Raw is War - May 12th 1997

To open Raw here’s a recap of all the big matches from last night’s PPV as well as the brand new WWF signature.

Recap of In Your House 15: A Cold Day In Hell

Bret Hart opens up flanked by the Hart Foundation. He sings their praises and calls them the greatest the WWF has to offer and that he would march into the mouth of hell with them. He calls Stone Cold a “bunch of Texas cliches with barnyard overtones” and calls everyone hypocrites for being upset with them for screwing him but no one cared when Bret got screwed. He says that Austin is a loser and a scumbag and that he’ll never be WWF champion. Bret says he has a big surprise for everyone and teases it and teases it but the crowd won’t shut up like he demands so refuses to share it now. I wonder what the Hitman has up his sleeve?

In the opening match it’s the opening match (heh) of this year’s King of the Ring tournament - Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Chyna) vs. Ahmed Johnson who has rage in his eyes after failing to kill the Nation of Domination last night. The brackets for the tournament are pretty badly laid out as in truth, they give away what the final is going to be; I’ve noticed this a few times in WWF history where they tend to put the two finalists in the same position every time. Ahmed dominates HHH and beats him all around the ring until Chyna grabs a steel chair and blasts him across the back right in front of the referee. That was stupid! Ahmed Johnson advances by disqualification. Johnson follows Helmsley up the ramp and attacks him at the top of the ramp. They brawl with Chyna joining in until a team of referees manages to split them up. Ok so I guess my comment about the brackets layout making this predictable wasn’t fair.

Vince McMahon interviews Stone Cold in the ring. Vince praises last night’s match so Austin tells him to stop kissing his ass or he’ll knock his head off his neck! He’s got one of Bret Hart’s crutches with him presumably to use as a weapon. Austin says that he will be WWF Champion sooner or later and there’s nothing the Hart Foundation can do to stop him. Austin talks about how to kill a snake - you cut its head off and Bret Hart is the head of the snake. He says that he’s going to have a little fun first and he’s going to start with the snake’s ass! He means Brian Pillman, which is a very funny line. He refers to he and Pillman’s previous tag team in WCW as being “in the bush leagues” which I’m sure made Vince really happy. “Your ass belongs to me and that’s the bottom line cuz Stone Cold said so!”

To hype up the debut of Scott Putski they show a bunch of footage of his dad, hall of famer Ivan Putski. Scott’s a good looking guy with a ridiculously muscular physique but he’s quite short, and takes on Leif Cassidy. Jim Ross calls these guys “great light heavyweights” and that he’d like to see a lot more of the light heavyweights in the WWF - that’s setting the stage for later in the year. This is a good match but the crowd isn’t into it. It’s very technically proficient and Leif has a lot of good looking moves in his arsenal like a double leg into a powerbomb. Putski picks up the win with a German suplex and then sore loser Cassidy attacks him after the match with a dive to the outside and punches but Putski fights him off a second time to give himself a happy ending. Leif continues to rant like a mad man about how he was the real winner and gets in JR and King’s face. A glimpse into his future as Al Snow.

In tag team action, two members of the Nation of Domination are supposed to wrestle the LOD. With Hawk and Animal in the ring we’d expect it to be Faarooq and Crush as Savio has a match later already but instead they send the two rappers known as PG-13 to the ring instead. We have seen these two wrestle before back in 1995 but they’re really performers from Mephis so Jerry Lawler knows them well. Hawk and Animal hammer them with slams and throw JC Ice and Wolfie D around the ring. They’re entertaining comedy wrestlers and do a good job of looking scared of the LOD and get a couple of laughs with a spike piledriver which Hawk no-sells. A pair of Doomsday Devices finish them off and I think that marks the end of their affiliation with the Nation.

