Raw is War - October 6th 1997

• The event opens with Vince McMahon in the ring to address the tragic news of Brian Pillman’s death. He was found dead in his hotel room on October 5th 1997 and personally I think that the way it was mentioned and addressed on TV during the PPV last night was pretty tasteless. Less tasteless is the moment of silence and 10 bell salute in tribute to open Raw is War. The WWF Superstars stand in somber reflection but there were some fans in the crowd who clearly didn’t understand the gravity of the situation and shouted out to get attention. That’s not the last we’ll hear about Pillman tonight but more on that later.
• I’ll talk about it now because it feels like a good spot to fill in the details; this episode of Raw was supposed to feature a vow renewal ceremony between Dustin “Goldust” Runnels and Terri “Marlena” Runnels to celebrate her return from captivity by Pillman. Marlena would have then turned on Goldust and sided with Pillman, choosing her ex-boyfriend over her husband and child and turning heel. That obviously won’t be happening now so we’ll see how that storyline plays out in the coming weeks.

• Shawn Michaels survived (the incredible) first ever Hell in a Cell match and defeated The Undertaker thanks to the debut of a huge monster, led to the ring by Paul Bearer. HBK is now the number one contender to the WWF title at Survivor Series and in the ring, Michael Cole makes his first ever in-arena appearance to interview Michaels. They give him his “official hello” in the form of a massive wedgie by Chyna and Triple H. JR and Vince have been comparing this trio to frat boys and calling them childish, so this kind of goofy and very 90s comedy is what we can expect going forward. After a lot of talking about how great Shawn Michaels is, he calls for footage from last night’s Hell in a Cell footage but instead its fancam footage from the infamous Curtain Call incident in 1996. This is a reference that most of the audience wouldn’t get but Michaels and Triple H get into Vince’s face and taunt him, bringing up a lot of the things that made it upsetting at the time specifically that Vince was furious at them for doing it in Madison Square Garden which would have upset Vince’s dad. They cut to a commercial break and then the show comes back, they’re STILL having a go at Vince making lots of insider references until finally Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation interrupts; something which Michaels claims Vince called for to shut him up. The Hitman calls Michaels a disgrace to professional wrestling and this is a heated back and forth with Bret clearly genuinely very angry and Michaels laughing it all off. As unprofessional as it was for these guys to air their dirty laundry on live TV, it definitely made for good TV. Bret calls Shawn and Hunter a pair of “homos” and accuses them of “barebacking their way” to the main event. They laugh at that, as well as his claim to be paid more than them (I’ll talk about that at Survivor Series). Bret calls them degenerates more than once and then challenges Triple H to a match tonight which, while pulling silly faces, he accepts. When the Harts leave Shawn gives us the first on screen “suck it” and says that the only way Bret Hart can get into a main event these days is by wrestling him because he’s a paper champion. This was a great opening segment with a lot of fourth wall breaks and while that might feel passe now, at the time it was cutting edge. It did feel like Michaels kept talking a lot longer than he was supposed to, rambling at the end about how he and his Kliq rule the wrestling world.

• The new WWF Tag Team Champions The Godwins take on The Headbangers in a non-title Lumberjack match. The ring is surrounded by the LOD, Los Boricuas, the DOA, The Truth Commission and The Nation of Domination and others. This might be my only chance to mention it tonight so in other tag team division news, Jesse James and Rockabilly agreed to form a tag team on the October 4th episode of Shotgun Saturday Night. We’ll see more of them on Raw soon enough. With all of those stables at ringside I think we all knew how this was going to end - it turned into a massive brawl with all of the lumberjacks brawling in the ring. In the chaos, Mosh rules up Phineas and gets the win, so presumably they’ll be due a rematch for the Tag Team titles at some point soon? 

• Miguel Perez of Los Boricuas goes one on one with Marc Mero. This is the first time I’ve seen the former Wildman on Raw in a while and he’s had a significant gimmick change. He’s dressed as a boxer and has new, much better theme music. This is his first match back after having his knee surgically repaired the previous year and he has a shaved head and a much more serious attitude. Also part of this new attitude? A chip on his shoulder that people pay more attention to Sable than to him. Mero debuts a new finishing move - the TKO which is a fireman’s carry spun into a neckbreaker - to pick up the win. Jerry Lawler gets the storyline over, calling Sable his real meal ticket and the only thing that actually gets him attention. 

• The WWF is ramping up their “attitude” and making a lot more insider comments and bringing the “reality” to the WWF. We saw it earlier with Michaels and Triple H, and in hyping up an interview with Brian Pillman’s widow later the WCW Tag Team title belts appeared on the show via a framed photo of the Hollywood Blondes. The big moment however is Jim Cornette’s “straight shooting”, openly discussing the men in WCW. He sings the praises of Ric Flair and Arn Anderson and shits all over the NWO, calling Kevin Nash a lazy, untalented user and saying that Nash and Hall used the WWF because they’re greedy. He says Sean Waltman only has a job because his friends think he's funny when he’s drunk and he’s the only one whose contract was allowed to end because he’s not worth anything. He finishes up by targeting Eric Bishoff, making fun of his massive ego and his need to hang out with “real” men so it will rub off on his pansy ass. This was good stuff, and much like earlier it's the kind of thing that seems unremarkable now but in 1997 this blew people’s minds! 

