June '96

Raw/Nitro June 3rd

Monday Night Raw 3/6/96 (2 Stars)

King of the Ring qualifiers continue as Austin defeats Bob Holly to earn his spot. Sadly it's mostly downhill from here as Barry Horrowitz jobbed for Mankind, Godwinns defeated Tekno Team 2000 and Jake Roberts defeated HHH in the main-event. HHH was originally earmarked to win the entire King of the Ring tournament, but as a result of the curtain call, they decided against it. Vince also put the kibosh on WCW's attempted "invasion angle" He would mention the appearance of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, stating it was some kind of "ruse" and they were somehow portraying that they are representing the WWF, and that it's "simple not true" Not the best episode of Raw.

WCW Nitro 3/6/96 (2.25 Stars)

Nitro opens with The Shark telling the audience he's not a shark, he's not a fish, he's a man! And his name is John Kenta. After vowing to gain his revenge on The Giant, he defeats Big Bubba via count-out. That showed him! High Voltage (A name WCW stole from Matt Hardy's tryout/demo tape) lost to Faces of Fear in their debut match. We also heard the Stieners speak, and they both sound EXACTLY the same. Bonus points for letting Scott cut a promo. After a few filler matches we see a backstage interview from Kevin Sullivan explaining he must "cut the head of the serpent" before he takes over the Horsemen, Chris Beniot being the snake in question. Sullivan then goes over Prince Iaukea. Post-match he says Ric and Arn are the only two men he respects in the business, and he was proven right when he warned them about Pillman. As a favour to the Horsemen, he will make Beniot quit at the Great American Bash, in the same way that Pillman left WCW. Ric Flair and Arn Anderson then defeated The Rock N Roll Express to kick off the second hour. This was a good match and easily the highlight of the show thus far! We see a pointless Hogan promo package to remind us he's still around before The Giant retains his World Title against Ice Train (of Fire and Ice) via pinfall around the 30 second mark and Scott Norton (Fire, of Fire and Ice) goes over Hugh Morris in an absolute shit-show. A countered body slam was botched so Scott pounds Hugh with some pummel fists before pinning him. Neither of these matches had to happen and neither of these matches should have happened. It didn't improve the stock of anyone involved and you have to ask what Ice Train did to deserve a World title match in the first place, as he clearly wasn't on The Giant's level. Sting and Lex Luger faced The Stieners for the tag titles in the main event, only for it to end via no-contest due to The Giant coming down and, no not chokeslamming Rick Stiener. But picking him up and gently PLACING him on the concrete floor. If you can't do the spot safely or convincingly, do something else! Scott, Lex and Sting teamed up, allowing Lex to clothesline him out of the ring. Scott Hall yet again interrupted the broadcast only to have a confrontation with Sting. Scott tells him he has a "Big surprise for him...next week" In summary, bad wrestling, average show, still better than Raw.

Raw/Nitro June 10th

Monday Night Raw 10/6/96 (2.25 Stars)

After last week's showing from WCW, I'm convinced Raw can actually take one of these, even with the hour handicap working against them. Let's see if they pull it off this week. Owen Hart pins Yokozuna in a fun KOTR qualifier, considering it was a one armed man versus someone weighing over 500 pounds (Owen was in his kayfabe arm cast) Wildman Marc Mero defeats Skip in the second qualifying match of the night after some candid comments from Jake Roberts in regards to his very real substance abuse issues. Viewers were encouraged to apply via P.O Box, auditioning to be the new manager for the Bodydonnas! Jerry Lawler presents THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR with a really good portrait that Jerry may have actually created himself (Lawler is a known artist, creating a piece for his boss Vince McMahon, causing him to well up) Warrior talks some smack, but put Jerry's portrait over before doing so. This led to Jerry smashing him over the head with it! A very weird feud indeed. British Bulldog defeated Undertaker via count-out after Mankind held his ankles from beneath the ring. Ever so slightly better than last week, but that's not saying much sadly.

