Monday, January 22nd, 1996
Stockton Civic Auditorium
Stockton, California
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We get a warning about the graphic nature of the show followed by Sunny putting chalk on a pool cue. We then get a Royal Rumble video narrated by both Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler. They announce that Bret Hart will face Goldust, Hunter Hearst Helmsley will square off against Razor Ramon and we'll hear from Shawn Michaels. By 1996 standards, that is a huge card.
After the show intro, we go to the arena (probably putting it nicely calling it that) and Vince and Lawler are talking over Savio Vega's music. We then hear from Jim Cornette in the ring and he says that the most important question is "What time is it?" It's Vader time.
Savio Vega vs. Vader
The crowd likes Vader probably more than Vince wants them to here. Vader hammers away on Savio in the corner and gets a lot of cheers. Savio fights back and hits Vader with a kick that sends Vader over the ropes but Vader lands on his feet. Savio it out after him and Vader drops Savio on the guardrail. I know Vader was injured at this time but he still looks good all things considered. Vader hits the avalanche in the corner and hits the Vader Bomb for the easy victory. That was an impressive win.
Match Rating: *1/2
After the match, Vader hits a body slam on Savio and sets him up in the corner. He hits a second Vader Bomb and then headbutts the referee before throwing him out of the ring. Another referee is out and Vader hits him with a right hand and gives him a powerbomb. Gorilla Monsoon is now out and gets in his face. In case you forgot how big Monsoon is, he is standing toe to toe with Vader here. Monsoon talks to the ring announcer and he lets us know that Vader has been indefinitely suspended. Monsoon takes off his glasses and they get into each other's faces again. Cornette tries to calm Vader down and it doesn't work. Monsoon hits some chops and Vader is stunned. Gorilla is checking on the referee and Vader hits an avalanche. He hits him with an elbow drop and drags him to the corner. He hits the Vader Bomb and out comes Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon. Vader heads out of the ring and even Vince is getting into it with him, wondering how he could have done that to Gorilla. 1996 me was VERY into this and looking back at it, this is still such an awesome way to introduce this character to the WWF audience. We go to commercial with Gorilla laying there. When we come back we get a recap and they show Gorilla being helped. Gorilla was 58 years old here for those wondering. We see Vader and Cornette arguing in the back and Vader tells that Vader is waging war on every wrestler and every official and that includes Mr. McMahon and Mr.....AHHHHH! That's one of the few times up to this point where a wrestler has said Vince's name as something other than an announcer.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Razor Ramon
This is the beginning of Helmsley bringing out a random valet to his matches. We get some still photos of Razor losing his Intercontinental title to Goldust with the help of 1-2-3 Kid at Royal Rumble. We get an interview from 1-2-3 Kid and Ted DiBiase who say that when you have a baby, you shove a bottle in their mouth and change their diaper, complete with props. Yes, this is real. Razor is dominating the early going into a quick commercial break. When we come back, we see Razor outside the ring and Helmsley hits a baseball slide. Helmsley tries to suplex Razor into the ring, but it's blocked. Razor tires one as well and that is blocked before Helmsley tries again and it's kind of blocked but it ends up with Razor being crotched on the top rope. Lawler tries to interview the valet. They do announce her name but does it really matter? Helmsley hits a clothesline and is showing a little bit more of an edge here tonight than normal. 1-2-3 Kid comes out and dumps a big baby bottle in his face. This actually fires Razor up and he hits some right hands on Helmsley before chasing Kid around the ring. Kid spits at him and that leads to more chasing and the eventual countout defeat. The match itself was going along pretty well but this was only here to give Helmsley a victory and for the feud of Kid/Razor to continue. Razor goes back into the ring and goes for a Razor's Edge but Helmsley escapes and heads to the back with his lady.
Match Rating: *3/4
For comedic reasons, we're going back to Billionaire Ted's. Ted says that he's bought everything and he challenges his team to come up with one original idea. Scheme Gene says to call his hotline and all of the people at the table call it. Be careful what you wish for, Vince.
They show Dok Hendrix and the Raw band playing live in the arena. I would have completely forgot this was ever a thing. Vince is in the ring and brings out Shawn Michaels, winner of last night's Royal Rumble. He says he told us so on winning the Royal Rumble and that WrestleMania is going to happen. But for the time in between, he wants to take care of the guy going around saying that he took him out and that's Owen Hart. He references the thugs that attacked him and that he will take care of them at another time. Out comes Cornette and he gets Shawn into putting up his WrestleMania title shot so that he can wrestle Owen. Shawn asks the crowd and they give him the thumbs up.
They hype up next week's Raw with British Bulldog taking on Diesel and Shawn Michaels against Yokozuna. This crowd definitely got their money's worth in terms of seeing a Raw taping.
Goldust vs. Bret Hart
A rare televised title vs. title match at this time. We get a pre-taped promo from Goldust as he's entering the ring, giving his performance last night two thumbs up. We get some stalling and a promise to try to get an update on Gorilla before our commercial break. When we come back, we're still not doing much. We get just a little bit of action and another commercial break. When we come back Goldust is in control of the match. Bret gets in some offense, Razor Ramon comes out and we get ANOTHER COMMERCIAL. Bret goes for the Sharpshooter and gets it on and that's it. This may be the most difficult lengthy match for me to grade up to this point. Why did they schedule so many commercials? Why would you have Goldust lose here? Vince comes in the ring and Bret blames Diesel for robbing us of a winner last night. He's sick of Diesel and he wants him in the steel cage match. Bret says that Taker will get another rematch. Bret's music is playing through all of this for some reason.
Match Rating: *1/2
The match ratings here are nothing special, but believe me, this was a great episode of Raw. I know it's not sustainable to have this good of a show with anything that is weekly, but this is something that should happen much more often than it probably does. Lots of energy here coming off a pretty poor pay per view and that's very encouraging.
Overall Rating: 80%
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