Monday Night Raw - October 21st 1996

• The opening video package of this show focuses on the return to the WWF of Bret Hart who we haven’t seen in person since Wrestlemania XII, as well as the in-ring return of Mr. Perfect. Feels like a big show!
• In the first match the new Number One Contender for the WWF Championship Sycho Sid faces one half of the new WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart. Owen has a hair cut and a new manager in Clarence Mason who bamboozled Jim Cornette and tricked him into signing them over to him. Owen works over Sid’s leg and thanks to some interference from his Tag Team Championship partner the British Bulldog, dominates this match on the mat for a long stretch. Sid fights back and puts down Owen with a gorgeous looking chokeslam but his powerbomb attempt is ruined by Bulldog and the tag champions beat him down two on one, giving him the victory via disqualification. WWF Champion Shawn Michaels sprints to the ring to help out and beats up Bulldog, rescuing Sid and sending them both packing. Sid vs. Shawn for the WWF title is official for Survivor Series but both men are big babyfaces so HBK helps out his pal and shakes his hand. Sid doesn’t seem that happy - it’s friendly, but tense. Sid didn’t need Shawn’s help and I’m not sure he’d return the favour if the roles were reversed.

• Jim Ross joins commentary after the opening match and hypes up his interview with Bret Hart later. He’s still playing a belligerent heel, ranting at Vince McMahon about last night’s audio quality. 
• The Smoking Gunns take on The Godwins. JR and Vince hammer home the recent issues between Billy and Bart; it seems like the Gunns are at odds. This match is unofficially a number one contender’s match as JR says he understands the winner of this match will be given a tag team title match. There’s some miscommunication between Billy and Bart and it backfires with Henry catching Bart in the Slop Drop to pick up the win. The Gunns are having a hard time of it lately and argue after the match.
• Backstage as Mr. Perfect warms up for his return to the ring tonight, his opponent Hunter Hearst Helmsley shoves a heavy equipment case on wheels into him apparently injuring Perfect’s leg! Maybe he won’t be able to compete tonight after all?

• Before Jim Ross brings Bret Hart out to the ring for an interview, there’s footage from the previous weekend’s Livewire where Stone Cold Steve Austin claims to have beaten Bret’s ass in his own house and then whipped Stu Hart’s ass too. He is still provoking and challenging the Hitman at every available opportunity. Bret Hart is very honest in his promo, opening up that he was made a huge cash offer from “a rival wrestling organisation" and he had to consider what he wanted to do. Vince McMahon is shown looking very nervous at ringside, like he was genuinely terrified that Bret might announce he’s leaving for WCW live on Raw. He is very complimentary about his dealings with WCW but finally ends by saying that he’s staying with the WWF forever. Vince looks hugely relieved. Of note while Stone Cold and Brian Pillman are shown watching this promo backstage there’s an on screen debut of a young Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. He hasn’t debuted on TV yet but we’ll be seeing him very soon. Bret makes no excuses for his loss at Wrestlemania but adds that there is something about Shawn Michaels that really bugs him. He says that Michaels will never be as tough or as smart as him and he’ll beat him next time. He finishes up by accepting Stone Cold Steve Austin’s challenge and he’ll face him on holy ground at Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden. He calls Austin the best wrestler in the WWF, and backstage when Pillman cheers the match being accepted, Stone Cold doesn’t look too happy about it! Bret says that the number one thing missing from the WWF for the past 6 months is him and that he’s back to be a role model and concludes with a story about how he’s coming out of retirement because of a little boy in Canada who was his biggest fan who sadly passed away. That feels like an odd thing to have thrown in at the end but my main thoughts on this promo are that it felt very unscripted and real; Bret was just speaking from the heart. I’ll talk more about his comments on Shawn Michaels over the coming weeks.

