Raw is War - October 23rd, 2000

Kurt’s first title defence

Rikishi opens the show in the arena. He gloats about having ruined Stone Cold’s big comeback and that Austin isn’t here tonight because he’s in a jail cell for trying to run him over. He says the real crime last night was The Rock losing the WWF Championship and talks about them as a “we” as he still believes in his heart that he did what he did to help The Rock’s career and The Rock thanks him for it. He asks The Rock to come out, and he does. The Rock looks weird without the WWF title. Rikishi issues an apology from the bottom of his heart for accidentally costing him the WWF title last night. The Rock says that from the bottom of HIS heart he doesn’t want Rikishi’s apology and wants nothing to do with him. Rikishi seems to think The Rock is upset with him for costing him the WWF title so The Rock cuts him off - this is nothing to do with the WWF title, this is about The Rock not wanting or needing Rikishi’s help and wanting nothing to do with him as a human being. Rikishi says that The Rock is starting to hurt his feelings. The Rock tells him he can wipe his 400lbs ass with his feelings (a good line). Rikishi taunts The Rock and threatens to “tell the world something”. The Rock tells Rikishi to do what he’s gotta do, and then plants him with a Rock Bottom in the middle of the ring.

Michael Cole interviews Rikishi and asks why he’s even still here as the fans don’t want him here, management doesn’t want him here and none of the superstars want him here. Good point. Rikishi says this is a family matter between him and The Rock.

Jonathan Coachman interviews Triple H who responds to Benoit’s comments earlier (see other happenings). He gives him credit as the best technical wrestler he’s ever faced but he still won. The Game is not over, and he’ll tell Benoit when it’s his turn. He’s then asked about Kurt Angle and Stephanie’s friendship. He says that Kurt put his wife in harm’s way last night and she got attacked by The Rock so he’s going to make them both pay for it.

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and the new WWF Champion Kurt Angle arrive together in a limo and push past paparazzi before heading into the arena. Stephanie gives Kurt a grand introduction and he comes out with pyro and confetti falling. All joking aside, Kurt Angle has capped the best rookie year in WWF history having won every singles title and the king of the ring in 11 months.

Beyond that, he has excelled as a promo, a character and an in ring performer. Kurt Angle was showing signs of being the greatest of all time even in his first year. Kurt cuts an amazing promo, taking us on a narrated journey though his career so far with inspirational music playing. Tourism in Europe grew 38% when he won the European title. He was the first Euro-Continental champion (apart from D’Lo Brown, who doesn’t count). Sales of crowns and sceptres grew by 40% when he won the King of the Ring! Kurt is wonderful. He then starts to read a poem he wrote himself until finally he’s interrupted by Commissioner Mick Foley. He gives Kurt a victory hug and pretends to cry before announcing that Kurt’s first title defence will be tonight against both Stephanie’s husband Triple H and the former champion The Rock. Kurt and Steph are both obviously very upset. 

Backstage Stephanie makes it clear to her husband that she’d ditch Kurt and be back by his side if he wanted it but Triple H continues to say that it’s too dangerous for her to be at ringside during his matches.

Backstage, Rikishi confronts Michael Cole and tells him to go and let The Rock know that he’s still here and that he plans on helping him regain his WWF title in the main event. 

In the main event, Triple H and The Rock challenge Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship. Kurt’s first defence, Triple H’s wife is in Kurt’s corner, Rikishi is still backstage and plans to help The Rock and all night long JR and King have been discussing Stone Cold Steve Austin’s attempts to get himself out of jail on bail. JR thinks we might see The Rattlesnake by the end of the show. There’s a LOT of stories leading into this match which was only announced 45 minutes ago! Triple H and The Rock both enter but Kurt’s music plays multiple times with him refusing to come out. Stephanie has told him that he’s the champ so he can make them wait.

Eventually - after an advert break - The champion enters to find Triple H and The Rock face to face in the ring. I’m sure they were just having a little chat and killing time. When Angle finally enters he gets annoyed that his two challengers are focused on each other and ignoring him as champion. They eventually both rock him with a pair of punches and the match begins. Kurt is treated like a bit of a comedy afterthought in this one as The Rock and Triple H take turns beating him up and showing off for each other. Kurt blasts Triple H with the ringbell and then the referee is so busy checking on his well-being on the outside that he misses The Rock’s clear three count on Kurt in the ring. Triple H is actually loaded up onto a stretcher as he hasn’t moved since Kurt hit him in the head. That brings this down to a one on one match and Kurt hits the Olympic Slam but there’s still no referee to count. Earl Hebner continues to prove he’s the absolute worst referee in history as he’s too busy following Triple H’s stretcher and getting involved in that to call the match. It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned him but this isn’t the first time I’ve been annoyed at him, I just stopped bringing it up. Triple H rolls off the stretcher and runs back to the ring with a head of steam and hits Angle with a Pedigree but The Rock stops that three count. The Rock hits Kurt a Rock Bottom but Triple H breaks up that three count! With Triple H and The Rock fighting, Angle grabs his title belt and lays them both out. Rikishi runs to the ring to try and help The Rock and fights off Kurt Angle which ends the match in a no-contest. With Rikishi in the ring and the fans chanting for him, Austin’s music hits and Stone Cold sprints to the ring - knocking down Angle as he does - and starts stomping a mudhole in Rikishi.

Angle takes offence and gets into the ring to attack Austin which allows Rikishi to escape, but the new WWF Champion gets a Stone Cold Stunner for his troubles! Raw ends in chaos with Stone Cold as the only man standing in the ring. 

New (old) Tag Team Champions

Michael Cole interviews the new WWF Tag Team Champions Los Conquistadors, as well as their challengers tonight Edge and Christian. Edge makes the point that this proves they are not the same people and even high five before chasing Cole and the camera man out of their locker room. 

As Edge and Chistian debate which of their many pairs of sunglasses they should wear for their match tonight, Edge is called to a meeting by Mick Foley. When he returns, Christian claims to have been put through a table by The Dudleyz. Edge says he’ll still challenge Los Conquistadors solo tonight for the Tag Team titles.

Edge enters solo for his Tag Team Championship match. He talks up Los Conquistadors and promises to win the tag titles for he and Christian.

Los Conquistadors enter and look totally different sizes and shapes to last night when they won the tag team titles. JR expresses disbelief as he - like all of us - assumed the men in gold were actually just Edge and Christian. Edge looks a little confused by their appearance. Edge loses his temper when one of the men in gold dares to try and win the match with a small package, and again when one of them kicks out of his cover. Los Conquistadors light Edge up with The Hardyz trademark offence, hitting him with a Twist of Fate and Swanton bomb to retain the WWF Tag Team titles! Everyone is very confused and as Uno and Dos leave they’re stopped by Commissioner Foley, while Christian limps to the ring to find out what happened. Uno and Dos unmask to reveal Matt and Jeff Hardy and Mick explains the whole conspiracy theory. The cameraman from earlier left his camera rolling which taped Edge and Christian’s whole private chat with Los Conquistadors. Edge and Christian were under the masks last night and won the Tag Team titles, and they had two paid extras ready to drop the titles back to them here tonight. Matt and Jeff took their place and beat Edge and Christian tonight. So Mick is officially recognising that Edge and Christian (as Los Conquistadors) won the Tag Team titles last night at No Mercy, but he’s also recognising that Matt and Jeff (as Los Conquistadors) won the titles BACK here tonight. That makes Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz three time tag team champions each, with two title changes in 24 hours. A confusing end to a fun storyline which honestly could have lasted for a few weeks longer than it did. 

The Right to Censor gains a member

Commissioner Foley discusses tonight’s WWF women’s championship match between Lita and Trish Stratus. Trish has challenged Lita to a “bra and panties” match and is shocked that Lita agreed. As a teenage boy these types of matches were exciting of course but in 2024 looking back it’s all a bit uncomfortable knowing these women were probably strongly against the idea and just doing as management told them. Lita is so popular and has racked up a bunch of successful defences - she’s on the cusp of actually being taken seriously so this feels like a massive step backwards. T&A and The Hardyz are all banned from ringside.

Trish is actually at a massive disadvantage as Lita is in pants with a belt and Trish is wearing shorts that already look like a pair of panties. Credit to the women who fight with intensity and try to make this a real feud as the fans chant “we want puppies”. Jerry Lawler’s commentary is insufferable as you’d expect. Trish does at least get a chance to show off her wrestling training with a snap suplex, it’s just a shame they’re both in their bras. Lita finishes Trish with her moonsault and pulls her shorts off to win the “match” and retain her women’s title. Before Trish can leave (wrapped up in her long black coat) the Right to Censor come out and lecture the women for demeaning themselves (I doubt it was their choice) and that the fans should be ashamed for cheering for it. Steven says that Trish and Lita don’t belong in the WWF before introducing the newest member of the Right to Censor - Ivory. This is actually a pretty good fit as Ivory spent most of 1999 lecturing about how the women in the WWF were demeaning themselves and should be taken more seriously. Trish and Lita pull faces as Ivory speaks. I mean as a feminist, women should be allowed to show as much or as little as they want. It is entirely their choice. In this environment however, it’s more likely that Vince McMahon and WWF management were pressuring these women to strip off which in my mind makes Ivory right. 

