WWF Monday Night RAW (October 28, 1996)

Original Airdate: October 28, 1996 (taped October 21)

From Fort Wayne, Indiana; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Over the weekend on Superstars, Steve Austin shattered Brian Pillman's ankle with a chair, thus introducing the world to the concept of 'Pillmanizing'

Jesse James v Salvatore Sincere: We gets clips of Jesse from his military days, to make sure you understand that you're supposed to cheer him now. Sincere grabs a headlock at the bell, but Jesse forces a criss cross, and Sincere takes a spill over the top on a hiptoss battle. Though, not via hiptoss, since that would be asking too much, obviously. Sincere snaps Jesse's throat across the top rope on the way back in, but James forces another criss cross, and lands a bodypress for two. He pounds Sincere on the ropes before knocking him back to the outside, clearing the ring to give him some proper dancing time space. Dropkick on the way back in, but Sincere dodges, and hits a bodyslam. He goes upstairs, but Jesse slams him off the top, and unloads in the corner. Cross corner whip hits, followed by a clothesline in, but a second one misses. That allows Sincere to grab a full-nelson, but James quickly counters to a pumphandle-slam at 4:10. This was fine, but felt like a house show match. * ¼

Dok Hendrix is ready to talk Survivor Series, but an impatient Steve Austin interrupts, wanting Bret Hart right here, right now. Bret's busy playing with pussy up in Calgary, though, so Steve is left to terrorize some poor makeup lady instead. They did a great job with this angle, allowing Austin to be more aggressive, and break format conventions in order to really make him seem like something unique, and worth taking notice of

Crush v Aldo Montoya: Jim Ross is out for commentary here. Marc Mero calls in during the entrances, 'pissed off' about what happened last week, and promising to do something about it at Survivor Series. More shades of Attitude here, with Mero actually saying 'pissed off,' as opposed to some more PG version of expressing his anger. Aldo gets fired up at the bell, but Crush quickly fights him off, and throws a clothesline. Crush unloads in the corner, and a cross corner whip rattles the ring - before Crush himself gets rattled by 'jailbird' chants. He stays focused with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, followed by a press-drop all the way down to the outside. That's a pretty wild bump for this nothing match. Back in, Aldo dominates a few criss crosses, but Crush fights off a DDT, and finishes with the Heart Punch at 2:38. It's so weird watching this version of Crush, right after covering his babyface debut vignettes from Superstars in 1992. Afterwards, Crush wants to go after some kid in the crowd for taunting him, but building security stands in his way, so Crush pulls him over the barricade, and beats the security guy down. That's actually a neat touch, as it came off as totally unexpected. It would have been better had they dressed him like some of the ACTUAL building security guys, but whatever. You can actually see the real security guy (in a red jacket) a few steps behind the plant, watching. *

Last week, Mr. Perfect and Hunter Hearst Helmsley cheated Marc Mero out of the Intercontinental Title

Steve Austin is backstage, and pissy about having to wait around for his segment, since he flew in from Texas just for this shit. 'Is this a rib?' he shouts, before going after some poor production guy off camera

In pre-taped Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament action, Mr. Perfect goes over Phineas Godwinn via a distraction finish. Clearly, whatever intern they had booking this graduated to booking RAW twenty years later

Next week, Brian Pillman will be here via satellite with an update on his condition

Steve Austin is still ranting, now upset that Bret gets to appear via satellite tonight, and Pillman next week, yet he had to schlep all the way from Texas. Yeah, man has a point. That segues to clips of the segment on Superstars over the weekend, where Brian was interviewing Steve in the ring, but made the mistake of being a bit too kindly to Bret, and getting Pillmanized. Back to Austin in the studio, turning his vitriol on Vince McMahon next ('a greedy, selfish promoter' who won't do anything to stop him because he wants to 'fill his pocket'), and then promising to show up at Pillman's house next week to finish the job. Cue Bret via satellite from Calgary (complete with his kids on his lap, drawing a scoff from Stone Cold), and he thinks Austin is just a hyena, but will have more to say later

Over the weekend on Superstars, Billy Gunn walked out on Bart Gunn during a match, breaking up the Smoking Gunns after months of teasing

