Monday Night Raw - June 24th 1996

• Raw opens up with Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. new Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson (in a non-title match). HHH’s fortunes continue to fall as he doesn’t get an entrance, a pretty lady on his arm or even his fancy red entrance jacket this week. He does put up a decent fight and works over Ahmed on the outside. Turns out Hunter DOES have a pretty blonde in an evening gown with him this week and she’s sat at ringside. Her name is Julie? Thanks Jerry Lawler, what would we do without you? Vince gets some comments from the former Intercontinental Champion Goldust and Marlena; he says that he saved Ahmed’s life once and now he’ll end it. Vince mentions that Goldust has a match with The Undertaker at the next In Your House PPV which makes sense seeing as he cheated to beat Undertaker in a casket match two months ago - I quite like the way they did feuds in this era where big characters would have two stories going at once and basically alternate month by month. Ahmed wins this match with the Pearl River Plunge. After the match, Dok Hendrix interviews the new champion who cuts a decent promo; he’s proud to be the first African American champion but he’s not just representing this title for them, he’s a fighting champion for everyone and every colour. That’s a nice thing. He accidentally called Dok Hendrix by his real name “Mike” and had to correct himself, and the title belt is still mounted on Goldust’s custom golden strap which I quite like.

• Sunny makes her way down to the ring to join commentary for the next match which is her former team The Bodydonnas (with their new manager Cloudy) against two jobbers. One is the Brooklyn Brawler and the other looks a little like Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks (it’s not, he’d have been a teenager at the time). They show us a bunch of very real applications the WWF received to be their new manager which just makes me sad because all these people tried REALLY hard but the whole thing was a fix. There’s even a bunch of video applications and a couple of them seemed pretty good! Sunny has bags of charisma and takes issue with people calling her a gold digger for dumping teams as soon as they lose the titles; she’s a 23 year old woman and very ambitious, she has to look out for number one! She says that she has a big surprise for everyone in the near future and will be debuting a new Singles wrestler under her charge. More on him very soon. The Bodydonnas win this match of course and then Cloudy who, lets remember, is a man dressed as a woman, went over to dance at and taunt Sunny who screamed and ran away dramatically. 

• The team of Barry Howowitz, Aldo Montoya and Savio Vega face the Camp Cornette trio of British Bulldog, Owen Hart and Vader. We found out at the end of the King of the Ring that this trio will main event the next PPV (the Cornette managed ones, not Savio and Horowitz) against Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson and the Ultimate Warrior. Jim Cornette joins commentary to talk about that match and to make excuses both for Bulldog not winning the title and for Vader not winning the King of the Ring. I quite like seeing the heels as a united force, borderline geeky in their cheering each other on. A Sharpshooter by Owen on Aldo gives his team the submission victory in a dominant performance. 

• New signee Brian Pillman hobbles down to the ring on his crutches. He made his on screen debut last night at the PPV ranting like a maniac and using far more coarse language than you’d expect to see on WWF TV during this era. They seem to be hinting at her and Stone Cold’s previous relationship from WCW with them exchanging meaningful glances. In the main event, new King of the Ring Stone Cold Steve Austin faces The Undertaker in the main event. This is, to my knowledge, the first time these two have wrestled each other which is historic given how many major matches and PPV main events they had against each other in the years after. Pillman berates Vince McMahon for the lack of respect he thinks he’s received. He’s been with this company for OVER A WEEK and yet he’s not been given main event attention. Vince points out that he can’t wrestle with a broken ankle but Pillman doesn’t think that’s good enough.

