WWF Raw
April 1st, 2002
Albany, New York
We open the first Monday Night Raw of the Ric Flair in complete control era, with Ric Flair himself in the back. Flair himself talks about this being a new era for Raw and talks about how tonight he will present the WWF Undisputed Champion Triple H with a new Undisputed Championship belt. Not only that, but Flair will do all he can tonight to sign free agent Stone Cold to Raw. Solid scene setter here. Starting the new era with the man at the helm makes sense. Getting rid of the champion having to walk around with overly large belts works for me as well, and the Austin stuff should be fine.
To signify the new era, basically the entire show has had a face lift. The stage and logo look different, there’s a new logo, and it’s the debut of the epic ‘Across The Nation’ Raw theme. New theme is an upgrade and all these cosmetic changes to truly show that this is a new era are really cool. This has been really well done.
Match One
WWF Intercontinental Championship Match
Rob Van Dam (c) vs. Booker T
The first official match of the brand extension features two of what I guess you would call non-WWF guys, and they put on a really good back and forth match. They don’t get to long, but they manage to squeeze enough in six minutes to make this enjoyable. A fine way to kick off Raw and the fans are clearly into it which really helps. All of Booker’s offense looked really good, which isn’t always the case, but I think it’s because Van Dam sold so well here. Van Dam had a reputation at this point of being a little stiff, but Booker took all of his offense really well too. They put together a really enjoyable finishing run as well, until Booker places RVD on the top rope, and climbs up after him, perhaps thinking Superplex. He doesn’t get that far as RVD knocks him down and then hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. Just a really fun way to start the show, no complaints from me. **3/4
After the match, Van Dam is on the top rope, celebrating to the fans, when Eddie Guerrero appears from nowhere and Powerbombs RVD off the top rope. Eddie isn’t done there either, as he mounts RVD and continues to hammer away with right hands. With RVD softened up, Eddie climbs to the top rope and lands his version of the Frog Splash on RVD! On commentary, JR confirms that Eddie has been signed to Raw, as he picks up the WWF Intercontinental Championship, making his intentions clear. Starting off strong here tonight. Firstly, a good match and then the return of one of the best in the world in Eddie Guerrero. And an Eddie/RVD feud will surely be a hell a lot of a fun. Awesome.
RVD is getting helped to the back, when rather unexpectedly, Vince McMahon gets in the ring for in ring promo time. Even though he is the Smackdown owner, he is on Raw tonight because he wants to sign Stone Cold to Smackdown. Vince calls Stone Cold out to the ring but nobody appears. Security eventually comes out, but Vince says he’s not leaving until Austin signs with Smackdown. Ric Flair comes out and tells Vince to leave. Vince ignores Flair and instead calls out Austin again. He says he’s not leaving until he signs Austin, and he beat Flair in the tag match on Smackdown, so Flair won’t kick him out. Flair decides to call in the big guns and The Big Show comes out and hoists McMahon over his shoulder, carrying him out of the arena. Show drops Vince right at the exit door to leave the arena. Vince tries to make an excuse to walk back in, saying he needs to return the microphone so then Show forcefully throws Vince out. Firstly, I really like the idea of this being an unscheduled McMahon appearance, so he came out as RVD was being helped to the back, so it wasn’t a clean start to a new segment. Otherwise this segment was solid enough, doing a good job of promoting the importance of Austin signing to a brand.
Match Two
Spike Dudley vs. William Regal
Before the match starts, as Regal makes his entrance, he tucks his brass knuckles under his arm. This way as the referee does his routine checks, the ref doesn’t find anything on Regal’s person, and as the ref’s eyes are down, checking Regal’s boots, Regal stashes the knuckles in the top turnbuckle. That basically sets the scene for a match and whilst this wasn’t much, the two did a decent job with what they had. Referee Nick Patrick was on to Regal’s trips, and he takes the knuckles from the turnbuckle without Regal noticing. This means when we get to the end of the match, Regal goes hunting for his trusty weapon but can’t find the weapon, and as Regal is distracted, Spike gets a Dudley Dog out of nowhere for the upset. Not offensive but not good either, and Spike beating Regal hurts me a little on the inside. *3/4
The New World Order are in the back when they come across the now closed APA office, and they take it over, making it their own. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and X Pac talk about how they hope Ric Flair signs Stone Cold to Raw. They talk a bit more amongst themselves as they set up the chairs in the office so they can all take a seat. Meh, whatever segment. NWO in filler segments with no real impact is part of the issue with how they are being booked in the WWF.
