The Raw is War Workrate Report
A weekly look at what did and didn't work on Raw is War by Oliver Postlethwaite
Monday, November 17th, 1997
What Worked
This week got off to a mediocre start with the ubiquitous Steve Austin
stomping his way to the ring and letting his trap flap. Austin is Austin
and the worse thing you can say about him is that he's repetitive. I'll
give this segment the nod though just because Rocky Miavia gets to
announce his matches as "non-title" which should be good for a few laughs.
Why Bret, why? parts one and two: Love him or hate hime, Vince McMahon
knows how to produce a compelling and believable interview. I can see both
sides of the story. When it gets right down to the bottom line, it's my
opinion that Bret Hart should have agreed to do a clean job to Shawn Michaels
at Survivor Series and McMahon certainly paints a grand picture of what that
scene would have been like. For all Bret Hart's complaining about losing in
Canada, he is still someone I looked at as a professional, and a true
professional would have, as hard as it may have been to agree to, listened
to his boss. That's not to say I'm taking sides in this "war" or that I claim
to know the truth. I'll still watch the WWF, and I'll still watch Bret Hart.
I can't say it any plainer than, I'm a WRESTLING fan.
You can't really complain about the Boriquas vs. Billy Gunn and Road Dog
brawl. We were spared a probably crummy nothing match and we got to see a
phat Vega kick in the corner. And Miguel and Savio looked better coming
to the ring without their gangster gear.
The Ken Shamrock promo video was cool. It highlighted his wrestling style
(suplexes, takedowns, submissions) and was backed by some whip ass music!
I'm gonna try and name the minis in the 6-man. From what I could make out
it was Mini Nova, Taurus, and Max Mini versus Tarantula, El Toretito
and Battalion...would it have killed them to put up a graphic? I had to
rewind the tape three times to catch 'em all. Anyway, great fast-paced
action, a not too hokey comedy spot (Sunny's leapfrog) and best of all,
Paul Bearer did not speak! The minis crowding around the broadcast booth
was amusing too, if you like that kind of stuff.
The Degeneration-X segment was good even if just for the fact that in
one of those things that can only happen in wrestling, Rick Rude appeared
to be in two places at once with different facial hair to boot! Yeah, I
and you know that Raw was taped last week but there had to be *some* people
out there without internet access scratching their heads. The interviews
themselves were good as Slaughter is mustering up some personality finally
and he took a couple of bumps like a man. I know that a lot of people are
groaning about Helmsley vs. Slaughter but the way I think of it is, Helmsley's
not that great in the first place so at least they have a strong angle to
generate interest in his match. I know it's wishful thinking but if Slaughter
can watch a tape of his famous MSG match against Pat Patterson and drum up
an iota of that intensity then it may not be so bad after all. Of course, what
do I care? I'm not going to order the PPV anyway.
I had to pinch myself, was this the same Eric Shelley I saw wrestle no less
than a month ago in front of 50 people in a terrible match against the other
WWF local jobber Judas/Martin Roy? Now, he's still no TAKA Michinkou but he
and Scott Taylor put on a very solid match that all in all may have been the
best match yet of the light heavyweight tournament. And with the win it looks
like Taylor gets to show some personality as well. Great finish.
What Didn't Work
Did Mero and Lawler fall into a time warp on their way to the ring? When
was this match taped? I felt like it was 1977 with the goofy wrestling,
goofy angle and Jerry Lawler playing rope-a-dope. Since I'm really down
on Mero's gimmick there was some pleasure to be had in Lawler getting the
victory.
Marc Mero and Butterbean had a silly in-ring confrontation. And as my wrestling
pal Bertrand Hebert has pointed out already, all these angles do is get over
the outsider who ain't around for the long haul instead of the wrestler that
you want to be over after it's all said and done. Too bad they didn't let 'bean
get on the mic, I dig that squeaky voice of his.
I can't recommend this week's installment of the Goldust/Vader tiff. Sure
Goldust dazzled me once again with his costume but there wasn't enough here
to make an impression. I did like the way Vader sold the hammer shot by going
into little spasms.
Sgt. Slaughter couldn't leave well enough alone so he came out and did a
pretty dead interview, notable mainly for his resurrection of the most heinous
insulting name of all...maggot!
Rocky Miavia vs. Dude Love could have been a whole lot better but since it was
just a backdrop to the Intercontinental belt angle they didn't do much: a lot
of punching, some decent moves and sweet shin music. Not a main event.
All downhill after the light heavyweight match.
