What the World Was Watching: RAW Championship Friday – 09.06.96

A video package hypes tonight’s WWF title match between Shawn Michaels and Goldust.

Kevin Kelly and Jim Ross commentate, taped from Wheeling, West Virginia.

Opening Intercontinental Championship Tournament First Round Contest: Sid (5-0) defeats Hunter Hearst Helmsley (13-8) after the powerbomb at 3:38:

The winner of this match gets the winner of Faarooq-Savio Vega, which takes place in a few days during RAW’s conventional time slot. Helmsley’s woman tonight is simply referred to as Kimberly. The match is a glorified squash for Sid as Helmsley only gets in a swinging neckbreaker and knee drop for a near-fall before Sid stops selling strikes, chokeslams him, and advances after the powerbomb. Helmsley sold the powerbomb well, getting folded up like an accordion. Rating: ¾*

After the match, Perfect escorts Kimberly to the locker room after whispering something in her ear. When Helmsley comes to, he is upset to see Perfect walking away with another one of his ladies.

Ahmed Johnson says that he does not feel 100% but feels a bit better. Dr. Joel A. Hackett explains that Ahmed’s condition is steadily improving and he could return to the ring like he used to. Ahmed insists that he will come back regardless of what his doctors say.

Ross tells viewers that he is going to break the biggest story of his career later.

Intercontinental Championship Tournament First Round: Marc Mero (w/Sable) (16-6) beats Steve Austin (22-6-1) via disqualification when Austin puts the referee in the way of a Mero shoulder block at 5:50 shown:

Whoever wins gets Owen Hart in the semi-finals. Austin leads the yearly series between these two 3-1. Brian Pillman joins the commentary team, revealing that Bret Hart will talk more about his in-ring return at In Your House 10: Mind Games. Ross then discusses how officials had to separate Mr. Perfect and Hunter Hearst Helmsley backstage. There is the usual good wrestling between the two and it starts to get into the pace of their prior encounters. Mero survives a stun gun and then captures close near-falls from a flying double axe handle and a backdrop. Austin knocks him to the floor and when Mero tries to re-enter the ring, Austin puts the referee in front of him, who takes Mero’s shoulder block. That results in a disappointing disqualification that brings a sudden end to the contest. Rating: **

After the bell, Austin gives Mero a Stone Cold Stunner but Mero quickly recovers and brawls with Austin. Referees and officials have to separate them.

Sid’s powerbomb of Hunter Hearst Helmsley earlier in the show is the Footaction Slam of the Week.

Jerry Lawler does an in-ring interview with Mark Henry. Even though it is billed as a “King’s Court” there is no set for it like Lawler had in previous years. Henry says he does not like Lawler, Vader, and several other superstars. Lawler challenges Henry to a wrestling match and Henry is reticent to accept because he has not had enough training. That leads to Lawler accusing Henry of being a coward so an angry Henry grabs Lawler and accepts his challenge, telling the King that he will be getting a “gold medal butt kicking.” Even though Henry was learning the ropes of how to act in a wrestling segment he had a good presence.

Ross tells fans that the Undertaker was hospitalized after the Boiler Room Brawl. Kelly tells viewers that the Undertaker will wrestle Salvatore Sincere on Monday Night RAW.

Mankind (w/Paul Bearer) (14-0) defeats Alex Porteau (2-1) via submission to the Mandible Claw at 2:06:

The match gives Ross room to deliver his big news that he has heard Diesel and Razor Ramon are headed back to the WWF. Ross also talks about Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle visiting WWF offices and that he is a better amateur athlete than Porteau. Bearer looks on with glee as Mankind pummels Porteau, rams a knee into the rookie’s face in the corner, and wins with the Mandible Claw.

Footage of Sid losing a tug-of-war to an elephant and then getting help from Special Olympics to win a rematch in Toronto, Ontario, Canada air, followed by footage of WWF stars doing autographs. Then there is footage of the Toronto house show card where Roddy Piper made an appearance.

Bob Backlund introduces someone who is going to help him train the superstar he is bringing in to win “the WWWF title.” This person is the person who beat Backlund for the WWF title in 1983: the Iron Sheik. As the Sheik walks down the aisle in sunglasses, waving the Iranian flag, Ross quips “I thought he was in a home somewhere!” As the Sheik puts over Backlund’s amateur credentials, Kelly and Ross shut down the segment, saying that it needs closed captioning and they send it to a commercial break. The wrestler Backlund promised on Superstars is not revealed.

A new WWF commercial that hypes the WWF’s new fall season for September 21 and 22 sees a sky diver watch WWF footage on a small television after he jumps. He is so excited by it that he does not pull his rip cord in time and crashes into the ground. The new fall season would see the WWF convert WWF Mania into WWF Livewire, a live call-in show, and The Action Zone was replaced by WWF Superstars, which moved from syndication to cable.

The Undertaker does a taped promo about how Goldust’s time is up and no one can save him.

WWF Championship Match: Shawn Michaels (Champion w/Jose Lothario) (17-0-1) defeats Goldust (w/Marlena) (14-7-1) after a moonsault 7:06 shown:

Goldust tries to attack Michaels during his entrance but learns the hard way that does not work, getting tossed to the floor twice so Michaels can finish dancing. Ross puts over Michaels posing for Playgirl, which has upset WWF officials. Due to the stakes, Goldust does not play mind games, working fast early and pulverizing Michaels with a stun gun on the ropes, body shots in the corner, and another stun gun over the guardrail. After a commercial break, Mankind pops up in the split screen and says he has a surprise for “the Sexy Boy.” Goldust slows the action with some chinlocks and Michaels goes into his comeback after a double clothesline. Goldust rolls through a flying body press to nearly win the title and that sadly leads to another commercial break that disrupts the flow of the action. When the match returns, Michaels hits a flying elbow drop and goes for Sweet Chin Music but Marlena provides a distraction. Goldust is able to set up the Curtain Call but Michaels floats over and does a moonsault, beating Goldust with the same move he beat Vader with at SummerSlam. Arena reports said that this match was quite good but the cutting for television did it no justice. The match also lacked intrigue because Michaels and Goldust were already paired off for bouts at In Your House. Rating: **½

Mankind rushes through the crowd and over the guardrail. He teams with Goldust to go after the champion but Michaels slides out of the ring. Paul Bearer joins Mankind in the ring and smiles, making Ross wonder if a plan is afoot to end Michaels’ title reign.

The Last Word: Considering the lineup going in, this was a disappointing special edition of RAW. The WWF title match could have been better but the commercial breaks limited the action that fans got to see and Goldust came off as more of a filler challenger for the title than a legitimate contender. The Marc Mero-Steve Austin bout also fell short of expectations, owed in part to the WWF wanting to knock Austin out of the tournament but protect him for an impending program against Bret Hart. If there was any big news coming out of this show it was Jim Ross reporting that Razor Ramon and Diesel were headed back to the WWF. That got wrestling fans buzzing but set the WWF for failure if it could not produce the original acts.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for September 7!

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