Andrew Lutzke
Presented by Sean Oliver and the Kayfabe Commentaries Crew
I have a related plug before we go onto today’s review: http://www.therealtsm.com/index.php?topic=1983.0
A few years ago I re-watched the entire year of WWF Raw shows from 1997 and reviewed them in a somewhat stream of conscious style – noting highlights, memories and retrospective on a fun ride through a company in transition. If Cornette’s recollections leave you feeling nostalgic- consider checking it out.
The Year: In the beginning of 1992, Vince McMahon had to deal with the reality that the Hulkamania gravy train that he had been riding since 1984 had lost its luster. Hogan was becoming a parody of himself, a dream match series between himself and Ric Flair did disappointing box office numbers, and his occasional dick-ish behavior was finally earning him boos from the fans – such as eliminating Sid at the Royal Rumble after already having been eliminated himself.
Hogan would later write in his autobiography that his solution for his dwindling popularity was for Vince to “push me even harder”. At this point however, Hogan saw the writing on the wall and chose to take a hiatus. The void on top was filled with other older acts like Randy Savage and Ric Flair on top, along with the return of the flaky Ultimate Warrior. Over the summer other men were elevated up the card – not young guys, but talented underexposed veterans like Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith and Scott Hall. Vince was also starting to build up his pet project Shawn Michaels to use as his upper mid card show case star.
By Fall the dwindling interest in the WWF saw a true change of focus as Bret Hart was put over Ric Flair for World Championship and Flair was shown the door shortly thereafter. Savage was moved back down to an announcer position, veteran Curt Hennig was put back in the ring, Warrior left due to flaking out again and Yokozuna, Bam Bam Bigelow and Lex Luger were brought in to be built up for Bret Hart.
The roster upheaval didn’t spark business either and Yokozuna was given the chance to be the monster heel with the hope that Hart, Luger, Tatanka and Undertaker could draw interest in trying to topple him. After nearly a year Bret Hart was once again given the ball – but the roster around him still wasn’t strong enough to facilitate a renewed boom period. Bret was given a “fighting champion” gimmick and wrestled a bunch of lower card guys on TV to build that Bret was truly taking on all comers. This directly led to Bob Backlund turning heel and becoming a fantastic character for the next few months.
Meanwhile Vince found the man whom he believed would be his next Hulk Hogan: a seven foot tall former basketball star, Kevin Nash. Nash – dubbed “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel was brought in to be Shawn Michaels’ body guard, but given his stature he was moved onto Intercontinental and World Tag title runs and in the fall of 1994, Diesel went over transitional champion Bob Backlund in eight seconds to take the World title. Bret was de-emphasized and the next year was built around Diesel as World Champ and Shawn Michaels as Intercontinental champion. This move saw business bottom out at some of the lowest levels ever seen, but because of Shawn and Nash’s backstage influence, Vince stayed the course and prepped for making Shawn his top star. Diesel then dropped the belt to Bret Hart.
Shawn was built up as the number one contender and had a key storyline built around him, meanwhile Bret was playing second fiddle to a Nash/Undertaker feud up and then was built up as the older vet trying to outdo the in his prime Shawn. After reluctantly dropping the belt at Wrestlemania 12, Bret left the WWF in part to pursue acting and in part to protest his treatment – undoubtedly hoping Shawn would bomb and then Bret would be begged back.
Michaels’ reign was greatly aided by Vince finally signing some solid free agent talent throughout late 1995 through 1996 – Dustin Rhodes, Vader, Steve Austin, Marc Mero, Mick Foley, Ron Simmons & Ahmed Johnson were all signed and Vince even took in the Ultimate Warrior for another go around. These moves made for the healthiest mid-card in years.
This set up Bret Hart’s return nicely in November of 1996 and instead of being stuck in feuds with pirates and dentists, Hart was immediately tossed into a match with the man he called “the best wrestler in the WWF”: Stone Cold Steve Austin.
