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Last week (February 17, 1997), Jerry Lawler called out ECW, The Hardy Boys made their RAW debut. Chyna shook the hell out of Marlena & Psycho Sid became your new WWF Champion of the world!
As for this week, you need to know something before proceeding further: Half of the WWF Roster is stationed in Germany, & that doesn’t leave us with a whole lot of talent over here in New York. Therefore, WWE decided to fill this show with guys from a ‘certain’ promotion right out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania titled ‘Extreme Championship Wrestling’!
This is also the episode where parts of the WWF, ECW & UFC come together for ONE NIGHT ONLY.
The whole Austin/Bret angle takes a night-off this week, so without any further ado, let’s get right into it—
MATCHES-
1) The Godwinns (Henry & Phineas Godwinn) vs. The New Blackjacks (Blackjack Bradshaw & Blackjack Windham).
2) Little Guido vs. Big Stevie Cool (w/ The Blue Meanie, Hollywood Nova & 7-11).
3) Sunny vs. Marlena {Arm-Wrestling Match with The Honky Tonk Man as special guest referee}.
4) Goldust vs. Savio Vega (w/ Nation of Domination & Sunny).
5) Taz (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs. Mikey Whipwreck.
6) The Headbangers vs. ???
7) Tommy Dreamer (w/ Beulah) vs. D-Von Dudley (w/ Bubba Ray Dudley).
8) The Undertaker vs. Farooq (w/ Nation of Domination).
Before We Begin...
Former WWF Champion Shawn Michales had to vacate his WWF Championship due to a 'career-ending injury' on Thursday RAW Thursday. Therefore, we witnessed a montage of Shawn Michaels’ career-defining moments in between the show highlighted with a soundtrack perfectly titled— “Tell Me A Lie”. Isn’t it a complete coincidence that HBK did in fact "told us a lie” so as to avoid losing against Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13?! You tell me? It’s perfect!
MATCH #1: THE GODWINNS (Henry & Phineas Godwinn) vs. THE NEW BLACKJACKS (Blackjack Bradshaw & Blackjack Windham)
The match starts right after the early ’97 RAW intro without any context. Does the name Bradshaw sound familiar to you? Well, it should, because Bradshaw is the middle name of none other than JBL himself.
Bradshaw is one half of The New Blackjacks, & he is met with ‘BRADSHAW SUCKS’ chants right off the bat.
Sucks to be you Mr. JBL.
The crowd is split throughout. Most of them are 90’s hardcore fans who are echoing their presence throughout the Manhattan Center to witness whether or not the ECW boys answer Jerry Lawler’s challenge from last week.
Vince McMahon is back at commentating, alongside Jerry Lawler. The match itself goes on for approximately six minutes, & Lawler says it best somewhere in between— “These Hillbillies out here, starting to smell up the whole Manhattan Center”. I would argue that all four of them are ‘smelling’ up the Manhattan Center…with BOREDOM.
We see a shot of a ‘certain’ celebrity in the audience tonight. The camera pans towards this celebrity mid-match, which causes a hormonal imbalance inside Lawler’s body instantly.
Lawler: “HEY! That’s Ken Shamrock! He’s an old buddy of mine!”
McMahon: “What?”
The UFC Champion (not really), Ken Shamrock loves Jerry Lawler. He can’t stop talking about Lawler all the time. Well, at least that’s what Jerry wants you to believe.
Towards the end, Bradshaw sets up for the Clothesline from Hell. He pins Phineas Godwinn. The referee counts for three even though Phineas clearly had his foot on the bottom rope.
Another referee comes out to explain what just happened. But the decision stays the same. This prompts Henry Godwinn to throw a bucket of slop right on top of the original referee’s head.
What strikes comical to me is that the ref keeps slipping off his feet each & every time he tries to get up.
RESULT: The New Blackjacks win via pinfall.
The ring is being cleared, when suddenly, the audience starts cheering for some reason. The Eliminators- Perry Saturn & John Kronus jump over the guardrail & enter the ring. Paul E. Dangerously a.k.a Paul Heyman is following them from behind. The Eliminators grab & deliver Total Elimination to a ring attendant.
