The Rock was shown backstage shining up his sunglasses as a makeup artist tried to help him out, however Rock told him he was fine because tonight was Rock Appreciation Night.
In the arena, the glass shattered and Stone Cold Steve Austin hit the ring. Austin got on the mic and said he wasn't happy to say it but The Rock was the better man last night. Austin said he could appreciate Rock Appreciation Night so he called out The Rock, offering to shake hands with him.
Austin was instead greeted by Eric Bischoff who said he knew what Austin was up to. Bischoff said he knew what Austin was trying to hide and he then revealed that the night before WrestleMania, Austin checked into a Seattle hospital with some sort of anxiety problem. Bischoff continued and quoted from some documents that he had gotten from Austin's doctors. Bischoff read from the papers which said that Austin's spinal cord was basically a mess and that his personal doctor had not cleared him to wrestle. Bischoff said Austin was a liability to the company in that respect and told him that his position was terminated, in other words, he fired Austin. Stone Cold said he didn't appreciate Bischoff digging up personal records on him and said that he couldn't be fired. Bischoff disagreed and said there was even a FedEx package with Austin's walking papers headed to his home in Texas. Bischoff repeated again that Austin was fired and the cameras closed in on a shocked Austin as the show went to break.
After the break, a shot was shown of Austin standing backstage as Ross explained what just happened.
Triple H (with Ric Flair) defeated The Hurricane in a non-title match in 3:53. Before the match, Hurricane gave a young fan a mask but Flair came over and pulled some old school heel tactics and took away the mask from the fan and stomped on it. Triple H sold very well for Hurricane who hit a bunch of his signature moves like the Shining Wizard, a reverse neckbreaker and even a chokeslam. After Flair got involved, Triple H was able to come back and nail the Pedigree for the win.
Backstage, Rob Van Dam approached Kane who said he thought the two should go their separate ways after losing thier tag title match last night. Van Dam said he had just spoken with Chief Morely and had gotten them a rematch for the titles tonight. However, RVD said that in order to get the match he had to agree that if he and Kane lost, they'd join the Bischoff Administration. Kane was upset with that but RVD said, "Dude, we're gonna win."
Scott Steiner defeated Christopher Nowinski in 2:52. Nowinski was wearing a protective facemask and asked Steiner not to go after his face. Steiner told Nowinski not only would he punch him in the face but he'd shove his boot so far up his ass that he'd be flossing with his shoelaces. The match was all Steiner and after a risky overhead belly to belly suplex, Steiner won the match with the Steiner Recliner.
Backstage, Terri got a quick word with Austin who said the bottom line was that his neck sucked and Eric Bischoff fired him.
A Rock Appreciation Night Moment was shown, recapping some of The Rock's recent musical performances.
After that, the cameras were on Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler and Ross proceeded to run down Bischoff, calling him a no good son of a bitch for what he had done to Austin. Lawler tried to calm him down but Ross continued and said Bischoff should burn in hell for what he did.
Backstage, Bubba Ray and D-Von talked about what happened last night when they had to help Morely and Storm retain their titles against RVD and Kane. Bubba and D-Von both agreed that they didn't like what they had to do, but they did it to save their jobs. Chief Morely and Lance Storm then entered and Morely said that he just made the upcoming tag title match a three team elimination match involving themselves, RVD and Kane and the Dudleyz. Morely said it was the Dudleyz' job to help himself and Storm eliminate Kane and RVD and then lay down and do the job so they could retain their titles.
Meanwhile, Booker T was having his knee taped up when Ric Flair entered and started bragging about Triple H's win. Booker grabbed Flair by the throat and slammed him against the wall and told him not to get involved in his business before tossing him out the door.
Maven defeated Rosey (with Rico) in 1:49. Bit of a sloppy match with the usual outside interference from Rico, however, Maven came back to win the match with a sunset flip.
Afterwards, Lawler led us into a video package which showcased him being a celebrity photographer for Playboy.
Chris Jericho then made his way to the ring and cut a promo about his match last night with Shawn Michaels. Jericho said their match was a classic but went on to say that he outshined Michaels and that he deserved to win the match. He then said that Booker T picked the wrong guy to wrestle just as Booker's music interrupted him.
