Raw History: Episode #162 and Reliving Nitro: Episode #38

Raw History
Episode #162
June 3rd, 1996 | Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium in Fayetteville, North Carolina

WWF Champion: Shawn Michaels (1) since 3/31/96
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Goldust (2) since 4/22/96
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (3) since 5/26/96

Things open this week with a shot of Goldust in nothing but a feather boa and his Intercontinental Title. He knows that Ahmed Johnson is coming for the title and he can just come and get it.

King of the Ring First Round Match: Steve Austin def. Bob Holly in 9:14
This is our first look at Austin without Ted Dibiase. The two competitors jockey for position with neither gaining a real upper hand. It isn’t the best look for Austin if you know that he’s on the cusp of a breakout. Vince says that they are going to “break from tradition” and show PPV footage on Raw. Uh, you aired Bulldog/Hart from Season’s Beatings in full last year. Austin smiles at the camera after a backbreaker. He seems to be enjoying being on his own. This lasts through a commercial break for some reason. Holly’s rally is cut short by the Million Dollar Dream and Austin advances. This took far too long for Austin. Disappointing. *½

Vince announces that Gorilla Monsoon has decided that, in addition to the KOTR tournament and Ahmed/Goldust, Jerry Lawler will go one on one with the Ultimate Warrior at the King of the Ring.

Mankind def. Barry Horowitz in 3:51
More King of the Ring announcements as we’re told that Undertaker will take on Mankind. They show footage from Beware of Dog, when Mankind magically appeared in the casket to cost Undertaker the match against Goldust. Mankind dominates here. They go commercial and Vince comically says there’s a chill in the arena, so the Undertaker must be coming out. It isn’t the air conditioning or anything logical like that. Once they return, Mankind immediately wins with the Mandible Claw.

Mankind gets interviewed by Jim Ross while his awesome symphony exit theme plays. He says that the Undertaker has never faced someone with nothing to lose. Of all the things he’s already lost, he misses his mind the most and at KOTR, Undertaker will lose it all.

After seeing footage of the controversial finish to Bulldog/Michaels from Beware of Dog, we get the announcement that the rematch will take place at King of the Ring.

Vince interviews Goldust, who is in his “den of equity”. He quotes “The Color Purple” and says that he only gave Ahmed Johnson mouth to mouth to save him. Goldust also says that he loves male nurses and calls Ahmed the “mighty mandingo”. Wow.

The Godwins w/ Hillbilly Jim def. Tekno Team 2000 in 5:15
Sunny joins commentary for this one. Before things officially get going, we hear from the Bodydonnas, who are searching for a new manager. They give a PO Box address and everything to send in your applications. The 90’s were awesome. This match sees the Godwins in control, except for the times that Phineas is stuck staring at Sunny. The Godwins win after Henry gets a mild tag and hits the Slop Drop.

Clarence Mason calls in. The original case against Shawn Michaels was thrown out, but now he wants to file one against Gorilla Monsoon for assault. The footage shows that Gorilla guided Clarence away from Shawn Michaels during his entrance last week. That somehow caused all kinds of damage and Clarence is unable to “consort with his mate.”

King of the Ring First Round Match: Jake Roberts def. Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 9:43
Logic would say that Helmsley goes over here. However, this is right after the infamous MSG incident. This match is a whole lot of nothing. Helmsley wears down Jake for an excruciatingly long time. He constantly avoids the DDT, which is at least a wise strategy. Like the earlier match, they go to break and the match ends shortly after, when Jake hits the DDT. I’d have written more, but nothing really happened. Just a really dull outing. ¼*

Reliving Nitro
Episode #38
June 3rd, 1996 | Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: The Giant (2) since 4/29/96
WCW United States Champion: Konnan (1) since 1/29/96
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Sting and Lex Luger (1) since 1/22/96
WCW Television Champion: Lex Luger (1) since 3/696
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko (1) since 5/18/96

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko once again handle the commentary duties in hour one.

To get things off to a hot start, they recap Big Bubba cutting half of Shark’s hair last week. I’m sure people were just dying to see the conclusion of this. Shark gets interviewed by Mean Gene before his match. He isn’t shaving the rest of his hair because it’s a reminder of his embarrassment. He announces that he isn’t a damn fish or an avalanche so he’s just going by his real name, John Tenta, from now on.

