Matches taped on 6/2 in San Diego, California.
Your Announcers are Jonathan Coachman and Al Snow.

Pyros go, Coach and Al welcome us in-were reminded that next Sunday will see the first Raw-only PPV, ‘Bad Blood’. We go to work…

1st Match: Val Venis (no more Big Valbowski apparently) vs. Rosey. Referee is Chad Patton.

Val out first to a nice pop-looks like he’s once again reprising his porn star gimmick, ladies in attendance are invited to audition for his own adult film company at his hotel later on. Rosey makes his way down (solo) to mild heat, tries for a clothesline as he enters, Val ducks it, bell rings, Val fires off a trio of forearms to the face, goes off ropes, shoulder charge has little effect on Rosey. Val again goes off the ropes, ducks under another clothesline, Rosey turns to face, Val tries for a scoop slam, no luck whatsoever bringing the big man up-Val appears to have hurt his back making the attempt. Rosey effortlessly brings Val up, slams him to the canvas. Rosey pauses to taunt Val, drops a double-axehandle, leg drop follows, Val down for 2. Both men up, Val retreats to a corner, Rosey sets, charges, Val sidesteps, Rosey into turnbuckles. Val in with another flurry of forearms to the face, whip is attempted, Rosey reverses, Val puts on the brakes, connects with a knee to the gut. Val whips Rosey into ropes, gets in another kneelift, Rosey is hauled to the center of the ring, Val tries for a leg sweep, Rosey retains his footing, Val drops to canvas. Rosey sets as Val slowly gets to his feet, Rosey’s forearm to the face is blocked, Val again tries to bring Rosey up for a fallaway slam, no luck whatsoever, Val collapses under the weight, Rosey covers for 2. Rosey up quickly as Val crawls to a corner, charge attempt succeeds this time, Val takes the Avalanche and drops like a stone. Rosey gets in a quick kick to the face, props Val up, shoots him to corner, Rosey charges, Val gets an elbow up at the last second, Rosey momentarily staggers before trying another charge, Val gets the boot up this time, Rosey backs off for a breather. Val charges STRAIGHT into a forearm, goes down, Rosey goes off ropes, drops a headbutt, follows up with a splash attempt, Val rolls clear, Rosey eats canvas. Both men get to their feet, Val ducks under Rosey’s woozy clothesline attempt, goes off ropes, scores with a clothesline, Rosey still up, Val tries once more, still no luck, standing dropkick finds it’s mark, Rosey groggy but still up, Val FINALLY scores with a slam, Rosey down. Val teases going up top, thinks better of it, drops a trio of elbows, follows up by ascending a top turnbuckle, Money Shot connects, Rosey down for the 1-2-3.

Winner: Val Venis.

Post-match Val gives his towel and a smooch to a young lady at ringside.

We cut backstage, where Chris Nowinski runs into Rodney Mack and Theodore Long. Chris tries to explain why he helped Rodney out a couple of weeks ago (details below), Theo cuts him off, emphatically states he and his client need no help, especially from a white boy. Chris offers an explanation regardless-he feels being a Harvard graduate makes him just as much a member of a minority as Theo and his client. Chris tries to suck up, Theo seems to smell a rat but offers Chris the chance to join his faction-providing he kicks some butt as Rodney’s tag partner later on. However, if he screws up, things will likely get ugly. Chris rather nervously accepts Theo’s proposal. Break.

Burn of the Night: Last Monday Raw co-General Manager Stone Cold Steve Austin took Kane to task after he’d suffered a loss to rookie Sylvan Grenier. Rattler asked if the fire still burned and practically begged for a chokeslam-no luck, Big Red rather dejectedly simply shoved him away. Infuriated, Stone Cold hit Kane with a Stunner.

Coach and Al return to wonder just what the hell is the deal with Stone Cold and Kane. We go back to work…

2nd Match: Maven vs. Mike Knox. Referee is again Chad Patton.

