Curt Henning vs. Chris Jericho - WCW Monday Nitro (1997)
It might seem like a dream match now, but back in '97 a Hennig/Jericho match on Monday Nitro was just an excuse to talk about anything other than a Hennig/Jericho match. A shame really, but this was WCW at the height of the nWo days, remember.
While this match may forever be lost in the mix of other forgettable Nitro matches used to talk about the nWo, it does include a mishap on Chris Jericho's behalf that may not seem that big of a deal in hindsight, but it could have ended Jericho's career if it got any worse. What I'm talking about is Jericho's Lionsault (middle rope springboard moonsault) towards the end of the match that he botches by not rotating enough - the same exact move and mishap that paralyzed Hayabusa a few years later. Luckily in this instance, Curt Hennig, either on instinct or following out the spot, put his knees up at just the right time that Jericho ends up landing on Henning's knees with his back rather than on his head and, well, pretty much saving his neck:
A Month after the unforgettable debut of the Big Red Machine at Bad Blood, the deranged in his own right - Mankind becomes Kane's first opponent at Survivor Series '97. While this may have been Kane's first official match, for those first few weeks since arriving in WWF Kane was leaving carnage in the ring every time he showed up.
Fun fact: Kane was given a special "eerie" red light during his first few appearances much like Sin Cara's, well, Sin Cara botch lights.
Goldust vs. Owen Hart vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley - Intercontinental Championship match - Raw is War/War Zone (1997)
Aside from a few three man matches at house shows, this was the first televised triple threat match to take place in the WWF. The match is for the Intercontinental title and features two individuals whom had held the title previously gunning for the scrap - held at the time by Owen Hart.
To add to this match of firsts, Pat Patterson - the first Intercontinental champ - plays the roll of the blind guest referee. 'Must be because he's Canadian', Jim Ross says. Why a Canadian would miss a foot on the ropes for a fellow Canadian in kayfabe is beyond me...
The Rockabilly & Jesse James vs. Los Boricuas (Jesus Castillo & Jose Estrada, Jr.) - Shotgun Saturday Night (1997)
YOU better call somebody; because it happened. Before the New Age Outlaws where crotch-chopping their way to 5 tag team championships, plus the one they got almost 14 years later this weekend, they were just two guys with actual outlaw-like gimmicks. It might sound cool at first, but when I say "outlaw", I really just mean "cowboy" and there was also some Honky Tonk Man, country bumpkin nonsense to it, too. While The Rockabilly (that was pre-Ass Man/Mr. Ass/Bad Ass Billy Gunn), and Jesse James (previously The Roadie/Double J and Pre-Road Dogg) made an appearance here together under the guidance of the Honky Tonk Man himself, this team was not yet assembled on the main show, Monday Night Raw. No, it wasn't until a few weeks after this match (featuring two halves of the Puerto Rican gang, Los Boricuas) that The Rockabilly and Jesse James would be seen again, this time cracking HTM's skull with his own guitar.
Bill Goldberg vs. Glacier - WCW Monday Nitro (1997)
Damn, it's cold out!
Here's the first of a few Golderg versus the coldest man in the world, Glacier squash matches. The Sub-Zero-like Glacier's snowy entrance takes just about as long if not more than the match itself.
Hayabusa, Jinsei Shinzaki, & Masato Tanaka vs. Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura, & Atsushi Onita - barbed wire baseball bat ladder WarGames deathmatch - FMW Super Extreme Wrestling War (1997)
Part 1:
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling decided to take the concept of WarGames from NWA/WCW and replace the two ring element of the match with hardcore weapons like ladders, barbed wire, steel chairs, and handcuffs. The one thing that makes this match a WarGames-type match like the ones seen on the Great American Bash tour of 1987 with the Horsemen and Road Warriors, other than it being held in a caged structure, is the "staggered entry" format. Two men start in the cage and after a certain amount of time, another member from either team gets to enter the cage... but once this match got underway, that was also thrown out as all hell broke loose.