WCW Nitro 10/6/96 (2.75 Stars)

Over to Nitro. As I did last week and seeing as Nitro is now 2 hours, unless something is worth mentioning, it will be omitted from the review. I.E throwaway matches etc. Booker T and Scott Stiener opened the show in a good contest that saw Scott take the victory. I'm a big fan of both of these men and it's a joy to see some of their earlier work. Debra McMichael implores Mean Gene to speak with management and get the PPV tag match called off. DDP defeats a debuting Jim Powers who looked absolutely MASSIVE before Sting swiftly hands Meng the same fate. Debra McMichael tried to reason with Flair and Arn backstage, only for it all to kick off. Renegade and WCW's "top prospect" Joe Gomez are both assaulted as they try to make the save. They were set to face the Horsemen in the main-event but now will have to be replaced! The obligatory World Title match kicks off hour two and it's starting to seem like an open challenge at this point as The Giant retains his title against Scott Norton, because of course he did. We see Billy Kidman's Nitro's debut end almost as quickly as it began, when he submitted to the hands of Lord Steve Regal, as well as some garbage with The Nasty Boys and Public Enemy that ends in a DQ. Lex Luger and Sting also retained their tag titles via DQ, against Arn Anderson and Ric Flair after The Giant interfered. Steiner had Sting and Luger's back as the three of them fought off The Giant yet again. The Giant challenges Luger to a match at the PPV. No rules! Was The Giant Scott Hall's "Big surprise?" Nope! Scott Hall once again interrupted Bischoff, this time with none other than Kevin NASH! Big Sexy gave Eric a quick English lesson, quipping one of the most re-quotable lines in pro wrestling history! "This is where the big boys play huh? Look at the adjective! Play!" This was brilliantly done and Bischoff sold it perfectly. He promised to deliver 3 men for Hall and Nash to fight at an upcoming PPV. Hands down the best 2 hour iteration of Nitro produced so far, with a number of good matches, debuts as well as a great finish! If you start strong and finish the same way, you'll always have a good show. Raw was seriously struggling for star power at this time, hence them stretching out the Shawn/Davey angle. That's the biggest parallel I noticed between Nitro and Raw. Nitro had big names up and down the card and just added 2 more! Bret taking a break greatly hurt the WWF during this time, and the sooner he's back, the better! Hopefully WWF creates a new star at K.O.T.R. Nitro with the point ahead of the PPV

Great American Bash '96

Following a rendition of the National Anthem, The Steiner Brothers defeat Fire & Ice in the tag opener. Scott botched a frankensteiner for the 1-2-3. Not the best outing from The Steiner Brothers, but still a very watchable match. Konnan successfully defends his U.S title against "El Gato'' A.K.A Pat Tatanka who was doing a poor Tiger Mask impression (He was actually wearing Sayama's mask, the man who originally portrayed the gimmick) If you knew who Pat Tatanka was at the time, he would have been instantly recognisable as it wasn't exactly a subtle disguise. DDP defeats Marcus Bagwell in a "Lord of the Ring match" Dallas previously won this tournament at Slamboree, yet the moniker of Lord of the Ring, as well as the World Title shot, was taken from him as one of his feet hit the floor. It's unclear whether this was some kind of redemption match or a revenge story, but anyway, it was nothing spectacular. Speaking of, Dean Malenko pinned Rey Mysterio Jr in a match that was nothing short of spectacular. Dave Meltzer simultaneously gave it 4 stars whilst also burying it, stating Rey's credibility had been hurt losing to a midcard guy. I bet Dave's really fun at parties. He was right about one thing at least. It was easily a 4 star affair and Match of the Month so far! From a technical standpoint it was flawless with neither man missing a beat. Tenta continued his Kill Bill style revenge angle, pinning Big Bubba in the process. Filler at best but thankfully, it was over quickly. Chris Beniot defeated Kevin Sullivan in a Falls Count Anywhere match. I hate to compare, but unfortunately in this instance I'm forced to. Rey/Malenko was slightly better and still no.1 in my Match of the Month rankings. Yes, this was brawl based so can't compare in any way to a technical match. As a brawl, I felt it was very good indeed. A minor criticism would be event staff & security directed traffic far too much in an effort to keep fans away. It's usually a good idea to plan matches like this in a way where that kind of thing is kept to a minimum. Although I'll admit I'm being picky in saying that. Some positives; Dusty Rhodes truly shines on commentary, especially considering he lost a dear friend in Dick Murdoch only the day before. It was still a very good example of a brawl and I really enjoyed the simple finish. There weren't a million kickouts and it didn't take a sawn off shotgun to get the win. Beniot set up a table on the top rope and hit a suplex. Post-match AA and Beniot stomp a mudhole in Sullivan and The Four Horsemen reign supreme. Sting defeats Lord Steve Regal in another strong match. This was more of the technical variety and while I personally don't feel it had the story to carry it, I have to admit the action on this card has been good for the most part. Which is lucky as we have the ridiculous business of Ric Flair and AA with Bobby Heenan taking on Kevin Greene and Mongo accompanied by Randy Savage. I wasn't a fan of this story, even less so in retrospect as the whole star power aspect loses all meaning. It was a fun match for what it was, and in all fairness Mongo and Kevin Greene didn't look totally out of place in the ring like some celebrity cameos I've seen, with Kevin Greene looking particularly impressive. Also, even if I don't care about it, I'm sure someone did at the time. Flair and AA steal the victory due to Steve 'Mongo' McMichael turning heel after the Horsemen swayed Mongo's wife with a case full of dollar bills. Bischoff calls out Hall and Nash, trying to escape legal trouble by making them clarify they DON'T work for the WWF. Sullivan noted that WCW were in depositions with the WWF for four days over this storyline. Bischoff promised Hall and Nash a match at Bash at the Beach before receiving a power bomb off the stage for his troubles. Now this was a very cool moment indeed. It looked good as well as feeling truly shocking! The Giant successfully defends his World Title against Lex Luger to end the night. The main event was a let down, but there was more than enough on the rest of the card to make up for that. As a result it ranks as the best PPV I've seen produced by either company so far (3.5 Stars)

