CLICK HERE to go back home.
CLICK HERE to go back to the Reviews section.

I downloaded this match offline.

WWF RAW is WAR
May 12, 1997
Newark, New Jersey

Commentators: Jerry "The King" Lawler & Jim Ross
Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy

• THE BACKSTORY: At the time, a storyline saw Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) invade several WWF shows. Less than one month before this match, ECW held it's first pay-per-view, "Barely Legal," which occurred on April 13, 1997. On that show, Rob Van Dam turned heel and allied with Bill Alfonso and Sabu. He offered his services to the two "Monday Night" promotions, obviously referring to the WWF and WCW. Less than a month after this show, WWF commentator Jerry Lawler appeared at ECW Wrestlepalooza '97 (6/7/97) and shot on ECW. He allied himself with Alfonso, Sabu, and Van Dam. When this match occurred, the storyline was basically that Van Dam was under contract to ECW, but Lawler had brought him into the WWF because he felt that he was too good for ECW. In reality, ECW and the WWF simply had a working agreement, which began in early-1997, when the WWF agreed to promote ECW's inaugural pay-per-view (Barely Legal) if ECW was willing to allow some of their performers work some RAW episodes.

Jeff Hardy, meanwhile, is still relatively green at the time of this match. Both he and his brother, Matt, had wrestled on several other RAW episodes in the mid-90's, so this wasn't his first appearance on the show. Jeff and Matt, who were at the time working various indy shows, were beginning to get recognized by the WWF at this point, and a year later, they'd be signed to developmental contracts with the WWF. From then on, of course, they'd regularly steal shows with their rarely-seen innovative and high-risk style.

• THE ENTRANCES/PRE-MATCH STUFF: My file feed comes in as a shot of the crowd is shown. The old ECW theme music (narrated by Paul E. Heyman: "Extreme...Championship...Wrrrrrrressstling!"), which was damn cool, hits. Rob Van Dam, dressed in his usual colorful attire, walks down the aisle, slapping the hands of some lucky ringside fans, as the bell rings and Howard Finkel, in the middle of the ring, makes the introductions: "The following contest is scheduled for one fall. About to come down the aisle - from Battle Creek, Michigan - weighing two hundred thirty-our pounds - Rob Van Dam! [RVD stops midway down the aisle and does his signature double thumb point three times as a logo with his name on it appears on the screen for a few seconds before again disappearing.] And his opponent - from Virginia - weighing two hundred twenty pounds [RVD says something to the camera on the aisleway as he passes it, and now slides into the ring and begins showboating to the crowd.] - Jeff Hardy!" Jeff, wearing sneakers, red pants, no shirt, and a red bandana, is already in the ring in his respective corner. He was in the ring already by the time RVD arrived.

Jerry Lawler, wearing his signature gown and crown, who's entered the ring, grabs the microphone from Finkel and speaks into it: "Gimme' that microphone, Finkel. Let me tell you somethin' - the last time I saw somethin' 'at (that) looked like you, I flushed it. Why don't you go tu' Vince McMahon and borrow one of his tupees instead u' (of) comin' in out here and lookin' like an idiot? [lightly pushes Finkel] [Finkel exits the ring] [Lawler, to the fans] Now all u' (of) you idiots saw me come out here a few weeks ago and talk a little bit about E-C-W. [brief crowd shot] Yeah - Extremely Crappy Wrestling - and that's what it stands for. I was the only man that had the guts to tell you idiots the truth about ECW - how much it stinks, [pause] up until now. Now I've found another man who has actually been in the ECW, and [turns toward RVD] you have come to find out - Rob Van Dam - exactly how low - how cheap - how rotten the ECW is. Is that right?"

Lawler holds the mic for RVD to talk into it: "[RVD puts his left hand on Lawler's right shoulder] What you're saying, Jerry Lawler, is complete fact. ECW is nothing but low-budgeted, very low-talented wannabes that cannot hold onto someone with [takes his hand off of Lawler's shoulder] the extreme talents of Rob Van Dam." RVD does a total of five thumb points as Lawler moves the mic back to himself. Lawler: "That's right. And I'll tell you what - I got so much confidence in this man now that he is in the big time, baby - the World Wrestling Federation - leave those punks behind - this man is gonna' becu' - becu' - he''s gonna' be called, 'Mr. Monday Night.' I guarantee ya' - 'Mr. Monday Night.' [RVD steps forward and does three thumb points.] Hey, take care u' this - uhhh - [referring to Jeff Hardy, who's still standing in his respective corner] little John Bon Jovi wannabe - whatever e' (he) is - right here." With that, Lawler exits the ring.

