[2001-04-02-WWF-Raw] Steve Austin vs The Rock (Cage)

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a rematch for the WWF title. Earlier in the show, Rock had assaulted Vince McMahon and demanded a title shot. Vince relented but on one condition -- he'd get his title shot inside a steel cage. Austin, meanwhile, said he didn't owe the fans an explanation for joining forces with Vince McMahon so his motivation remains unclear. I did like the segment they taped for Smackdown where Austin attacked Jim Ross. That was callous and I actually felt bad for Ross. This was a decent brawl. Austin bled. McMahon got involved again and physically abused the referee Tim White. Then Hunter showed up and the unthinkable happened -- an alliance between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the man who tried to end his career, Triple H. All those months of terrible booking and awful angles. The Survivor Series rubbish with the forklift. The attempted vehicular homicides. The layoff. The Three Stages of Hell. As far as I remember, the idea of turning Austin heel was always on the table. We used to fantasy book it back in the day. But while it was easy to believe the Bret Hart heel turn or the Hogan heel turn, this was perplexing. It was as though Austin had been hit on the head with a cinder block and his personality changed. 

[GSR]

Jim Ross is at a loss as to why Steve Austin “sold his soul to Satan himself” and thinks that he has some questions to answer.  Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley heads down to the ring to open up Raw, still annoyed with Trish Stratus slapping her father last night at Wrestlemania.  She says that payback is a bitch and not only is she going to kick her ass, but whip it too, having already requested and been granted a whipping match for later in the show.  She continues that tonight is not about her though, it’s about someone of importance, the most important man in Sports Entertainment, Vince McMahon.  Steph hugs her father before leaving him too it, going back to prepare for her upcoming match.  Vince is chuffed that tonight he gets to present the World title to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin the moment he arrives at the buildlng.  He reminds everyone that he promised them something shocking at Wrestlemania, and there it was, Vince McMahon united with Steve Austin standing above the Rock.  McMahon gets in the face of JR, saying how he’s listened back to his play by play, but surprisingly doesn’t attack him.  As he stomps on a Cowboy hat, that he claims was a present from the fans hear in Texas, he’s interrupted by the Rock, Vince giving it the big gulp as Rock paces back and forth in front of the Titantron.  Rock’s not mincing his words, straight to the point and demanding a return match.  McMahon tells him that’s not going to happen and that Austin isn’t even here yet.  When he doesn’t get the answer he wants, Rock says that he’ll have to find some way to change his mind and marches towards the ring.  Vince tries reasoning with him and warns him about putting his hands on him, but he doesn’t get the chance, Rock decking him mid-sentence.  He puts him in the Sharpshooter, Vince tapping while screaming that he’s got the match.  Having got what he wanted he lets him free, however just as he’s about to step through the curtain Vince makes it a Cage match, the smirk indicating that Rock is alright with that.

Kevin Kelly tries to get a word with Debra, she’s claiming that she was just as surprised as everyone else over what happened last night.  When he asks her outright whether she knew, she walks off saying that she can’t talk about it at the moment.

A very proud Mr McMahon is carrying the Heavyweight title to the ring, shining the belt up ready to present to Steve Austin.  He introduces ‘Stone Cold’ while Heyman niggles at JR, telling him to stop being a crybaby and be happy for his friend.  McMahon hands the strap over, saying how this gives him both personal and professional pride.  After the history these two have this is so odd.  Austin teases that he’s going to turn on McMahon now that he’s got what he wants but that was just a swerve on the fans.  He tells them that he doesn’t owe them an explanation and doesn’t owe them a damn thing and that after they drop that cage later on in the night, don’t figure on him being a 24 hour champion. 

HHH confronts Mr McMahon backstage, livid that he wasn’t kept informed of his plans, especially after how he spent all of last year kicking Austin’s ass for both of them.  McMahon pretty much blows him off which doesn’t sit well with ‘the Game’.

Prior to the match we hear from the Rock who says that Steve Austin doesn’t want to give a reason he did what he did because deep down he knows that he can’t beat the Rock one-on-one and that eats him up.  He saw the desperation last night in ‘Stone Cold’s’ eyes as he kicked out after every chair shot, after every stunner, and then saw relief in those same eyes when Vince McMahon came down the aisle.  While Steve Austin says he doesn’t owe the people anything, the Rock owes the people something, whipping ‘Stone Cold’s’ candy ass all over the Lone Star State!

Austin, out second, slams the cage door into Rock’s head as he comes over to greet him, the action kicking off with a brawl around ringside.  Rock clocks him with the title belt, Austin getting busted open early.  He grinds his forehead across the fencing before shoving the bloodied champion into the ring through the door.  ‘Stone Cold’ catches him with a knee to the gut and then slingshots Rock into the top turnbuckle.  Spinebuster for a two.  He tells Vince McMahon, who had stayed cageside after doing Austin’s introduction, to pass him a chair, which he repeatedly jabs into the Rock’s ribs.  As he lifts if over his head, Rock with a double leg takedown into the Sharpshooter.  McMahon is trying to get into the ring to interfere, but as referee Tim White prevents him from doing so he doesn’t see Austin tapping.  Spinebuster followed by the People’s elbow.  Mr McMahon drags White out of there to break up that cover and then saves the title a second time after a Rock Bottom.  Austin is looking real weak here.  The Rock has had enough and flings McMahon into the cage.  He shuts the door and starts beating on him until an Austin low blow stops him in his tracks.  Now it’s two-on-one in their favour.  Here comes ‘the Game’, sledgehammer in hand.  Jim Ross talks about him being irate that he wasn’t involved in any of this and how things are going to explode.  Austin and Triple H stare a hole through each other and as it looks like things just might explode, he blasts Rock with the sledgehammer and then drives it into the Rock’s ribs.  Was HHH in on it all along?  Guess we may have to wait until Smackdown.  The three of them beat on Rock leaving him laying.

Austin and McMahon together was weird enough after all their history, now adding Triple H to the mix?  Yeah, this is a tough one to buy.

[Makai Club #1]

This is where my problems with Austin heel turn comes. In the closing stretch, Austin tapped out to the Sharpshooter while Vince had the referee distracted. No way do I buy Austin tapping out. All that's changed is that he's a heel and now he's someone who'd tap in the same submission move that he famously passed out to? That's not plausible. All they had to do is make Austin way more violent. Not weaker. That's the type of thing that bundled the heel turn entirely. The match wasn't all that great either once the match got into the Cage. The brawl on the outside was fun with Austin ping balling himself about like it's 1992 all over again and Rock showing all kinds of spit and fire. Once the match went in the ring, it felt very restrictive. I don't think these two really work together when they are stuck in the ring. Some spots looked awkward to me, like the float over DDT, because of the cage. Vince constantly interferes in the match, giving Austin a steel chair, Austin gets thwarted at first but eventually Austin gets the advantage and then out comes HHH. He teases going against Austin but then he attacks The Rock along with Austin and Vince and he Power Trip debuts. Yay. Thoroughly disappointing match with a fine but uncreative angle. **3/4