Monday Night Raw - May 27th 1996

I’m sure you’ve already read my In Your House 8 coverage so this episode of Raw effectively takes place in the middle of that PPV. I know, it’s weird.
The opening match is the first King of the Ring qualifying match; The Ultimate Warrior vs. Intercontinental Champion Goldust. The fans go nuts for Warrior who sprints to the ring with Goldust already there waiting for him. Personally speaking I have little to no love or interest in the Warrior and this particular run isn’t well remembered which I’ll talk about more at In Your House 9: International Incident BUT, I am enjoying seeing him on these shows. His energy and the fan reaction is infectious. Lawler is immediately homophobic asking if Goldust would be King of the Ring or Queen of the Ring. Vince promises us that we won’t see another non-finish between these two like we did at In Your House 7. Remember he said that. Warrior overwhelms Goldust who decides to try and take a walk (and a count out loss) but Ahmed Johnson appears at the entrance and picks up the Intercontinental Champion, walking him back to the ring. After a commercial break Ahmed is gone and the match continues. After more back and forth the two fight on the outside and the match ends via double count out. Neither man advances. Warrior chases after Marlena and “gentleman” Jerry Lawler decides to go and protect her honour. He chases after Warrior with what’s left of her chair to use as a weapon but changes his mind when Warrior turns around to confront him.

Vince McMahon narrates a full recap of last night’s PPV including all of the technical issues and the Free for All. We’ve got new WWF Tag Team Champions. Sunny is the new co-manager of the Tag Team Champions The Godwins but then looks rather happy when Billy Gunn forced a kiss on her? The Smoking Gunns won the Tag Team Championships. More on them in a bit. He recaps the two matches we saw - Marc Mero beating HHH and Shawn Michaels retaining the WWF title in a controversial finish BUT, if you want to see some fun footage of the matches continuing in the dark for the live fans only you can see it here. Vince plugs the make-up PPV on May 28th which you, reading this, already know the results of. Vince doesn’t make it clear whether this replay is free to people who bought the first one and sadly, I suspect it was not. Money was tight for the WWF in 1996!

Recap of In Your House 8: Beware of Dog

Backstage, Ted Dibiase claims that Savio Vega’s victory over Stone Cold in the dark last night doesn’t count and he probably cheated. Dibiase is so confident in Stone Cold’s abilities that he promises to leave the WWF if Austin loses the rematch (which he did).

I did say we’d hear more from The Smoking Gunns later and we do; Sunny comes out with the new Tag Team Champions and is their new manager! Awkwardly they have a non-title match with her FORMER team The Bodydonnas. Sunny just keeps ditching people in order to keep managing the Tag Team Champions. She looks GREAT in her cowgirl attire. Hillbilly Jim joins commentary and discusses The Godwins’ rematch for the titles at King of the Ring but Jim sounds really worried about poor Phineas who’s been manipulated and had his heart broken by Sunny. There was little to no mention of The Bodydonna’s previous alliance with Sunny until Skip, her original superstar, confronts her. He’s jumped from behind by Bart Gunn to continue the match. It’s unclear which of these teams is the heel and face; does teaming up with Sunny make the Gunns heels, or does it make her a babyface? I guess we’ll see. Phineas comes down to the ring to talk to Sunny (this is all a bit “angry incel”, she’s not interested mate) and Hillbilly Jim has to jump up off commentary to go and check on him. Henry comes out too and the pair of them get the love-sick Phineas to go backstage. The Gunns win this match by reversing a Zip crossbody into a roll up.

Vince recaps the terrible and confusing finish to last night’s WWF title match where Shawn Michaels retained on a draw. A rematch between he and the British Bulldog is now official for the King of the Ring PPV.
In the main event Vader has a King of the Ring qualifying match against Ahmed Johnson. Owen Hart joins commentary to watch his stable mate Vader in action and Jim Cornette is out there with Vader too. He has a cast on his wrist from an injury he suffered on a house show but more importantly he is proudly carrying his Slammy award everywhere with him. I’ve commented before on how sloppy and clumsy Ahmed is in the ring and it's on full display in this match as he stumbles and trips around the ring almost falling over every time he hits a clothesline. He seems to throw his whole body weight into every move which certainly makes them look explosive but he knocks himself off his feet as often as his opponent. Jerry Lawler makes a nasty joke about Muhammad Ali’s Parkinson’s Syndrome during this match too just when I thought I couldn’t hate him any more than I do. Vader dominates Ahmed but misses his awesome moonsault to let him get back in the match. The match breaks down with Ahmed pulls Cornette off the apron and into the ring and with the referee distracted, Owen Hart jumps off the top rope and hits Johnson in the back of the head with his cast, knocking him out cold. Vader pins him and Ahmed Johnson suffers his first lost in the WWF. Vader advances in the King of the Ring and, thanks to the double count out earlier, is now automatically in the semi finals!

