Monday Night Raw
Compaq Center
Houston, Texas
September 30, 2002
Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler
Ring announcer: Lilian Garcia
Last week's Raw was actually pretty good following the fallout from Unforgiven. Ric Flair turned heel and allied himself with Triple H to go out on top and the ECW crew of Rob Van Dam and Bubba Ray Dudley stepped up to face them. Eric Bischoff was on the war path and Goldust and Booker T felt his wrath. Big Show made mincemeat out of Jeff Hardy so he might be a possible Triple H opponent. Before we get anywhere, we got a dark match before the Sunday Night Heat taping. We'll just do the dark match here.
Dark Match 1
Little Guido vs Johnny Stamboli
ECW vs WCW as Little Guido gets a tryout match against Johnny Stamboli. Stamboli wins the match with a top rope leg drop. Both of these guys would be familiar with each other real soon.
Winner: Stamboli by pinfall
Now we get started with the show. We open with Eric Bischoff and Lita in the ring. Eric says not to go watch Monday Night Football (Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens took on the Denver Broncos) because we're having three title matches. Trish will defend the Women's title, Chris Jericho defends the Intercontinental title and Triple H defends the World Heavyweight Championship. At No Mercy, Bischoff says the IC champion will face the WHC in a winner take all match. "One show, one champion." So Bischoff's grandiose idea is to get rid of the IC title after 20 years. Bischoff then segues to Lita who apparently said Smackdown was better than Raw on WWE.com. Eric calls her a little witch and starts yelling at her. He says Hollywood doesn't want her after she broke her neck doing stunts. Lita stares down Eric and says he needs to respect the rank and file so they'll respect him in return. He doesn't give a damn about her opinion and says she has three minutes to leave....uh oh. Jamal, Rico and Rosey appear right on cue but the calvary arrives as Jeff Hardy, Booker T and Goldust to chase off the heels. Eric says Goldust and Booker learned nothing from last week so now we got a tag match right here, right now.
Match 1
Booker T and Goldust vs 3 Minute Warning (Rosey and Jamal) with Rico
The four men brawl as the bell rings as Jeff leads Lita away to safety. The heels shitcan Booker and pound away on Goldust. Goldust ducks a line and the Samoans get axe kicked by hometown hero Booker T. Booker drops Rosey with an elbow and covers for a two count. Goldust tags in and they doubleteam him. Goldust hits Ass To Mouth but Jamal attacks from behind. The Samoans hit a flapjack and Jamal pounds away on Goldust. The crowd chants "Rico sucks" as Jamal chokes Goldust on the second rope. Goldust fights in the corner but Rosey makes the tag. Rosey pounds away on the back of Goldust and drop him with a thrust to the throat. Rosey drops a leg and covers but Booker breaks up the count. Jamal tags in and they corner Goldust with shoulder thrusts. JR and King bring up how Rosey legitimately played high school football with Dallas Cowboys hall of fame running back Emmett Smith. Goldust rams Jamal's head into the buckle and he no-sells it, clotheslining Goldust down. Rosey tags in and Goldust hits a reverse neckbreaker. Goldust gets the hot tag to Booker T who goes apeshit on Jamal, dropping him with an axe kick. He also drops Rosey with a kick as well. Jamal gets a forearm to the head and Book covers for 1...2...nope. Booker hits yet another kick on Jamal and covers then avoids Rosey's big splash. Booker throws Rosey out of the ring but stops to do the spinaroonie. Booker calls for the scissors kick and hits Jamal with it. Booker covers for 1.....2....Rosey was late getting in to break up the count so Jamal had to half heartedly get the shoulder up. Rosey did land on referee Jack Doan a little but Goldust gets in to pound away on him. Goldust gets thrown out by Rosey and Rico puts him down ont he outside with a kick to the face. Booker hits a double clothesline and takes out Rico but Rosey hits a World's Strongest Slam. Jamal hits the top rope splash and covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. People at the time asked why Booker was getting jobbed out when he arguably the most popular guy on Raw but its become pretty obvious since. Jamal and Rosey's first official match on Raw ends with beating Booker in his home town.
