Brian Pillman had been one of the more entertaining stars on the WWF roster throughout late August and September 1997. The Hart Foundation, who had dominated the spring and summer, were inexpicably minimised. Austin did his best despite a broken neck, but there is only so much you can do with that kind of limitation and you’ll see that he fades this month after a hugely strong September. Shawn Michaels and Hunter entertained themselves on screen to little reaction beyond that which HBK had gotten as a heel by himself. Pillman, in his feud with Goldust, picked up a lot of the slack, and was probably at his most relevant as an individual since joining the company in 1996. It is at this point that Brian Pillman would be found dead, some hours before the Badd Blood PPV was scheduled to go on the air from St Louis. Pillman had become addicted to painkillers after a car crash shortly after signing with the WWF left him in a week-long coma and with a completely fused ankle. Wrestlers had died before, but Pillman was probably the first major star still with one of the top promotions at the time of his death, and to me it really begins what has been a gruesome and troublesome interrelation of wrestling and premature death.
The show went ahead as planned, with a match between DOA and Los Boricuas and one featuring the Minis plugged in to take the place of Pillman’s scheduled match with Dude Love. The event is most famous, though, for the Hell in a Cell main event. It’s one of only two matches that dominate the MOTY voting for 1997, although for me it lacks something that Hart and Austin II has. Shawn Michaels gets the win in unlikely fashion when Kane makes his long-awaited debut, rips the door off the cage, and hits a tombstone to deny his brother a certain victory. The rest of the show was decent for The Hart Foundation, with Bret and Davey winning the flag match against Patriot and Vader, while Owen beat Faarooq to capture his second Intercontinental championship. The PPV actually drew well, with a 0.6 meaning it beat the impressive buyrate for Canadian Stampede by a narrow margin. That means it’s the most successful IYH PPV (in commercial terms) since Shawn Michaels was enjoying his post-WMXII boost and he took on Diesel in a No Holds barred match.
The following night’s show opens with Vince McMahon informing the world (again) of Pillman’s death the previous day. All of the roster (minus the conspicuously absent HHH and HBK, their absence all the more notable due to the presence of Rick Rude) is up at the top of the ramp for a ten-bell salute. If we’re inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, this could be because Michael Cole introduces these two and Chyna in the opening segment, while Rude joins them in progress. Chyna gives Cole an epic (and, frankly, hilarious) wedgie while Shawn brags about his victory and riffs on how the word icon is thrown around in wrestling and how he is ‘the icon who can still go’. Shawn first calls himself the icon, the showstopper, the main event, and then they call for the footage from Badd Blood… but instead, footage of ‘the curtain call’ incident appears on the tron. HBK and HHH act confused about why they are hugging when one was a good guy and the other a bad guy, while the announcers verbally roll their eyes. Then they head out to a pissed-off looking Vince and talk about how he looked like an ass, about his daddy rolling in his grave, and McMahon calls for a break. When they return from a hasty (and shoddily) queued up generic WWF promo, Michaels is still berating Vince and as soon as we are back, the Hart Foundation music sounds throughout the arena. If this is a work, it’s done very effectively, because this is exactly how I imagine Vince would have dealt with HBK going off script on live TV and – knowing his propensity to do that on the earlier taped shows – I refuse to believe that McMahon would have taken the show live without exactly this kind of contingency. Anyway, the Hart’s come out but they don’t improve it any. From a good start this has become a D-X egofest, and they do their best to bury Bret and no-sell everything he does. A frustrated Bret ends up taking a homophobic tack, accusing Hunter of ‘barebacking’ his way to title matches, which doesn’t do the segment any favours either. Bret says that HBK will never be the showstopper without the belt, that he makes more money than Shawn, and that he ran his buddies Hall and Nash out of the company. When Bret’s gone Shawn tries to up the ante, saying that Bret may be paid more but Shawn works a lot less hard for his money, calls Bret a paper champion, and says that Bret shouldn’t confuse ‘destruction for expansion’. He openly says that the clique run professional wrestling – obviously a reference to his own power in New York and his buddies stroke in Atlanta – and says that at Survivor Series, they’ll own the Hart’s.
