STW - Revenge of the Taker [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Our episode today comes off of WrestleMania 13…the worst received WrestleMania of all-time in terms of purchases but with the best match in WrestleMania history - in my opinion - of Steve Austin & Bret Hart’s submission match.

When you come off of that show and knowing that you got Bret turning heel, a new babyface champion in Undertaker, and an even hotter babyface underneath in Steve Austin…does this rejuvenate the creative forces?

Did it seem like for one year - WrestleMania wasn’t a blow off of the main stories. Undertaker - Sid only had a 3-4 week build, Austin-Hart was just getting started, Ken Shamrock is featured in a big way for the first time, it’s a weird time in the WWF isn’t it?

The next night on Raw you draw a sell out…the change in format to Raw is War really kickstarted the arena business for television tapings - what do you think was the main reason for it?

On Raw the WWF tag team champions Owen Hart & British Bulldog have a match against the Headbangers and the building tension between the two finally boils over and they brawl to set up a European title match for the next week. Was this the plan all along once the Bret heel turn was put into motion?

Were Owen & Davey excited about forming the Hart Foundation?

From the Observer

a 22:00 angle with Bret Hart continuing the heel turn which was the highlight of the show. He went through the entire last year, trying to stay a babyface in Germany, Europe, South Africa and especially Canada and ran down the U.S. and American fans for cheering people like Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin. He got a mixed response early, but eventually the fans did boo him, but this was nothing like the Hogan turn, probably because unlike Hogan, where most of the fans hated him, the fans deep down like Hart and he was making a lot of sense, but they had to boo him since he was personally insulting them. Hart was trying to tell a credible story, unlike Hogan, who was simply a lying phony. There were fans chanting "Austin" during the interview. Bret worked very hard to put Michaels over as the face for their upcoming program. He said that Americans cheer people like Charles Manson and O.J. Simpson and glamorize criminals and told the American fans to kiss his ass. Michaels came out defending the fans and said Hart puts on a facade, unlike himself, who isn't perfect, but doesn't pretend to be. He called Bret "mark man" for taking his accomplishments in wrestling too seriously and said fans have the right to cheer and boo as they please and said he wasn't upset when fans booed him (memories are certainly short, aren't they?). Michaels challenged Hart to fight and gave an "America Love it or Leave it" line that went out in the 70s. Hart told him to go back to the dressing room and Michaels refused, and then asked Hart how he knew he was in those girlie magazines. Hart then jumped him and attacked the knee and put him in the figure four around the post. Sid came out to make the save but Bret took a powder, but flipped Sid off in the process.

This is one of those classic promos that stands the test of time - and the methodical way Bret gets there is just so great.

Were you surprised Bret was able to do this or do you think he always had it in him?

The issue with him & Shawn - with Shawn calling him mark man and Bret feeling that Shawn’s knee injury wasn’t legitimate - were you starting to see the seeds here for what will erupt over the summer?

Bret later on would attack Rocky Maivia after a match with Leif Cassidy - yeah that’s a real thing - were there thoughts of putting these two together in a program while Shawn was still coming back?

Is Bret spread too thin this early in his heel turn? Michaels, Maivia, Austin, etc

The main event segment is between Undertaker, Paul Bearer and Mankind. Bearer is attempting to make up with Taker now that he’s champion while Mankind is begging Uncle Paul not to go. A week later Mankind would throw fire in Taker’s face when he was going to attack Paul. Why Mankind as Taker’s first opponent as new champion? Did you already know you had the Kane story ready and this was the first step to it?

Was it always supposed to be Mick? There was promotional things that had been sent out for Taker - Vader…but supposedly Vader’s knee still wasn’t doing great so the idea was to move it to Mick. Is that how you remember it?

Ahmed Johnson and Faarooq have an angle where Ahmed challenges every member of NOD to a match and if he wins they have to disband but Faarooq is unable to get cleared so the match is scrapped. Were there plans this early in 97 to break up the Nation as we would see later on with the split with Savio, Crush & Faarooq?

How beat up is the roster?

The next Raw is taped and it features the classic angle of Bret interrupting what was a very good wrestling match between Bulldog and Owen to begin the reformation of the Hart Foundation.

