Monday Night Raw - April 1st 1996

• Raw kicks off with a new WWF signature to open the show and an excited Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler recapping Wrestlemania last night.

• In the arena the show opens with a monumental debut as the deranged Mankind faces Bob Holly. This is the first look we’ve had at Mick Foley’s new WWF gimmick and, no surprises, I love Mick Foley and every version of Mankind. This original version is dangerous and crazy, fueled by fear and pain who enjoys making his opponents suffer. I’ll talk more about his properly when he has more of a spotlight but here, he squeals like a wounded animal as he hammers on Holly in the corner. He tears out chunks of his own hair and has shaved patches on his head to highlight that fact. Some fans in the crowd know Mankind from elsewhere and chant “he’s hardcore” at the ECW and WCW alumni. He gets gasps for some of his more brutal moves including an elbow off the apron to the floor and a running knee in the corner. Vince seems taken aback by him. Mankind locks in the Mandible Claw, a nerve hold on Holly’s jaw which Vince incorrectly calls a finger down the throat. Holly submits and Mankind wins. Gentle piano music plays - that was all Mick Foley’s idea, with different entrance and exit music after his matches. Soothing music playing after all the pain and suffering he’s caused. Great stuff. 

• Wildman Marc Mero makes his in-ring debut against Isaac Yankem D.D.S. The lovely Sable who was Hunter Hearst Helmsley’s valet last night is in the front row and she applauds for Mero. That’s his real life wife, as I mentioned during Wrestlemania and Marc valiantly saving her from a bully HHH has thrown them together on TV. Mero wrestles like a plucky babyface cruiserweight, flying around. As he and Issac wrestle, Helmsley comes through the crowd to chat to Sable, trying to get her back by his side. She seems unimpressed. Mero wows the crowd with a string of inventive roll ups and the fans pop big for the victory with a diving sunset flip off the top rope. He goes out to see Sable and confront HHH. She has to slap him to get him to leave her alone and Mero lifts her up and over the security wall and she leaves with him. 

• After a recap of last night’s Free for All, the new WWF Tag Team Champions The Bodydonnas face Barry Horowitz and Aldo Montoya. How did the Bodydonnas win? Sunny flashed Phineas her butt and that distracted him enough to be rolled up, defeating The Godwins in the tournament finals. You know what? Fair enough. The first match for the next In Your House is official; a rematch from the Free for All with The Bodydonnas defending the gold. Jerry Lawler spends most of this match talking about Sunny’s Slammy award for “best buns” and practically begging to see her ass. Have some dignity. This was a surprisingly good match with Aldo and Horowitz getting VERY close to a non-title victory more than once. A tag team combo hurricanrana off the top and then a sitting splash from Zip gives the champions the victory. 

• In the ring, Vince McMahon introduces “the leader of the new WWF Generation”, the new WWF Champion Shawn Michaels. Jerry Lawler on commentary smugly says that next week on Raw he has a BIG surprise for HBK. Interesting. Shawn Michaels dances to the ring carrying the title belt rather than wearing it. Shawn Michaels thanks the fans for all of their support and is just a straight up babyface. Vince mentions that next week he’ll face Jerry Lawler and at the time, Diesel will be on commentary. Shawn takes a moment to heap some praise and love onto former champion Bret Hart, saying he’ll always be a champion to him and these people and he will do his best to live up to Bret’s example. He then gives away the main event for the next PPV; it hasn’t been made official but he tells Diesel that he’ll be giving him some Sweet Chin Music at In Your House. He also throws out the line “we’re good friends but better enemies” which is important as the next In Your House is the first one to have a name - it’s Good Friends, Better Enemies. That’s a terrible PPV name isn’t it? Still, I’ll talk more about In Your House’s names going forward at the show itself.

• In the main event the undefeated Justin Hawk Bradshaw (with Uncle Zebidiah) faces The Undertaker. This is a big brutal match with the massive Bradshaw dominating Undertaker with the story being that he’s still feeling the effects of his war with Diesel at Wrestlemania. He’s too beaten up to even go for a cover after a big slam. There’s a sign in the crowd which says “Bishoff and Mongo make me want to vomit”. That was WCW’s commentary duo for WCW Monday Nitro at the time. The Undertaker preserves throug the pain and hits a chokeslam and Tombstone to pick up a hard fought victory. Or does he? Mankind appears from nowhere to break up the pin and attack The Undertaker. He’s taking advantage of his weakened state. He beats Undertaker up all around the ring driving him into the ring steps and ring post and then in an awesome looking spot dives off the apron flying about 10 feet to land an elbow drop on The Undertaker in the entrance way. He clamps the Mandible Claw on Undertaker, squealing like an animal and looking off into space as he tortures the Deadman until finally an army of referees manage to get him off of The Undertaker. Jerry Lawler does a great job of selling how dangerous Mankind appears to be and Vince is shocked and disgusted. This was a very strong debut for a new monster heel. He even bursts back through the referees to continue the attack, landing blow after blow on The Undertaker until he’s finally literally dragged kicking and screaming away. Fantastic segment. 

