What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - May 19, 1997

by Logan Scisco

-We return to May 1997 after I missed posting a review because of a hectic work schedule.

-Vince McMahon narrates highlights of last week’s interaction between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.  Off-air footage of Michaels giving Bret Sweet Chin Music and Steve Austin rescuing him from a beat down by the Hart Foundation is shown.

-Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are coming to us from Mobile, Alabama.

-Steve Austin comes out to be interviewed by Jim Ross.  Austin points out that he doesn’t care about Shawn Michaels, but came to his aid because the Hart Foundation turned its back to him.  Shawn Michaels comes out, dressed like a member of the Village People, and Michaels says he doesn’t care about Austin either.  Michaels runs down his accomplishments, but Austin is unimpressed and they brawl until WWF officials hit the ring and separate them.  The Hart Foundation, minus Bret Hart, appears on the Titantron and Owen challenges Austin and Michaels to a tag team title match against he and the Bulldog on next week’s show.  Michaels and Austin have a fun fight over the microphone and argue over how they’ll face Owen and the Bulldog with another partner, with Austin pulling out the best line in saying that he’ll get “someone who’s 75 pounds or 75 years old,” and they brawl some more.  Great mic work from both guys and they did a great job selling the animosity between their characters.

-Ross and Lawler tell us that the King of the Ring tournament is going to continue tonight, but Vader will not be facing Crush and there is a surprise for who takes his place.

-King of the Ring First Round Match:  Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) defeats Crush (w/The Nation of Domination) after Savio accidentally crescent kicks Crush at 3:55:

Vader was taken out of this match because of injuries suffered at the hands of Ken Shamrock in their match at In Your House.  As a result, Hunter Hearst Helmsley was plugged in, which was hardly the surprise that viewers were looking forward to.  Gerald Brisco says that Helmsley is allowed back into the tournament because he was informed last week that the only way to advance in the tournament was by pinfall or submission.  This booking of the tournament always puzzled me.  If Helmsley was always supposed to win, why book him to lose in the first round and then put him back into the tournament?  Despite this being the Attitude Era, a heel-heel matchup like this was still unusual for the time and the crowd doesn’t know what to make of it.  Helmsley does a great job bumping for Crush and it easily makes for Crush’s best match in awhile.  In a fun finish, both guys call for help, but Nation miscommunication costs Crush the match.  Rating:  *¼

-After the match, Savio and Crush argue with each other and Faarooq has to run into the ring as a mediator.

-Call 815-734-1161 to get your Austin 3:16 shirt for $20 (plus shipping & handling)!

-Non-Title Match:  Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly defeats Owen Hart (Intercontinental Champion w/The British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart) with a small package at 3:33:

Fans, interviewed outside of the arena, wish the best to Holly because he is fighting in his native Alabama.  Lawler makes sure to wreck that, though, by interviewing two Alabamians who aren’t too bright.  Holly’s race car driver gimmick is really out of place with the Attitude Era, as it is a relic from the WWF Dark Ages.  The crowd is hot for the match, since Holly is the hometown guy, and this match reminds of you of the old NWA title matches where the champion faced the hometown favorite.  Owen and Holly run through some smooth sequences and Owen goes for the Sharpshooter, but Holly surprises him with a small package and scores the upset.  Holly brought this match up a couple of years later on the “Raw is Owen” episode and mentioned how Owen volunteered to do the job for him in his hometown.  Remember the days when the WWF made sure not to job people out in their hometowns?  Rating:  **¼

-The Undertaker says that it is time to address Paul Bearer and he tells him there are some events that are better to have never seen the light of day.

-Sunny advertises the newest Super Soaker by squirting Jim Cornette.

-Shawn Michaels tells Jim Ross that he has found a partner to face Owen Hart and the British Bulldog next week and that is Ken Shamrock.

-Part one of Jim Ross’s “shoot” interview with Mankind is shown.  These interviews really changed Mick Foley’s career in the WWF as he was getting lost in the shuffle of the midcard at the time that these interviews were done.  This interview plays Foley jumping off of his house doing the Superfly Splash, which is credited with sparking the backyard wrestling craze.  Foley discusses how he was ostracized as a kid and ate strange things.

-Lawler tells viewers that Rob Van Dam can’t come back on RAW because Paul Heyman enacted legal proceedings after Van Dam appeared on last week’s show and squashed Jeff Hardy.

-Scott Taylor defeats Leif Cassidy with a small package at 2:40

This is Taylor’s “debut”, even though he had been a jobber for the company for years prior to this.  This can be aptly called a light heavyweight contest, as Cassidy pulls out a suicide dive and Taylor pulls off a slingshot body press to the arena floor.  Cassidy appears in control of another match, but when he goes for a suplex-facebuster combination for the second time, Taylor surprises him with a small package.  Cassidy continues his descent into madness after the match.  This was good while it lasted.

-Austin accidentally walks in on Sable, who is in the midst of changing.  Austin says he’s just looking for a tag team partner.

