Raw is War - October 18th, 1999

Survivor Series main event is set

The show opens with a recap of the main event of No Mercy when, after being assaulted by a sledgehammer earlier in the evening, The Rock came out to try and get revenge and accidentally hit Stone Cold in the gut with the hammer, allowing Triple H to retain the title.

The Rock enters the arena and sells the three sledgehammer blows to the body last night - which would have killed a man - by walking gingerly and having his ribs taped up. He confidently decrees that the main event of Survivor Series is set and it’ll be him vs. Triple H for the title. He says what we already know - he wasn’t trying to hit Austin, he was trying to hit Triple H. Good that he made it clear I guess. The fans are LOUD for the People’s Champion tonight - it's really amazing watching them hang on his every word, laugh at his every joke, repeat his every catchphrase. He plays these crowds like musical instruments. Before he can finish asking if we smell what he's cooking, Stone Cold Steve Austin interrupts. The fans explode for him too and there is an electricity just from these two men being in the ring together. Stone Cold takes issue with The Rock calling himself the number one contender. He also calls The Rock stupid for trying to get involved last night and blames him for not being the champion right now, and if he has an issue with what Austin is saying they can fight about it right now. The Rock calmly drops the mic, and starts to remove his shirt so Stone Cold starts to remove his and the fight is imminent but before they come to blows Vince McMahon comes out! He would love to see them fight, but he’s listened to them both and thinks they both have a point. He says that we’ve heard from The Rock and we’ve heard from Stone Cold so now we need to hear from Triple H and asks him to come out too. He does and smugly holds the WWF title belt up in victory. He crows about his victory and no matter what Vince throws at him, he still wins. Vince says he wants to know which of the two men Triple H wants to face at Survivor Series. He just wants his opinion. The Rock cuts him off with a “it doesn’t matter…” which gets a huge pop. Vince says that he knows what Triple H is thinking and books him to defend against them BOTH in a triple threat match at Survivor Series!

Not for the first time this year, there is a HUGE elephant in the room with regards to that match but I’ll let it play out as it did on TV before I talk about it.

As Triple H backs up the ramp pleased with himself for costing The Rock and Mankind the tag titles, he’s jumped by Stone Cold. Austin fights him back to the ring and sends him into The Rock. He gives him a Rock Bottom and goes for the People’s Elbow but Austin stops him with a pair of fingers. He gives Triple H a Stone Cold Stunner and the show ends with The Rock and Stone Cold staring down in the ring. 

Connection No-More

Backstage, Hardcore and Crash Holly ask Vince McMahon for a tag team title match tonight. He doesn’t think they deserve it but grants it anyway because it’ll be entertaining to see The Rock n’ Sock Connection.
Elsewhere backstage in a funny segment, Mankind tracks down The Rock to tell him about their tag title defence tonight (“who are The Hollys?”) and presents him with a signed copy of his new book. The Rock asks where he is in the book, and thanks him. He doesn’t accept Rocko back though - he tells Mick to keep that.

Backstage, Al Snow finds a copy of Mankind’s book in a trash can. He goes to break the news to Mick that he found it in the trash. Mankind is heartbroken to learn that his bed friend and tag team partner threw the signed book away. Later after the Val and Snow match, Mankind looks for and finds The Rock. He gets very angry at him about throwing the book away. He worked so hard on that book - it's his whole life. This is an all time great Foley promo. He gives and gives and The Rock keeps taking. He even calls him Dwayne and tells him to grow up. He won’t even let The Rock speak - he wants nothing to do with him. This was an awesome segment that broke the barriers between real and storyline in the best way. Mankind basically says that he is fully aware that he’s the butt of the joke but lets it go because it’s funny but now it’s not so funny.

The Rock (with his ribs taped) and Mankind defend the Tag Team Championships against Hardcore and Crash Holly. The Rock looks all business tonight. Is it because he’s injured, or upset about his interaction with Mankind earlier. Mick comes out without his mask, hanging his head. He doesn’t even have his tag title belt with him. Mankind sits down on the ring steps with his back to the ring. The challengers are announced as being allegedly well over 800lbs. I still love that gimmick. The Holly cousins jump The Rock and work on his ribs as Mick sits, refusing to help. As the match goes, we see The New Age Outlaws watching backstage. The fans are really invested in the story here as while The Rock is worked over and beat down, they chant for “Rock n’ Sock” and “Foley”.

Mankind watches, slowly paying more and more attention to the match. The Rock is forced to go it alone. I’ll take this moment to talk about how good the tag team division is at the moment with The Hardys and Edge and Christian, The Dudleys being established, The New Age Outlaws being reunited, The Acolytes getting a fun gimmick change and more. It’s a deep division! He does almost have the match won and hits a Rock Bottom but the WWF Champion Triple H runs down and spikes The Rock with a Pedigree behind the referees back. Mankind sees it but doesn’t even help. Hardcore and Crash Holly win the tag team titles thanks to Triple H. Mankind just leaves, sadly.

The Bossman behaving Badly

Hardcore Champion The Big Bossman makes fun of The Big Show and some tasteless jokes about his (kayfabe) father who has terminal cancer. He challenges Show to face him for the Hardcore title tonight. In an interview with Kevin Kelly moments later, The Big Show accepts the challenge and promises to snap the Bossman in half.

The Big Bossman defends the Hardcore title against The Big Show. The champion enters first but as he waits, The Big Show never comes. His music plays but he doesn’t appear. We cut backstage to find a police officer breaking the news to Show that his father has passed away. He breaks down and sobs at the news. Bossman demands that the referee declare him the winner via forfeit. Bossman is an evil man, more concerned with being declared the winner. The commentators speak very solemnly and sadly about the news and wish The Big Show their condolences. 

Later in the show, GTV revealed that the police officer who broke the news was an actor, paid by The Big Bossman to lie to The Big Show. The two laugh about it while King and JR voice their disgust.

Other Happenings

• X-Pac and Kane face The Dudley Boyz. The Dudleyz get some good heat from the crowd too - everyone is so over! The story here is that X-Pac and Kane now seem to finally be back on the same page properly. Bubba Ray makes fun of Kane’s speaking before the match. The Dudleyz debut their double team headbutt to the groin from the top rope that would become one of their biggest signatures. The Headbangers come to ringside to watch this match as they’re feuding with The Dudley Boyz (mostly on Sunday Night Heat). Mosh distracts Bubba which lets Kane chokeslam him and X–Pac and Kane win. They leave and Mosh makes fun of Bubba’s stutter on the mic and those two teams get into a brawl around the ring.
• Backstage, The Acolytes play poker with Curtis Hughes and Howard Finkle. It’s weird hearing Bradshaw laugh. They drink and smoke cigars. We’d see them playing a couple of times as Curtis loses badly and Bradshaw and Faarooq make fun of him for being bad at the game and then betting his shirt, and then even Howard Finkle. 
• Michael Cole interviews the new WWF Women’s Champion, Fabulous Moolah. She accuses Mae Young of being jealous and hits her after being challenged to a title match tonight. The two 70+ year olds fight as referees pull them apart. This match is made official for Smackdown.

• Mark Henry speaks to his fourth sex therapist. He tried two attactive ladies who he liked, then a guy who wanted him and so now he’s with an older, unattractive lady. She offers him a “platonic hug” and then jumps him - she fancies Sexual Chocolate too.

• The Godfather along with four hoes come out for his match with Viscera. Godfather beat Mideon twice last week (on Smackdown and at No Mercy) and he’s at ringside with his buddy. Viscera wins with a splash thanks to a distraction from Mideon.
• The new Intercontinental champion Chyna comes out with her new valet - Miss Kitty, dressed exactly like Chyna (she looks great). Chyna talks about the historical significance of her victory and that she can beat any man. She issues an open challenge, which is accepted by Chris Jericho. For people who like keeping track of this stuff (like me) the Intercontinental title belt design has finally been updated for the first time since Raw the night after Wrestlemania 14. It has a nicer, thicker strap and the classic blocky WWF logo has been swapped for the new Attitude era scratch logo. Jericho calls Chyna an embarrassment and proof that the business is in a downward spiral. He says he wouldn’t hit a woman but Chyna isn’t a woman and calls her a hideous creature. I actually think she looks gorgeous, for the record. As he goes on, Chyna hits him with the IC title belt off the apron, sending him flying across the announce desk and landing on poor JR. Jericho throws a hissy fit with a steel chair as Chyna and Miss Kitty leave. Chyna is still using My Time as her theme at this point so her connection to Triple H hasn’t ended yet.

• After some highlights of the tag team ladder match at No Mercy, The New Brood came to the ring limping heavily for an interview with Michael Cole. Matt drops The Brood name and says they are Matt and Jeff - The Hardy Boyz. Edge and Christian then come out and talk about how either team could have won the best of five series and that the fans last night gave them a round of applause. They get another standing ovation tonight. The two teams show mutual respect and shake hands. The Hardyz new manager Terri Runnels then comes to the ring (along with Gangrel, who is still technically Matt and Jeff’s manager). Gangrel offers the four men congratulations and then asks for his own. He implies he slept with Terri last night and then the four men attack him and beat him up before throwing him out of the ring. The Gangrel bit at the end didn’t make a lot of sense but the key points were made. The Hardyz are now babyfaces and have ditched Gangrel and got Terri instead, and these two teams are now friends

• The British Bulldog faces Test. This match is all built around Bulldog throwing the trash can at Rebellion and injuring Stephanie McMahon, giving her amnesia. He’s refused to apologise. Test has been very patient with Steph but is understandably heart broken. Test gets a loud, girly squeal every time he appears. I don’t really get it but it seems like all the ladies love Test. Test dominates and tries to use a trash can as a weapon but he’s jumped by the Mean Street Posse. The four men beat him silly and leave together. 
• Out in the ring, Val Venis calls Mankind and Al Snow’s friendship pathetic and once again calls himself “the single fastest rising star in the WWF” which he’s said in every single promo since his heel turn. It is neither true, nor catching on with the crowd. He’s facing Al Snow and in a pretty good back and forth match where Al looks good, Val Venis wins with the Money Shot. 
• The New Age Outlaws face The Acolytes. They have Howard Finkle with them who they won in a poker game earlier. This match is physical and in a short period we end up with Mr. Ass bleeding, and the top rope broken. One of the turnbuckles popped off! It hangs limply as the match continues. Faarooq even uses the loose turnbuckle as a weapon. This is a good match as Billy does the selling and hot tags to Roaddogg. He comes in on fire and the match breaks down. Howard slides a chair to Bradshaw but Mr. Ass uses it instead and Roaddogg gets the cover. The New Age Outlaws win as Roaddogg helps a bloody Mr. Ass to the back. After the match, The Acolytes call The Fink into the ring and chastise him for costing them the match, giving him a wedgie. Backstage, they strip his clothes off him and throw him into the showers while making jokes about Deliverance. Jesus. 