John Tenta def. Big Bubba w/ Jimmy Hart via countout in 1:10
Tenta attacks quickly and beats up Bubba. He picks up scissors to give Bubba a taste of his own medicine, but Bubba leaves and gets counted out. Schiavone also spends part of the match explaining that Johnny B. Badd and Vader won’t be here because they don’t play where the big boys play anymore. Umm, they’ve been gone for a while now dude. Nothing to rate here.

The Faces of Fear def. High Voltage in 3:24
I will always have a soft spot for the Faces of Fear. High Voltage is making their debut but this is all about the Faces of Fear. Barbarian delivers a pretty rad powerbomb and Meng brings out a dropkick. Barbarian brings the crowd to their feet with a top rope belly to belly suplex. They also nail stereo diving headbutts and a mafia kick gets the win for Meng. This was a fun squash match. Give me more Faces of Fear please.

Backstage, Mean Gene interviews the Tag Team Champions, Sting and Lex Luger. They face the Steiner Brothers tonight. Luger talks about how he goes way back with them and talks about last week. The Steiners interrupt and Rick gets in Lex’s face for cheap shotting Scott. Things get heated and Mean Gene does his trademark angry interviewer gimmick where he yells at them for letting things get out of hand.

VIGNETTE ~ Hulkamania still runs wild! Just a reminder that though he isn’t on TV, Hogan still looms.

Sgt. Craig Pittman w/ Teddy Long def. Disco Inferno in 1:51
Why? Disco is kind of scared but gains confidence after a punch. He dances in front of Teddy, so Pittman German suplexes him and powerbombs him. Disco scurries away and his next punch is no sold. Craig headbutts him, which Disco sells hilariously bad. Pittman goes to apply the Code Red submission but Disco gives up before it even gets applied. Wow. The crowd can’t even react to the finish.

Lord Steven Regal w/ Jeeves def. Jim Duggan in 4:27
Before the match, we get some footage from Regal officially challenging Sting for the Great American Bash. He slaps him and the footage ends there. I wish they did an actual recap of that since Saturday Night isn’t available on the Network. I assume that’s where the clip was from. Regal stalls early on. Duggan kind of beats him up a fair amount with right hands and such. The rest of the Blue Bloods come down to distract the referee. Dave Taylor takes the 2×4 from Duggan, though Schiavone acts like it’s a crime even though Duggan was about to cheat. Regal rolls him up to steal it. Too much Duggan offense. He and his friendship with Hogan probably made sure he didn’t look weak, even though Regal needed it more with a match against Sting coming up. *

Gene interviews the Blue Bloods in the ring. Regal says he was fined for slapping Sting but paid double the fine so he’s owed a credit. He wants Sting at his best for the Bash so he is riling him up.

RECAP ~ That old Kevin Sullivan/Brian Pillman rivalry has morphed into Sullivan vs. Chris Benoit. Benoit doesn’t think Arn Anderson should trust the Dungeon of Doom and Sullivan doesn’t like that. He calls Benoit a serpent and will stomp him out at the Bash.

Kevin Sullivan w/ Jimmy Hart def. Prince Iaukea in 1:22
Iaukea has no boots and looks like a complete jobber. Sullivan kicks his ass and crotches him on the guardrail. He brings him inside and wins with a double stomp. They are flying through matches tonight.

Gene Okerlund continues to earn his paycheck, interviewing Sullivan and Hart. Sullivan basically says that they need to stay with the Horsemen because Hulkamania is coming back. Right Kevin, because your fight against Hulkamania has gone so well so far.