• Hunter Hearst Helmsley enters the ring first for the main event but when Mr. Perfect limps to the ring with an entourage of Intercontinental Champion Marc Mero, Sable and WWF President Gorilla Monsoon. Perfect has acted as a mentor to Marc Mero. Perfect says that he’s been told he’s too injured to compete. HHH smirks and calls him a chicken. Monsoon steps in to say he’s the one who is stopping him competing but Mr. Perfect has gone out to find a replacement. Marc Mero is willing to wrestle in his place, but Hunter says that he has no obligation to wrestle Mero so will only do so if the Intercontinental title is on the line. Perfect speaks for Marc and says he’ll do it. Mero thanks Perfect for all his advice and will do the favour and do that tonight. Gorilla agrees to this match and the title will be on the line! They go back and forth and there’s a big crowd pleasing spot when HHH uses Sable as a human shield to avoid a Mero dive and gets slapped in the face for it! The crowd chants Sable for that. Mero hits some nice high flying moves and roll ups but when he and HHH go to the corner, the referee gets squashed. Mr. Perfect had stayed on commentary for this match so hops up to check on things with no referee and stops Hunter from using a steel chair…so that he can use it himself! Mr. Perfect blasts Marc Mero with the steel chair and HHH hits the Pedigree while the referee recovers to win the Intercontinental Championship! Perfect embraces HHH and celebrates with him to close Raw while Vince McMahon rants about what a hoax this was; Perfect and Helmsley have been working together from the start! 

Monday Night Raw - October 28th 1996

• The show kicks off with a video package about Stone Cold Steve Austin’s brutal assault of Brian Pillman on WWF Superstars which feels important to include. It’s a big angle leading to a BIG match at Survivor Series

• In the opener The Real Double J Jesse Jammes takes on Salvatore Sincere. During his entrance Vince really puts Jesse over including photos of him during operation Desert Storm. Americans do love a military man. The future Roaddogg picks up the win with a pumphandle slam.

• The WWF stopped doing the weekly “Report” on the upcoming PPVs but this week Dok Hendrix gives us a version of it, mostly so that Stone Cold who is at the WWF studios for an interview with Bret Hart later can burst in and berate him for talking about “8 old farts getting a trophy” at the Hall of Fame when no one cares about that. Dok runs down the card which includes the matches we already know about but adds a classic Survivor Series match (and the debut of rookie Rocky Maivia) as well as The Undertaker vs. Mankind with Paul Bearer suspended above the ring in a shark cage.

• Crush battles Aldo Montoya. Wildman Marc Mero calls in during this match and talks trash about both Mr. Perfect and Hunter Hearst Helmsley who screwed him out of his IC title last week. He’ll get his hands on them both at Survivor Series, he says. He won’t, but I’ll talk about that next week. Jim Ross joins commentary for this match and goes back to being a heel this week, mocking Aldo’s headgear and Crush’ jail time. He tells us some big news; Clarence Mason is now the manager of Faarooq. JR is complimentary of that pair of heels which confirms he’s a bad guy at least for now. After the match after Crush has won with the heart punch he tries to accost a fan who has a “Jailbird” sign and ends up beating up the security guard for getting in his way. 
• Throughout the show we cut to Stone Cold Steve Austin waiting not-so-patiently at WWF Studios to discuss Bret Hart. He swatted away a make-up lady and told her she should “hit the streets in that outfit” and then yelled at Vince for jerking him around and keeping him waiting, followed by threatening someone off camera for counting him down. For next week, Brian Pillman will be speaking to us “live from his home” which is one of the most infamous segments in WWF history which I am excited to talk about! Austin says that the WWF cameras went to Bret’s house and now to Brian’s house but wouldn’t come to his! He says he’ll be at Pillman’s house next week too and then barks insults at Vince McMahon while reliving his brutal assault of Pillman on Superstars, breaking a cane over his ankle and then wrapping a steel chair around it and jumping on it. He even threw away the ambulance keys so that he couldn’t be taken for medical attention. This is awesome stuff. Bret Hart finally joins via satellite and he and Austin are about to start their intense promo but bizarrely, the arena audio plays over the top of them and Vince cuts them off so we can see Sunny make her entrance instead? I hope we go back to Bret and Austin before the end of the show.

• Why is Sunny at ringside? To sit on Jerry Lawler’s lap and kiss his cheek but also to watch the next match which is Billy Gunn vs. Freddy Joe Flloyd. Billy is focused on impressing Sunny and Bart comes to ringside to confront her. Billy tells Bart that he doesn’t need him anymore because he’s got Sunny (no he doesn’t) and the Smoking Gunns argue until Bart is escorted away from the ring by referees. Billy wins the match and Sunny says that maybe Billy does have a chance with her.