An emotional Mankind brings his Uncle Paul out onto the stage, face heavily bandaged from the fireball at In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker. Bearer screams that the fire that put him in the hospital has seared the bond between them permanently. He tells The Undertaker that he has ONE more chance to take Bearer back or he’ll be forced to reveal a dark secret that only The Undertaker knows. That’s blackmail! A secret that he made as he stood over The Undertaker’s mother and father’s graves and he must come back to him or he’ll tell the world what he knows.

In the ring after a break, Vince McMahon interviews the leader of the Nation Faarooq. Big news here that Faarooq is the number one contender to the WWF title and will challenge The Undertaker at King of the Ring. Faarooq asks when was the last time a black man got the shot at the WWF title? They give the black men token championships but never put them in the top position. He speaks on behalf of all black people who are sick of being put in their place - suddenly it makes sense that they kicked the two white boys out of the Nation earlier tonight. Vince says this has nothing to do with race. Faarooq calls Undertaker a white saviour and he will kick his ass at the King of the Ring. Vince calls him racist so Faarooq says that he will be a role model to little black kids all over the world. That leaves the commentators struggling with an awkward silence and leads into the next match which is a non-title match between Savio Vega and The Undertaker. The whole Nation surrounds the ring including Crush, Clarence Mason, D’Lo Brown and a bunch of young lads in tuxedos. It’s not a very long match and Undertaker has it won with a Tombstone but the Nation rushes the ring and beats him up with a gang attack. Faarooq keeps insisting on them getting out of his way so he can beat up the champion solo, whipping him with his leather belt and celebrating with the WWF Championship belt.

In a huge surprise apparently set up by Jerry Lawler, coming out to the ECW TV theme song is Rob Van Dam! He’s here from ECW to battle the WWF’s Jeff Hardy! Holy shit, I had no idea this was coming. RVD’s gimmick in ECW was Mr. Monday Night who was too big of a star for ECW and was destined to leave for the WWF or WCW any day. That never did happen but it was a great gimmick. RVD calls ECW low budget, low talented wannabes who have nothing to offer compared to him. Lawler makes this sound like Van Dam had signed with the WWF, which wasn’t the case. RVD hits an array of flashy moves including a dive to the outside and his Five Star Frog Splash before picking up the win with the split legged moonsault. JR makes it clear this man doesn’t have a WWF contract but Lawler is determined that Mr. Monday Night is now in the big leagues. Interesting stuff.

Just like last week, Goldust and Marlena sit down as their out of character alter egos Dustin and Terri and discuss their family life, their love for their daughter Dakota and how much he enjoys playing an entertaining character for the people. They finish up the same way the previous one did, tugging on our heart strings about him chasing his father’s approval and making Dusty sound like a bit of a heel for not loving his son enough.

The Undertaker appears on the big screen for a remote interview with Jim Ross. He addresses Paul Bearer’s comments from earlier (“some events take place on the dark side and should remain there”) and Faarooq (“My physical condition doesn’t matter because I win matches with my mental game, and I need to go to the vault of souls to get a demon to help me fight a Nation”). JR seems to think that means The Undertaker needs back up and is going to get it. I wonder who his friend is?

In a four way elimination match - something the WWF in this era has gotten very adept at using - The Headbangers, Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon, The New Blackjacks and Tag Team Champions Bulldog and Owen. There’s no mention of the Tag titles being on the line in this one. Furnas and Lafon are the first team eliminated and then, sore losers, come back to the ring to trip Bradshaw and allow the Headbangers to eliminate the Blackjacks next leaving this as a non-title match between the Hart Foundation and The Headbangers. Owen and Bulldog are scheduled to defend the gold at the King of the Ring against the LOD. Mosh and Thrasher put in a great effort and hit some nice double teams including an assisted suplex into a splash on Owen. That gets a three count but Thrasher wasn’t legal when he pinned and so the match continues. That ends up not making any sense as after more of a back and forth the match breaks down and Bulldog (the illegal man) pins Thrasher (also illegal) with his running powerslam to win the match. Might as well have been a title match!
After a commercial break Owen and Bulldog are still in the ring, joined by Neidhart, Pillman and Bret Hart. Is the Hitman going to finally tell us what his big surprise is? Hilariously Bret tells the other members to all head back to the locker room but Bulldog is too busy posing for the crowd that he clearly didn’t hear him and doesn’t react the way everyone else did. I imagine he was on something. With some reluctance Pillman, Neidhart, Owen and Bulldog leave the wheelchair bound Bret all alone in the ring. He warns Austin not to come out or he’ll have the Harts return to tear him apart. Bret calls out Shawn Michaels and HBK comes to the ring and stands silently letting Bret rant at him.

