Raw History: Episodes 282 and 283 – The One Where Austin Held Vince Hostage

Judgment Day Results
Al Snow def. Marc Mero in 7:13 [**¾]
LOD 2000 def. The DOA and Paul Ellering in 5:55 [½*]
WWF Light Heavyweight Championship: Christian def. TAKA Michinoku [c] in 8:34 [**¾]
Goldust def. Val Venis in 12:07 [**¾]
WWF European Championship: X-Pac def. D-Lo Brown [c] in 14:38 [***½]
WWF Tag Team Championship: The Headbangers def. The New Age Outlaws [c] via DQ in 14:01 [*¼]
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Ken Shamrock [c] def. Mankind in 14:36 [***]
Mark Henry def. The Rock in 5:02 [*¾]
WWF Championship: Kane vs. The Undertaker ended in a no contest in 17:41 [DUD]

Raw History
Episode #282
October 19th, 1998 | Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Attendance: 12,157

WWF Champion: Vacant since 9/27/98
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Ken Shamrock (1) since 10/12/98
WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws (6 and 3) since 8/30/98
WWF European Champion: X-Pac (2) since 10/18/98
WWF Light Heavyweight Champion: Christian (1) since 10/18/98

VIDEO PACKAGE ~ Vince McMahon fired Steve Austin for not crowning a new WWF Champion.

RAW! Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on commentary.

The entire roster came down to the ring as balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling. Party music played and it was hilarious to see The Oddities and Christian walk side by side. Vince was rolled out in his wheelchair with the Stooges. He was happy to see Steve Austin gone and focused on the WWF Championship picture. With the title vacated, a one night, sixteen man tournament would take place at Survivor Series to crown a new champion. Vince dropped the “I’ve got the brass to fire your ass” line. Hilariously, Mankind gobbled all this up in the ring. Before Vince could leave, Austin appeared on the Titantron with a rifle in hunting gear. THE PLOT THICKENS!

The Stooges and Big Bossman (still wearing a mask even though he unmasked last week) were with Vince backstage. Vince sent Bossman to get his family to safety. Meanwhile, Austin was polishing the rifle in his truck. WHERE ARE THE COPS?

Non-Title Match: WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock vs. WWF European Champion X-Pac w/ Chyna
A rematch of the finals last week. Not a lot got to happen before two police officers showed up to arrest Chyna. We assume for sexual harassment. Why aren’t they going after the man with the gun. X-Pac took a powerslam and hurricanrana before Mankind showed up. He put the Mandible Claw on Shamrock RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE and no DQ was called. X-Pac won with the X-Factor in 4:15. That made no sense but was somewhat entertaining. [*¾]

Chyna was taken into a police cruiser and they drove off. Security sent DX back inside. Then, they went over to Steve Austin and chatted him up instead of questioning him. They did note that the gun was a “nice toy” and then they got autographs.

Vince threw a tantrum backstage because security didn’t do anything.

The Headbangers vs. LOD 2000 w/ Hawk
Hawk is still on bench duty. So, I guess nobody told the Headbangers how title matches work. They beat the Outlaws by DQ last night and wore toy titles to the ring, believing they’re the rightful champions. In less than two minutes, Droz got distracted by Hawk and rolled up to lose. It went 1:54. It wasn’t good. [½*]

The Stooges desperately tried to get to safety by offering Vince coffee. After the break, Vince was shown alone in his office until Mankind showed up with Mr. Socko. Vince was happy to see Socko this time around, as it meant some sort of protection.

After reuniting at Judgment Day, The Undertaker and Paul Bearer made their way to the ring. Undertaker spoke about raising a Ministry of Darkness. That doesn’t happen until January, but okay. Paul Bearer has refocused him and he will unleash a plague on the company. Bearer said he used Kane because he was weak and stupid, while Undertaker admitted he set him and his parents on fire on purpose. Wow. Kane came out with a casket and used his little voice box to challenge his brother to a Casket Match tonight.

Backstage, Vince and Mankind bonded while eating candy. Mankind suggested Vince rehire Austin so they could all become best friends and form a new Kliq with Mr. Socko as the fourth member. Amazing. After a break, we see Mankind attempting to play Twist with Vince. Who was in a wheelchair. Vince got pissed and kicked him out.

