Exposer

Really good promo. Bret is going farther into heel territory here with his "tough luck" routine for The Undertaker if he wins the title. I laughed when he said Taker would get his shot & get in line like everyone else. I'm excited for heel Bret coming up.

The Undertaker doing PR work & public appearances for the WWF is hilarious. Fun match. The WWF minis were on point in appearance. Mascarita Sagrada is over! He ignites the crowd in this & does an insane cross body off the stage onto Mini Vader.

This is tremendous. Lawler & Heyman go scorched earth on one another. Sandman & Dreamer get heated & try to fight Lawler in a couple of fun moments. Dreamer actually ends the debate by breaking the podium. I can't even describe all of the amazing things these two throw at each other. In an awesome touch, Lawler invites wrestlers from the WWF roster to come down & help him fight the ECW contingent. No one shows up making him eat his words. I loved that. Great segment that had some much needed chaos that you wouldn't normally get out of RAW during this period outside of Austin.

Good build for Mania. Shamrock isn't a good promo but I thought he got his point across. Austin is great as always talking down at Shamrock & threatening to beat his ass at Mania after he's finished making Bret quit. It was a nice touch that Austin staid in the back because he's still a heel & if he talks like that to Shamrock's face he might get his ass kicked. Bret's promo is great. He's still justified for being upset but his tone & constant whining is making him unlikable. Shamrock telling Bret he isn't a marriage counselor was funny. I liked Austin showing up & jawing at them from the stage to close. Fun segment.

Wow. This is a big difference from the week before. Everything is bigger. The pyro opening is something we'd get every week in the Attitude Era & beyond. This has got to be the biggest contrast in looks for a wrestling company between two weeks ever. Totally different.

Great wrestling match. I loved all of the athletic exchanges early. These two were working their asses off. Owen is smart & played heel a little bit to get the fans behind Davey Boy. I loved when he suckered him by faking that he knee was hurt. Great near falls down the stretch. The crowd went wild for Davey Boy while in the sharpshooter. Finish is good too as it keeps both guys strong. I liked the post-match where they shook hands & were mostly cordial but Owen kept holding onto the Euro Title a little too long. Nice touch. I really enjoyed this.

Awesome segment. Austin is on fire here. I loved him taking a dig at Shawn Michaels. He does a great job of putting himself over & his opponents when discussing his Final Four performance working with a hurt knee. He does seem legit pissed when talking about the match stipulation. His last line is hilariously great. Made me laugh. Austin is probably the most interesting & entertaining wrestler stateside at this point in 1997.

Neat promo. Creepy too. In some ways Mankind screaming in German is even scarier than in English.

Really fun ECW style brawl with Lawler & Heyman throwing daggers at one another on commentary. The post-match is awesome with Bubba Ray & Sandman showing up followed by Heyman charging at Lawler causing a near brawl between the two. Vince gets swallowed by the swarming ECW roster. Great segment.

This video is never not funny. The Shawn pandering is worse than any WWE wrestler today gets. Sans his buddy HHH of course.

LOD gets a massive pop for their return. The match went too long & they wrestled the wrong opponents especially if they were wanting to protect The Headbangers which they did here. It should have been some jobber team. Nonetheless, this has some fun crowd moments with them chanting "Nitro sucks!" & "Bischoff sucks!" to Vince & Lawler's amusement.

Ken Shamrock's WWF introduction. This is amusing as Lawler claims to be friends with Shamrock & brags about working out with him & teaching him submissions. My favorite part is when Lawler calls him "Kim" by accident or not & Shamrock's reaction to it. Shamrock says he doesn't know who Lawler is & calls him a liar. His amusement to all of this is pretty funny.

Total Elimination! The crowd pops huge for that. This is fun stuff. Lawler & Heyman banter on commentary. Raven randomly shows up. Guido & Stevie actually work a fun little match. I imagine it was pretty surreal to see ECW on WWF TV at the time.

Solid match. It's better than their It's Time match. Bret works over Sid's back then eventually targets the knee which Austin attacked at the start of the show during the first attempt at this match. Sid isn't much for selling it, but Bret's attack is cool including the awesome ring post figure four. The second half of the match is pretty good with Bret working his ass off. He takes a massive bump into the ring ropes that is brutal looking. Austin comes back out again shorty after that & Sid decks him. Bret gets Sid in the sharpshooter after a sunset flip roll through spot (of all things!). Austin grabs a chair & levels Bret in the head with it as the ref is checking to see if Sid will submit. Sid his the powerbomb & boom your new WWF champion. Bret gets screwed again! The poor guy can't catch a break. Taker comes out & stand face-to-face with Sid as he was announced the #1 contender to face the winner of this match. Cool staredown. This is a pretty hot finish to a really good RAW. It sets up the two main events for Mania & furthers Bret's heel turn in the process. Good stuff.

Lawler & Heyman take personal digs at one another for a few moments during Owen-Flash. That "neighborhood" comment from Heyman was right to the gut. Heyman accepts Lawler's invite of ECW to RAW & says they will be there at the Manhattan Center the following week. Cool & fun bit.

Austin attacks Bret for a second time. Sid is pissed & runs to the back to get at Austin. Big pull apart brawl. I love how chaotic the show has become with Austin around. He's such a loose cannon. This Bret feud is awesome. Gorilla guarantess the title match will still happen. It looks like he was reading a from a screen.

