Shane McMahon — page 8

–Vince McMahon
tells the stooges that he is leaving to briefly train for the Royal Rumble (because
he supposedly could not do this earlier in the day) and he says he will come
back with a “Christmas bonus” for the Corporation.  He leaves Shane in charge of tonight’s show,
but reminds the stooges that he will hold them responsible for Shane’s
actions.  Once Vince drives off, Shane
races toward the arena because he has a lot of things to do.

–Michael Cole and
Jerry “The King” Lawler are in the booth and they are taped from Spokane,
Washington. Cole welcomes us to the “greatest action adventure series on
television!” whatever that means.

–The Corporation
walks out to a generic techno beat and some of the Corporation’s initial
Titantron video was later incorporated into the “Hollywood Rock” Titantron.  Before Shane McMahon can begin his monologue,
D-Generation X walks out and brings out Mankind who hilariously tries to look
cool by using DX’s gestures. 
Commissioner Shawn Michaels books Billy Gunn to face Ken Shamrock, Road
Dogg to face Big Bossman, and Triple H & X-Pac to face The Rock & Test
(who is referred to as the “corporate insurance policy”).  As revenge for Mankind beating up Vince last
week, Shane decides to face him in the ring over the objections of the stooges.  Mankind and DX laugh at Shane’s challenge and
Mankind does some awful crotch chops on his way to the back.

–Cole hypes the
latest edition of People Magazine, which featured Steve Austin as a “breakout”
star of 1998.

–D-Lo Brown talks
to Mark Henry and tries to convince him not to fool around with the ladies in the
locker room because they have a match to attend to.

–Opening
Contest:  Al Snow (w/Head) beats Gangrel
with the Snow Plow at 3:00:

Teddy Long is the referee but he does not turn this into
a tag match.  Snow and Gangrel go back
and forth in a match that does not really have much rhyme or reason to it.  Snow goes over clean by hitting a Snow Plow
out of nowhere.  After the match, the
Brood attacks Snow in the dark and gives him a bloodbath.  I cannot remember if this bloodbath stuff is
leading anywhere, but are we to assume that Gangrel cares more about pouring
blood on his opponents than winning?  Rating: 
*½

–We are shown
footage of Snow freaking out about the bloodbath during the commercial break.

–Intercontinental
Championship Match:  Billy Gunn defeats
Ken Shamrock (Champion) by reversing a victory roll at 8:21:

Shamrock gets arguably the biggest heel heat in his
career as the Spokane crowd works up a loud “Shamrock sucks!” chant.  After the four minute mark, this really picks
up as Shamrock works the knee and Billy gets some well-timed hope spots to keep
the crowd engaged.  Billy appears to have
won the title as this was announced as a title match, but Commissioner Shawn
Michaels steps in to say that he never booked the match that way so Shamrock
keeps the title.  The WWF loved that
finish in December, having used a version of it at Rock Bottom.  After the match, Gunn moons Michaels, but
Shamrock takes him out.  Rating: 
***

–Hawk costing Droz
a match against Al Snow on Sunday Night Heat is the Playstation Slam of the
Week.

–Hawk walks out
after having fallen off the Titantron the night after Survivor Series.  The WWF was so concerned about him that they
never bothered providing an update about his condition on subsequent RAWs.  Hawk says that Droz was his dope pusher and
enabler, doing so in an effort to take Hawk’s job.  Hawk pledges to get revenge when he heals up,
but Droz comes out and attacks him from behind.  Animal comes down and tosses Droz off of Hawk,
but the partners do not have a full reconciliation.

–Mark Henry says
that he is ready to have some fun with PMS and goes into their locker
room.  D-Lo Brown is beside himself at
his partner’s behavior.

–Footage of Steve
Austin giving Santa a Stone Cold Stunner last year is shown.

–Steve Blackman
defeats The Blue Blazer via disqualification when Owen Hart interferes at 2:22:

Before the bout, Owen Hart comes out and says that he has
proven that he is not the Blue Blazer and that part of the “Blue Blazer lives
inside each and every one of us.”  He
then says on commentary that he hopes the Blazer gets unmasked so that “he can
get to the bottom of this” and compares his plight to OJ Simpson and Bill
Clinton.  Blackman beats the Blazer up
like a jobber until Owen predictably runs in for a two-on-one beatdown before
Goldust intervenes.  He and Blackman
unmask the Blazer to reveal Jeff Jarrett. 
Jarrett tosses the Blazer cape back over his head as Owen shouts that he
does not know who the Blazer is.  For
comedy this is okay, but this angle is just doing nothing for everyone
involved.

–PMS say that they
are going to take a shower as Henry watches.

–Hardcore
Championship Match:  The Road Dogg pins
The Big Bossman (Champion) when Mankind blasts the Bossman with a steel bar to
win the title at 6:55:

This is initially billed as non-title, but Road Dogg
goads the Bossman into putting the title on the line.  One could point to this match as when hardcore
matches jumped the shark as Road Dogg starts pulling out conveniently placed
cookie sheets and buckets from underneath the ring to attack the Bossman.  It is unfortunate that the Bossman is no
longer with us as his ring attire in 1998 foreshadowed the Shield so he would
fit right in.  Speaking of ring attire,
the Bossman goes to it to find objects to beat down Road Dogg such as a noose
(who knew wrestling could produce such vibrant social commentary?) and crack
cocaine (okay, it is just powder but it is funnier if you think it is crack
because why would police just carry random pouches of white powder?).  To send the silliness factor up a notch, the
finish comes when Mankind throws a net over the Bossman and blasts him with a
steel bar to give the Road Dogg the title. 
I hated this at first, but both guys stepped it up a notch when it went
into the crowd.  Rating:  **¼

–PMS help Henry get
out of his clothes and put a collar on him. 
They then have him get on a massage table where they put a ball in his
mouth and put whipped cream on him.

–A promo video sees
Jeff Jarrett rant about what pisses him off.

–The stooges try to
convince Shane McMahon not to square off with Mankind.

–PMS now blindfold
Henry and strap him down to the table.

–Bob Holly &
Scorpio beat The Acolytes via disqualification at 3:20:

The Acolytes are still nothing more than Faarooq and
Bradshaw desperately trying to revive their careers.  The referee has no control of this as it is
just a wild brawl and somehow the Acolytes are the ones that get disqualified.  Rating:  DUD

–Shane McMahon runs
toward the Gorilla position backstage as the stooges run after him and beg him
not to fight Mankind.

–Shane’s challenge
to Mankind is the Glover Rewind segment.

–Mankind beats
Shane McMahon (w/Pat Patterson & Gerald Brisco) via disqualification when
the Rock interferes at 3:04:

Shane comes out to the Brawl for All music which is a
nice touch.  The Corporation comes out
early into the match, but Shawn Michaels does not let them rush the ring when
Shane gets in trouble.  Mankind gives
Shane a chair, but no sells the chair shot he receives.  He then dispatches of the stooges with
ease.  Somehow all of this is legal and
the Rock eventually hits the ring to lay out Mankind when Shane becomes trapped
in the Mandible Claw.  As Mankind and the
Rock brawl at ringside, X-Pac does a Bronco Buster to Shane until the
Corporation rescues him.  Not much of a
match, but it was still entertaining.  Rating: 
*

–Classie Freddie
Blassie plays the part of “vulgar Santa” in a WWF Attitude vignette.

–The stooges are
worried about how they are going to be punished by Vince when he comes back to
the arena.

–D-Lo tries to get
Henry from PMS, but cannot get into their locker room and has to head the ring
alone.  Footage from the PMS locker room
shows PMS whipping Henry and there is a clamp on him as well.

