Monday, March 30, 2009

WWE Monday Night Raw- 02/13/1997 from SkyDome in Toronto

1) Vader v. Stone Cold Steve Austin- 2
2) Flashfunk v. Savio Vega- 4
3) British Bulldog/ Owen Hart v. Doug Furnas/ Phil LaFon (WWF Tag Title Match)- 5
4) Crush v. Goldust- 4
5) HHH v. Marc Mero (WWF IC Title Match)- 5

The opener never got started because Bret Hart came down and started pounding the snot out of Austin; Vader stepped in and he & Bret went at it. Finally the match started and it was nothing but punches with no one selling them and Vader landing some stiff clotheslines. Ended in a Double CO outside, pretty lame. Funk & Vega, both athletic guys,one with a legendary boner, one not, Funk threw some cool kicks and landed a 180 splash that got a good near fall. The ending sequence was just downright insulting; Vega layed on the mat for a good 4 minutes, as Funk went up, splash the Nation outside, kicked D'Lo's head off, then got back in went up top and missed a moonsault and that pinned Funk. Shitty ending.

Tag Title match was really well planned out; cool old school lay out with Furnas having a 104 degree fever and getting pounded, but also getting pinfalls as the heels distract the ref for a moment. All 4 men were extraordinary workers so even lull periods have some good moves in them; La Fon looked really great for the comeback, hitting some cool kicks and suplexes. Finish lagged though, Owen feinged a knee injury and Bulldog did the laziest powerslam in recorded history after a Dusty finish. Goldust actually worked Crush's arm quite a bit here, didn't all look good, but he tried to slow it down. Crush actually looked worse on offense than he did on defense; bungling a stun gun attempt and looking awkward trying to hit a running clothesline. Hope they didn't bury him in that horrid attire he was wearing.

Helmsley and Mero was another well done title match, especially for TV. Helsmley was a good foundation wrestler who had a good move set, some power stuff, but could keep a match going. Mero was a little crazy, doing a lot of high risk, even Ross commented that was his big downfall. The near falls near the end (sunset flip and Mero-sault) were both pretty good but the DQ finish blew away a better score it could have rested on had it ended cleanly. Main event of this show was Undertaker & Ahmed Johnson v. Faarooq & Mankind in a No Holds Barred, which I was dying to see, unfortunately the tape cut out and went to a infomercial with a bunch of acne-infested women. Needless to say, it sucked but I guess that's what you get for a dollar.

Other Angles:
- Vince interviews Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita) in the front row
- Jim Ross interviews Sid in ring
- Owen & Bulldog diffuse Royal Rumble tensions in the locker room
- Ahmed makes some comments in back and gets grabbed by the throat from Undertaker
- Blackjack Lanza at a campfire talking about the Blackjacks riding again, creepy black & white vigentte
- Tiger Ali Singh signs contract
- Vince interviews Shawn, which prompts Bret Hart to come out; stand off with belt in the middle hyping for Wrestlemania

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