Ahmed Johnson is rolled backstage on a stretcher and, in a rather disgusting move, Goldust decides to give him mouth to mouth. Vince is furious but its unclear if thats because of the violation or because it’s two men kissing. Johnson wakes up and is furious and a concussed Ahmed rampages through the back looking for Goldust, attacking Bob Holly in a daze and screaming “where is he?!” Hilariously throughout this entire segment you can hear the fans in the arena chanting “we want Shawn”. Ahmed finds Goldust’s locker room and explodes through the door. He’s not there so he attacks the camera man following him. Ahmed Johnson is very angry and has left a trail of bodies in his wake. Vince calls the forced mouth to mouth “one of the most revolting things we’ve ever seen in the history of the WWF” which is a touch dramatic.

Of historical note is that on the other channel in WCW, Razor Ramon made his debut on TV under his real name Scott Hall, coming through the crowd and declaring war on WCW in the beginnings of what would become the nWo. More on that in the coming months.

Monday Night Raw - June 3rd 1996

Raw opens with a Goldust narrated video package about his, lets call it what it was, sexual assault of Ahmed Johnson last week. He tells him that if he wants the Intercontinental title he should come and get it. That sets up another match for the King of the Ring. In other PPV news, Jerry “The King” Lawler is facing The Ultimate Warrior. Later in the show he mocks Warrior’s comic book and shows off his own art work for his own comic beating up “The Ultimate Loser”

In the opening match Bob Holly is in a King of the Ring qualifying match against the now manager-less Stone Cold Steve Austin. Ted Dibiase is off to WCW. Vince mentions during this match that only the semi finals and finals will take place at the PPV with all the qualifiers and quarter round matches taking place on “the WWF Network” which is just what he calls the various TV shows at the time but is a funny wink to the future and the WWE Network. Imagine a streaming service in 1996 with its 24kbps dial up internet! After a competitive back and forth Austin wins by submission with the Million Dollar Dream sleeper hold. Also advancing since last week’s Raw is Justin Hawk Bradshaw who defeated Henry Godwin on Superstars.

Mankind battles Barry Horowitz. He has a match of his own at King of the Ring against The Undertaker. Vince McMahon throws to Jim Ross backstage who he says “knows Mankind like no one else” which is a nod and a wink to his close friendship with Mick Foley in real life. JR calls Mankind one of the most dangerous men in WWF history. He has left The Undertaker laid out three different times now! Mankind obviously wins this with the Mandible Claw. Vince says that The Undertaker will be in action next week so I’m sure we’ll see Mankind again then. Jim Ross comes down to the ring to try and get an interview wit the deranged Mankind. He hopes that The Undertaker finally shows a little bit of pride in their match at the King of the Ring and realises that fighting him is futile. “Oh all the things I’ve lost in life, I think I miss my mind the most”. Mankind is terrifying! He ends the promo squealing like a wounded animal.

In a backstage promo from Goldust’s “parlor” he and Vince argue about whether Ahmed Johnson actually needed mouth to mouth last week or not. Obviously he didn’t. Goldust gets all creepy about Ahmed, obviously. It's a mind game I’m sure.

Sunny is on commentary for The Godwins vs. Teckno Team 2000. She explains that she goes wherever the gold goes and that no one can beat The Smoking Gunns. The fans chant her name during the match because they’re men and she’s…Sunny. The Bodydonnas make their official face turn in a pre-taped promo saying they don’t need Sunny, she led them astray and now they’re looking for a new manager who can take them back to the top of the WWF. I’m sure it's a totally legitimate competition. The Godwins win this match of course as they have a PPV title match to get ready for.

Clarence Mason is suing Gorilla Monsoon for "aggravated assault”. He shows the evidence which is Gorilla lightly touching him as he escorted him to the back. This is Vince mocking lawyers, who he’s said lots of times that he hates. Hilarious as this same week he launched a lawsuit against WCW as the recently debuting Scott Hall acted and sounded just a little bit too much like Razor Ramon for his tastes. He does actually mention that during the next match, telling fans that neither Razor Ramon nor Diesel are under contract to the WWF despite their attempts to “pawn themselves off as the stars they once were in a rival organisation"

In a King of the Ring qualifier Hunter Hearst Helmsley faces Jake “The Snake” Roberts. After a slow back and forth that was longer than you’d expect, Jake hits the DDT out of nowhere to pick up the win and advance. The irony here is that, before the Curtain Call incident that I mentioned last month, HHH was slated to win the entire tournament. This is his punishment for embarrassing management.

