Raw History: Episode 204 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 82

Raw History
Episode #204
April 7th, 1997 | Worthen Arena in Muncie, Indiana

WWF Champion: The Undertaker (2) since 3/23/97
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Rocky Maivia (1) since 2/13/97
WWF European Champion: British Bulldog (1) since 3/3/97
WWF Tag Team Champions: Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (1) since 9/22/96

Anytime I hear Muncie, Indiana, I think of a joke from Parks and Recreation. If you watched that show, you might remember. If you don’t watch it, you should.

Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Honky Tonk Man were on commentary.

Non-Title Match: WWF Tag Team Champions British Bulldog and Owen Hart vs. The Godwins
The ropes are no longer red, white and blue. Now they’re red, with a black middle rope. Owen got on the microphone and thanked Bret Hart for reuniting the family, before throwing some threats to Shawn Michaels. The Godwins started hot. With Bulldog going full heel after teasing a babyface turn for so long, he’s suddenly a coward. HBK got insert promo time, saying he’ll upset the Hart Family with his words later. He called it live TV, which is false as this was a taped show. Phineas got going so well that he had himself a fit and Henry had to calm him down. He ended up in trouble through a commercial, before Henry got the hot tag. LOD was given time to shout a lot about their upcoming title shot. Bulldog got hit with the Slop Drop, but Owen came off the top and hit Henry, stealing this at 7:11. Not bad, but I thought that was a weak finish. [*¾]

The champions had their exit cut off by LOD. The Godwins tried slopping them, but accidentally caught LOD. That led to a brawl between those teams while Bulldog and Owen laughed atop the ramp. After a break, they were interviewed backstage and laughed at the replay of the slop.

Billy Gunn w/ The Honky Tonk Man vs. Steve Austin
It’s Stone Cold’s first match since WrestleMania. Gunn had a mic on his way to the ring, but audio only picked up the end of it. That’s probably for the better, because he typically sucked at promos. Austin beats up Billy, while Bulldog and Owen got insert promo time. I like them, but that’s a lot of them in the first half hour. They basically said Austin can come after them, because he isn’t getting to Bret. While Austin dominated, JR plugged USA’s Sunday Night Heat lineup (gee, I wonder if Vince liked that name), which included Pacific Blue. I somewhat remember that show. Austin flipped off referee Time White to a pop and hit the Stunner shortly after, winning in 6:09. Not quite a squash, but the outcome was never in doubt. [*]

After the match, Honky told Billy that he was always his first choice and offered to give him a makeover. Billy declined with a right hand. I don’t remember when, but he eventually ends up agreeing. Apparently, Honky originally pitched the Rockabilly gimmick for Rocky Maivia. Wow.

The Commandment of the Truth Commission made his debut, coming to the stage to cut a promo. He announced that Raw would take place in his native South Africa next week. He ran down America, before showing a video of the one man who speaks the truth. A man who is loved in South Africa. It’s of Bret Hart! It’s a promo from Bret, with bad audio, where he ran down Steve Austin and Sycho Sid. He also noted how the South African fans still love him, while the American fans don’t.

Shawn Michaels came out for an interview. He took the microphone from Vince to get stuff off his chest. First, he said Bret’s attack set him back, but he will return. He admitted that he and Bret loathe each other in front of the camera and behind it. Shawn said Bret’s always been a “bad guy.” He spoke about Bret complaining that the WWF exploited his family, but said it’s Bret who does it and that he’d sell his mom if he could make a dime. Yikes. Shawn went back to 1992, saying he and Bret were IC and WWF Champion, and Bret beat him. When the time came for Bret to put Shawn over, he did it “kicking and screaming.” He brought up Bret using a “rival organization” to negotiate for more money and said Bret left after WrestleMania 12 to see if the WWF would fall on their face without him. Shawn got confirmation from Vince that they did the best business in six years with Shawn at the helm. Shawn dropped the word horseshit, before saying Bret’s obsession with Shawn and the WWF Title would destroy him. That’s quite poetic considering where things would go in November. Good promo with some scathing moments, but it ran a bit long. Shawn went to end things with a dance, but Bulldog and Owen came out. He got a chair to fend them off.

WAR ZONE!

