The 10/21 episode of RAW REACHES NEW DEPTHS OF DEPRAVITY aired live (or should I say dead?) from Nashville. Yes, the city that once hosted Jackie Fargo on a weekly basis, and was the home of the legendary Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat match with the unforgettable Terry Funk angle, also hosted this sorry excuse for a wrestling show. In addition, it boggles the mind that the same company that can produce Angle & Benoit vs. Mysterio & Edge can also force feed us the sick angle we witnessed on this program. Ultimately, Vince McMahon is responsible for this insulting, immature, depraved, and moronic "Kane is a murderer and necrophiliac" angle. Either he's completely lost it, or he has a lower view of the intelligence of the average wrestling fan than anyone thought possible.

They opened with footage from last week's RAW of the murder discussion, followed by highlights from No Mercy of Triple H's win over Kane.

HHH & Flair came out. HHH said he had a message for the boys in the back, the fans, and the writers who said he didn't deserve to be simply handed the RAW World Title. That message was "screw you!" That was pretty much the theme of the show, but let's continue. HHH boasted that he's beaten every challenger since being given the belt, and also ended 23 years of IC Title history by unifying the belt from Kane at No Mercy. He said he does what he wants, when he wants to do it, and no one can do a damn thing about it. "I am untouchable," HHH said, adding that he may well be the greatest world champion of all time. He claimed that his win over Kane was another nail in Katie Vick's coffin. Noting that Kane hadn't yet arrived at the arena, he sarcastically hoped he hadn't had a car accident and killed someone. HHH then revealed that he had a videotape which would answer that burning question raised last week, which was whether Kane had sex with Katie before or after she died. He said the video was the most graphic ever and that after it airs, no one would ever look at Kane the same way again. Flair, whom HHH referred to as "Naitch", looked so out of place hanging around there as nothing but a sidekick. Not that Flair wasn't often stuck in bad angles in WCW, but none were as bad as this. At this point, Hurricane charged the ring and surprised both HHH & Flair with an attack. He seized the videotape. Flair chased Hurricane around the ring, and HHH caught him with a lariat. HHH thus recovered the tape. Hurricane was slammed into the stairs. HHH bragged that the video would leave Kane's story as dead as Katie Vick. It could leave a lot of things dead before all is said and done.

Christopher Nowinski defeated Jeff Hardy in 5:53. Jeff sent Nowinski out and hit a somersault plancha onto him by sailing over the referee. Nowinski came back but Jeff hit him with a Thesz press. Jerry Lawler was awful on the mic, again focusing on the Katie Vick stuff instead of the match. He wondered if Katie's parents were watching. He also predicted HHH's video would make this the greatest RAW of all time. Jim Ross had the good sense to say as little as possible about it. Nowinski scored a bunch of two counts on Jeff. They were going at it pretty good but, like most Jeff Hardy singles matches of late, things were a little off and a little clumsy. Nowinski got a chair, but before he could use it, Al Snow arrived and tried to take it from him. Nowinski won the struggle over the chair, only to have Jeff kick it into his face. Jeff went up for the swanton, but Snow pulled Nowinski clear and Jeff landed on the chair. Nowinski pinned him. It was set up to be unclear exactly what Snow's motives were.

Eric Bischoff was backstage, watching a tape of Big Show bullying him at No Mercy. He was seething over it. Stacy Keibler came in and said she liked her recent stint as a referee, and wanted to referee another match. Bischoff told her she could ref any match she wanted other than the main event. She left happy. Big Show then came in. Bischoff at first acted friendly and said he doesn't hold grudges and what happened at No Mercy is water under the bridge. But he then ordered Show to fight Rosey & Jamal & Rico in a handicap match, with a smirk on his face. Show just looked pissed and walked out.

Tommy Dreamer encountered Snow backstage. He demanded to know why Snow helped Nowinski beat him last week. Snow said that wasn't his intention, and that he was just trying to keep Nowinski from being hurt since he still regards him as one of his "kids". Dreamer then informed Snow that they would face one another later on the show in a Singapore cane match. Nowinski walked by and didn't show any appreciation to Snow, saying he would have won without his help.

The Dudleys beat William Regal & Lance Storm in 3:25 to become #1 contenders to the RAW World Tag Titles. Regal & Storm came out carrying British & Canadian flags, respectively. Storm said the UnAmericans are finished, but that he and Regal still consider America to be a zoo filled with crazed savages. Regal said the country is deteriorating. I guess he's been following the Katie Vick saga. The match began, and a "we want tables" chant immediately erupted. Lawler ignored the #1 contender issue and instead talked about Katie. Bubba Ray was selling blows to the head, as if still suffering from a concussion from the TLC match. Just sort of a typical short TV match, though Spike did a good spinning headscissors on Storm. Kane finally arrived at the arena during the match, and they cut away to show him entering the building, as if that was a bigger deal than the on-going match. Bubba put Storm down with a Bubba Bomb, while Spike gave Regal the Dudley Dog and pinned him. Afterward, Regal hit Spike three times in the rib area with the brass knux and he juiced from the mouth, to theoretically keep this feud going.