Great angle. I liked Goldust promo. Straight & to the point but creepy. Marlena says Goldust is all man & more than HHH ever will be. Imagine someone saying that to HHH now. HHH comes out & jaws with Goldust. He tosses water in his face & attacks him ending in a pedigree. Marlena slaps him which gets a huge pop. Chyna shows up out of the crowd for the second night in a row & ragdolls Marlena in a great visual. That looked great. Chyna is hauled off by security as Goldust checks on Marlena & carries her to the back. Really good introduction angle for Chyna. I'm always a fan when they do big angles in the mid-card.

Really fun match that isn't quite as good on rewatch. This is Vader's best WWF performance though with the cut eye & the awesome brawling with the other three when they're split in pairs. My favorite part might have been Austin dropping the steps on Vader & Vader getting right back up & brawling. He looked like a total badass in this. I really liked Taker in this too. His exchanges with Vader are great & it seemed like he was putting in a lot effort. Austin gets eliminated by Bret. He comes back out later & brawls with Bret on the floor. Austin should have just attacked him in the ring instead of Taker breaking up the sharpshooter which doens't make sense in an eliminaton match. Maybe Austin missed his cue. Vader's elimination gets a massive pop which is a testament to how hard he worked in this match. The blood & his toughness made his elimination feel huge. Chattanooga is going crazy for Taker has he chokeslams Bret & signals for the tombstone. Austin pulls Bret's feet on the attempt which crotches him effectively costing Taker. Austin's distraction continues to cause problems & results in Bret eliminated Taker & winninng the title. Taker is pissed & Bret celebrates. Sid comes out & goes face-to-face with Bret to close the show hyping up their match on RAW the following night. Not a great match, but as others have said certainly an effective one with an awesome Vader performance. I'm lean towards it being very good though. They've kept Austin-Bret going, teased Taker-Austin, & have a big title match coming up on RAW so this did a pretty good job of moving things forward & setting up more intrigue going into Mania.

I liked the early brawling portion, but this isn't much when they slowed things down. Bret runs in & has a slugfest with Austin. Sid takes exception & then they brawl. Ok segment. It's worth noting Gorilla explains why The Final Four is now for the WWF Title & awards Sid a title shot the next week on RAW to the winner of that match.

One of the most famous segments in WWE history. It's actually pretty compelling to watch. The "We Want Sid!" chants during Shawn's emotional speech. The crying women. Shawn's tears. It's a pretty great segment in how it's put together, but it all still comes across as phony. There's no way Shawn's knee was that fucked up. I burst out laughing at the conclusion when JR said "Goodbye, Shawn. Godspeed." Totally over-the-top. Fascinating watch though & one of the more shocking moments of WWF at the time.

Pretty good match actually. It's kind of weird watching HHH & The Rock have a wrestling match with holds before they were HHH & The Rock. I liked Rock kicking out of all of HHH's big offense making him look tough. They also protected the pedigree here & paid off The Rock's gutsiness with the small package & the big victory. Cool upset. The place popped for him. His post-match promo is forgettable & it's obvious is main problem as a white meat babyface is character which comes across when he's talking.

This is a lot of fun. HHH arriving in a limo is a great touch. The Undertaker coming out to his music in Penn Station is a sight to see. Cool moment. Pretty good match actually with belt shots, both guys working pretty hard, & a nice slugfest to start. The Undertaker gets disqualified for a payback belt shot & he chokeslams HHH afterwards in frustration. He gets a huge pop after signaling for the tombstone, but HHH escapes. Taker runs after him & tombstones him on the escalator sending him for a ride down it. Awesome spot & moment. It seems like we won't be getting anything too unique out of Shotgun after this. That's a shame. It was a fun first month.

JR putting over Shawn & saying he's a man of his word who will absolutely defend the title next week on Thursday RAW Thursday is hilarious. Fucking Shawn. I liked both Shawn & Bret's promos here. The whole story of the WWF Title bringing the worst in people is a great explanation for what's been going on at the top of the card. Bret's hatred for Shawn is compelling television. I get the feeling Shawn doesn't even hate Bret as much as Bret hates him. Bret is so sick of his bullshit & I am starting to get there too. Austin shows up & attacks Bret leading to a brawl on the floor. Sid shows up & gets in Shawn's face. They go to break & officials have removed Austin & Sid. I liked Shawn drawing the line in the sand with the belt. Bret stepping on the belt, taking it, then dropping it at Shawn's feet & flipping him off is a great moment. Bret is such a whiny asshole here & it's amazing. Shawn is such a passive asshole about this too throwing the Kliq sign to someone in the crowd. These two's dislike for one another bleeds all over the television screen & I'm completely engrossed in it. I love this feud.

This was disgusting. Pouring hot wax on your arm is weird, but vomiting in another's face & both laughing about it is just vile. Not fun to watch.

Austin's promo is the best, but that's no surprise at this point. Shawn's was fine for what it was. I liked him putting over his opponents too. I laughed at Bret telling Shawn he hopes he stays healthy for WM. Maybe that was Shawn's cue to bail. Vince getting annoyed with Taker & Bret assuming Shawn would retain over Sid is hilarious, but I don't blame him. They should know not to make assumptions. It's a minor pet peeve of mine too. Austin threatens to come to the ring & fight but decides against it & jaws with Vader at the entrance to end the segment. Good build to Shawn-Sid rematch (which never happens of course) & Final Four. Nothing too spectacular but the focus is strong & the intrigue is there.