I wasn't sure of what to watch so I clicked on Raw Attitude Era. I saw there was a Raw posted from Sep 6th, 1999 - exactly 16 years ago today. Why not? Let's see what was going on RAW exactly 16 years ago. Here's the link if you want to follow along:
network.wwe.com/video/v312424383The show starts with pyro and ballyhoo then Rock coming to the ring as one half of the tag team champions. He and Mankind will defend the titles against Kane & X-Pac, but not before they cut their respective promos first. Kane coming out to DX music is weird as all hell. Oh wait, X-Pac isn't there. No one knows where X-Pac is. Kane's gonna wrestle a handicap match apparently. Oh wait..."My Time" hits and WWF Champion HHH comes out! He's going to be Kane's tag team partner. Just as the match gets underway with Kane and Rock in the ring, Chyna comes to ringside with a sledgehammer.
We just hit the 10 minute mark of the show, I feel like noting. There's been a lot to keep up with so far.
The Rock and Jerry Lawler have no problem calling Kane a "big red retard." Be a star, guys.
HHH tags himself in, but Kane clotheslines him back out. lol. Then Kane goes for a chokeslam on Rock, but HHH nails Kane in the back with a sledgehammer. Earl Hebnar didn't see this somehow. Rock hits the Rock Bottom and People's Elbow on Kane for the win. Post match, HHH beats down Kane with the sledgehammer. Big Show and Undertaker then show up to chase HHH and Chyna away. Kane then sulks away leaving Big Show and Taker standing in the ring.
The announcers run down a few of the upcoming matches. We got Acolytes vs Edge & Christian in a #1 contedership match. Mean Street Posse will be in action against Test & the Stooges. For the FIRST TIME EVER we will have a Women's Championship match
defended under Hardcore Rules when Ivory faces Torrie. And then we have Jeff Jarrett vs. Jaqueline. Business is about to pick up, folks.
We go to commercial at the 16 minute mark.
Back from break, we get ready for Jarrett vs Jaqueline. Jaqueline shows no fear. She talks to Michael Cole (and his weird goatee) calling JJ a dumb blond. Jarrett, the IC champion comes to the ring first with Ms. Kitty. Jarrett cuts a promo on Chyna, his upcoming opponent for the IC title. Jaqueline comes out and this is a total mis-match with Jarrett dominating from the get go. Jarrett makes short work of Jaqueline and taps her out with the figure four. After the match, Jarrett plasters Jaqueline with the guitar. Sick shot. Jacky is a warrior, btw.
Backstage, Val Venis cuts a promo on Steve Blackman. They got a feud going on. Terry Taylor was the interviewer, which throws me off a little.
Edge & Christian make their way from the crowd for their match. Acolytes come out and are met by dual baseball slides before they get to the ring. This match is off to a quick start. There's some decent back and forth action. The setup for the finish was awkward though. Bradshaw nails a devastating power bomb on Christian, but instead of going for the cover, he sets up for another powerbomb - conveniently feeding himself for a missile dropkick from Edge. Christian rolls up Bradshaw and gets the win.
GTV catches Val Venis and Big Show in the men's room. "They call you the Big Show?" lol classic.
Michael Cole interviews Meat backstage. Meat struggles to show charisma before the Mean Street Posse arrives to beat the Meat.
Val Venis comes out to the ring looking pissed. He calls out the Big Show. Taker and Big Show are hanging out backstage watching this. Taker tells Big Show to "pick up the punk card" Val Venis laid. Big Show comes out to some really horrible music. Val Venis gives it a valiant effort, but Show is too much for him. Show wins with a chokeslam. After the match, Steve Blackman shows up with a kendo stick to deliver more pain to Val Venis.
Terry Taylor interviews the Dudley Boyz backstage. Bubba Ray is stuttering and wearing a confederate flag bandana. Acolytes show up and beat up the Dudleyz.
Lilian Garcia is about to announce the next match but she's interrupted by Howard Finkel. Finkel says he's the best ring announcer and tells Lillian to take a seat.
Howard Finkel is about to announce the next match, but gets scared when he realizes whose name he has to announce. Ken Shamrock comes out and chases Finkel around the ring. Shamrock grabs Finkel and then we hear Chris Jericho's music. Jericho is shown on the Titan Tron. He's backstage in the locker room. Jericho calls Shamrock's UFC a "fabricated pretend sport" unlike the "real" sports entertainment that is WWF. Jericho talks his trash and Shamrock runs the back to find him.
