Raw is War - February 21th 1998

• Raw kicks off with some news that DX are considering a lawsuit against Stone Cold because of what he did to Chyna last night at No Way Out (he gave her a stunner). More on that later on this episode of Raw which was originally aired on a Saturday night rather than a Monday.
• The opening match is the Legion of Doom and their losing streak vs. The Quebecers. The New Age Outlaws roll a dumpster down to ringside as the match goes on and actually attack and lock Hawk inside it! The referee didn’t see any of that so the match continues with Animal going it alone until he finally realises Hawk is missing and frees him from the dumpster with a steel chair. The LOD chases Road Dog and Billy Gunn backstage which gives Pierre and Jacques the victory via count out. The losing streak continues.

• Here’s a video spotlighting Chyna and how awesome she was and asks the important question; why would a woman like Chyna who is so intimidating and tough suddenly want to sue the Rattlesnake? We’ll find out on the next episode of Raw.

• Ken Shamrock takes on Sniper of the Truth Commission. The big news during this match is that the World’s Most Dangerous Man will take on The Rock for the Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania. The Jackyl joins commentary for this match and talks about how he’s been good enough to allow Sniper to compete in a singles match tonight instead of in a tag team with Recon like normal. Jackyl spends the match talking about how wise he is and calls himself a warrior poet and a prophet. I do quite like this cult leader gimmick honestly. Shamrock wins this match with the ankle lock submission and then puts down Recon with a belly to belly when he tries to attack him afterwards. Strong showing for Shamrock and post match, the Jackyl goes to chastise his men for losing and embarrassing him. He snaps Sniper and tells him to leave and Recon struggles to keep the peace between his tag team partner and leader.

• In the ring, Jerry Lawler interviews Sable and Marc Mero. Mero rattles off all the things that make him angry about Sable, specifically stealing his spotlight by just…standing there. A bunch of flowers is delivered to her mid-segment and just like with the previous gifts Mero is outraged and wants to know who her secret admirer is. Sable is starting to have had enough of Mero and stands up to him again, taking the flowers and leaving him in the ring alone.

• Jim Cornette lectures us on traditional wrestling and how his NWA wrestlers are far superior to the WWF’s sports entertainers. He tells us all to like the NWA involvement with a smile on our faces or else. That leads into the Rock N Roll Express defending the NWA Tag Team titles against the WWF’s Headbangers. This match has an NWA official as referee and JR does a decent job on commentary explaining to us that Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton are babyfaces who spent years feuding with Cornette but have clearly been swayed to his NWA crusade by money and exposure. The Headbangers hit the Stage Dive on Morton and have the match won, but throw Gibson up and over the top rope to stop him from breaking up the pin. In the NWA, throwing someone over the top rope is a disqualification so the referee doesn’t count the fall and instead rings the bell and disqualifies Mosh and Thrasher! They got robbed. 

• In the ring at the start of the War Zone, Jim Ross interviews Stone Cold Steve Austin. It’s short and sweet - Chyna got lucky that he was in such a good mood and ONLY gave her a Stone Cold Stunner at No Way Out. He isn’t concerned with Shawn Michaels’ absence and tells him to do push ups and stretches and lift weights and do whatever he needs to do to be ready for Wrestlemania and to get his ass whipped for the WWF title. 

• Owen Hart defends the European Championship against the NWA’s North American Champion Jeff Jarrett (who has the entire NWA contingent with him including Windham and the Rock N Roll Express). More big Wrestlemania news here as Owen will take on Triple H (for the European title, assuming Owen still has it by the time we get there). The referee does eject the rest of the NWA from ringside before the match begins, luckily for Owen. This was a good match and Owen scores with a missile dropkick and locks in the Sharpshooter. Jim Cornette gets in the ring to cause a disqualification before Owen can submit but Hart sees him coming and locks Cornette in the Sharpshooter! He even stops Jeff from jumping him from behind and runs them both off - Owen keeps the European title and looks like a superstar here easily outsmarting and fighting off both heels single handedly. 

• Before the next match, Dok Hendrix is brought to the ring to act as special guest ring announcer. There’s even a nice video highlighting his past as Michael P.S. Hayes in the Freebirds and his legacy as a wrestler in the Texas area. He gets a nice reaction from the fans in Dallas but we don’t even get to find out what the match is before the lights go out and Kane arrives. The big red machine plans him with a chokeslam and then a Tombstone Piledriver. Kane’s path of destruction continues but now his goals are unclear - he wanted a match with The Undertaker, but Paul Bearer has told us more than once that we’ll never see The Undertaker again after the Royal Rumble. 

• Hopefully the next ring announcer has more luck; the gorgeous Sunny announces for Brian Christopher and Prata Morgan vs. Aguila and Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku. It feels like they have been building towards Brian Christopher vs. Taka at Wrestlemania for a couple of months now. This is a good match with lots of hard hitting counters and slams. Morgan is pretty impressive, I wonder why we never saw more of him? Taka picks up the win here with a Michinoku Driver on Pirata Morgan and Jerry Lawler protests and demands a restart for his “not-my-son” Brian. 
• Faarooq (with the rest of The Nation) takes on Steve Blackman. The Rock comes down last and is dressed nice and smartly rather than in his ringgear. He has a wrapped present and has promised that he will show his appreciation for the rest of the Nation tonight. Rocky grabs the mic and says he wants to clear some things up; there is no dissension in the ranks of the Nation and he has gifts for them all. First, he presents solid gold Rolex watches to Kama Mustafa, D’Lo Brown and Mark Henry and they’re all delighted. Finally, he turns to Faarooq and lets him know that he is the only man who can lead The Nation and presents the largest gift to him. It’s a framed picture of The Rock! Faarooq looks pretty pissed and throws it to the mat, breaking the frame. I don’t think he appreciated The Rock’s present. Faarooq dominates Blackman but then tries to use the Rock portrait as a weapon. The Rock is offended and snatches it back and Blackman picks up the win with a roll up! The Nation continues to bicker and argue afterwards and Faarooq destroys the picture much to The Rock’s dismay. All is not well in The Nation of Domination. 

• In the main event, Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie take on the team of Goldust and Marc Mero. Tonight, Goldust is back in his classic black and gold gear but the real tension is Luna and Sable at ringside. Jerry Lawler has some big news that on the next episode of Raw Goldust has promised to present “the American Dream” which of course is the nickname of his father, WCW contracted talent Dusty Rhodes. It’s going to be him in another costume isn’t it? Mero doesn’t bring Sable out with him, presumably still upset about their interview earlier. Sable does come out with her bunch of flowers and Luna steals them from her. Mero gets so distracted trying to stop the women from fighting, Cactus blasts Goldust with a steel chair and he and Chainsaw pick up the win! Raw ends in chaos with Mero and referees trying to hold Luna and Sable apart. 

