WWF Monday Night RAW Review thread

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Dok Hendrix is jamming with the RAW band , wearing a studded jacket he likely last wore in the 1980's glam metal scene. Jim Ross airs another Shawn Michaels training footage. His boyhood dream which started 11 years ago. We see Shawn work with wrestling sparring partners , beating the **** outta them and super kicking them both. He speaks to Lothario and pledges to bring him to California at Wrestlemania 12 and win the WWF World title in front of him. Then we see another vignette about the quest of Shawn Michaels to be WWF World Champion. To become the best in the industry and he will get that chance at Wrestlemania 12.

Then we get a Bret Hart promo of his heart and desire. That as the champion he is immortalized and at the top. But time is fleeting and all you will have is memories. Its after this vignette we get Jim Ross showing Bret Hart's training regimen. Bret brings up how Shawn Michaels is knocking on his door at his spot and he can understand it. He feels he was knocking at Randy Savage's door a few years ago and he passed him basically and took that spot.

As he trains we see Bret discuss how he feels Shawn gets too over confident and it costs him. But he's gonna come at Shawn and he's gonna pound and work him over. That he's not out to win a popularity contest , its about competing and winning. After this we get Owen Hart vs Ahmed Johnson as this is a prequel to the big 6 man contest at Wrestlemania 12.

Unable to do any Billionaire Ted skits or mention them , Vince tries taking digs at WCW calling them the over the hill gang and more. At ringside we see Diana Smith watching her brother work against Ahmed. Johnson is like a freight train as Owen hits the wall twice in running against him and falls to the ground. During this out comes British Bulldog to watch this match. Owen suckers Ahmed with a phony test of power and then Ahmed sits him on the top turnbuckle showing his power.

He then slaps him playfully on the face. Owen tries diving off and gets caught in a sloppy spine buster. But then Owen uses his brother-in-law to create a distraction . But it doesn't help and Ahmed after his impact spinebuster tries to deliver the pearl river plunge finisher but Bulldog jumps into the ring and the match ends in DQ. Ahmed is too much for both men as Vader arrives soon after and all 3 beat down on Ahmed Johnson.

Finally outta the back comes Yokozuna and Jake "The Snake" Roberts as they beat down the heels and get them chased off. As McMahon runs down the Wrestlemania 12 card , we get a Bret Hart music video. Him claiming he wants to prove he's the best wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation. The song is just....utterly terrible. I mean,...so damn terrible I can't describe it. I tried googling who sang the song but nothing shows up. If I was the artist I'd be damn happy to not have my name mentioned in this.

It has some great clips of Bret Hart and him backstage and more with his little boy. RAW ends after the terrible song.

The Bad - This RAW was just again weird segments in weird places. Why would you book a Ahmed Johnson/Owen Hart DQ ending match as the main event ? Its clear that Michaels vs Cassidy should have been the main event and how solid it was. Plus it added heat to the Wrestlemania 12.

Vince was struggling with making RAW interesting as we see and it didn't help he lets a mid-card 6 man tag match be his big sell at the end. Also the fact he ends RAW with the most damn terrible music video the company had done to date. That should have aired earlier and it distracts from the heat that Bret had pushed into the main event of Wrestlemania 12 against Shawn.

The WWF editing the Goldust footage as it appears he's gonna get on his knees at the crotch of the mannequin was obviously a forced edit by USA Network. Vince had pretty much pissed off the USA President by his dumb actions the last few months and they now would get 1st watch on things awhile to see what his programming did. All thanks to his dumb Billionaire Ted skits.


OVERALL : *** Outta 5. The opening match is the best one of the night and only that was great. Michaels vs Snow was fun and had some solid stuff , even with them blowing a spot or two. Bret and Shawn add some heat to the program at the end with coming face to face there. Then we get a nice Undertaker promo as he's gonna take out Diesel for good. The rest of the show struggles badly.

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WWF Monday Night RAW - April 1st , 1996



Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon discusses the big Wrestlemania 12 ...the most shocking , most brutal , awesome Ultimate Returns and more. We shared in the fulfillment of a lifelong dream as he shows Shawn Michaels. McMahon claims a big audience took in Wrestlemania 12 , but won't give the attendance numbers because...well it wasn't a huge crowd. And for a Wrestlemania it was only 18,850+ people in total. Business had fallen off a lot for the WWF as Wrestlemania VIII at the Hoosier Dome did 62,000+ people 4 years earlier.

Its April Fools day as he makes a joke comment about being close to one in Lawler who isn't pleased. Then we see them promote tonights show with Undertaker facing the undefeated cowboy in Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. But 1st , we get the debut of Mankind. And he screams and jumps Holly . Who Vince plugs is back to being Spark Plugg. Mankind beats down Holly and pulls his own hair out smiling at the camera.

Lawler brings up the bald spots that Mankind had where he's been pulling his own hair back as Holly rallies back and gets dumped over the top rope soon after. The fans chant they want blood as Mankind drops him face 1st into the ring apron outside. Once back in the ring fans chant they want more blood. The fans are enthralled by Foley and his pulling his hair out and his sadistic offense. He then locks his fingers into Holly's mouth as he screams in Holly's face. McMahon claims he has his fingers shoved deep into Holly's mouth choking him out !

The music plays as McMahon claims that this guy is deranged as Lawler claims his music is just weird. Lawler wants him to interview Mankind but he won't do it and instead cuts to pictures of Wrestlemania 12. We see Marc Mero's (the former Johnny B. Badd) debut for the WWF. Helmsley blames his escort to the ring Sable and she is smoking. Mero takes offense at this and beats up Helmsley. Sable sits at ringside and smiles as everyone just stares in awe at her beauty.

We get clips of Wrestlemania 12 from Warrior's return to the over-time rule suddenly coming in and really invalidating the rules set for the match. Shawn Michaels was supposed to beat Bret Hart in 60 minutes. Instead , an angry Hart watches the company betray him and demand he do over-time so Michaels can win. (As a fan who watched it , i called it bullshit , way to cheat Bret from the belt was my stance and I have always kept that stance...as Bret claimed its Shawn's job to beat me...not me suddenly having rule changes so he can)

Out comes "Wildman" Marc Mero who is facing his 1st ever opponent on WWF TV. Its Issac Yankem as Sable stands and applauds. Mero is just so gifted in ring and he has athletic talent. He does a wild 360 over the top rope onto Yankem outta the ring. Then he delivers later in the spot an enziguri. He's showcasing his skills as out comes Hunter Hearst Helmsley who is beside Sable , trying to sweet talk her back to his side. McMahon brings up how rude and awful he was last night when he lost to Ultimate Warrior.

We get a split screen as Helmsley is getting the , well your guy ...but I won't bang you anytime soon type reaction from Sable. I'm gonna be sleeping with Mero look as she stares and watches him. Yankem at this stage is in control of Marc Mero . Its later Mero tries a wild backwards roll up pin that audience pops for. Then we see Mero showcase his boxing background as he delivers some punches , then a big punch combination. Mero does a off the top rope roll over pin on Yankem that really isn't that good a finisher.

As Helmsley gets in Mero's face and Sable's , she delivers a slap to him. Then we see Mero act all wild insane as he takes his woman over the guard rail. Its shades of Macho Man Randy Savage. We get a clip of the Ultimate Warrior and his return last night. He will be in action next week on RAW.

McMahon takes us to Ed Begley Jr. who is outside somewhere in California looking at some map. He tells us to stay tuned after RAW for something and its clear his career must be in a down spot to be doing this for WWF.

Once we return from commercial we get some ads from the US Army and a Got Milk plug by the announce team. We learn at the Free for All last night the Bodydonna's defeated the Godwinns for the WWF World tag team titles. They won where Sunny decided to show Phineas her hot ass in ring and he couldn't think straight and lost. I'd be distracted as well.

The Bodydonnas are facing Aldo Montoya and Barry Horowitz as Sunny holds the belts and brags on how her men will teach the guys in ring a lesson they never will forget. Montoya does have a nice exchange with Bodydonna Skip , who finally gets irked and tags in his cousin Zip. Then he ticks off Zip who ducks outta the ring to discuss strategy. Vince brings up the WWF tag team division which has Bodydonnas , Smoking Gunns , and Godwinns.

Eventually after some minutes the heels take advantage of Montoya and beat him down. In a cool spot , Skip takes a suplex outta the ring , then eats a flying body press off the top turnbuckle seconds later. Horowitz actually gets Zip in a roll up pin and has the titles. Sunny distracts the referee and costs them. This match has been fun for the spots with Aldo who uses his high risk style pretty well. Then Candido (Skip) delivers a frankensteiner off the top rope and and Zip delivers a body splash for the win.

Post match McMahon claims that Sunny uses her sex to her advantage a lot. She cuts a promo into the camera on how they are gonna keep those WWF Tag Team titles for good. We get highlights of Wrestlemania 12 from Diesel/Undertaker to the Backlot Brawl. The brawl clip we get is Goldust or Piper taking off in a white Ford Bronco. Then we get Shawn in that cool moment repel to the ring over the arena. Its a great moment.

Bob Backlund is out in the arena campaigning. Then we get a plug that Shawn Michaels "The Leader of the New Generation" will be on hand to speak. Dok Hendrix plugs the WWF Superstar line and we get Bret's reaction in the locker room to his loss at Wrestlemania 12. After fans go crazy over Wrestlemania 12 , out comes Shawn Michaels to talk to Vince as the women in the audience pop like crazy. One even has a rose and kisses Shawn. Lawler claims he has a big surprise for Michaels next week on RAW.


End of Part #1

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The reaction isn't big honestly , and I blame how the WWF did sudden death overtime at the PPV. McMahon plugs the "dream" of a 12 year little boy. The fans are split on Bret Hart as Vince gives him props for last nights great match. Shawn plugs his Kliq (fanbase) for him winning and pushing him to compete and win the WWF World Title. Shawn like a John Cena has a split reaction and either fans either like him or not , he still thanks them for being fans of the product and making him who he is.

Lawler claims he has an evil surprise for him next week. And there will be a man doing commentary named Big Daddy Cool. Shawn is gonna address his former friend. In ring Shawn wears a hat I'm sure is at WWF Shopzone with 3-31-96 with his championship. Shawn brags Bret Hart up and claims that for years people have bragged Bret Hart up and last night....Hitman made him a believer. That he will always be his WWF World Champion and in the fans eyes , he will be a champion as well. The fans pop for that.

McMahon wants to say something but Shawn jokes , hold on Vin Man ...I waited 11 years for this and I got more to say. Shawn plugs that he wants to carry the WWF World Champion who carries the belt with the same honor , class and dignity that Bret Hart did. Its then McMahon asks how he's gonna handle Lawler next week as Shawn jokes and acts scared as fans chant "Burger King" , Shawn jokingly replies he's gonna be sending the King back to his White Castle....if ya know what I mean Burger King.

