Sunday, May 26th, 1996
Florence Civic Center
Florence, South Carolina
Tuesday, May 28th, 1996
North Charleston, South Carolina
North Charleston Coliseum
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Ah yes, this very infamous show. With this being a Memorial Day weekend, a friend of mine ordered this show and had a few friends over for a sleepover. It turned into a disappointing result for wrestling, but still a great night otherwise.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Marc Mero
Helmsley's valet tonight looks like she's in her 40s, which I'm sure was not the intention. Dok Hendrix is backstage with Mero and Sable and Mero cuts one of his cheesy Wild Man promos. Mero gets in the ring and goes right after Helmsley. He knocks Hunter to the floor and hits a dive to get this match off to a good start. Vince mentions that there are some big storms outside the building and warns that there may be some technical difficulties. Hunter hits a high knee and gets a 2 count. Mero goes for a backslide but Hunter has been working on the shoulder and he can't pull it off. Hunter takes Mero's left arm and slams it into the ring post. Hunter continues to work on that shoulder and arm and Vince just keeps saying the word "methodically". Hunter lays out Mero's arm and hits a running knee drop on it. Mero gets a small burst but it's cut short by a clothesline. Hunter goes back to work on the arm and uses the rope for leverage. Hunter goes up top but Mero gets there and crotches him. Mero hits a top rope hurricanrana to a good pop and both men are down. Mero hits a back body drop and I like how he used his right shoulder to send him up. Mero goes up top and hits a sunset flip for a nearfall. Mero dropkicks Hunter over the top rope and misses with the somersault dive. He's now grabbing his left knee. Hunter now grabs Sable and tells her to watch this. Hunter goes back in the ring and slaps Mero before setting him up for the Pedigree. Mero counters and hits a slingshot into the ring post and picks up the victory. I am probably in the minority here, but I liked that match.
Match Rating: ***
Mr. Perfect is backstage with British Bulldog, Jim Cornette, Diana, Clarence Mason and Owen Hart. Cornette announces that he was able to get Owen a manager's license for tonight only so that he can have a manager who has all of his attention since he also has Vader vs. Yokozuna.
And then the power went out...
We waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually we got the power back on and we are at the main event of the evening.
WWF Championship Match
British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels
Dok is with Shawn and Jose (for some reason). The audio sucks and he says that no matter what is going on, he's still focused and compares this storyline to Melrose Place. They show Michaels walking to the ring and Mr. Perfect bumps shoulders into him. Clarence Mason has a mic held up for him and of course it doesn't work at first. He eventually says that Michaels has tried to break up a family and he serves Michaels. Great. Shawn rips it up and Diana is shocked. Bulldog attacks Michaels and we are underway. Bulldog tries to dump Michaels over the top, but he lands on the apron. They go back and forth and Bulldog holds onto the ropes when Michaels goes for a superkick and then Michaels dives over the top onto Bulldog. Jerry then kind of defends Shawn, saying he understands what Shawn is up against since they are both good looking guys and women throw themselves at them. Shawn hits an ezuigiri. Shawn slows the match down and gets in some mat wrestling. Even Vince calls out Bulldog for the lack of aggression from Bulldog. Lawler defends him due to the distraction Shawn has created with his wife and then Vince argues with him with the exact same point. Bulldog gets out of the hold and hits a big back body drop. I can assure you that in 1996, not one single person believed that Bulldog would ever win the WWF Championship. I will say that the storyline for my younger self was definitely a little surprising, it still didn't make me believe in Bulldog any more than I did prior. Now it's time for Bulldog's rest hold. They've really slowed this match down to a crawl right now. I understand that they are giving them nearly 20 minutes here, but I don't understand the logic of 5 consecutive minutes of it being rest holds. Bulldog sends Michaels off the ropes and he ducks a clothesline but looks to trip through the ropes to the floor. Michaels battles back and sends Bulldog off the ropes, causing the two to collide. Both men are up and Michaels hits the flying forearm and a kip up. Bulldog is off the ropes and accidentally runs into the referee. Shawn hits a top rope elbow drop and starts tuning up the band. Owen runs in so he hits him with it instead. This allows the Bulldog to attack him and now a new referee is out. Bulldog goes for a running powerslam, but Michaels pushes his way out of it and hits a German suplex into a bridge for a 3 count. Bulldog's music hits and Diana brings in the WWF Championship. The second referee comes in and holds up Shawn's hand and his music plays. Fink tries to make an announcement but the referee's and competitors are still arguing. Diana holds up the title belt in the aisle and out comes Gorilla Monsoon to grab it out of her hands. We finally get a replay while all of this is going on. Both guys shoulders clearly look to be down. Fink finally announces that Monsoon has declared this match a draw. That's always a popular decision. Fink then of course lets us know that the title can't be changed on a draw, so Shawn is still champ. They show a different angle and Bulldog tried to get his shoulder up but was unable to. This was definitely one of the more disappointing Shawn singles matches.
Match Rating: ***
Off to Tuesday night we go. We have Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect on commentary for this portion of the show.
