TV PG LV WWF attitude

Open

Why are the fans barking like it's the Aresino Hall show (or Road Dogg?) We're just a day away from that marquee [Austin RAW Angle] and Cole can barely contain himself. SUNDAY NIGHT HEAT LIVE FROM WWFNY. Your hosts are Al Snow (w/winter good luck mascots) and Michael Cole. Chris Benoit Tonight! We'll find out how he's doing, and maybe when he can return. Also, a big six person intergender match - Who Better Than Kanyon, Lance Storm & Ivory vs Team Extreme (not labeled as such.) But first...

Chuck Palumbo (w/"O'Haire + Palumbo video") vs the one Billy Gunn - I guess you need highlights before you get a new video. Q: How come they acknowledge Billy Gunn's nickname in the graphic and not the Hardy Boyz and Lita? A: Racism. Announcers talk about the Billy Gunn/Big Show tag team as if that angle hadn't been dropped about a month ago. It's a nice touch. Al theorizes they broke up due to lack of team name, but remembers his history of trying to get (obligatory) Steve Blackman (mention) to agree to a team name and thinks they gave up too soon. Then he starts to remember his idea for the names and it goes downhill from there. Palumbo, having patiently waited on the floor as Gunn came in, is reluctant to enter the ring after the bell has rung. He does eventually, while Gunn is looking at the fans. Circle. Lockup. Armbar by Gunn. Twist.  Palumbo reverses. Gunn reverses. Hammerlock, headlock, squeeze, Palumbo tries to punch free but no. Cole says "Let's talk about how this match came about!" but than I realize he's talking about Stone Cold and Kurt Angle. Gunn pushed into the ropes and comes back with a shoulderblock, but Chuck isn't going down. Chuck yells at him to try again, so Gunn's off the ropes and Palumbo tries a clothesline. Smart idea, but Gunn ducks, goes under a leapfrog and both men try dropkick, neither really connecting. Clean break staredown. Palumbo trash talks (as usual) and Gunn charges, but Chuck ducks the clothesline. He's still ducking when Gunn tries the swinging neckbreaker, so it's not a problem. Cover one two kickout. Gunn is surprised for some reason. Punch to the head. Gunn pulls up Chuck by the hair and Chuck rightly is offended, getting in an eye rake. Push in the corner and now kicks and punches. Gunn ends up laying on the top rope, which only causes Chuck to pause momentarily, yell at the ref, and go back to kicking and punching till Gunn is down on the mat. Cole: "This is a match, Al, that is so desperately important" but then again he's talking about that other one. If this is annoying tonight, I can't even imagine how bad it'll be tomorrow. Short clothesline, no Gunn ducks under, turns around and runs right into Palumbo's belly to belly toss. Delayed cover one two shoulder up. Big right. Right from Gunn. Right from Palumbo rights from Gunn. Whip, reversed by Palumbo but Gunn hits a diving forearm so that didn't help much. Gunn calls him up and knocks him down. Slam. Cover one two kickout. Whip, reversed, pick up but Gunn goes behind for the waistlock, Palumbo to the ropes, Gunn rebounds back (I don't like that spot), Palumbo slowly turns around, Gunn with a kick to the midsection, signaling the leg (recognition from the crowd!), off the ropes, JUNGLE KICK! I don't think that was what Billy was signaling. Cover him Chuck one two three! (3:02) Wow! Our announcers shocked at the upset (Billy too, if it matters) but they don't understand the power of the Jungle Kick. Palumbo walks to the back in triumphant pain. Coming up, Chris Benoit! Also that six person match.

Here's that RAW ad. 

Backstage (at the arena), Scotty 2 Hotty and Perry Saturn are talking! "Hey Perry!" "(sad) Oh hey Scotty." "Hey Perry, you and I are tag team partners tonight, and Perry, I saw what Raven did to Moppy, and I know you've been a little bit down lately, that's why Scotty 2 Hotty went out and got you a little gift to bring you up. Hold on, alright?" Scotty disappears off camera. I guess the cameraman can't do anything but stand there and shake. "Perry Saturn, meet, Moppy 2 Hotty!" It's a mop, with the bristles like Scotty's hair and a visor and glasses and painted on mustache and mouth. "Oh, wow, Moppy - Moppy 2 Hotty! Scotty, Scotty, thank you! Moppy, what? [confers with mop] He said Worms are good dancers because they're all slimy. You're welcome." "[a little weirder out] no problem, dude."

Our announcers discuss these amazing developments. Saturn and Scotty taken on Raven and Justin Credible later on. Cole makes a brutal segue to recap Torrie/Stacy feud from RAW (Al: "Lillian's speaking tongues!") and Smackdown (Al: "Every man in America won!") To settle this pressing issue, we've got our first match announced for No Mercy: Torrie Wilson vs Stacy Keibler in a lingerie match. Announcers are too busy making hooting noises to explain what exactly that kind of match is. Cole says it's the first ever but I don't think we can trust him.