Jeff Jarrett w/ Debra McMichael vs. Steve Blackman
The WWF debut of Debra. She was awful in WCW. We’re about a minute into Debra’s run and there’s already a “show your tits” chant. The 90s were wild. Jarrett did a top rope cross body that got next to no air. It’s kind of mind boggling. At around 2:30, the Blue Blazer showed up again and took out Blackman with a belly to belly for the DQ. [*]

Al Snow showed up after the Blue Blazer left. He went to hit Jarrett with Head, but Head got distracted by Debra. Yes. Head got distracted. That allowed Jarrett to hit Snow with the guitar.

WAR ZONE!

Vince’s phone rang and he was freaking out over answering it. When he did, we clearly heard Austin’s voice and he told Vince that time was up. After a commercial, Vince yelled at his limo driver on the phone to plan his escape route. He made it safely to the limo, only for Austin to show up on the opposite side. Austin knocked the wheelchair over several times as he wheeled Vince back to his office. Hilarious stuff.

SLAM OF THE WEEK ~ X-Pac beats D-Lo Brown with a super X-Factor.

In Vince’s office, Austin asked him if he had ever been hunting before. Vince said he did but had never killed anything.

D-Lo Brown w/ Mark Henry vs. The Rock
The Rock had this god awful disco version of his theme. It’s apparently the only time he used it. He’s also fresh off a PPV loss to Mark Henry, so this is rock bottom, pun intended. Brown was doing well for himself but then got hit with the People’s Elbow. Rock still hasn’t done it camera side yet. A Rock Bottom later and he won in 3:43. Fun little match. [**]

After the bell, Rock got jumped by D-Lo and Henry. The latter capped this with a big splash. Rock refused much help from the officials who stepped in.

Backstage, Austin continued to torment Vince. He scared him with a knife but warned him that when he goes, it’ll be quick.

For the first time in a while, Tiger Ali Singh was here to cut a promo. He had Babu grilling sausage and offered $500 to anyone who could swallow his whole kielbasa. Yuck. An older woman with a fair amount of cleavage came in and performed the act. Hilariously, The Godfather came out and said the woman used to be one of his hos. So, he thinks he should get some of her income. Tiger was upset that she was a pro and not an amateur. He attacked Godfather in a shitty brawl. The Godfather was good but Tiger sucked.

We return to Vince’s office, where Austin forced him to squeal like a pig or else he’d shoot him with a bow. Vince gave us the most aggressive oinks ever.

Mankind vs. Val Venis w/ Terri Runnels
Val came in selling his Valbowski due to getting hit with Shattered Dreams at Judgment Day. Despite that, he did quite well for himself. All Jerry Lawler cared about was the possibility of Val having hooked up with Godfather’s old ho at some point. Val’s momentum was stalled when he got crotched on the middle rope. Mankind hit the double arm DDT and put on Socko. However, Ken Shamrock showed up to hit him in the knee with a chair. Val fell on top of Mankind and won in 3:33. Dull stuff but I appreciated Val’s selling. [*½]

Shamrock and Mankind brawled into the crowd after the match. That left Val and Terri in the ring to get interrupted by Goldust. I loved that this was done in the style of the old Goldust vignettes from 1996. He quoted movie lines and was unsettling in the way that made him special back then. After his promo, Terri whispered something to Val that made her happy but he was pissed. Yes, because that’s the best time to tell him that you’re pregnant.

More scenes of Austin toying with Vince. He eventually made a bet with him on the main event. Vince picked Kane to win the Casket match. If Kane won, they’d do things the easy way but if that didn’t happen, they’d do them the hard way.

Casket Match: Kane vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer
A little history note for you to start. This is the first Casket Match to air on TV and not a PPV. They fought to the casket almost immediately. It led to a weird DDT style move that saw the referees close the casket on both of them. So, isn’t that a draw? Anyway, they just ended up bursting through the casket and destroying it. Undertaker knocked Kane out with a chair and then just bailed with Bearer. That gave us a no contest in about 4:50. Terrible match and having no finish was just dumb. [DUD]

Austin finally decided to wheel Vince out to the arena. He replayed the video of Vince talking trash earlier tonight. Then, Austin gave Vince a letter that he claimed Vince wouldn’t like. To cap it all off, Austin pointed the gun to Vince’s head and pulled the trigger, revealing a BANG 3:16 sign. Austin showed off how Vince pissed himself and then hit him with two Stunners to end the show. What a month of embarrassment for Vince. Great ending.

EXTRA ATTITUDE ~ Austin posed over Vince’s fallen body before leaving. Once he was gone, the Stooges returned to help Vince. They wheeled him up the ramp as fans pelted them with trash.

