INTERRUPTIONS APLENTY
Feb. 23, 2004

Mr. McMahon had to know that it was going to be a wild night. After all, before he even arrived at the arena, history was made on RAW when Victoria won an elimination match over Lita, Jazz and Molly Holly to capture the Women’s Championship. From there, the night spun out of control, so much so that even Mr. McMahon could not bring order and, as a result, WrestleMania is already living up to its billing as the most dramatic and exciting of events.

The plan was for Mr. McMahon to do two things on RAW: First, he was going to make a major announcement concerning WrestleMania XX. Afterwards, he was going to meet RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff one on one in a match that would seemingly bring the Monday Night War to a new level. However, four interruptions later, Mr. McMahon’s evening was not exactly ruined, just shaken up completely.

First, as Mr. McMahon prepared to make his major announcement, Stacy Keibler’s music hit and the WWE Diva ventured to the ring along with Miss Jackie. Keibler stated that she wanted to prove that the RAW tandem were the hottest Divas in WWE on the “biggest stage of them all” at WrestleMania. After some positive reinforcement from the Divas, McMahon announced that WrestleMania will feature the first-ever Playboy Tag Team Evening Gown Match featuring the RAW duo of Keibler & Miss Jackie against the SmackDown! team of Torrie Wilson & Sable.

When it seemed as if it were finally time to get to business and make his announcement, Kane’s music hit and he stormed to the ring and demanded the opportunity to finally end his brother, the Undertaker. Mr. McMahon granted his wish and announced that Kane will meet the Undertaker at WrestleMania and added some chilling words to the match … “somebody will rest in peace.”

Mr. McMahon then finally made his announcement and seemed to indicate that the requested Brock Lesnar-Goldberg match at WrestleMania could not take place because there was not anybody who could control the two. The attempted announcement brought Stone Cold Steve Austin to the ring to protest as he felt that not giving the fans the match they wanted would be a violation of the law. Austin offered to be the one to keep the two participants under control as special guest referee and McMahon announced that the match will indeed take place on March 14 with Austin as the referee.

With the interruptions seemingly over, McMahon prepared for his match with Bischoff and, with Austin serving as referee, it seemed as if the Monday Night War would finally take place. However, just moments into the match, the final – and most shocking – interruption took place when Lesnar himself climbed into the ring while Austin’s attention was focused on the action outside the ring between McMahon and Bischoff. When Austin turned around, he fell victim to an F-5, ending the evening and spoiling the much anticipated match between McMahon and Bischoff. Exactly what did Lesnar hope to accomplish with such action? Will Austin be able to remain impartial as referee? Stay tuned to find out!

In other action, Mick Foley was not in attendance on RAW as he is still suffering ill effects from last week’s savage assault at the hands of Evolution. However, he also ended any speculation about another retirement during an interview with Jim Ross. In fact, Foley seems far from retired as he announced that he will return to RAW next week in Atlanta and that Evolution will have "hell to pay." What does Foley have in store for the men who attacked him? Find out next week!

RAW also featured an escalation in hostilities surrounding the Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania when Chris Benoit interrupted Triple H during a rally of sorts for the World Heavyweight Champion and his Evolution cohorts. The interruption led to an assault on Benoit by Evolution, an assault that brought Shawn Michaels to the ring to seemingly defend Benoit. However, in a shocking turn of events, Benoit put Michaels in the Crippler Crossface. After Benoit defeated Batista one on one, it was announced that Benoit & Michaels will have to team next week to face Batista & Randy Orton. Can these two soon-to-be opponents get along for one night to work together as a team? Watch RAW next week to find out.

As the Road to WrestleMania enters the home stretch next week, will any other shocking developments occur? Will Stone Cold Steve Austin have a reaction to his attack by Brock Lesnar? What does Mick Foley have in store for Evolution? Can Chris Benoit & Shawn Michaels work together as a tag team? What will happen next in the saga between Trish Stratus, Chris Jericho, and Christian after Christian unleashed a savage beating on Stratus during their match on RAW. Only one way to find out – watch RAW next week at 9/8 CT on Spike TV!

Match Results:
Victoria defeated Jazz, Molly Holly, and Lita to win the Women's Championship
Randy Orton defeated Val Venis
Chris Benoit defeated Batista
Rob Van Dam & Booker T defeated La Resistance
Christian defeated Trish Stratus
Mr. McMahon vs. Eric Bischoff ended in a no contest