Paul E. has a mic in hand, & it is this moment where everyone’s favorite future advocate utters his very first words in front of a live WWF crowd— “Your (Lawler) challenge has been accepted. ECW is in the house!”
The camera pans to Jerry Lawler’s face, & from the looks of it, Jerry must be thinking— “What the heck did I get myself into?”
McMahon states that Lawler’s challenge has been accepted, which is just another way of saying— “Jerry Lawler…You’re f*cked mate”.
Who And What Exactly Are We Ripping Off Here?!
MATCH #2: LITTLE GUIDO vs. BIG STEVIE COOL (w/ The Blue Meanie, Hollywood Nova & 7-11)
Out of the list of all names mentioned above, I am pretty sure that many have heard of the infamous Blue Meanie.
Paul E joins the commentary table. Boy, we are going to get some good back & forth between him & Lawler.
Vince McMahon wants them to explain who the bWo (Blue World Order- The Blue Meanie, Hollywood Nova, 7-11 & Big Stevie Cool) are & what do they exactly stand for. Lawler calls them just another ECW rip-off, which prompts Paul E to go— “Who & what are we ripping off?”
Jesus, this is already going to be great.
Raven shows up near the entrance ramp! He is the current ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Big Stevie Cool gets distracted because of Raven. This allows Guido to roll him into a pin. Guido gains the upper-hand & drop-kicks Big Daddy Coo— I mean Big Stevie Cool right out of the ring.
A few seconds later, the on-air exchange below between Paul & Jerry almost threw me off my chair—
Paul E: “Hey McMahon, I gotta tell you something, you impress me as an announcer…if this WWF thing does not work out for you, we could actually give you a job in ECW.”
Lawler: “Yeah, I’ve seen some of your shows. You need an announcer.”
The sarcasm level mentioned in the above snippet is over 9000.
Our view turns split-screen as we see Goldust standing by backstage. But oh, it looks like we’re having some technical difficulties. Lawler mentions that the only technical difficulties we’re having are the ones in the ring right now.
What else? Oh yes, there is a match going on. Big Stevie Cool goes over to a corner & gears up for the ‘Stevie Kick’- a finisher which is totally not ripping off the “Sweet Chin Music”.
Big Stevie Cool executes the move & wins the match via pinfall.
Imagine you don’t know anything about ECW & just tuned in to watch your weekly dose of the WWF. People parodying nWo, The Blue Meanie, Little Guido?
What the heck?
Result: Big Stevie Cool wins via pinfall.
Honky Tonk Man comes out to the ring. Somebody loudly chants ‘YOU SUCK’ as HTM is going to be refereeing the upcoming matchup. What upcoming matchup? Is it ECW related?
Nope. It’s Sunny & Marlena in an ARM WRESTLING MATCH!
The Most Intense Arm-Wrestling Match Of All Time!
MATCH #3: SUNNY vs. MARLENA {Arm Wrestling Match with The Honky Tonk Man as special guest referee}
Everyone’s chanting ‘SUNNY!’ over and over again. People would pay more money just to see Sunny arm-wrestling Marlena when compared to the two wrestling matches preceding it. This is 90’s wrestling folks.
Sunny comes out wearing a white robe.
“What I want right now, is for all of you fat, ugly, out-of-shape, disrespectful, toothless NEW YOOKAAS to take a real good look in the ring at what a real woman is supposed to look like…HIT THE MUSIC!”
Sunny takes off her robe, leaving all of your hardcore fans to gawk at Sunny wearing a black bra paired with some hot pants. It’s an arm-wrestling match, but it’s also 90’s wrestling, so I guess you have to strip in order to arm-wrestle!
Sunny ‘allows’ Marlena to forfeit just because of what a ‘large Amazonian woman’ (Chyna) did to her last week. But we all know that’s not gonna happen.
READY. SET. GO!
“Oh…Sunny’s not quite ready” says Vince McMahon, as Sunny wastes time by showing off in front of the Manhattan Center.
They do it again, but Sunny backs off this time around too. Looks like she’s going to be warming up for a while.
