Live Feed Mania – WWF Monday Night Raw 02/13/97

WWF @ Lowell, MA – Memorial Auditorium – February 13, 1997 (4,500)

I’ve been obtaining Live Feeds from Super Mario’s brother himself (Richard Land) and figured I’d share the bizarre moments that would have remained undiscovered until someone pointed their satellite dish at the correct position at a certain time.

Tony Roy vs. Bert Centeno

Feed starts with the commentators (McMahon, Lawler & Ross) all reading today’s newspapers so they can mention current events to demonstrate the show is live baby, live. Tonya Harding was kidnapped and Vince is like “who would kidnap her?” and teases doing a “just in time for Valentine’s day, this just in!” new bulletin. I’m shocked Vince would be enjoying a woman’s distress. Roy lands a back bodydrop to allow J.R. to bust out his Gordon Solie impression: “The 99 cervical vertebrae have been dislodged. The man is now a squid.” Bert gets shoved in a Tree of Woe as I felt I had to write something about the match currently thrilling the crowd. Oh never mind Bert escapes it easily and lands a crossbody off the top even though it says on HistoryofWWE that Tony Roy won. Hopefully someone got fired for that blunder.

Lawler jokingly says it may be a good time to think about what they’re going to say for the opener. Crowd chants “Burger King” while the Spanish Announcers practice their audio.

We get the dramatic announcement that Shawn Michaels will forfeit his title tonight. Wow what a reason to watch Raw! No wonder it did a crap rating.

Also worth mentioning the rubbish THURSDAY RAW THURSDAY intro that looks and sounds very rushed together.

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia

The show immediately starts with this which means Vince’s introduction is inaudible as he’s drowned out by Rocky’s theme.

Vince says HHH’s butler is absent. I forget who that was in 1997. It wasn’t Mantaur was it? No that was Goldust’s bodyguard. Alright I give up, let me google OH RIGHT Mr. Hughes for like two weeks. Gotcha.

Anyway HHH curtseys because he still has the flexibility to do that. Both men go through a technically decent matwork exchange sequence that looks too rehearsed to mean much. Crowd chants “Rocky Sucks” which the commentators ignore and instead point out Rocky must feel as nervous as Michael Jackson this week! Well according to Google he’d just started recording the music video for Blood On The Dance Floor which wasn’t that bad so I don’t get it. HHH’s Indian Deathlock allows him to smack Rocky in the face while yelling at him which is nice but the crowd is still anti-Rocky so they don’t care. J.R. calls HHH “cerebral” for the first time and sadly not the last. Lawler: “that means he’s smart you idiots.”

Rocky and his frizzy haircut dropkick HHH out the ring as I wonder why they were so intent on pushing him despite the frosty reaction. Rocky lands a glancing dropkick on HHH with J.R. wonderfully covering for it by yelling “I think he hit him in the nose!” Rocky clotheslines the corner post as Lawler points out how dumb Rocky is for doing that. HHH goes to the now-damaged arm as the kids are chanting for Rocky now. HHH counters a backdrop into a Divorce Court to Lawler’s glee.

We go to the break and the exclusive Satellite Feed brings us…the backstage editors getting the replay of the swinging neckbreaker ready followed by the guy recording this via his satellite switching channels briefly to check out the exciting porn deals.

When we return, HHH lands a few jumping knee drops while The Honky Tonk Man grabs a commentator headset to reveal neither of these men are good enough to be his new protégé. What a tremendous way to push these future stars, having this relic call them both shite. HHH applies a sleeper hold that isn’t half as effective as putting someone to sleep as listening to Honky right now. Rocky applies his own but HHH the thinking man runs into the turnbuckle to get him off. Rock’s punch-punch-delayed-punch combo gets the crowd going, as does yelling “C’MON MOTHERFUCKER”. High flying Rocky lands a crossbody off the top (shades of the late great Bert Centeno) but HHH rolls it into a two-count.

