JR and Jerry Lawler welcome us to RAW just as the steel cage ring is being lowered from the rafters for the first match of the night: RVD vs. Kane.
Kane enters first as Lilian Garcia goes over the three ways to win the match: escape through the door, escape over the cage or via pinfall. We're also shown clips from last week where Kane electrocuted Shane McMahon's testicles. Rob Van Dam enters next and the match is underway.
Steel Cage Match
Rob Van Dam vs. Kane
Kane attacked RVD the minute he entered and dominated the early parts of the match primarily by throwing RVD into the cage and choking him out at every opportunity. RVD's forehead gets busted open but he fights back with his assorted kicks. Van Dam almost makes it over the top but Kane catches him and they fight at the top where Kane is kicked away. Instead of climbing out, RVD then tries for the 5-Star frog splash but misses so Kane gets up and clotheslines him on the top rope before slamming him against the cage again. He keeps doing it and eventually the side of the cage breaks and RVD falls to the outside, apparently the winner.
But Eric Bischoff comes out and says RVD isn't the winner because the winner can only escape over the top or through the door. He then orders the match to continue.
...Commercial
We come back to see that the cage has been repaired and the match has resumed. Kane continues bashing RVD against the cage and then closes the door on his head. RVD eventually again makes for the top but he's caught and then super chokeslammed from there. Kane then covers Van Dam and gets the pinfall.
Winner: Kane
Kane exits through the door, leaving a fallen Rob Van Dam behind. EMTs come out to attend to him while Kane stands on the rampway and does his pyro thing while laughing.
Tonight, Stone Cold will conduct a "State of RAW Address".
We come back to see more replays of the Kane/RVD match...in case we forgot what happened.
We see RVD get wheeled away by the medics. He's able to move his arms, so JR is happy to report that he probably hasn't suffered any permanent damage. They will update on his condition later.
Clips from last week are shown where Goldberg beat up Randy Orton for Triple H to see.
Finally, we get live action as Eric Bischoff comes out. He says he'll get to Bill Goldberg in a few minutes. But right now, he wants to get a few things off his chest. First of all, now that Kane has taken care of RVD, it's only fair that he gets to eliminate Shane McMahon so Bischoff books the match for Unforgiven. Eric then shifts his focus to JR, saying he changed his match against Coach to a tag team match that also will include Al Snow and Jerry Lawler. The winning team will become the permanent RAW commentating duo.
Bischoff then moves back to Goldberg, saying he wants to get his money's worth out of him tonight. So he books Goldberg vs. Triple H but each of them will have a surprise tag team partner of Bischoff's choosing. So in other words, it's a tag team match.
Backstage, Goldust tries to boost up Lance Storm's confidence for his upcoming match against Rico.
Rico vs. Lance Storm
In the arena, Rico and Miss Jackie come out followed by Rico and Goldust. Before the match, Rico tells Storm that he'll always be boring so Storm sucker punches him. Goldust grabs the mic and starts up a "Rico Sucks" chant. JR and Lawler spend a good chunk of the early parts of the match talking about possibly losing their jobs at Unforgiven. Anyway, Miss Jackie tries to interfere at one point so Storm grabs her and plants a kiss on her lips. Storm then hits on Rico and gets the pin and he celebrates enthusiastically after the match.
Winner: Lance Storm
Backstage, Triple H meets up with Eric Bischoff and says he wants to talk to him. Triple H wants to know who his surprise partner will be but Bischoff says if he told him, it wouldn't be much of a surprise. Triple H understands but says he hopes it's a surprise that makes him happy. Because if he's unhappy, then most likely Bischoff will be unhappy. Eric wonders if that was a threat, Triple H says no but he just hopes he makes the right decision on this so the wrong person doesn't get hurt in all of this.
Jacqueline & Trish Stratus vs. Gail Kim & Molly Holly
Jacqueline and Trish Stratus come out first followed by Gail Kim and Molly Holly. Typical women's match with lots of double teaming by the heels. At one point, Kim forces Jacqueline to tag out to Trish while he tags to Molly but Trish cleans house on them both while Jackie, for one reason or another, has collapsed in the corner.