Lawler: “She’s getting me warmed up!”
They do it for the third time, but it’s Marlena who backs off now!
While all of this is going on, the camera pans to Ken Shamrock in the audience, who must be going in his head like— “Wrestling’s changed. Huh.”
The arm-wrestling contest finally starts. They have an intense matchup. Honky Tonk Man keeps urging them on. Just as Sunny is about to lose, she throws powder into Marlena’s eyes.
Result: Marlena wins by DQ!
Savio Vega comes out & holds Marlena by her hair. Goldust saves her just in time. Looks like The Bizarre One & Vega are going to go one-on-one, with Sunny sticking by the Nation’s side tonight.
MATCH #4: GOLDUST vs. SAVIO VEGA (w/ The Nation of Domination & Sunny)
Miguel Perez joins commentary. Who is he? Well, Miguel has just defected from WCW to the WWF. Now, he is here to talk about Savio Vega, & how Vega disrespected the people of Puerto Rico by joining the Nation of Domination.
McMahon asks Miguel about what the Puerto Rico fans think about Savio Vega after he joined the Nation.
Miguel Perez: “Well, like I say before…everybody feel proud of him before, but now it’s a-a shame…because everybody give a 100% of the support of Savio Vega because he’s Puerto Rican. But now he say he’s no more longer Puerto Rican. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT.”
Seriously it’s one of the most unintentionally funny moments of the night. McMahon just tells him to address his country-people in Spanish later on.
The match itself is very standard. A lot of holds interrupted with the Nation members beating Goldust whenever the referee isn’t looking, which is basically the whole match. Bring out the ECW guys already.
After a (not so) solid eight minutes, Crush just decides to poop the party by hitting Goldust & causing a DQ.
But here comes Miguel Perez into the ring. Crush just throws him right back out again, which prompts Vince to go— “He came in & he went right back out!”
Nevertheless, Perez does help out Goldust to fight off N.O.D in the end.
Result: Goldust wins via DQ.
It looks like Lawler is heading towards the front row to interview his ‘best buddy’ Ken Shamrock.
“Are any of you morons here in New York familiar with the Ultimate Fighting Championship?” asks Jerry. The King boasts that he was the one who taught Shamrock about submission holds a long time ago. Both of them go WAYYY back.
Jerry prompts Shamrock to tell the whole audience how it was like training with The King, to which, Ken Shamrock replies— “You’re kidding right…I don’t know you…”
Lawler insists Ken on telling all of them about their history. But no, Ken has no clue who this goof is.
Good ol’ Shamrock just shrugs him off. Back to what matters now— It’s ECW again!
Has This Show Sucked Without ECW Or What?
Paul E: “Man, has this show sucked without ECW or what, huh?”
Our favorite future advocate introduces Mikey Whipwreck. Interesting note: Whipwreck did Stone Cold Stunners before Austin made it a worldwide sensation.
Next up, the human suplex machine…THIS IS TAZ!
MATCH #5: TAZ (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs. MIKEY WHIPWRECK
Bill Alfonso’s whistle can be heard ‘whistling’ throughout this match. Taz dominates this bout thoroughly. Paul E sells the ECW Pay-Per-View on April 13.
It annoys Jerry Lawler. But Paul E backs his claims & proves that he’s done his homework here. So whenever Lawler is proven wrong, the only thing he can do is go— “ECW Sucks. It’s crappy. I hate it. They suck. ECW Sucks. It’s crappy. I hate it. They suck”.
Suddenly, the audience collectively yanks their heads towards one side. Even Taz does the same.
And you wouldn’t have guessed it— It’s SABU!
Sabu is wobbling on top of the ‘R’ initial of the RAW logo near the entrance ramp. Before he can lose his balance, Sabu dives onto the security team! He tries to go inside the ring but never manages to do so for some reason. The security team drags him backstage.
Thanks for the cameo, Sabu.
Meanwhile, Taz delivers a Tazplex in the ring, & wins the match using a Tazmission.
The bout was not even four minutes long, but they managed to squeeze all the plot points under that timeframe.