Bret talks for so long about how Shawn is a degenerate and how much he hates his guts, insulting his manhood and saying he dances and poses for the girls that the show actually ends - Bret went way over time so the fans watching the broadcast never got to see how this segment ended. Thankfully my version of the show does have the aftermath and after his long speech, Bret hobbles to his feet and is dropped with a Sweet Chin Music! The Hart Foundation rushed the ring to attack Michaels and after chasing him around the ring, Bulldog prepared to throw Shawn off the ramp! He’s rescued by Stone Cold who still has the crutch and hammers on the Harts with it, Michaels and Austin winning the exchange and sending Owen, Bulldog, Pillman and Neidhart back to the ring to check on the injured Bret! I wonder if Bret intentionally talked long enough to let the segment run over out of spite because he genuinely believed all the things he was saying about Michaels.

Raw is War - May 19th 1997

Raw this week opens with a recap of last week’s main event segment which is needed because a lot of fans won’t have seen how the segment ended thanks to Bret going way over time with his promo. I’ve already described what you missed so I won’t recap it again.
In the ring, Jim Ross interviews Stone Cold Steve Austin who makes it very clear that he didn’t rescue Shawn Michaels last week, he just saw his chance to attack the Hart Foundation and took it. Shawn comes down to the ring and says the same thing about having rescued Austin previously - he just hates the Harts. They’ve both VERY clear that they did not need to be rescued and do not want the other’s help. They start to shove each other and it turns into a furious brawl with fists flying until the ring fills with referees and security. Bulldog and Owen appear on the titantron and laugh at the pair of them fighting each other instead of working together like stupid Americans. Owen Hart offers them a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championships next week IF they can work together that long. Shawn Michaels says he’d gladly find a different partner rather than try to work with Austin. Stone Cold tells Shawn the same thing and now they’re arguing over which of them should get the title shot with a different partner next week and start to fight again. These two are super popular and despite the tension their bickering actually landed on the side of funny rather than annoying which is good.

This match was supposed to be Crush vs. Vader in the King of the Ring tournament but for some reason Vader has been removed and instead Hunter Hearst Helmsley is getting a second chance to qualify in his place. WWF official Gerald Brisco explains the ruling by Gorilla Monsoon; he was told that he could only advance via pinfall or submission and so HHH threatened legal action because he was under the belief that a disqualification couldn’t eliminate him. That’s actually quite clever. Helmsley picks up the win despite some failed interference from Savio Vega so HHH advances to the semi finals. Post match Crush blames Savio for the loss and Faarooq is forced to come down and keep the peace and hold his two soldiers apart.

In a non title match, Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion Owen Hart faces Bob Holly. Owen has Bulldog and Neidhart with him at ringside for moral support. Why is Bob getting this match as well as some prematch hype with interviews before the match? This Raw took place in his hometown and it shows as there’s a huge pop when he shocks Owen with a small package roll up to get a big upset victory!

Backstage Shawn Michaels has found himself a tag team partner; The world’s most dangerous man Ken Shamrock. So it looks like Michaels and Shamrock will challenge for the Tag Team titles next week?

The “get to know” style interviews like we’ve seen with Goldust continue and this week is the first part of Jim Ross’ series of interviews with Mankind. Unlike Goldust, Mankind doesn’t break character and manages to walk the line, staying Mankind but talking about his real life past and who Mick Foley is. These interviews are infamous and they are incredible so I don’t want to try and do them justice. They show childhood home videos of him and his friends wrestling in the backyard, Foley throwing himself off the roof of his house onto a crash pad made of old mattresses and cardboard boxes. It’s incredible stuff.

