April '96

Monday Night Wars April '96

Raw/Nitro April 1st

Monday Night Raw 1/4/96 (2.75 Stars)

The famous Raw after Mania lived up to expectations. Mankind (Mick Foley) made his WWF debut, defeating Bob Holly. He pulled his own "hair" out and a camera shot showed it dangling from the ropes. Effective and creepy. We hear "He's hardcore" chants from the fans, effectively recognising his previous exploits as Cactus Jack. It's always interesting to see how stars such as Austin and Foley were portrayed before becoming the household names they are today. Marc Mero also received a successful debut as he pinned Isaac Yankem, with none other than Sable watching from ringside. We were briefly introduced to Sable at Mania 12 as HHH's escort. She gave Mero a standing ovation before leaving with her kayfabe husband. The new tag champs Bodydonnas went over Aldo Montoya and Barry Horrowitz. Although I spent most of the time researching when Gunn's neck injury actually happened, as the fact the titles were vacated in the first place wasn't mentioned nearly enough on Raw. You could have walked out the room for a minute and missed that fact completely. VKM announced HBK as the leader of the New Generation, firmly showing his cards as to the direction the WWF was headed at the time. Footage is shown of Diesel hitting Shawn with a chair at a house show, another of the finer points you could have missed. Shawn says at IYH, he and Diesel are "Good friends but better enemies" WWF plugged the Mania 12 signed mat plaque for only 50 BUCKS! An absolute steal as that thing is worth 1000's today! The Undertaker defeated Bradshaw in the main-event via DQ, after Mankind interfered, setting his sights on The Phenom. This was a good episode overall, with solid wrestling and some fun moments!

WCW Nitro 1/4/96 (2.5 Stars)

Nitro began with a match already in progress as Sting took on The Giant. Eric dropped the bombshell that The Giant and Sting were scheduled to take on Harlem Heat, but Jimmy Hart paid off Harlem Heat to forfeit and The Giant to turn his back on Sting. Lex Luger ran down and the match was thrown out. He didn't touch anyone but his mere presence prompted a DQ. At least we know Sting and Luger are still together, presumably as tag champs, even if we don't know much else. Steiner Brothers won a triangle match against Road Warriors and Nasty Boys after Public Enemy attacked Brian Knobbs while the ref's back was turned. Fun for what it was. Hogan and Booty Man defeat AA and Taskmaster with The Booty Man promising Hogan a special match next week, giving the Hulkster the last laugh over Arn Anderson and Taskmaster. Even though this feud didn't particularly interest me, I was curious to see what he had planned. Ric Flair retained against Lex Luger in the main-event after Woman threw coffee in Luger's face. As if that wasn't enough, Flair utilised the ropes to ensure his victory. Luger worked a good match with Ric, so props to him for that. The Giant's actions at the start of the show kept him heel after teasing a face turn last week (he would famously have multiple heel/face turns throughout his career) and set him up to look like, well, a Giant. This was likely in wake of the news that Hogan would be out filming a movie for a while and needing a singles star atop the card. Apart from a decent World Title match that was a 3 star affair, nothing else on this show counted as must see television. Raw's post Mania episode didn't disappoint. You had debuts, some solid wrestling as well as major talking points. WWF with the better show

Raw April 8th

Monday Night Raw 8/4/96 (2 Stars)

