Post by The Stats Man on Aug 19, 2012 14:12:06 GMT -5
Aired: February 24th, 1997
Taped: February 24th, 1997 New York City, New York
Manhattan Center
Attendance: 1,000 (sell out)
Neilsen Rating: 2.5
[/size][/font][/b]Taped: February 24th, 1997 New York City, New York
Manhattan Center
Attendance: 1,000 (sell out)
Neilsen Rating: 2.5
Vince welcomes us to the Manhattan Center in New York City. Lawler and Vince tonight, as Vince tells us anything could happen tonight. Lawler says it may be a dark day, because the idiots from ECW have accepted his challenge tonight. Vince reminds us the "E" stands for Extreme.
The Godwinns (Henry and Phinneas) are making their way out, and their opponents are introduced as The New Blackjacks, Bradshaw and Windham.
1. The Godwinns vs The New Blackjacks
The Blackjacks attack the hillbillies as the bell sounds at 1:59. Bradshaw starts with Phinneas, and Phinneas knocks him to the mat with an elbow. Bradshaw still wearing his cowboy hat and slacks and gets knocked to the outside with a clothesline! Head off the stairs. In the ring, Henry scoop slams Windham. Tag to Phinneas. Whip into the corner, Windham reverses and charges into the corner. He's caught and flipped over the top rope with a head scissors from Phinneas! Vince tells us Faarooq will take on the #1 contender Undertaker later tonight, and Marlena will face Sunny in an arm wrestling match.
Bradshaw and Phinneas in the ring now, whip off the ropes from Bradshaw, and a shoulderblock tackle from Phinneas! Bradshaw regains control and they exchange a brawl in the corner. A slingshot clothesline by Bradshaw, misses an elbow! Phinneas drags Bradshaw to his corner, and slams him face first into Henry's boot. Tag, and a double team clothesline. Bradshaw with a hard right to Henry, whip into the corner, Henry reverses and Henry drops Bradshaw with a rebound back body drop! Hard clothesline! Exchange of whips, and Henry gets a knee to the back from Windham. This allows Bradshaw to dump Henry to the outside. Windham with a haymaker, rolls Henry in the ring and Bradshaw gets two in a pin.
Tag to Windham, irish whip, Bradshaw boot to the gut, and Windham with a boot to the gut. Back body drop and Windham in control. Vince says anything could happen tonight, as UFC star Ken Shamrock is shown in attendance. Lawler says everyone is here, and Shamrock is a dangerous man. Windham pounds Henry to the mat, and drives Henry's face into Bradshaws boot and makes a tag. Bradshaw throws Henry in the corner, and a charge is met with a boot to the head! Bradshaw tries a sleeper, but Henry with a back drop. Both men down.
Tags to both partners, Phinneas in and tags both Blackjacks with punches. Phinneas with a sleeper, but Bradshaw with a Clothesline from Hell! Windham covers, knocks Phinneas leg off the rope and the referee counts three after 5 minutes. Another referee comes out to say what happened, both Godwinns are upset and Henry dumps the slop from his bucket onto the referee at ringside!
Looks like the decision stands. Winners by pinfall at 5:52: The New Blackjacks (Bradshaw and Windham)
Rating: 1.0[/color] Little five minute brawl between two big hard hitting teams. Interesting finish, as the Blackjacks pick up their first televised win, but wasn't much to watch.
Lawler says that'll cost the Godwinns a suspension as the referee flops and slips on the muck outside.
Inside the ring, The ECW Tag Team Champions, The Eliminators (Perry Saturn and John Kronus) assault a tech guy with their tag team finisher double team legsweep spin wheel kick called the Total Elimination. Heyman gets in the ring, screams at Lawler, and says Extreme Championship Wrestling is in the house!! The crowd erupts in loud "E C DUB" chants. Lawler calls Heyman an idiot. Heyman takes in the chants as we go to commercial.
When we come back Heyman says on behalf of Extreme Championship Wrestling, he introduces one half of the Fully Blooded Italians, Little Guido. He says to hit the music of his opponent as the bWo makes their way out. Big Stevie Cool, Hollywood Nova, and The Blue Guy pose in the ring. Heyman joins the commentary table as the fans chant "B DUB O". Stevie Richards introduces himself to Lawler, and tells Lawler on behalf of the Blue World Order, they're taking over. Guido knocks Meanie to the floor, and the bell sounds at 13:24
2. Stevie Richards vs Little Guido
Guido misses a clothesline, and Richards tosses him with a fallaway slam to start the match! Chop, whip, spinning sidewalk slam by Stevie! The ECW World Champion Raven makes his way out and stands in the entrance ramp. Guido from behind with a school boy. Two count. Back top back dropkicks knocks Richards out of the ring. Raven stands over Richards and extends his arms. Guido rolls his opponent in the ring. Scoop slam, elbow, and a pin. Richards kicks out. Whip into a corner, running clothesline, whip into another corner, Richards gets his legs up, but Guido pulls him out of the corner with a sitout powerbomb! Jackknife roll up, two count.