Mr. Ass is accompanied to the ring by Chyna for his match with The Right to Censor’s Val Venis (with Steven Richards). Before the match begins, Chyna’s former finance Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero comes out to watch which allows Val to get the jump on Billy Gunn. Despite attempted interference by Richards, Mr. Ass wins with a Fameasser.

Other Happenings

• Raw opened with a tribute to Yokozuna, who passed away on the day of this show at the age of 34.

• Chris Benoit comes down to the ring and says that there are lots of ways to achieve success in the WWF. Talent is worthless. Determination is meaningless. Being the best technical wrestler in the world doesn’t mean a damn thing. Success in the WWF is not gauged by your wrestling ability - Triple H proved it last night by cheating to win. Triple H didn’t prove him wrong, he just pissed him off. He’s going to make an example tonight of his friend Roaddogg and that starting tonight things will be different. Roaddogg rushes the ring and the two go at it fast and furious. Dean Malenko runs down to the ring and distracts Roaddogg allowing Benoit to lock in the Crippler Crossface and win the match via submission. Dean and Chris hug after the match and it seems that these two former Radicals have reformed their partnership. Lillian Garcia incorrectly announced the winner of this match as Chris Jericho.

• Crash Holly has taken over the APA offices. T&A injured The Acolytes last night at No Mercy and it seems like he’s been left in charge to run the business. Test and Albert enter and kick him off and take over the office themselves. Later they discuss what they should call their own protection agency with Trish. 
• Backstage Chris Jericho is telling some random extra about Fozzy’s new album and as he turns around holding a coffee he bumps into Kane and spills it all over him. Kane loses his temper but rather than attack Jericho he flips over the table covered in coffee and snacks.

• William Regal - the European Champion - lectures the audience about the high handgun production in Connecticut and how many deaths that leads to. The man is right, but the Americans cheer for the guns because of course they do. His opponent and challenger is Chris Jericho. Y2J starts making fun of Regal but then decides he isn’t worth it and rushes the ring to start the match. The action is good but this is too short to be a good match before Kane marches down to the ring and spikes Jericho with a brutal looking one-armed chokeslam. Kane was very upset by the coffee spill and crack about being burned it seems. 

• Backstage, Chyna goes to see Victoria and Mandy - the former hoes who Eddie cheated on her with - and is implied to have given them both a beating. I believe this is the last time we ever see Mandy on WWF TV, and the last time we see Victoria until she shows back up in 2002 as a proper wrestler. Victoria did go on to be respected as one of the best women’s wrestlers of her generation. 
• Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty take on Tazz and Raven. I mostly feel sorry for Raven as he’s been equal parts Tazz’s lackey and jobber. The ECW alumni win when Raven blocks a Worm on Tazz with a DDT. 
• Developments at WWF New York as Tiger Ali Singh (remember him?) had dinner with Lo Down’s Chaz and D’Lo Brown. He’s flashing the cash and setting himself up as their manager.

Smackdown! - October 26th, 2000

Rikishi loses some old friends and gains a new mysterious one

Stone Cold Steve Austin opens the show in the arena. He has the same pissed off look on his face he’s had since the moment he returned at Unforgiven. Austin says that he wants to clear up some confusion with the authorities. At No Mercy after a spirited competition, he offered Rikishi a ride in his truck. Rikishi sadly fell over in the parking lot and couldn’t get back up and he says he was not trying to run over Rikishi. He’d never do that to anyone. Stone Cold is not the kind of man who’d bear a grudge. He simply stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake and it was purely accidental. It is a comically made up story, but that’s the point. He says that the charges they’ve pressed are basically for littering because of the 400lbs piece of trash he dropped on the ground. He thanks the police for their understanding, and Commissioner Foley for his help. He has promised not to lay a hand on Rikishi unless he’s provoked, and that he’ll only keep that promise if Mick gives him a steel cage match with Rikishi on Raw. Michael Cole calls this a “strange interview” having apparently missed all of the sarcasm in his voice during the story.

Rikishi is shown watching backstage and laughing about how he’s going to provoke Austin. After the commercial break, Too Cool tries to talk some sense into their former and apparently still their buddy. Rikishi gets angry at them for thinking he’s scared or worried. He takes all the credit for their success as a team and tells them to stay out of his business. Later on as the three of them argue and are held apart by officials, Mick Foley enters and books Too Cool against Rikishi in a handicap match tonight. 

In an interview by Johnathan Coachman, Rikishi promises to end Too Cool tonight and that he’ll leave Stone Cold “bloodied and buried”. 

In the main event, Too Cool faced their former best friend Rikishi. It seems like they wanted to stay friends despite all Rikishi has done but the friendship has broken down here. Grandmaster and Scotty overwhelm Rikishi two on one and get a near fall but Rikishi shrugs it off and after pinning Scotty with a Banzai drop, he gives Grandmaster Sexay one too. Rikishi grabs the mic and dares Stone Cold to come down and be a man. Austin in his locker room goes to do exactly that but when he opens his locker room door an unseen assailant cracks him in the head. Austin comes up bleeding and tries to crawl out to the arena to confront Rikishi anyway.

This is the second sign that Rikishi has an accomplice in as many weeks and after his threat to “tell the truth” about The Rock on Raw, they’re hinting one way pretty strongly. Austin makes his way out but groggy and bleeding, Rikishi meets him at the top of the ramp and gives the Rattlesnake the beating he promised. Stone Cold fights back as best he can but a superkick and a Banzai drop leaves Austin laying to close Smackdown. 

Kurt Angle makes another title defence

Kurt Angle enters with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley to defend his WWF Championship against a mystery opponent. A match setup by Commissioner Foley. Kurt protests about the unfairness of this before the match, before bringing out his opponent - the Brooklyn Brawler. Mick Foley comes out instead and after soaking up a loud “Foley” chant from his hometown crowd he brings out Kurt’s actual opponent and challenger Chris Jericho. Jericho might have the WWF title won as he locks Angle in the Walls of Jericho but Kane - who is apparently still upset at Jericho accidentally spilling coffee on him on Raw - runs to the ring and gives Jericho a flying clothesline and a chokeslam to give him the disqualification victory, but no title.

RtC cross paths with The Rock

The Right to Censor heads down to the ring along with newest member Ivory. Michael Cole calls her a hypocrite for having this new stance while also being featured in a bikini in the latest “Divas Postcard” video or whatever it was called. Steven gives us another lecture about how the WWF has force fed us all a diet of immorality and violence. Ivory hits a little close to the bone addressing the WWF and certain men’s actions in perpetuating sexualising women. She calls out The Rock in particular for his comments about “pie” and that brings him out onto the stage to respond.

He gives the standard “what gives you the right..” speech channelling Vince McMahon’s real life opinions towards the Parents Television Council. Ivory says that women don’t only exist for his and men’s titillation (she is right, I might be team Ivory) and that brings out Chyna. Chyna says that she and the other women present don’t appreciate her talking down to them and telling them how they should act. Ivory continues to hit quite near the bone saying that Chyna has been exploited the most. Posing nude in Playboy doesn’t make her beautiful, it makes her cheap. Mr. Ass then comes out eating pie. Subtle. You’d swear Vince Russo wrote this. Steven challenges them to a match later tonight so he can show them what they think of their humour. The Rock accepts on his, Billy and Chyna’s behalf. 

The Rock teams with Chyna and Mr. Ass to face the Right to Censor team of Steven Richards, The Goodfather, Bull Buchanan and Val Venis. A short energetic match that The Rock wins for his team by making Bull Buchanan submit to a sharpshooter which I think was the first time he ever won a match with it after adopting it into his moveset in July.

Other Happenings

• The Hardy Boys (along with Women’s Champion Lita) defend their Tag Team titles against The Dudley Boyz. This is a fun match and the finish comes when Edge and Christian run down and hit both teams with steel chairs causing a double disqualification. Man as great as these three teams are and as fondly as this era of Tag Team wrestling is remembered it really just was these same three teams endlessly feuding for an entire year.