Raw is War - February 23rd 1998

• Raw opens with a video spotlighting tonight’s big match; after their actions with the dumpster last week, The New Age Outlaws will defend the WWF Tag Team Championships against the Legion of Doom. That match opens the show and it’s pretty good in front of a hot crowd. The LOD has the match won with the Doomsday Device on Road Dog but Hawk is a little slow getting out of the ring which distracts the referee from counting. Billy clocks Animal with one of the Tag Title belts and that gives the Outlaws a dirty win. The real story is after the match as the pressure of this losing streak becomes too much. Hawk and Animal blame each other for the loss and then attack each other, rolling around on the mat trading blows until referees and officials finally rush the ring to break them up with some difficulty. They’ve known each other since they were kids and have been a tag team for over 15 years so this is heart breaking for their fans. After the commercial break, JR tells us they’re still fighting in the back and we’ll try to get words with either Hawk or Animal later in the show.

• Ken Shamrock faces the NWA’s Jeff Jarrett (in non-title action) Jim Cornette’s failed interference becomes the story as he fails to stop the referee from counting a pin forcing Jarrett to kick out himself, he gets knocked off the apron by Jarrett who misses Shamrock and then accidentally hits his own man with his tennis racket, knocking him out cold! Shamrock locks in the ankle lock for the victory and after the match, Michael Cole interviews a groggy Jeff Jarrett who says that he thinks it might be time for himself and Cornette to go their separate ways! 

• Jerry Lawler tries to interview Animal in the locker room about the break up with Hawk. He screams about how he doesn’t have a brother anymore and then Hawk rushes in and attacks Animal again! They have to be held back and separated by multiple wrestlers including the Headbangers and Bradshaw. JR says they’ll try and speak to Hawk instead later.

• The DOA takes on the Truth Commission in a six man tag team match. The Jackyl seems to have patched things up with Recon and Sniper and doesn’t join commentary this week, managing from ringside. There’s more Wrestlemania news during this match; a 15-team Battle Royal to determine the number one contenders to the WWF Tag Team Championships. Kurrgan wins this match with his Paralyser head claw on either Skull or 8-Ball. Despite the victory, The Jackyl isn’t happy, presumably accusing Sniper and Recon of riding on Kurrgan’s coattails. Sniper stands up for himself so Kurrgan puts the Paralyster on him too! 

• “Live” from Shawn Michaels’ home, D-Generation X bat aside the whole "Chyna lawsuit” thing directed at Stone Cold, so I guess they’ve dropped that storyline. Michaels promises that he WILL defend the title at Wrestlemania (playing up the real rumors that the time that his back was too hurt to wrestle) and he and Triple H declare Wrestlemania “X-Rated”. Owen Hart, Stone Cold and Mike Tyson will all be on Raw next week so…so will they, and they plan on causing as much chaos as possible for their Wrestlemania opponents.

• WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku faces former NWA Worlds champion Barry Windham. This is an obvious mismatch for the smaller Taka. Cornette joins commentary and continues to sing the praises of the NWA and says that he’s sure he can smooth things out with Jeff Jarrett later on. Barry dominates Taka but before the finish comes, the lights go out and Kane arrives. The NWA quickly bails out and leaves but Taka is already too beaten up to make a run for it and is spiked with a massive one-armed chokeslam and then a Tombstone Piledriver. This week, Paul Bearer speaks and says that there’s only one WWF Superstar he’s interested in and it’s Stone Cold Steve Austin! Bearer issues a warning to the Rattlesnake - if he has the guts, next week he will face Kane one on one! Stone Cold isn’t here this week but no doubt if he was, he’d already be in Kane’s face to accept.

• As the New Age Outlaws try to leave the building, Michael Cole grabs them for an interview. They refuse to show any respect or remorse for what happened to the LOD and when they finally get in their car and try to leave Chainsaw Charlie and Cactus Jack attack their car! Charlie grinds at the car’s body with his chainsaw (it’s not real, it just emits sparks) and Cactus Jack smashes the windshield with a baseball bat! They aren’t done with the Outlaws by a long shot and later in the show, JR breaks the news that the Outlaws will defend the Tag Team titles against Cactus and Chainsaw in a match with a stipulation “to be determined”

• As promised last week, Goldust brings us his version of The American Dream. Initially I thought it was him doing an impression of his dad but, with old footage of Dusty’s WWF career playing it’s actually Bruce Pritchard who I’ve heard do the Dusty impression in enough interviews to recognise the voice. They mock Dusty’s WWF career and his polka dot ring gear before cutting back to the arena where Goldust himself does indeed impersonate his father. Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross both have a good laugh at Dusty’s expense. Jim Ross is quick to let us know that “someone from the WWF” spoke to the real Dusty earlier today and he had a good laugh at this himself. The WWF official in question was Jim Ross who was good friends with Dusty, so I guess that makes it all ok. Goldust’s opponent is Blackjack Bradshaw and Goldust gets so distracted impersonating his dad it costs him and he’s clobbered with a big clothesline. Bradshaw picks up the win.

• As Hawk leaves the arena, Kevin Kelly tries to speak to him about the break up of the LOD but he refuses to speak to him and just walks out. 
• The Rock faces Steve Blackman (in a non-title match) with the Nation at ringside. Faarooq “accidentally” costs The Rock the match by continuously distracting the referee when The Rock has the three count. D’Lo tries to help out Rocky by throwing Blackman’s martial arts weapon to him but throws too high and Blackman catches them instead and uses them to knock out the Intercontinental Champion and pick up the win! Post match, The Rock demands Faarooq get in the ring and explain himself but the Nation leader is having none of it and the Nation is divided over whether to follow The Rock or Faarooq. 

• Backstage, Kevin Kelly speaks to Luna and asks why she wasn’t out with Goldust earlier. She’s wrapping her fists in tape and screeches that she plans on calling out Sable and destroying and mangling her pretty face beyond all recognition.
• Jim Cornette accompanies the Rock n Roll Express to the ring for a rematch from the previous Raw - an NWA Tag Team Championship match with the Headbangers. This week, Commissioner Slaughter comes down to the ring with a WWF referee in tow and he ejects the NWA referee in favour of the WWF one - this match will be conducted under WWF rules, not NWA rules. Jim Cornette loudly protests about how this is an NWA title match and so the NWA should have the final say-so but loses the battle. Cornette’s mistakes continue and he hits Mosh with his tennis racket…causing him to fall onto Gibson in a pin! The Headbangers win the NWA Tag Team Championships on WWF Raw is War. 

