The Fan-Cam Files: WWF @ San Jose, CA – 05.30.1997

We’re back with another Fan-Cam Files, and unless I’m missing a document, I think this is my first time diving into a show from 1997 (not like there’s TOO many options out there to begin with). We’re just a little more than a week away from the 4th Annual King of the Ring PPV, and there’s absolutely no shot that they were running B-Tours at this point (unless special circumstances), so there are no other results to see what else might be going on with the company.

We’re in the San Jose Arena with a reported 6,287 in attendance, not too bad of a number, I suppose, especially with the WWF struggling not only in TV viewership against WCW, but also PPV numbers at their lowest. Good times for everyone, I bet. It looks like we have the complete card, but there is some editing, with only one match noticeably affected by it.

Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly vs. Leif Cassidy:
We got ourselves quite a New Generation looking match here, as Holly is still kicking around as a prelim geek (he would take a break from the company shortly after this but would be back in early ‘98 as part of the NEW Midnight Express). Speaking of new, Leif Cassidy’s been a solo act for all of 1997 as Marty Jannetty got injured then was granted his release, putting a merciful end to the NEW Rockers. Leif has dropped the silly 70’s goober antics and is workshopping character traits that would lead reverting back to being Al Snow in ECW (as a talent exchange arrangement), just more mentally unhinged.

We get some nose-to-nose trash talking as Leif Cassidy continues to distance himself from being That 70’s Geek. They take a lockup into the corner and Leif’s cheap-shot is countered. Some more trash talk leads to a shoving match and Cassidy ends up on his rear. We work in our International sequence and Holly controls with a side headlock. Things turn in Leif’s favor as he flips over the turnbuckle and blasts Holly moving in with a clothesline. Cassidy with a somersault over the top and landing a Super-Kick as we transition to a heat hold. Holly with the escape and hurricanrana for two. Leif with the quick cut-off, hitting Holly with a suplex, but he misses a moonsault. Holly runs wild some more, hitting his signature dropkick for a two-count. Another hurricanrana attempt is countered with a sit-out Powerbomb and Leif gets the three-count at 6:18. Prototypical opener, some basic chain stuff early, a few big moves, but nothing too ridiculous for the spot on the card and wrapped up in a timely manner. **½

Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon vs. The New Blackjacks:
I think it’s safe to say there’s more effort in building a tag team division than we saw in 1996, but at the same time, it’s a bunch of teams with no direction and eventually oversaturated by stables that could trot out a bunch of combinations to fill a card, but that’s a story for another day. Furnas and LaFon debuted without much fanfare but had a solid showcase at the ‘96 Survivor Series, but quickly floundered as boring bland babyfaces and saw a shift in character coming out of WrestleMania 13. The New Blackjacks are a repackaged Justin Bradshaw (who I thought was doing fine work in ‘96) and Barry Windham, who has ditched The Stalker gimmick entirely and adopted cosplaying as his father. Based on what they were doing in the late-Spring and Summer, they MIGHT have done a soft babyface turn, but they weren’t part of the big picture, and weren’t over, so we’ll throw up our hands and get to the match.

Furnas and LaFon with the jump as Windham and Bradshaw enter, but things turn sour quickly and they powder, teasing a walk-out with the Blackjacks hunting them down. We cut to the match in progress, with Furnas getting worked on with a variety of suplex and elbows. LaFon with a shot from the apron to distract Bradshaw and Furnas adds a low blow for good measure. LaFon with a gut-wrench suplex and Furnas throws Bradshaw overhead with a belly-to-belly for two. Bradshaw keeps trying the surprise small package, and it’s so weird to see a big man do that, and multiple times in one match. We get a fine sequence of LaFon throwing kicks and Bradshaw firing back with forearms, and we get another low blow. Windham with the hot tag (or maybe mild) as he runs wild with right hands and slams. He hits Furnas with the diving clothesline but LaFon saves. Furnas and LaFon regain control, but the Blackjacks do the old switch-a-roo and Bradshaw with his THIRD surprise small package and this one gets three at 6:40 (shown). There were parts that worked, but this was a bit of a mess, with Bradshaw trying to work babyface and being REALLY bad at it, and both teams are so muddled in presentation it didn’t feel like a standard heel vs face dynamic. *¾

