April '97

Monday Night Wars April '96

Different feel as we open up the month hot, immediately jumping into a PPV. Let's get to it.

Spring Stampede '97

Live from Tupelo Mississippi, 8,356 people filled into the Tupelo Coliseum to witness Spring Stampede 1997!

Match 1- Rey Mysterio def Ultimo Dragon

Segment- Scott Stiener is maced and restrained by police and WCW officials after a confrontation with Kevin Nash

WCW Women's Championship

Match 2- (c) Akita Hokuto def Madusa

TV Title

Match 3- (c) Prince Iaukea def Lord Steven Regal

Segment- Ric Flair announces that NFL star Kevin Grenne will join forces with The Four Horsemen at the next PPV.

Match 4- Public Enemy def Steve McMichael & Jeff Jarrett

Segment- Harlem Heat backstage interview. Sister Sherri says Harlem Heat have a plan and despite it being a 4-way, are more united than ever. Booker T says he's 'coming for Hulk Hogan'

United States Championship

Match 5- Chris Beniot def Dean Malenko (c) via DQ

Match 6- Kevin Nash def Rick Steiner

WCW Championship number one contenders match

Match 7- Lex Luger def The Giant, Stevie Ray & Booker T (Four Corners Elimination Match)

Match 8- DDP def Randy Savage (No DQ)

Analysis:

The action started hot as Rey Mysterio faced off against his old adversary in Ultimate Dragon. These two had been wrestling with each other on TV quite a bit to this point, as a result it could be hard to differentiate one match from the next. That being said, it was still an enjoyable match and a great way to kick off the PPV!

Luna Vachon cost Madusa her chance of becoming the new Women's champion as she kicked Maduas's legs from under her, behind the ref's back. This one was too short to properly analyse, which is a shame as if given the time I'm sure these ladies could have put on a great match.

Lord Steven Regal failed to recapture the TV Title, as he was rolled up by Prince Iaukea around the 9 minute mark. Bad match with a really bad finish. No drama was built towards the final moments making it somewhat of an anticlimax. To make matters worse, none of the live crowd really seemed to care either way. Looking past that fact, this feud had been well worked, cleverly utilising the 10 minute rule to create drama as well as certain re-matches when it suited.

Watching Public Enemy face off with Jarrett and McMichael was the final straw. Allow me to break down the varying ability levels of those involved in this match. McMichael had prior involvement In the industry. He appeared at Wrestlemania XI before defecting to WCW, providing colour commentary throughout the years of 1995-1996, before being thrown into one of the biggest stables in wrestling at the time. The Four Horsemen. While there is no formal record of him ever training, but I’d be stunned if this was case seeing as he had accumulated over 2 years in and around the buisness to this point. Yet, with all of that said and to put it as nicely as possible, he just wasn't very talented in-ring as a wrestler. Which was fine, as his character and ring presence/popularity… kind of made up for that. Public Enemy however, are two of the worst wrestlers I've ever seen in ANY major company. Finally, Jeff Jarrett was solid when facing other talented wrestlers, but NOT the other way round. But to top it all off, I had no idea why they were feuding! And to make matters even worse, someone had the gall to suggest that Public Enemy should have gone over! I was nearly switching the PPV off then and there, until I remembered something LEGENDARY was about to happen.

The show cuts backstage to the now famous "Hulk Hogan..I'm coming for you N****R'' Segment. Booker T's facial reactions when he realised what he just said on National TV was pure gold. It's a pretty famous incident nowadays so not much more to add really, but it sure was a funny moment. Especially when you consider the two people involved.

*run-in nonsense, feel free to skip this part

Chris Beniot and Dean Malenko are up next, and they probably just delivered what may prove to be the best match of the night with their U.S Title bout. An EXTREMELY slow and technical affair, so not my cup of tea, but I could certainly still appreciate it while enjoying parts. The match was thrown out after Jacqueline started fighting with Woman at ringside, leading to Eddie Guerrero attempting to stop Jimmy Hart taking advantage of the chaos, and stealing the title in the process. Kevin Sullivan hit Chris Beniot in the back of his head with a cane before the referee had finally seen enough and called for the bell. Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart and Jacqueline all tried to coerce Eddie Guerrero into leaving with the United States Championship, which he did begrudgingly. Apart from all of the unnecessary run-ins and chaos towards the end, the non finish probably set up a rematch down the line between Beniot and Malenko, so I'm ok with it.

Kevin Nash Vs Rick Steiner had all of the makings of a stiff hard hitting match up! Unfortunately, it was overly gimmicked with The NWO and Nick Patrick, hurting it in a big way! If booked differently, this could have been something truly special. Ted Di Biase walked away from Kevin Nash when he perceived Kev's beatdown on Steiner to be going too far. For those of you keeping track, Ted Di Biase is now out of The NWO!

