Raw/Nitro December '97 (Week 4)

Monday Night Raw 22/12/97 (2.25 Stars)

Segment- D-Generation X in-ring promo. Triple H says that The New Age Outlaws can't take any credit for what was done to the Legion of Doom last week, and they better stay out of “DX's business”. Triple H calls out Owen Hart, as Shawn Michaels also calls out The Undertaker ahead of their casket match at The Royal Rumble. D-Generation X close by saying they have a Christmas present for the fans of the WWF, before they pull their pants down exposing their bare asses with “Merry Xmas” written on them! Sgt. Slaughter comes to the ring and orders Shawn Michaels to defend his European Championship against Triple H in the main-event! Shawn and Triple H argue in the middle of the ring, before Shawn says that he “doesn't lie down for anybody!” 

Match 1- Thrasher def Henry O. Godwinn via DQ

Segment- Mankind promo from the boiler room. Mankind says that he doesn't want to spend the Christmas season in pain, and he will give The New Age Outlaws the “beatings of their life!” 

Segment- Recap from last week's show after Raw went off air. ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin hits a stunner on Santa Claus.

Segment- D-Generation X heard arguing in their locker room.

Match 2- Rocky Maivia Vs The Undertaker ends in a no-contest.

Segment- Paul Bearer interrupts The Undertaker’s match and tells him that he MUST face his brother Kane. Kane assaults The Undertaker who refuses to fight back!

Segment- Owen Hart attacks Triple H, causing a delay in his match against Shawn Michaels.

Segment- The New Age Outlaws look for Mankind backstage. They mistakenly attack the wrong person in the dark. 

Segment- Marc Mero forces Sable to come out wearing a reindeer outfit. 

Match 3- Marc Mero def Scott Taylor 

Segment- Sable takes off her reindeer outfit revealing a ‘sexy Santa’ costume instead, and wishes the fans a “very merry Christmas”.

Segment- Triple H backstage promo. He says he will teach Shawn Michaels a lesson!

Match 4- Kurrgan def 8-Ball 

Match 5- Ken Shamrock/D-Lo Brown 

Segment- The Rock confronts Ken Shamrock. The Rock says Ken Shamrock may be the “king of the UFC” before calling the organisation one full of “has-beens and never was” before challenging him to a match at The Royal Rumble, with his Intercontinental Championship the line!

Segment-  Shawn Michaels backstage promos as he responds to Triple H. Shawn says he will “smack around” Triple H.

Segment- The New Age Outlaws continue their search for Mankind. Road Gunn and Billy Gunn lock him in a walk-in freezer!

Segment- Godust and Luna in-ring promo. Vader attacks Goldust as Goldust and Luna retreat from the ring.

European Championship

Match 6- Triple H def Shawn Michaels (c) 

Segment- D-Generation X mock Sgt. Slaughter following their sham match, whereby Shawn Michaels intentionally laid down for Triple H! Slaughter books Triple H Vs Owen Hart for the European Championship, set to take place the following week on Raw. 

Summary

Matches 1 & 2

Michael Cole was on commentary for the first time (on an episode of Raw anyway) Henry O. Godwinn took on Thrasher of The Headbangers in the opener. It ended Instantly via DQ after Phineas ran in, attacking Thrasher. The Godwinns started whipping both members of The Headbangers with leather straps. The fact that the crowd started multiple “L.O.D” chants, tells you all that you need to know here. They were NOT interested in this match, and neither was I!   

Rocky Maivia aka ‘The Rock’ took on The Undertaker. Why they didn't just do a full transition and make ‘The Rock’ his official name by this point, was anybody's guess. The Undertaker dominated early, with The Rock selling really well for him (always one of his strengths) The Rock would eventually mount a comeback, even hitting what would later become his patented ‘people's elbow’. There was a really weird moment during the match, where for 2 minutes or so, it seemed as if nothing really happened at all! I'm not sure if it was intentional stalling because of how the match was agented, but I would have expected much more, especially considering the quality of both the Undertaker and ‘The Rock’. The Undertaker hit his tombstone and went for the cover, until Kane confronted him in the middle of the ring! The match was eventually waved off as a no-contest.

Overall, I felt like this was a bit of a letdown to be honest. Probably because I had such high expectations going into it. But compared to Thrasher Vs Henry O. Godwinn or whatever it was that I saw earlier, this was a certified 5 star classic! Overall the segment was fine, especially with the addition of Kane at the end, and a nice close to the first hour.

