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Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF Survivor Series 1996
Loading...-We continue along with my look back at 1996 and coincidentally the WWF is celebrating 25 years of The Rock and this would be the show he made his debut. Next up will be WCW World War 3 and then we will finish with the two December show and see where we went to go from there. For now off to MSG. Let’s get to it!
-Date: Nov 17, 1996
-Madison Square Garden, NY, NY
-Announce Team: Vince McMahon, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Jim Ross (with Sunny and Cornette sprinkled in)
-Attendance: 18,647
-PPV Buys: 199,000
Survivor Series Elimination Match: The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, and The New Rockers vs. Doug Furnas, Philip Lafon, and The Godwins
-Bulldog and Owen are the WWF Tag Champions at this point and The New Rockers would be Marty and Leif Cassidy (Al Snow). Early bell as we get a lot of trash talking to the fans and figuring out who is starting for each team before contact is made nearly 90 seconds into the match. Marty starts with Lafon and Lafon lands a spin kick and some chops. He works the arm but Jannetty escapes by bouncing off the top rope. Marty looks lost as he just falls for some reason and then makes a tag to Leif before rolling to the floor. On the floor Marty hobbles around as Clarence Mason checks on him and I assume something happened to him. Phineas gets the tag and he eggs on the crowd, so Leif plays off that and gets the crowd to boo him. They lockup and Phineas gets a side headlock and then a shoulder block. Another go and Leif shows some power with a slam. He makes a mistake of slapping Phineas around and that leads to some more stalling. Back at it with Phineas getting a slam, but a well placed knee from Jannetty turns the tide. Leif follows with a clothesline and Owen gets the tag to land some shots, before tagging to Bulldog. The ref gets distracted and everyone in the heel corner stomps Phineas down as JR rages against the outside ref not doing anything about it. Leif drops a leg and Phineas dives for a tag in the wrong corner. Back elbow from Marty and he is clearly hobbled, but still giving it a go. He heads up top, but gets crotched. Marty pushes him off and tries an elbow from the middle rope, but Phineas rolls out of the way. Tag made to Henry Godwin and Jannetty collapses again on the bad wheel. Marty clearly needs out of there and a Slop Drop does that at 8:12 and Owen comes in and eliminates Henry at 8:18 with a leg lariat. Owen gets dumped to the floor by Phineas, but Bulldog made a blind tag and hits the Powerslam to end Phineas’ night at 9:04. Bulldog and Furnas have a go and immediately this match improves. Cassidy back in and he gets a near fall on Furnas, but he powers out quite easily. Bulldog back just to send Furnas into the ropes so Owen can fly into our screen with a sweet dropkick. That was fantastic camerawork there! Bridging suplex gets a two count for Owen. Furnas gets worked over in the corner as JR continues to rage against the officiating. Delayed Vertical Suplex from Bulldog and he shows off a bit. Tag back to Leif as he throws some chops and a headbutt. Gutbuster next, but a corner clothesline misses and that lets Furnas make the tag to Lafon. He ends Leif’s night at 13:43 with a flipping suplex off the middle rope. Bulldog in and he eats a heel kick. He fights back and drops Lafon before making the tag to Owen. He hits a belly to belly for a two count. Neckbreaker and then a flying elbow from the middle rope gets a two count. Enzuigiri gets a two count as JR notes the kick caught the shoulder and not the back of the head. Bulldog back in and he gets into a slug fest with Lafon which Lafon wins, so Bulldog goes low. Owen back in and he gets caught charging in the corner, but cuts off the tag to Furnas. Bulldog back in and Lafon gets a roll-up to eliminate him at 17:22. Bulldog hits a chop block on his way out and Owen wraps the leg around the ring post. Leg whip from Owen and he works a leg submission on the ground as the crowd is pretty dead for this one. Owen wakes them up a bit with The Sharpshooter, but Furnas stops that noise. Owen sets too early on a backdrop and gets kicked in the face. Tag to Furnas and he hits a nice dropkick for a two count. A suplex gets another two count. A release German suplex somersaults Owen ass over head onto his face and that ends this one at 20:42.
Survivors: Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon at 20:42
-No real heat for this, but the match got much better when Furnas and Lafon got to do their thing with Owen and Bulldog. The idea was to get Lafon and Furnas over so they could challenge Bulldog and Owen. This was ok though the first 10 minutes or so were pretty awful with The Godwins and Marty’s injury hurting things. **1/2
-Back to the boiler room as Todd gets to interview Paul Bearer and Mankind. It seems Mankind is going to eat Taker alive.
Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker
-Paul Bearer gets put in a shark cage and raised above the ring for this one. This feud had be going since the day after Mania XII and this is the final blow-off for at least a few months. Taker drops in from the ceiling sporting a cape that makes him look like Batman. If Taker wins he gets 5:00 minutes with Paul Bearer. Taker tries to get his hands on Bearer inside the cage which lets Mankind jump him from behind and then they immediately head to the floor. They brawl out there for a bit and then back in the ring Taker sends Mankind from one corner to the other and hits a drop toehold to the astonishment of JR. Taker goes to a short arm scissors into an armbar as this is MMA Taker many years before he switched his style. Back to the floor as Taker targets the mandible claw hand by banging it off the security rail and then the ring steps. Taker gets creative by wrapping the tag rope around the damaged hand. Back in the ring Taker gets a slam, but misses an elbow. Cactus clothesline sends both men to the floor, but they both land on their feet. They head into the crowd to continue the brawl which pops the crowd. JR mentions they could fight all the way down Broadway and that would make even more sense if Taker still had his Phantom mask. Cactus clothesline back from the crowd over the railing to the ringside area. Mankind throws his body at Taker from the apron and things head back into the ring. Running knee in the corner crushes Taker’s face and Mankind chokes him down from there. Taker bounces out of the corner with a back elbow and starts firing off strikes. More strikes from Taker as Mankind gets trapped in the ropes. Taker bites the damaged hand and then gives the ref a look to back him away. Taker sets too early on a backdrop and gets spiked with the stump piledriver. Mandible Claw is blocked as we get a loud “Rest in Peace” chant. After a struggle, Mankind locks on The Mandible Claw, but Taker uses leverage to break and send Mankind splatting to the floor. Mankind tries to pull Taker to the floor, but Taker kicks off and Mankind cracks the back of his head off the guardrail. The damaged hand gets rammed off the steps a few more times and back in the ring we go. Old School connects once back in the ring but Mankind fights back with a swinging neckbreaker to leave both men down. Mankind is first to his feet and heads up top but Taker sits up and fires off right hands. Mankind lands one shot to the throat and comes off the top, but Taker catches him and preps for a chokeslam. Mankind avoids and gets The Mandible Claw which drops Taker to the mat. The ref starts to count out Taker, but he zombies up and breaks the hold and now hits the chokeslam. Both men to their feet and Taker charges, but Mankind drops low and Taker crashes over the top to the floor. Mankind tries to throw his body at Taker again, but now Taker ducks and Mankind crashes to the floor. Back inside the ring Taker pounds away some more, but gets caught in a sleeper which he quickly breaks with a belly to back suplex. Paul Bearer tosses a weapon to Mankind (a spike) and blasts Taker in the forehead. He continues to abuse Taker with it as JR is yelling for the ref to check the right hand. Mankind ends up on Taker’s back and he calmly turns that into a Tombstone to end this one at 14:54
Winner: The Undertaker via pin at 14:54
-This started rather well, but kind of ran out of steam by the end and the finish came out of nowhere. This was the 4th PPV match between the two within 5 months so it was time to separate them for a bit and Taker winning this blow-off was the right call. **3/4
-Undertaker goes after Bearer, but The Executioner (Terry Gordy) heads down and saves Bearer though Taker sends him packing with a flying clothesline.
-Furnas and Lafon are surfing the net and chatting with fans backstage through American Online.
-Sunny is out to join the announce team because they knew she was a star and constantly overshadowed whoever she managed, but they needed her on the shows. JR rolls his eyes at Vince dancing.
-Hendrix is backstage with Crush, Lawler, Goldust and HHH to hype their upcoming Survivor Series Match. It seems Mark Henry is out and thus Mero’s team is down 1 team member.
