will never, ever be the WWF champion, and also that he’ll never get Vince in the ring again. His gloating is interrupted by Stone Cold on the titantron live via satellite from San Antonio Texas. Vince brags about throwing Austin over the top rope. Austin calmly says that Vince can be as happy as he wants - he’s going to Wrestlemania. Vince is confused. Stone Cold reveals that he’s at Shawn Michaels’ house. He welcomes Stone Cold to his house and says that Stone Cold doesn’t need protection but he’s going to give it to him anyway. Protection from McMahon, The Corporation and mostly himself. If Stone Cold was there he’d open a can of whoopass on Vince like never before. Shawn says that he and Steve have been reading the WWF rulebook and holds up a bottle of whiskey. Shawn says that if the winner of the Rumble doesn’t go to Wrestlemania, the runner up does so when Vince checks himself out, Stone Cold checks himself in. Stone Cold says that as desperately as he wants to be the WWF Champion, he wants to beat Vince’s ass even more. He says he’ll put his title shot at Mania on the line in a cage match against Vince at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Vince considers it. Stone Cold says that on his best day, he can’t lace Stone Cold’s boots (which is obviously true). Vince accepts and the PPV main event is set. Vince is willing to risk his body to stop Austin going to Wrestlemania, and Austin is willing to risk not going to Wrestlemania just to punish Vince McMahon in a cage.

Shane McMahon comes out with the stooges and tells us that last night after the PPV, Kane went to the private luxury suite and begged the McMahons for forgiveness. He tells Kane to come to the ring. It very much feels like this forcing Kane to stay on a leash storyline will result in him turning on the Corporation and facing someone for his freedom at Wrestlemania. Spoiler - that isn’t what happens. Shane holds up the mic and Kane uses his voice box to reluctantly apologise. He just doesn’t want to be sent back to the insane asylum. Shane tells Kane it’s not good enough. He has to get down on one knee and apologise! Kane does as he’s told and gets down to one knee and apologises again. It’s still not good enough. Shane demands Kane gets down on both knees! Before this goes any further, X-Pac interrupts. He tells Shane to stand in the corner and shut up and tries to talk some sense into Kane. He needs to dump the corporate idiots and he can join DX instead - they’ll have his back! “I’ve been fired by bigger assholes than you and your dad and I’ll kick your ass right now” Kane doesn’t listen and instead chokeslams X-Pac. Shane makes him drag X-Pac to the corner and gives him a bronco buster. Shane and the stooges all signal Kane’s corner pyro with him. During the break, DX ran to the ring and The Outlaws and Triple H beat up Patterson and Brisco.

The details of how the main event was setup is covered with Triple H’s challenge in “Other Happenings” and The Rock accepting in “Halftime Heat” 

Triple H enters first with Chyna for his I Quit match main event for the WWF title with The Rock. The two fight up and down the ramp and around the ring. As they fight on top of the announce desk, The Rock calls Triple H “half gay” and demands he quit. The Rock is deeply problematic in this era, my God. Triple H strangles him with an electrical cord. Triple H hits a Pedigree but doesn’t ask if The Rock quits, he’s not done. He gives a Pedigree on the floor outside the ring but still isn’t done. He sets up a Pedigree on the announce table but before he can drive the champion into the table, The Corporation runs to the ring. Kane snatches Chyna around the throat and holds her high in the air as Bossman says that if Triple H doesn’t quit, Kane will break her in half. Triple H quits to save Chyna and then runs into the ring to check on her. He gets distracted by Kane and Chyna gives Triple H a low blow! The entire Corporation gets in the ring and attacks Triple H. Kane plants him with a chokeslam as Vince and Shane come out to give Chyna hugs and welcome her officially into the Corporation. The enormous boo for Vince hugging her is the loudest of the night.

Halftime Heat

The armoured truck arrives in the arena parking lot, supposedly carrying The Rock’s $100k winnings for getting Stone Cold out of the Royal Rumble match.

Mankind arrives at the arena, his head with a huge white bandage on it under his mask. 

