TJR Retro: WWF Raw Deal 02/28/00 Review (Triple H and Big Show vs. The Rock)
This edition of Raw followed No Way Out 2000, which was a very good PPV that had some interesting results and great matches. One of the most notable items from that show is that Shane McMahon returned to television as an ally of Big Show. They were officially on the road to WrestleMania 2000 (or WrestleMania 16 as some of us like to call it) on April 2, so they had over one month to build to it.
It was a show in MSG, which is where they held the Royal Rumble one month earlier.
I want to post these Raw reviews on Monday and Smackdown on Thursday. The last few weeks were kinda hectic for me, so I should get back to doing them on Monday and Thursday next week. I’ll post Raw today, Smackdown on Sunday and the next Raw is coming right away on Monday too.
Check out our WWF TV in 2000 archives in case you missed anything from earlier in the year. Let’s get to it.
WWF Raw #353
February 28, 2000
From Madison Square Garden in New York, New York
This show has a TV-14 rating and the “V” for Violence on WWE Network.
The Raw intro video aired to start the show. It was a packed house in the World’s Most Famous Arena known as Madison Square Garden in New York City. The announce team is Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler as usual.
Let’s Hear from Triple H and Stephanie
Triple H, the WWF Champion, made his entrance along with his lovely storyline wife (at that time), Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. They were booed as usual while Lawler put over Triple H for ending Mick Foley’s career at No Way Out. Hunter had his left arm bandaged up. The fans greeted Hunter with the “Asshole” chant as he stood in the ring with Lawler not being happy about it.
Hunter said that he should probably be out here basking in the glory of the greatest match of his life, which led to a “Foley” chant. Hunter said he should be out here savoring the moment, but he said he just can’t do it, which surprised Stephanie. Hunter said that at No Way Out, they destroyed eachother and one month ago in this very arena, they destroyed eachother there too. Hunter said that he had more respect than anybody in his life. The fans chanted “We Want Foley.” Hunter said he has respect for Foley and he can tell that each of the fans have that same respect for Foley. Stephanie tod Hunter she didn’t agree. Hunter said that as a tribute to Foley, he had the guys in production put together a package that will chronicle his career. Hunter called for Kevin Dunn to hit the package.
A video aired showing some of Mick Foley’s greatest moments in his career in the WWF as Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love. After about 30 seconds, it stopped and turned into bad moments of Foley’s career where he was beaten up by Hunter and other humiliating highlights. That led to Hunter and Stephanie laughing in the ring. The final scene was Foley walking away grabbing his ass. Lawler laughed about it. The fans booed.
Analysis: A heel Triple H acted nice and then it turned out that he was faking it all along. It’s a tactic WWE has used for decades in promos like that. Easy way to get heat on the heel.
Triple H laughed and said that the WWF won’t be the same without Foley…it will be a million times better. Stephanie said that Foley has something to look forward to as a fat, smelly, disgusting loser he can be a retired loser all thanks to her husband, the WWF Champion Triple H. Cue the interruption from Shane McMahon.
Shane McMahon made his entrance to the “No Chance in Hell” song because he didn’t have his own theme song yet. Shane entered with Big Show by his side and they were booed by the crowd. Since Big Show beat Rock in controversial fashion, he was the next challenger for Triple H…at least in theory. They got into the ring.
Analysis: Shane made his return to WWF TV at No Way Out to help Big Show beat Rock.
Shane got in his sister Stephanie’s face. Shane said that just because daddy’s little girl drove their daddy out of the business that he created for them, he’s not going to sit back to let her do it. Shane said now Vince is focusing on another business (the XFL was implied by that). Shane said he was sitting back and waiting for the right time to strike. Shane said that he decided to align himself with a champion and he’s not talking about the current WWF Champion Triple H because he knows Triple H has his own self indulgence. Shane said he’s also not talking about that eyebrow raising, prima donna The Rock. Shane said that he’s talking about Big Show, who he called the future WWF Champion. After a bit of delay, here comes The Rock.
The Rock showed up on the stage in one of his expensive dress shirts while the crowd cheered loudly for him. Rock congratulated the four of them for the ring and clarified that it wasn’t for Shane returning, for Stephanie being a tramp, not for Show for going on to WrestleMania and no Triple H not for still being the WWF Champion. Rock said that the congratulations for being the biggest group of assholes The Rock has ever seen. It was not bleeped out and the fans cheered for that.