Second Hour/WarZone 

Hour two was set to open with the European Title match that would see the champion Shawn Michaels take on his tag team partner and real life BFF, Triple H. Owen Hart attacked Triple H before the match could start. This was pretty pointless outside of delaying it to the main-event spot, and in the WWF's eyes, presumably hoping it would be enough to dent Nitro's viewership.

Main-event 

Not much happened in hour two, so I'll skip right to the main-event (Shame creative didn't have this light bulb moment themselves) Shawn Michaels essentially “laid down” for Triple H, as the pair refused to actually wrestle. I didn't actually hate this, as it made all of the sense in the world, at least from a storytelling perspective. Shawn Michaels was already the world champion, and he was still keeping the European championship in-house, essentially giving it to Triple H. We can talk about “devaluing titles” all we want, but in this instance, I don't think it was that deep. It was a relatively new title anyway, and Owen Hart was hot on the heels of DX, so Triple H was essentially taking unnecessary attention away from Shawn. It wasn't the most entertaining segment in the world granted, but it got heat (even if only from the paying fans in attendance) and seeing as Shawn wasn't working TVs every week anyway, it was a chance for someone else to give the title the exposure it deserved. Put simply, sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

Summary 

Holiday editions of wrestling shows are historically flat. Whether it's because there's so much on TV around this time and people are generally much buiser (hence, why waste the good stuff if people's eyes aren't going to be there, a common soap opera tactic) or because, in the WWF’s case at least, the money making months were right around the corner in January-March/April aka WrestleMania season. Regardless, this was a fine episode of Raw. It did have spots here and there that caught my attention (Rock challenging Shamrock, Outlaws searching for Mankind and the last segment with D-Generation X) That being said, why I chose to stay up extra late on Christmas eve to watch this show is beyond me, but it seemed outright depressing to review a Christmas centric episode of Raw in the middle of January for some reason. Enough rambling, I hope I get LOTS of booze tomorrow as we still have an episode of Nitro and Starrcade ‘97 to put in the books. I can't put it off much longer, wish me luck soldiers!

WCW Nitro 22/12/97 (2 Stars)

Segment- Eric Bischoff pre-recorded promo hyping his match against Larry Zybysko at Starrcade. Eric says that Larry hasn't got the intelligence, or is planning/training hard enough to beat him. Eric adds that Zybysko will be known as “the man who lost Nitro” and “the man who had the opportunity to keep the nWo off the air” before adding that he will blow it! 

Match 1- Fit Finlay def Eddie Guerrero via count-out 

Match 2- Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael def Meng

Segment- Mean Gene interviews DDP in-ring. DDP says at Starrcade, a present is waiting for him and that present is Curt Hennig and the United States title! 

Match 3- Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera & Hector Garza def La Parka, Psychosis & Silva King 

Match 4- Chris Beniot def Hammer via DQ

Segment- The nWo takeover the commentary position and force them to leave. They make various workers around the arena put on nWo shirts!  The nWo tear apart the set in a “hostile takeover” replacing it with nWo branded lettering! Eric Bischoff gifts ‘Hollywood’ Hogan 2 motorcycles and a stretch car!

Segment- J.J. Dillon tells Rick Steiner that he doesn't have to compete under this nWo branded ‘hostile takeover’.

Match 5- Rick Steiner def Scott Norton via DQ

United States Championship 

Match 6- (c) Curt Hennig def Disco Inferno 

Segment- Bobby Heenan comes out to reason with the nWo. Heenan says that he now recognises the nWo as number one, and it's vital to his broadcast career that he is a part of it! Kevin Nash gives Bobby Hennan his broadcast chair.

Match 7- Harlem Heat def Lodi & Scotty Riggs

Match 8- Buff Bagwell def Chris Jericho

Segment- nWo in-ring segment. Hollywood Hogan holds up a ‘Vince fears Hogan’ sign. Eric Bischoff gives Hollywood Hogan a ring to signify his achievements in WCW. Bischoff drops two banners that commemorate his Sports Illustrated cover appearance as well as his appearance in Rocky III. 

Match 9- Randy Savage def Lex Luger 

Segment- Hollywood Hogan in-ring promo. Hogan says that “Sting will be stung” and he will simply be another notch on the nWo belt. A person comes into the ring to give Hogan another present, as Bret Hart watches on. Hogan opens it to reveal a fake ‘Hogan head’, signifying that Bret Hart wants ‘Hogan's head’ at Starrcade! Sting appears on top of the WCW sign and uses a zipline to come towards the ring, leading to Hogan retreating in fear. 