Tommy Dreamer (already in the ring) vs Tajiri (w/Torrie Wilson) - Wow, he's sinking to new levels. So, if Torrie's can go out with Tajiri and still be in the Alliance, is Molly still part of the WWF? Tajiri's music ends and the bell rings a second later - that's some timing. Circle. Lockup, armbar by Dreamer, Tajiri flips out to reverse, Dreamer with a fireman's carry to reverse to a mat armbar. Now pulling Tajiri up and Tajiri armdragging him. Right misses, right misses, kick misses, kick blocked, clean break staredown, and the fans cheer for this one. Hmph. Tommy wants a handshake. Tajiri sizes it up, gives his hand, and catches Dreamer's right foot with hit other hand. The kick blocked and the leg held open, that leaves Tajiri with a clear shot for the left knee and he doesn't miss. Whip, reversed, Dreamer with a drop toe hold. Dreamer ties up Tajiri's legs, slaps him on the back of the head, then celebrates, forgetting that Tajiri is trip him up. Camel clutch by Tajiri, and he slaps the back of Dreamer's head. Now he lets go and runs on Dreamer's back, then kicks him in the butt. Dreamer crawls to the ropes to help him up. Whip, hiptoss no Dreamer hits a reverse neckbreaker. Turnbuckle smash, kicks and punches in the corner. Dreamers going to, well, do nothing because Tajiri escaped before Dreamer could even powerbomb him (or whatever), exchange of open hand slaps ends with a Tajiri high kick. Whip, reversed, Tajiri with the handspring back elbow. Corner whip, reversed, Tajiri with a thrust kick as Dreamer charges in. Tajiri waits for Dreamer to get back up - Tarantula! Referee Charles Robinson encourages the break and Tajiri gives him one, so he can go to the second rope and pose. Setting up for the kick, ducked, Dreamer picks him up - (Al:) Spicolli Driver! Dreamer passes up the cover to go chase Torrie off the apron, then around the ring, then into the ring. Torrie does the sensible thing and tries a handspring elbow of her own (as Tajiri keeps Charles' eyes away from the action) and the crowd seemed to dig it, at least. Tajiri with a kick to the leg, kick to the head, and a cover for one two three. (3:08) Still to come, that six person tag. Yep.

Stacker 2 RVD win of Smackdown.

Raven (w/Terri) & Justin Credible vs Scotty 2 Hotty & Saturn (w/Moppy 2 Hotty)- We get Raven's video, and Raven walks down the left side of the ramp while Justin walks down the right but the graphic switches them around. Talking about Raven leads to talking about RVD, naturally. Cole hasn't seen Saturn happy in weeks. Moppy 2 Hotty is set up in the corner. Justin and Raven talk strategy. Justin and Saturn to start this. Eh, Saturn's gonna rush Raven on the apron anyway. That works, but leaves himself open for Justin attacking him (except Saturn's look the other way so when Justin's first blows are far off, he doesn't even know he's supposed to be selling yet.) Justin with a whip, reversed, clothesline. Belly to belly suplex. Saturn setting up for the superkick, wait, he's gonna go do a springboard twisting dropkick instead. Cover one two kickout. Al: (lame reading) "Boy, it seems like Moppy 2 Hotty has really inspired Perry Saturn!" Justin with a jawbreaker and Saturn ends up in the wrong corner. He tries to fight his way out, but Justin manages a blind tag in the midst of an atomic drop and Saturn gets the Mr. Wrestling #2 Kneelift in his back and a clothesline in his front. Cover by Raven one two kickout. Corner whip, rebound clothesline. Shot for Scotty. Saturn up and Raven doesn't realize it - there's the superkick. Scotty arguing with the ref about Raven's cheap shot (he didn't seem to mind when Saturn did that) allows Terri to come off the top rope with a cross body. Saturn catches her, like he always does, but Justin dropkicks her over. Terri bounces off and out of the ring. There's another Mr. Wrestling #2 Kneelift, taking Saturn out of the ring. Tag to Justin, so Justin can provoke the people in the ring, keeping them from stopping Raven beating Saturn out of the ring. There's the Russian legsweep into the barricade. Saturn back in, gets a drop toe hold into the second rope, bounces back up and into a backspin DDT. Saturn laid out in the corner, so Justin backs up and sets up - sliding dropkick connects! Justin jabs, then back up for another charge, but Saturn moves out of the way. Raven tries to clothesline him from the apron, but Saturn ducks and Justin gets it. Saturn decks Raven - can he make the tag? Not if he keeps on crawling that slow. Justin grabs a leg and gets the other upside his head. There's the tag.  Scotty with a right for Justin, ducks Raven and hits one on him. Running diving forearm to take out Justin. Whip for Raven, reversed, flying headscissors. Justin's back in with an axhandle for Scotty. Raven holds Scotty and Justin goes for the superkick, but Scotty gets out of the way and (very helpful camera switch) Raven gets hit and knocked out of the ring. Raven with the double leg takedown, set up, signal tot he crowd and a catapult into Moppy 2 Hotty. Off the ropes, two handed bulldog. Scotty doing the dance. SATURN doing the dance. Saturn doing the hop while Scotty looks at him and wonders what the heck he's doing. WORaven just decked him, oh well. Raven's talking trash and not paying attention so Scotty is off the ropes and two handed bulldoging him. Ripping off the shirt. That look, dance, Al's channeling Harry Cary, WORM and there it is. Scotty doesn't have time to celebrate (anymore) because Justin's in and taking him down with a clothesline. Saturn back up and there's an exploder for Justin and Raven is clotheslined out of the ring. Off the second (Cole: "top") rope DDT from Scotty, one two three. (3:58) Scotty's a little dizzy but happy. Al Snow starts turning into Larry Zybsco. In a little bit, we'll here from Chris Benoit - here's a reminder of when we last saw him and why he's gone anyway. The story they're going with is the stunner and second rope back suplex he took caused it. Here's some always fun surgery highlights. 

