klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Monday Night Raw
Date: March 26, 2001
Location: Gund Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Attendance: 15,566
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman
If you read my final Nitro review, you know that this is both the go home show for Mania 17 as well as the night where Vince bought WCW. I barely remember this as I was mainly watching WCW that night for obvious reasons. This should be a pretty weak show though as they dont want to waste anything or risk an injury 6 days before the biggest show of the year. With all that being said, lets get to it.
We open in Vinces office where Vince is watching two monitors, one with WCW (although not footage from the show at the time) and one with WWF. Naturally theyre labeled because you cant tell the difference otherwise. Were promised the simulcast which I mentioned in the Nitro review. He makes sure to make it clear that Jeff Jarrett is gone. This would result in a thing called TNA about 15 months later.
Austin/Rock vs. Brothers of Destruction later, which is a dream match actually.
Heres Angle to start us off. He talks about not having an opponent and its 6 days before Mania. The Gobbledy Gooker has a match but Angle doesnt. Theres something awesome about that. Kurt keeps running his mouth until Benoits music hits.
Benoit says exactly what you would expect him to say and that hell make Angle tap like a bitch. What kind of a bitch taps anyway? Its on for Mania of course and they slug it out here. Angle winds up tapping to the Crossface until Edge and Christian run out for the save and the Benoit beatdown.
Vince and Trish make fun of WCW while hes on the phone with Stephanie.
Debra doesnt want to talk to Cole. Shocking.
Tazz vs. Val Venis
This is a lumberjack match for no apparent reason. They would be in a 6 man match on Sunday. Tazz beat up Steven Richards on Smackdown as this was during the RTC days. The RTC and the APA are the lumberjacks here, making this a pretty weak lumberjack match. Tazmission is on in maybe 30 seconds but Steven runs in with the Steven Kick. Money Shot misses and a Northern Lights Suplex ends this in maybe a minute. No rating of course.
Vince, Regal and Trish make fun of Road Warrior Animal who of course got a job in the dying days of WCW.
Doink is chilling in the crowd, since hes in the Gimmick Battle Royal on Sunday.
Regal comes out and talks about WC .Fields. What exactly is a toe rag? He wants one of the Hollies so here are Molly and Crash. Crash is Light Heavyweight Champion actually. Regal grabs Molly though and thats our match? Ok then.
William Regal vs. Molly Holly
This is Regals warmup match for Sunday. Cant you tell the resemblance between Molly and Jericho? The Stretch is on almost immediately but Crash breaks it up, only to have it put on him instead. Cue DOINK for the save. Doink throws on a fairly familiar Boston Crab before unmasking to of course reveal Chris Jericho. For almost 10 years Ive watched Regal vs. Jericho at Mania and wondered why Jericho was dressed as Doink. Now I get it!
Vince and Trish make fun of WCW again, which appears to be clips from Greed, which was the final PPV. This turns into Vince talking about Trishs boobs.
Regal, the Commissioner, makes Big Show vs. Jericho.
Edge and Christian tell Kurt they have a six man later while Kurt insists he wasnt tapping earlier. Christian has a surprise for Angle, who is the debuting (last week that is) Rhyno who is INSANE here but awesome still.
We get a clip from the sitdown interview with Austin vs. Rock, which is absolutely amazing. These two had some of the best chemistry both in the ring and on the mic of all time, and this might be their best promo ever. The line I need to beat you Rock. I need to beat you more than anything that you could ever imagine is one of the best delivered lines Austin ever had.
Debra still doesnt want to talk. She was made Rocks manager by Vince just to be a dick.
Vince is going to go address WCW, which I could have sworn was on the last segment. Trish kisses him as he leaves.
Vince comes out, and Lillian in the Mania jersey is absolutely amazing. They mistime the simulcast intro so Vince makes Lillian introduce him again. I love live wrestling. This is the simulcast, so this is what closed both the end of Nitro and the first hour of Raw. The moment here is incredibly historic to say the least but it shows everything that was wrong with the Invasion, but well get to that in just a bit.
Vince runs down WCW the whole time because thats just what he can do. This is gloating at its finest to put it mildly. He talks about various wrestlers he wants to fire and that hes going to do that. WCW is going nowhere and will be buried apparently. Youre about 2 years too late for that one buddy. We get our first reference to Shane, as Vince manages to take the night he won the Monday Night Wars and plug an angle with it. That is just simply amazing.
