What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – 06.15.96

The introductory video package hypes Jake Roberts as the “Cinderella” of this year’s King of the Ring Tournament. This narrative would have more weight if the WWF had built Roberts’ struggles more into stories in the months leading up to the tournament.

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross are in the booth, once again taped from North Charleston, South Carolina.

Opening Contest: Vader (w/Jim Cornette) (10-0) pins Tony Johnson after the Vader Bomb at 2:08:

Vader has a nice move early, taking Johnson down with a Fujiwara armbar and then bouncing Johnson’s head off the canvas several times while in the hold. In the split screen, Justin Bradshaw and Zebekiah talk about how they are looking for a fight with Jake Roberts today in the quarter-finals. Bradshaw does not fear Vader and looks forward to fighting him in the semi-finals. After taking some shots to the face, Johnson is powerbombed and finished with the Vader Bomb, starting the show with an entertaining squash.

Ross notes that WWF President Gorilla Monsoon announced on The Action Zone that he did not want a lawsuit from Clarence Mason, so that laid the foundation for a special guest referee being named for the King of the Ring’s WWF title match.

Barry Horowitz (0-6) defeats Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) (7-3) via reverse decision at 5:13:

Harvey Wippleman is officiating his first match and he reads Cornette the riot act during Horowitz’s entrance. Even though Horowitz has not had a good run this year, Owen has a tough problem figuring him out. Horowitz wins a technical exchange and notches a near-fall from a backdrop. But then he runs into a belly-to-belly suplex out of the corner. Horowitz weathers the storm and does an O’Connor roll for a near-fall and follows it up with a leg drop and Northern Lights suplex for more. However, when Horowitz goes for a Lou Thesz press, Owen catches him, drops him, and applies the Sharpshooter. Owen refuses to break the hold after the contest and Wippleman is having none of that, reversing the decision and awarding the bout to Horowitz. The result plays into Wippleman enforcing the rules more but he needs to work on getting to the canvas faster and counting quicker. His slow count cadence made the near-falls less exciting. The live crowd appears to hate the reversed decision so the WWF pipes in babyface cheers for Horowitz. Rating: **

Dok Hendrix’s Slam Jam breaks down the big King of the Ring matches. WWF Champion Shawn Michaels gives a weak promo about how the Kliq is going to right the wrong of In Your House 8: Beware of Dog.

Marc Mero (w/Sable) (8-1) pins Jason Arhndt after a super hurricanrana at 2:22:

Owen Hart stops by to do commentary, complaining about Harvey Wippleman’s officiating. His purpose is to hype his match with Mero on Monday Night RAW. Owen has fun exchanges with McMahon and Ross, claiming that Ahmed Johnson headbutted his cast on RAW several weeks ago and knocked himself out and that Sable is a “hosebag.” Mero seems to be leaning into a super hurricanrana finish but the problem is that it requires too much setup. Arhndt does a great bump for it, though, flipping onto his chest and acting as if he was shot.

After replaying Jerry Lawler’s interaction with the Ultimate Warrior on Monday Night RAW, Lawler does a taped promo. The King brags about “crowning” and “framing” the Warrior and promises to mat him at King of the Ring.

McMahon does an in-ring interview with Intercontinental Champion Goldust and Marlena. Goldust quotes Hairspray and claims McMahon gets “stiff” around him. When asked about Ahmed Johnson, Goldust offers to do a mouth-to-mouth demonstration on McMahon. But on a serious note, Goldust promises that Ahmed will never forget his name.

Call 1-900-737-4WWF to hear the short list of candidates that are being considered to referee the main event at the King of the Ring.

Non-Title Match: The Smoking Gunns (WWF Tag Team Champions) (7-0) defeat the Hardy Boys when Billy pins Matt after the Sidewinder at 2:41:

Sunny is led through the crowd to get to the commentary position. She throws in a lot of country and cowboy puns as the Gunns pound away on the Hardys. In the split screen, the Godwinns and Hillbilly Jim talk about taking the fight to the Gunns at the King of the Ring. Phineas has problems talking because Sunny teases him during the promo. A heartbroken Phineas is sad that Sunny is with the Gunns instead of him and Jim and Henry are beside themselves trying to get Phineas to focus. By the time the camera returns to solely focus on the match, Billy takes Matt’s head off with a clothesline and the Gunns put him away with their finish. The tag team division is not setting the world on fire but the Phineas-Sunny issue is telling a fun story.

On the Slam Jam, Hendrix announces that the Bodydonnas will face the New Rockers on the Free for All and that is where they will announce their new manager. Jim Cornette insists that the Kliq is not going to be able to save Shawn Michaels’ title at King of the Ring.

