Raw is War - July 27th, 1998

Tag Team Champions at War

The Undertaker opens the show and he is carrying both WWF Tag Title belts. He won the match last night by tombstoning and pinning Kane. He looks pretty cool carrying both titles to be fair. The Undertaker wants an apology from Austin. Vince and the stooges come out and aren't buying it. He says that Undertaker thinks that tombstoning Kane proves they’re not working together but (correctly) points out that they’re both hard as nails and that it took three tombstones to beat Kane at Wrestlemania so it proves nothing. He thinks that was all part of the act to prove they’re not together but none of us are that gullible. JR seems to be, but King agrees with Vince. Vince books Austin and Undertaker’s first title defence tonight against The New Age Outlaws. He wants an apology for Taker injuring his neck with a chokeslam but before that happens, Stone Cold Steve Austin marches to the ring. He’s carrying his custom version of the WWF title - the Smoking Skull belt - which as a kid I didn’t like but for me, it’s aged pretty well. I think it's cool. (I've put a nice clear image of it belowI just wanted to show off the belt) Stone Cold tells Vince to get “his sorry ass up the ramp” because he’s got nothing to say to him. He doesn’t want to be Undertaker’s friend but they are champions and he’ll work with him tonight to keep the belts. He gives Taker the only apology he’s getting - a big middle finger - and takes his leave. Undertaker looks stoic.

Michael Cole interviews The New Age Outlaws who aren’t worried about Triple H and X-Pac’s rift (see the D-Generation X explodes section) but are fully focused on regaining their tag titles tonight.

The New Age Outlaws enter first for the main event. The Undertaker is one half of the WWF tag team champions but is still carrying both belts. Billy Gunn is wearing his mint-green gear covered in lips which is the ring gear I know him best for. To my surprise, this is quite a long match (for the era). The Outlaws get in a lot of offence and work over The Undertaker which makes them look great and very much on the same level as these two main eventers. Which is fair, as they’re a full time experienced tag team and the champions are not. The Undertaker eventually gets the hot tag to Austin who wins in short order with a stunner on the Roaddogg. Austin grabs a couple of beers from a cooler at ringside and surprisingly throws one to The Undertaker. I think that’s as close to a gesture of friendship as you’ll ever get from Stone Cold. Taker drinks the beer to a massive pop. Kane jumps Stone Cold from behind and Kane and Mankind attack at ringside. The Undertaker does at least make the save as the show goes off the air! 

Extra attitude on the network gives a little bit more of the brawl with Stone Cold ends with a stunner on Kane and then celebrates for a bit longer. 

To the (bikini) victor go the (bikini) spoils

Jerry Lawler presides over an official bikini contest trophy presentation for Sable who won at Fully Loaded. Jacqueline and Marc Mero come out first. Sable gets a big…I hesitate to call it a pop honestly, it's more of a collective cat call. She is wearing a big loose fitting t-shirt and we’ve been promised she is wearing a special “Raw bikini” Jim Ross works hard to make Sable sound like the greatest woman who ever lived. It’s funny because outside of the ring, she was famously kind of a bitch. Before King is able to present the trophy, he gets handed a memo from “the desk of Vince McMahon '' who is saying that because bodypaint doesn’t count as a bikini, Sable is disqualified and Jacqueline wins. She and Mero celebrate with the trophy like they just won the main event of Wrestlemania as the fans chant for Sable. Our villains leave and Sable says she doesn’t need a trophy to know she won and only wishes that Mr. McMahon had been man enough to tell her to her face. Vince then comes to the ring, feeling insulted. Vince “shoo”s and kicks at the photographers as he gets into the ring. He looks furious and Sable looks worried. Vince calls her an ungrateful ingrate and that he made her a star. He says that he brought her back because of her massive popularity, and he “does everything he can for the fans' ' which gets a lot of boos. He calls her a dime a dozen and says that she “owes him” and gets a bit creepy about it while she looks very uncomfortable. This IS kind of uncomfortable. He calls her an “ungrateful bitch” which gets a lot of boos. Sable responds by sticking her fingers up to the back of his head and then removing her top to reveal her lovely zebra print bikini and strutting around to lots of cheers. A VERY weird segment. I guess the point was to make Vince a heel andhopefully end this on screen pairing of Sable working directly for Vince but honestly, it just made Sable look really weak. Vince Russo will have written this. The man hates women. 

D-Generation X explodes

Quick interview with The Rock who seems to have now developed his most famous mannerisms and catchphrases. He says he’s going to “lay the smackdown” about four times which I think is a first and ends on “if you smell what The Rock is cooking” 

The Rock is defending his Intercontinental title in a triple threat match against both Triple H and X-Pac which seems very unfair. The DX pals even come out together to the DX theme and are apparently both accompanied by Chyna. Triple threats are still really new and JR over explains the rules to us. During Triple H’s pre-match promo, he mentions that today is his birthday! Surprisingly, The Rock doesn’t have a single member of The Nation with him during his entrance. He usually brings an entourage when it’s one on one so why not now when it’s theoretically 2 on 1. The Rock plays the valiant heel in peril here which is just very odd booking. I hear a few fans singing “Happy Birthday” to Triple H which is funny. The pairing between Triple H and X-Pac falls apart as once The Rock is down, they start to fight over who gets to pin him and win the title. This is good but very short and has a weird finish as The Rock just grabs his title while Triple H and X-Pac fight each other and leaves. The Rock gets counted out so I’ve no idea who actually wins but the match is over and The Rock is still the champion seems to be the main thing because titles don’t change hands via countout. The real story here? X-Pac and Triple H look angry at each other. Is DX in trouble? The Rock has driven a wedge here.

The Brawl for All (still)

Brawl for All! We’re in the quarter finals now. It’s Dr. Death (JR’s favourite) vs. Bart Gunn (no one’s favourite) This entire tournament was set up for apparently legit hardman Steve Williams to easily win the whole thing. It doesn’t quite work out that way. Dr. Death uses takedowns and they throw big right hands but entering the third round he looks a little out of it. The crowd at least isn’t as negative as they have been for these. It’s quiet but there is at least some polite applause. I spoke too soon - a loud “boring” chant in the third round. They do pick up for a wild flurry of punches and JR goes VERY quiet during this as “his boy” looks shaky. His fears are well founded as Dr. Death gets knocked out! The first one of the tournament. This is a big upset, apparently and Jim Ross is nearly silent during all of this before finally making some excuses and - I think reluctantly - talks up Bart Gunn and his devastating left hand. The best Brawl for All fight so far, but only because I enjoy the real life fall out from this. 

