Raw is War

Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
August 7, 2000

The Rock greeted his millions of fans as RAW kicked off live from Madison Square Garden in New York City! Immediately, The Great One called out Shane and Chris Benoit, telling them that maybe they thought Benoit should go up against The Rock at SummerSlam. The Brahma Bull said that would not happen, but the Crippler could come get his title shot right then!

Benoit countered The Rock, saying that at Fully Loaded, Benoit did beat him fair and square. Then, Benoit accepted the challenge! Immediately, Shane grabbed the microphone out of Benoit's hand, saying the match would happen, but with one stipulation. The Boy Wonder said that it just wouldn't be enough just to beat The Rock for the title, Shane wanted his group to absolutely destroy him before the night was over! Shane said his stipulation was that the title match would be no disqualification! The Rock said fine, and that he would whoop all of the boys across New York City!

Back in Commissioner Mick Foley's new makeshift office, Kurt Angle asked Mick if he had heard about the match that was just made. Mick said sure, and it was great because it was what the people wanted. Kurt then said that it was a SummerSlam match-up, which brought him to his request: Kurt thought he should be No.1 contender! The reason: he had won his gold medals in the summer and it would only be fitting to win the World Wrestling Federation Title in the summer as well.

Mick enthusiastically said he would take the request under consideration!

Stephanie was pacing, waiting for her husband to arrive. When he finally did, Triple H just told her that he needed some space, and that they shouldn't be mixing their business and personal lives. Then he asked her where Foley's "office" was.

X-Pac, continuing his game of one-upmanship with the Road Dogg, challenged Rikishi. In his effort to prove himself better in singles competition than his partner, X-Pac made several risky moves, and eventually fell victim to a Stink Face! The Road Dogg just laughed as he watched from the back. Finally, the Dogg couldn't take any more and he ran out and knocked Rikishi over to get X-Pac the DQ win! Before the D-Generates left the ring, they both teamed up on Rikishi.

Triple H finally found the Commish and said that some idiot named Joe just told him about the title match later. The Game said he didn't care who won and said that he should be the No. 1 contender! Foley told Hunter that Kurt had already come and asked. Triple H was fuming at the thought of Angle being No.1 contender, and Foley just rubbed salt in his wounds by saying it must be tough to see Kurt take his wife and then the title! The Commish said he would take both men's requests under consideration.

Hunter then walked into his and Stephanie's locker room to find his wife waiting again. She wanted to talk, but Triple H didn't, until she brought up Kurt Angle. He told Steph that Kurt should never get a title shot! The Game also said he's getting tired of Angle; that every week it's something new.

Steven and his RTC group came out and told the crowd that he was fighting the good fight to make the Federation clean and get rid of scantily clad women. The told anyone with a problem should come out and discuss the matter. In no time, the Dudley Boyz hit the stage. Buh Buh said that what the people really want is for the Dudleys to get wood with Steven! As the crowd loudly chanted for tables and hos, the Dudleys took it to the RTC group. The Dudleys even got a 3D on the Good Father, and D-Von got out a table for Steven! As the Dudleys went for wood, the members of RTC attacked them with some sort of club. Then RTC grabbed a Ho and the Good Father blasted her through a table!

Stephanie was back in Angle's locker room talking to her good friend Kurt about gold. Then, Steph warned Kurt about Triple H's anger. Angle asked if Hunter raised his voice at her, she said yes, but because he was mad at Kurt. Angle just said Hunter needed to be more sensitive to her needs.
Joe then came into Triple H's locker room to tell him that the guys in the locker room were saying that the guys were saying that Kurt could take down the Game!

In a three-man tag match, Too Cool teamed with Eddie Guerrero against vs. T&A and Val Venis. Before match, Val knocked out Eddie with a piledriver. Too Cool retaliated, but the brutal match took its toll on all of the competitors. Finally, Chyna entered the fray and took out T&A and Val! Val recovered and went to pin Chyna, but Guerrero had recovered well enough to nail him with a Frog Splash! Chyna then covered Val for the win!