Monday Night Raw - June 10th 1996

This week’s Raw (taking place on my 8th birthday!) opens up with Owen Hart vs. Yokozuna in a King of the Ring qualifying match. Owen still has a cast on his arm but he’s not injured enough to keep him out of action. Yoko dominates and sets up the Banzai drop but slips and falls off the ropes. Owen scrambles into a cover with his feet on the ropes to get the win and advance to the quarter finals. Here’s the updated brackets; Owen meets the winner of Marc Mero vs. Bodydonna Skip which is up next.

The previous day on Action Zone, Jack Roberts had a candid interview talking about his previous abuse of pills, alcohol and cocaine. In June of 1996 he was “clean” but sadly that didn’t stick long term. Jake is on commentary for the Skip and Mero match but continuing this block of TV, Jim Ross speaks to Yokozuna backstage. He is very sad about his loss to Owen Hart and seems depressed, suggesting that his focus on Jim Cornette is starting to cost him matches. Poor Yoko. The main draw of Marc Mero’s act is Sable who Vince calls “the most beautiful woman in WWF history”. Lawler and Jake spend the match sniping at each other. This is a fast paced match with Mero and Skip flying around the ring, going to the top rope more than once and countering each other with hurricanaranas and a wide array of suplexes. Mero is a decent wrestler but Chris “Skip” Candido was always very gifted in the ring. Skip shouts abuse at a fan in the front row while applying a sleeper hold so clearly didn’t get the memo that he’s supposed to be a babyface now. Mero hits a top rope hurricanrana and that's enough to get the victory making him the final man to advance to the quarter finals.

In the ring, Vince McMahon conducts an interview between King of the Ring opponents Jerry Lawler and the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior runs down to the ring wearing a baseball cap which is a very odd look on him I think. Lawler makes excuses for having crossed Warrior a couple of weeks ago; Warrior blames Lawler for getting him counted out by chasing him around the ring. King says no one really wants to be the King and offers him some framed art work that he did. This is a round about way of plugging Warrior’s comic book. It’s funny that Lawler is so positive about the comic’s art as Warrior had a massive public falling out with his artist after the first two issues. You can learn all about that in more detail in OSW’s video about it, which I linked to previously. Warrior rambles about being an unstoppable warrior and says he’ll kick Lawler’s ass. He said other stuff but I didn’t understand any of it. Lawler smashes the frame over Warrior’s head (that explains the hat) but he hits him with the back of it which does break the glass but sends it all flying in Lawler’s direction instead of doing any damage to the Warrior himself. Warrior chased Lawler backstage after that but following a quick commercial break The King was back on commentary unscathed.

On this show during a commercial for the WWF Superstar line Jim Ross mentions a rumour that “the controversial Brian Pillman has signed with the WWF” which is obviously true or they wouldn’t have mentioned him by name.
The Undertaker takes on The British Bulldog. This is a big match, certainly in terms of them both having big singles matches at the PPV to worry about. Diana Hart/Smith is now a permanent part of the Bulldog’s ringside entourage. WWF Champion Shawn Michaels calls in from WWF Studios to chat to Vince about the King of the Ring title match. Jim Cornette realises who they’re talking to and grabs a headset to join in, taunting him about almost losing the title and making fun of The Kliq (the collective for his fans, not his friends backstage). Cornette breaks the news here that as part of Clarence Mason’s lawsuit against Gorilla Monsoon they have earned the right to appoint a special guest referee for the King of the Ring rematch. Michaels is upset but does his best to keep his cool. What’s kind of funny is that during all of this, Undertaker and Bulldog are just stuck in the ring killing time waiting for the interview to finish. This is a slow back and forth match but the fans are really into it, chanting “we want Shawn” at Bulldog and cheering for Undertaker’s every move. That’s all I can really ask for. I’ve commented on it before but I am happy that through 1996 we’re seeing more of Undertaker vs. big names and proper athletes who he can speed up and have a good match with rather than useless lumps like King Kong Bundy and IRS. This is decent and I thought it was better than Bulldog’s match with Shawn Michaels on the PPV! Tombstone is countered into powerslam. A chokeslam leads to a brawl on the outside as Bulldog tries to keep from being pinned. This match has a creative finish as while trying to re-enter the ring, Mankind’s arms appear from under the ring to grab Undertaker’s ankle, trapping him on the outside and causing him to be counted out. Mankind assaults The Undertaker again, laying him out in the ring with a piledriver and Raw ends in chaos as referees and officials rush the ring to stop the attack before it goes any further.

