Funny you should mention that, Ahmed injured the Sultan with the 2x4 in this match (I know, I was shocked too!) and he'd be out until August.

Loved the writeup, this is still in my top 10 favourite Raw episodes. Never knew what awesome thing was coming next.

I'd probably struggle to place this among the GOAT Raw episodes since there wasn't any good wrestling, but most of the non-wrestling was tremendous.

I'm a little surprised they showed Dustin and Marlena in the crowd so conspicuously before they committed that ambush later, but that didn't actually remove the surprise by the time they jumped the rail.

Really enjoying this thread LKJ. Keep up the good work.

April 21, 1997

NITRO

Saginaw, MI

We cold-open outside the arena and see JJ Dillon arriving in a limo. After the opening graphics roll, we head straight into an opening match.

US Title - Dean Malenko (c) vs. Yuji Nagata: Dueling waistlocks, then dueling arm-wringers. Malenko trips Nagata and tries for a quick cover that gets one. Drop toe-hold by Dean into a facelock, transitioning into a reverse chinlock. Nagata gets his feet, the two jostle for position, Malenko throws a chop and then an Irish whip, but Nagata ducks a clothesline and then botches an enziguri, missing entirely…Malenko sells anyway. Reverse chinlock by Nagata as the crowd breaks into a "USA" chant. Reggie White is shown in the crowd, with a seat along the guardrail.

Malenko stands up out of the hold and throws a crisp back suplex. Repeated kicks to the gut by the Iceman, who throws a corner whip and follows Nagata in with a clothesline. Delayed suplex. Two-count. Malenko with the chinlock, transitioning into a headscissor. Nagata escapes the headscissor and tears away at Malenko's face, then stands up and delivers a handful of stomps. Malenko fights back with some elbows to the gut, then hits a nice jumping leg lariat. Dean tries for a backdrop, drops his head too soon, but after receiving a couple of kicks, he snatches Yuji's leg out of the air and whips him to the mat. Corner whip by Malenko…he's about to run into a big boot in the corner, and stops short, but Nagata reacts quickly and proactively runs out to deliver a spinning roundhouse kick. Exploder gets a two-count for Nagata. Belly-to-belly gets a full near-fall. Nagata misses on an enziguri, this time Malenko doesn't sell and instead capitalizes by slapping on the Texas Cloverleaf. Ship it. Decent little match.



Result: Dean Malenko via submission

Tony "hypes" tonight's show by telling us that we will see Glacier and will also see Jeff Jarrett vs. Scotty Riggs. Nice of him to help the audience schedule their bathroom breaks, I guess.

Ciclope vs. Glacier: Ciclope charges Glacier at the bell, but Glacier sidesteps, lays in some kicks, hits a back suplex, Cryonic Kick connects, and this squash takes less than a minute.



Result: Glacier via pinfall

After the match, some non-Glacier music hits, and we see our first appearance since Uncensored for the yet-unnamed Bryan Clark character. With the lights low, he slowly marches to the ring in mask and full garb. Glacier signals to him to bring it on, but Mortis sneaks into the ring from the other side and blindsides Glacier with a crescent kick.



James Vandenberg enters and directs traffic, as Mortis pilfers Glacier's helmet and Bryan Clark and Mortis take turns beating Glacier down.

Larry and Tony point us to highlights from last week, when Sting armed Diamond Dallas Page, Lex Luger, and The Giant with baseball bats before producing a fourth for himself…they stood the nWo down.

As they're showing this, the announcers get interrupted by Nick Patrick, who has shown up wearing a stylish teal polo with a purple collar. Patrick says that he has petitioned for reinstatement, and asks for a chance to be heard. He apologizes to WCW employees for the trouble he has caused recently. He says that he saw nWo membership as the chance to stand up for the little man, but that he quickly found that the nWo ended up catering to the very people that he wanted to stand up against. He name-checks Randy Savage and Eric Bischoff. He vows to straighten up, fly right, and act in the name of what he believes in if WCW will take him back. Larry argues with him, incredulously asks how they're supposed to trust him, and as the two are arguing back and forth, Tony sends it to commercial.



TV Title - Ultimo Dragon (c) (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. Bobby Eaton: Eaton probably attained a greater longevity in this company than anyone realized, just padding his run with this period of time where he did nothing but occasionally job. Naturally the guy who never ever wins has a title shot. He's the early aggressor here, getting all the offense for the first 90 seconds or so, but Dragon lands on his feet out of a backdrop and lands his signature series of kicks that culminates in the spinning back kick. Onoo trips Eaton from the floor and enables Dragon to throw a dropkick that knocks Eaton out, at which point Onoo hits his own series of kicks. Onoo actually sheds the blazer and hits a terrible jumping kick off the apron as well. And by hits I mean misses, but whatever, Eaton sells it.

Ultimo returns Eaton inside, sets him up on the top rope, hits the spinning hurracanrana, and now here's the debut of the Dragon Sleeper. It chokes Eaton out, and the champion retains.

Result: Ultimo Dragon

Funny moment after the match when Sonny insists on the referee snapping his and Dragon's picture with his disposable camera.



Mean Gene has an interview with Lord Steven Regal. Regal, after making an off-color joke about Fergie (not the Black-Eyed Peas one), says that it's about time that he gets his TV Title back. He cuts a disjointed promo on Ultimo Dragon and storms off. Not his finest mic work.



Meng (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Chris Jericho: Meng attacks at the sound of the opening bell, but Jericho baseball-slides through Meng's legs off an Irish whip, hits a low dropkick, then tries to go toe-to-toe with Meng in a chopping contest. Best of luck on that one, Jericho. Meng wins the blow-for-blow, but Jericho does get his boots up on a subsequent corner charge. Jericho for a missile dropkick off the second rope, but Meng just swats it away. Back suplex by the big man, who then tears away at Jericho's face with eye-rakes and chokes. The crowd keeps standing up as if to signal a run-in, but there just must have been some unrelated crowd disturbance going on. Jericho misses on an enziguri, but Meng misses on an elbow-drop. Clothesline by Jericho. Meng reverses a whip, Jericho goes a quebrada, but the whole spot botches terribly, as Meng was clearly supposed to catch him but then just doesn't.



Meng goes for a snake eyes, Jericho escapes behind, and a German suplex gets a near-fall. Jericho to the top rope, jumps off, but Meng catches him and counters into a stun gun. Tongan Death Grip by Meng causes Jericho to pass out for the submission. This wasn't good.

Result: Meng via submission

Gene Okerlund grabs a word with Jimmy Hart and Meng. Meng is going to be taking on Chris Benoit soon apparently, I guess at the next PPV. Kevin Sullivan and Jackie, showing so much sideboob that I would expect the FCC to object, come join the interview. Sullivan calls Meng "the baddest apple in the wrestling business." Sullivan addresses Benoit. "Nancy didn't leave me; I let her go. My son Benjamin didn't leave me; I let him go. But the one that disappoints me the most is my daughter. Shannon, I didn't raise you that way…all your sorority sisters, they're upset about me and Jackie…well I've been footing that bill, and you wouldn't HAVE a sorority sister." Alright.



After commercial, we see a video tribute to Chris Benoit, just a quick montage from his various WCW matches.

We're set next for a Public Enemy (sigh) vs. Steiner Brothers match, but after PE's entrance is complete, the Steiners don't come out when their music plays. Pan to the back, where Konnan and Hugh Morrus have launched an attack on the Steiners. Steiners turn the tables in the fight, and officials break the brouhaha up. And now…the Steiners' music restarts, and we're going to do this match after all. Hey *******s, don't tease me with the cancellation of a PE match if you're not going to follow through.

Public Enemy vs. Steiner Brothers: Rick Steiner vs. Johnny Grunge to start. Rick hits a shoulderblock and a sloppy powerslam, leading Grunge to tag Rocco Rock. Rick and Rock grapple toward the ropes, Scott Steiner tags in, and after some initial resistance by Rocco he executes a press slam. Grunge comes in, Scott clothesline both of PE, and the Steiners hold the ring. Upon re-entry, Rocco tags Johnny in. Rick continues the Steiner advantage, throwing right hands. He whips Grunge into the corner, but misses on a corner charge, and Rocco adds a cheap clothesline from the apron for good measure. Rock tags in, scoop slam, scales the ropes, and misses on a cannonball off the top.

