Raw is War - July 24th, 2000

The McMahon Children and a new Stable?

Raw opens with Commissioner Foley who says that his job is to make sure we the fans get the best show possible, and he believes Fully Loaded delivered (and he’s right, it did). He makes special mention of Rikishi’s incredible dive off the cage onto Val Venis, then Kurt Angle’s loss to The Undertaker which has got Kurt demanding a rematch here tonight which Mick has granted, the amazing guts shown by both Chris Jericho and Triple H in the Last Man Standing match, and then finally The Rock retaining the WWF title (he acts like the crowd’s cheering The Rock is for him and says “thank you” which is funny). He says that watching Benoit and Rock’s amazing match is the most he’s missed being a wrestler since his retirement. That brings Chris Benoit and Shane McMahon down to the ring and an angry Benoit calls Foley a fraud. Shane recaps the outcome of the main event - Benoit won by disqualification and was awarded the WWF title per Foley’s ruling, but then Mick came out and reversed that as The Rock should never have been disqualified anyway. The Rock then retained with a Rock Bottom. Shane says that the referee’s word is always final, but Foley says things change and after a few jokes about Vince McMahon’s hair never changing, Benoit fires up and calls himself the WWF champion and demands a rematch tonight. Foley says no, but he’ll think about it and as Shane holds Benoit back from attacking the commissioner, Triple H’s theme music hits but it is in fact Shane’s sister Stephanie who comes down to the ring. Stephanie wants cooler heads to prevail and while she’d normally push for Triple H to get a title match he’s hurt, and isn’t here yet so she demands a title shot for Benoit instead. Foley says he agrees with Jericho’s assessment of her. She slaps him, so Foley gets angry and says he should fire her but instead since Shane and Stephanie want to get involved in WWF action he’s going to book the first ever brother-sister tag team match. Stephanie will team with Shane against two opponents of his choosing. He says that Benoit and Triple H better not get involved or he’ll fire all four of them! 

Backstage, Triple H finally arrives at the arena as Stephanie frantically tells her husband what happened. Triple H doesn’t take his wife’s side and is annoyed she took Benoit and Shane’s side and also seems to believe this is her own fault for slapping Foley. He is angry and hurt after the Last Man Standing match, and gets worked up seeing that someone has sent his wife more flowers, throwing them at the wall. The flowers were from her to him! Trouble in paradise.

WWF Women’s Champion Stephanie and Shane enter together for their tag team match. Their first opponent is Lita. Shane grabs the mic and says that he’s proud to be here in this match, and doesn’t care who the other opponent is. His sister can take Lita. Lita’s partner? It’s the returning Big Show! Shane put him out at Judgment Day and to no ones surprise, Big Show chases after Shane who sprints backstage leaving this as a one on one match between Lita and Stephanie.

Lita knocks Stephanie down and throws her around the ring! The fans love it. She lays out the champion with a suplex and takes aim with her moonsault but Trish Stratus turns down and shoves Lita off the top rope. Stephanie pulls up Lita’s top and allows Trish to whip her, again, with a leather belt. Trish and Stephanie get very friendly and high five, leaving poor Lita laid out. So I guess Lita and Big Show win this match via disqualification.

The Big Show continues to pursue Shane McMahon, following him around backstage and out into the parking lot where Shane actually jumps and climbs up and over a car to escape. 

Kurt Angle enters first and looks strangely confident despite his opponent being The Undertaker. He is a very confident man. He cuts a pre-match promo mocking Austin, Texas and then saying that Taker beat a man in fear at Fully Loaded but he is no longer in fear. Kurt attacks quickly and does his best, but is quickly spiked with a chokeslam. The Big Show’s pursuit of Shane McMahon leads through the crowd and Shane climbs over the barrier and ends up in the ring. Taker takers him for a chokeslam as Big Show gets in the ring and asks for him to do it instead. Undertaker releases Shane and then in a moment which makes no sense at all, Show releases Shane and attacks The Undertaker instead. Show works on Taker’s leg as Shane and Kurt rain stomps and punches down on the American Badass. What is the connection between Kurt and Shane? And why has Show forgiven Shane for what he did to him at Judgment Day? And Why are they attacking Undertaker? The beating goes on for what feels like forever as the crowd chants for Kane to make the save. Show plants Taker with a massive chokeslam and leaves with Shane, while Angle continues the attack. Taker refuses to get on a stretcher, and then after the commercial break Michael Cole tries to interview The Undertaker about how he's feeling. He’s jumped again by Big Show, Shane and Angle and after a vicious beating Shane smashes a concrete block over Taker’s knee just like he did to Big Show at Judgment Day. Again, this makes no sense. We’ll give Show and Shane a chance to explain themselves I guess. 

Out in the parking lot, Shane McMahon leaves with The Big Show before telling Benoit that he hopes he gets the match with The Rock he wanted. Angle is there too and it seems that Shane has put together quite the posse with The Big Show, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle. JR calls this group “The Conspirators” multiple times throughout the night so it seems like that might be the name they want to use for this group. 

Kane explodes into Commissioner Foley’s office, throwing stuff around and demands Show, Angle, Shane and Benoit. Kane is furious at their actions and what they did to his brother. Later as Angle tries to leave the arena Mick stops him and tells him that he’ll team with Benoit to take on Kane and The Rock tonight. 

Jonathan Coachman interviews The Rock about Benoit’s comments at the start of the show, and tonight's main event. He basically defends himself and affirms that he is the right and true WWF Champion before promising to finish things with Benoit tonight. If Ya Smell….etc.

In a match ordered by Commissioner Foley, Trish Stratus faces Lita in a leather strap match. Lita runs to the ring and these women aren't strapped together like a traditional strap match and instead just wrestle but carrying their own straps to use as weapons. The crowd cheers as Lita rips off Trish’s top so that she can whip her bare skin. The referee accidentally takes a shot to the face and goes down. Lita gives Trish a Twist of Fate and a moonsault and has the match won, until Stephanie McMahon runs down and hits Lita with the Women’s title belt, pulling Trish into position for the cover as the referee wakes up. Trish Stratus wins, thanks to Stephanie McMahon. 

In the main event, Angle and Benoit enter first followed by Kane and then the WWF Champion The Rock. The Rock starts and fights off both Benoit and then Angle before tagging Kane who dominates and throws Angle around with ease until an assist from Benoit allows the two technicians to isolate and work on Kane’s leg with double teams and submission holds. The match breaks down as The Rock locks Benoit in a Crossface in the ring, Shane McMahon and The Big Show return and attack Kane on the outside, rescuing Angle. The four men beat down Kane on the ramp and attack The Rock too and Raw ends with The Big Show’s music playing and Shane, Show, Kurt and Benoit raising each other's arms and posing at the top of the ramp while JR once again calls them The Conspirators.

Chris Jericho isn’t done playing The Game

Chris Jericho comes to the ring and talks about how brutal the Last Man Standing match was and how it was the best match of his career. He says that Triple H only won by one second, but after showing The Game some respect and giving him credit he demands another match with him tonight. He says Triple H can have any kind of match he wants. Triple H appears on the titantron and he gives Jericho a lot of credit too and talks about how tough he is, but pivots to saying he’s the better man and the tougher man and that he won. He has nothing else to prove, so there will be no match tonight. He tells Jericho to go home and lick his wounds and recover and accept that Triple H is better than him. Y2J says that since Triple H won’t come out and face him, he’ll come back and make a bigger mess of his face than he’s making of his own marriage. Jericho does exactly what he says and the camera follows him through the back and to Triple H’s locker room and the two start fighting! Referees and officials quickly show up to break them up. 

Hoes No More

The Godfather (along with many hoes, including the yet unnamed Victoria and Mandy) takes on Bull Buchanan. In this match, if The Godfather loses then he must stop pimping and will no longer bring the hoes to the ring. He doesn’t give us his usual pre-match promo and looks very serious and all business. Steven Richards does give us a pre-match promo about how his censoring is for our own good.  Steven grabs a steel chair and when one of the hoes tries to stop him, he drops her with a superkick! Richards gets up on the apron and hits Godfather with a chair, allowing Bull to follow up with a scissors kick to win the match. The Godfather and his hoes are no-more. 

Other Happenings

• In the opening match, Roaddogg (along with X-Pac) challenges Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title. Pac joins commentary to watch, and JR discusses Roaddogg and X-Pac’s alleged “one upmanship” contest which is news to us. X-Pac explains that they have disagreed lately about which of them is the better singles performer. He is still cheering his buddy on. This is a fun hardcore match and despite their competition, X-Pac still cheers on his “best friend” Roaddogg. He was always at his most interesting and best in the ring during his run with the Hardcore title so its nice to see Roaddogg doing it again. Blackman retains with a martial arts kick driving a steel chair back into Roaddogg. X-Pac says he’s going to challenge Blackman for Smackdown so he can prove he’s the better martial artist, and that he’s a better singles guy than Roadogg.

• Tazz takes on Scotty 2 Hotty. Scotty hits the Worm but Tazz basically no-sells it and quickly wins with a Tazzmission. He wants to keep the beating going but Rikishi - who Tazz has screwed out of the IC title twice now - hobbles down with taped ribs and sends Tazz packing with a Samoan drop.
• Backstage, Edge and Christian gloat about having retained their tag team titles last night via disqualification to Commissioner Foley. Mick says that he can’t decide who to have them defend against tonight so they’ll defend against both options - a triple threat with The Hardyz and The Dudleyz where the team that scores the winning fall, wins the tag team titles.

• Edge and Christian defend the Tag Team titles against Matt and Jeff Hardy and Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley. The challengers rush out and attack the champions on the entrance ramp and that's what starts the match. The Dudleyz perform their trademark double team headbutt to the crotch and this match is the debut of them shouting “Wazzup” during it, which was an extremely popular beer advert at the time. It hasn’t aged well. Bubba also loudly tells D-Von to “get the tables!” so they have very much reached their final form now. Edge accidentally spears Christian and Jeff follows up with a Swanton and almost wins the titles, then The Dudleyz hit a 3D on Christian and almost win the titles but in the end, Edge lays out D-Von, Christian crawls into a cover and amazingly the Tag Team Champions barely escape with their gold.

Smackdown! - July 27th, 2000

Shane McMahon’s Conspirators

Smackdown opens with a recap of the events of Raw, specifically the return of The Big Show, his immediate heel turn and alliance with Shane McMahon, their forming of an apparent stable with Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, and the four of them orchestrating vicious attacks and beatdowns of The Undertaker and then Kane and The Rock in the main event. I’m just hammering all this home because with JR giving the group the name “The Conspirators” and the way Raw ended with the four of them holding each other’s arms up and posing it really does seem that a new main event heel stable has formed under the leadership of Shane McMahon. 

Backstage, The Rock and Mick Foley appear to be having a heated argument but we can’t hear what they’re saying. Commissioner Foley then heads down to the ring and says he’s not in the mood to smile tonight. He says he’s especially disappointed in The Big Show who has been begging to return for weeks, only to side with Shane and disappoint all these people. The Rock is furious and wants to fight all four the men who attacked him on Raw so Foley gives him a match with Kurt Angle tonight, followed by making a tag team match of Trish Stratus and Triple H vs. Lita and Chris Jericho.(see the next section for the outcome of that). Finally, he books Edge, Christian and Big Show against The Dudley Boyz and Kane in a six man tables match! That brings The Big Show out to the ring along with Shane McMahon. Big Show explains his heel turn - when he was in the hospital, he realised he wasn’t there because of Shane he was there because of himself. He refers back to his matches with Angle at Backlash and Shane at Judgment Day and says they were right about him. He was a joke and now he doesn’t want to be. He calls the people losers and says he’s back to prove that he is the biggest, nastiest bastard in WWF history. Ok so I guess that makes sense.

Edge and Christian enter first for the six man tables match and are wearing comically oversized foam cowboy hats. This is a classic five second pose.

It's probably worth mentioning that in this comeback, Big Show is wearing the most clothes he ever has. He’s wrestling in loose fitting black jeans and a weightlifter’s belt, with a black singlet on his upper half. I mentioned it at Judgment Day but the company was unhappy with his physical condition. (i.e. they thought he’d gotten fat, which he had). With Kane and Big Show focused on each other, The Dudleyz are able to pretty easily beat down Edge and Christian (including using their Wazzup double team headbutt) and give Edge a 3D through a table to officially win the match. They set up a second table and want to give Christian the same but Edge rescues his partner. Kane and Big Show skirmish and thanks to Shane McMahon, Show is able to drive Kane through the table with a chokeslam. 