Other Happenings

• The show opening was a recap of Fully Loaded does indeed confirm that the opening skit of the PPV that aired even before the WWF signature where Jerry Lawler barged into Sable’s dressing room and insisted on a sneak peak of her bikini WAS part of the PPV and not a home video exclusive as I thought. It also censors Sable’s almost-not-really a top from the show to make us think she got them out for real. That will definitely sell some PPV replays.
• D’Lo Brown comes out for another non-title match. He looks good with the European title. He’s facing Vader and gets a little pre-match promo time which is a big show of faith. Apparently D’Lo isn’t defending the title tonight because “his representation didn’t think it was prudent” whatever that means. This is a decent match where D’Lo gets lots of offence in. The finish comes on the outside when Vader pulls off D’Lo’s chest protector and gives him a splash. D’Lo gets counted out and you’d have to assume Vader gets a title shot now?
• “Droz’s World” video package where we see Droz at home with his pet snake. Shows us around his house. It’s a parody of 90s reality TV. He continues to puke on command which is still disgusting.
• Owen Hart is out next to declare himself the new World’s Most Dangerous Man after knocking out Shamrock. He’s not here tonight apparently as he got a concussion. Owen is interrupted by Jason Sensation doing his very good Owen Hart impression. He’s even dressed up as him. He taunts Owen and starts a nugget chant but as Owen chases him up the ramp, Dan Severn emerges to stop him. This leads to a match where Severn - in his suit - takes on Owen Hart but within seconds, Ken Shamrock runs through the crowd and attacks Owen. Severn then locks Shamrock in a dragon sleeper from behind! Steve Blackman runs in to separate them as he’s friends with both men. It’s chaos. Owen Hart slips away as the focus is now Shamrock vs. Severn.

• First advert for Sunday Night Heat! The evolution of WWF’s secondary show. Shotgun Saturday Night gets mentioned a lot for storyline developments (Faarooq and Scorpio have a winning streak on that show, for example) but that becomes a nothing filler show when Sunday Night Heat debuts. The same would happen to Heat when Smackdown debuted in 1999.
• Next up is Scorpio and Faarooq vs. DOA. Bradshaw has joined commentary for this and confirms he’s a real heel now as he trash talks Terry Funk and promises to run him off again when he comes back (he never comes back) When they recap the DOA’s attack of Animal last week, they’re still really hammering home this “where was Hawk?” plot point. That’ll be important later. Bradshaw keeps getting angry with Jerry Lawler for making jokes and in the end, gets frustrated and attacks the DOA, and then Faarooq and the whole thing turns into a wild five-person brawl. Bradshaw is screaming out to be taken seriously. 
• Brakus! This is a shock - I never thought we’d see him again. He aggravated an arm injury in the Brawl for All a couple of weeks ago which ended up leading to him retiring in 1999. He’s wrestling Jesus of Los Boricuas. The fans chant “steroids” at Brakus which…yeah, that’s fair. He looks ridiculous. He wins very quickly with a spinebuster. What a waste of time.
• We see Val Venis in the shower through the shower curtain and hear a woman moaning and making sex noises. As she leaves - it’s Yamaguchi-san’s wife! Again! Val Venis is such a chad. He’s definitely the heel in this whole situation.
• Back from commercials, Val’s in the arena and wrestling Brian Christopher. My boy, Scott Taylor is at ringside too. Before the match starts - Kaientai and Yamaguchi-san come out with a samurai sword and some big long salamis and stand at the top of the ramp watching the match, which Val wins with the fisherman suplex. King protests that Brian’s shoulders weren’t down which is funny (they were) Scott Taylor jumps him after the match, but Taka Michinoku runs in and makes the save. He has feuded with both Too Much and with Kaientai previously so this makes sense. Yamaguchi-san challenges Val and Taka next week and says after the match they will “choppy choppy his pee pee” and slices the salami in half with the sword! Val looks gravely concerned. 
• Interview with LOD 2000. Animal does all the talking as Hawk sways and blinks and acts very drunk. Oh no. 
• The Nation comes out for their tag match with LOD 2000. The Godfather has fully transformed into The Godfather now as he brings four ladies out, and continually talks about how he's a pimp. A natural and popular evolution. When LOD comes out, Hawk is missing his entrance shoulder pads and is stumbling. He trips as he gets into the ring. There’s a lot going on here. Hawk apparently falls asleep in the corner, and JR and King actually act quite concerned for him. This whole thing is very tasteless but to be fair, Hawk, JR and King do a really good job of telling and performing the story here, as awful as it is. Animal fights it as a handicap match but does set up for the Devastation Device. Hawk tries to climb the ropes but falls off to the floor and Godfather easily defeats Animal. 

Raw is War - August 3rd, 1998

Everyone wants to be (tag team) Champion

The Nation opens the show and we’re told that last night on the first ever episode of Sunday Night Heat, The Rock and Owen Hart defeated Kane and Mankind to earn a shot at the WWF tag team titles tonight on Raw. The Rock doesn’t want to wait for later tonight and calls out Stone Cold and Undertaker now. He rattles off most of his catchphrases which is awesome to hear. The Rock is starting to get more and more cheers too. Sgt Slaughter comes out to tell him this match isn’t until later but The Rock instead wants the tag title belts handed to himself and Owen “via forfeit” Stone Cold comes out and to my surprise, Undertaker comes out with him to Austin’s music. Taker is still carrying both tag title belts. Austin charges into the ring but before Taker can follow, he’s distracted by Kane instead. Kane and Undertaker don’t fight but Mankind does attack him. Stone Cold fights off The Nation as best he can and stuns Owen Hart but The Rock escapes. Undertaker and Mankind have fought off through the crowd. Austin grabs a chair and that helps him chase off The Nation. This is wild as all of the champions in the WWF are in this one segment - Austin is the WWF champ, he and Undertaker are the tag champs, The Rock is the IC champ and D’Lo is at ringside as the European champ. 

Quick promo with the New Age Outlaws who refuse to let it go and want their tag titles back. They are obsessed and determined. The Outlaw’s promos about it every week really makes the tag titles feel so important. They aren’t their usual happy go lucky selves. They’re facing Kane and Mankind. Mankind has kind of faded into the background in this story as Kane’s partner but he’s main eventing PPVs and Raws so who am I to question his position? The Outlaws jump Mankind before the bell and try to isolate him. Classic Outlaws match in that Roaddogg gets worked over and double teamed building up to a hot tag to Billy Gunn. Mankind hits Roaddogg on the outside with a stiff chairshot. Billy Gunn clocks Mankind with one of his own. Then Kane wipes out Billy Gunn and the four men are brawling around on the outside. In the end, as JR protests that Roaddogg isn’t the legal man, Kane tombstones and pins him to win the match.

Vince McMahon comes out. He talks about the highway to hell (Summerslam) and that Stone Cold and Undertaker are slated to go one on one for the title. His intersecting highways metaphor becomes quite forced. He promises that they’ll lose the tag titles tonight to The Nation. He shows the replay of the finish to Raw last week where Undertaker seemingly let Austin get jumped last week, and again earlier tonight. He is convinced Undertaker and Kane are working together. He invites Undertaker to the ring to once again ask him to explain himself and either confirm or deny. The Undertaker does come out but before he speaks, Stone Cold comes out too. Austin doesn’t trust anyone, all he wants is to face Undertaker at Summerslam. He tells Taker to keep both tag titles as the WWF championship is the only one he cares about. Stone Cold tries to leave but Undertaker calls him back to the ring. He says that Austin is falling for Vince’s manipulation. He doesn’t want them as champions and he’s driven this wedge. Stone Cold is doing exactly what Vince wants. He says that since Undertaker was a man and challenges him face to face, he wants Austin to be a man and come to the ring and take one of the tag title belts. Accept his responsibility basically. Stone Cold goes to the ring and does exactly that, taking a tag title belt but not taking his eyes off Undertaker. Vince is livid. He doesn’t want Stone Cold and Undertaker to even attempt to work together. Undertaker tells Austin he’s the safest SOB in the WWF until Summerslam because he’s Taker’s partner, but he’s going to take his title at Summerslam. 

