Mike Reviews Shows Considered To Be Stinkers – WWE Raw #491 (Katie Vick)

(Just a quick disclaimer; I wrote this quite a few months in advance, although I should have known that a certain person being a total creep was always a possibility. This review mentions that person by name, and also includes a certain angle involving Katie Vick, an angle that was in poor taste to begin with and will probably be even more unpalatable to read about now that the real life depravity of the person that conceived it has come to light in such a public manner. So if you think this particular topic is in poor taste due to the events of the week we’ve just had, I apologise, it wasn’t intentional on my part for this to drop under those circumstances)

Happy Stinky Saturday Everyone!

Today we’re doing an infamous episode of Raw featuring a certain segment at the funeral of a lass known as Katie Vick.

Yes, it’s THAT episode.

I’ll go into more detail as we get into the review, but an almighty stink was caused by this episode and WWE immediately went on the defensive from the criticism they were receiving for it.

You can view the card for the Katie Vick episode of Raw by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2337&page=3

The event is emanating from Nashville, Tennessee on the 21st of October 2002

We get the opening video package, focusing on Triple H saying mean things about Kane in the build-up to their match at No Mercy the previous night, such as saying that Kane murdered his childhood sweetheart Katie Vick, leading to clips of Tri then unifying Kane’s Intercontinental Title with his Raw World Title.

Triple H and Ric Flair join us to open up the show, with Tri caring so little about winning the IC Title that he hasn’t even bothered bringing the belt down to the ring with him here. We get the usual boring HHH promo from this period, where he says “screw you” to all of the people who said he shouldn’t have just been handed the Raw belt because now he’s beaten everyone on the show. Yeah Triple H had basically cleaned out the division at this stage, which was kind of a problem, although Shawn Michaels was on his way back at least. Triple H makes further fun of Kane and says he has a special VHS tape (ask your parents what they were Gen Z readers) that will expose The Big Red Monster’s sordid past with Katie Vick later on. Hurricane (Kane’s little buddy at the time) runs down to try and steal the video tape, but the Heels end up cutting him off and put a beat down on him before retrieving the tape. Triple H says the tape will get played tonight. Lucky us. This was a lousy segment, and Hurricane being a regular whipping boy for Triple H around this time frame was especially grating when you consider how Rock (a considerably bigger star) would actually let Hurricane get some shine on him at times.

Opening Match
Harvard Graduate Christopher Nowinski Vs Jeff Hardy

Nowninski was a legitimate Harvard grad and played an arrogant intellectual Heel who ended up having to retire due to concussion issues, leading to him creating an institute that investigates CTE in sports like the NFL and in Pro Wrestling. WWE seems to alternate between hating him or showing him grudging respect depending on what benefits them more at any given time. This was a period where I was starting to do that very smarky thing of thinking all of the Heels were cooler than the babyfaces, so I was actually kind of digging Nowinski’s act whilst not really caring about what Jeff was up to.

Jeff gets a sloppy babyface shine on Nowinski and gets a dive to the floor, but Nowinski cuts Jeff off as they get back inside and works some heat. The crowd is still really into Jeff, even though his work was very hit and miss at the time. I was much more into Matt Hardy Version 1.0 around this time period due to my previously mentioned insufferable smarkiness. Nowinski’s offence was kind of generic, but he was decent enough for a guy with his respective level of experience. I think he’d done some stuff on the indies before going onto the first season of Tough Enough, but he was still relatively green at the time.

Jeff attempts a comeback at one stage, but Nowinski cuts him off with the Stun Gun (the move, not the item) and then gets his Honour Roll finishing move for two. That’s not a bad looking move when delivered well, but I’m not sure it ever really worked as a finisher for ol’ Christopher. Plus, you can only really deliver that to guys your size or smaller, which doesn’t make it an ideal finisher in a company filled with massive wrestlers. Jeff finally does make the comeback following that, although things continue to be sloppy, which is partly down to Nowinski’s bumping and feeding lacking crispness and polish. Nowinski gets frustrated and tries to use a chair, but Al Snow takes it away and that leads to Jeff heading up top for the Swanton. However, Nowinski dodges the move and Jeff lands onto the chair, which leads to Nowinski getting the three count.

WINNER: CHRISTOPHER NOWINSKI
RATING: 1/2*

Thoughts: The replay shows that Snow actually moved Nowinski out of the way before the Swanton hit, which makes one ponder why he intervened in the first place if he was just going to help his student in the end (Snow had been a coach on Tough Enough 1)? The match itself was pretty sloppy and not really that good, owing to Nowinski still lacking seasoning and Jeff going through a bad patch where he wasn’t especially motivated

Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff is looking at footage of Big Show throttling him at the pay per view on Sunday. Stacy Keibler comes in to ask to be a referee later on. Sleazy E agrees and she leaves happy. Big Show then enters the office, where Bischoff tells the Giant that he’s booked him in a handicap match as a punishment for the previous night.

