WWF Raw is War Live Show and Tapings Results - Monday, May 10, 1999

WWF Raw is War Live Show and Tapings Results Monday, May 10, 1999

Orlando, FL

By Aldo

Remember me? I'm the guy that does the WCW Thunder reports. Unfortunately, somebody substituted for me last week and there is no Thunder this week. So, what's a guy to do?
Well, on Monday, May 10^th, the World Wrestling Federation (Yeah, the other guys.) held RAW is WAR for the first time ever in the Orlando Arena, home of the Magic. (Great going in game one, by the way.) We've hosted a WCW Thunder, a WWF Royal Rumble, and I believe we've also had a Bash at the Beach PPV, but never a RAW. Until tonight. Yours truly attended the show and the following is a listing of results for the live matches, as well as tapings for Shotgun Saturday Night (their version of WCW Saturday Night) and Los Super Astros, which can be seen on one of this Spanish television networks.
Big crowd on hand outside the arena. While many stood in line, many more crowded by radio remotes for 101.1 WJRR (a station specializing in modern rock) and 540 AM The Team, a sports station which features a weekly wrestling show called Between the Ropes. A news van for one of the local stations, Central Florida 13, was also nearby.
My friend and I managed to get seats in the top row of section 106, which is in the lower bowl. From our viewing position, the ring and TitanTron were in our 11 o'clock position. Much like the song, there's no chance in hell that I was on TV, but by some freak chance you see a guy about 5' 4" in height wearing a white South Park jersey, you probably saw me.
At about 7:10 P.M. EDT, a clip montage is displayed on the TitanTron for the next several minutes. Various clips of recent WWF happenings were shown to mainstream music.
They air the WWF commercial from Titan Towers on the TitanTron.
They air the Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon encounter from the May 3^rd RAW.
The cost of a tiny personal pan pepperoni pizza from the Pizza Hut kiosk and 20 ounce Pepsi is $6.25.
Howard Finkel comes out and tells us about tonight's show and runs down the rules of death.
Finkel then talks about a contest for the Nintendo 64 game Smash Bros. and names four winners based on their seating.

