[2001-01-22-WWF-Raw] HHH & Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley vs Kurt Angle & Trish Stratus

[GSR]

Jim Ross has spent too long sat next to ‘the King’ as Lawler’s smutty ways are rubbing off on him.  When Trish makes her entrance, even though you don’t see him, you can tell that his eyes are popping out his head by his comments.  Triple H ‘s focus is Angle’s knee which got damaged at the Royal Rumble and he’s methodical in his attacks of that body part, getting the initial jump after Kurt wasn’t paying attention on the outside.  Swinging neckbreaker by Angle before tagging out to Trish.  This will be interesting to see what the doctrine is at this time when it comes to man on woman violence.  She comes off the top with a crossbody however ‘the Game’ catches her, Angle then assisting with the dropkick so she falls on top.  Stephanie is in, wanting a piece of Trish, but Kurt instinctively grabs her by the hair and slams her backwards as she makes a charge for his partner.  Immediately he’s apologetic although Steph is not in the mood for listening, slapping him twice across the face.  Triple H gees back to working him over until he’s caught with an overhead belly to belly.  A tag to Trish and he holds HHH while she again heads upstairs.  Mule kick and Trish is stranded up there.  Steph slams her to the mat while the men take it to the floor.  The women roll around doing a sort of catfight, while Lawler has fits as they do so.  Bulldog headlock but the official is with the men and misses seeing the cover.  Hunter pulls her off his wife and gives her the ‘Pedigree’.  As Angle climbs up onto the apron he goes over and decks him, leaving Steph to be the one to get the pin.  It looks like HHH and Kurt are going to go at it again post-match when Steve Austin appears from behind ‘the Game’ and stuns him.

[soup23]

HHH comes out for a promo. We really see the evolution of HHH in the next few weeks as he has the theme song he still uses to this day and during this promo he brings out his sledgehammer and says he is going to wait for Austin to arrive. Angle interrupts and gets some one liners off on HHH but HHH says he doesn’t have a sense of humor tonight. Angle asks HHH why he cant beat anyone on natural ability. HHH says after he is done in the back with his sledgehammer, he will put that down and then beat Angle’s ass for the WWF title. Trish’s music starts and Stephanie gives her an ugly look. Trish challenges Stephanie and says they could have been the best of friends. She challenges her to a match tonight. Stephanie accepts and says its no secret she is a bitch, but tonight she will be hers in the ring.

Vince arrives and Cole catches up with him about the two big matches book for tonight. Vince says last he checked hes the boss. In the interest of fairness, these matches may happen or they may not.

After Test becomes the European champion, HHH invades Vince’s office. HHH says he was screwed last night and no is taking away his opportunity. Vince says he is taking it under advisement. HHH questions whether he is thinking in Trish’s fairness interest and asks what head he is thinking with. Vince tells him to get dressed but it is still under consideration.

HHH and Steph meet up and Steph is mad that her match vs Trish didn’t even come up. She goes to talk to daddy. Once she meets with him, she compliments Vince on dressing hipper. Vince says he is concerned about her safety and that she is daddys littler girl. Steph calls out his bluff and Vince gets mad at that. Vince gives same advice to Steph as he did Hunter.

 

Kurt is freaking out backstage but Trish tells him to relax and she will handle it. She will give Vince all the advisement he needs. A few minutes later we see her knocking of Mr. McMahons door and entering in. After a Rikishi vs Kane match where the Brothers of Destruction reunite for good, we see Trish leaving Vince’s office sweaty and almost forgetting her cowboy hat. Cole is outside the office and says we will have a main event announcement momentarily. We are 1:45 in the show mind you. Vince makes the main event tag match in the interest of fairness and he has lost a cufflink.

 

We get to the match and HHH attacks Angle right away going after the leg that was worked over in the Rumble match. Good continuity there. Trish makes a tag and goes for a crossbody but HHH catches her. Angle gives a dropkick to complete the move. Steph comes in and in a bit of rage, Angle shoves Steph down. She recovers and slaps Kurt. Angle hits a belly to belly but when Trish climbs to the top rope, Stephanie catches her and sends her down. All four are brawling now with Trish and Stephanie inside the ring getting top billing. King is losing his mind of course. After steph gains dominance, HHH comes in and pedigrees Trish. Steph gets the pin to win the match. A pretty abrupt main event here. Angle and HHH are still jawing at each other when Austin comes in from behind and attacks HHH as the show goes off the air. **1/4