King of the Ring Quarter-Final: Jake Roberts (6-1-1) defeats Justin Bradshaw (w/Zebekiah) (10-1-1) after the DDT at 6:14:

As noted earlier in the show, the winner faces Vader in the semi-finals at King of the Ring. In the split screen, more of Roberts’ upcoming interview on The Action Zone airs, this time with him talking about his rough childhood. Roberts spams DDT attempts early but Bradshaw counters them and begins to pummel the longtime WWF talent. As that happens, Ross announces that Brian Pillman has signed with the WWF and a press conference will take place to discuss Pillman’s unique contract. Bradshaw taunts Roberts during his beatdown, begging him to fight back. Roberts is unable to do anything, so Bradshaw readies the lariat. Roberts avoids it and Bradshaw looks as if he was supposed to rebound off the ropes and go into the DDT. Instead, he stumbles into the ropes and then has to turn more slowly and take the move. After selling for a moment, Roberts crawls over and covers the rookie, earning another one move victory to get into the semi-finals. After the bell, the referee assists Roberts to the locker room. Rating: ¾*

The Sega Saturn Slam of the Week is Jerry Lawler slamming his illustrated picture over the Ultimate Warrior’s head.

McMahon bills next week’s episode as a King of the Ring special that will have a face-to-face interview between WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog.

After recapping the Undertaker’s loss to the British Bulldog on Monday Night RAW, there is a taped promo from the Undertaker and Paul Bearer in a boiler room. The Undertaker talks about taking pride in taking souls and he pledges to take Mankind’s at King of the Ring.

The Last Word: Jake Roberts beating Justin Bradshaw was arguably more of an upset than his win over Hunter Hearst Helmsley in the first round because Bradshaw had notched more convincing victories to this point and had not taken a clean loss. The way Roberts won was presented as a fluke in an attempt to help Bradshaw, although what would help Bradshaw more is to actually give him a feud or issue rather than having him drift in the midcard. Even though the main event was poor there was a lot of fun action and storytelling on this episode, the last one to feature new matches before the King of the Ring because the WWF is turning next week into a recap-heavy broadcast.

The WWF headed out west for its house show loop, visiting Utah and Colorado. Here were the results of those shows, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:

Salt Lake City, Utah – The Delta Center – June 13, 1996 (4,032): The New Rockers beat the Bushwhackers when Leif Cassidy pinned Luke after Marty Jannetty tripped Luke…Savio Vega pinned Owen Hart after the spinning heel kick…Marc Mero pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley…Steve Austin defeated Duke Droese…The Ultimate Warrior beat Vader by count out when Vader walked out of the match…The Godwinns defeated WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns via count out when the Gunns walked out on the match…Ahmed Johnson beat the British Bulldog via disqualification when Owen Hart interfered and hit Ahmed with his cast…The Undertaker pinned Mankind after the Tombstone…WWF Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Intercontinental Champion Goldust after Sweet Chin Music.

Denver, Colorado – Denver Coliseum – June 14, 1996 (2,203): The New Rockers beat the Bushwhackers…Justin Bradshaw pinned Barry Horowitz after the lariat…Savio Vega pinned Owen Hart after the spinning heel kick…Steve Austin pinned Duke Droese after a three-quarter nelson jawbreaker…Marc Mero pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley…The Ultimate Warrior wrestled Vader to a double count out…The Godwinns beat WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns via count out…Ahmed Johnson defeated the British Bulldog via disqualification when Owen Hart interfered…The Undertaker pinned Mankind after the Tombstone…WWF Champion Shawn Michaels beat Intercontinental Champion Goldust after Sweet Chin Music.

Backstage News*: The quick Ultimate Warrior-Vader matches at house shows in recent weeks have been due to Vader having a hip injury and the Warrior having a shoulder injury. In Chicago, Vader got heat for walking out on the match. In Denver, the finish was a double count out between the Warrior and Vader because it was Vader’s hometown. There is also heat on Vader for being too heavy.

-Brian Pillman was hospitalized this week because of an infection in his ankle.

-Former WWF Tag Team Champion Dick Murdoch died of a heart attack at his home on June 15. Murdoch worked the 1995 Royal Rumble and appeared on house shows that year when then-Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon battled Bob Backlund. The WWF had considered him as a manager for Justin Bradshaw before deciding to give the role to Dutch Mantel.

-In talent relations news, the WWF has hired Kevin Kelly as an announcer. Kelly has prior experience working for Eddie Mansfield’s International Wrestling Federation in Orlando, Florida. People believe he will be groomed to replace Vince McMahon on WWF Superstars. Barry Windham has contacted the WWF for a job now that his knee has healed from surgery and there appears to be some interest. The WWF has Bart Sawyer of the USWA on a developmental deal.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for June 24.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for June 17!

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