10 Notable Changes Made To WWE Raw In 1997
7. Willingness To Acknowledge The Enemy
It sent a shockwave through the industry when Eric Bischoff began brazenly giving away taped Raw results in the early days of Monday Nitro.
The WWF's only real on-screen response at the time was to mock Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in increasingly-tedious skits. Acknowledging other wrestling companies was hard ground for Vince McMahon to traverse.
As part of the infusion of reality-based programming, that would change, particularly when Bret Hart was on his way to WCW, and McMahon's post-Montreal spin control led to him openly talking about Ted Turner and WCW on WWF programming.
Throughout 1998 and 1999, more critical digs would be taken at WCW, rightly making a mockery of the self-parody that the show on TNT was rapidly becoming.