• In the main event, Owen Hart defends the European Championship against Marc Mero. He gets a big cheer when he comes out - because of Sable - and then a big boo when he makes Sable leave so she doesn’t steal the spotlight. This is a short match but Owen is very good so its all very crisp. Sable doesn’t wait long before she comes back down to ringside and her distraction almost gets Mero rolled up. He shoves the referee which opens the window for him to low blow Owen but the TKO is countered into a DDT. Owen locks in the Sharpshooter and probably has the match won but the referee rules it a disqualification for the shove. He wins and keeps the title either way! Luna takes the chance to come to the ring and attack Sable but Goldust follows her down to hold her back while Mero holds back Sable and in the chaos, Goldust makes the mistake of holding back Sable. Mero doesn’t like seeing another man touch “his” woman and so he attacks Goldust! Sable grabs a mic and says “get your ass back here you little bitch!” and as Luna fights to return to the ring, she shoves Goldust down too! Man the Attitude era fans love it when they swear. Raw ends, for the second show in a row, with referees and officials holding Sable and Luna apart. 

Raw is War - March 2nd 1998

• For the first time in weeks, D-Generation X is back on Raw. Triple H has a good line which is very 90s but it was the 90s. “Wrestlemania is now X Rated so parents, get your kids’ permission to watch. Discretion is advised but will be completely ignored” and then ends with a warning to Owen Hart who he promises to go through like a hot knife though butter (followed by a joke about how big his own penis is). Shawn Michaels says that when Mike Tyson arrives at Raw tonight, DX is going to make him an offer he cannot and will not refuse. He ends with Stone Cold who he promises will “boogie to the sound of Sweet Chin Music” and tells to shine up his head so he can crack it like an egg. That brings the challenger himself to the ring - it was unlikely he was going to sit in the back and take this verbal abuse. He shows no fear and even against three people gets right in the ring. It doesn’t have time to turn physical; the lights go out and Stone Cold’s opponent for the night Kane comes out to join the party! DX quickly leaves while the lights are out but Stone Cold doesn’t back down. Paul Bearer screeches that Austin doesn’t need to worry about Wrestlemania because Kane is going to send him straight to hell tonight on Raw! When the lights come back on, Kane and Bearer are gone too and a frustrated Stone Cold shoves Michael Cole and takes his head set to ask for a beer and a hot dog. He says that with the lights on or off, he can bring a flashlight if he wants, Austin is going to whip Kane’s ass and then he’s going to whip DX’s asses too! He isn’t afraid of anyone.

• The WWF Tag Team Champions come down to the ring wearing neckbraces, shaken up by their confrontation with Cactus and Chainsaw last week. Road Dog shows us the footage from his own camcorder last week of the attack (and we can hear a good line I missed last week, telling Michael Cole he’s not as good as Todd Pettengill) and says that they have a doctor’s note and will not be wrestling tonight. Commissioner Slaughter appears on the titantron and says he KNOWS they’re faking so they will compete and will defend the Tag Team titles against the DOA’s Skull and 8-Ball. As the DOA ride to the ring we get a good look at the dumpster which the New Age Outlaws brought to the ring with them. The match is a brawl around the ring but as Road Dog and Billy prepare to throw one half of the DOA team into their dumpster, the lids pop open - Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie were hidden inside! The Outlaws run away through the crowd and lose the match via count out.

• Marc Mero faces Tom Brandi. He brings Sable to the ring but, as he has every week, sends her backstage before the match begins having already used her for a cheer during his entrance. Luna comes down to ringside which is odd because neither Sable nor Goldust are out here. Mero uses his now trademark low blow and TKO combo thanks to Luna distracting the referee and then she sucks up to Mero and even forces a kiss on him! That brings Goldust to the ring who now attacks Mero and Luna joins in! The bizarre couple beat up Mero together until Sable comes down to help her man. Or maybe it’s just to get her hands on Luna again! She snapmares Luna out of the ring and Mero fights off Goldust; perhaps Mero and Sable are now on the same page? Nope, Mero starts yelling at Sable again for stealing his spotlight. He’s a maniac and for the third time, she shoves Marvellous Marc onto his ass! At least this week won’t end with this angle for the third time. One of the referees raised Sable’s arm and I have no idea why - she wasn’t in a match?

• Owen Hart defends the European Championship on the third episode of Raw in a row. It’s funny actually because last year even though he was a heel, they gave him a really strong push as a fighting champion while he held the Intercontinental title. I suppose Owen, heel or face, if he has a championship he wants to show off and defend it! His opponent is The World’s Strongest man and Nation member Mark Henry. Commissioner Slaughter is on the ball and rushes down to stop The Rock, D’Lo, Kama and Faarooq from accompanying Mark and forces them to go backstage. Before long, Chyna saunters down to the ring for a closer look at Triple H’s Wrestlemania opponent. I don’t want to analyse Chyna’s appearance too much but since Triple H and Shawn Michaels have already made so much of a fuss on TV about her breast implants I’ll point out that I think her face has started to change shape now too. Chyna had quite a lot of cosmetic work done between 1997 and 2000 when she posed for Playboy and while I could get into the mental barriers and challenges of being so unhappy with your appearance that you have dozens of surgeries to change it, she did look incredible (in my opinion) by 2001. Owen goes after Mark’s legs and tries for the Sharpshooter time and time again but he’s too big and strong and kicks Owen off every time. Owen strings together a missile dropkick, a nice elbow drop and an enziguri before finally locking in the Sharpshooter but breaks the hold by choice to go and confront Chyna who was on the apron. Mark locks in the bearhug and might back the title won but Chyna gets in the ring and gives him a low blow! Why? Well Michael Cole rushes over to ask her and while she doesn’t really answer it’s fairly obvious; she wants him to keep the European title so Triple H can win it from him at Wrestlemania. 

• In a six man tag team match, NWA Tag Team Champions The Headbangers and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku take on the NWA trio of Robert Gibson, Ricky Morton and Barry Windham. Before the match, Mosh and Thrasher get Taka to headbang with them and that gets a laugh from JR and a cheer from the crowd, as well as a big genuine looking smile on Taka’s face too. Lovely stuff. The good mood continues as Mosh and Thrasher cut a funny promo telling the Rock n Roll Express to go back to the 80s and get a big cheer from the crowd, as does Taka when he calls Cornette a jackass. This is short and all action - Taka takes out Windham with a dive to the floor and Thrasher uses Cornette’s own racket to knock out Morton and steal the win. Cornette screams at The Headbangers that if they have any guts they’ll give the Rock N Roll Express a rematch for the titles next week on Raw. 
• Hyped up throughout the first hour was the arrival backstage of “Iron” Mike Tyson who is expected to kick off the War Zone. He’s been busy chatting away to Vince McMahon backstage most of the night. Vince takes a moment to soak up the boos for himself in the arena and almost encourages it; you can see the wheels turning for the formation of the Mr. McMahon character. Mike Tyson gets a lot of boos when he’s introduced too - I guess even the fans in 1998 didn’t like celebrity involvement. Mike doesn’t get to speak before D-Generation X comes out to confront him. Michaels gets in Iron Mike’s face and tells him that he’s not Stone Cold and if he wants to call him out he’ll do it right now to his face. Tyson doesn’t back down and the ring clears as we prepare to see Mike Tyson fight the WWF Champion! They circle each other, squaring up to each other and then HBK pulls off Tyson’s WWF Attitude t-shirt to reveal a DX t-shirt! Vince McMahon looks furious as Tyson has fun posing and crotch-chopping with D-Generation X as apparently its newest member. Does that affect him as the referee for the WWF Championship match? Stone Cold is in trouble now.

