WWE Sunday Night Heat (11/17/02)

WWE Sunday Night Heat

Madison Square Garden

New York City, NY

November 17, 2002

Hosts: Jonathan Coachman and Lita

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

Here we go, its time for Survivor Series and we bring you the pre-show with Jonathan Coachman & Lita as your hosts. We start with the elimination chamber construction video from Raw and Coach says its a rainy night here in New York. Coach runs down the card and marvels at the elimination chamber hanging over the ring. 

Coach sends us to our first vignette video, Trish Stratus vs Victoria for the Women's Championship and what led to it. Long story short, Victoria and Trish were fitness models and Trish went on to fame, leaving Victoria behind. Now Victoria is out for revenge an wants to beat Trish at her own game. Victoria beat the daylights out of Terri Runnells on Raw but was dropped by Trish. Coach says our Heat match will be Goldust and The Hurricane against William Regal and Lance Storm later. Cut to commercial.

Back from commercial Coach and Lita thank our sponsors as fans start to file into the Garden. We then cut to last night's WWE Confidential for an interview with Scott Steiner....after a vignette with WCW highlights and commentary. Steiner says he's the big bad booty daddy and always goes balls to the wall because you never know when it'll end. He says he's still in his prime and wants to get stronger every day. Steiner says he doesn't know what show he'll appear on because him vs Lesnar or him vs Triple H would be interesting. He has no problem working with Eric Bischoff again and there's challenges he hasn't faced yet. He wants to be world champion and its going to be interesting because he's back.

Coach sends us to The World where Saliva performs a soundcheck. Apparently they're going to play tonight during Survivor Series. Stacy Keibler barges in their dressing room and wants them to write a song about the testicles because testicles love Saliva....yay dick jokes. Our upcoming Smackdown road schedule is this Tuesday in the Hartford Civic Center, next Saturday in Syracuse, next Sunday in Elmira, North Carolina and next Monday in Raleigh, North Carolina, then a week from Tuesday they'll be in Columbia, South Carolina.

Back from break the Overdrive of The Night is HHH hitting the pedigree on Shawn Michaels from Raw. Coach and Lita talk about the Elimination Chamber which they can't show under Eric Bischoff's orders. Lita can't pick a winner and even Coach can't pick a winner. Our rules are four guys will be in individual chambers with 2 men starting in the ring. Every 5 minutes a randomly chosen chamber opens. Elimination occurs at anytime via pinfall or submission and the last man standing is the World Heavyweight Champion. We cut to Chris Jericho on The Best Damn Sports Show Period who is out of character and jovial, although he does say he's going to win. 

We then hype up the triple threat tag team title match with a highlight package going back to last month at No Mercy leading up all the way to tonight. After that, Coach hypes up our pre-show match coming up before we go to another break, Back from break we got a WWE Anthology commercial with Trish Status saying she's a huge fan of Lil Kim...yippie. Eric Bischoff goes to knock on the door of Stephanie McMahon's office but thinks better of it. Coach and Lita bring up the kiss without actually saying so then cut to this week's episode of Tough Enough 3. Jamie is a tomboy and Jonah can't stand her but the eventual John Morrison is indifferent. This is the reality show BS I could never stand. We get the Raw road schedule which was tomorrow night in Bridgeport, CT, next Monday night is North Charleston, South Carolina, a week from Saturday in Amarillo, Texas, two weeks from today in Laredo, Texas and two weeks from tomorrow night is Austin, Texas.

After break, our WWE rewind is Jamal splashing Jeff Hardy and Spike Dudley through a table on Raw. Coach brings up the six man tables match, the Cruiserweight title match, and Brock Lesnar vs Big Show. We then get a hype package video for Lesnar and Show as Coach says its been a while since Big Show main evented a ppv. That's why randomly booking Show as an unstoppable monster doesn't work if you don't book him as such for a year. 

Back from commercial, Coach and Lita send it to Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler for our pre-show match.

Match 1

The Hurricane and Goldust vs William Regal and Lance Storm

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

With Booker T in the elimination chamber match, The Hurricane takes his place teaming with Goldust against Regal and Storm on Heat. Bell rings and Hurricane switches out of a waistlock only to get kicked in the head. Hurricane hits a clothesline and covers for a two then goes to punch Storm in the corner. Regal snaps Hurricane off the top rope and Storm hits a heel kick. Regal tags in and hits a t-bone taz plex and covers for a deuce. Regal and Storm isolate Hurricane and Storm covers for a two count. Hurricane rolls out of a suplex and goes for an O'Connor Roll, but Regal makes the blind tag. Regal forearms Hurricane off and hits knees to the head. Regal covers but Goldust breaks up the count. Storm splashes Hurricane in one corner but a charge in the other one eats elbow. Shane hits the blockbuster then tags in Goldust who goes to town on both Regal & Storm. Goldust backdrops Storm and invert atomic drops Regal. He powerslams Storm and covers but Regal breaks it up. All for men are in and Regal runs into the ass bump by Goldust while Hurricane goes for the chokeslam on Storm.  Hurricane hits it and Goldust goes for the curtain call but Regal clotheslines him, allowing Storm to cradle him up for 1...2...3 to win the match. Regal and Storm win it. Suddenly Tommy Dreamer appears out of nowhere and wipes out both heels with the singapore cane. Since its New York, gotta have the New Yorker stand tall. Only had 3 minutes so can't expect much there.

Time of match: 3:01

Winners: Storm and Regal by pinfall

After the match we get another elimination chamber vignette set to Always by Saliva before we sign off. The time for talking is over, the chips are on the table. Its time for Survivor Series. Will Brock Lesnar be able to withstand the onslaught of the Big Show? Will Billy Kidman dethrone Jamie Noble for the Cruiserweight title? Will 3 Minute Warning prevail in the tables match? Will Victoria crush Trish Stratus in the hardcore match? Who will walk out the new tag team champions? Who will win the elimination chamber match? I'll see you at Survivor Series.

WWE Sunday Night Heat (11/10/02)

WWE Sunday Night Heat

Fleet Center

Boston, MA

November 10, 2002

Commentators: Jonathan Coachman and Lita

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

Welcome to this week's edition of Sunday Night Heat. We're one week out from Survivor Series and so far we got the Elimination Chamber match signed and the hardcore match between Trish and Victoria. Shawn Michaels says he's in for the chamber match but hasn't wrestled since Summerslam. Tonight's card features Goldust vs Johnny Stamboli, Steven Richards vs Aaron Stevens and Spike Dudley vs D-Lo Brown. Let's get to Coach to get things started.