Rock said that at No Way Out, Big Show did beat The Rock, but unlike Show he’s not going to bitch and complain about it because Rock said that he’s still going to WrestleMania to be the WWF Champion. Triple H told Rock that this was a conversation between a champion and a number one contender to be a champion leading to an asshole chant. Hunter said this conversation does not involve also-rans and has-been’s like The Rock. Hunter said since Rock had his chance and blew it, he goes back to the bottom of the barrel and the bottom of the ladder. Hunter did his wrestler promo voice saying that Rock will step into one on one competition with New York’s greatest claim to fame…The Brooklyn Brawler. JR said with all due respect to the Brawler, this is not right. Hunter did a Rock impression ending it saying “if you smell what The Game is playing.” Shane added that there’s no chance of hell for The Rock to go to WrestleMania as the number one contender. The Rock was not pleased as the segment ended about 20 minutes into the show.
Analysis: It was a long opening promo that set up one match for later while painting the picture of how difficult it will be for Rock to get back in the title picture. I’m sure most of you reading this know what this all led to, but keep in mind that WWE had five weeks to get to that result, so they were going to take their time getting there. I thought Shane did well on his promo, then Hunter did a great job of shutting up Rock, who surprisingly did not end the promo with the advantage.
The APA were shown in their “office” playing cards and drinking beers. The Hardy Boyz showed up to challenge the APA to a match. Faarooq told them to get their asses out of there, so the Hardys flipped the table and ran away.
(Commercial)
The tag teams entered for their match based on the previous segment.
The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) vs. The Acolytes Protection Agency (Bradshaw and Faarooq)
Pre-match notes: Both teams were faces with the Hardys as the most popular team.
Matt jumped on both Acolytes outside the ring leading to Jeff hitting a somersault dive onto both APA guys on the floor. Bradshaw and Faarooq hit a double team shoulder tackle on Matt. Bradshaw hit a boot to the face followed by an elbow drop. Matt came back with a DDT Off the middle ropes. Jeff tagged in with a running forearm on Bradshaw. Fallaway slam for Bradshaw and Faarooq tagged in with Jeff getting a clothesline, but Faarooq took him down with a clothesline. Faarooq sent Jeff’s head into Bradshaw’s boot. Bradshaw with a shoulder tackle on Jeff. Faarooq back in for a slam, Jeff slipped out and took down Faarooq by the head. Bradshaw tagged in, Matt went in for his team with a blind tag and Matt hit a Twist of Fate neckbreaker on Bradshaw for the pinfall win at 3:58. Bradshaw kicked out right after the three count to make it look really close.
Winners by pinfall: The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy)
Analysis: ** It was a decent match to give the Hardys a big win one day after a loss, which was caused by Terri and also involved the APA since they were hired by her at No Way Out. I didn’t like the kickout after the fall by Bradshaw, but I think that was done to show that the Hardys escaped with the win due to Matt’s blind tag.
Kurt Angle was backstage with the Intercontinental and European Titles around his waist talking to some dude in a suit that didn’t have an interest in what Kurt was saying.
(Commercial)
Kurt Angle did a promo saying that unlike Darryl Strawberry, the only thing that your Olympic Hero is addicted to, is capturing championships. Angle said that he’s willing to put the European Championship on the line against anyone that will accept the challenge. Angle said that any wrestler back there is more than welcome to take the Olympic challenge.
Rikishi Phatu answered Angle’s challenge to a good ovation from the crowd. Rikishi still had his lower left leg taped up to sell an injury from a few weeks ago.
European Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Rikishi Phatu
Pre-match notes: Angle was the heel champion and Rikishi was the face.
Rikishi with punches followed by a body slam and a leg drop. Angle came back with a chop block to the back of the left leg two times. Rikishi hit a Samoan Drop followed by a running splash against the turnbuckle. Rikishi gave Angle the Stinkface against the turnbuckle, so Angle left the ring while the crowd cheered it. Angle took both of his titles and walked away with a microphone. It went 1:31.
Winner by countout: Rikishi Phatu (Angle is still champion)
Analysis: 3/4* This was just a quick match with Angle escaping to avoid losing the title.
Post match, Angle did a promo saying that the people came to see a wrestling match, not Rikishi’s ass. Chris Jericho showed up to call “Kirk Angel” a giant ass and said they wanted to see Angle receive a Stinkface again. Jericho sent Angle back into the ring where Rikishi dropped Jericho with a Rikishi Driver. Rikishi hit a Banzai Drop on Angle off the ropes.
