What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - June 16, 1997

by Logan Scisco

-Vince McMahon and Jim Ross are manning the announce table and they are from Lake Placid, New York.  McMahon says that there was a fight between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels before last week’s RAW and that both men were injured.  Bret will be back in a few days, while Shawn will be back in 4-6 weeks.  Since Michaels is out there will be a tag team tournament and the winners will get to face Steve Austin and a partner of his choice for the tag team titles.

-McMahon reluctantly interviews Steve Austin, who isn’t happy to hear about the tag team tournament.  Austin says he doesn’t need a partner and Mankind appears on the Titantron and says that he feels that they have a bond.  Austin says he doesn’t need a freak walking around him and they proceed to make fun of Shawn Michaels routine.  McMahon’s facial expressions during this routine are priceless. McMahon says that Austin will face Brian Pillman tonight with members of the Hart Foundation handcuffed around ringside.  Ken Shamrock comes down to confront Austin about getting Stunned on last week’s show and Shamrock challenges him to a match tonight.  Austin says that’s fine after he gets done with Pillman.

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-Brian Pillman tells McMahon that it’s a conspiracy that the Hart Foundation is handcuffed around ringside for his match with Steve Austin tonight.

-The New Blackjacks say that the tag team tournament is their opportunity for tag team glory.

-The British Bulldog & Owen Hart say that they are going to get their belts back from Steve Austin after they win the tag team tournament.

-Opening Tag Team Tournament Contest:  The British Bulldog & Owen Hart defeat The New Blackjacks when the Bulldog pins Bradshaw after an Owen spinning heel kick at 3:50:

This is an interesting concept for a tournament since Austin still has an opportunity to keep the titles by facing the winning team in the finals.  I’m surprised that the Headbangers were getting a push during this time but not the New Blackjacks since they looked much more imposing and credible.  The crowd is dead for this, since the New Blackjacks have very little following and the American fans hate the Bulldog and Owen.  However, both teams put in a decent effort and Owen and the Bulldog advance when the referee has his back turned to get Barry Windham out of the ring shortly after all hell broke loose. Rating:  **

-Jim Ross recaps the dissolution of the first version of the Nation of Domination on last week’s show.

-McMahon interviews WWF Champion The Undertaker and Paul Bearer and Bearer hijacks the interview and says that the Undertaker will do what he says as long as he has a secret over his head.

-McMahon interviews Ken Shamrock, who tells Austin that it’s time to knuckle up.

-Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) pins Phineas Godwinn with a Pedigree at 3:33:

What an odd match.  Ross announces that Helmsley will face Mankind at the Canadian Stampede pay-per-view.  Prior to the match Chyna manhandles a ring attendant for no apparent reason.  Chyna interferes, as can be expected, and the crowd is into that more than the match, working up a “Chyna” chant.  Phineas, who had a way with women as we saw in the Bodydonnas feud in 1996, abandons a Slop Drop to kiss Chyna on the apron, but that ends up costing him the match.  After the match, Henry Godwinn comes down to the ring and yells at Phineas for not being aggressive enough.  Henry blames McMahon for Phineas’ loss.  Was the booking crutch of this time that everyone had a beef with the boss?  A decent match that went the appropriate length.  Rating:  **

-Headbanger Mosh’s flying clothesline on Rob Van Dam on Shotgun Saturday Night is the Sega Saturn Slam of the Week.

-Faarooq tells McMahon that there will be two new members of the Nation of Domination and that they are going to appear tonight.  Faarooq promises that they will be bigger, better, and blacker.

-Sunny comes down to be the guest ring announcer for the next match because the WWF has no idea what to do with her.  Paul Heyman is going to be on guest commentary.

-Interpromotional Match (USWA vs. ECW):  Chris Candido defeats “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher by disqualification at 2:40:

USWA and ECW were engaged in a small feud at this time, so this is that feud being played out on national television.  USWA was also in its death throes at this point.  This is Candido’s first RAW match since the summer of 1996.  Since we are in the Northeast, Candido is the de facto face and Christopher plays the heel.  In fact, Candido gets more of a reaction in this one match than he did in his entire career as Skip in the WWF.  Ross works up Heyman on commentary into a rant about how Christopher is Lawler’s son.  This leads to Lawler running down and breaking up a super hurricanrana attempt and he and Rob Van Dam beat up Candido until Tommy Dreamer runs out and makes the save.

-Ahmed Johnson cuts a pretaped promo and he says that he will do things the easy way in tonight’s match and work with the Undertaker.

-Dok Hendrix hypes the Nassau Coliseum house show which features the Undertaker facing Steve Austin for the WWF title, the British Bulldog defend the European title against Sid, the Legion of Doom face the Godwinns, Hunter Hearst Helmsley faces Mankind, and the New Nation of Domination faces the Hart Foundation in a six man tag team match.

-Footage of a house show at the Skydome in Toronto is shown where the Hart Foundation was greeted with cheers.

-Jim Neidhart says that he is going to show Goldust that crime does pay.

-Goldust (w/Marlena) defeats Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart with an uppercut at 3:44:

Goldust has drawn some really bad opponents lately that do nothing to cover for his weaknesses in the ring.  The British Bulldog comes out halfway through the match and he confronts Marlena, who slapped him on last week’s show.  Goldust comes to his manager’s aid, but gets double teamed.  However, Neidhart can’t even win after THAT to show how low he is on the WWF totem pole despite being part of its top stable.  Rating:  ¼*

-Steve Austin tells the audience that he has Brian Pillman right where he wants him and he promises to “rock” Ken Shamrock’s world.