Before we get to the Hart Foundation angle - my goodness Owen & Davey could just go together couldn’t they?

From the Observer

After a ref bump, Bret came out and broke the two of them up and did a lengthy interview blaming the American wrestling fans for breaking up their family. It was another tremendous segment with Owen in tears as Bret ran down their pasts. Bret also got in a knock at some of the brothers saying that really he and Owen were the only two members of the family that were good wrestlers. Jerry Lawler even pretended to cry and was pretending to do so for the rest of the show which was a hilarious bit.

How good is this Bruce? Vince had to have loved this right?

Honky Tonk Man comes out on his quest to find the next great Intercontinental Champion and he begins his search with Jesse Jammes. Honky hands him his family heirloom - a guitar obviously - and Jammes responds with smashing it to the mat. We’re months away from the Outlaws - but is this just something to get him going?

A lot of Ken Shamrock footage from the UFC is aired to help promote Shamrock’s impending debut. How did you get the UFC to agree to this?

Goldust vs. Helmsley was on Raw and the Observer had this to say:

“In the pull-apart, Helmsley threw down Pat Patterson. Patterson, 57, who was one of the greatest workers of his era, responded with a comeback flurry that was actually better than what Flair was doing at about the same time. Chyna ended up attacking Patterson from behind and the two stomped the hell out of him until Goldust saved him.”

Pat loved this shit didn’t he?

Alright Bruce here we go…from the Observer

Based on several different versions of the same story, Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard had a meeting on the Tuesday before Mania with Curt and Larry Hennig. According to the version the Hennigs were telling at Nitro the next week, McMahon and Prichard were one hour late and they were just about ready to walk out when they came. The sides were talking about a return to the WWF and the Hennigs pulled out the letter Prichard wrote to Lloyd's of London which resulted in Lloyd's not paying Hennig his reported $350,000 lump sum disability deal. It was basically a deal where Hennig was talking to WWF at the same about returning and WWF needed to get the legal situation straightened out with Lloyd's as to what their situation was, and it wound up as the blow up which ended with Hennig walking out and agreeing to go to WCW. The meeting really didn't go positively for WWF after that although the idea at that point that it was made clear that business between the two sides was done doesn't appear to be the case either and there was talk all week of potentially getting Hennig back. The Hennigs claimed at Nitro that Prichard backpedaled from the point they pulled out the letter with his signature and he claimed he knew nothing about it, but WCW was afraid as late as while Mania was going on that even though the Hennigs had assured them they weren't going, that it was pro wrestling and anything was possible. WCW put Larry Hennig on TV specifically to show Titan that they had Curt.

Bruce - what say you?

Steve “Dr. Death” Williams is arrested in Japan due to having marijuana - which was a big no-no back then and really so is now and it’s reported that due to the arrest that the WWF was pulling a contract offer to bring him in. Was there ever a contract offer and was it pulled because of the arrest?

Del Wilkes is rumored to come in around this time as well. Who was the person suggesting Del to come in and was it because you knew you were going USA - Bret?

From the Observer

Jim Cornette will be managing soon again. He was replaced by Raymond Rougeau on the Shotgun Challenge tapes this past week because he was suffering from a bad flu and had no voice. That's probably why when he did the angle where he offered a contract to the Blackjacks and they ripped up the contract, that the entire angle was pantomimed rather than vocal. What I expect to happen is Cornette will end up managing a heel Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon who will feud with Blackjacks, and that mix doesn't sound like it's going to get either team over. Furnas & LaFon at first were going to be managed by Bob Backlund, but Cornette is a lot better fit.

Furnas & LaFon with Bob Backlund would’ve been interesting - but was Cornette pushing to return to managing?

Along with Patterson getting bumped on Raw - Mankind put the mandible claw on Gerald Brisco on Shotgun. What’s up with the stooges getting involved around this time?

Sid missed a Raw taping due to a “back injury” and was pulled from his scheduled match with Bret at the pay-per-view. So Sid drops the title at Mania and then all of a sudden can’t work…was everybody suspicious about this?