Joe came into Kurt Angle's locker room, saying that Triple H was disrespecting Kurt and his medals. Joe added that Hunter had made Stephanie cry! Kurt told Joe that he would reduce the Game to tears!

In the ring, Stephanie asked her husband to come out so she could publicly apologize to him. Triple H came out, but did not look happy. Steph told Hunter that she's been so quick to anger because she's been jealous lately. She said that if they didn't argue about things, then it would mean they didn't care. After thinking about things for a minute, Hunter embraced his wife. Then, after they made up, Stephanie said they needed to talk business, and she called out Angle!

Angle came out and said he just wanted to do what was right. He said that everything that has been happening, especially last week's embrace, has all been happening in the heat if battle. Triple H told Kurt he might have Stephanie fooled, but he knew what Kurt was really up to. Stephanie interrupted, saying that if the Game really loved her, he would shake Kurt's hand. But before they could, Mick Foley came out to break up the "three-some."

Foley then replayed the embrace from last weeks SmackDown! The Commish said he was sick of hearing the whining about the personal relationships, so he was making a No. 1 contender match between Triple H and Angle!

In the no-DQ title match between The Rock and Chris Benoit, the Great One quickly got Benoit into a sharpshooter, which Shane McMahon broke up even quicker. The match went back and forth, with Shane interfering liberally on the Crippler's behalf. Both men got several near-falls, but the no-disqualification stipulation soon wore them down. The Rock had another pinfall, but Shane pulled the ref out before he could count to three! Benoit got The Rock into the Crippler Crossface, but just before the Brahma Bull could tap out, Chris Jericho ran out, knocked out Benoit and ran off Shane! The Rock got the pin after nailing a stunned Benoit with a Rock Bottom.

Back in Foley's office, Benoit and Shane both demanded that Jericho be punished. The Commish said he'd punish him by putting him up against two world-class athletes! Then he put Jericho in the No. 1 contender match with Angle and Triple H!

Tazz came out to his hometown crowd saying he was glad to be home, but there was one person there he had a problem with. Then Tazz walked right over to Good Ol' J.R. and told him he was sick of him putting him down! As J.R. stood up to defend himself, Tazz slapped him in the face! J.R. retaliated and slapped Tazz back, but the Human Wrecking Machine came back laughing and begged J.R. to do it again! He did, and knocked Tazz down to the floor!

Matt Hardy and the Acolytes battled Edge and Christian and Big Show in a three-man tag match. The action was typical of any Acolyte match, rough and brutal. The Big Show took the disqualification when he nailed the Acolytes with one of the Tag Titles. As Show was about to take apart Matt Hardy, the Undertaker made his return and went after him! Shane came out to help, but the Undertaker just chased him up the stage! Big Show followed Taker up the ramp, but Taker just pummeled him. Then Taker threw Big Show off the stage and through a table as a terrified Shane looked on!

As Triple H readied for his match, Chris Jericho ran into his locker room and attacked him! As Hunter searched around for Jericho looking for revenge, he bumped into an angry Kurt Angle.To determine the No. 1 contender for the World Wrestling Federation Title, Triple H, Angle and Jericho battled each other in a triple-threat match. The Rock also came out to offer guest commentary on the match. The match was intense, with the emotions of all three men boiling over. They held nothing back and Jericho had the first shot at victory, getting Angle in the Walls of Jericho. Triple H just watched Angle suffer in pain, but finally had to break the hold so he could get a shot at victory. Finally, frustrations for Triple H took over and he and Angle started hammering each other! Both men then went after Jericho, giving him a double suplex. As both lie on top of Jericho, the referee counted the three, giving no clear vision of who won the match! Afterwards, the ref raised both men's arms in victory! The Rock frustrated with the call, entered the ring and gave both Triple H and Stephanie a Rock Bottom!