NDD

As RAW kicked off, Michael Cole interviewed Ric Flair, asking why Flair had tore up the agreement on SmackDown! which would have given his 50 percent of the World Wrestling Federation to Vince McMahon. Flair said he'd been having second thoughts all week, but he stood by his decision. Cole asked about the nWo, and Flair said if Vince McMahon were to bring them in, there would be huge problems.

As the show kicked off in the arena, Triple H's music sounded, and out came The Game! Triple H strutted to the ring wearing his wrestling gear, and addressed Kurt Angle's attack on him on SmackDown!, when Kurt tried to break his ankle. Triple H said Angle had made two big mistakes -- one, not getting the job done, and two, screwing with the wrong guy. Triple H said he'd waited four days but he wouldn't wait any longer, and The Game called Kurt Angle out to the ring! The Game taunted Kurt to come out and play -- but instead, out came Booker T!

Booker told Triple H that they had something in common -- he said Triple H was full of rage, and so was he. But he said Triple H was a loser, and he is a winner! He said last week, he had kicked Triple H's ass, and he would do it again right now! Booker walked to the ring, and The Game met him halfway!

The two superstars slugged it out, with Triple H tossing Booker into the ring steps, and tossing him into the barricade! In the ring, referee Tim White called for the bell, and the match was on, with Booker looking to pin The Game, as he did last week on RAW. Booker soon had the advantage, and he pounded on Triple H, scoring with huge kicks to the face. Booker was about to go for the Book End, but The Game reversed into a spinebuster. The Game soon scored with a kneelift and went for the Pedigree, but Booker battled out and went for the scissors kick. But Booker missed, and Triple H scored with the Pedigree. But as he went for the pin, Kurt Angle ran down and attacked The Game, ending the bout in a disqualification! Kurt downed Triple H with the Angle Slam and left him lying!

Backstage, an irate Triple H demanded to know where Kurt Angle was, and someone told him Kurt had gone to Mr. McMahon's locker room.

In the ladies' locker room, Torrie Wilson got mad because Stacy Keibler was using her lipstick. Stacy said the lipstick didn't have Torrie's name on it, and besides -- Stacy was next! Suddenly, Billy & Chuck entered their locker room and asked why anyone would want to look at the women when they had a prototype for their own 2002 Billy & Chuck calendar! Torrie said they were great pictures on the calendar, but said it hardly blew their calendar out of the water.

Stacy said they could do the poses better than Billy & Chuck, and Chuck suggested that they have a posedown this Thursday on SmackDown!, and let the audience decide! Stacy agreed. Billy said they had a Tag Team Title match tonight, and said they would be posing with the titles!
Triple H continued to look for Angle backstage, and saw cops in front of Mr. McMahon's door. Triple H called out Angle, saying he was a bigger wuss than he thought for getting cops to guard the door. Angle said he had good news for Triple H -- Mr. McMahon had informed him that Kurt and The Game would be fighting at No Way Out, and that The Game's title shot at WrestleMania would be on the line! This made Triple H irate!

The sold-out crowd in Las Vegas rose to its feet as Rob Van Dam headed to the ring to take on Bubba Ray Dudley, who was accompanied to ringside by D-Von Dudley and the Duchess of Dudleyville, Stacy Keibler. Bubba layed into RVD with punches as the "RVD" chants began. RVD nailed Rolling Thunder, but as he went for the pin, Stacy distracted the ref. The Dudleys went for the "Wassap!" headbutt, but the ref told Stacy and D-Von to go back to the locker room! Bubba hit a Bubbabomb, and then hit a neckbreaker for two. Bubba continued the assault, but missed a splash from the second rope. RVD hit him with a kick, and nailed the Five-Star Frog Splash for the pinfall!

After the bout, Goldust's music hit, and the Golden One appeared on the screen, singing "When you wish upon a star." Goldust congratulated RVD on being the rising star he's been talking about for weeks -- but said Van Dam's dreams wouldn't come true, because they were about to be shattered, courtesy of a man whose name he would never forget -- Goldust!

All of a sudden, Goldust attacked RVD from behind in the ring, decimating Van Dam! He even gave RVD the "Shattered Dreams" kick to the groin and a brutal neckbreaker!

