What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - January 19, 1998

-Before I get into this week’s review, I wanted to know if any readers had feedback on the WWE 2k14 game.  I bought WWE 13 and was irritated by the one count glitch.  Worth a buy this year or not?  I just don’t want to get burned again.

-A still image of Juanita McMahon, who recently passed away, is shown.

-Michael Cole narrates a video package about Kane’s turn on his brother at last night’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

-Jim Ross, Michael Cole, and Kevin Kelly are in the booth and they are live from Fresno, California.

-Paul Bearer comes out to the Undertaker’s old theme music and gloats about setting the Undertaker up at the Royal Rumble.  He goes through a lengthy narration about last night’s events until the Undertaker’s current theme music hits and druids roll out a casket.  Instead of the Undertaker, Kane pops out of the casket and that ends the segment.  This started with lots of crowd heat, but Bearer’s recap of last night went on way too long and killed the segment.  0 for 1

-Ross interviews D-Generation X and European Champion Triple H says that he proved last night that Owen Hart can’t cut it in the WWF.  WWF Champion Shawn Michaels promises that DX will find the Undertaker and bring him back tonight.

-Opening Six Man Tag Team Contest:  Faarooq, Kama Mustafa & D-Lo Brown wrestle The Disciples of Apocalypse to a double disqualification at 4:40:

Surprisingly, this match features a lot of fast action and the commentary team puts over D-Lo Brown’s potential throughout the match.  When all hell breaks loose, referee Earl Hebner can’t keep things under control and tosses the match out for a lame ending.  After the bell, Mark Henry and the Rock run out to give the Nation five-on-three odds, but Ken Shamrock and Ahmed Johnson run out to even the odds and they run the Nation off.  Kevin Kelly says Ahmed has never look better, but I would disagree.  Ending aside, this was a good brawl and the crowd was hot for the finish.  Rating:  ** (1 for 2)

-Vince Russo, in his Vic Venom days, hypes WWF and RAW Magazine.  Call 8-15-734-1161 to get twelve issues of both for $29.97.  I had a WWF Magazine subscription at this time and it was a pretty good read while Russo was at the helm.  When he left, it went way downhill.

-“Marvelous” Marc Mero (w/Sable) beats Tom Brandi with a TKO at 3:29:

As they come down to the ring, Mero puts Sable in a robe that says “Property of Marc Mero” on the back of it.  During the first minute of the match, Sable gets flowers from a secret admirer and Mero berates Sable over it.  This distractions help Brandi take the edge over Mero and he scores several dramatic near-falls, but as Sable momentarily distracts the referee, Mero hits a low blow and achieves another tainted win.  This match showed that Brandi could go, but awful gimmicks ruined any chance he had to catch on in the company and he was gone shortly after this feud.  Rating:  **½ (2 of 3)

-D-Generation X cautiously approaches a hearse in the arena, but when they open the doors a bunch of young women hop out and Chyna closes Michaels and Triple H in there with them.  Why these women were in the hearse to begin with is never explained.

-The Sony Playstation Slam of the Week is Vader’s Vader Bomb on Goldust at last night’s Royal Rumble.

-Mike Tyson’s limousine is shown pulling into the arena.  Shane McMahon, Tyson, and his entourage get out of the limos.

-The Quebecers defeat Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie by disqualification when Jack puts the referee in the Mandible Claw at 3:03:

The Quebecers return to the company after a three year absence.  They were a temporary acquisition during the Monday Night Wars, as they wrestled in WCW prior to this as the Amazing French Canadians.  Unfortunately, the Quebecers are not wearing their awesome mountie-style uniforms.  You would think that a former three-time tag team championship team would get more billing upon their return, but that’s not the case here.  This is a wild brawl, which goes beyond the bell.  If this is meant to set up a rematch for next week, then it accomplished its purpose.  Rating:  ** (3 of 4)

-D-Generation X come across the mini wrestlers in their search for the Undertaker.  The minis speak Spanish, so they don’t understand DX, but in a funny moment, Chyna lifts Max Mini up so Shawn Michaels can interrogate him.  Is this whole thing a parody of when they had Leslie Nielsen track down the Undertaker at SummerSlam 1994?

-Mike Tyson is shown chatting with Vince McMahon and his cronies.

-NWA North American Heavyweight Championship Match:  Jeff Jarrett (Champion w/Jim Cornette & The Rock N’ Roll Express) beats Bradshaw (w/Barry Windham) when Windham inadvertently lariats Bradshaw at 3:41:

There is something ironic about Cornette saying that Jarrett will lead the NWA into the year 2000, since Jarrett was on top of WCW in 2000 when it started to fall apart.  Throughout the match, the Express help beat down Bradshaw when it appears that he is getting an advantage in the match and Windham does not help.  Bradshaw appears to have the title won after clearing the Express out of the ring and delivering a powerbomb, but Windham seems to accidentally hit his partner with a lariat to help Jarrett retain the title.  Another short, yet solid match on tonight’s card.  Rating:  ** (4 of 5)

-After the match, Bradshaw continues his fight with the NWA faction and Windham comes into the ring when the NWA faction has the advantage.  He then turns on Bradshaw by hitting him with another lariat and he is the new member of the NWA faction.  If you want living proof that the WWE will not give up on someone, just look at Bradshaw.  The guy went through three different gimmicks before they found something that caught on (the APA faction with Faarooq).