Here are Hugh Morrus and Konnan, who arrive to attack the Steiners. Public Enemy joins in on the brawl, mostly fighting on the Steiners' behalf against the intruders…in any case, the match is over.



Result: No Contest

After commercial, we're into hour #2. Tony: "I know what you're thinking: how the heck are we ever going to top hour #1??" Err, no, wasn't thinking that. Hour #1 was alright, but hour #2 is at least a coin flip to be better, and I say that with the knowledge that we have a Jeff Jarrett vs. Scotty Riggs match to look forward to.

Tony says that JJ Dillon is apparently the new chairman of the WCW Executive Committee. We see the footage of Nick Patrick groveling into the camera earlier in tonight's episode, as well as the backstage brawl between the Dungeon of Doom and the Steiners before the last match.

Mean Gene grabs a word with JJ Dillon. As Gene and Dillon exchange pleasantries and meaningless blather, Tony interrupts into Gene's headset and prompts Gene to ask about Nick Patrick. Gene passes the question along. Dillon just says that matter is being taken under advisement. Gene asks about Bischoff's status. Dillon says he has good news and bad news. The good news is that Bischoff has absolutely no authority. The bad news is that Bischoff has an ironclad contract with no buyout clause, so he will retain his role as Executive Vice President. An executive vice president with absolutely no authority? That's a little bit too real for pro wrestling.

Bischoff emerges through the entryway to crash the interview. Dillon no-sells the arrival at first, continuing with what he was saying. He says that while Bischoff did have authority, he signed the nWo wrestlers to contracts, and those are still valid in spite of Bischoff no longer having said authority; "the nWo is here to stay." Dillon says that there are two exceptions: that Big Bubba and Mr. Wallstreet signed invalid contracts, and they cannot be nWo. Err, okay. Bischoff, seemingly annoyed that he hasn't elicited a reaction from Dillon yet, leans in and says, "Bite me." He taunts Dillon for being unable to fire him. He taunts Dillon for the fact that he can't stop him from doing anything he wants to do with the nWo. I don't get it; without authority, what use is he to the nWo?



Bischoff brags about how he has made WCW the #1 wrestling product on the planet. He asks, "Do you really think you can fill my shoes?" Dillon says, "Hold it right there. To start with, I'll be the first one to acknowledge that you are the most powerful and influential person in professional wrestling." Wait, not anymore, right? Or are we breaking kayfabe? "It's mind-boggling what you've been able to accomplish. And I know first-hand, because the standard of excellence two years ago wasn't set here, it was set in New York. Stamford, CT, to be specific." Again…what? 1995 WWF set the standard of excellence? Dillon continues, "What you have forgotten is that you didn't do it alone. You had the support and you had the trust of people like Ted Turner, Harvey Schiller…" Bischoff: "Hollywood Hogan…Hall and Nash…" Dillon: "You had a trust, and you betrayed it. And that is not acceptable." Bischoff: "Bite me." Bischoff exits up the ramp. Dillon vows that things are going to be run better than when Bischoff was running things, and then he storms off as well.

The segment held my interest, but again I don't exactly understand what we're supposed to think Bischoff does now. Now he's just a troll who hangs out with Hulk Hogan, I guess? (Again, a little too real for pro wrestling.)

After commercial, we see clips of the recent confrontation between Mongo McMichael and Reggie White. We then see a clip from this past WCW Saturday Night, when Jeff Jarrett ambushed Scotty Riggs and piledrived him. I suppose at least this next match has some sort of back story as justification for existing.

Jeff Jarrett (w/ Debra McMichael) vs. Scotty Riggs: Jarrett attacks Riggs immediately upon entry. He kicks him in the gut and hits a swinging neckbreaker. Gutwrench powerbomb/suplex thing. Front Russian legsweep. Jeff drops his head too early for a backdrop. Riggs with an inverted atomic drop, a back elbow, a scoop slam, and a series of punches and kicks. As Debra distracts the official, Jarrett backdrops Riggs over the top rope, but referee Mark Curtis doesn't see it and can't consider it for a disqualification.

Out on the floor, Jarrett rams Riggs into the steel steps and then drops him on the guardrail. Rolls his man inside. Jarrett goes for an enziguri that misses (a strangely common spot tonight), Riggs hits a couple of clotheslines, then climbs to the top. Cross-body connects and gets a two-count. Running forearm by Riggs is good for another two, as Debra puts Jarrett's foot on the bottom rope. Mongo comes marching out to the ring carrying a briefcase. Reggie White jumps the rail and takes the briefcase away, causing Mongo to scurry off.



Riggs again to the top, Jarrett gets up and runs into the top rope, Riggs falls badly, kind of missing as he attempted to fall crotch-first, but in any case Jarrett quickly capitalizes with a figure-four that wins the match.



Result: Jeff Jarrett via submission

Cruiserweight Title - Syxx (c) (w/ Kevin Nash) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.: Side headlock by Syxx. Transitions into a hammerlock. Mysterio jumps up backward, then counters into a snapmare takeover from mid-air. Side headlock by Mysterio now, Syxx whips him into the ropes, but a baseball slide by Rey transitions into a drop toe-hold and a side headlock. They reset, then Rey brazenly slaps Syxx across the face. Flying headscissor takeover by Mysterio. Syxx throws Rey up high and slams him to the mat. Lightning-quick running legdrop by Syxx, then an elbow for good measure. They keep panning the camera over to Kevin Nash in the corner, cheerleading for Syxx, hopefully with the intention of drumming up heat for Syxx among every audience member with good taste.



Syxx kicks away at Mysterio in the corner, knocking him down to a seated position. Here's the ****ing bronco buster. Abdominal stretch by the Cruiserweight Champion, who holds the ropes for leverage. Referee Randy Anderson eventually catches him cheating and kicks his hand loose. Nash gets up on the apron to object, Anderson is distracted, and Syxx hip-tosses Mysterio over the top to the floor. The action back inside, Syxx reverses a corner whip and tries charging in after, but ends up jumping into the turnbuckle and coming up empty. Hurracanrana from Rey into a pin, but he can't hook the legs and can't get the three-count.

Mysterio, from the top, plants Syxx with another hurracanrana. Syxx lets the momentum carry him out of the ring, but Mysterio is right on the ball with a somersault plancha from the ring to the floor. As Rey returns inside again, Nash attacks him from behind and jackknifes him, Randy Anderson ignores the whole thing with no believability that he could actually be missing what's happening right behind him, and Syxx is able to just stroll into the ring and slap on his "Buzzkill" submission hold. That'll do it.



Result: Syxx via submission

As the match is ending, JJ Dillon marches out to the ring. He yells at Syxx to break the hold. Syxx finally does. Dillon screams for paramedics for Rey Mysterio Jr. Officials flood into the ring, and it looks like some random drunk idiot from the crowd runs in as well, causing an awkward distraction off to the side of the ring. Rey gets stretchered out. Dillon screams at Nash and Syxx that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated anymore. Nash breaks into an even more obnoxious voice than his usual, and mimics Bischoff by mockingly yelling, "Bite me!"



As usual, a reminder: a large swath of wrestling fans thought that this guy was so cool. If society totally breaks down one day, I'm tracing it back to that fact.

After commercial, here's a paid-for-by-the-nWo commercial. It's Hulk Hogan posing on the set of some movie. This is all just shilling for the movie he was filming, with no real wrestling relevance. At least that probably means that Hogan is not closing the show by posing in the ring also.

Now the nWo music plays, and the faction is led to the ring by…Kevin Nash. Dude. This is Nash, Syxx, and B-team guys. None of the other major players. Syxx is the first to speak. He addresses Ric Flair and Flair's claim that the young guys in the nWo have no respect. Syxx says that he knows a few things about the history of this sport, and says, "What kind of respect is it to rip off Nature Boy Buddy Rogers? You rip his name off, you rip his look off, and you rip the figure-four off from him. You're a biter, Ric Flair, and I've got no respect for you, and very little for you either, Piper. And if you've got any sack, you'll come do something about it, because I don't sweat either one of you." Hey, as nWo promo goes, I like that one.



