We kick Raw off where we left off last week. Goldust vs Savio Vega for the vacated Intercontinental Championship. If you have already forgotten, we ended Raw with a dusty finish with a ref bump and Savio hitting Goldust with the belt, which led to the vacating of the gold. Pre-match interview with an enraged Savio Vega yelling in Spanish as he marches to the ring.
Brawl from both men to start things off. Big clothesline from Savio sends Goldust flipping. He follows with a powerslam and a cover for two. Goldust walks up the rampway, but Savio catches up with him, hitting a side kick. Both men return, but Goldust sildes under Savio, hitting a slap to the face. Whip to the buckle and a splash by Goldust who then plants Savio with a kiss on the lips. This heats Savio up who starts clubbing on Goldust. But Goldust gets a cheap low blow behind the referee's back.
Goldust starts kicking Savio in the leg and then tries to prop his legs between the ropes, but Savio catches Goldust with an enziguri as we go to break. When we return, Goldust has Savio in a leg lock. Lawler is on news reporter mode tonight as he brings up Jimmy the Greek, overweight Americans, phone company mergers and more. Back in the ring, Goldust continues work on the leg, smashing it into the ring apron. He then follows with a front facelock. We get the arm drop spot, but Savio recovers on the third drop. But Goldust drops his weight on the back and returns to the rest hold.
We get another rambling Warrior promo mid-match as he says that there will be squealing at In Your House as Goldust will be the biggest squealing pig of all. Goldust tries to whip Savio, but Savio's leg gives way. Leg drop and a cover only gets two. Goldust tries to drive Savio groin-first into the post, but Savio pulls back, causing Goldust to smash into the steel. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Ted Dibiase show up at the entrance way as Goldust regains control. Ten count punches (complete with rubbing) is countered as Savio tries to come back with a splash, only for Goldust to get the knees up as we go to break again.
When we return, Goldust rams Savio hard into the buckle then sets up a Curtain Call, only for Savio to jump behind and hit a kick to the head. Cover gets a close two. He argues with the referee, then rolls up Goldust for a two. Goldust catches Savio with a facebuster. Marlena distracts the referee while Savio rolls Goldust. Austin whacks Savio with his Million Dollar Championship and Goldust covers for the three to regain his title.
A good opener. Lots of fire early on as both men had unfinished business from last week's incident. Slowed down a lot in the middle, and Lawler's constant news stories really hurt any attention needed for the match itself. In the end however, the right man regained his gold and the heated Austin/Savio feud intensifies after Austin's latest actions.
It's Vader Time up next as Vader is in action against Make-a-Difference Fatu. When we return from a commercial break, Vader is in full control, pummeling Fatu in the ropes. Sunset flip attempt from Fatu. Vader jumps down, but misses. Fatu follows up with a clothesline and a shoulder block. He follows with an ace crusher of sorts. Fatu then goes up for a splash, connecting. Vader no-sells it and hits a clothesline (complete with patented Fatu flip bump). Vader goes up and lands a moonsault for the win.
We take a look at the Germany tour with Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and more. But the focus is on a match between Jake Roberts and Owen Hart. Jake hits a DDT, but the British Bulldog immediately went on the attack. After a bit of a brawl from both men, Jake hits an inverse atomic drop. He hit a shortarm clothesline, then calls for the snake, Revelations. He then wraps the snake around the throat of Bulldog, who eventualy makes his escape.
Up next, it's The Godwinns in action against Tim Patterson and little Yoshihiro Tajiri. We get a video of the Body Donnas who promise a surprise for Henry and Phineas. Tajiri tries to work the arm, but gets caught in a rib breaker from Phineas. Phineas misses an elbow as Tajiri hits a standing moonsault. Cover gets a two. Tag to Patterson and Henry. Henry picks up Patterson with a bearhug. Sunny comes to ringside with the belts and mocks Hillbilly Jim. Jim and the dog Old Blue chase her off. Godwinns get the win after a slop drop on Patterson.
Post-match, Skip and Zip begin to attack Phineas and Henry. Phineas tries to regain control, but the Body Donnas gain control, hitting a slingshot suplex. They then grab the slop bucket and shove the slop into the mouth of Phineas. Henry chases the pair off then checks on Phineas.
Up next, it's our last match of the evening. Mankind taking on Aldo Montoya. Dropkick by Aldo to start, followed with some shots in the corner. Mankind comes back with a headbutt and a chop block. He begins to stomp Aldo down as the crowd chants "EC-Dub". He punches Aldo in the corner and chokes him while pulling his own hair out. Great camera shot of Mankind's hair hanging on the ring rope. He hits a knee to the face in the corner, then follows with a leg drop off the apron as we go to break.
When we return, Aldo slides under Mankind and gets in some more punches and a dropkick. He goes up top and dives, but gets punched right in the face. Tree of woe and a diving elbow to the face. He tears out some more of his hair then hits a piledriver. He starts to squeal, then locks in the mandible claw for the win in another solid squash.
We end Raw with a recap video on the long history of Diesel and Shawn Michaels. Going back from their alliance in 1993, their tag title run and evenual split in 1994, their match at Wrestlemania XI, their reconsciliation, Diesel's sneak attack at Madison Square Garden, Shawn's win at Wrestlemania XII, and Diesel's most recent attack from two weeks ago. Shawn says he's tired of taking crap from Diesel and will break him down. We then get words from Diesel from the Germany tour. He says that he doesn't want that belt. He had the belt and it was the worst year of his life. Because Vince McMahon and his corporate puppets tried to make Big Daddy Cool something he wasn't. Now that he's what he is, he doesn't win any slammys or accolades because he's the bad guy. He's the real leader of the new generation and Shawn's a dime a dozen. At In Your House, anything can happen. He then threatens Vince and says that he should watch his back after the match.
Pretty bland episode of Raw this week honestly. Definitely the scraps of the taping set. Goldust vs Savio was a hot opener, Vader hitting a moonsault was pretty amazing, and I liked that every major match at In Your House was given time to build either through angles or vignettes. But that aside, the rest of the squashes were standard stuff and as such it's hard to recommend this episode beyond some good PPV build. In the end, Raw sinks to a B- rating.
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