WWF: Glass Shatters

Moxley · September 4, 2014

Haven't read many dynasties here, but will keep my eye on this one.

Losing Austin is a huge blow, so it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

CPBHBK · September 4, 2014

Good show, only thing I didnt like is when Vince said you'd never see Austin again. Because Im thinking realistically and if he really said that and your an Austin fan you would just turn off RAW in my opinion.

smwilliams · September 5, 2014

Good show, only thing I didnt like is when Vince said you'd never see Austin again. Because Im thinking realistically and if he really said that and your an Austin fan you would just turn off RAW in my opinion.

Eh, how many times did Vince say Austin was "fired" or "never set foot in a WWF ring again"? I get what you're saying, but I'd be shocked if Austin wasn't seen again.

Beejus · September 6, 2014

WWF D-Generation X: In Your House

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WWF D-Generation X: In Your House

December 7th, 1997

Held at: TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts (New England)

Attendance: 19,028 (sell out!)

Show Runtime: 168 Minutes

Rating: B+

This show increased our popularity in 34 regions.

Pre-Show: “The Mastodon” Vader d. Kama Mustafa (B-)

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That was a good video, if I run into the production guy who made it I’ll have to give him a coffee. Maybe. As long as it is just like mine, and not some fancy crap. And as long as I don’t have to go get it anywhere. In fact, I won’t give him anything extra. Never mind.
Rating: B-

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WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
Brian Christopher vs. Taka Michinoku
Special Ring Announcer / Commentator: Sunny
Oh yeah, here we go! Sunny is in the ring, what a way to start a show! OOOOOHHHH YEAH! She’s out there to introduce the two shortstacks in the finals of the title tournament, and then she joins commentary. We made sure to have her and Lawler snipe at one another about the Karate Fighters tournament final also on this show. Lawler was funny talking about his kid Brian, while Sunny made one of those shoot comments that the kids all seem to like nowadays that she likes short men. HA HA HA HA HA! That’ll make them all laugh so hard, they’ll piss their computer chair! The match I guess was solid, or so Pritchard told me afterwards, but their chemistry was all over the place, and the crowd didn’t give a crap about either of them. This is why we’ve never really had light heavyweights before, the crowd will only care about big, muscular hulks, not little shrimps. The little Japanese kid wins the title, because if WCW’s cruiserweight division has proven anything, it’s that people are really into foreign kids lately.
Match Time: 7:48
Ratings: E+ / D-

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Los Boricuas vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse vs. The Nation of Domination vs. The Truth Commission w/ The Jackal
Now this is more like it! A bunch of big guys throwing one another around; this is what the crowd paid to see. I don’t think they realize the greatness in front of them, though. They’re all over Kurrgan and telling Recon not to come back, and they aren’t all that thrilled with Skull. Sure, Kurrgan got a little blown up toward the end, but that’s to be expected with a big guy like him. Now that he was managing instead of announcing, The Jackal did a good job on the outside, and the match has a lot of good kicking and punching going on. Faarooq came out of it looking good, actually showing good chemistry teaming with D’Lo. JR and Lawler really sold how much these guys hate one another the whole time, which is just what I told them to do. All in all, Russo would be proud with how well this one turned out. Faarooq finishes the match by hitting a spinebuster to pin Recon.
Match Time: 11:43
Rating: C-

Now it’s time for the Karate Fighters tournament final, which was a complete waste of our time, but at least Milton Bradley paid some good advertising money for the whole thing.
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Now let’s move the hell on from this mess.
Rating: C

The live crowd gets a huge surprise as “The Phenom” The Undertaker comes down to the ring! He gets a microphone, and while everyone seems to be expecting to hear him talk about Kane, he doesn’t even mention him. Instead, Taker talks about Shawn Michaels, saying that since he took Shawn to the fight of his life at both Ground Zero and Badd Blood, if Shawn retains the title tonight then he should be named number one contender for the World Heavyweight championship! The crowd love hearing that, as Undertaker did a masterful job improvising some interaction with them. He gets interrupted when Paul Bearer comes out, and Paul tells him that he knows Undertaker would love to get his hands on the WWF World title again, but that he has far more urgent business to deal with, and that’s his younger brother, Kane! Paul asks Undertaker point blank when he is going to face off in the ring with his brother, but Undertaker says that he will never wrestle his brother. The crowd is a little disappointed with this now, but they come to life in a hurry when Bearer says that if Taker will not face his brother, then his brother will face him – and after the lights go off and back on, Kane attacks! Kane lays punches in on Undertaker, who only covers up rather than fighting back, as Bearer has a casket rolled down to the ring. When it gets there, they open the lid, and Kane chokeslams Undertaker into it! They roll it back up the aisle, and Kane pushes it backstage. We cut to JR and Lawler, who calm things down for the crowd by talking about what we just saw. JR was a master at letting his emotion go and keep the crowds invested, and Lawler worked the crowd well by being off-script. All in all, a very successful segment.
Ratings: A / C+ / B+ / C-

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Boot Camp Match
Sgt. Slaughter vs. “Triple H” Hunter Hearst Helmsley w/Chyna
Up next was the Boot Camp match, which ended up as just a way to see that Sgt. Slaughter should never have set foot in the ring ever again. He was getting really tired, and the crowd didn’t buy him in the ring at all, and he couldn’t even really sell too much anymore. It didn’t help that the crowd were pretty burned out after the segments with Undertaker and Kane, but despite how much JR and Lawler did a good job at putting the match over, it was never in question. Hunter picks up the win cleanly following the Pedigree.
Match Time: 12:06
Rating: C

“The Mastodon” Vader is backstage, JR notes that he is in the building because he had a match earlier tonight before the show went on the air. He gets approached by Luna Vachon, who starts saying that Goldust has his number, and has had it for years. Vader is incensed, saying that she should go back and tell him that all he’s done is piss Vader off, and that isn’t what someone wants to ever do! Vader turns to leave, but there’s Goldust, and he blows makeup in Vader’s eyes! Goldust assaults Vader, smashing his head into a table and biting him. A host of officials finally come over and pull Goldust and Luna away, but the damage is done. Luna may have been underwhelming here, but Vader really came across well, selling that makeup long after the beatdown was through.
Rating: D

We go backstage for a moment to Michael Cole and Honky Tonk Man at the WWF on AOL stand. Cole tells people to get online to hear words from the men in the main event tonight after the show, Honky says that he’s gonna shake, rattle, and roll the questions right off to them “whippersnappers” like Shawn and Kenny. Michael had a tough time without a script again, but Honky really enjoyed being off-script here.
Rating: E

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Jeff Jarrett vs. Cactus Jack
This match may not have had much buildup, but I if I know Mick like I do, he went into this one not giving a crap about that. One thing I can say about that guy, he tries really hard to have a good match with anyone. Jarrett’s a good wrestler too, and against one another they had a great little match, albeit one without the whole crowd involved. The crowds quickly come into it when the two are in action, because the match they string together, by the end, has the majority of them on their feet. That’s what we like to see! These two guys may just go far yet. JR calls this one to perfection, and the ending leaves them all looking for much more from these guys, as while Mike Chioda is bumped, the two leave the ring. While that would be a great place for Jack normally, in this instance Jarrett gets the ring bell and smacks Cactus with it, before rolling back into the ring. He wakes Chioda up, and just barely gains himself a count out victory in his WWF re-debut match.
Match Time: 20:51
Rating: B

We go backstage to the Nation of Domination, interviewed by Jim Cornette. All but The Rock are there, so only three of them, Faarooq, D’Lo, and Kama Mustafa. Faarooq says that the Nation are done with the gang wars, that he and D’Lo proved the dominance of the Nation tonight. Cornette says that he doesn’t blame them, but he wants to know, where is Rocky? Faarooq says that he hasn’t seen Miavia all night, and the others shrug as well. Faarooq shows his improvising skills off here, yelling that he wanted all four of the Nation members here tonight to share in the glory, and adds that Rocky may be a top prospect, but he’s on his last chance with the Nation! As they walk off, Cornette sums it up, also doing a good improvisation with his mannerisms, before sending it out to the ring.
Rating: C-

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WWF World Tag Team Championships
The New Age Outlaws vs. The Legion of Doom
“Oh you didn’t know?!” Hahaha, I love when he does that! The New Age Outlaws come out, Road Dog doing a promo on their way down to the ring. He struggles a little bit, not quite sure how to close off his speech yet apparently. The World Tag Team title match is next as the Legion of Doom come out to the ring. JR’s announcing really shines here, as he chides the Outlaws for their actions this entire match. The ending sees both of the title belts being hidden so that the Outlaws can’t use them to win again, but instead Road Dog smacks Hawk with a wrench that he finds under the ring, leading to Billy hitting a second rope legdrop to get the pin and retain.
Match Time: 22:03
Ratings: C / B-

And now, a real main event player, SABLE!! We start the show with Sunny then bring out Sable toward the end of the show, yes! That leather dress looks like she had to be poured into it. She is out to do some promotion, talking about the Royal Rumble or something; who cares, anyone watching is just picturing her without that outfit anyways. The story of the angle is that Mike something comes out, and he tells her to cover up because he’s the star of their team, and he berates her into leaving the ring and heading backstage. If he didn’t perform so poorly, maybe this would have been a real nuclear heat segment, but as it is, the fans only booed him because of her.
Rating: C

My turn to climb into the ring now, carrying the Intercontinental championship. After reiterating that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will not be seen in the WWF anymore again, and then said that we need to find out what to do with this prestigious title. I tried to play the crowd along a bit, saying we could maybe hold a tournament or a battle royal, but the bastards didn’t seem to go along with it. So I just told them all that there’s only one person who would win it all, and that is why he’s getting the title – and that is “The Rock” Rocky Miavia! Rocky struts to the ring and accepts the title, but
joins the party, big Ahmed Johnson! But the crowd is upset it isn’t Austin, so no matter how well Miavia worked them with his improvisation or how good his performance was, Ahmed Johnson just wasn’t the man to throw in here. It didn’t help that nobody could understand a damn word he said. Maybe we need to start giving him subtitles. What he was meant to say was that he challenges Rocky to put the title on the line on Raw tomorrow night, and once that was established, Rocky accepted and I booked it. If I cared much about these sorts of things, I’d feel bad for Ahmed, who came out amid a very loud “Austin” chant.
Ratings: B / C+