Michaels is angry at Diesel for what he did. They were beautiful friends and close. But they make bitter enemies and at In Your House later that month , he's gonna hit sweet chin music and ...DANCE ALL OVER...HIS FACE !

Dok Hendrix is selling more useless **** on WWF Shopzone. This time its the Shawn Michaels piece of the wrestling ring he won the WWF World title in last night. Only 4800 of these will be made . The WWF is so comical funny , they rushed this plaque deal so quick without the real image they wanna sell it. For $49.95 you get a piece of the ring. And the WWE are still selling these as I checked on E-Bay. No one has bought ANY OF THEM. At the dumb inflated prices people want.

Begley is on his bicycle and looking so nerdy its comical. He plugs the Weekly World News show after RAW and goes back to trying to find it or the show with his map. In ring we see Undertaker come out to face Justin Bradshaw. Fresh off destroying Diesel at Wrestlemania 12 and teaching him a valuable lesson. You never cross the Dead Man.

Bradshaw jumps the Undertaker after a few punches almost pays for it. After a power slam the Undertaker sits up as Bradshaw's face does an uh oh. He keeps kicking and punching. Trying to stay on top of the Dead Man as we go to commercial. We get the slam of the week which was Roddy Piper getting hit by Goldust's car at Wrestlemania 12. (Which may have caused Piper's hip surgery...who knows)

In ring Bradshaw keeps trying to stop Undertaker from rallying back and is staying on offense. Then in a cool scene he delivers his big lariat to Undertaker as he seems keep the Undertaker down for awhile. Bradshaw is undefeated in the WWF and showing why as fans aren't happy . Undertaker reaches for the power of the urn and then seconds later he seems reborn from it and delivers a massive choke slam onto Bradshaw. He seems ready to put down Bradshaw after a tombstone and suddenly outta nowhere comes Mankind !

Mankind jumps Undertaker , knocking him outta the ring as he brawls with him. The fans again chant about wanting blood. In a cool spot , he throws Taker into the steel ring steps as he goes flying over them. Then on the apron he delivers a flying elbow drop . Screaming into the camera as he pulls his hair from his head. Then putting his fingers into Undertaker's mouth to choke him out as the referees can't stop him. McMahon can't believe how he is just sick.

Paul Bearer stands by his Undertaker as he tries to help him but outta nowhere comes Mankind again who again tries to do his choke submission on Undertaker as he screams. The referees can't seem to keep him away as all of them have to try and drag him away. Once they return from commercial we get the big elbow from the ring apron. Then his fingers in the throat submission. McMahon plugs next weeks RAW will check on condition of Undertaker. Also we will get Vader/Yokozuna as well as the return of Ultimate Warrior !

With that done and Lawler's plug of himself facing Shawn Michaels , RAW ends.

The Bad - The worst part of this is the matches didn't really go long and weren't as good as last weeks RAW. This RAW was more about starting the next big programs and it was that build that began this way. The silliest part was the Ed Begley Jr clips which made zero sense and why they were part of this broadcast I have no clue.

Another big problem was the company seemingly again tried to copy pop culture and was 2+ years off with the white Ford Bronco and a comical link to OJ Simpson. It wasn't great when OJ did it and its not great now.


OVERALL : ***1/2 Outta 5. This RAW was about building new programs and beyond the Bodydonna's tag team match , the matches weren't noteworthy. This featured the debut of Micky Foley and Marc Mero in WWF. Mero was pretty much booked to be the Randy Savage of 1990's with a beautiful woman who has to keep a wild man calm. Instead this would be considered the worst career jump in pro wrestling. Also this RAW ended in a great way as Mankind became an instant threat to Undertaker !

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WWF Monday Night RAW - April 8th , 1996



Your Hosts - Curt Henning & Vince McMahon

There is a new intro for the classic "The World Wrestling Federation , the exclusive home for Sports Entertainment for over 50 years" opening before RAW. Possibly to signal the new era of New Generation with Shawn Michaels at the top. To start RAW is Yokozuna with Mr. Fuji , who is coming out to face Vader. Curt Henning is out to do commentary with McMahon since Jerry Lawler is wrestling tonight.

McMahon is in ecstasy from how he sounds commentating this big man match. Which starts with both men smacking each other with loud smacks. Yokozuna is the 1st guy who dwarfs Vader and picks him up in a Samoan drop in ease. Cornette distracts Yoko and it allows Vader to get the heel advantage. McMahon makes a point to pretty much plug the fact USA Network has allowed the WWF to start RAW at 8:55 pm now since Nitro again was kicking his shows ass and he decided going live 5 minutes early would be the perfect counter. (He just didn't know Turner would expand Nitro to 2 hours in a few weeks to screw with that)

Vader pummels on Yokozuna in the corner as the referee tries to keep him away with 10 counts. Then in a precursor to a rock bottom , Yokozuna delivers the Yoko bottom to Vader and monster leg drops. Yoko beats on Vader as Fuji is weirdly a face manager after years of being a heel. He's waving the American flag , a fact Henning points out. Then with help by Cornette , Vader does his Vader bomb onto Yokozuna's ankle savagely. He keeps doing it as Yoko screams in agony and oddly the referee gives the match to....Vader ? What the **** ? Its clear Cornette is involved and it should be a DQ.

The referee goes for help as Vader celebrates in ring and outside as he poses by the video wall , proud of the carnage he has done to Yokozuna. Henning brags up how Vader is proud of who he destroys and what he does. That he's about making a name for himself. McMahon calls fans celebrating what Vader did to Yokozuna being as sick as what Vader is. They have to get a forklift and tow Yokozuna out of the arena with a split on his leg.

In ring we see McMahon proclaim "He is BACK.....HE IS....THE UUUUUULLLTTIMMATE WAAARIORRR !" Then the Warrior charges to the ring and goes insane. The fans awake after that bad opening match as they cheer the Warrior on. The Warrior hits each turnbuckle as Henning questions what the fans could see in this guy. McMahon questions where he's been for 3 long years. Then we get an answer that there are places a man goes ...disappears into. But the voices spoke to him and he points each side of the arena out.

He proclaims fans wanna live....wanna live in THE WARRIOOOOORR. Henning claims this guy is still a lunatic. Vince asks how he can handle this new WWF Generation. Warrior feels up to the challenge it seems and out comes Goldust . McMahon claims he will face Warrior , April 28th at In Your House. Goldust tries to do his trademark deal as Warrior snarls in his face.

Goldust tries to play some mind games with him and use his trade mark sexual stuff , claiming he can be a super hero and ride on his back. Warrior then grabs the mic and stops him...proclaiming whoever he is...is and whatever he is into , he is. But unlike others he doesn't a **** ! Yes Warrior swears folks...which has McMahon do a whoa moment. The word is bleeped out. Warrior then claims if he's looking for a full life adventure , action packed he has it for him. Its him kicking his ass from beginning to end ! He then clotheslines him outta the ring !

In an arm wrestling contest tonight we will get British Bulldog vs Ahmed Johnson. Outside the ring the EMT's are loading Yokozuna into an ambulance as suddenly out comes Vader with a chair as he smashes his injured leg repeatedly. McMahon yells to get that savage away from Yokozuna ! Finally officials and security get Vader away.

In ring Hunter Hearst Helmsley has yet another beautiful woman at his side. A whole new lady which we never get her name. He's facing Duke "The Dumpster" Droese . His actual real name is Michael Droese and the garbage man gimmick was actually his own creation he used on the indies before signing with WWF. He hits the ring like a bolt of fire and just knocks Helmsley outta the ring pretty quick.

Droese slaps Hunter across the face and smashes him into the steel ring steps. Back in ring Helmsley is being beaten around the ring pretty solid. Then Dumpster tries a high risk move and gets dumped over the top rope. Which allows Hunter to take the heel advantage. McMahon brags about how the Preview Channel has established the highest ratings ever for WWF Wrestlemania 12. In a video spot "Wildman" Marc Mero claims he was caught by surprise at Wrestlemania , but he will have a good surprise next week.

Helmlsey in ring tries his pedigree finisher and eats a flap jack instead into a turnbuckle as Droese is back in control. Henning points out that Duke is taking too much time to put down Helmsley. He yells out trash compactor finisher he has , and Helmsley manages to reverse it into a pedigree for the win. McMahon shows us clips of what the debuting deranged Mankind did to Undertaker last week.

Out comes British Bulldog and Owen Hart for the Bulldog's arm wrestling contest against Ahmed Johnson. Diana Smith is there as well watching in the crowd for her husband. We cut back to Yokozuna who is finally loaded into an ambulance and is in pain as he cries out. I half expect Vader to suddenly appear and try to run Yoko over with the ambulance or dump him out to continue beating on him. That doesn't happen as he's drove away to the hospital.

Ahmed jumps up onto the apron and has that look that he's gonna walk through everyone in his path. He has some words for Owen Hart and Bulldog. Owen claims his brother-in-law is the strongest man in WWF and he has the muscles as he's rock hard. McMahon claims this isn't a body building contest. Owen is angry that Ahmed has tons of oil on himself and demands he is a cheater. So Ahmed uses the refs shirt and wipes his hand n arms off.


END OF PART #1

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Owen then complains over where Ahmed puts his arm and stops things. The referee warns Owen one more stoppage and he's going to the back. Then as he sits and they start he complains again as he tosses Owen from the ring. 2 refs come out and make him go to the back so this arm wrestling contest can begin. Finally both men lock up as Henning questions all the oil Ahmed has left. Bulldog starts out in the lead as fans chant for Ahmed as his power comes back and he wins in classic Over The Top style.

He celebrates the win as Bulldog is a sore loser. He smashes Ahmed from behind with a steel chair a couple times and then sits up the table in the ring corner. But his over confidence nearly costs him. He tosses Ahmed into the corner as the table doesn't break. Then he repeats the spot and the table still won't break. So he is like the hell with it , so he throws the table onto Ahmed at the end and does a jump on it twice to try and break the table on Ahmed under it. And the table....STILL DOESN'T BREAK. So as he looks to leave he comes back and throws it again on Johnson.

Diana Smith doesn't seem happy with her husbands actions towards Ahmed as he slowly stands in some pain. We get Dok Hendrix discussing next weeks clash of Savio Vega vs Goldust. Both men were battered and bruised at Wrestlemania 12. But now they have to be ready to face each other.

After commercial out comes Big Daddy Cool who is mocking Shawn Michaels by wearing his t-shirt . He is all smiles as we see Jerry Lawler in ring , ready to face HBK. Diesel claims he used to be part of the Kliq til Shawn recruited all these derelicts in the audience. Then we see Diesel claims that the only person you can count on in the WWF is yourself. Not these morons. A point is made Shawn has never defeated Diesel and he won't on April 28th.

