Loss

Good match, not as great as some stuff to come out of this promotion in 1997, but solid stuff. Maeda's "sons" have surpassed him at this point, and it's evident when Tamura has to dumb down his matwork in some ways. Tamura gets his first win over Maeda and I'm more excited about seeing this promotion in 1998 than any of the others.

Hogan and Bischoff are out one more time. A crew member comes into the ring with yet another gift and Bischoff has no idea what this one is. The limo shows up with Bret in it and there's a Hogan head inside the box. Hogan's acting is HORRIBLE here, but this is a corny angle anyway. The Sting stands on top of the entrance ramp and hang glides into the ring. Cocaine booking again.

This has a reputation as possibly the all-time worst Nitro segment (pre-1998 anyway), but I actually thought this was awesome. The NWO completely take over not only the announce booth, but the crew and the set … everything. They do REAL TIME CONSTRUCTION, which takes almost 45 minutes including commercials. This seems like one of those ideas that should have never made it past the writers room when considering the logistics of making it happen. We end up getting a new set, new music, new everything. Hogan is presented with two new motorcycles and a convertible stretch limo. Then Bobby Heenan comes out and wants to talk business. He goes into groveling suck-up mode and for once, they have Heenan doing exactly what he should have been doing all along. Later in the show, the NWO is back out and is presented with a ring that is an exact replica of the Big Gold Belt. A huge banner of the Sports Illustrated cover drops from the ceiling and another huge banner drops from the ceiling showing Hogan choking out Sylvester Stallone in Rocky III. It was a really ballsy idea to do this on a live show. But I think it worked just because the whole thing was so shocking and might be better remembered if Starrcade was truly the end of the NWO once and for all.

Owen ends up attacking Hunter on his way to the ring the first time they do this match. They try again later in the show and we get the original Fingerpoke of Doom, with Shawn laying down and HHH pinning him to win the European title. They do this mock emotional reaction to the title change after the match with Chyna comforting Shawn over losing the match, which is admittedly pretty funny. They rub Slaughter's nose in it and the show closes with Slaughter responding by saying he'll defend the European title against Owen Hart next week.

Luna brings Goldust out dressed as a Christmas tree. He reads "Twas The Night Before Christmas" in an odd voice before Santa comes out to hand out candy. Santa ends up socking Goldust with his bag of gifts and it was Vader! Goldust and Luna bail.

We see the NAO looking for Foley in the lower rungs of the arena, only to be attacked by Mankind while he screams the words to "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire". The NAO end up pushing Mankind into a freezer and locking it!

Recap of last week where Sable was supposed to come out and never did. This was a Santa heeling on everyone and this brings out Steve Austin. He tells Austin he wanted a barbie doll and tiddlywinks as a six-year old and this leads to Austin giving Santa a stunner. Long and drawn out, but I think WWE thought this was genius because they kept replaying it and putting it on compilations for years.

Recap of the feud between Mick Foley and the New Age Outlaws. Foley takes a few sick bumps and the segment closes out with Mankind cutting a promo in the boiler room. "There's an interesting phenomenon when you break Dude Love's ribs - MINE HURT TOO!"

Shawn and HHH come out in robes and the announcers tease that they are naked. For all the talk about the WWF just sticking to their guns and pushing new stars to turn business around, they sure tried some desperation tactics along the way that have been forgotten. HHH messes up so many words in the English language that I don't even know where to begin. DX warn the NAO to stay out of their business because they are the ones that deserve credit for ending the Legion of Doom as a tag team, and the NAO have no right to be the ones bragging about it. HHH wants Owen and I am immediately reminded of how much I hated this one-sided feud. Shawn starts in on the Undertaker and the crowd is very responsive to that since they are reigniting what was a hot feud. Then DX strips to their holiday boxers and then take them off completely. They seem to want people at home to think they are naked on TV as they have big CENSORED signs over their midsections. This brings Sgt. Slaughter out and DX put their robes on. Shawn and Hunter do their normal Slaughter mocking. Slaughter points out that Shawn hasn't defended the European title in months and requires him to defend the title tonight on RAW or he will be stripped of the belt. The match is then made - Shawn vs Hunter. No one cares enough about Hunter for this to mean anything, as DX was a total Shawn vehicle. They tease Shawn/Hunter dissension to close out the segment.

Do you agree that the crowds were ready to accept Owen as a top guy had they run with it?

Post:

You were the one who said in the 1997 Recommendations thread that we should ignore AJ gems and focus on matches from this feud that haven't been talked up!

I talked about this on an episode of Wrestling With The Past that will be available soon, but I really don't like it when promotions bill matches like this as War Games when they aren't really War Games matches. They need two rings in order to be War Games matches. Onita doesn't have the same superstar aura with shorter hair and different ring attire. Here he seems to be copying Bret Hart's look and it's odd. Now that I've gotten all the complaints out of the way that have little to do with the match's quality, I'll call this a fun brawl. As much as I like Onita, by 1997 though, he gets in the way and I'd rather him just leave because the younger stars are way more interesting and are more than capable of carrying the promotion on their own. At least he eats the fall here though, which is more than I expected.