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WWF World Heavyweight Championship
“The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels w/Chyna vs. “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock
Howard Finkel gives a special, long introduction for both challenger Ken Shamrock and champion Shawn Michaels before the main event. We all love “The Fink” but when it comes to ring announcing, he’s definitely no Sunny out there. He did a good job with all of his announcements, but he didn’t come out of it looking all that good, likely because we started with Sunny. Shamrock looked really good here, looking very composed and ready for a big match, while Shawn’s entrance was fantastic, really getting the crowd going. The match got started hot and heavy, and I’m not sure if the match is so great because Shawn is that good or because both men really held their own that well. The crowd is really good for this one, but they seemed to be subdued a little bit; likely because as much as we’ve pushed Shamrock, people didn’t think Shawn would lose at the pay-per-view named after his stable. Speaking of DX, Hunter and Chyna did their parts well, coming in and saving Shawn anytime Ken had him too much on the defensive. They gave them plenty of times to hold their breath, but the ending got a mixed reaction. Despite the heels constantly cheating in the match, it gets caught by Earl Hebner when someone runs in for Shamrock…

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But that causes an immediate disqualification from Earl, and Shawn therefore retains the title after his DQ win. Officials get everyone separated, and D-Generation X stand in the ring when the show closes.
Match Time: 26:05
Ratings: C- / B+

After the show, I gave a speech to all the WWF. I really praised Undertaker for his great work, which really helped the show. Ken Shamrock was given a compliment on his performance, as he did a fine job on his first WWF pay-per-view main event. And Owen Hart was noted as a good example. I said it was because he came back when I called him to after this crap with Austin started and we really needed a big face, but it was also because I need to keep him happy or else he’ll probably run down to WCW too. It worked out, because all three of them seemed really pleased with that. That should keep them all coming back for Raw tomorrow night.

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CPBHBK · September 6, 2014

Good show all in all

Moxley · September 7, 2014

Really like the format a lot. The way you incorporate the plusses and minuses from TEW into the matches is nicely done, and is something that I might consider using myself if I ever start writing anything here.

Also like the way you write Vince in this. I don't know the man himself, but I could really imagine Vince thinking like that about some of the things and wrestlers like Taka and Christopher.

Good job with this so far.

Bonafide_Bluffa · September 7, 2014

great show man. digging the unique writing style.

Jaded · September 7, 2014

Great show, really enjoying this!

Push Mike Something!

Warhawk8492 · September 7, 2014

Great shows so far.

Hassan · September 7, 2014

Liking the format and the shows have been good as well

Beejus · September 7, 2014

Big Three Recap for Week 1, December 1997

From the Desk of Mr. McMahon

“D-Generation X: In Your House was critically and financially a success. We gained over two million dollars for the pay-per-view, and while our buyrate wasn’t the greatest, this was meant to be a show that didn’t rock the boat much, in our current situation. That situation is that we currently do not have a number one top star. The loss of Austin is being felt, and we will deal with that as we go. There are a few names being thrown around for the Rumble and who will main event Wrestlemania, including Rocky Miavia, Vader, Jeff Jarrett, Ahmed Johnson, Ken Shamrock, Owen Hart, even Triple H winning the Rumble and having a fallout between DX is an idea being kicked around. We will not know for sure until we get a little further into the month and see who the crowd are reacting to. We are looking to get a few surprise entrants for the Rumble as well.

“One thing that everyone seemed in agreement on was that we need somewhere for guys to go train off of television. That in mind, we have taken $2 mil of that pay-per-view revenue and started a low regional federation down in Jerry’s homeland of Memphis, called Power Pro Wrestling. We sent a few guys down there, some people who I think will be a huge loss to our programming for a few weeks while they get a little better for our live crowds to want to see.

Until we get a few more big names on hand, we will have to rely on the few guys who are really keeping us afloat right now. One of the biggest names drawing the crowd’s attention is me, and that means I better get out there on camera more often.”

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Figure 4 Online
Big Three Recap – Week 1, December 1997

WWF Raw is War Report!
The WWF were partially taped this past week, as apparently some of the interviews were changed following the announcement of Steve Austin’s retirement. The time on the show eaten up by Vince McMahon saying Austin was fired was originally used to push forward the feud between Austin and The Rock. Most people seem to have enjoyed the show, which featured:
Chainz d. D’Lo Brown, Miguel Perez Jr., and Recon in an elimination fatal four-way; Ahmed Johnson d. Jeff Jarrett by count out; the New Age Outlaws d. the Headbangers by DQ; Taka Michinoku d. Mr. Aguila in a Light Heavyweight tournament semi-final; Brian Christopher d. Scott Taylor by forfeit in a Light Heavyweight tournament final; The Rock d. Vader by count out; Ken Shamrock d. Triple H.
We here at F4W have rated it as a B-. Not bad, but not incredible either.

WCW Nitro Report!
Monday Nitro was held live at The Omni, and had a show that was very well received. It featured two big heel turns by The Giant and Ric Flair. Both men seemed upset that Sting was getting a title match at Starrcade, which led into our main event. WCW potentially wasted two big opportunities on this night, as both Sting and Bret Hart had matches. The night looked like this:
Confrontation between Bret Hart, Randy Savage, and Curt Hennig; Scott Steiner d. Kidman; Skit involving The Giant, Kevin Nash, and Hollywood Hogan; Dean Malenko d. Rocco Rock, Steven Regal, and Saturn; Brawl involving Sting and Ric Flair; Rey Mysterio Jr. d. Konnan; Bret Hart d. Hollywood Hogan, DDP, and Buff Bagwell; Sting d. The Giant.
We called the show a B. It was very good, but we cannot help but shake our heads at some of the decisions made.

ECW Hardcore TV Report!
A fantastic show from the Hammerstein Ballroom saw ECW try to put over a few stars. The star of the show was Rob Van Dam, which should come as no surprise. It featured:
Confrontation between RVD and The Sandman; Bam Bam Bigelow d. Jason Knight; Sabu & RVD d. Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks; Justin Credible d. The Sandman.
All in all, the show grades a D+. Don’t let that number fool you, ECW knocked this one out of the park.

Monday Night Ratings War!
WWF Raw is War
Monday at Primetime on USA Network: 3.85
Monday at Primetime on TSN: 0.98
Friday at Primetime on Sky Sports: 0.83
(Shotgun Saturday Night draws a 0.1 rating on Syndication, along with a 0.68 buyrate for D-Generation X: In Your House.)

WCW Nitro
Monday at Primetime on TNT: 5.11
Monday at Evening on Galavision: 1.44
Wednesday at Afternoon on Foxtel Australia: 0.17
(Saturday Night draws a 0.56 rating on TBS.)

WWF looking for fresh talent?
With the start of Power Pro Wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee, the World Wrestling Federation seems to have an eye out for young, fresh faces to enter the fold. We haven’t had word yet as to whom they are looking for or what precisely they are planning, but we will have more information when it becomes available. Apparently one man who they didn’t feel would fit in with this fresh meat was Tiger Ali Singh, who has been released from his exclusive pay-per-appearance contract.

WCW feud news!
Rumors have it that WCW are looking to start a few new feuds to keep the fans on the edge of their seats, which include Sting vs. Scott Hall, Lex Luger vs. Kevin Nash, a dream match feud with Bret Hart vs. Hollywood Hogan, and a repeat of the Randy Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page feud from earlier this year.

ECW firing spree!
In an attempt to save a few dollars here and there, ECW have come to terms with the releases of the Blue Meanie, Danny Doring, Lou D’Angeli (Sign Guy Dudley), Francine, and “The Big Don” Tommy Rich.

WWF Send Talent to Memphis for Training!
The list so far reads as all three of the remaining Disciples of Apocalypse since the departure of Brian Adams, Recon of the Truth Commission, Scott Taylor, Prince Albert, and Al Snow is there to help train people.

--------------------

OOC: Thanks for all the thoughts and words so far, everybody! I didn't feel that there was long enough to warrant making a prediction contest for IYH, but there will be one for Rumble. Hopefully you'll all be sticking by me til then And yeah, like Moxley said, obviously none of us really know Vince McMahon. However, from all the third person talk about him, he really seems like this type of character. Hopefully he doesn't find this and think I'm heckling him by writing him as such a self-centered, narcissistic, womanizing ass Again, thanks for reading, everyone!

CPBHBK · September 7, 2014

From the Desk of Mr. McMahon
“D-Generation X: In Your House was critically and financially a success. We gained over two million dollars for the pay-per-view, and while our buyrate wasn’t the greatest, this was meant to be a show that didn’t rock the boat much, in our current situation. That situation is that we currently do not have a number one top star. The loss of Austin is being felt, and we will deal with that as we go. There are a few names being thrown around for the Rumble and who will main event Wrestlemania, including Rocky Miavia, Vader, Jeff Jarrett, Ahmed Johnson, Ken Shamrock, Owen Hart, even Triple H winning the Rumble and having a fallout between DX is an idea being kicked around. We will not know for sure until we get a little further into the month and see who the crowd are reacting to. We are looking to get a few surprise entrants for the Rumble as well.

“One thing that everyone seemed in agreement on was that we need somewhere for guys to go train off of television. That in mind, we have taken $2 mil of that pay-per-view revenue and started a low regional federation down in Jerry’s homeland of Memphis, called Power Pro Wrestling. We sent a few guys down there, some people who I think will be a huge loss to our programming for a few weeks while they get a little better for our live crowds to want to see.

Until we get a few more big names on hand, we will have to rely on the few guys who are really keeping us afloat right now. One of the biggest names drawing the crowd’s attention is me, and that means I better get out there on camera more often.”

--------------------

OOC: Thanks for all the thoughts and words so far, everybody! I didn't feel that there was long enough to warrant making a prediction contest for IYH, but there will be one for Rumble. Hopefully you'll all be sticking by me til then And yeah, like Moxley said, obviously none of us really know Vince McMahon. However, from all the third person talk about him, he really seems like this type of character. Hopefully he doesn't find this and think I'm heckling him by writing him as such a self-centered, narcissistic, womanizing ass Again, thanks for reading, everyone!

Good news updates

Mattywood · September 8, 2014

OOC: Thanks for all the thoughts and words so far, everybody! I didn't feel that there was long enough to warrant making a prediction contest for IYH, but there will be one for Rumble. Hopefully you'll all be sticking by me til then And yeah, like Moxley said, obviously none of us really know Vince McMahon. However, from all the third person talk about him, he really seems like this type of character. Hopefully he doesn't find this and think I'm heckling him by writing him as such a self-centered, narcissistic, womanizing ass Again, thanks for reading, everyone!