Four Corners action next. I would have been STUNNED if either Stevie Ray or Booker T won this one (spoiler, they didn't) Although I did prove to be a fun multi-man match, which saw The Giant keep his character clean, remaining babyface (he was approaching two weeks, that must be some kind of record) as he had Stevie Ray beat, but instead tagged in Lex Luger allowing him to claim the victory. This was really well done. It made sense, it was slightly surprising, and a really cool moment. Best moment of the PPV thus far,

Main-event time, Dallas and Randy…over to you. Ok so, a ref bump brought out NWO official Nick Patrick who surprisingly…called the 3 count in Randy Savages favour! This of course led to Eric Bischoff showing his face, before Nash beats the presumably now former NWO ally, Nick Patrick, into oblivion with powerbombs. For those keeping score at home, in one night the NWO had lost Ted Di Biase (who cares) and a corrupt official in Nick Patrick (big deal) The big shock however, came when Randy Savage and Eric Bischoff had to be pulled apart, as Eric didn't think it was just for Randy to physically attack Kimberly (DDP's wife) I'm not a fan of overbooking angles, but in The NWO's case, how else could they have done it? They had 100 members and beef with everyone. Anyway, the match wasn't fantastic by any means but I highly enjoyed the drama during the show's close.

My final thoughts are these. Seeing as Hogan and his NWO cronies weren't here in order to defend the NWO, sorry, the WCW Championship, meant that this show felt more like a supercard rather than an actual PPV. And that's exactly what it was, only lacking the 'super' aspect. Some good parts here and there, but sadly not enough actual wrestling quality to warrant paying for and then actually watching the full PPV. The segment with Savage/Page would have been an EXCELLENT blow off, IF it happened on free TV. But on a PPV that mostly hosted bad-mid tier matches. It wasn't enough for me. This PPV is universally panned and now I understand why. I enjoyed the angles and the storytelling enough, and I am somewhat looking forward to the next episode of WCW Nitro. With that said, I'll be kind and score it just below average for the story telling. Between Kevin/Rick, Lex/Giant as well as the frantic finish in the main and 2 fun matches. There was some good on this card. Although, when you've seen it once, you've seen it a 100 times. It posses zero rewatchability in my opinion (2.25 Stars)

Raw/Nitro April 7th

Monday Night Raw 7/4/97 (2.5 Stars)

Match 1- Owen Hart & British Bulldog def The Godwinns

Match 2- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin def Billy Gunn

Segment- 'The Commandant' makes his Raw debut. Promotes Raw in South Africa which was set to take place the following week.

Segment- Shawn Michaels in-ring promo. Responds to his attack at the hands of Bret Hart.

Match 3- Headbangers def Freddie Joe Floyd & Barry Horrowitz

Match 4- Ken Shamrock def Vernon White (No Holds Barred Match)

Match 5- Vader def Hardbody Harrison

Segment- Gorilla Monsoon and Steve Austin argue backstage. Monsoon attempts to persuade Steve Austin to take Sycho Sid's place in the main-event. Austin says he will only agree if he gets a rematch against Bret Hart at the next PPV.

Segment- Mankind in-ring promo. He says Undertaker never knew him at all. Wanted to introduce The Undertaker to his lifestyle, and that's why he burned him.

Match 6- Steve Austin Vs Mankind ends via No Contest after interference from Vader

Analysis

Pre-match Owen Hart cut a heel promo accusing the crowd of pitting the Bulldogs against each other. The opener between themselves and The Godwinns was ok all things considered. Not the most star studded tag match you'd ever see, but it was serviceable. Legion of Doom confronted Owen & Davey post-match. The Godwinns accidentally sloped L.O.D leading to a brawl between the two tag teams. Luckily this brief angle didn't go anywhere past this initial confrontation.

During the next segment, following his loss to Austin, Honky Tonk Man once again attempted to recruit Billy Gunn, leading to Billy attacking Honky Tonk Man.

The Commandment then cuts a fascist promo atop the stage. Supposedly he referenced links to the recent Aparthied, but I barely have the energy to review the shows themselves, without then also digging out my old encyclopaedias, so let's just move on. The Commandment called Americans "sissy liberals" before claiming to be the leader of a new faction called The Truth Commission. In reality, The Commandment was an actor whom Bret Hart had encountered while working with the WWF in South Africa. Bret Hart vouched for him, and subsequently, The Commandant (Robin B. Smith) was actually hired by the WWF. The Commandant then showed a tape of Bret Hart talking smack about Shawn Michaels and America. It was an interesting idea for an angle, and something that wouldn't be done today. Especially with the heavy use of racial overtones.

Shawn was in-ring next and cut a decent promo, making some valid points along the way. He interestingly talked about Bret's very real and very regimented upbringing, and how it possibly made him 'obsessed' with wrestling. In retrospect, you could tell this was just as much of a promo as it was someone airing their personal opinions of someone. Owen and Davey eventually run down to shut Michaels up, but Shawn scared them off by welding a folding chair.

Onto hour two! The No Holds Barred match between Shamrock and Vernon White was essentially an 'MMA rules match' No pinfalls, only submissions and KO's allowed! This was WWF's attempt to cash in on the rising popularity of MMA via showcasing a worked style MMA style. I did wonder if utilising Ken in this way blurred the lines between his legitimately as a UFC fighter, and his new career as a pro wrestler as worked shoots are notoriously hard to pull off, especially 8f you're inexperienced.

