Original Airdate: February 1, 1999 (taped January 26)
From Tucson, Arizona; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler
Earlier today, Shane McMahon gave the Corporation a pep talk
Shane is out, and he wants the cage lowered down so he can give us a preview of what the main event is going to look like. I believe this is the TV debut of the mesh cage, after over ten years of the blue or black bar one. Unfortunately for Shane, X-Pac is riding on the top of the cage as it gets lowered, and X-Pac assaults him, until Chyna makes the save
WWF Super Bowl commercial
Meanwhile, Vince and the stooges are in a pool hall inVictoria Texas, where they’re trying to lure Steve Austin into a trap. Patterson and Brisco in their cowboy gear is fantastic, but unfortunately they don’t endear themselves to the locals
Billy Gunn v Val Venis: WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock is out to do commentary. Billy puts the boots to him in the corner, but a charge in the corner misses, and Venis throws boots of his own. Billy returns fire with a pair of clotheslines for two, and a rocker dropper gets two. Billy with a kneedrop for two, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock, as Shamrock fumes, but notes that he’s promised his sister that he won’t lay a hand on Val. Billy switches to a wristlock, but misses a clothesline, and Venis delivers a rotating spinebuster to set up mounted punches. Val with chops in the corner, and a cross corner clothesline connects, as the announcers continue to rile Shamrock up. Val with another clothesline for two, and a snapmare allows him a chinlock of his own. Gunn fights free, so Val throws a short-knee, into a Russian legsweep. He stops to swivel, but that sets Ken off, and he attacks with a chair for the DQ at 4:51. They were having a house show match, mostly just keeping time while Shamrock cut promos. Afterwards, Val comes to and sees Gunn standing there with the chair, and thinks he hit him, so Venis takes revenge. ½*
Backstage, WWF Champion Mankind rents Max Mini for the night, in what I hope isn’t some sort of Wolf of Wall Street deal
Backstage, Rock is on the cell with Vince, fuming that Mankind is spending his shirt money
Kevin Kelly brings Debra McMichael out to talk about her influence over the tag team division, but here’s Mark Henry to flirt. He goes too far, however, and here are Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart to attack him. They were probably having a ball writing those double entendres
Backstage, Mankind gives Kurrgan investment advice
D-lo Brown v Big Boss Man: PMS are still driving D-lo crazy here, and he’s starting to get sick of them. Boss Man throws punches at the bell, and lands a corner splash, then an uppercut. Boss Man with a straddling ropechoke, but Brown gets the better of a criss cross. Brown uses a bodyslam to set up a pair of legdrops, and a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop gets him two. Boss Man goes to the top, but D-lo slams him off, and hits the flying frogsplash. Cover, but PMS are distracting the referee. D-lo goes over to see what the fuck, but that allows Boss Man to recover with the scrapbuster at 2:45. Afterwards, Boss Man grabs the nightstick, but Mark Henry makes the save. ¼*
Back in Texas, the stooges strike out with the ladies
Blue Meanie is out to dance, but Goldust attacks him, and hits shattered dreams
Backstage, Brown and Henry confront the on-site doctor, and learn that Terri Runnels was never pregnant at all
Droz v Kurrgan: Droz avoids him in the corner, but runs into a big boot, and Kurrgan delivers a sidewalk slam. Kurrgan with a cross corner splash, and a clothesline sends Droz over the top. Droz grabs a broom handle from under the ring to jab Kurrgan in the throat with, and that allows him a flying shoulderblock at 1:52. At least it was quick. Afterwards, Droz continues beating on him, but the rest of the Oddities save. DUD
Back in Texas, Vince does not care for the local BBQ
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Undertaker, Viscera, and Mideon v Gangrel, Edge, and Christian: Undertaker sits in a throne on the entrance stage, despite being one of the combatants. Mideon and Gangrel start, and Mideon wins a slugfest. A cross corner whip leads to a backdrop, and Viscera tags in, landing hard with a legdrop. Edge catches a tag, so Viscera bangs him with a backelbow, and passes back to Mideon for a clothesline, but Edge ducks, and spinheel kicks him. The Brood triple team, but the Acolytes run in on them for the DQ at 1:59. Afterwards, Undertaker comes in, and lays hands on the Brood, possibly indicating their induction into the Ministry of Darkness. DUD
Backstage, Mankind gives Debra a sweater to keep her warm
Highlights of Mankind winning the WWF Title from Rock on Heat
Mankind is out to celebrate his new title, but Rock is quick to show up, and ask where his money is, since he gave him the Heat match, and that was the deal. But, Mankind already spent a bunch of it, and doesn’t really feel like giving him the rest. And, anyway, Rock doesn’t really have any leverage, since Mankind has the belt again. Rock responds with a challenge for a Last Man Standing match at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and Mankind is all to eager to accept. Okay, now I’m thinking he doesn’t understand the concept of leverage. Rock sounded like he was fighting a cold here
WWF Super Bowl commercial
Back in Texas, Vince and the stooges are at a pawn shop, where they think Austin is hiding out. Vince sneaks up on a dude that looks like Stone Cold, but it turns out to be some other redneck, and this one has a shotgun. Vince quickly backs off, but the guy does let slip Austin’s actual location
Hardcore Match: The Acolytes v Jesse James and Al Snow: Everyone brawls around ringside, weapons galore. They end up outside of the building, where Viscera shows up to beat up Snow. That allows the Acolytes to isolate Jesse, and they put him through a table once they’re back in the ring, scoring the pin at 6:33. I’m not into these. Afterwards, the Ministry hit the ring, and the Brood are now a part of the group. ¼*
St. Valentine’s Massacre ad
Backstage, Road Dogg confronts Snow for not holding up his end, and they end up fighting
Back in Texas, Vince has finally found Austin at a bar, and he tries to goad him into a fight, but Steve is too smart for him
Cage Match: Kane v Triple H: HHH attacks as Kane comes through the door, but Kane fights him off. Kane with a vertical suplex, and he works Hunter over, in dull fashion. HHH gets a chair, and blasts Kane with it to basically just buy time, because Kane isn’t in the mood to really sell. Kane pulls a climbing HHH down and chokes him in the corner, but Hunter fights back with a kneeling facebuster. Into the corner for a ten-punch, and he climbs. Kane follows, but HHH knocks him off. That allows Hunter to keep going, but Kane is up again. HHH manages to crotch him on the top rope to shake him off, but the momentum brings Hunter down as well. HHH stays on Kane with a high knee, but the pedigree is blocked when Kane backdrops him into the cage. Kane with a chokeslam from there, and he goes for the door, but X-Pac runs out to slam the door in his face. HHH is still down, so Kane decides to try and climb, but X-Pac is up there, slugging at him. That slows Kane down, and buys HHH the time to climb up the opposite side. That draws Chyna out to grab HHH, but he pushes past her, and gets out at 12:30. ½*
BUExperience: This episode was responsible for RAWs highest rating of the war thus far, though nothing about it stood out as exceptional. I suppose curiosity about the title change from Heat might have had something to do with it, and renewed focus on the Austin/McMahon angle probably helped as well. And, speaking of which, Vince’s antics in Texas were easily the highlight of the show.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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