Raw History: Episode 225 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 105

Raw History
Episode #225
September 15th, 1997 | Worthen Arena in Muncie, Indiana

WWF Champion: Bret Hart (5) since 8/3/97
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Steve Austin (1) since 8/3/97
WWF European Champion: British Bulldog (1) since 3/3/97
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Headbangers (1) since 9/7/97

The show opened with a video package set to Steve Austin’s theme of him getting in Sgt. Slaughter’s face, relinquishing his title and hitting Sarge and Jim Ross with Stunners.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler were alone on commentary, with Vince “on assignment.”

WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament Quarterfinals: Faarooq vs. Ken Shamrock
Faarooq attacked quickly, but Shamrock took out his legs. He got two on a belly to belly for the first high impact move. Shamrock took a spinebuster and began bleeding from the mouth due to internal injuries. JR wouldn’t shut up about Faarooq’s football past. It has nothing to do with wrestling, buddy. Shamrock hit another belly to belly from out of nowhere to win at 2:43. Not much of a match. [½*]

Faarooq planted him with a Dominator after the match. The rest of the Nation hit the ring, until they were cleaned out by the Legion of Doom. At Badd Blood, LOD teams with Shamrock against the Nation.

Steve Austin was interviewed backstage. He was casually hanging out by a forklift. Owen Hart is supposed to have a surprise for him tonight, but Austin didn’t care and said he’d kick Owen’s ass.

El Pantera vs. TAKA Michinoku
It’s the first Raw appearance for Pantera. At least, I think so. He sent TAKA outside early and pulled the fake dive stuff, followed by a real somersault plancha. TAKA sent him outside a bit after, and delivered his own dive. Inside, Pantera showed off a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, corner headstand and tope suicida. He added a handstand rana for two, because this match moved at a wild pace. Lawler put over Brian Christopher while TAKA hit a tornado DDT. TAKA hit the Michinoku Driver to win in a very fun 4:01. That was a blast of a sprint. It didn’t have much story, but with four minutes, they chose to get all their shit in. It worked and they hit it all cleanly. [***]

Backstage, the undefeated Truth Commission were interviewed. The Commandant said they finally had real competition tonight in LOD, but would prove their superiority because in war, second place doesn’t matter.

Legion of Doom vs. The Truth Commission w/ The Commandant and The Interrogator
Sniper and Recon in action here. Though LOD was clearly positioned as the better team, Animal took what could be considered the heat segment. He didn’t sell much, though. Hawk got his hot tag and came in with a powerslam. He clotheslined Sniper to the outside and hit a series of clotheslines with Animal on Recon. They hit the Doomsday Device, but Interrogator broke up the pin for the DQ at 3:44. It was better than I expected. [*]

Ken Shamrock ran out to return the favor from earlier. He started hitting suplexes, but the Interrogator no sold his shots. That triggered the NOD’s arrival, as they helped the Truth Commission in the assault. The Commandant loved it.

El Torito and Piratita Morgan vs. Max Mini and Mr. Lucky
Sunny, in the shortest of dresses, performed ring introductions. Max tried his best to look under Sunny’s dress in a funny moment. As usual, the minis moved at a ridiculous pace. Credit to JR for calling this like it mattered and not treating it as a joke. Max was the star again, flying around with great quickness and using it to best his bigger opponents. He hit a great springboard corkscrew plancha at one point. Max won it at 6:51 with a diving headbutt. Though it lasted too long, it was quite fun and the crowd was into it. [**¾]

GROUND ZERO ~ Marlena’s mistake cost Goldust the match and she became Brian Pillman’s personal assistant for the month. Those clips were followed by clips from Pillman’s videos with Marlena.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament Quarterfinals: Brian Pillman w/ Marlena vs. Dude Love
Pillman made Marlena dress in all black and she got a nose ring. Goldust is barred from the arena tonight. JR got a word with Marlena, who said she missed her family. TONS of heat for Pillman. After some back and forth to start, Marlena attempted to leave, but Pillman brought her back to ringside. Dude was content to sit back and possibly win via countout. After Dude was sent into the steel steps, he rallied inside to Marlena’s delight. He hit a swinging neckbreaker and looked for Sweet Shin Music. Unfortunately for him, Goldust, with no paint, ran in and attacked Pillman for the DQ at 4:47. A match that felt like they were killing time until the angle in the end. [*¼]

Officials stopped Goldust, allowing Pillman and Marlena to escape.