A photographer was taking still shots of Trish Stratus backstage. He asked her about her problems with Victoria. Trish complained that Victoria is spreading rumors that she slept her way to the top in WWE. I seem to remember that the angle was that she did, in fact, do that, even to the point of Linda McMahon being drugged so that Vince and Trish could carry on their affair. But now that Trish is a babyface we're supposed to forget that. Chris Jericho & Christian arrived and ran the photographer off. Jericho was pretty funny reminding Trish of how she once crawled around and barked like a dog, sarcastically noting that no chick who did that would ever sleep her way to the top. Jericho boasted about being a huge rock star, and not being a sucka. Christian agreed with everything Jericho said. Jericho alleged that Trish has been looking at him with lustful intent, and invited her to visit his locker room later for an injection of "vitamin C".

Bischoff came out on the ramp top and admitted that the Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker match at No Mercy was a great event. But he vowed to defeat Stephanie in the promotional battle by delivering a new stipulation event at Survivor Series. He called his match the "Elimination Chamber". That's what the Katie Vick angle should be called, since it's eliminating fans left and right. We should all wait to see what the Elimination Chamber is before commenting, since it might well turn out to be a good thing, but the name certainly sounds like one of those bad WCW gimmicks. Hopefully it'll be good.

A new Batista video aired. It sure beat HHH's Katie video.

Test defeated D-Lo Brown in 2:20. This was the match Stacy wanted to referee. She looked hot as usual. She held the ropes open for Test, who apparently is no longer hostile to America. This match was to hook Stacy up with Test in storyline. I don't know if many fans want to see that. Anyway, Stacy kept helping Test. D-Lo hit a legdrop and went for a pin but Stacy slow counted. D-Lo hit the powerbomb and Stacy stopped to tie her shoe instead of counting. It was funny, because the camera focused on her untied shoe just before this happened. D-Lo argued with Stacy, allowing Test to hit the boot to the face and score the pin with a fast count. Stacy jumped in Test's arms afterward and left arm-in-arm with him.

Terri asked Victoria about the rumors she's been spreading about Trish. Victoria accused Terri of calling her a liar. She said Trish chose personal advancement over friendship. Goldust walked up and began talking to Victoria in a Dusty Rhodes accent. He told her she's crazy. Booker T arrived and said you can't spell Jericho without the "ho", and implied that Victoria was the ho in question. By the way, this confrontation was a lead-in to the scheduled Jericho & Christian & Victoria vs. Booker & Goldust & Trish match. Booker promised to deliver some vitamin T up Jericho's ass. Goldust patted Victoria on the butt.

Hour two began with Jericho & Christian & Victoria beating Booker & Goldust & Trish in 7:08. This was the highlight of the show, since it was a decent match. All the other matches on the show were filler material except the main event, which wasn't all that good. Victoria dropped Trish across the ropes on her throat, and then backdropped her. Booker kicked Christian pretty hard. Lawler, of course, was all excited over the upcoming HHH video. Booker got tied up in the wrong corner for a while before hot tagging Goldust, who laid everyone out, including Victoria. Trish hit a crossbody on Jericho for a near fall. Christian dragged Trish out to the floor. Goldust kissed Victoria, and then rammed her into Jericho, who was up on the top rope and got crotched. Christian hit Goldust with one of the tag belts. Booker nailed Christian and sent him out to the floor. Trish gave Jericho a huracanrana but Jericho came back and lariated Trish, forcing her to tap to the walls. He refused to release the hold until Booker made the save.

HHH was shown giving the tape to the guys in the production truck. Lawler was all hyped to see it. He said it was late night and on cable, and besides, RAW isn't your grandfather's wrestling show. He was right about that, though not in a good way.

Terri was stationed outside Kane's locker room. She hoped to talk with him after the video aired. Meanwhile, Jonathan Coachman interviewed HHH, who said the video would prove Kane is not only a murderer, but a twisted psychopath as well. And then it aired.

