Monday Night Raw - August 19th 1996

• Huge news to kick off the show with two matches announced for the next PPV, In Your House 10: Mind Games. Mankind will challenge Shawn Michaels for the WWF title and The Undertaker will battle Goldust in a “Final Curtain” match. More on those later in the show.
• Odd commentary tonight with Kevin Kelly subbing in for Vince McMahon joined by Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler in a three man booth. I couldn’t find out where Vince was, maybe he just fancied a change.

• The opening match is the first match in a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion. Owen Hart vs. The British Bulldog. The Camp Cornette team mates and brother-in-laws wrestle a clean match to begin with, shaking hands and holding the ropes for each other. Bulldog hits the powerslam but Owen gets his foot on the ropes to break the pin. While both men go back and forth the lovely Sunny heads down to the ring and joins commentary. What’s her business out here? She says that both of these guys need new management. Jim Cornette backstage says that this is like watching two of his kids fight and he couldn’t pick a side, claiming the WWF is biased against Camp Cornette. The group is at a crossroads and intimates that Yokozuna is back in his corner. Yoko is scheduled to face Shawn Michaels in the main event in a non-title match so that’s curious timing. Bulldog escapes the Sharpshooter and as both men brawl on the outside, Owen flattens Bulldog with a spinning heel kick, rushing back to the ring and picking up the win via count out. Owen Hart advances but Bulldog is distracted by Sunny. She slaps him for getting in her face and calls him a pervert. That brings out Cornette and she calls Sunny “a little slut!” It’s chaos at ringside with the two managers in a heated argument. 

• Vader is in action next. The first half of this show is very Camp Cornette heavy as Jimmy comes back out with Vader. Mark Henry was doing a lap of the ring signing autographs and he and Vader have a brief staredown; Henry just smiles through the whole exchange while Jerry Lawler runs him down, unimpressed by his participation in the Olympics. Vader hits two Vader Bombs on Freddie Joe Flloyd to pick up the win in basically seconds. 

• In the ring, Jim Ross interviews Paul Bearer and Mankind. Throughout the show so far there has been flickering lights and static on the screen periodically. The commentators have said it is the presence of The Undertaker but Bearer says that’s Mankind who is the one with all the power now. Mankind says he’s never cared about winning but Uncle Paul has shown him the light and now he wants to be WWF Champion and make Shawn Michaels no longer the sexy boy. The Undertaker’s gong sounds and the arena lights go out. While the druids chant, Bearer says that The Undertaker has passed away and that the body dragged to ringside by druids does not contain him because he’s nothing without Paul Bearer. The druids leave and The Undertaker sits up and raises his arms, bringing spouts of flame and pyro from the ring corners. Bearer and Mankind freak out and leave the back of the ring, running away through the crowd. The Undertaker is alive and well. This was very cool.

• There’s a video promoting the arrival of The Stalker Barry Windham. I have little to no memory or knowledge of this character so I don’t think it’ll last long. I guess we’ll see. It is always nice when something pops up on these shows that is fresh to me.
• In the final four battle royal, Goldust, Savio Vega, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Sycho Sid fight it out with the winner getting a WWF Championship match with Shawn Michaels next week on Raw. Stone Cold cuts a pretaped promo says that he’s going to win “and that's the bottom line, cus Stone Cold said so!” All three men gang up on the massive Sid and eliminate him first so he comes back into the ring and drills all three of them with one-armed chokeslams! The ring fills with referees who force Sid to leave and let this continue as a three man battle royal. Stone Cold is next out, eliminated by Savio Vega. He comes back to the ring and drops his old rival afterwards but is escorted out by referees too. Either Goldust or Savio gets the title shot next week, definitely the least likely duo in this match. Goldust counters a Savio charge with a well timed back drop over the ropes to win this match and get a title shot on the next Raw which is on a Friday night. Championship Friday they’re calling it. 

• Before the main event Jim Cornette is less ambiguous and tells the world that Yokozuna is now firmly back in Camp Cornette and is going to take out Shawn Michaels tonight. The commentators discuss Yoko’s weight and suggest he’s now up to 700lbs, which might not be far from the truth. This is a decent but short match; I always liked Yoko. He gets a couple of near falls and Jim Cornette comes down to ringside. So is he really back with Yoko? I have no idea because he’s not there to support him, he attacks Jose Lothario and runs away. The distraction doesn’t cost Shawn though and he puts down Yokozuna with Sweet Chin Music to pick up the win. 

