January '97

Monday Night Wars January '97

After completing my first full year of reviews, I'm starting to believe I may pull off the impossible by watching EVERY SINGLE show including a full review of each! I will be sharing added insight from both Kevin Nash (WCW) as well as Jim Cornette (WWF) from their retrospective Timeline DVDs. Wish me luck!

Raw/Nitro January 6th

Monday Night Raw 6/1/97 (2.75 Stars)

Mankind defeats Owen Hart to start the show. The gimmick of the match was a "Tough man contest" or put more simply, a No DQ match. They had used this stipulation before with Steve Austin and Vader, except when they did it, the name fit in with both men's gimmicks. Still, the No DQ stipulation worked well here with both men delivering a good match. We are shown clips from Shotgun Saturday Night, which looked like a fun show, but I've got enough wrestling to get through without watching that also! Jim Cornette spoke about the failed project on his timeline DVD, noting that the hassle of flying people into New York City every Saturday in between TV taping and live events, was a massive headache for everyone involved. 'Razor Ramon and Diesel' kindly put over Doug Furnas and Phillip LaFon. An act that most likely, the real Scott Hall and Kevin Nash would have refused! This match wasn't fantastic, but it didn't hurt the quality of the show either. Jim Cornette notes that it was his responsibility to teach both men to wrestle like Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, emulating their moves as well their mannerisms. Upon watching footage of Kevin Nash, Jim claimed to only find 6 moves and mannerisms before adding "and that's including the hair flip" Honky Tonk Man was on commentary with Vince and Jerry Lawler, teasing that he was searching for "one individual" to compete on his behalf at the upcoming Rumble. Could someone please tell Honky that the term 'one individual' is a double negative, so makes no sense whatsoever. We saw the famous Marlena clip from Shotgun Saturday Night, when she 'flashed' The Sultan. She was wearing nipple pasties aka coverups (Don't ask how I know the official name for these things) as well as being shot from behind, so all we saw was her back. Still an edgy move, even more so for the live crowd who actually saw her exposed breasts...kind off. I would imagine from that clip alone, it heavily spiked the viewing numbers for the next week. Jim Ross gave Sid an in-ring interview before Shawn came out to do commentary for the next match. This led to Shawn doing some kind of 'hazy' strip tease on the announcers desk. JR was left looking on, equal parts horrified as well as confused. His facial expressions made me chuckle but at the same time, he must have been thinking "Come on Shawn, for the love of God. Snap out of it I'm working over here, Kid!" (Yes, that was my best JR impression) Vader faced Bret Hart in the main-event, after Sid caused enough of a distraction, allowing Austin to hit Bret Hart with a Stunner behind the ref's back. Vader capitalised, winning the match via pinfall. Before the shows close, Sid powerbombed Jose Lothario's son onto what looked like a plasterer's table. Good end to a decent show. Let's see if they keep it up next week.

WCW Nitro 6/1/97 (2.25 Stars)