Interview with The Rock and Owen Hart who are very confident in becoming tag team champions tonight. 

In the main event, IC champion The Rock and Owen Hart of The Nation challenge WWF Champ Stone Cold and Undertaker for their Tag team titles. There is a LOT of star power and gold involved in this one. It’s awesome seeing Stone Cold come out with his smoking skull belt and one of the tag belts. He’s the biggest star in the world. This is a good match, given some time as Owen and The Rock work over Stone Cold. No real mention of Owen and Austin’s history (Owen broke Steve’s neck back at Summerslam last year) but I fear that’s because it’s a bit of a touchy subject and there’s still some legit hurt feelings there. I get a huge kick out of seeing The Rock and Stone Cold in the ring together. They’re so fast and intense - they have a natural chemistry. After hot tags and a wild brawl, The Undertaker wins it for his team with a tombstone on Owen Hart. 

As The Rock and Austin fight on the outside, Mankind and Kane make an appearance. Kane swings a chair for Undertaker but hits Mankind. Undertaker grabs the chair from Kane but instead of fighting each other, Taker hits Mankind too. Before we can analyse the situation any more, the New Age Outlaws appear and attack everyone and the show closes with all four of these tag teams brawling in the ring.

Choppy Choppy your pee pee

Val Venis teams with Taka Michinoku against Funaki and Togo of Kaientai. Before the match gets going, Taka turns on Val, spiking him with a DDT! It turns out that Taka is the brother of Yamaguchi-san’s wife. The one Val has been diddling. Kaientai, and apparent new member Taka Michinoku, beat up Val and abducted him.
We get a clip of Val Venis being violently worked over by now all four members of Kaientai and later more footage of Val Venis being strung up by Kaientai as Yamaguchi-san chases off the camera man with his sword! 

It’s removed from this version of the show on the Network but the climax to this show-long story is that we see Val Venis, trunks around his ankles, strung up with Yamaguchi about to swing his sword at The Big Valbowski but the lights cut off and we’re left to imagine what happened.

D-Generation X continues to explode

Triple H faces X-Pac to determine who will get an Intercontinental championship match at Summerslam. This stems from their issues in the triple threat last week. They came out together again to the DX theme music with Chyna. There is real tension within DX as both men want this title shot. Both men have said they will be “total professionals” in this. May the better man win. This is back and forth and to everyone’s shock, Chyna ends up tripping and then hitting X-Pac with a forearm blow behind the referee’s back allowing Triple H to hit a pedigree and win the match. Post match, X-Pac is furious and gets in both Chyna and Triple H’s faces but in the end, all three do leave together. The tension in DX continues.

Other Happenings

• Another Raw where the commentary audio is weirdly much louder than everything else on the show. They’re still alternating between pre-taped and live episodes of Raw and this one is pre-taped. 
• Brawl for All! The Godfather (who has advanced even though he lost because Dan Severn has withdrawn) vs. Scorpio. They seem to have learned and try to WWF-up this tournament by having The Godfather come out with his hoes (called as such) which he offers to Scorpio if he forfeits the match. Scorpio is all man though and says no. Idiot. The Godfather wins on points as the crowd chants “boring” for the 6th week in a row.
• They recap Hawk being drunk during the LOD match last week and then Hawk cuts a very out of character promo as Michael. He’s not shouting, he’s talking like a real person. He asks for our forgiveness and then fires up as Hawk. I said it last week but as tasteless as this storyline is, it's well performed so far. Hawk is facing Double J. They’re teasing a breakup between Double J and Tennessee Lee. This is actually Lee’s last Raw appearance as Double J gives him the sack on the next episode of Sunday Night Heat. He’s continued his evolution into this more serious, vicious character. Hawk wins, and when Animal comes out to congratulate and celebrate with him, they’re jumped by Double J’s heavies, Southern Justice. 
• D’Lo Brown defends the European title against Dan Severn. Last night on the first episode of Sunday Night Heat, he defended against Ken Shamrock who appeared to have the match and the title won until Dan Severn made an appearance and got D’Lo disqualified by attacking Shamrock. (titles don’t change hands by countout or disqualification, the old “championship advantage”) D’Lo is very aggressive here but before this match gains any momentum, Ken Shamrock comes to ringside to return the favour for Severn costing him the match on Heat. The match ends in DQ again as Steve Blackman comes out to once again act as peacekeeper with Severn and Shamrock. 
• As D’Lo is leaving, he’s jumped from behind by Edge who lays him out and runs off.
• Tiger Ali Sighn comes out to the ring and we see footage of last night on Heat, he paid an American woman $500 to eat dog food in the ring. He calls an overweight middle aged woman into the ring and pays her to strip, which she excitedly does until he stops her because no one wants to see that. He then pays her $500 to put her clothes back on which gets a loud pop from the fans. This poor woman. But she makes herself plenty of cold hard cash. Tiger believes his culture is the superior race. I hope I don’t see a lot of this gimmick.

Raw is War - August 10th, 1998

Main event Tag Team titles

The show opens with shots of Mankind rampaging through the backstage, throwing chairs and the like and ranting and raving about “the truth” and how he deserves to know the truth. It seems that Kane’s own partner is sick of wondering if Undertaker and Kane are in cahoots too.

During the opening video package, we see that on Sunday Night Heat, Mankind called Kane out to the ring and when Kane appeared, he beat up Mankind by throwing him off the apron and tombstoning him on the floor. He even struck Paul Bearer. But it wasn’t Kane. It was The Undertaker in disguise again! In a moment that made ME happy, we hear a bit of Shane McMahon’s commentary during Heat crowing about his father is a genius and he was right about Undertaker and Kane being secretly friends.

Mankind is in the ring before the show even properly starts. We get a good look at his head - his hair is all torn out and has clumps shaved out of it. He looks insane. Mick Foley really did snap. He says that only one man can give him the truth, a man he trusts. It’s not Uncle Paul. It’s Vince McMahon. I’m happy to see some of the story focus back on Mankind. He seems frantic and distressed and I just feel really sorry for him. He’s emotionally wounded. Vince looks almost bemused by this. Vince is disgusted. He despises people who need help. He rattles through all of his former alter egos. Vince suggests that Mick didn’t really want Vince’s help, he wants to be hurt. The truth hurts. Vince says that Kane is out to get him, doesn’t care about him and that he has been cast aside by his friend Kane who is working with Undertaker. This brings out Kane and Paul Bearer. Paul says that Vince is going to listen to “the fat man” and he tells Vince that he may get inside Mankind’s head but he can’t get inside his or Kane’s. Vince plays it cool and is about to tell Bearer some more harsh truths but then he freaks out and accuses Kane of being Undertaker in disguise again. He’s wrong. It’s actually pretty easy to tell. It’s definitely Kane. Vince grabs at Kane’s mask and the lights go out. For a really long time. When the lights come back on, Kane is gone and The Undertaker (dressed as Undertaker) is in the ring with his hand around Vince’s throat. He punches out Mankind and Bearer and takes off after escaping Vince. Paul Bearer gives Mankind a big hug and tries to settle him. Bearer insists that it’s not true. Kane is not working with The Undertaker. 

