Raw is War - 28th August, 2000

McMahon-Helmsley Soap Opera

Raw opens with an energetic promo from Commissioner Foley who calls last night’s PPV the greatest Summerslam of all time (he was probably right too) where he announced a whole bunch of matches for tonight’s Raw including four title matches. 

In the parking lot, Triple H awaits the arrival of his wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley who he has not seen since Kurt Angle carried her, unconscious, out of the arena last night at Summerslam. Angle isn’t expected at Raw tonight after he was given a bad concussion at the PPV however the big gossip is where oh where did Stephanie spend the night last night if not with her husband? 

X-Pac goes out (still in all his DX regalia) to check on The Game. Triple H is genuinely concerned as to both Stephanie’s whereabouts and her physical condition after he accidentally punched her. X-Pac makes a joke about it which Triple H didn’t appreciate. After a commercial break, Roaddogg is checking on him too (also in his DX gear) and he’s a lot more considerate. 

To everyone’s shock as JR had already explained he wouldn’t be here tonight, Kurt Angle heads down to the ring in the arena! Kurt explains that after the concussion, he doesn’t remember anything about the event and that thanks to Triple H he now won’t be able to tell his grandkids about the greatest night of his career. He says what he does know is that Triple H struck his own wife and then got his butt kicked by The Rock. He says he was “told” that he rescued Stephanie, but he has no memory of anything else. He says he always thought The Game was shady but after last night he knows he was a lousy WWF Champion and an even lousier husband. That brings Triple H down to the ring looking furious. He doesn’t attack Kurt (which doesn’t make sense in the story but in reality you can’t go fighting a man who has a legit concussion) and instead demands to know where his wife is, basically accusing him of kidnapping. Angle restates that he doesn’t know where Stephanie is. Triple H isn’t buying it and knows Angle is smarter than he pretends to be. Kurt says maybe his wife hasn’t contacted him because that punch made Stephanie realise what “a bastard” her husband really is. Triple H shoves Kurt out of the ring and the two want to start fighting but referees arrive to keep them apart!

Michael Cole interviews Kurt Angle in his locker room and sceptical asks if he really doesn’t remember anything. Angle slowly remembers being at a hotel with Stephanie, and in room 814 which was her room number not his. 

Backstage, Chyna and Eddie Guerrero are watching on and Chyna even says she feels a little sorry for Hunter. Eddie can’t believe it and says Triple H doesn’t know how to treat a woman.

Up next, Chyna defends her newly won Intercontinental title against former champion Val Venis. Interestingly, Val doesn’t have Trish Stratus with him. She was out with T&A earlier but one can only assume Val has fallen out with Trish after she lost him the IC title last night. Venis is very aggressive and as he works over Chyna, Trish comes out onto the stage to watch the match. This is one of Chyna’s better matches and she impresses with a string of offence. Thanks to Eddie distracting the referee, Chyna hits a low blow and even throws Val around by his crotch (which gets a big pop). Val sets up for the Money Shot splash but Trish heads down to the ring to encourage him. Stupidly, he gets distracted instead and chases her away from ringside allowing Eddie to get in a few cheap shots and send him back into the ring to be rolled up. Chyna retains the title, and Val blames Trish (unfairly, that was entirely his own fault). Eddie celebrates with his Mamacita and he is fully supportive of her. Eddie and Chyna have never been stronger.

Backstage, Chyna goes to see Triple H - surreal to see them interact on TV again after all this time, it’s been almost a year since they quietly split. She tells him to trust her and some genuine advice and the two former friends and partners hug. Eddie Guerrero comes in and seeing them hug puts him into a jealous frenzy where he shoves Triple H. Chyna leads Latino Heat away. Later as Eddie seeths in his locker room, Kurt Angle walks in on him and tells Latino Heat to show Chyna what a real man he is and fight for his woman - challenge Triple H to a match! 

An angry Eddie Guerrero busts into Triple H’s locker room and says that everything Kurt Angle says about him is true and he wants Triple H tonight. The Game accepts and is in no mood. 

Eddie Guerrero (who has told Chyna to stay in the back) takes on Triple H and Latino Heat has gone from being praised for how supportive and strong his relationship with Chyna was to being in a jealous rage about an innocent hug in less than an hour. Perhaps there’s some other factor here. It’s actually pretty striking how massive the size difference is between these two men. You forget Eddie was a cruiserweight for much of his career. He uses his speed to impress and Triple H uses his strength. The fans chat a quiet “na na na na goodbye” chant at one point. Must have been a fan getting ejected for bad behaviour. Triple H sets up Eddie for a Pedigree but Kurt Angle rushes the ring and cracks both The Game and Eddie with stiff chairshots to the head! Chyna runs down with a chair of her own and that sends Angle packing. Chyna tends to both men - her man, and her friend/former friend/however you want to define her relationship with Triple H. It must have been hard for her to work with him after he left her for Stephanie McMahon in real life. 

WWF title match on Raw

It’s been hyped up all night long since Mick Foley announced it at the top of the show - Kane challenging The Rock for the WWF title tonight. Kevin Kelly interviews the WWF Champion about whether he is ready for such a monster challenge. The Rock spends most of his time making fun of Kevin Kelly, asking him if he’s ready to tickle a monkey’s anus and why he’s such an ugly hermaphrodite. Mean, but Kevin Kelly isn’t a great person in real life these days so fair enough.

The main event is The Rock defending his WWF Championship against Kane, who earlier promised to win this title so that the people are stuck with a monster like him representing them. This is a physical match and the fans are electric for The Rock. The referee goes down as Rocky hits a People’s Elbow but with no referee to count, Kane gets back up and hammers The Rock with a chokeslam. The referee slowly wakes up and makes the count but The Rock kicks out. He was so close to having won the WWF title. The Rock fights back with a Rock Bottom but amazingly Kane kicks out at two! The Rock looks like he’s seen a ghost. They fight to the outside of the ring and into the crowd, which brings The Undertaker riding down to the ring on his motorbike. He’s not done with his younger brother. Kane goes to met him and the two start fighting in the ring - in a nice touch, Undertaker has the mask he took from Kane mounted on the front of his bike. He drills Kane with a massive chokeslam in the middle of the ring and leaves just as Rock and the referee return to the ring. The Rock covers but again, Kane kicks out at two! Kane is unstoppable tonight. The Rock drills him with a second Rock Bottom and THAT is finally enough to put Kane down for the three count. Only just, as Kane kicks out at 3.5. Raw ends with The Undertaker and The Rock exchanging an uneasy stare down. 

The Tag Champs are disrespectful

The WWF Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian walk down to the ring very slowly and gingerly. They have bandages on their arms and are showing the effects of last night’s brutal Tables, Ladders and Chairs match last night. Christian says they aren’t out here to brag or show off and instead give their respect to The Hardyz and The Dudleyz. Bubba Ray and D-Von aren’t here tonight but Matt and Jeff are so they ask them to come to the ring so they can shake their hands. That brings out two midgets dressed as The Hardyz, even carrying a pair of tiny little step ladders. Christian says that the greatness of the match had nothing to do with The Hardyz or Dudleyz and was all thanks to the champs. That brings out The Dudleyz but the cheers turn to boos as once again it’s a pair of midgets dressed as them carrying a little toy table. Jerry Lawler is particularly offensive, laughing at the midgets (I did check and that seems to be the preferred word of the community these days). The fans do laugh along as Edge and Christian mock them, and they all do bad impressions. We get a “37 second pose” as they use the toy table and step ladders to reenact the match, Edge and Christian easily winning. They even put a big timer up on the titantron for 37 seconds to “give the people what they want”. Finally, the real Hardy Boyz run to the ring and attack the tag team champions with Matt dropping Edge with a Twist of Fate and then smashing the toy ladder off Christian. Jeff is limping and looks like he can hardly walk after Summerslam. The girls in the crowd scream when Jeff takes his top off, and The Hardyz get some real ladders and beat up Edge, trying to dive off onto him but Christian drags his partner out of the ring and to safety. 

Lita defends the WWF Women’s Championship against Jacqueline. She’s more popular than ever, especially after pushing Edge and Christian off a ladder last night at Summerslam. This match gets a decent bit of time for a women’s match and is one of the better ones from this era. Jackie pores on all the offence but Lita keeps kicking out until eventually hitting a really nice looking reverse DDT followed by a Twist of Fate and then a moonsault to retain the title. Lita’s ribs are still bothering her after Edge speared her last night and as she tries to leave, Edge and Christian come down to apparently attack her. Jackie attacks her from behind and despite the best efforts of Matt and Jeff also running down, Edge flattens Lita with another brutal spear in the ring. 

Other Happenings

• The opening match is Chris Jericho teaming with the APA against Chris Benoit and T&A. Benoit enters last and before he’s even down the ramp Y2J runs up to meet him and they start fighting and brawling down to the ring which officially starts the match. Jericho picks up the victory for his team in a spirited match after a big boot from Bradshaw on Albert and then a Lionsault to finish. The fans were white hot for everyone in this one. It is insane how hot the WWF is!
• The Right to Censor heads down to the ring because after their six man victory over Rikishi and Too Cool last night, Steven has demanded a singles match with Rikishi tonight. Before the match Richards gives us another lecture and says that by bringing back those two hoes (Victoria and Mandy) Rikishi has made this a personal issue. When Rikishi comes out he has them both with him again, plus Too Cool. The RtC boys attack Too Cool before the match and it all breaks down. Officially this is a no contest as Steven and the gang leave in a hurry and so the hoes victory dance with Too Cool and Rikishi.

• Steve Blackman, fresh off dropping Shane McMahon about 50 feet to the arena floor at Summerslam, defends his Hardcore title against Tazz, who lost to Jerry Lawler at Summerslam. As Tazz walks to the ring he promises to victimise Blackman, Lawler and JR tonight. His focus on the commentators backfires as Blackman kicks a trash can into his chest while he’s distracted and the two fight into the crowd. Tazz takes a cheap shot at King and as the two fight, JR cracks Tazz across the back of the head with a trash can lid, followed by a diving kick from Blackman and Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler cost Tazz the Hardcore title. That was his own fault though! Referees rush down and stop the fight from escalating.