Jonathan Coachman interviews Kurt Angle and says that after he hit The Rock with a chair on Raw, Rock will want revenge. Angle says that he got chased by a maniac on a motorbike, and his even bigger maniac brother for weeks and no one cared but God forbid the man with the funny eyebrow get hit with a steel chair. Angle says he’s excited to face The Rock and put him in his place, and challenges him to put the WWF title on the line.

In the main event, The Rock defends the WWF title match against Kurt Angle. It seems Angle’s comments were under The Rock’s skin and so The Rock demanded that this be made a title match after all. As the match continues, with Angle controlling the pace, Chris Benoit and Shane McMahon head down to the ring and work in tandem distracting the referee and getting shots in on The Rock. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler talk a lot about conspiracies and are really pushing The Conspirators as a name for this Shane McMahon-led group. The Rock fights off all the interference and locks Angle in his ugly version of the sharpshooter, which he’s added to his repertoire during his feud with Benoit. Benoit hits him from behind and The Rock has had enough, grabbing a steel chair and hitting Benoit and Angle with stiff shots. He chases after Shane, as in the ring a groggy Angle is declared the winner via disqualification and celebrates with The Rock’s WWF title belt. The Rock runs back down to the ring and sends Angle packing to reclaim his belt while Shane, Benoit and Angle regroup on the ramp to close Smackdown. 

Mixed Tag Misunderstandings

Triple H and Stephanie arrive at the arena, bickering again (this time about how Triple H doesn’t take care of himself and needs to ice his back) and arrive in their locker room to find more flowers. After teasing another fall out, the flowers turn out to be from Triple H to Stephanie and they embrace. Aww. Later, Triple H is unhappy again having found out about the mixed tag team match and makes some crass comments about how Trish can’t wrestle and should be in wet t-shirt contests. He accidentally degrades female wrestlers in general and Stephanie in specific and she takes offence and storms out. In another segment Trish Stratus goes to visit The Game and asks him to show her some holds and a little bit of wrestling training to get ready for their tag match. 

In an all time famous segment we return to Triple H’s locker room to discover him teaching Trish wrestling holds and showing her how to apply a hammerlock and escape one. He is hilariously patronising towards her, and as he has her locked in a hammerlock and she bends over to try and counter it, Stephanie walks in and finds her husband standing behind a bent over Trish Stratus! She flips out, screaming and throwing flowers and lamps before leaving in hysterics. After the commercial break while Roaddogg tries to talk him out of it, Triple leaves the arena and says “to hell with Foley, to hell with the match and to hell with my wife”. Drama!

Trish Stratus goes to see Commissioner Foley and acts all sexy, apparently trying to seduce him while saying that with Triple H gone, her match should be cancelled. Mick changes his tone and accuses her of sexual harassment, and says that she can have Chris Benoit as a substitute partner instead.

Trish Stratus enters first and as worried as she looks, she relaxes when she sees her new partner Chris Benoit (who has Shane with him). Lita gets a big cheer when she comes out - I’d imagine partly because it's a 2000 crowd and she is absolutely gorgeous but this feud with Trish and her high flying antics with The Hardyz have made her genuinely really popular! His partner Chris Jericho gets us usual big pop too and still has his ribs taped, but it's definitely less so than he’s had since the sledgehammer beating before Fully Loaded. It’s a wild match and the genders mix it up as Jericho blocks a slap and puts Trish in the Walls of Jericho, and Lita takes out Benoit with a diving hurricanrana. Lita flattens Trish with a dive to the outside, and Jericho pins Benoit with a Lionsault to win the match for him and Lita. Benoit is furious, and Trish is more injured than angry. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler really ham it up that Benoit calls himself the best wrestler in the world and yet he just got pinned.

Backstage, Kevin Kelly interviews Chris Jericho who continues to mock Triple H and Stephanie before saying that now that he’s beat Benoit, he’s now the 2nd best technical wrestler. In fact The Rock beat him so he’s 3rd. In fact Lita was bumping him around too so maybe he’s 4th! Benoit jumps Jericho from behind and slams him around, letting Shane get some stiff kicks to the guts. Benoit lays Jericho out and slams a huge metal shutter door down on Y2J’s injured ribs pinning him in place, before slamming a steel chair down on his head trapped between the concrete seemingly knocking Jericho out cold. That was too much even for Shane who seems shaken and tells Benoit that’s enough. Jericho is coughing up blood.

The GoodFather joins in the Good Fight

Steven Richards and Bull Bucanan head down to the ring and after once again preaching about the evils of scantily clad women, and lusting after scandily clad women, brings out the newest member of his group - The Goodfather! The former Godfather enters and has lost his pimp attire and hoes and is now dressed just like Steven and Bull. The Goodfather says that Steven was right and that he was spending his time ruining the good and the people cheered him on. He’s even wearing a little dainty pair of glasses and looks like such a nerd. The Goodfather says it isn’t right to parade women around like objects and he only ever pimped for the cheers. He pleads with the people to accept that what they’re cheering for is wrong, and says he will never again contribute to the moral demise of this country. The group is now three-man strong, but doesn’t yet have a name. 

Other Happenings

• In the opener, X-Pac challenges Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title. Roaddogg joins commentary and just like X-Pac did on Raw, explains he and X-Pac’s current game of one upmanship, and this “friendly rivalry” they’re engaged in. Blackman retains in a short match with a stiff kendo stick shot to the head. After the match, Roaddogg attacks Blackman from behind and DX proves they are still the best team, despite their friendly rivalry with each other. DX beat down Blackman with a trash can and a kendo stick, but despite the 24/7 rule neither they nor anyone else tries to capitalise on Blackman.

• Matt and Jeff Hardy take on D’Lo Brown and Chaz - Low Down. We haven’t seen them on TV since their debut last month and they attack The Hardyz before the bell as Michael Cole explains their gimmick - they are angry, bitter young men who are sick of being overlooked. That’s old hat now but in 2000 was fresh enough. This was a really good match actually and The Hardyz win with a Twist of Fate and Swanton combo on Chaz. D’Lo attacks after the bell and after throwing Jeff out of the ring, Low Down drills Matt with a double powerbomb, and then a superplex-low down combo on Jeff. Low Down lose but get their heat back after the match. 
• Grandmaster Sexay faces Tazz, looking for revenge for what Tazz has done to Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty over the last few weeks. This match is where Tazz makes the change from wrestling in his classic wrestling singlet to wrestling in a tracksuit, which he’d do for the rest of his career.Theres a scary spot where Tazz almost lands right on top of his head after a back suplex. Tazz locks in a Tazzmission, so Scotty runs in and attacks him which causes a disqualification. Too Cool lay Tazz out with a bulldog, a top rope leg drop from Sexay and then a Worm from Scotty. 
• New WWF European Champion Perry Saturn (with Terri) defends against Crash Holly. Sadly Crash’s career has peaked since moving away from the Hardcore title, and it's a shame. I’d have thought an easy evolution for him, given his obsession with weight and carrying his scales and talking about how he’s actually 400lbs, would have been a run with the Light Heavyweight title. He could have rechristened it the Super Heavyweight title? I’m sure I’ll mention this again because I think it’s a brilliant idea. Crash gets several near falls but after a trip and distraction by Terri and a low blow from Saturn, Perry retains the title. He’s attacked after the match by former champion Eddie Guerrero and knocked out of the ring while Chyna taunts Terri, who has run off to the top of the ramp with the European title belt. 

Raw is War - July 31st, 2000

McMahon-Helmsley Soap Opera

Triple H is shown arriving alone in a limo - he and his wife are seemingly still on the outs after the events of Smackdown. Stephanie arrived separately later in her own limo.

Triple H heads down to the ring solo, carrying a large bouquet of roses. He says that he is a man who almost never makes mistakes, but he has to apologise for a big mistake he made. He gives an apology and an explanation to Stephanie for his being caught in a compromising situation with Trish Stratus on Smackdown. He says it was totally innocent.

To be fair to him, it was. Their entire conversation was broadcast on television! He tells his wife how much he loves her and asks her to come out and accept his apology. Jim Ross calls this whole thing nauseating. Stephanie does come down, but isn’t too quick to accept the apology. She asks him how he’d feel it he caught her like that with Kurt Angle. But it’s not just the misunderstanding, it’s that he’s basically ignored her lately because he’s been so focused on Chris Jericho. Triple H gives her a long, emotional plea about how much he loves her and how important she is to him as her icy demeanor slowly thaws and she forgives her husband. They embrace to loud boos from the crowd as Commissioner Foley comes out onto the stage with his face covered in water and fake tears. He pretends to be moved and crying before calling what we just witnessed a pile of horse crap. Mick rubs salt in the wound by reminding everyone of the incident that Stephanie just forgave Triple H for, and even shows it up on the titantron again. Mick books the first ever husband and wife tag team match as Triple H and Stephanie team up to face Lita and The Rock! 

In the McMahon-Helmsley locker room, Trish Stratus goes to see them and offers Stephanie an apology. She accepts, but then after Trish leaves Steph calls her a conniving bitch and accuses her of being after Triple H, and of Triple H “looking at her”. 

In the McMahon-Helmsley office, Stephanie asks Triple H to give her some wrestling hints like he did for Trish on Smackdown. The moves he shows her are a little more rough and painful than the slightly more provocative moves he was showing Trish on Smackdown.Stephanie asks to be shown the same move and Triple H accidentally insults his wife’s body while pointing out her different build, and then calls her “Trish” leading to Stephanie storming out. 

Triple H goes to see Commissioner Foley and plays it friendly and cool, sucking up to him and looking for sympathy for his marital troubles to get the match cancelled. Foley is unmoved and instead gives Triple H a new partner to replace Stephanie - Trish Stratus! 

Trish goes to see Triple H and get ready for tonight’s main event but he immediately kicks her out of his locker room and later as they walk to the ring he keeps a big distance from her and his body language is that he wants nothing to do with her. For the first and only time tonight we see The Rock and the fans absolutely explode for him. Triple H gets outclassed by The Rock in the early going to he tags out to Trish, who is then absolutely dominated by trained wrestler Lita. Triple H pulls hair to give Trish an advantage, so The Rock knocks him off the apron. As the referee gets The Rock back to the corner, Triple H clobbers Lita with a stiff clothesline and that allows Trish to hit a running bulldog and then tag out. The Rock didn’t want to hit Trish but The Game has no issues hitting Lita. His Pedigree attempt is stopped by The Rock but Lita is worked over by Trish and Triple H until she counters Trish and gets a hot tag to The Rock. In the closing moments, The Rock catapults Triple H right into Trish, and then sends him to the outside. He hits Trish instinctively with a spinebuster and as Triple H and The Rock fight on the outside, Lita gives Trish a moonsault and wins the match for her team! Trish is out cold in the middle of the ring and as Triple H stands over her, checking on her, The Rock blasts Triple H in the back with a steel chair causing The Game to fall forward and land on Trish with their faces in each other’s crotches! Even The Rock has a laugh at that as Raw goes off the air. 

Shane and Co Target their enemies

Backstage as Shane McMahon hangs out with Big Show, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, Commissioner Foley goes to see them and tells them that Big Show will face Kane tonight, and that Angle and Benoit will face The Dudley Boyz.

As Angle and Benoit enter for their match (Shane along with Benoit) we’re told that The Undertaker suffered a serious knee injury and he will be out “indefinitely” as a result of Shane and co’s assault on his legs last week on Raw. Once The Dudleyz enter, the fans are so loud and excited for them chanting for “tables'' immediately. This is a great match. Chaotic and full of interference and near falls. The referee goes down and The Dudleyz have it won with a 3D despite Shane’s best efforts but The Big Show runs down and flattens Bubba Ray with a chokeslam allowing Benoit to get the winning three count when the referee wakes up.

Kane vs. The Big Show doesn’t even get started. Kane attacks Show during his entrance and fights off Shane, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit - even dropping Benoit and Angle with a pair of chokeslams - but the odds mount and as Kane is being beaten down four on one he’s quickly rescued by the steel chair wielding Dudleyz before Shane’s posse can do too much damage. 

