Monday Night Raw
Thomas & Mack Center
Las Vegas, Nevada
October 7 2002
Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler
Ring Announcer: Lilian Garcia
Its time for Raw Roulette, everyone! Last week Eric Bischoff promised that every match on tonight's card would be determined by a Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal stipulation. So what's going on Raw lately? Kane is on a hot streak, winning the tag titles with new Raw star The Hurricane two weeks ago and the Intercontinental championship last week against Chris Jericho. Eric Bischoff ordered Kane and Triple H to face off at No Mercy to unify the titles which means the 22 year history of the IC strap will come to an end. The Unamericans have unofficially split with Christian and Test butting heads with Lance Storm and William Regal. The deranged Victoria knocked WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus cold with a chair shot to the head and arguably the most popular Raw star, Booker T, has been fodder for 3 Minute Warning lately. Before we do anything, we got a dark match.
Dark Match
Horshu vs Solo
No, that's not Solo Sikoa or Han Solo....that's actually Sim Snuka, the adopted son of "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. He had just started wrestling in 1999 after a career in bodybuilding and he was getting a tryout against WCW Power Plant graduate Horshu. Solo won this match with a roll up. Both of these men would have stints in WWE, just not for a while.
Winner: Solo by pinfall
Now let's get the show started. We open with Eric Bischoff next to two showgirls introducing us to the Raw Roulette wheel. Eric says "sex, sin, lust, greed, danger and unpredictability" is all here on Raw. Eric spins the wheel and the first match will be a steel cage match. Yeah, but for who? We get our intro video and introduction from the announcers. The steel cage match will be between Booker T and Big Show apparently.
Match 1
Booker T vs Big Show in a Steel Cage Match
Ross says Show is irate after losing to Jeff Hardy last week and he attacks Booker T in the ring before the bell even rings. Show theows Booker into the corner but Booker rallies with chops and right hands. Big Show answers with a sidewalk slam as Ross brings up their big match at Vengeance. Booker goes to escape but Show pulls him down and hits a big clothesline. Big Show hits another clothesline and steps on Booker. Booker gets chopped in the corner but Show misses an avalanche. Booker goes to leave out the door but Show stops him. Show heaves him into the cage and drops a knee on him. Show throws him into the cage yet again before clubbing with forearms. Show its a back suplex but Booker ducks a line and hits a spinning heel kick. Show is stunned but comes back by throwing him back into the cage again. Show hits a vertical suplex and goes to leave, but says no. Ruh roh! Show wants to punish Booker some more and chops him. Booker rallies with right hands but Show hits a knee to the ribs and a forearm to the back. Booker runs into a big boot as Lawler says he wants to wrestle tonight. Show goes to leave but Booker rams him with an axe kick into the cage that sends Show sprawling on the top rope. Booker hits the scissors kick and climbs to the top rope. He hits a scissors kick from the top rope as JR cheers on Booker to escape. Booker goes to leave the cage but Show stops him and climbs to the top rope. Booker kicks him in the gonads and escapes to win the match. That totally sucked although the top rope spot was okay. Random stip matches on cold matches do little to increase significance.
Time of match: 8:07
Winner: Booker T
Chris Jericho attacks after the match is over and rips the top of the barricade off. Jericho punches away on Booker and rams him head first into the exposed steel. Booker is busted open and Jericho sends him into the cage. Once again, Vince and HHH behind the scenes are doing everything they can to derail Booker T's momentum by having him in a cage with Big Show and then laid out in a heap by Chris Jericho. Back to Bischoff who's with the tag team champions (and Intercontinental champion) Kane and The Hurricane. Kane interrupts Bischoff's speech and says he WILL beat HHH at No Mercy. Bischoff says greed will have consequences and spins the wheel to see what kind of match they're having later. It lands on TLC and Hurricane says "Oh my! Holy Mick Foley!" Bischoff says he'll pick the opponents later and wishes them good luck. Kane gives the hard handshake and says in the ring, luck is for losers. Back to ringside, Booker is helped to the back by the officials.
