Nadeem Ahmad
Pre-Show Stalwart
This may have been happenning at the last time when an episode of this program was only one hour long in January. Again a location was not announced but I saw somebody in the front part of the crowd wearing a shirt of some team or college from Texas so I thought it may have been nearby. Since it was not said to be live which might have irked klunderblunker to hardly any end I thought maybe a double taping was recorded although the members of the audience were different from the show of the last week that went by before this program aired.
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Program: WWF Monday Night Raw
Date: January twenty-seventh nineteen ninety-seven also known as January 27, 1997
Location: maybe somewhere near Texas or Arkansas
Commentators: Vince McMahon and Jerry "The King" Lawler
Clips of Bret Hart complaining about being screwed by Shawn Michaels and by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin were shown to remind about him trying to quit in Beaumont.
Match One: Ahmed Johnson versus Crush
Ahmed Johnson started walking down as the music played right away after the title was shown. Crush entered with the Nation of Domination. Before they went in the ring, Crush attacked from behind the steps outside near the commentators. A "powerslam" by Ahmed Johnson was done followed by a "scissors kick" which was swifter than the method that Booker T used. Ahmed "kneed" Crush on the ropes opposite the filmers, whipped him to the corner by the ramp closer to the filming people and flew with a fist into him, who rested with pain against the turnbuckles. Ahmed did a "roundhouse kick" while holding the wrist of Crush to ensure him in place before the kick to execute it with accuracy to get him down but missed with a half of the "People's Elbow", meaning he only ran halfway to the ropes and back before dropping it instead of jumping over the laying body and running to the other side too. Crush got up to do a "belly to belly suplex" and then a "body scissors" on the floor held Ahmed.
After the commercials Ahmed dropped Crush with a partially delayed "electric chair drop" as the referee did not break the hold by the ropes which were grabbed by Crush. Ahmed delivered a "dropkick" similar to what Hardcore Holly used, kicking Crush who leaped from the second turnbuckle by the commentators away from the filmmakers. Johnson "clotheslined" Crush over the ropes to the area near the ramp. Ahmed picked him up to drag Crush inside the ring. Faarooq ran down to slam Ahmed on the steel steps by the ramp away from the crew of cameras before pushing him in the ring to let Crush connect with the "Heart Punch" for the decision.
Rating: "C - "
Seeing how this was the same Crush that fought Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Title at WWF King of the Ring in nineteen ninety-three I was not surprised at how underachieving he was. The height and strength of him were nice but did not match the defense of Ahmed Johnson who was pretty solid at lifting and pushing around the place and he needed the interference of Ron Simmons to help him pin and get somewhat known rather than continued skills of wrestling.
Shawn Michaels came into the arena to "Sexy Boy" with the championship on, wearing casual clothes to be met by Vince McMahon in the ring. Oh he was rocking that same navy blue suit from the prior week and it had the yellow outlines of the logo to spell out WWF pressed onto it. Again no tie was necessary. Vince asked about the implications of going into Wrestlemania to face the winner of the final four challengers from the Royal Rumble, stating that it might be Sycho Sid since he would be scheduled for a rematch on "WWF Thursday Raw Thursday". Shawn mentioned recently people were talking about a new attitude in the WWF and he said there was a unique relationship between him and Sid but that he would hang on to the belt "by hook or by crook", which meant doing what it took, being right or wrong.
Vince said to bring out one of the possible opponents for Wrestlemania and it was Bret the "Hitman" Hart. He did the usual slow entrance of a rock star while the song played and pink lights flashed across the building and the floor. Bret assured that he had no doubts about going into Wrestlemania as the contender but hoped that Shawn would retain it and hinted to be watching his back during the match with Sid. He brought up the fact about being screwed again after times and McMahon reminded that a lot of people were overlooking Sycho Sid. Vince introduced another probable opponent who was the Undertaker! Mark Calloway was dressed in the attire that an undertaker would be drowned in and proclaimed that if anybody were to look at history he should be the person considerably screwed so many times. After some nonsense about wanting the body and the title of Shawn Michaels instead of the soul he declared a time for it to be coming to the dark side. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was the next interviewed challenger, being followed onto the entry by Jim Ross who held the microphone for him but they did not come inside the ring where the other champions of the world were. Austin rambled about some desire to get the belt and changed his mind to try attacking them, almost getting on the mat but then turned around and walked back past Vader and Paul Bearer whom were almost blocking the entrance to the ramp.
