Hart foundation redux and nation eras were pretty good iirc. I know I'm ready to relive it thru lkj

I hope this is true. I mean I'd like it better if they could get Martha's buy-in on the whole thing, but regardless I'll certainly be happy if Owen gets his due induction.

If she wants to hold a grudge against the WWE for the rest of her life then quite honestly I understand, but I'd still like to see his work be formally honored like they do for Hall of Famers.

Great news.

The New Hart Foundation is Formed

Date: March 31, 1997

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBwoJhUNSPQ



Owen and Davey, who had gotten in a fight on the Raw directly following WrestleMania and had agreed to fight on this show for the European Title, were interrupted in mid-match by newly-turned heel Bret. Bret runs in, pulls Bulldog down and neutralizes him, then tries to keep Owen off before getting the mic and convincing both of them to stop fighting with each other and to join together with him. From then until the Montreal Screwjob, Bret, Owen, Davey, and also Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman became a united faction. The next era was under way.

BlackKidBirthdayParty.gig

This was the last time I watched wrestling. I wanna relive it. Hey LKJ:

In Your House 14 - WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (c) vs. The Legion of Doom



Date: April 20, 1997

Link: N/A

Background: LOD was just named #1 contenders for the tag titles, so it was next team up for Owen and Davey.

The Match: Unfortunately LOD was quite terrible at this point; in an earlier year this would be quite the matchup, at least on paper. Owen and Davey come out to Bret's music, wh ich all Hart Foundation members used a fair bit of the time once the stable came together.

Lots of clotheslines early. Clotheslines by Hawk, clotheslines by Davey. Scintillating. LOD gets a lot of the offense here, and they weren't particularly good at offense, so here we are. In seemingly a pretty abrupt ending, Animal powerslams Davey off the second rope and scores the pinfall. As LOD celebrates their newly-won gold, referee Mike Chioda runs down to correct Jack Doan and tells him that Bulldog was not the legal man and that the pin should not count. The pin was indeed disallowed and the match continued.

Owen and Davey manage to take control of the match until Owen misses a top rope splash and Animal was able to make the hot tag to Hawk. He cleans house, and after knocking Bulldog to the outside, the LOD execute the Doomsday Device on Owen. They go for the pin, and the referee counts to one before stopping for no apparent reason, though the reason becomes apparently pretty quickly, then finally resumes at a two-count before Bret Hart races in to break up the pinfall attempt and cause a DQ. Bret had obviously missed his cue and was late, and the referee had to just fabricate a delay for no reason whatsoever.

So basically…the booking condemned this match to a terrible ending, and then bad execution by the run-in man (Bret) made it even worse. All in all, a solid effort.

Result: Legion of Doom via disqualification (10:11)

Rating: This was a mess. Very little of it was worthwhile, and the ending blows. 0.5 stars out of 5.

Raw - Intercontinental Title: Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Owen Hart

Date: April 28, 1997

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ySmXy1fW5U

Background: Rocky Maivia was awful, and a nation uncomfortably waited for someone, anyone, to end the madness that was his premature Intercontinental Title reign. If you didn't become a fan until 1998, you can hardly imagine just how far out of his depth Rocky was at the beginning of his WWF run. He was AWFUL and had truly no business getting the push he got. Obviously he got things fixed later. But for now, it was high time for someone to take the belt off him. Could Owen be the hero?

The Match: Bret is laid out with some sort of injury and is in a wheelchair, so he and the Bulldog hang out at the top of the ramp and watch this match. Owen gets to the ring, takes the mic from Howard Finkel, and announces that he's dedicating this match to his loving brother Bret.

Rocky Maivia enters to zero audible cheering, Owen attacks before the bell, and we're off. Initial stages of this match are non-descript (mostly because Rocky is controlling the offense and all he knew how to do were armdrags and clotheslines with the occasional flying bodypress), but to his credit Rocky does take a nice bump when Owen sends him to the outside and then baseball slides into him and knocks him pretty hard into the steel barricade. Owen follows with a missile dropkick, but then unfortunately slows the match back down into restholds for a while.

