The night of September 22, 1997 provided wrestling fans with two huge moments that took place on WWE’s Monday Night Raw and WCW Monday Nitro. At the time, we may not have known they were huge moments, but 20 years later we can look back on them and celebrate them for the history making moments they were. Let’s start with Raw.
Steve Austin was out of action following Owen Hart’s botched Tombstone Piledriver at SummerSlam 1997. Due to the uncertainty of Austin’s health status, WWE did a storyline where Owen Hart had a protective order against Austin that prevented Austin from attacking him. This was when Austin had really taken off as a babyface with the “Austin 3:16” phenomenon leading to a ridiculous amount of t-shirt sales and plenty of signs at every WWE show. While Austin was not the top face in the company at the time, you could tell WWE was going to push him hard and they should have because he was on fire.
After Owen Hart’s match with Brian Pillman ended in a disqualification thanks to Goldust going after Pillman, Austin attacked Owen in the ring when he was doing a promo. The cops showed up in the ring to save Owen and pull Austin off. That led to Vince McMahon, who was on commentary with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, going in the ring to try to calm Austin down.
The role of Vince at the time was as an announcer, but earlier in 1997 they started using him in angles more and would tell the audience he was the the Chairman/Owner of WWE. A lot of people didn’t know that. I know that may sound crazy to people today, but I was in high school at the time and I had friends that had no idea Vince owned the company.
Before I get to those details, it’s important to note that this show took place in Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was the arena that WWE considered “home” and any time a show took place there, fans knew something big could happen.
McMahon yelled at Austin: “What’s the matter with you?” Vince said we could understand why Austin was upset since he had to give up the Intercontinental Title, the Tag Team Titles and he’s not allowed to compete because of his neck injury, but that doesn’t mean Austin should break the law. Vince told Austin that the WWF isn’t going to stand by to let Austin hurt himself and the fans don’t want to see Austin wind up in a wheelchair. Vince told Austin that they cared about him and Austin had to “work within the system.”
Austin: “This is all that I do and can’t nobody tell me I ain’t the best in the damn world.” The crowd agreed with that by cheering. “Sit here and tell me to work within the system. You ain’t the one sitting on your ass at the house like I am.” Austin agreed to work within the “stupid little system.” Austin continued: “I appreciate the fact that you and the World Wrestling Federation care. And I also appreciate the fact that hell…you can kiss my ass!” That’s when Austin drilled Vince with the Stone Cold Stunner.
Huge moment. The crowd was going wild for it while Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler were freaking out on commentary. The crowd was standing on their feet and cheering the moment. The cops in the ring put handcuffs on Austin while the fans chanted “Austin” for it. Ross was yelling on commentary about how you have to think Austin would be fired for that.
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Did Vince sell it well? Nope, not at all. He certainly got better at it over the years. I think he actually sold it by falling forward to make it look awkward and put over the idea that it would hurt a non-wrestler like Vince. It’s like when a referee takes a bump it usually looks awkward because if they bump exactly like the wrestlers it looks too fake.
Austin ended up returning to in-ring action at Survivor Series 1997 where he beat Owen Hart for the Intercontinental Title. It was probably too soon and I’m sure in hindsight they would have made him wait a few months more, but that’s how it happened with Austin working another two years before he needed major neck surgery to deal with his problems. Survivor Series 1997 was also the last night that McMahon did commentary on the matches on a full time basis and he would become the top heel in the business.
That’s why September 22, 1997 is so important because it was the launching point for the Austin vs. McMahon rivalry.
I strongly believe that 1997 was one of the best years in WWE history. My favorite WWE year is 2000, but 1997 is next for me because of how important it was in building the foundation of WWE that led to their greatest successes in the years that followed. Moments like this are the kinds of things we can remember twenty years later and smile.
That episode of Raw was headlined by then WWE Champion Bret Hart facing Goldust. There’s also a fantastic Cactus Jack match against Hunter Hearst Helmsley on that show. You can watch the September 22, 1997 edition of Raw on WWE Network, of course.
MEANWHILE OVER ON NITRO
The September 22, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro took place in Salt Lake City, Utah. It took place at a time when Nitro was beating Raw every week in the ratings with Nitro winning 3.6 to 2.35 that week.
This was also the night when Bill Goldberg made his WCW television debut in a match against Hugh Morrus. Is that supposed to be funny? What? Sorry, I’m having a Steve Austin 2001 promo flashback mocking the Hugh Morrus name. You might also know Hugh as Bill DeMott.
Goldberg vs. Morrus took place in the first 15 minutes of Nitro. Morrus received his entrance on television while Goldberg was already in the ring. Play by play announcer Tony Schiavone said that he knew nothing about Goldberg while Mike Tenay and Larry Zsybsko also commented on how they didn’t know anything about Goldberg. That was important because a lot of times you might hear announcers talk about a guy’s background before wrestling, but in Goldberg’s case they wanted it to be more of a mystery.
Morrus took control of the match with a clotheslines off the middle ropes. Morrus went up top and hit a moonsault called “No Laughing Matter” for a two count. Morrus usually won matches with that move. Golderg came back with a back flip and a huge powerslam. Scoop slam by Goldberg. The led to the finish with Goldberg picking up Morrus for what looked like a suplex and turned it into a slam. It’s a move we would come to know as the Jackhammer. The crowd cheered as this newcomer had his hand raised as the winner.
Tony Schiavone on commentary: “Bill Goldberg, out of obscurity, comes to Nitro and pulls a major upset.”
After the match, Goldberg turned to the camera, put his index finger in the air and said: “That’s number one.”
Number one? Of what? We didn’t know it at the time, but it was victory number one for a man that would go on to have one of the most impressives streaks in wrestling history.
Post match, Gene Okerlund tried to interview Goldberg. However, Goldberg didn’t say anything and just walked away. The power that Goldberg displayed in the ring, but the mysteriousness of him was interesting as well.
Goldberg went on to start his WCW career with a 173-0 record. Was that the real number? Of course not, but Goldberg was undefeated in WCW from this first match with Hugh Morrus all the way until December 27, 1998 when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Title to Kevin Nash at Starrcade.
It was cool to watch it again because you can tell how they didn’t necessarily hype Goldberg as a big deal because he was just standing in the ring when Morrus made his entrance. However, WCW made the call to have Goldberg kick out of the moonsault and beat Morrus in impressive fashion. It showed that there were clearly big plans for him even though nobody knew at the time just how big of a star Goldberg would become.
You can check out the rest of the September 22, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro on WWE Network.