We then see a fantastic Mankind promo (No hyperbole, this is probably my all time favourite promo of Mick's) He talked about his kids, as well as his wife asking "what's burning" when it was his charred flesh. I remember reading about a similar incident in his autobiography, so this may very well have been just that. Essentially, Mick was simply talking about some of the harshities suffered during his early career whereby he had to wrestle in death matches to earn a living. An incident he didn't mention however, was perhaps his most infamous. During a promo he did for ECW, he spoke about how he traded in a big money guaranteed contract with WCW, for a much smaller contract with ECW. Eventually he realised he made the wrong decision, when he saw a sign that read "cane Dewey '' Dewey was his 3 year old son. Mick was understandably, legitimately angered by this. Why was he mutilating himself, putting his body through all of this pain, only for people to insinuate that his 3 YEAR OLD CHILD… should be attacked! I could speak at length about the genuis ongoing angle he created out of this quite frankly, fucked up situation, whereby he attempted to get Tommy Dreamer to "sign" for WCW purely to spite the ECW fans. But we'd be here all day. I'm a massive Mick Foley fan and I believe when he spoke about his grievances and hardships during this particular promo on Raw that (cane Dewey) moment must have been on the back of his mind. That's what makes wrestling so great in my opinion. If you follow the "cannon" of any given superstar, it can stretch back to 20 years prior and still make all of the sense in the world. Mick didn't have many in-ring promo's up to this point, so it's safe to say this was Mankind's best promo in the WWF to date. He had a way of making you sit up and take notice.

During the main-event, Vader inadvertently tags Mankind leading to them brawling, before Paul Bearer pulls them apart. Not a huge fan of the finish but it was a solid enough episode to that point. Typical mid 97 episode of Raw. Promo heavy and a fun show overall. Not the best main-event but I always enjoyed Mankind working with Steve as they had great chemistry and seemed to have fun with it. It was more of a brawl than a wrestling match anyway but still fun to watch

Shamrock and the main-event were the highlights for me. Even if I wasn't a fan of the multi man run-in finish. Between the MMA stuff, both of Shawn and Mick's promos, I find it interesting to ponder how much, if any, push back Vince Russo received with this new 'realty driven' style. The stuff in the mid 90's clearly wasn't working, and then WCW signed two of Vince's biggest stars in Hall and Nash, killing them in the ratings as a result. So something had to change, and perhaps in a very subtle way. This episode of Raw, was a clearer sign as any, of the new direction the WWF was headed in.

WCW Nitro 7/4/97 (2.25 Stars)

Would Randy Savage still be welcomed within the NWO after his scuffle with Eric Bishoff at Spring Stampede? This show hoped to provide answers…but did it?

Match 1- Alex Wright & Psychosis def Konan & Hugh Morrus

Match 2- Rey Mysterio def Lord Steven Regal via DQ

Match 3- Chris Beniot def Ice Train

Match 4- Kevin Sullivan def Hector Guerrero

Segment- NWO in-ring promo. Ted Di-Biase says they either walk out of the ring together or settle it right now. Hollywood Hogan accuses Kevin Nash of having a problem with Dennis Rodman, before Nash assures him that's not the case. Randy Savage and Eric Bischoff also patch up their difficulties.

Segment- Ric Flair and 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper in-ring promo. Together, they promote their upcoming match against The NWO.

United States Championship

Match 5- (c) Dean Malenko def Chris Jericho

Match 6- High Voltage def Public Enemy

Match 7- Harlem Heat def Jeff Jarrett

TV Title

Match 8- Ultimate Dragon def Prince Iaukea (c)

Segment- DDP calls out Savage. Hollywood Hogan and the entire NWO walk out, with Hogan seemingly accepting the challenge on Randy's behalf. Sting enters the ring side by side with Dallas, evening the odds.

Analysis

Disappointing that Alex Wright and Psychosis didn't go over during the tag opener, but a relatively decent match. Lord Steven Regal was disqualified for not releasing a hold. Iaukea comes down to help Mysterio, but suffers the fate of Regal's anger himself.

Jacqueline bodyslams Hector. I was wondering at this point if she was WCW's answer to Chyna.

The NWO segment was ok, not many developments but sometimes that can be a good thing, especially where WCW was concerned as they had a tendency to massively over complicate things.

Ric Flair and Roddy Piper brought out their secret weapon, NFL star Kevin Greene. Grenne played for a wide variety of teams, whereas McMichael famously played for both the Packers and The Chicago Bears, but had more success in Chicago.

It would have been fantastic if Jericho won the Title against Dean Malenko, breathing fresh life into the U.S Title division, but also highly unlikely as he was famously underutilised by Bishoff and WCW. This was perfectly encapsulated by the manner of Dean Malenko's quick and decisive victory. The fact that the likes of Public Enemy were being booked more frequently on PPV's than Jericho, said everything that you need to know. Speaking of Public Enemy, they challenged High Voltage to a rematch in a Philadelphia Street Fight at the next Nitro taping. Stick to what you know I guess.