WAR ZONE!

Jerry Lawler was in the ring for an interview with Steve Austin. Why not ask him what you had to earlier in the show? The pop for Austin was nuts. Lawler recapped Austin’s recent Stunners on JR and Sgt. Slaughter. He was dying to see Austin hit Vince with one. Austin spoke about how nobody can order him around. The Hart Foundation interrupted because they’ve had enough of Austin. They sent down a man in a suit to hand Austin a restraining order. He can’t come within 100 feet of the Foundation. Lawler complained about the order, but Austin shut him up with a Stunner. That’s three non-wrestling personalities to take that move in two weeks. Austin’s on a roll.

Jim Cornette came out to replace Lawler.

Owen Hart vs. The Patriot
JR noted that Owen was scheduled to face his stablemate Pillman in the IC Title Tournament. The US and Canadian flags were posted in the corners as a preview of the Flag Match at Badd Blood. Patriot worked the arm in the early stages. Owen turned things around with a missile dropkick, as JR called him the former Blue Blazer. The fans came alive when Austin appeared on stage. Cops were there to keep him from getting closer. For some reason, this episode had long breaks for commercials. For the second straight time, I stared at a blank screen as a weird noise of someone clearing their throat or something was heard. Returning, Patriot got two on a cross body. He picked up a few more close calls, including one on the Patriot Missile. Austin returned through the crowd and tore up the restraining order in front of Owen. Patriot rolled him up to steal it at 7:38. Decent enough, though everyone seemed focused on when Austin would appear. [**¼]

Owen got on the mic and demanded Austin be arrested. Austin left through the crowd as the cops followed, in no rush.

Jim Ross got in the ring for an interview with Shawn Michaels. Shawn was dressed strangely, in just tiny shorts, combat boots and shades. When asked about what he did to the British Bulldog last week, Shawn said he’s done everything in the WWF, except hold the European Title. He wants to be the first person to hold all four titles the WWF had to offer. They turned focus to Hell in a Cell. Shawn wasn’t happy that the WWF higher-ups put him in this position after he did his job as a referee at SummerSlam. Like last time, Shawn said if he goes down, he’s taking everyone with him. The Undertaker interrupted on the Titantron, He stood behind a chain link fence and threw out his usual insults. “You can’t run,” “you’ll pay dearly,” etc. Hell in a Cell will be Shawn’s final resting place. Shawn ended things by threatening to make sure Undertaker tastes his own blood again at the PPV.

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Headbangers [c] vs. WWF Champion Bret Hart and WWF European Champion British Bulldog
Bret and Bulldog looking to become double champions. They came out with their flags. The champions controlled the early portions with some dull offense. Not much effort from either team in the early stages. Surprisingly, the Headbangers used some underhanded tactics, which I didn’t expect from the faces. The challengers turned it around as Bulldog hit the stalling vertical. They held serve heading into the commercial break. It wasn’t a weird one this time. Commentary noted how Bulldog and Bret started rocky but their experience helped them pick it up. Thrasher got the mildest of tags, as the fans barely responded. Bulldog eventually hit Mosh with the running powerslam for three. Bulldog’s music hit but since Mosh wasn’t the legal man, the match had to continue. An irate Bulldog didn’t want to continue, so he hit Thrasher with the flag pole for the DQ at 10:34. Very boring match. The crowd didn’t care and the wrestlers seemed to phone it in. [*½]

The Patriot and Vader arrived to save the Headbangers from an assault and get the jump on their opponents for the PPV. Bret escaped a Vader Bomb as the show went off the air.

