Raw/Nitro October ‘97 (Weeks 1-2)

Raw/Nitro October 6th

Monday Night Raw 6/10/97 (2.5 Stars)

Preamble

We will turn to the two men providing insight for this year's reviews, Jim Cornette and Kevin Nash, as it relates to their thoughts on the sad passing of Brian Pillman. Cornette remembered the initial phone call from Brian's Hotel, at first believing it to be some kind of practical joke on Pillman's part. Nash also commented that Pillman's death was "the floodgate" for the spate of premature pro-wrestling deaths that would later follow, also adding how tough it can be to kick addiction and how quickly it can spiral out of control.

Segment- 10 bell salute for Brian Pillman.

Segment- Shawn Michaels in-ring promo. Shawn Michaels (with Hunter Hearst Helmsley & Chyna) torments Micheal Cole, giving him a wedgie before bragging about his win in the hell in a Cell match. Shawn and Hunter brag about the 'curtain call', making references to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, before they antagonise Vince McMahon. Bret Hart calls out Shawn Michaels ahead of their scheduled title match.

Match 1- The Headbangers def The Godwinns (Lumberjack Match)

Match 2- Marc Mero def Miguel Perez

Segment- Jim Cornette pre-recorded 'shoot promo' on WCW, Eric Bischoff and The nWo.

Match 3- The British Bulldog def Rocky Maivia

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in-ring promo. Austin is forced to decide whether to waive liability towards the WWF, or continue his rehabilitation as per doctor's orders. Austin says he will only sign if he is guaranteed a rematch with Owen Hart for the IC Title. Faarooq appears on the titan-tron, calling out Austin for costing him the match at Bad Blood.

Intercontinental Championship

Match 4- Owen Hart (c) def Hawk

Segment- Interview with Brian Pillman's recently bereaved wife, as she comments on the sad circumstances surrounding his premature death. She says he passed away in his sleep due to a heart attack.

Segment- Kane destroys Matt and Jeff Hardy before their scheduled tag team match, before Paul Bearer cuts a promo on The Undertaker and introduces Kane. Bearer says Kane will destroy everyone until he gets to The Undertaker!

Match 5- Hunter Hearst Helmsley def Bret Hart via count-out

Analysis

Opening segment

The show opened with Shawn Michaels acting like a heel, pulling back the curtain referencing the incident at MSG involving Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hunter and himself. Allegedly, Hunter apologised to Jim Cornette after the curtain call, with Jim pointing to THIS very segment, as proof of his insincerity. Shawn also called his new faction of Hunter and Chyna 'the cliq' on screen, in yet another reference to his friends Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Ultimately, this segment would be the genesis of the faction later known as D-Generation X, with Shawn and Hunter acting cocky in the ring together, dropping insider references and basically putting themselves over at the expense of others. Not to say that was ALWAYS a bad thing. I was a huge fan of DX, and at their peak, they proved to be a much needed shot in the arm for Vince McMahon and The WWF.

Matches 1 & 2

Opening non-title, tag team lumberjack match between The Godwinns and The Headbangers. All of the lumberjacks spilled into the ring, devolving into a mass brawl. Headbangers took advantage of the chaos and won with a rollup. Quick opener, not a great match but set the right tone going forward.

Marc Mero (W/Sable) over Miguel Perez. Sable was a huge draw at the time, ironically perhaps even more so than the man she was managing, her real life husband Marc Mero.

Second Hour/WarZone

The second hour opened with an entertaining Steve Austin in-ring promo. This was where Austin was forced to 'decide' whether to waive liability to the WWF, or continue his rehabilitation as per doctor's orders. Austin says he will only sign if he gets a rematch against Owen Hart. Spicy stuff…

The segment that followed was in my opinion, a tasteless and needless interview with Brian Pillman's newly bereaved wife, Melanie. I didn't really understand what they were trying to achieve here. Although it seemed to be an attempt to babyface themselves and deflect away any negative press surrounding Brian's real life issues with pain medication and addiction. However, the true eye rolling moment came when Vince asked Melaine how she planned to support herself alongside her two children as a "single mother". This interview was just a bad choice all round and very poorly executed in my opinion. Melanie was clearly grieving and the last thing she needed was a camera in her living room with Vince McMahon asking her questions. Jim Cornette would also call it tasteless, accusing Vince of using Melanie simply to 'boost ratings'. Melaine Pillman would later pass away due to a drug overdose, in June of 2022.