I am about to start Disc 30, and "Bittersweet Symphony" as the menu music is fitting. I feel like I'm entering the final part of a 120-hour movie. More than any yearbook, I feel like there's a real story here -- new stars emerging, old stars falling, wrestling styles and promotions gaining prominence and losing prominence. Such a historic year and also such a great year for wrestling action. It really is the best yearbook of them all. I'm a little worried about what lies ahead, but I still look forward to revisiting it with an open mind.

A Christmas version of Pulp Fiction. Lots of funny stuff with the FBI and old clips of Public Enemy back in '94.

Everything you'd want from a five minute Regal vs Finlay match. These two beat the hell out of each other in the completely synthetic theme park environment.

The match is JIP with Taka taking a bad bump outside the ring and hurting his knee. Funaki capitalizes on this with some great limb work. Taka puts on a really strong babyface performance here, again I think trying to show the WWF he could get over in the U.S. and work that style. We see about 12 minutes of this and they are a great 12 minutes.

Gene has JJ Dillon in the ring, who has returned from his injury. Bischoff has thrown quite a few stipulations into the Starrcade match thinking the Zbyszko match would be cancelled but JJ keeps agreeing to every request. Bischoff insists on Kevin Nash as referee for Starrcade, which is hilarious. Then he suggests Syxx. JJ finally agrees to pick one of Bischoff's guys as long as Dillon can pick which one. Bischoff is okay with that. And with that, we have the Nitro debut of Bret Hart to a huge pop (and horrible entrance music!). He has a smile on his face and seems to be trying to make the most of a new environment. Bret puts over being in Ric Flair country and says he would be honored to be the referee for Eric Bischoff vs Larry Zbyszko. They talk about a $7.5 million a year deal Bischoff negotiated for him, which is hilarious. Bret says win if you can, but don't look to me for any help, because no one knows like him what it's like to get screwed over by a referee. He tells Bischoff he's on his own and Bischoff isn't too happy about that. Bischoff talks about weekends off, but Starrcade is on a weekend. This was the great way they came up with to debut the hottest guy in wrestling. This.

Worked to protest how they were being used and I think they made their point. Great TV match. Rey and Juventud look like the best wrestlers in the world in this match, and both have some incredible highspots which were perfectly executed. Give Psicosis and La Parka credit for feeding the babyface offense so well, and credit to all these guys for working this in a way an American crowd could appreciate that was still true to who they were. Sadly, I'm guessing the people toward whom this was directed didn't get the message.

Last few minutes. The New Age Outlaws are out as soon as Animal gets the hot tag. They end up pouring an ether soaked rag on Hawk to knock him out and they shave Hawk's mohawk while DX looks on and laughs. They were really going all out to create new stars in Rock and the NAO, although the Road Warriors having to sell for Chyna is a little ridiculous. Great angle with yet MORE heat placed on DX. I wish they'd learn from their past success though.

Vince officially declares the Attitude Era. He mentions that the WWF borrows from soap operas, music videos and sitcoms and that the audience is tired of having their intelligence insulted. He urges some parental discretion for RAW as a live TV show but points out that Saturday morning programming is safe for kids. And with that, here we are. Pretty historic episode of RAW.

Rock is out to tell Austin his time is up. Then we get the Austin video from a bridge and we all know what he's about to do with the IC title. The WWF came out of their post-Montreal doldrums quickly.

Commercial for a sweepstakes to win Steve Austin's truck. 1-900-RUMBLE-98.

Vince is now out to address Owen Hart. He knows Owen is here and wants him to come to the ring now. He has been endangering the safety of the fans by interfering in matches. He reminds Owen he is still under contract to the WWF. Owen finally comes out in solid black and with sunglasses. The crowd is chanting loudly for him. Owen tears into Vince and says the bullshit stops right here. Owen could have been a huge star at this point had they followed through. Owen says he's not going anywhere -- he'll remain right here in the WWF, and that Shawn isn't going to run him anywhere. Vince goads him and Owen tears into him even more. This isn't about the WWF title, this is about real life. His goal is to make Shawn Michaels' life a living hell. Vince responds to all of this by asking for uniformed security to come to the ring and tells Owen he's going to come down the entrance ramp just like everyone else. Vince is a major asshole in this and Owen teases attacking him, and the crowd would have exploded had he done so. He grabs him by the suit before being escorted out. This was a GREAT segment. Owen was on fire. This was their chance.

Rock is getting more over by the week and has already developed into an excellent promo. Quite the turnaround in a short period of time. They set the first seeds for the Faarooq feud, when he tries to get in a line and Rock says "With all due respect, the champ is talking." He talks about Austin stealing the IC belt and demands that he come out now to return it. Austin tells Rock he's in over his head and Rock gives Austin one hour to come out with Rock's property. I like the seeds planted with Rock and Faarooq.