The Chair-men

Edge and Christian defend the Tag Team Championships against The Hardy Boyz (with Lita). The pre match promo and five second pose makes fun of the Atlanta baseball teams. Jeff has the match won with a Swanton Bomb but Christian pulls the referee out of the ring and punches him. The match ends via disqualification as Edge gets a pair of chairs and they hit Jeff with a con-chair-to, which still doesn’t have its name but its the same double team chair shot sandwich they used on Kane last month. It looks brutal. “Concussion city” says JR. 

After Matt Hardy checks on Jeff being checked out by the doctors, he rushes Edge and Christian during their interview with Michael Cole. It backfires as it’s still two on one but Matt was clearly too angry to focus and think it through.

The Right to Censor

Outside the arena, the Godfather’s former hoes protest the actions of Steven Richards and his ongoing censorship. There would be a few of these throughout the night, leading the crowd in a loud “save the hoes” chant. 

As the “save the hoes” rally leads in through the crowd and down to the front row, Steven Richards flanked by Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather head down to the ring. Steven lectures us all on how he “fights the good fight” and that he’s doing all this for our own good. The hoes try to get in the ring and security stops them. As Richards keeps going on, The APA interrupt and Bradshaw explains that they have the right to drink, gamble and consort with wild, half naked women. That leads into a tag team match between The Acolytes and Bull and the Goodfather, with Steven at ringside. It must be hard to wrestle in dress slacks and a tucked in white shirt and tie. The APA win when Faarooq counters a top rope dive from Bull into a powerslam for the three count. The newly christened “Right to Censor” kept the fight going and beat down the APA afterwards.

Other Happenings

• Raw this week is in the massive Atlanta Dome, which is very much WCW’s home arena. This isn’t the first time the WWF had run this arena but it always feels like a statement when they do. There are huge advertisements for Coca Cola and Hooters visible in the arena throughout the show. 
• The opening match is Roaddogg and X-Pac - who both were unsuccessful in challenging Blackman for the Hardcore title last week and beat him down on Smackdown - facing Steve Blackman and his odd couple friend Al Snow in a hardcore tag team match. It’s wild action all around the ringside and in the ring. While Roaddogg and X-Pac continue their friendly rivalry, they continue to win as a team and win this fun tag match after a big martial artist vs. martial artist display between Blackman and Pac.

• Rikishi, who is still a little battered and bruised from the brutal steel cage match at Fully Loaded, faces Tazz who cost him the Intercontinental title twice. Rikishi dominates and tries a quick Stink Face but gets a low blow to stop that. It’s a short match and Tazz locks in a Tazzmission, which Rikishi turns into a Samoan drop for the victory. Too Cool came down to victory dance with their buddy afterwards.
• Eddie Guerrero and Chyna face the tag team of European champion Perry Saturn and Intercontinental Champion Val Venis (who is all taped up and making his first appearance since Rikishi splashed him from the top of the cage at Fully Loaded). Eddie pins Perry with a roll up while Chyna holds onto Val and stops him from breaking up the cover.

• There’s a pre-taped video from the Republican national convention. It’s all part of the “Smackdown your vote” campaign encouraging young people to vote but like everything the WWF did, it skews heavily Republican. It’s followed by a Vince McMahon-narrated video about how 14 million voting Americans watch WWF programming every week and as a message to politicians, WWF fans will elect the next US president. It’s a strong message and it actually links in to the Right to Censor’s presence on television. I’ve got a whole “bit” about them to talk about at Summerslam as that is very much the group’s coming out party. There are multiple videos about this throughout the second hour of Raw while the WWF hammers home now non-partisan they are…while speaking from the Republican convention floor. Linda McMahon gets interviewed too. She ran for the US senate twice decades later and lost badly both times. She was given a spot in Donald Trump’s administration as the business expert though. 

Smackdown! - August 3rd, 2000

More Marital Drama

Smackdown opens with Triple H waiting in the parking lot for his wife. Trish approaches and apologises for all the issues she has accidentally caused him lately but a dismissive Triple H tells her to beat it. In the next segment, Stephanie arrives and while she tells Triple H she’s sure everything will be ok, she wants and needs him to give her some space. He accepts and leaves her alone. Stephanie heads into the arena where she’s stopped by Kurt Angle who offers her his condolences and a shoulder to cry on before telling her where to find Trish Stratus.

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley bursts into Trish’s locker room as she stands with Test, Albert and Intercontinental Champion Val Venis. Steph accuses Trish of trying to steal her husband, rattles off all their various interactions and then calls Trish a bitch. Test says “thank God i didn’t marry her” which is a good line. Stephanie goes to see Triple H happy she’s dealt with the issue, but then Harvey Whippleman enters and tells them that Commissioner Foley wants to see them both.

Triple H and Stephanie go to see Mick Foley. He fines Steph for walking out on the match on Raw, and then says if she does it again she’ll be stripped of the Women’s Championship. He then calls in Kurt Angle - Triple H is furious to see him. Mick says that Kurt and Stephanie are more than friends…they’re tag team partners! The three of them will team up in a 6 person tag tonight against Lita and The Dudley Boyz! 

Shane McMahon goes to see Triple H with Kurt Angle and for the safety of his sister and the benefit of her marriage, he encourages Angle and Triple H to use logic, get on the same page and work together. We do get to see their conversation where Angle encourages Triple H to listen to his plan - it’s basically some goofy maths stuff about how Three H’s and Three I’s can overcome Three D’s. It infuriates Triple H. 

In the main event, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley take on Lita and The Dudley Boyz. They’re really making a big deal about the fact that this is no disqualification and that The Dudleyz can use tables. There’s no mention of the fact that they put Lita through a table not that long ago. Triple H and Kurt don’t work wll as a team but the real story is that Kurt tags Stephanie in a couple of times and encourages her to kick Bubba and get in some shots, but Triple H isn’t happy and tags himself in. Angle has faith in Steph but Triple H doesn’t. The Dudleyz lay out with The Game and Angle with their Wazzup headbutt, and set up a table. They look like they want to give Angle a 3D but instead turn their focus to Stephanie which gets a big cheer! Everyone wants to see them drive the WWF Women’s Champion through a table. She’s rescued by Triple H and Angle and with the men fighting around the ring, Lita tackles Stephanie and beats her up, throwing her around the ring. Lita attempts a moonsault but Triple H pulls his wife out of the way and then spikes Lita with a Pedgiree before dragging Stephanie into a cover. There’s no referee to count, and Bubba grabs her by the hair and wants to powerbomb her through the table but this time Kurt Angle saves her. Stephanie gets back into the cover and wins the match for her team, and after the bell Angle lifts Stephanie and they celebrate in the ring with a big hug while Triple H looks on from the stage absolutely furiously. 

The Rock pinned and Kane destroyed

Shane McMahon leads The Big Show and Chris Benoit down to the ring. Michael Cole talks about the deeds of this group thus far having hospitalised both The Undertaker and Chris Jericho. Shane starts by formalising his little makeshift stable by listing the members and men he has aligned himself with - the WWF Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian (which is a surprise as his link to them has been loose at best), Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and The Big Show. He puts them all over of course and to be fair, that is a hell of a group! Show explained his getting back together with Shane on Raw and tonight he explains why he attacked The Undertaker. He harks back to their tag team in the summer of 1999 and how The Undertaker walked out and abandoned him. He is right, and that’s actually fair enough. He mocks Taker calling himself an American Badass, and shows clips of Show and Shane proving he isn’t a Badass when they beat him down and smashed a concrete block on his knee. Benoit then mocks Chris Jericho and shows footage of the brutal attack he gave him last week on Smackdown, laughing hysterically about it. Shane then shows footage on Raw of Edge and Christian knocking Jeff Hardy out cold with a pair of steel chairs and while that is also brutal, it feels weird that Shane keeps including the Tag Team Champions but neither of them are out here with them. Tonight’s main event is Show and Benoit against Kane and The Rock, and Shane calls them his “targets of destruction”. 

Kevin Kelly interviews WWF Champion The Rock. He’s very funny mocking Chris Benoit and The Big Show and really I can’t do it justice. He puts a false dead tooth in Kevin’s mouth (Benoit has a missing front tooth) and makes fun of Big Show’s chokeslam taunt. Classic. 

The Big Show and Chris Benoit enter first, and then when Kane does he can’t wait and takes the fight to them before his partner even enters. The Rock runs to the ring to even the odds and after a brawl, the match breaks down to a proper tag team match. Show and Benoit isolate and wear down Kane while the fans chant “Rocky”. I’ve mentioned a few times that WWF management weren’t happy with Big Show’s physique at this point in his career but I think he looks fine. He’s a lot thicker than he was in 1999 but he just looks very big! Kane fights back and the fans explode when he makes the hot tag to The Rock. The match breaks down and with Kane and Show fighting on the outside, The Rock goes for a People’s Elbow on Benoit. Shane cracks him with a steel chair as he runs the ropes and Benoit follows with a Diving Headbutt and pins the WWF Champion to win the match! Shane hits Kane with a chair too, which he no-sells and he chases Shane up the ramp. Big Show follows and as Kane and the 500lbs Big Show fight up the ramp, Shane tries to get involved and help his man. With Kane distracted, Big Show pulls up a big metal section of the entrance ramp, exposing a big hole. Big Show then chokeslams Kane through the hole in the stage, presumably all the way down to the concrete 10 feet below!

Even Shane looks shocked, as the camera pans over his shoulder to show Kane laying out cold on the concrete (he landed on a crash mat which was removed off camera). In an extremely rare site, The Big Red Machine is put on a stretcher and wheeled out of the arena. The Big Show has hospitalised both Undertaker and Kane. For the second week in a row, one of Shane McMahon’s cohorts has gone so far even he looked uncomfortable with the brutality. 

Friendly Rivalry

Scotty 2 Hotty (with his tag team partner Grandmaster Sexay) takes on X-Pac. Roaddogg joins commentary and he continues to talk up he and X-Pac’s ongoing friendly rivalry to prove who is the better singles performer between them. X-Pac wins a short, spirited match with an undetected low blow and an X-Factor. That puts the pressure on Roaddogg to win his match with Grandmaster Sexay later now.

Roaddogg faces Grandmaster Sexay and just like earlier, X-Pac joins commentary to talk about he and Roaddogg’s ongoing bet/rivalry. They’re definitely still friends, but both have big egos. Unlike earlier, X-Pac helps his buddy and with a heel kick by X-Pac, Grandmaster Sexay is defeated. Too Cool attacks DX after the match and while Roaddogg and X-Pac get the upper hand, Rikishi comes down to make the save. Roaddogg is out of the ring leaving X-Pac to three on one odds, but he does rescue him from a Stink Face. 

Other Happenings

• There’s another “Save the hoes” rally outside of the arena led by The Godfather’s former ladies. This was shown a couple of times during the show.

• Eddie Guerrero (with Chyna) teams with Rikishi against Tazz and Intercontinental Champion Val Venis (with Trish Stratus). Rikishi and Eddie make a good team as the big man knocks down Val and Eddie follows up with a frog splash - that feels like his natural finisher but that's the first time he’s used that move since he dislocated his elbow doing it during his debut. Eddie pins the Intercontinental Champion.
• Backstage before Matt Hardy’s match with Edge he pleads with his brother Jeff to stay in the back saying that one more brutal shot to the head could end his career. Pretty serious stuff. That match is next and while Jeff is staying in the back, Edge does have Christian with him. Matt attacks fast and Michael Cole awkwardly says “real emotion” about six times during the match. That’ll be a t-shirt slogan soon. Matt puts up a good fight but with Christian getting involved he stands no chance. That brings Jeff down to the ring who hits Christian with a ladder and sets it up. He’s settling the head injury from Raw (which is really troubling in hindsight) and so gets dizzy when he climbs it and falls off the ladder. Matt is distracted checking on his brother and so Edge blasts him with a stiff, brutal chairshot to the head too. The Tag Champions leave, with both Hardyz down and out and being tended to by referees.

