Paid Members air_raid Posted August 29, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 29, 2022 What if the house show card was the PPV? Doesn't seem right to ask "what if there was a PPV every month" now there is, but a lot of these are more stacked than an In Your House. JANUARY 1996 WWF TITLE Bret Hart VS Diesel (cage match) The Undertaker VS Yokozuna ICT Razor Ramon VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Ahmed Johnson VS Davey Boy Smith TTT Smoking Gunns VS Body Donnas Hakushi VS Owen Hart Henry Godwinn VS Goldust Fatu VS Bob Backlund Marty Jannetty & Barry Horowitz VS Body Donnas FEBRUARY WWF TITLE Bret Hart VS The Undertaker Shawn Michaels VS Owen Hart Yokozuna VS Davey Boy Smith Rowdy Roddy Piper VS 1-2-3 Kid ICT Goldust VS Savio Vega Ahmed Johnson VS Tatanka Dumpster VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Godwinns VS Body Donnas Marty Jannetty VS Bradshaw Bob Holly VS Ringmaster Fatu VS Bob Backlund MARCH Bret Hart & The Undertaker VS Diesel & Shawn Michaels ICT Goldust VS Savio Vega Ahmed Johnson & Yokozuna VS Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith Marty Jannetty VS Steve Austin Dumpster VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Godwinns VS Body Donnas Bob Holly VS 1-2-3 Kid Aldo Montoya VS Bradshaw Barry Horowitz VS Guido Falcone APRIL (Germany only) WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS Diesel Bret Hart VS Steve Austin ICT Goldust VS The Undertaker Razor Ramon VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Ahmed Johnson VS Davey Boy Smith Jake the Snake VS Owen Hart TTT Body Donnas VS Godwinns Savio Vega VS Isaac Yankem DDS Dumpster VS Bradshaw Bushwhackers VS 1-2-3 Kid & Leif Cassidy MAY WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS Diesel (cage match) The Undertaker VS Mankind Ultimate Warrior VS Owen Hart Razor Ramon VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Yokozuna VS Vader Ahmed Johnson VS Davey Boy Smith Savio Vega VS Steve Austin Marc Mero VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley TTT Body Donnas VS Godwinns Bob Holly VS Bob Backlund Bushwhackers VS New Rockers Barry Horowitz VS Bradshaw JUNE WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS Goldust The Undertaker VS Mankind Ultimate Warrior VS Vader Ahmed Johnson VS Davey Boy Smith Savio Vega VS Owen Hart Marc Mero VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Steve Austin VS Jake the Snake TTT Smoking Gunns VS Godwinns Barry Horowitz VS Bradshaw Bushwhackers VS New Rockers JULY WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS Vader Sycho Sid VS Davey Boy Smith The Undertaker VS Mankind ICT Ahmed Johnson VS Goldust Jake the Snake VS Owen Hart Savio Vega VS Steve Austin (no DQ) Marc Mero VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley TTT Smoking Gunns VS Godwinns VS Body Donnas VS New Rockers Bob Holly VS Bradshaw AUGUST WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS Vader Sycho Sid VS Goldust The Undertaker VS Mankind Marc Mero VS Davey Boy Smith Savio Vega VS Goldust (strap match) Owen Hart VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Steve Austin VS Aldo Montoya TTT Smoking Gunns VS Godwinns VS Body Donnas VS New Rockers Bob Holly VS Bradshaw SEPTEMBER WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS Goldust Sycho Sid VS Vader The Undertaker VS Mankind (casket match) TTT The Smoking Gunns VS Grimm Twins Savio Vega VS Steve Austin Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith VS The Godwinns The Stalker VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley Bob Holly VS Farooq The Bushwhackers VS Bradshaw & Zebekiah OCTOBER WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS Vader Sycho Sid VS Goldust The Undertaker VS Mankind (no holds barred) ICT Marc Mero VS Farooq Savio Vega VS Steve Austin TTT Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith VS The Godwinns Jake the Snake VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley The Stalker VS Bradshaw The Smoking Gunns VS Grimm Twins Bob Holly VS Crush Aldo Montoya VS The Sultan NOVEMBER Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker VS Mankind & Goldust (cage match) Sycho Sid VS Vader (stretcher match) ICT Hunter Hearst Helmsley VS Marc Mero TTT Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith VS The Godwinns Steve Austin VS Aldo Montoya Bart Gunn VS Billy Gunn The Stalker VS Salvatore Sincere Bob Holly VS The Sultan Jesse Jammes VS Bradshaw Furnas & LaFon VS New Rockers Fake Razor & Diesel VS Grimm Twins Argo (Brakus) VS Dr X DECEMBER WWF TITLE Sycho Sid VS Mankind Shawn Michaels VS Steve Austin The Undertaker VS Vader ICT Hunter Hearst Helmsley VS Marc Mero Ahmed Johnson VS Crush Bart Gunn & The Godwinns VS Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith & Bradshaw Jake the Snake VS Goldust Savio Vega VS Farooq Furnas & LaFon VS New Rockers Jesse Jammes VS The Sultan Fake Razor & Diesel VS Grimm Twins Brakus VS Dr X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 30, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 30, 2022 MARCH 1997 HOLY SHIT! .... on PPV and TV, not on the road. THE MAIN EVENTS We have a nice run of Sycho Sid vs Bret Hart for the belt in a cage which is getting good numbers, nearly 9000 in Buffalo and >9500 at Cobo Hall in Detroit which hasn't always been an easy city for house shows! Near 9000 at MSG is still disappointing. 1st in Alexandria LA had been the last of Undertaker vs Farooq having both the cage and the main event before Sid and Bret join the crew, 14th and 15th in Louisville and Landover its Sid vs Vader for the belt, and MSG on 16th is the last report before the game-changing events of Mania and subsequent TVs. THE CARDSAhmed Johnson is back from injury 7th in Buffalo then is either losing to Vader or beating him by DQ because of the NOD. Ahmed works The Sultan when Vader's with Sid in Landover/Louisville. Goldust vs Mankind continues all month except 1st, and the frequent outliers 14th/15th where Mankinds with Flash Funk. Goldust otherwise works Savio Vega. Rocky Maivia vs The Sultan is our ICT match except 14th/15th and 16th at MSG where it's the fairly obvious Triple H rematches - otherwise, Hunter's usually with Flash. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon goes on all month. Godwinns vs New Blackjacks is reprised 13th/14th and MSG. Other than stated, it's usually Savio beating Bart Gunn. Crush beats Bob Holly all month except 14th-16th its Aldo Montoya. Steve Austin is still injured so they keep him out of the ring all month. There are no road dates for Legion of Doom, they have not wrestled for the company since the return on the 24th Feb Raw. It's been claimed by Bruce Prichard that they were bringing the Roadies in to get a big pop at Chicago for Mania and initially weren't sure if there was going to be any deal longer than that, IF you believe it. VARIATIONS Matches we see the back of in Alexandria on the 1st are Jake Roberts pinning The Goon, Barry Horowitz vs Mosh, Freddie Joe Floyd vs Thrasher, Crush vs Bart Gunn and sadly the Sunny vs Marlena arm wrestling match. The Undertaker beats Vader in a casket match at MSG, Ahmed does a DQ with Savio, Farooq beats Goldust, Sultan beats Flash. TVs We're LIVE for the first couple of episodes of Raw Is War, 10th we have another Sid/Bret cage match dark along with Bart beating Salvatore Sincere and an insulting short Taker/Farooq match but in fairness they did get a big Taker/Sid vs Vader/Mankind match, plus Smithers and Owen on the verge of total implosion in a DQ loss to the Blackjacks. And LOD show their faces. 17th in Syracuse there's minis action and Aldo beating... what's this???? Spellbinder??? Holy shit. After the oft-discussed Sid/Bret match, Bret's meltdown and the show going off the air, Taker Ahmed & Savio beat the Nation. There's no dark matches in Rockford where Bret turns heel, attacks Rocky to set up their match, Owen and Bulldog fall out leading to their match, and we learn LOD are getting thrown a title shot already. Sid saves Shawn from Bret, and they'll announce that he's wrestling Mankind next week, and Bret at In Your House. Neither of these happens. Next night in Peoria we're back to taping every 2nd Raw on the Tuesday, Owen & Smithers defend dark against LOD and retain by DQ - presumably this is after the show taping with Rocky vs Bret where Shawn and Hunter try and force Bret taking the ICT off Rocky but Bret refuses, and the Harts reconciliation which shapes the TV for the next 7 months. Raw is now telling week to week stories rather than a series of matches and interviews with vague connection to arcs culminating in the PPV, increasingly its "this is what happened last week, here's this week, and we'll set some stuff up for next week." Like what Nitro has been doing for ages. But that's a different thread. Sid also squashes Jerry Fox for Shotgun (post match confrontation with the Harts, disturbed by LOD) including busting out the Whirlybird, one of my favourite moves, and that's his last-but-3rd televised match for the WWF. He's off the road with his latest injury immediately. Of note, Springfield on the 9th, the night before the televised Bret/Sid cage match, is the night Vince pitches Bret a heel turn by telling him if he turns, he can work Austin, Shawn and Undertaker, if he stays babyface it will be Austin, Vader and Mankind, and Bret sees more drawing power in the turn, and they go over the double turn and the idea Bret will fill blown heel it in the States but be a hero everywhere else. Which Bret deliberates, decides he can put his own spin on artistically and with Vince assuring him he’ll be able to turn back when he feels it’s right, goes with it. DEPARTURESJake Roberts win over The Goon in Alexandria is the last booking for both. In contrast to his 1992 departure, the issue now with Jake is that he wants to continue wrestling, but the company don't want to use him in the ring, only transfer his knowledge into the backstage positions. It's said that they never quite found the right role for him, he wasn't much use as an agent for laying matches and finishes although he sat in on many booking meetings and some of his ideas were used, and some weren't. Either way, he wanted to wrestle, they didn't want him to, so he left so he could wrestle other places. The MSG network broadcast of 16th (not including Sid vs Bret which was dark) is here in its entirety. What a treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 31, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 31, 2022 (edited) APRIL 1997 MAIN EVENTS Fucking hell this is exhausting. Undertaker vs Bret Hart in Durban on the 6th is a real main event, in Pretoria Taker's with his mate Crush which isn't. 9th in Johannesburg they tape some TV and after it, its Taker/Crush again. Half the roster's off to Kuwait doing the Kuwati Cup, 10th Bret Hart vs Steve Austin is the biggest match though it appears Owen Hart vs Henry Godwinn goes on last. 11th Owen Hart vs Stone Cold is the biggest quarter but its a part report. 12th, Undertaker vs Vader for the belt is on last but 13th is the final of the tournament is won by Tiger Ali Singh (what a footnote) over Owen, and it’s the night Bret does his knee in wrestling Taker. We do at least get a few consistent main events before and after In Your House - its Undertaker vs Davey Boy Smith and they draw near 9000 to St Louis and 9750 in Kansas City! …. thought Taker never drew?? Helps who’s catching fire underneath…. THE CARDSStone Cold Steve Austin vs Owen Hart is happening with consistency now Austin's firmly in camp babyface. Triple H vs Goldust continues from Mania, Farooq is fucked so Ahmed Johnson vs Crush is going on instead. They'll announce the guantlet match anyway for In Your House but its not happening. Rocky Maivia vs Savio Vega for the ICT is going on before In Your House but after it, Rockabilly (!) is getting the shots. The other babyface in the switch of opponents is, logically, Jesse Jammes. Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon vs New Blackjacks is a consistent booking in lieu of a tag title match. Mankind vs Phineas Godwinn gets (randomly) added to cards after In Your House - Henry's out with a neck injury (see TVs). Aldo Montoya vs The Sultan rounds out shows before the PPV as does Flash Funk vs Brooklyn Brawler after it. Excluding Johannesburg TVs, Durban and Pretoria have a few matches in common with domestic cards listed above. Aldo vs TL Hopper and Funk vs Salvatore Sincere happen a couple of times in South Africa too, the latter one including one taped for a Shotgun. VARIATIONS Domestically, LaFon misses St Louis and Kansas City so Barry wrestles Furnas one on one. 27th in Sioux City Mankinds missing so Phineas works Savio, which bumps Jesse to, as he's a trained wrestler and was in the building anyway.... YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE D'Lo Brown. Overseas, in Durban Aldo beats Sincere, Jammes beats Hopper and Funk pins D'Lo, in Pretoria Jammes goes over D'Lo, Ahmed pins Savio and Rocky's back with Sultan. In Kuwait, the 12th show is all we have a full report from, so outside the tournament and title match we have Stone Cold vs Bulldog, Bret Hart (ostensibly a babyface) going over Billy Gunn, Bart Gunn doing a job for fellow goodie Ahmed, Legion of Doom going over Leif Cassidy and Fake Diesel, the Headbangers vs Godwinns, Bob Holly vs Brooklyn Brawler and Freddie Joe Floyd vs Barry Horowitz (wrrrrrestling!). The rest of the tournament has the injured Sycho Sid announced as forfeiting his first round match to Floyd, the brand new Tiger Ali Singh pinning Cassidy, Billy pinning Holly, Mankind over PIG, Owen over HOG, Davey Boy powerslamming "Diesel" (I bet that was a sight) and Vader beating Bart. Quarters had Vader predictably beating Floyd, Mankind beating Smithers, Singh over Billy and Owen PINNING Steve Austin with help from Bulldog. Semis rounded out the 12th card with Owen getting a cheap forfeit from Vader because Vader challenged Undertaker for the belt instead, and Tiger upsetting Mankind. The final, you know about. TVs 7th Raw taping, they tape the episode where Ken Shamrock beats Vernon White (one of his students) in an exhibition. On the Shotgun taping, something I haven't mentioned before is the Sunny Uncovered stuff they used to do where Sunny would play an on screen version, almost, of "The Informer" as they used to do in the WWF Magazine where they'd print rumours (sometimes true, sometimes bollocks) - on this one she suggests Kenny should watch his back over someone not working for the WWF called "The Beast" which is, of course, an allusion to Dan Severn, who they'll have in on commentary on a Raw in June, to stare down and then shake hands with Shamrock, but it will be 1998 when he actually starts wrestling there. As an aside, a previous Sunny Uncovered had her suggesting that Sable traded sexual favours for the Miss Slammy win. Hmm. Same night dark, LOD are beating the Harts by DQ again. At Johannesburg Raw they have Rocky lose non-title to Savio and fucking hell, is that the first example I've noticed of this lazy way of getting the next challenger over. There are two dark matches at In Your House - the Can-Ams beat the Godwinns and Hunter beats Goldust yet again. Next night taped for Shotgun the unfortunate LOD vs Godwinns match happens where Henry breaks his neck off the Doomsday Device. They hint a heel turn (for Henry at least) after the defeat. They tape the powerful Bret vs Austin streefight where Bret goes to hospital because for real, he needs his knee scoped, and dark... you guessed it, LOD beat Owen & Smithers by DQ. They'll also announce the match and tape Mankind doing an interview to hype it, with him vs Sycho Sid for Cold Day In Hell. As you may either recall or infer from the last post, this isn't going to happen, and Sid's injury is going to keep him out until June despite at least on 21st April the company thinking he's good to go on 11th May. Hmm. 28th in Omaha our dark match is Taker vs Vader and from the live show LOD beat the Can-Ams and THEY tease a heel turn, we start building Shamrock vs Vader, plus Owen takes the ICT off Rocky and at the conclusion of Taker v Bulldog, Anvil makes his return. DEPARTURES Those tour dates are the end of the Fake Diesel character but not the end of Glen as an employee because of course we're only a couple of months away from him donning the mask and cape and becoming his most successful (by far) and long-lasting character, cape aside. Rather less of note, South Africa is also the end of TL Hopper. That's his chances of a push down the drain. Freddie Joe Floyd also finishes and both men are done as regulars save one dark match randomly in June in Huntington, presumably where the office wanted to check they weren't missing something on either. Hopper will be repackaged before the year's out. This is also the end of one of the longest serving wrestlers on the roster, Barry Horowitz. He'll get a job reasonably quickly with WCW. Also the TV where Henry Godwinn hurts his neck is the last time Hillbilly Jim comes out with the Godwinns. Presumably it was easier to turn them heel without him and beating him up would have been too dastardly. Free For All is the last time Bob Backlund turns out with Sultan. Edited August 31, 2022 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 1, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 1, 2022 MAY 1997 MAIN EVENTS WWF title matches of The Undertaker vs Vader continue through the States and Canada then the night before In Your House in Scranton PA, Taker, Steve Austin and Ahmed Johnson vs Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith & Brian Pillman is a hell of a six-man. After TVs up until the next TVs Taker is back with Mankind including a lumberjack match at MSG with an improved 10,000 paid, 15,000 in the building. Most of the shows the rest of the month have Undertaker & Austin vs Owen & Bulldog for the tag belts (until the Harts lose them) on last with DQ finishes caused by various interferences from Pillman and/or the NOD, except Taker misses 24th at the Palace so Ahmed pulls double duty and fills in - many shows have differences from their advertised main events due to the injuries to Bret and Sid. THE CARDSSteve Austin & Ahmed Johnson vs Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith is Steve's early month engagement, then between TVs its him and Legion of Doom with the deposed tag champs and Brian Pillman. We've got Ahmed Johnson vs Farooq a lot of the time now Ron's fit again. Ken Shamrock referees a few of them. Mankind vs Jesse James happens quite regularly before he's back in the main event, then he does three repeats of the fairly random match with Phineas Godwinn then 30th/31st he's with one of career rivals, Rocky Maivia. Rocky is otherwise mostly swapping wins with Savio Vega. You've no doubt noticed Legion of Doom are finally on the road, and when they're not in the main event, they're beating Savio and Crush. There's a consistent Triple H vs Goldust, still. Bob Holly vs Leif Cassidy swap wins, sandwiching a couple of gigs where Flash Funk is beating Cassidy. New Blackjacks vs Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon continues to the PPV then after it, Henry Godwinn has recovered so both cousins are back tagging against the Can-Ams. Other holes in the schedule here are Rockabilly doing a few with Phineas early then reverting to his usual match with Jammes later - oh, YOU DIDNT KNOW they had a feud? There's an interlude where Billy beats Flash and Jammes loses to Crush before they end up working each other again, of course, leaving Jesse and Crush with each other. VARIATIONS There's no Goldust in Fort Wayne so man of the hour Stone Cold does double duty and goes over Hunter before his tag title shot. Farooq manages a couple of matches to shake rust off before the PPV, beating Phineas in Hamilton and Aldo Montoya in Scranton. LaFon misses Hamilton so Bradshaw wrestles Furnas one on one. TVs Green Bay Raw on 5th has a dark tryout for Horace The Psychopath (not Boulder) and on the show the Can-Ams beat LOD when Owen and Bulldog interfere - Furnas and LaFon are heels now but its shocking how soon they're beating LOD on TV. After the show we've got the house show mains of Taker vs Mankind and Austin/LOD vs the Loose Cannon, Smithers and the IC champ. Dark after In Your House goes off the air LOD are beating Owen and Bulldog by DQ for the millionth time and funnily enough that match actually is listed on the Silver Vision box even though its nowhere to be seen. Next night on Raw the Roadies slaughter PG-13 as a sacrifice by Farooq and the NOD, Rob Van Dam shows up to have his famous showcase squash of Jeff Hardy, rather less famously Scott Putski is thrown straight out on live TV with Leif, and we start KOTR qualifiers. Same two dark matches as the night before. 19th in Mobile Leif gets upset by Scott Taylor and hilariously Owen drops a clean pin non title to local boy Bob Holly just because they're in Mobile - allegedly Owen volunteered to do this for Bob. Same two dark matches as the previous weeks. Finally 26th is a bit special, and not just because Steven Dunn is randomly doing a dark match job for Road Dogg - Shawn Michaels is back in the ring, looking absolutely fine, as he and Stone Cold relieve Smithers and Owen of the tag belts. Plus - YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE - D'Lo Brown gets his first TV win, over Bobcore, reversing a leapfrog into a sit-out powerbomb (but not quite the Sky High). DEPARTURE The burial of PG-13 is the start of a month long re-structure of the Nation, and Jamie and Wolfie won't be back. Here's San Jose ; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 2, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 2, 2022 (edited) JUNE 1997 Welcome to June!! Due to returns from injuries or fresh injuries, this is the last month ever that Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Sid will all work house shows in the WWF.... though they won't be the same shows or even overlap. This is an absolute FUCKING CRAZY month in the WWF where there are injuries and returns, and almost as many guys on TV that dont have contracts than do. MAIN EVENTS - FUCKING MESS 1st before TVs we conclude The Undertaker & Steve Austin vs Owen Hart & British Bulldog in Columbus before we switch to Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels & Sycho Sid vs Owen Hart, British Bulldog & Anvil in Lowell (heh) and one of my favourite towns, Portland ME. Yes, Shawn's back on the road. Yes, Sid's back from injury. It was hoped Bret would be back for these, but Anvil has to sub. After TVs Shawn's flounced and Austin doesn't make Montreal either so Smithers works double duty and goes on last with Taker, in Toronto and Ottawa we've got Undertaker vs Steve Austin for the belt. Keen to avoid Taker getting booed working the Harts in Canada, clearly. We then move to Philadelphia (7000 at the CoreStates Center, not to be confused with CoreStates Spectrum), near 9000 at Nassau and 4000 at Hershey for Taker and Ken Shamrock (first road gigs for him) vs Owen and Smithers, at Salt Lake City is Taker/Austin tagging again, then an improved 8400 paid at the Pond on 28th for The Undertaker vs Bret Hart vs Stone Cold - why does Bret always get pinned in Anaheim??? 