Main-event

Hunter took on Bret Hart in the final match of the evening. An ok showing to end Raw, as Hunter won via count-out following a superkick on Bret from Shawn Michaels. Minimum shenanigans here, so I applaud The WWF for resisting a multi-man run-in DQ finish.

Summary

New segment heavy direction. Luckily, the segments were entertaining for the most part. All in all, it was a fun show, with the segments outshining the majority of the matches (I have no problem with this being the case on TV, although balance is nice) Jim Cornette's shoot promo was the highlight for me. The idea for his now famous 'rant' segments, came about when Kevin Kelly asked Cornette to do an episode of Byte This (An Internet Show at the time) and on the show, asked Jim what he thought of the nWo's parody mocking the Four Horsemen. Jim's rant went viral, leading Vince McMahon to ask him to reproduce it on TV. During the initial segment, Jim commented on Kevin Nash's "six moves", a point that would become a humorous back and forth between the pair to this day. He also essentially called Eric Bischoff a money mark, a criticism he levels at current day AEW headbooker and president Tony Khan. Honestly, the only smear on this show was the distasteful Melanie interview. Other than that, it was a pretty entertaining episode of Raw.

WCW Nitro 6/10/97 (3 Stars)

Segment- 'Hollywood' Hogan in-ring promo. Hogan calls out commissioner Roddy Piper as well as Sting.

Match 1- Booker T def Jeff Jarrett

Match 2- Alex Wright def Billy Kidman

Match 3- Ernest 'The Cat' Miller def Mortis

Segment- Scott Hall in-ring promo. Scott Hall says he is hurt and Kevin Nash is still out of action. Scott Hall calls out Lex Luger & Larry Zbyszko

Match 4- Scott Hall def Hector Garza

(T.V Title)

Match 5- DDP def Disco Inferno (c) via DQ

Segment- Roddy Piper in-ring promo. Piper calls out The Outsiders, and forces them to defend the tag titles next week. Piper also makes the match between DDP and Randy Savage a 'Piper Rules' match, stating it will be no DQ and last man standing. 'Hollywood' Hogan interrupts, stating that Piper will always be in his shadow, before saying he will prove it one on one in the cage match at Halloween Havoc. Hogan and Piper brawl before The nWo pull Hogan out of the ring to safety.

Cruiserweight Championship

Match 6- (c) Eddie Guerrero def Ultimo Dragon

United States Championship

Match 7- (c) Curt Hennig def Chris Beniot

Segment- Ric Flair in-ring promo. Flair calls out The nWo. Flair threatens Curt Hennig, saying that he will hurt him at Halloween Havoc whether an official match is booked or not, adding that when he's done with him, he'll deal with Hogan.

Analysis

The show opened with an onscreen tribute to Brian Pillman and his family.

Matches 1 & 2

This would be Jeff's final WCW match during his first run with the company (although he would eventually return years later) On this night however, Jeff would do the job for Booker T before leaving. That was good of him. On Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash would go on to say that Jeff was good at "playing gaps" to ensure a payday. Essentially stating he would position himself to fill in for injured talent, or be in a place to switch companies all together as and when he needed to. Looking at Jeff's career, that seemed to be a pretty fair assessment. Anyway, this was nothing special and the finish came across as kind of weak, as Steve 'Mongo' McMichael punched Jarrett before tossing him back into the ring, with Booker T winning via rollup.

Alex Wright pinned Billy Kidman in the second match of the evening. Raven and Perry Saturn were also shown at ringside. My only criticism would be that Billy Kidman was very talented, so it's a shame he wasn't given the freedom to use more of his offensive manoeuvres in the ring. During the match, the camera briefly cut to backstage showing an altercation between Steve McMichael and Queen Debra, as Debra slapped McMichael.

