September '97

Monday Night Wars September '97

September is upon us and Nitro were celebrating their 2 year anniversary. Which means it's also my two year anniversary of reviews. Weird milestone but I'll go with it.

Nitro September 1st

WCW Nitro 1/9/97 (2 Stars)

Segment- Arn Anderson career highlights VT is played. We are told this episode is dedicated to the enforcer, Arn Anderson.

Match 1- Chris Beniot & Steve 'Mongo' McMichael def Jeff Jarrett & Eddie Guerrero

Segment- Scott Hall/Randy Savage promo. Hall puts over the nWo and Savage calls out DDP & Lex Luger to a tag team rematch.

Match 2- Mortis def Silver King

Match 3- Yuji Nagata def Dean Malenko

Match 4- Ultimo Dragon def La Parka

Match 5- Buff Bagwell def Glacier

Segment- Roddy Piper video package. Return announced for Halloween Havoc.

Match 6- Lizmark Jr def Villano IV

Segment- Mean Gene interviews Lex Luger. Gene asks if Luger and DDP can co-exist. Luger says putting DDP in the torture rack was unintentional, so in his eyes, they are now even as Dallas also inadvertently struck Luger with a Diamond Cutter a few weeks prior. Lex Luger implores DDP to bury the hatchet ahead of their main-event.

TV Title

Match 7- (c) Alex Wright def Hugh Morrus

Match 8- Stevie Richards def Damien

Segment- Mean Gene interviews Big Bubba. Bubba says his name is Ray Traylor and is pissed coming back from his injury. He says he's coming for the man who fired him, Eric Bischoff, as well as the nWo.

Match 9- Ray Traylor def Prince Iaukea

Segment- Mean Gene interviews The nWo posing as The Four Horsemen in an attempt to mock them as well as Arn Anderson post his retirement.

Segment- Cruiserweights in-ring brawl. Chris Jericho comes out on top as the last man standing.

Segment- Eric Bischoff and 'Hollywood' Hogan in-ring promo. Hogan calls out Sting. When Sting doesn't answer he calls out commissioner J.J. Dillon. Hogan assaults Dillon and marks his back with spray paint.

Match 11- 'Macho Man' Randy Savage & Scott Hall def Lex Luger & DDP

Analysis

Preamble

This would be a special 3 hour edition dedicated to the enforcer, Arn Anderson. Short clips would be shown throughout the night of some of Arn's best moments.

Match 1

As the first match began, we saw The Four Horsemen walk to the ring ahead of the opening tag match. Chris Beniot, Ric Flair, Steve 'Mongo' McMichael as well as the newest edition Curt Hennig. Chris Beniot & Mongo took on Eddie Guerrero and Jeff Jarrett. As you'd expect, Chris and Eddie had some good moments together. Overall this was a decent tag match with a good flow to it. I Wasn't a huge fan of the finish, as Dean Malenko interfered, hitting a splash on Jeff Jarrett allowing Mongo the pinfall win for his team. But other than that, this was one of Nitro's better tag matches with some good synergy between all four men.

Match 2

After Mortis pinned Silver King, James Vandenberg (manager to both Mortis and Wrath) called out The Faces of Fear. Faces of Fear cleared the ring to continue the feud.

Match 3

Sub 5 minute contest between Yuji Nagata and Dean Malenko. Jeff Jarrett got involved, costing his rival Malenko the match as revenge for earlier in the night. This one could have been somewhat meaningful, but they weren't given a huge amount of time unfortunately.

A pretty bland first hour. Usually I'd applaud WCW for not cramming 101 matches and 7 different segments into this time frame. But instead we got the complete opposite! No promos or segments, one OK match and two other really boring ones. The show wasn't off to a great start.

Second Hour

Glacier's undefeated streak ended at the hands of Buff Bagwell. I couldn't quite figure out what WCW were trying to achieve with Glacier. He wasn't poor in the ring by any means and the gimmick was intriguing (especially for the time, with all of the mortal combat stuff) yet WCW never seemed to give him any solid direction despite seemingly being high on him. They spent a bunch of money on his entrances, hyped him up for months, kept his undefeated streak etc. To see it end here with little fanfare was kind of disappointing if I'm honest.

Match 6

Lizmark Jr faced off against Villano IV. Mid-match, Villano V switched out for Villano IV, but Lizmark Jr got the win anyway in a short and sweet lucha match. The hip toss over the top rope was pretty innovative as I hadn't seen that done before. You can probably tell I'm reaching for positive things to say about the show at this point.

Match 8

Stevie Richards beats Damien, as Raven hits Damien with a DDT before rolling him into the ring, demanding that Stevie pins him. It was fun to see Raven, but that was about as fun as this segment got.

Third Hour

Hour Three kicked off with a decent repackaging for the man now known as Ray Traylor aka Big Bubba. He spoke about how as soon as he got hurt, he was fired, and would now use that as fuel going forward. Ray Traylor called out both Eric Bischoff and The nWo before pinning Prince Iaukea in a squash match.

Segment

Four Horsemen skit. Syxx as Flair, Buff Bagwell as Hennig, Konnan as Mongo and Nash as Arn Anderson. The live crowd was mostly silent, with some boos even being heard. There were some good one liners to be fair, "not a liver spot…not my dog spot" etc, as well as the now famous line of "I hurt my left hand, the hand I open beer with" My understanding is that, if people actually found this to be offensive, it was supposed to be! The nWo were heels and running out of dastardly things to do. I understand how it may have upset Arn, but in the context of a wrestling promo, nothing that was said, was hyper offensive. If it brought a different kind of heat towards the nWo, then that could have only been a good thing. According to Kevin Nash, The Horsemen initially found the skit to be funny, with Kevin Nash even requesting Arn's beer cooler from him personally. Allegedly, Arn's wife got involved saying that Kev made him look like "a stupid fucking drunk". Nash added that people only got upset over the skit after the fact.

Main-event

Luger/DDP Vs Savage/Hall. The main-event was fine, I just didn't care about it and was already bored from the 2 hours of dross I'd sat through thus far! The match ended in controversy, as Luger accidentally took out DDP with a clothesline before locking Savage into the Torture Rack, believing he was the legal man. Scott Hall capitalised and pinned DDP for the victory.

Summary

Lots of really short (and really poor) matches tonight. This episode just never really got going. Put simply, it was boring. Arn Anderson's parody retirement segment was entertaining and is worth checking out, but that's about it. It was also really weird how little time was allocated to the point of the show, which was, you know, remembering Arn Anderson! The clips were only 10 seconds long, with Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan even saying "I wish I could stand here and talk about all of the great things Arn Anderson has done, but 10 seconds isn't enough time. So I'll just say thank you and I wish I had more time, and so do the people at home" I don't know if that was a shot at the production or the bookers, but the way he said it came across as quite unusual. Justified, but unusual. Due to this, the show hinged on its main-event, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. I just wasn't interested in the drama between Luger and DDP, and that was pretty much the entire selling point for the match! A really poor effort from Nitro this week. WCW were unopposed yet again, so no points will be awarded.

Ground Zero: In Your House

Match 1- Brian Pillman def Goldust (Indecent Proposal Match)

Match 2- Brian Christopher def Scott Putski via count-out

Match 3- Savio Vega def Crush & Faarooq (Triple Threat Match)

Match 4- Max Mini def El Torito

Segment- Commissioner Slaughter vacates the Tag Team Championships as a result of Austin's injury.

