>It's really is striking me now that the Hart Foundation is literally just The Bloodline but Canadians, they even have that one "outsider" thats just there for the ride (Pillman/Sami), holds most of the gold, a good portion of the show is dedicated to them, way
>Something interesting is actually being done with the Undertaker here, him being forced to realign back with Paul Bearer because of some "secret" that must not be revealed, it actually allows him to have an exploitable weakness for once instead of the seemingly near-invincibility that defined his gimmick
>I failed to mention him last time but one guy getting a push in this period is Ahmed Johnson, 6'5" huge jacked nigga that was getting good crowd reaction, probably the most popular guy not in the main event scene, doesn't really have that much of a personality aside from intimidating badass, kind of like Stone Cold but nowhere near as good in the mic, and his in-ring is just okay, slow and plodding like most wrestlers in this period.
>Something that was really hitting the Attitude Era vibes was Farooq (Ron Simmons) straight up playing the race card about how there had never been a black WWF World Champ at that point and even bringing up a lot of real life black grievances into his promos as a motivation into becoming the first one, and it resulting to Vince, The Undertaker, and Ahmed no-selling that shit in response

it's crazy how over ahmed was, he was unironically vince's wet dream but for his injuries.

>There's a segment dedicated to pulling behind the curtain on Goldust of all people in two consecutive episodes of RAW, this was babyface Goldust so he wasn't all weird and nasty like he was earlier, even showcasing his wife and kid in a few occasions to humanize him, he (and WWF by extension) publicly acknowledged the backlash the character received at the time, explaining both in kayfabe and IRL, that this is how he would create his own identity separate from Dusty Rhodes, only in pro wrestling this is possible, he also had a mini-feud with Jerry Lawler where he called him a flaming fag on national television.
>The first rounds of the KOTR tournament starts here, no one cares because for some reason the WWF never got the idea that winners don't get a title got like how it has been working in the Rumble since 1993.
>A weird experiment that has been going on for a few months earlier is the ECW-WWF "rivalry" where Lawler would shittalk ECW and Paul Heyman out of nowhere, this oddly resulted in a random match on raw where at-the-time ECW talent RVD wrestled 19 year old Jeff Hardy, its mostly kept in the wayside and doesn't come up that much but what a rare showcase of two future world champs in their earlier careers.
>In your House 15 was another mostly filler pay per view, Undertaker vs Austin was okay but it didnt need 20 minutes, much more fun to watch is the match between Shamrock and Vader, its the nice blend of MMA and Pro Wrestling formulas you dont see that often.
>Shawn Michaels makes his in-ring return in this month resulting in an absolutely hilarious "team up" with Austin where the two just wont stop shit-talking and trying to beat each other up, while also somehow getting tag team gold while all of this was happening

Hey 97 bro, glad your sticking with it

>>18171339
It really is astounding how often Ahmed would injured, return for like 3 months max, and then just get injured again for his entire WWF career

>>18171304 (OP)
>>18171339
Ahmed may have legit been the most over guy in the company in the couple months of 96 in between Bret leaving and Sid returning. Also I don't know if you started with 97 or not, but Ahmed, Farooq, and Rock are all involved in a very short storyline with Sunny at the end of 96 that is blatantly just Vince writing his fetish in the show.

>>18171577
He would injure everybody he worked with too, he really was the absolute shits in the ring
He managed to give Farooq a perforated lung by throwing a monitor on him at mania 13 lol

>>18171654
Fun fact when the crew filming Beyond the Mat approached Vince for who they should follow for their documentary Vince was adamant on them going with Ahmed Johnson and they ultimately chose Mick/Mankind instead. Vince absolutely has had a black man fetish for decades.

>>18171689
Ahmed was basically a black Ultimate Warrior except more injury-prone, and also the reason why you couldn't understand his promos was due to him not speaking clearly rather than due to him saying weird shit

>>18171654
started RAW after mania 13

kek of course he would do that

>>18171304 (OP)
Based. 97 really is the best year in wrestling history.

Rescuing this from page 10

I didn't know Vince was so high on Ahmed.

