RAW lit up Richmond, Va., with less than two weeks remaining until No Way Out on Pay-Per-View. The top matches for the evening, as announced at the show’s opening, consisted of a No. 1 contender’s match between Kurt Angle and Stone Cold and Chris Jericho against Tough Enough Champion Maven in a contest for the Undisputed Championship!

But first, Kane and the Big Show came to blows in the evening’s first bout. The 500-pound Big Show dropped an elbow solidly onto Kane early in the match and produced a two count. Show continued to dominate the Big Red Machine until Kane stormed back with a huge bodyslam that shook the ring to its foundation. Kane followed by launching himself from the top rope, but was caught by the Big Show and took a chokeslam! Amazingly, Kane kicked out after two. Shortly after, Kane dropped his opponent with a chokeslam and took the pinfall!

Backstage, Ric Flair was in a conversation on his cell phone when the APA stormed in. They wanted to know what this business of Vince bringing back the nWo. An enraged Bradshaw said that if it was who he thinks it is, they are nothing but a bunch of backstabbing, whining SOBs.

Following a break, a Shattered Dreams production began. Goldust said that he was very much a reality and that someone in the Federation was close to getting a taste of.

He said he watched this superstar perform last week and was really impressive. One day, Goldust promised that the mystery athlete would look back on this period and remember how great this time was; the time before Goldust changed things forever.

A replay of Maven clashing with the Undertaker was shown next. Maven eliminated the Undertaker yet was eliminated from the event shortly after when the Dead Man tossed the young Tough Enough Champion over the top rope. Take followed that with a savage beating that left Maven battered and bloody.

But because Maven was thrown out of the ring by an eliminated man, he would get a shot at the Federation Championship. In fact, in a backstage interview with Coach, Y2J said that he personally granted Maven the title shot because Jericho is a fighting champion. Plus, he was sick of hearing people whining that Maven was never officially eliminated. Jericho promised to beat Maven silly, then do the same to either Stone Cold or Kurt Angle at No Way Out.

Rob Van Dam faced William Regal for the Federation Intercontinental Championship. Referee Teddy Long searched beneath the ring apron to make sure that Regal hadn’t hid any foreign objects nearby. Long also made sure to give Regal a thorough search before the match began. But RVD jumped Regal before Long finished and the match began.

RVD smashed Regal’s head into the ring steps and continued to attack the champion.

Van Dam dropped Regal with two spinning heel kicks to the jaw but could only get a two-count. Regal absorbed a Rolling Thunder but kicked out at two, then struck RVD with a blatant low blow to earn a disqualification. An enraged Regal knocked out Teddy Long then stormed off with his championship. RVD ran up and dragged Regal back to the win and assaulted him, but the Dudley’s ran out and decimated Mr. Monday Night. Suddenly, Edge sprinted to the ring and evened the score. He tossed the Dudley’s from the ring. RVD followed with a cross body onto Bubba Ray to the outside of the ring and Edge nailed a plancha on D-Von! Regal attacked Edge with brass knuckles that he produced, causing RVD to come to his aid. But RVD soon suffered a 3-D that knocked him to the mat for good.

Backstage, Ric Flair relaxed in his office when Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley came in. She wanted to know why Flair had put her husband in a match against Booker T for that evening. As she complained, Flair cut her off and said he was sorry for not bowing to the princess’ wishes. He said if she had a complaint, she should file it with her father who was responsible for booking the match. But she’d have to take a number because Flair had dibs on talking to Vince when he arrived about the nWo.

The Godfather with his legal escorts in two sauntered down to the ring. Godfather would be teaming up with the always-smiling Diamond Dallas Page, who came to the ring next.

Meanwhile, Godfather handed out business cards for his new escort service: "service, class, with a lot of fine ass." Godfather said that DDP was a satisfied customer, having used the service last night and coming away very happy. DDP said it wasn’t a bad thing, it was a good thing.

Their opponents, Christian and Lance Storm came to the ring next. The Godfather slammed Lance Storm around the ring for a good few minutes. But when the Godfather went to bounce off the ropes, Christian pulled the top one down and sent the former pimp hurtling to the outside. Christian tagged in and softened up the Godfather with a series of kicks inside the ring.