Match 1

Goldust vs Johnny Stamboli

Stamboli had been working babyface on live events and on Heat lately, guess they want to see how he does as a heel here. Goldust crouches in the corner to start then slaps Johnny's hat off. Stamboli sheds his tear-away pants and runs right into a headlock. Stamboli snap mares Goldust but Goldust hangs on to the hammerlock. Stamboli scoop slams Goldust and sends him in the corner but Goldust clotheslines him down. Goldust hits a hiptoss and an assbump before setting Johnny up for shattered dreams. The ref gets Johnny free and he gets a thumb to the eye. Johnny hits the military press powerslam and goes for the blatant choke. Stamboli stomps away at Goldust and whips him into the corner. Goldust falls down and Stamboli drops an elbow before covering for a deuce. Stamboli locks in a rear chinlock as Lita scoffs at the bikini match coming up on Super Tuesday. Goldust goes to power out of it and counters with a backslide for 1..2....nope. Stamboli hits a tilt-a-whirl slam and locks it in a surfboard. Goldust turns it into a back suplex then rallies with a reverse atomic drop and clothesline. Goldust hits the ddt and covers for 1...2...nope. Goldust goes for Curtain Call but Stamboli rolls out of it, running right into a powerslam. Goldust covers for 1...2...nope. Stamboli goes for a slam but Goldust counters with Curtain Call. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Stamboli is pretty much harking back to his Mamaluke days with this Italian gimmick and Goldust still got the win. We'll see if Johnny goes anywhere moving forward.

Time of match: 5:00

Winner: Goldust by pinfall

Coach says Raven's big announcement is up next after commercial. Back from break we get Chris Jericho's "King of My World" Saliva music video available on the WWE Anthology CD. Raven hits the ring for a conference. Raven asks the crowd to cease their babbling so they can begin. Raven says curiosity leads to temptation and temptation leads to sin. Sin is what his masterpiece is all about. You mean Sin from Final Fantasy 10? THAT would be a surprise. Instead, Raven just yells at the crowd until they shout a loud "asshole" chant. Raven says he must complete his masterpiece to bring salvation to their souls. That was pretty damn pointless.

Back from commercial we get a Scott Steiner vignette saying he's coming back. Then Coach and Lita recap last week's episode of Tough Enough where Scott got alcohol poisoning and Chad got the heave-ho. Nobody cares. Then we get an ad for Super Tuesday coming up at 9 PM on UPN. After all that, time for the next match.

Match 2

Steven Richards vs Aaron Stevens

Yes, THAT Aaron Stevens that would later find fame as Damien Sandow in WWE. Here he was just 20 years old after starting in Chaotic Wrestling just a year earlier here in Massachusetts. Bell's gone and they circle to start. Richards backs him in the corner and slaps him then pounds away on his back. Richards punches away but gets whipped into the corner. Stevens hiptosses and scoop slams him before giving him a slap of his own. Stevens gets an armbar as Coach nonchalantly says Stevens can't beat Richards. Stevens slides under Richards, hits a dropkick and covers for a deuce. Aaron gets backed into the corner and Richards forearms him in the corner. Stevens reverses it with forearms and whips him into the other corner. A charge eats double boots as Coach hypes up Christopher Nowinski on Blind Date. Richards knees Stevens in the back and chops him. Richards whips Aaron sternum first into the buckle and stomps away at him. Richards gets a body scissors in and Stevens fights out of it. He misses an elbow drop by a mile but reverses a hiptoss into a neckbreaker. Aaron fights back with right hands and hits a series of clotheslines. Stevens hits a back elbow smash and a swinging neckbreaker before covering for 1...2....nope. Stevens punches away at Richards in the corner then hits a spinning heel kick. He covers for 1..2...no. Stevens goes up and over in the corner but Aaron misses the second rope cross body in the other corner. Bad mistake by Aaron as Steven hits the Stevie-T and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Nice of Steven to give the 20 year old some shine as Aaron held his own in that much. You'll be seeing him down the road for sure. Good match for what it was.

Time of match: 5:49

Winner: Richards by pinfall

Our Lugz Boot of The Week is Victoria and Trish brawling with each other. They face each other next Sunday in a hardcore match.  Our next recap is Raw's main event with Booker & Kane against HHH and Jericho with Shawn Michaels coming out to cost HHH the match. Shawn declares himself the sixth member of the elimination chamber. Afterwards, Booker and HHH are scheduled to go one on one tomorrow night on Raw. We cut to commercial and when we come back, our JVC Tower of Power Extreme Blast is Batista making his Raw debut, squashing Justin Credible. Lets get to our final match.

Match 3

Spike Dudley vs D-Lo Brown

Coach and Lita do a horrible ventriloquist act to make fun of Raven before the bell. Spike gets a waistlock and they trade reversals. Brown sets Spike on the top rope and backs off. Spike gets dropped with a shoulderblock but Spike counters with a hip toss. Coach brings up Super Tuesday, Raw, Blind Date and Lita randomly screams about Scott Steiner. D-Lo faceplants Spike and stomps away at him. D-Lo gets a punch to the ribs that sends Spike bailing outside. D-Lo drops him face first on the barrier before throwing Spike in the ring. D-Lo scoop slams Spike and hits the leg drop. D-Lo sends Spike in the corner but the charge eats boot. Spike gets a headscissors then the Spike Stomp in the corner. D-Lo whips Spike first into the corner and referee Nick Patrick asks if Spike wants to quit. Coach says they'll be live at 7:00 PM for Heat next week. D-Lo locks in a bear-hug but Dudley gets a bell ringer. D-Lo gets in a dropkick but Spike headbutts D-Lo in the ribs. Spike hits an elbow but D-Lo catches him with Sudden Impact. Coach asks why he's not covering and instead D-Lo goes for Sky High. Instead Spike rolls through, hooks him up for 1...2.....3 to win the match. Spike steals one!

Time of match: 5:41

Winner: Spike by pinfall

After the match D-Lo grabs Spike to tease hitting him but gives him a hug and raises his arm in victory. Awww isn't that sweet? Actually not a bad show all things considering. Stamboli working heel worked fine and a young Damien Sandow/Aaron Stevens was good to see as well. Even Spike/D-Lo was good for what it was. At least none of this was comedic nonsense or something embarrassing. We're one week away from Survivor Series but we still got a way to go. Not only do we have Raw, Smackdown, Velocity. Heat and house shows...we got Super Tuesday as well. Once again Vince decided to hold a Monday house show for Smackdown stars so I'll see you in Wheeling, West Virginia.

WWE Sunday Night Heat (11/3/02)

 

WWE Sunday Night Heat

November 3, 2002

Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, Michigan

Commentators: Jonathan Coachman and Lita

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

There's a lot going on WWE Raw these days and none of it good although its time for Sunday Night Heat. As per norm, this was taped before Raw started the week before. I already covered the dark matches on the Raw show so let's get right to the action.