Smackdown! - October 21st, 1999

Survivor Series main eventers in action

Mankind opens the show. No mask so really it's Mick Foley. He talks about his book which was released on this day in 1999. He talks about his pride and the hard work that went into it and why The Rock throwing it out hurt him so badly. He says he wants what The Rock has and calls Vince McMahon down to the ring to give it to him. No one really knows what he means. Mick symbolically holds up his Rock n’ Sock jacket.

Mick gives a nice little “I’m not as stupid as I look” moment. He’s not an idiot. He knows he was the joke, and he looked stupid in the jacket but while he might have been focused on making people laugh and having fun, he’s still the same man who won the WWF title three times, and had his ear ripped off, and was thrown off hell in a cell. He wants what The Rock has - a shot at the WWF title. It’s nice to see him fire up and remind everyone that he’s a main event talent and despite all the comedy, he’s still a badass. The fans are invested and listening but obviously don’t quite get the storyline as they keep chanting “Rocky”. Mankind says he’s willing to fight The Rock right here tonight to get his title shot at Survivor Series, and says he’s better than The Rock and he should be the one headlining PPVs. He keeps taking shots at The Rock and calling him insecure until eventually The Rock does come out. Mick taunts him and puts on the Rock n’ Sock jacket. The Rock makes fun of Mankind and the things he said and accepts Mankind’s challenge for tonight. Mick ends by saying that he means every word he said about him in his book and leaves. Before Vince can leave the ring, The Rock stops him. He says that it's unfair that The Rock is the only number one contender competing tonight. Vince correctly points out that The Rock accepted the challenge and that no one has challenged Stone Cold Steve Austin. Val Venis then comes out! He challenges Austin who wastes no time coming to the ring, throwing some punches and accepting Val’s challenge.

Backstage, Lillian Garcia talks to WWF Champion Triple H. He says that this might be the best Smackdown ever as both number one contenders defend their title shots tonight. He’s interrupted by Al Snow who asks if he’s wrestling tonight. Triple H gets angry and tells Snow to beat it but then after the commercial break, Triple H is arguing with Vince McMahon about the fact that he’s now been booked against Al Snow tonight! Later while being interviewed by Kevin Kelly about it, Triple H attacks Al Snow from behind.

Triple H defends the WWF Championship against Al Snow. Kind of wild he’s got a title shot. Snow attacks Triple H from behind through the crowd and is taking this title shot very seriously. Both The Rock and Stone Cold are watching from backstage. Triple H obviously wins easily with a Pedigree. It was a good, short match but the outcome wasn’t in any doubt and the fans were quiet for it as a result.

The Rock faces Mankind and The Rock’s title shot at Survivor Series is on the line here. The Rock takes some time to make fun of Mankind before the match (he talks about pie a lot). When Foley comes out he is wearing his mask and ready to go but before they come to blows, Val Venis interrupts. He joins commentary to talk about potentially beating Austin for his title shot later (lol). He and King look at and talk about Mick’s book while Mankind works on Rock’s ribs. They battle in and out of the ring and it's a good match. The Rock kicks out a double arm DDT but counters the Mandible Claw with a low blow. Val Venis attacks Mankind and the match ends via disqualification. The former tag champions beat up Val and then The Rock goes for a Rock Bottom on Mick but Triple H is there to lay them both out with title belt shots and then a Pedigree on The Rock who is still one of the number one contenders. (Mankind technically won the match but it wasn’t enough to take The Rock’s place at Survivor Series I guess) 

There’s a montage of people backstage, reminding us that The Rock, Mankind and Triple H are all still here and watching tonight’s main event.

Stone Cold Steve Austin faces Val Venis with Austin’s title shot at Survivor Series on the line. It’s nice to see Stone Cold in the ring, wrestling. His body is still a wreck off screen, and I can only assume that both he and the WWF were in denial about how bad it was. I’m not sure exactly when it became clear he needed to take the time off but it's tough seeing him take bumps and land on the back of his head and neck. This is a surprisingly long match for the circumstances and even with a chair shot to the knee behind the referee's back, Val isn’t enough for the Rattlesnake and he wins with a Stunner in the middle of the ring to remain in the Survivor Series main event.

Before he can celebrate, Triple H runs to the ring and plants him with a Pedigree but then he’s followed by The Rock and a Rock Bottom to end the show.

The Big Show on a rampage

The Big Show arrives backstage (wearing black leather trousers and a matching jacket, a black leather shirt and carrying a black leather bag. Wow). 

The Hardcore champion The Big Bossman comes out to the ring with the fake cop he paid on Raw. The Big Show has been seen crying about his dad a couple of times during the night. Bossman and the fake cop laugh about The Big Show crying. Show sprints to the ring and as both men attack he easily fights them both off. The cop chop blocks him which lets Bossman escape. The actor is slammed with three brutal chokeslams one after another and roars in fury. Bossman escaped through the crowd. The fans want to see Bossman get his comeuppance! 

Other Happenings

• In a rematch from Raw, Test faces The British Bulldog. Tonight, Bulldog has the entire Mean Street Posse with him as backup. Test accuses Bulldog of being a coward and says he knew he’d have backup so he brought some of his own. Edge and Christian come through the crowd and as the Posse and Bulldog swarm Test in the ring he’s rescued by his fellow long haired Canadians. That turns into what seems to be a handicap tag team match with Test, Edge and Christian vs. Bulldog and all three Posse members. Test wins a short squash match with a powerbomb on Rodney. Bulldog runs away.

• Mae Young challenges Fabulous Moolah for the WWF Women’s Championship. This match came from Raw when the new champion Moolah randomly turned heel on her friend. Both these women are over 70 and are game as anything. Mae especially has taken some wicked bumps in the past few weeks. Mae attacks early with hair pulls and mounted punches. This is a comedy match as they trade snapmares and the like and the referee ends up getting tangled in them. Eventually Ivory runs in and attacks Moolah, choking her. Mae Young tries to save her but is taken down too. As Ivory celebrates with the title belt she’s speared by Tori, who in turn is then jumped by Jacqueline and then finally Luna gets involved and the six women fight and brawl around the ring. 

• Mark Henry tries again with the sex therapy - his new therapist is The Godfather who tells him that he doesn’t have a problem, and that he’ll help him another way.
• The Hardy Boyz with their newly won manager Terri Runnels challenge the new WWF Tag Team Champions Hardcore and Crash Holly. They look pretty awesome with the title belts around their waists. A back and forth match that The Hollys win remarkably cleanly. 
• The Godfather faces Viscera in a rematch from Raw. He has some backup to counteract Mideon this time though with Sexual Chocolate Mark Henry. He’s given up on trying to solve his sex addiction and therapy and is being helped by Godfather instead. This is a tag team match instead and Mark wins with a splash on Mideon. King is actually quite mean about the five hoes, saying they need bags on their heads and that the camera man should try to shoot them from the neck down. 

Raw is War - October 25th, 1999

D-Generates once again

Backstage, The New Age Outlaws demand a tag team title match tonight on Raw from Vince McMahon. He says that they deserve a title shot and they will get one but not tonight because The Hollys are defending against Edge and Christian. Triple H busts in and is angry to learn that he’s defending the WWF title against Mankind tonight. The Outlaws and Triple H exchange some words and Triple H riles them up and suggests that they face The Rock and Stone Cold tonight. Vince ponders it for a moment before agreeing to the match. 

Michael Cole interviews The Rock (who has a bit of stubble and looks good with it). He talks about how he and Austin have been playing a game of one upmanship for the past couple of weeks. He has no problem teaming with him tonight and putting their differences aside. I actually think The Rock might have started to pass Austin in popularity lately. The Rock is on every show, often cutting more than one promo. Stone Cold has been pretty much MIA since Summerslam. Later Michael Cole interviewed Stone Cold who said pretty much the same thing. He wasn’t as funny but was just as entertaining.

Backstage as The New Age Outlaws warm up for their match with The Rock and Stone Cold, they’re approached by Triple H who taunts them a little. Roaddogg tells him to beat it before he gets spit on. Gross.

Roaddogg and Mr. Ass enter first for the main event - The New Age Outlaws have been put over HARD by Jim Ross and Michael Cole lately, calling them legendary and the greatest tag team of all time. At this point they really did have a lot of success and mixed it up with enough main eventers to be considered higher on the card than other tag teams. Stone Cold and The Rock both get enormous reactions from the live crowd. Austin and Rock are all offence but The Outlaws weather the early storm and take over and isolate Austin with their well practised tag team expertise. A hot tag to The Rock puts us on the home straight. Triple H runs to the ring and tries to get involved but is cut off by Stone Cold. Austin and the WWF Champion fight up the ramp leaving The Rock all alone with The New Age Outlaws. The Rock holds his own and plants Mr. Ass with a Rock Bottom but walks right into a spinning heel kick from X-Pac! Mr. Ass covers and The New Age Outlaws win the match. Stone Cold runs back to the ring and The DX mates of X-Pac, Roaddogg and Mr. Ass beat down Stone Cold and The Rock three on two. Triple H runs back to the ring and joins in and plants both his challengers are Survivor Series with Pedgirees. Triple H puts on a DX shirt as the D-Generation music plays. DX has reformed in all its glory.

