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Raw History: Episode 211 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 89

December 4, 2017 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
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Raw History: Episode 211 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 89  


Raw History
Episode #211
May 26th, 1997 | Roberts Memorial Stadium in Evansville, Indiana

WWF Champion: The Undertaker (2) since 3/23/97
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Owen Hart (1) since 4/28/97
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

Vince McMahon and Jim Ross were on commentary.

Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels came to the ring, separately, to talk with JR. It’s cool to see Shawn in wrestling gear for the first time in months. JR asked about them co-existing, which led to them bickering over who the captain was. Austin said they’d do well together as long as they could take something from the Hart Foundation, even if they don’t like each other. They were interrupted by the Legion of Doom, which was unexpected. They shout at Austin and Michaels, with no microphones, saying they want a title shot if they win, which Shawn agreed to. This led to the Hart Foundation coming out and staying on the stage. No wheelchair or crutches for Bret!

Brian Pillman and Jim Neidhart vs. The Legion of Doom
The Hart Foundation apparently left during the break, so Austin and Michaels could leave, and then came back out for this. The teams brawled at the start. Hawk must’ve loved working Pillman, because he had to sell less than usual. Basically, he didn’t have to sell at all. Animal and Neidhart had a powerhouse battle that the crowd seemed to enjoy. The Foundation team worked a short heat on Animal. He ran them over with clotheslines and made the hot tag. When LOD went for the Doomsday Device, British Bulldog and Owen Hart ran in to cause the DQ at 4:23. This was fine for what it was. Pillman was fresh off the bad ankle and his timing was off. It was mostly there to get him and Anvil some ring time and further the overarching angle. [*]

Their advantage didn’t last long, with Austin and Michaels returning to clean house. In the midst of it all, Shawn accidentally hit Austin, causing them to trade blows until officials broke it up.

With less bandages on his face than recent weeks, Paul Bearer spoke backstage. He said if something happens to him tonight, Undertaker’s secret is in a safe deposit box that only his attorney has the key to. He had new hair and a new voice, claiming to be a new man.

Bob Holly vs. D-Lo Brown w/ The Nation of Domination
OH SNAP! THE DEBUT OF D-LO BROWN! Holly was fresh off beating Owen Hart in a non-title match last week. Faarooq joined commentary to discuss his upcoming WWF Title shot, while implying that Vince and the WWF were racist. As for the match, D-Lo got a chance to showcase his offense, which looked pretty good. He won with the Sky High in 3:10, in what was a glorified squash. I guess Bob’s win last week was just to pop the hometown crowd. [NR]

The Undertaker spoke backstage, but we missed it due to technical difficulties. When given a second chance, he said he had a few weeks to worry about Faarooq, but had to focus on Paul Bearer tonight.

Jerry Lawler was interviewed about facing Goldust in a King of the Ring match tonight. He said that Dusty Rhodes stopped talking to his son because he married a gold digger and started kissing dudes like a “flaming fag.” He also made a weird comment that Goldust should’ve named his daughter Target, because he everyone has a shot at her. Yikes.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Goldust w/ Marlena vs. Jerry Lawler
For some continuity, footage was shown of Lawler and Goldust’s altercation from December of last year, where Goldust confirmed that he wasn’t gay. Lawler had the crowd behind him, since Evansville was a USWA territory. That made booking this match in this area a strange move. Lawler hit the Piledriver, but wasted time by going out to talk trash to Marlena. Goldust brought him back and hit a piledriver of his own. Lawler kicked out, drawing chants for him. Marlena got involved again a bit later, slapping Lawler. Back inside, Lawler stole it with the Flair pin to a huge pop at 5:21. Not a good match, though the crowd reacted like it was, so it succeeded there. [*¼]

Post-match, Goldust beat up Lawler and sent him rolling down the ramp. Marlena stepped on him to add insult to injury.

They attempted to get word from Steve Austin in the back, but he was jumped by Brian Pillman. Austin held his own until Bulldog and Owen joined the fray. After commercial, Austin went to Michaels’ locker room to yell at him for not watching his back. Shawn was being helped by officials, because he was supposedly attacked too.

Flash Funk vs. Rocky Maivia
Commentary noted that Rocky admits he had too much success, too soon. Their early exchanges were overshadowed by the arrival of the Headbangers, who brought the overpriced KOTR chairs to the ring and did guest commentary. After Rocky missed a cross body, the Headbangers got involved. They went after both men, with Rocky taking out Thrasher. Mosh whacked Funk with the boom box, allowing Rocky to hit a cross body to win in 3:34. Strange match as the focus was barely on it and the Headbangers involvement felt odd. [NR]

A piece of part two of Mick Foley’s interview aired. He spoke about playing goalie in high school with no pads, leading to him injuring his testicle. It became a swollen “grapefruit” and he claimed it was the first time girls looked at his genitals. He considered it the highlight of his high school life.

