Raw/Nitro October '97 (Week 4)

Raw/Nitro October 27th

Monday Night Raw 27/10/97 (2.25 Stars)

Segment- Nation of Domination in-ring promo. Faarooq asks why his locker room was vandalised with racial slurs. Vince McMahon responds by saying there is "no racism in the WWF" Rocky Maivia calls out The Hart Foundation with Faarooq challenging them to a match next week. The Hart Foundation responds, with Bret accepting the challenge and denying the allegations of vandalising the Nation's locker room, before accusing D-Generation X. HHH and Shawn Michaels deny the claims, further antagonising Bret, which leads to The Nation rushing The Hart Foundation with the two factions brawling.

Match 1- Hunter Hearst Helmsley def Goldust

Segment- Jim Cornette pre-recorded 'shoot' promo. Jim attacked the Hogan/Piper cage match from Halloween Havoc, saying both Piper and Hogan were past their best and it was a "slap in the face" to wrestlers and wrestling fans all across the world!

Intercontinental Championship

Match 2- Ahmed Johnson def Owen Hart (c) via DQ

Segment- Mankind in-ring promo. Mankind says Dude Love wanted to make people smile, but the attack by Kane changes that! Mankind says that he now wants Kane, referencing the matches that took him to the brink with The Undertaker! Sgt Slaughter interrupts telling him he's too 'unstable' to have the match. Mankind attacks Slaughter as a result!

WWF Title

Match 3- (c) Bret Hart Vs Ken Shamrock ends via no-contest

Segment- Bret Hart backstage promo. Bret vows to beat Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series once and for all!

Match 4- 'Road Dogg' Jesse Jammes & 'Bad Ass' Billy Gunn def The New Blackjacks

Segment- Paul Bearer in-ring promo. Bearer says Kane will destroy Mankind and then move straight on to The Undertaker!

Segment- DX backstage promo. Rick Rude says Shawn Michaels has a message for Bret Hart, before Shawn proceeds to flash his bare ass while HHH covers it with DX signs!

Match 5- Marc Mero def Flash Funk

Segment- JR sit down interview with Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett says that he left WCW because he wasn't one of "Bischoff's boys" as well as taking shots at WCW's ageing roster.

Tag Team Championships

(c) Legion of Doom def Los Boricuas

Segment- Ahmed Johnson calls out 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin as consequence for interfering with his match.

Summary

Opening Segment

Shawn Michaels called Bret Hart the 'grand wizard' and referred to the Hart Foundation as the 'KKK', with HHH even adding that Bret's first choice of wrestling gear was "white sheets and white hoods". It was pretty surreal to rewatch this racially charged storyline today, knowing how vastly different it is from any current product. An entertaining opening segment nonetheless, even if it wasn't the cleverest or the best (pretty base relying on the whole race thing) What I will say is that Shawn's cocky chickenshit heel promos were, and still are, unparalleled in my opinion. The way he delivered his lines, it was clear that he was lying, yet he was almost trying to convince himself and everyone else that what he was saying was true, but he did so with a wink and a smile (not fully denying it) It's hard to explain but he was excellent at that and vastly underrated on the mic in my opinion

Match 1

HHH pinned Goldust during the opener. He was still announced and referred to as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, but shown as HHH on screen during his entrance. An ok match, but nothing special. Chyna interfered on behalf of HHH to hand him the win. What I will say is that the match had some meaning. Not a lot but some. HHH was becoming a feature character on Raw, while approaching the period where he would win A LOT on TV, we didn't know that at the time of course, but him losing Goldust would have still been seen as a massive upset. See, there's a story there already. Cocky guys start a faction, a big singles win cements him and the rest of the faction, while a loss makes them look like a joke. If only I was on the booking committee in '97. A man can but dream. Shawn had a golden line on commentary for this one "I'm feeling myself, I'm feeling myself hard…I'm feeling myself soft sometimes too!"