Match Two: Doug Furnas versus British Bulldog
British Bulldog wore the "Tag Team Championship belt" around the waist when coming to that classical English music and was accompanied by Owen Hart in a nice kelly green Nike sports jacket matching the athletic pants of the same brand. Phillip Lafon and Doug Furnas were already waiting. Furnas vertically leaped over a charging Bulldog and then "dropkicked" him so he went out of the ring. He came back in to be jumped at with a horizontal splash into the corner by the filmers near the ramp, to an "arm drag" and to a "suplex". Furnas missed the next horizontal splash to the corner of the steps away from the crew of filming by the ramp and "somersaulted" outside over the ropes like Shawn Michaels flipped into the turnbuckles from an "Irish Whip" but Doug actually continued flipping over them. Bulldog slammed on the arm of the laying Furnas on the exterior blue mat surrounding the ring. He posed back on the "squared circle".
Furnas came back in and ran into the knee of Bulldog to flip over after being whipped into it. Bulldog knocked him down with a "clothesline" that Furnas stood for. Furnas countered with a "dropkick", a "belly to belly suplex" and a "powerslam". He then reversed the "Irish Whip" to send Bulldog to the apron by the ramp where Owen was holding the trophy of the "Slammy Award", causing him to be clobbered by it. The hit was not enough to keep him down as Lafon tried to talk to the referee, distracting him and letting Smith take advantage of the confusion for a surprising "rollup".
Rating: "B "
Plenty of cheating actually worked against British Bulldog to show that bad guys would not always get their ways and the interference worked against him but not enough to cost him the match. Decent manuevers were done brilliantly as these two athletes cared about what they were doing and brought technical wrestling to the show on a consistent basis to disregard the cheap distractions by a certain degree. Also, during the break for commercials Ahmed Johnson apparently broke the door of the seemingly empty room for the Nation of Domination with a wooden board and this segment was shown upon returning to the telecast for a couple of seconds without changing the ratings of the contest to me.
Match Three: Tag Team Match: Vader and Mankind versus The Godwinns
For some odd reason Vader was coming with Paul Bearer and Mankind to hear that music he used. The catchier "Don't Go Messin' With a Country Boy" played for Phineas and Henry along with Hillbilly Jim who clapped his hands, tapped his feet and kneeled to show his dance. Mankind and Phineas started but Phineas tagged Henry in. Henry impressively "scoop slammed" Mankind before tagging Phineas, who was thrown over the second rope further from the crew of cameras. Vader cheaply punched Phineas in the corner by the filmers near the ramp before doing a strong "clothesline". Mankind tagged back to also shamingly punch but in the corner farther from the filmmakers close to the entry.
The referee restored order but Foley stuck in the "Mandible Claw", broken by Henry who "clotheslined" them over the rope away from the crew of filmmakers. Vince said "That's one way to get rid of your partner.". Lawler replied "One explanation for that is these guys are from Arkansas.". The "King" asked if he knew that Arkansas ranked among the states with the higher percent of people over the age of eigtheen that did not finish high school and Vince did not understand where he came up with those statistics. After the commercials, they each tagged out. Henry did an awesome "body slam" and a "sidewalk slam" on Vader. Outside the ring far from the filmers Vader held Henry from behind by the arms and waited for Mankind to swing the chair at him. As he did that, Henry moved and Vader was hit to let Mankind begin smiling and that cracked a smile on me too because I just did not appreciate the cheapness of Vader in this match too much. He got what was coming to him and the disqualification somehow gave the Godwinns a chance to celebrate with "Don't Go Messin' With a Country Boy" being played again.
Rating: "B "
A guy like Henry Godwinn that could casually slam Mankind and Vader quickly automatically raised the quality of this show since he did not do illegal holds nor resort to numbers for winning. Vader was being silly throughout as he tried forcing Mankind to tag him at certain points. He also was overrated when not fighting Shawn Michaels or Undertaker as was seen by numerous punches that did not impress and by being moved so easily. Henry and Phineas were quite strong and did a lot of simple things to improve the bout by being themselves and not trying to adapt to anybody yet still following the rules and knowing when to stop.
When the commercials ended again Ahmed Johnson was chasing the Caucasian rappers from the Nation of Domination out to the gate where a sedan was waiting for them to get into and be ridden away in. He had that long stick made of wood and slammed it but missed.
Rating: "C + "
I appreciated the break of two weeks that Shawn Michaels got to enjoy as the WWF Champion while still appearing here to let them know who the man was. He did not lie about the methods he intended to implement for keeping the title but the two of the final four competitors from the Royal Rumble were cocky enough to assume taking the belt. The matches actually displayed skills, including the opening bout but fast intrusions by Faarooq and the King of Harts downgraded the enjoyability. Not too much focus was on the upcoming show on "Pay-Per-View" but storylines were furthered in two matches anyway and the main event did not dissapoint despite it being a "Tag Team Match" which was risky. It actually allowed the right decision to be made although I was not sure about the winners. I was glad the disqualification was made though.
