Raw is War 10/5/98
- We open with a look back at last week’s antics, where Steve Austin assaulted Vince McMahon and got arrested as a result…Undertaker & Kane turned on the Boss and brutally took him out, busting his ankle at ringside…very memorable episode for sure…opening animation follows
- X-Pac vs. D-Lo Brown…we waste no time in getting right to the action tonight as X-Pac is out to defend his European Title…JR and the King in the booth and the crowd is hyped…D-Lo knocked off five other men last week to earn this shot…he still has the chest protector on and has Mark Henry in his corner…Pac gets off to a hot start but D-Lo takes him over with a nice powerslam…D-Lo’s taunting never gets old…JR talks about Henry’s issues with Chyna as of late…some random guy hops out of the crowd and serves Chyna with some papers as Henry smirks at her…Brown slows things down with a chinlock but Pac battles back…these guys always had great chemistry and Pac was in a fantastic groove at this point…McMahon will be here via satellite tonight…the look and feel and sound of the show is all so fresh at this point…I like that it isn’t polished yet either, still has a gritty feel…D-Lo misses the frog splash…the crowd pops big time for the Bronco Buster…Henry trips Pac, who then tries to plancha outside but Henry catches him and rams him into the post…Brown follows with the frog splash for the win and we have a new European Champ…D-Lo and Henry celebrate and Chyna isn’t impressed…JR says this will add to the recent woes of DX…good opener and a nice title change to kick off the show…well earned by D-Lo…also, must mention how much I love the funky Nation remix, one of my favorite themes of all time
- JR & King run down tonight’s card and then we head via satellite to Mr. McMahon’s hospital…we see him laid up in a hospital bed and is very angry about the drink he is given, spitting it out and demanding apple juice…we then cut to some park where the Oddities and ICP are playing touch football…a very unorganized game…time for break
- Back from break and the Headbangers make their way out…JR says the Bangers aren’t scheduled right now and the crowd seems a bit annoyed to have them out here…Mosh spits at the ref and Thrasher shoves the announcer…they call out the Oddities…Bangers make decent heels but I am surprised they are still kicking around at this point…they want to fight the ICP…the Oddities appear on the ramp, which pisses off the Bangers, who only want to battle ICP…King puts over their concerts and CDs…Shaggy & J appear and head to the ring, but the Bangers want the Oddities gone…ICP sends them away and hop into the ring, where the Bangers beat the piss out of them…pretty good beatdown here…JR doesn’t know why the Bangers have such a problem with ICP…Mosh powerbombs Shaggy off the top rope…Thrasher just cracks J with a chair shot to the head and then follows with one on Shaggy…man those were rough shots to the skull…Mosh powerbombs J on the chair and Thrasher follows with a legdrop…Oddities finally amble back out for the save…took them long enough…Bangers take off and JR wants to know what is going on with them, so I guess this is the official heel turn
- Back to the hospital, where Vince is in pain…clips of Heat last night, where Steve Austin stomped around the arena, found the production truck and had a tech lead him to the wire that brought in the feed from the hospital and proceeded to hack in half, killing the connection
- After a break, King & JR take us through last week’s show once again, going through everything that happened with McMahon, Austin, Kane and Undertaker…no Champion was named as Vince had promised and he revealed that Kane and Taker will battle for the vacant title at Judgment Day with Austin as referee…that news didn’t go over so well, leading to Vince being put in the hospital
- We head back to the hospital where the nurse tells Vince he has a big visitor that is threatening the staff…McMahon freaks out, assuming it’s Austin but it turns out to be Mankind, who brings Vince balloons and candy…Vince is disgusted and in too much pain for this…Mankind ate all the candy on the way over…he has another guest with him, and Vince again assumes Austin…but of course it is instead Yurple the Clown…she gives Vince a balloon rainbow as Mankind blows a whistle in Vince’s face, which to me is the best part of the whole scene…Yurple is making a balloon dog as Mankind debuts Mr. Socko to help Vince feel better…he does the worst mime job ever and then has Socko kiss the damaged ankle…we get one last whistle before Vince snaps and sends them away…and he nails the line that lives on in infamy…”Mister Socko”…elsewhere Sable is getting makeup applied as we take a break
- When we return, Sable is making her way down to the ring…she is poured into a leather outfit that is beyond ridiculously tight…she joins King & JR on commentary, which nearly sends Lawler into a coronary