Interesting moment as Rocky hits the Rock Bottom on Owen, but it's clearly just a transitional move for him at that time and it's only worth a non-dramatic two-count. Rocky hits a back superplex on Owen, but can again only get the two-count. Owen catches Rocky from behind with the pinning combo I never know the name of, where he approaches a standing opponent from behind, kicks both feet up in front of both shoulders and executes basically the second half of a sunset flip. I wouldn't go to the labor of giving that painful description, except, well…it got the three-count here. Owen scores one of the biggest victories of his life, he heads to the top of the ramp to celebrate with an overjoyed Bret and Davey, and the push was most definitely on.



Result: "…and NEW Intercontinental Champion," Owen Hart via pinfall (8:30)

Rating: Match was definitely nothing special, though this was one of the happiest results I can remember, between desperately wanting Rocky to lose the title and Owen being the guy who was given the chance to break through and win it. Still, I can only give the match like 1.5 stars out of 5. I would give it more if I just wanted to add Owen mark points on, because it was probably his most triumphant moment since pinning Bret at WrestleMania X.

Few Things

1. Thread Delivers, you get all the stars

2. Just read about the demise of Doug Furnas, pretty terrible. Got parkenson's upon retiring from the ring fairly young and died of heart disease and nobody found him for upwards of a month.

3. Rocky Maivia was terrible. His finisher at the time was this bad boy -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VICEP7ACyAM

Not sure he ever did this as "The Rock."

Maybe that was Rocky's way of getting into the Nation. Papa Shango used to use that as his finisher too before becoming Kama (and maybe Kama used it too, I don't actually remember).

I actually didn't realize that Rocky used the shoulderbreaker as a finisher. I thought he used the flying bodypress. I think I mostly just remember a wrestling newsletter I read back at the time where the guy derisively referred to him as Rocky "Flying Bodypress" Maivia all the time, so that biased me (and he DID use that ****ing move a lot).

I don't know why I remember that. I guess I just remember him pinning people after using it, but by remember it could be like 3 matches lol.

Raw - WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (c) vs. Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels

Date: May 26, 1997

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN2xm4iqls4

Background: Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels were set to face off against each other at King of the Ring shortly after this match, but during this segment in which Shawn Michaels appears to be downright incapacitated on some sort of heavy drugs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FvaRuloL5w - the two get in a fight, at which point Owen and Davey got on the titantron laughing and challenged them to a title match the following week. Austin and Michaels each try to lay claim to the tag title shot with a partner of their choosing, then squabble over it, but ultimately this match was booked as originally challenged.

The Match: In the annals of Raw singles wrestlers-as-teams history, the tag match between Jericho/Benoit and Austin/HHH overshadows this one, and rightly so since it's the superior match, but it's unfortunate that this one gets pretty much forgotten because it's a really good one.



Michaels and Austin don't get along, but seem to set it aside for purposes of cooperating for this match. There might have been a better story if they played up the tension a bit more, but just having them work cohesively was probably optimal from an action standpoint. Michaels takes a nice back bump into the corner, followed by the patented running powerslam by Davey, but Austin breaks up the pinning attempt.



I never remember Owen and Shawn Michaels having this great chemistry in the ring, but I'm telling you that they're just solid gold any time they go at it, which includes some one-on-one action in this one. The action never truly stops in this match; it appears to be going into a heat segment when Owen and Davey begin to work Michaels over, but Michaels turns the table pretty quickly and the back-and-forth is back on.

After Michaels makes a hot tag to Austin, Austin cleans house but Michaels doesn't leave the ring, and as the referee is trying to get Owen to leave, Michaels squares up and pops Davey with the superkick. Austin promptly falls on top, the referee turns around…1, 2, 3. This was a pretty damn surprising title change, which added to the greatness of the sudden ending. Owen and Davey's reign as tag champs finally ends after a little more than eight months on top.