Time of match: 6:37
Winners: 3 Minute Warning by pinfall
Back from break, we go to the highlight of 3 Minute Warning's victory. Backstage Jonathan Coachman is with the trio and asks what their goal is. Rico says its obvious, he could lead the most dominant tag team in history. Rosey says no one is going to get in their way and Jamal guarantees they will make them feel the 3 minute warning. We cut to Christian confronting Lance Storm about losing the tag belts the previous week. Test and William Regal butt in and say to knock it off. Regal says they have a chance to show they're a dominant force tonight and to concentrate on their matches tonight. We cut to Chris Jericho who's with Terri Runnels and Terri asks if he's worried about losing to Kane. The winner goes to No Mercy as IC champ and Jericho feels magnificent, glorious and glorificent. Jericho says Kane's chances of winning are as real as Terri's chest. Suddenly, Gregory Helms appears and asks what's up with him thinking he's better than Kane. Jericho says freaks are losers. He's cool and a champion, Booker, Goldust, Kane and Helms aren't. Kane appears and Y2J bails causing Terri to kiss Kane again. Kane "What can I, chicks dig the mask." Ha! Up next is Randy Orton vs Lance Storm.
Match 2
Lance Storm vs Randy Orton
The "blue chipper" Orton takes on an angry Storm since there's trouble in paradise in The Unamerican faction. Bell rings and they lock up to start. Orton ducks the line and drops Storm with an elbow. Orton hits the side backbreaker as Christian laughs at Lance in the back. Storm hits a dropkick and covers for a deuce. Lance clubs away with right hands and applies a chinlock. Orton powers out of it and catches Storm with an elbow. He goes upstairs and hits the flying crossbody for 1..2....nope. Orton gets rolled up and Storm tries to turn it into a half crab. Orton turns it into an inside cradle for a two count. Storm goes for the O'Connor Roll and hooks the tights, but Orton rolls through and hooks the tights himself for 1...2...3 to win the match. Short and sweet as Orton stuns the veteran former champion.
Time of match: 2:40
Winner: Orton by pinfall
Christian appears, steals JR's hat and says he doesn't know what's stupider, Storm or him wearing the hat. Orton dumps Storm to the floor and Christian challenges Orton himself. Orton in the ring says bring it and we got an impromptu match.
Match 3
Christian vs Randy Orton
Orton wastes no time and dropkicks Christian down but Christian front suplexes Orton onto the top rope. Christian throws Orton off the barricade before throwing him inside. Christian covers for a deuce as the crowd chants USA. Christian stomps away at Orton but he powers out of it and hits a backdrop. Christian goes for the reverse ddt but Orton counters with a powerslam and cover for 1...2...nope. Christian hits the reverse DDT and covers for a deuce and Christian gets upset with referee Nick Patrick. Orton rolls to the apron but Randy snaps Christian off the top. Orton misses the crossbody off the top and Christian goes for the Unprettier. Orton wiggles out of it and totally botches the Overdrive. Orton covers for 1..2.....3 to win the match anyway. Orton beats both members of last week's tag team champions inside of three minutes. Lance Storm slides back in the ring as Orton leaves with JR's hat.
Time of match: 2:40
Winner: Orton by pinfall
Randy returns JR's hat back to Ross and Ross gets a small ovation. Storm yells at Christian and simply leaves. Backstage Eric Bischoff yells at Jeff Hardy for coming to Lita's aid and books him against Big Show again. He says he got stuck with the wrong Hardy and get out of his face. Ric Flair walks up to Eric and says Jeff has no respect. Eric "What the hell do you want Flair?" Glad to see the animosity from WCW still carries over. Flair asks if he's facing Rob Van Dam and Eric doesn't know and asks how things are coming along with an "ex-Smackdown talent". Ric promises he'll deliver....who could he be talking about? On to the next match.
Match 4
Jeff Hardy vs Big Show with Jacqueline as special guest referee
Why is Jacqueline there? Why are we doing this match again? Jeff runs right at him to start just like last week but Show kicks him and throws him inside. The bell rings and Jeff gets thrown around again. Jeff dropkicks Show in the knee but Show counters with a lariat. Show heaves Jeff in the corner and chops his chest. Show throws Jeff across the ring again and headbutts him. Jeff tries to fight back but Show scoop slams him. Show drops the leg and walks over him. Show chokes Jeff in the corner with his boot and Jacqueline yells at Big Show despite being more than a foot shorter than he is. Jeff stuns Show with a jawbreaker but is heaved over the top rope. Show chops Jeff against the barricade but Jeff moves and Show clotheslines the ring post. Jeff tosses Show a chair and dropkicks the chair causing Show to fly over the barricade. Jackie starts counting both men out but Jeff gets back in to win the match. Jeff quickly leaves as Big Show gets back in to throw a tantrum. Bad match and once again Show looks like a doofus.