–The Headbangers
beat D-Lo Brown with a double flapjack at 2:42:

Lawler spends his time during this match providing
details on the other abuse PMS is putting Henry through in the locker room.  D-Lo puts up a good fight here, but cannot
beat the former tag team champions. 
Henry walks out after the finish looking the worse for wear and D-Lo
shows no sympathy.

–Patterson tells
Brisco to keep his mouth shut as Vince arrives back at the arena.  Brisco does not follow instructions, makes
Vince angry, and then hilarious asks Patterson if he thinks they will still get
their Christmas bonus.

–Check out the
latest edition of Tattoo magazine that talks about the Undertaker!

–Triple H &
X-Pac (w/D-Generation X) wrestle The Rock & Test (w/The Corporation) to a
no contest at 10:30:

Prior to the match, Shawn Michaels expels D-Generation X
from ringside, but Vince walks out and overrules him.  Test just does some basic offense here,
getting repetitive with delivering several knees in the corner, but does a good
job looking imposing and versatile.  When
it looks as if the Rock will finish off Triple H, the arena’s lights go out and
Kane walks out, but he chokeslams Triple H instead of going after his former
enemies.  He also takes out the rest of
D-Generation X, including Chyna as the show goes off the air.  So Kane was the “Christmas bonus.”  At least he did not come out as the “Christmas
Creature.”  It would have been nice to
get a clear finish after sitting through this, but it does keep everyone
reasonably protected so it served that purpose. 
Rating:  **

The Final Report:  After the Road Dogg-Bossman match, this show
lost a lot of direction.  We had the
ridiculous PMS-Mark Henry stuff crowding the show (and probably leaving some
parents horrified and deciding that their children would not be watching WWF
programming in the near future) and then a weird Kane turn at the end (which in
the long run would not last very long). 
Some of the impact of the end of the slow loses its luster since Kane
has been around forever; has turned 20,000 times or so; and the character has
lost all meaning.  The Corporation was
also becoming way too big for its own good at this point, starting to mirror
the NWO in late 1996 when everyone and their mother, father, aunt, uncle, and
cousin decided to join up.  If you watch
this show, follow the first half but then abandon it after the Hardcore title
switch.

Monday Night War Rating:  4.7 (vs. 4.0 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Neutral

–Jim Ross and Jerry
“The King” Lawler are doing commentary and they are live from St. Louis,
Missouri.  As a side note, this is the
first Survivor Series pay-per-view not to feature an elimination match of any kind.

–Vince McMahon is
at ringside with the WWF title and does introductions for the first match.

–WWF Championship
Tournament First Round:  Mankind beats
Duane Gill with a double arm DDT in 30 seconds:

Mankind was booked to face a mystery opponent here, who
some thought could be Randy Savage or Shawn Michaels.  Instead, it is just lowly jobber Duane Gill,
who Mankind – wearing a tuxedo – dispatches. 
At least Gill, the “man, the myth, and the legend,” gets a specialized
introduction, saying he had one loss in his prior WWF tenure and then jumped to
WCW.  Ross cracks me up by saying that
Gill “has spent more time on the canvas than Rembrandt.”  Gill also freaks out when pyro goes off around
him, which is a nice touch.  Crowd hated
this mystery opponent, but it fits the storyline.

–Footage of
Jacqueline attacking Sable on Sunday Night Heat is shown.  Kevin Kelly interviews Sable, who says she is
pissed off and more determined than ever to become WWF Women’s champion.

–WWF Championship
Tournament First Round:  Al Snow (w/Head)
defeats “Double J” Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra McMichael) when he nails Jarrett with Head
at 3:31:

The small feud between these two has been built as Head
vs. Jarrett’s guitar and we get a small showdown between the two with Head
coming out on top.  Nothing more than a
rushed match to squeeze everything in on tonight’s card.  Rating:  *¾

–WWF Championship
Tournament First Round:  “Stone Cold”
Steve Austin beats The Big Bossman via disqualification when the Bossman hits
Austin with his night stick at 3:17:

This is actually Bossman’s first match since he debuted
more than a month ago in the company as Vince McMahon’s bodyguard.  The match is a battle of wills between Austin’s
trademark offense and the Bossman’s rest holds. 
The Bossman blasts Austin with the night stick outside of the ring,
thereby blowing Tony Schiavone’s theory of how you cannot get disqualified out
there.  The Bossman completes a
thorough beating of Austin with the night stick before heading to the locker
room.  These tournament matches have been
pretty bad so far.  Rating:  ¼*

–Michael Cole
interviews Vince McMahon, who is not concerned about Austin winning.  He reminds the audience that the night is
still young.

–WWF Championship
Tournament First Round:  X-Pac wrestles
Stephen Regal to a double count out at 8:09:

X-Pac has flawlessly recovered from getting a fireball to
the eyes on RAW.  Clearly, a Z-Pak did the trick!  WWF tournaments usually have a draw of some sort – the 1990 Intercontinental title tournament featured two of them – and it is fitting that one of them takes place in a Regal bout.  Both
men initially fight to a double count out before McMahon orders a five minute
overtime period, but that does not happen as X-Pac seemingly has a serious
injury so Austin gets a bye to the semi-finals. 
That was all sorts of confusing.  This
was Regal’s only WWF pay-per-view appearance under this gimmick, as he would
head to rehab in early 1999 and be released. 
Rating:  **¼

–WWF Championship
Tournament First Round:  Ken Shamrock
beats Goldust via submission to the ankle lock at 5:55:

Ross calls Shamrock’s Intercontinental title run dominant, but it is hard to see that when he has lost the majority of his bouts
since becoming champion.  The crowd is
clearly becoming restless by all these matches that have featured tons of
restholds thus far.  Shamrock came into
this as the clear favorite and he does prevail in a RAW-type match after the
referee blocks Shattered Dreams.  We even
get Lucha Shamrock as he pulls out a flying hurricanrana off the
second rope.  Rating:  **

–Cole tells us that
Steve Austin is refusing medical attention. 
He says he knows Austin will keep competing!

–The next
tournament bout is scheduled to be the Rock against Triple H, who has not been
seen since September.  Well, Triple H is
not here as he is still nursing a knee injury. 
Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco do make a funny walk out to the
D-Generation X theme music and do the crotch chops.  Ross takes another jab at Patterson’s sexual orientation
by saying that he is “still circulating Uranus.”  They announce that the Rock has a new
opponent:  The Big Bossman.  This leads to…

–WWF Championship
Tournament First Round:  The Rock pins
The Big Bossman with a small package in four seconds:

The description of the match above says it all.  The Rock navigates himself into the
quarter-finals.  Initially, this came off
as stupid, but it made more sense by the end of the show.

–Ross and Lawler
discuss the bracket, but Lawler still cannot figure it out.

–WWF Championship
Tournament Quarter-Finals:  The
Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) defeats Kane with a Tombstone at 7:16:

This is the sixth time that the Undertaker and Kane are
squaring off in some capacity on pay-per-view in 1998 and if you do not think
that is enough, well they had a lot more bouts in subsequent years!  The Undertaker wears Kane down with some dull
offense and a Paul Bearer distraction cuts off a Kane comeback, enabling the
Dead Man to advance to the semi-finals.  Just awful.  Rating: 
½*

–WWF Championship
Tournament Quarter-Finals:  Mankind beats
Al Snow (w/Head) with the Mandible Claw at 3:57:

Seeing Snow this deep in the tournament is just
weird.  However, we had to have this
match in the quarter-finals because Socko has been missing and is around Head.  McMahon and the stooges joke during the match
that they stole Socko from Mankind and put it there.  Mankind eventually finds Socko and in a part
of the match that is humorous and sad, he beats up the Head.  Seriously, he puts it in a headlock and just pounds away on it.  Another quick tournament match, nothing more
or less.  Rating:  **

–WWF Championship
Tournament Quarter-Finals:  The Rock pins
Ken Shamrock after hitting him with the Big Bossman’s night stick at 8:22:

There is some nice symmetry with this match as Shamrock
forced the Rock to tap out at last year’s Survivor Series in Montreal.  This is also the final major battle between
the two, at least on pay-per-view, as they have squared off at four of the five
big pay-per-views of 1998:  the Royal Rumble,
WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and here. 
Shamrock got the King of the Ring nod, but now is just the Rock’s
time.  Shamrock’s look of despair when
the Rock reaches the ropes to break the ankle lock is a nice touch,
communicating that he has given the Rock his best shot and cannot finish
him.  This is the match of the night thus
far and it ends when the Bossman’s night stick toss to Shamrock is intercepted.  Rating:  ***

–Cole interviews
Paul Bearer, who promises that the Undertaker will win the WWF title.