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Program: WWF Monday Night Raw
Date: January twenty-seventh nineteen ninety-seven also known as January 27, 1997
Location: maybe somewhere near Texas or Arkansas
Commentators: Vince McMahon and Jerry "The King" Lawler
Clips of Bret Hart complaining about being screwed by Shawn Michaels and by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin were shown to remind about him trying to quit in Beaumont.
Match One: Ahmed Johnson versus Crush
Ahmed Johnson started walking down as the music played right away after the title was shown. Crush entered with the Nation of Domination. Before they went in the ring, Crush attacked from behind the steps outside near the commentators. A "powerslam" by Ahmed Johnson was done followed by a "scissors kick" which was swifter than the method that Booker T used. Ahmed "kneed" Crush on the ropes opposite the filmers, whipped him to the corner by the ramp closer to the filming people and flew with a fist into him, who rested with pain against the turnbuckles. Ahmed did a "roundhouse kick" while holding the wrist of Crush to ensure him in place before the kick to execute it with accuracy to get him down but missed with a half of the "People's Elbow", meaning he only ran halfway to the ropes and back before dropping it instead of jumping over the laying body and running to the other side too. Crush got up to do a "belly to belly suplex" and then a "body scissors" on the floor held Ahmed.
After the commercials Ahmed dropped Crush with a partially delayed "electric chair drop" as the referee did not break the hold by the ropes which were grabbed by Crush. Ahmed delivered a "dropkick" similar to what Hardcore Holly used, kicking Crush who leaped from the second turnbuckle by the commentators away from the filmmakers. Johnson "clotheslined" Crush over the ropes to the area near the ramp. Ahmed picked him up to drag Crush inside the ring. Faarooq ran down to slam Ahmed on the steel steps by the ramp away from the crew of cameras before pushing him in the ring to let Crush connect with the "Heart Punch" for the decision.
Rating: "C - "
Seeing how this was the same Crush that fought Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Title at WWF King of the Ring in nineteen ninety-three I was not surprised at how underachieving he was. The height and strength of him were nice but did not match the defense of Ahmed Johnson who was pretty solid at lifting and pushing around the place and he needed the interference of Ron Simmons to help him pin and get somewhat known rather than continued skills of wrestling.
Shawn Michaels came into the arena to "Sexy Boy" with the championship on, wearing casual clothes to be met by Vince McMahon in the ring. Oh he was rocking that same navy blue suit from the prior week and it had the yellow outlines of the logo to spell out WWF pressed onto it. Again no tie was necessary. Vince asked about the implications of going into Wrestlemania to face the winner of the final four challengers from the Royal Rumble, stating that it might be Sycho Sid since he would be scheduled for a rematch on "WWF Thursday Raw Thursday". Shawn mentioned recently people were talking about a new attitude in the WWF and he said there was a unique relationship between him and Sid but that he would hang on to the belt "by hook or by crook", which meant doing what it took, being right or wrong.
Vince said to bring out one of the possible opponents for Wrestlemania and it was Bret the "Hitman" Hart. He did the usual slow entrance of a rock star while the song played and pink lights flashed across the building and the floor. Bret assured that he had no doubts about going into Wrestlemania as the contender but hoped that Shawn would retain it and hinted to be watching his back during the match with Sid. He brought up the fact about being screwed again after times and McMahon reminded that a lot of people were overlooking Sycho Sid. Vince introduced another probable opponent who was the Undertaker! Mark Calloway was dressed in the attire that an undertaker would be drowned in and proclaimed that if anybody were to look at history he should be the person considerably screwed so many times. After some nonsense about wanting the body and the title of Shawn Michaels instead of the soul he declared a time for it to be coming to the dark side. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was the next interviewed challenger, being followed onto the entry by Jim Ross who held the microphone for him but they did not come inside the ring where the other champions of the world were. Austin rambled about some desire to get the belt and changed his mind to try attacking them, almost getting on the mat but then turned around and walked back past Vader and Paul Bearer whom were almost blocking the entrance to the ramp.
