Monday Night Raw 12-9-96

Original Airdate: Monday, December 9th, 1996
New Haven Coliseum
New Haven, Connecticut

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

This is the go home show before In Your House and we're getting Mankind vs. Undertaker.

Sid vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

It's champion vs. champion here. Sid runs down the aisle and attacks Helmsley during his entrance. Sid completely dominates here and hits the powerbomb after just a couple of minutes. He doesn't go for the pin for some reason and Helmsley rolls out of the ring. Helmsley is crawling up the aisle and we have a countout. I'm not really sure how that made him look any better than eating a pin. This established Sid as a force and made Helmsley look like a con. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show highlights of the Boiler Room Brawl between Mankind and Undertaker. They then claim that we have never seen them go at it in No Holds Barred. Minus the fact that the Boiler Room Brawl was exactly that. 

Goldust vs. Bart Gunn

Vince loves JR's Cruella de Vil joke, showing the power of terrible humor. Goldust is pretty aggressive here to start. The action spills outside and Goldust shoves Bart into the steps. They continue to hype up how we have never seen Mankind and Undertaker No Holds Barred. We get a live interview with Billy Gunn watching the TV on an angle. It's about as cookie cutter of a "I'm a heel now" promo as you'll see. This match actually gets a commercial break for some reason. Bart hits a crossbody and gets a 2 count out of it. Bart hits a bulldog, which is an interesting choice since it's one of Goldust's signatures. They are trying to work a quicker pace, but they both look a little gassed. Bart misses off the top rope, hurting his knee. Goldust clips him and picks up the victory. They were definitely trying; I'll give them that. Out comes Billy after the match and grabs a mic. He says that this is what happens when he's not around. Billy gets in his face and Bart hits him with a left hand. Billy scoots out and we are reminded that they are going to have a match next week. 

Match Rating: *1/2

They show clips of the Buried Alive match, which was most definitely not No Holds Barred. 

We then get a Justin Bradshaw and Uncle Zebekiah promo about their handicap match with Jesse James. I can't imagine why they were losing to WCW. 

Speaking of ratings, we go to Todd Pettengill for the Karate Fighters tournament and get highlights of the tournament. 

Handicap Match
Justin Bradshaw & Uncle Zebekiah vs. Jesse James

Double J does his singing entrance and cuts it short so he can attack both opponents. The crowd is absolutely dead for this match and that's no surprise. Even for Double J's comeback, absolutely nothing. Bradshaw holds James for Zebekiah and of course James ducks and Bradshaw gets hit with the branding iron. He does it right in front of the referee and he does nothing, so James pins him and gets the win. After the match, Bradshaw attacks Zebekiah and Vince is baffled by it. The guy has done nothing so far in his run, so not really sure why he would keep him around. This stunk.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Jim Ross is in the ring and introduces Bret Hart for an interview. Bret says that you take the technical wrestling and throw it out the window. All Bret has been thinking about is getting the title back. Bret says they call him Sycho Sid when he snaps, but when Bret snaps, they'll call him the WWF Champion. 

We see Mankind in Dubai saying he wants to go home and then into a Royal Rumble commercial with George and Adam. January 19th. 

We see the highlights from the Boiler Room Brawl, which was most definitely not No Holds Barred. 

Mankind vs. Undertaker

Mankind doesn't even get a televised entrance. The action starts off quick and Undertaker hits a leaping clothesline. Taker hits Old School, which I am still shocked to this day that they didn't come up with a name for that move for years. Taker has Mankind up for the Tombstone and out comes the Executioner. Taker sets him down and goes after Executioner. That leads to a Full Metal commercial, which is an album I listened to every morning while getting ready for school that year. We come back and they are brawling against the guardrail. Taker then stomps on Mankind's Mandible Claw hand on the steps. Taker then takes one of the steps and slams it on Mankind's hand. Mankind goes by the announce booth and sets up Taker's leg on a chair. Mankind leaps off the ring and hits an elbow right on Taker's leg. JR lets us know that he heard a pop. Mankind tries to use a padded chair but Taker kicks it into him. Mankind is then able to get the Mandible Claw on so I guess the early attack on his hand didn't end up working. Taker is in the hold for a long time and slowly starts to stand up. Taker escapes and we get a really weird looking move in the corner. They just kind of pretend it never happened and Taker hits the Tombstone for the win. This was a good main event, even if we have seen this 500 times by now. Right after the match, Executioner attacks Taker from behind and puts on the worst looking sleeper you will ever see. We go off the air with Taker about to pass out. 