29th in Denver its again Taker/Austin vs Bulldog & the Slammy Award Winning Owen Hart. For the second month in a row, the only shows Stone Cold is not main eventing are the ones he isn't on. He might not win the belt until WrestleMania 14 but don't fool yourselves - he's the man. THE CARDS We've covered your main event stars other than the final two house show matches for Sycho Sid - in Montreal on 13th he loses to Davey Boy Smith, Toronto next night to Owen Hart, both with help from the other. Ken Shamrock vs Anvil is a nice easy way for Kenny to ease into singles on the road. Goldust vs Vader is a new run. After King of the Ring where Mankinds gutsy performance basically turns him face overnight (on top of those interviews with JR), can I shock you? He's usually with Hunter Hearst Helmsley thereafter. Triple H is supposed to work Rocky Maivia early month but he's injured so he does a couple with a handy Scott Taylor and a couple with Flash Funk before the PPV. Ahmed Johnson vs Farooq concludes and there a couple of Ahmed with Savio Vega when Ron's hurt - there's a really weird sight in Canada between the original Nation dissolving and Ahmed's turn where Crush interferes to Ahmed's benefit after how many months of helping Farooq against him. Johnson works as a cornerman between the turn and the Raw where he injures himself - for Farooq & Kama against the Headbangers. Legion of Doom work plenty of matches with Savio & Crush early month including one in Canada after those two are dismissed from the Nation but before they've started their own factions, before the Road Warriors start up a run with the Godwinns late month and there are far too many draws and losses (Hart interference) for my liking. Brian Pillman is on the road beating Jesse Jammes most of the month. Flash Funk vs Rockabilly happens a lot, YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE Flash does a few jobs to D'Lo Brown too. Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon vs the Headbangers is a frequent early month match and Godwinns vs New Blackjacks wraps, end of the month Windham and Bradshaw end up doing jobs for the new Nation. Philly, Nassau and Hershey actually have the future Scotty Too Hotty rewarded for his earlier work with three wins over Aldo Montoya. Between Toronto and Ottawa we have a car crash that will change lives and careers - Sid, Furnas, LaFon and Flash will all escape with their lives, and Flash will only miss five nights' work, but Sid won't wrestle for the WWF again and the Can-Ams are out of the ring until September where they'll return in ECW and kill time until returning to WWF TV in the build for Survivor Series. Oh no, time to start talking about Survivor Series 97 already. VARIATIONS 1st we have the final Bob Holly vs Leif Cassidy match for a while, Bob's off the road until mid July. Blackjacks and Can-Ams have their last match the same night. Rockabilly vs Jesse Jammes wraps, mercifully, in Columbus as well, as does Hunter vs Goldust and Rocky Maivia vs Mankind. Mankind works Rockabilly in Montreal and Bulldog in Toronto (that one was meant to be HBK). Goldust loses to Owen in Montreal, beats Rockabilly in Toronto and Farooq in Ottawa. Godwinns vs Headbangers and Blackjacks vs Savio & Crush have to do one offs in Ottawa as the Can Ams are out. Judas (whoever he was) subs for Savio in Montreal with Crush against Hawk and Animal. Also in Ottawa, Owen, Smithers and Pillman beat heels for the night LOD and Ahmed - Ahmed teases a fight with his old mates afterwards but reneges, one night before his real heel turn. That Judas fella is also on hand again, losing to Billy. Anaheim has a tag triple threat match with the Harts going over LOD and the Godwinns. Not a match, but Anaheim also has the Swimsuit Contest featuring Sunny, Sable and Marlena that you saw photos of in Raw Magazine. Chyna refuses to take part and beats up Honky Tonk Man, who's been back with the company for ages yet this is the first time I have reason to mention him. TVs - SWEET FUCKING JESUS 2nd Raw we have the Freddie Joe Floyd vs TL Hopper dark match I mentioned a while back, plus a fairly eventful broadcast - Owen gives Holly his title shot, and Shawn & Austin have their title defence against LOD which goes to no contest when they'd rather beat each other up, plus Sid's return to lose non-title to Taker. 9th is also notable, Sid pins Owen in his TV swansong, Rob Van Dam goes over Flash Funk, for Shotgun Taylor actually wins a squash (he gets music and everything) with his diving DDT and The King & RVD go no contest with the Headbangers when Tommy Dreamer interferes as they cross promote Hardcore Heaven, plus a Salvatore Sincere sighting - he loses to HOG. Dark, Taker, Sid and Shamrock (must be the only time Sid and Ken tagged) beat Owen, Smithers and Neidhart. 16th Raw in Lake Placid, dark its Taker, Kenny and Mankind beat Smith, Owen and uncle Jim (yes, Taker and Mankind teaming) and on telly we've got an absolutely nutty cross-promotional match where ECWs Chris Candido returns as a one off to wrestle the USWAs Brian Christopher, introduced by Candido's real life bird Sunny, which goes to a no contest when RVD and The King interfere, Lawler coming down prompted by Paul Heyman on guest commentary announcing to the world that Too Sexy is his son. Unbelievable stuff all round with JR talking about Candido's past as a Body Donna and Heyman name checking Shane Douglas and Bam Bam Bigelow as Candido's partners in the Triple Threat although weirdly Tommy Dreamer makes the save at the end. Later on the Headbangers beat King and RVD when The Sandman inteferes. Also weirdly enough, past their prime Fantastics Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers have a match played up as part of the new Light Heavyweight division which does neither any favours of landing a job, and the climax of the "Who will be the new Nation" intrigue is Farooq and the back-out-of-the-blue Kama beating Taker and Ahmed when Ahmed doesn't tag in and lamps Taker afterwards, joining the NOD. This is definitely the episode I think of when I think of them trying to replicate the Nitro formula of "Fuck it, ANYONE might show up, from anywhere." Rogers also does a job for Christopher for Shotgun. It's not over in that respect as the week after in Detroit, Christopher goes over future legendary tag team partner Taylor, and Sabu goes to a wild double count out with Flash. This being the show where Ahmed gets crocked and DOA and Los Boricuas are introduced by their respective leaders, and also after Taker & Vader lose to the NOD, Undertaker gives Vader a Tombstone for the first time on TV which was quite honestly astonishing. The Harris Twins are employed again, yay! For Shotgun Crush & Chainz tape a win over the Headbangers where they win with a finish you didnt know they had - a kneedrop version of the Demolition Decapitation. Also, its the first wrestling appearance of the Truth Commission original version - Interrogator, Recon (Bull Buchanan) and Tank (Mantaur) accompanied by random Bret Hart recruit The Commandant. Yawn. Though you'd spot Terry Richards a/k/a Rhino as one of their jobber victims. Same dark six man main as the week before. 30th in Des Moines might be even fucking crazier. Scott Putski is in there with Christopher, then after Owen and Davey win the tag contenders tournament they get verbally accosted former manager Jim Cornette then blindsided and left laying by The Headhunters (previously "The Squat Team" at Rumble 96) and that goes FUCKING NOWHERE. Oh, and we learn Kane is alive according to Paul Bearer. For Shotgun Putski wins a squash, the Blackjacks beat Miguel & Jesus by DQ and Sniper (Luc Poirier) is now on board in the Commission. Dark, HOG beats Sean Morley who the world will eventually know as Val Venis, The Patriot will do a nonsensical job for Rockabilly, Taker goes over Vader, and - can you imagine? - with Canadian Stampede looming there's a dry run of the 10 man tag, and Austin pins Owen after the Stunner. Who knew THAT match happened??? Not the last we'll hear of a big Harts multi man and a Stunner in Detroit. Fun note - 2nd TVs is the first time Bret says Vince approached him about restructuring his deal because the company is in “dire financial peril” and he might need to defer some. Brets on the phone to his lawyer already. DEPARTURESAldo Montoya has worked his final matches for now in the WWF ; in September he'll reinvent himself as Justin Credible on the same show the Can-Ams turn up. It's not a real departure but after jobs on the Free For All and to his brother the next night on Raw, Bart Gunn will disappear and not even be used in a dark match capacity until January, although he'll be allowed to work indies during his absence. Also not a true departure as he didn't really work there, but Rob Van Dam and King losing to the Headbangers in the tag tournament is the last time RVD works for Vince for a few years. Story goes, he's asked to do a TV job for Jesse Jammes and quite rightly noting that it would do fuck all for his story or for ECW which is the only reason he's there, with Heyman's blessing, he walks away. I couldn't find matches from Anaheim (the main at least used to be up) but I could find this. in Edited September 2, 2022 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 3, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 3, 2022 JULY 1997 THE MAIN EVENTS Vancouver on the 1st draws over 10,000 for another round of The Undertaker vs Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin. After In Your House there's a run through Texas on the way to the next TVs and back through Canada en route to the NEXT TVs where Taker is back with Vader in a series of casket matches, then in between those TVs and SummerSlam at Indianapolis and Cleveland an old fashioned "pre-PPV title fight" main event where everyone knows the belt isn't changing hands - Taker & Legion Of Doom vs Farooq, Kama & D'Lo Brown. Recognise. THE CARDS Between Edmonton and San Antonio TVs at the peak of "pick me Steve" we have Steve Austin & Mankind vs Bret Hart & Owen Hart, then post tag title change we've got Dude Love involved - the titles are on the line in the States and the champs are winning, in Canada its non title and the Harts are winning. Crazy times! At Indianapolis and Cleveland we have a match that's MEANT to be headlining after SummerSlam, the renewal of Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Bret Hart - and Austin's PINNING Hitman. It's bitterly disappointing the Bret/Austin title matches didn't happen, especially at One Night Only, and that innjuries to every main eventer bar Taker robbed us of so much that could have been in 1997. Davey Boy Smith vs Ken Shamrock happens all month for the Euro belt, DQ wins for either. Goldust vs Triple H is back up and running most of the month, Dustin is otherwise back with Vader in Vancouver, Indianapolis and Cleveland. Owen Hart we've virtually covered except those last two shows before SummerSlam he's defending the ICT in a three way with Mankind and Triple H. Brian Pillman is going to the pay window all month, two runs of wins over Jesse Jammes sandwich a few over Flash Funk. Flash is otherwise swapping wins with Rockabilly. Between two sets of TVs we have Godwinns vs Headbangers and New Blackjacks vs Crush & Chainz, between San Antonio and Halifax its Blackjacks with Farooq & Kama, then up to Pittsburgh its Godwinns/Blackjacks again and Mosh & Thrasher jobbing to Savio Vega & Miguel Perez Jr. Bob Holly is winning some matches between TVs over Leif Cassidy, who after Texas TVs is also losing to Scott Taylor. There are, of course, nights off for a lot of the midcard. Notably, Legion of Doom don't work any road dates at all between Vancouver and Indianapolis/Cleveland. VARIATIONS Vancouver have one off conclusions of Mankind vs Triple H, Shamrock vs Anvil and Owen & Smithers vs LOD vs Godwinns. TVs Dark in Edmonton we have a main of Bret, Owen and Davey vs Stone Cold & LOD with a very popular finish of Bret pinning Austin!! Highlight of the broadcast is another sprint between The Great Sasuke and Taka Michinoku. Marked difference in San Antonio, its another of the Taker vs Austin vs Bret matches where Bret gets pinned by the champ. This being the episode where on top of Austin and Dude Love winning the tag titles, there's a face off between the Hart Foundation and a rampway collective of Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Ken Shamrock, The Patriot (debut) and Sycho Sid (one night return) which really could have been a hell of a team for Canadian Stampede. Ivan Putski appears to tag with his lad to go over The King & Brian Christopher and Yoshihiro Tajiri does a job for Taka. In Halifax we have the famous flag match live then another casket match dark. Finally Pittsburgh, victims of Bret's "toilet bowl" comparison, Bret's getting pinned by The Patriot on TV then doing another job in that same triangle match. Don't think I've seen Hitman get pinned more times than between late June and late July 97 since 1989! This episode also has frequent tag partners getting a look fighting each other, Ace Darling vs Devon Storm (who will be Crowbar), Darling also does a job for Too Sexy for Shotgun. Also on these TVs are vignettes for Brakus, the neverending false dawn. DEPARTURES Does this one even count? After promising to shave his goatee off if any of the Harts lose at SummerSlam, Anvil fucks off for a couple of months. This is possibly the funniest one yet, as Jim signed on to come back to the WWF without telling Vince he'd already signed a contract with some indy. Jim's given a leave of absence to go fulfil his contracted number of dates to avoid (further) legal problems but as usual, he'll be back. We're going to close the book on Sycho Sid here. They will announce - without any build or reason to happen - Sid vs Vader for SummerSlam, and Sid will go back and forth on them a couple of times as to whether or not he'll be good to go on account of how his injury is feeling. The office have had this too many times from Sid and put it to him that he's not making enough dates to fulfil his contract so they want him to sign a new one for less money. He'll balk and walk away - in the end he will actually need surgery which will keep him out of the ring for ages, but its a case of the Sid that cried "wolf." https://preview.redd.it/frkgceto02f71.png?