• Back at WWF Studios we get the rest of the Bret and Stone Cold promo. Vince addresses the elephant in the room; did Bret hesitate to come back because he was afraid of Austin who has been challenging him for months? Bret says that he considered retiring because he’s so beaten up but he’s not afraid of Austin. He’s complimentary of Austin’s skills until Stone Cold loses his temper and calls him a coward and says he’ll kick his ass at Survivor Series. Bret doesn’t seem concerned that he’ll suffer ring rust but Austin laughs about it. He is supremely confident. This was an awesome promo. Bret trips over his words and seems to be struggling to find the words so Vince cuts him off and wraps up the interview. Stone Cold snaps and says he’s waited all night and isn’t through yet, attacking one of the stage hands, smashing a TV monitor and throwing stuff around while launching profanities at everyone in sight. Stone Cold is awesome and every second he was on screen was captivating. He was and is a world class promo. Throughout the main event Vince gives us regular updates; that the security guard has called the cops, they’re on the way, Stone Cold isn’t backing down and is waiting for the cops and so on. Funny stuff. 

• In the arena the main event is WWF Champion Shawn Michaels vs. one half of the Tag Team Champions the British Bulldog. His partner Owen joins commentary to watch this match up close and managers Jose Lothario and Clarence Mason are out there too. This is a PPV quality back and forth match with both men hitting big moves and Bulldog grinding down and controlling Michaels until he launches into his now trademark come back routine with the flying forearm, nip up and atomic drop. Shawn connects with the big elbow and sets up for the Sweet Chin music but just like last week with the roles reversed, Owen rushes the ring to attack Shawn and cause a disqualification. Sid runs down to make the save, fighting off the tag team champions but in the chaos Michaels accuses Sid of hitting him from behind. They argue and it seems like Michaels didn’t appreciate Sid’s help. Owen Hart offers them a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championships but immediately regrets it as that offer unites them and they bump fists! 

• The show ends with a final Stone Cold Steve Austin update; he's walked out of the WWF Studios where the police are waiting for him! 

Monday Night Raw - November 4th 1996

• The opening video of tonight’s Raw is very much “Stone Cold has gone too far” and recaps his promo with Bret Hart last week and his mistreatment of the various producers and camera men. Will he continue to go too far this week? You bet your ass! 
• Kevin Kelly is standing by live at Brian Pillman’s house for an interview with the Loose Canon who was attacked and “crippled” by Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin has promised that he will be here tonight and while Brian’s wife is also here, his children have been sent to their grandparent’s house for safety! Stone Cold calls in during the opening match and repeats his promise to open up a six pack of whoop ass on Brian Pillman for daring to talk about Bret Hart during his interview time. Here is a commercial for Survivor Series, specifically Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (it’s just Austin cutting a pissed off blistering promo directed at the Hitman and its awesome)

• In the arena Goldust takes on The Stalker. They are on opposing teams at Survivor Series so one of Goldust’s partners new Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley and his manager Mr. Perfect come down. Barry Windham brings his own Survivor Series team with him for backup which includes Mark Henry and the newcomer Rocky Maivia! He has yet to make his in-ring debut which will take place at Survivor Series. The Stalker has lost the camo face paint and now we can all see his big bushy moustache in all its glory. Jerry Lawler hops up off  commentary to go and stand with his team so this becomes a bit of a lumberjack match. Somewhere in the midst of this match, Crush also came down and with all the match’s participants at ringside it turns into an 8 man brawl and the match ends via double disqualification. In the ensuing brawl Rocky Maivia hits his very first move in a WWF ring, taking down both Goldust and Crush with a crossbody off the top rope.

• Dok Hendrix runs down the Survivor Series card and gives a little focus to the Undertaker and Mankind match. The masked man who helped out at Buried Alive is now identified as The Executioner and is Paul Bearer’s hired gun. In a pre-taped promo, Mankind screams about how he’ll make Undertaker wish she’d stayed buried alive and Undertaker taunts the trio with a cage containing an effigy of Paul Bearer hanging upside down. 