Barry Horowitz and Freddie Joe Floyd vs. The Headbangers
I haven’t seen Barry in like, two years. A generic insert promo came from Vernon White, who is scheduled to be Ken Shamrock’s opponent in an exhibition tonight. Anyway, Freddie is better known as Tracy Smothers. He and Barry got in more offense than expected, before falling to the Stage Dive in 4:13. Mostly a squash. [NR]

No Holds Barred Exhibition: Ken Shamrock vs. Vernon White
While Shamrock came out, to a generic theme, Vince plugged UFC 13 and their main event. 1997 was a different time, for sure. Vernon surprisingly got in a good kick, which caused Ken to SNAP! Shamrock took him down and wailed on him with punches. The referee stopped it with White on the ground in about 2:00. Not a match, so I won’t rate it, but it was different. That’s good. [NR]

JR interviewed Ken Shamrock about what just happened. Vader’s theme hit to interrupt. He wanted to fight Shamrock, but officials kept them apart.

Frank Staletto vs. Vader w/ Paul Bearer
This isn’t considered an exhibition, but the idea is that Vader can do what Shamrock did, only better. He launched Frank with a release German suplex, which wasn’t seen that often in 1997. Mankind was interviewed on a split screen, saying he wanted to make amends for what he did to the Undertaker last week. Vader pulled Frank up after the Vader Bomb, hit another and then won with a powerbomb in 2:17. [NR]

Gorilla Monsoon addressed everyone backstage about Sycho Sid not arriving yet. He’s scheduled to face Mankind. If he doesn’t show, Gorilla planned on putting Steve Austin in his place. Austin interrupted to say he’s not here to save the show. Austin threatened Gorilla, before saying he’ll face Mankind if he gets to replace Sid against Bret Hart at the Pay-Per-View. Gorilla agreed and it’s on!

Mankind came out to get interviewed by Jim Ross about the fireball attack on the Undertaker. From his knee, he spoke about how they had some of the most violent wars in WWF history, yet Undertaker barely knew him at all. He mentioned his family for the first time ever, saying they wonder what the burnt smell is (it’s him) and how he can’t be there for his daughter because he has to be on the road 300 days a year, wrestling in main events for half the money that “pretty boys” make opening the show. If you thought the fireball was bad, don’t order the PPV because it will get worse. His promo was fantastic. Undertaker cut him off, speaking from the Titantron. We never see him, as his video and footage of the fireball were shown on screen. It was hard to hear him, but he basically vowed vengeance.

Mankind w/ Paul Bearer vs. Steve Austin
I remember these two having a damn good match a while back on Raw. Looks like it was on November 18th, 1996. They brawled on the ramp, with Austin hitting a suplex. Once again, Bulldog and Owen got to talk, saying Bret Hart was screwed over by having to face Steve Austin again. It’s not fair that it happened because Sid didn’t show up. Bret’s in South Africa, by the way. The match continued as a brawl around the ring for a bit. Once inside, Austin was in control, while Bulldog and Owen appeared in the stands for a closer look. After a break, Mankind took over and pounded away on Austin outside. He exposed the concrete and hit the Cactus elbow. They fought to the ramp, where Austin blocked a piledriver by shoving him into a guardrail. He hit hard. The Tag Champs came down closer, which brought out LOD. Vader rushed past them all to whack Mankind, resulting in a DQ at 11:12. I thought this was a fun brawl that never reached the level of their match last year. Some cool bumps and good action. [**¾]

Steve Austin and LOD chased Bulldog and Owen to the back, leaving Mankind and Vader alone. They traded shots until Bearer got in between them. They seemed to be on the same page as things ended.

Spring Stampede 1997 Results
Rey Mysterio Jr. def. Ultimo Dragon in 14:55 [***¾]
WCW Women’s Championship: Akira Hokuto (c) def. Madusa in 5:13 [**¾]
WCW Television Championship: Prince Iaukea (c) def. Lord Steven Regal in 10:01 [*¼]
Public Enemy def. Jeff Jarrett and Steve McMichael in 10:42 [½*]
WCW United States Championship: Dean Malenko (c) vs. Chris Benoit ended in no contest at 17:56 [***]
WCW World Tag Team Championship: Kevin Nash (c) def. Rick Steiner in 10:20 [*]
Lex Luger def. Booker T, The Giant and Stevie Ray in 18:18 [**]
No DQ: Diamond Dallas Page def. Randy Savage in 15:27 [***]

Reliving Nitro
Episode #82
April 7th, 1997 | Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hulk Hogan (2) 8/10/96
WCW United States Champion: Dean Malenko (1) since 3/16/97
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (1) since 10/27/96
WCW Television Champion: Prince Iaukea (1) since 2/17/97
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Syxx (1) since 2/23/97
WCW Women’s Championship: Akira Hokuto (1) since 12/29/96

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko host hour number one. Some footage aired from Spring Stampede, where Randy Savage went after Kimberly Page. Eric Bischoff tried calming him down, only to get shoved down. The nWo came out to keep things from escalating. Commentary voiced over some still images from DDP/Savage and how there’s turmoil in the nWo.

