Raw History: Episode 232 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 112

Raw History
Episode #232
November 3rd, 1997 | Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania | Attendance: 5,661

WWF Champion: Bret Hart (5) since 8/3/97
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Owen Hart (2) since 10/5/97
WWF European Champion: Shawn Michaels (1) since 9/20/97
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Legion of Doom (2) since 10/13/97

Jim Ross and Jim Cornette were the hosts this week.

Steve Austin kicked Raw off tonight, debuting what I believe was his second or third shirt, after the wildly popular Austin 3:16 one. Vince interviewed him about getting his shot at Owen Hart this Sunday at Survivor Series. Austin said he was coming to whoop ass, not for a wrestling match. Vince pointed out all the people Austin has pissed off lately, including Ahmed Johnson. Austin admitted that Ahmed was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That brought out Ahmed, fanny pack and all, for a fight. Officials stood between the two baldest heads in the WWF. Ahmed did a lot of yelling about losing respect for Austin and somehow thinking he got backstabbed by a guy who wasn’t even his friend. Ahmed challenged him to a match and Austin agreed to beat his ass on live TV. Intense opening segment.

TONIGHT ~ Vader vs. British Bulldog in a Dog Collar Match. Shawn Michaels will also respond to a Ken Shamrock challenge, and Goldust will get interviewed by Jim Ross. Also, the Light Heavyweight Title Tournament begins.

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarterfinals: Aguila vs. Super Loco
Sunny did guest ring introductions. Super Loco is indeed Super Crazy, while Aguila went on to become Essa Rios. Brian Christopher did guest commentary. The guys started with some fast paced lucha things. Kalisto would be proud. Loco completely flubbed a fake out dive spot and it looked comically bad. Aguila hit a nice corkscrew plancha, but Loco messed up again when he totally whiffed on a big spinning heel kick spot. Loco did much better on a handspring plancha. Aguila got the win with a flying cross body like move in 5:12. Strange match. You could tell what they were going for, but it was crazy sloppy and disjointed. [*¼]

GOLDUST AND MARLENA INTERVIEW ~ They weren’t dressed in character and discussed the Pillman angle. Marlena continually put over how happy she was to be back and how much family meant to her. The entire time she spoke, Goldust/Dustin sat there with a disgruntled look. He finally talked, saying Terri made him sick. He’s tired of living for his dad and for her. Dustin made Terri cry and said that he found somebody while she was away. He doesn’t love her anymore and he gave her back her ring. Not a bad way to set off a Goldust heel turn, but it was one of those things where the family drama was a bit too much.

VIDEO PACKAGE ~ A lengthy one aired to hype Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels. It went all the back to the build for WrestleMania 12. The video was great.

Ahmed Johnson came out for his confrontation with Steve Austin, even though it wasn’t scheduled until later. Instead of Austin, he got Kane. Ahmed fought Kane a bit, but got hit with a Chokeslam and two Tombstones. Mankind hit the ring and put the Mandible Claw on Paul Bearer. He let go as Kane got near him, and laid him out with a pipe. The fans ERUPTED at the sight of Kane being knocked down. Kane sat up a few moments later, just like Kane. Officials came to check on Ahmed, while Mankind held Kane off with a chair.

In the next segment, Steve Austin came out. He was right about Ahmed getting his ass kicked. Austin offered an open challenge to anyone ready for a fight. The Nation of Domination theme hit and they arrived, led by Kama. The Legion of Doom jumped NOD during their entrance, leaving Kama to eat Stone Cold Stunner. Austin laughed as he left the carnage behind him.

WAR ZONE! Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler replaced Jim Cornette. It’s Vince’s final night as a regular commentator.

To continue the trend of talking segments instead of matches, DX came out. Michael Cole tried interviewing him, but they just bullied him to the point where he bailed. Shawn put himself over and nearly called himself a wrestling god. HHH stopped him so they could throw more shots at WCW’s “old man cage match.” Shawn brought up how people complained about him mooning the camera last week, so he threatened to walk nude next week. He also agreed to face Ken Shamrock next week. Sgt. Slaughter came out and began talking, so Shawn and HHH backed away from his spit. They also added face guards and windshield wipers in a rather famous moment. Since they acted like dicks, Sarge booked Shamrock/Shawn tonight instead of next week. The number one contender for the WWF Title was not pleased.