Sleeper on the mat as the fans chant "B DUB O". Vince tells us that later tonight Goldust will face Savio Vega. Stevie fights out, with a whip, and Guido drags him to the mat with a faceplant using the hair. Pin, and Stevie kicks out again. Stevie with a Rocker Dropper out of no where! Pinfall gets two. Richards sets Guido up for a powerbomb. Richards plays the crowd, and drops Guido from his shoulders to the mat with a jackknife powerbomb. He sets up for a Stevie Kick out of the corner, kicking Guido square in the face and the three count.
Winner by pinfall at 3:41: Stevie Richards
Rating: 2.0[/color] Short, but fast paced action. Crowd was loving the whole match. Different spots than we're used to seeing.
Heyman says ECW are the originators, and the innovators, and the difference between Stevie Richards and Shawn Michaels is Big Stevie has never lost his smile. Richards plays the crowd and the bWo pose in the ring. They cut to Sunny in the back who says her job will be easy tonight because Marlena has bruised ribs. Fade to commercial.
We're back with Honkytonk Man in the ring and he introduces himself as the special referee in the Sunny/Marlena arm wrestling contest. Sunny makes her way out in a white bathrobe. Sunny says cuts the music because she wants all the fat overweight New Yawk losers to get a good look at her because she is what a real woman is supposed to look like. She teases disrobing, and finally reveals a leather two piece bikini. Marlena is introduced and she gingerly makes her way into the ring. Sunny says she doesn't want to embarrass the injured Marlena and offers her to forfeit. Marlena says we're all glad to see Sunny has stopped working in the red light district to make it here tonight, and Marlena says she won't forfeit.
Honky gathers the women together towards the table, and they lock their hands up. Honky says go, and Sunny steps away. She stretches. Honky says get ready, and Sunny says got to get warmed up, and does push ups. Honky says go, and Marlena steps away. Honky says if Marlena walks away again she'll be disqualified. After a couple seconds of both women going back and forth Sunny throws a bag of white powder in Marlenas face and flips the table. Savio Vega makes his way to the ring and corners Marlena, and Goldust slips behind him and beats on Vega before the bell rings.
3. Goldust vs Savio Vega
As the match starts, we go to commercial at 26:40 (so I assume the bell rang about then). Vega on the outside with Goldust down inside. Vega rolls in and drops forearms on Goldust on the mat. Whip, sidewalk slam. Goldust kicks out at two. Knife edge chops in the corner. The fans "wooo". Whip, back body drop is reversed into a sunset flip by Goldust for two. Both men up, and a clothesline by Savio. Vega distracts the ref inside the ring, as Crush piledrives Goldust on the outside. Vega rolls his opponent inside and pounds him in the corner, but Goldust responds with slaps. Vega with a high leg across the back of the head.
Nerve hold on the mat by Vega. Vince promises us a "real big surprise for everyone watching RAW" tonight. Goldust fights back and drops Vega with a DDT! Vega first to his feet, and a running splash but Goldust gets the knees up. Vega up first again, whip, Goldust boot to the gut and a throat thrust. Multiple clotheslines, into the corner, mounted punches to ten! Scoop slam. Goldust tries to climb to the top, but Vega trips him up. Both men fighting on the turnbuckle, headbutt by Goldust sends Vega flying. Goldust jumps, Vega puts his boot up. Vega missed an elbow off the ropes. Spin heel kick by Vega! Goldust with blows now. Goldust distracted by the Nation, and Crush gets in the ring as Crush and Vega double team Goldust.
Winner by disqualification at 8:35+commercial: Goldust
Rating: 2.0[/color] Solid match with a lot of back and forth action, but mostly brawling. It was very wishy-washy with neither man having much momentum.
Jerry Lawler stands ringside introducing Ken Shamrock, as a former Ultimate Fighting Champion. King tells Shamrock to tell the fans how it was like to train with Lawler. Shamrock says he doesn't know Lawler. King says he taught Shamrock many submissions. Shamrock says Lawler is a liar and he doesnt know him. Lawler walks away puzzled as we go to commercial.