That led to the Radicals foursome to go down to the ring to attack. Too Cool showed up for the save leading to the faces standing tall while the Radicals and Angle retreated up the ramp.
Back in the ring, Rikishi danced with his Too Cool buddies. Chris Jericho and Chyna wanted to leave, but they were stopped by Too Cool. They were both given sunglasses and joined in on the dancing routine. The crowd loved it while Jericho and Chyna didn’t look out of place too much.
(Commercial)
The replay aired of what happened before the break.
Jericho and Chyna were interviewed by Michael Cole, who Jericho called “Mitchell.” The Radicals foursome showed up with Saturn stepping up in Jericho’s face to challenge him for a match and Chyna accepted the match.
Edge and Christian entered through the crowd. Terri rand down to the ring with a bag in hand. She was looking great in some tight leather pants. The story was that Edge and Christian didn’t want her help at No Way Out, but she helped them. Terri joined commentary for this match.
Al Snow did a promo on the ramp saying that you need an entrance to capture your personality. Snow said that he had a surprise for Blackman with some lame entrance music and clips of Blackman on the screen.
Edge and Christian vs. Al Snow and Steve Blackman
Pre-match notes: Edge and Christian were faces while Snow and Blackman were heels. The roles for both teams were changing in the weeks ahead.
The match started with Snow and Blackman in control while Terri said that she turned on the Hardys because they only visited her in the hospital twice a week and said that they should have been there seven days. Christian took down Snow with a Russian legsweep. Blackman and Snow took control with stomps on Christian. The fans chanted “Let’s Go Headcheese” as the suggested name of Blackman and Snow. Blackman with a backbreaker on Christian followed by an elbow drop to the back of Christian. Snow back in with a German Suplex on Christian for two. Snow with a body slam on Christian. Christian got back up and tripped up Snow on the top. Edge got the hot tag against Blackman with Edge hitting a spinning heel kick and a DDT for a two count. Snow broke up the pin and tripped up Edge. Terri pulled out what was in a bag to reveal that it was headcheese and she put it on her head to distract Blackman. Christian got back into it with a missile dropkick off the top leading to Edge hitting a Spear on Blackman for the pinfall win at 3:23.
Winners by pinfall: Edge and Christian
Analysis: *1/2 Decent tag team match with E&C getting another win thanks to Terri even though they didn’t ask for her help. E&C were getting built up after the win at No Way Out and this win, so that’s good booking to give them some momentum.
Post match, Terri left on her own saying “that’s two” with two fingers up to let E&C know that’s two times where she helped them. Edge and Christian were confused by it.
Analysis: Women are confusing. I know, fellas. I know.
The Rock was shown backstage getting ready for his match up next.
(Commercial)
The Rock made his entrance to a huge ovation with JR noting that this is where The Rock’s WWF career began. It was Survivor Series 1996 when he was pushed hard as a rookie. The rest, as they say, is history.
The Brooklyn Brawler entered to almost no reaction. The story about Brawler is that he lost nearly every match for years and then he worked backstage in WWE for years.
The Rock vs. Brooklyn Brawler
Pre-match notes: Rock was the face and Brawler was the heel.
Rock attacked Brawler outside the ring to show that Rock was mad. Back in the ring, Brawler got some punches in. Rock came back with a Rock Bottom and pinned Brawler after 30 seconds.
Winner by pinfall: The Rock
Analysis: There’s no point in rating a match that was under one minute. It went as expected.
The Rock did a promo saying that he didn’t feel like leaving New York City, which drew cheers. Rock wanted Triple H to bring his candy ass out there and Rock said it would be a “Rock kicking Triple H’s candy ass” match. The crowd loved that idea. Triple H’s music hit.
Triple H walked out with the WWF Title with Stephanie McMahon trying to stop Hunter. Shane McMahon showed up with Big Show to say that Rock is not facing Triple H for the WWF Championship because it’s Triple H vs. Show at WrestleMania.
Rock: “The Rock says this…if WrestleMania is gonna be Triple H and the Big Show then WrestleMania’s gonna absolutely suck!” Great line. The fans loved it. JR said “WrestleMania never sucks.” That’s a lie.
Stephanie replied to Rock saying that he’s got one last chance. She said that if Rock can pin either Triple H or Big Show in that very ring in a handicap match then he can have his number one contendership for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania. Hunter said that if Rock doesn’t pin Hunter or Show then he’s done and this is his last chance.