MVP: Mr. McMahon
LVP: Tiger Ali Singh

Raw History
Episode #283
October 26th, 1998 | Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin | Attendance: 10,220

WWF Champion: Vacant since 9/27/98
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Ken Shamrock (1) since 10/12/98
WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws (6 and 3) since 8/30/98
WWF European Champion: X-Pac (2) since 10/18/98
WWF Light Heavyweight Champion: Christian (1) since 10/18/98

SPECIAL NOTE ~ On this date, Nitro beat Raw in the ratings war for the final time. WCW aired the big Goldberg/DDP match from the previous night’s PPV for free because that show ran long and it was cut off to those who bought the show.

LAST WEEK ~ Stone Cold Steve Austin held Vince McMahon hostage. There’s a mystery surrounding the letter Austin handed to Vince.

RAW is WAR! Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler host.

EARLIER TONIGHT ~ A smiling Stone Cold arrived.

Vince McMahon, Big Bossman, and the Stooges came out to the stage for our opening promo. Vince moaned about what happened last week, blaming Austin and the fans. He brought up the letter and said it was a legal document. He will fight Austin with his crack legal team. Austin appeared on the Titantron and basically shrugged this off as no problem. Vince was golden in this segment and while not a ton happened, it set things in motion for this legal document angle.

TONIGHT ~ Al Snow and Mankind face The New Age Outlaws for the Tag Team Titles.

WWF European Championship: X-Pac [c] vs. Steve Blackman
After getting arrested last week, Chyna is taking some time away. This should be a martial arts style match but we only get a bit of it. Blackman WRECKED X-Pac with a whip to the corner. X-Pac got sent outside and out came the debuting Steve Regal. He attacked X-Pac until the Outlaws ran down and hit him. This all got us a DQ at 2:49. The match was fine for what little time it got. [*½]

Apparently, the idea was that Regal was offended that X-Pac was European Champion.

Backstage, Vince scolded his legal team.

Droz w/ LOD 2000 vs. The Rock
What a strange pairing. Rock was back to a good theme song. Anyway, I appreciate random matchups like this because it keeps things fresh. Commentary spent time harping on how Hawk doesn’t seem to fit in with LOD anymore. Droz got in more offense than you’d expect. Hawk tried to help by distracting the referee, but it only set up a Rock low blow. Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow ended this in 4:40. Rock gave Droz a decent amount and it made for something enjoyable. [**]

Droz and Hawk argued after the match. Animal played peacemaker but left with Droz and Hawk was sad.

Michael Cole attempted to get a word with Austin. However, Austin was talking to someone off camera and said they had a major announcement later.

Vince McMahon’s attorneys left the meeting saying, “He doesn’t get it.” There’s a joke in there about current day WWE creative meetings.

DX, sans Triple H and Chyna, came out to introduce Motley Crue for a live performance. I was never into musical performances during shows. There’s a weird effect used during this that doesn’t work for me. DX danced on stage with the band, which was just odd. A cool note was that a lot of the video played on the Titantron during this was eventually used for Chris Jericho.

Backstage, Vince continued to yell at his lawyers for not being able to break Austin’s document. We heard that it was a contract.

Gangrel w/ Christian vs. Kane
I once saw this at a house show. JR mentioned that Kane was an entrant into the WWF Title Tournament at Survivor Series. They also noted that Christian and Edge were brothers. I believe that was the first mention on Raw. Though it wasn’t super short, this was a total squash. Strange for Gangrel already. He fell to a Chokeslam in 3:01. [NR]

Christian flew off the top at Kane but he no sold it. Kane destroyed them until Edge snuck in through the crowd. He saved Christian from a Chokeslam by chop blocking Kane. The three of them beat on Kane until he sat up. They scattered but the Brood had officially been born. Weird to have it happen when Kane would just shrug them off.

Michael Cole told us that Shane McMahon announced the McMahon family would have something to say regarding Austin’s letter.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin made his way out to the ring to a massive ovation. He ran down the fact that he didn’t lie to Vince last week, saying he wouldn’t feel anything and had a toy. Vince needs to listen to him more often. He pulled out a contract, saying that it was a new deal with the WWF. Not only that, but it guaranteed him one shot at the WWF Title. Vince interrupted with the Stooges. Apparently, he couldn’t do anything about the contract. However, he wanted to force Austin to say that he quit, so he booked him in an I Quit match against Ken Shamrock tonight. Vince then yelled at Austin for driving a wedge between his family and for turning his disappointing son against him. Shane showed up and got in the ring with Austin. As a partial owner and stockholder, he was not listening to his dad anymore. He hired Austin back because Vince spent too much time ignoring him and focusing on his ego. Vince cried as Shane ranted. A lot of what Shane said was cheesy, soap opera drama, but he delivered it with emotion and content. Good segment, but one that makes no sense when you consider what Shane does to Austin at Survivor Series.