Vacant Tag Team Championships

Match 5- The Headbangers def The Godwinns, Legion of Doom & The Hart Foundation (Fatal Four Way Elimination Match)

WWF Championship

Match 6- (c) Bret Hart def The Patriot

Match 7- Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker ends in a no-contest

Analysis

Preamble

This would mark the first 3 hour edition of an IYH PPV. As Raw was off air, the WWF supplemented this with a show called 'Friday Night's Main Event'. I won't cover this as A) For some reason it's literally hidden footage at this point and B) It was only standard build to the PPV, with nothing of note happening.

Match 1

Goldust and Brian Pillman opened the show. In my opinion, this match easily topped their effort at SummerSlam, although admittedly the bar wasn't set very high. Dustin Runnels aka Goldust, was actually a very talented wrestler, and when his character had a chance to be somewhat serious and wrestle with more intensity and an actual purpose, he usually delivered. Brian Pillman picked up the win after a ref bump allowed Pillman to use Marlena's purse as a weapon on Goldust. Brian Pillman would now obtain the "services" of Marlena for 30 days as a result of the pre-match stipulation. This would transpire to be Brian Pillman's final WWF PPV match, as he would sadly pass away in his hotel room a month later. Brain Pillman stands out as a true pioneer to the sport of pro-wrestling, and is sorely missed to this day.

Match 2

Scott Putski Vs Brian Christopher. This match saw Putski awkwardly catch Christopher's full weight, as he attempted to catch him off a moonsault on the outside of the ring. The shoot injury saw Putski lose via count-out. Not a particularly memorable match, with an unfortunate premature finish. This would mark Putski's final WWF match.

Match 3

Battle of the factions as Savio Vega (Los Boricuas) took on Faarooq (Nation of Domination) and Crush (Disciples of Apocalypse) in the relatively new concept of a triple threat match. The first one taking place a few months prior on an episode of Raw. The inaugural triple threat match was far superior to this effort, as Savio Vega pinned Crush, in a somewhat underwhelming 3 way. I would have liked to see Rocky Maivia represent The Nation, with Rocky going over. But in hindsight, fantasy booking Rocky any differently to the way he was at the time would be a fool's errand as he would still go on to be one of the biggest stars of all time.

Match 4

Max Mini was allegedly the "worlds smallest athlete" weighing in at only 86 pounds, as he pinned El Torito in a battle of the mini wrestlers. This wasn't my thing, but I'm sure it had an audience. Whether that audience was fans of American mainstream pro-wrestling, remains to be seen.

Segment

A VT was shown from Friday Night's main-event of commissioner Slaughter suspending Steve Austin from in-ring action until he was medically cleared. Commissioner Slaughter announces in ring and live on PPV, that the Tag Titles are vacated as a result. Dude Love cuts a promo saying that he agrees it's the right thing to do, as he hands over his belt to Sgt. Slaughter. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin comes down and cuts a promo on Sgt. Slaughter as well as J.R. Austin hits a Stunner on J.R. and leaves. A fun segment that did a good job of furthering Austin's anti authority persona while keeping him over with the fans.

Match 5

A slow and plodding fatal four way tag match that saw The Headbangers win the tag titles. The closing sequence between The Headbangers and The Hart Foundation was entertaining, but forcing this one to be a fatal four way killed any potential 'action' this match could have delivered. Legion of Doom got intentionally disqualified as they lost their shit and started to beat The Godwinns with a metal bucket. Mosh of The Headbangers pinned Owen Hart of The Hart Foundation for the finish, after a Stunner from Steve Austin behind the ref's back. The WWF were obviously high on The Headbangers, with the gimmick perfectly encapsulating the 90's grunge pop culture of its time. Really boring match with a cool moment at the end.

Match 6

The WWF Title was on the line as Bret Hart retained his world title against The Patriot. It was unusual (and perhaps the first time) that the World Championship wasn't given the main-event spot on a WWF PPV, but it made sense given that The Patriot wasn't a headliner at the time. Before the match we saw a promo package for 'Stephen Dell' aka The Patriot, explaining the man behind the mask. As well done as this was, I don't think anyone actually believed The Patriot was winning here. This massively affected the quality of the match for me. That said, Stephen Dell more than held his own, delivering a high quality match against the excellence of execution, Bret Hart. I was slightly confused as to why the match didn't end via DQ, as Vader interfered mid-match assaulting Bret Hart. But I guess that played into the whole 'let things play out as its a world title match' deal. Bret goes ape shit laying out multiple WWF officials as they intervene in an attempt to stop a post-match beatdown on The Patriot. Not a match I'll be in a hurry to rewatch personally, but I can still recognise the fact it was well worked.

Main-event

What could have been a really fun main-event, as Shawn Michaels faced off against The Undertaker for the first time on PPV, devolved into what was, on the surface, a messy and overbooked match. This one started off hot, with both men fighting around the arena before the bell rang. HBK's over the top selling matched Undertaker's big man style nicely, as he flung himself around for the deadman quite beautifully. Their two styles could have (and would go on to) clash perfectly as a result, as The Undertaker could lay in the majority of the offence without the match becoming stale. However, a prolonged sequence whereby Shawn Michaels took advantage of the ref being out and attacked The Undertaker with brass knuckles, as well as Hunter and Chyna getting involved, nearly took me out of the match completely. The final nail in the coffin was the non-finish, as Tim White called the whole thing off as the two men repeatedly attacked and took out multiple officials. A non-finish is NEVER acceptable for a PPV main-event in my opinion! The consensus seems to be that the WWF wanted to plant the idea that HBK couldn't beat the Undertaker clean, and from that point of view, they did a great job. Admittedly, this match furthered the feud brilliantly, but it doesn't change the fact that watching it was kind of dull, and without prior knowledge of what was to come, you may have been left with a bitter taste in your mouth as a result of the booking. Post-match, The Undertaker fought off both Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Summary

Perhaps it's ironic that if any PPV was served to be only 2 hours instead of 3, it was this one. A semi decent opener, a good match involving Bret Hart Vs The Patriot and what was on paper, a barnburner as Shawn Michaels faced The Undertaker for the first time. Unfortunately, in my eyes the main-event was a let down, and everything else outside of the aforementioned matches underwhelmed. I'm really torn here, as the main-event is looked upon favourably and I can understand why. As I've previously stated, the only reason people claim this (in my opinion) is due to people reflecting on what it did for the feud in hindsight. I'm not viewing these shows in that way, instead watching them from the perspective of a first time viewer. I didn't like the finish or the BS during the multiple ref bumps. If they switched the order around and put the title match on last, this would have scored higher. But they didn't, and my final score has to reflect that (2 Stars)

Raw/Nitro September 8th

Monday Night Raw 8/9/97 (2 Stars)

Segment- Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter in-ring promo. Slaughter says Ground Zero was utter chaos, before promising "law and order" in the WWF. Sgt Slaughter suspends 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin until he is medically cleared to compete. Slaughter also announces a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental champion, with the winner being crowned at Bad Blood. Sgt. Slaughter also orders Steve Austin to be at Bad Blood, in order to forfeit the title in person. Steve Austin confronts Slaughter, saying he refuses to hand over the title, before hitting Slaughter with a Stunner.

Match 1- Bret Hart Vs Vader ends in a no-contest (No Holds Barred Match)

Match 2- The Godwinns def The Headbangers

Segment- Brain Pillman's X Files. Brian Pillman no shows his scheduled match with Dude Love, instead playing handheld camera footage that suggests he has slept with Goldust's wife Terri Runnels aka Marlena, in a hotel room.

