10-13-97
Things have kicked into an even higher gear. Now, it's getting hard for me to pace myself, because Raw is a fun show to watch from beginning to end, with very few down points, but they're breaking some cardinal rules.
Stone Cold Steve Austin's involvement has been very slight, obviously because he was still recovering from his neck injury, but I think it was a pretty good thing really. He's starting to get stale, doing the same thing week in week out, and now because of his injury his storyline has progressed and he's doing something different.
LOD have had a couple of interviews where they talked about their career and accomplishments and how they were in the WWF to prove to themselves that they've still got it, because the WWF has the best competition in the world. They're booked for a match where if they don't win the tag titles they'll retire. LOD is still one of the most over entities in the WWF right now. They've slipped some from this year's summer where they were the MOST over with the crowd, getting the longest, loudest sustained chants, but even still they're right there with Austin, & the Hart Foundation.
Foley is feuding with Kane because Undertaker says he will not, and Taker hasn't been in the ring since bad blood. Mankind vs Kane is actually kind of a dream match for me personally because I have always considered these two the only other superstars worthy of being included in Paul Bearer's stable with The Undertaker. Taker vs Mankind is by far my favorite feud for either one of them, and even though I remember a lot of Kane's buildup and debut and his opening feud with The Undertaker, somehow my old ass forgot about Mankind vs Kane at Survivor Series. I haven't watched SS97 in years and years, and I think it's about time I do, for this match just as much as the MSJ.
Jim Cornette's rants are amazing. I don't remember ever seeing one back in the day, but seeing them now, man they're almost the best part of the show in my opinion. Here are some links to his latest rants (
10-13-97 10-20-97 10-27-97) I have never liked Jim Cornette in pro-wrestling. I've always found him incredibly boring or annoying at best. But these rants are spot on, and I've gained a lot more respect for him as a result. The key thing to keep in mind here is that a lot of this is actually kayfabe though otherwise anything said by HBK or Hitman while in the character of their gimmick wouldn't have been discussed.
What's funny about these rants is that they're frequently followed up with an advertisement for the Survivor Series Rewind show, where they're blatantly banking on the star power of the WCW roster, Hogan, Savage, Warrior, Perfect, Piper, Flair, Razor Ramon, & Diesel.
Rick Rude owns. DX is actually really stupid. They're almost funny, but I think unless you're a kid or a teen they're just plain juvenile, and play every joke that could almost get a laugh into the ground to the point where it's boring and repetitive. For example wiping their faces when they're being talked down to by Sgt. Slobber. It was funny at first, but come on, when you're doing it every 2 seconds it's like ok, enough is enough. But Rick Rude. He's another entity all together. DX's insurance policy is badass, especially for a gimp with a broken back. I loved seeing Rude come out behind The Patriot, with his briefcase in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, take a sip, and then throw it in Patriot's face.
Seems like I'm still a victim of the whole "the older they get, the better they were" syndrome. Rick Rude was the old man of the group, and the way he presented himself made him seem head and shoulders better than either HBK or HHH, at least to me.
Ahmed Johnson is still hanging around. He's a face again, feuding with the Nation of Domination... wow this feud has been going on forever, it's no wonder everyone got bored with Ahmed. He didn't have a shot, how many promo's can you cut against the same opponent and keep the feud feeling fresh. He's endured injury after injury, gotten over with the fans, even at this point he's still pretty well over with the fans, but holy crap guys, why don't you try booking him with someone else for once!?
10-20-97
DX trashed NOD's dressing room and made racist comments on the walls, and placed a Canadian flag in the room nice and neat-like. Micheal Cole broke the news and forgot to mention the flag so Vince had to bring attention to it. Then NOD calls out the Hart Foundation and then started a fight with them, and DX joined in and squashed the Harts.
I'm starting to feel bad for the Hart Foundation. They a heel organization, hated by the crowds in the US getting treated like crap, getting dumped on by other heel factions, and everything is getting taken away from them.
J E double F J A double R E double T has returned from the WCW. He talks about Eric Bischoff and Monday Nitro, and talks trash about WCW, then he turns on Vince as well. Then he talks about Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Jarrett was getting a pretty decent reception, insomuch that people were listening, until he started in on Steve Austin, and talked about how he shaved his head and made a habit of saying the word "ass" just to get a reaction. At this point the fans turned on Jarrett and booed him pretty loudly.
I never saw
this promo the first time around, even though I did see this episode of Raw, at least in bits and pieces. I watched this segment on youtube a few months back though, and it was instrumental in me wanting to go back and watch Monday Night Raw during the Monday Night Wars.
Tonight is the debut of The New Age Outlaws. Smoking Gunn Billy Gunn, former Rockabilly, and now again a new gimmick, Badass Billy Gunn. The Road Dog Jesse James gave his first "oh you didn't know?" entrances. It was pretty bad, really. "and if you didn't know that then you better page somebody." Really? Bleh. It gets better later on I believe. I was never the biggest fan of the new age outlaws, but it seemed like their entrance got to be pretty good, at least when they were in DX. I'm really pretty surprised to find out that they didn't debut in DX. I have no recollection at all of them not in DX.
10-27-97
The Nation of Domination starts off the night, and Rocky Maivia got on the mic, and immediately got massive heat from the fans and chants of "Rocky Sucks!"
Mankind's promo against "Uncle Paul" & Kane was badass. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Mankind is the best character in the WWF right now. It's no wonder that WCW lost the ratings war as a result of spoiling Mankind winning the WWF title. I loved the WCW, but if I knew Mankind then like I do now, I'd've flipped the channel too. Seeing Mankind snap was great, every time. He was a good guy, abused and mistreated, and when he didn't get what he wanted, like in this case where Sgt. Slaughter tried to deny him a match against Kane at Survivor Series, it was pretty cool seeing him give Slaughter the mandible claw, and then shrinking into the corner of the ring hugging himself and ripping his own hair out.
The Hitman tapped out to Ken Shamrock's ankle lock during his title match. Luckily the ref was out and didn't see it, as always the match ends in a run-in, this time from HBK. Surprise, Surprise.
During the following match, between the new age outlaws and the new blackjacks Vince wished well the wife of Gorilla Monsoon who was admitted to the hospital. They didn't say exactly why, but just mentioned that Monsoon was "very very ill". It kind of came out the middle of nowhere, this mention of Bob Marella and I know he didn't die until late in '99, but I guess this explains why Sgt. Slaughter was put in the position he was, because up until this summer Monsoon had been the guy in this role on screen, if with a different title.
This episode was actually kind of a let down for me. Not a big deal though, not every episode is going to be better than the last, and this wasn't a bad episode by any means. Next week is the go-home show for the Survivor Series.