Thoughts: Very awkward. Shamrock looked awkward and gunshy. Not much else to say, went about 30 seconds.
After a WWF Slammy plug, Heyman is at ringside. Heyman says tonight's show sucks without Extreme Championship Wrestling! He introduces Mikey Whipwreck in the ring. A very familiar guitar rip crosses the arena, as "Survive If I let You" brings out Bill Alphonso as he leads the Human-Suplex Machine, Taz, to the ring as Whipwreck's opponent.
4. Mikey Whipwreck vs Taz
They tie up as the bell rings at 41:54. Full nelson into a snapmare by Taz. Cross armbreaker with a scissor guillotine to Whipwreck, but Whipwreck squirms to the ropes! Tie up, headlock by Taz. Exchange of holds, into a grounded hammerlock. Whipwreck to the ropes, and both men up again. Whipwreck armwringer, Taz reversal into a bridging northern lights suplex for two! Heyman on commentary, Lawler quips that Taz is so small he bought an anthill as a home. Lawler asks Heyman why doesn't he try to set the fans on fire. Vince reminds Lawler he invited ECW, and Heyman apologizes for arguing on the play by play. Whip, reversal, a release full nelson suplex by Taz which Heyman calls the Taz-plex (not what I recognize as it, but it may be an earlier version)
Taz misses a punch, Whipwreck off the ropes into a leaping sunset flip. Two count! Taz up, hard running clothesline! Whip into the corner, Taz takes chase, Whipwreck tries to jump over Taz, but Taz catches him and slams him with a double leg slam out of the turnbuckle. Heyman begins to shout "Look! Its Sabu!" as Sabu appears on the RAW sign, and jumps onto Team Taz! Heyman says Sabu is the Homicidal, Suicidal, Most Insane Athlete in wrestling! Taz with a release belly to belly suplex throwing Whipwreck outside the ring onto Sabu! In the ring, Taz with half nelson choke suplex (the real Taz-plex) Heyman says thats the one move in wrestling even Ken Shamrock fears. Taz locks on the Tazmission and Whipwreck immediately submits!
Winner by submission at 3:28: Tazz
Rating: 2.5[/color] Gets a higher rating than the last match for the fast paced high octane innovative match they had, even though it was a pure squash. Taz looked great, Whipwreck sold great, and it was a fun highlight for ECW. The diversity of the ECW talent compared to the WWF talent is clear tonight. Great spot with the release belly to belly suplex to the outside, too. If nothing else, that made it worth it.
Vince tells us that coming up after the commercial break, Monday Night RAW will have a huge surprise, so stay tuned!
We're back, and Vince tells us it's time for the big surprise as the Headbangers are introduced for the next contest. Lawler asks if they're the big surprise, and Vince says no. Their opponents are introduced as "WHAT A RUSH" breaks across the arena, and the crowd erupts as the Legion of Doom, Hawk and Animal make their way out. The crowd chants "LOD LOD" and are on their feet.
5. The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) vs The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)
The Headbangers attack the LOD as the bell sounds at 48:25, but Hawk and Animal quickly gain control and toss their opponents from the ring. Animal and Mosh start. Diving shoulderblock by Animal! Mosh quick tag. Animal with a boot, armwringer, and tag to Hawk. Diving punch by Hawk. Blind tag by Mosh, and the Headbangers double team Hawk. The fans begin to chant "NITRO SUCKS" as Hawk back drops Mosh. Whip into the corner, and a running clothesline in the corner by Hawk! Chops in the corner. Gutwrench suplex out of the corner, and a diving fistdrop. Pinfall gets two.
Mosh takes off his shirt, and chokes Hawk. Tag to Animal as Hawk fights him off. Boot to the gut, and Animal with a stiff powerbomb to Mosh! Pinfall, and Thrasher breaks the pin. Headlock by Animal, twisting at Moshs neck. Whip, elbow to the face, and tag to Hawk. Dropkick, pinfall, and kickout by Mosh. Hawk with a full body scissors, and breaks. Whip, sunset flip, but Hawk breaks it with a punch. Stalling vertical suplex flattens Mosh. Tag to Animal, and a boot to the ribs. Animal pounds Mosh in their corner. Mosh with a quick kick, and tag to Thrasher. Off the ropes, Thrasher tries a shoulderblock, but Animal stands tall as Thrasher bounces off.