Second Hour

Hour two kicked off with Scott Hall making light work of Hector Garza, putting the ref in the torture rack post-match as well as spraying his back with the letter Z (presumably calling out Larry Zbyszko)

DDP had Disco Inferno beat in the following match, but a run-in from Randy Savage ended things early via DQ. Savage attempted a piledriver onto the concrete, until Roddy Piper came out with the save allowing DDP to hit a Diamond Cutter instead. Savage was then stretchered out of the arena. The match between Inferno and DDP was fun while it lasted, but it was too short for me to say much more. The post-match fracas was interesting, and did a good job of hyping the feud between Page and Savage.

Match 6

Eddie Guerrero pinned Ultimo Dragon in a Cruiserweight title match. This was HEAVILY condensed for TV, so not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but still a fun watch.

Main-event

Curt Hennig successfully defended his U.S Title in the main-event against Chris Beniot. In my opinion, this was the match of the night! You'll never get many rest holds in a Beniot match, as he usually went full tilt for the duration, making him the perfect man for Nitro's typical sub 10 minute allocation for their main-event event matches. Post-match, Ric Flair returned to save Beniot from a Hennig beatdown, as the Nature Boy literally chased Hennig out of the building. Flair cut a promo calling out The nWo before Nitro went off air.

Summary

WCW had been placing much more emphasis on actual wrestling during these past few shows, and it's been serving them well. They also showcased an all round better in-ring product than their rivals this week. Add in an entertaining promo between Piper and Hogan, as well as the return of Ric Flair, and WCW wins the point this week.

Raw/Nitro October 13th

Monday Night Raw 13/10/97 (2.25 Stars)

Segment- Bret Hart in-ring promo. Shawn and Hunter interrupt on the titon-tron, with Hunter bragging about his victory over Bret last week and Shawn adding that he too will beat Bret at Survivor Series. Shawn says from here on out, himself, Hunter, Chyna and Rick Rude will be known as D-Generation X!

Match 1- Owen Hart Vs Kama Mustafa ends via no-contest

Match 2- Max Mini & Nova def Mosaic and Tarantula

Match 3- Skull & 8-Ball def Sniper & Recon via DQ

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin signs a contract waiving the WWF of liability, in return for a title match with Owen Hart. The Nation of Domination interrupts, calling out Austin. Austin stuns Rocky Maivia before leaving through the crowd.

Segment- L.O.D backstage interview. They say they will find out if they still have what it takes to perform at the top level.

Match 4- Brian Christopher def Tajari

Segment- Jim Cornette pre-recorded 'shoot promo' on Phil Mushnick, who criticised WWF and Pro Wrestling for their alleged acceptance of steroid use.

Match 5- Savio Vega def Goldust

Segment- Rick Rude takes out The Patriot before his match with HHH. Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter demands that HHH wrestles tonight, so books him against Ahmed Johnson. Johnson is jumped by The Nation of Domination before the bell rings, as D-Generation X leaves the ring. Ken Shamrock and L.O.D run-in to stop the attack.

Tag Team Championships

Match 6- Legion of Doom def The Godwinns (c)

Analysis

Preamble

A pre-show video package hyped the main-event. The Legion of Doom put their career on the line, in an all or nothing tag team title match. Lose and they are gone…interesting.

Matches 1 & 2

Owen Hart and Kama Mustafa wrestled to a no-contest while Shawn Michaels shit talked on commentary. This match purely served to showcase D-Generation X, as they sparked a brawl between The Nation of Domination and The Hart Foundation. This overshadowed anything that happened in the match itself, which is fine as I wasn't really interested in Owen Hart facing Kama Mustafa anyway.

The mini wrestlers were in action next, as Nova and Max Mini defeated Mosaic and Tarantula. I wasn't hugely interested in the mini wrestlers either, but it was fine for what it was. It did baffle me however, that they were happy to showcase this, but seemingly unwilling to invest any time or money into a women's division.

