Monday Night Raw 3-17-97 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, March 3rd, 1997
Onondaga War Memorial
Syracuse, New York

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We are now in the Raw is War era with the Titan Tron and the big pyro to kick off the show. Looking back on it, it still feels like a big momentum shift even after all these years. I wish we would have access to the first episode, but for some reason they chose to leave that one out. 

Legion Of Doom vs. Crush & Savio Vega

Apparently, Faarooq is barred from ringside. LOD starts the brawl outside the ring and we are underway. They interview Ahmed Johnson during the match to hype up the Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania. We go to Faarooq now and he talks about the solidarity between he and the Nation of Domination. They show highlights of Ahmed at the Madison Square Garden house show last night. He was about to beat Savio Vega and then the Nation attacked him. Meanwhile, Hawk hits a dropkick on Crush as we go to a commercial break. We see a Slam of the Week and it is Undertaker chokeslamming Sid and then leaping over the top rope on top of Mankind and Vader. I wouldn't have to recap that if I could have seen it. They go back to Faarooq, but he's not there. They then go to Ahmed and he gets attacked from behind by Faarooq with a nightstick. Back in the ring, Animal has Savio up for the Doomsday Device but Faarooq attacks him from behind with the nightstick and we have our first non-finish of the night. The rest of the Nation joins in and out comes Ahmed with the 2x4 to even the score. He hits a Pear River Plunge on one of the PG-13 members and then D'Lo Brown gets hit with the Doomsday Device. This was all it really needed to be, which was to build a little more interest in this match before the big show. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Flash Funk

This is actually a match I would want to see go longer than you expect, since that's Hunter's favorite thing to do. Unfortunately, this will probably be quick. Funk clothesline Hunter over the top but misses with the baseball slide and eats a clothesline. La Femme Nikita is up next. Funk hits a top rope leg drop but Chyna grabs his ankle during the pin. Hunter hits a German suplex into a bridge and gets a 2. Hunter goes off the top and eats a superkick from Funk for a 2. Shenanigans ensue and Helmsley hits a Pedigree for the victory. This was a spirited squash. After the match, Chyna holds Flash so Helmsley can continue his attack. 

Match Rating: **

They show Shawn Michaels arriving in the building. 

Mini Vader & Mini Mankind vs. Mini Goldust & Mascarita Sagrada Jr. 

The mini's get the Vader entrance music. They show New Jersey allowing pro wrestling back in the state, which will lead to SummerSlam being there. Before the Raw after WrestleMania was really a thing, this year it will take place in Rockford, Illinois. Big back body drop by Mini Vader on Mini Goldust. It's pretty standard stuff until Mascarita comes in and the crowd responds appropriately. He honestly was the closest thing they had to a cruiserweight on WCW's level. Mini Vader comes in and kicks him in the back of the head though. Mini Goldust comes back with a dropkick and then does a flip off the apron. Mascarita gets a victory roll in on Mini Mankind and picks up the win. This was too short to be anything good, but the fans were very much into Mascarita and nothing else. After the match, Vader is thrown off the stage and then Mascarita hits a dive to the floor.  

Match Rating: *

We go to Gorilla Monsoon to explain what's going on with the title match tonight. Gorilla says he promised this match would be for the title because Bret deserves it even if the timing stinks and that the Undertaker hates it. Gorilla says it isn't unfair because Bret has ended up on the short end of the stick. Gorilla stands by it and it will be for the title. I love Gorilla. 

After commercial, Bret Hart is out for an interview in the ring with Kevin Kelly. Bret wants to change the face of WrestleMania 13 and he's thankful for Gorilla looking at the situation a little closer. He won the Royal Rumble, he won the Final Four and he's a 4 time champion. He says the Undertaker doesn't have to worry because he'll give him his shot. He shifts to Steve Austin and says that he is in for the worst lashing of his life. He hopes Ken Shamrock calls it down the middle and that he's close enough to hear the words "I quit". 

It's time for a WrestleMania 13 hockey jersey for $69.99 and the denim jacket for $99. For reference, that is $146 and $202 in 2026 money. That's insane. Rocky Maivia is out to join the announce team for the next match.

Sultan vs. Mike Bell

I always liked the Sultan's music. Sultan attacks before the bell and in less than a minute has the Camel Clutch on for the quick victory. This upcoming match has nothing going for it, so they give us a quick stare down and we see the closest to The Rock as we have seen so far. Out comes Tony Atlas to keep Rocky back. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a quick WrestleMania reminder before we go into intro #2 for the night. We get more pyro too. Kudos to the guy in the Barry Sanders jersey. Out comes Shawn Michaels to a mostly female pop. We unfortunately get the same generic interview here leading to him that when he comes back, the clothes are coming off. Shawn is a disappointed with Vince that he didn't call to invite him to WrestleMania. Vince is unbearable here with his facial expressions. Shawn invites himself to WrestleMania. The interviews tonight haven't been very good and I say that as fans of Bret and Shawn. 

They show Undertaker slamming one of the sides of the blue cage down to the ground. 

Vader vs. British Bulldog

I'm not really sure why they had Vader beat Undertaker at Royal Rumble, only to have him in a heatless tag title match at WrestleMania. Bulldog hits a nice delayed vertical suplex and the crowd is quite into Bulldog here. This is a lot more spirited than I was expecting. Vader hits a big splash and that gets a nearfall. Bulldog catches Vader during a splash attempt in the corner and hits a body slam. Bulldog gets Vader up on his shoulder and Mankind grabs Vader's leg. Owen goes after him and the bell rings. Owen is getting double teamed by Vader and Mankind until Bulldog snags the urn from Paul Bearer and attacks both men. Bulldog is your winner by DQ here. Like I said, this really had no right to be as spirited as it was, but I appreciate the effort.

Match Rating: **

Ken Shamrock is out to join the announce team.

Billy Gunn vs. Aaron Ferguson

Billy tries to show off to Shamrock with a submission hold. Did they have any reason for having Shamrock out for this match? He puts on an arm hold and Ferguson submits. He goes up to Shamrock after the match and invites him in the ring. Billy mocks the way Shamrock goes to lock up before Shamrock immediately takes him down. Shamrock then takes him down by his leg to put on the ankle lock. Billy grabs a chair, but the referee stops him from coming in. This made Billy look like a jobber, which I guess he is. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Austin and he sticks up for Billy. Austin gives us a Hollywood Blondes camera move by Austin as he's calling Shamrock a piece of trash. Austin says that he'll be the champion after WrestleMania. They show them setting up the cage, so it's time to stall some more, so let's go backstage to Sid. He tells Austin to stay out of his business. 

Steel Cage Match For The WWF Championship
Bret Hart vs. Sid

We have a good amount of time left here, so we should get a proper main event. Sid is trying to crawl out of the cage and Bret grabs his leg. Austin runs out and shuts the door and we go to commercial break. When we come back, Sid hits a powerbomb on Bret and starts to climb. Austin also starts climbing and starts hitting some right hands on Sid at the top of the cage. Sid fights back, but eventually Austin and Bret are both hammering away on Sid. This is about as spry as Austin ever looked in his WWF run. Out comes Undertaker and he climbs the cage. All 4 men are up there and Taker prevents Bret from climbing out of the cage. The best part of all of this is the squeaking noise the cage is making. Austin is the first man to fall and then Bret hits a superplex on Sid. Austin hits Taker with a chair on the outside. Inside, Bret is trying to leave through the door and Sid is climbing. Taker slams the door on Bret and Sid drops to the ground. What was Austin doing there? That was kind of odd. They even show a replay and make no mention of where Austin was. The chaos of this all was fun. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Vince goes into interview Bret and we get a lot of vulgarity from Bret as he talks about being screwed. This is as fired up as we had ever seen Bret up to this point and the most curse words we probably had ever seen up to this point. Austin is on the Titan Tron and he calls Bret a loser. They just start yelling on top of each other until Sid is out there again. Undertaker is out now too and Bret hits a dive through the ropes on Undertaker. Austin is out now and he starts wailing on Bret. Now Sid and Taker start going at it. Then out comes Shawn Michaels? He watches over Bret and Austin as they battle on the ramp and then makes his way towards the ring. Sid and Taker are now on the outside and Shawn grabs a chair and we go off the air? Well, like I said the chaotic nature of the ending made this enjoyable. 

This was another good show in a string of them. Obviously, Netflix is probably trying to eliminate some of the weaker episodes, but I can only go with what they give me. I am definitely more excited to re-watch WrestleMania 13 than I was before this episode.

Overall Rating: 70%

Monday Night Raw 3-3-97 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, March 3rd, 1997
Deutschlandhalle
Berlin, Germany

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We get a Berlin Wall introduction before we get Honky Tonk Man's music kicking off the show. He's out to join the announce team. They interview Bret Hart during Helmsley's entrance and he says he's going to do the same thing to Austin that he's going to do to Helmsley tonight.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bret Hart

As usual, Bret is very over in Europe. They show Austin heading into the WWF headquarters, as he is not in Germany. We get some mat wrestling from Bret to start. We get a commercial break and a reminder of the Slammy Awards. Hunter is in control after a knee to the midsection and then throws Bret's shoulder into the ring post. It should be noted that Jerry Lawler is not on the announce team tonight, it's just Vince and JR. Hunter gets too greedy and goes to the top rope. Bret greets him with a superplex and takes control. Bret hits a catapult in the corner and Bret goes for the Sharpshooter but Hunter is able to rake the eyes. Bret gets Hunter in the tree of woe and continues to stomp away. The ref tries to stop him and Bret shoves him away for a DQ ending. Out comes that woman to get in Bret's face. They never lay a hand on each other and WWF officials escort her away. That was kind of a weird finish, especially in Germany. The match was pretty good for what it was. 

Match Rating: **

They try to interview Austin, but he's not in his chair. They show Owen Hart dumping British Bulldog out during the Royal Rumble earlier this year. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Vader vs. Rocky Maivia

Vader defeated Rocky earlier in the European Championship tournament, so now we have a title match. Vader quickly is hitting Rocky with big blows in the corner and then hits a short clothesline. JR covers for Vader calling spots saying that he's trying to intimidate Rocky. Rocky makes little comebacks but nothing substantial and Vader hits a splash off the second rope for a 2 count. Vader goes off the second rope again and this time Rocky catches him for a powerslam. Rocky hits a belly-to-belly suplex and that gets a 2. Rocky hits the tornado DDT and goes up to the top rope. He hits the big crossbody but Vader is quickly out of the pin attempt. Rocky dropkicks Vader over the top rope. Rocky goes out there and Mankind is out there to hit Rocky in the head with Paul Bearer's urn. Vader isn't happy about it and Vader throws him back in the ring. Vader attacks him for a while until the officials come out to stop him. This was actually going along pretty well until another bad finish. 

Match Rating: **1/4

They then show the Jerry Lawler storyline with ECW and highlights from last week's Raw. 

Sultan vs. Flash Funk

They interview Jerry Lawler during the entrances. He tells Paul Heyman that if he shows up next week, he'll shove his fist down his throat. Sultan attacks Funk while he's taking off his jacket, but it doesn't last long. Funk hits a diving clothesline to the floor. As good as Honky Tonk Man was in the late 80s, he's equally as bad here in in the mid 90s. Sultan here felt like someone they thought they could give a good push to, but it felt like they gave up on it quickly. We join Paul E. on the phone and Vince thanks him for all the action ECW brought to Raw last week. Funk hits a moonsault but Sultan is able to kick out. Sultan catches Funk during a headscissors and slams him face first. He puts on the Camel Clutch and that is all. I expected this to be a little bit livelier. It was fine. 

Match Rating: *1/2

We now see highlights of the last time Steve Austin was at WWF headquarters in October. Lots of stalling here. 

We go to Sid, who looks like he fell asleep at the beach. Did you know that he's the master and ruler of the world? 