With The Oddities in the ring for a match, The Corporate Champion The Rock enters full of swagger and carries his WWF title belt. “Before I check all four of your goofy asses into the Smackdown hotel, show some respect for the champ and get out of the ring” He accepts Triple H’s challenge and runs through all his catchphrases. This promo is the first time I’ve seen him do “Finally…” and “the millions and millions” which would become much more common. Before he can leave the ring after his promo, Mankind is seen on the video screen attacking the armoured truck, stealing the security bag full of The Rock’s cash! Mankind says that The Rock may have his belt, but he’s got The Rock’s money! He starts to throw handfuls of it into the crowd as he speaks. Mankind explains that The Rock faked him saying "I Quit" and shows footage from earlier that night on Heat of him saying “I Quit” during a promo, and then shots of the match itself. He lays it on pretty thick and makes sure everyone understands what happened. Mick Foley never said I Quit. He challenges The Rock to a rematch this Sunday during “Halftime Heat '' which is a special live episode of Heat that's airing during halftime of the Super Bowl. He challenges him to an empty arena match. The Rock accepts the challenge of course. They actually started playing Mankind’s theme music too early for the end of the segment so the last couple of lines were soundtracked by his new song.

The Ministry of Darkness

Mideon - the newest member of The Ministry of Darkness - is at ringside again babbling uncontrollably to King and Michael Cole.

Backstage Paul Bearer is in a dark room giving a pep talk to Mideon, The Acolytes and their new member, Mabel who is now dressed in black leather and has dyed his mohawk blonde. There was another similar segment later in the show where The Undertaker did the same thing.

Post-match victory promo by Al Snow and Roaddogg. Snow tells Roaddogg that he IS Hardcore and he wants a best two out of three for the Hardcore title belt. The two shake hands and agree and are then jumped by Mideon, The Acolytes and Mabel - The Ministry of Darkness. They leave both men lying. It then cuts quickly to The Undertaker sitting in his throne promising “a holy war of epic proportions' ' while Paul Bearer laughs.

Other Happenings

• Goldust in a singles match with Bad Ass Billy Gunn, and he’s accompanied by both Triple H and Chyna. That seems like overkill for a singles match with the newly heel-for-no-reason, Goldust. Triple H’s reasoning for being here is quickly explained - he’s sick of hearing The Rock brag about making Mankind say I Quit. He knows that Mick Foley never said it, and he knows The Rock will never make him say it. He challenges The Rock to an I Quit match tonight, He dares The Rock to “be a man” and put the WWF title on the line. No guts, no glory. Goldust still has Al Snow’s mascot Heat with him. Billy and Goldust wrestle a bit, but then Goldust’s music plays, The arena is bathed in blue light and The Blue Meanie comes out dressed as a blue version of Goldust in a much cheaper looking homemade costume. He distracts Goldust and Billy Gunn wins with a piledriver. Blue Dust steals Head, presumably to return them to his friend Al Snow (they’re both in the JOB Squad)
• Droz comes out for a match - he’s back to his own outfit and his own music opposed to the LOD’s look and music that he had last night at the Rumble for no reason. He challenges George “The Animal” Steele to a match. He was back in the ring after The Oddities returned from being kicked out by The Rock for his promo. George does his classic bite the turnbuckle spot but Droz beats him very quickly. They seem to have dropped the “drug dealer” aspect of Droz’s gimmick. Droz keeps beating on poor George until The Oddities return and chase him off. 
• Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart challenge The Corporations Bossman and Shamrock for the tag team titles. Before this match we had Patterson and Brisco giving Bossman and Shamrock some old-timey home remedies to reduce their sex drive so that they can ignore Debra. Debra also had a little pre-match promo which was interrupted by Sexual Chocolate Mark Henry and the two flirted. This tag match goes back and forth for a few minutes. Debra tries to distract the Corporate Team but it doesn’t work - I guess Patterson and Brisco’s home remedies do work! As the referee is distracted, The Blue Blazer (this week played by a stocky black man) runs down and smashes a guitar over Shamrock allowing the challengers to win the tag team titles. Owen hilariously claims post match that this proves he was never The Blue Blazer.
• Footage from earlier today of Terri Runnels and Jacqueline - PMS - forcing D’Lo Brown to go shopping for women’s sanitary products. Another “hilarious” Vince Russo penned segment no doubt. 
• Val Venis debuts his latest video - “Sister Act” starring Ken Shamrock’s sister Ryan that he gyrated for a couple of weeks ago. Val says that the video is called “Saving Ryan’s Privates” but the video clearly displays the title “sister act” so what’s he talking about? Val is wrestling Test who he had a couple of run ins with as well. Shamrock runs out and hits Val in the back with a chair which allows Test to win. Shamrock and Test attack him two on one until Billy Gunn runs in for the save. After the Corporation mates are out of the ring, Val sees Billy and assumes it was he who hit him with a chair. That doesn’t make any sense. Val and Billy brawl until referees separate them.

