WWF: Raw is War
May 4, 1998
Richmond, VA
Richmond Coliseum

The current WWF champs are as follows:
WWF Champion: Steve Austin (3/29/1998)
Intercontinental Champion: The Rock (12/8/1997)
World Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws (3/30/1998)
European Champion: Triple H (3/17/1998)
Light Heavyweight Champion: TAKA Michinoku (12/7/1997)

TIME TO GET RAW! Your hosts are Jim Ross and Michael Cole.

We’re supposed to start the show with the Love Shack segment, but Mick Foley appears and *not* Dude Love. He appears to be having an identity crisis. I’m surprised it’s taken him this long to realize that. Ever since he lost to Stone Cold Steve Austin in a valiant match at Unforgiven, it appears his status as a top contender has been replaced by Goldust of all people. The WWF has told him that he is now going to face Terry Funk in a no holds barred match tonight. He thinks Vince McMahon wants this match so that Vince won’t have to deal with them anymore. Foley says he won’t throw away thirteen years of hard work only to then suck up to Vince McMahon. He also won’t let his wife and kids see him “bumping and grinding” with a couple second-rated strippers on national TV. He tosses aside the embarrassing Dude Love attire and then demands Vince McMahon come out to give him some answers. Here comes the boss. Foley yells at Vince telling him he will never dress up like a horse’s ass ever again. Vince grabs the mic and belittles Foley for calling out the owner of the WWF. He points out that Foley just didn’t get the job done at Unforgiven because Austin is still the WWF champion. When Goldust was named the #1 contender to the WWF title, Foley bitched and moaned just like all of the people in the audience would have done. When they don’t give that raise or promotion, they make excuses. Vince tells Foley that a match with Terry Funk is not a punishment, but a REWARD. Vince believes he and Foley are a lot alike because Foley can take adversity and turn it around into triumph. This no holds barred match with Funk is an opportunity. If Foley can beat his best friend within an inch of his life, he will making the sacrifice that is necessary to become the WWF champion. SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY, Mick! If Vince is impressed with beating Funk, Foley will be the new #1 contender. Vince wraps up saying that Foley threw the Dude Love attire in his face – how does it feel for Vince to throw the truth back in Foley’s face? *GLASS SHATTERS* Steve Austin walks right past Foley and backs Vince McMahon down the ramp. Austin then proceeds to destroy the Love Shack set and heads to the ring for a staredown with McMahon. It’s segments like this one and the believability of the Mr. McMahon character that turned things around for this company. You can have an Austin, but he won’t last if he doesn’t have someone to play off of and Vince was so perfect in this role.

• The Rock & Owen Hart (w/the NOD) vs. Faarooq & Steve Blackman
  

Owen Hart is now officially a member of the Nation of Domination after turning on Ken Shamrock and breaking his ankle last week. Commissioner Slaughter comes down and makes sure the rest of the Nation heads back to the locker room to prevent any shenanigans. Big brawl to start. In the ring though, Faarooq hits the DOMINATOR on Rock and Owen has to break up the pinfall. Blackman concentrates on Owen’s knee and delivers a nasty looking leg whip on the guy. You can see Blackman stop for a second to make sure Owen still has his knee in tact. Faarooq tags in and picks up where Blackman left off as he wraps Owen’s knee around the post. Rock gets a tag and receives a piledriver (!!) for 1-2-NO! Rocky fires back with a Hurricane DDT. Tag to Owen, he delivers a reverse neckbreaker and a flying elbow drop on Faarooq. Owen draws in Blackman so he and Rock can double-team Faarooq. Rock slams Faarooq down for the People’s Elbow and puts his foot on Faarooq’s chest for only a two-count. Back over to Owen, he comes off the ropes into a Faarooq Spinebuster. Tag to Blackman, he’s all clotheslines and dropkicks on the Nation. Bicycle Kick to Owen sets up the hammerlock-armbar submission, but Rock breaks it up. Rock and Faarooq brawl to the floor. Meanwhile, Jeff Jarrett comes out and snaps Blackman’s neck on the top rope. Blackman staggers around into a spinning heel kick from Owen and that’s all she wrote. (6:20) Not too shabby. *½

Vince McMahon does a voiceover for a montage on Gerald Brisco to show how great a guy he is. We get to see him with his family (there’s Wes Brisco!) and some shots of the actual Brisco Brothers body shop down in Florida. With a kid on his lap and his wife sitting there next to him smiling like a goof, Brisco thanks Vince McMahon because he is the one responsible for all of his successes.

EDGE IS COMING. YOU THINK YOU KNOW HIM? Yes, I think we all do now. It’s 2017. He’s already come and gone and retired. Get with it.