We now see footage of Bulldog and Owen fighting each other at In Your House and then Bulldog making the save after the attack. That sentence probably didn't make sense. 

Ahmed Johnson is brought out for an interview and he says that he's not coming to WrestleMania alone. The audio quality is horrible. He then starts a "You're going down" chant with the crowd. 

They show highlights of Legion of Doom's return and then their interview from Shotgun Saturday Night. 

WWF Championship Match
Mankind vs. Sid

They show a Mankind interview spoken in German during his entrance. Sid attacks Mankind immediately upon walking into the ring. I would have liked to have seen a feud between these two. I think Mankind could have brought out the best in Sid. Mankind misses Sid and hits the ring post as they battled outside the ring. Sid will be teaming up with Undertaker next week on Raw Is War. We go to Austin in Connecticut now. It seems like we could have done this during the Sultan match. Austin is complaining about his seat on the plane and the crappy food he was given. He then goes on to say he's so sick of Bret whining and crying. A Paul Bearer distraction doesn't work out and Sid throws the back of Mankind's head into the ring post. Mankind gets the Mandible Claw on and Sid is down. Sid uses his power to get out of it and then Mankind hits him with the double arm DDT. Sid hits a chokeslam but then Mankind kicks out. Mankind lowers his head and Sid hits the powerbomb for the victory. I didn't expect a clean finish there. The match was pretty good overall. 

Match Rating: **1/4

They show a clip of British Bulldog firing Clarence Mason on Shotgun. 

We hear more from Austin cutting a promo on Bret again ahead of his submission match with Bret. He says that no one can make him quit. 

European Championship Match
Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog

I guess one positive of the majority of the Raw episodes being deleted from streaming existence is that I get to watch this match sooner than I would have. I have not seen this one since it aired "live" if I am remembering correctly. We get some mat wrestling to start until Bulldog catches a hurricanrana and turns it into a powerbomb. Bulldog then catapults Owen over the top rope before holding the ropes open for Owen to come back in. It is really bizarre to me that Honky Tonk Man is announcing this match. Bulldog goes for a surfboard but Owen weasels his way out of it by grabbing the referee. We get more hype for Raw Is War which starts at 7:57. Talk about nostalgia. Owen is able to flip Bulldog out of the ring this time and he too opens the ropes for Bulldog to get back in the ring. We get some rope running action and Owen leap frogs over Bulldog and sells a knee injury. He of course is faking it and uses it to his advantage. He hits a big spin kick to the head of Bulldog. That looked like it may have actually connected. Owen hits a nice belly to belly suplex and Bulldog comes back with an electric chair. Owen goes for a superplex but Bulldog shifts his weight and falls on top of Owen for a 2 count. Bulldog hits some clotheslines and a big vertical suplex for 2. Owen comes back with a German suplex with a bridge for another 2 count. Owen hits a reverse crossbody off the second rope and Bulldog rolls over and we get another close call. Owen goes for the Sharpshooter and gets him in it in the middle of the ring. Bulldog crawls his way to the bottom rope and the crowd is happy about that. Bulldog reverses a piledriver into a powerslam and Owen kicks out of that. I thought that was it. Owen rolls Bulldog into a pin from his shoulder and Bulldog gets out at 2 and counters the pin and that's the finish to crown your first ever European Champion. This wasn't quite the classic that a lot of people say it is, but it was really good. They show that Bulldog won with a clean finish and Owen shakes his hand. They tease drama but it stays civil. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

Even though most of the matches didn't deliver on their promise, they made this show feel important and that is a major upgrade from previous years. We are starting to see the progression into the Attitude Era but they are still working with a very small amount of actual talent that people care about right now. Good show overall. 

Overall Rating: 70%

Monday Night Raw 2-24-97 Review

Monday, February 24th, 1997
Manhattan Center
New York, New York

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They followed up a huge title change with one of the most famous episodes to date for a big February for the company. How do they start the show, you ask? With the Godwinns and New Blackjacks, of course.

Godwinns vs. New Blackjacks

They start brawling right away and the Godwinns get the better of it. We get a big "Bradshaw sucks" chant once things slow down a little bit. It should be noted that the Manhattan Center is the original location of the early days of Raw for those who weren't aware. It's a fun location to have a show at once in awhile but it also is funny that Jerry Lawler was ripping on ECW for bingo halls and this is only a step up due to the uniqueness of it, not because of its size. I should also note that it is just Vince McMahon and Lawler here for the announcing duties. A distraction from Windham allows Bradshaw to knock Henry out to the floor. There are lots of bWo shirts in the crowd and not many women. They show Ken Shamrock in the audience. I did not expect this match to get this much time. Phineas has Windham in a sleeper hold but with Henry arguing with the referee, JBL comes in and clotheslines Phineas. Windham gets on top and gets the victory. However, Phineas got his foot on the rope. Another referee comes out and tries to argue the call, but the result sticks so the Godwinns slop the referee. This was actually a little better than I expected.

Match Rating: *1/4

Out come the Eliminators after the commercial break. They attack one of the ring crew and hit their finisher. Paul Heyman gets on the mic to say that ECW is in the house. After another commercial, Heyman introduces the next match. Heyman joins the announce team and the bWo grab the mic. 

Little Guido vs. Big Stevie Cool

Guido attacks them and we are underway. I'm not sure that I would have picked the bWo as the first thing to have a match here, but to each their own. Stevie hits a side suplex and then out comes Raven. The distraction allows a roll up and a 2 count. Guido hits a couple of dropkicks. They interview Goldust during the match to get an update on Marlena. He's here and then makes an "it" reference about Chyna and Lawler calls him out for it. Stevie hits a powerbomb and then hits a superkick for the victory. This was mostly nonsense. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Sunny is interviewed in a robe to talk trash about Marlena. Honky Tonk Man's music hits and we go to commercial. He introduces Sunny and she does her Body Donna schtick before taking off her robe, which reveals basically what she usually wears. Out comes Marlena next and they show highlights of her being attacked by that woman. Sunny offers her the opportunity to forfeit, but Marlena isn't having it. Honky goes over the rules and Sunny does the usual heel gimmick where she stalls. Marlena returns the favor but this time Honky threatens to disqualify her. They pan to Shamrock again, which is probably not a great choice during this. We finally have our arm wrestling match and just as Marlena is about to win, Sunny throws sand in her face. Out comes Savio Vega and he goes up to Marlena so Goldust comes out and attacks him. Goldust slams his head into the table and I guess we have a match?

Savio Vega vs. Goldust

After a commercial break, we are having a match. Savio is finally in his new Nation gear. Miguel Perez joins the announce team and this is something that I completely forgot existed. He says that he doesn't know what happened to Savio. He used to be proud of him. The crowd starts chanting "Candido" at Sunny, who for some reason is still out there. Goldust hits a crossbody for a 2 count but Savio immediately hits him with a spin kick. This one has lost me a bit. Just as I type that, Crush runs in and attacks Goldust for the DQ finish. Miguel Perez comes in and gets thrown right out. He then hits a missile dropkick on Savio and then helps Goldust with Crush. This was really dull. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

They hype up that next week's Raw is from Berlin, Germany. 

We then see highlights of Jerry Lawler interviewing Tiny Tim from July of 1993. Lawler is now going to interview Ken Shamrock in the crowd. Lawler does his usual that he trained Shamrock and Ken then says that he doesn't even know Lawler. Lawler is of course flabbergasted and that's the whole segment. 

It's time to hype up the Slammy's on March 21st on USA Network. 

We go back to Paul Heyman and he says this show has sucked without ECW. He then announces Mikey Whipwreck, like that will make it better. 

Mikey Whipwreck vs. Taz

Taz hits some suplexes, Lawler makes some short jokes and Faarooq is interviewed during the match. Taz is on top of the Raw sign and leaps off onto Taz's team. Taz then suplexes Whipwreck over the top onto Sabu in what is a scary looking bump. Tazmission ends this one. This was obviously a Taz feature and it was fine. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Headbangers vs. Legion Of Doom

This was the big surprise that they alluded to during the show. The return of LOD was a huge one for me, as they were a childhood favorite. This run didn't end up being anything great, but in this moment, this was a big one for me. The crowd is into this one and then starts chanting "Nitro sucks". To their credit, this was not a total squash and actually treat the Headbangers like a legit threat. Now it's time for a "Bischoff sucks" chant. They actually give this match a commercial break and then we get a lame double countout finish. I did not remember that. After the match, LOD hits the Doomsday Device for good measure. I am shocked that they agreed to this. This was a little lackluster for a big return. 

Match Rating: *

We get the "Tell Me A Lie" Shawn Michaels music video. 

D-Von Dudley vs. Tommy Dreamer

We get a bunch of weapon shots from Dreamer on the outside. Dreamer then hits a suplex on the outside and then a baseball slide into the steps. Back in the ring, D-Von hits Dreamer with a chair to the head. Most of the match is Lawler and Heyman arguing on commentary. D-Von misses a headbutt off the second rope and lands on the chair. Dreamer hits a piledriver and then D-Von grabs Buelah in the ring. While the finish is happening, Undertaker is being interviewed. Dreamer wins and then Bubba Ray Dudley comes in and attacks Dreamer and Sandman is not far behind. We then get a bunch of unprotected chair shots to the Dudleys. This was probably the best representation of what ECW was at the time, for better or for worse. Heyman and Lawler then get into a physical altercation going into the commercial break. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Jim Ross recaps the chaotic title situation for us. It concludes with them confirming that Sid will take on Undertaker and Steve Austin will face Bret Hart at WrestleMania. 

Todd Pettengil is now with Ken Shamrock to conduct a real interview. He introduces his wife and father. He then picks Undertaker to defeat Sid and he can't make a choice between Austin and Bret. 

Faarooq vs. Undertaker

Faarooq insults Shamrock during his entrance and insults UFC. Shamrock says he'd be willing to step in the ring with Faarooq. Taker attacks D'Lo Brown and that allows for Faarooq to strike first but is quickly eating a flying clothesline from Taker. Taker walks the ropes and hits the mark on pre-Old School. It's kind of wild that they thought this match could headline a pay per view in a few months. Just in case you didn't hear Vince the first 10 times, Raw is from Germany next week. During the commercial break, the Nation attacked Taker and Faarooq is now working on the legs of Taker. Now this one is starting to drag on. D'Lo pulls down the top rope for Taker to fall over and he lands on his feet. Faarooq comes over with the steps and Taker kicks them into him. This naturally turns into a no contest and then the Legion of Doom make the save as we go off the air. This was pretty boring. 

Match Rating: *

This episode sure threw a lot of things at the wall to see what would stick. While on paper, it was memorable, it also wasn't that good. With every year, I become less interested in ECW and then knowing that the LOD run wasn't very good makes the return not mean as much in retrospect. However, this was definitely better than some random episode, I just wish we would have gotten at least one good match to go with the chaos. 

Overall Rating: 62%

Monday Night Raw 2-17-97 Review

Monday, February 17th, 1997
Nashville Arena
Nashville, Tennessee

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WWF Championship Match
Sid vs. Bret Hart

They are hyping up the beating that Bret took last night at In Your House and they aren't wrong. Sid and Bret go face to face and out comes Steve Austin to attack Bret. Sid gets in on the action and during the chaos Austin clips Sid's knee in retaliation and Sid is screaming in pain like he's a cartoon character. The officials finally get Austin out of the ring. Sid is back in the ring and can't put weight on his injured leg. 

They throw us back to highlights now instead. We get another mention of Thursday Raw Thursday and Shawn Michael's forfeiting of the title. They show still photos of the main event from last night's show before going back to Sid. He's furious and the match will still happen tonight. 