Michaels is having some fun with Lawler at first in this match. Diesel claims he's been WWF World Champion before but now all he wants is to destroy Shawn's life now. That he wants to ruin his life. Lawler meanwhile is having such a bad go of it , he runs and gets behind the referee. Shawn meanwhile skips around the ring , plays on the ropes and has some fun.

The fans start a very loud Burger King chant. Then the King loads his right hand with a foreign object as he wants a test of power against Shawn. Diesel claims everyone points him as a bad guy. That at MSG as he jokes , Shawn told him he had a couple vertebrae out and needed an adjustment with that chair. The King has used that object to get the heel advantage.

Lawler delivers his trade mark pile driver in a spot and Diesel mocks the main event in a sense claiming "This is the greatest sports entertainment in the world right now". Michaels snaps back in control of this match and nails an elbow from the sky . Then he stops from working to eye Diesel on commentary. Diesel warns him he doesn't want any of this . To get his win and bring the title. Lawler gets up and tries his object in his hand. As he stalks Michaels from behind , he gets nailed with a super kick and HBK wins.

Then Michaels tells Diesel to come on and get in the ring if he wants it. He removes his sunglasses and watch as the two men stare at each other and then it starts. Both men start slugging each other as Mr. Perfect distracts Michaels from beating on him. He then tosses Diesel the belt as he clobbers him with the belt. Then Diesel lays the belt across Shawn and poses over him. Big Daddy Cool comes back and gets his watch and glasses as he shakes Henning's hand. McMahon isn't happy at all with this.


The Bad - The most comical bad spot is how the WWF picked a table and either A) didn't gimmick the table to break or B) They did and Bulldog/Ahmed didn't hit the table in right place repeatedly. The fact Bulldog tries like hell to break the table 3-4 times and still can't break it , was pretty funny. I'm sure backstage that got some laughs from people.

Another thing that surprised me is Mr.Fuji being a face manager. The man was an evil Japanese manager for years (and former wrestler). I don't think Fuji understood what a face manager's role is as he's supposed to ...actually try and stop the heel manager at times. Either way this was I believe Mr.Fuji's last appearance. He would retire in 1996 and leave wrestling for good. After 31 years in the business.

The final funny spot is Jerry Lawler in this. Sure he had a high profile feud with Bret Hart , but the WWF feeling that Jerry Lawler would be a great main event and 1st challenger to Shawn Michaels was kinda silly. Lawler was pretty limited as we saw. And no a man winning 28 regional World titles in his own territory doesn't mean he should be considered a 1st challenger. Diesel himself mocks this with an inside joke and Shawn considered this a comedy match as well.


OVERALL : **1/2 Outta 5. If this RAW was a comedy show , it would have been perfect. We saw Vader's repeated attack on Yokozuna . We saw Ultimate Warrior actually do a few sentences that were coherent and had swear words involved ! Bulldog's attempts at breaking a table 3-4 times against Ahmed Johnson and finally we saw a main event that really , Shawn Michaels and Diesel seemed to make fun of together in a way. This RAW if you wanna share some laughs is good for that folks.

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WWF Monday Night RAW - April 15th , 1996




Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon opens up the show discussing the silence of Bret Hart and where he's been at. You also get Bret backstage right after the hard loss at Wrestlemania 12 . His reaction isn't so good. But over in Germany , Bret will speak about his future.

The show begins with the New Rockers in ring as both men hype up the loaded show with Marc Mero facing Leif Cassidy , then Steve Austin in action against Bart Gunn and finally we will see the man we call Vader. As part of Mero's surprise , we see that the beautiful Sable comes out with him. We get a replay of what happened 2 weeks ago where Helmsley was slapped by her.

McMahon brings up Cassidy's pretty damn solid match against Michaels and this one is doing very well as both men trade reversals until Mero knocks him outta the ring with a drop kick. Sable is just ....smoking at ringside in her tight leather outfit. Cassidy decides to play the heel and uses a thumb to the eye and again seconds later ends up knocked outta the ring yet again.

In a fun comical spot , Mero chases Leif outta the ring and smashes Jannetty and his head together. Then chases Leif back into the ring and out , as Jannetty gets revenge and clotheslines him as the referee is distracted by Cassidy. McMahon plugs how the goofy , dumb behavior that Jannetty and Cassidy do. As he takes control he looks into the camera goofy and claims he loves it ! Mero is getting double teamed by the goofy tag team of New Rockers as Leif does silly celebrating inside the ring .

Then in a cool move to counter a full nelson from Cassidy , Mero does a carousal head scissors. This puts Mero back in control and he again finishes off someone with his off the top rope roll up pin. As the match ends and Sable is followed by the camera in front of Marc Mero , Lawler calls Diesel on the phone over in Germany who gives us a German greeting. McMahon shows the footage from March 17th in MSG and the whole joke about Diesel giving a back realignment.

McMahon shows clips of last weeks clash between Diesel and Shawn Michaels. How Mr. Perfect got involved and used the WWF World Title. Then he mocks how Shawn needed to learn a lesson about the Kliq and what people wanted. The match will be a No Holds Barred (no DQ is my guess) at In Your House. Diesel mocks that Shawn has fallen into his trap he has set to get back the WWF World title back.

Bart Gunn comes down as we see Stone Cold Steve Austin in a bad mood. On WWF Superstars he faced the Caribbean Kid who after rolling up Stone Cold , unmasks as Savio Vega. Austin is ripped up for not defending the Million Dollar championship as Dibiase is with him still. Ted its claimed is offering $1 million dollars if anyone can escape Austin's finisher of the Million Dollar dream.

Bart stays in control as Vince claims that Billy Gunn is out with an injury. Yokozuna doesn't have a broken leg as well from what Vince claims. That he suffered ligament damage. Austin has taken control of the match and is stomping and kicking Bart outisde the ring. Austin is brawling more which seems to be his characters transformation. McMahon promotes how heartless this Stone Cold Steve Austin is.

McMahon's overblown commentary is so nails on the chalkboard bad. "Bart Gunn has the tenacity , Bart Gunn has the ability , Bart Gunn has the know how...." Its so insane you kinda wish Lawler would tell him to shut up. Gunn finally delivers a nice close standing drop kick. The kick is pretty close and Gunn barely gets extended on Austin. After one move he nearly gets a near pin on Austin and then he comes off the top rope in a body splash and another near pin. We get a few more close falls against Stone Cold.

In a fun moment where you do a ...whoa ..ok that is interesting , Bart locks on a sleeper hold. Stone Cold grabs his head and delivers a variation of the Stone Cold Stunner. Lawler claims that Austin's head was drove into Gunn's chin as he takes control and then locks in the million dollar dream sleeper finisher. Post match Austin gets into the camera and looks intense with his one eye not in darkness.

We get a vignette of Diesel and Shawn Michaels by Jim Ross. Where they were close best friends. Then now they are hated enemies. The next PPV will be called "In Your House : Good Friends , Bitter Enemies". McMahon is in ring as Jim Cornette discusses how destiny works as we see Vader in ring. He brings up how Vader destroyed Gorilla Monsoon and then Yokozuna. Then we get that at the next PPV , Razor Ramon will be the next one to face Vader. Its there Cornette predicts ala Johnny Carson he's made some bad choices and may not exist after April 28th.

Cornette brings up how he owns him , manipulates him but even he can't control VADER. The only words Vader brings up in the promo is ...VADER TIME ! We go from that to suddenly a vignette of Sunny in her revealing hot bikini's. Set to the music of "You Know You Want Me" . And its hard to deny someone dressed in a revealing bikinis as she does. Her blowing kisses , frolicking in the water and roller blading showing off her ass is what is selling in 1996.

Out comes Savio Vega to face Goldust for the IC title. McMahon & Lawler promote the USA Network shows Pacific Blue , Weird Science and Duckman . Goldust comes out with his beautiful director Marlena and its wild how many beautiful women have appeared on this show in the last few months . Sunny , Marlena and now Sable.

Before the match begins , Goldust puts the IC Title on the ground and slowly licks the title. Its the weirdest thing possible. Then after the bizarre mind game he tries , the match begins. In another spot , Goldust gets Savio into the corner and rubs himself against his crotch. It pisses off Vega as McMahon claims this is how he operates and its to throw his opponents off. It worked til he faced Roddy Piper and he knew how to get around that.


End of Part 1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Vega does the Goldust pose as he beats on him and then smacks him on the ass as the referee isn't happy. Goldust soon gets the advantage on Vega and again does his sexual bizarre act. Marlenda sits in her chair and smokes her cigar as this goes on. Then in the middle of the match Goldust stops and gets on the mic. Knowing that he needs heel heat , Goldust demands the fans to shut their mouths or he will come out and kiss each and every one of them ! This fires the crowd back into this match.

In one spot he stands over a fallen Vega and shakes himself and then starts slapping him. He almost loses as Vega rolls him up and nearly wins by pinfall. Later in the turnbuckle on the top rope as him and Vega punch each other , he grabs Vega and kisses him (McMahon claims its a bite as Lawler jokes...I don't think so). But the match rolls along as Vega fires back on him . We go to commercial as Jim Ross discusses the WWF Superstar line where for $1.49 you can learn what Magic Johnson and British Bulldog has in common.

The referee takes a ref bump and is down. Then we see Marlena grab the WWF IC Title and throw it into Goldust as another ref arrives to try and wake up the one who is knocked out. Goldust misses and Vega picks up the belt and smiles. Then lays out Goldust and throws it to the side. He covers and pins Goldust to become WWF IC Champion. Earl Hebner makes the 3 count as suddenly the referee (not of this match and its Tim White) decides to try and tell Hebner he can't be champion and holds up Goldust's hand. He wants to DQ Savio Vega and they argue in front of Gorilla Monsoon.

Monsoon has to make sense of this as its clear , rules are the deciding referee's rule usually stands. Not someone who comes to the ring and doesn't make the 3 count. But its the WWF and they have some wonky rules. Anyhow Monsoon decides to hold up the IC Title and declare it vacant for 1 week and we will get a rematch between Goldust and Savio Vega. Because ....well.....ok it makes no damn sense. Its whatever rules the WWF follows this week.

Next weeks show will have Vader , Mankind and the Godwinns in action. We also will get Savio Vega vs Goldust in action for the IC title. Then we go to clips after Wrestlemania 12 with a frustrated angry Bret Hart. He demands Bret to leave the locker room. A frustrated Bret didn't even dress in street clothes. He just packs up and leaves as he again isn't happy.

Then we get Bret discussing Wrestlemania and his frustration still with the match. If there was gonna be Sudden Death overtime in the match , why not tell both guys before ? It wasn't a 60 minute match he feels. It was a 62 minute match. Then he says he had Michaels beaten at the 59 minute mark and they rang the bell. Why ring the bell and stop it , so it can continue ? Bret Hart brings up that it was Shawn's job to defeat him in 60 minutes , not his job to defeat Shawn. But as he jokes he should have kept walking to the back and not came back as his mistake was the 2-3 minutes to restart it all cost him momentum.