After this horrible opening 20 minute dickstroking contest, the announcement is made that we’ll hear from Pillman’s widow later in the night, before The Headbangers get a non-title win in the opener over The Godwinns. The second match sees the returning Marc Mero, now with a new look, moveset (based on boxing) and the name Marvellous, take on and beat Miguel Perez of Los Boricuas. Then next up is the first of many ‘Jim Cornette rants’.
These aren’t the biggest part of the show, but they will recur frequently over coming weeks so it’s worth breaking off to talk about them quickly. The internet wasn’t a massive deal in the summer of 1997, in wrestling at least, but the WWF did run a show that virtually no one paid any attention to called ‘Byte This’. One time, Jim Cornette was invited to be the guest and on being told that the low ratings meant he could do whatever he wanted, proceeded to tell the truth as he saw it. The show drew huge attention compared with anything they’d seen before, and the idea came about to do the same thing on RAW. Despite his reservations about exposing the business more than it needed, James E did as he was asked, talking about things in wrestling that made him angry. The treatment of Arn Anderson, the fact that fans cheer morons like the NWO (Nash has six moves, Hall is a good wrestler ‘but good’s about it’, Syxx ‘only has a job because the others think he’s funny when he gets drunk throws up on himself’ and ‘is the only wrestler since the wrestling war began that was allowed to tear up a valid contract with one company to join the other, so you can tell how valuable he is’), and about the way Bischoff likes to hang around with these guys to feel ‘studly’ and that’s how they get to the top. He pays tribute to the likes of Ric Flair and Cactus Jack and finishes with ‘I’m Jim Cornette, and that’s my opinion’, and there’s a pretty decent pop when they get back to the arena. You’ll see more of these over the coming weeks and months.
Next up, Davey Boy goes over Rocky Maivia cleanly. Austin is out next and Vince wants him to sign the waiver, but Steve will only do so when Vince guarantees him Owen in a title match. Faarooq is on the ‘tron, upset at Austin costing him the IC title, and Stone Cold says once he is cleared he’ll kick Faarooq’s ass too. He punts Lawler’s crown into the crowd and leaves, before Owen has a match with Hawk. This one ends when Henry Godwinn, part of a melee at ringside, breaks away and hits Hawk with a horseshoe in the head. Then Vince interviews Melanie Pillman. We’re literally less than 48 hours after she found out that her 35 year old husband had died, so as you can imagine she is literally distraught. Glassy-eyed and initially avoiding the camera, she struggles to answer McMahon’s questions about how he died, talked about his reliance on pain medication to overcome the effects of the automobile accident, and warns other athletes that if they aren’t careful the same thing could happen to them. Then they air a video commemorating Pillman’s life and achievements. All in all it’s just a really uncomfortable few minutes and the WWF would be criticised for the decision to put Melanie Pillman on screen so soon after Brian’s death, by people both inside and outside the company.
The Hardy Boys are in the ring waiting for a match, but instead Kane and Paul Bearer come out and the big red monster destroys the pair of them. Bearer gets the mic in hand and the upshot of what he has to say is that these are the first two victims of many that Kane will take out until Undertaker agrees to wrestle his brother. Then it’s time for the main event, which is HHH and Bret. Shawn comes down with the match in progress and starts wiping his nose on the flag that Bret had brought with him, which in turn brings out the patriotic Harts. At the finish there is some confusion and Michaels hits a superkick on Bret outside the ring, allowing Hunter to get a countout win.