Result: Taz wins via submission.
Vince McMahon has promised us a surprise reveal here, & wait for it, the tag-team facing off against the Headbangers is— The Bushwhackers! No? Just kidding.
The Legion of Doom is back! Apparently, they decided to go back to WWF after a four-year-long absence. So that’s two defections (Miguel Perez, LOD) from WCW to WWF for one night.
MATCH #6: THE HEADBANGERS (Mosh & Thrasher) vs. LEGION OF DOOM (Hawk & Animal)
The crowd lost their collective minds here. Remember, it’s a house full of hardcore fans on this week’s episode.
Animal & Hawk throw both of these knuckleheads out of the ring right off the bat (I still don’t like the Headbangers). ‘NITRO SUCKS!’ chants are echoing throughout this arena. That was unexpected.
But that’s not the only thing the audience chant to take over this match. ‘HOGAN SUCKS!’ chants follow soon after. This week’s show easily has the most crowd participation in 1997 WWF so far.
But that’s STILL not it. ‘BISCHOFF SUCKS!’ chants follow next. So much so, that the commentators have to take note of it here.
Lawler: “Time for some censorship!”
Now that the good stuff is over, let’s get right into two things that WWF got wrong with this segment: 1) The match was nearly 8 minutes long. There is no way on earth The Headbangers should have lasted that long. The audience made for it by improvising random chants & digs towards WCW, but still, this should have been a squash match. 2) The reader must have been assuming that LOD would have won this contest in the end anyway, right? Well, no. The match ended in a double count-out.
Looks like the WWF wants the Headbangers to look strong in the end. I get that they’re trying to incorporate some innovative stuff for the tag-team division here, but the Headbangers are definitely not the right team you want to be building the whole tag-division around.
Nevertheless, Legion of Doom hit a flying clothesline to one of the Headbangers right after the match to keep the crowd happy.
Result: The match ends in a double count-out.
Up next, we witness the ‘ECW way’ of ending shows on a high (& a chaotic) note…
It's Chaos Everywhere!
MATCH #7: TOMMY DREAMER (w/ Beulah) vs. D-VON DUDLEY (w/ Bubba Ray Dudley)
McMahon: “D-Von Dudley…”
Lawler: “…ever heard of him?”
The Heart & Soul of ECW goes one-on-one with a member of perhaps one of the most iconic tag-teams of all time.
Dreamer grabs some weapons from the audience, & hits D-Von with it. McMahon thinks that we need to draw some lines here.
Dreamer throws the steel-steps inside the ring & D-Von grabs a chair. Meanwhile, McMahon has no idea what’s going on & Lawler sarcastically explains it to him by mentioning that “they’re just wrestling, Vince”.
Lawler calls ECW “Extremely Crappy Wrestling”, & says that he is ashamed to be associated with this garbage. Paul E responds by saying that “You’ll Never Be Associated With It In The First Place!”
Jesus, did I mention how great Jerry & Paul are on-air together?
Dreamer executes a piledriver, & finishes it off with a DDT a little more than four minutes into the match. Tommy Dreamer is your winner, but here comes Bubba Ray Dudley!
Result: Tommy Dreamer wins via pinfall.
The Dudley Boys drop Tommy Dreamer with a 3-D. What now?
As the commentators are talking over each other, a new theme music starts playing in the background, & the following snippet describes the moment perfectly for all audiences:
Paul E: “It’s the Sandman! It’s the Sandman! The Sandman is in the Manhattan Center!”
McMahon: “The Who?”
Paul E: “The Sandman!”
Looks like the Sandman is still drinking his beer, which allows the Dudleys to drop him before anything else happens. But a few seconds later, the tides have turned & it is now Sandman who helps Tommy Dreamer knock The Dudleys off their feet.
Meanwhile, Lawler has had it. He orders Paul E to get out of this arena. Paul E loses his cool & tries to pounce on The King. McMahon holds him back. The ECW boys try to protect their own boss & indirectly get involved into this mess by pushing Vince McMahon around. As if things couldn’t get more chaotic, Jerry Lawler stands up on the announce table & tries to get some shots on Paul E’s face over this horde of talent. The hardcore fans lose their collective minds & go nuts throughout this entire scenario. It’s CHAOS everywhere!
