Monday Night Raw - November 18th 1996

• The opening match is Stone Cold Steve Ausin vs. Mankind. It was supposed to be Austin vs. Vader but during the Survivor Series last night Vader suffered a shoulder injury and will be out of action for a few weeks. Mankind attacks Austin during his entrance and the pair of them, both coming off tough losses at the PPV, furiously brawl at the top of the ramp until separated by referees. The crowd was chanting “Austin” during most of this which is cool. They are finally split up but Stone Cold comes barrelling out of the crowd with a big clothesline while JR talks about who is the toughest man in all of the WWF. The fighting continues at ringside and Austin goes hard into the ring steps. The officials and referees are useless in trying to stop this fight and finally both men get into the ring to start the match officially. I can’t do this justice because it’s AWESOME! I love both these guys and they have an electric, intense and incredibly entertaining brawl in and out of the ring beating the HELL out of each other as the crowd goes nuts for every move. I loved this and it was made better by Jim Ross having now seemingly totally dropped his heel turn and calling this match like normal. After 12 minutes or so of blistering action, The Executioner runs down to help out Mankind and gets him disqualified. The Undertaker follows and beats up both him and Mankind, sending them packing but Stone Cold didn’t want or need Undertaker’s help and clotheslines him up and out of the ring! Undertaker lands on his feet and goes back at Stone Cold who smartly backs off. What an awesome opening match and segment. 

• Ahmed Johnson makes his way down to the ring through the crowd, apparently keen to watch this next match which features Faarooq. Sunny comes out next and gives a warm introduction to “a dear friend of mine”, the leader of the Nation of Domination. PG-13 raps him to the ring for a match against Savio Vega. The rap is pretty awesome honestly but then I’m hardly an expert. There’s no denying this is a WAY better gimmick and look than the silly powder blue gladiator getup. Sunny joins commentary for this match and Faarooq has a 2x4 with him which is smart given that Ahmed is somewhere nearby. Faarooq hammers on Savio’s lower back; apparently working on his opponent’s kidneys is his MO. He has some fun posing for and saluting Ahmed Johnson who’s sitting in the crowd. Faarooq slowly works over Savio but there is a terrifying spot when they try to set up a superplex and both tumble to the outside! I thought Faarooq landed on his head but thankfully they both seem ok and quickly get back in the ring to continue the action. PG 13 gets involved and hits Savio with the 2x4 which is enough to bring Ahmed rushing down to the ring. He beats up both rappers but Faarooq escapes unscathed. He grabs the mic and leads the crowd in a chant of “you’re going down!” directed at Faarooq which is his new catchphrase.

• Jim Ross is slated to interview new WWF Champion Sycho Sid later but Vince takes a moment to talk about Shawn Michaels and says that even though he’s a pretty boy and a ladies man, his caring more for his mentor’s health than the title proves he is a man’s man. I have to imagine this little speech was because of the fans in New York loudly booing Michaels at Survivor Series.

• The new team of Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon are in action against the makeshift team of Leif Cassidy and Bob Holly. Attitude era fans might get a kick out of seeing the future Al Snow and Hardcore Holly on a team. Holly is filling in for Marty Jannetty who hurt his leg last night at the PPV. Marty will be back but only wrestling on house shows; last night at the Survivor Series was his final televised WWF appearance and he’s gone again. During this match the Tag Team Champions chime in and say that Furnas and Lafon got lucky last night eliminating them both and they need to prove themselves a lot more before they’ll earn a shot at the Tag Team titles. This is an easy victory for Furnas and Lafon.

• In the main event, Jim Ross interviews Sid in the ring. Sid screams like a maniac but stays babyface, enjoying the cheers and telling them that he will be a fighting champion for the people. He says he has respect for Jose Lothario but when he got on the apron he put himself in the game and no one who plays the game with him escapes without misery. JR lists all of his potential challengers; Sid isn’t concerned about Vader, Austin, Undertaker or a rematch with Shawn Michaels and tells Bret Hart that he has no chance against the Ruler and Master of the world at the next PPV. Good promo from the new champion.

Monday Night Raw - November 25th 1996

• Raw wastes no time this week with the return of Bret Hart in a match with his brother Owen. This is Bret’s first match on Raw since March and only his second (on screen) match since Wrestlemania 12 so is quite a big deal. This is a good match with the two brothers going back and forth with technical exchanges exactly as you’d expect. Bret is about to lock Owen in the Sharpshooter when Stone Cold Steve Austin runs down with a steel chair to take out Bret and get Owen disqualified. Austin and Owen attack ferociously and Stone Cold tries to wrap the steel chair around Bret’s ankle like he did to Pillman but British Bulldog runs down to stop the attack. Bulldog won’t let his tag partner Owen or Stone Cold do permanent damage to the Hitman so while he and Owen argue, Stone Cold blasts him with the steel chair too! A face turn for Bulldog? A very interesting story development,  I liked this a lot! 