Nitro, meanwhile, began with what we might call the Hogan update (shooting a film) and Sting bait (too scared to show up, brother) segment. The opening match is a surprisingly popular Booker T beating Jeff Jarrett, with a little help from Mongo. Alex Wright beat Billy Kidman in the second match (during which we see Raven and also former ECW star Perry Saturn sat at ringside), then Ernest Miller beat Mortis. Then Syxx and Scott Hall head to the ring. Hall has taped ribs, and says that Nash is at home injured. He points to his own injury and says that a normal man would be hospitalised, but he didn’t want to let the fans down. He then turns it around and blames his and Nash’s injuries on how hard they were laughing at an old Larry Zbyszko tape. Then he avenges his loss to Hector Garza with a pretty criminal squash. At the end of the match, Hall racks the referee as the announcers say that proves his taped ribs are a ruse, because you can’t rack someone with injured ribs. There’s some speculation about what Goldberg might have to hide, since he still won’t talk in an official capacity, before DDP challenges for the TV title. Page rather predictably beats up on Disco Inferno, but a Savage run-in prevents him taking the title. However, Savage is about to go for a piledriver on exposed concrete when Piper runs out and stops him. Savage is distracted by Piper and has just spat on him, when BANG! DDP hits the Diamond Cutter – which is by far the most over finisher in American wrestling in 1997, eclipsing both the Stunner and the Tombstone – onto the exposed concrete. Savage is wheeled out on a gurney, Liz is in tears, while the crowd sing ‘goodbye’ to the fallen NWO-ite. Piper is talking with Okerlund next – The Outsiders have to defend their titles next week or they’ll be stripped of the tag belts, injuries or not. Hogan and Bischoff come out and they are unhappy. They go back and forth about being the real icon and there being nowhere to run in the cage, but it’s basically a repeat of the Starrcade build up only this time Piper has some power, and there is a cage. Ultimo Dragon and Eddie Guerrero put on a short clinic which Guerrero wins, since his star is in the ascendancy, before the main event. Benoit was meant to face Savage, but Curt Hennig takes his place thanks to the injury sustained earlier on. Benoit puts up a good fight but just like Mongo, goes down to Hennig cleanly. NWO members run in to assault Chris until Ric Flair makes the save! After chasing them all off pretty much single handed, he gives the best promo he has given in months. It’s not about politics, because they’ve wanted him out for years, and it’s not about who is better because there’s arguably no one better, but he is coming for Hogan and Hennig, whether they book the matches or not. Flair has his mojo back and is dancing, just as we go off the air.
It’s a run of the mill but interesting enough Nitro up against a jam-packed but largely uncomfortable and unsatisfying RAW this week. In ratings terms, WCW stayed pretty much where they were, dropping only slightly to a 3.9, while the WWF picked up a post-PPV – and, perhaps rather ghoulishly, Pillman curiosity – bump and rose to a 3.0. The question is, can you hold on to that kind of rating when the show itself wasn’t much good?
It’s at this point that Montreal starts to take another twist. While at a house show in San Jose, Bret allegedly spoke to Shawn about Survivor Series and said that he had no problem putting him over. Shawn apparently then turns around and says (in front of Neidhart and Shamrock) that he appreciates that but he’d never return the favour for Bret. This incident is documented in both Bret’s book and the greatest rivalries DVD, and although Shawn says that he doesn’t recall the incident in that production there are other sources, albeit less detailed, that suggest an incident of this type did take place. This show of disrespect is really the moment that what happens at Montreal becomes inevitabile; because as a consequence of Shawn’s attitude Bret vows that he’ll never lay down for Shawn, until Shawn has done the same for him first. With the match announced for Survivor Series that limits Vince McMahon… though of course, none of this would have happened had he made the switch back in September before releasing Bret to negotiate.
