The SmarK Rant for Coliseum Video Presents Best Of Raw Volume 2

– Once again hosted by Kevin Kelly, as we get the period from September – October 1996.

– WWF title: Shawn Michaels v. Goldust.

Goldust is using the title shot won by Ahmed Johnson in the previous volume, since he was the runner-up. Goldust attacks during the pre-match dance, but gets dumped and allows Shawn to finish his dance. Shawn quickly tries to take advantage with a flying axehandle, but gets caught coming down. He keeps coming, hammering away in the corner and backflipping into a hiptoss, but Goldust slugs him down and necksnaps him on the top rope. Shawn gets whipped into the corner and to the floor, and Goldust follows up by dropping him on the railing. Terri Runnells, still “Marlena” back then, adds some cigar smoke in the face and Goldust gets a suplex back into the ring for two. We take an ad break and return with Goldust hitting the chinlock. That goes on for a while and they clothesline each other for the double KO. Shawn comes back with the flying forearm and tries a high cross, but Goldust rolls through for two. Another cut and Shawn is setting up for the superkick, but he stops to go after Marlena and gets caught with the Curtain Call as a result. He reverses out of it, however, and the moonsault press finishes at 7:20. Not exactly either guy’s finest hour or anything. 0 for 1.

– Salvatore Sincere v. The Undertaker.

I still maintain that Sincere was 5 years ahead of his time, as the Sopranos set off a mafia craze that they could have cashed in on. Sincere attacks to start and gets nowhere with that, as Taker whips him around and chokes away in the corner. Sincere gets some token offense and a rebound clothesline for two. Russian legsweep gets two. We hit the chinlock. Sideslam gets two for Sincere as the “token jobber offense” portion is going on forever. They actually take an ad break during this dog and we return with Sincere getting a powerslam and some elbows for two. However, he stops to salute the crowd, and Taker does the zombie sit up and thankfully goes through the motions to finish at 7:34. Next. 0 for 2.

– Owen Hart v. Marc Mero.

This is the semi-finals of the Intercontinental title tournament, which was not exactly a thrilling series of matches. They trade wristlocks to start and Mero takes him down into an armbar. Mero hits him with a hiptoss and another armbar to retain control, but Owen gets the leg lariat and takes over. The whole match proves to be a backdrop for Jim Ross arguing with Gorilla Monsoon about the “return” of Razor Ramon and Diesel, and I hope to god that isn’t considered part of the “Best of RAW.” Anyway, Owen gets a missile dropkick and goes to the chinlock. Mero escapes and gets dumped, and back in Owen gets two. Ad break and we return with Mero getting an atomic drop and backdrop, then a somersault plancha on the retreating Owen. Back in, the slingshot splash gets two. They collide for the double KO, but Owen recovers and uses the cast behind the ref’s back. That gets two. Mero steals the cast , hits him with it, and advances to the finals at 6:54. Really weak match for both guys, and the crowd was obviously burned out at the end of a long taping and needed canned heat to sound excited. 0 for 3.

– Intercontinental tournament finals: Faarooq v. Marc Mero.

Faarooq is looking a little leaner already. Pat Patterson is the special referee, and Curt Hennig is on commentary. Mero gets a quick sunset flip for two to start, but Faarooq gets a surprising enzuigiri. He misses a blind charge, however, and gets dumped as a result. Mero follows with the somersault plancha, and then back in with a Merosault for two. Man, someone’s fired up tonight. He misses a charge, however, and Faarooq pounds him on the apron and shoulderblocks him into the railing, as Mero starts bumping all over. Back in, Faarooq gets a powerslam for two. They head up as Faarooq gets a samoan drop from the middle rope and gets two. Choking follows and Pat Patterson sends Sunny away, because he has no use for women. Ad break and we return with Faarooq getting a clothesline for two and hitting the chinlock. Mero comes back with a sunset flip, but Faarooq goes back to the chinlock. Sign: “We love rest holds”. This was indeed the dawn of a new era for smart-ass fans. Mero fights out with a flying clothesline, but Faarooq slams him and goes up. Mero crotches him and brings him down with a rana, which gets two. Double clothesline as Sunny returns to ringside, with the dreaded loaded purse. The result is a catfight between her and Sable (and who was the idiot who failed to book THAT feud?) and Mero uses the loaded purse to KO Faarooq and finishes with the shooting star press at 9:36, to win the I-C title and basically hit the peak of his career in the process. Faarooq was just so bad during this period that even the red-hot Mero couldn’t carry him to anything. 0 for 4.

– And then the moment I was dreading to see again, as Jim Ross begins his ill-fated heel turn and rants about the front office. This was notable for being one of the first times that Vince McMahon was named as the owner of the WWF. Jim actually cuts an awesome heel promo here, and then the whole thing is flushed down the toilet when he introduces “Razor Ramon”…and out walks indy wrestler Rick Bogner doing a bad imitation. After weeks of buildup, this turned into a groan-inducing mess. In fact, you could argue that if you wanted to pinpoint the exact moment when the WWF hit rock bottom in the Monday Night Wars, this might be it.

– Savio Vega v. Fake Razor Ramon.

Vega chokes him out in the corner to start, but Fake Razor chokes away in the corner. Blockbuster slam follows, as the commentary with JR and Gorilla arguing about Scott Hall and Kevin Nash hits new levels of surreal. Fake Razor slugs away in the corner and dodges a crossbody, stomping Vega down. “Razor” slugs Vega down and grabs an armbar, but Savio rolls him up for two. We take an ad break as this thing actually breaks the laws of time and space and exists in another dimension of suck. Back with Savio making the comeback and Gorilla Monsoon defending Doink the Clown. And then Big Daddy Kane makes his debut and it’s a DQ at 6:47. If I could subtract a point, I would. 0 for 5. Amazingly, Fake Diesel would actually recover from this travesty and get repackaged into Kane within a year of this.

