I mentioned a few weeks ago that I would cover good, bad and ugly moments. For this one, it depends on your opinion as to which category it falls into, but it was certainly memorable.
Brian Pillman had teamed with Steve Austin in WCW in 1993 as The Hollywood Blondes, and they were allies when both arrived in WWE. But, in the Autumn of 1996, Austin was egged on to challenge Bret Hart to return and face him. Long story short, Hart came back and agreed to the match at Survivor Series.
Austin, despite originally challenging the Hit Man, wasn't pleased, and took it out on the Loose Cannon by breaking his ankle with a steel chair on Superstars. This put Pillman on the injured shelf, but Stone Cold wasn't finished there, and planned to make a "house call" to Flyin' Brian's home.
That brings us to November 4, 1996, and Monday Night Raw. An injured Brian Pillman was interviewed at home by announcer Kevin Kelly regarding Austin's potential "visit". Announcers occasionally interview wrestlers at home, but this one turned out a little different.
The Loose Cannon stated that he was unafraid of the Texas Rattlesnake, and had a secret weapon to stop him, if he showed up.
A gun.
Yes, a gun.
Bear in mind, in 1996 the most violent or outrageous thing to have been seen or heard in the WWF was probably someone going through an announcer's table or saying a mild swear word on TV. For Pillman to bring out a gun, and threaten to shoot Austin if he turned up, was a hair-raiser - and more was to come.
Now, before we go any further, I have a confession to make. Although I was a WWF fan in late 1996, Raw wasn't shown much in the UK back then and, if it was, it was at an awkward time of the day. Therefore, I hadn't seen, or even heard about, this incident until years later, and only saw it in full on the Best of Raw DVD that was released in 2008. Yet, if the same thing happened today, it would still have an impact. And, when I finally watched it for the first time, it was unlike anything I had seen before.
Anyway, back to 1996. So, Pillman basically threatens to blow Austin up, when suddenly footage showed Austin pounding some random people outside Pillman's house. Then, he tried to break in.
An injured Pillman stood up, as best he could, ready to pull the trigger if necessary. Suddenly, Austin burst in, and within seconds the picture had disappeared. During this, several obscenities were hurled, including Pillman yelling the F-word.
I didn't hear this on the DVD (I assume it was edited out), but it did happen. And this was live, so this was heard as it happened, on a show that was then aimed at young kids. It wasn't even PG; this was supposedly suitable for all audiences, so hearing this was a jaw-dropper. Imagine someone on Eastenders shouting the F-word during its 7:30 broadcast on BBC1, and you'll understand why WWE had to apologise for this. It actually almost got Raw kicked off the USA Network in, er, the USA. On a darkly comical note, I thought it was somewhat humorous when commentator Jerry Lawler told Kevin Kelly to grab the gun. Somehow, if you was ever in a situation like this, and you were the innocent party, the last thing you'd do is grab the gun yourself.
Later on, we saw Pillman again, with his terrified wife, and Kevin Kelly reported that a shot had been fired. Within minutes, Austin tried to get back in, leading to more insults being fired, but no more gunshots. We later found out that the shot that was fired had missed.
Then, bizarrely, Pillman never returned to WWE TV in months. (Okay, he was injured, but there weren't any follow-up interviews or anything.) Austin went and fought Bret at SSeries, then won the 1997 Royal Rumble, and lost to Bret at WrestleMania 13, but earned fan respect that would lead to the Austin 3:16 phenomenon exploding.
Within weeks, it seemed like it had never happened. Certainly, this explains why I didn't hear about it for years afterwards. Most probably, it was because this was an incident that went too far, at a time when WWE was only in the very early stages of its Attitude-based transformation. Even in the years to come when Raw was at its most controversial and edgy, besides the Bang 3:16 thing (which I may cover in the future), a gun was never used ever again in the WWF/WWE. The fact that, as alluded to earlier, WWE almost got thrown off the USA Network for the incident speaks volumes; although whether this was due to the swearing, the gun-related aspect, or both is unknown.
And really, looking back, what was the point of it? It never really had an impact on the Hart-Austin match at SSeries, and it never led to a rivalry of some kind. Okay, Pillman targeted Austin when he returned in 1997, but Austin's big issue was with Bret Hart; Pillman only got involved by being a Hart associate. And, as funny as it was when Austin flushed Pillman's head down the toilet, it's as if two totally different people had been Austin and Pillman in 1996, when one had seemingly threatened to kill the other.
So, this incident proved that while wrestling can usually get away with crossing the line of bad taste, for it's in the name of entertainment, sometimes it can go too far. The mere thought of a half-crippled man ready to shoot a home invader who had previously injured him sounds in itself like a bad idea. But whether you think it was too much too soon for that time period, or it should never have happened at all, the whole escapade was in itself a memorable moment in the history of Monday Night Raw. Even if it had been forgotten about by the time Austin gave Pillman a swirlee.
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