Raw is War - June 9th 1997

• Raw kicks off with a big six man tag team match; the Legion of Doom and Ahmed Johnson battle the Nation of Domination’s Faarooq, Savio Vega and Crush. Only D’Lo Brown and Clarence Mason accompany them to the ring with the other Nation members remaining at the top of the ramp. Faarooq almost won the WWF title last night but his bigger issues seem to be the breakdown of the Nation as both Savio and Crush refuse to join in with the Nation salute and even openly mock it in front of the leader. The miscommunication between the Nation members costs them and a Pearl River Plunge on Savio gives Ahmed, Hawk and Animal the victory.

• In the ring, Vince McMahon interviews the new King of the Ring Hunter Hearst Helmsley. He reminds us of the brutal beating he gave Mankind last night including hitting him with the sceptre and Pedigreeing him on the announce desk. HHH gets in Vince’s face and breaks the 4th wall a little saying he should have won the King of the Ring last year but didn’t because of “Vince’s politics” which is a reference to his punishment after the infamous curtain call incident which I talked about at the time so won’t repeat. He says that this ring is now his house and nothing including Vince can stop his rise to the top. Mankind appears on the titantron and “knock knock”s on Helmsley’s door and asks for a rematch! Hunter says he enjoyed every second of the beating he gave him at King of the Ring. Chyna speaks on TV for the first time and tells Mankind to come to the ring and kiss her ass! Mankind says it’s her lucky day because he’s a good kisser! He’s become so popular thanks to those Jim Ross interviews and gets a big pop when he does what he said and rushes the ring! Helmsley attacks him with the crown again and makes a quick getaway. Mankind shrugs off the attack and gets more cheers when he puts on HHH’s bashed and crumpled crown.

• The British Bulldog defends his WWF European Championship against Goldust, who also gets a monster cheer! Vince has been promoting this match since last week as the first ever European Championship match on Raw but that’s obviously not true; Bulldog won the title on Raw and defended it against Owen Hart a few weeks later (in a match which didn’t have a finish to be fair). JR mentions that Bulldog’s wife Diana, Bret and Owen’s sister, was named “Ms Calgary” the previous night. This is a spirited match and Goldust hits the Curtain Call and gets the three count…but Bulldog’s foot was on the ropes so the referee waves off his own pin and restarts the match which is the right call. The match ultimately ends via a double count out which is lame, but then Bulldog continues the beating after the match. He threatens to attack Marlena too so Ken Shamrock runs down and takes down the European Champion with a belly to belly take down and sends him packing. 

• Backstage Dok Hendrix tries to report on the blistering, angry fight thats taking place in the Nation of Domination dressing room. Faarooq storms out and marches to the ring followed by most of the Nation. Crush and Savio are left behind. Dok tries to speak to them and they’re both all amped up and ready to fight some more. Faarooq does as he said and goes right down to the ring to chat to Jim Ross. He says that both Savio and Crush owe him everything. He fires them both, followed by firing all the unknowns “None of you have taken a bump, get the hell out of here!” He finishes up by teasing that he’s going to fire D’Lo Brown too but instead it’s Clarence Mason who gets the boot. Faarooq says that from now on we’ll see a new Nation and challenges “the two men I hate the most” to a tag team match next week, Undertaker and Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq and D’Lo Brown! This was a big shift away from the original incarnation of the Nation towards the version most people remember. 

• It’s been a while since we’ve seen ECW on Raw and Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer come through the crowd and take seats in the front row to watch The Headbangers defeat Phil Lafon and Doug Furnas. That’s not why they’re here though as later tonight, Rob Van Dam returns to Raw. Jerry Lawler says that Heyman has done everything he can to keep RVD out of the WWF but sounds like he’s lost his voice; he had, he made an appearance at an ECW PPV as part of his on-going WWF vs. ECW crusade. 

• Vince McMahon interviews Stone Cold Steve Austin in the ring. He says that Bret Hart is afraid of him and that's why he had to fight Shawn Michaels instead. Vince asks about the Hart Foundation’s proposed 5 vs. 5 tag team match at the next PPV and Austin says he will go to Canada and beat all five of their asses all by himself if he has to. He tells Gorilla Monsoon that if he gets in his way or tries to stop him he’ll kick his fat ass too! Austin isn’t afraid of anyone or anything and that includes fighting the entire Hart family in their hometown. 