Mankind makes a friend

Triple H defends the WWF Championship against Mankind. The build to Survivor Series is interesting as Mankind is now heavily storyline-involved with The Rock so it's entirely possible he’d win this and get himself into that triple threat match. They fight on the outside and Triple H uses the ring steps as a weapon. There’s an awesome spot as Mick gets his head tangled in the ropes (the same spot which legit ripped his ear off in 1994) he manages to still get the Mandible Claw on the champion. They fight into the crowd for a moment and back in the ring while the referee and Triple H argue over a steel chair, Mankind hits him with the title belt for a very close near fall. The fans loudly boo when Triple H kicks out. He clamps on the Mandible Claw and Triple H is out! Val Venis runs to the ring and hits Mick across the back with a steel chair and that causes a disqualification.

As Val beats down Mick, Al Snow runs down to save him and the two clear Venis out of the ring. Mankind wins by disqualification and had the title won but Triple H is still the WWF Champion.

Kane and…Tori?

Kevin Kelly interviews Kane. He’s about to face Bubba Ray Dudley who keeps making fun of his speech impediment. He mentions that “Tori” told him not to make fun of Bubba, and asks X-Pac to not get involved in the match. X-Pac agrees and then they’re both jumped by Bubba Ray and D-Von who brutalise them with trash cans.

Out in the ring, Bubba enters first and once again makes fun of Kane’s speaking abilities before the match. When Kane enters he dominates with ease while X-Pac watches from the back. Kane is clearly going to win but D-Von gets involved to cause the disqualification. The Dudleys beat Kane down two on one. Backstage, Tori tries to convince X-Pac to go and save Kane. Tori being friends with Kane seems to be news to everyone. X-Pac does make the save and there's tension between him and Kane. Kane didn’t want the save, and X-Pac didn’t like being told what to do by Tori. 

Y2J targets title gold

Michael Cole interviews Chris Jericho. After sarcastically saying he feels sorry for Big Show, he challenges Intercontinental Champion Chyna to bring European Champion D’Lo Brown as her partner, and he will face them with a normal, common fan as his partner. Chyna (still using My Time) and Miss Kitty come out to the ring as they play what happened on Sunday Night Heat. Chris Jericho challenged D’Lo for the European title but Chyna interfered and hit Jericho with the Intercontinental title belt. That’s why D’Lo is Chyna’s partner tonight. Jerry Lawler’s “here kitty kitty kitty” cat call continues to make my skin crawl. Much like the IC title belt last week, it looks like the European title has been updated too and lost the blocky old school WWF logo in favour of the scratch attitude era one. Y2J gets a pretty big cheer when he comes out despite playing a cowardly villain since his debut. It’s because he’s funny. There’s lots of pro-Jericho signs in the crowd too. He picks a “fan” which is very clearly a man in drag. The ginger wig is particularly bad. It took me a minute to figure it out - it’s Stevie Richards. King is mean about Chyna’s appearance for some reason so she must be a babyface now. Chyna wins a short match with a Pedigree on a bra and panties wearing Stevie Richards. After she and D’Lo leave, Jericho gives his former partner a double powerbomb and locks him in the Walls of Jericho (which doesn’t have its name yet) in frustration.

Other Happenings

• Elsewhere backstage The Godfather looks for Mark Henry and can’t find him. He kicks down a locker room door and finds Sexual Chocolate with dozens of hoes before frog marching Mark off to get ready for their match. After the Raw intro, they come out into the arena with 20+ hoes. It’s The Godfather in singles action against Viscera, who has Mideon with him. Mideon has changed to more revealing ring gear which is a little gross, and is wearing face paint. Viscera actually talks before the match! I don’t think I’ve ever heard his voice. He says that he wants the hoes to be on the line in this match. Viscera even offers to let Mark Henry have access to the hoes if he wins. The referee ejects Mideon from ringside and predictably, Mark Henry gives into his sex addiction and helps Viscera win. Viscera demands Mark splash Godfather after the match in exchange for the hoes. The fans start chanting “D’Lo” which actually would have been good booking but alas, the European Champion doesn’t come running. Viscera and Mark Henry leave with most of the hoes but two of them stay to check on Godfather. Viscera sees them and goes back to the ring and actually attacks them, splashing one and body slamming the other. I’m sure these two were wrestlers but I didn’t recognise either of them. 

• Backstage as the injured hoes are loaded into an ambulance, Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley laugh hysterically at the poor injured women.
• Hardcore and Crash Holly defend the tag team titles against Edge and Christian. After the amazing tag team ladder match at No Mercy this team along with The Hardys are the hottest tag teams on the roster. The Hollys did beat Matt and Jeff on Smackdown. This is a short match and Edge and Christian might have the titles won with a spear by Edge on Hardcore but the team of Scott Taylor and Brian Christophere - Too Much - run in and attack Edge and Christian and cause the disqualification. The Hardys run down too and the four friends clear them out of the ring. Both JR and King barely recognise Taylor and Christopher as they’re wearing hip hop clothes and look totally different. This is the debut of their change to Too Cool, but don’t have their new names yet.

• WWF Women’s Champion Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young come out to the ring to be interviewed by Michael Cole. They seem to have made up, but Mae makes another age joke about Moolah. Moolah says that at her age, she can’t bring prestige to the championship the way she wants to so she will surrender the title and retire instead. Former champion Ivory comes out carrying a broom and calls Moolah a witch. “I found your ride out in the handicap spot”. Ivory refuses to let Moolah retire and wants her rematch instead. She breaks the broom over Mae Young and the bell rings. A referee runs in and Moolah in her street clothes defends the women’s title against Ivory who very quickly beats her to regain the title. She knocks Mae Young off the apron with the title belt and she takes a rough bump over the ropes to the floor. Ivory runs away with the title belt. 
• Backstage, Prince Albert approaches The Big Show. He says that they have a match together tonight and he wants to test himself but he asks Show not to take his anger at the Bossman out on him. 
• The Big Show has switched to ring gear that covers him up a bit more - he’s got his “Large and in Charge” t-shirt and knee pads now. He looks more like a proper wrestler. Albert’s request for Big Show not to take his anger out on him seems to have fallen on deaf ears as Show works fast and aggressively. The Big Bossman comes out onto the stage and taunts Big Show with a golden pocket watch. He says it belonged to his granddad and that he went to the hospital last night and stole it from Show’s dad. He mocks how weak and ill his dad looked and says he was going to pull the plug. While Show listens to Bossman talk, Albert attacks him from behind. Bossman hits Show in the head with a hammer, knocking him out and then invites Albert up to watch as he smashes the pocket watch on an anvil with the hammer. Bossman and Albert leave together as The Big Show lays unconscious on the arena floor. Backstage after a commercial break, The Big Show is attended to by medical personnel with a bloody mark on his head from the hammer blow. He shakes off the cobwebs and runs off, showing for Bossman. 

• Michael Hayes interviewed Stephanie McMahon earlier. She’s feeling better and has regained most of her memories about Test. She says that Test is going to beat an apology out of Bulldog tonight. 
• Test faces The British Bulldog in a steel cage match. It's short and Test hits an incredible elbow drop from the top of the cage onto Bulldog, just as the Mean Street Posse cut the chain on the door and come inside. As the three of them swarm Test and beat him down, Shane McMahon sprints to the ring and climbs the cage, diving off onto the Posse! Two amazing dives one after another. During the melee with Shane and Test fighting off the three sweater vest wearing goons, The British Bulldog escapes out the door and I think officially won this match. The Posse demolish Shane three on one and slam the cage door on Test which he basically no-sells. Stephanie does come down to check on her brother and fiance, as Test raises Shane’s arm and gives him a hug. In the replays they only show Shane’s amazing dive onto the Posse which has totally stolen the thunder of Test’s massive elbow from the cage just seconds before. 

Bradshaw and Faarooq go to a local bar (it's The Friendly Tap, which is the bar that referee Tim White owns in real life) and are challenged to an arm wrestling contest by some local idiot. Bradshaw wins. The guy makes some really nasty racist comments to Faarooq (calling him “darkie”) and then The Acolytes just beat the LIFE out of them, destroying the bar. They smash them all around the bar, destroying tables and chairs and a jukebox before finishing their beers.

Smackdown! - October 28th, 1999

From Hunter to Hunted

The show opens with the newly reformed D-Generation X led by WWF Champion Triple H. It’s clear that X-Pac, Roadogg and Mr. Ass are now all heels given their siding with Triple H and beat down of Stone Cold and The Rock (plus King loves them and Michael Cole doesn’t) but the fans haven’t caught on and give them a big cheer. Notable by her absence is Intercontinental Champion Chyna which would seemingly confirm she’s done with her on screen relationship with Triple H. Their real life relationship would soon follow, but we’ll get to that when it happens.

Triple H calls himself the CEO of DX and that gets “asshole” chants. X-Pac says that DX is the biggest and best it’s ever been but tonight we’ll see a new member. Mr. Ass challenges Stone Cold to a match tonight, and Roaddogg then challenges The Rock. Roaddogg’s is significantly more heel, which gets “Rocky” chants. Triple H calls out Vince and tells him he’s no longer required because DX runs the show. Vince tells Triple H to “suck it” which was funny for both the right and wrong reasons.

