WWF: Survivor Series 1997

A role-reversal? Sounds like it could be interesting.

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Road Dogg & Billy Gunn def. The New Blackjacks via pinfall. Road Dogg & Gunn drew a lot of heat tonight, and used cheap tactics around every turn as they have been recently. Billy Gunn got the pin on Windham with a roll-up and putting his feet on the middle rope for extra leverage.

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The Legion of Doom are standing by backstage with Kevin Kelly. Kevin asks them about their team winning at last nights' Survivor Series. Road Dogg and Billy Gunn come walking up and ask why Kevin is interviewing "some has-been tag team" when he should be interviewing "the future of tag teams". These comments start a small brawl between the two teams before it is broken up by a big group of agents and referees.

Sunny is making her way down to the ring as she is announced as the special guest ring announcer for the following contest. J.R. and King acknowledge that Brian Christopher has joined them on commentary for the opening match as well.[/i]

Taka Michinoku def. Sho Funaki via pinfall. This match was a part of the first round of the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship tournament. Brian Christopher was on commentary during the match and put as the man that will be the face of the WWF Light Heavyweight division. Taka connected with the Michinoku Driver to put him away in a decent match.

Taka celebrated his victory in the ring, while Brian Christopher continued to boast about how great he claims to be, and Lawler agreed with him.

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”Marvelous” Marc Mero and Sable make their way down the ramp. Mero’s scheduled opponent for tonight, Steve Blackman is already in the ring. Mero circles around the ring, and gets in Butterbean’s face, who is sitting in the front row. Mero tells Butterbean he is a better boxer and would knock him out in three rounds or less, then starts accusing Butterbean of checking out Sable and challenges Butterbean to fight him. Butterbean looks clearly confused as to what has gotten in to Mero’s head and asks him what his problem is. Mero just continues on and on, until Butterbean shut him with a right hand that caused Mero to retreat. The fans cheered and chanted “Sable!” and “Butterbean!” as Butterbean was escorted out of the arena by security.

We see Commissioner Slaughter backstage holding the WWF European Championship belt in his hands. He announces that as a result of the aftermath of the Survivor Series main event, Shawn Michaels has been stripped of the WWF European Championship. The camera then zooms out and we see the original European Champion, the British Bulldog. Slaughter makes the announcement that the WWF European Championship has been awarded back to the British Bulldog. He hands the title to Bulldog, who smiles as he accepts the belt and places it over his shoulder.

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The WWF Rewind shows still-frame shots from the Survivor Series Elimination Match last night where Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson and The L.O.D. defeated The Nation of Domination.

Ahmed Johnson def. Faarooq via pinfall. The Rock came down to ringside when Faarooq was well in control of the match, causing him to be distracted and allowing Ahmed to take control. Ahmed drilled him with the Pearl River Plunge for the victory.

Ahmed connected with a second Pearl River Plunge after the match, and stood over Faarooq, looking satisfied with damage. The Rock got up on the ring apron as if he was going to come to Faarooq ‘s aid, but rather waited for the rest of the Nation of Domination to come running down to the ring. Shamrock quickly let go and got out of the ring untouched, while the Nation members checked on Faarooq, who was clearly pissed off at The Rock.

We see the Disciples of Apocalypse entering the arena parking lot on their custom Titan motorcycles. J.R. mentions that 8-Ball and Skull will be in action tonight against The Godwinns.

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The lights go out, and the theme music of Kane begins to play as the eerie red lighting fills the arena. Paul Bearer leads Kane down to the ring, where thankfully there are no bodies for Kane to dispose of. Bearer grabbed a microphone and began talking about The Undertaker and how Kane wants him to suffer just like he did for so many long years. He adds that one day, Kane will face The Undertaker one on one, and will prove that he is truly superior to his brother. The Undertaker walks out on to the stage and simply tells Bearer to shut up. 'Taker responded by saying that he will never fight Kane, and for that reason, Kane should not want to fight him, he should join him. ‘Taker also adds that his focus is now on regaining the WWF Championship, not fighting his own blood. Undertaker looks at Kane, while Kane looks at Paul Bearer who is shaking his head telling him not to listen.[/color]

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The WarZone music video is played, followed by another pyro display. Ross and Lawler at ringside welcome everyone to the War Zone, the second hour of Monday Night RAW. We are reminded of our main event for this evening, featuring “Stone Cold” Steve Austin defending the WWF Intercontinental title against British Bulldog.