–WWF Women’s
Championship Match:  Sable beats
Jacqueline (Champion w/Marc Mero) with a Sablebomb to win the title at 3:15:

Jacqueline won the title two months prior to this, but had
never defended it because these two women were the only two competitors in the
division.  They continue booking Sable as
the female version of Hulk Hogan, as she hits Jacqueline with a TKO less than a
minute in and then low blows Mero and powerbombs him on the floor.  Jacqueline never really lands any offense of
significance as Sable wins the title, but now she needs a new rival, so who
will that be?  Rating:  *½

–WWF Championship
Tournament Semi-Finals:  Mankind pins “Stone
Cold” Steve Austin after Gerald Brisco hits Austin with a chair at 10:27:

So this semi-final gives us McMahon’s choice versus his
biggest foe and he makes sure to come down to ringside to see it.  These two put on a sloppy brawl for much of
the match, likely due to the tournament conditions, but things pick up when a
chair is introduced into the match for spots. 
Somehow doing a Stone Cold Stunner on a chair hurts your opponent more
than you, though.  The conspiracy really
unfolds after the stooges pull the referee out of the ring and McMahon rises
out of his wheelchair perfectly fine and decks him.  Shane McMahon then runs in and does his
famous two count turned into flipping Austin off and Brisco gives Austin a weak
chair shot to send Mankind into the finals. 
Evidently, the Big Bossman was supposed to do that, but pulled a Papa
Shango.  The crowd is just SHOCKED at the
finish.  In kayfabe terms, this was
probably Mankind’s biggest win since defeating the Undertaker at the 1996 King
of the Ring.  Rating:  **½

–After the match,
McMahon and the stooges run to a waiting limo and it speeds away before Austin
can catch up to them.  Austin carjacks a
poor soul to pursue them, though.

–WWF Championship
Tournament Semi-Finals:  The Rock defeats
The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) via disqualification when Kane interferes at
8:24:

With Austin out, the Rock now becomes the crowd favorite to
go all the way.  You can tell, though,
that a sizable number of fans are incredibly disappointed that Austin is
out.  These two do not have good
chemistry and the Rock plays the Randy Savage role here.  By the way, why is “playing Ricky Morton” a thing and not “playing Randy Savage”?  The Big Bossman comes out for
another Rock match, but proves ineffective. 
The bigger interference is run by Kane, who storms in and chokeslams the
Rock, thereby sending the Rock to the finals via disqualification.  The Undertaker and Kane brawl into the crowd
after the match because this feud MUST go on! 
Rating:  DUD

–Cole interviews
Mankind, who is clearly exhausted.  He
says he only has one more hill to climb to be the WWF champion.

–Triple Threat
Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: 
The New Age Outlaws (Champions) defeat The Headbangers & D-Lo Brown
& Mark Henry when Billy Gunn pins Mosh at 10:10:

To the WWF’s credit, they did a lot of work the last two
months to give the Headbangers a push, but they just never caught on as
evidenced by the fact that they have no heat in this match.  The rules for this bout allow for three men
to be in the ring at one time, an innovation that I prefer over a standard
triangle match where only two teams have men in the ring and a third team is
completely left out.  Of course, what is
good in theory does not always work in practice as this match devolves into a
big mess of miscommunication spots and Tim White mistakes.  You can tell on Billy Gunn’s face that he was
not happy with the quality of this match. 
Rating:  *½

–Before the title
match, the McMahons wish the Bossman a goodnight and say that they will take
care of the finals personally.  This
means that the limo that sped away just had the stooges and was meant as a
distraction to get Austin out of the building. 
That is a pretty brilliant piece of writing.

–WWF Championship
Tournament Finals:  The Rock defeats
Mankind via submission to the Sharpshooter to win the title at 17:18:

If you had told someone at the beginning of 1998 that
Survivor Series would be headlined by Mankind and the Rock they probably would
have laughed at you.  Maybe not on the Rock,
but definitely on Mankind, who was in between three gimmicks and wrestling with
Chainsaw Charlie.  The crowd really does
not know what to make of these guys in the finals, both of whom are noticeably
exhausted, and they only come alive when the McMahons walk out.  It takes a while for this to get going, but
Mankind sacrifices his body to finally draw the crowd in, diving through the
Spanish announce table and taking some vicious chair shots.  I remember many months prior to this that “The
Informer” section of WWF Magazine predicted another Survivor Series screwjob and guess what?  That is exactly what we get as the Rock
cannot finish Mankind off, so he locks in a Sharpshooter and Vince gets the
bell to ring, making the Rock the new champion. 
I probably overrated this a bit, but Jim Ross did a great job keeping
you engaged in the match.  Without him,
this thing is probably less than two stars. 
Rating:  ***¼

–Initially, the
crowd pops for the Rock’s win, but as they realize he is the true “chosen one”
by the McMahons, their positive reactions fizzle.  Vince gets on the mic and gloats about
screwing Austin and the fans, who were as gullible as Mankind.  Poor Mankind does not quite understand what
is happening and Ross does a great job getting him some sympathy.  The Rock runs down the fans and then smashes
Mankind in the back of the head with the title belt, thereby solidifying the
double turn.  At the end of the show,
Steve Austin walks out and runs to the ring, brawling with the new champion as
the McMahons flee.  Austin gives the Rock
a Stunner and tosses him out of the ring, something that I think was best saved
for when the show went off the air.  He
also gives Mankind a Stunner for good measure.

The Final Report Card:  This has been deemed as Vince Russo’s best
work, but honestly, this show has not aged well at all.  If you lived through 1998, you can still feel
some excitement from this show because you remember all of the storylines that
led up to it.  However, if you are a relatively
new fan and just randomly plug this show in, you miss a great deal of the
context.  It is like if you missed all of
the episodes of a certain television series but then watched the series
finale.  The bright spot of this show is
obviously the Rock’s first WWF title win, making him the first wrestler of
African American descent to win the championship (and yes, I know he is really half black), but even
that is not enough for me to give this show a thumbs up.

Attendance: 
21,779

Buyrate: 
1.3 (+0.41 from previous year)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Down

–Jim Ross and Jerry
“The King” Lawler are in the booth and they are taped from Dallas, Texas.  This is the go home show for the Survivor
Series.

–Opening Non-Title
Contest:  The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer)
wrestles X-Pac (European Champion) to a no contest at 25 seconds:

This match was setup by an angle on Sunday Night Heat,
where the Undertaker attacked X-Pac. 
This was also a dream match from the New Generation era as neither guy
had faced each other up to this point. 
Of course, I got excited about this and Kane intervenes less than thirty
seconds in.  Kane shoots a fireball at
the Undertaker, but it accidentally hits X-Pac. 
It should be noted that this is X-Pac’s second eye injury in less than
three months.

–Vince McMahon and
the stooges, who have seemingly forgiven him for the Big Bossman’s beating on
last week’s show (Commissioner Slaughter is rocking a sling), find Mankind
backstage.  McMahon books Mankind to
defend his Hardcore title against Ken Shamrock. 
He promises that more titles are coming for him and Mankind follows him
to get a makeover.