Before I go further, I want to give credit to DDT Digest's own Cubs Fan for help on determining who some of the Super Astros wrestlers were.
Dark Match: Owen Hart pinned Kurt Angle after a spinning heel kick.
- Poor Owen. He's gone from Intercontinental Champion and a major player on WWF's pay-per-views to doing dark matches for Monday night shows. I just hope he doesn't try a piledriver.
- Angle comes out to Del Wilkes' (The Patriot) old theme.
- As misused as Hart has been, he still gets heat, even though it's in the form of ten thousand plus fans yelling "Nugget!"
- This would be your cookie-cutter Nitro or Thunder match. Kurt controls at the start and hits a Northern Lights suplex at one point for two.
- Hart grabs Angle on a leapfrog attempt and powerbombs him.
- Angle comes back with a powerslam but Hart hits an enziguri shortly after.
- Hart goes up top and gets crotched, allowing Angle to hit a superplex for two.
- Hart comes off the ropes into Angle, who hesitates for about two seconds before applying a side belly-to-belly suplex.
- Hart finishes Angle off with a spinning heel kick.
- Angle looked alright, but he needs some polish before going on Heat or RAW.
Los Super Astros Match #1: Miguel Perez (??) rolls up Super Loco for the victory.
- If you take the word loco and translate it into English, it means "crazy." Many wrestling fans know of an ECW worker named Super Crazy. Just thought you'd like to know that.
- In any case, Perez (I think that's his name, I can't hear the Spanish names all that well) gets a video entrance. Loco came out to graphics saying "Super Astros." That should tell you the winner.
- Early in the match, Loco takes a page from the Guerrero family and lands a tornado DDT.
- Perez goes outside, and Loco goes on the apron and hits a springboard moonsault from the second rope.
- Loco hits seven punches on the turnbuckle and gets powerbombed before landing #8.
- Perez dropkicks Loco to the outside.
- Perez goes over the top rope and lands a corkscrew plancha.
- Perez then rolls up Loco for the win.
- Good workrate, but the fans don't know who these guys are. Heck, I don't even know!
- I should note out that the play-by-play for this match and others I reported on are in an abbreviated form.
Kevin Kelly comes out to the announcer's booth.
"Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns 'N' Roses brings out Terry "Which is worse, The Red Rooster or The York Foundation?" Taylor.
Los Super Astros Match #2: El Merengeno pinned Jose Estrada after a punch in the face.
- Merengeno looks like a Hispanic version of the Disco Inferno.
- Estrada comes out to Los Boricuas music and was one of the workers I had trouble identifying.
- Estrada picks up Merengeno for a powerbomb but ends up back bodydropping him on the top turnbuckle.
- Merengeno applies a swank DDT.
- The finish was set up by the referee holding back Estrada while Merengeno was in the corner.
- Merengeno lands a punch to the face and Estrada acts like he's been shot and falls to the ground. Three seconds later we have a winner.
- That match was a candidate for the "WTF Booking Award of 1999."
Shotgun Saturday Night Match #1: Godfather defeated Prince Albert (w/ Droz) by DQ.
- Who is Prince Albert? Picture a guy about 6' 5" over 350 lbs., with a slightly more sanitized look than Bastion Booger.
- As for the Godfather, he called out four hoes, one of which being Orlando's Sexy Savannah of Real Radio 104.1.
- The Godfather offers Albert one of the hoes for the night. Albert ends up pointing to the ho in the green dress. (Savannah.)
- However, Albert chooses to fight instead. Whatever floats his boat, I guess.
- Weird finish. Droz comes in and Godfather has his way with both men. It isn't until Albert, the man scheduled for battle in this contest, hits Godfather from behind that the ref calls for the bell.
- Godfather clears the ring and is mobbed by the hoes.
Shotgun Saturday Night Match #2: The Brood defeated "The Ambiguously Gay Duo of" Too Much following a move that looked awfully like the 3-D Dudley Death Drop.
- Gangrel and Edge wrestle this match for the Brood. Knowing this will come into play later.
- After the Brood make their way to the ring, guys with fire extinguishers eliminate the ring of fire in the entryway.
- The Orlando fans have an innovative chant for Too Much: "You are gay."
- At one point, Edge applies a double Side Russian Legsweep on both Too Much members.
- Gangrel becomes the freak in peril, and bails out of the ring for Christian to take over.
- Nice move in which Christian is on the apron and Brian Christopher sunset flips him into a powerbomb on the carpet.
- Edge hoists Brian up so Christian can do a bulldog (The 3-D type manuever I alluded to) for the win.
Los Super Astros Match #3: Papi Chulo and Apollo Dantes defeat Taka Michinoku and Sho Funaki following a facedrop on Funaki.
- Again, I had to rely on The Cubs Fan to determine who Dantes was.
- Here's an easy way to distinguish between Shotgun and Astros matches: during Astros, they dim the arena lights.
- Taka pretends he's Billy Kidman and facedrops Chulo after a powerbomb attempt.
- Taka, Funaki and Dantes end up outside. Chulo applies a corkscrew moonsault from the ring to the three men outside.
- With Funaki laid out in the ring, Chulo tries a 450^o splash but misses.
- Chulo and Dantes combine on a facedrop for the win after Taka misses a plancha on the outside.
- It saddens me how they screw Taka Michinoku over.
Shotgun Saturday Night Match #3: Droz (w/ Prince Albert) pinned Meat (w/ PMS) with help from Prince Albert.
- A couple minutes in, Droz connects with a variation of the Liger Bomb.
- Meat picks up Droz for a slam, but Albert trips Meat and Droz falls on top of him.
- Albert holds Meat's legs as the ref counts the pinfall.
- Post-match, Meat begs to PMS for forgiveness and carries Terri backstage as the cameras stop footage.
Guns 'N' Roses music brings out Good Ol' J.R. and Jerry "Lookatthis! Puppies!" Lawler.
At 8:50 P.M. EDT they pan the crowd for a live commercial to be shown on USA.
Security confiscates a beach ball thrown into the crowd.

