Bill Gienapp Intro
Well, so I caught No Way Out on
Sunday (although No Way Out actually happened two weeks ago, I’m going to make
life simple and just pretend that I’m writing this recap on time) and I’d
say if falls in the good-going-on-great category. To the complete and utter
surprise of no one, Rock did indeed win back the WWF Title from Kurt Angle,
since it’s been made abundantly clear for months that Rock/Austin is going to
headline Wrestlemania, the rest of the card be damned! Speaking of Austin, he
and Triple H had a terrific 2 out of 3 falls match in which they basically beat
the holy hell out of each other. Although Triple H ultimately got the victory
(since he was already pinned by Angle at Royal Rumble and that covers his quota
for the year), I have to say that the ending was booked the only way it really
could have been (Austin and Triple H clobber each other simultaneously and an
unconscious Triple H falls on top for the pin). Plus Jericho retained the IC
Title and the Dudley Boys are still Tag Team Champs (well actually they’ve
since dropped the belts to the Hardy Boyz, but we’ll pretend that hasn’t
happened yet), so all is well.
In other news, the WWF decided to
release Stacey “The Kat” Carter, which was understandable, given how she has
no discernable ring skills and doesn’t even meet the eye candy standards of
the typical WWF bimbo. Unfortunately, she also happens to be married to Jerry
“The King” Lawler, who took offense to his wife getting the axe and quit
under protest. Certain aspects of the situation remain unclear, but the bottom
line is that Lawler is out of action. Smackdown is coming to you from Tulsa (or
was it Tucson?). Your announcers are Michael Cole and…. (drumroll)… Jim
Ross! Wow, this should be some exciting commentary…
Kurt Angle comes out… and he’s
PISSED! This is Kurt’s new “I want to be Ken Shamrock” gimmick in which he
gets off on breaking people’s ankles. He’s already taken Scottie Too Hottie
out of commission (tragic loss for the seven people who still get off on the
Worm), but now he’s vowed to snap the Rock’s ankle!!!! As if the drama
couldn’t get any more compelling, he demands a match with either Rock or Stone
Cold Steve Austin… TONIGHT!!! And that means 5…4…3…2…1 - Cue Austin
entrance. He says he’s only too happy to whoop Kurt’s ass, but that would be
too easy, so out comes Rock to say that HE wants to administer the ass-whipping!
Time-out for a brief bit of intense Rock/Austin staring. Then Vince pops out to
announce that he’s already promised William Regal a title shot against Rock
(huh?), meaning Austin it is.