Monday Night Raw - April 8th 1996

• Last week they said Diesel would be on commentary this week but instead its Mr. Perfect. Maybe we’ll see Diesel later during the main event? In other production news, Vince mentions that Raw will be starting a few minutes early every week from now on - that was to balance out WCW. Nitro had been going live 5 minutes before the pre-taped Raw and giving away all of the show’s results for months now so Vince started going live 5 minutes early too to try and limit that. 
• This week Raw kicks off with the match we were originally promised for Wrestlemania, Yokozuna vs. Vader. Vader slaps Yoko who no-sells it and slaps him back. Obviously this match was never going to be a technical masterpiece but the fans are definitely into seeing two monsters bump chests. Yoko hits a Samoan drop on Vader which was very impressive. Of note, Mr. Fuji is back in Yoko’s corner waving a USA flag in some pathetic pandering for a former foreign heel turned babyface. Vader hits the Vader Bomb directly onto Yoko’s leg as it's suspended on the bottom rope. Yokozuna screams in pain and the referee immediately rings the bell and ends the match. Yokozuna is badly hurt. Vader gives him two more Vader Bombs across the now injured leg, apparently trying to end his career with a broken leg. Yoko screams in agony and even heel commentator Mr. Perfect is disgusted by these actions, trying to injure someone intentionally outside of a match. In a somewhat silly moment and one which was designed to real-life shame Yoko into losing some weight, the stretcher they have for him is far too small for the 600lbs former WWF Champion. The medical staff can’t lift him to help him and later on he’s shown being loaded into the ambulance on a forklift. Vader attacks him AGAIN in the parking lot, blasting him across the knee with a steel chair over and over again.

• In the ring, Vince McMahon interviews The Ultimate Warrior. The fans go ballistic for the return of Warrior making his first ever appearance on Monday Night Raw. Why is Warrior back? He had so many big fallings out with Vince (mostly over money) that most assumed he’d never be back but the WWF needed something big to counteract WCW and so Vince reached deep into his pocket and paid a small fortune for his return. That’s especially sad considering he wasn’t able to or willing to do the same thing to keep Razor Ramon or Diesel from leaving in this same time period. I’d love to tell you what Warrior says in this promo but I legitimately have no idea. He’s basically spent the last 3.5 years inside his own mind with “the voices”. As he rambles about the fans having the spirit of the Warrior, Goldust makes his way down to the ring. Vince mentions that at the next In Your House, Goldust will defend the Intercontinental title against the Ultimate Warrior. Goldust quotes movies which have the word “warrior” in the title and the two of them make funny noises at each other. Warrior tells Goldust that he “doesn’t give a shit” what he’s into. It’s beeped but that is FRUITY for 1996. Ultimate Warrior comes across as significantly more homophobic as Roddy Piper ever did and ends by knocking Goldust down with a punch. The fans went absolutely nuts for him so what do I know? Vince had a weird expression on his face during all of this like he didn’t approve of anything either one of them was saying.

• In the ring, Duke “The Dumpster” Droese faces HHH. He’s obviously not over their feud from February and attacks quickly, clotheslining Hunter out of the ring and beating him up all around ringside. During this match, Marc Mero has some comments in a pre-recorded interview telling HHH that he has some “wild surprises” for him next week on Raw. Helmsley wins this with the Pedigree, of course.
• The British Bulldog faces Ahmed Johnson in an arm wrestling match in the middle of the ring. Bulldog has Owen Hart with him for backup and his wife Diana is shown watching from the front row cheering him on. Vince McMahon gets back into the ring to oversee this contest. HIlariously as they try to set up, Owen Hart keeps interjecting to call Ahmed a cheater and point out minor, imagined rule infractions. Owen’s really good here and the referee eventually has had enough of his shenanigans and throws him out of the ring. After a long back and forth struggle Ahmed wins the contest. Bulldog attacks Ahmed with a steel chair, cracking it across his back and setting the folding table up in the corner of the ring. He whips Johnson hard into the table and he just bounces off it without breaking it. Bulldog sets it up again slightly differently and throws Ahmed into it again. I think they wanted the table to break - a spot I’ve never seen in the WWF prior to this point - but it stays solid so Bulldog just picks it up and slams it on Ahmed’s back instead. The violence and intensity level of these segments on Raw has increased significantly in the past few months and I love it. The genesis of the Attitude era is under way.