• The British Bulldog, with Owen, Bret and Neidhart with him for backup. This is a faction vs. faction match as Bulldog faces Rocky Maivia, with the rest of The Nation in his corner. The Rock shows off a delayed elbow drop, complete with some theatrics during this match - it gets a one count. Little did people know that would become the most electrifying move in all of entertainment. A running powerslam gives Bulldog the clean victory but then Faarooq rushes them with his leather belt and goes on the attack. This quickly turned into a four on four brawl; Faarooq is upset he’s not the Intercontinental Champion. They’re separated by officials and referees and that leads neatly into the second hour and us finding out the fate of Stone Cold Steve Austin. He helped Owen Hart win the IC title last night and we’re not sure why, so hopefully we’ll find out the answer to that too! Stone Cold marches to the ring and gets in Vince’s face. Option one is out of the window; he hasn’t been to see a doctor so he has no idea if he’s cleared or not! Option two is that he signs the paperwork to get back in the ring anyway, absolving the WWF and himself of any legal responsibility. Austin says he will sign the papers as long as Vince promises him a rematch with Owen Hart for the Intercontinental title as soon as he can have it! Vince agrees, shakes his hand and it's a done deal! That makes it clear why he screwed over Faarooq - he wants to take the title back from Owen Hart specifically. Austin is interrupted by The Nation and Faarooq calls him a honky and rants at him about how his tough upbringing makes him the REAL tough guy. I feel like Faarooq’s speech is probably racist, rattling off a bunch of stereotypes about poor black people. “This aint a race thing, this aint a colour thing, this is a me kicking your ass thing!” is one of my favourite Austin lines. Before he leaves he steals Jerry Lawler’s crown and punts it into the crowd! Funny stuff. 

• Owen Hart defends the Intercontinental Championship against the Legion of Doom’s Hawk. Before the match, Owen accuses Austin of trying to get him disqualified last night but that he valiantly overcame his interference to win the title. The Godwins come down to the ring to watch this match and try to cost Hawk, hitting him with one of their slop buckets but he kicks out. Animal runs down and attacks the Godwins, fighting them both off but Uncle Cletus distracts the referee so that when Hawk has the match won there’s no referee to count. Henry gets another cheap shot in with a metal horseshoe and Owen retains the title. 

• Hyped up throughout the show, Vince McMahon speaks to Brian Pillman’s widow Melanie. This was considered classless at the time and was pretty universally agreed as a bad thing to have done on TV. Vince presses her with questions about the cause of death and brings up addiction to prescription painkillers in an attempt to show that his death was not the WWF’s fault. Sadly, Melanie didn’t have a happy ending either. She and Brian were going through a messy divorce at the time and he was living in the basement of their house which was supposed to be a wakeup call for him to get clean. She didn’t file a wrongful death lawsuit against the WWF which she later regretted and the close to $100,000 that Vince McMahon did give her was, according to her children, spent by her on drugs as she spiralled into addiction. Melanie ended her life working a minimum wage job and passed away in 2022 after spending 25 years angry, sad and struggling with addiction. Brian Pillman’s legacy is as a great in ring performer who’s life ended too soon but Its more fitting to remember that he was a loving father who loved all of his kids, adopted or not.

• The young team of Matt and Jeff Hardy are scheduled to take on The Truth Commission in tag team action but instead the arena lights go out and with the same creepy music as last night, Kane makes his Raw debut. Led to the ring by a smiling Paul Bearer and with the arena bathed in an eerie red glow Kane absolutely destroys the Hardy Boys with a double chokeslam and then a gorilla press, launching Jeff out of the ring and onto Matt and they both land with a splat on the metal entrance ramp. Paul screams that The Undertaker rejected him and slapped him around, calling him a liar so he had no choice and formally introduces us to The Undertaker’s younger brother Kane. He survived the fire and has suffered and hidden for 20 years waiting for his chance to emerge and let him know that he’s alive. Welcome to your worst nightmare!

• In the main event, WWF Champion Bret Hart faces Triple H in a non-title match. During this, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross needle Vince McMahon about all of the fourth wall breaks tonight and force him to accept and admit that WCW exists. “You can’t ignore them forever!”. The implication from Shawn earlier is that his fellow Kliq members Hall, Nash and Waltman are in fact still in close contact with him and between them they now rule both the WWF and WCW. It’s a hell of a statement and it's certainly true that, Hulk Hogan aside, this one group of friends did dominate wrestling throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. They still do in 2026 - Michaels and Helmsley run the WWE both on screen and in real life! Shawn Michaels comes down to the ring and distracts Bret so HHH can take control of the match and HBK has some fun, telling the fans in the front row to suck it and stuffing Bret’s Canadian flag up his nose. Understandably, the rest of the Hart Foundation come down to ringside to provide some balance against Michaels and Chyna so this is another situation likely to end in a big chaotic brawl. Rick Rude comes down to ringside and hits Owen and Bulldog with his metal briefcase from behind. As the referee is distracted by he and Neidhart’s argument, Chyna gets a cheap shot in on Bret and then Michaels drops him with Sweet Chin Music on the outside of the ring. That knocks Bret out cold and Triple H wins via count out! He, Chyna and Michaels escape and celebrate with Rude on the entrance ramp as the Harts check on a fallen Bret. What a chaotic episode of Raw! The change in direction for the company is so exciting to experience week to week and you can really see the creative wheels turning as they throw everything at the wall to counteract WCW’s popularity. At this point it had been about a year since Raw defeated Nitro in the Monday Night ratings battle so desperate times call for desperate measures.

Raw is War - October 13th 1997

• Raw opens with a video highlighting the Legion of Doom, who will challenge The Godwins for the WWF Tag Team Championships tonight. I enjoyed this and it was wild to see them in normal clothes and speaking with their normal voices at the time so here it is. The LOD has said they will either win the titles tonight, or they will retire! There were multiple video packages about the LOD during the show to really hammer home that this might be the end of their careers. 