Backstage, The Undertaker steps into a locker room and as the door swings open, we can see Kane standing inside waiting for him!

Michael Cole interviews Stone Cold. As he talks, he escorts Cole to the door and puts him in the shower with his clothes on instead of telling him anything. What a bully.

The main event, which has been promoted multiple times all night, is a four team fatal four way for the WWF tag team titles involving everyone from last week. IC champion The Rock and Owen Hart from The Nation vs. The New Age Outlaws from DX vs. Kane and Mankind vs. the tag team champions, Undertaker and WWF champ Stone Cold. We’re told that we have “the outlaw rule” so that we can’t have a repeat of the last four team match where both Outlaws ended up being legal, Roaddogg let Billy Gunn pin him to end the match. A finish I hated at the time. 

After The Nation and DX make their entrances, Ken Shamrock picks his moment to attack Owen Hart. The rest of The Nation and DX both run out and we get a wild chaotic brawl between both stables, plus Shamrock. Shamrock seems to be trying to break Owen’s ankle as Steve Blackman once again appears to try and calm down Shamrock.

Returning from commercial, European D’Lo Brown is taking Owen Hart’s place in The Nation team. So that’s every men’s champion in the company in this one match (apart from Taka’s light heavyweight title but he hasn’t even brought that belt out with him in months.) Kane and Mankind enter next and Mankind is following far behind Kane. They’re not on the same page. The Undertaker is next, followed finally by his tag team championship partner, the WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin which is nice to type out in full. As popular and over as everyone in this match is, my God the crowd lose their minds when the glass shatters for Austin’s music. I got goosebumps 25 years later. Austin and Mankind start and this is going to be a nightmare to recap but I’ll do my best. This is wild and the crowd is electric. I get a kick out of watching the guys on the apron interact and react to each other's moves. Thecrowd gets all over The Rock with “Rocky sucks'' chants even when he’s not doing anything! JR does mention all the champions in this match. The big story here is that Austin and Undertaker are working together really well, tagging in and out and even cheering each other on. Mankind considers leaving at one point but stops. I like that D’Lo gets a chance to shine, main eventing Raw with all these future and former World champions. The crowd goes ballistic for a People’s Elbow on Roaddogg. It’s amazing to me that even in this four team, eight man scenario, it's still Roaddogg getting worked over to build for a hot tag. Here in their third title defence, Stone Cold and Undertaker are finally acting like they want to be tag team champions and fighting like they’re important. Deep into the match, Kane is the only man who has yet to be legal. Roaddogg can’t tag Billy when Mankind knocks him off the apron to hot tags to The Undertaker instead. It breaks down and the ring fills with men from each team, brawling. Kane stands stoic on the apron and doesn’t move. He finally tags in just as his brother does and plants Undertaker with a chokeslam for the win! Kane and Mankind are the new tag team champions! It's all called into question post-match, as Undertaker sits right back up. Austin seems shocked and the commentators also seem to not believe that the one chokeslam to a mostly fresh Undertaker should have gotten the three count. Could Taker have kicked out? Probably. Stone Cold thinks so! 

Extra attitude in this episode doesn’t give us anything. The crowd chants Austin and Stone Cold gets in The Undertaker’s face. Taker points at the WWF title belt and then to his waist and both men are reluctant to turn their backs on each other. 

D-Generation X…don’t explode after all

The New Age Outlaws arrive in a limo without the rest of DX and are kind of dicks to the valet. 

Michael Cole catches Triple H and Chyna as they arrive in a sleek convertible. He asks what’s going on with DX and Chyna tells him to “suck it” and pushes him over. Rude. 

X-Pac is the last to arrive and the commentators make a big deal of them all showing up separately.

The New Age Outlaws come to the ring looking like they are all business. Followed shortly by X-Pac, and then Triple H and Chyna. There’s no humour here. They’ve had a rough few weeks with losing the tag titles, the European title, X-Pac and Triple H wrestling multiple times, and Chyna costing X-Pac the match. Triple H tries to start us off but X-Pac escalates things rapidly by calling Chyna a bitch, and her and Triple H “a couple of jack-offs” Triple H returns the insult and then turns it on the Outlaws too. They seem to be trying to say “jack off” as many times as possible during this segment which I’d imagine is an inside joke. They all call each other a jack-off multiple times, over and over. Literally about 50 times between them. The crowd boos when Triple H suggests that DX might split. One guy screams “stay together” like his life is in danger. It’s not real mate. He says that they’re going to give the crowd what they want and that’s “the DX split” and they all line up ready to flash their arses. Chyna stops them and says she’ll be the one to initiate a DX split, and gets her arse out first. It was all a big wind up. There was no tension. They’re all still best friends. It was all just a big build up to Chyna flashing her bum and an excuse for them all to say “jack-off” as many times as possible. Triple H does manage to convince another girl in the crowd to flash her boobs again but this one must have not been a plant because the cameras don’t show her.

The Brawl for All

Brawl for All! Droz, who technically drew with Hawk previously but Droz advances because Hawk’s nose got broken. He’s facing Savio Vega here. The crowd got into this actually! They pop big for Droz scoring a takedown. Maybe they’re being sarcastic? Droz wins on points. I didn’t actually see it happen but I know that somewhere during this fight, Savio aggravated an arm injury and this ends up being his last ever “match” in the WWF which is sad. How many injuries is that now? Just in case anyone still doesn’t believe this whole Brawl for All concept was stupid. 

The Godfather comes out to The Nation theme music with three more hoes. He has a big gold chain, a cigar and sunglasses. He has fully dropped Kama Mustafa as part of his ring name. Before this match begins, Bart Gunn shows up at ringside to accost Jim Ross. He wants respect. JR made excuses for Dr. Death Steve Williams and thought Bart winning was an upset and he seems very upset about it. Honestly, this feels like another rib on JR who is legit friends with Dr. Death and sung his praises to a nauseating level. Godfather is facing Vader but before the match starts, he offers Vader some hoes instead of wrestling him. He can take the ladies and forfeit the match. “Have you ever been with a hoe? You do know what a hoe is?” Vader initially turns down the offer, until Godfather makes it clear he’d get all three ladies. Vader takes the deal! One of them is wearing the tiniest bikini/swimsuit and looks naked from behind. So I guess Godfather wins by forfeit. Vader doesn’t get to enjoy his hoes after all as Bart Gunn knocks him out with one punch and then tackles Godfather in the ring! They’re actually hyping up a Brawl for All fight. This is more of them trying to add a little WWF flavour to what was supposed to be a non-gimmicked shoot fight tournament.

Brawl for All! Marc Mero vs. Bradshaw. Now if you’re thinking that Mero was eliminated by Steve Blackman in commanding fashion in the very first fight then you’d be right. Blackman suffered a knee injury and had to withdraw which I think I mentioned then too. That is not the only time that has happened in this tournament. It’s a disaster across the board. As these two men scrap and scramble around on the mat and try to box, the fans turn on this in a big way and boo and chant “boring” The crowd boo loudly at the end of the third round. It’s a draw and so there will be a 4th round. That gets a mixed but mostly negative reaction from the live crowd. Brawdhaw is badly gassed. At the end of the fourth round, Bradshaw wins on points. 