Trish's luck finally runs out as the heels dump her to the outside where Molly throws her back in as Gail scores an easy pinfall victory.
Winners: Gail Kim & Molly Holly
Jacqueline meanwhile is still incapacitated in the corner so Molly and Gail take the opportunity to beat up Trish after the match including hitting her with a double DDT.
Stone Cold's State Of Raw Address
Austin comes out for his �State of RAW Address.� There is a red carpet and a podium in the ring, and Austin tosses the podium out and busts it up!
He starts talking about Goldberg/HHH, and says that if HHH gets counted out, or DQed, he will lose the Title. He then turns his attention to Kane. He rants all the things that Kane has done in the past few months, and says that the only retribution that seems suitable is a personal ass kicking, but the rules says that he can�t unless he is provoke. So, he was drinking with his Cabinet, liquor cabinet that is, and says that they all decided that Stone Cold not being able to kick some ass is wrong. So he wants a hell ya from all those who also thinks it sucks.
Christian comes out to interrupt the �State of RAW.� �EXCUSE ME, INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION OVER HERE.� Christian questions why Stone Cold not being able to kick ass sucks, when he doesn�t get any respect. Christian does realize that he will not get his apology out of Stone Cold, but the PEEPulation wants the apology. An Asshole chant starts. Christian says that he isn�t out here for an apology anymore, he wants his own talk show. And since he defeated Jericho last week, he thinks that �The Peep Show� should replace the �Highlight Reel.�
This brings out Jericho. Jericho stares down Christian, and as soon as Christian opens his mouth, Jericho jumps him! Jericho is beating the crap out of him, and Christian bails.
Austin tells Jericho that he is proud of him. Jericho tells Austin not to patronize him, and wonders why he is thinking about canceling the �Highlight Reel.� Austin says that he had no plans of canceling the show, so Jericho can continue to complain about it, or they can have a few beers. Jericho is reluctant, because he knows that right after the toast, he will get a Stunner, but since he has to provoke Austin, he says: �If you want to see Y2J drink a brewsky with Stone Cold, give me a Do-I-Diddy-Diddy-Dumb-Diddy-Do!�
They have a toast, and chug down. Jericho gives Stone Cold a pat on the back, and Austin takes is as assault, and gives Jericho a Stunner!
Hurricane, Rosey, Spike, Bubba & D-Von vs. La Resistance, Conway, Mack & Henry
The heels are already in the ring when Rosey and Hurricane enter. Immediately they are attacked so this prompts the Dudley Boyz (all three of them) to come running down without an entrance. The match really doesn't last long as D-Von hits the whassup headbutt from the top only a minute or so in. A few seconds later the faces call for the table and D-Von and Bubba oblige and pull one out. But Mark Henry levels D-Von and brawls with Bubba on the outside while inside the ring the match finally gains some order.
The match quickly degenerates after that and both I and the commentators lose track of who the legal men are. Everyone gets beat up and/or chased away and predictably Mark Henry slams Bubba Ray for the 1-2-3 pinfall victory.
Winners: La Resistance, Conway, Mack & Henry
After the match, La Resistance beat up Spike Dudley and attempt to throw him on the table on the outside, but they COMPLETELY botch it and Spike's head and neck dangerously hits the edge of the table. Everyone, including La Resistance and the ref, are stunned so a minute later, La Resistance tries again but this time they put Hurricane through the table. Watch RAW to see this spot, it could have had horrible consequences.
Backstage, Eric Bischoff is with Al Snow and Jonathan Coachman and he books a six-man tag team match for Unforgiven: The Dudley Boyz vs. La Resistance and Rob Conway. Coach then starts to tell Bischoff that they have a surprise for him but Gail Kim comes in and says she wants to talk to Bischoff alone. Snow and Coach oblige and Gail takes off her coat and starts putting the moves on Bischoff.
Backstage, Terri interviews Triple H. Triple H basically says that Goldberg only has the image, marketting and hype, but that's all he is - hype. At Unforgiven, he'll prove that. And tonight he promises that he'll leave Bill Goldberg a bloody mess.