Cole and Snow sit down on the stage, and introduce Chris Benoit. For what it's worth, the music that accompanies him out is his usual one - not that they'd change it. "Benoit" chant from the fans. Benoit's wearing his cool trenchcoat. Al talks about the injury, and Chris says he feels great, his therapy has been going great, he's got full range of motion back in his neck, he's working on getting his strength back and doing more physical stuff to build himself back up. His biggest problem right is watching the show and not being involved. Al asks how soon he'll back in the ring. Benoit says early next year. Cole says that Benoit's done a lot in his year and a half in the WWF, but he wants to take us back to his last night in WCW, where he beat Sid for the WCW Title. Well. We get a couple clip from Souled Out (1/00) and Benoit putting on the Crossface to get the win. (Sid's foot hitting the rope is noticeable, but they don't draw any attention to it. I haven't watched this show so I don't know if it's less or more than the original.) I guess if they're pulling out vintage clips (that they should've been showing six months ago) I can transcribe.

Cole: Almost immediately after you won this championship, you came to the World Wrestling Federation. Your thoughts on leaving the WCW for the WWF and what's been going on for the last couple of months?
Benoit: [Pause - watching the footage] You know, I have to say that, that was the most difficult decision I've made in my entire career. I spent four years there, you know, going out night after night after night, proving myself, climbing that ladder, waiting for that opportunity. When that opportunity finnaly came, um, you know I capitalized on it. The uh, the irony of it was that I was extremely unhappy with the management there, um, you know, and I wasn't too proud to be part of that company, the way it was being run. On one hand, I felt great about winning the title, on the other hand, I was ready too leave. 
Cole: Now you're here in the World Wrestling Federation-
Snow: You're here in the World Wrestling Federation, but we know your past history. You were in ECW, and then after in ECW, you were of course in WCW. Has anyone in the Alliance been in contact with you about joining the Alliance?
Benoit: Actually, um, I have to get Paul E. credit for his, uh, persistence; I've been getting calls from him about every week. But uh, I've worked for Paul E. before, I know him, and I have to say I don't want anything to do with him. [crowd cheers]
Cole: With that said, being contacted by Paul Heyman, when you are return to the ring, will you have any thought with possible joining with the Alliance? [crowd boos]
Benoit: You know, after watching what I've seen on TV, these past few months, and um, you know what I know about the members of the Alliance, I have to say, if, uh Stone Cold and started shooting off, uh, "What? What? What?", I'd have to knock him on his ass. [crowd cheers]
Cole: "And Chris, tomorrow night, speaking of Stone Cold Steve Austin, it's Austin versus Angle with the WWF Title on the line in one of the biggest matches in RAW history, tomorrow night. We've just got a couple of seconds left, but you've wrestled both of these men. Who do you like tomorrow in the matchup between Angle and Austin. 
Benoit: Well, since none of the Alliance are going to be involved, which is one of the stipulations, "No Alliance at ringside", uh you know hands down it'd be Angle. But you don't know with the Alliance, I mean, they've pulled things off before, but if it's Angle and Austin straight up, I definitely got my money on Angle.
Cole: Ladies and gentleman, the Rabid Wolverine, soon to be with us all, Chris Benoit! [then he plugs the six person again] 

So I guess that rumor about Benoit jumping if he won the WWF Title at the KOTR was just as false as it was with Jericho, huh? Maybe he didn't know Paul was gonna be on board them. I dunno why they kept bugging him about joining the Alliance - you'd almost think that's what they'd want him to do. Good of Benoit to put aside his personality issues with Kurt Angle aside for the higher cause.

