Monday Night Raw
January 29, 1996
Stockton, CA
Civic Auditorium

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Bret Hart (11/19/1995)
Intercontinental Champion: Goldust (1/21/1996)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (9/25/1995)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler.

• Diesel vs. Davey Boy Smith (w/Jim Cornette)
  

Diesel shows us his entire moveset to start with knees and clotheslines. Using his head, Bulldog bails and trips up the big guy so he can post the knee. Davey Boy bars the knee on into commercial. Hey, Yokozuna joins Corny at ringside. Could we see some shenanigans and maybe even some chicanery? Perhaps. AND WE’RE BACK! Same stuff is going on. Diesel’s knee gives out and Davey Boy stomps him out to ringside so he can untie a turnbuckle pad. Back inside, Diesel blocks the exposed turnbuckle smash and sends Bulldog’s face instead. Exposed Turnbuckle Snake Eyes follows. As Diesel covers and Cornette distracts the ref, Yoko tries to break up the pin with a MASSIVE SUMO-SIZED legdrop, but Diesel moves and Bulldog takes the leg. And that winds up costing Davey Boy the match as Diesel gets the 1-2-3. (6:11 shown) Not just a bad month for Razor Ramon, but also for Camp Cornette. Four big stars that couldn’t win the Rumble, Vader gets suspended, and now this. *½

Over in his weird shrine to the WWF, Dok Hendrix hypes the upcoming In Your House PPV card. Bret Hart gets an interview chatting up his cage match with Diesel. I love that black eye for some reason. Once that’s out of the way, Hendrix responds on-air to a letter sent to the WWF by Turner Broadcasting that tells them that while the Billionaire Ted skits are funny, they really need to stop doing them or they will be ready and waiting to sue. So with that, Hendrix sets up the next clip which is of the Billionaire Ted’s Press Conference, which is supposed to provide us with the answer to the question why he’s trying to run the WWF out of business. And here it is.

• The Body Donnas (w/Sunny) vs. The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim)
  

Now that they got the Blue Blood into a hog pen match, they seemed to have nothing left to do with Henry Godwinn as a singles wrestler and brought in Dennis Knight to wrestle as Henry’s cousin Phineas I. Godwinn. Henry gets double-teamed to start, but avoids a Rocket Launcher and makes the HOT TAG TO PHINEAS. Another double-team from the Bodydonnas fails, as Phineas delivers the SLOP DROP on Skip for the win. (2:18) Well, that was surprisingly short. ½*

Highlights of Vader’s two confrontations with Gorilla Monsoon get shown. That leads to Jim Cornette and his completely honest attorney Clarence Mason to respond to Vader being suspended. Mason thinks Vader acted in self-defense and will do a whole bunch of legal stuff to make this go away. The Get Well Gorilla campaign is now under way. Send your cards and letters and to the P.O. Box number on the screen. For you kids out there, cards and letters are what people used to send instead of text messages and writing on someone’s Facebook wall.

Vince McMahon introduces the acting WWF president: Roddy Piper. He likes the idea of being considered Vince McMahon’s boss. However, he’s horribly disillusioned if actually he believes that a mere on-screen authority figure trumps over the owner of the company. The man is crazy and everything, but he promises the WWF fans that they are in good hands with Roddy Piper at the helm. Once the interview comes to a close, Piper picks up Vince and gives him an Airplane Spin. He’s CRAZY, ya’ll!

Promo for a mysterious newcomer missing part of an ear is shown. Lawler calls him “Mankind”.

• Shawn Michaels vs. Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette)
  

I don’t understand why Vince and Lawler keep acting like this is going to be the first time Shawn Michaels ever got a WWF title shot at WrestleMania. Just because he was a heel last year and now he’s a face doesn’t mean his match with Diesel at WrestleMania 11 didn’t happen. Yoko dominates to start, but then Shawn fires back and sends Yokozuna to the floor. Out comes Owen Hart as the hopeful insurance policy. Commercials! When we come back, Shawn lays in the heavy blows with a flying double sledge and then follows up with the Moonsault Press for two. Just like that, Yoko reverses a whip and sends HBK in the corner for the crazy bump to the floor. Owen puts the boots to Shawn and backs him into the post. That eats up some time as Michaels slowly makes it back in the ring. Shawn fights out of the nerve hold, but runs into an elbow as we take another commercial break. AND WE’RE BACK! Yoko misses a legdrop and here comes HBK! Maybe not. Flying splash misses. However, Shawn comes up punching. It takes two Flying Forearms to take Yokozuna off his feet. Shawn attempts another flying double sledge, but gets caught and driven back into the corner. Now it’s time to finish him off. Cornette distracts the ref while Yoko holds Shawn for a Spinning Heel Kick from Owen. Of course, Shawn moves and Yoko gets wiped out. As Yoko stumbles around, HBK hits SWEET CHIN MUSIC for the 1-2-3. (7:57 shown) Looks like the crew is going to split, but then Davey Boy Smith and Jim Cornette cool things down. Once they realize Shawn Michaels is all by himself, they see the potential in a three-on-one attack with Cornette looking for payback. However, here comes Diesel to even things up a bit. Actually, not that bad of a match. **¼

As Camp Cornette retreats to the floor, Cornette makes the challenge to the Dudes with Attitudes to take on Yokozuna and Davey Boy Smith next week – IF THEY GOT ANY GUTS! Looks like we’ve got another double main event show coming your way.

NEXT WEEK: Bret v. Taker II! Plus, the Dudes with Attitudes v. British Bulldog & Yokozuna! Not only will you get a PPV main event rematch from a few weeks back, but also one from five months ago!

Monday Night Raw
January 22, 1996
Stockton, CA
Civic Auditorium

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Bret Hart (11/19/1995)
Intercontinental Champion: Goldust (1/21/1996)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (9/25/1995)

Sunny says Monday Night Raw contains action of a graphic nature. Viewer discretion is advised. That chick is still playing pool in her nightie!

We get a nice montage summarizing what happened at the Royal Rumble. Duke “The Dumpster” Droese won the Free For All match over Hunter Hearst Helmsley via DQ to become the #30 entry in the Royal Rumble lasting a little over a minute before getting tossed out while Helmsley became the #1 entry and managed to last nearly 50 minutes in the match, Jeff Jarrett KABONG’d Ahmed Johnson to get disqualified, the Smoking Gunns defeated the Bodydonnas despite Sunny showing everyone her assets, Goldust introduced Marlena to the world and with a little help from the 1-2-3 Kid beat Razor Ramon for the IC title, and Shawn Michaels became the second man to win back-to-back Royal Rumble matches last eliminating the kayfabed favorite going into the match: Diesel. In the WWF title match, Diesel came down and pulled the ref out of the ring when Undertaker had the match won after giving Bret Hart a Tombstone, thus awarding the match to the Undertaker by DQ and setting up Bret v. Diesel in a STEEL CAGE for the upcoming In Your House PPV.

Now let’s get RAW.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler.

• Vader (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Savio Vega
  

Cornette makes a big introduction for Vader since this is his first ever Raw appearance. Usual Vader squash as it’s barely a JTTS match as Vader gets put over strong and wins with the Pump Splash at 3:01. Afterwards, Savio receives another, which brings out refs to try and stop Vader. That doesn’t turn out well. One takes a couple headbutts, another receives a POWERBOMB. This is fun! Not even Cornette can control this man even though he can literally feel his meal ticket fading away. It gets so serious that WWF President Gorilla Monsoon comes out to try and stop Vader. It turns into a REAL confrontation as Vader starts shoving Monsoon, who fires back with chops! SNAP! Even at this point, Vader still won’t listen to reason and AVALANCHES Monsoon and a ref in the corner. But that’s not all. Vader sets up Gorilla for a Pump Splash and delivers! Too little too late as Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon head down to clear the ring. Oh, It’s definitely Vader Time.

Moments Ago: TMTC Vader puts Gorilla Monsoon on the shelf. Well for now, it’s just a stretcher. It’s coming though!

In the back, Vader is still acting like a RAVING LUNATIC as he manhandles Cornette. He looks over at the camera and declares war on everybody in the WWF – including Mr. McMahon and that other guy next to him.