• Backstage after Lillian Garcia interviews Kurt Angle and he says how unfair it is that he has to defend his WWF title again tonight. She’s then interrupted by Chris Benoit and his old/new friend Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko who calls her out for mistakenly calling him Chris Jericho on Raw. He wants her to announce his match tonight and call it right this time.
• Chris Benoit teams with Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko against Roaddogg and Triple H. Michael Cole brings up Benoit and Malenko’s history as The Radicals who came to the WWF together back in January. Roaddogg and Triple H’s history as members of DX is also referenced but they aren’t officially reforming. The Radicals isolate and work over Triple H and Roaddogg. Roaddogg might have victory over Dean in hand while Triple H and Benoit fight on the outside until another former Radical in Perry Saturn slips down to the ring and gets in a cheap shot allowing Malenko to make Roaddogg tap out to the Texas Cloverleaf. Triple H clears the ring out but the story here is that Benoit and Malenko won, and it seems Perry Saturn has joined in the Radical reunion. 
• Test, Albert and Trish Stratus who have now set up the APA’s office as the T&APA. They’ve stolen the injured Acolytes’ business. Crash Holly was asked by “Mr. Bradshaw” to keep an eye on the operations and challenges T&A to a match later.
• Albert (with Trish Stratus) faces Crash Holly in a hardcore rules match. Crash is fired up wanting to defend his friends the Acolytes’ business. As Albert dominates Crash, the Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman is shown watching from backstage. A fun spirited match with Albert wins with an impressive delayed double underhook suplex. 
• Tazz joins commentary to watch his buddy Raven face Al Snow. Tazz spends the whole match antagonising Jerry Lawler and then after Raven beats Snow with a DDT, he joins him in the ring. Tazz and Raven beat up Snow until King hops off commentary and rescues Al Snow. 

Raw is War - October 30th, 2000

A Steel Cage, a Number One contender and a Pointed Finger

WWF Champion Kurt Angle arrives in a long limo alongside his buddies Edge and Christian. They have the night off for Edge’s birthday, and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley is the guest of honour for arranging that all for them. She’s too choked up with a head cold to join in the celebrations.

Triple H arrives and checks in on Kurt Angle’s party with Edge and Christian. His wife Stephanie is very ill and goes to presumably be sick as Edge and Christian play party games. There’s a couple of skits like this where Angle is concerned about the health of his business partner and Triple H is worried about the health of his wife. Triple H kicks Edge and Christian out for playing theme songs on a kazoo, which is a pretty famous comedy moment. After several segments like this Triple H and Kurt Angle finally manage to convince Steph to go back to her hotel and relax. The moment she’s in the car and gone Triple H gets in Angle’s face and says he hopes Kurt has his gear because he’s in for a long night. 

Chris Jericho is scheduled to face The Rock tonight for the number one contendership, and goes to Commissioner Foley to make sure that Kane isn’t here tonight. He gives his word. As Y2J leaves, Triple H goes to see the commissioner and says that while Mick has promised Kurt there wouldn’t be a WWF title match tonight he could still wrestle - he wants a non-title match with Angle tonight. Mick and Triple H continue to bond over making fun of Kurt and high five. 

Rikishi - debuting some lovely new white entrance robes - calls over backstage agent Tony Garea and tells him to go and find The Rock and if The Rock won’t come to see him he’ll go to find The Rock. The Rock ignored his request so Rikishi went to see him instead. The Rock tells Rikishi he wants nothing to do with him, but does at least tell him he “has his back” whatever that means. Rikishi smiles and seems to think it means they’re friends.

Michael Cole interviews Stone Cold Steve Austin ahead of his steel cage match with Rikishi tonight, and asks him about the mystery figure who assaulted him. All we know is that someone in a black glove hit Stone Cold with a wrench and busted him wide open. Presumably the same person who acted as getaway driver for him before No Mercy. Austin is pissed off about it (standard) but also doesn’t know who the accomplice was. He invites whoever it was to come to ringside and watch him beat Rikishi’s ass in a cage tonight. He promises to make Rikishi bleed worse than he did on Smackdown, and to drop him with a Stunner in the middle of the cage.

Rikishi enters first for the cage match and when Austin comes down he drops his waist coat and Rikishi goes to meet him and the fight starts on the outside! Austin is in his normal ring gear for the first time since returning which is very exciting, but with the notable difference that he’s now wearing two knee braces and not just one. They fight to the inside of the cage and the match begins. Earl Hebner’s worst referee in history streak continues as he gets inside the cage and keeps getting in the way, leaving the cage door sitting wide open. Austin stomps down Rikishi who leaves the cage via the door and that’s how we learn this match can only end via pin fall. Austin follows and slams the cage door into Rikishi’s head and that busts him open. Rikishi gets a lot more offence in here than he did at No Mercy and controls a big chunk of the match. Austin fulfils his promise, bouncing Rikishi from one side of the cage to the other before dropping him with a Stone Cold Stunner to win the match. Austin leaves him bloodied in the ring and flat on his back, calling for some beers. For tonight, Stone Cold seems happy to have beaten up and pinned Rikishi. 

Kurt Angle - who isn’t even dressed to compete and is still in his white tracksuit from earlier - faces Triple H in a non-title match. It’s a pretty one sided beating by Triple H and given all we’ve learned since about the power structure backstage and who was calling the shots it seems incredibly likely this was booked to undermine Angle. He’s the champion but Triple H wanted to demonstrate to everyone that he’s much better than Kurt and can easily beat him up. He absolutely dominates the WWF Champion and Pedigrees him through the announce table.

Triple H gets himself disqualified, not even trying to pin Kurt and just keeping the beating going and shoving down the referee. Triple H grabs a steel chair and when the referee stops him from using it he gives him a Pedigree too! He clobbers Angle with a stiff chairshot to the head, and then gives one to Edge when he runs in followed by a Pedigree to Christian. Triple H has absolutely destroyed the WWF Champion, Edge and Christian and all with ease. This is very early in his title reign for people to be making Kurt look like a joke but here we are. 

Michael Cole interviews The Rock and Chris Jericho together. They face each other in tonight’s main event where the winner gets a WWF title match on Smackdown this week. As each of them tries to dive into their classic promos the other grabs the mic and cuts them off. They duel back and forth.

It’s pretty great and that match is next. 

The main event is a chaotic brawl as Jericho technically works as the heel. They fight all around the ringside area and spend very little time in the ring. When they are in the ring, The Rock accidentally knocks down the referee so Jericho uses a low blow and a steel chair shot to the head to get full control of this match. The Rock ducks the chairshot and follows up with a spinebuster onto it with no referee to count. Jericho catches The Rock in the Walls of Jericho just as the referee wakes up but The Rock crawls to the ropes. Jericho argues with the referee and The Rock catches him in a sharpshooter but this time Jericho crawls to the ropes to break the hold. With both men down, Rikishi comes wandering to ringside and punches out the referee himself. Jericho hits a Lionsault in the ring but there’s no referee to count. A second referee does get there but it’s too late and The Rock kicks out. The Rock retaliates with a Rock Bottom and covers to win the match and will get a WWF title match on Smackdown. Rikishi then attacks The Rock, punching him back to the corner and stomping him down. Rikishi throws Jericho out of the ring and finishes with a Banzai drop on The Rock. Rikishi then grabs the mic and says that he lied - The Rock knew all along what he did to Stone Cold. He says he gave Rikishi his keys and begged him to run over Austin and drops the mic telling The Rock to explain himself. 

The return of the American Badass

European Champion William Regal heads down to the ring in a lovely three-piece suit and cuts a promo about the Boston Tea Party, saying that the people of Boston’s descendants should have lodged a formal complaint with Parliament and so he will now read from his list of 127 ways that the people of Boston can improve their lives. Number one is to use a napkin. Number two is a crack about the Boston Red Sox. Number three is cut off by the return of The Undertaker who is appearing for the first time since the night after Unforgiven. He was in a brief backstage segment with Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Undertaker doesn’t say a word and, with some effort, muscles Regal up onto his shoulders for a Last Ride Powerbomb. 

Steven Richards’ busy night

Raw opens with the 9th Wonder of the World Chyna. That’s been her nickname since her debut but it occurs to me that I’ve almost never used it in these articles. She introduces footage from Sunday Night Heat last night where Eddie called out Chyna, brought out The Kat dressed as Chyna and laid a big kiss on her which she seemed to like. It would appear Kat is now a heel? Chyna says she’s over Eddie and has been since the moment she found out who he really is. She accepts Eddie’s challenge and wants an Intercontinental title match with him tonight. He broke her heart and her trust so she’s going to break him. Eddie accepts and brings a bunch of roses and The Kat dressed up as Chyna with him. She’s named “Chynette” on the nameplate. Chyna dominates Eddie and has the title won until Chynette gets in the ring. She’s slammed into Eddie and while the referee is distracted getting her out of the ring, Steven Richards sneaks into the ring and drops Chyna with a superkick allowing Eddie Guerrero to retain his IC title. Mr. Ass debuts a new short haircut when he comes down to check on Chyna and that’s not the last time we see him tonight.

Bull Buchanan, The Goodfather and Ivory face The Hardy Boyz and Lita in a six person tag team match. Ivory’s lecture this week is about the responsibility of WWF superstars to be role models. The match breaks down and for the second time tonight a superkick from Steven Richards behind the referee’s back makes the difference as he puts down Jeff Hardy and allows Ivory of all people to pin him and win the match. 