• Rob Van Dam (with Jerry Lawler) takes on Flash Funk. Tommy Dreamer is pissed at RVD for being a traitor and trying to leave ECW so goes after him and has to be held back by Heyman and a small platoon of referees. As part of the ongoing cross promotion with ECW we actually get some ECW footage on Raw! It’s Lawler showing up in the ECW arena the previous week, like I mentioned. He joins commentary for this one and blames losing his voice on a nasty injection he got from Mankind’s Mandible Claw at the King of the Ring. Funk and RVD have a really good match and Mr. Monday Night gets a chance to show off some of his unique, spectacular offense. RVD wins this with the split legged moonsault but the real chaos kicks off after the match with Lawler pulling Heyman out of the crowd and attacking him. Dreamer makes the save, followed by Rob Van Dam and the four men have to be separated by referees and officials. 

• Ken Shamrock joins commentary for the next match which is a non-title match between Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart and Sycho Sid. If anything Owen seems even more proud of his two Slammys than of his IC title belt. Jim Neidhart does his best to help out Owen until Shamrock has had enough of the numbers game and heads around the ring to drop him with a belly to belly suplex. Sid hits a big chokeslam on Owen and that's enough for the three count! Sid and Shamrock shake hands like good babyfaces afterwards and it looks like there’s quite a few good guys assembling against the Harts. 
• During the show there’s two separate moments where Sunny and later Sable come out to model the new Raw is War t-shirt, dancing and showing off their bodies to a loud, appreciative and mostly male audience. As Sable dances, Marc Mero comes out with a serious look on his face and leads her to the back as he seems to not be very happy with his woman showing off.

• Here is the fourth and final Mick Foley interview conducted by Jim Ross. All four of these are great but this finale sums things up nicely and focuses on the Mandible Claw and the reason for such a paralysing move (it's to demonstrate his control). This was clearly filmed before they realised that these interviews would turn Mankind into a beloved babyface as he goes quite heel here, spewing venom at Shawn Michaels and demonstrating jealousy for most of the WWF roster. He wants to make other people suffer like he’s suffered and ends the interview with a Mandible Claw on Jim Ross. He does at least seem to regret what he’s done, breaking the hold and affectionately calling him Jimmy and asking someone to come and give him help.

• Rockabilly (with Honky Tonk Man) takes on Bart Gunn. Vince and JR spend most of the match talking about their being brothers and past as a successful tag team. Rockabilly basically squashes his “brother” and pins him with Honky Tonk’s old finisher which is basically a swinging neckbreaker.
• After months of build up, Brian Pillman makes his long awaited singles debut against Stone Cold Steve Austin. As Austin makes his entrance he’s attacked from behind by Bulldog, Owen and Neidhart. Harts hammer on one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions four on one until he’s saved by, of all people, Mankind! The officials rule that Austin can’t compete after that attack and so the main event is now Brian Pillman vs. Mankind and Austin is taken to the back. Pillman and Mankind have a hard hitting match including suplexes on the mental entrance ramp and hard collisions with the ring steps. After a back and forth Mankind locks in the Mandible Claw on Pillman so the Harts return and attack him to cause the disqualification. Mankind wins but he’s being beaten up three on one. Stone Cold returns to make the save, as does Ken Shamrock who’s had a busy night! Austin and Shamrock fight off the Harts and then, just because he doesn’t want or need anyone’s help Austin drops Shamrock with a Stone Cold Stunner too! 