The crowd began chanting for DDP while the Godfather was being picked apart by Christina and Storm. They soon got what they wanted as Page tagged in and evened things up. DDP went to hit a Diamond Cutter on Storm, but Lance blocked the move. Godfather came in to help out and soon enough, Page hit the Diamond Cutter on Storm to take the win! Godfather left with his ladies through the entranceway while DDP took off through the crowd.

A limo pulled into the arena garage and out stepped Mr. McMahon to a chorus of loud booing from the fans. The limo driver apologized for being late. Vince patted the driver’s shoulder and silently walked away.

Ric Flair came down to the ring and took a microphone to address his business partner.

Flair started by saying how he loves Richmond because of all the memories he had of competing in that city. Flair said that last week produced another high in his career when he defeated Vince at the Royal Rumble. Flair said that everyone has ups and downs in their life, but nothing could get so bad that Vince needed to bring in the nWo. Flair said that he had the Federation’s production staff create a video that captured the highlights of the McMahon family, from Vince Sr. on through today. The video, which included a lot of vintage footage of former superstars such as Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and many others aired. It also contained footage from WCW and the nWo along with more modern highlights of the sports-entertainment industry. The crowd gave a standing ovation when the video completed.

Flair said that Vince McMahon Sr. had a vision and his son did take the company to the top of the industry. Flair asked Vince to come down to the ring. Vince did indeed come to the ring and stood facing his partner. Flair said that this company was in fact his baby and the people in the arena loved him for that. Flair said that if he’d done something so wrong that Vince would bring the nWo to the Federation, then Flair offered a huge apology. If Vince wanted to beat Flair or hit him in the head, he implored Vince to do it. He said the superstars in the Federation didn’t deserve this. He begged Vince not to do this to the best sports-entertainment company in the world.

He asked what Vince was thinking by bringing the nWo in with the problems they will cause. He wanted to know what he could do to heal the situation.

Vince grabbed the microphone and bluntly said he wanted to own 100 percent of the company and wanted Flair to leave. He said he wanted to purchase Flair’s stock for the price he paid for it. Only that would avert the nWo from coming in. Vince said he would give Flair a few days to think about it before he injected the poison that would kill the Federation. If the answer was no, Vince said he would see the Federation Superstars, fans and Flair himself in hell because Vince would be the last to survive on the nWo's killing fields.

At WWF New York, Tough Enough’s Women’s Champion Nidia said she was excited for Maven and wished him the best of luck in his match against Y2J.

Maven took on Y2J in the match of a lifetime for the budding superstar. Jericho obviously didn’t take Maven seriously. He stared down the challenger and talked a whole bunch of smack punctuated by a smack to the face. Maven jumped Y2J and soon leveled him with a dropkick. Y2J kicked out of the pin and exited the ring to gain his bearings. Maven followed and was slapped around a bit by the champ.

Back in the ring, Jericho softened Maven with some stiff kicks then removed a turnbuckle to expose the hard medal beneath. Y2J tried to turn Maven into the Walls of Jericho but Maven countered and wound up catapulting Jericho into the exposed turnbuckle!

Jericho narrowly kicked out of a two count an instant before the ref’s hand hit the mat for a third time. Moments later, Jericho locked on the Walls of Jericho and forced Maven to tap out. No sooner had the ring bell closed the match that the Undertaker walked to the ring. Y2J joined The King and JR at the announce table and said to watch out for the beating that Taker would deliver to Maven. Taker indicated that he was just going to talk to Undertaker and walked over to him in the corner. Taker stared him down for a bit before striking him in the gut. Maven retaliated, but Taker responded by destroying the youngster. He threw him from the ring and grabbed a steel chair that was smashed into Maven’s throat! Jericho said that Maven got what he deserved for all his whining and complaining.

Backstage, Coach began asking Taker about what just happened. Taker stopped and told Coach that if he wanted to keep his teeth in his mouth to never say the name Maven in his presence again. Otherwise, Taker said he’d be wearing Coach’s teeth as a necklace. Taker said that Maven had a price to pay for taking him out of the Rumble. Taker also said that The Rock had no business saying who eliminated Undertaker. The Dead Man said that he would not be disrespected. He promised to make The Rock pay every time he disrespected Taker.

