WWF Monday Night RAW (May 20, 1996)

Original Airdate: May 20, 1996 (taped April 29)

From Sioux City, Iowa; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Steve Austin v Marc Mero: She'd get much better later on, but Sable looked so awkward at this point, with every movement looking forced and lacking confidence. Thank God they gave her that whip to keep her hands busy, otherwise she'd look even more unsure of herself. Feeling out process to start, with Mero generally dominating. He hits a bodypress for two, then armdrags Austin down for an armbar, but Steve whips him into the ropes for a backelbow to escape. Criss cross goes Marc's way with a hiptoss, and another armdrag leads to a dropkick, so Steve bails. Marc preps a dive, but Austin distances himself, and Mero thinks better of it. Back in, Steve manages to drop Mero across the top turnbuckle to turn the tide, and he hits the Wildman with a straddling ropechoke for two. Mero starts slugging at him, so Austin dumps him to the outside to cut that off, but Marc counters a suplex in from the apron with a rollup for two. Steve cuts him off again with a clothesline, and he adds a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Chinlock, but Mero escapes, and tries a sleeper - only for Austin to escape with a stunner... for two. Didn't mean as much as a move at that point, obviously. Steve goes back to his chinlock, but Mero slugs free again, and hits a headscissors takedown. Kneelift follows, and a flying axehandle gets him two. Ten-punch count, but Austin shoves him off, so Mero clobbers him with a clothesline for two. Ted DiBiase trips him up to allow Austin to attack, and a bodyslam sets up something off the top, but we never get to find out what, as Savio Vega runs out to chase Austin off with the strap for the DQ at 10:38. This one just kind of went through the motions, but it was generally watchable. *

Ahmed Johnson is now the international symbol of Kuwait's strength in the face of adversity, as he beat the likes of Aldo Montoya to win the first ever Kuwait Cup

And speaking of tournaments, the King of the Ring starts next week! I love King of the Ring, but the show was never the same for me once they started running the early rounds on TV in 1996

Yesterday in Queens, Ultimate Warrior did a comic book signing, and made a dog smell his finger. This also marks the unofficial WWF debut of Dana Warrior in the background here

1-2-3 Kid v Savio Vega: It's the battle of the Razor Ramon sidekicks here! Kid finally looks more heelish, just in time to jump to WCW. Savio dominates a feeling out process to start, as Ted DiBiase gloats on commentary about all the things he's going to make Vega do as his chauffer. Savio sends Kid over the top with a spinheel kick in the corner, and back in, grounds him in a chinlock. That drags on for a while, until Savio gets distracted by DiBiase twirling around the chauffer's cap, and Kid is able to spinkick him to turn the tide. Kid unloads with a kick combo in the corner, and a corner dropkick puts Vega down - Kid even shooting the fans a crotch chop here! A flying splash gets two, so Kid unloads another kick combo, and hits a standard splash for two. Headvice, but Vega escapes, so Kid hits a sliding legdrop for two. Kid keeps hammering, but Savio starts getting fired up, and he absolutely creams him with a spinkick for two. Man, Kid just RAN into that one with reckless abandon. Vega with a backdrop, so Kid throws his own spinkick to try and keep control, but another flying splash misses. That allows Savio a cradle, and that's enough at 8:43. The victory celebration is cut short, however, as Steve Austin runs in to attack, doing a beat down along with his Corporation brethren. This dragged, and felt like a house show effort, but it wasn't completely horrible. And that was it for Kid in the WWF until he returned as X-Pac in 1998. ¾*

Despite Sunny's best whoring efforts, the Godwinns defeated the Bodydonnas to win the tag title last night at Madison Square Garden. 1996 was such a weird blur of weak teams trading the straps until Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith got them in September

Jim Ross brings Undertaker out to discuss the Casket match set for Sunday's In Your House, but is disappointed to get Paul Bearer instead. Oh, but then here's Undertaker to add his thoughts from the comfort of the inside of a casket, but that makes him easy prey for WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust and Mankind, who run out to lock him in, and beat on the casket with a pipe. I feel like that would just give him a slight headache from all the metal-on-metal banging, but nothing a couple of Tylenol couldn't fix. These heels need to step their game up

Davey Boy Smith v Jake Roberts: Jim Cornette brings Clarence Mason out with him to reveal that Diana has a restraining order against WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, so I guess Shawn can't do guest commentary for the match, sorry. That draws out President Gorilla Monsoon to review the documents, and he announces that, sure, it's a valid restraining order, so if she's so worried about being close to Shawn, she'd better leave the arena now, because he's coming out here anyway. That was such a classic Gorilla Monsoon move. This whole angle is a lot better than I remember it being, it just has the misfortune of coming along at such a low point for the promotion. Jake dominates him to start, looking lazy and broken down in the process. I mean, even throwing a kneelift looks like it's taxing for him, like an old man trying to get out of an armchair. Bulldog takes control, but keeps things really basic, and stop to jaw at Shawn every few seconds. Davey works a leglock, and Jake collapses as Bulldog tries a cross corner whip - ostensibly due to the bad leg, but who knows with him at that point. I mean, I have a feeling Jake was doing a lot of falling down during that period. Davey goes back to the leglock, as Lawler lectures Michaels about his treatment of women, with poor Vince literally caught in the middle as they shout at each other. Jake gets out of the hold and manages a short-clothesline, but Bulldog blocks the DDT by swiping at the leg again, and goes to a half-crab next. This match is so insanely boring, but Jake is doing a tremendous job of selling the leg, at least. He goes for the snake bag while in the hold, so Smith drags him to center ring for another leglock instead. Roberts escapes and starts making another comeback, but Bulldog clips the leg again to cut it off, and goes back to work on it. Oh just get to the fooking finish, already! Another half-crab drags on, but Davey lets off to go yell at Shawn again, and Roberts jumps him. The leg gives out on him though, and Bulldog hammers away, just as Diana shows up back at ringside. She heads right over to Michaels, running her mouth at him, and throwing a drink in his face. I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure a restraining order wouldn't hold up if the complainant throws things at the subject. On national TV, no less. So Shawn responds by going after her, but Davey sees this, and attacks on the outside, and we're out of time - the show going off the air with no finish shown at the 11:48 mark. Really? We couldn't even get the finish on a TAPED episode? Like, couldn't they slot the commercial break in during one of the endless leglocks? Let’s not mince words, this sucked. DUD

BUExperience: A brutally weak episode, with nothing going on in the ring, and a very relaxed build for the pay per view. This one deserved to kill their six week ratings winning streak.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	5/20/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.3	3.1
Total Wins	16	15
Win Streak		1
Better Show (as of 5/13)	8	21