Fall Brawl Results
WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero def. Chris Jericho [c] in 17:22
The Steiner Brothers def. Harlem Heat in 11:44
WCW Television Championship: Alex Wright [c] def. Ultimo Dragon in 18:41
Jeff Jarrett def. Dean Malenko in 14:55
Mortis and Wrath def. The Faces of Fear in 12:24
The Giant def. Scott Norton in 5:29
Diamond Dallas Page and Lex Luger def. Randy Savage and Scott Hall in 10:19
War Games: Team nWo def. Team Horsemen in 19:40

Reliving Nitro
Episode #105
September 15th, 1997 | Independence Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hulk Hogan (3) 8/9/97
WCW United States Champion: Steve McMichael (1) since 8/21/97
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (3) since 2/24/97
WCW Television Champion: Alex Wright (1) since 8/21/97
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Eddie Guerrero (1) since 9/14/97

We opened on a silent but horrible image of Ric Flair on an operating table with his head stitched. At Fall Brawl, Curt Hennig turned on the Horsemen and brutally smashed the cage door into Flair’s skull. Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko introduced the show in a somber tone. Schiavone said Flair got him into wrestling and he walked off because he couldn’t bring himself to do the show. The remaining commentary team went through some still images from War Games.

Dean Malenko vs. Disco Inferno
Dean entered selling the match with Jarrett last night. He limped and had his leg wrapped. Despite it, Dean held serve here. He kept control for the most part and got two on a powerslam. Disco went after the leg to turn it around. Dean sold it to the point of falling down on an Irish whip. Disco got too excited about that and was caught in a butterfly bomb. Texas Cloverleaf was locked in to a huge pop as Dean won in 4:13. Not bad and it gets all the extra points for Dean’s performance. [**]

For some reason, the Nitro intro played now.

The Faces of Fear vs. Harlem Heat w/ Jacqueline
Tenay announced that there will be four title matches tonight. Stevie Ray started despite being the guy who took more damage at the PPV. The Faces of Fear beat him up as he was the face in peril. Raven had a front row seat for this tag and looked very unimpressed. Stevie finally hit an ugly looking suplex to open the door for the tag. Booker came in hot and slammed everything moving. A miraculously healed Stevie held Barbarian up for an assisted Harlem side kick. Booker covered but I guess Barbarian wasn’t legal because Nick Patrick stopped the pin. Meng used the Tongan Death Grip to make Booker tap in 6:28. The closing stretch was fun. However, Stevie is a dull face in peril and the Faces of Fear weren’t doing their offense. [*½]

NITRO GIRLS! From that segment, Mean Gene stood by with Kimberly as he introduced Diamond Dallas Page. DDP said he didn’t come out to talk about anything but a sickness that eats him up inside. He calls it Randy Savage. DDP threw out a final challenge to the Macho Man for a match at Halloween Havoc.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Rey took off his mask to reveal another under it. He gave the original one to a kid in the front row. AND THEY THOUGHT THE MASK WASN’T MARKETABLE! They quickly got into the action, with Juvi draping Rey on the top rope, before completely whiffing on a dropkick. He made up for it with a powerbomb off the apron. It looked rough. Inside, they continued the quick work and Rey got two on a powerbomb of his own. Rey hit a super rana, but instead of covering, he chose to proclaim that the move was a “ten.” Tye Dillinger, eat your heart out. Things spilled outside, where Rey delivered a somersault plancha. Juvi blocked a rana back in, but got caught with another powerbomb. Rey hit the springboard rana to win in 7:03. That was a fun match with lots of good spots. Exactly what it needed to be. [***]

WCW Television Championship: Alex Wright [c] vs. Lord Steven Regal
Regal spent the early portions teaching the young punk a lesson. He hilariously strutted around the ring with confidence. Tenay was surprised by the positive response for Regal, citing it just had to do with the hate for Das Wunderkind. Wright took a monkey flip into the ropes, which looked odd. Wright began fighting back and avoided the Regal Stretch. He retained with a nice looking German suplex at 4:33. Decent enough, but Regal didn’t look to be at his best. [*¾]

Mean Gene brought out Ray Traylor for an interview. He said he was never an nWo member in heart, only spirit. He called Curt Hennig by his WWF name, before issuing a challenge to any nWo member man enough to face him one on one.

The Giant vs. Konnan
Why wouldn’t Traylor go after Konnan? He wanted an nWo member and one was coming out as soon as he left backstage. Konnan came at Giant with shots that got shrugged off. Giant threw him around whenever he could get his hands on him. He won with the Chokeslam in 3:04. A complete squash and just what it should’ve been. [NR]

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Bobby Heenan joined the booth.