Rock recapped what they said, Hunter replied and Rock fired back with “it doesn’t matter if it’s the Rock’s last chance!” Rock said he’s going to beat their candy asses if you smell what The Rock is cooking.
Analysis: That was a fun promo exchange with The Rock bringing his greatness as usual and the heels fired back well. From a logic standpoint, there’s no reason for the heels to even give Rock a chance, but we all know there was no way they would do Triple H vs. Big Show as a singles match at WrestleMania. It was an effective segment to build up to the main event.
(Commercial)
The intros took place for Chris Jericho’s match against Perry Saturn. Chyna was out first to accompany Jericho, then Jericho was up next and Perry Saturn had Dean Malenko with him.
Chris Jericho (w/Chyna) vs. Perry Saturn (w/Dean Malenko)
Pre-match notes: Jericho was the face and Saturn was the heel.
Jericho with chops early and Saturn came back with an arm wringer into an overhead suplex. Saturn with a corner whip, Jericho boot up, Jericho charge and Saturn with a clothesline. Jericho connected with a bulldog. Saturn jumped, Jericho caught him and hit a Powerbomb. Jericho went for a Lionsault off the ropes, Malenko pulled the ropes down and Jericho landed hard on the floor. The ref wasn’t looking. Malenko clotheslined Chyna and rolled her into the ring with Saturn hitting a suplex on Chyna. Jericho decked Malenko with a punch. Saturn tried a move on Jericho, Malenko on the apron and Chyna hit a low blow on Saturn with the ref not seeing it due to Malenko. Jericho hit a Lionsault off the ropes for the pinfall win at 3:02.
Winner by pinfall: Chris Jericho
Analysis: *3/4 Good effort in the match, but it was really about the story with Chyna providing more help to Jericho than Malenko did for Saturn. Jericho winning with the Lionsault happened once in a while in these days, but that stopped happening as the years went on.
The DX group of Road Dogg, X-Pac, Billy Gunn and Tori were in the locker room. Gunn had his left arm in a sling due to a shoulder injury. Dogg talked about how Gunn’s not ready due to his injury. Hunter said that DX gets their title shot and Gunn complained about it saying that with one arm he’s better than Triple H would ever be. Hunter didn’t like that, so Hunter punched Gunn and Dogg joined along with X-Pac. They picked Gunn up and tossed him out of the room.
Analysis: That was the way of writing out Gunn from the storylines because he had surgery on his left shoulder and as out about seven months.
(Commercial)
Mark Henry entered with Mae Young, who is “pregnant” as I realize that this is THAT episode. What do I mean by that? You’ll see and sadly I’ll have to watch it. He’s up against Hardcore Champion Crash Holly.
Hardcore Championship: Crash Holly vs. Mark Henry (w/Mae Young)
Pre-match notes: Crash was the heel champion and Henry was the face.
The fans chanted “Elroy” at Crash to piss him off. Henry whipped Crash into the ropes, so Crash stopped and left the ring. Crash whipped Henry into the ring post. Crash picked up a 2×4 piece of wood and hit Henry in the back with it. Henry with a splash against the corner and he tossed Crash across the ring. Mae went into the ring, she ran the ropes and hit the worst splash ever. After the splash, Mae grabbed her stomach as the match stopped. Let’s say it went 2:00.
Match Result: No Contest due to elderly pregnancy issues
Analysis: No point in rating this since this is just a stupid angle.
(Commercial)
They returned from the break saying that Young was in labor.
There was a shot of Mae on a stretcher in the hallway with a EMT, Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Fabulous Moolah and Mark Henry. They went into the room as the camera cut away.
Analysis: The EMT was actually a writer at the time named Tommy Blacha and he was on the Edge & Christian podcast talking about this angle. It was pretty funny hearing him talking about it.
Tazz was up first for a match and he got a nice hometown pop since he was from Brooklyn. Chris Benoit was the opponent with Eddie Guerrero in a sling by his side.
Tazz vs. Chris Benoit (w/Eddie Guerrero)
Pre-match notes: Tazz was the face and Benoit was a heel. They had a rep for being stiff in the ring.
Benoit with a suplex followed by a running elbow as fans chanted “ECW” at them. Tazz came back with a head and arm Tazzplex leading to Guerrero distracting the referee. Tazz picked up Benoit leading to an Alabama Slam. Guerrero distracted the referee Tim White again, so White kicked Guerrero out of there. Benoit came back with stiff forearms followed by two German Suplexes. Big Boss Man and Albert went into the ring and attacked Tazz leading to a DQ finish at 2:02.