Flash Funk was set to face Shawn Michaels but was instead wiped out by Kane before the match could officially begin. Shawn Micheals ran out and covered Funk, with Hunter mockingly counting the 3. This angle was highly enjoyable, with tension mounting each week as we anticipated The Undertaker's return. According to Jim Cornette, Vince Russo wanted to 'hotshot' this angle, and have Kane and The Undertaker interact on a weekly basis. Cornette argued that wouldn't have been sustainable as the planned match between the pair at WrestleMania was 5-6 months away!

Second Hour/WarZone

Steve Austin's contract signing opened the second hour. He agreed to waive all liability towards the WWF in the case of an injury, in exchange for a rematch against Owen Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. Faarooq, who was backed by The Nation of Domination, came out to confront Austin, with Rocky Maivia deciding to be the one to strike first. Rocky was met with a Stunner before Austin left through the crowd. Rocky sold the Stunner beautifully, better than anyone I had seen yet! It was really interesting to watch some of the earlier and lesser known interactions between Austin and McMahon. Obviously the pair would go on to have many famous moments together, but it was clear from the get go that these two had incredible chemistry, with their personas naturally bouncing off each other with ease.

Main-event

Legion of Doom Vs The Godwinns for the tag titles. If L.O.D didn't win, they would retire! Not a great match, but the finish was well booked, with Animal being escorted from the ring, only to see Hawk being double teamed and coming back for the save. A new ref and a misplaced shot from Uncle Cletus, allowed L.O.D to hit their finish for the win! The show ended with The Godwinns breaking the nose of their manager and kayfabe relative 'Uncle Cletus'

Summary

Another week with a low standard of wrestling produced by the WWF. The segments weren't good enough to make up for that fact either. D-Generation X and Kane were the obvious highlights week to week, but neither had hit their peak yet. It was arguably a historic episode for the name introductions of D-Generation X and HHH alone, but that coupled with a nice moment for L.O.D at the end, was all it had going for it sadly. I couldn't even enjoy Cornettes rant as it involved him attacking a journalist by the name of Phil Mushnick, who in my opinion at least, quite rightly held Vince McMahon to task for the encouragement and alleged distribution of steroids (which many believe to be an accepted truth to this day) as well as the 'lifestyle of pro wrestlers'. If steroid distribution isn't quite zesty enough for you, then surely turning a blind eye to the use of pain pills and excessive alcohol consumption which we know for a fact has taken the lives of far too many pro wrestlers, is. Whichever way you shake it, Cornette was probably told to cut a promo on Mushnick, but that didn't change the fact that I didn't agree with much of what Cornette said. The show finished on a high with the title change at least, saving it from being a complete disaster…

WCW Nitro 13/10/97 (2.75 Stars)

Segment- The nWo in-ring promo. Eric Bischoff promotes Hogan's newest movie 'Assault', before airing his grievances with Roddy Piper. 'Hollywood' Hogan also accuses Piper of "not protecting" Randy Savage, now in a neck brace at the hands of DDP. Hogan also vows to get his "stolen" world title back.

Cruiserweight Championship

Match 1- (c) Eddie Guerrero def Psychosis

Segment- History of Lucha Libre and the Mexican luchadores video package, talking about the importance of the masks that they wear.

Segment- Commissioner Roddy Piper in-ring promo. Piper says he's the boss, before adding he had zero sympathy for Randy Savage. He also clarifies that the tag title match involving The Outsiders will indeed go ahead, irrespective of alleged injuries.

Match 2- Steve 'Mongo' McMichael def Steve Regal

Segment- Mean Gene interviews Queen Debra. Debra announces that Jeff Jarrett is no longer with WCW. Steve McMichael says Debra needs to "get back in the kitchen". Debra says she has a surprise opponent to replace Jarrett and face McMichael at Halloween Havoc.

Match 3- Yuji Nagata def Chris Jericho

Segment- Raven video package. Raven hints that his neglectful childhood is responsible for his current attitude.

Match 4- Goldberg def Scotty Riggs (5-0)

Segment- Scott Hall in-ring promo. Scott says Kevin is resting at home due to an injury, but if the Stieners want a title match, they can have one!