Survivor Series Elimination Match: Crush, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Goldust (w/ Marlena), Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Marc Mero (w/ Sable), The Stalker (Barry Windham), Rocky Maivia, Jake “The Snake” Roberts
-JR gets in a shot saying Hunter is more than perfect and then gets into a war of words with Sunny. JR mentions Sable is the most beautiful woman in the WWF and Sunny obviously doesn’t take that well as she mentions her bikini spread in RAW Magazine blew Sable’s away. This match is here for one purpose and it’s pretty easy to figure out. Mero brings out Roberts as the 4th man on their team and Revelations runs people off and again it’s over a minute after the bell rings before there is even contact in the match. Mero tags out to The Stalker without any contact which I think was illegal at one point, but I don’t think that rule is followed anymore. Lawler stalls so Mero is tagged back into the match. HHH gets tagged in and then Goldust gets tagged in and still no contact. Finally Goldust lands some right hands on Mero, but Mero is back with a hip toss and then a backdrop. Side headlock from Mero and then a roll-up for a two count. Sunny takes some shots at Sable and lets us know she (Sunny) is allergic to cigar smoke. Sure! Hunter and Windham in next and since JR and Vince are calling him Barry Windham, I am dropping The Stalker name. Windham tags Mero and Hunter bails to the floor as he wants no part of Mero. Crush in and Rocky gets the tag for his first action inside a WWF ring (well, on camera). The King in and Rock gets to show off his athleticism and Lawler is more than happy to bump all over the ring for him. Vince mentions he is the former Dwayne Johnson and has taken the name of his father and grandfather. Yeah, I mean who would pay to see someone named Dwayne Johnson! HHH in and we get our first of 10,000 interactions inside the ring between Hunter and Rocky. It’s always interesting seeing future megastars in their early days. Rocky gets beat up by everyone for a bit, but fires back on Hunter. Backdrop as JR, Sunny, and Vince are all drooling over Rocky. Tag made to Jake and the crowd pops for him more than anyone else in the match at this point. Short arm clothesline gets the place rocking as they are begging for a DDT. Jake gets backed into the wrong corner and gets ganged by all four men. Goldust in for a few shots and then a tag back to Lawler. He fires off some punches and mocks Jake’s drinking for a bit. Jake slides out of a slam and spikes Lawler with a DDT to eliminate him at 9:58. Goldust in and he beats on Jake for a bit and distracts the ref so Hunter can get in a few cheap shots in the corner. The crowd serenades Lawler with “Burger King” chants as he walks to the back. Windham back in and he gets a two count on Goldust off a suplex. Goldust fakes an injury to get the ref’s attention and Crush decks Windham from behind. Curtain Call sends Windham out at 12:43. Mero in and Goldust drops him with a clothesline and makes the tag to Hunter. He unloads with strikes and pushes the ref as he shows some good aggression. He drops a knee for a two count as Vince and JR think the count was quick. Crush in and he gets a one count off a back breaker. Back to Goldust as this is just dragging. Leaping clothesline gets a two count and tag back to Crush. Tilt-a-whirl back breaker gets another two count. Jake knows the crowd is dying so he goes crazy on the apron trying to get them into this one. It’s not happening! Hunter goes to an abdominal stretch and gets help from Goldust which shouldn’t happen with a ref on the floor, but whatever. This goes on for way too long before the ref kicks Hunter’s arm off the rope which lets Mero gets a hiptoss. Mero gets a sunset flip, but he can’t get the pin attempt as Hunter makes the tag to Goldust. Tag back to Hunter and finally some life as Mero gets a head scissors before firing off some right hands. Another backdrop, but Mero doesn’t get to make a tag as he gets dumped to the floor. Jake in to distract Hunter and Mero is back with The Mero-sault which sends Hunter packing at 19:20. A dropkick sends Crush to the floor and Mero crashes and burns on a messed up slingshot dive. Somehow in the chaos Mero was eliminated by Crush at 20:36. Jake is finished with a Heart Punch at 20:54 and that leaves Rocky alone against Goldust and Crush. We get our first “Rocky” chant and boy would that change shortly. Crush wants a test of strength and Rocky falls for it and gets punched in the face. Rocky back with a slam and some right hands for Goldust as everyone has basically been told to bump like crazy for the rookie. Rocky gets a flying body press on both men and dumps Goldust to the floor. Rocky and Crush trade blows and Goldust gets a ball shot. Heart punch is ducked and Goldust ends up taking it. Body press eliminates Crush at 23:11. Shoulder breaker finishes this one at 23:42.
Winner and Sole Survivor: Rocky Maivia at 23:42
-This match was all about making Rocky look like a star and it mostly succeeded as everyone bumped for him and he overcame the odds to get the win. Overall this went way too long and too much dead space for a match that had 8 people involved. I still am not sure what happened to Mero unless that dive to the floor injured him and he needed to get out quick. Glad that Rocky kid was able to overcome a blah match to start his career. *1/4
-Recap of Austin’s rise and his trash talk towards Bret Hart which has lead to this match tonight. Good stuff!