Tag to Hawk, running boot to the face in the corner! Whip into the opposite corner, Hawk lowers his shoulders and Thrasher moves out of the way and Hawk goes shoulder first into the turnbuckle and falls to the outside! Mosh with a springboard forearm to the outside to Hawk! Double team beatdown, as we go to commercial.
Back in the ring, Headbangers in control. Headbangers with some quick tags. They try a double team clothesline, but Hawk ducks, and bounces off the ropes with a clothesline to both men! All three down. Hot tag to Animal. Animal with boots to both opponents, and a powerslam to Mosh! Hawk in, clotheslines Thrasher to the outside, and Animal clears the ring. Animal throws Mosh into the stairs on the outside and the referee counts both teams out. (They were outside all of 17 seconds on my tape, so that was a really fast count)
The match is a double count-out at 7:42+commercial
After the match, the Legion of Doom does a Decapitation Device to Mosh and pose on the turnbuckles.
Rating: 2.5[/color] Good tag match. The Legion of Doom make their return to the company after five years to a great ovation. They looked great, and the Headbangers held their own for over ten minutes with a commercial.
"Tell Me a Lie" video package for Shawn Michaels as they look back on his career. Went about a minute and a half. A really good video montage.
As we come back from commercial, Paul Heyman introduces D-Von Dudley who's inside the ring, with Sign Guy Dudley. His opponent, accompanied by Beulah McGuillicutty, Tommy Dreamer.
6. Tommy Dreamer vs D-Von Dudley
They push and shove as the bell sounds at 1:00:42. Off the ropes, DVon tries a thesz press, but Dreamer counters into an atomic drop and then a kick to the ass. Whip, Dvon tries a hiptoss, but Dreamer with a bulldog and tosses DVon outside. Dreamer to the outside, and a fan hands him a vinyl record, which he breaks across DVons head! Heyman says it's defective now! Dreamer takes a fans cane and cracks that across DVons back. Dreamer puts the steps on the ring apron, and snap suplexes him to the outside. Dreamer rolls in the ring, and baseball slides the steps into DVon's face! The fans chant "E C DUB", and Dreamer throws the steps into the ring. Vince asks what he's doing, and Lawler says they're wrestling sarcastically.
Dreamer tries a whip, but DVon reverses, and throws Dreamer shoulder first into the steps in the corner. Sign Guy gives DVon a chair, and cracks it on Dreamers head. Side suplex on the chair! Dreamer dazed. Lawler says he's ashamed to be involved with this garbage wrestling. Dudley places the chair on Dreamers face and drops and elbow. Vince says this it the last feature match, as DVon misses a headbutt off the turnbuckle and lands face first on the chair. Dreamer with a piledriver! Beulah hands Dreamer a second chair. Sign Guy grabs Dreamers leg, and DVon catches Dreamer with a running splash in the corner. DVon orders Sign Guy to roll Beulah in the ring. Dreamer tries to hit DVon with the chair, but he has Beulah and Dreamer stops.
Beulah with a mule kick lowblow! Dreamer DDT onto the chair, and a three count!
Winner by pinfall at 4:23: Tommy Dreamer
Rating: 1.5[/color] An actual hardcore match here where everything was legal. Stairs, chairs, vinyl records, and canes were involved. Interesting match, but subpar.
After the match, Bubba Ray Dudley comes out and attacks Tommy Dreamer from behind. They double team Dreamer with the Dudley Death Drop, as the Sandman makes his way through the crowd with the singapore cane! He cracks a beer can across his head, as the Dudleys pull him in the ring. Bubba misses a splash in the corner into a chair, as Sandman cracks both Dudleys with a chair! Sandman is busted open and Dreamer and Sandman stand tall. Lawler says this is still crap. Lawler pushes Heyman away, as Heyman dives at Lawler! There's a huge brawl art ringside as Taz, Dreamer, and other officials pull Heyman off as they go to commercial.
There's a recap from last weeks WWF Championship main event, and the evenings events where Austin attacked Hart twice, eventually costing him the title in the main event. A "Superstars Exclusive" where Bret looks for Austin after the match, as he throws stuff around backstage and his locker room. The announcement of Psycho Sid (c) vs Undertaker for the WWF Championship was advertised, and Bret Hart vs Steve Austin in a No Holds Barred Submissions match was also made official.
Todd Pettingill at ringside with Ken Shamrock for another interview. Shamrock says the show has been very exciting, as he introduces his wife and his father, the man who took him in and made him the man he is. Pettingill asks him his prediction for Sid/Undertaker, and Shamrock says he likes Sid's chance. Pettingill asks him about the Submissions match, he says Hart has a lot of skill and he's quick, but Austin has no quit, so he'd take either of them. The fans chant "Bret Hart Sucks" as the The Nation of Domination makes their way out.