• Austin is coming off the biggest win of his career as King but Undertaker is coming off one of his most devastating losses to Mankind. Paul Bearer accidentally hit him with his own urn but even without that, Mankind was more than a match for the Deadman. Jerry Lawler says he doesn’t think the urn shot to the head was an accident after all! Stone Cold looks remarkably calm even in the face of The Undertaker. He has ice water in his veins, and jumps Undertaker immediately. Jerry Lawler says he thinks Austin might become the most prolific King of the Ring yet; they really had no idea just what a mega star he would become. I love seeing him early in his career, moving so quickly and wrestling in a different style. There’s some great character touches to his movements and style as he tried to develop his gimmick and figure out what connects with the audience. Lawler leaves commentary and follows Paul Bearer around the ring with a microphone trying to get him to talk about hitting Undertaker with an urn in error. Bearer won’t discuss it and King looks delighted to be twisting the knife over the whole situation. What an asshole. Undertaker bounces Stone Cold around the ring until Austin is able to take him down and work on The Undertaker’s leg. After a long and competitive match, Goldust comes down to the ring and throws gold dust into Undertaker’s eyes. The referee sees it and disqualifies Austin so Undertaker wins, but even with no vision is able to fight off both Goldust and Stone Cold and sends them running off. Jerry Lawler grabs a mic and gets in the ring for an interview. Undertaker won’t speak to him but Lawler ends the show pointing at Paul Bearer and dramatically accusing him of being in cahoots with Mankind! 

Monday Night Raw - July 1st 1996

• In the opening match, WWF Champion Shawn Michaels faces his former Tag Team partner Marty Jannetty in non-title action. Marty has his new partner Leif Cassidy at ringside and, to everyone’s shock, Jim Cornette. He’s not with Marty, he’s just there in opposition to Shawn. This is a long match and these two guys know each other very well going back and forth with big moves and roll ups for near falls. The fans were really into all of this and Shawn was, in fairness to him and his legendary ego and selfishness backstage, very giving and letting Marty out wrestle and even dominate him at different points in the match. Shawn hits his now familiar combo of the top rope elbow drop and then the Sweet Chin Music to win the match and he chases off Jim Cornette for good measure.

• This past weekend on Superstars, Sunny invited Phineas Godwin down to the ring to apologise for playing with his heart and playing him for a fool. She pretended to love him and goaded him into saying it back but then slapped him in the face and berated him that a girl like HER would never get with an ugly hillbilly like him! That’s extremely mean, and she made the poor pig farmer cry and then had her new team The Smoking Gunns attack him from behind. That looked like the sad ending BUT Henry and Hillbilly Jim made the save and Sunny paid for her evil ways by being slopped! Vince loved it and it looks like Phineas has broken Sunny’s spell on him.

• Jake “The Snake” Roberts joins commentary for the next match which is Mankind vs. Duke “The Dumpster” Droese. Jake has a match with Mankind at the next PPV too which doesn’t have a story and is more of an exhibition match for the pair of them. Jerry Lawler spends the match mocking Jake’s real life alcoholism and taunting him about being hung over which was tasteless at the time but has aged like milk since. Mankind wins the match with the Mandible Claw and at the conclusion of the match Jake has finally had enough of Lawler’s big mouth and attacks him. He doesn’t land many hits before Mankind arrives and clamps the Mandible Claw on him too! Lawler joins in and drives his foot into Robert’s face while Mankind holds him down. 

• In the main event, Goldust (w/ Marlena) takes on Merc Mero (w/Sable). Stone Cold Steve Austin joins commentary for this one; he has a match with Mero at In Your House. He says Mero didn’t need to ask for a rematch; after busting his mouth open he had an ass kicking coming to him anyway. He also says he’d have beat Undertaker last week with or without Goldust’s interference. Lawler recounts an incident between Sable and Marlena in the parking lot earlier today but I honestly don’t know what he’s getting at or what his point is. Stone Cold is very rude to Vince McMahon, mocking his big head and telling him to show some respect or he’ll kick his ass too. This is a long match with both guys taking their turns to control the tempo. Marlena seems very interested in Sable and stalks her around the ring; Vince and Austin ignore the whole situation but Jerry Lawler is hyper focused on these two beautiful blondes because of course he is. This is more Goldust-style mind games and it works, distracting Mero and Goldust hits the Curtain Call to win the match. Stone Cold enjoys seeing his PPV opponent suffer a big loss and that ends Raw.