They show clips of the RVD/Kane match from earlier tonight and then run down the Unforgiven card. I'm not sure if I mentioned this but the six man match between the Dudleys and Spike and La Resistance and Conway will be a tables match.
Shane McMahon joins us from Stamford, CT for an interview. He vows revenge on Kane but Eric Bischoff interrupts him and asks Shane how he's feeling. Everyone saw what happened. Eric says he knows - Shane doesn't have any testicles but he makes it clear that there is no animosity between them stemming from Summerslam. But the Kane vs. Shane match at Unforgiven will now be a Last Man Standing match. Shane says "screw you Eric" but Bischoff says no, you're not listening - I just screwed YOU.
Backstage, Gail Kim tells Molly Holly that "it was quicker than she thought." Molly replies with: "good, then next week we end Trish Stratus' career once and for all."
Steven Richards vs. Scott Steiner
Test and Stacy are ringside for this match and Test is acting all protective. Steiner immediately begins to dominate the match but Steven hits a neckbreaker to stop the run. Steiner regains control so Victoria jumps up on the apron so Steiner throws her into the ring by the hair. As the ref tries to shoo Victoria back out, Test sneaks in and hits a Full Nelson slam on Steiner but Richards can only get a two count. On the outside, Test grabs Stacy and takes off while Steiner counters the Stevie Kick for the victory.
Winner: Scott Steiner
After the match, Steiner grabs a mic and says that's it obvious to everyone that Stacy doesn't want to walk out with you. But that's only because she's got a taste of what it's like to be with a real man. Steiner then challenges Test to ANOTHER match for Stacy's services at Unforgiven. Test accepts but says that Steiner has to put his services on the line too. When he wins, he's going to make Steiner his little bitch too. Oh joy.
We come back to see Jonathan Coachman in the ring. He flashes some insulting pictures on the Titan Tron of various jobs that JR could take after he and Lawler lose the match at Unforgiven. Coach then challenges JR to get his ass down to the ring to do something about it. Ross stands up as Lawler pleads for him to stay put but JR doesn't listen so Jerry is forced to back him up. After Ross enters the ring, Coach calls him a redneck and knocks his cowboy hat off. Ross obviously doesn't like that so he punches Coach prompting Al Snow to charge at him. But Lawler steps in the way and Snow backs down. Snow then goes to help Coach up but Ross kicks him in the backside and knocks him flying to the outside.
Backstage, Terri asks Goldberg if he has any idea who his tag team partner will be. Goldberg says he doesn't know or doesn't care. Terri asks for his response to Triple H's allegations that he's nothing but hype. Goldberg gives Trips his props but says he's never been in the ring with Goldberg before. He advises Triple H to believe the hype because he's going to win the title.
Goldberg & ??? vs. TripleH & ???
Goldberg comes out first, Triple H comes out second and we can pretty much figure out who the two mystery wrestlers will be. Eric Bischoff comes out by the top of the ramp and says that he thought about what Triple H said and nobody can tell Eric Bischoff what to do. With that he announces Ric Flair as Triple H's partner. And of course, he announces Randy Orton as Goldberg's partner.
Goldberg finally realizes that it's a setup and starts wailing on Triple H and Flair but Orton attacks him so Goldberg beats him up too. Eventually, the three Evolution members overpower him and Triple H orders that the steel cage from earlier in the night be lowered. And whoever controls the cage listens to him. The Evolution continues their assault on Goldberg but Goldberg hits Orton with a spear before Triple H levels him with a chairshot to the head.
Flair punches Goldberg repeatedly in the forehead and Goldberg, as Triple H promised earlier, is bleeding. Orton and Flair grab each of Goldberg's arms and Triple H stands in front of him and kicks away before hitting the Pedigree not once but twice. Triple H then grabs his belt and tells Goldberg that it's his and nobody will ever take it away from him. Triple H wipes some of Goldberg's blood across his chest and then poses with his title.
Credit: Rajah at Rajahwwf.com and WrestlingAttitude.com