Jeff Jarrett walked out alone for his tag match against Harlem Heat. As much as I was a fan of Harlem Heat, I liked that Jeff looked strong, putting up a fight against both men alone. 'Mongo' finally decided to come out (presumably after a few lines backstage) for a hot tag, before tagging back out IMMEDIATELY, pushing Jarret into the path of a scissor kick. Perhaps a missed opportunity to have Jarrett win with Mongo coming out afterwards saying "That my friend, was an acid test, and you just passed" before shaking his hand. But this worked also. Mongo yelled at Jarrett post-match.

Ahead of the planned main-event consisting of Scott Steiner Vs The Giant, Scott was attacked by Morrus and Konan, now repping the Dungeon of Doom. The pair decided to team up and fight them off together, before opting against their SCHEDULED AND ADVERTISED MAIN-EVENT MATCH, because…fuck the paying live fans I guess?

During the final segment with DDP calling out Randy Savage, The NWO got involved and Kevin Nash was pinned with laser-like accuracy, dead in his chest with a beverage. While Raw was far from fantastic and this edition of Nitro was a slight improvement on last week's affair. The Sting moment was cool, yet they still seemed against having their stacked roster of talented wrestlers, you know, actually wrestle! Raw had better segments and a fun main-event to pick up a close win this week. Although I did like the tease of DDP and Sting teaming up in the future. Raw wins it this week

Raw/Nitro April 14th

Monday Night Raw 14/4/97 (1.5 Stars)

Live from South Africa, chock full of production issues and half assed in-ring work. Let's see how this episode of Monday Night Raw pans out…

Match 1- The Godwinns def Legion of Doom

Match 2- Hunter Hearst Helmsley def Jesse Jammes

Match 3- Rocky Maivia def Savio Vega

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in-ring promo. Puts down Bret Hart ahead of their upcoming PPV match

Match 4- Goldust def The Sultan via DQ

Match 5- Mankind & Vader def The Headbangers via DQ

Segment- Undertaker PA promo on Mankind hyping their PPV match

Segment- The Commandant in-ring promo.

Match 6- Ahamed Johnson def Crush

Analysis

The British Bulldogs interfered on The Godwinns behalf, costing LOD the win. Standard opener for an overseas show.

Tech difficulties were present during the HHH/Jammes match, with Jesse Jammes calling out Honky Tonk Man afterwards.

Rocky/Savio was INSANELY boring! Arm locks and neck grabs galore. I'm a fan of both of these guys, but for whatever reason, this wasn't their night. Maybe if the title was on the line it might have added SOMETHING! But I wasn't, so it didn't. Maybe under the assumption that South Africans hadn't seen a lot of mainstream American wrestling, they believed they could get away with heavily dumbing down the matches. But whatever the reason, it translated horribly to TV!

Raw is War switches back to America for the second hour. Sadly it was only to show what I'm presuming was a pre taped Steve Austin segment (I was kind of hoping they'd have stayed there)

Hour two, as Hunter Hearst Hemsley runs in on Goldust post-match as Trips, Chyna and The Sultan triple teamed Goldy. Well, at least that's some kind of storytelling I guess?

We switch back to the USA (What was even going on at this point) as Mankind and Vader go over The Headbangers via DQ. Vader and Mick brawl post-match amidst the confusion. Bad match but I NEED to see Mankind Vs Vader soon! Their work in WCW was awesome and actually, they are some of my all time favourite matches. This match though, still sucked.

Clips of some of the 'divas' parading around in thongs are shown for an upcoming 'colosseum video' release. Easily the best part of the show so far!

The Commandant cuts a meaningless 30 second promo to zero reaction before the main-event. I mean they couldn't have given us Ahamed/Faarooq in the main, which was, you know…the ACTUAL FEUD! But instead we got Johnson and Farrooq's right hand man Crush going at it. Both the terrible closing segment as well as a god awful main-event encapsulated this terrible show. Disclaimer. I have NOTHING against overseas obviously (I'm not from the states myself) but if you're going to do it, do it properly. Have decent lighting, bring the talent over, and ensure a good quality of workrate in-ring. Don't half ass it! Now I may have used this line before, but this show was essentially a taped live event…except I actually MEAN it this time! The lighting was gloomy, the card was weak and the wrestling was subpar! NO angle advancements whatsoever. One of, if not THE WORST RAW I've ever seen!

WCW Nitro 14/4/97 (2.25 Stars)

Segment- NWO Promo. Kevin Nash challenges Lex Luger.

Match 1- Chris Benoit def The Barbarian

United States Championship

Match 2- (c) Dean Malenko def Hector Guerrero

Match 3- Rey Mysterio def Juventud Guerrera

Segment- Mene Gene interviews Luna Vachon.

TV Title

Match 4- (c) Ultimate Dragon def Lane Carlson

Cruiserweight Championship

Match 5- (c) Syxx def Prince Iaukea

Segment- Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, Kevin Greene in-ring promo against the NWO.