Mike already in the ring, big pop for Maven. Bell rings, circling into a lockup, Mike forces Maven into a corner, ref calls for the break, Mike backs off, then issues a quick shove. Mike backs away further, more circling, another lockup, Mike attempts to power Maven into opposite corner, reversed, Mike into turnbuckles, ref again calls for the break, Maven issues a shove of his own. Maven backs off, Mike charges, goes down to a hiptoss into an armbar. Mike gets to his feet, quickly drops to the canvas, goes for the armdrag takedown, Maven retains hold of the arm and reverses, armbar is maintained. Mike again to his feet, Maven wrings the arm, Mike breaks free with a single leg takedown, Maven to canvas, Mike drops the elbow, Maven rolls clear, Mike down and up, Maven gets to his feet also. Maven goes straight back to work on the arm, hammerlock is applied, Mike manages to go behind, frees himself with a forearm to Maven’s back. Maven to ropes, Mike scores with a forearm to the lower back, Maven turns, takes a forearm to the face. Mike whips Maven to opposite ropes, misses with a clothesline, Maven connects with a standing dropkick, Mike down and up. Maven scores with his armdrag into an armbar combo, abdominal stretch is briefly applied before Maven tries for the pin, just gets 2. Mike goes to one knee and begs off, Maven gets to his feet and approaches, Mike ducks and sends Maven face first into 2nd turnbuckle. Maven staggered, Mike sets for a neckbreaker, scores, Maven down for 2. Mike ascends a 2nd turnbuckle, drops the elbow, Maven rolls clear, Mike to canvas. Both men up slowly, Maven blocks a forearm, connects with a pair of his own, chop to the chest sends Mike down. Mike up groggily, Maven goes off ropes, forearms Mike back down. Mike slowly up as Maven goes off ropes, Mike goes down to a spinning heel kick, Maven covers, gets 2. Maven hauls Mike up, takes a knee to the gut, Mike whips Maven into corner, charges, Maven gets the boot up to the face, Mike down and up. Maven ascends a 2nd turnbuckle, sends Mike face first to the canvas with a flying bulldog, Mike bounces up before going down like the proverbial sack of spuds. Maven ascends a top turnbuckle as Mike staggers to his feet, missile dropkick to the face connects, Mike down for all 3.

Winner: Maven.

During the match Coach and Al spent a lot of time talking about the Bad Blood Main Event-Kevin Nash is scheduled to challenge HHH for the World Championship in ‘Hell in a Cell’. However, last Monday the assembled Raw referees told Austin and his co-GM Eric Bischoff that they refused to officiate the match, citing fear of injury-we were reminded that referee Tim White was injured in the last HIAC and hasn’t been in the ring since. Rattler told Bischoff he knew just the guy crazy enough to ref the match-no name was given. Coach confirmed Austin’s man WILL be in the house for Raw tomorrow night.

More from Coach and Al-we’re reminded that WWE Hall of Famer ‘Classy’ Freddie Blassie passed away last Monday at the age of 85. We get an excellent tribute video to the Classy One, set to the appropriately titled ‘My Immortal’ by the group Evanescence. Break.

WWE Rewind: Last Monday Terri was interviewing Bill Goldberg when the view cut to the parking lot-Chris Jericho was dumping a bucket of yellow paint on Bill’s vintage Barracuda. Chris then split in his own car and Bill took off in hot pursuit.

Coach and Al return to recap Raw. Midway through the show The Rock made his return to Raw, appearing as a special guest on ‘Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel’. As Y2J was busy ducking Goldberg his close friend Intercontinental Champion Christian served as guest host. Rocky tried to do his ‘Finally…’ routine, but was rudely interrupted by Christian, who described himself as the new People’s Champion. War of words broke out, Christian claims to have replaced Rocky in the hearts of the ‘peeps’. People’s Champion decided to take the matter to the fans, he went out into the crowd and garnered a very positive response. ‘If ya smell’ was interrupted when Jericho made his way to the ring, apparently having escaped Goldberg’s wrath. Rock re-entered, new verbal battle broke out, Y2J smugly reminded Rocky that he scored a Spear on Goldberg the previous week. Chat continued, business picked up when Christian and Y2J launched an attack. Rock was beat down, Booker T arrived to make the save, Chris took the People’s Elbow, Christian the Rock Bottom-then Rocky invited Booker to hit the Elbow on Christian! Offer was accepted, and the Canadian duo quickly retreated backstage. However, as they attempted to leave the arena they chanced to run into the Rattler, who put the kibosh on their exit attempt.

We cut to a young wrestler named Lance Cade preparing for our next match. Break.

(Commercial airs hyping the WWE debut of Gail Kim.)

2nd Match: Lance Storm vs. Lance Cade (I’ll be using last names for this one). Referee is Jack Doan.