Monday Night Raw - July 8th 1996

• For big history fans, this Raw took place 24 hours after WCW’s Bash at the Beach PPV where in the main event, Hulk Hogan dramatically turned heel, sided with newcomers Kevin “Diesel” Nash and Scott “Razor Ramon” Hall and formed the New World Order. The nWo storyline caused interest in WCW to sky rocket and was the beginning of that company’s golden age where they dominated the WWF in the ratings and PPV buys for the next two years. I’m sure I will periodically mention the WWF’s fortunes but in July of 1996, their financial woes were bad and about to get worse. 

• Raw opens up with big news from Gorilla Monsoon who breaks the news that the Ultimate Warrior is indefinitely suspended due to his failure to appear at various live events over the previous weekend. That is legit, but Gorilla’s caveat that Warrior will be unsuspended when he posts “an appearance bond” is not legit. That’s just to explain why Warrior is still on Raw this week wrestling Owen Hart. That’s because the match is pre-taped however the reality is that the Warrior is gone and won’t be coming back. The fans still love the guy and he sprints to the ring and pumps everyone up with his pyro. Warrior’s would-be partners are interviewed during this match about who will be replacing the Warrior as their partner at In Your House. I care barely understand a word Ahmed says but what they DO say is that they won’t drag this out; they have a replacement and will unveil him after this match. It’s a pretty standard Warrior match with him being beaten down for a while until no-selling Owen’s big moves to mount his own comeback. Bulldog comes down and attacks Warrior, giving him the victory by disqualification but Vader arrives too and the three of them beat him down. Owen and Bulldog hold the Warrior down so that Vader is able to give him a pair of Vader Bombs and, fittingly, that’s the last we’ll see of Warrior.Elsewhere at WWF Studios, Shawn and Ahmed continue to tease us with the reveal of who their partner will be. 

• As Savio Vega makes his entrance for his match with Justin Hawk Bradshaw, Brian Pillman tries to hit Vega with one of his crutches but is stopped by WWF officials. This is a rematch after their match on Superstars which descended into chaos with both men using a leather strap and bullrope as a weapon respectively. This match went a lot longer than I expected and its a big rough and tumble brawl where both men hit each other HARD; if you’re into that style of wrestling this is actually quite good. Some miscommunication by Uncle Zeb on the outside makes the difference and he accidentally trips his own man leading to a spinning heel kick and a victory for Savio Vega. Sore loser Bradshaw hits him with a clothesline and then beats him up with his bull rope, smashing him in the head with the cow bell. 
• In the arena the formidable team of Vader and the British Bulldog face the Godwins. Hillbilly Jim and Phineas are both carrying baby goats to the ring. I really hope those animals were well looked after. Jim Cornette joined commentary for the match and I’m starting to despise listening to him. He goes off on these long monologues, all in the same high pitched whiney tone and while never tripping over his words or running out of things to say is his bit skill as a promo man, his never stopping for breath has really started to grate on me. The Godwins put up a good fight including Henry kicking out of the Vader bomb but a running powerslam from Bulldog gives Camp Cornette the victory. 
• At the close of the show, Shawn and Ahmed finally reveal their new partner. In other news, they’ll both defend their titles in singles matches next week against Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn respectively. An all champions affair. Mr. Perfect called in earlier on a cell phone but was cut off when asked if HE was their partner and Shawn adds fuel to that fire by saying that they have the Perfect partner. It’s all a bluff and their partner is the returning Sycho Sid! I’m happy to see the big man back; he’s a terrible wrestler BUT, God help me, I really like Sid. He rants like a maniac that Camp Cornette will fall at the feet of the ruler and master of the world!