• Al Snow and The Kat take on European Champion Perry Saturn and Terri. I’m sure that much like me you assumed/hoped/prayed that Kat and Terri’s feud was over after their terrible thong-stink face match at Summerslam but alas here we still are. Kat and Terri catfight and roll around pulling each other’s hair. They’ve been doing this on and off for about 7 months now. Terri does one of the ugliest vertical suplexes I’ve ever seen. The action between Perry and Snow is obviously much better. This match features the debut of “Naked Mideon” Mideon streaks - running through the crowd and through the ring wearing only a “fanny pack”. All the laughter from that is quickly undone by Perry Saturn locking The Kat in his Rings of Saturn submission hold, which gives him and Terri the victory.

Smackdown! - 31st August, 2000

The Love Triangle sucks in more victims

Smackdown opens with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley live in the arena. There has been nothing but speculation as to her whereabouts since Summerslam and oddly, she’s wearing a very smug, self satisfied smirk as she walks to the ring. She says that Triple H is on his way to the arena and that she and her husband are experiencing wedded bliss. She explains her absence - she’s been at the bedside of her brother Shane after his fall at Summerslam! Before she can continue, Kurt Angle heads down to the ring. Angle says that he really admires her, just the same way people admire him for his Gold Medals. “Asshole” chants.

Kurt tells her that she doesn’t need to stand by Triple H after what he’s done - he shows a slow motion replay of his accidental punch to Stephanie at Summerslam. She says they’ve talked about it and that she and Hunter are good - it was an accident. He then shows the footage of Triple H and Chyna from Raw, hugging. The incident that caused Eddie Guerrero to lose his temper. That one seems to have a little more impact and she starts to tear up. That brings Chyna out! The Intercontinental Champion looks amazing (in my opinion). She tells Stephanie not to listen to all the crap Kurt is saying. It continues with Chyna explaining while Kurt keeps showing footage from Raw out of context and twisting the knife. Chyna has finally had enough and wants to go down and fight but Angle says he refuses to fight a woman. She gets in the ring anyway and as she argues with Stephanie, Angle gives Chyna an Olympic Slam! That brings Eddie Guerrero rushing to the ring and Angle and Stephanie leave together. 

Triple H arrives at the arena and finds Stephanie and Kurt sitting together in his locker room. He flips out when he sees Kurt but a tearful Steph is too busy confronting him about Chyna. He explains himself before giving up. I mean the obvious solution would be for her to just…watch Raw? And then she’d know what happened and how innocent it was right? 

Chyna and Eddie go to see Commissioner Foley and Chyna wants a match with Kurt. Mick refuses to reward Angle with a chance to get in the ring with a champion. Eddie wants a match instead but Foley says he’s already promised Triple H a match with Kurt Angle tonight he’ll just make it a triple threat match! That’s a really big match.

As Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley walks around the backstage area, Kurt Angle chases her down and tells her he’ll always be here for her and that when he kissed her before Summerslam it was just “as friends”. She asks him for some space.

Stephanie and Triple H come back together and have both now calmed down. Triple H apologises, but stops short of a makeup kiss and starts to question her about Kurt Angle again. He refuses to believe that he is just friends with Steph and as he talks about it - constantly being in his business and interfering he makes himself angry and smashes up their locker room. “Just Joe” is shown listening outside the locker room to the crashing and banging and Stephanie’s screaming.

“Just Joe” predictably goes to tell Kurt Angle about all the noises he heard from the McMahon-Helmsley locker room and makes it sound like Triple H was beating his wife! Later he would go to check on Stephanie assuming Triple H had hit her and she was covering for him. 

Backstage, Eddie Guerrero prepares for his match and tells Chyna that since she and Triple H are just friends she won’t mind when he kicks his ass! She tells him to focus more on Kurt Angle. 

As Triple H again explains to Stephanie that he’s sorry for losing his temper, the police arrive in response to a spousal abuse complaint to take Triple H down to the local jail and question him. He and Steph both protest as she swears it wasn’t her who made the complaint! Commissioner Foley is there too to find out what’s going on, though he’s more concerned about tonight’s main event. It’s now going to be Eddie vs. Kurt one on one and since Eddie has Chyna, Stephanie has to accompany Angle to the ring for it! 

In the main event while Chyna and Eddie are all smiles, Stephanie looks very reluctant to be at ringside with Kurt. He does let her hold his Gold Medals for him. This match is good but given the era and setting they don’t have enough time for it to be special. Stephanie manages to slip Chyna’s Intercontinental title belt to Kurt who uses it as a weapon behind the referee’s back to win the match. After the bell, Stephanie gets in Chyna’s face and tells her off and tries to leave with a big smug smile, so Chyna pulls her in and spikes her with a DDT! Smackdown ends with Eddie and Chyna in the ring, and Kurt Angle helping a woozy Stephanie to the back. 

The search for a number one contender

The Undertaker faces Chris Benoit in a number one contenders match for the WWF title. Commissioner Foley has been very clear that someone can only win and become number one contender via pinfall or submission. This is a good, main event feeling match where Benoit works on Taker’s legs but the American Badass is too big and strong to stay down for long. As he sets up for a chokeslam, Kane rushes the ring and attacks Undertaker causing a disqualification. Taker wins, but isn't the number one contender. As Kane beats down Undertaker, Benoit gets involved and they trade blows too. The Rock comes sprinting to the ring and fights with Benoit allowing Taker to come back against Kane and the two big babyfaces clear the ring and stand tall. Between this and their interaction on Raw it really feels like they’re working towards The Rock vs. The Undertaker. Benoit and Kane start to fight with each other on the outside until referees manage to split everyone up. 

A new Champion

Perry Saturn defends the European Championship against Al Snow. The action in this one is good, but there’s a few scary spots where they each almost land on their heads. Terri hops up onto the apron and taunts Snow with Head, but it backfires whn he shoves her to the floor and uses Head as a weapon! He covers and the referee starts to count but stops when he gets to two and spots Head laying in the ring. As he argues with Snow about whether to disqualify him, Perry hits a bridging suplex for a near fall. The action continues and in a surprising finish, Snow counters a Rings of Saturn into a Dragon Sleeper for a submission victory. Al Snow is the new European Champion! Later when Kevin Kelly interviews Snow about being the new European Champion he talks about bringing honour and prestige back to the people of Europia. I always liked Al Snow, it's nice to see him holding gold again. 

Other Happenings

• In six person action, Edge, Christian and Jacqueline face The Hardyz and Lita. Lita is getting crazy popular and the fans chant for her right away before she’s even in the match. A short exciting match which The Hardyz and Lita win with a Twist of Fate and then Swanton Bomb on Christian. The Hardyz have beaten the Tag Team Champions and celebrate with their dad who was in the front row. 

• Tazz heads down to the ring and after making fun of Jerry Lawler and demanding to know where JR is (who’s not here tonight because it’s Smackdown) before going to to attack King. Before he gets a chance, Chris Jericho interrupts and after a string of jokes and insults in a fake New York accent starts the match. Tazz takes a cheap shot at King on the outside who fires up on Tazz. In the ring Tazz locks in a Tazzmission but with King distracting the referee, Jericho gives him a low blow and then a Lionsault to win the match! Tazz once again tries to attack Lawler afterwards until referees rush down to hold him back. 

• In the locker room, Kaientai is watching the TLC match from Summerslam and laughing at Bubba Ray’s big fall through the tables. The Dudleyz walk in on their laughter and chase Taka and Funaki out of the room. That leads us into a tag team match with Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley vs. Taka Michinoku and Funaki. When Kaientai gets to the ring, it's revealed that they have paid the APA for their protection services who stand at ringside. It pays off as The Dudleyz dominate until Bradshaw hits D-Von allowing Taka to get the victory! With the APA’s job done, they leave and The Dudleyz repay Kaientai by laying Taka across a table and then powerbombing Funaki through him! 

• Trish Stratus goes to see Val Venis and asks him to forgive her and let her try and win another title. He says she’s giving herself too much credit and officially ends his business relationship with her. That leads into Val Venis vs. Rikishi, who now just has the former hoes Victoria and Mandy with him at ringside permanently. The Right to Censor’s issues with Rikishi and his new hoe-friends continue as they sneak to ringside and cost him the match, allowing Val Venis to defeat his old rival.

• Roaddogg, who I think is a babyface now after turning on X-Pac at Summerslam enters still wearing his DX colours and gear. He’s facing Bull Buchanan of the Right to Censor. He confirms that he IS babyface now with his pre match promo about the RtC. Roaddogg picks up the win by countering Bull’s scissors kick into a slam for a quick three count, and then he leaves through the crowd avoiding a three on one beat down from Bull, Steven and Goodfather. 