Winner by disqualification: Tazz
Analysis: 3/4* That could have been a good match, but it was over before it could really get started.
Post match, Benoit hit a German Suplex on Tazz. Boss Man and Albert focused on Tazz, who got Boss Man in the Tazzmission briefly, but Albert saved Boss Man. Albert hit two handed sitout Chokeslam later known as the Baldo Bomb. Boss Man put a chair in the ring, Albert picked up Tazz and slammed him off his shoulders onto a chair. Referees went into the ring. Boss Man said that it looks like New York’s hometown boy sucks as much as New York does. Boss Man said that the mood is about to change, which is a Tazz catchphrase.
That led to the scene of Mae Young in the room looking like she was going to have the baby and Mae said she needed a cigar, so Brisco got the cigar and Patterson lit it for her. The EMT asked her when was the last time she had her period and Mae said about 1957. That led to the EMT asking Mark if he was sure he impregnated this woman.
(Commercial)
It was back to the Mae Young pregnancy scene with the EMT reaching under the blanket and pulling out the “baby” from Mae. There were even cheesy sound effects for it and the EMT pulled out a…hand with pink goo around it. A prosthetic hand! Mark Henry smiled about it. The funniest part was Gerald Brisco puking right after it. Pat Patterson: “A hand? A hand? Let’s give Mae a hand!” Then they all started clapping to end it.
Analysis: It was one of the worst and stupidest angles in WWF history. I’ll never forget it. I’m sure in Vince McMahon’s mind, it was just something silly and we shouldn’t take it seriously, so that’s how I always look at it. As I mentioned earlier, the EMT was a writer named Tommy Blacha and he talked about this angle on Edge & Christian’s podcast a few months ago, which you can listen to here. The short summary of the discussion is that Vince wanted to end the stupid angle abruptly, so that’s why they did the hand thing. Shoutout to Brisco and Patterson for making it funny at least.
The Dudleys were up for a tag team match and they are the new WWF Tag Team Champions after No Way Out. The Dudleys pulled out some tables from under the ring. They face off with Road Dogg and X-Pac since Billy Gunn was injured. No long promo from Road Dogg to start the match since they went right into the ring.
WWF Tag Team Championships: The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) vs. Road Dogg and X-Pac (w/Tori)
Pre-match notes: The Dudleys were the heel champions. Road Dogg and X-Pac were also heels, but they did get cheered sometimes and in this scenario for this match they were considered faces.
All four guys started brawling with D-Von hitting a forearm on X-Pac to send him out of the ring leading to The Dudleys hitting a double team neckbreaker on Dogg. Bubba kept Dogg in their corner with a suplex. D-Von slapped on a headlock on Dogg. Running clothesline by D-Von on Dogg, Bubba tagged in and hit a body slam followed by three elbow shots. Tori was looking good at ringside even with a neckbrace on. Dogg tried a comeback, but Bubba hit a clothesline on Dogg. Dogg came back with his own clothesline leading to a tag to X-Pac. Two spin kicks by X-Pac, then a kick on Bubba and a Bronco Buster in the corner leading to “X-Pac sucks” chants. Kane’s music hit and he made his entrance with Paul Bearer. Kane flipped over a table and went into the ring, so the heels left the ring along with there referee Teddy Long. Kane hit Road Dogg with a Chokeslam while X-Pac and Tori ran away. The bell never rang, so let’s just call it a No Contest at 4:58.
Match Result: No Contest
Analysis: * At least they got a few minutes to try to have a match before it ended abruptly. The crowd liked Road Dogg, but had no interest in supporting the other three guys in the match. By doing a cheap ending like that, it does set up the possibility of doing the match again.
Kane grabbed D-Von and gave him a Chokeslam. Kane also picked up Bubba Ray and gave him a Chokeslam. Kane posed in the ring with daddy Bearer while X-Pac, Dogg and Tori looked scared as they left up the aisle.
Analysis: Kane lost to X-Pac at No Way Out and it wasn’t even cheap because it was within the rules, but Kane was seeking revenge.
(Commercial)
There was a shot of Triple H, Big Show, Shane and Stephanie in the locker room talking strategy.
A tribute video aired about Mick Foley’s career since he was retired at No Way Out one night earlier. There were a lot of fun moments from his WWF career and even a few clips from when he was in Japan in death matches. They focused on things like title wins and happy moments with guys like The Rock and Steve Austin. After the video aired, there were shots of fans in the crowd with signs for Foley and the fans cheered.