Part 2:
Yes, the match was one big cluster of violence, but really, that's what WarGames was all about; you got to see your favorite team (the good guys) take on the rival team (the bad guys) with little to no rules or restrictions. Granted this particular "WarGames" match didn't have the double ring set up that the original was known for, it still had the best wrestlers from FMW destroying one another inside one cage!
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - first Hell in a Cell match - WWF Bad Blood: In Your House (1997)
The match that started it all: the very first "Hell in a Cell" match. The main differences between a Hell in a Cell match and a regular WWF/E cage match is that the cage is wider with room for the wrestlers to go outside the ring, there's a roof on the cage, and you can't win via escaping the structure.
While this match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels marked the first Hell in a Cell match, the match is probably remembered more for its ending. The ending goes like this: Just as Undertaker is about to finish off a bloodied Michaels after blasting him over the head with a blue steel chair, the lights got and from the darkness appears Paul Bearer, Taker's former manager, following a large figure clad in black and red from head to toe. After weeks of Bearer mentioning that Taker has a long lost brother, it is finally confirmed that he is still alive and looking for his brother. As the large individual walks to the cell, Vince McMahon from his headphones reveals, "that's gotta be... that's gotta be Kane!" before ripping the cage door right off its hinges. The two brothers of similar height then square off in the middle of the ring until Kane makes his move and takes out Taker using the Phenom's own tombstone piledriver and forever cementing his legacy as the Big Red Machine!
This match also features a fair amount of brawling outside the ring and on top of the cell, Michaels abusing cameramen, and a bump off the cage that will forever be overshadowed by the legendary bump that Mankind takes in the next Hell in a Cell match.
Macho Man Randy Savage vs. La Parka - Monday Nitro (1997)
Macho Man Randy Savage gets more than he bargained for when "the Chairman" La Parka diamond cuts him out of no where in the middle of the ring and reveals to everyone that he was a certain arch-nemesis of the virus that was nWo.
Who was it? I'll give you another hint: It was that self high fiving yoga guy.
Brian Pillman vs. Owen Hart - Intercontinental title tournament semi finals match - Raw is War (1997)
The Loose Cannon takes on his friend and fellow Hart Foundation comrade, Owen Hart in what would become his last televised match. The match was a semi finals tournament match for the vacant Intercontinental title against the two - who had both won their opening match of the tournament, but Pillman had other plans as he did not want to fight his friend, Owen. So, Pillman came out with a sling on and informed the crowd that he had slipped in the shower and broke his arm while doing non-PG things with Goldust's wife, Marlena (Terri Runnels).
Commissioner Slaughter, however, didn't buy the whole arm injury excuse and forced the two Stampede Wrestling alum to fight it out regardless of their partnership in the Hart Foundation.
Around this time, Brian Pillman was in a heated feud with Goldust, who had beat him at Summerslam with the special stipulation that Pillman had to wear one of Marlena's gold dresses if he lost. Pillman eventually got his revenge on Goldust at In Your House: Ground Zero when the Loose Cannon defeated Goldust to win the services of Marlena for thirty days. This was day 16.
Brian Pillman's next match on WWF TV was scheduled to be against Dude Love at In Your House: Bad Blood, but Pillman did not make it to the event. It was later revealed that Pillman had passed away from an unknown heart condition that day.
Owen Hart would go on to win the Intercontinental title tournament when he defeating Faarooq in the finals at Bad Blood that night.
Tracy "Shaquille Ali" Smothers w/the Nation of Domination vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler Unified World title match - USWA (1997)
Don't let Corey whats-his-name foul you on commentary, Tracy Smothers might be the name given to him at birth, but Smothers around 1997 was now known as Shaquille Ali, a member of USWA's Nation of Domination. Smothers, known for being a down-home southern boy most of his career decided to join the Nation, led by PG-13 of Faarooq's original WWF stable, and live out the life of "the hood".
While this Nation of Domination was not as well written as WWF's version, USWA had something that could have been really good with the individuals involved. In a way, this Nation was more like the original Full Blooded Italians gimmick that ECW had created where most of the members were not really full blooded just really hot blooded. Most of the Nation were not really from the hood or had any business being in a Malcolm X like stable. I should also point out that Tracy Smothers was in the original Full Blooded Italians stable.