Heh, from what we have also heard about Vince McMahon, he might actually get a chuckle out of how you've written him. He's the one that realized the goldmine he had in making himself the #1 heel in the company when he heard all the fans heckling him for what he did to Bret Hart, after all.

Enjoying this and your WCW War of Thrones diary. They have me itching to eventually get back to diary writing after I finish Risky Business. ^_^

Beejus · September 11, 2014

WWF Raw is War / War Zone - 12/8/1997

WWF RAW is WAR / War Zone

December 8th, 1997

Held at: Hartford Civic Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut (New England)

Attendance: 15,000 (sell out!)

Show Runtime: Two Hours

Rating: B-

This show increased our popularity in 6 regions.

This show lost us popularity in 13 regions.

Pre-Show: Marc Mero d. Terry Funk (C-), Vader and Dude Love d. D’Lo and Kama (C+)

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The show opens with a quick collection of photos and audio clips from D-Generation X: In Your House last night, showing clips of “Triple H” defeating Sgt. Slaughter, Shawn Michaels winning over Ken Shamrock by disqualification after interference from Owen Hart, and “The Rock” being given the Intercontinental title by me!
Rating: B-

Whereas we would normally go to JR and Cornette now, instead I’m in the ring! I watched the segment again afterwards, and damn did I look good on stage like that. I talked about the main event of DX being ruined by an interloper who is about as welcome in the WWF as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, that being Owen Hart. “Out of the gracious nature of my own heart,” I told everyone, that I have allowed Owen to stay in the World Wrestling Federation, when everyone left him behind. Owen came out of the crowd just like he did the night before and entered the ring, where I told him that if he plans any stunts, security will haul him to jail in a heartbeat. He got the microphone and said how it’s true, he’s the last Hart left in the WWF, but that just means it’s time for some new rules to this game. He talked about how he loves his family, but now he can be his own man – because enough is enough, and it’s time for a change. He says that he tried to be a nice guy and just disappear, but when he went away for a few weeks, he kept Shawn Michaels with the WWF title, and making fun of his family, he snapped; telling Shawn to come and take his best shot if he can find the balls to do it! He says that he and his family were victims of Vince McMahon and D-Generation X, and while most of them left without “too much” of a fight (pointing to my eye, a nod to that bastard Bret punching me) he wasn’t going to let anyone get away with it that easily. Owen dubs himself “The Black Hart” and says that he will stay right here in the WWF and make sure that people like Shawn Michaels don’t think they can disrespect everyone like he does. He’s about to leave, when I stop him, and ask him just who the hell he thinks he is! Instead of waiting for an answer, I tell him who he is: an employee of the World Wrestling Federation, MY employee dammit, and that means he will do what I say, when I say it. And that means tonight in this very ring, he will have a match against the most bizarre individual in the history of the WWF, the Artist Formerly Known as Goldust! Owen did a good job remembering his scripted lines here, which is good because they’re going into his new entrance music; I didn’t have to have a script though, because I’m Vince McMahon, dammit. After that we went to JR and Cornette, who talked about this segment between myself and Owen, and hyped the card for the night. Ross struggled a bit with no script, but not horribly.
Ratings: B / D

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Flash Funk is in the ring, it’s too bad we had to stop doing the Funkettes. That’s probably why he isn’t over, there aren’t any sexy women dancing for him anymore. Faarooq comes out with no flash, nor any funk to speak of, but he takes a microphone before the match starts. He tells Funk to take a look at himself – he’s acting like a clown out here, dancing for the masses. Faarooq says that there’s a way to get your respect back: by taking it by any means necessary, calling off this match and joining Faarooq in the Nation of Domination! Flash tells Faarooq that he appreciates the offer, but he’s just too funky to join with that monkey! That was a horrible line, it’s pretty obvious we didn’t feed it to him. Maybe the reason he didn’t join was because Faarooq didn’t read the script either. Faarooq attacks on that note, and despite a few comebacks, he makes pretty short work of Funk. The announcing of JR really helped the match from being lost in the lack of fan support. At the end of a solid match, a tired Faarooq plants Funk with the Dominator for the win.
Match Time: 8:16
Ratings: E+ / C-

We’re backstage with Vader, who JR again mentions had a match earlier tonight. Of all people, he gets approached by a somber Marlena. She isn’t looking all that good anymore, as she’s all fully dressed, so I guess that means we should pay attention to what she says. She talks to Vader about how things have gone for her since Dustin left, saying that she’s been so lonely. Vader doesn’t seem all that interested in what she’s saying (neither are we) until she starts trying to lead him to somewhere “private, to talk about it”. Vader gets dragged along, but doesn’t let her close the door, saying that he thinks she’s just confused and lonely and scared, and just wants to hurt Dustin by being around his enemy. Marlena gives him a hug – but he gets attacked from behind by Goldust! Goldust lays into Vader as Marlena runs off hiding her face, as he and Luna beat on Vader. Vachon actually makes Goldust almost look bad, because he seems so overwhelmed by what she is doing; like here, when he’s stomping on Vader, and Luna just grabs a table and flips it over onto Vader, while jumping around all over the place. When they’re done, Marlena asks if he’s done with her, if he will sign the custody papers now, making Goldust sneer as he walks away from her. She checks on Vader, apologizing profusely. Vader looked good here, at least, in turning her advances down for “good guy” reasons, but maybe it was just because, like the rest of us, we just didn’t buy her underwhelming acting… or her being fully dressed.
Rating: D

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The World Tag Team champions, the New Age Outlaws, join us in the ring now, Road Dog giving a promo about the Legion of Doom on their way to the ring. This time James does a good job with his improvising, as he talks about this not being 1987 anymore, and instead of the LOD running over anyone and everyone in their way, it’s they who are getting run over, as now they are two-and-zero against the Outlaws. Hawk and Animal interrupt his talk, saying that if the Outlaws want to run their mouths about how over-the-hill the Legion are, then maybe they should give them a match where they won’t just cheat to keep the titles – so we can find out for sure who the better team really are! Hawk really underperformed here, as he doesn’t look pleased in this story. The Outlaws laugh off the challenge, saying that they have no reason to defend the belts against them again after last night at In Your House. Billy whispers into James’s ear though, and they change their tune then, saying that maybe if the duo can win their match next, then they may possibly give the champs a decent match. What a flat segment compared to the promo that came before. The opponents turn out to be Los Boricuas of Savio Vega and Miguel Perez Jr., who put on a solid match that, despite the stakes, just doesn’t have much for the fans to care about. JR really puts over the LOD’s “last chance” as best as he can, but the biggest problem is that Perez cannot call a match on his own. Hawk gets the pin over him following the Doomsday Device.
Match Time: 12:12
Ratings: C / D+ / C-

We head backstage to find me again, this time with Pat Patterson at my side as I’m yelling at Sgt. Slaughter. “Sarge” is all apologies for the way he acted toward DX, trying to say that he only got in the ring against Hunter last night in order to stand up for his family. I said back that he let things get personal, and as a WWF official, you cannot let things get personal – because of his actions, I have allowed the title change of the European championship from Shawn Michaels to Hunter Hearst Helmsley, which doesn’t please him, but I’m the boss, dammit, and he falls in line. Slaughter changed his gimmick here away from the “armed forces” that he’s known for, to a realistic authority figure. Taking crowd reaction into account, the agents have rated it as a B-. Patterson brings my coffee as the segment closes.
Rating: C-

Sunny is out in the ring now, yeahhhh! It may not be 1996 anymore, but she is still ssssssssssssssssMOKIN’ HOT! She’s only here for this segment because we used Sable already, and who wants the bitching of one woman who thinks that another woman is getting better treatment? Certainly not me, so here Sunny is. She’s here to interview Jeff Jarrett, who says that he had a great night at In Your House, proving that he’s the better man over all those men in Cactus Jack’s head. Sunny struggles a little with improvising though, and when she’s using her microphone skills instead of her, mmmmm, her “assets” she was pretty bland. It just goes to show for the second time tonight that nobody’s here for the acting range of these women. The interview gets cut short as out of nowhere comes Cactus Jack, chasing Jarrett and Sunny out of the ring! Jack runs Jarrett off, and then he grabs the microphone for a promo of his own, saying that Jeff’s win last night proved nothing, and if he decides not to be such a coward, then he’ll meet Jack in the ring again soon… and if not, then maybe Cactus will have to meet him outside of the ring. The crowd really loved that, Mick really did a masterful job of interacting with them, especially as he started them on a chant of “coward” at Jarrett. One loud “bang-bang” and he went backstage, as the Raw credits came up on the bottom of the screen.
Ratings: D / B- / C+

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When we come back to the WWF War Zone, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are the focus as they discuss the main event of Owen Hart against The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust. This time, JR did a much better job, playing to the crowd with his masterful improvising as he asked certain members behind him who would win. Lawler also improvised well, talking about how Owen is crossing the boss, and saying as much as he’s always cheered him on, he just can’t go against Mr. McMahon – very smart king, there! From there we go to Michael Cole, who is with Goldust and Luna. Goldust talks about Vader mostly, laughing at how easily he was to distract earlier and how it was even easier to manipulate Terri into doing it for him. Luna laughs maniacally behind him, but one thing was wrong here – Cole. This kid was a complete disaster without a script. He really needs to quit this nervous bull, because he just looked dreadful. The crowd came out of this hating Goldust more thanks to his good performance, so it served its purpose.
Ratings: C / D

Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly is coming to the ring, but he doesn’t even make it to the ring apron until the lights go red and Kane attacks! Paul Bearer at his side, Kane destroys Holly, throwing him all around ringside before chucking him into the ring and drilling him with a Tombstone. Kane continues to look fantastic in what he’s doing, but Bob hurt things by just seeming lost out there.
Rating: C

We show a quick graphic to hype that Ken Shamrock will be back on Raw next week in New Jersey, to talk about his disqualification loss at In Your House.
Rating: C+

