WWF LiveWire (October 26, 1996)

Original Airdate: October 26, 1996

Your Hosts are Dok Hendrix and Sunny from the studio

Faarooq calls in to rant about Ahmed Johnson, back when this was still a relatively fresh feud

We take a look back at the relationship between Marc Mero and Mr. Perfect, culminating in Perfect turning on Mero, and costing him the WWF Intercontinental title to Hunter Hearst Helmsley this past Monday on RAW. I remember being really let down by that at the time, both because I liked Mero, and because I was super excited to see Perfect come back… only to have it pulled away again, just like in 1994. Great match and angle, though

Someone calls in to blame Sunny for Perfect turning heel, since misogyny, I guess? He suggests a HHH/Mero cage match, with Perfect suspended in a shark cage. That never happened, but we did get Paul Bearer in a shark cage the next month at Survivor Series, so maybe they liked what they were hearing here

WWF President Gorilla Monsoon calls in to revoke Perfect’s wrestling license. He’s also investigating the situation between Ahmed Johnson and Faarooq, and the suspension hammer may be coming down soon

Rich calls in wondering if Perfect’s goal is to become the ‘perfect manager.’ Dok thinks the plan is for HHH to carry the Intercontinental title, while Perfect will be going for the WWF Title

Nick calls in to agree that Perfect’s plan was a perfect plan, and he thinks Sunny should be Perfect’s manager. They’re just all over the place with this angle, but in a good ‘breaking news’ kind of way

We go to a pre-taped Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament segment with Todd Pettengill and Jerry Lawler. The theme this year seems to be men v women, but since there's only three female valets in the whole promotion, we get Mr. Perfect, too. No wonder he left for WCW

Dok notes that there are ‘Undertaker sightings’ going on all over the world following his most recent death at In Your House. Luckily Leslie Nielsen was dead by this point, so we didn’t have to go down that road again

Someone emails in wondering what HHH’s beef with Mero is, and Sunny thinks it all boils down to Sable, since she was Helmsley’s first

Lou calls in with an Undertaker sighting. Which he phrases like it’s a story for Penthouse Forum, or something

Last Monday on RAW, Jim Ross brought Bret Hart out for an in-ring interview to talk about his future in the world of pro-wrestling. I think the crowd half expected another Razor/Diesel situation here, and are genuinely relieved that didn't come to pass. Bret dives right into the deep end, talking about how WCW ('a rival wrestling organization') made him a great offer, and treated him with respect... but he's going to come back to the WWF. The story goes that Vince didn't know what Bret would say (as in, staying with the WWF or taking WCWs deal) until he said it on air. And Vince does a great job of looking nervous as Bret builds suspense/relief when he says he'll stay, but I'm sorry, I don't buy it. No way in hell he's letting a guy go out on live TV if there's even a small chance he's going to announce that he's jumping ship. No way. Anyway, now that he's staying, Bret accepts the challenge of Steve Austin for a match at Survivor Series. Of note, the Rock is one of the guys standing around watching on the monitor with Austin backstage, though he hasn't debuted on TV yet at this point. And, of course, he makes sure to playfully knock Shawn Michaels a bunch along the way - causing Vince to defensively chime in each time. You can feel the fans ready to back him over Michaels here, after a summer of boyhood dream/Jose Lothario/phony goody goody/stripper bullshit. Yeah, so this was a great segment, of course. It's good to have Bret back, and though we didn't know it at the time, his return signaled what would be the resurgence of the WWF in the war with WCW - first creatively, and eventually financially

Someone emails in to celebrate Bret’s decision, but he thinks Bret’s already done it all, so he should try and hold all the titles at once for something new. I’m pretty sure Shawn Michaels would have literally jumped off of Titan Tower if that happened

Mark calls in, also happy that Bret is back, especially because he’s sick of WWF Champion Shawn Michaels. Mark also feels ‘sorry’ for Steve Austin. Why? He’s about to get a huge push, dude

Greg calls in, and he’s been a WWF fan for 22 years. That would have made him sound ancient to me at the time, but now here I am, someone who has been a fan for 28 years and counting. Time’s a funny thing

Mike calls in asking for Doink the Clown and Adam Bomb to come back. Dok has to straight-up ask him if he’s being sarcastic, but nope, Mike wants what Mike wants

Jimmy calls in wondering when Bret will get back in the ring with Shawn Michaels. November 9, 1997. Might want to mark your calendar for that one

Sunny shows off her induction plaque for the Cauliflower Alley Club Hall of Fame. Wait, seriously?

Jesse James takes us back to his time in the US military, and Operation Desert Storm. I wonder what he thought of the whole Sgt. Slaughter angle? It’s weird that he calls George HW Bush by his full name, in the time before his son was known on a national stage. Anyway, he’ll be returning to the ring this Monday on RAW

Survivor Series and Hall of Fame ad

Sunny thinks Sycho Sid is going to steamroll over Shawn to win the WWF Title at Survivor Series, using the old Sid > Vader > Michaels train of thought

Mr. Perfect calls in, furious about Monsoon revoking his license

BUExperience: This one was pretty weak, but it still flew by. I enjoy how little downtime there is on this show, just lots going on, and lots getting covered.