Written by: Kevin Kindelberger
WWF RAW 1/26/98
The fallout from the Tyson/Austin incident continues as well as the preparation for the Rumble. Not much to say here as I just want to see what happens and hope there is some wrestling tonight. The ratings dropped but still were strong with a 3.5 across the board. Nitro received a 4.7 off of 4/9, 4.8 and 4.4 as it now enters three hours for the next two years! Shit this is going to take some time.
Tyson does not want to do anything with WM as he wants a piece of Austin!
Match 1: Mark Henry v. Ken Shamrock
The members of the Nation yell for him to come on down and Shamrock brings Ahmed out as backup. Now they are calling out someone else and it is DoA riding their bikes down. I think Crush is gone….almost forgot about him.
Ken hits him but Henry goes off on him, hitting and running him over. He powerslams him and gets a two count and follows up with a backbreaker and now a bearhug. Shamrock pokes the eye but is bodyslammed and put back in the bearhug. Shamrock escapes but is knocked down and back in the bearhug and guess what he escapes but this time he takes down Henry after a series of blows. The Nation enters the ring and now everyone is in the ring. Rock grabs his belt and the fans had been chanting he sucks the entire time. The Nation retreats and heads to the back. Shamrock wins via DQ.
Okay but too short again.
Windham is talking about being a part of the NWA and the greatest champ. He was tired of hanging out with Yosemite Sam and JJ states he is leading the NWA into the 21st Century.
Match 2: Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham v. LoD
Windham and Animal start off. Barry knees him a couple of times until dropped by a shoulder tackle and two clotheslines. Barry rolls to the floor as the fans chant LoD. Hawk and JJ are in and Hawk nails him with a neckbreaker but gets planted onto the ropes where JJ leaps on him. Hawk pops right up and gorilla press slams him. The Express are on the apron and this allows Windham to catch Hawk with a forearm and now JJ nails him too. Barry gets the tag, bodyslams him, drops the elbow and gets two. Both are in and Hawk is double punched in the gut and now JJ gets two after a snap suplex. JJ goes for the sunset flip but is punched in the head; JJ holds onto the ankle and trips him up. Now Barry is in and he punches him in the gut, suplexes him. JJ is back in and he drops the elbow and whips him front first into the corner and JJ runs right back into his head and both are down. Barry is in and he is back suplexed, sorry Animal is in too, and he clotheslines JJ who then breaks up the cover. Hawk takes care of JJ with a nearly muffed flying clothesline. Animal has Barry but Cornette tosses in the tennis racket and gets the pin….barely.
A long match but only okay. Not sure where LoD is going.
HHH has pulled down his pants in the back and the belts hide his front and back. Stupid.
Chyna is wrapping HHH’s leg as Shawn is asked about Tyson. HHH answers for him as Shawn is not ready to be addressed yet. He whines as Chyna wraps his leg and calls himself more of a man than Owen and he is going to flush him down South. Shawn calls himself the mainevent and champ and how he fans thanking him and DX for being role models. It takes one bad apple to ruin it and that is Austin. HBK has taken the show to the top and Austin embarrasses a guest and the WWF. Shawn is willing to forego his title match at WM and have Tyson and Austin duke it out. HHH agrees that Shawn is modest but it is WM and he is the showstopper and the champ and the kids love him. Shawn wants to contribute something and he jokes about the mins. He takes off his coat and it is a ref shirt and Chyna whispers in his ear and Shawn can be the special ref for the Austin/Tyson match. He is not only the greatest wrestler in history but the greatest ref too.
Match 4: Vader v. Goldust
Goldust has Vader like makeup on and cowers in the corner. They lock up and Vader clubs him into the corner and then mauls him. Vader whips him into the corner, runs him over, and then back body drops him after the whip. Vader suplexes him, Goldust back kicks him in the nads as Luna distracts the ref. Goldust pounds the head and chokes him out across the rope and Luna joins in the fun. Vader is whipped, clotheslined and covered for a two count. Vader makes a comeback but his eyes are raked. Vader is whipped into the corner, but he bounces out and runs him over and then clotheslines him. Vader powerbombs him and points to the sky. He slowly heads upstairs. The Vader Bomb connects and out comes Kane! Vader goes after him and he backs him up with rights and lefts. The fans love it as he piledrives him. Kane rises up and Vader turns right into Kane who struggles to get him up but does so and Tombstones him!
The last gasp of Vader though I said that last summer. But this has potential to be fun.
Charlie and Cactus Jack are having a discussion in the ring. They discuss each other’s merits.
Match 4: New Age Outlaws (c) v. Chainsaw Charlie and Cactus Jack
Gunn slides out and kicks him and Jack suplexes him after a bit of trouble on the ramp. Charlie gets ins some offense but is worked over. Gunn wallops Jack with something as Chainsaw DDT’s Road Dog who had no sold a lowblow from Cactus Jack. Charlie is getting hammered by Dog as he is being held by Gunn and Road Dog gets a two count. Gunn is tagged in and kicks him in the head and now he and Charlie exchange a series of blows with Gunn getting the upperhand. Dog is tagged back in and he boots Charlie in the head twice and down he goes. Now he fights back but is whipped into the corner only to run over Dog but he cannot follow up as he staggers into a back suplex and he staggers some more and Jack gets the hot tag and Gunn is in too and both he and Dog get destroyed. Gunn is nailed with the double arm DDT and Road Dog leaps off the top and hits him. Charlie chucks in chairs with one hitting Gunn! The ref tries to calm him down. Gunn is flipped out and Dog charges Jack with a chair only to have it kicked back in his head. Road Dog had been wearing a cup and it is taken off and he is nutted. Jack leaps off the apron and cracks the chair over Gunn’s head and the ref DQ’s them and so he gets the Claw. Now Dog is laid out after a couple of chair shots. They bury him in chairs and Charlie fucking moonsaults on top of them! Damn.