• Vince McMahon interviews Bret Hart, Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart in the ring. The Bulldog isn’t here tonight because he has both a birthday to celebrate and a wedding anniversary! Before Bret can speak he’s interrupted by Shawn Michaels on the titantron and, in an iconic moment, officially gives a name to his group with Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude - Bret keeps calling them degenerates so that makes them D-Generation X! The way that’s spelt would differ over the next couple of months but I’m going to spell it the way I know it should be. Shawn shows footage of him stuffing the flag up his nose last week and of him knocking out Bret with the Chin Music as he and HHH offer jokes and commentary on it, laughing at the Harts for being slow and old. They’re such massive assholes but in 1997 this was cutting edge and very much on trend. Bret doesn’t get a chance to respond before The Nation of Domination comes out next as Kama has a non-title match with Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart. The chaos continues as before THAT can begin, D-Generation X comes out onto the stage to watch this match from a distance. Michaels and Helmsley take JR and Vince’s headsets and take over commentary for this match, calling Bret Hart boring and munching on bananas (because they’re phallic, y’see?) Shawn has some good lines saying that Stu Hart is dead but his body doesn’t know it yet. Rick Rude is careful not to insult the Harts directly because, in real life, he was very close with Bret. The rest of the Hart Foundation finally have had enough of DX and go to attack them but The Nation are waiting and Michaels and Helmsley are able to remain out of the fray letting The Nation beat up the Hart Foundation for them! Michaels does stuff his banana into Bret’s face before he leaves so the Hitman is left seething, watching Michaels dance and mock him from the ramp (while wearing Faarooq’s hat!) 

• Tag Team Champions The Godwins say that tonight they’re going to get rid of the LOD and end their careers. This war will be worth every bit of pain to accomplish that. Later in the show, Animal and Hawk cut a promo of their own in their real voices saying that they don’t want to coast on old glories “like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage” and if they can’t win the titles tonight then it is time to hang it up. 

• Mosaic and Tarantula take on Max Mini and Nova in a minis rematch from Badd Blood. This is another fun but short (no pun intended) match which Max Mini wins with a roll up.
• During the show they promote the Survivor Series Super Supper Sweepstakes where you could win dinner with your favourite WWF Superstar. It was won by Jacqueline Cook who, along with 10 of her friends, had dinner with Stone Cold Steve Austin! That’s a cool prize.

• I mentioned Rockabilly and Jesse James forming themselves into a Tag team last week but this week on Shotgun Saturday night they made their rebrand official, changing their names to the Roaddogg and Badd Ass Billy Gunn and smashing a guitar over now former manager Honky Tonk Man’s head.

• Flash Funk is scheduled to wrestle Shawn Michaels but, before HBK enters, the arena lights go out and Kane makes his presence known. Paul Bearer has said that until The Undertaker accepts Kane’s challenge he will make his life a living hell. This is a message sent and after setting off his trademark corner pyro Kane destroys poor Flash with a one-armed chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver. There is a referee in the ring during this but it’s not a match and Paul Bearer repeats his challenge to The Undertaker afterwards - face Kane or he will take away everything he loves.

• After Kane leaves, Michaels comes down to the ring and pins Flash Funk to “get the win” as Triple H counts the three and Chyna rings the bell. Rick Rude announces him as the winner and D-Generation X continue to celebrate and pat themselves on the back. Funny stuff but you know these guys are REAL heels because even Jerry Lawler doesn’t like them! 

• Skull and 8-Ball of the DOA take on Sniper and Recon of the Truth Commission. Their leader has been replaced by The Jackyl, who fans will also know as Don Callis. He’s a very good promo man and also a wrestler, unlike the Commandant which is what the company wants - someone who can get physical. This match ends by disqualification as the 7 foot Interrogator loses his temper and shows off impressive strength, lifting the big 8-Ball up by the throat. That’s become the big man’s gimmick as he loses his temper and, like was shown on Shotgun Saturday Night, manhandles referees too. 

• Vince McMahon does a business deal with Stone Cold. With a contract to make it all official, Stone Cold will get an Intercontinental title match with Owen Hart at Survivor Series in exchange for Austin signing a contract that he can’t sue the WWF or Vince if his neck gets injured again. Stone Cold won’t sign first because he doesn’t trust McMahon so he insists on him signing first and then, finally, he signs himself and signals that after his injury at Summerslam the Rattlesnake will be back in the ring! Austin finishes with a handshake and Lawler giggles at the prospect of him getting another Stunner! Vince looks very concerned about the same thing but pushes his luck and asks one last question; why did he help Owen win the title? He says Faarooq was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he’s got no problem with the Nation he just wanted Owen to have the title so he can take it from him! That brings out a pissed off Faarooq who rants like a mad man. Austin has made an enemy for life and has sacrificed himself to him and The Nation! Stone Cold says that he can’t understand a damn word Faarooq is saying but if he wants to come and settle the score then he can do it right now - he’ll fight any member of The Nation who wants some. Rocky Maivia wants to do it and rushes the ring but doesn’t even make it into the ring before he takes a Stone Cold Stunner! Austin isn’t stupid and takes off after that, leaving through the crowd to avoid being beaten up four vs. one! 