From the Observer

The story on Sid is that he supposedly has a herniated disc in his back caused by straining the back while working out in the gym. The reason it was handled so clumsily on the 4/7 Raw is because they literally didn't know about it as the show was going and didn't know if he'd be there or not. Apparently Sid left a message at the office over the weekend, but since nobody was there and since Raw was taped on a Sunday night, nobody knew, and he didn't think to call the building to let anyone know he was hurt. He finally talked to Vince McMahon late in the week. No word on how long he'll be gone.

Is this just Sid being Sid?

Billy Gunn is the next person to turn down Honky Tonk Man. Was the goal for this to be Disco Inferno who was recently released from WCW? I ask that because Vince Russo has said that you talked to Disco and didn’t like his answers to the questions and shelved it. Is that true? I mean there was even a magazine article written in that basically says Disco is coming in…

Shawn comes out and does what is essentially a shoot interview considering that Bret is on the South African tour. From the Observer: “He said he and Bret loathe each other both in wrestling and in real life. He said Bret didn't just turn bad guy, that Bret was always a bad guy, that he used his parents, his sister and his kids to get on TV so he could make money. He said if Bret could make a buck, he'd sell his mother (there were significant boos for Shawn at that one). He said six years ago when he got the IC belt and Bret got the WWF belt that he was happy playing second fiddle to Bret but when it was Bret's turn to play second fiddle, he kicked and scratched every inch of the way. He said Bret took time off because he thought the WWF and Michaels would collapse while he was gone, but instead they had the best business they'd had in six years and asked McMahon if it was true and McMahon agreed.”

Was Vince already second guessing Bret’s contract?

Austin is inserted into Sid’s spot for his match against Mankind on Raw and tells Gorilla Monsoon that he’ll only do it if he gets a match with Bret at the pay-per-view and Monsoon agrees. Austin’s babyface turn is always well remembered as him being jumpstarted into this top spot - but it wasn’t exactly like that right out of the gate…

The Chicago Sun-Times has an article about the wars in wrestling

“The first story talked about a pro wrestling comeback with quotes from McMahon, Bischoff and myself. McMahon said the same things he's been saying about Turner wanting to put his company out of business, not caring about wrestling or the fans and complaining about Nitro being head-up against Raw. Bischoff said, "Vince likes to cry about the deep pockets of Ted Turner and Time Warner, but we are a publicly held company. I can tell you that they have more production staff, better production facilities and a much bigger marketing budget. The difference is they don't have the talent. We do because that's where we spend our money." McMahon:"If Eric Bischoff says we spend more money in every area except talent, it's a blatant tie." Bischoff:"We were profitable in 1995 and 1996. If Vince McMahon says differently, that's a blatant lie." McMahon:"They are willing to overpay for performers who are no longer in their athletic prime. There's no way I could match the exorbitant guaranteed figures of a billionaire willing to throw away his money."

Do you think Vince always tried to shoot up at Ted Turner instead of Eric to make Eric feel inferior?

ECW’s first pay-per-view Barely Legal took place in Philadelphia. Did you watch it?

BINGO!

Even though Vince really helped promote it by giving them air time on Raw - was this something anyone was ever worried about?

With half the crew in South Africa and half the crew in the states a combined Raw was taped featuring matches from both locations. When do you these types of things - how much of it is a pain in the ass?

Was anyone happy with the finished product?

From the Observer

“The sound mixing on the 4/14 Raw was worse than the darkest days of WCW. It's weird how Raw was so state of the art to where commentary done live at the building and later in studio was mixed to where nobody even knew the difference. The difference in sound from the commentary done in South Africa by Jim Ross and Honky and the sound from the studio when it was re voiced over was noticeable and came off clumsy and like an amateur production.”

Wasn’t one of these episodes what led to Vince Russo being able to become part of the writing team?

These overseas tours were highly profitable and well attended I’m assuming - but it plays hell on getting a television product together doesn’t it?

“Neville Meyer, who was the highest ranking person in the history of the Titan Sports company not named McMahon, resigned this past week. Meyer was the co-CEO of the company with Linda McMahon. We really never heard much about him after he was hired. He was supposed to be in charge of taking the business to a new level but nothing changed drastically and his leaving didn't seem to even cause that much of a stir.”