Other Happenings

• Sign in the crowd “Noone Watches OldFarts” (NWO) lol
• As LOD 2000 makes their entrance, Hawk gets a fright when their pyro goes off and he slips and trips and falls down the ramp. Back from the commercial, he’s being questioned by officials and he’s acting very drunk again. He’s in no condition to perform. They’re supposed to be facing Southern Justice. During this, we do see footage of Tennessee Lee being fired by Double J On Sunday Night Heat the previous night. Southern Justice comes out anyway and will apparently face Animal in a handicap match. They act disgusted by Hawk for daring to come out here “in this state” so Hawk starts fighting with them until he falls over and gets carried to the back, Droz runs down to save Animal from a three on one beat down by Southern Justice and Jeff Jarrett but he gets blasted with a guitar by Jeff which has his new “don’t piss me off” catchphrase printed on the back of it. He then gets out some clippers and cuts some of Droz’ hair off. 

• Pre-taped video segment from Dustin Runnels who warns us that the next segment will feature references to sex, genitalia and gratuitous violence before the Val press conference. He encourages us to watch a special about reptiles on the discovery channel instead of this next segment because “He” is coming. A special about reptiles sounds quite good.
• Jerry Lawer is in the ring for a “joint” (lol) press conference with Val Venis and actual John Wayne Bobbit. He was huge news once upon a time as his wife cut his penis off. Like for real, it was in the news. This is one of those segments which hasn’t aged well. Val is a quiet and humble man. He has an icepack held to his junk and has Yamaguchi-san’s wife/Taka’s sister with him for moral support. They’re implying that Val Venis had his penis cut off last week. It was a swerve! He’s fine. He strips off his stripper pants (kind of, they get stuck and he finishes his promo with them around his ankles) and stands in his ring gear. Thank God, right? King interviews John Wayne Bobbit and makes a couple of jokes about his penis being cut off which is probably quite hurtful? He does laugh it off but the guy is an alleged rapist in a by-then five year old news story so honestly who cares? Val Venis kicks Mrs.Yamaguchi to the curb and sends her packing. No woman is worth the trouble she has caused, he says. 

• Sable gets another rowdy crowd greeting full of whistles and catcalls and hoots. King has the cheek to call the people “letches” She introduces, accompanied by The Oddities, Luna. They’ve turned babyface and ditched The Jackyl since the last time we saw them on Raw. They come out to a custom song by the Insane Clown Posse which is sadly dubbed over on the WWE Network version of this show by a generic production track. Luna is facing Jacqueline who is making her WWF in ring debut. We see a clip of last week on Raw, Jackie being attacked by Luna with a bunch of flowers during a Marc Mero vs. Golga match. That wasn’t part of the version I watched. Maybe they just removed that segment entirely because of the issue with The Oddies music I mentioned. Now that Luna is a babyface, she and Sable are friends and have a mutual respect and understanding, apparently. Sable pushes Jackie off the top rope which allows Luna to get the victory and then Sable presents Jacqueline’s bikini contest trophy to Luna and celebrates in the ring with The Oddities. I’m honestly sad that we don’t get to hear the ICP music on this show because I always liked it. They perform it live at Summerslam which I’m sure has also been removed.

Raw is War - August 17th, 1998

Stone Cold tries to bury The Undertaker

The show opens with Stone Cold kicking and banging at the door to Mr. McMahon’s office, throwing things and demanding he show himself (I’ve cleaned up the language). This is before the WWF signature and Raw opening (still not updated and featuring Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Psycho Sid)

Once we’re in the arena, as JR tells us what's coming up tonight a hearse is backing into the arena. Is it Undertaker? Kane? Nah, it's Stone Cold driving it. The crowd is thunderous for the Rattlesnake (which is a nickname they’ve used previously but JR has really ramped up his use of it in the past month or so) He wants beers brought to him because he’s not leaving the ring under Mr. McMahon shows himself. Pat Patterson comes out onto the stage, followed by Gerald Brisco and Sgt. Slaughter all one by one until finally Vince shows himself. He doesn’t have the hilariously over exaggerated McMahon strut yet but he has a swagger for sure. Austin has the Smoking Skull belt with him rather than the WWF Championship belt as he has for the past four weeks now. I find it odd that they haven’t really acknowledged his custom title belt. Austin wants to know if he and Taker losing the tag titles last week puts a smile on his face. Vince - with a knowing wink - says that it doesn’t. Stone Cold says he’s fine with it because now he’s not bound together with The Undertaker via the tag titles and he can focus on the WWF title and defending against Undertaker at Summerslam. “The Undertaker says that I pissed him off well Jesus Christ son, Steve Austin was BORN pissed off” That was an awesome line. He’s sick of playing nice with his Summerslam challenger and promises to beat Undertaker’s ass and lock him in the hearse tonight and if Vince gets in his way, he’ll join him. Stone Cold is pissed off and clearly sick of being messed around with all this “who’s side is Undertaker on?” and tag team title distraction. He is calling The Undertaker out. 

Later, Michael Cole backstage confirms that The Undertaker has arrived and now that he is, it won’t take Stone Cold long to find him.

In our main event segment which is the confrontation between Undertaker and Austin we’ve been promised all night, The Undertaker comes out to the ring. He’s changed his music again and YES, it is the very awesome version complete with electric guitars and bass. I love this music. The Undertaker doesn’t really make his entrance and just appears at ringside already. Stone Cold wastes no time, matching to the ring in his wrestling gear. The Undertaker spins around and reveals that it's KANE in disguise! JR and KIng can’t tell if it is Kane or Undertaker but the tattoos are drawn on. It IS Kane. Austin brawls with Kane up the ramp and actually dumps him inside the hearse to discover that it’s being driven by…The Undertaker! Who speeds off with Kane in the back. Austin looks confused and annoyed to end the show.

In a little bit of trivia, by this point the WWF was defeating WCW in the Monday night ratings battle most weeks and Eric Bishoff was getting desperate. They reverted back to attacking the WWF openly and on the episode of Monday Nitro that aired opposite next week’s show, they specifically referenced this final segment as being the WWF “promising their fans a match and then failing to deliver” Watching this episode of Raw, it is very clear all night that this was never going to be a match and ironically, on the Nitro where they took all these pot-shots, the main event was a match that only lasted four minutes. 

Street Fight

The D-Generation X vs. The Nation street fight seems to be four vs. three in favour of the baby faces which feels like backwards booking, with Triple H, X-Pac and The New Age Outlaws taking on The Rock, D’Lo and Mark Henry. DX are all in matching jeans and DX t-shirts and carrying weapons (mostly trash can lids) The Rock is carrying a ladder and D’Lo and Mark have trash cans of their own. The seven men brawl around the ring and ring side area hitting each other with trash can lids and cookie sheets and the like. JR does mention during this that The New Age Outlaws get their tag team title rematch with Kane and Mankind at Summerslam. Triple H is already slated to challenge The Rock for his Intercontinental title too. JR casually throws out that there will be some concussions after this one - it’s wild to see them still talking about concussions like they’re minor issues or a head cold opposed to literal brain damage. The Rock hits the people’s elbow on Roaddogg and tries to do it with a cookie sheet but accidentally kicks it away himself as he runs across the ring. Another Summerslam match mentioned here as X-Pac will face Double J Jeff Jarrett, who actually comes out to brawl with X-Pac during this street fight. Southern Justice actually comes out too and starts beating up The Outlaws. Double J cuts off a big chunk of X-Pac’s hair - that’s his new gimmick, he’s done it to a few people after beating them recently. Thanks to Double J and Southern Justice, The Nation are able to hammer Triple H in the ring three vs. one. Triple H is bleeding and he catches a wicked beating using a ladder, trash cans and other weapons. After a lengthy brawl, this “match” doesn’t end, as The Rock and The Nation just take their leave. During the break, we see Triple H being carried to the back by the rest of DX.

