WWF LiveWire (March 22, 1997)

 

Original Airdate: March 22, 1997

Your Host is Todd Pettengill in the control center

The Legion of Doom v Crush and Savio Vega: From RAW is WAR on March 17 in Syracuse New York. It's almost unnerving how quickly this has become an entirely different promotion just by changing the set design for one show. It's like suddenly even the fans are more aggressive and edgy than they were just a couple of weeks ago, and you can see it in the type and amount of signs suddenly all over the place. They brawl around ringside to start, dominated by the LOD, as Ahmed Johnson pops up on split screen to hype WrestleMania, or possibly forfeit the Intercontinental title based on that jacket. Dust settles on Hawk and Savio, and Savio tries a piledriver, but Hawk no-sells. If anyone on that team was going to try and break Hawk's piledriver no-sell streak, it really should have been Crush. Hawk with a poorly timed dropkick, and it's over to Animal to work a chinlock, as Faarooq pops in to offer his own promo on WrestleMania. Back to Hawk, but he fails to cut the ring in half, and Crush tags in, as we split screen a THIRD time to see highlights of the Nation attacking Ahmed last night at Madison Square Garden. I dig how much more lively the show is becoming, but one thing at a time, guys. Hawk gets into trouble in the corner, allowing Vega a spinheel kick, and Crush tags in to hit a belly-to-belly suplex for two. We cut to the back yet again where Ahmed is watching the match on a monitor, but Faarooq attacks him with a nightstick, as Animal gets the hot. He runs wild, and it's Doomsday Device time for Savio, but Faarooq runs in for the DQ at 9:27. The Nation do the beat down after the match, but Ahmed runs in to make the save, and he's still crazy over. Shame he never lived up to his potential, because he should have been huge. The match was nothing, but it hyped up the Street Fight for the PPV, and that's all it needed to do. ¼*

WrestleMania 13 ad

New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman holds a press conference, announcing that she has repealing the tax on pro-wrestling in the state, so the WWF can run TV and pay per view there again

The Karate Fighters Rewind is the finish to the Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII

From RAW, Vince McMahon brings Shawn Michaels out, and Lawler is speculating that he's here to announce his retirement. Vince looks like he wants to hug him so badly here that his whole body is staging a revolution against him for not doing so. Shawn is very thankful to the fans for all the cards and letters they sent him while he was looking for his smile, but thankfully he's found it. He also dubs himself the 'world's most emotional wrestler,' which might be true in a world where Ric Flair didn't exist. Though his performance as an Italian grandmother at WrestleMania XXVIII definitely puts him in contention. And speaking of WrestleMania, Shawn will be there to do guest commentary on the main event

Highlights of the Slammy Awards 

Last week, Steve Austin appeared on Newsport with Chet Coppick to hype WrestleMania. At least people can still actually call in on that show

Full Metal Album ad

The PlayStation Slam of the Week is Mascarita Sagrada Jr doing a crazy dive off the stage on RAW

WWF Title Cage Match: Sycho Sid v Bret Hart: Also from RAW. I miss when they used to set up the cage by hand. I know it took too much time, but I always thought it was a great way to build anticipation. Bret hammers him into the corner to start, pounding the champion to a horizontal base, and bootchoking him. Sid gets to his feet and returns fire, as we see Steve Austin watching on a monitor backstage. Bret fights Sid off with a snapmare to set up a pointed elbowdrop, but Sid blocks an escape attempt, and unloads on his challenger on the ropes. Sid rams him into the cage a few times, and makes a climb attempt, but he's moving like he's walking to the toilet to take a piss at 3am, and Bret is able to cut him off. Bret dives off the top rope with a fist, and he throws a headbutt to the lower back. Hart climbs, but Sid slams him off the top to stop the effort, and he goes for the door, but Bret dives onto the ankle. Austin joins us to force the door shut to prevent a potential Sid escape, and Stone Cold stands guard at ringside, even after the attempt has been neutralized. Sid hits Bret with the Powerbomb, and he makes a climb attempt, but Austin goes to the top to slug it out with him to buy Bret time. I love how Steve was openly cheering on Sid hitting the Powerbomb (since it hurts Bret), but is still totally onboard with making sure Hart wins the title. Bret gets to the top as well, leading to the weird visual of Hart and Austin working together, and that draws Undertaker out to defend his claim. He keeps Bret from escaping, and gets rid of Austin, but Hart still manages to stay in control of the contest by superplexing Sid. Meanwhile, Austin hits Undertaker with a chair to keep him out of it, and Bret goes for the door, but Undertaker slams it into his face as the officials escort Austin away. Meanwhile, Sid is able to climb, and he escapes at 10:00. Not a great match, but the chaos worked well, and did a good job giving WrestleMania the final push. Afterwards, Vince heads in to talk to the Hitman, and Bret, after months of being pushed and pushed and pushed, finally snaps. He shoves McMahon down, and cuts a hard edged promo, screaming curse words, and generally flipping the fuck out like he's in Montreal. Apparently he didn't realize they were on-air at that point, but thank God they were, because it's probably the best promo of his entire career. Or, at least the most famous. I always thought Bret was an underrated promo in general. He wasn't over the top and flashy like Hulk Hogan or Randy Savage, but he always came from what felt like a real place. This was an amazing way to build up to the official heel turn at WrestleMania, as he couldn't be any closer to the line if he tried, but at the same time, you couldn't really deny that he was right. This all leads to a big brawl between Hart/Austin and Sid/Undertaker, as Shawn Michaels shows up to watch, though without getting involved. * ¼ 

BUExperience: This isn’t LiveWire anymore, sadly.