There’s an update on Rob Van Dam who we saw last week; Jerry Lawler was excited to bring him to the WWF but Paul Heyman has used legal threats to keep him in ECW so I guess if you want to see more of that spectacular young man you’ll have to go and watch ECW (wink).
Scotty Taylor makes his “debut” which isn’t really a debut as we’ve seen him work intermittently as a jobber since 1993. He takes on Leif Cassidy who snapped after losing to Scott Putski last week. For the second time tonight there’s an upset victory using the exact same move - Taylor catches Leif with a small package and picks up the win and just like last week Leif screams in JR’s face and rants about how he’s sick of it.

Backstage Stone Cold is looking for a partner of his own and walks in on Sable changing and asks if she’ll be his partner. She’s obviously a fan because she was covering up with an Austin 3:16 t-shirt!

After the mid-show changeover (where they play the opening video again) Vince McMahon has joined commentary for the second hour and The Hart Foundation heads down to the ring. Bret is out of his wheel chair and is more mobile on crutches as Vince hypes that he’s finally going to share the big surprise that he promised last week. He runs down Shawn Michaels again before getting to his announcement - he will be ready to wrestle at the King of the Ring and he wants a match with Shawn Michaels at the PPV with one important stipulation; if he can’t beat Shawn Michaels in less than 10 minutes then he will never wrestle in the United States ever again. Michaels appears on the titantron and tells Bret that he couldn’t beat him in 60 minutes at Wrestlemania 12 so there’s no way he can do it in 10. This is another infamous moment as during Shawn’s promo he mentions that Bret Hart has had some “Sunny days” which to those in the know (including Bret’s wife watching at home) is Shawn outing Bret Hart for having an affair with Sunny. Especially hypocritical given that Shawn was having an affair with her too! Sunny got around. They agree to the match at the King of the Ring but that match doesn’t take place. I’ll discuss why as the story unfolds on TV.

Goldust comes down to the ring and introduces Marlena and their real life daughter Dakota and the three share a nice moment. Vince loved it but Jerry Lawler spends the segment being nasty about the kid and, when Goldust’s match with Rockabilly starts, he continually insults Goldust and says his father is ashamed of him. He’s pretty nasty here and does have a King of the Ring quarter final match against Goldust next week. Honky Tonk Man tries to use his guitar as a weapon but Goldust disarms him and smashes it over his head instead. I’m not sure why but the referee rules that a disqualification and awards the match to Rockabilly.

Vince conducts a remote interview with Ahmed Johnson about Faarooq’s comments about race last week. Ahmed fires up and says he’s not a racist and won’t play the race card like Faarooq did but he does agree that there should have been a black WWF Champion by now and he gets angry and says he will be the first black Champion.

Elsewhere backstage Stone Cold continues to look for a partner for next week. He doesn’t really want a partner, he just wants someone to stand on the apron and let him do all the work. He settles on Harvey Whippleman but when the Brooklyn Brawler tries to volunteer, Austin kicks his ass for it.
Faarooq takes on Rocky Maivia and after a short back and forth, beats him with the Dominator. After the match, Crush and Savio are about to attack and beat him up but Faarooq puts a stop to it, obviously not wanting to see a black man get beaten up.
Backstage as payback for daring to win his match with Owen earlier, the Hart Foundation violently assaults Bob Holly four on one. It’s so dark you can barely see what's happening, hence no screenshots.
Vince McMahon interviews WWF Champion The Undertaker in the ring. He addresses Faarooq’s comments last week and says he sees no colour; he’s not white, he’s not black, he’s the reaper of souls. Faarooq won’t lose at King of the Ring because he’s black, he’ll lose because he’s not good enough to beat The Undertaker. He’s about to leave when Paul Bearer appears on the titantron and taunts Undertaker with this secret that only he knows! It’s time for him to reveal it but Undertaker stops him and his words catch in his throat! The Undertaker is shaken to his core. The Undertaker is so desperate for this secret not to come out that he will consider Paul’s offer to return to him - he needs more time so Bearer gives him 7 days. If he’s not subservient to Bearer again by the end of next week’s Raw he will open Pandora’s box!

