My Take On The Monday Night Wars 3.19.08: Raw vs. Nitro (6.09.97)
Posted by Larry Csonka on 03.19.2008
The fallout from the King of the Ring on Raw, while Nitro gets the shaft due to incompetence at Turner.
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!
For those that have asked, these columns don't have a set schedule. They will appear as a fill in for when another 411 writer needs the day off.
It is the night after the King of the Ring PPV. The Undertaker successfully defended the WWE title against Farooq, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin fought to a Double Disqualification and Hunter Hearst Helmsley pinned Mankind to become the King of the Ring. And now, the fallout…
Match/Segment: Ahmed Johnson and The Legion of Doom defeated Faarooq, Crush, and Savio Vega Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.5 Final Thoughts: This would be a rematch from the WrestleMania XIII Street Fight. The LOD were in a state of flux, while they dominated lesser teams they had no real direction and were on the losing end of a 6-man tag on the KOTR PPV. Ahmed had lost, via shenanigans, to Farooq on the last Raw. Farooq had lost the night before to the Undertaker while Crush and Savio Vega had been having issues and been fighting. We see more issues before the match as Savio mocks the Nation salute. The Nation gets owned through out, at one point Farooq was working for a tag, but Clarence Mason was too busy talking with Savio and Crush. D Lo tried to get their attention, but they had none of it. Savio and Crush leave Farooq behind, D Lo tried to help, but Ahmed would get the clean pin on Farooq with the Pearl River Plunge. This version of the Nation would soon be dead, later in this episode actually, and the gang wars would soon begin. Not much of a match, but the angle and build was all there and it was a decent way to kick things off. I would have liked them to touch more on what happened at the PPV to kick off the show, that's my main complaint, but this worked.
Match/Segment: The New King of the Ring Speaks Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0 Final Thoughts: Vince demands to know why Hunter Hearst Helmsley put Mankind through the announce table and beat him down at the KOTR PPV. Helmsley's excuse is that it should have happened last year, winning KOTR, but due to the politics, he didn't get the chance. Nobody, not even Vince will stand in his way. The ring is his home and he challenges anyone. Mankind is on the screen saying, "knock, knock Hunter!" Shit that was awesome. They discuss rematch, Helmsley loved the pain he got to inflict. Chyna tells Mankind that he can come out to the ring and kiss her ass. He does come out and Helmsley beats him down with the crown again. These guys had some damn fine matches in this feud, the first "HHH vs. Foley" feud that most don't discuss because they don't know about. JD has had the chance to recap many of them as he had been going through and doing the WWF PPV Reviews from back then. This was another good segment.
Match/Segment: European Champion Davey Boy Smith defeated Goldust by Disqualification Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0 Final Thoughts: They show some video footage of how Davey won the European Title and mention that it was the first new title since the introduction of the IC Title. Davey defeated Mankind, Vader and then Owen Hart to win the title. They pull the "Dusty-esque" finish as Godust gets a pin off of the DDT, but Davey had a foot on the ropes. The match is the definition of "average TV match." Not bad, but not great and we got the DQ ending as Davey beats down Goldust after what was going to be a double count out. Marlena slaps Davey repeatedly and was going to use a chair, but Ken Shamrock makes the save. There was never any real follow up to this with either Shamrock or Goldust, as far as a singles feud would go, but they were part of the Canadian Stampede match so that is something.
Match/Segment: The Nation Explodes Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0 Final Thoughts: The Nation had a blow up in the locker room, which saw Farooq and the "Black" members of the Nation leave and go to the ring. Farooq claims he took Savio from the fields and he didn't do his job and is fired. Crush wasn't doing anything, he didn't do his job and he is fired as well. Farooq then fires some of the dudes that just stood around leaving Clarence and D Lo. He then fires Clarence since D Lo was the only one ever there for him. Farooq promises a new Nation, and next week the first victims of the new Nation will be the Undertaker and Ahmed Johnson. I liked the way this all went down and actually had a soft spot for the Gang Wars.