HHH continues using the knee which won’t backfire on him until years later. HHH’s neckbreaker gets two and it’s treated like it’s one of his finishers. No memory of that. Jumping piledriver also only gets two which is a more realistic surprise kick-out. Lawler adds that HHH said he did it as tribute to him so Lawler gets annoyed that it doesn’t work. HHH sets up a superplex which Rocky also kicks out of. They’re booking this really well to get the crowd behind Rocky but only the kids are buying it. The Pedigree gets set up but Rocky’s too fucked to stand, like 2025 Rocky after walking to the ring. HHH mocks him with a curtesy before walking directly into Rocky’s small package to give us a new champion and a big-ass pop at 15:30.

Th match was well structured in front of the wrong crowd. Rocky’s offence needed mixing up something rotten as HHH was by far the more interesting wrestler but well done on getting at least some of the crowd into it.

Luckily Dox Hendrix is loud enough to yell over the crowd’s cheering to ask Rocky about how his family must be feeling. Rocky says yeah they’re proud. Thanks Dox.

We get clips of Hillbilly Jim on Prime Time Country and oh God who cares. Audio isn’t on anyway so we can’t hear him. Then Jesse James teams up with Gary Chapman to do something on some show blahblahblah we’ll be right back.

M & M’s Slam of The Week is The Undertaker tombstoning HHH down the escalator on Shotgun Saturday Night. They cut the bit where HHH actually goes down the damn thing which is the whole point of the spot so I don’t know they even bothered. M & M’s, when you can’t be fucked!

Sunny shows up to pull her notes out of her bra. Oh and to introduce the following match:

The Headbangers vs. Aldo Montoya & Bob Holly

Already In The Ring is the hottest thrown-together tag team of 1995. Spark Plugg being around in 1997 blows my mind. I don’t associate him with this period at all, even with his nice Frankensteiner-into-punches spot he stole from Shawn Michaels. Well HBK won’t be using it ever again after this episode so it’s fair game. Headbangers cheat behind the ref’s back to set up something resembling double teaming. No-one cares about anyone in this match. Double front suplex sets up further cheating as the commentators talk about Shawn Michaels and how Vince feels guilt over having HBK push himself 100% every night. Aye sure you do. J.R. plugs Duckman as Thrasher misses a moonsault. Hot tag to Aldo as he lands another crossbody off the top (third of the night). Mosh ignores it to instantly land the Mosh Pit Powerbomb-Legdrop combo to end it at 5:43.

I used to get mad when people would bash The Headbangers but watching their matches lets me know they were 100% right and I just loved their finisher. Highlight was being reminded about Duckman.

Then we get HBK losing his smile and…ah we’ve all seen and heard about this so I’m copy-pasting from HistoryOfWWE:

Thursday Raw Thursday – featured Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, & Jim Ross on commentary; included an in-ring segment hosted by Vince McMahon in which WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels surrendered the title to WWF President Gorilla Monsoon due to a knee injury; as Michaels said a doctor had told him he may never wrestle again, the crowd started a “We want Sid” chant – as Sid was scheduled to face Michaels during the broadcast for the title; moments later, Michaels said he felt he couldn’t say “no” during his championship reign and wanted to do everything asked of him – from the heavy travelling to the public appearances; he then said he had lost his smile somewhere along the line, said the past year was the best of his life, and then thanked the fans for their support before making a round around the ring to shake and slap hands; after declaring the title vacant, Monsoon announced that the winner of the Final Four match that Sunday would become the new champion and that Sid would get a title shot against the new champion the during following week’s edition of Monday Night Raw.

I always thought this sucked. I can understand WWF tearing their hair out and doing what they could with the horrible hand they’d been dealt, but here’s the counterpoint: I hated Shawn as a kid and was chanting for SID along with the crowd.

It’s funny to watch now because unshaven and false modest Shawn looks and sounds like every YouTuber recording a video denying being a nonce:

Also I’m unsure how it aired in other areas but they already showed the commercial for Final Four and it’s new stipulation earlier in the night before they said it here.

