SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report was published originally on PWTorch.com 20 years ago this week…
WWE Raw virtual time ongoing review
Aired July 14, 2003
Live from Indianapolis, Ind.
Broadcast live on TNN
By Jason Powell, PWTorch assistant editor
1st Quarter Hour
The show opened with the usual still-photos of Eric Bischoff and Steve Austin… A video recapped last week’s storyline between Steve Austin and Kane. The video mixed shots from last week’s show and a clips of creepy little girls from what I’m guessing was a past Undertaker or Kane video… The opening montage aired…
Chris Jericho was standing in the ring with the Highlight Reel set. Jericho said he wanted to start the show off “because enough is enough.” Jericho said something has to be done about the “utter chaos” that Raw has become the last two weeks. “Superstars are getting attacked backstage,” Jericho said. “Grown men are terrified to go into their own locker rooms.” Jericho introduced the one man who could do something to change things. Jericho introduced Eric Bischoff, who walked to the ring wearing a neck brace.
Jericho thanked Bischoff for having the courage to appear on his show just two weeks after being powerbombed off the stage. Bischoff said his doctors wanted him to take several weeks off to let his neck heel, but he couldn’t do it because Austin was “running the show into the ground.” Bischoff said he received a court order banning Kane from the arena. “However, we are going to see Kane on the show because we’ve arranged for a live sit-down interview between Kane and Jim Ross,” Bischoff said. Bischoff added that Kane will be doing his end of the interview from the WWE studios in Stamford, Conn.
Bischoff introduced footage taped last week of Rob Van Dam confronting Kane backstage last week. Kane grabbed RVD by the throat and threw him through a wall. Back live, Jericho applauded Bischoff for banning Kane from the building. “He’s crazy,” Jericho said of Kane. “Who knows what he might do?” Jericho turned his attention away from Kane momentarily to hype his match with Shawn Michaels that will take place on next week’s show. Jericho started sucking up to Bischoff again, but was interrupted by Steve Austin’s music.
Austin stormed to the ring and complained about Bischoff having Kane banned from the building. Austin said he wanted to whip Kane’s ass after what he did last week. Austin teased attacking Bischoff, but backed off and started to leave the ring. Jericho stopped Austin from leaving and began ripping into him verbally. Austin listed to Jericho for about a minute before giving him the Stunner to end the segment…
Jonathan Coachman and Jerry Lawler introduced the segment and hyped Triple H & Ric Flair & Randy Orton vs. Bubba & D-Von & Spike Dudley, Booker T vs. Christian in an Intercontinental Title rematch, Gail Kim vs. Molly Holly for the WWE Women’s Title, and Kane’s sit-down interview…
(Commentary: A good opening segment. Jericho, Bischoff, and Austin were all effective at setting the mood of the show and explaining their individual views on the Kane situation. Unfortunately, whatever good came from the segment was eliminated Coachman introduced himself as the play-by-play announcer. The explanation that is being used is that Ross is conducting the sit-down interview with Kane in Stamford. Please tell me that there’s not going to be an injury angle with Ross that keeps Coach doing commentary for the next few weeks.)
2nd Quarter Hour
[Commercial break]
(1) Kevin Nash & Scott Steiner & Trish Stratus (w/Stacy Keibler) beat Test & Steven Richards & Victoria 5:10. The rules of the match allowed men and women to wrestle one another. This seemed to confuse Coachman, who tried to establish the opposite just seconds before Trish and Test locked up. Late in the match, Test deserted his team and headed up the ramp. Nash hit the Jackknife on Richards and scored the pin…
Backstage, Jericho complained to Bischoff about Austin attacking in the earlier segment. Bischoff said he can’t imagine there is a company policy that would allow that. Jericho told Bischoff that he just gave him an idea…
[Commercial break]
Lance Storm came to the ring and read a prepared statement in which he told fans that he will be forced to take legal action if they continue to chant boring before, during, and after his matches…
3rd Quarter Hour
(2) Maven beat Lance Storm at 6:06. After five minutes of back and forth action that received boring chants from the crowd (thanks to Storm’s new gimmick), Storm connected with a great superkick for a nearfall. Storm locked in the Maple Leaf finisher, but Maven reached the ropes. Storm pulled Maven off the ropes and tried to keep him locked in the hold, but Maven rolled him up for the win. “Not only is (Storm) boring, but now he’s on a losing streak,” Lawler commented…
(Commentary: Coachman isn’t the only one making mistakes tonight. So far, I’ve posted this review on the wrong website, produced a duplicate version of this review, and listed the first match as match number two. Doh! Thanks for hanging in there with me.)