Match 3- Max Mini def Piratita Morgan

Segment- The Undertaker in-ring promo. The Undertaker says that he relishes the thought of competing in the inaugural Hell in a Cell match as Shawn Michaels can't escape. Shawn interrupts on the titan-tron, saying if he's going to hell, he's taking The Undertaker with him.

Match 4- Owen Hart def Goldust via DQ (International Title Tournament)

Segment- Brian Pillman's X Files. Brain Pillman once again infers that Goldust's wife is showering in his hotel room.

Match 5- Hunter Hearst Helmsley def Savio Vega & The Patriot (Triple Threat Match)

Analysis

Match 1

We were treated to somewhat of a hot opener, as the WWF Champion Bret Hart faced Vader in a no holds barred match. A really fun match that fell apart slightly, with multiple run ins from Owen Hart, British Bulldog as well as The Patriot, but Austin got a nice pop as he evened the score chasing Bret Hart out of the ring. The match ended via no-contest even though it was no holds barred. They nearly had something really special, and if they ran a straight match between Bret and Vader, they probably would have.

Second Hour/WarZone

A weak Undertaker promo that was followed by a throwaway DQ, as Goldust intentionally hit Owen Hart with multiple low blows leading Austin to reappear, all featured in the second hour. Owen Hart advanced to the next round of the Intercontinental Championship tournament as a result. At least we finally had a definitive winner in this whole ordeal, I mean tournament.

Main-event

Triple threat action as Hunter Hearst Hemsley defeated Savio Vega and The Patriot. Shawn Micheals and Hunter both teamed up in an effort to take The British Bulldog out of the match, leading to Savio Vega replacing Bulldog. Seriously, wtf was with this show! This could have been an opportunity for The WWF to regain some goodwill with a strong wrestling match to close proceedings, but unfortunately this one missed the mark completely. The match lost all of its heat as soon as Bulldog was randomly replaced by Savio Vega. It felt clunky and disjointed with very little drama, more akin to multiple VERY BAD singles matches, than a true triple threat. The crowd even started to chant "boring" leading to Hunter Hearst Helmsley crotch chopping the crowd. I was going to see what Nitro had to offer, but instead I think I'll lie down with a cold compress due to the headache I have after watching this show.

Summary

This episode of Raw was a mess! We were treated to a strong segment to kick off the show involving Steve Austin, as well as a fun opener between Vader and Owen Hart. The wheels fell off however, with Brain Pillman's scheduled match with Dude Love being called off in lieu of an 'X Files' video package, an underwhelming Undertaker promo in hour two as well as two poor matches that closed the show. It felt as if they were trying to do too much here, and it simply didn't work. I'll close with a fun tidbit surrounding the 'X Files' segment. During it, Pillman claimed he was unwilling to return to work due to an "unsafe work environment". Supposedly, this was a shot at Shawn Michaels who claimed the same thing months prior, following an incident involving himself and Bret Hart.

WCW Nitro 8/9/97 (3 Stars)

Segment- Eric Bischoff orders a replay of The Four Horsemen skit from last week. The Horsemen interrupt, ordering the replay to be "shut down" Mean Gene interviews The Horsemen in-ring, as they each take a turn to cut a promo on The nWo. Ric Flair says they aren't leaving until they have a match with The nWo.

Match 1- Rey Mysterio def Eddie Guerrero

Segment- Mean Gene interviews DDP. Dallas says if he can't fix his differences with Lex Luger civilly, he will settle it in the ring. Lex Luger agrees and accepts the challenge.

Match 2- Hugh Morrus def Disco Inferno

Segment- The nWo respond to The Four Horsemen. Buff Bagwell and Konnan say they have no problem confronting The Horsemen face to face

Cruiserweight Title

Match 3- (c) Chris Jericho def Brad Armstrong via DQ

Segment- 'Hollywood' Hogan in-ring promo. Hogan says from now on, no one touches Eric Bischoff. He adds that Bagwell and K-Dogg (Konnan) are going to take care of The Horsemen tonight, before saying he will put the title on the line against Sting. A mannequin of Sting violently drops down from the rafters, with Hogan feigning it to be the real Sting before calling for medical attention. Hogan berates the mannequin before hitting it with a leg drop.

Match 4- The Steiners Brothers Vs The Faces of Fear ends in a no-contest

Match 5- Scott Hall def Super Calo

Segment- Ray Traylor brawls with Scott Hall. The nWo intervene, and spray paint Ray's back.

Match 6- Dean Malenko def Psychosis

Segment- Mean Gene announces 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper as the acting chairman while J.J. Dillon recovers from an injury. Piper says that his first order of business is to book Hogan Vs Sting for the World Title. Piper also books himself Vs Hogan at Halloween Havoc in a Steel Cage match. Finally, Piper removes Luger and DDP from the WarGames match at Fall Brawl, replacing them with The Four Horsemen to take on The nWo.

Match 7- Ric Flair & Curt Hennig def Buff Bagwell & Konnan

Match 8- Lex Luger Vs DDP ends in a no-contest

Analysis

Match 1

Rey and Eddie kicked off the show. This was your typical strong Mysterio/Eddie matchup, with Mysterio picking up the win. You always knew what you were getting if you saw them booked on any wrestling card. With enough time and the right amount of heat, these two had the potential to deliver an absolute classic. Spoiler, they would…time and time again! Eddie Guerrero was genuinely one of the most charismatic, technically proficient and entertaining workers in the HISTORY OF PRO WRESTLING. Not just the past 10/20 years. Drop him into ANY generation, and he would draw and entertain. Because here's the thing, he had ALL of those attributes combined. Entertaining heel based character work?… ✔ Technically proficient?... ✔ Carisama bleeding out of his eyes?...✔ Me fawning over Eddie isn't an indictment of this particular match with Rey being a 5 star classic or anything, as it wasn't. But it just seemed as good an opportunity as any to really drive home how much of an impact this man had on so many

Match 3

Instant DQ as Chris Jericho took on Brad Armstrong for his Cruiserweight Title. Jericho's Fall Brawl opponent Eddie Guerrero, attacked him, with Brad Armstrong joining in on the assault. A decent job building a small amount of heat for a match in a rivalry that hadn't really featured on TV (Jericho/Eddie)

Second Hour

Hour two kicked off with what would prove to be in hindsight, a distasteful segment whereby Hogan and Bischoff pretended that Sting had fallen from the rafters. Obviously at the time, nothing like this had actually happened before, but it could be hard to watch today after the tragedy involving Owen Hart, considering he would fall to his death in a similar manner only a few years later.

Match 6

Solid match between Dean Malenko and Psychosis. Malenko would prove to be one of WCWs most reliable and consistent in-ring performers for the year of 1997. As a side note, a fan tried to enter the ring only to receive a knee to the side of the head from referee Mark Curtis, before being swiftly ejected.

Main-event

The main-event was a bit of a let down as DDP faced his former ally in Lex Luger. In all fairness, it was more a case of angle advancement rather than an actual wrestling match. It was called off as Luger and Dallas teamed up to take on the interfering nWo, with The Giant making the eventual save. Luger and DDP kiss and make up before Nitro eventually goes off air. The co-main between Flair/Hennig and Konnan/Bagwell was surprisingly entertaining, and as The Horsemen's feud with The nWo was the main one on TV at this time, I was surprised that it didn't go on last instead.