Segment 2

I wouldn't usually review an actual segment, but 'Corny' was sheer gold here. Speaking a 1000 miles a minute and not stumbling over a single word. He took issues with people who claimed to be "icons", including WWF stars like Shawn Michaels (who he genuinely disliked) and Bret Hart (who's constant negotiations over the finish for the upcoming Survivor Series PPV, also made his eyes roll, considering he was going onto WCW to pick up millions a year anyway) 'If Bret had been screwed as many times as he claimed, he'd have struck oil by now!' Great line from Cornette. Corny then DESTROYED the 'vegetable match' at Havoc, claiming (quite rightly) both men were over the hill and didn't know when to walk away due to ego. Jim signs off by citing The Undertaker, Ric Flair and Steve Ausitn have never claimed to be icons, but probably are as a result. Just an amazing short 90 second rant, look it up if you can!

Match 2

Owen Hart retained his I-C Title against Ahmed Johnson via DQ thanks to an Austin run-in. A poor match but it was short, and Cornettes' segment beforehand, more than made up for it.

I did initially like Johnson, but the more I watched him, the more I thought he worked at a specific time ('96 as the cartoon character looking big man à la Hogan) but as an actual worker, he wasn't great.

Segment 3

Mankind called out Kane in a masterpiece of a segment. I've never wanted to see a match between two people more in this entire run-through! It was a good promo by Mankind but the storyline in general here was spectacular.

Second Hour/WarZone

Bret/Shamrock opened hour 2 with the title on the line! This wasn't much of an actual match, and it would be waved off anyway due to interference from Shawn Michaels, but the biggest talking point here of course, is Montreal! Many people have asked, if Bret didn't want to lose to Shawn I'm Canada, why not just drop the belt on TV to someone else. The answer, according to Bret Hart at least, is that he felt like he owed it to his fans in Canada to defend the title at Survivor Series on his home soil, as advertised. Whatever would Vince and Co come up with to get the belt away from Bret before he left for WCW?

Match 4

Billy Gunn and 'Road Dogg' Jesse Jammes picked up a dirty win over The New Blackjacks promoting The Godwinns and The Headbangers to run-in. I had zero interest in this segment to be honest as the tag scene at this time in the WWF absolutely sucked!

Main-event

L.O.D successfully defended their tag titles against Los Boricuas, following botched interference from Billy Gunn and Road Dogg. L.O.D and Los Boricuas both chase off the newly formed tag team, before Ahemd Johnson calls out Steve Austin in a quick closing segment. REALLY underwhelming end to the episode!

Analysis

I REALLY enjoyed most of the first hour. We had a good promo from Shawn, and some AMAZING storytelling in Mankind's segment! The WWF cleverly used him as a barrier between Kane and Taker which would be the eventual match, but IT ACTUALLY MADE SENSE! It was unusual for the first hour of the show to be the most entertaining, but the segments made that the case for this show. An average effort overall sadly, as the show slowly and sharply declined as it went on. If more focus was placed on the actual wrestling, they may have had a winning formula here.

WCW Nitro 27/10/97 (3 Stars)

Segment- 'Hollywood' Hogan and Eric Bischoff brag about beating up Roddy Piper last night. Hogan issues an open challenge to anyone in WCW.

Cruiserweight Title

Match 1- (c) Rey Mysterio def Dean Malenko

Match 2- Glacier def La Parka

Segment- DDP in-ring promo. DDP says he doesn't believe that Sting attacked him with a bat at Halloween Havoc, and the rumour is that it was actually Hulk Hogan. DDP answers Hogan's open challenge and calls him out!

Segment- Larry Zbyszko in-ring promo. Zybysko calls out Scott Hall following his attack at Halloween Havoc. Scott Hall comes out with Syxx, before requesting the footage of Zybysko's beatdown be played on the screen in order to antagonise Larry, before leaving without answering the challenge.

Match 3- Lex Luger def Stevie Ray

Segment- Pre recorded Raven promo. Raven sits in a tree and talks about darkness.

Match 4- Eddie Guerrero def Chris Jericho

Match 5- Chris Beniot def Fit Finlay

Segment- Mean Gene interviews Ric Flair. Flair says he may be hurt, but tonight is another night and Hennig is a "dead man", before calling out Randy Savage ahead of their scheduled match.

Segment- Stevie Richards in-ring promo. Richards says that the only way Raven will officially sign with WCW is if his next match is contested under no disqualifications. Raven offers Scotty Riggs a place in his group saying he won't wrestle him, and will "set him free". Riggs declines.