• Steve Blackman faces another Nation member this week in Kama Mustafa. Just like earlier, Commissioner Slaughter comes down to the ring and makes the other Nation members leave so this is a fair one on one match. Blackman probably has his third victory over a Nation member in a row in the bag until Faarooq and The Rock run down and attack him. Blackman wins by DQ and thankfully for him, Ken Shamrock runs down to chase off the Nation and stop the beating of Blackman from going too far. 
• In the ring, Tennessee Lee gives a big warm introduction the world’s greatest singer, the world’s greatest entertainer and the world’s greatest wrestler - Double J is back. I previously sarcastically mocked Jarrett’s anti-gimmick promos by saying he’d be Double J again by April. Turns out it was a month earlier than that. He wishes the NWA well in their future and has apparently vacated the North American title. I don’t care, do you? I’ve no idea why he’s gone back to being Double J the singing goofball because while he wasn’t getting over as serious Jeff Jarrett, he’s not over in this gimmick either. Maybe I’m being too harsh about Jeff but I’m not a fan. His opponent here is Flash Funk who I do like and he shows off a bit, flipping around and landing on his feet and using cool looking spinning heel kicks and slams. Tennessee Lee trips him when he goes to the top rope and Jarrett capitalises with a Figure Four for a submission victory. 

• They made a big fuss about the fact that celebrity Gennifer Flowers will be at Wrestlemania. She joins Mike Tyson and last week they announced that baseball hall of famer Pete Rose will be there too. I have no idea who she is but Lawler and Ross are all giddy about it and say that they’re sure President Clinton will be watching? Ok, whatever.
• Out in the parking lot, Michael Cole tries to speak to Mike Tyson and D-Generation X as they leave the arena. Tyson says that Austin will be knocked out stone-cold and then he leaves in his limo. I couldn’t tell if DX left with him. 
• There’s a video package spotlighting the recent troubles and break down between Hawk and Animal of the Legion of Doom. JR says that the situation between them may be even worse than they thought and he’s not sure if and when we’ll see the LOD again. 
• Kane enters first for the main event and Paul Bearer says that soon Stone Cold will rest in peace, next to The Undertaker. Austin enters but doesn’t get far before he’s lured into a sneak attack by Triple H and then dropped with a Sweet Chin Music by Shawn Michaels. The Rattlesnake has been laid out by D-Generation X! When he wakes up, he rushes off backstage to pursue them which leaves Kane and Bearer in the ring with nothing to do.

• Paul insists Kane get the ring bell and the time keeper into the ring (taking a quick interlude to beat the hell out of a “fan” in the front row who dared touch him) and they force Mark Yeaton to ring the ring bell 10 times, “tolling for The Undertaker”. Once he’s done, Kane drills him with a chokeslam and then a Tombstone Piledriver. Paul Bearer gloats that he has one last Tombstone left in him for the night and suggests perhaps he should deliver it to Lawler, or JR. *GONG* The lights go out and the *GONG* continues. A coffin appears, sitting at the top of the ramp. A bolt of lightning strikes exploding the casket and then what appears to be the Undertaker is left lying on the stand.  He sits up and looks straight at Kane! Awesome! Taker stands up and welcomes Kane to hell. He is the demon who will lead Kane to eternal damnation. Taker tells Bearer that when he returns to the darkness, it is by his own choosing to receive a spiritual healing. While he was gone, he went to sooth the souls of his parents because now he has to do the one thing he promised never to do. Bearer calls Kane the new Phenom and Kane causes a wall of fire to appear on the ramp. Taker walks right through the fire! He tells Kane that he will soon understand why Taker is the most feared entity in the WWF, the Reaper of Wayward Souls, and the Lord of Darkness. When they were kids and started to fight one another, they had mom and dad there to stop them. Come March 29th at WrestleMania, there won’t be anybody to stop them. May the hounds of hell eat Kane’s rotting soul. REST IN PEACE. Incredible segment and I hope that I did it some justice!

Raw is War - March 9th 1998

• As a result of their interactions and run-ins over the past couple of weeks the undefeated Steve Blackman and Ken Shamrock take on Faarooq and Intercontinental Champion The Rock. The Nation have tried to put their issues aside as on commentary, Kevin Kelly explains that they also teamed up over the weekend and looked great with no signs of dissension. The Rock uses his big elbow drop with some theatrics which he’s done in a few matches lately but this week marks the first time that the commentators name it - Kevin Kelly tells us that The Rock wants that move to be known as The People’s Elbow. This match ends via disqualification when the rest of The Nation gets involved and The Rock makes a big show of making Faarooq and the other’s leave - he wants to beat up Shamrock solo. The world’s most dangerous man turns the ride and locks Rocky in the ankle lock at ringside and while the People’s Champion screams in pain and begs for help, Faarooq takes him at his word and refuses to let Mark, D’Lo or Kama help The Rock out! He wanted to take Shamrock solo so he can! 

• DX members Triple H and Chyna head down to the ring and gloat about D-Generation X’s pre-Wrestlemania parade. Helmsley says that Owen Hart should consider himself lucky that Chyna doesn’t kick his ass more and then after telling us that WWF Champion Shawn Michaels isn’t here this week has great fun replaying HBK’s superkick to Stone Cold last week complete with comedy sound effects. Michaels appears on the titantron in a pre-recorded video filmed in what looks like a little diner. Michaels laughs about having recruited “baddest man on the planet” into DX and what that does to Wrestlemania and says Stone Cold is a fad and a flash in the pan before getting serious. He fires up and says that he is the greatest of all time and skirts reality telling Steve that he will never, ever lay down for him and he has no plans to let go of the WWF Championship now or ever. Good stuff.