Stone Cold Steve Austin goes one on one with Jim Neidfart but before the match even gets going, Brian Pillman heads down to ringside for a closer look and joins the commentary team. That doesn’t last long and as soon as Austin gets in control, Pillman rushes the ring and snaps a crutch across his back. The rest of the Harts (minus Bret) rush the ring and its four on one until Shawn Michaels rescues him with a steel chair. He runs them off with a string of shots to the head and the show closes with an announcement from Jim Ross - Gorilla Monsoon has ruled that the two of them MUST be partners with each other next week, they can’t swap each other out. The two of them start to brawl and Raw closes with referees trying hard to separate the two main eventers who are, technically, on the same page!

Raw is War - May 26th 1997

Raw kicks off with Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels in the ring with Jim Ross. He asks them a straight forward question - can they co-exist tonight? They argue over who the captain of the team is until they’re interrupted by the Legion of Doom. Hawk and Animal get in their faces and make them promise that IF they win the titles tonight they’ll give the LOD their title match. That leads into the opening match which is Hawk and Animal vs. Neidhart and Pillman. The entire Hart Foundation comes out onto the ramp including Bret who is no longer on crutches and now has a match scheduled at the King of the Ring with Shawn Michaels. After a commercial break everyone has cleared out except the four men in this opening tag team match. This marks Brian Pillman’s first match in the WWF despite having been signed late in 1996 - he’s been recovering from a serious ankle injury and surgery. As soon as the LOD gets in trouble, Bulldog rushes the ring to attack followed by Austin and Shawn Michaels and the four of them furiously brawl with the Hart Foundation, clearing them out of the ring! There’s some miscommunication as Michaels tries to baseball slide Neidhart but accidently hits Austin - Austin refuses to accept that it's a mistake and the two of them start to fight AGAIN! It’s a testament to how popular the LOD actually were that while Austin and Michaels brawl at ringside the crowd chants for Hawk and Animal!

Backstage Paul Bearer says that tonight either The Undertaker will be back by his side or the secret will be revealed. Since the fireball he has stopped with the white make up, hair dye and fake voice so we can see his real ginger hair and hear his real speaking voice. He says he has the Undertaker’s secret hidden away so if anything happens to him it’ll still be revealed.

In a debut, D’Lo Brown has finally emerged from the background of the Nation and in ring gear is finally given his name for his match against Bob Holly. Faarooq, Crush and Savio are all at ringside so I don’t fancy Holly’s chances. Faarooq joins commentary and lectures Vince and JR on racism in America. He’s sick of waiting for equality and he’s going to create equality by throwing fists and kicking ass and becoming WWF Champion. D’Lo shows some promise in the ring with a slingshot leg drop and some creative moves, finishing off Holly with a big sit down powerbomb for his first victory.

Backstage they attempt to interview Undertaker but there’s some audio issues and we can’t hear what he says. That’s bad timing! Elsewhere backstage, Jerry Lawler talks about his King of the Ring quarter final with Goldust. He insults Goldust calling him a sissy, saying his daughter is ugly and no wonder his dad doesn’t love him. This was NASTY and leads into the match. The crowd is weirdly behind Lawler. This show was down south where he wrestled for many years but sadly, being that it was 1997, I think even after the interviews and meeting the “real” Goldust a large chunk of the fans aren’t going to cheer for “a homo”, even one who’s married to a beautiful blonde and has kids with her! Lawler wins this match, which shocked me, with a roll up and putting his feet on the ropes for leverage. It gets a big pop from the fans in Tennessee who loudly boo Goldust when he goes to attack King for his cheating. Lawler takes a bump from the top of the ramp and rolls and flops head over heels all the way to the bottom of the stage which was a fun spot.

