Monday Night Wars - The Comprehensive Recap
08-07-2016
, 12:11 PM
February 13, 1997
THURSDAY RAW THURSDAY
Lowell, MA
We start on a graphic that explains that Shawn Michaels will be forfeiting the WWF Title tonight, and that the winner of Final Four this Sunday will be the new WWF Champion.
No search bubbles on the WWE Network. That always makes these writeups a decent bit more painful to do. Oh well.
Intercontinental Title - Hunter Hearst-Helmsley (c) vs. Rocky Maivia: No Mr. Hughes again tonight. I'm thinking that he's already gone. It took me a second to realize that this match is a decent little time capsule between two future legends…I do usually stay mentally locked into the time period as I watch these, and at this point Helmsley was a talented up-and-comer who was at least decent, whereas Rocky was absolute garbage.
Helmsley with a hip-toss and a taunting curtsey. The two trade hammerlocks on the mat. Rocky transitions into a headscissor. Hunter bridges out, then into an STF. They break and reset. Jim Ross calls Helmsley "maybe the most cerebral Intercontinental Champion since the Honky Tonk Man." It was noticeable to hear him trot out the word "cerebral" about Hunter. Back to the action, Helmsley with a front facelock on Maivia, who works his way back to his feet and breaks away, then dropkicks HHH out of the ring. Rocky follows him out and tries to attack, but ends up clotheslining the post.
HHH seizes on that moment as a possible path to victory, as he executes an armbreaker back inside the ring, then drops a knee directly on that bad arm before locking the bad arm into an armbar. Rocky stands up, sends Helmsley off the ropes, but again he ends up taking an armbreaker from the IC Champ. We go to break as Hunter is laying in chops in the corner.
Back from break, we see highlights of HHH executing a swinging neckbreaker during commercials, and he's still at the advantage now that we're back live. Honky Tonk Man makes his way out to ringside and sits down at the announce table. Helmsley drops a knee and gets a two-count. He continues with the sleeper. Rocky starts fading out, but we don't get to the "raise the arm three times" bit…he gets back to his feet, then actually puts on a sleeper of his own. HHH quickly counters, lunging forward and ramming Rocky face-first into the buckle to regain the advantage.
Rocky ducks a clothesline and throws a couple of punches. Goes up top, connects on a cross-body, but Hunter rolls through for the near-fall. Reverse neckbreaker by Hunter gets another two. Piledriver. Two. This has been a surprisingly good match. Helmsley sets Maivia up on the top rope, lays in a few insulting slaps, then follows him up. Superplex. Again only two. He sets up for the Pedigree, but Rocky collapses under him. HHH tries to pick him back up, but Rocky is just giving dead weight. Hunter goes again to try to pick him up, Rocky executes a surprise small package, and…we have a new Intercontinental Champion.
Result: Rocky Maivia via pinfall, new Intercontinental Champion
I thought at the time, and still feel, that this was an absolutely dreadful booking decision. Rocky was not ready enough or over enough for this, but they had their mind set on pushing him, so here we are. With all of that said, as I mentioned during the match writeup, this was a surprisingly good match, and this crowd responded much better to Rocky than most crowds did during this time. Future crowds would go back to shrugging at him, but if you were just watching this show in a vacuum, you would never suspect that this booking decision was all that questionable. By the way, they did throw up some decent misdirection during this match, as a couple of times they mentioned that HHH would be defending the IC Title against Ahmed Johnson this Sunday at the PPV, as long as he survived this match. In the past that has always felt like a giveaway that a title change wouldn't be happening here, but I guess Raw title changes were awfully rare in general back then.
Dok Hendrix catches up with Rocky at ringside to grab a word. Rocky is out of breath and just says generic babyface stuff about how he'll make people proud.
Sunny comes out…and I guess she's just on ring announcing duties tonight.
The Headbangers vs. Bob Holly & Aldo Montoya: This is the Headbangers' Raw debut under this gimmick. They were just the Flying Nuns very recently. Holly hits a hurracanrana on Mosh, follows with a clothesline, then he actually clotheslines Thrasher as well before throwing a nice dropkick at Mosh. Holly tags in Montoya, who hits an enziguri and then tags back out. Thrasher gets a cheap shot in on Bob Holly from the apron to halt the babyfaces' momentum. Thrasher tags in and then hits a clothesline off the second rope. Double front suplex by the Headbangers as Vince McMahon solemnly eulogizes Shawn Michaels's injury and his need to forfeit the title because the bumps and bruises of the ring just became too much. I'm under the impression that this forfeiture was just more Shawn being Shawn than anything else; somebody correct me if I'm wrong. But since I'm under that impression, it's sickening to hear Vince carry Shawn's water like this.
Side slam by Mosh. Two-count. Vince, on Shawn: "I feel partially responsible, considering the schedule. Nobody's ever been on a schedule like Shawn Michaels has been." Headbangers execute a double-team, with Thrasher front-suplexing his own partner on top of Bob Holly from off the ropes. Thrasher tags in, but misses on a moonsault off the ropes. He tags Mosh, but Holly is able to make the lukewarm tag to Montoya. Aldo with a cross-body off the top. Two. Headbangers win on another double-team, with Mosh executing a powerbomb as Thrasher connects on a legdrop off the top to score the pin.
Result: Headbangers via pinfall
After the break, we are in the ring with Vince McMahon and Gorilla Monsoon. It's time for the latest rendition of Shawn Michaels forfeiting a title. Shawn gives the emotional speech, saying that a doctor told him that this might be the end of his career. As he's rambling early on, the crowd pleases me by loudly chanting "we want Sid." Sid was scheduled to challenge for the title tonight. Vince breaks in and says that he's sure that Shawn is unhappy that he isn't able to defend the title against Sid. Michaels says that the main thing that he's ever cared about is the fans having a good time. "I know we're in the middle of a time where toughness is real big here in the World Wrestling Federation, and unfortunately all I've got right now for ya is…a lot of sorrow, a lot of tears, and a lot of emotion. I don't have any toughness for anyone. So I guess…here you go." He hands the belt to Monsoon.
He goes on, saying that during the last several months, he's lost a lot of things, and one of them has been his smile. "I don't care if it's unpopular, and I don't care if people want to make fun of me because I'm an emotional guy." Well that's fortunate. Shawn says he's going home. Vince says, "Ladies and gentlemen, Shawn Michaels!" It gets a mixed reaction, with plenty of noticeable booing. Between that and the "we want Sid" chants, there was certainly a sizable chunk of this crowd that had a clue. Jim Ross says, "Takes a man's man to do what he just did, folks." I don't even…okay, JR.
After the break, Vince is back at the announce table, and calls the Shawn Michaels situation "the most tragic of occurrences." Well, in Vince's company, we know what happens after the most tragic of occurrences…send out the next wrestlers.
Savio Vega (w/ the Nation of Domination) vs. The Undertaker: After ring entrances, they send the show to break, and we join things in progress after commercials. Savio whips Taker into the ropes, but Taker no-sells and comes out choking. He tosses Vega into the corner violently, hammers away, then physically threatens the referee to back him off as well. That ref intimidation bit is from the playbook of heel Undertaker circa 1991. He continues on offense until Savio blocks a corner charge and fires back, but Taker is back in control quickly, reversing a whip, hitting a big boot and a legdrop, and notching a two-count. He walks the ropes and drops the hammer. Backdrop.
Savio throws his leg back to connect on a low blow, but takes long enough to recover himself that Undertaker is the next one to connect, hitting a clothesline. Savio does floor Taker with a series of heel kicks and records his own two-count. As Vega puts in some slow-moving offense, I must say: it was a weird move to keep him in the exact same ring attire. Really it was pretty weird to give him this ****ty ring attire to begin with, but now they had an easy escape hatch and didn't take it. Undertaker starts to launch the babyface comeback, but runs into a hard spinning heel kick and again finds his shoulders pinned for the count of two. Savio with another two after a swinging neckbreaker, but that causes Undertaker to sit up authoritatively and launch the real babyface comeback. Clothesline, chokeslam, three-count. This was quite boring.
Result: The Undertaker via pinfall
The whole Nation floods into the ring to attack Undertaker. Through numbers, they get the better of him, but Ahmed Johnson joins the fray, and the two end up overwhelming the NOD and clearing the ring.
Dok Hendrix interviews Gorilla Monsoon backstage, who says that Sid is going to get his WWF Title shot this coming Monday night against whoever wins the title at Final Four this Sunday.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Sid: Austin jumps Sid from behind. They slug it out, Sid gets the better of the exchange and then sets up a chokeslam, but Austin plainly kicks him in the balls to get free. The referee sees it but does nothing. The brawl goes outside the ring, and a loud "Austin" chant goes up. This crowd that has chanted tonight for both Sid and Austin, and that has a decent contingent of fans that booed Shawn Michaels…I'm now especially surprised that they were behind Rocky Maivia earlier. Austin hits a back elbow and goes for a premature pin. No go. Abdominal stretch by Stone Cold, who keeps using the ropes for leverage until referee Mike Chioda catches him and breaks the hold.
Sid reverses a whip and executes a very Sid chinlock on the way back, but Austin drops down with a jawbreaker. Two-count. Back to both guys throwing fists. Again Sid gets the better of it, puts Austin down, but his ensuing legdrop attempt misses entirely. He powers Austin down when Austin tries to follow though, and connects on a big boot. And…suddenly Bret Hart runs in and attacks Austin, ending the match. They're doing that too many times.
Result: Steve Austin via DQ
Sid is rightly pissed at Bret, and attacks. These two punch back and forth until officials separate them.
They go to Vader backstage. He only talks for about 30 seconds, but for some reason I always vividly remember this interview for how awkward and clumsy he was here. I remember thinking, "Damn, he really misses Jim Cornette." He does have Paul Bearer along, but he does all of the talking for himself. He takes the time to list off his resume of dominating his Final Four competitors during the past six weeks.
After break, we get clips of Shawn Michaels sniffling, summoning up his best puppy-dog eyes, and dropping the belt. Vince calls it "one of the classiest moments in the history of the World Wrestling Federation."
Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (c) vs. Faarooq & Crush (w/ the Nation of Domination): Okay, so this HAS to be the end of Clarence Mason's affiliation with Owen and Davey. He came in with Faarooq and Crush for this match. Crush powers Owen down, Owen kips up and fights back. Crush with a corner whip, but Owen gets a boot up on the ensuing charge, hits a clothesline, then hits a top-rope cross-body for a two-count. Owen gets a running start, but runs into trouble, as Crush launches him upward for a crash landing on the mat. Press slam by Crush as well, and Hart scurries over to Davey Boy for the tag. Crush with an arm-wringer and a tag to Faarooq as the match goes to commercial.
Nice piledriver by Crush right as the match returns to the air. Owen and Davey are the default babyfaces here, and Davey is the victim of the heat segment. Bret is shown watching the match in the back. Vince asks Bret about Shawn's announcement. Bret speaks respectfully of Shawn and says that he thinks that Shawn will come back. Says he has a score to settle with him, but that first he hopes HBK gets his knee fixed. Vince asks Bret about his upcoming match with Vader later. In a call-back to a comment Bret made on a recent podcast (per moorobot), Bret likens wrestling Vader to "wrestling a cement truck." He didn't mention the smell of vomit here though.
Davey successfully tags Owen, but the referee had his back turned and disallows it. A moment later, Davey finally does make a visible hot tag to Owen. Couple of jumping wheel kicks by Hart on both Nation members, a missile dropkick off the top on Crush, leading Faarooq to make the save. Crush flings Owen out over the top rope. Owen lands awkwardly, again plays up a knee injury, and can't answer the 10-count. We have another countout.
Result: Faarooq & Crush via countout
Faarooq and Crush double-team Davey inside the ring. Owen repeatedly feigns attempts to get back in to help his partner, but keeps falling back down because of the knee injury. After the Nation leaves, Bulldog gets up and offers to help his partner back. No dissension this time around.
Vader (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Bret Hart: As this match is about to start, we hear the gong, the lights go down, and out comes The Undertaker. Undertaker says that he doesn't get any respect anymore. He says that both of these guys know very well that they can't beat him. Anyway, as soon as he leaves, the bell rings and Vader attacks. As the show is going to commercial, Steve Austin runs out to ringside and attacks Bret.
Back from break, I guess the Austin business has passed, and Vader is inside the ring hammering away on the Hitman in the corner. The big man hits a clothesline, then goes to follow up from the second rope, but jumps into a powerslam by Bret. Bret with a series of rights, an Irish whip, and he hits Vader in the gut. Russian legsweep and a bodyslam. He goes for a Sharpshooter, but Vader uses his legs to power Bret off. Bret continues, hitting a back suplex and a second-rope elbow. Vader reverses a corner whip, but comes up empty on a corner charge. Bret ducks behind and trips him, then slaps on the Sharpshooter…but right by the ropes, and we almost instantly see a rope break.
