Grilling JR - RAW 3/13/00 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

March 13th 2000 RAW 

It took place in East Rutherford, NJ

There's about 3 weeks to go before WrestleMania 16/2000 and we're coming off of the No Way Out pay per view, where we saw Triple H beat Mick Foley in a Hell in a Cell match and because of the stipulations of the match, Mick had to retire since he lost..or so we though; it ended up being more like a vacation. 

We covered No Way Out in full, a few weeks ago, and it's available in our archives if you'd like to get up to speed heading into this Raw that we're about to talk about

Some news heading into Raw. At the end of January, WWF released their quarterly report. Meltzer reported -

At the end of the quarter (1/28), the WWF had $243 million in cash assets, made up of $172 million coming from the IPO and the other $71 million in accrued profits over the 18 years the company has been in operation. The biggest reason why the gross revenue was up from $65.2 million to $98.4 million in comparing the third quarters was a $12.1 million increase in television advertising revenue, almost all due to the implementation of Smackdown. 

They also increased $5.8 million in live event grosses by increasing ticket prices 20% across the board to a $28 average. Attendance was steady, but because ticket prices were jacked up as compared with one year ago, there was an increase. There was a slight increase in PPV revenue. There was a huge increase in licensed merchandise revenue from $18.9 million last year at this time to $32.5 million. They tripled online revenue both based on more advertising money coming in, and more e-commerce, and with the implementation of now 12 internet sites, they doubled total hits and more than tripled page views. 

The company's overall pre-tax profit for the quarter was $25,857,000 and net profit after estimated taxes was $15,721,000, basically meaning it earned 23 cents per share profit, well above estimates of 18 cents. The performance of the wrestling business at this point, if things don't change, is that at this pace, the company could actually lose $92 million per year on the XFL, which isn't going to come close to happening, and not only still not have any financial problems, but still run at a small profit.  

Meltzer reported - Bruce Prichard is now the office representative and scout at the Memphis TV tapings and he'll also be going to some Ohio Valley TV tapings. He and Kevin Kelly are in charge of monitoring how the wrestlers under developmental deals are doing 

Meltzer reported- Steve Austin is wearing a soft neck collar most of the time. His movement is limited to doing a lot of walking and he's as of yet not allowed to lift weights. The plan is for him to debut at Wrestlemania, but in a very limited role. Vince McMahon is supposed to start on television a few weeks before Mania which may be part of an angle to reintroduce Austin. Mick Foley will be at Mania of course. A lot of ideas have been thrown out, including one where he doesn't appear on television at all, but it will be hyped that he'll return to give a farewell address at the show 

That takes us to Raw

The show opens with World Champion Triple H and his wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley coming to the ring, and they were followed seconds later by the Big Show and Shane McMahon. Shane showed footage of Thursday's SmackDown, when The Rock was subject to a beating after being forced into two Handicap Matches. 

Stephanie then announced The Rock's match at WrestleMania. She said he'd be a part of a Handicap Match against the "biggest team ever" in the World Wrestling Federation, the Twin Towers, But the Twin Towers turned out to be a couple of minis. Stephanie, Triple H, Shane and the Big Show laughed about it, throwing out mock stipulations for The Rock's match at WrestleMania.

The Rock came out and said he wouldn't let them humiliate him. Just as the Coalition had forced Mick Foley to retire, he was going to give them the opportunity to do the same to him. He challenged the Big Show to a one-on-one match on Raw. If The Rock wins, he'd go to WrestleMania to face the WWF Champion in the main event, but if the Big Show beat him, The Rock said he'd leave the WWF forever, even though he's only 27 years old. The Rock added that if any of the other members of the Coalition interfered, The Rock would be declared the winner and would still get to go to WrestleMania.

The Hardy Boyz took on Steve Blackman and Al Snow (sometimes known as Head Cheese) in the first match. Matt rolled up Blackman for the pin

Next match was a handicap match, Mark Henry vs The Dudleys. After just a few moments, Buh Buh Ray Dudley retreated to the locker room, leaving his brother D-Von alone with Henry. It turned out that Bubba had gone backstage to find Mae, who after weeks of attacks from the Dudleys was confined to a wheelchair. Bubba wheeled her out to ringside, Dudleys then hit Henry with the 3D.

Dudleys then left the ring, and wheeled Mae back up the ramp, Bubba then powerbombed her through a table nearly 15 feet below.

The previous week on Raw, Bubba powerbombed her through a table in the ring

You could see Mae squeeze his leg, probably to let him know she was ok. What was your thoughts when you heard this was going to happen. Was she ok?