Tag Team Championships

Match 5- The Steiners def Scott Hall & Syxx (c)

Match 6- Dean Malenko def Rey Mysterio

Segment- Roddy Piper in-ring promo. Piper says that Larry Zybysko is a licensed official and that his decision stands, meaning that we have new tag team champions as a result! Eric Bischoff comes out to confront Piper, demanding that he returns the world title to Hogan, as well as reversing the decision from the tag team title match earlier in the night. Piper is flanked by nWo members until 'Hollywood' Hogan comes out in a Sting mask, joining in on the assault on Roddy Piper.

Match 7- Scott Norton def Ray Traylor

TV Title

Match 8- (c) Disco Inferno def Alex Wright

United States Championship

Match 9- (c) Curt Hennig def DDP

Analysis

Opening match

A fun opening Cruiserweight Title match that saw Eddie Guerrero retain, as he took on Psychosis. This one was pretty quick, but it still did a good job of showcasing the division, as well as making Eddie look strong ahead of his title match at Halloween Havoc with Rey Mysterio.

Following this, Roddy Piper cut a promo in the ring. Piper says that he's the boss and what happened to Randy Savage was "justice". Piper added that he put the World Title in 'safe hands', where Hogan would be unable to find it. The first hour ended with another Goldberg victory (5-0 in televised matches) as he squashed Scotty Riggs (Goldberg had also beaten Roadblock and Manny Fernandez on some of my non reviewed shows) In all fairness to WCW, they had promoted the second hour matches pretty well up to this point, and none of the segments were boring either. Nothing has blown me away just yet, but they had done a great job of grabbing my attention for the second hour as they CONSTANTLY reminded us that "four titles are on the line tonight!"

Second Hour

The second hour opened with the tag titles on the line, as Scott Hall and Kevin Nash's stand-in Syxx, took on The Steiner Brothers. I would have loved to see The Steiners take this one, and they did (kind of) True to form, The nWo got in the majority of the offence until a hot tag was made to Scott Stiener who proceeded to clean house. Scott Hall knocks out the ref, Larry Zybysko throws Hall back into the ring and counts the three! Unfortunately this made me think it was more than likely to be overturned, yet we were told Zybysko was a licensed official so the decision would stand. Honestly this match felt rushed, and outside of the pop at the end due to the title change, this one was slightly disappointing.

Match 6

Dean Malenko forces Mysterio to tap out in another fun yet short match (approx 5 mins) Eddie Guerrero ran out and stripped Rey of his mask, giving Dean the opportunity to apply the Texas Cloverleaf for the win! This was cleverly done, as earlier in the night WCW produced a video package on the importance of the masks that luchadores wear. Eddie stealing Rey's mask furthered this feud nicely, but I wish they would have given the actual match more time.

Main-event

DDP took on Curt Hennig in a rematch from last week. The U.S Title was on the line, and while it was somewhat unclear whether or not that was the case last time, WCW made no qualms of letting us know this was in fact a title match! Page won via rollup after Ric Flair interfered, but Randy Anderson argues with DDP post-match, saying that because Flair got involved, there is no title change. Piper escorts Randy Anderson back to the ring in an effort to straighten things out, before he and DDP get jumped by The nWo. A multitude of people wearing Sting masks walked out, all failing to even up the fight. The final person in a Sting mask enters the ring, hits a Scorpion Death Drop on Buff Bagwell, before taking off his fake mask to reveal that he was in fact…Sting! Sting forces The nWo to retreat as Nitro goes off the air. I honestly never got the whole fake mask over the facepaint thing (Sting would go on to do it a number of times throughout his career) but nonetheless, it always made me smile. The main-event wasn't the greatest, the finish was MASSIVELY overbooked, and The nWo jumping people every week was getting a bit samey. But it's got something for Sting's first fake mask reveal. 5 stars for that alone.

Summary

A slightly more chaotic episode than the previous weeks, but it managed to hold my attention at least. One or two good matches combined with some interesting progression in the main angles, yet I just wished that they would calm down with The nWo stuff. That said, it was better than this week's boring episode of Raw, so Nitro takes the point.