Result: "…and NEW WWF Tag Team Champions," Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels via pinfall (10:30)

Rating: I had memories of this one being a four-star match. My tendency is to think here that it maybe doesn't quite measure up to that, but it's still very, very good and it's definitely worth a watch. Recommended. 3.75 stars out of 5.

King of the Ring '97 - Owen Hart, British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs. Sid & The Legion of Doom



Date: June 8, 1997

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12...port&start=893

Background: Owen and Davey were vaguely feuding with LOD after making a dirty escape from them in a tag title match the month before. Anvil and Sid were just kind of thrown in to make it a 6-man tag. My hopes are not high given what Owen/Davey vs. LOD was, and given that the additional participants added to the fray are awful, but let's do this.

The Match: LOD gets what sounds to be a pretty feeble pop upon entry, or at least that's what I've discerned from the lack of audible cheering and the tight camera shots that don't show more than individual crowd members. Sid is still over; dude was seriously over no matter what he did or when the time period was. If only he had any motivation to do anything more than play softball and attack Arn Anderson with scissors, he could have been significantly bigger in wrestling than he was (and I realize that as is, he already did reasonably well).

The babyface team is in rare no-selling form here, with Hawk no-selling a piledriver and Sid no-selling a delayed standing suplex early. That portents well. Tagging Anvil in for a normal offensive sequence with Hawk is a terrible use of him. In a 6-man like this, let Owen and Bulldog do the wrestling and use Anvil as the guy who can take a hot tag and come in to do a flurry of basic power moves. THAT is what he's there for. He can't do anything else.

The match spends forever having Hawk take a beating from the Hart Foundation. I would suggest that they should get someone in there who can actually sell a move, but the options were obviously pretty limited. Hawk finally, finally makes the hot tag to Sid, who cleans out Owen and Anvil and then sets Bulldog up for the powerbomb, but Owen has climbed back up to the apron and then the top rope at this point, and as Sid sets for a powerbomb Owen executes a sunset flip off the top rope on him that gets the 3-count. Mercifully, this was the end of Sid in the WWF until he made that cameo to beat up Heath Slater in 2012. No better way to go out than to put Owen over clean in the process I suppose.

Result: Owen, Davey, and Neidhart via pinfall when Owen pins Sid (13:37)

Rating: This, like the In Your House match two months before, was worthless. 0.5 stars out of 5.

I have a question about no selling, and I believe you are the right man to give me an answer.

When wrestling fans (general term, but in this case I mean uber fans such as yourself) get mad at someone for "no selling' are they getting mad in the sense that the wrestler decided to no sell or are they getting mad at the idea of no selling, as in it hurts the whole industry to have a guy take a pile driver than just pop up, as it makes the move, opponent and everything else look weak?

I mean I clearly know the difference between someone bad at selling moves (Hogan and Cena) but I am wondering what it is exactly you (and others) are supposed to be mad at during no-sell spots.

I watched Warrior/Rude from SummerSlam 89 today and Warrior no sell's half the match, than gets hurt with a rather basic shoulder block into the stomach and then proceeds to get hurt by the same things that he was shrugging off seconds ago. As I'm watching it I try to think of it as a boxer with a good chin (the ability to take a punch) eventually breaking down after taking so many punches in a row. It's the only way I can say the story makes sense in my head. Many of Undertakers early matches were like this.

I rambled, but hopefully you get what I'm saying/asking.

Well no-selling a move of reasonable impact just isn't realistic at all. The ability to take a punch without going down or even being staggered is one thing. Being dropped on your damn head and neck in a piledriver, no human being who legitimately takes that move and has it connect would ever just pop right up (at least to my knowledge).

I don't have near as much against the sequences where a wrestler gets an adrenaline rush and things like punches seem to have zero effect (like during Hogan's hulk-up sequence). Just popping straight up after a move that should always have some effect is just annoying to me.