• The Executioner (with Mankind and Paul Bearer) fights Freddy Joe Flloyd. This is just a showcase match for the masked man who has an “Armageddon match” with The Undertaker at In Your House. They’re vague about the rules for what an Armageddon match actually is. 

• Vince McMahon interviews Shawn Michaels at the house of Jose Lothario. Vince asks the tough questions but the key points here is that Jose feels very guilty for having cost him the title, but Shawn makes no excuses. He says that maybe he’s lost his edge a little but there is no old Shawn and new Shawn and he’s the same guy he always was. He fires up and says he wants to kick Sid’s ass. He challenges him to a match in his hometown at the Royal Rumble whether he’s still the champion or not! Shawn shows a bit more of an edge here and that’s definitely as a response to the fans turning on him. He says he wants the people behind him but he won’t beg for it; they can cheer him or they can go elsewhere. Vince accuses him of being defensive and that just makes him angrier. HBK promises that we’ll see a more risk taking and flamboyant version of him than ever. “I’ll do what I want, whenever I want and if you don’t like it just try me. No more Mr. Nice Guy” Vince corrects Shawn’s earlier challenge; he will face the WWF Champion at the Royal Rumble in his hometown whether it’s Bret or Sid. HBK says he is happy to beat Bret and get his title back but he’d rather it was Sid. 

• The MB Karate Fighter’s tournament continues each week with the next PPV also sponsored by the same game. We’re into the semi finals with Sunny vs. Sable (Sunny wins but then gets caught out cheating so the referee gives the win to Sable instead) and speaking of her, she joins commentary again this week for Rocky Maivia vs. Salvatore Sincere. He basically has Brother Love’s old gimmick of telling everyone how much he loves them but not really meaning it. Just like at Survivor Series Sunny spends this match talking about how much she fancies Rocky. During his entrance, a bunch of hall of famers talk about how impressed they are by the young Rock; they are trying hard to get this kid over but having Sunny, who the fans love purely because of how attractive she is, drool all over him isn’t the way to do it. That’s the kind of stuff that makes men jealous and they’ll boo him out of spite! (which is basically what happened, but we’ll get to all of that in due course) Rocky wins with his shoulder breaker finishing move while Sunny swoons for him.

• Wildman Marc Mero goes one on one with Billy Gunn (who’s changed up his look a little, coming down in a smart jacket and black hat. He’s a heel singles wrestler now y’see?) Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley joins commentary to discuss his on going feud with Mero. Before the match Mero cut a promo while Sable stood next to him with the most serious look on her face I’ve ever seen. It was the usual stuff about how we’ll see his wild side tonight. Mero flies around the ring and doesn’t let HHH distract him too much, hitting a gorgeous springboard moonsault onto a standing Gunn for a close near fall. Mero gets distracted when Hunter goes to pester Sable and Gunn jumps him from behind. The two heels beat up Mero two on one until Jake Roberts runs down to make the save. Vince suggests we might see these four in a tag team match next week and Raw….just ends. What an odd main event. 

Monday Night Raw - December 2nd 1996

• I thought Raw was kicking off with pyro for the first time ever but it was infact just the entrance of Flash Funk! He boogies to the ring with Nadine and Tracy - the Funkettes - and Vince has some fun dancing to his theme song as Jerry Lawler screams about how its the worst music he’s ever heard. It’s not really his gimmick but a good old country boy like Lawler acting like that about a black man with this gimmick comes across as more racist than it should. His opponent is Hockey based jobber The Goon. Flash picks up the win with a sling shot leg drop.
• Over the weekend at a live event in London England, Stone Cold challenged Sycho Sid for the WWF title. Austin may have had the title won but thanks to interference from the British Bulldog, he didn’t. Bulldog is still a heel but he attacked Austin because of the events of Raw last week. Sid didn’t appreciate that and was about to Powerbomb Bulldog but Bret Hart returned the favour and helped out his brother in law. Austin jumped Bret and then Sid spiked his PPV challenger with a big chokeslam. Bulldog’s motives remain unknown but family loyalties are muddying the waters. His big issue seems to be with Stone Cold and in a pre-taped interview Owen tries to keep him focused on their Tag Team Championships. They’re winners and everyone else is a loser.

• Jim Ross joins commentary for “Diesel” vs. Phineas Godwin. JR is back to playing a heel this week, having a pop at Vince about his bad commentary but it's less furiously malicious. The fake Diesel and Razor have a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championships at In Your House apparently which is news to me. Jerry Lawler suggests that JR wants Diesel and Razor to win the gold because he might get a little pay out which is probably slander. “Razor Ramon” comes down to get a closer look at this match just as Phineas is about to hit the slop drop and win. The distraction saves him and a Jackknife powerbomb later, “Diesel” picks up the victory. 