Raw Championship Friday - September 6th 1996

• It’s Championship Friday! Why is this episode of Raw on a Friday? Because of the annual Westminster Dog Show. You might recall in previous years that there was often no Raw from after Summerslam through until mid September? In 1996 they finally just let Vince put the show on another night. The main event? Shawn Michaels defends the WWF Championship against Goldust and, like a PPV, the show opens with a big video package hyping the match. Pretty cool. Vince was definitely starting to take the Monday Night War seriously. Kevin Kelly and Jim Ross are on commentary this week.

• The show kicks off with Sycho Sid vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. HHH has a gorgeous blonde with him tonight and she seems a little too excited to be tearing his shirt off for him. She seemed pretty horny! This is an opening round match in the Intercontinental title tournament with a little bit of extra story; at the weekend, Mr. Perfect stole HHH’s valet from ringside, leading the girl away during his match and distracting him. As has become the norm, the crowd is really behind Sid in this match and he has no problem overpowering HHH. A one-armed chokeslam and a mighty powerbomb, while the crowd goes nuts for him, sees Sid moving onto the next round. To add alt to the wound, Mr. Perfect comes down and throws a couple of smiles and comments at HHH’s valet and she leaves with him. Later in the show, JR mentions that officials and referees have had a hard time keeping Hunter and Perfect separated in the locker room.

• There’s an update on Ahmed Johnson’s medical condition. The update is that he’s still injured BUT, is doing better and will hopefully be able to return soon.

• In the Intercontinental title tournament, Stone Cold Steve Austin faces Marc Mero. Brian Pillman joins commentary for this match and says that he has huge news about Bret Hart’s WWF return. He recaps his own history as being trained at the Hart Family dungeon and basically being an adopted Hart. He says that at Mind Games, Pillman will finally reveal to the world if and when Bret Hart will return to the WWF. That’s a big promise. Pillman comes across as a big Bret Hart fan and repeats his previous claim that Owen and Bret have reconciled and are once again the best of friends. There’s no confirmation on that so far. This is another good match with a confusing finish as Stone Cold shoves the referee into Marc. He drops Mero with a Stunner and Howard Finkle announces that the referee has awarded the match to Mero via disqualification. He’ll now meet Owen Hart in the semi finals. Wildman attacks Austin and the two of them fight and brawl until referees split them up. 
• Jerry Lawler interviews the 24 year old World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry. He repeats most of his jokes about Jake Roberts from Summerslam (which marks Mark break again) and reminds us that Henry stopped Lawler from pouring booze down Jake’s throat and that he stood up to Vader. Mark says that he doesn’t like Lawler and he doesn’t like Vader. He shows no fear of the WWF Superstars. King mentions that Mark has signed a contract multiple times and challenges him to a match at the next PPV. Mark makes excuses, but perfectly valid ones, pointing out that he’s only JUST signed and hasn’t trained as a wrestler yet. Lawler makes fun of him so Mark fires up and accepts instead. During this show, they also mention that Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle had a meeting with WWF management this same week about potentially coming to the WWF. Obviously he eventually did, but that’s a fun thing to hear mentioned.

• A big plot point during this episode of Raw; Jim Ross drops a HUGE bit of news and claims that Diesel and Razor Ramon are both returning to the WWF. That would be huge news and, as I’m sure you can imagine, sent WCW, Eric Bishoff, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall into a little legal tailspin. 
• Mankind (with Paul Bearer) faces a jobber whose name I didn’t catch. JR says that The Undertaker was hospitalised by some lingering injuries in the Boiler Room Brawl but will be back in the ring next week on Raw. Mankind wins this with the Mandible Claw and celebrates with the urn as Paul Bearer smiles over him like a proud father.

• Here’s a nice little video about a big event in Canada, including Sycho Sid appearing alongside some special Olympians, competing in a tug of war with an elephant (he comically oversells not being able to match strength) and looks like he had a great time. Shout out to Stone Cold Steve Austin who was also there but refused to break character and so had a mean grimace on his face the whole time.

• Bob Backlund has been hinting that he’s planning to bring in and manage a new superstar who exemplifies the standard he’s trying to set. He refers to his man winning the WWWF Championship and brings out someone he knows very well, the Iron Sheik, who will act as this superstar’s trainer. So whoever this man is, he’s going to have two former WWF Champions in his corner training and coaching him. “I thought the Iron Sheik was in a home somewhere” is a good line from JR. The commentators hammer home that these two had a very heated rivalry back in the day so this new superstar must be something really special to have united them. Sheik rambles on in poor English and calls Backlund a 6 time WWWF Champion, which he wasn’t. I hope they wanted this to be funny because it was definitely the wrong kind of hilarious. 