Arn Anderson and Ric Flair w/ Elizabeth and Woman def. The Rock n’ Roll Express in 16:01
Wow. The Rock n’ Roll Express. Kudos to Flair, who comes out in a Kevin Greene jersey and busts out some three point stances. In one of the weirdest things WCW ever did, we get a giant pyro display simply because the first hour is over. That would normally be okay, but it happens DURING THE MATCH. The wrestlers just stop so a commentary team can take over and the pyro can finish. The teams go through basic stuff early on. The Express look incredibly bad here. They look like they’re both pushing 65. They slap stereo figure fours on their opponents, causing Flair to throw a tantrum. Following this and a break, the heels take over and use all of those good old fashioned heel tactics. The crowd is pretty quiet for the lengthy heat segment. They do happen to pop for a small package spot though. Bobby Heenan gets up from the booth to tell Elizabeth and Woman something. Gibson eventually gets the hot tag and does his thing. However, Woman rakes him in the eyes behind the referee’s back and Flair wins with a DDT. Decent match that got a lot of time. A far cry from what they could have done a few years back. **¼

Mean Gene is back to interview the winners at Flair’s random buffet table. Arn and Ric put over the tag team match for the Great American Bash. Gene asks Heenan if he’s going to manage them at the Bash. Heenan declines because he promised himself that he would never manage again. However, he got an All-Madden trophy (which he brings out) and announces that he will coach them, which is different from managing.

GLACIER IS COMING TO WCW!

VIGNETTE ~ More Hogan clips.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: The Giant (c) w/ Jimmy Hart def. Ice Train in 0:31
Giant wins instantly with a chokeslam. Scott Norton comes out to check on his partner, so the Giant beats him up too. I get making your champion look strong, but you just kind of destroyed one of your bigger tag teams. Way to go.

Giant gets interviewed after the match and is upset that they’re airing Hogan vignettes instead of focusing on the champion.

Scott Norton def. Hugh Morris in 1:51
Hugh Morris comes out for the easy win since Norton has taken a chokeslam. Morris toys around with Norton and has fun with him. Bischoff believes Norton is having a mild seizure on the mat. All of a sudden, Norton gets up. He tries to catch an unsuspecting Morris in midair on his moonsault attempt but fails. He just punches Morris and then lays on him to win. Horrible.

TRAINING MONTAGE ~ Kevin Greene and Mongo train at the WCW Power Plant. Hilariously, Greene draws up a play, like you would in football, on a board that has a wrestling ring and stick figures. Greene gets WCW that product placement money by eating a Slim Jim that the camera is sure to catch.

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Lex Luger and Sting (c) vs. The Steiner Brothers ends in a no contest in 6:42
Macho Man calls in and apparently, he’ll be coaching Greene and Mongo at the Great American Bash. Heenan tries to apologize to him but Savage calls him weak. Since it is so vital to see Heenan, they give us the HORRIBLE split screen effect so the match plays second fiddle. After a break, Rick hits a top rope belly to belly on Luger. Scott decides to throw Sting around until Sting face slams him. Rick breaks up a Torture Rack spot and Luger takes a bit of a beating outside. Sting fires up and all four men brawl outside. The Giant shows up and chokeslams Rick on the outside. Once inside, the referee throws the match out. It had its moments but wasn’t anything special. **

Giant gets in the ring and takes a beating from Sting, Scott and Lex as the fans go nuts.

Up by the booth, Bischoff and Heenan get ready to sign off but Scott Hall is back! Hall taunts him for starting the war and says that “we” are gonna finish it. Bischoff still can’t figure out what Scott means by “we” each time. Sting comes over to defend WCW because he’s that kind of guy. Sting mentions that Hall wants three of the best that WCW has, yet Hall is alone, so he challenges him to a one on one match right now. Hall says that nobody tells him when to fight. Sting slaps him and Hall promises a big surprise for next week.

Raw Rating: 2.3
Nitro Rating: 3.0

3.8

The final score: review Bad

The 411

Raw: One of the worst Raws in recent weeks. I appreciated that they announced some matches for King of the Ring but the show really dragged. The two King of the Ring matches were major disappointments and the two other matches on the show didn’t do much. The only saving graces were the promos from Goldust and Mankind. 2.5

Nitro: From a pure in-ring standpoint, this was pretty bad. Only the two tags were relatively decent. There were some bad things too, like the Disco Inferno stuff and Hugh Morris stuff. However, the show moved along nicely and Nitro actually feels like things are building towards a PPV. Most of the show seems important. Throw in a fun Faces of Fear squash, Flair in a Kevin Greene jersey and the Scott Hall stuff at the end and things were alright. 5.0