• Tajiri (Yes, THAT Tajiri, my boy!) takes on Brian Christopher in light heavyweight action. This was really good, both of these guys are fast and crisp and Tajiri got the crowd behind him with his barrage of martial arts kicks and a standing moonsault. Christopher reverses a roll up and grabs the tights for illegal leverage to get the victory.
• This week’s Jim Cornette promo is about a TV guide columnist Phil Mushnick. Earlier in the show, Vince mentioned that this is what Cornette would be speaking about and called him a “low down, miserable son of a bitch”! Cornette explains that Mushnick has a one man crusade against pro-wrestling and pro-wrestling fans. Cornette actually defends WCW and ECW during this too as he speaks about wrestling in general. Mushnick talks about Vince like he’s a criminal and said that Ted Turner should shut down WCW “to make the world a better place” as well as calling wrestling fans idiots. This boils down to Cornette trying to rally fans to get Muchnick fired. What made them so mad at this guy? Because he used Brian Pillman’s death to try and start a witch hunt about wrestling. Now whether that might be a fair point (drug abuse in wrestling was rife and caused a lot of deaths before 40th birthdays) isn’t really for me to say but Cornette’s rant does a good job of making Muchnick sound like an asshole. He was never fired and still works for the New York Post to this day and has upset and written scathing pieces about all manner of celebrities and sports people. There’s more “real life intruding on WWF TV” stuff later in the show as Vince mention’s “WCW’s president Eric Bishoff” and some mean things he said about JR, who uses that to plug his WWF hotline; call in and pay a premium to hear JR respond. 
• Goldust and Marlena’s storyline with Pillman has been dropped and they’re back together. Vince uses this match and Goldust’s connection to movies to talk about Hulk Hogan’s movie which was about to come out, making jokes about No Holds Barred and how little money that made and how he tends to wear wigs in his movies. Goldust faces Savio Vega and Los Boricuas gets involved a couple of times so the referee forces them to leave. Goldust cheats to win, using Marlena’s purse as a weapon while she distracts the referee and then making a quick getaway before Los Boricuas can get their hands on him.
• Triple H, with Chyna and Shawn Michaels in his corner takes on The Patriot. I did say at Badd Blood that we’d seen the last of The Patriot as he suffered a knee injury but this match was taped before that injury occurred. This match doesn’t take place either as Rick Rude surprises The Patriot from behind and throws hot coffee in his face! Shawn Michaels declares Triple H the winner via forfeit and as they continue to applaud themselves in the ring, Commissioner Slaughter comes down to confront these two about their pranks and antics all night long. HHH and HBK continue their gimmick of reacting to Slaughter’s speech by recoiling from his spit. The Commissioner has a replacement opponent for Triple H so DX huddles and whispers and Rick Rude disappears backstage while Michaels and Triple H tell the Commissioner to suck it. The replacement opponent is Ahmed Johnson who isn’t even dressed to compete. He’s attacked from behind by The Nation and D-Generation X make a swift getaway! Clearly Rick Rude went backstage and manipulated this. While The Nation beat down Ahmed four on one, DX take a seat at the top of the entrance ramp and get popcorn out to watch the fight. Ken Shamrock and the LOD sprint down to help out Ahmed and DX smartly take their leave before any of the fighting heads in their direction. With the LOD already in the ring, Animal calls out The Godwins and it looks like we’re getting out Tag Team Championship main event right here and right now.

• The match has a big fight feel and they ratcheted up the drama with Vince and JR talking about the LOD’s retirement. The Godwins take out Animal by throwing him into the ringsteps apparently injruing his shoulder and hes taken to the back leaving Hawk all alone. The Godwins attack the referee trying to get themselves disqualified but that spurs Animal into running back to the ring to help out. Uncle Cletus gets involved seeing as there’s now no referee but his swing with the metal horseshoe misses Animal and knocks out Henry! A diving clothesline off the top from Hawk puts down Phineas and a second referee counts - the Legion of Doom are the new WWF Tag Team Champions! No retirement party yet for Hawk and Animal as they win their second WWF Tag Team Championship. The fans loved this and it felt like a big moment. Henry and Phineas beat up Uncle Cletus after the match so that brings that pairing to an end. Cletus has a lot of blood flowing from his nose too which is gross! 

Raw is War - October 20th 1997

• The new WWF Tag Team Champions the LOD open the show but they’re not here to compete, they’re here to be in the corner of Ken Shamrock and Ahmed Johnson for a tag team match against The Nation’s The Rock and Kama Mustafa. It turns into an eight man brawl with the babyfaces and all four Nation members briefly before it settles down into the tag team match. D-Generation X come out and take seats at the top of the ramp, holding up their own signs which are, as is not customary, full of insider jokes and fourth wall breaks.

• Rick Rude heads down to the ring and buddies up to Faarooq, having a private chat and suggesting that these two groups might be in some kind of cahoots. The Nation have had their issues with the Hart Foundation too, and Faarooq is supposed to wrestle Bret Hart later who is of course Shawn Michaels’ opponent at Survivor Series so there’s multiple story threads crossing over here! Faarooq uses Rick Rude’s metal briefcase as a weapon to knock out Shamrock and Rocky Maivia gets the win for his team. Ahmed is furious and runs up the ramp to confront The Nation, getting beaten up four on one. The LOD heads up to help but is attacked from behind by The Godwins with trash cans! This is chaotic and that continues after a commercial break as The Nation comes back out to confront Vince McMahon! Faarooq rants at him that he is a racist and then The Nation get in the ring. Faarooq speaks openly about how racist the United States are! I have no idea why he’s trying to turn black people heel, but he doesn’t want to wait for later and demands that The Hart Foundation come out here right now.

• The commentators fill in the blanks for us; someone has vandalised the Nation’s locker room and left a Canadian flag as a calling card. The Nation refuses to leave and after a long pause, the Hart Foundation does finally come out onto the stage one by one and head down to the ring. So did The Hart Foundation vandalise the Nation’s locker room? Faarooq is claiming that there were racial slurs spray painted on the walls! Just as this one on one match gets started, D-Generation X comes back down to the ring and do their best to rile up The Nation and encourage them to fight with the Hart Foundation! It became quickly apparent to me that it was DX who vandalised the locker room and framed the Harts to cause a fight and use The Nation. Shawn grabs a commentary headset and monologues about how the WWF needs a champion who is not a racist until Bret goes after him. It turns into another mass brawl between The Hart Foundation and The Nation but after a commercial break, the match between Bret and Faarooq continues. This has been a WILD first half hour of Raw tonight. The fighting starts up again on the outside and with Bret outside the ring and Faarooq alone in the ring, Stone Cold Steve Austin comes through the crowd and drops the leader of The Nation with a Stone Cold Stunner! Faarooq is out and Bret just re-enters the ring and gets the three count. This isn’t the last we’ve seen of The Hart Foundation tonight as Owen Hart is scheduled to wrestle Shawn Michaels later. 