He hands the mic to Nash.



Damn, I'll just say it: Kev just shut me up, at least for the moment. That was a strong promo. I don't know that it would hold up particularly well to a fact-check, and the notion of Kevin Nash calling someone else out for selfishly strip-mining the industry for their own individual gain is pretty rich, but regardless of all of that, this was still a pretty great retort that was much unlike the usual nWo promos of the time, which were all basically some variation on the group getting together and engaging in infantile substanceless trolling in response to serious promos from the WCW side. Tip of the cap; first nWo promo that I can remember enjoying that much in quite a while.

Psicosis vs. Diamond Dallas Page (w/ Kimberly): Psicosis throws a dropkick, but tries too early to go to the top, and Page jumps for the ropes and crotches him. DDP pulls Psicosis off the top corner into a Diamond Cutter to win the match almost instantly.



Result: DDP via pinfall

Randy Savage and Elizabeth show up in the crowd. Savage with a mic. "Diamond Dallas Page, can you feel the madness all around you? If you can't feel the madness, ask Kimberly, because she's sure felt it, yes she has." Page gets a mic. "You know what, Savage? You ain't gonna bait me again. I ain't got my running shoes on, monkey boy. I've got my wrestling boots on. And if you think you want some of DDP, why don't you and that bimbo Liz hobble your asses down right now?!" Savage is on crutches and pretends to be interested in answering the challenge, but he just stands there shouting for a while and then leaves instead.

After commercial, Gene Okerlund brings out Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, and Kevin Greene. Flair says, "There's nothing to talk about." He lays down, mic still in hand, and as the other two also lay down, Flair says, "Why don't you guys come out here right now and start paving the highway?" Each springs to their feet as Flair again shouts for the nWo to come out right now. Here comes the same group that was out for the nWo promo previously, except also with Ted DiBiase along for the ride. The group stops, points to the entryway, and…



…Scott Hall emerges, after a considerable absence.

The nWo surrounds the ring. First they send in their B-listers, who Flair/Piper/Norton clear out without any trouble. The faces hold the ring for a bit, and as the nWo finally starts making their way in and a brawl begins, the show goes off the air.



Overall: Pretty good episode IMO. Not particularly eventful I guess, but the pure garbage was fairly minimal and there was some entertaining stuff. Will certainly take that.

Ratings for 4/21/97: Nitro 3.4, Raw 2.8
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 59-17-2

Better Show: This week Nitro was good and Raw was still quite a bit better. More weeks like this please.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 55-23

Match of the Night: Despite my positive words for both shows, there wasn't a standout match on this night. I'll go with Syxx vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Admit it, you sped this up. Nash has never moved that fast in his entire life.

That would be quite a thing if I started manipulating gifs in order to make Kevin Nash look better.

April 28, 1997

NITRO

Norfolk, VA

We open the show on clips of Ric Flair taking down Vader at Starrcade '93, and they awkwardly tie it in as an implicit threat to Kevin Nash about how Flair can take big men down. Whatever.

Tony Schiavone is joined by not only Larry Zbyszko, but also Bobby Heenan to open tonight's show. I wondered if that was a long-term change, but I quickly gather that it's because this is just a one-hour episode (due to TNT broadcasting the NBA Playoffs), so I guess they're just doing a hybrid of their announce teams from each hour.

The announcers don't get many words out before they're interrupted by the sound of bagpipes. Ric Flair and Roddy Piper emerge from the back. Instead of going to the ring, they go to the announce desk, where Piper picks up a mic and starts a promo. He starts by responding to Kevin Nash's promo from last week. "Getting real tired of hearing about the nWo, about these big lions, huh? These big lions that are PO'd at us because we left potholes in the road. What, too lazy to fill in a few potholes? Are you that young generation that just wants to skateboard and collect your check?"



I hope that Piper never attempted to represent himself in a legal case. He somehow just implicitly conceded all of the points that Nash laid on him last week. Taking the "pothole" metaphor out, the exchange basically just went:

Nash: "You guys ****ed up the industry."Piper: "Yeah, so?"

Piper and Flair lay out the challenge to do their match tonight instead of at Slamboree.

After the credits roll, we head to our opening bout.

US Title - Dean Malenko (c) vs. Prince Iaukea: Why…why would you even threaten your audience with another Prince Iaukea title reign? I mean, he's not winning this, but ****, man. On a PIP promo as the match starts, Jeff Jarrett says that he's going to win the US Title from Dean Malenko at Slamboree. Tony says that was just a challenge and the match is not signed yet…but obviously that means that match is happening. Incidentally, there are guys who I bitch about being on Nitro too often, but it occurs to me that Dean Malenko is on the show most weeks as well…I just hadn't really noticed that fact because it makes me happy when he's part of the show.

Malenko with a drop toe-hold into a facelock. Stands up, keeping a side headlock, gets sent into the ropes, Iaukea throws a series of armdrags and then executes his own drop toe-hold before locking in an armbar. Back to a vertical base, Malenko goes behind, but Iaukea turns and hits him with a crescent kick. Two. Backdrop by Iaukea gets a one-count. Malenko plants Prince with a powerbomb, goes for a pin, Prince actually reverses into his own pinning attempt, Malenko counters back, and they end up in the ropes. Irish whip and a powerslam by the champion. Texas Cloverleaf, tap tap tap, and the crowd cheers in relief as they are delivered safely from another Prince Iaukea title win.



Result: Dean Malenko via submission

Cruiserweight Title - Syxx (c) vs. Juventud Guerrera: Collar-and-elbow tie-up. Juventud transitions successfully into a side headlock, gets sent off the ropes, and ends up dragging Syxx out of the ring with a flying headscissor takeover. Syxx regroups, reenters, and promptly takes a spinning kick to the midsection. He reverses a corner whip, Juventud gets up on the top rope, stumbles, but flips behind, and Syxx just about takes his head off with a spinning heel kick. Two-count.



The champion steers Guerrera to the corner, sits him down with a series of kicks, then executes the bronco buster. Standing suplex. Two. Snapmare and a crisp legdrop. Axhandle connects off the ropes. Syxx tries scaling the ropes again, but this time Juvi shoves him and crotches him. Spinning hurracanrana gets a near-fall. Guerrera, from the apron, hits a springboard somersault dropkick. Two. Now Guerrera misses on a quebrada when Syxx ducks, and Syxx capitalizes by slapping on the Buzzkill to score the submission win.

Result: Syxx via submission

We're scheduled next for a match between Chris Benoit and Lord Steven Regal, and Regal is already in the ring, but the nWo music plays…here are Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Syxx. They come out and take over the broadcast table. Fingers crossed that they just do a promo and go away…nWo on commentary is the worst thing in the world. Hall refers to Flair and Piper as "dinosaurs" and says he heard them talking about how they want some of the "Wolfpack." First reference to themselves as the Wolfpack, I believe. Hall gives a non-answer to the challenge by saying "whatever," and says that the crowd is here for one reason: the nWo. The crowd boos loudly. Nash says that they're only even doing the match at Slamboree for 75% of the gate. Then he gives a shoutout to Hogan and ends the promo. Alright, I knew that Nash was going to go straight back to being completely obnoxious and without redeeming value, but it was nice to at least get one good promo out of him last week.



Happily, I got my "cut a promo and go away" wish, and we're still getting that Benoit-Regal match. Strangely, during Benoit's entrance, Tony said (paraphrasing), "So Hall said 'whatever'…I guess that means the match is on tonight! That will be coming up later." Err, okay, that's a totally unreasonable interpretation of what he said, but obviously Tony has the scoop on what we were supposed to take away from that promo. I guess that match is happening.

Lord Steven Regal vs. Chris Benoit (w/ Woman): Side headlock by Benoit. Stiff little punches to the abdomen by Regal, who gets some separation and parlays into an armbar. Benoit sits out of the hold and Regal delivers a stiff kick to his back once he's down on his ass. Armbar by Benoit gets countered into a cross-armbar by Regal. Regal pins Benoit's arms down, does a nice job as always on the subtleties by digging his knee into Benoit's face to strengthen his position, but Benoit is able to wriggle loose and regain his feet. The two men keep a hold of each other (in the test-of-strength fingerlock) throughout a series of counters that take them all across the ring. These two are true artists. They're also incredibly stiff with each other, as Regal finds himself busted open hard way near his left temple…I had to rewind a bit to pinpoint it, but it seems very likely to have come from a stiff headbutt that Benoit threw while they were jostling for position.