Raw is War - 4th September, 2000

Here he comes…

Jim Ross addresses the camera and tells us that Stone Cold Steve Austin has a major statement to make this week on Smackdown. The fans explode and cheer when his picture is shown on the titantron. Is The Rattlesnake’s return imminent? (Yes, and I’m excited)

Bitter ex-lover takes his revenge

Raw opens with Jim Ross running down multiple huge matches for tonight’s show, which we’ll get to as we go but it’s Triple H and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley who actually start us off in the arena. JR and King discuss how there’s no way Triple H would ever hit his wife, as I recall that mere weeks ago he spiked poor Lita with a Pedigree. In truth, he’s done far worse on television but he’s slowly leaning babyface these days as the fans rally behind him in his issues with Kurt Angle. Or maybe not as the crowd starts chanting “asshole” at him while he speaks but he does at least accept it rather than fire it back at them like he used to. He is furious about having been reported to the police for spousal abuse and held overnight being questioned and so he refuses to leave the ring until the culprit who reported him comes to the ring. That brings out Commissioner Foley, who says that he has tried to figure out who it is but while making a list of people who hate Triple H he narrowed it down to 357 people. But he thinks out loud and after accusing Stephanie of trying to get rid of her husband so she can be with Kurt Angle, and then Triple H himself so that he could tug on Stephanie’s heart strings and manipulate her a bit, Triple H then accuses Mick Foley of having done it! They’re all being very slow as it’s fairly obvious it was Kurt Angle but they are at least making us think the storyline might be a bit deeper than that. Triple H calls Foley a miserable and twisted guy that is enjoying taunting and messing with them because he resents Triple H for ending his career. Mick does finally put two and two together and calls out Kurt Angle, who walks to the ring protesting. He says it WASN’T him. Angle says that it must have been Chyna as she still has the hots for Triple H and wants to cause problems with him and Stephanie! That brings out Chyna (who looks absolutely incredible, even more so than usual here) who says that while she enjoyed DDTing Stephanie, she has no interest in Triple H and is very happy with Eddie Guerrero. That gets Mick thinking, who then says it must have been Eddie Guerrero who was jealous himself and wanted Triple H to pay as well! That brings out Latino Heat who also denies it (and gets a laugh from the crowd by hamming up his silly pretend accent). Mick says that with all of the suspects assembled, let's ask the 15,000 detectives in the crowd. He runs through everyone, most of whom get boos and cries of “no” from the fans until he reaches Kurt Angle (who stops him to suck up to the crowd by wishing them a happy labour day and gets a laugh) who gets a massive cheer and he does appear to be the culprit! Before Mick can frog march Angle backstage to question him, Test and Trish Stratus come out together! Test angrily recounts his failed attempt to marry Stephanie last year, something which Triple H ruined. I mean everyone was on Triple H’s side here but he’s ruining the sympathy by smugly laughing about ruining Test’s life with Stephanie. Test says he took great pleasure in calling the cops on Triple H and watching him suffer. So it wasn’t Kurt Angle!

Mick Foley says that with the truth out, he’s going to book Test vs. Triple H tonight. Test says that paybacks, much like Stephanie, are a bitch! Triple H charges Test but with Kurt Angle there to help the pair of them beat up Triple H two on one until referees split up the fight! You know what, as much as this happened 24 years ago this whole segment kept me guessing! The soap opera drama of the McMahon-Helmsley drama has become the most engaging thing in the WWF.

In the T&A locker room, a fired up Test promises Albert he’s going to hospitalise Triple H tonight. In the McMahon-Helmsley locker room, Stephanie tells her husband to make him pay and promises to stop Trish Stratus. Triple H stops her and tells her she needs to stay in the back - he doesn’t want her at ringside. That match is next and it starts fast and furious, with Albert trying to help and getting back dropped over the top. Triple H grabs Trish and tries to give her a Pedigree! Test makes the save however. The match continues with Test in control, and as Stephanie watches backstage Kurt Angle approaches her from behind watching her. Triple H wins a pretty nothing match with a Pedigree, and when Albert rushes him after the bell he gets a Pedigree too! Triple H celebrates and Stephanie runs down to the ring to celebrate with her husband.

The Rock chases double gold

The WWF Champion The Rock heads down to the ring and joins commentary to watch a number one contenders match. It’s Chris Benoit vs. Kane. This match was set after the controversy in Benoit’s other number one contender’s match with The Undertaker. Kane got Benoit disqualified, so no contender was crowned. The Rock saved Undertaker, much like Taker saved him from Kane on Raw last week. There’s a pyro mishap during Kane’s entrance as his corner posts don’t explode. The match doesn’t go long before they brawl to the outside and as Kane argues with The Rock, Benoit hits him with a chair which causes a disqualification. So there’s still no number one contender. The Rock fights off Benoit, and then drops Kane with a Rock Bottom on the floor at ringside to end the fighting. 

Tonight, Edge and Christian discuss excuses and ways to get out of their title defence tonight - they’re booked against The Rock and The Undertaker! Their various silly ideas are for nothing as Mick Foley walks in and tells them that if for any reason they can’t compete tonight they’ll be stripped of their titles and suspended.

In the main event, WWF Champion The Rock teams with The Undertaker, who have had an uneasy alliance lately. They challenge Edge and Christian for the WWF Tag Team titles and bizarrely, with King no longer on commentary after Tazz’s attack it’s Kane who comes down and joins commentary! JR seems utterly baffled, and Kane seems sinister as all hell as he quietly says “take a seat, Jim”. Pretty cool. Kane speaks so quietly through his mask that I can’t hear a word he says for most of this segment sadly. It is audible when he talks with great bitterness and fury about The Rock who was a happy baby, a popular kid at school and has always been beloved by the people. He hates The Rock for having it easy and never having to struggle like he did to be considered “almost” human. The Undertaker and The Rock work very well as a team, dominating Christian as The Hardyz are shown watching on from backstage. In truth, the commentary for this match is mostly just a tense, afraid Jim Ross conducting an interview with an angry Kane. The Tag Team champions do manage to isolate The Undertaker and work him over for a bit until he gets a hot tag to The Rock. As Rocky fights off both tag team champions, Chris Benoit comes to ringside and brawls with The Undertaker. That leaves the WWF Champion all alone with Edge and Christian and Edge blasts him with a steel chair right in the head. It's a chaotic scene, but The Rock kicks out! He fights back with a spinebuster but this time it’s Kane who breaks up the cover by pulling the referee out of the ring. As Undertaker and Kane now fight on the outside, Edge and Christian give The Rock their conchairto double chairshot (kind of, it looked like it missed pretty badly) and that’s enough to put him down and for Edge and Christian to retain thanks to Chris Benoit, Kane and a pair of steel chairs. Raw ends with the tag team champions celebrating with their gold. 

Latino Heat steals one

Eddie Guerrero goes to see Commissioner Foley as Chyna is going to defend the Intercontinental title against Kurt Angle tonight and Eddie is very worried about her. He wants to protect her, and he wants a piece of Kurt Angle! Mick adds Eddie to the match and makes it a triple threat match, which seems very unfair on Kurt Angle. That match takes place immediately after and Chyna enters first with her pyro bazooka and IC title belt. It feels like it’s been a while since she entered to her own music and not Eddie’s. Once Kurt is out, Eddie doesn’t even make his entrance and jumps Angle from behind and rolls him inside. Eddie and Chyna double team the Olympian which is obviously legal as this is a triple threat match. Angle uses a chair, which prompts Eddie to do the same. In the chaos, Angle hits Chyna with her own Intercontinental title belt, knocking her out. Eddie sends Angle to the outside and as Eddie consoles and checks on Chyna he accidentally covers her, winning the Intercontinental title! Eddie looks very sheepish and drops the belt when the referee hands it to him.

He helps Chyna out of the ring, but does stop to go back for his title belt, hiding it behind his back while he helps Chyna up the ramp. Eddie Guerrero is the new Intercontinental champion. Later backstage, a tearful Chyna is angry at Eddie believing he stole her title on purpose. He has an emotional plea about how much she means to him and even offers to give her the title back. She calms down and believes him but as they embrace, Eddie has a very sinister looking smile over Mamacita’s shoulder.

Other Happenings

• The Dudley Boyz face The Acolytes in a Tag Team tables match. The APA have Kaientai in APA shirts at ringside with them, as that’s the cause of this match. The APA and Kaientai have been a bit friendly lately anyway but they’re apparently regular customers of the protection agency. Taka and Funaki try to help and accidentally snap their Japanese flag over Faarooq when they miss Bubba, and that allows a powerbomb on Bradshaw through a table for the Dudleyz victory. Bubba and D-Von quickly leave, and the angry Bradshaw and Faarooq set up a table in the ring, driving Taka through it with a powerbomb and then (in quite a dangerous spot) giving Funaki a Dominator on top of him.

• In the locker room, Mideon (who streaked on Raw last week) is confronted by Commissioner Foley who basically calls Mideon gross and says no one wants to see his naked body on TV. This naked Mideon streaker gimmick is an inside joke - Dennis Knight was constantly naked in the locker room and people thought the people would find it as funny as they did. Mick tells Mideon he has to wear clothes.
• The Right to Censor heads down to the ring and after The Goodfather talks about the miracle of another man being saved, and Steven Richards saying they have a new member he welcomes Val Venis. Val does come out, but in his standard ring gear and protests - he’d never join RtC, a group which censors and strips Americans of their right to choose, and who hypocritically protests violence but then hits women. It would seem that free of Trish Stratus, Val Venis is a babyface again. This is particularly poorly timed as in real life in 2024 Val has just had another of his now trademark social media meltdowns. He is a terrible human being, obsessed with conspiracy theories. It would be an understatement to say I hate Val Venis basically. Steven points out Val’s recent changes - cutting his hair, changing to white trunks, dropping his innuendo laced promos and finally ditching Trish Stratus. Val says that it's a parent’s job to decide what's right for their children, not his. Val tells the RtC to stay away from him, followed by Steven saying that if you’re not with him then you’re against him. 
• Backstage in an odd segment as Crash Holly practices chat up lines to use on women, The Big Bossman approaches and pours a drink over his head, This storyline has mostly been contained to Sunday Night Heat as Bossman feuds with light heavyweights and cruiserweights, hating “the little guys”. Dean Malenko, flanked by two women, approaches and tries to stand up for Crash but gets shoved in his face and laughed at by Bossman. He has a Hardcore title match with Steve Blackman to get ready for. 
• Steve Blackman defends the Hardcore title against The Big Bossman. I’m sad Bossman isn’t on TV much anymore. One of my favoruites of the era. Blackman is really being pushed as “the greatest Hardcore champion of all time” which is probably fair. The two fight backstage where Bossman is attacked by Dean Malenko and Crash Holly. They throw boiling coffee in Bossman’s face and after Blackman has retained he hits Dean and Crash with a trashcan kid, worried about the 24/7 rule it seems.
• Tazz goes to see Commissioner Foley and demands two matches - he wants a match with Jericho, and he wants a match with Jerry Lawler. Mick tells him he can have them both in a tag team match and he’ll give him a partner who’s a monster that has held multiple titles.

