WWF at Madison Square Garden (May 19, 1996)

 

Original Airdate: May 19, 1996

From New York, New York

Davey Boy Smith v Ahmed Johnson: Stalls galore from Bulldog to start, until he suckers a fuming Ahmed into a shot on the outside, and Johnson is left sucking wind, trying to beat the count. Ahmed beats it, and Bulldog welcomes him in with pounding. Bulldog goes to a chinlock for a long ass time, before finally going for the running powerslam, but Ahmed blocks. Ahmed goes on the comeback trail, and the tiger bomb looks to finish, but Owen Hart runs in for the DQ at 9:46. Dull as dishwater. DUD

Jake Roberts v Steve Austin: Austin dominates early, but Jake goes for the DDT, so Steve bails, and stalls. Back in, Austin avoids the DDT again, and gets a side-headlock on. Jake tries to criss cross, but gets nailed, and Steve tries a backdrop, but Roberts manages a kneelift to block. DDT, but Austin hits the deck, and bails again. He decides to walk, but Savio Vega comes out with the Caribbean strap to scare him back in. Jake backdrops him for two in there, but Steve wisely bails again for more stalling. Jake grabs the Million Dollar belt to tease him, but gets distracted by Ted DiBiase, and Austin pounces. Steve hammers Jake down for a chinlock, but Roberts escapes, so Steve uses a pointed elbowdrop for two. Jake fights back with an inverted atomic drop, and he makes a comeback. A schoolboy gets two, so DiBiase distracts him, and Austin throws a lariat at 13:51. I appreciated the psychology (no shock with Jake in there), but the match was super basic, and not interesting enough to warrant fourteen minutes. ½*

Ultimate Warrior v Owen Hart: This is Warrior's first MSG match since SummerSlam 1991. It kind of blows my mind that he never worked in the Garden during his 1992 run at all then. And this would end up being his last match in the Garden as well. Owen stalls on the outside to start, and Warrior throws him around once he comes inside. A clothesline sends Owen over the top, and Warrior backdrops him once he gets back inside. Warrior with a catapult into the corner, followed by a bulldog, and a matslam. Owen fires back with a clothesline, and he puts the boots to Warrior in the corner after taking him off of his feet for the first time. Owen with a 2nd rope axehandle and a missile dropkick for two, but Warrior reverses a vertical suplex. Warrior goes on the comeback trail from there, and the jumping shoulderblock ends it at 7:01. Warrior was never a great worker, but he put in an effort here, and Owen was trying to carry him. That’s all you can ask for. ½*

Yokozuna v Vader: Yokozuna hustles in for a slugfest, and he manages a bodyslam, so Jim Cornette tries to whack him with the tennis racket, but gets caught. The distraction allows Vader to recover, however, and he clips Yokozuna’s leg, then hits a pump-splash to the part. Yokozuna comes to life with right hands, but Vader turns the tables in the corner. Yokozuna manages a belly-to-belly suplex, and an avalanche follows, but Vader swipes at him with a few well placed blows. Vader with a pair of avalanches to set up a pump-splash, but he wants another one instead of covering. He takes too long, allowing Yokozuna to recover, and Yoko delivers a Samoan drop. Yokozuna adds a legdrop, and he goes for the Banzai drop, but Cornette distracts him again. That allows Vader to pop him with the tennis racket for the pin at 7:38. Babyface Yokozuna is just not for me. ½*

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Bodydonnas v The Godwinns: Zip and Henry Godwinn start, and Henry knocks him around. Tag to Skip for a charge, but Henry sees him coming, and turns it into a press-slam. Tag to Phineas Godwinn to work the wrist, but Skip shakes him off, and tags. Zip manages a cross corner whip, but the charge in gets blocked, and Phineas tags out. Henry works a wristlock, so Zip goes to the eyes, and tags. Skip forces a criss cross, and the champs try a cheap shot, but it backfires, and Skip ends up taking a catapult over the top. We get a chase on the outside, ending in the Godwinns taking the high ground, but Phineas gets tripped up, and the champs work him over. Henry gets the tag, but quickly runs into a double team, and the champs take over on him. Skip misses a dive to allow another tag to Phineas, and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on! Phineas goes for the inverted DDT, so Sunny hops onto the apron, but Phineas forces a kiss on her to avoid the distraction. Even so, Skip has recovered, but Phineas manages to grab him in the inverted DDT at 10:24 to win the title! Big pop for the shock title switch here. *