Bret claims he can't see working for another wrestling organization and that even though one in particular (WCW) is throwing a lot of money to leave , he can't see leaving the WWF. That he's not a greedy man and he makes a fine living there. But he debates on coming back as each time he seemingly loses the belt , its like he feels betrayed in a sense. He would love a rematch as soon as possible against Michaels whenever it happens.

The Bad - If last weeks show highlighted some comedy with WWF , this weeks show should showcase how horrible bad the company's referee and other decisions were. Bret Hart made great points and showed just how silly the finish was and how it should have been brought up before hand. Then we see Tim White (who wasn't the referee of the match at all) come out and suddenly try and reverse Hebner's decision. Even the crowd was frustrated with that ****.

Vince's announcing was never so bad , til you watch him brag up Bart Gunn in this match and its so nails on the f'n chalkboard bad , I wanted to rip my ears off. Vince's commentary should be replayed on how damn terrible it could be. Where as one line could sell Bart Gunn , Vince does a minute of Bart Gunn's rallying back to make you sick of the guy.


OVERALL : ***1/2 outta 5. Marc Mero/Leif Cassidy wasn't bad , and it did have some fun spots. You could sense a week in Mero was already starting to become 2nd fiddle to Sable. We got a slow transforming Stone Cold , Steve Austin as well as Goldust doing his act. The best part was the selling of Sunny as Vince and the company realized her looks would sell a lot.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WWF Monday Night RAW - April 22nd , 1996




Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

RAW begins quickly with Goldust coming to the ring with Marlena. To face Savio Vega in this IC Title match. Its there McMahon makes a joke that Goldust has lost weight. That being his title. They soon bring up the rest of the show from Vader to the Godwinns. Sunny its claimed has 2 big surprises for the Godwinns tonight. Diesel is back from Germany and will discuss Shawn Michaels.

We get a replay of the events that unfolded and another wacky WWF decision where we get a rematch for the IC title. Savio is backstage all intense. Lawler tries to tick off Vega and it works , as he rips into the King and speaks in so many Spanish words ....i can't translate. He comes on out on fire as Goldust ducks outta the ring at 1st and then the 2 men start brawling in the middle of the ring.

Vega takes the early advantage and then in anger Goldust walks outta the ring up the ramp to seemingly give up. Then Vega being an idiot chases after him to fight some more. Back in ring the heel Goldust takes over and in a wild spot , kisses Vega to play more mind games in the corner. Vince can't claim this is a bite since it happened clearly in front corner and everyone saw it.

Vega has some rare offense and nails an enziguri kick to the head , but the heel Goldust stays in control. In a great spot Marlena sexually smokes her cigar as the camera catches her watching her man. During a submission hold , we suddenly get Ultimate Warrior cutting a promo where Warrior at the end proclaims that Goldust will be squealing like a pig at In Your House ....THE BIGGEST PIG OF ALL ! GRGGRRAAAWW.....

Goldust keeps trying to pin Savio but can't get him down. During the match Vince sidetracks with Lawler to discuss the 1996 NFL Draft for some reason. Its during this that out comes Steve Austin with Ted Debiase as they watch Savio Vega. Its then that Vega fires back in his rally. Stone Cold's eyes stare straight ahead , his lazer focus on Savio Vega it seems.

It looks like Goldust will nail the curtain call , but Vega reverses it and nearly wins with his finisher. But its so close , even Vega objects like Vince does. Then as the match rolls along , Marlena gets on the ring apron as men whistle at the sight of her. This distracts the referee as suddenly Austin nails Vega with the Million Dollar championship as he comes into the ropes. Goldust wins the match and title again and why Austin cost himself a potential IC Championship boggles my mind.

McMahon promotes that Ultimate Warrior will be on America Online tomorrow night before he heads to face Goldust for the IC Title. We get a very solid promo for how good friends become such angry bitter enemies. The vignette is one of the best the WWF has ran.

Vader comes out next as Lawler promotes that next week on RAW , he will be in Issac Yankem's corner when he faces Ultimate Warrior. McMahon again shows the footage from January where Vader destroyed Gorilla Monsoon and then 2 weeks earlier on RAW he took out Yokozuna. Vader's opponent is ...Making A Difference Fatu. McMahon is worried about what Vader could do to Fatu. Cornette has claimed Vader will do something we haven't seen yet.

After starting off in control , Vader suddenly starts getting beaten down and takes a wild bulldog type move from Fatu. Then in the corner Fatu nails his frog splash and suddenly Vader gets up and no sells it quick. He delivers a wicked clothesline that Fatu twists in the air from. The fans start a very loud "You Suck" chant geared at Vader. Then in a wild spot we get the spot we were told earlier about. Vader sets up and delivers....the moonsault from the very top rope. Lawler claims its 450 pounds doing a moonsault !

McMahon shows clips from Germany where we see Bret Hart. The Germany audience according to Vince has voted Bret the most favorite athlete 3 years in a row. Other superstars are seen as we get clips of what happened with Jake Roberts and British Bulldog there. Roberts had Owen Hart pinned as the Bulldog rolls right over him and starts beating him down. The two will clash at In Your House this weekend.

Bulldog gets too cocky in beating Jake the Snake , as the Snake revives and decides he needs punished. He decides to make the Bulldog feel the snake against him....wrapped around him as he manages to finally leave the ring. McMahon claims its a preview of what is ahead possibly for him at In Your House.

Now in ring is the Godwinns and they are facing Ken Patterson and Tijari. Yes.....the Japanese buzz saw Yoshihiro Tajiri before his makeover in ECW and what would launch him to fame. In this he's wearing just blue tights and has no long hair or facial hair. Before the match Sunny cuts a promo between the Bodydonnas as you see her breasts in full display. She claims its time the Godwinns get slopped and has a surprise. Lawler claims she is gonna make both Godwinns and Phineas get distracted.

Tijiri starts off in a great spot and shows his offense. Then tags into Ken Patterson. As the match rolls along out comes Sunny strutting her assets , taunting the Godwinns with her tag team titles. Hillbilly Jim follows after her , threatening to slop her. Tijiri only got in the ring to start the match and didn't get much after it honestly. Post match as the Godwinns win on a slop drop on Patterson , the Bodydonnas jump them. They start shoving that slop into Phineas mouth to mock him as Henry Godwinn finally makes the save. He holds his sick cousin as he spits up that slop.

In ring we see Aldo Montoya as he prepares to face the deranged Mankind. Who 3 weeks earlier , jumped Undertaker after his match and locked on his finisher in his mouth , choking him out. Mankind jumps Aldo and pulls his hair outta his head as we see it in the corner. Aldo is just being brutalized by the deranged Mankind as he gets a knee to the face in the corner and then smash outside the ring apron.

Montoya fights back awhile but tries a high risk move and pays for it. Mankind rips n screams more hair from his head and then beats on Aldo. Delivering a wild pile driver . He screams and looks at his fingers and jams em down his Montoya's face. The savagery ends as the beautiful piano music plays. Lawler claims its music to sooth the beast perhaps.

We get clips of what has happened the last few years between Diesel and Shawn Michaels. That Michaels and Diesel have clashed in the past. That they became so close once Shawn brought Diesel into the WWF. Both achieved such great heights. That when Diesel became WWF World champion he went through a year of hard physical and mental challenges. Which set Diesel off when he lost the championship.

Then the latest highlights of what happened. Diesel pledges to destroy Shawn's life and take the title. While Shawn doesn't care if its no DQ. He made Diesel and he will tear him down. In an interview backstage we get Diesel who claims he doesn't want that belt anymore. That McMahon and the corporate guys tried to make him a puppet. That he just wants to destroy Shawn and then he threatens Vince McMahon who will be at ringside.

Lawler jokes he will be at ringside next week for Issac Yankem , but after In Your House ...Vince may not be around once Diesel gets a hold of him.


The Bad - If last week was a show about silly WWF decision making , this weeks had guys do strange things. Case in point ...Savio Vega and Steve Austin. Vega could win the IC Title by count out over Goldust since he's leaving the ring and walking up the ramp. Instead Vega runs after him to fight some more. Then you have Steve Austin who comes down and decides he doesn't want a guy he's facing at In Your House to be WWF IC Champion so he makes sure he loses. Pretty dumb decision making skills here.

Then the topper is Diesel who proclaims he doesn't care about being WWF World Champion again , a week after he claimed he was gonna take the belt. Its some of the silly things the guys did here.


OVERALL : *** Outta 5. This was the go home show for In Your House and selling the last confrontation for Diesel/Shawn Michaels. The WWF knew it would be their last ever match as Diesel was due to leave the company soon. So they needed him to put over Shawn before he left. Goldust/Vega wasn't a bad match and was a good opening , silliness with booking of the guys costing themselves regardless. Mankind showed more of what would become a very solid character for Foley.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WWF Monday Night RAW - April 29th , 1996



Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

We go to clips of last night as British Bulldog argues backstage as he claims Shawn Michaels is a dirty damn pervert for wanting to sleep with his wife. Monsoon is stunned as he wonders what the hell he's talking about as Bulldog storms off to the ring to take care of him as referees stop this from happening. In ring is Bart Gunn as he waits on Mankind to start the show.

Jim Cornette will confront Shawn Michaels later tonight as were gonna learn about his committing adultery with Bulldog's wife. Then we get clips of what the deranged Mankind did to Undertaker a month ago on RAW. Undertaker hasn't been seen since the attack. In ring Mankind acts more weird as he seems to try and fix his mangled fingers before the match. The match begins and Mankind starts kicking and punching Bart. McMahon tells us that Shawn Michaels defeated Big Daddy Cool to retain the WWF World title last night.

As the match continues. Mankind gets in front of the camera and yanks the hair from his head. Foley seemingly took a blow from Bart by accident and its cut him below the eye. A fact Vince tries to claim its war paint. But Lawler stops him and claims I doubt that is paint McMahon. Bart trades punches with Mankind outside the ring as both fight back into the ring. Bart finally gets the advantage after Mankind misses an elbow drop and tries to wrestle him. But that fails quickly.

On Bart's pants you can see the red mark of blood from Mankind's cut. The referee is having a hard time keeping the deranged Mankind in ring as he delivers various counts and warnings. Eventually we get the 2 big spots he has became known for ...the running knee into the face in the corner turnbuckle and the leg drop as the poor victim lays head across the apron. Bart of course rallies back and slugs it out with him. Then delivers a pretty solid drop kick off the top rope on him.

Bart then delivers a very damn good elbow drop from the sky. The two men brawl and soon enough Bart is on top slugging Mankind in the face as the deranged Mankind reaches into Bart's mouth with his fingers. It chokes out Bart Gunn for the finish as he listens in delight to his piano music.Mankind walks back to the back as we will see Jim Ross discussing what happened to him. Then outta nowhere Mankind jumps Bart and puts the finisher on him again.