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The Intercontinental title is on the line as former champion Ahmed Johnson takes on the new two time champion, “The Rock” Rocky Miavia! JR really shines in this one as he hurls verbal abuse toward Rocky for taking the IC title like he did. The title actually played a big part in this one, as the crowd had a few moments when they really thought Ahmed was going to win it. Johnson played his power game really well, but Rocky’s stamina was definitely better. The match ended quickly as a big, bad run-in rushed in – and a visibly tired Ahmed had his head taken off by big Mark Henry! Rocky makes the cover and retains the title. He got a microphone then and said that Faarooq promised the Nation a new member tonight, and so Rock introduced Henry as the newest member of the Nation of Domination! Henry performed pretty poorly here, but Rock came across well as a leading man. Mark’s gimmick changed to a brute enforcer, but the rating I was handed for it was only a high C+, so just like usual, Mark ended up a disappointment. We went to break, and when we came back footage was shown from during the break, when rather than meeting with the rest of the Nation, Rocky and Henry were shown leaving the building. JR really put over that this didn’t seem as though it was what Faarooq had in mind when he talked about a new member.
Match Time: 11:55
Ratings: B- / C- / B-

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Our main event of the night ended up being another disappointment. Wouldn’t you think Owen and Dustin would have a great match? We certainly thought they would. And while the match was found to be “solid”, as two talented second generation wrestlers would put on, the match sucked because they kept getting in one another’s way. Just like last week, another awkward matchup. JR did a good job lifting the match on commentary for the home crowd, but it didn’t translate well to the in-house crowd. Luna did some good work at ringside, interfering when needed. Goldust definitely looked like a weirdo tonight, dressed in pink and black to mock Owen, as Lawler kept calling him “Goldhart”. Despite that, Owen ended up getting the hard-fought win with the Sharpshooter. Next week we definitely need to knock a main event out of the park, or else we may be in trouble – and I won’t stand for us to be in trouble. The show ended on a high note (or a low note for the booing crowd, I guess) as D-Generation X crashed the party and attacked Hart, laying a long beatdown on him before standing over him while crotch chopping him. The show ends with JR damning them to hell, and saying that payback is coming for them.
Match Time: 16:19
Ratings: C / B

<iframe width="220" height="165" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MMFuAyufkvw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
WWF Shotgun Saturday Night
Announcers: Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, and Michael Cole
Rating: C+

Pre-Show: Steve Blackman d. Aguila (D+)
D’Lo Brown & Kama Mustafa d. New Blackjacks after interference from Faarooq and “The Rock” (C-)
Raw recap video: Jerry Lawler is interviewing Jeff Jarrett, until Cactus Jack chases him away, challenging Jarrett to a rematch! (C+)
Jim Cornette interviews Savio Vega and Miguel Perez Jr., Savio talking about both his main event match tonight against Vader but also saying that Los Boricuas are coming for the Light Heavyweight title! (E+)
Bart Gunn d. The Brooklyn Brawler with a spinning sidewalk slam (D-)
Raw recap video: Owen Hart confronts Vince McMahon, then must face Goldust in the main event. The end of the match is shown. ©
Vader d. Savio Vega with the Vader Bomb (C+)
Vader grabs a microphone, and he says that he’s tired of all this s*** with Goldust! He makes a challenge for Goldust to meet him in the ring, any Vader time he pleases, and he’ll beat the manhood back into him! ©
Raw recap video: Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley sneak in and beat down Owen Hart after his match to close Raw. (B-)

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Warhawk8492 · September 11, 2014

Yet another great show. Good job dude

Beejus · September 20, 2014

Big Three Recap for Week 2, December 1997

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Figure 4 Online
Big Three Recap – Week 2, December 1997

WWF Raw is War Report!
The WWF delivered a post-PPV show that in general just did not live up to the standard that In Your House: DX had started to promise, and the fault lies with Lady Luck. Two such stars as Dustin Rhodes and Owen Hart you would think would have an at least good match. That was the WWF’s thinking, I’m sure, but bad luck got involved and bogged the match down, as the two just couldn’t click – much like Shamrock and Helmsley the week before. But a strong semi-main event and some good angles helped save the show, and most people we polled seem to have enjoyed it.
Faarooq d. Flash Funk; The Legion of Doom d. Los Boricuas; The Rock d. Ahmed Johnson (featuring a much needed heel turn for the flop, Mark Henry); Owen Hart d. Goldust.
We here have rated it a B-. It wasn’t a pretty show, but the ball is rolling toward the Royal Rumble.

WCW Nitro Report!
Nitro this week was held at the Cow Palace, and they delivered a great one to a sell-out crowd! The big story was the battle between two teams, the Outsiders and cousins Roddy Piper and Bret Hart. We reported on it last week, but one must really wonder about WCW’s braintrust, shuttling Sting away to a feud with Scott Hall after building him up for a year – however, they seem to have done this in order to make the most out of Bret Hart, who is now feuding with Hollywood Hogan exclusively. The Giant has been dropped from his program with Kevin Nash, replaced with Lex Luger. You can’t imagine Sting, Giant, or fans are very happy about these developments. Nitro, however, shows that the fans aren’t all that upset in the long run:
Mortis d. Steve McMichael; backstage segment with Roddy Piper and Scott Hall; Ray Traylor d. Riggs; Scott Steiner d. Konnan; skit involving Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart; Curt Hennig d. Lex Luger to retain the US title; the Outsiders d. Bret Hart & Roddy Piper.
The show was a fantastic success, we’ve rated it a B+, due a huge main event and some really good angles, especially Bret turning down joining the nWo.

ECW Hardcore TV Report!
ECW continue their hot streak, putting on a show that was better than last week. A little bit of poor placement is to be expected sometimes, as if they’d put on the Dreamer vs RVD match as the main event, the show would have been regarded better, as most of the crowd were worn out right after, and were a bit quiet in the main event. They weren’t even able to muster up many “you [screwed] up” chants for Sabu when he botched a move.
Backstage segment with The Sandman, Taz, and Phil LaFon; Jerry Lynn d. Big Dick Dudley; confrontation involving Bam Bam Bigelow and Rob Van Dam; Rob Van Dam d. Tommy Dreamer; Bam Bam Bigelow d. Sabu.
We rate the show a C-, better than last week’s. ECW are really making a name for themselves in the wrestling world!

Monday Night Ratings War!
WWF Raw is War
Monday at Primetime on USA Network: 3.81
Monday at Primetime on TSN: 0.95
Friday at Primetime on Sky Sports: 0.84
(Shotgun Saturday Night draws a 0.1 rating on Syndication.)

WCW Nitro
Monday at Primetime on TNT: 5.18
Monday at Evening on Galavision: 1.72
Wednesday at Afternoon on Foxtel Australia: 0.15
(Saturday Night draws a 0.57 rating on TBS.)

WWF hyping the Royal Rumble!
The Royal Rumble, to be held on January 18th from the San Jose Arena in California, is getting a big push by the WWF. Meltzer reported from his sources that they are looking to have a handful of surprise entrants, and that the main event of the show (aside from the Rumble) will be announced on this week’s Raw.

ECW release!
There was another release from ECW’s roster this past week, waving goodbye to Bill Alfonso. He was written out of the promotion after being given a Greetings From Asbury Park by Bam Bam Bigelow on this past week’s Hardcore TV.

Power Pro Wrestling get an owner!
Despite being owned by the World Wrestling Federation, an owner has stepped in to handle the day-to-day dealings of PPW – millionaire investor Mark Cuban has taken up the reigns. Time will tell what changes he may try to make to the promotion, and if it will grow or stagnate under his watch.

OOC: Have been busy with updating War for a bit, but never think this is done until I say it is! I have too much fun with this I am going to book Raw and Shotgun today, and if I get into it, I may should have it posted tomorrow at the earliest and by the end of the week at the latest. I just hadn't realized I didn't have this part done yet!

HEEL · September 22, 2014

Subscribed, great work so far.

Beejus · September 25, 2014

WWF Raw is War / War Zone - 12/15/1997

WWF RAW is WAR / War Zone

December 15th, 1997

Held at: Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey (Tri State)

Attendance: 16,186 (sell out!)

Show Runtime: Two Hours

Rating: B

This show increased our popularity in 12 regions.

This show lost us popularity in 6 regions.

Pre-Show: Faarooq, D’Lo Brown, and Kama Mustafa d. Bart Gunn, Bob Holly, and Shannon Moore (D+)

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We opened the show with a recap video that showed the end of last week’s Raw. Owen getting attacked by DX, and over it was my voiceover from earlier in the night. After the opening video, the show opens up with D-Generation X coming down to the ring, and might I just say that their entrance with the Titantron strobe effect is just the best. I wonder if the guy who came up with it is the same one who did the video for the DX pay-per-view? Maybe I should owe him that coffee. On second thought, let him get his own damn coffee. DX are out here to talk about the two thorns in their sides, Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart. Michael Cole was in the ring to interview them, but Shawn and Hunter push him over, so he left. Shawn compares the Hart family to a giant turd that he flushed down, and calls Owen “that little nugget you just can’t flush away” then calls Shamrock “the ultimate fighting chump” and tells the fans that both men can suck it. Hilarious stuff. Helmsley takes the mic, and he talks about how DX have no reason to face either man again, because they’re better in the ring, they’re better in the nightclub, and they’re definitely better in the bedroom. DX probably could have stayed out there and talked all night, but I interrupted the segment by coming out to the stage. There, I tell the fans that just because Owen Hart is allowed to stay in the World Wrestling Federation, it doesn’t matter what he wants, and it doesn’t matter what he does – there is no chance that he will ever face Shawn Michaels for the WWF championship. The fans really boo that one. It seemed that myself and both members of DX really performed well with the freedom to not be scripted, and the crowd ate up every minute of it.
Ratings: B- (video) / B- (DX) / B+ (Vince)

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The opening match of the show is one of our bigger feuds, as The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust is in the ring against that fat Vader. The fans still love this guy for some reason. We put this match on as a teaser match for a bigger one, and the crowd seemed to be into it. Luna did a good job at Goldust’s side, helping him cheat and really helping his persona with her own… let’s say her style. The problem is that it almost overshadows Goldust, even in this strange version of the character. Vachon plays into the finish, as Vader destroys Goldust and is setting him up for the Vader Bomb, but she pulls Goldust out of the ring, and the two leave the ring, taking the countout loss.
Match Time: 11:45
Rating: C

