WWF LiveWire (January 4, 1997)

 

Original Airdate: January 4, 1997

Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Vic Venom from the control center, complete with Ross in a Cosby sweater

From the December 30 1996 episode of Monday Night RAW, Jim Ross brings Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart out for an in-ring interview, and the nicey face-to-face interviews from back in March feel like they took place on another planet at this point. So, this is basically just the two of them bitching at each other like a couple of teenagers, with Ross just kinda giving up on actually conducting any sort of interview. Both promos are very heelish, though Bret's is more overtly heelish. And both guys take personal shots, with Bret hitting him with a lot of 'Shawn is gay' stuff, and Shawn hitting him about not being the role model he claims he is, until finally WWF Champion Sycho Sid comes out before the hair pulling starts. Shawn saying that he's seen Bret's behavior on the road seemed to get under the Hitman's skin a little. So now Undertaker comes out too (for some reason), but Vader attacks him in the aisle, and Sid gets in his face as well. Not really sure what this is all about now, since they're building Michaels/Hart in general, but Michaels/Sid for the PPV, so what the fuck is Undertaker doing out here? So then Shawn hits Bret with a lowblow, before diving out of the ring after Sid to end the segment. This was a fun segment with all the sniping and insider shots, but since Bret and Shawn never actually had the planned WrestleMania match, it all kind of lead nowhere

Chris calls in from Florida, who thinks that Shawn won’t beat Bret if there’s a rematch

George calls from Florida, and thinks they should put Sid, Bret, Shawn, Vader, and Undertaker all in a cage to settle things. Never happened, but Final Four wasn’t far off from that idea

Mischa calls from California to predict that Shawn will beat Sid at the Royal Rumble, but then lose the title back to Bret after

Earlier today, Rocky Maivia arrived at the studio

Shotgun Saturday Night ad

Jonathon calls in from New York, and thinks what the battle between Sid, Shawn, and Bret is really about is ego

Hank calls from Pennsylvania, complaining that the WWF hasn’t come to his town in a while. Well, maybe get out of the sticks, then

Steve calls from New Jersey, offering his thoughts on Sid/Shawn. This is so repetitive, with the callers literally making the same exact points and predictions 

Tim calls from Alabama, and it’s definitely not Conrad Thompson, because he doesn’t even acknowledge Jim’s ‘roll tide.’ Anyway, he’s not into the ‘nudie pictures’

Rocky is hanging in the green room

Holiday Hell tour ad

Ross and Venom bring Rocky into the studio, and he’s excited to participate in his first Royal Rumble

Pete calls in from California, predicting great things for young Rocky. He also thinks Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia should be inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame this year

Danny calls from Texas, telling Rocky that he should focus on tag wrestling, since he’s not cut out to be a single’s star

Full Metal album ad

Clips of Rocky inducting his father into the Cauliflower Alley Club

Ross grills Rocky about his relationship with Sunny. He clarifies that he turned her down as his manager. Venom thinks he should go with Clarence Mason

Mike calls from Connecticut, and thinks Bret will win the Rumble, and then beat Shawn for the title. He also thinks the sky is the limit for Maivia

Andy calls in from Pennsylvania, and says bullshit

We get clips of the Savio Vega/Jesse James v Steve Austin/Faarooq match from RAW, which ended up involving Bret, the Nation of Domination, and Ahmed Johnson

Royal Rumble ad

Clips of Hunter Hearst Helmsley kidnapping Marlena on RAW, before Marc Mero stepped in 

Jeff calls from Iowa, suggesting that Goldust is the most popular wrestler in the promotion. Ross thinks it’s a prank call

Jamie calls from Missouri, asking if Shotgun comes on at his house. We’re really getting the top tier stuff here this week

Linda calls from Maryland, hoping to see Sable and Marlena have ‘some kind of thing going on.’ You can almost see a lightbulb go off over Vic’s head

Ross reads a fax asking if Scott Hall and Kevin Nash will be at the Rumble, to which Jim directs them to the TicketMaster line for seats

Someone calls in, wondering if Ross will leave for WCW, since he hates Vince

Someone calls in, thinking that Diesel and Razor Ramon are a better team than Hall and Nash. Even Ross can’t keep a straight face

Someone calls in, predicting that Goldust will win the WWF Intercontinental title from HHH

Someone calls in, and Ross is starting to channel Pettengill, dropping calls and getting visibly frustrated 

Someone calls in asking if Randy Savage is coming back, to which Ross notes that the WWF is ‘building on youth’

Someone calls in, wondering what Ross thinks about Roddy Piper coming out of retirement to beat Hollywood Hulk Hogan at Starrcade. Ross, of course, goes right back to the age comments, and notes that he fell asleep watching the match

Someone calls in, wondering what the hosts think about Hall and Nash going to WCW. Ross notes that Nash was just a jobber during his first run in WCW, before the WWF made him a star

The Buzz is a trivia note about how many miles wrestlers travel

The Starburst Fruit Twists Rewind is Sid and Shawn brawling on RAW

Someone calls in, wondering what the hosts think about Sid stabbing Arn Anderson back in 1993. Ross thinks they made decisions they regret, while Venom thinks you shouldn’t believe everything you read

Someone calls in, wondering how they plan to have a card for Shotgun tonight when the wrestlers are all on a tour of the west coast 

Someone calls in, wondering if Bob Backlund will wrestle again. Venom thinks he’ll go for the title again

Someone calls in, wondering why the WWF doesn’t have a Power Plant like WCW. Ross laughs it off, though, of course, they’d certainly do just that years later

BUExperience: I wish they’d just do the rapid fire calls for the entire hour. Best part of the show, by far.