During the break: Jim Ross practices the Western Union plug. Well they can’t all be exciting moments.

The commentators continues to try to emphasize the seriousness of the situation and how fans were crying. Meanwhile directly behind them fans are yelling WOOOO WWF YEAHHH and mugging for the camera to really sell the impact this had on them.

The Undertaker vs. Savio Vega (w/ the Nation)

PG-13 cruelly interrupt Shawn’s epitaph by yelling during Vega’s entrance. No Nation rap yet though, I can’t remember if that was strictly a Faarooq thing. “This is going to be something!” lies J.R.

We immediately head to break and return to Undertaker launching Vega into the corner. Vega slugs away on Undi to reverse the hearse. The action is so thrilling that Lawler says Rocky being the new IC Champ is more unexpected than Michael Jackson becoming a father. Ohhh that’s what the joke was earlier. Leave that schtick to Norm, at least he commits.

Undi lands Old School to the crowd’s delight. J.R. lets us know Final Four is this Sunday and tickets are still available. Well if Vega can’t get people to buy tickets then nothing will. Savio mule kicks Undi low but he recovers fairly quickly to clothesline Vega down. Vega’s spinning heel kicks have no effect but a running one gets two. Undi doesn’t want to sell for Vega’s strikes but remembers these are his biggest moves so starts selling. Is Savio in any of the 2K games? How does that work, having strikes as your trademarks and finishers?

Crowd chants “Rest In Peace” as J.R. says that’s what those American Airline pilots are saying cos they aren’t working. Well by the time this aired the strike had been denied by President Clinton and further negotiations were made resulting in the pilots getting a fair amount of wage increases and benefits but yeah you tell those lazy unions what for J.R. Googling all that was a hell of a lot more interesting than watching Vega on offence. Undi decides to liven things up and decides to legdrop Vega as he’s bent over for a backdrop.

I can’t tell if he flubbed a leapfrog or was as bored as the rest of us he decided to create some new offence. Chokeslam ends it clean at 8:50 resulting in The Nation all bum-rushing Undi, leading to Ahmed Johnson running out and injuring everyone to a scarily loud pop. Undi and Ahmed clean house together as the crowd cheers wildly. Man if only he wasn’t insanely dangerous to everyone around him, he could have been huge.

Steve Austin vs. Sycho Sid

Austin gets a pop that isn’t quite Ahmed-level but it’s getting there. Dox asks Gorilla Monsoon why he put the vacant title on the line at Final Four. Did we need that clarifying? Gorilla points out the winner at the PPV gets Sid the next night on Raw so the former champ gets his deserved rematch. OK that’s fair and worked out well for Sid.

Sid has all the heat during his entrance, aided by the dimmed lights, fist bumps and flaming SID sign. Austin doesn’t care and attacks from behind. Sid slugs away on Austin but he’s motivated so his strikes look good. Austin blocks a chokeslam with a low blow allowing Austin to pose on the ropes before immediately kicking Sid low again. The older males are loudly chanting for Austin here. Austin attacks Sid on the outside and I don’t know why the ref was allowing those low blows. Anyway Austin somehow locks in an Abominable Stretch while using the ropes as the ref tries to stop him. Crowd still cheer this blatant cheating. Austin counters a Sid sleeper hold into a micro-stunner before facelocking the mighty Sid to the mat. Sid comes back with more motivated strikes that Austin sells dramatically. Austin dodges a legdrop and teases a Sharpshooter, which is ignored by the commentators who are presumably reading the newspapers for info on Michael Jackson. Then Bret Hart runs out to attack Austin and cause the DQ at 3:45 and the commentators have no idea why because they’re dumb. Sid and Bret then slug away before a platoon of referees run in to break it up.

Match was pretty fun while it lasted with both men showing their positives before the inevitable non-finish.

Vader is asked about his chances at Final Four so he asks how many people can say they pinned Undertaker twice, pinned Bret once and attacked Austin twice? A quick check reveals Vader never scored a fall on Austin but yeah sure enough he did pin Bret and Undertaker. Good for him, if only he could have pinned Shawn.

