Watching "Man on the Moon" on Saturday reminded me of something I've intended to do for a long time. I want to re-watch and write about the World Wrestling Federation programmes from 1996 to 2002. This is the period commonly called the Attitude Era, but I prefer to call it "The Final Days of the WWF". In May 2002 the company known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). This wasn't just a name change. It was the beginning of a new era, commonly called the Ruthless Aggression Era.
I'd like to say a few words about the World Wrestling Federation. It's not just about wrestling. The wrestling matches have little in common with the sport of wrestling that we see in the Olympic Games. It's about entertainment. In that respect the company's new name is relevant. The entertainment is presented by means of fights in the ring, but also by running stories of arguments happening outside the ring. The stories are presented in interviews and arguments on the regular WWF television programmes, especially Monday Night Raw, and they're tied in to the major wrestling events, the Pay-Per-Views. The WWF stories are of a similar nature to soap operas. After months of friendship, former friends become enemies. After months of arguing, former enemies become friends. It's a never-ending cycle, which is only broken when a wrestler leaves the WWF to fight for another company.
The WWF's television programmes in the Final Days of the WWF were:
1. Monday Night RAW
This is a television programme that began in 1993 and is still broadcast today. It was the main programme for developing the WWF's stories. It began as a 60-minute show (including commercials) and was later increased to 120 minutes.
2. Smackdown
In 1999 the WWF enlarged itself, hiring new wrestlers, primarily for television broadcasts. A new television programme was broadcast on Thursday evenings, Smackdown, beginning in August 1999. In the early days of Smackdown, the two shows shared the same champions. After years of experimentation with different formats, Raw and Smackdown became separate brands under the ownership of the WWE.
3, Sunday Night Heat
This was a programme that began in August 1998 as a supplement to Raw. It showed mostly matches that were recorded before the beginning of the previous week's Raw broadcast. In some cases storylines were further developed. On the days of PPV events, Heat acted as a preview for the PPV. After Smackdown was launched in 1999, Heat became less important and showed mostly repeats of the previous week's programmes.
4. Superstars of Wrestling
This is a programme that was initially broadcast in 1986 as the WWF's main programme. It became less important after Raw was launched in 1993. After Sunday Night Heat was launched in 1998 it was used for repeats of matches on Raw and Heat.
5. Shotgun Saturday Night
This is a programme broadcast from January 1997 to August 1999. It showed only wrestling matches, and the storylines weren't developed.
6. The PPVs (Pay-Per-Views)
The original format of the WWF (and all other wrestling companies) was house shows. An arena was booked, and wrestling matches took place. Those were the good old days. In 1985 a large house show was broadcast on television for paying customers. It was called Wrestlemania. Initially very few house shows were shown on television, but by 1996 there were at least 12 pay-per-view events per year, with various names. The difference between the PPVs and the house shows that weren't broadcast is that storylines were developed, tying in with the current episodes of Raw, Smackdown and Heat.
I wasn't sure where to start this series of reviews of the Final Days of the WWF. Where to end is obvious: 4th May 2002, the final WWF broadcast before the name change. Where to start is tricky. My original idea was January 1997, because that's the month wrestling fans usually call the beginning of the Attitude Era. Then I considered November 1996, because that was the birth of the Austin 3:16 slogan. Finally I decided to start on 23rd September 1996, as a critical milestone in the history of the WWF. This was the first time on television that Vince McMahon was named as the owner of the WWF. He'd already been the owner for years, but he only appeared on television as a commentator. Gorilla Monsoon (real name Robert Marella) was called the President of the WWF, giving the impression that he was the company's owner, not an employee.
The emphasis on Vince McMahon is important. In the Final Days of the WWF he became increasingly important in the WWF storylines. In my opinion, the more active he was, the better the WWF programmes were. It wasn't just him, it was his whole family. His children Shane and Stephanie McMahon also contributed greatly to the quality of the programmes. His wife Linda also appeared on screen in the early 2000's, but she lacked the charisma of the other family members.
It's impossible to make a clean start anywhere. As I said above, the WWF/WWE is a soap opera, so the storylines always overlap from week to week. For instance, the September 23 episode of Raw makes frequent references to the Mind Games PPV that took place the previous day. If I wanted to talk about that PPV, I'd have to go back to the events leading up to it, and I'd have to keep going back all the way to 1993. I'm forced to make a tough decision, and my start date is 23 September 1996.
Note: the match between Shawn Michaels and Mankind at the Mind Games PPV is considered to be one of the best WWF/WWE matches ever.
Now the question is, how shall I write the WWF reviews? I have vague ideas already, but I'll develop them as I go along. I'll only give brief summaries, unless something particularly interests me. I'll write more about the storylines than the matches themselves. I'll try to write about at least one episode of Raw per week, meaning I'll keep up with real time. That means I'll be writing the WWF reviews for the next five years, unless I manage to speed up along the way.
Location: Hersheypark Arena, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Kevin Kelly
Mr. Perfect introduces himself as the show's host.
Match 1. Wild Man Marc Mero vs Farooq for the vacant Intercontinental Title.
No, I don't know why the Intercontinental Title was vacant. I'd have to sift through the old episodes of Raw to find the answer, and I don't have the time. If anyone knows the answer, please leave a comment below.
Marc Mero was accompanied to the ring by his manager Sable. Farooq was accompanied by his manager Sunny. In the Final Days of the WWF it was common for wrestlers to have managers. They were fake managers, of course, mostly just female eye candy. In those days it wasn't common for women to wrestle in the ring. Marc Mero defeated Farooq after the referee (Pat Patterson) was distracted by a catfight between Sable and Sunny outside of the ring.
Match 2. Tag team championship, British Bulldog/Owen Hart (champions) vs the Body Donnas
British Bulldog and Owen Hart retained their title after Owen made one of the Body Donnas tap out with a sharpshooter. During the match there were arguments between the commentators and Clarence Mason, who had supposedly tricked the Bulldog and Owen Hart into signing him as their manager. Once more, I'd have to sift through old episodes of Raw to find out what was happening.
Match 3. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs the Stalker
Triple H arrived with an unnamed beautiful woman on his arm. Judging by what the commentators said, he had a different girlfriend every week. Steve Austin sits down with the commentators and talks through the match, bad-mouthing Bret Hart. Mr. Perfect distracts Triple H by flirting with his girlfriend. The Stalker pins Triple H.
Jim Ross entered the ring to talk about his career in the WWF. In 1993 he left a good job with the Atlanta Falcons football team to join the WWF. He was hired by Vince McMahon. This is the first time Vince was named as the WWF owner on television. When he became ill with Bell's Palsy the following year, Vince fired him. A year later Vince re-hired him for half his previous salary. Since then he's despised Vince McMahon.
Scattered through the episode there were vignettes of the Undertaker and Mankind, with the Undertaker threatening to bury Mankind alive at the next PPV.
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