According to Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff was ready to fire both Jerry Sags and Brian Knobbs as a result of an altercation between themselves and Nash and Hall at a live event. The story goes that Scott Hall threw a chair into the ring hitting Jerry Sags in the head. Jerry Sags started to shoot on Scott Hall and busted him open. At the following event, Kevin Nash waited for them both in the parking lot with a baseball bat until Bischoff threatened to fire the pair of them (Knobbs & Sags) Scott Hall intervened by saying "he thinks he's right, let it go" and the pair kept their jobs. Glacier kicked off his 1997 with a victory over Bobby Eaton. I always enjoy watching Eaton's matches on Nitro, so that's a plus. Unfortunately it lasted all of 2 minutes. Big Bubba and Konnan finally had their strap match slated from last week. Except this time...it was a MEXICAN STRAP MATCH. Because, you know. Konnan is Mexican. Being Mexican, he had the clear advantage and went on to win the match. The Horsemen, minus Woman and Beniot, cut a promo. Debra McMichael lobbied for Jeff Jarrett to replace Chris Beniot as a result, saying they don't need a "part time Horseman" Arn Anderson said that Jeff Jarrett isn't in the group, leading Jeff to insult AA in return. Arn and Jeff Jarrett brawled towards the ring, causing an impromptu match. Jeff won with his feet on the ropes. Arn Anderson stormed off as the group argued amongst themselves over whether Jeff should in fact join The Four Horseman. Lord Steve Regal successfully defended his TV Title against Jim Duggan, before Hugh Morrus defeated Jim Powers to conclude the first hour. The Horsemen segment was entertaining as was the strap match, but the rest could have been better. Rey Mysterio defeats Psychosis in what would prove to be the best match of the week! Psychosis botched a split-leg moonsault to the outside, slipping and landing neck first onto the 'hardest part of the ring' Thankfully it didn't end badly and he was able to continue. Conversely, Rey was smooth as silk in the ring. 'Taskmaster' Kevin Sullivan made light work out of Chavo Guerrero, before Eddie Guerrero pinned Alex Wright. Syxx had possession of Eddie's US Title, with the two set to face off at the upcoming Souled Out PPV in a ladder match to determine the rightful champion. Harlem Heat with a victory over Amazing French Canadians. Half a star for a Montreal Expos reference by the commentary team (A now defunct Major League Baseball team) before Lex Luger gets a main-event victory over Meng! Hollywood Hogan cuts a promo on The Giant, leading to The Giant facing off with Hogan before becoming overwhelmed by The NWO. Sting comes down and whispers in the ear of a presumably unconscious Giant, leaving his trademark bat by his side. It would transpire that Sting was laying a trap. Vincent would come into the ring, picking up the bat to work over The Giant. Giant pops up, Chokeslams Vincent and uses the bat to stop any NWO members from entering the ring. Pro's of this show; Rey/Psychosis, Four Horsemen as well as the final NWO/Sting angle. Con's; just about everything else. I am glad that WCW have finally stated the obvious in regards to Sting being a face, as well as looking forward to Eddie/Syxx. Yet it still wasn't enough, as Raw takes the first point of '97.

Raw/Nitro January 13th

Monday Night Raw 13/1/97 (2 Stars)

The go home show for the Royal Rumble went as follows. Jerry Lawler and Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeat the duo of Marc Mero and Goldust via a rather lame DQ. Goldust refused to break a hold before the count of 5 while Hunter was entwined in the ropes. Not a great match as it should have been booked mostly as a one on one between Hunter and Mero, with Goldust and Lawler being used to break up the action. It also went far too long, reaching nearly 15 minutes. Rocky Maivia defeated British Bulldog via count-out thanks to Steve Austin shenanigans. Not a fantastic match but it could have been worse. Keep in mind Rocky or 'The Rock' was EXTREMELY new to wrestling at this point. The Undertaker faced Crush who was now aligned with the Nation of Domination, in the main-event. Before Taker could go for the cover following one of the worst Chokeslams I've ever seen, he was jumped by the Nation of Domination, causing a DQ. The reasoning given was to try and weaken Undertaker who was seen as a threat in the upcoming Rumble match. This show, to put it plainly, was boring. The action wasn't very good, no promos of any meaning. It had absolutely nothing. With all that said my rating of 2 Stars may be generous!