• Well, we haven’t seen him since January in the WWF but back from WCW, Jeff Jarrett! He is open and says that on WCW Monday Nitro, Eric Bishoff buried him and made their contract negotiations public so now he’s back in the WWF and says that since he wasn’t one of Bishoff’s “boys” he was never going to reach the top in WCW. He’s not wrong about that. It’s still insane to hear the WWF so openly discuss WCW and mention Eric Bishoff by name on Raw. He actually mentions “a former football player and his dumb blonde wife” which is Steve McMichael and his wife Debra who would of course end up being Jarrett’s manager in the WWF a year later! Jarrett turns his attention to Vince and mocks his former gimmick as Double J and says that he was buried by having to work with “a clown and a black man who can’t even speak English”. Jesus Christ. Jarrett continues to “shoot” on Vince and says that he’s been paid a fortune to come back to the WWF because “he sells tickets” which is laughable - Jarrett has never been a draw once in his entire career. Jarrett insults all of the top guys in the WWF; Bret Hart is a hasbeen who isn’t as good as he used to be, Shawn Michaels never wrestles because he’d rather act like a child and Stone Cold Steve Austin who curses and uses blasphemy to get himself over. “You will always be the Ringmaster”. That gets a loud Austin chant. He goes religious about Austin 3:16 which gets groans and eye rolling from Vince and JR. Maybe 3rd time is the charm? Or is this his 4th attempt to become a star?

• Marc Mero takes on Brian Christopher and continues to show off his more serious attitude. The commentators are far more interested in Sable, as are the fans who chant and cat call at her rather than pay any attention to this match which is basically heel vs. heel. Jerry Lawler puts a Stone Cold baseball cap on Sable to try and sell some and when Mero sees it he loses his temper and throws it into the crowd. He uses a low blow and his new TKO finisher to pick up the win and then drags Sable away from the ring angrily as Lawler protests to the referee about how Mero used a low blow to beat Christopher, his “not my” son.

• Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart takes on European Champion Shawn Michaels in a match which has been plugged all night long as a champion vs. champion, title for title match which means that both Championships are on the line. That’s probably a giveaway that it's not going to have a proper finish. Owen is still showing off his Owen 3:16, I just broke your neck t-shirt and he mentions back in 1996 when he put Shawn Michaels on a stretcher. He says that they should both keep all the interference out of this match and the best man can leave this match with two title belts. That sounds fair enough to me and Michaels goes along with it. It's a really good match between two great wrestlers and they go back and forth, both having victory in their sights. Stone Cold Steve Austin comes through the crowd and stuns the referee! Bret Hart takes the chance to rush the ring and attack Michaels, giving us a little taste of Survivor Series early. DX runs down to pull Shawn to safety and get him away from Bret, followed by the Hart Foundation and the two stables separate before any real damage can be done. This was a really good match and the no-finish was easy to see coming. 

• The Undertaker speaks for the first time since Badd Blood. He says that Paul Bearer has poisoned his brother’s mind against him and turned him into a demon but no matter what he will never fight his own flesh and blood - he is in a living hell but will never fight Kane. Up next, Dude Love takes on the British Bulldog or at least he’s supposed to. The lights go out and it’s Kane’s music which fills the arena. Dude’s been paying attention the last couple of weeks and knows what's coming so he's ready for Kane’s attack and puts up a good fight. They brawl around the ring but the red light filter makes it impossible to see what's happening. Dude hits Kane in the face with a steel chair but Kane doesn’t even flinch and instead he chokeslams Dude Love on the steel entrance ramp. He pulls him to his feet and gives him a second, much harder chokeslam onto the steel. Dude bounced on the metal and is left laying at the hands of Kane who doesn’t seem to be willing to accept The Undertaker’s no. 

• The Headbangers take on the newest tag team in the WWF, Roaddogg and Badd Ass Billy Gunn. Roaddogg shows off his promo skills, talking on his way to the ring and giving us a prototype version of his famous pre-match spiel. They haven’t quite figured out the look and gimmick yet but give it time! This is a competitive match but as The Headbangers get on a roll, Billy smashes the Headbangers boombox on Thrasher’s head behind the referee’s back to steal the victory. The two show a lot of personality after the match, screaming in the commentator’s faces and calling them all freaks. Roaddogg makes a joke about having worked for Jerry Lawler which made him break character and laugh.

• Sunny (who looks incredible in a short silver dress this week) acts as special guest ring announcer for another light heavyweight match between Tajiri and Taka Michinoku. They made a big fuss about the fact that Taka is now officially under WWF contract and that a light heavyweight championship tournament will be starting soon. This is a great match between two performers I’m a huge fan of so I may not be the most unbiased opinion on that! Taka picks up the win with a Michinoku Driver.

• Jim Cornette’s rant this week is linked to last week's; the New York Post’s online message board was flooded with messages from outraged wrestling fans who took issue with Phil Mushnick after last week. Cornette reads off a bunch of comments aimed at Muchnick as well as his own response basically calling wrestling fans stupid again. 

• The Godwins, who have a bit of a new look and t-shirts mocking Oklahoma because that’s where this Raw took place, face DOA’s Skull and 8-Ball in the main event. That’s an underwhelming main event isn’t it? It turns into a brawl which the Truth Commission runs down to join in. It’s just a big fight between all of these men which felt like an odd way to end Raw so thankfully there is one more surprise.
• From the boiler room, Mankind says that he is the master of madness and if Undertaker won’t fight his brother then he has no problem doing it! Kane attacked an innocent young kid in Dude Love so now he’ll make Kane his and fight him anywhere, any time! 

