The Raw is War Workrate Report
A weekly look at what did and didn't work on Raw is War by Oliver Postlethwaite
Monday, September 15th, 1997
What Worked
The WWF is doing a really poor job of putting together a cohesive light
heavyweight division. Of the three wrestlers who make any sort of regular
appearances, two of them wrestle like heavyweights. The other one, TAKA
Michinoku, always makes watching Raw worthwhile. El Pantera's an ace
luchador and they put on a very exciting match. What I don't understand
about the crowd is why they only pop for a highspot when TAKA does it.
The minis returned in a tag team match, laying to rest the ugly rumour
that Piratita Morgan was El Toretito (who is Espectrito). I thought
Max Mini was a pretty bad trademark cheesy WWF ring name but, Mr. Lucky?
This was pretty cool, with the heels bullying the little faces and the
little guys flying all over the place. Again, the crowd only seemed to react
to Max Mini's dives and not so much Mr. Lucky. They've got to keep Sunny away
from ringside when workers who aren't so over are trying to get heat.
I really don't like watching Brian Pillman anymore, highlights from Superbrawl
II keep flashing in front of my eyes. I know it's not his fault, he's got a
banged up body but still, I hate seeing a guy who was once at the top of his
game in the ring reduced to hiding behind angles because he can't wrestle. I
see Pillman as the WWF's Masa Chono, bad ass heel in tight black pants who's
best wrestling days are behind him but is still interesting to watch because
of his charisma. I think this match was handled well, Dude Love kept things
interesting in the ring and Marlena's ass kept things interesting in between.
The cool thing about the Dustin run-in is that maybe, just maybe it means the
end of the big yellow goof.
The walking heat machine Steve Austin layed out another WWF announcer
and anyone who didn't see it coming as soon as Lawler began to read over
Austin's shoulder would probably make a good referee. I'm still in awe of
the Steve Austin experience.
What Didn't Work
The show opened up with a first round intercontinental title match between
Ken Shamrock and Farooq. I like Shamrock and Farooq has mysteriously grown
on me with his mic work and the match was ok-ish but it was too short to
amount to much.
The Patriot vs. Owen Hart would have been really good if it had a better
finish. The build was decent but another five minutes with highspots and
near falls would have delivered a good match and showcased the talents of
the participants.
What an '80s time warp screwy finish to the main event! Bret and Davey
sleepwalked through the entire match and the Headbangers just don't
have the big moves to hide their limited mat skills so everything was
really boring. Too bad they didn't go to the finish sooner and extend
the post-match brawl with Vader and Patriot. Jim Cornette's commentary
was the best thing here.
What I Missed
I caught the edited 1:30 Raw and missed a Truth Commission match and a Shawn Michaels
interview.