Steven Richards, who was all over the first couple of matches tonight, has challenged Mr. Ass to a match tonight. He wants to personally censor Billy Gunn’s nickname and suggests that if Richards wins, he can never use the “Mr. Ass” nickname again. Mr. Ass does accept but only if Richards agrees that if he loses he has to kiss Billy’s ass. The referee gets knocked down on the outside while trying to control Chyna’s fight with Val Venis and with no referee, Eddie Guerrero slips down to the ring and hits Mr. Ass with the IC title belt allowing Steven Richards to get the three count. So now he’s just Billy Gunn and has to go through all the expense of changing his ring gear and theme song. The Right to Censor has had a good night and finally actually Censored someone.

Other Happenings

• Al Snow joins commentary and presents King with a large platter of candy. He is courting him to be his tag team partner later against Raven and Tazz. Later in the show he’d come back out with a pitcher of lemonade and a stack of Playboys.
• Crash Holly faces the other half of T&A in another hardcore match as they continue to make themselves at home in the APA offices and Crash tries to stop them. Much like on Smackdown during the Albert match, Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman is shown watching from backstage. He just oversees all things Hardcore I guess. 

• At WWF New York earlier today, X-Pac was having dinner and was approached by his former girlfriend Tori. She reveals that they haven’t seen each other since The Dudleyz injured her at the King of the Ring and she slaps X-Pac right in the face! 
• Commissioner Mick Foley heads down to the ring and talks about how much he loves being Commissioner and how he makes matches to make people happy. He says that making the decisions are harder than he thought and after teasing that he’s stepping down and won’t be commissioner anymore he reveals he’s hired a Lieutenant Commissioner - Debra! The reality of this decision is that she’s the wife of Stone Cold Steve Austin and he wanted them to find something for her to do. In truth Debra didn’t have a lot to offer as a manager or on screen performer. 

Smackdown! - November 2nd, 2000

Is The Rock the Mastermind?

Smackdown opens with The Rock who has some explaining to do. Rikishi ended Raw by pointing the finger at him, claiming Rocky “begged him” to run over Stone Cold Steve Austin. Rock says that while he and Steve have never been friends (lies, they were very close in real life by this point) he considers Austin to be a sharp guy who can see through Rikishi’s lies. He might be wrong because he’s been trying to call and message and contact Stone Cold all week with no response and so he orders Stone Cold come down to the ring right now, which he does after a delay. Austin must not be that certain either way as he walks past The Rock to do his usual corner salutes to the live crowd. The Rock looks Steve in the eyes and tells him that he had nothing to with his being run over. He doesn’t know why Rikishi claimed that he did but he stands by it - The Rock had nothing to do with it, and had no knowledge of it. Stone Cold makes it clear that he didn’t come out because Rock told him too, and reiterates his long time “sometimes catchphrase” Don’t Trust Anybody.

He says Rikishi is a liar, but The Rock might be a bigger liar. Maybe it was him who dressed up in black and hit him with a wrench last week. The only person Austin trusts is the man he sees in the mirror. The staredown gets tense and that’s when Rikishi comes out. Rikishi points out that while he and Stone Cold have never been friends they were never enemies either. He had no reason to run him over until last November when The Rock called him and begged him to take out his biggest rival. The Rock wanted Austin gone to help his career and merch sales. He says that The Rock did hit Stone Cold with the wrench last week and that he is now distancing himself because he’s jealous of Rikishi too and wants him out of the way too. The Rock fires up to Austin and reminds him of all the horrible things he did to him when they feuded in 1999 but that he did it all face to face. Austin can trust him. The Rock says that he’s going to become WWF Champion tonight (rather out of the blue) as an excuse for Kurt Angle to then come out onto the stage. Kurt says that while The Rock has a title match tonight there are lots of reasons it shouldn’t happen tonight - Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley is still ill and not here tonight, and if what Rikishi says about him is true then he fears for his life. The Rock makes fun of them both and challenges them to a fight but neither of them wants any part of it and leaves together. Stone Cold then drops The Rock with a Stunner to end the segment! 

Backstage as Stone Cold Steve Austin paces on the phone to someone, a huge box falls from the roof and just barely misses him. The heavy speculation is that someone was trying to take out the Rattlesnake. In the next segment Johnathan Coachman goes to find The Rock and ask him about it but Rocky isn’t in his locker room. Mysterious.

Ahead of his main event WWF Championship match with Kurt Angle, Kevin Kelly asks The Rock his whereabouts earlier and directly if he had anything to do with what was seemingly an attack on Stone Cold. The Rock refuses to answer the question. The Rock gets a bit of a mixed reaction when he comes out as some of the fans clearly do think he’s now involved. Angle doesn’t even get his gold medals off as The Rock goes on the attack but the champion regains control with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Commentary discuss The Rock’s plight all through this match continually pointing out how much his career skyrocketed without Stone Cold around. Kurt hits another big suplex and tries to just take a walk with the title belt wanting to get counted out. The Rock stops him counting and runs after Angle fighting him at the top of the ramp and bringing him back down to the ring. The Rock has the match won with a Rock Bottom on Angle but Rikishi is there to break up the cover and cause a disqualification. As Kurt and Rikishi continue the beating two on one, Stone Cold runs to the ring and clears them both out - only to turn around right into a Rock Bottom! Smackdown ends with The Rock standing tall over Stone Cold. Was that just payback for the Stunner at the start of the show, or confirmation that he is indeed the man behind the hit and run and the attempted attack earlier? 

A Radical Reunion

Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero (who’s ditched “Chynette” thankfully) teams with the Right to Censor’s Val Venis (commentary is keen to make it clear that Eddie isn’t aligned with the RtC and this is just circumstances) to face Billy Gunn and Chyna. Billy comes out to his classic “Mr. Ass” theme song until Val cuts it off and reminds us all that he lost the rights to call himself Mr. Ass on Raw. King and Cole discuss what to call him instead and settle on Billy G. That doesn’t catch on, but they’re clearly experimenting a bit to find him a new gimmick name. Chyna and Billy win when Chyna pins Eddie after a Pedigree.

Triple H faces Chris Benoit. It’s a much shorter match than their one at No Mercy as the referee goes down and Triple H sets up a Pedigree. Dean Malenko runs down and is sent packing followed by Perry Saturn. Triple H hits the Pedigree on Benoit and has victory in hand until Eddie Guerrero completes the Radicals reunion and hits The Game with his Intercontinental title belt, giving victory to Benoit. Triple H grabs a steel chair and chases the reformed Radicals away. You know, between this group reforming and feuding with Triple H, and Billy G and Chyna feuding with Eddie, and Roaddogg still being friends with Triple H it really seems like they’re working towards The Radicals vs. a re-formed babyface D-Generation X at Survivor Series. That’s not where it ends up going but it certainly looks like a clear path. 

Ups and Downs for the Right to Censor

Steven Richards comes out to lecture the fans in Washington DC about politics and giving their votes to the Right to Censor. The Undertaker comes out and plants Richards with a Last Ride Powerbomb, and then runs the rest of the RtC off the entrance ramp on his motorbike as he leaves. 

WWF Women’s Champion Lita goes to see the Lieutenant Commissioner Debra who is in charge solo tonight. Ivory interrupts and asks for a Women’s title match tonight, and then gives her a lecture about her puppies and cleavage. Trish Stratus then shows up to complain about Blackman interfering in T&A’s match. Jackie then arrives and says that if Ivory is getting a title match she wants one too. Debra agrees and books a fatal four way match tonight for the WWF Women’s Championship. She makes it fair by saying none of these women’s friends/allies can get involved. 

Edge and Christian go and see Debra and ask if she’ll overrule Mick’s decision that they aren’t allowed a Tag Team title match while The Hardyz are champion. She obviously refuses.

Lita defends the women’s title against Ivory, Jacqueline and Trish Stratus. Debra has said that the Right to Censor, The Hardyz and T&A specifically are all banned from getting involved. The women work hard and actually have a fun match with there being enough of them to swap in and out and hit spots. The fans loudly chant “we want puppies” proving Ivory’s point. Lita removes her top a la The Hardyz and hits a moonsault on Ivory but with the referee distracted trying to control Jackie and Trish on the outside Edge and Christian slip down and lay out Lita with a double team slam allowing Ivory to crawl into a cover and win the WWF Women’s title for the Right to Censor who come to ring side to celebrate with her.

Other Happenings

• Crash Holly, after failing to beat them both in singles hardcore matches, has challenged both Test and Albert to a handicap hardcore match! He has more guts than brains and is determined to defend the APA in Bradshaw and Faarooq's absence but isn’t doing a very good job so far. Must like the previous two matches Steve Blackman is shown watching on from backstage as I guess the keeper of all things hardcore. The match goes backstage and just as Test and Albert are about to throw Crash from a height, Steve Blackman arrives with a pair of stiff kendo stick shots and drags Crash onto Test to pick up the three count and the victory. 