Analysis

We were told that this would be ANOTHER 3 hour show! The Nitro Girls did a really weird hybrid Christmas lap dance routine over some chairs. It wasn't particularly sexy, but as a standalone dance routine it was actually pretty good! I just wasn't sure if a “solid dance routine” was what WCW and Eric Bischoff had in mind. Maybe I've just been spoiled with the likes of Nikki Minaj and Dua Lipa showing their arses at every given chance, so who knows, for 1997 this MAY HAVE BEEN considered sexy? Anyway, after we see a pre-recorded package with Eric Bischoff taunting  Larry Zybysko, we actually saw some wrestling. Let's get to it! 

Matches 1 & 2

Fit Finlay defeated Eddie Guerrero via countout after Eddie said “Fuck this noise, I've got to wrestle Dean Malenko at Starrcade, so ima save my energy VIVA LA RAZAAA” OK, so he didn't actually say that, but that was certainly what he implied after he suddenly walked out mid contest. If only ‘Hollywood’ Hogan utilised that tactic every once in a while! This was actually a fun match for as long as it lasted, and as much as I hated the finish (if you can call it that) It actually made all of the sense in the world from a storytelling perspective. Even if it did come across as a bit weird.

Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael faced Meng in the following match. It took ‘Mongo’ hitting Meng with not only a wooden chair, but a steel one before also nailing a tombstone for the 3 count victory! Mongo was set to face Goldberg at Starrcade, and to be fair, he had been presented in a way that he was somewhat of a viable threat to the 285 lb former NFL linebacker in Goldberg. You know, without knowing that Goldberg would be pushed to the moon and go on a 500 match winning streak or whatever. Poor match, but relatively decent build for Mongo's upcoming PPV match 

Match 3

6 man lucha action was what followed. Rey Mysterio, Psychosis and Hector Garza beat Psychosis, Juventud Guerrera and Silver King. Mysterio got the biggest reactions out of anyone in this match, clearly showing the bookers backstage that he was the biggest star in this somewhat makeshift lucha division! This was much more rushed than last week's entertaining lucha effort, with zero psychology involved and plenty of tope spots and corkscrews to the outside. This seemed like an exercise to promote Rey Mysterio ahead of Starrcade over anything else, but like Eddie's match earlier, it carried little substance other than reminding us that ‘both guys were there!’

Match 4

Purley admin here but Chris Beniot defeats Hammer from Raven's flock via DQ, after the flock come into the ring to stretch Beniot. Honestly, this may be controversial to say. But in pure wrestling terms, Raven/Beniot had been built FAR BETTER than anything else on Starrcade thus far (in my humble opinion at least) It may not have been the money match, but going into the PPV I was as interested in that as just about anything else. And yes, that includes Hogan Vs Sting! 

Segment 

Hour number one ended with a “hostile takeover”, as the nWo tore apart the arena, berated stage hands and camera men while placing their lettering and banners around the arena. If some people thought that this segment lasted too long, it would have been hard to disagree with them! A very good idea in concept, but REALLY poor in execution, as the time it took to pull all of this off, actually DROVE VIEWERS AWAY! It was like watching someone unpack their shit after moving house. Long and laborious. I tried to time it and considering that I was watching an edited version with adverts removed, the stage removal ALONE took 15 minutes! No talking, no wrestling, just people moving ladders and trying to hang banners around the arena. The final stanza was nWo's metal logo being lowered onto the entrance ramp before the most pathetic pyro display the world had ever seen! My little cousin's 10th birthday cake had more sparks and that's not even a joke! Eric Bischoff eventually rides down on his Harley and combined with Hogan's entrance alone, this added another 5! Eric says that he owns the show and that the nWo will take care of Lex Luger, before Eric Bischoff says he has “several gifts” to give to the Hulkster. He was given a couple of bikes and a car. I think it's time to pour another drink at this point.

In total this segment lasted 25 MINUTES (EXCLUDING adverts) and consisted of people moving ladders, putting up banners and Hulk Hogan being gifted two motorcycles and a car! Why oh why did I start this project! 