The following show was taped before this incident, so we’ll have to wait for the following week before seeing any fallout. Before the credits there is a video interview with LOD talking about how they will retire if they can’t win the tag titles tonight because they don’t want to stick around too long like the WCW main event guys, and then the show supposedly kicks off with the Harts, but seconds after Vince has wished the absent Davey Boy a happy birthday (weirdly, since his birthday isn’t for another 6 weeks) Michaels and Hunter interrupt on the ‘tron. Hunter implies that he has a bigger, uh, ‘member’ than Bret (ironic given the amount I’ve heard people mock HHH’s genitals in the years that follow), Michaels says that he doesn’t need to answer Bret’s challenge tonight because he beat him for ‘that stupid piece of tin’ at Wrestlemania XII, and then they coin the name D-generation X for themselves. Owen stays out to face Kama of the Nation in the opening match, but D-X joins the commentators. With the Harts distracted by Shawn’s goading this one soon degenerates into a farce. It’s a no contest with the Harts left lying. A mini-tag match is next, after which Flash Funk heads to the ring for a European title match with Shawn Michaels. This never happens, though, as Funk is the next victim of Kane. After the big red monster has left devastation behind him, D-X head out, Michaels gets a faux-cover, Hunter makes the count, Chyna rings the bell and Rude announces the winner (with a veiled shot at Hogan and Piper, subbing Pecan for Icon). The Disciples of Apocalypse and The Truth Commission close the first hour, but like so many of these ‘gang’ matches this ends in a huge brawl with no result.
Steve Austin opens the second hour of the show, and signs the waiver/contract to face Owen at Survivor Series. Before he leaves, McMahon asks about what he did to Faarooq. Before long, the man himself joins them, along with his group. Austin doesn’t understand what he says but because he sounds mad, invites him and anyone else to head to the ring. Rocky Maivia accepts the challenge and takes a stunner for his trouble, and then Austin escapes before the rest of the group pile in. Brian Christopher cheats to beat Tajiri, before Jim Cornette has his second rant, aimed this time at journalist Phil Mushnick and his supposed exploitation of Pillman’s death in his one-man crusade against pro-wrestling. Goldust gets a win over Savio Vega next with the help of a loaded purse, before Hunter is scheduled to wrestle The Patriot. Rick Rude throws coffee in his face on the way to the ring, and Slaughter soon appears. There is a volunteer to take the place of Patriot, and it’s Ahmed Johnson. They react to Johnson as they’ve been reacting to everyone else, though, burying him in the process (despite HHH’s less than stellar past record against him). The NOD attack Ahmed though, and this second match for Hunter is also waved off. Then it’s time for the main event. At one point, Animal appears to be hurt and with him being led away by agents and Hawk down in the ring, things look bad for the Legion. Then, Animal charges back down after seeing his partner on the ‘tron, and the fightback is on. A misplaced horsehoe strike from Uncle Cletus later, and the LOD are WWF tag champions for the first time since early 1992.
Hogan and Bischoff kick off the following Nitro, ranting about Piper and his gall in making the Outsiders wrestle for the titles, and about Page’s ‘assault’ on Savage. Piper has also taken Hogan’s belt, and they are pissed off about that, Eric saying that no one leaves until it is returned. Eddie retains the Cruiserweight title against Psychosis in the opener, before Piper talks to Gene Okerlund. Hogan doesn’t deserve the belt so he took it, and he also confirms that The Outsiders will have to defend their titles or they’ll be stripped tonight. A great injustice next as Regal is virtually squashed by Mongo McMichael, before Okerlund talks with his ex-wife. He brings up a rumour that Jarrett is no longer with WCW, which Debra confirms, before saying she’s on to better things. Mongo finds her and they bicker for a bit, before Yuji Nagata gets a surprise win over Chris Jericho via submission. Raven and Saturn are seen in the front row again, watching this time as Goldberg picks up another win over Scotty Riggs. That iconic music (which was in reality just something from the WCW sound library) is heard for the first time as he leaves. Using the freebird rule, Syxx subs in for the injured Nash as The Outsiders defend against The Steiners. In the end there is a messy finish involving Hall pulling the ref from the ring, DiBiase and Zbyszko, but when all is said and done Scott Steiner pins Scott Hall and we have new WCW Tag champions – and this time, Bischoff doesn’t have the power to take them away again!