The Boss wants respect but we cue Shanes music (which is the same as Vinces music so its kind of confusing). Shane is on the screen, with a WCW logo behind him. Hes on Nitro in Florida, which was a shock as well. These two are having a street fight at Mania if you didnt get that by now. This is a surreal moment.
Shane talks about how Vinces ego has gotten the better of him as always as he wanted Ted Turner to sign the contract at Mania. The deal however is already finalized and the name on the contract does say McMahon, however it reads SHANE McMahon. Shane has bought WCW, getting a huge pop. He promises WCW will kick Vinces ass again, just like he will at Mania.
This was supposed to mark the beginning of WCW as its own brand, but due to a DISASTER of a match in Tacoma where the fans booed Booker vs. Bagwell out of the arena, that didnt happen. Naturally not having Hogan, Flair, Nash, Goldberg, Sting, Steiner or any of the other main WCW guys for about a year, of course it died and we got what we wound up with.
I always thought this was at the end of the show. I guess not.
Vince is PISSED. This has to be illegal somehow wouldnt it?
Hardy Boyz/Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle/Edge/Christian
I could seriously look at Lita in that tied off jersey forever. Rhyno put out Spike which is shown here, which implies Dudleys interference to me. They start on the ramp and its a big brawl. Jeff and Edge start us off with Edge taking charge thanks to Christians interference. Benoit almost gets the Crossface on Angle but settles for Christian instead for the tap. Another 2 minute match. Benoit and Angle go at it for a bit post match. The tag teams do also, resulting in Rhyno goring the hell out of Matt and Lita.
Rating: N/A. Covering two matches in one is rarely a bad thing and this certainly wasnt. This worked fine and shows efficient booking, which is lacking on Raw at times lately.
Taker says HHH cant hide forever. Thats a very underrated match which not a lot of people ever talk about, which is a shame indeed.
Test vs. X-Pac
Test is European Champion here. Eddie Guerrero, the guy Test is fighting at the PPV, is the guest referee here. Test hits a nice tilt a whirl slam but Eddie of course counts about one an hour. Pac sets for the Bronco Buster but Test just kind of stands up to end that. Eddie cheats again so Test just punches him in the face.
Thats how you solve a lot of problems: PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE! Pumphandle Slam ends Pac and another referee runs out for the pin, but Eddie stops him. While they argue, Albert, the stable mate of Pac, comes in with the Baldo Bomb so Eddie can count the pin.
Rating: D+. Simple story here but the match never really got going. The whole thing was based around a simple idea which is what made it rather predictable. Their Mania match was one of the weaker ones on the card and this is kind of the same thing: not horrible, but it just isnt that interesting.
Mick Foley is here! He says Mania wouldnt be Mania without him, but while hes about to announce how hes going to be involved Vince comes back out. Long story short, Foley gets to be referee for Vince vs. Shane, which is awesome as Vince fired Foley and humiliated him in December, but Mick had a meeting with Linda and signed a bunch of documents to get him to be able to do this.
Chris Jericho vs. Big Show
Jericho hits a springboard dropkick to knock Show to the floor before he can get in. If youve been paying attention all night, you should see this coming a mile away. After about two minutes, theres Regal to hit Jericho into the chokeslam for the pin. Raven and Kane come out afterwards for some brawling, leaving Kane standing tall.
Undertaker/Kane vs. The Rock/Steve Austin
Kane vs. Rock starts us off. All four guys are faces here which is a rather weird thing. Taker comes in as were just waiting for the hot tag to Austin at this point. Austin gets the tag as were totally going through the motions here. Thesz Press to Taker as its pretty clear theyre in a slow gear here.
Taker shoves Austin into the Rock and grabs him by the throat. JR thinks it could be for the chokeslam. Gee you think? HHH pops up out of nowhere and drills Taker with a chair, allowing Austin to get the pin. Austin drinks beer after the match but walks into a Stunner to end it.
Rating: N/A. No one cared here and everyone knew it. They did manage to get the Game on the show though, so thats always a plus.
Overall Rating: B+. Other than the wrestling, THIS is how you do a go home show. Other than the Womens Title match, everything was covered and that got covered on SD in more detail. This was an excellent show and when you couple in that this was the end of the Monday Night Wars (As an aside, WHY DID THEY NOT WAIT FOR THE NIGHT AFTER MANIA TO DO THAT?) how can you not say this was an excellent show? I want to go watch Wrestlemania again, which is the point of this show. Great go home show and solid all around.