The next segments opens with… oh yeah, legs! The camera pans up and the luscious legs belong to sweet, sweet Sunny! The problem is that she opens her mouth, and since we didn’t give her a script, she did a terrible job, what a mess. She must have done some blow before going on camera. She brings in The New Blackjacks, who have a match in the main event tonight against D-Generation X. She asks why they made this challenge, and Windham says that they’re good ol’ cowboys, tired of seeing these two “city boy punks” running around with no repercussions for their actions. Bradshaw adds that they’re big, they’re rough, they’re tough, and tonight, they’re going to bring a whoopin’ down on them two boys! Sunny makes some joke about knowing all about cowboys. The last thing we never needed was reminded of the Smoking Gunns. The Blackjacks changed their gimmicks to realistic cowboys, and Brisco says that the fans rated it at about a C+ for Windham and B- for Bradshaw.
Rating: D+

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A squash match is next, as Sable is out! Is there some guy with her? I don’t know, and I don’t care. Her storyline continues as he puts her on commentary for this match, telling her that she won’t be a distraction that way. She doesn’t say much while there, but who cares? As long as the camera stays there, that’s all that matters. Stay right there, dammit! The cameraman keeps trying to look at the ring, but nobody wants to see that. That’s what JR is there for! He tells people what’s happening! This cameraman is going to be fired tomorrow.
Note from Jack Lanza: Marc Mero defeats Cham Pain with the TKO.
Match Time: 4:42
Rating: D-

Jerry “The King” Lawler is back at the interview cage and he brings in “The Black Hart” Owen Hart. Jerry performs poorly though, talking a little too much here and throws Owen off by not giving him the proper focus. Just hold the microphone, Jerry. He does a good job of helping keep himself over, because he takes his time to explain that he always thought Owen was the best one of the Harts, but he can’t agree with Hart on this quest to face Shawn Michaels and take on Vince McMahon for some kind of revenge. Owen ends up with not as much time as he should have had for his reply, where he says that Vince and Shawn have dragged his family name through the mud, and he won’t let them get away with it. This would never have happened with Cornette; he talks faster.
Rating: C

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Next out is a tag match between The Godwinns and the number one contenders for the World Tag Team titles, The Legion of Doom. The two teams have a solid match that the crowd doesn’t really care about because they know the LOD are just going to steamroll them on their way to next week’s match for the titles. JR and Cornette really help this match, talking about the new fire they’ve seen in Hawk and Animal since losing the titles. Animal plants Phineas with a big powerslam to get the win while Hawk is out of the ring talking to officials. After the match, the New Age Outlaws come out and talk about the challengers, Road Dog saying that they may have been the kings of the Chicago Street Fight back in their day about a million years ago, but it’s a new day, and next week it’ll be the day of the Outlaws. James really enjoyed being off-script, but Hawk underperformed for some reason.
Match Time: 8:43
Ratings: D+ (match) / C- (promo)

Ahmed Johnson and Flash Funk are backstage alongside Michael Cole. I think Ahmed says that he’s been fighting the Nation for far too long, but this time he has backup. Flash says that he will follow this through, and will help Ahmed teach Faarooq and his Nation a lesson in funk. This segment was just to get across that there will be a match at the Rumble. It accomplished nothing more and nothing less.
Rating: D

We come back with Jim Ross in the ring, and he introduces “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock. JR conducts a pretty straightforward interview, but he performs pretty poorly at it, as it is clear his best work is definitely behind the desk. Shamrock says that he was a little upset about Owen interrupting his World championship match at In Your House, but he understands – this time. He then has some words for DX, saying that had Owen not jumped the gun like he did, despite all the interference from Triple H and Chyna, we very easily could have been looking at the new World Heavyweight champion. “A win by disqualification isn’t a win,” he tells Shawn Michaels. Ken praises Michaels’s performance, saying that he is an amazing athlete and probably one of the toughest men he’s ever fought; but Shamrock is called “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” for a reason, and if Shawn has the guts to get back into the ring with him, then we will be looking at the new WWF World Heavyweight champion! This draws out Shawn Michaels, accompanied by Chyna, to the top of the ramp. Shawn says that he will give Shamrock his due, he is tough – but Shawn says that he’s worked with something even harder just earlier tonight! After a crotch chop just to explain the joke, Shawn’s laughter does little to Shamrock’s mood, who stammers out that Shawn should “cut the crap”. What the hell? Who says that? It’s very easy to see that since Shawn went out there without a script, Ken is floundering. Finally we get to the meat of the whole segment, as Ken challenges Michaels to a match that will settle things once and for all at the Royal Rumble – a Two out of Three Falls match. Shawn accepts, and we end the Raw is War portion of the show with a staredown between the two. Ken lost a bit of his momentum when he lost to Shawn, we were hoping that the DQ loss would cushion it. Hopefully the good match he and Shawn had will have people wanting to see the match again.
Ratings: B- (interview) / B- (challenge)

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We come back to the War Zone, after a brief pyro display to Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. They talk about the things both I and Owen Hart said tonight, and after the chewing out I gave Lawler before he went out there, he does a better job at minding his place, and he has the crowd in the palm of his hand while improvising here. He says that after talking to Hart earlier, he agrees with what Shawn Michaels called him, a little nugget! JR struggles a bit without script though, as he resorts to calling me and Shawn bastards with no remorse. He says that he thinks the New Blackjacks will give DX a trip to the woodshed tonight in the main event, urging fans to stay tuned in for that match.
Rating: C-

We go to a very well done pre-taped promo now, the only light in a room being on the pasty face of Paul Bearer. He talks about how he knows all the strengths and weaknesses of The Undertaker, but even he didn’t know him quite like his own flesh and blood. He says that they have killed The Undertaker (yeeess) and says that without The Undertaker around, Kane is growing restless… and that means next week on Monday Night Raw, Kane will be on hand to find another sacrifice! A loud BOOM is heard, and the whole screen takes on a red lighting, and Kane was standing behind Paul the whole time, and as Paul cackles, Kane looks straight forward like a slasher villain. Paul did great here, but he came off a little underwhelming by the end of the segment. Still, he does great to push the rivalry between the brothers here, which is currently one of our hottest feuds.
Rating: B+

, bringing the crowd to their feet wondering what’s going on… and out to the ring comes Marty Jannetty! He gets a microphone and says how great it is to be back in the World Wrestling Federation, in front of all the fans he loves. Great job sucking up, Marty, but the second you started talking, everyone could tell your improvising is a disaster; especially with lines like “I don’t rock and roll or strut and stroll quite as hard as I used to, but I’m still the man bringing the party!” Just painful. He says that he’s been watching the WWF as of late, and it seems like someone he knows well needs a lesson, and he’s here to teach it, calling out former partner Shawn Michaels. Shawn comes down to the ring this time (we told him to do this, the psychology being that he didn’t enter the ring for Shamrock but does for Jannetty) and Shawn immediately proves why he is the three time World champion compared to Marty as he brings a masterful job of improvising interaction with the crowd; he introduces “my old best bud, Marty”, and says that it seems like everyone on this show wants a part of him tonight. He offers a high-five to Marty, but pulls back at the last second, really drawing the heat from the crowd. Shawn delivers an “ancient history lesson” where he talks about being one half of the greatest tag team to never hold the gold, The Rockers (fans pop) up until the point he realizes that he was going to grow up to become “the Showstopper” and he “crashed the party” (fans boo). We piped footage into this segment on the Titantron and to the fans at home, showing the two together and then showing Shawn throwing Marty through the window. Shawn says that he supposes he can have some time for an old friend next week, on Raw is War – that is, if Marty can “keep his nose clean enough to still have a job here next week”. Marty just looked lost out there from the point Shawn came out, but Michaels looked fantastic – we definitely made the right decision on which of the Rockers to push ahead. Patterson said that Marty’s wholesome old school face gimmick wasn’t just decent, giving it a high C+ rating. We went to a commercial break, but when we came back there was a quick hype for something else next week: Jeff Jarrett has agreed to appear on Dude Love’s Love Shack segment.
Ratings: C (challenge) / C+ (hype vid)

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JR throws it to Michael Cole, who is standing back with Faarooq and Rocky Miavia of The Nation of Domination. “The Rock” talks about the genius of bringing Mark Henry into the Nation, but Faarooq questions him on that, saying that despite how he has been acting lately, Faarooq is the leader of the Nation, and while he is allowing Mark to be in, Rocky needs to stop trying to play leader and fall in line like the rest of them. Rocky fires back that obviously Faarooq is the best leader that the Nation could have – what with all the gold he’s carrying around compared to everyone else. His “Oh wait, you aren’t” made me almost snort my drink. Rocky says that Faarooq needs to just worry about keeping “the boys” ready for the ten-man tag at the Rumble, while “The Rock” goes out and does what’s best for the Nation; saying that Faarooq should just watch him beat down “this jabroni out in the ring” and defend his Intercontinental title, pointing out that it is the only belt the Nation has ever held. Faarooq looks pissed as Rocky leaves the interview area. Notice how I didn’t even mention Michael Cole there? That’s because he just looked lost there, standing around with a microphone and his goatee like an idiot. That ended up being a great lead-in interview to Rock defending the IC title against “Lethal Weapon” Steve Blackman. The two put on a good match, that unfortunately suffers from a lack of heat because nobody would believe right now that Blackman could take the belt away from Rocky. JR does a great job in this one, calling “The Rock” a “smug son of a bitch” and saying that he hopes Blackman kicks his teeth in for the way he’s been acting. Mark Henry makes his presence felt again, as he comes down to the ring and ends up tripping Steve when he was going for a kick flurry, and the distraction leads to the Rock Bottom and the three count. The two NOD members are going to lay a beatdown on Blackman, Henry lining up for a big splash, but Ahmed Johnson and Flash Funk hit the ring to make the save. Rock looked fantastic here directing traffic, even if Mark looked pretty lost. Flash was also a little underwhelming, as all he did was hit the ring and throw some weak punches, but Ahmed came across well when he matched up to Mark. We gave these things with the Nation overall about twenty minutes to unfold from interview to save, but all-in-all, the saga going on with the NOD all came across well here.
Match Time: 8:49
Ratings: C- (promo) / B- (match) / D- (save)