In a different area in the back, Crash Holly approaches Bradshaw and Jacqueline and lets them know that the NWO have taken over The APA office. Logical progression for Bradshaw to find out and be pissed, I guess.
Terri Runnels confronts Trish Stratus backstage and has a dig at her for her apparent attitude since she was on the cover of the latest Divas magazine. Trish isn’t happy and they both get sassy with each other until Ric Flair comes up and tells them they have an issue, but they are acting like children. Since they are being children, he books them in a Bikini Paddle On A Pole Match. Not interesting or great in terms of wrestling, and I know it’s 2024, but I’m sure these two will look good out there tonight.
The Coach interviews Debra in the back and asks if she knows what brand Stone Cold will sign with. Debra tells The Coach that her husband hasn’t made up his mind, yet about which brand he will sign with. Short and sharp but does the job of hyping Austin’s decision later on tonight.
Back at The APA’s office, or the former APA’s office, and the NWO have spray painted over the door and the office. Having just heard the news from Crash, Bradshaw comes running over. Bradshaw breaks the door down and swings at anything that moves, doing well, until Kevin Nash catches him with a Big Boot. This slows Bradshaw down and allows X Pac to nail him with a chair. A perfectly acceptable way to add Bradshaw as the list of enemies that the NWO have.
Match Three
WWF Hardcore Championship Match
Raven (c) vs. Bubba Ray Dudley
I thought this was pretty fun. Raven adopts to being the Hardcore Champion well by watering down his ECW style, and Bubba has a good first outing as a singles guy. I thought they come up with some fun, inventive spots as well. Raven juggling the oranges and Raven using the fire extinguisher to stop Bubba from coming off the top with the Senton are a couple of highlights that stood out to me. After some fun and not just the usual meandering clobbering in this type of match, Raven goes for the Even Flow, but Bubba reverses and gets the Bubba Bomb for the win. A fun little Hardcore match. **1/4
In the parking lot, Vince McMahon is still hanging around in his limo. He’s on the phone to somebody and tells them that he’s still in the parking lot and that Austin will sign his contract tonight. He says he even sent somebody inside the arena to get Stone Cold to come out to his limo. Again, short and sharp, hyping the big decision to be made tonight. No issues.
It’s now time for Ric Flair in ring promo time, as he comes out with the new WWF Undisputed Championship belt and introduces Triple H to come to the ring. Undertaker comes out instead though and says that he believes Flair only drafted him so that ‘Taker could be embarrassed. He’s not going to sit back and watch Flair give the new title to Triple H. The what chants are loud as ever so Undertaker busts out the “say what again if you sleep with your sister”. The fans say what again and then get mad and boo him. This was an awesome little gem here. Undertaker then talks about beating Flair and Triple H at the last two WrestleMania’s and says he’s going to bring pain to Flair’s life. The WWF Undisputed Champion Triple H now interrupts and he and ‘Taker go face to face. Triple H refers to last years ‘Mania match and says he has fifteen pounds of gold on his shoulder that says ‘Taker can’t beat him again. After some back and forth, The Undertaker challenges Triple H to a match for the title at Backlash. The match gets agreed upon by everybody, including Flair, and then Triple H challenges ‘Taker to fight right now, but he says Backlash will be fine. Undertaker takes the new title and stares at it, before giving it to Triple H and telling him to hold it well we can. I thought this was a really solid segment. Everything flowed well and make sense, and we’ve got a pretty good title match set for Backlash… Or at least so it seems…
Match Four
Big Bossman and Mr. Perfect vs. The Hardy Boyz
Feel like you can really tell Jeff was starting to go through it, and when he was going through a bad time depending on how out there his attire or hairstyle or whatever he was rolling with was. Tonight, he’s gone with the green pig tails, I’m not even sure what to say about that. No more Test and Perfect tandem makes me sad, as at this point in his career, Bossman is definitely a lesser replacement, except for when he hits that awesome uppercut. Anyway, this match was pretty meh If I’m honest. Two guys passed their prime, and a team that didn’t seem overly motivated here. Kind of annoys me that they use a similar finish to the opener here, with Bossman placing Jeff on the top rope, almost setting his opponent up for the win. That’s similar enough, and then Matt grabs Bossman and hits the Twist Of Fate so Jeff can come off the top with the Swanton Bomb. This just wasn’t good unfortunately *3/4
After the match, we get another epic Brock Lesnar appearance as he comes on in and beats up both The Hardy Boyz. Love it, booking of Brock has been awesome. There’s some significance here as well as it feels as if The Hardyz are a level up from the previous people he’s been running through.
