My Take On The Monday Night Wars 1.17.08: Raw vs. Nitro (5.12.97)

Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.17.2008

Nitro is only an hour for the third straight time as Sting confronts Eric Bishoff! Over on Raw the King of the Ring Tournament begins and Mr. Monday Night is born!



Introduction:
Welcome back to the latest edition of My Take On! With the addition of WWE 24/7 to my cable system, I have decided to have some fun and do some columns on "The Monday Night Wars." I plan to work this similar to the "My Take on MMA" columns, where it isn't a recap as much as it is an analysis piece. I will provide the ratings of the two shows, my breakdowns of each segment that aired and then give an overall final grade so to speak of the show. At the end I will give the winner a point for the ratings win and a point for the show I thought was the best. The goal is to run through as many of these as I can as they air. I think it will be a fun adventure to embark on. Sit back and relax, as I relive The Monday Night Wars!

WWE RAW IS WAR (5.12.97)~!:
RATING: 3.2

Match/Segment: Cold Day In Hell Recap/Hart Foundation Opens the Show
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 8.0
Final Thoughts: Shamrock defeated Vader, Ahmed Johnson failed to disband the Nation, the Hart Foundation sat at ringside and cost Austin the title as the Undertaker retained. Austin would attack Bret Hart and leave the PPV after stunning the Undertaker. The interview was more of Bret purring over the Hart Foundation as his warriors that he would trust his life with and go into battle against anyone with. Bret continues to lay the foundations of what the character was supposed to be, hated in America, loved elsewhere. After painting himself in a positive light, he bashes Austin; calling him a clichéd cowboy that picks on invalids. Tremendous. Bret then goes onto to verbally attack Taker, and says that the Hart Foundation will get that last piece of gold to complete their collection. Bret wanted to make a major announcement, but chants of, "GO HOME" prevented that. It's funny, for a large part of his career I didn't like his promo skills at all. I liked him as a wrestler, but couldn't stand his promo work. But in this run I totally dug it, probably because he believed a lot of what he was saying. Whatever the case maybe, it was great stuff.

Match/Segment: 1997 King of the Ring First Round Match: Hunter Hearst Hemsley w/Chyna vs. Ahmed Johnson
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 4.0
Final Thoughts: Sweet Jesus Chyna is manly, I just watched some of that Celebrity Rehab and in 10-years of time, she is a completely different person, quite disturbing actually. This is about what you would expect, chicken shit HHH, sloppy power moves by Johnson and a mild crowd. Chyna would hit the ring late with a chair shot and Ahmed gets to advance via DQ. They all brawl on the ramp, refs and agents are out and that was that. They had a great, hot opening, but this segment really fell off for me.

Match/Segment: Austin Interview
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.5
Final Thoughts: Vince conducts the interview, which Austin doesn't appreciate and threatens him in the first 30-seconds. The best thing about the Austin character was that he never apologized for losing. He comes out and says, "Things were crazy, I got dropped on my head, the Undertaker won…end of story." That's another reason people dug him, there was no crying, no whining, just the unvarnished truth. Austin then compares the Hart Foundation to a snake. Bret's the head, and he could take him out quicker than anything. Again, Austin endures himself to the fans because he wants to go through everyone and call's Pillman the snake's ass. Austin does a good reminder of the fact that he "Crippled" Pillman, and even drops in, "I carried you for years in the bush leagues." Good stuff and a great rebound from the previous segment.

Match/Segment: Leif Cassidy vs. Scott Putski
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0
Final Thoughts: LEIF FN CASSIFY~! You know, Putski wasn't as bad as some make him out to be. He wasn't great, but wasn't as shoddy as say Carlito can be. Of course now that I think about it they are quite similar. Putski had a look, good athletic ability and could work just fine. Not great, but he was fine. The problem was always in the booking. First it was shove him as Ivan's son, and then it was the abortion of making him a major part of the Lightweight Division, instead of guys like Sasuke, who they could have signed. That's an EPIC FAIL. Leif Cassidy is of course better known as AL SNOW to most. To me Al never got his due in the WWF. There is no reason that he shouldn't have been a good midcard, IC/US Title guy for the company. He could work, he could lead matches and would have been the perfect guy to help work with the guys they wanted to push, but were always brought up too early. LEIF really leads the match and makes Putski looks good, especially when Putski misses a few reversals. Although I will guarantee that Leif didn't appreciate the German on his head he took for the loss. Afterwards Leif hits a dive to the floor and beats down Putski, but Putski would comeback and toss him from the ring. It was fine.

Match/Segment: LOD vs. The Nation of Domination
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.75
Final Thoughts: We get a run if the mill LOD promo, "WELL… "Fill in details" …OHHH WHATA RUSH!" JC Ice and Wolfie D are being sacrificed. Hilarity ensues as they charge the ring; throw no less than 75 punches with little to no effect, get tossed around like sacks of shit and then the Doomsday Device for BOTH of them finishes it. Great squash, the sacrifice deal was great as was the Nation turning their backs and walking off at the end.