Lawler blames Jim Ross and nearly lets it slip that Jim Ross was the one who signed Mankind , but then claims he needs to interview Mankind. Its a very decent save by Ross. Out comes Savio Vega as he's happy and dancing. Its then Vega issues a public challenge to Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Caribbean Strap match. We get highlights of last week where Austin cost himself a chance at facing Vega for the IC Title .

In ring Austin is facing Scotty Taylor and abusing the poor kid. He even does a wild airplane spin. As Vega discusses the match , Lawler nearly pisses off Vega into a fight as McMahon has to calm things down. Then seconds later Lawler again nearly has Vega fight him by calling him and his people cowards and how he's a Caribbean coward. Austin makes short work of Taylor as he locks on the million dollar dream. After winning Vega gets on the mic and issues his challenge.

Ted Dibiase and Austin shake off the challenge. They laugh as Austin goes to leave finally as Vega is so angry he jumps into the ring and starts to whip him like a dog. Then after commercial we see British Bulldog and his wife Diana in ring. There are some allegations been made and things will get right to solving this as Micheals comes out. Shawn dances and struts around not caring and even does a pose in front of them all. Jose Lothario is with Shawn.

McMahon is in full Shawn Michaels promo hype mode and promotes how Shawn put on a show against Diesel and beat him. Michaels promotes how people doubted his style would work for 60 minutes. What he did was adapt to the Hitman's and he went 63 minutes instead. Then he bragged on how people claimed he would not survive Diesel. But he did and he brags that HBK can adapt to any style out there ...from the jitterbug to the waltz.

Cornette lays down what a pervert Shawn Michaels is for wanting to get with Diana Smith. We see a WWF backstage guy come and get Diana as he claims Michaels tried to hit on her. That he got her alone in the corner. Cornette claims that Shawn believes he's god gift to women as he comically laughs. This angle is so comical as Cornette lays it on thick that Michaels is a sexual deviant and more for wanting a married woman. He accuses Michaels of being a fornicator. Then finally Diana gets on the mic and claims that she knows Shawn wants her.

Michaels nearly wants to laugh , but he's had enough of this as Shawn tells her..."Mrs. Smith with all due respect , please do not flatter yourself." Shawn gets a hard slap across the face as Cornette laughs over this . Its then Shawn gets on the mic and looks at British Bulldog and says ..."I guess we know who wears the pants in the Smith family don't we."

This starts a wild brawl between Michaels and Bulldog as he comes at Michaels. McMahon himself claims he doesn't know if there is any truth to these allegations made. WWF officials come into the ring to stop this wild brawl. The two men will meet in May at another In Your House PPV for the WWF World title. The New Rockers music hits as Jannetty and Cassidy have some fun leap frogging and more in ring. While this happens McMahon runs down the card next week as 1,2,3 Kid will face Marc Mero and Owen Hart will face the Undertaker.

The Godwinns arrive to face the New Rockers as we see Hillbilly Jim and now they even have a pet pig with them. The kids pet the pig around at ringside as we watch Hillbilly Jim dance in ring. McMahon brings up how goofy a character Leif Cassidy is . Backstage Sunny discusses which team she wants the Bodydonnas to face. Sunny jokes that the Godwinns stink of course but she can have them pretty under control. Then the New Rockers are dumb and dumber basically as a team. So she's gonna come to ringside and get a closer look !

The New Rockers play the heels in this as Jannetty and Cassidy piss off the angry Phineas , who soon dumbs them outta the ring. Henry and Hillbilly Jim have gotta cool and hold him back. A fact Cassidy mocks and acts like Jannetty is holding him back as he yells....."Hold me back..." Soon out comes the stunning Sunny who taunts and shows off the WWF tag team titles. The fans whistle loudly for her.

The fans start a loud...LOUD Sunny chant as fans love her. While this happens New Rockers as heels double team poor Henry Godwinn in ring. Eventually Jannetty tries a move off the top rope and eats a boot to the face. Henry soon makes the hot tag to Phineas and starts cleaning house . Then that devious Sunny tries to distract Phineas and then we see that the referee rings the bell. Its a double count out. Lawler points out that Sunny is so smart , she cost both teams the title match.

Jim Ross backstage finds Mankind alone in a boiler room as he is asked about the finisher he uses. Mankind explains the pressure points and yells out ...THERE IS NO ESCAPE ! Mankind has no humanity. Jim Ross questions about the Undertaker. Mankind yells out that hurting the Undertaker was so easy and he needs to show some guts , GUTLESS FOOL and come after him !

Issac Yankem comes down to the ring ready for his match against the Ultimate Warrior. The Ultimate Warrior runs to the run like a man chasing a coke binge . There in the crowd is the WARRIOR symbol. Like the Bat symbol I suppose. Lawler tries to pump his man up for this. Claiming he can't let this man intimidate him. McMahon then promotes Warrior University. Which this weekend the WWF will discuss it.

The Warrior is dismantling and destroying Issac Yankem. In record time , he walks right through Yankem. Post match Lawler screams and yells about it at ringside. Yankem runs to the back as he doesn't want anymore of Warrior. Lawler claims he's gonna get in the ring and tell him what a jerk he is. But he won't claiming the cord to his head set won't stretch that far.

McMahon promotes next weeks show and Goldust being there to do commentary. As the show ends we get replay of Diana Smith slapping Shawn Michaels.

The Bad - For those who believe the AJ Styles/Claire Lynch angle was the 1st terrible adultery storyline in wrestling , it wasn't. It won't be the last either folks as these angles repeat at times. But one of the 1st terrible ones was the comical Shawn Michaels/Diana Smith storyline of 1996. In this the WWF wanted us to believe Shawn Michaels ...a man who was literally banging Sunny backstage was now wanting Diana Smith. While not an ugly woman , it was the silliest and dumbest possible concept ever. A fact Michaels himself seemed to joke about in ring as well.

The matches itself wasn't as good as you basically got a squash match , an ok one with Mankind/Bart Gunn , a count out ending and finally a Main Event squash match with Ultimate Warrior.

OVERALL : **1/2 outta 5. Mick Foley likely saved this entire episode from being a bad comedy sketch. We got an early adultery storyline from the WWF and not a good one. Sadly for Diana Smith , her husband and her would later divorce due to drug issues it seems. After completing rehab (and paid for by Vince McMahon) Davey Boy Smith would end up being with the estranged wife of Bruce Hart !

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WWF Monday Night RAW - May 6th , 1996



Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

Before Raw opens , Vince McMahon offers a tribute to the late Ray "The Crippler" Stevens. A classic heel in the golden age as TV was just starting to open the business , Stevens would start at 15 years old and be in the business the next 42 years ! Due to passage of time many don't remember him sadly. Then we get a preview of a woman claiming she lost her marriage to Shawn Michaels.

The hair and how she is supposed to look in the shadows is supposed to be Elizabeth obviously as a dig towards her. Which makes me wonder if Vince is that angry that his stars was leaving the company , he decided to mock Elizabeth. Her voice isn't hers though , as it tries to be high pitched in her voice. Then RAW opens for us.

Out comes 1,2,3 Kid to face Marc Mero in this opening match. Hunter Hearst Helmsley is at ringside with some arm candy hanging over him and he's gonna do guest commentary. Lawler proclaims some mystery woman is gonna air her dirty laundry over Shawn Michaels being a damn sex fiend. McMahon brings up that Undertaker will be action against Owen Hart with Goldust doing commentary.

Sable comes out and instantly grabs the camera's focus and steals the show as usual from poor Mero. Who doesn't realize it. We get replays of last week's Free For All where Helmsley ran down to the ring (the fastest I ever remember HHH running folks) and jumping Mero before the In Your House PPV. This is a rematch between Kid and Mero.

I may mock Mero's career for doing the dumbest career jump , but damn if he isn't an athletic specimen and could do things. He comes over the top rope in a suicide dive in epic style. The Kid gets the advantage when Mero tries a dive over the top rope into the ring. He uses his legs and feet to put it on Mero pretty much. In a weird funny moment The Kid tries using a sleeper to put down The Wildman.

Mero fights back and digs his shoulder into 1,2,3 Kids guts as he spits nearly across the ring , but he gets cut off. Helmsley rips on Mero for being unoriginal and copying from him. Then minutes later the Kid tries another sleeper hold on Marc Mero. Then Mero rallies back and before a commercial the Kid tries yet another sleeper. Its the weirdest offense to see Kid do since...when did he repeatedly do sleeper holds ? Anyhow Mero comes back and things start heating up as the Kid goes flying over the top rope.

Mero does an over the top rope flip , landing on his feet . It shows the talent he had really. Then Helmsley gets involved as he helps Kid up and cheers him on. He then pulls Mero's foot as he trips him on the top rope. The Kid tries a superplex but in the air Mero reverses it and gets the win as Helmsley reacts in anger. Post match he gets the hell outta there as Mero does his ...eye deal with his hand to signal he is a Wildman. The whole attempt at being a near Randy Savage deal here is decent , but Mero was no Savage. He just didn't have that spark on the mic. Sable poses with him post match.

Last week we get a replay of how Savio Vega dared Stone Cold Steve Austin to a strap match and whipped Austin with it. Over the weekend Jim Ross found Ted Debiase and Steve Austin , who took up the challenge. If Austin wins , Vega becomes Ted's chauffeur as he has the hat all ready for him. Austin is shown wearing clothes so weird , Steve Austin we know would never wear them.

In ring we get Making A Difference Fatu in ring. Then we go to the lady who has her identity concealed to protect the ...slut. So she claims that her husband was a pro wrestler and always on the road. That he came over and was so close , then she smelled him , oh lord he smelled so good ....and damn he is hot. So judging from this her ex-husband obviously smelled like pure crap. To get turned on by Michaels smelling so great.

Shawn was the best she ever had after they had sex she claims. Then he held her in bed close and told her how important she was. Then her husband had a match against him and he couldn't concentrate. Maybe he smelled Shawn too. Shawn never talked to her again and used her. She blames him for ruining everything for her. Because he smelled so good.

British Bulldog comes down to the ring with Diana as we get a replay of what started the adultery storyline. Fatu starts a big USA chant with the crowd. This next In Your House will be called ..."In Your House : Beware of the Dog" as well. Lawler brings up how Michaels is a sex addict. He's thrown more TD's than Joe Montana. He's scored more than Michael Jordan. I'm sure Michaels is happy that Lawler is bragging up his sexual exploits.


END OF PART #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Fatu is taking early control and dumps out Bulldog who has Diana check his eye as she does. McMahon claims Diana shouldn't be there , which is weird since 2-3 wrestlers have valets and somehow Bulldog can't ? Then we get a comical attempt at a test of power as Bulldog tries to head but Fatu and pays for it., Then he takes control and dumps out Fatu. Its there we see Bulldog do push ups , do a front flip and pose. As he mocks Michaels.