Dean Malenko beats Rey Mysterio with the Cloverleaf, before we get some words from DDP about the time he spends studying wrestling and working on his skills at the power plant. Then Piper talks with Mean Gene, but they are interrupted by Bischoff and Savage, who wears a neck brace. Roddy stares them down but the NWO arrive in numbers. Sting comes down with a ball bat and the heels keep their distance… until Sting smacks Piper with it! It’s actually Hogan under the mask this time, and they are on Piper like a feeding frenzy. Scott Norton, with a little help from his stablemates, beats Ray Traylor, before Disco Inferno retains his TV title against Alex Wright (despite the attentions of Jackie). The main event is Diamond Dallas Page against Curt Hennig. Flair appears in the aisle halfway through and is restrained, but eventually he breaks away and into the ring… just as Page is covering Hennig after a diamond cutter! We get a three count, the music plays and Page celebrates, but Randy Anderson is waving it off, saying that the interference came before the three and the count was mistaken. Meanwhile, Flair has given chase to Hennig. We come back from the break and a bruised and battered Piper is talking with Randy Anderson, and then Piper hands the title to DDP! This creates some confusion because next week, Hennig will have the title back, and I’m not completely sure what Piper’s gesture here actually means in the mid-term. The NWO pile back out and do a number on Page and Piper, including several flying elbow drops from Savage that prove his neck injury is fraudulent. Then, an army of Stings come through the crowd from all different directions. They are all beaten down by the NWO guys, usually requiring just a shot a piece… but then Bagwell hits one, and the guy no sells it. Taking the mask off shows us clearly enough that this is the real Sting, even under the facepaint, and one deathdrop later the NWO is in full retreat, and Piper is up and swinging.
With no PPV bump and following on from a poor RAW, this week’s show saw the rating collapse. Managing only a 2.3, they were way down on the previous week and Nitro’s slightl reduced 3.8 was enough for a more than comfortable win.
RAW opens with two members of the Nation (Kama and Rocky) taking on Ahmed Johnson and Ken Shamrock, with the LOD there as backup for the babyfaces. The match is secondary, though, as more attention is lavished on D-X as they sit at the top of the ramp holding signs that say things like ‘I’d rather be in Chyna’ and ‘Uncle Tom 3:16’. Rocky gets a dirty win when Faarooq borrows the Halliburton carried by Rick Rude and uses it on Shamrock. Michael Cole, however, is backstage in the Nation’s locker room, and it has been vandalised. There is racist graffiti daubed on the walls, and Canadian flags have been left lying around the place. Livid, Faarooq and his gang charge back out to the ringside area. They blame the Hart’s for this attack and call them out. We get a brawl that turns into an impromptu match between Faarooq and Bret, during which Michaels heads out and calls Bret a racist on commentary. Austin interferes, stunning Faarooq, and a confused Bret takes the victory. Next up Jeff Jarrett is in the ring! He talks about how he was declared dead on Nitro the previous week because he refused to sign a contract, and about how he left WCW because there was no opportunity if you weren’t one of Eric’s boys. Instead, he was reduced to working with a football player and a woman who gives a new meaning to the term ‘dumb blonde’. He then tells Vince off for smirking, saying that he left the WWF initially for the same reason – he turned Double J into a cartoon character and had him working with a drug addict, a clown, and a black man who couldn’t speak English. He calls Bret the best there was, calls Shawn a juvenile who does nothing except grab his crotch and shoot signs to his boys in Atlanta, and then criticises Austin for his blasphemous merchandise, all before leaving. Marc Mero and Brian Christopher are next. During this one, the announcers are talking about new Steve Austin caps, and Lawler leaves the table to prove that they’ll sell more if Sable models them. Mero spots that she has another man’s cap on and leaves the ring in jealousy, flinging it into the crowd and allowing Brian back into the match, though Marvellous Marc does get the win in the end following a TKO.
