RAW is at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim on October 9th, 2000, the same building that hosted WrestleMania 2000. Mick Foley has promised he will name the person who ran over Steve Austin. He comes out to a mixed reaction, booed and cheered, which Tommy Blacha says has nothing to do with Austin. That is the audience booing the writing. Foley brings in Shawn Michaels, who points the finger at The Rock and leaves. William Regal on commentary agrees. Tommy was in attendance at this show and remembers the crowd already feeling the weight of a year of stalling.

The reveal comes after the main event. Foley exonerates The Rock and then points to Rikishi. The crowd gives him nothing. Rikishi repeats himself. He explains he ran over Steve Austin for The Rock because WWF was always about the great white hope and his people were always held back. Rob and Tommy dismantle this immediately. The Rock had already been world champion. He was once the corporate pick over Steve Austin. Yokozuna was a world champion. The logic is broken on every level. Rikishi later said he was unhappy with the angle, hated memorizing a long scripted promo he did not believe in, and felt the company killed the hottest character he had ever had.

Tommy explains what was happening backstage: too many writers, new people cycling in every few weeks, no script supervisor, and a bottleneck at Vince producing whatever survived to the last minute. Rob notes Foley reportedly turned down being the driver because his Christmas book for children was coming out. Tommy says they should have had Rikishi say he did it, attack someone, and powder. Save the explanation for later. Instead they got the Scooby-Doo ending and burned Rikishi's momentum at the same time.

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Other major discussion points include:

• Lita wins a hardcore women's title match against Jackie with a cookie sheet
• Raven challenges Steve Blackman to a non-hardcore match to get heel heat for denying the crowd weapons; Lillian Garcia announces it as a hardcore title match anyway; Ross corrects her live on air; the crowd is dead until Blackman pulls out nunchucks after the bell
• X-Pac and Benoit versus Triple H and Jericho is the best match of the night; four elite workers pull off a convoluted reluctant-partners story cleanly; Benoit pins Triple H; Tommy notes it goes nowhere
• The Conquistadors debut by attacking the Hardys during a Low Down match; a GTV clip interrupts the Eddie and Chyna match to reveal Eddie in the shower with two valets

0:00:00 Cold Open

0:00:28 Welcome / RAW 10/9/00

0:01:49 Austin Hit-and-Run Origins / Everyone Pitched to Be the Driver

0:07:13 Sunday Night Heat Promotion / Marketing Missed Opportunity

0:08:42 Ratings / Anaheim / WrestleMania 2000 Arena

0:14:08 Risk-Averse Booking / The Machine Growing

0:18:10 Foley Opens to Mixed Reaction

0:19:13 Main Event Booked / Jericho & Triple H vs X-Pac & Benoit

0:21:08 Shawn Michaels Brought In / Points to The Rock

0:25:00 Lita vs Jackie (Hardcore Title)

0:27:17 Chyna & Deborah Backstage

0:29:50 Deborah Interrogated by Foley

0:32:17 Triple H / Stephanie Backstage

0:35:43 Linda McMahon Limo Arrives

0:36:35 Raven vs Blackman / Lillian Garcia Botch

0:41:40 Linda McMahon Interrogated

0:46:18 X-Pac & Benoit vs Triple H & Jericho

0:49:15 Triple H Demands Benoit at No Mercy / Edge & Christian

0:50:01 Hardys vs Low Down / Conquistadors Debut

0:51:13 Al Snow (Greece/Grease) / Regal on Commentary

0:55:33 Eddie & China / GTV Shower Reveal

1:01:42 Michael Clark Duncan / Vince's Definition of Huge

1:03:20 Crash Holly / Scotty Too Hotty Interrogations

1:04:51 China Breaks Off Engagement / Billy Gunn

1:07:48 Main Event: Rock & Rikishi vs Angle & Kane

1:08:45 Rikishi Reveal / "I Did It for The Rock"

1:17:22 Listener Mail / Rikishi Quote / Meltzer

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SmackDown comes from Baltimore on October 5th, 2000, and it is a noticeably better show than the RAW that preceded it. Tommy Blacha and Rob Pasbani spend a few minutes up top explaining what that probably means behind the scenes: somebody noticed, somebody said something, and the pendulum swung back toward wrestling. William Regal shows up and within minutes of sitting at the commentary table, uses the word "besmirched" and immediately gets over with everyone in Rob's friend group. Tommy says Regal has the full checklist and is the total package, not Lex Luger.