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=81079c78c54288815828ab4593eb53c237c2ea4c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 4, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) AUGUST 1997 THE MAIN EVENTS 5 TIME! 5 TIME! 5 TIME! 5 TIME! 5 TIME! WWF Champion Bret Hart vs The Undertaker continues. Near 9000 at the FleetCenter in Boston, otherwise unspectacular numbers. In West Palm Beach and Montgomery AL it's Bret's buddy Ken Shamrock, late month in Tacoma and Canada its The Patriot - Bret's popular pinfall wins in Victoria, Regina and Saskatoon are about the only title matches of the month with a finish. Mid month in New Haven Bret, Davey Boy Smith and Brian Pillman get beaten by Taker, Dude Love and Goldust. There are a few Rhode Island and Massachusetts cards where the Harts aren't booked so Mankind vs Triple H is the top match. THE CARDS It’s a fucking mess! Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs Dude Love & Goldust (defending for the injured Steve Austin) happens a few times, although Goldust spends most of the month with Brian Pillman (in his dress) still. Mankind vs Triple H continues, stupidly on nights where Dude defends the tag belts Hunter works Goldust, but he’s also subbing in the tag title match and works twice instead of Foley. Ken Shamrock vs Vader is still happening lots, nights Kenny main events we get a small run of Undertaker vs Farooq, Vader left with Flash Funk. There’s a lot of chopping and changing but by Tacoma and Canada it’s settles down to Owen vs Shamrock and Bulldog defending against Dude Love or Mankind. Right before his surprise return on Raw and heel turn to join the NOD, Rocky Maivia vs Rockabilly happens a few times to shake some rust off the former, most of the month Billy vs Flash rolls on. A lot of the factions stuff is beer mat booking but Rock wrestles and loses to Savio Vega a good few times and there are a couple of instances of Savio & Miguel vs D’Lo Brown & Kama vs Crush & Chainz. Headbangers vs Godwinns happens most of the month. Other brief runs of note are Vader vs Jesse Jammes and Rockabilly starts doing jobs for Brakus. Stone Cold Steve Austin is of course injured, Legion of Doom work exactly four house shows. Sid vs Anvil was advertised for many towns this month, a more cursed match I can’t imagine. VARIATIONS Miami on 8th has an awesome one - hometown hero Rocky returns from injury to beat Florida legend Farooq in a singles. It’s an anomalous card, Smithers defends against Goldust who only works once for a change early on, Savio & Miguel actually beat Owen & Pillman - Brian has West Palm and Montgomery off - Kama & D’Lo work Crush & Chainz 2 on 2. Other Nation/DOA/Boricuas mixed treats are Rocky vs Chainz in New Haven, Savio vs Chainz vs Rocky in Springfield, and a tag of Crush & Chainz vs Farooq & Rock in Houston and Albuquerque. We've a six-man of Crush, Skull & 8-Ball vs Farooq, D’Lo and Kama in New Haven and the night before at the FleetCenter it’s all 4 DOA vs Farooq, Kama, D’Lo and Ahmed Johnson.... even though Ahmed's already been kicked out of the Nation on TV. In Warwick it’s Crush & Chainz vs Miguel & Jose vs Kama & D’Lo, but in Hyannis, and this makes no sense either, all 4 DOA beat Farooq, D’Lo…. Jose & Miguel???? Huh???? Boston gets special treatment - LOD turn up to wrestle the Godwinns, Davey Boy defends against Savio (and loses by count-out, WTF), Miguel & Jose go over the Headbangers, Mankind vs Hunter is falls anywhere and Kenny boy wins a battle royal worth a title shot on the return in November - by which the company will be completely different. In New Haven, Vader beats Savio, Shamrock beats Hunter, and LOD win a four way over the Godwinns, Headbangers and Jose & Jesus on top of the bumper six man main (which was supposed to be Austin, Taker, Sid & Mankind vs Bret, Owen, Bulldog & Brian). In Houston, Savio gets to beat Flash, Shamrock goes over Billy and there's a six-man where Goldust/LOD beat Owen, Pillman and Henry Godwinn (Davey misses it), in Albuquerque it goes ahead as advertised. TVs Dark after Bethlehem Raw, Brets beating Taker and Vader in a three way. The same match happens in Biloxi and Atlantic City, and they weren't long, Bret pinning Vader. 4th is a fairly momentous episode with Ahmed pinning Chainz then immediately getting kicked out of the Nation, Sgt Slaughter reappearing as the first authority figure to use the title "commissioner," and Shawn Michaels all but confirming via interview that he's turned heel. Plus a random heel vs heel Hunter/Vader match. We've got Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher too, Devon Storm vs Ace Darling once again for Shotgun, and Tiger Ali Singh beating Bob Holly confirming he's working heel too now after being made to wait despite his big Kuwait Cup win in April. 11th is also pretty big - Rocky comes back from injury and joins the NOD in what we look back on as massively pivotal, and equally HBK pins Mankind after interference from new insurance policy (love that phrasing) Rick Rude and a ringside presence from Hunter and Chyna which initially you dismiss as coming down because he's feuding with Mankind.... hmm. Fun fact - a couple of weeks later they're supposed to have Smithers beat Hunter with Rude's help because they want to do the gimmick that Rude just goes with who pays him more, but Shawn nixes it. Plus another Paul Bearer promise of Kane. Also on Shotgun Hunter's fighting Vader again. 18th in Atlantic City Vader turns face when he takes exception to the Canadian flag when Bret interferes at the end of Vader vs Patriot, and we have Taker & Mankind (!) vs Shawn & Hunter which really underlines that yes, this is an alliance. For Shotgun we have a Salvatore Sincere sighting! 23rd we're at the Rosemont again for a respectable 8000 crowd. They tape 2 episodes of Friday Nights Main Event as Raw is pre-empted for the US Open - Bret vs Vader which underscores Vader's turned, plus Taker vs Hunter. We've got Jerry Lynn losing to Taka but winning a squash for Shotgun, Scott Putski still having bad matches, and Bret vs Undertaker dark. DEPARTURES His appearance at SummerSlam was the last work for the WWF of Todd Pettingill, who is burned out trying to meet the demands of his day job in radio and the WWF. I didnt appreciate Todd at the time but looking back he was a great pro and many that followed would have killed for his poise. Edited September 4, 2022 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 4, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted September 4, 2022 On 9/2/2022 at 8:58 AM, air_raid said: and the climax of the "Who will be the new Nation" intrigue is Farooq and the back-out-of-the-blue Kama beating Taker and Ahmed when Ahmed doesn't tag in and lamps Taker afterwards, joining the NOD. This is definitely the episode I think of when I think of them trying to replicate the Nitro formula of "Fuck it, ANYONE might show up, from anywhere." This whole thing baffled me. Made Ahmed look like a right chump joining the Nation after they’d made his life a living hell for a solid year, starting with that kick from Blue Faarooq in summer 96. Then he just joins them, presumably so they won’t beat him up anymore. Then gets hurt and kicked out about a week later anyway. Even if he wasn’t so injury prone, that load of shite finished him for me and just made him look like a loser that got played by his arch nemesis. I’ll say this though, for about a week, they did look ace as a group with Big T in the new black attire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 5, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 5, 2022 (edited) SEPTEMBER 1997THE MAIN EVENTS We have one more Bret Hart vs The Patriot 1st in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and 6th in Nashville its another DQ loss to Undertaker and we continue those after In Your House, until the end of the month. Gates aren't great but near 5000 at the USAir (formerly Capital Center) is OK in a miserly market. Poughkeepsie, Scranton PA and Liberty Central High School either side of the flights to and from Birmingham half a crew stays home, Brian Pillman vs Goldust is your top match unless you're a fan of DOA/Nation bollocks. THE CARDSOwen Hart spends half the month losing to Dude Love in falls anywhere matches where they're doing the infamous popcorn spot, and the other half with the Patriot. Mick otherwise bounces back and forth between his two regular characters wrestling Triple H. Also Goldust vs Brian Pillman doesn't stop. Early month Hunter's losing to Vader. We have Ken Shamrock vs Savio Vega early month and Patriot beating - YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE - D'Lo Brown. Crush, Chainz & 8-Ball vs Miguel, Jose and Jesus swaps out for all 4 DOA vs all 4 of the Nation. Those three shows in the middle have Ahmed Johnson, already on his last legs, going over Rocky Maivia. The Headbangers month as tag champions starts with wins over Kama & Rocky and ends with Savio & Miguel, we have Legion of Doom beat the Godwinns in streetfights then later HOG & PIG are back with the New Blackjacks. Rockabilly vs Flash Funk starts the month and we reprise Billy vs Jesse Jammes at the end. Marc Mero is back on the road and going over The Sultan to get back in shape. The One Night Only weekend shows have Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor swapping wins and they've got Dr Tom back in the Doctor X mask to lose to Brakus. VARIATIONS Thunder Bay has the end of Vader vs Flash Funk and Rockabilly losing to Brakus, Owen vs Shamrock and British Bulldog vs Mankind. In Nashville, Davey and Owen lose to Dude Love and local legend Jerry Lawler, plus Patriot works a one off with Pillman. Plus Flash vs Sultan and Vader vs Goldust, and a one off Shamrock vs Farooq. The One Night Only weekender has Jose and Jesus with the Blackjacks, Farooq Kama and D'Lo with Crush, Chainz & 8-Ball, and Skull vs Jesse Jammes. Ugh. In Poughkeepsie Christopher beats Taylor then gets squashed by Brakus afterwards, in Scranton they have another look at Devon Storm (Brian still wins). Toledo 24th is the last of very few house shows for Smithers this month, he's with Dude and Hunter has the night off. Someone's missing in Green Bay as its Bradshaw vs Phineas one on one. Final note - TVs at MSG is where they debut Jackyl as the new manager of the Truth Commission. TVs Dark before the Cincinnati taping is the odd site of DOA taking down Jesus & Jose of Los Boricuas plus the feuding Rockabilly & Jesse Jammes. Hmm. For Shotgun, Christopher's going over Super Loco who will be better know when he gets to ECW