Match 1

3 Minute Warning (Jamal and Rosey) with Rico vs Bobby Rude and Mark Maraculi

Yes, THAT Bobby Roode....or Rude in this case. For those that don't remember, Bobby was a Canadian wrestler trained by Val Venis that made his name in TNA before coming to WWE at the end of his career. Maraculi was local talent, not much is known about him. As usual Coach and Lita babble on about that week's Raw so I'll just ignore them. Rosey starts with Rude and Rosey starts with forearms to the back. Rosey taunts Rude as the crowd erupts with a "We want Shawn" chant. Rude ducks the line but runs right into a shoulderblock. Rosey heaves Mark in the ring and makes the tag to Jamal. Jamal runs into a double drop toe hold and a double clothesline. Bobby and Mark waste too much time celebrating so Jamal double clotheslines them down before heaving Rude over the top rope. Jamal clotheslines Maraculi over the top rope as Rico gets in some kicks on Rude over by the heel corner. Rico throws Bobby in the ring as Jamal chokes him in the corner with his boot. Rosey tags in and slingshot splashes Rude in the corner. Rude walks into a kneelift by Jamal. Maraculi heads up top and goes for a flying bodypress but somehow Jamal catches him mid-air for the Samoan drop. Jamal hits the Superfly splash off the top rope but the ref tells him Rosey is legal. Rosey makes the academic cover for 1...2.....3 to win the match. Rude was destined for good things in the future but that bodypress into a Samoan drop was awesome. Rico celebrates with the Samoans as we go to the replay of Jamal's big splash. Just like his older brother, Jamal did a hell of a top rope splash. Coach hypes up the next match, Justin Credible vs Mark Jindrak....yay.

Time of match: 2:53

Winners: 3 Minute Warning by pinfall

Back from break we get our Boot Of The Week which was Kane trying to abduct HHH at the end of Raw. Then we get our recap which was the opening segment of last week's Raw featuring HHH wheeling out the casket, Hurricane making fun of him, Kane running out and causing a scrum, Bischoff  makes the main event a casket match. After this we go to break again. Back from break we get our Overdrive of the Night which is Trish Stratus retaining her title on Raw in the three way match. In real time, Lillian Garcia catches up with the demented Victoria who's hanging around in the bag gathering up weapons in a trash can. Victoria says she got hurt by Trish and had to sweep at night to make rent. She also had to haul garbage in the snow in order to pay bills. Victoria blames Trish for everything and she challenges Trish for the Women's title in a hardcore match at Survivor Series. Victoria says she's going to show her the true feeling of pain and scares Lillian with the kendo stick. We cut to Stevie Richards with Raven who asks what Raven's masterpiece is. Raven tells Stevie he and everyone else will find out next week and to be more concerned about D-Lo Brown. Never understood why Raven and Stevie didn't have a little reunion on camera, oh well. On to the next match.

Match 2

Justin Credible vs Mark Jindrak

As mentioned in the Halifax show, Credible was just wrestling out his contract while Jindrak was being considered for a big push....how big? More on that another time. Bell's gone and they lock up with Credible getting a takedown. Credible messes with Mark and attacks with a knee to the gut. Credible tries an up and over in the corner but Jindrak fakes him out and does a waistlock takedown. Jindrak messes with Justin and delivers a series of dropkicks. Justin begs off then runs into an armdrag takedown. Credible gets a thumb to the eye and chops Mark in the corner. Mark retialliates with right hands and hits a modified stinger splash in the corner. Jindrak rams Credible's head in the corner and hits a sunset flip. Credible grabs the rope and referee Jack Doane tells Credible to cut the crap. Justin chops Mark in the corner again and taunts the crowd before hitting a baseball slide. Credible gets in a chinlock as Coach brings up the Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon kiss that was never mentioned again. Credible rams Mark's head in the corner and punches him down. Mark rallies with left hands but misses the dropkick. Justin covers for a deuce and locks in another chinlock. Jindrak blocks a suplex and hits a vertical one of his own. Jindrak rallies with left hands, a scoop slam and a dropkick. Jindrak runs into a boot in the corner but hits a tilt-a-whirl slam. He covers for 1...2...noooo. Mark puts his head down and eats a forearm to the back but Credible runs into an inverted atomic drop. Mark hits a springboard clothesline off the top rope and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Good crash style match and Jindrak looked headed for good things....then wasn't. Coach hypes up our main event next.

Time of match: 5:15

Winner: Jindrak by pinfall

We come back from break with an update from Tough Enough 3. Scott hurt his hand playing volleyball and Lisa suffered a nervous breakdown, quitting. Apparently that was a real breakdown that nearly got the show cancelled. Then we get an ad that Batista is making his Raw debut soon, no more church boxes. Our next Raw recap is the casket match between HHH and Kane where Shawn Michaels popped out of it to help Kane win the match. Also the Elimination Chamber for Survivor Series is booked and Shawn Michaels has been invited to be the sixth and final man for it. We'll get our answer on Raw. Next up is an ad for Scott Steiner to make his WWE return. For which show is yet to be determined. Finally its time for our main event.

Match 3

Steven Richards vs D-Lo Brown

Its a shame the office never really forgave D-Lo Brown for hurting Darren Drozdov as he still got a decent pop for his entrance. Bell rings and they circle to start. Richards back D-Lo in the corner and gets a cheap shot. The ref stops D-Lo from retaliating from some inane reason. D-Lo hiptosses and scoop slams Richards as Lita asks who Raw got in the trade for Big Show. D-Lo gets an armdrag and an armbar in but Steven powers out of it. D-Lo is sent off and stuns Richards with a swinging neckbreaker. D-Lo delivers a second rope elbow and covers for a deuce. D-Lo sends Steven into the opposite corner and is backdropped to the apron. Richards knocks him off with a back elbow smash then throws him back in, Richards takes over with forearms to the back then calls for a suplex. He hits it as Coach says Steven had too much coffee tonight. Lita says eventually someone will get a pinfall with a simple suplex. Steven goes for D-Lo's legdrop with the head shaking but misses completely. D-Lo hits an atomic drop to make Stevie hop around before hitting an inverted run. A clothesline and cover gets a two count but Richards kicks him in the head. Stevie chokes D-Lo on the second rope then pounds away on D-Lo's back in the corner. Steven does a back suplex and covers for a deuce then locks in a chinlock. D-Lo powers out of it, hits the rope and schoolboys Steven for 1......2...nope. Steven clubs on D-Lo's neck and locks in a full nelson before D-Lo elbows his way out of it. D-Lo drops Steven with a flying elbow smash and both men are down. Both men are down for an 8 count before Steven gets up first. D-Lo rallies with right hands to drop Steven and a backdrop. D-Lo flips over Stevie and delivers a scoop slam. Coach and Lita go nuts for the D-Lo Legdrop as he hits it. He covers for 1...2...nope. D-Lo continues to punch away on Steven and goes for Sky High but Steven counters it. Steven runs into the flying heel kick then goes upstairs. Steven kicks D-Lo causing Brown to crotch himself. Steven sets up for a superplex with chops then goes for it. D-Lo counters with SKY HIGH OFF THE TOP ROPE! D-Lo puts his hand on Steven's chest for 1..2....3 to win the match. That was pretty damn good for a one off on Sunday Night Heat. Amazing what happens when there's no bullschmidt, just good wrestling. Coach and Lita says they've never seen a top rope Sky High before. Coach hypes up Raw tomorrow night as he signs off.