• The Right to Censor trio of Steven Richards, The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan go to the APA’s office and confiscate all of their cigars and beer, slapping big red “Censored” stickers on the table and the door. Later when Bradshaw and Faarooq return and find out what they’ve done they’re furious and promise to get Richards and their beer back. 
• Steve Blackman defends the Hardcore title against European Champion Perry Saturn (with Terri). Terri tries to help, spraying Blackman with a fire extinguisher allowing Perry to get the advantage. Blackman’s on again off again tag team partner and friend Al Snow runs in and clocks Saturn with Head, allowing Blackman to win the match and retain his title. Michael Cole explains that this was Snow making amends for losing he and Blackman the tag team match to DX on Raw. 
• In the McMahon-Helmsley office Triple H wants to talk strategy about the no disqualification six person tag team match but Stephanie says she’s uncomfortable changing in front of her husband and asks him to leave. He’s confused and angry.
• Right to Censor (Which is now officially their name) heads on down to the ring. The Goodfather’s former ladies are shown in the crowd having brought their protest inside. Richards can’t even get his promo started before the APA comes marching to the ring for a tag team match with Bull and Goodfather. Richards breaks a 2x4 over Faarooq’s back while the referee is distracted and Bull follows with a scissors kick for the victory.

Raw is War - August 7th, 2000

The Rock defends the WWF title

In the arena, the show opens with the WWF Champion The Rock. He addresses Shane hitting him with a chair on Smackdown and his being pinned by Chris Benoit and teases giving Benoit a title shot at Summerslam before changing his mind and saying that he wants to face Benoit for the WWF title tonight. That brings out Benoit along with Shane McMahon onto the stage. Benoit is drowned out with “asshole” chants as he delusionally says he beat The Rock all by himself at Fully Loaded. He accepts The Rock’s challenge for tonight. Shane then says that they want a special stipulation. “Shane’s a pussy” chants. Shane takes his time revealing what the stipulation will be, instead showing footage of all the various ways his “group” have hospitalised Kane, The Undertaker and Chris Jericho. He wants it to be a no disqualification match. The Rock accepts and promises that he won’t lose his title, won’t get taken out and that he will whip both their candy asses tonight. 

The Rock defends the WWF Championship against Chris Benoit half way through the show. The Rock forgoes his normal entrance and comes through the crowd jumping Benoit from behind to start the match! With it being no disqualification, Shane is free to interfere and hit The Rock right in front of the referee. The Rock battles through the interference and has the match won with a People’s Elbow but Shane breaks up the count. The champ fights Shane out of the ring but the distraction allows Benoit to lock The Rock in the Crippler Crossface. Shane kicks Rock in the ribs and tries to force a submission but Chris Jericho makes his return and knocks down Shane before attacking Benoit and giving him a double powerbomb, both times right onto the chair before chasing Shane away through the crowd! Benoit staggers into a Rock Bottom and The Rock retains the WWF Championship. This wasn’t the last time we saw him or Chris Jericho tonight (see the next section). 

Number One Contendership for Summerslam

Raw starts with a similar scene to Smackdown but this time it’s Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley waiting for her husband in the parking lot.

Triple H arrives and just like Stephanie on Smackdown, tells his spouse that he needs space and to be left alone.

Backstage Kurt Angle goes to see the Commissioner. Foley says that he was planning on making that Rock and Benoit match for Summerslam but since it’s now happening tonight he needs a number one contender for Summerslam. Kurt wants it to be him. Mick mocks how emotional he got about winning the gold medals and the King of the Ring and with Stephanie on Smackdown while Kurt protests that they’re just friends.

Triple H goes to see Commissioner Foley. He was going to ask for something else but since there’s no number one contender for Summerslam he wants to put his name forward for that and demands a title match. Mick winds up Triple H talking about how Angle wants Triple H’s wife and he wants his title match. 

Triple H gets to the McMahon-Helmsley locker room and while Steph tries to apologise, The Game cuts her off and is furious about him trying to steal his title shot. He promises that if he sees Kurt tonight he's going to kick his ass.

Backstage in Kurt Angle’s locker room Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley admires Kurt’s medals and he admires her Women’s title belt. She tells him how angry Triple H is about Kurt trying to become number one contender as Kurt gets a little riled at the idea that he may have yelled at Steph and suggests he undergo sensitivity training. They’re “just friends” but there is sexual tension here. Back in Triple H’s locker room “Just Joe” visits The Game and tells him all about the scene we just witnessed. I’m really not sure what Joe’s “don’t shoot the messenger” gimmick was supposed to achieve. He also tells him the news that “the boys” think that Angle can probably take Triple H. He gets angry at that. 

“Just Joe” goes to visit Kurt Angle and continues to stir the pot by telling him about all the nasty things Triple H has said about him and Stephanie. Kurt is especially worked up when he hears that The Game made Stephanie cry and he says that he’ll wrap Triple H up in a submission hold and make him cry! 

WWF Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley heads down to the ring solo. She apologises to Triple H for what she said on Smackdown and reassures him that she and Kurt are just friends. Triple H comes down to the ring. Stephanie apologises for being so quick to anger and for making so many assumptions. The fans start chanting “bullshit” while Steph makes her emotional pleas. I’m not sure if they don’t believe her or the rowdy New York fans just don’t like all this soap opera stuff. Triple H looks very serious and unwilling to accept her apology as she talks. She asks her husband to forgive her and the crowd boos so I think they’re more into it than they’re letting on. Triple H gives his wife a big hug and all seems right in the world. She then says they need to talk about business and calls Kurt Angle down to the ring. The Game is furious and ready for a fight, and Kurt has a smirk on his face as he walks to the ring. Kurt explains about the heat of the battle and heat of the moment and says that’s all the hugging on Smackdown was about. He respects their marriage and he and Stephanie are just friends. Triple H says that while he has his “naive little wife” fooled, he knows that Kurt is “full of shit”. They almost come to blows but Stephanie separates them and asks them to shake hands and be friends. Kurt is willing but before Triple H gets a chance to accept, Commissioner Mick Foley comes down to the ring. Mick pokes the bear and shows the ending of Smackdown with the big Angle and Stephanie hug again.

He’s messing with Triple H and it works. He wants to see them fight each other and so he books tonight’s main event - a number one contenders match between Triple H and Kurt Angle. 

Shane and Benoit - absolutely furious - demand that Mick Foley punish Jericho for costing him the WWF title (in the previous section). Mick says that he will punish Jericho by putting him in the ring with two world class athletes…and adds him to tonight’s main event number one contenders match! 

As Triple H prepares for the main event, Chris Jericho rushes into the room and attacks The Game until he’s dragged out by referees. Triple H is then shown walking around backstage calling out for Jericho but he bumps into Kurt Angle and they have a little shoving match too! 

Kurt Angle enters first for the main event. Mick Foley has been very clear that whoever has their arm raised at the conclusion of this match will challenge for the WWF Championship at Summerslam. Jericho is second, refusing a handshake with Angle and then as Triple H enters he’s cut off by the WWF Champion The Rock who takes a seat on commentary to watch his Summerslam opponent be decided. The action is chaotic and each man has control for a moment. Jericho locks Angle in the Walls of Jericho and Triple H is intentionally slow to break the hold, wanting to let Kurt suffer. Jericho gets a near fall on Triple H and Kurt Angle at the same time with a Lionsault across them both. Jericho climbs to the top rope and The Game and Angle give him a double back suplex from the top rope, and both roll into a one armed cover. The worst referee in wrestling Earl Hebner counts the three and then realises they both had the pin so he has no idea who won. He raises both of their arms and as the two bicker, The Rock slides into the ring and drops them both with Rock Bottoms, followed by one to Stephanie for good measure. Raw ends in controversy - who is the number one contender for Summerslam? 

As a little aside, the image below is a great visual as it sums up multiple stories in a single image - Stephanie caught between her husband and friend, who are both now arguing over who should be the number one contender. The visual was instantly ruined as AGAIN Earl Hebner got in the way, stepping into the shot and blocking Stephanie from the camera milliseconds later. I cannot stress how often he ruins moments and matches by working aggressively to stay on camera and in everyone's way as much as possible. It took me four attempts to get that screenshot because he so quickly gets in front of the camera. You can see his arm on the left RUNNING to block the shot and be in the way. I loathe him. 

Tazz picks another Victim

Tazz comes out into the arena and talks about how they're in his hometown. JR is confused as Tazz isn’t on his show schedule. He talks about New York before heeling out on his own people. Tazz says he expects the people to boo him, but he doesn’t expect the commentators to boo him. He goes out of the ring and gets in JR’s face. He expects JR to be unbiased, but then reminds us that JR called him a piece of garbage at Fully Loaded (I told you at the time that would be important) and that last week he mocked him for getting the Stink Face. He calls JR a redneck scumbag. Ross stands up and when King does too, Tazz tells him to sit down and shut up and stay out of it. Tazz slaps JR’s cowboy hat off and then makes a horrible comment about his bells palsy. “I’d slap you across your face but God beat me to it”. JR loses his temper and slaps Tazz. Tazz laughs it off and dares JR to do it again. He begs JR to hit him again until finally King stands up and does it for his commentary partner and rocks Tazz with a stiff right hand which Tazz does actually sell. He tries to get to Lawler as a swarm of referees rush down to hold Tazz back and keep the two men apart. Returning from a commercial break JR apologises for being unprofessional as King backs him up and tells him not to apologise and tells Tazz if he wants to punk someone out, he can come and punk him out. This was a pretty intense segment.

Other Happenings

• X-Pac faces Rikishi. He doesn’t have Roaddogg with him tonight as their friendly rivalry continues. He is shown to be watching from backstage, and getting worried as his buddy is dominated by Rikishi. The big man sets up a Banzai drop and thats too much for Roaddogg to take and he runs down and hits him with a low blow to cause a disqualification. DX then beat up Rikishi two on one and leave united. 
• For the third show in a row, the Godfather’s former ladies conduct a “Save the hoes” protest outside the arena. 

• The Right to Censor head on down to the ring and while Steven preaches about New York City needing to be cleaned up, the save the hoes movement has moved inside the arena. Richards says that if anyone has a problem with his beliefs then they can come down to the ring and discuss it with them. That open challenge is accepted by The Dudley Boyz! Bubba says that what people really want to see is them put Steven through a table. He is right. The Dudleyz are the superior team and have the match won with a 3D on Bull, but Steven breaks up the pin to cause a disqualification. He gets a Wazzup double team headbutt to the groin and D-von gets a table from under the ring as two of The Goodfather’s former hoes jump the secuity wall and cheer The Dudleyz on from ringside with their “Save the hoes” placard. Sadly Goodfather hits Bubba with a wooden club and saves Richards and with both Dudleyz down, Richards grabs one of the hoes and throws in the ring. He holds the blonde by the hair and makes her watch as The Goodfather violently powerbombs the brunette hoe through a table! The Right to Censor are such hypocrites.

• The Big Show teams with Edge and Christian against the APA and Matt Hardy. Jeff and Lita are at home healing their injuries from last week. The match doesn’t last long before Show grabs one of the tag team title belts and hits Bradshaw and Faarooq and flattens Matt with a chokeslam. He and the Tag Champions want to keep the fight going but The Undertaker returns and rides down to the ring on his bike. He punches Big Show out of the ring and turns his attention to Shane, throwing him out of the ring and then chasing him on his motorbike! Shane dives off the stage and lands on the metal scaffolding for the titantron, hiding just out of Undertaker’s reach. Big Show follows and tries to jump Undertaker but he sees him coming and the American Badass wraps a metal chain around his first and punches Big Show with it before wrapping it around his throat and then throwing Show off the stage, crashing through a pair of tables and a whole bunch of cables. During the commercial break, Shane ran backstage and escaped in his limo solo. Back at the arena, medical officials tend to Big Show who has been knocked loopy and may have internal injuries. This is the last we’d see of The Big Show until the Royal Rumble. He wasn’t actually injured, management just decided they wanted him to focus on losing some weight. It’s all very odd, timing wise. I wonder why they brought him back at all? I’ll talk about this whole mess at Summerslam during The Undertaker’s match.

• Eddie Guerrero (with Chyna, who looks especially lovely tonight) teams with Too Cool to face the Trish Stratus managed Val Venis and T&A. Before the match even gets going, Val gives Eddie a piledriver on the floor which he sells strongly, holding his neck and not moving as Chyna tends to him. Too Cool goes it two on three for a bit until Chyna steps in and takes Eddie’s spot and even in high heels manages to beat up Val and Test until a cheap shot. With lots of fighting on the outside, Val hits Chyna with a bridging fisherman suplex. The referee isn’t in position to count and Eddie climbs up top and gives Val a Frog splash which allows Chyna to pin Val and win the match for her team. 