WCW Nitro 13/1/97 (2.75 Stars)

The show starts with footage of a pissed off Giant kicking down the door of the NWO locker room, before Chavo Guerrero defeats Mr J.L. in a fun match. Jerry Lynn/J. L. would soon leave for ECW. Hacksaw Jim Duggan gets on the mic simultaneously calling out the NWO as well as knocking Sting for not stepping up to the plate. This of course led to

Sting hitting Duggan with a Scorpion Deathdrop, before Duggan's scheduled match with Super Calo. Chris Jericho over Sgt Craig Pittman and Harlem Heat over High Voltage as we learn that apparently, there was no official signed contract for the match between Hulk Hogan and The Giant. Bischoff and Hogan gloat about this fact backstage. DDP squashes Mark Starr before turning on The Outsiders seconds after adorning his new NWO tee. After agreeing to join the faction he had seemingly changed his mind. This was a fun moment and as needless as it was, it popped me. Dean Malenko pins Eddie Guerrero in a non title match to wrap up hour one. You could hear the crowd becoming restless during this one and as much as it pains me to say it, I can't say I blame them. It was slow and boring during parts and overall, and for their standards anyway, could be described as underwhelming. We learned earlier in the night, at the behest of the WCW commission and as a result of the "contractual difficulties" between The Giant and Hollywood Hogan, the pair would face off in the main-event of this show! The commentary team did a good job of building it up as the night progressed. Konnan defeated Super Calo before Jeff Jarrett picked up a win against Chris Beniot with Woman in his corner. Steve McMichael accidentally hit Beniot with his briefcase, presumably aiming for Double J. Although his spouse Debra McMichael didn't seem too upset as she was smitten with Jarrett at the time. It was still unclear whether Jarrett was a Horseman or not, but it was a good story nonetheless. Beniot warns Debra to lay off Woman before telling Michael 'Mongo' McMichael to "shape up or ship out" as the two nearly come to blows. Scotty Riggs over Billy Kidman, as Scotty's former partner Buff Bagwell comes out accusing him of "not being buff" Lex Luger submits Rick Fuller to the Torture Rack before Rick Stiener defeats Arn Anderson via countout as AA said fuck this nonsense before walking out. Rick took his 'Dog faced gremlin' gimmick too far as he came out on a leash barking like an actual dog! This was unintentionally hilarious, but most things involving the Steiner Brothers were. I wish these two are given more time in the future as undoubtedly they would have a great match. Main-event time as Hollywood Hogan is set to face The Giant in non title action! Annoyingly for me it was broadcast along with the premiere of Robin Hood, meaning I was unable to see the contest in its entirety (TNT, the network responsible for airing WCW Nitro, would go back to the Sting/Giant match during Robin Hood commercials) It went nearly 45 minutes with The Giant coming out victorious via DQ, before tossing several NWO members out of the ring forcing Hogan to retreat. Overall the in-ring action could have been better but fun segments, a hot crowd, drama involving The Giant as well as the relief/shock from Diamond Dallas Page NOT joining the NWO made this show thoroughly enjoyable and the best of the year so far. Bonus marks for making people sit through nearly an hour of Robin Hood!

