Monday, May 12, 1997

Raw Deal - Raw recap for May 12, 1997

The show begins with The Hart Foundation (Bret "The Hit Man" Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Brian Pillman) standing at the entrance ramp. Bret says he has surrounded himself with the best that the WWF has to offer, and he would take his men into the mouth of Hell to fight the devil and trust them to breathe for him and to pump his blood with their hearts. He thinks all the fans are trying to pin him out to be the bad guy, but he says the real bad guys are the American wrestling fans for cheering on "scum" like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He calls Austin "a babbling ass full of warmed-very Texas cliches with barnyard overtones" and "a dirty rotten, stinking hyena" that the American wrestling fans look up on like a hero who finds it fine and dandy to jump into any match he wants, and as soon as he gets a little bit of his own medicine, the fans cry for justice. Bret asks what kind of hero would pick on a guy in a wheelchair, and asks what he's supposed to do while in a wheelchair. He then says that Austin is a loser who isn't very happy that he lost the WWF Championship, and that Austin shouldn't be too worried about that as The Undertaker should not get too attached to the title as it will soon belong to The Hart Foundation. Bret then considers saying something that he considers a shock to everyone around the world including the Foundation and his family, but can't say it now as the fans refuse to be quiet to his liking.

Ahmed Johnson beats Hunter Hearst Helmsley by disqualification to continue to the quarter-finals for the 1997 King Of The Ring tournament after Chyna hits Ahmed in the back with a steel chair. Helmsley and Chyna are fleeing to the back when Ahmed chases after them and gets Helmsley back. Officials have to pull Helmsley and Chyna off of Ahmed.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is interviewed in the ring by Vince McMahon. Austin says it was one hell of a match last night, but warns Vince not to kiss up to him. He makes no excuses about what happened as The Undertaker won after he was dumped on his head, and sooner or later, he will become WWF Champion, and if he says it, it's going to happen. Austin has one of Bret "The Hit Man" Hart's crutches, and if he wants it back, all he has to do is wheel over to the ring and see what kind of luck he has. He mocks Bret for talking about how he wanted to be a hero for the fans, then calls him a lair, a "Judas Priest" and a complete piece of human trash. He compares The Hart Foundation(Bret "The Hit Man" Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Brian Pillman) to a snake, as it has to be killed by chopping the head off with a shovel. In the Foundation's case, the head is Bret, and he can take him out with a snap of his fingers. Instead of going straight ahead with it, he's going to start with "the snake's ass." He says that there is a ass to the snake machine of the Foundation, it's Brian Pillman, who he crippled once before after "carrying him around in the bush leagues." He tells Pillman that once he gets him in the ring, his ass is his.

Scott Putski, son of WWF Hall of Famer Ivan Putski, beats Leif Cassidy in his WWF debut. An angry Cassidy dives into Putski and assaults him after the match, but Putski fights back and sends Cassidy over the ropes. Cassidy insists to commentary that he won.

The newest edition of WWF Magazine, featuring The Undertaker on the cover, is on newsstands tomorrow.

Crush and Savio Vega force PG-13 (J.C. Ice and Wolfie D) to face The Legion of Doom (Road Warrior Animal and Road Warrior Hawk). To nobody surprise, The Legion of Doom beats PG-13 in a few comedic minutes, then The Nation of Domination walk away.

Mankind shows up. He talks about how he brought forth to The Undertaker a great wall of flame and blinded him in an attempt to permanently scar him. He was not completely successful, and at In Your House, he vowed to finish the job. He tells 'Taker that if he has a problem with what he's done, then he should take it out on him. Instead, he says he took the coward's way out and burned Paul Bearer's face. Mankind announces Bearer is here tonight, but Bearer is self-conscious about his appearance, and he asks the fans to show some compassion as he brings him forward. Paul Bearer is brought out with bandages all over his face, and Mankind says that Bearer has a stunning announcement. Bearer says that the fire that singed his face and put him in the hospital, and the sacred bond that he once had with The Undertaker, have both been seared. He tells 'Taker he will give him one more chance for them to get back together, and if 'Taker does not accept, he will do something to him that only he knows about, and it involves a secret that came from standing at the graves of 'Taker's parents. He tells 'Taker to come back or he will hurt him. Mankind tells 'Taker he has been forewarned.

The Hart Foundation (Bret "The Hit Man" Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Brian Pillman) is seen in the locker room.

The intro to the show is replayed to signify the second hour. For the first time, the first hour is called "Raw Is War" and the second hour is called "War Zone." (The iconic "War Zone" graphics are not shown yet, however.)

