Background
Breakdown: In Your House finished with both The Undertaker and Kane simultaneously pinning the WWF Champion Steve Austin. As a result, Vince McMahon took the belt, declaring it his. The following evening on Raw, Vince revealed a new belt (Austin had been using a personalized version, the Smoking Skull belt, since Fully Loaded) in a ceremony intended to crown a new champion. After calling Undertaker and Kane to the ring, though, Austin stormed the building on an ice resurfacer, assaulting McMahon before being arrested and taken away. Following the commercial break, McMahon continued his presentation but changed tack when he reminded the brothers that part of the deal was that they would receive the championship in exchange for protecting him from Austin. Because he had been attacked by Austin three times, McMahon reneged on the deal and instead commanded that Undertaker and Kane would have to fight for the vacant championship at the next pay-per-view. McMahon added that Austin would be the special guest referee for the match. When Austin delivered a promo on Raw telling the audience that the only man's hand he would raise would be his own, he was met with a threat from McMahon that if did not take the responsibility of refereeing properly, he would be fired.
Dustin Runnels began preaching evangelistic-style condemnation against the controversies of the Attitude Era, specifically the sexual content. On Sunday Night Heat, on September 13, Runnels was walking through the crowd carrying a sign expressing his views when he decided to jump the barrier and assault Val Venis, whose gimmick was that of an adult film star, from behind with the sign. The next night on Raw, Venis responded by showing Runnels one of his films, The Preacher's Wife, which showed Venis with Runnels' wife, Terri Runnels. The two met at the Breakdown: In Your House pay-per-view with Venis coming out on top due to interference from Terri. The following night on Raw, Runnels revealed the nature of his evangelist message "He is coming" when the arena turned gold and a video played, presaging the return of his erstwhile persona, Goldust. During Heat on the night of Judgment Day: In Your House, Goldust further mocked Venis by sending him a present as he was guest commentating. It was a gold-coated protective cup.
Irate at being hospitalized by Kane and The Undertaker, Vince McMahon returned to work and instantly stripped Triple H of his Intercontinental Title mid-week on October 9 due to a knee injury. A quick tournament was held the following week on Raw, which saw Ken Shamrock crowned with his first WWF championship after assaulting X-Pac (Sean Waltman) to aid him in the final.
After losing the European Championship to X-Pac on the September 21 episode of Raw is War, D'Lo Brown got a rematch and won the title back when X-Pac was caught on the outside of the ring by Nation member Mark Henry, who ran X-Pac into the ring post and then back into the ring, setting him up for a Lo Down from Brown.
Read more about this topic: Judgment Day: In Your House
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