Smackdown! - August 10th, 2000

Summerslam Main Event is set

Commissioner Mick Foley opens up Smackdown to address the messy number one contender situation. He said that whoever had their arm raised in victory at the end of Raw would be number one contender for Summerslam and after a double pin, Kurt Angle and Triple H both had their arms raised. Before he can give a ruling, Kurt Angle and his buddy Shane McMahon head down to the ring. Angle gives his take - he was the one who did the suplex on Jericho, and he is the rightful number one contender and he has a bigger issue with The Rock giving a Rock Bottom to his friend, and Shane’s sister, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. Angle talks about his integrity and how he will raise the standard of excellence for the WWF Championship. Before Mick can respond to that the other would-be number one contender Triple H heads down to the ring along with WWF Women’s Champion Stephanie, who is selling her back after the Rock Bottom. Triple H and Angle briefly stare down. Triple H gets a big laugh calling Kurt a jerk and then adding Angle’s “it’s true, it’s true” catchphrase. Triple H takes exception to the current title situation, and mostly to Angle’s “friendship” with Stephanie. He shoves him and tells him to stay away from his wife as Angle smirks. He seems to be enjoying how much of a threat to his marriage Triple H thinks he is.

Shane steps in and speaks for the pain his sister is in. He asks them to put their issues aside and focus on what matters - revenge on The Rock, and taking his WWF Championship. Stephanie thanks everyone for their concern before saying that her injuries won’t stop her from defending the WWF Women’s title…as soon as she’s able. Mick says that he too was deeply concerned for Stephanie after The Rock laid her out on Raw. He asks her how her back is feeling, but cuts her off with The Rock’s “IT DOESN’T MATTER…” and gets a loud pop and a “Foley” chant. Mick says that he gave his word that whoever won on Raw would be the number one contender and so since they both won, it’ll be Kurt Angle vs. Triple H vs. The Rock in a triple threat match for the WWF title at Summerslam. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they’ll have to put their differences aside because they’re teaming up tonight against The Undertaker and The Rock! 

In Kurt Angle’s locker room, “Just Joe” goes to see him and tells him the hot rumor that Kurt doesn’t need to worry about Undertaker or Rock tonight - it’s Triple H who’s going to turn on him the moment his back is turned. 

“Just Joe” goes to see Triple H with more gossip about “what the boys are saying” and Triple H assumes it’ll be the same thing he told Angle but reversed. Joe catches him off guard by saying it's actually about Shane McMahon, who’d sell his own sister down the river to control the WWF title. 

Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon go to visit Triple H and Stephanie. The two argue and so both McMahon siblings decide that they won’t let these two’s bickering ruin their own relationship so they want nothing to do with tonight’s match and leave. Later, Shane would be seen leaving the arena wishing Kurt luck and shaking his hand. 

Kevin Kelly interviews WWF Champion The Rock, asking if he’s concerned about defending the WWF title against two opponents at Summerslam. The Rock asks Kevin if he has both male and female genitals, and says that question is just as ridiculous as Kevin’s. Kevin gets outraged at being called a hermaphrodite. It’s a little too dated and “shock” humour to be funny this week. The Rock doesn’t care about Triple H’s marital issues or Kurt’s gold medals - he and The Undertaker are going to lay the Smackdown on both of them. 

After Angle and Triple H enter for the main event, The Undertaker heads down sans motorbike this week. His dubbed theme music continues to be pretty annoying - I can’t wait til he switches to Limp Bizkit. As the match goes, while Shane has left Stephanie has not and she heads down to the ring anyway. She trips The Rock who pulls her hair. Kurt accidentally hits Triple H while trying to break up a pin and so The Game walks out on the match. Steph stays at ringside to cheer on Kurt, who is quickly finished off with the Last Ride by The Undertaker. Taker and Rock win and as they circle the ring, Stephanie gets in the ring to check on Angle. Taker grabs her by the hair, which brings Triple H back down. It backfires as while he rescues his wife, he takes a massive chokeslam and then a People’s Elbow for his troubles. It’s kind of nice/weird seeing Rock and Taker be a little friendly with each other too as they celebrate to close Smackdown.

Edge and Christian vs. The World

Elsewhere backstage, Edge and Christian discuss Edge’s cameo in the movie Highlander: Endgame (it’s terrible) and the cast of that movie is here at the arena tonight. I don’t know who any of these three actors are. The Tag Team Champions want to brag about their accomplishments but the actors aren’t interested. There’s a few segments like this. 

Edge and Christian defend the WWF Tag Team titles against The Dudley Boyz. The champs give the fans in New Jersey a five second pose which celebrates Edge’s “starring role” in Highlander. It really just was a cameo. The actors from earlier who didn’t want anything to do with them backstage are in the front row and now that they aren’t in scripted backstage segments just laugh and cheer Edge on. Michael Cole talks a lot about how remorseless and evil Edge and Christian are, having violently concussed both Hardyz with chairs and not caring. The Dudleyz have control of the match and D-Von tries to set up a table but Christian hits Bubba with a chair, getting disqualified and saving their titles. As Edge and Christian try to leave with their belts, they’re attacked from behind by Matt and Jeff and after laying the champs out with their finishers, all four agree to take revenge. The Hardyz get a pair of ladders and The Dudleyz get a table. Matt and Jeff crush Edge between the ladders and flatten him with a tandem splash-leg drop combo from the tops of the ladders as The Dudleyz violently powerbomb Christian through a table! King says “Tables and Ladders and Chairs, oh my!” in the style of “Lions and Tigers and bears! Oh My!” from the Wizard of Oz. That innocuous comment is the start of something that would last decades, but we’ll get to it.

Save the Hoes

The Right to Censor team of Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather take on Too Cool. Steven Richards joins commentary for it and he's probably lucky King wasn’t there to tell him off for his censoring of women. Cole talks about what a hypocrite Richards is after Goodfather drove one of his former hoes through a table. Steven says that he is pained by it but they had to do it. The conversation between Cole and Richards is the main focus here, and a lot of Cole’s dialogue sounds badly dubbed in. Smackdown wasn’t live, and he’s very much speaking on behalf of the WWF. I have a whole bit about Right to Censor at Summerslam. Godfather and Bull win a short, uninteresting match.

There’s a pre-taped interview with Jonathan Coachman speaking to the “hoe” which Goodfather put through a table on Raw. King sort of breaks the fourth wall a little bit acknowledging that the Godfather’s ladies weren’t really hoes. Victoria (future WWE women’s champion) is in her hospital bed and promises to sue Steven Richards and she and her fellow hoe Mandy talk about defending a woman’s right to dress however she wants. Which is actually fair, but because it’s the WWF in 2000 it comes across as sleazy.

Other Happenings

• Backstage Trish Stratus is nervous to go and get her makeup done because Chyna is there. Trish has Intercontinental Champion Val Venis with her and after there's some insults back and forth, Eddie Guerrero attacks Val and the two have a wild brawl. 
• Chris Jericho teams up with Eddie Guerrero (there’s no mention made of their previous feud and issues over the European title and Chyna turning on Y2J. They even all shake hands before the match) against Chris Benoit and IC Champion Val Venis. Jericho cost Benoit the WWF title on Raw, and he debuted his very cool Y2J hockey jersey in the New York Rangers colours. I actually had that one. Benoit has Shane McMahon with him which makes Jericho the only person in this match with no backup. Eddie has the match won with a Frog Splash on Val but the referee refuses to count because he isn’t legal. Benoit comes off the top with a Diving Headbutt to Guerrero and wins the match. The fight continues afterwards and Jericho locks a Walls of Jericho on Benoit and then Shane McMahon. Meanwhile, Albert comes down to help out Val at the request of Trish. Benoit manages to get Jericho in the Crossface and the brawl breaks down with the villains getting the upper hand.

• X-Pac faces Rikishi in a rematch from Raw. As part of their ongoing friendly rivalry, X-Pac has asked Roaddogg to stay in the back so he can prove how good he is solo.  X-Pac puts up a good fight but Rikishi crushes Pac in the corner and after daring Roaddogg to come and help his buddy (he doesn’t) finishes Pac with a Banzai drop and wins the match. 

• In a mixed tag team match Al Snow (with Head) and The Kat face European Champion Perry Saturn and Terri. Kat and Terri have been feuding on and off since February mostly by virtue of neither of them being able to wrestle. The highlight of the match is the tiny little shorts Terri wrestles in. I was never that fussed about her even as an excitable young man but there's no denying she knew how to dress to get a reaction. Al and Perry do all the work of course and after Terri clonks Snow with Head, Perry wins with a bridging Northern Lights Suplex.
• The Summerslam advert is…something. Funny. I’ve captured it here rather than try to describe it

• Tazz enters and after a replay of the horrible things he said to JR on Raw and King popping him in the mouth for it, Tazz goes to the commentary desk and gets in King’s face. He promises to make him pay a heavy price and as King stands up to confront Tazz, he hits him in the face with a metal water pitcher. Referees tend to Jerry Lawler as Tazz’s opponent Crash Holly enters. Michael Cole continually pleads for help for King as a bleeding Lawler gets up into the ring to fight Tazz. The pair trade punches as referees work to keep the two apart. Lawler said it himself - he and JR don’t always see eye to eye but he won’t let anyone say what the “Thug” did to JR. Crash even throws an escaping Tazz back into the ring for more punches from King. The fight is surprisingly vicious and King punches him up and over the security wall. Security drags him away as both men call for the other to bring the fight. Michael Cole commentates solo which in 2000 is a lot of people’s worst nightmare. King isn’t there for the Right to Censor match, but returns afterwards with a large bandage on his head. 

• Albert (with Trish) challenges Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title. Albert’s partner Test isn’t here as he’s recovering from a sprained ankle. Blackman retains with a diving kendo stick to the head from the apron which looked like it cut the top of Albert’s head open. He gets no time to celebrate as Val Venis runs in and attacks the Hardcore champion and the two lay him out. Neither of them goes for the cover so you’d think the 24/7 rule has been abandoned but it very much has not. 

• Chris Jericho goes to see Commissioner Foley and demands a match with Chris Benoit. He refuses to give it to him tonight, but does give it to him at Summerslam.

Raw is War - August 14th, 2000

Triple H and Kurt Angle bury the hatchet

Raw opens with Kurt Angle heading to the ring. After making fun of the town they’re in as usual, he compares Triple H walking out on him on Smackdown to Tonya Harding’s attack on Nancy Karrigan. He questions why Triple H has hated him since day one and concludes that it is entirely due to jealousy. Kurt has accomplished things in 9 months that took Triple H years. That is accurate. Triple H has had enough and rushes to the ring, stripping off his top ready for a fight but before they come to blows Shane McMahon sprints down and gets between them. Triple H looks furious while Kurt has the same smirk he’s been wearing for weeks. Shane says their issues are killing Steph and that they’ve gotten her Rock Bottomed and almost chokeslammed with their bickering. Shane assures Triple H that Kurt isn’t trying to steal his wife (Angle still has a big smirk) and Angle that Triple H is a great guy and is good enough for his sister. He gets them both focused back on The Rock and the WWF Championship. That brings out Commissioner Foley, who after teasing Kurt and Triple H about their soap opera love triangle, books tonight’s main event - The Rock and The Dudley Boyz against Kurt, Triple H and Shane! He adds the stipulation that if anyone walks out on their partner tonight they’ll lose their title shot at Summerslam. Mick leaves to his music as Shane continues to keep Triple H and Angle apart.

Out in the parking lot, Kurt Angle is waiting with an umbrella for the arrival of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. He gives her the umbrella and carries her bag, thanking her for being a true friend and checking on him on Smackdown. Triple H is watching all of this in his locker room, seething. Kurt gives Stephanie a little peck on the cheek! When she gets into the arena a worked up Triple H is waiting and aggressively questions her about Kurt Angle, bringing her to tears and telling her she should leave! Later, a tearful Steph leaves while Shane does his best to calm her down and get her to stay - unsuccessfully.

Triple H demands that Shane go and talk to Angle, as all three men realise they need to get on the same page.