• The Hardcore champion Roaddogg teams with Al Snow against some guys that they’ve had a couple of run-ins with - they were the last two victims of The Brood’s bloodbath. This is a hardcore tag team match against Edge and Gangrel. Roaddogg and Snow take position at the ramp waiting to jump The Brood and attack with fire extinguishers as Gangrel and Edge came up through the floor. Roaddogg and Al actually had a great hardcore match against each other for the title a couple of weeks ago where they fought into the literal snow outside the arena. The four men fight backstage and trade shots to the head from various weapons. The Brood slam Roaddogg and Al Snow against a wall and then run a dumpster on wheels into them both in a cool spot. They bawl around the back and into the women's locker room which sends The Godfather’s hoes screaming and scurrying. Snow emerges with a toilet seat around his neck! As the four brawl, Blue Dust appears and hands Al Snow Head, which he uses to knock The Brood from a height and all four men crash through a table to the concrete. Roaddogg pins Gangrel and the two of them run back to the ring to celebrate with the people. 
• It's missing from the WWE Network version of this episode but this Raw was also the last appearance of Dan Severn. He lost his match with Steve Blackman via disqualification and then left the company. 

Raw is War - February 1st, 1999

A New WWF Champion

The show opens with a video recap of Halftime Heat where Mankind regained the WWF title from The Rock in a very entertaining empty arena brawl match that ended with him using a forklift to pin him. It’s worth tracking down and watching. It does weirdly have Vince McMahon on commentary calling the match solo.

The Rock has a split screen phone call with Vince McMahon in Texas about Mankind spending all of his money. There are multiple skits of the new WWF Champion Mankind spending his stolen cash including buying a midget from a Mexican man, and giving very sound sensible stock advice to Kurrgan of The Oddities. He also buys Debra a sweater because he’s worried she’ll get a chest cold. 

After showing the same Halftime Heat replay from the start of the show, the new WWF Champion Mankind comes out to the ring. I love seeing him with the title belt. He says he doesn’t look good, he doesn’t feel good but he does look and feel like a champion. The Rock interrupts him before he’s able to say more than that. Loud “Rocky sucks” chants. The Rock talks some trash and says that Mankind still has $97k that belongs to him and he wants it back. Mankind says that its down to about $72k now. He says that he did promise to return the cash in return for the empty arena match but he’s changed his mind. Mankind does agree that The Rock dresses and looks like a million dollars tho. The Rock challenges Mankind to a Last Man Standing match at the PPV and Mankind accepts. The first Last Man Standing match in history in fact. The Rock had pretty much lost his voice during this and it kept breaking and cracking while he spoke. 

Vince McMahon goes to Texas

Vince live via satellite is in a classic Texas bar, with Patterson and Brisco dressed up like cowboys. Vince says that he knows how to handle “these people” He approaches the bar and calls the barmaid “toots” and asks where Stone Cold is. Vince patronises the locals and gets kicked out of the bar.

Another Vince in Texas skit where Patterson and Brisco try to flirt with some locals and make fools of themselves. Patterson wasn’t openly gay until decades later but everyone in the business knew and they frequently had him interact with women in this way as an inside joke.