Bruce - who was Neville Meyer and what can you tell us about him?

“Both Joe Scarpa (Chief Jay Strongbow) and Jim Meyers (George Steele) have had their bookings as agents cut way back. Actually Meyers doesn't have any bookings at present.”

Was it time to move on from Chief Jay & George Steele?

After Barely Legal takes place - the Michinoku Pro wrestlers who wowed everyone end up at WWF headquarters for a meeting. What do you remember of meeting Taka Michinoku, Sho Funaki, and Dick Togo…for the first time?

Is this one of those not well promoted pay-per-views where you’re just sitting there thinking - I wish we didn’t have to have a pay-per-view this month?

Before we get to the pay-per-view - Vader decides to respond to a news reporters question in Kuwait asking if wrestling is real by gripping him up and getting arrested. Bruce - we’ve covered this before in our Vader episode in the archives at somethingtowrestle.com…but this was no laughing matter at the time was it?

We’re at the show now Bruce and the Observer describes it as forgettable even with two strong main event matches.

The show got a 47.7% thumbs down, with 34.9% thumbs up and 17.4% thumbs in the middle.

Bret Hart is walking into this show with a knee injury aggravated while on the overseas tour. Do you know if there was ever any talk of him not wrestling?

The show draws 6,477 paying $87,414 so it’s a sell out and business is great. Just doesn’t feel like a premium live event right?

“1. Legion of Doom beat WWF tag team champions Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith via DQ in 10:11. They did an apparent title switch at 6:54 with Animal pinning Smith after a powerslam off the middle rope, the ref counted the fall and the LOD was announced as the new champions. A second ref came in and explained that Smith wasn't the legal man in the ring, and the match was re-started. The re-start session went 3:17 with the LOD doing the double impact on Hart and Hawk had him pinned. In a clumsy finish, Bret Hart started his run-in a little late, as the ref had to count two and be coming down for three when Bret kicked Hawk for the DQ, which is what happened. The problem is the ref waited several seconds to start his count, which looked stupid, because he alertly saw Bret was never going to make it in the ring in time. 3/4*”

This is just starting off on a bad foot isn’t it? And putting Bret in that position to run down to the ring knowing he’s got a bad knee…not the brightest idea was it?

Dok Hendrix interviewed Owen & Bulldog. When Dok told Owen that Austin arrived, Owen & Bulldog reacted in disbelief, as if they thought they had done something to stop him from appearing as scheduled.

“2. Savio Vega beat Rocky Maivia via count out so Maivia retained the IC title in 8:33. Most of this match was a backdrop for Faarooq to do color and explain the stipulations for the one-on-three deal with Ahmed Johnson on the next PPV. So naturally Faarooq's head set didn't work and it wasn't until Jim Ross gave up his that he could get started. Actually this match wasn't nearly as good as their match in South Africa. Maivia got near falls with a belly-to-belly suplex, a uranage and a backslide. He missed a shoulderblock and flew out of the ring, crashing into Crush, who was at ringside. Crush gave Maivia the heart punch but just let him lay there to be counted out, rather than throwing him back in the ring to be pinned. After the match, Vega and Crush started arguing since Vega was mad about the count out. Faarooq got in the ring and calmed the two down, and the entire Nation attacked Maivia until Ahmed Johnson showed up with his 2x4 for the save. 3/4*”

When something like that happens at ringside with Faarooq’s headset not working - how pissed does Vince get?

The irony of this match involving Rocky Maivia and considering what would happen 6 months later with the Nation isn’t lost is it?

Dok interviewed Marc Mero and Sable. Mero said he will be back in the summer from injury and it will be a wild summer.

In the background Austin walked into the mens’ room. A ruckus broke out and Owen and Bulldog ran out of it a minute later with pipes in their hands. Dave Hebner ran out of the bathroom saying Owen & Bulldog just “messed up” Austin and that Austin needed help.