–Val Venis defeats
Steve Blackman via disqualification when Terri Runnels gives Venis a low blow
at 3:22:

Terri Runnels follows Venis to the ring and is summarily
dismissed.  Venis told Kevin Kelly on
Sunday Night Heat that he could not be the father of her child because he had a
vasectomy.  This is just an average bout,
which ends when Terri runs back out and gives Venis a low blow when he does his
hip swivel over a fallen Blackman.  Rating: 
*½ (0 for 1)

–After the bell,
the Blue Blazer and Owen Hart run into the ring and attack Blackman.

–A hairdresser
backstage works on Mankind’s hair. 
Mankind tells her that he hopes Vince can give him some new teeth.  When she inquires where some of his previous
ones went, he tells her that Steve Austin tossed them into the crowd.  I like little pieces of continuity like that.

–Triple Threat
Match:  Mosh (w/Thrasher) defeats The
Road Dogg (w/Billy Gunn) and D-Lo Brown (w/Mark Henry) when he pins D-Lo
following a Stage Dive at 5:40:

Shane McMahon is a referee for this point, having been
demoted to that job on the previous show. 
All three of these teams are facing off in the Survivor Series in a
triple threat tag team match, so this is a small preview of that.  The good thing about this match is that the
action is non-stop, but the problem is that the offense utilized is more of the
battle royal variety, lots of kicks, punches, and minor moves.  Mosh scores a surprising win, thereby continuing
to build some momentum behind the Headbangers. 
Everyone tried here and this match was better than I thought it would
be.  Rating:  **½ (1 for 2)

–Michael Cole
interviews JeffJarrett and Debra McMichael. 
Jarrett says he will counter Head at the Survivor Series.  Debra says she will prove that Goldust is
really all man.

–As he receives a
pedicure, Mankind talks more about the loss of Socko last week.  He says his new family of McMahon and the
stooges makes up for it, though.

–Goldust defeats
“Double J” Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra McMichael) via disqualification when Jarrett
nails him with a guitar at 3:32:

Terri Runnels comes out in Marlena attire, with no bra on
mind you, but Goldust tells her to get out of his life.  True to her word, Debra charms and distracts
Goldust several times throughout the bout. 
When Goldust prepares Jarrett for Shattered Dreams, Debra gets in the
way, receiving a big kiss in return.  Of
course, he pays for that with a guitar shot, but most fans out there might
consider that a decent trade off.  Match
was all angle and little action.  Rating: 
* (1 for 3)

–The Rock shows up
at the arena, possibly for the last time, as he has to pin or submit Mark Henry
to keep his job tonight.

–A video package
recaps the career of Jesse Ventura, who recently won the Minnesota
gubernatorial election in arguably one of the greatest upsets in American
political history.  It was funny how the
WWF quickly attached itself to Ventura’s victory after treating him as a persona
non grata after his lawsuit against them in 1995.

–Ken Shamrock’s
chair shot to the Rock on last week’s show is the JVC Kaboom! of the Week.

–Cole interviews
the Rock, who gives some generic comments about facing Mark Henry later.  Goldust attacks Jeff Jarrett in the same
vicinity, but before he can deliver a modified version of Shattered Dreams the
Blue Blazer makes the save.

–Hardcore
Championship Match:  Mankind (Champion)
pins Ken Shamrock (Intercontinental Champion) when the Big Bossman nails
Shamrock with his night stick at 8:17:

Mankind comes out for the bout wearing a tuxedo and Vince
McMahon comes out to watch the match. 
This is the first Hardcore title match in company history.  These two do their usual “beat the hell out
of each other” match, with Shamrock giving Mankind a belly-to-belly suplex into
the steps and Mankind DDT’ing Shamrock on a chair.  Both men fight near McMahon and the stooges
on the ramp, where the Big Bossman interferes when the referee is not looking
and helps Mankind successfully defend his title.  A fun brawl, but Shamrock has been eating
quite a few losses since he won the Intercontinental title.  No wonder he lost steam around this time
period.  Rating:  ***¼ (2 for 4)

–After the match,
the stooges and McMahon celebrate with Mankind, although McMahon is disgusted
by Mankind’s hug and does not like that his hair has been messed up.

–Cole screams at us
that the Rock has been attacked in his locker room.

–Watch the Home
Shopping Network after Survivor Series to buy some new merchandise!

–EMT’s are shown working
on the Rock in his locker room. 
Evidently he suffered a blow to the back of the head from his assailant.

–Steve Austin comes
out and says that if Vince Mahon has a plan for him at the Survivor Series that
they will backfire.  The Big Bossman
comes out and pledges to put Austin through hard time this Sunday, prompting
Austin to invite him to the ring to brawl. 
Bossman refuses.  Bossman just did
not have the mic skills to go toe-to-toe with Austin here, creating an awkward
segment.  2 for 5

–Cole tells us that
the Rock will be going to a nearby medical facility.  After the commercial break, he interviews
Vince McMahon and the stooges near an ambulance.  McMahon says that he does not care if the
Rock cannot compete tonight because if he cannot that means that his services
will no longer be required.

–Tiger Ali Singh
(w/Babu) beats Al Snow (w/Head) with a bulldog at 2:23:

Mr. Socko is wrapped around Head, so that solves some of
the mystery of where it is.  Snow and
Singh faced each other more than a year prior to this at the One Night Only
pay-per-view in Great Britain, where Singh defeated Snow, then packaged as Leif
Cassidy, in an awful match.  This is a
match that makes little sense, as Singh refuses to wrestle, so Snow beats up
Babu for a while until Debra McMichael wanders out and distracts Snow by
shoving Head in her bosom.  That enables
Singh to re-enter the match and win.  The
less said about all of this going forward the better.

–A Sable workout
video is shown.

–McMahon tells the
Rock in the Rock’s dressing room that he is headed to the unemployment line.

–Kane defeats Edge
(w/Gangrel & Christian) via disqualification when the Brood interferes at
4:27:

There is some backstory to this match as Edge turned
against Kane when he seemingly ran in to make the save after Kane annihilated
Gangrel and Christian two weeks ago on RAW. 
Kane brings a can of gasoline and a blowtorch to the ring with him,
thereby continuing to build the “Kane is unstable and cannot tell right from
wrong” storyline that only got more ridiculous from this point forward.  Finding a team was the best thing to happen
to Edge at this stage of his career as he was languishing as a singles.  Kane takes out the entire Brood by himself
and sells very little of Edge’s offense. 
The referee eventually tires of Brood interference and calls for the
bell, after which Kane takes them all out AGAIN with chokeslams and teases
barbecuing them in the center of the ring along with the referee.  If one did not have the benefit of hindsight
you would think that this was a way to write out the Brood and release
them.  WWF officials prevent a homicide
on national television, which the crowd boos. 
The 1990s ladies and gentleman!  Rating: 
* (2 for 6)

–After having his
fire plans disrupted, Kane chokeslams a fan from the crowd, who is digging the
idea of Kane as an unstoppable monster.

