WWF Monday Night RAW (April 8, 1996)

Original Airdate: April 8, 1996 (taped April 1)

From San Bernardino, California; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect

Yokozuna v Vader: Slugfest to start, dominated by Yokozuna into a Samoan drop, but he's so fat and slow that Vader is able to recover with a clothesline before Yoko can follow-up. Vader goes to work in the corner, but gets dropped with a uranage, and Yokozuna hits a legdrop. Yoko unloads in the corner, but misses an avalanche, and Vader delivers a Vaderbomb to the leg - apparently breaking it (kayfabe), so the referee stops the match at 3:44. But the sound of the bell doesn't stop Vader and Jim Cornette, with the big man delivering another two Vaderbombs to the leg before finally shoving Yokozuna out of the ring, where he's left down like a beached whale. Normally, this would be cause for a stretcher, but Yoko's so fuckin' big that they have to bring a FORKLIFT out to get his ass off the floor! I remember this from the time, and it was just freaking awesome, and made Vader look like a monster. The match itself was total crap though, with Yoko looking badly winded within the first ten seconds, and barely able to work. This was all about the angle anyway, though. DUD

Vince McMahon brings Ultimate Warrior out for an in-ring interview, and it's the same Warrior ramblings we all remember from the old days. That goes on for a few minutes, until WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust decides to make a cameo appearance. He doesn't waste time weirding Warrior out by asking to ride on his back and "fly off into the sunset," but Warrior is quick to note that he doesn't "give a shit" what Goldust is into. That only spurs Goldust on though, so Warrior offers to give him a "full-length action packed adventure" in the form of an ass kicking. Which he does. This was the same angle Goldust has been doing all year, now on its third opponent. And it is perhaps worth noting that every person to work this angle with him ended up leaving the promotion shortly after. Not necessarily related, but still interesting to note. And, hey, it's getting over with the crowd every time, so you can't blame them for going back to the well. This was an interesting segment, as it started with the usual cartoonish Warrior rantings, but once he got face-to-face with Goldust, he became a lot more three dimensional, and even peppered his comments with words like 'shit' and 'ass,' which were hardly commonplace at this point in time

Backstage, they're still wheeling Yokozuna around on that forklift, when Vader shows up with a chair to finish the job - beating the leg with the weapon until officials are able to intervene. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again

Hunter Hearst Helmsley v Duke Droese: Duke charges in to blitz him, hitting a backdrop and a bodyslam before clotheslining Helmsley over the top. Duke follows to send him into the steps out there, and a cross corner whip on the way back in flips Hunter into a press-slam. He tries a charge from there, but HHH ducks, and Droese takes a spill over the top. There's some dumb security guard who has decided to do her job by standing right at the rail, blocking the view of multiple people just to be a bitch, I guess. Hunter follows out to repay Duke for earlier with a whip into the steps, as Marc Mero appears on split screen to lob threats at Helmsley. HHH with a flying kneedrop for two on the way back in, but Duke counters the Pedigree with a catapult into the turnbuckles, and he adds an inverted atomic drop. Standard atomic drop follows, and a rotating spinebuster leads to a powerslam. Trash Compactor time, but Hunter counters to the Pedigree for the pin at 6:06. Energetic match here. * ½

Last week, Mankind gave Undertaker one of the more one-sided beatings that the character has ever endured. He'd been beaten down before, sure, but it almost always ended in him making a comeback at the end, and this was one of the few times it didn't, which is part of what made it so memorable

Backstage, Yokozuna is still on his great fork journey, finally making it into the ambulance this time

Arm Wrestling Match: Davey Boy Smith v Ahmed Johnson: Vince McMahon hosts this in-ring segment, and they get right down to it, but Owen Hart objects to all the 'grease and slime' Ahmed is covered in (baby oil), and demands he wipe it off. Johnson obliges, using the referee's shirt as a rag in a funny bit. Okay so down to business, but now Owen objects that Ahmed is positioned to closely, which would give him an unfair leverage advantage. Johnson nearly chucks his chair at Owen, but Vince manages to cool them down, and they lock hands - only for Hart to object AGAIN at the last moment! The referee has had enough, and decides to eject him, which is terrible. The dude's just trying to make sure his brother-in-law gets a fair shake! At least Perfect is quick to note what a travesty this is. Okay, so with Owen gone, they get down to the contest, and actually manage to get it started this time. Davey initially controls, but Johnson starts forcing it back, and manages to slam the arm down for the win. Big pop for that, but Bulldog doesn't appreciate getting embarrassed in front of his wife (in the crowd), and decides to attack with a chair, then whips Johnson into the table. No breakage, so Davey tries again, but that damn table is being stubborn as hell. This was a pretty cool segment, between Owen's bullshit, and Bulldog's beat down

Next week, Goldust defends the Intercontinental title against Savio Vega

WWF Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Jerry Lawler: Diesel sits in at the commentary table for this one, sporting a Shawn Michaels t-shirt, and even sings along with Michaels' theme song. Shawn acting like a 70s game show host is still a thing this week. Shawn outwits Jerry to dominate the early going, as Diesel does a great job of getting the In Your House match (and himself) over on commentary. It's really too bad he had to go just as he was getting really interesting, but honestly, I'm not sure how much more he could have done as a heel if he'd stuck around anyway. Sure, the Shawn feud could have went on for a little longer, but beyond that there weren't really many top babyfaces he could have been matched up with on that roster. Lawler pulls something out of his tights and suckers Shawn into a test-of-strength to bash him with it, and the challenger chokes HBK down now that he has control. Lawler works him over, and it's Piledriver time, but it only gets two. Undeterred, King decides to go upstairs with a flying axehandle, but Michaels blocks with a gutpunch, and he starts making a comeback. Jumping forearm, bodyslam, flying elbowdrop - you know the drill. Superkick time, but Shawn gets distracted jawing with Diesel, allowing Lawler to recover. He grabs his weapon again for a sneak attack, but Shawn has eyes in the back of his head, and the Superkick retains at 9:41. This was entertaining, though not great wrestling. And then afterwards, Shawn wants a piece of Diesel, but he ends up getting more than he bargained for when Mr. Perfect steps in as well, allowing Diesel to clobber Michaels with a big boot, and then the title belt! And if you’ve ever wondered why there were so many rumors about the Michaels/McMahon relationship back in the day, just take a look at Vince's face as he's chewing Perfect out for daring to help injure his beloved Boy Toy. ¼*

BUExperience: Good episode this week, which saw RAW pulling in the highest rating of either show since the competition began back in September, including non-competitive weeks.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	4/8/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	4.7	n/a
Total Wins	11	14
Win Streak	1
Better Show (as of 4/8)	7	17