Last time Raw went unopposed they took advantage, would lightning strike twice? Vader defeated Yokozuna to start things off. There's a reason this match was changed to a 6 man tag at mania! The match was called off when Vader "snapped" Yoko's ankle in a gnarly looking spot. This was done in order to write Yoko out for a while so he could lose weight. Additionally, as he was so big, a normal stretcher couldn't support his full weight so a forklift was used instead! Goldust interrupted Warriors in ring promo ahead of their I-C Title match at IYH. I don't think this needs to be said, but Warrior was never a good promo. He groaned, grunted and made little sense, often talking in riddles. We cut to backstage where Vader is assaulting Yoko's ankle with a chair while the big man is still on the forklift. HHH defeats Duke Drosse and I'm really not impressed with this show so far. Ahamed Johnson wins an arm wrestling match against The British Bulldog. Davey (Bulldog) freaked out naturally, and did absolutely everything to Ahamed with the table except putting him through the damn thing! HBK pinned Jerry Lawler in the main and fans of a certain generation would understand, this had the potential to be a good match. It was ok but didn't work for a variety of reasons. One, Shawn was NEVER losing in any manner. Two, I would assume as a character based heel, Jerry always worked best when he was involved in a heavy feud. He didn't strike me as the type to work great one off matches that fell under the 10 minute mark, although I may be wrong. A filler main event and a disappointing end to a disappointing show. Diesel was on commentary at least, providing some insight into his problems with Shawn. He explained he thought he was part of the clique but now he's recruited all these morons (the fans) good luck to him. He absolutely bodied Shawn with the title post match. They achieved what they wanted too with Vader and built Diesel/HBK, but sadly that's about it!

Raw/Nitro April 15th

Monday Night Raw 15/4/96 (2.5 Stars)

Raw bounced back from a disappointing episode with some solid action. We saw Marc Mero defeat Leif Cassiday as well as Steve Austin going over Bart Gunn. Both matches were solid, especially Austin's match. Everything Austin did seemed deliberate and carried meaning, whether it was a headlock or simply striking Bart on the mat. JC cut a great in-ring promo, promoting Vader's match with Razor Ramon at IYH. Cornette was easily one of the best managers/promos in the biz. Savio Vega defeated Goldust for his I.C Title in a main-event upset. The decision was overturned due to Vega's use of the title as a weapon. The championship was then vacated and set to be defended in a rematch the following week. People were upset over this decision, and I understand why. In retrospect it seemed like a meaningless moment in order to combat WCW's "anything can happen'' moniker. However it smashed over the idea that Vega CAN beat Goldust, giving you all the more reason to tune it next week. Bret cuts a taped promo as he whined about the O.T rules from the Ironman match. With main talent such as Diesel & Bret over in Germany, we got to see the midcard guys get some time and show what they could do. A decent show overall.

WCW Nitro 15/4/96 (2.25 Stars)

Nitro started with Bootyman's promised match to Hogan. Hogan defeats AA & Taskmaster in a handicap match. As a result, he got 5 minutes alone with Jimmy Hart. He could have chosen Woman or Miss Elizabeth. But if AA/Taskmaster won, they would have had 5 minutes alone with Kimberly. Mercifully, even Bischoff didn't think it was a good idea to have a pair of fully grown men beat the shit out of Kimberly for 5 minutes. This was a case of overbooking in my opinion. It could have easily been, if Hogan won, he got Jimmy Hart alone for 5 minutes. Simple! Hogan was consequently written off TV to film "Santa with Muscles" Nasty Boys defeat Public Enemy in a hardcore style brawl. It wasn't good. It merely involved four out of shape men hitting each other with aluminium lids for 10 minutes. But at this stage of their careers, that's all these teams did anyway. A funny moment as Eric and company said the crowd was "awe struck" yet when it panned to them, dumbstruck would have been more accurate. That said, this style of match was better suited to TV as opposed to a PPV. As such, I enjoyed it slightly more. Savage pinned Bobby Eaton, who was dressed as Ric Flair. This pissed Savage off, who flew into a blind rage and was handcuffed as a result. Sting & Lex Luger retained their Tag Titles against Ric Flair & The Giant via DQ. Credit where it's due, I loved the use of the Tag Titles in this spot on the card involving main-event talent. A small detail but cool nonetheless. This wasn't a great outing by WCW, but somehow it was still entertaining. Although I have to mark it down due to the poor quality/overall lack of wrestling.

*Honorable mentions. This was the week Brian Pillman would tragically be involved in a near fatal car accident, majorly stunting his in-ring career going forward. Additionally, Randy Savage previously purchased the George George gimmick and gifted it to his brother Lanny Poffo. Poffo was under contract to WCW, was paid but never contacted for any work. This would become a running joke, and it was during this broadcast he was mentioned for the first time. Eric Bischoff noted Savage even took a pay cut in order to facilitate his brother's deal.

