What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 02.26.96

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are commentating, taped from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Opening Contest: Jake Roberts (1-0) beats Isaac Yankem (2-2) after the DDT at 3:33:

Roberts’ shirt now has a snake design on it to match his long tights, making it look better than the attire he wore on the Free for All against Tatanka. McMahon tells viewers that Goldust will be calling in with some comments about interim WWF President Roddy Piper. Like Roberts’ match with Tatanka, he is beaten up for a long time by a heel and gets little offense. When Yankem tries to do the DDS, Roberts grabs the ropes and then hits the original version of the move to be victorious. Yankem’s offense was marginally better than Tatanka’s so the match rates better. Rating: ¾*

Young fans talk about wanting to see the Ultimate Warrior as footage of the Warrior’s past career airs.

Diesel (3-1) pins Bob Holly (0-1) after the Jackknife at 3:12 shown:

Diesel looks around the ring throughout the match, worried about the Undertaker’s presence. The bout is a glorified squash as Diesel pounds Holly unmercifully for two minutes before Holly knocks Diesel off his feet with a dropkick and some clotheslines. The show goes to commercial break and when it comes back Diesel has Holly in position for the Jackknife, which ends it. Rating: ½*

Diesel feels more confident when he leaves the ring but the lights go out and after a bell tolls, the Undertaker stands in the ring. Diesel smiles and comes toward the ring but the lights go out again and the Undertaker disappears. The lights go out a third time and the Undertaker appears on the video wall, arguing that he is the master of mind games and will see the big man on the dark side. If the WWF wants to do more video segments, they need a bigger video board because a small one near the entrance set does not come across well on television.

Ahmed Johnson (4-0) pins Shinobi (0-1) after the Pearl River Plunge at 1:49:

Jim Cornette and his crew must have tired of Shinboi after he fell short against Shawn Michaels on WWF Superstars so he has to fight without them in his corner today. Intercontinental Champion Goldust calls in, reciting an ode to interim WWF President Roddy Piper about how he turns him on and wonders when he can play his bagpipe. Al Snow does not help himself among the WWF brass by slipping off the ropes when trying to do a springboard move, just like he did when he was Avatar. In the aggregate, though, it does not matter because this is a quick squash for Ahmed to keep his momentum strong. The powerful Mississippian needs a new feud now that Jeff Jarrett is sidelined with a back injury.

A new Mankind vignette has him in a dark lair, talking about his mom waking him up late to play beautiful music for her friends but then casting him away when it ended. He talks to a rat named George about his pain, which he is about to unleash on the WWF. The promo closes with Mankind telling his mother to leave the light on because he is coming home.

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam hypes the Godwinns vs. New Rockers match in the WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament that will take place on WWF Superstars. There is no drama for who is going to be part of the New Rockers tandem as Marty Jannety is shown with Leif Cassidy as his new partner. That is going to be Al Snow’s third gimmick of 1996.

McMahon hosts a face-to-face between WWF Champion Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Michaels says that he respects Bret but does not believe that he is the best there is today. Bret echoes the respect, reminding Michaels that he has to beat him for the title. McMahon pivots the discussion to conditioning, so both men put that over. The segment barely gets a peep out of the audience, who actually has a few boos for each man, until interim WWF President Roddy Piper shows up. Piper criticizes fans for booing Bret and Michaels, which is a stretch because neither of them earned a lot of them from the Cincinnati crowd. Then he books a one-hour iron man match to get a clear winner at WrestleMania. Bret and Michaels shake hands before going their separate ways.

A camera tries to go into Owen Hart and the British Bulldog’s locker room. They are talking to someone and they chase the cameraman out.

Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out if Roddy Piper and Goldust are an item!

Handicap Match: Yokozuna defeats Owen Hart & the British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette) via disqualification when Vader interferes at 4:03 shown:

The match proceeds like a tag team match. A Yokozuna blind charge allows Owen and the Bulldog to put him in a vulnerable position. When Yokozuna makes his comeback following a commercial break Vader walks to the ring and then gets involved, causing a predictable disqualification to further Yokozuna’s feud with Camp Cornette. Rating: *

When the heels do a three-on-one attack on Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson makes the save along with Jake Roberts. The crowd pops loudly for an Ahmed-Vader confrontation but they do not get to see it as Roberts pulls Revelation out of a bag and threatens Vader with it.

Larry Fling interviews the Huckster and the Nacho Man, who he dubs as “athletes beyond their prime” and suffering from male pattern baldness. They both react when asked how Elizabeth is doing. When the Huckster tries to hit Fling with a chair, Fling wards him off with a woman’s shoe, the only funny thing on the segment. Well, that and the Nacho Man telling the Huckster that people only wear his merchandise because they get it for free. The Huckster and Nacho Man argue over who is going to win their WrestleMania XII and the Huckster takes people out on the set with weak chairshots.

Tune in next week to see WWF Champion Bret Hart battle Hunter Hearst Helmsley! Also, Shawn Michaels faces the 1-2-3 Kid!

The Last Word: The current storytelling for WrestleMania is not working aside from the build for the Undertaker-Diesel match. The crowd was dead for much of the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels segment and neither is as over as the last time the WWF ran a babyface clash at WrestleMania VI between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. The iron man stipulation was desperately needed to give the bout some intrigue. The show also began the transition of the Razor Ramon-Goldust feud to Roddy Piper and Goldust and it will be interesting how the WWF writes Ramon out now that he has been suspended for six weeks. On the whole, this show was an uninspired effort with poor matches. Next week promises to be better in that regard.

Monday Night War Rating: 3.1 vs. 3.2 for Nitro (Main Event: Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage & the Booty Man vs. Kevin Sullivan, Arn Anderson & Ric Flair)

Up Next: WWF Superstars for March 2!

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