Shawn’s first European title defence is next, and it is title for title against IC Champ Owen Hart. Owen challenges Shawn to leave the confederates backstage and they’ll settle this one on one. Rude comes out and, following some technical difficulties, builds some serious heat with the Oklahoma crowd, before HBK actually obliges Owen and comes out alone. Towards the end of the match Owen actually takes advantage with an enziguri, when Austin runs down and stuns the ref, right before the distracted Owen turns into a superkick. At this point Bret runs in, Rude follows to get HBK out of there, and the whole thing is called a no-contest. Undertaker has his first comments since Hell in a Cell next. When he looked into the eyes of Kane he saw not a younger brother, but a poisoned mind. However, for the sake of his parents, he will not fight his brother. Dude Love makes his way to the ring for a match with Bulldog next, but ‘Taker’s reply angered Kane and so he comes down and destroys Foley, chokeslamming him on the steel ramp repeatedly. The following match saw The Headbangers take on a new team. On the previous week’s Shotgun Saturday Night, Honky Tonk Man had cost Rockabilly a singles match. Jesse James had come out and offered him the chance to form a team, saying they could be better together than they ever were as rivals. Billy turned on his manager, and this week sees the RAW debut of the rebranded Roaddogg Jesse James and Bad Ass Billy Gunn. The newbies get a surprise win when Billy destroys a boombox across the head of Thrasher and the referee, oblivious to the plastic carnage in the ring, counts the fall. Tajiri does another job, this time for Taka Michinoku, before Jim Cornette’s latest statement. This time James E is reading fan response to Phil Mushnick and telling people to make their voices heard. The main event is supposed to be a tag match featuring DOA and The Godwinns, but it never really starts and turns into a brawl also featuring The Truth Commission. Just before the show goes off the air we are back in the boiler room with Mankind – Undertaker might not want to fight his brother, but Mankind will fight his own grandmother if she gets out of line and he intends to avenge the happy-go-lucky Dude Love, challenging the apparently indestructible Kane to a match!
Following on from losing the tag titles the week before, the 20th October edition of Nitro opens with many members of the New World Order down in the back. Hogan, Savage and Bischoff are out at the top of the show and in a foul mood.Hogan doesn’t want to wait for Havoc and challenges him to a match tonight! In the meantime, an old favourite match kicks us off as Benoit challenges Guerrero for the Cruiserweight title. He doesn’t win, though, since Guerrero hits a frog splash while the ref is checking Chris after he’d hit his head on a turnbuckle, then forces him to make the count. The second match lasts seconds, as Goldberg annihilates Wrath with the ugliest spear in history and a jackhammer to win in near record time. He does get into a staredown with Mongo in the ramp afterwards though. It is McMichael up next, and he beats Mortis. Debra has an opponent for Mongo at Havoc, and it is going to be a surprise. Some brief segments air in which Raven talks about his childhood and Mysterio talks about the barrio, before Yuji Nagata wins his 2nd Nitro match in a row, this time over Psychosis. He’s one of Onoo’s men, so it’s not a surprise when Ultimo Dragon appears and attacks, though the babyface ends up getting beaten down. Giant goes over three men in dominant fashion, before Rey’s challenge for Disco Inferno’s TV title ends in a messy finish through interference by both Eddie Guerrero and Jackie.
Bischoff, Hogan and Savage come out and basically repeat the segment from the top of the show, demanding Piper come out to face them. Hennig then defends the US title against Malenko and retains it after working the Iceman’s knees, though the fans seem to buy into a title change tonight going by the crowd reaction. Scott Norton beats Ray Traylor in a rematch, before Lex Luger beats the emerging singles talent of Booker T. Okerlund talks with Lex afterwards, and they mention that Larry Zbyszko will be the referee for Luger’s match with Hall. Larry joins them and says that regardless of his feelings for Hall, he’ll call the match down the middle. Hall has some promo time before his match and basically summarises who in the NWO is fighting which WCW guys, before he beats Scott Steiner in controversial circumstances. The assigned ref is out of the ring when, of all things, a masked referee runs in and makes the count. It’s pretty clear that the masked ref is Vincent, but for some reason it still counts. At the end of the show, Hollywood Hogan returns with Savage and Bischoff to make a third demand. Three Sting’s soon appear – one on the ramp, and two behind the heels who jump into the ring. They are revealed to be Piper and DDP! The NWO pile out to the ring, slamming the Sting in the aisle on the way past, but the REAL Sting rapels into the ring and starts nailing people as the group leaders decide discretion is the better part of valour.
