WWF Monday Night RAW (January 20, 1997)

Original Airdate: January 20, 1997

From Beaumont, Texas; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon. Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler

Bret Hart storms out during the opening of the show, snatching the microphone away from Howard Finkel, and cutting a bitter promo on Vince, and the entire promotion. Most of this went way over my head in 1997, but it's a hell of a promo, with Bret complaining about all the broken promises that have been made to him, and getting screwed over by everyone. Yeah, well, he'd better get used to it. And then he finishes by quitting the promotion, and walking out through the crowd. This must have been miserable for Vince to endure. Not the Bret quitting part, but the fact that he used the word 'belt' about a dozen times in a five minute span here. So after Bret's gone, Steve Austin comes out to add his thoughts, but his microphone is dead, and he cuts a promo on mute. Well, he looks pretty worked up, can anyone read lips? He gets a better microphone, and calls Hart a coward, bragging that he's run him out of the promotion, and telling him to go back to Canada and wrestle his dad, since he's the only one he can probably beat anymore. Well, not in a shoot, but you get it. Steve notes that he knows what it's like to get jerked around by a promotion, and notes that he was supposed to face Sycho Sid tonight, but supposedly he's injured, so he'll have to face Undertaker instead, per President Gorilla Monsoon. Steve's response is to threaten to shove a bunch of bananas up Gorilla's ass, and that's enough for Vince, who walks out on the show as well

Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith v Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon: Owen and Bulldog's WWF Tag Team title is not up for grabs here. Owen and Philip start, and they feel each other out, with LaFon dominating. Over to Furnas to barrel into Owen with a running shoulderblock, and he adds a dropkick for two. A release overhead suplex gets two, but Owen wins a criss cross with a spinheel kick, and passes to Davey. Furnas manages a rana for two as they criss cross, so Bulldog bails to the outside to regroup. Back in, he faces off with LaFon, but manages to overpower him into the heel corner for Owen to work over with cheap shots. LaFon fights back with a chincrusher on Smith, and he takes it to the mat with a grapevine. Over to Furnas to wishbone the Bulldog, but Davey manages a blind tag to Owen, and Hart blasts Doug with a missile dropkick for two. The champs go to work cutting the ring in half on Furnas, as the announcers hype up La Femme Nikita on USA, joking that they should put her in the ring with Robin Hood. Owen goes for the Sharpshooter, but Furnas manages to block, so Bulldog comes in for a double team, but Doug nails them both with a double jumping clothesline. Owen still cuts off the hot tag, however, and the champs double up in the heel corner again. Great timing on that sequence... I thought for sure Doug was making the tag there, and Owen still cut him off. Furnas tries a bodypress for two, so Owen cuts him off again with a leg-feed enzuigiri, and Bulldog adds a hanging vertical suplex for two. Owen grounds him in a chinlock, but Furnas escapes, so Hart uses an overhead suplex to set up a flying splash, but Doug dodges. That's finally enough breathing room for the hot tag to LaFon - Roseanne Barr the door. LaFon with a senton splash on Bulldog for two, and a northern lights suplex is worth two. A sloppy floatover DDT gets two, so Owen trips him up, and nails him with the Slammy - allowing Bulldog to hit the Running Powerslam at 12:11. Good action here, with hot moves and great heel psychology from the champions. *** ¼

Faarooq v Bart Gunn: Criss cross to start, ending in Bart hitting a hiptoss. He adds a dropkick, and an armdrag takes Faarooq down for an armbar. Bart works that for a bit, but Faarooq fights him off, and puts the boots to him. A sloppy rotating spinebuster gets two, and Faarooq works a chinlock, using the ropes for leverage. That's a good heel tactic, and he's drawing heat with it, but it looks so weird to see a big power wrestler doing it. The referee catches on, so Faarooq drills Bart with a clothesline for two, and goes back to the hold at center ring. Bodyslam leads to a flying shoulderblock, but Bart dodges him, and he starts making a comeback. Cross corner whip sets up a bulldog, but the Nation put Faarooq's foot on the ropes at two. That draws Bart to the outside, allowing Faarooq to dive off the apron with a forearm, and a sloppy Dominator finishes at 7:16. Faarooq looked tired and grumpy here, and Bart has been totally directionless since the Smoking Gunns broke up. Not a great combo. ¼*

Vince McMahon returns with President Gorilla Monsoon in tow, and Gorilla clarifies that he can't change the referee's decision, and Steve Austin's Royal Rumble win will stand in the record books. However, that doesn't mean that Austin is getting a title shot at WrestleMania, and instead, he's sanctioning a match between Austin and the three men who were illegally eliminated by him in the Rumble (Bret Hart, Undertaker, Vader), with the winner of that getting the WrestleMania title shot. That draws out Austin, and he rightly notes that Bret quit, so what the fuck? Also, he calls Gorilla a jackass to his face, and it's weird seeing the crowd actually cheer a guy ripping into Monsoon this way. Almost as weird as it is to see one of the faces of the 80s Hogan-era interacting with Stone Cold to begin with. So all this draws Bret back out through the crowd, and he accepts the invite, then gets into a pull-apart brawl with Austin to end the segment. Great stuff here, with Austin looking like a total star, and Hart increasingly looking like a crybaby, throwing tantrums to get what he wants

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Undertaker v Steve Austin: Undertaker runs into Bret during his entrance, so they brawl in the aisle some, allowing Austin to attack as well. Undertaker quickly fights him off, and they brawl around ringside, before taking it inside. Steve puts the boots to him on the way in, but telegraphs a backdrop, and takes a matslam. Undertaker with the ropewalk forearm, and he unloads in the corner, but then telegraphs a backdrop of his own, and Steve counters with a swinging neckbreaker. Austin adds a backelbow for two, and a pair of pointed elbowdrops follow. He goes to the mat with a chinlock, as Lawler leaves his announce position to try and coach Austin. Um, huh? I guess maybe they wanted to clue people in that Austin is still a heel, since he'd been getting so many cheers. Steve hits the Stunner, but he's dazed, and can't cover, while we cut to the back where a bunch of guys are holding Bret and Vader apart. Steve with another pointed elbowdrop for two, so he adds another trio of them in short order, but a trip to the top ends badly when Undertaker crotches him up there. Undertaker follows for a superplex, but Austin shoves him off to block, and he dives off the middle with another pointed elbowdrop for two. Is he going for a record? Criss cross ends badly when Undertaker hits a jumping clothesline, but Vader runs in to attack before he can execute a chokeslam, and that's a DQ win for the Dead Man at 9:47. That draws Bret out as well, and all four guys brawl to end the show/set up In Your House. Not much of a match, but the angles remain hot. ½*

BUExperience: Hot show this week, with the big main event angle hitting on all cylinders, and a good tag match to boot. It’s nice to see them increasing the realism, but without going over the top with it as they would later in the Attitude Era.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	1/20/97
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.2	3.7
Total Wins	17	47
Win Streak		30
Better Show (as of 1/13)	21	40