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[MarSolo]

I downloaded the entire year of WWF episodes of Raw in 1997, and in all honesty, these episodes just about blow away anything done this year, and I've just reached February.

The WWF Title means something, as everyone is going after it; you got Shawn as the champ (for now), while guys like Bret, Austin, Vader, Sid, and Taker all want a shot at him. On the other hand though, it seems like the tag division is pretty much in a rut at this point, as there's Bulldog/Owen, the Godwinns, and Furnas/LaFon, and the makeshift tag teams of Fake Diesel/Fake Razor and Mankind/Vader (although these guys are awesome together).

You had controversy surrounding the Royal Rumble win, and seriously, Austin was ON FIRE at this point, especially with the lines he cut on Monsoon. "You call yourself Gorilla, but you're heehawing out here like a jackass."

You had awesome stables like the Nation of Domination (man, I forgot how awesome that group was).

Not only did the WWF have Raw for storyline development, they also had Shotgun Saturday Night and WWF Superstars, and from what I can tell, they seem like they have a bigger roster then compared to what they have today.

My personal favorite though, is that they actually acknowledge where they're at as far as crowd reactions are concerned. The current episode I'm on is in Canada, where they hosted Wrestlemania X8 (which is a huge dome, and a weird place to have an episode of Raw, but they filled the place it seems), and Vince McMahon openly acknowledges that Canadians don't like Shawn because he's Bret's rival, as opposed to today where King just spouts out "well, we're in Bizarro World."

Speaking of King, the funniest moment with him on commentary thus far is during an Austin/Taker match, he openly states someone should tell Austin that Taker's ribs are busted and focus on them. JR and Vince both sarcastically say why doesn't he do it, so Lawler gets up and walks over to the ring and starts yelling to Austin about ribs. Awesome stuff.

[deadpool]

Where do you find this stuff? Just curious because I want to go back and watch some old stuff but I can't seem to find anything anywhere.

[potatoes]

The last six years of cartoon characters and child-oriented programming are just so the 2015 will seem edgy in comparison. It's long-term booking!

[MarSolo]

Okay, I'm a couple of episodes into February now.

First off, I love how every single episode looks different. Whatever arena they're in gives Raw a different look. The Raw in the Skydome looks completely different from the Raw in the Manhattan Center.

Speaking of Manhattan, I love how the crowd is shitting on Shawn (chanting "WE WANT BRET!") for the most part when he's giving his long drawn out sob fest when he's relinquishing the belt. Also, it's strange watching the Rock wrestling as Rocky Maivia, with him throwing dropkicks.

[ThaWalrus]

Where do you find this stuff? Just curious because I want to go back and watch some old stuff but I can't seem to find anything anywhere.

You can download the whole year's worth of RAW by clicking here.