Shane McMahon pep talks to his two buddies Benoit and Angle, and then tells off Kurt - he doesn’t believe the “just friends” stuff and asks him to stay away from his sister and her marriage. Kurt is offended and leaves. 

As Kurt stews over the McMahon situation. “Just Joe” goes to see him and tells him he’s heard someone wants to talk to him in the parking lot later. Later he’d go to see Triple H and tell him the same. Kurt assumed it would be Triple H waiting to jump him and Triple H assumed it was his wife wanting to apologise. 

Out in the parking lot, Angle and Triple H meet each other in the parking lot and argue over who called them out there. A car pulls up - it's Vince McMahon. He invites them both into his limo for a bit and then as they leave, he tells them both off for upsetting his daughter and warns both of them to get it together and to never make her cry again or there will be hell to pay. Both Angle and Triple H look pretty serious and affected by his words. 

For the main event, Kurt Angle entered first followed by Shane O’Mac, and then The Game. They don’t seem any friendlier than before Vince’s warning but they’re less openly hostile. The six man tag is all action and wild with Shane staying out of it as much as he can until The Rock grabs him by the hair and brings him in the hard way. Triple H and Kurt do work pretty well as a team and in the closing moments as Bubba Ray bodyslams Triple H, his feet catch the referee in the face knocking him down. The Game gets the “Wazzup” headbutt to the crotch and The Dudleyz set up a table in the entrance way. The Rock throws Shane to the outside to them and Bubba readies to powerbomb Shane through it until Edge and Christian appear, cracking them with a pair of chair shots to the back of the head. The Rock goes out to fight them off but back in the ring it’s now three on one. The Rock goes for a Rock Bottom on Shane but its stopped by Triple H and Angle. The WWF Champion takes an Olympic Slam and a Pedigree and Shane raises the arms of Triple H and Kurt Angle and the three of them close Raw looking triumphant. The Game and Angle seem to finally be on the same page. 

Tables, Ladders and Chairs! Oh My! 

Steven Richards leads the Right to Censor to the ring. The fans chant “save the hoes” as he lectures to us about how there are groups out there who care about our children and know what's best for our children, as King and JR protest that people have the right to decide what’s best for their own families. He talks about passing laws, and this is all very heavy handed. He is parodying the real life “Parents Television Council” and their very public campaign against the WWF. Basically the Right to Censor are hypocrites and lecture to us, and JR and King and the babyfaces say the lines that Vince McMahon feeds to them in response. It’s not subtle. He challenges The Hardy Boyz and Lita, drawing attention to the lewd way that Lita’s underwear sticks up out of her pants. It was very much the style at the time. Officially this is a six person tag team match with Richards and Lita both officially involved. Lita moonsaults Goodfather and as the match continues, Richards superkicks Lita and she falls prey to a big slam from Bull. The Right to Censor wins and with Lita and The Hardyz down, Edge and Christian head down to the ring and hideously, try to give Lita their double team chairshot. Matt Hardy dives into her and pushes her to safety, and so Christian drives him face first into a chair with his Unprettier instead.

After a commercial break, Edge and Christian come back down to the ring and say that they are staging a sit down strike in protest of the unfair treatment they’ve received from The Hardyz, The Dudleyz and Commissioner Mick Foley. The promo is very awkward as Christian trips over his words and seems to run out of things to say. I’m going to blame Mick Foley and/or WWF producers for not interrupting him quickly enough, which Mick eventually does. Foley lists off all the heinous things that the Tag Team Champions have done lately and all the people they’ve wronged, he breaks the news of their title defence at Summerslam which will be against both The Hardyz and The Dudleyz in the first ever “tables, ladders and chairs” match. It's basically a rematch of their amazing triangle ladder match at Wrestlemania, but with tables and chairs now officially included in the rules. He doesn’t explain the rules any more than that but it’s very exciting and the fans cheer, remembering the ladder match at Wrestlemania. The TLC stipulation would last, even having a PPV named after it for years but it's really impressive the way that the original came about organically. I’ll talk about it a LOT more at Summerslam. 

The Big Red Turncoat

The Undertaker faces Chris Benoit. Shane is still officially aligned with Angle and Benoit, accompanying both to the ring for their matches but with Big Show “injured” and his link to Edge and Christian being mostly inferred rather than ever being seen on TV together, the short lived “Conspirators” stable has petered out. The Undertaker rides down on his bike this week and JR tells us to “listen to the ovation” for the American Badass but thanks to the Kid Rock theme music being dubbed out, it's impossible to tell if the people are cheering him or not. The match is decent but short and with Benoit in trouble, Shane hits Taker in the back with a chair causing the disqualification. Benoit locks Undertaker in the Crossface as Shane kicks at him but Kane’s pyro explodes and Kane returns to save the day! He runs off Benoit and Shane and then after helping Undertaker to his feet ....grabs him by the throat and spikes him with a chokeslam! He quickly pulls Taker to his feet and gives him a second one and that one breaks the ring, sending Taker sinking into a crater in the mat. With Undertaker laying in the hole in pain, Kane steals Taker’s motorbike (after having a bit of a problem getting it started). I think the ring was supposed to break on the first chokeslam but they missed the spot. They recovered well. 

Tazz vs. Commentary

While referees work hard to repair the damage to the ring done by Kane, Tazz heads down to the ring. King was summoned to the back by Commissioner Foley as he wants to keep King and Tazz apart after their issues on Raw and Smackdown. They are now scheduled to fight each other at Summerslam. With JR now calling the show solo, Tazz goes right to the commentary desk and gets in JR’s face. He makes some more nasty comments about JR’s bell’s palsy and continues to berate him until his opponent Crash Holly gets to the ring and attacks him from behind. JR refuses to stoop to Tazz’s level and calls the match as fair as he can. Tazz quickly beats Crash with a Tazzmission which he refuses to let go of and then he goes right back out and gets in JR’s face again. Tazz steals his cowboy hat which causes JR to stand up so Tazz shoves him down. He looks like he’s going to continue the beating until King runs back down to the ring! He attacks Tazz and they brawl around ringside while referees work to separate the two. The fans chant “Jerry” and honestly as much as I hate King and his commentary, I want to see him kill Tazz! Later Lawler tells JR he doesn’t owe him any thanks and says that Tazz is a low life punk and a scumbag. Tazz feuding with commentators is pretty low, bottom of the barrel stuff but it's undeniable how heated it's gotten very quickly. 

Other Happenings

• Backstage, Chris Benoit arrives at the arena and is jumped by Chris Jericho. They fight until referees drag the two apart. After the commercial break, Benoit is on the rampage through the back as Shane tries to convince him to calm down and focus on his match with The Undertaker later.

• Taka Michinoku and Funaki go to visit the APA. They apparently bounced a cheque and so they want to make it up to Bradshaw and Faarooq with cash and by taking them out for some beers. The Acolytes accept and the four head off to have fun in the town together.The reason for this skit is that they’re in the same town as the bar owned by WWF referee Tim White. There are multiple skits at the bar - as there always is when the WWF is in town. The Japanese lads get drunk and make a little too much noise and when the locals take offence, Bradshaw and Faarooq defend their new buddies having warmed to Kaientai. Heartwarming. In the final skit, Taka gets a bit too drunk and then Funaki vomits on Bradshaw before screaming “Saki” and collapsing. The APA lose their temper and beat up Kaientai, smashing up The Friendly Tap for about the 5th time in their career. 
• Eddie Guerrero teams with Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman against T&A. Chyna and Trish at ringside keep their distance. Blackman keeps trying to use weapons but doesn’t get himself disqualified. As the referee is distracted, Albert cracks Blackman in the head with a kendo stick and Test gets the victory. 
• Michael Cole and Linda McMahon have another video about the “Smackdown your vote” campaign and this time they’re at the Democratic convention. Linda makes the announcement that since they began the campaign they’ve registered 10,000 voters. I might just be looking for things to pick on but I feel like they’ve stressed this all being non-partisan far more at the Democratic convention than they did at the Republican one.
• X-Pac and Roaddogg face Rikishi in a handicap match. Of note, Roaddogg mentions Tori during his pre match promo. It’s unclear if they thought she’d be back or if Roaddogg was just always high and didn’t know the difference. That seems like I’m being defamatory but it's pretty well known he and X-Pac were extremely high a good 99% of the time during this era. Neither member of DX has been successful against Rikishi in singles action during their “friendly rivalry” and so have to work together. X-Pac watches on and allows his friend to get a Stink Face which he laughs about, but then Roaddog and X-Pac get on the same page and double stack Rikishi for a double pin to win the match. They try to keep the beating going until Too Cool runs down to make the save and then Rikishi, Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty dance. It’s been a while since we’ve seen this! 
• Chris Jericho challenges Val Venis for the Intercontinental Championship. Jericho pretty confidently controls the match having basically been a main eventer lately and has the match won with a Lionsault but before he can cover, Chris Benoit runs to the ring and causes a disqualification. Jericho sees him coming and gets Benoit into a Walls of Jericho but Venis is there to stop that too and Benoit gets some shots in on Jericho until referees break it up. Benoit leaves but when he hears the ring announcer say Jericho won the match (via disqualification) Benoit loses his temper and runs back to the ring, slamming Jericho on his knee and locking him in an STF submission hold (which JR calls a modified Crossface) until the referees are once again able to break it up.

Smackdown! - August 17th, 2000

Happy Families

Shane McMahon’s music opens the show and when he comes out it is with his sister Stephanie, Triple H and Kurt Angle. They’re all smiles and it seems that Triple H and Kurt have buried the hatchet. Shane talks about the meaning of the name “McMahon” (which is a dangerous thing to ask in 2024) and how it stands for success and power and other words. He then shifts to talking about his extended family which includes people like Kurt Angle, the tag team champions Edge and Christian and Chris Benoit. He shows the beating that Triple H and Kurt gave The Rock on Raw and celebrates his two “brothers” putting their differences aside and becoming friends. Stephanie takes over and talks about her gratitude before asking her friend Kurt and her husband Triple H to shake hands and be friends. The two of them list all of the nasty things they’ve said about each other before apologising and shaking hands. They definitely still dislike each other but they’re trying. Stephanie pulls them in for a group hug and that's when Commissioner Foley comes out. The fans give him a loud “Foley” chant which always warms my heart. He teases them before once again showing footage designed to stir the pot and cause more arguments - in this case, it's Kurt kissing Stephanie on the cheek on Raw and Triple H’s furious reaction to it in the back. Mick says that The Rock is not happy with any of them and so he wants a match tonight - a handicap match would be unfair, and he can’t put the WWF title on the line this close to Summerslam. He teases it be Kurt Angle, Triple H, Shane McMahon or maybe even WWF Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley before leaving it up to the four of them to decide between them.

In the McMahon extended family locker room, Kurt and Triple H argue over which of them should face The Rock and who is most likely to win the match. Shane and Steph leave to discuss it. There’s a couple of segments of them arguing with Kurt continually mentioning his gold medals to Triple H’s annoyance. Shane settles the issue and says that for family harmony, it’ll be himself who faces The Rock. 

Stephanie goes to see Shane and shockingly she says that she wants to fight The Rock tonight. Shane says no, but she asks him to listen to her plan.

Triple H, Shane and Kurt go to see Stephanie who seems excited about a “title vs. title” match. They don’t want Stephanie in harm's way so Shane says Triple H will face The Rock. He’s happy about it but Kurt is furious and accuses Triple H and Shane of still being suspicious of his friendship with Stephanie.

Out in the parking lot, Kurt leaves the arena with his bags. Stephanie chases him and asks him to stay. Kurt says that Shane doesn’t think he has integrity and Triple H doesn’t think he’s tough enough. He says he doesn’t fit in this group and so he has to leave. Stephanie pleads with him to stay and showers him with compliments but its not enough and Angle still leaves the arena. 