In Stamford, Jim Ross told a production member that he was nervous about interviewing Kane but had to because it’s his job…
La Resistance walked to the ring for a promo. Sylvan Grenier said he and his partner were there to celebrate for two reasons: (1) Eric Bischoff is back. (2) French Independence Day. The duo took turns singing the French National Anthem as the show went to commercial…
[Commercial break]
4th Quarter Hour
La Resistance were still singing when the show returned from the break. Bubba Ray and D-Von hit the ring and attacked the heel team. The Dudleys got the better of the encounter and hit 3D on Dupree. After the heels fled to ringside, Spike walked to the ring while waving an American flag. Bubba took the mic and led the crowd in signing the U.S. National Anthem. Oddly enough, Bubba’s singing sounded exactly like Jim Duggan’s until he got to the “Land of the free” line, at which point he hit a Roseanne-like high note. Lame segment…
[Commercial break]
(3) Triple H & Ric Flair & Randy Orton beat Bubba & D-Von & Spike Dudley in an elimination match at 14:38. Bubba dominated Flair for the first minute of the match. Flair backed away from Bubba, flipped him off, and clearly told him “F— you.” This was just part of the match, but I’m sure Flair will catch some hell for it from Vince or one the agents once he gets backstage. Heck, if Bischoff were really running the company, he’d probably fire Flair for what swearing on TV. Then again, if Bischoff were really running the company, Flair would probably be sitting home or working for NWA-TNA right now. Anyway, the two teams traded offense for the next few minutes until Spike removed his shirt and revealed the singlet he wears underneath his usual gear. A few seconds later, Orton hit a Stunner-like move on Spike to eliminate him from the match.
5th Quarter Hour
After Spike had been eliminated, Triple H grabbed a La Resistance’s flag from ringside and hit D-Von with it. Triple H rolled Randy Orton onto D-Von for the win, leaving Bubba to battle Evolution on his own. D-Von started to head up the ramp, but stopped when Bubba called for him to grab the tables. D-Von tried to oblige Bubba’s request, but several referees prevented him from doing so.
[Commercial break]
The heels worked over Bubba, who put up a good fight before being pinned by Orton. Lawler dubbed Evolution “the past, present, and future of wrestling”…
Coachman and Lawler aired still-shots of Tommy Dreamer and Rico after they were left lying by Kane…
Backstage, Rob Van Dam entered Bischoff’s office and demanded a match against Kane. Bischoff agreed to the match, but tried to talk RVD out of it. RVD would have none of it and vowed to finish Kane next week…
[Commercial break]
6th Quarter Hour
Backstage, Chris Jericho led La Resistance, Rico, Jackie Gayda, Christian, Lance Storm, Steven Richards, and Victoria to sign a petition to force Steve Austin to resign from his post as Raw’s co-general manager. Tommy Dreamer entered the room and shook his head in disbelief after hearing Jericho’s spiel…
(Commentary: The funny thing about this angle is that Konnan actually started a legit backstage petition in WCW in hopes of buying Vince Russo more time as the creative director.)