Back from commercial Jericho is confronted by Terri Runnels who asks why he attacked Booker for no-reason. Jericho calls her an assclown and he's sick of being treated with no respect. He bitches about Goldust and Booker and the blood on his hands is Booker's. He says he's not and never will be a sucker. Jim Ross "He acts like a sucker." We cut to the Roulette wheel and apparently Triple H is going to be in a blindfold match. Triple H starts bitching but Ric Flair shows up and calms him down. Triple H says Kane's life will never be the same as he storms off. Ric Flair introduces Mandy and Sandy, two fine ladies, to Eric and will be waiting in Eric's hotel suite later. King screams "HLA!" as William Regal walks in asking if Bischoff's gone mad. You're just realizing this NOW, Regal? Goldust shows up behind Regal and asks Bischoff to make his match a respectable wrestling match. Regal spins and lands on Las Vegas Showgirl Match. Regal asks if the girls next to Bischoff will accompany him and Goldust to the ring, Bischoff says no, Regal and Goldust will be wrestling dressed as showgirls. Regal claimed in his book he loved dressing in drag because of the old British comedy shows he used to watch and its not actually him, its his evil character that's dressing up anyway. Goldust blows Regal a kiss and William's expression is priceless.
Back from commercial again we get a vignette for Deacon Bautista....now with a full head of hair training hard. Apparently he's being repackaged as a monster heel on Raw. That explains why Faarooq has been teaming with D'Von Dudley on house shows, Bautista is going to Raw. On to the next match.
Match 2
D-Lo Brown vs Triple H (with Ric Flair) in a Blindfold Match
D-Lo Brown??? For those that pay attention to the C shows, D-Lo left the Sunday Night Heat commentating booth to return to active duty in the ring. Ross says we'll be in Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow night for a house show and King says to come on down now that the Arizona Diamondbacks are out. The St. Louis Cardinals bitchslapped the defending World Series champs in a three game sweep. Bell rings and Hunter fumbles about trying to find D-Lo. D-Lo and HHH swing at each other and miss completely. Ric tries to guide Hunter who catches D-Lo and backs him into the corner. Brown slithers away and HHH starts trash talking an empty corner before falling into it. D-Lo clocks Hunter with a right hand but then grabs referee Earl Hebner. HHH clubs D-Lo from behind and drops him with a right hand. Hunter stomps at D-Lo and goes for the pedigree. HHH gets back dropped and D-Lo goes to town with right hands. He covers for 1...2...nope. Ross says Dick Mudoch faced Killer Karl Kox in a Blindfold match a long time ago. D-Lo somehow hits Sky High but can't find Hunter to make the pin. Flair finds HHH and says he's got this. Flair distracts the ref as HHH cheats by lifting his hood. He grabs D-Lo and hits the pedigree. He covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Hunter rips the hood off after the match as Flair hands The Game his belt. Unlike Jake Roberts vs Rick Martel this was only a few minutes so they didn't have time to play with the crowd. Kind of a bad match due to the stip so we're 0 for 2 so far.
Time of match: 2:36
Winner: Triple H by pinfall
Back to Bischoff at the wheel who says who knows more about TLC than "you three guys." The camera pans to Christian, Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy standing together. Bubba "Do you have any idea what you're asking of us?" Christian "I'm not doing it." Eric says they'll do it or they'll be suspended. They can all pick their own partners and to hurry. The three leave with Bubba giving the stank eye to Eric. Eric turns around and Goldust is dressed as a showgirl and says "Viva Las Vegas, Eric". Back from commercial its time for the next match.
