GameX Presents: WWF 1997

Hardy Boys pick up the victory for this pre show tag match after Jeff Hardy makes Mosh submit with the Texas Cloverleaf. 

Winners: The Hardy Boys

Rating: 4/10

In a match that could have been better. Bart Gunn picks up the easy victory after making Porteau submit. Bart clearly didn't put in his best effort for a pre show match. 

Winner: Bart Gunn

Rating: 4/10

In a short and dominating match, Undertaker picks up the quick victory after defeating Diesel with the Tombstone Piledriver. A great showing for The Undertaker, but there was no question who was going to win this match. 

Winner: The Undertaker

Rating: 6/10

Undertaker grabs the microphone and calls out Paul Bearer and his men. Bearer, Mankind, Executioner, and Vader all head out to hear what Taker has to say. Taker challenges anyone of Bearer's men to a match. Mankind tells "Uncle Paul" that if it is okay with him, he is willing to take down The Undertaker this Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Paul Bearer says " I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but it looks like Undertaker will be in for a whole lot of hurt this Sunday." The crowd seemed to really take to the "Bearer of Bad News" phrase and it looks like Paul Bearer has himself a hot new catchphrase. A pretty good segment that got the crowd heated up for the rest of tonight's event. 

Rating: 7/10

Shawn Michaels is seen backstage, taking photos with some VIPs and saying Hi to some of the WWF staff. Ross tells us that Michaels will be in action later tonight. Nothing special about this segment. 

Rating: 7/10

We cut to the locker room of The Nation of Domination. Faarooq tells his men that he is disappointed in them all. J.C. Ice and Wolfie D can't win a 2 on 1 match, and Crush lost to a no-name, hillbilly singer. He tells his men they better not disappoint him again and that Crush better take care of Jesse James. It was a decent segment, but if it wasn't for Faarooq it would of 100% fallen flat. J.C. Ice and Clearance Mason looked ridiculous in the background. Really starting to feel Faarooq's gimmick though, and he is clearly starting to feel more comfortable in this leadership role. 

Rating: 5/10

We head back to the arena where Jesse James is heading out singing "Baby Tonight". The announcers discuss if they think we will see Crush at some point in this upcoming match between Razor Ramon and Jesse James. 

Rating: 5/10

The match was clearly designed strictly to advance the Crush/Jesse James feud that started on Superstars. The finish occurred when Jesse James started giving Razor Ramon some punches, that the announcers called the "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Ramon was standing dazed when Crush slid into the ring. Crush went in for a massive clothesline but James ducked and Crush nailed Ramon, finally knocking The Bad Guy down. After hitting Ramon, Crush flew himself through the ropes out of the ring as James pinned Ramon for the 1,2,3. Not the greatest match but it did move the storyline forward. I look forward to seeing where the Jesse James and Crush feud leads. 

Winner: Jesse James

Rating: 4/10

We cut to the backstage area where Sunny introduces us to her newest clients, Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon. Sunny says that they may seem boring to the average viewer, but Sunny sees two future stars in the making... with the help of the Sunny touch of course. Sunny looked great out there. Look forward to seeing what changes are in store for Furnas and LaFon.

Rating: 5/10

Fairly entertaining match. We are already seeing the positive effects that Sunny's star power and charisma give Furnas and LaFon. Furnas and LaFon pick up the win after Furnas hit Blackjack Bradshaw with a Belly to Belly Wasitlock 180 Suplex.

Winner: Furnas and LaFon

Rating: 6/10

The next segment is fairly long so I broke it up into three sections for the sake of ratings. We come back from a commercial break to see Jim Ross with two chairs. Jim Ross welcomes back to the WWF, MMA Legend, "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock. Shamrock comes down and takes a seat with JR. Shamrock thanks the crowd and thanks WWF for having him back as a guest. JR starts to ask Shamrock about his MMA career when the sound of glass shatters hits the PA and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin heads down to the ring. As Austin enters the ring he grabs the microphone out of the hands of Jim Ross and tells Ross to scram. Austin tells Shamrock "Boy I think you made a wrong turn somewhere because you ain't in the right place. Take a look around, this ain't some Bingo Hall, this is the WWF. So how about you turn around and get your ass out of my ring because you're wasting my airtime." Shamrock walks over and gets in the face of Austin. After a short pause, Shamrock looks straight into Austin's eyes and simply says..."No".  