In the parking lot when The Rock arrives at the arena he’s jumped by all four members of DX and stuffed into the trunk of his own car. Roaddogg hops in the car and drives off with him. Later the Roaddogg would arrive back at the arena and ask someone where Stone Cold is. He’s cagey about where he ended up leaving The Rock.

Backstage X-Pac talks to Kane. He explains that the DX stuff is something that he’s doing on the side and that his tag team with Kane is his real focus. He mentions Kane’s “chick” which is also news. Kane appears to have begun a friendship/relationship with Tori entirely off camera and that was revealed on Raw. X-Pac and Kane enter together for a tag team match. The fans cheer for Kane but X-Pac is a bad guy now, at least when he’s with DX. They’re facing The Dudley Boyz and Cole and King speculate as to whether Kane could be the new member of DX that X-Pac promised earlier. The match doesn’t last long as after Kane dominates for a bit, X-Pac tags in and hits Kane with a low blow and then an X-Factor. The Dudleys win but Kane sits up and sends them packing. Before he can get his hands on X-Pac, the rest of DX jumps on him and beats him down. This cements X-Pac and DX’s heel turn but in kayfabe it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Kane is a monster and would kill for X-Pac so even if he didn’t like him anymore, you think he’d string him along and use him? X-Pac says there will be no member and he’s sick of carrying Kane. He calls him weak just like The Undertaker says and calls him a piece of crap. That was brutal. X-Pac is a bad guy and “X-Pac heat” was born. I’m sure I’ll talk more about that at Survivor Series.

Backstage the same parking lot attendant that Roaddogg spoke to earlier goes into DX’s locker room and lets them know that Stone Cold has arrived. They make their plans and head out to look for him.

In the loading dock Roaddogg has been caught in a bear trap!

Austin approaches and taunts him as he screams and begs for help. Later, Mr. Ass is hanging upside down as Stone Cold snared him in another trap. It’s a bit Roadrunner but I love it. 

Backstage DX regroup as both Roaddogg and Mr. Ass have their legs bandaged up. X-Pac gets a phone call from Stone Cold who mysteriously tells him to “reach for the stars” and when X-Pac looks up, a big chunk of ceiling lands on his head seemingly knocking him out! That one doesn’t make a ton of sense as how would Steve know where in the room he was standing.

D-Generation X comes out to the ring - X-Pac sells his neck and looks groggy while Mr. Ass and Roaddogg heavily limp. Triple H is the only unharmed one left. Triple H says he’s done playing games - he is The Game. He gloats about how the united DX has taken out The Rock and Kane tonight and will take out Stone Cold. He keeps calling Austin a coward and as he talks, realises that Stone Cold could be anywhere and sends the other three members to look under the ring. He’s not there. He calls Austin out to the ring. He counts to ten but Steve doesn’t appear. DX try to leave but Austin’s music finally hits. He is fired up. The comedy here is Triple H calling Austin a coward for not wanting to fight them four on one. Stone Cold calls them a piece of trap. “I set a bear trap to catch a bear and instead I catch a jackass”. “Bad Ass Billy Gunn, we should call you Dumb Ass Billy Gunn”. Stone Cold is funny here. Austin goes to the ring and DX huddle together in the ring waiting before a giant net falls on all four of them, trapping them!

Stone Cold gets in the ring and throws punches and kicks at them as they’re helpless. The four of them escape and just as Stone Cold looks to be overwhelmed, Kane returns to even the odds! It’s still four on two until The Rock arrives and runs to the ring! The Rock, Kane and Stone Cold use Rock Bottoms, Chokeslams and Stunners to clear all four members of DX out of the ring and stand tall to end Smackdown.

The Big Show fires back

Jim Ross interviews The Big Show and asks what he’ll do about the Big Bossman after he smashed his father’s gold pocket watch and knocked him out with a hammer on Raw. The Big Show leaves the arena and says that when he sees Bossman, he’ll do something he’s going to regret for the rest of his life so he better just go home.

The Hardcore champion Big Bossman, accompanied by his new bestie Prince Albert, takes on his old rival Al Snow. This is just a singles match with no Hardcore title on the line. The fans chant “we want Head” but in truth, Snow hasn’t had a mascot since Bossman did away with his dog Pepper. He used Head at Unforgiven but he doesn’t carry Head around with him anymore. Albert distracts Snow by banging the nightstick on the ring steps which lets Bossman use the Hardcore title belt as a weapon behind the referees back and win the match. Afterwards, Snow gets on the mic and self-deprecatingly talks about how it's not a shock that he lost another match but he challenges Bossman and Albert to meet him in the parking lot for a Hardcore rules rematch with the Bossman’s title on the line. After the commercial break, Albert and Bossman follow him outside and can’t find Snow. They decide to sit in their car and wait for him to appear because it’s cold and when they do, The Big Show appears with a forklift and pins the car door closed.  With the car now pinned between the forklift and a concrete wall, he jumps on the car badly denting and damaging it, smashing the windshield with his bare hands while screaming and taunting Bossman before pushing a heavy dumpster from a ledge, crushing the car roof! Al Snow set Bossman up for The Big Show. Later, Michael Cole told us that Bossman and Albert had to be cut out of the car with the jaws of life and had been taken to the hospital.

Chris Jericho and Chyna

Y2J Chris Jericho comes out to the ring and says that he’s been challenged to a match by Stevie Richards (who he beat up on Raw after Stevie failed to help him get one over on Chyna) so he calls out Richards but it’s Chyna who comes out instead. Or rather, it’s her music that plays. It is Stevie Richards but he’s dressed as Chyna. A short match that Stevie wins in a huge upset thanks to the real Chyna coming out and hitting Jericho with the IC title belt. Richards gratefully hugs Chyna and gets knocked out with a forearm. King makes both a “fish smell” and a period joke during this. Gross. A frustrated Jericho beats up Richards after Chyna leaves.

Other Happenings

• Backstage, Stephanie McMahon and Test are holding hands and smiling. They are now fully back together and her memory has returned. They’re congratulated by Patterson and Brisco. I love the babyface stooges.
• The WWF Tag Team Champions Hardcore and Crash Holly join commentary for the next match. It’s Edge and Christian vs. “Too Cool” which is the renamed and re-gimmicked Too Much who returned on Raw.

• Brian Christopher is now Grandmaster Sexay, and Scott Taylor is now Scotty 2 Hotty but the commentators still call them Brian and Scott. Scotty does the worm in the middle of the match and doesn’t even cover after it. The gimmick change is that they are basically white hip hop loving losers. They’re supposed to be comedy heels, doing stuff that is clearly very uncool but calling it cool. This is a really good match and makes me sad that they didn’t do anything with the Light Heavyweight division. Crash hits Edge with his scales which allows Too Cool to pick up the win. After the match The Hollys and Too Cool beat down Edge and Christian, laying out both men with separate double team finishers. 
• Mark Henry comes out of a locker room, very sweaty and in only a towel. He says goodbye to a couple of larger ladies, before saying he’s ready for “round two” and welcoming a couple more in. He turned on The Godfather on Raw and Viscera promised to reward him with sharing all the hoes that Viscera won.
• The British Bulldog challenges D’Lo Brown for the European Championship. Bulldog has his new entourage of the Mean Street Posse with him. D’Lo has barely been on TV lately and it’s easy to assume that its related to Droz’ life changing injury however in reality it's because Vince Russo as head writer was a huge fan of D’Lo and now that he’s gone to WCW, Brown has lost his biggest fan backstage. I think D’Lo has been awesome since I started covering this period in wrestling but sadly he has peaked and will be seen in less and less prominent positions going forward. We’ll always have double champion D’Lo and his great matches with Jeff Jarrett and X-Pac to look back on fondly. Rodney distracts the referee, Joey Abs throws the title belt to Bully and he uses it as a weapon for a close near fall. Bulldog follows up on that close false finish by….locking in a sleeper hold. I don’t want to be nasty about him but his face is so bloated - the man doesn’t look well. He also looks like he’s wet himself because he must have poured water over his head and left a big wet patch on the front of his jeans. D’Lo hits the running powerbomb and sets up for the frog splash but Pete Gas trips him and Bulldog follows up with a superplex to win the European Championship. Poor D’Lo, he deserved so much better. Bulldog was the first ever European champion and this is his second reign. 

• The Hardy Boys (with Terri) take on the super heavyweight team of Viscera and Mark Henry. They have some hoes with them which Viscera won from The Godfather on Raw. Mark looks exhausted, and Viscera is pretty mean with the hoes. He’s also debuted a new theme song here - a sort of ominous smooth jazz so at least he and Mideon aren’t using the same theme song as The Acolytes anymore. A distraction from Terri Runnels lets Matt hit a neckbreaker and Jeff to follow with the Swanton Bomb and The Hardys win the match. Afterwards Viscera yells at the hoes in a rage before attacking Mark Henry for costing them the match. 
• Mankind faces Val Venis. Val cost him the WWF title on Raw. Before the match, Venis taunts Mick just so he can casually mention that Mick’s autobiography is now on the New York Times best seller list. Mankind avoids the Money Shot but then can’t find Socko. Al Snow runs to ringside and gives him the sock which allows Mankind to lock in the Mandible Claw and win the match. 

Raw is War - November 1st, 1999

A DX Night

The Rock opens the show in the ring. He rattles off his catchphrases and makes fun of Stone Cold and Triple H. I don’t recap The Rock’s promos because honestly I wouldn’t do them justice. The key thing is that he’s confident that he’ll win at Survivor Series. He then calls Roaddogg a nothing, and a blemish on his buttocks. He strips out of his sweat pants to reveal his ring gear and challenges Roaddogg to come out for their match right now.