• Bull Bucanan and The Goodfather take on Val Venis and his handpicked partner the Roaddogg, who pinned Bull on Smackdown. Roaddogg pins Goodfather with a roll up in a short match but the real story is that Bull spikes Val Venis on the floor with a DDT and then Goodfather and Bull abduct him, dragging him unconscious all the way out to the parking lot where Steven Richards has a waiting white van. The Right to Censor has abducted Val Venis. Roaddogg won the match though because, and I’ve commented on this before, he was booked like Goldberg in this era.

• Jerry Lawler and Chris Jericho face Tazz and his “former multiple time champion” partner who turns out to be Naked Mideon, who enters to Hulk Hogan’s theme music. While Tazz is distracted, King rolls him up and beats him in mere seconds. Tazz is absolutely furious as Jericho and King taunt him from the ramp. During the break Tazz jumped King from behind with a leather strap, wrapping it around his neck and choking him. It’s very vicious looking and makes sense as Tazz tries to steal the commentator’s voice from him. . 

Smackdown! - 7th September, 2000

A Rattlesnake Return

As promised on Raw and hyped up all night long during this show, there is a special message and announcement from Stone Cold Steve Austin. He cuts an awesome promo which gave me goosebumps.Whoever ran him over has until Unforgiven to reveal themselves or he will show up at Unforgiven and interrogate every single WWF Superstar until he finds them. “I hope God has some mercy on your soul, because I won’t”. Awesome. 

Kane stakes his claim

Edge and Christian head down to the ring to brag about their totally fair and clean victory over The Rock and The Undertaker on Raw. (They used steel chairs and had help from Kane and Chris Benoit, obviously). It is worth noting that Christian pinned the WWF Champion though! The fans chant “Rocky” as the tag team champions keep going on. They’re pretty funny, and even Tazz on commentary cracked me up with his incredibly over the top laugh at the heel antics. This all brings out The Rock who says he wants Edge and Christian tonight. He has a funny back and forth with the tag team champions who accept his request for a handicap match tonight but only if they don’t have to tag in and out during the match. The Rock accepts. Edge then adds that they want the WWF title to be on the line as well. The Rock thinks for a moment and then accepts that too. 

As Edge and Christian prepare for their handicap WWF title match backstage, The Rock attacks them from behind with a chair shot to the back and leaves them both laying before heading down to the ring. Christian comes out solo and says that Edge is now unable to compete but this will still be a handicap match for the WWF title and he has a new partner - it’s Kane! Kane dominates while Christian picks his spots. It backfires when Kane has the WWF title won with a chokeslam but Christian breaks up the pin, wanting the title for his own. This is now basically a triple threat match. Kane wants to chokeslam Christian through the announce table but Edge runs down to make the save. While Kane is now busy fighting Edge, The Rock ducks a title belt shot into a Rock Bottom on Christian to retain the WWF Championship. He has no time to celebrate as Kane chokeslams The Rock through the announce table and cues up his corner pyro to end Smackdown on top. 

Kurt Angle tries to make a friend

Kurt Angle goes to see Commissioner Foley about Raw and how he should be the Intercontinental Champion. Mick twists Kurt’s words and construed his request instead as a desire to face The Undertaker instead. 

Triple H faces Test and Albert in a handicap match after the events of Raw. Kurt Angle is shown watching backstage and enjoying it when The Game is being beaten up. This match is seemingly the confirmation that Triple H is in the midst of an official babyface turn. The fans have gotten behind him in his issues with Angle and here he is valiantly battling against the odds against a heel tag team. When Stephanie tries to get involved, Test tries to powerbomb her! That brings Kurt Angle running to the ring to save her, and he even hangs Albert up on the top rope allowing for a Pedigree and a Triple H victory. Kurt looks very pleased, and Stephanie tells her husband what happened. She’s very pleased that her friend saved her and helped Triple H but The Game isn’t happy. Backstage, Steph tries to get Triple H on board with Kurt as a friend to them both. He isn’t having it. 

The Undertaker faces Kurt Angle. The American Badass uses his size and power to dominate Angle while Triple H watches on from the back. Angle does fight back and hits a beautiful German suplex. Unlike their match at Fully Loaded, Angle looks a lot more like an equal this time. He’s definitely taken a big step up the card since then. As Triple H continues to watch the match, so does Stephanie and she appears to be cheering on Kurt - unknown to her husband. Undertaker sets up for the Last Ride but Chris Benoit is quickly to the ring to put a stop to that and causes a disqualification. Angle and Benoit beat down Undertaker two on one (with no mention made of their little alliance and stable with Shane McMahon prior to Summerslam) until Triple H runs down to make the save. He’s definitely not helping Undertaker - he just wants to beat up Kurt Angle and the two fight away from the ring leaving Benoit to get slammed hard with a Last Ride by The Undertaker. When Triple H gets backstage, Stephanie is angry with her husband. Kurt saved her and helped Triple H win his match but The Game attacked Kurt instead of thanking him

What has gotten into Latino Heat? 

Earlier today, there was a conversation between Chyna and Eddie Guerrero. It seems that Chyna actually watched Raw back and saw Eddie’s secret little smile after winning the Intercontinental title from her on Raw. She tearfully says that she wanted to build a future with him but all he wanted was to build his career. He loses his temper and throws the title belt at the wall, telling her to keep it. Screaming at poor Chyna gets her crying again. He brings up a bunch of things she’s done in her career outside WWF lately unprompted so it seems that his jealousy of her runs a little deeper than just the Intercontinental title. Everything he says is actually fair enough but because he’s screaming it at a crying woman it comes across as gaslighting. We’ve never seen Chyna this emotional and vulnerable! Later on, Roaddogg is consoling an emotional Chyna but when Eddie Guerrero walks in on the scene he loses his temper. Roaddogg is his opponent tonight and has a history and friendship with Chyna. Eddie continues to be jealous and controlling with poor Chyna. 

Roaddogg challenges Eddie Guerrero for his newly won Intercontinental title. Chyna is with Eddie, but doesn’t seem happy about it tonight. He’s been a real bully and very defensive. In the match, Eddie is far more aggressive than he’s known for being lately and Latino Heat is a changed man. Chyna isn’t into it, but she does her part by tripping Roaddogg as he runs the ropes and then reversing a small package to allow Eddie to retain the title. As Chyna explains herself and talks to Roaddogg, Guerrero jumps him from behind, knocking him down with the IC title belt and continuing the beating as Chyna protests. 

Other Happenings

• Smackdown opens with Michael Cole explaining that Jerry Lawler won’t be on commentary tonight after Tazz’s attack on Raw with a leather strap. King’s music plays but it’s Tazz who joins Michael Cole for commentary tonight. It’s funny seeing this pair together as Tazz would become Cole’s permanent commentary partner after his retirement. Tazz would make a lot of jokes throughout the show and never called any of it seriously, mocking both King and JR’s commentary style. I’m not going to talk about it all the way through. He’d call the show up until after The Dudleyz/APA bar room brawl when as he rants about how tough he is King comes through the crowd and chokes Tazz with a leather strap! The two fight until split up by referees and Jerry Lawler takes over commentary for the rest of the episode from there. 

• The opening match is Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac. It’s been confirmed that DX have gone their separate ways after Summerslam and that Roaddogg is a babyface now but both he and X-Pac are still wearing all of their DX ring gear. Despite Jericho seemingly being on the main event bubble, X-Pac uses a low blow to win the match with an X-Factor. I keep saying it but man, this guy and Roaddogg were both pushed so hard! They never lose.

• Too Cool face Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather. Steven Richards is not here tonight and the speculation is that he’s with Val Venis after they abducted him on Raw. Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty put up a good fight against the two much bigger men and as they trade finishers and reverse covers, Rikishi (along with Victoria and Mandy) runs to the ring and leg drops Bull to allow Too Cool to win. Both former hoes are dressed in skimpy clothes but Mandy especially is wearing lingerie. Too Cool, Rikishi and the hoes all victory dance afterwards.

• Chris Benoit faces Rikishi. It's back and forth but thanks to a distraction by the Right to Censor, Benoit wins with a bridging German suplex. Too Cool runs down to stop them from continuing their beating on Rikishi but Benoit gets a shot in on them too which allows the men in shirts and ties to beat up Too Cool as well. 
• In a pair of segments, The APA are shown waiting at a local bar for The Dudleyz to arrive for their scheduled bar room brawl. Bubba Ray and D-Von do arrive (in their ring gear and carrying a table) and the four men brawl and fight, breaking tables and smashing beer bottles. The APA seem to win the fight and then hop the bar offering beers up to all the patrons. Later, back at the bar all four men have stopped fighting and gotten drunk together. The APA are wearing The Dudleyz glasses and both teams are laughing and joking. Kaientai shows up and try to join in, so Faarooq and Bubba smash bottles over their heads. 

Raw is War - 11th September, 2000

Unforgiven Main Event is set

Raw opens with Commissioner Mick Foley heading to the ring, and JR and King excitedly discussing the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin at Unforgiven. Will the culprit who ran him over step forward tonight or is the rattlesnake going to have to interrogate the entire WWF roster himself? That’s what Mick is out to talk about and Austin’s name gets a big pop. Mick says that he has every intention of finding the culprit for Austin before the PPV and demands that the responsible party come to the ring right now. The Rock’s music hits and the WWF Champion marches to the ring. He takes his time posing, milking the crowd reaction as JR and King wildly speculate that The Rock did it. Mick starts to accuse him before Rocky finally cuts him and says that it wasn’t him. “Oh hell no” in fact. The Rock gave his word to the cops, to the people and to Stone Cold himself that he didn’t do it. Austin has waved all criminal charges so whoever it turns out to be won’t face arrest (that's definitely not a thing) and so The Rock hopes Austin find whoever did it and makes them pay the only way he knows how. Foley sensibly asks if that’s not why The Rock came out, why did he come to the ring? “What are you, The Rock’s mother?”. He says he's out for payback. He makes fun of Kane a bit and then demands a match with him at Unforgiven. That brings out Chris Benoit, who protests. He’s the best wrestler in the world, and so he should be the number one contender. Kane comes out and as it looks like Benoit and Kane are going to get into the ring, The Undertaker interrupts. Short and to the point, he also wants to be number one contender. The Undertaker and Kane fight on the ramp as Benoit gets into the ring and fights with The Rock! The four men brawl as Mick Foley tries to calm things down but gets a clothesline from Kane for his troubles. Eventually a bunch of referees fill the ring and manage to stop the fighting. 