• I feel like there’s no way I can do justice to the Stone Cold and Brian Pillman segment so here’s a video from YouTube recapping it.

• The basic gist is that fearing for his safety, Brian Pillman with his surgically repaired ankle armed himself with a gun! It cannot be overstated how much trouble the WWF got in for this segment and storyline at the time as sponsors and TV networks flipped out about a gun being used on WWF TV. Throughout the show we cut back and forth from the arena where Pillman gives us a medical update (he’ll be back in the ring for 1997) and Austin shows up and violently beats up two of Pillman’s friends (including trying to drown one of them in a kiddy pool and crush one of their heads in a car door). He’s a maniac, and this is a very early glimpse into why fans LOVED this guy. He finally busts into Pillman’s home and with Brian pointing a gun at him and screaming swear words, the camera cuts out and we don’t get to find out the ultimate outcome of the segment.

• Bob Backlund gives a huge introduction to his charge The Sultan who, being managed by two former WWF Champions in Backlund and the Iron Sheik, should be a bigger deal than he is. The Sultan squashes a chubby guy in a wrestling singlet but the commentators are far too busy discussing Stone Cold Steve Austin and Pillman’s gun. 
• In the ring, Jim Ross moderates a face to face confrontation between Sycho Sid and WWF Champion Shawn Michaels. JR starts by reminding us that these two men will team up next week on Raw to challenge the WWF Tag Team Champions and then moving on to reminding us of their history; Sid turned heel by giving Shawn powerbomb after powerbomb last year. Shawn says that he has forgiven Sid and is the one who brought him back but Sid snaps at that; he’s NOT crazy and was NOT in a looney bin. They argue back and forth about how Sid owes Shawn for bringing him back and Shawn is only champion because Sid hasn’t taken it from him yet but just as things might get physical, Jim Cornette, Clarence Mason and their entourage rush down to the ring to start a brawl. Owen and Bulldog have their match with Sid and Shawn last week and in the skirmish, Owen hits Sid with a steel chair. It looks like Shawn might get the blame but Sid is smart enough to realise it wasn’t him. They go from arguing to watching each other’s backs to arguing in the space of a couple of minutes! The crowd chants for Sid because as popular as Shawn was at the time, Sycho Sid has really connected with the audience! And me)

• Wildman Marc Mero faces “Razor Ramon”. The fake Razor and Diesel have been quietly shunted to the background since their debut because there was never any plans for this duo, this was just to prove to the courts that the WWF did indeed own and use the copyrighted characters they own so that they could sue WCW. Jim Ross joins commentary for this match and says that he’s here to ask the tough questions for the fans and is all about us. JR and Lawler blame Vince McMahon for the whole Austin/Pillman/gun debacle for sending the camera crew there in the first place and for not believing Stone Cold when he promised to arrive and raise hell. One of the producers calls in during this match and provides an update on the situation; there was a power cut and no one has any idea where Stone Cold went but his car is still in the drive way. He speculates that he might have heard a couple of gun shots but can’t be sure. He isn’t even able to confirm whether the police have been called but the call is cut short by some yelling; has Stone Cold stormed the production truck?! Vince finally starts to lose his temper and snaps back at JR over his jibes which is oddly satisfying. Deeper into the match, Mr Perfect and Hunter Hearst Helmsley come down to the ring seeing as they’re feuding with Marc Mero and also have a Survivor Series match to promote. HHH shoves Mero off the top rope when he sets up the Wild Thing and “Ramon” follows up with the Razor’s Edge to pick up the win. 

• We’ll never know where the HHH and Mr. Perfect pairing was going as this is Mr. Perfect’s final WWF appearance until 2002. He left for WCW as he was eager to wrestle again but was sitting out injured with a hefty insurance payout keeping his pockets full. Vince was unwilling to pay more than the insurance payouts to get him back in the ring but WCW was happy to foot the bill to steal another big name from the WWF. 
• After they spent the entire show trying to establish the satellite feed to the Pillman house at the end of the show we get the confirmation that Austin ran out when he saw the gun but there doesn’t appear to have been any shots fired and Brian Pillman has to be forcibly restrained. In the final seconds of the show Stone Cold bursts back into the room and is held back as Pillman screams “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch!” and “you don’t know who you’re fucking with!” THAT is how Raw ends.