Second Hour

Hour two started with Rick Steiner beating Scott Norton via DQ, after Konnan interfered. Scott Norton was the perfect example of a guy being included in the nWo, just because creative didn't have any other ideas for them. Say it with me folks….’lazy booking!’

I'll come back to you all during the main-event anyway, as I can't see much more happening during this episode to be honest, and I don't want to inflict anymore unnecessary damage onto myself writing about this horseshit booking.

I tell a lie. Bobby Heenan came out to plead for his job back while sucking up to the nWo. It was something different, made sense and was actually mildly entertaining. It snapped me out of my boredom anyway. Eric Bischoff eventually leaves in place of Mike Tenay, leaving only Rick Rude as the ‘official voice’ of the nWo. I don't understand why they didn't FULLY commit to the nWo takeover bit, but maybe they realised that Heenan and Tenay were recognised voices and actually good at their job, so taking them away for nearly two hours made little to no sense at all.

Main-event 

Randy Savage takes on Lex Luger in the main-event. Full disclosure. I will be putting all of my negative feelings into a box, and watch this match while trying to enjoy it, in the hopes it improves the score and my overall experience. I don't go into these shows WANTING them to be bad, sometimes they just are. Bagwell attacks Luger while the ref is down, before Kevin Nash joins the party and hits a jackknife powerbomb! Randy Anderson comes back to life to count the 1-2-3 as the nWo celebrated in the ring. Again, as long as it lasted the match wasn't TERRIBLE. But the nWo run-ins were driving me insane by this point.

Obviously WCW found a way to squeeze in ONE MORE ‘Hollywood’ Hogan/Eric Bischoff promo before they went off air. Because lord knows that two wasn't enough! Now the first two were bad, but this one wasn't only bad, but also a cardinal sin in terms of promoting Hogan/Sting, and here's why. It totally distracted from any actual issue that Hogan and Sting had, when Bret Hart was somehow chosen to present Hogan with a ‘Christmas present” of a fake Hogan head inside the box. No, seriously! On top of Hogan's TERRIBLE acting here (I mean I don't exactly blame him, how is anyone even supposed to respond to something like that!) this segment was completely unnecessary and had the real danger of taking out a lot of the heat and goodwill they had already built for this match. One, by randomly involving Bret Hart, and two, the corny ‘Hogan's head in a box’ bit. I've said it before and I'll say it again. YES, Hogan/Sting was a money match. But sometimes. LESS….IS…MORE!

Summary 

Allegedly, the ratings for this nWo centric show were SO BAD, it actually put a kibosh on the nWo themed WCW show that was initially planned.

Ok, I have to ask. Who ACTUALLY thought the hostile takeover segment would have worked. Because either someone had no idea how to lay out and present segments on TV, or they were just jacking themselves off. Point being, the nWo ‘hostile takeover’ segment was one of the strangest things I've ever witnessed on a wrestling show, and I've seen some weird shit before! 

To be fair, I did like Bobby Heenan switching up in hour number two and trying to align with the nWo to save his job. It was something different at least. 

To WCW’s credit, due to the nWo takeover gimmick going on for most of the night, they DID seem to actually focus on and tried to showcase much more wrestling than usual (from that point in the show anyway) But even so, the matches just weren't good! Rick Steiner/Scott Norton was meh. Disco Inferno/Curt Hennig was better than I thought it would be but still not great. And to top it all off, Buff Bagwell actually gave Chris Jericho his FIRST BAD MATCH during his entire run in WCW (In my opinion anyway) 

In summary this show was a mess from top to bottom. Heading into Starrcade it was always a risk to try something like this and attempt to break from the traditional tried and tested format of, you know, ACTUALLY TRYING TO SELL THE PPV! We had TWO entirely different segments consisting of Eric Bischoff essentially fangirling over ‘Hollywood’ Hogan and giving him an array of gifts. This wasn't ‘building heat’ in my opinion. It was just annoying, boring and bad television! The last segment was completely inexcusable and the sole reason this show scored below two stars! It was bordering on arrogant booking at times, but as previously stated. Hogan's bad acting combined with the ridiculousness of the ‘head in a box’ bit, as well as confusing the whole thing and inserting Bret Hart for some reason, and nearly screwing up any and all good will that WCW had spent the better part of 18 months trying to build up in the process. I may be being slightly dramatic here, but my head genuinely hurt after watching that Nitro. I need to drink some herbal tea or something.

But hey-ho there we go. Oh and in case you haven't guessed already, Raw takes the point this week!