Date: March 26, 2001
Location: Gund Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Attendance: 15,566
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman
If you read my final Nitro review, you know that this is both the go home show for Mania 17 as well as the night where Vince bought WCW. I barely remember this as I was mainly watching WCW that night for obvious reasons. This should be a pretty weak show though as they dont want to waste anything or risk an injury 6 days before the biggest show of the year. With all that being said, lets get to it.
We open in Vinces office where Vince is watching two monitors, one with WCW (although not footage from the show at the time) and one with WWF. Naturally theyre labeled because you cant tell the difference otherwise. Were promised the simulcast which I mentioned in the Nitro review. He makes sure to make it clear that Jeff Jarrett is gone. This would result in a thing called TNA about 15 months later.
Austin/Rock vs. Brothers of Destruction later, which is a dream match actually.
Heres Angle to start us off. He talks about not having an opponent and its 6 days before Mania. The Gobbledy Gooker has a match but Angle doesnt. Theres something awesome about that. Kurt keeps running his mouth until Benoits music hits.
Benoit says exactly what you would expect him to say and that hell make Angle tap like a bitch. What kind of a bitch taps anyway? Its on for Mania of course and they slug it out here. Angle winds up tapping to the Crossface until Edge and Christian run out for the save and the Benoit beatdown.
Vince and Trish make fun of WCW while hes on the phone with Stephanie.
Debra doesnt want to talk to Cole. Shocking.
Tazz vs. Val Venis
This is a lumberjack match for no apparent reason. They would be in a 6 man match on Sunday. Tazz beat up Steven Richards on Smackdown as this was during the RTC days. The RTC and the APA are the lumberjacks here, making this a pretty weak lumberjack match. Tazmission is on in maybe 30 seconds but Steven runs in with the Steven Kick. Money Shot misses and a Northern Lights Suplex ends this in maybe a minute. No rating of course.
Vince, Regal and Trish make fun of Road Warrior Animal who of course got a job in the dying days of WCW.
Doink is chilling in the crowd, since hes in the Gimmick Battle Royal on Sunday.
Regal comes out and talks about WC .Fields. What exactly is a toe rag? He wants one of the Hollies so here are Molly and Crash. Crash is Light Heavyweight Champion actually. Regal grabs Molly though and thats our match? Ok then.
William Regal vs. Molly Holly
This is Regals warmup match for Sunday. Cant you tell the resemblance between Molly and Jericho? The Stretch is on almost immediately but Crash breaks it up, only to have it put on him instead. Cue DOINK for the save. Doink throws on a fairly familiar Boston Crab before unmasking to of course reveal Chris Jericho. For almost 10 years Ive watched Regal vs. Jericho at Mania and wondered why Jericho was dressed as Doink. Now I get it!
Vince and Trish make fun of WCW again, which appears to be clips from Greed, which was the final PPV. This turns into Vince talking about Trishs boobs.
Regal, the Commissioner, makes Big Show vs. Jericho.
Edge and Christian tell Kurt they have a six man later while Kurt insists he wasnt tapping earlier. Christian has a surprise for Angle, who is the debuting (last week that is) Rhyno who is INSANE here but awesome still.
We get a clip from the sitdown interview with Austin vs. Rock, which is absolutely amazing. These two had some of the best chemistry both in the ring and on the mic of all time, and this might be their best promo ever. The line I need to beat you Rock. I need to beat you more than anything that you could ever imagine is one of the best delivered lines Austin ever had.
Debra still doesnt want to talk. She was made Rocks manager by Vince just to be a dick.
Vince is going to go address WCW, which I could have sworn was on the last segment. Trish kisses him as he leaves.
Vince comes out, and Lillian in the Mania jersey is absolutely amazing. They mistime the simulcast intro so Vince makes Lillian introduce him again. I love live wrestling. This is the simulcast, so this is what closed both the end of Nitro and the first hour of Raw. The moment here is incredibly historic to say the least but it shows everything that was wrong with the Invasion, but well get to that in just a bit.
Vince runs down WCW the whole time because thats just what he can do. This is gloating at its finest to put it mildly. He talks about various wrestlers he wants to fire and that hes going to do that. WCW is going nowhere and will be buried apparently. Youre about 2 years too late for that one buddy. We get our first reference to Shane, as Vince manages to take the night he won the Monday Night Wars and plug an angle with it. That is just simply amazing.