Roaddogg does and even comes out solo without the rest of DX so The Rock meets him on the ramp and starts the match early. They fight to the ring, and then back up the ramp and as they disappear through the curtain The Rock is jumped by Mr. Ass, X-Pac and Triple H. The four DX members beat down The Rock as referees try to separate them. Roaddogg set Rock up. Vince McMahon comes out and gets in Triple H’s face, forcing DX to go to the back. Triple H smiles and smugly tells Vince to “keep pushing”.  Backstage, Vince tells DX there won’t be another “DX night” and books Billy Gunn against Stone Cold and X-Pac against Kane here tonight.

Backstage as Michael Cole interviews X-Pac, he’s cut off by Tori who angrily demands to know why X-Pac did what he did to Kane. He jokes about how Tori has a crush on Kane and makes a joke about how the fire that disfigured Kane also damaged his manhood. Jim Ross later confirmed that Kane and Tori are “romantically linked” to King’s disgust. 

Stone Cold Steve Austin comes out to the ring and is dressed to wrestle tonight. He is pissed! He calls out Triple H and The Rock - he is going to beat both their asses at Survivor Series and win back his WWF title. He demands Mr. Ass come to the ring because he wants a fight! Billy Gunn looks all business as he charges the ring - he’s taking this match seriously. It’s physical and Austin actually gets cut open just above his eye. Austin hits the Stunner and has the match won but before he can cover he sees Roaddogg and X-Pac running for the ring so he grabs a steel chair and blasts them both! Triple H drags Mr. Ass out of the ring and DX crawls away licking their wounds as Stone Cold celebrates in the ring with the steel chair and some beers. Triple H very visibly says “you and me motherfucker” to Austin as he backs away.

Kane enters first for his match with X-Pac. It’s hard not to feel sorry for Kane - he dropped his walls and befriended X-Pac. He even picked Pac over his brother The Undertaker, only for X-Pac to break his heart. When Pac enters he stops on the ramp and calls Tori “a slut” and makes more jokes about Kane’s manhood. He taunts Kane until he finally gets out of the ring and attacks. Kane quickly drills him with a chokeslam but before he can do more, Triple H and The New Age Outlaws rush the ring and jump him. A Pedigree lays Kane out and they set him up for a Bronco Buster. King gleefully makes jokes about Kane being “a big red virgin” and DX leaves poor Kane down and out in the ring. 

Backstage as Shane McMahon and referees argue with DX, Kane arrives and attacks. Kane is quickly dragged out to the ring. Vince McMahon tells Triple H that he’s going to defend the WWF title tonight! Triple H pushes Vince and he’s tackled by a pissed off Shane McMahon! Shane’s going to challenge Triple H for the WWF title tonight. 

Before the main event, Vince McMahon is introduced as the special guest ring announcer. He introduces the WWF Champion Triple H first who reluctantly comes to the ring with the rest of DX as back up. X-Pac and Roaddogg come across as such assholes in their bucket hats, dancing and hip thrusting to Triple H’s theme music as they walk. Vince then introduces the special guest commentator - Stone Cold Steve Austin! King makes me laugh as he protests and says he won’t stand for it but then instantly changes his tone and starts sucking up the moment Austin sits down. Vince then introduces the special guest enforcer - Kane! Finally, guest timekeeper The Rock! The deck is stacked. Vince introduces Shane McMahon as the next WWF Champion! He sprints to the ring and tackles Triple H as Austin laughs and cheers Shane on, which is hilarious. Triple H finally stops his flurry of offence with a spinebuster and dominates. Austin gives King a ton of abuse too - he obviously listens to his biassed commentary. X-Pac pulls Shane out of the ring and hits him with a spinning heel kick but he is in turn rocked by an uppercut from Kane and Kane and X-Pac fight off through the crowd. Triple H takes a moment to taunt Vince and that lets Shane dive at him with a clothesline off the guard rail! In the ring, he hits a Pedigree and the fans EXPLODE but Triple H barely kicks out. Triple H dumps Shane to the outside who then hits a pumphandle slam on him. The Rock runs around the ring to fight and The Rock and Roaddogg fight off into the crowd. The numbers at ringside are dwindling for both men. The referee goes down and Shane goes for an elbow off the top but he’s tripped by Mr. Ass. That’s Stone Cold’s cue and he chases off Billy Gunn and those two fight up the ramp. Triple H hits a Pedigree on Shane but Austin runs back to the ring and drops the champion with a Stunner! With all three men down, Vince McMahon gets into the ring with the WWF title belt. He swings for Triple H but accidentally hits Shane. Triple H low blows Vince and covers Shane to barely hang onto the WWF title! Triple H crotch chops in Vince’s face to end the show. 

Mankind and Al Snow

Al Snow sits with Mankind as he signs and autographs copies of his book for “the boys” “Dear Mideon, for the love of God wear a shirt man, all my love, Mick Foley”. Al Snow reads out his favourite insults against himself and they share a laugh. 

Hardcore Champion The Big Bossman and Prince Albert wheel a big plastic bin full of weapons to the ring. Bossman calls out Al Snow for trying to help Big Show on Smackdown. He makes a joke about how Big Show is now sharing a respirator with his dying dad and challenges Snow to a Hardcore title match. Snow comes out and brings out Mankind as back up making this a hardcore tag team match which I would assume means this isn’t for Bossman’s title. As the two teams brawl around and in the ring, backstage Val Venis (Jesus is this feud not DONE yet?) goes to collect all of Mick’s books that he was signing in a trash can. Mankind and Al Snow win a short but fun brawl with a hip toss through a table on Albert. Bossman actually just ran away and left his partner to face the music. In the parking lot, Val Venis pours lighter fluid into the trashcan full of books and sets fire to many copies of Mick Foley’s book. Mankind runs to the back carrying a fire extinguisher. 

Later, Mankind would attack Val Venis during his match with Test. (See “Other Happenings”)

The Tag Team Division

Edge and Christian team with their former rivals Matt and Jeff Hardy against Too Cool and the WWF Tag Team Champions Hardcore and Crash Holly. Too Cool came out to almost silence from the crowd. This comedy heel gimmick didn’t catch on but wait until they’re good guys. Another good match between these men which Edge wins with a spear on Crash Holly. Edge pinned one of the tag team champions.

The Dudley Boyz face The Headbangers. Bubba Ray tries to do his pre-match promo but instead it's Mosh making fun of his stutter. The Headbangers then come out wearing knock off Dudley Gear that says “D-D-D-Dummy Boyz” which is pretty funny. I thought this was a decent feud but the fans started chanting “boring” loudly which is unfair. The Headbangers end up winning this match with a tornado DDT by Thrasher on Bubba Ray. Before they can celebrate they’re jumped by the Mean Street Posse and the five men beat down Mosh and Thrasher. The Headbangers apparently beat the Posse on Sunday Night Heat the day before.

Other Happenings

• The Raw Intro has been updated to feature Chris Jericho and Chyna. They still haven’t removed Ken Shamrock though. Must have been expecting him back. The show this week was in Washington D.C which is always kind of a pain as King and JR inevitably make references to politics and lame jokes on commentary which make it painfully, brutally obvious they are proud card carrying Republicans. 
• Backstage Michael Cole interviews The Big Show who says he doesn’t know what he’s capable of but he’s going to get his hands on Bossman and Albert tonight. As he speaks, Bossman and Albert throw a tear gas grenade into the room and seal the door. They savagely beat Show once he’s passed out. After the commercial there’s some upsetting footage of Show struggling as EMTs put a gas mask on him. The moment is kind of ruined by the fact that there’s still lots of “tear gas” hovering around but the EMTs are unaffected. 

• Intercontinental Champion Chyna debuts her own solo theme song. It’s a kind of dull instrumental. She’s wearing a t-shirt that says “master” and Miss Kitty has one that says “slave”. This pairing doesn’t last long. Chyna is now officially set to defend the title against Chris Jericho at Survivor Series. Chyna challenges Stevie Richards to a match. He tried to help Jericho and then dressed up as Chyna. Chyna easily beats Stevie, and then Chris Jericho runs in afterwards to attack them both. Chyna leaves and Jericho plants Richards with a powerbomb and locks in the Walls of Jericho, all while wearing shiny silver trousers.

• A video hyping the arrival of Olympic Champion Kurt Angle! He runs down all of his many many legitimate achievements. The most celebrated REAL athlete in WWF history. They hadn’t quite decided if he’d be a good guy or a bad guy yet as JR sings his praises while King rips on his “real athlete” spiel.

• Test and Stephanie McMahon come down to the ring together. Test is dressed to compete. He sits Stephanie down on commentary during his match so King and JR can ask her about their engagement and how she’s feeling these days. Test is facing Val Venis who makes some lewd sexual comments to Steph before the match so Test jumps him. King gives Stephanie a ton of grief for getting married and she’s having none of it and makes fun of his bad jokes. It's a competitive match that ends when Mankind runs down and attacks Val, chasing him out of the ring and through the crowd. After the match, Stephanie gets into the ring with a microphone. She gives a gushy speech and asks Test to marry her, and they embrace and kiss. Lovely. The wedding is back on, officially. Backstage as the McMahon’s all celebrate with Stephanie and Test, Triple H and DX get in Vince’s face and say they won’t be held accountable for what's going to happen to Kane tonight.

Smackdown! - November 4th, 1999

Vince McMahon, D-Generate? 

At the start of the show, D-Generation X watches back their highlights from the past Raw, laughing at their various beatings of people and making fun of The Rock, Stone Cold, Kane and especially Vince and the McMahons in general. It should be noted that X-Pac is wearing denim Tommy Hilfiger dungarees and looks ridiculous. DX’s comedy antics and childish humour was still very much on brand for 1999 but it’s a lot less funny now that they’re not just heels but main event, vicious nasty heels. The main storyline point made here is that Triple H focuses on Jim Ross’s commentary questioning if Vince hit Shane with the title belt accidentally. Triple H implies he might have been onto something.

