Monday Night Raw - January 22nd 1996

• Last night at the Royal Rumble we had debuts and departures but quite frankly with Vince Russo now heavily involved in the writing and competition with WCW forcing the company to step its game up in terms of scandal, drama and storyline developments, we don’t have time to dwell! Here’s Sunny and Vince McMahon to give you a taste of “the new era of the WWF”. Side note, I kind of love the music used for this video package.

• Important news; Goldust is the new WWF Intercontinental Champion, Vader has debuted from WCW and been thrust into the main event, Jake “The Snake” Roberts is back and Shawn Michaels won his second Royal Rumble match in a row. In post-show developments, we already have the main event for In Your House 6; Bret Hart defends the WWF Championship against Diesel inside a solid Steel Cage. 
• It's impossible to ignore the change in the way Raw is presented. Significantly fewer jobber squashes and multiple big name vs. big name matches per episode. It’s about time, I love it! 
• Vince and Lawler are happy to be with us and run down all the big developments I just listed. In the ring, Savio Vega kicks things off with a singles match against Vader, making his Raw debut. He’s managed by Jim Cornette who gives a huge, grandiose introduction to the huge former WCW Champion. Vader’s theme song is a banger. The big man hammers Savio with clubbing blows (he was famous for many things but being a touch too stiff with his opponents was perhaps the main one) and even spits on him. He has a BAD attitude. We see the Vader Bomb for the first time and he crushes Savio from the middle rope to win the match, obviously. The fun isn’t over and Vader slams Vega and gives him a second Vader Bomb. He beats up the referee with a pair of headbutts as Cornette struggles to control his man. More referees file out and Vader beats them up too, spiking poor little Jack Doane with a stiff powerbomb. The President of the WWF Gorilla Monsoon comes out personally to try and control him and has the ring announce announce that Vader is now suspended! That’s too much for Vader to handle and he attacks Monsoon! Gorilla throws some chops at Vader’s chest and the crowd goes WILD. He pays for it, being crushed in the corner and the fans gasp and roar in shock. This is a truely ground breaking storyline with a non-wrestler getting attacked and Vader drops a pair of elbows and finally a Vader Bomb onto Gorilla Monsoon! Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon rush the ring and chase Vader off, checking on Gorilla and its just absolute pandemonium to kick off Raw. Vince McMahon gets in Vader’s face, screaming that he cannot believe he did that to Gorilla Monsoon of all people! This was awesome stuff and just like that, Vader is one of the hottest things in the entire company.

• Backstage after a commercial break, Vader screams that he is declaring WAR on the entire WWF including Mr. McMahon and starts trashing the locker room as Cornette struggles to control him. Vince says that as far as he’s concerned, Vader’s WWF career is over and we’ll never see him again.
• Hunter Hearst Helmsley enters for his match with Razor Ramon with a lovely lady in an evening gown on his arm. That’s a new addition to his gimmick and I won’t bother telling you her name because it’s a different girl every week. During this match, the 1-2-3 Kid and Ted Dibiase mock Razor for losing the title last night (thanks to the Kid’s interference) and call him a crybaby and show off a big bottle and nappy. Prop comedy lads, really? This match is two members of the infamous Klique. I’ve talked before about Razor, Diesel, Michaels and the Kid’s backstage friendship giving them all a great deal of success and preferential treatment - shortly after arriving in the company, HHH started sucking up to them backstage and before long found himself as part of the gang and a member of their inner circle. The Kid comes down to ringside with his big comedy bottle and stuffs it into Razor’s mouth which is enough to distract him and get him chased. Ramon runs around the ring after the 1-2-3 Kid and after a back and forth match, Hunter wins via count out. The Kid escapes and leaves Razor double disappointed so he goes back to the ring and gives Helmsley the Razor’s Edge for fun. Or tries to at least; HHH wriggles free and escapes unharmed. A bad night for the Bad Guy. 