Another Vince in Texas skit - they’re eating BBQ and Brisco is nasty about the foot. The waitress dumps the plate on his head.

Vince and the stooges believe that they’ve tracked down Stone Cold in a pawn shop. Vince’s plan is to attack verbally as hard as possible and get Stone Cold to hit him and break his contract. He then wants the stooges to jump on him and let Vince go and get the car. It’s a solid plan. He slowly opens the door and finds a man who certainly looks like Austin. Vince calls him “chicken shit” and the man stands up - he’s bald and dressed like Austin and points a shotgun at McMahon. He tells him that he can find the real Stone Cold in a bar down the street.

The final Vince in Texas segment has him finally tracking down Stone Cold. He tries as far as he can to get Austin to hit him and break his contract but Stone Cold keeps his cool and says that he doesn’t need to hit him because he gets him nice and legally at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. He won’t hit Vince but “these people” might and we cut away, not finding out if the locals did attack Mr. McMahon.

The Corporation vs. D-Generation X

Backstage Shane McMahon is with Bossman, Shamrock and Test. He says that Vince isn’t here tonight as he’s in Victoria Texas to get the contract signed for his Cage match with Austin at the next PPV. Shane is shocked to learn that Kane is travelling to the arena solo tonight and Bossman is nasty to Terri Runnels and Jackie as they walk past for no reason.

In the arena after the Raw is War intro, Shane and the same three members of Corporation make their way to the ring. Shane says that he’s not X-Pac so he doesn’t need to hide behind bigger, tougher men. He’s a real man and he can stand on his own and send them to the back. He says that Vince’s plan is to provoke the Rattlesnake and get him to attack, meaning he’ll have breached his new contract and be fired on the spot. Shane says that if Austin does manage to keep his temper, Stone Cold is in for a beating from his dad, and asks for the steel cage that’s hanging above the ring to be lowered. This is actually the debut of the new style steel cage rather than the classic blue bars one and it's in the arena tonight because Kane and Triple H are facing each other inside it in the main event. As the cage lowers we can see that European Champion X-Pac is sitting on top of it! Backstage, DX are fighting with the Corporation and once the cage lowers, X-Pac hops down into the ring and Shane is trapped all alone. Shane protests that he was just joking. He throws a punch which is blocked and X-Pac beats down Shane in the corner but before he can perform a Bronco Buster, new Corporation member Chyna in some new lovely silver ring gear comes down and saves the day with a low bow. She holds X-Pac for him so that Shane can lay into him with some punches to the gut and face. 

Triple H comes out first for his main event steel cage match with Kane. This match was set up by Shane McMahon and Triple H needs revenge after Chyna turned on him and DX last week and joined the Corporation. Triple H has some pre-match comments and calls Chyna “a big bitch.” Chyna did explain her heel turn a little bit and its what you’d expect - money. Kane randomly calls for his pyro in the middle of this match and the flames bursting up at the corners is a cool visual. Triple H gets dominated but manages to pull a chair into the ring as he crawls out the door and blasts Kane. I’d question why they did this cage match on Raw so close to expecting people to pay to see one at the PPV but it allows King and Cole to talk a lot about how Austin and McMahon specifically will use the cage against each other. Kane seems to have the match won until X-Pac runs to the ring and slams the door on Kane’s head. He calls for Triple H to get to his feet and escape but Triple H is out from a big chokeslam. Kane gets up first and tries to climb the cage so X-Pac climbs up the outside to stop him. As they fight at the top of the cage. Triple H is able to recover and climb up the opposite side. Chyna runs down and grabs at his ankles but Triple H kicks her off and escapes. Triple H wins a pretty exciting cage match. Chyna is furious and so is Kane. He kicks over the ring steps and chases after DX but Chyna on the mic stops him. She challenges Triple H and X-Pac to a tag team match at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. 