Alex Wright and Psychosis vs. Hugh Morris and Konnan
Though Morris and Konnan are a more regular team, they might be an odder pairing than Wright and Psychosis. Wright did alright early, but tagged out and Psychosis took the heat. He did get a corkscrew moonsault to stop the momentum temporarily. A split screen gave us a clip of DDP arriving in a foul mood, saying it’s not over with Savage. Wright got the hot tag and did very well. He ran into an elbow from Konnan, before Morris finished him with No Laughing Matter at 5:06. Wright and Psychosis didn’t look too bad together, but I just can’t get into the Morris/Konnan pairing. Ultimately, none of this meant anything either. [*¼]

Lord Steven Regal vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.
This should’ve been the TV Title program, but they went with the Iaukea stuff for some reason. Though these guys haven’t impressed together, to be fair. Regal overpowered Rey early but forget the match, because we must go to a full screen shot of the nWo arriving in a somber mood. Hulk Hogan is back from taking most of his summer dates off to try and sort this out. Rey countered a butterfly suplex and started hitting some aerial spots. Regal bumped HORRIBLY on a rana. He applied the Regal Stretch, but Rey reached the ropes. Regal refused to break the hold, resulting in the DQ at 4:33. Not bad, though underwhelming considering their talent. [*¾]

Prince Iaukea ran out to make the save. He got in some dropkicks, but was also put in the Regal Stretch until officials pulled him off.

A second limousine arrived. The first only had Hogan, Bischoff, Dibiase and Vincent. This one had Nash, Syxx, Bagwell, Savage, Liz, fake Sting and Rotunda.

Chris Benoit w/ Woman vs. Ice Train w/ Teddy Long
At my funeral, play Ice Train’s theme. Ice no sold some Benoit chops and returned the strikes. They cut to a split screen shot of the nWo talking in the back. Hogan threw the title down and wanted to know what colors the other guys were representing. Back to the action and Benoit sent Ice into Teddy Long, knocking him off the apron. He won with a DDT at 3:08. Not much of a match as the focus was entirely on the nWo. [NR]

DOUBLE TEAM PREMIERE ~ Clips were shown of Hogan and other celebrities at the premiere of Dennis Rodman’s film Double Team. The people at the premiere may have been the only ones to see it in theaters.

Hector Guerrero vs. Kevin Sullivan w/ Jacqueline and Jimmy Hart
The expected stuff from Sullivan. Not much of interest in the ring and Jacqueline got some shots in on Hector. Sullivan put him in the Tree of Woe and won after the Tree of Woe in 2:48. If you’ve seen one Sullivan squash, you’ve seen them all. [NR]

It’s nWo talky time. Hogan asked if Nash had problems with him bringing Rodman in. Nash said he wasn’t happy he had to spend Easter with just Syxx, so Hogan promised he could go on an nWo Easter egg hunt next year. I’m sorry, what? That made no sense. Hogan questioned where Scott Hall was, but Nash didn’t answer, just saying Hall was nWo for life. Hogan didn’t like the way Nash was looking at him and they nearly came to blows. Nash said he doesn’t have to love Hogan to respect him. Things were good between them, but Savage was still livid and threatened Bischoff. Hogan placed peacekeeper, but Savage said he and Bischoff are on probation with each other. I don’t think this accomplished much, except to plant the seeds for the lame nWo Hollywood vs. Wolfpac feud down the line.

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan took over for Larry Zbyszko.

Mean “BAH GAWD” Gene brought out Ric Flair for an in-ring interview. He talked about bonding with Roddy Piper last week and brought him out. They high fived and the crowd enjoyed it. Piper rambled a bunch, but basically said with the nWo showing signs of weakness, it’s time to strike. They brought out Kevin Greene, who did some football antics, while Flair strutted. This trio is coming for the nWo. Harmless segment, but Piper and Flair together just make for some nonsense at times.

