What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 01.29.96

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, taped from Stockton, California.

Opening Contest: Diesel (2-0) defeats the British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette) after heel miscommunication at 6:11 shown:

The Bulldog broke with convention in 1995, turning heel after his entire WWF career had been as a babyface. He drew the second number in the Royal Rumble and thought he won it, only to have Shawn Michaels perform a miracle skinning of the cat and knock him out as his theme music played. After failing to defeat Michaels in a singles match weeks later, the Bulldog started teaming with Lex Luger, a duo called the Allied Powers because of their British and “Made in the USA” gimmicks. The super team decimated the tag team ranks until they got a WWF Tag Team title match against Owen Hart and Yokozuna at In Your House 2. Surprisingly, they lost. A week before SummerSlam the Bulldog lured Diesel into becoming his tag team partner to face Men on a Mission but turned on the WWF champion shortly after the match started. The Bulldog took on Cornette as his manager, shaved off his long hair, and adopted long Union Jack tights. A planned feud with Luger was aborted when Luger went to WCW after SummerSlam so the Bulldog defeated Bam Bam Bigelow at In Your House 3 and got two WWF title matches to end the year. He defeated Diesel by disqualification at In Your House 4 in a bad match and two months later failed to defeat brother-in-law Bret Hart at In Your House 5. Due to the poor reception of the Diesel match and the poor buyrate of In Your House 5 it seemed like the ship had sailed on the Bulldog as a main eventer. But since the WWF needed strong heels he was still occupying an upper midcard position.

Like In Your House 4 the Bulldog aims to target Diesel’s leg. Before a commercial break Yokozuna waddles to ringside. He gets in a cheap shot as McMahon explains that Shawn Michaels is on his way to the arena. McMahon even acknowledges the Bulldog’s legal problems in Calgary but urges fans to call the WWF Hotline to find out more about it. Diesel sells the leg well, mounting a comeback when he takes the Bulldog to an exposed turnbuckle and does Snake Eyes on it. Cornette keeps the referee from logging a pinfall after that and Yokozuna gets in the ring. When he tries a leg drop Diesel moves and the Bulldog takes the blow, causing Camp Cornette to lose the show’s opener. Diesel looked surprisingly vulnerable in this match, whose rating was helped by the action working on a more compressed scale than last October. Rating: *½

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam has better display graphics for the In Your House 6 matches. Last week had a bright blue background but now it is navy blue with architectural drawings in the background. WWF Champion Bret Hart says that he no longer respects Diesel and makes the dubious claim that he has never lost a steel cage match. A new match announced is a crybaby match between Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid. The loser will be fed a baby bottle and put in a diaper. Another new match on the card is Duke Droese vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley based on the recent Superstars episode. Droese’s graphic shows him with a buzz cut. After talking about the pay-per-view, Hendrix discusses how a Turner broadcast executive (Eric Bischoff) has threatened legal action over the Billionaire Ted sketches, which he criticizes as a threat to the WWF’s constitutional rights. He argues that the fans want more Billionaire Ted, a questionable contention.

The new Billionaire Ted sketch is a press conference, which Ted does with the Huckster and Nacho Man. Ted insists that he is not a hillbilly or wear cheap suits. Ted is asked if he is trying to put the WWF out of business (no answer) and if WCW has four times the number of programs weekly as the WWF but undercuts their ad rates (no answer). Ted does acknowledge that Monday Nitro was put against RAW to hurt the WWF and then a reporter suggests that he would have helped the fans by putting Nitro in a different time slot. There is an announcement of a match between Huckster and Nacho Man at WrestleMania. The Huckster has the best line of the awful, whiny segment by saying that in his contract he cannot lose.

The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) beat the Bodydonnas (w/Sunny) (1-1) when Phineas pins Skip after the Slop Drop at 2:17:

Due to Henry Godwinn’s struggles in the singles ranks it made sense to move him to the tag division. For this he has been paired with his “cousin” Phineas I. Godwinn, better known to fans as Tex Slazenger. The gimmick was given to Dennis Knight, a Steve Keirn trainee who broke into the business in 1989. After a few years on the Carolina independent circuit, Knight joined the USWA by taking on a Leatherface gimmick inspired by the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After a feud with Jerry Lawler and a short-lived tag team with Mark Canterbury, who he was reuniting with in this Godwinns tag team, Knight was signed by WCW. He and Canterbury wrestled as Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce there but were low on the tag team pecking order and never won the titles. While Canterbury was signed by the WWF, Slazenger went back to the USWA in late 1995 and feuded with Brian Christopher over the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship, a title that he dropped to Jerry Lawler in January.