“Double J” Jesse Jammes vs. Rockabilly:
Oh, there’s so much to be said here, I’ll try and not go off on too long of a rant. In one corner, we have THE REAL DOUBLE J, the former Roadie doing the big reveal that he was the real singer of “With My Baby Tonight”, a gimmick introduced at the same time as the repurposed Diesel and Razor Ramon. Even though they mentioned his real-life service in the Gulf War, we need to talk about how great a singer he was instead, that will get him over! In the other corner, we have the repackaged Billy Gunn with his first solo push. For months (and I mean MONTHS), the Honkytonk Man (he came back in the Fall of ‘96, how you doin’?) talked about finding a new protege to guide to success, and after being turned down over and over, INCLUDING by Billy Gunn, the reveal happened at In Your House: Revenge of the Taker, and Honky revealed his new man was… Billy Gunn, now going by the name Rockabilly. Rumors at the time were that Disco Inferno would be jumping from WCW, but it never materialized, and we’re stuck with Billy doing this… whatever the hell it is. I get it’s a style of music, but translating that into a wrestling character? Yeesh.

Double J can’t even be bothered to sing himself to the ring. HACK! Rockabilly gets the jump, putting the boots to Double J as he slides into the ring. Double J gets dumped, Rockabilly shows off his dance moves and I want to bleach my eyes. Jesse Jammes turns things around, does his own funky dancing and clotheslines Rockabilly over the top rope. Second match in a row with not only the heel jump start but also the heel walks out and babyface chases them down the aisle and brings them back. A thumb to the eyes slows down Jammes and the Rocker Dropper hits for a two-count. Jammes (eye-roll) with the signature jabs, but he’s cut off with a DDT and Rockabilly finishes with the Shake Rattle ‘n’ Roll at 4:50. What a turd of a match, Billy is clearly in a doomed-for-failure gimmick and no one gives a shit about babyface REAL Double J. Even as prelim guys, they were a waste of time. ½*

Goldust vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Chyna):
Well, this is certainly a match I figured they would have moved away from by now, considering they were working against each other ad nauseum since the beginning of the year. With King of the Ring just a week away, Helmsley is scheduled to compete in the Tournament’s Final Four and Goldust is wrestling Crush in such a throw-away match, I’m sure most people forgot that it was on the card.

Watching Goldust come out as a standard hand-slapping babyface is more bizarre than his heel antics. Hunter is our third heel in a row to do a jump-start, but this time it backfires and Goldust unloads in the corner, including some forced fondling and a kiss. Yyyyyyyyyyeah…. I’m not going to say that spot has aged poorly, because it was terrible in 1997. The action spills to the floor, with Hunter being sent to the steps. Back inside, and Hunter finally cuts off Goldust with an inverted atomic drop. He controls with standard Helmsley offense (knee-related strikes and stomps), but gets into it with Hebner for not getting out of the corner after two warnings. Jokes on Hebner, as Chyna takes a shot at Goldust during the commotion. We slow it down with a sleeper, with Helmsley using the ropes for leverage. Hebner and Hunter get into it again, this time Hunter is selling his ass off and the crowd LOVES it. Goldust with the comeback, unloading with jabs and a swinging axe-handle, followed by the running bulldog for two. Hunter takes the Race bump to the floor, and as Goldust attempts a suplex to bring him in from the apron, Chyna scoops the ankle and holds the leg down as Helmsley lands on top for three at 9:53 (shown). Post-match, Hunter tries using a chair on Goldust as Chyna creates a distraction, but it backfires and Goldust stands tall. Babyface Goldust is mostly “The Natural” coming out with a spot or two to make the difference, and he works a fine match without all the smoke and mirrors of the gimmick. Bonus for the Hebner/Helmsley shenanigans, the crowd loved it and I was amused. ***

Brian Pillman comes out to get heat on the crowd, and from what I could make out, he’s unhappy with them being a bunch of multi-racial and multi-ethnic peoples who are jealous of his white anglo saxon ‘self. Uh… huh. I’m not sure if this is “better” or worse than the promo he cut the next night in Tacoma when he used Kurt Cobain’s death for the topic of the night.

The Legion of Doom vs. Crush & Savio Vega:
This was originally advertised as LOD vs. Mankind and Vader, which would have been a heck of a lot more interesting than what we’re getting here. Crush and Savio are still lackeys under Faarooq in the Nation of Domination, but that story will change immediately after King of the Ring. Meanwhile, the LOD returned in late-February, adding a bit of star power to the division, but were unsuccessful (so far) in their efforts in taking the Tag Titles.