Razor Ramon v Hunter Hearst Helmsley: Razor’s gear looks like a tribute to the WCW logo from this period, which is fitting. HHH attacks before the bell, knocking Razor to the outside, and sending him into the apron a few times. Helmsley chokes him out there, but an attempt at a flying axehandle on the way back in gets blocked, and Razor gives him an atomic drop. Ramon with a fallaway slam for two, and a side superplex follows. Ramon calls for the Razor’s Edge, but the referee gets bumped in the process, and there’s no one to count the fall. Razor goes to check on the official, but that allows Helmsley to recover, and sneak over with the Pedigree at 4:20. Also fitting. This was Razor's final WWF match before leaving for WCW, and his last match ever in the Garden. ¾*

Main Event: WWF Title Cage Match: Shawn Michaels v Diesel: This is Diesel's farewell, his last match in the promotion before leaving for WCW. Diesel tries at attack before the bell, but Shawn sees it coming, and wins a slugfest. Shawn sticks and moves, but a criss cross goes badly when Diesel catches him with a clothesline. Diesel hammers him, but Shawn blocks a smash into the cage, so Diesel chucks him across the ring instead. Diesel then casually tosses him into the cage a few times, and Shawn is selling like he’s on a handful of somas. Diesel with a sidewalk slam, but he wastes a massive amount of time gloating, and Shawn recovers with a dropkick into the cage. Shawn climbs, but Diesel pulls him back, and delivers a side suplex. He goes for the door, but Michaels cuts him off, and goes for it himself - Diesel able to stop him. Diesel backdrops him into the cage, but Shawn recovers, and bashes the challenger’s head into the steel repeatedly. Shawn climbs, so Diesel follows, but Michaels knocks him down - Diesel ending up tied in the ropes. That allows Shawn to get over the top and half down, but Diesel reaches through the bars to choke him, and he manages to pull the champion back into the cage. Shawn did some great teasing there. Diesel chucks him off the top rope following a pair of knees up there, but an attempt at a snake eyes into the cage ends in Diesel crashing into the steel. Shawn fires off a jumping forearm, and both guys take an extended nap on the mat in the name of ‘selling.’ Finally, Michaels is up, and making a comeback. He makes it over the top of the cage, but decides to dive at a prone Diesel with a flying elbowdrop just because, and it’s time to escape. He makes it up, but Davey Boy Smith shows up, and knocks him back down to the mat! Both guys stagger up, and Diesel has the drop on him, catching the champion with a big boot. Powerbomb, but Michaels grabs the side of the cage on the way up, and nearly escapes before Diesel slams him off. That was a great near escape. Diesel crawls for the door, but Shawn cuts him off, so Diesel launches him into the side of the cage. Diesel grabs a chair (he pulled it in during his last door escape), but a swing misses, and Shawn is able to get a hold of it. Michaels bashes his challenger with the weapon, and then lets him stagger up so he can feed him a superkick. That leaves Diesel for dead, and Shawn confidently walks out the door at 25:35. Well, this was nowhere near the level of their two pay per view matches, though I did appreciate Shawn’s dedication to bumping like a madman even when the cameras aren’t rolling for TV. It was really slow overall, and a condensed version would have been much better. But the real action happens after the bell anyway, as Shawn and Diesel embrace in the ring despite being heated rivals who just spent the better part of a half hour beating the hell out of each other. And then Razor Ramon and Hunter Hearst Helmsley join them, and they all embrace, and pose together to end the show, in the infamous ‘curtain call’ that people are still talking about today. *

BUExperience: This version omits the Bushwhackers/New Rockers opener. 

This one is well worth seeing, with a non-televised title change, one of the most infamous moments in wrestling history (and which changed the course of history - without this, there’s no Austin 3:16), and plenty of historical significance even outside of what happens in the last match. 

The actual wrestling quality is nothing of note, but there’s so much else to sink your teeth into here.

**