What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - September 29, 1997

by Logan Scisco

-Michael Cole narrates a video package about Steve Austin’s rampage of Stone Cold Stunners.

-Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are in Albany, New York.

-McMahon interviews D-Generation X.  Rick Rude makes a sales pitch to McMahon based on what Steve Austin did last week.  Shawn Michaels gloats about beating down the Undertaker last week.  Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who Shawn refers to as “Triple H,” which is the first time I recall hearing that in Helmsley’s career, talks about getting impatient to get his big break.  Helmsley’s voice just does not jive with this group or rhetoric and it is tough to take him seriously.  Commissioner Slaughter arrives and orders Helmsley to fight the Undertaker.  The Hart Foundation appear at the top of the ramp and Bret says that D-Generation X have committed crimes that they will pay for tonight.  A somewhat dry segment, but this promo is where Michaels and Helmsley debuted their sophomoric personas that would be a big part of DX.

-The announcers talk more about One Night Only and the end of the European championship match is shown.

-Opening Contest:  Vader beats The British Bulldog by disqualification when the Hart Foundation interferes at 5:22 shown:

Ross points out that Vader beat Ken Shamrock last night in Japan, but really makes no sense in recent storylines since Shamrock was taken out of the Intercontinental title tournament because he was not medically cleared to compete.  However, the semi-final that he would have been a part of is tonight.  Anyway, this contest is meant to preview the tag team flag match at Badd Blood.  You might be asking what flag match, since it has received little build the last couple of weeks, but that will feature the Patriot and Vader against the Bulldog and Bret Hart.  The match has some weird booking, as the Bulldog gets some impressive power spots which would usually elicit a face reaction and Vader appears like a big bully.  Vader hits the Vader Bomb, but the Hart Foundation charges the right and attacks him before the referee can count the Bulldog down and that finishes this standard TV match.  Rating:  **¼

-After the match, Bret Hart puts Vader in a ring post figure-four, but the Patriot runs out for a brief save until he is also mauled by the Hart Foundation.  The Harts make sure to attack him with Canadian flags to call attention to the flag match stipulation.

-Call 815-734-1161 to get your VHS copy of One Night Only for $19.95 (plus $6 shipping and handling)! 

-A video package hypes Faarooq.  Since it focuses on his football background I’m sure that Jim Ross had something to do with this.  The problem with this video package is that it makes you a fan of Faarooq, who is supposed to be a heel.

-Intercontinental Championship Tournament Semi-Finals:  Faarooq (w/The Nation of Domination) defeats Ahmed Johnson (w/The Legion of Doom & Ken Shamrock) by disqualification at 2:26:

Just when you thought this feud was over it came back like the villain in a horror film.  This isn’t much of a match as Faarooq gets in some offense, Ahmed responds, and then when the referee tries to prevent Ahmed from bashing Faarooq with the ring steps, Ahmed slaps him and that draws a disqualification.  Faarooq advances to the finals to face Owen Hart at Badd Blood.  This has been a terrible tournament.

-After the match, Ahmed’s faction brawls with the Nation and the faces win.

-Dok Hendrix hypes the Nassau Coliseum house show, which features Bret Hart defending the WWF title against the Undertaker, the Legion of Doom facing Shawn Michaels & Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Steve Austin & Dude Love facing The British Bulldog & Owen Hart in a Long Island street fight.  This is a great card that sounds better than Badd Blood.

-The latest edition of Brian Pillman’s XXX Files sees him in bed with Marlena and he says he will not face Dude Love unless the WWF puts some structure in place to keep Goldust away from him.  He proposes handcuffing Goldust to the ring post to prevent unwanted interference.

-Dude Love comes out to do guest commentary for the next match.