Marc Mero vs. Savio Vega

As I mentioned on the In Your House review, the Savio heel turn is so new that he's still wearing his babyface attire. Mero gets the hot start and he hits his somersault dive to the outside that takes out both Vega and Crush. Vega comes back and hits the spin kick in the corner to take control of the match. Mero is dumped to the outside and one of the Nation rappers starts getting some kicks in on Mero. Over comes Sable and she goes after him with some kicks to a pop from the crowd. Savio misses a splash in the corner and then Mero hits a rough looking back body drop. Mero then hits a Samoan Drop and then the Nation all goes after Sable and she backs into a corner in the ring. The ref calls for the bell? Out comes Ahmed Johnson with a 2 x 4 to make the save. That was a pretty bad ending, but Ahmed got a good reaction. 

Match Rating: *

We get a Bret interview during Leif Cassidy's entrance. Bret says that he just has to get used to Austin coming after him wherever he goes. After he gets done with Sid, he'll go on to the next contender. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Leif Cassidy vs. Rocky Maivia

Sunny comes out to be the timekeeper. They do a live interview with Hunter Hearst Helmsley during the match and he calls Rocky the luckiest punk in the world. Meanwhile, the crowd is very silent for this one so far. Leif is controlling most of the match here and hits the mark off the top rope. He goes to the well once too often and Rocky slams him off the top. They keep showing a guy taunting Lawler with an "ECW Rules" sign. Rocky hits a top rope crossbody and doesn't go for the cover. Rocky puts him up on his shoulder and hits the shoulder breaker for the victory. That was mostly dull.

Match Rating: 3/4*

We go back to Lawler roasting ECW. Looking back, he wasn't really long. If you weren't a diehard wrestling fan, you never heard of ECW. 

Goldust and Marlena are out with Kevin Kelly in the ring. He tells Helmsley that this is personal now. All the money in the world couldn't buy Marlena and he says that the only way he can get to her is over his dead body. Marlena talking really takes away from the mystique of her character. Marlena says that Goldust is all man. Out comes Helmsley and it eventually becomes a fight. Helmsley dominates it and hits a Pedigree. Marlena follows that up with a slap to the face. Out comes Chyna and shakes Marlena in a bear hug. Security is out and breaks it up, leaving Goldust to carry her to the back. 

Headbangers vs. Hardy Boys

Jeff Hardy hits a leaping clothesline to start and tags in Matt for a double team. We get an interview with Faarooq and the Nation. Faarooq wants to have a Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania. Meanwhile, the Headbangers hit a suplex/top rope splash combo on Matt. Jeff gets a tag back in and hits a couple of dropkicks before getting his head clotheslined off. They hit the Stage Dive and that's all. The Headbangers were fun for a little bit here and it helps that the Hardy's were here to sell for them. 

Match Rating: *

WWF Championship Match
Sid vs. Bret Hart

We're going to try this again. Bret can't even make it to Gorilla position, as he is attacked by Austin. Sid once again comes to join in on the fun. Maybe the third time will be the charm? 

Kevin Kelly is with Gorilla Monsoon. Gorilla says that we aren't like other people and tease you. He guarantees that we will have a title match tonight.

Flash Funk vs. Owen Hart

Here's a pairing I would like to see a few matches between. We get Paul Heyman on the phone so that we can ignore the match. Heyman says that they will be on Raw next week. I was very excited about this since I could only read about ECW. We didn't get it where I was on any of our TV networks. Meanwhile, Clarence Mason and Owen start disagreeing and Funk hits Owen with a dive. Then British Bulldog comes out and tells Mason to go to the back. Owen hits a German suplex into a bridge for a nearfall. Austin is now being interviewed by JR and is upset about the Final Four ruling. He says that the whole organization is holding him back. Owen hits a nice gutwrench suplex. Funk comes back and hits a top rope crossbody for a 2 count. Funk sets Owen up and hits a moonsault and again Owen kicks out. Flash goes off the ropes and Bulldog hits Funk with the Slammy behind the referee's back. Owen hits a kick and Bulldog holds down Funk's leg for the victory. This was pretty good despite all the distractions from the actual ring work. 

Match Rating: **

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bart Gunn

Honky Tonk Man is joining at the announce booth. JR then asks Helmsley if he knows who this woman is who keeps attacking Marlena. He denies any knowledge of who she is. Honky basically says he has been denied by his top choices and now he's starting all over again. I guess I'll start recapping this match. Helmsley hits the high knee and then out comes Goldust and he chases him through the crowd, which is always a fun spot. That's enough for a countout and gives Bart the big win. This was nothing.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We go to Dr. Andrews talking about Shawn Michaels' injury. He says that surgery is not completely ruled out. 

WWF Championship Match
Sid vs. Bret Hart

Here we go now. I was in Hawaii when this Raw happened and I was able to catch this match before we had to go to a dinner. This was the peak of my fandom, so this was a huge deal. We have a physical start to the match. Bret looks to be on a mission to have a good match here. Bret does the Figure Four spot here with Sid on the ring post. Before the match, they said they were taking a commercial so we would get the match in its entirety. We then get a commercial right during that spot. When we come back, Bret is still working on Sid's leg. Sid comes back and hits a huge leg drop for a 2. Sid then hits a second rope leg drop and again gets a 2 count. Bret puts Sid on the ropes and charges at him. Sid gets out of the way and Bret falls to the floor. Bret recovers and puts on the Sharpshooter in the center of the ring. Out comes Austin and hits Bret with a chair to the back of the head. Neither Sid nor the referee see it. Sid hits the powerbomb and we have a new WWF Champion. This of course gets a huge pop, as this was not something that happened very often at the time. The match was good, but more in a TV match type of way than a pay per view. The moment was huge though and really was a surprise to me. 

Match Rating: ***

As Sid is celebrating, the Undertaker's music hits and the lights go off. They go face to face and Sid shows no fear. 

This was one of the most memorable episodes of Raw up to this point in time with the huge title change. The rest of the show was mostly forgettable, but one match and moment is really all it takes to make this a thumbs up. 

Overall Rating: 68%

In Your House 13: Final Four Review

Sunday, February 16th, 1997
UTC Arena
Chattanooga, Tennessee

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I think I have seen this show two times. Once as a rented video and then once again when the WWE Network was launched. We get a short intro, but overall, I think it's a pretty good one. The Wildman's music hits and Jim Ross is here with Jerry Lawler. No Vince on this one. I guess he's still upset about Shawn stepping away. 

Marc Mero vs. Leif Cassidy

Leif does not get a televised entrance here in case you were wondering if he had any shot at winning this match. I do like that they are rewarding Leif here with some bigger showcases, especially since he delivered against Flash Funk in December. Leif takes out the legs of Mero with two low dropkicks. Leif uses some submission moves on the injured left leg. Mero comes back with an enzuigiri, but JR notes that it hits him in the shoulder and not the head. Leif goes after Sable, so she slaps him and then Mero hits a dive through the ropes. Mero gets him back in the ring and hits the Wild Thing for the victory. That was a little disappointing for me, as I typically like both of these guys more than most. It just never got that third act where they get into that extra gear to make it stand out. 

Match Rating: **

Honky Tonk Man is now out to the ring and then they flash us back to Shawn Michael's interview from Thursday Raw Thursday. They show almost all of it and then the announcement from Gorilla that the main event tonight is for the title. They then go to Kevin Kelly, who is with Sid to hype up his title match tomorrow. Why didn't they wait for Honky to come out? 

Flash Funk, Bart Gunn & Goldust vs. Faarooq, Crush & Savio Vega

Talk about one of the more random teams in WWF history, this is definitely near the top. The Nation comes down through the audience. The faces start off hot and we get the telegraphed top rope dive onto all three opponents early on. Funk hits a top rope hurricanrana on Savio and then Bart laucnhes Funk onto the Nation but they catch him and shift the momentum. Crush and Savio team up for a spike piledriver and a 2 count. Bart gets a mild tag and hits a powerslam for a 2 count. The match breaks down from there. Bart hits a top rope bulldog on Faarooq and looks to have the match won. Shenanigans happen and Bart gets pinned for the loss. This mostly existed. 

Match Rating: **

Dok Hendrix is sitting down with Steve Austin. He says that we can count on him being the WWF Champion tonight.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia

We get the rematch here from the Thursday Raw Thursday that saw the title change hands. We get a more traditional wrestling style start here and for the most part, they let Rocky look like he is one step ahead. Helmsley sidesteps Rocky and throws him over the top rope. He follows it up with a baseball slide and Rocky hits the guardrail. Helmsley gets caught using the ropes as leverage during a submission hold but Rocky isn't able to capitalize on the opening and gets hit with a knee to the chin. Rocky does sneak in an inside cradle for a 2 count. Rocky tries for a dropkick but Helmsley is able to hold on to the ropes. Helmsley then misses with a knee drop and back and forth we go. Rocky hits Helmsley in the midsection when Helmsley goes upstairs and then hits an inverted atomic drop. It is pretty apparent that these two guys do work well together. Rocky hits a powerslam and then climbs upstairs. He hits the crossbody and Helmsley is able to kick out. Rocky goes for some punches in the corner and Helmsley is able to lift him up and Drop him face-first on the turnbuckle. Rocky hits his variation of the tornado DDT and they are starting to win the crowd over a little bit here. Helmsley hits him with a thumb to the eye and then the knee to the face. Out comes Goldust as Helmsley is hitting a reverse neckbreaker. The distraction works and Rocky hits a German suplex into a bridge for the victory. I didn't really care for that finish. They should have come up with a better distraction than him just coming out and acting goofy. I liked the match overall though. After the match, we get some words between Helmsley and Goldust and then we see Marlena being choked out by a large woman in the crowd. Yes, this is the debut of Chyna. Security has to escort her away with the announcers selling it as a crazed fan. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Vader is backstage with Kevin Kelly and he gives kind of a weird promo. Paul Bearer is here to try and save it by being his usual self. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon vs. Owen Hart & British Bulldog

It is weird to me that Clarence Mason manages both the Nation and Owen/Bulldog. We get a lot of talk about the dissention between Owen and Bulldog and about Owen's fake knee injury. The wrestling isn't bad, but they are using this match to tell their stories more than they are about caring about the match. Owen and Bulldog hit a nice double team with Bulldog suplexing LaFon and Owen hitting a splash while he is still up in the air. LaFon comes back and hits a double noggin knocker. LaFon then ducks the spinning heel kick and Owen accidentally hits Bulldog. Bulldog then hits a clothesline on Owen, which gets a good pop. LaFon goes for the cover but then Bulldog breaks up the pin. Furnas comes in and hits a suplex and again Bulldog makes the save. Owen hits a big enzuigiri to slow down the momentum. Furnas and LaFon are able to shove the champions into one another but then Bulldog is able to get LaFon up for a running powerslam. Owen runs in and hits him with the Slammy and that gets them disqualified. Bulldog is not happy to lose the match by disqualification here. Owen, Bulldog and Mason have a heated debate after the match and it leads to Bulldog breaking Owen's Slammy. Bulldog then goes after Mason. Things settle down and Owen raises Bulldog's arm and they walk to the back. This was a good story to help distract from the fact that the challengers are not over at all. 

Match Rating: ***

Undertaker is with Dok Hendrix and he talks about having his edge back. 

