WWF Monday Night RAW (February 3, 1997)

Original Airdate: February 3, 1997 (taped January 31)

From Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Dok Hendrix

We start with a clip of the finish of the Royal Rumble match, which is presented instead of showing the entire match, as was promised last week

Steve Austin v Vader: So this whole show is kind of a repurposed house show, as they can't show the entire Rumble match due to interference from the cable companies, so now they're just showing lots of matches from this Skydome house show instead. And the building looks terrible for TV, way under lit, and inky. Bret Hart attacks Austin during the entrances, brawling with him for a bit until Vader can pull him off, so then Bret just slugs it out with him instead. Of course, Austin makes no effort to interfere in that, since he's no fool. I'm kind of surprised that they're openly admitting that the attendance is at around 25,000, since they'd usually just lie, and claim a much larger crowd. The funny thing is that it's a big crowd for the period, but because of poor presentation, the show looks worse than ones with tiny crowds. Vader pounds on him and takes control early, but takes too long setting up the Vaderbomb, and Austin punches him in the dick. Steve pounds him into the corner, but a cross corner whip reversal results in the referee getting bumped, and Vader takes control again. Bodyslam gets two, and who the fuck is this referee anyway? He's not one of their usual guys, and he's doing a terrible job. Splash gets two, but a sit-down version misses, and Steve uses a bodyslam to set up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Slugfest is won by Vader, so Austin uses a mulekick to shake him off, and he grounds him with mounted punches. The referee tries to intervene, so Steve just straight up kicks his ass, and that's a DQ at 6:34. Total house show match here. ½*

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Savio Vega v Flash Funk: Savio cuts a promo on the way to the ring to cement his heel turn, and it's pretty terrible. Vega hammers him with forearms at the bell, and he works a wristlock. Cross corner whip works, but a charge doesn't, and Funk dives off the middle rope with a sunset flip for two. Savio cuts him off with a sloppy sidewalk slam, and he chokes Flash down for good measure. I think. It's hard to see much of anything with this lighting. Savio puts the boots to him, but Flash comes back to life, and wins a slugfest. He hits a backdrop and a clothesline, and he takes him on a tour of the ring with turnbuckle smashes. Flash with a spinkick to set up a flying splash for two, and a somersault legdrop sets up another dive, but Funk gets distracted by the Nation of Domination. He ends up diving out after them, and by the time he gets back to Vega with a flying moonsault, Savio is able to dodge, and he hooks the leg at 4:20. This lighting is really killing this show dead for me. ¼*

Jim Ross brings Sycho Sid out for an in-ring interview about his upcoming rematch with WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at Thursday RAW Thursday. Or, more accurately, he wants to know how Sid personally feels about Shawn. Truly the hard hitting questions there, thanks Jim. This part seems like it was always meant to air on RAW, as Ross has a 'Monday Night RAW' microphone, and the lighting/camera angles are slightly better

Call the WWF Hotline to find out where Yokozuna and Brian Pillman have went

WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith are backstage, where Vince tries to stir up shit by noting that Owen helped push Bulldog out of the ring during the Royal Rumble match, which leads to some clips. Royal Rumble RAW!

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith v Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon: Bulldog and LaFon start, and Philip uses a neat takedown to get Davey in a leglock, but Bulldog makes the ropes. LaFon tries a cross corner whip, but Bulldog reverses, so LaFon dives off the middle at him. German suplex, but Bulldog blocks, and he clobbers LaFon with a clothesline. Over to Owen to trade wristlocks, but LaFon blocks a monkeyflip out of the corner, and armdrags Hart down for a cross-armbreaker. Tag to Furnas, so Owen goes to the eyes to escape a headlock, and grabs one of his own. Doug whips him into the ropes to escape, and a criss cross ends in Furnas hitting a hiptoss, so Owen tags out. Davey challenges to a test-of-strength on the way in, and takes a cheap shot to win that exchange, but loses a criss cross, and ends up down in a side-headlock. Bulldog powers into his home corner for a blind tag to Owen, and then whips Doug into the ropes for Owen to blast with a spinheel kick. That combo is always awesome. The champions go to work on Furnas, but a miscommunication spot allows Doug to roll Owen up for two, and the champs argue. They manage to keep control of the contest, but Bulldog runs into a well executed overhead suplex during a criss cross, and there's the tag to LaFon! He comes in hot, rolling through a 2^nd rope bodypress from Owen for two, and then snap suplexing him for two. Floatover DDT puts it away, but LaFon doesn't notice that Owen had a foot on the ropes, and the momentum is broken. He tries staying on him with a small package for two, and a savate kick for two, but Bulldog stomps the shit out of him to end the run. The champs double team, but run into another miscommunication, resulting in Bulldog accidentally backdropping Hart over the top - with Owen getting counted out at 12:03. Not on par with some of their other matches, but still a solid days work. ** ¼

