WWF Monday Night RAW (January 27, 1997)

Original Airdate: January 27, 1997 (taped January 20)

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

Over the weekend at a Madison Square Garden house show, Savio Vega turned on Ahmed Johnson during a tag match against Faarooq and Crush, joining the Nation of Domination in the process

Also over the weekend, on Shotgtun Saturday Night, Sycho Sid hit a bunch of people with chairs

Ahmed Johnson v Crush: Crush attacks on the outside before the bell, and pounds Ahmed into the ring. More pounding, as the crowd hurls abuse at the Nation at ringside. Not to judge any books by their covers, but those are some racist looking covers. Ahmed fights him off and hits a scissors kick, and he stands on his head a bit. Well, that'll generally get a guy's attention, yeah. Ahmed with a savate kick, but an elbowdrop misses, and Crush capitalizes with an inverted atomic drop, followed by a belly-to-belly suplex. He chokes Johnson down, and it looks like his face 'tattoo' is starting to wash off. Don't worry though, he's still got the dreadlocks, so his street cred isn't totally shot. I'm honestly a bit surprised they didn't make them reshoot the match because of that. But, I guess they figured so few people were watching at this point that it wouldn't matter. Crush works a reverse chinlock, but Ahmed powers to a vertical base, and drops down to escape. Unfortunately for him, Crush still keeps control with a backbreaker, but Ahmed blocks a dive off the middle with a dropkick, and he starts making a proper comeback. It spills to the outside, where Faarooq attacks, sending Johnson into the steps, then in for Crush to polish off with the Heart Punch at 6:42. Crush celebrating the win like he just won the Super Bowl feels a little over the top, but whatever. This was pretty shitty. ¼*

Vince brings WWF Champion Shawn Michaels out for an in-ring interview, and this motherfucker is still pushing that stupid 'boyhood dream' crap. Seriously, enough, we're not into it. Anyway, he's got to put the title up against Sycho Sid in a rematch in a couple of weeks, the winner of which will face the winner of the Final Four match at WrestleMania. That draws an aggressive looking Bret Hart out, telling Shawn he'd better hold on to that belt, because Bret's taking it back from him at WrestleMania. Well, I mean, unless Shawn gets injured before then, or something. But how likely is that? Vince looks so hurt and defensive when Bret verbally abuses Shawn. Undertaker is next out to tell Bret not to count his chickens before they hatch, and he's sick of Hart's belly aching. Finally, Steve Austin arrives (with Jim Ross in tow, for some reason), and apparently Vader isn't even getting an appearance in this segment. No wait, there he is, silently standing in the background and not saying anything. This wasn't a great segment, as they couldn't match the chaos from last week at all (and honestly didn't even really try)

The Western Union Rewind is Faarooq attacking Ahmed Johnson earlier

Davey Boy Smith v Doug Furnas: Owen Hart in a jogging suit is a sight, like a Canadian Sopranos extra. Furnas knocks Bulldog to the outside with a dropkick early on, and then unloads with chops as Smith comes back in. Cross corner whip sets up an avalanche for two, and Doug delivers a vertical suplex for two. Bulldog tries to bail, but Philip LaFon blocks his path, and Furnas cross corner whips him again, but misses the charge this time. That results in Doug taking a bump to the outside, and Davey follows to drop the steps on him out there. Bulldog tries for the countout, as we catch Ahmed Johnson backstage, breaking down the Nation's dressing room door, but no one's there anyway. Eventful. Inside, Bulldog works a chinlock, but Furnas escapes, so Bulldog throws a knee to put him back down for two. Slugfest goes Smith's way with a clothesline, and a snap suplex gets two. Back to the chinlock, but Doug escapes, and throws a dropkick to buy time. He manages a release overhead suplex to trigger a comeback, and a powerslam is worth two. Rana, but Bulldog counters with a powerbomb for two, so Owen hops onto the apron. Bulldog tries whipping Furnas into him, but gets reversed, and Doug schoolboys for two. Oh man, I was sure that was the finish. Furnas stays on him with a sunset flip, but Davey reversed the cradle at 7:26. Pretty disappointing match, as I expected them to throw each other around with fun power stuff, but they just went really basic with it instead. * ¼

We take another look at Savio turning on Ahmed over the weekend at the Garden. And I mean literally the same exact clip as earlier. Thanks. No wonder Nitro was kicking your teeth in. And then on Shotgun Saturday Night, he cemented his heel turn by kicking the shit out of that jobber Rocky Maivia

Earlier today, the WWF held a press conference in Toronto to hype up next weeks RAW from Skydome. Man, they're really playing fast and loose with the geography, aren't they? Like, how many different, distant cities did this crew supposedly hit over the last couple of days?

The Godwinns v Vader and Mankind: Phineas Godwinn starts with Mankind, and he hammers way, as they hype up showing the Royal Rumble match in full on next weeks show. Of course, the pay per view companies got wind of it, and shut that one down in a hurry. Over to Henry Godwinn to hit Mankind with a bodyslam, and back to Phineas, but this time Mankind manages to grab control, and dump him. Vader ends up getting in his partner's face out there, however, allowing Phineas to grab a headlock on the way back inside. So then Vader just tags himself in, and absolutely brutalizes poor Phineas in the corner, before wrecking him again with a clothesline. Tag to Mankind, and the flow of this match is not working at all. They just can't get it into gear. Mankind grabs the Mandible Claw, but Henry runs in to break it up, and both guys take a spill to the outside. Phineas gains control, and tries a suplex in from the apron, but Vader blocks it, and they pull Phineas to the outside for a double team. That draws a fired up Henry over for the save, but the damage is done, and they cut the ring in half on Phineas. Mankind misses a corner charge to allow the hot tag to Henry, and he's a pig pen of fire! Of course, he's in there with Vader, and fat takes a really long time to burn. They spill to the outside again, where Mankind tries using a chair, but ends up hitting Vader by accident, and Henry rolls in for the countout win at 7:34. This was really dull, but Vader brutalizing guys is never not fun. ½*

The Nation is loading up their car outside the arena, but Ahmed chases them off with a 2x4. They were leaving anyway dude, stop being such a dick

BUExperience: After a really hot episode last week, they followed up with a really cold one this week. Even the main event players weren’t doing anything interesting this time around. Interestingly, despite the huge dip in quality, the ratings on both sides were nearly identical to what they were last week.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	1/27/97
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.2	3.6
Total Wins	17	48
Win Streak		31
Better Show (as of 1/20)	22	40