What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - July 14, 1997

by Logan Scisco

-McMahon discusses the contrast between last week’s Raw in Canada and how tonight Raw is in San Antonio, Texas, which is in Steve Austin’s native state.

-McMahon and Jim Ross are in the booth and they are broadcasting from San Antonio, Texas.

-McMahon interviews the Hart Foundation, who are booed out of the building.  Bret says he looks forward to facing the Undertaker for the WWF title at SummerSlam.  Owen says he doesn’t mind defending the Intercontinental title against Steve Austin at SummerSlam, but is more focused on winning the tag team titles with the British Bulldog tonight.  The British Bulldog says that if he loses the European title to Ken Shamrock at SummerSlam that he will eat a can of dog food after the match.  Brian Pillman says if he loses to Goldust that he will wear a dress and wrestle him the next night on Raw.  Jim Neidhart then says if any of the Harts lose at SummerSlam that he will shave off his trademark goatee on Raw.  Steve Austin appears on the entrance ramp and as he stares at the Hart Foundation with an American flag waving on the Titantron, Ken Shamrock walks out in matching black trunks, the Patriot walks out to make his debut, Sid appears in street clothes, and Shawn Michaels walks out.  Any of these men might be Austin’s tag team partner tonight.

-Opening Contest:  Ivan & Scott Putski defeat Jerry “the King” Lawler & “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher when Ivan pins Lawler after a Polish Hammer at 4:55:

Ivan doesn’t look bad here, although he is much less ripped than he was in his prime.  After putting Scott in peril, it appears like the heels have it won after Lawler delivers a piledriver, but Lawler agrees to let Christopher try a Tennessee Jam, but that misses.  The old Ivan then cleans house and wins the battle for his team.  A serviceable tag match that gave the heels their comeuppance and the crowd loved seeing Ivan tear into Lawler.  Rating:  **

-Footage of Mankind coming to Steve Austin’s aid, but then getting hit with a Stone Cold Stunner last week is shown.

-Mankind is shown backstage and he refuses to talk about what happened to him last week.

-Action between Flash Funk and Owen Hart on Shotgun Saturday Night is our Stridex Triple Action  segment.

-Paul Bearer tells the Undertaker that his brother has lived in a personal hell for many years and that Kane eagerly waits to confront the Undertaker.  Bearer promises to give the Undertaker proof that Kane is alive on next week’s show.

-A small video showcases Michinoku’s performances against the Great Sasuke and McMahon doesn’t bother noting that Michinoku lost those matches because he’s fired the Great Sasuke.

-Taka Michinoku beats Tajiri Yoshihiro with a Michinoku Driver at 4:08:

Yes, this is Tajiri before he became a crazy man in ECW and the effectiveness of that gimmick would eventually lead him back to the company when ECW folded.  They do a great double KO sequence where they both slap each other silly and Tajiri utilizes the kicks that would later make him famous.  Michinoku survives a dragon suplex and a dropkick to the back of the head and the Michinoku Driver finishes Tajiri off.  An entertaining contest that should have landed Tajiri a permanent spot on the light heavyweight roster and it is very obvious from these light heavyweight exhibitions that the Asian light heavyweights are much more entertaining than their American counterparts.  Rating:  ***

-Ken Shamrock says that he’s not Steve Austin’s tag team partner and was merely out there in order to show him support against the Hart Foundation.  He says he’s ready to knuckle up against Jim Neidhart later tonight.

-Los Boricuas are shown riding into the arena with a couple of women.

-Get the newest WWF Magazine to find out more about the past, present, and future of Brian Pillman!

-The Headbangers say that they are going to put Los Boricuas up in smoke tonight.

-Miguel & Jose (w/Los Boricuas) defeat The Headbangers when Miguel pins Thrasher with a rollup at 4:25

The gang wars concept was somewhat pathbreaking in the fact that I cannot remember a time when the WWF had four stables (The Nation of Domination, DOA, Los Boricuas, and The Hart Foundation) under one roof.  I often wonder what younger fans that see old footage think of the Headbangers, since that is a gimmick that you have to have lived during the 1990s to understand.  Mosh has a cool move of sending Jose into the turnbuckles with a hurricanrana, but that’s really the high spot of the match as the Headbangers lose a close contest when Miguel escapes a Thrasher powerbomb.  Rating:  **

-After the match, Los Boricuas gang up on the Headbangers, but DOA show up and begin to brawl with Los Boricuas, which changes the numbers equation.

-The Patriot says that he’d be honored to be by Steve Austin tonight, but he’s simply in the WWF to defend the honor of America.

-Steve Austin encourages us to buy Cause Stone Cold Said So.  Call 815-734-1161 to buy your copy for $19.99 (plus $6 shipping & handling)!