Final Four Match For The WWF Championship
Vader vs. Steve Austin vs. Undertaker vs. Bret Hart

It's so odd to hear Austin's music and there really not be much of a pop. Vader and Austin are the first two in and they flip each other off. JR then says that the feeling he has right now is bigger than the Super Bowls and World Series that he has attended and even WrestleMania. I understand his job is to hype up the shows but come on. They quickly break off into Vader vs. Taker and Bret vs. Austin, as you would expect. Vader throws Fink out of the way to grab a chair, but it backfires. Taker kicks the chair into his face and then hits a chokeslam. Vader is busted open already and right over his eye. Undertaker and Austin are now on the outside and Taker hits a back body drop on Austin to the floor. I love the chaos of this match. I love the chaos of this match. Vader goes for the moonsault on Taker and naturally he misses. Vader's cut has got to be top 10 of modern day WWF. I don't know how he can even see. In a big surprise, Austin is the first one thrown over the top rope by Bret Hart. I actually forgot that was the case and am still surprised almost 30 years later. Bret then hits a superplex on Vader in an impressive spot. Bret puts on the Sharpshooter and Undertaker breaks the hold, which is extremely stupid. Bret falls out of the ring and out comes Austin to attack him. Vader goes for a Vader Bomb, but Taker sits up and hits him with a low blow and that sends Vader to the floor and out of the match. Bret charges at Taker and Taker catches him for a chokeslam. The crowd is super into all of this and rightfully so. It's down to two guys they have a lot of history with left. Taker puts Bret up for the Tombstone and Austin tries to yank Bret over the top but they kind of just fall awkwardly. Bret rolls Taker up and gets a 2 count. Bret then clotheslines Taker over the top and he is your new WWF Champion. That was pedal to the metal action, but the finish was very weak. Great, great main event. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Sid's music hits and he comes down to the ring. We get a quick confrontation ahead of their title match tomorrow night. 

This is kind of a good little show. Outside of the main event, there is nothing great, but it's all mostly enjoyable. The roster was very thin during this time, but this was a good example of making the most of it. 

Overall Rating: 69%

Thursday Raw Thursday 2-13-97 Review

Thursday, February 13th, 1997
Memorial Auditorium
Lowell, Massachusetts

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Call it a hunch, but I think this one is an important episode. I also am pretty confident that it takes place on a Thursday. We even get a unique intro with the voiceover guy saying Thursday Raw Thursday like 5 times and then Vince welcomes us to Thursday Raw Thursday. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Rocky Maivia vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Helmsley has kind of gained some momentum here for the first time in a long time with the new entrance music and slightly more aggressive style. Rocky has kind of been floundering a little bit. I do like the old school 1993 Raw vibe of this small arena. We're only 4 and a half minutes into this show and if you were drinking every time they said "Thursday Raw Thursday", you'd be dead. JR refers to Helmsley as "cerebral", which is kind of fun given his nickname down the road. JR had that one cooking for some time. They do keep bringing up the fact that Shawn Michaels is forfeiting his WWF Championship tonight, which truly is one of the biggest storylines of the late 90s that is still mocked to this day. Out comes Honky Tonk Man, as that is still a thing they are trying to make work. After Helmsley has been controlling most of the match, Rocky comes back with a back body drop. Rocky goes up top and hits a crossbody but Helmsley rolls through and gets a close call out of it. Helmsley hits a superplex and gets another 2 count. Helmsley sets Rocky up for the Pedigree, but he falls to his knees. He gets Rocky back up to his feet and Rocky uses an inside cradle to pull off the upset victory and become new champion. He gets the obligatory title change pop here and then is immediately interviewed by Dok Hendrix. He says he is going to give the best that he can give. This match actually was pretty good. They got time and I thought they mostly delivered here. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We get an In Your House: Final Four commercial. I'm looking forward to seeing that one again since it has been a long time. 

Out comes Sunny to a big pop. She's just here to announce the next match since no one cares about it. 

Headbangers vs. Aldo Montoya & Bob Holly

We're speaking my language with this match. This is very 1995 to me and I am here for it. The Headbangers were a fun team at the time. Holly hits a hurricanrana on Mosh and follows up with a dropkick. Meanwhile, Vince is talking about Shawn Michaels' belly button. This match really only exists so that they can talk about Shawn. We also get a Duckman promo during this match. Aldo gets a hot tag that isn't that hot. He goes up to the top rope and hits a crossbody for a 2 count. Headbangers quickly hit their powerbomb leg drop finisher for the win. That was a good finisher that I kind of forgot about, even if they kind of pull it off a little dangerously. This existed.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We come back from commercial and Vince introduces Gorilla Monsoon, who is already in the ring. He then brings out Shawn Michaels for the soon to be infamous moment. Shawn's trying to give this heartfelt interview and the crowd starts chanting "We want Sid!". He talks about his knee injury and that he's going to go back home and see what's left of him. This leads to the losing my smile moment and that he doesn't care if people are going to make fun of him. 29 years later, they still are. He says last year was the most wonderful year of his life as he's tearing up. He thanks Vince and the fans and says he's going home. He hugs Vince and Gorilla before heading out. 

When we come back from commercial, we get serious Vince thanking Shawn and hoping that he will return back to the ring after his surgery. Even Lawler is serious. 

Savio Vega vs. Undertaker

We come back from commercial and Taker is attacking Savio. Savio just recently joined that Nation at a house show and is still wearing his red cutoff tee. Taker hits a big boot and a leg drop for a 2 count. Savio does get some offense in, which makes sense because he is Taker's buddy. Taker runs into a spin kick in the corner. Shades of Kwang there. Taker makes a comeback and hits a weird looking leaping leg drop. Taker hits a chokeslam and that's all. The Nation comes in after the match is over and Taker starts brawling with all of them. Crush and Faarooq run in from the back and then out comes Ahmed Johnson to make the save. The crowd was really into all of this. I'm surprised the match got as much time as it did, but it was fine.

Match Rating: *1/2

Steve Austin vs. Sid

During Austin's entrance, we get a Gorilla Monsoon backstage interview with Dok Hendrix. He hypes up the Final Four match being for the WWF Championship. Gorilla says that Sid will get a title shot against the winner of the WWF Championship. We get a brawl and they keep up a pretty good pace to start. The crowd is very much into this match also. Lawler thinks we'll see this same exact match on Raw Monday. Bret Hart just randomly comes into the ring and attacks Austin, causing Sid to lose the match by disqualification. Sid confronts Bret when Austin gets thrown out of the ring and they start brawling. They go at it for awhile before they are finally split up. This was too short to be much.

Match Rating: *

We go backstage to Vader and he talks about beating both Taker and Austin and now Bret is next. 

Jerry Lawler is shown filling out a Western Union money transfer to his mom so that she can buy him a Valentine's gift. We then get a recap of the Shawn interview from earlier. 

Faarooq & Crush vs. Owen Hart & British Bulldog

Crush hits a dangerous looking piledriver on Bulldog before dumping him out of the ring. We get a Bret promo with Bret saying pretty nice things about Shawn for some reason. They probably should have done this during the Aldo Montoya match instead. Owen gets a hot tag and hits the spinning heel kick. He then gets thrown over the top and injures his knee. Faarooq and Bulldog battle and then the bell rings for Owen being counted out. They are dominating Bulldog and Owen tries to get back in but his knee hurts too badly. The Nation stands tall and their music plays. This was whatever.

Match Rating: *1/4

We get a Final Four commercial. Did they announce any of the other matches for this show?

Vader vs. Bret Hart

There isn't a whole lot of time left here. Right after Bret's music stops, Taker's music hits and he comes out. He says that he's not getting any respect and that he will win on Sunday. Vader then clubs Bret and we are under way. He dumps Bret out of the ring and then Austin comes down and stomps on Bret as we go on a commercial break. When we come back, Austin and Vader are in the ring with Vader in control. Bret is able to get the Sharpshooter on for a moment and then Vader grabs the ropes. Vader goes up for a moonsault and misses. Austin is in the crowd during this also. Bret covers Vader and gets the victory? This was short but solid. 

Match Rating: *3/4

This was a very energetic show with a hot crowd and matches that people actually wanted to see. You got a title change and a lot of interaction between the top contenders. However, this is most famous for the Shawn Michaels promo and that is a pretty historic moment in its own right. Overall, this is a good show that was a good example of what this era was like when it was on.

Overall Rating: 72%

Royal Rumble 1997 Review

Sunday, January 19th, 1997
Alamodome
San Antonio, Texas

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The hype video only talks about Shawn Michaels, just in case you were wondering who was winning tonight. We get some pyro and an impressive shot of the big crowd tonight. We have some crappy audio, as is the usual here on WWF pay per view. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Goldust vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

It's definitely pretty interesting that just a year ago, the heel Goldust probably hit its peak at the Royal Rumble beating Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship and now they are trying to boost his face turn at the same event for the same title. After a lengthy hype video, Helmsley makes his entrance with Mr. Hughes for the first time. Hughes does such a great job as his bodyguard that Goldust runs right down the aisle and attacks him and he just stands there. Goldust hits a catapult that sends Helmsley over the top rope and then Goldust slams the steps on Helmsley and the referee allows it. Helmsley is able to snap Goldust's neck on the top rope and then Vince lets us know that George and Adam were thrown out of the building by security. Vince is very upset about it. The crowd is pretty mild for this one, which isn't a good sign. They did have 3 matches prior to this, all featuring wrestlers not on WWF television, so that probably didn't help much either. Helmsley throws Goldust into the ring post and Mr. Hughes continues to just stand there. Helmsley misses with a knee and hits the railing and Goldust kicks out the same knee. Once again, Goldust gets away with using the steps, this time on the knees. This match is starting to get into too long territory, a Triple H staple. Goldust drops Helmsley on his knee into the step and Vince defends it by saying it's the Royal Rumble. Goldust goes up top until Helmsley crotches him. He goes up for a superplex but Goldust shoves him off and then misses with an elbow drop. We get shenanigans with Mr. Hughes and it backfires, allowing Goldust to hit Helmsley in the face with the title belt. Hughes is able to pull Helmsley out of the ring to avoid the pin. Helmsley attacks Goldust from behind, hits the Pedigree and picks up the victory. They could have easily shaved 5 minutes off that one, but it did build to something that mattered. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We hear from Bret Hart and Mankind talking about the Rumble match later on. 

Faarooq vs. Ahmed Johnson

Ahmed runs into the ring and starts wailing away on Faarooq. Ahmed starts using Faarooq's belt and the referee allows it, leading to JR's "government mule" line. Ahmed throws Faarooq into the steps, although Faarooq doesn't do much of a job running into them. Faarooq uses one of his cronies to shift the momentum and then body slams Ahmed's kidney onto the top of the chair. Faarooq slows things down but the crowd is more invested in this match than the opener. Ahmed makes his comeback and the crowd is here for it. Faarooq sends in the Nation and the ref calls for the bell. Well, that's about as unsatisfying of an ending as you could get considering how long we had to wait for these two to go at it. Faarooq retreats to the back but one of the Nation guys gets a Pearl River Plunge through the French announce table. That spot would be used quite a bit in highlights. This was going along pretty good until the abrupt ending. It's disappointing that Ahmed didn't end up with a better run because the fans really did respond to him. 

Match Rating: **

We hear from Terry Funk talking about how he's from Texas and ready to rumble. Todd Pettengill is back with the Nation and is sporting a buzz cut and goatee. Faarooq yells at a couple of his Nation members and gives a quick, but effective promo. 

Vader vs. Undertaker

We are now 3 for 3 on matches starting before the bell with Undertaker attacking Vader. Taker is in control until he goes for Old School and Vader counters it and Taker takes a spill. They go to Todd who is with a young fan that saved her babysitting money to follow Shawn Michaels around. They really did that during this match? I can promise that there will be plenty of time for that during the AAA match. The announcers speculate about Jim Cornette's absence, wondering if he and Vader are no longer associated. Taker misses with an elbow drop and Vader continues to be a step ahead of Taker. Vader goes off the second rope and Taker catches him for a powerslam. Vader comes back and hits a powerbomb and naturally Taker kicks out at 2 and is back on his feet. Vader misses with a clothesline an Taker snaps back with his leaping variation. Taker goes for Old School again and this time it works. Paul Bearer is now out and Taker hits a chokeslam. Taker clotheslines Vader over the top rope and then attacks Bearer. Bearer is thrown in the ring and does his over the top schtick. Vader tries to attack from behind, but it doesn't work and gets clotheslined over the top again. Taker runs and leaps off the steel steps but Bearer moves Vader out of the way and Taker crashes into the guardrail. Bearer leaps off the apron and hits Taker with the urn behind the referee's back. Vader puts him in the corner and hits the Vader Bomb for the surprising victory. I didn't get to watch this one live, but was in a WWF chat room to get results and was really shocked when people said he won. The match itself was a little disappointing, but I loved seeing Vader finally get some love. 