Summary

Some decent in-ring action with the show also having a nice flow to it. The build to the PPV was decent enough, making it a fun go-home show for The upcoming Fall Brawl PPV. Nitro wins the point anyway this week, but I have to be consistent with my grading, and the main-event being a let down coupled with a non-finish hurt the show ever so slightly.0

Fall Brawl '97: War Games

Cruiserweight Title

Match 1- Eddie Guerrero def Chris Jericho (c)

Match 2- The Steiner Brothers def Harlem Heat

TV Title

Match 3- (c) Alex Wright def Ultimo Dragon

Segment- Curt Hennig is shown laid out in his locker room, following an assault from the nWo.

Match 4- Jeff Jarrett def Dean Malenko

Match 5- Wrath & Mortis def Faces of Fear

Match 6- The Giant def Scott Norton

Match 7- Lex Luger & DDP def 'Macho Man' Randy Savage & Scott Hall (No DQ Match)

Match 8- Kevin Nash, Buff Bagwell, Syxx & Konnan def Ric Flair, Curt Hennig, Chris Beniot & Steve McMichael (WarGames Match)

Analysis

Matches 1 & 2

Excellent opener that saw Eddie Guerrero win his maiden title in WCW as he pinned Chris Jericho to become the new Cruiserweight champion! An early contender for my MOTM award.

The Steiners defeated the newly minted heel team of Harlem Heat. The match was fine, but would have benefited if something was actually on the line i.e. a title shot. I felt as if this feud needed something more meaningful to happen in order to give the matches some real impact.

Match 3

Alex Wright's push continued, as he retained his TV Title against Ultimo Dragon. Wright was fine technically, but his character was extremely bland. Even though I couldn't fault this match from an in-ring perspective, sadly I just wasn't interested enough to find it entertaining.

Match 4

Jeff Jarrett submitted Dean Malenko in a number one contenders match for the U.S Title. This wasn't officially announced or anything, but it was mentioned in the commentary. It would transpire that Jarrett wouldn't be next in line anyway, so that point is almost irrelevant. This was another fine match, nothing spectacular but certainly enough to maintain the standard set thus far.

Match 5

Wrath & Mortis defeated Faces of Fear in tag action. In my opinion, WCW made the right booking decision putting Wrath & Mortis over, so they win a cookie for that at least. Outside of the excellent opening match, so far this card had been mostly inoffensive as opposed to actually being high in quality. This match being the perfect example of that.

Match 6

Worst match of the night thus far as The Giant pinned Scott Norton. At least it was relatively short.

Match 7

DDP & Lex Luger faced Scott Hall and Randy Savage. Scott Hall lost his patience and beatdown numerous WCW officials, leading to Larry Zbyszko walking down to confront Hall. This allowed enough time for Lex Luger to roll up Scott Hall, with Zbyszko counting the three for some reason. I completely drifted off during this one, so much so that I didn't even care that a commentator was legally allowed to count the 3! I was just glad when it was over. In my opinion, this card now lives or dies based on how the main-event performs.

Main-event

The Four Horsemen Vs The nWo in a WarGames match closes the show. Nash, Syxx, Buff Bagwell & Konnan represented The nWo, while Flair, Beniot, Hennig and Mongo were team Horsemen. I typically enjoy WarGames matches and this was no different. That said, the finish was dumb as Curt Hennig turned on the Horsemen! The nWo didn't need anymore members as it was and it killed any drama that the match had built up to that point. They also 'killed' off Ric Flair for a few weeks, smashing his head inside the cage door. This part was done well, and would play into an angle going forward.

Summary

Mostly consistent action from top to bottom. The matches were certainly strong enough, but missed a sense of excitement due to a lack of build and heat. The fact that the two matches before the main-event underperformed was a big blow, as it sapped most of my enthusiasm. Even though I enjoyed the main-event, the finish let it down in a big way. Overall the card was serviceable, but with some minor tweaks could have been much, much better (2.75 Stars)

Raw/Nitro September 15th

Monday Night Raw 15/9/97 (2.5 Stars)

Match 1- Ken Shamrock Def Faarooq (International Title Tournament)

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin backstage promo. Austin says he will do what he wants when he wants, and that includes taking revenge on Owen Hart.

Match 2- Taka Michinoku def El Pantera

Segment- Truth Commission backstage promo. The Commandment (leader of The Truth Commission) cuts a promo on L.O.D.

Match 3- The Legion of Doom def Recon & Sniper via DQ

Match 4- Max Mini & Mr Lucky def El Torito & Piratita Morgan

Match 5- Brian Pillman def Dude Love via DQ (Intercontinental Title Tournament)

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in-ring promo. Austin calls out The Hart Foundation leading to Bret Hart delivering a restraining order to Steve Austin, on behalf of Owen Hart. Steve Austin hits a Stunner on Jerry Lawler out of frustration.

Match 6- The Patriot def Owen Hart (International Title Tournament)

Segment- Shawn Michaels in-ring promo. Michaels says he wants to be the first grand slam champion, i.e. a winner of all four major titles. Michaels also cuts a promo on The Undertaker ahead of their upcoming 'Hell in a Cell' match.

Tag Team Championships

Match 7- (c) The Headbangers def The British Bulldog & Bret Hart via DQ

Analysis

Matches 1 & 2

Blink and you'll miss it action as Ken Shamrock made light work of Faarooq in order to progress to the next round of the Intercontinental title tournament. Nation of Domination post-match beatdown before L.O.D made the save.

El Pantara made his Raw debut in an entertaining match with Taka Michinoku. Michinoku picked up the win in this high flying light heavyweight match. If more direction was given to this division, it had the potential to be something special. As it was, it purely served to break up the show with quick albeit entertaining spot wrestling.

Match 4

Max Mini & Mr Lucky defeated El Torito & Piratita Morgan in 'mini action'. I wasn't into the mini wrestlers, although objectively speaking, this was a fun match. The main talking point however, would be that guest ring announcer Sunny appeared to be heavily intoxicated. This is purely speculation, however the fact that she was 'allegedly' having an affair with Shawn Michaels at the time, who would also appear intoxicated later on in the show, lends credibility to the story. Dave Meltzer would even speak about Shawn Michaels unprofessional behaviour during this particular taping, speculating over whether it was an attempt to get out of his WWF contract, or simply the result of his ongoing substance abuse.

Second Hour/WarZone

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin opened hour number two with an in-ring promo. Jerry Lawler was the mouthpiece, and was subjected to a 'Stone Cold Stunner' when Austin finally got fed up with Jerry's b.s, as he was goaded over a restraining order being delivered to him at the behest of Owen Hart. A fun segment.

Main-event

Bret Hart and British Bulldog faced The Headbangers in the main-event for the Tag Team Championships. The match ended via DQ as The Bulldog lost it and attacked one of The Headbangers with an American flag, leading to Vader and The Patriot making an appearance and stopping the assault from going any further.

Summary

An average effort from team WWF this week. The main-event fell slightly flat and the Pillman/Marlena/Goldust stuff was kind of depressing knowing he would pass away only weeks later, hence why I didn't mention any of it. Some solid in-ring action, however this show lacked any real talking points.

WCW Nitro 15/9/97 (2.75 Stars)

Segment- Ric Flair is shown laying in the emergency room post Fall Brawl. Tony Schiavone says he got into the business because of Ric Flair, and that the footage of Flair in the hospital is hard to see. Tony walks away from the broadcast as a result.