During the match Fatu keeps trying to rally back and screws up. Bulldog shows the audience his bicep. Then we get Jim Cornette getting involved as out to the ring is some family members of Fatu who is watching close on the ring entrance. Fatu keeps getting jumped by Cornette as the referee is distracted . All while Fatu's family watch who are called Samoan Gangster Party. But not named that yet on TV it seems.

Fatu rallies back finally to make his face comeback and is beating down Bulldog. He then delivers a big monster bulldog ...onto The Bulldog. Cornette tries to get involved yet again and by accident gets knocked right off the apron by his own man. After missing a clothesline British Bulldog nails Fatu and then picks him up and does his running power slam finisher for the win. Everyone celebrates as Bulldog and Diana walk off together arm in arm.

Post match Fatu rolls outta the ring as he stops at the apron and sees his family there. Things look ready to break down as Fatu claims that they aren't his family. The WWF is his family and points to the fans. Walking off. McMahon runs down next weeks card which is Undertaker in action , Shawn Michaels vs HHH with the WWF World title on the line and more.

In ring is ...Techno Team 2000 ...Erik Watts (Troy) and Chad Fortune (Travis) . Both men were ex-Louisville Cardinal football team mates and ex-WCW guys as well. The gimmick is they represented the new era of Cyber culture. You know , Vince believing they represent something which sometimes was comically bad. Anyhow for Watts this was his and Fortune's last shot at the big time as they'd draft around awhile. Chad Fortune currently drives monster trucks and has had a very successful career at that folks.

They are facing the Bodydonna's who helped the New Rockers defeat Godwinns with some trickery involved on WWF Superstars. This RAW is ad supported by the Army and .....Burger King. The fans pop for Sunny and one fan has a Sunny fan club sign. Erik Watts start the match and its pretty clear Vince has no clue about these guys as he gets their names wrong. The Bodydonnas are taking it to Techno Team 2000 for awhile but the team of the future rallies back and start showcasing some things.

Harvey Whippleman is out to take notes on WWF officiating which I joked earlier , was pretty wild. The report will go to Gorilla Monsoon who will obviously look at it at some point. If he can stop from learning how many women Shawn Michaels is having sex with. Watching the Bodydonnas work on monitors in the back is New Rockers who aren't nervous at all. In fact they are cool....very cool. Marty and Leif discuss how cool the Bodydonnas are as they work over Techno Team 2000.

"Its great to be a ROCKER. ROOOOCK OOOON !!" as both say at times. The Rockers are the 1st hippie team of the WWF obviously. No one knows what the stipulation will be in the Goldust/Undertaker match yet , but he's gonna do commentating. Lawler and McMahon argue over who Goldust will sit next to. The Bodydonnas are working a slow tag team match and its so boring due to how long its lasting.

McMahon is trying to get people excited for the boring match as Lawler brings up a silly , hey McMahon gas prices are up 14%. Eventually the Bodydonnas nail their finisher off the top rope on Techno Team 2000. Backstage we get Jim Cornette talking as Vader again does silly things with his mouth and more as he barks and growls. Cornette is ripping Yokozuna for having no heart like Vader , no speed and more. Then we get Cornette discussing how Duke Droese will face Vader and he's gonna go down.

At ringside we see Goldust arrive. He sits by McMahon who informs the bizarre one , his match at In Your House will be ....a casket match. Which scares the **** outta Goldust who tells him and Marlena he has no wanting a casket match against Undertaker. This has him try and take off to the back. As Taker's music chimes and the darkness goes around the arena as Goldust is spooked.

Goldust is froze as he watches him come down as his whole act fails as he does commentary. Its then we realize Goldust realizes his sexual act won't work on The Deadman. Both him and Marlenda huddle together as he is in fear. McMahon joked earlier , "You ran from the Ultimate Warrior , right into the Undertaker !"

Owen Hart looks around and tries a sneak attack and pays the price. Undertaker entices the bizarre one being so tall , so cold and clammy. Eventually after a couple minutes of beating , Owen gets the heel advantage. Its then we see Goldust actually wanna entice Paul Bearer and stalks him . Then gets him at the ring steps as he tries to loosen his tie. Then he gooses him on the behind as Bearer runs to the back.

Cornette stops and looks over at this bizarre man as he rubs the ring post. And then sticks his tongue out. Owen concentrates on the leg , trying to chop Undertaker down . But then outta nowhere Undertaker grabs him by the throat. McMahon claims Owen has a birthday tomorrow. With some power he throws Owen over the top rope by his throat . Its there as Owen slowly gets to his feet , Goldust comes over to help and places his hands on Owen's behind. This makes him jump and turn , distracting him.

Undertaker reaches and pulls Owen up into the ring , into a tombstone pile driver finish. Goldust stares at the Undertaker in weird lust as he slowly tries to get into ring. Outta the back comes Paul Bearer laughing as he has a gold plated casket with a star on it. This freaks out Goldust who sees it and runs to the back fast. In ring the Undertaker bows and Bearer holds the urn up as the show ends.


The Bad - The Shawn Michaels adultery storyline had this classic moment folks. Where a woman claims she became so sexually aroused by smelling Shawn. It was the most comical funniest part of RAW. Then she blames Shawn for her cheating all the way. That he seemingly made her get aroused sexually by smelling him. DAMN YOU SHAWN MICHAELS....you sexual stallion.

Match wise things weren't so good. I mean you had a very solid opening match and then it became a very boring affair with squash matches. The Bodydonnas match seemed to go on for a long , long time. Long enough to air various side things and commentary. I was happy it ended since we really didn't get to see any reason Techno Team 2000 should have existed as a tag team.

OVERALL : *** Outta 5. Basically a RAW built around storylines with some fun comical moments. The mystery woman smelling Shawn and getting sexually aroused while Goldust freaks out over the one man he can't possibly play mind games with. Its a decent show for that. Just skip past the middle folks.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WWF Monday Night RAW - May 13th , 1996



Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

This weeks RAW opens with the complete intro of RAW and you have to wonder when Vince will remove Diesel , Razor Ramon and Roddy Piper from it. On the way to the ring is the WWF World tag team champions The Bodydonnas. Skip & Zip are out.....without Sunny. They even seem to wonder where she is at. Backstage its a singles match as it will be Skip vs Ahmed Johnson.

Who is with Jim Ross who claims he's handled Davey Boy Smith and Jeff Jarrett , so having both Bodydonnas out there won't be a problem. A hand starts to rub oil on Ahmed as its Sunny who seemingly wants to hook up with Ahmed. He claims he heard she is one of the 10 most beautiful people in the world , but his momma told him to take out the trash , don't bring it in. Ohhh buuurrn. Sunny is not pleased with that statement and him not letting her oil him down some.

Ahmed comes out slowly as you can imagine the fear Zip has. Its now Zip vs Ahmed as they mixed up who would face him. During this match Lawler brings up Shawn Michaels vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley being a non-title match. Then as Ahmed is dominating this match , out comes an angry Sunny who gets in his face and says some choice words for not accepting the sexual advances she was doing. This gives the Bodydonnas time to switch out.

In ring is Skip who honestly , even with the dumb same near haircuts and all....looks 100% more different than Zip. I mean put Candido next to Prichard back then and a kid could spot the difference. The announce team and referee play it off like they look the same. This allows Skip to take an early advantage over Ahmed. But this doesn't last long as Ahmed rallies back and throws out Skip.

The Bodydonnas try some trickery yet again , as Zip tries to get back into the ring as Skip goes around behind Ahmed and tries to jump him from behind. He runs up and gets a power spine buster ! Then he nails the pearl river plunge for the win. Post match Sunny complains he pinned the wrong guy as does Lawler.

After this we go to Ultimate Warrior who is ....actually talking human to us. He's actually speaking in coherent sentences. On screen he's wearing sunglasses and a ball cap . He discusses Warrior University and unlike any university that can help you get a degree , Warrior University can help you live a dream. Its finally revealed that WU is actually Warrior's wrestling school. Which had me really hoping it was a real school and Warrior would get in students faces during History class and yell about Destructivity.

In ring Duke "The Dumpster" Droese waits as Vader comes out . Lawler informs McMahon that he's gonna be setting between 2 of the biggest genius in history , himself and James E. Cornette. I actually pity McMahon here as Droese is actually , beating down Vader. It stuns me this is happening folks and in one spot he nails him with a kick that nearly hits Vader in the privates. After a clothesline over the top rope to the floor , Vader throws Duke into the ring steps and takes over control.

Cornette claims that Vader is a monster in the realm of Frankenstein , Dracula. Lawler claims no one has ever gave Vader a challenge or took him down (unless ya count Sting , Hogan , and Ric Flair). Droese isn't a terrible worker , he has some decent offense and young fans seem to dig the garbage man gimmick he does. After another rally is cut off , Cornette is happy as Vader delivers a Vader Bomb for the win. Cornette claims after May 26th , Yokozuna is taking another ambulance ride by the man they call Vader.

Shawn Michaels will be in action later and McMahon promotes next weeks show. Marc Mero will face Steve Austin and 1,2,3 Kid will face Savio Vega. But for now , out comes Undertaker as Paul Bearer brings the casket out. Bearer brings up how Goldust loves the spotlight , but he's soon ready to cross over to The Darkside. McMahon asks how he can handle a man who is so bizarre , Undertaker chuckles and goes....bizarre ? Which the fans laugh as they know in terms of bizarre and deadly....its Undertaker.

Goldust comes out and tries his act , quoting some lines as Undertaker stays calm. He wants to touch him and puts his hand in him to dance and seconds later Undertaker grips his hand as he puts Goldust to his knees. Outta the back comes Mankind as he locks in the finisher on Taker. That mandible claw its named by McMahon. Goldust soon talks Mankind into releasing the hold and he leaves.

He lays over him and poses him sexually and rubs down him and then lays beside him all happy. Then Undertaker sits up and looks at him in anger as Goldust knows he needs to get his ass outta there. Marlena and him run to the back as the wig falls off. The Dead Man right behind him. Comically Goldust nearly slams into the ring rail and casket. Lawler contends he's not scared of Undertaker.

In ring we see Aldo Montoya ready to face Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw with Dutch Mantell (or Zeb as he's going by here). Also has to use the speed advantage but it fails quick as the power of Bradshaw is too much. Zeb gets on commentary and proclaims how everyone seems afraid to face his boy Bradshaw. That at 6'7 300 pounds he's too much for everyone. That Shawn Michaels and Yokozuna or too scared to face him. Bradshaw has a knee brace on , which he must be working through an injury at this point.