-Footage of Shawn Michaels winning the WWF title at the Royal Rumble earlier in the year is shown.

-McMahon interviews Shawn Michaels, who says that he will be Steve Austin’s tag team partner if Austin wants him to be.  Michaels says that he’s not currently scheduled to be at SummerSlam so he appeals to McMahon to allow him to be a part of the show and that request is honored.

-Savio Vega grabs a camera man and tells him to come and see something getting destroyed backstage.  When the camera man gets there, one member of Los Boricuas is destroying one of the DOA’s motorcycles and that triggers a brawl between the two groups.

-Jerry Lawler comes out to do commentary.

-Ken Shamrock beats Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart via submission to a rear naked choke at 4:40:

Neidhart continues to play his role as the whipping boy of the Hart Foundation, as Shamrock forces him to submit to a standing rear naked choke after four minutes of boring action where Neidhart uses a great deal of chinlocks and right hands.  Rating:  ½*

-After the match, the British Bulldog runs in and he and Neidhart briefly double team Shamrock until the Patriot runs in and makes the save.

-Call 1-900-747-4WWF to hear about Shawn Michaels future in the WWF and what some WWF alumni feel about tonight’s SummerSlam Flashback show!

-Mankind is still sitting backstage and refuses to talk about what he might do later tonight after he got rejected by Steve Austin last week.  The commentators then speculate about who Austin might choose for his tag team partner tonight against Owen Hart and the British Bulldog.

-The Headbangers are shown playing golf and they reveal the third clue for the SummerSlam One Million Dollar Challenge and that is life.

-The next match is scheduled to be The Legion of Doom against The New Blackjacks, but the Godwinns attack the Legion of Doom on their way to the ring and Slop Drop Hawk on the ramp, which busts the back of his head open.  Hawk no sells it because he’s Hawk.

-Shawn Michaels begging Vince McMahon earlier in the show for a spot in SummerSlam is the Discovery Zone Rewind segment.

-Vader (w/Paul Bearer) pins Flash Funk after a powerbomb at 4:10:

Funk was settling into a role of making other guys look good and he’s at the top of the list of guys in the company that need a gimmick change.  Would it really have hurt them to make him 2 Cold Scorpio at this time and put him in the light heavyweight division?  Funk gets in far more offense than I anticipated by hitting a plancha and tossing Vader into the ring steps.  Funk even hits his moonsault, but he can’t keep running into Vader, which is like running into a brick wall, and Vader goes back to his WCW roots to finish him off.  After the match, Vader hits a Vader Bomb to make a point to someone.  A really fun abbreviated match.  Rating:  ***

-McMahon asks Steve Austin if he’s concerned about Mankind being in the arena, but Austin says he doesn’t care at all.

-Get your copy of Cause Stone Cold Said So!

-WWF Tag Team Championship Match:  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin & His Mystery Partner defeat Owen Hart & The British Bulldog to win the titles when His Mystery Partner pins Bulldog after Austin gives the Bulldog a Stone Cold Stunner at 7:36 shown:

As you have read in the last several reviews, Owen and the Bulldog earned this match for the vacant tag team titles by winning an eight team tournament.  Austin charges the ring and opts to fight the match alone, although his partner’s feet are shown moving through the locker room backstage before the commercial break.  Austin takes a beating, but manages to toss Bulldog and Owen out of the ring and that is when Mick Foley comes on the screen and says Austin may not want to team with Mankind, but he said nothing about Dude Love and he comes out to one of the most catchy themes in wrestling to be Austin’s partner.  Austin’s facial expressions during this are awesome, as he doesn’t quite know what to make of his new partner.  Shortly after Dude’s arrival, Austin spots an opportunity when the referee is preoccupied with Owen Hart and he manages to become a multi-time tag team champion with a new partner.  The match wasn’t much, but it was entertaining from a booking perspective.  Rating:  **¼

-After the match, Dude gives Austin a tag team belt and some groupies come into the ring to celebrate with Dude and Austin decides to give him a tag team belt and shakes his hand before leaving.  Dude dances with the groupies as the show goes off the air.

The Final Report Card:  The debut of Dude Love is one of the biggest “mark out” moments that I had as a fan growing up, so this show gets an easy thumbs up from me.  Austin’s injury at SummerSlam made his pairing with Foley short-lived, but it could have provided some entertaining material as Austin slowly moved up the ladder to win the WWF title at WrestleMania XIV.  The only thing terrible about the show was Shamrock-Neidhart, but that was to be expected.  I don’t think a singles match Neidhart has been in since he returned has topped * yet.

Monday Night War Rating:  2.6 (vs. 3.5 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up