WWF Monday Night RAW (August 5, 1996)

Original Airdate: August 5, 1996 (taped July 22)

From Seattle, Washington; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jim Ross

Jerry Lawler v Aldo Montoya: Aldo beat the King on Superstars to set this up, and the idea is that Montoya is Jake Roberts' protégé, so it fits in with their feud. Unfortunately for the live crowd, that win on Superstars aired after this show was taped, so they have none of that back-story. Thankfully, this involves Jerry Lawler, who gets it over for them with the aid of the mic before the bell. Lawler's still ranting as the bell sounds, and he drops the mic, allowing him a sneak attack when Aldo goes to pick it up. What a dummy. King hits a vertical suplex, but telegraphs a backdrop, and eats an uppercut. That allows Montoya to unload in the corner, and a cross corner whip sets up a dropkick for two. Aldo goes up for a flying punch, but Lawler blocks the DDT, and hides behind the referee. Montoya pulls him away and hits a backdrop, followed by a ten-punch count in the corner, and the poor King is on dream street. Aldo tries another backdrop, but this time Jerry is able to stop short, and plant him with the Piledriver! Not satisfied, the King decides to give him another one, and Montoya is done at 2:34. Quick, basic, and to the point, but lots of energy. Afterwards, Lawler pours Jim Beam down Aldo's throat as a taunt to Jake Roberts. So many food and beverage themed assaults at this taping. The ring is still stained with the birthday cake from 'two weeks ago,' and now the booze. *

The Bodydonnas v The New Rockers: Hillbilly Jim does guest commentary for this one, as they try to give the impression that the tag scene is anything less than death at this point. Interesting start, as the Rockers hide by the entrance set, and jump the Bodydonnas as they come through the curtain. They leave Skip down over there and take Zip into the ring to double team, but Zip manages a small package to fight off a tandem backdrop, and Skip is back to help. The referee settles things down before Zip can get out of there though, and the Rockers double team again in their corner, as we get a split screen with Faarooq and Sunny to hype up his debut for next week. Zip manages to tag, and a reversal sequence between Skip and Marty ends in Skip hitting a rana. Tag to Leif Cassidy, but Skip clobbers him with a clothesline, and tags to Zip for a few combos. Zip tries to keep it going with an atomic drop, but Cassidy makes a blind tag, and Jannetty sneaks in. Zip fights him off for the tag back to Skip, Skip diving in with a flying axehandle, and grabbing an armbar. Skip with a corner whip, but a charge misses, and Jannetty dives off the middle with a flying somersault cutter. We get yet another split screen of the Godwinns and the Smoking Gunns watching from the back, as Skip hits Jannetty with a flying splash for two. Give them credit, at least they're trying to make the tag scene look hot. I appreciate the effort. The Rockers double team to put Skip down on the outside, and Cassidy drops him with a swinging neckbreaker out there to turn the tide. Back in, the Rockers cut the ring in half, as we get ANOTHER split screen with President Gorilla Monsoon reinstating the mystery man that Clarence Mason has been petitioning for over the last two weeks. That would be Crush, though we don't know that yet. And enough with the split screens already! They're working really hard here, let them have their moment. Skip finally gets the hot tag to Zip, and Roseanne Barr the door! Cassidy makes it to the top rope to try a dive on Zip, but Skip falls into the ropes to crotch him, and brings him down with a rana off the top! That allows Zip to get to the top for a dive, but WWF Tag Team Champions Smoking Gunns run in to shove him off, causing a DQ at 10:26. They help the Rockers beat the Bodydonnas down after the bell, but the Godwinns run in to make the save, setting up the four corners match for SummerSlam. Fun tag match actually, with lots of energy and quick tags. It could have used a better finish, but TV is supposed to be used to set up pay per view, and so it wasn't a waste. ** ¾

Kevin Kelly gets a sit-down interview with WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, meeting him on a park bench to talk SummerSlam. The only way they could have made Shawn seem less exciting here is if they'd shown him quietly feeding ducks while sitting on that bench. The WWF during this period was really great at building up guys, and then completely neutering them once they actually got to the top