Match 1- Dean Malenko def Disco Inferno

Match 2- The Faces of Fear def Harlem Heat

Segment- Mean Gene interviews DDP. Dallas says that he's the cure to the disease that is Randy Savage. DDP challenges Savage to a match at Halloween Havoc.

Match 3- Rey Mysterio def Juventud Guerrera

TV Title

Match 4- (c) Alex Wright def Steve Regal

Segment- Mean Gene interviews Ray Traylor. Traylor says he will ensure that anyone involved with The nWo will be "put out of wrestling forever!"

Match 5- The Giant def Konnan

Match 6- DDP def Stevie Richards

Tag Team Championships

Match 7- (c) The Outsiders def Wrath & Mortis

Segment- Eric Bischoff in-ring promo. Bischoff introduces The nWo and Curt Hennig walks down to Ric Flair's music while wearing his robe. The nWo cut a disrespectful promo on The Four Horsemen. Savage accepts DDP's challenge for Halloween Havoc and Hollywood Hogan cuts a promo on Roddy Piper ahead of their upcoming steel cage match.

Cruiserweight Championship

Match 8- (c) Eddie Guerrero def Ultimo Dragon

United States Championship

Match 9- Curt Hennig def Steve 'Mongo' McMichael (c)

Analysis

Matches 1 & 2

Decent opening match that saw Dean Malenko submit Disco Inferno to a Texas Cloverleaf. Malenko did a great job of selling his hurt leg, even stumbling from the result of an Irish whip but managing to transition the spot into his finishing manoeuvre. Some really creative selling, that made a difference to the usual 'clutch and wince' routine that we typically see.

Faces of Fear defeated Harlem Heat in a meaningless match. These two teams both lost at Fall Brawl for starters, so some edge could have been given to it by way of the threat of potentially slipping even further down the rankings with another loss. Maybe the winners could have even faced someone for a future title shot or something? As it was, this wasn't a great contest anyway, outside of Booker T being his usual entertaining self.

Match 3

Fantastic match as Rey Mysterio pinned Juventud Guerrera. Smooth spinning powerbomb of the apron from Guerrera to Mysterio. We also saw some impressive height on the 360 seated senton onto the outside from Rey Mysterio. Simply put, this was just a really fun Cruiserweight battle! To their credit, WCW were doing a much better job of actually giving these matches some meaningful airtime by this point. I also enjoyed the fact that Rey and Juvy allowed moments in between the big spots for the fans to actually appreciate them, rather than wrestling at 100 miles a minute with the highspots becoming forgettable as a result.

Second Hour

Stevie Richards opened up hour number two as he faced DDP. I was a fan of both of these men, but this matchup seemed kind of random. It was short and sweet as Dallas made light work of Richards. Post-match Raven confronts Stevie Richards, slapping him in the face and kicking him out of the ring.

Match 7

The tag titles were on the line as The Outsiders took on Wrath & Mortis. Both Wrath & Mortis had real potential as part of a 'monster tag team.' Yes, a title change would have been nice, but also extremely unrealistic given the political landscape of the WCW locker room. Maybe they could have built an actual program, and it would have worked well considering the size of both Wrath and Mortis coupled with how surprisingly agile they were. This was a good match, which made the fact that a long term program was extremely unlikely, even more disappointing.

Match 8

Another fun Cruiserweight matchup as Eddie Guerrero began his reign as champion, with a successful defence against Ultimo Dragon. This was relatively short, but put Eddie over as a fighting champion, which presumably was the aim.

Main-event

Steve 'Mongo' McMichael unsuccessfully defended his newly won U.S Title against Curt Hennig. The story being that Hennig turned his back on the Horsemen, and 'Mongo' was out for revenge. Not a great match, as it seemed awkward and clunky in parts. Truthfully, 'Mongo' wasn't great in-ring, but it was interesting from a storytelling perspective at least. The title change also gave the match a small pop I guess, but sadly that's all it managed to do.

Summary

WCW produced more good matches than bad this week. The main-event sucked from an in-ring perspective, and the nWo segment in the second hour never needed to happen. Other than that, they produced some consistent wrestling and probably delivered the more entertaining show top to bottom. Nitro wins the point this week.

WWF One Night Only '97

Live from the NEC in Birmingham, the WWF returned to the UK for a PPV special.

Match 1- Hunter Hearst Helmsley def Dude Love

Match 2- Tiger Ali Singh def Leif Cassiday

Tag Team Championships

Match 3- (c) The Headbangers def Los Boricuas

Match 4- The Patriot def Flash Funk

Match 5- Legion of Doom def The Godwinns

Segment- Ken Shamrock in-ring promo. Shamrock gives an injury update saying he has a punctured lung but will be back soon. Rockabilly interrupts, claiming Rockabilly is feigning his injuries. Ken Shamrock puts Rockabilly in an ankle lock.

Match 6- Vader def Owen Hart

WWF Championship

Match 7- (c) Bret Hart def The Undertaker via DQ

European Championship

Match 8- Shawn Michaels def The British Bulldog (c)

Analysis

Matches 1 & 2

Hunter and Dude Love continued their rivalry with this hot opener. This feud had been a genuine highlight from the entire year of 1997 for me! Pre-match, Mick Foley donning his Dude Love persona, did a pre taped promo whereby he donned an AWFUL British accent as an attempt of humour. The skit fell flat, but the fans loved him all the same. This wasn't my favourite match between Mick and Hunter by any means, but these two had great chemistry as per, with the hot UK crowd also playing their part. Hunter picked up the win following a pedigree.

Tiger Ali Singh took on the massively underutilised (at this point anyway) Leif Cassiday. Pre-match, Tiger Ali Singh cut a weird babyface promo that came across more like an arrogant heel promo. He called himself the "new messiah" before denouncing drugs, eliciting a rather hilarious mixed response from the crowd. He did know he was in Birmingham right? Anyway, an underwhelming match that saw Ali Singh pick up the win.

Match 3

The Headbangers retained their tag titles against Savio Vega & Miguel Perez of Los Boricuas. The Headbangers were super over with the UK crowd, which made the anti climatic finish even more of a shame. The finish aside, this one wasn't bad and probably The Headbangers best showing to date.

Match 4

The WWF continued to push The Patriot, as he pinned Flash Funk. The crowd didn't seem to like The Patriot much, which made sense seeing as his entire gimmick revolved around being patriotic to an entirely different country to the one they were actually in! This guy could literally only be a babyface when he wrestled in America, which was funny to me. This match had zero heat, the crowd didn't seem to care, and neither did I.

Match 5

L.O.D got one up on their rivals The Godwinns, with this victory on PPV. This wasn't a great match, but I wasn't overly worried as the matches from this card (on paper) were yet to come.

Match 6

Speaking of the best matches, Vader Vs Owen Hart was next. The reason for this match being that Vader was part of a run-in on The Hart Foundation on the previous edition of Raw. Regardless, Owen Hart was the firm favourite with this UK crowd. My only complaint is that as soon as I was getting really invested in the match, Vader hit a powerslam and it was over. It was a fun match. Nothing spectacular, but given some more time it had the potential to be.

Match 7

Bret Hart successfully defended his WWF Championship against The Undertaker. The crowd seemed to be pretty split here.

