Written by: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation presents RAW
Date: 1/4/1999
From: Worcester, MA
Matches:
1.)Steve Blackman defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock in a non-title match
2.)Goldust defeated Mark Henry by disqualification
3.)The Godfather wrestled Test to a no contest
4.)Triple H defeated Mankind to earn a spot in the Royal Rumble
5.)Edge wrestled D’Lo Brown to a no contest
6.)Kane defeated Pat Patterson & Gerald Briscoe
7.)WWF Hardcore Champion Road Dogg defeated Al Snow
8.)Mankind defeated WWF World Champion The Rock in a no disqualification match to win the title
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.Vince McMahon says that he hopes the people can forgive him for firing Shawn Michaels. He says no one harms his son Shane McMahon and they will be punished by him. Shawn Michaels is seen walking backstage and looks to be walking towards the ramp way. Michaels appears and has backup with him.. it’s DX! HBK says he is the Commissioner no matter what, thanks to this lawyers. He notes how he was told he wouldn’t answer to anyone. McMahon can’t fire him! There is no way he is going to resign, so McMahon is stuck with him. We see footage from three weeks ago where McMahon drew his number for the Royal Rumble. HBK tells McMahon that since he is in the Rumble, Michaels has control over him because he is a wrestler. Michaels announces he will not be entering the Rumble as number 30. Instead, McMahon will be entering number two right behind Steve Austin! HBK says sometime during the next two hours he is going to get a surprise for McMahon. “This surprise is going to drive you stone cold crazy!”
2.Blackman nails Shamrock with a spin kick and controlled the early moments with a scoop slam as well. Dan Severn walks down to ringside sporting a neck brace while Shamrock beats down Blackman with strikes after a power slam. Shamrock ducks a kick attempt and hits a belly to belly suplex. Shamrock knocks Severn off the apron when Billy Gunn runs out and hits the Fame-Asser. Blackman covers and the referee makes the count to give Blackman the win. After the match, Shamrock runs to the back to try and get his hands on Gunn.
3.Backstage, Shamrock and Gunn are brawling. They send each other into walls until several officials come over to break up the fight.
4.Mankind comes down to the ring to cut a promo. He says he grabbed a mans testicles for the first time in his life. He has a new hobby, which is kicking the McMahon Family’s ass. Mankind wants a shot at the Rock’s WWF World Championship at the Royal Rumble. He says he beat Rock at the pay per view Rock Bottom and deserves another shot. Vince McMahon comes out and says that Mankind is nothing but a monster. He says that had Mankind listened to him before he could be the champion right now but instead he listened to the fans. Vince is amazed that Mankind would ask for a title shot considering what he did to his son. He says that Mankind hasn’t even paid his dues to earn a title shot. Mankind will never again compete for the WWF World Championship. Well, McMahon books Mankind in a match tonight against HHH with the winner entering the Royal Rumble match. There will be a special referee for the match, Shane McMahon.
5.Chyna and her girlfriend come out to the ramp way during the match, and that distracts Henry. Goldust takes advantage of this and delivers the Shattered Dreams in the corner. But, that is illegal and that’s a disqualification. After the match, Chyna enters the ring and kisses Henry on the cheek. Chyna tells Henry she hopes he isn’t hurt too bad. She confesses that the other night with him was incredible. She doesn’t know if she is enough woman for him. She wants to help Henry take a load off his mind with her friend Sammy. Yeah, you know what she meant. Henry clearly did because he fainted.
6.We see Dennis Knight chained up and hanging asking for someone to help him.
7.During the next match, Val Venis shows up on the ramp way. Test sends Godfather into the ring post and the referee calls for the bell because they weren’t listening to them. Venis brawls with Test on the floor to end the segment.
