Finally Raw is War has come back to State College.
It was "off the hook," one fan said as he left The Bryce Jordan Center, on a night that could also be well described as groundbreaking and record setting.
Monday night's Raw is War represented the show's premiere on TNN after over 17 years on the USA Network and gave TNN's a 5.4 composite rating, its highest in more than 17 years of existence.
Of the more than 7 million people that viewed Raw this Monday on TNN, no campus TV set tuned in, since TNN is not available on campus cable.
In spite of the lack of campus viewers, the Raw broadcast commenced with several loud and brilliant explosions silenced by a crack of glass that could only mean one thing -- the return of "The Rattlesnake."
Stone Cold Steve Austin made his way to the ring to the full appreciation of all 11,000 on hand. He proceeded, in typical Stone Cold fashion, to deride every other WWF superstar, from "the naked Mideon" to "the two jack-asses Stephanie and Shane McMahon".
Stone Cold's tirade brought out WWF Commissioner Mick Foley as well as Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. After hearing each one of them out, Austin proceeded to stun both Beniot and Angle, which simply put the Center in a state of pandemonium.
James Caringal (junior-administration of justice) witnessed Stone Cold's return live on TNN from his University Gateway apartment.
"The crowd went wild when Stone Cold came out. The crowd was very enthusiastic about him coming back so that was a very good pleaser bringing him out first," Caringal said.
The night's first matchup featured Kane vs. Rikishi, which saw Rikishi being disqualified for hitting Kane with a chair. The fight had to be broken up by several officials, which provoked several boos from the crowd.
Raw's next matchup pitted Tazz against Buh Buh Ray Dudley. The crowd seemed to enjoy this match, especially when Tazz squirted Jerry "The King" Lawler with water. The match ended with Raven DDT'ing Buh Buh Ray, allowing Tazz to win by pinfall.
Perhaps the night's best match was the surprising Tag Team Ladder match featuring The Hardy Boyz against Edge and Christian, in spite of rumors that Edge and Christian would be disbanded following their loss of the Tag Team Title on the previous night's pay-per-view, Unforgiven.
The highpoint of the match was a mid-air spear by Edge on Jeff Hardy. The spear occurred while Hardy was suspended in the air by and clinging to the apparatus that suspended the belts above the ring. The Hardys eventually won by virtue of Lita's interference.
William J. Vascik (sophomore-pre-med) witnessed the ladder match.
"The match that everyone seemed to get into was the ladder match. Those four guys kept everyone on the edge of their seats, not knowing what they'd do last," Vascik said.
Following the Tag Team ladder match was X-Pac's surprisingly abrupt First-Blood match with Chris "Y2J" Jericho. Jericho appeared to one of the loudest "pops" of the night and then ambushed X-Pac as he made his entrance. X-Pac won after smashing Jericho's face with a glass bottle. The Jericoholics got retribution, however, as a bloodied Jericho was able to put X-Pac in "The Walls of Jericho" in a post match brawl.
Amidst loud cheers of "Mamacita," Eddie Guerrero entered the ring for his matchup with Val Venis of "Right to Censor." The match was signed after Chyna's dialogue about her current feature photos in Playboy magazine irked the "Censors." Eddie Guerrero came to Chyna's defense asking Mr. Venis, "Are you stupid, man?" Eddie Guerrero won after Chyna thwarted an attempt by Steven Richards to interfere by pulling his pants down.
Raw's main event featured The Rock vs. Chris Benoit in a re-match of the previous night's main event at the pay-per-view Unforgiven. Mick Foley signed the match after acknowledging that "Benoit had been 'screwed' the night before." Chris Benoit came out first, accompanied by Shane McMahon. The People's Champ entered the ring to tumultuous chant of, "Rocky. . .Rocky. . .Rocky," and then he did his signature walk around the ring and turnbuckle stand with the belt raised, to the crowd's delight.
Benoit and The Rock fought back and forth with the climax being Triple H coming to the ring to help an unconscious Shane, only to be hit inadvertently by Benoit. Triple H retaliated and hit Benoit, allowing the Rock to execute "The Rock Bottom" and claim victory by pin fall.
Erman Akinci (freshman-engineering) described himself as not really a big fan of WWF wrestling, but was enthralled with The Rock's performance.
"The Rock is the man," Akinci said.
Vascik described the crowd's response to The Rock as "extremely electric."
Following the match there were several interesting twists that will have major implications for WWF storylines. Stephanie was head butted by Benoit and fell unconscious which caused a brawl featuring the unlikely teammates of The Rock and Triple H against Benoit and Kurt Angle. The brawl ended with The People's Champ and The Game executing simultaneous People's Elbows on Angle and Benoit.
After Raw went off the air, Triple H and The Rock seemed to form an alliance after Helmsley beckoned The Rock to shake his hand only to be asked by The Rock to name his favorite pie. After numerous chants of, "Poontang. . .Poontang!" Triple H conceded that his favorite pie, as well as Penn State's was indeed "Poontang Pie." According to reports this signifies Triple H's turn to face in the WWF, Triple H's first such role since the dropping of the immensely popular D-X angle.
Bernard Punt, director of public relations for the Center, was on hand for the setup and noted no significant differences in the set except for the lighting.
"This was the first time they used that lighting configuration, so they tested it repeatedly throughout the day," he said.
Punt also indicated that approximately 70 to 100 tickets became available during the day, after setting up for the performance, but were sold within 10 minutes.
Jason Golladay (junior-computer science) and Tim Black (junior-music education) echoed the thoughts of many students in expressing their displeasure at not being able to view any of WWF's two main shows on campus. "I live off campus, and I don't get UPN, so it's a lot harder following the storylines, because we always miss what happens on Thursday on Smackdown!" Golladay said.
"I think it could affect the popularity of the shows," Black added. "They better find some way of getting it on campus, or it will affect the popularity of Graham Spanier," Black said.
Punt indicated that the WWF had no immediate plans to return to Penn State this year and said that next semester is probably the soonest they would return. Punt was quite enthused with Monday's event and thought it was entertaining for both wrestling aficionados and casual fans alike.
"Whether you're a fan or not, the wrestlers and fans that come to the Bryce Jordan Center have a blast, and that's the bottom line," Punt said.