Good heat for Storm, crowd understandably rather quiet for Cade. Circling into a lockup, Cade shrugs Storm off toward a corner. Quick staredown, more circling, another lockup, Cade goes behind, applies a waistlock, Storm counters with a hammerlock, Cade manages to duck under Lance’s arm, hammerlock is reversed, Storm counters with a leg scissors takedown, Cade to canvas. Storm goes for the ground based attack, locks in a reverse full nelson, Cade manages to get to his feet, powers out, cinches in a wristlock, Storm forces him to ropes, ref calls for the break, Storm gets in an elbow to the gut as Cade lets up on the hold. Storm shoots Cade off the ropes, series of blocked hiptoss attempts end when Cade scores with one that sends Storm over the top to land feet-first on the apron. Cade blocks a forearm, Storm does the same before dropping to the mats outside, Storm grabs Cade’s leg, sends him back first to canvas. Storm re-enters cleanly, Cade gets to his feet, Storm connects with a kick to the lower leg, Cade back down. Storm gets in a quick boot, goes to work on the leg, drops a forearm on Cade’s outstretched thigh before applying a leg scissors. Cade counters with a crossface, sends Storm face first to canvas, gets in a quick forearm to the back of the neck. Storm fires off blind forearms to the leg, Cade breaks off and staggers to his feet, Storm gets in another low kick to the leg that sends Cade sprawling into a corner. Lance uses the ropes to keep up the pressure on the leg, ref calls for the break. Storm complies, backs off, Cade fires off desperation forearms to the face, Storm grabs the leg, Cade sends him to canvas with an enzugiri. Both men up slowly, Cade goes on the attack, connects with a forearm and an uppercut, both good for knockdowns. Cade hauls Storm up, shoots him off ropes, Storm goes down to a big back body drop. Storm up slowly, Cade connects with a running clothesline, Storm down for 2. Storm fires off a forearm to the leg, Cade retreats to a corner, Storm approaches, takes a knee to the face. Storm staggered, Cade cinches in a side headlock, running bulldog follows, Storm down for 2. Cade hauls Storm to his feet, sets for whip, Storm reverses, Cade goes off ropes, Storm drops under as he rebounds, grabs the leg, rolls through into a 1/2 Boston Crab. Cade powers through, kicks Storm to ropes, wraps up a small package as he rebounds, Storm down for 2. Both men up, Storm sends Cade down with another low kick to the leg, application of the Sharpshooter follows, Cade quickly taps out.

Winner: Lance Storm.

We’re informed Rodney Mack and Chris Nowinski will be facing Tommy Dreamer and Spike Dudley in our Main Event. Break.

Coach and Al return for more Raw recap. Turned out the reason Stone Cold didn’t allow Christian and Y2J to split was that he’d booked them in a match with another pair of former tag champs, Booker T and Goldust. Good match saw Booker picking up the win for his team, pinning Christian after the scissors kick. He and his partners celebration was abruptly cut short when Y2J laid both men out with Christian’s IC title belt. Referee Charles Robinson tried to relieve him of the weapon as Goldberg ran down to the ring. Spear was attempted, but Jericho cagily thrust Charles into Goldberg’s path. Bill quickly called for medical attention for the ref as Christian and Jericho got out of Dodge.

The current card for Bad Blood gets reviewed:

1. Bill Goldberg vs. Chris Jericho.
2. Booker T challenges Christian for the Intercontinental Championship.
3. René Dupree and Sylvan Grenier (La Resistance) challenge Rob Van Dam and Kane for the World Tag Team Championships.
4. Eric Bischoff and Stone Cold Steve Austin square off in a ‘Redneck Triathlon’. No details on that one yet.
5. Test vs. Scott Steiner. Winner gets Stacy Keibler as their manager, exclusively.
6. Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels in a ‘Battle of Legends’.
7. Kevin Nash challenges HHH for the World Championship in ‘Hell in a Cell’.

Al confirms the mystery ref for Nash vs. HHH will be appearing on Raw tomorrow night. Final break.

Straight back for our Main Event

4th Match: Spike Dudley and Tommy Dreamer vs. Chris Nowinski (w/face mask of doom) and Rodney Mack. Latter team is accompanied by Theodore Long. Referee is Charles Robinson.

Big heat for Chris and Rodney, very nice pop for team ECW. Pre-match we get footage from the Raw episode of 2 weeks ago-Chris Nowinski used his mask to help Rodney Mack get a win over Bubba Ray Dudley during the semi-weekly ‘5 Minute White Boy Challenge’.

