WWF LiveWire (March 1, 1997)

 

Original Airdate: March 1, 1997

Your Hosts are Dok Hendrix and Kevin Kelly in the control center

The Headbangers v The Legion of Doom: From Monday Night RAW in New York City on February 24. This is the LOD's surprise return, back for the first time since disappearing following SummerSlam 1992. They get a great reaction, though this run would end up being really disappointing. Not unlike their first WWF run. They clean house, and the dust settles on Animal and Mosh. Much destroying occurs. Tags all around, and Hawk hits Thrasher with a 2nd rope axehandle, so Mosh tags back in. The Headbangers try a double team, but Hawk shrugs it off, and kills Mosh with a cross corner clothesline. Suplex-slam and a fistdrop get two, so Mosh tries choking him out with his t-shirt, but Animal gets the tag, and powerbombs his ass for two. Headvice (and a nice one - he looks like he legitimately wants to rip the dude's head off), but Mosh makes the ropes, so Animal backelbows him. Back to Hawk with a dropkick for two, and he grounds Mosh in a bodyscissors, and then delivers a hanging vertical suplex. Mosh goes low to buy time, but Hawk no-sells the follow ups, and tags. Animal tries a backdrop, but Mosh manages to block, and finally gets out of there long enough to tag. Of course, Thrasher gets immediately mauled as well, but Hawk misses a corner charge, and ends up on the outside. That allows the Headbangers to finally get control, and they cut the ring in half on Hawk. He fights them off long enough for the tag to Animal, and Roseanne Barr the door. The LOD win the brawl on the outside, but no one minds the count, resulting in a double countout at 9:42. Why did this take so long, and go to a non-finish? It's the LOD! Just let them go out there and squash the shit out of guys in two minutes, or less. Another match tonight without a clean finish, as apparently they thought the key to overtaking WCW is to just pretend everyone on the damn roster is unbeatable. ¾*

Arm Wrestling Match: Sunny v Marlena: Also from RAW. Honky Tonk Man hosts this. Sunny decides to steal Rick Rude's act since she's wearing a robe tonight. Hey, fair. I cut Rick Rude promos almost anytime I'm wearing a robe, regardless of the situation. Marlena, meanwhile, is still selling the attacks from Chyna, so Sunny offers to accept a forfeit. Marlena responds by calling her a whore. Well, that escalated quickly. They get down to wrestling, with Marlena dominating, so Sunny throws powder in her eyes to avoid the loss. That draws Savio Vega out, for some reason. To apparently force himself on Marlena, it turns out is the reason. That draws Goldust out, and it's match time!

We go over some of the categories for the upcoming Slammy Awards, and you can vote… for a price

The WWF Rewind is ECW showing up on RAW to accept Jerry Lawler’s challenge

Highlights of ECW’s appearance on RAW. Paul Heyman was incredible here

From RAW, Todd Pettengill comes out to try and interview Ken Shamrock (in the crowd), and he gets a much warmer welcome. Ken's got his wife and father with him, and Todd wants to know who he's got in the WrestleMania main event. "Undertaker's got more balance," notes Shamrock. Yeah, no shit

Undertaker v Faarooq: From RAW. Faarooq gets in Shamrock's face with some dad joke type stuff during the entrances, and I dig it. WrestleMania already feels like such a cold show with Sid/Undertaker on top. I get how they got there, but it's probably the least interesting thing possible. Faarooq stalls a bunch before the bell, and then after it as well. He tries to use the Nation as a distraction to take control, but Undertaker fights that off, and hits the ropewalk forearm. Clothesline knocks Faarooq over the top, but he beats the count, so Undertaker turnbuckle smashes him. Cross corner whip works, but the charge in doesn't. Faarooq with his own cross corner whip, but his own charge in doesn't work either, and Undertaker covers for two. This is the most intense game of knifey/spoony I've ever seen. Elbowdrop, but Faarooq dodges, and hooks the leg for two. Riveting. Faarooq with a matslam, and a clothesline sends Undertaker over the top, where a still unnamed D-Lo Brown attacks. Inside, Faarooq clips the leg, and works him over, but a splash hits the knees. He needs to take some advice from Savio on that one. No matter, Faarooq just clips the leg again, and goes back to work. Cross corner whip works, but he badly telegraphs a backdrop, and Undertaker counters with the rocker dropper. Legdrop, but Faarooq dodges, and goes back to the leg. Why is almost every match tonight overstaying its welcome? Probably the short staffed roster, but still. Faarooq misses another corner charge, allowing Undertaker to try a schoolboy, but it only gets two. You never see that one from him. And for good reason, based on that execution. Faarooq tries to hang on with a chinlock, and boy is this referee overzealous. Undertaker escapes, so Faarooq powerslams him for two, but a dive off the top ends badly when 'Taker catches him in a powerslam of his own. Undertaker makes the comeback, so the Nation runs interference, and Faarooq hits a piledriver. Undertaker no-sells, so the Nation just run in for another stupid DQ finish at 13:27. And then the LOD run out, which makes sense, since Hawk is probably pissed that 'Taker stole his piledriver no-sell spot. Apparently someone saw something here that I didn't, because this ended up a PPV main event a few months later. ½*

WWF Tour ad

WrestleMania 13 ad

Monday Night RAW ad

Highlight video of the WWF European Title Tournament that’s been taking place across Europe, and will conclude this Monday with a match between Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart

Shawn Michaels Tell Me a Lie music video. I like how they just repurposed the same song from 1995. But, hey, it was one of the most manipulative and effective songs they ever had, so can't really blame them

BUExperience: They don’t even pretend to live up to the original premise of this show anymore. It’s just another Mania.