Match 3
Goldust vs William Regal
Goldust is enjoying himself as Regal looks miserable dressed as a showgirl. Again, Regal admitted in his book that he didn't mind since it was his character, not himself. Goldust is in his bodysuit with some feathers & a boa while Regal is head to toe in a showgirl outfit complete with high heels and makeup. Regal breaks one of his high heels so he kind of pidgeon walks to the ring, its legitimately hilarious. Bell rings and Goldust unloads on Regal with right hands and hits the Ass To Mouth. Goldust immediately goes for shattered dreams but spots Lance Storm coming. He goes outside to cut him off then walks back inside only to be waffled with the brass knuckles. Regal does a little strut then covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Adrian Street would have been proud. Another dud but it was more for comedic relief than it was wrestling. JR's disgust can be heard as he says "What the hell else will Bischoff come up with?"
Time of match: 53 seconds
Winner: Regal by pinfall
Back from commercial Christian is with Terri Runnels. He says he's not picking any of The Unamericans are his partners because he wants to win it. He claims he singlehandedly won three TLC matches but lost one.....and then Chris Jericho walks in and says he won the one Christian lost. Jericho says Kane robbed him of the IC title and wants to team with Christian to rob Kane of one of his titles. Christian "Let's do it, partner" and they shake hands. Back to Bischoff who's with Stacy Keibler and Trish Stratus. Bischoff says their match has already been decided, a pole match. But not just ANY pole match, its blank on a pole match. Bischoff says the blank means Paddle and Trish says what we're all thinking "Typical." Eric says they're in Vegas so its time for double or nothing and spins the wheel again for a second stipulation much to Stacy's delight. Naturally it lands on Bra & Panties. So we get Bra & Panties Paddle on a Pole match. Hurray! Trish storms off and Eric smacks Stacy's ass as she walks away. Good luck getting away with that now. Eric does thank her for her effort though, what a gentleman. We cut to Tommy Dreamer sitting with Spike Dudley and Bubba asks Tommy to be his partner. Spike is mad because he wants to be apart of it. Bubba says fine, Spike will be his partner. Dreamer is okay with it and Bubba & Spike are official. Stacy walks to the ring as some dude in the back tells her her shoe is untied so he can check her out when she bends over. Again, it was 2002, this was common. King "That guy's my hero."
Match 4
Stacy Keibler vs Trish Stratus in a Bra & Panties Paddle on A Pole match for the WWE Women's Championship
King is reading Divas Undressed magazine and is happy as a clam. The rules are the winner has to strip the other and gets to paddle the loser. Trish debuts her Lil Kim theme as she makes her way to the ring. Stacy jumps her as soon as Trish gets in and the bell rings. Stacy throws Trish face first into the belt, brilliant move. Stacy chokes Trish with her boot and breaks just before the five count. Stacy kicks Trish then chokes her with the boot and hits a snap mare. Trish chops Stacy and kicks away at her. Trish charges but eats boot an Stacy slaps her. Trish gets crotched on the second rope when Stacy blocks Stratusfaction and rips her top off. Trish gets off the rope and rips Stacy's top off as well. They slug it out as King says "Yahoo this is great!" Trish chops Stacy and catches her with a spin kick. Stacy goes to rip Trish's pants off but Trish does an O'Connor roll and rips Stacy's shorts off to win the match. Stacy kicks Trish in the head and retrieves the paddle for herself. Trish snapmares Stacy and spanks her with the paddle as JR says she's turning the other cheek as quickly as she can. Another bad match but this was more for the horny men watching.
Time of match: 2:20
Winner: Trish Stratus by pinfall (still Women's Champion)
Stacy retreats but Victoria appears and stands in front of Trish. They brawl again with Victoria getting the upper hand again. Victoria stomps away at Trish and throws her into the barricade. Victoria throws Trish in the ring and takes her out with a savate kick. Victoria scoop slams Trish and hits the top rope moonsault. Victoria pulls Trish outside and throws her into the steel steps as JR says she looks possessed. Two weeks in a row Victoria lays out Trish. Back to Jonathan Coachman who asks Jeff Hardy who his partner is for the four way TLC tag match. Rob Van Dam walks out and says "Tables ladders and chairs? Yeah I'm in." JR gets excited as we got to commercial.