Before the match, Jim gives Phineas a horseshoe on a chain and hugs him, a gesture that is supposed to accept him as part of the Godwinn-Jim tandem that has only appeared together once before. Sunny tries to flirt with Jim, which is quite a sight, but he wards her off with Henry’s slop bucket. The match is a quick sprint that ends when Henry drags Zip out of the ring when the Bodydonnas run the ropes and Phineas catches Skip with the Slop Drop. Why the Bodydonnas, who are the best heel team and are new, are being jobbed out so badly is anyone’s guess.

Sunny throws a tantrum in the ring after the match, unaware that she is left alone. There is a funny bit where she is bewildered as the Godwinns and Jim dance with her.

After a recap of Vader’s attack on WWF President Gorilla Monsoon from last week, Clarence Mason, Jim Cornette’s attorney, argues that Vader’s indefinite suspension in unlawful, arbitrary, unconstitutional, and prejudicial. They frame what Vader did to Monsoon as self-defense because Monsoon touched Vader first. Mason announces that a motion has been drafted to get an injunction against Monsoon’s order, threatening criminal and civil action if Monsoon does not lift the suspension. McMahon says that Monsoon will respond to Mason’s comments next week.

McMahon makes an in-ring announcement that Roddy Piper has been named by Monsoon as the interim WWF president. Piper gets a nice reception, popping up for the first time since being a guest referee for Bret Hart and Bob Backlund’s “I Quit” match at WrestleMania XI. Piper puts over the athletes of the New Generation but keeps confusing how he is the president versus what he will do if he is president. The segment ends with Piper saying that everyone has to pay the piper and he gives McMahon an airplane spin. No slam, though.

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There is another vignette for the one eared man, who wonders why so many people are frightened by him. He wishes the fans a nice day. Lawler tells McMahon that he hears the one earned man is known as Mankind.

Shawn Michaels (1-0) pins Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette) (1-0) after Sweet Chin Music at 7:43 shown:

Michaels knocks Yokozuna out of the ring and that brings Owen Hart to ringside. After a commercial break, Michaels knocks Yokozuna down with a moonsault for a close near-fall but a reversed Irish whip in the corner leads to him Flair flipping to the floor. That allows Owen to beat up Michaels to continue advancing their program. After Michaels sells a lot on the floor, Yokozuna kills more time with a nerve hold. Like last week, another commercial break interrupts the action after a few minutes. Yokozuna misses a leg drop and Michaels misses a splash off the top rope for a double KO. When both men get vertical Michaels floors Yokozuna with two flying forearms but a dive off the top rope gets him squashed in the corner. Cornette hops on the ring apron so Owen can interfere but heel miscommunication occurs as Owen takes out Yokozuna with a spinning heel kick and Michaels wins after Sweet Chin Music. If this was not spliced up so badly it may have rated higher. Both men knew their roles well and played to them. Rating: **

Yokozuna is angry with Owen and Cornette after the match. The British Bulldog gets in the ring to play peacemaker. Cornette tries to get his men to attack Michaels three-on-one but Diesel runs out to fight with his friend. That is too much for the heels and they retreat. McMahon interviews Cornette on the floor, who insists that his stable is united. Cornette challenges Michaels and Diesel to face Yokozuna and the Bulldog next week. The Two Dudes with Attitudes do not get a microphone but McMahon says that they accept based on gestures they are doing in the ring.

Tune in next week to see WWF Champion Bret Hart defend against the Undertaker! Also, Shawn Michaels & Diesel face Yokozuna & the British Bulldog!

The Last Word: This was a fun episode. While the match quality may not blow apart the star ratings, the WWF is doing some good storytelling throughout these episodes and is getting a better handle on weekly television booking versus what they were doing when Monday Nitro began in 1995. Diesel’s current alignment is intriguing too as he is a heel against Bret Hart and the Undertaker but also somewhat of a babyface because he is friends with Shawn Michaels. It is sort of the WWF’s play on what WCW was doing with Lex Luger around this time with Sting. The Billionaire Ted sketches are getting silly, though, as the WWF whines about WCW actually wanting to compete with them. That is not a good look even though the parody can be funny when the Huckster talks.

Monday Night War Rating: 2.4 vs. 2.8 for Nitro (Main Event: WCW World Champion Randy Savage vs. The Giant)

Up Next: WWF Superstars for February 3!

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