What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 06.10.96

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are once again commentating, still taped from Fayetteville, North Carolina. Lawler shows off a comic book-like portrait that he drew and colored of the Ultimate Warrior. Lawler plans to give that to the Warrior later in the show.

Opening King of the Ring First Round Contest: Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) (6-3) pins Yokozuna (3-3) with a Flair pin at 3:59:

This is the first singles match between the two former Tag Team champions. Owen, who has not been in a televised bout in more than 30 days, cannot match Yokozuna’s size so he has to wait to avoid a big elbow drop to land a few moves. However, Owen’s attempt at a flying elbow drop off the second rope misses too. Yokozuna’s conditioning does not allow for a fast or exhilarating offensive flurry. After knocking Owen down, he goes for the Banzai Drop but loses his balance, falls off, and Owen does a Flair pin to advance to the quarter-finals. Sadly, Yokozuna was going through the motions and it is always tough for a smaller heel to get heat on a man who outweighs them by several hundred pounds. The finish also makes Yokozuna look like a goof but he was in the WWF doghouse over his weight and these losses were supposed to get him in line. Rating: *

McMahon gloats about the attendance of the WWF’s recent Chicago house show and footage shows appearances by the WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and the Ultimate Warrior. This leads into Todd Pettengill hyping future WWF house show events as part of the “Attitude Adjustment Tour.”

Clips of Jake Roberts’ interview on The Action Zone air, emphasizing how his wife struggled with his drug habit. Roberts joins the commentary team for the next match and it is announced that his quarter-final match with Justin Bradshaw will take place on WWF Superstars.

Backstage, Jim Ross talks with a dejected Yokozuna. Yokozuna says that he is not his old self and that he cannot concentrate because he wants to get his hands on Jim Cornette. He starts packing his gear and talks about how he needs to find himself.

King of the Ring First Round: Marc Mero (w/Sable) (7-1) pins Skip (1-0) after a super hurricanrana at 10:25 shown:

Compared to the other first round matchups, Mero got the easiest draw. The winner of this bout faces Owen Hart. Mero gets a nice pop for his entrance but the crowd is not into the match because Skip has no credibility as a singles wrestler. McMahon does little to put the match over, preferring to talk about the FBI looking into the Clinton administration. Since both men are capable technical workers, expectations were high for this match but it falls short with loose, uninteresting, or sloppy sequences. Mero blocks Skip’s super hurricarana by holding the ropes but his flying sunset flip only nets a one count. Skip works a long chinlock after a commercial break and when Mero fights out, he misses a body press and flies over the top rope. Skip tries a pescado but crashes to the arena floor so Mero follows that with a tope. That dazes Skip enough for Mero to roll him in for a slingshot splash and get a close near-fall. Undeterred, Mero puts Skip on the top rope and beats him with his own finishing move. The dueling aerial sequences at the end were the best bit of a match that went too long. Rating: *½

Savio Vega’s creative use of the Caribbean strap against Steve Austin at In Your House: Beware of Dog 2 is the Sega Saturn Slam of the Week even though that match did not happen over the past week.

McMahon moderates a face-to-face segment between the Ultimate Warrior and Jerry Lawler. The Warrior wears a hat with his ring gear, which is odd. Lawler tells the Warrior that knocking him out of the King of the Ring Tournament did the Warrior a favor because it is tough being a king. After praising the Warrior’s comic book skills, Lawler makes a peace offering with his portrait. The Warrior refuses, calling Lawler a con artist and promising to kick his ass at King of the Ring. In response, Lawler breaks the portrait over the Warrior’s head. But the Warrior does not sell it and there is some overdone editing with piped in “Warrior!” chants and the Warrior runs backstage, presumably after Lawler. Many years later, Lawler noted on the infamous Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD that the Warrior was afraid of being cut by the glass in the portrait so he insisted on wearing the hat. Lawler thought it telegraphed the angle. In his book Lawler explained that what offended him most was that the Warrior did not trust him even though he had done a similar angle in Memphis. What makes the Warrior’s concern sillier is that when Lawler hit him with the portrait the glass shattered toward Lawler and not toward the Warrior. Aside from that, the segment made the Warrior look like a jerk and since it put little heat on Lawler because of a lack of selling by the Warrior, it does little to make people want to see the King of the Ring match.

Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out if Brian Pillman has joined the WWF!

Before the main event, WWF Champion Shawn Michaels talks to the commentators via video feed. The champion talks about how he wants to entertain at King of the Ring. Jim Cornette needles Michaels about the British Bulldog pinning his shoulders to the mat at In Your House. Then Cornette reveals that Clarence Mason’s lawsuit against WWF President Gorilla Monsoon has been settled for a handpicked referee for the Michaels-Bulldog rematch. Michaels is unhappy with the new stipulation.

The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette, Owen Hart & Diana Hart Smith) (5-3-2) beats the Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (6-1-1) via count out when Mankind interferes at 12:38 shown:

It is not good to book this match because the Bulldog nor the Undertaker can afford a loss since they are positioned in the top two singles bouts at King of the Ring. Cornette stays with the commentary team during the match, leaning on Owen and Diana to provide ringside guidance. There are a couple of fun physical sequences like an exchange of blows in the corner and then seeing the Bulldog reel off a vertical suplex and powerslam off the ropes. However, the Bulldog’s reliance on multiple chinlocks slows things to a crawl and multiple commercial breaks break up the action. After a second long chinlock, they each tease their finishers but each man gets off the other’s shoulders. The Undertaker chokeslams the Bulldog and clotheslines him out of the ring. That leads to a brawl on the floor and when the Bulldog re-enters the ring the Undertaker looks to follow but Mankind, who is underneath the ring, grabs the Undertaker’s boot and prevents him from getting back in, causing the Deadman to lose via count out. The match had its moments and a finish that let someone save face was expected. Rating: **

Before the Undertaker can brawl with his adversary, the Bulldog and Owen join in for a triple team. Cornette calls his guys off because Mankind is too unpredictable. Mankind piledrives the Undertaker but WWF officials prevent him from applying the Mandible Claw as the show goes off the air.

Tune in next week to see two King of the Ring quarter-finals as Savio Vega battles Steve Austin and Marc Mero faces Owen Hart!

The Last Word: Mankind continues to receive a strong push against the Undertaker, getting the better of him on another show. The addition of a special referee adds some much needed intrigue for the WWF title match at King of the Ring. This led to speculation that it could be Brian Pillman but few knew the severity of Pillman’s ankle injury. Yokozuna trying to figure things out or trying to get back to his roots could have been a fun story but his inability to keep his weight under control would jettison that. The storyline developments were not enough to carry the show but despite it being pedestrian, this RAW found a way to beat Monday Nitro in the ratings. That would prove be significant because it would be the last time that RAW would notch a victory for the next 83 weeks.

Monday Night War Rating: 2.7 vs. 2.6 for Nitro (Main Event: WCW Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson)

Up Next: WWF Superstars for June 15!

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