10 Things You Learn Re-Watching The First Ever Episode Of Raw Is War
4. Lightweight
WWE's insipid working relationship with Mexico's Asistencia Asesoría y Administración was thankfully coming to an end by March 1997, but not before another desperately dull portion of Lucha Libre polluted the debut edition of Monday Night Raw.
Whilst nowhere near as rotten as the disastrous contest at January's Royal Rumble, Heavy Metal, Pentagon, Pierroth, Hector Garza, Octagon and Latin Lover engaged in another total snoozer that lost the crowd and halted the quick pace the company was trying to initiate with the new format.
With cruiserweights from all over the world lighting up the first hour of Nitro on a weekly basis, Vince McMahon was determined to compete on the same level, but his fundamental misunderstanding of what made the matches so entertaining (that still in part exists today), ensured that the entire AAA experiment would be rendered a complete misfire.
After discussion of just about every other angle in the show and a cut-in from Brian Pillman mid-match to promote his commentary on Shotgun Saturday Night, it was apparent that those within the company had tired of the concept as much as the fans watching, with the commentators completely missing the finish whilst labouring over the one exciting highspot (a sky twister press to the floor by Garza) seconds earlier.
'What a bunch of matadors', Vince said, rather fittingly discounting the whole the segment.