Backstage Stone Cold Steve Austin speaking to Jim Ross asks him what he meant about his comments about Vince McMahon and the title belt shot on Raw. JR says that he didn’t mean anything and he was just thinking about the Mr. McMahon of old. There was another segment with JR talking to The Rock about the same thing and he gives the same excuse. The Rock tells JR not to lie to him or he’ll shove his cowboy hat up his candy ass. Finally, JR has the same chat with Kane (speaking via his girlfriend Tori) and he assures both her and Kane of the same thing.

Vince McMahon is the last one to angrily grill Jim Ross about his accusing words on Raw. “How could you think I’d do that to my own son?” Vince literally hit Shane with a title belt at Backlash. They’ve had matches against each other. Vince has done a lot of evil things on TV so it’s hardly unrealistic. Vince does accept JR’s apology.

WWF Champion Triple H leads Roaddogg, Billy Gunn and X-Pac to the ring. D-Generation X gloats about their actions on Raw. It’s funny that both Roaddogg and Mr. Ass get cheers (including a lot of girly screams from the women in the crowd) but X-Pac gets 100% loud boos and easily the most heat. He was always the least popular member of the group (in my opinion) but now that he’s officially a heel the fans HATE him. He shows highlights of the main event of Raw with Shane being Pedigreed and then Vince’s errant title belt shot. Triple H makes the same jokes he did at the start of the show about Vince having tiny testicles. He also does his absolutely horrific Jim Ross impression before calling out the newest member of DX - Vince McMahon! Mr. Ass holds up a DX jersey which has “Vince - 69” on the back. Vince doesn’t look too happy when he comes out onto the stage.

He asks the crowd if he should join DX before saying he’d rather join the girl scouts. After some jokes about Vince’s mic not working he loudly says he’d rather join “dubya see dubya” than DX! The fans pop and DX sell it like the world's worst insult. Vince then makes tonight's main event an eight man Survivor Series rules elimination match. It’ll be all four members of DX against Shane McMahon, Kane, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin! DX is not happy, and Vince finishes with a crotch chop of his own.

Backstage Vince McMahon tries to have a word with Stone Cold Steve Austin but Austin goes into his locker room and locks the door, not wanting to speak with the boss. He also went to talk to Kane but Tori was there to answer the door and speak for him. Finally, Vince tried to talk to Rock as he headed to the ring but got blanked by him too. Seems like no one trusts him.

The eight man Survivor Series rules match is in the main event. Two teams of four under elimination rules. Shane McMahon enters first, followed by Kane, The Rock and finally Stone Cold Steve Austin. DX enters as a group of course and theres no time to debate who’ll start the match as Shane spears Roaddogg as soon as he enters the ring. They don’t have long for this main event and they speed through the big spots.

Kane is the first man eliminated off a Fameasser and an X-Factor, but he does dunk X-Pac like a basketball with a chokeslam before he leaves. Shane is eliminated second with an X-Factor just as Vince McMahon comes to ringside. The Rock gets in and is isolated and worked over by the still fully intact DX team. Roaddogg is third to be eliminated off a Rock Bottom. Rock gets a hot tag to Stone Cold after a DDT who eliminates X-Pac with a Stunner. The Rock and Austin show some good tag team chemistry but Triple H stops The Rock’s People’s Elbow attempt on Mr. Ass. The Rock still manages to eliminate Billy with a roll up which leaves it two on one against Triple H. The three Survivor Series main eventers. Mr. Ass doesn’t leave and gets plenty of cheap shots in on The Rock illegally which allows Triple H to Pedigree and pin him. It's now Stone Cold and Triple H one on one. Both men go down off a double clothesline and Vince McMahon gets into the ring with a chair, but it's snatched from him by Triple H. Vince again tries to hit Triple H with the belt but he hits Austin and just like on Raw, Vince McMahon seemingly accidentally helps Triple H win a match. Vince tries to explain himself but it's all too much of a coincidence now. Triple H gets in a last cheap shot on Austin before he leaves and the show ends on a tense staredown between McMahon and Austin. 

Mankind

In the arena, the show opens with Mankind and Al Snow challenging Hardcore and Crash Holly for the WWF Tag Team titles. Michael Cole and Al Snow take the opportunity to talk about a recent media scandal - in a twin pack of Al Snow and Hardcore Holly action figures, there has been uproar about it apparently including a severed woman’s head. Cole even reads the quote which is a dark comment about spousal abuse. They mean Head, Al Snow’s mannequin head mascot. Poor Al - he was legit very upset about the whole thing.

This is a short match that the fans weren’t really that into I think not expecting a title change. There’s a big pop when Mankind hits Crash with a double arm DDT and Mankind and Al Snow become the new WWF Tag Team Champions. This is Mick Foley’s 7th tag team title win with four different partners. In the back while celebrating with Al Snow (who uses milk instead of champagne) Mankind disappears saying he has some business to attend to.

Backstage, new Tag Team Champion Mankind wanders around looking for Val Venis. 

Mankind’s pursuit of Val Venis leads him to a stripclub where he tries to pay for information, and then rejects a lap dance. Later, he goes to an adult movie theatre and kicks down doors on unsuspecting perverts, looking for Val. 

As Mankind leaves the adult peep show, unable to track down Val Venis, his car is towed. Back at the arena as Al Snow continues to celebrate he’s jumped by Val Venis who never left the arena afterall. 

Chris Jericho wages war on women

The Godfather comes out with four hoes wearing oversized Godfather t-shirts. He does his whole spiel and asks if we want to see more? They’re about to remove their t-shirts to show what's underneath (or what's not underneath) but he’s interrupted by Y2J Chris Jericho. In a cool effect, Jericho cuts his promo about how we’re all here to see him while his theme music keeps playing softly in the background. I love that. He says that no one wants to see a woman as a champion and promises that after he beats Chyna at Survivor Series she can be his private hoe. She has a crush on him, so he says. He’s being a gross heel but the girls in the crowds still squeal when he says he’s handsome, and the hoes still smile and act into it when he taunts them at ringside. Stevie Richards sneaks to ringside dressed as a hoe during the match and tells the real girls to get in the ring. The distraction allows him to superkick Jericho and help Godfather win. Backstage while Godfather celebrates, Lillian Garcia catches up with Stevie Richards and asks why he keeps getting involved in this situation. Basically it's because he has a thing for Chyna. Don’t we all, Stevie.

Other Happenings

• Test faces D’Lo Brown. Test and Stephanie’s wedding is now set to take place during Raw is War on November 29th. Cole and King talk a lot about that during this short match. The Mean Street Posse come out to watch from the top of the ramp and we can hear them making fun of Test and ripping on his appearance. D’Lo jumps off the top rope and apparently hurts his knee. Test goes in to check on him and D’Lo turns it into a small package roll up to win the match! Afterwards, D’Lo continued to sell his leg so he wasn’t faking to win the match and instead just let his instincts take over. Test still helps D’Lo up after the match and checks on him like a nice guy. 
• The Big Bossman is scheduled to finally go one on one with The Big Show after weeks of antagonising and taunting him. Show wastes no time and rushes the ring and goes right on the attack. After a flurry, Bossman escapes the ring and tries to leave but Show catches him and throws him back towards the ring. The match officially ends in a double countout. Back in the ring, Show continues the beating anyway and plants him with a chokeslam. Prince Albert runs in and he takes an even more impressive looking chokeslam. Bossman escapes and referees and officials arrive to stop Big Show from continuing the chase so he delivers chokeslams to officials Dave Hebner (Earl’s twin brother) Sgt. Slaughter and Tony Garea. He doesn’t look satisfied with just chokeslamming Bossman once

• When Too Cool came out for a tag team match, they’re announced as Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty so the gimmick change is now complete. They’re facing The Hardy Boyz. In a decent but short match, Jeff pins Scotty with the Swanton bomb after a distraction from Terri Runnels.
• Edge challenges The British Bulldog for the European Championship. The Bulldog has his new found entourage of the Mean Street Posse with him. This connection hasn’t been explained but it makes sense that he’d want backup and they’d want to befriend a veteran who can teach them things. Christian comes down to watch his partners back, followed by Mosh and Thrasher of The Headbangers who are feuding with the Posse (mostly on Sunday Night Heat but we also saw a bit of it on Raw too). Edge missile dropkicks Bulldog to the outside and Christian DDTs him on the floor. Edge seems to have the championship won but Joey Abs breaks the count and causes the disqualification. All eight men fight and brawl in the ring. 

Raw is War - November 8th, 1999

The Penn State Screwjob

Stone Cold Steve Austin opens up the show in the arena. He has lots of questions I’m sure as at the end of both last week’s Raw and Smackdown, Vince McMahon helped Triple H win a match with an errant WWF title belt shot. Everyone is questioning whether it was an accident both times or whether Vince McMahon is in cahoots with DX. DX invited Vince to join the group! Austin is pissed off, and doesn’t trust anyone, especially Vince McMahon so he wants answers. The fans loudly chant “asshole” at Vince when he comes out. Vince says that everyone makes mistakes, but his promo is broken up. This is the third or fourth show in a row where someone’s promo has been ruined by a mic cutting in and out while they speak. Vince is very clear that it was an accident and the fans chant “bullshit” at him. Austin is sceptical. Vince says he will prove he’s on the level by making himself the special referee for the main event of Survivor Series. That brings The Rock out! Given how badly Triple H has beaten Vince and his son up lately, it wouldn’t make any sense for him to be working with Triple H but that’s never a guarantee that he isn’t during this era. Ever since the audio issues with the mic and Austin throwing the broken one across the arena there has been a ton of hissing and crackling at random points which is irritating. The Rock is obviously not keen on Vince being the referee. He says he and Austin don’t agree on much but they do agree that they should never trust Vince McMahon (well actually, he calls him a roody poo candy ass). Vince takes offence at The Rock not believing him and reminds us all that The Rock “accidentally” hit Stone Cold in the gut with a sledgehammer at No Mercy!