Breaking news from backstage as the Hart Foundation attacks Stone Cold Steve Austin in the locker room, beating down one of their challengers tonight and seemingly taking him out of the Tag Team title match. After a commercial break Stone Cold is up and rampages through the back to ask Shawn Michaels why he didn’t watch his back? Michaels was down and being helped up too and had clearly also been jumped but neither man is willing to back down and concede the other has a point, arguing about who is captain and who failed to watch the other’s back.

Rocky Maivia faces Flash Funk. Rocky has cooled off significantly since losing the Intercontinental title and Vince draws attention to that and how success likely came too quick for him and he’s not able to keep up that level. They’re both babyfaces and shake hands and keep things fair and square but the match doesn’t last long before The Headbangers come throug the crowd carrying inflatable armchairs and popcorn and set up a little living room for themselves at ringside next to the announce desk. Flash and Rocky are both knocked down after a dive to the outside and so Mosh and Thrasher decide to go and attack them, beating up Rocky and smashing their boombox over Flash Funk’s head! I’m not sure why that didn’t result in a disqualification but Rocky followed up with a crossbody off the top rope to win the match. After the bell Flash tells Rocky what happened and he’s disgusted, hugging Funk and raising his arm clearly annoyed that his win was tainted by the headbangers.
In the Hart Foundation locker room, Bret explains the rules for he and Shawn Michaels’ match at King of the Ring - the Hart Foundation will all be handcuffed at ringside so they can’t interfere and Bret will only have 10 minutes to win because that’s all he needs. Brian Pillman also mentions his own match at King of the Ring against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Neither of those matches happened but we’re only two weeks out from the PPV here so I wonder how that’ll change in the coming shows?

Ken Shamrock joins commentary for the next match which is Vader (who doesn’t seem too bothered that he was removed from the King of the Ring tournament last week) vs. Ahmed Johnson. Actually, I spoke too soon but I’ll leave my mistake in as it serves as a nice setup for this match - Vader missed the qualifier because of injury and so he asked for another shot, meaning this match has Ahmed’s spot in the KOTR semi finals on the line. It’s a decent but short big man vs. big man match which Ahmed wins with a big spinebuster!
Hunter Hearst Helmsley battles Rockabilly with their respective managers, Chyna and the Honky Tonk Man. The match goes back and forth and Honky tries to use the guitar on Hunter. Chyna stops him and bodyslams him and the distraction on Billy leads to a Pedigree and Helmsley picks up the win.

In this week’s Get to Know Mankind video, Jim Ross’s interview and journey through Mick Foley’s youth continues. He was a weird kid with a high pain tolerance who loved attention and created a wrestling character - a ladies man named Dude Love - and recorded matches and promos in his backyard with his friend. I think most wrestling fans have seen the Dude Love tapes now but it's fascinating to see how kids in the 80s used to spend their time! More on Mick Foley next week as we’ll meet Cactus Jack (his name in WCW and ECW).

After a lot of build up, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin take on Owen Hart and the British Bulldog for the WWF Tag Team Championships. Owen and Bulldog look awesome, both being double champions with their titles over their shoulders but they leave the IC and Euro belts with Bret, Neidhart and Pillman at the top of the ramp. The match kicks off energetically with a fight on the outside and settles down to Austin and Owen as the legal men. This is Michaels’ first televised match since defeating Sycho Sid at the Royal Rumble in January! Michaels spends this match selling and getting beaten up by Owen and Bulldog. As evidence that I’ve watched too much wrestling there’s three separate Jim Ross soundbytes in this single match which were used time and time again for Shawn Michaels’ video packages over the next couple of years. HBK tags in Austin and the match breaks down. In the chaos. Michaels catches Bulldog with the Sweet Chin Music and Austin gets the cover and wins the Tag Team titles! The Hart Foundation rushes the ring and attacks Michaels but Stone Cold, instead of helping his new tag team championship partner, goes after Bret Hart! He tackles the Hitman off his feet and wails on his leg until Owen and Neidhart get there to make the save. A chaotic finish but we have new WWF Tag Team champions! Backstage after the break as Austin tries to take solo credit for winning the gold, Michaels arrives and chews him out and they argue over who REALLY won the match and the titles for them.

