What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 06.17.96

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler commentate the final episode of the taping in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This is the last RAW before King of the Ring.

Opening King of the Ring Quarter-Final Contest: Steve Austin (15-2-1) pins Savio Vega (6-3-3) after a three-quarter facelock jawbreaker at 8:05 shown:

A three-month feud comes down to this match. There is a hot start as Austin attacks Savio when he enters the ring and Savio forces Austin from the ring after an enzuigiri. Then each man takes time working the other’s knee. Austin gets the worst of it, or at least sells that way, nearly losing the match when Savio falls on top of him after a failed body slam. If Savio had a good submission move like Tito Santana’s figure-four leglock that would put him into the next round. Without that, he leans on his spinning heel kick finish but Austin puts his foot on the ropes to break the count. A desperate Austin gets to his feet and holds the top rope. Savio does some body shots but as he pulls Austin away from the ropes, Austin grabs him in a three-quarter facelock and comes down with his new finisher, punching a ticket to the semi-finals to face Owen Hart or Marc Mero. This was a fun match with a lot of intensity. Rating: ***

After a video package that recaps the Undertaker-Mankind feud, the Undertaker does a short, taped promo about how he is going to show Mankind what the darkness is all about at King of the Ring.

Jake Roberts’ DDT on Justin Bradshaw on WWF Superstars is the Sega Saturn Slam of the Week.

McMahon narrates a short video package to pay tribute to former WWF Tag Team Champion Dick Murdoch.

King of the Ring Quarter-Final: Marc Mero (w/Sable) (9-1) defeats Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) (7-4) with a reverse victory roll at 9:36 shown:

Steve Austin sticks around to do commentary for the match, criticizing Mero for not attacking Owen’s left arm when the former King of the Ring has a cast on it. Owen takes advantage of Mero missing a flying sunset flip, notching near-falls from a spinning heel kick and gutwrench suplex. During a commercial break, Austin is escorted backstage so that he does not get involved in the match. The WWF has started doing teasers before commercial breaks where they suggest people are coming to ringside or are about to get involved and when fans stick around, none of those things come to pass. Mero barely kicks out of a fisherman’s suplex and blocks an Owen splash off the top rope with his knees. Owen stops Mero’s comeback with a thumb to the eyes. However, Mero flips over an atomic drop effort and does a reverse victory roll to punch his ticket to the pay-per-view. It took a while for this to get going but there was some good work from the five-minute mark to the end. Rating: **½

Owen is a sore loser after the bell, knocking Mero to the floor and then coming off the apron and hitting Mero with his cast. WWF officials tend to Mero as Lawler wonders if the Wildman needs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Jim Ross does an in-ring interview with the British Bulldog and Diana Hart Smith “on tour” when they are really at the Superstars taping in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Bulldog promises to take away Shawn Michaels’ prized WWF title and calls him a pervert. Michaels charges into the ring, tackles the Bulldog, and the two brawl. Referees, road agents, Barry Horowitz, and Jason Ahrndt struggle to separate them.

Call 1-900-737-4WWF to hear about the five new superstars who are headed to the WWF!

Marc Mero is shown on a stretcher in the locker room and McMahon tells viewers that he has regained consciousness and will be alright.

Lawler gets into the ring to talk with Aldo Montoya, who is preparing for a match with Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Lawler feigns interest in asking about Montoya’s mask and the Ultimate Warrior before blasting Montoya with the microphone and screaming that he will do to the Warrior what he is about to do to Montoya. That includes piledriving the young talent. Jake Roberts’ theme music begins to play and he walks to the ring but by the time he arrives, Lawler has grabbed his jacket and returned to the announce table. Lawler tells the camera that he is going to burst the Warrior’s bubble and make destrucity bow to him.

Footage of Special Olympian Erik Norgren carrying the torch of the Special Olympics past Titan Towers is shown. This segways into Brian Pillman’s contract signing at Titan Towers. Pillman, who is on crutches, acts emotional as he signs his deal, saying it is a dream come true to work for the WWF. McMahon promises that the entire transcript of the press conference will be available on America Online later tonight.

Non-Title Match: Jake Roberts (7-1-1) beats Goldust (Intercontinental Champion w/Marlena) (9-4-2) via reverse decision at 11:01 shown:

Harvey Wippleman is the referee so longtime fans can see where this is going. Since there are several minutes of stalling to start the match, parts of Roberts’ interview on The Action Zone where he talks about wanting to be a model for others air. The only fun part of the stalling is Goldust slithering into the corner where Revelation is and ending up with the snake bag between his legs. Roberts makes a slow comeback after blocking Goldust’s attempt to give him mouth-to-mouth but Goldust backdrops out of the DDT. Mr. Perfect appears in the split screen, saying he has the scoop for who the guest referee at King of the Ring will be for the Shawn Michaels-British Bulldog match and will talk about it after the match. After a commercial break, Goldust applies a leglock but Roberts gets up and hits the Intercontinental titleholder with a short-arm clothesline. Marlena puts gold dust in Goldust’s hand and then distracts Wippleman, allowing Goldust to throw the dust in Roberts’ eyes, deck him with a punch, and win. However, Wippleman overturns the decision when he sees the gold dust on Roberts, furthering the narrative that he is not going to let the heels get away with cheating. As the description attests, the match was a mess, just barely better than Goldust’s “match” with the Ultimate Warrior at In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies. Rating: ¼*

After the bell, Goldust stalks Roberts around the ring, but that leads to Roberts giving him the DDT, popping a crowd that sat through their terrible match.

Perfect talks with Jim Cornette backstage. Cornette names Perfect as his choice to be the special guest referee at King of the Ring.

The Last Word: The King of the Ring quarter-finals were worthwhile but the main event was putrid, likely causing fans to flee en masse to Monday Nitro. It is surprising that Ahmed Johnson has not been seen in weeks. Even if the WWF wanted to sell his concussion injury, not allowing him to do a promo has lessened the appeal of the Intercontinental title match at King of the Ring. Jim Cornette is going back to the well of naming Mr. Perfect as a special guest referee, having selected him for the Lex Luger-Yokozuna WWF title match at WrestleMania X. Perfect and Shawn Michaels have a history but this piece of the Michaels-British Bulldog storyline seems hastily constructed as the WWF will not be able to build much intrigue into Perfect’s role in the match a mere six days before the pay-per-view.

Monday Night War Rating: 2.3 vs. 3.4 for Nitro (Main Event: WCW World Champion the Giant vs. Scott Steiner)

Up Next: WWF Superstars for June 22!

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!