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DDP calls out Savage for "stepping into the real world," which is a *little* bit shooty-shoot insidery for me (did I mention that Kimberly rather lamely attempted to work RSPW around this time, making a post saying that Savage and Liz "went too far"?), but DDP sells it with the intensity of his delivery. Savage is there and teases a match RIGHT NOW...but defers to Liz, who suggests doing it later.

Not only was there no delay, it aired again on the west coast, again uncensored. Austin rips Ken Shamrock a new one, because all he did was get in a couple little street fights which somebody filmed with a little video camera. The match isn't much, but it's perfectly booked and the post-match is one of the best moments in Raw history. Vince taking a bump, Bret cursing, Austin's awesome promo, hype for both of the big matches at WM, Shawn lurking over everything, and Vince frothing at the mouth when Bret punches Pat Patterson. I guess it was really etched in stone with the WM13 post-match and promo the next week, but I think everyone at this point knew Bret was a heel.

I defended Takada for most of the NJPW '80s set, including that Cobra match that practically everyone shit on except me. I didn't like the Koshinaka series but I thought at the time that that was more on Shiro. This wasn't a case of me coming in with an agenda against him, just me seeing the common criticisms full-bore (though the first piercing in his armor as a great worker were the Albright matches, which were good matches but I thought Gary was outworking him).

Michaels is giddy to the point where he can barely talk. "One way or another, when I get back in this ring, the clothes are comin' off!" What a fucking twerp.

Even as we're rapidly approaching the Crash TV era, we're still getting good build to the big matches on TV, as we talk of Bret "lobbying for this opportunity" and the conjecture throughout the night as to whether Monsoon will allow the title to be up for grabs in the match. Loud mixed reaction for both Bret and Austin when his name is mentioned.

It's the Death of a Tax Bill, so naturally the Undertaker is there. Somewhere IRS weeps. Hey, THIS would have been a better set-up for that weirdo 1995 feud than what we got. As for the match, we've got Mascarita Sagrada on one side and both Espectritos on the other, so I'm sold no matter the environment. Sagrada is actually referred to as "Jr.," which is a rarity for the WWF. Sagrada gets over almost instantly, and Mini Goldust is pretty impressive as well. The big dive off the ramp is of course the reason why we're here.

"ALL HELL HAS BROKEN LOOSE HERE AT UNCENSORED, AND HELL BROUGHT WITH HIM A BASEBALL BAT." Match is a total mess, even from just the relatively short clip here, and Luger's comeback gets a tremendous reaction but is kinda rushed. On the other hand, how believable would it be for Lex to come back against 4 guys for minutes on end? Rodman is used really well, helping to eliminate Piper and then handing Savage the spray can to use on Luger to set up the ending. He then slaps around Luger afterward and spraypaints him, but of course the real story out of this is the post-match. Yeah, I don't get why they didn't just have Sting stand with the NWO like he'd done on previous Nitros and then start taking them out, but you can't ignore that nuclear fucking pop. The entire team eats a Scorpion Death Drop apiece as Schiavone is practically coming out of his pants. One of the high points of a Monday Night Wars-era show having you foaming at the mouth for more when it's over.

Bits of rambling, but that's sort part of the charm. Nash and Hall may not be entirely sober.

Okerlund questions if DDP could take Rick Steiner's place, but DDP is only here to go after Savage. Randy is here to apologize for misjudging Page--as judged by his wife's presence in the new Celebrity Playboy. Savage talking about his past fling with Pamela Anderson as Liz nods along is hilarious. Savage is such a grade-A jerk in this segment, it's the most energy he's shown since the Flair feud, and it's a totally different kind of energy than just being a nut.

Yep, I too liked this more than the ECW matches, because the match constantly felt like it was escalating and going places. There was a story here that went beyond, "These two are evenly matched." There was hatred, intensity, body part work, guys trying to show each other up, finisher-stealing back when that seemed really fresh, and more. Dean is as over as he'll ever be before the Jericho feud, and this match is a testament to just how hot WCW was up and down the card at this point. They didn't execute everything, but in a way that just added to the intensity and grittiness of the match--it was a fight, not a dance sequence. Even the NWO involvement doesn't overshadow the participants, as the production and the announcers do a very good job of balancing the backstage attack with the action in the ring. Schiavone in particular is still really good at this point.