The Boss wants respect but we cue Shanes music (which is the same as Vinces music so its kind of confusing). Shane is on the screen, with a WCW logo behind him. Hes on Nitro in Florida, which was a shock as well. These two are having a street fight at Mania if you didnt get that by now. This is a surreal moment.
Shane talks about how Vinces ego has gotten the better of him as always as he wanted Ted Turner to sign the contract at Mania. The deal however is already finalized and the name on the contract does say McMahon, however it reads SHANE McMahon. Shane has bought WCW, getting a huge pop. He promises WCW will kick Vinces ass again, just like he will at Mania.
This was supposed to mark the beginning of WCW as its own brand, but due to a DISASTER of a match in Tacoma where the fans booed Booker vs. Bagwell out of the arena, that didnt happen. Naturally not having Hogan, Flair, Nash, Goldberg, Sting, Steiner or any of the other main WCW guys for about a year, of course it died and we got what we wound up with.
I always thought this was at the end of the show. I guess not.
Vince is PISSED. This has to be illegal somehow wouldnt it?
Hardy Boyz/Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle/Edge/Christian
I could seriously look at Lita in that tied off jersey forever. Rhyno put out Spike which is shown here, which implies Dudleys interference to me. They start on the ramp and its a big brawl. Jeff and Edge start us off with Edge taking charge thanks to Christians interference. Benoit almost gets the Crossface on Angle but settles for Christian instead for the tap. Another 2 minute match. Benoit and Angle go at it for a bit post match. The tag teams do also, resulting in Rhyno goring the hell out of Matt and Lita.
Rating: N/A. Covering two matches in one is rarely a bad thing and this certainly wasnt. This worked fine and shows efficient booking, which is lacking on Raw at times lately.
Taker says HHH cant hide forever. Thats a very underrated match which not a lot of people ever talk about, which is a shame indeed.
Test vs. X-Pac
Test is European Champion here. Eddie Guerrero, the guy Test is fighting at the PPV, is the guest referee here. Test hits a nice tilt a whirl slam but Eddie of course counts about one an hour. Pac sets for the Bronco Buster but Test just kind of stands up to end that. Eddie cheats again so Test just punches him in the face.
Thats how you solve a lot of problems: PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE! Pumphandle Slam ends Pac and another referee runs out for the pin, but Eddie stops him. While they argue, Albert, the stable mate of Pac, comes in with the Baldo Bomb so Eddie can count the pin.
Rating: D+. Simple story here but the match never really got going. The whole thing was based around a simple idea which is what made it rather predictable. Their Mania match was one of the weaker ones on the card and this is kind of the same thing: not horrible, but it just isnt that interesting.
Mick Foley is here! He says Mania wouldnt be Mania without him, but while hes about to announce how hes going to be involved Vince comes back out. Long story short, Foley gets to be referee for Vince vs. Shane, which is awesome as Vince fired Foley and humiliated him in December, but Mick had a meeting with Linda and signed a bunch of documents to get him to be able to do this.
Chris Jericho vs. Big Show
Jericho hits a springboard dropkick to knock Show to the floor before he can get in. If youve been paying attention all night, you should see this coming a mile away. After about two minutes, theres Regal to hit Jericho into the chokeslam for the pin. Raven and Kane come out afterwards for some brawling, leaving Kane standing tall.
Undertaker/Kane vs. The Rock/Steve Austin
Kane vs. Rock starts us off. All four guys are faces here which is a rather weird thing. Taker comes in as were just waiting for the hot tag to Austin at this point. Austin gets the tag as were totally going through the motions here. Thesz Press to Taker as its pretty clear theyre in a slow gear here.
Taker shoves Austin into the Rock and grabs him by the throat. JR thinks it could be for the chokeslam. Gee you think? HHH pops up out of nowhere and drills Taker with a chair, allowing Austin to get the pin. Austin drinks beer after the match but walks into a Stunner to end it.
Rating: N/A. No one cared here and everyone knew it. They did manage to get the Game on the show though, so thats always a plus.
Overall Rating: B+. Other than the wrestling, THIS is how you do a go home show. Other than the Womens Title match, everything was covered and that got covered on SD in more detail. This was an excellent show and when you couple in that this was the end of the Monday Night Wars (As an aside, WHY DID THEY NOT WAIT FOR THE NIGHT AFTER MANIA TO DO THAT?) how can you not say this was an excellent show? I want to go watch Wrestlemania again, which is the point of this show. Great go home show and solid all around.