RAW starts at about 8:58 P.M. EDT on my pager.
Match #1: "Christmas Candy" Kane and "Bad Wrestler" Billy Gunn fight to a NO CONTEST.
- A cute female in low-cut shorts tries to get at Gunn as he comes out but security whisks her away. Boy, Florida crowds never learn.
- Gunn tries to exit the match a minute in, but Kane drags him back to the ring.
- Kane brings Gunn into the ring with an inverted suplex. This could be a vision of things to come, as Chris Jericho uses an inverted suplex frequently in his repitoire.
- Gunn's method of attack is by damaging Kane's left knee.
- Outside the ring, Kane sends Gunn head-first into the ring stairs. Gunn sells this BEAUTIFULLY by just standing there motionless and falling to the carpet.
- Kane gets tied up on the ropes, probably inadvertantly.
- Gunn stomps away, and X-Pac and "The Less Talented but More Pushed Armstrong" Jesse James come to ringside.
- X-Pac tries to free Kane as James and Gunn battle into the crowd.
- D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry come out and fight with X-Pac and Kane, possibly to set up a tag team title match in the future.
- Despite all this action, the referee forgets to make a decision on the match.
Vince "Don't call me Ed" McMahon, the "Teamsters" Union and three police officers come out.
- Vince calls out Shane, who appears with the Corporate Ministry.
- As Shane speaks, Shawn "Job a Title Out? What's That?" Michaels appears on the TitanTron.
- Michaels adds Vince as a second special referee in the main event at Over the Edge and announces the following matches for tonight:
  - Farrooq vs. Bradshaw in a lumberjack match. Lumberjacks would be members of the Union.
  - Test vs. Bossman in a nightstick match.
  - Ken Shamrock vs. Chyna.
  - The Big Show vs. Paul Bearer. (Heh.)
  - Viscera and Midian vs. Cactus Jack (In a one-night return) in a hardcore handicap match.
  - Sable vs. Debra in an evening gown match for the Women's Title.
  - In the main event, Undertaker, Triple H and Shane McMahon face The Rock, Steve Austin and Vince McMahon.
- The riot officers are revealed to be Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco and Shawn Michaels, who apparently taped his earlier segment.
- Michaels appoints himself as the referee for tonight's main event.
Match #2: The Big Show "With Keith Olbermann" and Paul Bearer "wrestle" to a NO CONTEST.
- Bearer stalls on the entryway but Shawn Michaels drags him to the ring.
- Here's the stunning array of moves that Paul Wight does on Bearer, are you ready? A kick and an elbowdrop.
- Big Show asks Michaels if he can call out the Undertaker.
- Taker comes out and witnesses Bearer receive another elbowdrop.
- Members of the Corporate Ministry come down and beat on Big Show until the Union makes the save.
Apparently, there was a fight in the stands. Some cops escort a man out of the arena to the chant of "You f**ked up," which was popularized at ECW house shows whenever someone blows a spot.
Match #3: In a Dusty Finish, Debra defeats Sable (w/ Nicole Bass "Hotels and Resorts") to become the new WWF Women's Champion.
- Sable does her stuff on the mic.
- Val Venis comes out and distracts Debra.
- This allows Sable to rip off Debra's dress in about thirty seconds.
- As Venis walks backstage, Jeff Jarrett clocks him with a guee-tar.
- Michaels comes to the ring, compliments Debra's puppies and says that whoever got disrobed should be the winner.
- Therefore, Michaels declares Debra the new Women's Champion, despite the fact that she has not hit one offensive move in any of her matches. Nice work if you can get it.
- Even more amazing, Nicole Bass did not beat the tar out of Debra after the match. That could have served a two-fold function:
  1. Get Debra over as a face.
  2. Set up a match down the line where Nicole Bass wins the WWF Women's Title, as well as establish credibility as a heel, in case being a 6' 3" 240 lb. woman isn't good enough.
Match #4: "Maybe the nWo Spray Paintings Weren't So Bad After All" Big Bossman defeated "Scholastic Aptitude" Test in a nightstick match.
