Raw is War

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
September 9, 2002

Straight to business-KANE’s pyro hits, and the Big Red Machine makes his way to the Ring. Bradshaw joins him-he and Kane will be challenging Christian and Lance Storm for the Tag Team championships in our opening match. Bradshaw cuts a pre-match promo raging on the Un-Americans, champs make their way to the ring (their pal Test is nowhere in sight-for now) and we have a match. Pretty decent, loads of brawling and blatant cheating by Lance and Christian, end saw a ref bump and Kane hitting Lance with a chokeslam. Test hit the ring while the ref was down and laid out Kane with the big boot, William Regal followed and decked Bradshaw with a brass knuckles shot. Christian pinned Bradshaw, ref recovered, counted the 1-2-3. Christian and Lance Storm retain the tag titles. They, Test and Regal leave up the ramp together.

During the match, King was ranting about a huge announcement Raw GM Eric Bischoff will be making. Eric walking to the ring sends us to break

Back, Bischoff is in the ring. He mentions a lot of the wrestlers appear unhappy that HHH was bestowed the new World title. In response, he announces a ‘Fatal 4-way’ match for later on, with the winner getting a shot at HHH and the title at the Unforgiven PPV. The competitors in the elimination match: Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, The Big Show and Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam

Eric goes on to rag on Billy and Chuck’s ‘Commitment Ceremony’ scheduled to take place later this week on Smackdown. After mentioning the mainstream media coverage the event has drawn, Eric announces his response-tonight, RIGHT HERE ON RAW, we’ll be witnessing H.L.A.-Hot Lesbian Action. OK.

Backstage, Terri interviews Chris Jericho. Y2J bitches about Hunter screwing up his shot at RVD’s IC title last week, plans on getting revenge after winning the 4-way.

Cut to Jonathan Coachman interviewing HHH. Coach asks The Game who he wants to see win the 4-way, speculates it’s not RVD, who cleanly pinned Hunter in a tag match last week. Game could, naturally, care less who wins. Bubba Ray Dudley enters, wants to talk about Hunters upcoming match with his brother Spike. HHH tells Bubba Ray he’s lucky he’s not the Dudley getting in the ring with him tonight. Bubba Ray starts to talk about his upcoming match with Steven Richards when the Wacko One enters to lay him out with a shot from behind. Steven gets in a quick bit of sucking up to Hunter before we break.

When we return, Trish Stratus and Terri walk past a door clearly labeled ‘LESBIANS’.

Back to the ring for Steven Richards vs. Bubba Ray Dudley. Very good no-BS match, Bubba Ray gets the win after a Bubba Bomb off a top turnbuckle.

Backstage, we see Stacy Keibler and Victoria preparing for their upcoming tag match. Break.

Boot of the Week: Last week on Raw, Bubba Ray and Trish got a win over Chris Nowinski and Women’s Champion Molly Holly in an inter-gender tables match.

Next, Trish Stratus and Terri vs. Victoria and Stacy Keibler. Pre-match we see footage from last week-after Terri cleanly pinned Stacy in a ‘lingerie/pillow fight match, Stacy got revenge by ‘tar’ and feathering Terri. On to the match-not bad, Terri got the win for her team after hitting Stacy with a flying cross-body off a top turnbuckle. No lesbian action, much to King’s disappointment.

Backstage Chris Nowinski talks with Regal, who’s wearing an Un-American’s t-shirt. Chris is bummed that William will no longer be his mentor, but plans to console himself by checking out the upcoming Hot Lesbian Action. William slaps Chris, tells him to straighten up, a Harvard graduate should NOT be spending his time checking out skanky lesbians and trying to get into Molly Holly’s pants. William makes his exit as Chris looks close to tears. Break.

Back, Chris hits the ring to rag on the crowd. Tommy Dreamer, Singapore Canes in hand, makes his entrance to rebut Chris’ disparaging comments about the Iowa fans. Impromptu brawl breaks out, Chris seizes the cane, gets in a few shots, Tommy turns the tide, gets in some cane shots of his own, Chris does the scalded dog routine.

Backstage, Spike Dudley says howdy to the lesbians (2 unknown ladies). Break.