More Royal Rumble clips, this time focusing on Ahmed Johnson eliminating Faarooq with his 2x4. That leads to an interview with Ahmed backstage, and he's apparently off his meds, and therefore more dangerous than usual. That... can't be good. Undertaker (who is supposed to team with Ahmed against the Nation later) shows up to get in his face, and Ahmed gets a good line in with, 'you won't be dead enough if you touch me again.' I like that one

Goldust v Crush: Vince continually referring to this as the 'biggest crowd in the history of Monday nights,' and promising that we'll see all the advertised matches without any 'bait and switch' is getting really annoying, and desperate sounding. Especially considering the building has less than half the people in it that they did for WrestleMania seven years earlier. Goldust works a wristlock to start, but Crush slugs out of it, so Goldust throws a clothesline to put him down for mounted punches. Another clothesline knocks Crush over the top, and despite Vince's over the top reactions, the crowd is totally dead. Crush charges back in, so Goldust uses a drop-toehold into another wristlock, but they get into the ropes. Goldust works an armbar, as the announcers go all in with more over the top hype, this time for the live event tour, as well as SummerSlam tickets. WWF Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley shows up in the aisle to observe, allowing Crush to capitalize on the distraction, and he knocks Goldust to the outside. Crush drops him across the guardrail out there, and he puts the boots to Goldust on the way back in. Poor Vince is trying to get so many different things over at once that he keeps losing his train of thought, and his commentary is getting really rough. Crush with a belly-to-belly suplex for two, but a 2^nd rope fistdrop misses. I think. It's so dark in this building. Goldust makes the comeback in front of this dead (largest ever in the history of Monday nights!) crowd, and a bulldog gets him two. Curtain Call time, but Savio Vega breaks it up while the Nation distract the referee, and Crush delivers the Heart Punch at 8:18. This had no place on TV. ½*

New Blackjacks vignette

The Army Slam of the Week is various highlights from the Sycho Sid/Shawn Michaels match at the Royal Rumble

Vince brings WWF Champion Shawn Michaels out for an in-ring interview, and McMahon notes that this is 'Bret Hart country.' Maybe they should have a match in Canada sometime? That might be an interesting dynamic. Shawn says that he'll be as bad as he wants to be as long as it means keeping the title, comparing himself to Muhammad Ali, who 'everyone hated while he was champion, but now think is the greatest of all time.' History actually proved that to be a fair comparison. That brings Bret out, and once again Vince looks like he's gonna cry whenever anyone says anything negative about his boy toy. I love Bret, but he was definitely coming off like a grumpy old man during this period. Unfortunately, we don't get to see the end of this showdown, as Steve Austin runs in and attacks Bret, spilling to the outside for a brawl, with Shawn just looking on from a distance. That draws Sycho Sid back out to get in HIS face, but officials manage to separate them, and pull Hart and Austin apart as well. That leaves Shawn and Bret alone, so Michaels throws the title belt down at his feet, daring the Hitman to grab it. So Bret does, leaving Shawn to have to beg for it back, like a little kid on the playground. This was a pretty good segment, much better than last weeks

Earlier today, Tiger Ali Singh signed a contract with the WWF, and was endorsed by Bret Hart. Unlike Rocky Maivia, this prospect didn't quite pan out