Raw is War - October 27th 1997

• Vince McMahon interviews the Nation of Domination in the ring. They still haven’t gotten to the bottom of who performed an act of racist vandalism in their locker room. It looks like it was the Hart Foundation but can that be trusted? Vince apologises to the Nation on behalf of the WWF for the racism. Faarooq rants about 400 years of oppression and the way black men have been treated in the United States. Vince says there is zero tolerance for racism in the WWF which is hilarious; Jerry Lawler spent years making racist jokes on commentary about every Mexican and Japanese wrestler he saw. Rocky Maivia talks about having experienced discrimination his whole life and Faarooq ends by challenging the Hart Foundation to a match next week - presumably an eight man tag of some description. The Hart Foundation does come out onto the stage to respond to these accusations. Bret accepts the challenge for next week but says that he isn’t racist and that no one in Canada is racist. Bret points the finger of blame at D-Generation X and accuses them of manipulating The Nation. Shawn Michaels appears on the titaontron with the rest of DX (is it just me, or does Chyna look great here? I think it's the hair and the arms) and calls Bret the grand wizard and doubles down on blaming the Hart Foundation for this act of racism. HHH says that he likes their leather jackets but knows their first choice was white sheets and hoods. Bret looks visibly uncomfortable at being called a KKK member but does laugh it off. DX says something about the N-word being used and that’s too much for the Nation to stand and they rush the Harts and it turns into a wild brawl at the top of the ramp, once again masterminded by D-Generation X. Bret looks like he might have hurt his ankle during the brawl and walks with a limp. I’m sure we’ll hear more about that later as he’s supposed to wrestle Ken Shamrock for the WWF Championship tonight! 

• Goldust faces Triple H one on one, Rick Rude enters first and gives a grandiose introduction to Hunter who comes out with Michaels and Chyna as backup. Rude did the same big introduction for Shawn Michaels last week. The crotch-chopping “suck it” chant has become a constant presence during HHH and HBK’s appearances now so I’m sure that’ll be a catchphrase soon. Michaels is relentless on commentary but Chyna makes the difference, getting a shot in with Marlena’s purse while the referee is distracted and Triple H finishes off with a Pedigree to pick up the win. Shawn stands on the announce desk and tells Vince and JR to suck it and, just like last week, it’s beeped when he says it. 
• Jim Cornette has another rant directed at WCW this week; this Raw took place the night after WCW presented Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper in a steel cage. The match was genuinely terrible and Cornette had fun telling us just how terrible it was and says that no one who’s a real icon would claim to be one so Undertaker, Ric Flair and Stone Cold are the only real contenders to be one. “Hulk Hogan you are a household name but so is garbage and that stinks when it gets old too”. 
• Owen Hart continues to be a fighting champion with another title defence, this week against Ahmed Johnson. Vince says that Owen might be the real Hitman after injuring Shawn Michaels previously and of course injuring Austin at Summerslam. Of course in reality, no wrestler is proud of having legitimately injured an opponent but in kayfabe that works pretty well as a gimmick. This match gets a bit of time and Owen makes the mistake of brawling which Ahmed wins. He’s closing in on a victory when Stone Cold Steve Austin comes through the crowd and drops Ahmed with a Stone Cold Stunner! He wins via disqualification but Owen retains his title which keeps him in his match with Austin at the Survivor Series which was obviously his plan! 
• Jim Ross interviews Mankind in the ring. Mankind talks about what Kane did to Dude Love last week but blames it on Uncle Paul. He and Mankind parted ways with no cross words and a truce to leave each other alone but what Kane did last week bothered him a great deal! He says that he will destroy Kane or he will die trying at Survivor Series. Mankind shows no fear and says that Kane might be impervious to pain but he will find a way to inflict it. Commissioner Slaughter comes down to the ring and says that based on Mankind’s unstable mental state and Kane not appearing to be a rational human being he cannot sanction or approve that match officially. For Mankind’s own safety. Mankind locks the Commissioner in the Mandible Claw for standing between him and Kane and seems as crazy as ever! Mick Foley deserves a lot of credit for making all of his various alter egos look, sound and act completely differently. It’s very impressive. 

• After the mid-show reset for the War Zone, Bret Hart defends the WWF title against Ken Shamrock. It’s actually logical that this match would take place at the midway point of the episode as it being a WWF title match means there’s a 60 minute time limit - they have to leave room for these guys to wrestle all night long. This is a physical back and forth match and a desperate Bret brings a chair into the ring to try and even the odds. Shamrock stops him from using it and throws Bret around with suplexes. Both men worked on each other’s legs trying to soften the other up for their respective submission finishing move and Bret rolled through a Sharpshooter attempt into an ankle lock but, as he did so, the referee was knocked down so he missed Bret Hart’s tap out. The Hitman uses the steel chair from earlier to crack Shamrock across the back of the head and then locks him in the Sharpshooter but Shawn Michaels is on the scene to put him down with a Sweet Chin Music! He hammers on Bret with punches but Shamrock snaps and beats up HBK! The world’s most dangerous man has gone nuts and the ring fills with referees and officials to calm things down. The match is seemingly ruled a no contest and Shamrock is the only man standing while DX checks on Michaels and the Hart Foundation checks on Bret. None of them seem to realise they’re all in the ring together and a fight, shockingly, doesn’t break out between the two groups until Michaels and Bret are back on their feet and rush each other! It takes multiple attempts to get the two of them to stop fighting and I'm sure, given how much they hated each other in real life, that some of those punches were a little more real and snug than they needed to be. When he gets backstage, Bret Hart has some ominous words saying that Survivor Series in Montreal will be the end of he and Michaels rivalry and after that night he’ll never need to deal with him again. Man Bret, you have no idea. 