-Goldust defeats The Sultan (w/The Iron Sheik) with a bulldog at 5:41:

McMahon tells us that Goldust and Marlena are renewing their wedding vows next week on RAW and Dude Love tells the audience that if he beats Brian Pillman at Badd Blood that Goldust will get a no disqualification match with Pillman right after.  They adopt the Randy Savage strategy in this one, with the Sultan taking 90% of the offense until Goldust hits two moves to win.  This was only five minutes, but it felt like fifteen.  Rating:  ½*

-Steve Austin is shown arriving to the arena.

-Austin comes out and McMahon tells Austin that if he does not care about his safety then he doesn’t either.  Austin says he doesn’t care if he’s fired and McMahon responds by giving him three options:  provide a medical clearance for next week, a return to action if he absolves the WWF of liability if he gets injured, or he can be fired.  Austin says he’ll think about it in his own “diplomatic” way.

-WWF Tag Team Championship Match:  Jesus & Jose defeat The Headbangers (Champions) by disqualification when the Godwinns interfere at 7:11 shown:

Before the match, Ross goes into a hilarious rant about how Commissioner Slaughter has no brains because of his decision to let Steve Austin present the Intercontinental title to the winner of the Owen Hart-Faarooq match at Badd Blood.  The Headbangers lackluster tag team title reign continues here as the crowd refuses to react to anything in the match.  The heat segment on Thrasher lasts so long that I think the Boricuas honestly run out of moves to do.   Jesus appears to have the match won for his team with a super hurricanrana on Mosh, but the Godwinns run in to make sure the Headbangers retain the titles so they can face them for the belts at Badd Blood.  We are somewhat accustomed to champions looking weak in the current era, but the Headbangers had to be the most poorly booked tag team champions in WWF history up to this point.  Rating:  *½

-Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out if Goldust is suspicious of Marlena’s time with Brian Pillman and if she’s really not enjoying herself.

-McMahon interviews Owen Hart, who comes out in an “Owen 3:16” shirt that reads “I just broke your neck” on the back.  He also has a SWAT-style security detail with him.  Owen says that he’s confident that he’ll beat Faarooq at Badd Blood, but Steve Austin’s latest antics are scaring him.  Owen tries to persuade McMahon to fire Austin next week, but as Owen celebrates to leave, one of the security guards takes off their helmet to reveal Austin and he gives Owen a Stone Cold Stunner before fleeing through the crowd.  In a nice touch, the crowd blocks the other SWAT guys from pursuing Austin.

- Call 815-734-1161 to get your VHS copy of One Night Only for $19.95 (plus $6 shipping and handling)!

-Backstage, Jim Neidhart is shown guarding Owen Hart, who is on a stretcher nursing his neck.

-Footage of contractors building the Hell in a Cell is shown.

-The Undertaker defeats Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Shawn Michaels & Chyna) by disqualification when Rick Rude interferes at 1:51:

During the Undertaker’s entrance he is attacked by Bret Hart and the British Bulldog and they, in turn, are attacked by Vader and the Patriot.  As the Hart Foundation is repelled, Michaels and Helmsley put the boots to the Undertaker for a couple of minutes before the Undertaker and Helmsley end up in the ring to start this match.  The Undertaker makes short work of Helmsley, but before he can hit a Tombstone, Rick Rude hits him with a briefcase and draws the disqualification.

-After the bell, D-Generation X beat down the Undertaker and Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music.  DX puts the Undertaker in a body bag, but the Undertaker sits up and tears his way out and forces DX to flee.  Michaels tries to run backstage, but a red light keeps him from doing so, so he climbs the Titantron as the Undertaker gives Helmsley a Tombstone on the stage as we close the show.  A nice go home segment for this feud.

The Final Report Card:  This show had some good moments, with the closing segment putting over the main event and Austin being his usual badass self.  However, the matches were just atrocious this week and were a chore to sit through.  Bulldog-Vader was solid, but after that the ring work went into a rut and never recovered.  I’ll give this a neutral rating as the non-wrestling segments effectively advanced the major angles, but I got the feeling that much of the show put more emphasis on hyping the RAW after Bad Blood than the actual pay-per-view.

Monday Night War Rating:  2.7 (vs. 4.0 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Neutral