Brawl for All semi-finals

Our first of two Brawl for All semi-finals tonight! The Godfather comes out with three hoes. Godfather says he’s not offering Bart Gunn any of his hoes because he’s just going to kick his ass. The actual fighting is still for real but they’ve added some WWF flavour to the entrances and stuff. It sounds like they did a bit of build for this one on Sunday Night Heat last night too, as well as the little bit we got last week. There’s some obvious fake crowd noise in this one but it mostly meets silence until the finish. The crowd does wake up for Bart Gunn knocking the Godfather out. He peppered him with hard left hands in the 2nd and 3rd round and won with a TKO. Godfather looks goofy and badly concussed here. Is that 5 or 6 legit injuries now? 

The second Brawl for All semi-final! Bradshaw vs. Droz. Bradshaw looks ridiculous with his giant moustache and bushy mullet. There’s more really obvious fake crowd noise during this. This is very dull as they keep their distance and throw punches and try takedowns. Bradshaw clearly wants a big knockout to prove how hard he is but he doesn’t get it. He does win on points and looks absolutely exhausted by the end. The finals are next week. 

The World’s Most Dangerous Men

Ken Shamrock vs. Owen Hart vs. Dan Severn in a triple threat match. I’ve mentioned it periodically but Shamrock really is jacked and ripped. He has an action figure body. Severn and Shamrock have been rivals since their UFC days but have been mostly courteous to each other so far in the WWF. Owen Hart comes out with almost the entire Nation - Mark Henry, the European Champion D’Lo Brown and Intercontinental Champion The Rock. They look awesome with their title belts and swagger. WWF officials rush out and escort the entire Nation to the back leaving just the three men legally in this match. Jim Ross tells us that as a result of their ongoing feud and the Dungeon match at Fully Loaded, Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock are facing off in a Lion’s Den match at Summerslam. Owen and Shamrock wrestle this as a singles match as shirtless Severn just stands and watches, not even breaking up pin fall attempts. Severn finally breaks one of Ken’s pin attempts off a hurricanrana but remains passive. As Ken goes for his ankle lock on Owen, Severn finally does his first move, locking Shamrock in a dragon sleeper. Ken passes out and Severn officially wins the match. As he holds onto the hold on an unconscious Shamrock, Owen lays in kicks and even drives his knee into Shamrock’s groin over and over. As the two on one beat down continues, Blackman runs down to save Shamrock. He has a friendship with Severn too but he turns on Blackman, locking him in the dragon sleeper too allowing Owen to lay a similar beating on Blackman! Severn has officially turned heel and appears to be aligned with Owen Hart. He chokes Steve Blackman out and both he and Shamrock are fully unconscious in the ring. When Shamrock wakes up, he snaps and roars, almost fighting Blackman who tries to explain. They do leave together, Ken even threatening to fight Sgt. Slaughter.

Backstage, Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman are rampaging through the back together throwing things around looking for Owen Hart and Dan Severn. Returning from an ad break, Michael Cole tells us that Owen and Severn have left the building, but Dan Severn is officially training Owen Hart for his Lion Den’s match. 

After the Gangrel match, we get a screamy promo from Shamrock who says they’ll need two hospital beds for Owen and Severn at Summerslam.

Other Happenings

• It crops up in multiple segments but this Raw aired the same week as the President Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky cheating scandal broke and Clinton had to publicly confess and apologise. Vince McMahon, being a massively right wing Republican, couldn’t resist and so a Bill Clinton impersonator calls in and acts like a pervert as Jerry Lawler gleefully interviews him. They did it three times and it was all about as funny as falling down the stairs. 
• The Raw debut of Gangrel! One of the all time best theme songs. Gangrel rises from a burning pit in the entrance ramp holding a chalice of blood and wearing a leather jacket and he’s awesome. In interesting personal timing, as I write this, last night I attended a show by local promotion NORTH where Gangrel made an appearance. He scored a win on Sunday Night Heat over Scott Taylor and tonight he’s facing his tag partner Brian Christopher. Edge is in the crowd, sitting on a balcony watching this match closely. Gangrel bullies the smaller Brian with big power moves and finishes him very quickly with the Impaler DDT.

• We’re supposed to get an interview with DX who are slated to face The Nation in a big street fight match tonight but The Nation jumps them during it until being pulled apart. We do get more clips of them still fighting backstage throughout the DOA tag match too until finally brawling out onto the ramp itself.
• The DOA faced Faarooq and Scorpio. A pretty standard tag match which isn’t terrible but gets mostly silence from the crowd up until the point that DX and The Nation arrive on the ramp during their own brawl. The distraction does allow DOA to do the old twin magic trick and win with a roll up on Faarooq.
• Oh lord save me, it's Tiger Ali Sighn. He did more of his “how low will an American go?” segments on Sunday Night Heat as he made a nerdy guy in a DX t-shirt eat a worm for $500. He calls Americans ``lazy, fat and in poor physical condition” which is surely the same as fat? He shows footage of his man-servant Babu running around and training all day and he’s in a dirty tracksuit, soaked in sweat. He offers $500 to anyone who’ll lick his unwashed feet. A bunch of people in the crowd throw their hands up and volunteer and Babu picks someone out of the crowd. I don’t think it's a plant because he has friends with him. King says “Asian toe-jam is even worse” which is definitely racist. We see that Babu’s sweaty feet are covered in junk and this almost made me vomit. The crowd boo as JR gags and King laughs uncontrollably. This was awful. 
• Long extended shots of Sable stretching in little shorts ahead of her arm wrestling contest with Jacqueline. This feud has continued with more “skank” and "hoe” and Jerry Springer style bitching. The contest doesn’t happen as Jackie pushes the table over onto Sable’s ribs and then smashes the bikini contest trophy from Fully Loaded over her back. The Oddies rush down to save her and Luna seems distraught like someone has died. Giant Silva carries a crying Sable to the back.