Back from break we go to a replay of Victoria attacking Trish. Coach asks Victoria why she did that. Victoria says this isn't about winning the title, its about Trish's past and the people she's hurt. Now its her turn to get hurt. This reminds me of the Big Bossman/Nailz feud where Bossman is supposed to be the good guy yet Nailz felt wronged when Bossman was an evil prison guard. Trish came to WWE as a heel two years earlier so Victoria technically would be in the right. Back to ring side for the next match, Test is in the ring when Al Snow makes his appearance. JR brings up the contracts are supposed to be frozen but not only is Deacon Bautista on his way, but Al Snow is here as well. But what's the match? Bischoff on the titantron spins the wheel and it lands on Las Vegas Street Fight....okay.
Match 5
Al Snow vs Test in a Las Vegas Street Fight
Bischoff says everything they need is right under the ring as the bell rings. Both go for weapons and both start throwing crap into the ring. Test gets a road sign and blasts Al with it. Test throws Al inside but Al crotches him across the top rope. Al grabs big dice and waffles Test with them. Al grabs a handicap parking sign and goes upstairs. Test waffles him with a stop sign on his way down but the cover only gets two. Test punches away at Snow and sets up a trash can in the corner. Al drop toes Test into the other trash can on the other side and covers for a two count. Al punches away at Test as Lawler hypes up his own match later tonight. Al does a Flair Flip in the corner but runs right into a trash can lid swung by Test. Test drags Al in the corner and covers for 1..2....no. The crowd chants USA hilariously and Test sets Al on the top rope. Test places the trash can underneath them. Al throws Test stomach first on the trash can and hits a flying bodypress for 1..2....no. King says Al isn't tough enough and Test goes for a powerbomb. Al counters by whacking Test with the trash can lid. Al goes under the ring and retrieves a bowling ball bag. Test slumps into the corner and Al puts on a bowling shirt. He pulls out a bowling ball but Test boots him in the stomach. Test goes off the ropes and slips on the trash can lid for real. Al cracks him with the lid three times, grabs the bowling ball and waffles him with it. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Hardcore matches were done to death at that point but Al was the master of making it entertaining. Still, it wasn't that good.
Time of match: 5:41
Winner: Al Snow by pinfall
After the match King gets hyped up for his match until JR says it might be an Inferno match. King starts getting scared and his facial reaction is hilarious. Back from commercial King is in the ring and apparently Steven Richards is his opponent. Eric Bischoff spins the wheel and it lands on "Its Legal In Nevada"....the hell is that? The Godfather's theme hits and sure enough, here comes Godfather and his ho's. Yes, prostitution is legal in Las Vegas so Godfather can legally operate here. King gets excited and even Steven likes what he sees. Godfather says "Nevada is my home, I know what is legal if ya know what I mean." Godfather says the winner takes a ride on the ho train.
Match 6
Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Steven Richards in an "Its Legal In Nevada" Match
The writing is on the wall on this one although Steven attacks Lawler before the bell. These two already fought over women a year and a half earlier but Steven doesn't have a hit squad with him now.....hey wait, yeah he does. Godfather is right there, right? Guess Godfather is back to his old ways. Steven drops Lawler with a back elbow smash and covers for a two count. The crowd chants for Jerry and Richards rallies with right hands that sends Lawler over the top to the floor. JR brings up King's resume as back inside, Lawler gets snap suplexed. Another cover gets a two count and Richards goes up to the second rope. Richards mocks Jerry but his move eats boot. Richards punches Lawler in the corner but "we want ho's" chant has Lawler hulking up. King pulls the strap down, punches Richards and lands a dropkick. Ross can't believe it as Jerry scoop slams Steven. Jerry drops the fist and covers for 1...2....no, foot on the rope. Jerry sends Steven off and hits a back drop but Steven calls for the piledriver but instead goes for a sunset flip. Lawler gets the knees down and hooks the legs for 1..2.....3 to win the match. Lawler is ecstatic as Ross says he's going for a long ride. "You think about a man who's died and gone to puppy heaven." The ladies dance in the ring with Lawler in the middle. Another short match but the comedic value is the drawing point.