Other Happenings

• Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock joins the commentary desk to watch Bad Ass Billy Gunn (who’s leaning heavily into the Mr. Ass nickname now) vs. Val Venis. Shamrock is struggling to maintain his temper and wants to attack them both. Shamrock is painted to be an unreasonable person, wanting to control and make decisions for his sister Ryan who appeared in Venis’s latest video. She is a grown woman. He has promised his sister that he won’t lay a hand on Val Venis, and he lectures about being anti-pornography in general. King keeps going on and on and on about the sex tape and winding up Shamrock. He’s very much provoking Shamrock to attack Val Venis. Eventually it's too much and as Val gyrates over Billy, Shamrock runs into the ring and blasts him with a steel chair. Mr. Ass gets the chair and keeps Shamrock at bay. Val Venis bizarrely attacks Billy and blasts him with the chair. He apparently, just like last week, thought it was Billy Gunn who hit him with the chair. 
• Debra is interviewed by Kevin Kelly about Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart’s recent success as a tag team. Mark Henry comes out with a rose to try and win her over and he’s jumped by the tag team champions and left laid out on the stage. 
• D’Lo Brown, who still has Terri and Jackie of PMS blackmailing him into being “their guy” and do their dirty work after D’Lo apparently cost Terri her baby last month. This whole storyline is dumb. They want him to take care of The Big Bossman for them after he was nasty to them at the start of the show. D’Lo actually has the match won but Terri and Jackie distract the referee and Bossman wins with the Bossman slam. Terri and Jackie runoff and as Bossman goes to continue the beating on D’Lo with his nightstick, Mark Henry runs to the ring and makes the save. I’m glad they didn’t forget these two are a tag team.
• The Blue Meanie has an audition as the “Raw Boy” and dances on the stage in a "Raw is War" t-shirt and very short black denim shorts, but gets attacked by Goldust who takes him to the ring and gives him the Shattered Dreams. Thankfully this episode of Raw was pre-taped as while he was prone, spread-eagled in the corner of the ring, The Blue Meanie's testicles fell out of his shorts and were entirely on show. He told the story years later on his podcast. 

• As D’Lo is being checked out by the doctor with Mark Henry telling him to forget about these women, the doctor casually reveals that Terri was never pregnant in the first place!
• Droz takes on Kurrgan of The Oddities after his run in with George Steele of the group last week. Kurrgan uses his size to bully Droz around the ring. Droz wins with a roll up.
• The Undertaker comes out - he's been using his original theme since The Ministry debuted. He sits in his big throne at the top of the ramp with Paul Bearer by his side and sends Mideon and Viscera to the ring. Mabel has been renamed Viscera. This is a 6 man tag that officially includes The Undertaker but he doesn’t move from his throne on the ramp. They’re facing The Brood who come up through their usual fire pit also at the top of the ramp which brings them face to face with The Undertaker before they even walk to the ring. They ignore him and go to the ring anyway. The Brood hold their own against the two Ministry members until The Acolytes run in and cause the DQ. The four men dominate all three members of The Brood and The Undertaker gets up and walks to the ring. The referees rush the ring to stop the fight but instead of accepting the help, The Brood attack the referees and tell The Ministry to bring it on, showing real guts. They’re outnumbered but want to keep fighting. The Acolytes put a noose around Gangrel’s neck and hang him over the top rope. The Undertaker steps into the ring for the first time since Rock Bottom and stares into Gangrel’s eyes before shoving him off the apron to be hung. Mideon screams “DIE” in his face over and over! This is dark. 

• Roaddogg teams up with Al Snow again. They formed a bond after both being doused in bloodbaths by The Brood but have a mutual respect and friendship after their hardcore title match a few weeks ago. They’re facing The Acolytes from the Ministry of Darkness in another hardcore tag team match after Bradshaw and Faarooq attacked them for no reason last week. This starts fast and furious with lots of brawling around the ring. Bradshaw throws the ring steps from the ring at Al Snow on the outside and misses which was a cool spot. They brawl into the crowd with Roaddogg forcing Faarooq outside through some fire doors and then teaming up with Al against the huge Bradshaw. Al follows outside to use trash cans and brooms to fight with Faarroq and Bradshaw and Roaddogg go back to the ring. A stiff chairshot to the head from Roaddogg and they get a table set up in the ring. Snow has Faarroq on a table outside too but Viscera shows up to stop Al from driving onto him and bodyslams him onto some wooden pallets instead. Faarooq goes back to the ring and The Acolytes double powerbomb the hardcore champion through a table to pin him. As he lays in the table, Mideon and some druids come out to stomp on Roaddogg and throw him out of the ring. The lights og out and The Undertaker comes out onto the stage, As he looks on, the entire Ministry lines up in the ring and the three druids are unmasked - it’s The Brood. They’ve joined The Ministry of Darkness! That brings the Ministry to seven members, not including The Undertaker himself. 