In the main event segment Paul Bearer comes to the ring and prepares to reveal to the world what The Undertaker’s darkest secret is. He begins the story and says that the day Undertaker’s parents were buried there were three graves, not two! Who was in the third grave? The Undertaker rushes to the ring and cuts him off. He tells Bearer that he HATES him with every fiber of his soul but he hopes that all of the people who love him can forgive him for what he’s about to do - he grabs Bearer around the throat but, after a long pause, falls to his knees and allows Paul Bearer to put him back in his service! We’re left with the burning question; how bad must The Undertaker’s secret be to allow himself to be controlled by Paul Bearer again?

Raw is War - June 2nd 1997

This week’s show opens the same way last week’s ended; the WWF Champion The Undertaker heads down to the ring. Vince McMahon asks him to explain himself but the Deadman keeps things vague. It would have been satisfying to break Paul Bearer’s neck but innocent people from his past would suffer if the secret were to be revealed. He hates it and is miserable but he must face the persecution of his fans to do the right thing. He closes with a warning to Paul Bearer; he will make a deal with the devil himself to see Bearer burn in hell. Bearer himself comes down and screams at the Undertaker for daring to come out and speak to the public without his permission. He calls himself the master of the world which is a good cue for the return of Sycho Sid! The big man enters to a massive pop and JR explains that he’s been missing because of a lower back injury. He tells Paul that HE is the master and ruler of the world. He says he didn’t want a rematch previously because he respected The Undertaker but now, seeing him back with Paul Bearer disgusts him so he wants a match tonight. The Undertaker accepts his challenge and the (non title) match is on! Faarooq comes out onto the stage and tells them that this time next week he’ll be the WWF champion and the world will be ruled by a black man. He says that going along with blackmail means Undertaker doesn’t deserve to be champion! Undertaker takes off after Faarooq followed by Sid.

In the opening match, Ahmed Johnson faced Faarooq. Before the match there’s a full on video package recapping their rivalry all the way back to Faarooq’s debut in the summer of 1996. That makes it seem like tonight is the blow off and the final battle between these two. There’s more Undertaker based chaos in this match as after a short match, The Nation rushes the ring and attacks Ahmed ending it by disqualification. The Undertaker runs down and rescues Johnson. Faarooq and the rest of the Nation bail out but Ahmed is unhappy with The Undertaker as during the skirmish he throws Faarooq into him. He gets in Undertaker’s face not appreciating the help or the miscommunication so the WWF Champion plans him with a chokeslam!

In the ring, Bret Hart gives us a medical update; his knee has been reinjured by Stone Cold so his PPV match with Shawn Michaels is now cancelled. Austin and Michaels are both on the big screen and argue back and forth about last night until finally Michaels goes to find Austin and they continue to argue and bicker. In the ring, Bret whispers something in Pillman’s ear and the loose cannon says that he wants to cancel his match with Austin at the King of the Ring so that he and Michaels can wrestle and sort out their own issues instead, which Stone Cold accepts and promises he’ll get his hands on Pillman later down the line. Later on, Michaels accepts the challenge and wil face his tag team partner at King of the Ring.

As a result of winning a non-title match two weeks ago, Bob Holly now gets a shot at Owen Hart’s Intercontinental Championship. It’s a pretty short match which Owen wins with ease by submission with the Sharpshooter.

In a renewing of an old rivalry, Goldust faces HHH with an important stipulation; the winner of this match gets a shot at the European Championship next week on Raw. Could be a big 24 hours for HHH who has a chance to become 1997 King of the Ring the night before that. Chyna tries to get involved but the “spunky” Marlena distracts her and in turn HHH so that Goldust is able to roll him up and steal the win and a shot at the European title next week on Raw. A furious Chyna throws the referee out of the ring.