The fans aren't really into Bradshaw's act because he mostly raises a couple fingers in the air and yells OOoohhhhh at times. Anyhow after hard lariat clothesline , Bradshaw brands Aldo Montoya. McMahon then goes to a real life situation about the occupation of Kuwait and its recovery the past 5+ years. The WWF superstars came there and did a show. Where we see Bulldog try and drown Shawn Michaels in the Persian Gulf.

Back to RAW we get Hunter Hearst Helmsley with yet another beautiful woman bringing him to the ring. Its time for the Main Event as out comes Shawn Michaels with Jose Lothario. Shawn shows off the gold as he's the WWF World Champion and does his strip tease routine. At this point Michaels was the #1 guy in the industry and his game was the best in ring. Amy Peterson is the lady with Helmsley , Lawler claims. Its then we see Jerry coach her that Shawn's look at her will instantly make her horny for him and more.

Helmlsey is starting off solid and face plants Shawn with a good move. It shows the frustration he's going through and soon he takes his hair outta the braid to symbolize its time for serious business. After a commercial he's having fun and showboating as usual as he goes outta the ring with Hunter. For comedies sake he trots playfully over and gets on his knees and flirts with Amy as Lawler goes crazy. (Its a sign Shawn isn't really taking this angle serious either)

Shawn skins the cat back into the ring after knocking Helmsley down outside. In more comical spots Shawn drags him into the ring by a headlock as he's hanging onto the ropes. The ref demands he drops him and he does...landing on his nose. Then comically Shawn has fun by pulling Hunter's nose around the ring. Eventually the fun ends as Shawn tries a high risk sting splash into the corner as he misses. Then Helmsley kicks a FG with Shawn as he flies over the top rope outside the ring.

As he watches out comes Mr. Perfect who is watching this one. McMahon questions who he could be out there for. Hunter stays in control of this match as he beats down Shawn in the corner. Shawn tries to rally back but is cut off by Helmsley who is having a good classic style match with him now. The WWE Network is getting choppy in this which sucks , but it is what it is right now.

Helmsley nearly loses in a spot as he does European uppercuts and Shawn nearly gets a quick pin after reversing one into a pin. The beating on Shawn has lasted awhile but Michaels rallies again as Mr. Perfect keeps watching. At one point , Helmsley nearly does a pedigree but its reversed. Then the rally is on by HBK as he delivers a spinbuster and the kip up after it.

Later in a cool spot Michaels is caught in a near power bomb by Helmsley. He then reverses it into a frankensteiner , which Hunter reverses into a near pin attempt. Very nice spot and it gets a replay. Finally after Hunter is on the ground slow to get up we get sweet chin music. It lays out Helmsley as Mr. Perfect leaves finally after watching Shawn defeat a tough challenger. That was a pretty damn good main event.

Backstage we see Jim Ross interview British Bulldog , who will face Shawn Michaels in 2 weeks. Bulldog warns Shawn he's gonna be his if he comes anywhere close to the ring when he's out there. Then he gets angry over the claim he's afraid of snakes. That he'll be ready for Jake Roberts next week.

The Bad - The fans tastes were changing as evidence for the fact that the Bodydonnas , Justin Bradshaw and Vader really didn't seem to get huge heel reactions. Vince was plugging away trying to create classic heels in the WWF mold like he had for years and prepare them for future matches against his face champion.

OVERALL : ***1/2 outta 5. The best part of this RAW is the opening handicap match of the Bodydonnas vs Ahmed Johnson and the Main Event of Shawn Michaels/Helmsley. The best angle of the show is the build towards Mankind/Undertaker as you know that will be a wild match when those 2 clash.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WWF Monday Night RAW - May 20th , 1996



Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

Vince brings up that this past Sunday , the WWF was at MSG and had all the stars there. He promises not to kiss and tell as we see a replay of where Sunny tries to get involved in the Bodydonnas/Godwinns match and gets a big kiss from Phineas as a result. It was the highlight of his WWF career by the way.

In ring is Stone Cold Steve Austin with Ted Dibiase , as he waits on Marc Mero. Out leading Mero is Sable and she nearly melts the friggen screen she is so hot in her leather. She is now carrying a small whip to the ring. I actually pity Mero , his wife has pretty much upstaged him to a level , he could produce a 5* classic with one arm behind his back and still not be as over as she is.

Mero and Austin start in a very technical mat based match , where they tried and do reversals. This again is weird to see Austin engage in technical mat wrestling , but then it starts to open more as Austin finally gets the heel advantage delivering a flap jack into the turnbuckle of Mero. Austin drops his off the 2nd rope forearm and its kinda weird to not see Austin do his middle fingers before dropping it.

Sable twirls her whip to try and get the Wildman back into the match , but the fans don't seem to care to rally Mero back. Then Austin after Mero tries a rally delivers again his near Stone Cold Stunner. Lawler and McMahon promote the Savio Vega/Steve Austin strap match for the weekend. Which will have the stipulation that if Vega wins , Dibiase is done in the WWF. If Austin wins , Vega becomes his limo driver.

Mero mounts a big come back as we see some athletic skills. Ted trips up Mero when he hits the ropes to help Austin. As the match looks to be close to done , out comes Savio who starts whipping Stone Cold with the strap. This costs Mero the match by DQ as a referee actually rings the bell and DQ's a match for the right deal. Then we go to Vince discussing Kuwait and the rebuilding. The kids love Ahmed and his power. Vince shows video of Ahmed who worked his way through a 16 man tournament.

Next week is the King of the Ring tournament match. Ahmed Johnson vs Vader. Then we will see Goldust vs Ultimate Warrior. Clips of Warrior at a comic book shop signing copies of Warrior (Yes I own this) are shown. This is the comic where Warrior put Santa in S&M bondage to torture him I believe. McMahon claims that this book is about destiny and purpose , all while learning about destructivity. In other terms , the comic book is ****. Art is shown to illustrate how terrible the Warrior comic is.

Jerry Lawler claims he should have done the art work for it (and he would have been better). In ring is Savio Vega as he waits on 1,2,3 Kid. The Kid is in great shape and shows off his abs and more. Sitting at commentary is Ted Dibiase as this match starts off quick. Vega starts off in control quick as Ted claims that the Kid will bounce back , he has a lotta endurance.

Ted debates how his man won't lose. He's a technical master and the Million Dollar Champion. In ring we see that Kid has a busted lip and has some blood. Dibiase claims that mark his words....Stone Cold Steve Austin will be WWF World Champion soon. During the match to distract Vega , Ted stands up on the table and taunts him with the chauffeur hat and it lets the Kid get the heel advantage.

The Kid is using his legs as usual and does some high kicks and punches on Vega. But after stopping a Vega rally , can't seem to keep Savio down for a 3 count . We see Vega try and shake off and rally back ala Hogan. But takes a kick for that. In a cool spot as Vega bounces off the turnbuckle he does a super kick and its pretty high for his size in ring.

Later the Kid himself does a super kick and seems to be in control. He then climbs the top rope and tries a frog splash and misses. Vega rolls him sideways in a roll up and wins. Post match an angry Austin hits the ring and starts stomping him. Vega fights back but the numbers or too much as Kid helps. Then we see Austin and Kid tie him up with the strap , Ted Dibiase then puts the chauffeur hat on his head as he's left laying.

Backstage we see Hillbilly Jim and Henry Godwinn from last night at MSG. They are looking for Phineas and find Sunny in his dressing room , using her sexual hotness to mess with his head. In the match that night at MSG we see her distract him at ringside at times. But it comes back to haunt her as he gives her a huge kiss and then slop drops Zip for the win. The Godwinns are the new WWF World tag team champions. McMahon jokes "Sunny has kissed the WWF World tag team titles goodbye !"

On the Free for All before the PPV , The Godwinns will defend the tag team titles against the Smokin Gunns before the PPV. Jim Ross discusses the Casket Match with Paul Bearer. Ross questions where the Undertaker is , as Bearer claims where do you think he is ? He opens the casket as Taker claims that Goldust has sealed his fate and he will bury him. Then out comes Mankind who throws chains over the casket and locks it down. Then after that he takes a steel pole and smacks the casket , denting it.

Mankind dumps the casket and then keeps smacking the casket. The referees wanna free Undertaker from the air tight casket , but he is locked and its taking awhile. Goldust and Marlena leave as the referees get Taker freed. Later after this is replayed , we get Jim Cornette in ring with Bulldog and Diana. Cornette claims that his lawyer Clarence Mason has filed a restraining order keeping Shawn Michaels 100 feet away from her. Gorilla Monsoon comes out as Cornette mocks him and checks it over.

Monsoon tells Finkel and the referee his decision and he will comply with the restraining order. But now he is ordering Diana Smith to go back to the locker room and away from ringside as Cornette and Mason react insane. This backfires as Shawn comes out to do commentary and shares a staredown with Bulldog. As Lawler rants , Shawn calls him Kingfish and tells him to shut it.

Shawn claims he digs the women , but he'd never mess with a married woman. The match begins as Jake takes an early advantage as Bulldog can't concentrate fully with Michaels there and the snake. Shawn pledges that he's already addressed that this isn't true and that he feels the only way its gonna come to a conclusion is at In Your House. McMahon brings up Jannetty's claim that they were wild and crazy and Shawn agrees ...he was then. That he was young and wild , now he's trying to grow as a man.

As Bulldog takes control , Lawler claims that Pam Anderson and Michaels did have something according to National Enquirer. There was stories that Anderson became interested in Shawn , but the road schedule he was on killed any chance of that romance from taking off. Michaels himself stays classy and claims once Tommy Lee and her married he backed off because its the right thing to do. Shawn then claims that Bulldog is a very serious challenger.

During the match Bulldog focuses on Jake's leg and the Snake sells it great. As Lawler keeps ripping Shawn for being a sexual predator with women , he finally tells The King off and if he wants to make something about it , he needs to crawl over McMahon and do something. Jake rallies and does his set up for the DDT finisher. But the Bulldog smacks his hurt leg and crumbles Jake. He takes control of the match again.

Lawler then reveals that Shawn Michaels has posed for Playgirl magazine and he confirms he has. That he was asked to pose before he won the WWF World title and he did it. As the match goes , Jake tries to reach for the bag with his snake but the Bulldog stays on top of him and keeps working over his leg.

Out comes Diana Smith as she gets in Shawn's face , pretty much violating the terms of her restraining order. Then as Cornette taunts him , asking if he'd hit a woman , she throws a cup of water at him. Shawn answers he'd never hit a woman , and turns and lays out Jim Cornette . This gets the Bulldogs attention as he jumps down to attack Shawn as RAW ends suddenly. With little overrun to show us anything.


The Bad - Vince pretty much by filming weeks of RAW (he'd film 4 weeks of RAW at each location) , blew a chance to create a shocking surprise title change. So he had to show it basically at MSG and edit around things as we saw with MSG having the title change. Vince would soon realize that fans liked Nitro because it was live and Bischoff was giving these title changes at times for free.