Raw is War - June 16th 1997

• You might be wondering where Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were last week? Well that was because last week before the show began, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had a furious brawl backstage and were both “injured”. The reality is that Shawn is at home and refusing to come back to work because of he and Bret’s personal issues finally breaking down. I talked about this last month but that was due to the Sunny days joke from Shawn previously. The upswing of it is that Michaels is gone for a few weeks and the Tag Team titles are now vacant! There will be a tournament to determine the effective number one contenders and that team will face Stone Cold and a partner of his choosing for the titles. Mankind appears on the titantron and says that he and Steve had a bond last week and he wants to be his tag team partner! Mankind tells Steve that he can wear an earring and shake his own nice ass just like Shawn. He tells Austin to think about it. Vince then moves on to recapping last week and his cancelled match with Brian Pillman. Shamrock took a Stunner last week so he comes to the ring and angrily demands a match with Austin tonight. He strips off his top and wants to fight Stone Cold right here, right now. Austin already has a match tonight; a match with Brian Pillman with the rest of the Hart Foundation handcuffed to the ring posts to stop them from being able to get involved. Backstage after the commercial break, the commentators speak to Brian Pillman and remind him of when Austin flushed his head down the toilet. Uncalled for.

• In the opening match of the Tag Team tournament, The New Blackjacks face former champions Owen Hart and the British Bulldog. The big Texans bully the Harts around the ring but the finish comes out of nowhere when Owen puts down Bradshaw with a spinning heel kick and Bulldog scoops the pin. They rush out of the ring and away before the Blackjacks can protest. 

• Backstage Vince speaks to Paul Bearer and WWF Champion The Undertaker. Bearer won’t let the Deadman talk and twists the knife about Undertaker being at odds with his own tag team partner Ahmed Johnson tonight. I assumed that their opponents would be Faarooq and the other remaining N.O.D member D’Lo Brown but the Nation will gain a new member tonight apparently. Faarooq says we’ll actually get two new members tonight and promises they will be a lot bigger, badder and blacker than ever before.

• Hunter Hearst Helmsley takes on Phineas Godwin who strikes a pose and tries to impress Chyna. This match also comes with confirmation that Mankind will get his rematch with HHH at the Canadian Stampede PPV. Mankind is a busy boy, also pushing to be Stone Cold’s new tag team partner! HHH wins this match and then Henry, who i thought was gone for a long time with his broken neck, comes down and berates Phineas for losing, shoving and slapping at him and screaming that this is somehow all Vince McMahon’s fault? I have no idea what he means.

• For the next match the gorgeous Sunny serves as special guest ring announcer and Paul Heyman from ECW serves as special guest commentator. The match is an interpromotional match; from the USWA Brian Christopher (that’s Jerry Lawler’s promotion down in Memphis and Christopher is Lawler’s son!) and from ECW, Chris Candidio! Formerly Skip of The Bodydonnas, that explains why Sunny is out here; that’s his wife! This is a fast paced cruiserweight match and Jim Ross goads Heyman into shooting. He doesn’t need to be asked twice and lets the cat out of the bag regarding Christopher being Lawler’s son. He says the King is ashamed of his own son! Lawler and Rob Van Dam come down to the ring and the three of them attack Chris Candido until Tommy Dreamer runs down with a steel chair to save the pro-ECW contingent. This is all building up a big USWA vs. ECW match on ECW’s August 17th PPV and Vince was happy to include them on WWF TV to give himself some exciting unpredictable content for Raw.

• Jim Neidhart of the Hart Foundation takes on Goldust. Last week Bulldog was about to attack Marlena until Shamrock saved her so Goldust is another person who’s getting into it regularly with the Harts. In the lead in to this match, they showed a bunch of footage from the Canadian house shows over the weekend where all of the Foundation including Bret got a heroes welcome. They're only heels in the United States which should make the next PPV in Calgary a lot of fun. Neidhart works over Goldust’s ribs and back as JR and Vince, as has become tradition now, spend the whole match talking about WCW performer Dusty Rhodes, Goldust’s father and dropping both he and Marlena’s “real names” more than once. Despite interference by Bulldog, Goldust picks up the win with a small package and escapes with Marlena before he can be attacked further.