That was fun.
Match 5: Pantera v. Brian Christopher
Honkytonk Man does the intros. Brian works him over in the corner, dumps him back on his head after a German suplex. He puts him in a headlock is pushed into the ropes but knocks him down and then a clothesline. Pantera makes a comeback and knocks him to the floor and then strikes with a suicide dive. Back in the ring, Brian is whipped into the corner but he grabs Pantera and nails him with the Skull Crushing Finale. He taunts him and then tosses him to the floor. Pantera is on the apron and Brian murders him with a sunset flip powerbomb. Brian bodyslams him, goes up to the middle rope and leaps right into a boot. Brian is whipped into the corner and he moves but Pantera does the Ultimo Dragon handstand and scissors him over for a near fall. The offensive does not last as he is powerbombed. Brian is up top and misses the guillotine leg drop and Pantera rolls him up for the win and Lawler is stunned.
Not bad. Lawler has to shake the hand of the winner and seeing as he is a man of his word he enters the ring and kicks him in the nuts and punches him in the head.
Charlie and Cactus Jack are asked about their match and they say it was fun. DX interrupts and mocks them for being hardcore legends and will let them do their thing. Outlaws kick the backdrop fence on top of them and bash them with the barrels as DX lends a helping hand and then looks on as they are dismantled. Michaels did bash them with garbage cans.
Match 6: Headbangers v. the Quebecers
Pierre is getting worked over by both Bangers but he blocks a hiptoss and clotheslines Thrasher. After a couple of stomps he and Jacques guillotine him on the top rope. Jacques holds him as Pierre clotheslines him. Thrasher ducks the double clothesline attempt and then clotheslines the Quebecers. Mosh gets the hot tag and unloads on both. Pierre is double back body dropped and their heads are cracked together. The Quebecers make a comeback and have Mosh set up for their finisher but Thrasher stops Jacques and Pierre is rolled up and finished.
After the match the Quebecers annihilate the Headbangers.
Match 7: Owen Hart v. HHH (c) for WWF European Title
Goldust comes out dressed as HHH and someone as Chyna….not Luna I think. Owen is not too happy. The fake Chyna has the belt. Owen is hit from behind and the clotheslined after the whip. Goldust stomps a hole in him. Owen is knocked to the floor and gets on the apron and he bashes Goldust’s head off the buckle and then gets a near fall after a rear crossbody. Goldust hits him and then drops the knee for a two count. Owen is whipped into the corner but Owen kicks him back only to have his face raked, snapped over and put in a rear chinlock. The fake Chyna pulls on Goldust’s leg to give him leverage. Owen fights back up but gets a knee buried into the gut. Goldust gets a two count and hits him a few times as the fans are not happy and basically call it BS. Owen wraps him up for a near fall but Goldust drops him and goes after the leg.
Commercial.
Goldust is back dropped and the nailed with a spinkick. Owen pounds him in the corner and then mounts him and pounds him some more. Down goes Dust after an enzuguri. Owen is up and finds the mark with a missile dropkick. Chyna….It is Luna, nice transformation, grabs the leg and Goldust attempts the Pedigree and it is countered with the Sharpshooter and it is over.
DX are in the back making fun of Owen and how stupid he and his family are. They are always one step ahead and continue to ramble. Slaughter heads to the ring and tells DX that their prank was pretty good and that they pulled another fast one. Goldust was supposed to play HHH and they make fun of Slaughter for the obvious implication. Slaughter was so convinced that he decided to make a judgment call, and Owen had a sanctioned match tonight and since he won he is now the European title and HHH and Shawn throw a fit but the fans like it.
This was a WCW shenanigan and the fans did not like it. HHH has been hurt but he did not want to job to Owen either. Why? He is a douche.
They show the media coverage of Tyson and the WWF.
Don King talks about electricity and how Tyson and Austin want each other and so on March 29 they will…..nope the Nevada State Commission does not want him to fight, so he and Vince have to create a way to do just that without vioating the rules. He hypes it up coming to PPV as we cannot afford to miss this pleasure etc. Something has got to give and something will on March 29.
Tyson was banned from boxing but not a staged fight to my recollection, so it smacks of BS. Then again I am sure Tyson did not want to lose a wrestling match and can you really trust him? Guy is certifiable and I am lucky he cannot read….so being a ref is the best that can be done at least in my opinion.
Stone Cold! He has the mic and last week really pissed him off. Tyson pushed him in front of the world and thought he was going to get away without payback. Tyson is going to find out firsthand that you do not mess with Austin. He is supposed to be a big tough boxer but he does not give a rats ass. He will beat his ass in Tyson’s backyard, his own or anyone’s. He will give him his cell number and yes his beeper. He will knock out that gold tooth and turn it into a necklace. Austin will be in Houston at the next PPV and all Tyson has to do is show up and if he does so he will knock his ass out.
Final Thoughts: This is it? I swear it was much shorter. I wonder if it was a little less as it was ten minutes less than normal but I do not think I missed anything. Anyway, they are handling the Austin/Tyson feud with perfection. It is nothing special as Tyson is a boxer but it is still pretty damn sweet. There was more wrestling tonight and overall the show was the strongest in some time. Shamrock and the Rock has potential, Owen got a belt but is losing steam as a top face, which is unfortunate. Kane and Vader should be good and I like Cactus Jack and Terry Funk. Still, Nitro is better right now but RAW is improving every week this month.