WAR ZONE!

Shane went to leave the arena, only for Austin to stop him with a, “Hey kid.” He tossed him a beer in the WWF’s Mean Joe Green commercial moment.

The Godfather vs. Tiger Ali Singh w/ Babu
This stemmed from the kielbasa segment last week. No Hos with Godfather tonight because Tiger doesn’t deserve that offer. Of course, Tiger proved that by struggling to do even the most basic of things throughout this match. It was just random brawling with absolutely no flow. Their fight led to a no contest in 4:26 because they continued to brawl against the wishes of officials. That sucked. [DUD]

Vince McMahon was wheeled out of the arena and was too sad to say anything to Michael Cole.

Kaientai w/ Yamaguchi-San vs. The Oddities w/ Luna Vachon & Giant Silva
A SummerSlam rematch! Kaientai finally have gear. They’re all dressed like TAKA in the blue and white. Combine that with their size and they look like the babyfaces. I still love their quick series of leg drops, but they did it and just simply let Golga tag out. Why? Anyway, this was only here so the ICP could throw a referee to the ground and get disqualified in 3:44. They then blew off the Oddities on their way out, apparently now heel. [¾*]

EARLIER TONIGHT ~ Shane McMahon’s rant was shown again.

Vince officially got into his limo. He was still sad.

Michael Cole spoke with Ken Shamrock, who said he would never say “I quit.” This won’t be about titles, it’ll be about who’s the man.

Goldust vs. Marc Mero w/ Jacqueline
Hey, I remember their 1996 feud. I’m pretty sure it involved the IC Title. They went through the motions in this until the finish. Goldust set Mero up for Shattered Dreams. When Jacqueline tried to stop him, he kissed her. As she gagged outside, Goldust hit the move and got DQed at 2:55. Logically, this didn’t do much for Goldust. The fans popped though. [NR]

Post-match, Sable stepped out to the stage. She challenged Jacqueline to a match at Survivor Series. It was the most generic challenge ever and she delivered the promo with zero emotion.

JVC KABOOM OF THE WEEK ~ Jeff Jarrett clocked Al Snow with a guitar.

Michael Cole interviewed Al Snow and Mankind. They didn’t talk much about getting a Tag Team Title shot, instead focusing on whether Head or Socko is better.

WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws [c] vs. Al Snow and Mankind
JR gave us the announcement that both Snow and Mankind are in the Deadly Game Tournament. The two teams engaged in some solid brawling. It was made better by the entertaining quirks of the characters involved. Road Dogg dancing, Snow being weird, and Mankind being funny all worked. Also, Billy Gunn was there. But he’s bland. Snow ultimately hit Dogg with the Snow Plow, but couldn’t agree with his partner over using Head or Socko. The promo earlier meant something. Dogg rolled Snow up to retain in 5:28. That was quite fun. [**½]

D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry hit the ring to jump the New Age Outlaws. Looks like they will be the next contenders for the titles.

Non-Title I Quit Match: WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Austin
Ken Shamrock is officially joining the Deadly Game Tournament. He joins Undertaker, Kane, The Rock, Mankind, and Al Snow. The crowd was hot about this right from the start. The Stooges sat at ringside for a closer look. The fight went outside, which involved choking Austin with cables and a brawl into the crowd. The Stooges got involved, taking out the referee for apparently no real reason. That made Austin kick their asses. While that happened, Mankind ran in and applied the Mandible Claw on Shamrock. Austin added a chair shot and used Shamrock’s hand to tap out, winning in 6:16. I mean, that’s not really how you win an “I Quit” match is it? Anyway, the match itself had a lot of heat but became a mess late. [**¾]

Austin dropped the Stooges with Stunners to end the show.

MVP: Steve Austin
LVP: Tiger Ali Singh

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

#282: Not the episode to go to for good in ring stuff. It succeeds in terms of being an episode that advances angles, tells a ridiculous but compelling story surrounding a few key characters, and just being entertaining. (7.0) #283: Not a great episode but one that does a fair amount to set things up for Survivor Series. That show is getting something of a slow build and I like that. Here, we had several entertaining segments and a few solid matches. (7.0)