"My Time" plays again and WWF Champion HHH comes out to the ring with Chyna. HHH grabs a mic and starts bragging about himself. Damnit I thought I wasn't going to have to see a HHH in ring promo tonight. No such luck. HHH also calls Kane a "retard." Just as I'm losing interest, Mr. Ass Billy Gunn comes out. From the stage, Mr. Ass calls HHH an asshole. Then Mr. Ass's music plays like the segment is over, but it's not. The music cuts abruptly. HHH says he'll give Mr. Ass a world title shot. Billy only has two words for that (suck it.) Mr. Ass' music plays again and NOW the segment is over.
Mean Street Posse comes out with Terri Runnels. Runnels joins the commentary title. Brisco and Patterson come out parodying Hulk Hogan. MSP jump all over Brisco and Patterson. Where the hell is Test? Test finally come out a minute or two later (was he tying his boots, brushing his hair?), and clears the ring. Meat comes out to beat up Rodney of the Mean Street Posse as Rodney tries to leave. Meat throws Rodney back in the ring for Test. Test hits a pumphandle slam and a top rope elbow drop to get the win. This didn't even feel like a real match.
Hardcore & Crash Holly are next to the ring - with a scale. Matt & Jeff Hardy come out with Gangrel as the "New Brood." Wow, I totally forgot about this phase. The Hollys demand the Hardys weigh in. It's absurd that the New Brood plays along with this but all three of the New Brood get on the scale. Hardocre Holly is comical throughout this thing. The New Brood aren't "super-heavyweights" like the Hollys, declares Hardcore Holly. Eventually Jeff Hardy drills Hardcore Holly with a missile dropkick to get this thing going. The Hardy's get about 95% of the offence in this match, but Hardcore Holly gets the win after hitting literally one move - a suplex slam on Matt. Post match, the lights go out and Crash Holly gets a blood bath. Hardcore laughs at Crash and they begin brawling. Refs attempt to pull them apart, but cousins Hardcore and Crash just keep going at eachother.
Cole attempts to interview Undertaker and Big Show, but Undertaker chases Cole away. This was not Undertaker's most stellar promo. He challenges Rock and Mankind to a BURIED ALIVE match for the tag team title titles on Smackdown.
Al Snow comes out as "Avatar." I don't remember this gimmick at all. JR calls this "sad." Snow cuts a promo as Avatar then has a complete mental breakdown. Snow says he couldn't draw money with this gimmick if they stuck a magnet up his ass and drug him through Fort Knox. Well OK then. Does he know gold isn't magnetic? That was weird.
Cole is backstage to interview Rock and Mankind. The cut a funny promo and accept the challenge of Undertaker and Big Show for Smackdown.
GTV again with someone woman I don't know crying on a phone. Terrible acting.
D-Lo Brown comes out to the ring. His opponent is Steve Blackman. Blackman has a bag of weapons with him. Before the match starts, Sexual Chocolate comes out with two ladies and the European Title. D-Lo Brown is obviously going to be disracted by Henry. Mark Henry is on commentary. There's a little back and forth action. Just when D-Lo hits a big move on Blackman, he decides to turn to Mark Henry and talk trash (dumb idea). Backman uses the opportunity to grab nunchucks from his bag of weapons. He's about to hit D-Lo with the chucks but Val Venis suddenly appears and cracks Blackman with a kendo stick. Val runs off with the bag of weapons and D-Lo hits a flog splash for the win. After the match, Sexual Chocolate steps in the ring and lays out D-Lo Brown. They have a European Championship match at the next PPV, Unforgiven.