Raw/Nitro April 22nd

Monday Night Raw 22/4/96 (1.75 Stars)

The go home show for IYH 7 started with a rematch from last week. Goldust won his IC title back as he pinned Savio Vega after Austin nailed Savio with the Million Dollar Title. During the contest, Jerry 'The King' Lawler made jokes about sportscaster Jimmy "The Greek" passing away, making comments such as "2/1 odds it will be an open casket" and for some reason, it's taken me THIS long to figure out Lawlers whole gimmick was to make comments designed to offend people in the modern era! Vader pulled off an impressive looking moonsault during his victory over Fatu before WWF showed us more footage from the tour in Germany. Mankind defeated Aldo Montoya with the mandible claw. The show finished with pre-recorded footage of possibly the laziest promo I've ever seen, delivered by Diesel. No story advancement coupled with poor matches sums up one of the worst TV's I've seen to date!

WCW Nitro 22/4/96 (2.5 Stars)

WCW took full advantage of Raw's lackluster showing with a monster main-event. TV Champion and one half of the tag champs Lex Luger and his partner Sting, took on World Champion Ric Flair and The Giant. Whoever pins who, wins the gold. The American Males defeated Public Enemy via DQ in a decent opener considering who was involved. This was the most wrestling I've seen from Public Enemy so far as they worked a fairly straight match. The first round draw for the lethal lottery set for the upcoming PPV took place, as Flair & Savage would team up to take on AA and Eddie Guerrero. Mean Gene struggling to open the envelopes was the best part of this whole ordeal. Speaking of Eddie, he lost to Beniot in a short effort. Randy Savage yells at Rob Garner (WCW V.P) after being told he has to chill out a bit or seek counselling for his anger issues. Jim Duggan defeated Meng in another match that was surprisingly ok. Apparently Meng wasn't actually rated that highly as an in ring performer, but WCW officials were too scared to fire him due to his legitimately tough reputation/background. Savage was arrested as he tried to jump Ric Flair ahead of the main-event, which saw a DQ finish meaning no titles changed hands, after Flair accidently threw coffee in the face of The Giant. This quite nicely set up a match between the pair next week. A balanced episode with quite a lot going on. Nothing blew me away wrestling wise but it doesn't take much to best what the WWF produced. Nitro with an easy point!

In Your House 7: (Good Friends, Better Enemies)

IYH kicked off with Owen Hart and British Bulldog going over Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson. Before the match began, Roberts made Cornette pass out when he threatened him with his python and was forced to take it away. Not a great match but Owen and Davey did a nice job of cutting the ring in half, ensuring when Ahmed finally got tagged in, everyone was on their feet. Speaking of pre-match theatrics, Goldust refused to get in the ring during his contest with The Ultimate Warrior, accounting for 5 minutes of my life I'll sadly never get back. More pre match B.S than actually wrestling that only led to a Warrior count-out victory! This show HAS to do something big to pull me back at this point. Vader defeated Razor Ramon in what would be Razor's final WWF televised appearance. Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) would continue to be involved in house shows until his WWF contract officially expired on May 19th. Even though Hall had "signed a contract" with WCW, it was only a letter of intent. So he could choose to accept the deal once his WWF contract expired (May 19th) or not. I will explain this in more detail when we reach that date. Bodydonnas retained their tag titles against the Godwinns. Sunny gave Phineas an autographed 8x10 which somehow provided the distraction. The same way Scott Hall would soon be departing, so would Diesel (Kevin Nash) and like Scott, this would be his final televised appearance for the WWF. All I can say is, it was a damn good one! Arguably one of Kevin's best from his entire WWF run! HBK defeated his former ally during this outstanding World Title defence. If this match wasn't good, the PPV would have completely bombed. Far too many pre-match theatrics for what was a relatively short PPV (1.42 approx) but a solid main-event kind of made up for that. Very much a one match show but not quite as bad as IYH 3 or 4, only because I'd rewatch Shawn/Diesel above anything the two shows previously mentioned produced. Although I'm still being VERY generous with my rating (2.25 Stars)

