Raw History: Episode 148 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 26

Raw History
Episode #148
February 26th, 1996 | Cincinnati Gardens in Cincinnati, Ohio

A video package hyping Diesel/Undertaker and Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels kicks things off.

Isaac Yankem vs. Jake Roberts
So when exactly does Yankem disappear? When it’s time for Fake Diesel? They recap Jake Robert’s snake scaring Jerry Lawler during the Royal Rumble. IT’S THE DDS VS. THE DDT! Jake is in rough shape. Even a simple hip toss looks horrendous. Yankem does a lot of nothing on offense. He tries the DDS but Roberts blocks it by holding onto the ropes. He then hits the DDT and wins.

Winner Jake Roberts in 3:32
Almost nothing happened in the match but I can’t consider it in DUD territory since it was too short to be offensive. ½*

VIGNETTE ~ An Ultimate Warrior coming soon video is shown. It’s similar to last week’s but we have intercut shots of kids begging Roddy Piper to bring him back. The kids talking were probably like, 2 or 3 years old at the most when Warrior last appeared.

Bob Holly vs. Diesel
Diesel gets all of the fancy pyro. Standard Diesel stuff here as he gets in the knee lift, big boot and side slam. Holly is sure to get in a hope spot or two since he’s above your typical jobber. They actually give this a commercial break to work through. It’s pointless since Diesel just ends him with the Jackknife once they return.

Winner: Diesel in 3:15
A fun little squash. Diesel was absolutely nailing his gimmick at this time.

As Diesel is leaving, the gong goes off and the lights flicker before going out. When they come back on, the Undertaker is in the ring. Diesel walks towards him for a fight but the lights go out again and Diesel is alone in the ring. After the light go out for a third time, Undertaker appears on the message with a message about seeing him on the dark side.

NEXT WEEK ~ 1-2-3 Kid vs. Shawn Michaels!

Ahmed Johnson vs. Shinobi
Shinobi is yet another failed Al Snow gimmick. He gets the Orient Express theme because, Japan. During this squash, Goldust calls in and reads a creepy letter to Roddy Piper. He calls him hard and wants to play his bagpipes. Yikes. I guess the Razor/Goldust WrestleMania match is off the table already. They lower the in ring action and it sounds weird. Pearl River Plunge wraps it up.

Winner: Ahmed Johnson in 1:50
They kept it short which is how I like my Ahmed Johnson.

VIGNETTE ~ Mankind is speaking in the dark room/cellar again, talking about “mommy”. I always felt like the tweener run of Diesel and the debut of Mankind marked the start of a new era for the WWF.

TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT ~ British Bulldog and Owen Hart advanced over Barry Horowitz and Hakushi. This weekend, Al Snow is now Leif Cassidy and he teams with Marty Jannetty as the New Rockers against the Godwins.

Vince McMahon is in the ring for an interview with his ultimate crush, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart. The two men would go on to have a serious personal rivalry that built over the next year. For now, I believe they were mostly okay with each other. They both put each other over and kind of hype that they are great despite their size. However, both men believe to be the better of the two. As Shawn talks, you can almost see Vince blow his load. Roddy Piper shows up and seems to be in a pissy mood. Maybe he heard Goldust’s letter earlier. He takes over and tells Vince to take a seat. Piper claims that he doesn’t want to see a cheap finish so he comes up with the Ironman match concept. These two will wrestle for an hour and whoever has the most falls in the hour wins the title. Bret and Shawn agree and shake hands.

They plug the WWF Superstar Line with Lex Luger’s WCW theme playing in the background. How?

British Bulldog and Owens Hart w/ Jim Cornette vs. Yokozuna
Yokozuna kicks Owen’s ass for the first short while, so Bulldog gets his opportunity. He’s stronger but still gets taken out. Yokozuna is on fire until he misses a corner splash. Owen takes him off his feet with a missile dropkick. They work through a break where Yokozuna seems ready for a nap. The heels do a lot of double teaming thanks to Cornette distractions. Just as Yokozuna begins his rally, Vader walks out. Cornette tries to stop him but fails and Vader clotheslines him.

Winner via disqualification: Yokozuna in 4:06
About what you’d expect. Yokozuna started hot, rested while taking a beating and then we got the DQ as he rallied. ¾*

The three men just pound away on Yokozuna until Ahmed Johnson runs out for the save. He nearly takes Owen’s head off with a clothesline. Jake Roberts comes out too and Vader is ready to fight but rethinks it when he sees the snake. I hate that they made Vader cower. The Jake and Ahmed run-ins seem super random.

To end the show, we got another shitty Larry Fling video. This needs to die.