Savio and Crush do the teased walk-out spot, our third in five matches, for those keeping score as you read along. Hawk hits them with a double clothesline in the aisle and sends Savio into the ring for some punishment, including a dropkick (not the prettiest, but good enough). Crush tries his luck, trading shoulder blocks with Animal, then calling for a test-of-strength. Crush means business, because THE VEST IS OFF. Animal gets the better of things and a clothesline sends the ex-con over the top rope. Hawk is in no mood to sell for anyone until he throws himself into the post. Crush with a belly-to-belly suplex for a two-count. We thankfully clip out of a Savio chin-lock to Hawk no-selling a crappy piledriver from Crush and hitting him with the neck breaker. Animal runs wild with the hot tag, and it doesn’t take long for heck to break loose with all four men in the ring. The Nation seem to have things under control until Savio accidentally hits Crush with the spinning heel kick and Animal covers for three at 8:21 (shown). We had a couple of edits, so maybe not the most fair rating here, but based on what we saw and likely missed, it was a sub-par match where, surprisingly, Crush was putting in more effort than Savio. *½

Rocky Maivia vs. Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer):
Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. Starting with Mankind, it feels like the character was starting to lose steam after feuding for all of 1996 with the Undertaker before forming a half-hearted partnership with Vader. On the May 19th episode of Raw, we got the first of four videos of Jim Ross interviewing Mankind, pulling back the curtain a little bit, designed to give him some character sympathy with the idea of turning him babyface (and yes, they did so well, the WWF tried the same with Goldust and Marlena to far-less success). Maivia debuted at the ‘96 Survivor Series, a third-generation Superstar following in the footsteps of the High Chief Peter Maivia and Rocky Johnson, and immediately over-pushed, winning the Intercontinental Championship in February and losing crowd support with each passing week. At this point, they have cooled him off and an injury a few weeks later would give them the opportunity to reintroduce him with a new character direction.

Despite the character growth on TV, Mankind is still working full heel, powdering immediately after the bell to yell at some of the ringside fans. “I may suck, but your mom taught me how.” Somewhere, Buh-Buh Ray Dudley nods in approval. We get to the wrestles and Maivia grabs a side headlock. Mankind takes it to the floor, but Maivia avoids going down a hardcore route and goes to work on the arm. Rocky working like an early 80’s babyface is not going to light the world on fire. Mankind takes control, sending Maivia out of the ring and into the steps. Rocky fights his way back in, but is quickly cut off and planted with a double-arm DDT. We slow it down with a pair of chin-locks until Maivia fires up and unloads with rights. Mankind goes for the claw, but it’s blocked and Maivia hits the Rock Bottom (before it was called anything, that I can recall) for two. He comes off the ropes with a spin-around DDT, nips up and hits a flying body press for a near-fall. Paul Bearer’s distraction doesn’t pay off and Maivia hits the shoulder breaker, but Mankind gets a foot on the ropes and immediately catches Maivia in the Mandible Claw for the victory at 11:54. This was some garden variety work for the most part, but things picked up a little for the finish. Maivia had some cool moves, but to get there, it was basic training “trying to wrestle like my dad” stuff, which didn’t translate well for this era. **½

Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq (w/ Crush & Savio Vega):
On paper, you would think “wow, they’re really stretching this feud this long?”, and while on the surface you would be correct (they were constantly entangled as a television program), but when it came to live shows, they didn’t work nearly as much, mostly due to one or the other missing time with injuries (mostly Ahmed, though Faarooq missed some time as well). Faarooq is penciled in as the Undertaker’s challenger for the WWF Championship at King of the Ring, and Ahmed… Well, he’s in line for a change in direction, and then he’ll get hurt again. Then again.

Ken Shamrock is YOUR Special Referee for this contest. Pre-match, Faarooq demands the necessary respect and dips into the same pool of crossing-the-line heat as Pillman, running down the crowd’s ethnic make-up, then offers Ahmed the chance to make peace and raise the fist in unity. Ahmed obliges, but WHAT’S THIS, he nails Savio and Crush with right hands! Ahmed is NOT joining the Nation of Domination (for about 2 weeks). Faarooq rushes in unsuccessfully, lashed with his own belt and sent to the outside. We cut ahead in the action and Ahmed is in trouble in the corner. Ahmed teases a comeback, but a rake of the eyes cuts him short. Ahmed catches Faarooq off the ropes with the spine-buster and hits the Pearl River Plunge, but Savio jumps in, only to take a belly-to-belly suplex from Shamrock! Meanwhile, Crush sneaks in to whack Ahmed with a chair, and Faarooq covers for three at about 3:30 shown. Too edited to rate fairly.

