[1997-01-20-WWF-Raw] Steve Austin vs The Undertaker

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Crowd is really into this. Vader runs in for the DQ, but eats a chokeslam from Undertaker and we've got ourselves a four-way brawl. Hot show, this.

[soup23]

Action looked good and these guys could have some good chemistry when they just went out and crafted a good match. Vader looks like a threat here for probably the last time. show goes off the air with all four guys duking it out and the crowd going nuts.

[Bigelow34]

Action looked good and these guys could have some good chemistry when they just went out and crafted a good match. Vader looks like a threat here for probably the last time. show goes off the air with all four guys duking it out and the ground going nuts.

I think Vader's swan song was Final Four, just a few weeks after this. He would get a quick bump with the face turn but that fizzled quickly.

[Kevin Ridge]

Vader has a good stretch here beating Hart on Raw and then Undertaker at Rumble. No wimpy Robin Hood here. The four Final Four contestants brawl it out.

[El-P]

A match we'd get a gazillion times during the next two years, but it was still fresh and new at this time. The ending is chaotic and crazy, and the WWF looks like a hot promotion again. It's too bad they gave up on Vader, because he does absolutely look like he belongs here and brings legit star power to the main event scene.

[PeteF3]

On top of everything else that makes this show feel like a sea change in the WWF's presentation, they're starting to humanize the Undertaker a bit, as he basically wrestles this match as a routine big man and they make a big point about how Vader broke his ribs at the Rumble. Other than the orbital bone injury that was basically an excuse for a Halloween mask, that's not a storyline they tended to run with Undertaker very often in the mid-'90s. Another crazy brawl to wrap up a super-hot show.

[Exposer]

I liked Undertaker & Bret brawling right away when Taker came out. The match itself is just there & includes an aggrivating & bizarre moment with Lawler leaving commentary & smacking the mat telling Austin to work Taker's ribs. They cut to backstage & Bret-Vader are brawling in a pull apart. The match ends in a schmozz with all four guys brawling to a hot crowd. Great close to the show. The WWF feels like a hot product for the first time in a long time.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Lawler is incredibly annoying in this match incessantly screaming that Stone Cold work the ribs of the Undertaker (injured during a great, unheralded match with Vader at Royal Rumble). He even gets off the headset goes to ringside to get Austin's attention. It was very strange. I know Lawler hates Bret, but I don't understand his passion here. I guess he was a huge Stone Cold fan. I watched this yesterday, but I don't remember much besides Lawler. I thought it was good. Austin did eventually heed The King's advice. WWF is really in love with the guy back heel kicking someone in the balls. Undertaker had looked great in so much of this stuff. Very mobile and cuts a good pace. Austin is a wild sociopath. Good stuff. Crazy brawl with all four main eventers ends the show. Awesome RAW! Theres also a very good Owen/Bulldog vs Furnas/LaFon match on this RAW.

[KB8]

This had to have been one of the best episodes of RAW in the entire run up to this point, right? I know we only get the good bits on the yearbook, but all of this feels head and shoulders above most of the goofy shit we saw in the first few years. For the first time in a while it feels like the WWF have the makings of something that might actually run Nitro and the nWo close...