• Another “Droz’s world” segment. His mum didn’t like his tattoos. He pukes again. Gross. Between Droz and Tiger, this has been a disgusting episode of Raw.
• Coverage of Al Snow who we haven’t seen since King of the Ring. He appears to have been signed now. He’s sitting in a bar and acting drunk with Head who’s on the floor. Al calls himself the Chief of the JOB squad. (to “Job” meaning lose a match) Al argues with Head over who is sober enough to drive.
• Sable backstage is very angry and looking for Jacqueline and Marc Mero.
• Dustin Runnels pre-taped promo under a hazy filter where he encourages us to curl up with a good book like the New Testament instead of watching the next segment.
• Sable rushes to the ring and looks very serious. She calls Jackie a bitch and Jackie calls her a hoe. The usual. Jacqueline and Mero are up on the titantron and she challenges Sable to find a partner for a tag team match with them at Summerslam. They look really smug until Luna and The Oddies bust in and then the segment just kind of…ends.
• Val Venis runs the gauntlet against Kaientai and if he wins, he gets Yamaguchi-san in the ring. Val has a big pink super soaker looking penis gun. Subtle. More Bill Clinton jokes. Val beats Mens Teioh with the fisherman suplex, then Funaki even quicker with a powerslam. Dick Togo lasts longer but is defeated with the Money Shot. Finally, the Light Heavyweight Champion (who still doesn’t have his belt and isn’t really acknowledged as such) has a good back and forth and actually wins! That shocks me to my core but I'm delighted about it. Wins with the Michinoku Driver! I’m so happy Taka won, and he’s showing a lot more personality as a heel now too. The Kaitentai lads run in and attack Val but he grabs his penis gun and sprays them with white liquid. They run off and Mrs. Yamaguchi gets some on her dress as King giggles and makes more Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky jokes. Jesus Chris if i ever hear King talk about this again I will go to Memphis myself just to slap him. All this Bill Clinton banter is dreadful.

Raw is War - August 24th, 1998

The Truth is Revealed + Hell on Raw! 

Weird audio silence when the show starts on the network as they’ve obviously muted whatever JR and King were talking about. Probably more Bill Clinton “jokes” Kane and The Undertaker come out together to The Undertaker’s new awesome theme music. Kane is still one half of the tag team champions with Mankind and I guess that’s why JR flubs his lines and accidentally calls Undertaker “Mankind” here. Stone Cold has promised (probably on Sunday Night Heat last night) to eliminate one of them before Summerslam. And the Hell in a Cell cage is hung about the ring! There is a lot to unpack here. The headline though is that The Undertaker and Kane do appear to officially be together. Before either man speaks, Vince McMahon makes his way to the ring. Today is his birthday! Vince is very smug that the truth has come out and makes another Bill Clinton joke. Jesus why won’t this end? “I told you so” which to be fair, he did. Vince is very happy that they’re together because with Kane by his side, The Undertaker is certain to defeat Stone Cold for the title at Summerslam. He makes it clear that The Undertaker will need Vince once he’s champion. He wants to be friends with The Undertaker - I guess he doesn’t want another WWF champion he can’t control. He tells him to think about it and wants an answer by the end of tonight - Vince McMahon, friend or foe? Paul Bearer makes his way to the ring next and he looks very upset. He implores his son to not work with his older brother. The Undertaker has won Kane away from his father. Bearer calls Kane’s mother a “sleazy whore” and Kane stops The Undertaker from attacking him for the comment. Kane listens intently as his father begs for him to stick with him and not side with The Undertaker. Bearer loves him and he can’t trust The Undertaker and he begs Kane to destroy Undertaker “for daddy” Kane silently turns his back and allows Undertaker to attack Bearer. Mankind comes to the ring next and gets attacked by Undertaker AND Kane. Kane and Mankind are scheduled to defend the tag titles at Summerslam. Mankind offers no resistance and just takes the beating. Kane and Undertaker give Mankind a spike-tombstone with Taker jumping off the top rope! Before the Brothers of Destruction leave, Vince reminds Undertaker that Austin is the only man in his way. Stone Cold’s music hits and the rattlesnake makes his way out onto the ramp. Before he can advance, a wall of fire explodes in front of him. The crowd is electric for Stone Cold. He knew all along that the two of them were together. He knows that he can beat Kane, and he can beat The Undertaker, but knows he doesn’t have much of a chance against both of them at the same time. He’s tough as nails but he’s not stupid. He promises he’ll take one of them out tonight. Undertaker and Kane silently watch on. Mankind gets stretchered out and put in an ambulance, selling his neck after the spike tombstone. 

Mankind returns shortly after and rides the stretcher to the ring down the ramp which was awesome! He didn’t see the Kane and Undertaker cahoots coming and he feels stupid. Vince tried to warn him but he didn’t listen. He’s got a bag of thumbtacks with him. Vince has promised him redemption tonight in a Hell in a Cell match with Kane. He says he knows he’s going to get his ass kicked, but wants it anyway. He promises to climb the cell again. This is a full-on babyface promo where the fans cheer not just his wild promises about the Hell in a Cell but his jokes. He doesn’t have a damn if Kane kicks his ass tonight because it won’t be the first time it’s happened in Philly. (ECW mention) This makes Vince look like a monster as he is willingly putting Mick back in the Cell and encouraging him to go too far again. A ruthless, soulless promotor who only cares about ratings which is funny because all these false promises are clearly designed to score ratings.

For the Hell in a Cell match, Kane comes out with The Undertaker. They are apparently inseparable now. Kane’s name plate does say he’s one half of the tag team champions but you wouldn’t know it as neither he nor Mankind have their tag title belts tonight. Mankind gets a nice cheer when he comes out which makes me happy. Mankind immediately tries to climb the Cell and knocks out the referees who try to stop him. Kane jumps him on the floor but Mankind takes him out and walks around the Cell to get a chair, but then fails to throw it up a couple of times. It lands on Jerry Lawler who goes quiet for a couple of minutes. As Mankind climbs. The Undertaker stops him half way up and pulls him back off the Cell, sending Mick crashing through the announce table from about 10 feet up! This is wild! Kane appears and starts to brawl with Mankind, hitting him with bits of the announce table.They fight back around to the side of the cell with the door. Kane dominated Mankind and slammed the Cell door on his head before dragging him into the ring. The referee locks the cell door as Kane hammers Mankind with the steel ring steps in the ring. Kane does a VERY impressive dive over the top to the floor too. Earl Hebner is the worst referee in WWF history and keeps getting in the way, which he did ALL the time in EVERY match. Mankind piledrives Kane into the thumbtacks. They trade brutal chair shots to the head! Kane’s bum and lower back is covered in thumbtacks. Kane chokeslams and then tombstones Mankind and then, at Undertaker’s encouragement, hits him with a chair and then tombstones him on a chair. Before he covers, Stone Cold appears in the Cell from under the ring and absolutely destroys Kane with chair shots and stunners as he taunts The Undertaker! Austin demolishes Kane as Taker climbs the Cell and tries to break in but before he can get in the ring, Vince McMahon raises the Cell up to the arena ceiling to apparently protect his Summerslam main event. This was awesome but what I didn’t like? The bell rang for an apparent disqualification when Austin appeared. In a Hell in a Cell match? Silly. I’m mostly shocked that this was a real match between Kane and Mankind, and not just a bait-and-switch angle as I expected.

Returning from an ad break, Undertaker and Kane are in the ring. Kane sells his pain and anger as Undertaker tells Stone Cold he no longer respects him and calls him a coward. Kane is bleeding from the top of his head. Undertaker issues his own promise and that Stone Cold will come face to face with his destiny. It’s now personal. 

Later, we see Undertaker ominously wheeling a huge casket backstage.

Vince is interviewed by Michael Cole and when asked if Undertaker and Kane will name him a friend or foe, Vince says he’ll get the answer he wants.