After a commercial break, Michael Cole interviews Mick Foley backstage. Foley promises that we will find out who the number one contender is tonight before giving us tonight’s main event - Kane and Chris Benoit vs. The Rock and The Undertaker.

Chris Benoit goes to see Kane and says he knows he doesn’t play well with others but they need to get along tonight in their tag team main event, which has now been made a no disqualification match. The Rock goes to see Undertaker and they have a similar, tense conversation about having each other’s backs and working together. 

In the main event after Kane and Benoit enter, Mick Foley comes out to take a seat at commentary. He has promised to name the number one contender tonight but says he hasn’t made a decision yet and so this is him scouting everyone to see who deserves it most. This is a big name match and the fans are white hot, especially for The Rock. He prepares a People’s Elbow on Benoit but Kane stops it with a trip from the outside and the match breaks down from there. A diving headbutt on The Rock gets a near fall. During the match, a fan jumps the barrier and seems to be trying to get to The Undertaker? Not a wise idea but we never find out if he’d have been a match for him as security catches him and drags him out. Rocky fights Kane on the outside as Undertaker spikes Benoit with a chokeslam in the ring. He sets up for a Last Ride but a clothesline from Kane reverses it into a roll up with Chris Benoit pinning The Undertaker to win the match! Mick Foley isn’t sure what to do and so he says that the main event at Unforgiven will be a fatal four way match for the WWF title. Raw ends with the four men fighting and brawling in the ring while an army of referees try to keep them all apart. The Rock gives Benoit a Rock Bottom as Undertaker chokeslams Kane! 

Another Unforgiven Main Event becomes official and spawns a new feud

Kurt Angle goes to see Commissioner Foley and sucks up to him a bit as Foley mocks the Olympian for getting beat up by Triple H on Smackdown. Kurt says that he’s going to prove that he can do something Triple H couldn’t do by beating T&A in a handicap match all by himself. Angle protests that Triple H has the night off tonight so Mick agrees to give him a match against a suitable opponent later.

In the McMahon-Helmsley office, Triple H complains about being put in a match against a mystery opponent. He says that doesn’t trust Mick Foley and so Stephanie should stay in the locker room and stay safe. After Triple H enters, his opponent would turn out to be his old rival - Chris Jericho! Y2J’s career has cooled off a bit lately as he was prominently featured all Summer but doesn’t have a feud, story or match for the next PPV. Jericho mocks Triple H’s recent marital issues on his walk to the ring as The Game looks unbothered by it. As the match continues, Stephanie ignores her husband’s wishes and comes down to the ring. Kurt Angle follows and he too seems to want to keep Steph in the back for her own safety. All of this distraction has Triple H go out to confront Angle and as he does, X-Pac comes through the crowd and attacks Y2J, giving him the victory by disqualification. X-Pac gives Jericho a nasty beating and I’m not really sure why as he beat Jericho pretty clean on Smackdown. Doing Triple H a favour? In any event, it doesn’t pay off as Triple H shoves him and is angry at him for costing him the match via disqualification. Triple H and X-Pac have a public falling out. 

Kurt Angle faces Test and Albert in a handicap match. This is all so Kurt can prove he’s better than Triple H as while The Game won this match on Smackdown, he did need Angle’s help to do it. Triple H and Stephanie are shown watching in their locker room. Stephanie disappears and then shows up at ringside to attack Trish and help out Kurt. Test tries to powerbomb her, which brings Triple H down and the match ends in chaos as Triple H and Kurt Angle fight off T&A together! Angle goes to check on Steph who was almost powerbombed and Triple H shoves him. The two argue and get into a shoving match, Triple H gets pushed, she slaps the referee, Triple H tackles Angle…there’s bodies everywhere! Triple H tries to Pedigree Kurt, Stephanie tries to stop him and as The Game thinks its a referee he throws a blind elbow knocking his wife out! Kurt punches Triple H and he lands on her unconscious body! The two keep fighting and as Angle hits the ropes he knocks Stephanie off the apron! She is taking a beating, albeit accidentally! An emotional Triple H carries Stephanie to the back…until Kurt punches him out, dropping him and Steph. Angle stands tall as The Game, Stephanie and a bunch of referees have been left in his wake.

Backstage as Triple H checks on his wife with an ice pack on her head Commissioner Foley comes in and tells him this needs to come to an end. He books Triple H vs. Kurt Angle for Unforgiven and after attacking so many referees and to make sure this whole issue comes to an end he will be the referee! 

Steve Blackman defends his Hardcore Championship against X-Pac. As the two fight and X-Pac shows off his proficiency with Blackman’s martial arts weapons Chris Jericho arrives to blast X-Pac across the head with a kendo stick and allowing the lethal weapon to retain this title. During the next commercial break as Jericho signed a fan autograph in the back, X-Pac jumped Jericho from behind with a pair of Blackman’s nunchucks and struck him multiple times in the head badly splitting his head open. 

Eddie Guerrero turns up the Latino Heat

After a video package recapping their recent fall outs and Eddie’s jealousy, Eddie Guerrero goes to check in on Chyna and gives her an emotional, grovelling apology for the way he's acted and for losing his temper. She forgives him and they seem to once again be back on the same page. They’re all smiles and happy and Chyna asks who they’re going to beat up tonight. Eddie says they’re facing Too Cool. Chyna is reluctant - they’re friends - but Eddie reassures her that makes it ok. They’re friends and good sportsmen. No matter who wins, they’ll all just dance and be friends again afterwards! That match is next as Chyna and Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero face Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty. Eddie isn’t very true to his word as he is very aggressive and attacks before the bell. As the match continues, Chyna is reluctant to attack her friends and as she’s busy apologising to Scotty for hitting him Grandmaster Sexay pins Eddie with a top rope leg drop. Too Cool win, and as Chyna tells Eddie to control his temper the four of them dance in victory just like Eddie said they would. Just as it seems like Eddie meant what he said, he attacks Too Cool and lays them both out with shots from his Intercontinental title belt! The fans rain boos down on him as Chyna watches in horror. Eddie continues the beating until Rikishi runs down to help out his buddies.

He fights off Eddie and crushes him in the corner but when he goes for a Stink Face, Chyna hits him with the title belt to save her man! The fans boo, but Chyna looks very sad and conflicted about what she has done and leaves with Eddie. After the break we’d learn that Grandmaster Sexay was pretty badly busted open by Eddie and is bleeding a lot from the top of his head. Those title belt shots are more lethal than they look! Later in the show, as Eddie tries to calm Chyna down and tells her how good she looks she reveals to him that she will be on the cover of Playboy magazine, and posing naked inside. That reveal gets a big pop from the live crowd (and Jerry Lawler) but Eddie is very angry about it. She is proud of her body and wants to show it off, but he says that no one else gets to see her naked! Eddie says he’ll beat up Hugh Hefner himself to stop the photos if he has to. Personally I’d have loved to see that. 

Other Happenings

• The Hardyz face The Dudleyz with the winning team challenging for the Tag Team titles at Unforgiven. Before the match begins, Edge and Christian come down and join commentary to make fun of both teams including their new gimmick of inventing silly sounding words. Edge and Christian get invovled but it backfires as they knock out Bubba and Matt Hardy, Matt lands on top and technically gets the cover to win the match. The Hardy Boyz are officially the number one contenders. Edge and Christian attack The Hardyz after the match but The Dudleyz save their former opponents and drive Edge through a table with a 3D. Kind of. The table doesn’t break and awkwardly lands on Bubba’s leg who audible bellows “FUCK” on camera, which was pretty funny. 
• Lita defends the WWF Women’s Championship against Ivory. This match came out of a six person tag match last night on Sunday Night Heat where Lita and The Hardyz defeated Ivory and Low Down. Much like Lita’s match with Jacqueline, the two get a bit of time and trade moves with Ivory dominating. Mideon once again streaks during the show, running around naked and distracting Ivory allowing Lita to hit a Twist of Fate and Moonsault to retain her title. The moonsault was messy and Lita landed on Ivory’s head which must have hurt. Nice to see the women’s division being “a thing” at this point in time though. 

• The Right to Censor team of Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather head to the ring as we see a replay of Val Venis being abducted last week, and we haven’t seen him or Steven Richards since. Bull and Goodfather’s match is with The APA. Shorting into the match, Val does show up at the top of the ramp in his ring gear and holding a steel chair. Val distracts the referee, annoying the Right to Censor to win the match, and then as Bradshaw and Faarooq brawl with Bull and Goodfather, Venis gets in the ring and blasts them both with the steel chair. Steven Richards joins them and the four of them beat up The Acolytes. Val Venis seems to have officially joined the Right to Censor, shaking Richards’ hand and leaving with them. 
• Al Snow - the new European Champion - enters dressed in stereotypical German attire, with jaunty European music and “what does everybody want?” in German. It’s awesome. He puts a framed picture of David Hassellhoff on the commentary desk (German’s love him). Snow’s opponent and challenger is Tazz. The referee goes down, Tazz throws Snow into Jerry Lawler intentionally and so King hops up and smashes the David Hasselhoff picture over Tazz’s head, allowing Germany’s Al Snow to retain his European Championship. Tazz grabs the mic and says he can’t compete with King’s political power and so he “taps out” and quits the WWF.
• There’s been a few of these segments which I haven’t mentioned but I’ll mention this one. The WWF continued to push their “Smackdown your vote” campaign and are now pushing to have Al Gore and George W. Bush appear on an episode of Smackdown together for a debate moderated by Jesse “The Body” Venture. Lol, imagine. 