WCW United States Championship: Dean Malenko (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Mike Tenay called this Jericho’s return match from SuperBrawl, but he lost to Eddie Guerrero that night. I don’t recall if they involved Syxx shenanigans. Jericho came out hot, only to get stopped with a stiff powerbomb. People don’t mention it, but Dean had a great powerbomb. Like an idiot, he put on the Texas Cloverleaf, but Jericho was right next to the ropes. Jericho had his face smashed into the turnbuckle. He seemed to be hurting a lot, but Dean didn’t care and punt kicked him to retain in 3:02. I love aggressive Dean. This was short, but solid fun. [**¼]

High Voltage vs. Public Enemy
I just noticed that High Voltage’s theme is just the sound of electricity. PE sent them packing quickly and taunted with the crowd. The teams traded basic stuff, with Johnny Grunge getting a mild tag. Commentary announced that Jericho broke his nose, which Heenan said won’t matter because he isn’t good looking. He then went on to say people confuse the two of them. Grunge went through a table when Kaos moved out of the way and Rage beat Rocco with a Northern lights suplex in 3:07. Not much to that, though the result was surprising. [*]

Public Enemy got interviewed and said sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. Rocco congratulated High Voltage, before challenging them to a Philadelphia Street Fight next week. Gene did not look amused with how loud and aggressive they were. PE said they’ll have to get EXTREME next week.

Harlem Heat w/ Sister Sherri vs. Jeff Jarrett and Steve McMichael w/ Debra
Jarret came out with Debra, but there was no Mongo. Debra wasn’t even concerned. Jarrett went at it alone and did rather well in the early stages. He even stopped to strut after sending his opponents packing. A Sherri distraction led to a Harlem side kick, giving Harlem Heat the upper hand. They dominated, but grew frustrated that they couldn’t put him down for good. After a long time, Mongo strolled to ringside. He got the tag and ran right through Booker and Stevie. Mongo tagged Jarrett back in, sending him right into a Harlem Side Kick to lose at 9:04. I liked the story they told, but it didn’t need to be nearly ten minutes. [*½]

Mongo yelled at Jarrett for losing. Mean Gene got in the ring for an interview. Jarrett scolded Mongo back for never missing a game in the NFL, but not showing up here and making a fool of him again. Mongo yelled back and said WCW should be afraid of him. He left with everything unresolved.

WCW Television Championship: Prince Iaukea (c) vs. Ultimo Dragon w/ Sonny Oono
This Iaukea experiment isn’t going well. His ribs were taped up, selling an injury. Dragon lit him up with kicks following some flash pin attempts. Dragon kicked him in the injured ribs to win the title at 2:04. Hey, I didn’t expect the title change here, but I like it. Not much of a match, though. [NR]

The Giant vs. Scott Steiner
The Giant came out to Lex Luger’s theme. The match never takes place because Hugh Morris and Konnan attacked Scott Steiner during his entrance. The Giant came to his aide and they sent the Dungeon of Doom guys packing.

Diamond Dallas Page, who was so furious upon arriving earlier today, came out at the end of the show to finally speak. He called himself an anomaly because DDP was never supposed to be a main eventer, yet beat Macho Man last night. He said that if he knew Savage assaulted or planned to physically harm Kimberly, he would’ve killed him. He called Savage out, who responded on crutches. Halfway down the aisle, Hulk Hogan cut him off and said he’d handle this. The thought of this leading to DDP taking the title off Hogan sounds great. However, Sting came down from the rafters, landing in between the nWo and the ring. Sting pointed the bat at Hogan, before tossing it to DDP and pulling out another. He joined DDP in the ring, standing off against the nWo to close the show.

Raw Rating: 2.2
Nitro Rating: 3.7

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Raw: While it’s probably the worst show in a few weeks, it still managed to be a solid outing. The main event was pretty good, the Mankind promo was awesome and the Shawn Michaels stuff was quite memorable. I also really dug the Shamrock/Vader segment. The things that didn’t connect were most of the matches, too much Bulldog and Owen (even though I like them) and the Truth Commission segment. 6.0

Nitro: This episode succeeded on a few levels. One, they got the TV Title off Prince Iaukea. Two, they gave us a cool Sting segment for the first time in a while. And three, they furthered several angles (Mongo/Jarrett, DDP/Savage, aggressive Malenko, Piper & Flair’s partnership). The main issue was not coming through with an advertised match again, and a lot of the matches we got either weren’t very good, or didn’t do much for me. Average show. 5.0