Time of match: 3:30
Winner: Jeff Hardy by count out
Back from commercial the Houston Texans are in the front row including 1st round pick David Carr. We're backstage where Booker confront Jericho. Jericho says he's been Undisputed champion, the current IC champ, the future world champ and a huge rock star. Booker says he's the five time...five time...five time WCW champion. Booker goes for the catchphrase but Jericho stops him before he can say "Suckaaaa", wow did Vince & HHH hate Booker. On to the next match.
Match 5
Bubba Ray Dudley vs Triple H (with Ric Flair) for the World Heavyweight Championship
Bubba and HHH have been working the houses together since the past week and he spray paints the letters HHH on the table he brought in the ring. Bubba grabs the mic and says the table is reserved...ha ha. Bubba says HHH is going through the table eventually. Bubba cuts a promo saying Hunter was handed the title and everyone in the back is sick of the politics and the fans earn everything they have, nothing is handed to them. Bubba says its about him beating HHH and earning the right to be called the new World Heavyweight Champion. Bell's gone and Bubba tells HHH to come on. Hunter backs Bubba into the corner and gets in knees to the mid-section. Bubba gets Hunter in the corner, unloads with right hands and a chop. Bubba sends HHH into the other corner and clotheslines him over the top rope to the floor. Bubba hip tosses Hunter back inside, ducks the line and football tackles him. Bubba slugs away at HHH but gets a thumb to the eye. Trips throws him outside and Flair goes to cheapchot, but Bubba gets a right hand to HHH. Hunter recovers and throws Bubba into the steps. Ric puts the loafers to Bubba and throws him inside. Hunter goes for the blatant choke and covers for 1..2..nope. Hunter clubs away at Bubba in the corner and stomps a mudhole in him. Referee Charles Robinson tells HHH to back off but Hunter hits a neckbreaker on Dudley. Hunter covers for a deuce but gets a boot to the head. Bubba charges but runs into a sleeperhold. Bubba makes it to the ropes and delivers a back suplex. A charge in the corner by Bubba eats boot but he still manages to get in a german suplex. HHH and Bubba slug it out with Bubba getting the upperhand. Bubba hits the Samoan drop and punches HHH in the corner. Bubba hits a DDT and covers for 1...2...nope. Hunter gets in a knee lift but runs into a sidewalk slam. Bubba covers for 1...2....nope. Ric Flair goes upstairs and Bubba slams him into the ring. Bubba hits a Bubba Bomb but the ref is too busy with Flair to notice the cover. Bubba does the Dusty Combo to HHH and tells himself to get the tables, Bubba nails Flair off the apron but Hunter catches him with a boot. Bubba counters the pedigree but Hunter counters a powerbomb with a backdrop. Hunter finally hits the pedigree and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Hunter escapes with a victory and it was nice to see Bubba get a bone for once as a singles. Good match for what it was worth.
Time of match: 7:10
Winner: Triple H by pinfall (still World Heavyweight Champion)
Trish Stratus gets ready for her match against Victoria but Victoria jumps her in the back and rips her shirt off causing King to scream. Victoria punches away on Trish and rams her face into the cement. Victoria "Your title is mine Trish." JR "Where the hell is damn security, on a coffee break?" We cut to commercial and when we get back we see highlights of Raw superstars hanging out at Rice University including Spike Dudley giving a speech. Onto the next match.
Match 6
Victoria vs Trish Stratus for the WWE Women's Championship
Victoria looks cocky in the ring but Trish storms out looking no worse for wear and she absolutely unloads on Victoria outside the ring and inside. Trish nails Victoria with a clothesline and covers for a deuce and Trish hits an enziguiri that sends Victoria to the outside. Victoria recovers to heave Trish into the wall then back inside. Victoria covers for a two count and kicks Trish full force in the ribs before raking her across the second rope. Victoria full force slaps Trish but Trish rolls through a charge into a sunset flip. Victoria counters and grabs the ropes for 1...2...nooooo. Victoria hits a scoop slam but Trish gets her knees up on a top rope moonsault attempt. Trish hits a swinging neckbreaker and covers for a deuce then clubs away at Victoria in the corner. Trish charges but Victoria gets her elbow up. Trish still hits Stratusphere and covers for a two count. Victoria goes ass over tea kettle outside but Victoria grabs a chair and waffles Trish in the head with it to earn the DQ. JR calls Victoria crazy and its hard to disagree with that. Trish is out cold and Victoria has to be pushed to the back by the officials. Too bad it ended so abruptly because that was a hell of a fight for 3 minutes.