Monday Night Raw - June 17th 1996

Raw kicks off with Stone Cold Steve Austin already in the ring. He has a quarter final match in the King of the Ring tournament with heated rival Savio Vega. He attacks him the second he enters the ring and brutalises him, working on the leg and ankle as aggressively as possible. Austin is still using the somber, serious theme music he adopted as The Ringmaster but is already showing more of his own character. He’s a ruthless man with no heart BUT, he does take time to pose for the crowd when he’s doing well. Savio fights back and this is a pretty good match between the two. Austin debuts a new finishing move, positioning Savio’s head on his shoulder and dropping with a jaw breaker. Yes, this match is the debut of the Stone Cold Stunner. He advances to the semi finals and the PPV. He stays at ringside and Jerry Lawler invites him to join commentary for the next match which will dictate who his opponent is.

Marc Mero vs. Owen Hart should be a really good match so I’m happy to sit and watch this one. In other news, Jake Roberts defeated Justin Hawk Bradshaw on Superstars so the other semi final match is also locked - Jake “The Snake” vs. Vader. Stone Cold is supremely confident and says he has a win at all costs kind of attitude. Austin disappears during a commercial break and after a back and forth, Mero counters Owen’s kick into a roll up to pick up the win and advance to the semi finals! Post match, sore loser Owen knocks Mero out with his cast and leaves him laying as a very concerned Sable calls for medical attention for her man. That makes both semi-finals for the King of the Ring official.

In a different arena elsewhere, Jim Ross interviews The British Bulldog and his wife Diana Smith about Shawn Michaels. Vince says this is being broadcast live from a house show. It obviously isn’t. Bulldog calls Michaels a coward and continues to berate him until the WWF Champion rushes the ring, tackling his challenger and the two furiously brawl until the ring fills with referees, officials and other wrestlers (they must all be jobbers, Barry Horowitz was the only one I recognised) It takes a lot of effort to split them up but they do eventually manage and return to Raw.

Vince shows footage from Brian Pillman’s WWF contract signing. He’s a newcomer from WCW and ECW and I’ll talk a lot more about Pillman and his road to the WWF when he makes his proper debut. He was a very popular midcarder with a lot of buzz in WCW and was the first guaranteed contract that Vince McMahon ever gave out. That’s standard now but in 1996 it was his message that he was willing to pay good money to compete with WCW for talent.

In the ring Aldo Montoya is supposed to have a match but as Vince and Jerry Lawler discuss his match with the Ultimate Warrior at King of the Ring, Lawler gets worked up and decides to go and show him what he’s going to do to the Warrior. He cheap shots Aldo and beats him up with punches and a piledriver in the middle of the ring. He takes a little too long to celebrate and gets run out of the ring by Jake Roberts who has a match of his own to get ready for. So why was Aldo out here? It seems unlikely he was wrestling Jake? Vince says he was supposed to be wrestling HHH so I guess Jake just came out here to stop Lawler. Jake has a match with Goldust so sucks to be Triple H, his match is cancelled! Goldust keeps his distance and kills a LOT of time at the start of the match which is now standard for him. Lawler spends this match plugging Marlena’s very revealing photoshoot in Raw magazine that month. Jake and Goldust go back and forth with attempted mind games and like every other heel, Goldust is afraid of the snake. The referee for this match is Harvey Whippleman. I mention that because of the past couple of months he’s popped up on TV periodically “taking notes on the officials” for President Gorilla Monsoon. It’s a fairly minor story; he doesn’t think the referees are doing a good job and the payoff appears to be that Harvey is now a full time referee rather than a manager. Goldust wins the match by throwing a handful of gold dust into his face and then…punching him. That’s enough to defeat Jake Roberts but when Harvey is done being distracted by Marlena he spots the gold dust all over the mat and on Jake’s face. He reverses the decision and awards the match via disqualification to Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Goldust isn’t done and stalks the blinded Jake, pawing at him and taunting him but pays for it when Jake snatches him into a DDT.

Mr. Perfect in his role as a backstage interviewer breaks the news of who will act as the special referee for the WWF Championship match at King of the Ring. He draws it out, refusing to reveal it until after the Jake and Goldust match has concluded. The referee, specially chosen by Camp Cornette is Mr. Perfect himself! That’s dastardly of course because he’s never made it a secret how much he dislikes Shawn Michaels. The show closes with him promising to be the Perfect referee and call the match right down the middle.

The 1996 King of the Ring is generally remembered as one of the most important nights in WWE history. It is a big moment for, pardon the pun, the new generation of WWF main eventers. The card is pretty solid, even if the final four in the King of the Ring tournament is a little odd. Here we are;

WWF Championship

Special Guest Enforcer: Mr. Perfect

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Mankind

The Ultimate Warrior vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler

WWF Intercontinental Championship

WWF Tag Team Championships