Original Airdate: December 8, 1997
From Portland, Maine; Your Host is Jim Ross, with Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly (hour one), and with Jerry Lawler (hour two)
Vince McMahon joins us, and he’s really upset with WWF Intercontinental Champion Steve Austin. You see, Vince can deal with Austin attacking announcers and officials (even himself), but when he puts the fans in danger (as he did by driving a pickup truck into the arena at In Your House), well, he’s crossed a line. What’s great here is that Vince isn’t playing the over the top ‘Mr. McMahon’ the way he would later, but rather he’s playing it exactly like he might have in 1990, with the only thing different being that the fans are cheering for a guy that would have been a heel in a different era. So Vince orders Austin to defend the title against Rock later, but Steve marches out, none too happy that he’s being ordered to do anything, period. So he’ll think Vince’s orders over, and if he feels like it, he’ll defend, and if not, whatever. Good segment, and they’re still keeping these fairly on point, with the whole thing out and done in just a few minutes, without all the superfluous posturing that would balloon these opening segments into twenty+ minute marathons later on
Jerry Lawler defeats Sunny in the finals of the Karate Fighters tournament, but gets busted cheating, and Kyle Mooney reverses the decision
The Legion of Doom v The Godwinns: Brawl right away, won by the LOD. The dust settles on Animal and Henry Godwinn, and Animal headvices him. Cross corner whip works, but the charge doesn’t, and Henry bodyslams him. Elbowdrop, but Animal dodges, and delivers a jumping shoulderblock to set up an elbowdrop. Over to Hawk for a standing dropkick, but that knocks Henry right into a tag to Phineas Godwinn. Hawk blitzes him, and a neckbreaker leads to a bodyslam. Hawk tries a flying clothesline, but Phineas dodges, so Animal comes in without a tag. Everyone brawls, when the lights suddenly die, and Kane shows up for a no-contest at 3:00. Technically, Kane only hit Hawk, so that should really be a DQ win for the LOD, but that’s honestly giving it more thought than the bookers did, so whatever. So Kane leaves Hawk laying with a Tombstone, and then just leaves. Okay then. Afterwards, WWF Tag Team Champions Jesse James and Billy Gunn come in to put the boots to Hawk, until Animal can make the save with a chair. ¼*
After the commercial break, Jesse James and Billy Gunn are still in the ring, and writing off the LOD. And, in fact, they think the tag division is such a joke that they’re branching out into singles competition, and make an open challenge for right now. Really? Singles competition? Didn’t they both just spend the bulk of the year as borderline jobbers before finding each other?
Billy Gunn v Dude Love: Dude answers the challenge, so Gunn attacks him during the entrance, and Dude eats the steps on the outside. Inside, Billy tries a backdrop, but Dude counters with a backslide for two. Billy fires back with a clothesline for two, and a cross corner whip works, but a corner splash misses. That allows Love to make a comeback, but Gunn blocks Sweet Shin Music, and delivers a rocker dropper. Criss cross allows Dude to nail him with a double-arm DDT, however, and that’s the pin at 3:38. Not much of a match here. Afterwards, James comes in with a chair to take Dude out, and the tag champs deliver a beat down. ¼*
Jakks action figure ad. Kind of weird that they’re pushing a Buried Alive set (complete with Executioner figure) a full year after that match/angle took place
Rock is ready for his title shot later
Last night at In Your House, Brian Christopher was freaking out backstage, following his title tournament loss to Taka Michinoku
Jim Cornette brings WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku out so he can introduce Taka’s first challenger, but before he can, Jerry Lawler interrupts, accusing Taka of stealing the title from its rightful holder. Jerry immediately takes it racial for the cheap heat, but Cornette puts a stop to it by introducing the challenger: the masked El Unico
WWF Light Heavyweight Title Match: Taka Michinoku v El Unico: Lawler gets in Unico’s face as well, but it’s all a ploy, and they both attack Taka - with Unico unmasking as Christopher. Beat down time, in lieu of any match.