• In the main event, HBK defends the WWF Championship against the bizarre Goldust. These two already have their matches at the PPV locked in so I guess all we’re waiting to find out now is which one will have the WWF title on the line! Michaels throws Goldust out of the ring twice, all while his theme song is still playing. Cool. The commentators promote that Shawn Michaels posed for Playgirl magazine, something he later regretted when he found out that mostly gay men read it and not women. This is a competitive match with Goldust looking strong but Michaels wins it with the same move he used at Summerslam hitting a standing moonsault and rolling Goldust into the cover to retain the WWF title. Mankind runs to the ring to try and attack HBK and he and Goldust pair up but the WWF Champion is too smart to stay and fight, bailing out of the ring and being held back by Jose Lothario as Bearer, Mankind and Goldust watch on menacingly from the ring.

Monday Night Raw - September 9th 1996

• The final opening round match of the Intercontinental Championship tournament features Faarooq Asad (with the gorgeous Sunny) vs. Savio Vega. The winner of this meets Sycho Sid in the semi finals. Faarooq dominates and works over Savio slowly while Sunny helps with pulling on the leg for leverage and distracting the referee so that Asad can cheat. Lawler spends the entire match talking about Sunny and running through his joke book about JR and Kevin Kelly’s chances of getting a girl like her. I’m so sick of Jerry Lawler. Faarooq picks up the win to advance and while Sunny crows about how great she and Faarooq are, Sycho Sid comes down wanting to have their semi final match right now! Faarooq seems like he’s up for that too but referees are quick on the scene to calm things down. 

• There’s a montage of clips from various WWF Superstars wishing Ahmed Johnson a speedy recovery. The babyfaces are nice, the heels say they want him to come back so they can beat him up, Phineas Godwin wishes him a happy birthday because he’s dumb and Clarence Mason suggests a lawsuit. Quite funny stuff.
• WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario are interviewed in the ring by Spanish commentator Carlos Cabrera. That’s odd? I wonder where Vince was, I wasn’t able to find out! I’m enjoying some fresh voices on commentary for sure. HBK brags about having dismantled the entirety of Camp Cornette but he’s going to let his mentor finish the job with a match against Jim Cornette himself at Mind Games. Jose Lothario grabs the mic and challenges him to a match and promises to kick his butt before ranting in Spanish until he gets cut off. HBK says that he is going to put an end to Mankind’s path of destruction and while Undertaker will no doubt get his revenge, until then he’s happy to put down Mankind and calls himself his daddy. That made the girls in the crowd squeal.

• The Stalker Barry Windham makes his in ring debut against TL Hopper. They clearly had zero faith or interest in The Stalker as during this match they cut to Owen Hart and Brian Pillman backstage who repeat that Owen and Bret are once again best friends and brothers, and Bret will be at In Your House: Mind Games. The Stalker, while Jim Ross talks about what a talented hunter of animals he is, wins this match with a superplex.
• Crush takes on Freddy Joe Flloyd. Clarence Mason continues to expand into his manager role and cheers on the jailbird from commentary. Crush very impressively throws around the jobber and finishes him off with a leg drop but breaks his own pin to keep the beating going. Crush hits his old finisher, the Heart Punch, to pick up the win. 

• During this show, Jim Ross brought up the Razor Ramon and Diesel story again. He issues an apology and says that he jumped the gun and by breaking the story he has put the contract negotiations in jeopardy. That was the WWF’s attempt to make this story seem more realistic. 
• In the main event, The Undertaker battles the undefeated Salvatore Sincere. He’s a comedy Italian heel who is, wait for it, not sincere. Undertaker marches to the ring with a lot less ceremony than usual without the urn or Paul Bearer. He has no coat or hat and forgoes his usual theatrics, attacking Sincere and beating him up around the ring. Salvatore is a big guy and works over Undertaker for a bit. During this match, Goldust and Marlena’s prerecorded promo is shown. Marlena is talking a lot more these days and starts the promo. They speak in movie quotes but no one has explained what a Final Curtain match is yet. I assume no disqualification? Undertaker wins this match with the Tombstone. 

Monday Night Raw - September 16th 1996

• Here is the video that opens this Raw focused on the Intercontinental title tournament and the rumours of Razor Ramon and Diesel’s return to the WWF. It sets the stage nicely and it's getting harder for me to succinctly recap all of these story developments so thankfully the video packages are getting better and doing it for me. 