Match 6- Public Enemy def High Voltage (Philadelphia Street Fight)

Match 7- The Giant def Big Al

Match 8- DDP def Konan

Match 9- Jeff Jarrett & Steve 'Mongo' McMichael def Harlem Heat via DQ

Match 10- Lex Luger def Kevin Nash via DQ

Analysis

All Nitro had to do was show up to win this week, and show up they did! Dungeon of Doom attacked Beniot post-match. Jeff Jarrett and 'Mongo' McMichael with the save. Chris Beniot proceeded to cut a promo on Kevin Sullivan. Mene Gene made a blunder whilst interviewing Luna Vacho. He called Madusa the champion even though she wasn't. Nash claimed Gene was a man's man, who would "drink a whisky before a kidney transplant" Nash would later claim that he thought Mene Gene was a great guy, and one of his drinking buddies on the road.

The Philadelphia Street Fight was entertaining, showing exactly the kind of matches that Public Enemy should have been involved in (perhaps exclusively)

Randy Savage calls out DDP post-match from the stands. Dallas unsuccessfully chases after him

'Mongo' McMichael & Jarrett DQ victory following involvement from Sister Sherri and Debra McMichael. McMichael cuts a promo on local NFL star Reggie White who was sitting at ringside. (Oh yay, more NFL players) Reggie jumps the guardrail and confronts Mongo, leading to the men being pulled apart by security. Reggie White played for The Green Bay Packers around this time, who have a fierce rivalry with Mongo's Chicago Bears (Yes Mongo played for the Packers also, but only for one season as is recognised as a legend for Bears more so than anyone else he played for) so if nothing else, this angle would surely attract interest from the rival fans.

The NWO outnumbered Luger causing the DQ. The Giant, Sting and DDP walk down to even the odds, successfully fighting off The NWO swarm.

They let the cruiserweights go slightly longer this week, which is always nice. That fact alone made the first hour more bearable than usual. And while it was let down by the second hour, overall it EASILY topped a boring and lazy episode of Monday Night Snore. WCW wins the point.

In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker

Tag Team Championships

Match 1- Legion of Doom def Owen Hart & British Bulldog (c) via DQ

Intercontinental Championship

Match 2- Savio Vega def Rocky Maivia (c) via count-out

Match 3- Jesse Jammes def Rockabilly

WWF Championship

Match 4- (c) The Undertaker def Mankind

Match 5- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin def Bret Hart via DQ

Analysis

A dusty finish restarts the match after Animal pinned the illegal man. Bret Hart ran down to cause the DQ, keeping the gold around The Bulldogs waists in the process. This one was a stinker if I'm being honest.

Rocky retains via countout after receiving a heart-punch from Crush. Another bad finish and other snooze fest. They did know they weren't still in South Africa and this is supposed to be a PPV right? Nation of Domination beat down Rocky post-match until Ahmed Johnson is forced to make the save.

Bulldog and Owen Hart are seen running out of the mens bathroom welding golf clubs. We learn that Austin was attacked whilst inside the bathroom.

Honky Tonk Man introduces 'Rockabilly' aka Billy Gunn as his new man. Jim Cornette claimed to be against the new gimmick, saying it was too hokey, especially for the time period and the new direction the WWF were headed. Honky said he liked the fight and passion Billy Gunn showed when he attacked him, leading him to pursue him even more aggressively, eventually signing him. A slight improvement on the previous two matches, but not by much. From a technical standpoint, I am halfway through the PPV already and all I've seen is dross. I'd be feeling pretty annoyed if I'd have paid for the show.

Heavily played on the fact that Mankind 'burned' The Undertaker a few weeks prior. While it wasn't a No DQ match, the referee let this one go with both men fighting on the outside, with Mankind even using a steel chair as well as a glass pitcher as weapons.

Another fantastic match in this series, and God knows (or Vince McMahon in this case) that this show needed something of quality! Undertaker went after Paul Bearer post-match, burning his face with touch-paper. Jim Cornette provides some insight on how to properly use a fireball, safely, in wrestling. He claimed you're supposed to throw it upwards and release it from your hand as opposed to actually throwing it in the face of your opponent. Great match that would go on to win my MOTM award!

Austin/Bret had a really fun main-event, if not a little slow at times. I've already spoken about how much I've enjoyed watching these two wrestle, so I'm happy I got to see 3 matches. Not as good as their matches at Survivor Series or WrestleMania, but still a show saver. Long periods of relative inactivity while Bret used heel tactics and worked Austin's leg, which was in a knee brace. This took me out of the match slightly, yet it served its purpose once the bell rang at the end of the night. The British Bulldog caused a DQ, handing Austin the win as Bret was locked into a sharpshooter with no visible signs of escape.

Terrible first hour complemented by two fun matches making up the final half. Weird PPV, yet ultimately, a forgettable one (2.25 Stars)

Raw/Nitro April 21st

Monday Night Raw 21/4/97 (2.5 Stars)

A few weeks prior to this taping, during a talk show interview, Vader (Leon White) got physical with the host, who Vader believed was making derogatory remarks in regards to Pro-Wrestling. As a result, Vader was legitimately detained until April 22nd. Vince McMahon used the situation as part of a segment, calling him "our man in Kuwait"

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in-ring promo. Austin is declared the new number one contender for the WWF Title, before he challenges Bret to a street fight, Bret accepts.