Time of match: 2:52
Winner: Trish by Disqualification (Still women's champion)
Backstage Stacy Keibler is with Eric Bischoff and demands more air time because she thinks she's hotter than Trish. Eric Bischoff says he's going to spin the Raw Roulette wheel and Stacy could face Trish in a Kiss My Ass or HLA match. Stacy says "Pucker up, Trish because you're looking at the new Women's champion." JR "I can't believe this." Next week is Raw Roulette....yippie. We go back to the Unamericans locker room and Regal yells at both Christian and Lance. Test says both Christian and Lance are losers as Regal tries to keep the peace. Regal says watch him and Test show how its done as Christian sarcastically says "This aughtta be good." We go to Jonathan Coachman who enters Triple H's lockerroom with Flair and Hunter surrounded by lovely ladies. HHH comes out of the shower and Coach asks who he thinks is going to win tonight but two ladies in the shower tell Hunter to come back. Before Coach can continue, Chris Jericho shows up "What the hell is going on in here?" Jericho "Listen jackass, you're not my favorite person in the world either. Y2J says HHH should be interested in what he has to say. HHH tells Coach to beat it and tells Y2J to sit down. Jericho flirts with some lady and we cut to Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam making their way to the ring. Guess that's who Regal and Test are facing.
Match 7
Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer vs Test and William Regal
ECW vs The Unamericans as many people complained at the time that Van Dam went from main event to mid-card in just eight days. Funny how Van Dam is buddy buddy with Bubba Dudley last week and Dreamer this week. Is Spike Dudley going to be his partner next week for Raw Roulette? We get a highlight of Dreamer kicking Christopher Nowinski's ass last week. Bell's gone and Dreamer starts with Regal. Dreamer starts with an arm-ringer but the crowd chants RVD. Regal punches away at Dreamer in the corner but eats a back drop. Test tags in but Dreamer goes to work on his arm too. RVD tags in and he kicks at the left arm. RVD hits a spin kick on Test as JR hopes we get a Coal Miner's Glove match next week. Test derails Van Dam with a knee to the ribs and Regal tags in but Rob hits shoulder tackles in the corner. Regal counters Van Dam stepover kick with a suplex. Rob outside is rammed into the side by Test and rolled back in. Regal gets a two count and tags Test back in. Test locks in a surfboard as Dreamer starts an RVD chant. King won't shut up about Trish Stratus as Rob powers out of it only for Rob to eat a knee to the ribs. Test catches Rob but Van Dam sends Test into the buckle, Rob hits a spinning heel kick and gets the tag to Dreamer. Tommy cleans house and drops both Regal and Test. The crowd chants ECW as Test clotheslines Regal by accident and RVD dropkicks the knee of Test. Dreamer covers and moves out of the way so Regal drops an elbow on Test by accident. Dreamer clocks Regal as Van Dam misses the split legged moonsault on Test. Dreamer ducks under the big boot and Van Dam kicks Test in the face. Dreamer rolls up Test for 1...2...3 to win the match. Short and sweet, not much you can do with styles clashing like that. Still, it served its purpose.
Time of match: 4:50
Winners: Dreamer and RVD by pinfall
After the match Lance Storm and Christian hit the ring with Storm shitcanning Rob Van Dam. Test and Regal brawl with Christian and Storm brawling as well. Regal low bridges Test and Rob Van Dam comes off the top with a dropkick to Lance Storm. Dreamer sends Regal away with a right hand as The Unamericans have imploded. Regal and Storm appear to be on the same page but Christian and Test are out of here. Kane makes his way to ring side as the main event is next. Chris is interrupted by Booker who screams "SUCKAAAAA" in his face, ha! We go to commercial and when we get back, we get highlights of the Wrestlemania 19 press conference set to some weird Christmas music. Still sad to see Edge kick off the festivities. After this we go to JR and King with King reading that month's issue of WWE Magazine with Kane on the cover. Finally its time for the main event.