Raw/Nitro June 17th

Monday Night Raw 17/6/96 (2 Stars)

WCW had a ton of momentum following on from The Great American Bash as well as the signings of Hall and Nash. What would the WWF produce in response? The answer was a perfectly mediocre (at best) go home show before their King of the Ring PPV. Austin progressed to the KOTR semi finals at the expense of Savio Vega to open proceedings, debuting his now famous "Stunner" in the process. Marc Mero also progressed in his match against Owen Hart, setting up Austin Vs Mero for the PPV! I watched this match at 1.5 x speed, and it was still dull. Supposedly, the crowd had already sat through 3 hours of whatever the WWF were producing at this time as they taped things in chunks, so were massively burned out. It cuts to Davey speaking to JR at a live event happening at the "same time" before HBK ran out and they were pulled apart. Jerry Lawler attacked Aldo Montaya who was innocently waiting in-ring for his match with HHH, in what was Jerry's attempt to show the world what he can do to THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR! (Yes, you do always have to shout his name. It's the law) Next we saw Pillman's WWF contract signing. This was only days removed from his car accident, and he was allegedly pulled out of the hospital to film this segment. This was a much needed signing at the time, in my opinion at least. Pillman was very talented and it freshened up the roster quite a lot. Jake Roberts defeats Goldust in the main-event before Mr Perfect is announced as the special referee for Davey/Shawn at King of the Ring. A pretty underwhelming show, outside of the semi decent opener, the rest felt like they were simply treading water.

WCW Nitro 17/6/96 (3 Stars)