• Just like on Raw, Al Snow brings stuff to try and bribe Jerry Lawler into being his partner in a match against Tazz and Raven. 
• Rikishi faces Chris Jericho. Rikishi gets to show off his new, serious main event heel side but it’s undone by him still wearing this comedy sumo ring gear. He has at least pulled the trunks down a little so he has less of a wedgie. Jericho puts up a good fight and after drop kicking Rikishi to the outside Kane’s music hits! Jericho sees him coming and grabs a steel chair, cracking Kane in the head as he gets in the ring but Kane no-sells it and spikes Jericho with another chokeslam as Michael Cole loudly speculates about why Kane continues to bully a man half his size. Is this all about that spilled coffee last week? Kane leaves and with Jericho still down Rikishi drags him to the corner and gives him a Banzai drop for good measure. When Kane gets backstage, Kevin Kelly asks Kane if this is all about coffee? “You think this is all about coffee?” Kane rhetorically asks but Kevin runs off before Kane can elaborate further.

• Al Snow faces Tazz and Raven and Snow is still trying to encourage King to be his partner. This is a singles match with Tazz, so Raven joins commentary. King hates Tazz and Raven but seems reluctant to be Al Snow’s friend. Raven tries to interfere, King stops him, Snow wins with a roll up on Tazz and then as he and Raven try to beat down Snow King rushes the ring and uses a toilet seat as a weapon to clear them out. The toilet seat was a gift from Snow (it’s for the throne y’see). 

Raw is War - November 6th, 2000

Triple H says Goodbye to DX and Hello to Stone Cold

Raw opens with the surprising arrival of Vince McMahon. His first appearance (outside of in the parking lot before Summerslam) since the night after the King of the Ring. This Raw was the day before election day in the United States and after several months of mentioning their Smackdown your Vote campaign on every show, that’s why Vince is here. He spends over 10 minutes giving a passionate plea to the fans to exercise their right to vote. He shows his true colours a little as he talks about what liars politicians are and that he seems to not really like either candidate. (George W. Bush and Al Gore, I’d bet you all a year’s salary right now that he voted for Bush, as did half the roster from this era. All life long Republicans). The subject came up a lot during the show especially with JR and King where they both make it abundantly clear that they’re voting for George W. Bush and actually compared Gore and the Democrats to the Right to Censor more than once. When he’s done making his quite serious point finally Stone Cold Steve Austin arrives. He is scheduled to team up with The Rock tonight to face Rikishi and Kurt Angle in the main event. Stone Cold isn’t interested in talking politics and is only interested in beating somebody’s ass tonight. He asks if maybe Vince McMahon was the mastermind behind his being run over? An evil bastard who loves to manipulate people. Vince looks increasingly shocked and pulls lots of his famous silly expressions while Steve talks. Just as it seems like it’s about to turn violent the WWF Champion Kurt Angle and his business advisor Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley come out to Vince’s defence. Kurt calls him bucko and says gosh darn it and it’s all very funny. Kurt can barely get his promo out as Austin’s fellow Texans shower him in “asshole” chants. Stone Cold steps towards Angle but Stephanie gets in his face and in her shrill voice says that he wouldn’t dare lay a finger on her father or her business partner. He tells her that even as a woman, for her safety she needs to take a step back. No one tells Stone Cold what to do.

Angle tries to jump Austin from behind and gets a Stunner for his trouble as both McMahons make a run for it. The main point here is that whether The Rock is really the man responsible or not, he is very much on the hunt for whoever Rikishi’s accomplice was. Who was the real brains behind the operation as Rikishi has pointed out himself - he really didn’t have much of a motive to do it off his own back without someone asking him to. After the commercial break, Vince McMahon gets back in his limo and leaves but before he does he insists on his daughter coming with him because he feels like something momentous is about to happen. After they’re gone, Kurt (talking to himself) says something big is going to happen to Triple H tonight. It makes sense he’d want revenge given what The Game did to him last week.

Triple H goes to see Commissioner Foley. After making fun of Kurt Angle a bit, he wants all four Radicals after what they did to him on Smackdown. Mick tells him he can have that match if he can find three partners for an eight man tag. Stone Cold arrives and he and Triple H cross paths with Triple H looking him in the eyes and telling Austin “DTA - Don’t Trust Anybody”. Stone Cold asks Mick why he’s tagging him with The Rock tonight and quite simply Mick is doing it because he doesn’t believe it’s The Rock who was Rikishi’s accomplice and wants them on the same page.

Triple H recruits Roaddogg as his first partner for tonight’s eight man tag, and the two of them head off to ask someone else. It’s unclear who they’re talking about but think whoever it is will say no. It’s Billy Gunn of course. He had his issues with how they kicked him out of DX but they’re united by their common enemy and after an apology he manages to get Billy Gunn and Chyna as their other partners. It’s an unofficial DX reunion tonight, which is the match I thought they were working towards at Survivor Series. Triple H is clear that this is a one time only deal. 

Triple H, Chyna, Billy G and Roaddogg all enter together to the DX theme song. Actually, it's the weird lyric-less version of the Run DMC version they used for one week at the start of the year. It is truly surreal to see Triple H and Chyna together again on TV. The timeline is spotty but it’s unclear whether they were still a couple in real life at this point, or whether he’d made the switch over to Stephanie McMahon and how much crossover there was in those two relationships. Either way, surreal and I believe this is the last time Chyna would come out to the DX music as this would prove to be the groups last hurrah (at least during this era). The Radicals are a united front and look awesome having all gone their separate ways, achieved varying levels of success, and now come back together with the addition of Terri as Perry’s manager.

They are really, really pushing Billy G as the new name of Billy Gunn. JR called him about 86 times during this one match. Triple H wins it for his team with a Pedigree on Dean Malenko. The Radicals attack and want to keep this fight going and Kurt Angle runs down and joins in and with the five on four odds, it’s a sad ending for DX’s final ride as they’re left laying. The way JR talked about the group here it seems pretty clear that this was meant to be a farewell to the DX gimmick and name for the people involved. Fittingly so considering how important to the Attitude era they were. I’ll talk a bit more about that at Survivor Series.

Backstage Kurt Angle continues his various attacks after taking out Triple H earlier as he looks for The Rock and, finding him in his locker room, hits him with the WWF title belt and gets in a lot of kicks and punches until referees manage to drag him from The Rock’s locker room. Later, The Rock goes looking for Kurt Angle but instead runs into Stone Cold. Rocky makes it perfectly clear to Austin that he handles his business face to face and it absolutely was not him helping and working with Rikishi. 

As we prepare for the tag team main event, Rikishi says in an interview that Stone Cold will be going it alone tonight because The Rock was his accomplice. Kurt Angle explains tonight’s mean streak is to show he’s no one’s whipping boy and as The Rock walks to the ring a huge metal structure rolls out of frame and crushes him against the wall seemingly concussing him and stopping him from being unable to compete tonight. Who attacked The Rock? Was it Rikishi? Was it Stone Cold who seems to believe that The Rock might have been in on it? Either way, Stone Cold will now be going it alone against Kurt Angle and Rikishi.

Austin fights both men off single handedly for a while, including after Rikishi retrieves a sledgehammer from under the ring. Just as it seems to be too much for Stone Cold to handle, Triple H arrives and rushes the ring attacking Kurt Angle and throws him out of the ring. Triple H is here to take The Rock’s place and be Austin’s partner. Or is he? Stone Cold turns right into a sledgehammer shot to the head by Triple H! Austin is bleeding badly as Triple H pulls a black glove out of his trunks and puts it on, mounting Stone Cold and hammering him with punches to his bloody head. Rikishi stands watch and Triple H punches Earl Hebner (thank you) who’d weirdly no-sell a straight punch from a main eventer and get back up and needs to be punched again by Rikishi. God I hate Earl Hebner. That man never saw a spotlight he didn’t instantly try to steal. The Game drags Austin to the corner and allows Rikishi to give him a Banzai drop. Triple H - covered in Austin’s blood - grabs a mic and gets in close to Stone Cold’s face. “Your search is over. Now you know, you dumb son of a bitch”. I mean it was pretty obvious that Triple H was behind it from day one - they literally accused him during Survivor Series 1999 moments after the hit and run happened. He was certainly the logical choice and they did what they could have it still be a big surprise. Raw ends with Triple H and Rikishi celebrating together. 

