Written by: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation presents RAW
Date: 1/25/1999
From: Phoenix, AZ
Matches:
1.)Billy Gunn defeated Goldust
2.)Droz defeated George Steele
3.)Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett defeated WWF World Tag Team Champions Ken Shamrock & Big Bossman to win the titles
4.)Test defeated Val Venis
5.)WWF Hardcore Champion Road Dogg & Al Snow defeated Edge & Gangrel in a hardcore match
6.)WWF World Champion The Rock defeated Triple H in an I Quit Match to retain the title
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.We stills from the Royal Rumble which saw Vince McMahon win the Royal Rumble due to the Rock distracting Steve Austin. McMahon is going to WrestleMania XV!
2.The show starts off with Vince McMahon coming out to the ring after his son introduced him. McMahon brags about kicking Austin’s ass last night to win the Royal Rumble. He puts over the Rock for being able to make Mankind scream I Quit last night. McMahon is going to give the Rock the one hundred thousand dollar bounty to the Rock in cash tonight! McMahon thinks that the Rock was afraid that he has to wrestle Vince at WrestleMania. Rock doesn’t seem to like that McMahon assumed that. Vince has removed himself as the number one contender. He does have the right to name the person to challenge Rock at WrestleMania. He says that Austin has run out of chances against Rock and himself. Austin appears on the big screen and is in San Antonio. Austin tells McMahon that he is going to WrestleMania to face the Rock. Shawn Michaels is with him and says that Austin will be at WrestleMania to wrestle Rock. Michaels is recovering quite well since having his head rammed through a windshield. Michaels is protecting Austin from himself because he knows that Austin would destroy McMahon tonight if he were there. Apparently it is a rule that the runner-up gets the right to meet the champion at Mania should the winner not wish to compete. So, McMahon unknowingly allowed Austin to main event Mania! Austin wants to beat up McMahon more than he wants the title. Austin will put up his spot at St. Valentine Days Massacre pay per view against Vince McMahon. He wants the match to be a steel cage match. Vince accepts the match against Austin for February 14th! Austin guarantees to kick Vince’s ass and will walk right into Mania to wrestle the Rock.
3.Before the next match, Triple H grabs a microphone because he wants the Rock. He challenges the Rock to an I Quit match for later tonight! Billy Gunn competed against Goldust in singles action. The referee prevented Goldust from delivering the Shattered Dreams early on. Goldust’s music hits and the Blue Meanie comes out dressed up all in blue with a blonde wig on. Meanie hits Goldust with Head and Gunn gets the win following a pile driver. Meanie takes Head for Al Snow. Apparently he is going by Bluedust now.
4.The Rock comes back out before the next match. He says that HHH never beat him and that if it weren’t for Chyna he never would’ve won the match at MSG. He accepts the challenge made earlier. We go outside to see Mankind attacking security guys to get the money that Rock was supposed to get tonight. Mankind comes out to the arena and proceeds to throw the money into the crowd. Mankind doesn’t remember saying that he quit last night. He has solved the mystery and we go to Sunday Night Heat were he screamed I Quit several times, which was later used. We see how it was used and Mankind has figured it all out! He continues to throw money to the fans. Mankind challenges Rock to a match during the Halftime show during the Superbowl! It’s going to be an empty arena match! Rock accepts the match.
5.Mideon is back at the announcers and rambles before saying he has to go. Evil will be coming tonight.
6.Droz sends Steele head first into an exposed turnbuckle and pins Steele. After the match, Droz proceeds to beat down Steele in the corner until the Oddities run back down to save their buddy.
7.During a commercial break, the Stooges are forcing Shamrock and Bossman to drink something to prevent them from being distracted by Debra. We hear from Debra who says no one can resist her. That brings over Mark Henry who begins to hit on her. It looks like Debra is interested!
8.Bossman and Jarrett kicked off the contest with Bossman hammering away on Jarrett until Jarrett connected with a dropkick. Bossman nailed a baseball slide throat thrust from the floor and a scoop slam moments later. Owen tagged in looking for the Sharpshooter but couldn’t get it locked in. Shamrock entered and stomped away on Owen. Owen with a kick to the side of Shamrock’s head but Shamrock comes back with a side Russian leg sweep. Owen gets a near fall after a snap scoop slam and drops Shamrock with a spinning heel kick. He goes up top but misses a missile dropkick. Shamrock drops Owen with a belly to belly suplex and Shamrock is getting distracted a little bit. He had the ankle lock on Owen but it didn’t last. The Blue Blazer comes out and smashes a guitar over Shamrock’s head to allow Owen to pick up the win and titles! I’m pretty sure the Blazer was Koko B. Ware! Kevin Kelly interviews the new champs with Owen saying that he proved that he isn’t the Blue Blazer.