The go-home show for Halloween Havoc saw WCW break through another barrier. The impressive 4.6 rating that they got for this weeks show was the highest for any opposed week to date. Given that the WWF also managed to improve their own rating, moving up to a 2.9, we can infer that the audience for wrestling is still growing pretty well, and that WCW are still capable of keeping eyes where they want them.
Halloween Havoc itself outdrew every edition of the October WCW ppv in the past five years, and also managed to outdraw every WWF event going back to Wrestlemania XII. At a 1.1 buyrate, it comes very close to actually matching the business the WWF had done in what now seemed like golden days of Wrestlemania XI and XII. However, Havoc itself is famous for all the wrong reasons. Following on from Hell in a Cell, Piper and Hogan’s cage match is now known as ‘age in the cage’ for the embarrassing display. Luger also beat Hall on the card and Rey Mysterio took the cruiserweight title from Eddie Guerrero, but the message that a lot of fans took away was that criticisms of WCW being a retirement home were perhaps more than fair. Still red hot, the company had to change little in the short term, but this was definitely a chink in the armour down in Atlanta.
Still, they had little reason to panic with D-X purposefully sabotaging other wrestlers and segments on a weekly basis, and there was more bad news for the WWF family. On October 26, Gorilla Monsoon suffered a heart attack, and given his other health problems, he’s almost completely done with the WWF as an on-screen presence at this time. We will see him again, but not often, and although he is still nominally the President of the WWF the role will quietly disappear, much to the chagrin of the traditionalists, in 1998.
The following night opens with the Nation asking Vince about racism in the WWF. They call out the Harts, who say that they’ll fight if they want but, being Canadian, they come from a country without racial tensions and that it’s actually Shawn Michaels who is to blame for the desecration of the Nation’s locker room. D-X appears on the ‘tron, and put the blame back on to Bret. They call him the grand wizard, say that he was on Jerry Springer under a hood, and suggest that they heard him use the ‘n’ word. At hearing this, the Nation charges the ramp and a huge brawl with the Foundation ensues. After a break, Shawn joins the commentators for Hunter’s match with Goldust. Hunter’s really off tonight and the match suffers, but he gets a win with a little interference from Chyna. Jim Cornette’s latest rant follows, in which he focuses on recent claims to be the icon of wrestling. He dismisses the claims of Piper and Hogan, and also of Michaels and Hart for their unprofessionalism, citing instead the example of Ric Flair, The Undertaker and Steve Austin as genuine candidates for the icon of wrestling. He finishes by telling Hogan that his name might be a household word, but so is garbage… and that stinks when it gets old too. Strong stuff, leading into Owen vs Ahmed for the IC title, a match which sees the challenger win via DQ when Austin gets involved in yet another Hart match. JR interviews Mankind next about his challenge to Kane. Slaughter comes out and due to his concussion and his unstable mental condition he isn’t going to allow the match to go ahead. Naturally, Mankind then attacks Slaughter, causing the commissioner to say ‘to hell with it’ and give him the match later on in the show.
The best RAW match of the month is at the top of the hour, as Bret Hart defends the WWF title against Ken Shamrock. Bret actually taps out at one point but the referee is down, and in the end they have to declare no result as Michaels piles in and it descends into a complete mess. Roaddogg and Billy Gunn are up next against The New Blackjacks, but The Godwinns come down and that too descends into chaos. There’s a camera in the D-X locker room which Michaels is mooning as a gesture to Bret, before Marc Mero takes on Flash Funk. The announcers compare Funk’s style with the old ‘Wildman’ style and talk about how that led to few victories for Mero, and then Mero beats him with a TKO. If they wanted to bury Flash Funk, then they couldn’t have done a much better job of it. A sit-down shoot interview with Jarrett airs next, before the LOD defend the tag titles against Los Boricuas. The LOD win after some chicanery goes wrong, but what we are meant to take away from this is Billy and Roaddogg stealing the shoulder pads of the veteran champions. The show ends with an upset Ahmed screaming an intense challenge to Steve Austin into the camera.