as Super Crazy ... Loco being Spanish for Crazy, obviously. We debut Uncle Cletus with the Godwinns as they beat the Headbangers in a non title match (Ugh) the very night after Mosh and Thrasher win the belts at Ground Zero (UUGGGGHHHH). Mini stuff is back, Bret's losing to Taker by DQ dark. Next night in Muncie IN (no idea) we have the infamous HBK "stuffed shorts" interview with JR where he calls Taker chickenshit when he isn't in the building (doesn't make air), which goes down backstage like a lead balloon leading Meltzer to speculate Shawn's trying to get fired so he can go to WCW. Loco is losing to El Pantera for Shotgun and they tape Jesse & Billy (still with Honky Tonk Man) beating Los Boricuas using the guitar and show footage from the match filmed but never televised from the night before. On the live broadcast Taka Michinoku goes over Pantera, Smithers and Bret go to a stupid DQ with the Headbangers seemingly with the tag titles within their grasp, then dark LOD & Goldust beat Owen, Davey and Pillman, and Bret loses to Shamrock by DQ. On 22nd we're back from Brum and at MSG to a SELL OUT, Steve Austin famously giving Vince his first Stunner, Foley doing his first WWF match as Cactus Jack (with cracking theme music that at the time convinced me it had always been his music), Brooklyn Brawler wins a dark battle royal to earn a title shot for the November return (by which time the company will be totally different, an infamous night where Bret said he'd be prepared to lose the WWF title to Lombardi over to HBK in Montreal), and they have a look at young Steve Corino. Paul Heyman tells Meltzer there was supposed to be an ECW presence on the show but as soon as Vince told him about the planned angle with Austin, Paul E backed out because he knew nobody would be talking about ECW after the show. Smart guy. Ahmed returns to TV and goes over Rocky but on his first match back fucks his hand up on an exposed nail on the commentary table (not really his fault) which rules him out for weeks, including losing to Owen in the ICT final as planned. During the main event melee Anvil returns - he hits Rick Rude a few times which Ravishing was rather upset about for Lloyds related reasons - and after the match there's the brief three way you've likely seen of Bret vs Shawn vs Taker. Next night in Albany they have Marc Mero going over Salvatore Sincere before the show and Bret/Taker and that same six man after it. DEPARTURES September 9th TV taping is the last time for Commandant with the Truth Commission. They wanted the Commission to have a manager that could take bumps, and he was an actor, not a wrestling person. You probably don't need to tell you that the injury to Scott Putski at Ground Zero is the end of him. One Night Only is the last use of Leif Cassidy. Of course, he'll revive his old wrestling name of Al Snow, reinvent his character, get over in ECW and be brought back. SCREWJOB COUNTDOWN, MONTH 1 OF 3 According to Meltzer 8th TVs Vince talks to Bret about deferring some of his money, ironically, the night after moving to 3 hour In Your House shows at a higher price, which will be the main factor in clawing back into the black, then the 22nd at Madison Square Garden is the night Vince tells Bret he needs to breach their contract, and he might want to see if the deal Bret got offered by Bischoff is still on table to go to WCW. Same night, Shawn declares he's not doing any more jobs, hardly any time at all after he's decided he doesn't trust Bret or Owen and will only work with Davey Boy out of the whole family. We'll revisit this next post. A PERSONAL REPORT So, I went to One Night Only. Of course, the original card had Bret Hart defending the big belt against Stone Cold Steve Austin and the grudge match of Undertaker vs Ahmed Johnson (neither of which happened due to injuries) supported by Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart and The Patriot vs Vader, but all of that plus what they actually put on was window dressing for The British Bulldog VS Shawn Michaels for the European title. Words can't express how much, in spite of the show being positioned between two In Your House events and the focus being very much on Taker/Shawn in the Cell, how much the edits to the UK broadcasts spelled out that this was a giant deal, easily the biggest show on these shores since SummerSlam 1992, very much positioned as a sequel of sorts with heavy emphasis on reminding us OF that night at Wembley, and that this was a glorious homecoming for Smith. The European title, somewhat of an afterthought at times prior to SummerSlam, was pushed as prestigious and something that the Heartbreak Kid, recently WWF Champion, truly wanted to win. They pushed the animosity and history between the two with footage from SNME from 92 of HBK relieving Davey of the Intercontinental title, and spliced in from the Fab 4 special of comments Shawn had actually made about Bret to make them seem about Smith in terms of the nature of their rivalry. Smith of course talked at length about how much we were the best fans in the world, and everything was geared towards this being the start of a glorious new future of UK PPV specials, and 100% seemed designed to push Shawn as a very real threat, but one that the heroic Bulldog would overcome. The idea Davey could lose this match was UNTHINKABLE. Of course, as is widely known, Davey Boy told several tabloids that he was dedicating victory in the match to his cancer-stricken sister Tracey. We know now that Vince had told him that he was winning, and that Europe was "his" territory. One hour before showtime, they changed it to Shawn winning. The logic was that they'd be doing another PPV in April at the Nynex (best known as the Manchester Evening News Arena, now the AO) and they'd make even more money from the rematch with Davey winning the belt back in his announced hometown. Nevertheless it floored everyone. Cornette couldnt believe it, and Bret was especially incredulous at the finish (a DX/Vince/Brisco creation) that he knew hearing it, would make the Harts look like idiots, much as we all felt when it happened. Speaking even as a guy for whom Bret was the top hero and Davey just his lieutenant, the match swallowed me up, and the feeling of tension and panic in the building as Bulldog had his knee worked over was unreal. This was "my" SummerSlam 92 in a way, and the suspension of disbelief in my block at least was in tatters even if we "knew" Davey would win in the end, and the frustration was tangible that Bret and Owen weren't coming out to help him. Smart to it all being a work, me, my mate and everyone around us couldn't understand what was happening. The rage that filled the NEC at the end of the match, I can't really describe. There wasn't violence, but things were thrown, as you know if you've seen it. Coming out of the building, everyone was absolutely shell-shocked. Nobody could believe they'd beaten the Bulldog in England. It didn't make sense, and Bret describes a similar effect on Davey, like the fire in him died that day. Other thoughts - when Vince grilled Bret about the fans not liking him as much as he thought and Bret said "I don't know, all they get is American television" it prompted some lad in my block to yell "Yeah cos we've got SKY!!" with an amount of pride I found hysterical. Interestingly when Vince asked if it mattered to Bret and he said, disarmingly, "It matters" it seemed to get a good reaction in the building. The overwhelming feeling seemed to be that Bret was popular but as the rival to Stone Cold, he'd become a baddie regardless. Owen, conversely, was stupidly popular because he was Bulldog's tag partner. LOD were over like mental, nobody seemed to know who Tiger Ali Singh was, and the reaction that stayed with me was the deafening boos for The Patriot, as though THAT FLAG made him an enemy, which I didn't quite understand. And I swear, I saw tears in Del's eyes. But... yeah. You don't need me to tell you that with three top matches, a really enjoyable Dude vs Hunter opener and a belting LOD reaction, this show made me think that the UK PPVs were going to be a big deal. This was undoubtedly the best. Rebellion came close to being a big deal for canon but didn't feel like anything would REALLY happen, Rebellion 2001 had Rock v Austin and Jericho v Angle, but for me One Night Only was.... well, one of a kind. Edited February 26 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIDDUM_N_STYLE Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 Owen being so over at ONO, wasn’t just down to being Davey’s partner, it was also because of what happened on the pre show when Owen put down Lawler for mocking us Brits and trying to get Owen to do likewise which he was having none of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 6, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 6, 2022 7 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said: Owen being so over at ONO, wasn’t just down to being Davey’s partner, it was also because of what happened on the pre show when Owen put down Lawler for mocking us Brits and trying to get Owen to do likewise which he was having none of I’d forgotten about that entirely. Although on the UK Express Tour previous November in the same building, Owen was cheered every time he stepped into the ring in the match with the Godwinns, and the same happened in London. Reports from the Canada shows throughout late 96 report the same, that Owen & Smithers tried their best to be heels but got cheered anyway, because it was a Hart and his brother in law. Either the partisan crowds were a big deal for Owen & Bulldog really early, or everyone just hated the Godwinns. October 1997 Welcome to the last full month of house shows in Bret Hart's WWF career. This is a fucking mad month when you break down the roster changes and how quickly things seem to move between "this was 1997" and "this will be 1998" in terms of the Outlaws forming, the Nation stepping up, a certain big red debut and winding down, de-emphasis or disappearance altogether of several talents and how quickly guys like Goldust, Hunter and to a degree Mankind will shed the old versions of their characters. Watch IYH18 then IYH19 and you'd swear they were 12 months apart. THE MAIN EVENTS In Winnipeg on 3rd (near 8000) at St Paul on 4th it’s two more rounds of Bret Hart vs The Undertaker with interference from the Harts and Hunter, HBK was the guest ring announcer in St Paul at least. After In Your House nearly 10,000 come to Anaheim for Bret vs Ken Shamrock (Shawn actually WRESTLING underneath) then in San Jose and San Diego it’s Bret vs Kenny vs Triple H with HBK as the ref again. It’s Taker again in Fort Worth and Bret vs Taker vs Hunter in Wichita. After two nights of TVs, 22/23 Bret works The King in Lexington and Evansville before he goes back to Taker for near 10K at Nassau Coliseum (again Shawn supports) before they take the same main to Oman and Bahrain atop pretty huge cards. Back in the States there are some small cards where Steve Austin works short matches against Hunter or in the case of Rochester, Shawn comes out and cuts a promo about how he’s too big to be working little towns anymore leading Austin to come out and administer a series of Stunners to him, Helmsley and Chyna. 