Time of match: 7:46

Winner: D-Lo Brown by pinfall

For Sunday Night Heat, that was pretty good. 2 of the 3 matches were better than expected and even the squash match had a young Bobby Roode. At this point, the show was half hour of wrestling and half hour of recaps & commercials. The guys on the show may either be middling mid-carders or guys wrestling out their contracts but at least they're trying. For those that don't know, Mark Jindrak was the original choice to be in the upcoming Evolution stable with Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton. He was even filmed in the vignettes but Triple H argued he didn't fit. They would eventually find a suitable replacement but that's why Jindrak was being showcased around this time. As for the next show, believe it or not its not Raw. For some stupid reason Vince had his Smackdown guys work a house show in Bangor, Maine so I'll see you there.

WWE Sunday Night Heat (10/27/02)

Gaylord Entertainment Center

Nashville, TN

October 27, 2002

Commentators: Jonathan Coachman and Lita

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Night Heat featuring the stars of Raw. As usual, this was taped before Raw went on the air this past Monday and aired six days later. Tonight we got Raven taking on young prospect Cassidy O'Reilly, ex-WCW star Mark Jindrak against Mike Owens, Steven Richards going up against another ex-WCW star Johnny Stamboli and the main event has Molly Holly taking on Jacqueline. We don't waste any time, we get right to the first match.

Match 1

Raven vs Cassidy O'Reilly

Raven was finishing out his contract while the 26 year old O'Reilly gets a look at in this one. O"Reilly comes out to the song Drew Carey used at the 2002 Royal Rumble as the announcers babble on about that week's events rather than introduce O'Reilly. Raven tells O'Reilly to just leave but Cassidy says no. Raven wins a tie up and beats Cassidy in the corner with fists and boots. Raven hits a backdrop and puts the boots to Cassidy before sending him off the ropes. Cassidy lands on his feet and goes for a superkick but Raven blocks it. Cassidy ducks a line and rolls up Raven for a deuce before Cassidy punches Raven. Cassidy up and overs in the corners before they exchange go behinds, only for Raven to throw Cassidy down by the hair. Cassidy does a 360 on a clothesline as Coachman babbles on and on about what happened on Raw. Raven taunts the crowd, whips Cassidy off the corner and drops him with a clothesline. Raven snapmares O'Reilly and locks in a nerve hold as Coachman hypes up tonight's main event. Cassidy goes for a plancha off the top rope but Raven moves and puts the boots to O'Reilly. Raven drives Cassidy into the mat face first with a top rope knee and covers for 1...2...no! Another snapmare and chinlock by Raven as Lita lets us know Cassidy grew up around this area and its somewhat of a homecoming. See? THAT'S what they should be talking about. Coachman ignores Lita and talks about Survivor Series coming up. Raven gets whipped in the corner and Cassidy hits a springboard elbow in the corner. O'Reilly goes for the tornado DDT but Raven blocks it. Cassidy and Raven collide as it looked like Cassidy wanted a crossbody and Raven wanted a clothesline. Whoops! Raven looks like he's going for the Evenflow but then clubs Cassidy in the back with forearms. Cassidy then hits a springboard crossbody (good audible by Raven) for 1.....2...nope. Cassidy charges in the corner but eats knee. Raven finally hits the Evenflow and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Cassidy had a future but that botch didn't help his case. He'd resurface in TNA but as for now, Raven gets the victory.

Time of match: 4:25

Winner: Raven by pinfall

Back to Coach and Lita who bring up what could happen at Survivor Series and hypes up tonight's Divas match. I'm guessing there was supposed to be a recap here but its not on this copy of the show I'm watching. Instead when we get back from commercial, we go right to the next match.

Match 2

Mark Jindrak vs Mike Owens

Another tryout match so to speak as ex-WCW guy Jindrak takes on Mike Owens. Who's Mike Owens? He's a Memphis local known as Flex. Actually, Jindrak was being groomed for a big push.....that ended up not happening. Bell's gone and once again Coach babbles on about Chris Nowinsky and Al Snow. Owerns gets the upperhand with a go-behind and Jindrak drops him with a toe-hold. Jindrak drops Owens with a shoulderblocka and a hiptoss. Jindrak hits a tilt-a-whirl slam and gets a two count while Coach once again babbles on about everything except the match. Jindrak misses a stinger splash and Owens kicks away at Jindrak. Lita talks about her training as Owens hits a russian leg sweep and covers for a deuce. Owens drops an elbow and covers for another two count before Owens locks in another chinlock. Coach once again babbles on about Tough Enough as Lita tries to talk about the match. Jindrak rallies to cut Coach off with dropkicks and a backdrop then covers for 1...2...nope. Owens goes for an O'Connor roll for a two count then ducks the line. Owens hits a powerslam and covers for 1...2...nope. Owens whips Jindrak in the corner but eats boot. Jindrak does a springboard clothesline off the second rope and covers for a deuce. Jindrak hits a sit down powerbomb for 1...2...3 and that's it. Like I said earlier, good match and Jindrak was being groomed for better things.....but got the rug pulled out from under him. I'll tell the story another time, as for now Jindrak gets the duke.

Time of match: 4:16

Winner: Jindrak by pinfall

Next up are highlights of the latest episode of Tough Enough Season 3.....won by the ill-fated Matt Cappoteli and the future John Morrison. After this, we get a recap of Shawn Michaels' return to Raw coming out of his wheelchair ready to return to active duty. At least we got Shawn coming back to look forward to. Let's get back to the ring.