• The second half of the show opens up with Stone Cold vs. Brian Pillman and with Bret not here, Owen, Bulldog and Neidhart are handcuffed to the ring posts so they can’t interfere. Austin has been called the rattlesnake so many times by JR now that it counts as an official nickname and he comes out all smiles at the prospect not just of beating up Pillman but at having the Harts helpless. That costs him when he attacks Bulldog, allowing Pillman to get the advantage but an attack from behind. Pillman slowly works over his former tag team partner, something JR acknowledges and talks about their history in WCW. As it stands right now, Stone Cold is the only man who’s stepped up to fight the Harts in that 10 man tag at In Your House. Stone Cold finally starts to fight back and the referee gets in his face so he drops the referee with a Stunner! Pillman takes advantage with a blatant low blow and puts some kind of loaded item on his first for a big right hand. Stone Cold kicks out. Owen Hart picks the pocket of the downed referee to get the keys and quickly unlocks himself, Neidhart and Bulldog. Austin has no allies and gets beaten down four on one until Mankind, Goldust and Ken Shamrock all run to the ring and rescue him! Austin tries to give Shamrock a Stunner again but this time he blocks it and gives him a big belly to belly suplex instead! . Austin tackles the World’s most dangerous man and now despite being on the same page, rolls around and fights until Hawk and Animal come down to break it up. Mankind disappeared somewhere in this melee but Goldust stayed and grabbed a mic, screaming at them to get themselves together! Goldust rallies the troops and just like that we have our five man team to oppose the entire Hart Foundation on PPV. Stone Cold says he doesn’t need anybody but Gorilla Monsoon won’t let him fight the Harts five on one so just this once he will accept them as his partners. 

• We get a second hot blonde ring announcer tonight as Sable comes out in the new Raw t-shirt. This match is Bobby Fulton vs. Tommy Rogers. Literally no idea who these two men are but the story here is Sable’s weekly “eye candy” appearance and JR and Vince trying to explain Marc Mero’s somewhat cold attitude towards her last week; he thought the show had gone to commercial, there is nothing more to it than that. He’s definitely not an abusive boyfriend. Definitely not. These two men are light heavyweights and Jim Ross talks about the growing Light Heavyweight division in the WWF. That’s setting the stage for a new title later in the year but we’ll talk about that when we get to it. Rogers picks up the win to little fan reaction and post match, Marc Mero comes out to rush Sable away from the ring again. 

• In another Tag Team Championship tournament match, ECW’s Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lawler take on The Headbangers. Once again, Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer are in the crowd for a closer look. Lawler and RVD might have won this match after a piledriver on Mosh but with the referee watching Thrasher and Van Dam fight on the outside, ECW’s Sandman appears and cracks Lawler in the crotch with his kendo stick! The Headbangers follow up with a double team superplex to pick up the win and advance! RVD wants to fight some more with them but Heyman forcibly restrains his men to live and fight another day! 

• Before the main event tag team match it’s a tense situation with Undertaker and Ahmed who came to blows at King of the Ring about to team up. Paul Heyman tells Johnson that he is the leader. Ahmed tells him that he respects Undertaker but he doesn’t respect Bearer. Let’s just hope he doesn’t go out of his way to cause friction again. Undertaker and Ahmed enter first and then with no fanfare, Faarooq introduces Kama Mustafa. He does a terrible job and gets next to no reaction even when Kama comes through the crowd and attacks Undertaker from behind to kick off this match. The commentators make no mention of Kama’s previous run as the Supreme Fighting Machine and his lengthy, lengthy feud with Undertaker. The Nation hammers Undertaker and when he tries to make a tag, Ahmed is too busy arguing with Paul Bearer to accept it. Kama hits Undertaker with a side slam and pins the WWF Champion! That is a shocker. Ahmed Johnson chases D’Lo, Kama and Faarooq away from continuing the attack but then delivers the Pearl River Plunge! Ahmed leaves the ring and joins the Nation of Domination on the stage and joins in their salute. Ahmed Johnson has joined the Nation of Domination after spending almost a full year feuding with them. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. He embraces Faarooq to end Raw is War and that’s the real shocker! 