• Triple H sticks around at ringside and joins commentary for the next match which is Owen Hart defending the European Championship against the NWA’s Barry Windham. Triple H calls Owen a joke of a champion and JR calls him out on having never defended the title himself. The big joke of course is that HHH is being a massive hypocrite as he keeps calling Owen a coward for the things he always does in matches like leaving the ring to get a breather. Chyna catches Owen with a blatant low blow behind the referee’s back and he can’t get back into the ring, losing by count out (so keeping the title). Triple H laughs hysterically but leaves quickly when Bradshaw runs down to attack former tag team partner Windham. They brawl a bit but the DX duo escape unharmed.

• Jerry Lawler conducts an interview backstage with Paul Bearer and Kane. Bearer refuses to discuss The Undertaker and instead focuses on Vader and the way Kane destroyed and injured him at No Way Out last month. There was an interview with the heavily bandaged Vader on the weekend shows which Bearer has fun laughing about. Throughout the show so far there has been a series of technical issues and messy camera tricks which one can only assume are due to The Undertaker. Bearer’s interview is cut short when all the cupboard doors behind them start opening and closing themselves behind them. Bearer and Lawler run off but Kane isn’t afraid. The strange effects continued for the rest of the show too with the arena lights flickering and thunder and lightning noises booming in the arena. 

• Aguila (with Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku) vs. Brian Christopher (with Jerry Lawler). We’re told repeatedly by the commentary team that Aguila is suffering with a bad flu and a high temperature but is here and doing his best anyway. JR says that we’ll find out what the plan is for the Light Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania this coming weekend. You’d assume that’ll involve Brian Christopher considering he (and his dad) have been feuding with Taka since last October. During this match Too Sexy uses the same version of the piledriver which injured Austin at Summerslam - i can’t imagine that made anyone happy backstage. Aguila has this match won but Lawler trips him off the top rope right in front of the referee giving him the disqualification win rather than a legit one. Post match the Lawlers try to beat up Taka again but he hits a baseball slide sending son crashing into father and escapes unharmed again.
• Stone Cold arrives at the arena and marches straight to the ring with no music playing and throws his jacket off. JR explains that he’s been in a foul mood all week since Mike Tyson joined DX and not only did he no-show a photoshoot that morning but he got into a big argument at the airport with an unnamed WWF official last night. He asks for footage from last week which is Vince McMahon declaring that Mike Tyson is “unquestionably the baddest man on the planet” which he takes as a personal insult. The Rattlesnake demands that Vince McMahon come to the ring and talk to him or he will not leave the ring and the entire show ends right now. Vince sends officials Gerald Brisco and Jack Lanza first, followed by Sgt. Slaughter. Stone Cold threatens all of them and will not accept anyone but Vince hself! McMahon is shown backstage looking nervous but smartly refuses to go out himself knowing what’ll happen! After a commercial break he sends Pat Patterson and some security to the ring and they’re told to beat it as well - Kevin Kelly is pretty good here explaining that the production truck is screaming in their ears as Stone Cold holds the entire show hostage! Finally, Vince McMahon does come to the ring (flanked by officials) and Stone Cold rants at him - he is the world’s toughest son of a bitch and it makes him sick the way Vince fawns and sucks up to Mike Tyson! Stone Cold has more than once mentioned that he feels like the WWF and its owner Vince McMahon has pulled the carpet out from under him and he won’t let it happen again. Vince calmly tries to explain that “baddest man on the planet” is a figure of speech and Stone Cold asks Vince straight up if he wants to see him win the WWF title. Vince refuses to admit it or answer the question and it seems like Stone Cold has caught him out - Vince does NOT want to see the Rattlesnake as the WWF Champion so maybe he is pulling the carpet out from under him! Stone Cold dares Vince to hit him and rips his jacket pocket. He says that he knows for a fact Vince will never fire him because he’s the hottest thing in the company. Vince tucks his tail and leaves - Stone Cold has utterly humiliated the owner of the WWF and then finally turns his attention to Shawn Michaels and Mike Tyson. He is going to whip both of their asses too because there is no force on this planet that can stop him from becoming the WWF Champion. “I ain’t asking you to lay down for me, I’m gonna keep knocking your ass down until you can’t get up!” and that’s the bottom line cuz Stone Cold said to! This was an awesome segment and both that line and his “gimmie a hell yeah” call and response have gotten MEGA over. 

• Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie take on the Quebecers team of Jacques and Pierre. This is a messy match with lots of weird botches and sloppy moves. Cactus picks up the win for his team with a double arm DDT on Pierre. I have to say that during this I was struck by the fact that Cactus is way less popular than Mankind and Dude Love. Road Dog comes out with his arm in a sling and blames Cactus and Chainsaw for injuring his shoulder. He goads them into coming out of the ring and fighting him but its a trap (obviously) as Billy comes from behind and cracks Chainsaw across the back with a steel chair. He escapes without being attacked but Chainsaw is barely even phased and he and Cactus get up and take off after them. 
• Paul Bearer leads Kane to the ring to discuss the return of The Undertaker last week. He starts to scream about how Kane is the new Phenom and can’t be stopped. The lights go out and The Undertaker appears in the ring behind Kane! The lights go out again and he’s gone. That just incenses Bearer further who tells Undertaker that this is NOT a joke and that Kane will send him back to the darkside forever at Wrestlemania. Lawler and JR put the show-long technical issues down to mind games by the Undertaker and Kane ends the segment by triggering his corner pyro flames. 

• Marc Mero takes on Goldust and, in a stipulation designed to keep the women from getting involved, Luna and Sable are handcuffed to the ringposts on opposite corners of the ring to keep them under control. Sable jogs to the ring and wants to go right after Luna and has to be restrained by Mero. The match doesn’t last long before Goldust lays out Mero with the Curtain Call and then knocks out the referee, sifting through his pocket for the handcuff keys. Goldust unlocks Luna who attacks the still handcuffed Sable and smears makeup all over her face! Sable screams like a banshee - it's actually pretty unpleasant to the point of making her less attractive - and is finally uncuffed and tries to go after Luna, now being held back by referees and a recovered Marc Mero. Backstage, Goldust and Luna officially challenge Marvellous Marc and Sable to a mixed tag team match at Wrestlemania 14. Luna screams a bunch of stuff about Sable but honestly I couldn’t pick up a word she said.

• After a video montage of all of the press attention that Mike Tyson has gotten for the WWF, Jim Ross conducts a pre-recorded interview with Iron Mike about his motives for joining DX and his thoughts on Stone Cold Steve Austin. He was disrespected and JR ends on the important question; how can he possibly be a fair referee at Wrestlemania as a member of DX? He doesn’t really answer but says everyone has had help to get where they are and life wasn’t fair to him so why should he be fair?