Austin shows up in the upper levels of the crowd, which distracts Bret. Vader capitalizes with a clothesline, sets up for a Vaderbomb, goes up a rung to attempt the moonsault, but Bret rolls out of the way. Austin appears to be pissed at Vader for being an idiot.
Bret quickly capitalizes on the big miss, hooking the leg and scoring the pin.
Result: Bret Hart via pinfall
Austin continues jawing at Bret from the audience as Bret stands victorious, and this special Thursday Raw comes to a close.
Overall: Well certainly it was a historic show, between The Case of the Missing Smile and Rocky's title win. I've expressed my derision for both things, but it still made for an interesting rewatch today. Good episode overall.
THURSDAY RAW THURSDAY
Lowell, MA
We start on a graphic that explains that Shawn Michaels will be forfeiting the WWF Title tonight, and that the winner of Final Four this Sunday will be the new WWF Champion.
No search bubbles on the WWE Network. That always makes these writeups a decent bit more painful to do. Oh well.
Intercontinental Title - Hunter Hearst-Helmsley (c) vs. Rocky Maivia: No Mr. Hughes again tonight. I'm thinking that he's already gone. It took me a second to realize that this match is a decent little time capsule between two future legends…I do usually stay mentally locked into the time period as I watch these, and at this point Helmsley was a talented up-and-comer who was at least decent, whereas Rocky was absolute garbage.
Helmsley with a hip-toss and a taunting curtsey. The two trade hammerlocks on the mat. Rocky transitions into a headscissor. Hunter bridges out, then into an STF. They break and reset. Jim Ross calls Helmsley "maybe the most cerebral Intercontinental Champion since the Honky Tonk Man." It was noticeable to hear him trot out the word "cerebral" about Hunter. Back to the action, Helmsley with a front facelock on Maivia, who works his way back to his feet and breaks away, then dropkicks HHH out of the ring. Rocky follows him out and tries to attack, but ends up clotheslining the post.
HHH seizes on that moment as a possible path to victory, as he executes an armbreaker back inside the ring, then drops a knee directly on that bad arm before locking the bad arm into an armbar. Rocky stands up, sends Helmsley off the ropes, but again he ends up taking an armbreaker from the IC Champ. We go to break as Hunter is laying in chops in the corner.
Back from break, we see highlights of HHH executing a swinging neckbreaker during commercials, and he's still at the advantage now that we're back live. Honky Tonk Man makes his way out to ringside and sits down at the announce table. Helmsley drops a knee and gets a two-count. He continues with the sleeper. Rocky starts fading out, but we don't get to the "raise the arm three times" bit…he gets back to his feet, then actually puts on a sleeper of his own. HHH quickly counters, lunging forward and ramming Rocky face-first into the buckle to regain the advantage.
Rocky ducks a clothesline and throws a couple of punches. Goes up top, connects on a cross-body, but Hunter rolls through for the near-fall. Reverse neckbreaker by Hunter gets another two. Piledriver. Two. This has been a surprisingly good match. Helmsley sets Maivia up on the top rope, lays in a few insulting slaps, then follows him up. Superplex. Again only two. He sets up for the Pedigree, but Rocky collapses under him. HHH tries to pick him back up, but Rocky is just giving dead weight. Hunter goes again to try to pick him up, Rocky executes a surprise small package, and…we have a new Intercontinental Champion.
Result: Rocky Maivia via pinfall, new Intercontinental Champion
I thought at the time, and still feel, that this was an absolutely dreadful booking decision. Rocky was not ready enough or over enough for this, but they had their mind set on pushing him, so here we are. With all of that said, as I mentioned during the match writeup, this was a surprisingly good match, and this crowd responded much better to Rocky than most crowds did during this time. Future crowds would go back to shrugging at him, but if you were just watching this show in a vacuum, you would never suspect that this booking decision was all that questionable. By the way, they did throw up some decent misdirection during this match, as a couple of times they mentioned that HHH would be defending the IC Title against Ahmed Johnson this Sunday at the PPV, as long as he survived this match. In the past that has always felt like a giveaway that a title change wouldn't be happening here, but I guess Raw title changes were awfully rare in general back then.
Dok Hendrix catches up with Rocky at ringside to grab a word. Rocky is out of breath and just says generic babyface stuff about how he'll make people proud.
Sunny comes out…and I guess she's just on ring announcing duties tonight.
The Headbangers vs. Bob Holly & Aldo Montoya: This is the Headbangers' Raw debut under this gimmick. They were just the Flying Nuns very recently. Holly hits a hurracanrana on Mosh, follows with a clothesline, then he actually clotheslines Thrasher as well before throwing a nice dropkick at Mosh. Holly tags in Montoya, who hits an enziguri and then tags back out. Thrasher gets a cheap shot in on Bob Holly from the apron to halt the babyfaces' momentum. Thrasher tags in and then hits a clothesline off the second rope. Double front suplex by the Headbangers as Vince McMahon solemnly eulogizes Shawn Michaels's injury and his need to forfeit the title because the bumps and bruises of the ring just became too much. I'm under the impression that this forfeiture was just more Shawn being Shawn than anything else; somebody correct me if I'm wrong. But since I'm under that impression, it's sickening to hear Vince carry Shawn's water like this.
Side slam by Mosh. Two-count. Vince, on Shawn: "I feel partially responsible, considering the schedule. Nobody's ever been on a schedule like Shawn Michaels has been." Headbangers execute a double-team, with Thrasher front-suplexing his own partner on top of Bob Holly from off the ropes. Thrasher tags in, but misses on a moonsault off the ropes. He tags Mosh, but Holly is able to make the lukewarm tag to Montoya. Aldo with a cross-body off the top. Two. Headbangers win on another double-team, with Mosh executing a powerbomb as Thrasher connects on a legdrop off the top to score the pin.
Result: Headbangers via pinfall
After the break, we are in the ring with Vince McMahon and Gorilla Monsoon. It's time for the latest rendition of Shawn Michaels forfeiting a title. Shawn gives the emotional speech, saying that a doctor told him that this might be the end of his career. As he's rambling early on, the crowd pleases me by loudly chanting "we want Sid." Sid was scheduled to challenge for the title tonight. Vince breaks in and says that he's sure that Shawn is unhappy that he isn't able to defend the title against Sid. Michaels says that the main thing that he's ever cared about is the fans having a good time. "I know we're in the middle of a time where toughness is real big here in the World Wrestling Federation, and unfortunately all I've got right now for ya is…a lot of sorrow, a lot of tears, and a lot of emotion. I don't have any toughness for anyone. So I guess…here you go." He hands the belt to Monsoon.
He goes on, saying that during the last several months, he's lost a lot of things, and one of them has been his smile. "I don't care if it's unpopular, and I don't care if people want to make fun of me because I'm an emotional guy." Well that's fortunate. Shawn says he's going home. Vince says, "Ladies and gentlemen, Shawn Michaels!" It gets a mixed reaction, with plenty of noticeable booing. Between that and the "we want Sid" chants, there was certainly a sizable chunk of this crowd that had a clue. Jim Ross says, "Takes a man's man to do what he just did, folks." I don't even…okay, JR.
After the break, Vince is back at the announce table, and calls the Shawn Michaels situation "the most tragic of occurrences." Well, in Vince's company, we know what happens after the most tragic of occurrences…send out the next wrestlers.
Savio Vega (w/ the Nation of Domination) vs. The Undertaker: After ring entrances, they send the show to break, and we join things in progress after commercials. Savio whips Taker into the ropes, but Taker no-sells and comes out choking. He tosses Vega into the corner violently, hammers away, then physically threatens the referee to back him off as well. That ref intimidation bit is from the playbook of heel Undertaker circa 1991. He continues on offense until Savio blocks a corner charge and fires back, but Taker is back in control quickly, reversing a whip, hitting a big boot and a legdrop, and notching a two-count. He walks the ropes and drops the hammer. Backdrop.
Savio throws his leg back to connect on a low blow, but takes long enough to recover himself that Undertaker is the next one to connect, hitting a clothesline. Savio does floor Taker with a series of heel kicks and records his own two-count. As Vega puts in some slow-moving offense, I must say: it was a weird move to keep him in the exact same ring attire. Really it was pretty weird to give him this ****ty ring attire to begin with, but now they had an easy escape hatch and didn't take it. Undertaker starts to launch the babyface comeback, but runs into a hard spinning heel kick and again finds his shoulders pinned for the count of two. Savio with another two after a swinging neckbreaker, but that causes Undertaker to sit up authoritatively and launch the real babyface comeback. Clothesline, chokeslam, three-count. This was quite boring.
Result: The Undertaker via pinfall
The whole Nation floods into the ring to attack Undertaker. Through numbers, they get the better of him, but Ahmed Johnson joins the fray, and the two end up overwhelming the NOD and clearing the ring.
Dok Hendrix interviews Gorilla Monsoon backstage, who says that Sid is going to get his WWF Title shot this coming Monday night against whoever wins the title at Final Four this Sunday.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Sid: Austin jumps Sid from behind. They slug it out, Sid gets the better of the exchange and then sets up a chokeslam, but Austin plainly kicks him in the balls to get free. The referee sees it but does nothing. The brawl goes outside the ring, and a loud "Austin" chant goes up. This crowd that has chanted tonight for both Sid and Austin, and that has a decent contingent of fans that booed Shawn Michaels…I'm now especially surprised that they were behind Rocky Maivia earlier. Austin hits a back elbow and goes for a premature pin. No go. Abdominal stretch by Stone Cold, who keeps using the ropes for leverage until referee Mike Chioda catches him and breaks the hold.
Sid reverses a whip and executes a very Sid chinlock on the way back, but Austin drops down with a jawbreaker. Two-count. Back to both guys throwing fists. Again Sid gets the better of it, puts Austin down, but his ensuing legdrop attempt misses entirely. He powers Austin down when Austin tries to follow though, and connects on a big boot. And…suddenly Bret Hart runs in and attacks Austin, ending the match. They're doing that too many times.
Result: Steve Austin via DQ
Sid is rightly pissed at Bret, and attacks. These two punch back and forth until officials separate them.
They go to Vader backstage. He only talks for about 30 seconds, but for some reason I always vividly remember this interview for how awkward and clumsy he was here. I remember thinking, "Damn, he really misses Jim Cornette." He does have Paul Bearer along, but he does all of the talking for himself. He takes the time to list off his resume of dominating his Final Four competitors during the past six weeks.
After break, we get clips of Shawn Michaels sniffling, summoning up his best puppy-dog eyes, and dropping the belt. Vince calls it "one of the classiest moments in the history of the World Wrestling Federation."
Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (c) vs. Faarooq & Crush (w/ the Nation of Domination): Okay, so this HAS to be the end of Clarence Mason's affiliation with Owen and Davey. He came in with Faarooq and Crush for this match. Crush powers Owen down, Owen kips up and fights back. Crush with a corner whip, but Owen gets a boot up on the ensuing charge, hits a clothesline, then hits a top-rope cross-body for a two-count. Owen gets a running start, but runs into trouble, as Crush launches him upward for a crash landing on the mat. Press slam by Crush as well, and Hart scurries over to Davey Boy for the tag. Crush with an arm-wringer and a tag to Faarooq as the match goes to commercial.
Nice piledriver by Crush right as the match returns to the air. Owen and Davey are the default babyfaces here, and Davey is the victim of the heat segment. Bret is shown watching the match in the back. Vince asks Bret about Shawn's announcement. Bret speaks respectfully of Shawn and says that he thinks that Shawn will come back. Says he has a score to settle with him, but that first he hopes HBK gets his knee fixed. Vince asks Bret about his upcoming match with Vader later. In a call-back to a comment Bret made on a recent podcast (per moorobot), Bret likens wrestling Vader to "wrestling a cement truck." He didn't mention the smell of vomit here though.
Davey successfully tags Owen, but the referee had his back turned and disallows it. A moment later, Davey finally does make a visible hot tag to Owen. Couple of jumping wheel kicks by Hart on both Nation members, a missile dropkick off the top on Crush, leading Faarooq to make the save. Crush flings Owen out over the top rope. Owen lands awkwardly, again plays up a knee injury, and can't answer the 10-count. We have another countout.
Result: Faarooq & Crush via countout
Faarooq and Crush double-team Davey inside the ring. Owen repeatedly feigns attempts to get back in to help his partner, but keeps falling back down because of the knee injury. After the Nation leaves, Bulldog gets up and offers to help his partner back. No dissension this time around.
Vader (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Bret Hart: As this match is about to start, we hear the gong, the lights go down, and out comes The Undertaker. Undertaker says that he doesn't get any respect anymore. He says that both of these guys know very well that they can't beat him. Anyway, as soon as he leaves, the bell rings and Vader attacks. As the show is going to commercial, Steve Austin runs out to ringside and attacks Bret.