Royal Rumble 1997

The 9th edition of the Royal Rumble was live from Shawn Michaels hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Jim Cornette kindly provided us with the factoid that the live attendance was over 60,000, as well as noting that Shawn's feud with Vader was originally planned to end here, with Shawn winning the WWF Title back from Vader. Shawn didn't want to do that, so the feud was concluded at SummerSlam '96 instead. Intercontinental champion Hunter Hearst Hemsley kicked off the show as he successfully defended his title against Goldust. A middling opener as even though the action was tolerable for the most part, I didn't care about this feud whatsoever. However, I DID care about the next feud as Ahmed Johnson finally faced Faarooq. The angle here being that Ahmed was taken out by Faarooq, when in reality Ahmed was sidelined due to legit kidney problems. As I've previously explained, these two men shared real life heat with each other. Ahmed Johnson won via DQ, thanks to interference from various members of Nation of Domination. Vader picked up a surprising win against The Undertaker before some lucha 6 man action as Hector Garza, Perro Aguayo & Canek defeated Jerry Estrada, Heavy Metal & Fuerza Guerrera. So far, all of the matches on the card have been fairly average. Hopefully the Rumble match can change that. Like last year's edition, I will provide cliff notes including notable entries and eliminations. #1 Crush and #2 Ahamed Johnson started the proceedings. Crush was a part of the Nation of Domination apparently, in case you were wondering. Johnson eliminated himself to chase Faarooq, opting AGAINST the chance to compete in the main-event of WrestleMania for a World Title. #5 Steve Austin made his Royal Rumble debut before #8 British Bulldog entered. #13 Owen Hart came into the match instantly targeting Steve Austin. Bulldog and Owen tried to double team Austin, with British Bulldog accidentally getting eliminated by Owen for his troubles. #18 Farrooq was then eliminated by Ahmed Johnson who, no longer in the match, rushed the ring with a 2x4 in hand and payback on his mind! With Austin alone in the ring, #21 Bret Hart entered and Austin's reaction was simply brilliant! The two slugged it out until #22 Jerry Lawler was instantly eliminated by Bret. We get a nice moment as the hardcore ECW legend #24 Terry Funk made his first Rumble appearance in front of his hometown crowd. #25 Rocky Maivia is next and at the risk of giving out spoilers, here's a somewhat crazy statistic. But Rocky Maivia aka The Rock...would never win a Royal Rumble match (as of writing in 2021 anyway) #26 Mankind goes after Terry Funk before #30 Undertaker rounds out the field. The final four being Bret Hart, Diesel, Vader and The Undertaker after Bret tossed out his rival Steve Austin. Austin gets back into the ring, presumably before the officials noticed he was eliminated, and cleans house. Austin's hand was raised as he was declared the winner of the match! Ironically, as Austin eliminated Bret Hart last, Bret was technically the legal winner. Steve Austin was also the iron man, lasting over 40 minutes. Main-event time as we would find out who Steve Austin would go on to face at WrestleMania 13 for the WWF Championship? (Presuming the result isn't overturned of course) WWF Champion Sid faced Shawn Michaels, with HBK coming out on top winning the title in his hometown! Shawn had the flu while working this match, and while it certainly wasn't a bad one, combining that with Sid's limitations ranked this match towards the lower end of Shawn's impressive main-event resume thus far. I loved the drama involving Austin, although I felt for the live crowd who surely knew it was a false finish and would likely be overturned. The rest of the matches on this card were the definition of average. That said, it's almost impossible not to enjoy a Rumble match, and Austin did well as the iron man so that gave the show a nice rating boost. Although without the Royal Rumble match itself, it would have been a sub 2 star show! (2.25 Stars)

Raw/Nitro January 20th

Monday Night Raw 20/1/1997 (3.25 Stars)

Since I have started these reviews, I haven't anticipated an episode of Raw as much as this one! Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. Bret Hart entered the ring looking pissed off! He pointed out all of the screwjobs he had fallen victim to since his return, such as; Shawn interfering in his title match against Sycho Sid as well as getting screwed out of a Rumble win. He accuses Vince McMahon of screwing him (Oh Bret, if only you knew) Bret Hart 'quits the company' before leaving through the crowd. Steve Austin cuts a fantastic promo on Bret Hart before calling out his opponent for tonight, The Undertaker. Great start to the show. British Bulldog and Owen Hart defeat Doug Furnas and Phillip Lafon in non-title action. I was very high on Lafon and Furnas, and this match showed me why. Faarooq picked up a victory against Bart Gunn before 'WWF President' Gorilla Monsoon made the announcement that while Steve Austin did indeed win the Rumble, he wouldn't be rewarded with the title shot. Instead, a "unique four man elimination match" would take place. The winner going on to WrestleMania to compete for the WWF Championship. The four men would be; The Undertaker, Vader, Bret Hart and Steve Austin. This would be the first fatal four way style matchup in WWF's history. Steve Austin faced Undertaker in the main-event, and to quote JR "You won't have to sit through Robin Hood to see it" A knock on Nitro's promotional tactics airing their main-event during the Robin Hood season premiere. The match was called off due to run-ins by Vader and Bret Hart. This was unquestionably, one of the best top to bottom Raw's I have seen from this period (It's also the joint highest rated, according to me anyway) The segments were all fantastic and the anticipation leading up to the show must have been extremely high also. That's without talking about the matches. They were all good. Even Faarooq/Gunn was decent for what it was. Only showcasing 3 matches on a one hour show makes it hard to get carried away with the rating, so 3.5 Stars is about as high as I would rank Raw under the 1 hour format. The only thing that could have made this show possibly reach that, would have been a clean finish to Austin/Taker. But even I didn't mind the shenanigans on this occasion, as they were warranted. Besides, they came pretty damn close to a perfect show as it was. Well done team Raw!