Match/Segment: Mankind Announcement
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.25
Final Thoughts: Foley was so awesome in this gimmick. He relives his attempts to burn the Undertaker alive, which lead to Paul bearer being severely burned. Mankind has brought Uncle Paul with him tonight, who is bandaged up, but has come to let us know of a secret he has been hiding. Bearer says that the bond has been ended between he and Taker, but he will give him one more chance, or he will reveal a secret that only Taker knows. This was the early build to the debut of Kane, which I remember totally digging back in the day. This was good follow up from Taker vs. Mankind, the burning of Bearer as well as future build towards Kane. While not a spectacular deal, overall it is very effective.

Match/Segment: Farooq Promo
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.75
Final Thoughts: Farooq is the #1 contender for the WWF Title they say. Farooq asks when the last time a black man wore the belt, and it is never. Farooq was great here, he runs down the past of blacks getting "token" titles like the IC and tag straps. I remember a ton of people hating the gimmick then, but at the time I think it completely fit into the WWF landscape and the Pre-Attitude and Attitude Era. Vince asks Farooq if he was a racist, which leads to Farooq saying he will do thing by any means necessary. Good passion, good delivery and I had no problem with this promo, although I don't think many were into "WWF Title Challenger Farooq," but they were doing their best to make it work. That's a shame in my opinion, because Simmons could have been a viable contender, evening short runs had they really pushed his background as Ron Simmons, and transformation to Farooq. Basically like the transformation of Malcolm Little into Malcolm X.

Match/Segment: Savio Vega vs. The Undertaker
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0
Final Thoughts: This was a direct follow up to the Farooq promo, and a non-title contest. We're JIP, and get a surprisingly good little match from the two. Ross and King do a good job on commentary explaining that Austin worked the knee of Taker the night before, and the Nation cheats to get the advantage for Savio, who plays off of that. Taker gets jumped in the end by the Nation, which leads to the no contest. Farooq is great as he keeps saying he wants to beat down Taker, until he would sit up and then he would command the troops to attack. Farooq celebrates with the WWF title to good heat. Maybe they were buying him.

Match/Segment: ROB VAN DAM vs. Jeff Hardy
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.0
Final Thoughts: King is on the mic in the ring and says he ran down ECW, Extremely Crappy Wrestling. He has found the only man that is worth anything in ECW. King anoints him "MR. MONDAY NIGHT" and the match is on. RVD almost kills himself with a suicide dive to the floor as he hit the railing and landed on the back of his neck. RVD wins in a squash. It was fine for what it was, some fans chanted ECW, some for Sabu, while a few chanted you sold out. In the end, I feel that this was more important an angle for ECW than it was for WWF. But I admit I dug it back in the day since I had found ECW, and had no clue that Vince funded ECW at various times.

Match/Segment: Dustin Runnels Interview Part II
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 8.25
Final Thoughts: Part I of this was awesome, I loved it and thought it was done well. Part II takes a different path as he says he wants to have fun and be a family man. He just wanted to entertain the fans. They talk more about family, and how he had to fight for Dusty's attention, and promises to not have that happen to his daughter. As a mentioned it is a different direction, and to me falls short of part one on some ways, but also pulls at the heart strings as he discusses his daughter and how he wanted to be with Dusty, be like and just be his son. Dustin is great again with his delivery and raw emotion, even crying in the end. Excellent stuff.

Match/Segment: Undertaker Promo
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0
Final Thoughts: This is a follow up to both the Mankind and Paul Bearer segment as well as the beat down. All he says is that some things shouldn't be revealed and that his physical conditioning is in trouble, so he's going to the vault of souls to release a demon to help him battle the nation. So basically what any guy in is situation would do. It is all follow up, which is good, just not all that exciting of a follow up.

Match/Segment: TAG TEAM ELIMINATION: Smith and Hart © vs. The Headbangers vs. The New Blackjacks vs. Furnas and Lafon/Bret's Surprise
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.0
Final Thoughts: Furnas and Lafon were continually booked like goofs and took themselves out of this match, so good work there. The mustaches on the Blackjacks were phenomenal. During the break Furnas and Lafon helped to get the Blackjacks eliminated. The match itself is rather bland, and I love tag team wrestling, so you know for me to be bored, things aren't good. We move to the surprise, and Bret stands alone, sending away the Foundation. He calls out HBK, and he comes to the ring. They hate each other, Bret makes sure HBK knows his career has been up and down, and that he is an arrogant ass, like all Americans. A self-professed Degenerate that lost his smile. This wasn't nearly as good a promo as the one that opened the show, Bret stumbles a lot over his words, goes way too long and in comparison the ending overall (match and promo) were much weaker than the opening, which is a shame. The show went off the air with Bret talking and HBK standing there like a goof.