Monday Night Raw - November 11th 1996

• The show kicks off with a WWF Tag Team Championship match - Owen Hart and British Bulldog defend against Sycho Sid and WWF Champion Shawn Michaels. Sid and Owen start things off and the big man dominates the King of Harts. The champions isolate and work over Shawn Michaels in their corner and there’s some debate as to whether Sid distracting the referee so he can be double teamed and beaten up is accidental or not. He does have a WWF title match on Sunday to worry about. Of note, Clarence Mason is handling managing duties solo for the champions this week but last week, Jim Cornette seemed to be acting as their mouthpiece again. I guess he still has a working relationship with them despite no longer being their manager. Sid gets the hot tag and runs through both men but when Michaels tries to help and takes aim with Sweet Chin Music, Bulldog ducks and he hits Sid instead! The champions retain the Tag Team titles and Owen and Bulldog beat up Shawn two on one, leaving the Survivor Series main event laid out together in the middle of the ring.

• During the opening match, Stone Cold Steve Austin comments on last week’s events. Vince has to apologise to everyone but Austin says that he isn’t apologising for anything and will continue to turn up his head however he sees fit. Here’s another commercial for Survivor Series this time featuring Bret Hart talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin

• Mankind (with Paul Bearer and the Executioner) faces Freddy Joe Fllyod. It’s not a long match, obviously. A piledriver and Mandible Claw picks up the win for Mankind. As Mankind snuggles with the urn the arena lights go out and the Undertaker’s music begins to play. The cage that will contain Paul Bearer at Survivor Series lowers from the roof of the arena and The Undertaker tells his creatures of the night to say goodbye to Mankind and Paul Bearer’s foolish souls. “A new age of darkness begins at the Survivor Series”

• Here’s a video promoting the debut of rookie Rocky Maivia at Survivor Series. You can see The Rock in his mid 20s, not playing a character and just being himself. It would be fair to say his introduction is as a bland babyface, the first ever 3rd generation superstar in WWF history. He asks himself what he’ll think 5 years from now when looking back; 5 years after this he was already one of the biggest stars in wrestling history.

• Kevin Kelly interviews Sid backstage who is uncontrollably angry at Shawn Michaels and doesn’t believe it was a mistake when he got kicked earlier tonight. He seems like he’s struggling to contain the voices in his head and screams about the past few weeks with Shawn getting involved in his business. Mistake or not, it won’t be a mistake when he beats him at Survivor Series. Later, Kevin speaks to Shawn Michaels and he gets all fired up. Mistake or not, he knocked out Sid as cold as a block of ice so imagine what he can do to him on purpose at Survivor Series. He will STILL be the WWF Champion after the PPV whether he or anyone else likes it or not. Great promo. 

• In the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin faces “Sparkplug” Bob Holly. Before the match, Austin says that he’ll give Holly a wrestling lesson, which won’t take long. He says that Bret Hart has the biggest match of his life at Survivor Series and he can try to please the fans and his family but he only has to please himself. If we thought last week was something, wait to see what he does to Bret Hart tonight when he finds his locker room! 
• I haven’t mentioned it but Survivor Series was sponsored by the Karate Fighters game. Each week featured a different tournament match and this week’s was Sable vs. Dok Hendrix. I think this week was the first time we properly heard Sable speak on TV in the pre-match comments. 

• Jim Ross rejoins commentary for the main event and speaks in glowing terms about Stone Cold Steve Austin and how focused he is on Bret Hart. This marks the end of Jim Ross’ heel turn as far as I’m aware as the commentary team at Survivor Series is just him and Vince and I don’t remember them teasing any tension on that broadcast. I guess we’ll see at the PPV. Bret Hart is shown multiple times watching this match from backstage and studying his PPV opponent. Stone Cold wins with the Stone Cold Stunner and then marches straight to the back. The commentators are keen for the cameras to follow him assuming he’s on his way to confront Bret Hart but Austin stops short of the door and tells the camera that he isn’t going to fight the Hitman for free; if we want to see him whip Bret Hart’s ass we need to pay for Survivor Series.