Match Rating: **

After the match, Undertaker realizes what happened and he chokeslams the referee. 

They show Steve Austin walking through the back cutting a promo before telling the camera to cut. British Bulldog cuts a promo bringing his luggage into the arena and says he'll win because he's "bizarre". Legendary stuff.

Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal & Jerry Estrada vs. Canek, Hector Garza & Perro Aguayo

I remember wanting to see this match really badly, thinking we were getting the WWF variation of Rey Mysterio and Psicosis. Boy, was I wrong. We do get a pretty decent start to the match and the crowd could not care less. I'm sorry, but I don't feel like calling this match and remembering which guy is which. Garza is the only one who looks like he maybe would have had a shot in WWF. It really is amazing that you have all these people in San Antonio and it seems like not one of them has ever heard of any of these guys. He hits a decent looking corkscrew dive off the top rope to the floor. Aguayo, who looks like he's 65, hits a stomp off the top rope and picks up the win to put this match out of its misery. To be fair, these guys had little to no chance of succeeding with this audience and that's a tough spot to be in. It also wasn't very good. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Fink announces the attendance as 60,477 and then they show a section with a bunch of empty seats. A lot of people realized it was a great time to use the restroom. 

Royal Rumble Match

We get some pyro and then the Nation of Domination's music hits. #1 is Crush. That can only mean one thing, #2 is Ahmed Johnson. They booked the Ahmed/Faarooq appropriately in order for this to make sense, but it definitely takes away from the excitement of this spot. Then again, anything with Crush lacks excitement no matter how you book it. With no countdown timer, out of nowhere, we see Fake Razor Ramon just walk out and Vince lets us know that they are having issues with the clock. Razor lasts about 10 seconds before getting dumped out by Ahmed. That was the only right choice there. Ahmed then decides to chase after Faarooq and eliminates himself. It's time for #4 and the terrible fake hillbilly music for Phineas Godwinn. The roster still needed some help here. With the clock still not working, Steve Austin's music hits and he seemingly gets no pop. It's just so odd to hear that music and it not be followed by a large ovation. This no clock nonsense is a real buzzkill and is something I forgot about. Phineas eliminates Crush and then Austin hits a Stunner on Phineas and dumps him out. Out comes Bart Gunn at #6. Bart messes up a Rocker Dropper and then gets clotheslined over the top and Austin starts doing some pushups, which gets a pop. We also get the famous "Austin looking at his wrist tape" stop. Out comes Jake Roberts with no vest at #7. He goes right to work on Austin and the snake is in the bag in the middle of the ring. Out comes British Bulldog at #8 and because of his entrance, we miss Roberts getting eliminated. They build on the mini feud we have been having between these two here. The clock is working and we get Pierroth to dead silence at #9. Apparently Dok Hendrix had him in his top 10 contenders. He and Bulldog work on Austin and now it's time for the Sultan to conclude the first 1/3rd of the entrants at #10. This match desperately needs a babyface and no, I did not mean Mil Mascaras, who comes out at #11. The crowd does react to him though, so that's a good sign. He is probably most famous now for his "No yob" from Bruce Prichard. Hunter Hearst Helmsley is #12 and he for some reason jogs to the ring and then goes after Bulldog. Bulldog then clotheslines Sultan over the top and he's gone. Now we finally get someone good in here with Owen Hart at lucky #13. Bulldog is trying to eliminate Austin and Owen tries to help, but instead Bulldog gets dumped and he is not happy about it. Goldust is #14 in another obvious choice. They show the replay of Owen eliminating Bulldog and it looks to be on purpose. #15 is Cibernetico and apparently is only 20 years old and Marc Mero is #16 with Sable. While Mero is coming out, Cibernetico is out. Mascaras goes up to the top rope and leaps to Cibernetico on the floor and is eliminated, hence the "No yob". Goldust messes up a clothesline spot with Helmsley and then re-does it to get him eliminated. Latin Lover is out at #17 and gets a little bit of a spot upon his entrance before we go back to the normal stuff. Owen is able to dump Goldust out and we now have Faarooq at #18. It also is kind of weird to see the wrestlers entering the ring from the right side for the Rumble. Austin and Faarooq start brawling and then Ahmed comes out with a super 2 x 4 and the crowd loves it. Faarooq eliminates himself to escape Ahmed. Austin then gets both Owen and Marc Mero out, leaving Austin by himself. Austin's old rival is out next at #19 and the announce team reminds us of the Caribbean Strap match from last year. Savio hits the big spinning heel kick but then Austin quickly turns things around and gets Savio out. Up next is #20 and it is Jesse James. Austin gets rid of him like the trash his character is. At #21 is Bret Hart and here we go! After some brawling, we get our comedy spot of the match because Jerry Lawler is #22. He goes in the ring and is immediately punched out of the ring by Bret. Oh good, it's Fake Diesel at #23. #24 is Terry Funk, who doesn't get much of a response. There is a group of people that walk through the crowd with a Terry sign though, so that's cool. Rocky Maivia is in at #25 and adds a little pep to the ring. Mankind is your 26th entrant tonight. Flash Funk is out at #27 and it already feels like this character is dead, which is a shame. At #28, it's time, it's Vader time. He had his biggest win of his WWF run about an hour ago and he goes right for Bret Hart. #29 is Henry Godwinn and we have to listen to the awful generic hillbilly music again. I do love me some Henry, so this is a good addition. He hits a huge clothesline on Vader, which is surprising that they let that happen, but I'm down for it. Your #30 entrant is of course, the Undertaker. Taker is able to use his strength to get Godwinn out of there. Mankind uses the Mandible Claw to remove Rocky out of the ring and that just makes me realize that Fake Diesel is still in there. Mankind suplexes Funk to the floor and barely hangs on himself. Taker then eliminates Mankind and he starts brawling with Funk. Bret launches Austin over the top rope, but since the referees were breaking up the Funk/Mankind brawl, Austin comes back in the ring. He gets rid of Vader and Undertaker at the same time. Somewhere in there Fake Diesel was eliminated too. Austin gets rid of Bret and the referees announce Austin as the winner. Bret is absolutely livid and starts yelling at the referee. As much as I love all of this, it is really easy to poke holes in the logic since everyone saw what happened. Bret starts yelling at Vince before cursing his way to the back. This is kind of a hard match to rate. The pacing was good and the Austin run was extremely memorable, but outside of that, there weren't many other notable moments. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

It's time for a Sid/Shawn Michaels hype video. We also see an interview from Superstars with Shawn before we see Shawn and Jose Lothario walking backstage. Sid also gets the backstage walk shot, which is a nice touch for this match. 

WWF Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Sid

They go face to chin and Sid shoves him down a couple of times before going to work. Out of the ring they go and Sid throws Shawn into the ring and gets him up in the air, but Shawn uses a thumb to get out of it. Shawn goes up to the top and Sid catches him and hits a powerslam. They show Jose's son in the crowd. Sid puts on the Camel Clutch in the center of the ring. Sid continues to work on the back with Shawn doing his bumping. Shawn tries to make a comeback and Sid nails him with a big clothesline and that gets big boos from the hometown crowd. Sid hits a big leg drop and that gets a 2 count. Shawn makes a comeback and hits the flying forearm. He climbs the top rope and hits the elbow drop to a big pop. He starts to tune up the band and Sid blocks it. Shawn ducks a clothesline and Sid hits a back body drop that sends Shawn to the floor. Sid then hits a powerbomb on the outside of the ring. The referee is knocked down during some of the Lothario nonsense. Sid has Shawn down for the count and the referee is still down. In comes a second referee and he only counts to 2. Sid then shoves the new referee to the ground. You can see Shawn trying to warn Sid and he goes to Jose and Shawn grabs a camera. Shawn nails him a couple of times with the camera and the referee crawls over to make the count but Sid gets the shoulder up just in time. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music and we have a new champion. This was a much better match than I remembered. We all knew what was going to happen and the crowd was there for the ride. Very solid main event.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Shawn celebrates with the crowd and his biggest fan, Vince. A highlight reel of the show finishes us off and we are all done here in San Antonio. 

I have always liked this show and feel like it's one of those shows that just is fun to watch. It's far from perfect and there isn't that one match on here that you have to see, but it's a good time capsule for this era. 

Overall Rating: 71%

Monday Night Raw 1-6-97 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, January 6th, 1997
Knickerbocker Arena
Albany, New York

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We get a quick promo from Vader ahead of his match with Bret and then Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler hype up the crazy premier of Shotgun Saturday Night. I remember staying up until 2 am because that's when it would show in my area only for it to never air. 

Owen Hart vs. Mankind

Vince calls this a type of a tough man match, which is not really what I would consider it at all. Mankind is on the offensive early on and a clothesline sends Owen to the floor. The crowd actually cheers that in this battle of the two smark favorites. Owen fights back and drops Mankind gut first into the guardrail. These two are putting on a solid match here and Mankind hits Owen on the head with a bucket before we go to commercial break. We get a Full Metal commercial and it's still the best. Owen goes off the top but runs into the Mandible Claw. He escapes out but is thrown into the ring post. Mankind hits a piledriver and that's it? They were on their way to a great match before the abrupt finish. I love hearing Mankind's outro music though. Weird finish aside, this was a good opener. 

Match Rating: ***

We go to Jose Lothario and Shawn Michaels. Jose is doing better and says that Shawn is going to get his title back. Jose's son is there too and he says that Shawn needs assistance, he'll be there. Shawn's return to his cockier persona really doesn't work with Jose standing there at all. 

We see some more highlights from Shotgun Saturday Night. They definitely will not stop caring about that show. 

Fake Razor Ramon & Fake Diesel vs. Furnas & Lafon

Honky Tonk Man is out at the announce table. This could be combining 3 of the worst things from this era. The crowd is absolutely dead for this and appropriately so. I know I certainly don't feel like typing what is going on. Then they give this match a commercial break? What were they thinking? We get a Royal Rumble commercial and it's the best part of the match so far. This whole hype of Honky finding his protege is even funnier than it was back in 1996. Furnas finally makes a tag and Lafon hits some kicks to kind of wake up the crowd. Lafon leaps into a big boot of Diesel but then hits a suplex on Razor. Furnas runs into a Razor clothesline and goes for the Razor's Edge. Lafon hits Razor from behind and then Furnas hits a hurricanrana but the pin is broken up. They double clothesline Diesel over the top and hit a crappy variation of the Doomsday Device for the victory. The last 60 seconds were fine and the rest was garbage. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show Marlena flashing the Sultan on Shotgun Saturday Night. They then interview Bret Hart talking about Shawn Michaels. He hopes that Shawn sticks his nose in his business and then starts talking about Vader until Sid's music hits and Bret goes to the ring and we go to commercial. We see the George and Adam commercial of them being at the Royal Rumble early. 

JR introduces Sid into the ring. This is very much LOUD NOISES Sid but I like that they had his music playing during it. Shawn's music hits and out he comes. He goes to the announce table and dances while Sid laughs at him. 