WCW Nitro 20/1/97 (2 Stars)

I've realised that when the shows are good, so are my reviews. When they are bad, I will run down the results separately only talking about the main points. If there's one thing worse than watching a bad wrestling show, it's reading about it. So I apologise in advance! 'Macho Man' Randy Savage wanted to talk to somebody with some "major stroke" and wasn't leaving the ring until he did. The first 5 minutes consisted of Chavo Guerrero looking perplexed as Randy sat on a chair in the middle of the ring. Savage then proceeded to toss both Chavo and his scheduled opponent Maxx out of the ring, as well as the referee. More wrestlers and security guards tried and failed to move Randy Savage until he was eventually confronted by Sting. After some Jedi mind games, Sting and Savage left together in what must be the most pointless and boring segment I've ever seen. Making matters even worse, it clocked in at over 10 minutes! I didn't know this, but apparently the reason for this segment was it marked the return of Randy Savage. He had a hold out period whilst he held talks with WWF, but decided to stay with WCW. The WCW "Newcomer of the Year" Chris Jericho pinned Alex Wright and nWo Sting defeated Scotty Riggs. Buff Bagwell and other C-Tier NWO members bullied the referee into reversing the initial decision (DQ win for Riggs) Arn Anderson and Steve 'Mongo' McMichael picked up a tag team victory against Eddie Guerrero and Jeff Jarrett, after Debra McMichael threw in the towel (her Miss America sash) in order to stop further punishment on Double J. This had all of the makings of a fun match. Unfortunately, Eddie leaving the match half way through to confront Syxx, combined with the screwy finish, ruined it. Cruiserweight Champion Ultimate Dragon defeated Dean Malenko in a rematch from Starrcade to wrap up hour one! Apparently this was a title match, but with no entrances or announcements ahead of the match informing the TV viewers of this, I was left perplexed with WCW's decision-making. It became clear to me that WCW believed it was main-event or bust at the time, and it certainly didn't have to be that way. TV Champion Lord Steven Regal defeated Jacques Rougeau of The Amazing French Canadians. Chris Beniot's match with Taskmaster devolved into a brawl, with the two men fighting around the arena. The pair would face each other again the next night at Clash of the Champions in a falls count anywhere match. Beniot finally gets Taskmaster back into the ring, only for his flying headbutt to connect with the ringbell courtesy of Jimmy Hart. This was an excellent segment, and as dangerous and CTE inducing the finish was. I can't deny it was very well done and added drama to the fued! Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeats Carl Ouellet, Masahiro Chono defeats Dave Taylor and Scott Hall defeats Booker T in a trifecta of meaningless matches (Side note, the NWO sent out referee Nick Patrick for the final 3 matches of the evening, who was now publicly embracing his alliance with the faction) Lex Luger submits Stevie Ray to a Torture Rack in the main-event before a Hollywood Hogan promo ahead of Souled Out. According to Hogan, he was on a plane suffering from mechanical failure, when he punched a hole through the window and used his pythons as wings. The more Hogan talked the more he lost my attention. Fitting way to end the show if you ask me. Aside from Beniot/Sullivan and the Cruiserweight Title match that was almost treated as if it was an annoyance to WCW. This was a bad show. The last hour was particularly painful to sit through. WWF wins an easy point.