After the mid show pyro break and replay of the opening of Raw, Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels defend the WWF Tag Team Championships against Hawk and Animal, the Legion of Doom. LOD last held the titles in 1991 which feels like a lifetime ago compared to these events from 1997. This is the first championship Austin ever held in the WWF. The match is good with the crowd red hot for the whole thing but it’s ruined when the Hart Foundation comes down to the ring for a closer look. Michaels gets distracted so Austin has to go and get his partner and make hinm focus on the match by pulling his hair. That turns into a fist fight and with the Champions brawling outside the ring they get counted out, giving the LOD the win but not the titles. The crowd loudly booed the finish; they wanted a real end to this one.

This week’s Mick Foley interview is another awesome one and thanks to some footage from outside companies in Japan and even ECW they were able to tell the story of Cactus Jack and how dangerous and wild he was; he wrestled in barbed wire, landed on beds of nail and had his arm horrifically burned. JR points out some deep scars down one of Mick’s arms and asks if those came from his experiences in Japan. It’s another incredible performance from Mick Foley who manages to remain in character as Mankind while talking about real life, who he really is and how this is a character. This series will conclude next week with an examination of how he became Mankind in the WWF.

Mankind is in action next, wrestling Savio Vega in the final KOTR quarter final match. The winner of this will face Jerry Lawler in the semi finals so King is on commentary for this one. It’s a subtle nod to Mankind’s coming face turn that he is wrestling a heel here, and if he wins he’ll wrestle a heel at the King of the Ring. Mankind gets a cheer when he comes out and Jim Ross and Vince McMahon point it out and discuss their shock that the people love him, now openly talking about Mick Foley and wishing Dude Love was here to see the people cheer for him. That’s nice stuff! As they fight around the ring Lawler keeps calling Mick a freak so he grabs him over the table. The referee is distracted by this and Crush tries to take advantage and knock him out - he misses and hits his own Nation member Savio! Mankind gets the pin and the victory to advance to the King of the Ring semi finals against Lawler. After the match Savio and Crush have words and it looks like the Nation is starting to break down! Savio shoves Crush who punches him and the two of them start rolling around and scrapping on the mat. Faarooq initially comes out to stop this but stops and waves it off, leaving them to it! He’s so focused on himself as a black man now that perhaps he no longer wants these non-blacks in his Nation anyway?

While running down the card for the King of the Ring, JR breaks the news of a new match; a six man tag with the Hart Foundation vs. The LOD and Sycho Sid. That’s a good one, and brings us to the main event which is a non-title Wrestlemania 13 rematch - Undertaker vs. Sid. Paul Bearer is with The Undertaker and JR hammers home that Undertaker is tortured and miserable and has nothing but hatred for Bearer. This was a shorter match than I expected and Undertaker wins clean with a Tombstone. Before he can celebrate he’s attacked by the Nation and beaten down three on one but Sid is back on his feet and helps out. Sid tries to fight on behalf of The Undertaker because he’s a good guy but the three on one odds are too much for him too and he’s likewise overwhelmed. Faarooq whips at The Undertaker with his leather strap and the crowd chants for the LOD - I’m not sure why, I guess they’re just the most likely babyfaces to actually make the save here. Sid and Undertaker endure a long, long beating until Raw finally ends with a show of strength by The Nation of Domination.

This was a solid and entertaining four weeks of Raw where the company has clearly learned that they need to load up every episode with big events and matches. The build to King of the Ring was confusing with matches announced and then cancelled at the last minute but I’m happy with the final card we have!

WWF Championship

WWF Tag Team Champion Shawn Michaels vs. WWF Tag Team Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin

The Hart Foundation (WWF Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart, WWF European Champion The British Bulldog and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart vs. Sycho Sid and The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)

Plus the King of the Ring tournament!