[2000-01-31-WWF-Raw] New Age Outlaws vs Al Snow & Steve Blackman

[soup23]

Gotta love the old school cameras that were used in 2000. NAO run through their routine to big pops. Head Cheese is already being teased. Al Snow comes out and here are the Radicalz in a pretty awesome moment although it kind of feels like the crowd didn’t really see or realize what was happening as it isn’t like they erupt. Ross mentions that they are negotiating with ECW and the Japanese promotions. Billy Gunn and Snow actually have a good little sequence together with each other here and Road Dogg’s signature spots are still over. Ross does really good commentary here putting over how shocked he is at the Radicalz sitting in the front row. I liked how Road Dogg snuck in the low blow without the referee seeing him. The spot sending Road Dogg into the Radicalz is really awkward. Dogg takes a shot and they pounce now to a huge pop. Eddy hits that frog splash in his boots and Benoit hits the diving headbutt with the crowd now going nuts. Ross has already named them the Radicalz and they are put over huge going after DX right from the get go. *3/4

[Loss]

"OH YOU DIDN'T KNOW?" "YOU ARE HEELS!" GREAT signs in the front row directed at Road Dogg doing his whole spiel designed to get the crowd singing along. This match is really a backdrop for the debut of Benoit, Eddy, Malenko and Saturn in the company, showing up at ringside and finally getting in a brawl with Road Dogg when he picks a fight after bumping into them. They hit the ring and attack him and Billy Gunn. This was a shift in a lot of ways. I wouldn't go as far as to call it the end of Attitude, but I would call the arrival of guys like Benoit, Jericho and Eddy in the company the beginning of guys like Godfather, Val Venis, X-Pac and the NAO taking on much smaller roles. Bigger crowd pop than I remembered for sure. Interesting that it's Eddy getting a chant by name right away, but it's Benoit whose appearance in the ring gets the biggest reaction.

[Robert S]

JR used the term "radical" in the span of five minutes more often than he probably does in a normal calender year.

[GSR]

Al Snow and Steve Blackman are in the back and Blackman is not impressed by all the names for their team that Snow’s come up with like ‘Head Count’, ‘Snow Bunnies’ and ‘Head Cheese’. He wants them to concentrate as they have a chance at winning the World tag team titles, but when Al suggests ‘Snow Storm’, he tells him to knock it off and heads to the ring. Just as the match is about to begin Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero and Perry Saturn show up and sit front row ringside. Jim Ross mentions how they haven’t signed a contract yet and Jerry Lawler wonders if maybe they’re here to get a birds-eye view of the competition? Ross believes that it a pretty radical strategy, while it’s radical that they walked out on their last employer and showing up here unannounced is pretty radical! Neckbreaker by Gunn on Snow for a two count. He blocks the powerbomb with some punches to the head and follows with a series of headbutts to the chest. Huge press slam from Gunn and a big Stinger splash in the corner. Snow reverses an Irish whip, drop down, Road Dogg holds onto the ropes only to get levelled with a clothesline from Blackman. Suplex for two and Dogg tries to fire back. Great back kick low blow spot and he’s able to make the tag to Mr Ass. Jackhammer on Blackman and Snow is there to make the save. A clubbing blow from Dogg sends Al to the floor and he follows him out there. Irish whip reversal, Dogg crashes into the barricade and what looks like a flying leg lariat off the ring steps (you can’t see properly because of the camera angle and it doesn’t really connect either) sends him backwards over it and to where the ‘Radicalz’ are sitting. They don’t touch him, but Dogg says something to them and then swings a right at Benoit. Bad move! The Radicalz respond in kind and all attack him. Guerrero with a frog splash on Gunn, Benoit with a diving headbutt to Road Dogg and they leave the tag champs laying as they walk out of there.

 

Nothing match really and the Radicalz attack on the Outlaws was the highlight. When Ross was constantly saying ‘radical’, all I could think of was Vince McMahon in his ear screaming “say ‘radical’ God damn it!” The camera cut to Benoit et al in the front row on several occasions to the point you’re just waiting for their involvement. Another unimpressive outing from Al Snow after the Jeff Hardy match earlier in the month as he messes up the leg lariat, and his headbutts to the chest whilst trapping his arms looks as hokey as hell. He looked better than Steve Blackman mind. I really liked Road Dogg’s back kick low blow after the leapfrog, a spot I’ve not seen before.

[Tim Evans]

This is mostly here for the radicals debut but the match wasn't awful before that. I always get a kick out of Head cheese and the Outlaws are still over even though they are supposed the be heels. JR mentions that the radicals were negotiating with ECW. I wonder how that would have gone? Would we have gotten Benoit vs Justin Credible?

[Stiva]

It may be hindsight but this does really feel like the moment where the WWF changed course from the previous year's shorter TV matches and elaborate angles to a product that kept it a bit more simple and had some longer TV bouts. Maybe because they had 4 new guys they knew they could trust? Either way, I vividly remember this being a huge talking point for us at school, even though the WCW we actually got in the UK at this time was slim. It felt really exciting then and it still stands up as a hot way to debut these guys as a killer unit. We saw it slightly with the EAC/Dudleys tag but the WWF tag scene was going to leave the New Age Outlaws behind at a rapid pace and not a moment too soon.