• Razor Ramon vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
  

Stills are shown of the Ramon-Goldust match from the Royal Rumble where 1-2-3 Kid flew in with a spinning heel kick to cost Razor the IC title. The yet-to-be-pinned Helmsley comes out with Playboy centerfold Shae Marks. Just because he’s a classy blue blood doesn’t mean he doesn’t like chicks with big cans. You know what I’m talking about, fellas! OHH YEAH! Anyways, the answer is of course she did. The question is did she get ogled by Al Bundy in a special guest appearance on Married with Children. Ted DiBiase and the 1-2-3 Kid appear on the split-screen to tell us that Razor Ramon is a crybaby, yet they’re the ones holding a huge baby bottle and a big diaper. So who’s the baby now? So much of the Clique going on in this match. After the Rumble, Razor has plenty of homophobic rage to dish out on HHH to start. Hunter ducks a charge and pulls the top rope down to send Ramon out to turn the tide as we go to commercial. When we return, Hunter is seen delivering a baseball slide to Ramon. Helmsley wins a suplex battle on the apron and drops Razor’s scrotum on the top rope. Hunter’s idea of working Razor over is whipping him from corner to corner and throwing in a few well-placed punches every now and then. With Ramon laying on the apron, the 1-2-3 Kid comes down and puts that bottle in his mouth. Apparently Kid’s got something disgusting on the nipple because RAZOR SELLS THE BOTTLE! That wakes up Razor as he punches Helmsley down and chases after the Kid to give Hunter the countout victory. (5:59 shown) Even more frustrated now that he’s lost *again*, he tries to give Helmsley the RAZOR’S EDGE. However, he can’t pull that off as Hunter escapes and bails with his gal pal. Razor is just having the worst month ever. *

Here’s the final installment of Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin’ Warroom.

So when did Monday Night Raw get a house band? Vince McMahon brings out the 1996 Royal Rumble winner Shawn Michaels for an interview. Shawn Michaels says that since winning the Royal Rumble is checked off his list and now he just has to wait for WrestleMania 12, he wants to take care of Owen Hart who keeps saying he’s the one who put Shawn Michaels out of wrestling. Shawn gives that credit to the nine guys in Syracuse, not Owen. Since the challenge has been laid out, Owen’s manager Jim Cornette comes down to negotiate a deal. Cornette says Owen already beat him and there’s nothing for him to gain in this scenario. Shawn then makes the mistake of telling Cornette that he would give anything in the world to get his hands on Owen Hart. Anything, you say? Cornette asks for the WWF title shot at WrestleMania 12. Shawn meant ‘anything’ when he said it. He starts telling Cornette all he’s gone through to get where he is, but Corny could care less. Shawn asks the Kliq what they want him to do, they cheer for the match anyways. So there you have it. Shawn v. Owen at In Your House for the WWF title shot at WrestleMania 12. Shawn throws out Cornette over the top rope just for fun.

• WWF World Champion Bret Hart vs. Goldust (w/Marlena)
  

During his entrance, Goldust and Marlena appear on the split-screen to tell us that his IC title win was an Oscar-winning performance. He wants more gold though. See you in the ring, Bret Hart. By the way, neither the WWF nor the IC title are on the line here. Bret looks like he’s got kind of a black eye going on here. Just as the match begins, we take a commercial break. When we come back, Bret escapes a hammerlock by sending Goldust to the floor using his own momentum. More commercials! Back to the match, Bret makes another comeback and kicks Goldust to the floor. Looks like the Gold Man has had enough as he starts to leave with Marlena, but Razor Ramon appears and punches him back into the ring. ANOTHER commercial break. What is this, TNA Impact? After the break, Bret locks in the SHARPSHOOTER for the win. (5:42 shown) I mean, not much to see here and I’m wondering if WCW’s commercial breaks had anything to do with it. ¾*

After the match, Vince asks Bret about the cage match with Diesel at the upcoming In Your House PPV in February. Bret wants Diesel in the cage to end their feud once and for all. He’s tired of hearing Diesel’s excuses and mentioning how the ‘establishment’ wanted him to change his personality to fit the mold of what they think a champion is supposed to be. As far as the Undertaker goes, Bret promises him a rematch after the unfair ending to their last encounter. Bret ends the interview telling us he’s deadly in a cage. AWESOME.

Next week: SUPER MONDAY! Shawn Michaels meets Yokozuna and Diesel takes on the British Bulldog. Plus, we’ll get an update on the condition of Gorilla Monsoon and Billionaire Ted responds to the question: Why are you trying to put the WWF out of business?

And that’s all for now.

Monday Night Raw
January 15, 1996
Newark, DE
Bob Carpenter Center

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Bret Hart (11/19/1995)
Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon (10/22/1995)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (9/25/1995)

TONIGHT: Vince is thinking about the Royal Rumble while Sunny lounges on a pool table in some lingerie. Undertaker might be the next WWF champion this Sunday, but first he’s got to deal with an evil dentist. Also, Goldust has an interview, but can he contain himself this close to the Royal Rumble when he finally gets his hands on Razor Ramon? Dok Hendrix says the WWF IC champ Razor Ramon is on his way to the arena to ensure some man-on-man violence if Goldust tries to go too far with him. Plus, we’ll stop by Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin’ Warroom to see what those goofs are up to this week. Let’s get RAW and find out what happens, folks.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler.

• Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Marty Jannetty
  

Marty starts flipping Owen all around by his arm to start. Owen wants an O’Connor roll, but Jannetty blocks holding onto the top rope and clotheslines Owen down. Owen fights out of a chinlock and delivers a Belly to Belly Suplex to take over. Crossbody out of the corner by Jannetty, but Owen makes him pay with the MOST DEADLY ENZIGURI KICK EVER! Owen tries the SHARPSHOOTER, but Jannetty kicks him away. Hart delivers a gutwrench suplex as we take a break. When we return, Marty mounts a comeback and hits a somersault bulldog out of the corner. Nice! Jannetty clotheslines Owen to the floor to allow Vince to plug the Rumble again. Owen flips out of a suplex back inside and hooks Jannetty up in a lucha-style bridge for the 1-2-3. (5:57 shown) Not bad, but Jannetty was clearly JTTS material here by this point. Come on people! This could have been a GOOD match. *½

YES! Todd Pettingell is hanging out in the Dok Hendrix WWF shrine to hype the Royal Rumble. He talks up the Free For All match this Sunday where the winner gets the #30 spot and the loser gets the #1 spot in the Rumble match. I like that idea and they half way did this most recently with Truth and Miz. Participants announced to be in the Rumble match: Owen Hart, Tatanka, Dory Funk Jr., Yokozuna, Barry Horowitz, Jerry Lawler, British Bulldog, Savio Vega, Doug Gilbert, Jake Roberts, Fatu, Henry O. Godwinn, Marty Jannetty, Kama, Steve Austin, Isaac Yankem DDS, Hakushi, Mr. Bob Backlund, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, King Mabel, 1-2-3 Kid, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, and VADER! Okay, that’s 24 people. The six included that weren’t mentioned: Bob Holly, Takao Omori, Squat Team 1 & 2, Aldo Montoya, and Duke “The Dumpster” Droese.

Other matches for the Royal Rumble include:

Bret Hart vs. Undertaker for the WWF title
Razor Ramon vs. Goldust for the WWF IC title
The Smoking Gunns vs. The Bodydonnas for the WWF tag team titles
Ahmed Johnson vs. Jeff Jarrett

The Rumble match looks weak, but it’s really not a bad overall show on paper.

Elsewhere, Dok Hendrix assures that Razor Ramon will tear Goldust apart – TONIGHT!

Also elsewhere, Sunny plays some pool wearing just lingerie and tells us she likes it RAW! Yes miss, broccoli does taste best that way.

• Million Dollar Champion The Ringmaster Steve Austin (w/Ted DiBiase) vs. Matt Hardy
  

Hardy has a UNC Chapel Hill scheme going on here with his attire. He’s also got HV on the back of his tights. Can’t help but wonder if the “I” is missing from the middle there or if HV actually stands for something. Never know with those CRAZY Hardy Boyz. Great squash here as Austin is just so intense as he destroys Hardy. Austin hits the STUNGUN and locks in the MILLION DOLLAR DREAM for the win at 4:36.

Video montage for the return of Shawn Michaels at the Royal Rumble.

Backstage, Dok Hendrix is still waiting around for Razor Ramon to show up. He REALLY wants to see Goldust get beat up.