Backstage, Marc Mero rushed his “idiot” wife, who was having trouble fitting her gigantic tits into her clothes.

Marc Mero w/ Sable vs. Savio Vega
Shockingly, this is just the second match tonight. Vega hit a spinning heel kick and went to a chin lock. When Mero looked to be in trouble, he hit Savio with a low blow and won with the TKO in 2:33. After the match, Michael Cole tried interviewing Sable, which angered Mero. [NR]

Dog Collar Match: British Bulldog w/ Jim Neidhart, Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon vs. Vader
JR noted that Furnas is from Oklahoma and not married to a Canada (like Jim and Davey), so his association with Team Canada is unsettling. Also, the Patriot is injured, so Team USA will need a replacement. Vader wailed on Bulldog to start. During the match, Furnas was interviewed about his allegiance. He said fans from mother countries were appreciative and sent them letters when they were in a car accident, except for Americans. Vader hit a powerbomb and touched the three corners. He fought off Neidhart and hit the fourth to win in 3:34. There was potential here, but they did a lot of nothing with this stipulation. [*]

As the heels jumped Vader, someone hopped into the ring and started laying them out with martial arts style kicks. The crowd had no idea how to handle this, because it looked like a fan. Vader covered him up as the heels tried jumping him. Weird segment, but the guy in the ring is better known as STEVE BLACKMAN! He’s not even a real person.

Billy Gunn and Road Dogg vs. Los Boricuas
The future New Age Outlaws wore what remained of the New Blackjacks hats. They called Los Boricuas a stepping stone. JR reported that Sgt. Slaughter had a verbal altercation with LOD and they were asked to leave the arena. While Dogg worked the old assisted abdominal stretch, commentary said time constraints may move the Jarrett interview to Livewire this weekend. Los Boricuas eventually had it won, but Gunn came off the top to break a pin with a leg drop. Dogg rolled over on top to win in 5:23. About as bad as you’d expect from these teams. Just a boring match. [¾*]

Non-Title Match: WWF European Champion Shawn Michaels w/ DX vs. Ken Shamrock
Furious that Shawn cost him the WWF Title last week, Shamrock jumped Shawn during his grandstanding entrance. He press slammed the European Champ onto HHH and Chyna to a pop. Shamrock remained in control for a while, until Chyna delivered a cheap shot outside. Rick Rude strolled to ringside heading into a commercial. Returning, HHH was taking it to Shamrock behind the referee’s back. Shawn wore him down for a while and countered the rana into a sitout powerbomb. Not what I expect from HBK. Shamrock avoided Sweet Chin Music and nailed a belly to belly, before catching another and turning it into the Ankle Lock. Shawn tapped, but Chyna distracted the referee. HHH and Rude jumped Shamrock to give us a DQ finish in 7:49. I enjoyed that and it was about as good as their PPV match next month. The finish was expected, but Shawn did a fair amount to make sure Ken looked good. [**¾]

Triple H ended the show with a Pedigree onto the briefcase.

Reliving Nitro
Episode #112
November 3rd, 1997 | CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Attendance: 15,366

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hulk Hogan (3) 8/9/97
WCW United States Champion: Curt Hennig (1) since 9/15/97
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers (6) since 10/13/97
WCW Television Champion: Disco Inferno (1) since 9/22/97
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Rey Mysterio Jr. (2) since 10/26/97

Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, and Mike Tenay host hour one. They opened by hyping the Sting/Hogan contract signing, making their match for Starrcade official. Clips were shown of Hogan’s film, Assault on Devil’s Island, which looked comically bad. Then, we got the footage of the contract signing. Hogan signed and didn’t think Sting would show, but he did.

Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Steven Regal
THE RADICALZ! Mike Tenay somehow called this a preview of World War 3, despite that match not involving teamwork. As you’d expect, the work from all four men was crisp. Eddie got great heat before he was even tagged in. The match moved quickly and reached its zenith when Rey accidentally dropkicked Regal. Eddie planted him with a powerbomb and wanted the Frog Splash. However, Dean tagged himself in and made Rey tap to the Texas Cloverleaf at 3:53, leaving Eddie fuming. That was a lot of fun for the short time. With a few more minutes, we could’ve had some that stood out. [**¼]

NITRO GIRLS!

HALLOWEEN HAVOC ~ Clips were shown of the nWo jumping Roddy Piper after he beat Hogan. Piper reportedly suffered nerve damage from the attack.

Dave Taylor vs. Fit Finlay
Is he no longer Squire Dave Taylor? Good for him. Moving up in the world. During the match, Raven and his buddies walked down to their seats. This was hard hitting like Finlay/Benoit last week, but nowhere near that level. It was also more one-sided, with Finlay using a Tombstone to win in 2:58. Mongo’s gonna be mad at the move piracy. [NR]

Eric Bischoff called in take over the broadcast. He threw shots at Zbyszko and put over how Sting came to accept Hogan’s challenge, not the other way around. Bischoff apologized for Piper’s nerve damage, but said it lined up with the brain damage he must’ve had to agree to face Hogan in the first place. He ran down Vince for trying to put down Assault on Devil’s Island and steal its glory, before saying the success means they were going to do more with Hogan and TNT. Lastly, the entire nWo would be at Nitro next Monday.

Psychosis vs. Yuji Nagata w/ Sonny Oono
Since Nagata did well as a hired gun against Ultimo Dragon, Oono put him up against another former client. Psychosis got the first his impact move, with a springboard dropkick that caused Nagata to take a powder. Back inside, Nagata slowed the pace to something that worked better for him. He eventually won with a Nagata Lock in 3:51. Decent for what it was. Nothing special. [*½]

In a weird little schoolhouse, Raven cut another promo about his childhood.

WCW Television Championship: Disco Inferno [c] vs. Saturn
A member of Raven’s Flock gets a title shot. The fans in Philly were ready for former ECW star Saturn. He started by throwing Disco around with ease. Saturn put the focus on Disco’s left arm and dominated him. He slammed it, wrenched on it, and twisted it at will. He tossed Disco with a tiger suplex, then used the Rings of Saturn to win the title in 6:37. That lasted a while, but was a squash. Saturn absolutely dominated. It showed that he had skill and was to be taken way more seriously than guys like Disco. [**]

Mean Gene brought out Ric Flair to a pop. He made references to Flyers hockey and dared Curt Hennig to try and cut up his robe while he wears it. He took the focus off Hennig for a moment to consider that a World War 3 victory could put him in contention to be a 14-time World Champion. Woo!

Chris Jericho vs. Scott Hall
Imagine being told both guys would one day make the WWE Hall of Fame? Granted, Jericho’s not in yet, but you know he will. Hall did his survey, ran down Zbyszko, and wore a fake Tag Title to the ring. Hall toyed with Jericho. Once Jericho got a small advantage, he returned the favor with a bit of trash talk. He got caught in a fall away slam to set up the Outsider’s Edge. However, Jericho found a way to slip free and steal it with an inside cradle in 2:41. I feel like this happens often to Hall. Not much of a match, but the angle got a good reaction. [NR]

A pissed off Hall attacked Jericho and planted him with the Outsider’s Edge. Zbyszko hit the ring so Hall could accept his challenge. Hall walked out, so Zbyszko chastised him for being a coward, but it didn’t change anything.

LUCHA LIBRE ~ Another Lucha Libre vignette ran. This was just Tenay reeling off lucha moves, while we saw clips of them.

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Bobby Heenan replaced Larry.