Billy Gunn v Freddie Joe Floyd: Boy, the parade of stars just continues here, doesn't it? Sunny (in red leather jumpsuit) shows up for guest commentary, and poor Lawler looks like he's about to explode right there on the spot. Floyd dominates a criss cross with a shoulderblock and a dropkick into an armdrag into an armbar, but Billy escapes with a bulldog. Clothesline sends Freddie over the top, as Sunny crushes on him, and Bart shows up. That sends Billy running, but Bart catches up with him at ringside, and they have a shouting match, until officials are able to remove Bart from ringside. Even as a mark kid, I had no interest in a Smoking Gunns feud. The distraction allows Floyd to take control, and a jumping backelbow leads to a leg lariat for two. Charge, but Billy is ready with a hotshot, and a flying legdrop finishes at 3:04. Looks like he came down right on Floyd's arm with his heel there, ouch. ½*

Okay, enough of that wrestling guff. Back to the real point of this show, with Austin and Hart's face-to-face. Austin's facial expressions here are just incredible, getting over a range of emotions with little more than a shift in his eyebrows. His antics coax Bret into saying 'ass,' and the back-and-forth here is just tremendous, with Austin at his acerbic best. He caps it off by violently chucking a production guy into a ladder in lieu of getting his hands on Bret, and this segment alone is already enough to make me want to go back in time and order Survivor Series again

WWF Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Davey Boy Smith: Owen Hart joins us for commentary. Shawn suddenly seems completed neutered - not only by Bret's return, but by the fact that Hart is matched up against the most interesting heel in maybe all of wrestling at that point, while he's still dancing around with Jose Lothario. Shawn oversells a shoulderblock by flying across the ring during the opening criss cross, so you know he's on tonight. Another criss cross sees Shawn get the better of the Bulldog, and a rana leads to a clothesline that sends Davey over the top, as Owen gets some funny jabs in at Michaels from commentary. Bulldog stalls on the outside for a bit, as we get word from backstage that Austin is still rampaging, and the police have been called in. Shawn with a leg-feed enzuigiri, and he takes Davey down in a headlock. Smith escapes with a hiptoss, and he press-drops Michaels across the top rope - drawing a pretty strong babyface reaction, actually. Corner whip sends Shawn flipping over the top, and Bulldog follows to press him back inside for a chinlock. Shawn fights free, but runs into a knee as he charges, and Smith covers for two. Matslam follows, as does a hanging vertical suplex, setting up a legdrop for two, and it's back to the chinlock. Michaels escapes, and tries a crucifix, but Davey counters with a Samoan drop for two - again getting quite a few cheers in the process. He works a headlock, but Shawn fights free, and manages a sunset cradle for two, before getting drilled with a clothesline for two. Nice bit there, where Shawn set it up like he was going for the crucifix again, then changed the game on Bulldog to avoid the counter. Bulldog eats boot on a corner charge, so he tries another press-slam to keep control, but Michaels slips free, and throws a jumping forearm. It's comeback time, but Bulldog reverses a cross corner whip, and goes for the Running Powerslam - only for Michaels to shove him into the corner to block. Bodyslam sets up a flying elbowdrop from the champion, so Owen grabs the leg to prevent the Superkick, and that's a DQ at 12:16. He and Davey launch a beat down, but of course Sycho Sid runs in for the save, mirroring Shawn's save last week. They clean house, but collide in the process, and nearly come to blows before finally cooling off when Bulldog and Owen challenge them to a match in two weeks. Why would the tag champs challenge THEM to a match? Especially Owen Hart, who would NEVER be that dumb. Pretty much a CliffsNotes version of their King of the Ring match here. ** ¾

Backstage, the police have arrived to kick Austin out of the building, and that's where we leave off for this week

BUExperience: Most of the show was skippable, but there’s a solid main event, and a lot of truly awesome stuff with Steve Austin peppered in throughout the hour that make this show a whole lot better than the card appears on paper.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	10/28/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.0	3.6
Total Wins	17	35
Win Streak		18
Better Show (as of 10/21)	15	34