• WWF Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns vs. The Spiders
  

We JIP to the crowd chanting for the SPIDERS. No joke! However, it’s not enough to rally a victory as the SIDEWINDER puts away one of these masked men at 1:05 shown. Those wacky Delawareans.

Here’s the latest installment of Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin’ Warroom.

Goldust heads to the ring to meet Vince McMahon for an interview. He flirts a little with Vince before they get started. HILARIOUS! Anyways, Goldust wants Razor Ramon more than anyone could possibly want another human being. Dang! Vince’s disgusted expression throughout the segment is priceless.

Meanwhile, Dok Hendrix is STILL waiting now close to 40 minutes into the program for Razor Ramon to show up. He announces that Razor has just pulled into the parking lot. When Ramon walks through the backdoor, Dok is going to try to get a word with him.

After the break, Razor walks into the arena searching for Goldust. Oh man.

• The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Isaac Yankem DDS
  

Who cares about this match, right? But then all it took was a big gimmick change and a great angle to make this an interesting feud. In case you children didn’t know, Yankem is better known as Kane. Also, Isaac Yankem was brought into the WWF by Jerry Lawler, so you’ve still got that connection happening then too. Lawler tries to psych up Yankem before the match. They do the face to face stand-off, which was MUCH cooler two years later. UT whips Yankem from corner to corner and goes for the TOMBSTONE early, but Yankem slips out over the ropes and to the floor. On the outside, Taker runs Yankem into the post. Meanwhile, Lawler tries to steal what’s left of the urn that was melted down into a gigantic Ice T-style gold necklace by Kama in 1995. Taker scares Lawler away, which leaves Vince all alone. However, that allows Yankem to run UT into the ringpost as we take a commercial break. When we come back, Yankem is working the back while Dok Hendrix pops in to tell us that Goldust wishes to speak again this time about his match planned for next week against Bret Hart. Meanwhile, looks like somebody flubbed the TOMBSTONE reversal finish as they had to cut to Dok Hendrix for no reason to cover it up. UT delivers the TOMBSTONE for real this time for the 1-2-3. (7:32 shown) Just not that interesting and nobody felt Taker was in any danger of losing since he has a title shot that following Sunday. 3/4*

In the back, it’s no surprise that Razor Ramon interrupts the Goldust interview as soon as it starts. Agents and refs can’t slow Razor down from beating up Goldust, but an uppercut to the balls will stop ANYBODY.

That’s enough pool for Sunny. She’s now in the tub enjoying a bubble bath telling us that she can’t believe we did it for almost an hour and how ‘raw’ that is. She’s still talking about watching Monday Night Raw, right?

Let Us Take You Back To Moments Ago: Oh nothing. Just some “gay” bashing and then Razor got his balls bashed by a “gay”.

After Vince hypes the Royal Rumble one last time, we go backstage again to see Razor Ramon attacking Goldust as he tries to leave the building. They fight out into the snow where Ramon finds a snow shovel. Swing and a miss though. Finally, Goldust starts to drive away in his Cadillac as Razor heaves a trash can at his car. That’ll do for now!

Next week: Bret Hart vs. Goldust!

Monday Night Raw
January 8, 1996
Newark, DE
Bob Carpenter Center

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Bret Hart (11/19/1995)
Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon (10/22/1995)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (9/25/1995)

TONIGHT: Shawn Michaels makes a stunning revelation. Is he retiring from wrestling or not? Plus, is Billionaire Ted planning another “Raw rip-off”? It’s not just WCW that they take a stab at here tonight. Oh no! Vince then announces that the Bret Hart/British Bulldog In Your House PPV main event will air tonight for free! Screw you, paying customers! Also, Scheme Gene will be on the program. Okay, now let’s get RAW!

Cool new Raw intro on the THIRD anniversary show, by the way. Oddly enough for a promotion that cares so much about ‘milestones’, I don’t even think this was mentioned on the whole show.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler.

• Jeff Jarrett vs. Hakushi
  

Let Us Take You Back: In Your House, 12/17/95. Jeff Jarrett made his return to the WWF and attacked Ahmed Johnson by beating him with his gold record. Lawler even helped out a little with a steel chair. We’ll be seeing that Jarrett v. Ahmed encounter coming up at the Royal Rumble.

Seems like Hakushi should KILL Jarrett, right? Now that he’s being “Americanized”, it’s just not the same Hakushi and this is basically a JTTS match. He gets in a few of his cool moves like the Springboard Shoulderblock, but Jarrett doesn’t know what to think and bails. He trips up Hakushi from the floor and hits the Bossman Straddle inside before we go to break. When we return, Jarrett is cheating in an ab stretch. Hakushi makes his comeback and tries a Springboard Splash, but Jarrett hits knees and applies the FIGURE-FOUR for the submission victory. (6:15 shown) Never knew that knees to the ribs made the Figure Four so lethal! *½

Jim Ross is filling in for Dok Hendrix tonight for the Royal Rumble Report. Those announced to appear in the Royal Rumble are: Doug Gilbert, Jake Roberts, Jerry Lawler, “Makin’ A Difference” Fatu, Isaac Yankem DDS, Vader (we get a quick montage of him working out), Henry O. Godwinn, Marty Jannetty, Kama, Skip of the Body Donnas, and Takao Omari. No mention of Diesel for some reason. Scheme Gene says he knows of a superstar that was unmentioned that will be in the Royal Rumble. He can’t tell you now, but he can tell you later.

• Ahmed Johnson vs. Jeff Brettler
  

I believe Brettler’s pants were made at the last minute from the ugliest curtains you’ve EVER seen. Ahmed just destroys this idiot with his typical and possibly neck-breaking offense. Ahmed scores the PEARL RIVER PLUNGE for the win at 1:32. Jarrett BUM RUSHES THE SHOW trying to KABONG Ahmed, but misses and scurries away without the guitar before Ahmed can get his hands on him. As a form of retribution, Ahmed breaks the guitar over the ringpost. Feel the excitement!

The Brother Love Show with Ted DiBiase: DiBiase has been searching for a year to crown the new Million Dollar Champion and he has finally found his man in a WWF newcomer named the Ringmaster. Probably not that big of a deal at the time except to the smart kids on the internet who loved his work elsewhere. This Delaware crowd certainly didn’t really respond to him. Looking back, it doesn’t take a brain scientist or a rocket surgeon to realize this is historically BIG for the WWF this being Steve Austin’s WWF TV debut and all. He cuts a very convincing promo as a guy to watch in 1996. Let’s hope his career takes off at some point!

Ref Earl Hebner gets asked why he didn’t stop the match between Bret Hart and the British Bulldog when Bret was bleeding like a stuck pig? Because Bret was still responding to everything Earl asked him and he wanted to win.

• Goldust vs. Aldo Montoya
  

Another JTTS match. Montoya makes a short fiery comeback, but Goldust hits the CURTAIN CALL for the win at 2:17.

At some strange Dok Hendrix shrine with an undisclosed location, Jim Ross introduces the Shawn Michaels press conference that took place earlier today. Due to the crazy head kick Owen Hart gave him back in November, Shawn says the doctors think it would be best if he never compete again in the WWF. Screw medical advice though, because Shawn Michaels is entering himself in the Royal Rumble and he will win the match and then defeat whoever is the WWF champion at WrestleMania 12. Thank you, have a great day. It takes some convincing from Jim Ross, but Scheme Gene fills us in on what superstar he knows will be in the Royal Rumble. It’s Vader. WE ALREADY KNEW THAT, SCHEME GENE.

Diesel, Razor Ramon, and Owen Hart give their thoughts on Shawn Michaels coming back at the Rumble. They all advice against it.