Match 3

Steven Richards vs Johnny Stamboli

Post Right-To-Censor Steven is still searching for an identity while Stamboli is still the same character he was in WCW, only without a crew. Still, this should be a good match.....key word should. Bell's gone and Coach goes right into Shawn Michaels' return rather than call the action. A tie-up goes nowhere but Richards celebrates anyway. Lita gets a kick out of it as Stamboli throws Steven halfway across the ring. Once again Coach ignores Lita just to talk about Shawn Michaels some more. Worst part is its not even Coach's fault, he's probably got Vince McMahon or Kevin Dunn in his ear telling him to do it. Steven kicks Stamboli and chops him in the corner before unloading with right hands. Stamboli backdrops Richards and rallies with a scoop slam before covering for a two count. Once again Coach just babbles on and on about Triple H as Stamboli goes upstairs and catches Richards with a clothesline. A cover gets a two and Stamboli takes over with a headlock. Stamboli drops Richards with a shoulderblock, leapfrogs over but gets dropped inti the second rope with a drop toe hold. Richards covers for a deuce and stomps away. Richards sheds his elbow pad and kicks Stamboli in the head. Richards calls for a suplex and hits it before covering for 1...2...nope. Richards takes over with knee drops and a chinlock. Stamboli stands straight up and drops Richards backwards to a nice pop before he ducks the line. Stamboli catches Richards mid-air and powerslams him but can't capitalize. Lita rationalizes that Richards took too much out of Johnny. Johnny and Richards trade punches and Stamboli rallies with clotheslines. Stamboli hits a back elbow smash and a stinger splash. He goes for a second attempt but eats boot. Richards charges but walks into a tilt-a-whirl slam. Stamboli covers for 1...2...nope. Stamboli goes for his finisher but instead does a gorilla press powerslam. Stamboli jumps from the ring to the top rope but misses the leg drop off the top. Steven hits the Stevie Kick and covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Damn good match for 5 minute crash style even if the commentary took too long getting into it. Steven screams "I showed you! I showed you!" Richards wins although its a wonder why Stamboli isn't getting a push, his athleticism was on full display there. Maybe someday.

Time of match: 5:27

Winner: Richards by pinfall

Another Raw recap of Triple H's godawful shenanigans I don't want to mention again. All you need to know is Katie Vick....ugh. We also see Big Show getting traded to Smackdown, which turned out to be a great thing. Let's get to the main event.

Match 4

Jacqueline vs Molly Holly

Its kind of funny how Smackdown had the best men's roster but Raw had the best women's wrestling. At least this match will be serviceable. Jackie gets a nice pop from the crowd as Molly looks mad. Coach speculates what Eric Bischoff's Elimination Chamber will be like as Molly starts with an armringer. They trade arm-ringers and Jacqueline cradles her up for a two count. Coach talks about Spike and Bubba Ray Dudley getting a tag title shot on Raw as Jackie caters to the crowd. Molly gets in a headlock and a shoulderblock before eating a hiptoss & arm drag. Molly bails to the outside and claims her arm is broken. Charles Robinson throws up the X sign as other officials get to ringside to help her. Molly then breaks free and rams Jackie's head into the steel steps showing she was playing possum. Molly hits a rollover suplex for 1..2...nope. Molly rakes the eyes as Coach babbles on and on about Shawn Michaels and Triple H as Molly locks in a nerve hold. Jackie powers out of it and hits a crossbody for a deuce. Molly drops Jackie to quel the momentum and covers for a two count. Molly continues to get near falls then uses the ref's 5 count to rake the eyes repeatedly. Molly chokes Jackie on the second rope and sends her into the corner, but a charge eats elbow. Jackie rallies with clotheslines and a dropkick before delivering a back elbow smash. Jackie covers for a two count and kicks away at Molly. Jackie goes for a tornado DDT but Molly blocks it. Jackie goes for ten punches in the corner but Molly powerbombs her and puts her feet on the ropes for 1...2....3 to win the match. Lot of cheating by Molly in this one but at least it was a good match between two veterans. Molly taunts the crowd up the rant as we go off-air. 

Time of match: 4:43

Winner: Molly by pinfall

Typical C-show but at least it got something done by showcasing guys who haven't had a WWE run yet like Mark Jindrak and Johnny Stamboli. Jackie vs Molly was pretty good as well even if the commentators just yapped about that week's Raw....which is par for the course with all these C shows. Too bad for the Cassidy O'Reilly botch otherwise he might have been featured in higher profile matches. Anyway tomorrow night is Raw, I'll see you there.

WWE Sunday Night Heat (10/20/02)

OCTOBER 20, 2002

ALLTELL ARENA

LITTLE ROCK, AR

Commentators: Jonathan Coachman & Lita

Welcome to a special edition of Heat as its the night of WWE No Mercy. This entire show will mostly be hype for the upcoming ppv with one match for the DVD most likely. Our hosts are Jonathan Coachman and Lita who's still recovering from her injury. Lita says she's no longer a virgin of pay-per-views and Coach gives her a look. Coach hypes up the main event Hell In A Cell match between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar for the WWE title and Kane taking on Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. The WWE tag team title finals as Edge & Rey Mysterio Jr face Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. Coach sends us to the tag team title tournament highlights which had Edge & Mysterio defeat Brock Lesnar and Tajiri (yes I'm serious). Los Guerreros defeated Mark Henry and Rikishi and Reverend D'Von and Faarooq defeated Billy & Chuck in the first round. Stephanie orders enemies Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit to team together and if they fight, they'll be suspended a year without pay. Angle and Benoit put their differences aside to defeat Billy Kidman and John Cena in the first round only for Los Guerreros to attack Chris Benoit. Angle & Benoit defeat Los Guerreros in the semi-finals with Edge and Mysterio defeating D'Von and Faarooq to set the stage for No Mercy. Edge & Rey can get along, but will Kurt and Chris? Coach hypes up Saliva's Always with Saliva themselves performing at The World....yippie.

Before we go to commercial we get Paul Heyman alone giving his thoughts on Hell In A Cell. He talks about how it ends careers and shortens lives. He mentions Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and Tim White never was the same after it. Paul says when Brock retains the title, he'll come out a different man and nobodies lives will be better. Talk about long term storytelling. We then get our road schedule with Raw in Nashville tomorrow night, Tuesday night in Memphis, Friday night in Topeka, Saturday night in Witchita, one week from tonight in Toledo and next Monday night in Detroit. Back from commercial, Coach and Lita hype up Tough Enough 3...ugh. We recap the audition process where the superstars went to 25 different people to personally invite them. Somebody named Wendell says he's the best athlete but gets cut for talking back to Al Snow when he half-asses calisthenic drills. Then the crew has to bike for 3 miles with Bill Demott yelling at them then has to run another 3 miles. You gotta be in great shape to survive that. The 13 that survives are the ill fated Matt (Cappotelli), Rebekha, Justin, Jill, Jonah, Eric, Chad, Lisa, Nick, Jamie, Scott, John (Morrison) and Kelly. Out of the 13 that were picked, only two made it to OVW with one a lengthy WWE career. Out of the 11 that didn't make it, only two had minor success. That means only 4 really had any kind of success out of 25 picks....and that's the problem with taking athletes and trying to teach them to wrestle, they might not have the passion. Whereas indy vets that have nothing to lose will never see the big time.

Back to Coach and Lita who hype up the World Tag Team title match between Chris Jericho and Christian taking on Booker T and Goldust. Then we got a grudge match between Ric Flair and Rob Van Dam after Flair turned heel and cost Rob his WHC match with Triple H. We get a highlight of Tim White getting knocked out at Hell in A Cell at Judgment Day and we got to an interview with White himself. He says there's no winners, only survivors and his livelihood was taken away. He never wants to be in another HiAC match ever. One of the commercials is Pete Rose insulting wrestling fans coming to his door for Halloween until the real Kane shows up.