-“Stone Cold” Steve Austin beats “The Loose Cannon” Brian Pillman by disqualification when the Hart Foundation interferes at 8:20:

Per the stipulation for this match, each of the members of the Hart Foundation are handcuffed to the ring posts.  Owen really gets into the handcuff stipulation, as he spends parts of the match complaining about it and then getting on the apron and trying to leverage the handcuff off his wrist.  Austin takes advantage of the stipulation by beating up each defenseless member of the Hart Foundation around ringside.  Pillman’s nose gets busted open during the match, but it is apparent from this match that Pillman can’t go anymore as he resorts to chokes and other stalling techniques.  When the referee gets in Austin’s face about his beating of Pillman, Austin gives him a Stunner.  Owen picks the pocket of the downed referee and unlocks himself and other members of the Hart Foundation and that produces a beat down that ends the match.  Disappointing is probably the best word to describe this encounter.  Rating:  *

-After the bell, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and Mankind run off the Hart Foundation.  When the dust settles, Austin and Shamrock are left in the ring and Shamrock thwarts Austin’s attempt at a sneak attack by giving him a belly-to-belly suplex.  Austin doesn’t like that and he and Shamrock brawl until the Legion of Doom separate them.  Goldust gets on the house mic and tells Austin that the Hart Foundation wants him to fight everyone.  Goldust suggests that Austin team with he, the Legion of Doom, and Shamrock to face the Hart Foundation at Calgary Stampede and Austin agrees, albeit reluctantly.

-Call 815-734-1161 to get your copy of Cause Stone Cold Said So for $19.99 (plus $6 shipping & handling)!  What?  They aren’t going to have Sable dance seductively around a video tape?

-Steve Austin’s Stone Cold Stunner to the referee of his match with Brian Pillman is the Super Soaker Rewind segment.

-McMahon interviews the Hart Foundation and Pillman gives a nice promo that says the ten man tag at Canadian Stampede has been signed in blood.

-Sable comes out to be the guest ring announcer for our next match.

-Tommy Rogers defeats Bobby Fulton with the Tomikaze at 2:47:

This is a battle between the old Fantastics and they were recruited by Jim Cornette who was trying to get some veterans some work in the WWF when the company was putting a light heavyweight division together.  This match allows Ross to go back to his glory days in the NWA and he gives us some excellent background on both participants, making them both seem very distinguished in the eyes of the viewing audience.  Some idiots in the crowd chant “boring”, but there isn’t anything wrong with this and the finish gets some “ooh’s” from the crowd.

-After the match, Marc Mero comes out and doesn’t appear happy that Sable is in the ring and waving at fans.

-The Headbangers say that they would love to win the WWF Tag Team titles.

-Tag Team Tournament Match:  The Headbangers defeat Jerry “the King” Lawler & Rob Van Dam when Thrasher superplexes Mosh onto Lawler at 3:59:

They haven’t yet released a bracket for this tournament, but I would assume that the winner of this match will face Owen and the Bulldog.  Van Dam acquits himself well in the match, jumping about 15 feet in the air for the yet to be named ***** Frog Splash.  Lawler appears to have the match won after giving Thrasher a piledriver, but the Sandman comes in behind the referee’s back and gives him a low blow with his Singapore cane and the Headbangers advance.  If Van Dam wrestled this as a handicap match it would’ve been better.  Rating:  *½

-The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer want to go after Van Dam after the match, but they are held back by WWF officials and Paul Heyman.

-Ahmed Johnson and the Undertaker and Paul Bearer are in the back and Ahmed tells McMahon that they are ready.  Bearer tries to tell Ahmed to listen to him, but Ahmed tells him to shut up.  Bearer is really great in this role.

-Footage of recent interactions between the Undertaker and Ahmed Johnson is shown.

-Faarooq & Kama Mustafa defeat The Undertaker & Ahmed Johnson (w/Paul Bearer) when Kama pins the Undertaker after a lifting side slam at 3:46:

Prior to the match, Faarooq welcomes out the new member of the Nation of Domination, who is Kama Mustafa.  He looks like a generic jobber from the 1980s, though, without the “Supreme Fighting Machine” attire that he wore in 1995/1996.  The Undertaker wrestles the whole match and if you don’t know what that means after a few years of watching wrestling then you must not be very observant.  As the match slowly goes on, McMahon and Ross throw out some names for the other member of the Nation like the Junkyard Dog, Abdullah the Butcher (?!?!), Butch Reed, and Mr. Hughes.  Ahmed beats up Bearer, which costs his team the match and the crowd is shocked that the Undertaker was pinned cleanly.  Rating:  *

-After the match, Ahmed helps the Undertaker to his feet only to give him a Pearl River Plunge and he joins the Nation of Domination.

The Final Report Card:  Ahmed joining the Nation was a great storyline development, but it would be short-lived since he was injured shortly after this.  Oh what might have been.  The rest of the show advanced the proper storylines, but it never seemed to click as far as the matches were concerned.

Monday Night War Rating:  2.4 (vs. 3.3 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Neutral