• WWF World Champion Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith (w/Jim Cornette & Diana Smith)
  

Davey Boy Smith makes this match a little more interesting by bringing up his victory over Bret at SummerSlam 1992 to screw with Bret’s head. And with Jim Cornette there to help Davey Boy along with the screwing (pun not intended), this looks to be ALL bad for Bret. What’s even more awesome about this match is that Davey Boy is supposedly wearing the exact same tights he wore at Wembley Stadium in ’92. Diana Smith doesn’t stand with Cornette – she sits at ringside to give concerned looks every now and then much like at SummerSlam. Early on, Bret controls Davey Boy with an armbar. DBS tries to flip out every once and a while, but he goes right back into the hold. Cornette has a Santa Claus tennis racket cover! Davey Boy catches Bret with a kitchen sink and hangs him up in the tree of woe for a mudhole stomping. Hebner gets knocked back by DBS, but he helps Hebner to his feet to avoid any DQ. DBS works a chinlock for a bit. Bret fights out, but then he’s whipped in the corner for his chest-first bump. Back to the chinlock. Bret comes out of that again and launches Davey Boy with a monkey flip. Inverted atomic drop follows a running bulldog by Bret for two. Piledriver scores another nearfall for the Hitman. Russian legsweep sets up the vertical flying elbow drop. Davey Boy stops a superplex and drops Bret on the top rope to send him to the floor. Bret eats the stairs and as a result, the blood begins to flow from his forehead. Davey Boy rams Bret’s back into the ringpost and takes him back inside for more punishment. Piledriver gets two. Hourglass suplex by Bulldog gets another two. Press slam doesn’t even put Bret away. DBS connects with a flying headbutt to Bret’s lower back. Apparently he pulled something in his leg when he came off the ropes because he has to limp over to cover Bret for 1-2-NO! Bret escapes a bow-and-arrow and attempts the SHARPSHOOTER, but DBS turns out of it. Davey Boy knocks Bret out to the floor and then beats him on the apron. Bret counters a suplex back in and hits a bridging German suplex for 1-2-NO! Bret backdrops Davey Boy out to the floor. If his leg wasn’t hurting before, it is now. Bret follows him out with a pescado and unloads. He springs back off the ropes onto Davey Boy, who catches him in mid-air and gives Bret a RUNNING POWERSLAM ON THE FLOOR! Davey Boy pulls back the ringside mats and looks for a suplex, but Bret counters and drops Davey Boy crotch-first on the guardrail. Nice little bit of retribution for what Davey Boy did to Bret’s crotch earlier. Back in the ring, Bret hits a backbreaker for two. Superplex connects, but only earns Bret another nearfall. Bret rolls through Davey’s O’Connor roll attempt for 1-2-NO! Davey Boy runs into a boot in the corner, setting him up for la magistral cradle that gets 1-2-3! Bret retains. (21:12) Another great story from these two that was much more of a ‘blood and guts’ style match than their first classic. ****¼

Before we go, we hear from the Undertaker and Paul Bearer. The Creatures of the Night want the WWF title back, and he plans to deliver.

Here is tonight’s installment of Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin’ Warroom.

Next week: The Undertaker battles Isaac Yankem DDS. Plus, Owen Hart takes on Marty Jannetty.

nWo: Back in Black
Released: May 28, 2002

The Program:

Three men, two companies, and one organization. They set the stage by explaining just what the nWo was supposed to mean to the wrestling business. Hulk says it was about ushering in the new generation of wrestlers (yes because of all those hungry rookies in the nWo) and Hall says what everybody knows to be the truth: making loads of cash.

Hulk Hogan History: Clips are shown of Hulk Hogan giving people legdrops and winning WWF championships in the 1980s. Then in 1994 along with many other ex-WWF superstars, he was “lured” to WCW by big fat contracts. How dare he fall for more money, less dates, and creative control over his own character?

Razor Ramon History: Hall says his dreams were finally coming true with the success he was having in the WWF. They show him beating people to win four IC titles.

Diesel History: Next, Diesel. He defeated Razor for one of those IC belts in 1994. Seven months later he would pin Bob Backlund in eight seconds in MSG to win the WWF world title. The voiceover guy gives Diesel, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, and others (HHH and Yokozuna) credit for revitalizing the WWF. No Bret Hart love back in 2002. Once again, Razor and Diesel were lured to WCW with those big fat contracts. The MSG Incident in May 1996 gets shown. Meant no harm, just wanted to say goodbye to the MSG crowd. Razor says he felt like he sold, but felt like he was doing what was best for his family.

Scott Hall on WCW Nitro 5/27/96: Hall appears coming up through the crowd and makes his famous “You know who I am, but you don’t know why I’m here” speech. He later shows up at the announce table to make a challenge to the boss Eric Bischoff.

Kevin Nash on WCW Nitro 6/10/96: Nash was the big surprise Hall had in store. He wants to know who the opponents Billionaire Ted has waiting for them. So onward to the Great American Bash. Again, they want to know who their opponents are. Bischoff says he’ll let them know the next night on Nitro. They don’t like it and POWERBOMB BISCHOFF THRU THE STAGE! On the Monday Nitro before the Bash at the Beach, the Outsiders try to interrupt the show all night long.

Bash at the Beach 7/7/96: Video montage of the Hostile Takeover match. Once everybody is knocked out, Hogan heads down for the LEGDROP HEARD ROUND THE WORLD on Randy Savage to be revealed as the super-secret third partner and officially turn heel. The whole post-turn promo gets played as well.

nWo on the Rampage: They show their first appearance together on Monday Nitro when they made Big Bubba feel special and then dumped him to the curb. Hogan shoots out a challenge to the Giant for the WCW world title at Hog Wild. Various backstage sneak attacks dished out on WCW during the summer of 1996 get shown.

Hog Wild 8/10/96 Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant: We JIP to Giant hulking up on Hollywood. After Hall and Nash interfere and take Chokeslams, Hogan blasts Giant with Jimmy Hart’s megaphone and pins Giant to win the WCW world title. Afterward, the belt gets spray painted with ‘nWo’.

Spray Paint Truck: It’s just Hulk spray painting nWo on one of the Turner semi-trucks.

The Giant Joins nWo: During an nWo attack on the Four Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom three weeks after losing to Hogan at Hog Wild, Giant comes out to hopefully save the day when he starts giving out Chokeslams to the WCW guys. Not cool, Giant. Savage runs down with a chair, but he winds up taking a Chokeslam and gets the spray paint treatment.

nWo Attacks Ric Flair: A week before the Giant heel turn, Ric Flair got spray painted in his eyes and then on top of his hair. Pretty wild stuff. With everybody down in that main event down, the original nWo threesome pose in the ring while the crowd pelts them with trash.

Bigger Is Better?: They all agree that as they added more friends to the crew, it became watered down. Hall says the plan was to hopefully have their own TV show, so you could either watch WCW or watch the nWo. Over on WWF programming, they were getting bigger and better with top stars like the Rock, Steve Austin, and Triple H by constantly pushing themselves to the limit to be more successful than WCW.

Ric Flair’s Back!: Skip ahead to Ric Flair’s return to the WWF on November 19, 2001. When Stephanie and Shane sold their WWF shares to a consortium to buy WCW, the consortium was RIC FLAIR! WOO! He then reveals himself as a part-owner with Vince McMahon of the WWF.

Injecting Poison: Vince felt with Ric Flair assuming control of the WWF that his company had terminal cancer. He won’t let Ric Flair kill what he created! In his mind, he’s the only one who can kill the WWF. So now he’s bringing in the nWo to do it. Ric Flair tries to do the right thing to keep the nWo out by asking Vince what he needs to do. He wants Ric Flair to sell him back the stock at the price he paid for it so he can have 100% control of the company. If he does that, then Vince will call the whole nWo thing off. Of course, that isn’t what happens and the nWo show up as planned at No Way Out 2002.

nWo Poisons the Federation: In the first promo on the PPV, they change their minds about what their purpose is showing up in the WWF. They don’t want to destroy it, they want to make it better. WHAT. Hulk thanks Vince McMahon for giving them a chance to come back to the WWF. God bless Vince, God bless the people, and God bless America. Afterwards, they try to make “nice” with Stone Cold Steve Austin by offering him a six pack of cold Steveweisers. Austin takes the six-pack and throws it over his shoulder. Then they head over to hang out with the Rock. Hogan gets a picture for his son with the Rock since he’s his favorite wrestler and all. After they snap the picture, Hulk makes a smart comment trying to be funny. Big mistake. Rock makes all the nWo’s old WWF characters look retarded by taking that camera, shining it up real nice, turning it sideways, and shoving it up all their butts. Later in the show, the nWo beat up Austin and wind up costing him the match with the WWF Undisputed champion Chris Jericho. After the match, Austin gets the nWo spray paint treatment. Well, that doesn’t end up being a good idea because Austin always comes back strong to get his revenge. They show a montage of the Austin-Hall feud leading into WrestleMania x8.

nWo Destroys the Rock: Then on the other hand, there’s this feud. After Hogan agrees to the Rock’s challenge, Hulk beats Rock down with a hammer. Once he’s put in an ambulance, the nWo hijack the ambulance so that Hogan can T-BONE a semi-truck into it. Talk about a criminal offense. The level that this feud took just weeks before WrestleMania was ridiculous.

nWo Wreaks Havoc: They basically beat up people who have no chance against them like WWF crew members and Spike Dudley. This leads to the Rock coming back early to fight Scott Hall on Smackdown. The match ends up in a no-contest with a three-on-one nWo beatdown until Stone Cold Steve Austin makes the save to set up the handicap match on the Raw before WrestleMania.