Smackdown! - 14th September, 2000

No-Tolerance Tag Team matches

Commissioner Foley opens the show and after his cheap pop (right here, in Phoenix Arizona) and mimicking The Rock he says that he only answers to the people and for the people he set two huge matches for Unforgiven on Raw. Triple H vs. Kurt Angle with himself as referee, and The Undertaker, Kane, Chris Benoit and The Rock in a fatal four way for the WWF title. He says that he knows none of those men can keep their hands off each other until the PPV so he has a plan for tonight. Before he can reveal that plan the WWF Champion The Rock heads down to the ring and gets his own cheap pop (Finally, The Rock has come back to Phoenix). He says he doesn’t need protection from anyone, and that brings out The Undertaker. He says that he and Rocky aren’t friends but that doesn’t mean he’ll attack him. He also throws in that just because he and Stone Cold didn’t get along doesn’t mean he ran him over either. The two seem like they’re about to come to blows over the WWF title, Chris Benoit comes out. He protests the PPV main event as he pinned The Undertaker on Raw and so it should be a singles match. He’s the best wrestler and says this is more evidence of Foley’s bias against him (this along with reversing his title win decision back at Fully Loaded). Kane then comes out last and continues his new gimmick of talking about how he’s been bullied and have called him a monster and a freak and how he’s going to prove them right (a ropey reason to turn heel but it’s what he’s going with). Foley asks them to remain calm as he’s about to finally unveil his plan to keep them apart until the PPV Kurt Angle comes out! He says all of this is nonsense, and that nothing matters compared to the wellbeing of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. She was “attacked” by her husband again on Raw and shows the footage of the errant elbow to the head. He knows he can hold his temper until Unforgiven but Triple H can’t. On cue, Triple H comes out and rushes Angle but is held back by Mick Foley who calms him down and finally tells us his plan - tag team matches to force them to work together.

Triple H and Kurt Angle against T&A, Kane and Chris Benoit against The APA in an Acolytes Rules match, and finally The Undertaker and The Rock against The Dudley Boyz in a Tables match. He says that if anyone attacks their partner tonight during the matches then they will be removed from Unforgiven entirely. Angle leaves, followed by Triple H and Foley. Kane and Benoit attack The Rock and beat him down two on one until The Undertaker reluctantly goes back and makes the save. He fights off Benoit, but Kane finishes the fight with a big chokeslam on The Rock. 

Chris Benoit and Kane face Bradshaw and Faarooq in a no disqualification match. The APA look strong and get a couple of near victories with Kane saving Benoit twice. Benoit has had enough and leaves Kane all alone with the Acolytes. Kane holds his own but is continually distracted by Benoit still watching from the ramp allowing the APA to win with a clothesline from hell and double pin. Kane gets back up immediately and chases off after Benoit! 

Backstage, Triple H goes to see Commissioner Foley. He doesn’t care about Foley holding him back or having to hold his temper but he’s furious about being forced to team with Angle tonight. Mick almost apologises for teasing them and making the situation worse but he has to keep them apart because it’s a match he and the people want to see and it has to happen at Unforgiven.

Triple H and Kurt Angle enter separately (of course) with high tension. When their tag match with T&A begins, Triple H laughs at Kurt being beaten up and claps and cheers on Albert. Angle aggressively tags The Game in and they exchange words until Test jumps Triple H from behind. The match continues like that with aggressive tags in and out and Angle and Triple H showing off for each other beating up Test. With T&A in control, Stephanie heads down to ringside. She’s wincing and holding her head still feeling battered and bruised from Raw. Angle at first seems unhappy she’s coming out but then smirks to himself about it. Stephanie tries to help by grabbing Albert’s ankle so Trish knocks her down. Triple H till hasn’t seen his wife is out until he sees Angle consoling her and checking on her. They’re about to come to blows over it until Test hits The Game from behind with a full nelson slam to win the match! Angle makes no attempt to help and leaves with a smile as Steph checks on her fallen husband in the ring. 

Kevin Kelly spoke to The Undertaker earlier (including his new most disgusting habit of constantly chewing tobacco and spitting it out during the interview) about how he and Rock don’t like each other but he can trust him in their tag team match. Later, Lillian Garcia interviews The Rock who says he can’t trust Undertaker, or anyone else. The Rock looks Lillian up and down and gives her an innuendo about liking “pie”. He’s inferring she’s a lesbian y’see. Hilarious.

In the main event Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley face The Rock and The Undertaker in a tag team tables match. It’s wrestled mostly as a straight up tag team match with Rock and Taker getting to show off their skills. The main eventers lost both of their respective “no tolerance” matches earlier so Rock and Undertaker are really the underdogs in this one. There’s a bit of miscommunication between Rock and Taker and some inventive spots where they avoid the tables until finally The Dudleyz 3D Undertaker through the table and win the match! Undertaker pays The Rock back by chokeslamming him through a table and riding off on his motorbike to close Smackdown. 

Edge and Christian provoke The Hardy Boyz

Edge and Christian come down to the ring and after the Tag Team champions mock the local sports teams and assure us all that they had nothing to do with Stone Cold being run over before using their time machine to bring us The Hardyz from the year 2050. Two old men dressed as Matt and Jeff head down to the ring. Ironically, the old man playing Jeff moves better than Jeff actually does in 2024 and the old man playing Matt is in better shape. Lita’s music hits and it seems like she might interrupt but an old woman comes out dressed as Lita too. They’re about to beat up the old men, but Mick Foley comes out and breaks the news that the tag team title match at Unforgiven is now a steel cage match. The real Hardyz and Lita now rush the ring and give Edge and Christian a triple-suplex (or a double suplex done by three people?) and send the tag champions running. 

Edge and Christian team with X-Pac against Chris Jericho and The Hardy Boyz. There’s a replay of X-Pac’s vicious nunchucks attack which bloodied Y2J on Raw. As Jericho’s music plays he and The Hardyz jump their opponents from behind coming through the crowd to start the match. The Hardys hammer Edge and Christian will all of their trademark offence and have victory in hand with a Swanton bomb on Christian but X-Pac - the legal man - slides in and hits Jeff with an X-Factor to win the match for his team. Jesus, did X-Pac ever lose? 

Guerrero goes off the deep end

There’s a couple of segments where Eddie Guerrero goes to the Playboy mansion to try and stop Chyna’s issue from being released. He’s funny and hams it up arguing with the security guards at the mansion but it also works well as a promotion as he continually tells us the magazine comes out on the 25th of September, and that “every man in the world” will be able to see Chyna naked. Back in the arena, Chyna is shown watching the footage and then packing her back and storming out of the arena in tears.

The Right to Censor - along with their newest member, the white pants wearing Val Venis - head to the ring. Val looks like an ice cream man. Richards says that Stone Cold was responsible for the moral decay of the WWF with his finger gestures, beers and foul language and while they were happy to see him go none of them had anything to do with his hit and run.

Val addresses his being brainwashed and says he wasn’t and that Steven simply showed him what was missing from his life. Val, Bull and Goodfather face Rikishi and Too Cool in a six man tag team match. Rikishi still has the two former hoes, Victoria and Mandy, at ringside with him. The match breaks down and Richards actually gets a Stink Face from Rikishi but his and Too Cool’s good time is ruined when Eddie Guerrero sneaks into the ring and pepper sprays Rikishi! Val is able to pick up the win for his team with a spinning powerbomb on Scotty 2 Hotty. Eddie continues the beating on Rikishi at ringside as RtC pick up another big victory. 

Other Happenings

• Tazz goes to see Commissioner Foley. He was serious about quitting on Raw and wanted out of his contract. Mick is too busy showing off his WWF Children’s book (which was illustrated by Jerry Lawler, which they don’t mention) and so Foley gives him another match with King at Unforgiven and promises that neither of them can lay a finger on each other until the PPV. Later in the show during the Hardcore title match Tazz takes a seat at ringside behind the commentators and showers King with popcorn, whooping and hollering and distracting both King and Cole from calling the match. 
• Perry Saturn (with Terri) challenges Steve Blackman for the Hardcore championship. Blackman retains in a short, messy match that was fun but overshadowed by Tazz antagonising Lawler during it. 
• There’s another “Smackdown your vote” video where WWF fans encourage George W. Bush and Al Gore to appear on Smackdown and debate. They all use the same terminology - the youth of America and some other buzzwords - making it painfully clear that they’ve all been fed lines by the WWF’s PR machine.

Raw is War - 18th September, 2000

The Rock has a target on his back

The WWF Champion The Rock is shown arriving at the arena via the parking lot and then after the commercial break he heads on down to the ring. He shows the finish of the Smackdown main event - The Rock accidentally hit Taker which led to him taking a 3D through a table, for which he then chokeslammed The Rock through a table in return. The Rock says he doesn’t like Taker but he does respect Taker so if he wants a shot at the champ all he had to do was ask and challenge The Undertaker to a match tonight and will even put the WWF title on the line! He rattles off some insults which do bring The Undertaker to the ring, minus his motorbike. Taker tries to intimidate The Rock but he told Rocky not to piss him off and on Smackdown he pissed him off. Before they come to blows, Commissioner Foley comes back out. He’s having a busy night! He explains the rules of the Fatal Four main event at Unforgiven for some reason before saying that he’s not here to stop them fighting - quite the opposite. That brings out Chris Benoit who says that if anyone is getting a WWF title match tonight then it’s him. That then brings out Kane who says the same thing. Foley stops them all - The Rock mentioned a title shot, not him. The Rock can do many things but making matches is not one of them. There will be no title’s on the line but he does book Benoit vs. Kane and Rock vs. Undertaker for later tonight. Benoit and Kane get into a fight at ringside while Taker and Rock just watch on. Benoit hits Kane across the back with a steel chair before he’s dragged off by referees. 