• Roaddogg heads out into the parking lot and asks Al Snow where the hell he was. Snow had a pretty good excuse for not helping him out. Roaddogg blasts Al with a chair and that ends their hardcore bro-mance I guess.

Raw is War - February 13th, 1999

McMahon/Austin and Rock/Mankind

The show starts with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Vince McMahon has booked him against Mankind tonight in a non-title match to try and soften them both up ahead of their matches at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Vince says that he respects Mick Foley, he is one tough son of a bitch. Stone Cold says that the only thing in between him and his WWF title shot at Wrestlemania is Vince McMahon. He says that Vince loves making guarantees so he’s going to make some of his own - he will beat Vince’s ass up and down every side of the cage, he will step right over McMahon’s limp carcass and walk right into Wrestlemania, and finally that there be blood shed and it won’t be his. “This Sunday, your ass is mine and that’s the bottom line, cuz Stone Cold said so” Before Austin leaves the ring, Mankind’s music interrupts and the WWF Champion makes the walk out to the ring, big smile with the WWF title belt proudly over his shoulder. He says that he and Steve can have a great match tonight, but he full intends on still being WWF Champion at Wrestlemania so this is the main event. The Corporation comes out onto the ramp. 

The Rock speaks first, promising to bash Mankind’s brains in, and that he will be the next WWF Champion. Vince speaks next and says that he is so confident that he’s going to be declared the winner of the cage match this Sunday that he guarantees no Corporate member will get involved and even lists every member saying if any of them show up, he’ll fire them all. He says that the WWF will never, ever EVER be the same again for Austin after this Sunday. He adds himself to Austin and Foley’s match tonight as the special guest referee. 

Vince McMahon enters first to officiate the Stone Cold and Mankind non-title match about half way through the show. We saw him and Shane walking and talking backstage previously too. Vince looks enormous in his tight referee shirt. Mankind enters next because while he’s the WWF Champion and everyone loves him, Stone Cold Steve Austin is still the biggest star in wrestling history. Vince, keen to see these two men destroy each other to make his and The Rock’s nights a bit easier at the PPV, makes this no DQ and encourages them to hurt each other as badly as possible. Austin asks Vince if he wants someone to get their ass kicked. Stone Cold isn’t getting his ass kicked, and Mankind isn’t going to get his ass kicked. Austin keeps Vince talking so he doesn’t see Mankind putting on Mr. Socko. 

Mankind clamps on the Mandible Claw. The Rock runs in and Austin cuts him off. The entire Corporate team runs to the ring and Mankind holds them off as Austin drops The Rock with a Stunner. Chyna and Shane help Vince to the back as Austin and Mankind manage to hold off the Corporation despite the five on two odds. Shamrock also gets a Stunner and they double clothesline Kane out of the ring. Mankind and Stone Cold have outsmarted Vince McMahon tonight.

After the ad break, Vince comes back out flanked by his entire stable of villains. He says that Stone Cold doesn’t get to win tonight, and he’ll run the gauntlet against every member (apart from The Rock) of the Corporation tonight.

Right after saving Kevin Kelly from the attack by Droz, Steve Blackman heads to the ring for his match with The Rock. This is an easy squash for The Rock and he wins clean with the Corporate Elbow for a little momentum ahead of his WWF title match on Sunday.

