[1997-04-14-WWF-Raw] Interview: Steve Austin

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Ewww, the horrible South Africa RAW that was so bad with such a low rating that Vince started giving power to Vince Russo. Yuck. Austin insists to Gorilla on facing Bret at the pay-per-view. Owen and Davey Boy react in a way where they aren't happy at all. Austin and Vince have an interesting conversation about whether talent can be held down.

[soup23]

Interesting really in retrospect that they gave power to Russo. We are of course only seeing bits and pieces of WWF on the yearbook but what we have seen is some of the greatest storytelling they have done and WWF has had plenty of crappie standalone raws in foreign places.

 

Austin and Vince do an interview. "You can't hold me down no more son, nobody can." Interesting interview with what they are talking about.

[Kevin Ridge]

Austin shows off his bulky knee brace. Rematch against Bret at In Your House. I wouldn’t have known this was a poorly rated Raw but reading up on the card they gave a bunch of match time to mid carders. Vega and Rocky going almost 18 minutes. That’s a lot.

[Robert S]

Wow, they used here the Apartheid flag which had been abolished three years earlier. WWF going with the times as always.

"You cannot hold talent down, talent always rises to the top." - funny line to here out of Vince's mouth.

[PeteF3]

In fairness, this was a time when wrestling was at its most meritocratic--both companies *had* to go with what worked, politics be damned. The WWF would stay that way all the way through the WCW buyout, more or less. WCW would be getting away from that soon enough. Sid has no-showed something or other and is out of the IYH PPV, with the scheduled Bret vs. Sid bout turning into Bret vs. Austin. A hot semi-main event, but one probably made too late in the game to affect buys that much, especially considering no one actually saw this announcement judging by the ratings.

[Exposer]

Good promo. Austin convinces Gorilla to sign a match for he & Bret at Revenge of the Taker. Austin complains a little himself saying he's been held down. Vince disagrees. Austin guarantees he'll beat Bret's ass at the PPV.