Vince McMahon interviews Faarooq, who is now the #1 contender for the WWF Championship. Faarooq says being #1 contender feels great, and says that Ahmed Johnson's best wasn't good enough last night. He says it's time to become WWF Champion, and asks when the last time a Black man wore the title. Vince admits a Black man has never held it, and Ahmed says that WWF has had token Black champions for short periods of time but never a Black World Champion, going so far as to say that Ahmed has never gotten a shot at it because the fans feel that a Black wrestler is not worthy of being WWF Champion but worthy of much less. Faarooq says that this is a different day and age, and that Black people are taking matters into their own hands. Vince says this has nothing to do with being Black, but Faarooq says this has everything to do with being Black, and at King Of The Ring, King Faarooq will live again and the fans' "white savior" The Undertaker will be a dead man. When Vince asks Faarooq if his comments are racist, Faarooq says that he did not come to the WWF to be a role model, and says that some Black child feels the pain that he feels, and that Black people will take matters into their own hands by any means necessary.

The Undertaker retains the WWF Championship against Savio Vega by disqualification after he is attacked by the rest of The Nation of Domination. Faarooq beats The Undertaker with the leather strap, then holds up the WWF Championship for all to see before tossing it at The Undertaker.

Before the next match, Jerry "The King" Lawler mentions how he talked about Extreme Championship Wrestling several weeks ago and how much it stinks, and that he has found a man who has been in ECW and knows how low, cheap and rotten it is in the form of Rob Van Dam. RVD says that ECW is nothing but low-budgeted, very low-talented wannabes who cannot hold on to his extreme talents. Lawler has so much confidence in RVD that he declares that he will be called "Mr. Monday Night."



"Mr. Monday Night" Rob Van Dam beats Jeff Hardy.

We see the second half of the interview with Dustin and Terri Runnels, better known as Goldust and Marlena. Dustin says he wants to have fun with his character, entertain the people and provide for his family. His goal is to put on a show so that when everyone leaves the building, people will say he was something. As a child, he fought with the fans for the attention of his father, and now that he has a daughter of his own in 3-year-old Dakota, he finds himself in a similar situation. Dustin says family comes first, and there were things in the past that happened to him that he can't change and has to let go, and has to make sure they don't happen again for Dakota's sake, so when he is an old man, his daughter will still sit on his lap. He says that Dakota looking up to her was the greatest feeling in the world. He tells his father Dusty Rhodes, who he admits was bigger than life, that becoming a professional wrestler was the hardest thing he has ever done as he cries, and says that nobody can do Goldust like he can. He hopes that his father is proud of him and his family.

Jim Ross interviews The Undertaker, who is on the TitanTron. The Undertaker first address Paul Bearer, telling him that there are certain events that have occured on the dark side that should never see the light of day. As for Faarooq, he has left him no choice but to go to the vault of souls and unleash a demon to do battle with a nation of destruction that will soon rest in peace.

The Hart Foundation (Owen Hart and The British Bulldog beat the team of Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon, The New Blackjacks (Blackjack Windham and Blackjack Bradshaw) and The Headbangers (Thrasher and Mosh) in a four-way elimination tag team match. During the commercial break, Furnas and LaFon, who have just been eliminated by The New Blackjacks, help The Headbangers eliminate The New Blackjacks after one of them hold down one of the New Blackjacks' feet. At one point, The Headbangers almost win, but Owen Hart's foot is seen on the bottom rope at the last second. After the match, Bret "The Hit Man" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and Brian Pillman head to the ring.

The Hart Foundation (Bret "The Hit Man" Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Brian Pillman) are in the ring. Bret asks everyone else in the Foundation to leave him alone in the ring, as it is time to be a man, which they reluctantly do due to being uncomfortable with leaving him in the ring alone in his wheelchair. Bret then tells "Stone Cold" Steve Austin that if he tries to come to the ring, his partners will rip him to shreds. He then calls out "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Micheals. Shawn shows up. Hart says there was a time that he couldn't stand Shawn, but now that he looks at him, he now hates his guts. He says Shawn's career keeps going hot and cold, and can't stand his dancing around and his cocky attitude, as it symbolizes the American wrestling fans. He says that America is not better than the rest of the world, and just like how America hates it when it is told the truth, so does Shawn, and says that America is rotting from the inside and about to destroy itself due to being run by scum like Shawn. Bret tells Shawn he ripped him off for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 12 in the Iron Man Match, and everyone just stood by and did nothing about it. When he came back, Shawn didn't have the guts to face him like a man as he was too busy posing for "girly magazines," dancing around, kissing all the girls, putting on tattoos and earrings, shaking his ass and making himself a horse's ass. He then calls Shawn "a self-professed degenerate" who took the WWF Championship through a reign of decadence. He says Shawn didn't have the guts to face him at WrestleMania this year and accused him of being powered by the almighty dollar. He says it shouldn't concern him when he gets paid, when his family sets in the front row, or what he does, and that what should concern him is whether or not he is as good as he is. After the cameras go off, Bret keeps talking trash to Shawn, and says Shawn doesn't have the guts to hit him as he stands from his wheelchair. Bret instantly eats a superkick, and Shawn runs around the ring avoiding the rest of the Foundation. That doesn't happen for long, as they eventually get a hold of Shawn and beat him up on the entrance ramp. They almost toss him off the side of the entrance ramp when "Stone Cold" Steve Austin shows up and attacks The Foundation. Officials have to keep Austin and Michaels from getting close to the Foundation again as the Foundation checks on Bret.

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