The video began with a warning that it contained offensive content and that viewer discretion was advised. It should have warned that the video would offend anyone with an IQ above that of a stalk of celery. It showed a funeral home chapel with a coffin. There was a female dummy in the coffin, supposedly Katie Vick. HHH came in, wearing a Kane mask and pretending to be Kane. He told Katie she looked better dead than alive. He blamed her for the accident, saying if she had just let him have his way with her, he wouldn't have swerved off the road and crashed. He then began groping her breasts. This was sick and was getting sicker by the minute. He took off her bra and panties, and sniffed the panties. She was wearing a cheerleader outfit, by the way. One wonders what the WWE writing crew do in their spare time. And it got worse. HHH actually got inside the coffin and pretended to have sex with Katie as blissful music played and the camera focused on flowers and candles and other funeral chapel paraphernalia. After he "finished", he reached inside the dummy's head and pulled out a handful of mush, bragging that he screwed her brains out. I usually keep tapes of really good matches or angles, and also sometimes stuff that's so campily bad that you might want to look back on it later and have a few laughs. Stuff like Giant running over Hulk Hogan's motorcycle with a monster truck, or Kurt Angle threatening to throw Steve Austin off a bridge. But this angle has sunk beneath any level that could be enjoyed for any reason.

Anyway, after the video aired, HHH had a good laugh. Terri tried to enter Kane's locker room but he wouldn't allow it.

Dreamer beat Snow in the Singapore cane match in 2:20. Lawler was still talking about the video. He admitted it was HHH in the video, but claimed it was a re-enactment of something Kane actually did. Dreamer really let Snow have it with the cane shots. Snow backdropped Dreamer on the floor. Dreamer came back with the cane. Nowinski got on the apron and swung a cane, hitting Snow, who got pinned. However, it was again set up to be unclear whether Nowinski meant to hit Snow or was trying to hit Dreamer.

Big Show defeated Rosey & Jamal & Rico in a handicap match in 2:52. Show played Godzilla, tossing everyone around. He briefly fell victim to the three-on-one, but came back and tossed Rosey & Rico out before pinning Jamal with a chokeslam. Pretty bad.

Coach tried to interview Show, but Bischoff cut it off, saying Show has been traded and is no longer a RAW wrestler. JR wondered who he was traded for. I guess we'll find out. Bischoff said Show will be hearing from his attorney. Show seemed glad to have been traded, and said he felt sorry for Coach for having to still work for that "a**hole".

Hurricane parked a car near the backstage area and opened its trunk.

Shawn Michaels appeared at The World. He was in a wheelchair. He said rehab is going well, though it's a slow process, and he still isn't back at 100%. He said he sometimes thinks of giving it up since he has nothing left to prove, but his wife, his son, and God keep him going. He said he would stand up and show how much progress he's made. He at first acted as if it was hard to get up, and kept struggling, but he then jumped up and danced around, fully recovered. He warned HHH that he's coming for revenge and that he could come from anywhere.....from the crowd, from under the ring, etc.. He vowed to nail HHH. Pretty good interview.

Kane & Rob Van Dam defeated HHH & Flair in 12:20. All four brawled at first. Lawler kept incessantly talking about the video, dwelling on necrophilia. JR kept trying to change the subject, to no avail. He said, correctly, that the video was the product of a very sick mind. RVD hit a bunch of kicks on Flair. He went up for a frog splash but got bumped off to the floor. Flair hurled RVD into the stairs. The next few minutes were RVD getting pounded in the wrong corner, as HHH and Flair kept tagging in and out. Flair went up to the top and JR was hilarious predicting it would backfire, as it did when RVD bodyslammed him off. JR said Flair's been trying that for 20 years and it's never worked. RVD made the hot tag to Kane but the ref didn't see it and didn't allow it. So RVD got pounded some more. Kane finally made the tag for real and cleaned house. All four began brawling again. Kane and HHH went to the floor and fought up the ramp. RVD hit Flair with a thrust kick and the frog splash for the pin, ending sort of a mediocre main event. HHH and Kane continued brawling backstage, with Kane getting control after bumping HHH across a table and ramming him into a Pepsi machine. He threw HHH into the open car trunk left there earlier by Hurricane, slamming the trunk shut. Kane yelled that he was gonna screw HHH (metaphorically speaking, I hope) and that the only question would be whether HHH will be dead or alive when it happens. Kane drove off with HHH in the trunk. Pretty awful.

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS:

Is "Naitch" going to be called "Un-Naitch" after being involved in this angle?

When they showed that ad for the movie, Half Past Dead, did you think it was a documentary on the WWE creative team?

Why did Big Show assault Bischoff on the PPV, but not on RAW?

Remember the days when those HHH D-X videos were actually creative and hilarious?

How disgusting is this latest attempt at shock programming?

How many coffins will it take to bury the dead careers in the upcoming months?

Wouldn't you love to see Vince or Linda explaining this angle at a stockholder's meeting?

Thanks to John Keane for his always excellent early RAW report. Please send any comments to me at puroresu@webtv.net.