• In the opening match, Bob Backlund and the Iron Sheik’s new superstar makes his in-ring debut against Jake Robers, who chases Jerry Lawler around the ring before the match. The Sultan, which is Fatu aka Rikishi with a new gimmick and his head shaved. Backlund joins commentary and explains that while he is the manager and patron of this man, The Sheik is solely responsible for the training of The Sultan. Jerry Lawler throws a little bottle of booze at Roberts which distracts him and The Sultan locks in the camel clutch to pick up the win via submission. Backlund looks like he’s mesmerized watching his man in action but when JR asks him a question he doesn’t know how to speak and they have to just move on. I’m not sure exactly what’s up with Backlund but, without being rude, I suspect he was very much on the spectrum.

• Backstage, Brian Pillman and Owen Hart once again talk about Bret Hart being at Mind Games and Owen and he being fully reconciled. Stone Cold Steve Austin is there too and says he’s going to be there too to get his OWN answers from Bret Hart because HE is the real best there is. Jim Ross accuses them of being liars and doubts Bret and Owen have actually reconciled.

• The Smoking Gunns take on a pair of jobbers. Big news during this match as The Smoking Gunns will defend their tag team titles against the Camp Cornette duo of British Bulldog and Owen Hart at Mind Games. Just like at the previous PPV, Sunny has a huge banner of herself dropped from the arena ceiling. Cornette, Bulldog and Owen come down to the ring during the match with chairs to take a seat and watch their PPV opponents in action. There’s been some manager drama lately with Cornette and Sunny arguing as well as Clarence Mason trying to muscle in on his clients. The Gunns hit the Sidewinder but when they stop to taunt Owen and Bulldog, they distract them long enough for Bob Holly to roll up Billy Gunn and pick up the win! The jobber team wins, thanks to Camp Cornette and Jimmy has fun taunting Sunny about it pretending to cry.

• Jim Ross has claimed that Razor Ramon and Diesel will be live on Raw next week. President Gorilla Monsoon gives the official WWF stance on the matter who says that Kevin Nash and Scott Hall are under contract to “another orginisation” and that he is interested to see who will actually show up. As he speaks, an angry Ross throws off his headset and leaves while Monsoon says that whoever is responsible for these lies and trying to hoodwink the fans will pay for it. Jim Ross does rejoin the team later and Jerry Lawler teases him about it. Gorilla Monsoon is JR’s friend but doesn’t believe him. Gorilla calls back in during the Owen Hart/Marc Mero match and the two argue; JR hasn’t hoodwinked anyone and Diesel and Razor Ramon WILL be on Raw next week. 

• Jerry Lawler interviews Jim Cornette and Vader in the ring. Cornette says that Vader has been training him to unleash the beast and at the PPV he’s going to tear “that 127 year old apart”. He calls a small jobber into the ring so that he can show off what he’s learned. The guy is in good shape but he’s TINY. Cornette does some basic wrestling but Tony Williams keeps going on autopilot and reversing the moves into holds of his own. He works over Cornette with ease so Vader attacks him. Jim ties him up in the ropes and peppers him with punches and slaps while talking trash to Jose Lothario. 

• Both semi-finals in the Intercontinental title tournament are tonight and first up is Owen Hart vs. Marc Mero. The commentary team is joined by the first ever Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson who confirms that the finals will take place next week with himself as the special referee. This is a good match and Owen hits a nice missile dropkick among other moves. Owen takes off his own cast to try and use as a weapon but it backfires when Mero disarms him and uses it instead to knock out Hart and pick up the win advancing to the finals for the vacant Intercontinental title next week.
• Bret Hart was on the tour with the WWF in South Africa and recorded some comments; Brian Pillman is a liar and he never said he’d be at the Mind Games PPV AND Owen Hart is a liar and he and Owen have not reconciled. He says he still isn’t sure about if and when he’ll be back as he weighs his options but thanks the fans for their love and support.

• In the main event Faarooq Asad and Sycho Sid fight to see who’ll be in the ring with Marc Mero for the Intercontinental title next week. Faarooq works over Sid’s kidneys and dominates him but the big man wriggles free and hits a chokeslam. Faarooq uses a steel chair while Sunny has the referee distracted but Sid shakes that off and hits Faarooq back, right in front of the referee. Faarooq wins by disqualification and advances to the finals next week with Marc Mero.

• The show closes with a promo from The Undertaker saying Goldust is just the first name on his list on his way back to Mankind, and that we’ll see a new Undertaker at the PPV. The commentary trio run down the whole card and we get a good look at the logo for the event; a haunting 3D animation of a skill wearing Mankind’s mask with “Mind Games” carved into its forehead. Mankind gets the last word of the night asking Uncle Paul if after he beats Shawn Michaels for the WWF title, will he be the new Sexy Boy that all the girls want to kiss? Creepy stuff.