[7.0] "Is this officially the start of the "ruthless aggression" era? I don't know if I'd consider it that. It's more like the start of the brand breakup era, if that's considered an "era". It is historic though for that reason. Also, Flair introduces the new unified belt, so we can stop carrying two belts around now for one title, and FINALLY eliminating the WCW belt. I'd mark this day the specific day that WCW died. They're no longer mentioning WCW and the last WCW belt is physically gone forever. The story throughout this episode was where Stone Cold would end up, Raw or Smackdown. Flair has the upper hand here since he's Raw and Vince is Smackdown, but Vince keeps showing up uninvited and gets kicked out, comes back, etc. It's funny really. Vince attributes the state of wrestling to his business acumen and "intellectual sperm" lol. I don't have the stats to back this up, but I'm going to assume that this is the first time the phrase "intellectual sperm" was ever said on TV, or maybe ever, by a human? So, more history made here! Nice touch that Vince has a purple "smackdown" clip board with the smackdown contract on it, while Flair has the brown "Raw" clipboard with the Raw contract on it... This makes it obvious to the crowd for when Stone Cold eventually makes his decision, which was to sign with Raw, after giving a stunner to both vince and flair. This definitely is the most entertaining ending Raw segment in a very long time. For the rest... Props to Undertaker for figuring out how to shut the crowd up with the "WHAT"? He said something like "Say WHAT if you like to sleep with your sister". That shut up the crowd for a good minute or so, but they were back at it by the end of his promo. RVD/Booker T was a nice match to open up the show. It being 6+ mins long could possibly serve to indicate that now the WWF is split in half, they can give more time on the show to wrestling matches. This would be nice, but this opening match will be the last match of the night to reach 6 minutes. Bubba Ray winning the hardcore title is pretty cool, now that he's forced to be a singles wrestler because devon is on smackdown. Lesnar coming out after the Hardy's victory was better than the shit he pulled on last week's smackdown. At least this time, someone actually attacked him, or at least tried to. He got a shit ton of heat. The crowd doesn't know whether to root for him or boo him, which is exciting and wild. Also only Vince could do a mash up of "bikini" match, and "paddle on a pole" match. Super happy terri is doing something here because she's paid her dues and I feel she's been overshadowed by stacy and torrie. The match itself wasn't actually that bad. These two could probably put on an entertaining actual wrestling match in a PPV if they gave it some time... but that's not the point here. Good t&a for a minute and a half, or about 5 mins if you count intros and molly coming in to destroy both of them afterwards. Kane and XPac was interrupted by Hall/Nash (of course), but Bradshaw came out to help Kane, which actually could be a pretty cool feud (APA/Kane vs nWo). The matches were ok but the stories moved along nicely and the end segment was a real fun watch."

[7.0] "The first RAW of the Ruthless Aggression Era, the action feels fresh and workrate seems to increase a bit. The Stone Cold angle was entertaining. Eddie's return was awesome."

[5.0] "A decent episode of RAW, primarly because of the Vince-Flair-Austin story all-along the show. Most of the match weren't really bad (except the paddle on a pole one), the opener was solid and the Bubba Ray/Raven match was a pretty fun brawl. Most of the angles were dull, but I'm curious of how this Taker/Hunter will turn because I already know the match announced will not happen. As I said, the show was cool because of one specific story, if you could only watch only a single thing it would be the ending angle, a great one."

[7.0] "First RAW after the brand extension was not perfect, but pretty good. The opener was a nice fast paced start to the show between RVD and Booker T, but most of the matches wasn't much to write home about. Interesting that they actually announced Triple H vs Undertaker at Backlash here, but that match didn't end up happening. Loved the new theme and set as the old one didn't look right to me without the iconic Raw is War name. The new Undisputed title just looked majestic, one of the best designs ever. The Austin-McMahon-Flair shenanigans at the end was good fun. Sadly Austin would leave a few months after this show."

[7.0] "Average show saved by all the history of Stone Cold - Ric Flair - Vince throughout the show with a great promo at the end and a good opening match. The rest of the matches are filler and they barely help to continue with storylines. The Paddle On A Pole Bikini Match would be a great addition to the Hall of Shame, worst than living in Vigo"