At the beginning of the Sept. 22, 1999 edition of Raw, Jim Ross told fans to stay tuned for what could be the "defining moment" for the WWF. He was absolutely right on. The episode would have been historic for the sole fact of being the first Raw to air from Madison Square Garden. As fate would have it, though, a huge moment in the company's history went down that night. First off, the show opened with a young Rocky Maivia losing cleanly to Ahmed Johnson. We also had Shawn Michaels cutting an edgy promo on The Undertaker which set up their Hell in a Cell match. Mick Foley's Cactus Jack persona also returned to defeat HHH in a great Falls Count Anywhere match. On the Titantron earlier that night, we saw Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus all on screen together in a fun segment. The main event was topped off by Bret Hart defeating Goldust. While that was all quality television, the night was monumental for sparking the beginning of the Vince McMahon and Steve Austin feud. It became a pivotal point in the company's history, and introduced a type of feud that we'd never seen before. During an Owen Hart and Brian Pillman match, an injured Steve Austin suddenly emerged. He started beating up Owen (who had nearly paralyzed him in real life a few months earlier), and Vince left the commentary table to confront him. He tried to tell Austin that he shouldn't be doing anything physical. He's hurt. He just needed to listen to reason, and to authority. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rYILw_uLg Of course, Austin doesn't want to listen to anybody. He ended up giving Vince a Stunner (which looked sloppy, but it was so great that it didn't matter), and the crowd exploded. One of the all-time greatest wrestling feuds was official underway, and Vince soon left his role as an announcer to take on the role of the evil Mr. McMahon character. The night that this episode aired, Raw drew a disappointing 2.3 rating. Nitro drew a 3.7. A difference of a 1.4. But the momentum of this night, and the storyline that came from it was undeniably huge. The ratings quickly grew as the final Raw of the year drew a 3.1 while Nitro drew a 3.5. A difference of a .4. The gap was closing fast, and it was this episode of Raw in 1997 that was vital to eventually winning the war.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