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Just to get the crowd a minute to breath before the main event, we cut back to JR and Jerry, who recap what happened at the end of the Raw hour with Shawn Michaels and Ken Shamrock agreeing to a two out of three falls match at the Royal Rumble, really selling the show itself with both that and the Rumble itself as huge attractions coming up on January 18th. The main event was next, as D-Generation X took on The New Blackjacks. Despite Russo’s protests, we gave the match plenty of time to tell the story, which was basically that Shawn and Hunter needed to outmaneuver, out wrestle, and outthink the two brutal cowboys or else they’d get destroyed. DX get the advantage on Bradshaw due to his lack of big match experience compared to Windham, but the big cowboys get the edge back when Owen Hart comes out to even things up and keep Chyna from constantly interfering. JR again helps lift another match, as his blatant cheering of the cowboys keeps the match looking better than anyone else could have. Shawn really looked good here too, as he always does a great job playing small man against people bigger than he is. Shawn and Owen get into an argument on the outside, which takes Earl Hebner’s attention away from the match, and Chyna is able to slip in and hit low blows on both of the Blackjacks, leading to DX hitting them both with a Pedigree and Sweet Chin Music, giving D-Generation X the victory. Ken Shamrock comes out, and he stands beside Owen as DX crotch chop at the two. Owen and Ken are about to enter the ring, but I come out before they can, saying that they would feel much better about climbing in there after they hear what I have to say. I announce that in two weeks, Raw will be held live in Madison Square Garden, and the main event of that show will be a tag team match for the ages – as Ken Shamrock will team up with Owen Hart to take on both members of D-Generation X! The crowd go crazy for that one, and the show ends with a four-man staredown as the credit information comes up at the bottom of the screen.
Match Time: 15:43
Ratings: C- (commentary) / B- (match) / B (announcement)

<iframe width="220" height="165" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MMFuAyufkvw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
WWF Shotgun Saturday Night
Announcers: Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, and Michael Cole
Rating: C

Raw recap video: Ken Shamrock challenges Shawn Michaels for a rematch at Royal Rumble! (B)
Flash Funk squashes Michael Modest with the Tumbleweed. (E)
Video: the feud between The Undertaker and Kane. Will Undertaker be able to come back from being burned alive? (B-)
Mark Henry squashes Shannon Moore with a big splash. (F+)
Raw recap video: Rocky Miavia and Faarooq argue through an interview, and Ahmed Johnson stirs the pot between the two Nation heads. (C-)
Jim Cornette leaves the broadcast table to interview D’Lo and Kama. He asks them about Rocky and Faarooq, but both men brush off the subject, instead talking about Ahmed, Flash Funk, and Steve Blackman. (D-)
“Spark Plugg” Bob Holly d. The Brooklyn Brawler with a flying body press. (D)
JR, Jim Cornette, and Michael Cole discuss the main event for this Monday’s edition of Raw, the New Age Outlaws against the Legion of Doom in a Chicago Street Fight! (D)
D’Lo Brown and Kama Mustafa d. The Headbangers, D’Lo pinning Mosh after a frog splash. (D+)
Raw recap video: Vince McMahon’s words echo over Owen Hart getting in a staredown with Shawn Michaels, and the main event for Madison Square Garden’s edition of Raw is announced as DX against Shamrock and Hart. (B-)

Show Notes: Michael Modest, Shannon Moore, and Cham Pain all debuted Generic Jobber gimmicks, rating as C+, B-, and B-, respectively.

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Beejus · September 25, 2014

Big Three Recap for Week 3, December 1997

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Figure 4 Online
Big Three Recap – Week 3, December 1997

WWF Raw is War Report!
Some very good angles led this week’s Raw to a good place, as they put Shawn Michaels front and center and let him do his thing. Viewers have given it some positive feedback, most liking the vast majority of the show. They pushed hard for three different shows here, the Royal Rumble and the next two episodes of Raw. Shawn Michaels and Ken Shamrock will meet again at the Rumble, and DX will face off against Owen and Shamrock at Madison Square Garden in two weeks. There weren’t many matches on this show, but the ones that were there typically kept the crowd on pins and needles.
Vader d. Goldust by countout; Marc Mero d. Cham Pain; The Legion of Doom d. The Godwinns; The Rock d. Steve Blackman to retain the IC title; D-Generation X d. The New Blackjacks.
We rated the show as a B; acceptable, but they still have yet to recover from the loss of Steve Austin.

WCW Nitro Report!
Nitro was held from the St. Louis Arena last night, and while it featured two odd men in the main event, it was still a show that was found to be fantastic. Sting was the star of the show.
Skit involving Kevin Nash and Lex Luger; The Steiner Brothers d. The Public Enemy; Brawl involving Roddy Piper and Hollywood Hogan; Mortis d. Evan Karagias; Faces of Fear d. Lenny and Lodi; confrontation involving Sting and Scott Hall; Sting d. The Giant; Hollywood Hogan d. Bret Hart, Booker T, and Buff Bagwell in a fatal four-way to retain the World title.
We rated the show a B+. We don’t know what Booker or Bagwell were doing in the main event, but it was an amazing match, as was Sting against Giant.

ECW Hardcore TV Report!
ECW Hardcore TV was at the Hammerstein Ballroom for the third week in a row, and they yet again knocked the show out of the park, as each week has been better than the last since the start of this month. Viewer feedback has been excellent, most saying that Rob Van Dam was again the star of the show – one must wonder if his performances will not garner the attention of the big fish soon. The big surprise of the show was the change of the ECW Tag Team titles, as the FBI dropped the belts to the Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks. Many are noting good chemistry between Jerry Lynn and RVD as one of the driving factors of their incredible match from this show.
Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks d. The FBI for the ECW World Tag Team titles; brawl involving Bam Bam Bigelow and Rob Van Dam; Shane Douglas d. Tommy Dreamer; Rob Van Dam d. Jerry Lynn.
We here at F4W have rated the show as a C-, staying the same but leaning slightly higher than last week’s show.

Monday Night Ratings War!
WWF Raw is War
Monday at Primetime on USA Network: 3.89 (+0.08)
Monday at Primetime on TSN: 0.97 (+0.02)
Friday at Primetime on Sky Sports: 0.88 (+0.04)
(Shotgun Saturday Night draws a 0.1 rating on Syndication.)

WCW Nitro
Monday at Primetime on TNT: 5.2 (+0.02)
Monday at Evening on Galavision: 1.79 (+0.07)
Wednesday at Afternoon on Foxtel Australia: 0.22 (+0.07)
(Saturday Night draws a 0.6 rating on TBS.)

WWF injuries and a return!
Marty Jannetty made his return to the WWF this past week on Raw, and he came out to challenge former partner Shawn Michaels to a match this coming week. One match that is up in the air right now is the much anticipated Chicago Street Fight, as Hawk tore his quad during the Godwinns match and will be out of action until April or May of 1998. Some are claiming that Marty was only brought on board to make an appearance at the Rumble and then go to Power Pro Wrestling to be a trainer, but with Hawk’s injury the match between the former Rockers was set up to give the upcoming Raw another potential big match so that people will tune in. Young Shannon Moore also was the victim of a fractured jaw in the dark match, but he won’t miss any time.

From the desk of Vincent K. McMahon:

The rumors have been true: Hawk is out for a few months after tearing his quad against the Godwinns. I’m not sure who to blame on this one, but I’m sure there’s someone who needs to own up to ruining our big Chicago main event. As soon as I find out who it is, they’re going to be fired so fast it’ll make their local unemployment office spin.

In semi fortunate news, we signed a bunch of youngsters who may grow into big stars for us in the future. There potentially could even be a new Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin in the bunch, but for now they’re all going to PPW. Even more fortunately, the dirtsheets haven’t seemed to find out who any of them are yet, so they can stay quiet about things.

Dawn · September 26, 2014

Good show my man, The New Blackjacks having some Main Event time, Jannetty with a great return, and also, bummer about Hawk getting injured by one of those dirty hillbillies, and I see a sloppy future for one of them, though I would keep them and job them out.

Keep up the good work!

Beejus · October 11, 2014

WWF Raw is War / War Zone - 12/22/1997

WWF RAW is WAR / War Zone

December 22nd, 1997

Held at: Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois (Great Lakes)

Attendance: 19,230

Show Runtime: Two Hours

Rating: B

This show increased our popularity in 12 regions.

This show lost us popularity in 4 regions.

Pre-Show: The Headbangers d. The Godwinns (D+)

D’Lo and Kama d. Bob Holly and Bart Gunn (C-)

Mankind d. Savio Vega (C+)

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D-Generation X start off this Christmas themed episode of Raw. After talking about Owen Hart (the little nugget) and Ken Shamrock (the ultimate fighting chump), Shawn and Hunter say that DX would like to wish everyone a merry x-mas – ripping their tear-away pants away to reveal “merry” and “mas” written on their asses, with a big white X on the back of Chyna’s pants. I almost rolled off my chair laughing at these two! Shawn really enjoyed the freedom to be off-script, and Hunter improvised well along with him. This stunt may not have the USA Network very pleased, but it’ll likely live in video packages for years to come.
Rating: B

We head to Jim Ross and Jim Cornette, who talk about one of the big main events tonight, the Chicago Street Fight. JR announces that Hawk will not be participating due to an injury, but he really doesn’t announce it well without a script to follow on it, as he actually insinuates that the Outlaws may have paid off the Godwinns last week to hurt the Legion of Doom. This was not where I wanted to take the angle. Cornette covers for him, enjoying that we didn’t hand them a script, saying that anything can happen in the WWF, and that this is why the card says “subject to change”. This brings out The New Age Outlaws, Gunn standing in the back and being an annoyance to fans as James says that due to Hawk “flying away scared” there won’t be a tag team match tonight, just a mugging, as the Outlaws, in a match with no rules, will “spay and neuter that wild Animal” and leave him laid up just like his buddy. “The Road Dog” does a great job improvising in this one, and while the fans hate him, we love him and Billy backstage.
Ratings: D+ (announcers) / C (promo)

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The “breast” damn Christmas present we can give you is the sizzling hot Sable joining JR and Cornette at the desk! There’s a match going on while she’s there, but the crowd doesn’t care, we don’t care, this one is all about pushing the story about Sable. JR’s announcing really helps the match, as he is able to really get across all the important points of the storyline. Mmmmmm……… just keep that camera on Sable, yeah, that’s right.
Gerald Brisco road agent note: Marc Mero d. Steve Blackman after interference from Rocky Miavia.
Match Time: 8:24
Rating: D+

The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, along with Luna Vachon, comes out to the ring. He has a Christmas present in his hands, and he talks about how abandoned he used to feel around this time of year, and somehow tries to tie it to Vader. But it just falls flat; he did a very poor job of improvising. Luna helped him, really helping him get his weird character over. Vader charges the ring, looking for a fight, but Goldust escapes from him. We gave away the match last week, this time people will have to wait for the Rumble.
Ratings: C (promo) / C- (chase)