FWIW I never thought Hogan was near as bad at selling moves as Cena. I thought Hogan at least sold a believable face-in-peril story where you could believe that he was legitimately banged up and vulnerable. Of course this flew out the window when he hulked up, but I thought he did a good job of taking a beating like he should and telling the story correctly. This is basically the thing that Cena does worse than he does anything else. Other wrestlers such as Sid and Scott Norton immediately come to mind when I think about wrestlers that just have no idea how to sell a move effectively at all.

In Your House 16 (Canadian Stampede): The Hart Foundation (Bret, Owen, Bulldog, Anvil, and Pillman) vs. Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and the Legion of Doom



Date: July 6, 1997

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12...?search_algo=2

Background: This was the summer culmination of the Hart Foundation angle, as it was held in the Harts' home city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and they came into this match as conquering heroes in front of the home crowd to face off against the evil Americans (who were babyfaces in America). I went to a house show in Vancouver, BC during this period of time, and I had actually forgotten what dynamic I was stepping into of flipped babyfaces and heels until Owen and Davey came out for their first match to a massive pop. It was a pretty surreal and awesome atmosphere they had going.

The Match: This seriously feels like trying to do a review of The Godfather or something. No this isn't the greatest technical match in history, but for a fan of the Harts this is basically the pinnacle of everything, a match that just had me grinning from ear to ear well after it went off the air. I'll try my best to do it justice.

The Americans give a backstage promo that sells the gravity of the scene they're up against. Out to the ring and Farmer's Daughter (a Canadian singing group I guess) performs O Canada. Howard Finkel goes out of his way to introduce Stu and Helen Hart, who are sitting ringside. The crowd gives them a nice pop.

Goldust, Shamrock, and LOD all get separate introductions, and they mostly get an apathetic response that ranges from mild booing to polite applause. Steve Austin gets a noticeable negative reaction even though some of the crowd is cheering him; the crowd will really make their feelings known about him once the match gets going. Each member of the Hart Foundation gets their own entrance to the top of the ramp, with each of them getting a nice pop until Bret Hart is introduced and the roof blows off the building. The atmosphere is just off the ****ing charts here.



The match starts right off with Bret vs. Austin, and they get into a fistfight in the corner. As Bret wails away on Austin, the crowd goes out of their minds to the point that Lawler comments, "The ring is shaking!" Austin reverses positions with Bret, hammers away, and the crowd turns to thunderous boos. Stone Cold goes ahead and embraces his heel status for the purposes of this show and gets away with a blatant low blow early that incenses the crowd. Since both teams were essentially tweeners, I'm definitely glad that Austin was playing to fire up the live crowd.



I didn't notice Owen's entrance pop being particularly big, but the place comes unglued when he first tags into the match and the crowd instantly breaks into an "Owen" chant. Big pop when he hits an enziguiri on Goldust. This crowd was giving finisher-level reactions to trademark transitional moves. The Harts collectively destroy Goldust in their corner and take control of the match.



The tables turn when Owen charges Goldust in the corner, comes up empty, and gets a shoulder full of post. Goldust tags out, Animal tags in, and Owen's hurracanrana attempt is blocked in favor of a powerbomb. LOD connects on a Doomsday Device and it requires Anvil to break up the pinning attempt. The match devolves into 5-on-5 in the ring at this point, when Austin sends Owen down into the corner, slides out of the ring, wraps Owen's leg around the post and hits it (well, let's be real, misses it completely but pretends to hit it) with a steel chair. Bruce Hart at his ringside seat tries to reach out and get at Austin. Owen is kayfabe injured here, and a couple of the Hart Foundation drag him to the corner so he can tag out. Austin gets big heat for incapacitating Owen, as Owen seems to be getting taken to the back because of his injury.

Austin hits Pillman with a Stunner, but is too close to the Hart corner and isn't able to make a pin. Bret attacks, drags Austin into a corner, busts Austin's leg against the post, hits it with a fire extinguisher, then applies a figure-four hanging off the post, clearly trying to answer tit-for-tat for what Austin just did to Owen. As the match re-establishes with Hawk and Bulldog as the two legal men, the Americans attend to the injured Austin on the outside. Austin shrugs off any help, but does limp toward the back due to his injury. The sides are evened up again at 4-4.