I didn't think this was quite as good as the two best matches from '96 but I could watch this group go all day. Motegi brings things down a little from when Shiryu was in, and the ending was a little sudden, but otherwise this was gold. As Loss mentioned there were some grittier and more intense parts to this, especially the brawling in the back of the arena. And Motegi at least contributed that awesome rolling surfboard, an amazing spot that I don't think I've ever seen before. TAKA is the standout worker of the match, being at the center of numerous awesome tandem moves and contributing a spectacular running springboard moonsault to the floor at the closing stretch. TAKA was a complete waste in the WWF, that much is clear.

Joel Gertner is now aligned with the Dudleys--Bubba channels his inner Vaudevillain when describing their recent tiff with the Gangstas. The Eliminators respond, talking up the ECW Arena in lieu of their usual spiel. Tommy Rich is done with promos, so he and Guido are out to get some "Sicilin' girls." Full Blooded Eyetalian, that's what we're talkin' about! Francine challenges Gary Wolfe to an I Quit Match--presumably on behalf of Shane Douglas, as we get a weird edit job. RVD gloats over Taz's injuries. Brian Lee will take pleasure in ending Terry Funk's career, because someone showed him the money...bitch. Yes, Jerry Maguire-mania was running wild in '97. Tommy Dreamer talks up the idea of Funk's career being over--yeah, like anyone's supposed to buy that.

Well, call me crazy, because I kind of liked this segment. Storm was there because he'd beaten Rotten and was eating a triple-team by Rotten and the Dudleys. The Gangstas save because they have an issue with the Dudleys. Usual Gangstas weapon shots, including Bubba Ray finding a new use for a word processor that I don't think Alexandra York's computer programs accounted for. Axl praises the Dudleys for their help and calls them the "best tag team in the world," a phrase that had been beaten to death on ECW TV in describing the Eliminators. I liked how the crowd immediately reacted to that phrase, knowing what was to come. The Eliminators run off the Dudleys with some slick double-teams, and Sign Guy eats Total Elimination. I don't know what the problem is--this segment was designed to set up Eliminators vs. Dudleys, and it did that very effectively.

Quick squash to serve as a hype job for Barely Legal. I wonder what the CYC folks thought of Taz's swearing--that's what got the WWF kicked out of the building after running it for decades.

That was either a worked shoot or Richards is the greatest and most courageous improv man in wrestling. Good segment that doesn't wear out its welcome, generally a rarity for ECW. Dave retired the Best Babyface Observer award for this year, but if I were to keep a running count, Richards would be in the #1 spot until the rise of Austin.

MOTY is pretty much etched in stone already (unless the 10/21 rematch surprises me), but this is one for the list for sure. Some absolutely gorgeous technical wrestling punctuated by some great highspots, including that holy-shit moonsault to the floor from Dragoncito. I actually had a hard time picking out a man of the match--everyone looked good and brought good things to the table. In addition to being a death-defying spot, the moonsault even worked psychologically, with Dragoncito basically sacrificing himself to make sure Damiancito stayed out on the floor, with the DCOR combined with Cicloncito's submission netting a win for the technicos.

Very good build to this, as they smartly find ways to avoid the barbed wire and make you wait for a payoff. I thought the first January match started out super-hot and then started to peter out towards a memorable finish, while this started slow--albeit by design--before building properly to the climax. So in that regard, it's hard to say which one I liked better. I think this is just the second time I've seen Kandori eat a pin, so it felt like a pretty monumental accomplishment for Kudo, as it came off a run of harrowing near-falls and required a pretty horrifying Kudo Driver to (basically) end it.