Teddy Long and Rodney Mack walked to the ring for a pre-match promo. Long said he and Mack signed Jericho’s petition and would like to see a black man replace Austin as the co-general manager. Long said he would take the position, but he’s too busy running the day to day operations of Playa’s Incorporated. Long suggested Johnny Cochran, Snoop Dogg, and Marion Barry as possible candidates to replace Austin. Long then tried to lead the crowd in an anti-Austin chant, which was picked up by Jericho and heels backstage…
[Commercial break]
(4) Rodney Mack (w/Teddy Long) beat Rosey at 0:55. Mack made quick work of Rosey by scoring a rollup pin. Afterward, Hurricane came out and ran Mack and Long backstage…
7th Quarter Hour
Backstage, Jericho asked Evolution (wearing their new t-shirts) to sign his petition to have Austin removed from his post. Triple H thought about it and decided that life would be easier without Austin around, so he signed it…
[Commercial break]
(5) Booker T beat Christian to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title at 7:50 following a false finish. Coachman explained the storyline that Christian had an automatic rematch clause in his contract. Later, Lawler did a nice job of explaining the petition storyline by blaming Steve Austin for Kane’s recent actions. Lawler’s logic was that it was Austin who pushed Kane to become the monster he was once. At 5:00, Booker accidentally hit the referee from behind. Christian took control and went for a cover, but it took too long for Nick Patrick to run out and replace the other referee. Later, Christian rolled up Booker and held the top rope for leverage while the ref made the three count. Afterward, the two referees started arguing with one another over the finish. Steve Austin and another referee walked to the ring. Austin told the other two refs to go backstage if they wanted to argue, and then restarted the match with the new referee. A few seconds later, Booker scored the pin. Afterward, Christian got upset and attacked the third referee. Austin returned to make the save and left Christian lying after a Stunner. The otherwise solid live crowd was incredibly flat at the start of this match and never really picked up until Austin came out…
(Commentary: Coachman explained early in the match that it was important to Christian because there’s no guarantee as to when his next title match will come. That’s a nice line that should be used more often, especially when babyfaces are challenging heels for title belts.)
Backstage, Bischoff took a phone call from “Linda.” The announcers assumed it was Linda McMahon…
8th Quarter Hour
In the WWE studios, Jim Ross greeted Kane and told him that he would be able to say whatever he wanted during their interview. Kane presented Ross with a red gift box as they sat down to prepare for the interview…
(6) Gail Kim beat Molly Holly to retain the WWE Women’s Title at 3:13. After some solid work, Kim went from a huracanrana into a rollup…
(Commentary: I wish this match was a launching pad for Molly’s character. Unfortunately, I suspect that WWE used her in this role because she’s among the top female wrestlers in the company and is most likely to carry the green Kim to a good match.)
At the WWE studios, Ross opened the gift Kane gave him. “What the hell?” asked Ross upon seeing the gift. Kane pulled a gasoline can from the box and threatened to set Ross on fire if he made fun of him…
[Commercial break]
Ross and Kane (wearing the towel over his head) sat on separate black leather chairs during the interview. Ross introduced the video piece that aired at the start of the show in hopes that they would lead Kane to comment on his recent actions. After the video aired, Ross asked Kane for his reaction. “Anger, hatred,” Kane answered. “J.R., I was a normal happy child until a fire turned me into a hideous monster. And now RVD and Steve Austin want me to be myself and to expose the hideous monster to the world.” Kane asked why his friends would want to put him through the pain of showing his face. Ross noted that Kane wears the towel over his head to cover his face, but everyone who has seen his face knows that there’s nothing wrong with it. Kane said his doctors tried to tell him to seek therapy for the same reasons. Kane removed his towel and referred to himself as a monster. Ross said he sees a man who needs help. “Then help me, J.R., help me.” Ross said he knows what it’s like to be picked on. He said Kane needs to get to the point that he doesn’t care about what other people say. Kane said Ross is just like the others because he’ll laugh about Kane’s face once he leaves the room. “I told you, J.R., don’t make fun of me.”
9th Quarter Hour
Steve Austin’s music interrupted Kane, who heard it over the television monitor. Austin walked to the ring and said everyone is simply trying to help Kane get over his problems. Back in the studio, Kane grabbed Ross and said he needs to feel his pain. Kane shoved Ross to the ground and then poured lighter fluid over Ross. The WWE production crew began pleading with Kane to stop. Kane lit Ross on fire and left the room. Austin’s clothes burned for several seconds until the crew members put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. Back in the ring, Austin stood with a shocked look on his face. Eric Bischoff walked out and blamed Austin for Kane’s actions. Bischoff said he just got off the phone with Linda McMahon, whom he claimed will be showing up next week in Hollywood to fire Steve Austin…
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