In the main event, Triple H faces WWF Champion The Rock in a non-title match. After Triple H enters, Commissioner Foley comes out and says that while this is a non-title match, it's also a non-McMahons at ringside match. Before he ejects Shane and Stephanie he tells them they can both have their own title matches on Raw. Stephanie defends the women’s title against Lita, and Shane McMahon will challenge Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title! With those two matches made, he makes them both leave the ring and the arena so that Triple H vs. The Rock is truly one on one. This is exactly the match you’d expect and they get about 15 minutes which is a lot for a TV match in this era. They fight around the ring and they have such good chemistry. I talked about it at Judgment Day but given how intertwined their careers were for this era, it’s crazy knowing how few more interactions they had with each other. Especially looking back from 2024 where they’re back interacting on WWE television again. The referee is knocked down as they bounce off the ropes (actually taking a pretty nasty fall to the outside and landing on his head) and The Rock hits a spinebuster and wants a People’s Elbow but Kurt Angle runs to the ring with a steel chair. The Rock fights him off and wants a Rock Bottom but Triple H comes from behind with a low blow. Kurt Angle blasts Rocky in the head with a steel chair and wakes up the referee as Triple H hits a Pedigree and wins the match. Triple H pins the WWF Champion and it seems that the show-long bickering was a ruse and that Angle and Triple H are on the same page. Smackdown closes with Triple H and Angle shaking hands at the top of the ramp and raising each other's arms. 

Terri and Kat are STILL feuding

In the locker room as Terri rubs on fake tan (or something, I’ve no idea) The Kat comes in and makes a couple of jokes about Terri being a slut (classy) before challenging Terri and Perry Saturn to another mixed tag team match tonight and promises to win and “rub her face in it”. Terri spits at Kat (gross) and then the two pull each other's hair and get into a shoving match. Jesus Christ. 

As Terri and European Champion Perry Saturn enter (Terri’s ring gear is basically pants, a vest top and no bra) there is some of the worst sounding fake crowd noise I’ve ever heard. Kat introduces her partner and this week it's the 400lbs Rikishi. Kat and Terri are both already useless but one of the heels on Kat’s boots breaks off which makes her even worse. Saturn is pretty impressive, moving fast and suplexing Rikishi which doesn’t get the reaction it deserved. Terri and Kat win after Perry flattens Kat with a stiff clothesline and Terri crawls into a pin. Aftr the match, Rikishi is about to give Saturn a Stink Face but Terri slaps him in the ass and then jumps on his back to stop it. Rikishi flattens Terri in the corner and the fans explode when Terri falls into position for a Stink Face too. Honestly they tease it way too long as Perry and Terri try to save each other and are thwarted each time until finally, with Kat cheering him on, Rikishi gives Terri a Stink Face! 

Intercontinental Drama

Eddie Guerrero (with Chyna) challenges Val Venis for the Intercontinental Championship. Trish is at ringside too. Val gets a cheap shot in on Chyna outside, and she retaliates with a powerbomb off the apron. Trish gets brave and smashes a glass pitcher of water from the commentary desk over Chyna’s head! Eddie is understandably distracted and so Val wins with a roll up to retain his Intercontinental title. 

Chyna goes to see Commissioner Foley and demands a match with Trish tonight. Mick says no, but maybe at Summerslam. That isn’t a match though - Chyna would kill Trish - so he suggests a mixed tag with Eddie and Val both being involved too. Chyna is happy with that.

Kane on the warpath

Kane is shown out in the parking lot area seemingly waiting for his brother The Undertaker to arrive. He’d been shown a few times getting gradually less patient and more violent. 

The DX team of Roaddogg and X-Pac face Too Cool’s Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty. Roaddogg and X-Pac fight over who gets to hit their finisher on Scotty and it turns into a shoving match but before they can come to blows, Kane’s pyro explodes and he heads down to the ring. Kane drills Roaddogg and then X-Pac with a pair of brutal chokeslams before scaring off the referee and calling for a microphone. Kane says he chokeslammed his brother because he accepts what he is on the inside - a monster. That’s not REALLY an explanation but it’s what he’s going with. On the titantron, The Undertaker is shown arriving at the arena. He’s holding his ribs after being chokeslammed through the ring on Raw. The Undertaker doesn’t fight his brother and instead gets in his face demanding answers. It gets a little physical as he shoves at his little brother and demands a response. Kane acts like he doesn’t want to fight and sucks Kane into a sucker punch instead. The Undertaker is selling his ribs which Kane uses to his advantage, hitting his older brother in the hubs to get advantage and then blasting him with a trio of brutal chair shots which warp and bend the steel chair. The Undertaker is bleeding from the head.

Other Happenings

• The APA and Crash Holly face The Big Bossman and Kaientai. This match is mostly built off the APA and Kaientai’s interaction on Raw but Bossman and Crash have been feuding on Sunday Night Heat lately. Bossman cuts a racist promo on the walk to the ring, calling Taka and Funaki his little Chinese buddies and barking “shut up!” at them when they correct him (they’re Japanese). Bossman just walks out on the match very quickly. Kaientai dominates Crash and has the match won with a Michinoku-Driver but the APA get in the ring and just hammer both Japanese wrestlers allowing Crash to pin and get the win. I’ve said a lot of times how much I like Taka, and how easily they could have done something meaningful with the Light Heavyweight division ...and I'm going to keep saying both things! 
• At ringside as Cole and King run down the Summerslam card and King talks about his feud with Tazz, the man himself appears from behind and locks King in a Tazzmission, choking out Lawler while Michael Cole calls for help over and over. Cole would call the next match solo but then Lawler returned after the Undertaker and Kane brawl.

• Chris Jericho heads down to join commentary for the next match, which is Steve Blackman defending the Hardcore title against Chris Benoit. Michael Cole breaks the news during this match that Jericho and Benoit’s Summerslam match is now 2 out of 3 falls. Benoit has Shane McMahon with him as usual and the fans are too busy chanting “Shane’s a pussy” to pay attention to the match. This is a good match which Jericho stays out of until Shane hits Blackman with a kendo stick. Benoit locks him in an STF so Jericho gets in the ring and clatters Benoit across the back of the head with a steel chair. He chases off after Shane, Blackman pins Benoit to retain the Hardcore title, and then a furious Benoit locks Blackman in the Crippler Crossface. Blackman taps out so under the 24/7 rule he should be the new Hardcore champion but they do actually seem to have just forgotten all about that.

• Edge and Christian - in a non-title match - face the makeshift team of Jeff Hardy and D-Von Dudley. Both Bubba Ray and Matt were injured on Raw by chair shots from the Tag Team Champions. Bubba in particular has a nasty looking big bruise on the side of his face. D-Von and Jeff work well as a team and even hit both teams' trademark double teams together. It doesn’t last and a bit of miscommunication leads to Jeff trying to Swanton Edge but hitting D-Von and Edge and Christian steal the win. After the tag champs escape, The Dudleyz and Hardyz get into a pair of fist fights and have to be separated by referees. 

• The Right to Censor comes down to the ring. In a bit of a twist, it’s Bull Buchanan who speaks first. He says that his own daughters can’t watch him on TV because it’s for their own good. King says he supports the right to disagree and not like things and even protest but never the right to censor anything. Which is a surprisingly fair point. Bull gets emotional talking about their quest to make the WWF a better place. The Goodfather pleads with the people to see what they’re trying to do and support them. All of this while Steven Richards watches on proudly from the corner. Steven explains their recent actions (mostly violence to women) as being justified as they’ll do whatever it takes to clean up the WWF. It’s not a great promo by any means but it works as the fans HATE these guys and chant “asshole” at Richards. He dreams of a world where we turn on the TV and only see good, wholesome, family entertainment. He shows footage of Rikishi’s ass and says that this is disgusting. He says that they fight the good fight, and it’s for our own good. This is all so heavy handed and unsubtle.
• Backstage X-Pac and Roaddogg prepare for their tag team match and laugh at each other having gotten Stink Faces lately. 

Raw is War - August 21st, 2000

McMahon-related title changes

In the arena, The Rock heads down to the ring. The WWF Champion talks a bit about the state they’re in for the cheap pop which wasn’t needed as the crowd was already rabid for him. The Rock is understandably upset with what Angle and Triple H did to him on both Raw and Smackdown. He has a funny bit about boots and hot sauce that works up to him threatening to stick his boot where you’d expect. He talks about their shared goals - they both want to be WWF Champion and both want to win the hand of that piece of “rancid slut meat” Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. He wants payback and he wants it tonight.

That brings out Commissioner Mick Foley. Mick says that he knows what it's like when tempers flare - mistakes get made and titles can be lost so he makes an unpopular decision and gives The Rock the night off. Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon then both come out onto the stage. Kurt takes issue with Foley trying to drive a wedge between Kurt and his friends and “family”. Angle says that while Rock lost the match on Smackdown, he gained a friend. He brings out Triple H and the two shake hands. Both McMahons and both challengers for Summerslam are very friendly. The fans drown Triple H out with loud “asshole” chants which is noteworthy as lately his issues with Angle have been making him popular - the fans laughing at his jokes and cheering him on in his skirmishes with the man seemingly trying to steal his wife. Triple H says that if The Rock is that upset, he can put the WWF title on the line tonight against him. Foley says that The Rock has the night off, so he makes some other matches - Triple H and Kurt Angle will team up against The APA. He then reminds us that Shane is challenging Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title tonight, and that Stephanie is defending the WWF Women’s title against Lita. Shane seems nervous but Stephanie is very confident for some reason. Commissioner Foley ruins her confidence by naming a special guest referee - The Rock. 

In the McMahon-Helmsley locker room, Triple H, Kurt, Shane and Steph passive aggressively argue over which of their matches tonight is most important and deserving of the planning and scheming needed. It puts The Acolytes over really strong to see Triple H and Kurt Angle genuinely nervous to fight them.

Triple H and Kurt Angle face The Acolytes. The Rock and Commissioner Foley are shown watching from the back together. Angle and Triple H work well as a team and isolate Bradshaw. Triple H and Angle win with a Pedigree on Bradshaw but when Angl celebrates in the ring a little too long, the APA attack him and hit him with a stiff clothesline, a spinebuster and a double powerbomb. Angle is left sprawled out and Triple H watches on from the ramp, not making any attempt to save the Olympian. After a commercial break, Triple H tries to talk strategy with Stephanie and Angle bursts in very angry about the situation. Triple H gaslights him and calls him selfish. 

Backstage, Shane McMahon prepares for his Hardcore title match with Steve Blackman by sneaking the Mean Street Posse into the arena and encouraging them to attack him and win the title themselves. They rush Blackman who easily wipes them both out with his weapons and chases off after Shane McMahon. Later, we saw him having a private chat with Trish Stratus.

Kurt Angle, just like on Smackdown, tries to leave having had his feelings hurt. Stephanie stops him and pleads with him to stay, saying she needs her friend. Kurt agrees. Later in the McMahon-Helmsley office, Stephanie asks Triple H to back off and let Kurt teach her some moves so that he’ll feel more like part of the team. 

As Steve Blackman makes his way to the ring he’s attacked from behind by Test. The two fight through the back and all the way down to the ring and one can assume this is what Shane was talking to Trish about. Test dominates with trash cans but just as Blackman fights back, Albert is there to make this two on one. T&A try to dominate Blackman but he fights back with his weapons and uses his bag of tricks to fight off both Test and Albert. The Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian rush to the ring now and attack Blackman and it’s now four on one. Shane slips into the ring and hits Blackman in the back of the head with a kendo stick and covers to win his second championship! Shane McMahon is the new WWF Hardcore Champion. Test, Albert, Edge and Christian hoist him up in victory and Shane runs to the back with his new title.

 In the back as Shane celebrates with the Tag Team Champions, Mick Foley approaches and tells Shane that he will have to give Blackman his rematch at Summerslam. Shane begs Edge and Christian to pin him and take the title from him. Foley teases them before instead suspending the 24/7 rule so that Shane has to make it to Summerslam and his match with Blackman.

