[1999-08-23-WWF-Raw] Howard Finkel, Road Dogg and Chris Jericho

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Howard Finkel comes out to the Ultimate Warrior's theme. He tells the crowd he believes in Chris Jericho and that he has come to the WWF to make it a better place. Finkel cuts a hilarious promo on Road Dogg and challenges him to a fight. Road Dogg obliges his request but gives him an opportunity to bail, which he doesn't take. He starts shoving Road Dogg and the Y2J countdown starts when Road Dogg is about to get his hands on Finkel. Jericho attacks Road Dogg from behind while his entrance is happening, and he gives the Dogg a double powerbomb, which was a move he couldn't do for long.

[Tim Evans]

Finkel coming out to the Warrior theme is now Patterson/Briscoe coming out to Real American. Finkel calling Road Dog a joke was rich.

[Zenjo]

The Fink was great in this as the weedy little guy trying to be a big, tough wrestler. Cutting a promo in his ring announcing voice was hilarious. I'm not surprised that Jericho gave up the Double Powerbomb move before long. That's got to put massive strain on your back.

[soup23]

Fink can be humorous but him as Ralphus 2.0 is not what I think Jericho needed coming into the promotion. This also showed me how new the audience was as Warriors music got no reaction at all from the crowd.

[PeteF3]

Finkle is good as the starry-eyed cultist and he's shown over the course of these years that in an alternate universe he could have been an effective heel manager. Harold tells Road Dogg to stop picking his nose in the back and come out to confront him. "Joking? Road Dogg, YOU'RE a joke." Jericho sneaks into the ring while the lights are out during his entrance in a clever subversion of usual WWF entrance tropes. I really don't like the obvious "grab onto the wrists" portion of the double power bomb move so I'm not sorry to see it disappear. Takaiwa occasionally can pull it off straight-up, but Jericho can't.