Analysis: Foley would return to the company a few weeks later to set up a match at WrestleMania, so the retirement was short. We didn’t know at this time that he was coming back and even he didn’t know, but WWE made a great offer, so it was tough for him to turn it down. If you read Chris Jericho’s book about this time in his career, you would know that the original plan was Jericho in the spot that Foley had, but then the decision makers changed it to Foley.
The Rock was shown walking backstage because he’s up next in the main event.
(Commercial)
A graphic let us know that WrestleMania 2000 was five weeks away on April 2, 2000. You can read my review of that elsewhere on the site if you want.
Big Show made his entrance first for the main event with Shane McMahon by his side. Triple H was up next with the WWF Title on his shoulder along with wifey Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley-Game-Haitch. The announcers were bickering about Mick Foley with Lawler pushing JR’s buttons and JR goes: “Why don’t you kiss my ass?” Haha.
The Rock made his third appearance of the night and got a big ovation as always. There’s only a few minutes left in the show for this match.
Triple H and Big Show (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and Shane McMahon) vs. The Rock
Pre-match notes: You probably know this by now, but Hunter and Show were the heels while Rock was the face.
Rock started with Hunter with punches followed by an elbow smash. Rock whipped Hunter across the ring leading to Hunter’s turnbuckle bump over the top to the floor that he did hundreds of times in his career. Rock and Hunter went brawling up the ramp with referee Earl Hebner joining them, so there was no count. Big Show went after Rock with Show tossing Rock into the barricade and then back in the ring. Rock decked Hunter with a clothesline and Hunter with a neckbreaker. Show hit a backbreaker that looked awful since Rock’s body wasn’t close to touching his knee. Hunter choked Rock against the turnbuckle. Tag to Show, Hunter with a suplex and Show hit an elbow drop on Rock’s chest. Show with a headbutt to the chest of Rock and a hard chop to the chest. Rock charged at Hunter, who moved and Hunter whipped Hunter over the top to the floor. Show punched Rock back into the ring. Running knee to the face by Hunter on Rock got a two count. Rock came back with a neckbreaker on Hunter, but Hunter with a knee to the face facebuster. Big Show tagged back in, running clothesline, Rock moved and Show hit Hunter by accident. Rock with a DDT on Show. All three guys were down for a bit. Rock and Hunter faced off while Show went to the apron even though Show was the legal man. They always lost track of that stuff. Rock with a spinebuster on Hunter and clothesline that sent Show over the top to the floor. Rock punched Shane off the apron. Rock with a Rock Bottom on Hunter. Rock ran the ropes and hit a People’s Elbow on Hunter for one…two…but there’s Shane McMahon with a punch to Rock’s back to break it up leading to the disqualification finish at 6:53.
Winner by disqualification: The Rock
Analysis: **1/2 It was an entertaining handicap match that got a decent amount of time for a main event level match in this era. The disqualification finish was very predictable because I didn’t expect Rock to lose or one of the other two guys to get pinned in the match. Plus, with Shane out there it made it more obvious that a disqualification ending was coming. I liked the story of the match with Rock making the big comeback and nearly getting the win.
Post match, Rock decked Hunter with a punch, Shane with a low blow and a clothesline. Show got back in there and hit a huge Chokeslam on Rock. Show trash talked Rock and that was the end of Raw for this week. JR signed off with this: “The Rock has been destroyed by Triple H, Big Show and dammit Shane McMahon!” JR is the best.
Analysis: The stipulation announced earlier was that Rock had to pin Show or Triple H and he didn’t do that, so the Rock’s attempt to rise to the top continued.
This episode had a run time of 1:33:23 on WWE Network.
Three Stars of the Show
1. The Rock
2. Triple H
3. Hardy Boyz
The Scoreboard
This Raw episode gets a 4 out of 10.
This was a bad show aside from the story involving The Rock. The finishes on this show were poorly done. There was one countout, two No Contests and two Disqualifications. When you do that many lame finishes, it turns off the audience while making us not give a shit about what goes on in the ring since the results end up being meaningless anyway.
The Mae Young angle is one of the worst storylines they have ever done. I know it was comedy and really over the top, but that doesn’t make it good. It was so fucking stupid and I think WWE realized that, which is why they put an end to it.
There was some decent storyline progress in the midcard involving the secondary titles and the tag team division, but this weak there wasn’t anything that stood out. It was just average stuff.
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John Canton
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