Bret Hart vs. Vader

Wow, we even get Superstars highlights of Undertaker hitting a Tombstone on Jim Cornette. We get a pretty basic start to the match and we see Steve Austin watching in the back. Vader goes for the Vader Bomb before teasing the moonsault and then going back to the Vader Bomb. He takes too much time and Bret gets his knees up. Sid comes out and grabs a cameraman and brings him to the back. Austin is out and he gives Bret a Stunner. Vader rolls him in the ring and sets him up for the Vader Bomb. Vader hits it and that's all. The crowd was not as into this as you would have expected. The finish wasn't as well done as they were probably hoping for either. Vader needed the win to have some momentum going into his match with Undertaker and Bret had bigger things coming in the long run. The match was decent overall. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We go to the back and Sid hits a powerbomb on Pete Lothario onto a table in the locker room. They show Shawn in the back with Bart Gunn, Aldo Montoya and Savio Vega checking on Pete while Shawn yells. 

This was a pretty good show overall that seemed to just be lacking a spark from the crowd. The middle match really sucked the life out of them and they never recovered. I definitely would not be upset to see more of Owen and Mankind going forward though. 

Overall Rating: 58%

In Your House 12: It's Time Review

Sunday, December 15th, 1996
West Palm Beach Auditorium
West Palm Beach, Florida

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I think I have only seen this show one time, so I guess it's time for another viewing. We get a short, but decent intro video hyping up only Sid/Bret Hart. We get some cheap pyro and we are in another auditorium, so that means one thing, it's time for In Your House. From what I can tell, this was the least purchased pay per view up to this point for WWF. This opener is a perfect example of a reason why. 

Leif Cassidy vs. Flash Funk

While I just crapped on this match, it's not because I don't like these guys. I actually like both of them quite a bit. This had no story and neither guy had really done anything to deserve to be on a pay per view. With that being said, I like that they are putting on a match to help showcase these guys and it also tells me that they believe they can have a good match. I really don't get why the Flash Funk gimmick didn't get over because for the time, the presentation was pretty good. Funk kind of messes up his first high flying move and Cassidy hits gets the first big impact move with the face first powerbomb. He then hits a belly to belly over the top rope. Cassidy then hits a somersault dive over the top. Cassidy then hits a running clothesline from up the entrance before throwing him back into the ring. We get some of the youngsters chanting for Flash, but it is short lived. Cassidy goes for a powerbomb, but Funk counters out of it and does some Dusty Rhodes inspired offense. Cassidy comes back with a variation of a powerbomb that gets a nice reaction. Cassidy misses with a second rope leaping moonsault and Funk makes his comeback. Funk hits a cartwheel into a Pele kick. Funk then hits a big dive over the top rope. Funk hits a top rope moonsault and Cassidy kicks out of 2. The crowd is invested in the match now and you love to see that. They do the multiple pin attempt spots before Funk hits an enzuiguri. Funk goes up top again and hits the 450 splash for the victory. They did a good job of making both guys look good here and they earned the attention of the crowd by the end of it. The problem is that they did nothing with Funk after this and Cassidy actually became the winner, with him going to ECW to develop his next persona. 

Match Rating: ***

We get a Royal Rumble commercial for the Coliseum Video release. I'm guessing the feed here on Netflix is from the Coliseum Video then?

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Fake Razor Ramon & Fake Diesel vs. Owen Hart & British Bulldog

Who in the world thought booking this match was a good idea? JR is all worked up that people are booing the fake boys. We go to Kevin Kelly with Bulldog and Owen. Kelly tries to poke the Bulldog with asking if Steve Austin is around. They show Austin celebrating his victory on Superstars this morning and Bulldog came out. Before he could get to the ring, the fake boys attacked him. Fake Diesel struggles to get Owen up for the press slam because he sucks at wrestling and meanwhile, Cibernetico and Pierroth come out and no one cares. Fake Razor does his imitation of Razor and Bulldog looks like he is second guessing his life decisions that led him to this moment. The AAA stars go to the back and Vince tries to sell that it meant something. It didn't. Steve Austin now comes out and the whole arena stands up. Bulldog attacks him from behind and they start brawling. What a random and strange storyline. It really is a credit to Bulldog and Owen here that the crowd cares about this match whatsoever. And let's be honest, it's mostly Owen. Fake Razor hits the fall away slam and gets a 2 count. Fake Diesel hits a big boot and that gets a 2 count. Bulldog gets a hot tag and hits a suplex but can't hold him up for more than a split second. We have all four men in the ring and it leads to Owen being thrown into Fake Diesel and him catching Owen. Bulldog dropkicks him and it sends both over the top. Bulldog goes for the running powerslam and Fake Razor counters out into the Razor's Edge. Owen hits the spinning heel kick on Razor and Bulldog pins him and JR is livid. After the match, Austin attacks Bulldog during the celebration. This was actually not that bad overall, with the champions carrying the match. 

Match Rating: **1/2

They show the Nation of Domination back in the AOL chat room, which leads us to Vince introducing Ahmed Johnson to the ring for an interview. Ahmed says that he's lost his girlfriend, his house, he's lost everything because of his injury. Are his pet's heads falling off too? It should be noted that he did not lose his fanny pack. Out come the Nation into the stands. Faarooq says a bunch of words followed "By any means necessary". Ahmed says that they don't need to wait to the Royal Rumble and then gets a small "You're going down" chant going before his music hits. 

We get a video package for Marc Mero and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. They surprisingly do focus most of the video on Curt Hennig despite him being gone and they actually call him Triple H here. I didn't think it was quite this early. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Marc Mero vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Helmsley has his much better entrance music here. Helmsley is showing off a more aggressive side here, using the steel steps while outside the ring and now working on the back of Mero. Helmsley goes a little too far and the referee gets in his face, allowing Mero to shift the momentum. Mero hits a hurricanrana from the top rope and then signals for the Wild Thing. Helmsley shoves the referee into the ropes and that's enough to crotch Mero. Mero is able to hit the catapult and Helmsley's head hits the ring post and Mero crawls over to get a 2 count. Mero goes back up top and hits a Mero-sault for another 2 count. Helmsley ducks a Mero clothesline and he accidentally hits the referee. Helmsley grabs the Intercontinental belt to use on Mero but Mero kicks him in the gut first. Mero gets him into a pin attempt but the ref is still down. He wakes up with assistance from Sable and Helmsley kicks out at 2. Mero sends Helmsley over the top rope and then sort of hits a somersault dive. Out comes Goldust. He looks to nail Helmsley and he ducks and Goldust hits Mero. Goldust then goes after Helmsley again and this time it works, so both men are down on the floor outside the ring. Mero is able to get up and crawl into the ring just in time for the 10 count and the ref rings the bell. Mero isn't happy to not win the title so he grabs Helmsley and puts him in the ring and hits the Wild Thing. This was a pretty good match that had a stupid finish. 

Match Rating: ***

While they are showing some highlights and Fink is announcing that Mero doesn't win the title, we miss Goldust attacking Helmsley. Officials help him walk to the back. 

Dok Hendrix is with Sid in the locker room. They show the confrontation with Sid, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels outside the arena this morning. 

Executioner vs. Undertaker

Executioner comes out before we get our video package. This is basically a Last Man Standing match. It doesn't take too long for Paul Bearer to get involved, but as usual Taker doesn't sell long for just about anyone, especially someone on the level of the Executioner. Mankind comes out to try and clip Taker's leg but kind of trips and misses and tries to make up for it. This thing all just feels very "house show". They battle up the aisle and Taker throws Mankind through the house and then back out through the door. They start battling outside the arena and back inside the ring they are putting a straitjacket on Mankind. Taker throws Executioner into the fountain outside and then comes back towards the ring and starts attacking Mankind. Executioner meets him in the ring and Taker quickly hits a Tombstone. For some reason he pins him and counts to 3. He doesn't win though because the ref has to count to 10. He does and that's it. I mean, they knew they had to dress this up and they did what they could. They didn't play into the 10 count at all as far as psychology goes and that was probably for the best. They kept it short and sweet and let Mankind cook. This was better than I had remembered, but it also wasn't necessarily good. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Dok is now with Bret Hart and he says that all he's thought about for the last 12 months is Shawn Michaels, but Shawn doesn't matter anymore. Just as he says that, Shawn's music hits and Bret is furious. Shawn joins the announce team for the match.

WWF Championship Match
Bret Hart vs. Sid

Sid turns his back and Bret jumps him from behind and Shawn mocks him for it. Shawn is doing most of the talking here, basically cutting a promo throughout the match. They start brawling outside the ring and Sid rips up the mat. Bret is able to drive Sid back into the ring post multiple times. Shawn pays Bret some respect for adapting to Sid's style and Bret starts working on Sid's back. Bret works on it for quite a while before Sid is able to throw Bret off the top rope. Out comes Steve Austin and he clips Bret's knee from behind. Out come British Bulldog and Owen Hart to defend Bret. Sid continues his offense on Bret. Sid gets him up on his shoulder and Bret escapes, but Sid counters that. Sid lifts Bret up again and they do the same spot, this time with Bret landing into the exposed turnbuckle. Sid hits the chokeslam in the center of the ring, but Bret is able to kick out at 2. Sid tries to clothesline Bret over the top, but he ducks and Bret clotheslines Sid instead and both fall over to the floor. Shawn grabs a chair from Shawn and he once again mocks Bret for being a great role model. Sid hits Bret before he can use it and then has words with Shawn. He shoves Shawn. Shawn gets up on the apron and Sid throws Bret into him. Sid hits the powerbomb and pins Bret Hart in the middle of the ring. I actually forgot that he beat him by pin here. That was a really good ending to a pretty good main event. Bret has definitely had better big man matches, but this was still pretty solid overall. 

Match Rating: ***

After the match, Bret attacks Shawn and this is the main event scene that I was so invested in back while this was happening. You never knew what was going to happen between the top guys and it carried the show for months until they were finally able to build up their roster. Shawn is livid and they show the ending one more time. 

Call me crazy, but this was a pretty entertaining show overall. It flew by and nothing was really boring. I mean obviously this has little historical significance, but at the end of the day, I was entertained.

Overall Rating: 66%

Monday Night Raw 12-9-96

Original Airdate: Monday, December 9th, 1996
New Haven Coliseum
New Haven, Connecticut

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

This is the go home show before In Your House and we're getting Mankind vs. Undertaker.

Sid vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

It's champion vs. champion here. Sid runs down the aisle and attacks Helmsley during his entrance. Sid completely dominates here and hits the powerbomb after just a couple of minutes. He doesn't go for the pin for some reason and Helmsley rolls out of the ring. Helmsley is crawling up the aisle and we have a countout. I'm not really sure how that made him look any better than eating a pin. This established Sid as a force and made Helmsley look like a con. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show highlights of the Boiler Room Brawl between Mankind and Undertaker. They then claim that we have never seen them go at it in No Holds Barred. Minus the fact that the Boiler Room Brawl was exactly that. 

Goldust vs. Bart Gunn

Vince loves JR's Cruella de Vil joke, showing the power of terrible humor. Goldust is pretty aggressive here to start. The action spills outside and Goldust shoves Bart into the steps. They continue to hype up how we have never seen Mankind and Undertaker No Holds Barred. We get a live interview with Billy Gunn watching the TV on an angle. It's about as cookie cutter of a "I'm a heel now" promo as you'll see. This match actually gets a commercial break for some reason. Bart hits a crossbody and gets a 2 count out of it. Bart hits a bulldog, which is an interesting choice since it's one of Goldust's signatures. They are trying to work a quicker pace, but they both look a little gassed. Bart misses off the top rope, hurting his knee. Goldust clips him and picks up the victory. They were definitely trying; I'll give them that. Out comes Billy after the match and grabs a mic. He says that this is what happens when he's not around. Billy gets in his face and Bart hits him with a left hand. Billy scoots out and we are reminded that they are going to have a match next week. 

Match Rating: *1/2

They show clips of the Buried Alive match, which was most definitely not No Holds Barred. 

We then get a Justin Bradshaw and Uncle Zebekiah promo about their handicap match with Jesse James. I can't imagine why they were losing to WCW. 