• Vince throws us to what he says is “the final” Billionaire Ted skit. It’s about the same as the others, but the key message here is that Ted Turner doesn’t have any original ideas or ability to create and all he does is buy old things and repackage them. It’s not an unfair point to be honest but that doesn’t make it funny. 

• In the ring, Vince McMahon interviews Royal Rumble winner Shawn Michaels. He is back to his old self, crowing that he told us all so. He has a three point plan and step one was winning the Rumble match, and he’s already going to Wrestlemania so that just leaves the man who is bragging about having injured him and that’s Owen Hart. He mentions The Klique on TV for the first time here, which he is using as a collective for his fans. That’s a fun little inside joke for people in the know (like us). Shawn says that he is sick of Owen taking credit for injuring him and talking trash. That brings Owen Hart’s manager Jim Cornette down to the ring. He says that he’s the one who signs the contracts and there’s no incentive for Owen to give him another match. Forever, Owen will be the man who is known as the man who took out HBK. Shawn says he’ll happily pay him for the match and will do anything to secure a match with Owen Hart. That gives Cornette an idea - if Shawn Michaels is willing to put his WWF title shot at Wrestlemania on the line, he can have a match with Owen Hart. Michaels really puts over how hard he’s worked to get the WWF Championship and how this is his dream etc (we’re ignoring the fact that he did it last year) and asks the fans what they want. If The Klique wants it, they get it. Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart with HBK’s Wrestlemania title shot on the line. They don’t say when that match will take place so I’ll just tell you; the next PPV, In Your House 6. 

• In the main event, WWF Champion Bret Hart faces Intercontinental Champion Goldust. This match went 10 minutes but felt very short! Goldust is overmatched by the Hitman and tries to leave and runs into a shot from Razor Ramon, scurrying back to the ring. Bret wins this non-title match with the Sharpshooter. Goldust submits quickly and just leaves. That’s his first loss - weird! Vince McMahon interviews Bret after the match and Hart is all fired up. No one will ever know who would have won the match at the Royal Rumble because of Diesel. He’s sick of Big Daddy Cool and his excuses. He’s sick of him whining and plans on settling things with him for good inside a steel cage. He also promises fellow babyface The Undertaker a rematch whenever he’s ready. Bret is all fired up. This was a pretty great episode of Raw! 

Monday Night Raw - January 29th 1996

• Raw kicks off with four big segments to hype; Shawn Michaels vs. Yokozuna, Diesel vs. British Bulldog, the reveal of who will be filling in for the now injured President Gorilla Monsoon AND, “despite the threat of legal action”, more from Billionaire Ted. 
• The opening match is Diesel vs. Bulldog. Diesel has a much meaner attitude but is definitely still a babyface. This is an even match with Bulldog working on Diesel’s leg. Yokozuna comes down to ringside to help out his stable mate but when he tries to break up Diesel’s pin with a leg drop he misses and leg drops his own partner! Cornette had the referee distracted and so with Bulldog taken out, Diesel picks up the win. Cornette and Bulldog yell at Yokozuna for the mistake after the match.

• In the SlamJam, Dok Hendrix gives us comments from Bret Hart who calls Diesel “a big dummy” and mentions that he’s never lost a steel cage match. He’s going to get rid of the thorn in his side which he no longer respects at In Your House. There’s also confirmation that the Michaels/Owen match will take place at the PPV as well as Razor Ramon vs. the 1-2-3 Kid in a Crybaby match. The loser will be fed a bottle and forced to wear a diaper. In other news, HHH faces Duke “The Dumpster” Droese which is a rematch from their Royal Rumble pre-show match. HHH cut Duke’s hair on Superstars. What a meanie.

