WWF RAW is WAR (March 24, 1997)

 Original Airdate: March 24, 1997  

From Rockford, Illinois; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler

WWF Tag Team Title Match: Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart v The Headbangers: Owen starts with Mosh, and Owen dominates him in the early going, so Thrasher comes in for a cheap shot to get control. Owen makes a blind tag to Bulldog for a drop-toehold/legdrop combo on Thrasher, and Davey adds a bodyslam. Back to Owen for Davey to press-slam his partner onto Thrasher for two, so Thrasher goes to the eyes, and tags Mosh in for their own double team. Meanwhile, the Legion of Doom show up on split screen, as they've been announced top contenders to the title for In Your House. Owen fights Mosh off in the corner and passes back to Bulldog for a spinebuster/flying elbowdrop combo, and Davey hits Thrasher with a hanging vertical suplex, but runs into a knee, and Thrasher works a chinlock. They can't seem to settle into a heat segment here, and the match is suffering for it. Bulldog escapes the chinlock, but accidentally collides with Owen on the apron, and Thrasher capitalizes with a schoolboy for two. Smith bails to the outside to argue with Owen about what happened, and Hart has had enough, walking out on the match. Bulldog manages to talk him back to the apron, but the Headbangers are ready to capitalize on the distraction, and they cut the ring in half on Smith, with Owen making half-hearted attempts to tag. Davey manages to fight them off with a double-DDT, and Owen accepts the tag when Smith makes it to the corner. Hart with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on Thrasher for two, and he adds a backbreaker before passing back to a still battered Bulldog. Smith with a powerslam for two, and it's back to Owen for a gutwrench suplex. Hart goes upstairs with a missile dropkick, and it's Sharpshooter time, but Mosh breaks it up. Bulldog gets annoyed, and just comes in to give Thrasher a Running Powerslam, and he wants to put legal Owen on top, but Hart resents it. They argue, so the referee tries stepping between them, and ends up getting knocked down for the DQ at 11:41. The match felt like it didn't have a proper flow, but it wasn't bad, and certainly energetic. Afterwards, Smith and Hart continue to have heated words, and they come to blows this time - all while the Headbangers just kind of stand around like a couple of dorks. Officials manage to separate the champions, but Owen is hot, and challenges Bulldog to put up the European title next week. * ¼

Mankind is in a dark hallway somewhere, celebrating the announcement that he's been named top contender to the WWF Title at In Your House. Or, well, celebrating as much as Mankind celebrates. How is he top contender now, though? If anything, Bret Hart seems like the clear cut top contender after beating Austin cleanly at WrestleMania, where Mankind unsuccessfully challenged for the tag title

Bret Hart shows up on the Titan Tron, promising that he will speak his mind tonight, as Vince warns him to mind his Ps and Qs

Hunter Hearst Helmsley v Bart Gunn: HHH escapes a headlock, but Bart reverses a whip into the ropes, and clotheslines him down. Gunn takes him into the corner for some abuse, and a cross corner whip flips Helmsley into a press-slam. Bart with a hanging vertical suplex to set up a flying elbowdrop, but Helmsley dodges, and delivers a kneeling facebuster. He adds a neckbreaker, as Goldust shows up on split screen vowing revenge on HHH and Chyna for injuring Marlena again. I get seeing the angle through to its logical conclusion, but their matches are just so dull. Hunter with a vertical suplex to set up a kneedrop for two, and we're getting HHH/Goldust again next week. Well, at least they're not trying to sell a PPV with it again. Helmsley with a high knee for two, and a snapmare sets up an elbowdrop for two, as the crowd pays no attention to the match. They're just dead here. Into the corner, Helmsley works a ten-punch, but Bart fights him off with a hotshot, and Gunn makes the comeback. Bulldog looks to finish, but Chyna pulls down the top rope on the setup, and Bart takes a spill over the top. Chyna gives him a bodyslam on the floor, but Bart won't hit her back, so she does more damage by sending him into the post. Helmsley has it won by countout, but he wants the pin, and drags Bart in to Pedigree at 7:09. It wasn't poorly worked by any means, but the crowd gave them nothing here. * ½

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Venum, Super Nova, and Discovery v Hysteria, Maniaco, and Abysmo Negro: Ugh, must we? I have no idea which guy is which here, and they all look like Power Rangers anyway. Luckily, Bret pops up on split screen to save the segment, but he doesn't want to talk like that, he wants proper interview time. His own segment, or nothing. I do like that he still tells Lawler to shut up, since their feud knows no heel/face boundaries. Stuff happens, Nova pins Negro with a flying rana into a cradle at 4:12. It was fine, but unwelcome. *

Earlier today, McMahon sat down with WWF Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia and dad Rocky Johnson to talk about Johnson's actions at WrestleMania. Maivia doesn't want his dad's help, and pop promises not to get involved again. And then they hug it out. So sweet