When the entire Corporation (minus The Rock) come out for the main event gauntlet match against Stone Cold, we get a good look at their titantron video with images and name plates for the entire group. Always liked that for some reason. Stone Cold starts it out against Ken Shamrock. As Shamrock argues with the referee (one he attacked earlier in the night) Austin jumps him from behind. Because they’re in Canada, the fans chant “You screwed Bret” at Earl Hebner (he did too. If you don’t know what happened in Montreal, hit Wikipedia or something) Austin hits the Stunner on Shamrock but before he can cover, Test attacks and he’s next in the gauntlet. Austin quickly hits Test with a Stunner and then Kane breaks it up. Kane is third in the gauntlet. The official finish is that Austin is winning each wave by DQ when the next person breaks up the pin on the previous one. Kane plants Austin with a chokeslam but Stone Cold kicks out! He tries to set up a Tombstone but Austin slides out the back and hits a third Stunner. Chyna is the fourth person! She almost immediately gets a Stunner of her own. Bossman rushes the ring for Stone Cold’s fifth opponent. He gets all over him quickly, punishing him with a choke on the ropes. Austin tries but is bound to be getting tired and Bossman keeps control. Vince McMahon throws Bossman his nightstick and he lays into Stone Cold, hammering him with the nightstick over and over into the ribs and throat. With Austin badly hurting and seemingly officially the winner of the whole gauntlet by DQ, Vince McMahon gets in the ring and says he’s the final person! He strips off his top and struts around the ring before pinning Stone Cold! Earl reluctantly counts the three and the official result - and Tony Chimmel says it to - the winner of this match by pinfall over Stone Cold Steve Austin is Mr. McMahon. Vince drinks a beer as the entire Corporate team beats him up and holds him down in the corner so we can get that iconic shot of Austin restrained, looking furious and pissed off while Vince gets right in his face and screams at him. They’d used that shot for the front cover of the Austin/McMahon DVD set too. 

Sister Act

Candid camera of Val Venis and Ryan Shamrock in his hotel room. They appear to be “getting sexy”. After the break, Val and Ryan come out to the ring for an interview with Kevin Kelly but before they say much, Ken Shamrock runs in attacking Val Venis, hammering him with right hands. Val escapes when the referees run in and they all get beat up too. Shamrock has snapped and uses suplexes and an ankle lock to destroy most of the referee locker room. Backstage, as Ryan rubs his shoulders Val Venis promises to end his issues with Shamrock tonight.

Kevin Kelly has a statement from senior referee Earl Hebner. Because of Shamrock’s actions, none of the referees will work his match with Val Venis at the PPV and so someone else needs to step up and act as referee this Sunday for the Intercontinental title match. 

Bad Ass Billy Gunn would later in the show volunteeer to be the referee, as seen in “other happenings” 

In a mostly empty locker room, Val Venis and Ken Shamrock are brawling wildly. Billy Gunn tries to separate them and instead gets pulled into the brawl himself until Bossman, X-Pac and some others separate the three.

Other Happenings

• The date for this episode of Raw is the Saturday night before the PPV but the commentators are still talking like it’s a Monday saying that the PPV is 6 days away.  At the PPV itself they refere to Raw as having happened "yesterday" so I think this Raw was taped assuming it would air on a Monday as normal but was postponed to the Saturday night. They’re in the Skydome in Toronto which is an absolutely enormous arena and it looks much bigger than usual too - this crowd is titanic. The noise sounds a little off too, the way it sometimes does when they’re in a massive stadium like this - the noise all disappears up into the roof.

• Mark Henry is shown watching Debra like a pervert on a monitor backstage. In the ring, it’s D’Lo Brown accompanied by Mark Henry taking on one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions Jeff Jarrett, along with his partner Owen Hart and yes, Debra. Big news in this one - D’Lo isn’t wearing his chest protector! First time he’s been without it since June 1998. D’Lo implores Mark to stop focusing on the woman, and focus on the tag team titles. He says that he has someone who’ll do anything and everything Mark wants to help him forget about Debra. He brings out Ivory! This is a big debut for the women’s division as she’s a legit great wrestler, and it's just a shame they have her playing eye candy here. She stays at ringside with Mark during this one. D’Lo wins thanks to Ivory and she would seem to be the antidote to Debra.