The match continues toward more and more dirty tactics, with Bulldog taking cheap shots at Shamrock and then Shamrock escaping peril with a low blow of his own. The ramp-up from the start of the match and the climax it builds toward is just brilliant story-telling, the kind rarely seen. Bulldog hits a superplex on Goldust, one of the Road Warriors makes the save on a pinning attempt, and as he does Austin limps back to the ring to rejoin the match.



Stone Cold tags in, and so does the Hitman. They have a great back and forth, culminating in Bret applying the sharpshooter, but Animal is in quickly for the save (and to taunt the booing crowd after he gets back to the apron). Austin promptly takes advantage of his new position and applies the sharpshooter to Bret. Owen returns to the ring from the back and breaks this up.



Bret tags Owen in, who gets the worst of an exchange with Austin when he gets clotheslined over the top. Stone Cold heads to the outside, beats on Owen some more, and then as he throws Owen back into the ring Bruce Hart throws his drink or something at Austin. Infuriated, Austin turns around and actually violently picks Stu Hart out of his chair and looks ready to clobber him when Bruce and another one of the Hart boys attack. Bruce and the other Hart come over the barricade to start to have a go at Austin when Bret throws Austin in. As Austin is still distracted on the outside, Owen rolls up Austin from behind with a hand full of tights and gets the 1-2-3 for the win.



The teams continue to brawl after the bell as if the match didn't end, but the non-wrestling Hart brothers who just got involved make their way into the ring, officials pour in, and the Americans (I keep calling them that because they're not really babyfaces or heels) all get forced out of the ring and eventually concede the battle and head to the back. The Harts are declared the winners, and the celebration is on until Austin returns into the ring by himself with a chair in hand and ready to attack again. He ends up at the bottom of a dogpile, security swarms him and actually handcuffs him as seemingly their only way to get him under control. Even handcuffed, Austin bends over a few times on the way up the ramp to flip the bird at fans on either side of him. Just some great heat-seeking work throughout this whole night by Austin.

The Harts help Stu and Helen into the ring, other Hart family descends on the ring, and the whole thing fills up with the Hart family celebrating the win. Again, if you were a fan of the Hart family, this is basically the coolest thing ever.







Result: Hart Foundation via pinfall after Owen pins Austin (24:31)

Rating: ****ing fantastic. A+ build, A+ crowd, A+ storytelling, A+ psychology. The wrestling was fine too, even if pretty unspectacular, but it hardly felt like it mattered. Just wildly entertaining from bell to bell and then even after the final bell. Like I said, was just left grinning from ear to ear even after the PPV went off the air. Truly a masterpiece. 5 stars out of 5.

I've watched that match three times. The first was when we did our best match ever tourney and I thought "meh". Watched a second time like 8 months later and thought "wow". Watched a third time within the past three weeks and thought it wasn't that good. Would probably go ****1/2 at most . My gripes are with Owen coming back being so obvious and corny and the ending was pretty anticlimactic.

Hey, if someone who doesn't like it as well as me can still maybe see as much as a 4.5 star match in it,

I certainly can't quibble with that too much.

Not LKJ, but my main problem with it is I'm still able to lose myself in a good/great match and no selling jerks me right out of that zone into "this is staged". (Cena vs HBK at WM was great until Cena stopped selling the leg that HBK destroyed)

I haven't seen this match, but I'll check it out.

Is there any chance Cena forgot to sell the leg injury? I mean this is obviously terrible forgetting such a major part of a match, but I guess it's feasible?

Or

Do you think he did this to make HBK look weak on purpose in some way?

These are of course specific questions for that match but I guess they can be used on the whole topic of no-selling.

If this is a derail I will gladly take this conversation to another form, sorry LKJ.