• In the main event, Triple H takes on Los Boricuas’ Savio Vega. Triple H has insisted on as much security as possible to stop the unstable Stone Cold Steve Austin from attacking him. Savio does have the other three Boricuas out there too but the ring is surrounded by referees and officials. I feel bad for the referees - providing personal security DEFINITELY isn’t part of their job description. Jerry Lawler suggests this match between HHH and Savio also has some beef because DX had Los Boricuas do some dirty work for them and haven’t shown much in the way of thanks or respect in return. When the bell rings to start this match there is roughly 90 seconds left of the episode on my copy so that gives you an idea of where this sits as a “match” vs. just being an angle. Stone Cold heads down to the ring and shoves the referees and officials out of the way. He hits Gerald Brisco and a referee with a Stunner, followed by one to Savio Vega. Stone Cold goes for Triple H but turns right into a Sweet Chin Music! Shawn Michaels WAS here all along, it was a setup. Raw ends with Triple H and Chyna holding Austin prone and Shawn Michaels getting ready to swing a steel chair right at the Rattlesnake’s unprotected head. The big cliffhanger to end Raw is War! 

Raw is War - March 17th 1998

• This episode of Raw took place on a Tuesday instead of Monday. They didn’t say what caused the move but probably some big sports thing on the USA Network. It's usually that - tennis or the dog show. 
• In the arena, the show opens with an in ring interview with the World’s most Dangerous Man Ken Shamrock. Kevin Kelly guides us through last week’s events and asks Shamrock if he’ll be able to control his temper at Wrestlemania against The Rock. Shamrock says that he prides himself on his discipline which is hilarious given how many times he’s snapped and attacked a bunch of referees and officials. Shamrock very plainly tells The Rock that he will be the new Intercontinental Champion which brings The People’s Champion and the rest of The Nation out onto the stage. The Rock tells Shamrock that if he can last two minutes with ANY member of the Nation he’ll give him an Intercontinental title match tonight on Raw. Shamrock accepts and Rocky volunteers D’Lo Brown for the job who isn’t too pleased. He puts up a fight but with 20 seconds left on the clock, Shamrock locks in the ankle lock submission. We’ll never know if he’d have tapped because The Rock gets in the ring and blasts him with a chair shot to the back and then a second one - an absolutely disgusting one - right to Shamrock’s face as he was on his knees in the ring. Jesus, he swung for the fences right into Shamrock’s face! Faarooq snatches the chair from him and tells him off; that was too much even for Faarooq. Shamrock is bleeding from the side of his head and honestly I can’t even tell how or where the chair caught him there. Backstage after a commercial break Shamrock continues to refuse medical treatment and struggles and falls over apparently concussed by the Intercontinental Champion. 

• Sable matches down to the ring with business on her face. She doesn’t want to wait to Wrestlemania and calls Luna “a little bitch” and challenges her to a one on one fight tonight on Raw where she will “kick her ass” From there, a man in a gorilla suit (yes, really) rappels down from the roof of the arena and flips out around in and out of the ring. He’s the mascot of the Phoenix Suns basketball team and he has some fun stealing JR’s cowboy hat too. He stays on commentary (but doesn’t speak) for the next match which is the Tennesee Lee introduced Double J vs. Tom Brandi. Jeff enters riding on the back of a horse! I commented on this a couple of weeks ago but it is hilarious to me that Jeff Jarrett returned to the WWF with a serious gimmick, taking pot shots at his previous Double J gimmick only to totally abandon that and return to being goofy country singer Double J within a couple of months. Jarrett wins with the figure four by submission. I thought the gorilla might get involved somehow but nothing came of it. 

• Out in the parking lot as Kevin Kelly reports on Ken Shamrock’s well being and his trip to the hospital The Rock shows up and shows a lot of his trademark flair and breaks out some more new catchphrases; he doesn’t give a monkey crap about Shamrock and he will lay the Smackdown on anyone he wants to. He signs off with the People’s Eyebrow too! 
• Here’s a special video looking at Shawn Michaels’ journey to the WWF Championship match at Wrestlemania 14. I liked this a lot but it's long and is basically a compilation of every video package they’ve ever done about Shawn Michaels. I’d imagine by this point that both he and the company were fully aware that he would need a considerable amount of time off after Wrestlemania to heal up his back injury. 

• In a three on two handicap match, Mosh and Thrasher (the NWA Tag Team Champions) take on the Rock n Roll Express and Jim Cornette. This comes from a match on Superstars where The Headbangers defeated the Rock N Roll Express to earn 5 minutes in the ring with Cornette but Mosh had been knocked out cold by a chair shot so Cornette actually pinned him! The Headbangers win this quickly with the Stage Dive on Morton and then turn their attention to beating up Cornette. Before they can do any damage, Bob Holly and Bart Gunn in spiffy new matching blue and yellow ring attitude run down and beat up Mosh and Thrasher with a string of double team moves while Cornette cheers them on! Cornette christens this team the New Midnight Express - Bombastic Bob and Bodatious Bart. He ends by blaming the Rock N Roll Express for the fact that the Headbangers are still NWA Tag Team Champions and instructs them to beat them up too. None of this NWA stuff gets much of a reaction from the crowds but I’m not against Holly and Gunn as a new tag team, and the Headbangers have really grown on me! 

• The Phoenix Suns gorilla continues to appear throughout the show firing t-shirts into the crowd and having fun with the fans in the front row but the fun and games stop when the lights go out and Kane arrives. Kane drops him with a big chokeslam and then a Tombstone Piledriver which gets boos from the fans who presumably have more affection for their team’s mascot than I do. 

• European Champion Owen Hart joins commentary for what JR says will be the whole second hour of Raw. He has a walking cast on and there’s a replay of why; he suffered a really nasty twisted ankle last week and is VERY lucky it didn’t break. It looked horrific on the replay! 

• The first match of the Warzone is a Wrestlemania preview with Tag Team Champion Bad Ass Billy Gunn taking on one of his challengers Chainsaw Charlie. Road Dog is with Billy and they wheel a dumpster out onto the stage with “Jack’s House” on the side. This Raw also marks the reveal of what the stipulation will be at Wrestlemania; it’s a dumpster match where to win you must throw and seal both opponents inside a dumpster. Road Dog keeps the microphone and commentates on the match while it goes on. He’s such an obnoxious asshole but he gets some laughs and there’s no denying his skill as a talker. This team was never going to stay heel for very long. Billy basically squashes Funk until he rallies with a DDT out of nowhere. Road Dog takes no changes and breaks it up with a shot from the Tag Team title belt. Chainsaw fights the Outlaws off single handedly and drills Billy with a DDT onto one of the Tag Team title belts and, in a cool stunt using the same cable the gorilla rappelled down with earlier, they hang Road Dog upside down so they can throw punches at him like a pinata! 