In the arena in the final segment of the night, druid chanting fills the arena. The camera zooms in on the ramp with the lights out and hilariously the fight doctor from the brawl for all runs up the ramp and struggles with the curtain, utterly ruining the moment. Druids eventually wheel a casket to the ring. They all have their faces exposed and while I don't recognise any of them, it’s less impressive than if the hoods had properly covered them. This takes an ice age until finally, The Undertaker’s music starts and he makes his way out alone. Laser pointers all over his face because it’s the 90s. He calls Austin a coward again and promises there will be no attack from behind, he wants him to come out and take a ride on the highway to hell tonight. Vince comes out instead and tells him to forget about Stone Cold. He demands to know - are he and Kane going to be on his side or not? Undertaker offers a handshake but grabs Vince by the throat and drives him down with a chokeslam instead. Austin climbs out of the casket! He taunts Vince but before he and Taker can fight, in a moment that doesn’t make any sense, Kane comes out of the same casket too. You think Stone Cold and Kane would have seen each other. I guess Kane used his dark magic. Faced with being solo against both Undertaker and Kane, he gets out of the ring to grab a chair and fends them off. The entrance ramp lights up with a trail of fire. A symbolic highway to hell! A cool visual to end Raw.

Triple H and The Rock’s feud escalates

Chyna comes to the ring to call out The Rock, against DX’s wishes. Following the beating Triple H took last week with a ladder, The Rock and Triple H’s IC title match at Summerslam is now a ladder match. JR and King are pretty misogynistic here about how Chyna has no hope against The Rock because she’s a woman. Given how she’s been presented for the past two years, that seems like a disservice. The Rock has The Nation, and a ladder, with him. The ladder is set up in the ring by D’Lo, Owen Hart and Mark Henry. Where is DX, is the question on everyone’s mind? The Rock climbs the ladder in the ring and taunts Chyna before showing us that DX is trapped in their locker room by a forklift pinning the door closed. Chyna looks scared and it dawns on her that it's now four men vs. her. The Rock does talk a lot about the IC title here which is nice to put the focus on the belt. He insinuates that Chyna fancies him which is all a bit uncomfortable. She charges at the ladder to tip it over but The Nation stops her and “put her on her knees where she belongs” The Rock says she looks good in her “natural position,o n her knees” He makes her look up at him and this has all gone very sinister. He goes to plant a kiss on her, but then stops himself and says there’s no way he’d kiss a piece of trash like her before telling Mark Henry to do it. He licks his lips and looks too keen. Shawn Michaels runs in to make the save! He chases The Nation with a chair and clobbers Mark Henry. This must have felt like his big return but this was just him saving his old friend. He takes a few moments to dance and has kind of stolen all the focus in this segment honestly. 

DX are out of their locker room and are out in the parking lot looking for The Nation. Shawn Michaels has joined the commentary team. Shawn explains that he’s not back and not in DX but saved Chyna because it was the right thing to do. 

Val Venis is facing the light heavyweight champion Taka Michinoku, who pinned him last week. I really hope this is the last time we see Mrs. Yamaguchi - she’s a terrible actress. She’s Taka’s sister (she’s not really) and Yamaguchi-san’s second wife (nope) Kaientai have a handicap match against The Oddies at Summerslam. Val seems to have the match won with the Money Shot until Triple H appears. He hits Val with a chair to the back, and then wipes out Taka with a brutal headshot. He promises that at Summerslam, The Rock is going to be his bitch. 

The Brawl for All (finally) ends

The Brawl for All finals and what a journey it has been! Bart Gunn beat his former tag partner Bob Holly on points, a shock knockout of tournament favourite Dr. Death Steve Williams and then knocked out Godfather to get here. Bradshaw rumbled his way through Mark Canterbury, Marc Mero and Droz via points decision in three boring fights to get here. This fight is over very quickly as Bart Gunn clobbers Bradshaw with punches. He tries to shake it off and says he’s ok to continue but Bart clocks him again seconds later and wins with a knockout. Bradshaw’s eyes say that he definitely has a massive concussion and it’s quite scary. We see extended footage of the fight doctor talking to Bradshaw and checking on him but he is gone. Bart Gunn wins $75k and the tournament. This whole tournament wasn’t what they planned, didn’t work, injured almost everyone involved and ruined a couple of careers too. Spoilers - Bart Gunn will not go onto better things. It was nice to see Bradshaw, someone I don’t like in real life, get knocked out.

Other Happenings

• Ken Shamrock - a raving lunatic according to JR - vs. Dan Severn tonight. They go back and forth a bit but there’s no finish as Owen Hart runs in and attacks Shamrock. He locks Ken in the same dragon sleeper submission that Severn used last week as Dan cheers him on like a good coach. Steve Blackman runs in and sends Severn packing with a big martial arts kick to save his friend. Shamrock wants to chase Owen and Severn but when Blackman physically restrains him, Shamrock snaps and the two men trade big belly to belly suplexes until the referees separate them. Shamrock is so angry he looks like he’s in a trance before screaming and chasing all the referees out of the ring. 

• Sable comes to the ring in a very tight catsuit. She is the ring announcer for this next match which is Kurgan of The Oddies vs. Marc Mero (sadly their great ICP theme song is dubbed on the network again) Sable is friends with The Oddies and dances with Luna to the theme song. Mero doesn’t have Jacqueline with him. Mero says that since he’s out here solo, Kurgan should send all of The Oddities to the back too, which he does. Sable remains at ringside. Kurgan dominates Mero and with no Luna or Oddies to protect her, Jacqueline comes through the crowd and attacks Sable. The match just ends when Mero low blows Kurgan and Mero leaves with Jackie through the crowd as Luna tends to her new bestie Sable. Kurgan officially wins via DQ. 
• Backstage, X-Pac leads a camera man through backstage into a dressing room to film him pissing in some cowboy boots.
• Next up is Southern Justice vs. The New Age Outlaws. Hawk has joined commentary and is “very drunk” and starts making shoot comments about his past with Jerry Lawler as JR implores for his mic to be killed. There’s a lot going on here as the tag match starts and Hawk remains on commentary. Double J comes to ringside with no shoes on as he denies that it was his boots that X-Pac peed in. He takes Hawk’s headset and keeps demanding X-Pac come out. It is very hard to pay any attention to this match. We learn here that X-Pac and Double J’s match at Summerslam is hair vs. hair. The Outlaws win and post match, Double J and Southern Justice grab a cameraman and shave his head while he lets out a blood curdling scream.

• Gangrel and his awesome entrance vs. X-Pac. Gangrel attacks X-Pac during his entrance. Neither man can afford to lose this really as Gangrel is only a couple of weeks into his career and X-Pac has a big match at the PPV. This is fast and the two men work well together. Edge is out in the crowd watching Gangrel again. Edge was watching D’Lo at Fully Loaded and attacked him a few weeks ago so I thought he had a European title match in his future but I guess not. Double J appears and blasts X-Pac with a guitar to end this match via DQ. Triple H and Chyna run out and send Jeff packing too. Triple H is having a rough night tonight. As DX help X-Pac to the back, Edge attacks Gangrel in the ring with a top rope clothesline and a flurry of punches while JR talks about these men’s presumed “past together”