Returning from a commercial break, Benoit and Kane’s match has already begun as they fight down the entrance ramp with referees trying to get them into the ring. They eventually do and the bell rings to start the match properly. Benoit gets himself disqualified with a pair of shots from the ring bell to Kane but when Kane sits up and no-sells them, Benoit quickly leaves the ring and takes off.

In the main event, WWF Champion The Rock faces The Undertaker in a non-title match. One of Unforgiven’s other challengers Chris Benoit joins JR and King on commentary to watch it up close. Unlike earlier, Undertaker comes out on his motorbike this time. The match is a brawl and after the referee goes down, The Undertaker has The Rock pinned off a big swinging DDT. No referee to count and so The Rock rallies and hits a spinebuster and People’s Elbow but there’s still no referee to count. Undertaker hits a massive chokeslam but The Rock is able to kick out by the time the referee revives. He then counters a Rock Bottom attempt into a Last Ride and in somewhat of an upset heading into the PPV Fatal Four Way, The Undertaker pins The Rock clean in the middle of the ring.

They’re really keeping us guessing about who is leaving the PPV with the WWF title. Raw ends with Kane coming down to the ring and Benoit attacking from behind and the three challengers brawling and fighting each other in the ring until the Champion recovers and gets into it. He fights Kane out of the ring as Taker sends Benoit packing, and then Undertaker turns right into a waiting Rock Bottom leaving The Rock standing tall. 

Triple H throws schoolyard insults

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley opens the show in the arena and says she wants to put an end to something that should have ended a long time ago. She talks about how special she is and how men have fought over her her entire life. She says that Kurt Angle and she are just friends and so asks Commissioner Foley to come to the ring and cancel the match between her husband Triple H and her best friend Kurt Angle at Unforgiven. Lord forbid anything happens that upsets Stephanie. It’s not Mick that comes out - it’s Kurt Angle! Angle says he doesn’t want the match cancelled as he has to teach Triple H a lesson. He casually mentions that he did not run over Stone Cold - which most people have been doing since he announced his return - and then offers to job Stephanie’s memory by showing a supercut of all the times Triple H has accidentally hit her, has yelled at her, and the whole misunderstanding with Trish Stratus. It’s cut to his theme song like its his new titantron which is pretty fun. He pleads with his “friend” to remember how bad her husband is for her and that brings out Triple H! Surprisingly, The Game keeps his cool and calmly walks to the ring. Triple H says that maybe he’s got this all wrong and it is just a misunderstanding. He pays Kurt some compliments before asking what kind of a man wants to be “just friends” with a woman like Steph? He gets some laughs from the crowd by comically implying Kurt is gay. It’s one of those situations where Triple H is SAYING “there’s nothing wrong with it” but with King and JR reacting like it’s a grave insult and the crowd laughing along with The Game’s jokes it does come off as pretty deeply homophobic. Eventually, Commissioner Foley does come out and after teasing that he’s going to defend Kurt he buddies up to his old rival Triple H and joins in the gay-bashing. He refuses to cancel the Unforgiven match, but does give them a match tonight as well - Triple H, Kurt and Steph will team up to face T&A and Trish Stratus.

Backstage as Triple H, Stephanie and Angle talk strategy, they continue to tease Kurt about being “a gay”. Hilarious. That match is next and Steph is very worried about having to wrestle someone even if it is another non-wrestler in Trish. Triple H really ratchets up the homophobia during this match by mincing around the ring and taunting Kurt and King and JR don’t help by reacting aghast every time Kurt locks up and touches a man (in a wrestling match) and talking about having seen Kurt listen to the Village People. JR does at least say there’s nothing wrong with it even if Kurt is gay. Whether he means it is another matter. The match ends up with Test and Stephanie legal but Test refuses to hit his former fiance and lets Trish give her a bulldog. He changes his mind and wants to give her a top rope elbow but The Game is there to spike Test with a Pedigree which allows Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley to pin her former lover Test. Oh the indignity. Kurt gives Stephanie a big victory hug and that seems to be too much for The Game who tackles Kurt and throws him out of the ring. Referees restrain both men from taking the fight further. 

A Gentlemanly return, and X-Pac takes a cheap shot

The return! Steven William Regal (who would eventually just become William Regal) has a small table and chair set up in the ring and wants to teach the uncouth Americans etiquette and manners and demonstrates the way to act at a dinner table, all while his refined, classical theme music plays in the background. The irony of him talking about being from Blackpool is that to Americans all of England is pretty much the stereotype that Regal is playing here but Blackpool is rough folks. Rough.

As Regal continues he’s interrupted by Chris Jericho. Much like with Kurt Angle, heel commentator King is negative about Regal during this segment - his debut - but would go on to become his biggest fan on commentary. King has at least been a bit of a babyface lately so this one makes more sense. Jericho busts out the worst English accent I’ve ever heard while mocking him. Both Jericho and JR talk about this as Regal’s debut so they’re not making any attempt to acknowledge his previous gimmick. I’ll talk a lot more about William Regal in the coming weeks. Jericho destroys William Regal’s table setting while the Englishman looks aghast, totally over acting and pulling faces. Jericho’s joy is short lived as he's jumped from behind by X-Pac who once again has nunchucks, and breaks the table over Jericho’s sternum while he’s down on the mat. 

Other Happenings

• This is a pretty historic episode of Raw is War as its the last episode (for now) on the USA Network which had been its home since Raw’s debut in 1993. Lots of people in WCW actually got excited believing the network change and fans being “unable to find Raw in their TV guides” would hurt the WWF’s ratings. Obviously ridiculous, and that’s not what happened.
• Backstage, Steven Richards gives The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan a pep talk about censoring The Dudley Boyz tonight. They’re jumped by Bradshaw and Faarooq but it doesn’t work out for the APA as with Val as well, it’s a four on two situation and the APA are left beaten up in the locker room. In the next match, Bubba Ray and D-Von face The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan (with Steven Richards and Val Venis). Both teams are well matched but the numbers game is what decides the winner as Richards lays out Bubba with a superkick behind the referee’s back to give the Right to Censor the victory. The four men in shirts attack The Dudleyz after the bell, but the APA who had already formed a bit of a friendship with The Dudleyz lately anyway rush to the ring and make the save with the two tag teams holding the ring and sending the RtC packing. 

• There’s comments from Hugh Hefner about Chyna’s appearance in Playboy. Elsewhere, Chyna and Eddie have made up as he apologises for his jealous actions and trying to stop her magazine from coming out. She seems to have accepted it and they’re all kissy and affectionate again. Chyna reminds Eddie that he has a match with Rikishi tonight. As Eddie talks, he coughs and splutters a little as Chyna gets concerned for his health and goes to get him a drink of water.

• Later, Eddie has changed into his ring gear for the match but is shivering and has a duvet wrapped around him. Chyna says she’ll get the match cancelled as Eddie is too ill to compete but Guerrero suggests that she take his place and fight Rikishi instead, which she agrees to. 
• Just as Lillian Garcia is about to begin the ring introductions for Rikishi vs. Chyna, Tazz interrupts and comes out in his usual ring gear but wearing a bow tie and tails. He kicks Lillian out of the ring and takes over as guest ring announcer. He’s pretty complimentary about Chyna during her ring introduction but nasty about Rikishi’s weight, and stands next to King during the match constantly berating him. Tazz would stick around as ring announcer for the next several matches and segments. Before the match begins, Eddie comes out to the ring wrapped in a duvet. He’s ill but wants to stand by his woman and Chyna looks very touched by the effort. Rikishi goes out to attack Eddie in his “fragile” state, angry at the sneak attacks by Eddie lately. Hes about to give Latino Heat a Stink Face but Chyna saves him and the distraction allows Eddie to reveal he has his pepper spray again and blind Rikishi. Eddie wasn’t ill after all, he used Chyna. The blinded Rikishi can’t see who is still in the ring and as Chyna checks on him, he gives her a Samoan drop. He then uses Chyna as bait trying to get Eddie to come back in fight (totally no-selling the pepper spray) and gives Chyna and Banzai drop, all while Eddie refuses to go back and save his woman. 

• Too Cool takes on Edge and Christian in a Tag Team Championship match. No word on whether the winners will still face The Hardyz in a tag team steel cage match at Unforgiven. It's a fun match and the fans are red hot for it. Scotty connects with a Worm on Christian, who is then accidentally speared by Edge. Grandmaster Sexay connects with the top rope leg drop he calls the Hip Hop Drop but as Christian distracts the referee and slides a title belt to Edge, he uses it as a weapon to retain the Tag Team titles. At the conclusion of this match, security finally comes out to get Tazz and drag him away from the ring ending his guest commentary stint. 

• Ahead of the main event, Commissioner Foley comes out into the arena for the third and last time tonight. He talks about how the WWF is being ignored. It’s a speech about the Smackdown Your Vote campaign and how Al Gore and George Bush haven’t acknowledged the invitation to have a live debate on Smackdown. Amazingly, the WWF was DEADLY serious about the invitation and were quite insulted that the two Presidential candidates wouldn’t talk about the WWF publicly. Absurd. 

Smackdown! - 21st September, 2000

Mick Foley begins the investigation, Unforgiven’s main events cross paths

Smackdown opens with Commissioner Foley in the ring, surrounded by the entire WWF roster. He is beginning his own investigation into who ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin last November, ahead of the Rattlesnake’s return this Sunday at Unforgiven. Even all the main eventers are out there including Triple H, The Undertaker and WWF Champion The Rock, who enters last and actually gets his theme music. That’s fair. Mick starts with the obvious - it was The Rock’s rental car that struck Austin (which he had reported stolen) and its hard to argue that Rock is the person who’s benefited the most in Stone Cold’s absence. The Rock is mad at having to go over this again as he’s told the police, Foley and even Austin himself that it was not him. The Rock is funny if racist while denying it, saying it is made up of gibberish Swedish and Chinese.