After a quick Rick Steiner victory over Stevie Ray (followed by a swift Harlem Heat beatdown for good measure) we finally saw the Nitro debut of Joe Gomez. He was the next big thing and a pretty big deal apparently, so let's see for ourselves. He had previously wrestled for WCW in 90/91, before touring the independent scene for 5 years until he eventually returned to Nitro. He had a great head of hair but the match was too short to properly analyze him. All jokes aside, he looked fine, but I'll be surprised if he's pushed further than the mid card. Spoiler (He wasn't) He went over anyway and no one can take that moment away from him. Ric Flair cut a promo on Savage ahead of their grudge match later that evening. Arn Anderson and Beniot defeated The American Males before Big Bubba continued his feud with John Tenta. *Firstly, I was glad to see Beniot compete as a Horseman properly. Maybe glad is the wrong word to use in retrospect, but in relation to his character and overall ability it made sense as he was quickly becoming the "Forgotten member" He also used his flying headbut in this match. For those unfamiliar with the story, Beniot murdered his wife Nancy, as well as his child Daniel, before ending his own life. This was blamed on a myriad of reasons, but the most prominent and perhaps credited reason. Is that of CTE (Trauma to the brain stemming from concussions or repeated blows to the head) His move "The flying headbutt" which is exactly what it sounds like, was perhaps a major reason for him suffering with this condition. As a result, it's sad to think about how different things could have been had the move not been used or outright banned.* In regards to the match involving Tenta and Bubba. I really have no idea where they were going with this. Tenta won anyway so hopefully that ends things. Although judging by the post match beatdown from Bubba, probably not. Ric Flair picked up a win against Randy Savage thanks to interference from AA, Beniot & Steve McMichael (New look Four Horsemen) before we were treated with round 2 of Malenko/Mysterio. A couple of very good matches back to back. Flair and Savage had some of the best chemistry I've ever seen between two performers, and Rey/Malenko are obviously fantastic in the ring! Malenko retained his title. The Giant had similar luck, retaining his World Title against Scott Steiner in the main event. Considering the styles of both men, combined with it only being The Giant’s second full year as a pro, this match was surprisingly fun to watch. Concluding the show, we learned the names of the three men set to compete against Nash and Hall at Bash at the Beach are, Lex Luger, Randy Savage AND STING! Another poor showing from Raw essentially gifted Nitro a free point. WWF really needs a strong PPV to turn around their fortunes and try to steal back some of the buzz. Nitro's first hour wasn't great, but there was some real quality in the second, with both Flair/Savage as well as Mysterio/Malenko II both surpassing 3 stars in my opinion. The main-event, while predictable, had a "what if" moment towards the end adding a modicum of drama.

King of the Ring '96

The opening video package is well done. It nicely runs over all of the upcoming matches on the card, something they don't always do nowadays. Steve Austin defeats Marc Mero to advance to the KOTR finals in a fantastic match! Mero has been hit and miss so far, delivering good matches against HHH and Austin, but not so much in the run up to this event, as he underwhelmed against Owen Hart and Skip respectively. This was a genuine 4 star match in my opinion, as well as one that saw Austin rushed to the hospital to get stitches. This ain't ballet! Unfortunately the same can't be said for Jake Roberts, as he went over Vader to advance. The finals were set. Jake Roberts Vs Steve Austin. The Smoking Gunns retained against The Godwinns. WWF's tag division was nonexistent at this time. It was thrown together and treated as an afterthought. Ahead of his match with Warrior, Lawler gets heat by talking shit to the crowd, getting up close and personal, making some of them reach over the guardrail for a piece of him. A different time indeed. Warrior goes over. This would be his final PPV match with the WWF due to contractual disputes. He missed several house shows, claiming he didn't receive owed cuts from his merchandise sales. Consequently, in 2005 a DVD would be made with the sole purpose of burying his time in the WWF. He would return in 2014 to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, sadly passing away 3 days later due to a heart attack. He has since been spoken about in a much more positive light. Mankind battled The Undertaker in a famous first battle between the two men. An excellent match that saw Mankind win using his mandible claw finisher. Here you had two guys who were unlike anything else on TV at the time! Sure Flair and Savage are great, but where else could you watch two characters as unique as this? It didn't come across as hokey either, and you could argue that it should have. That speaks volumes of the talent these two men possessed. Ahamed Johnson took the I-C Title from Goldust in a move I really liked. Johnson looked legit, and this can get at least one or two more matches out of the fued. It needed a title change to keep it interesting in my opinion, and as it was clear Shawn would be keeping the WWF Title for the foreseeable, so I don't mind if this one goes back and forth a bit. Pillman says Jeffrey Dahmer (the noted cannibal) should have consumed the entire state and that he's going to "rape, pillage and plunder" the WWF. I doubt creative asked him to say that. Austin defeated Jake Roberts to win the 4th iteration of the tournament and proceeded to cut the now famous "Austin 3:16" promo. During his coronation speech he said "Austin 3:16 just whooped your ass" as well as "That's the bottom line...cause STONE COLD SAID SO" The catchphrase BLEW UP, and in turn, so did he. Austin 3:16 shirts would soon become the top merch seller, so you never know what may take off and what won't. As a result it's my view at least, that promos should never be 100 percent scripted. Nobody could have imagined in their wildest dreams such a small thing would have ignited a career as big as Austin's. Alongside Hogan, The Rock and Ric Flair. ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin is one of the most recognisable names/faces in the business to non wrestling fans globally. Onto the main-event. HBK retained his WWF Title against the British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith) in a very good match to round off an excellent PPV! HBK was then attacked by Mr Perfect and British Bulldog until Ahmed Johnson would come down to make the save. Vader came down to make it 3 on 2 until Warrior intervened leaving himself, Johnson and HBK standing tall in the ring. A 6 man was planned for IYH: International Incident. This was obviously scrapped as Warrior would leave the company. June has been a good month for PPVs in general, with both KOTR and GAB breaching the 3 star mark. Fan interest in Shawn/Davey was low due to the angle not being particularly compelling, yet KOTR still had three very good matches as well as a legendary promo that created one of the biggest stars in the biz (3.25 Stars)