The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) & “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Owen Hart & The British Bulldog:
It’s time for the final match and MAIN EVENT of the evening! It’s a match loaded with Champions, as Undertaker is our reigning WWF Champion (won at WrestleMania 13), Steve Austin is co-holder of the Tag Titles with Shawn Michaels (won just days earlier on Raw from Owen and Bulldog), Owen is the Intercontinental Champion (won from Maivia on the April 28th Raw), and Bulldog is the European Champion (still mostly a trophy belt, won in March in a classic tournament final against Owen). Austin has his hands full with the re-formed Hart Foundation (shortly after Mania) while Taker is in his own universe as he’s dealing with blackmail from Paul Bearer and is mostly second-banana as the WWF Champion. This was originally scheduled as a Six-Man with Sid teaming with Taker and Austin and Pillman with Owen and Bulldog, but different factors at play there.

Speaking of Uncle Paul, he trails Taker to the ring, with Taker in a position of reluctance due to the secret being held over his head. Taker starts, pummeling Owen in the corner with right hands and catching him out of the opposite corner in a double choke-lift. Austin comes in hot, driving a knee to the midsection and coming off the second turnbuckle with an elbow. He teases the Sharpshooter, but Bulldog quickly breaks it up. Bulldog quickly surrenders control and Taker works in the old-school clothesline for a two-count. Austin keeps working the arm as we get a slight edit, but doesn’t seem like much of a jump. I’m surprised that Taker is the one that Owen and Bulldog get the heat on with the leg targeted, but the other option would be just as puzzling, if not more. Taker fights out of a sleeper but gets caught off-guard with a swinging neck breaker. Whip to the ropes, Taker ducks under a clothesline and runs through Owen with his own, setting up the hot tag for Austin. He runs wild for about 6-seconds before Pillman runs in for the ultra-lame disqualification at 9:05 (shown). Pillman eats a Stunner and Owen takes a surprisingly awful chokeslam. Now we get Crush and Savio in the ring, and they eat a Stunner (Crush) and Chokeslam (Savio) as well. You want more? Here’s Faarooq to take a Chokeslam. Surprisingly abrupt and disappointing match, slightly made up for with the post-match gaga. **

Strength of Card: Average-ish? Oh boy… uh… considering the lack of depth and the injuries hitting the roster at the time, this is most of what the WWF had to offer. There’s a few matches of familiar foes, but there’s not much that gets you really excited except for maybe the top two matches, and that depends on if you’re still on the Ahmed hype train (at this point, I was not, but I can’t answer for the rest of the wrestling world).

Highs: There’s no match that pops as “oh my God, check this out!”, but Goldust vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley is a solid contest with some simple face and heel work that got the crowd invested, and hey, who doesn’t love watching the top babyfaces wipe out a bunch of heels to send the crowd home happy?

Lows: So many dead gimmicks or guys going nowhere. Aldo? Leif (yeah, he’s not goofy, but he’s still Leif the New Rocker look)? Furnas and LaFon? Babyface New Blackjacks? Real Double J? ROCKABILLY? There’s so little to get excited about with the mid-card. Jesse Jammes vs. Rockabilly in particular is a bad time, but thankfully kept short (and wishing it was shorter). Also, not one but TWO promos about the crowd’s ethnicity, ESPECIALLY Pillman’s. Gross cheap heat.

Final Thoughts: The show isn’t much, and without the TV presentation with angles and promos to pick up some slack, you can tell we’re in a weird transition period with the roster and how much we needed those crutches for TV instead of leaning on the wrestling, and in a way, that makes it the perfect fan-cam show. A weak under-card, a few big stars punching below their status, and holding out hope that something big comes together and guys can stay healthy or keep clean long enough for the company to pull themselves back on top. Maybe I should check out a WCW fan-cam from around this time… but I might end up getting an Ode to Saturday Night with how infrequently the big stars would work.