Talk about it here.

Jim Ross is thankful that fans have made their voice heard and he'll be returning to RAW this week to do play-by-play. Then he brings out Mankind for an interview. He brings a cake and is accompanied by Yurple the Clown. Balloons and confetti are everywhere - it turns out we're saying Happy Birthday to Mr. Socko. Jim Ross says it doesn't seem like it's been a year. That's because it hasn't. Foley clarifies that it's not Happy Birthday, it's Happy Birthplace. Mankind takes a cheapshot at Al Snow for not selling a chairshot on RAW. He makes fans promise not to riot no matter how bad his singing is. They sing Happy Birthplace, and Mankind says he's about to lock himself into seclusion for two weeks to prepare for the Boiler Room Brawl at Backlash. Decent job going from funny to serious and back here. Mankind throws cake into the delighted crowd.

I don't know why I thought Socko was born later in the year but I guess it was in 98. This is a fun segment. I always liked Yurple the Clown. I wonder what ever happened to her. Nice to see Foley taking it easy after the hell he took earlier in the year.

Harmless segment to fill out the B show like Heat but also having a big star appear. Mick is really starting to embrace the comedy stuff now though.

Yeah I marked out for the return of Yurple the Clown. Her juggling skills were about as good as mine. Incredibly nobody got their face shoved into the cake, at least not on camera. Mankind throwing bits into the crowd was fun.

Even as the product gets worse, here's hoping the return of JR will make Raw more palatable. Even in Ross' diminished state today, he has a knack for improving upon the formulaic soundbites of modern WWE announcing. Running a boiler room brawl between Mankind and the newly turned Big Show is pretty weirdly random. Mankind gets in his line about Al Snow's new endorsement deal with La-Z-Boy, even though he doesn't sell chairs. Overall, a cute little segment for the B-show, amazingly devoid of angles and drama.