Back from break, I guess the Austin business has passed, and Vader is inside the ring hammering away on the Hitman in the corner. The big man hits a clothesline, then goes to follow up from the second rope, but jumps into a powerslam by Bret. Bret with a series of rights, an Irish whip, and he hits Vader in the gut. Russian legsweep and a bodyslam. He goes for a Sharpshooter, but Vader uses his legs to power Bret off. Bret continues, hitting a back suplex and a second-rope elbow. Vader reverses a corner whip, but comes up empty on a corner charge. Bret ducks behind and trips him, then slaps on the Sharpshooter…but right by the ropes, and we almost instantly see a rope break.
Austin shows up in the upper levels of the crowd, which distracts Bret. Vader capitalizes with a clothesline, sets up for a Vaderbomb, goes up a rung to attempt the moonsault, but Bret rolls out of the way. Austin appears to be pissed at Vader for being an idiot.
Bret quickly capitalizes on the big miss, hooking the leg and scoring the pin.
Result: Bret Hart via pinfall
Austin continues jawing at Bret from the audience as Bret stands victorious, and this special Thursday Raw comes to a close.
Overall: Well certainly it was a historic show, between The Case of the Missing Smile and Rocky's title win. I've expressed my derision for both things, but it still made for an interesting rewatch today. Good episode overall.
08-20-2016
, 06:26 PM
WWF IN YOUR HOUSE 13: FINAL FOUR
Chattanooga, TN
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are on the call tonight. No Vince McMahon.
Marc Mero (w/ Sable) vs. Leif Cassidy: Cassidy, now playing the angry and aggressive character that also wouldn't get over, slaps Mero across the face to build some intensity from the word go. Mero with a couple of armdrags, an armbar, and he works Leif's left arm for a bit. He slams him down by the head a few times, causing Cassidy to go outside and regroup. Mero flies too close to the sun, and Cassidy yanks on his leg and pulls him outside. As he goes to post Mero, Sable actually runs physical interference to distract Cassidy and allow Mero an opening to take a cheap shot. The Wildman rolls Cassidy back in, following him in with a slingshot legdrop.
Cassidy fights back with a couple of targeted dropkicks to Mero's knee, a knee he continues to kick and stomp at in an effort to ground the Wildman. The limb work continues for a decent bit, as Mero continues to fight his way out of submission moves only to have Cassidy counter back at him to maintain control and continue to attack the leg. Mero throws an enziguri to put Cassidy down, but walks right back into a one-legged atomic drop on the bad leg. Cassidy has Mero in the figure-four, when again Sable cheats and pushes the bottom rope toward Mero to enable him to get the rope break. Cassidy is rightly pissed and goes outside to jaw at her a bit.
As he gets too close, Sable slaps him. Then Mero connects on a dive through the ropes. He returns the action inside, hits a couple of facebusters, a corner smash, a Samoan drop, a shooting star press, and a three-count.
The babyface and his babyface manager openly cheat to pull out a narrow win over a JTTS heel. I guess this was a way to signal a character shift, but it was kind of an odd way to execute it. Feels like it at least should have been a counterpunch to Cassidy cheating, but instead it was just Mero and Sable being the only ones taking the low road.
Result: Marc Mero via pinfall
Rating: **
We get a replay of the tearful Shawn Michaels goodbye speech and the announcement that the winner of tonight's Final Four will become the new WWF Champion. Back to the arena, Sid cuts an angry promo. He's mad that he didn't get a title shot this past Thursday, but vows to get back what is his in tomorrow's title shot.
Flash Funk, Bart Gunn, & Goldust (w/ Marlena) vs. Faarooq, Crush, & Savio Vega (w/ NOD): They introduce this match by showing the individual grudges the babyfaces have with the Nation, but there's no possible way of convincing me that this group of misfits is ever going over here; the inclusion of Bart Gunn is the real concession. The Nation enters through the crowd, a rarity at this point in wrestling.
Six-way brawling to start things off, with the faces clearing the Nation out. Funk dives off the top and hits all three opponents, but it basically doesn't seem to affect any of them…he rolls Faarooq in, promptly gets jumped by Savio and Crush, and then Faarooq is right on the offensive against Goldust. Funk tags in, but quickly eats a spinebuster by Faarooq. Enter Savio, who gets reversed on a corner whip and promptly set up for a Flash Funk hurracanrana off the top. Crush breaks up the pin.
Bart Gunn launches Flash over the top onto all three Nation members a moment later, but they basically just catch him and beat on him. He falls into a heat segment, as the Nation members take turns on him, Savio assisting Crush in a spike piledriver that gets a two-count. Funny bit here as Lawler admonishes Jim Ross for "whining" and tells him to be impartial, Ross replies with, "Okay King, I'll try," and within seconds Lawler starts cheering for the Nation and saying, "Get him, boys!" Funk ducks a double clothesline and then clotheslines both Savio and Faarooq on the way back off the ropes, enabling a messy-looking hot tag to Bart Gunn where Faarooq clearly could have prevented it and just didn't.
As hot tags do, this devolves into everyone fighting on all sides of the ring. Bart Gunn hits a bulldog off the top on Faarooq and gets a visual pin, but referee Jack Doan is distracted, and Crush hits a legdrop on Bart that has 10x power simply because Bart was in the middle of a visual pin. Faarooq rolls over and gets the fall.
Result: Nation of Domination via pinfall
Rating: *3/4
Dok Hendrix is backstage with Stone Cold Steve Austin, and notes that he doesn't have a clear victory over any of his three opponents tonight. Austin calls Dok a jackass and reminds him of the Royal Rumble.
Intercontinental Title - Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley: So yeah, I think that Mr. Hughes is already gone. He isn't here again, he isn't mentioned…Hunter will invest in a new bodyguard soon. Helmsley executes a drop toe-hold and then smacks the youngster in the back of the head a few times before resetting. Rocky connects badly on a dropkick, then cinches in an armbar and returns the favor on the insulting slaps to the back of the head. He reverses a Helmsley whip into the corner and backdrops him as he stumbles back out. More armbar. Back up to a vertical base, at which point Rocky gets a running start but goes spilling out of the ring when HHH sidesteps.
Baseball slide by the challenger, who continues the attack on the outside before returning Maivia to the apron. He catapults him throat-first into the bottom rope. Rocky is executing everything just terribly tonight; I complimented the match that these two put on at the Thursday Raw, but this is a lot more of what I would expect from Rocky at this point in time. Hunter drops a knee, grabs on with a chinlock, and lays there boring the audience for a bit. He eventually gets caught getting illegal leverage from the ropes, leading to a break, but he quickly connects with a running knee. Rocky catches him in a surprise small package much like the one he won the title with, and gets a somewhat believable near-fall.
Hunter is pissed after the small package, and ratchets up the intensity on his attack. He hits a backbreaker, and then…back into the boring chinlock. The two return to a vertical base…Hunter catches Rocky's kick and hammers him with a hard clothesline, but his follow-up off the top leads him to getting hit in the gut. Rocky hits a powerslam, heads up top, flying cross-body, two-count. Maivia follows with a corner mount and the start of a ten-punch when Helmsley lifts him out and then drops Rocky face-first on the turnbuckle. Only a two-count. Crappy, slow float-over DDT by Rocky gets two. Helmsley gouges the eyes and then hits a neckbreaker, at which point Goldust shows up in the aisle. Rocky capitalizes on the distraction with a back suplex to retain.
Result: Rocky Maivia via pinfall
Rating: 3/4*
Oh, the "new bodyguard" thing was sooner than I realized. Helmsley yells at Goldust to get in the ring. Goldust makes his way up onto the apron. Suddenly, outside the ring, Marlena gets grabbed from behind by a large woman and choked for a moment until security hauls the woman off.
HHH feigns shock at the whole thing, the announcers act like it was a shoot by a fan, and Goldust angrily yells, "Put her in jail!" He attends to Marlena on the floor. They show a replay of the attack, which doesn't exactly serve their interests in selling the whole thing as a shoot.
WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (w/ Clarence Mason) vs. Doug Furnas & Phillip LaFon: Okay, seriously? Clarence Mason was just managing a team in their attempt to take the titles from Owen and the Bulldog three days prior. This fact could not have been lost on everybody. Anyway, Owen Hart and Doug Furnas kick this thing off with some mat wrestling. After a reset, Owen runs into a couple of armdrags by Furnas, who cinches in an armbar. Owen kips up, but Furnas tags LaFon in to maintain control. Owen counters with a monkey-flip into a pinning combo, and we have a fun little back-and-forth here where each man gets a couple of reversal pinning combinations in.
LaFon trips Owen and grapevines his leg. Owen attains a rope break and tags Davey Boy in. LaFon connects on a spinning wheel kick that merits a two-count. Owen gets a cheap shot in from the apron, and then just sort of becomes the legal man without the benefit of a tag. He and Bulldog work together to isolate LaFon in their corner. The ensuing heat segment includes a gutwrench suplex by Owen and a few double-team moves by both of the tag champs: a double clothesline, double wishbone, and a Bulldog suplex into an Owen top-rope cross-body. After a miscommunication we get some dissension, as Owen nearly gets pinned and then gets up yelling at Davey. A moment later, Owen accidentally catches Davey with a spinning wheel kick when LaFon ducks out of the way. It finally comes to blows, as Bulldog shoves Hart, Hart slaps him in reply, and Bulldog comes back at him with a clothesline. LaFon quickly capitalizes with a top-rope splash, but Bulldog comes to his senses and breaks up the pin. Once again, it looks like Furnas and LaFon are going to accomplish something in this series, and again it's just a near-miss.
LaFon finally tags out to Furnas. He throws his trademark dropkick for a two-count. Nice overhead belly-to-belly gets two again, as Bulldog makes another save. Double backdrop by the challengers. Two. Northern light suplex by LaFon gets two. Re-enter Furnas, in with a nice hurracanrana…Bulldog saves the day again. Furnas and LaFon hammer on Owen from both sides in a combo that looks like it should potentially win as well, but Owen kicks out on his own from this one.
Owen connects hard with an enziguri and manages to tag out to Bulldog. He takes it to both challengers for a moment until LaFon manages a sunset flip. Owen makes the save to prevent a pinfall there. Furnas and LaFon engineer a collision between the two champions, but again it only results in a two-count. Bulldog sets up for the running powerslam and seems to have a clear path for it when Owen brings his Slammy into the ring and hits LaFon with it for some reason to cause a DQ loss. As non-finishes go, that's actually a pretty entertaining one. This was a fun match.
Result: Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon via DQ
Rating: ***1/4
Davey is pissed about how that went down. Owen and Mason try to talk him down, saying it's fine since they kept the titles. Davey commits the ultimate sin and breaks Owen's Slammy. Then he corners Clarence Mason as if he's going to attack him. He finally cools down and lets Owen raise his hand in the middle of the ring. Lawler applauds Owen for being so willing to forgive Bulldog after breaking his Slammy.
Dok Hendrix grabs a word backstage with The Undertaker. Taker says that he has rediscovered his edge. "Not all of it, but it's coming to me." Your WWF Title match is in about five minutes, so you probably need to speed up the process. He cuts a standard promo about beating his opponents, and says that he especially has a score to settle with Vader.
WWF Title Final Four Match - Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart vs. Vader vs. The Undertaker: Full match writeup here. The available eliminations were pinfall, submission, or over-the-top to the floor. As it turned out, option C was the only one that actually resulted in the eliminations here. This is a great match, with Vader bleeding and bumping his ass off, and wild action all around.
Bret Hart emerged as the new WWF Champion. Here were the eliminations:
Result: Bret Hart via over-the-top elimination of The Undertaker
Rating: ****
Bret's celebration gets interrupted by the sound of Sid's music. Sid comes marching out, gets in Bret's face, points a finger at his chest, and…the show fades to black.
Overall: The first half of this show was lackluster to say the least, but the second half clearly does enough to rescue it, as I loved the main event and really enjoyed the Tag Team Title match.
Chattanooga, TN
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are on the call tonight. No Vince McMahon.
Marc Mero (w/ Sable) vs. Leif Cassidy: Cassidy, now playing the angry and aggressive character that also wouldn't get over, slaps Mero across the face to build some intensity from the word go. Mero with a couple of armdrags, an armbar, and he works Leif's left arm for a bit. He slams him down by the head a few times, causing Cassidy to go outside and regroup. Mero flies too close to the sun, and Cassidy yanks on his leg and pulls him outside. As he goes to post Mero, Sable actually runs physical interference to distract Cassidy and allow Mero an opening to take a cheap shot. The Wildman rolls Cassidy back in, following him in with a slingshot legdrop.