–Vince McMahon
comes out, inviting the Rock to appear. 
He takes a dig at the Dallas Cowboys, who he says half of which are
convicted felons.  Shane McMahon walks to
the ring and begs his father to stop taking out of his frustrations on the rest
of the roster.  Vince just dismisses him,
but Shane refuses, so Vince sends the Bossman after him.  However, before the Bossman can conduct a
beating, Steve Austin runs in and makes the save.  The most entertaining segment of tonight’s
show, once again due to McMahon’s facial expressions and power trip-like
behavior.  3 for 7

–The Rock beats
Mark Henry (w/D-Lo Brown) with a People’s Elbow at 7:24:

Vince McMahon is at ringside with this bout.  If the Rock wins via pinfall or submission,
he is back in the Deadly Game Tournament, but if he loses he is out of a
job.  The Rock wrestles in his track suit
gear, angering McMahon by showing up despite the beating he received earlier in
the show.  It would have been nice to
build this match with some kind of segment in the show since these two did have
a backstory, with Henry upsetting the Rock at Judgment Day.  The Rock and Henry put together a pretty fun
match before the overbooking kicks in where the Rock handcuffs the Big Bossman
to the corner, the referee gets pulled out of the ring by the stooges, and
Shane McMahon runs in to count the fall. 
Rating:  **¾ (4 for 8)

–After the match,
the Rock pulls Vince out of his wheelchair and tosses him into the ring.  The Rock takes out the stooges line of
defense and after Vince slaps him he eats a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow.

The Final Report Card:  This show was really hit and miss.  Some things, such as the Debra interactions
with Goldust and Al Snow and Kane’s attempt to set the Brood on fire were
ridiculous, while others such as the main event and the Hardcore title match
were quite entertaining.  As the go home
show for a tournament, I had hoped for a little more build of the Deadly Game
concept, but the WWF really did leave you with the feeling that the Undertaker,
Kane, Steve Austin, the Rock, and Mankind were all viable tournament
winners.  I will default to a neutral
rating for this one, as the good and bad cancel each other out.

Monday Night War Rating:  5.0 (vs. 4.1 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Neutral 

–A video package
recaps Shane McMahon ranting at his father on last week’s show.  Will Vince hand over the company to his son
tonight?

–Jim Ross and Jerry
“The King” Lawler are doing commentary and they are live from Houston, Texas.

–Shane McMahon
walks out and says that as acting chairman of the WWF, due to his father’s
absence, Steve Austin will get a WWF title shot the night after Survivor
Series.  Austin then comes to the ring as
a limo pulls in backstage, carrying Vince McMahon.  McMahon is quickly wheeled out and chastises the
crowd for thinking he was stepping down, as that will only happens when he dies.  Shoot comments…  He gives an entertaining rant on how he does
not want the crowd to attend his funeral and how he wants to go to
hell when he dies.  He proceeds to relieve Shane of
his corporate responsibilities and reassigns him as a referee.  As far as Austin is concerned, his title shot
is switched to the Survivor Series as he is entered into the WWF title
tournament.  His opponent in the opening
round?  The Big Bossman.  McMahon is simply perfect at trolling the
crowd, which made this opening segment great. 
1 for 1

–Footage is shown
of Vince McMahon chewing out the announce crew during the commercial
break.  McMahon guarantees that someone
will be paying “hard time” in the steel cage hanging above the ring later
tonight.

–Opening Contest:  X-Pac & The New Age Outlaws wrestle The Brood
to a no contest at 3:37:

X-Pac is announced as being part of the Deadly Game
tournament, so the number of known entrants keeps growing.  Edge and Christian showcase some nice double
team maneuvers before the lights go out and Kane arrives to a huge pop.  You know, they need to go back to this type
of character for Kane where he does not wrestle much but just comes and out and
destroys things.  Kane destroys Edge,
X-Pac, and Christian, and Billy Gunn as Road Dogg and Gangrel brawl in the
crowd.  I will give this a point more for
the clever booking than in-ring action.  Rating: 
* (2 for 2)

–McMahon interrogates
Michael Cole backstage about Cole’s questioning of him last week.  The Big Bossman chokes Cole as McMahon asks
him how he feels.

–The next match is
supposed to be Droz against Hawk, but Hawk shows up in no condition to
compete.  Ross says that Hawk is “pulling
a Kerry Collins.”  It should be noted
that the Hardy Boys beat LOD 2000 on Sunday Night Heat due to an argument
between both men.  That was the first step in the WWF’s rebuilding of the Hardy’s into something more than enhancement talent.  Droz beats up Hawk as
Animal comes to the ring and does nothing to help his old partner.  He eventually gets into the ring and yells at
Hawk for flushing the team’s history down the toilet.  This storyline is growing on me.  3 for 3

–McMahon runs into
Jim Cornette backstage and tells him to stop wearing ridiculous clothes, change
his announcing, and stop “the 1980s wrestling crap.”  Talk about life imitating art.

–Cole interviews
Mankind and Al Snow.  Mankind jokes about
the NBC special on revealing wrestling’s greatest secrets and he and Snow
continues arguing over whether Socko or Head is better.

–Golga &
Kurrgan (w/The Giant Silva & Luna Vachon) beat Mankind & Al Snow
(w/Head) when Golga pins Snow after a running seated senton at 4:36:

ZZ Top is shown in the crowd before the match.  This is probably the best Oddities tag match
prior to this point, as the action moves quickly.  Well, that is until Mankind cannot find Socko
and leaves Snow to fend for himself.  The
referee loses all control as Snow tries to fight off both men before succumbing.  Rating:  ** (4 for 4)

–McMahon finds
Shaquille O’Neal backstage and interrogates about him about whether he has a
backstage pass.  He tells him to get
lost, but Shaq just sits back down as McMahon drives off.

–Mankind still
cannot find Socko, so he tries to find McMahon, who he thinks can help him find
it.

–Steven Regal wrestles
Goldust to a no contest at 4:50:

Despite the “Real Man’s Man” gimmick being pretty dumb,
the theme music for it was pretty enjoyable. 
Regal is also in the Deadly Game tournament.  In this contest, he issues an open challenge
for anyone willing to fight him like a man so we get a laugh as Goldust walks
out to answer it.  With regards to the
Goldust-Val Venis feud, Terri Runnels announced on the Heat prior to this that
she was pregnant withVenis’s child. 
Runnels comes out to the ring dressed in her Marlena garb in her attempt
to become a gold digger.  Get it?  Anyway, this match is a mess until Goldust
sets up Shattered Dreams and the lights go out and Kane wrecks both men.  When Marlena comes to Goldust’s aid he nearly
chokeslams her until WWF officials intervene. 
Tony Garea takes the bump for her. 
Keep jobbing Tony!  Rating: 
½* (4 for 5)

–The Deadly Game
Tournament bracket is revealed.  Instead
of it being a sixteen man tournament, the field is reduced to fourteen
men.  Kane and the Undertaker get a bye
to face each other in the quarter-finals. 
Other matchups include The Rock-Triple H, Goldust-Ken Shamrock,
Mankind-Mystery Opponent, Al Snow-Jeff Jarrett, X-Pac-Steven Regal, and Steve
Austin-Big Bossman.

–McMahon gets
Mankind to promise not to interfere in the upcoming Ken Shamrock-Rock match in
return for a present.  Mankind is excited
so he promises to live up to that and receives the Hardcore title in
return.  McMahon tells him that he thinks
he has gained a son and as he wheels himself away Mankind hilariously screams “Thanks,
dad!”  causing McMahon to stop and give a
look of disgust.

–The Rock giving
Darren Drozdov a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow on last week’s RAW is the 989
Studios Slam of the Week.

–McMahon is shown
conferencing with Ken Shamrock backstage, but tells the camera crew to get lost.

–Intercontinental
Championship Match:  The Rock beats Ken
Shamrock (Champion) by disqualification when Shamrock hits him with a chair at
7:57:

Before the match, McMahon comes out and says he has a
problem with him because he’s the “People’s Champion” and he hates the
people.  He says that if the Rock does
not win the Intercontinental title in this match he loses his place in the
Deadly Game Tournament.  This is the
abbreviated version of their previous encounters, just with the heel/face roles
reversed, and the crowd pops like the Rock won the WWF title when he makes the
ropes to escape the ankle lock.  The
referee gets bumped on a Rock clothesline and when he comes to, he sees
Shamrock nail the Rock with a chair. 
That allows the Rock to win, but he does not win the belt and is thereby
eliminated from the Deadly Game Tournament. 
Fun match that the crowd made into a big deal.  Shamrock is eating lots of losses since
winning the Intercontinental title, though. 
Rating:  ***½ (5 for 6)

–The Rock is shown
destroying his locker room backstage, irate that he has been removed from the
Deadly Game Tournament.