25th at Pittsfield Boys & Girls Club (MA) is thus Steve's first match since SummerSlam. THE CARDSShawn Michaels & Triple H vs Legion of Doom is the match Shawn works in Anaheim and Nassau, LOD never wrestle the same opponents more than twice apart from when they're with the Godwinns including overseas - in St Paul only, it's a cage match. Owen Hart vs Dude Love happens before Bad Blood and continues after it, often its falls anywhere, often its non title so Dude can win although sometimes its a straight title match which Owen wins, although he's off after 20th/21st TVs. The rest of Dude's month is with Davey Boy Smith, who hasn't worked the rest of the month, he's got a legit bad knee which he works through the PPV with and it's not getting better any time soon. Ken Shamrock wrestles a fair number of singles matches with Hunter domestically when neither are in the main event ; when he goes abroad Ken starts working Rocky Maivia. Goldust doesn't wrestle again on the road between In Your House and Oklahoma TVs either, thereafter he spends three shows working Savio Vega then moves on to the reborn Road Dogg on the B shows. Ahmed Johnson sputters back into life wrestling Farooq overseas. Marc Mero is on and off with The Sultan all month but he also has a run with D'Lo Brown (D'Lo beats him at least once!) and also with Anvil too. The Patriot usually beats Sultan or Anvil depending but he's hurt before the month ends. The Headbangers spend most of their month with Savio & Miguel but also do a fair few losses to the (latest) formers champs, the Godwinns. All four DOA vs NOD happens as an 8-man often including no DQ matches. Rockabilly vs Flash Funk ties up with the abrupt abandonment of the Rockabilly gimmick on early month TV, then Billy resurfaces abroad losing to Tiger Ali Singh. Brakus is allowed a few wins over Sultan. Flash also works a short series with Lawler's kid before the natural Brian Christopher vs Scott Taylor series resumes in Mass and NY. There is a bit of bouncing around for the New Blackjacks but they start and end their month with Recon & Sniper. Funk ends up losing to Interrogator on those North East B shows and Jackyl's beating Salvatore Sincere, as well as DOA vs Los Boricuas 8-man tags. There are no other matches this month for Steve Austin or Undertaker. There's only one road match this month for Vader...... VARIATIONS I've got to start with the month's end because 31st in Rochester - OH SHIT, Vader's losing to Kane. 3rd in Winnipeg absences and injuries give us Goldust vs Hunter and Anvil makes a surprise appearance to flatten Jackyl who's running down Canada - yes, the American wrestler defending Canada from the Winnipeg native in Winnipeg. Next night in St Paul Goldust wrestles Brian Pillman in - tragically - the Loose Cannon's last match, and Anvil fills in for the injured Shamrock to work Hunter. In Anaheim, Rocky works Flash and Patriot does a very strange job for Kama. In San Jose and San Diego, Kama & Rock do the honours for LOD. In Fort Worth the Blackjacks are with Savio & Miguel and someone's missing so Hawk vs Phineas is one on one, in Wichita the Blackjacks lose to Farooq & Rocky, Crush & Chainz beat Kama & D'Lo, Shamrock's beating Savio and presumably Miguel, Skull and 8-Ball have a night off. In Lexington and Evansville DOA minus 8-Ball beat the Nation minus Farooq in six-mans, at Nassau its Crush having the night off and Jose Estrada gets a cheque, jobbing for Kenny. Dude Love vs Anvil goes on both nights in the Middle East, Kama & D'Lo lose to the Headbangers in Muskat and LOD in Bahrain, and bringing us back to Rochester, bad news for Brakus, he jobs to Jackyl. TVs 6th in Kansas City we're taping the divorce of Rockabilly from Honky Tonk Man after a miscue and Road Dogg persuading Billy they should be a tag team. On the live broadcast we have Smithers vs Rock as they do a Harts vs Nation mini-feud simultaneous to the build to (gulp) Survivor Series. Bret loses to Hunter by count-out (asked to lose by pin but refused), the infamous match where Shawn puts the Canadian flag up his nose. Maddeningly for the second month in a row there's a non-title match between Godwinns and Headbangers the night after the PPV where the champions do a job. Marc Mero returns to TV, not "Marvelous" yet or overtly a heel but with the aggressive boxer style (in lieu of the comedy he'd effect later) and getting a decent pop for the TKO possibly by fans that saw a similarity to the Diamond Cutter. Make no mistake, the pop for his entrance was all Sable's. There's a lot of interesting comments by JR such as "new attitude and some might say about time" and "Marc Mero has a lot of potential but you cant make a living on potential" then after the match, "make or break time." I wonder if no-nonsense, take no prisoners Mero might have had a chance if they hadn't become preoccupied by low blows and making him a misogynist, fully allowing Sable to be the star of the story rather than at least attempt to make her part of the Mero package, as she had been prior. By comparison Sunny is doing nothing but the odd ring announcer spot here, usually for a Lucha mini match. Next night in Topeka, Yoshihiro Tajiri wins a dark match and loses to Too Sexy on the live broadcast, Roadie & Billy tape their first win for Shotgun over the Blackjacks, on Raw we have Owen vs Kama continuing Harts/Nation, LOD belatedly win the tag straps from the Godwinns and after the cameras stop Bret beats Hunter. 20th live from Oklahoma City there's a forgotten title vs title match between Shawn and Owen that ends up in chaos when Stone Cold interferes, having previously interfered in Bret vs Farooq, dropping Farooq with a Stunner (Austin vs Nation having already started at In Your House) - yes, Steve Austin helped Bret Hart win a match. They also have Rocky & Kama beat Ahmed & Shamrock when Rick Rude helps the Nation - presumably because its Harts vs Nation and the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Also Taka beats Tajiri, Jeff Jarrett returns and cuts a scathing promo on WCW and Bischoff before challenging Bret, Shawn and Steve Austin (hmm), the unnamed Outlaws beat the Headbangers, and there's the first heelish tendencies for Mero, using a low blow to beat Christopher and reacting with anger to an Austin cap placed on Sable's head by The King. Next night in Tulsa we tape Mero beating Flash Funk, no doubting now he's meant to be a heel, Bret vs Shamrock for the belt where Hitman taps like a nutter to Ken's ankle lock with the ref down but retains when Shawn runs in for a non finish, the Outlaws beat the Blackjacks again and LOD beat two Boricuas tape a fairly obvious Taka & Scotty vs Too Sexy & Tajiri tag for Shotgun and dark Bret does his hundredth DQ loss to Taker. These are also the episodes where Jim Cornette gets to sound off about "icons", WCW's "Age in a Cage", Sean Waltman throwing up on himself and a variety of other topics. DEPARTURES Techically he's not released until later but this is the month The Patriot tears his tricep and hits the D/L never to return. Although he'll be back entering the Rumble and used sporadically for one offs for years to come this is the end of the use of Honky Tonk Man as a regular TV character. After a solid month only, the Godwinns beat up Uncle Cletus after losing the tag belts so thats the end of him. The lumberjack match on the Kansas Raw is the last time we see Tank (who used to be Mantaur, remember) in the Truth Commission. Weirdly, they never decided to try and find another spot for the guy even though he wasn't even 30 at this point. SCREWJOB COUNTDOWN, MONTH 2 OF 3. On 4th in St Paul right before In Your House Shawn and Bret finally agree to wrestle each other. With it up in the air as to when or if Bret will leave, since he has no communication back from Bischoff yet, the proposal is a non-finish at Survivor Series with Bret losing the title to Undertaker at Springfield (Decembers In Your House) due to Shawn interfering. Bret tells Shawn he doesn't have a problem losing to him but Shawn retorts that he DOES have a problem losing to him, which gets Bret's back up, as he can't foresee losing to a guy that won't return the favour. Similar conversations happen in San Jose, then at Tulsa TVs Vince tries to get Bret to lose the belt in Montreal but regain it in Springfield - its unclear whether Vince wants Bret out or just wants the belt off him and will promise him anything at this point to get him beaten in Canada on PPV. Vince gets Shawn to apologize to Bret and that he actually will lose to him when required, but Bret's stance has shifted now from not losing to Shawn, to not losing the belt in Canada. At Nassau, Vince changes his mind about money being the issue and tells Bret he CAN honour his contract, but he's still keen on Bret losing the belt to Shawn at Survivors. Bret goes on the overseas tour still staying in his mind, but still not agreeing to lose the belt at Survivor Series. On 31st Bischoff makes his big money offer, and Bret's at the crossroads, but now its not about the cash anymore, it's about the creative. Bret wants to stay, Vince SAYS he wants (and can afford) to keep Bret, but their conversations over the next 24 hours determine what happens as Bret's deadline to give notice is midnight on 1st... but that's for next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 6, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted September 6, 2022 On 9/5/2022 at 6:58 AM, air_raid said: In Nashville, Davey and Owen lose to Dude Love and local legend Jerry Lawler Man, I bet this was tons of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 7, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 7, 2022 November 1997 Welcome to the most infamous month in company history. THE MAIN EVENTS 7th and 8th in Toronto and Detroit are the final main events in the WWF for Bret Hart as he teams with Davey Boy Smith (also on the outs) and Anvil to lose to Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Mankind in huge six man tags where Austin pins Anvil - Bret was asked to lose to the Stunner, and said no. Why the fuck should he? Post Survivor Series we are ALL OVER the place. 12th in Barrie Ontario its Austin & Dude Love vs Owen Hart & Anvil (yes, Owen came to work). 13th in Youngstown OH, Dude and Anvil one on one. A 10,000 gate at Pittsburgh on 14th are here for the new title match - Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker, then at MSG 12,500 pay, 15,000+ papered for a near sell out for Taker & Austin vs Shawn & Triple H. Above, I should add, Shawn defending the belt against Brooklyn Brawler as he earned back in September. Imagine the heat! Undertaker vs Hunter is frequently on in casket matches but 13,000+ come to Greensboro on 22nd for Taker vs Shawn for their return after 7 years away, 12,500+ at the FleetCenter on 29th is remarkable business too. Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels was a proven draw for walk up…. advances would have been based on different cards (see below). Two shows on 1st and Binghampton on 2nd are the small cards where the Steve Austin show giving Stunners to all of DX in a segment is the highlight and the biggest match is Vader vs Kane. THE CARDSSteve Austin & Legion Of Doom vs Rock, Farooq & Kama gets onto the end of month cards as Austin eases his way back in. A real "sea change" takes place with Ahmed Johnson beating Rocky every night until Survivor Series, then starting to lose to him every night until MSG where he takes a rather famous shit kicking from Farooq ; thereafter we move to a run of Dude Love vs Rocky with Steve Austin in Dude's corner. Dude also has a run with Savio Vega in no DQ matches. Ken Shamrock is all over the place, wrestling Triple H often but a fair few with each Nation member including Rock in a no holds barred at MSG, we're really sewing the seeds for that one. Vader vs Farooq happens on Bret's last two shows and then it's usually Leon losing to Kane. The New Age Outlaws start and finish their month with the Headbangers, squeezing in a few unsuccessful cracks at LOD inbetween, before they win the gold on Raw and thereafter defend against Mosh and Thrasher. Early month Hawk and Animal had still been defending against the Godwinns or Kama & D’Lo. DOA vs Los Boricuas as an 8-man is all month, moving to a six man late month (see Departures) we get additions mid month of Marc Mero vs Flash Funk and a 50/50 run of Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher. Late month Anvil does a swansong with wins over The Sultan. Despite technically wrestling at Survivor Series, Goldust is very much injured. We absolutely need to talk about Ahmed here - he's injured folk and he's been injured but we have a real problem with ego taking over. There are conflicting reports about whether everything all happened on the same day at the Garden, but what we do know is - at some point he ends up getting rather aggressive with JR over some of his grievances (either pay or push or both) leading Kama to intervene. Also at some point his behaviour winds up Rocky - already well liked by anyone not called Shawn or Hunter - to get to the point where he challenges Johnson to a real fight, but cooler heads prevail. By the time MSG comes around, it's said that most of the locker room want to see Ahmed have his ass handed to him, and allegedly (according to Bruce) the match ends up a "sell out at gorilla" to see Ron lay it in fucking hard en route to victory. VARIATIONS Truly random one here - Glenn Kulka is a name we haven't mentioned before. In May 95 while a member of the Saskatchewan Rough Riders ice hockey team, a house show in Regina featured him teaming up with Bret to do a comedy tag against Sid and Ted DiBiase. Later in the year, Kulka was one of the lumberjacks from the Rough Riders when Bret beat Sid on the Regina Superstars taping (so now you know where that came from). A couple of years later and Bret's been training him as a wrestler - in fact, early drafts for Team Canada at Survivors had him joining Smithers, Anvil & Tiger Ali Singh. In Toronto he's in Ahmed's corner to counteract the Nation, dark at Ottawa TVs he's beating Adam Copeland (yes), in Barrie he beats Miguel. You obviously know he doesn't make it, but interesting nonetheless. 