SLAM OF THE WEEK ~ Pillman made his WWF in-ring debut on Shotgun Saturday Night by beating a jobber.

Backstage, the Hart Foundation got some more time to talk. Bret and Pillman hyped their KOTR matches against Michaels and Austin. Hart said he only needed 10 minutes to beat Shawn, while Pillman said he hated Austin’s guts. Bulldog and Owen promised to win tonight, because Austin and HBK aren’t on the same page.

WAR ZONE!

King of the Ring Replacement Match: Ahmed Johnson vs. Vader
If Vader wins, he’ll get Ahmed’s spot in KOTR since he was “screwed” out of his. Ken Shamrock was brought out for commentary. Both men have fallen significantly since 1996. Ahmed had taped fists, which was a slightly different look for him. They threw haymakers at one another, playing to their strengths. Vader dominated the final moments, before slowly walking into a spinebuster to lose abruptly in 3:05. That could’ve been fun, but Ahmed did a lot of nothing and the finish was flat. [¾*]

Backstage, Paul Bearer was asked if he truly believed Undertaker would return to him. He said he could do what no giant, warrior or immortal could do, which is bring Undertaker to his knees.

Hunter Heart Helmsley w/ Chyna vs. Rockabilly w/ The Honky Tonk Man
Replace Honky with Road Dogg and we’ve got an all-DX match. I’m not sure if it was just the ring, but their offense sounded good. A whip to the corner seemed to shake the ring, before they started slugging it out. Billy set too early, eating the signature HHH knee that so many others would fall victim too. Billy gained control for a bit, until Chyna brought the crowd to their feet by slamming Honky off the apron. That gave HHH the fuel to finish Billy with a Pedigree in 3:16. Other than the sounds of their stuff early, none of this stood out. Chyna was the highlight. [½*]

In the back, the Undertaker spoke in circles about Paul Bearer, never giving a true answer.

Sable came out to “model” the KOTR chair. That inflatable chair cost $59.99 + $11.00 shipping. Wow.

More from Mankind’s interview. He recounted the infamous story about going to Madison Square Garden to see Jimmy Snuka dive off a Steel Cage, which became the thing he wanted to do. He recalled meeting Shawn Michaels, who asked if he always imagined himself as Mankind. Foley pictured himself as being more like Shawn, which led to the footage of him as Dude Love. The video led to him making it to a training school. From there, he became Cactus Jack, which he only wanted to do for a few months, but ended up doing for over a decade. Another part comes next week. This was excellent.

WWF Tag Team Championship: British Bulldog and Owen Hart [c] vs. Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin
The Hart Foundation stayed atop the ramp for this. Shawn started hot, leading to a big brawl. The crowd was pumped for this. Shawn and Owen got to work a short, fun exchange inside for a bit. Bulldog got the tag and ran over Shawn, who was more than game to bump for him. Bulldog bumped well, too, flipping over on a Shawn enziguri. The challengers worked well together, almost out of disdain for one another, trying to one up the other. Their momentum was cut off when Austin was dropped on the guardrail. The Foundation inched closer to the ring heading into break. Returning, Austin was in trouble, but countered a sleeper with a Stunner variation. Michaels got a hot tag, but also had his momentum stalled. That brought up how well he could handle punishment after so much time off. I loved that Austin wouldn’t stay on the apron like most partners, getting involved a few times and being pulled back by officials. Owen snapped off a great belly-to-belly, keeping Shawn in trouble. After a false hot tag spot, Shawn delivered a cross body and made the real one. The fans came unglued as Austin stomped a mud hole. Owen broke up a Stunner, but as he was taken out, Shawn hit Bulldog with Sweet Chin Music. Austin covered to win the titles at 10:27. The best match on Raw since the Bulldog/Owen one back in March. A molten crowd and non-stop action. They used tag formula, but did it in exciting fashion. It also did wonders to put over Bulldog and Owens’ reign, as it took a super team to beat them. Probably the best tag match in Raw history. [****¼]

The celebration was short lived, as Pillman and Neidhart hit the ring. Austin noticed Bret was alone, and left Shawn to get jumped. He tackled Bret atop the ramp and went after the bad knee until the Hart Foundation returned and he headed backstage.