Slam of the week: During last weeks Main Event, RVD and Ric Flair got a win over HHH and Y2J

Next up, World Champion HHH takes on Spike in a non-title match. Much better than expected, Spike got in some good offense, HHH eventually turned the tide and hit Spike with a Pedigree. No pin, Hunter took a break and prepared to deliver his finisher one more time. Ref tried to check on Spike, Game shoved him down, Spike got in a low shot, followed up with the Dudley Dog, went to make the pin, ref recovered, made the count, Hunter got his foot on the ropes at the count of 2. End saw Hunter lock in a sleeper, ref called for the bell, HHH gets the win.

Post-match, Hunter laid in the boots to Spike. Bubba Ray hit the ring to make the save, Game chose to split.

Backstage, Coach talks to Jeff Hardy. Jeff feels he’s not at 100% tonight, mainly due to the undeserved mauling he took last week from Eric’s henchmen Rosie and Jamal. Jeff spots Eric and goes to confront him. Bischoff makes nice, states no thanks are necessary for his placement in the 4-way. Jeff is WAY pissed, stalks off after declaring further harassment will be met with ‘Extreme’ retribution. Eric glares after him sinisterly. Break.

When we return, Big Show is hanging with Chris Jericho backstage. Chris splits after saying ‘Think about it!’ to be replaced by Johnny Stamboli. Johnny asks wassup, Show tells him Chris suggested they work together against RVD and Jeff in the upcoming 4-way. Johnny thinks the plan sound, Show tells him to keep his opinions to himself and shoves him down. Show exits as Johnny glares.

Backstage, Coach chats with Booker T. He briefly hypes his upcoming tag match until joined by his partner Goldust, wearing a Kane mask. Goldust gets in some comments Kane style until joined by the real thing. Goldust hastily removes the mask, Bradshaw joins, beers in hand, wishes Booker and Goldust luck in their upcoming match with Regal and Test, then asks if anyone wants to join him later on in checking out the Hot Lesbian Action. Goldust is aghast, Kane is all for it. Booker finishes the segment in style, declaring only in America can a beer-drinking Texan, a Big Red Freak, a Gold Freak and a 5-TIME WCW Champion hook up to kick Un-American butt AND enjoy Hot Lesbian Action. Break.

Next up, Booker T and Goldust vs. Test and William Regal. Real good match, loads of heat, end saw Regal clocking Booker with a brass knuckles shot behind the refs back. William went for the cover, broken up by a run-in from Kane. Bradshaw joined in, Christian and Lance Storm followed suit, Pier 6 brawl breaks out, Un-Americans are quickly cleared from the ring. DQ victory goes to Test and William Regal.

Lesbians walking hand in hand backstage send us to break.

Back, Eric is in the ring to further rag on Smackdown's upcoming Commitment Ceremony. He invites the ‘Lesbians’ to the ring. Girls enter, Eric raps with them briefly, King is going nuts. Eric invites the girls to have at it, girls paw each other, Eric invites them to strip off shirts, no sweat, more pawing, Eric requests the skirts go, again no problem. Girls hug, kiss-until Eric announces that sex is best accompanied by violence. Yep, 3 minutes are up, Rosie and Jamal hit the ring, clobber the girls, Rosie sets them in a blatantly sexual position, Jamal hits both with a splash off the top. Team of refs appear, Eric and pals split, team of EMTs tend to the girls. Break

Back, J.R. plugs next weeks episode of Confidential, which will be taking a look at the history of the WCW title.

Cut to backstage-Ric Flair wishes RVD luck in the upcoming 4-way. Rob thanks the Nature Boy and heads out.

Time for our Main Event: Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho vs. The Big Show vs. Rob Van Dam in an ‘Elimination Match’. Winner gets a shot at HHH and the World Title at Unforgiven.

Bell rings, match starts off hot and quickly becomes chaotic. After a ref bump Y2J brought a chair into the ring and clocked RVD and Jeff. He then went for Show, who seized the chair as the ref recovered. Show was disqualified when the ref saw him with the chair. The enraged Big Show chokeslammed all 3 remaining competitors before taking his leave

Back, more chaos in and out of the ring. Next eliminated was Jeff Hardy after a lionsault from Y2J, he and Rob remain. Chris eventually removed the padding from a top turnbuckle. Late in the match, HHH made his way down the ramp, distracting RVD. Chris seized the opportunity and rolled Rob up for a 2 count. End saw Rob slingshot Chris face first into the exposed turnbuckle, 5-Star Frog Splash followed, 1-2-3. Rob Van Dam gets the win and a title shot at Unforgiven. Up on the ramp, Hunter appears none too pleased that Rob got the win. End of Show.