Out comes D-Generation X to the ring. LOL SEXUAL EUPHEMISMS. They make threats to LOD 2000 and the DOA. Apparently, the DOA is getting a WWF tag titles shot after beating the Outlaws thanks to a twin switcheroo last week on RAW. Well, here comes LOD 2000 and Sunny to respond. No DOA. Hawk makes some jokes at the expense of DX. He says we’ve got Mr. Ass, Mr. Hole (Road Dogg), Mr. Nose (HHH), and just plain Mister (Chyna, obvs). X-Pac doesn’t get any hate? LOD 2000 and the DOA wants an eight-man tag with these losers. X-Pac is quick to accept the challenge. More dick jokes. X-Pac refers to Sunny as “Skanky” and then tells them all to suck it. Someone who is obsessed with telling other people to suck their dick probably shouldn’t be throwing stones at someone who likes to suck dicks. Ugh, I feel like I need a shower after that last sentence…

• Dan Severn vs. Savio Vega
  

UFC 17 gets a plug during this match. It’s a very important show in hindsight for the promotion. Not only does Dan Henderson make his UFC debut on that night and wins a four-man middleweight tournament, but Chuck Liddell has his first MMA fight on that show. This match is over in short order as Severn makes Vega tap with the deep armbar submission in 1:37.

They tease an interview with Paul Bearer conducted by Jerry Lawler back in the locker room before an ad break, but the cameraman lays down the camera and leaves it running. Thinking the camera is turned off, Lawler and Bearer “break character” and discuss Bearer’s sexual escapades with the Undertaker’s mother. Paul lost his virginity to the Undertaker’s mom at 19 years old and then we hear a story about what a slut she was and how they did it on the kitchen floor of the mortuary. This was a cool way to do this and feels like a precursor to the voyeuristic GTV.

When we come back, Jerry Lawler – still out of character – apologizes to Paul Bearer and the viewers for any offense that might have resulted from that accidental transmission.

They take us back to last week when Sable challenged Marc Mero to a match. We then cut to some footage of Sable working out. She’s about to bust out of that workout outfit. There’s metal bars sliding into the holes of the weight plates. So many sexual nuances happening here. I can’t *imagine* something like this being made today in WWE. Any chance Russo produced this?

• Jeff Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee) vs. Marc Mero
  

No match. Steve Blackman comes out and beats up Jarrett for a big pull-apart brawl.

ENTER THE WARZONE! Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Wait, no opening this week?

• Disciples of Apocalypse & LOD 2000 (w/Sunny) vs. D-Generation X
  

Lawler doesn’t see how the DOA and LOD 2000 can get along since the DOA were talked out of a WWF tag titles shot. He also thinks LOD 2000 just want to impress Sunny. Ref Mike Chioda orders Sunny to leave. The New Age Outlaws come out on Vespa bikes to mock the DOA. Chyna is forced to leave, but X-Pac says Chyna is wrestling tonight, so X-Pac leaves instead. Road Dogg and Animal start the match. Road Dogg avoids a powerbomb, but takes a powerslam and an elbow drop anyways. Tag to 8-Ball, he clotheslines and boots down Road Dogg and Helmsley. Skull tags in and hits a suplex on Triple H for two. Blind tag to Gunn, he fails to drill Skull with a clothesline and Skull clotheslines down both HHH and Gunn. Skull lowers his head for a backdrop and gets stuck with a Famouser instead. Gunn tags in Chyna who gives Skull a headscissors. IT”S A HISTORIC MOMENT~! Road Dogg and Triple H continue to pound on Skull as we go to commercial. When we return, Skull comes back with a powerslam on HHH. Tag to Hawk, he slugs HHH and the Outlaws. Helmsley calms him down with a facebuster and tags in Chyna. She kicks around Hawk and heads up in the corner, but Hawk falls into the ropes and she takes a bump to the floor. Crowd goes NUTS. While DX complains to the ref, Chyna pops right back up and low blows Hawk. While Chyna draws in the DOA and Animal, HHH and the Outlaws stomp the life out of Hawk. Tag to Road Dogg, he nails the Shaky Knee Drop for two. Helmsley tags in and hits a suplex to set up the Harley Race knee drop for another nearfall. Gunn comes in and keeps the pressure on Hawk with a Stinger Splash. He whips Hawk across into the opposite corner, but they collide. Hot tag to 8-Ball, but I wouldn’t want to bet on it like JR says. An argument ensues between Skull and Animal on the apron. They end up fighting on the floor and Hawk naturally helps out Animal. Meanwhile, 8-Ball hits Gunn with the SIDE SLAM and joins the mess happening on the floor. This ends the match in a no-contest or a countout. Not sure. Anyways, there’s no finish. (about 7:30 shown) Decent back and forth brawl. **¼

During the break, the DOA and LOD 2000 were still fighting backstage!