Raw is War - June 23rd 1997

• Raw opens up with the new and improved Nation of Domination. Vince McMahon interviews them and all four men get their chance to speak; Ahmed joined the Nation because the fans and the company weren’t supporting him because he’s black and calls Undertaker a slave, D’Lo says that the Nation are united and will rule the WWF by any means necessary, Faarooq explains that the world is terrified of seeing these intelligent, proud black men together and Kama reminds us all that he pinned the WWF Champion last week. Their promo concludes but then four men led by Crush roll to the ring on motorbikes, revving their engines and trying to intimidate them. This is the debut of the Disciples of Apocalypse, a biker gang composed of Crush, Chainz, Skull and 8-Ball. If you think pitting a white biker gang against black militants seems a touch offensive you’d be right. The WWF assumed the fans would rally behind and cheer for the white guys and the whole thing is made much worse by the fact that Skull and 8-Ball are the Harris Twins, legitimate white supremacits with nazi tattoos. The eight men start to fight and brawl all over the ring and ringside area until being separated by referees, security and even police officers. Vince gets back on commentary and says he’s never been so intimidated in his life! I can see why. This isn’t the last we’ll see of the Nation tonight because they’re supposed to wrestle the strange tag team of The Undertaker and Vader, forced together by Paul Bearer who manages them both (reluctantly, in The Undertaker’s case).

• Rockabilly takes on Ken Shamrock and there’s a special guest on commentary in the form of UFC fighter Dan Severn, who was also the reigning NWA Champion at the time. The WWF is working hard to forge deals with other companies to broaden their roster without having to spend money and compete with WCW in terms of unpredictability. Severn is courteous and praises Shamrock who wins this match by submission with the ankle lock. He has a stare down with Severn at ringside; they had a bit of a rivalry in the UFC and JR calls them the two greatest fighters of all time (which they might have been in 1997). They shake hands and the crowd boos; they wanted to see them fight! A little later in the show during the next match, JR and Vince tell us that Shamrock has been attacked backstage apparently by the Hart Foundation.

• Here’s a little video about Sable which I’m including because she looks fantastic but it also serves as a recap and update on the current relationship and storyline between her and Marc Mero. Shout out to the first on screen mention of head writer Vince Russo!

• In the Tag Team tournament, the LOD takes on The Godwins. Henry has a new attitude since Hawk and Animal accidentally broke his neck and he and Phineas have updated their look, ditching the shirts under their overalls to show more skin and slopping the Legion of Doom during their entrance which just riles them up! The Godwins try their best but are defeated with the Doomsday Device. No broken neck this time and Phineas and Henry aren’t happy, attacking them with their steel slop buckets and leaving Hawk laid out in the middle of the ring. Animal chases them off with a steel chair but then he’s swarmed by the Legion of Doom! This marks Bret Hart’s return to TV after his fight with Shawn Michaels as he stands and watches the destruction from the top of the ramp. 

• Backstage Vince tries to speak to Paul Bearer and The Undertaker about tonight’s tag team match but Bearer won’t let the Deadman speak so he grabs Bearer and Vader by the throat! Paul reminds him about “the fire” and Undertaker backs down and continues to do as he’s told.

• Next up the ECW involvement in Raw continues - Paul Heyman is on commentary which is always fun and this match is Sabu’s WWF debut against Flash Funk. Heyman really puts over Sabu while taking shots at both Eric Bischoff in WCW as well as former ECW team the Public Enemy who he says stole their whole tables gimmick from Sabu! This match is pretty standard if you’ve seen Sabu wrestle before - lots of flips and flying in and out of the ring, some of it lands and some of it doesn’t but even when it's messy it's spectacular. Sabu’s manager Bill Alfonso sets up a table for Sabu to use and he hits a cool looking springboard moonsault which doesn’t break the table! Sabu tries again and then finally on his third attempt breaks it with a diving leg drop from the top rope to the floor. Flash Funk wins by disqualification and Sabu leaves through the crowd. This was fun.

• WWF European Champion The British Bulldog faces Mankind (in a non-title match). Mankind has a lot going on with his big babyface turn, his feud and match with HHH at the next PPV and his push for Stone Cold Steve Austin to pick him as his new tag team partner! He’s got an Austin 3:16 t-shirt tonight to match his “Pick Me Steve” sign and dedicates this match to the toughest S.O.B in the WWF, a man he’s proud to call his friend Stone Cold! I don’t think the Rattlesnake would agree that Mankind is his friend! Stone Cold calls in during this match and after a couple of deadpan jokes about telling Vince not to call him collect again and calling out his brother for owing him $30, plugs the big 10 man tag team match at the next PPV and tells us that Mankind is not his friend and not his tag team partner. Bulldog gets frustrated at not being able to beat Mankind so grabs a steel chair and hammers him with it, losing by disqualification. He hits him right in the head which should knock him out but as Bulldog celebrates, Mankind wakes himself up and clamps the European Champion in the Mandible Claw! Mankind wins the match, is the last man standing and gets cheered from the crowd which is his real victory.