WrestleMania x8 Scott Hall vs. Stone Cold: Fancy video package with Austin overcoming both Hall and Nash to pick up the win.

WrestleMania x8 Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock: Montage detailing a couple of the dramatic nearfalls in this one. Of course, just video clips can’t do this match justice like watching it in full. They do show Hulk dumping Hall and Nash and giving Rock his due after the match, which is important for our next chapter.

nWo: The Future?: This leads to Hogan saving the day for the Rock during his match with Kevin Nash on Smackdown. Just when it looks like Hulkamania had returned to glory, X-Pac shows up with a chair and lays waste to the Hulkster. Hall says it’s going to take longer to take over the WWF than it did with WCW because it’s a “stronger beast”. Okay, now for one of the only true statements Hulk has made all throughout this DVD. In short, the nWo helped wrestling turn that corner it needed in the 1990s and that’s how it’ll be remembered.

Special Features:

• Lex Luger, Sting & Randy Savage vs. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash – (WCW Bash at the Beach 1996)
  

Gene Okerlund stops the entrances and goes over to ask Hall and Nash where their third man is. Hall tells him not to worry about because he knows too much already. WE DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! Nash says they have enough to handle it right now. Luger and Hall start the match. Hall throws the toothpick, Luger pimp slaps him across the face. Hall peppers Lex with rights, but Luger fires back with a STEEL PLATED FLYING FOREARM! Luger gets dumped to the apron and runs Hall down with a clothesline, but he goes right into Nash’s arms where Nash holds him down across the steel turnbuckle connector as Sting flies in and crushes Nash and Luger with a Stinger Splash. Lex is out cold and quickly gets carried out on a stretcher. Immediately you’re thinking, ‘Alright well Lex Luger is going to be the third man. Now it all makes sense as to why he was acting like a pseudo babyface since he’s returned to WCW last September.” Once everything settles, Sting has enough of Hall slapping people around and goes ballistic on him. Savage tags in, but Hall catches him in mid-air as he tries a flying double sledge. Hall draws Sting in as Nash comes in and gives Savage the Snake Eyes. Tag to Nash, he slams Savage down and misses an elbow drop. Sting tags in and takes the knees in the corner followed by the boot choke. He whips Sting into the corner, but Sting floats over and drills Nash with a dropkick. Sunset flip fails and Nash lifts Sting up in a choke lift. Hall comes in and hits Sting with a Fallaway Slam for two. Sting continues to play *your* face in peril for a little while longer. They switch off an ab stretch and cheat like muthatruckas. Hall dumps Sting out for Nash, but Savage knows what’s about to happen and runs over to save him with a chair. Back inside, Nash hits the Side Slam for two. Sting ducks and punches on Nash, he nails Hall, and makes the leaping HOT TAG TO SAVAGE! He nails Hall with a Flying Double Ax Handle and delivers the DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER! Hall gets dumped and takes the Flying Double Ax Handle across the guardrail! Back in, Savage grabs Nash and takes a low blow. Everybody’s down. Here comes Hulk Hogan to save the day! Hall and Nash clear out of the ring in fear as Hogan rips off the shirt…and LEGDROPS Savage! He gives the Outsiders the thumbs up. Several more LEGDROPS follow. Sting and the ref both get tossed out. Hogan covers and Hall counts to three. (16:00) Doesn’t count of course – it’s a no contest. Sting drags out Savage and helps him to the back. The Ocean Center starts emptying their trash in the ring. A crazy fan gets in the ring and DECKED immediately with a forearm by Kevin Nash. Hall helps him stomp the fan out of the ring. Here comes Gene Okerlund for the infamous Hulk Hogan heel turn promo.****

Gene: Hulk Hogan? Excuse me, excuse me. What in the world are you thinking?

Hogan: ‘Mean’ Gene, the first thing you need to do is to tell these people to shut up if you want to hear what I’ve got to say.

Gene: I’ve been with you for so many years. For you to join up with the likes of these two men absolutely makes me sick to my stomach. And I think that these people here, and a lot of other people around the world, have had just about of enough of this man and this man. And you want to put yourself in this group? You’ve gotta be kidding me!

Hogan: Well, the first thing you’ve got to realize, brother, is that this right here is the future of wrestling. You can call this, the New World Order of wrestling, brother. These two men right here came from a great big organization up north and everybody was wondering who the third man was. Well who knows more about that organization than me, brother?

Gene: I’ve been there. I’ve done that. You have made the wrong decision, in my opinion.

Hogan: Well, let me tell you something. I made that organization a monster. I made people rich up there. I made the people that ran that organization rich up there, brother. And when it all came to pass, the name Hulk Hogan, the man Hulk Hogan, got bigger than the whole organization, brother. And then billionaire Ted, amigo, he wanted to talk turkey with Hulk Hogan. Well, billionaire Ted promised me movies, brother. Billionaire Ted promised me millions of dollars and billionaire Ted promised me world caliber matches. And as far as Billionaire Ted, Eric Bischoff, and the whole WCW goes, I’m bored, brother. That’s why these two guys here, the so-called Outsiders, these are the men I want as my friends. They’re the new blood of professional wrestling, brother. And not only are we going to take over the whole wrestling business, with Hulk Hogan, and the new blood, the monsters with me. We will destroy everything in our path, Mean Gene.

Gene: Look at all of this crap in this ring. This is what’s in the future for you, if you want to hang around the likes of this man, Hall, and this man, Nash.

Hulk Hogan: As far as I’m concerned, all of this crap in the ring represents these fans out here. For two years, brother, for two years, I held my head high. I did everything for the charities. I did everything for the kids. And the reception I got when I came out here? You fans can stick it, brother. Because…and if it wasn’t for Hulk Hogan, you people wouldn’t be here. And if it wasn’t for Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff would be still selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis. And if it wasn’t for Hulk Hogan, all of these “Johnny-come-lately’s” that you see out here wrestling wouldn’t be here. I was selling out the world, brother, while they were bumming gas to put in their car to get to high school. So the way it is now, brother, with Hulk Hogan and the new world organization of wrestling, brother, me and the new blood by my side. Whatcha gonna do when the new world order runs wild on you? Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?

And Tony Schiavone closes us out with this: For Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan, for Dusty Rhodes, Gene Okerlund, I don’t know, I’m Tony Schiavone…Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell…we’re out of here…straight to hell.

The third man was rumored to be anybody from Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett, Lex Luger, Sting, and of all people, Mabel. I don’t say this much, but thank God it was Hulk Hogan.

• Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & ??? (w/Ted DiBiase) vs. Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson & Sting – Wargames Cage Match (WCW Fall Brawl 1996)
  

On the Nitro prior to Fall Brawl, the nWo had everyone thinking that Sting had joined their crew by having what we thought was him join in on a backstage Lex Luger beatdown. Wild stuff and this was quite the intriguing scenario leading into Fall Brawl where Sting is supposed to be on WCW’s team to compete in Wargames. Onto the match, Scott Hall and perennial Wargames starter Arn Anderson begins the match. If I know anything about Wargames and I’ve seen a good chunk of them, it should have been Arn ripping into Hall like a monkey on a cupcake for five minutes, but instead the action goes back and forth. More Hall than Arn though. When Arn was in control, Bobby Heenan channels the spirit of David Crockett. WHIP HIM! WHIP LIKE A DOG! I love it. Arn hits the Spinebuster and my hometown of Winston-Salem erupts. Arn grabs a half crab and makes a big mistake by turning his back away from the entrance. The nWo naturally wins the coin toss since they’re the heels. Here comes Kevin Nash. Arn decks him real good, but Hall grabs hold of Arn as Nash catches him with a Big Boot. After two minutes of roughhousing, Lex Luger runs down ahead of the two-minute period and starts kicking butt with clotheslines while Arn regroups. Luger doesn’t need the steel cage – he’s got steel-plated forearms! Once the odds overwhelm Lex, Arn makes the save and hits a DDT on Nash! Hollywood Hogan joins the match. While Hall and Nash are down, Luger and AA enjoy a few moments of double-teaming Hogan in the corner. With the odds against Luger and Arn, it’s only a matter of time before the nWo start dishing out the beating again. Ric Flair evens the teams and dares Hogan to join him alone in the other ring! Hogan gets a shot in, but Flair ducks a big right hand and fires back. Out comes the taped knux! Down goes Hogan! Hall and Nash try to save their leader and both receive low blows. YES. Flair grabs a FIGURE-FOUR on Hogan, Hall takes a bunch of atomic drops from Luger, and AA has Nash being choked down in the corner. AWESOME. Well, I believe Cobra is a little off cue here. The Fake Sting finally arrives and he looks like Sting if you don’t, umm, look at him in the face. But then you watch him WRESTLE and it’s clearly not Sting at all. The crowd starts chanting “We want Sting!” Oh, WCW. The nWo foursome continue to destroy Arn, Lex, and Flair until the REAL Sting sprints down the aisle and into the ring. Tony, Bobby, and Dusty all admit they were wrong as Sting lays the smackdown on the entire nWo while Lex, Arn, and Flair stand back in disbelief. Once Sting is done dishing out the Stinger Splashes to everyone, he gives them the universal “up yours” sign to his team and leaves. Well, it’s over now. The Fake Sting and Hogan concentrate on Luger in one ring while Hall and Nash keep Flair and AA in the other ring. Fake Sting grabs a SCORPION DEATHLOCK while Hogan pulls up on Luger’s chin until he passes out to give the nWo the victory. (18:15) After the cage is lifted up, the nWo continue to destroy Luger in the aisleway as he tries to crawl to find Sting. Quite the dramatic moment for a wrestling match. Flair and AA try to save, but it’s Randy Savage who shows up and takes Hogan back into the ring. As Hogan cowers into the corner, the Giant grabs Savage from behind and turns him around for a CHOKESLAM. Not sure what happened to AA and Flair, but Hall, Nash, and DiBiase join Hogan and Giant in the ring to humiliate Savage some more. Elizabeth, who I don’t believe was really on good terms with Savage in storyline terms, comes down to try and stop the nWo. They’re all unimpressed, so while Liz lays on top of Savage, she gets the nWo letters sprayed on the back of her dress. Hogan gets on the mic and berates both of them for not being able to commit to their wedding vows. OUCH. Giant grabs the spray can and does the honors all over Savage’s back. While the booking was a tad off, the final Wargames match that anyone could call *great* in WCW. And because of the booking, I’m going to have to knock this down a peg from **** to ***½.

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash – No DQ Match (WCW Starrcade 1998)
  

And like all good things, it must come to an end. Both guys take turns showing off how popular they are. By crowd reaction alone, Goldberg wins by a long shot. Strong tie-up finds Nash in the corner. Goldberg manages a back suplex to escape a headlock and Nash rolls out. Back in, Nash pounds Goldberg into the corner and delivers his famous knees and elbows. Goldberg pushes the BOOT CHOKE away and grabs a kneebar, but Nash makes the ropes. Nash gets knocked on his butt and pulls Goldberg into the corner. Goldberg ducks the Big Boot and comes back around to hit Nash with the Spear! He grabs Nash for the Jackhammer, but he uppercuts the balls. Nash gets the Side Slam for two. He follows up with the Bossman Straddle for another nearfall. Short-arm clotheslines gets two. Goldberg counters the suplex with a spinning neckbreaker. Double-arm suplex sets up a reverse kick. Powerslam off the shoulder gets two. Here comes Disco Inferno. Spear to Disco. Bam Bam Bigelow runs in and attacks Goldberg, but he takes a clothesline out to the floor. As Goldberg sets up for a Spear on Nash, Scott Hall dressed in a security shirt jabs a cattle prod in Goldberg’s chest! See ya later, Scott. With Goldberg “stunned”, Nash easily delivers the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB for the 1-2-3. (11:20) The streak is over and Nash wins his first WCW world title. **½

nWo 4 Life: Apocalyptic-style promo to hype the new World order entering the WWF at the No Way Out 2002 PPV.

nWo Poison: Another new World order promo video made up of mostly Hog Wild 1996 clips when Hollywood Hogan won and spray painted ‘nWo’ on the WCW world title.

• The Rock & Steve Austin vs. Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash – (WWF Raw, 3/11/02)
  

This is just three weeks after Rock was literally plowed by a semi-truck while he was injured inside of an ambulance. What resilience! It’s got to be supplements or something. I need to get on some of that. Obviously, Rock is a HOUSE OF FIRE to start. Nash nails him from the apron though and that causes Rock to go down. Nash tags in and hits a Side Slam for two. Snake Eyes follows and now that Rock’s down, Hogan wants a tag. He wears out Rock with a running clothesline and a barrage of punches. Tag to Hall, Rock fights out of the corner and tags Austin. He takes out everybody and hits the Lou Thesz Press on Nash. Spinebuster to Hall and Austin whips him into Nash to set up a staggering double-clothesline. Nash fights back with a Big Boot and tags in Austin’s WrestleMania x8 adversary. Hall hits the Fallaway Slam for two. Back to Nash, Austin stops his silly hotdog moves in the corner with right hands. Knee to the gut stops Austin though. Hogan gets a tag and now we have witnessed WWF history as the two biggest draws ever collide for just a few moments. Hall and Nash go back to doing the work. RAZOR’S EDGE attempt, but Austin backdrops him away and goes for the STONE COLD STUNNER. Hall shoves him off into Nash, but still manages to cut off Austin with a clothesline. HOT TAG TO ROCK! He lays the smackdown on Nash and hits a DDT on Hall. Still being outnumbered, Nash nails Rock with a clothesline. Tag to Hogan! He’s super confident with Rock laid out on his back, but Rock KIPS UP! Nash decks him from behind before he can get any payback on Hogan. Rock attempts another comeback, but this time Hall stops him with a forearm. That brings Austin in as the match breaks down. Hall and Nash double-team Austin on the floor while inside the ring, Hollywood delivers the Big Boot and the LEGDROP to Rock for the 1-2-3! (9:13) After the match, Hall and Nash save Hogan from an Austin beating by giving Austin a beating. Hall with the Stunner! Can’t believe this was a Raw main event. After WrestleMania, it could have never happened afterwards, so it had to happen when it did. It’s a huge star-studded markout affair no matter how you look at it, so the in-ring work can be pretty forgivable. Certainly not quite the atmosphere or the scale of what Rock v. Hogan meant to WrestleMania x8, but there is something really cool about this match. **

Final Thoughts: The documentary is pretty basic. As typical with WCW documentaries made by the WWE, they mention the first three months of the nWo angle and then skip ahead to the end as if there were no time between 1997 and 2000. Half of it was spent on the genesis of the nWo angle, half of the documentary was given to the 2002 run in WWE. The late 1999 nWo aren’t even mentioned, but maybe that’s for the best. If that bugs you, you might want to pass on this DVD. As for the matches, they give us the essential matches that the nWo were involved in. It’s not a challenging DVD where they really THOUGHT about the choices, but it doesn’t really have to be since this is the first WWE-produced DVD made for WCW fans and they didn’t have to worry about repeating anything. If you want all the best stuff from the nWo in place, get this one, but find it cheap! Thumbs up for nWo: Back in Black.

Monday Night Raw
January 1, 1996
Newark, DE
Bob Carpenter Center

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Bret Hart (11/19/1995)
Intercontinental Champion: Razor Ramon (10/22/1995)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (9/25/1995)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler. There’s a band! There’s cheerleaders! It’s everything you would want in a wrestling show. Except if you loved football THIS much, you would be watching one of the bowl games instead of this anyway. Of course in wrestling, you never let logic get in the way of an idea.