- Vader vs. Marc Mero…Vader still hanging around here…Mero & Jacqueline are out and I am already enjoying the heel swagger of Mero…what a tremendous douchebag he is…Sable says some pretty harsh stuff about Jackie, who is currently the women’s champ…Sable vows to take the title…back in 1996, I was sure this was going to be the KOTR final and here we are over two years later…Vader works Mero over, but he escapes to the floor…back in, Vader runs him over with a body block…Vader looks pretty good here, too bad he was on the bottom of the ladder at this point…more talk about Sable’s training…Mero uses Jackie to take control…fans want Sable, not a shock…Mero hits a really nice jumping clothesline, but eats some knees as he tries a slingshot splash…Vader mauls him some more and again I lament that Vader wasn’t used better around this time…Jackie gets involved in the match, allowing Mero to crack Vader with his vintage low blow…he follows with Marvelocity for the win…fun match but that may be the Mero mark in me…Vader worked stiff and looked motivated…matches getting some time here tonight, which is good…Sable gets in the ring and Mero says she could never satisfy him…she smacks Mero, but Jackie clubs her down and cuts some of her hair off…quick shot of the hospital room, where Vince has his temperature taken
- After the break, we get a vignette for the Real Man’s Man Steven Regal, who is squeezing oranges and drinking the sweet juice that they produce…he squeezes his own hand selected Florida oranges, which certainly makes him a real man in my book…JR takes back through what just happened with Mero, Jackie and Sable
- Edge vs. Owen Hart…Edge makes his way from the crowd and King wants to know why Edge’s brother Christian is palling around with his hated rival Gangrel…the funky Nation theme fires up and Owen emerges, but he is in street clothes and looking somber…we see clips from last week where Owen hurt Dan Severn with a Tombstone, putting him out with a bruised spine…Owen lost a match to X-Pac last night where Owen looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world…Owen’s plaid shirt tucked into his black jeans, which are tucked into cowboy boots is not a flattering look…he says that he looked at Severn’s eyes last week and saw his wife and children…he is sorry for what he did and starts to tear up…he can’t finish his promo and just walks off…this is kind of creepy to watch…King misses the old Owen Hart that didn’t care who he hurt…he calls Owen a wuss as he marches off and we march to break
- Back from break and Owen is walking out of the arena…Michael Cole catches up with him and Owen just mumbles that it is over and he is done as he walks away
- Kane vs. Ken Shamrock…Kane is out and he is by himself…we see Vince watching the show from his room…Shamrock is out next as JR says many fans think it is Kane’s fault that Undertaker lost his match last week…Shamrock attacks the legs, staying out of Kane’s grasp…more talk about Judgment Day…not much going on here, especially with Kane on offense…and as I type that, Kane blocks a hurricanrana and spikes Shamrock with a powerbomb…King thinks Vince should fire Mankind…any time Shamrock fights back, Kane meets him with a big strike to put him back down…as Kane continues to hammer away, Taker makes his way to the ring and stands at ringside…this match didn’t need to be this long…bless his heart, Ken is trying to work some psychology in here…he was another guy that was on fire during this stretch…Kane lands a clothesline and heads up top, but Taker hops up on the apron…Ken swings at him, inadvertently crotching Kane…Taker walks away as Ken takes Kane over with a top rope belly-to-belly for the win…well, that was a hell of a finishing move and almost made up for the rest of this plodding battle…King & JR play it off like Taker shook the rope but it didn’t look like he did…Shamrock looked great but Kane just doesn’t have much of an arsenal to keep longer matches interesting…the mind games between the brothers continue here though
- Backstage, Terri Runnels is leaning back and Val’s head slowly pops up…he says he found her wedding ring as the kitty cat was playing with it…and he goes back down low…that was a bit risqué…Terri looked hot though
- Val Venis vs. Gangrel…Val & Terri make their way out as JR reminds us that she is still married to Dustin Runnels…well, he dumped her, so not sure why that matters…Terri strips off Val’s towel and he cuts his usual gratuitous pro, inviting the ladies to check out the real Magic Johnson…Gangrel and Christian are out and JR believes something fishy is going on with these two…man I miss Gangrel’s theme…and goblet of blood…what an awesome character…JR wants to read up on gothic lifestyle…these two definitely seemed like the future of the promotion at this point…JR talks about Rock and Undertaker as Val hits a nice spinebuster…a lot of back and forth as JR calls Christian “Christopher”…Edge comes through the crowd and gets into his brother’s face…Gangrel slides out and attacks Edge, dropping him with a DDT on the floor…he and Christopher attack Edge as the ref counts him out and Val gets the win…Gangrel & Chris head off as Val celebrates with Terri…as they grind, an usher hops on the apron and hands Val a gold envelope…he reads it and looks shocked as Goldust’s theme plays…the lights dim and we get a Shattered Dreams Production on the tron…he promises to hold a world premiere next week