• Before the main event, Diesel comes down to join commentary as promised last week. He’s wearing a Shawn Michaels t-shirt, sarcastically I’m sure. Shawn Michaels faces. Jerry Lawler (in a non-title match). Diesel makes fun of HBK saying that it took him 8 years to win the title but it only took “The Big D” two. He’s very smug and promises to beat him up so badly at In Your House that The Kliq will abandon him. Lawler keeps stopping to pose and shout abuse at the fans and then paying for it with a punch to the mouth. He bumps around and has no problem making himself look stupid to make Shawn look good. A well timed distraction from Diesel allows Lawler to get some offense in but he's a part time commentator and HBK is the WWF Champion so he fights him off and, while never looking away from Big Daddy Cool, drops King with a superkick to win the match. He throws down the WWF title belt - he’s not in the mood to pose, he’s in the mood to fight. Diesel slowly removes his sunglasses and watch and takes his time getting into the ring. Michaels shows no fear - he wants to fight his former friend right here, right now. They trade blows but Mr. Perfect gets off commentary and recovers the title belt. Why? He distracts Michaels and then throws the belt to Diesel who uses it as a weapon to knock out HBK and end the show standing tall over his PPV opponent. Perfect looks really pleased with himself and high fives Diesel before he leaves. 

Monday Night Raw - April 15th 1996

• They’ve already added Mankind’s awesome flying elbow to The Undertaker into the new Raw intro which is cool. Tonight’s big hype - Bret Hart speaks for the first time since Wrestlemania.
• In the opening match, Marc Mero (now accompanied by the gorgeous Sable) faces Leif Cassidy of the New Rockers. The less gorgeous Marty Jannetty is at ringside. I’ll get a chance to talk about Sable a lot more but for now all I’ll say is Mero debuts his proper theme song on this Raw, the music that would act as Sable’s theme for the rest of her career. Vince calls the New Rockers a pair of dorks and Marty helps Leif cheat which confirms that they’re heels. I wonder when that happened? The focus of this match is very much on Sable at ringside which is kind of a perfect analogy for Mero’s entire WWF career. Mero wins with another big roll up, just like his first match.
• Diesel calls in from the WWF’s tour of Germany to talk about Shawn Michaels. He gives HBK some credit for being a good fighter but says he attacked Michaels to prove a point and put him in his place. Vince gives us some breaking news, that their WWF title match at In Your House is now a No Holds Barred match. 
• Stone Cold Steve Austin faces Bart Gunn. Billy is still out with a neck injury but will be back soon. Austin beat Savio at Wrestlemania but the previous weekend after Stone Cold refused a rematch, a masked “friend of Savio” defeated him with a roll up only to unmask and reveal that it was in fact Savio himself. This was quite a long match with Bart putting up a good fight against the Million Dollar Champion. Stone Cold eventually gets him in the Million Dollar Dream where Bart passes out. Austin wins. 
• Vince McMahon interviews Vader and his manager Jim Cornette in the ring. JC recaps everything Vader has done since his debut; attacking and injuring Gorilla Monsoon and Yokozuna basically. Yoko doesn’t have a broken leg but he does have an injured knee and will be back in “3 or 4 weeks” says Vince. Vader has a match at In Your House; the returning Razor Ramon. Returning for one night only, but I’ll get into that on the PPV obviously. Cornette says that not even he can control Vader who finishes with a loud “It’s Vader time!”
• There’s a little music video dedicated to Sunny which I am going to include here for…reasons. I know she’s a terrible person and I know she is literally in jail for the rest of her life but try to embrace living, mentally, in 1996 like I do. This did mark the debut of Sunny’s theme song.

• Goldust defends the Intercontinental Championship against Savio Vega. It’s a long and quite dull match; character aside, Goldust isn’t clicking for me. I’ve not enjoyed any of his matches since his debut. He does grab a mic during the match and yells at the crowd to shut up or he’ll come out and kiss them all which was funny. Savio gets a string of near falls and after the referee is knocked down, Goldust brings the IC title belt into the ring. Savio uses it as a weapon and pins Goldust to win the Intercontinental title when a second referee runs down to count the three. The two referees argue over what happened so WWF President Gorilla Monsoon comes down to make a ruling - Goldust is stripped of the title and it is now vacant; these two will have a rematch next week to determine the new Intercontinental Champion. That’s a weird ruling but I’m sure Gorilla knows what he’s doing. 