While Shawn started to crumble under the weight of substance abuse and addiction, Bret and Austin’s vendetta helped to carry the WWF to its most entertaining year of action in a long time. The Hitman and Stone Cold clashed on six PPVs during this time, while Shawn skipped out on large chunks of the year with dubious injuries and threats of leaving the WWF. Austin’s feud with the Hart Foundation would last until November when…well we’ll get to that…
The Undertaker was given the mantle of World Champion to stabilize the belt after the winter months had seen it bounce from Shawn to Sid to Shawn to vacant to Bret and finally back to Sid. Taker settled rivalries with Vader, Gold Dust, and Mankind while also having to put up with his old manager Paul Bearer warning the Undertaker about a “secret” that would eventually come out as Taker’s little brother, Kane.
Rookie Rocky Maivia was given an immediate push and found himself being given a run with the Intercontinental title after only being on the roster for three months. Maivia’s initial white bread babyface character flopped and the fans rebelled against the WWF’s next big thing. Thankfully, Rocky had the support of the WWF office as well as key members of the locker room (such as Bret Hart) and he was repackaged as a cocky alpha male jock and teamed with a group of black militants by spring. This paid dividends as by the end of the year Rocky was firmly in the upper card and of course would go on to super-stardom.
Mick Foley had one of the best years of character development ever in 1997. He started the year under his cellar dweller freak gimmick – teaming with Vader. During the spring, Foley was interviewed “shoot style” by Jim Ross and we learned of Mankind’s real name, his love of Jimmy Snuka and desire to actually be a character in the guise of Shawn Michaels more so than the freak show. This would lead to a Mankind babyface turn, and over the summer Mankind would try and convince Steve Austin to allow him to replace Shawn Michaels (who was “injured” again) in Austin’s bid to win the tag team titles. After being rebuffed for weeks by Austin – Foley took matters into his own hands and came to Austin’s aide with Austin facing a handicap match situation against The British Bulldog and Owen Hart. Since Austin didn’t want to team up with a “one eared freak” – Foley donned tye-dye and became Dude Love – assisting Austin in capturing the titles, and winning Austin’s approval all at once. Mankind/Dude Love had a series of matches with HHH – culminating with a match on RAW live from Madison Square Garden where Foley brought back Cactus Jack to finish HHH once and for all with a piledriver through a table at the top of the entrance ramp.
The tag team scene was the best we’d seen in several years with The Road Warriors, The Bulldog and Owen Hart, Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon, The Head Bangers, The “New” Blackjacks, The Godwins, The Truth Commission, The Nation of Domination, The Disciples of Apocalypse, Los Boricuas and others were floating around full time – meanwhile Mankind and Vader, Austin and Shawn Michaels, Austin and Foley and late in the year the jobber tandem of Billy Gunn and Jesse James were all featured players in the revitalized division. Of all these teams, the legendary Road Warriors suffered the most surprising fate as they were largely used to put over other teams, a fact that bothered me greatly watching it live in ’97.
Ken Shamrock was thought of as a huge signing, but he never really lived up to the hype in his two-plus years in the WWF. He was pushed well at first – being given a key spot at Wrestlemania as the ref for a marquee “submission” match, they followed that up with Shamrock working a “shoot” match on RAW, and his first PPV match was a stiff bout with Vader . While his push never really dwindled, he was missing something in his package to get him to the main event level that his contract size would’ve warranted.
Brian Pillman returned from his ankle injury and tried at least to resume his career, but fate was not on his side. A proper role for Pillman was probably to remain a commentator and interviewer – allowing his “Loose Cannon” persona to make him this generation’s Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Pillman was all man though and was determined to earn his pay in the ring – only to over use pain pills and end up another wrestling statistic only a few months into his return. Vince had one of the most classless moments in WWF history following Pillman’s death: Vince interviewed Melanie Pillman, Brian’s widow via satellite only a few days after her husband died. Worse yet, he grilled her on Pillman’s drug use and I believe also rubbed in the fact that her bread winner is gone. Melanie sits in her living room and cries. Just a disgusting segment.
WWF also participated in a series of cross promotions in 1997, trying to vary the roster and add to the unpredictable feel I suppose. ECW’s RAW invasion was the most famous of these events – where many of the ECW workers worked matches on RAW to help fill out the roster while the WWF ran an overseas tour. ECW’s Barely Legal PPV was actively promoted on RAW, even with the WWF’s Wrestlemania PPV was happening in the same time period. The WWF also promoted UFC and boxing PPV’s around the same time frame on their flagship show. The USWA talent was also used at various points throughout the year – primarily once the WWF wanted to start a half-assed Light Heavyweight division.