Cassidy fights back with a couple of targeted dropkicks to Mero's knee, a knee he continues to kick and stomp at in an effort to ground the Wildman. The limb work continues for a decent bit, as Mero continues to fight his way out of submission moves only to have Cassidy counter back at him to maintain control and continue to attack the leg. Mero throws an enziguri to put Cassidy down, but walks right back into a one-legged atomic drop on the bad leg. Cassidy has Mero in the figure-four, when again Sable cheats and pushes the bottom rope toward Mero to enable him to get the rope break. Cassidy is rightly pissed and goes outside to jaw at her a bit.
As he gets too close, Sable slaps him. Then Mero connects on a dive through the ropes. He returns the action inside, hits a couple of facebusters, a corner smash, a Samoan drop, a shooting star press, and a three-count.
The babyface and his babyface manager openly cheat to pull out a narrow win over a JTTS heel. I guess this was a way to signal a character shift, but it was kind of an odd way to execute it. Feels like it at least should have been a counterpunch to Cassidy cheating, but instead it was just Mero and Sable being the only ones taking the low road.
Result: Marc Mero via pinfall
Rating: **
We get a replay of the tearful Shawn Michaels goodbye speech and the announcement that the winner of tonight's Final Four will become the new WWF Champion. Back to the arena, Sid cuts an angry promo. He's mad that he didn't get a title shot this past Thursday, but vows to get back what is his in tomorrow's title shot.
Flash Funk, Bart Gunn, & Goldust (w/ Marlena) vs. Faarooq, Crush, & Savio Vega (w/ NOD): They introduce this match by showing the individual grudges the babyfaces have with the Nation, but there's no possible way of convincing me that this group of misfits is ever going over here; the inclusion of Bart Gunn is the real concession. The Nation enters through the crowd, a rarity at this point in wrestling.
Six-way brawling to start things off, with the faces clearing the Nation out. Funk dives off the top and hits all three opponents, but it basically doesn't seem to affect any of them…he rolls Faarooq in, promptly gets jumped by Savio and Crush, and then Faarooq is right on the offensive against Goldust. Funk tags in, but quickly eats a spinebuster by Faarooq. Enter Savio, who gets reversed on a corner whip and promptly set up for a Flash Funk hurracanrana off the top. Crush breaks up the pin.
Bart Gunn launches Flash over the top onto all three Nation members a moment later, but they basically just catch him and beat on him. He falls into a heat segment, as the Nation members take turns on him, Savio assisting Crush in a spike piledriver that gets a two-count. Funny bit here as Lawler admonishes Jim Ross for "whining" and tells him to be impartial, Ross replies with, "Okay King, I'll try," and within seconds Lawler starts cheering for the Nation and saying, "Get him, boys!" Funk ducks a double clothesline and then clotheslines both Savio and Faarooq on the way back off the ropes, enabling a messy-looking hot tag to Bart Gunn where Faarooq clearly could have prevented it and just didn't.
As hot tags do, this devolves into everyone fighting on all sides of the ring. Bart Gunn hits a bulldog off the top on Faarooq and gets a visual pin, but referee Jack Doan is distracted, and Crush hits a legdrop on Bart that has 10x power simply because Bart was in the middle of a visual pin. Faarooq rolls over and gets the fall.
Result: Nation of Domination via pinfall
Rating: *3/4
Dok Hendrix is backstage with Stone Cold Steve Austin, and notes that he doesn't have a clear victory over any of his three opponents tonight. Austin calls Dok a jackass and reminds him of the Royal Rumble.
Intercontinental Title - Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley: So yeah, I think that Mr. Hughes is already gone. He isn't here again, he isn't mentioned…Hunter will invest in a new bodyguard soon. Helmsley executes a drop toe-hold and then smacks the youngster in the back of the head a few times before resetting. Rocky connects badly on a dropkick, then cinches in an armbar and returns the favor on the insulting slaps to the back of the head. He reverses a Helmsley whip into the corner and backdrops him as he stumbles back out. More armbar. Back up to a vertical base, at which point Rocky gets a running start but goes spilling out of the ring when HHH sidesteps.
Baseball slide by the challenger, who continues the attack on the outside before returning Maivia to the apron. He catapults him throat-first into the bottom rope. Rocky is executing everything just terribly tonight; I complimented the match that these two put on at the Thursday Raw, but this is a lot more of what I would expect from Rocky at this point in time. Hunter drops a knee, grabs on with a chinlock, and lays there boring the audience for a bit. He eventually gets caught getting illegal leverage from the ropes, leading to a break, but he quickly connects with a running knee. Rocky catches him in a surprise small package much like the one he won the title with, and gets a somewhat believable near-fall.
Hunter is pissed after the small package, and ratchets up the intensity on his attack. He hits a backbreaker, and then…back into the boring chinlock. The two return to a vertical base…Hunter catches Rocky's kick and hammers him with a hard clothesline, but his follow-up off the top leads him to getting hit in the gut. Rocky hits a powerslam, heads up top, flying cross-body, two-count. Maivia follows with a corner mount and the start of a ten-punch when Helmsley lifts him out and then drops Rocky face-first on the turnbuckle. Only a two-count. Crappy, slow float-over DDT by Rocky gets two. Helmsley gouges the eyes and then hits a neckbreaker, at which point Goldust shows up in the aisle. Rocky capitalizes on the distraction with a back suplex to retain.
Result: Rocky Maivia via pinfall
Rating: 3/4*
Oh, the "new bodyguard" thing was sooner than I realized. Helmsley yells at Goldust to get in the ring. Goldust makes his way up onto the apron. Suddenly, outside the ring, Marlena gets grabbed from behind by a large woman and choked for a moment until security hauls the woman off.
HHH feigns shock at the whole thing, the announcers act like it was a shoot by a fan, and Goldust angrily yells, "Put her in jail!" He attends to Marlena on the floor. They show a replay of the attack, which doesn't exactly serve their interests in selling the whole thing as a shoot.
WWF Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (w/ Clarence Mason) vs. Doug Furnas & Phillip LaFon: Okay, seriously? Clarence Mason was just managing a team in their attempt to take the titles from Owen and the Bulldog three days prior. This fact could not have been lost on everybody. Anyway, Owen Hart and Doug Furnas kick this thing off with some mat wrestling. After a reset, Owen runs into a couple of armdrags by Furnas, who cinches in an armbar. Owen kips up, but Furnas tags LaFon in to maintain control. Owen counters with a monkey-flip into a pinning combo, and we have a fun little back-and-forth here where each man gets a couple of reversal pinning combinations in.
LaFon trips Owen and grapevines his leg. Owen attains a rope break and tags Davey Boy in. LaFon connects on a spinning wheel kick that merits a two-count. Owen gets a cheap shot in from the apron, and then just sort of becomes the legal man without the benefit of a tag. He and Bulldog work together to isolate LaFon in their corner. The ensuing heat segment includes a gutwrench suplex by Owen and a few double-team moves by both of the tag champs: a double clothesline, double wishbone, and a Bulldog suplex into an Owen top-rope cross-body. After a miscommunication we get some dissension, as Owen nearly gets pinned and then gets up yelling at Davey. A moment later, Owen accidentally catches Davey with a spinning wheel kick when LaFon ducks out of the way. It finally comes to blows, as Bulldog shoves Hart, Hart slaps him in reply, and Bulldog comes back at him with a clothesline. LaFon quickly capitalizes with a top-rope splash, but Bulldog comes to his senses and breaks up the pin. Once again, it looks like Furnas and LaFon are going to accomplish something in this series, and again it's just a near-miss.
LaFon finally tags out to Furnas. He throws his trademark dropkick for a two-count. Nice overhead belly-to-belly gets two again, as Bulldog makes another save. Double backdrop by the challengers. Two. Northern light suplex by LaFon gets two. Re-enter Furnas, in with a nice hurracanrana…Bulldog saves the day again. Furnas and LaFon hammer on Owen from both sides in a combo that looks like it should potentially win as well, but Owen kicks out on his own from this one.
Owen connects hard with an enziguri and manages to tag out to Bulldog. He takes it to both challengers for a moment until LaFon manages a sunset flip. Owen makes the save to prevent a pinfall there. Furnas and LaFon engineer a collision between the two champions, but again it only results in a two-count. Bulldog sets up for the running powerslam and seems to have a clear path for it when Owen brings his Slammy into the ring and hits LaFon with it for some reason to cause a DQ loss. As non-finishes go, that's actually a pretty entertaining one. This was a fun match.
Result: Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon via DQ
Rating: ***1/4
Davey is pissed about how that went down. Owen and Mason try to talk him down, saying it's fine since they kept the titles. Davey commits the ultimate sin and breaks Owen's Slammy. Then he corners Clarence Mason as if he's going to attack him. He finally cools down and lets Owen raise his hand in the middle of the ring. Lawler applauds Owen for being so willing to forgive Bulldog after breaking his Slammy.
Dok Hendrix grabs a word backstage with The Undertaker. Taker says that he has rediscovered his edge. "Not all of it, but it's coming to me." Your WWF Title match is in about five minutes, so you probably need to speed up the process. He cuts a standard promo about beating his opponents, and says that he especially has a score to settle with Vader.
WWF Title Final Four Match - Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart vs. Vader vs. The Undertaker: Full match writeup here. The available eliminations were pinfall, submission, or over-the-top to the floor. As it turned out, option C was the only one that actually resulted in the eliminations here. This is a great match, with Vader bleeding and bumping his ass off, and wild action all around.
Bret Hart emerged as the new WWF Champion. Here were the eliminations:
Result: Bret Hart via over-the-top elimination of The Undertaker
Rating: ****
Bret's celebration gets interrupted by the sound of Sid's music. Sid comes marching out, gets in Bret's face, points a finger at his chest, and…the show fades to black.
Overall: The first half of this show was lackluster to say the least, but the second half clearly does enough to rescue it, as I loved the main event and really enjoyed the Tag Team Title match.
08-22-2016
, 06:37 PM
08-27-2016
, 02:33 PM
February 17, 1997
RAW
Nashville, TN
We cold-open on Sid's music. And…we seem to be starting right off with the WWF Title match? Huh. Again it's just Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler at the announce table, with no sign of Vince McMahon.
WWF Title - Bret Hart (c) vs. Sid: Butnahhh. We get the full ring entrances, and then Steve Austin runs in and attacks Bret. He also ends up clipping Sid in the back of the leg for good measure, seemingly causing him a serious-looking (kayfabe) injury.
The match doesn't go forward at this time.
Result: To Be Continued
While that situation is being sorted out, they send us to that ****ing footage of Shawn Michaels losing his smile and forfeiting the WWF Title. Stop. Stop. And then they show stills of Vader's bleeding face from last night, as well as other highlight stills from the match.
Kevin Kelly tries to grab a word with Sid back in the locker room. Sid screams that even if his leg was broken, he wouldn't stop. I think that theory was put to the test later in his career. He vowed to win the WWF Title later. Kelly says that the match will go forward later on.
During the next ring entrances, we see recent clips of Sable interfering on Marc Mero's behalf during his matches.
Marc Mero (w/ Sable) vs. Savio Vega (w/ NOD): Mero is rocking a thick goatee now, so I guess that officially makes him a tweener. Savio gets a few initial shots in, but then runs into a series of Mero armdrags and a dropkick that knocks him to the floor. Mero with the somersault plancha over the top that hits not only Savio, but Crush as well. After a corner whip, the Wildman runs straight into a spinning heel kick by Savio that turns the match momentum around. Vega with a wheel kick, but he misses on a clothesline a moment later, and finds himself pinned down for a two-count after a cross-body.
Savio tries to lay in some chops, but Mero fights back with punches. Corner mount and the start of a 10-punch by Mero, but Savio lifts him up and hangs him along the top turnbuckle. Snap-suplex by Savio. Mero rolls outside, where one of the PG-13 guys puts the boots to him. Sable runs over and fights the white rapper off. The action returns inside, where Savio comes up empty on a corner charge. The Nation begins to converge on Sable, who scurries into the ring to get away from them. Referee Mike Chioda calls for the bell.
Result: No Contest
The Nation surrounds Mero and Sable. Suddenly the crowd rises to their feet, and here's Ahmed Johnson in a salmon-colored sweatsuit, wielding a 2x4. He clears the whole Nation out of the ring, and they head for higher ground.
We get a backstage interview with Bret Hart, who says that he guesses he just has to get used to Steve Austin jumping him from behind. Regarding Sid, he says that he expects a tough fight and "no excuses when Sid loses." Jim Ross broaches the possibility of Bret having to take on The Undertaker if Bret is successful tonight. I don't know why Undertaker is already lined up as the #1 contender for Mania; just because he was last night's runner-up? Bret just says "bring him on," says he's not afraid of The Undertaker.