Speaking of ratings, we go to Todd Pettengill for the Karate Fighters tournament and get highlights of the tournament. 

Handicap Match
Justin Bradshaw & Uncle Zebekiah vs. Jesse James

Double J does his singing entrance and cuts it short so he can attack both opponents. The crowd is absolutely dead for this match and that's no surprise. Even for Double J's comeback, absolutely nothing. Bradshaw holds James for Zebekiah and of course James ducks and Bradshaw gets hit with the branding iron. He does it right in front of the referee and he does nothing, so James pins him and gets the win. After the match, Bradshaw attacks Zebekiah and Vince is baffled by it. The guy has done nothing so far in his run, so not really sure why he would keep him around. This stunk.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Jim Ross is in the ring and introduces Bret Hart for an interview. Bret says that you take the technical wrestling and throw it out the window. All Bret has been thinking about is getting the title back. Bret says they call him Sycho Sid when he snaps, but when Bret snaps, they'll call him the WWF Champion. 

We see Mankind in Dubai saying he wants to go home and then into a Royal Rumble commercial with George and Adam. January 19th. 

We see the highlights from the Boiler Room Brawl, which was most definitely not No Holds Barred. 

Mankind vs. Undertaker

Mankind doesn't even get a televised entrance. The action starts off quick and Undertaker hits a leaping clothesline. Taker hits Old School, which I am still shocked to this day that they didn't come up with a name for that move for years. Taker has Mankind up for the Tombstone and out comes the Executioner. Taker sets him down and goes after Executioner. That leads to a Full Metal commercial, which is an album I listened to every morning while getting ready for school that year. We come back and they are brawling against the guardrail. Taker then stomps on Mankind's Mandible Claw hand on the steps. Taker then takes one of the steps and slams it on Mankind's hand. Mankind goes by the announce booth and sets up Taker's leg on a chair. Mankind leaps off the ring and hits an elbow right on Taker's leg. JR lets us know that he heard a pop. Mankind tries to use a padded chair but Taker kicks it into him. Mankind is then able to get the Mandible Claw on so I guess the early attack on his hand didn't end up working. Taker is in the hold for a long time and slowly starts to stand up. Taker escapes and we get a really weird looking move in the corner. They just kind of pretend it never happened and Taker hits the Tombstone for the win. This was a good main event, even if we have seen this 500 times by now. Right after the match, Executioner attacks Taker from behind and puts on the worst looking sleeper you will ever see. We go off the air with Taker about to pass out. 

Match Rating: ***

The Bret interview was short, but sweet and the main event was good enough for an hour long show to make this enjoyable. The rest was stuff that no one cared about, especially the Jesse James match. This really did nothing much in the way of getting you hyped for In Your House, so in that respect it was kind of a failure. 

Overall Rating: 55%

Monday Night Raw 11-25-96 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, November 25th, 1996
New Haven Coliseum
New Haven, Connecticut

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart

I would say that this is a pretty good way to start a show, even if we have seen it 100 times. While Owen is entering the ring, we see Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario at home and we will hear from them later on. We get a little bit of a slow pace to start, so I'm guessing they are going to get some time here. Owen hits a nice belly to belly suplex to regain control. I kind of stayed away from typing too much waiting for something to happen and just as the match finally picks up a little bit, out comes Steve Austin to hit Bret with a chair. This leads to Owen arguing with Austin and then British Bulldog as well. Lots of arguing, but not much action. I feel like they could have had a better match in their sleep, but this was far from bad. It just was nothing memorable.

Match Rating: **

Executioner vs. Freddie Joe Floyd

It is pretty obvious in the first 30 seconds that the Executioner is not long for this roster. Floyd is a very solid hand and you know he was likely giving it all he had here to make him look good, but it's very much a Waylon Mercy scenario here. Floyd hits a nice kick and gets a 2 count. Executioner then no sells some punches and hits a couple of turnbuckle clotheslines. He uses the Asian spike or something for the victory. Not good.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Shawn and Jose are sitting in a couch at Jose's house that just screams early 90s. Jose apologizes to Shawn and Vince cuts him off to ask him his status. They let us know that Shawn will take on the champion at Royal Rumble. Vince then tells Shawn that his boyhood dream has been shattered and he wonders if he can pick up the pieces. Shawn says he lost his edge and it wasn't Jose's fault. Lawler then calls Jose a fossil and says that he cost Shawn the title. Shawn sticks up for him and says that Sid is the man he wants. Vince asks about the crowd cheering for Sid and Shawn said he's good with it because he wants them to enjoy themselves, but he won't beg to anyone to cheer for him. Shawn is all fired up here. Shawn says he's going to take more risks and do what he did to become the top guy. That was kind of a fun segment since it didn't seem overly polished.

Back to the arena and out comes Sunny to join the announce table. Now it's time for the Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament. It's Sable vs. Sunny, the biggest feud behind the scenes. Sunny pulls off the big victory, but the referee finds out that she used gum to hold her figure down and then punches the referee. That leads to dad jokes from Lawler and Todd. 

Salvatore Sincere vs. Rocky Maivia

My favorite themed jobber, Sal Sincere. Sunny says she has her eyes on Rocky. After hyping Rocky up for a minute or two, we go to Dok Hendrix during the match for an update on Bret and Austin to interrupt the match. Sincere does a nice job of trying to make this feel like more than just a squash. It's basically a Superstars main event. Rocky hits the shoulder breaker and that's the victory. Not a great finisher. I wonder if he'll ever change that? 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Marc Mero tells us that it's time to get wild. 

We come back to Dok Hendrix and he says that Bulldog and Owen seem to be ready to defend their titles at In Your House. 

Billy Gunn vs. Marc Mero

Mero is in the ring already and Hunter Hearst Helmsley is at the announce table. Helmsley distracts him and it allows Gunn to attack. Back in the ring, Billy runs into a boot from Mero. Mero goes up top and hits a moonsault for a 2. Billy hits the Rocker Dropper, but Mero kicks out at 2. Billy is controlling the majority of this match and definitely has a big future coming up for him pretty soon. Mero gets a small package for 2, but Billy levels him with a clothesline when they get back up. They actually are giving this a commercial break. When we come back, Mero hits a hurricanrana from the top rope for a 2 count. Helmsley gets up and says he is going to help Sable. Mero hits a Samoan drop and then goes after Helmsley. He hits him but then Billy hits him from behind. Helmsley is in the ring with Billy and they attack him, causing the DQ. Out comes Jake Roberts to try to make the save, but he doesn't even get in a move before being attacked. Mero basically is able to clear the ring for himself. The match was fine for what it was. 

Match Rating: *1/4

This was a pretty good episode overall, but nothing really happened. They tried to play up the whole Owen/Bulldog/Bret/Austin stuff, but they never showed anything and it didn't seem like that big of a deal. I did like the Shawn interview and helped bring back some edge to his character. The wrestling was nothing special, but inoffensive.

Overall Rating: 51%

Monday Night Raw 11-18-96 Review

Monday, November 18th, 1996
New Haven Coliseum
New Haven, Connecticut

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Steve Austin vs. Mankind

This was supposed to be Vader but has been changed to Mankind. They show Vader getting injured by Yokozuna. They are billing this as a tough man match. Mankind comes running out during Austin's entrance and attacks him and they start brawling. Officials are out to break up the brawl. What a great way to start the show. I have to say that I do not remember this. They finally get into the ring and we have ourselves a match. Austin is going after Mankind with an intensity that you really didn't see that often in WWF until this time. Austin launches Mankind into the rail and into the crowd. Back into the ring we go and Mankind is able to stuff his fingers down his mouth until Austin kicks him in the crotch and into the commercial break. Austin tries to suplex Mankind from the apron and to the floor, but it's blocked and Mankind suplexes him into the ring. They continue to brawl and then out comes the Executioner and we get a cop out DQ. Out comes Undertaker to make the save and the crowd is loving it. He gets rid of Mankind and Executioner but then Austin clotheslines Taker over the top. Taker comes back in the ring and Austin still plays heel and retreats to the back. This was a fun Raw match despite the pointless finish. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

We get a Survivor Series replay commercial. They show a weird overhead camera angle while Vince is telling us that it's Ahmed Johnson walking through the crowd. Even when they show the crowd shot, you can't even see him, so I'm not sure how Vince can. Out comes Sunny and she grabs a mic to introduce a "dear friend of hers", Faarooq. He gets the rap intro from PG-13 that we saw at Survivor Series. 

Faarooq vs. Savio Vega

Sunny joins the announce team here. Faarooq is mostly dominating and the crowd is pretty dead for all of this. Ahmed wearing a Survivor Series hat is kind of funny, though. Faarooq folds Savio up with a back suplex into the commercial and the fans are still sitting on their hands. Faarooq goes up to the top rope and Savio crotches him. He goes for a superplex and they both fall to the floor. Based on how quickly Faarooq is up and throwing Savio in the ring, I'm guessing that wasn't supposed to happen. Savio hits a spin kick but doesn't make the cover. He charges at Faarooq and lands outside the ring. PG-13 hits Savio with a 2x4 and throws him back in and Faarooq gets the win. Ahmed comes down and clears the ring to a good pop. The match wasn't very good though. 

Match Rating: *

Ahmed grabs a mic and says something about getting Faarooq back before leading a chant of "You're going down!". 

Now it's time for the Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament. It's Bob Backlund vs. Sunny. Sunny advances if you care. 

They show Sid working out backstage before talking about the match last night and the situation with Jose Lothario. Jose refused medical attention and then Vince talks about how great of a champion Shawn Michaels was before bringing up some things that people maybe didn't like about him. Vince then says that Shawn may be a ladies' man, but he proved last night that he was a man's man. Ironically, the Rockers music hits as soon as Vince is done lecturing us. 

Leif Cassidy & Bob Holly vs. Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon

Marty Jannetty must be fired again. Captain Lou Albano is out with the charisma-less team of Furnas and LaFon. During the match, they interview British Bulldog, Owen Hart and Clarence Mason. They let us know that last night was a fluke and they don't care about Survivor Series matches. This match actually gets a commercial break and you can imagine how many people probably switched over to Nitro and didn't come back. Holly misses with an elbow off the ropes, if you care. Furnas gets a hot tag and hits his dropkick and a hurricanrana. Bret will take on Owen next week on Raw. LaFon hits a variation of a German suplex for the victory and Vince warns us that they're going to be around for awhile. This was fine. 

Match Rating: *1/2

They show Sid with JR backstage before showing another Survivor Series commercial. 

Sid comes out to a good pop and then they try to sell us a piece of the ring rope from last night with a Sid photo for $59 plus $8 shipping. JR introduces Sid again in the ring and the crowd is loving it. Sid says he has great respect for Jose Lothario, but he put himself on the apron and that is what can happen when you put yourself in the game. He says that if Shawn wants a rematch, he's got it. He already beat him once and he'll beat him again. What a difference between 1996 Sid and 1995 Sid. JR moves it to Bret Hart and Sid that he was never going to wrestle again, but the fans brought him back and he'll be a fighting champion for him. He screws up and calls him "Britman" and then corrects it. He reminds us again that he is the master and the ruler of the world. 

This started with a bang and then kind of existed. They just don't have the roster depth yet to give us an hour full of hot angles. That will change soon, but we're still in that transition period. With that being said, that's not to say that this was a bad show, it just felt pointless after the Austin/Mankind stuff. 

Overall Rating: 52%

Survivor Series 1996 Review

Sunday, November 17th, 1996
Madison Square Garden
New York City, New York

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This was one of the shows I actually ordered live. However, the show stopped working after the Austin/Bret match and we got a full refund as a result. I do have fond memories of this show, so I am hoping to see how it holds up 30 years later. It's been at least 5 years since I last watched it but probably more. The intro to the show is actually pretty weak by WWF standards. 