• Road Dog and Badd Ass Billy Gunn take on the New Blackjacks. I realise I’m being inconsistent with how I’m spelling their names but how I’ve spelt them here is how they’re spelt on TV at the time. I’ll probably alternate between that spelling and how I know they ended up permanently spelling them further down the line. Just like last week, Billy hits one of his opponents with a weapon behind the referees back to allow them to steal the victory and then after the match, they destoy the Blackjack’s cowboy hats! The Godwins and Headbangers all run down for a brawl - these four teams will be involved in a classic four on four Survivor Series match at the PPV. 

• In the ring, JR interviews Paul Bearer and the massive Kane. Bearer doesn’t say much and basically repeats his same warnings to The Undertaker but does also call Mankind an idiot and confirms that the WILL face each other at Survivor Series. 

• In the DX locker room, Shawn Michaels has a serious response to Bret Hart’s earlier comments; he flashes his ass at him! 

• Marc Mero takes on Flash Funk. It’s a short but back and forth match which Mero wins with a low blow and then his TKO finisher. 
• In a sit down interview with Jim Ross, Jeff Jarrett talks about leaving the WWF for WCW and why he’s now coming back. He’s very candid and expresses how unhappy he was playing the Double J character but it wasn’t until he saw how WCW was run that he realised how good he had it in the WWF under Vince McMahon. This comes across as quite babyface which is a mistake given what a massive dick he was last week in his return promo. The main points are that he thinks WCW sucks, the WWF is much better and exciting and that this time around he’ll be himself rather than the Double J country singer character. He’ll be back playing that same Double J character by March.

• In the main event, the LOD face two members of Los Boricuas. Road Dog and B.A Billy Gunn come down to ringside still wearing whats left of the Blackjack’s hats and steal the LOD’s spiked shoulder pads. They try to get involved but mistime their trip and end up costing Los Boricuas the match so they’ve just upset EVERYONE tonight and are chased to the back by both the LOD and the Puerto Rican street gang.

• At the end of the show, Ahmed Johnson is very angry at Stone Cold for what he did earlier and screams that he’s going to get his payback next week on Raw! 

Raw is War - November 3rd 1997

• The final Raw before Survivor Series 1997, one of the most well known and controversial PPVs of all time. Why is it such a big deal? Oh we’ll get to it soon enough kids.
• In the ring, Vince McMahon interviews Stone Cold about Survivor Series. He promises Owen Hart the biggest ass whipping he’s ever handed out. The Hart Foundation aren’t here tonight but Vince says that Stone Cold has “ticked off” everyone with Stunners including the entire Nation and last week, Ahmed Johnson. Austin says he may have ticked them off but they pissed him off! He tells Ahmed that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time but if he’s in the ring at the same time as Stone Cold he’s probably going to get his ass kicked! That brings the man himself out to the ring no doubt looking for payback for that Stunner and for being cost the Intercontinental title last week. Referees come out with Ahmed and surround him to try and hold him back but there’s really no need; we all know the Rattlesnake has no problem fighting him! The two are held apart by referees and officials and after a challenge agree to a match later tonight, which will be Stone Cold’s first since Summerslam.

• Sunny is special guest ring announcer for the first match in the Light Heavyweight Championship tournament which is Super Loco (who long time fans will know as ECW’s Super Crazy) vs. Aguila (who is Esse Rios under a mask, and only 19 years old here!) Brian Christopher joins commentary for this match. Commentary this week is handled by Jim Ross and Jim Cornette, at least for the first hour! This is an awesome fast paced and high flying match but there’s a couple of botches. I suspect nerves got to them, or perhaps they weren’t used to the larger WWF ring - most promotions use an 18 foot ring but the WWF always used a 20 foot ring with taller ring ropes. Aguila picks up the win with a moonsault off the top rope. His theme music, by the way, is Steve Blackman’s future theme song which they also used as the event theme song for the Badd Blood PPV. 

• Jim Ross conducts an interview with Dustin Runnels and Terri Runnels aka Goldust and Marlena. In hyping this up, Jim Ross uses the term “raped of her dignity” twice which seems needlessly sensational. After letting Terri speak about how much she loves her husband and daughter for a few minutes, Dustin gets angry and says that she’s making him sick. He says that she doesn’t know the real him and he’s been like a puppy dog following her around. He says that when she was gone for a month (with Brian Pillman) he went out and found someone who knows the real him and would let him be himself. He says that he hasn’t loved her for a long time and is sick of living a lie. She cries and asks him why but he remains cold and breaks her heart on TV for us all to see. He’s starting his life over and he’s going to be who he really wants to be, not living for her or his father anymore. He tells her to take his wedding ring and shove it up her ass! Jesus.

• There’s a long video package to promote Bret vs. Shawn at Survivor Series. I’m sure there will be one at the PPV itself but this was good and added a lot of gravity to what JR calls “probably the last match these two will ever have against each other” which wasn’t a lie for once!

• Ahmed Johnson can’t wait to get his hands on Stone Cold and comes out early for his match, wanting to start it now. It’s not Austin who comes out though, it’s Kane! Ahmed shows no intimidation but pays for it with a chokeslam and then not one but two Tombstone Piledrivers. Mankind comes out and applies the Mandible Claw to Bearer and then bends a huge mental bolt, hitting Kane in the head with it! Like a super babyface, Mankind then checks on Ahmed and, after Kane sits up and completely no-sells that huge mental chunk to the head, defends him with a steel chair so he can be safely helped to the back. Kane is cool, but I’m not keen on this creepy red lighting for all of his matches and I’m hoping that disappears soon.

