Looking back at Monday Night RAW February 17th, 1997

Welcome To The Jerry Lawler (and Sunny) Show...

Rocky Maivia looks confused here...

MATCH #2: ROCKY MAIVIA vs. LEIF CASSIDY

Rocky Maivia a.k.a the guy who went on to become one of the highest paid actors of all time is the current WWF Intercontinental Champion in this scenario.

Nobody really wants to watch these two wrestlers 'wrestle' right now…so Sunny comes out! She is wearing a pink outfit & showing ample cleavage to make the kids in the audience wonder if there’s something more to women than what they’ve been taught so far…

Lawler said it before, he’ll say it again: There are two wonders of the world right here in the WWF, & you’re looking at them right now.

Oh one more thing, she is the special guest timekeeper for this match. Sunny coyly plays with Rocky for a while. Lawler says not to waste any more time on that idiot. Correct.

“Oh man, did she ring my bell!” marvels Jerry Lawler, as Sunny, you guessed it- RINGS the bell.

I am looking at my notes right now, & it looks like I only managed to jot down Jerry Lawler moments from this match. In my defense, this bout is a snooze-fest. It is very slow-paced. Rocky puts Cassidy in a hold, & Cassidy reverses by putting Rocky into a hold. Rocky gets some punches in & before you know it, Cassidy puts Rocky into one of the most uncharismatic arm-bars I have ever seen.

At one point, Leif confuses Rocky with a cheap thumb to the eye. Jerry Lawler is in denial though. He says he didn’t see anything at all, & so didn’t Rocky, to which JR replies— “I think you have selected vision.”

Our view turns split screen & we see Sunny doing a great job as a timekeeper (as if you can mess that job up in the first place). Here is the crux of this show so far, we can clearly see that a guy behind the announcer’s desk is holding an “ECW Rules” sign. What’s interesting is that Lawler is distracted by that sign throughout this match. Something seems fishy here.

Rocky wins the match using a shoulder-breaker as expected (thank god that’s over). The last we see of Sunny tonight is her holding a “Sunny For President” sign.

Sunny For President. What do you think?

Result: Rocky Maivia wins via pinfall.

But hey, what happened to Jerry Lawler? Looks like The King is too distracted with the ECW sign. Then something happens which totally proves that Jerry Lawler is the MVP of the night (so far).

Lawler quickly snatches that “ECW Rules” sign from the guy sitting behind him (the guy just replaces it with another “ECW Rules” poster immediately, so LOL). Lawler says that he is sick & tired of hearing idiots bothering him about ECW each & every time. He calls ECW a prison, & states that it’s just a place where a bunch of misfits & WWF has-beens migrate to. ECW is a buncha’ crap, Ross!

Jerry Lawler calls out ECW...

And then he takes a shot at WCW (indirectly). Lawler says that somebody brought a “Jerry Lawler” sign to Nitro one time, & the WCW officials had it taken away immediately. Whereas, you can see ECW signs in WWF shows everywhere because unlike Nitro, WWF believes in the freedom of speech! *laughing internally*

Jerry Lawler calls out the ECW punks to show up in the Manhattan Center on next week’s RAW!

Talk about spontaneity out of nowhere, the whole Rocky/Cassidy match was essentially a build-up to this segment. I loved it (not the match, duh). But there’s more to come…