Rodney and Chris attack as Spike and Tommy run to the ring, we get a brief Pier 6 brawl, Tommy sends Rodney face first into a guard barrier as Spike rolls Chris into the ring. Bell rings, Spike gets in a quick forearm to the back, sets for a whip, reversed, Spike connects with the battering ram as he rebounds. Spike makes the tag, Tommy comes in, sends the doubled-over Chris to the canvas with a neckbreaker as Spike exits. Tommy hauls Chris up, whips him into neutral corner, charges, Chris gets a leg up-Tommy scouts it, puts on the brakes, grabs the boot, connects with a kick to Chris’ outstretched thigh. Tommy follows up with a dragon screw leg whip, Chris to canvas, Tommy retains hold of the leg, tags in Spike, he grabs the other leg, Chris gets wishboned, Tommy and Spike follow up with kicks to the face, Tommy exits, Spike tries for a roll-up, just gets 2. Spike fires off forearms to the back, goes off ropes as Chris gets to his feet, Spike tries for the flying cross body block, Chris catches him, Spike gets set in tree of woe in Team Minority corner. Chris lays in the boots, gets hauled off by ref, Rodney goes for the choke behind his back, Tommy comes in, ref sees him straight back out as Chris goes back to kicking Spike while he’s down. Rodney gets the tag, takes over the laying in of the boots as Chris exits. Rodney hauls Spike up, sends him right back down with a good ol’ fashioned body slam. Rodney goes off ropes, connects with a splash, Spike down for 2. Spike takes another boot, Rodney hauls him up, whips him off ropes, shoulder block sends Spike rolling under the bottom rope to the mats below. On the outside Chris drops Spike gut first onto a guard barrier as Tommy enters untagged. Ref sees Tommy out, Chris rolls Spike in, Rodney sets for finisher as Spike gets to his feet, Blackout (Cobra Clutch) is applied, Tommy again enters and shoves Rodney toward a corner. Spike takes advantage, modified Dudley Dog leaves Rodney in a pinning predicament-Charles only goes to make the count after issuing a warning to Tommy, just counts 2 when Rodney kicks out. Rodney gets in a boot to Spike and a forearm to Tommy that sends him down on the apron. Rodney hauls Spike up, gets in a quick elbow to the top of the head, Spike is dragged to Team Minority corner and tossed face first into turnbuckles. Chris gets the tag, Rodney exits, Chris in with forearms and kicks to the back, Rodney gets tagged back in, Chris holds Spike as Rodney scores with a kneelift. Rodney ascends 2nd turnbuckle, Chris hauls Spike onto his partners shoulders, Rodney scores with a dangerous looking modified powerslam, covers, Tommy makes the save with a low dropkick before the count of 3. Tommy quickly bails to his corner as Rodney tags in Chris, then exits. Chris goes up top, drops the elbow, Spike rolls clear, Chris to canvas. Spike crawls to Team ECW corner, Tommy gets the tag, Spike exits as Chris gets to his feet, Tommy connects with a pair of clotheslines, both good for knockdowns. Chris up, Tommy scores with a spinebuster, Chris right back down, Rodney comes in untagged, goes off ropes STRAIGHT into a powerslam. Chris gets to his feet, Tommy scores with a boot to the gut and the DDT, covers, Rodney breaks it up with an elbow drop before the count of 3. Tommy to ropes, Rodney approaches, sets for whip, reversed, Spike grabs the ropes, Rodney gets sent over the top to the mats outside. Tommy brings Chris up, sends him right back down with a body slam, tag is made to Spike. Tommy exits, Spike goes up top, lands feet first on Chris’ chest. Spike calls for his finisher, Chris takes the boot to the gut, Spike sets for the Dudley Dog-when distracted by Theo on the apron. Spike goes after Theo, who quickly drops to the outside. Ref issues a warning to Theo, Chris removes his mask and uses it for a hard shot to Spike’s face. Spike down, Chris resets the mask, Spike rolls out of the ring as his brother Bubba Ray runs in and lays Chris out with a clothesline (D-Von attends the party also, we get a glimpse of him clubberin’ Rodney on the outside). Ref calls for the DQ bell, Chris takes the Bubba Bomb, D-Von rolls Rodney in, Bubba Ray slams him to the canvas, D-Von goes up top, Rodney takes the Wassup Headbutt to the chongs. Theo is going nuts, Bubba Ray calls for the tables, D-Von gets the wood, Dudz set the table up in the middle of the ring. Rodney gets to his feet at the ropes, Dudz set for the 3D, Rodney turns to face D-Von-and gets saved from taking the ride when Chris grabs his leg and drags him out of the ring. Team Minority retreat up the ramp as Bubba Ray hurls verbal abuse.

Coach and Al hype tomorrow night’s Raw to end the show.

Short form match results:

1. Val Venis defeated Rosey, pinfall.
2. Maven defeated Mike Knox, pinfall.
3. Lance Storm defeated Lance Cade, submission.
4. Rodney Mack and Chris Nowinski defeated Spike Dudley and Tommy Dreamer, disqualification.

(Credit: 1wrestling)