Match/Segment: The Headbangers defeated Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon Larry's Enjoyment Index: 4.0 Final Thoughts: Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer come through the crowd to watch the show. A average match that was just there. I have mentioned how I always liked Phil Lafon and Furnas, but that they were in the fed at the wrong time and never used right. Phil Lafon actually busts out a Cattle Mutilation in the match; that was pretty cool. It is a shame that they were so concerned with pushing The Headbagers instead.
Match/Segment: Stone Cold Speaks Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0 Final Thoughts: We see highlights of the attack on Pillman from last night's KOTR PPV. After discussion of that, Austin discusses his match with HBK and says that their issues are gone and now he turns his full attention to Pillman and promises to beat his ass as well. They hype the Canadian Stampede PPV and the 10-man match. Austin claims to be the first man to take the challenge. He could be reading War and Peace out there and they would be popping for anything he said. Short, sweet and effective.
Match/Segment: Rob Van Dam pinned Flash Funk Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0 Final Thoughts: Jerry Lawler cut a short promo discussing Paul Heyman showing up and how he tried to keep RVD out of the WWF. Mr. Monday Night is back on Raw with Jerry Lawler at his side. The previous Saturday night Lawler invaded the ECW Arena, and that is why Dreamer and Paul are here. Officials have to come out to keep Dreamer from attacking Lawler. We actually get ECW footage as Lawler, Sabu, Fonzie and RVD beat down Dreamer. Man I hated Flash Funk, just an over the top and stupid gimmick and never allows for upward mobility in my opinion. They blow a plancha spot as RVD flies to the floor and Funk stands there and lets RVD fly right by him. RVD just crashes to the floor, and that had to suck. There was some fun flying around, but it was sloppy and disjointed at times. Paul and Dreamer jump the railing to attack Lawler and RVD after the match. As a WWF fan I remember it being really fun to watch because my friends were actually convinced that it was some wild invasion deal, and still thought the n.W.o was sent to WCW to invade. This was fun stuff, but again, more beneficial to ECW than WWF at the time.
Match/Segment: Sid Vicious pinned Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart in a non-title match Larry's Enjoyment Index: 4.0 Final Thoughts: Ken Shamrock was out to do commentary for the bout. Shamrock throws a fit about outside interference and decides to take out Neidhart. Sid then ignores the legwork Owen did and gets a chokeslam to pin Owen. Shamrock and Sid shake and agree to drinks after the match. Now Sid came back last week and lost to Taker and then his team lost at the PPV to the Foundation so I understand them wanting to get him a win. But having him beat the IC Champion was very questionable at the time, and even more so in hindsight as he would be gone from the company soon after this.
Match/Segment: Closing out the Mankind Interview Series Larry's Enjoyment Index: 10.0 Final Thoughts: This is the explanation as to why Cactus never came to the WWF. He wasn't wanted, and when he uses the mandible claw, he imagines that it is Vince. He also resents people for loving Shawn Michaels and the fact that he got to live his dream, and he ended up looking the way he is. Mankind wants to cause the suffering to others that he has undergone. Jim Ross then dives into questions about Mankind's mental status and the fact that he should take responsibility for his life. Bad move Jimmy. Mankind discusses Ross saying that he likes pain, and that he isn't doing his job. He feels just like everyone else, he can't get up to play with his boy, he takes a 12-inch needle to wrestle one more day, that's not fun. Truly awesome stuff again, I love these interviews and they did a lot for Foley and his career. If they never went this direction he just would have been another faceless monster. Instead someone realized that they should use his skills, and it worked perfectly. This of course ended with Mankind putting Ross in the mandible claw, and then asking for help. Back "live" Ross takes some responsibility for pushing the wrong buttons.