Triple H comes out onto the stage last. Triple H calls the three of them screw ups and that he’s the only one who doesn’t make mistakes. It doesn’t matter that he has to face them both at the same time, and it doesn’t matter who the referee is because he will leave Survivor Series as the WWF champion. He tells Vince that if he gets in his face again tonight it will be the biggest mistake of his life. Stone Cold says that whether it's him or The Rock, someone is going to beat Triple H’s ass at Survivor Series. 

Michael Hayes interviews Test along with Stephanie, Shane and Linda McMahon. They talk about their excitement for the wedding. Shane gives his 100% support and shakes Test’s hand.

Backstage DX has another run in with Vince and the McMahon family and there's a shouting match. 

X-Pac takes on The Rock. It’s been made official for Survivor Series that X-Pac will face Kane. The Rock talks some trash and works up the crowd before the match starts. These two work very smoothly together so this is good. Earl Hebner does continue to prove he’s a terrible referee by ringing the bell before The Rock is even in the ring, but he’s repaid by being knocked down by The Rock throwing X-Pac into him. With the referee down, X-Pac hits Rocky right in the head with a steel chair but The Rock kicks out just barely when Earl recovers. X-Pac follows up with the Bronco Buster but the X-Factor is countered into a Rock Bottom and The Rock wins. It feels like week’s since we’ve seen the People’s Elbow! Before The Rock even gets to his feet he’s attacked by Triple H and the Outlaws and he gets a Pedigree. Vince McMahon then comes down to the ring and says this issue is between him and Triple H and says for him to send the rest of DX to the back. Now that they’re alone in the ring, Vince taunts Triple H. He wasn’t happy to learn Vince is the referee at Survivor Series and he won’t be happy with this - he’s defending the WWF title against Test tonight, with Shane McMahon as the referee. Triple H wasn’t worried about Test until the referee was announced. He makes himself the special timekeeper for good measure, and drops a Monstreal reference (suggesting he’ll just ring the bell whether Triple H submits or not) He also says that if the rest of DX get involved then he will stop the match and strip Triple H of the title and award it to Test. Triple H takes off his shirt like he wants a fight but The Rock recovers and plants him with a Rock Bottom and, just because I mentioned it, the People’s Elbow! After the commercial break, Triple H flips out and screams at the rest of DX. It’s a nice change as when McMahon used to try and screw Stone Cold, Austin would just take it on the chin like a man but because Triple H is a heel he can act like a coward and get angry.

Lillian Garcia introduces Vince McMahon as the timekeeper, and Shane McMahon as the referee. Test comes out first to challenge for the WWF Championship. The commentators very openly speak about Montreal and Vince McMahon’s screwjob of Bret Hart at the 1997 Survivor Series. Vince doesn’t even let Triple H finish his entrance, cutting the music and ringing the bell before he’s even at the ring. Test goes right on the attack before HHH even gets the belt off. Test rolls up Triple H and Shane counts very fast but the champion kicks out, and then shoves him into another roll up and tries it again! Triple H bails out of the ring and is thrown right back in by Vince! The screwjob is on. The match is heated and when Triple H hits the Pedigree and would seem to have the match won, Shane goes out to ask Vince the time instead of counting. That’s too much for the champion and Triple H goes out and punches Vince and throws Shane across the announce table. Vince gets into the ring with the WWF title belt and third time is the charm as this week his aim is true and he knocks out Triple H. He lifts Shane into the ring who counts but Triple H kicks out at two. Test hits the Pumphandle Slam and goes up top for his big Elbow Drop finisher and just as he hits it, we see Roaddogg in the back on the titantron. He opens the locker room door to show Mr. Ass and X-Pac apparently assaulting Stephanie McMahon! She kicks her legs and screams as the camera cuts out. Vince, Test and Shane all sprint to the back and Triple H is declared the winner, apparently just because Lillian has decided. Vince gets backstage but DX and Stephanie are gone. Raw ends with Triple H celebrating retaining his WWF title once again.

Another Tag Title Change

Backstage ahead of their Tag Team title match, The New Age Outlaws make fun of Al Snow’s action figure being pulled out of stores because of an uproar about the figure apparently coming with a “severed human head” (it’s Head). Mankind and Al Snow only won the titles three days ago on Smackdown. The match was short but good. Snow seems to have the titles retained with a Snow Plough on Roaddogg but after yet ANOTHER attack by Val Venis on Mankind and a chairshot from Mr. Ass, Roaddogg pins Al Snow to win the tag team championships. 

Backstage afterwards, DX celebrates and X-Pac who seems to be left out as the only member of DX with no championship gold challenges The Rock to a match tonight (which I talked about in the previous section).

Kevin Kelly interviews a heart broken Al Snow and Mankind. He’s had a tough week with the action figure nonsense and now losing the titles.

The Godfather faces Val Venis. Godfather offers Val some hoes and makes a lot of quite frankly filthy sexual jokes. The fans chant “take the hoes” and Val seemingly does, but then jumps Godfather from behind instead. The match doesn’t go for long before Mankind comes down to attack Val and they fight into the crowd. The never ending feud continues. JR says this is a count out victory for The Godfather but surely it’s a disqualification victory for Val? 

Al Snow, on the phone to his mother, explains that he's not a murderer and it doesn’t sound like she believes him. Mankind cheers him up by presenting him with Head, which he hasn't had since Droz and Prince Albert drove a railroad spike into her? him? it? in July. There’s some funny “you gave me Head” jokes. 

The Big Bossman shows no sympathy

In the ring, Lillian Garcia leads the crowd in a one minute silence and a 10 bell toll out of respect for The Big Show’s father who has passed away. (Not really, of course). It only got about 5 bells in before The Big Bossman’s music played and interrupted. Bossman heads down to the ring and takes the mic from Lillian and reads a poem, mocking The Big Show’s father’s death. 

Hardcore Champion The Big Bossman takes on Kane in a non-title match. The Big Red Machine doesn’t have his girlfriend Tori with him. It’ll be a little longer before she starts accompanying him to the ring. Kane shows off some nice athletic moves with a clothesline and a dive to the outside. This is physical and Bossman kind of just no-sells a lot of Kane’s shots and hits his own. Kane uses the flying clothesline but Albert runs in before he can win the match. Albert gets chokeslammed but Bossman jumps Kane from behind with the nightstick, hammering Kane in the legs and then choking him with it. Feels like either X-Pac will come out to join in or Big Show will make the save but neither happens.

Other Happenings

• The third Kurt Angle video - he explains his 3 Is! Integrity, Intensity and Intelligence.

• Edge and Christian team with The Headbangers to take on European Champion The British Bulldog and The Mean Street Posse. They wear some sports outfits that rile up the crowd. I don’t really get the reference of course. It’s a short match which Edge wins by pinning Joey Abs after he, Christian, Mosh and Thrasher take turns hitting him with moves. The eight man brawl again afterwards.
• Chris Jericho had a pre-taped promo from the big outdoor sports arena. He makes more nasty jokes about Chyna looking like a man, and says she needs to hand over the Intercontinental title at Survivor Series.

• Chyna debuts her “Don’t treat me like a woman” theme song at long last (it’s not the proper version yet, it sounds really quiet) and the Intercontinental Champion has her “slave” Miss Kitty with her. Before she can even start speaking, Stevie Richards comes out dressed as Elvis Presley. He does a terrible Elvis impression. He’s trying to woo Chyna and tries to sing. Chyna and Miss Kitty have a laugh at his terrible singing. It still feels weird to see Chyna smile. As everyone is distracted, Chris Jericho rushes the ring and hits Chyna from behind. He throws Stevie out of the ring and Chyna fights back. The two brawl and throw punches until they’re eventually separated by referees. Jericho gets a bunch of kicks to the head in. Miss Kitty proves to be pretty useless as she just stands and watches, but does help Chyna escape the referees holding her back to get some more shots in on Jericho.
• Bradshaw and Faarooq hang out at a bar, watching Raw. They say that Chris Jericho doesn’t know how to treat a woman but they do, then a pretty lady approaches them and flirts. Later, the girl is sitting with them and a man with a ponytail says it's his girlfriend. I thought it would come to blows but The Acolytes just laugh him off. It’s not until the next segment from the bar when two drunk yahoos provoke Bradshaw and Faarooq and are quickly attacked and beaten up, slamming them through tables and chairs and smashing bottles, glasses and windows. Bradshaw even takes the guy’s girlfriend with him.

• Too Cool comes out and Grandmaster Sexay has a pre match promo where they get to properly introduce us to their lame white boys who love hip hop gimmick. Scotty 2 Hotty claim that they are also super heavyweights. That heralds their opponents - Hardcore and Crash Holly. These two teams will be on the same side at the Survivor Series. The Hollys win a short match with a Falcon Arrow by Hardcore Holly on Scotty 2 Hotty.

Smackdown! - November 11th, 1999

The Terminator takes on DX

D-Generation X open the show in the arena. I’ve been keeping track of these things with the other belts so I’ll mention it too - the WWF Tag Team title belts carried by Roaddogg and Mr. Ass still have the old WWF block logo on them. I think. It’s hard to tell because it’s gold on a gold background. Triple H laughs about what now sounds like a sexual assault by Billy Gunn, Roaddogg and X-Pac on Stephanie McMahon during the closing moments of Raw. He shows the footage and makes fun of Vince being so angry and upset. Roaddogg even has Stephanie’s dress with him and X-Pac laughs about stains and “checking for DNA” while Triple H implies it smells like cum. I’m not even kidding.