Ironically, I was feeling kind of torn myself after watching this one, but for a very different reason. You see, I wasn't always a HUGE fan of Bret's style. Bret's PPV matches (from this time period at least) usually began with some kind of prolonged psychological element i.e. a feeling out process or working various body parts, followed by an upturn in tempo. Once that upturn happened, I was hooked, and that's why he was so good! The reason I didn't ALWAYS enjoy it, is because some matches may have required a different flavour, for whatever reason. Whenever he was working with Austin for example, I was transfixed with the psychology because I was already sold on the match! Two of my favourite matches of all time are Bret and Austin at both WM 13 & Survivor Series '96 respectfully. But for a bigger guy, a slower guy (The Undertaker) or a match with less heat, a little bit of pzazz may have been needed to make parts of the contest more interesting. This is purely speaking for my own perspective as a fan. It goes without saying that Bret Hart is one of the greatest to ever do it. Anyway, I do think this match was pretty good for the most part, but unfortunately the finish nearly killed it. Bret got caught up in the ropes before Taker went to town on him and got DQ'd. As for the match itself, without the dodgy finish I'd probably give it closer to 3.5/4 Stars. As it stands, it's closer to the 3 star mark. Still a very good match, with most claiming it to be "Bret's last great match", and even if it's not always my thing, I can and did appreciate all of the psychology both men employed towards the beginning.

Main-event

Shawn Michaels took on The British Bulldog in the main-event for the European Championship, in an effort to become the first WWF Grand Slam winner. On his way to the ring, Shawn dropped a kids wrestling figure down his pants before kissing a girl who looked no older than 16 on the mouth. Kind of a dick move, but it's Shawn so I'll go with it. Another match with an anticlimactic finish as Bulldog passed out due to being locked in a figure-four leg lock. Outside of that, it was a fantastic match. Bulldog was on top form and Shawn Michaels was in his typical, PPV main-event show stealer mode. Hunter, Chyna and Shawn all celebrate on the ramp as the PPV goes off air. This is now seen as a somewhat controversial booking decision, with the fans becoming visibly annoyed with the result, throwing garbage into the ring. People at the event say that following the match, the atmosphere in the arena was 'tense', with most expecting Bulldog to win in front of his hometown crowd. Apparently the finish was changed on the day, when Shawn Michaels himself pitched the idea to Vince McMahon as a way to generate heat leading up to his match with The Undertaker at Bad Blood. The British Bulldog, unaware of this until the day of the event, dedicated the match to his sister Tracy who was suffering from cancer. She would sadly pass away only 2 years later.

Summary

The super hot crowd carried this one along during its duller moments, not that there were very many. The opener, as well as the final three matches, were all really good! To provide some context as to my comments on not always digging Bret's style. His and Shawn's were very different. I enjoyed Shawn's OTT selling and flamboyant nature more than Brets surly and systematic approach. Different strokes for different folks, but personally I found Shawn more entertaining to watch, so typically I'll rate his matches a little bit higher, as I did for this show. As a final note, some have speculated that Davey losing the title was only an attempt to humiliate and piss off the Hart family leading up to Bret Hart's eventual departure to WCW, but to me that makes little sense. The reality is, while it was cruel to promise Davey (British Bulldog) that he would go over, leading him to dedicate the match to his dying sister, only to change the plan at the last minute, the fact is that it did a fantastic job of generating heat for Shawn Michaels and made the event as memorable as it now is. Sure, Shawn was probably fueling his own ego by pitching the idea in the first place, but no one can deny it was an effective strategy. Anyway, I've never gone higher than a 3.75 which I awarded to Canadian Stampede, and I just can't justify doing that here. Is it undoubtedly the best PPV I've seen from this time period? No. Is it one of the best from the year of 1997? Probably. Was it enjoyable? Hell yeah! Final score (3.5 Stars)

Raw/Nitro September 22nd

Monday Night Raw 22/9/97 (3.75 Stars)

Preamble

On this day, Monday Night Raw made its historic return to Madison Square Garden. This would also be the show that put the Montreal Screwjob into motion, as Vince McMahon would renege on his bumper multi million, 20 year deal to Bret Hart, encouraging him to negotiate a better deal with Eric Bischoff and WCW instead. I will do a full summary of the events leading upto Montreal screwjob alongside my Survivor Series '97 review.

Match 1- Ahmed Johnson def Rocky Maivia (Intercontinental Title Tournament)

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin promo. Austin appears in the crowd and promises that tonight "someone will get their ass whooped"

Segment- The Undertaker in-ring promo. Undertaker says at Hell in a Cell, the only way out for Shawn Michaels is over his dead body. Shawn Michaels interrupts and accuses the WWF of giving him a hard time with a seemingly impossible run of matches. Shawn says he lays down for no one and promises to beat Undertaker.

Match 2- Legion of Doom def Faarooq & Kama via DQ

Match 3- Owen Hart def Brian Pillman via DQ (Intercontinental Title Tournament)

Segment- Vince McMahon attempts to calm Steve Austin down and stop him from being arrested. Austin stuns McMahon and is taken to jail by the police.

Match 4- Cactus Jack def Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Falls Count Anywhere Match)

Segment- Shawn Michaels in-ring promo. Shawn calls out The Undertaker. The Undertaker is ambushed by Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Chyna and Rick Rude.

Match 5- Bret Hart def Goldust

Analysis

Match 1

Rocky Maivia took the loss to Faarooq in the first round of the IC title tournament. Decent match to open the show. I was surprised Rocky didn't go over, but as I've previously stated. Wins and losses didn't affect his trajectory a great deal anyway.

Segment

Entertaining Undertaker promo thanks to Shawn Michaels. Shawn's remark that he "lays down for no one" would prove to be a little too on the nose, especially after what happened at One Night Only, coupled with later remarks that he would never do a job for Bret Hart. One has to wonder if that comment was a shot at his adversaries.

Match 2

L.O.D defeated Nation of Domination via DQ due to run-ins from Rocky Maivia and Savio Vega. Faarooq attempted to even up the score, building to his match with Ahmed Johnson next week, but would eventually become outnumbered by Nation of Domination.

Segment

Steve Austin stuns Vince McMahon for the first time! Iconic moment as Austin was taken away in handcuffs. Vince did some good mic work as he told Austin it was in his best interest to rest up at home. Enthralling segment with a really cool payoff. J.R really drove home how big of a moment it was, reminding everyone that Vince was in fact the owner of the company.

Second Hour/WarZone

The second hour started off hot with one of my favourite segments in the history of Monday Night Raw, as Cactus Jack

defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a falls count anywhere match. This was the first sign of the hardcore style matches that the WWF would begin to encorparate later on during the attitude era. It also had a really clever opening, as we saw all three "faces of Foley" on the titon-tron, as Dude Love played mind games with Hunter as to which persona he would have to face. E-C-Dub chants were heard around the arena, as the crowd popped hard for the debut of the 'Cactus Jack' character in the WWF. An intense matchup that saw Hunter throw himself over the turnbuckle after an Irish Whip, in a spot that looked more as if he was trying to escape the clutches of the deranged Cactus Jack rather than the force of the move itself. A small detail that really added to the match. Cactus Jack eventually won after a piledriver through a wooden table on the entrance ramp. I got goosebumps watching this, a fantastic job by both men!

Main-event

Bret Hart beat Goldust in the main-event. It's a shame this one wasn't better, as the show had been excellent so far and a classic main-event was all that stopped this edition of Raw from reaching legendary status. As it stands, it was still Bret Hart, so it wasn't terrible and maintained a certain quality. Shawn and Bret had a brawl post-match, leading to Shawn's faction as well as members of The Hart Foundation getting involved. The Undertaker eventually appears and cleans house, hitting a double chokeslam on both Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.