• WWF Tag Team Champions The Smokin’ Gunns vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) vs. Razor Ramon & Savio Vega vs. Psycho Sid & 1-2-3 Kid (w/Ted DiBiase) – Raw Bowl
  

It’s essentially a tag team elimination match with an overwhelming football theme filled with as many football puns in the commentary as you could possibly dream up. Everybody is wearing practice jerseys and ref Earl Hebner is in NFL gear – complete with a whistle! The one difference than what you normally see in an elimination match is that each team gets one timeout a piece. Throughout the night, Brother Love is praying for the boys in the Raw Bowl, even though they have already left for the ring. During his entrance, Goldust’s usher boy hands Razor Ramon a box of golden flowers. However, Razor doesn’t exactly appreciate the gift and kicks the guy back towards the dressing room while Goldust watches on and blows Razor kisses from the sidelines. Owen can’t handle Bart Gunn to start, so he quickly tags in Billy to make the SMOKING GUNNS EXPLODE! Glad they finally realized how stupid it was to be able to tag in your opponent’s own partner during these matches. They go through a fast leapfrog-hiptoss sequence and then they tag in Owen and Yoko at the same time. While Owen isn’t too excited, Yoko wants to go. Owen takes a shoulderblock and then tags in Savio. Yoko gives him a back elbow and a good slam before tagging in the Kid. SPINNING HEEL KICK on the Kid gets two. Lawler is of course hanging out with the Raw Bowl girl. He asks her what she thinks of the Cleveland Browns jersey he’s wearing. She says it’s her favorite color. HER FAVORITE COLOR IS BROWN? This chick is weird. Lots of different combinations of teams going at it in the ring with nothing too interesting happening. Savio is getting worked over real good taking us into commercial. When we return, Vega ducks out of the way of a few moves from the Kid before making the HOT TAG TO RAZOR! He wants the Kid anyways, so it works out fine. Fallaway Slam means the RAZOR’S EDGE follows, but Kid calls for a timeout! There’s no timeouts in wrestling. Ramon delivers the RAZOR’S EDGE to the Kid anyway. He covers, but the ref refuses to count and throws a flag when he sees DiBiase up on the apron. While Hebner is distracted with that, Sid runs in and clotheslines Razor down as Kid gets put on top for the 1-2-3 at 9:43 shown. Savio called for the timeout during the count, but the ref didn’t see a thing.

Owen works over Bart for a while until he misses a flying headbutt and makes the HOT TAG TO BILLY! He is a HOUSE OF FIRE now! Kid cools him off with a kick to the back of the head from the apron into a neckbreaker by Owen. Yoko heads up for the BANZAI DROP. As Owen kneels over Billy to keep him down, Bart slides Billy away from the corner and trips up Owen in the process to take the BANZAI DROP by accident. Whoops. Out goes Yoko with a dropkick. Meanwhile, Billy covers Owen for the 1-2-3 at 14:02 shown. Again, Yoko tries to get the timeout during the pinfall and the ref sees nothing.

Sid takes liberties with Billy. He whips Kid in for a dropkick in the corner and as Billy staggers out, Sid gives him a clothesline. Billy fights out of a chinlock, but runs into a big boot and a legdrop for two. He tries another comeback, but Sid grabs him for a Chokeslam. Sid knocks Bart off the apron so he and Kid can double-team Billy. As he holds Billy up, Razor Ramon runs down and shoves the Kid off the top as Billy ducks and Sid takes the flying bodypress by mistake. With Sid on the mat, Billy slides in for the cover and gets the 1-2-3 to give the victory to the Smoking Gunns. (18:31 shown) Silly, yes. Although this was as entertaining as it could possibly be for those of us football fans. **½

Welcome to the Raw Bowl halftime show with Dok Hendrix. Unlike the ones you see on the REAL bowl games, this one will only last two minutes. We first check in with Jim Ross who is outside Diesel’s dressing room. All he has to report is that Diesel says he will kick the King’s can. That was almost alliteration! Hendrix uses the last minute of our the halftime show to build the Royal Rumble in three weeks.

Now for a REAL ratings grabber, they show this…

• Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Henry O. Godwinn – Arkansas Hog Pen Match (IYH #5, 12/17/95)
  

This is the first time we’ve seen Hillbilly Jim on PPV since the ’80s. Am I right? Anyways, he’s the guest referee for this match. The point of this match is that there’s a big hog pen over by the entry way and the only way to win is to toss your opponent into the hog pen. Godwinn chases H to the floor with his slop bucket. Hunter sidesteps the toss – causing people in the front row to get slopped. In the ring, Godwinn takes over with a backdrop and ties Helmsley in the ropes to make him eat some slop. Hmm, looks like guacamole. H breaks loose and levels Godwinn with a clothesline. H follows up with a swinging neckbreaker and a knee drop. Harley Race high knee connects as they go to the floor. Godwinn elbows Hunter back and drives his head into the steps. They head over to the hog pen where Hunter takes a backdrop on the top of the fence. He jumps off for an elbow drop on Godwinn. Back to the ring, Godwinn runs into a boot in the corner and they both collapse. Godwinn counters a monkey flip into a wheelbarrow face slam. Hunter takes the Ray Stevens corner bump and then the Harley Race corner bump puts him on the floor. They brawl back over to the hog pen where Godwinn hits the SLOP DROP. With H up against the hog pen, Godwinn charges and gets flipped into the hog pen to give Hunter the win. (9:37) Well, the wrestling wasn’t so bad and the gimmick never got in the way of the match, so it’s much better than you might expect. Afterwards, Godwinn brings Hunter into the hog pen anyway with a press slam where the Blue Blood gets good and dirty. **½

• Diesel vs. King Mabel
  

Jeff Hardy is one of the jobbers that helps carry King Mabel to the ring. Just saying. Brother Love is STILL praying for the Raw Bowl competitors, by the way. Diesel big boots Mabel and pins him in just eight seconds. He’s making a statement that he wants to retrieve his WWF title in 1996 and no one will stand in his way. Afterwards, Diesel heads out and leaves with the Raw Bowl girl that Lawler had been flirting with all night.

In the back, Brooklyn Brawler comes into the babyface locker room and tries to present the Lombardi trophy to the Smokin’ Gunns. It’s a cheap looking trophy with a picture of Steve Lombardi taped to it. A beatdown ensues followed by a Lipton iced tea bath for the Brawler.

The first eleven Royal Rumble participants are announced. Diesel, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Dory Funk Jr. (WWF – the NEW Generation!), Savio Vega, King Mabel, Bam Bam Bigelow (never actually happens), Barry Horowitz, Yokozuna, the returning Tatanka, and The Man They Call Vader. We get a short video package of Vader working out.

They end the program with our next installment of the “Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin’ Warroom” promos featuring Billionaire Ted, Nacho Man, and the Huckster.

Next week: Bret v. British Bulldog from the In Your House PPV (parental discretion advised), Shawn Michaels press conference, and Hakushi v. Jarrett.

Monday Night Raw
January 30, 1995
Palmetto, FL
Manatee Civic Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Diesel (11/26/1994)
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Jarrett (1/22/1995)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (1/23/1995)
Women’s Champion: Bull Nakano (11/20/1994)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. Vince thinks the tag team titles rematch tonight will be better than the Super Bowl! I wouldn’t let Steve Young hear you say that if I were you, Vince. But if I were Vince, I wouldn’t be doing this right now.

• King Kong Bundy (w/Ted DiBiase) vs. Mabel (w/Oscar) – Over the Top Rope Match
  

You just have to toss the other over the top to win. It’s that simple. Bundy AVALANCHES Mabel to try and finish him off, but then Mabel comes back with an enziguri. He misses an elbow drop though. Bundy goes for the kill and when he can’t rid the ring of Mabel, out comes IRS and Tatanka to help throw Mabel out to give Bundy the win. (3:12) How is that fair? Mo and Lex Luger rush out, but it’s too little too late. I smell a six-man tag! ¼*

Vince interviews Bam Bam Bigelow who is standing by at some undisclosed location. He refuses to apologize to Lawrence Taylor for shoving him down at the Royal Rumble. He was going to, but it just doesn’t feel right. They are both great athletes and LT tried to make Bigelow feel beneath him by laughing at his face after he lost to the 1-2-3 Kid. You don’t laugh at another man and then try to shake his hand. This ends with Bam Bam issuing a challenge to LT! Bigelow says he wants it ‘man-on-man’, but I REALLY hope LT prefers their confrontation to be ‘man-to-man’.