Austin confronts Foley in a segment that actually works. Foley tells Austin that his job has sucked since Austin arrived, which Rob and Tommy note is exactly what they had been saying for weeks. Austin gives Foley the chance to reconsider, hears no, and delivers what passes in Steve Austin's world as an apology before stunning him anyway. Tommy says the stunner is starting to feel like a pie in the face. Meanwhile, in the second Stephanie and Triple H backstage segment of the night, she tells him "the only thing hurting me is you." Both hosts agree it is not going where it should.

In the main event, Rikishi runs in and interferes on The Rock's behalf against Kane, costing them the match on a DQ. Tommy and Rob spend the back half of the episode fantasy booking a better Austin mystery driver reveal, agree there was almost nobody satisfying on the current roster, and settle on Goldberg or Flair as the only options that would have actually worked.

Please support the show, and join our brand new Patreon, featuring watch-alongs for classic matches.

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Other major discussion points include:

• Jacky and Low Down pin Lita in what everyone expects to be a Hardy exhibition; Jeff Hardy hits a split-legged moonsalt that Rob says suggests he has been watching Sabu tapes; the upset does not lead anywhere for Low Down despite Tommy pitching for them backstage
• Billy Gunn interferes in the X-Pac match to help Al Snow win; Michael Cole explains on commentary that it is because Billy Gunn was kicked out of DX; Tommy says this is his pet peeve and the announcer explanation is the weakest possible version of storytelling
• Eddie Guerrero eats a Goodfather powerbomb pin in the RTC match; Tommy says you can always recover from a loss if your character has attitude around it, and Eddie Guerrero has plenty of that
• Benoit comes out and complains; Jericho interrupts and challenges him; they have the match of the night before Triple H runs in and bleeds; Rob says he would rather see Jericho and Benoit than Benoit and Triple H
• Taz and Raven win via DQ over the Dudley Boys on a convoluted ring bell spot; the Dudleys immediately powerbomb Raven through a table; the crowd wanted the tables the entire time and Tommy says it all feels like a house show already

0:00:00 Cold Open

0:00:30 Welcome / SmackDown 10/5/00

0:01:45 Writing Staff / Creative Pendulum Discussion

0:06:42 Austin Fallout / Show Overview

0:08:22 Hardys & Lita vs Low Down & Jacky

0:18:05 Foley Backstage / William Regal Debuts

0:26:11 Foley Checks Limo / SmackDown Your Vote

0:28:13 RTC vs APA & Eddie Guerrero

0:31:14 Stephanie / Triple H Backstage

0:34:03 Taz / Raven Promo

0:36:30 Taz & Raven vs Dudley Boys

0:40:02 Austin Arrives / Foley Flips Table

0:42:03 Foley Confronts Austin

0:48:39 Angle Promo / Edge & Christian vs Rikishi & Too Cool

0:52:44 Stephanie / Triple H Part 2

0:55:40 Blackman vs Albert (Hardcore Title)

0:58:03 Angle Approaches Stephanie

1:00:17 Benoit vs Jericho / Triple H Runs In

1:03:31 Kane Backstage / Rock vs Kane (Main Event)

1:05:48 Rikishi Foreshadowing / Austin Reveal Discussion

1:16:05 Patreon / Sign-Off

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RAW is at the MCI Center in Washington DC on October 2nd, 2000. The show opens with a tribute to Dennis Dunn, father of executive producer Kevin Dunn, who reportedly saved the entire WWF tape library from a fire that would have ended any hope of a WWE Network. Then The Rock opens with a Marion Barry joke that kills in DC. Then Angle comes out. Then Triple H. Then Foley. Then Benoit. Then Kane. Then Rikishi. Tommy Blacha and Rob Pasbani have a name for this. They call it the variety hour. It is not a compliment.