Summary

Right off the bat this show had a different vibe. It seemed like a bigger occasion and it was! A truly historic night that saw Austin stun McMahon for the first time, a legendary matchup between Hunter and Foley as well as some other fun stuff sprinkled in for good measure. I would add it seemed difficult for Raw to run high quality main-event matches during this time. I'd guess this was due to them being hamstrung from a lack of top level babyfaces to work TV main-events. Austin was hurt, Shawn Michaels was in the midst of a heel turn, Bret was working an anti-american gimmick and The Undertaker rarely worked TV matches for whatever reason (I presume in order to protect his character) Outside of the Hunter/Jack match, the in ring aspect of the show wasn't the best in the world. That said, this was still the most entertaining edition of Raw from the year of 1997 I'd seen thus far, and my final score of 3.75 stars is a reflection of that!

WCW Nitro 22/9/97 (2.5 Stars)

Segment- Eric Bischoff calls out Larry Zbyszko for interfering in Hall and Luger's match at Fall Brawl. Bischoff says if it happens again, he will pay the price.

Match 1- Rey Mysterio def Silver King

Match 2- Goldberg def Hugh Morrus (1-0)

T.V Title

Match 3- Disco Inferno def Alex Wright (c)

Segment- Miss Jackie challenges Disco Inferno to a match.

Segment- Scott Hall calls out Lex Luger. When Luger doesn't answer, Hall calls out Larry Zbyszko instead. Zbysko declines until Hector Garza answers the call.

Match 4- Hector Garza def Scott Hall

Match 5- Ultimo Dragon, Ciclope, Juventud Guerrera & Lizmark Jr def La Parka, Psychosis, Villano IV & Villano V (8-Man Tag Team Match)

Segment- Roddy Piper in-ring promo. Piper says Larry Zbyszko wasn't an official referee at WarGames, so books Lex Luger and Scott Hall one on one at Halloween Havoc with Larry Zbyszko as special guest ref.

Match 6- The Faces of Fear def The Steiners

Segment- 'Hollywood' Hogan in-ring promo. Hogan says he will "eat Piper alive" in the cage match at Halloween Havoc.

Match 7- Randy Savage def Stevie Richards

Match 8- Booker T def Konnan & Buff Bagwell (2-on-1 Handicap Match)

United States Championship

Match 9- (c) Curt Hennig def Jeff Jarrett

Analysis

Matches 1 & 2

Typical fast paced lucha style match as Rey Mysterio pinned Silver King. Nothing special here, but Eddie Guerrero walked out post-match in order to continue his excellent rivalry with Mysterio.

Really cool moment for me personally as I get to see the development of Goldberg and what would become a lengthy and historic (*spoiler) undefeated streak as he squashed Hugh Morrus. Fun to watch as a wrestling fan, knowing what we do now and how huge of a deal he would eventually become, but outside of that it's your typical squash match. As an aside, I'll actually count and list his ACTUAL undefeated record on TV as we go. (He defeated Buddy Landell on an episode of WCW Saturday Night prior to this, but that was a dark match so doesn’t count under these rules)

Kevin Nash would speak about the fact that Goldberg's record would be artificially enhanced to a ridiculous degree. When asked whether his undefeated streak and monstrous push rubbed any of the 'boys' the wrong way, Nash simply responded no. He attributed this to the fact that he wasn't out earning many people at this point, despite the monster push he was receiving.

Second Hour

The second hour kicked off with a chaotic spot fest (albeit an entertaining one) as we were treated to 8-man lucha action. The face team of Ultimo Dragon, Ciclope, Juventud Guerrera & Lizmark Jr defeated La Parka, Psychosis and both Villanos. I presume it was Villano IV and V but that wasn't clarified.

Match 7

Randy Savage pins Stevie Richards. Post-match Raven hits a DDT on Richards. Not much to report in regards to the match itself. A basic squash victory for Savage.

Match 8

The nWo triple teamed Booker T as he was left stranded by his injured partner Stevie Ray, turning a scheduled tag match into a weird unofficial Handicap Match. Booker T eventually won via DQ. This segment didn't get much heat on The nWo, as people most likely didn't care. A wasted spot on the card in my opinion.

Main-event

The nWo's newest member Curt Hennig successfully defended his United States championship against Jeff Jarrett in the main-event. This match got better as it went on, although a fair amount of stalling towards the beginning hampered it somewhat. Hennig used heel tactics and a cheap shot with his U.S Title in order to secure the victory. The nWo attempted a post-match beatdown on Jarrett, before The Giant came down and scared them all away. Some decent story telling in this match, and while it wasn't an all timer, it was certainly a serviceable main-event.

Summary

I could sit back and relax a little bit more this week, safe in the knowledge that Nitro wouldn't put out anything better than what the WWF produced. A perfectly average show this week, salvaged by what was in my opinion, a fun main-event that got me invested the more it went on. The debut of Goldberg would eventually prove to be a big deal obviously, but on its own, it wasn't enough to win Nitro the point. Raw still wins this week comfortably.

Raw/Nitro September 29th

Monday Night Raw 29/9/97 (2 Stars)

Segment- Shawn Michaels in-ring promo. Shawn walks to the ring with his new faction, including Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Chyna and 'Ravishing' Rick Rude. Shawn Micheals gloats about attacking The Undertaker last week before calling Hunter Hearst Helmsley 'Triple H' for the first time. Hunter adds that by joining the group, he's taking control and that "there's no stopping him". Sgt Slaughter comes to the ring and books Hunter against The Undertaker one on one. Bret Hart interrupts and says they will all pay the price for their actions.

Match 1- Vader def The British Bulldog via DQ

Match 2- Faarooq def Ahmed Johnson via DQ (Intercontinental Title Tournament)

Segment- Brian Pillman shows camera footage of him laying in bed next to Marlena, before proceeding to cut a promo on Goldust.

Match 3- Goldust def The Sultan

Segment- 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in-ring promo. Vince McMahon gives Austin three options. He either provides a legitimate doctor's note clearing him to wrestle, he signs a waiver absolving The WWF of responsibility, or he accepts termination. Austin flips the script, saying if he's fired he will beat McMahon's ass before adding maybe he will sign the waiver and maybe he won't.

Tag Team Championships

Match 4- Los Boricuas def The Headbangers (c) via DQ

Segment- Owen Hart in-ring promo. Owen says he only has himself to blame for losing the title in the first place as he "showed sympathy" to Austin, before vowing to win it back at Bad Blood. Stone Cold appears and hits a Stunner on Owen Hart.

Match 5- The Undertaker def Hunter Hearst Helmsley via DQ

Analysis

Matches 1 & 2

Vader defeated The British Bulldog via DQ in a slow and plodding opening match. The Hart Foundation interfered and attacked Vader mid-match. The Patriot attempted to make the save, but proved unsuccessful. This was used as build towards the scheduled flag match at Bad Blood between The Hart Foundation and The Patriot & Vader.

Faarooq advanced to the finals of the Intercontinental title tournament, as he beat Ahmed Johnson via DQ in a grudge match. L.O.D and Ken Shamrock also got involved post-match as the faces cleared the ring. Super short match, which was again used as build for a scheduled tag team match between L.O.D and The Nation of Domination at Bad Blood. I was starting to sense a pattern here.