Flash Funk v Brooklyn Brawler: Honky Tonk Man is here for guest commentary, and he's annoying in record time tonight. Vince wonders aloud if Funk might be Honky's protégé, and you'd think if anyone would know, it's him. Flash's entrance takes forever tonight, and even Brawler gets sick of waiting, attacking before the bell. Funk quickly fights him off and hits a rana, and a cross corner whip sets up a corner clothesline. Flash with a suplex to set up a standing moonsault, but Brawler lifts his knees to block, and he drops Flash across the top rope. Brawler with a pop-up flapjack, as Ross hypes the film Major League on USA. Not sure if that's a step up or down from hyping up Braves baseball on TBS. Flash dumps him to the outside for a plancha, and a flying bodypress on the way back in gets two. Superkick and a side suplex set up the flying 450 splash, and that's enough at 3:07. Not much here, but mostly decent. ¾*

Ken Shamrock has to answer for why he stopped the Submission match at WrestleMania last night, and he makes it clear that Steve Austin never actually said 'I quit,' but he was completely unresponsive, and therefore could not protect himself. So Ken stopped the match to protect him, and keep things fair. He puts Austin over as a tough guy here, on the heels of his (kinda) official face turn

Bret Hart is out for his promised official interview time, and Vince sends Ross in to handle him this week. Bret starts by apologizing to his fans all around the world... except the fans here in America, who he apologizes to for nothing. Because they cheer a guy like Steve Austin, who lost last night, by the way. Weren't they watching the same match? Oh, and let's not forget that they cheered a pretty boy like Shawn Michaels against him at WrestleMania last year, which still sticks in his craw. It's interesting that when Bret was calling Shawn out for all this same stuff (dancing around, posing for Playgirl, etc) a few months ago, the crowd was firmly behind him, but now no one wants to cheer him. You can tell the fans are a little uncomfortable with Hart's new direction, but he's undeterred, and working to get it over. As a kid, I didn't like this at all, but I was still on Hart's side through it, since he was really absolutely right on all counts. He also gets a good line in about how everyone calls him a crybaby now, but he's not the one who bawled in the middle of the ring while talking about his smile. He then starts going off on Americans in general, not even related to who they cheer for, and tells them all they can kiss his ass. And now they're all fully on board with booing the guy. So all this draws Shawn out to respond, and it sounds like he's coming out of the closet with all his talk about living his life 'openly and freely.' Hey, good for you. But mostly, he annoys Bret but reminding him that Austin never actually gave up. He also gets some good lines about Bret's obsession with himself and his position that are hitting really close to home, and notes that he's surrounded by degenerates, so he'd better get used to it, or get out. Well, I think we all know how that one turned out. Bret tells him to get lost before he gets hurt, so Shawn asks him how he knew about his Playgirl spread anyway, and Hart kicks the crap out of him - attacking the bad knee, and wrapping him up in the ring post figure four. That draws Sycho Sid out to make the save (less to help Shawn, and more to get his hands on Bret), but the Hitman hightails it out of there before anything happens. I'm not usually a fan of these super long interview segments (it ran twenty minutes), but this one was a great segment, cementing Bret as the new top heel, and giving him direction with both Austin and Michaels

Rocky Maivia v Leif Cassidy: Rocky's WWF Intercontinental title is not on the line. They spill to the outside early on, where Rocky gets the advantage, as Bret Hart marches down to join the commentary team. Cassidy works a chinlock to wear Rocky down, and he goes to the top with a flying frogsplash, but Rocky dodges. Meanwhile, Shawn Michaels is being carried out of the building on the split screen, as Vince yells about how Bret is flushing his legacy down the toilet. No, he's not in WCW yet. Rocky with a flying bodypress at 3:00. I was paying as much attention to this one as the show was. Afterwards, Bret runs in to attack Rocky, and man, I've never seen a guy embrace the dark side faster. He even gives a pre-teen child the finger! This was really hard for me to watch in 1997, but I'm sure loving it now. ½*

Ahmed Johnson v Savio Vega: Savio charges in, but Ahmed quickly fights him off, only to miss a charge in the corner. Vega unloads in the corner, and a bodyslam puts Johnson down for a choke. Backdrop, but Ahmed blocks, as the announcers keep putting over Austin's toughness, and now Lawler is even siding with Bret. Well, that's a first. Johnson with a shoulderblock to send both guys over the top, and he reverses a suplex on the way back inside. Johnson with a flying somersault senton, but an elbowdrop misses, and Savio superkicks him down. Sleeper, but Ahmed starts getting fired up, and makes the comeback. The draws the Nation of Domination down, and they pull Savio out before Ahmed can finish, causing the DQ at 8:10. How is that a DQ? If anything, Ahmed should be disqualified - they put their hands on Vega! Boring match. ¼*

Paul Bearer is in a mood

Vince brings new WWF Champion Undertaker out for his victory promo, and despite being a fixture of that era, that belt looks really weird on him. Bearer joins us before he can finish, though who knows why, as we're out of time before he can say much. Okay then

BUExperience: Not everything worked, but the stuff that did (Hart/Michaels, the Owen/Bulldog angle) really worked.

 

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	3/24/97
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.5	3.0
Total Wins	17	55
Win Streak		38
Better Show (as of 3/17)	27	42