- The crowd starts a "Bossman Sucks" chant, in which my friend and I try a "This Match Sucks" chant to no avail.
- Test becomes Ric Flair for a moment, as Bossman pulls Test's trunks down while getting him off the pole.
- To show you how interested this crowd is in what is a match more exciting than Flair vs. Steamboat, they pan their attention to a fight in section 109.
- Test gets the stick after a few minutes of "action" but Bossman knocks it out of him.
- Test tries a sunset flip but Bossman hits him with the nighstick and gets the pin.
- It is painfully obvious that Test is the least-over member of the Union. At least Bossman gathered some crowd heat.
Todd Pettengil, err Michael Cole interviews Val Venis backstage on the TitanTron. Venis challenges Jarrett to a fight later tonight.
Match #5: Cactus Jack defeated Viscera and Midian in a Hardcore Rules Handicap Match.
- Midian tries to attack Cactus on the entryway but no avail.
- Cactus goes from the apron and lands a somersault senton on Midian.
- Viscera hits a sidewalk slam. If only Tony Schiavone were here to call it.
- Viscera and Midian have their way with Cactus in the ring.
- Midian lands a wicked chair shot on Cactus that earns a Double Feature.
- Cactus gets sent to the ropes by the heels and applies a double-DDT.
- Cactus chairs Midian, getting himself a Double Feature.
- Cactus dives on Viscera with a chair in hand and covers him for the win.
Todd Cole interviews Chyna, who plans to rip Shamrock's balls out and stomp on them. Ouch.
ANOTHER fight erupts in the arena, showing the obvious lack of maturity of the crowd. However, two guys decide to poke some fun and stage a fake fight in our section. Great stuff.
In a WCW moment, we get a random promo of Steve Blackman.
Match #6: Bradshaw and "At One Time I Meant Something" Farrooq battle to a NO CONTEST in a Lumberjack Match.
- The combatants come out separately, followed by the Union, minus Mick Foley.
- Farrooq and Bradshaw get into it on the mic and trade blows.
- Mankind comes out after about a minute.
- Farrooq takes a page out of Booker T's move list and does the 110^th Street Slam.
- Every time an Acolyte goes outside, the Union would beat on him and throw him in.
- Bradshaw powerbombs Farrooq for two.
- Bradshaw goes up top but is caught into a powerslam for two.
- Viscera, Midian and Bossman try to break the match up.
- The Union comes in and the heels flee, leaving Viscera to face four Union members armed with 2x4's.
- The Union lands a few shots on Viscera before he bails. Hey, Duggan, this is how to use your foreign object. Got that?
Match #7: Gerald Brisco "Cooking Oil" and "It's" Pat Patterson made Rodney "Dangerfield" and Pete "Don't Light The Match, I Have" Gas submit to the Figure-Four Leglock and Sharpshooter.
- Just because last week's matchup was so much fun, we do it again this week.
- HAH!! The Stooges come out to Hulk Hogan's old music, "Real American" by Rick Derringer!
- Even better, the Stooges do Hogan's ear cup! Yes!
- The Posse start in control and doubleteam Brisco in the ring.
- Patterson lies outside for a few minutes then comes in and beans the Posse with his helmet.
- Brisco applies a Figure-Four while Patterson puts on the Sharpshooter to get the submission win.
- Post-match, Patterson takes off his shirt and begins to pose like Hulk Hogan did in his prime as "Real American" blares over the PA. This alone was worth the price of admission, IMO.
Michael Pettengil interviews Ken Shamrock.
Match #8: Jeff Jarrett (w/ Debra) pinned Val Venis after hitting Venis with a foreign object.
- They start with Venis' entrance but realized they screwed up and bring out the heel first.
- You know your career is in the shitter when your valet gets a bigger pop than you do.
- The battle starts outside and stays there for a minute or so.
- Jarrett counters a piledriver with a back bodydrop, because he's seen tapes of Owen Hart's matches and knows not to be on the receiving end of one.
- In continuing the trend of using moves by ex-WWF stars, Venis does a Perfectplex for two.
- Jarrett hits a mediocre DDT.
