Looking Back At Monday Night RAW March 3rd, 1997
On the previous episode (February 24th, 1997) ECW managed to overshadow WWF on their own 2-hour flagship show.
You can keep track of all the 1997 RAW recaps by clicking here.
The March 3rd, 1997 edition of RAW emanates live (not really) from Berlin, Germany. Welcome to the FINAL episode of WWF Monday Night RAW in the 90’s (more on that later). The show itself essentially encapsulates the Best & Worst of The New Generation Era, whilst also placing itself amidst a transitional period which would change this company’s legacy forever.
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Let’s begin!
MATCHES-
1) Bret Hart vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
2) Rocky Maivia (c) vs. Vader (w/ Paul Bearer) {WWF Intercontinental Championship Match}.
3) Flash Funk vs. The Sultan.
4) Psycho Sid (c) vs. Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer) {WWF World Heavyweight Championship Match}.
5) Owen Hart vs. The British Bulldog {Winner becomes the first-ever WWF European Champion}.
Stone Cold Steve Austin And His Toilet Vows
MATCH #1: BRET HART vs. HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY
German fans in the audience should probably serve a traditional Fränkische Bratwurst with sauerkraut & a little sprinkle of Bret Hart on the side- That is how much they love him, maybe except for one single fan holding a “Forget Bret” poster in the crowd.
Meanwhile, arriving at our WWF Studios on a snowy New England night is none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin. He orders the cameraman to “get the hell outta’ here. Looks like we will see more of him later on in the show.
Coming back to the match, Bret Hart is one step ahead of HHH. However as expected, Hunter turns the tables & slows the match pace down considerably.
Jerry Lawler is not on commentary during this week’s show. Instead, we have The Honky Tonk Man, Vince McMahon & JR calling the action. Except, you certainly cannot see JR physically present at the commentary booth alongside his peers. So why can I still hear his voice despite him NOT being there? The wonders of post-production audio trickery still amaze me to this date.
So, Bret Hart manages to escape Hunter’s hold & yields a massive crowd reaction just by performing a simple side-headlock takedown. It seems as if every little thing that Bret does, the audience cheers (even when he does a Headbutt).
The Honky Tonk Man points out that Bret delivers an illegal headbutt, everybody at home saw it & so did Vince “MaacMaan”. When asked to explain why so, here is what HTM had to say—
“It’s because he’s really sneaky in the ring. He does things so fast & so quick that the referee REALLY CAN’T SEE IT, but I’m watching Bret Hart & I know what you’re doin’!”
Towards the climax, both of these superstars reverse each other’s respective finishers, up until a point where Bret Hart gets frustrated. This leads to Bret breaking his personal code of honor by refusing to let go of HHH in the tree of woe. Therefore, the referee has to stop the match immediately & this automatically means that Hunter wins via DQ.
You can clearly see that the Hitman is getting increasingly agitated the more & more we head towards WrestleMania 13. Out of nowhere, a ‘LARGE BIONIC WOMAN’ (as stated by the commentators) or Chyna enters the ring & shields him away from HHH.
Security has to escort her backstage. But this time around, both HHH & Chyna head back together. It becomes quite clear that there is something more to these two than what meets the eye…
This match could have been way better if we fast-forwarded to Triple H in his prime versus a Bret Hart who was actually not phoning his matches in.
Result: HHH wins via DQ.
It looks like we are going to have a sit-down interview with Steve Austin live from the WWF studios back in the U.S.
Oh.
But something seems odd. Austin is nowhere to be seen.
Where is Austin? My ponderings are interrupted as we hear someone flushing a toilet in the background!