Monday Night Raw - July 15th 1996

• In the arena our Championship night starts with one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions challenging Ahmed Johnson for the Intercontinental title. Ahmed has taken to calling his title the People’s Championship. Sunny is with Bart Gunn and shows off with the Tag Title belt in such a way that you’d think she was the champion. Bart’s a big dude so he matches strength with Ahmed and works over the champion’s arm and shoulder including using the ring post as a weapon. This is a long match and Ahmed spends much of it on his back selling so its light on botches. When he did finally get back into the match he almost broke his own neck with a messy dive over the ropes. One Pearl River Plunge later and Ahmed retains the title. 

• Backstage Shawn Michaels cuts a good promo about tonight and the PPV. He has a title defence against Billy Gunn later and has Billy, Bart and Sunny to worry about, he knows Camp Cornette are in the building and he has the PPV itself to get ready for. Lots of things to juggle for the WWF Champion. He promises victory throughout it all.
• As Sable and Marc Mero make their entrance for Marc’s match against TL Hopper (he’s a wrestling plumber) Goldust’s usher rushes down and presents Sable with a golden gift. She throws it on the ground without opening it, assuming it’s more of a mind game from Goldust and Marlena. They give a little attention to TL Hopper’s gimmick of shoving a plunger onto his opponents faces after beating them and his “winning streak” thus far. This is obviously a victory for Marc Mero who has a PPV match with Stone Cold to get ready for so the commentators focus instead on Camp Cornette who are here tonight in force despite not being scheduled and seem in a very good mood; they have a plan for the International Incident PPV. TL Hopper was one of Cornette’s boys from Smokey Mountain Wrestling and was a 2 time Heavyweight Champion there. I wonder how he felt about being given a plumber gimmick in the WWF? Late in the match, Vince chats with Stone Cold backstage who has really found his feet with his angry ranting heel gimmick, telling Mero that he’ll pay busting his mouth open at King of the Ring and barking “SHUT UP!” at McMahon when he interrupts. 

• I find it pretty amusing to see Camp Cornette in their casual clothes backstage. Vader looks like he’s heading to the beach with a towel thrown over his shoulder like that. I’m just glad they’re using Camp Cornette as a collective name now because it’s a lot easier to type out than British Bulldog, Owen Hart and Vader every time. Jim rants in his trademark way and reminds us about Owen injuring Shawn Michaels, Vader giving Ahmed Johnson his first loss and Bulldog defeating Shawn Michaels and almost winning the title from him! 

• Vince actually promised it two weeks ago and then had to postpone it twice due to the way the show was edited; a dramatic Undertaker music video touching on both his dominance and on his feud with Mankind. It’s pretty cool and certainly atmospheric with a version of Undertaker’s theme song I’d never heard before.

• In the main event the lovely Sunny escorts Billy Gunn to the ring and he attempts to become a double champion after Bart failed earlier. I’m not sure what the Smoking Gunns did to earn a shot at both the Intercontinental and WWF titles tonight but title matches on Raw weren’t very common in this era; this is a response to WCW who were giving away World title matches on TV every week at the time and had the nWo storyline setting the world on fire. Sunny does her best to distract HBK who forces a kiss on her, then ducks a slap and then a SECOND kiss on her! That’s pretty ironic historically speaking as the pair of them had an affair for most of her WWF tenure and were definitely sleeping together by this point. Billy dominates this match; he’s a lot bigger and stronger than the WWF Champion and he works him over with strikes and rest holds. As the match continues, Camp Cornette are shown leaving the arena. Jim himself stays behind but Vince says that he smells a rat. Maybe they were only here to get in Michaels and Johnson’s heads ahead of their title defenses? Shawn slams Billy, hits the elbow drop and after tuning up the band with stomps, drops him with Sweet Chin Music to retain the WWF title. A strong performance for the Heartbreak Kid who heads backstage and celebrates with Ahmed Johnson. Jim Cornette throws a glass of water into HBK’s face so they both chase after him but it’s a set up - Vader, Owen and the Bulldog are waiting outside to jump them both! It doesn’t happen and Sycho Sid screeches into frame in a car to save his partners. Camp Cornette bundles into a car and escapes before they come to any harm. A dramatic final 90 seconds of Raw!