Intercontinental Title - Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Leif Cassidy: Rocky's entrance gets absolutely zero crowd reaction. Just a stunning level of apathy for an Intercontinental Champion. It was such utter silliness to give him this belt so soon. It's not very WWF-like (in 1997) to randomly give title shots to jobbers like Leif Cassidy, but here we are.
Punch-kick-punch-kick. Rocky clotheslines Cassidy over the top to the floor. Cassidy returns inside, Rocky ducks a clothesline and hits a cross-body. Couple of armdrags, then an armbar for multiple minutes. Here's Hunter Hearst-Helmsley with a live PIP promo, threatening to come after Rocky and his title. He promos on Goldust as well; no mention of the overzealous fan from last night.
Cassidy has taken control during the promo, hitting a clothesline and making a pointless cover. Now we get a Cassidy armbar sequence as well. It's one thing to work a limb, but these guys aren't really attempting much of story with these holds…they're just running clock. Surprise sunset flip by Rocky gets two. Small package does likewise. Cassidy is straight back on offense after the surprise covers, and we return to the armbar. Kill me. Cassidy could be a good worker, but he's barely discernible from Maivia in this match. He does scale the ropes, but only for a double axhandle; two-count. After a bodyslam, he again climbs the ropes, but Rocky recovers in time to fling him off the top. As the babyface comeback continues, we get an obviously deliberate PIP view of the announce table, where Jerry Lawler looks back disgustedly at an "ECW RULES" sign being held by a ringside fan.
Maivia finishes things off with a shoulderbreaker.
Result: Rocky Maivia via pinfall
After the match, Lawler rips the ECW sign away from the fan and cuts a little promo about it, talking about how nobody knows what the hell ECW is. He calls them "thugs, misfits, and has-beens who couldn't make it in the WWF." He makes a personal invitation for people from ECW to show up at Raw next week.
As Goldust enters for an interview segment with Kevin Kelly, Jim Ross does make note of Marlena getting attacked last night by the fan. We see stills of Goldust running distraction last night and helping Rocky Maivia retain the IC Title against HHH last night. Goldust says that HHH has crossed a line and made this thing personal. Marlena says that since their debut, there has been a lot of questions about Goldust's masculinity and his manhood, but that she wants to go on record. "We play a lot of games, but … he's all man. And Hunter Hearst-Helmsley, he's more of a man than you'll ever be."
That draws HHH out of the back. He comes to ringside and taunts Goldust, then flings a cup of water in his face. He moves in and attacks, beating Goldust down in the corner. Pedigree. Marlena slaps Helmsley across the face, and in from behind, that same woman from last night grabs Marlena from behind and shakes her violently.
Security and officials swarm in and eventually separate the woman from Marlena. They haul the woman off as Jim Ross angrily says that she needs to be put in jail.
The Headbangers vs. The Hardy Boys: Don't know that we've seen Matt Hardy before now. The Hardys are just in the ring with a jobber entrance for this one, obviously. We get a PIP promo from Faarooq, just cutting a promo on the unrelated feud with Ahmed Johnson. He challenges Ahmed to turn their upcoming match into a Chicago Street Fight. The Headbangers polish off the enhancement match with a double-team powerbomb/legdrop combo.
Result: Headbangers via pinfall
Apparently we're going to make our next go at having the WWF Title match. After Sid makes his entrance, we're getting the Bret Hart full entrance through gorilla when Steve Austin jumps Bret from behind. Sid runs to pick Austin off, obviously trying to make his title shot still happen, and officials and Vince McMahon desperately work to separate things.
After a commercial break, we see a replay of the fracas from just now. Kevin Kelly grabs an interview with Gorilla Monsoon. Monsoon assures us that unlike other people, they don't promise stuff and then not deliver. LOL. Anyway, we'll still have the match tonight.
Before the next match, Jim Ross tells us that Marlena was coughing up blood backstage and is being rushed to the hospital.
Flash Funk vs. Owen Hart (w/ Clarence Mason): The two take turns doing flips and kip-ups to escape each other's arm-wringer/armbar attempts. Dropkick and an armdrag by Flash. Owen goes for a hip-toss, Flash blocks, Owen flips backward to escape and then clotheslines Funk. They reset, basically to a draw, and Owen celebrates. Jim Ross says that Jerry Lawler has a phone call from someone at ECW. It's Paul Heyman, making his Raw debut. "Unlike Vince McMahon I don't have to hide behind representatives." Heyman says that he and his wrestlers will be at Raw next week.
Clarence Mason gets up on the apron and distracts Owen Hart for some reason while Owen is trying to put the Sharpshooter on Funk. This leads Funk to escape and dropkick Owen out of the ring. As Owen and Mason have an altercation outside, Funk dives off the top rope to the floor. Here comes the British Bulldog, who stomps out to his partner's aid and gets in Mason's face.
After a commercial break, Bulldog has apparently ordered Mason to GTFO, so Bulldog is in Owen's corner but Mason has gone to the back. Owen gets a two-count after a German suplex. Here's Steve Austin for a PIP promo…it's more of the recent material from him, how the Final Four match was bull****, how he's being held down by the company, etc. Hart hits a gutwrench suplex, but ends up hung up in the ropes after a corner charge goes badly. Funk slams Owen, then heads up top…cross-body gets two. Corner whip, corner splash, bodyslam, and Flash scales the ropes. The top-rope moonsault connects, but Owen kicks out just in time to avoid a pinfall.
Owen reverses a whip, Bulldog hits Funk with Owen's Slammy, Owen hits a heel kick, and Bulldog holds Funk's leg while Owen makes the pin. Suddenly the Tag Team Champions seem like they're on the same page again, at least for tonight.
Result: Owen Hart via pinfall
Bulldog is celebrating the result, but for some reason Owen seems upset with him as they walk to the back. Okay, maybe not totally on the same page.
Before the next match starts, Jim Ross grabs a word with HHH, who denies having any idea who Marlena's attacker is.
Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Bart Gunn: Honky Tonk Man is out on commentary, continuing to push this "looking for a protégé" angle. Bart gets some early offense on Hunter, throwing a dropkick and a couple of armdrags. He works Helmsley's arm for a bit, but he's obviously here to do the honors. HHH misses a clothesline, but connects on a high knee. Oh…maybe Bart isn't here to do the honors, as here comes Goldust. He chases Helmsley out of the ring and through the crowd. Gunn wins by countout.
Result: Bart Gunn via countout
We get word from Dr. James Andrews, who says that he has recommended that Shawn Michaels not get surgery right now; he wants Shawn to go home and rehab, and they'll check in on him in 4-6 weeks to see how he's progressing.
WWF Title - Bret Hart (c) vs. Sid: No shenanigans this time; the match begins without issue. Sid pummels Bret repeatedly in one corner, then whips him hard into the opposite corner. Hammering blows to Bret's kidney area by the challenger. Bret manages to hit a Russian legsweep, but Sid is quickly back on offense anyway. Short clothesline by the big man. Bret fights his way out of a corner with a series of punches, then hits his backbreaker. He drops the elbow off the ropes, then drives home a series of headbutts to Sid's lower back. Jim Ross confirms that the champion after this match will face The Undertaker at WrestleMania. That's a weird thing to have announced already.
Backbreaker by Sid gets two. Bret again fights out of the corner, throwing targeted kicks to Sid's legs, eventually chopping the big man down to the mat. He starts targeting one of the legs, dropping an elbow on it and then jumping on it after draping it along the bottom rope. He drags Sid over to the post and rams that leg into it, then applies the ringpost figure-four. Earl Hebner tries to break this hold as the show goes to break.
After the commercials, Bret is still in control, continuing the focus on Sid's left leg. Sid fights back in the corner, driving punches home to Bret's chest. He reverses a Hitman corner whip and then clotheslines him. Big legdrop by Sid gets two. Sid goes up to the second rope to deliver an awkward legdrop from there as well. Again, just a two-count. Sid sets up a chokeslam, but Bret punches his way loose. He sets Sid against the ropes, then gets a running start and dives at him, but ends up hurting himself against the ropes when Sid sidesteps. As Sid tries to capitalize, Bret pulls out a desperation move and backdrops him over the top rope.
Sid has just hit the floor when Steve Austin runs down. Sid puts him down and returns to the match, actually surprisingly sunset-flipping his way back into the ring. Bret rolls through though, transitioning into a Sharpshooter. He gets it fully locked in. Sid tries to power his way out, and as he's doing this, Austin gets up on the apron and hammers Hart with a steel chair. Hart collapses out of the hold. Sid hits the powerbomb to a mostly negative crowd reaction, makes the pin, and we have (I believe) our first-ever WWF Title win on Raw.
Result: "…and NEW World Wrestling Federation Champion," Sid via pinfall
Sid celebrates with the WWF Title. Despite the booing during the title change, there is a loud "Sid" chant from the crowd at this point too. We hear the gong, the lights go down, and here comes The Undertaker. We look at a staredown as the show goes off the air.
Overall: Meh. It was okay, I guess. It was historic because of the title change obviously, a couple of the matches were watchable (Bret vs. Sid and Owen vs. Funk) and the ECW tease was interesting, but there still wasn't a single segment on this show that I especially liked all that well.
RAW
Nashville, TN
We cold-open on Sid's music. And…we seem to be starting right off with the WWF Title match? Huh. Again it's just Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler at the announce table, with no sign of Vince McMahon.
WWF Title - Bret Hart (c) vs. Sid: Butnahhh. We get the full ring entrances, and then Steve Austin runs in and attacks Bret. He also ends up clipping Sid in the back of the leg for good measure, seemingly causing him a serious-looking (kayfabe) injury.
The match doesn't go forward at this time.
Result: To Be Continued
While that situation is being sorted out, they send us to that ****ing footage of Shawn Michaels losing his smile and forfeiting the WWF Title. Stop. Stop. And then they show stills of Vader's bleeding face from last night, as well as other highlight stills from the match.
Kevin Kelly tries to grab a word with Sid back in the locker room. Sid screams that even if his leg was broken, he wouldn't stop. I think that theory was put to the test later in his career. He vowed to win the WWF Title later. Kelly says that the match will go forward later on.
During the next ring entrances, we see recent clips of Sable interfering on Marc Mero's behalf during his matches.
Marc Mero (w/ Sable) vs. Savio Vega (w/ NOD): Mero is rocking a thick goatee now, so I guess that officially makes him a tweener. Savio gets a few initial shots in, but then runs into a series of Mero armdrags and a dropkick that knocks him to the floor. Mero with the somersault plancha over the top that hits not only Savio, but Crush as well. After a corner whip, the Wildman runs straight into a spinning heel kick by Savio that turns the match momentum around. Vega with a wheel kick, but he misses on a clothesline a moment later, and finds himself pinned down for a two-count after a cross-body.
Savio tries to lay in some chops, but Mero fights back with punches. Corner mount and the start of a 10-punch by Mero, but Savio lifts him up and hangs him along the top turnbuckle. Snap-suplex by Savio. Mero rolls outside, where one of the PG-13 guys puts the boots to him. Sable runs over and fights the white rapper off. The action returns inside, where Savio comes up empty on a corner charge. The Nation begins to converge on Sable, who scurries into the ring to get away from them. Referee Mike Chioda calls for the bell.
Result: No Contest
The Nation surrounds Mero and Sable. Suddenly the crowd rises to their feet, and here's Ahmed Johnson in a salmon-colored sweatsuit, wielding a 2x4. He clears the whole Nation out of the ring, and they head for higher ground.
We get a backstage interview with Bret Hart, who says that he guesses he just has to get used to Steve Austin jumping him from behind. Regarding Sid, he says that he expects a tough fight and "no excuses when Sid loses." Jim Ross broaches the possibility of Bret having to take on The Undertaker if Bret is successful tonight. I don't know why Undertaker is already lined up as the #1 contender for Mania; just because he was last night's runner-up? Bret just says "bring him on," says he's not afraid of The Undertaker.
Intercontinental Title - Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Leif Cassidy: Rocky's entrance gets absolutely zero crowd reaction. Just a stunning level of apathy for an Intercontinental Champion. It was such utter silliness to give him this belt so soon. It's not very WWF-like (in 1997) to randomly give title shots to jobbers like Leif Cassidy, but here we are.
Punch-kick-punch-kick. Rocky clotheslines Cassidy over the top to the floor. Cassidy returns inside, Rocky ducks a clothesline and hits a cross-body. Couple of armdrags, then an armbar for multiple minutes. Here's Hunter Hearst-Helmsley with a live PIP promo, threatening to come after Rocky and his title. He promos on Goldust as well; no mention of the overzealous fan from last night.