The Austin investigation finally moves an inch when Billy Gunn is brought out as the prime suspect, clears himself with a flight delay alibi, and drops the first real clue in weeks: the person who ran Austin over had blond hair. Foley announces he has solved the case and immediately leaves. Austin stuns Billy Gunn anyway. Later, Austin stuns Foley before Foley can finish announcing a suspension. Rob likes the moment. Tommy already knows the reveal is going to disappoint everyone. The best spot of the night is the Brooklyn Brawler falling over a catering table before Austin even extends his hand.

The TNN numbers held steady from week one, which the hosts treat as genuinely impressive given typical first-week drop-off. The bad news is the show has less than thirty minutes of wrestling in two hours. The worse news is that for the first time, Rob is losing patience with Mick Foley as commissioner.

Please support the show, and join our brand new Patreon, featuring watch-alongs for classic matches.

You also get these episodes uncensored and one day early!

Please subscribe at https://patreon.com/talesfromtheattitudeera

Other major discussion points include:

• Raven takes the pin in his second week as Jericho and the Dudleys beat him, Taz, and X-Pac; Tommy sees a potential faction and explains what it could have been with the right booking
• Lita vs Ivory is advertised and never happens; Jacqueline attacks instead and they brawl through the locker room out to the garage where Jacqueline hits Lita with a fire extinguisher off the top of a truck
• Edge and Christian are steered into a hardcore title shot against Steve Blackman; Edge calls the title cracked and gross; they lose and look like herbs; Tommy explains how to take a loss without losing your heat
• Benoit chairs Kane during the tag match to cost them the win, setting up what should be a Benoit-Kane program; Rob asks if it goes anywhere; Tommy confirms it does not
• Triple H vs Angle for the number one contendership ends with Benoit interfering, Stephanie accidentally handing Angle the match, and Triple H taking a chair to the head; Triple H ends the show by turning his back on Stephanie crying in the ring
• SmackDown Your Vote is up to 110,000 registered voters; The Rock spoke at a Capitol Hill rally and almost told Gore and Bush where to go before settling for a much more measured ultimatum

Chapter Marks

0:00:00 Cold Open

0:00:27 Welcome / RAW 10/2/00

0:02:09 Attitude Era Fizzling / WCW Context

0:08:41 TNN Ratings / Show Overview

0:11:08 Dennis Dunn Tribute / Kevin Dunn

0:12:20 Rock Opens RAW / Wrestling vs Talking

0:15:31 Rock's Marion Barry Promo

0:17:25 Angle Responds / Be Like Kurt

0:20:10 Foley / Triple H / The Variety Hour

0:25:17 Benoit / Kane / Rikishi / Tag Match Booked

0:33:32 Hardys vs Too Cool

0:35:36 Foley / Edge & Christian / Hardcore Title

0:36:17 Taz & Raven & X-Pac vs Jericho & Dudleys

0:41:43 Lita vs Jacqueline Backstage Brawl

0:43:10 Rob Loses Patience With Foley

0:44:36 Rock & Rikishi vs Benoit & Kane

0:45:53 Foley's Ultimatum / Billy Gunn Prime Suspect

0:49:12 Edge & Christian vs Blackman (Hardcore)

0:52:32 Brooklyn Brawler / Austin Stuns Everyone

0:54:52 Austin Stuns Foley

0:58:52 SmackDown Your Vote / Capitol Hill Rally

1:00:12 Triple H vs Angle (Main Event)

1:02:24 Triple H Turns Back on Stephanie

1:05:08 Patreon / Sign-Off

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