Wrestling Observer Flashback
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Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04.14.97

By Scott Keith on 4 August 2026

Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04.14.97

Yeah it’s been a while, but these disappear off the front page right away so it’s hard to justify spending the time required on them. But I’ve got some time to kill on a holiday Monday so let’s give it another go. I don’t generally ask for this, but it would help me continue these greatly if you would share the link on the social media.

WHEN WE LAST LEFT OFF:

https://www.blogofdoom.com/2025/11/18/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-07-97/

In our top story, ECW’s first PPV is this weekend and Dave has some questions. (Good lord, it’s been months since I’ve done one of these and we’re STILL not at Barely Legal yet?)

– Dave’s first question: Will the show pull enough of a buyrate to be considered a success? Dave thinks YES. They have TV in the US, which none of the other also-ran companies on PPV had, and a rabid fanbase. However, they have a lot against them in terms of distribution. So it’s not a guarantee. (Spoiler: They did a 0.20, which was lower than Dave would have considered a success.)

– Dave’s second question: Will they go over the line on this show? Dave thinks NO. No on is gonna slice open an underaged kid and have him bleed all over the arena because they now know that it would be considered a bad thing to have that on TV. (Hold on, let me take notes here…underaged worker nearly dying of blood loss is bad…got it.). Don’t worry, though, there will be still dangerous chairshots and half-naked women.

– Dave’s third question: Will there be a second show? If they can hit a 0.2, it won’t be a success, but it will be enough of a “not failure” that they’ll probably greenlight a second one. So Dave thinks YES. But if they can’t get significantly over that figure in the future, they might not be around for long.

– Moving on, RVD is pretty much accepted as leaving for WCW imminently. (Well duh. He is Mr. Monday Night after all!). Sabu is also probably leaving after the PPV. No one really wants either Raven or Stevie Richards, so expect them to stick around long-term.

– Most of the “New York Clique” of the Dudleys and Dreamer and Taz and Eliminators aren’t going anywhere, and neither is Sandman. Heyman is also keeping the Gangstas around, despite them nearly costing him the company and his PPV deal. (4D chess!).

– Chris Candido is still out with an arm injury, so the PPV match will likely end up as Lance Storm v. Rob Van Dam, although RVD is said to be grumbling about being a “PPV fill in guy” instead of a featured star. (RVD leaving for WCW SUPER-CONFIRMED!). Dave thinks that despite everyone being banged up, the Michinoku Pro six-man should be the best match on the show. (Really? Crazy.). Douglas v. Pitbull will likely have “some booking swerves”. (And sun is yellow in other news.)

– Meanwhile, the main event was originally envisioned to be Terry Funk’s last stand, winning a world title on the 20th anniversary of dropping the NWA World title to Harley Race in Toronto, which is why Heyman wanted the PPV for February so badly. But after a series of other retirements and fake departures from the sport, this year will undoubtedly be the real, actual final last stand for Terry Funk at 52 years old. (Good thing I’m only in my 20s or else I’d feel fucking old right now after reading that.)

– Moving on to WCW’s Spring Stampede 97, which was basically just another show for them. The promotion is still hot and drew 8356 to Tupelo, and even Dusty Rhodes was only “mildly awful” on commentary.

– Dave would like to discuss the handling of Scott Hall by WCW, however, because it’s been pretty reprehensible. (2000 WCW says “Hold my beer.” Or hold Scott’s beer.) WCW basically advertised Hall despite knowing he was off dealing with personal issues, even though they’d known for weeks he wouldn’t be there.

– In the dark match, there was some combination of GAEA wrestlers and no one knew who they were, or who won, or if the match was any good. (10/10, no notes.)

  1. Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned Ultimo Dragon in 14:55. An excellent match, although they toned down the flying stuff a lot. Rey got the pin with a springboard rana, and the match was way better than anything else on the show by a lot. ****1/4

This was followed by an angle where Scott Steiner attacked Kevin Nash backstage and got arrested and thus taken out of the show. (The idea of Scott Steiner going crazy and getting into trouble with the law is so bizarre that I don’t even want to entertain it.)

  1. Akira Hokuto pinned Madusa in 5:13. Hokuto much of the match biting Madusa’s leg and Tony Schiavone noted that he didn’t know Sonny Onoo was there because he doesn’t pay attention to the ring introductions. (10/10, no notes). Luna Vachon ran in and helped Hokuto win. Good work, but the finish was crap. **1/2
  2. Prince Iaukea pinned Steven Regal to retain the TV title in 10:01. Regal carried the entire match and the Prince got zero reaction. Iaukea also seemed lost and out of his league. *1/2
  3. Public Enemy beat Jeff Jarrett & Steve McMichael in 10:42. Unfortunately it turns out that Mongo doesn’t look great when he’s not in the ring with elite workers to carry him. Mainly a brawl, ending with Rocko hitting Jarrett with the briefcase while JJ had Grunge in the figure-four, allowing Grunge to get the pin while still in the hold. ¼*
  4. Dean Malenko retained the US title in a no-contest with Chris Benoit in 17:56. A huge disappointment given the talent. The momentum of the match was ruined by a bunch of run-ins from everyone, leading to the match getting thrown out, and then Malenko quipping that “he wasn’t supposed to be there” in reference to Eddie Guerrero. ***1/4
  5. Kevin Nash pinned Rick Steiner to retain the WCW World tag team titles in 10:20. More interference here from Syxx and Ted Dibiase, although Dibiase got sick of Nash’s cheating and walked out on him. Nash brutalized Rick with a bunch of Snake Eyes onto a exposed turnbuckle and pinned him to win. *1/2
  6. Lex Luger beat the Giant, Booker T & Stevie Ray in a “four way match” to win a World title shot in 18:18. Just a standard tag match, with the rules making no sense from a booking standpoint. Giant destroyed both Heat guys at the end, but then graciously allowed Luger to get the win with the Rack on Stevie Ray. Match was boring. *
  7. DDP pinned Randy Savage in a No DQ match in 15:38. This was positioned as the main event, even though the previous match was advertised as the main going into the show. They both worked hard and tried to save the show. Another one with a whole bunch of interference from the usual suspects and ref bumps, although the crowd was waiting for Sting to interfere and he never did. ***1/4

