WWF RAW 9/8/1997

Written by: Matt Peddycord

WWF: Raw is War
September 8, 1997
Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati Gardens

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Bret Hart (8/3/1997)
Intercontinental Champion: Steve Austin (8/3/1997)
European Champion: Davey Boy Smith (3/3/1997)
World Tag Team Champions: The Headbangers (9/7/1997)

Still shots over commentary sound bites are shown of some of the happenings from Ground Zero.

TIME TO GET RAW! Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.

Vince McMahon meets Commissioner Slaughter in the ring to start the show. Slaughter is very upset over the lack of law and order that occurred last night at Ground Zero. He DEMANDS order whether the WWF or the WWF fans like it or not. As for Stone Cold Steve Austin, he is stripped of the WWF Intercontinental championship and a tournament will begin here tonight. The finals will take place at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5 in St. Louis and Austin has been ordered to appear (despite his suspension) and present the IC title to the winner. With that said, the glass breaks and here comes Steve Austin to confront Slaughter. Austin refuses to be ordered around and gripes about how little he’s being paid now that he’s out with an injury. As for delivering the IC title to the tournament winner, Austin says the only thing he will deliver is a big can of whoop ass to Slaughter’s front door. KICK WHAM STUNNER to Commissioner Slaughter. First Jim Ross, now an authority figure! Of course the crowd is eating all of this up like strawberry pie, but Vince McMahon is beyond disappointed. Austin goes over and puts on Vince’s headset, but that can only work for so long before the people in the front row won’t stop putting their hands on him and he heads to the back.

After the break, referees, agents, and various security people try to escort Austin out of the building. He ain’t leaving – UH UH – not by a long shot.

No Holds Barred: WWF Champion Bret Hart vs. Vader
Bret – “Hey Cincinnati, you buncha idiots.” From there, Bret goes through his usual tirade hating on America because they are hating on heroes. Vader tries to BUM RUSH THE SHOW, but Bret bashes him with the WWF title belt. Vader returns the favor in kind and breaks the Canadian flagpole on his knee. Out on the floor, Bret whips Vader into the steps and then beats him with them. Davey Boy Smith heads out to keep an eye on his brother-in-law to take us into commercial. When we come back, Vader is in control battering Bret in the ring. Bret fights back and headbutts the groin before delivering a suplex. Bret tries to untie the top turnbuckle pad, but can’t quite pull it off. Vader regroups and whips Bret into the corner a few times before giving him the POWERBOMB. He wants to put Bret away with the VADER BOMB, but here comes the British Bulldog to make it 2-on-1. Naturally, here comes the Patriot, but Bret and Bulldog have backup in Owen Hart. Bret arms himself with a chair and wipes out Vader and Patriot. You can pretty much rule this match as a no-contest. (8:00 shown) When they decide to give Patriot a spike piledriver on a chair, Steve Austin returns to the ring to get him a piece of Owen. He chases the Hart Foundation away with the steel chair to send the crowd into another frenzy. Told ya he hadn’t left. *½

In the ring, the Godwinns toss out a couple of jabronis and call out the Headbangers. The new tag champs accept the challenge!

Non-title match: WWF Tag Team Champions The Headbangers vs. The Godwinns
Just a quick match to set up a hot tag to Mosh and the introduction of a new hillbilly character. When Mosh hits Phineas with the MOSH PIT, some “fan” in overalls hits Mosh with a horseshoe and then clears out of the ring. Phineas turns Mosh over and gets the pinfall. (3:08) After the bell, security is trying to take care of this person, but the Godwinns tell them to chill. Jim Ross wants to know who this man is. Henry tells JR AND THE WORLD that this man is their Uncle Cletus. He’s a bad dude, ya’ll. Cletus is in fact best known as the Dirty White Boy or TL Hopper – depending on how deep your fandom lies. ¾*

Sunny comes out to introduce the first match of the IC title tournament. She says she’s going to be getting all the hot scoops in the men’s locker room near the showers. Yeah, that’s about where you would probably find Sunny around this time in her life.

WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Dude Love vs. Brian Pillman
Dude Love brings back up in the form of Goldust. He debuts a new look with only half his face painted in black and gold. Since he’s the Cincinnati Kid and would more than likely be cheered over Dude Love despite trapping and raping another man’s wife, Brian Pillman REFUSES to show up tonight. He’s in fact way too exhausted after last night’s activities. Instead, he introduces us to part one of the Brian Pillman XXX Files. This is so 1997. Anyways, Pillman is basically a weirdo raper guy and his hotel room probably smells like sex. He tells Goldust that he knew Terri was spunky, but she’s a MACHINE in the sack. Clothes are everywhere, hotel tables are turned over, and the bed is a total wreck – just like Terri’s nether regions, AMIRITE Brian? Dustin, it’s almost 10PM. Do you know where your wife is? Well, Brian Pillman does. We will witness part two of Pillman’s XXX Files very soon. Who would have thought a year ago there could be someone who could play better mind games than Goldust?