NITRO GIRLS!

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Stevie Richards
It’s like the appearance of the Nitro Girls triggers DDP tonight. Crowd was way hot for him. Stevie barely got anything in, as this was all a DDP showcase. DDP got to hit some of his cool offense before winning via Diamond Cutter at 3:38. Good old fashioned squash. [NR]

Raven hopped the guardrail and entered the ring. DDP left them alone so Raven could kick him around.

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Outsiders [c] w/ Syxx vs. Mortis and Wrath w/ James Vandenberg
This is a match I never knew happened. Larry Zbyszko flat out called Scott Hall an overrated wrestler. Hall treated Mortis like a scrub, with the slaps to the head during an arm wringer. Mortis hit a Rocker Dropper and Hall nailed a fall away slam. Wrath and Nash came in, with Nash being very nonchalant. Wrath made him regret it by sending Nash back with some shots. Mortis came back in and ate a cheap shot from Syxx to stop their momentum. Wrath avoided the Jackknife but got clotheslined outside. That left Mortis to fall to the Jackknife at 6:00. That could’ve been better. The Outsiders didn’t seem interested in working and treated Mortis and Wrath like jobbers. [*¼]

Eric Bischoff came out for the next segment. He introduced the nWo, led by Hollywood Hogan. Why didn’t Syxx and the Outsiders just stay out there? After they all joined the ring, Bischoff brought out the newest member, Curt Hennig, who arrived in Flair’s robe. A fan threw a cup of soda that hit Hennig, which got a pop. Hennig talked about what it felt like to crush Flair’s head at War Games. Once done, he presented Flair’s robe to Hogan. Randy Savage got to speak and accepted DDP’s Halloween Havoc challenge. Hogan spoke about Roddy Piper, saying he would do a service and put guys like Piper out to pasture. He’s sure that Sting will want no part of him once we all see what he does to Piper.

VIDEO PACKAGE ~ The Piper/Hogan rivalry was recapped.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero [c] vs. Ultimo Dragon
I like how Dragon lost a title match last night and has another shot here. Eddie spent the early portions working over the shoulder. Dragon got in his signature stuff, like a backbreaker, headstand in the corner and then he busted out a Liger Bomb. According to Mike Tenay, it was 10:00PM but there’s still a match left, so Nitro was running over. They flub a head scissors spot, before Dragon tries the Dragon Sleeper. His shoulder was too messed up for him to keep it held. Eddie caught a quebrada into a shoulder breaker and won via Frog Splash in 6:04. That was very disappointing. They tried, they just botched a few moves that made things look sloppy. [*½]

NITRO GIRLS!

WCW United States Championship: Steve McMichael [c] vs. Curt Hennig
They paid Michael Buffer to do the introductions for this. I wonder how much money they wasted on him in total. Mongo ran to the ring, which was a nice touch given the storyline. Hennig played it smart and took out Mongo’s knee to chop him down to size. Hennig would go after the leg to stop any Mongo rally attempts. Mongo did get in one where he launched Hennig across the ring. Curt did his best to slide crotch first into the post, but it looked awkward. Hennig hopped over the three point stance, causing Mongo to hit the turnbuckle. Hennigplex hit and Curt won the US Title at 6:24. Hennig understood exactly how to work that match. He controlled it to avoid Mongo’s shortcomings and wisely focused on the knee. [**¼]

Raw MVP: Max Mini
Raw LVP: The Truth Commission
Nitro MVP: Curt Hennig
Nitro LVP: The Outsiders

Raw Rating: 2.6
Nitro Rating: 3.9

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Raw: There were some solid matches on this episode (TAKA/Pantera, the minis, Owen/Patriot), but surprisingly, it was the promos that didn’t fully click. The Shawn/Taker stuff felt like a retread and other than Austin stunning Lawler, his segment didn’t do much. The Pillman stuff also came off a bit weird. 6.0

Nitro: There were some solid matches this week (Hennig/Mongo, Mysterio/Juvi) but a lot of things underwhelmed (Guerrero/Dragon, Regal/Wright, Tag Titles). The WCW guys mostly continued to look like geeks and other than Konnan, the nWo dominated. The promo segments didn’t do much and not much was set up for Halloween Havoc. 5.0