-Todd is backstage with Austin and he is just awesome here. “Cliches are cliches and an ass whipping is an ass whipping.” He was hitting his stride and you can tell he knew this match was big time for him.
-Austin makes his entrance and we go back to Todd who is now with Bret Hart. Bret meant it when he called MSG “holy ground” and everyone will find out now where he stands. Austin will respect him when this is all said and done.
Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
-These two were made to feud! Winner gets a WWF Title Match at next month’s PPV. JR thinks this is going to come down to a submission and that will be the day! I mean Bret Hart and submission in the same sentence with Survivor Series? That’s just crazy talk! They come face to face to start and Austin flips Bret the double bird which draws an “ohhh” from the crowd. Lockup to start and Bret backs Austin into the corner. JR takes a shot at WCW by mentioning these aren’t two stars past their prime and I should point out Hogan vs Piper did a massive buy rate compared to this show, so it worked for them. He also goes back to how neither man has ever submitted and Vince asks how ironic would it be if Bret submitted to the Sharpshooter. “Anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation.” Yep! Bret controls the arm and gets a hammerlock as a loud “Lets go Bret” chant starts and it draws some boos from others in the crowd. Bret continues to control with the hammerlock, but Austin gets to his feet and gets a trip but Bret floats over and goes back to the hammerlock. Austin shoves off and lands a back elbow. He drops some elbows and connects with a short arm clothesline. Bret back to the arm for a bit, but Austin catches him charging and drops him with a stun-gun. Austin uses the bottom rope to choke and uses every bit of Tim White’s five count. Catapult into the bottom rope and back to the choking. Austin heads to the floor and hits a running elbow to the throat and then poses to the crowd as Bret tries to regroup on the floor. Reverse chinlock as Austin continues to work the neck. A knee gets a one count and then another as Austin keeps going for pins to force Bret to have to kick out. Bret gets to his feet and we have round one of them exchanging blows and Austin wins that round. He stomps away in the corner and chokes some more as he goes right back to the throat. Bret gets a reversal and sends Austin into the buckles before hitting a clothesline. He follows with an inverted atomic drop and then gets a roll-up for a two count. Side Russian Leg Sweep next and that gets another two count as Bret didn’t hook the leg. Bulldog is countered as Bret takes his sternum first bump into the corner. Always dope! Austin sets Bret up top for a superplex but Bret blocks and drops Austin on his face. Elbow drop gets a two count for Bret. Austin counters a back breaker with a rake to the face and he just tosses Bret over the top to the floor. Austin follows out and pounds away and then slides part way back in to break the count. I appreciate little touches like that so much! They fight and break the security railing and brawl in the crowd as the ref has stopped his count. Austin gets rammed into the railing causing it to fall over. We head back in the ring, but Austin rolls out on the other side. Bret gives chase and that’s a mistake as Austin slingshots him onto the Spanish Announce Table (which doesn’t break). Austin dives on top of Bret and they brawl on the Spanish Announcers as JR asks “Is Hugo hurt?” Austin slams Bret back on the table and then drops an elbow from the apron. Tables were just tougher in 1996! Suplex from the apron brings Bret back into the ring and Austin heads up to the middle ropes to drop another elbow. That gets a two count and there is a noticeable buzz throughout the crowd now. Austin is getting booed out of the building and he is just loving every moment of it. Now we get a “Lets Go Austin” chant as the fans have clearly picked a side. Austin goes to an abdominal stretch and uses the ropes to his advantage. Always works! The ref catches Austin and he is none too pleased. Our second round of punches begins and Bret wins this battle. The crowd is rocking with them now as Bret hits his own version of a stun-gun. Roll into a pin attempt gets a two count for Bret as that was a little sloppy. Swank piledriver from Bret gets a two count. I miss seeing piledrivers! Now Bret gets the back breaker, but gets stupid as he heads up top and as expected Austin is there to greet him. He unloads with right hands and now gets the top rope superplex. Bret gets a pin attempt off his back for two as Austin nearly got caught there. Bret walks into a Stunner, but it only gets two as Austin wasted a few seconds pulling Bret away from the ropes. Austin is frustrated as he keeps going for pins and Bret is out at two each time. Now Austin isn’t sure what to try next and opts for a Texas Cloverleaf, but Bret gets to the ropes to force a break. Bret gets thrown into the corner and takes a nasty bump as his leg gives way and he goes back first under the buckle and into the ring post. Nice! Austin to a Bow and Arrow, but Bret escapes and looks for The Sharpshooter. Austin gets to the ropes to stop that noise, so Bret just punches him in the face repeatedly. Bret gets a sleeper, but Austin breaks immediately in the corner and then sticks Bret with a jawbreaker. Austin slaps himself to clear the cobwebs and he goes to his roots with The Million Dollar Dream, but Bret uses the buckles to kick off into a cover and gets the win at 28:36.