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley had a big smile on her face as her husband complained to her about being attacked by Angle and having to put his WrestleMania title shot on the line. The Game asked why she was smiling, and Stephanie said she had some great news, news that would change his whole world. She said she had a big surprise, and she would announce it tonight! He asked what the news was, and she said he would have to wait and see!

Backstage, Michael Cole approached Undertaker to get his reaction to getting a Rock Bottom through a table on SmackDown! Taker asked Cole who in the hell he was to ask his reaction. He asked Cole what was wrong, sensing fear. He asked if Cole feared him, because he said he liked that, since fear and respect go hand in hand. Taker said he felt disrespected by The Rock, and said that tonight, he would take Rock and teach him the word respect. And after Rock, he would teach Stone Cold some respect.

As Taker spoke, he was approached by Chris Jericho. Y2J said that no one respected Taker more than him, but said that tonight's match was a tag match, not a handicap match, and that Taker's partner was the Undisputed Champion. He said if Taker had any problem teaching Rock and Austin about respect, he would have his back.
The Tag Team Championship was on the line in a Triple Threat Elimination Match, as Tazz & Spike Dudley put the titles on the line against Billy & Chuck and the APA. Bily & Chuck isolated Spike in the early going, but Spike rallied back, jarring Chuck with a DDT. Spike soon tagged in Faarooq, and he and Bradshaw took it to Chuck and Billy. They planted Billy with a double spinebuster, and Bradshaw gave Chuck a huge powerbomb. But Billy hit the fame-asser on Bradshaw and pinned him to eliminate the APA! Billy went for the fame-asser on Spike, but Bradshaw tripped Billy, and Spike hit the Dudley Dogg on Billy and pinned him as the champions retained their titles!

Backstage, a demonic-looking Mr. McMahon strutted towards the ring.

Moments later, the Federation co-owner walked to the ring, and it was clear he was not in a good mood, after the way he was humiliated on SmackDown! by Ric Flair and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Mr. McMahon talked about last week's SmackDown!, when Flair was supposed to sell him back his stock in WWFE. But Mr. McMahon said that the "lying S.O.B." had changed his mind. Vince asked what possible explanation Flair would have for changing his mind, and he demanded that Flair come to the ring and give him an explanation.

It didn't take long for the Nature Boy to head to the ring. A smiling Flair walked to the ring, and the two co-owners looked like they wanted to beat the hell out of each other. Vince said that last Thursday, Ric had stood in the ring with the tears flowing from his eyes, and how it was the last time we'd see Flair in the ring, but then Flair had changed his mind. Vince wanted to know why, and said he had a theory -- because down deep, Flair is a liar. He said Flair lied to himself just as easily as he lied to everyone else. He said Flair wasn't going to sell his stock for the welfare of superstars and fans -- the real reason, said Vince, was because Ric is selfish. Mr. McMahon said Flair had to be Flair -- a limousine-riding, jet-flying son of a gun. He said all of a sudden Flair's dream had come true to own the Federation, and Flair couldn't give it up. Vince told Flair to tell the truth for once, but Flair shook his head no.

Vince said the only other explanation was that Flair had listened to Stone Cold, and Flair again said no. Vince then asked what force had gotten Flair to change his mind.
Flair simply said it was the fans -- and the sold-out crowd gave the Nature Boy a standing ovation for his answer!

Vince said the fans had no idea what was good for them, just like Flair had no idea. Vince said Flair and the fans couldn't stop anything now -- and couldn't stop that Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were on their way to the World Wrestling Federation, and that if anyone were to get in their way, there would be No Way Out!


Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco were walking backstage, talking about what a bad idea it was to bring in the nWo. They stopped by Arn Anderson and asked his opinion, and Arn said he knew first-hand that the nWo was poison. Arn said he'd known Ric Flair for a while, and thought Flair made the wrong decision last Thursday on SmackDown!

The Intercontinental Championship was on the line as Rikishi challenged William Regal. Prior to the bout, referee Teddy Long searched Regal for brass knuckles, but found nothing. The Phat Man took it to Regal in the early going, but the IC Champion fought back and regained the advantage. As the crowd chanted "Regal sucks," the champ locked Rikishi in the Regal stretch to wear him down, and also locked him in a modified sleeperhold. Rikishi soon caught Regal with a kick to the face and a sit-down splash.