Backstage, Steve Austin is hanging out, in no hurry to make a decision about defending the title tonight
In Your House Encore ad
Let’s take a look back at Shawn Michaels defeating Davey Boy Smith for the WWF European title at One Night Only. And then beating Bret Hart for the WWF Title at Survivor Series. And then embarrassing Jim Neidhart a couple of weeks ago here on RAW. But before we could write the entire Hart Foundation off, Owen Hart appeared last night, attacking Shawn to mark his return to the promotion
Flash Funk v Kurrgan: Jackal sits in on commentary, and he runs his mouth at five hundred miles an hour. Kurrgan works him over in dull fashion, and a clawhold finishes at 2:27. Funk really took his sweet time submitting there. This was really bad, even for a two minute match. Afterwards, Kurrgan refuses to let off of the hold, so the referee reverses the decision. DUD
Backstage following last night’s PPV, Ken Shamrock called for another shot at Shawn Michaels, and he’s planning to win the Royal Rumble to get one
Backstage, Vince McMahon readies his officials for whatever happens with Austin later
WWF Attitude promo
DX come out to do their victory promo following In Your House, but Shawn is feeling a little annoyed by Owen Hart’s return. But he’s just the final ‘nugget’ of the Hart Foundation, and will soon be flushed, just like the rest of his family. Can’t be soon enough, in fact, and they demand that Hart come out and get flushed right now. And DX are going to sit here until he shows up, and they’ll play a little poker to keep themselves entertained. Couldn’t they just put on Nitro?
Skull and 8-Ball v Miguel Perez and Jose Estrada: DX are sitting at ringside, but apparently they’ve forgotten their wallets, so they’ve decided to play strip poker. Talk about a low stakes game. Jose is wearing a ‘RAW is WAR’ t-shirt, since apparently he’s a full on jobber now. The DOA cut the ring in half on Jose, until Savio Vega comes in with a 2x4, whacking one of them for Perez to pin at 4:45. This was terrible. DUD
The Headbangers come out to try and break up the poker game, so Shawn smashes a whiskey bottle over their heads, and we get an extended beat down of the Headbangers until Owen shows up to make the save
In Your House Encore ad. Why would they keep replaying Ross calling Kane the ‘one-eyed monster?’
Jeff Jarrett v Vader: Goldust and Luna Vachon show up at ringside, with Goldust (dressed as Chyna) flashing Vader. Vader takes the bait and chases, and Jarrett wins by countout at 0:37. The wrestling is just becoming a complete afterthought with these shows. DUD
Jakks action figure ad
Backstage after In Your House, Butterbean promised to stalk Marc Mero until he can exact revenge. I’m pretty sure that’s clear grounds for a restraining order
Marc Mero v Salvatore Sincere: We’re still waiting to find out whether Austin will defend against Rock tonight, so apparently this was the main event if he didn’t? No wonder Nitro was killing them. And then we don’t even get the match, as Mero cuts a promo about how Sincere is just a ‘jobber named Tom Brandi,’ and not worth his time. So instead he wants to show us the ‘new and improved’ Sable, and she comes out wearing a potato sack. Mero talks down to her, until she gets annoyed, and takes the sack off to reveal a very tiny bikini. Mero freaks out, allowing Sincere to attack, but Marc has no interest and walks, giving Sincere the countout win at 0:38, as the crowd chants for Sable. DUD
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Steve Austin v Rock: Vince and his goons are all at ringside, ready to Montreal this situation. Unfortunately, Austin comes out in street clothes, and he’s not interested in defending the title tonight. Mostly because he’s calling McMahon’s bluff. So what’s it going to be, Vince? You gonna fire him? What? Vince brings the hammer down right away, stripping Austin of the title, and awarding it to Rock. For the record, that’s the fourth title in a row that Steve has dropped without getting pinned, all in 1997. And people think Shawn Michaels is bad about dropping belts in that manner. Steve actually takes it pretty well, since he has his eye on the WWF Title anyway, and doesn’t need the damned thing any more. So Rock is awarded the title, Austin gives him a stunner, and then leaves with the belt anyway. Rock is officially the champion, though visually it looks like Austin is, and they didn’t do a good job of making their point particularly clear.
BUExperience: The wrestling was increasingly becoming a total afterthought at this point, with four non-matches on the same card, but the storylines sure are interesting.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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