[1999-10-04-WWF-Raw] Mankind, The Rock and Chris Jericho

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Mankind wants The Rock out, and Rock is so massively over. They start teasing another drawn out This Is Your Life segment, and it's not their best segment. Mankind wants to break up the Rock & Sock Connection ... and he even lost The Rock's jacket! Now Mankind is saying he made a decision to recommit his career to their tag team. After just saying he wanted them to break up?

 

"Are you implying to The Rock that you are asking for his hand in marriage?" and I have no idea what they are babbling about. The "comme ci comme ca" catchphrase Rock used briefly gets rolled out for the first time.

 

Jericho mercifully interrupts them to save them from themselves. He tells Rock he would be perfect as the woman in a male-male relationship and should accept the proposal from Mankind and then lists all the reasons he suspects The Rock is gay. A fan dressed like Jericho hits the ring and tries to attack the Rock & Sock Connection and Jericho just stands there not saying anything and I'm betting Vince was yelling at him in the back to say something to fill the dead space.

 

Then we get the best exchange of the segment.

 

Rock: "You think you impress The Rock? Why, because a couple of months ago, you were down South beating some jabroni named Juventud?"

Jericho: "I took off his mask!"

 

I also love that the announcers pretend to have no idea what a Juventud is.

 

Anyway, they finally get to the point and make the main event of Rock vs Jericho for the first time.

 

The segment got much better when Jericho came out.

[Tim Evans]

I had no idea Curtis Hughes lasted longer than a week as Jericho's bodyguard. Mankind just hugging the fan that ran in out of the ring was nice. Ok segment but way too long even though Rock was insanely over. After the segment, the Dudleys attack Mankind and the dude. I had no idea they feuded either.

[soup23]

They tried to capture lightning in a bottle again and it failed for me. The stuff with Jericho coming out was better and it was nice seeing him mix it up with the big guns again but Mick really can't take a hint and now feels like JJ Dillion bumbling around in 1997 asking what Sting wants.

[PeteF3]

Mankind with strong words with Val Venis for grabbing him by the groin: "I didn't like it when I was an altar boy, and I DIDN'T LIKE IT THEN."

 

I remember Foley's second book where he decried these segments as the worst stuff Russo had ever written--and he was always a Russo friend and defender--bringing up the marriage proposal specifically. And we get a big dropoff from JR to Cole, who has to giggle at everything either guy says which starts rubbing off Lawler. This is kind of all over the place, with some funny moments but is pretty much a pale imitation of last week. I liked Jericho's countdown not letting Rock finish his "stick it straight up your--" catchphrase. Jericho calls out Rock on his Freudian fixation on sticking inanimate objects up other people's anal cavities while also wishing Rock and Mankind well in their future relationship. How progressive for 1999! Jericho gets a main event slot against Rock.

 

Mankind and Stevie Richards are jumped in the interview area by the Dudleys--I do vaguely remember this mini-feud, actually, including the Dudleys tearing up the Rock 'n Sock jackets on Smackdown. BB makes what I think is her second appearance (of about 7 total) as one of the paramedics tending to Foley.