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This build to Michaels vs. Shamrock has only been marginally better than the WW3 build that was barely even acknowledged until 6 days before the show. Neidhart is with DX, and Stevie Wonder could see where this was going to go. Helmsley throws coffee at Vader (??!--are women's shoes next?) leading to a Michaels win. Vader is rolled out of the ring like a common jobber. Ross has to unconvincingly feign shock as Neidhart gets attacked. Another segment that completely fails: not only was the result patently obvious, but the swerve doesn't even draw heat because nobody gave a fuck about Neidhart or saw him as a sympathetic figure, even in the face of Survivor Series. Ken Shamrock sits in the back with his thumb up his ass while all this is going on. Again, no heat. Yes, the WWF literally feels like a dying company at this point.

"Rocky Maivia and the Nation of Domination," as Cole's intro goes. No hiding who the big push is going to now. Despite the mic issues, Rock's familiar voice is starting to come together. We finally get the first hot segment of the episode, with Austin playing mind games with Rocky via the production truck and the semi-legendary shot of Rocky freaking out at his pager.

Triple H makes a desperate attempt to draw heat by ragging on Fort Bragg--good luck with that tack in a few years. Ooh boy, midget and short jokes. Lawler's giggling at this is just as bad as Michael Cole's guffawing now. Oh, by the way, Fayetteville is DEAD SILENT throughout all this. They're not laughing, they're not booing, they're completely and totally indifferent. I mean, they didn't have much to respond to before, but they were still louder for the tag title match. This is really just disgraceful on almost all levels--just not on a heat-drawing level. Then Neidhart shows up, and the idea of DX inviting Neidhart to join their group and Jim just accepting it makes absoutely zero sense.

"The question that is on everybody's mind: WHAT did you hit. Vader. With?" Yeah, THAT'S the burning issue here, Cole. This is an awkward segment on all levels--a rare bad interview from Dustin, the censor censoring "off" instead of "pissed," Cole's dumb line of questioning, Luna's awkward attack, and Luna's promo where she screams incoherently into a microphone.

Okay-ish action but not a high point for LOD even in '97. Gunn and Road Dogg, still nameless as a team, steal the tag titles and for the past few weeks it's felt like 1998 is already here, so to speak.

Harvey Wippleman is out as an ersatz Rick Rude in a desperate attempt by the WWF and DX to save face. They just end up looking more pathetic. Shawn is SERIOUS tonight.

About as fun as you'd expect--both guys have probably already peaked despite their long post-middle-age careers, but this is still two grumpy old guys laying it in and beating the shit out of each other. Fujiwara is a supreme dick here, refusing to break holds past the ropes and should have been DQ'd on multiple occasions. Gives a little bit of poetic justice at the finish when Tenryu catches him with a shot to the throat. The ending is a little sudden and I'd like to have seen one more Tenryu power bomb instead of a straight cover, but this served its purpose nicely.

No real build to the Texas Cloverleaf, but the holds and counterholds were pretty amazing. This seems to be Smiley's debut (not counting the Pat O'Connor tag tournament).

Damn straight I ranked Dory, Jr.

You're eliminated if you hit the floor at all this time, regardless of how. Not sure what the point was of that rule change. I was actually into this for a bit, then I got confused with the Nash fakeout and Hogan entrance, then I got frustrated as the cameras were missing eliminations and pivotal spots, then I was just rolling my eyes at yet another obviously fake Sting that the announcers fell for. Then I just shook my head as they attempted to get over the "biggest plan yet" which amounts to the same plan they've had for like the past 8 PPVs. Hogan does execute a decent-looking Diamond Cutter (which is *also* missed the first time). WCW still looks untouchable from a business standpoint but this was...not good.

Awesome match! A JACKED crowd really pulling for the outsiders (though not the Outsiders), which seems to get louder every time Jinsei's ropewalk gets cut off. Shinzaki and Hayabusa pull out some terrific double-teams here and all of their unique, crowd-pleasing transition spots work great. This is almost a throwback to the '90-'92 era with a much clearer heel/babyface divide than you normally see in the late '90s. It may not be the second-best AJPW match to date in '97 but it may well be my second-favorite. See, Baba? It doesn't hurt for your company to step out of the bubble once in awhile.

The hard sell for November 2 Remember. I'm not sure anyone could really buy Bam Bam as anything other than a placeholder champion, especially considering the show's in Pittsburgh. On one hand it's not a bad idea to focus on the PPV's big matches (plus Candido/Storm), but on the other hand this Pulp Fiction's focus on a few guys sort of shows how bad the roster has thinned over the past 12-18 months.

The cannonball through the table was pretty cool, I admit. That it was a lummox like Sandman doing it instead of a natural high-flyer just added to the element of danger. The rest of the segment was pretty whatever to build to what is IIRC a WMOTYC at November 2 Remember.

I've been way high on Tamura in particular and '97 RINGS in general, but this was a chore to get through. As boring as the worst of '80s UWF, which is quite boring indeed.

Welp, 6 days away from the afterthought that is World War III, better start hyping the show. Giant's hand looked impressively fucked up. No one, least of all Bischoff and WCW, and probably not the WWF either, has any idea what's to come for this promotion--so without hindsight it's hard to blame them for thinking the gravy train wouldn't run dry. That said, Bischoff's constant statements in interviews of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" were probably a bad sign. Even the WWF had the sense to take McMahon off television after Fully Loaded '99 and freshen up the direction of the company despite Austin still going strong.

Crazy scene and the fan attack just adds to the feeling of chaos. Having Hogan put over Piper was a mistake but they're doing everything in their power to make us forget that ever happened.

Traylor's comeback promo after returning from his neck injury and bolting from the NWO was one of his best. And he's got his old '95 Big Bubba music back again--always liked that theme. Here he's interrupted by a US title belt to the back of his head. Hogan and Savage even join in.

This is probably the biggest WCW peak since the Hogan & Rodman show in Chicago--just completely leaving the WWF in the dust. This is a super-hot segment even though Hogan doesn't say much of anything, and Rude is absolutely tremendous--his best promo of the year, hands down. He rips Shawn Michaels, rips Vince, and does more to put Bret over than anyone else in WCW did the previous week. Bischoff is absolutely gushing and he's clearly not acting, and why shouldn't he be? With Rude falling into his lap, he's getting over on the WWF without even trying to now. The idea of WCW falling behind in the war seems just unthinkable now, with the WWF looking like a complete mess.

This is a weird combination of shock value for shock value's sake combined with fairly traditional old-school southern wrasslin' booking. I thought Cornette was off creative by this point but maybe he or Bruce Prichard still had some reach.

Done!

There was a contingency for a broken ladder, which would pay off in an interesting way in Shawn-Razor II at SummerSlam '95.

Vince is still sporting a nasty shiner from the post-match confrontation. LOTS of stuff here that would apply to today's Widget Superstars--show respect to the company that MADE you, dammit. McMahon generously describes Bret's departure as a "joint decision." It's flabbergasting that Vince expected to come off sympathetic in this situation.

I'm getting whiplash going from a kiddie show to these tight, focused, and intense promos and back again.

Aaaand right after the "sea change" I talked about, we're right back to 1995-ville. You don't suppose the WWF is trying to eat its cake and have it too, do you? Get a Yokozuna figure at Kay-Bee Toys!

The scratch logo is here. Adam and George's presence aside, we've reached an official sea change. A legendary spot.