Match Rating: ***

The Bret interview was short, but sweet and the main event was good enough for an hour long show to make this enjoyable. The rest was stuff that no one cared about, especially the Jesse James match. This really did nothing much in the way of getting you hyped for In Your House, so in that respect it was kind of a failure. 

Overall Rating: 55%

Monday Night Raw 11-25-96 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, November 25th, 1996
New Haven Coliseum
New Haven, Connecticut

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart

I would say that this is a pretty good way to start a show, even if we have seen it 100 times. While Owen is entering the ring, we see Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario at home and we will hear from them later on. We get a little bit of a slow pace to start, so I'm guessing they are going to get some time here. Owen hits a nice belly to belly suplex to regain control. I kind of stayed away from typing too much waiting for something to happen and just as the match finally picks up a little bit, out comes Steve Austin to hit Bret with a chair. This leads to Owen arguing with Austin and then British Bulldog as well. Lots of arguing, but not much action. I feel like they could have had a better match in their sleep, but this was far from bad. It just was nothing memorable.

Match Rating: **

Executioner vs. Freddie Joe Floyd

It is pretty obvious in the first 30 seconds that the Executioner is not long for this roster. Floyd is a very solid hand and you know he was likely giving it all he had here to make him look good, but it's very much a Waylon Mercy scenario here. Floyd hits a nice kick and gets a 2 count. Executioner then no sells some punches and hits a couple of turnbuckle clotheslines. He uses the Asian spike or something for the victory. Not good.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Shawn and Jose are sitting in a couch at Jose's house that just screams early 90s. Jose apologizes to Shawn and Vince cuts him off to ask him his status. They let us know that Shawn will take on the champion at Royal Rumble. Vince then tells Shawn that his boyhood dream has been shattered and he wonders if he can pick up the pieces. Shawn says he lost his edge and it wasn't Jose's fault. Lawler then calls Jose a fossil and says that he cost Shawn the title. Shawn sticks up for him and says that Sid is the man he wants. Vince asks about the crowd cheering for Sid and Shawn said he's good with it because he wants them to enjoy themselves, but he won't beg to anyone to cheer for him. Shawn is all fired up here. Shawn says he's going to take more risks and do what he did to become the top guy. That was kind of a fun segment since it didn't seem overly polished.

Back to the arena and out comes Sunny to join the announce table. Now it's time for the Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament. It's Sable vs. Sunny, the biggest feud behind the scenes. Sunny pulls off the big victory, but the referee finds out that she used gum to hold her figure down and then punches the referee. That leads to dad jokes from Lawler and Todd. 

Salvatore Sincere vs. Rocky Maivia

My favorite themed jobber, Sal Sincere. Sunny says she has her eyes on Rocky. After hyping Rocky up for a minute or two, we go to Dok Hendrix during the match for an update on Bret and Austin to interrupt the match. Sincere does a nice job of trying to make this feel like more than just a squash. It's basically a Superstars main event. Rocky hits the shoulder breaker and that's the victory. Not a great finisher. I wonder if he'll ever change that? 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Marc Mero tells us that it's time to get wild. 

We come back to Dok Hendrix and he says that Bulldog and Owen seem to be ready to defend their titles at In Your House. 

Billy Gunn vs. Marc Mero

Mero is in the ring already and Hunter Hearst Helmsley is at the announce table. Helmsley distracts him and it allows Gunn to attack. Back in the ring, Billy runs into a boot from Mero. Mero goes up top and hits a moonsault for a 2. Billy hits the Rocker Dropper, but Mero kicks out at 2. Billy is controlling the majority of this match and definitely has a big future coming up for him pretty soon. Mero gets a small package for 2, but Billy levels him with a clothesline when they get back up. They actually are giving this a commercial break. When we come back, Mero hits a hurricanrana from the top rope for a 2 count. Helmsley gets up and says he is going to help Sable. Mero hits a Samoan drop and then goes after Helmsley. He hits him but then Billy hits him from behind. Helmsley is in the ring with Billy and they attack him, causing the DQ. Out comes Jake Roberts to try to make the save, but he doesn't even get in a move before being attacked. Mero basically is able to clear the ring for himself. The match was fine for what it was. 

Match Rating: *1/4

This was a pretty good episode overall, but nothing really happened. They tried to play up the whole Owen/Bulldog/Bret/Austin stuff, but they never showed anything and it didn't seem like that big of a deal. I did like the Shawn interview and helped bring back some edge to his character. The wrestling was nothing special, but inoffensive.

Overall Rating: 51%