Match 1- The Sultan def Ahmed Johnson via DQ

Segment- Footage shown of Vader manhandling talk show host in Kuwait. Ken Shamrock Vs Vader announced for the upcoming PPV. Shamrock challenges Mike Tyson.

Segment- Steve Austin/Bret Hart street fight never officially begins due to a pre-match assault by The Hart Foundation. Steve Austin is forcibly restrained when he refuses to release the sharpshooter, injuring Bret Hart in the process.

Match 3- Tiger Ali Singh def Salvatore Sincere

Segment- Bret Hart shown being loaded into an Ambulance. Bret was yet again attacked by Steve Austin, before paramedics finally got Bret to safety.

Match 4- Jesse Jammes def Rockabilly

Segment- Mankind says Paul Bearer is disfigured and badly burned.

Match 6- The Undertaker def Hunter Hearst Hemsley via DQ

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in-ring promo. Austin is blindsided by Owen and Davey, before Shawn Michaels yet again runs to his aid. Brain Pillman returns and attacks Austin.

Analysis

From the opening, this seemed like a stacked show! HHH/Taker, Bret/Austin as well as Ken Shamrock calling out Mike Tyson for some reason. The show opened with Austin challenging Bret Hart to a street fight, which Bret accepted. We also learned that Steve Austin was the new number one contender for the WWF Title. If I'd have seen all of these matches and announcements during the first 5 minutes or so of Raw, it would have definitely pulled me in!

Ahmed Johnson beats The Sultan with a 2x4 in order to scare The Nation of Domination. To be fair, it worked as they all backed off pretty quickly.

The Hart Foundation attacked Austin in a 3 on 1 assault ahead of his street fight against Bret Hart. Shawn Micheals chased Owen and Davey away with a chair. The match never officially begins, with Austin being forced off Bret Hart as officials deem it to be going too far. The drama between Bret and Austin was well built and cleverly sustained, although I was disappointed we never got to see the advertised match. Austin was then yelled at by Gorilla Monsoon before being kicked out of the arena.

Tiger Ali Singh had a really poor debut. He looked green, moving awkwardly in the rings and even struggling to run the ropes. To be fair to Signh, Salvatore Sincere was never going to bring the best out of any 'up and coming' superstar.

Steve Austin was shown in the driving seat of the ambulance, before attacking Bret Hart. This was truly innovative stuff at the time, and a great segment overall. The sight of Austin crawling over the driving seat of the Ambulance to make his way to Bret, was as just as unexpected as it was hilarious. Bret Hart was due to undergo knee surgery, so this was WWF's attempt at writing him off TV for the time being, at least as an in-ring performer. Bret would appear on TV in the coming weeks using a wheelchair.

Honky Tonk Man and Rockabilly attacked Jesse Jammes post-match, before it cut to Steve Austin arguing with Shawn Michaels backstage. A slow main-event between Taker and HHH accompanied with one last Steve Austin segment for good measure, rounded off the show. During the main-event, Mankind walked to the ring carrying a blowtorch, causing a DQ. Undertaker managed to fight back before Mankind could use the weapon. Dustin Rhodes and Marlena assault Hunter and Chyna following the main-event. I'm not sure how noteworthy this will prove to be, but Goldust was without his face paint with Vince McMahon calling both he and Marlena by their real names (Dustin Rhodes and Terri)

This was a more segment heavy episode of Raw, taking up the majority of the first hour. I did feel slightly cheated as out of the 3 big advertisements at the top of the show (Bret/Austin, Taker/Hemsley and Tyson/Shamrock) we only got 1. Or one and a half depending on how you look at the Austin segment. For some reason it was made to sound as if Tyson would actually appear on Raw. Funnily enough, The WWF didn't bother to contact 'Iron' Mike, so that whole segment with Shamrock calling him out was essentially a shoot! My final thoughts are these. The low quality of the majority of the matches on the card, made it feel as if the wrestling was interrupting the segments, and not the other way around. Yet the main-event was decent enough and the Austin stuff was entertaining, making it a fun edition of Raw overall. Similar to WCW Nitro at times, a bigger focus was seemingly being placed on the drama factor, hoping to create more buzz for the following TV tapings, which personally I found to be an interesting transition. Tricky episode to grade as it was essentially centred around Austin/Hart Foundation for its entirety, with some poor wrestling matches sprinkled in between. But the Austin stuff was entertaining enough to carry an average rating.

WCW Nitro 21/4/97 (2 Stars)

J.J. Dillon would be announced as the new on-screen WCW commissioner. This would last until 1998.

Match 1- Dean Malenko def Yuji Nagata

Match 2- Glacier def Ciclope

Segment- Nick Patrick reasons to be re-hired for WCW. Argued he had always stuck around when people walked out, he's been hurt, he's still here and he believed WCW needed an official who stands up for what he believes in.