The post-Havoc Nitro opens with Hogan gloating about putting Piper in the hospital, and saying that since the word icon has been thrown around too much he’ll use a more appropriate word for himself… GOD. He issues a challenge to any WCW wrestler for tonight! One interminable clip from his latest movie later, and it’s time for Rey Mysterio to defend his newly won Cruiserweight title against Dean Malenko, and with Malenko in control Rey rolls him up for the win. In what I consider to be a travesty, Glacier goes over La Parka easily next, before DDP comes out and, sick of Hogan and his interference the previous evening, is accepting the open challenge by Hollywood. Zbyszko is talking with Okerlund next and, having called the match down the middle and been beaten down for it, he has had as much as he can take. He has a contract and if Hall wants him, all he has to do is sign. Hall and Syxx appear and do a lot of jaw-jacking, but predictably the cowardly Hall ignores Larry’s cries that he needs to sign and put his money where his mouth is. Lex Luger goes over Stevie Ray with the rack, before Eddie Guerrero meets Chris Jericho. Lionheart is stuck in purgatory at the minute while Eddie is much nearer the top of the card, so naturally he gets the win with the frog splash. Next up is the Nitro return of The Belfast Bruiser, rebranded earlier this month as Fit Finlay. He loses to Benoit on his return but it’s a hell of a match, really hard hitting and well-received, so he does himself no harm at all. A Flair promo that is by-the-numbers leads into Raven vs Scotty Riggs. Before the match, Raven says they don’t need to fight and offers Riggs a place in his new group, which is declined. As punishment, Saturn introduces a chair into the match, Raven sends Riggs headfirst into the chair. Kidman heads out to help and they call for paramedics as Raven calmly heads back to his seat at ringside.
Page and Hogan is next. The injured Page is on the back foot for most of it, but when he takes the advantage a ‘Sting’ appears. This gives Hogan time to get his NWO belt and start to thrash Page on the injured back and ribs. More guys run out as the announcers appeal for WCW wrestlers to show some solidarity, but no help for DDP comes until the real Sting appears, and he basically clears the ring by himself. Next it is scheduled to be Disco Inferno against Goldberg, but the match never starts. Alex Wright and Mongo both interfere and although the TV champ is basically murdered by Goldberg at one point, there is no match to speak of. The Steiners beat Public Enemy and then Booker T holds the US Champ to a no-contest. That one is thrown out due to interference. Savage interferes on Hennig’s behalf and then Flair goes after Savage. The whole final segment is a brawl between Flair and Savage that eventually seems to get into the ring and turn into a match. Not long after that, Hennig comes down and he and Savage pummel Flair with the US title belt as the screen fades….
Following on from the PPV, Nitro’s result actually dropped a little, to a 4.3. That’s still a very decent number though, and the RAW rating dropped still further, back down to a mediocre 2.3. That makes me wonder if the build up to Havoc was unusually high. It could be that Nitro still got a ‘bump’ from Havoc, taking fans from the WWF, but because the overall audience is smaller it ends up with a lower number. Of course, without much more detailed information, that is just speculation.
No matter how it has been dressed up subsequently, the truth is that this was a difficult month for the WWF. One great match and a few middling moments aside, the news was mostly bad. Pillman was obviously a huge blow to the company. D-X buried everyone they came into contact with, putting themselves (and their buddies in Atlanta) over at the expense of the people they were working with, and even the show they were working on. More to the point, at this early stage no one was reacting for them either. The most solid heel reaction of the lot was going to the comparatively staid Rick Rude. Michaels was doing about as well as he had in the immediate aftermath of his turn, while Hunter garnered virtually no reaction most weeks. Despite that, HBK and HHH had huge control over what happened on the show, and were massively resented for it in the locker room. For reasons that I’m sure are obvious, the next month wasn’t going to improve that situation at all.