British Bulldog, Owen Hart & New Rockers vs. Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon & The Godwinns

Speaking of pretty weak, this is certainly an interesting choice to open the show. We get the Karate Fighters blimp in the arena just in case you weren't sure that this was the 90s. I do always love when they do the short entranceway at MSG here. Funas and LaFon will probably forever go down as one of JR's biggest blunders in his time. Speaking of which, we have the trio of Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross on announcing duties today. While this was not technically the opener (there was a Free For All jobber Survivor Series match), the crowd is not into this one at all right now and that's not great. I do like over half of the competitors in here to at least some degree, but the tag division was anything but hot in 1996. It seems as if the heel JR has at least mostly been dropped by this point. Just as I type that, JR calls Phinneas stupid, so maybe not. Although Vince is laughing, so who knows? Henry hits a Slop Drop on Marty and we get our first elimination. Owen runs right in and hits the spinning heel kick and Henry is gone. There we go, let's keep this up. I'm not really sure why Henry had to go so quickly, but with how little the crowd cares, I don't think it matters. Bulldog hits a running powerslam and Phinneas is now gone. We have to show off the new guys, I get it. The problem is that they look like two generic wrestlers and the fans don't really have a reason to care about them. We get what starts off to be a good sequence and then Funas goes for a dropkick on Bulldog and he kind of no sells it or thinks he jumped over him. I look down for one moment and miss a spot that actually gets a spot. I rewind it and LaFon hits a superplex variant with Cassidy landing face-first and being eliminated. So we're down to basically a regular tag team match, so I think we can guess where this one is going. We get a little bit of a chaotic spot with LaFon doing a crucifix into a roll up and eliminating Bulldog. Bulldog immediately attacks LaFon's knee and then Owen slams his knee into the ring post. Furnas hits a dropkick but Owen is able to kick out. Furnas hits a German suplex and Owen lands face-first and that's enough for the victory. This was all about them establishing their new team and they did get a pop at the end, but it may have just been because the match is over. The match was fine overall, but the crowd only cared when there was a big move. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We get a fun, hammy performance from Paul Bearer in an interview and a brief Mankind speaking spot before the match. Even as a kid, I didn't really get why they were fighting again this soon after the Buried Alive match.

Mankind vs. Undertaker

Paul Bearer does not want to get into the cage and JR and Vince make fun of his weight. Undertaker is in bat form and descends from the ceiling. They debut the Cage Cam as they raise Paul Bearer above the ring. It's kind of interesting that he's right over the ring and really not that high up. We get a pretty slow pace here to start out, which is kind of interesting. Based on the reaction from the crowd so far, you would never guess that these two just were the main event of the last show. They get into the crowd and it leads to Mankind charging at Taker, but Taker counters with a back body drop over the guardrail. Some other stuff happens and I just have to say I'm not that into this one. Mankind climbs up top but Taker is there to greet him with right hands. Mankind fights him off though and goes for a double ax handle, but Taker gets the goozle. Mankind counters that with the Mandible Claw. I forgot to mention that Lawler is not at the announce booth now with him having his match up next. The referee starts dropping the arm of Undertaker and he miraculously gets his arm up on the third try. Taker fights back with a chokeslam and breaks the hold. Mankind leaps off the apron and Taker ducks. We get a pretty anti-climatic Tombstone and that's all. What a dud of a match from two guys who have done a lot better than this. After the match, the cage lowers and Taker is waiting for Bearer. Out comes the Executioner to attack him from behind and allows Bearer to get out of the way. Taker fights him off and that's basically it. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Sunny's music hits and she is here to join the announce team. Vince gives us a quick glimpse of his terrible dancing here. We go back to Dok Hendrix who is with the heel team. They talk about Mark Henry's injury. This was really uninspired. 

Crush, Jerry Lawler, Goldust & Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Marc Mero, Stalker, Rocky Maivia & Jake Roberts

This is the infamous Stalker wearing a WWF shirt looking like he just rolled out of bed moment. After Rocky comes out, Mero grabs a mic and announces that Jake Roberts is the Henry replacement. How is there still nearly 2 hours left in this show? I knew it at the time, but it is still startling how lacking the roster was at this time. Even when they made their comeback against WCW in 1997 and 1998, they were still lacking talent. Sunny exposes how old Windham is here by talking about how she was 4 years old when Windham won the tag team titles. Sadly, he is 7 years younger than I am now but looks like he is 10 years older than I am. Rocky gets a little bit of time to shine and of course it's with Lawler, who understands a thing or two about making a new person look like a million bucks. This match feels pointless already. Jake hits a DDT on Lawler and he's gone. It is somewhat fun to see Windham vs. Rhodes in WWF, but not fun enough to save this match. Goldust eliminates Stalker and no one cares. We're at the abdominal stretch portion of the match now. Mero hits a moonsault on Helmsley and eliminates him. Still in the doghouse. Crush hits his stupid finisher on Mero while they are showing a replay of Mero eliminating Helmsley and he's gone. Crush hits his stupid punch again on Jake and he's gone. Good thing they built up Crush, he went on to do such great things. This of course leaves Rocky to take on two opponents and if you can't see where this is going, well, I don't know what to tell you. Rocky ducks a right hand and Crush hits Goldust. He hits a dive and eliminates Crush. He gets Goldust up and hits a shoulder breaker for the victory. This is where it all started and that's about it. The match was not very good and the story was pretty obvious. 

Match Rating: *

We get a hype video for Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart, narrated by Todd Pettengill. Todd then interviews Austin and Bret individually before their entrances. 

Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart

The announce team lets us know that the winner of this match will face the champion at the December In Your House. We get mostly mat wrestling to start until Austin hits a Stun Gun to take control. They bring up that Austin will be taking on Vader tomorrow on Raw. Meanwhile, Austin hits an elbow to the throat of Bret. Austin goes for a superplex and Bret shoves him off. Bret hits an elbow drop off the ropes and slowly covers him for a 2 count. Bret goes for a backbreaker but Austin rakes the eyes to get out of the hold. Austin then throws him through the ropes and to the floor. Bret tries to clothesline Austin over the guardrail but it separates, and Bret has to push him over. Austin hits a catapult and it sends Bret onto the Spanish announce table. JR wonders why it seems like it's always the Spanish table. Austin hits an elbow off the apron onto Bret on the table. Austin suplexes Bret back into the ring and goes back to work. JR then uses the phrase "Austin could care less" incorrectly. Bret makes a comeback and hits a piledriver. Bret goes up top and Austin punches him in the gut to crotch him. Austin levels him with a series of right hands and goes all the way to the top to hit a superplex. Bret leans his legs back and is able to get a pinfall but Austin kicks out at 2. Austin hits a Stunner and Bret becomes the first person to kick out of it I believe. Austin tries a couple of more pin attempts and none are successful. Austin puts on a Texas Cloverleaf and Bret is able to will his way to the bottom rope to break the hold. Austin goes for an Irish whip and Bret slides under the ropes and into the ring post. Austin goes for a bow and arrow submission. Bret escapes and goes for the Sharpshooter but Austin gets the bottom rope before he can put it on. Austin puts on the Million Dollar Dream and Bret uses the ropes to kick Austin on his back and counter it into a pinfall to pick up the victory. How ironic that DiBiase is still costing Austin even after he left? This match was hard fought but nowhere near the level of their upcoming WrestleMania 13 match. This truly did put Austin on the map, even though he was headed towards stardom whether or not this match ever happened. Bret gives high fives to the fans around the ring and includes Vince. 

Match Rating: ****

JR states that he doesn't think either Sid or Shawn Michaels could have beaten Bret tonight with how he just performed. We go to Dok Hendrix and he is with Sid. Sid says he will walk out tonight as the WWF Champion. Lou Albano comes out and JR is all salty and makes fun of him for talking about his book 100 times at the Hall of Fame ceremony last night. 

Faarooq, Fake Razor Ramon, Fake Diesel & Vader vs. Savio Vega, Yokozuna, Flash Funk & Jimmy Snuka

JR wonders why people are booing the fake Razor Ramon since he's younger, stronger and better looking than the original person who played that character. Sure, JR. The mystery opponent is Snuka. It's hard to top a murderer as a surprise entrant. Was OJ Simpson unavailable? Snuka was 53 years old here. This is also Flash Funk's debut. His career did not have the same trajectory as Rocky Maivia's. I forgot to mention that Jim Cornette joined the announce table for the match. Funk hits a nice moonsault to the floor onto Vader. Well, I mentioned that JR's heel announcing was toned down, but he is feisty in this one. JR says that if he was managing Vader, he would be champion and Cornette says that JR couldn't manage a Wendy's. Funk does look good here, but the crowd is dead because a lot of these guys don't matter. Fake Diesel looks terrible because he's Glenn Jacobs. Faarooq hits a nasty looking spinebuster on Funk after a nice little sequence. Snuka finally comes in and actually moves better than I remember. He hits a body slam on Vader with Vader doing most of the work there. Savio is in and sort of hits Diesel with a spin kick. Vader pulls the rope down and Savio falls to the floor. Faarooq then takes him and slams him into the ring post and throws him into Diesel. Diesel hits the Jackknife and Savio is eliminated. That has to be one of Savio's more embarrassing moments in his career. Fake Razor is really a terrible wrestler. Snuka goes up top and hits the Superfly splash and Razor is gone. Then we get a brawl that starts with Diesel hitting people with a chair. Everyone is in the ring and that wakes up the crowd, but the match is over. The first part of the match wasn't as bad as I thought it was but that ending is so stupid. 

Match Rating: *1/4

We now get the hype video for Sid/Shawn, again narrated by Todd. 

WWF Championship Match
Sid vs. Shawn Michaels

Both guys get the backstage camera before their entrances, which is always a nice touch. Both guys get good ovations. We get a fun opening sequence that leads to Sid having Shawn ready for the powerbomb and Shawn rolling out of the ring before that happens. Shawn is able to get the Figure Four on until Sid reverses and rolls to the ropes. Sid is able to throw Shawn shoulder-first into the ring post, and both men are feeling it. Sid is able to clothesline Shawn over the top and to the floor with a loud roar from the male attendees. He throws Shawn into the ring and then a press slam onto the guardrail. Michaels tries to make a comeback by leaping off the top but Sid catches him and hits a backbreaker for a 2 count. They start trading right hands again and Shawn actually gets the better of it this time. He goes off the second rope and Sid gets the leg up. The longer this match goes, the more the vocal males are getting behind Sid. Sid slaps on a sleeper hold and Shawn is fading. Shawn gets out and runs into a chokehold and Shawn blocks it. Shawn goes for Sweet Chin Music and now Sid blocks that and hits the chokeslam this time. Sid sets him up for the powerbomb and Shawn gets an inside cradle for a 2 count. Shawn nips up and runs right into a clothesline and that also gets a 2 count. Sid grabs a camera from the ringside cameraman and then uses it to hit Jose Lothario. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music, although he doesn't get all of it. Shawn checks on Jose instead of pinning Sid. While Shawn is yelling for someone to come out and help Jose, Sid throws him back in the ring. Shawn goes for a reverse crossbody from the second rope, he hits the referee. Shawn goes back outside and checks on Jose again and Sid hit Shawn with the camera in the back. Back in the ring, Sid hits the powerbomb and the referee slowly counts to 3 to a huge pop. Sid is your new WWF Champion and also probably just had the best match of his career up to this point. I'm sure someone can think of a better one, but this is definitely his shining moment. The match was good and the crowd was invested in it. The whole Jose thing probably could have been left out, but it didn't hurt the match. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

This is a tough one to rate. The two matches that you paid to see both delivered, particularly with Sid winning the title being a big moment. The rest of the show does feel pretty pointless though and some of the matches were really long for no reason. I have a little bit of a soft spot for this show, so perhaps my rating will be a little higher than most. 

Overall Rating: 62%