The grounded chain wrestling continues as the producers zoom out to a wide angle. Dammit, they had to spend most of the match on wide angle the last time these two faced off on Nitro also. Eric Bischoff, in the nWo by then, was having to simultaneously try to stay in character while also yelling at his production team to keep it wide. Benoit hits a snap suplex, and here comes Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart, and Jacqueline. Sullivan runs in and attacks Benoit to break up what had been a great ongoing match. I'm left wondering if Benoit and Regal ever properly feuded, because they're awesome together. Even with the lame ending, that's the favorite for match of the night.

Result: No Contest

Anyway, Benoit and Sullivan brawl into the aisle, with Benoit hitting a blatant low blow and then Jackie jumping on Benoit's back. Here comes Meng, rushing in and hitting the Tongan Death Grip. Regal actually comes back and attacks Meng to try to knock him loose…not sure what the kayfabe motivation was there. Meng keeps the hold on despite Regal's attack, but Meng eventually releases the hold after shooting a death glare at Woman.



After commercial, here's a paid-by-nWo commercial where Randy Savage cuts a promo on DDP.

Lex Luger & The Giant vs. The Amazing French Canadians: The Canadians haven't been on as much lately, and tonight they get a jobber entrance…they seem to be on the outs. Luger starts things off with Carl Ouellet. He blocks Ouellet's hip-toss and throws one of his own. Jacques Rougeau in illegally, and the Canadians execute a double-team where they simultaneously drop Luger hard stomach-first on the top rope. Ouellet hits a backbreaker, and Rougeau quickly comes off the ropes with a fist-drop. They have Luger isolated, but they take too much time to follow up, and Ouellet misses as he comes off the ropes next.

Luger makes the hot tag to Giant. The Canadians try to both converge on The Giant, but he fights them both off. Big boots to the faces of both, chokeslam on Jacques, Luger handles Ouellet by lifting him up in the Torture Rack while Giant records the three-count on Rougeau.



Result: Lex Luger & The Giant via pinfall

We see clips of last week's Mongo McMichael/Reggie White confrontation before the next match.

Mongo McMichael (w/ Debra) vs. The Barbarian: Barbarian jumps Mongo before the bell, but Mongo fights back quickly, beating him into the corner and then hitting a running clothesline after ducking Barbarian's clothesline attempt. He counters a Barbarian powerbomb into a backdrop, then throws right hands in the corner before whipping Barbarian into the opposite corner. Mongo takes his eye off the ball though, playing to the crowd and promptly getting a boot upside the face for his inattention.

Barbarian dumps Mongo to the floor. He whips him into the guardrail. The two throw fists out there, but Barbarian gets the better of it, then picks Mongo up horizontally and rams him back-first into the post. Rolls McMichael in and executes a piledriver. Slow pinfall attempt gets two. Barbarian punches Mongo down in the corner. Referee Mark Curtis tries to pull him off, and Barbarian flings Curtis to the mat. Curtis does not disqualify him…Curtis gets up, gets distracted by Debra on the apron, and Mongo gets a hold of the briefcase. He whacks Barbarian in the head with it and scores the pinfall.



Result: Mongo McMichael via pinfall

After commercial, it's time for our main event on this abbreviated episode. Roddy Piper and Ric Flair head to the ring, Flair still wearing street clothes. I'm not sure what this match is supposed to be. Flair brings a mic into the ring and demands that the nWo get out there right now. He says that he's held the World Title more times than Syxx has had pieces of ass. After a delay, the nWo music plays. Then it stops playing. I'm beginning to suspect that "whatever" wasn't meant to be taken as "yes" to the challenge. A bunch of pro-nWo paper falls from the ceiling, covering a lot of the ring. Flair screams, "IS THIS ALL YOU'VE GOT?!" The close-up of the paper reveals it to say "Tradition bites," with the nWo icon on the page. Piper picks up the page and fumes.

Okay, here are Hall, Nash, and Syxx. Syxx charges toward the ring, Flair tackles him and beats on him, and then when Hall and Nash step in, Flair gets the better of them as well, hitting a low blow on Nash and then putting Hall down. Flair puts a figure-four on Syxx, but the numbers overwhelm him, and Nash holds up Flair as Hall and Syxx pound away. For some reason Piper is just standing in the ring through all of this. After the better part of a minute, Piper bails out of the ring to go help Flair, and the show signs off.

What a terrible final segment. They spent the whole show heavily advertising Piper/Flair vs. nWo as a match that was going to happen, telling people to call their friends to let them know it was happening (on the basis of Hall responding to the challenge by saying "whatever"), then there was no match, just this weird confrontation segment that wouldn't have been good even if it hadn't been a bait-and-switch. Clownish stuff, WCW.



Overall: Benoit/Regal was really good, even if marred by a non-ending. The rest of the show was nothing, and I'm inclined to take significant points away for the dishonest way that they tried to keep (and get) people tuned in by the end. Overall a pretty bad episode.

Pretty late on this one, but I noticed this particular picture in the last Raw write-up.



Was this the first time since the Undertaker debut that he appeared in any outlet resembling his American badass gimmick with the bandana and shades?

Just a heads up for you, LKJ. I know you aren't a big fan of Bruce Prichard's podcast, but starting Monday they are found a similar one with Tony Schiavone for the WCW. The first show is on Goldberg, but just something to think about in the future for background info

I've never listened to a single episode of it. So, while this is literally true, I'm guessing you may be mixing me up with someone else.

I'm always kind of interested in checking it out, but I find that I don't keep up with my subscribed podcasts as it is.

Maybe I am mixing you up, but if you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend it. That is if you are into behind the scenes info. It's my favorite podcast.

Edit: one word of advice. If you do listen and start with one the first few, they did a segment in the beginning where Bruce would give commentary on the current product. They stopped doing that very early on because people didn't like it

Yeah, my only possible exposure to it was one YT clip of Bruce Prichard talking that I'm guessing may have been from his podcast. I questioned its veracity since he was made a handful of fairly large and unbelievable claims that I'd never heard before regarding WrestleMania VII.

is ... is there a wcw angle of sub zero vs reptile and shao khan?

Mortal Kombat was huge at this point, so there's no real question that Glacier was a Sub-Zero ripoff.

(I guess I don't really remember those other characters.)

April 28, 1997

RAW

Omaha, NE

We open on clips from last week…they spend several minutes recapping all of the Bret/Austin stuff. The Harts ambushing Austin, Austin destroying Bret's knee, Shawn Michaels saving Austin twice, and Brian Pillman showing up to raise hell at the end of the show.

After the opening credits, Brian Pillman emerges through the entryway and heads to the ring, microphone in hand. "I know that there's a lot of preconceived notions about who Brian Pillman is. I know there's a lot of people who think I'm crazy. But I'm here to tell you…there's a sensitive side to Brian Pillman. And really, I'm very very deeply religious. Since last week, after playing the carnage of Raw over and over again in my mind, I became deeply disturbed. Nightmares, sleepless nights…I didn't know if what I had done was right. And thankfully a glorious awakening overcame me. I was overwhelmed with the spirit of truth, and since that day, I have been compelled to pray, to pray for all of our misgivings. And right now, I'd like to ask each and every one of you to join me in prayer. I want to ask each and every one of you, from the top row down to the front, to bow your heads, close your eyes, and join me in prayer."