James Mitchell vs. Sami Zayn! Right? No? Anyway, so that was Ian Rotten announcing? At times the commentary felt more like a debate over minutiae between Bix and Zellner than the announcing of a wrestling match, particularly that segue about Kickboxer putting his mask back on. And dammit, I had that EXACT same hepatitis line that Childs used, looking at the mat and the atmosphere in general. This match isn't bad, but very conventional. Convention can be good, but it was pretty easy in retrospect to call out every spot before it happened (as even some in the crowd do). The muscle buster was an unexpected highlight. We're approaching the birth of the heyday of scuzzball indy wrestling sleaze, both here and in Japan, so I'm not sorry I watched this little slice of history.

Awesome helicopter shot overhead on Club La Vella. Randy Anderson made his return tonight, which I had no memory of--just Flair reinstating him a year and a half later. Savage soundbites have now been added to the NWO theme. Hogan goes out of his way to bring Virgil over to put his arm around him, an image that's hilarious now. Hogan announces the official signing of "the real Hot Rod," Dennis Rodman, and he will be at Uncensored. Sting gets his colors, but continues not to react or put the shirt on. Nash is completely sloshed--even more than Hall, as they both make semi-coherent threats toward the Steiners. DDP's face push continues, as he draws chants just for the NWO tacitly acknowledging him. Not a lot new under the sun here, but nice to see Hogan take a backseat and work with the other top NWO guys to get their programs over.

Great atmosphere for the spring break Nitro--something WCW was always very good at, even though the WWF was running some pretty out-of-the-box places at this point in their own right. Piper's "family" are dressed like participants in the Highland Games or something. Piper rants about Howard Stern--was Stern seriously talking about last week's segment on his show? And how weird that we got two Stern references on two shows in back-to-back Yearbook segments. He also directs vitriol towards Rodman, "critics," and the WWF for taking shots at his hip the previous week. "You got no one-hipped wrestlers on your pay-per-views...you're right, you got NO ONE HIP on your pay-per-views." Okay, not a bad line. Then more whining about critics, and Piper is giving Bret Hart a run for his money. Out come the Horsemen, and Arn sets the record straight. Piper's family has heart, but this is a job for professionals, not amateurs. Flair fires things up, putting over the other Horsemen and cutting a promo on Hogan. As a way to hit the reset button on last week's disaster, this was effective enough.

Rodman was the league's most notorious player now on the league's best team, was all over MTV in addition to TNT, and Double Team was pretty heavily hyped at the time though I don't think it did much at the box office.

This feels like a Memphis angle all the way, including the way Lawler composes himself in general. Lawler compares the size of Spectrum WWF crowds to ECW Arena crowds, and Paul immediately gets personal by pointing out Lawler had nothing to do with any of that. "How ya doin' at the seesaws in Louisville, Jerry? You own sons don't call themselves Lawler!" "If wasn't for your Mom and Dad who financed this bunch of crap, you wouldn't be anything!" The ending sort of sees Jerry revert to his WWF clown act, as he calls out "all his friends" to come help and no one responds. Still an awesome segment that teetered on the brink of getting totally out of control.

Shamrock will be the guest referee for the Submission Match at WM13. Ken stumbles a bit, but does a good enough job. The TitanTron immediately makes its presence felt as a major part of this show and shows to come. Austin points out the driving storyline of next week's title match: if Bret wins, then the Submission Match will be for the title. Bret is out in full whiny and sarcastic mode, blaming everyone in the WWF front office again, and takes personal credit for landing the cage match title shot with Sid. Good promo overall to hype WM13...and we're back to "screwed" talk, and Bret rattling off all the people who've screwed him (including Vince McMahon!) just when it seemed like he was done is just glorious. Shamrock is at his best in responding--"I'm not a marriage counselor, I'm not here to listen to your problems."

A pretty radical change for Raw and the WWF in general. The heavy, gritty industrial look that defined the Attitude Era is starting to take over the show.

More early-'90s-style JWP goodness here. Fast-paced, but based mostly around takedowns and roll-ups and a few more basic suplexes rather than a true go-go spotfest. I think I liked the first match better too, if only because it so exceeded my expectations. I also got a better sense of the strengths and weaknesses of each woman in that one. Here, they were more evenly matched but I was literally losing track of who was whom at points.