Clash of the Champions 34 (N.R)

I won't review the full show but instead a handful of matches. As a result, I won't award this show with a rating. The opener was Dean Malenko vs Ultimate Dragon for the Cruiserweight Championship. Dean Malenko wins the title in what was arguably their best match together in WCW thus far. Both this match and their encounter at Starrcade received 4.5 Stars from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Chris Beniot pinned 'Taskmaster' Kevin Sullivan in a falls count anywhere match after Woman cracked Kevin with a chair. Not as good as their classic at the 96' edition of Great American Bash, but still a solid effort. Lex Luger defeated Scott Hall via DQ after outside interference from Syxx and Nash. The Steiner Brothers ran down post-match in an effort to even up the numbers. The 3 matches I saw were ok, but I'm glad I didn't stick around for the whole show

Souled Out 1997

The opening montage see's Eric Bischoff and other NWO members hanging off the back of dumpster trucks headed towards the arena, all shot in grainy black and white film. It certainly gave it a different feel, I'll say that much. Although it was hardly the Tarantino-esque vibe they were probably going for. Kevin Nash went on record saying this PPV should have been shot in Vegas, as well as having some ideas for the Miss NWO competition. He would have done a lot differently. Nash can be quoted as saying "While Bischoff created the concept (of the NWO) we (Hall and Nash) created the image" Hogan appears on screen and says some stuff before Liz took off Eric's jacket as he assumed the commentary position alongside Ted Di-Biase. Eric is a man of many talents but sadly, commentary wasn't one of them. It seemed there weren't any traditional ring announcers either, as a weird deep voice on a pre-recorded sound effect announced the participants for the matches. Oh...and no music whatsoever for the "WCW guys" So; cheap looking set, check. Poor announce team, check. Zero entrances or pyro for half of the talent, check. With that said let's get on with the review and the first match between Chris Jericho and Masahiro Chono. Chono wins in a good match. It wasn't too fast nor was it too slow. It was just two very good technical wrestlers having a solid match. The Miss NWO contest would run throughout the night and I will use those moments as respite, by not mentioning them. Big Bubba beats Hugh Morrus via count-out after Bubba ran Morrus over with a motorcycle. This was the only entertaining part of the match, and in all fairness, Morrus took the dangerous spot very well. Jeff Jarrett pinned Michael Wallstreet after Debra McMichael forced Steve 'Mongo' McMichael to intervene and even up the odds for Jeff, against a biassed Nick Patrick. The battle of the American Males came to a head as Buff Bagwell scored a victory over his former tag partner and supposedly "fat" Scotty Riggs. According to Eric "Buff Bagwell had IT! Some kind of intangible, starlike quality that transcends the average human being" before just saying the word charisma. If Bagwell had charisma, so does my dead aunt. This had been tough to watch so far, but this match nearly had me turning off my TV! Scott Norton defeats DDP via count-out in yet another bad match, but one that cemented DDP as a face going forward and ultimately, strapped a rocket to his back making him one of the most beloved and recognisable workers in WCW history. During the match, The NWO attempted to recruit DDP, yet Dallas faked them out, turning on them yet again in the process. Dallas doing that was still the highlight of the night thus far. According to Kevin Nash, the fact Dallas was friends with Bischoff actually worked against him, as Eric didn't want it to seem as if he was simply doing DDP favours. From here, the PPV would start to pick up, as The Stieners defeated The Outsiders, winning the Tag Titles in the process. They fumbled the finish somewhat as it ended by way of a top rope Bulldog. A move that typically would result in an immediate kick out from Scott Hall. The Nick Patrick ref bump to the replacement ref spot, also took too long, killing some of the drama. Add in the fact that Patrick took the bump horribly, stumbling out of the ring like a drunken man after one too many whiskeys. Still a passable match, which on this show is a big plus! Sadly, Eric immediately guaranteed that the result would be overturned on Nitro, killing any kind of heat WCW could have possibly used from this match, rendering it completely pointless. Kevin Nash described this particular creative decision "a debacle". I loved the Stieners and they deserved to be treated so much better than they were. Next would be, undoubtedly the best match of the entire card and if we are being honest, the entire month, as Eddie defeats Syxx to regain HIS United States Title.. A very talented Waltman at his best, against one of the best of all time! I won't analyse this match. Simply go onto YouTube or the WWE Network and watch it. Sadly the rest of the card has been so bad it doesn't matter at this point. A matter of too little too late. They give the Miss NWO Title to a rather plain looking 60 year old woman in an effort to not catch heat? I don't know nor do I care at this point. Now for the main-event. I actually didn't mind this one, but this is where having an NWO official hurt the match and the whole damn card. Patrick didn't count the clean 3 for the Giant. Giant gets pissed, run-ins ensue and the match is presumably called off (because you know, NWO can do what they want) and Hogan is still Champ. If I had total creative control (which Hogan had at this time) even I selfishly would have booked a better finish than this. The crowd started to chant "we want Sting" at this point! Besides one absolutely FANTASTIC match between Eddie and Syxx, and a couple of below average to average one's, the rest of this card was simply terrible! Now usually my criticism would be relegated to the in-ring action itself. But tonight this wasn't the case. The PPV felt overly gimmicked yet with some minor tweaks they could have pulled it off 'announce team, stage, anyone other than Nick Patrick as ref etc' and it MAY have worked. But simply, it didn't make sense. For starters, I disliked the set. It was intentionally dark and grungy but that rarely works. It just about worked for ECW, but for Heyman and his boys it wasn't a gimmick, it was a reality. Secondly, what was stopping the NWO and Nick Patrick doing ridiculous things just to get the results they wanted? It's all very well and good to complain but I'd like to offer an alternative. Run the NWO Souled Out PPV, but with the idea that the NWO picked all of the matches and stipulations...and that's it! Same set, normal ref's, EVERYONE gets entrance music and pyro as well as the usual announce team. Keep the set if you must, but everything else would have been a welcome improvement. I'm not sure if this is my lowest PPV rating, but I'd imagine it comes close. This show was an eye opener for me and I was pleasantly surprised to hear Kevin Nash himself had some gripes with how the NWO was handled at times. (1.75 Stars)