Ad-Break!
So let’s get some facts straight: Jerry Lawler invited ECW over to RAW last week. Turns out, ECW actually showed up on RAW this week, which made Lawler realize that he just made a huge mistake. So Lawler spends two hours screaming at the top of his lungs. Vince McMahon has no idea what’s going on, & the whole situation dissolves in a wide chaotic shot of on-screen personalities trying to get their hands on each other.
90’s Wrestling! I love it!
This is where the show should have ended…but it doesn’t.
Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Ken Shamrock is being interviewed by Todd Pettingill. Shamrock picks Undertaker over Sid for their WrestleMania 13 encounter. However, Shamrock can’t pick a winner when it comes to Bret vs. Steve Austin.
Even the crowd is split between these two competitors. But it’s time for the main-event, Farooq comes out with N.O.D. He stops by Shamrock’s side & trashes the UFC. Ken Shamrock gets up in a fit & says that he’d be willing to step into the ring with Farooq anytime.
That’s not going to happen tonight though, as it’s finally time for the Deadman to make his entrance…
MATCH #8: THE UNDERTAKER vs. FAROOQ (w/ Nation of Domination)
“Sit down you morons.” Looks like Lawler isn’t having it with the fans anymore.
Undertaker starts off with a quick flying clothesline. He executes an old-school right after that.
As always, Farooq rolls out to regroup for a bit. As things are settling down, McMahon takes some time to promote next week’s show from Berlin, Germany. The European Championship is supposed to reel the viewers in next week.
Lawler: “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” (Do you speak German?)
Lawler: “McMahon, C'mon, do you?”
McMahon: “Do I speak German? I-I—“
Lawler: “You’ll be totally lost over there.”
(Later) McMahon: “Most Europeans— bilingual”.
Lawler (totally sucking it up): “Yeah, I’ve heard that about them”.
Oh man, watching The Attitude Era all over again just makes everyone realize how the role of commentary in professional wrestling plays a huge part in making the show great.
As for the match, it’s nothing special. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of good spots in there, but the match does not fit in with the ‘trashy’ vibe set by the previous moments on this week’s show.
I notice that somebody is holding a ‘DIE ROCKY’ sign in the audience. Good thing he was not a part of tonight’s show. Farooq throws the Deadman into the corner & ‘Taker responds with a gigantic Fame Asser.
D’ Lo Brown & a couple of other Nation members interfere towards the end. Farooq unexpectedly goes for the piledriver, but ‘Taker gets up in his classic ‘Deadman’ fashion. The Phenom is outnumbered.
Crush & Vega cause the DQ as this match goes over 10 minutes. After the match, Legion of Doom come out to help ‘Taker in clearing out the ring.
That is how the show ends. It kind of pales in comparison to the last two weeks.
Result: The Undertaker wins via DQ.
Isn’t it weird how the WWF couldn’t even steal the spotlight on their own show?
Imagine if ROH or Lucha Underground just showed up on RAW in 2018.
Tonally, this week’s show was all over the place. It was not structured perfectly. The start & finish of the 24th February 1997 edition RAW was not up to the mark.
However, this episode was also like a bizarre mini-detour in a way that nobody expected it to be. There was no Steve Austin, there was no Bret Hart, there was no Psycho Sid, there was no Owen Hart, there was no Rocky Maivia & there was no Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
What we witnessed were parts of the WWF, UFC & ECW converging all together for ONE NIGHT ONLY. How often does that happen?
Still, this was one of the craziest RAW episodes ever, with WWF superstars being constantly overshadowed by ECW & the man behind it all— Paul E. Dangerously. ECW will be back to continue this saga in a few weeks’ time.
GRADE: B-
Join me next week as I recap the March 3rd, 1997 edition of Monday Night RAW. Until then, you can check out last week's recap by clicking here. You can also follow me here to stay updated. Send me interesting stuff/picture edits/facts/feedback regarding the old-school recaps at E-Mail: [email protected].
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