Paul Bearer came out to reveal the Undertaker’s secret. He started going on about working at Undertaker’s parents’ funeral parlor and there being three graves. The Undertaker came out and said he hated Bearer, before saying he wanted the fans who loved him to keep doing so. He grabbed Bearer by the throat, but then backed off and knelt to him as the show went off the air in somewhat of a cliffhanger.


Reliving Nitro
Episode #89
May 26th, 1997 | Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee

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: Steven Regal (4) since 5/18/97
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Syxx (1) since 2/23/97
WCW Women’s Championship: Akira Hokuto (1) since 12/29/96

We’re back to two hour editions of Nitro. Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone hosted hour one.

The nWo theme hit to start the show, as Eric Bischoff walked out. He turned and bowed to the stage, where Hollywood Hulk Hogan made a rare Spring appearance. His was painted on darker than usual here. Hogan cut a short promo about Bischoff being family, like “beautiful Brooke” and “nasty Nick.” He returned to teach Sting a lesson for putting his hands on Bischoff last week. No response from Sting, but it added intrigue to the rest of the show.

Ciclope, Damien and La Parka vs. Hector Garza, Juventud Guerrera and Super Calo
Mike Tenay joined the booth for this one. Parka and Juvi started, leading to Parka catching him and doing his strut. I loved La Parka. This was contested under lucha libre rules, so no tags were needed. Calo and Ciclope went at it next, with Calo hitting a super slow headscissors. He made up for it with a huge suicide dive that took him straight into the fourth row. The two unmasked men, Garza and Damien, were next to have quick exchanges. Garza hit a moonsault where he posed first and Damien had to awkwardly stand in place waiting for him. Things broke down, leaving Parka and Juvi again. Juvi took out Damien with a wild headscissors off the apron. He then nailed a somersault plancha onto Parka. With everyone outside following more dives, Garza got to showcase his CORKSCREW PLANCHA that commentary gushed over. Back inside, Garza also got the win following a powerbomb and standing moonsault in 6:26. That was a blast. It was just what it needed to be, bringing the lucha style to the forefront and impressing viewers with the wild action. Overly choreographed? Sure. Fun? Absolutely. [***¼]

Alex Wright vs. Psychosis
Wright has reached full non-stop dance mode. DAS WUNDERKIND! Lots of arm drags and wrist work in the early stages. Though his heel persona is starting to shine through, most of Wright’s offense was still heavily babyface. He showed some aggression with a series of corner punches. It was then followed by more dancing. Psychosis crotched Wright on the top rope and came off the top himself with a spinning heel kick. He didn’t win with it because he, like Wright, seemed too cocky to cover instantly. Wright escaped outside for more dancing, but was taken out with a corkscrew moonsault. Inside, Psychosis won with the guillotine leg drop at 4:09. Solid, with just enough character development for Wright. [**]

Sonny Oono was interviewed about Masahiro Chono’s “nightmare” opponent. He ignored the question and offered a deal to Psychosis, who responded by simply agreeing and walking off. Madusa arrived to tell Oono she wanted a match with Akira Hokuto for the Women’s Title. She was willing to do anything, which led to Oono giving sleazy looks. Instead of going with a perverted choice, he told her to put her career on the line. Madusa agreed to the stipulation through poor acting.

Footage was shown of Ernest Miller doing karate.

Mark Starr vs. Wrath w/ James Vandenberg and Mortis
In this squash, Wrath tried showing off martial arts style moves. I know it was Glacier, Miller and, to a lesser extent, Mortis’ thing, but I would’ve liked Wrath to be different. Let him purely be the brute of the rivalry. After a tandem attack with Mortis, Wrath won with the Death Penalty in 2:34. [NR]

Konnan vs. Villano IV
Apparently, Konnan split from Hugh Morris, who got split screen promo time to say he’d regret it. Konnan started with a clothesline and dominated. He gave his buddy from Mexico a small burst of offense, before hitting a spinebuster. Hugh Morris attempted to interfere, but was held back by security. Konnan then won with the Tequila Sunrise at 3:10. [NR]

Mean Gene interviewed Konnan, who gave legitimate reasons for leaving the Dungeon of Doom. He didn’t like how his leader took over a year to deal with Chris Benoit and said that he had Jacqueline doing his job. He has no respect for Kevin Sullivan.

The Great Muta w/ Sonny Oono vs. Masahiro Chono
Yes, Oono introduced Muta as the nightmare. According to Tenay, Chono had been trying to recruit Muta to the nWo over in Japan. A lot of stalling in this one, with Chono continually going after Oono. Sonny shouted for Muta to attack, but nothing happened. Muta finally applied a headlock, leading Oono to get in the ring and yell at him for nothing really going on. Muta then spit red mist at Oono and jumped him, resulting in a no contest around 3:00. [NR]

Both men jumped Oono, with Chono handing an nWo shirt to Muta. Zbyszko: YOU CAN’T TRUST A JAPANESE!