- Venis comes off the ropes into a single-arm DDT for two.
- Both men clothesline each other and get up at 7.
- Venis applies a Side Russian Legsweep.
- Venis hits a spinebuster and I begin to long for Arn Anderson matches.
- As Venis goes up top for The Money Shot, Debra takes off her jacket.
- Venis goes to Debra and makes out, not noticing that she has handed Jarrett her Women's Title.
- Debra slaps Venis, which sends him into a belt shot by Jarrett.
- The ref didn't catch this, but does see Jarrett make a cover and counts three.
A promo for Beaver Clevage airs.
- The premise is that Beaver scraped his knee, so Mommy is going to make it all better.
- Beaver with the line of the night: "When it comes to working on your knees, my mom's the expert."
- This should be an entertaining gimmick, to say the least.
Match #9: Chyna (w/ Triple H) and Ken Shamrock battle to a NO CONTEST.
- Shamrock gets a good pop for once.
- Shamrock refuses to hit Chyna, so she hits him, and Triple H gets into the action.
- Shamrock starts to snap and goes after Triple H.
- Shamrock then applies a side belly-to-belly suplex on Chyna.
- Shamrock kicks the ring steps and leaves the ring area.
ANOTHER fight erupts in the stands.
Match #10: The "Prudential" Rock, Stone Cold Steve "Nikita Who?" Austin and Vince McMahon defeat The Undertaker, Triple "Preparation" H and Shane McMahon.
- Shawn Michaels is your referee for this match, but it really doesn't come into play.
- The heels come out.
- Vince enters.
- The Rock follows.
  - In a show of foreshadowing to a degree, video game maker Jaleco made an arcade game back in 1992 in which you actually arm wrestled against the computer. One of the upper-level opponents was a former Russian wrestler who went by "The Rock." The next opponent, "Goliath," looks a lot like Duane Johnson does today.
- Triple H and Rock battle outside.
- Undertaker tombstones Vince and is brought out of the ring by Shane.
- Austin makes his way out.
- Rock pairs off with Triple H while Austin deals with Undertaker.
- Shane appears to be M.I.A.
- In a cool sequence, Undertaker blocks the Stunner, sending Austin into Triple H, who tries the Pedigree but Austin blocks it by grabbing the legs and catapulting him to the turnbuckle.
- The Rock does Rock Bottom but the pin is broken up.
- Vince is placed back in the ring and Shane lands some elbowdrops.
- Austin applies the Stunner on Shane.
- Vince makes the cover but Austin breaks it up!
- Austin applies Stunner #2 for the win.
- Post-match, Austin and Michaels share a Steveweiser.
- Shane eats Stunner #3.
- Triple H comes into the ring and attacks Austin.
- Stunner #4 on Triple H.
- Austin pulls Shane back into the ring.
- Austin kicks Shane and Triple H in the gut and does a double Stunner for #5 and #6.
- Austin sends Shane out of the ring.
- Austin offers a Steveweiser to Triple H and gives him #7 and #8.
- Austin downs more Steveweisers and heads backstage.
Er, that's it.

The Good: Ten matches for a two-hour RAW segment. There seemed to be more emphasis on wrestling than in past weeks.
The Bad: Of RAW matches, four of ten went to a No Contest and another involved a Dusty Finish. Also, the crowd heat in the Super Astros matches was minimal because of the lack of awareness that the stars in this division existed.
The Ugly: The amount of fights that erupted in three-and-a-half hours at the Orlando Arena. You'd think this would be "Red Man Tobacco Night" at the local raceway.
Overall: WWF had an opportunity to just mail-in their show knowing that they had no competition but decided to go all out anyway. Almost all of the major stars either wrestled or made an appearance in some way, shape or form. The crowd was hot for most of the night, and even the weakest RAW match (Test vs. Bossman) got a fair amount of heat.
My next report will be whenever WCW decides to air Thunder again. Feel free to e-mail me comments, compliments and/or criticisms. Thanks and see you soon!

WWF Raw is War Live Show and Tapings Results Monday, May 10, 1999

Orlando, FL

By Aldo

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