Rating: 7/10

Austin and Shamrock start arguing back and forth off microphone. Austin then goes in for a punch but Shamrock blocks. Shamrock shakes his head at Austin and then counters with a massive blow that sends Austin to the ground. Shamrock jumps on the ground as the two starts to fight. After some rolling and punches, Austin ends up with the upper hand and is on top of Shamrock nailing him with some punches. Bret Hart is then seen sliding into the ring for the save as Austin quickly gets off Shamrock and slides out of the ring. Hart looks at Austin out of the ring as they shout back and forth at one another. 

Rating: 7/10

Austin now heads to the top of the ramp as Shamrock gets up and gets in the face of Bret Hart. Shamrock is seen telling Bret that he doesn't need his help and he had the situation under control. The two start to argue when we hear Austin on the mic. "Look at these two cry babies, arguing about who should get their ass whooped by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin". At this point, both men turn their attention over to Austin, who continues to rant about the two men in the ring. Shamrock then gets on the microphone. "Austin, if you want a piece of me then you can have it. I came hear tonight to announces that I am entering myself into the 1997 Royal Rumble. Austin, I promise you, if you are not already eliminated by the time I enter the ring, I am putting all my attention on you." Austin yells something back towards the ring, before flipping both men off and heading backstage. Shamrock and Hart look at each other, exchange a few words as Shamrock heads out of the ring. Fantastic segment between these three men. Shamrock making a guest appearance in the rumble will definitely add some much needed star power. 

Rating: 8/10

Sycho Sid absolutely dominated in this match against Jake "The Snake" Roberts in a match that lasted a little over 5 minutes. Jake Roberts really struggled, clearly only a shell of what he once was. Due to this, it appeared as if Sid wasn't really giving it his all. Regardless, the match did what it was supposed to do and made Sycho Sid look like the dominating monster that he is. 

Winner: Sycho Sid

Rating: 6/10

After the match, Sycho Sid stays in the ring with a microphone in hand. Sid says that "Tonight is supposed to be a big night, the first two-hour Monday Night RAW, but once again, they reward Shawn Michaels with the Main Event match. How do they treat their WWF Champion? How do they treat the face of the company? Well, they stick him in the middle of the show." Sid talks some more about how he doesn't understand the logic off Gorilla Monsoon and the WWF officials when he is interrupted by Shawn Michael's music. The Heartbreak Kid comes out and tells Sid that "If you want to be in the Main Event, then come on down big man. I will set up a chair for you at ringside. I am sure the camera crew will be more than happy to cut to the 'Face of the WWF' at some point during the match. This was an amazing segment between these two wrestlers. Both men were able to add serious heat to their feud and I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. 

Rating: 9.7/10

We cut to the back where we see Owen Hart and The British Bulldog. Owen Hart tells the crowd "All you idiots better be ready because Bulldog here is going to take out my brother, Bret". Owen Hart then handed the microphone over to Bulldog, where the segment started to fall apart. It did not look like Bulldog had a plan about what he was going to say, and constantly tripped over his words. He even calling Bret, Owen, once during the segment after he said that "I am going to beat Owen 1,2,3".  The segment should have easily gotten a rating of 8/10 based on who was in it and how talented they both are, however, with the Bulldog's poor performance, I am going to have to knock it a bit. 

Rating: 7/10

Although Bulldog struggled on the mic tonight, it did not stop him from putting on a hell of a match. These two men had some fantastic back and forth action throughout the match. The match ended at a little over the 11-minute mark when Hart ended up getting Bulldog in the sharpshooter. However, that wasn't how the match ended. When it looked like it was about to be over, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came crashing into the ring and attacks The Hitman, causing the ref to call a DQ. 