• Stone Cold Steve Austin marches to the ring but isn’t even dressed to wrestle; he knew that match with Ahmed wasn’t going to happen. I wonder if he wasn’t actually cleared to compete yet or if they’re saving him for Survivor Series. He says that Johnson got off lightly because he’d have whipped his ass worse than Kane did but if he’s not up for a match anymore he will fight anyone who has the guts to come out and face him one on one. After a long delay his challenge is accepted by Kama Mustafa of The Nation, backed up by Rocky (who gets loud Rocky Sucks chants), Faarooq and D’Lo Brown. It looks like it’ll be four on one but the LOD comes out to fight with the Nation (their opponents at Survivor Series) so Austin drops Kama with a Stone Cold Stunner and just leaves them to fight without him! Shout out to Hawk who came to this brawl wearing a Wrestlemania 8 t-shirt which I suspect he’s had in his wardrobe ever since. 

• After the mid-show reset, Jim Cornette is gone and Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon have tagged in to fill in our normal commentary trio. In the ring, Michael Cole interviews Shawn Michaels but first, Rick Rude comes out and provides his trademark pompous introduction to the Heartbreak Kid. D-Generation X start by making fun of Michael Cole and with Chyna on all fours behind him, shove him on his ass. They goof around and HHH stops Michaels short of calling himself God and turns it into an age joke about Ric Flair, who was calling himself God in WCW at the time. Michaels says that next week, after he wins the WWF title, he’s going to perform naked and he’s going to beat Ken Shamrock and prove HE is the real world’s most dangerous man. They call out Sgt Slaughter to make that match official and, in a pretty legendary spot, they put on welder’s masks to block all of his spit when he talks followed by adding little electric windscreen wipers to them. Slaughter says he has ways of straightening out punks like them at boot camp and starts by booking Michaels vs. Shamrock tonight rather than next week. 

• Marc Mero faces Savio Vega but before the match, he rushes Sable to the ring before she’s ready and we get a big shot of her side-boob! Mero wins the match after another low blow and TKO and it gives the commentators a chance to talk about the Team USA vs. Team Canada match at Survivor Series. More on that in the next match, but afterwards Michael Cole tries to chat to Sable but Mero won’t even let her speak and drags her to the back! She was trying to sing Mero’s praises too.

• Vader faces The British Bulldog in a dog collar match. This is the two captains of Team USA and Team Canada at Survivor Series, and Bulldog has Jim Neidhart, Phil Lafon and Doug Furnas with him. JR gets all offended that Furnas is from Oklahoma and not Canada so why is he on Team Canada - get a grip! Vader will have Goldust and Marc Mero on his team, and it was also supposed to be The Patriot but he’s now officially out with an injury so he’ll need a replacement. Michael Cole chats to Furnas and Lafon during the match to find out why they’ve returned to the WWF on Team Canada; they were in a serious car accident and have been out of action for 5 months which is actually news to me! Furnas says that when they were recuperating they got letters and cards from fans all over the world but none from the United States and that's why they’ve turned on the USA. Vader overcomes four on one odds to officially win the match but then he’s beaten up until an unnamed man, identified as a fan, runs into the ring and throws a series of martial arts kicks to help out Vader! Team Canada dog pile him so Vader lays on top of him to protect him from a serious beating. Things calm down and he’s finally taken out of the ring by security - he’s not “a fan”, this is the WWF debut of Steve Blackman! I’ll talk about him a lot more at Survivor Series of course. Vince is quick to point out that a fan jumping into the ring is likely to be prosecuted and does his best to discourage any real fans from trying the same thing in future.

• Badd Ass Billy Gunn and the Road Dog take on Los Boricuas after accidentally costing them a match last week. They have made a lot of enemies and come to the ring with the Blackjack’s destroyed hats and we’re told that the LOD have been asked to leave the arena so they don’t get involved in this match. The fans in Oklahoma don’t do their reputation as hicks any favours by chanting the F-slur at Billy Gunn. They did the same thing earlier during the DX segment and Shawn Michaels planted a kiss on Triple H (and Chyna) to goad them a little more. Jesus Christ JR, have a word with your fellow statesmen. Road Dog and Billy pick up their third win in a row with an illegal double team behind the referee’s back. Of note, this team doesn’t have theme music yet and they enter and leave to silence so that Road Dog can talk on the microphone the whole time; his gimmick basically being that he never shuts up. Collectively their gimmick is that they’re disrespectful punks who like to wind up their opponents. It’s very late 90s, so bang on trend to be fair to them. It’s almost like they’d be a really good fit for D-Generation X. Hmmm.
• During this show, another sit down interview with Jeff Jarrett was promoted but, due to time constraints, that has been moved to the weekend’s Livewire episode. In it, he talked more about Hulk Hogan and WCW so JR takes the chance to mock Eric Bishoff a little, someone he worked with and mentored as a commentator earlier in his career. 
• In the main event, European Champion Shawn Michaels faces Ken Shamrock. The title is not on the line in this match, which Shamrock dominates and looks like a million bucks against the more experienced Michaels. Finally, thanks to a distraction by Triple H and some interference by Chyna, HBK gains control just as Rick Rude struts down to the ring for a closer look as well. This ended up being a really good match with Shamrock avoiding the Sweet Chin Music to hit a belly to belly suplex, fight off Triple H and then block a second Chin Music to lock in the ankle lock! HBK taps out but Chyna has the referee distracted and then the world’s most dangerous man is attacked by Rude and Triple H to cause the disqualification. Shamrock gets beaten up by DX and Triple H finishes the attack with a Pedigree onto Rude’s metal briefcase as the commentators wonder if this will be Bret Hart’s fate at Survivor Series? He should be so lucky.