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%