Match 6- Raven def Scotty Riggs (No DQ Match)

Match 7- DDP def 'Hollywood' Hogan (c) via DQ

Segment- Goldberg match with Disco Inferno waved off due to outside interference.

Segment- 'Hollywood' Hogan and Eric Bischoff in-ring promo. Bischoff and Hogan angrily call out Sting, saying they will sign a contract at the MGM!

Segment- Mean Gene interviews The Steiner Brothers. Scott Stiener thanks the fans as well as the nWo for losing the tag titles! Ted Di Biase issues an open challenge

Tag Team Championships

Match 8- (c) The Steiner Brothers def Public Enemy

U.S Championship

Match 9- (c) Curt Hennig def Booker T via DQ

Match 10- Ric Flair def ' Macho Man' Randy Savage via DQ

Summary

Opening Segment

Bischoff bragged that Hogan was "STILL" the WCW champion, despite his match at Havoc being non-title and he lost anyway. I would usually put this down to Bischoff and Hogan heeling it up, before I remembered how little attention to detail WCW actually had during this time. Hogan issued an open challenge, before promoting his new film Assault on Devil's Island.

Matches 1 & 2

Rey Mysterio defended his newly won cruiserweight title against the accomplished Dean Malenko. Ravens new faction walked down through the crowd mid match (Raven, Perry Saturn, Billy Kidman and Sick Boy) The match was too short to be memorable, but the finish was interesting as Mysterio reversed a Texas Cloverleaf into a rollup and got the 3 count victory.

Glacier got revenge against La Parka as he defeated him one on one. Another short, albeit slightly entertaining match. Glacier dragged La Parka off the top rope face first into a chair set up at ringside, before delivering the chronic kick for the win. I wasn't into the Glacier character, as while it was semi intriguing at first, ultimately it would prove to be too gimmicky for me to ever take him seriously as an in-ring talent. Did this man actually believe he was a Mortal Kombat video game character? At least Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks try to disguise that fact by wearing street clothes.

Segment

DDP cuts an in-ring promo accusing Hogan of donning Sting gear and attacking him with a bat at Halloween Havoc! I'm sorry, but even Hogan isn't a good enough actor to pull that one off. His '24 inch pythons' would have given him away from the jump! Anyway, Dallas answered Hogan's challenge which was a good move, and if not fucked with too much, could be a fun main-event!

*Edit- It turns out this WASN'T THE MAIN-EVENT. Like WTF?

Second Hour

The top of the first hour ended with Raven sitting in a tree, in quite frankly sunny looking weather, while talking about the darkness. Paul Heyman has publicly gone on record in saying that he wishes Raven never left ECW, as Eric Bischoff and WCW couldn't see his creative genius. We are still quite early into Raven's WCW run, but knowing what we do about how it would unfold, you would be hard pressed to say that Heyman was wrong.

Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho opened hour number two, with Guerrero taking the win. This was technically a flawless match, but I couldn't fully enjoy it as I knew by this point it would soon be over. If only WCW had cut out some of the crap to allow the talented performers more time.

Match 5-

Fit Finlay (formerly the Belfast Brawler) took on Chris Beniot in a STIFF match! Both men put everything into every sequence, not only by the force applied, but also the selling and mannerisms in which they carried themselves. Finlay didn't hold back with a missed chop into the steel turnbuckle, and Beniot launched himself into the guardrail as if it owed him money! An energetic, frenzied contest that was only heightened due to its realism. Beniot came out on top after a flying headbutt.

Match 6-

Raven faced Scotty Riggs in a match that went to a no contest. Raven tried to recruit Riggs to his flock ahead of the match. Honestly this story was still intriguing to me, despite my earlier comments (I haven't seen any of Raven's WCW run yet, so want to judge it fairly for myself) Raven shitcanned Billy Kidman, after Kidman showed concern for Riggs after injuring his eye, before Raven went back to his seat. The match was waved off.

Match 7-

'Hollywood' Hogan faced DDP in the main-event of hour two I guess? I can only imagine this was due to timing and trying to challenge Raw's traditional 2 hour main-event spot with a big match. The match was annoyingly waved off after a fake Sting ran in, leading to DDP being jumped by the nWo. The real Sting comes down and cleans house. This was about as good of a Hogan TV match as you will see, basic but he took bumps, it went over 10 minutes and it got semi interesting towards the end until the schmoz at the end.