Time of match: 2:24
Winner: Lawler by pinfall
After the match Lawler gets out of the ring and calls the ladies out. Ross says we got more work to do here now. Back to a vignette of Randy Orton set to the tune of The Equilizer from NFL Films. Bob Orton "In ten years he'll be one of the best wrestlers to ever step foot in the ring". Wow, he called it. We cut to The World who chills with the fans, including women. Back to JR, the ring is being set up for TLC and he's by himself since King is busy with the ho's. He cuts to Terri who's with Kane and she calls him the BIG red machine. Terri asks if he's at a disadvantage for No Mercy since he's going into TLC. Kane says he's going to make history by holding all three belts at the same time when he beats HHH at No Mercy. All the Kane-nites knows he can do it. Kane is interrupted by Jonathan Coachman who says HHH and Flair are beating up Hurricane. Kane runs off and we cut to HHH and Flair beating down Hurricane. The refs and Sgt Slaughter break up the carnage and Kane calls HHH a son of a bitch when he gets there. We go to commercial and when we get back, we get a highlight of HHH and Flair taking out Hurricane. Time for our main event.
Match 7
Chris Jericho and Christian vs Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy vs The Dudley Boys (Bubba and Spike) vs Kane for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a TLC Match
Fatal four way tag team TLC is going to be tough to call. Kane enters by himself and goes nuclear on all 6 others to start. Kane backdrops Spike and hits a sidewalk slam on Rob Van Dam. Kane backdrops Bubba and clocks Jeff in the corner. Jericho and Christian get a ladder early but gets knocked off by the others. Kane throws Jeff into the ladder then rams RVD's head in the buckle. RVD goes up and over Kane and he and Jeff double team him. Kane drops both men with a double clothesline then heaves Jeff outside. Kane smashes Jeff into the steel steps but Jeff runs across the barricade and drops Kane with a clothelsine. Bubba does the Terry Funk spot by putting his head in the ladder and uses it as a propeller to knock everyone else goofy. Rob Van Dam hits a dropkick off the top rope onto Kane. Jeff, Van Dam and Kane all go over the top together. Christian and Jericho double teams Spike and sets the ladder up on the top rope. Spike is sent directly into the ladder and the two heels double team Bubba in the corner. A double backdrop on Bubba is followed by Jericho clotheslining Christian by accident. Bubba hits the Dusty Punches on Y2J and clotheslines him over the top rope. Kane hits the top rope clothesline on Christian as Bubba puts the ladder in the ring. Bubba clocks Kane with it and sets up the ladder. Kane pulls Bubba off and hits the chokeslam on him. Kane slams Spike and throws him over the top onto RVD. Jericho gets a second ladder and rams Kane in the face with it. Outside Jericho sets up a table and puts Kane on it. Jericho and Christian puts the ladder through the ropes and RVD uses it as a see-saw to wipe out both guys. Jeff whacks Kane with a steel chair on the table and sets up a third ladder. He climbs up to the top and hits a legdrop through the table onto Kane. The crowd chants "Holy shit" as Bubba is in the ring all alone. Bubba throws a ladder over the top rope onto Jericho and climbs up the ladder in the ring. Christian powerbombs Bubba and we cut to commercial.