- We see clips of last night when Austin confronted Shane McMahon at ringside…Shane begged off as Austin got involved in a match and beat down Jeff Jarrett and Dennis Knight
- Back from break and Vince is still being tended to, even demanding a new nurse and some medication…and we head back to the arena
- Al Snow vs. Jeff Jarrett…Snow & Head are out and the fans are pretty excited to see them…JJ is alone tonight…you can tell he is still kind of figuring out this new look and gimmick…we get some mat wrestling off the bell…Snow chastises Head for that strategy…King still can’t believe Al defeated Commissioner Slaughter in a boot camp match, but that is how he earned this gig…they fight to the floor as Sarge comes down to ringside…Snow uses a chair to propel himself in JJ as Sarge is arguing with the referee…as Snow tries to sneak up Sarge, JJ smashes him in the back of the head with a chair…that was a pretty nasty shot…Sarge looks on in disdain as JR says he is probably just embarrassed by his loss…these matches all getting some time tonight…fans try to rally Snow and it works…Snow heads up top, but Sarge shakes the rope and draws the DQ for Jarrett…what an odd feud and I didn’t even realize Sarge was still involved in angles at this point…JR says that Jack Doan has balls to call for a DQ on the Commish…Sarge and Jarrett head out as Snow convalesces
- Road Dogg vs. Mark Henry…Dogg has X-Pac and a blow up doll dressed as Billy Gunn with him…he is also wearing both tag straps…and cue that funky Nation music, baby...Mark Henry and D-Lo come out…D-Lo is carrying his newly won title with him…King has Chyna’s paperwork from earlier and reveals that Henry is suing her for sexual harassment…Dogg jukes and jives as JR ponders Owen Hart’s comments from earlier…Dogg is aggressive and it is working tonight…well until Henry catches and slams him anyway…Henry slows it down, dropping elbows and stomping away...he allows lands a nice clothesline that sends Dogg flying…King says we can forget about Bill & Monica now that Mark & Chyna have legal issues…speaking of Chyna, she heads out and nails D-Lo…then she argues with the referee as Pac hops in the ring and hits an X-Factor…Dogg covers and gets the win…DX gets some revenge from earlier but things are far from over…Henry grabs a chair and chases to the back as we head to commercial…but first we see Vince asking for more juice
- Back from commercial and we head to the hospital where we will have words from Vince…first we get more clips from last week again…back to the hospital and Vince is in pain, talking to a nurse…now a doctor comes in but he quickly reveals himself to be Steve Austin…chaos and hilarity ensues…Austin hammers away as the nurse screams…he hammers the cast and then smacks him with the bedpan in the greatest use of a weapon ever…he shocks him with the defibrillator and after Vince rolls around in his open hospital gown and underwear, Austin violates him with an IV to cap this masterpiece off…brilliance
- Rock vs. Undertaker…pretty big main event here tonight…Rock gets some pops and he is rocking the fantastic ginormous sideburns here…JR says this is the place to be…I disagree, but that is neither here nor there…I love this version of Taker’s music…probably my favorite installment…Taker looks angry tonight…he slugs away, mauling Rock…King blames Austin, Kane and Taker for what has happened to Vince…this match has been all Taker…D-Lo and Henry head to ringside…Rock takes over on the floor as his Nation mates root him on…he tosses Taker into the steps and then works him over in the ring…Kane is out now and he distracts Rock long enough for Taker to drop him with a chokeslam…Henry & D-Lo want no part of that mess so they hit the road…Rock kicks out to a nice pop…Taker keeps wearing him out but Rock stays alive…I never understood Rock’s weird boots where they don’t have a full back piece…JR puts over Rock big time…JR says Rock is just 26 years old and also says he believes Kane is in his 20s as well…they brawl back out to the floor…we get some more Judgment Day plugging as this match keeps rolling along…lots of wrestling and angle advancement tonight…a packed show that has flown by and never felt boring…Rock hammers back but Taker clocks him with a clothesline and legdrop…Rock just can’t get going as Taker plants him during every comeback…Kane continues to stand solemnly at ringside…JR reminds us that Rock is the number one contender for the world title, an honor he earned at Breakdown last week…Rock finally gets rolling, and he turns a Tombstone into a side Russian legsweep followed by the People’s Elbow to a big pop…I wasn’t expecting much here but this has turned into a pretty good battle…Earl gets taken out and right after that, Taker and Rock clothesline each other…Kane finally moves, grabbing a chair but staying on the floor…Rock whips Taker at the ropes and Kane mashes his brother in the back with a chair…Rock lands the Rock Bottom but Earl is out still…Kane leaves as Taker sits up…Rock walks into a Tombstone and Taker drops him on a chair with it…Earl counts and Taker wins…really solid main event and a hard fought win for Taker…Rock looked strong too…good stuff…Take glares to the crowd and we are out
Review Date: March 2013
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