“3. Jesse Jammes pinned Rockabilly in 6:46. The place died when Billy Gunn came out as Honky's mystery protege as it was a huge letdown. Match had no heat at all. Jammes won with a small package. Honky tried to hit Jammes with his guitar after the match but Jammes got out of the way. 1/4*”

This…I’m surprised the WWF didn’t let everyone go right after this segment… how did this miss this bad? Was there an original plan not to be Billy after he already turned down Honky? Does any of this make sense?

Kevin Kelly interviewed Steve Austin who seemed to be just short of crying. Kelly asked a red-faced Austin why he was refusing medical help and he said he doesn’t need medical attention. Gorilla Monsoon said he would buy Austin extra time by putting his match last on the card.

Lance Wright interviewed the Hart Foundation. Bulldog said he and Owen were celebrating their victory over the Road Warriors in the bathroom when Austin walked in and attacked them for no reason. Bret said in reference to Austin, “The bottom line is, look who’s crying now.”

“4. Undertaker pinned Mankind in 17:26 to retain the WWF title. Really good, largely due to the performance of Mankind, who took some hard bumps and took his key bump at the perfect time. Mankind got the water pitcher from Vince McMahon's desk and broke it over Undertaker's head and followed with a hard chair shot. It was pretty clear they were going for hardway juice but either Undertaker didn't end up being cut or if he did, it wasn't noticeable on television although the announcers did say there was a cut. Mankind dropped the elbow off the middle rope to the floor and Undertaker's bandage came off his face revealing an ugly scab from the fire angle. Mankind used two piledrivers, but Undertaker got up and Mankind pulled the ref in front of him for a bump. Mankind got the mandible claw on, but no ref. When the second ref came in, Mankind put him in the mandible claw. Bearer threw in a chair and Mankind threw the ring steps into the ring. As Mankind was about to hit Undertaker with the steps, Undertaker got up and gave a sloppy dropkick to the steps which hit Mankind in the head. Mankind took the bump where he wound up hung in the ropes, which is the spot where he lost his ear in the first place. Undertaker pulled off his mask, revealing, well, we all know who he is. Undertaker then hit Mankind with the ring steps and he took this incredible header bump through the spanish announcers table. As he got back in the ring, Undertaker got a near fall with a choke slam before putting him away with the tombstone. After the match, Undertaker chased Bearer into the ring. I think Undertaker actually had to run backwards to avoid catching the speedster Bearer in an attempted full sprint. It appeared the idea was for Mankind to throw fire at Undertaker, who would pull Bearer in the way and he'd get burned. They set the spot up twice, but both times Mankind's lighter didn't work and they blew the spot. At this point it was all impromptu time as Undertaker made a comeback and got the lighter and the flash paper and wound up throwing the fire at Bearer's face. ***¾”

It is a great match and really gets Taker going as champion being with the perfect opponent to help get him solidified as the champion - but the fire angle after takes all the steam out of it until Taker just goes and lights Paul Bearer’s goddamn face on fire. Bruce - what did you think of all this?

Do you think that hurt Undertaker’s first title defense not being in the main event?

“5. Steve Austin beat Bret Hart via DQ in 21:09. A very good match, but not on the level of their previous two PPV matches. Austin destroyed Hart early until another ref bump. Hart got a chair and used it on Austin's bad knee five times and did the figure four around the post. Hart gave three more chair shots to the knee but Austin got up and actually made a comeback without selling the knee hardly at all. This match didn't have nearly the heat you'd think it would have for a well-worked match and such a hot feud. Hart used a superplex off the top rope and went for the sharpshooter, but Austin hit Hart in the knee with his knee brace that was on the mat. Austin put the sharpshooter on Hart when Owen and Bulldog came out. Austin decked both, and got the hold on again. Finally Bulldog hit Austin with a chair for the DQ finish. After the match Bret went to attack Austin with the ring bell, but Austin beat him to the punch with a chair shot to the knee and put the sharpshooter on once again and held it until Owen and Bulldog knocked him out of the ring with Hart selling the knee big at the finish. ***¾”

Listen it’s a great match but of course does not live up to the WrestleMania match - and with the full role reversal it was going to be hard to do it all again. But with Bret’s knee injury this is a hell of a gusty performance isn’t it?

What say you Bruce - what did you think of the show?