8.Mankind hammers away on HHH to kick off the contest and works on his arm. Mankind continues his offense with a running bulldog out of the corner. HHH nails Mankind with a clothesline to gain the advantage. Mankind baseballs slides HHH into the guard railing and knocks HHH off the apron with a clothesline. Shane kicks Mankind’s hands off the top rope as he tried to block a sunset flip and fast counts Mankind’s shoulder down to give HHH the win. After the match, HHH gets on the microphone and says business is business. He will take a victory any way he can. HHH ends up driving Shane down to the mat with a pedigree! Mankind has Shane tied up when Vince McMahon comes out wanting Mankind to let go of the hold. Mankind wants a title shot tonight against the Rock! Vince McMahon gives him the title shot, but Mankind isn’t done with demands. He wants it to be no disqualification, which Vince gives him.
9.Late in the match, Brown catches Edge when he leaps off the top and hits a sit out spine buster. Terri gets on the apron but slips off when Brown comes over and Terri falls to the ground holding her stomach. That causes the end of the contest with Terri screaming “my baby, no.” Honestly, that is just ridiculous.
10.Shane McMahon comes out and announces that Kane will be facing the Stooges in a handicap match. This is payback for Shane suffering emotional pain. Kane choke slams Briscoe and Patterson enters with a chair, only for Kane to kick it away. Kane drives Patterson down to the mat with a choke slam as well. Kane rams Briscoe groin first into the ring post as well. Kane grabs Shane McMahon by the throat as well but Vince McMahon tells him that he will go back to the insane asylum if he does. Kane lets go but he is clearly still mad.
11.Dogg tosses a chair at Snow when he runs off the apron. Dogg tries to set up a table but takes too long and Snow works on him with a chair. Snow springboards off the chair to send Dogg over the guard railing. Snow places Dogg on the table but misses a moonsault off the railing and crashes through the table. Dogg whacks Snow over the head with a cookie sheet, but Snow was enjoying it. Dogg sets up another table and hip tosses Snow through the table as they are over by the titan tron. They brawl backstage where they continue to hit each other with anything within reach. Now they are going outside! Dogg whacks him with a snow shovel and has him in a wheel barrow, which he runs into a steel door. Dogg plants Snow with a pile driver onto some wooden crates and wins the match!
12.Moments ago, Shawn Michaels was trying to get into his car but couldn’t. He was then attacked by the Corporation, but we didn’t see the attack on camera. Michaels is busted wide open as he is put on a stretcher. Michaels was sent face first through a windshield.
13.Rock works on Mankind until they go to the floor where Mankind rams Rock head first into the announcers table. Rock tosses Mankind into the ring steps to regain control of the contest. Rock drives the steps right into Mankind’s lower back. Rock connects with a snap suplex on the floor and grabs a headset to talk smack to the television crowd. Rock is punched as he takes sip of water and Mankind gets the headset to commentate his own match. Rock whacks Mankind with the ring bell. Rock drives Mankind through the announcers table with a Rock Bottom! Rock gets a near fall back in the ring. Rock hits the People’s Elbow but Mankind kicks out at two! Mankind comes off the ropes with a swinging neck breaker. Big Bossman grabs Mankind and Rock nails Mankind right in the face with the championship but Mankind kicks out at two, again! Mankind plants Rock with a DDT on the championship but Rock kicks out at two! Mankind grabs Mr. Socko from his tights and shoves the sock down Rock’s throat! Ken Shamrock enters the ring and hits Mankind with a chair. The Corporation and DX end up brawling on the floor. Steve Austin’s music hits and Austin comes down to the ring. Austin has a chair and whacks Rock over the head. Mankind covers Rock and gets the three count to win the match and title! The crowd goes nuts while McMahon is left livid! After the match, Mankind celebrates the huge victory with DX while Rock is helped to his feet.
Final Thoughts:
I enjoyed the show. The buildup to the main event was done very nicely and the crowd went nuts when Mankind won. A lot of the angles were advanced in a good way on this episode. The Henry/Chyna stuff was kind of funny because it’s obvious that Chyna’s friend is actually a man. I didn’t like the Terri/D’Lo thing because that was just way to soap operaish. It’s clear to me that people are really behind Kane, who is being held against his will to be part of the Corporation. When he finally breaks free the fans will be rabid for him, in my opinion. Anyway, it was a really good show to kick off 1999.
Thanks for reading.