Lucha Libre Battle Royal
Participants include El Dandy (heck of a wrestler, great technician, and a jam up guy), Silver King, Juventud Guerrera, Ciclope, Los Villanos, Damien, and Lizmark Jr. This was your basic battle royal. Just guys doing random stuff and trying for fake eliminations. Then, the Giant showed up and chokeslammed everyone. Way to get the luchadores over. Giant cut a short promo to say he wishes World War 3 comes down to him and Kevin Nash. He promised to throw him in the crowd, which doesn’t even seem possible. [NR]

NITRO GIRLS!

Alex Wright w/ Debra vs. Ric Flair
The fans were hot for everything Flair did. Each chop got a loud “woo” as they loved watching him beat up the punk kid. Wright did a hilarious cartwheel at one point, only to immediately get chopped. Wright got in some offense following that. Though he controlled that portion, he never really threatened a victory. Flair caught him with a back suplex on the outside, then avoided a pescado, causing him to crash. Flair used a Bulldog like stalling vertical and a Figure Four to win in 7:43. It went a while, but was kind of one-sided. [*¾]

Ray Traylor vs. Steve McMichael
Two big dudes. They attempted some grappling early, but neither do it well, so they went to chop blocks and shoulder tackles. While they went at it, Goldberg strolled to ringside, wearing Mongo’s Super Bowl ring. It’s kind of lame for a former football player to wear a ring he never earned. The distraction is enough for Traylor to win with whatever he’s calling the Boss Man Slam now in 4:46. If the idea was for the Goldberg distraction, why go this long? That time could’ve gone to the opener. [½*]

Mean Gene interviewed Diamond Dallas Page. He said he was living his dream and was honored to be a part of Halloween Havoc drawing better than any PPV in history (yea, no). When asked about World War 3, he said he wanted it more than anyone and if Hogan was still champion, he knows him a lot better now. I appreciate the effort this year to hype World War 3.

WCW World Tag Team Championship Philadelphia Street Fight: The Steiner Brothers [c] w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Public Enemy
They always find a way to book PE in Philadelphia. This started with a brawl, like you’d expect. The teams fought all around the ring, giving us WCW’s awful split screen effect. The fight moved up by the commentary booth, with Scott whacking Rocco Rock with a steel chair. Rick and Grunge remained by the ring. When they all got back to that area, Rick nearly died when he was awkwardly sandwiched between two tables. Grunge tried diving onto him, but Dibiase pulled him to safety at the last second. Grunge went through them by himself and Scott pinned to retain in 5:43. I was hoping that would be better. [*]

LAST YEAR ~ Clips were shown of World War 3 from 1996.

WCW United States Championship: Curt Hennig [c] vs. Lex Luger
Michael Buffer continued to be a MASSIVE waste of money for this company. Tons of screaming and yelling from Luger, whether it was selling or getting on offense. Following a commercial, Hennig spent time jawing with a fan. It was a setup, as Hennig snapped Luger’s neck across the ropes to take control.
Hennig held serve for the next few minutes until Luger rallied for the SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES! He used the forearm of doom and the Torture Rack, seemingly wrapping the match up. Hennig blocked it with the ropes and they fell outside, including the referee. Hennig went for a chair, but Flair came out to beat him up. Hennig got put in the Torture Rack again, only for Flair to attack him again before he submitted for a DQ in 7:44. Not much here. Just two guys going through the motions. [*¾]

Flair chased Hennig to the back, but was stopped by Luger, who questioned him about getting him DQed.

Raw MVP: Shawn Michaels
Raw LVP: Los Boricuas
Nitro MVP: Saturn
Nitro LVP: Ray Traylor

Raw Rating: 2.6
Nitro Rating: 4.0

4.3

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Raw: The pacing of this episode was very odd. They crammed all the matches near the back end and left things in the middle to be full of promos. To be fair, the talky segments were entertaining, especially from Austin and DX. It felt very strange to not have the Owen, Bret, or even the Undertaker. Other than the main event, the in-ring quality was very low. 4.5

Nitro: Nitro takes the slight defeat to Raw this week. A lot of the matches missed the mark, but some of the angles were solid. I appreciated the effort to build towards World War 3 and the show being two hours kept it moving along nicely. However, the lack of star power made it so this felt like a filler week. 4.0