One thing that this Shaquille Ali gimmick lacked was a heel commentator to help drive home the fact that Tracy Smothers was no longer the country boy that he used to be and now known by his nation name, Shaquille Ali. This heel figure could have also strengthened the gimmick by explaining just what the "Nation of Domination" was and what they were all about.
Personally, I find Tracy Smothers to be one of the most underrated wrestlers of his time. He's a great heel, he's capable of playing something other than a cowboy even though he's from the south, he's been named after two of the greatest athletes of all time, and - on top of all that - he once wrestled a bear! An un-muzzled bear!
If that doesn't spell championship material... a don't know what does.
The match: Smothers as Shaq Ali gets a shot at the Unified World title against Jerry "I own this company so I'm King" Lawler. Smothers almost wins the match due to interference by Wolfie D of PG-13, but Brian Christopher, Lawler's son, comes out to stop the 3 count. Unfortunately for Lawler, referee Downtown Bruno (Harvey Wippleman) only sees the interference by Christoper and reverses the discussion of the match. Shaq wins but Lawler retains the title.
Triple H vs. Sgt. Slaughter - Boot Camp match - WWF D-Generation X: In Your House (1997)
The commissioner of the WWF at the time, Sgt. Slaughter comes out of retirement and puts his combat boots on to teach the young punk from Connecticut a lesson or two in a good ol' Boot Camp match at a PPV named after Triple H's newly formed stable known as D-Generation X.
What is a Boot Camp match?
Pretty much a Sgt. Slobber-type street fight featuring combat boots rather than wrestling boots.
Let the military honor begin, courtesy of The King.
Theme Results:
Jeans: Triple H
PS: The Sarge's theme music at this time was later used as Kurt Angle's classic "You Suck!" theme!
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams vs. Raven - ECW Crossing The Line Again (1997)
After Steve Williams left WCW to make a name for himself as one of the best American wrestlers in Japan in the better part of the 90's, he decided to take his tough guy reputation and the decade-long undefeated streak he had built to the mean streets of South Philadelphia as he entered the dirty bingo hall known as the ECW arena for some Extreme Championship Wrestling blood.
While appearing on the Crossing The Line Again card in 1997 against Axl Rotten, Williams proved himself a World title contender by winner the match in 2 minutes tops. So after calling out Raven, the ECW World champ at the time, Williams didn't have to wait for his championship match - an impromptu match for the title was announced and the fight took off just like that...
The match probably seemed frantic not only because Williams wanted to win the title so quickly but also because there was still four more matches to be had that night. Unfortunately for Williams however, American wrestling isn't as faithful to some wrestlers as Japan is as Williams doesn't end up with the title and instead ends up losing for the first time in a decade.
Overall reaction to this match: First off, the pacing for this match is great - remember that Williams just had a match against Rotten and he was rearing to go - there was even the classic table at ringside ECW spot. But what really takes me aback about this match would clearly have to be the ending. Not only does Williams not win a title he could have easily won, he loses his undefeated streak... to Stevie Richards no less! Yep, Stevie Richards: The Dave Grohl of wrestling (I don't know about you, but I think they look very much alike).
Sometime after the match gets underway, blue World order along with bWo shirt-wearing Raven's son and girlfriend (?) show up to distract Raven and try to get "Dr. Death" to become the first international wrestler to join their crew. Williams refuses the offer of the bWo belly-shirt handed to him by Stevie, so he decides to take matters into his own hands and become The Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels and delivered Williams with three sweet chin music. Stevie must have really tuned up the band nicely because after Raven came in to finish Williams of with a DDT, Raven got the 1-2-3 and retained his title.
I always read that Williams had such a terrible time once he tried to break into the WWF, but looking back on this match, it seems that Williams was just one of those guys who did super well for himself in Japan but never really had it in the States. Maybe Williams just had a little something I like to call, 'Japanese wrestling syndrome'.
But hey, Japan-based wrestling is one of the most well-respected and true 'professional wrestling' forms this world has to offer. So... yeah.