Of course the biggest event of the year occurred at that year’s Survivor Series when Shawn was put over Bret Hart via the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” after spending the year of faking injuries, threatening to quit, declaring he would not lose to anyone (not just in the back, but he actually said this during a RAW promo), conveniently not losing the World title, European title and World Tag titles- all of which he won in 1997 – and also ruining the plans for the biggest show of the year as his “Losing his smile” injury canceled the penciled in plans for Shawn versus Bret Wrestlemania PPV match. Shawn would then go on the “Slammy’s” the night before the big show and mocked Bret for losing at Wrestlemania 13, then jumped down the stairs to pretty much show everyone he was faking injuries. Vince carried the torch for Shawn though and defended his frequent injuries on commentary.
Meanwhile Bret Hart spent the year making Steve Austin a mega-star, and his extended family dominated the undercard holding the IC, European and World tag titles simultaneously and having good-great matches to boot along the way. Bret was booked to be “screwed” frequently early on during this run – losing three title matches to Sid via interference, and losing the Royal Rumble by having an already tossed Austin return to the ring and eliminate him. It made the end of his WWF run way more apropos then anyone could have imagined.
The Shawn/Bret angle had some of the best promos possible though as both men cut scathing interviews on each other – Shawn getting personal by suggesting Bret was cheating on his wife, was a mark for himself, used his family to push his career and even that Bret was too far into this fantasy world of wrestling. Bret would retaliate by mocking Shawn’s homosexual tendencies via his Playgirl photo shoot, and HHH and Shawn’s love affair. The two men got so personal in these promos, that they actually became unable to work together- even getting into a legit scuffle prior to a live RAW.
Ultimately, it’s hard to argue that Vince didn’t pick the wrong guy to back in this situation. One was a power tripping druggie and the other was a guy who was solid in every aspect of the game, and was willing to make the next generation of stars, even if it came to having to lose now and then. I have little doubt that Bret would have “made” The Rock and Shamrock in 1998, and maybe even HHH if it came to that.
I can’t shed any tears over Shawn’s back injury that ended this stage of his career, although Bret and the rest of the Foundation hardly made it out of this mess without their own tragedy – in addition to Pillman, Owen and the Bulldog would both be dead in less than three years. Add to that Bret’s career ending via a serious concussion and his debilitating stroke. There were no winners in this feud.
The Shoot:
Corny starts off by playfully riffing on the crew.
Jim has saved all his WWF financial info, memos, travel plans etc. He brings his record book to aid in the shoot.
Booking committee was Bruce Pritchard, Cornette and later Russo. Meetings would be at Vince’s kitchen table often.
The experimental early days of “Shotgun Saturday Night” was meant to be an edgy ECW/Memphis style show.
Vince loved Shotgun’s concept but being live from New York and such weekly cost extra money, plus guys had to be pulled off tour and flown in special, along with other headaches. It quickly became a taped show prior to Raw.
McMahon ignored filming permits for the Shotgun vignettes around New York.
Cornette had to do a skit with a midget and a urinal. Vince’s humor….
Todd Pettengill “didn’t know shit from apple butter” about wrestling but was good at certain bits.
Pettengill was paid $250,000 a year (!!) because Vince had a third party aiding in his hiring and the lady in charge was somewhat clueless.
The “fake” Razor and Diesel was a spur of the moment Vince idea. Cornette was put in charge of teaching them how to mimic the real guys.
Royal Rumble ’97 was originally booked to be Vader versus Shawn 3, but Shawn refused to work with Vader after their stiff early matches.
The Alamodome Rumble drew 48,000 people and Vince handed out 15,000 additional tickets.
Russo’s booking style is described as “idiot savant rambling” in which Vince then pulled some nuggets of good out of.
Jose Lothario as Shawn’s “manager” was meant to be a long term Mickey/Rocky angle. Vader was to destroy Jose and Shawn would cry and then train for revenge of both his mentor and the title Vader would have already won.
Shawn didn’t seem to actually like Lothario, as he would often ignore Jose during entrances and would scream at Jose in the locker room.
Michaels was pissed off at something or other and faked a knee injury to forfeit the title.
Shawn would be allowed a great amount of leeway for his promos and often had his bitchy interviews edited down heavily on taped Raw shows, as he would go off on non-kayfabe tangents.