Last Friday, the WWF held a live event at the brand new Molson Centre in Montreal. Kind of prophetic to show Shawn Michaels dancing around the building, right after an interview where he talks about how Bret Hart is the peanut butter to his jelly, and how much he wants him back in the WWF

#1 Contender's 11-Man Battle Royal: Winner faces the WWF Champion the night after SummerSlam. We've got: WWF Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson, Goldust, Undertaker, Mankind, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Savio Vega, Justin Bradshaw, Steve Austin, Sycho Sid, and Marc Mero. Eleven is such a random number for a battle royal. They note that Ahmed is out here against his doctors orders, due to suffering a ruptured kidney at the hands of Faarooq two weeks ago (which was earlier in this taping). I'm guessing he felt hurt, but hadn't actually been checked out by a doctor to learn the extent of it when they decided to go ahead and tape him here. Either way, what a tough SOB. And, of course, Owen is a super brave guy as well, going out there with a cast covered arm, the trooper. Undertaker is all kinds of fired up, actually sprinting down the aisle, and going right after Mankind. You didn't see him do THAT too often. Or, honestly ever, before this. And they both go over the top almost immediately, and then brawl back to the dressing rooms. You'd think this would be the perfect type of match to stick in all the split screens their hearts desire, but nope. Sid is still majorly over here, much more so than the guy he came in to replace, it's worth noting. Funny spot, as Vega eliminates himself while charging Goldust with a cross corner spinheel kick, the idiot. We settle into Johnson, Goldust, Sid, and Austin as the final four, but Mankind and Undertaker suddenly show up again - briefly passing through the ring as they brawl all around the building. This whole feud was such a game changer for Undertaker. Now that we're down to the final four, everyone starts taking their sweet ass time, plodding around with no one getting eliminated for an extended period. Like, the first seven guys all took a hike within the first six or seven minutes, and now it's been another four or five minutes with no one going out. Sid powerbombs Goldust as we get a split screen of Undertaker and Mankind still going at it backstage, and Sycho gives Austin one as well. And then puts him in a reverse chinlock in a fucking battle royal. They're obviously stretching this out well past its expiration date to eat up enough time to fill the rest of the hour, because no one is getting tossed. And no one is even TRYING to toss anyone, really. It's basically turned into a fatal four-way. Finally, Owen and Bulldog come back out and distract Sid to allow Austin to toss him - nearly ten minutes since the last guy went out. Steve and Goldust decide to work together on Ahmed, but Goldust quickly turns on him like a moron. Their infighting allows Ahmed to recover, and he and Goldust end up working together to get Steve out. Well, don't feel bad for him, he'd have better luck in future battle royals. Ahmed looks all kinds of messed up here as he goes after Goldust, and I don't know how much of that is selling, and how much is, you know, those ruptured kidneys. Goldust takes over and hits a piledriver, but takes too much time gloating, and Ahmed springs to life with a chinlock. The way he dove onto him with it was pretty cool, though. Weird finish, as Ahmed just kind of hits a shoulderblock, and Goldust goes over the top at 19:51, with Johnson nearly following him before managing to grab the ropes to save himself. Knowing Ahmed, I'm guessing that was a botch. And that makes Ahmed the number one contender (generating all sorts of rumors that Vader would win the title at SummerSlam), though Johnson didn't end up collecting on that title shot, and in fact wouldn't even wrestle again until almost the end of the year, by which point he'd cooled off tremendously. Shame, because he was really over and probably would have been a big star, though he realistically only would have went so far anyway if he didn't improve a lot in the ring. Afterwards, McMahon comes in to interview the winner, and he's in the process of cutting a fun promo when Faarooq runs in to brawl with him to end the show. Quick question: why do the announcers immediately refer to it as a 'street fight' whenever these two go at it, though it's no different than the scuffles any other wrestlers have? Just because they're black doesn't mean they live on the streets, guys. ¼*

BUExperience: The battle royal overstays its welcome, but a pretty fun episode overall. Felt like there was a lot going on, which is always a good thing.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	8/5/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.8	3.0
Total Wins	17	25
Win Streak		8
Better Show (as of 7/29)	10	30