WWF Raw 4/21/97

1. The Sultan vs. Ahmed Johnson – 3
This was better than it looked on paper. Ahmed got in a good scissors kick and an equally good axe kick. Sultan looked pretty good as well busting out a stiff sidekick. Rest hold segment seemed really out of place. End featured the Nation coming down as a distraction and Ahmed killing Sultan with a 2x4.

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (Street Fight) – 6
Man, this was some really great stuff here. Started off with a 3-on-1 assault with Bret, Owen, and British Bulldog just beating the crap out of Austin until Shawn Michaels of all people made the save with a chair. Bret had a noticeable limp which would play into the match. Some really stiff chair shots here from Austin, mainly to Bret’s injured knee and a really hard one right to his side. This was the injury angle which set Bret out of action until the Canadian Stampede pay-per-view in July of ’97.

3. Salvatore Sincere vs. Tiger Ali Singh – 3
Lots of overselling early by ol’ Sal here, the former Johnny Gunn in AWF. Interesting to see here how much they were putting over Tiger huge on commentary when in the long run he wound up amounting to pretty much nothing. Things stayed simple as Tiger was pretty green. Sloppy spin wheel kick ended it.

4. “Double J” Jesse James vs. RockaBilly – 2
Oh my God, I forgot about BOTH of these ridiculous gimmicks. Double J was masquerading as a country music singer and RockaBilly, well I’m not sure what he was supposed to be. Weird to see both of these wrestling one-on-one when by the end of the year they would be tag partners. Also really strange to see Honky Tonk Man managing RockaBilly and even stranger to see RockaBilly use Honky Tonk’s finisher.

5. The Undertaker vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley – 5
I clearly remember these two fighting on Shotgun and HHH taking a tombstone on an escalator. This was a good, long match and gave Hunter, who was stuck in the mid-card, a chance to shine. Hunter was bouncing around for Take quite well and also got in some good offense. Taker got in a big legdrop to the back of the HHH’s head and took a stiff header into the steps. I really, really liked this until we got a wild finish with Mankind and a blowtorch.