Raw/Nitro January 27th

Monday Night Raw 27/1/97 (2 Stars)

Ahamed Johnson continued his feud with The Nation of Domination as he faced Crush. Faarooq assaulted Johnson when the ref's back was turned, handing Crush the win. The heart punch, which Crush was using as his finish, was one of the least convincing manoeuvres I have ever seen. It looked terrible. Vince McMahon reminds Shawn Michaels about his WWF Title match against Sid next Thursday, before bringing out the participants of the upcoming four-way match to decide who would go on to face the champion at WrestleMania. Bret Hart says HBK better retain his title against Sycho Sid, as he wants to beat Shawn Michaels in a wrestlemania rematch one on one, and no-one else! Undertaker says some spooky stuff to both Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin calls them all cry babies and accuses Vince of leading him into an ambush, and Vader declines to say anything whatsoever, instead opting to stand on the entrance with his arms folded. A decent enough segment, but clearly filler. One half of the tag-team champions, British Bulldog defeats Doug Furnas in a decent enough match. Sadly it wasn't entertaining enough to add anything of note to the show. Owen and Davey engaged in a spat post-match before working things out. We then saw footage of a Savio Vega heel turn as he aligned with Nation of Domination during Shotgun Saturday Night. The main-event saw The Godwinns defeat Vader and Mankind via DQ after Mankind used a chair, before footage of Ahamed Johnson chasing off the Nation of Domination in the parking lot was shown. The Nation of Domination angle bookends this show, and while the feud between them and Johnson was entertaining, it wasn't strong enough to carry an entire episode of Raw. As for the main-event, while it was certainly better than it sounded, it wasn't by much. Next week Raw would move to two hours and promised a special Royal Rumble episode. Meaning they would air the PPV that most people paid 50 bucks for, entirely free after the fact. Or would they?