• THE MATCH: The referee I believe is Jack Doan, but I could be wrong. The bell rings and the two competitors square off as Lawler arrives back at the ringside commentator's table alongside J.R. The two men circle around eachother before tieing up. RVD applies a back waistlock. Jeff uses a standing reversal and counters into his own back waistlock, and then transitions into a side headlock hold. RVD whips him into the ring ropes. Jeff bounces off and hops over RVD, who has performed a split dropdown. Jeff bounces off of the other ropes, only to be catapulted with RVD's inverted monkey flip. RVD kicks back up to his feet, and Jeff slowly rises back up after a few seconds. He turns around and RVD tries a thrust kick. Jeff avoids it by mere inches, but not RVD's sidekick to the left waist.

RVD now cinches up Jeff and drops him face-first into the mat with his signature Double Underhook Delayed (albeit there only being about a two second delay) Face-First Falling Lateral Piledriver (a Double Underhook version of A.J. Styles Styles Clash and a non top-rope version of C.M. Punk's Pepsi Plunge). RVD showboats to the crowd for a few seconds and does three thumb points until Jeff makes it back up to his feet. A groggy Jeff is unable to avoid a jumping spinning calf kick (like Booker T) that sends him taking a nasty tumble through the top and middle ring ropes and out to the concrete. RVD trash talks out to Jeff and looks out at the crowd for a few seconds until Jeff is back up. RVD then runs off of the ropes and hits an awesome diving somersault body attack through the top and middle ring ropes, taking out Jeff! Very nice. RVD slowly gets back up, and he then lifts Jeff back up and tosses him back into the ring under the ropes.

RVD slides in himself, gets down on one knee, and showboats to the fans for a moment before getting up and glaring at a ringside fan yelling at him. The future-ECW World Television Champion lifts Jeff back up and bodyslams him down. This sets up for RVD to springboard up onto the top turnbuckle and, after doing a thumb point three times, connect with The Five-Star Frog Splash. RVD bounces off of Jeff and lands back on his feet. He doesn't cover. J.R. compares the splash to that of "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, but Lawler opts to argue that it was even better than Snuka's splash. Meanwhile, RVD looks out at the crowd before lifting Jeff back up, scooping him up, and drops down onto his knees, planting him near the opposite corner with a front slam. RVD gets up, looks out at the fans for a moment, and then performs a Corner Slingshot Moonsault Splash, landing on Jeff. RVD hooks Jeff's left leg and it's academic for the pin and the ref makes the count: 1-2-3 (2:14). The bell rings.

• WINNER: Rob Van Dam

• THE AFTERMATH: RVD gets up and the ref holds up his arm in victory. RVD's ECW theme music hits as Finkel declares him the winner, but it's very hard to hear exactly what he says because of J.R.'s damn commentary and the fans. A ringside shot of the fans is shown before we cut back into the ring, where RVD is celebrating. Two replays are shown: first of RVD's Five-Star Frog Splash (which is shown in slow motion) and then of the finishing Splitlegged Moonsault (which is shown at regular speed). We cut back to the live shot as RVD climbs through the ropes and hops off of the apron down to the ringside concrete. RVD says some stuff to a ringside camera, but I only caught a few words due to Lawler speaking on commentary. RVD, still facing toward the ring, throws a kiss out to the fans before we fade out.

• POST-MATCH THOUGHTS: This, as you can probably tell by reading the play-by-play was pretty boring. It, of course, wasn't meant to be the second coming of Flair/Steamboat, but it wasn't anything special. It was clearly a spotfest, but at least an alright one. The opening sequence leading to RVD's inverted monkey flip was alright, and so was his double underhook face-first piledriver. The diving somersault body attack was very nice, and so was the frog splash and splitlegged moonsault. This match had no psychology, though, and even with the small amount of time alotted, I'd like to have seen a few more irish whips and such. This was obviously nothing like these would end up doing when RVD entered the WWF (now WWE) in mid-2001. In summary, this match was basically a spotfest and really nothing else.
  RATING: 3/4*

CLICK HERE to go back home.
CLICK HERE to go back to the Reviews section.