>>18171304 (OP)
>Ahmed Johnson
I was going to say, isn't that the loser people call the black stonecold, but I'm thinking of bad news brown

>>18171304 (OP)
>>Something that was really hitting the Attitude Era vibes was Farooq (Ron Simmons) straight up playing the race card about how there had never been a black WWF World Champ at that point and even bringing up a lot of real life black grievances into his promos as a motivation into becoming the first one, and it resulting to Vince, The Undertaker, and Ahmed no-selling that shit in response
interesting exchange between the two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRRxSFWi7Jg

>>18173363
He had really high hopes he would go EVEN FARTHER

>>18173395

pro wrestling will never feel that real ever again. Ahmed and Ron always came off like they shoot hated each others guts.

>>18171304 (OP)
Good thread, I can't be assed to watch so thanks for the summaries

>>18173791
They did. Ahmed broke Ron's ribs by being overly stiff, putting him on the shelf for several months, and iirc he never apologized for it, then Ron beat the shit out of him for his first match back, basically sending him packing out of the main event scene.

I’ve always been curious how Ahmed chose the Pearl River Plunge. No way in hell he was even aware of Misawa. Someone had to have show him the Tiger Driver as a finish.

>>18173777
fucking KEK witnessed

>>18174685
Not sure when or how he first used it but he wrestled in Japan for BJW in 1995 when they started and does it to Mike Davis here around 34 minutes -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wTwSGm7Mgo&

>>18171304 (OP)
Keep it going anon

97 is the peak of WWE

>>18173791
Everyone in the locker room shoot hated Ahmed.

>>18171577
The funniest part of Ahmed's career is how he feuded with the NoD for like 7-8 months in a row, going over basically every time, got injured, which keeps him out for about a month, then returns and joins the NoD for literally no reason except "BRO it's a SWERVE bro!" and is immediately booked as Undertakers next PPV opponent the same night.
And then literally at the very first possible opportunity, a brawl in the opening segment of the next week's Raw, he tears his ACL, and is out again for another 3-4 months. He returns juiced out of his fucking mind and about 30 pounds fatter, is immediately turned on by the NoD, and then proceeds to feud with the NoD again for the next couple months before he gets injured again and released.
For basically a calendar year he did absolutely nothing except get injured and fight the NoD, with a completely random 6 day heel turn in between to join them even though he already beat all of them clean in a gauntlet match the night before

>>18174885
And him managing to be as over as he was is a testament to his charisma

>>18174806
>it was a gay magazine
Bret's all time one liner classic

>>18171304 (OP)
>him being forced to realign back with Paul Bearer because of some "secret" that must not be revealed
HE'S A MURDERER!!!

>>18171304 (OP)
Based 97 anon. Nice to see your opinions and it's always cool to see peeps go back and review 1997.

>>18174885
lol. entertaining writeup, anon.

>>18174685
Wrestlers were known to watch japanese tapes in order to expand their knowledge, especially rookies. Goldberg has cited Zero-1 as an influence on his wrestling style. Christian took his Unprettier from AJPW. Cena used to do a modified variant of the Emerald Flowsion. It wouldn't be surprising if Ahmed came across an All Japan tape at some point in his career and decided to take up a couple of cool new tricks from it.

>>18171963
It's definitely among the best years, I have a special fondness for late 90s wrestling in general.
>>18174685
I remember making fun of Ahmed Johnson as a kid, calling him gay and referring to the pearl river plunge as the "fudge tunnel plunge." It's a really funny joke but it can almost never be used because most people don't know who the fuck Ahmed Johnson is.

>>18171304 (OP)
Welcome to wrestling new friend
Everything has been done before
Big surprise

>>18175962
Just introduce to randos as THE SAND RIPPA

>>18174885
>then returns and joins the NoD for literally no reason
Literally the only good thing that came from Ahmed joining NoD was them fusing Ahmed's entrance theme with the NoD theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YDzvxB4Xb0

>>18173395
Lol this is legit great. Two brothers talking nonsense at one another is over with me. Sad that this is more intriguing than any 'promo' you here these days.