Tommy Dreamer is mad at Al Snow for still helping out Chris Nowinski all the time, so it’s a Singapore Cane match between the two of them later on. Nowinski then walks over and tells Snow that he doesn’t need his help going forwards.

Match Two
#1 Contender Status to the Raw Tag Team Titles
Lance T. Storm and William Bloody Regal Vs The New Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and Spike)

Storm and Regal’s gimmick at the time was that they weren’t from the USA, and thus didn’t like it. It was the cheapest of cheap heat and they ended up getting a pretty big push until Regal needed some time off due to illness, leading to Storm having to tag with Val Venis instead. The two foreigners chastise all the yanks in the stands before the match starts. Yeah tell em lads! D-Von was off being a Reverend on Smackdown at the time, so Spike had taken up the mantle as Bubba’s partner after Bubba’s singles push had been brought to an end at the hands of Triple H. Bubba would eventually get a singles run in TNA/IMPACT in the 10’s and did quite well for himself there.

Jim Ross is getting extra grumpy on commentary about this Katie Vick business, whilst The New Dudleyz shine on the Heels. Everyone in this match is a solid worker, so the action is decent and the crowd is somewhat into it due to the cheap xenophobia angle running through it. I don’t know where Dudleyville is, but it’s at least somewhere in MURICA. We get the dreaded split screen at one stage in order to see that Kane has shown up, whilst The Heels strangely get a little bit of heat on Bubba until it’s hot tag Spike. The fans get into the comeback from the babyfaces, with Spike getting a lovely rana on Storm at one stage. Bubba gets the Bubba Bomb on Storm and Spike gets the Acid Drop on Regal to give The New Dudleyz the win.

WINNERS: THE NEW DUDLEY BOYZ
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: This was too short to be rated any higher, but I enjoyed what we got to see, with everyone entering a competent performance and the crowd getting into it for the most part

The Foreigners aren’t too happy to have lost, so they put a beat down on The New Dudleyz whilst the crowd groans along. Spike takes the worst of it, getting clobbered with some knuckleduster’s courtesy of his lordship.

WWE Women’s Champ Trish Stratus is having some pics taken, which leads to Raw Tag Champs Chris Jericho and Christian coming over to insult her and demand she tell Booker T and Goldust that the Champs are not sucka’s. Jericho suggests the he and Trish should get together following the show, which ended up becoming an angle nearly a year later. I guess they were just playing the long game on that one.

Eric Bischoff joins us to annoy the crowd for a bit and to have a go at Smackdown. Bischoff puts over the Smackdown Hell in a Cell match from the previous night, but says he’s going to top it at Survivor Series with the first ever Elimination Chamber match. I think history has shown that Brock Vs Taker at No Mercy 2002 was better than Elimination Chamber at Survivor Series 2002, although I think neither match is bad.

We get a video package to hype up Batista, focusing on how big and muscular he is. Well, it’s certainly a factually accurate video package if nothing else.

Match Three
Special Guest Referee: Stacy Keibler
Test Vs D-Lo Brown

Poor Brown doesn’t even get an entrance here whilst Keibler does, which tells you where he was on the food chain at the time. Keibler is clearly on Test’s side here, and I believe they were dating in real life at the time. Keibler slaps Brown to start, leading to Test getting the upper hand and clobbering his opponent, with Brown taking some nice bumps and doing a good job of making Test look like a dangerous opponent. Brown makes a bit of a comeback, looking good in the process, but the crowd doesn’t really care. Brown yelling all his catchphrases whilst beating Test up gives me flashbacks to playing WWF Attitude on the PlayStation actually. Keibler ends up refusing to count for Brown when he has Test down, leading to Test getting the Big Boot for three.

WINNER: TEST
RATING: N/A

Thoughts: This was more of an angle than a match, although the wrestling itself wasn’t bad

Test and Keibler appear to be an item following that.

Terri Runnels is backstage with Victoria, who is angry at Trish Stratus for supposedly abandoning her earlier in her career. This leads to Booker T and Goldust interrupting, with Goldust doing a Dusty Rhodes impression. This was wacky, but Booker and Goldy were over at least.

Match Four
The King of the World Chris Jericho, Christian and Victoria Vs Booker T, Goldust and Trish Stratus

Jericho/Christian and Booker/Goldust were feuding over the tag belts at the time, whilst Trish and Victoria were feuding over the Women’s belt. Trish attacks Victoria to start, leading to a decent little bit between them until Christian gets tagged in. Trish slaps Christian though and tags in Booker, who runs wild on both Heels by himself and gets a great reaction for doing so. You could really tell watching around this period that Booker was on the cusp of the upper reaches of the card at the time and just needed a bit of a push to get him there. Sadly WWE’s idea for that was to have him lose to a racist character at WrestleMania XIX, because WWE.