­-The announce crew hypes the house show circuit.

-Shawn Michaels complains in the locker room that he cannot find the Undertaker, when suddenly the lights go out.

-Vince McMahon narrates a quick video package to pay tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.

-As we enter hour two, Jerry “the King” Lawler joins Ross for commentary.

-The Undertaker’s music hits and a figure that appears to be the Undertaker descends from the top of the arena.  However, when the lights hit, the D-Generation X music hits and Shawn Michaels strips off the Undertaker’s ring gear.  Triple H and Chyna bring a grill and cooking supplies to the ring and they proceed to mock the Undertaker being burned alive last night.  Triple H announces that he will grant a European title match to Owen Hart next week and then hilariously rips Ric Flair by saying that Space Mountain is old, broken down, and in need of repair.  Michaels says that his next target is Steve Austin and delivers a nice opening salvo for their feud by saying that he has won the titles that Austin has won in the past, that he is on the top of the mountain, and that he does not lay down for anyone.  This whole segment was great in terms of transitioning DX away from the Undertaker and into other feuds.  It also put over the WWF title and immediately put over Austin-Michaels as a must see event.  5 of 6

-Mike Tyson is shown talking with the Legion of Doom and Sunny.

-Owen Hart, Taka Michinoku & The Headbangers defeat Los Boricuas when Owen makes Jesus submit to the Sharpshooter at 2:59

This is a very random match, but it shows why tag team matches can be ideal ways to fill two hours of television programming.  Honky Tonk Man is doing commentary for some reason, but thankfully he’s not looking for a new project like he was last year.  They should’ve given this more time, but it was just a vehicle to put over Owen for next week’s match with Triple H.

-After the match, Cole interviews Owen, who accepts Triple H’s offer of a European title match on next week’s show.

-Non-Title Match:  The Rock (Intercontinental Champion) pins Ahmed Johnson with the Rock Bottom at 2:43:

Speaking of random matches, it’s surprising that this match is being held without any build since Ahmed is a former Intercontinental champion and might be able to give a rub to the Rock.  Ahmed appears to have the match in hand after he hits a spinebuster, but Mark Henry comes out and nails him with a chair to help the Rock win the bout.  After the match, Ken Shamrock hits the ring and runs off the heels.

-Mike Tyson is shown handling Cactus Jack’s barbed wire baseball bat in the locker room.

-Highlights of last night’s casket match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels constitute the Western Union Rewind segment.

-Mike Tyson is shown measuring Triple H and Chyna’s muscles.

-WWF Tag Team Championship Match:  The New Age Outlaws (Champions) defeat The Godwinns when Billy Gunn pins Phineas with a loaded pig at 4:53:

This match is the Godwinns long awaited title match that they earned for helping the Outlaws in their feud with the Legion of Doom.  The Outlaws wear overalls for the contest, but the Godwinns don’ take kindly to that and rip them off of Billy Gunn.  Ross notes that it’s the first time we’ve seen Gunn in tights, which reflects a nice attention to detail that is missing from today’s product.  The Godwinns completely dominate Gunn, but he uses a pig toy, loaded with a brick, to help his team retain the titles.  These teams just don’t have a lot of chemistry.  Rating:  *¼ (5 of 7)

-Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out if it will be a “macho” week for the WWF!

-Vince McMahon comes out and says that he will soon make the biggest announcement in WWF history.  McMahon welcomes Mike Tyson out, who says that he loves Bruno Sammartino.  McMahon announces that Tyson will be at WrestleMania, but before he can finish his sentence, Steve Austin comes out.  A sea of WWF officials immediately race out behind Austin and McMahon is not happy about him ruining Tyson’s time.  Austin says that he is sick of Tyson’s antics tonight, refuses to shake Tyson’s hand, and says that he wants a piece of him in a WWF ring.  He then flips Tyson off, which leads to Tyson pushing Austin and leading to both men being restrained.  During the melee, one of Tyson’s entourage tries to go after Austin, but Austin intelligently takes him down and lays on top of him to avoid having the entire angle and his image compromised.  As Austin is pulled out of the ring, McMahon becomes irate and screams “You’ve ruined it!” at Austin and tries to physically go after him as Austin is escorted to the locker room.  This is one of the greatest RAW segments of all time and I marked out watching it just as much as I did when it originally aired.  6 of 8

-In the locker room, Tyson and his entourage are shown arguing with McMahon, who tries to apologize for Austin’s behavior as we go off the air.

The Final Report Card:  This was a memorable, historic, and fantastic episode of RAW.  The D-Generation X and Tyson-Austin segments carried it, but the in-ring action was also quite good for most of the show.  I remember that everyone at school was talking about Tyson and Austin the next day and it also got the WWF significant mainstream attention from the sports media.  It was one of those angles that was perfectly placed, timed, and executed and no one else on the roster could have made it work except for Austin.  McMahon played a great supporting role as well, especially his nonverbal mannerisms when all hell broke loose in the ring.  This was also the highest rated RAW of all-time to this point and was the first RAW to break the 4.0 mark in the Nielsen ratings.  Compared to the previous week, Tyson was worth about a 0.6 increase.

Monday Night War Rating:  4.0 (vs. 4.5 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up