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley v Marc Mero: Managers are barred from ringside for this. Why do they keep showing clips of the outside of the building, with the fans making their way in? The show's almost over, no one thinks they're still filing in. Feeling out process to start, and the crowd remains dead. Bring Bret or Shawn back out, because they're about the only two guys who can wake these people up. Nice criss cross sequence is won by Mero, so Hunter hides out in the corner to regroup, and takes a cheap shot as they engage again. He pounds his challenger into the corner, but a cross corner whip is reversed, and Marc uses a backdrop on the rebound, then clotheslines Helmsley over the top. Mero follows to sends Helmsley into the post, and you could hear a pin drop here. Marc with a slingshot splash on the way back in, but HHH lifts his knees to block, and he unloads with knees on the ropes. Hunter with a hanging vertical suplex to set up a kneedrop for two, but Marc counters a side suplex with a double-underhook cradle for two. Backdrop, but HHH counters with a kneeling facebuster, and Vince is acting like he just busted out a 450 splash, or something. It's a facebuster, dude. Chill. Also, STOP FUCKING TELLING ME HOW BIG THIS CROWD IS. WE GET IT. Mero reverses HHH into the corner, triggering a slugfest, won by the challenger with a headscissors takedown. Marc makes the comeback, as Vince goes on a rant about how we know exactly what and who we'll see here tonight, unlike other promotions. So I guess by 'anything can happen in the WWF,' they mean 'anything that we've already explicitly promised you, and nothing else.' Got it. Also kind of ridiculous for him to go on a rant about how they don't do bait and switches on the same show that was supposed to be about airing the Rumble match in its entirety. Mero misses a charge in the corner to buy HHH time, but Marc crotches him on the top rope to prevent a dive, and he brings him off with a rana for two. Mero hurts his knee on the way down, however, allowing Helmsley to pull off a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and he exposes a top turnbuckle. He tries a whip into it, but Marc blocks, and hits a Samoan drop. Flying moonsault press gets him two, so HHH tries a whip into the exposed buckle, but Mero blocks again, so Hunter just hits him with a set of knux to knock him cold for the pin at 11:41. Wow, even the pin couldn't get a peep out of this crowd. Who are these people? The match was technically fine, but between the horrible lighting and the dead crowd, it was a drag to watch. **

More clips of the Rumble, this time with Jerry Lawler's 'takes a king/to know a king' bit

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The Western Union Rewind is Faarooq attacking Ahmed Johnson on last week's show. Which was also the Western Union Rewind on last week's show

No Holds Barred Match: Undertaker and Ahmed Johnson v Mankind and Faarooq: Mankind trying to play along with the black power stuff is pretty funny. Big brawl to start, with Undertaker and Mankind immediately spilling to the outside, as Ahmed takes control of Faarooq with a spinebuster. Faarooq returns fire with a low blow, but a trip to the top rope ends in him getting slammed off, as 'Taker and Mankind half ass a brawl into the aisle. Can't blame them, it's so dark over there no one can see them anyway. Faarooq gets Johnson in a sleeper, but Undertaker returns to make the save, as the announcers again drone on and on about how we'll get to see the whole match, no bait and switch. You'd think they'd at least promote a really hot match if they're going to push that line so hard. Undertaker hits Faarooq with the ropewalk forearm, as Ahmed takes a breather in the aisle, totally leaving Mankind alone like an idiot. That allows Mankind to come in and force Undertaker to fight a two-front war, and 'Taker ends up in the Mandible Claw. Ahmed returns for the save, and he hits Mankind with the Pearl River Plunge, but Faarooq breaks the count at two. Not sure why Ahmed isn't just using his 2x4 here, since there's no disqualifications. Faarooq hits Johnson with the Dominator, and he chokes him down, as Undertaker does to the same to Mankind in the corner. Mankind responds with a mulekick, and he grabs a chair, but gets it kicked back into his face while charging, and Undertaker delivers a chokeslam. Meanwhile, the Nation come after Ahmed on the outside, so he finally grabs the stupid 2x4, and starts running wild. He chases Faarooq to the back with it, as Mankind manages a swinging neckbreaker on Undertaker in the ring. Undertaker responds with a handful of powder, so Vader runs in to splash his dead ass. He grabs a chair, but ends up hitting Mankind with it by accident, allowing Undertaker to chase Vader off. Tombstone onto the chair then finishes Mankind at 8:22. This was all over the place, with weird pairings, and very little flow. But, it was also all action, so it wasn't a total waste of time. ¾*

BUExperience: Despite going on and on about how they don’t do bait and switches, this show was the very definition of a bait and switch, as they promised to air the Royal Rumble match in its entirety… and then just showed a few clips instead. And I know it was the cable companies stepping in that forced that change, but it doesn’t make it any less true. And what a terrible show this ended up being, with really grim, sub-ECW production values, a dead crowd, and house show level efforts from the workers. The funny thing is, on paper, it’s actually a strong, PPV level card. Unfortunately, the production was so poor and reeked of such desperation throughout, that this felt like a chore to watch.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	2/3/97
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.6	3.1
Total Wins	17	49
Win Streak		32
Better Show (as of 1/27)	22	41