– To Mexico, where the fourth annual International Grand Prix tournament on 4/4 was won by Steele, who is a Canadian wrestler named Sean Morley. (He’s a true rising star, getting bigger by the day.). People are comparing Morley to 1986 Lex Luger, noting he’s really green but with a good body. (“Well you know something ladies, people say that the Big Valbowski is green, but that just means he hasn’t finished ripening yet…”)

– To Memphis, where the big angle was Fake Diesel & Fake Razor invading and doing a “WWF is better than the USWA” storyline. (Wow really hot take there.). Oddly, Diesel credited Jerry Lawler as introducing him to the business when he was Isaac Yankem. So it’s leading to Lawler & Dundee v. Razor & Diesel as the big blowoff.

– The group of the Truth Commission are being developed for a WWF callup soon. Tank used to be Mantaur and he’s still terrible. The “Tall Canadian Guy” is easily the worst of the bunch. Barry Buchanan isn’t bad. Bret Hart’s friend the Commandant is a decent generic heel manager.

– To ECW, where Shane Douglas and Sandman nearly got into a backstage fight and had to be split up thanks to Douglas screaming at everyone over a Brian Lee table spot at a show he was promoting on 4/4. Sandman stooged out Douglas’s rant to Brian Lee and Douglas went to Sandman looking for a fight. And then Douglas did an angle where he used Sandman’s cane to injure him, so Sandman threw a fit backstage because he didn’t want other people stealing his gimmick, so they got into another pullapart. And then the guys holding them back were like “Fuck it, let them fight” and Sabu had to break it up for real. Dave notes that the smart thing to do would have been for everyone to back down with a week before their first PPV, but of course doing the smart thing has never been the play for ECW.

– Also Stevie Richards is a “heat magnet” backstage recently for reasons that Dave isn’t clear about, although it might stem from him going on Mark Madden’s radio show and joking about going to WCW if they pay him more money than Chris Jericho. (Ha ha, hilarious!). Also there was heat on him for doing an indie show on 4/3 where he dropped a title to Disco Inferno, which shouldn’t have been happening a week before he main events a PPV. (To be fair I’d be mad at anyone who voluntarily did a job for Disco at any point.)

– Also the PPV still isn’t sold out. (Well then the mutants can’t chant YOU SOLD OUT at the show at least.)

– Speaking of Disco, Dave notes that he’s telling indie promoters that he can only take dates until 7/1, which obviously means he’s headed to the WWF. (Clearly.)

– To WCW, where ratings for 4/7 saw Nitro destroy RAW by one of the biggest margins yet, 3.69 to 2.19. The angle with Bret Hart reuniting the Hart Foundation is proving to be a real ratings winner, however.

– Antonio Pena filed suit with WCW claiming that they stole all his wrestlers despite them being under contract to AAA, and now he can’t use them in his deal with the WWF. This includes Rey Mysterio Jr., who was one of the guys that the WWF really wanted. (I can’t imagine Rey in the WWF. That would never work long-term.)

– A Miami lawyer proposed to Elizabeth, but there’s no word if she accepted. (Hopefully they don’t invite Jake Roberts to the reception this time.)

– The Rey-Jennifer Aniston story is still getting big play in the tabloid media despite being 100% bullshit. Which leads to this week’s….

And now it’s time for…

– Speaking of Rey, his wife gave birth to their first child on 4/5, an 8 pound nine ounce boy named Dominic. The joke in the locker room was that Dominic Mysterio was bigger than Kevin Nash’s baby boy.

– Chris Benoit and Steven Regal got into a nasty car accident before the PPV, with a drunk driver hitting Regal’s car and rolling it over. That’s why Benoit was bleeding from the hand during the Malenko match. But what’s truly notable about this was that Nancy Sullivan was in the car with them, as Dave notes that they’re working this angle 24/7. (Yes, you could certainly say that.)

– Phil Mushnick with the sick burn of the week on WCW, as Ted Turner was talking about a mass suicide being “a good way to get rid of a few nuts”. Phil notes that Ted should be careful about saying that stuff, because if not for the lunatic fringe, his WCW wrestling would be out of business.

– To the WWF, where Ken Shamrock debuted in the ring against former fighter Vernon White, beating him savagely in a bad match. Dave notes that Ken has a ton of charisma on the way to the ring, but they need to learn how to book him. Specifically, he needs a submission finish. (Hmmm. I might have an idea.)

– Bret Hart will be on the Simpsons on 4/27.

– WWF wants to use Onita, but he’s got no interest in the US. But Wing Kanemura might get a tryout instead in early May. (Never happened, sadly)

– And finally, Yokozuna is expected to be back in the summer, apparently with “a ton of weight shed”. (Maybe they were confused because Yoko actually weighed as MUCH AS a shed. HI-YO!)

And that’s the news and I’m outta here!