Tag Team Division Happenings

Matt and Jeff Hardy defend the Tag Team titles against Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather of the Right to Censor. Despite Val’s crushing defeat by The Undertaker earlier the RtC are having a good week with Ivory having won the Women’s title on Smackdown and the group having beaten up The Hardyz last night on Sunday Night Heat. Ivory and Lita get ejected from ringside early on for trying to get involved but Steven Richards is still out. Jeff has the match won with a Swanton on Bull but the referee is down. They fight off some attempted interference by Edge and Christian but it’s a Tag Title belt shot to Jeff by Steven Richards that makes the difference and the Right to Censor become the new WWF Tag Team Champions. Edge and Christian are very happy about it as they were banned from challenging while Matt and Jeff had the titles but that’s no longer the case.

Edge and Christian face The Dudley Boyz in a tables match. This match was set up by Commissioner Foley as punishment for their getting involved in the Tag Team title match earlier. Bubba and D-Von waste no time wiping out Edge and Christian with their double teams and going for a table. Edge and Christian mount a comeback but as they prepare to double suplex Bubba through a table, Matt and Jeff Hardy arrive for some payback, moving the table and allowing The Dudleys to 3D Edge through a table and win the match. Jeff tops it off by hitting a Swanton Bomb from the top rope to the outside, driving Christian through a table. 

Other Happenings

• The Undertaker faces Val Venis. The Right to Censor are all banned from ringside and if they interfere they’ll lose their Tag Team title match later tonight. Val puts up a good fight but The Undertaker spikes him with a Last Ride to win the match.

• Michael Cole interviews Kane and asks him why he keeps attacking Chris Jericho and if this is really all about him spilling a little coffee on him. Kane explains that the world rejected him but they all love Chris Jericho. The world won’t accept a freak like him and so he’s going to disfigure the “pretty” Chris Jericho. Kane wants to face Steve Blackman tonight for the Hardore Championship because once he’s Hardcore Champion he can face Jericho in a Hardcore title match and do whatever he wants to him.
• Kane challenges Steve Blackman for the Hardcore Championship. It’s back and forth but Kane is too big and strong and as he prepares to hit Blackman with the ring steps, Chris Jericho runs to the ring and hits them with a steel chair sending them back into Kane and allowing Blackman to retain his title. 

• Too Cool face Test and Albert (with Trish). T&A win thanks to some interference by Trish. As they try to continue the beating Crash Holly, accompanied by a buff pretty blonde in matching ring gear to Crash. She beats up Trish and wipes her out with a springboard crossbody before hugging and posing with Crash Holly. This is the debut of Crash and Hardcore’s cousin Molly Holly. The commentators don’t know who she is (yet). 

• Jerry Lawler takes on Raven. Tazz comes out with Raven and then takes King’s place on commentary for this match. Tazz doesn’t wait long before getting involved and getting Raven disqualified. Al Snow arrives - with Head wearing a crown too - to make the save and it would seem that King might finally be ready to be Al’s partner against these two.

Smackdown! - November 9th, 2000

The Game’s Master Plan

The show opens with a dramatic video package showing how Triple H’s short babyface run came screeching to a halt at the end of Raw. He is the man behind Rikishi’s running over Stone Cold Steve Austin. He is the mastermind, the accomplice, the man pulling the strings etc. Triple H opens the show in the arena and he has changed his theme song. He comes out to a sort of hard-rock instrumental version of My Time and has an all new titantron video to go with it. I always loved My Time as a theme song so I’m sad to see it go but it won’t be long until he debuts his much more famous theme song he’d keep for the next 20+ years. He’s still using it in 2024. Triple H asks the fans if he makes them sick, and says the feeling is mutual. He says that all these weeks where the fans have been cheering him and chanting his name disgusted him. He then introduces Rikishi as a man who “laughed all the way to the bank”. Rikishi then makes the slowest entrance I’ve ever seen so we can all hear his underwhelming theme song in all its glory. Rikishi tells us the whole story at last - The Rock was just his excuse. He doesn’t care about The Rock and he did it for money and for Triple H giving him his big break. Triple H proudly takes credit for what he did and for arranging this with Rikishi and recounts all the things he achieved in Austin’s absence. He then shows footage of the various times an unknown accomplice helped Rikishi over the last month - the distraction driving away on Smackdown before No Mercy was him, the wrench to the head, the crate being dropped on him, someone crushing The Rock on Raw. He says “you never saw it coming” about 12 times too. I pointed this out on Raw too but I think lots of people DID see it coming. But to be fair, they did a good job of convincing us it wasn’t Triple H (mostly by tying him up with his own storylines and making it seem like he was a million miles away from this storyline) before the “oh actually it was” swerve. I’ll talk a lot more about the booking of all of this at Survivor Series.

Triple H’s pride in showing off about what a genius he was to pay a man to run another man over is finally interrupted by Commissioner Mick Foley. Mick is the best, and angrily recounts how he’d bonded with Triple H. He and the fans were even starting to like The Game so when he hit Austin with the sledgehammer on Raw he was slapping them all in the face. Mick then books a pair of main events for Survivor Series - Rikishi vs. The Rock, who’s name he dragged through the mud and Triple H will face Stone Cold Steve Austin. Mick rounds out by saying that the only reason Austin and Rock haven’t stormed the ring already is because he told them earlier they’d get the pair of them in a tag team match tonight. 

Lillian Garcia has been out in the parking lot all night waiting and finally The Rock shows up in a limo. He’s alone and walks into the arena silently not wanting to talk to her. In the next segment Stone Cold arrived separately too. 

Ahead of the main event, The Rock cuts a promo with Kevin Kelly where he hammers home that he and Austin are a united front and that they’re going to kick both Triple H and Rikishi’s asses tonight and again at Survivor Series. Triple H is wearing a face protector and he was actually wearing it on Raw too. It seems he’s broken his nose at some point in the past couple of weeks and is working through it. Triple H and Rikishi enter first and The Rock sprints to the ring, knocking down Triple H and going right at Rikishi. Austin runs down moments later and goes right after Triple H giving him a beating. It lasts only seconds before The Radicals inexplicably run to the ring and attack Rock and Austin.

Benoit and Triple H had been fierce rivals as recently as this past episode of Raw but it seems that he now has all four Radicals on his side. Rikishi and Triple H escape to the top of the ramp as Rock and Austin clear out Saturn, Benoit, Malenko and Guerrero. The Rock wants to give chase and keep the fight going but Austin stops him. It’s a shock seeing Stone Cold be the calm and collected one but he knows he has Triple H at Survivor Series.

The Number One Contender

After a recap of his feud with Kane so far, Chris Jericho enters the arena. He’s involved in a fatal four way number one contenders match later tonight against Kane, The Undertaker and Chris Benoit. Jericho talks about how Kane has targeted him as “one of the pretty people” and makes a joke about how unsettled he is that a huge 7ft tall man finds him pretty. He then shows a bunch of photoshopped images of people who have adopted “The Kane” and slaps a Kane mask on male models and Britney Spears. Not one of his funniest but pours fuel on the fire for his feud with Kane.

Lillian Garcia is in the parking lot waiting for either Stone Cold or The Rock. Kurt Angle arrives in a limo and is outraged that as WWF Champion she wasn’t waiting to speak to him. I don’t love that his gimmick is that no one takes him seriously. 

The Undertaker enters first, followed by Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and finally Kane. The winner of this Fatal Four Way will challenge Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series. This is a good match and gets lots of time as it’s conducted under tag rules. All four men get a chance to shine and as Kane spikes Jericho with a chokeslam, he turns into an even bigger one from his older brother. Undertaker drills a groggy Jericho with a Last Ride to win the match and The Undertaker will now challenge for the WWF title at Survivor Series on the 10th anniversary of his WWF debut. 

WWF Champion Kurt Angle heads down to the ring. Kurt wants an apology - he warned us for months what a crummy guy Triple H was and he was right all along. He does at least agree with Triple H that the people are gullible and offers himself as the person people can cheer for in his place. His speech about what a brave American hero he is is interrupted by the new number one contender, The Undertaker. He asks Kurt if he knows where he’s standing. It’s his yard. And he’s the big dog that runs the yard. It was very cool at the time but it’s all a bit cringe looking back. Undertaker promises Kurt that at Survivor Series he’ll be the first casualty of Deadman Inc. That would turn out to be a new t-shirt slogan but I think it comes across as him starting his own stable? Later as Kurt was leaving the arena he’s stopped by Lieutenant Commissioner Debra who tells him he has a WWF title defence against a mystery opponent on Sunday Night Heat. This was a ploy to improve Heat’s ratings since moving to MTV. Heat was struggling in the ratings mostly thanks to WWF having treated it as an afterthought since a couple of months after its debut. The mystery opponent was Crash Holly. Kurt won, obviously. 

Tag Team Titles

Edge and Christian go to see Mick Foley. They had a deal with the Right to Censor that after they helped them win the tag team titles they’d get the first title shot but Mick has given a title shot to The Dudleyz instead. Mick berates them and tells them that they don’t make the deals and matches around here - he does! He gives them a match with the team they cost the titles instead - The Hardyz.