• Promoted throughout the show, the first ever Triple Threat match in WWF history - Owen Hart defends the Intercontinental Championship against Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Goldust. Triple threats had existed before this but this was a first for the WWF and in the build up tonight, Owen has called this anti-Canadian conspiracy to cost him his title. He petitioned hard for Brian Pillman to be allowed to be in his corner for the match which president Gorilla Monsoon is happy to allow, mostly to shut them up! This match was treated like a big deal with first ever IC Champion Pat Patterson as special referee and a video tribute to the title itself before the match as well as a reminder of how each of these men had previously won the Intercontinental title themselves. It’s chaotic and the action is everywhere and the chaos continues as, just like in his European title match a couple of weeks ago, Goldust gets the three count and seemingly won the title until the referee realised that Owen’s foot was on the ropes and restarted the match. Goldust hits the Curtain Call on HHH and has the title won a second time but Owen Hart breaks it up and steals the pin, with Pillman stopping Goldust from being able to break up the pin a second time. Owen Hart retains the title and wins the first ever WWF triple threat match thanks to some luck and help from Brian Pillman. 

• Vince McMahon speaks to Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart in the ring about his return to the ring at In Your House. Bret runs down each of their five opponents - LOD aren’t the greatest tag team of all time, the Hart Foundation is. One of his sisters will beat up Marlena. Shamrock came from the UFC - the ultimate fairy championship and Stone Cold is still a scumbag. He then addresses “Hitman” Hearn who was a boxer and just happens to be in the front row. This is just a big celebrity crossover and he and Neidhart get into a shoving match and have to be separated. 
• Backstage as the Nation prepares for tonight’s main event he’s interrupted by former member Savio Vega. They don’t even really let him speak and just take him down and violently whip him with a leather belt until the cameras cut away.

• In a match which will tickle long time fans, Scott Taylor takes on Brian Christopher (with his dad, Jerry Lawler). The future Too Cool are this week’s addition to the Light Heavyweight division and Christopher does confirm he is now a full time WWF performer, leaving the USWA. This is a fast paced match and Christopher picks up the win with a leg drop off the top rope. Not bad. Lawler joined commentary and spent the match refusing to admit that Brian is his son which was always a funny bit.

• In the main event, Paul Bearer forces The Undertaker to team with Vader in the Tag Team tournament. There’s big news from the Nation too - Ahmed Johnson got injured during the skirmish earlier so his tenure in the Nation might already be over! The official participants are Faarooq and D’Lo Brown and the newly debuted D.O.A come down to the ring to antagonise the Nation. Undertaker is in a foul mood over all this Paul Bearer stuff so he fights them off too and they manage to get some order during the commercial break whic this breaks back down into a straight up tag team match. The crowd cheers for Vader by default as he’s teaming with Undertaker and they don’t like the Nation. Undertaker’s patience wears thing and he clobbers Vader who stumbles into a big clothesline from Faarooq and gives The Nation the victory but that’s not where the story ends. The Undertaker delivers a very impressive tombstone to the massive Vader and leaves, sick of Paul Bearer’s blackmail. He screams that he’s going to reveal The Undertaker’s darkest secret next week on Raw! At least he’s not under Bearer’s thumb anymore.

Raw is War - June 30th 1997

• In the opening match, The World’s Most Dangerous Man Ken Shamrock battles the 1997 King of the Ring Hunter Hearst Helmsley. In pre-taped comments, Chyna calls herself the world’s most dangerous woman which is pretty cool. Jerry Lawler is back on commentary tonight after missing the past few shows due to his voice troubles and ongoing feud with ECW. This is a decent match where we get to see a bit more of Shamrock as a wrestler. Chyna helps her man by sending Ken into the ring steps but Mankind comes down and provides a big distraction allowing Shamrock to hit a big belly to belly suplex and win the match! Helmsley leaves quickly in disappointment and Shamrock gives Mankind a nod of respect and appreciation. This episode of Raw also marked the debut of Shamrock’s awesome theme song as he’d been using an odd smooth jazz track since his first match.