TV Title

Match 3- (c) Ultimo Dragon def Bobby Eaton

Segment- Lord Steven Regal vows to reclaim the WCW TV Title. Referenced Americans not having 'much luck beating the Japanese'

Match 4- Chris Jeircho def Meng

Match 5- Steiner Brothers Vs Public Enemy ends in a no-contest due to Dungeon of Doom run-in

Segment- Mene Gene/J.J. Dillion Interview. Dillion says Bischoff has no authority, but he does have an iron clad contract unless he breaches it. Michael Wallstreet & Big Bubba would no longer be a part of The NWO due to possessing invalid contracts. Eric Bischoff interrupts the promo. Dillion accuses Eric of betraying the trust of the higher ups in favour of Nash and Hogan.

Match 7- Jeff Jarrett def Scotty Riggs

Cruiserweight Championship

Match 8- (c) Syxx def Rey Mysterio

Segment- NWO in-ring promo. Syxx calls out Ric Flair. Accused him of ripping off 'Nature boy' Buddy Rogers. Also calls our Roddy Piper

Match 9- DDP def Psychosis

Segment- Ric Flair/Kevin Grenne/Roddy Piper in-ring promo, putting over their match at Spring Stampede. Scott Hall returns.

Analysis

J.J Dillion enters out of a limo. Announced as new WCW commissioner. Nash says he was on board with J.J's role as an onscreen official of sorts, as it's hard to get GM's or commissioners the fans can take seriously.

Glacier wins in a squash via his Chronic Kick. Post-match Glacier was confronted by the mystery man from Uncensored. Mortis and the mystery man then double teamed Glacier.

Ultimate Dragon retained during a wasted spot with Bobby Eaton. Short match that if given time, both men could have put on an absolute clinic. Following Eaton's loss to Ultimate Dragon, Lord Steve Regal delivered a classic line as he said "You don't have much luck beating the Japanese do you"

Meng defeated Jericho with a pointless chokehold, with someone on commentary even using the line "It's like he's (Meng) is wrestling a beanie baby" only burying Jericho further. If WCW saw Chris as a rising star. Why did they have him lose in this embarrassing fashion? Bad match, wrong result, simply awful.

Hugh Morrus and Konnan interfered in the Steiner/Public Enemy tag match, with the Stieners and Public Enemy teaming up to run off the Dungeon of Doom.

J.J.Dillon and Eric Bischoff started some kind of strange feud in a struggle over power. Dillon claimed Bischoff was here to stay, yet supposedly Bischoff had no power? So why was he still running things and booking matches on-screen. Just last week, Nash booked himself against Lex Luger. From this moment on at least, J.J. Dillon would be the on screen commissioner for WCW and "supposedly" the man holding all of the cards.

Tony Schiavone announced that Scott Hall, Kevin Nash & Syxx would take on Roddy Piper, Ric Flair and Kevin Grenne at the upcoming Slamboree PPV.

During Jeff Jarrett's match with Scotty Riggs,

Reggie White of the Green Bay Packers steals Mongo's case, intercepting the run-in. Jarrett still won. Just in case you've lost track, NFL star Reggie White was now feeding with ex NFL star Steve 'Mongo' McMichael, with then current NFL star Kevin Greene making the occasional appearance.

Nash interfered in Rey's match, smacking him on the back with a steel chair. J.J Dillion came down to end proceedings. I liked this spot as it provided a much needed balance to the NWO angle, while making sense. Although I do wonder how consistent the decision making will be.

NWO in-ring promo. If points were awarded during promos, Nash would have won this entire segment handily, with some fantastic lines talking about the 'old timers' while taking shots at Flair and Piper.

DDP/Psychosis lasted seconds so sadly nothing to add sadly.

The final segment with Ric Flair was filler. Scott Hall's return was nice but ultimately spoiled by Tony Schiavone earlier that night for some reason. This wasn't a total dud but it could have been much better. As it stands, Raw wins this week.

Raw/Nitro April 28th

Monday Night Raw 28/4/97 (2.5 Stars)

Segment- Brian Pillman in-ring promo. Pillman states that he's deeply religious and urges the crowd to pray for the speedy recovery of Bret Hart as well as the destruction of Steve Austin. Pillman was then joined by Owen Hart and British Bulldog until Austin runs them all off, welding an Axe Handle.

Match 1- Flash Funk def Rockabilly

Segment- Vince McMahon details Bret Hart's injuries suffered at the hands of Steve Austin, before introducing Bret Hart, who is assisted to the stage in a wheelchair. Bret cuts another anti-american promo.

Match 2- L.O.D def Doug Furnas & Phil Lafon

Intercontinental Championship

Match 3- Owen Hart def Rocky Maivia (c)

Segment- Steve Austin in-ring promo. Austin comes to the ring in a wheelchair, before challenging Bret Hart to a wheelchair match!

Segment- Video package talks about Vader's detainment in Kuwait while talking about Ken Shamrock's fighting career.

Match 4- Vader def Jesse Jammes

Match 5- Goldust def Hunter Hearst Helmsley via Count-out

Match 6- Undertaker def British Bulldog via DQ following outside interference from Owen Hart.

Analysis

Entertaining opening promo with Pillman and Austin. This really set the tone for the show going forward, that tone being unpredictability and chaos!