Edge and Christian face The Hardyz. This is a match I’ve seen about twenty times during this era which isn’t a criticism so much as a statement of how much they’ve dominated the tag team division throughout this era. With a little help from Lita - who Edge and Christian also cost her Women’s title last week - The Hardyz win with a Swanton Bomb on Christian.

The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan defend their newly won WWF Tag Team titles against The Dudley Boyz. They’ve got Steven Richards and the new WWF Women’s Champion Ivory with them too. The Right to Censor are at the peak of their powers with two championships in the fold. Despite plenty of distractions from Steven and Ivory, The Dudleys hit a 3D on Goodfather and have the titles won until the other member of RtC Val Venis runs to the ring and hits Bubba with one of the Tag Title belts to give Bull and Goodfather the victory.

Other Happenings

• Billy Gunn has thankfully abandoned the Billy G name and rebranded as “The One” Billy Gunn complete with a new theme song. I always loved this song. “I’ve got it all”. He has Chyna with him as he challenges Eddie Guerrero for the Intercontinental title - a match that was supposed to happen at No Mercy but Eddie hurt his leg. Eddie has his fellow Radical Perry Saturn (in a Latino Heat t-shirt) and Terri with him for backup. Billy impresses by lifting Eddie into a military press and then holding Latino Heat up with one arm before dropping him. The match ends quickly as Benoit and Malenko rush the ring and attack Billy and Chyna. Malenko locks Gunn in an STF as Benoit locks Chyna in the Crossface allowing Eddie to taunt them right in their faces. The Radical are a dominant, united force.

• Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman and Crash Holly face T&A in a hardcore tag team match. Test and Albert have Trish with them and Crash brings the blonde from Raw. Before the match she gets to introduce herself as Crash’s cousin Molly Holly. She has the same cheerful tough guy act that Crash has. Crash and Blackman work well as a team as Steve shows Crash how to do some of his trademark weapons spots with trash can lids. Trish tries to get involved but Molly hits her with a trash can lid and gives Test a hurricanrana off the top rope so that Crash can crack him with a kendo stick and win the match for his team. 

Raw is War - November 13th, 2000

The Undertaker makes a statement

WWF Champion Kurt Angle opens the show in the arena. The Undertaker earned a title shot at Survivor Series but Kurt says that he challenged Undertaker so that he can prove he’s the better athlete and a true champion. Kurt is actually defending the WWF title here against Crash Holly (with his cousin Molly). Crash got this title shot by coming very close to defeating Kurt on Sunday Night Heat last night, but Crash had to start this match with one arm tied behind his back which was his concession to get another shot. He gets his arm free pretty quickly and the action in this one is really good! Kurt defeats Crash by submission very quickly with his new finishing move - the Ankle lock. He tries to continue the beating with a steel chair until the returning Hardcore Holly runs down to defend his cousin and attack the man who broke his arm. Kurt is rescued by his buddies Edge and Christian and it’s three on one on Hardcore until the number one contender The Undertaker runs down and sends Edge and Christian packing and no-selling Kurt’s straight punch which then has the champion running away too.

After the commercial break Kurt, Edge and Christian go to complain to Commissioner Foley about Hardcore and Undertaker getting involved in their match/business and so Mick books a six man tag for later.

Edge and Christian give Kurt a pep talk ahead of the six man tag and argue over who gets Crash. They try to cheer him up with some kazoo music.

Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle enter together to the WWF Champion’s music. Their opponents are Hardcore Holly, Crash Holly and Molly Holly. They enter together too to the returning Hardcore’s theme song. Finally its The Undertaker and the fight is on. Hardcore focuses on Kurt as he now has a metal plate in his forearm and a scar thanks to the WWF Champion back in June. Taker easily dominates both Edge and Christian when they’re legal and demands Kurt tag in but he refuses, which King puts down to “mind games”. The match breaks down and The Undertaker spikes Kurt with a chokeslam and then a Last Ride, seemingly easily defeating the WWF Champion ahead of their title match at Survivor Series.

A Radical main event

The Radicals arrive together in a long black limo, and then they’re led out into the arena by Chris Benoit. They are a cool looking group with Malenko and Eddie with their respective title belts too. Terri is wearing a lot more clothing than normal which might be because she came straight from outside on this cold November night but I’d like to think it’s her being a little more serious as she’s affiliated with this group now. They have some explaining to do - specifically why they’re back together, why they involved themselves in The Rock and Stone Cold’s business, and why Benoit is now suddenly friends with Triple H after feuding with him relentlessly for about six weeks. Benoit starts with that and explains that after being in the ring with The Game, and seeing how ruthless he is in running over Austin he now respects and admires him. They’ve reformed because they know it takes more than just being good wrestlers to make it in the WWF and so they’re together and they’re now working with Triple H, formally. Eddie talks about having kicked Chyna to the curb because she wasn’t good enough for him. Terri busts out some business speak about how the McMahon-Helmsley family has invested in The Radicals. Malenko starts to talk about respect but he’s cut off by Mick Foley. Mick reminds them of their history - he brought them to the WWF back in February and then they turned on him - and books tonight’s main event. The four of them against Chyna, “The One” Billy Gunn, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

With Triple H and Rikishi seemingly not here tonight, and Stephanie McMahon being AWOL since Triple H revealed his role in Austin’s hit and run, The Radicals have setup in their locker room with a ton of food and drinks and enjoying the perks of their relationship with the McMahon-Helmsley family.

Michael Cole is about to interview Tiger Ali Singh and Lo Down but before they can even speak, Cole spots the arrival of The Rock and runs off to talk to him instead. He tells them about tonight’s main event and The Rock is excited to send a message to Rikishi and take his anger out on them. He’s funny, running through all four of them. Benoit is going to get a pair of Wolverine’s testicles. Malenko is going to get 6 inches (because he’s short). Perry Saturn is going to get a slap hard enough to correct his crossed eyes. Eddie Guerrero is going to get a sombrero, donkey and tequila. There’s no punchline, it’s just a little “haha you’re Mexican” joke. He ends by getting serious about how personal his feud with Rikishi is. 

Stone Cold Steve Austin arrives and heads right out into the arena. It pains me to admit this but it’s tough to ignore - Austin is not as popular as he used to be. The roster is so stacked these days and I think that’s why. The fans cheer and are happy to see him but it’s far from the thunder he used to get in his 1998/1999 peak. He doesn’t have much to say and speaks slowly and calmly as he says he’s trying to do this without swearing too much. He calls Triple H soft for being at home with a bad back and promises to end him at Survivor Series.

Michael Cole interviews Stone Cold and he remains quiet and stoic. Austin says that in tonight’s main event all hell will break loose but he has a funny feeling in his gut…

In the main event, Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero, Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn (with Terri) face Chyna, “The One” Billy Gunn, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The match breaks down with the babyfaces easily dominating The Radicals until The Rock tags in Chyna to let her get her hands on her former fiance Latino Heat. A cheap shot from Dean gives him control and The Radicals work over the 9th Wonder of the World in their corner for a bit. She gets a hot tag to Austin and as all eight participants brawl, The Rock and Benoit fight up the ramp and into the backstage area. In the ring, Austin hits a Stone Cold Stunner on Eddie Guerrero to win the match for his team. The Rattlesnake is all out of sorts, not even celebrating. Much like all night he is quiet and focused and struggling to hold in his rage it seems. The cameras cut backstage and The Rock and Benoit continue to right and brawl as Benoit leads The Rock out into the parking lot. It turns out to be a setup as while they fight, a black car comes screeching around the corner and Rikishi, hanging out of the window, strikes The Rock in the chest with a sledgehammer. He collapses, blood coming from his mouth as Rikishi taunts him from the window of the car being driven by Triple H. 

Filling up the Survivor Series card

Chris Jericho teams with Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman against Kane and Test. Trish flipped a coin to see who out of Test and Albert would team with Kane and Test isn’t happy about having to do it. Jericho jumps Kane during his entrance to start the match but he’s quickly isolated and dominated. It’s a messy match as Blackman involves his hardcore bag of tricks, and the finish comes when Test swings a kendo stick for Blackman and hits Kane instead, allowing Jericho to hit a Lionsault and win it for his team. Afterwards Test is very unapologetic for the mistake and so Kane plants him with a chokeslam. Later in the show, after the Radicals promo, Kane and Jericho are brawling backstage and Kane threw Y2J through a glass window in a cool looking spot which left him covered in superficial cuts and blood. Kane’s whole line is wanting to “disfigure” Jericho so this wasn’t just a cool spot, it actually made sense!

Michael Cole tries to interview Tiger and Lo Down again and he once again doesn’t get to speak before Chris Jericho barges in and demands to know where Commissioner Foley is so he can make his match with Kane at Survivor Series official. 