• I mentioned last week that Ahmed Johnson suffered ANOTHER injury during the scuffle with the DOA. There’s a medical update this week; he’s hurt his leg which is a shame as he was going to be challenging Undertaker for the WWF title at Canadian Stampede. 
• Backstage, Hawk and Animal are interviewed about the Tag Team tournament. They’re interviewed by newcomer Michael Cole! This is his first on screen appearance after his voice debuted in video packages during Wrestlemania 12. LOD screamed about smashing and destroying The Nation in their tournament semi final match. Elsewhere, Sunny has cash stuffed in her cleavage to promote the upcoming million dollar giveaway at Summerslam. Later in the show, Sunny (with a surly looking Marc Mero) promotes the million dollar Summerslam giveaway. 

• The first of two tournament semi finals is up next with Hawk and Animal vs. Faarooq and Kama Mustafa of the Nation with D’Lo Brown at ringside to support them. They’ll face the winners of the Headbangers and Hart Foundation match in the finals. The Godwins come out onto the stage during this for a closer look while their feud and issues continue with the LOD; they firmly blame them for breaking Henry’s neck a few months ago. It was obviously a pretty minor break considering he’s already back in action but that injury did cut Henry Godwin’s career short. The Godwins make the difference, hitting Animal with a steel bucket and the Nation capitalises with the illegal man slipping into the ring to steal the pin. The LOD immediately ran after Henry and Phineas leaving the Nation in the ring to celebrate and demand Vince McMahon come up into the ring for an interview. Faarooq says that since Ahmed got injured it should be a member of the Nation challenge for the WWF Championship but because they’re black they were ignored and overlooked! They’re interrupted by another former Nation member in Savio Vega who, much like Crush, now has his own gang! He runs to the ring followed by three of his fellow Puerto Ricans all dressed in white and they brawl with the three Nation members. There’s loud motorbike revving and Crush leads the D.O.A to the ring and they join in the brawl. Referees, officials and security have a really hard time getting these 11 men to stop fighting in this now three way gang war. Is it problematic that all three gangs are very clearly separated by race and heritage? Probably. After a commercial break, Michael Cole grabs a couple of words with Savio who gives his own gang its name; Los Boricuas. I’m sure we’ll meet them properly soon but in addition to Savio Vega we also see Miguel Perez, Jesus Castillo and Jose Estrada Jr. 

• The WWF continues to try and grow their Light Heavyweight division to counteract WCW’s popular Cruiserweight division. Scott Putski faces Brian Christopher. The company continues to play up whether Christopher is actually Lawler’s son and show footage of the two of them using the same moves, almost like Lawler trained him. Putski shows off with a nice powerbomb and a splash off the top rope but Lawler trips him which lets Christopher steal the pin and then the two of them beat him up while Jerry makes lots of pretty racist anti-Polish jokes. In addition to this match, at the PPV we’ll see another Light Heavyweight showcase between two international stars; The Great Sasuke vs. Taka Michinoku (or Mitch-en-okoh as JR calls him)

• Backstage, The Undertaker in his locker room says that Paul Bearer will tell us a slanted version of the worst night of his life and try to poison us against him. All he asks is that we let him tell us his side of the story too. 
• Brian Pillman represents the Hart Foundation against Mankind. There’s a little story here as the loose cannon Pillman was “fired” as commentator on Shotgun Saturday Night for beating up a fan! The fan was a plant, obviously. Mankind has his “Pick Me Steve” sign, still pushing to be Austin’s tag team partner. Before the match he hands a wrapped gift with a bow to Jim Ross. He opens it and finds a mannequin hand, twisted into the Mandible Claw! Brian Pillman attacks Mankind from behind and tries to take a swing at JR too! This is a chaotic start to the match. JR calls the gift an apology for the Mandible Claw at the end of their interview and says it's a nice gesture. During this match, Stone Cold Steve Austin speaks to us from backstage and says Mankind is a smart man who wants to be his partner but he thinks he sucks and doesn’t want to be his partner. He says he doesn’t know if he’s Mankind, Dude Love or Cactus Jack but regardless of who he picks as a partner, he will remain one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions. He is still officially recognised as one half of the champions so I guess only Michaels’ has been stripped of his half? Or maybe he hasn’t been stripped yet. HHH and Chyna come out onto the ramp to watch this match seeing as he’s wrestling Mankind on PPV next Sunday. He comes a little close to the ring so when Mankind goes out to fight him, he gets himself counted out. Pillman wins thanks to Helmsley and Mankind screams his name into the mic before the show goes to commercial.