Match 8
Kane vs Chris Jericho for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Its simple, the winner is the Intercontinental Champion and goes to No Mercy as the champ for the unification match with Triple H. Ross and King make football references during the entrance and Ross says Jericho has a Randy Moss attitude. Bell's gone as there's a sign that says Y2GAy in the crowd....gotta love the early 2000's. Kane heaves Jericho across the ring twice to start and Chris slaps him. Kane knocks Chris down and heaves him into the corner. King AGAIN brings up Trish out of nowhere as Kane unloads with right hands. Kane sends Y2J off the ropes but Jericho bails. King asks who Triple H would rather face and JR instantly says Jericho because HHH has already beaten him at Wrestlemania. Chris snaps Kane off the top rope and goes up to the top. Kane uppercuts and throws him off. Kane rams Jericho's head in the corner as Ric Flair makes his way to ring side. Glad he and Y2J are okay now just eight days after Jericho vowed to end his career. Kane gets distracted and Jericho takes advantage with right hands. Kane clotheslines Y2J in the corner and Flair distracts Kane long enough for Chris to roll him up with the feet on the ropes for 1...2...nope. Jericho chokes Kane in the corner but walks into the sidewalk slam. Kane covers but Flair puts Jericho's feet on the rope. Kane stalks Flair outside and chases him into the ring. Flair begs off and Jericho takes advantage. Flair leaes the ring as Jericho punches away at Kane. Kane counters with a big boot and press slams Jericho over the top rope to the floor. Flair tries to revive Jericho but referee Earl Hebner has enough and gives Ric THE HEAVE HO! Flair's been ejected and Kane punches him up the ramp. We go to commercial and when we come back, Kane has Jericho down in the center of the ring. Kane hits a backdrop as we see Kane slam Jericho down in the replay. Kane goes up to the top rope but Jericho shoves Hebner into the top rope to crotch Kane. Jericho does a springboard dropkick and then goes for the superplex. Jericho somehow hits the superplex on Kane and covers for 1...2....nope. Kane sits up and unloads with right hands on Y2J but puts his head down. Jericho kicks him in the head but almost gets caught in the tombstone. Jericho dropkicks the left leg of Kane and Kane bails to the outside. Jericho sends Kane into the steel steps and taunts the irate crowd. King wont shut up about "chicks" as Jericho shoves Kane back into the ring. Jericho works over the left leg and eventually rams Kane's leg into the ring post. Jericho locks in the Hartbreaker as Ross even says its Bret Hart's move. Kane limps around outside but makes it to the apron. Kane suplexes Chris over the top to the floor before Jericho gets back in with a dropkick to the knee. Jericho jumps on the left leg and then does a dance for no reason. Kane rallies with right hands and a big boot with his good leg, but Chris stays with it and chopblocks the bad leg. Kane catches Chris with a back suplex and rallies with right hands. Kane flapjacks Chris and hits a tilt-a-whirl slam before covering for a deuce. Kane rams Chris' head into the corner and Jericho runs right into another big boot. Kane heaves Jericho over the ring post to the floor. Kane sends Y2J into the steel steps and throws him back inside. Kane goes up to the top rope and hits the clothesline. Kane covers for 1...2...noooo. HHH himself finally hits ringside only to eat a right hand. Jericho hits the bulldog and the lionsault....no wait, Jericho got caught by the throat. Kane goes for the chokeslam but Jericho rolls through it and rolls up Kane. Jericho goes for the Walls of Jericho but Kane kicks him off. Jericho calls the ref over as HHH low bridges Kane. HHH botches the spinebuster so badly Ross calls it a belly to belly suplex. HHH rolls Kane back inside as Jericho goes up to the top rope. Jericho hits the missile dropkick and covers for 1..2...nope. HHH distracts Hebner as Jericho gets a chair. Jericho hits the knee of Kane with the chair and gets rid of the evidence. Jericho locks in the Walls of Jericho but Kane grabs the bottom rope. Jericho gets the chair again but Kane hits the big boot. Kane hits the chokseslam and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match and title. Damn good match and these two had good chemistry from matches in the past despite the run-ins from HHH and Flair. Kane is now one half of the tag champs and the IC champ with HHH irate at the entrance. We sign off with Kane standing tall.
Time of match: 16:38
Winner: Kane by pinfall (new IC champion)
All in all that was a terrible Raw that accomplished almost nothing. Kane was obviously the next sacrificial lamb for Triple H so he was booked to look strong. Everyone else including the heels were booked to be completely incompetent. Rob Van Dam went from the main event to the mid-card in eight days, Booker T gets laid out by 3 Minute Warning and the Unamericans could be split up. Even Big Show looked like a goof getting counted out against Jeff Hardy. This show benefited just three men, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and HHH and even Flair was the one taking the bumps. Like I said, unless they're saving Big Show for a special occasion, it doesn't look like anyone is on the same level of Triple H. Tomorrow night is the Velocity/Smackdown taping in Lafayette, Louisiana so I'll see you there.
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