HOUR NUMBER TWO!

Apparently, a DDP segment is cut from this episode for some reason.

The Barbarian w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Jim Powers w/ Teddy Long
With guys like Powers and Craig Pittman, Teddy Long wasn’t exactly lining up the best clients around this time. Barbarian dominated this one and caught a flying Powers with a powerslam to win in 3:19.[NR]

Mean Gene attempted to get a word with Barbarian, but Chris Benoit and Woman interrupted. They asked Jimmy Hart about Kevin Sullivan, saying that he wants Sullivan back. Hart said the road to Sullivan goes through Barbarian first. Benoit got in the ring for a fight, but Jimmy Hart said it’ll wait until next week.

The Giant w/ Lex Luger vs. Jerry Flynn, Johnny Swinger and Rick Fuller
Giant and Luger came out to no music and not much of a reaction. None of these jabronies could handle Giant alone, and even when they teamed up, he threw them around. Chokeslams for everyone as Giant won in 2:17. [NR]

Gene interviewed Giant and Luger, who focused on Dennis Rodman. Luger said Rodman crossed the line by joining the nWo and spray painting him a while back. Since Rodman had a WCW contract, Luger said he and Giant wanted the first crack at him. Giant said, “What comes around, goes around,” which is backwards. Despite that, this wasn’t a terrible promo.

Following the Lee Marshall Road Report, Syxx came out with a microphone. He disputed the loss at Slamboree, because Nick Patrick counted the fall and hadn’t been reinstated as an official yet. He then brought out the Outsiders, who challenged Ric Flair and Roddy Piper to a Tag Team Title match at the Great American Bash.

LAST WEEK ~ Kevin Greene attacking Steve McMichael was highlighted.

Harlem Heat w/ Sister Sherri vs. Jeff Jarrett and Steve McMichael w/ Debra
This is their third match against each other in just over a month. While the teams did basic stuff, Kevin Greene joined commentary to explain what he did to Mongo last week. It stems from Mongo attacking him at least year’s Great American Bash. In his hometown, Jarrett got to play the “face” in peril. When he got free for the hot tag, he and Mongo busted out stereo struts. The heat was moved over to Mongo, allowing Jarrett to get the hot tag. The crowd wasn’t as hot for him as he probably hoped. He ran off some dropkicks before Mongo spotted Greene. He left to brawl with him by the stage, leaving Jarrett alone. Stevie Ray broke up the Figure Four, and Booker used a Harlem Sidekick to win at 10:08. The formula they used was fine, it just felt like another in a long line of meaningless tag matches that was hard to really get into. [**¼]

Debra helped Jeff Jarrett to his feet and both were displeased with Mongo.

That can’t be the main event segment, so we got the bookend Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff appearance. They asked for Sting and received a fake Sting popping up from under the ring. That Sting knelt in front of Hogan to worship him. The real Sting descended from the rafters to a huge pop. He grabbed Bischoff and hit the Scorpion Death Drop. Bischoff’s “OH GOD” reaction was great. Sting pointed the bat at Hogan, who backed up and fell over the fake Sting. Hogan escaped, leaving bogus Sting to eat a Scorpion Death Drop. A scared Hogan backpedaled until the rest of the nWo came out. They surrounded the ring, but before they could do any damage, Sting hooked himself back up and headed back to the rafters. Fun closing segment, though the Sting stuff can be repetitive when you look back on it.

Raw Rating: 2.7
Nitro Rating: 3.3

6.8
The final score: review Average
The 411
Raw: The focus of the episode was on the Austin/HBK/Hart Foundation saga and it delivered in spades. Including the Legion of Doom was a welcome surprise, while the interactions involving everyone throughout the night were entertaining, capped with an excellent match. The other matches didn’t stand out, but the show advanced several other angles and ended with a fun cliffhanger.

Nitro: Raw has been kicking Nitro’s ass in terms of quality lately, but this week was close. Everything on Nitro served a purpose and furthered or set up an angle. From little things like seeing Alex Wright be heel, Muta joining the nWo and Barbarian/Benoit getting set up, to appearances from guys like Hogan, Hall and Nash, it all had a point. Throw in a fun six man tag and you’ve got a solid show.

legend

article topics :

Monday Night War, Nitro, RAW, WCW, WWE, Kevin Pantoja