He closes his eyes and raises one arm skyward. "I'd like to pray for Bret Hart. That he may have a speedy, quick, and successful recovery. I'd like to pray for all the people who rejoiced in the savage brutality of last week's show. May they be forgiven. And I'd like to pray for all those - even those many among us who exalted in the devious actions of Stone Cold Steve Austin - may you be forgiven as well. And I'd like to pray for the millions across America, this great land…who savor the bloodthirsty violence that pervades our society." Pillman breaks into crocodile tears, wipes his eyes across his arm, and drops to his knees. "Please continue to bond with me in prayer, because I'd like to pray for the COMPLETE ANNIHILATION AND DESTRUCTION OF STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN! I'D LIKE TO PRAY THAT IN THIS VERY BUILDING TONIGHT, HE BE STRICKEN DOWN! So that he may never, ever again be able to practice his evil craft. And I'd like to pray to each and every one of you out there now, to open your hearts and minds and let Bret Hart in. Let Bret Hart, the savior of the WWF, into your heart and soul."

Stone Cold shows up on the Titantron. "Brian Pillman, for once in my life, I ain't got a lot to say. You'd better pray that I don't come out there and beat the hell out of you. Speaking of saviors, not even Bret Hart is gonna be able to save your ass." Pillman: "I'm not afraid of the devil! It says in the good book, an eye for an eye, and to turn the other cheek." Pillman bends over, jutting his ass in the general direction of Austin on the tron, and then giggles. The tron goes back to just showing the RAW logo, and Austin's music begins. Stone Cold emerges and slowly walks down the ramp, threatening all the way. As Austin hits the ring, suddenly the British Bulldog and Owen Hart appear and are going to ambush him, but Austin senses it just in time and slips away.



Owen, Davey, and Pillman hold the ring as Austin climbs over the guardrail and angrily leaves through the crowd. Pillman, still with a mic, turns to the Tag Team Champions. "Brother Owen, brother Davey, please, we need a moment of silence. We're still in the midst of our prayer. Before we were so rudely interrupted, I'd like to finish our moment of prayer, because just like they say, the family that prays together stays together. Let's get down on one knee." They each drop down.



"Bless this day and this opportunity for brother Owen, for brother Davey, and myself, to show our thanks. Brother Davey, is there anything you would like to pray for?" Davey: "I'd like to pray for you, Bret, and hope you get better." Owen: "I want everyone out here to please, please pray for my brother Bret, and help him heal! And we're all decent human beings…please pray for Stone Cold Steve Austin, to heal and to come to the other side and realize his mistakes." Austin is shown on the Titantron during this last Owen bit, throwing a tantrum in the back. He dismantles an axe. Suddenly his music plays again in the arena, and he comes racing out, armed with a (literal) axehandle. He chases all three guys out of the ring, and now they're the ones who scurry out over the guardrail and into the crowd.



Austin stands up on the ropes and declares, "I don't know where the hell you're going, but you'd better give your soul to the Lord, or somebody, because your ass is mine!" This was a fun opening segment that I had forgotten all about.

Vince McMahon mentions that Bret Hart is on his way to the arena. Jim Ross informs us that Owen Hart is going to be challenging Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental Title later tonight. Jerry Lawler adds that we're going to see a non-title match between The Undertaker and the British Bulldog.

After a commercial break, we return to find Pillman kneeling in the locker room, joined in mid-prayer. He prays for Bret Hart's safe arrival tonight.

Flash Funk vs. Rockabilly (w/ The Honky Tonk Man): Funk throws an early dropkick and armdrag. Billy is back to his feet with a couple of right hands. Funk reverses a corner whip, Gunn backdrops him following in, Funk lands on the apron, hops to the top rope, and throws a cross-body off the top that gets a two-count. On a split-screen, we see an ambulance in the back, and after a close-up we see that Bret Hart has arrived in the back of it.

Back to the action, Honky Tonk Man runs enough distraction of Flash Funk to enable Rockabilly to throw a hard clothesline that puts Funk down on the ring apron. He suplexes Flash into the ring. Jim Ross takes this moment to shill for the USA Network, advertising "Sunday Night Heat," which apparently first was just the branding of a few crappy USA Original Series that had nothing to do with wrestling. Hearkening back to the ambulance view a moment ago, Vince comments that Bret Hart underwent knee surgery on Wednesday. Rockabilly hits a tornado DDT, preens and dances for the crowd a bit, and he signals for Honky to get up on the apron. He goes to whip Flash into Honky, Flash reverses, Gunn and Honky collide, and Flash wins the match with a hurracanrana into a pinning combo.



They build to a Honky protégé angle for months, and now he's done more losing than winning on TV right from the beginning. Not that I'm exactly objecting to this Rockabilly thing getting flushed right away, but I don't quite understand the thinking that went into all of this.

Result: Flash Funk via pinfall

After the match, Rockabilly hits Flash over the head with Honky's guitar. This does get quite a bit of heat from the crowd, so at least they're not responding to this nonsense with total silence.

Bret Hart is shown being wheeled into the arena on a wheelchair by Owen and Davey.

After a commercial, Vince McMahon is in the middle of the ring. He announces that Bret underwent knee surgery this past Wednesday and invites Bret to come out. Bret's brother and brother-in-law wheel him out to the top of the ramp. They take a step back and stand guard as Bret cuts a promo from the top of the ramp. He commends Brian Pillman for praying, but adds, "No matter how much you pray, every once in a while, one slimy, rotten hyena breaks through and makes the kill on a lion. … But he didn't kill me, he just wounded me. All the prayer in the world won't help the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin." Bret goes on to cut basically the same promo he's been cutting for a couple of months, about how sickening the fans are for backing Steve Austin. "You want the snapping of bones, because you're a sick, depraved society."

"I knew it would come down to this, sooner or later, and I've had to lower my standards … so that I could prove, as I always have, and always will, that I'm the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be." That line gets significant heat. A surly smirk breaks across Bret's face. "Aren't you sick of that? Don't you just hate that? How I keep talking about how I'm the best? Well now you know how the rest of the world feels about the United States of America!" Okay, that was a good one. "I'm back. I'll be out of commission for a little while. … Yeah, go ahead and chant your 'USA.' My mother's American. … Stone Cold Steve Austin, these are your people. … The way I look at things, that ambulance that brought me here tonight, it'd better stay real close. Because I can promise, not just the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, but scum like Shawn Michaels, before this night is over, maybe we can get you a nice ride to the hospital … Stone Cold Steve Austin, your days are numbered. You people make me sick." He turns to his family and says, "Get me out of here." The early part of this promo was pretty weak, but he found his way and I ended up liking this quite a bit too.



In passing, Vince McMahon shows a clip of Henry Godwinn taking a nasty landing on a Doomsday Device from LOD, and says that he broke his neck on that impact.

Steve Austin is angrily stalking his way through the back, and asks a random where the first aid room is. He gets pointed in that direction and marches toward it as the show goes to break.

Legion of Doom vs. Doug Furnas & Philip LaFon: Furnas and LaFon get absolutely no crowd reaction at all upon their entrance. While entering, we see a pre-recorded split-screen promo from them where they're asked to address why they have not been accepted in the WWF. LaFon, frustrated, says that they take pictures, they sign autographs, and the fans don't seem to realize that they're international superstars. JR asks Furnas what the difference is between their team and the LOD. Furnas says, "The biggest difference is that we're professional wrestlers. These guys dress like clowns. The other difference is the fans. These guys play a home game every time they wrestle. If we had that kind of support, we'd have the championship belts right now." Sort of seems reminiscent of the start of the Rougeau Brothers' heel turn about a decade prior, when they started doing the same thing, wondering aloud about why the fans aren't cheering more for them.



Vince and JR openly acknowledge that the fans aren't into these guys, but are quick to assert that they're great talents. This was a good route to go with them, though I'll also mention that they weren't done any favors by the booking in their feud with Owen Hart and the British Bulldog. Animal and LaFon start things off. LaFon with a waistlock, Animal elbows his way free, but LaFon hits a spinning heel kick that puts Animal down. Animal back up with a jumping shoulderblock. He drops the elbow, flexes, and tags Hawk while LaFon tags Furnas. Hawk whips Furnas into the corner and follows in with a clothesline. Neckbreaker. Hawk drops a fist, but takes a cheap knee from the apron by LaFon, and Furnas throws a nice belly-to-belly. Follows with a legdrop, then tags in LaFon. Double shoulderblock; LaFon records a two-count. Sort of a belly-to-belly by LaFon as well, and then he cinches in cross-armbreaker.