Raw - WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog vs. Steve Austin and ??? (titles vacant at the start of the match)

Date: July 14, 1997

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3myE4tkNf0

Background: Owen and Davey had won a tournament for their spot in this match; Steve Austin was to get a chance to face the tournament winners with a partner of his choice to determine the next tag team champions. The belts had been vacated when Shawn got suspended (kayfabe or not, I don't know…I mean it's late 90's Shawn, anything is believable), but Austin was given this inside track to get them back.

The Match: Owen and Davey already in the ring, Austin runs in and attacks them both when he doesn't even have a partner there yet. Austin had not pre-announced a partner, so the announcers are unsure as to what's up. As it is a 2-on-1 situation, the heels grab significant control of the match, as Owen works a lot of his offensive arsenal on Austin.

Austin is mostly on the defensive in this match, but pulls out a double clothesline that floors both Owen and Davey and sends them to the outside of the ring. When this happens, some music hits the PA system and Dude Love appears on the screen for the first time in the WWF. He cuts a promo talking about how he wants to be Austin's partner, and a baffled Austin just gives a "WTF" look as Dude Love makes his entrance. Dude gets into the ring and dances as Austin facepalms. Owen attacks Austin from behind, but Austin tags Dude in, implicitly accepting his offer to be partners.

Bulldog sets Dude up for the running powerslam; Dude slips out and puts Bulldog in the mandible claw. As he is applying this, Owen goes to the top and connects with a missile dropkick to Dude's back. As referee Earl Hebner forces Owen out of the ring, Austin slips in, hits the Stunner on Bulldog, and Dude Love covers Bulldog. Hebner turns around and counts to three. New tag team champions.



Dude brings Austin both tag titles, but Austin eventually hands one of the tag belts to him and offers a handshake to solidify the new team.

Result: "…and the WWF Tag Team Champions" (Fink had started to phase out by this point I guess, ring announcer is some other dude), Steve Austin and Dude Love via pinfall when Dude Love pins Bulldog (7:40)

Rating: Meh, this is all kind of disjointed and unimpressive to me. This is one of the 1997 Owen matches that Meltzer gives three stars to, but I think that's pretty easily a star too many. 2 stars out of 5.

SummerSlam '97 - Intercontinental Title: Owen Hart (c) vs. Steve Austin



Date: August 3, 1997

Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4b...?search_algo=2

Background: Owen pinned Austin at Canadian Stampede. Austin attacked Owen the next night, won the tag title match against him on Raw, then proceeded to agree to a stipulation where if he didn't win the title from Owen, he would have to kiss Owen's ass. Not just if he didn't win the match, but if he didn't outright win the title. So basically they announced before the event that Austin was winning the IC Title, which is an interesting way to do it.

The Match: Owen attacks Austin before the bell, before Austin ever gets his vest off, and immediately starts working away on Austin's leg. He successfully crushes Austin's leg against the post before things even really get going. Austin still manages to turn the tables and regain control, whipping Owen hard into the turnbuckle with Owen taking that chest-first turnbuckle bump about as hard as I've seen either Hart brother take it.

Owen manages to run Austin into the ringpost outside and takes considerable control of the match for a while. Can't say I'm in love with things like working at length on Austin's middle finger, since that's not an actual way that Austin beats anyone, but whatever. Austin turns the match around with a stun gun off the ropes, then powerbombs Owen after blocking a hurracanrana attempt. After Austin then clotheslines Owen over the top, Owen takes a walk and JR notes that if Owen gets counted out Austin has to kiss his ass. Yeah…this is a pretty stupid stipulation, guys.

Austin races out to attack Owen and brings him back to the ring. Owen quickly reverses an Irish whip and hits the belly-to-belly on Austin as he comes off the ropes. Owen whips Austin into the turnbuckle, but Austin bounces right off with a vicious-looking clothesline. When Owen returns the favor with a hard clothesline a moment later, JR says, "And as he hits the mat, there's almost a whiplash-like effect. Owen Hart has basically put a bullseye on Austin's neck, and he's shooting for it." Well that's a pretty amazing foreshadow of a massive botch JR, how did you know that was coming?