2nd in Binghampton is the last of a loop full of exceptions - Dogg vs Salvatore Sincere, Christopher vs Scott Taylor, Brakus crushing Jackyl, New Blackjacks vs Recon & Sniper, Interrogator vs Flash. Toronto and Detroit have Kama & D'Lo beating the Headbangers and Tiger Ali Singh going over Miguel in Toronto - they genuinely can't decide whether Ali is face or heel, I feel. Miguel loses to Shamrock in Detroit, Kenny also beats Savio in Barrie, as well as Headbangers vs Godwinns and Kama/D’Lo vs Crush & Chainz. Next night in Youngstown Ken’s with Kama and it’s Crush & Chainz vs Savio and Miguel. Pittsburgh on 14th is huge (all things considered) - Vader with Hunter, LOD show up to defend against Kama and D’Lo, Shamrocks with Farooq, Dude vs Savio no holds barred has the bonus of Austin running in and giving all the Nation Stunners, and Dr Beckett brings Crush vs Anvil back from 1990 for us. At MSG Crush & Chainz are with Kama and D’Lo, Roadies defend against Savio & Miguel, and Dude has George “the Animal” Steele in his corner for his streetfight with Anvil. LOL. Next night in Baltimore there’s actually Vader vs Rock. 21st in Richmond, Mero is beating D'Lo and we have a returning Mark Henry pinning Sultan and Kenny with Kama, 22nd in Greensboro its Mizark vs D'Lo, Ahmed beating Sultan. Mark's still down with the Brown 23rd in Hampton VA, Ken's back with Kama after his semi regular win over Hunter in Greensboro. TVs 3rd Raw taping in Hershey is the first TVs after Bret's handed in his notice, but I won't speculate if thats why Bret and Owen aren't used, but its more a little odd for a go-home. Brakus losing to Sincere and Funk pinning Singh are before the show and a real Coliseum Tag Team Match of The Month on last - Austin, Taker and LOD go over all four Nation. On TV, Smithers vs Vader goes to a non finish and we have the pull apart where Steve Blackman debuts and needs police to drag him off, Aguila (later Essa Rios) defeats Super Loco (better known as Super Crazy) with the move we'd know many years later as Twisted Bliss, the Goldust and Marlena interview airs where Dustin abruptly turns heel and deviant, and Shamrock beats HBK by DQ. Night after Survivor Series in Ottawa we've got a piss weak show, loads of guys threaten to no show - Taker's not happy, Ahmed's not happy - but only Mick Foley goes through with it. JR talks about struggling to persuade talent he wasn't in on the screw, and I know Foley was one. They at least set up the first Austin/Rock match, Mero vs Ahmed DQ and the Shamrock/Hunter non finish are the only interesting matches although we do debut the DX entrance. Next night in Cornwall a certain Adam Copeland vs Christian Cage dark match happens, Steve Blackman goes over Phil LaFon, Foley goes back to work at Bret's urging, we've got D'Lo beating Flash with the Lo Down on Shotgun which I believe is a first, on Raw Goldust non-starts with Vader because he's still injured, The King actually wrestles as a babyface against Mero, we air the infamous Bret Screwed Bret interview with Vince and its the same 8 man after the show. This is also the famous episode where Rick Rude shows up bearded with DX and on the same night turns up clean shaven on the live Nitro. 24th Raw we have the Bret midget bollocks including Harvey Whippleman doing Rude’s schtick to indicate how important he actually wasn’t, and the brilliant beeper 3:16 segment, Kane murders Crush after Jeff Jarrett refuses to wrestle him, LOD drop the tag belts to Billy & Roadie, Luna Vachon returns as Goldust's apparent paramour, and Shawn pins Vader after suckering Anvil into helping DX for a pay cheque then they beat him up. Jesus, enough happening?? Next night in Roanoke they tape another Raw, Mark Henry is with Sultan again but this time in front of cameras, Sean Morley (who will be Val Venis) is doing a job for Jesus, and on TV Hunter sends Anvil packing (of course, we're really moving to Hunter vs Sgt Slaughter by now for some reason), Goldust reinvents himself as The Artist, Jarrett refuses to wrestle Ahmed as not on his level (boy, is he in for a shock as to what his level ends up), and there is a brilliant forgotten bit - Rocky is about to wrestle Vader and Austin comes out in his truck to watch, with Back In Black playing - of course, its not Back In Black on the Network and I can't find it on YouTube, goddamn copyright. Dark, Austin and Dude Love beat Rock & Farooq and LOD in a triple threat. SCREWJOB COUNTDOWN, MONTH 3 OF 3. Observer on the 3rd alludes to Bret being able to leave with notice but the 10th is the first time Meltzer reported anything solid to do with Bret leaving as it happened and cites pay and the direction of the TV as Bret's main reasons for leaving, and being asked to lose the belt at Survivors as merely the final straw. Dave reports that WCW are planning to make Thunder essentially Bret's show (doesn't happen) and that Turner will get him movie roles (doesn't happen) and that Bret's expected to work the rest of November and the Springfield PPV (doesn't happen), and that Owen and Davey are both locked into their contracts and will be staying (half happens). 17th is the issue where the full timeline as widely circulated through the Net in the years since, and from which I've built these posts, is finally published, as pieced together by Dave from various sources including one phone call Bret made to him right before Survivors. Regardless, with Bret having a midnight deadline to give notice leaving the end of the month, he finally gets the solid offer from Bischoff including insurance and all the other allowances he wanted, faxed over to him, and gets Vince to pitch him what awaits him if he stays. Vince suggests he'll lose the title to Shawn at Survivors, go to Springfield for a four way with Shawn, Taker and Shamrock which Shawn will also win, then do a rematch with Shawn at the Rumble which Shawn will also win, the night after on Raw Bret will put his career up and win the belt back from Shawn, then go to Mania XIV and drop it to Steve Austin. Bret at this point decides that Vince is only trying to LOOK like he wants him to stay, pitching him a situation where he'll only win one high profile match and lose four times on PPV, and decides that Vince doesn't truthfully want to keep him, so goes with WCW and submits his notice. Next day with the pressure off they try and reach a compromise, and Bret says he's happy to lose to Shawn at MSG or Springfield, that he'll lose to Taker or Vader or Mankind or Ken Shamrock or even the Brawler in the Garden - he just won't lose to Shawn at Survivors or Ottawa TVs. Vince leans towards agreeing with Bret to the point where Bret gets Bischoff on the phone who agrees that Bret can extend his stay until 8th December to finish up if required - the plan being a DQ at Survivors, Shawn to win the title in Springfield and Bret to do a farewell speech 8th December Raw in Portland. By 4th, Vince has even decided that Shawn will lose clean in Montreal and he's going to pitch it to HBK ; next day, so many news sites and print media sources have already been reporting that Bret's leaving, that Vince shits himself at the idea that he can't trust Bischoff not to go on Nitro on the 10th and announce that they've signed Bret. He asks Bret to lse the title in Detroit before the PPV, of course, Bret refuses, that he simply has to go through the PPV as champion and retain, and that if needs be he'll drop the belt on any of the house shows before the end of the month. Of course, they don't come to an agreement, and we get to the day of the show without consensus, and thats where the Wrestling With Shadows "you've got me by the balls" conversation fills in the blanks. Ultimately, Vince ends up screwing Bret because in spite of wanting to acquiesce to Bret's wishes (and contractual right re: creative control), he can't trust Bischoff not to announce that he's stealing the WWF Champion. HAD BRET STAYED... Cornwall TVs had Bret & Owen vs Taker & Austin as their advertised main event. MSG was supposed to be Bret vs Shawn vs Taker vs Austin (FUCK!!) with LOD vs Owen & Smithers for the tag belts and Vader vs Triple H., Roanoke TVs advertised all four of the Hart Foundation vs Austin, Taker & LOD. Shamrock vs Anvil was supposed to be going on too. DEPARTURES You absolutely don't need telling that Bret Hart leaves the WWF in November 1997. After Survivor Series, Davey Boy Smith is so outraged by what's happened and decides he's done too. Early December he'll finally get the knee surgery and will sell a bunch of his outfits, tights/capes etc to raise $150K to buy himself out of the remaining months of his contract. I'm going to throw Anvil in here too, he's paid per night and while technically his last win over Sultan happens 1st December, there's more sense to include his departure here too. Crush is about the only other full time roster member that quits as a consequence, which is what prompts them to have Kane murder him. Bret gets Adams into WCW as a favour and of course, they do an angle that gets him into the nWo but he's pretty much an afterthought thereafter. Rick Rude of course heads to WCW too and it seems Vince didn’t quite learn the lesson he should have about handshake deals from the Luger debacle. From MSG, here's that massive tag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 8, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 8, 2022 DECEMBER 1997 Welcome to the brave new world. A bunch of guys are gone, a few have moved up the card, and between gimmick changes and departures the colour palette has changed from the USA vs Canada rainbow, to 1998's "you can have any colour as long as its black or red." THE MAIN EVENTS 1st in Syracuse it's another of the Undertaker vs Triple H casket matches as Taker vs DX continues on the road, over 7000 turn up to the Providence Civic for their only visit of 97 on 6th, near double the previous gate, Taker misses it so Stone Cold Steve Austin is a worthy sub although why they had to inherit the gimmick is beyond me. Hunter goes in the box regardless. Taker resumes duty after the PPV but 13th in Nashville its Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker for the belt, <5500 was bound to be disappointing. Technically Memphis and Little Rock don't get their main events which is a story I'll look at below, Milwaukee on Boxing Day its Taker/Hunter again with Steve Austin & Dude Love vs The Rock & D'Lo Brown falls anywhere going on last, then that night in Chicago its a massive 18,000+ sell out, 16,000+ paid gate with the streetfight on last but HBK vs Taker in another title match. 