During the I-C Title defence, Owen Hart seemed like Rocky Maivia's first 'real threat' This would later prove to be the groundwork for Rocky leaving for the Nation of Domination and eventually turning heel in the process…an ok match but a shocking result at the time with Owen Hart regaining his Intercontinental Championship against who fans would have presumed to be Vince's pet project (Rocky was just that, and for good reason) Additionally, Rocky was looking like he was set for a long title run, so surely fans would be asking questions of what would be next for him? Nuclear heat from the crowd as the Hart Foundation parade not only the tag titles, but the IC Title also. Brilliant segment for that moment alone!

Vader squashes Jesse Jammes. J.R asks Vader if he has any remorse for embarrassing the company. J.R insinuates that Wrestling is indeed a work, but maintains that Vader overreacted. To me, this made no sense. Either commit to the angle of don't. Ken Shamrock came out to break up the little spat.

Chyna got involved in Hunter's business yet again, leading to the double count-out. Underwhelming match.

Owen Hart caused the DQ during the Taker/Bulldog match. This of course, led to 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin making an appearance, whereby he steals the WWF Title before stunning The Deadman. Austin was treated to a chokeslam in return. Steve Austin then decided to go after Bret Hart (who was still in a wheelchair at this point) but Bret managed to fight Austin off with his crutch before we witnessed the return of Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart. Together, Bret and Jim beat up Austin as Raw goes off the air. For those of you who are unaware, the late Jim Niedhart was a part of the Hart wrestling family through marriage, as well as being Bret's real life Brother in law. The two would wrestle as part of 'The Hart Foundation' in the 1980's and early 1990's. He was also the father of current WWE superstar Natalya, sadly passing away in 2018.

The one liners delivered during this episode were simply worth the price of admission alone. From Pillman saying he'll turn the other cheek, only for Austin to retort "You better give your soul to the Lord because your ass is mine" to Austin ironically challenging Bret Hart to a "wheelchair match" In my opinion, this is wrestling comedy done right. It was still aggressive yet not overly hokey, while remaining humorous and clever. All in all, this was a fun show overall, still very Austin centric but they managed to get other things involved in a clever way. I.E Rocky dropping the strap to Owen Hart. Allegedly this title change was supposed to happen at King of the Ring, but the storyline involving The Hart Foundation was doing so well, they hurried it along.

Decent Raw but now they'd massively raised the expectations of their audience, so also not the best. This was still very much the Steve Austin Vs The Hart Foundation show, and as entertaining as it was, I felt the show also needed more at times. But Raw yet again delivered an entertaining episode overall, even if the in-ring product was lacklustre at times.

WCW Nitro 28/4/97 (1.75 Stars)

Lord have mercy! Nitro is only one hour tonight due to NBA playoff shenanigans

Segment- Ric Flair/Roddy Piper promo. They say they want to wrestle on Nitro TONIGHT!

U.S Championship

Match 1- (c) Dean Malenko def Prince Iaukea

Cruiserweight Championship

Match 2- (c) Syxx def Juventud Guerrera

Segment- The Outsiders challenge Flair & Piper. The Outsiders make a condition to claim 75 percent of the gate money if they agree to the match.

Match 3- Chris Beniot def Lord Steven Regal via DQ after outside interference by Kevin Sullivan

Match 4-.Lex Luger & The Giant def Amazing French Canadians

Match 5- Steve 'Mongo' McMichael def Barbarian

Segment- Brawl between The Outsiders & Syxx (aka The Wolfpack) and Ric Flair/Roddy Piper.

Analysis

Short match between Malenko and Iaukea opens the show. Nothing to add here due to time constraint.

Another short one, but quite fun. High intensity match seeing Syxx retain his Cruiserweight Title against Juventud Guerrera. Although I'm kind of getting the impression that WCW were panicking to cram in their 1 million different segments into 1 hour (45 mins excluding adds)

Following Beniot‘s victory over Lord Steve Regal, Sullivan and Meng attacked Chris Benoit. This could have easily been the highlight of the show if Beniot and Regal were allowed some time to do…well. Literally anything meaningful. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

The promised Flair/Piper Vs Wolfpack main-event devolved into a disappointing segment whereby flyers flew down from the ceiling before a brawl occurred between The Wolfpack (Nash, Hall & Syxx) and Ric Flair and Roddy Piper. In one last weird moment, as the 3 NWO members worked over Ric Flair, Piper was seemingly content to just watch the assault, before finally dashing over to help his friend as Nitro goes off the air.

This was the definition of a throwaway show, seeing as Bischoff seemingly couldn't figure out how to book a meaningful card that only lasted an hour, he seemingly threw it together without any care and said fuck it. That's how it looked to me anyway. Raw wins this week.

Summary & final scores

Allegedly IYH 14: Revenge of the Taker, was Vince Russo's first PPV as a part of the booking committee. That probably explains all of the DQ's and run-ins to be fair. As for WCW, they massively underwhelmed this month, with a big focus on The Wolfpack feuding with Flair, Piper and whatever NFL player was available that week. Raw wins the month 3-1, making the scores overall…WCW 39-33 WWF with 9 Draws.

Match of the Month: Undertaker Vs Mankind (IYH 14: Revenge of the Taker)