Foley looks relieved at The Rock’s joking and says that he never thought it was The Rock and calls the next likely suspect into the ring - Triple H! Triple H says that he did set up Austin - but only for a beating. That’s why he lured him out into the parking lot. He says he does not run people over and if he wanted to take out Austin he’d have looked him in his eyes and done it like a man. Triple H then says that he’s thought about it and maybe Mick shouldn’t be looking at Stone Cold’s enemies - maybe it was just someone who is a very bad driver. He says that famously women are not very good drivers and so when he looks around the person who’s closest to a woman is Kurt Angle. Impressive that Triple H pivoted from Rock’s casual racism to casual misogyny and homophobia. This kind of stuff is the negative about the attitude era and is very much “of its time”. Kurt gets into the ring and defends himself and says he has no motive. He calls Austin a foul mouthed, beer drinking poor role model for children but says why him? Why couldn’t it have been…Esse Rios? It’s always the quiet ones. Rios gets in the ring and speaks in Spanish, which Kurt translates as “I’m a bad man, and I should be punished”. Angle says he still thinks it was Triple H and D-Generation X. That brings X-Pac into the ring. Pac says that it wasn’t him or anyone else in DX but he knows who it was - someone who’d just arrived and got off to a mediocre start, Chris Jericho! Jericho looks shocked and gets into the ring too. King on commentary says that everyone is just blaming the people they dislike which he doesn’t think is fair, but he thinks it was Tazz. That popped me. Jericho says that it can’t have been X-Pac because he was too busy setting up Austin and locking him in the parking lot to begin with. He pivots and says that they have to focus on motive and focus on who hated Austin the most. Jericho says that after what Austin did to her nerdy brother and genetic jackhammer father and what Austin was going to do to her future husband - he says it must have been Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley! Triple H almost swings for him as he rails off all his classic insults. Stephanie also denies it obviously and says the footage shows that she, her brother, her father and her ex-fiance were all together when Austin was struck so it can’t have been any of them. Stephanie says that who she thinks it was is someone who wasn’t even with the WWF that night, and has a dark twisted heart - the man who once abducted her, The Undertaker. Pretty solid logic, actually. Taker gives us his new utterly disgusting habit of spitting his chewing tobacco out before speaking (right in the ring too, what an animal) and calls Stephanie a “sleazy tramp”. Angle attacks Taker, Triple H attacks Angle, X-pac attacks Jericho and it all breaks down into a fight while referees and Mick Foley try to calm everyone down. Tonight’s main event is the very unlikely team of The Rock, The Undertaker and Triple H (!) against Kurt Angle, Kane and Chris Benoit. 

Backstage in the McMahon-Helmsley locker room Triple H continues to call Angle a woman and says that “those types of guys” aren’t as good athletes as “guys like him” which is definitely not the case. Triple H’s homophobia is interrupted by a delivery man with some flowers. They’re from Kurt Angle to congratulate Stephanie on her “victory” over Test on Raw. Triple H ends the segment with one last gay joke about “pansies”. 

Stone Cold Steve Austin comes to us with a pre-recorded message later in the show where he promises to open up his own investigation, as well as the biggest can of whoop ass he’s ever opened at Unforgiven. In his court of law you’re guilty until proven innocent.

Shane McMahon makes his first appearance since Summerslam when Steve Blackman dropped him 50 feet from the Summerslam stage to the ground. Shane is still walking a little gingerly as he gets into the ring. Shane talks about his long stay in the hospital after Summerslam and says that as he lay in a hospital bed feeling his own pain and injuries he had plenty of time to reflect and think about things and he’s decided to help Stone Cold find the culprit. He shows the footage of Austin being run over again, before showing that it can’t have been a member of the McMahon family as they were there on the scene seconds after the car left. Shane says that he knows who it was and at Unforgiven he will reveal it to the world and to Stone Cold himself. 

Back in the McMahon-Helmsley locker room, Triple H and Stephanie watched Shane’s promo and Triple H brings up an interesting point. Shane said that he was alone in the hospital all night after Summerslam BUT Stephanie had used being with Shane as her alibi to prove she didn’t spend the night with Kurt Angle? Is The Game right to be suspicious or was simply Shane mistaken? 

Kurt Angle enters first for the huge six man tag team main event. There’s plenty of tension in this one as Rock, Taker, Benoit and Kane are already teaming with one of their opponents at Unforgiven respectfully but The Undertaker called his other partner Triple H’s wife a sleazy tramp earlier tonight! Seeing The Rock and Triple H on the same team in a tag team match is the definitive confirmation that The Game is a babyface now. The match breaks down and Triple H Pedigrees Angle followed by Kane chokeslaming Triple H. Rock, Taker, Benoit and Kane all fight and brawl up the ramp to the top of the entrance ramp leaving just Triple H and Angle down and out in the ring. Undertaker gets on his motorbike and seemingly tries to run over The Rock, chasing Kane and Benoit backstage. Rock avoids the motorbike and chases after Taker. With those four gone, Angle and Triple H trade blows in the ring. Stephanie gets on the apron and Angle runs into her by mistake, knocking her off the apron. The Game doesn’t seem too concerned as he;s too busy rolling Kurt up for the three count. He taunts him and as he stops to check on his wife, Angle gives him an Olympic Slam! Angle gets Triple H’s trademark sledgehammer from under the ring and hits Triple H right in the stomach with it before planting a big kiss on Stephanie! She looks shocked and Angle closes Smackdown taunting Triple H. “Hey, ask your wife if i kiss like a pansy”. That’s a good line! 

Latino Heat pops the question

Backstage, Eddie Guerrero once again has to ask for Chyna's forgiveness after he pretended to be ill on Raw so that he could trick her into wrestling Rikishi in his place, which in turn allowed him to launch a sneak attack. It was actually a genius plan. He doubles down and says he really was ill but Chyna doesn’t believe him. Eddie says that he really didn’t think Rikishi would hurt his friend. She smashes a vase and tells Latino Heat that she’s sick of his lies and his temper. In the next segment Eddie Guerrero comes out to the ring carrying a big bunch of roses (but not his Intercontinental title belt). Eddie calls Chyna out to apologise to her. She smashes the roses. Eddie explains himself and changes his tune, now being super encouraging about her Playboy spread and reveals the cover up on the titantron.

She softens and seems to buy it and accept it. Rikishi comes out and after complimenting Chyna and making sure they’re still friends, turns his attention to the “snake” next to her that's filling her head with lies. Rikishi proves he’s a liar by revealing some security camera footage “a buddy” of his provided that shows that Eddie continued to try and stop Chyna’s Playboy from being released long after he promised her he’d made his peace with it. Chyna cries and Eddie gets on his knees and begs her to stay, She won’t and says her heart can’t handle this anymore. Eddie panics and to stop her leaving he asks her to marry him! The fans boo and tell her not to trust him and chant “just say no” but an emotional Chyna says yes and the two embrace! 

Hardcore Chaos

European Champion Al Snow is representing Spain this week, with stereotypical Spanish music, “what does everybody want?” in Spanish. He’s dressed as a matador and announced as being from Madrid. He’s also carrying a pinata which is actually a Mexican thing.

His opponent and challenger is the Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman but only the Hardcore title is on the line in this one. Perry Saturn runs in and tries to take advantage of the 24/7 rule to win the title. Test and Albert have the same idea and work as a team to take out Blackman but with Snow and Saturn back up it turns into a four person brawl. Blackman recovers and uses his martial arts sticks to batter everyone until Snow hits him with a trash can lid. Crash Holly runs in too and almost wins the title with a stop sign shot but Blackman kicks out. Kaientai are the last ones to join the brawl, using a Japanese flag as a weapon. This is chaotic and there’s six referees in the mix too all following their man. Blackman lays out Taka Michinoku with a superkick through a trash can and pins him (?) to end the right and retain his Hardcore title. Later in the show, Michael Cole would reveal that Mick Foley added a Hardcore title invitational to the PPV. It’s open to all former Hardcore champions and follows the same scramble style rules as the 13 man Hardcore battle royal at Wrestlemania 2000.

Other Happenings

• The talented half of Too Cool in Scotty 2 Hotty against Val Venis of the Right to Censor. Scotty gets distracted trying to give a Worm to Steven Richards allowing Val to win with a Fisherman’s suplex. Grandmaster Sexay is out to stop the beating from continuing but with Goodfather and Bull also coming out, the four on two odds are too much. It’s confirmed during this that all four members of the Right to Censor will face The Dudleyz and the APA in an eight man tag team match at Unforgiven.
• Returning from a commercial break there’s a match already in progress as The APA wrestle Goodfather and Bull Buchanan. Too Cool runs down to the ring and attacks Val Venis on the outside after earlier tonight’s actions and Bradshaw wins the match with a clothesline from hell on Bull. The fighting continues and it looks the RtC might come out on top until The Dudleyz run to the ring and join in. Too Cool pulls out spare sunglasses for Bubba, D-Von, Faarooq and Bradshaw and all three tag teams do Too Cool’s victory dance.

• The Hardy Boyz and WWF Women’s Champion Lita head down to the ring. They start to talk (and it's not very good and is a little generic “we’ll make Edge and Christian pay” stuff) but are cut off by Edge and Christian on the titantron. They’re dressed up as film critics and in a makeshift movie theatre. They show old home movies of Matt and Jeff as kids with their homemade title belts, cutting promos on each other. They mock the little boys but let’s be real - who didn’t do this as a kid? Edge and Christian throw popcorn at the screen and call them boring.

Matt and Jeff look so wounded in the ring watching themselves be humiliated until finally they’ve had enough and run backstage to find the Tag Team Champions. It proves to be a setup as Edge and Christian jump them from behind which sends Lita’s head crashing into the wall, and Matt and Jeff get a pair of brutal chair shots to the head including Matt getting the “con-chair-to”. 

• Jerry “The King” Lawler teams with Chris Jericho (a tag team which King said are on a winning streak which is kind of true) to take on their two Unforgiven opponents Tazz and X-Pac. The match ends in a disqualification when Tazz involves a leather strap. Jericho whips X-Pac a bit and chases him to the back leaving Tazz to choke out King with the strap after the match until referees stop him and get Tazz to go to the back as he laughs at King. JR would replace King on commentary for the rest of Smackdown.