BackToBionic

I was at this show and you couldn't hear a word of this. In the days before giant screens everywhere, these Nitros with their extended backstage (ringside in this case?) segments were pretty boring half the time for a live crowd.

I think he calls JR "Girth Brooks" in this

More baffling NOD member: Ahmed or Crush?

This is probably the first "MRS FOLEY'S BABY BOY!!!"

But wait, I thought JR brought in Fake Razor and Fake Diesel. Now Vince is saying HE brought in Fake Razor cos he's good at impressions?! *MIND BLOWN*

Hey, new tag belts. Those old ones were beat up.

I've always loved this match. So much fun.

This should have started the show because in the Austin-HBK faceoff earlier they were referencing the hell out of all this.

Gosh these are so good. I loved the cowboys and indians line. The difference between these and the Goldust ones is that in those he's saying "I'm not Goldust, I just made that character up to feed my family. In reality I'm totally different." In Foley's he's using his reality to show why he became the way he is...there's still a level of kayfabe.

I can't even imagine how cool that must have been for Waltman. You're wrestling Flair. In Carolina. You're heeling it up, doing his mannerisms and the crowd fucking hates you. That right there is most wrestler's dream.

Reggie and McMichael must have been really good friends for him to come in (wasn't he still active in football at this time?) and lose. I know they played together on the defensive line for a year and both did Wrestlemania XI, they probably got on really well so it's nice that he did the job for a buddy cos I know Greene goes over McMichael in their singles match.

This is the kind of thing that would have me tripping over myself for the remote during the MNW era. Shawn as a real-life shithead acting like a big babyface is the worst thing from the top-tier of American wrestling in 1997, no doubt. I lean towards Bret in the Bret vs Shawn feud (I'm not a big fan of either) but this segment shows Bret is the better talker at this time - much more focused and not as smarky. "Do you have the jam?!!" makes another appearance and I can't help but think Bret had a bet going about how many times he could work that phrase into a 2 hour show.

"I don't think you've got the jam!" will now be worked into my lingo.

Pretty cool that there was a "Pillman is God" sign being flashed during the whole religious spiel.

I wonder if Lawler wanted to instinctively help them out with the fireball.

For years the WWF pushed Bret as the ultimate babyface and I never was a fan. Shawn starts cutting promos like this and suddenly I sympathise with Bret big time. Funny how that worked.

As an aside, I remember seeing that shirt for the first time and thinking that I had...absolutely HAD...to have it. Might have been the second wrestling shirt (after the nwo) that I begged my parents for.

I was such a big Owen Hart fan for the past few years so I was pretty confused at the time..."Now I'm a....Bret Hart fan?!" The start of a great stable.

People always talk about Vince's obsession with big muscular guys but his biggest love is Shawn, not exactly a "big" guy at all.

That Sagrada stage dive was indeed pretty awesome looking.

Gotta love Heyman, he sure did jam as much as he possibly could into these segments. Also - Feinstein in a WWF ring o_O

So did Anderson completely leave wrestling at this time or did they just put him in a behind the scenes role?

I love the depression the two people in the front row exhibit. 1-2-3, guy throws his head back in exasperation, woman throws her hands up as if to say "fuck this company". Always loved how fluid that was and how I'm sure a lot of people felt about the booking of the title at the time.

Yeah, DDP has no trouble selling what he's doing. And hey...rightfully so, he's cleaned up the two biggest messes in wrestling so I think he has earned the right to say YRG 800 times in every interview for eternity.

Terri Runnels sat in a director's chair, not doing or saying much for over a year. But this is the start of her really earning her keep. She takes that "shaking" amazingly and I know in years to come she takes more decent bumps than she probably should have.