Back from break Bubba slaps RVD in the chest and sets up the ladder again. RVD sets up another ladder as the crowd chants ECW. Christian stops RVD as Jericho hits a bulldog off the top rope on Bubba. Van Dam hits a neckbreaker off the ladder on Christian. Spike of all people climbs to the top of the ladder but Christian pulls him off. Christian slams Spike over the top to the floor and the double ladders are set up again. JR sings everyone's praises during down time as Christian and Rob Van Dam slug it out. Christian climbs the ladder but Kane gets in the ring and crotches Christian off the top rope by pushing the ladder. Kane powerslams Jeff and boots him out of the ring. Kane sets up the ladder and rams Spike into it. Kane spears Spike with the ladder but Jericho grabs a chair and whacks both Kane and Bubba with it. RVD hits a spinning heel kick on Y2J as the crowd chants for Rob. Jeff Hardy launches himself into Kane and sets up Kane for the Van Terminator. Van Dam hits it to wipe Kane out of the ring. Jericho goes to suplex Jeff on the ladder but Jeff reverses it with a suplex of his own onto the ladder. Christian goes upstairs but Jeff launches him onto the ladder. Jeff sets up the ladder but Bubba climbs the other side of it. They slug it out but Bubba hits a superplex off the top of the ladder. Van Dam starts crawling up the ladder and has the gold on his finger tips but Bubba drops him with a right hand but he himself falls off too. Jericho starts climbing the ladder to a chorus of boos. Spike gets kicked away twice by Y2J but Spike pushes the ladder over and Jericho falls all the way to the floor. Spike sets up the ladder and climbs it but he's too short to reach the belts. Christian pulls Spike down but Spike goes for the Acid Drop. Instead Dudley is thrown over the top through a table. Christian sets up the ladder dead center and starts climbing but Bubba sets up the second ladder. Bubba hits a Bubba Bomb off the ladder as Rob Van Dam goes upstairs. Rob hits the 5 star frog splash on Christian and Jeff Hardy misses a Swanton on Bubba. Bubba backdrops Jeff over the top rope through a table. Van Dam hits a Van Daminator onto Bubba and sets up the ladder. Rob climbs up to the top but Jericho waffles him with a steel chair. Chris clobbers Rob and does the Walls of Jericho on the ladder. Chris lets go and Rob falls off. Suddenly Kane pops up and climbs the ladder. Kane chokeslams Jericho off the ladder and sits up. Kane climbs up the ladder and retrieves the belts to win the match. Kane without The Hurricane wins the match to keep the belts. Ross praises all seven men as Kane is the winner. Not as great as the more famous TLC matches which had more structure. This one felt more real with 7 guys competing and hitting high spot after high spot. Its not bad, just didn't flow as much. Still, give credit to all seven men to put themselves through that. This match would later be featured on the Raw 10th Anniversary DVD Complilation.
Time of match: 25:10
Winner: Kane by pinfall (still tag team champions)
Kane has no time to celebrate as Triple H and Ric Flair and stands at the entrance. He promised that before the night was over, Kane's life would never be the same. HHH claims Kane said this is the happiest he's ever been but wants to ask a question. "How happy is Katie Vick?" The entire crowd goes silent as no one knows what that means. HHH explains that 10 years ago he killed her. HHH "You are a murderer." I thought Undertaker was a murderer? We fade to black with Kane looking like he's seen a ghost. Well, there's no other way to say it but this entire show was a gimmicked piece of schmidt. Most of the matches were really short so they couldn't build drama around the stips and some of them were outright comedies. The ladder match went 25 minutes but nothing else went longer than eight. On top of the random stips, now we start the infamous Katie Vick angle. Remember how I said the night after Unforgiven the ECW alumni wanted a piece of HHH and Kane was being booked strong, that the booking was going to take a left turn off a cliff? Apparently Vince McMahon himself wanted the Katie Vick angle and everyone else was horrified but couldn't say no since he was in charge. Now for the next month we have to deal with this garbage. Smackdown was burying Raw in terms of match quality but Vince was about to infect them too with some ridiculousness. They're the next show so I'll see you there.
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