• In the ring, Kevin Kelly interviews WWF Owner Vince McMahon. This is a good segment where Kevin shows the different pieces of footage from last week and asks Vince for his reaction. He milks the boos here and this is a fantastic piece of character building for the evil Mr. McMahon. He says that the only reason he didn’t hit Stone Cold last week is because how could Austin compete at Wrestlemania “with a broken jaw”. Kevin asks Vince over and over to answer Steve’s question from last week - does he or does he not want to see Austin as WWF Champion? Vince keeps trying to evade giving a straight answer until finally replying that it's not just a no, it’s “oh hell no!” and that’s the bottom line because Vince McMahon said so! I think the owner might have just provoked the Rattlesnake worse than before! 

• Here’s a second video package this time looking at Stone Cold’s journey to his WWF Championship match at Wrestlemania 14 to match the Shawn Michaels one earlier. This is great stuff too.

• Triple H comes down to the ring with referees in tow trying to get him to back off. He won’t be deterred and goes straight to Owen Hart on commentary and goads him into putting the European title on the line tonight. Owen is smart and says no because his ankle is badly injured, calling Helmsley a gutless coward for pulling this when he’s injured. He shoves Owen in the face and the champion fires up and starts throwing punches and that is taken as his acceptance that this match is now underway. Owen is neither dressed to compete nor is he healthy and Triple H takes advantage, throwing him face first into the ring post and then keeping the referee distracted so that Chyna can hit him in his injured ankle with a baseball bat! HHH locks Owen in a submission hold targeting the injury. Owen doesn’t submit but the referee ends the match and awards the decision and the championship to Triple H. That seems like massive bullshit - Owen Hart didn’t even accept this match, all he did was fight back and the referee rang the bell? Triple H is a coward and gets good heel heat here but the real villain in this situation is the referee. Owen Hart got screwed by him worse than DX!

• Luna has accepted Sable’s challenge and so the main event is a “one on one confrontation” between the two women with Goldust and Mero at ringside. They’re very careful not to call this a match. Once everyone is in the ring, referees, officials, Goldust and Mero continue to hold Sable and Luna apart which doesn’t make any sense because they both agreed to this one on one fight. Why are they now being held back? The crowd chants “let them fight” and I fully agree! JR suggests that the referees are trying to settle this down but why? This doesn’t make any sense but Sable finally tackles Luna and tries to tear her clothes off. Goldust pulls her to safety and that leaves Sable and Mero in the ring with Sable having apparently badly injured her knee. She can barely stand and at that moment the lights in the arena go out - Kane is back! Mero heroically hides behind Sable and then when Kane’s pyro explodes he jumps out of the ring and leaves Sable to face the music solo! What a monster. Paul Bearer gloats over Sable who is now helpless against Kane but the lights go out and a long series of gongs herald the arrival of The Undertaker! He appears standing on top of the titantron and tells Kane that he will strike down upon him with great vengeance and anger and he will know his name is the Lord of Darkness. He’s felt Kane’s wrath and now Kane is going to feel his. What a great visual to end Raw and The Undertaker summons lightning which sets fire to an effigy of Kane! 

Raw is War - March 23rd 1998

• This opening video feels worthy of inclusion as this is the beginning of the McMahon/Austin feud which took the company to heights it had never seen before. I’d wager that most of the people who’d visit this website are wrestling fans because of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s feud with WWF Owner Vince McMahon

• In the arena, the Royal Rumble winner opens things up. He doesn’t mince his words; he doesn’t give a crap what Vince McMahon thinks, he cannot be molded or controlled and will keep doing what he wants, when he wants. Vince has now basically confirmed exactly what Austin has been saying since the summer of 1997 - the company doesn’t want him in a prominent position and keeps finding excuses to take titles from him and take him off TV. He shifts his focus to Shawn Michaels and the WWF Championship. He praises Michaels as a wrestler and calls Wrestlemania the toughest match of his career. Kevin Kelly tells him that all of DX including Mike Tyson are here tonight so Austin says that since he has the night off, he’ll sit backstage with a crate of cold beers and wait for his chance to visit them. Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter comes down to the ring and informs the Rattlesnake that he DOESN’T have the night off - by order of Vince McMahon (who is not here tonight) he will wrestle The Rock in a non-title match and if he refuses then his match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania will be non-title too. Austin gets angry and says that he didn’t even refuse but Slaughter is provoking him anyway so he drops the Commissioner with a Stone Cold Stunner! The fans absolutely LOVE this man and the more wild and out of control he gets, the more the fans love it. I don’t know who ultimately gets creative credit for the idea to pit Vince McMahon, as a heel, against him but they are a genius. 

• In a rematch from a couple of weeks ago, Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie take on The Quebecers. You’d think the Quebecers would take this match seriously given that if they win and then Chainsaw and Cactus win at Wrestlemania, that likely makes them number one contenders. I do love the Quebecers though - both talented wrestlers with tons of charisma. They more or less disappear after Wrestlemania sadly, mostly wrestling on house shows and leaving the company in May. As the match continues, the New Age Outlaws come out onto the stage in suits, rolling a dumpster into position and setting up a table and chairs. What are these two up to?  I thought there might be some elaborate scheme but the champions just rush the ring, attacking Cactus and Chainsaw and giving them the win by disqualification. They crack them with their metal champagne bucket and in a cool spot, smash their little fold up table over Terry Funk’s head by jumping off the top rope with it. They finish with a spike piledriver on Cactus Jack onto a steel chair. 

• “The world’s greatest promoter” Tennessee Lee introduces the “world’s greatest singer, danger, entertainer and wrestler” Double J who once again rides to the ring on a horse. I’ve been pretty harsh about this Double J gimmick but in fairness it’s not JUST the same gimmick he had in 1994-1995, it’s the same gimmick but done MUCH bigger with an actual promoter and more expensive and flashy entrances. I wanted a picture of the entrance but they kept the arena lights off so we could see Jeff’s light-up jacket and so we couldn’t see the horse. His opponent is Steve Blackman. It’s not a bad match but it's too short to be bad - Blackman sets up a superplex off the middle rope and Lee grabs his ankle, causing them to collapse to the mat with Jeff on top. He keeps hold of Blackman’s foot and Double J gives Steve Blackman his first pinfall loss. Referees come down to try and undo this crooked result so Tennessee Lee acts quickly, shoving a referee and causing a bit of chaos so Blackman puts down Jarrett with a big pump kick and then chases after the promoter. 
• Advertised for later in the week, days before Wrestlemania, D-Generation X’s Public Workout is promoted. It’s a free to attend event in Boston and it looked like a lot of fun. I’m sure we’ll see some footage of it at Wrestlemania. D-Generation X arrive at the arena tonight in a long white limo; Mike Tyson seems extremely excited to be with the group crotch chopping and hooting and hollering. Good for him. 