WCW Nitro 27/1/97 (2.25 Stars)

In preparation for both shows moving to 2 hours, I will test my new format of detailing the match results ending with a quicker, more compact summary of each show.

Segment- Eric Bishoff fires WCW Referee Randy Anderson following the controversy at Souled Out. Bischoff strips Steiner Brothers of the Tag Titles

Match 1- Steiner Brothers def Faces of Fear

Match 2- The Giant def Roadblock

Match 3- Jeff Jarrett def Eddie Guerrero via DQ after Steve 'Mongo' McMichael interference

Segment- Eric Bischoff stops footage being shown of Piper beating Hogan at Starrcade.

Match 4- Ultimate Dragon def Billy Pearl

Segment- Four Horsemen promo. Ric says the Horsemen are back and united! Arn declares Jeff isn't and never will be a Horseman, Mongo backs up that sentiment and Debra McMichael puts over Beniot.

Match 5- Lex Luger def Ron Powers

Match 6- Arn Anderson and Steve McMichael def The Amazing French Canadians

(Tag Team Championship)

Match 7- (c) The Outsiders def The Extreme

Match 8- Taskmaster def Joe Gomez

Segment- Hogan NWO promo. Hogan accepts The Giant's challenge as Sting and Randy Savage watch on from the crowd.

Match 9- Dean Malenko def Jerry Flynn

Segment- World Title match made at Superbrawl between Hollywood Hogan and Roddy Piper.

Match 10- Hugh Morris def Chris Beniot following Kevin Sullivan inference

Match 11- The Giant def Hollywood Hogan via DQ following interference from The Outsiders

Analysis

A solid show with good variety. Sometimes the Nitro segments seemed to be thrown together, but tonight that wasn't the case! Everything felt distinguished and like it was happening for a reason. From the fun tag opener opener to the big man match, followed by Jeff Vs Eddie and Cruiserweight action. It had a good flow without feeling disjointed. That said, there was seemingly no reason for the title change at Souled Out. I wasn't a fan of Bischoff stripping the titles just because he could (Nor was Kevin Nash apparently) In storyline terms at least, what's stopping him from doing that with every title in the future? Eddie Guerrero and Jeff Jarrett had a good match and while the Mongo run-in made sense, I would have liked the match to go slightly longer. I did find myself getting slightly bored during the second hour, but Hogan's promo pulled me back in (something I NEVER thought I'd say) A very talented and highly accomplished female wrestler who would go on to be known as Jacqueline, made her debut alongside Taskmaster/Kevin Sullivan in a notable moment. The main-event itself was a throw away 5 minute segment, with Lex Luger making the save setting up a match with him and The Giant Vs The Outsiders. But perhaps most importantly, you couldn't really say that one particular match or segment was terrible...for WCW standards in the mid-late 90's at least. Also, Jerry Flynn looked like the spitting image of Vince Russo. No seriously, Google the man! Decent enough show overall, winning Nitro the final point of the month.

Summary and final scores

Not the best start to the year if I'm being honest, although with a couple of fun episodes of Raw as well as a highly entertaining Royal Rumble match, it could have been much worse. The finish to the Rumble match was done perfectly, creating a situation for the WWF whereby they could continue to build intrigue and drama for weeks to come. I'm sure I'll talk about the issues Hulk Hogan's creative control caused at some point. But for now, the final scores are as follows. WCW 36-23 WWF with 9 ties.

Match of the Month:

Eddie Guerrero Vs Syxx (Souled Out)