WWF Monday Night RAW (February 26, 1996)

Original Airdate: February 26, 1996 (taped February 19)

From Cincinnati, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Jake Roberts v Isaac Yankem: This marks Jake's first ever match on RAW. He throws a jab at Yankem early, but gets caught in a headlock, and uses a hiptoss to escape. Roberts with a kneelift on his way to working a wristlock, but Isaac ducks the short-clothesline, and hits a clothesline of his own to snag control. Yankem with a pair of forearm drops, and he turnbuckle smashes the Snake ahead of a bootchoke. Jake could have really used a change in hairstyle during this period, because the badly thinning long hair look, coupled with his pudgy physique made him look old and tired. Yankem works him over in dull fashion, but Jake blocks the DDS, and finishes with the DDT at 3:32. Best part of the whole match was literally Lawler selling his fear of the snake on commentary. Jake seemed so out of place in this era, especially doing the exact same gimmick he started doing ten years prior. ¼*

And speaking of men out of time, here's an Ultimate Warrior vignette

Last week, Diesel chopped up Undertaker's casket with an axe. Shame, it really tied the room together, man

Diesel v Bob Holly: Diesel throws a knee as Holly goes in for the lockup, and he hammers Holly with rights, but misses an elbow in the corner. That allows Bob to try a ten-punch count, but Diesel shoves him off, and hits a clothesline, followed by a sidewalk slam. Diesel's working slow and methodical here. He uses a straddling ropechoke before taking Bob into the corner to unload on, followed by a cross corner whip. Backdrop, but Holly manages to block, and he throws a dropkick. Bob tries mounting a comeback, but runs into a sloppy Jackknife at 5:30. Really lethargic match. Afterwards, the lights die, and when they come back up, Undertaker is standing in the ring challenging Diesel. Big Daddy Cool is all good with that, but as he walks back to the ring to fight, the lights die a second time, and Undertaker is gone when they come back up. Diesel is frustrated, but Undertaker pops up on the video wall to let him know that if he wants to play mind games he's messing with the master of them. DUD

Next week, Bret Hart faces Hunter Hearst Helmsley, while Shawn Michaels takes on 1-2-3 Kid

Ahmed Johnson v Shinobi: Shinobi is another stupid gimmick Al Snow got saddled with during this period. Despite being billed as a 'martial arts expert,' Shinobi gets tossed over the top with ease at the bell, and drilled with a clothesline on the way back in, as Goldust calls in to shift the heat on his feud with Razor Ramon to Roddy Piper. Apparently, Piper's 'sexy temper tantrums' turn Goldust on, and he wants to 'play Roddy's bagpipe.' Shinobi manages a koppou kick, but botches a springboard attempt, and Ahmed finishes with the Pearl River Plunge at 1:43. It's interesting that they were still building Goldust/Ramon during last weeks live episode, but hastily edited in the phone call stuff to shift it to Goldust/Piper after Ramon gave his notice/failed a drug test in between airings. DUD

Mankind vignette. He's suffering! He's in agony! He has a pet rat!

Call the WWF Store right now and pick up a WrestleMania XII t-shirt for only $18! The list of all the dates and venues of every previous WrestleMania on the back is neat, but a weird touch to add for the twelfth show. More fitting for an anniversary deal, like 'Mania X, or something

Over on Superstars, the tournament is on to crown new WWF Tag Team champions

Vince McMahon holds an in-ring face-to-face segment between WWF Champion Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, ahead of their showdown at WrestleMania. So many things about Shawn's character in 1996 were hard to like, not the least of which is him kissing all the women around ringside on his way to and from the ring, like a gay looking Richard Dawson. That damn cap, too. They throw the word 'respect' around more times in five minutes than a full season of The Sopranos here, until President Roddy Piper comes out to break up the love fest, perhaps getting a bigger pop than either of the two WrestleMania main eventers in the process. He's not happy that people are booing Bret, which may be the first sign that Roddy's getting older now, because clearly his hearing ain't what it used to be. Piper decides to mix things up a bit, offering both men the opportunity to change their signed match to an Iron Man. Well, now we know where the blame for that one goes

Backstage, the camera crew walks in on Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith, both naked in the men’s room. Did we just get the premiere of GTV three years early?

Handicap Match: Yokozuna v Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith: This may be the only time I've ever heard Vince use the word 'stable' to refer to a group. Owen starts for the heels, but gets slammed around, and drilled with a short-clothesline before tagging out. Bulldog tries to match power with Yokozuna, but bounces off of him, and takes a bodyslam. That draws Owen in without a tag, but Yoko is ready with a backdrop, but the breather allows Davey to dodge an avalanche, and Hart comes in with a missile dropkick. They work Yokozuna over, but Owen misses a flying splash, and Yoko starts making a comeback. That draws Vader out, but Jim Cornette tries holding him back since he doesn't want a DQ. Vader ignores him though, and nails Yokozuna with a clothesline for the DQ at 4:05. The heels proceed to beat the big man down, but Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts show up to make the save, setting up their six-man at WrestleMania. Short and energetic, with lots of quick tags. ¾*

Tonight, on Larry Fling Live, special guests Huckster and Nacho Man join Larry in the studio. The jabs start early, as we get a bald joke within the first five seconds. Fling opens the interview by asking how Liz is doing, with both guys responding that she's 'not so great' in unison, and then farting. Fling wants to know why they left the WWF, with Nacho responding that he 'may be old, and slow, and bald,' but that he's ‘only as old as (he) feels,’ and he feels 'pretty old and bald.' Funnier than it reads because the guy is doing it in Randy Savage’s voice, but still, what a cheap shot. Fling notes that they're both 'obviously over the hill,' and wants to know how much longer they can keep up this 'charade' - which is especially funny considering the WWF put the world title on Hulk within mere months of when he decided to return a full six years AFTER this. Not to mention three years before this. Huckster gets offended, and tries to go after Fling with a chair, but Larry is armed with a woman's shoe, and that leaves both Huckster and Nacho cowering. Okay, that was pretty funny. Like, legitimately funny, not ‘funny because of the hypocrisy.’ Billionaire Ted joins in via split screen to calm things down, telling the boys not to 'overexert themselves.' That leads Huckster and Nacho getting into an argument over who will be going over in their match at WrestleMania, with Nacho getting in a huge shot by noting that the only reasons the fans wear Huckster’s 'crap' is because they 'hand it out for free,' and promise people they'll get on TV if they wear it. Well, he's not wrong. Huckster takes offense, and grabs his trusty chair again, leading to a funny sequence where he beats on a parade line of Fling's crew with it, like Hulk did to heels seemingly every week on Nitro around this period. The closing shot of Hulk advancing on Fling himself with the chair, but cowering away at the raised shoe is great. Honestly, every shot they took here at the wrestling personas and ridiculousness of WCW's booking was spot on and very funny, but the endless personal low blows make this uncomfortable to watch

BUExperience: Rough episode this week, with nothing good (or even notable) going on in the ring, and very low gear angle advancement.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	2/26/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	3.1	3.2
Total Wins	10	11
Win Streak		1
Better Show (as of 2/19)	5	14