The Overall:
Best Match/Segment: Dustin Runnels Interview Part II 8.25
Worst Match/Segment:: 1997 King of the Ring First Round Match: Hunter Hearst Hemsley w/Chyna vs. Ahmed Johnson 4.0
Final Thoughts: I felt that this week was a step down from previous weeks. The opening was a great segment and again you had the Runnels interview, which were great parts of the show. But there was a lot of filler that distracted e and slowed the show, and with the ending being cold it just felt not as hot as the last two shows. Overall good for coming out the PPV, very far from bad, but not up to where I felt that they were.
Show Score: 7.0

WCW MONDAY NITRO (5.12.97)~!:
Due to the NBA Playoffs, Nitro was one hour on this night.
RATING: 2.8

Match/Segment: Savage Challenges DDP/Show Opening
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 4.0
Final Thoughts: Savage challenges DDP after last week's beat down and leaves the ring. Tony, Larry and Heenan explain that Bishoff will have an interview with Sting, at this point Sting hadn't spoken in months. It set the stage but was so rushed that it lost a lot of its effect.

Match/Segment: WCW TV Title Match: Ultimate Dragon vs. Juvi Guerrera
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.25
Final Thoughts: Regal gives an awesome screen in screen interview, as he is going back to his Blackpool roots to regain his title. Regal rules, "I don't do none of those Hurran-con-ranna's sunshine, but I will outwrestle anyone in the world." A great man he is to be sure. As for Dragon vs. Juvi, this was a damn fine little opener. It makes me sad in a way because Juvi became an Ecstasy freak and Dragon was never the same after an injury. But this is one thing WCW always did well, and something WWE and both TNA have the tools to do right now but refuse to do on a regular basis. Sonny Ono would cause Juvi to lose momentum, which lead to Dragon getting the top rope RANA and dragon sleeper for the win. I miss awesome Regal and Ultimo.

Match/Segment: Mean Gene Interviews Kevin Green, Ric Flair and Roddy Piper
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.0
Final Thoughts: This is continuation of the build for these three men vs. the n.W.o (Hall, Nash and Syxx) this coming Sunday (Retro Time). Green puts over that he is undefeated in Charlotte, and that we all pay taxes, we'll all die and three is that in Charlotte he will break his foot off in some n.W.o ass. Flair is all hype while Piper is ready for a fight. He may be a dinosaur, but he is a starving T-Rex. We get the n.W.o on the big screen, Syxx indicates that he may be banging Flair's wife while he's out of town. The n.W.o says that the match is no DQ, no count out and someone is getting pinned. This was fine hype for the PPV, but under-whelming overall.

Match/Segment: Non-Title Match: Steve McMichaels w/Debra and Jarrett vs. Dean Malenko ©/Reggie White is Here
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.5
Final Thoughts: McMichaels is headed to the PPV Sunday to face Reggie White, while Malenko is defending his US Title on that same show against Jarrett, who is at ringside. Sloppy match that saw McMichaels awkwardly drop Malenko a few times. Reggie White would come out to hype the PPV match, get involved and get a clothesline and splash on McMichaels and then take Jarrett out, allowing Malenko to get the win. I have not seen many bad Dean Malenko matches, but this was one. At least they built to the PPV, I'll give them that. Mean Gene then interviews Reggie, who is playing for the Packers at the time and they are in Wisconsin for this show. Promo was fine and the crowd loved him.

Match/Segment: Scotty Riggs vs. Wrath w/James Vandenburg and Mortis
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.0
Final Thoughts: Oh Lord, the American Males thee music! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING! I have always liked Vandenburg/Mitchell's work; even if he was he was stuck in this dead end feud. They put so much work into the angle, but Bishoff basically dropped it because of the n.W.o. Wrath is a beast and kills Riggs in an very short, but effective squash. Glacier would appear and do nothing. To be honest I really dug the idea of the feud, a guilty pleasure I guess.

Match/Segment: Konnan and Hugh Morris w/Jimmy Hart vs. Ice Train and Alex Wright w/Teddy Long
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 4.0
Final Thoughts: Theo story is that Wright is cocky and not helping Train, even though Teddy Long keeps trying to make him get into the match. Wright pulls the faux knee injury and leaves Train to be double-teamed, which allows Konnan gets the submission. Not much of a match actually, and what we got wasn't particularly good.

Match/Segment: Piper beat down/Sting Interview
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0
Final Thoughts: We see them rush backstage and the n.W.o has laid out Roddy Piper, taking out his surgically repaired hip. I liked the small touches the n.W.o had, like their own mic cubes and such. Sting's music hit and we get the "n.W.o Sting," which nobody was buying at this point. Bishoff BERRIES Sting, saying that Hogan is better and the n.W.o Sting agrees to all of this. The real Sting appears to beat down n.W.o Sting, death drop and Bishoff runs. The real Sting stands tall, and the fans were pleased.

The Overall:
Best Match/Segment: Piper beat down/Sting Interview 7.0
Worst Match/Segment:: Konnan and Hugh Morris w/Jimmy Hart vs. Ice Train and Alex Wright w/Teddy Long 4.0
Final Thoughts: It's like WCW was on autopilot for these one-hour shows. They were hyping the PPV decently, but overall the shows were easy to miss while Raw was clicking on all cylinders.
Show Score: 5.4

THE WINNER:
According to the Ratings: RAW Due to the NBA Playoffs, Nitro was one hour on this night.
According to Larry:
Overall Series Score: RAW~6 – NITRO~0

NEXT WEEK NITRO RETURNS TO TWO HOURS!