Back up to a vertical base, LaFon hits a snap suplex, but then the two have a mid-ring collision. Both tag out, and Animal is in as if this was a hot tag, taking on both opponents. All four men brawl, they perform kind of a sloppy four-way collision, and then the LOD sets up LaFon for a Doomsday Device. Furnas dropkicks Animal and LaFon over, saving his partner, but Hawk is still perched on the top rope, and he throws the flying clothesline that connects squarely with Furnas. LOD scores the pinfall.



Result: LOD via pinfall

Jim Ross grabs a word with Furnas and LaFon. Furnas repeats his earlier gripes about LOD "always playing on a homefield," then intimates that the illegal man made the pin (he didn't, though I'm guessing maybe that was supposed to be the case as Vince mentioned it at the finish as well) and pointed a finger at the officiating. LaFon says he wants a rematch with LOD soon.

After a pointless recap of some weird Shotgun Saturday Night segment with Sunny and the Headbangers, Vince turns his attention to Ahmed Johnson backstage. He mentions that the Sultan went to the hospital after Ahmed's match with him last week. Ahmed apologizes for his actions last week, but screams that he doesn't know what he's supposed to do. He works himself into a lather and screams incoherently for a bit as he slams against a locker a couple of times. I gather that he was screaming at the Nation of Domination.

Bret, Owen, and Davey are shown conferring backstage, but the camera doesn't pick up what's being said. Then Pillman is shown elsewhere in the backstage area, again down on his knees and praying, this time with two Slammies in hand. He's praying for Owen to win a championship belt later.

Intercontinental Title - Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Owen Hart: Bret Hart and the British Bulldog are at the top of the aisle to cheer for Owen during this match. Owen picks up a mic and dedicates this match to Bret before it begins. Rocky gets a Furnas/LaFon pop for his entrance. Owen jumps Rocky before the bell, but it doesn't get him too much of an advantage…Rocky fights back with a series of rights, and then hits a huge clothesline before hitting a terrible dropkick. He executes an armdrag, then locks in an armbar. Owen works his way back to his feet, Rocky with an arm-wringer into a hammerlock, Owen elbows his way free, but Rocky powerslams him and returns to the armbar.

Rocky reverses a corner whip, hits a backdrop, and yet another armbar. He appears to be operating off of the Jericho list that doesn't exist yet. Shoulderblock by Maivia, but Owen finally sidesteps him on the next move and sends him careening through the middle ropes. He follows with a baseball slide that knocks the champion violently into the guardrail. Owen rolls him inside, scales the ropes, and connects on a missile dropkick that jolts Rocky pretty violently. Reverse chinlock by Hart. Rocky works his way loose, but Hart executes a drop toe-hold and then wrenches Rocky's knee a couple of times. He continues working that knee, as JR points out that he's setting up the Sharpshooter for later.



As Owen starts trying to apply a figure-four, Rocky manages a surprise small package for a near-fall. Owen goes right back after the compromised knee though, kicking and stomping and wrenching all over again. Goes for the Sharpshooter, but Rocky grabs for the hair and manages to take Owen down to break up the Sharpshooter attempt. Suplex by Hart. Rocky manages his slow-motion float-over DDT, but he's still shaken up from all of the offense he just took, and he can't capitalize quickly. Eventually covers and gets a two-count. Maivia throws a few right hands, kicks Owen in the gut, and executes a botched Rock Bottom. Still not a finisher, still can't get a three-count. Owen, after being whipped into the corner, comes jumping back out with his patented wheel kick. He climbs to the top to try to follow up, but Maivia catches up with him and executes a back superplex. Cover gets 1, 2…not quite.

Rocky goes for a suplex, Owen escapes behind, jumps up feet-first to trap Rocky into a pinning predicament, and abruptly scores the pinfall.



As the sounds of Howard Finkel saying, "…and NEW World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion" fill the arena, the WWF audience is finally relieved of the pain of watching the most undeserved IC Title reign since Kerry Von Erich back in 1990. Despite the Harts otherwise having big heat in this building, Owen's title win gets a decent pop, likely just a combination that most any crowd enjoys seeing a title change, and that nobody in the ****ing world minded seeing Rocky lose it.

Result: Owen Hart via pinfall, new IC Champion

Owen takes the IC Title belt triumphantly up the ramp to his family. Bret, who had already been holding onto the Tag Team Titles, the European Title, and Owen's two Slammies, gratefully takes the IC Title belt from Owen, who hands it to him and gives him a hug. I continue to enjoy the complete 180 of Jerry Lawler, who yells gleefully about Owen giving the newly-won title belt to Bret.



They pan to the back, where Steve Austin is for some reason wheeling himself on a chair through the back, axehandle still along his lap. Vince says, "Wat." Then the show goes to commercial.

After break, Vince calls Austin down to the ring. Austin makes his way through the crowd, just carrying a wheelchair and axehandle along. He sets up the chair and sets up to cut his promo from it. "Who wants to see a wheelchair match? … All you've got to do, Bret Hart, is wheel your little carcass down here. And I promise, you have my word, I'll sit here and fight you wheel-to-wheel. I take that back. I ain't gonna promise that, because I'm a lying SOB. I'd come out of this wheelchair, stomp a mudhole in your ass, and walk it dry."



He stands up. "This whole thing, every single one of you Harts, Brian Pillman, the whole thing is designed, because the last thing, the last thing you want to see is Steve Austin as World Wrestling Federation Champion. You talk about 'my people.' I look in the mirror each and every day and see my people. On May 11th, The Undertaker, you will indeed see the coldest day in hell. Because, come hell or high water, four, five, ten, fifteen, or twenty Harts, I'm gonna be there, and I'm gonna whip The Undertaker's ass. You're looking at the next WWF Champion, and that's the bottom line, 'cause Stone Cold said so."

Bret Hart appears on the Titantron and reiterates his promise that Austin's going to be riding out in the ambulance that Bret rode here on. Austin says that if anyone's riding in an ambulance, it will be every one of their asses. He marches up the aisle, ending the segment.

Vader is shown backstage. Vince says that he's back in America. They again show the footage of why he had been detained in Kuwait. Then they mention Ken Shamrock's comments from last week, where he cut a promo on Vader and also challenged Mike Tyson. They send it to a video promo hyping Shamrock.

Jesse James vs. Vader: Vader attacks from the opening bell. James manages to reverse a corner whip and to follow him in with a clothesline, but Vader puts him back down quickly, drags him over to the corner, and hits a splash off the second rope. He pulls him up after a two-count. Jim Ross, furious that he didn't just end the match there, rages about what a bully Vader is. The big man throws a couple more fists, then hits a Vaderbomb to polish this thing off in a hurry.



Result: Vader via pinfall

JR goes to grab a word with the victor. He asks Vader if he feels any remorse or shame about the shame that he put the WWF through because of his actions in Kuwait. Vader laughs at the notion of remorse or shame. He says that he went over there and did his job, and did it well. He says that he apologizes for nothing. Ross says that Vader has probably been asked a zillion times whether wrestling is fake or not. He says, "I'm not going to ask that question because I don't agree with the question, but don't you think you overreacted a little bit to the guy in Kuwait asking you a stupid question?" Vader threatens that he can finish the interview he started in Kuwait, right here and now. Ross starts to back down. Vader takes Ross's cowboy hat off and flings it down. He rants, corners Ross, takes Ross's glasses off, and looks like he's going to attack when Ken Shamrock shows up and throws him down.



Vader stands at the bottom of the aisle and stares at Shamrock, flexing, but ends up backing up the aisle as officials yell for him to go. Shamrock picks up a mic and threatens that, at the PPV, "It's not gonna be Vader time. It's gonna be hard time."

Goldust, getting ready, tells Marlena backstage that he's not going to let her come out there with him for tonight's match, apparently coming next.