Ken Shamrock def. Bret Hart via DQ in a non-title match. Owen Hart, British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart were all at ringside during the match. Bret dominated the opening portion of the match, and with his fellow Hart Foundation members in his corner, it wasn’t too hard to stay in control. The momentum shifted in the match when Bret went to lock in the Sharpshooter, but Shamrock revered it into an Inside Cradle, almost coming out with the win right there. Shamrock took control of the match and began working over Bret’s right leg, mostly targeting the ankle. After shining for a few minutes, Shamrock locked in the Ankle Lock and it seemed almost for sure that Bret would be forced to tap out, as Shamrock dragged him back to the middle of the ring after crawling close enough to only be a couple short inches away from grabbing the bottom rope. Owen jumped up on the ring apron to distract the referee, while Bulldog struck Shamrock across the back of the skull with the European title belt. Rather than getting away with it, the referee turned around just in time to see Bulldog in the ring with the belt, and called for the bell.

The title belt to the skull didn’t seem to effect Shamrock too much though. Bulldog picked up Shamrock for a Powerslam, but Shamrock fought his way down to his feet and hit Bulldog with a Belly to Belly Suplex, then another, then a third! Bulldog rolled out of the ring and Shamrock turned his focus back to Bret, but Owen and Neidhart dragged him out of the ring before Shamrock could get his hands back on the WWF Champion.

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In where appears to be out in a dark, wooded area, we see Dustin Runnels, who is simply standing in a black shirt and black jeans, without a trace of his Goldust character. Dustin said that for years he was nothing more than his wife’s puppet, but no longer anymore. He went on to add that during the time Terri (Marlena) was “servicing” Brian Pillman for thirty days, he finally found his true self and called Terri “nothing more than a worthless skank”. Dustin reaches into a duffle bag and pulls out his Goldust jumpsuit, boots and platinum blonde wig, then throws them into a barrel. Pronouncing the Goldust character dead, Dustin lit fire to a book of matches and tossed them in the barrel, sending it in flames.

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A graphic is shown on the screen for a match that has been signed for next week...Road Dogg and Billy Gunn challenging The Legion of Doom for the WWF Tag Team Championships!

The Godwinns def. 8-Ball & Skull via pinfall. Chainz and Crush entered the arena with 8-Ball and Skull and stayed at ringside for the match. The Jackyl lead the Truth Commission down to the ring, who began brawling with Chainz and Crush, and causing a distraction for 8-Ball and Skull. The referee got distracted as well and tried yelling at everyone outside of the ring to break up the fight, but it obviously didn’t work. Henry Godwinn took advantage of the situation and struck Skull in the face with one of their empty metal slop buckets and covered him for the three count.

The brawl continues after the match between both stables, even with The Godwinns involved, aiding the Truth Commission. The brawl lasted for a good four minutes or so and was all over; from the ring, to the stage, to the front row. With the numbers against them, the DOA lost the battle, with all of them down, but not out. The war is far from over…

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In second part of Jim Ross’ interview with Jeff Jarrett, Jarrett expresses that he feels that the WWF got a good deal when the signed him for his much money as they did, noting that there are very few wrestlers out there that have gained as experience and learned as much about the business for only being thirty years old. He gave his thoughts in a "word association" on names like Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan. Jarrett said that his ultimate goal in his wrestling career is to become the WWF Champion, and that Vince McMahon might not know it or see it yet, when he does become champion, he will cement his legacy as one of the greatest WWF Champions of all time.[/i]

The British Bulldog made his entrance for his main event match, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Owen Hart. Bulldog called for a microphone and said he will take pride in becoming the first man to simultaneously wear the WWF European and Intercontinental titles, and also adds that he is the only WWF Superstar worthy of the European Championship. He says that an American like Shawn Michaels holding the European title was nothing but a disgrace, and that he will not be putting the European title on the line tonight.

Steve Austin def. British Bulldog via pinfall to retain the WWF Intercontinental title. Great match $here, back and forth right from the start. Owen Hart left the announce table and tried to get involved twice, and after the second time he was ejected from ringside. Austin won with a Stunner.

Owen came running back down to the ring, grabbing the Intercontinental title from ringside and running back up the ramp. By the time Austin noticed what happened, Owen was already back at the top of the ramp. Owen held the title above his head and declared that he was still the true champion and Austin left the ring in pursuit of his title and Hart. The show came to an end with Austin running through the backstage area chasing after Owen.
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While I enjoyed the first shows, I would have to disagree about Flash Funk being a competitor in the LHW tournament. He was always a high flyer, but never small enough to compete in a small weight class. While in WWF, Scorpio usually weighed around 220-230. The maximum weight for LHW in WWF was 215 lbs.

The rest of it seems like Bret Hart being in Shawn Michaels' position with him feuding with Shamrock and Mero with Butterbean, NAO/LOD etc. Other than that, I enjoyed it. Particularly Steve Corino advancing in the tournament.