WWF Free For All (March 31, 1996)

 

Original Airdate: March 31, 1996

From Anaheim, California; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Iron Man match ad

Todd Pettengill opens the show in a sea of fans, at one of the merchandise stands inside of the Arrowhead Pond

Todd heads into the arena to rile up the crowd, and it’s interesting to note that the crowd pops much harder for “are you ready for the Warrior?” compared to “are you ready for the Iron Man match?”

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Godwinns v The Bodydonnas: This is a tournament final for the vacant belts. Henry Godwinn starts with Zip, and a criss cross ends in Henry press-slamming him. That draws Skip in, so Henry press-slams him as well, then delivers a wheelbarrow facebuster to clear Skip out. Tag to Phineas Godwinn, but he fails to cut the ring in half. The Bodydonnas try double teaming in their corner, but Phineas starts flailing around, and gets out of trouble. The dust settles on Henry and Skip, and Skip forces a criss cross, but an attempt at a double team goes badly, and Henry launches him over the top with a catapult. That draws Sunny onto the apron with a distraction, and the Bodydonnas are able to take advantage of Henry. They hit a tandem slingshot suplex for two, but Henry fights off some abuse, and makes the tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Phineas looks to finish Skip with the inverted DDT, so Sunny flashes her ass at him, and the distraction allows Skip a schoolboy to win the gold at 5:03. This was pretty solid, though short. ¾* (Original rating: *)

Ultimate Warrior hype video

Ultimate Warrior ad! “He’s back! And even more reckless than before!”

Todd lists off all of the ways we can buy the show

Diesel/Undertaker hype video

Huckster v Nacho Man: This isn’t live in the arena, but pretaped in a warehouse somewhere. Billionaire Ted acts as the special guest referee here. Huckster makes an entrance on a walker, and they need to actually fast forward the tape because he’s so slow. And once he’s there, Ted and Scheme Gene need to help him tear his shirt off. The sound of the bell causes both guys to get scared and feint, and EMTs run in to revive them. Nacho grabs a shoe from Hanoi Jane, but Huckster has a chair, and they knock each other out for a draw at 0:47. Gene comes right in to ask Ted what he’s going to do now, since apparently both Huckster and Nacho Man are dead, so Ted says he’ll just buy more stars. That draws a masked man with an ‘FTC’ shirt on, and Ted passes out when he sees him. This… was not good. I mean, it wasn’t meant to be a real match, but it wasn’t good as a skit either. 

Dok Hendrix hypes WrestleMania XII merchandise 

Roddy Piper is waiting in the backlot, ready for the brawl with Goldust 

WrestleMania The Arcade Game coupon ad

Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels hype video. It might not have been a box office smash, but I the build was exceptionally well done, and the hype video was excellent 

Todd gives the crowd some last minute hype

Iron Man match ad

BUExperience: A good hype show, though they didn’t really spend much time hyping much other than the main event. Also kind of funny that they spent multiple segments hyping Warrior’s return, but barely even mentioned who his opponent would be.