AND NOW WE ENTER THE WARZONE! Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.

Piratita Morgan vs. Max Mini
Since it was such a hit last night, we get more TV time for the little people. Max does a bunch of the same armdrags and headscissors moves we saw last night. He delivers a somersault plancha though which is pretty cool. Back inside, he lands a missile dropkick (FROM THE TOP ROPE) and winds up Morgan in La Magistral cradle for the three-count. (2:43) You would think this would be it for midget wrestling on Raw, but nope. They keep it going until they get around the Light Heavyweight title tournament in November. *½

Vince McMahon brings out the Undertaker to the ring. Taker says he has to hand it to Shawn Michaels for staring death in the face last night. He felt Shawn’s fire, and Shawn felt his fire. Taker will not stop until HBK’s flesh is rotting from his bones. The Hell in a Cell will be the beginning of the end. Shawn will have to face the reaper and will pay for his crimes. Michaels interrupts on the TitanTron and admits that he escaped within an inch of his life, but the fact remains that he did escape because he is a survivor. Just in case Taker thinks he can bring Shawn Michaels down, Shawn will not go down without taking the Undertaker with him. Taker gets the last word telling us that at Badd Blood in the Hell in a Cell, Shawn Michaels will rest in peace.

Backstage, Sunny interviews the Hart Foundation. Owen Hart isn’t scared of Steve Austin still lurking around the arena. He’s got Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith right by his side. Tonight begins Owen’s quest for regaining the IC title that Austin stole away from him.

WWF Intercontinental Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Owen Hart (w/Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith) vs. Goldust
Unfortunately for Goldust, he doesn’t have Dude Love by his side to protect him from anybody. Owen never even gets his jacket off before a man-hating Goldust beats up poor Owen and punches him square in the balls for the DQ. (2:10) The Hart Foundation do a number on Goldust until Steve Austin appears from out of nowhere to clean house with a FREAKING RAKE in his hands. Yeah, a yard rake. Once that’s over, Austin calls out Vince to come get some if he doesn’t like it. Vince stands up and takes off his headset, but pusses out. ½*

After recovering from his beat down, Goldust is still in the ring. Time for part two of Pillman’s XXX Files. After a hard night’s work, Terri needs a hot shower. Pillman films a steamy bathroom with “I <3 U” drawn on the mirror. He hopes Goldust sleeps well tonight because Pillman KNOWS he’ll be working HARD, if you get his drift.

The Hart Foundation are backstage waiting to give their reaction to what Steve Austin just did to them. Bret has been preaching about this for six months. When is the WWF FINALLY going to do something about Austin? Bret wants Commissioner Slaughter to suspend Steve Austin for life. Davey Boy Smith hypes his match against Shawn Michaels on September 20 at One Night Only over in the UK. Owen gets the last word and promises to win back his IC title.

The Patriot vs. Davey Boy Smith vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna)
For some reason, Savio Vega joins the commentary table. During Davey Boy Smith’s entrance, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Shawn Michaels do a number on his knee while Chyna directs traffic. So much for the Bulldog being in tonight’s main event. Instead, we get Savio Vega – the winner of last night’s triple threat match.

The Patriot vs. Savio Vega vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna)
There’s a ton of the standard triple-threat nonsense going on here with Savio Vega and Patriot teaming up against HHH, but then Vega turns on Patriot because he doesn’t want Patriot to win. Rinse, wash, repeat. Shawn Michaels heads down to take us into commercial. When we return, he’s at the commentary table. He’s just here to make sure everything goes the way it’s supposed to go. What a huge mistake this match was. HUGE. This was a fine show up until this point. The crowd is chanting “boring” quite a bit here. Hebner gets nailed as Helmsley ducks a SPINNING HEEL KICK from Savio while he’s trying to nail Patriot with the Pedigree. Savio dumps out Patriot and counters the Pedigree with a catapult into Patriot who gets crotched on the top rope. SPINNING HEEL KICK to Helmsley connects. This is such a mess. HHH yanks Savio into Patriot and schoolboys him for the 1-2-3. (11:46 shown) Afterwards, Vader joins the other members of Los Boricuas as they surround the ring. Chyna jumps inside the ring and arms Helmsley and Michaels with chairs. The Hart Foundation start to head down (yes, including the British Bulldog…it’s a miracle!), but we’re outta time! ¾*