–Val Venis beats Double
J” Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra McMichael) by disqualification when the Blue Blazer
interferes at 2:29:

The entire Runnels angle has been somewhat damaging for
Venis as he was never clearly made a heel or face and lost the big blowoff to
Goldust.  After a few minutes of
back-and-forth action, the Blue Blazer runs out and crotches Venis on the top
rope and Jarrett gives Venis the Stroke for good measure.  That sounds much more dirty than I meant it.

–Police officers
are shown arriving at the arena.

–Call 815-734-1161
to get your Rock “Layin’ the Smackdown” t-shirt for $25 (plus $6 shipping &
handling)!

–Vince McMahon
tells police officers that the Rock is threatening his life, so he asks them to
arrest him.

–#1 Contenders
Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: 
The Headbangers wrestle D-Lo Brown & Mark Henry to a no contest at
6:00:

The Headbangers come to the ring dressed as the New Age
Outlaws and do a non-humorous mocking of their introduction.  Without their skirts, the Headbangers
actually look like generic jobbers. 
Since this is heel-heel, the crowd really does not know how to cheer
for, but fans in the front row are vocal D-Lo Brown supporters, with several
shouting “You go, dawg!”  When all hell
breaks loose the lights go off and Kane wrecks a match for the third time
tonight.  You know Russo, there can be
too much of a good thing.  And where is
McMahon while all this is going on?  I would like to think this was a subtle reminder that the show gets out of control when
McMahon becomes obsessed with personal grudges backstage.  Rating:  ** (6 for 7)

–Police are shown
handcuffing the Rock in his locker room and as he is taken away he lets them
know that he has donuts for all of them. 
As he is put into the police cruiser, McMahon taunts him by saying that
he is now the “People’s Chump.”

–Owen Hart comes to
the ring to meet with Dan Severn and reminds us that he is retired.  Severn walks out and says he is not seeking
an apology.  Instead, he wonders why Owen
is running around like the Blue Blazer. 
When he says that he thinks Owen is scum, Owen clotheslines him and
Steve Blackman makes the save before more damage is done.  After the commercial break, medics race
Severn to an ambulance backstage.  When
Owen comes near the ambulance, Blackman gives him a pump kick but then Blackman
is attacked by the Blue Blazer.  7 for 8

–The steel cage
above the ring – a hybrid of the blue bar cage and the modern steel top – is
lowered with some musical accompaniment, which reminds me of the old NWA War
Games brawls.  After the break, McMahon
and the stooges come out and establish themselves by the announcers.  McMahon sends the Bossman into the cage with
the stooges – Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and Commissioner Slaughter – to inspect
it and then has the Bossman turn on them for failing to come back from getting
a cup of coffee two weeks ago.  That was
when Austin abducted him.  After McMahon
orders the Bossman to strip the stooges, Austin runs out, comes into the cage
and attacks the Bossman.  Patterson gets
the night stick, but chooses to hit Austin in the knee and that allows the
Bossman to give him a beating.  Shane
McMahon runs in, but Vince calls the Bossman off, which is a nice piece of
storytelling, but Shane does not appreciate it and flips him off.  After all of that, the Undertaker walks to
the ring and into the cage and he and Austin brawl, with the Undertaker
eventually gaining the upperhand. 
However, that’s not all as the lights go out and Kane makes his way into
the cage, parts of which he sets on fire, and he, the Undertaker, and Austin
brawl in a really awesome visual as the show ends.  8 for
9

The Final Report Card:  The wild ending of this RAW was vintage
Russo, but if you watch these RAWs in sequence it is still entertaining
today.  Having Kane interfere in so many matches
did get a little repetitive, but at least it had a payoff at the end of the
show.  The show also continued our
gradual build to Survivor Series and the multiple storylines intersecting with
each other (Vince-Shane, Vince-Austin, Vince-Mankind, Vince-Rock, and
Kane-Undertaker) are helping to keep the show fresh and exciting.

Monday Night War Rating:  4.8 (vs. 4.1 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up

–A video package recaps
Steve Austin taking Vince McMahon hostage on last week’s show.  What was in the letter that Austin gave to
McMahon at the end of last week’s show?

–Jim Ross and Jerry
“The King” Lawler are in the booth and they are taped from Madison, Wisconsin.

–Vince McMahon
comes out with the stooges and the Big Bossman. 
He lets the audience know that they are all responsible for what
happened to him last week since there was no good Samaritan in his time of
need.  McMahon says Austin gave him a
legal document last week and he pledges to fight him with his crack legal team,
who is with him on the ramp.  Of course,
the WWF’s legal team could not even keep the company’s name, so that’s not a
good thing.  Another funny promo from
McMahon that got the crowd worked up to start the show.  1 for
1

–Opening Contest
for the European Championship:  X-Pac
(Champion) beats Steve Blackman by disqualification at 2:49:

Chyna is not with X-Pac because she was arrested last
week for failing to appear for a court date due to Mark Henry’s sexual harassment
lawsuit.  She has reportedly taken a
leave of absence until that issue gets resolved.  By this time the European title had become
the WWF’s version of the WCW Television title, which was fine because it gave
guys in the midcard something to do. 
Blackman dominates much of the bout and when he knocks X-Pac out of the
ring, Steven Regal, repacked as “A Real Man’s Man,” attacks X-Pac until the New
Age Outlaws and WWF officials separate them. 
I still have no idea what they were thinking when they saddled Regal
with that gimmick.

–Call 815-734-1161
to get your Rock “Layin’ the Smackdown” t-shirt for $25 (plus $6 shipping &
handling)!

–Michael Cole is
outside of Steve Austin’s locker room and he makes a big deal about Austin being
in the building.

–The Rock pins Darren
Drozdov (w/LOD 2000) after the People’s Elbow at 4:40:

Thankfully, the Rock has gotten his good entrance music
back and not the awful disco theme he was using last week.  This is a good example of how you can keep a
product fresh by mixing upper midcard and lower midcard talents into
matches.  It gives the upper midcard
wrestler a win, while giving the lower midcard wrestler something of a rub by allowing
them to showcase some of their skills against a more established talent.  You may expect this to be a squash based on
where both men are on the card, but Droz manages a good deal of offense before
he misses a flying shoulderblock off the second rope and succumbs to the People’s
Elbow.  Rating:  ** (2 for 2)

–After the match,
Droz pushes Hawk away when Hawk tries to console him after the loss.  Droz convinces Animal that they should head
to the locker room and they leave Hawk behind in the ring.

–Cole tries to get
into Steve Austin’s locker room, but Austin says that he and someone else will
make a big announcement later tonight.

–McMahon finishes a
conference with his attorneys, with a few leaving the room complaining that he “doesn’t
get it.”  I figure creative meetings
today work the same way.

–The New Age
Outlaws and X-Pac come out and introduce Motley Crue, who play some tunes.  This was time to flip over to Nitro for me.  The college kids in the crowd loved it,
though.

–Check out MTV
Celebrity Deathmatch this week, where Steve Austin faces Vince McMahon!

–McMahon continues
to yell at a few attorneys about why they cannot void the legal document Austin
has.  He does give us a clue that it is a
contractual matter.

–Kane defeats
Gangrel (w/Christian) after a chokeslam at 3:01:

Ross informs us that Kane has been placed into the
Survivor Series WWF title tournament.  A
bracket has not been released for said tournament, though.  This is an interesting matchup that could
have been a small feud if creative thought Gangrel was more than a lower
midcard talent.  Kane squashes Gangrel
here, easily rebuffing Christian’s interference along the way.

