WWF Monday Night RAW (December 16, 1996)

Original Airdate: December 16, 1996

From Tampa, Florida; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler

Bret Hart storms out right away to complain about what happened at In Your House, and though you wouldn't know it at the time, you can see him planting all the seeds for where the character was going in 1997 here. And it's a very heelish promo, though he does a good job of walking the line without crossing into full heel

Steve Austin v Vader: Bret decides to sit in on commentary for this one, and of course, Austin is calling him out right away. But Bret wants to mind his own business. Vader tries to get Austin cornered early, but Steve keeps slipping away. Vader finally gets him in the corner to unload on, as Vince makes excuses for Shawn Michaels' behavior at In Your House, making Bret come off like a crybaby again, even though he's not wrong. Vader with a short-clothesline, but Steve out moves him on a criss cross, and uses a Thesz-press to put Vader down for mounted punches. Steve just goes to town on him until Vader falls out of the ring, and already you can hear the crowd ready to get behind Austin as a top babyface. To the outside, Vader manages a whip into the steps, and he dumps Austin into the crowd. Vader follows to whack Steve with a chair out there, and back inside, Vader drills him with a shoulderblock. Vaderbomb, but Steve pops up with a lowblow to block, and he unloads in the corner. Vader fights him off with a backdrop over the top, and Bret sees his opening - attacking Steve with the Sharpshooter on the floor for the DQ at 6:35. It's kind of a shame that Vader wasn't at that level anymore by 1998/99, because this was a pretty fun brawl, and they probably could have really torn it up with a proper pay per view match later. **

Last night at In Your House, Ahmed Johnson confronted Faarooq. From a safe distance

The Godwinns v 'Diesel' and 'Razor Ramon': Phineas Godwinn starts with Razor, and manages to win the opening exchange with a (rather violent) clothesline over the top. Back in, Phineas works a standing side-headlock, but Razor wants to criss cross, so Phineas shoulderblocks him down. Bodyslam leads to a tag to Henry Godwinn, and Henry slams Phineas onto Razor as they switch off. Henry works a wristlock, but Razor goes to the eyes, and passes to Diesel. Hearing Vince put him over like it's still Kevin Nash is so fucking weird. At least at first the other announcers were all calling JR on the imposters, now they're just acting like they're the original characters. Diesel with a cross corner clothesline, but Henry starts to fight him off, so Razor takes a cheap shot from the apron. They work Henry over, but he manages to fight Diesel off long enough to make the hot tag to Phineas - Roseanne Barr the door. Henry hits Razor with the Slop Drop, but the referee is out of position, and Diesel is able to sneak in with a Jackknife on Phineas at 6:00. That's the second RAW job Phineas has done for these imposters in December alone, ouch. Glenn Jacobs and Rick Bognar actually had some chemistry as a team, but this cosplay gimmick is death. *

WWF Champion Sycho Sid is feeling pretty good about himself considering he now holds pinfall victories over both Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart in two consecutive pay per views. All things considered, that's incredibly impressive

WWF Full Metal ad

Shawn Michaels is ready to face Sid at the Royal Rumble, and doesn't have time to cry and whine about stuff, like that Bret Hart guy. He also calls Bret out for wearing wrestling tights while doing commentary earlier, and THANK YOU

Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon v TL Hopper and Dr. X: LaFon pounds Dr. X to start, and it's over to Furnas to power him around. Hopper tags in, but Furnas launches him with an overhead suplex, and he works a wristlock. Hopper escapes, so Doug uses an awkward looking spinebuster, and it's back to LaFon for a monkeyflip, but Hopper counters with a flapjack. Tag to Dr. X with a gutwrench powerbomb for two, but LaFon reverses a suplex, and gets the tag off to Furnas - Roseanne Barr the door. Furnas with a powerslam on Hopper for two, and LaFon tries a powerbomb, but Dr. X saves. That allows Hopper to try a rollup, but LaFon counters with a cobra suplex at 3:30. Furnas and LaFon probably should have been stars, but they just didn't connect with the audience at all, and their matches almost always fell flat. They're a month removed from their debut, and already the crowd is just completely disinterested in them here. ½*

Billy Gunn has a black hat now, so please boo him

Royal Rumble ad. I still don't get who 'Adam and George' were supposed to be, but they're super annoying

It's time for the Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament finals, live in the ring. So it's Sable versus Jerry Lawler, and Sable as Marc Mero in her corner, while the King has WWF Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley in his. And poor Todd Pettengill doesn't even get the hosting gig after weeks of doing it, with Ross standing in. So, anyway, Sable wins, and they treat it like she's just won the world title, or something. And the crowd actually cheers it like she did, too. So Furnas and LaFon don't even draw polite applause, but you pop for the Karate Fighters shit? You assholes deserved 1996. So Lawler accuses Sable of cheating, drawing Mero's ire, but Jerry's got HHH with him, and it's two on one. They beat Marc down, so Goldust runs out to make the save (accidentally clipping Sable on his way into the ring), and Marc chases HHH off into the crowd. Lawler: "what's the big idea, freak?" So Lawler chews Goldust out for interfering in his important Karate Fighters business, and he veers into going off about how Goldust should be happy that HHH has made a pass at Marlena, since Hunter is a 'real man,' and Goldust is a 'queer.' This all mostly went over my head in 1996, since I was, like, eleven. And I bet the same was true for the bulk of the audience. Anyway, Lawler isn't calling him 'not a man,' just, you know, 'a queer.' So Goldust flat out denies it, and knocks the King out to turn babyface. I'm sure Milton Bradley really appreciated having this segment tied into their brand

Freddie Blassie leads a group of WWF Christmas carolers in a weird hymn about Sycho Sid

Billy Gunn v Bart Gunn: Billy attacks before the bell, clotheslining Bart over the top, and the brawl is on on the outside! Bart gets control, and hits a corner whip on the way back inside, followed by a clothesline for two. He goes to the wrist, but Billy gets control in the corner, and the crowd is already dead. Billy works a chinlock, as Vince basically begs you to order the replay of In Your House. Billy with a neckbreaker and a kneedrop, followed by a snapmare back to the chinlock. Billy has no idea how to engage the crowd as a heel here, and Bart isn't exactly doing a great job of building sympathy. Bart manages a hotshot to fight him off, but the referee stops the match at 5:41, since Billy isn't moving. So that draws Billy and Bart's wives out, and Billy may be paralyzed. They're trying to recreate the Shawn Michaels/Owen Hart deal from last year, but no one cares about these characters, and it's just not clicking. Not to mention that Bart is just a horrible actor, and isn't getting it over at all. Billy's wife is pretty cute though, so there's that. So Billy gets taken out on a stretcher, and the crowd is just kinda watching it all, but they don't seem particularly worried and/or interested. I appreciate the effort to integrate more realism into the product, but this wasn't a good fit. DUD

BUExperience: They tried a lot more realism and adult angles this week, which was a welcome change, though most of the actual angles they were trying it with were really weak. Not to mention that they played right alongside total bullshit cartoon characters like ‘Razor and Diesel,’ or TL Hopper. And it didn’t even make a dent in the ratings they were chasing either, drawing the same viewership as last weeks show, as Nitro extends its lead to 25 consecutive weeks.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	12/16/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.3	3.2
Total Wins	17	42
Win Streak		25
Better Show (as of 12/9)	18	38