Back to Coach and Lita, they hype up Kane vs Triple H unification title match. We get a montage of all the great Intercontinental champions of the past. Also included is Goldust winning the title, Steve Austin getting paralyzed by Owen Hart, Steve Austin throwing The Rock's belt into the river, Chyna becoming the first women's champion, Kurt Angle becoming the Euro-continental champion and highlights of various matches. They wanted to get rid of the IC title to have just five titles in the company, two sets of tag champs, two sets of world champs and the Cruiserweight champion. We then show Saliva backstage at The World, guess they're up next.

Back from commercial, Coach and Lita sends us to The World in New York City. They interview Saliva who's new CD comes out November 12 called Back Into Your System. They worked with Chris Jericho on King Of The World and Saliva kayfabes saying they want to slap the taste out of his mouth. They explain what their new song is about and they go right into Always. After the song, we go to an interview with The Undertaker who downplays being the "master" of Hell in A Cell saying its not a compliment. Its war and anything goes in the match. Undertaker says he shortened Shawn Michaels' life and Mick Foley's career and he has no idea what he did to himself. He says only he and Lesnar go in, but one man comes out.

Back from commercial we go to the Slam of The Week. Jamie Noble and Nidia were supposed to fight each other with Tajiri as the ref and naturally they turn on Tajiri. Was anyone fooled? Jamie Noble puts the title on the line against Tajiri and then Dawn Marie faces Torrie Wilson....ugh. We then go to the recap of the feud between Kane and Triple H....and its not pretty. Kane enjoys a babyface run culminating in winning the IC title but Eric Bischoff says "One show, one champion. Kane vs Triple H winner take all". Usually title vs title means the IC Champ wins but this is unification rules.....and Triple H goes into the Katie Vick storyline which doesn't need to be told here. Back to Coach and Lita, Lita says Kane may not be 100% in the head and he has to worry about Ric Flair as well. Coach and Lita are going to send it to Michael Cole and Tazz when they come back. But first, we got to Brock Lesnar for an interview. He's not nervous about Hell In A Cell, he's excited. If he beats The Undertaker at his own game, he'd be unstoppable. Lesnar says Taker has won before but he won't tonight. Lesnar says Taker's broken hand will be a factor one way or another. Lesnar says he won't just be WWE Champion but Hell In A Cell champion as well. After commercial we go to our pre-show match.

Match 1

The Hurricane vs Steven Richards

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

Last month we had a Smackdown pre-show match and tonight its the Raw crew. Richards attacks Hurricane at the bell but Hurricane counters with a sunset flip. Hurricane eats a back suplex as JR brings up how Chris Jericho and Christian defeated Hurricane and Kane to win the tag straps last Monday. Richards delivers a snap suplex then locks in a surfboard. Hurricane powers out of it and flips over Steven. Hurricane delivers a neckbreaker then a big clothesline. Richards charges but eats elbow and Hurricane hits a neckbreaker off the second rope. Hurricane kicks Richards in the head and covers for 1...2...nope. Hurricane calls for the chokeslam but Richards counters with a knee. Richards hits a Stevie Kick and covers for 1...2...no. Richards puts Hurricane on the top turnbuckle and goes for a superplex. Hurricane knocks Steven off then delivers a vertebreaker. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Short and sweet but Hurricane wins it. Serviceable crash style match that hypes the crowd up for tonight's show.

Time of match: 3:05

Winner: Hurricane by pinfall

JR and King sends us to a montage of the events leading up to tonight. Taker and Lesnar fought to a draw at Unforgiven and Lesnar broke Taker's hand with a propane tank. Stephanie tells Paul Heyman and Brock that Taker will fight Brock in a rematch anyway in Hell in a Cell. Then we get the stupid "Tracy" storyline where she lies about sleeping with Taker and gives one of the worst slaps in wrestling history. Taker says he's going to take it out on Brock at No Mercy. Lesnar intimidates Stephanie and lays out Taker, stomping on Taker's injured hand. Taker fights back and beats up both Heyman & Lesnar before they retreat. Michael Cole and Tazz are in the ring and describe how Hell In The Cell works and how evil the match is. The cell lowers and it would have been funny if Cole and Tazz had an impromptu match inside it. Cole asks will Lesnar finally put an end to the dead man or will Taker keep his master of the cell streak alive? Find out tonight at No Mercy!

WWE Sunday Night Heat (10/13/02)

WWE Sunday Night Heat

Thomas & Mack Center

Las Vegas, Nevada

October 13, 2002

Commentators: Jonathan Coachman and Lita

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

So far this week's Raw, Smackdown and Velocity all sucked....can Heat be the saving grace? It doesn't look likely since Raw Roulette flopped like a dead deer. Tonight we only got two matches for Heat, Justin Credible vs Mark Jindrak and Johnny Stamboli vs Lance Storm. Apparently Raven is going to unveil his masterpiece as well. It won't be Chris Masters, he comes later. We go right to our first match.

Match 1

Mark Jindrak vs Justin Credible

Lita says this is Mark's debut on Heat as Credible makes his entrance. Lita brings up Mark Jindrak's WCW tag title run with Sean O'Haire (did Vince let her say that?) as they lock up. Coach literally does the worst segue of all time to talk about Raw Roulette as instructed by whoever is in his ear as Mark backs Justin in the corner. The crowd chants ECW as Credible bails to the outside for some heat. Credible gets a knee to the ribs and some strikes but Mark doesn't fall for the up and over. Mark hiptosses Credible and gets in some armdrags. Coach babbles on about Booker T/Big Show/Chris Jericho. Credible pounds on Jindrak's back but walks into a tilt a whirl slam. Mark covers for 1...2..nope. Credible crotches Jindrak on the top tope and Mark falls into the tree of woe. Credible taunts the crowd as Coach now babbles on about the TLC match. Credible slaps Mark but Mark rallies with left hands only to eat another boot to the ribs. Credible gets in a chinlock but Mark powers out of it. Jindrak gets superkicked in the face and Justin covers for a two count. Coach goes to plug Tough Enough 3 but Credible baseball slides nut first into the ringpost. Lita mocks the Tough Enough 3 contestants...one of them was John Morrison who would eventually be a long time WWE star and the other talented one, Matt Cappotelli would have been a star if he didn't contract what would eventually be terminal brain cancer. Mark rallies with a left hand and a scoop slam before executing a dropkick. Jindrak faceplants Credible and covers for a deuce as former ECW alumni Lita says "He's not just the coolest, he's not just the best..." She remembers. A charge by Jindrak eats boot but his springboard attempt connects and covers for 1..2....nope. Jindrak catches the superkick and hits an inverted atomic drop. Jindrak follows with a neckbreaker and covers for 1....2....3 to win the match. They were pushing Jindrak as a classic babyface but, as Randy Orton and John Cena were about to find out, classic babyfaces doesn't work in 2002. Decent match between the two.