Winner: Bret “The Hitman” Hart via pin at 28:36
-The ending was lifted from Bret’s match with Piper at WrestleMania VIII, but made sense as Austin was running out of things to try when The Stunner didn’t win it, so he went back to his finisher when he was with Dibiase. Bret knew the counter and Austin didn’t release the hold. He would learn that lesson when it happened to him again at Mania X-Seven against Rock. This started slow as they were setting the pace for the story they wanted to tell. It got great by the end as they hit the peak and then gave us a wonderful closing stretch before Bret pulled out the win. ****1/2
-Dok is backstage with Sid and he will do everything it takes to walk out as WWF Champion.
-Captain Lou Albano is out as he was inducted into The WWF Hall of Fame last night.
Survivor Series Elimination Match: Faarooq (w/ Clarence Mason), “Razor Ramon,” “Diesel,” and Vader vs. Savio Vega, Yokozuna, Flash Funk, and Superfly Jimmy Snuka
-JR is still pimping for “Razor” as he mentions he is bigger, stronger, younger and better looking than the last guy that used that name. Amazing Kane was able to overcome this run as Diesel to become what he did, but Vince never lost favor with him. Jim Cornette joins the announce table to rage against the other team having a mystery partner. This is also Flash’s WWF debut and boy was Snuka a disappointment as a mystery partner. JR: “I never seen the yellow and red look so good in the Garden.” And yet, in less than 6 years Hogan would be WWF Champion again. Weird how things work out in pro-wrestling. Funk and Vader start and Vader overpowers him. Duh! Vader boxes Funk in the corner and then hits a short arm clothesline. Funk ducks a few clothesline and gets a spinwheel kick though Vader nearly fell to the mat before the move connected. They head to the floor and Funk gets a moonsault off the top to the floor which gets a very weak “ECW” chant. Back in the ring Funk gets caught with a powerbomb, so Yokozuna comes in and hits a belly to back suplex. Savio and Faarooq next as the future Nation explodes. Razor in and Savio fires off some dropkick. Cornette and JR get into a shouting match on commentary. Razor catches Savio and hits the Fall-away slam. Tag made to Diesel, so Funk comes back in. Diesel misses a boot, but connects with a clothesline that knocks Funk out of midair. Press Slam is countered but Diesel gets a choke bomb. Faarooq back in and Funk runs wild on him for a bit, but gets destroyed with a spinebuster. Vader mauls Funk, so he bails and Savio is back. Cornette mentions Vader is the one that should have the title match tonight and I believe that was the plan, but Shawn wanted Sid. Diesel back in which gets Snuka into the match for the first time. Vader in and Snuka catches him with a headbutt and then a dropkick. He slams Vader to a big pop, but then gets backed into the wrong corner. He avoids a Razor clothesline and makes a tag to Savio. Diesel gets the tag and Savio gets low bridged by Vader and ends up on the floor. Faarooq sends him back first into the post and then back in Diesel hits a Jackknife to send Savio packing at 8:35. Snuka and Razor back in and Sunka gets a slam. He heads up top and flies to end Razor’s night 9:34. Diesel in with a chair and everyone starts brawling which brings on the bell to end the entire match at 9:46.
Winner: Nobody via Double DQ at 9:46
-Awful ending as you could tell things were running long and this is the match that got cut to shreds which isn’t a bad things considering what we were seeing. The quality of each Elimination Match dropped as the night went on. 1/2*
-Video package for Shawn Michaels/Sid.
-Ominous music plays as we see Sid walking bacstage.