-Bret Hart arrives at the arena, having recently upgraded to crutches, and he’s flanked by the other members of the Hart Foundation.

-We get our first taste of the WWF recapping events multiple times in the same show, as the Bret-Shawn interaction from last week’s show is replayed.

-Vince McMahon arrives in the announce booth to do commentary for hour two of the broadcast.

-The Hart Foundation comes out and Bret Hart is here to announce his surprise.  Bret says that Shawn Michaels is going to return to action at the King of the Ring and he says that since he’s going to return at the King of the Ring they might as well have a match.  Bret challenges Michaels to a match, where if he doesn’t beat Michaels in less than ten minutes that he will never wrestle in the United States again.  Michaels appears on the Titantron and says that Bret couldn’t beat him in an hour at WrestleMania in 1996, so he’s insane to think he can beat him in ten.  Michaels proposes that the Hart Foundation be present at ringside and each of them be handcuffed to a ring post to ensure they don’t interfere.  Michaels busts out his infamous “Sunny days” comment, which obviously peeves Owen and the Bulldog, and Bret accepts the challenge.

-Rockabilly (w/The Honky Tonk Man) defeats Goldust by disqualification after Goldust hits Honky Tonk Man with a guitar at 4:00:

Before his match, Goldust has Marlena and his daughter Dakota come to the ring, but Dakota doesn’t quite follow the routine on the microphone she’s supposed to.  I guess that’s to be expected since she’s two years old.  Goldust busts out some Dusty Rhodes mannerisms and moves like the bionic elbow.  Goldust intercepts the Honky Tonk Man when Honky tries to attack him with the guitar and he smashes it over Honky’s head.  Somehow, this gets Goldust disqualified despite Honky not being an active participant in the match.  This match was actually going to somewhere before that stupid finish.  Rating:  *

-Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out who has been romancing “Psycho” Sid!

-McMahon interviews Ahmed Johnson about what he thinks about Faarooq playing the race card.  Ahmed says he doesn’t appreciate the question and he says that Faarooq is telling the truth when he says that a black man hasn’t gotten a shot lately at the title.  Ahmed promises to be the Hank Aaron of the WWF and be the first black WWF champion.

-The Brooklyn Brawler tells Steve Austin that he should pick him to be his partner.  Austin isn’t impressed, tosses the Brawler into the Raw set, and tells him he’s a big loser.  Austin chooses Harvey Wippleman as a partner instead, which is just hilarious.

-Faarooq (w/The Nation of Domination) defeats “The Rock” Rocky Maivia with a Dominator at 2:45:

It’s a battle between the current and soon to be leader of the Nation of Domination and Maivia dominates much of the action.  Maivia hits a beautiful Rock Bottom on Faarooq and its insane to think that someone had not made him change that to his finisher yet.  Maivia goes for his flying body press, but Faarooq crotches him and hits his only big move of the match, his finisher, to win.  The Nation comes into the ring to beat up Maivia after the match, but Faarooq calls off the dogs to the surprise of everyone.  Maivia looked really good here, arguably better than he had in a while and this match made him look like a very credible challenger to the main event talent.

-Backstage, the Hart Foundation are shown attacking Bob Holly.

-McMahon interviews WWF Champion The Undertaker who calls out Faarooq for playing the race card.  There’s something about the Undertaker character talking about race that is really awkward.  The Undertaker tells McMahon that it is not the time to talk about Paul Bearer’s secret.  A bandaged Paul Bearer appears on the Titantron and discusses being at the Undertaker’s parents burial.  The Undertaker is left speechless for the first time of his career as Bearer threatens to expose his secret unless the Undertaker comes back to him.  The Undertaker says he needs more time, so Bearer promises to give him seven days to consider his options.

-:”Stone Cold” Steve Austin defeats Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart by disqualification when Brian Pillman interferes at 1:44:

Brian Pillman comes out to do guest commentary and it doesn’t take long for Austin to drag him over the announce table and dump him onto the arena floor.  Pillman doesn’t take kindly to that and he attacks Austin with a crutch and the Hart Foundation pounds away on Austin until Shawn Michaels makes the save.  This makes some sense in storyline terms, but the WWF really needs to watch out for these run-in finishes at the end of shows because it is becoming very predictable.

-Ross announces that WWF President Gorilla Monsoon has ordered Austin and Michaels to team up next week against the Hart Foundation for the tag team titles.  Neither Austin or Michaels are happy about it and they end the show as they started it, by fighting each other as WWF officials try to separate them.

The Final Report Card:  The backstage vignettes provided some hilarity for the evening and the show does have some historical context because of the “Sunny days” comment, which precipitated a real fight between Bret and Shawn.  That fight cancelled their planned King of the Ring contest, which had to anger the WWF brass since they were likely banking on a big buyrate for the show.  The Undertaker-Bearer storyline remains well done, but it is being overshadowed by the Bret-Austin-Michaels feud.

Monday Night War Rating:  3.1 (vs. 3.6 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up