9.Shane McMahon comes down to the ring with the Stooges by his side. He is not happy with what Kane has been doing as of late. He wants Kane to enter the ring and it doesn’t take long for him to come out. Shane wants Kane to repeat his apology in public! Kane proceeds to apologize again, a couple of times because Shane couldn’t hear him. Shane wants Kane to get down on his knee to apologize. Kane actually does what is asked of him. That is still not good enough. He wants Kane to get on both knees. X-Pac comes out to stop whats going on. Pac wants to know how much crap Kane is going to take. Pac wants Kane to run with DX! Kane ends up grabbing Pac and choke slams Pac! Kane drags Pac to a corner so Shane can deliver his own bronco buster onto Pac! I suppose they are trying to keep Kane a heel now.
10.Earlier today, D’Lo Brown was at a Walgreens with PMS. Brown was forced to buy some tampons for Terri.
11.It’s time for Val Venis to debut his newest production of adult films. The name of the video is Saving Ryan’s Privates! Oh no, Val Venis made a video with Ryan Shamrock, Ken Shamrock’s sister! He had a shower with Ryan Shamrock. Ken is not going to be happy about that one.
12.Venis competed in actions against Test this week. Venis sent to the floor where Ken Shamrock whacks Venis over the back with a steel chair. That allows Test to hit the pump handle slam and wins the match. After the match, Ken Shamrock beats down Venis until Billy Gunn runs out to make the save on Venis. Venis thinks that Gunn hit him with a chair and ends up attacking Gunn because he has no idea who hit him with the chair.
13.Road Dogg and Al Snow attack Gangrel and Edge as they appear out of their fire circle on the ramp way. They quickly brawl to the backstage area. The Brood rams a dumpster into Dogg and Snow against a wall backstage. They all climb up a steel structure where Bluedust was hanging out and gave Snow head to cause all four men to crash through tables. Dogg pinned Gangrel to give them the win. After the match, Snow challenges Dogg to a best two out of three falls match for the WWF Hardcore Championship. They end up being attacked by the Ministry. The Undertaker is seen saying this will be a holy war of epic proportions!
14.HHH hammers away on Rock to kick off the main event until Rock bails to the floor. Rock quickly returned but continued to get punched by HHH. HHH tosses Rock to the floor and follows up with a baseball slide. They brawl to the top of the aisle way trading right hands. HHH clotheslines Rock on the steel ramp and wants Rock to quit, but he doesn’t. HHH rams Rock’s head against the steel. Rock sends HHH head first into the ring bell and talks into the headset as he tries to get HHH to give up. HHH tackles him and delivers several right hands. They brawl into the crowd trading right hands. Rock is being choked with a cord. Rock refuses to give up to HHH. Rock avoids being hit with the ring bell and plants HHH with a DDT. Rock puts the bell on HHH’s face and hits the People’s Elbow onto the bell! HHH still refuses to give in. HHH goes for the pedigree and plants Rock with it! HHH sends Rock to the floor and goes for the pedigree on the floor, which he hits! HHH looks to hit a third one through the announcers table. The Corporation comes out and Kane has snatched Chyna! Big Bossman wants HHH to say I Quit or Kane will choke slam Chyna! HHH says he quits and saves Chyna. Ugh, that was kind of lame. After the match, HHH has a stare down with Kane but Chyna ends up hitting HHH with a low blow! Chyna has turned on DX and has joined the Corporation! HHH is beaten up by the Corporation! Vince McMahon comes out and is kissing up to Chyna for joining them.
Final Thoughts:
There was a lot happening on this weeks edition of RAW. The opening segment was alright with McMahon not knowing his own rules that allowed Austin to sneak into the main event at Mania. I’m still confused as to how anyone can have more power than the owner of the company, though.
I like Owen and Jarrett winning the tag team titles. They just look like a really good tag team and they are both very good wrestlers to hold the titles. I’m assuming that the WWF is really trying to keep Kane a heel judging by the segment he had with X-Pac and Shane tonight. It was an effective segment if that’s the case.
The setup for a Venis/Ken feud was done nicely as well. Ken as a pissed off psycho works perfectly and they gave him a really good reason to give fans the idea that Venis is about to have his ankle broken.
The main event was enjoyable, though I thought the finish was rather weak at first. But, since it was all a swerve and Chyna just joined the Corporation to screw over HHH it made sense.
Overall, it was a very good RAW episode in my opinion. Things continue to progress well as we build towards St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Thanks for reading.