Time of match: 4:31

Winner: Jindrak by pinfall

Coach hypes up the main event with Lance Storm taking on Johnny Stamboli before saying we got Raw Roulette highlights after break. Back from commercial we get a Tough Enough 3 plug then a vignette for Deacon....er just Batista now, coming to Raw. Then of all the things to highlight, they go through the entire Stacy Keibler/Trish Stratus segment backstage and the match. Then we cut to Victoria's interview from Raw saying she's going to hurt Trish like Trish hurt others. Before we go to break, another reminder for Stamboli/Storm coming up.

Our JVC Kaboom of the Week is the drag match between William Regal and Goldust where Regal waffles him with brass knuckles. Our next recap is for Triple H and Ric Flair at the Wheel picking a blindfold match. HHH cheats to beat D-Lo Brown to win that match. Before we go to break again we get a montage of Kane vs Triple H for No Mercy.

Back from break our Rewind of the Week is Raven defeating D-Lo Brown on Heat last week. Coach is in the ring with Raven for a chat. Coach asks about what Raven's masterpiece is. Instead, Raven whines that he's languished for two years in WWE and he's been treated like an outcast. He goes on to say he's resisted temptation to lash out and quit WWE (remember this) but didn't because he has a statement to make. He will reveal that statement in the next couple of weeks as the crowd chants "You suck!". He says the crowd has the chastity of a three dollar tramp and they look down at him for being different. Raven says he's not depraved, its the people. Raven calls off the interview and leaves. Lita mocks him by saying we've learned nothing from this interview. Yeah really, talk about a waste of time. You could have had a 3 minute match with Raven grabbing a mic after and saying those words. Lita then says the Saliva music video for "Always" will debut next week on Heat on the No Mercy pre-show.

Back from break we get a plug for the Divas Undressed magazine (porn for kids) and the recap of the HHH vs Kane feud so far. Yeah, Katie Vick is underway....great.  We do get to see highlights of the TLC match which was still good. Finally we got our main event after this last break. On to the match.

Match 2

Lance Storm vs Johnny Stamboli

Its funny how this was pre-recorded before Lance Storm's Canadian babyface run on the house shows but he actually comes out to his pre-Unamericans titantron. He still makes his entrance yapping at the fans as a heel. Bell's gone and Storm takes over with right hands and knees in the corner. Lance whips Johnny into the other clothesline and hits a another one. The crowd chants USA as Storm takes Stamboli over and drops a leg. He gets a two count but Stamboli blocks a suplex. He hits one of his own but misses an elbow drop. Lance hits an axehandle to the back as Coach and Lita babble on about Kane being a murderer and asking who Katie Vick is. Oh we're going to find out the hard way as the weeks go on. Lance sends Stamboli off the ropes and Lance drops him with an elbow smash. Lance covers for a two count and gets in a neck vice. Stamboli powers out of it and hits an overhead suplex. Stamboli hits a heel kick and a backdrop, followed by a stinger splash. He faceplants Storm and covers for a deuce as Coach plugs Tough Enough 3 again. Stamboli hits a tilt-a-whirl slam and covers for a deuce but Lance hits a jawbreaker. Coach babbles on and on about Eric Bischoff as Storm hits the fireman's carry roll and covers for 1..2....nope. Storm goes for a half crab but Stamboli cradles him up for a deuce. Stamboli goes for an overhead press slam but Storm rolls out of it. Stamboli charges in the corner but Storm counters with the superkick. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Storm outwits his WCW alumni to win this one. Storm celebrates after the match and that was okay for what it was. 

Time of match: 4:09

Winner: Storm by pinfall

Surprisingly this Heat wasn't that bad. The matches were okay although this episode was CLEARLY Raw Roulette recap focus heavy. The TLC match was good for what it was worse. The Raven interview was a waste of time but oh well. Raw and Smackdown this week both were lackluster and now we're deep into the outhouse of the Katie Vick storyline. Tomorrow night Raw is coming from Montreal but Smackdown has a house show in London, Ontario. I'll see you there.

WWE Sunday Night Heat (10/6/02)

 

WWE Sunday Night Heat

Compaq Center

Houston, Texas

October 6, 2002

Commentators: Jonathan Coachman and Lita

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

To show how bad Raw was these days, there's barely any recap and there's FOUR matches tonight on Heat. Not only that, D-Lo Brown's replacement on commentary is none other than Lita, who's still out recovering from her broken neck. Its ECW night as Spike Dudley takes on Justin Credible, Steven Richards faces The Hurricane and Raven faces D-Lo Brown. Also Jacqueline faces Molly Holly. The matches should be at least watchable. Let's get to our first match.

Match 1

Steven Richards vs The Hurricane

One half of the tag team champs Hurricane takes on the demented Richards in the opening contest. We get shown a highlight of Kane and Hurricane winning the straps before the match starts. Coach brings up how Hurricane is similar to the Hardy Boys and Lita has to bring up that he, Shannon Moore and the Hardys are the North Carolina connection. Hurricane offers a hand shake to start but Richards slaps it away.....wazzupwitdat? Hurricane gets a hilarious thumb to the eye and hits a shoulderblock before hitting a victory roll for a deuce. Richards makes fun of Hurricane but eats an armdrag. Hurricane comes off the top with a bodypress but only gets a two count. Hurricane locks in a headlock but Stevens counters with a modified t-bone plex. Richard stands on The Hurricane and clubs away at him in the corner. Hurricane rallies back with right hands and another bodypress, but Richards stops the momentum with an elbow smash. Richards taunts Hurricane to get up and hits a vertical suplex. Richards holds Hurricane in a neckbreaker lock. Hurricane powers out of it using the corner and ducks the line. Hurricane hits a neckbreaker and hits a jumping lariat. Hurricane hops on the second rope and hits a flying neckbreaker before covering for 1...2....nooooo. Richards eats an inverted atomic drop then Hurricane hits a big crescent kick. Hurricane covers for 1...2...no, foot on the rope. Richards blocks Eye of The Hurricane and hits Emerald Flowsion (???). He covers for 1.....2....and no. Richards sets up for the Stevie Kick but Hurricane catches the foot. Hurricane finally hits the Eye then calls for the chokeslam. Richards blocks it and stuns Hurricane with an elbow. Richards rolls up Hurricane and grabs the rope for 1...2.....3 to win the match. Richards steals one and the crowd is irate. Not bad and Richards winning was kind of a shock since Hurricane is being given somewhat of a push as Kane's lackey lately.

Time of match: 6:04

Winner: Richards by pinfall

Back to Coach and Lita who sings her praises. Coach says D-Lo Brown will face Raven in the main event and goes to commercial. Back from break we get a pre-recorded interview from a while ago with Lita talking about her neck injury. On to the next match.