Booker T defeated Chris Jericho by DQ in 2:27. Jericho went after Booker's injured knee to start the match but shortly after, Booker took control, only to have Ric Flair come out and attack him, causing the DQ. Flair and Jericho beat down Booker as Triple H came to the ring and make it a triple-team. Shawn Michaels then ran in for the save and cleared the ring and looked to hit Sweet Chin Music on H but Jericho jumped in and tackled him just before he could land it. Booker tried to battle back but was outnumbered. Jericho then locked Michaels in the Walls of Jericho as Triple H put Booker in an Indian Deathlock. Eventually, they broke the holds and celebrated as Michales and Booker were left laying.
Jeff Hardy defeated Steven Richards (with Victoria) in 3:42. Victoria didn't seem to be her usual psychotic self, selling her loss at WrestleMania last night. Thanks to Jeff's blue body paint, both competitors ended up looking like a couple of retarded Smurfs in the ring. Victoria tried to get involved but Trish Stratus ran down which allowed Jeff to hit the Swanton Bomb for the win. Afterwards, Trish and Jeff got a little close with each other in the ring.
Backstage, Steve Austin shook hands and said goodbyes with the production crew and then walked out of the arena.
Meanwhile, Test was on his cell phone presumably talking with Torrie Wilson as he was raving about how hot her Playboy spread was as Goldust was seen in the background. Stacy Keibler entered the picture and Test quickly hung up, saying it was a wrong number. Test seemed to think that Stacy didn't believe him and he got Goldust to testify but his Tourette's acted up and he blurted it out that Test was talking with Torrie Wilson which didn't make Stacy happy.
Also backstage, The Rock was looking for Austin when he came by the crew members Austin just said goodbye too. Rock told them to turn their frowns upside down because it was Rock Appreciation Night and afterwards he was throwing a big party. He said the guys weren't invited but they could watch from the outside.
Rob Van Dam and Kane defeated Chief Morely and Lance Storm and The Dudley Boyz in a Three Team Elimination Match to win the World Tag Team Titles in 12:58. Midway through the match, Morely and Storm brought chairs into the ring. Bubba held RVD back for Morely to crack him but D-Von took the chair away and went to swing at Morely but Bubba tackled him and took him out of the ring which led to RVD nailing the Van Daminator on D-Von for the pin. Just before the break, Bubba was telling Morely, "I just saved your ass!" After the break, Morely and Storm were in control but eventually, the match deteriorated into all four men brawling. Kane landed a double chokeslam on both Morely and Storm and then RVD landed the Fivestar Frog Splash on Morely for the win. RVD and Kane then celebrated their win with their newly acquired tag titles.
Backstage, Bischoff was on his cell phone telling someone that the biggest surprise of the night was yet to come. He said the ink was still wet on the contract.
Ross and Lawler then hyped up next weeks main event which will be a tag bout pitting Shawn Michaels and Booker T against Triple H and Chris Jericho.
After the break, The Rock walked out to the ring for his appreciation night. He started out by saying that all the jabroni's in the crowd had come to appreciate the Great One. Rock then seemed sympathetic in talking about Austin's firing but then said that Austin shouldn't be embarrassed about losing to The Rock. Rock then introduced a nice video package showing highlights from The Rock's college football days, all his media apperances, his movies, his wrestling, etc. It was a very well put together video. Rock was then shown live saying that after he came back from Hollywood, the fans booed him and that was something he couldn't appreciate. Rock then went down the list of all the superstars he beat and said at the age of thirty, he had done it all, and then said it was all over. He said this would be the last time they'd see The Rock but suddenly, Goldberg's entrance music fired up and Goldberg was shown backstage making his way out to the ring. Goldberg appeared on the stage and and the sparks flew as he made his way down the ramp. After circling each other for a moment in the ring, Goldberg got a mic and said, "So, Rock, you wanna know who's next, eh? You're next!" Rock then charged toward Goldberg but Goldberg speared The Rock to the mat and then left the ring as the show went off the air.
Credit: Dust E. Davis of LordsOfPain.net