• Last week Vince said that we were done with Billionaire Ted but it seems that WCW threatening legal action has just riled Vince up and made him double down. In a comedy press conference, Billionaire Ted calls himself a hillbilly who wears bad suits and the phoney reporters make a few good points; Ted Turner owns a $4 billion dollar conglomerate and is trying to run the WWF out of business, he undercuts the WWF’s advertising rates to steal their business and could have put Nitro on at any time he wanted but choose opposite Raw. This has all aged like milk of course but the news here is that The Huckster faces the Nacho Man at Wrestlemania and The Huckster says it's in his contract that he never loses. That’s funny stuff.

• There’s another debut for us tonight. Henry O. Godwin has brought in his cousin Phineus I. Godwin. The Godwins are now a tag team and managed by Hillbilly Jim. It’s The Godwins vs. The Bodydonnas (managed by Sunny). HOG and PIG vs. Skip and Zip. Phineus will be familiar to long term fans as Mideon, which was his Attitude era gimmick. I mentioned at the Royal Rumble that Skip seems to have a hard time keeping his singlet on - it’s too big for him and keeps falling off his shoulders. The same happens here. Sunny tries to distract the Godwins so Hillbilly Jim stalks her around the ring with a bucket of slop to stop her. PIG hits the Slop Drop reverse DDT and picks up the win. 
• In huge news, next week’s main event is a Royal Rumble rematch. Bret Hart has offered a rematch for the WWF title to The Undertaker and the Deadman has accepted! I’m sure Diesel will have some thoughts on that. 
• After a recap of Vader’s actions last week, Jim Cornette has his lawyer Clarence Mason explain that he is working hard to have Vader’s suspension removed. In the arena, Vince McMahon brings out the acting WWF President while Gorilla Monsoon recuperates - Rowdy Roddy Piper! I’m happy to see him back but this is a bit hypocritical given that a lot of the Billioniare Ted stuff is specifically making fun of WCW for relying on Hulkamania era “old men”. Piper was 42 years old at the time, which is pretty young by modern WWE standards. Roddy teases Vince about being his job now (because Vince was the boss in real life, of course) and says that everyone should be scared to death of what he’ll do as President of the WWF. He rambles on and does comedy about being President and having six kids. He tells the fans that they’re in good hands with him as President and the Superstars should worry because they ALL have to pay the piper. He finishes by picking up Vince McMahon and giving him an aeroplane spin until he’s dizzy.

• More debuts in early 1996 with a video hyping the arrival of another future WWF Champion. I’m almost as excited about this one as I am about The Ringmaster. Have a Nice Day

• In the main event, Shawn Michaels battles the 600lbs+ former two time WWF Champion Yokozuna. That’s a solid main event for Raw. This is good stuff - Yoko mostly just stands there and sells as HBK gives him the run-around and throws punches and avoids charges. The crowd are super into Michaels and he knocks Yoko out of the ring. Jim Cornette calls Owen Hart down to the ring for some moral support as, after a commercial break, Michaels comes off the top rope with a moonsault onto a standing Yokozuna for a near fall. Jim Cornette distracts the referee and that allows Owen to beat up Michaels on the outside and run him spine-first into the ring post. Michaels fights back and rocks Yokozuna so Cornette distracts the referee again. Owen’s second attempt to interfere backfires and he hits Yokozuna with a spinning heel kick by mistake! HBK follows up with Sweet Chin Music and Shawn Michales pins Yokozuna! He stands back and has some fun watching things fall apart in Camp Cornette as Bulldog runs down to join the argument. Owen, Yoko and Bulldog shove each other while Cornette tries to keep the peace. Bulldog gets them back on the same page as they realise they have Michaels hugely outnumbered and are about to attack him three on one until Diesel runs down to save the day. The three heels back off in the face of the “Two dudes with attitude” and Cornette takes the opportunity to say that there are NO problems between his wrestlers. He challenges Michaels and Diesel to a tag team match next week against Yokozuna and Bulldog, which HBK and Big Daddy Cool obviously accept. Another really good episode of Raw with some big storyline moves. 