Raw/Nitro June 24th

Monday Night Raw 24/6/96 (2 Stars)

June concludes as follows. Over on Raw, the new I.C champ Ahmed Johnson defeated HHH. Bodydonnas defeated Brooklyn Brawler and Jerry Fox. Shortly after Sunny was dropped by The Bodydonnas, we were introduced to Kloudi. A guy doing a poor transvestite/drag impersonation of Sunny I assume, donning a blonde wig and cheerleader skirt. Apparently the WWF and Vince found this transvestite character hilarious. I'm not saying it was offensive, and I'm not saying it isn't. But we can all probably agree that it wasn't funny. Anyway, Sunny promised to find a new challenger for either HBK or Johnson, maybe even both. She planned to manage them and control all of the major titles in WWF. HBK/Jannetty is billed for next week in a WWF Title match! Davey, Owen and Vader defeat Aldo Montoya, Savio Vega and Barry Horrowitz, before Taker gets a DQ win over Austin in the main thanks to a Goldust interference. I was slightly disappointed by this first meeting between Austin and Taker, but at least they had the right idea putting them atop the card.

WCW Nitro 24/6/96 (2.25 Stars)

Nitro didn't have a particularly strong episode themselves. It opened with a promo from none other than the three men set to take on Hall and Nash at Bash at the Beach. They were interrupted by their opponents in tonight's main event, Harlem Heat and The Steiner's. Public Enemy defeated Lord Steve Regal and Dave Taylor. I only mention this as it was possibly the most competent Public Enemy match I've seen. Rocco still made a few mistakes, but the overall action was good as it could be. Taskmaster murders an unspecified job guy, losing via DQ before calling out Beniot for round 2 at the upcoming PPV. Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero picked up singles victories against "Hardwork" Bobby Walker and The Barbarian respectively. Both matches are short and underwhelming, with Disco Inferno calling out Dean Malenko post-match. Beniot and AA picked up another win against Rock ‘n’ Roll Express with The Macho Man and Kevin Greene stopping a post match assault, keeping the feud alive in the process. Randy Savage pinned VK Wallstreet and Harlem Heat won the Tag Titles when they defeated The Steiner Brothers as well as the team of Sting and Lex Luger in the three way main-event. The matches were underwhelming, but the closing segment was anything but as Nash and Hall jumped the guardrail welding baseball bats as cops swarmed the ring, allowing Harlem Heat to capture the tag titles amidst the chaos. Nitro didn't have much going on, except the last segment involving the Outsiders. But all in all, it was going against another poor episode of Raw capping off an all round poor month of TV (from the WWF) At least now WWF has some more pieces to work with and the likes of Austin and Mankind can hopefully push on and help improve the show. Additionally, they would promote Vince Russo to the creative team sometime during the summer of '96 in an attempt to freshen up the product. This was amidst all time lows in the ratings (as low as 1.8) which Russo would help to improve. A clean sweep from Nitro as they claim every point from the month of June!

Summary and scores

It was trying to find a place to add this factoid, but perhaps a lesser known moment in history is Shawn Michaels was actually offered a WCW contract. According to Kevin Sullivan, he declined stating "They wouldn't know how to use me" Anyway, a gluttony of matches to choose from for my MOTM. From Mysterio/Malenko, Beniot/Sullivan, Austin/Mero, HBK/Davey and even Flair/Savage on Nitro. Anyone of these matches has a legit claim. Perhaps controversially, I'm giving it to Austin and Mero. Neither man stopped throughout the 15+ minute contest, working a very physical and aggressive looking match. With the Monday Night Wars now in full swing, the scores are WCW 23-10 WWF with 4 Draws.

Match of the Month: Steve Austin Vs Marc Mero (King of the Ring)