Cassidy has taken control during the promo, hitting a clothesline and making a pointless cover. Now we get a Cassidy armbar sequence as well. It's one thing to work a limb, but these guys aren't really attempting much of story with these holds…they're just running clock. Surprise sunset flip by Rocky gets two. Small package does likewise. Cassidy is straight back on offense after the surprise covers, and we return to the armbar. Kill me. Cassidy could be a good worker, but he's barely discernible from Maivia in this match. He does scale the ropes, but only for a double axhandle; two-count. After a bodyslam, he again climbs the ropes, but Rocky recovers in time to fling him off the top. As the babyface comeback continues, we get an obviously deliberate PIP view of the announce table, where Jerry Lawler looks back disgustedly at an "ECW RULES" sign being held by a ringside fan.
Maivia finishes things off with a shoulderbreaker.
Result: Rocky Maivia via pinfall
After the match, Lawler rips the ECW sign away from the fan and cuts a little promo about it, talking about how nobody knows what the hell ECW is. He calls them "thugs, misfits, and has-beens who couldn't make it in the WWF." He makes a personal invitation for people from ECW to show up at Raw next week.
As Goldust enters for an interview segment with Kevin Kelly, Jim Ross does make note of Marlena getting attacked last night by the fan. We see stills of Goldust running distraction last night and helping Rocky Maivia retain the IC Title against HHH last night. Goldust says that HHH has crossed a line and made this thing personal. Marlena says that since their debut, there has been a lot of questions about Goldust's masculinity and his manhood, but that she wants to go on record. "We play a lot of games, but … he's all man. And Hunter Hearst-Helmsley, he's more of a man than you'll ever be."
That draws HHH out of the back. He comes to ringside and taunts Goldust, then flings a cup of water in his face. He moves in and attacks, beating Goldust down in the corner. Pedigree. Marlena slaps Helmsley across the face, and in from behind, that same woman from last night grabs Marlena from behind and shakes her violently.
Security and officials swarm in and eventually separate the woman from Marlena. They haul the woman off as Jim Ross angrily says that she needs to be put in jail.
The Headbangers vs. The Hardy Boys: Don't know that we've seen Matt Hardy before now. The Hardys are just in the ring with a jobber entrance for this one, obviously. We get a PIP promo from Faarooq, just cutting a promo on the unrelated feud with Ahmed Johnson. He challenges Ahmed to turn their upcoming match into a Chicago Street Fight. The Headbangers polish off the enhancement match with a double-team powerbomb/legdrop combo.
Result: Headbangers via pinfall
Apparently we're going to make our next go at having the WWF Title match. After Sid makes his entrance, we're getting the Bret Hart full entrance through gorilla when Steve Austin jumps Bret from behind. Sid runs to pick Austin off, obviously trying to make his title shot still happen, and officials and Vince McMahon desperately work to separate things.
After a commercial break, we see a replay of the fracas from just now. Kevin Kelly grabs an interview with Gorilla Monsoon. Monsoon assures us that unlike other people, they don't promise stuff and then not deliver. LOL. Anyway, we'll still have the match tonight.
Before the next match, Jim Ross tells us that Marlena was coughing up blood backstage and is being rushed to the hospital.
Flash Funk vs. Owen Hart (w/ Clarence Mason): The two take turns doing flips and kip-ups to escape each other's arm-wringer/armbar attempts. Dropkick and an armdrag by Flash. Owen goes for a hip-toss, Flash blocks, Owen flips backward to escape and then clotheslines Funk. They reset, basically to a draw, and Owen celebrates. Jim Ross says that Jerry Lawler has a phone call from someone at ECW. It's Paul Heyman, making his Raw debut. "Unlike Vince McMahon I don't have to hide behind representatives." Heyman says that he and his wrestlers will be at Raw next week.
Clarence Mason gets up on the apron and distracts Owen Hart for some reason while Owen is trying to put the Sharpshooter on Funk. This leads Funk to escape and dropkick Owen out of the ring. As Owen and Mason have an altercation outside, Funk dives off the top rope to the floor. Here comes the British Bulldog, who stomps out to his partner's aid and gets in Mason's face.
After a commercial break, Bulldog has apparently ordered Mason to GTFO, so Bulldog is in Owen's corner but Mason has gone to the back. Owen gets a two-count after a German suplex. Here's Steve Austin for a PIP promo…it's more of the recent material from him, how the Final Four match was bull****, how he's being held down by the company, etc. Hart hits a gutwrench suplex, but ends up hung up in the ropes after a corner charge goes badly. Funk slams Owen, then heads up top…cross-body gets two. Corner whip, corner splash, bodyslam, and Flash scales the ropes. The top-rope moonsault connects, but Owen kicks out just in time to avoid a pinfall.
Owen reverses a whip, Bulldog hits Funk with Owen's Slammy, Owen hits a heel kick, and Bulldog holds Funk's leg while Owen makes the pin. Suddenly the Tag Team Champions seem like they're on the same page again, at least for tonight.
Result: Owen Hart via pinfall
Bulldog is celebrating the result, but for some reason Owen seems upset with him as they walk to the back. Okay, maybe not totally on the same page.
Before the next match starts, Jim Ross grabs a word with HHH, who denies having any idea who Marlena's attacker is.
Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Bart Gunn: Honky Tonk Man is out on commentary, continuing to push this "looking for a protégé" angle. Bart gets some early offense on Hunter, throwing a dropkick and a couple of armdrags. He works Helmsley's arm for a bit, but he's obviously here to do the honors. HHH misses a clothesline, but connects on a high knee. Oh…maybe Bart isn't here to do the honors, as here comes Goldust. He chases Helmsley out of the ring and through the crowd. Gunn wins by countout.
Result: Bart Gunn via countout
We get word from Dr. James Andrews, who says that he has recommended that Shawn Michaels not get surgery right now; he wants Shawn to go home and rehab, and they'll check in on him in 4-6 weeks to see how he's progressing.
WWF Title - Bret Hart (c) vs. Sid: No shenanigans this time; the match begins without issue. Sid pummels Bret repeatedly in one corner, then whips him hard into the opposite corner. Hammering blows to Bret's kidney area by the challenger. Bret manages to hit a Russian legsweep, but Sid is quickly back on offense anyway. Short clothesline by the big man. Bret fights his way out of a corner with a series of punches, then hits his backbreaker. He drops the elbow off the ropes, then drives home a series of headbutts to Sid's lower back. Jim Ross confirms that the champion after this match will face The Undertaker at WrestleMania. That's a weird thing to have announced already.
Backbreaker by Sid gets two. Bret again fights out of the corner, throwing targeted kicks to Sid's legs, eventually chopping the big man down to the mat. He starts targeting one of the legs, dropping an elbow on it and then jumping on it after draping it along the bottom rope. He drags Sid over to the post and rams that leg into it, then applies the ringpost figure-four. Earl Hebner tries to break this hold as the show goes to break.
After the commercials, Bret is still in control, continuing the focus on Sid's left leg. Sid fights back in the corner, driving punches home to Bret's chest. He reverses a Hitman corner whip and then clotheslines him. Big legdrop by Sid gets two. Sid goes up to the second rope to deliver an awkward legdrop from there as well. Again, just a two-count. Sid sets up a chokeslam, but Bret punches his way loose. He sets Sid against the ropes, then gets a running start and dives at him, but ends up hurting himself against the ropes when Sid sidesteps. As Sid tries to capitalize, Bret pulls out a desperation move and backdrops him over the top rope.
Sid has just hit the floor when Steve Austin runs down. Sid puts him down and returns to the match, actually surprisingly sunset-flipping his way back into the ring. Bret rolls through though, transitioning into a Sharpshooter. He gets it fully locked in. Sid tries to power his way out, and as he's doing this, Austin gets up on the apron and hammers Hart with a steel chair. Hart collapses out of the hold. Sid hits the powerbomb to a mostly negative crowd reaction, makes the pin, and we have (I believe) our first-ever WWF Title win on Raw.
Result: "…and NEW World Wrestling Federation Champion," Sid via pinfall
Sid celebrates with the WWF Title. Despite the booing during the title change, there is a loud "Sid" chant from the crowd at this point too. We hear the gong, the lights go down, and here comes The Undertaker. We look at a staredown as the show goes off the air.
Overall: Meh. It was okay, I guess. It was historic because of the title change obviously, a couple of the matches were watchable (Bret vs. Sid and Owen vs. Funk) and the ECW tease was interesting, but there still wasn't a single segment on this show that I especially liked all that well.
09-05-2016
, 05:20 PM
February 17, 1997
NITRO
Tampa, FL
The show cold-opens on a couple of limos. The nWo guys emerge and head toward the arena…and thens suddenly they realize that one of their guys has gone down. It looks like Big Bubba, who was walking with the group before. Syxx pushes the camera out of there, so we don't get a definitive look, but an nWo guy went down outside. Into the arena for our opening match.
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Super Calo: Hold-counterhold-reset. Mysterio with a snapmare and a dropkick to the back of the neck. Side headlock by Rey, and kind of a crappy shoulderblock. Mysterio heads to the apron, goes for a springboard move, but Calo catches him with a dropkick on the way in. They do a funky spot where Rey is on the apron, Calo charges and somersaults over him, catches him as if to do a sunset flip into a powerbomb, separates Mysterio from the ropes, then picks him up as if to re-establish before finally executing the powerbomb, but Rey somersaults backward and escapes. It makes zero sense that Calo wouldn't have just done a move there. Still, he follows with a cool springboard missile dropkick from the apron to the floor.
Calo back inside, and a nice springboard splash from the ring to the floor. He rolls Rey in, follows, and drops an elbow before recording a two-count. Kind of a tilt-a-whirl side slam from Calo, as we see footage outside of the injured nWo member being loaded into an ambulance. Sure enough, it's confirmed to be Big Bubba. Mike Rotunda joins Bubba in the ambulance, which is a good sign that we won't get a worthless Mike Rotunda match later.
Back to the match, Rey connects on a springboard somersault move that garners a two-count. He sets Calo along the bottom rope and hits a springboard splash on him. Calo catches Rey climbing the ropes again, and hits a nice reverse hurracanrana off the ropes. Two. Rey temporarily locks on a standing surfboard variation, then drops Calo, scampers outside, and connects on the springboard hurracanrana into the pinning combo to record the pinfall.
Result: Rey Mysterio Jr. via pinfall
Tony Schiavone notes that Rey will be getting a TV Title rematch at Lord Steven Regal at SuperBrawl, where there will be no time limit this time.
Hugh Morrus vs. Mongo McMichael (w/ Debra): Hugh Morrus throws a nice moonsault, but I sure as hell don't want to watch him wrestle on every damn episode. As I see him across the ring from Debra here before the match, and threatening to take a run at her before Mongo threatens him off, I'm reminded of a time they were later on the news after Chris Benoit's death, where Bill DeMott was playing the good soldier defending wrestling culture, culminating in him somehow seeming to compare himself taking bumps in the ring to being a woman suffering from domestic abuse (unless he was just saying lots of dudes beat him up in real life I guess). I've always just assumed that every nasty thing that gets said about him is true.
The crowd is hot tonight. They were hot for Mysterio earlier, to the extent that they were loudly booing Super Calo I guess just for being his opponent, and they're popping big as Mongo throws his basic shoulderblocks to the legs of Hugh Morrus. He showboats too much though, wasting time en route to a missed elbow-drop. Morrus keeps playing at Debra in between moves, as he methodically stomps away at Mongo. He slams McMichael and then scales the ropes, but now it's Morrus wasting too much time…Mongo catches up to him from behind and executes an electric chair drop. Mongo is selling a bad leg though, and can't follow up; Morrus goes back to attacking. As Morrus goes back to jawing at Debra though, she subtly shoves the Haliburton briefcase in to Mongo, who holds it over his chest, and Morrus lands on it as he executes his top-rope moonsault.
That impact does it; Mongo records the pin. Credit to Mongo by the way, who sold whatever leg injury this was like a champ, even after the match ends. I guess I would have expected worse from him.
Result: Mongo McMichael via pinfall
We join Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko at the announce table for the first time tonight. They talk about how Roddy Piper has gone to Alcatraz for training purposes for the upcoming match with Hulk Hogan. Don't even ask. We see a video package that recaps the recent developments in the Piper-Hogan feud.
Dean Malenko vs. Robbie Brookside: Brookside is just some local jobber that didn't get a televised entrance; he has long hair and leg tassles, but no particular muscle definition, so he's sort of a really poor man's Ultimate Warrior. Before the match, Malenko picks up a mic and cuts a promo on Syxx. He says that his father trained Syxx, but that it's going to be him who continues the wrestling lessons on Syxx this coming Sunday. Nothing much to speak of in this enhancement match; Malenko polishes things off with a brainbuster and then a terribly-applied Texas Cloverleaf. Malenko was trying to get it locked in better, but the jobber just sort of insta-tapped before it was really even on.
Result: Dean Malenko via submission
Syxx comes out after the match to cut a promo on Dean. "You think I don't have any respect or gratitude because you and your old man trained me? Well pal, your old man's dead, and that respect and gratitude died with him, because I never liked you anyhow." Malenko goes after him, but Syxx retreats back in to the locker room.