The Heels end up cheating to work some heat on Booker, with Booker selling that well and the crowd getting behind him. Victoria lets Jericho and Christian handle most of that, with the Tag Champs looking good on offence. Booker eventually manages to catch Jericho with the 110th Street Slam and it’s hot tag Goldust, with Goldy running wild and looking good. This Booker T and Goldust team was an effective tandem and they enjoyed some decent popularity. Trish ends up tagging in and comes off the top with a cross body onto Jericho for two in a good near fall. Things breakdown following that, with everyone running in to hit the move until Jericho locks in the Lion Tamer onto Trish for the submission win.

WINNERS: JERICHO, CHRISTIAN & VICTORIA
RATING: **

Thoughts: This was a reasonable use of TV time, as it advanced the storyline, made Jericho look like a jerk and gave us some mostly decent wrestling too

So now we get the bit this show is most remembered for, as Triple H demands that the tape from earlier be played. For those that weren’t watching at the time (you lucky buggers), they’d retroactively given Kane a high school sweetheart called Katie Vick (Yes, apparently Kane went to high school. I hear he was a nightmare to get as your cooking partner in home economics) who had then tragically died in a car crash due to Kane not being familiar with a manual transmission. Kane may be able to make fire shoot out of the turnbuckles at will, but ask him to find the biting point on a manual Hyundai i20 and it’s game over. Anyway, this had led to Triple H saying that Kane had murdered Katie Vick, which even if we were to believe that ANY of this backstory happened wouldn’t make any sense, as at worst Kane would be done for accidental death caused by reckless driving in such a scenario. This all leads to a poorly shot skit from a funeral home, where Triple H shows up dressed as Kane and makes love to a dummy in a casket that is supposedly Katie Vick. So yeah, it’s a brutal skit and WWE got plenty of complaints from it, leading to WWE going on the defensive saying that they were trying to be dark comedy like Six Feet Under. That defence of course went over about as well as Triple H banging a corpse, which is to say not very well at all. This was not only incredibly offensive but it also did nothing to make you want to watch Triple H and Kane wrestle one another, which is kind of the point of this whole Pro Wrestling thing. It just made you want to never see any of the people involved on your TV screen again anytime soon. Supposedly one of the payoffs to this would have been that Scott Vick (Sickboy from WCW) would show up as the brother of Katie Vick looking for revenge on Kane for murdering his sister, but they ended up dropping the angle due to how violently negative the reaction to this segment was.

Match Five
Singapore Cane Match
Al Snow Vs Tommy Dreamer

The stipulation here seems to be that each wrestler has a cane and they can use it whenever they want, as opposed to a match where they’d stick the cane atop of a pole and you have to climb the pole in order to use the weapon. Lawler actually mentions Six Feet Under on commentary here, whilst Snow and Dreamer hit each other with sticks whilst the crowd doesn’t seem to care. Poor Dreamer even takes a suplex out onto the floor at one stage, but the crowd still sits on their hands. Dreamer eventually kicks Snow right in his snowballs before adding some shots with the cane. Chris Nowinski tries to help his mentor Snow, but he ends up clocking Snow by accident and Dreamer gets the three count.

WINNER: TOMMY DREAMER
RATING: *

Thoughts: The crowd really didn’t care about this and it was a really flat match as a result. I think just throwing a stipulation match out there with no build didn’t really help this one

Match Six
Three on One Handicap Match
Three Minute Warning (Rosey, Jamal and Rico) Vs The Big Show

Rosey would end up tagging with Hurricane as a Super-Hero In Training, whilst Jamal would end up becoming Umaga. Rico was formerly a cop and ended up leaving the business later on in the 00’s following a harrowing All Japan tour. Big Show was in a bad mood at No Mercy that he’d been left off of the pay per view and had accosted Bischoff for it, hence this match being booked as a punishment. Rosey and Jamal had been doing a gimmick where they’d attack people who Bischoff would find boring, with their name coming from Sleazy E saying that the victim-in-questions three minutes had run out. Big Show deals with the Heels quite easily in the early going, which kind of makes Rosey and Jamal look pretty weak after they’d initially been booked quite strong. The Heels do eventually use the numbers game in order to put Big Show down for a bit, but he shrugs that off and Choke Slam’s Jamal for three.

WINNER: THE BIG SHOW
RATING: SQUASH

Thoughts: Big Show was going to be feuding with Brock Lesnar over on Smackdown, so they wanted to make him look strong here so that he’d be a credible opponent for The Next Big Thing. I also believe that Rosey and Jamal had angered some people backstage by hurting some of the victims they’d been beating up, so this could have possibly been a punishment for that as well, but don’t quote me on that. In some ways the match was quite effective, as Big Show got a decent pop for winning, but then he was going to be a Heel over on Smackdown, so I’m not sure what having him squash three Heels like this really achieved as far as helping him on his way to his new monster Heel role over on Smackdown

Shawn Michaelsis at whatever they were calling WWF New York at the time.