Raw/Nitro April 29th

Monday Night Raw 29/4/96 (2.5 Stars)

WWF would have been smart to push two new key pieces in the wake of losing Diesel and Razor (not that this was breaking news, but they wouldn't be used on TV again) In my eyes at least, they had Taker, Austin, Davey Mankind, Owen and Bret Hart from which to choose. Not too shabby. Mankind defeated Bart Gunn in a very good opener. Mankind then attacked Gunn backstage who was selling the mandible claw as a genuinely dangerous move. Steve Austin defeated job guy Scott Taylor while Vega was ringside on commentary, challenging Austin to what would be known as the famous "Caribbean Strap Match'' Jerry Lawler would call Savio Vega "Burrito breath" which was offensive at best, at worst being completely racist! Jim Cornette called HBK a sexual deviant and uttered the famous line "You sir, are a FORNICATOR! '' Jim was gold at this point as he accused Shawn of trying to sleep with Diana Hart. HBK and Diana's other half Davey, brawl following the accusations ahead of their title match in May. The New Rockers and The Godwinns fought to a double count-out in order to facilitate a rematch on Superstars (seriously Vince) and Mankind cut a promo putting over his finish. Ultimate Warrior's Raw debut finally came when he defeated Issac Yankem in a match straight out of WWE 2K! WWF managed to produce a much more entertaining show than the previous weeks.

WCW Nitro 29/4/96 (2.75 Stars)

Nitro counters with Luger and Sting retaining against Harlem Heat in a good tag contest. The Steiners defeated Scott Norton & Ice Train (Fire & Ice) Scott Norton had previously competed in WCW's North Korea show. While on the phone with his wife, who accused him of partying and "going out having fun" He responded with the reality of what life was actually like in the DPRK. Naturally this led to interrogation, his bed being stripped and even the soap being taken from his hotel room! Most would agree he got off lightly. Lord Steve Regal defeated Belfast Bruiser in a parking lot brawl. I especially liked the hawk eye view during this one as it made it seem more authentic. The Giant took on Ric Flair for his World Title in the main-event. Without knowing the result, I'd say there's a good chance of a title change. Wouldn't you know….I was right! This wasn't a great match by any means, but it was more entertaining than Raw's main-event with the finish getting fans out of their seats! A hot result capping off an underwhelming month of wrestling. Bischoff announces Sting/Giant for Slamboree. Bobby Hennan botched his lines and I just can't tell if it's a shoot or typical WCW. This was a weird one to score, as while Nitro was much more entertaining, Raw still had balance and an excellent promo. Nonetheless, WCW wins the final point of the month, even if only due to a cheap title change. Also on this day, Eric Bischoff attended a New Japan show that saw Hashimoto regain the company's IWGP Title from UWFi talent, Takada. Takada won the title during an invasion of NJPW. It's this very show that is credited to giving Bischoff the idea of the NWO invasion angle. He would call Kevin Nash shortly after, enquiring in regards to his willingness to sign for the rival company. The rest is history.

Summary and scores

The push of the Giant as a singles star had been handled well, so fair play to Nitro for that. Diesel and Scott Hall would soon be joining the rival brand, as they were due to leave WWF over a pay dispute. Scott Hall went as far as to ask Vince what he had to do in order to improve his pay. He was told that he was already a top star, and couldn't improve his in ring work or mic skills as he was already fine in that department, nonetheless he wouldn't be granted a pay wouldn't rise. Kevin Nash would ask for a bigger cut from his merch sales and to be able to work in Japan. These requests were also declined. WCW produced far more entertaining TV this month, without building to an immediate PPV. I also liked how the WWF had handled Mick Foley (Mankind) and Steve Austin so far. Nonetheless, the scores see WCW increase their lead. WCW 17-9 WWF with 4 Draws...

Match of the Month: Diesel Vs Shawn Michaels (IYH 7)