• Kane (w/Paul Bearer) vs. TAFKA Goldust
  

Kane’s arm is bandaged after the inferno match at Unforgiven. These two guys brawl for close to two minutes until the Undertaker comes down and attacks Paul Bearer. Kane heads out to help Bearer, but Taker is UNSTOPPABLE IN HIS BLOOD LUST. (1:54) Taker eventually has to do something with Kane and bounces his bandaged hand off the steps. Commissioner Slaughter and some refs try to break them up, but they brawl back to the locker room. Bearer – “DAMN YOU UNDERTAKER! THAT’S MY SON!” ¼*

Video montage airs that shows us the friendly history between Mick Foley and Terry Funk.

Val Venis vignette. He’s filming a scene in the woods with co-star Jenna Jameson from his latest porno flick entitled “Val Venis: Soldier of Love” and she’s supposedly blowing him. Little known story, but Vince McMahon apparently thought she was ugly. If I’m not mistaken, this is the only time we see her in the WWF and now you know why.

• No Holds Barred: Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk
  

Stone Cold Steve Austin is joining us for extra special color commentary. Funk comes out to Cactus Jack’s music and Foley comes to the ring without any music. Weird! Pat Patterson is introduced as the referee for this match. Austin doesn’t like this one bit. Not sure why though. It’s not long until Foley and Funk are on the floor. Funk hits Foley with a chair on the head a whole bunch causing a gash on the back of his head. Foley takes his turn dishing out the chairshots as well. After some more brief ringside violence, they are back in the ring for a swinging neckbreaker. Austin starts to have headset problems and blames everybody around for his troubles. He decks Jerry Lawler just in case he had something to do with it and puts on his headset. Funk sends Foley backwards into the steps, but runs into a boot. Funk backdrops away a piledriver on the exposed concrete and throws Foley into the guardrail that comes loose and collapses. Whoops. All of a sudden we’re in Tupelo as there’s a random concession stand where the two guys brawl around. The “hot dog guy” gets a suplex on the floor by Foley! Now it turns into an ECW-style match as Funk does a moonsault off the mezzanine and complains about his neck hurting. Foley doesn’t really give a crap and destroys Funk with a Pull-Up Piledriver through a table. They continue to brawl under the bleachers to go backstage, so we take a commercial break.

When we return, we see them brawling back towards the RAW staging area. Foley gives Funk a DDT on the ramp for 1-2-NO! Back to the ring, Foley gives Funk the Cactus Clothesline to land him in front of the announce table. Foley then puts Funk on the table and delivers the Cactus Elbow using the chair for an exclamation point. Foley rolls Funk back into the ring and takes a moment to talk some smack to Austin. Back inside, he covers Funk for 1-2-NO! DOUBLE-ARM DDT gets two! He gives Funk a PULL-UP PILEDRIVER and then a PULL-UP PILEDRIVER on a chair to finally score the pinfall. (14:11 shown) Despite already beaten his best friend half to death just like McMahon asked, Foley goes to even greater lengths to prove he’ll do anything to be the #1 contender as he continues to abuse Funk by bouncing his head off the chair some more. Austin comes in the ring and throws beer in Foley’s face. A blinded Foley puts Pat Patterson in the MANDIBLE CLAW. It doesn’t take him but a second or two to realize what he’s done and he releases Pat. Austin backs Foley into a corner talking smack to each other. Patterson comes charging at Austin with a chair and gets a STONE COLD STUNNER for his weak efforts. Even at his age, Patterson takes good bumps. Foley clears out and celebrates with Mr. McMahon and those second-rate strippers at the top of the ramp. Vince hands Foley back the Dude Love attire and it appears Foley knows exactly who he is now. Austin appears to be trying not to laugh as he watches Dude and Mr. McMahon dance to close out the show. This was FMW-lite for these two. The only blood you saw was unintentional as Foley got the back of his head busted open from a chairshot. I feel like this match out of context wouldn’t be as good as when it’s in context with the whole promo that opened the show. In context and understanding the storyline that surrounds this match, the violence makes all the sense in the world. ***¼

Until next time, so long for now.

Over the Edge: In Your House (brought to you by Castrol GTX) premieres Sunday, May 31 LIVE ON PPV at 7PM EST from the Wisconsin Center Arena in Milwaukee, WI.