But Triple H does reveal that it in fact wasn’t Stephanie - it was some local female student and they just pretended it was Steph to rile up Vince McMahon. They do still strongly imply that while the girl wasn’t Stephanie McMahon, they did violently sexually assault her. And people thought they’d tone this kind of stuff down after Vince Russo left, Jesus Christ. The women in the crowd do squeal and cheer when he makes comments about Mr. Ass doing the deed, and the cameras show a woman holding up a “Triple H is hot” sign so maybe insinuated rape is sexy and I’m just a prude. While Triple H speaks, the fans chant a garbled mess of “Rocky” and “Austin” and I can’t tell which was louder. Triple H promises victory at Survivor Series and continues to push his “The Game” and “That Damn Good” catchphrases. Vince McMahon arrives and says he could do many things about their stunt on Raw, including firing all four of them. Which realistically is what he should do. He then says he could get “an equaliser” and leave them a bloody mess. I think he means a gun? This opening segment is a bit much. He basically promises to screw Triple H at Survivor Series, and then books tonight’s main event - a rematch of last week’s main event. An eight man, Survivor Series elimination match. This week, Test is taking Stone Cold’s place, but he adds Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest enforcer (which is just like a second referee, but outside the ring). Vince leaves, and Triple H makes an ominous threat at Vince and implies Stephanie will be smiling because she secretly wants DX to rape her? (he doesn’t say rape, I’m paraphrasing). It’s too much for Test and he rushes the ring and tries to fight all four of them and somewhere in the brawl he got a bloody nose. Vince manages to get him out of the ring to safety before he gets injured worse.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is here on Smackdown live tonight. They promoted it a bunch of times during Raw too. Vince, Patterson and Brisco wait out in the parking lot for him to arrive. In the second, he actually does and amid Gerry Brisco making jokes about the closeted homosexual Pat Patterson having a crush on Arnie, the man himself arrives. Patterson gives him a big hug. He looks really young - all tanned skin, blonde hair and white teeth. 

In their locker room, DX discusses ways to mess with Vince McMahon and settle on trying to get to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As Arnie walks around backstage (solo? No security?) he bumps into The Rock who smiles and is very nice to him which is out of character. They trade catchphrases. Hasta la vista baby, etc. 

Backstage, Kane, The Rock, Shane McMahon and Test are together. Test has a broken nose and Shane doesn’t want him to go out and get hurt worse. The Rock says it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that they lay the smackdown on DX.

Vince McMahon comes out to the ring and after running through his various films and accomplishments introduces Arnold Schwarzenegger. He presents him with the WWF Championship belt. It’s the one with the big blocky WWF logo on it so it might actually just legit be the old belt rather than a replica. Arnie seems genuinely excited and moved to be there and talks about the massive crowd and the cheers and the enormous TV audience. Vince has a genuine laugh with him too which feels rare. He came out to a royalty free knock off version of The Terminator theme song, and is here to promote his movie End of Days (11% on Rotten Tomatoes).

D-Generation X watches backstage on TV and makes fun of him, and then later lies in wait to jump him and accidentally catch some poor backstage member of staff. Later, they go door to door looking for him but accidentally stumble across Kane, The Rock and Shane McMahon and they fight them off, sending DX running off with their tails between their legs.

Arnold Schwarzenegger joins commentary for the main event and again, seems so happy and excited to be there! It’s infectious. Backstage, Test’s nose looks a mess and is badly broken so it looks like he won’t be in this match after all. Shane enters first, followed by Kane and then The Rock. Arnie comes across as a huge Rocky fan and talks a lot about how enormous wrestling has gotten. He talks about it with respect too, calling it a sport and the performers athletes. Good guy Arnie. D-Generation X enter next and finally, as is tradition, the special guest enforcer Stone Cold Steve Austin. I think DX have teamed up more since their reunion as heels a couple of weeks ago than they ever did during their original run. Triple H and Shawn Michaels, the original members, only formed a tag team once before 2006! X-Pac and Kane both get counted out as they fight up the entrance ramp and disappear, and Test was eliminated via forfeit before the match even started so it's WWF Champion Triple H and the Tag Team Champions Roaddogg and Mr. Ass against The Rock and Shane McMahon. Arnie’s commentary is great honestly as he reacts in awe to every move and sells them as devastating. Shane gets beaten down and worked over by DX as the fans blow out their lungs chanting “Rocky” and “Austin” in turn. Triple H looks into the camera and taunts Vince as he continues to beat up his son Shane. Shane is eventually eliminated by a Fameasser by Billy Gunn and a cover by Roaddogg. The Rock faces three on one odds. He shows no fear, but Test does arrive in time to help out and goes to work on Roaddogg as Triple H and The Rock pair off. Mr. Ass uses a chair on Test but Stone Cold catches him and disqualifies him, sending him to the back! The Rock eliminates Roaddogg with a Rock Bottom and it’s now Triple H against The Rock and Test, who work well as a team and beat the champion up for a bit. Triple H intentionally knocks down the referee, but when Stone Cold tries to hit him with a chair he ducks and The Rock takes it instead. Triple H throws Stone Cold into the ring but Arnie slips a chair to Austin and he knocks out Triple H and counts the three when Test covers him. The Rock and Test officially win, but Austin hits The Rock with a chair by mistake.

Post match, Triple H goes out to confront Schwarzenegger who knocks him down with a punch and lays into him with more! Stone Cold raises Arnie’s hands as he celebrates with his own WWF Championship belt. Smackdown ends with Stone Cold Steve Austin sharing a beer with Arnold Schwarzenegger!

The Big Bossman goes too far

After a video package for The Big Bossman and The Big Show’s feud which I’ve included so you can all see how evil Bossman is, there’s footage from The Big Show’s father’s funeral. They’ve hyped this up all through the show with moving shots of the graveyard and The Big Show and his mother, while Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole talk about how disgusting it all is. During the real footage, The Big Bossman shows up in a police cruiser outfitted with a megaphone. He shouts abuse at the mourners and makes a pass at Show’s mother before running The Big Show over! The rest of the party go to check on The Big Show and while they do, Bossman attaches a chain to The Big Show’s father’s coffin and drags it off behind his car! Show jumps onto the coffin but rolls off and it’s dragged away down the street. It’s so disgusting and deplorable, they show a replay of it after the commercial break too. This is absolutely, hilariously evil. It’s absurd and kind of brilliant. For the record, The Big Show’s real life father was alive and well and thought this whole thing was pretty hilarious.

In the arena, Hardcore Champion The Big Bossman enters to defend his title against Faarooq (who has a new theme song, which doesn’t last). Bossman taunts Big Show before the match. They’re on opposite sides of a four on four match at Survivor Series. Faarooq attacks but with some help from Prince Albert, Bossman retains. Bradshaw runs down and hammers Albert with a steel chair in defence of his tag team partner.

Other Happenings

• The audio mix of this episode on the WWE Network is absolutely shockingly awful. The volume goes up and down seemingly at random and there’s a dreadful, fake, tinny qualify to the dubbed in commentary and crowd noises.
• The fourth Kurt Angle video! He respects the WWF Superstars, but you need to have a little something special to win a Gold Medal. He’ll make his in ring debut at Survivor Series! 
• Edge (with Christian) faces Hardcore Holly (with Crash Holly). During their entrance, Crash accidentally catches Hardcore in the back of the head with their massive scales and they shove each other. Hardcore wins a short back and forth match when he counters a superplex into a small package roll up.
• The Godfather and D’Lo Brown team up against The Dudley Boyz. They’re on opposite teams at Survivor Series. D’Lo has the match won on D-Von but thanks to an accidental distraction from some hoes, The Dudleyz are able to hit the 3D and win the match. 
• Val Venis faces the European Champion The British Bulldog. Even though neither man is involved here, and he’s not facing either of them at the PPV, Val makes fun of Mankind and Al Snow beforehand. The match doesn’t last long before The Mean Street Posse rush the ring and attack Val, which brings out Val’s partners at Survivor Series - Steve Blackman, Gangrel and Mark Henry. They make the save in an eight man brawl. 

• Backstage, Kevin Kelly interviews Intercontinental Champion Chyna and Miss Kitty. Chyna shows tons more personality as she did as a heel, and mocks Jericho’s small penis and promises to beat him at Survivor Series. Afterwards, he jumps her from behind by smashing a glass bottle on her head. He attacks really viciously as Miss Kitty screams and she’s then attended to with blood pouring from Chyna’s head. He was really violent and uncalled for, and threw tampons at her (because she’s a girl) but when he comes out in the arena he still gets a lot of cheers because it’s 1999. He sarcastically says that what he just did hurt him more than it hurt her. She is a mockery to the sport and to the Intercontinental title. “Even a woman can win a championship”. He wants her to just surrender the title belt to him at the PPV, or he’ll brutally end her career. 

• Too Cool take on The Hardy Boyz. Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty are starting to catch on a bit with the crowd, as Cole and King argue over what Too Cool’s names are. Too Cool win thanks to some mistimed interference from Terri Runnels. She’s useless and adds nothing to The Hardyz presentation.
• WWF Women’s Champion Ivory comes out and issues a challenge to Tori, calling Kane “the big red retard” which is censored. I hate that word. Anyway, Tori runs down and tackles her but the fans explode and cheer at something else - Debra walks down to ringside. We haven’t seen her for a few weeks. There is an eight woman tag at Survivor Series which isn’t elimination rules purely because half the women in the match are either over 70 or aren’t trained wrestlers (Debra and Terri Runnels) so can’t all be expected to take bumps and be pinned. The Ivory and Tori title match ends in disqualification as the other six women get involved. The fans chant “we want puppies” and it is, by quite a wide margin, the loudest they’ve been all night. The women are separated by referees.