Match/Segment: Rockabilly pinned Bart Gunn Larry's Enjoyment Index: 3.0 Final Thoughts: Vince puts over that these men are "brothers" and were three time tag team champions together. Bart gets no entrance music, oh yes, that screams jobber. The back-story is that the Honkey Tonk Man told Rockabilly that he needed closure and had to defeat his brother Bart. This was an extended squash and a pretty bad one at that.
Match/Segment: Mankind defeated Brian Pillman by Disqualification Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0 Final Thoughts: This was to be the hyped Austin vs. Pillman match, but as Austin came to the ring the hart Foundation attacked and beat him down. Mankind makes the surprise save and the match becomes Mankind vs. Pillman. As many have mentioned Pillman was limited, broken down really due to the ankle injury at the time and while he worked hard, it was obvious. Mankind looked to have the match won, but the Foundation would attack. Austin and Shamrock would run in to make the save, and clean house. Unfortunately for Shamrock he was thanked with a stunner. While they did the bait and switch deal, it was done well as the feud was established and the Foundation got a big on up on Austin. Also, this laid the foundation for Mankind in the coming weeks begging to be tag partners with Austin and the eventual change to Dude Love, which plays off of the Interviews. This also was setting up the Canadian Stampede, which Austin and Shamrock would be teammates for.
The Overall: Best Match/Segment: Closing out the Mankind Interview Series 10.0 Worst Match/Segment:: Rockabilly pinned Bart Gunn 3.0 Final Thoughts: While not a bad show overall, it didn't feel as exciting as other installments. Coming out of the PPV I think most expected more and they just didn't make it feel that way. The Nation disbanding, Hemsley and Austin promos, Mankind sit down and closing angles were all good, but there wasn't that feeling that I have had with the other shows. Certainly not bad, but it seemed to lack something. Show Score: 7.0
WCW MONDAY NITRO (6.09.97)~!: RATING: 3.4
According to Dave Meltzer: The WWE 24/7 History of the Monday Night Wars feature that didn't air the June 9, 1997, edition of Nitro, it was not because Chris Benoit was prominently featured in a way that couldn't be edited off the show, but that the tape WCW gave WWE when the library was purchased had major audio issues in the second hour. They actually looked at trying to get a DVD of the show from someone on the Internet, but found the audio quality wouldn't be of broadcast standard so the decision was made to skip airing that week's episode of Nitro.
THESHOW RESULTS:
* Ultimo Dragon, Juventud Guerrera, and Super Calo defeated Silver King, Psicosis, and La Parka
* Alex Wright pinned Chris Jericho
* World Women's Champion Akira Hokuto pinned Malia Hosaka
* Steve McMichael and Konnan fought to a No Contest
* Lex Luger defeated World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan in a non-title match
* Jeff Jarrett defeated Dean Malenko to win the United States title
* Roddy Piper and Ric Flair defeated World Tag Team Champions The Outsiders by Disqualification
MY DECISION:
Usually I assign one point for winning the ratings and one point for winning what I feel is the better show. Well since 24/7 cannot provide me with the episode, and I do not own it I am in an interesting situation. What I have decided to do is split the "According to Larry" point and make that a tie. I think that this is fair and hope that I don't run into a situation like this again. Thanks for reading!
THE WINNER:
According to the Ratings: NITRO According to Larry: TIE/SPLIT Overall Series Score: RAW~9.5 – NITRO~4.5
Posted By: manman (Guest) on March 19, 2008 at 04:18 PM
Yeh i didnt mind the gang wars but they was just so many bad workers in that storyline and of course all the matches sucked!
O yeh that 6 man on Nitro had to rule,Super Calo and La Parka were awesome.
Good work Larry!
Posted By: Conor O'Boyle (Guest) on March 19, 2008 at 05:36 PM
I liked the gang wars, too. It kept a bunch of people with their own shit going on, and when one of them was facing someone big, you thought they had a chance 'cause they had so much help.
Boy, did I hate the Rockabilly. Actually, I was never much a fan of Billy Gunn, period. Shocking, isn't it?
At least you didn't have to see Jarrett go over Malenko.
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 02:34 AM