Jonathon Coachman is backstage with Big Show, but Eric Bischoff storms over and says that he’s sick of Big Show and is trading him to Smackdown, which Big Show seems quite happy with. I think the trade ended up being Big Show for Maven, Val Venis, D-Von Dudley and Ivory. So Smackdown probably got the better of that deal in kayfabe world owing to Big Show winning the Smackdown and United States belts whilst he was over there, whilst D-Von and Venis won some tag belts between them and the other two draftees didn’t really achieve much (although Maven does have a swank YouTube channel these days). Meanwhile, Hurricane has a car prepped.

We get clips from SummerSlam, where Shawn Michaels defeated Triple H but then got attacked with a sledgehammer. Shawn wheels his way out onto the stage at the WWE restaurant in New York. Shawn says his rehab is going slow, but he will get Triple H somewhere down the line. Shawn punctuates this by leaping out of his wheelchair and dancing around. This was a good segment at least and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

Main Event
The Game Triple H and The Nature Boy Ric Flair Vs Mr. Monday Night Rob Van Dam and The Big Red Monster Kane

Flair gets his own entrance here at least, so he wasn’t fully Triple H’s bitch yet. Jim Ross is playing the role of the audience here, complaining about all of the Katie Vick stuff, whilst Lawler is playing the role of Vince McMahon by defending it all. This one is a brawl to start, with all four going at it and Kane running wild with clotheslines and big boots. Ric Flair Vs Rob Van Dam has to be possibly one of the more bizarre styles clashes I can remember watching. Their respective styles don’t mesh AT ALL. It’s like watching Manchester United play The Royal Engineers. Both are good at their own thing, but put them together and you’d have a better chance of mixing water with oil.

After the initial babyface shine we get the Heels cutting RVD off, with Flair flinging RVD into the ring steps at one stage. RVD sells the heat well in all fairness and the Heels are mechanically solid whilst working him over, so it works well enough as a heat segment, although the crowd doesn’t really get that into it outside of going “WOOOOO” whenever Flair goes on the offensive. Flair and Triple H work quite well as a team when you consider that they’d only really been aligned for about a month by this point. HHH of course busts out a Sleeper Hold at one stage as he was trying to get that over as a secondary finisher, but the crowd never really bought into that one. It’s not like a hold like that can’t get over (Samoa Joe has had great success with a Rear Naked Choke for instance) but I don’t think the fans really saw Tri as a credible submission expert.

The heat segment probably goes on for too long, although he does a good enough job that we do eventually get some faint chants for him from the crowd. We even get the old “ref misses the hot tag” spot at one stage, like we’re getting an MX Vs RnR’s match or something, as they’re really trying to make this into a classic old school tag match but the crowd doesn’t appear to have read the script. Kane does eventually get the hot tag, but in his match it’s more of a lukewarm tag due to Kane being killed so badly by this Katie Vick booking. Flair continues to be the only person drawing anything close to consistent crowd reactions, as the fans get into The Nature Boy stooging around for the babyfaces. HHH and Kane end up fighting to the back, whilst Flair and RVD close things out with RVD heading up top and getting the Five Star Frogsplash for the win.

WINNERS: RVD & KANE
RATING: **

Thoughts: This was overly long and the crowd didn’t really seem to get into it that much, but the wrestling itself was fine

Kane batters Triple H backstage and Choke Slams him onto the bonnet of a car before sticking him in the boot and threatening to do to HHH what Tri accused Kane of doing to Katie Vick. I honestly can’t think of a more appropriate ending to one of the worst television shows WWF/E has ever had.

Is It Really A Stinker?

The only thing deader than Katie Vick was this episode of Raw, as barely anything on it was good and the bad was legendarily bad. Raw’s awfulness was only more evident when compared to how good Smackdown was at the time. I’m not especially nostalgic for the whole Ruthless Aggression Era as a whole (although Smackdown was good in 2002 and Raw was good in 2004) and shows like this kind of show why. It might be hard to imagine for younger viewers who didn’t live through this period and are used to WWE making so much money from TV rights fees that they could put salamander’s procreating on screen for 3 hours every Monday and still make billions every year, but WWE’s business actually relied on people watching the TV show, buying tickets for live events and ordering pay per views during this Era, and all of those business metrics were getting considerably worse at the time. Of course eventually WWE would get back on track, but this episode of Raw, and all the associated Katie Vick silliness, is a good example as to why things felt so bleak at the time.

Final Rating – Stinker

(Ratings are done on a scale of Stinker/Stinky/Odourless/Pleasant/Fragrant)

If you’d like to read other Stinker Reviews then you can click HERE