Austin shoots Owen into the corner, Owen jumps up to the second turnbuckle, comes off it toward Austin with a cross-body, but Austin rolls through and gets a two-count. As both men get up, Owen gets position behind Austin and executes a beautiful German suplex.



Owen into the ropes, ducks Austin's clothesline attempt on the way back, then on his next time through he grabs Stone Cold and executes a DDT. Owen applies a sleeperhold, but Austin grabs behind his neck and pulls him down for a jawbreaker.



The ending comes sooner than intended. Owen sets Stone Cold up for the same tombstone piledriver he's done thousands of times, except that this time he messed up his positioning badly and really ****s Austin's neck up.



Owen starts to reach for Austin to do something else, whether it be a pin or otherwise, when Austin clearly calls him off. Owen gets up, clearly a bit rattled, but tries to play it off well, announcing "now he's gonna kiss my ass!" Ah yes, that stipulation that was already bad from a creative standpoint is now actually preventing them from changing the result of the match on the fly and was actually putting Stone Cold at greater risk because they couldn't just call the match over. Owen starts a "Canada" chant, poses for the crowd, and somehow Austin manages to crawl over to Owen and roll him up to pin him for the win. Austin is clearly in terrible shape after the match. Several officials help him to his feet, but he keeps trying to shrug off help and actually holds up the belt for the crowd. I mean this was great stuff for his character but honestly he was being a bit reckless with his own body here and is lucky he didn't aggravate it somehow.



Thankfully this wasn't the end of Austin's career, or worse. He didn't even really miss that much time considering.

Result: "…and NEW Intercontinental Champion," Steve Austin via pinfall (16:16)

Rating: Sort of a weird one to rate. This match had some really great stuff and may have been headed for four stars if it finished strongly enough. But the botched ending obviously really takes something away, so it falls a decent bit short of that. I'm still inclined to give it 3.25 stars out of 5.

I'm glad you've been doing this LKJ. I came into wrestling after Austin beat HBK and so my recollection of Owen was as the guy that ****ed up Austin's neck, was the Santino comedy like character doing the Blue Blazer (with clips seen of the feud with Dude Love coming up), and the tragic ending.

Reading through this and watching a lot of the clips has really changed my opinion of him.

Definitely very glad to hear that.

In Your House 17 - WWF Tag Team Title Four-Way Elimination Match: Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs. Legion of Doom vs. The Headbangers vs. The Godwinns

Date: September 7, 1997

Link: N/A

Background: In a segment that I very much recommend watching if you're going to queue this show up, Austin was forced to voluntarily relinquish the tag titles because of his injuries. He proceeds to curse Sgt. Slaughter (the commish at the time) out, causing Vince McMahon to get his dander up about how disrespectful that is, and then Stone Cold proceeds to hit the Stunner on Jim Ross, which causes Vince to absolutely flip out. It's like they were planting the seeds of the whole Mr. McMahon heel turn at this point, well before the Montreal Screwjob was probably even thought of. Maybe they weren't yet, but you'd sure think it from watching this segment; it was the first Austin vs. WWF Authority segment that really started him on the next step toward anti-hero.

Anyway, the tag belts were now vacant as of the end of this segment, so we need some new champs. Enter these four teams.

The Match: Owen cuts a furious promo at Stone Cold from backstage, talking about how Jim Ross is a good friend of his and how unacceptable it was for Austin to do that just now. He threatens Austin over it and then vows that they will win the tag belts that night.



Back at ringside, Vince is selling his rustle over the whole Austin situation beautifully, and says, "I just want to set the record straight. I know that we all probably appreciate how good of an athlete Stone Cold Steve Austin is, but he is a jackass himself, and he is being protected from himself, because he is a danger to himself and others, and while he might be willing to suffer an injury, the WWF is not willing to suffer that for him." Yep, this is straight out of the Mr. McMahon playbook; this was blatantly out of character for goody two shoes Vince the commentator. I had totally forgotten this segment. Great stuff. A bit off-topic I realize, but part of the fun of doing this thread is that I've gotten to see the scenery change behind Owen throughout his run. Just a few shows before this, Chyna had made her debut during the match before Owen went on. The transition toward the Attitude Era was clearly under way.