Speaking of the Dudleys, Meltzer reported - The situation with Kathy Dingman (B.B.) is that she hasn't been fired, although the odds are that she may be and she was given the word of that. The storyline situation is that she is out selling the power bomb through the table by the Dudleys. At this point there are no plans to bring her back and at this point she is still getting paid under the guise she's out selling an angle, but obviously if she isn't brought back, she'll be cut. 

She was a hiree of Terry Taylor, who is no longer with the company, so politically that worked against her. The feeling is that her portfolio (modeling shots) looked great but she had no charisma in front of the crowd. It is true that she's now an item with Bob Holly, but we're told that had nothing to do with her employment status, as if everyone in wrestling who was involved in affairs were let go because of them, the ranks of wrestlers would thin considerably 

After naming himself New Jersey's hero, Kurt Angle put the European Title on the line in a Triple Threat Match against Chris Jericho and Tazz. Before the match got underway, Tazz said that there would be no DQs. Bob Backlund came from the crowd and attacked both Tazz and Chris Jericho. Chyna ran from the backstage area and delivered a lowblow to Backlund, who fell outside the ring.

In the meantime, Tazz grabbed one of Angle's title belts. But Jericho dropkicked him, and Angle picked up the belt and hit Jericho with it to win the match.

Triple H, X-Pac and Road Dogg teamed up for a 6-man tag team match against Too Cool and Rikishi. As the other four others fought outside the ring, Rikishi had Triple H set up for the banzai drop off, But Stephanie distracted the referee, and X-Pac hit Rikish with the ring bell, breaking the wood right off the bell. Triple H made the cover, and DX got the win.

Next up, Kane vs Big Boss Man. Kane ended up winning with the chokeslam

Backstage, Michael Cole interviewed Fabulous Moolah, asking her how she felt about what happened to Mae Young. Moolah said that she hoped Mae was suffering. Moolah declared that nobody had heard of Mae before Moolah brought her in - Mae was a nobody before, and she's still a nobody, Moolah said. Moolah reminded everyone that she's a Hall of Famer, and she said she didn't care if Mae never returned

Next match was Essa Rios with Lita, defending the lightweight title against Dean Malenko. Eddie Guerrero, who accompanied Malenko to ringside, jumped up on the apron, but was quickly knocked off with a Rios forearm. 

Lita tried to follow up with a hurricanrana, but Guerrero caught her and powerbombed her on the floor. In the ring, Malenko rolled up Rios to win the Lightweight title

Next up was Edge and Christian vs the Acolytes. Terri who was at ringside caused a distraction and Bradshaw hit the clothesline from hell on Edge for the pin

Before Raw got underway, Crash Holly had another "anytime, anyplace" Hardcore Title defense. This time, the Mean Street Posse members found referee Tim White at the Newark Airport. They convinced him to put on his striped shirt, and then they attacked Crash right in the baggage claim area. Prince Albert, also apparently waiting for his bag, got involved. 

As Albert fought Joey Abs and Rodney, Pete Gas picked up a quick win by pinning Crash and winning the Hardcore Title, for about ten seconds. As Gas celebrated, Crash grabbed his scale and hit him in the back of the head, and then Crash pinned him to win back the Hardcore Title.

Back after a few weeks of nursing an injury, Val Venis teamed up with Test to face Perry Saturn and Chris Benoit. Midway through the match, Eddy Guerrero appeared for the second time in the evening. When Benoit bounced Test off the ropes, Guerrero clobbered him with an illegal foreign object, and Benoit followed up with a belly to back suplex into a bridge for the victory.

In the main event, The Rock put his career on the line for a shot at the main event at WrestleMania as he wrestled the Big Show. Before the match got underway, Shane McMahon came out and ordered referee Earl Hebner back to the locker room; Shane named himself the special referee. 

When Shane was inadvertently knocked out of the ring, The Rock delivered a spinebuster and a People's Elbow, but there was no referee. Hebner ran from the back, but Shane pulled him out of the ring and beat him up.

Shane climbed back in the ring and hit The Rock with a steel chair, just as he had at No Way Out. All of a sudden a limousine pulled up in the backstage area and Vince McMahon got out. Seeing Vince arrive on the monitor, Triple H went after him, but Vince laid him out with a right hand 

Then Vince went out to the ring and punched Shane.Vince then hit Shane with a chair, and then he stripped the referee shirt off Shane's back and put it on himself. The Rock hit the Rock Bottom pinned the Show, and Vince made the three count, sending Rock to the World Title match at WrestleMania.

This Raw got a 6.3 and Nitro got a 2.6