The Hardys and Edge and Christian Have a Forgotten Ladder Classic on Free TV – WWE RAW 9/25/00 Review

Raw moves to TNN. Austin is back on Monday night for the first time in almost a year. The Viacom suits need to be impressed. Tommy Blacha and Rob Pasbani review WWF RAW from Penn State University on September 25th, 2000, a show that hotshots two pay-per-view quality matches in one night and still finds time for Tommy to notice that the machine is getting too big.

Austin opens the show, stuns Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit in the same segment, visits Undertaker backstage in a scene that felt like a western, and walks in on William Regal reading Shakespeare before stunning him before he can finish a sentence. The Hardys and Edge and Christian have a ladder match that Rob calls forgotten and incredible in the same breath. Edge pulls off a spear from the top of a giant ladder onto a dangling Jeff Hardy, the same spot he will use six months later at WrestleMania 17, and nobody in the building even knows it yet.

Tommy, still loosely working on things for the company at this point but feeling the ground shifting, talks about what it smells like when the writing staff gets too big, the synergy people start showing up, and creative gets convoluted. He also raises the question nobody on screen seems to be asking: every time Austin stuns someone, is there a next week?

Other major discussion points include:

– Kane vs Rikishi barely starts before Rikishi grabs a chair and the whole thing collapses

– Raven DDTs Lawler and Bubba Ray Dudley in the same night; a Tazz and Raven alliance appears to be forming

– Chyna cuts an emotional promo about her Playboy cover; Right to Censor immediately interrupts; Eddie Guerrero challenges them for the IC title on the spot

– Kurt Angle reads the USA Today while Trish Stratus puts his gold medal somewhere he does not notice until he looks up

– X-Pac smashes a glass bottle over Jericho’s face to win the first blood match; Jericho puts him in the Walls of Jericho on the announce table after the bell

– Triple H inadvertently helps Rock retain the title by throwing Benoit into a Rock Bottom; Benoit headbutts Stephanie on his way out

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0:00 Cold Open

0:29 Welcome / RAW on TNN

2:01 First RAW on TNN Overview

6:40 Penn State / Show Context

11:14 Austin / Foley / Benoit / Angle

21:28 Kane vs Rikishi

24:58 Austin Visits Undertaker

26:11 Foley / E&C Backstage

30:10 Tazz vs Bubba / Raven Returns

36:22 Stephanie / Triple H Backstage

38:24 Ladder Match: Hardys vs E&C

42:58 Austin Interrogates the Stooges

44:16 Chyna Playboy Promo / RTC / Eddie

48:38 Angle / Trish Stratus Backstage

49:56 X-Pac vs Jericho (First Blood)

51:15 Austin / Triple H Locker Room

53:20 Eddie vs Val Venis (IC Title)

55:30 Crash at WWF New York / Regal Returns

56:25 Rock vs Benoit (Main Event)

1:00:53 Patreon / Sign-Off