Second Hour/WarZone

An excellent segment between McMahon and Austin opened the second hour. This was followed by a tag team title match that saw The Headbangers retain against Los Boricuas via DQ. This was a rematch from One Night Only, and unfortunately it was nowhere near as good, which is a shame, as their effort on PPV was actually quite entertaining.

Main-event

This one deserved MUCH more time, as Hunter Hearst Helmsley faced The Undertaker. Pre-match shenanigans saw The Undertaker jumped by The Hart Foundation, as Shawn and Hunter piled it on also. The match ended via DQ as Rick Rude got involved. This may be armchair booking on my part, but surely a 20 minute barnburner that made Taker look strong would have sold the PPV just as well as this segment masquerading as a main-event. Shawn gets freaked out by a 'red light' upon leaving through the curtain, prompting him to climb the titan-tron. This was a cool moment, but I still maintain they could have done all of this IN ADDITION to the match itself.

Summary

A solid opening segment that could have set up the rest of the episode quite nicely. Unfortunately, what followed was a 5 minute recap from One Night Only and a poor opening match between Vader and The British Bulldog. This killed some of the show's momentum in my opinion. The second hour was slightly better due to Austin and an intriguing finish to set up the PPV, but ultimately, this episode of Raw felt extremely lacklustre, especially following last week's effort. I was seriously debating the final score, until I realised that 4 out of 5 matches had DQ finishes.

WCW Nitro 29/9/97 (2.25 Stars)

Match 1- DDP def Buff Bagwell

Match 2- Rey Mysterio def Eddie Guerrero

Segment- Mean Gene interviews The Giant ahead of his match with Curt Hennig. The Giant says that he didn't have to go that far when he crushed Flair's skull at Fall Brawl, and "what comes around, goes around" before promising payback on Hennig.

Match 3- Bill Goldberg def The Barbarian (2-0)

Segment- Mean Gene interviews Larry Zbyszko. Zybysko says he will call the match at Halloween Havoc between Hall and Luger right down the middle, as he believes that's the biggest Handicap Scott Hall will have to face (wrestling a match clean one on one)

T.V Title

Match 4- (c) Disco Inferno def Juventud Guerrera

Segment- Randy Savage promo. Savage warns Piper not to get "too creative" at Halloween Havoc, before hyping up The nWo.

Match 5- Jeff Jarrett def Steve 'Mongo' McMichael

Match 6- Chris Jericho def Syxx via DQ

Segment- Ric Flair phones in. Flair says that he thanks Curt Hennig for the wakeup call, as Ric acknowledged that he may have been 'complacent'. Ric Flair adds that he's breaking up The Four Horsemen as every member is good enough to go it alone before announcing that he will return next week!

Segment- Eric Bischoff in-ring promo. Bischoff calls Sting a "muppet", accusing Sting of waiting until Hogan was out of town before he showed up. Bischoff also adds that 'Hollywood' Hogan will destroy Piper at Halloween Havoc.

Match 7- Lex Luger def Wrath

Match 8- The Giant def Curt Hennig via DQ

Analysis

Matches 1 & 2

DDP pinned Buff Bagwell in the opener. It was a fun, albeit short match to kick off the show, but it set the momentum for the going forward. A ref bump allowed Vincent to get involved and a Diamond Cutter got him un-involved. Dallas revived the ref, and hit another Cutter on Bagwell for the win. What I would say is this, multiple run-ins and ref bumps can be IDEAL to kick off a show, as they can build energy in the crowd. Yet I still wasn't keen on them in the closing spot. A solid start to the show anyway.

Rey Mysterio Vs Eddie Guerrero masquerading as El Caliente (whoever that was supposed to be) Rey was being dominated early, due to the confusion, with both men trying to rip off the mask from the other, but Rey would eventually prove victorious. Once the match got going I was kind of into it. Alas, once it truly got going, sadly it was over. Never mind though, I hear these two men had a rematch at Halloween Havoc '97. Maybe that one could deliver and meet their lofty expectations.

Segment

The Giant's promo sold his match with Hennig well. He didn't say much, but what he did say resonated and landed (with me at least)

Match 3

I'm going to be getting VERY drunk as per the drinking game rules. I already know that Goldberg wins for like 1000 weeks straight, meaning I have to take 1000 shots until he actually loses. Goldberg squashes The Barbarian before refusing an interview with Mean Gene. Mean Gene interviews Zbyszko instead. Zybysko says he will call his match between Luger and Scott Hall right down the middle, because The nWo are cowards and calling a match fairly is the biggest Handicap they can afford anyway.

Second Hour

Hour two opened with a Randy Savage promo. He warned commissioner Roddy Piper not to get "too creative" at Halloween Havoc (whatever that meant) before hyping up The nWo. This was a really bad promo that made little sense. He seemed to be rambly and incoherent, and I genuinely had a hard time understanding the point he was trying to make.

Following the promo, Jeff Jarrett pinned 'Mongo' McMichael following a distraction from Queen Debra. This would be one of Jeff's final matches in WCW until he would eventually return in '99. His initial run in WCW wasn't the best, but he seemingly decided it was in best interest to move on.

Match 6

Syxx faced Chris Jericho in what was a good match, until it devolved into more nWo nonsense. The match was waved off when Scott Hall started pushing the ref around, leading to Larry Zbyszko and Lex Luger getting involved. Everyone kept their hands to themselves as Hall backed down, but it was still a shame that WCW wasted a match with such potential, opting to treat it as a throwaway segment purely designed to build Scott Hall Vs Lex Luger.

Main-event

Curt Hennig faced The Giant in the main-event. This wasn't much of a match, as it ended via DQ within 5 minutes. That said, Hennig executed a particularly impressive spot, as he hit a perfect-plex on The Giant! The match was called off as C-level tier members of The nWo got involved (and Randy Savage) with Sting running down and fighting them all off WITHOUT HIS BAT! I have to admit, as silly as it was, that part was quite cool. WCW signed off with Sting and Randy Savage going at it.

Summary

A slightly below average effort this week. Not too much was going on, but where WCW was concerned, that was usually for the best. I preferred the first hour, as hour number two was dominated by nWo run-ins, which just wasn't my thing. I can still judge the show impartially though, as I did understand the appeal. Regardless, it easily topped a really poor episode of Monday Night Raw, as WCW takes the final point of September.

Summary & final scores

Like most months, this was mixed. We were treated to 3 PPVs, with one being bad (In Your House: Ground Zero) one being OK (Fall Brawl) and the other being quite good (WWF One Night Only) WCW had dialled it down slightly on the TV side of things, as the WWF decided to do the complete opposite, as they gave former magazine editor Vince Russo the reigns as a key member of the booking committee. Honestly, it showed, as Monday Night Raw had more run-ins and non finishes than ever. That slightly hurt the programming in my opinion, but I'll reserve judgement for now as they were still finding their feet in regards to producing this kind of chaotic television. I also know from a historical perspective, it does get much better. WCW actually won this month 3-1, which is interesting as for starters, A) I wasn't a massive fan of the product, and B) The WWF were in the midst of undertaking a completely different direction which was SUPPOSED to be more entertaining. All I can attribute this to, is WCW having the better midcard workers for the most part, as well as a bolstered cruiserweight division. The final scores see WCW increase their lead. WCW 47-42 WWF and 12 draws…

Match of the Month: Cactus Jack Vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Raw is War)