Hunter Hearst-Helmsley (w/ Chyna) vs. Goldust: Goldust comes charging in, sans Marlena, and takes the fight to his rival right away. He pounds him down in the corner, whips him to the opposite corner, and backs him down with a right hand before executing a corner mount and slapping a liplock on HHH before throwing a series of punches. He hits Hunter by jumping into him butt-first. He sends him to another corner and mounts him again there, but Hunter counters it into an inverted atomic drop. Helmsley sends Goldust off the ropes, misses on two clothesline attempts, but sticks with it and connects on a high knee that sends his opponent to the outside. As Helmsley distracts the official, Chyna puts the boots to Goldust. This draws Marlena down to ringside. Referee Mike Chioda separates the two women, but Marlena is going to stick around for the match as Raw heads to commercial.

Back from break, HHH stomps on Goldust in the corner. Mike Chioda backs him down, allowing Goldust some recovery time. The two punch back and forth, Goldust getting the better of the exchange. HHH reverses an Irish whip, but Goldust stops short of a backdrop attempt and throws an uppercut. Follows with a bulldog. A confrontation seems to be brewing again between Marlena and Chyna, and it draws Goldust outside the ring. As he tries to head things off, Marlena produces some powder and throws it in Chyna's eyes. This causes Hunter to go bailing out of the ring to get in the middle as well…Chyna, blinded, inadvertently attacks Helmsley. Amidst this mess, HHH ends up getting counted out.



Result: Goldust via countout

As the competitors from the last match are still clearing out, we hear The Undertaker's gong, and the lights go down. Taker appears on the Titantron. Vince asks Taker if he feels any remorse for what happened last week with Paul Bearer. Taker: "No man deserves to have the flesh burn from his face. But there is an old saying: the one who covets the flame ends up being burnt." Vince asks him about Stone Cold. Taker: "Stone Cold Steve Austin, you seem to have quite a bit of momentum built up. But you understand this, Austin: you come in distracted, you may leave in far worse shape than where a wheelchair will take you. Son, you may just rest in peace."



Pillman is shown praying again, this time for the Bulldog in advance of his upcoming match.

The British Bulldog vs. The Undertaker: Mimicking the earlier support during Owen's match, Owen and Bret come out to the top of the aisle to cheer for Davey during his match. And also mimicking the pre-match promo that Owen cut, Bulldog dedicates this match to "the man who introduced me to my beautiful wife Diana," Bret. Bulldog vows to win the WWF Title, seemingly forgetting that this isn't a title match. Vince reminds the audience that it is. I guess that officially spoils the fact that Bulldog won't be scoring a pin here.

Taker manhandles Bulldog early, picking him up in a choke and dropping him as the show goes to commercial. After commercial, Bulldog is in the midst of his delayed suplex, which he executes to success. Two-count. Undertaker ducks a clothesline and hits a chokeslam. As he makes the throat-slash gesture to signal for the Tombstone, Owen Hart runs in and attacks for the blatant DQ.



Result: The Undertaker via DQ

Owen and Davey continue to beat Undertaker down for a bit until Steve Austin comes charging through the crowd to even the score. He beats on Owen as Taker beats on Davey. Austin knocks Owen into the crowd on one side of the ring while Taker flings Bulldog over the guardrail on another side. Austin picks up the WWF Title belt, enters the ring, and raises it overhead as he stands up on the ropes; this actually gets overwhelming heat from what has otherwise been a pro-Austin crowd. Taker, taking umbrage, enters the ring to confront him. Austin slams down the belt at Undertaker's feet, then hits a Stunner to put the dead man down.



Austin stands over Taker, flipping him the double bird, and suddenly Undertaker chokes upward, stands up, and hits a chokeslam, putting Austin down with authority.



Austin backs out of the ring, then turns around and looks up the aisle to find Bret Hart sitting there in his wheelchair. As Austin marches toward Bret, Bret scrambles up out of his chair and onto his crutches. He appears to be cornered as Stone Cold eagerly walks toward him with a sadistic smile on his face. As Austin closes in, he suddenly gets attacked from behind by Bret's former tag team partner, circa 1987-1991, and current brother-in-law, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, who hadn't appeared on WWF TV as his unmasked self since late 1994.



As officials converge to back the Anvil down, Austin tries to regain his feet. Bret rears back behind him with his crutch and swings it hard, breaking it over Austin and causing Austin to fall off the top of the ramp.



Anvil cackles as he congratulates Bret and helps him back through the curtain. As he went between cackling and glaring evilly, it strikes me that The Anvil was basically Hugh Morrus with more charisma (but minus the ability to throw a top-rope moonsault).

Officials tend to Austin, who is lying motionless on the arena floor after the fall that he just took. They get him onto a stretcher and wheel him off.

The camera pans back to Brian Pillman in the locker room, again mid-prayer. He snaps out of prayer mode and gives a maniacal smile to the camera as the show goes off the air.



Overall: Tremendous episode. I might like this one better than last week's, which is saying something. Aside, I guess, from that quick Flash Funk vs. Rockabilly match, everything that they put out there this week was really good. Very purposeful, very little wasted time. This has to be the best 1-2 punch of back-to-back episodes that the WWF has put on since the start of the Monday Night Wars.

Ratings for 4/28/97: Nitro 3.4, Raw 2.7
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 60-17-2

Better Show: Raw by a whole hell of a lot.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 55-24

Match of the Night: Chris Benoit vs. Lord Steven Regal

APRIL 1997 IN REVIEW

Arrivals:
WCW - JJ Dillon (from WWF), Reggie White (from NFL)
WWF - Jim Neidhart (from obscurity)

Match of the Month: Meh, no great options here. Will go with Undertaker vs. Mankind from Revenge of the Taker.

PPV of the Month: WWF In Your House 14 (unopposed)

Ratings: Nitro still crushing every single week.

Quality: I split the "better show" ratings this month at 2-2, though the recency bias of the last two episodes makes me feel a lot more optimistic about watching WWF at this point.

Gif of the Month:

Good stuff LKJ. I missed quite a few episodes by accident with the Rumble threads always being up.

I loved how chaotic and unpredictable Austin made RAW starting on the 4/21 episode. You just knew **** was going to go down. It was absolutely must watch stuff.

I'd totally forgotten about all of the Pillman stuff but as I was reading his promo at the beginning of the 4/28 show, it all came back. Just incredible as now it's SCSA vs the world.

Schiavone's posture. It's like he's pouting that his bubble was invaded.

I hate you and you're ****ing Tupac bandana, Kevin Nash.

Underrated part of WCW, Randy Anderson flipping out whenever a match ends.



edit:
I'm not sure why but I've always loved this bump. Perhaps it was just the shock of Pillman coming back and doing this

^ That's Mark Curtis, the little ref with the big reactions. Randy Anderson was the black-haired dude who had to beg for his job back.

Sad that both of them fell victim to cancer at fairly young ages.

This remains my favorite random Tony screenshot so far, by the way. Seemed like a telling expression of what it was probably often like to work alongside Larry Zbyszko.

I laughed. Pretty awesome shot.

The reason I thought the one I quoted was especially remarkable is because it was faces that took over the booth and not the NWO. That's why I feel it's a bubble issue. "get these wrestlers out of my space!!!!!!!!"

wow these two raw eps were great.

May 5, 1997

NITRO

Lakeland, FL

We cold-open on highlights of last week's ending, when the nWo was ganging up on Ric Flair on the aisle, and Rowdy Roddy Piper was standing in the ring doing nothing about it for quite a while before finally running out to try to make the save.

Now we're in tonight's arena, Piper and Flair and Kevin Greene at the announce table, and Tony asks him to explain why it took him so long to come to Flair's aid last week. As Piper starts to talk, an nWo banner that says "Tradition bites" unfurls behind them. Greene tears it down. Another one shows up in front, Piper tears that down as well, and Piper yells "THAT'S ENOUGH!" They all rage-quit the segment and storm off.

After the show's credits roll, the trio are in the ring. There are nWo signs raining down from the ceiling, same as what happened last week when they came to the ring for the main event segment. Piper says that last week, he saw Flair outside, and thought, "It's only 3-on-1. He's doing fine!" He vowed that he's always with him. He starts to ramble about the nWo's demand for 75% of the gate for the event when JJ Dillon comes to the ring and interrupts. Dillon says that, because of a pre-existing contract that Eric Bischoff signed when he still had power, the nWo is going to get 75% of the gate. Dillon tells Piper that he needs to get his head on straight and show up for the event. Piper says that he's never had his head on straight, but that he'll be there. Flair interrupts Piper's utter nonsense and rambles pointlessly himself. And then his rambling is interrupted by Public Enemy's music. It's like WCW is trying to make me as pessimistic as possible about this episode right from the jump.



