What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 05.06.96

The show begins with a quick tribute to Ray Stevens, who passed away from a heart attack in his Fremont, California home on May 3.

“The ex-wife of a former professional wrestler” talks about how WWF Champion Shawn Michaels wrecked her marriage and her life. She promises to say more later tonight.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, taped from Sioux City, Iowa.

Opening Contest: Marc Mero (w/Sable) (4-0) defeats the 1-2-3 Kid (w/Ted DiBiase) (3-5) after reversing his weight during a superplex at 9:29 shown:

Hunter Hearst Helmsley, with an attractive lady, joins the broadcasting team to watch this Free for All rematch. Helmsley says little of note despite McMahon and Lawler prompting him several times. Mero earns a few pops by dropkicking the Kid over the top rope and following with a pescado. However, the Kid blocks Mero’s slingshot splash with his knees and takes a page out of the departed Irwin R. Schyster’s book with a long chinlock and using the ropes for leverage. When Mero fights out, the Kid goes back to it shortly thereafter. A commercial break spares the audience more of that, coming back for Mero’s comeback. A flying axe handle earns a close near-fall and the Kid takes a wild bump over the top rope when Mero whips him into the ropes. When Mero follows with a plancha, Helmsley leaves the announce table and later crotches Mero on the top rope. The Kid tries to follow up with a superplex but Mero reverses in mid-air and crashes on top of the Kid to win. Helmsley quickly flees rather than engage his rival. This match was all Mero outside of a few crazy bumps from the Kid. The Free for All match was marginally better even though this one had a finish. Rating: *¾

“The ex-wife” airs her allegations, saying that Shawn Michaels knew her husband was on the road and he came to her house and seduced her. She claims Michaels was “the best she ever had” but he only cared about winning his next match against her husband, never calling her again. Based on the woman’s hairstyle, it appears that the WWF was angling for this to be Elizabeth but had to cover its tracks.

The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette & Diana Hart Smith) (3-3) pins Fatu (0-6) after a modified running powerslam at 8:12 shown:

Fatu is barely caring about his gimmick anymore, wearing his old Headshrinker tights and then leading the crowd in a “USA” chant. He does like to dance a lot between spots, though. The commentary makes it a point to get the Diana accusation storyline over. Lawler keeps tying back to the previous segment, saying that it proves Michaels is a philanderer that targets married women. As the Bulldog beats Fatu down, the Samoan Gangsta Party makes an appearance, continuing to watch the struggles of their family member. Each man spends about as much time on the floor taking a break as they do wrestling in the ring. Fatu avoids a leg drop and hits a Samoan bulldog for two. There is a teased upset when the Bulldog sends Cornette off the apron with heel miscommunication but Fatu gets turned inside out from a clothesline after that. A modified running powerslam that is more like Jim Neidhart’s Anvil Flattener finishes. Rating: *½

The Samoans talk with Fatu in the aisle. Fatu tells them that the WWF fans are his real family.

Non-Title Match: The Bodydonnas (WWF Tag Team Champions w/Sunny) (8-3) beat Tekno Team 2000 when Zip pins Travis after a super hurricanrana-flying axe handle combination at 6:48 shown:

Tekno Team 2000 was composed of Travis (Chad Fortune) and Troy (Erik Watts), former college football teammates at Louisville. The duo made their debut in the WWF the previous year and were positioned as babyfaces, winning three squash matches. However, they were not ready for primetime so the WWF sent them to the USWA in the summer and the team spent the fall feuding with PG-13 and the Heavenly Bodies.

There is no fanfare for Tekno Team 2000’s return. This time they are wearing some face paint around their eyes, which looks silly, and they are wearing black vests with long silver tights. As the action unfolds, Harvey Wippleman takes more notes on the officiating in the aisle. After a commercial break, the New Rockers are shown watching the match backstage and talk about how they are ready for anything. Leif Cassidy knows how to portray the cornball nature of the gimmick but Marty Jannetty does not want to play along and that hurts it. Tekno Team 2000 looks better in the ring than they did last year, moving much more smoothly when transitioning to new moves. Troy is placed in peril after taking a double flapjack but again, the Bodydonnas struggle to keep a match interesting when they have control. That is why the camera makes several cuts to Sunny. After Zip misses a flying elbow drop – which looks more like he falls off the top rope – Travis gets the hot tag. However, he is quickly cut off by a blind tag from the champions. The returning Teknos do not get to a customary four-way brawl brawl either as the Bodydonnas do their finish to Travis, although it comes with a big botch because Travis bumps too far from the corner for the super hurricanrana and Zip cannot reach that far for the flying butt splash. As a result, he comes down with a weak flying axe handle from a seated position for the win. The WWF seemed to be getting whatever value they could out of the Teknos before releasing them but since the tag team division is in poor shape it would have been good to try to build a new act instead of killing them off. Rating: *¼

Jim Ross interviews Vader and Jim Cornette. Cornette argues that Yokozuna will never be 100% again because of what Vader did to his leg last month. When asked about Duke Droese next week, Cornette tells the trash man that he is not going to last.

Intercontinental Champion Goldust and Marlena come to ringside because the champion is going to commentate the main event. McMahon does not like Goldust touching him. In a nice bit, Goldust’s headset is gold. After a commercial break, McMahon tells the champion that his match with the Undertaker at In Your House 8: Beware of Dog is going to be a casket match and the champion storms off. Or at least that is the idea because the Undertaker starts his entrance so Goldust and his manager retreat to the announce desk.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (5-0-1) defeats Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) (6-2) after the Tombstone at 6:46 shown:

Goldust’s antics as the Undertaker comes out are funny, shrieking in terror when the Undertaker makes the lights of the arena come on and trying to talk the casket match out of existence. Then, Goldust switches gears to talk about how much he wants to touch death and the things he wants to do with the urn. After a commercial break, Goldust confronts Bearer as Owen works the leg in the ring. This leads Lawler to opine that Goldust is a “chubby chaser.” Bearer runs away from Goldust but it does not faze the Undertaker, who chokes to block the Sharpshooter. Owen gets flung out of the ring and when Goldust tries to help him back in, Owen does not like being touched on the rear end. The Undertaker pulls Owen into the ring and Tombstones him, winning a match that was more about advancing the Undertaker-Goldust feud. Rating: *½

Bearer returns to the ring with a golden casket that has a star on top of it for Goldust. Goldust bumps into it and runs to the locker room with Marlena.

Tune in next week to see WWF Champion Shawn Michaels face Hunter Hearst Helmsley! Also, Vader battles Duke Droese! There will also be a special interview with the Undertaker!

The Last Word: Goldust’s antics carried the main event but this was a show that was not that engaging. Surprisingly, the Undertaker-Mankind program is not getting much play as the Undertaker is busy with the Intercontinental Championship instead of the man who attacked him, behavior that is out of step with the character. Seeing Tekno Team 2000 pulled out of mothballs for this show was another head scratcher. The WWF continued to pulverize WCW in the ratings because of the NBA playoffs but that window of opportunity to rack up wins is soon ending. With shows like this it is going to be difficult for the WWF to maintain its lead.

Monday Night War Rating: 4.1 vs. 1.9 for Nitro (Main Event: WCW Champion The Giant vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan)

Up Next: WWF Superstars for May 11!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1995 WWF, 1993-1995 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!