After the break, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx come out to the announce table. This moment makes my heart drop every time, but thankfully this time they're not out to take over on commentary. Tony and Larry had said earlier that the Steiner Brothers got into a car accident this past week and are out of SuperBrawl, and they implied that the Outsiders may have something to do with it. These guys came out tonight to hand over what looks like a tape recorder, which in Kevin Nash's words would disprove the "acquisitions" the announcers were making.
The Amazing French Canadians (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Public Enemy: Oh man, I hope we get to see the exact same ****ing table spot for the 500th time. I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but I'm really not sure that Public Enemy ever appear on Nitro without sending me into a multi-day hiatus from working on this thread. One of these days maybe I'll work up the will to just power through. The Canadians jump PE before the bell, we get some four-way brawling to start. When Johnny Grunge falls to the outside, Col. Parker gets some licks in, and then Grunge gets rolled back into the ring and isolated by the Canadians. They execute a double stun gun, but there's really nothing interesting in this heat segment.
Col. Parker runs distraction to keep the referee from seeing the hot tag. The Canadians try to capitalize with the double-team cannonball move, but Grunge rolls out of the way. This time the hot tag gets there. Rocco Rock storms in, mights the multi-front war, Carl Ouellet ends up laying on a table through a contrived sequence where he just decides to lay himself on the table voluntarily, Rocco flips and puts him through the table as usual, then pins him inside the ring. These mother****ers were so painfully one-note.
Result: Public Enemy via pinfall
Mean Gene is at the top of the aisle with Diamond Dallas Page, wearing a hideous tie-dye shirt. Gene asks DDP if he knows anything about Big Bubba getting blindsided outside the arena. Page denies any involvement. Gene acts incredulous, which is weird since I have no idea what implicates DDP specifically here.
Before the next match, Lord Steven Regal cuts a pretty generic arrogant promo, mentioning his upcoming title defense against Rey Mysterio Jr. this Sunday.
TV Title - Lord Steven Regal (c) vs. Prince Iaukea: After a bunch of stalling and preening, Regal engages with Iaukea, mostly pounding away with a series of measured strikes and stomps. He executes a butterfly superplex, then gets down on his knees and taunts toward the aisle, where Rey Mysterio appears. Regal does the lax lay-back cover, and Iaukea suddenly wraps him up for a 1-2-3. Yeah…when this match showed up tonight, I thought this was the result.
Result: Prince Iaukea via pinfall, new TV Champion
I swear that this whole thing feels like a dig at WWF's idiocy earlier this month. Iaukea had Rocky Maivia's hair, got no crowd reaction, displayed no particular talent up to this point, and on the go-home show for a PPV, the blueblood champion (who actually had displayed talent and was over) dominates and then suddenly loses to a surprise pinning combo. That all seems to match too well to be a total coincidence, but I wouldn't exactly understand the thinking behind it either. Who the hell knows. Tony Schiavone declares this to be "the most incredible upset we've ever witnessed" as Teddy Long, Public Enemy, and Eddie Guerrero come out of the locker room to celebrate with Iaukea.
After commercial, we're onto hour two, with Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay subbing in for Larry Zbyszko. The announcers talk about the earlier apparent assault on Bubba. Oh, Bubba is scheduled to face DDP on Sunday, so that's why Gene was accusing him.
Randy Anderson's Career on the Line - Nick Patrick vs. Randy Anderson: Mike Tenay informs us that Randy Anderson was an all-state high school wrestlers, never pinned in five years of competition. I don't know why he had five years of high school athletics eligibility, but okay. Anderson comes out in referee gear and actually gets pyro, but no music.
The crowd is actually into this, chanting for him before the match. WCW referee Jimmy Jett, under the guise of doing a pre-match inspection of Anderson, appears to slip him some brass knucks and winks at him. Anderson measures Patrick, hits him somewhat badly, but it's enough to knock Patrick out and score the pin. Crowd pops big, announcers go nuts…this was surprisingly enjoyable.
Result: Randy Anderson via pinfall
Eric Bischoff comes stomping out to the ring. Bischoff screams at Anderson that all he just won is a permanent vacation, and then he fires Jimmy Jett. He raises the unconscious Nick Patrick's hand as Anderson and Jett walk off. Welp. This is a case of storytelling that had its intended effect, where I was actually happy for Anderson upon winning, and irked that it got taken away.
Roadblock vs. Chris Benoit (w/ Woman): During Roadblock's entrance, I had a thought: "He's probably dead these days, right?" Turns out he's still alive at age 63. Good for him. George Steinbrenner and his grandson are shown seated at ringside before the match as well.
Roadblock gets in some early right hands, a clothesline, and a slam. He leans out to say something to Woman, who rares back and slaps the big man. He goes out as if to confront her, at which point he gets hit from the side by a dropkick through the ropes. Steinbrenner looks on in amusement as Benoit hammers away at Roadblock. Benoit posts the big man before rolling him back inside. Connects on the swandive headbutt, hooks the leg, 1-2-3.
Result: Chris Benoit via pinfall
We get a video of The Outsiders driving along a random city street, being taped by Syxx. They see the Steiners at a gas station and begin following them. Hall dares Nash to come up behind and tap the Steiners' car. They end up jockeying with each other, and the Steiners veer off the road, their car flipping upside down as Nash tells Syxx to turn the camera off. I may have missed something, but I don't get how WCW got this video in kayfabe.
After commercial, Tony Schiavone correctly says that what we've just seen is nothing less than a criminal act. Mike Tenay says that Hall and Nash are kidding themselves if they think that showing this video will absolve them of the blame. Okay, so the nWo provided this video? WTF? Tony is still on point, saying, "Absolve them of the blame?? It's going to put more blame on them."
Here's a promo with Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart, and Jacqueline. We're getting our latest rendition of Benoit vs. Sullivan this Sunday, and Jackie will be strapped to Woman outside the ring.
Kevin Sullivan vs. local jobber: Sullivan runs some offense, then throws his jobber outside, where Jacqueline gets her shots in. They kind of bounce the jobber back and forth between them…Jacqueline executes a suplex on the floor. Sullivan goes over with the double stomp.
Result: Kevin Sullivan via pinfall
US Title - Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Konnan: Konnan with an early press slam. Goes for another, but that kicks off a series of reversal, re-reversal, re-re-reversal, etc. This series takes the fight outside, where Konnan rams Eddie into the steps. Back inside, Konnan connects on his lame signature forward roll into a clothesline before locking in a chinlock. Releases the hold, executes a snapmare and then a seated dropkick. Back into the chinlock. After the next release, Konnan heads up top, but runs into a dropkick on his jump down. Still, he recovers and launches Eddie into the corner before recording a two-count.
Sit-out powerbomb by Konnan gets another two. Again with a chinlock. Konnan is almost always just dreadful to watch. Eddie executes something of a brainbuster. He tries climbing the ropes to follow up, but Konnan catches up with him and starts to set up for a superplex. Eddie shoves him off the ropes, connects on the frog splash, and probably has the pin, but Barbarian runs in and pulls Eddie off in mid-pin to trigger the obvious disqualification.
Result: Eddie Guerrero via pinfall
Meng enters, and there's a triple-team on Guerrero. Chris Jericho, Eddie's opponent for Sunday, runs in for the save and helps clear the ring. Eddie acknowledges the help, and the two part ways amicably.
Mean Gene introduces the Four Horsemen for another visit. It says something about how these segments have gone in recent weeks that I actually roll my eyes at the introduction of the Horsemen. While most of this segment wasn't very good either, Arn does put in an inspired bit of talking during his part, as he cuts a solid promo on the nWo.
The Giant vs. two jobbers: The Giant chokeslams two dudes, one masked and one unmasked, in the course of a minute or less, then pins them both simultaneously. Then he spray-paints "Hall" on the back of one and "Nash" on the back of the other.
Result: The Giant via pinfall
Gene Okerlund joins The Giant in the ring. Lex Luger comes in as well. Luger says he has some good news…he produces a piece of paper, and says that it's a medical release and that he's in for this Sunday's tag team match against The Outsiders. Eric Bischoff comes out and says that Luger is too late, and declares that he will not wrestle this Sunday. Luger threatens to show up in San Francisco on Sunday, and in return Bischoff threatens to fire him. Bischoff then runs for the hills as The Giant and Luger start after him.
After commercial, we go live to Alcatraz, where Roddy Piper has voluntarily gotten himself locked in a cell. He cuts a manic promo that comes off even crazier than the usual manic promo. It's actually a pretty good piece of mic work, as he does a nice job of selling that he's actually become unhinged toward Hulk Hogan. While I'm much less of a Piper fan than most, this is the second time during this SuperBrawl build that he's put on a good, even great, promo.
Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Jarrett: Jericho hits a spinning wheel kick early, but then runs himself into a Jarrett stun gun. Here comes Debra McMichael, again out to cheerlead for Jarrett. Jeff hits a slingshot suplex. Jericho counters a moment later into his own back suplex. Drop toe-hold by Jericho, magistral cradle, but only gets two. Backslide by Jarrett gets two. Clothesline by Jeff, then a cross-body off the top…Jericho rolls through, but again only gets two. Mongo comes out to ringside to confront Debra.
Jericho hits a butterfly powerbomb, then goes up top…Debra actually climbs the steel steps and, rather than physically interfering, says to Jarrett, "Please don't hurt him." That doesn't exactly deter Jericho, but his flying backsplash (?) attempt does miss. Jarrett slaps on the figure-four, but the referee gets distracted with Debra, and Mongo seizes the opening to go in and waffle Jarrett with his briefcase. Jericho gets the pin. Mongo and Debra argue to the back.
Result: Chris Jericho via pinfall
Here comes Hulk Hogan and the rest of the nWo for the final segment. While Piper is stepping up his game during this match build, Hogan is just out here to cut the exact same promo that he's been cutting for months upon months. We see Sting and Randy Savage appear at the top of the aisle. Sting starts heading to the ring, but Savage catches up with him and talks him into turning around and leaving with him. We get another pointless rendition of HoganPose.jpg as the show goes off the air.
Overall: Well this was a long-ass episode, for one. They overran by about 20 on-air minutes, so probably close to 30 minutes in reality. It felt like they could have easily edited it down to a normal runtime. Anyway, it was on the low end of okay. No great matches, no particularly great stories, and they didn't really make me more excited for SuperBrawl, but there were minor bits of entertainment here and there.
NITRO
Tampa, FL
The show cold-opens on a couple of limos. The nWo guys emerge and head toward the arena…and thens suddenly they realize that one of their guys has gone down. It looks like Big Bubba, who was walking with the group before. Syxx pushes the camera out of there, so we don't get a definitive look, but an nWo guy went down outside. Into the arena for our opening match.
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Super Calo: Hold-counterhold-reset. Mysterio with a snapmare and a dropkick to the back of the neck. Side headlock by Rey, and kind of a crappy shoulderblock. Mysterio heads to the apron, goes for a springboard move, but Calo catches him with a dropkick on the way in. They do a funky spot where Rey is on the apron, Calo charges and somersaults over him, catches him as if to do a sunset flip into a powerbomb, separates Mysterio from the ropes, then picks him up as if to re-establish before finally executing the powerbomb, but Rey somersaults backward and escapes. It makes zero sense that Calo wouldn't have just done a move there. Still, he follows with a cool springboard missile dropkick from the apron to the floor.
Calo back inside, and a nice springboard splash from the ring to the floor. He rolls Rey in, follows, and drops an elbow before recording a two-count. Kind of a tilt-a-whirl side slam from Calo, as we see footage outside of the injured nWo member being loaded into an ambulance. Sure enough, it's confirmed to be Big Bubba. Mike Rotunda joins Bubba in the ambulance, which is a good sign that we won't get a worthless Mike Rotunda match later.
Back to the match, Rey connects on a springboard somersault move that garners a two-count. He sets Calo along the bottom rope and hits a springboard splash on him. Calo catches Rey climbing the ropes again, and hits a nice reverse hurracanrana off the ropes. Two. Rey temporarily locks on a standing surfboard variation, then drops Calo, scampers outside, and connects on the springboard hurracanrana into the pinning combo to record the pinfall.
Result: Rey Mysterio Jr. via pinfall
Tony Schiavone notes that Rey will be getting a TV Title rematch at Lord Steven Regal at SuperBrawl, where there will be no time limit this time.
Hugh Morrus vs. Mongo McMichael (w/ Debra): Hugh Morrus throws a nice moonsault, but I sure as hell don't want to watch him wrestle on every damn episode. As I see him across the ring from Debra here before the match, and threatening to take a run at her before Mongo threatens him off, I'm reminded of a time they were later on the news after Chris Benoit's death, where Bill DeMott was playing the good soldier defending wrestling culture, culminating in him somehow seeming to compare himself taking bumps in the ring to being a woman suffering from domestic abuse (unless he was just saying lots of dudes beat him up in real life I guess). I've always just assumed that every nasty thing that gets said about him is true.