Reliving Nitro
Episode #26
February 26th, 1996 | Civic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee

Big Bubba vs. Sting
While Big Bubba comes out, Eric Bischoff spoils results for the “World Whining Federation’s” episode of Raw. I feel like Big Bubba does nothing of relevance until he shows up as the OG Shield member in WWF in 1998. Sting slaps the brash Bubba early but runs into an atomic drop. Sting fires back with shots only to eat a spinebuster. Double A is calling gimmick infringement in the back. Bubba tells the fans to kiss his ass while working over Sting. It feels like a while since I’ve seen Sting on Nitro but I’m probably wrong. Sting comes back by nearly murdering Bubba with a piledriver but he did it tombstone style so Bubba’s head just hit the mat. That doesn’t end it but a cross body does shortly after.

Winner: Sting in 7:14
Fine little match here. I didn’t expect much and it was better than expected. Sting was almost always a safe bet for a pretty good outing. **

Mean Gene interviews the Road Warriors, Lex Luger and Sting. The Road Warriors challenge them to a Chicago Street Fight at the PPV, even though it is happening in Mississippi. Luger says Chicago isn’t that tough. He grew up there and knows. Sting says that Luger is from the safe side of Chicago but the Warriors aren’t. They accept the challenge, leading Hawk to say that they are like a washing machine…they agitate them. What?

Lex Luger vs. The Renegade
Why is the Renegade still a thing? Bischoff tries to act like Renegade is a threat because he’s been working out at the WCW Power Plant recently. Renegade powers up after some Luger offense and scores a near fall on a powerslam. Renegade starts to do his own Hulking Up, no selling everything including a suplex. Hey, the old lady that took a swing at Hollywood Hogan is in the crowd and she’s wearing the same sweatshirt. Luger doesn’t care and beats him with the Torture Rack after Jimmy Hart showed up and pushed Renegade off the top.

Winner: Lex Luger in 5:47
Dull stuff from two shit workers. Luger was at his best when led by someone better and that wasn’t the case here. ½*

Luger celebrates with Jimmy Hart until Sting runs out, pissed at him for taking the cheap in. Luger tries to raise Renegade’s hand and show sportsmanship but Sting REALLY gets in his face and scolds him. Luger leaves like a kid sent to his room.

Harlem Heat vs. The Road Warriors
I’m surprised this wasn’t done at SuperBrawl. The teams slug it out early and often. I don’t expect much else from then to be honest. Hawk takes the heat while Harlem Heat beats on him. He’s Hawk though, so he doesn’t give a shit about selling. This goes on for too long until Animal gets the hot tag. He does his thing and the crowd pops for it. Booker hits the Harlem Hangover but there’s no referee. He’s outside dealing with Stevie Ray and Animal fighting. Animal takes the chance to hit Booker with a boot, allowing Hawk to pin him.

Winners: The Road Warriors in 7:54
Just really damn boring. Two teams that weren’t putting on good matches at the time and together, it didn’t work either. ½*

Arn Anderson, WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and the Taskmaster w/ Elizabeth and Woman vs. The Booty Man, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage
The Taskmaster looks like he belongs with Hogan and Savage, as they’re all in red and yellow. Savage is straight up wearing a Mega Powers shirt because fuck copyright laws. The Diamond Doll strolls out with roses in her hand around the start of the match. Booty Man (that’s so ridiculous to even type out) starts with Arn. He sends him and Taskmaster packing. Flair gets the tag and crowd seems to be way into him. Flair is far too good for him and we end up with more Savage/Flair. By the way, Bischoff claims that Booty Man was a spy in the Dungeon of Doom as Zodiac. Still doesn’t explain why he’s a the fucking Booty Man. Savage goes for the double axe handle but takes a right hand to the ribs. Hogan gets tagged behind Flair’s back. Same old Flair pleads and Hogan no sells. Hogan bites Flair which commentary ignores like Gorilla Monsoon used to. Everybody gets a chance to work with everybody. Savage takes a bit of heat. They do a mild tag to Booty Man but nobody gives a shit. He ends up feeding Hogan by sending the heels into his big boots one by one. Hogan gets his pin back on Arn with a leg drop to win it for his guys.

Winners: The Booty Man, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in 12:04
It’s as if nobody but Sting tried working hard this week. This wasn’t bad but nobody was really on their “A” game and I’m sick of the same combination of guys and no, tossing in Booty Man isn’t helping. *¾

Post-match, Flair takes out Hogan’s with a knee. Elizabeth handcuffs Hogan to the corner but the camera totally catches Hogan helping her apply them. Flair whips Hogan with a strap until Savage stops it.

Raw Rating: 3.1
Nitro Rating: 3.2

3.3

The final score: review Bad

The 411

Raw: The only saving graces of this show were the HBK/Bret segment and the fact that it helped set up WrestleMania pretty well. The matches weren’t any good but they hyped Undertaker/Diesel, Bret/HBK, Ultimate Warrior’s return and the eventual six man tag pretty well. 3.0

Nitro: A slight win for Nitro this week. They didn’t build to the next Pay-Per-View as well as the WWF built to WrestleMania, but they did lay some groundwork. The reason they get the better score is because their in-ring action was better than the WWF’s but neither show really did well in that department. 3.5