In the main event, Lita enters first and the WWf Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley has both Triple H and Kurt Angle with her. The referee enters last, because he’s the biggest star. This match is referenced a lot indirectly in modern wrestling as this is the first time a women’s match ever main evented a WWF program. That sounds like a massive achievement but this really is just a storyline angle focused on The Rock, Triple H and Kurt Angle. The five minute long “match” is an afterthought. However, Stephanie had worked hard to become one of the most hated heels in wrestling and everyone loved Lita so the fans were very into seeing her throw Mrs. Game around the ring. Stephanie takes a couple of bumps and even kicks out of a pinfall but when Angle distracts The Rock, Triple H hits Lita from behind. That brings out Matt and Jeff Hardy to attack Triple H and they stay at ringside to keep the odds even. Stephanie does a monkey flip and a DDT and has obviously had a little wrestling training. Lita kicks out. Lita pops the crowd with hurricanranas and head scissors take over. The Hardyz get into a fight with Triple H and Angle. Kurt tries to give the women’s title belt to Stephanie to use and that gets The Rock involved. He fights off both his challengers and when Angle swings the title belt for The Rock, he hits Triple H by mistake! The Rock gives Angle a Rock Bottom and when Stephanie tries to hit him with her belt, The Rock gives her a spinebuster and tells Lita to go upstairs for the moonsault! She does and a three count later, Lita is the new WWF Women’s Champion in the main event of Raw! Lita gets a real star-making performance here as Raw ends with The Hardyz holding her up with her title belt, her theme music playing as The Rock surveys Triple H, Angle and Stephanie who are all down and out. 

TLC and a Friendly Rivalry

The Hardy Boyz take on The Dudley Boyz ahead of both teams challenging for the WWF Tag Team titles in the first ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at Summerslam. Before the match begins, Edge and Christian come down to the ring to watch up close and join commentary. The action is good but the commentary steals the show as Edge and Christian are very funny. TLC stands for “Totally Lacking Coolness”. They also give us the name for their double team chair shot, the “con-chair-to” which I’ve always loved. They’re both still using it. There’s a few botches as the match moves towards the finish which JR blames on all four men still being knocked goofy from all the chair shots to the head. The Dudleyz hit a 3D on Jeff after Edge spears Matt Hardy. He then hits Bubba with a stiff chairshot to the head and allows Jeff to get the win. The main thing is that Edge and Christian got some shots in on both teams. 

Edge and Christian face X-Pac and Roaddogg. As the match goes on, JR informs us that Commissioner Foley has booked X-Pac vs. Roaddogg so they can settle their friendly rivalry once and for all. Just like on Smackdown, X-Pac and Roaddogg argue over who gets to hit their finisher. While they argue, The Dudley Boyz run to the ring carrying a table and chase off the tag team champions through the crowd. While X-Pac and Roaddogg argue, Pac gives Roaddogg a little shove and accidentally sends him falling off the apron and crashing through the table The Dudleyz set up!

Right to Censor

Kane takes on Rikishi. Kane quickly abandons the match and hits Kane with three sick chair shots to the head. Too Cool runs down to try and help their buddy but the Right to Censor are there to stop them. The delay in getting into the ring lets Kane see them coming and so Kane hits Grandmaster and Sxy with a pair of brutal chair shots too. Kane has laid waste to Rikishi and Too Cool and after he leaves, Right to Censor picks at the bones like vultures and delivers their finishing moves one by one to Rikishi. 

The Right to Censor heads down to the ring. Steven lectures us once again on morality and how he knows what's best for us and our families. He addresses Rikishi and the terrible message he and his ass send to children. He keeps going on until Mick Foley interrupts. He speaks on behalf of the WWF, arguing against the real life censors who were attacking the WWF at the time. It’s equally preachy. Mick books The Right to Censor against Rikishi and Too Cool at Summerslam. 

Other Happenings

• Raw opens with JR explaining that Jerry Lawler has not arrived yet, and so he’s alone on commentary for the time being. In the back after the opening Rock segment, Tazz is shown arriving at the arena. As he walks through the back, he’s attacked by Jerry who was lying in wait for him. The King beats Tazz up until referees arrive to stop the right. King joins JR for commentary after that. 

• Val Venis and Trish Stratus take on Crash Holly and Ivory. Val requested this match to try and get Trish some practice in the ring and get her ready for their match with Eddie and Chyna at Summerslam. It's nice to see Ivory on TV - it’s been a long time! Fitting, she's back on this show where a women’s championship match is one of the main events. Val flattens Ivory with a powerbomb which allows Trish to pin and win the match. As Trish and Val celebrate, Chyna rushes the ring to get her hands on Trish but Val beats her to it and the pair escape unharmed. Backstage as a furious Chyna demands a match with Trish tonight, Commissioner Foley refuses to give that to her but he does sweeten the mixed tag team match at Summerslam by putting Val’s Intercontinental title on the line. Whoever scores the winning fall is the Intercontinental Champion. Chyna is satisfied with that.

• Chris Jericho challenges Perry Saturn for the European Championship. Given that Jericho cost Benoit the WWF title, then Benoit cost Jericho the Intercontinental title and then Jericho cost Benoit the Hardcore title…you can see the finish of this match coming from a mile away. Sure enough, as Jericho has control of the match Chris Benoit rushes the ring and fights with Jericho to cause a disqualification. They tear at each other until referees split them up ahead of their 2 out of 3 falls match at Summerslam. 
• At WWF New York as The Kat addresses the fans from a stage she's attacked by Terri who beats down Kat and gives her a Stink Face as payback for the one Kat got Rikishi to give her on Smackdown.

Smackdown! - August 24th, 2000

Stephanie’s Choice

Smackdown opens with former Women’s Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. She’s flying solo and after talking about how she’s a fighter who’s achieved everything on her own in her life (which is very much played for heel comedy as its neither true in real life or kayfabe) she tells Mick Foley he should be ashamed of himself for appointing such a corrupt referee to her title match on Raw. As she talks about Lita, the fans break out into a “Lita” chant which is lovely. She is awesome. Stephanie is joined by Kurt Angle who says that The Rock and Mick Foley are low class individuals but the blame also lies with Triple H who is a bad husband for not allowing Stephanie and Kurt more training time. That is too much for The Game and he rushes to the ring and throws Angle over the top rope, but Commissioner Foley comes out before the fight continues. Stephanie says that Mick screwed her over by making The Rock the referee. Mick sarcastically says he wants Stephanie to like him and shows he's wearing his own medals because he knows she's attracted to men who wear gold medals. He won his medal for winning a pie eating contest. He says that he will give Stephanie a rematch with Lita tonight - tonight’s main event will be a mixed tag team match of Stephanie, Triple H and Kurt Angle against The Rock and Lita. But then he realises that it's three on two, so he leaves it up to Stephanie to decide which of the two men will be her partner tonight - her friend Kurt, or her husband Triple H! 

Back in the locker room, Triple H assumes that Stephanie will pick him and wants to talk strategy but she says that Kurt should be here to talk strategy with them too. She encourages Triple H to try and be Kurt’s friend to make the Summerslam triple threat match easier. The Game reluctantly agrees.

Kurt Angle pleads his case to Stephanie and that he should be her partner in the main event as Triple H has rage issues and can’t control himself. Later Triple H did the same, and proved Kurt’s point by losing his temper and marching off to find Angle.

Triple H goes to see Kurt Angle and they once again argue about who will be Stephanie’s partner. Triple H stresses that he is Steph's partner in the match and in live. Kurt tells him he needs to calm down and not have high emotions. Kurt says that it’s up to Stephanie and as Triple H barks that he makes the decisions not her, Stephanie walks in on the fight and after struggling to pick a name, decides to flip a coin. After a promo with The Rock and Kevin Kelly where talks about food in a sexual way, and calls Kevin an ugly hermaphradite, Stephanie flips the coin and Kurt wins. He’s her partner and Triple H is furious.

In the main event, WWF Women’s Champion Lita and WWF Champion The Rock face Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and Kurt Angle. Very shortly into the match, The Rock sends Angle to his own corner where he accidentally knocks Steph off the apron, hitting her head on the ring steps on the way down! Triple H rushes down to the ring and heroically carries Steph - who looks to have been knocked unconscious - to their locker room leaving Kurt all alone. In the McMahon-Helmsley office as Triple H stands watch while the medical staff look after his wife, the match continues in the ring. Steph tells her husband to go out to the ring and help Kurt, which he does. It’s now Triple H and Kurt Angle against The Rock and Lita, which feels very unfair. Triple H punches the referee which ends the match via disqualification. Angle and Triple H beat down The Rock two on one and even attack Lita until The Hardy Boyz come down to fight them off and save Lita. The Rock fights back and sends Angle packing and as he and The Hardyz and Lita beat up The Game four on one, Kurt Angle slips out of the ring and leaves, heading backstage. He heads all the way back to the locker room to check on Stephanie and while she’s groggy, he tells her how much he cares about her - she has no idea how much he cares - and plants a kiss on her! He embraces her with a passionate kiss as her arms flail…and then stops protesting and embraces him back! 

Jericho/Benoit, and TLC build

Chris Jericho heads down to the ring to talk about his match with Chris Benoit at Summerslam. This is a pretty famous promo as he presents various photoshopped images of Benoit in different situations and rhyming descriptions mocking him. It’s good stuff, and some of it makes it into the video package for their Summerslam match while I will absolutely be included in that review.

That brings Benoit who calls Jericho a clown and calls himself the best technical wrestler in the WWF, ending on “prove me wrong” which is his new catchphrase and significantly catchier than “That's just the way it is” which he’d been using for a while previously. Jericho promises to cause him a lot of pain with the Walls of Jericho both tonight in their match later, and at Summerslam and that Benoit will never be the same.

Chris Jericho teams with The Hardyz against Chris Benoit and Edge and Christian. Jericho wins it for his team but that doesn’t matter as much as the post match story as Jericho and Benoit fight on the outside with referees working to split them up. Edge and Christian use chairs to take out both Matt and Jeff, and that brings The Dudleyz to the ring. They set a table up in the middle of the ring, Edge and Christian and The Dudleyz fight to the outside. Matt Hardy climbs a ladder and dives down onto everyone, ending the tag team brawl. Benoit and Jericho’s fight continues and as they brawl and (quite unnaturally) climb to the top rope as they do, they fall together and crash through the table. It was a very contrived spot but it looked cool!

Tazz tries to blind JR

Out in the parking lot, Tazz reveals he has JR trapped inside King’s rental car. He spray painted it with his “Just another Victim” and “Thug Life” catchphrases. JR locks the door as King mocks Tazz so he smashes the window with a baseball bat, showering JR in broken glass. Tazz sprints to the back and out into the parking lot to check on his buddy. JR is bleeding and complaining about his eye and it seems like he may have glass in it. While Lawler checks on his commentary partner, Tazz jumps King from behind and laughs hysterically as referees drag him away. 

Other Happenings

• The Right to Censor enters as a unit, but before Richards can begin his sermon, Rikishi interrupts. He says that they will never be able to cover up Rikishi. He then brings out Victoria and Mandy - Goodfather’s former hoes - for his singles match with the man himself. Victoria in particular looks amazing - you can tell she’s actually a wrestler because she has abs for days. Too Cool come out too to keep the odds even. Rikishi wins a short match with a Banzai drop, but the RtC save Richards from getting a Stink Face. Too Cool, Rikishi and the hoes do Too Cool’s dance after the match and the fans are INTO it. 

• Backstage, Eddie Guerrero and Chyna discuss their chances of winning the Intercontinental title at Summerslam. It’s a mixed tag where whoever gets the pin wins the gold. They are very encouraging about each other’s chances and say they’d be happy for the other to win the title. Do you believe them?

They team tonight with former Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman against Intercontinental Champion Val Venis, Test and Albert. Shane McMahon is shown watching from the back with his hardcore title belt. Commissioner Foley walks in on Shane and tells him if he gets involved in anything tonight he’ll make his Hardcore title rematch tonight rather than at Summerslam. In the six man tag, Trish attacks Eddie from behind but before Chyna can get her hands on the blonde, Albert jumps her. Blackman uses his nunchucks on Test behind the referee’s back to win the match for himself, Eddie and Chyna. 

• Roaddogg and X-Pac - who will face each other at Summerslam to once and for all prove who the better singles wrestler is - faces The Undertaker in a handicap match. Taker overwhelms DX and Roaddogg walks out on his own partner, leaving X-Pac to get a chokeslam and a massive Last Ride Powerbomb for the victory. The Undertaker is very focused on Kane and Summerslam.

• Perry Saturn defends the European title against Al Snow. Terri is at ringside and due to their ongoing feud, and the exchanges of Stink Faces last week, Kat and Terri will face each other at Summerslam in a “Thong-Stink face” match. The WWF knew that a lot of their audience were teenage boys, basically. Terri gets in the ring and distracts Snow, getting shoved down for her troubles but the distraction allows Saturn to lock in the Rings of Saturn for a submission victory.