–After the match,
Gangrel and Christian beat on Kane.  Edge
runs in, but instead of making the save, he joins in the beating and all three
men leave together.

–Cole says he just
spoke to Shane McMcMahon and he says that after the commercial break the
McMahon family will have something to say about Steve Austin’s situation.

–Austin walks out
to the ring and says that he has a new contract with the WWF that guarantees
him at least one title shot, which is all that he needs to reclaim the title.  Vince is wheeled out by the stooges and the
Big Bossman and he books Austin in an “I Quit” match against Intercontinental
Champion Ken Shamrock.  Shane McMahon
comes to the ring against the wishes of his father and says that he hired
Austin back.  He goes off about being ignored
by his father and his father’s ego is too large, while Vince cries on the
ramp.  This was a really nice segment,
but the bad thing is that it foreshadowed the use of other McMahons in an
on-screen capacity as prominent figures of the show.  3 for
3

–Shane leaves the
arena, but not before Austin tosses him a cold beer (calling him “kid”).  What was that?  The WWF’s version of the famous Mean Joe
Green commercial?

–The Godfather wrestles
Tiger Ali Singh (w/Babu) to a no contest at 4:26:

The Godfather brings no hos tonight because he is not
offering Singh that kind of deal.  This
is Singh’s RAW debut after months of in-ring segments.  The match never establishes much of a rhythm
and just falls apart by the end, where the Godfather and Singh keep brawling,
ignoring the referee’s instructions, and are eventually separated by WWF
officials.  Rating:  ¼* (3 for 4)

–Cole asks Vince
McMahon how he feels, but McMahon refuses to say anything as he leaves the
arena.

–Kaientai
(w/Yamaguchi-San) beats Kurrgan, Golga & The Insane Clown Posse (w/Luna
Vachon & Giant Silva) by disqualification when Violent J tosses the referee
to the ground at 3:44:

Kaientai get the jobber entrance, but they have a new
look in that they are no longer wearing street clothes.  If you saw the SummerSlam 1998 match between
these two squads this is basically the same match, just shorter and the ICP
getting a shine at Kaientai’s expense. 
The match is only notable because the ICP turn heel by breaking the
rules and they blowoff the Oddities, who complain about losing the match.  Rating:  ** (4 for 5)

–A sad Vince gets
into his limo and leaves as the stooges assure him that they will take care of
business.

–Cole interviews
Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock, who says he is ready to “knuckle up”
with Austin.

–“Marvelous” Marc
Mero (w/Jacqueline) defeats Goldust via disqualification when Goldust hits
Shattered Dreams at 2:55:

Both of these guys have fallen down the card since they
had a series of matches in 1996. 
Jacqueline tries to prevent Shattered Dreams, but Goldust just kisses
her to a big pop.  He then unloads
Shattered Dreams, which costs him the match, but the crowd was thoroughly
entertained by this match.

–After the match,
Sable walks out and issues the most awkward challenge in company history.  It is like she read it off of cue cards with
no emotion.

–Jeff Jarrett
hitting Al Snow with a guitar is the JVC Kaboom! of the Week.

–Cole interviews
Mankind and Al Snow, who are facing the New Age Outlaws tonight.  Mankind and Snow argue over whether Socko or
Head is better.

–WWF Tag Team
Championship Match:  The New Age Outlaws
(Champions) beat Al Snow & Mankind when the Road Dogg pins Snow with a
schoolboy at 5:28:

Ross announces that Mankind and Al Snow will be in the
Deadly Game tournament.  After some fun
brawling, Snow plants Road Dogg with a Snow Plow, but Snow and Mankind cannot
agree about whether to use Head or Socko to finish the match and that helps the
Outlaws retain.  This would be a nice
pay-per-view encounter and could have been really good if given more time.  Rating:  **¼ (5 for 6)

–After the bell,
D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry run in and beatdown the Outlaws, laying the
foundation for a title shot at the Survivor Series.

–Non-Title “I Quit”
Match:  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin defeats
Ken Shamrock (Intercontinental Champion) at 6:16:

We are informed that Shamrock will be in the Deadly Game
tournament as well, thereby bringing our total number of official entrants up
to five (The Rock, Shamrock, Kane, Al Snow, and Mankind).  I am still puzzled why the company never felt
the need to run a Austin-Shamrock pay-per-view main event.  A match of this type would have been great,
especially with McMahon trying to stack the deck against Austin.  The stooges come to ringside to watch the
match, which has lots of crowd heat, but they do not play to the stipulation
very much.  The stooges randomly knock
out the referee, causing Austin to beat them down, and more hell breaks loose
as Mankind runs in and applies the Mandible Claw to Shamrock.  Austin then clocks Shamrock with a chair and
they steal the Dungeon Match finish from Fully Loaded, whereby Austin taps
Shamrock’s hand on the canvas and that ends everything.  That does not really fit the exact
stipulation of an “I Quit” match since Shamrock never verbally surrendered, but
whatever.  Rating:  **½ (6 for 7)

The Final Report Card:  This show did a lot to continue the slow
build to Survivor Series.  We learned of
some of the entrants in the tournament, all of whom were protected in their
matches, and we have some build for a Sable-Jacqueline rematch, as well as a
possible Outlaws title defense against Mark Henry and D-Lo Brown.  The McMahon segments were also well done,
thereby logically constructing a story for Austin to come back after being
fired.  Also, this RAW is somewhat
significant because it was the last time that RAW lost in the ratings to
WCW.  That show was headlined by Diamond
Dallas Page trying to win the U.S. title from Bret Hart and the full replay of
Page’s match against Goldberg from Halloween Havoc, which thousands of people
were not able to see because WCW could not time their pay-per-view correctly.

Monday Night War Rating:  4.5 (vs. 5.1 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up

–A video package
recaps Steve Austin ripping off his corporate suit on last week’s show.

–Jim Ross and
Michael Cole are doing commentary and they are live from Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.

–WWF Champion Steve
Austin comes out and calls out Vince McMahon under threat of holding the show
hostage again.  McMahon hesitantly walks
out with Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, and two police officers in riot
gear.  Austin demands to know who he is
facing at Unforgiven and McMahon says that he hasn’t decided that yet.  Austin asks McMahon if he wants to be WWF
champion since his version of a title holder is himself and when McMahon looks
puzzled, Austin announces that he will defend the WWF title tonight against
him.  McMahon’s reaction to the challenge
is priceless and Austin tells McMahon that he can’t leave the arena because he beat up his
limo driver and cut all of his tires. 
Austin gives McMahon thirty minutes to think over his challenge before
he takes a cameraman backstage and whips his ass.  This was a nice setup for tonight’s big angle
and it covered the scenario of McMahon trying to run away.  1 for
1

–McMahon is shown
talking with Patterson and Brisco backstage, who urge him to face Austin and they give him a pep talk.

–Opening Tag Team
Chain Match:  The Disciples of Apocalpyse
(w/Chainz) wrestle Savio Vega & Jose to a no contest at 2:15:

Although the stipulation might imply that this is a big
deal, both teams get the jobber entrance and D-Generation X comes out and lays
out Chainz, who does a stretcher job.  DX
then beats up Skull and 8-Ball before turning on Savio and Jose.  Ross insists that this is a no contest
because you cannot have a disqualification in a chain match.  This was fine with me because it puts DX over
two of the old gang warz factions that have hardly done anything since 1997.

–Shane McMahon is
shown backstage talking with his father, Brisco, and Patterson and Shane tries
to convince his father not to face Austin.

–Call 815-734-1161
to get the Steve Austin “Hell Yeah!” t-shirt for $25 (plus $6 shipping &
handling)!

