What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - January 27, 1997

by Logan Scisco

A video package recaps the wild events on last week’s show, where Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Vader, and the Undertaker got into a massive brawl.

-Vince McMahon and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are still in Beaumont, Texas.

-Footage of Savio Vega turning on Ahmed Johnson in a tag team match at Madison Square Garden is shown.

-Footage of Sid whacking Crush with a chair on Shotgun Saturday Night is shown.

-Opening Contest:  Crush (w/the Nation of Domination) pins Ahmed Johnson with a heart punch at 5:40 shown:

If there was one superstar that was hurt by a lack of squash matches in the company at this time it was Ahmed, who was put into feuds with guys that could not carry him to good matches.  This match is no exception, as they try to work in some power moves, but can’t seem to cooperate and have a hard time lifting each other.  Faarooq runs out when the referee’s back is turned and attacks Ahmed, enabling Crush to score the victory, which marks just the second time that Ahmed has been pinned on WWF television.  Crush’s victory also sent a subtle signal that Ahmed wasn’t on the same level of the card as he was in 1996.  Rating:  ¼*

-McMahon interviews WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, who says that he’s ready to face Sid at Thursday Raw Thursday.  That’s a strange name for the show, but they must really have wanted people to remember that it was going to be on Thursday.  Michaels says that he’ll be bad because that’s what he’s going to have to do to keep the title in the midst of all of the chaos happening lately.  McMahon brings out Bret Hart, who says that he wants Michaels to retain the title against Sid because he wants to beat Michaels to regain the title.  The cycle of interview time continues as the Undertaker is brought out and the dead man says that the WWF title belongs to him and he’s been screwed more than Bret Hart.  Austin comes out, with Jim Ross in tow because he fears an ambush, and appears to be the voice of reason by saying that everyone whining about how they’ve been screwed is wearing on him.  Poor Vader just stands by the entrance and only gets to jaw with Austin as he heads to the locker room.

-The Western Union rewind is Faarooq’s attack on Ahmed Johnson tonight.

-Ahmed Johnson is shown breaking down a door backstage to try to find the Nation of Domination.  Lawler rightly points out that Ahmed is an idiot because he’d just be walking into an ambush if he were to find the Nation.

-The British Bulldog (w/Owen Hart & Clarence Mason) defeats Doug Furnas (w/Philip LaFon) by sitting down on a sunset flip attempt at 7:14 shown:

Furnas gets the jobber entrance, but the Bulldog has better theme music anyway.  McMahon announces that Furnas and LaFon will get a tag team title shot at In Your House, but it would be nice if would clarify why they are getting the title shot since they did lose their non-title contest last week.  The cutting of the match does very little for Furnas, as the Bulldog’s offense is showcased and he doesn’t get in very many moves.  The Bulldog appears to have the match lost when a miscommunication spot sees him blasted with Owen’s Slammy, but he quickly recovers and wins.  After the match, the Bulldog and Owen tease a breakup, but uneasily resolve their dispute.  I don’t get the booking for this match, as it would not have hurt the Bulldog to do the job after Owen’s interference and it would’ve given some credibility to Furnas and LaFon, which they needed after last week’s loss.  Rating:  *¾

-More footage of Savio Vega’s heel turn in Madison Square Garden is shown.  Savio Vega’s interview with Todd Pettengill on Shotgun Saturday Night, where he brushed off his heel turn, and his subsequent joining of the Nation of Domination on that show is played for us.

-Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out what Sid’s secret weapon is going to be to win the WWF title back at Thursday Raw Thursday.

-Clips of the WWF’s press conference, where they announced the signing of Tiger Ali Singh are shown.  Talk about a prospect that didn't pan out.

-The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) defeat Vader & Mankind (w/Paul Bearer) via count out at 7:11 shown:

The story of this match is that it's Vader and Mankind’s debut and they don’t communicate well.  This leads to some fun spots, like Vader tagging Mankind stiffly on the shoulder and encouraging him to beat down Phineas in the proper fashion.  As a sign of good booking, the Godwinns are not made to look like jobbers in this contest and manage to get some sustained offense against Vader and Mankind and they eventually win on a fluke when a miscommunication spot sees Mankind take Vader out with a chair and smile as he walks to the locker room.  This would appear to be leading us toward a Mankind-Vader feud and a potential face turn for Mankind, but neither of those things happened in the immediate aftermath of this match.  The full version of this match might’ve garnered a better rating, but the cutting of the match hurt its momentum.  Rating: *½

-Ahmed eventually finds some of the Nation and he tosses a member of PG-13 in the trunk of a white car, which starts to speed away.  The other member of PG-13 is hanging out of the driver’s side door as the car speeds off.

The Final Report Card:  There’s a lot of curious booking on this show as the wrestlers that you think would go over do not.  I know that during this time frame Foley pitched the idea of doing a feud with Vader, which McMahon refused to do because they had already done it in WCW, but the main event finish would imply that the company at least gave some thought to going in that direction.  Although this show didn’t capitalize on the momentum of the previous week, I did like that they kept the Godwinns strong.  There’s no point in making your entire tag division look weak for makeshift teams that you may or may not keep together for the long term.

Monday Night War Rating:  2.2 (vs. 3.6 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Neutral