– Shawn Michaels & Jose Lothario v. Jim Cornette & Vader.

Shawn slugs away on Vader to start, but gets powered down. Vader follows with a corner splash and a short clothesline. Vader uses kind of a blockbuster slam and sets up for the Vader Bomb, but Shawn slugs out of it and reverses it to a rana. Shawn crotches him on the post and comes back in with a senton, but charges and splats on the floor. Back to the punishment from Vader, as he works Shawn over in the corner in a beautiful sight, and now Cornette wants in. So of course Shawn pops up and tag in Lothario, but Vader comes in, so it’s back to Shawn again. Shawn quickly fires off the flying forearm and flying elbow, but the superkick is ducked by Vader, and he flattens Shawn with a clothesline for two. We take an ad break and return with Vader in position for the pump splash, but he teases the Vadersault too long and hits knee. Shawn makes the comeback and slams Vader, and it’s superkick time again. Vader dodges it, however, and Shawn’s back gives out trying a slam. Powerbomb, and it’s good night Irene at 7:41. The total non-involvement of the managers meant a good match, albeit an abbreviated one. 1 for 6.

– Sid v. Goldust.

We’ve gone from “best” matches to just showing highlights of each RAW during September 1996. Sid, as usual, is hugely over, which is probably why he got the belt in November. Goldust attacks to start and hammers away in the corner. Sid takes him out of the corner and clotheslines him to set up the chokeslam, but changes his mind, allowing Goldust to bail. Some distraction from Marlena allows Goldust to take over with some kicky-punchy stuff. Powerslam gets two. We cut to Sid making the comeback and chokeslamming him, and the powerbomb finishes at 3:19. Typical Sid fare. 1 for 7. Vader lays him out, but Sid no-sells it all.

– Shawn Michaels v. Steve Austin.

Man, Shawn actually had quite the lineup of matches during this period. The amount of canned heat would indicate that we’re in week 3 or so of a taping block. Austin grabs a headlock to start and takes Shawn down for two. They trade hammerlocks and Shawn takes him down to the mat. They exchange a couple of stiff shots and Shawn takes him down again with a headlock, and hangs on through a reversal attempt. Austin breaks free and tries to grab his own headlock, but Shawn reverses him down and goes back to his own. Austin gets the Thesz Press for two, and they go into a pinfall reversal sequence and fight over the backslide. Shawn walks the ropes to escape and teases the superkick, but Austin ducks out of the ring. This leads to a chase, and Austin catches him with the stun gun. Stunner is blocked by Shawn, and we take a break. Back with Shawn hammering away, but Vader runs in for the DQ at 5:20. Can’t give it the point at 5 minutes. 1 for 8.

– Intercontinental title: Marc Mero v. Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Ah, the days when HHH was a skinny cruiserweight who needed a manager to talk for him. This was the template for the angle done a million times on RAW since, as Mr. Perfect was mentoring Mero and tormenting Hunter, so leading up to this title match Hunter attacked Perfect in the locker room to take him out. Thus, there could be no Hunter v. Perfect match as advertised, and instead Perfect offered up Mero as a substitute, with the title on the line. So we’re joined in progress with Mero backdropping Hunter and grabbing an armbar. Hunter makes the ropes, so Mero dumps him and tries a dive. However, Hunter hides behind Sable, who promptly nails him and allows Mero to stay on offense. Back in, Mero gets a sunset flip for two. Hunter reverses for two. Mero backslides him for two. Hunter USES THE KNEE with a backbreaker for two. Suplex and Hunter USES THE KNEE again with a kneedrop for two. High knee gets two. He sends Mero into the corner, but Mero reverses him to a catapult for two. Slingshot legdrop gets two. Samoan drop and Mero goes up, but Hunter uses the ref to crotch him and follows with a superplex attempt, which is blocked by Mero. Merosault gets two. Next, the inevitable ref bump, which draws Perfect into the ring, as he steals a chair from Hunter…and then turns on Mero. KICK WHAM PEDIGREE, and HHH wins his first ever title at 6:22. This was brilliant for the time and would have revived Perfect’s career, but he opted to take a deal from WCW instead, leaving HHH in the cold and on the receiving end of a job to Rocky Maivia. This was a great TV match, though. 2 for 9.

– And back to the lame again, as we meet “The Real Double J,” Jesse Jammes, way too late for the angle to mean anything. Thankfully a repackaging as the Road Dogg would save his career.

– Salvatore Sincere v. Jesse Jammes.

Jammes takes Sincere out of the ring on a hiptoss attempt, but gets necksnapped. He gets a bodyblock for two, and knocks Sincere off the apron. Back in, Sincere takes over with a slam and goes up, but gets slammed off. Jammes comes back with a corner clothesline, and finishes with a pumphandle slam at 4:12. 2 for 10.

The Bottom Line: Watching this will leave you with no doubt why WCW was raping the WWF at this point. However, it does provide an interesting contrast to the style of today, as you were able to see a range of different shapes and styles, from high-flying to power guys, instead of the homogenized “WWE Style” that covers everyone from Rey Mysterio up through Kane today. The tape has nothing special to offer outside of that, however, and it’s a definite pass