Terry Taylor is backstage in the dressing room area to interview WWF Womens Champion, Ivory. Ivory calls calls Torrie a skank and threatens to smash her face into a concrete wall. She'll squirt nail polish remover in your eye. Now that's hardcore. Torrie then attacks Ivory. Torrie is wearing a thong and showing her ass all over the place. Oh my goodness that is some gratuitous ass. Hey I'm not complaining, I'm just describing what I'm seeing. Yep, just trying to describe that fine, toned, tanned, voluptuous, beautiful ass of Torrie Wilson. *ahem* oh right there's a match underway. They're fighting in the women's bathroom. Torrie supposedly dunks Ivory's head in a toilet. Torrie throws a box of tampons at her. The fight spills into the shower area. Jacqueline is in the shower naked trying to cover up. The ref follows them in the shower and Ivory goes for a pinfall in the shower. At this moment I think we can rest the debate about bringing back the "womens" championship. Ivory is squirting shampoo in Torrie's eyes and shoving soap in her mouth. They exit the shower area much more soapy and wet than when they entered. We're on the verge of a wardrobe malfunction. Ivory chokes Torrie with a shower curtain. Some random objects get hurled. The fights spills into the men's dressing room - where Albert, Droz and Viscera are just chilling. Torrie throws Ivory across a table and they continue fighting through the backstage area. Ivory regains control after smashing a mirror over Torrie's head (damn.) That's good enough for the win. Lillian announces the winner but Ivory isn't done. She uses an iron's electrical cord to choke Torrie. She then presses the "hot" iron onto the bare skin of Torrie's back, leaving a nasty "burn."
Chyna is walking backstage. Earl Hebnar stops her and say she's barred from ringside, saying we've had enough "lady problems" tonight. Chyna brushes him off.
Kane is shown sulking in a dark corner somewhere.
Back from break, "My Time" hits for the third time tonight as WWF Champion HHH comes out with Chyna. HHH does his water spitting gimmick. Referee Earl Hebner tells Chyna to leave, and she obliges. Mr. Ass comes out. He has a staredown with Chyna on the ramp. HHH uses the opportunity to attack Mr. Ass, but it backfires. The two fight into the ring and the match gets underway. They go back and forth and the match spills back outside. Billy Gunn punches the ring post and HHH slams him into the ringpost and announce table to take control. Back in the ring, HHH starts targeting the left arm of Mr. Ass. Eventually Billy Gunn regains control, but that's when Shane McMahon shows up. Mr. Ass dumps HHH out of the ring. Mr. Ass and Shane shout some things at eachother. Earl Hebnar leaves the ring to prevent Shane from coming down the ramp. HHH grabs the WWF title but Mr. Ass thwarts his attack. Mr. Ass nails HHH with the title belt. He goes for the cover. The crowd counts to 3, but there is no ref. Earl Hebnar slides back in but HHH kicks out before he counts 3. Billy argues with Earl. HHH attempts to hit Mr. Ass with a knee, but lays out Hebnar instead. Mr. Ass hits HHH with the Fame-asser. Again Mr. Ass gets the pin on HHH, but there's no ref to count it. Mr. Ass tries to revive Earl. HHH gets beck up. He goes for a Pedigree on Mr. Ass, but Mr. Ass counters with a low blow. All men are laying down in the ring. Mr. Ass craws to a cover. Earl craws over to a very slow 2 and a half count. Mr. Ass attempts to setup HHH for a superplex. Mr. Ass get knocked down. HHH attempts a move off the top rope, but meets the boot of Mr. Ass. Mr. Ass then misses a splash in the corner and HHH hits the Pedigree for the win.
After the match, Shane & Chyna come to the ring to celebrate with HHH. Kane's music hits and Kane comes out limping from the earlier sledgehammer attack. Kane enters the ring and delivers a big boot to the charging HHH. Kane tosses Shane into the corner. Kane grabs Chyna and chokeslams her. The crowd popped big time for this. HHH punches Kane, but they have no effect. Kane chokeslams HHH. Kane chokeslams Shane McMahon and that's your show. JR closes with "Kane has destroyed the WWF Champion."
Well that was action packed. The biggest difference between RAW of 16 years ago and today was the pace of the show. They weren't trying to fill time on this show. The match quality suffers as a result though. Also prevalent: beatdowns for everybody!! HHH vs Billy Gunn was a good enough main event, even there's no suspense watching it 16 years later. I completely forgot about any world title matches Mr. Ass got. The most memorable part of this show was the GTV segment with Val Venis and Big Show, oddly enough. I think I've seen some bits of Rock's promos replayed before as well. He and Mankind were definitely a highlight of the show. For as much of a legend as the Undertaker is, his promos were a bit shaky in my opinion. Another thing I noticed is there are a lot of signs in the crowd that says so-and-so is gay or so-and-so is a homo. I don't you would see that as much these days. Or the gratuitous ass shots of the women. We never did find out what happened to X-Pac, by the way.