Commissioner Foley and Lieutenant Commissioner Debra sit together and run through the Survivor Series card. He adds Chris Jericho vs. Kane officially, as well as a six person tag between Steve Blackman, Crash and Molly Holly against T&A and Trish. Debra adds Ivory vs. Lita for the WWF Women’s title. Mick adds a traditional Survivor Series match of Edge, Christian, Bull and Goodfather vs. The Hardyz and The Dudleyz. 

Other Happenings

• The Dudley Boyz face Tazz and Raven. It’s very noticeable multiple times during this show but it’s especially bad during this match - after the pyro goes off, the ringside area is engulfed in smoke which takes a very, very long time to clear. This match was borderline unwatchable as the ring was encased in a thick cloud of smoke for the entire duration. Its Tazz and Raven who try to introduce a table and hilariously the legs get caught on the bottom rope and it takes them ages to get it in the ring. The Dudleyz finish off Tazz with a 3D to win the match and the table ends up not getting used at all. That is until after The Dudleyz leave and as Raven shoves his partner and blames him for the loss, Tazz suplexes Raven through the table! 

• In a six person tag team match, The Hardyz and Lita face Ivory, The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan with the twist that both the Tag Team titles and the Women’s title are on the line in this match. If the challengers win, they get all the gold. The Right to Censor are in danger multiple times and so The Goodfather gets his team intentionally disqualified with a tag title belt shot and then Val Venis runs down to join the assault so they can leave Matt, Jeff and Lita laid out. Steven Richards isn’t here tonight as he’s at WWF New York lecturing the people there on saving their souls. 

• Roaddogg (who’s losing his voice) challenges William Regal for the European Championship. This is momentous as it’s the last time we’ll see Roaddogg in his classic DX gear. Last night on Sunday Night Heat he was hanging out with new signee “K-Kwik” who would go on to greater fame as R-Truth and amazingly as I write this is currently one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions in 2024. What a guy. This match is pretty slow and weirdly, K-Kwik runs down and attacks Regal while Roaddogg is in control of the match to cause an unnecessary DQ. I wonder if he missed his cue or something? Regal leaves and K-Kwik and Roaddogg rap together as he seemingly doesn’t mind being cost the European title. 

Smackdown! - November 16th, 2000

The Radicals make an impact on the Survivor Series main events

Smackdown opens with Rikishi (carrying a sledgehammer). He brags about what he did to The Rock on Raw and promises to hurt him even worse at Survivor Series. He thanks The Radicals for their help (and we get a cut away to their locker room where they laugh and Eddie mentions he’s facing Stone Cold tonight) and after quite a long, uninteresting promo honestly Commissioner Foley comes out. He says he thought about fining or suspending Rikishi but he’s leaving his punishment up to The Rock at Survivor Series before having a crowd of security escort Rikishi from the building. No one wants to see him until he’s getting his ass kicked by The Rock at Survivor Series. They do just that and we’re shown Rikishi leaving in his car.

Live from WWF’s HQ in Stamford Connecticut is Triple H. He taunts Austin. He says the unexplained feeling he had on Raw that something bad might happen is fear. He says Stone Cold is scared of Triple H. This is a very good promo where The Game shows footage of multiple moments over the past year and narrates the whole thing. This is the most sense this whole storyline ever made.

Before his match with Stone Cold, Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero talks trash and goads Austin to come out to the ring. King points out - as he and Cold have all night - that Triple H and The Radicals likely have another trap set just like they did for The Rock on Raw. As Eddie talks trash out in the ring while the other three Radicals look on from their locker room, Stone Cold walks in wheeling a cart of food and wearing a chef’s hat and launches a vicious attack on all three of them, hammering them with metal serving platters and turning their coffee table over on them before leaving and using a forklift to pin the door shut, trapping them inside!

In the ring, Eddie freaks out as The Rattlesnake has now taken out his backup. Austin gets a huge ovation when he heads out into the arena and the Rattlesnake looks pissed off. Eddie is on his knees begging for mercy but he gets none. Eddie uses a steel chair to the knee on the outside to get the advantage and actually controls the match working on Austin’s legs but it doesn't last long as Stone Cold demolishes the Intercontinental champion and beats him with a Stunner. Austin is subdued, he is focused and he is pissed off waiting for Triple H at Survivor Series. 

The Rock is shown arriving at the arena, getting out of a limo in the parking lot. No one was expecting him here tonight. 

Mick Foley goes to see the beaten up Radicals in their locker room and gives them a couple more matches tonight - Perry and Dean will face the new tag team of Roaddogg and K-Kwik, and Chris Benoit will face The Rock (at The Rock’s request). 

Stone Cold is shown leaving the arena. He’s stopped by Lillian Garcia and asks how he feels about Survivor Series and he asks Triple H “how scared do i look?”

K-Kwik and Roaddogg rap their new theme song to the ring which I always liked. K-Kwik would be rapping his own entrance for the next 25 years and honestly? He looks as good now as he did then. It’s surreal watching what is basically modern day R-Truth in the year 2000. He is timeless. Their opponents are Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko and Chyna and Billy Gunn are shown watching on from the back and enjoying the new team formed by their former fellow DX member. Kwik shows off some really impressive speed and moves and wins the match for his team with a moonsault on Dean Malenko. After this in a backstage segment, Tiger Ali Singh asks Mick Foley if the new Survivor Series match will include his Lo Down team. Mick snort-laughs and spits water at the mere idea of giving D’Lo and Chaz a PPV match and instead says it’ll be a classic Survivor Series rules match between the four Radicals against Roaddogg, K-Kwik, Chyna and Billy Gunn.

Kevin Kelly interviews The Rock about tonight’s main event against Chris Benoit and his PPV match with Rikishi. The Rock starts funny but stops and gets serious instead, promising Rikishi the single biggest ass kicking of his life at Survivor Series.

Chris Benoit faces The Rock. Despite being hit in the chest with a sledgehammer on Raw and all this talk of him not being 100% and not being at this show at all he isn’t even taped up to show off his injuries. Mick Foley has said that there will not be any Radical interference during this match. This main event gets a bit of time and is as good as their previous matches. It’s physical with Benoit fighting Rock on the outside, dropping him onto the security wall and choking him with an electrical cable. The Rock fights through to hit a spinebuster and People’s Elbow but is too hurt to cover. The match continues until Rikishi returns, coming through the crowd. The Rock goes to meet him and beats him up pretty easily but the distraction allows Benoit to recover and go on the attack. The match ends in a disqualification as Rikishi attacks The Rock and while Benoit holds the referee at bay, he gives The Rock a Banzai drop ending Smackdown with him writhing in pain, blood leaking from his mouth.

Kurt evens the score

WWF Champion Kurt Angle teams with Kane (who he had a pep talk with before the match where he assured him he thinks he’s better than both Y2J and Undertaker) against their respective Survivor Series opponents The Undertaker and Chris Jericho. This match is no disqualification for some reason, and Michael Cole points out during this that we haven’t seen Kurt’s business partner Stephanie since her husband Triple H revealed himself as Austin’s assailant. I’ll talk about her a bit at Survivor Series. The match is a wild, messy brawl with ring steps and steel chairs. Kane plants Y2J through the announce table from a ring-step-platform with a huge chokeslam which looks awesome. Undertaker fights off his brother and the WWF Champion as best he can but a big swinging chair shot from Kane allows Kurt to pin Undertaker and win the match. 

Other Happenings

• Test and Albert (with Trish) face Hardcore and Crash Holly (with Molly). A short back and forth match which ends with Hardcore pinning Test with a roll up. T&A get their heat back by beating up Crash after the match.
• Too Cool faced the team of Raven and Tazz. They had a falling out on Raw where Tazz suplexed Raven through a table. Earlier today, Raven went to see Tazz and they shook hands and made up. It was all a setup as Raven spikes Tazz with a DDT allowing Grandmaster to follow with a top rope leg drop and win the match for Too Cool. After the match, Raven gives Tazz a jumping DDT off the apron onto a set-up steel chair.
• The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz team up against all four members of the Right to Censor (with Ivory and Lita at ringside). Edge and Christian are also on commentary so this is a very busy match. A 3D on Goodfather followed by a Swanton bomb wins it for the all Boyz team. They all work together to give Steven Richards a four person Wazzup headbutt too. They get the tales planning on putting Steven through one but that brings Edge and Christian off commentary to join in and with the odds now six against four, Matt, Jeff, Bubba and D-Von get beaten down and left laid out. Ivory even throws Lita off the apron and knocks her out too. 
• I haven’t mentioned the XFL - Vince McMahon’s doomed attempt to start his own football league - in a while and it’s come up periodically on TV with Jerry Lawler helping recruit cheerleaders (creep) and them announcing various cities as having their own teams but this one is worth mentioning as its footage from a press conference announcing Jesse “The Body” Ventura as the lead commentator. Vince is there too and gets in lots of buzz words about how amazing the XFL will be.