Match 2

Spike Dudley vs Justin Credible

ECW! ECW! These two are no strangers to each other for obvious reasons. Coach asks Lita when she'll be back and she says 7 months....which means next May? Bell's gone and Spike backs Justin in the corner and Justin punches & kicks Spike. Credible slides into the corner but runs into two arm-drags and a neckbreaker. Credible bails but Spike catches him and throws him back inside. Credible begs off but Spike bites his hand. Spike boots Justin in the head but his second rope axehandle is countered by a superkick by Credible. Justin covers for a deuce and goes to work in the corner. Justin sit down powerbombs Spike for 1...2...nope. Spike catches Credible with a bodypress for a two count as Coachman says they're taking a red eye flight to Las Vegas for Raw. Love how they desperately are trying to convince people this is a live show.  Justin locks in a chinlock as Coach says imagine if Justin Credible and Spike Dudley have to wrestle in a Bra & Panties match. Of all the divas on the roster and you're thinking of those two guys? Spike goes for the sunset flip but Credible punches him in the head. Lita says she'll bring extra bra & panties for that...good lord. A double shoulderblock puts both men down as Coach starts babbling about Eric Bischoff. Spike rallies with forearms and lands an inverted atomic drop. Spike gets a bulldog and covers for 1..2...nope. Spike dropkicks Justin into the corner and he stomps on him. Spike takes a Bret Hart style sternum bump in the corner and Credible sets up for the superkick. Spike blocks it and executes an Acid Drop then covers for 1...2...3....to win the match. Short and sweet and Spike gets thrown a bone for once. Spike chills with some kids before we cut.

Time of match: 4:44 

Winner: Spike by pinfall

We cut to Terri Runnells who's with Raven. She asks him about his history with D-Lo Brown and Raven says the time is finally at hand. He closes his chapter with D-Lo and opens another one. For two years he's been scorned and scoffed at by people. Raven says the picture is complete and the time for his voice to be heard is now. He says his masterpiece will be revealed. Great, Raven Cezanne over here. Back from commercial our recap is Bubba Ray Dudley vs HHH, nice to see Bubba get some main event time. Before we go to break our Boot of The Week is Victoria clocking Trish with a chair on Raw. That's not a boot. Another commercial break and when we get back we get the Burn of The Night which was 3 Minute Warning terrorizing Lita before Jeff Hardy made the save. FINALLY, we get to our next match.

Match 3

Jacqueline vs Molly Holly

Two experienced women who know what they're doing, this should be good. Bell rings and instantly Coach talks about 3 Minute Warning beating up Jeff Hardy on Raw. Molly gets taken down and Lita literally has to say out loud she's trying to pay attention to the match but says Rosey and Jamal are scary. Again, don't blame Coach, blame the idiot in his ear telling him "Talk about Raw! Talk about Raw!" Molly gets decked with a shoulderblock and Jackie hits a nothern lights suplex for a two count. Jackie gets a backslide for a two count and Coach has to deviate from calling the match to talk about Victoria and Trish. I'm about 3 seconds from hitting the mute button and its not even Coach's fault. Molly throws Jackie over the top rope and Jackie skins the cat back in, ducks under Moly and hits a double underhook suplex. She covers for 1...2...nope. Molly drops Jackie on the second rope as Lita says we haven't seen THAT Victoria yet. Molly throws Jackie into the barricade outside but Jackie fights back inside the ring. Molly puts the boots to Jackie and rams her head into the mat. Molly hits a side backbreaker and covers for 1...2...nope. A charge in the corner by Molly eats elbow but Jackie throws Molly into the corner. A roll up gets a two count and Jackie drops Molly with forearms and a dropkick. Jackie decks Molly with a back elbow smash and covers for a two count as Coach then goes back to 3 Minute Warning....oh for Christ's sake. Jackie hits a huge spinning heel kick and covers for a deuce. Molly sets up Jackie on the top rope but Jackie hits a tornado DDT and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. That match was AWESOME with no rest holds and its a shame Coach was instructed to bring up as many Raw events as he could. As they say, don't hate the playa, hate the game. Great match and kudos to both women. Coach and Lita go to the replay and that was a great spot at the end.

Time of match: 3:57

Winner: Jackie by pinfall

Coach hypes up the main event of D-Lo vs Raven when we come back. Back from commercial the next recap segment is Kane beating Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship. We got commercial again and when we come back, we get a Randy Orton promo done in NFL Films style. Least it was unique. Finally let's get to our main event.

Match 4

D-Lo Brown vs Raven

What's the masterpiece Raven is talking about? D-Lo grabs a mic and says what up to all the dawgs in the D-Lo Nation. D-Lo says the only masterpiece will be Raven in the Sky High hall of fame. Bell's gone and Raven gets the upperhand in the corner then puts the boots to him. D-Lo reverses it and pounds away on Raven. D-Lo goes for a tackle but Raven keapfrogs him and D-Lo goes shoulder first into the ring post, falling to the floor. Raven outside hits a russian leg sweep into the barricade. Raven throws D-Lo inside and gets in a front facelock. D-Lo powers out of it and shoulderblocks Raven into the corner. Raven drops a knee to the back of D-Lo and covers for a deuce. Raven gets drop toe holded into the middle turnbuckle. D-Lo unloads with right hands and a dropkick. D-Lo does a scoop slam and drops the leg. D-Lo covers for a deuce then punches Raven in the corner. Raven ducks and uses the distraction to powerbomb D-Lo and go for the Flair pin for 1...2...nope.  Raven runs right into Sudden Impact (??) and D-Lo covers for 1...2....nooo. Raven staggers into the corner, D-Lo charges but eats boot. Raven charges but D-Lo goes for the Sky High. Raven blocks it and intentionally throws himself into referee Nick Patrick. With Patrick turned around, Raven uppercuts D-Lo in the gonads. Raven hits the Evenflow and covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Interesting how this was supposedly the feud ender and Raven gets the duke. Raven had less than 3 months to go on his contract but got a bone here. That wasnt as good as the women's match but still decent for crash style.

Time of match: 3:15

Winner: Raven by pinfall

Coach signs off and tells us to watch Raw Roulette tomorrow night live from Las Vegas. Amazing how we had four matches here when usually there's only three. I like it, the more wrestling and less recaps the better. In the old days, recap shows were useful because there was no internet too look up results so you either taped the live show or had to wait for the recap show. By 2002 the internet was evolving so the recap portions of Velocity and Heat were kind of moot. Richards vs Hurricane was okay, Spike vs Credible was okay, Molly vs Jackie was great and Raven/D-Lo was good. At least none of the matches sucked anyway. While Monday Night Raw is tomorrow night in Las Vegas, the stars of Smackdown had a house show in Tuscon, Arizona. I'll see you in Tucson.

WWE Monday Night Raw (9/30/02)

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.