What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 06.03.96

Intercontinental Champion Goldust narrates footage of him giving Ahmed Johnson mouth-to-mouth last week as he sits on a couch with the title belt covering his privates. He claims to have saved Ahmed’s life and he tells Ahmed to come and get the belt.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, taped from Fayetteville, North Carolina. McMahon tells fans that Ahmed will face Goldust for the Intercontinental Championship at The King of the Ring.

Opening King of the Ring First Round Contest: Steve Austin (13-2-1) beats Bob Holly (0-6) via submission to the Million Dollar Dream at 9:09 shown:

1996 is not going Holly’s way as he has yet to notch a victory on television. As Holly and Austin work on the mat, Lawler talks about how he will have footage shown later in the evening of WWF President Gorilla Monsoon assaulting Clarence Mason. Dropping various elbows is Austin’s favorite offense maneuver, coming close to putting Holly away with an elbow drop off the second rope. After getting beatdown down for more than eighty percent of the match, Holly knocks Austin off the top rope and gets a close near-fall from an elbow off the ropes. When he does some corner punches, though, Austin pushes him off and applies the Million Dollar Dream to advance. This would be the last time that Austin would use Ted DiBiase’s finisher as Todd Pettengill announced on WWF Mania days later that Austin would soon debut a new finishing maneuver. As for this match, it was just a prolonged squash for Austin. Rating: *½

McMahon needles Lawler about how he has to face the Ultimate Warrior at The King of the Ring. Lawler is unhappy, arguing that he is being punished for trying to rescue Marlena. As the conversation continues, Lawler rips the Warrior’s comic book and shows off an illustration he did for his own comic book where he is shown as a giant stomping on the Warrior. The King has a good point as his comic art is better.

Jim Ross, who is backstage, is asked by McMahon for his thoughts about the Undertaker-Mankind match scheduled for The King of the Ring. Ross believes that Mankind will be the Undertaker’s biggest test to date. This leads into footage of Mankind costing the Undertaker the Intercontinental Championship at In Your House 8: Beware of Dog.

Mankind (5-0) beats Barry Horowitz (0-5) via submission to the Mandible Claw at 3:11 shown:

Neither talent has been seen in a while as Mankind’s last televised match was a month ago and Horowitz has not been seen since April 1. When Mankind yanks his hair out, Lawler has a funny quip that McMahon can use it for his toupee. Even though the match is short it has a commercial break. Like Bob Holly in the opener, Horowitz gets nothing going, his 1995 push feeling like a century ago.

Ross walks to the ring to get post-match comments from Mankind. Mankind says that he has nothing to lose at The King of the Ring because he has already lost his ear and teeth and maybe the Undertaker will learn before the pay-per-view that it is better not to fight someone like him. It is a short but effective promo in putting over the deranged nature of the Mankind character.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley’s Pedigree of Marty Garner on Superstars is the Sega Saturn Slam of the Week.

Goldust, still on his couch, talks with the announce team. The champion quotes The Color Purple before reiterating that he saved Ahmed Johnson’s life. Then he picks up a bar of chocolate and talks about how good it tastes in his mouth. When McMahon asks about The King of the Ring, Goldust is excited to face “The mighty mandingo,” ending the promo on the same risqué themes that it started with.

The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) (8-4-1) defeat Tekno Team 2000 (0-2) when Henry pins Travis after the Slop Drop at 6:38 shown:

Sunny does guest commentary but before she says a lot, the Bodydonnas talk about how they are on a worldwide search for a new manager and urge fans to write in to Stamford, Connecticut if they are interested. McMahon gets the name of the Teknos incorrect, but he is forgiven since they do not appear regularly. It takes a while for the match to get going as Phineas keeps staring at Sunny and the Teknos do not mount much offense. There is not much of a hot tag as Henry avoids an assisted avalanche maneuver in the corner, clears the ring, and then gives Travis a Slop Drop to end a bad match that went on too long. This would be the end of Tekno Team 2000 as they would soon be released. Troy (Erik Watts) would take a few years off of wrestling before resurfacing in WCW in 1998. Travis would also appear in WCW the following year before ending his wrestling career in 1999 and becoming a monster truck driver. Rating: ½*

Clarence Mason calls into the show, narrating footage from a previous Monday Night RAW of WWF President Gorilla Monsoon assaulting him by putting his hand on his back and causing him significant injuries that no longer “allow him to consort with his mate.”

Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out what Vince McMahon has to say about Billionaire Ted’s latest corporate raid!

King of the Ring First Round: Jake Roberts (5-1-1) pins Hunter Hearst Helmsley (11-5) after the DDT at 9:09 shown:

The winner of this match faces Justin Bradshaw in the quarter-finals. McMahon is not a fan of Helmsley’s woman of the week gimmick, calling tonight’s lady, Jenny Lee, “the rocket scientist of the week candidate.” McMahon also notes that Diesel and Razor Ramon are no longer affiliated with the WWF and that they do not represent the WWF “in a rival organization” despite whatever “ruse” they are “attempting to pull.” Then McMahon hypes the Warrior’s comic book, calling it “deep” and then debating the merits of destrucity with Lawler. The banter is better than the match, which features Helmsley stalling to avoid a DDT and then methodically beating up Roberts. Roberts’ comeback is cut off when Helmsley rams him into the corner to block the DDT. That quickly goes into a second commercial break and when the action returns, Roberts floats over a Helmsley slam attempt and hits the DDT for a minor upset win, at least to fans that did not know Helmsley was being punished for the Curtain Call at Madison Square Garden. Rating: *

To emphasize the level of Helmsley’s punishment, Roberts throws Revelation on him at the end of the bout, teasing that he is going to shove the snake down Helmsley’s pants.

Tune in next week to see Yokozuna battle Owen Hart in a King of the Ring first round match! Also, the Ultimate Warrior appears for an interview!

The Last Word: This was the worst RAW episode in some time, which was somewhat predictable because a lot of its biggest stars showed up last week so this week had to be carried by more the midcard talent. There were some bright spots, like Mankind and Goldust’s promos, but the in-ring action was tempting fans all night to tune into Monday Nitro.

Monday Night War Rating: 2.3 vs. 3.0 for Nitro (Main Event: WCW Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger vs. The Steiner Brothers)

Up Next: WWF Superstars for June 8!

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