Faarooq stops in front of Shamrock as they stare at each other. Lawler tells Faarooq that Shamrock is the Worlds Most Dangerous Man. Faarooq mocks him and says the UFC is nothing compared to the WWF and challenges him to get in the ring. Shamrock says Faarooq doesn't know how to fight alone, because he surrounds himself with a bunch of people. He says if Vince McMahon would let him, he'd gladly fight Faarooq, as Undertaker makes his way out for the main event to a very loud ovation, McMahon is almost yelling to compensate.
7. Faarooq vs Undertaker
(Before the match begins, a familiar and notable sign appears behind Faarooq as he paces around the ring. "DIE ROCKY".)
Faarooq continues to pace as the Undertaker takes chase to the outside to begin the match at 1:21:49. Undertaker attacks a young D-Lo Brown, as Faarooq attacks him behind and rolls Undertaker in the ring. Off the ropes, big clothesline to Faarooq! To the top rope, diving forearm across the back! Throat thrust. Undertaker in control. Back elbow! Clothesline to the outside. Undertaker paces in the ring. Back in the ring, smash in the opposite corner, whip, Faarooq with an elbow and a clothesline.
Undertaker stops a Faarooq splash with a boot to the face. Cover gets two. Armwringer by Taker, into a slingshot clothesline! Vince advertises the finals of the WWF European Championship Tournament next week from Berlin, Germany. Big elbow from Undertaker gets two. Whip, and Faarooq counters by pulling Undertaker down by his hair. Faarooq dumps Undertaker to the outside. D-Lo with stomps on the outside as there's a commercial break..
We're back as both men exchange blows. Faarooq clips Undertakers knee. Scoop slam. Undertaker counters a splash by picking his knees up, and pulls Faarooq off the ropes. Misses a clothesline, and Faarooq clips his opponents knee again. Pinfall gets two. Undertaker with a boot to the gut, and a running legdrop to the back of the head! Misses a legdrop, as Faarooq smashes Undertakers knee on the mat! Faarooq drags Undertaker to the turnbuckle and slams Undertakers ankle into the post! Faarooq in control but Undertaker fights back from his knees. He throws Faarooq into the turnbuckle and tries a school boy, but Faarooq kicks out.
Faarooq catches Undertaker with a headlock on the mat. Referee checks on the Undertaker, and drops his arm twice. Undertaker gets his leg on the rope. Both men up. Undertaker with big right hands. Exchange of whips, Faarooq with a powerslam! Two count. Faarooq to the top rope, dives, and Undertaker responds with a powerslam out of mid air! Undertaker with a body slam! Off the ropes, and a Nation member pulls the rope down as Taker falls to the outside. Faarooq rolls to the outside and grabs the steel steps. Undertaker kicks them in his face! Undertaker rolls him in the ring, Faarooq reverses a body drop with a piledriver! Undertaker immediately sits up!! The Nation roll in the ring and jump on the Undertaker. The Legion of Doom run into the ring and save the Undertaker as RAW fades away..
Not officially announced, but I assume, winner by disqualification around 12:00+commercial: The Undertaker
Rating: 3.0[/color] Good match. Both men looked strong. Faarooq, as the leader of the strongest heel faction in the company, held his own with the #1 contender to the WWF Championship, and that's acceptable, unlike the Savio Vega match. Undertaker looked vulnerable. Went about 16 minutes with commercial.
Overall Show Rating: B- (Not as good as prior weeks, but the mixture of styles with the addition of the ECW matches, solid main event between two upper carders, and the return of Hawk and Animal as a surprise made a good show. Austin/Hart for Wrestlemania 13 is official, neither appeared on the show though.)
MVP: Paul Heyman (Not because of what he did on this show, though it was a good showing, but because of what he did for the wrestling business by making this show happen. He single handily changed the landscape of wrestling by making an innovative, and new style of wrestling in a bingo hall in Philadelphia. Vince McMahon gave his adeu, and allowed him to showcase that on an episode of Monday Night RAW, so his creativity and influence on the business earns him MVP tonight.)
Runner up: N/A
Non-MVP: The Godwinns vs The New Blackjacks (Not very exciting, weird finish, and was just a very blah way to start the show with everything else that happened. No reason to give us this crap when people tuned in to see the ECW guys.)
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