Lugz Hi And Bye To Maven of Thursday

Cole and Al give Maven thumbs up for his effort, but aren't so happy with Tazz's actions post match. Al is disgusted. Al sounds like he actually might do something about it for once. Al encourages Maven to get in the ring and get a rematch. 

Who Better Than Kanyon (let us go back to...), Lance Storm & Ivory vs the Hardy Boyz & Lita - Michael Cole makes me well up in tears by saying: "Well, I'll tell you something, last night on Jakked, Kanyon was involved in a tag match, Chuck Palumbo his teammate, against the Hardy Boyz. Kanyon was about to get the Twist of Fate from Matt Hardy, Palumbo interfered, and Kanyon decided to take a hike! What a yellow coward!" Tomorrow night - Hardyz vs Booker T and Test, WCW Tag Team Titles on the line. Matt rather attack Kanyon than pose, but quick thinking referee Brian Hebner puts a stop to that. Lance is nice enough to come block the way too. Jeff and Lita watch the commotion from the safety of the ring, except the ring isn't so safe because Ivory can easily sneak up and attack Lita from behind, like so. Jeff's oblivious to it all (shock!) and actually steps out of the ring to back up his brother instead of turning around to save Lita. Now Hebner is in and the bell has rung. Hair toss by Lita. Corner whip, reversed, Ivory ducks the clothesline and hits the eyepoke. Kick, faceslam by Ivory. Forearms to the back by Ivory. Pulling Lita by her hair. Punches and kicks. Tag to Kanyon! Kanyon is happy! Kanyon does the hip swivel and Lita is quite disgusted. So is Matt, and he comes in to slug Kanyon. Brian is a little too late in realizing he should be in the match and Lita manages to make the tag to Jeff. Jeff in with kicks on Kanyon, corner whip, revered, Jeff with a kip up, Kanyon catches him but gets a headscissors (Cole: "hurricanrana") and taken down. Tag to Matt and Kanyon  is setting a new speed record tagging in Lance. Matt reaches for Kanyon on the floor, which really opens him up for shots form Lance. Turnbuckle smash. Choke. Now Matt is taking control with punches, a yell, corner whip, reversed, Storm charges into a boot, Matt to the second rope, yell, legdrop, right for Kanyon. Kanyon goes to the floor so Matt decides to chase, and gets nailed by Lance around a corner. Lance scoops him up, brings him in, jawbreaker and dropkick to the head. Cover one two kickout. Tag to Kanyon, who has no problem punching Matt when he's down. Then he starts crawling over towards Lita, but decides when she want known of it, he decides he better go back to beating up Matt. Whip, gut shot, Russian Legsweep. Cover one two kickout. Hold and tag to Lance, who gets in a kick. Kick to the chest. Kick. Smashing Matt's face into the face. Knee to the gut, tag to Kanyon. Double whip, double back elbow. Kanyon covers one two kickout. Front facelock, holding Matt down on the mat. Lita and Jeff gets a clap started to encourage Matt to make it to their corner. Matt up to his feet, pushing his way towards his corner, trying to lift Kanyon up, so Kanyon goes for a slam, but Matt falls behind and hits the inverted DDT. Both men down and both men needing a tag. Who will it be, now? Who will it be now? Tag to Jeff, he ducks Kanyon's clothesline and dropkicks Storm to the ground. Split legged jawbreaker for Kanyon. Off the ropes, jumping forearm. Double leg takedown, double legdrop for Storm. Kanyon gets a corner whip, reversed, Jeff with the corkscrew moonsault one two Ivory breaks it up. Lita in and taking care of Ivory with punches and kicks. Kanyon charges Jeff and gets dropped to the floor, where Lance already is waiting. Jeff of the ropes - somersault plancha! Lita with a whip, ugly clothesline. Ugly backdrop. Whip, Cole brings up them both being former Woman's Champions, ugly tilt-a-whirl slam, Storm pulls her off from a possible cover. Lita's not looking pretty. Kanyon in too - double whip, double clothesline is ducked and Team Extreme hits the triple clothesline! Matt goes back to punching Kanyon, Lita knocks Ivory off the apron, Jeff clotheslines Storm (and himself) out of the ring.  Corner whip for Kanyon, got shot by Matt, Twist of Fate, Swanton Bomb. One two three. (5:46) Matt trash talks Kanyon but doesn't try for any more violence - Hebner is standing in his way but I think Matt could get by him if he really wanted too. Maybe this is the end of that? STONE COLD AND ANGLE ON RAW

How did we get here - Stone Cold and Kurt Angle. Months of footage combined into a tidy (5:13.) Here's a graphic, in case you still don't have the idea. That's it.