27th in Worcester its the same tag and casket match combo, 28th at Copps Coliseum TAFKA Goldust moves into the casket match spot and its Austin & Dude vs DX on last, quite a main for the last house show of the year - this is the match where Hunter destroys his knee which will have implications for his Euro title next month. THE CARDSKen Shamrock crushes D'Lo Brown before In Your House, thereafter he's usually beating The Rock in non (IC) title matches or Triple H (which briefly also has to become a non (European) title match) depending on the main event. Vader vs Kane sandwiches the month, Leon's off in the middle so Kane crushes Chainz instead. The New Age Outlaws are either beating the Headbangers or losing to them by DQ for most of the month but after Christmas they throw some sympathy cheques to the New Blackjacks. Which means Mosh & Thrasher have to do some jobs to the fuckin Godwinns including in the Country Whippin stip. DOA (only 3 left) vs any 3 of Los Boricuas happens a lot. Brian Christopher vs Scott Taylor is happening up until Christmas. Marc Mero vs Flash Funk is most of the month but after Christmas Flash is with TAFKA Goldust, leaving Marvelous Marc with Taylor. Legion of Doom work two shows before the PPV but that's it. Their stock has plummeted and the beating they get from DX on TV hardly helps. Farooq must have really battered Ahmed Johnson at MSG ; he hasn't wrestled since 22nd November. Bob Holly hasn't been booked since post-SummerSlam TVs. VARIATIONS So, those main events that didn’t happen. In Memphis it’s meant to be DX vs Lawler and Jarrett, but DX is pelted right so much rubbish they feel unsafe, and leave. Dude Love (injured, not wrestling) tries to calm the crowd down, it doesn’t work. When the crowd realizes DX aren’t coming back they implore King and Jarrett to wrestle each other, that doesn’t work. There’s essentially a small scale riot. Next night in Little Rock it’s even worse. Apparently the crowd are edgy all night because they’ve all been drinking, the card is rubbish and different from advertised, and they thought they were getting Raw and they aren’t. After a rubbish Kane vs Chainz match and Taker/Rock barely going 2 minutes because Takers hurt too, their main event of Ken Shamrock (with Danny Hodge, who’d be honoured in a ceremony earlier which also didn’t go down well) vs Triple H also doesn’t happen when DX again don’t take kindly to the hostilities. Shamrock and Hodge don’t even come through the curtain before the shows announced as over. Again, police are called to end the chaos. There are more thorough accounts online if you’re interested. Crazy. LOD vs Kama & The Rock 1st in Syracuse along with the final Anvil vs Sultan match, 6th in Providence its a fun-sounding LOD & Dude Love vs Farooq, Rock & Kama, plus Flash is with Matt Hardy. In Bangor on 10th Funk jobs to Kurrgan, all four Nation go over Los Boricuas, Mark Henry beats Brooklyn Brawler, Skull loses to Sultan and Dude does a job for Mero. 12th in Chattanooga, local boys The King & Jeff Jarrett beat the Outlaws by DQ, Skull & 8-Ball wrestle Kama and D'Lo. In Nashville its again Jarrett and Lawler with the Outlaws but its Kama & Rock with DOA. In Memphis as DX are with the local heroes, Taker's actually putting The Rock in a casket non-title. Plus bizarrely 8-Ball going over D'Lo and Ken Shamrock beating Phineas Godwinn in singles. All three nights USWAs Spellbinder is losing to Henry. Little Rock on 15th has another of Jarrett/Lawler beating the Outlaws by DQ and Taker vs Rocky. 28th in Hamilton we've got Glenn Kulka again, beating Adam Copeland (yes), and clearly some transport problems causing a shuffle as Kane beats up both Headbangers in lieu of a match, Flash upsets Farooq and Taker beats The Artist in a casket match. TVs 8th in Portland (could have been Bret's big farewell!) we have an unusually eventful Shotgun taping - Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon beat the Hardy Boys, Undertaker beats Sultan, and the seeds start to slowly be sewn for the Nation split when a Rocky miscue costs Farooq a match with Vader. Live, Interrogator is announced as Kurrgan for the first time, the Outlaws beat up Dude Love (which is starting to pave the way for Cactus Jack), we've got Mero outing Salvatore Sincere as real name Tom Brandi and that he's a "jobber" followed by Sable famously stripping out of her potato sack (Sable-as-stripper is underway in earnest), DX play strip poker around a Boricuas/Headbangers match after which they attack the Headbangers and then Shawn is blindsided, as he was at In Your House : Disqualification X, by Owen Hart, and finally Stone Cold forfeits the ICT to The Rock because he doesn't care about it, and accidentally knocking Vince off the apron (hmm). Austin, Taker and LOD go over all four Nation after the show, again. Next night in Durham NH the Can-Ams do a final match for Shotgun beating Scotty & Flash, and on Raw we have Taka Michinoku (the new Light Heavyweight Champion) wrestling the (very much not Light Heavyweight) Jerry Lawler, Brandi going over Sultan, Mark Henry returning to TV against the Brooklyn Brawler, the New Age Outlaws referred to as that for the first time, Steve Blackman winning his first TV match, and DX losing by DQ to but destroying LOD with help from the Outlaws including shaving Hawks head. Proper burial. Taker vs Triple H casket match dark. Two nights later in Lowell they get the 22nd Raw in the can with the Christmas deco up, on Shotgun Farooq again loses because of Rock, this time to Flash, Sable strips from a reindeer outfit to a "sexy Santa" outfit, and we tape the infamous DX European title swap. Meaning that all three singles champions - Shawn, Rock and Hunter - are walking around with belts they didn't really win. Immediately after the taping, the new champ gets put in a box by Taker again. Amazingly we still squeeze in two more TVs after Christmas - 29th at Nassau Coliseum Mark Henry beats D'Lo by DQ on Shotgun as well as Vader wasting a moonsault on Julio Sanchez (who will be Julio Dinero in Hot Commodity in ECW), Cactus Jack beating Road Dogg by DQ followed by the debut of Terry Funk in the Chainsaw Charlie character, Taka & George Steele vs Lawler & Too Sexy, Shamrock beats Kama and afterwards Rocky announces next week Ken wrestles Farooq (and Farooq is not pleased) and since Hunter's hurt, Owen wrestles HBK to a DQ win in the first and last time as a babyface they present Owen as main event. After the show (FUCK) all four Nation lose to Austin, Taker, Cactus and Funk. 30th in New Haven incredibly there's a tryout for Paul Roma (from memory PS reported the Headhunters also got look ins over this period), Shamrock beats Farooq when Rock interference backfires, Jeff Jarrett ACTUALLY WRESTLES ON TV against... Blackjack Windham for the NWA North American Championship (Zzzzzzzzz), Owen beats Savio Vega in really not a match becoming the status he was hoping for, a few matches have Austin giving everyone Stunners, and the dark main event is the same 8-man as the night before. Worth pointing out again that while gradually transforming into a stripper has bolstered Sable's popularity exponentially, Sunny is continuing to be an afterthought as an occasion guest ring announcer on TV and nothing more. DEPARTURES Even though they win those two matches for Shotgun, that's the end for Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon. Never got out of second gear, did they? This is the last month Iron Sheik is coming to the ring with the Sultan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 8, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 8, 2022 What if the house show card was the PPV? 1997 Apologies for the fairly obvious chunk of the midcard where inconsistencies occur because particular feuds are constantly in flux depending on who's wrestling somebody else, making it too time-consuming to actually separate it into a conherent card. FACTION WARFARE!!1 JANUARY WWF TITLE Sycho Sid VS The Undertaker Shawn Michaels VS Steve Austin Bret Hart VS Vader ICT Triple H VS Marc Mero TTT Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith VS Mankind & Executioner Ahmed Johnson VS Crush Savio Vega VS Farooq Flash Funk VS Salvatore Sincere Jesse Jammes VS Bradshaw Aldo Montoya VS The Sultan Furnas & LaFon VS Fake Razor Ramon & Diesel FEBRUARY Bret Hart & Sycho Sid VS Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin The Undertaker VS Farooq Ahmed Johnson VS Vader TTT Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith VS Furnas & LaFon Goldust VS Mankind The Godwinns VS The New Blackjacks Sunny VS Marlena (arm wrestling) Flash Funk VS The Sultan Aldo Montoya VS Salvatore Sincere Brakus VS Dr X MARCH WWF TITLE Sycho Sid VS Bret Hart (cage match) The Undertaker VS Farooq Ahmed Johnson VS Vader TTT Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith VS Furnas & LaFon Goldust VS Mankind Flash Funk VS Triple H ICT Rocky Maivia VS The Sultan The Godwinns VS The New Blackjacks Bob Holly VS Crush Bart Gunn VS Savio Vega APRIL WWF TITLE The Undertaker VS Davey Boy Smith Steve Austin VS Owen Hart Ahmed Johnson VS Crush Goldust VS Triple H ICT Rocky Maivia VS Savio Vega Jesse Jammes VS Rockabilly Furnas & LaFon VS The New Blackjacks Headbangers VS The Godwinns Aldo Montoya VS The Sultan Flash Funk VS Brooklyn Brawler MAY WWF TITLE The Undertaker VS Vader Steve Austin & Legion Of Doom VS Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith & Brian Pillman Ahmed Johnson VS Farooq Goldust VS Triple H Jesse Jammes VS Mankind Rocky Maivia VS Savio Vega Flash Funk VS Rockabilly Furnas & LaFon VS The Godwinns Bob Holly VS Leif Cassidy JUNE The Undertaker & Steve Austin VS Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith Mankind VS Triple H Goldust VS Vader Ahmed Johnson VS Farooq Legion Of Doom VS Savio Vega & Crush Ken Shamrock VS Anvil Jesse Jammes VS Brian Pillman Flash Funk VS Rockabilly The New Blackjacks VS The Godwinns Furnas & LaFon VS Headbangers Scott Taylor VS Aldo Montoya JULY WWF TITLE The Undertaker VS Vader (Casket match) TTT Steve Austin & Dude Love VS Bret Hart & Owen Hart EURO TITLE Davey Boy Smith VS Ken Shamrock Goldust VS Triple H Jesse Jammes VS Brian Pillman Flash Funk VS Rockabilly Headbangers VS The Godwinns New Blackjacks VS Crush & Chainz Bob Holly VS Leif Cassidy AUGUST WWF TITLE Bret Hart VS The Undertaker Ken Shamrock VS Vader Mankind VS Triple H Goldust & Legion Of Doom VS Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith & Brian Pillman Savio Vega VS Rocky Maivia Headbangers VS The Godwinns ASSORTED NATION, BORICUAS OR DOA BULLSHIT I CAN'T BE ARSED TO UNTANGLE Brakus VS Rockabilly SEPTEMBER WWF TITLE Bret Hart VS The Undertaker Dude Love VS Owen Hart (Falls Anywhere) Vader VS Triple H Legion of Doom VS The Godwinns (streetfight) Goldust VS Brian Pillman The Patriot VS D'Lo Brown Ahmed Johnson VS Rocky Maivia TTT Headbangers VS Savio Vega & Miguel Perez Jr Jesse Jammes VS Rockabilly ASSORTED NATION, BORICUAS OR DOA BULLSHIT I CAN'T BE ARSED TO UNTANGLE Marc Mero VS The Sultan Scott Taylor VS Brian Christopher Brakus VS Dr X OCTOBER WWF TITLE Bret Hart VS The Undertaker ICT Owen Hart VS Dude Love Ken Shamrock VS Triple H Goldust VS Savio Vega The Patriot VS Anvil DOA VS Farooq, Rocky Maivia, Kama & D'Lo Brown (NO DQ) Headbangers VS The Godwinns Marc Mero VS The Sultan Flash Funk VS Rocakbilly New Blackjacks VS Recon & Sniper Scott Taylor VS Brian Christopher Brakus VS Dr X NOVEMBER WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS The Undertaker Steve Austin & Legion Of Doom VS Farooq, The Rock & Kama Vader VS Kane Ken Shamrock VS Triple H Dude Love VS Savio Vega (NO DQ) Headbangers VS New Age Outlaws Chainz, Skull & 8-Ball VS Los Boricuas (Miguel, Jose & Jesus) Flash Funk VS Marc Mero Taka Michinoku VS Brian Christopher DECEMBER WWF TITLE Shawn Michaels VS The Undertaker Steve Austin & Dude Love VS The Rock & D'Lo Brown (streetfight) Vader VS Kane Ken Shamrock VS Triple H TTT New Age Outlaws VS Headbangers DOA VS Los Boricuas Flash Funk VS Marc Mero Scott Taylor VS Brian Christopher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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