• Goldust, who is facing Blue Dust at the PPV, comes out for his match with WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Gillberg. Goldust is presented with some blue roses and chocolates before the match and he throws them down and kicks away the usher who delivered them. Gillberg gets the full Goldberg entrance from his locker room with security and the loud piped in “Gillberg” chants while King and Cole point out that none of the fans are actually chanting. Despite having won the light heavyweight title, Gillberg hasn’t won a single match. He goes for a spear and just bounces off Goldust. Goldust plants him with the Curtain Call but before he goes for a cover, his own music plays with the blue lighting and tint. It’s Blue Dust. He has his own parody of Goldst’s music. He’s on the titantron, nude and covered in blue body paint. With Goldust distracted, Gillberg rolls him up and Gillberg gets his first win! Goldust attacks and gives him Shattered Dreams. The lights go out and flicker blue - it looks for all the world like one of The Brood’s bloodbaths, but when the lights come back on, Goldust is covered in blue paint. 

• The whole of DX - Hardcore champion Roaddogg, Bad Ass Billy Gunn, European Champion X-Pac and Triple H come out to the ring. Triple H discusses his and X-Pac’s tag match with Kane and Chyna at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. He says Chyna has stepped up to the plate with no bat. He basically makes a bunch of penis/sports jokes which is an oddly casual way to discuss being betrayed by the person he trusted most in the world. X-Pac is facing Kane tonight and he isn’t afraid of anything, including Kane. He also challenges Shane McMahon to a fight. Roaddogg issues a warning to Al Snow ahead of their match at the PPV which is scheduled to be match two of their best of three series. Billy Gunn says that he’s sad to be left out, because he has nothing to do at the PPV. He thought he was the number one contender for the Intercontinental title? He has to figure something out, and then pulls off his jumper - he’s wearing a referee shirt. He’s going to officiate Shamrock and Val Venis’ IC title match. 
• The Godfather enters with three hoes and honestly? For the first time since the start of this gimmick even I’m taken in with how pretty these three women are. Canada produces good hoes, apparently. Godfather debuts what would become his classic opening promo, welcoming us aboard the hoe train and getting the fans to chant “Pimpin’ ain’t easy”. He’s facing Viscera of the Ministry of Darkness and this match is also the debut of the Ministry’s group theme song which Viscera and Mideon would use for the next year or two. A third debut as when Mideon joins commentary, he introduces us to his eye in a jar. Mideon says that the eye might be watching The Bossman. Mideon is facing Bossman at the PPV but there’s been no build for that (on Raw anyway). Mideon sounds like a crazy preacher spreading The Undertaker’s good word. As soon as Godfather gets in a little offence, Mideon runs in to cause the DQ and the pair destroy the pimp. 
• X-Pac vs. Kane is a good big man vs. little man match, with X-Pac using his speed but Kane dominating when he gets a chance. Kane is never really in danger but Chyna still attacks X-Pac to cause a DQ. She bodyslams X-Pac and sets up a Pedigree but Triple H runs in for the save. Chyna wants to fight them both but Kane pulls her out of the ring and drags her away.

• Al Snow rushes to the ring. He respects Roaddogg but HE’s the crown prince of hardcore and he’s going to win the Hardcore title this Sunday. He wants to have a hardcore match tonight but when no one comes out to accept, he says he’ll have one with himself and hits himself in the head with the microphone, a steel sheet, slams his own head into the announce table and sprays himself with a fire extinguisher. He sets up a table in the ring and then moonsaults through it, hurting himself. His friend from the JOB Squad Bob Holly comes out to check on him and take him backstage and Snow punches him instead so Holly hits him in the back with a stick and the two brawl into the crowd. They fight around the ring and Bob hits him in the head with a steel chair while Snow laughs about it. 

• Backstage Kevin Kelly interviews Droz (who’s wearing a ridiculous hat) about his recent actions and attacks on The Oddities. Droz takes issue with Kevin calling him a punk on commentary during Sunday Night Heat and punches him in the face. Before he can attack the announcer further Steve Blackman makes the save and Droz leaves.