WWF Action Zone (March 17, 1996)

 

Original Airdate: March 17, 1996

Your Hosts are Todd Pettengill and Dok Hendrix from the studio

Steve Austin v Aldo Montoya: From the March 16 Superstars (taped March 10) in Corpus Christi Texas. Austin split screens in here, reintroducing himself as ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. It’s clear that they saw something in him from the start, because usually they’ll just dig in with stupid gimmicks until they crash, burn, and smolder, but in this case they shifted to something better pretty quickly. Steve dominates on the mat for a bit, but Montoya wins a criss cross with a bodypress for two. Montoya uses an armdrag into an armbar, but Steve is in the ropes right away, and hammers Aldo in the corner. Austin with a vertical suplex, and a snapmare sets up a kneedrop for two. Turnbuckle smash, but Aldo reverses. He goes on the comeback trail, but telegraphs a backdrop, and gets caught with a gourdbuster. That allows Austin to go to the cobra clutch, and Montoya is out at 3:00. Afterwards, Austin won’t release the hold, so Savio Vega runs out to get in his face. ¾*

Mankind vignette 

Undertaker is so pissed off at Diesel that he doesn’t even let Paul Bearer get down with his bad self

From last Monday on RAW (March 11 from San Antonio Texas), we get clips of Roddy Piper beating Goldust up, and signing them for a Hollywood Backlot Brawl at WrestleMania. Todd ‘acting gay’ as they get ready to throw it to this is not aging well

This week’s dose of Billionaire Ted features ‘Scheme Gene’ in the studio with a report on the Huckster/Nacho Man match at the WrestleMania Free for All show

And speaking of the Free for All, Todd announces that the final of the tag title tournament will also be taking place on the pre-show. That was the first time I can remember where they were openly acting like the tag title wasn’t important, and I hated it then (and still do now)

WWF Tag Team Title Tournament Quarterfinal Match: The Bodydonnas v The Bushwhackers: From the March 16 Superstars. This is the Bushwhackers’ first match in the promotion since September, and first televised since May ‘95, just showing how thin the division was during this period. The heels attack before the bell, but the Bushwhackers clean house before long. The dust settles on Zip and Butch, and Butch dominates with a headlock. A blind tag to Skip looks to set up a double team, but Butch fights it off. The Bushwhackers dominate Skip with quick tags, but a cheap shot from Zip on Luke allows the heels to turn the tide. They cut the ring in half on Luke, but Butch gets the hot tag, and the Bushwhackers run wild. The Battering Ram looks to finish Zip, but Skip saves with a dive off the top, and he pins Luke at 3:54. The Bodydonnas tried, but the Bushwhackers were difficult to get much out of at the best of times, let alone at this stage in their careers. ¼*

Clips of Jim Ross washing his hands like Howard Hughes after having to go to Sunny’s dressing room to tell her that the Bodydonnas don’t get a bye to the tournament finals

Ultimate Warrior hype video

Mr. Perfect catches up with Hunter Hearst Helmsley on the golf course to discuss why he’s been tapped to be Warrior’s first opponent. Oh, I think we all know why

Ross is in the control center with the Ross Report, and he thinks Roddy Piper should stay out of the ring if he wants to be President 

The Karate Fighters Slam of the Week is HHH giving Bob Holly a Pedigree on Superstars 

Earlier this week on the Tour de Force, Vince caught up with Yokozuna, Jake Roberts, and Ahmed Johnson for an in-ring interview, where they challenge Camp Cornette to a six-man at WrestleMania

WrestleMania XII ad

Ross recently visited Shawn Michaels at home in Texas, where he introduces us to Jose Lothario, the man who trained him to become a wrestler, and who will be training him for the Iron Man match. I like the ‘back to basics’ story, but it didn’t really fit with Shawn’s character at this point. He was a too-cool-for-school kind of guy, and suddenly hanging around with a 61 year old man felt out of place

WrestleMania XII ad

Ross also recently visited Bret Hart in Calgary Alberta Canada, where Bret is training with Stu, and kind of laughing Shawn’s ‘tennis ball’ style compared to his submission based offense

Various Superstars weigh in on what they’d do if they were President of the WWF. Duke Droese suggests co-ed matches between him and Sunny

BUExperience: This was mainly just WrestleMania hype, without even much in the way of the usual reheated matches. But the strong, real sport build for the Iron Man was great.