• Here’s a video highlighting Kane’s path of destruction last week and his run-in with The Undertaker, followed by The Undertaker speaking to us from “their parent’s gravesite”

• That leads back to the arena where the lights go out and Kane’s awesome theme music fills the air. I am very much enjoying this Kane and Undertaker stuff and the needlessly dramatic turns of phrase and battling superpowers. It’s cool as hell, and it only really works here because The Undertaker laid 8 years of ground work to make it all work. Paul Bearer says that he’s sick of all of Undertaker’s talk and asks Kane to demonstrate that he has the same powers that The Undertaker has. Kane raises his arm and there’s an explosion of pyro and lightning in the roof of the arena! He turns to the commentators and Kane does the same thing - a flash of lightning hits their desk and causes one of the monitors to explode! The fans boo all of this and I’m not sure if it's because he’s a heel or if it’s because it’s silly and unrealistic. They can go to hell though because I think this is cool as hell! He explodes a spotlight up on the scaffolding and after more threats by Paul Bearer he asks Kane to do whatever he wants in a final demonstration of his powers - Kane fires a fourth and final bolt of lightning and it sets one of the crew members on fire! It wasn’t a totally seamless stunt but the man running up the entrance ramp fully on fire is an incredible visual. I loved all of this, and Kane now looks like the devil himself in human form. 

• The DOA’s Skull and 8-Ball take on Jim Cornette’s New Midnight Express. Bodacious Bart and Bombastic Bob. Mosh and Thrasher come down to ringside because not only do they have their ongoing feud with the NWA group but this match also serves as build to the 15-team battle royal at Wrestlemania. The Rock N Roll Express comes down to ringside too, followed by Sniper and Recon (who are no longer in the Truth Commission, they split up on one of the weekend shows) and Los Boricuas. With more and more tag teams appearing at ringside you can feel how this is going to end and sure enough it does - it becomes a brawl on the outside which spills into the ring and the match is a no contest. Jim Cornette smartly pulls Bart and Bob out of the ring to escape and leaves all of the other teams to brawl in the ring. Even Los Boricuas start fighting with each other as the four of them are split up into two teams of two. The fans chant for LOD and JR tells us that Hawk and Animal have split up and won’t ever be back as a team (wink)

• At the start of the Warzone, D-Generation X heads down to the ring and Triple H speaks first. He shows footage from last week and brags about the cowardly way he regained the European Championship last week. He confirms that his title match with Owen Hart will still take place at Wrestlemania and that Chyna will be handcuffed to the Commissioner at ringside so that she can’t interfere. There’s a funny unscripted moment as they point out a woman in the front row with giant breasts, frantically and enthusiastically trying to get their attention. She looks feral and has to be held back by security to stop her rushing the ring! She has crazy eyes and Michaels has some fun calling her a skank, which is pretty mean but she was at best very drunk and at worst she was mentally unhinged. Or she might have been a plant of course. Shawn Michaels thanks Vince McMahon for his support (because he doesn’t want Austin to be champion) but then calls him a stinky jockstrap and tells him to keep his opinions at home because if Austin doesn’t give a damn what Vince thinks then Michaels cares even less! Shawn brings the focus back to himself and Austin - he is the greatest WWF Champion of all time and jokingly has to remind himself what Austin’s other big roadblock is. Mike Tyson says that if Stone Cold gets in his face he will knock him out colder than a block of ice. Tyson declares that after Wrestlemania, Michaels will still be WWF Champion and HBK says that DX will rule the WWF forever.

• The Nation of Domination’s Faarooq takes on Chainz of the DOA. Faarooq asks the rest of The Nation to stay back and leave it to him solo. There’s some important information about The Rock’s Intercontinental title match revealed here; if he is disqualified, he will lose the title to Ken Shmarock! That should stop the rest of The Nation from getting involved at Wrestlemania right? Despite Faarooq’s request that The Nation stay away and the fact that he has this match well under control, The Rock slowly saunters down to the ring holding a steel chair and tries to get involved “accidentally” hitting Faarooq with the chair! He wins by disqualification and The Rock makes a big pantomime of what an accident that chairshot was. All is not well in The Nation.

• Blackjack Bradshaw finally gets his one on one match with former tag team partner Barry Windham and this match even got a video package. This is now the main issue in this NWA Invasion and former NWA stalwarts Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson come down and sit in the front row to watch and presumably get their hands on Jim Cornette. They’re wearing WWF Attitude t-shirts now so you know that they’re babyfaces. Bradshaw picks up the win with a roll up after the Rock N Roll Express distract him and Cornette but when the fighting continues after the match the new Midnight Express run down and the three of them beat up Bradshaw. I’m not sure what happened to the Rock N Roll Express but they don’t get in the ring in time to save him. I guess they are pretty old so were just slow? 
• In the ring, there’s a special “Raw Magazine Presentation” for Sable and Sunny. They don’t really explain what that means but I can only assume it's because the issues featuring pictures of them sell the best? The presentation is presided over by real life TV writer and editor of the magazine Vince Russo. Sunny isn’t here tonight and Marc Mero actually says that he’s going to step aside and let Sable enjoy this moment herself. That feels extremely out of character? I smell a rat. Sure enough, Goldust and Luna come down to the ring and Luna attacks Sable, cracking the wooden plaque over her head! Jesus. Sable’s dress lifts up enough that her lingerie is on display so the fans whistle and jeer at that rather than reacting to the fact that she had her head caved in! Mero returns to check on her - did he leave her on her own because he knew this would happen? Sable has had a rough couple of weeks hasn’t she? I wonder if she’ll get a happy ending at Wrestlemania.

• In the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin fights The Rock (who has the whole Nation with him, minus Faarooq who is concussed from that accidental chairshot earlier) and while this isn’t the first time they’ve wrestled for some reason this one feels momentous. JR calls Stone Cold “the most popular WWF superstar of all time” and even Jerry Lawler is forced to admit that it seems like the corporate machine is against the Rattlesnake, giving him such a tough match so close to Wrestlemania knowing The Nation and D-Generation X are likely to get involved. Unlike their previous match at the DX PPV which only lasted 5 minutes, Austin’s neck is all healed up so they’re able to actually wrestle and this main event went about 12 minutes! The Nation distracts Austin to give The Rock a chance to get the advantage and he hits the People’s Elbow but a well timed Stone Cold Stunner gives Austin the victory! D’Lo Brown runs into the ring and he takes a Stunner for his troubles too. Austin grabs a steel chair to fend off the rest of The Nation but it’s not needed and they leave peacefully when the DX theme song hits. Shawn Michaels comes out onto the stage and delivers a single message - he’s turned his lights out with the Sweet Chin Music twice already and he’ll do it again at Wrestlemania! Austin gives him the finger and dares him to come to the ring and Michaels seems like he might, but he’s held back by Triple H to close out the final Raw before Wrestlemania 14.