• Shawn Michaels speaks to us from the WWF studios where he apologises for being so angry and defensive last week. He also makes some vague comments directed at Bret Hart when he talks about not being a role model. He’s an emotional guy who brings all his skeletons out of the closet to show to the world and he makes no apologies for that. He is who he is, and isn’t ashamed of it. This was another good promo and interview from HBK.

• The Real Double J Jesse Jammes battles Justin Hawk Bradshaw. The big Texan bullies Jesse and hammers him with clubs and kicks before finishing him with a massive clothesline to pick up the win. Later a fired up Jesse Jammes challenges Bradshaw and Uncle Zeb to a handicap match next week on Raw because he is upset that they branded him after the loss. His eyebrows are still ridiculous.
• In the main event, Intercontinental Champion HHH and Billy Gunn battle Wildman Marc Mero and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Jerry Lawler recaps Billy’s appearance on Superstars where he talked about going it alone and how much he now hates Bart Gunn who isn’t even really his brother (which is true, they never were actually related). Mero is worked over for a bit but when the match breaks down, Jake drops Billy Gunn with a DDT. The pin is broken up but when he teases getting the snake, Billy just leaves the ring and heads backstage entirely not wanting to mess with it. That leaves Hunter all alone and Mero pins him with the Wild Thing ahead of their Intercontinental title match at In Your House. Afterwards Jake grabs the snake and tries to dump it onto Helmsley but the fear of that is enough to wake him up and the Intercontinental Champion gets out of the ring and does a runner. 

Monday Night Raw - December 9th 1996

• Raw kicks off with a non-title champion vs. champion match with Sycho Sid vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Sid is still technically a babyface on the strength of the massive cheers he gets but he definitely acts more like a heel now. He’s just driven and focused. He attacks HHH during his entrance and hits him with his own IC title belt to start this match aggressively. Sid beats him in and out of the ring and JR does a good job of explaining how this is a good practice match for Sid ahead of Bret Hart at the PPV against another technical wrestler and he makes a point by brawling and throwing him into the security walls and ring steps. He drills Helmsley with a gorgeous powerbomb and the Intercontinental Champion rolls out of the ring and takes a loss via count out rather than be pinned. 

Goldust takes on Bart Gunn. Jim Ross explains that Bart came very close to winning the Intercontinental title on Superstars but Billy Gunn was there to stop it from happening. He has a big match with Billy Gunn next week on Raw so this is his warm up match against Goldust who seems to have slid down the card since his main event run against Undertaker. Bart seems to hurt his knee somewhere during this match which I thought was legit but it ends up leading to the finish and Goldust wins clean with the Curtain Call. Post match, Billy comes down to rub salt in his brother’s wounds and calls him a loser who can’t do anything without him but that just first Bart up and he punches Billy to send him running off for cover.

• Double J Jesse Jammes is all business this week but still sings himself to the ring to battle Bradshaw and Zebekiah. I’ve said before that Zeb is actually Dutch Mantell who worked in the business in and out of the WWF for decades but mostly behind the scenes. He looks goofy with his long mullet and bushy moustache but I guess it's the gimmick. Double J puts up a good fight but the finish comes when Zeb tries to hit him with the branding iron. He ducks and Zeb hits Bradshaw in the head instead which is enough for the real Double J to pick up the win! He quickly bails and sore loser Justin Hawk Bradshaw beats up his manager and puts him down with a big clothesline followed by branding him for good measure. Hilariously it looks to me like Dutch shaved his arm ahead of time because he knew this spot was coming.

• Jim Ross interviews Bret Hart in the ring about his chance to become a four time WWF Champion at In Your House 12: It’s Time. Bret’s wearing the classic Canadian tuxedo of double denim which is so 90s and I love it. Bret doesn’t say much of note but says that Stone Cold can keep attacking him but he’ll never stop him and promises that he will excellently execute Sid and become WWF Champion again, which he’s obsessed with.

• Throughout the show, clips of Undertaker and Mankind’s previous big PPV matches have been peppered to remind us of the brutality. The main event is a No Holds Barred match between the two complete with video package

• Underaker pummels Mankind to start with and hammers him with big punches and kicks. He goes for the Tombstone early so The Executioner comes down. It’s no disqualification so they could just beat him up two on one but the Deadman fights him off and chases him so he can focus on Mankind. He beats him around the ring and slams the ringsteps on his hand to try and take the Mandible Claw out of his arsenal. He fights back and hits a really nice running elbow off the apron and focuses on Undertaker’s leg. It’s another very entertaining brawl which these two have given us a few times now but is definitely Mankind’s speciality as he did it with Stone Cold too. Undertaker slams Mankind across the Spanish announce table, which doesn’t break but after a commercial break he’s shaken that off and is back to focusing on Undertaker’s leg. After a back and forth involving fewer weapons than I expected, Undertaker spikes Mankind with the Tombstone to win this match but gets no time to celebrate as The Executioner rushes him and locks him in a sleeper hold with Raw ending with Undertaker struggling to fight out of it after such a grueling match with Mankind.