Match Five
Bikini Paddle On A Pole Match
Terri vs. Trish Stratus
These two both look good in a bikini; I think we know that. So it’s one of those rare, strange scenarios where the match is awful but it’s still kind of easy on the eyes. Anyway, Trish eventually reached the paddle first and then hit Terri on the ass with it to get the win. That’s a former Women’s Champion right there, folks. Yeah, fun, but bad. ¼*
After the match, Molly Holly comes down and attacks both women who just competed in the previous five-star match. The shot she nails Trish with over the head with the paddle is especially brutal. Silver lining here as this is clearly a Molly heel turn by attacking two fan favourites. I’m all for Molly having a more prominent role, and credit to Trish for taking that stiff shot with the paddle.
Stone Cold comes to see Ric Flair in Flair’s office and he basically tells Flair that he wants Vince McMahon to be allowed in the ring when he makes his decision because it’s fair. Logical segment because Vince needs to be involved to add more drama, and like all the other ones tonight, this successfully hypes the segment that will be ending the show.
Match Six
Kane vs. X Pac w/NWO
A decent match here I guess for the time they had, but they don’t really try and do anything new or crazy compared to other matches they’ve had during their rivalry. Match only goes for approx. four minutes or so, and heads towards the ending when Kane gets to the top rope and hits his Flying Clothesline! He then lines up X Pac for the Chokeslam, but Kevin Nash and Scott Hall come in and attack, leading to the referee calling a DQ. Rushed main event, that wasn’t bad but wasn’t good. **1/4
After the match, NWO continue to fight with Kane, until Bradshaw runs down and the two babyfaces clear the NWO for the ring. I really dislike NWO constantly having the numbers advantage but still failing. Doesn’t do much for them. I guess mission accomplished after the first show of this new era by establishing Kane and Bradshaw as their main threats.
Ric Flair and Vince McMahon both come to the ring for the final segment of the night, and they’re both armed with their respective brands contracts. Stone Cold then comes out and goes on a what laden tirade, before Vince talks about all he has done for Austin. Stone Cold basically says that he respects Flair as a champion, but he respects Vince as a businessman. Austin and Vince then shake hands. Stone Cold then shakes an upset Flair’s hand too and tells him that he means no disrespect. Vince is all smug about it as he gives Austin the contract and the pen, as Flair tells Vince that he will always hate his guts. Stone Cold then says that he has one more thing to say about the contract. “APRIL FOOLS”! Stone Cold drops the Smackdown contract and gives Vince a Stunner. Flair is in celebration mode now and he gets outside the ring and gets them beer to celebrate. They drink together, including Flair hitting an epic Knee Drop on a can of beer, until Austin stuns Flair as well. Austin signs the Raw contract and celebrates by himself to end the show. Solid segment here. I like the way they built Austin’s signing as such a big deal. If you thought about it logically, with Rock going to Smackdown, Austin was always going to end up on Raw, but they built this effectively as a one-night angle throughout the show.
The in-ring stuff wasn’t all that great here outside of the opener, but with Eddie’s return, the new look and set up, and all the in-ring promos feeling like they were heading in the right direction, this show still gets a thumbs up from me. It really felt like an exciting start to the Ric Flair controlled era of Raw.