–Vince McMahon
walks out, recaps his family’s history with the company, and reluctantly
announces that he will accept Austin’s challenge for a match tonight.  Brisco and Patterson come out to give McMahon
a high five and Ross says they have lost their minds and leaves the booth to
try to talk some sense to McMahon backstage.

–Right after Ross
leaves, the lights go out and without anyone to hold him back, Cole refuses to
stop talking as the Undertaker walks out and destroys Aguila, El Pantera, and
Scott Taylor who are scheduled for a tag team match tonight.  The Undertaker gets on the mic and says that
it is time for Kane to come out of the darkness.  Cole just rants about how the Undertaker’s
attack is not justified and while true, it just comes off as whiny.  1 for
2

–Steve Austin
giving McMahon a Stone Cold Stunner two weeks ago is the Starburst Slam of the
Week.

–Kevin Kelly
reports from outside McMahon’s locker room and shows a piece of footage of
Brisco, Patterson, Ross, and Shane arguing. 
Vince tells Shane to get his gym bag and blows Ross off and tells him to
go back and do his job.

–Taka Michinoku
beats Jeff Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee) by disqualification when Club Kamizake
interferes at 2:27:

Flyers fall from the sky which hype Jarrett performing with
Sawyer Brown at Unforgiven.  The flyer
idea isn’t well thought out, though, because they fall into the ring, making
this match seem like a bonus feature on the DVD of Newsies.  Both men briefly exchange moves before the
Japanese wrestlers that attacked Michinoku on last week’s show appear and
attack him again.  Ross and Cole call
them Club Kamikaze, but they would eventually become Kaientai.

–Austin tells Jim
Ross from the locker room that he is not surprised McMahon accepted his
challenge and he will settle his issue with McMahon once and for all tonight.

–Patterson and
Brisco give McMahon advice on how to counter the Stone Cold Stunner.

–Faarooq walks out with taped ribs and says
that he is going to give the Nation of Domination another chance to kick his
ass.  The Rock debuts his “do you smell
what the Rock is cooking” line as he runs down Faarooq, but Faarooq gives the
Nation salute, which signals Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman to run out and
help him ambush the Nation.  WWF
officials have to separate everyone as the crowd works up a HUGE “Rocky sucks!”
chant.  This is setting up a six man tag
at Unforgiven.  2 for 3

–Mick Foley
retiring the Cactus Jack character last week is the 10-321 Rewind segment.

–Jerry “the King”
Lawler comes out early to do commentary for tonight’s show, but Cole is still
with us.

–Terry Funk &
2 Cold Scorpio beat The Quebecers when Scorpio pins Pierre with a 450 splash at
2:14:

Funk has abandoned the Chainsaw Charlie character,
realizing three months too late that it was a bad idea.  Funk says that although Cactus Jack quit last
week he is not quitting and he is forming a new team with a man that Vince
McMahon has not given a chance and that new partner is Flash Funk, who Ross
makes sure we know is “2 Cold.”  This is
a good place to repackage Flash Funk into 2 Cold Scorpio since they are in ECW
country and the crowd works up a loud “ECW” chant.  Of course, Cole the idiot doesn’t take the
hint and keeps calling him Flash Funk. 
The Quebecer Crash misses and Scorpio wins the bout for his team in an
abbreviated match that could have been something really good if it was given
five more minutes.

–Luna Vachon walks
out and continues a trend tonight by calling out Sable.  However, the Artist Formerly Known as
Goldust, dressed as Sable and mocks her bad promo skills.  They enact the way the Evening Gown Match is going
to go with Luna ripping Goldust’s dress off. 
This is quite disturbing until Sable runs in and briefly brawls with
Luna, which excites the crowd.  3 for 4

–Non-Title Match:  The New Midnight Express (NWA Tag Team
Champions w/Jim Cornette & Dan Severn) wrestle Ken Shamrock & Steve
Blackman to a double disqualification at 3:45:

Before the match, Shamrock and Severn go eye-to-eye for a
few seconds before the referee orders Severn to the locker room.  This is a decent, but uninspiring match where
both teams keep brawling after the hot tag and the referee gets tired of trying
to control the action so he just disqualifies everyone.  I really hate that finish.  Rating:  *½ (3 for 5)

–Kelly asks Vince
if he is scared of facing Austin, to which he says he was not afraid of the
U.S. federal government and is not afraid of Ted Turner, so he is not afraid of
Steve Austin.

–The Headbangers
are in the ring for the next match, but the Undertaker comes out again.  The Headbangers try to defend themselves, but
he proceeds to destroy them.  The lights
go out and Kane and Paul Bearer come out to a big pop.  Bearer says that next week the Undertaker
will face Kane, but they will meet in the cemetery on their parents’ grave and
not in the ring.  Bearer’s rants against
the Undertaker are usually fun and this was no exception.  4 for
6

–The latest Val
Venis vignette, which catches him in the middle of casting for his next film
“Lust in Space.”

–Owen Hart (w/LOD
2000 & Sunny) defeats Billy Gunn (w/D-Generation X) with a schoolboy at
6:19 shown:

The commentary team announces that Owen Hart will meet
Triple H for the European title at Unforgiven. 
This match is booked as Owen facing a chosen DX member, which Triple H
says was chosen based on an essay writing contest.  For backup in this match, Owen brings LOD
2000 and Sunny.  X-Pac has a funny jab at
Ross on commentary by asking if Owen is a “twelve –time All-American.”  Triple H also makes jokes about Sunny’s
skanky nature.  Billy dominates a lot of
the action that happens over the course of two commercial breaks, which makes
this a snoozer until Owen wins when Billy prematurely celebrates.  Rating:  *¼ (4 for 7)

–WWF Championship
Match:  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
(Champion) and Vince McMahon (w/Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Shane McMahon
& Sergeant Slaughter) never compete:

Vince is dressed for this fight like Keith Hackney of the
original UFC, towel included.  Ross makes
a good point about this match by saying that if McMahon is hurt then it could
harm the prospects of the company.  Vince
slaps Austin and one hand is tied behind Austin’s back since Austin says he
could beat Vince with one arm in the opening promo.  In a nice piece of storytelling, McMahon has
Austin’s “Stunner arm” tied.  While
having these two engage in battle would be an awesome moment at the time,
logical booking prevails and before the bell, Dude Love comes out to veto the
match in the name of love.  McMahon
pushes Love down and Love tries to attack him with the Mandible Claw.  When Austin tries to get Love out of the ring
so he can face McMahon, Love puts the Mandible Claw on him and McMahon angrily
leaves, feeling Love stole his moment.  5 for
8

The Final Report Card:  Since I came to Scott’s blog in 2010 and
recapped RAW, beginning with March 1996, the WWF has usually lost the Monday Night
Wars against WCW.  For eighty-two
straight weeks, Nitro defeated RAW in the ratings with an average margin of
victory of 1.2 or higher.  However, after
Decemer 22, 1997 RAW’s ratings rose above 3.0 and would never dip lower and
THIS was the RAW that finally slaughtered the Nitro juggernaut.  It was unclear at the time whether this would
be a one-off victory or the beginning of a trend, but with the benefit of
hindsight this was like the Entente forces stopping the Germans at the Second
Battle of the Marne in August 1918. 
Although Nitro would win a few more victories over RAW after this night,
this show marked a shift in momentum in the Monday Night Wars and by the end of
the year Nitro was on the defensive.

As for the show itself, the Austin-McMahon
interaction was great and although viewers were disappointed about
Austin-McMahon not happening, it was the correct booking choice to continue a
red hot feud.  This show was all
storyline driven, as the in-ring product was poor, but it made two hours fly by
and it is still an entertaining show sixteen years later.

Monday Night War Rating:  4.6 (vs. 4.2 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up