During the break: Vince and Lawler practice their Western Union money transfer plug. Aye, you know about transferring money to victims people. Anyway Lawler is sending money to his mum because it’s Valentine’s Day. Yes.

WWF World Tag Team Titles

Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Faarooq & Crush

Oh now PG-13 get the Nation rap during the entrances and completely drown out J.R. and Vince as they’re trying to talk about Shawn’s smile again. Even funnier than that is Owen and Bulldog’s chemistry during their entrance:

Owen allows Crush to pretend to be big before running around and crossbodying him to discombobulate him. Crush would have 100% been a guy Stu would have turned into a balloon animal in the Dungeon. Crush press slams Owen leading to Bulldog tagging in as we go to break.

When we return, Faarooq is sending Bulldog into the ring steps behind the ref’s back and OH THIS IS WHERE WE GET THE IMAGE OF BRET WATCHING THE TV.

It’s wild seeing meme pics in their natural habitat. Bret does his best to pretend he’s upset at HBK retiring as we rightfully ignore this match. Bret reckons tonight it’s Bret Time and not Vader Time. OK.

We return to the match with Bulldog taking a bodyscissors from Crush as Vince uses this opportunity to plug La Femme Nikita. Crowd chant “JAILBIRD” at Crush until his feelings get hurt and he tags out. We get some fake tags to get an annoyed Owen which results in a much better reaction than when The Headbangers were doing it earlier. Owen gets the hot tag to land kicks on everyone before it all breaks down with Crush sending Owen over the ropes and then he lands badly and gets counted out at 10:24. Owen is unable to help his team mate as Faarooq lands the Dominator as Vince thinks Owen is “reluctant” to help his team mate while Lawler tells him off. J.R. isn’t convinced either. Match was all about getting the plugs in for everything else.

Bret Hart vs. Vader

Bret charges the ring to be amongst his people who cheer wildly because he’s the greatest of all time. Vince is still trying to get The One They Call Vader over as a thing. Before the match starts, Undi interrupts and says no-one respects him anymore. Alright Rodney. Anyway he’s going to beat them all up at Final Four so Vader uses this distraction opportunity to punch Bret out the ring and then Austin runs out to kick Bret as we head to break!

Western Union Rewind Presents: Rocky and his broccoli haircut winning the IC Title!

Vader punches Bret down but gets cocky and ends up getting slammed off a second rope dive attempt. Bret starts the Moves Of Doom with the Russian Leg Sweep before very nonchalantly slamming Vader like it’s nothing, causing my next door’s fire alarm to go off brb.

Yeah they’re fine. Bret attempts a Sharpshooter but Vader easily kicks him off because he’s not finished the sequence. Bret backdrop suplexes Vader very easily and lands the elbow off Bret’s rope. Vader tries to avalanche Bret but he dodges and locks in the Sharpshooter! But Vader’s too close to the ropes leading to Bret tease a DQ by holding on. Then Austin appears in the balcony to mouth off at Bret while the entire crowd turns to watch him and almost miss Vader attempt the moonsault…which misses, leading to Bret to roll over and pin him at 6:45.

Even if both men were going through the motions in a quick main event to build to Sunday, these two men’s “motions” are still pretty sweet. Plus the visual of Austin appearing like a force of nature that can’t be stopped was always fun.

Post-match Austin threatens to jump off the balcony like New Jack to get to Bret and that’s your lot.

Also occurring but not recorded:

Astro Man pinned Bert Centeno
Ahmed Johnson pinned Salvatore Sincere
Mankind defeated Flash Funk via count-out

Yes apparently Bert worked twice. What a trooper.

Overall: A famous episode of Raw because of the day change, the title change and the expression change. Aside from the dark match and the commentators preparing their notes, there wasn’t much in terms of exclusive satellite footage but as an example of how crazy 1997 Raw was about to become then it’s worth dipping into.

I’ve been Maffew.