Rocky Maivia’s first IC title win was a last second move, as Cornette’s notes have him booked against Austin that night, and IC Champ HHH facing Bob Holly.
Chyna was meant to be an Amazonian sex fetish type gimmick, hence the leather clothing.
Cornette feels the Road Warriors were victims of their own success. Too awesome early on, and then unable to live up to nostalgia.
ECW invaded RAW in February 1997 – Cornette wasn’t a fan of the hardcore stuff.
Heyman ended up on the WWF payroll after Vince felt bad for signing ECW talent.
The ECW guys weren’t accepted in the locker room. The ECW invades WWF angle ended when somebody finally pointed out to Vince that ECW guys were beating the WWF guys – even if it was just the jobbers.
Dr. Death Steve Williams was about to be signed to show up after Wrestlemania 13. He was arrested for drugs and it was put off for over a year.
When Cornette started in Mid-South in 1984, he was to pay the state athletic commission 100 bucks for a physical and signed doctor paperwork. Cornette faked the paperwork and signed a random doctor’s name he pulled out of the phone book and never heard another word. Just a bogus means for the government to reap in more fees.
Cornette mocks Kevin Dunn. I laugh.
Madison Square Garden would charge 15% of any gross past $200,000 that a renter drew. That was on top of the standard rental fee (which may have been around 80K)
Cornette wanted Vince to start taping bits at house shows to build feuds.
The Road Warriors were excitable in the mid 80’s and were stiffer when working in Minneapolis (their home town) or Chicago (their fake home town).
Vince got pissed off at a poor RAW that was pre-taped and Cornette lost power by coming in “late”the next day. Since Vince was pissy Russo got promoted since he wasn’t involved in booking it.
Cornette used Jimmy Valiant as inspiration for Dude Love‘s promos.
Jerry Brisco wanted to shoot on the Kliq after the “MSG Incident” where the HHH, Nash, Shawn and Hall hugged in the middle of the ring on Hall and Nash’s last night in the WWF.
Nash claims that Vince approved of the group hug, but Cornette was with Vince at the time and Vince acted shocked…
Lawler “witnessed” the Shawn/Bret locker room fight in person while taking a dump. “History has not recorded whether he wiped before he broke the fight up”.
Cornette saved Shawn’s hair clump that Bret pulled out during the fight. That’s hilarious! Sadly Cornette lost the hair in a divorce.
Who, The Goon, Freddie Joe Floyd, Sal Sincere, etc. were all brought in to fill out the roster when it was thinned out in the Summer of ’96. Cornette was fine with his SMW guys being jobbers, but he hated the gimmicks.
Faarooq was nearly given a modernized Saba Simba gimmick but was given the Nation of Domination gimmick instead.
Marc Mero was stunted by being trained to be “Johnny B. Badd” and never being trained to properly work.
McMahon and Russo would share sexual fantasies out loud about Sable during booking meetings. Jim was creeped out. Cornette buries Sable hard hard hard here.
“Sunny was an upfront cunt, Sable was an undercover cunt!” I’ve heard this clip before, but it made me laugh all over again here.
Austin was scheduled to work main events against Mero – then Mero let Sable powerbomb him etc, and Austin refused to work with a guy whom a girl beat up.
Cornette saw Sable’s Playboy contract. She made 5 times as much in her year of popularity then Jim made in his best year as a wrestling manager.
Jim didn’t want a payoff for working a ECW show, he simply asked Heyman to make amends with Dennis Coraluzzo, the powerful NWA promoter friend of Cornette who had been in attendance the night Shane Douglas threw down the NWA title. Heyman rented a limo, paid for a steak dinner, etc. Heyman gave Jim 750 dollars in cash and continued burying Dennis afterward.
Kevin Dunn picked Michael Cole over others with wrestling experiences because Cole was a legit reporter and Dunn didn’t want anyone with wrestling history doing his show about wrestling. (As if Dunn had any fans in the wrestling fanbase to begin with…)
Cornette is given The HeadHunters to manage. The illusion of these two fat monsters is ruined in their first appearance by Davey Boy Smith tossing them around. They are dropped quickly from TV.
Coming Thursday morning: Cornette covers the second half of the WWF in 1997!