The crowd is hot tonight. They were hot for Mysterio earlier, to the extent that they were loudly booing Super Calo I guess just for being his opponent, and they're popping big as Mongo throws his basic shoulderblocks to the legs of Hugh Morrus. He showboats too much though, wasting time en route to a missed elbow-drop. Morrus keeps playing at Debra in between moves, as he methodically stomps away at Mongo. He slams McMichael and then scales the ropes, but now it's Morrus wasting too much time…Mongo catches up to him from behind and executes an electric chair drop. Mongo is selling a bad leg though, and can't follow up; Morrus goes back to attacking. As Morrus goes back to jawing at Debra though, she subtly shoves the Haliburton briefcase in to Mongo, who holds it over his chest, and Morrus lands on it as he executes his top-rope moonsault.
That impact does it; Mongo records the pin. Credit to Mongo by the way, who sold whatever leg injury this was like a champ, even after the match ends. I guess I would have expected worse from him.
Result: Mongo McMichael via pinfall
We join Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko at the announce table for the first time tonight. They talk about how Roddy Piper has gone to Alcatraz for training purposes for the upcoming match with Hulk Hogan. Don't even ask. We see a video package that recaps the recent developments in the Piper-Hogan feud.
Dean Malenko vs. Robbie Brookside: Brookside is just some local jobber that didn't get a televised entrance; he has long hair and leg tassles, but no particular muscle definition, so he's sort of a really poor man's Ultimate Warrior. Before the match, Malenko picks up a mic and cuts a promo on Syxx. He says that his father trained Syxx, but that it's going to be him who continues the wrestling lessons on Syxx this coming Sunday. Nothing much to speak of in this enhancement match; Malenko polishes things off with a brainbuster and then a terribly-applied Texas Cloverleaf. Malenko was trying to get it locked in better, but the jobber just sort of insta-tapped before it was really even on.
Result: Dean Malenko via submission
Syxx comes out after the match to cut a promo on Dean. "You think I don't have any respect or gratitude because you and your old man trained me? Well pal, your old man's dead, and that respect and gratitude died with him, because I never liked you anyhow." Malenko goes after him, but Syxx retreats back in to the locker room.
After the break, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx come out to the announce table. This moment makes my heart drop every time, but thankfully this time they're not out to take over on commentary. Tony and Larry had said earlier that the Steiner Brothers got into a car accident this past week and are out of SuperBrawl, and they implied that the Outsiders may have something to do with it. These guys came out tonight to hand over what looks like a tape recorder, which in Kevin Nash's words would disprove the "acquisitions" the announcers were making.
The Amazing French Canadians (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Public Enemy: Oh man, I hope we get to see the exact same ****ing table spot for the 500th time. I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but I'm really not sure that Public Enemy ever appear on Nitro without sending me into a multi-day hiatus from working on this thread. One of these days maybe I'll work up the will to just power through. The Canadians jump PE before the bell, we get some four-way brawling to start. When Johnny Grunge falls to the outside, Col. Parker gets some licks in, and then Grunge gets rolled back into the ring and isolated by the Canadians. They execute a double stun gun, but there's really nothing interesting in this heat segment.
Col. Parker runs distraction to keep the referee from seeing the hot tag. The Canadians try to capitalize with the double-team cannonball move, but Grunge rolls out of the way. This time the hot tag gets there. Rocco Rock storms in, mights the multi-front war, Carl Ouellet ends up laying on a table through a contrived sequence where he just decides to lay himself on the table voluntarily, Rocco flips and puts him through the table as usual, then pins him inside the ring. These mother****ers were so painfully one-note.
Result: Public Enemy via pinfall
Mean Gene is at the top of the aisle with Diamond Dallas Page, wearing a hideous tie-dye shirt. Gene asks DDP if he knows anything about Big Bubba getting blindsided outside the arena. Page denies any involvement. Gene acts incredulous, which is weird since I have no idea what implicates DDP specifically here.
Before the next match, Lord Steven Regal cuts a pretty generic arrogant promo, mentioning his upcoming title defense against Rey Mysterio Jr. this Sunday.
TV Title - Lord Steven Regal (c) vs. Prince Iaukea: After a bunch of stalling and preening, Regal engages with Iaukea, mostly pounding away with a series of measured strikes and stomps. He executes a butterfly superplex, then gets down on his knees and taunts toward the aisle, where Rey Mysterio appears. Regal does the lax lay-back cover, and Iaukea suddenly wraps him up for a 1-2-3. Yeah…when this match showed up tonight, I thought this was the result.
Result: Prince Iaukea via pinfall, new TV Champion
I swear that this whole thing feels like a dig at WWF's idiocy earlier this month. Iaukea had Rocky Maivia's hair, got no crowd reaction, displayed no particular talent up to this point, and on the go-home show for a PPV, the blueblood champion (who actually had displayed talent and was over) dominates and then suddenly loses to a surprise pinning combo. That all seems to match too well to be a total coincidence, but I wouldn't exactly understand the thinking behind it either. Who the hell knows. Tony Schiavone declares this to be "the most incredible upset we've ever witnessed" as Teddy Long, Public Enemy, and Eddie Guerrero come out of the locker room to celebrate with Iaukea.
After commercial, we're onto hour two, with Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay subbing in for Larry Zbyszko. The announcers talk about the earlier apparent assault on Bubba. Oh, Bubba is scheduled to face DDP on Sunday, so that's why Gene was accusing him.
Randy Anderson's Career on the Line - Nick Patrick vs. Randy Anderson: Mike Tenay informs us that Randy Anderson was an all-state high school wrestlers, never pinned in five years of competition. I don't know why he had five years of high school athletics eligibility, but okay. Anderson comes out in referee gear and actually gets pyro, but no music.
The crowd is actually into this, chanting for him before the match. WCW referee Jimmy Jett, under the guise of doing a pre-match inspection of Anderson, appears to slip him some brass knucks and winks at him. Anderson measures Patrick, hits him somewhat badly, but it's enough to knock Patrick out and score the pin. Crowd pops big, announcers go nuts…this was surprisingly enjoyable.
Result: Randy Anderson via pinfall
Eric Bischoff comes stomping out to the ring. Bischoff screams at Anderson that all he just won is a permanent vacation, and then he fires Jimmy Jett. He raises the unconscious Nick Patrick's hand as Anderson and Jett walk off. Welp. This is a case of storytelling that had its intended effect, where I was actually happy for Anderson upon winning, and irked that it got taken away.
Roadblock vs. Chris Benoit (w/ Woman): During Roadblock's entrance, I had a thought: "He's probably dead these days, right?" Turns out he's still alive at age 63. Good for him. George Steinbrenner and his grandson are shown seated at ringside before the match as well.
Roadblock gets in some early right hands, a clothesline, and a slam. He leans out to say something to Woman, who rares back and slaps the big man. He goes out as if to confront her, at which point he gets hit from the side by a dropkick through the ropes. Steinbrenner looks on in amusement as Benoit hammers away at Roadblock. Benoit posts the big man before rolling him back inside. Connects on the swandive headbutt, hooks the leg, 1-2-3.
Result: Chris Benoit via pinfall
We get a video of The Outsiders driving along a random city street, being taped by Syxx. They see the Steiners at a gas station and begin following them. Hall dares Nash to come up behind and tap the Steiners' car. They end up jockeying with each other, and the Steiners veer off the road, their car flipping upside down as Nash tells Syxx to turn the camera off. I may have missed something, but I don't get how WCW got this video in kayfabe.
After commercial, Tony Schiavone correctly says that what we've just seen is nothing less than a criminal act. Mike Tenay says that Hall and Nash are kidding themselves if they think that showing this video will absolve them of the blame. Okay, so the nWo provided this video? WTF? Tony is still on point, saying, "Absolve them of the blame?? It's going to put more blame on them."
Here's a promo with Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart, and Jacqueline. We're getting our latest rendition of Benoit vs. Sullivan this Sunday, and Jackie will be strapped to Woman outside the ring.
Kevin Sullivan vs. local jobber: Sullivan runs some offense, then throws his jobber outside, where Jacqueline gets her shots in. They kind of bounce the jobber back and forth between them…Jacqueline executes a suplex on the floor. Sullivan goes over with the double stomp.
Result: Kevin Sullivan via pinfall
US Title - Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Konnan: Konnan with an early press slam. Goes for another, but that kicks off a series of reversal, re-reversal, re-re-reversal, etc. This series takes the fight outside, where Konnan rams Eddie into the steps. Back inside, Konnan connects on his lame signature forward roll into a clothesline before locking in a chinlock. Releases the hold, executes a snapmare and then a seated dropkick. Back into the chinlock. After the next release, Konnan heads up top, but runs into a dropkick on his jump down. Still, he recovers and launches Eddie into the corner before recording a two-count.
Sit-out powerbomb by Konnan gets another two. Again with a chinlock. Konnan is almost always just dreadful to watch. Eddie executes something of a brainbuster. He tries climbing the ropes to follow up, but Konnan catches up with him and starts to set up for a superplex. Eddie shoves him off the ropes, connects on the frog splash, and probably has the pin, but Barbarian runs in and pulls Eddie off in mid-pin to trigger the obvious disqualification.
Result: Eddie Guerrero via pinfall
Meng enters, and there's a triple-team on Guerrero. Chris Jericho, Eddie's opponent for Sunday, runs in for the save and helps clear the ring. Eddie acknowledges the help, and the two part ways amicably.
Mean Gene introduces the Four Horsemen for another visit. It says something about how these segments have gone in recent weeks that I actually roll my eyes at the introduction of the Horsemen. While most of this segment wasn't very good either, Arn does put in an inspired bit of talking during his part, as he cuts a solid promo on the nWo.
The Giant vs. two jobbers: The Giant chokeslams two dudes, one masked and one unmasked, in the course of a minute or less, then pins them both simultaneously. Then he spray-paints "Hall" on the back of one and "Nash" on the back of the other.
Result: The Giant via pinfall
Gene Okerlund joins The Giant in the ring. Lex Luger comes in as well. Luger says he has some good news…he produces a piece of paper, and says that it's a medical release and that he's in for this Sunday's tag team match against The Outsiders. Eric Bischoff comes out and says that Luger is too late, and declares that he will not wrestle this Sunday. Luger threatens to show up in San Francisco on Sunday, and in return Bischoff threatens to fire him. Bischoff then runs for the hills as The Giant and Luger start after him.
After commercial, we go live to Alcatraz, where Roddy Piper has voluntarily gotten himself locked in a cell. He cuts a manic promo that comes off even crazier than the usual manic promo. It's actually a pretty good piece of mic work, as he does a nice job of selling that he's actually become unhinged toward Hulk Hogan. While I'm much less of a Piper fan than most, this is the second time during this SuperBrawl build that he's put on a good, even great, promo.
Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Jarrett: Jericho hits a spinning wheel kick early, but then runs himself into a Jarrett stun gun. Here comes Debra McMichael, again out to cheerlead for Jarrett. Jeff hits a slingshot suplex. Jericho counters a moment later into his own back suplex. Drop toe-hold by Jericho, magistral cradle, but only gets two. Backslide by Jarrett gets two. Clothesline by Jeff, then a cross-body off the top…Jericho rolls through, but again only gets two. Mongo comes out to ringside to confront Debra.
Jericho hits a butterfly powerbomb, then goes up top…Debra actually climbs the steel steps and, rather than physically interfering, says to Jarrett, "Please don't hurt him." That doesn't exactly deter Jericho, but his flying backsplash (?) attempt does miss. Jarrett slaps on the figure-four, but the referee gets distracted with Debra, and Mongo seizes the opening to go in and waffle Jarrett with his briefcase. Jericho gets the pin. Mongo and Debra argue to the back.
Result: Chris Jericho via pinfall
Here comes Hulk Hogan and the rest of the nWo for the final segment. While Piper is stepping up his game during this match build, Hogan is just out here to cut the exact same promo that he's been cutting for months upon months. We see Sting and Randy Savage appear at the top of the aisle. Sting starts heading to the ring, but Savage catches up with him and talks him into turning around and leaving with him. We get another pointless rendition of HoganPose.jpg as the show goes off the air.
Overall: Well this was a long-ass episode, for one. They overran by about 20 on-air minutes, so probably close to 30 minutes in reality. It felt like they could have easily edited it down to a normal runtime. Anyway, it was on the low end of okay. No great matches, no particularly great stories, and they didn't really make me more excited for SuperBrawl, but there were minor bits of entertainment here and there.
Last edited by LKJ; 09-05-2016 at 05:27 PM.
09-13-2016
, 09:51 PM