WWF Title: Shawn Michaels (c) (w/ Jose Lothario) vs. Sycho Sid
-MSG crowd loves Sid and even JR and Vince have to acknowledge it. Sid just has an aura and presence about him that always kept him over. We cut backstage to Shawn walking and the screams from the women in the crowd are rather impressive. I know all about that as my sister loved Shawn Michaels around this time (she was 13) and even had his cardboard cutout in her room (scared the crap out of my Grandma when she stayed at our house for Christmas one year). Lockup to start and Sid just beats the crap out of Shawn in the early going. Shawn slides between Sid’s legs to avoid a clothesline and peppers him with punches before getting a take down with a side headlock. Sid gets back to his feet, so Shawn slaps him in the face and does it again. Sid boots him and gets a headlock of his own and then slaps Shawn in the face. They start exchanging blows and Sid wins that as you would expect. Gorilla Press Slam gets a great reaction, but Shawn slides out and tries a backdrop which nearly leads to a powerbomb. Shawn bails to the floor which lets the fans start a “Sid” chant. Sid gives chase on the floor and then back in the ring Shawn gets a boot and takes out the knee with a chop block. The crowd boos Shawn out of the building and he gets a smile on his face as he attacks the knee. Massive “Lets Go Sid” chant as MSG just loves crapping on smiling, happy babyfaces. Shawn goes to the figure four and again, gets booed out of the building. Sid rolls to reverse the pressure, so Shawn rolls with him to get both to the ropes for force a break. Shawn continues the attack on the knee and the boos are just raining down now. Sid kicks Shawn off sending him shoulder first into the post and now Sid has a body part to target. In a nice bit for foreshadowing Sid bumps into a cameraman on the apron to show he is a little annoyed by them. Sid dominates Shawn in the corner, but misses a running boot. Shawn dropkicks the knee and bounces the knee off the mat. Shawn skins the cat but Sid murders him with a clothesline that sends Shawn back to the floor. The brawl around the ring and Shawn gets sent back first into the apron. Sid with a Gorilla Press and he drops Shawn throat first on the security rail. Sid tells a nearby fan to shut up and she has no problem yelling back at him. Nice! Sid takes time to play to the fans which gives Shawn a chance to regroup and kick out at two when the match gets back inside the ring. Sid hits a backdrop as Shawn starts bumping like a mad man all over the place. Whip to the corner has Shawn flopping to the apron, but he catches Sid on the top rope and heads up. He comes off with a cross body, but Sid catches him to a monster pop and hits a back breaker for two. Shawn tells Sid to bring it, so Sid bounces him from corner to corner. JR brings up that Sid may punch himself out if Shawn can survive. They trade blows in the middle of the ring and Shawn gets a slam. He heads up to the middle rope, but Sid gets the boot up and we get the famous gif of Shawn doing a headstand as he sells the move. Million Dollar Dream from Sid, but Shawn apparently wasn’t watching Bret/Austin so he doesn’t know the counter. Sid gets a couple two counts off it as Shawn grounded. Chokeslam attempt, but Shawn gets a thumb to the eye. Sweet Chin Music is blocked and now we get the chokeslam as the crowd is loving every second of this. That was great! Shawn counters a powerbomb with a small package for two, but then gets caught with a powerslam which gets two for Sid. Shawn back with the flying forearm and the crowd is not happy. Shawn nips up, but Sid mows him down with a clothesline for two. Sid gets creative and grabs a camera off the cameraman as JR calls him an idiot. Jose gets up on the apron, so Sid blasts him with the camera. Sweet Chin Music connects, but Shawn forgets about the cover as he heads out to check on Jose, who may be having a heart attack. Sid out and he sends Shawn back in the ring and the ref gets bumped next. Shawn again says to hell with this and goes back to Jose. Sid hammers Shawn with the camera and back in the ring hits the powerbomb for the win and WWF Title at 20:02 to a great pop. The girl in the front row who yelled, “no” and hung her head as the ref hit three, has been burned in my head for 25 years.
Winner and New WWF Champion: Sycho Sid via pin at 20:02
-Great match as Shawn was just killing it in the ring in 96 and knew exactly what to do with Sid. This is the best singles match of Sid’s career and his crowning moment as MSG was ready for a new champion and Sid was there guy. The stuff with Jose was a little hokey, but Sid beating up an old man with a camera was believable. ****
-Shawn heads to the back with Jose as he gets medical attention while Sid poses inside the ring with the WWF Championship. He celebrates with the fans around ringside as it’s fist bumps for everyone.
-Thanks for reading!
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