Match Two: Doug Furnas versus British Bulldog
British Bulldog wore the "Tag Team Championship belt" around the waist when coming to that classical English music and was accompanied by Owen Hart in a nice kelly green Nike sports jacket matching the athletic pants of the same brand. Phillip Lafon and Doug Furnas were already waiting. Furnas vertically leaped over a charging Bulldog and then "dropkicked" him so he went out of the ring. He came back in to be jumped at with a horizontal splash into the corner by the filmers near the ramp, to an "arm drag" and to a "suplex". Furnas missed the next horizontal splash to the corner of the steps away from the crew of filming by the ramp and "somersaulted" outside over the ropes like Shawn Michaels flipped into the turnbuckles from an "Irish Whip" but Doug actually continued flipping over them. Bulldog slammed on the arm of the laying Furnas on the exterior blue mat surrounding the ring. He posed back on the "squared circle".
Furnas came back in and ran into the knee of Bulldog to flip over after being whipped into it. Bulldog knocked him down with a "clothesline" that Furnas stood for. Furnas countered with a "dropkick", a "belly to belly suplex" and a "powerslam". He then reversed the "Irish Whip" to send Bulldog to the apron by the ramp where Owen was holding the trophy of the "Slammy Award", causing him to be clobbered by it. The hit was not enough to keep him down as Lafon tried to talk to the referee, distracting him and letting Smith take advantage of the confusion for a surprising "rollup".
Rating: "B "
Plenty of cheating actually worked against British Bulldog to show that bad guys would not always get their ways and the interference worked against him but not enough to cost him the match. Decent manuevers were done brilliantly as these two athletes cared about what they were doing and brought technical wrestling to the show on a consistent basis to disregard the cheap distractions by a certain degree. Also, during the break for commercials Ahmed Johnson apparently broke the door of the seemingly empty room for the Nation of Domination with a wooden board and this segment was shown upon returning to the telecast for a couple of seconds without changing the ratings of the contest to me.
Match Three: Tag Team Match: Vader and Mankind versus The Godwinns
For some odd reason Vader was coming with Paul Bearer and Mankind to hear that music he used. The catchier "Don't Go Messin' With a Country Boy" played for Phineas and Henry along with Hillbilly Jim who clapped his hands, tapped his feet and kneeled to show his dance. Mankind and Phineas started but Phineas tagged Henry in. Henry impressively "scoop slammed" Mankind before tagging Phineas, who was thrown over the second rope further from the crew of cameras. Vader cheaply punched Phineas in the corner by the filmers near the ramp before doing a strong "clothesline". Mankind tagged back to also shamingly punch but in the corner farther from the filmmakers close to the entry.
The referee restored order but Foley stuck in the "Mandible Claw", broken by Henry who "clotheslined" them over the rope away from the crew of filmmakers. Vince said "That's one way to get rid of your partner.". Lawler replied "One explanation for that is these guys are from Arkansas.". The "King" asked if he knew that Arkansas ranked among the states with the higher percent of people over the age of eigtheen that did not finish high school and Vince did not understand where he came up with those statistics. After the commercials, they each tagged out. Henry did an awesome "body slam" and a "sidewalk slam" on Vader. Outside the ring far from the filmers Vader held Henry from behind by the arms and waited for Mankind to swing the chair at him. As he did that, Henry moved and Vader was hit to let Mankind begin smiling and that cracked a smile on me too because I just did not appreciate the cheapness of Vader in this match too much. He got what was coming to him and the disqualification somehow gave the Godwinns a chance to celebrate with "Don't Go Messin' With a Country Boy" being played again.
Rating: "B "
A guy like Henry Godwinn that could casually slam Mankind and Vader quickly automatically raised the quality of this show since he did not do illegal holds nor resort to numbers for winning. Vader was being silly throughout as he tried forcing Mankind to tag him at certain points. He also was overrated when not fighting Shawn Michaels or Undertaker as was seen by numerous punches that did not impress and by being moved so easily. Henry and Phineas were quite strong and did a lot of simple things to improve the bout by being themselves and not trying to adapt to anybody yet still following the rules and knowing when to stop.
When the commercials ended again Ahmed Johnson was chasing the Caucasian rappers from the Nation of Domination out to the gate where a sedan was waiting for them to get into and be ridden away in. He had that long stick made of wood and slammed it but missed.
Rating: "C + "
I appreciated the break of two weeks that Shawn Michaels got to enjoy as the WWF Champion while still appearing here to let them know who the man was. He did not lie about the methods he intended to implement for keeping the title but the two of the final four competitors from the Royal Rumble were cocky enough to assume taking the belt. The matches actually displayed skills, including the opening bout but fast intrusions by Faarooq and the King of Harts downgraded the enjoyability. Not too much focus was on the upcoming show on "Pay-Per-View" but storylines were furthered in two matches anyway and the main event did not dissapoint despite it being a "Tag Team Match" which was risky. It actually allowed the right decision to be made although I was not sure about the winners. I was glad the disqualification was made though.
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