Jazz walked down the hall backstage when she heard moaning coming from Billy and Chuck’s locker room.

She walked in to see the two engaged in some interesting stretching techniques. After watching with a gaping jaw, Jazz turned on her heels and pretended that she hadn’t just seen what just took place.

Triple H prepped for his match with Booker T when Stephanie came in and asked where his wedding band was. He said he always takes it off when he wrestles. Stephanie said that Vince made his match that evening and maybe Hunter shouldn’t have put Vince down the way he did on SmackDown! Triple H said it didn’t matter, because he would kick Booker T’s ass. Stephanie said that maybe Triple H needed some help. The Game said he would be just fine by himself.

In a six-person intergender tag match, the APA teamed up with Trish Stratus against Jazz, Billy and Chuck. Jazz and Trish started the action. Jazz took down the Women’s Champion with a slap to the face. But Trish stormed back and knocked Jazz out of the ring. Trish nearly pinned Jazz shortly after, but Chuck broke things up. Bradshaw tagged himself in and smacked the bejeezus out of Chuck for a bit before Billy got involved.

Each team took turns controlling the momentum, but eventually chaos enveloped the action and Trish wound up facing Chuck. Chuck powerbombed Trish and gingerly covered her for the pin before wiping his hands off in disgust.

Kurt Angle was busy stretching when Michael Cole interrupted to ask about rumors that Stone Cold was in an especially foul mood.

Angle said he was counting on it and he would win either the easy way or the hard way. The easy way would be to get Austin so angry that he gets himself disqualified. The hard way would be the old-fashioned way: getting Austin to tap. It’s True!

Booker T and Triple H got it on next. Booker took an advantage early by dropping The Game with a series of kicks. But Triple H stormed back and dealt himself back into the match with several right hands followed by a knee to the chest. Soon after, Triple H knocked Booker over the top rope and continued the beating outside the ring. Booker T crawled back in the ring and grabbed the ref’s leg. Suddenly, Christian raced down and beat up on Triple H before throwing him into the ring. Booker T, though, could only get a two-count. Christian once again tried a distraction, but Stephanie ran to the ring and smacked the assailant. The Game responded by smashing Christian to the ground. Triple H berated his wife then was smacked from behind by Booker which dropped Stephanie to the ground and earned Booker the win! The Game stormed to the back angrily while ignoring Stephanie’s crying apology.

During the commercial break, Stephanie continued her futile attempt to apologize, but The Game slammed his locker room door in her face and ignored her banging on the door at first. She said she loved Triple H, but he emerged from the locker room with Stephanie’s luggage! He plopped them in her arms and slammed the door again.

Kurt Angle and Stone Cold met in the ring to decide who would get a shot at the Undisputed Federation Champion, Chris Jericho, at No Way Out. An all-out slugfest ensued with both men powering their offense with pure hatred. Austin quickly latched on the ankle lock but Austin slithered out of the maneuver. With the crowd loudly chanting," You suck. WHAT?" at Angle, the Olympic Hero began to dominate the Rattlesnake. But Austin stormed back with a powerful spinebuster. Angle responded shortly after with a series of belly to back suplexes. Austin recovered and propped Angle up on the turnbuckle and delivered nearly a dozen searing chops to the chest followed by a superplex. Angle kicked out after two.

The brawl spread outside the ring where Austin smashed Angle into the steel steps. Back within the squared circle, Kurt Angle took advantage of a tripped referee by hitting a low blow on Austin. Angle went and got a steel chair which he through into the ring. Austin grabbed the chair, though, and stopped himself from hitting Angle, even though the Olympian goaded him to do so. Shortly after, the referee took a vicious hit and fell to the canvas, Angle once again capitalized, this time hitting Austin over and over and over again with the chair!

The referee got up and Angle nearly pinned Austin but amazingly, the Rattlesnake kicked out! Angle then put on the ankle lock. Austin tried to counter, but had to resort to crawling to the rope to break the hold.

Angle hit an Angle slam and thought he gathered a two-count, but Austin actually put his foot on the rope. Angle argued loudly with the ref, and then turned directly into a Stunner! Austin took the pin then turned away an attack by Y2J while throwing down some beers as RAW came to a close.