This would be the final show for 1,2,3 Kid (Sean Waltman) and Ted Debiase. In the span of 2-3 months Vince had to watch WCW pluck basically Diesel , Razor Ramon , Roddy Piper , 123 Kid and Ted Dibiase in talent raids. The company was forced into rebuilding and recreating a mid/upper card that had been weakened. Its why they were pushing Ahmed Johnson and Ultimate Warrior on TV pretty hard to fill the gap.


OVERALL : ** outta 5. This RAW will be known for every match ending in ...DQ. Its pretty funny but every match ended comically with a DQ. Savio Vega cost the 1st one , then Steve Austin the 2nd and finally we got the 3rd which was a no ending but a brawl with Shawn Michaels that ended in ....DQ. The best part of this RAW again was the Mankind spot with Undertaker. Because no man had ever dared to jump Undertaker seemingly week after week. And here was the deranged Mankind doing just that !

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WWF Monday Night RAW - May 27th , 1996



Your Hosts - Jerry Lawler & Vince McMahon

This is a special Labor Day edition of Monday Night RAW ! The show opens pretty damn quick as Ultimate Warrior races to the ring , fireworks explode , fans go insane and the Warrior symbol is lit ! The Warrior is hear to lay a path of destructivity to Goldust. This is the 1st round match up for King of the Ring. Goldust didn't even get an entrance as he's trying to possibly calm this angry Warrior down. If he'll get in the ring that is.

The new WWF World tag team champions are on hand as its the Smokin Gunns. Which makes me question why they did the title change to the Godwinns , if the plan was to have Gunns regain the championships. Warrior is dominating Goldust and atomic drops him outta the ring. Vince tells fans he apologizes for the broadcast feed of the PPV from In Your House : Beware of Dog for going out. The PPV blew a transformer and only 2-3 matches aired. So on Tuesday they will redo those 3 matches free for fans.

Goldust slugs on Warrior who is hyped up and just runs in place. He picks him and up in a guerrila press slam and drops him. Outside the ring Goldust gets a brief heel advantage but he can't make it last. Minutes later back in ring , Warrior repeats the earlier atomic drop spot and does an extra one as poor Goldust flies outta the ring from the 2nd massive atomic drop.

Thus far Goldust has spent more time taking a beating and getting knocked outta the ring than actual moves against Warrior. On his tights , Warrior is actually advertising his Warrior University wrestling school. By luck Goldust kicks outta the 1st pin attempt. Vince proclaims that Warrior #1 is the best selling comic in the world. In checking this website of comic book sales data of April and May 1996 , Vince is of course to the shock of no one....lying.

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1996.html (Check for yourself folks)

Goldust gets another brief heel advantage and licks in a chin rest hold but the Warrior powers outta it . At this point Goldust is like , the hell with this deal. He starts to leave as Ahmed Johnson comes up from behind him and carries him back to facing the Ultimate Warrior. Eventually for the bizarre one Goldust he manages to avoid the Warrior doing a Stinger splash attempt , then he throws him outside the ring into his chair Marlena would sit in.

The fans love Warrior and tried to feed him back as he feels it. Several pin attempts by Warrior who once the ref is distracted takes a low blow from Goldust to take control again. Then after several minutes the Warrior suddenly feels it. He starts shaking like crazy and you know its over. Goldust himself knows its over and starts to try and leave. The Warrior decides to come after him as Goldust begs off and puts Marlena in front of him. The referee has counted out both men as Lawler weirdly went to get Goldust's chair.

This pisses off Warrior who chases Lawler who goes back to the announce booth. In ring Warrior smashes the chair into pieces as fans erupt cheering this. Backstage is Steve Austin and Ted Dibiase (who I had thought lost a stipulation in the Vega match he had to leave. Yet there he is ...)

We get a Free for All match as we see what happened with Sunny suddenly appearing as co-manager of the Godwinns and later against the Smokin Gunns ...locks lips with Billy Gunn. This upsets Phineas who loses once he sees this and the kiss makes Sunny nearly faint on the ring apron. Then we get pictures of Hunter Hearst Helmsley lose to Wildman Marc Mero as he tried to take out his knee and shoulder.

Then suddenly the transformer blew and lights went out in the arena right when Savio Vega came out. The matches continued in the dark and beyond some flashes of light and all , you can't see anyone. Comically newspapers locally mocked the situation there. Vince apologizes again over this and that 8pm live tomorrow night we will get Savio Vega/Steve Austin , Yokozuna/Vader and another match. (Ok now I believe I know what the deal is....the match will be redone...with an added stipulation I bet)

In an interview an angry Ted Dibiase rips this decision and claims in the dark Vega likely lost the match. Austin has a small cut on his left side from the strap match more than likely. Its gonna be a rematch and then Ted sweetens the pot more....he adds that if Austin doesn't win against Savio Vega....he will leave the company. He will forfeit his career in the WWF. Austin doesn't seem to worried over this.

The Smokin Gunns come out and Sunny is bringing them out. That evil hot minx has now became manager of the Smokin Gunns tag team. In the span of a month she went to 3 different teams. The Bodydonnas is out to compete in this non-title match. Also the name is now spelled Body Donna's. Anyhow they aren't happy to see their former manager leaving them. The fans love Sunny ...smoking baby.

Hillbilly Jim is out on commentary and he's down and unhappy over what she did to his boys last week. That she really hurt poor Phineas with what she did. But they will be back to compete and get to the top again. The Gunns are in rare form and rolling over the former team she managed. In a great exchange , Billy Gunn and Chris Candido (Skip) go through a series of moves and reversals which was pretty awesome.

Skip tries to talk to his former manager who don't want anything to do with him. Then we see the Body Donna's cheat and start using heel tactics to get ahead. As Zip beats on Bart on the floor , Skip taunts Billy Gunn in the corner. Sunny is dressed in a hot cowgirl outfit and d-d-daaaamn. In ring Bart takes the beating from the heel team.


END OF PART #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Then during the match the heart broken Phineas comes out to see Sunny. Hillbilly Jim comes out as does Henry to tell him what a user she is. That she's not worth it. Henry Godwinn just hates Sunny and finally he gets the Godwinns to both return with him. While all the while Bart takes a beating. In ring Body Donna's are in control as Skip tries a flying body press and Bart , slowly in a bad blown spot rolls over him for the pin. In ring Sunny celebrates with her men as she poses with both cowboys.

Vince again shows the effects of mother nature and the rains causing the transformer to blow. The lights finally came back on as the PPV would continue. Then in ring we see Clarence Mason serve a subpoena on Shawn Michaels and claims that legal action will come swift and hard. Shawn takes it...holds it up and rips it. The match would begin as we see pictures. Soon the referee would take a ref bump , then the 2nd referee would come out and count down Shawn's shoulder. While the 1st outside would count down Bulldog's.

Shawn Michaels would retain the title in a tie as Diana Smith tried to keep the WWF World title. A rematch will happen after this. Then coming to the ring is Vader vs Ahmed Johnson in this King of the Ring 1st round match. Owen Hart is out to do commentary as his arm is injured. McMahon questions that as Owen claims he'd not be out in this plaster cast. Then as we go to commercial we get a Sega Saturn (anyone remember that game system) as it shows the replay of the week and we get the controversy at In Your House - Beware of Dog.

Ahmed is out and you can sense the fear from Vader possibly. Because this is someone he isn't exactly gonna be running over. Vince plugs Beware of Dog 2 replaying for free and telling PPV customers to call and claim its owed to them. Lawler coins the term Monsoon would make famous when 2 forces collides..."The irrestible force vs the immovable object !"

Vader is trying psyche Ahmed out but Ahmed is like...look at these muscle and talks some trash to Vader. Then Vader commits his 1st mistake...he spits on him. The rage explodes and Ahmed beats Vader down like a small child into the corner...stomping him as the referee has to save Vader as fans explode ! Owen is shocked at what he has saw as Ahmed clothes Vader over the top rope with ease.

Cornette makes the dumb move of smashing Ahmed with his tennis racket. Ahmed smiles and Cornette runs for the hills. This allows Vader to get the heel advantage and jump Ahmed from behind. Owen claims that Ahmed cheated in the Kuwait Cup tournament he was in. Then Vader gets too cocky as he believes he has Ahmed beaten. He reverses a suplex attempt that stuns everyone. The power of Ahmed picks up a 450+ pound guy in a suplex.

Vader gets back in control and seems to set up for his normal Vader bomb finisher. But instead tries to go for a moonsault. Ahmed moves outta the way and takes control. The mask is off Vader and in another awesome spot ...he power slams the guy ! Cornette comes back out and gets involved. Then as Ahmed seems ready to finish off Vader after an Impact Spinbuster , Owen Hart climbs the top rope. He comes down on Ahmed , knocking him out cold. The referees call for the paramedics to come down and help him. Its the 1st loss for Ahmed in the WWF according to Vince McMahon.

Then backstage after a commercial things really , really pick up. Ahmed is being stretchered out to an ambulance. Up strolls Goldust who ...performs mouth to mouth CPR on Ahmed. I'd say this counts as the 1st man on man locking lips deal in WWF history. Ahmed wakes up and finds gold paint on his lips and goes into a bigger rage , chasing after Goldust ! But he shakes off the effects of his sore head as he goes down the steps.

He runs into Bob Holly as he grabs and holds him by the throat off the ground demanding to know where Goldust is. Marc Mero is standing there and points to his locker room. A jobber comically tries to coax Johnson from going in. Ahmed pretty much spears him and the door off its hinges. He storms off as he doesn't see Goldust and then lays out the WWF camera man. Lawler claims he's went insane and tells Vince he needs to go backstage and calm him down.

The Bad - The WWF started the 1996 King of the Ring and pretty much knocked out its strongest contenders quick. Ahmed Johnson suffered his 1st loss in a very silly fashion and Warrior lost by count out. You got the sense Vince came up with these ideas to try and make the King of the Ring more interesting. But sadly Ahmed's loss was too soon and in a silly fashion (why not a DQ honestly ?).

The next bad point was that fans were tired of the Shawn Michaels adultery angle and Vince seemingly was gonna keep it running. Well Vince would pay for that decision soon. Maybe the storm at Beware of Dog was a sign. Things were turning in WCW and this same night , Vince's life and the WWF would change forever. The company would soon lose whatever short burst of momentum Shawn's title change started.

OVERALL : ***1/2 Outta 5. Beyond the bad finishes for Warrior/Goldust and Ahmed Johnson/Vader , both matches were enjoyable for the comedic parts involved. You saw the Ultimate Warrior repeatedly throw Goldust outside and finally the guy realized he just couldn't handle this monster so he escapes. Then you saw Vader who felt he was the biggest bull of the woods meet the real force . I had never seen Vader beaten down so badly , to a point the referee had to save him. The storyline with Goldust/Ahmed seemed to push the company even further towards an era ahead.