As we're readying for our opening bout, Larry Zbyszko reasons that it's fine to get a lesser cut of the gate because then you pay less in taxes. That is…some special reasoning, Larry.

Adding to my pessimism: judging by the search bubbles, unless one of the big gaps is a Chris Benoit match, this episode appears to only have one match that's more than a minute, and it's this upcoming Public Enemy match. Great.

Public Enemy vs. Hugh Morrus & Konnan (w/ Jimmy Hart): Rocco Rock fights with Konnan on the inside, Johnny Grunge with Hugh Morrus on the outside. Rock and Konnan spill outside, and everyone is brawling out there. Grunge sets Jimmy Hart on a table outside, and Rocco is going to put him through it, but he gets clobbered by a clothesline from Konnan during his running start. PE sets up a table double-decker, and Rocco actually sets Konnan up in between, like they're going to sandwich him between two tables when Johnny Grunge jumps off the top rope and through them. That spot would literally kill Konnan a lot of the time if it connected, so I'm not too surprised when he gets out of the way and Grunge just goes through the tables himself.



Morrus and Rocco fight inside the ring. Jimmy Hart feeds a table into the ring over the top rope. The Dungeon guys double-team Rocco; they go for a double clothesline that misses, and Rocco actually hits both with a quebrada. Their numbers help them keep the advantage though, as Konnan powerbombs Rocco. Their next double-team attempt fails again though, as Rocco dodges and the two partners collide in mid-ring. Rocco sets Konnan up on a table, heads to the top rope, but Morrus catches up with him, superplexes him into Konnan, and then we get some convoluted double pin where Rocco was on top of Konnan but Morrus was pinning Rocco at the same time. Konnan and Hugh Morrus are declared the winners. As PE matches go, that was kind of entertaining.



Result: Hugh Morrus & Konnan via pinfall

Cruiserweight Title - Syxx (c) (w/ Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.: Syxx comes out with street clothes on. He clocks Rey with a spinning heel kick before the bell, beats him down in the corner, then goes for a bronco buster, but Rey gets his feet up to block that. Nash gets up on the apron, Rey kicks him off, but then Nash runs distraction on referee Mark Curtis while Curtis pretends not to hear Hall blatantly executing a Razor's Edge right behind him. Syxx slaps on the Buzzkill and gets the submission win almost immediately.



Result: Syxx via submission

Here comes JJ Dillon. Nick Patrick comes along, wearing a WCW Monday Nitro shirt. More of the nWo, led by Eric Bischoff, comes in. Someone lays out Nick Patrick; the camera doesn't catch who. Bischoff gets a mic and tells Dillon that he needs to back off. He says, "You've got no power. You've got no stroke." With JJ on the apron, Syxx comes up and screams in his face, yelling, "If you think you're gonna pull the same crap you pulled for McMahon here, you've got another thing coming. We've had enough out of you, pal!" Nash jumps in. "I had enough of you in New York. Don't even get in my face, because you've got one coming, punk!" Dillon just stands there and doesn't do anything, and now we're at break. Zero idea what the point of that post-match stuff was. Or even what the point of that match was.



After a commercial break and the weekly Lee Marshall Nitro Party Report, we hear the damn nWo music again. Here's Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. Hogan poses as Bischoff picks up the mic and starts the promo. He asks Hogan when he's going to take Sting down. The crowd chants "we want Sting," upsetting Hogan. Hogan challenges Sting to come out right then. Sting doesn't show. Hogan proudly declares, "Once a god, always a god." And that's the end of the promo. They really spent one of their limited Hogan Nitro appearances on that?



Tony Schiavone mentions that Lex Luger suffered an injury in Japan during the past week, but is scheduled to be in the main event later tonight.

Before the next match, they show that last week, Lord Steven Regal actually tried to come to Chris Benoit's aid when Benoit was under attack by Meng.

Lord Steven Regal vs. Meng (w/ Jimmy Hart): Meng comes violently charging in. The two trade chops and punches. Regal tries to hold his own, but he can't win that kind of battle with Meng. Suddenly Kevin Sullivan is at ringside, Regal jumps out after him, those two brawl, and the match is already over.

Result: No Contest and/or Regal via DQ

Meng follows Regal outside the ring and slaps his Tongan Death Grip on him.



Regal does get out of the hold and tries gamely to fight back, but Meng just puts the grip back on him. Nitro cuts away to commercial.

After break, we get a video recap of the Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage feud so far.

Mean Gene Okerlund is out to interview DDP and Kimberly. Page boasts about his win over Savage at Spring Stampede last month. Okerlund then lets Kimberly talk, which is always a terrible decision. She tries to zing Savage with some lame line, and the promo is seemingly going to end, but we hear Savage's voice over the PA. Here he is in the crowd again, Miss Elizabeth alongside. Savage, pretending that Kimberly is obsessed with him, tells Kimberly to quit writing to him and to quit calling him. Page laughs it off and says, "Two words: Diamond Cutter!" Savage tells Page that he's lucky he's hurt, because he would come down and kick Page's ass. And that is the end of another pointless promo segment.



Alex Wright vs. Jeff Jarrett (w/ Debra): Jarrett throws an armdrag and struts. Slaps on a side headlock, Wright with the counterhold, but Jarrett kicks him in the gut and hits a swinging neckbreaker. He drops the leg on Wright's neck as Wright is draped along the bottom rope. Wright fights back with a heel kick and then beats Jeff down in the corner. Debra runs distraction, Jarrett clips Wright's leg from behind, figure-four, and we have a quick submission.



Result: Jeff Jarrett via submission

Lizmark Jr. vs. Glacier: Lizmark is making his debut here. It lasts less than 20 seconds. Glacier hits a Cryonic Kick and scores the win.

Result: Glacier via pinfall

After the match, the lights suddenly come down as we see James Vandenberg scurry to the ring. As the lights come up, Mortis is kicking away at Glacier. As Glacier fights back, here's Bryan Clark. Clark hits sort of a variation on the Rock Bottom to put Glacier down, and then he lays in some kicks. Mortis picks Glacier up on his shoulders and executes the Flatliner, a Samoan drop off the ropes. Then he clobbers Glacier repeatedly in the back with a cartoonish-looking stick that has a skull at the head of it. James Vandenberg triumphantly holds up Glacier's helmet, which I guess they stole on a previous episode.



As mentioned earlier, Lex Luger was scheduled for tonight's main event in a tag match against Harlem Heat, but when it's his turn to come out, The Giant comes out alone. Giant gets on a mic and says that Lex Luger isn't here, but he does have a partner. He calls out Diamond Dallas Page as his partner for the evening.

As Page comes out, Randy Savage threatens to ambush him with a crutch from alongside the aisle. As Page is distracted by that, Hulk Hogan blindsides Page and beats him with Savage's crutch. Savage holds Kimberly by the hair and makes her watch as Hogan beats on DDP.



Here's Scott Hall, who joins in on the beatdown on Dallas. In the meantime, a bunch of nWo guys pour into the ring and attack The Giant and Harlem Heat. Their numbers are enough to beat these guys down. Ric Flair and Kevin Greene run out for the save. No sign of Piper, and the nWo is able to fend off Flair and Greene. Here's Piper now too, but he also loses out to the nWo. Hogan and Savage go and take over the announce table. They obnoxiously gloat as the nWo beats on Piper, Flair, and The Giant inside the ring. And that's how the show ends.



Overall: Awful episode. Awful. Nothing was advanced in any meaningful way...it was all just rehashes of segments we've seen, and almost every match was a minute or less. It seems like these one-hour episodes, truncated because of the NBA Playoffs, were just episodes that they chose to mail in. The show used to be one hour per week, and they would use every minute wisely, but now they try to jam a bunch of different really abbreviated segments in, and it sucks. The Public Enemy match was actually the only thing that I even remotely enjoyed here.

The 4/28 Raw is even higher on my personal all-time Raw top 10. They were in such a groove.