Third Hour

Bill Goldberg was scheduled to face Disco Inferno for the TV Title, but was instead jumped by Alex Wright. The match never happens as Goldberg destroys Wright. Steve 'Mongo' McMichael also tried to take a pop, as Goldberg was in possession of his Super Bowl ring, but the two were torn apart.

During The Steiners victory against Public Enemy, the announcers CONSTANTLY plugged Hogan and Stings contract signing (be sure to tune into Devil's Island to see it) I'm not joking, it was a cutaway segment half way through an actual movie! Smart marketing and so very 90's. I mean nowadays, there's no chance someone would sit through a whole movie just to watch a 5 minute clip of something that was semi-related. They'd catch it on Twitter or Tik Tok after the fact. I kind of love that WCW and Hogan decided to do this and I just found the entire thing totally hilarious. At the same time, I also felt bad for the poor pre Internet 90's kids, who had to sit through a bad Hogan movie just to watch a 5 minute segment.

Match 9-

Curt Hennig successfully defended his US Title against Booker T, after Flair ran in and attacked Hennig causing a DQ. This would be a lead into Flair's main-event match with Randy Savage.

Main-event

The camera cuts to Flair and Savage brawling on the ramp, before they instantly went into the crowd as they went at it amongst the masses! I will say this, there can only be so many DQs, no contests and wild brawls, until it stops making sense. At the end of the day, there's a ring, rules and a ref for a reason. Sometimes it's understandable to throw these things out of the window, but if you keep doing it, then what's the point in having a TV show where the VERY PREMISE is for grudges to be settled inside of these parameters? We never hear the bell officially ring, but Flair tosses Savage back into the squared circle, and the ref seemed active so I presumed the match was officially underway. After all of that, it ended via DQ anyway, after Curt Hennig ran in for revenge. Hennig and Savage double teamed Flair, as Nitro goes off air (Hey, that rhymed) I understand that WCW had the whole 'Flair was a mad man possessed' thing going on, but the last two segments really hurt the quality of what was an otherwise strong outing of Nitro.

Summary

I have to give WCW credit, yes 3 hours is and ALWAYS will be too long for a TV, but the card was stacked and I was entertained for the most part. The tie-in contract signing with Hogan's new movie was a clever move, and the idea of selling you something while also trying to sell you something else was typical of that time period (pay as you go hotlines anyone) There was no doubt that this was a big story and WCW pushed it HARD, but you'd honestly have thought that the queen had died the amount of times they mentioned it! They called it the "biggest match" in pro-wrestling as well as the most "historic contract signing in the history of our sport". In short, it was a good show and I honestly enjoyed how much they pushed the Hogan/Sting stuff. They did a good job of selling it. In conclusion, Nitro takes the point.

Summary and final scores

A solid month as far as The PPVs were concerned at least. As for the TV side of things, Raw was blowing hot and cold, although the featured angles had been highly entertaining as usual, while Nitro ended the month on a bang! Rather than regurgitating my previous points, I will now use this section for extra information that I didn't include in my reviews. Jim Cornette has stated that it was around this time he started to put on weight due to the "stress"that he attributed to working with Vince Russo. Cornette also claimed that Russo wanted to 'hotshot' the angle between Kane and The Undertaker, having them interact on a weekly basis, despite them already being booked for a match at WrestleMania 5 months later. Kevin Nash also provided some insight on Lanny Poffo's WCW contract. The story goes that Randy Savage (Lanny's brother) was essentially paying WCW to give Lanny a contract. Despite them never using Lanny, the contract was honoured. Yet on October 14th during an episode of WCW Saturday Night, Lanny Poffo allegedly won a "phantom match" that was never aired.

Anyway, Nitro has a clean sweep this month, winning four consecutive weeks! Nitro has been genuinely improving and I've found myself enjoying the shows a lot more. Whereas the WWF still seems overly chaotic and poorly booked at times (perhaps due to the change in creative) The finals scores still see WCW lead the way. WCW 51-42 WWF and 12 draws.

Match of the Month: The Undertaker Vs Shawn Michaels (Bad Blood)