Winner: Bret "The Hitman" Hart

Rating: 8/10

After the match, Austin continues to beat down Bret Hart and this time we see Ken Shamrock come down for the save. As Shamrock slides into the ring, Austin jumps out and runs through the crowd. As Hart gets up, we see him yell at Shamrock, telling him that "I don't need your help".  A pretty good segment that mirrored what happened early in the night, this time with the roles reversed. Look forward to seeing what happens at the rumble between these three men.

Rating: 7/10

We cut to the back where Dox Hendrix is with the WWF Champion, Sycho Sid. Dox asks Sid if he will take HBK up on his offer and sit at ringside for the main event. Sid tells Dox that, "I will be down at ringside, but don't expect me just to sit. I am the WWF Champion, I am the Ruler of the World, and I will do whatever I please." Decent little interview that helped hype up the main event.

Rating: 7/10

Odd pairings in this match, but clearly it was just about getting these four men air time and advancing the Goldust/Helmsley feud heading into the PPV. Match ended when Gunn went for a tag but Helmsley refused to be tagged due to Goldust being the one in the ring. Helmsley hopped down from the apron and started walking to the back. While Gunn was looking over at Helmsley, Goldust nails Gunn with a bulldog, allowing him to pin him for the 3 count. Decent match.

Winner: Goldust and Marc Mero

Rating: 7/10

Prior to the match, HBK comes out with a chair in hand. Once he got to the ringside area he set the chair up, looks into the camera, and says "This seat is for you big guy", referring to the Sid/HBK segments that occurred earlier in the night.  Faarooq starts to come out with the Nation behind him, however, he motions to them to stay at the top of the ramp. Faarooq can be heard telling them to "Not to allow Ahmed or anybody come down the ramp".  Once Faarooq is down in the ring, Sycho Sid's music hits as the WWF Champion heads out. The Nation members look over at Sid and Sid tells them to "move over". The Nation steps aside allowing Sid to walk freely down the ramp, even though Faarooq gave them strict orders to not allow anybody down. Sid gets over to the chair HBK set up and knocks it over. As HBK is focused on Sid, Faarooq attacks HBK from behind and the match starts. Great match between these two, mainly due to HBK, however, Faarooq was still very impressive. HBK was distracted on and off throughout the match because of Sid's presence at ringside. Only in professional wrestling would you invite someone down to the ring and then be distracted by them the entire match. At around the 11-minute mark, HBK gets distracted by Sid once again. HBK hops on the ropes, and starts yelling at him. The ref heads over to try to break up the confrontation. This allows Faarooq time to get out of the ring, grab the chair that HBK brought down to ringside and get back into the ring. Faarooq lifts the chair above his head, preparing to hit HBK when Ahmed Johnson comes running in through the crowd (come on Nation, did you really think he was going to come down the ramp!). Ahmed grabs the chair out of Faarooq's hand and throws the chair out of the ring. Faarooq turns around only to be met with a Pearl River Plunge. The Nation now comes running down the ramp to get Ahmed Johnson as he slides out of the ring and escapes through the crowd. HBK turns around to see Faarooq laying on the ground, dazed and slowly trying to get himself up. Once Faarooq finally does find himself up, HBK steps over and nails Faarooq with a Sweet Chin Music. HBK then pins Faarooq for the 1,2,3. 

Winner: Shawn Michaels

Rating: 8/10

After the match, Sid hits the ring hard and attacks HBK. After a minute or so of fighting, Faarooq finally is able to get himself up and then starts to help Sid with the attack. Sid and Faarooq end up with the upper hand. However, once it seems as if HBK has been defeated, Ahmed Johnson comes running back into the ring, this time from the ramp, and attacks Sid and Faarooq. Sid and Faarooq then turn their attention to Ahmed. Within seconds of turning their backs on HBK, Michaels is able to get himself back up and is then seen jumping onto Faarooq. As the show comes to an end we are left with Faarooq and Sid brawling with HBK and Ahmed in the ring. 

Rating: 8/10

Fun show to start off the 2-hour era of RAW.  Some great segments and many decent matches. Even though WWF has a couple of great storylines going right now, I still think they need more high-quality storylines if they wish to keep up with WCW.