Kevin Ridge

They are now in a different arena for this Raw. Austin beats up Santa who was promising Sable and gives him the stunner. Philly crowds and Austin hate Santa.

Clip of Dude Love taking a ridiculous bump off stage into table below. At least save that stuff for a match itself.

Oh this. Michaels and Triple H wearing bath robes. Triple H urges Outlaws to stay out of DX’s business. They are already pushing Owen towards feuding with Triple H instead. Shawn brings up Undertaker. They then strip off the ropes and boxers as we get DX censor graphics on the screen. Shawn has a message for all the WWF superstars which is to kiss his ass. There is this brief cut to the crowd off this old couple and you have to see the guy’s facial expression. Slaughter makes a match between Triple H and Michaels for European title. Cornette thinks Michaels will probably hand over the title.

Not a War Games obviously as only one ring and pinfalls allowed. I didn't realize that was Onita at first. Shinzaki gets handcuffed to cage, manages to get free and then gets handcuffed to other side of cage. Looks like he is sitting this one out. I thought Hayabusa was going to go for Phoenix Splash off the top of the cage but it’s a moonsault instead. Not as violent as expected. I prefer tag match from late November. I did like how all the photographers were inside the cage when Onita was getting the beat down by Gannosuke and Kanemura.

A mix of old ECW holiday clips with current promos. Little Guido gets the pin over a Santa ornament.

No wasted time at all. Regals cuts off a Finlay charge with big uppercut and then follows up with a flurry of lefts in the corner. Fit with some stiff clotheslines. I love these guys beating the crap out of each other.

Taka was really selling the knee as Funaki works on it. Michinoku still goes for the high flying moves but can’t follow up right away due to the knee. I wonder if Taka was just filling obligations at this point since he was back to wrestling in WWF.

The Intercontinental Title was one of my favorite belts growing up watching wrestling. Just giving it to Patterson was curious but it was good to have a secondary title since the WWF World Title stayed on guys for a long time. I loved going back and watching early 80's IC title matches and agree that Santana/Valentine cage match was great. Santana faced off with Valentine weeks before WrestleMania 1. Imagine if they went up against each other on that card. Savage was amazing champion and his match with Steamboat is one of my favorites of all time. Ricky wanted some time off for his family and had to drop title too quickly to Honky. I didn't realize Honky was turning people off completely from wrestling! Wasn't he a good draw and stuff during his run? Mongo may have been better than Warrior in WCW but I'll take Warrior's high end matches in WWF over anything McMichael did. Agreed that 96 was a bad year for IC Title. Not to be against Dustin but the period from when he won title all the way up to Rocky was not good. Owen winning title in early 97 immediately brought title back up. I'm also a huge Owen fan and loved him winning his first singles title but him being part of the huge Hart Foundation faction and then going against Austin was big for the title. You guys covered the prime years of the title and outside of 2000 there wasn't much going on in the future since the belt went defunct for a while in 2002. Another really good show and I like you guys focusing on the various titles. Looking forward to the eventual US Title podcast.

Bischoff wants Nash to referee but that could stop him from being able to wrestle at Starrcade. Eric also mentions Syxx but he's got a bum neck. Dillon agrees to actually pick a NWO guy. Oh JJ! It's Bret Hart and that music is bad! I didn't like Bret debuting as a referee in Bischoff/Larry match but he does manage to tie things into being screwed by a referee previously and he will not be helping anyone.

I don't like the yellow for La Parka's tights. Rey was so on with his hurricaranas. Really, he's been great after some initial issues on his return from injury. The one off the ropes to the outside was so good looking. I've been enjoying the luchadores in WCW during the year.

When WWE released the Monday Night Wars DVD years ago this match was one of the few to make it to the set. Odd choice on paper as not a great match. But Outlaws join up at ringside to attack LOD. Michaels and Triple H look on approvingly as Gunn shaves Hawk's hair. Chyna was holding Animal for a while.

It's all about entertainment folks. Get It?!

It was great how Austin built that up by throwing all the scuba gear in first for the Rock to use and then tosses the belt. I bet there were people out the next morning trying to fish that thing out.

I wonder if this truck is still on the road these days.

It was there to push Owen big after Bret left. More Vince trying to spin things about him being more concerned about the safety of WWF fans when Owen coming out of the crowd. Great promo by Owen as he verbally abuses Vince and says he's going to make Michael's life a living hell. Damn, Owen grabbing Vince by the jacket collar was so intense. It would have been so awesome if he clocked him.

Rock putting his claim against Honky as the greatest IC champion of all time. Rock cuts off Faarooq as he was trying to say something! Faarooq did not look happy. Rock wants his belt back from Austin. Steve has different plans.

Flash Funk's theme makes the cut.

double post

The song was a great fit for him and head.

Chapstick.

Another NWO beat down as DDP is all alone. Sting dummy goes through the ring again. They pull the dummy out of the ring but he looks very life like. Hogan “oh shit” look on his face was great. Sting beats the crap out of NWO as Hogan looks on. Finally.

Flair wants to talk about the whole NWO. He picks all the WCW guys to win. Flair has Hall and Nash versus Steiners on his card. And him versus Hennig in a steel cage too. Ric doing fantasy booking. Flair sets the initial steps for his feud with Bret in 98.

That cast should at least be slowing The Giant down from double fisting beers.

I came in here ready to yell bait and switch and you have it in your first sentence. With Austin and McMahon in the ring, Rock was still getting the Rocky Sucks chants. Don’t know why they even put the IC Title back on Austin at this point when there was a bigger target in the future for him. Vince went flying as Austin was running the ropes. Cool spot with Austin not actually hitting McMahon but Vince still ending up on his ass.

Announcers talk down Mero and say all the fans want to see is Sable. That was some bikini! Sal Sincere gets the count out victory.