This match is dull as dishwater. The Headbangers face off against the Godwinns for an eternity and I couldn't name a single move that either team did. We get to our first elimination when the Godwinns sneak a slop bucket into the ring and LOD proceeds to take it and use it as a weapon against them right in front of the official, which causes them to be disqualified. Alright, so now we have the heels Owen and Davey taking on two teams that get zero crowd reaction; obviously this will be good.

The Godwinns and Headbangers resume their fighting, in which they attempt to stop time itself by being excruciatingly boring, but I give credit to one cool spot where Mosh gets down on all fours while a Godwinn is outside the ring, and Thrasher uses Mosh as a springboard to jump over the top rope and execute a flying plancha on the Godwinn brother. Shortly after, Thrasher executs a sunset flip on Phineas Godwinn and gets a three-count, so we're down to Owen and the Bulldog taking on the Headbangers.

Owen enters with a missile dropkick off the top on Thrasher but only gets a two-count. Thrasher manages to make the hot tag to Mosh, who fights off both Owen and Davey. After being knocked out of the ring, Owen manages to distract Mosh from outside, leading to Bulldog taking control of Mosh and then holding him up while Owen approached to execute a spinning heel kick. Mosh ducks out of the way, Owen inadvertently kicks Davey out of the ring, and the Headbangers look to be setting up their finisher on Owen when Davey gets back up and knocks Thrasher off the top rope before he can jump. Just as Owen attempts to put Mosh in the sharpshooter, the crowd suddenly goes bat**** crazy. Austin runs into the ring, grabs Owen and stuns him while the referee isn't looking, and the Headbangers make the pin to win the tag team titles. This was a great way to give the Headbangers a rub from Austin and put them over as they won the titles.



Result: Headbangers via final pinfall over Owen Hart, new tag team champions (17:15)

Rating: Up to the point where LOD got disqualified, this match was completely unwatchable. It gets significantly better after that, and would be an absolute minimum of 2.5 stars if you just reduced it down to everything going forward. Since a strong ending still far outweighs a weak beginning, I'll go ahead and call this one 2 stars out of 5.

In Your House 18 - Intercontinental Title Tournament Final: Owen Hart vs. Faarooq

Date: October 5, 1997

Link: N/A

Background: This is a tournament final to crown the new champion after Stone Cold was forced to vacate the title due to his injuries; it's heel vs. heel because Ahmed Johnson, who was supposed to face Owen, had to sub out for whatever reason so Faarooq was back in.

The Match: Steve Austin comes to ringside to do commentary, since he will present the belt to the winner of the match. There is an unfortunate heavy pall cast over the proceedings here, as this was the day that Brian Pillman had died in his hotel room. He was close with both Owen through his connections to the Hart family, and with Austin through their time together as tag partners. You can pretty clearly see that Owen is struggling as he tries to soldier through the whole situation when he comes to the ring. Austin does a bit better to stay in character.



The match is short and never really gets any flow going. Austin goes from commentator to commentator at both the main table and the Spanish and French tables to weigh in on commentary and distract from the match. As Faarooq hits a spinebuster for a near-fall, Anvil comes down to ringside to support Owen. As he distracts the official, Steve Austin wallops Faarooq with the IC Title belt and knocks him out. Owen pins Faarooq to win the match. Obviously the storyline explanation here was that Austin wanted Owen to be the champion that he had the opportunity to take the belt away from.

Result: Owen Hart via pinfall, new IC Champion (5:51)

Rating: Match was pretty much a throw-away. Obviously can be easily forgiven on all sides given the atmosphere they were dealing with. 0.5 stars out of 5.