We head back to JR and Cornette, and they hype up the main event of the War Zone, the match between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. Neither man does well without script here, as Cornette talked too fast for himself and Ross stumbled around while trying to relate to the Rockers.
Rating: D+

The Honky Tonk Man makes a rare appearance, this time as a self-proclaimed “rock ‘n roll roving reporter”. That has a good ring to it; maybe we’ll keep him with this role, as he really seemed to like being off-script for this. He goes into the locker room of the Nation of Domination, and walks in on a bit of a power argument between Faarooq and “The Rock”. Kama and Mark Henry are in the background, ready to jump in at any notice. Rocky accepts the interview, which makes Faarooq even angrier, who storms out. Rocky says that he doesn’t sweat Steve Blackman, Ahmed Johnson, or Flash Funk, and they also still need to add two people to the match for the Royal Rumble. He slips in a barb about Faarooq, saying that maybe he will show his leadership when Faarooq has a match against Ken Shamrock later tonight. Miavia struggles while off-script, but his performance was good, his natural charisma shining through. Rocky just didn’t sound right praising Honky as one of the greatest Intercontinental champions while he is the current IC champion. We’re still working with him yet.
Rating: C

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We threw two jobbers out there for Kane to squash the hell out of – pun fully intended. The crowd didn’t care about seeing the skinny, blond one. JR and Cornette did a great job in this match, really helping Kane look like a killer, and his performance really stood out. Bearer also did some good work at ringside, his chemistry with Kane a boost to anything they do. After the destruction, Paul takes to the microphone. He underperforms a little bit, not seeming to have the enthusiasm he should have given. He talks about the holiday season as being a time for things to be new, and he talks about how Kane has destroyed his older brother, just like 1998 will come to lay 1997 to rest. He says that like the past year, we will never see Undertaker again; but in Undertaker’s case, it’s because he is afraid of his little brother. Kane blows his pyro, and they leave the ring.
Dave Hebner road agent note: The two enhancement talents were Cham Pain and Shannon Moore.
Match Time: 5:26
Ratings: D- (massacre) / B- (promo)

Animal is standing backstage with Sunny, who is doing a good job this time of keeping her mouth mostly shut and just looking good – what she’s best at. Animal says that he heard what the Outlaws were saying earlier, running their mouths about Hawk being out. He says that Hawk will be back one day, and both James and Gunn better be ready to pay for their words when he makes his return. But they shouldn’t get too far ahead of themselves, because it will not be a handicap match; he’s called in a favor to an old friend, and he brings in Ahmed Johnson! We think Ahmed told the Outlaws that they have two of the biggest, meanest dogs in the WWF gunning for them now, and they better be prepared for the ass-kicking of a lifetime. That’s what we scripted for him, anyways.
Rating: D+

A quick, special video package rolls to hype the match tonight between “The Icon” Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. It shows them as the Rockers, up until the big break up between them, and then shows a few clips of some of their past matches. It should have the crowd pumped up for the match, which is announced as now being for the WWF World championship.
Rating: C+

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The main event for Raw is War features “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock against the leader of the Nation of Domination, Faarooq. This one is a very good match for a mid-show main event, as we were hoping the experienced Faarooq would rub off on Ken, and also that by facing such an established name, Shamrock would look better as he heads into the Rumble against Shawn. The crowds seem to enjoy Shamrock, as they aren’t dead for this match by any means, even rallying behind him toward the end. Faarooq is showing his age a little though, not enough that he is declining but enough that he gets very visibly tired in these all out matches. Ken slips out of the Dominator to hit a belly-to-belly suplex and applies the ankle lock for the submission victory. As the credit information comes up for Raw is War, I joined the scene at the top of the ramp, talking to Shamrock. I got a little tripped up on my wordplay, but the gist of it was that I told Ken that he could not have his two-out-of-three falls match at the Rumble, because I, as owner of the WWF, would not sign off on the match. The crowd really hated that, but I said that there’s nothing they could do about it, as I was protecting my investments so that we didn’t have another Austin situation on our hands. Especially after that, the crowd and Shamrock were both feeling very deflated at the end of the segment, which is completely to plan.
Match Time: 11:41
Ratings: C+ (match) / B (segment)

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As we move on to the War Zone, Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler talk about the Chicago Street Fight, which will now feature the New Age Outlaws defending the World Tag Team titles against Animal and Ahmed Johnson! We’ve learned our lesson – Cornette gets upset if we don’t want him to follow a script, but JR isn’t all that good at it. So in the first hour, we let them go unscripted. But in the second hour, Lawler doesn’t care, so we give them a script to follow.
Rating: C-

We go into the ring, as during the break we put the tacky chairs and décor up to host
! Dude Love comes out to the ring and brings out his guest, “that coooooool cat, Jeffreh Jarratt!” Needless to say, this is a very rare off-night for Mick, as he tries to get too into the 70’s catchphrases and jive, and it makes him struggle. Jarrett struggles almost just to prove why he’s not getting a major World title push. Dude keeps poking at Jeff that he is “gonna get his booty handed to him” at the Royal Rumble when he faces Cactus Jack. Jarrett responds with a laugh, saying that there’s no way he will get into the ring against Cactus Jack again, because he’s already beaten him, and he went to myself already and was told he wouldn’t have to. Jeff picks on Dude then, saying that if Jeff wasn’t so busy preparing himself to win the Royal Rumble, he would face Dude at the pay-per-view, and Jarrett says he could do that because he’s good enough to win twice in one night like that. Love asks Jeff if that means he challenges him to a match? Jarrett arrogantly says sure, he’ll take him on. Dude says that he’s a lover and not a fighter, though – and with the Christmas spirit in mind, he says that he has a present for Jeff. That present being a substitution in the Dude’s place. Behind Jeff’s back, he puts on the Mankind mask, and he throws down the microphone before applying the Mandible Claw! So it will be Jeff Jarrett against Mankind at the Royal Rumble!
Rating: C+

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The New Age Outlaws come out, “Road Dog” talking his way down to the ring as he talks down Animal, Hawk, Ahmed, Chicago, the Bears, the Sox, and anything else he can think of. He really riled the crowd up, and by the time Animal and Ahmed charged the ring, the Chicago fans wanted blood. This is a long, brutal brawl, consisting of a lot of the champions either getting pounded to the mat or running away. The Outlaws don’t get much offense, but they show that they can hang in there really well, finally taking an advantage about the middle portion of the match. The challengers start to rally back, but while everyone is fighting at the top of the ramp, D-Generation X attack! Shawn, Hunter, and Chyna come out of the back and help the Outlaws lay out Animal and Johnson, and this is where JR really shines as he says that there must be collusion between these five degenerates. They absolutely destroy the challengers, and in the street fight it’s all legal. Ahmed gets pounded by steel chairs from everyone, Michaels delivering Sweet Chin Music to him while James held a chair up into his face. Animal takes a quadruple teamed powerbomb through the announcer’s table, and they shove him back into the ring for Billy to get the pinfall and retain the titles.
Match Time: 15:55
Ratings: C+ (pre-match) / B- (match)

I am back in my office looking over some paperwork, when in charges WWF Commissioner, Sgt. Slaughter. “The Sarge” questions my blocking of the two out of three falls match, so I explained the situation to him, that Shamrock and Michaels shouldn’t take part in a match like that because one of them could get hurt by wrestling for that long period of time. Slaughter says that he thinks that’s bullcrap! He says that if the owner won’t sign off on the match, then the Commissioner will, so the match will happen no matter what! My look of shock came across well, and both of us did a great job improvising. Slaughter underperformed a little, though.
Rating: B-

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Just to keep the crowd from getting burned out, we had a commercial break after seeing Shawn walking backstage. When we came back, Owen Hart came down to ringside and joined commentary. After that, we had the match: Marty Jannetty goes for the World Heavyweight title against Shawn Michaels. These two may not be best of friends anymore, but they still know one another like the back of their hands, and they put on a great match that keeps the crowd – pardon the pun this time – rocking and rolling the whole time. JR again proves invaluable as his presence on commentary really helps the story of the match. Helmsley is on the outside, and he and Chyna keep interfering anytime they get a chance. Owen finally stands up and punches Hunter, stopping that; but in the end, Shawn retains following a quick reversal superkick that puts Marty’s lights out for the three. Afterwards, Hunter and Shawn are going to deliver an assisted Pedigree, but Owen and Ken Shamrock chase DX away. Shawn really came across well here, but Marty’s place in the segment just didn’t seem like it belonged. The show ends with a staredown between the four men who will face one another in the first main event of the new year, as JR tells everyone to have a merry Christmas!
Match Time: 11:40
Ratings: B (Shawn) / B- (Owen) / B+ (match) / C+ (aftermath)

<iframe width="220" height="165" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MMFuAyufkvw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
WWF Shotgun Saturday Night
Announcers: Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, and Michael Cole
Rating: D+

A segment starts the show with various fans being talked to regarding the feud between The Undertaker and Kane. Paul Bearer of course does the talking for Kane, who stands menacingly behind Paul’s back. (B+)
Taka Michinoku defeats Brian Christopher to retain the Light Heavyweight title. (E+)
Taka is heading up the ramp, when he gets jumped by four men out of the crowd – it’s Los Boricuas! All four of them are back and in full force, they lay out the Light Heavyweight champion! Jose Castillo Jr. in particular stands above Taka, making a belt motion around his waist. (F+)
With manager The Jackyl on commentary, Kurrgan defeats Shannon Moore with the Paralyzer. (E)
Raw recap video: the ending of the Chicago Street Fight is shown. ©
Flash Funk defeats the Brooklyn Brawler with the Tumbleweed. (E)
Raw recap video: DX’s shenanigans are replayed, along with their words about the big main event on Raw from Madison Square Garden. (B-)
Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart defeat The Godwinns with double submissions. (C-)
Owen and Shamrock take a microphone and talk about DX, saying that the duo cannot wait to get Shawn and Hunter in the ring live from Madison Square Garden! (C+)

Show Notes: Miguel and Jose are using Gangster (Realistic) gimmicks which rated 65 and 80, and Jesus is using a Foreigner gimmick which rated 80.