Monday Night Raw - February 5th 1996

• No opening video package this week and no messing around. The show opens with Yokozuna and Bulldog already in the ring with Jim Cornette. Interestingly, Shawn Michaels and Diesel enter together to Michaels’ music. Vince mentions that they have never been defeated as a tag team which is an impressive stat but they’ve only teamed up about 6 times. They also managed to lose the Tag Team titles twice without actually losing which is an impressive footnote for the political power of The Klique. The big story in this match is the recently teased disagreement between Jim Cornette’s managed wrestlers. Yoko has made some big mistakes lately. This is a back and forth match with all four men taking their turn being on the offensive, and then being the one to get beaten down and work towards a hot tag. This is very much the Shawn Michaels show. He knocks Yokozuna out of the ring with a superkick and despite Bulldog and Owen Hart’s best efforts they can’t get him back into the ring. Diesel and HBK win by count out. After a commercial break, Jim Cornette yells at Yoko for losing and for the recent mistakes until he’s finally had enough and shoves his manager down! Owen and Bulldog jump Yokozuna and try to beat him down two on one but the big man fights them both off and stands tall. Yokozuna is free and liberated and, for the first time, is a babyface!

• There’s another video promoting the arrival of Mankind. Much like last week, it’s a slow zoom in on his missing ear, not giving anything away. He says that the WWF is getting out of control lately so maybe he finally has “a hardcore home”

• Hakushi battles the 1-2-3 Kid. I thought Hakushi was gone after the Royal Rumble so I can only assume this is officially the last we’ll be seeing of him. The Kid has a big baby bottle with him and Vince mentions that he wheeled a stroller (or buggy) to the ring on Superstars. This is a really good match with both guys flying around, coming off the top rope and Hakushi springboarding to the outside with a crossbody. They trade near falls with roll ups and heel kicks but in the end the 1-2-3 Kid brings Hakushi off the top rope with a superplex which is enough to get the victory. Good stuff. 
• Cornette and Clarence Mason continue to argue the legal reasons for Vader being brought back to the WWF. He claims that Gorilla provoked Vader even though he knew his history. Gorilla has some comments of his own; he feels like he was hit by a freight train and apologises to the fans for getting physically involved. He refuses to apologise to Vader and says that his fate is in the hands of the board of directors. He’ll be back after Wrestlemania and the company is in good hands with Roddy Piper as acting president.

• In the main event, Bret defends the WWF Championship against The Undertaker. Diesel has protested this; he’s supposed to face Bret in two weeks at In Your House! Bret is a big babyface and giving Undertaker a rematch is the right thing to do. Vince does mention that the winner of this match will still defend the title against Diesel at In Your House, as said by Roddy Piper. Lawler mentions that Piper also invented something called “a triple threat match” but provides no further context or information. Triple threats are very common in modern wrestling and in truth, they were common enough in the mid 90s too, usually called three way dances. As the two go back and forth, Diesel slowly walks to ringside and joins Vince and King on commentary for a closer look at this title match. His distance doesn’t last long and after the referee is accidentally knocked down, Diesel attacks The Underaker. He blasts him across the back with a steel chair and then drops him with a pair of Jackknife Powerbombs in the ring. With him taken care of, Diesel leaves but Bret Hart attacks him and refuses to let him screw up his title match. Officially this match was a no contest and Bret Hart retained the title but Diesel’s interference with both men is the big story.

• In the final segment of the show, it’s not a last minute bit of hype for the next PPV, or even an acknowledgement that next week’s Raw will be pre-empted for the Westminster Dog Show again. No, it’s ANOTHER Billionaire Ted skit. The press conference continues with the WWF now moving away from insulting WCW’s booking of old men and WWF’s cast offs and now targeting Ted Turner specifically, pointing out that he is wasting millions of shareholder’s money on a pet project and “having fun” by targeting the WWF. This whole thing was amusing at first but is now powerfully lame and is making the WWF look whiney, crying foul about unfair business tactics rather than actually fight back. Thankfully all this Billionaire Ted stuff died off soon.