Caribbean Strap Match
Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega
They show footage of Austin losing to Vega on Sunday in the dark. DiBiase is so confident that Austin will win this time, he will leave the WWF if he loses. Ross and Perfect are laying it on heavy about how they just had this match in the dark two nights ago. These guys get this match off to a physical start and the crowd is responding to it much better than WrestleMania. Austin gets his first attempt to touch the turnbuckles, but we are way too early for that, so Savio is able to break the count. Austin is able to dump Savio over the top and Austin comes along with him. Savio props Austin on the top rope and goes for a superplex but Austin is able to knock him off. Austin slowly tries to stand up and Savio now kicks him to crotch him on the top. Savio climbs back up and hits a top rope superplex. Savio gets close to getting the 4th turnbuckle until Austin nails him with a spinebuster. Austin goes for a Tombstone and they go back and forth with it ending with Savio falling over the top rope to the floor. Austin goes up to the top and Savio pulls him off and into the guardrail. That may be the closest thing to a high flying move that I have seen Austin pull off in WWF. Austin is able to come back and desperately drives Savio into the steps. Savio then pulls the strap and now he goes into the steps. Savio tries to carry Austin and touch all 4. He gets 3, but then Austin falls to the ground and is able to pull him back. Austin hits a piledriver and then DiBiase, being the brilliant manager that he is, tells Austin to go for one more. Savio obviously counters out of it and DiBiase is furious. Austin puts on the Million Dollar Dream and Savio moves around and touches the turnbuckles with Austin on his back. Savio is able to fall on his back and counter out of it. Austin wraps the strap around Savio's neck and starts dragging him around the ring. Austin is touching the turnbuckles, but so is Savio unbeknownst to Austin. It takes DiBiase until the third one to realize it. Austin and Savio start battling over the last one and Austin pulls Savio and he goes into the fourth turnbuckle for the victory. DiBiase is upset and Austin heads to the back on his own. Who would have thought that getting rid of DiBiase would be the best thing for his career other than every person on planet Earth? Savio grabs the mic and starts singing "Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye". I promise you, no one was upset that DiBiase was gone. They actually start playing the song as well. This was a hard-hitting match for a feud that I'm not really sure many people were invested in other than young me. They won them over with this one though.
Match Rating: ***3/4
They show Shawn Michaels in the AOL room chatting. Actually, he doesn't appear to type a single thing.
Vader vs. Yokozuna
They go at it quickly but then we get some stalling. They do a tease of a football stance vs. a sumo stance but Vader backs out of it. After more stalling they do actually do it and Yoko wins that and clotheslines Vader over the top to the floor. Yoko continues to get the better of Vader here and is working on his left leg. Yoko hits the Rock Bottom and a Samoan drop and is visibly winded. He sets him up for the Banzai Drop until Cornette is on the apron. Yoko blocks the tennis racket shot and throws Cornette into the ring. Cornette puts the racket on the ground and tries to shake his hand. Yoko grabs it and starts squeezing it before giving him a headbutt. He then pulls Cornette into the corner but Vader is starting to crawl over there. He moves Cornette out of the ring and Yoko misses. Vader hits a big elbow on the injured leg of Yoko and then hits a splash on the leg. Vader hits the Vader Bomb and that's all. That was a lot of stalling in there and while I know Yoko is no slouch, they definitely kind of took a little of the mystique away from Vader here in my opinion. Vader does a great job selling his injured leg after the match, so props to that.
Match Rating: *1/2
We get a King of the Ring commercial featuring Jerry Lawler and Vince as Satan. Pretty accurate. JR lets us know that Shawn Michaels will take on British Bulldog again and the Smoking Gunns will take on the Godwinns. They have some big news for Ultimate Warrior taking on Jerry Lawler. They show the brackets and Vader already advanced over Ahmed last night and he gets a bye due to the Lawler/Warrior match.
Casket Match For The Intercontinental Championship
Goldust vs. Undertaker
This is still the most random casket match that I can recalls. Goldust is feuding with Ahmed and Undertaker is feuding with Mankind and yet here we are. Taker could never bet outdone with mind games, so he has Paul Bearer come out the entrance and Taker is behind Goldust and he attacks him to kick things off. Taker is mostly dominating here and hits Old School before it was old. Goldust is able to hit a body slam and of course Taker sits right back up. Goldust hits him with at Tombstone and again, Taker sits back up. Goldust hits him with a running clothesline while Taker is seated. We get our first view of the casket cam, as Goldust rolls Taker in. He can't shut the lid because Taker fights his way out of it. Goldust is able to dump Taker out of the ring despite being hit with a big boot just moments before. Goldust slams Taker into the steps and chokes him with electrical cables. Back in the ring, Taker starts fighting back and knocks Goldust down with some right hands. Goldust is able to slap on the sleeper hold and has him down flat on the mat. He rolls Taker into the casket, but Taker just is able to block it closing with his arm. Taker pushes the lid and it sends Goldust to the floor. Back in the ring, Taker hits a leaping clothesline and then they both spill to the floor after another clothesline. Goldust hits a body slam back in the ring and climbs to the top. He hits a top rope clothesline and goes for a cover and counts to 3. I feel like his character wouldn't make that mistake. Goldust goes for Old School, but Taker doesn't let it happen and yanks him off the top. Taker puts him up and hits the Tombstone. He goes to roll Goldust into the casket and when he opens it up, Mankind is in there and puts on the Mandible Claw. Taker is in the casket and Goldust is the winner. They kind of gave away the outcome by making this for the Intercontinental title, but I don't think anyone expected such a well executed finish there. The casket starts smoking and when they get it open, it's empty. Paul Bearer is upset and the lights go out. Much like the Diesel/Bret match at the February show, the match itself was just okay and the finish was awesome.
Match Rating: **
Now, obviously watching this live, this was a disappointment, but not one that you can pin on the actual show itself. In its condensed version, this is a very solid show. Nothing is terrible and the strap match is actually quite good. Coming off a hot main event at the last show, the Shawn match is definitely a disappointment. Even if you take the booking out of it, they really just didn't put in the effort you would have expected here. However, this is one of those shows that actually has a few feuds that matter rather than a bunch of random Raw matches and that's a win.
Overall Rating: 59%
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