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Beejus · October 11, 2014

Big Three Recap for Week 4, December 1997

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Figure 4 Online
Big Three Recap – Week 4, December 1997

WWF Raw is War Report!
The WWF were in Chicago for Raw, hence their big hyped Chicago Street Fight. You have to think this show was meant to be the big breakout for the New Age Outlaws, but with Hawk going out, the match may have even had an adverse effect upon them. The substitution of Ahmed Johnson did little for the match, though it appears the plan was always to have DX come out and assist the Outlaws in the victory – but again, without it being the Road Warriors at full strength, all it did was made the Outlaws look weak for not being able to defeat a team who were together for basically the first time.
Marc Mero d. Steve Blackman; Kane won a handicap squash match; Ken Shamrock d. Faarooq; The New Age Outlaws retained the WWF World Tag Team titles over Animal and Ahmed Johnson in a Chicago Street Fight; Shawn Michaels d. Marty Jannetty to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title.
The show was only minimally better than last week’s outing; we rate it as another B as viewers have said that they liked the majority of the show. They really need to blow everyone away in Madison Square Garden next week, because with the shows only being “good enough” thus far, the vultures are definitely circling the company.

WCW Nitro Report!
WCW took their show to the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in New York, and what a show it was! The go-home show before Starrcade featured a huge double main event that really helped them put the WWF under their boot tonight.
Confrontation involving Sting and Scott Hall; Faces of Fear d. Benoit & Malenko; Booker T d. Juventud Guerrera; Skit involving Kevin Nash and Lex Luger; Bret Hart d. Sick Boy; Brawl between Bret Hart and Hollywood Hulk Hogan; Diamond Dallas Page d. Randy Savage; The Outsiders d. The Steiner Brothers.
Bret Hart showed a reason why the WWF were on the downswing without him, as he put in the performance of the night. Fans have said this show was fantastic, and we rated it as a B+. With the WWF treading water, Starrcade on the 28th could be WCW’s chance to jump ahead in the war and take over wrestling completely.

ECW Hardcore TV Report!
ECW held another show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and it featured a huge World Heavyweight title match. Everyone needs to watch this show if you can, as people have said it was excellent. Hardcore TV has gotten better and better every week.
Doug Furnas d. Big Dick Dudley; brawl between Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam; Justin Credible d. The Sandman; Shane Douglas d. Taz to retain the ECW World Heavyweight title.
We rated the show at a C-, slightly better than last week’s offering. It really could have done with an RVD match to really put it over the edge, though. ECW will be doing what they can to try and divert some of the fans’ money away from WCW, as they hold their December to Dismember pay-per-view one night before Starrcade.

Monday Night Ratings War!
WWF Raw is War
Monday at Primetime on USA Network: 3.87 (-0.02)
Monday at Primetime on TSN: 0.96 (-0.01)
Friday at Primetime on Sky Sports: 0.83 (-0.05)
(Shotgun Saturday Night draws a 0.08 rating on Syndication.)

WCW Nitro
Monday at Primetime on TNT: 5.18 (-0.02)
Monday at Evening on Galavision: 1.75 (-0.03)
Wednesday at Afternoon on Foxtel Australia: 0.22 (+0.07)
(Saturday Night draws a 0.6 rating on TBS.)

WWF looking to tone back?
If you noticed a lack of the grit and “questionable” content on this past Raw, you aren’t the only ones. Apparently the USA Network has said that they are very unhappy with the way Vince McMahon has been conducting his affairs, and for once in his life, Vince has balked. What this has done, however, has helped the WWF to land a few new sponsors, so at least they are getting some more money to do with; after all, not everyone can have Turner money at their disposal!

Walk-out before ECW PPV!
A few hours before December to Dismember went on the air, apparently there was a huge argument between Paul Heyman and Brakus. Apparently he was supposed to be defeated easily by Taz in the World TV title match, but Brakus, likely with visions of what Vince McMahon has told him dancing in his head and probably with something else dancing in his veins, said that he should not only defeat Taz, but dominate him and everyone else in the locker room! Paul is nothing if not committed to his troops, and while we don’t have many details on what was said once it got behind closed doors, the story ends with Brakus no longer in ECW, and many say a huge dislike between the two parties. The joke may be on Brakus, as he had been sent to Heyman to pick up some pointers before coming back to the WWF – but this may sour the WWF on him as well.

ECW December to Dismember Report!
All three titles were on the line as ECW put on their best show this month! It was held in the Hammerstein Ballroom for the second December to Dismember, to a sold out crowd of 2,500 people. The buyrate has come in as a 0.00. The feedback has been excellent, people saying that RVD definitely stole the show like usual. One really must wonder how long Paul can keep RVD’s head down in the grand scheme of the WWF vs. WCW war, as he could easily become a huge star in either promotion.
Tracy Smothers d. Little Spike Dudley (44)
Little Guido d. Big Dick Dudley (40)
ANGLE: Skit involving The Sandman and Taz (50)
Sabu and Rob Van Dam d. Roadkill and Chris Chetti (57)
ANGLE: Brawl between Rob Van Dam and Bam Bam Bigelow (48)
Three Way Dance: D-Von Dudley d. Pitbull II and New Jack (40)
Tommy Dreamer d. Darren Drosdov (52)
Taz d. Phil LaFon to retain the ECW World Television title (55)
Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks d. Justin Credible and Buh-Buh Ray Dudley to retain the ECW World Tag Team titles (50)
The Sandman d. Lance Storm (62)
Shane Douglas d. Bam Bam Bigelow to retain the ECW World Heavyweight title (63)

WCW Starrcade 1997
WCW held the annual Starrcade from the Tacoma Dome in Washington to a sold out 30,000 people, and it was the show of the month! The feedback from all who viewed it said that it was awesome. Surprisingly though, the show only garnered a 0.69 buyrate, which was the same as In Your House: D-Generation X. Maybe that shows the WWF aren’t quite as dead as Eric Bischoff would like to believe? Financially, that almost puts some egg on WCW’s face, but I suppose that’s what happens when you wash away all the stories that you were building toward only a month away from the show. With no match for Sting, it almost goes without saying that Bret Hart was the best performer of the show.
Pre Show: Rick Martel d. Riggs, Sick Boy d. Lenny Lane
Fit Finlay d. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (50)
Chris Jericho d. Kidman (54)
ANGLE: Brawl between Diamond Dallas Page and Randy Savage (83)
La Parka d. Evan Karagias (41)
Chris Benoit d. Steve McMichael (58)
Buff Bagwell d. Glacier (57)
ANGLE: Brawl between Lex Luger and Kevin Nash (75)
Perry Saturn d. Stevie Ray to retain the WCW World Television title (60)
Curt Hennig d. Ray Traylor to retain the WCW United States title (65)
ANGLE: Backstage segment between Roddy Piper and Bret Hart (86)
Eddy Guerrero d. Prince Iaukea to retain the WCW Cruiserweight title (58)
ANGLE: Skit involving Sting and Scott Hall (77)
Ric Flair d. Roddy Piper (80)
Hollywood Hulk Hogan d. Bret Hart to retain the WCW World Heavyweight title (89)

From the desk of Vincent K. McMahon:

“The dirtsheets have been reporting that we’ve backed down. They don’t know what they’re talking about. Yeah, the USA Network told me they were unhappy with things. The only big difference is that we don’t have Steve out there flipping everyone off anymore. Shawn and Hunter are still doing the same things. What this did do, however, is that it allowed me to cut a deal that only myself and USA know about – if we toned things down, they’re going to look into raising their viewing field within the next few months, so that we can get ratings more comparable to TNT and Nitro, and in time we will start to make some headway in the ratings war.

“The injury to Hawk really seemed to have hurt us more in Chicago than we anticipated. Ahmed did a good job in the interim, but we really could have used the Legion of Doom at full force to put over the Outlaws. We will have to find another team to put them over and give them the credibility that they need. Fortunately, we already have an idea on who that could be.

“It’s a good thing we have Shawn on hand to deliver a great match almost on command, or else we would be getting our asses handed to us each week. We may seem like we’re treading water, but the wheels are turning to Wrestlemania, and that’s what is important.

“The month ended successfully for us financially. It would have gone better had we not spent our pay-per-view revenue on PPW, but that was a necessary expense for our future. We ended the month with $5,173,271 in the bank, and with the Royal Rumble on the horizon, we can only expect more in January. We didn’t expect the success that was In Your House: D-Generation X, and the Rumble is always a huge draw. We suspect that January will be an even greater success financially, even if we end up treading water for the next week or two until people start to see the direction we are taking.

“Someone is calling. Yes, Sophie, who is it? Brakus? Who’s that? Tell him I’m in a meeting. And don’t answer to that number again. Sounds like a real loser.”

--------------------------------------------

The stuff in here about the "toned-down" show and risk is because I lowered the Risque setting to medium. Fans were getting too hard to please on gimmicks, but now they should be better. The side bonus was also that in doing that, it raised our sponsorship level. The note about the USA Network is because USA is listed as medium sized, compared to TNT's big, so in a few months I'm going to raise that so they are evenly matched, and this seemed like a neat "in-story" way to do that.

The Brakus stuff was just far too amusing to me to not include.

Dawn · October 15, 2014

Nice start with DX, staying a bit loyal to RL.

GO OUTLAWS!

Steve losing the undefeated streak already?

I hope that Vader wins when they have a match.

Laughed my ass off with Honky as a reporter. Some tension on the Nation already?

Who the heck's Cham Pain?

Ahmed might injure Animal with a tag.

A good win for Kenny.

Great Love Shack! Dude turning into Mankind was a great moment, and I cannot wait for the Rumble.

This wasn't the same without Hawk, but good match anyway, with the predictable finish.

Sarge and Vince with some problems, perhaps?

I don't know if you're going to keep Marty, but after this B+ with Shawn I beg to differ if you don't.

Great show. KUTGW.

Jaysin · October 17, 2014

Who the heck's Cham Pain?

Marty Garner and he also wrestled as Puck Dupp in ECW. He's really good friends with the Hardy Boys and wrestled in OMEGA.

His most famous moment however, is when Triple H almost killed him...

The Final Countdown · October 18, 2014

LOL Brakus.

It has to be only a matter of time before one of the big two signs RVD. (Surprise entrant in the Rumble? Eh, probably not.)

It's a shame you can't "lock in" certain pre-booked matches that the AI booking would honor before starting a game. May not be feasible, but seeing WCW abruptly drop the Sting/Hogan match in November after over a year's build is silly.

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