• Hakushi (w/Shinja) vs. Ricky Santana
  

Hakushi just rips Santana a new one in this match. Handspring Moonsault gets the win at 4:01.

• Aldo Montoya vs. David Sierra
  

Vince mentions Diesel v. Owen Hart on the Action Zone that following Sunday morning. Another squash as Montoya finishes off Sierra with a flying bulldog at 1:58.

49ers linebacker Ken Norton Jr. says after winning the Super Bowl, he’s not going to Disney World because he’s going to WrestleMania 11! Umm, it’s not for another two months. You can still have plenty of time to go to Disney World. I mean, you’re a rich man now being on three Super Bowl winning teams. Being able to afford to do both can’t really be the issue here. The point is, TICKETS FOR WRESTLEMANIA ARE ON SALE! BUY THEM!

The King’s Court with Mr. Bob Backlund: Anybody he puts the Crossface Chickenwing on will say, “I quit, Mr. Bob Backlund.” According to Backlund, it’s the official policy for all his matches. Jerry Lawler thinks that applies to everybody but him. Eventually, Backlund notices the little remarks Lawler makes concerning his confidence and procures the Chickenwing on him. Lawler screams he quits REAL quick and then Backlund leaves. Once Backlund is almost through the curtain, Lawler backpedals and says he just meant that he was quitting this interview session. Backlund hears what he said and chases Lawler out of the ring.

• WWF Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns vs. The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly
  

Kid starts off kicking Billy all around. The Gunns try to slow the match down, but Kid and Holly give Bart a double dropkick. Kid telegraphs a backdrop and gets his head slammed off the mat. Double Russian legsweep from the Gunns takes us into the commercial break. When we return, Kid catches the Gunns with a double clothesline and makes the hot tag to Holly. Best Dropkick in the Business on Bart! Holly gets stuck on the wrong side of town, but then there’s a double-KO as both Bart and Holly try a crossbody block. Tag to Kid, he is a HOUSE OF FIRE! He sets up Bart for the Cannonball Splash, but Bart sidesteps the move leaving Kid to crash and burn. Billy gets the tag and just as he goes to stomp the Kid, we sees Kid’s eyes rolling in the back of his head like he is having a seizure or something. Since Kid obviously can’t continue, the ref calls for the bell. (8:36 shown) EMTs and refs come out to help the Kid. Decent formula tag match with a big ending. Not as good as last week though. **½

After another break, Vince comes back and tells us that the 1-2-3 Kid walked out of the ring on his own and he is okay. HBK says the Kid really showed him something tonight and that he’s got a heart the size of Texas.

• Kama vs. Jumbo Beretta
  

This is Papa Shango reborn with an MMA-lite gimmick. He’s the Supreme Fighting Machine. HBK thinks he might be a prospect to be his potential bodyguard. Kama slams this fat guy all around until he makes him submit to a modified STF at 3:40.

Next week: Lex Luger and Men on a Mission vs. IRS, Tatanka, and King Kong Bundy!

Monday Night Raw
January 23, 1995
Palmetto, FL
Manatee Civic Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Diesel (11/26/1994)
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Jarrett (1/22/1995)
World Tag Team Champions: 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly (1/22/1995)
Women’s Champion: Bull Nakano (11/20/1994)

The show begins in a very serious tone as Vince McMahon apologizes to the Lawrence Taylor family for what Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow did at the Royal Rumble. He used his real name so you know Vince is serious! He tells us that Bigelow has been suspended without pay for his actions.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and the 1995 Royal Rumble winner Shawn Michaels, who became the first ever to start and finish the Royal Rumble match. He’s so excited that he’ll have Pamela Anderson by his side at WrestleMania. I guess if there’s a year that you would still want to be around Pam Anderson, 1995 would still be it. Of course by WrestleMania, Pam would be married to Tommy Lee and it’s all downhill from there.

• WWF Tag Team Champions The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly vs. The Smoking Gunns
  

As you can see, the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka in the WWF tag team titles tournament final the previous night at the Royal Rumble in a Cinderella victory. Billy and Holly start the match REAL quick like. Bart tags in and he’s brought over to the corner for a tag to the Kid. He leapfrogs into a powerslam for two. Bart misses a dropkick as the champs work the arm. Blind tag to Billy. When Bart can’t get the sunset flip, Billy drops Holly with a bulldog. Double Press Slam on Holly. They look to finish with a big double-team move, but Holly slips off Bart’s shoulders and shoves Bart into Billy to knock him off the top rope. With Billy perched up top, the Kid and Holly give him a double superplex! Awesome. Commercials! When we return, Billy is still getting worked over. Double dropkick by the champs score a nearfall. Holly runs into a boot in the corner, but Billy can’t make the tag. Once again, Billy creates an opportunity to make the tag, but Kid comes over and dropkicks Bart off the apron. Nevertheless, Billy fights back with a Famouser and gets that HOT TAG TO BART! SIDEWINDER to the Kid, but there’s no cover. The Gunns hit Kid with a double Russian legsweep as we go to break. AND WE’RE BACK! Kid is still in trouble here. Billy dropkicks Kid while he’s up in a suplex for two. At one point, Bart holds up Kid while Billy comes off the ropes, but Holly catches him with a knee from the apron! Meanwhile, Kid elbows Bart back and spin kicks him out of the ring. Tag to Holly, the Best Dropkick in the Business on Billy gets two. Holly comes off the top, but eats a boot on the way down. Bart tags in and lifts Holly up into a body vice as Billy leaps from the top rope to give him an elbow drop for the 1-2-3. (15:20 shown) The Smoking Gunns win their first of three WWF tag team championships. Good back and forth formula tag where there were moments when the Kid and Bob Holly had to pull some dirty tricks on the Gunns when things got bad, but even so still couldn’t get the win. After the match, the Kid and Bob Holly are already asking for a rematch for next week. ***

Seems to me that the Smoking Gunns could really have had some good matches with a team that’s quick, experienced, and crafty. Like, the Heavenly Bodies for example. What do you think?

As the crowd chants for Diesel, Shawn Michaels tells us that he’s looking for a bodyguard. He needs somebody he can trust. I guess somebody that turns on him after seven weeks will work too.

• Irwin R. Schyster (w/Ted DiBiase) vs. Buck Quartermaine
  

Oh man, IRS has stolen the urn now. Is he really concerned about the Undertaker’s taxes? Anyways, Roddy Piper joins us on the telephone to hype his upcoming interview with Shawn Michaels on Encore Plus on February 1. Didn’t hear it mentioned due to the phone call, but there’s two creepy druids at ringside during the whole match. They seem to be following behind IRS and DiBiase backstage as well. Who knows. The WRITE-OFF takes out Quartermaine at 2:20.

King’s Court with Jeff Jarrett: He’s the NEW Intercontinental champion after defeating Razor Ramon the night before at the Royal Rumble. Lawler wants to know what we can expect from the “Ain’t I Great?” tour in 1995? Jarrett says he wants to send out a challenge to Diesel and win the WWF world title on top of the gold he already has. Vince calls Jarrett selfish and thinks Shawn has something to do with this.

• Davey Boy Smith vs. The Black Phantom
  

Vince announces that there will be a rematch for the WWF tag titles next week on Raw. Davey Boy makes sure to tell Shawn Michaels just what he thinks of his Royal Rumble win before the match. U MAD, BRO? That’s essentially Shawn’s response. The Black Phantom is in fact David Heath or who would later be known as Gangrel. Phantom delivers a sweet jumping DDT on DBS. Bulldog comes back with a Hourglass Suplex while never taking his attention off HBK. Meanwhile, Vince and Shawn are debating whether or not Shawn actually won the Royal Rumble. Just face it, Vince. He won. Bulldog was duked. RUNNING POWERSLAM ends this one at 3:12.

In the back, Bam Bam Bigelow is standing by to publicly apologize to the Lawrence Taylor family. Apparently, there’s some technical difficulties that prevent this from happening. Vince says we’ll try again next week.

Next Week: King Kong Bundy vs. Mabel in an ‘over the top rope’ match and the Smokin’ Gunns meet the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly in a rematch for the WWF tag team championship!