• Paul Bearer comes down to the ring to reveal The Undertaker’s big secret. Before he gets to the ring he was tackled off his feet by a female fan dressed like one of The Undertaker’s creatures of the night which you could imagine was planned but she was a fan who jumped the railing. She’s quickly dragged off by security. Paul Bearer begins to spill the beans in ernest and supplies a lot of lore about The Undertaker in himself - Undertaker’s mother and father owned and worked in a funeral home, and Undertaker had a younger brother named Kane. Bearer worked there as an apprentice and “the little red-headed child” had the eye of the devil. He says that Kane worshipped and looked up to Undertaker and followed him everywhere he went. One particular day he returned from his studies and found the funeral home in flames, ablaze with Undertaker’s father, mother and little Kane still inside! The Undertaker burned the funeral home to the ground with his own family trapped inside it, killing them. Bearer makes the point and screams that he is a murderer who killed his own parents and little brother! He twists the knife by saying that the Undertaker is heartless and didn’t even attend their funeral.

• In the second semi final in the Tag Team tournament, Bulldog and Owen Hart take on The Headbangers. The winners of this match will face The Nation and then the winners of THAT match will face Stone Cold and a partner of his choosing for the WWF Tag Team titles. Bulldog and Owen Hart manage to pick up the win with a reversal of the stage dive into a roll up. They get no time to celebrate as Jim Cornette returns and introduces his newest tag team! He doesn’t give their names and the commentators act like we’ve never seen them before but it's the Samoan Swat Team who we saw make a one night only appearance in the 1996 Royal Rumble. They destroy the Headbangers and leave them laying.  I'm not sure what the plan was here because this was the last time we saw them.

• The Undertaker gives his side of the story; he did not set the fire that burned down the funeral home and killed his family, he doesn’t know who it was! He was playing with matches with Kane, he does admit that. He says he left and when he returned the place was already ablaze. Presumably Kane is the one who caused the fire by accident. He says he was stopped from rushing into the fire to try and save them by fire fighters and the reason he didn’t attend the funeral is Paul Bearer. The night before, he forced him to see his mother and father’s burned and charred corpses and it traumatised him. The Undertaker character is and was his way of dealing with the cruelty of his family’s death. That’s clever, I like it. He draws strength from the spirits of the dead - his mother, father and little brother. That leads into Vader vs. Rockabilly but it doesn’t even start. The Undertaker sprints to the ring and attacks Vader, hammering him with right hands and clearing him out of the ring. He goes right after Bearer and slaps him across the face, screaming that he better tell the truth or he’ll kill him right now! Bearer delivers the iconic soundbite “Kane is alive! Kane is alive, Undertaker! It’s the truth!” The deadman is stunned and Vader manages to grab his manager and escape to the back. It’s been a big, emotional night for the WWF Champion.

• Stone Cold faces Jim Neidhart and not only has his Tag Team title belt with him but is announced as one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions so that confirms that the Rattlesnake has not been stripped of his gold. Earlier in the show, Bret Hart called in to give his thoughts on the PPV from Calgary but that was a ruse; Bret is indeed here tonight and attacks Ken Shamrock backstage as he watches the main event. He hammers on the World’s Most Dangerous Man and slams a big metal barrel on him as referees try to get him to stop. Neidhart dominates Austin in the ring and now the question is will the Hitman come out here to attack Austin too. Stone Cold fights off Neidhart but his cut off is short lived as Bret Hart rushes the ring and attacks him, beating down Stone Cold and locking him in the figure four around the ring post. Shamrock has been taken out and the LOD left the building earlier to chase the Godwins so he has no back up until Mankind runs down and locks the Mandible Claw on Bret! Pillman, Owen and Bulldog run down too and try to rescue their leader but even hitting Mankind with chairs he won’t break the hold! Raw ends on that chaotic scene.