• At the end of Raw, Vince and Jerry narrate some “unseen footage” from backstage at Wrestlemania of an upset Bret Hart moments after losing the WWF Championship. From there, we get some comments from Bret himself who was on the European tour in Germany at the time. Bret kept telling everyone to “fuck off” and leave him alone at the time but now that he’s calmed down he whines about the ruling at Wrestlemania - it wasn’t a 60 minute match, it was a 62 minute match. The bell shouldn’t have been rung and the overtime should have started right away so that he didn’t have to release the Sharpshooter. He might have a good point but what's important is that he comes across as a whiny heel. I don’t think that was intentional, but it works out for him in the long run. I don’t think this is a storyline, I think this is just who Bret is as a person. He mentions that he would never work for any other wrestling company “who are throwing a lot of money around” and he’s not greedy for money, he’s greedy for respect. This is worth watching guys, check it out. Some good subtle character work from Bret.

Monday Night Raw - April 22nd 1996

• The show starts the way last week ended; with Goldust vs. Savio Vega for the now vacant Intercontinental Championship. This is another long and, in my opinion, dull match. Stone Cold Steve Austin comes down to the ring and hits Savio with the Million Dollar Championship belt, knocking him out so that Goldust can steal the pin and regain his Intercontinental Championship. He’s now officially a two-time champion. He now has his PPV match with the Ultimate Warrior to worry about.

• Vader faces Make A Difference Fatu in singles action. Jim Cornette has promised that Vader will do something “for the first time ever” in this match. He absorbs Fatu’s splash off the ropes, no-sells it and finishes him off with a moonsault from the top rope. A 450lbs moonsault - impressive. This show is very focused on selling the PPV so Vader also has a PPV match to get ready for with Razor Ramon.
• They show footage from the WWF’s tour of Germany, specifically that during a match between Jake Roberts and Owen Hart, British Bulldog ran down and attacked Jake to cause a disqualification, beating on him until referees stopped the attack. They’re also slated to face each other at In Your House. Jake actually fought back and made Bulldog look silly, planting him with a DDT and then putting his snake around Bulldog’s neck and shoulders. 

• The Godwins who have a Tag Team Championship match at In Your House take on a pair of jobbers. Sunny has some comments for Henry and Phineus on behalf of The Bodydonnas. She doesn’t say much; basically that Skip and Zip will win. Ok, fine. One of the jobbers is a small Japanese guy who breaks out a standing moonsault; it’s former ECW and WWF performer and champion Tajiri! I love Tajiri, he has a little bowl cut here. Sunny skips down to the ring in her little cheerleader outfit and both Tag Team title belts to distract the Godwins but Hillbilly Jim chases her away from the ring to stop her. A slopdrop DDT by H.O.G gives them the win but as they celebrate, Skip and Zip rush the ring and attack their number one contenders from behind. They beat up both Godwins with double team moves and then slop P.I.G in the middle of the ring with no Hillbilly Jim to help out. That must have been Sunny’s plan. 

• Aldo Montoya supplied the opposition for Mankind in his second WWF match. He obviously made a big impact by attacking The Undertaker and has a sick smile on his face as he walks to the ring, hanging his head to the side and walking with a hunch. I honestly can’t praise Mick Foley as a performer enough. Vince continues to describe the Mandible Claw incorrectly, talking about it being jammed down into the opponents throat and choking them which isn’t correct - it’s a nerve hold where he pinches beneath your tongue and under your chin to paralyse your jaw (stopping you from biting his fingers) and cause terrible pain. It’s a way cooler move than Vince makes it sound. He brutalises Aldo in and out of the ring before hitting a nice piledriver, holding the waistband and then clamps in the Mandible Claw for a submission victory. Lawler and Vince hammer home the danger and how demented Mankind is, calling the gentle music that plays after the victory “music to sooth the beast” which is what they were going for. 

• Raw ends with a big video package about Shawn Michaels and Diesel’s feud so far, leading up to this big PPV main event for the title.

• After that, Diesel throws out some pre-recorded comments from the tour in Germany. He seems like he’s out of it on sleeping pills or something, speaking in a very quiet voice rambling about how “McMahon” made him a corporate puppet and he might come after him next once he’s WWF Champion again. Don’t worry too much about it Vince, you’ll never see him again after the PPV.