RAW #141
Date: 1 January 1996
Location: Bob Carpenter Center; Newark, DE (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler
The step-daddy of the mac-daddy of them all! Or something like that...
Well, this year can't be worse than 1995, right? Anyway, tonight is the RAW BOWL, a one-time only special episode to bring in the new year with *many* football references that I don't know or care about as a British person. This is actually part of the taping that began with the live episode on 18 December, so this is old-old at this point. Vince and Jerry are our hosts as usual.
The Smoking Gunns def. 1-2-3 Kid & Sycho Sid (w/Ted DiBiase, Owen Hart & Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette), and Razor Ramon & Savio Vega in the RAW Bowl (18:31 shown)
The rules here are pretty simple; it's basically a four corners elimination match with one optional time-out granted to each team (only one of which actually uses it in this match). The mat is green, Earl Hebner is dressed like an NFL referee, and each team has a different colour jersey. Okay, they have put some effort into this I suppose. On his way to the ring, Razor gets accosted by Goldust's usher to continue that feud (but no match is announced yet). Owen Hart and Bart Gunn begin the match, but Owen quickly tags in Billy to remind me about the dumbest part of four corner tag matches: team mates can fight each other. The Gunns quickly decide to just tag Owen and Yoko in at the same time. Yoko actually knocks Owen down, even though that makes little sense, so Owen tags out and brings Savio into the match. Yoko hits him with a slam and tags in Kid, who gets a near fall off a spinning heel kick. Tough break for Savio so far! Meanwhile, Jerry is being his usual creepy self at ringside with Miss RAW Bowl. Back in the ring, we get lots of tags exchanged in short order. Eventually, Savio makes it over to Razor, who takes it right to Kid and hits a fallaway slam! Kid knows what is next and pleads for a time-out, but Razor hits the Razor's edge anyway. Ha! Hebner won't count though as he's observing the time-out. Meanwhile, Sid enters and wipes out Razor with a clothesline (which the ref should probably see, as he nearly gets wiped out as well), allowing Kid to get the cover and elimination (9:43). Owen and Bart go at it again now, but Owen's diving headbutt whiffs and Bart gets over to Billy for the HOT TAG. He runs wild but Kid kicks him from the apron and allows Owen to hit a neck breaker. Owen signals Yoko to head up top for a Banzai Drop, but the Gunns engineer a last-second switcheroo and Owen goes splat! The Gunns hit a double dropkick on Yoko and send him through the ropes, before pinning Owen (14:02). Sid finally tags in and goes to work on Billy, before performing some double-team offense with Kid, whipping him across the ring into a dropkick in the corner. A clothesline leads into a REST HOLD as Sid keeps control. Billy fights out of it but eats Sid's boot and takes a leg drop, which gets two for Sid. Sid has Billy set for a chokeslam now, but everything breaks down and Razor returns to ringside, shoving Kid off the turnbuckle onto Sid himself. Billy takes advantage of the commotion and pins Sid. Hey, they actually put over their tag champs?! This was all smoke and mirrors really as the match itself played second-fiddle to the pageantry and constant football references on commentary and din't really mean anything. It wasn't bad though and moved at a fast enough pace. (**)
It's time for the RAW Bowl halftime show, as Dok Hendrix previews Diesel vs. King Mabel II later tonight and hypes up the big matches at the Royal Rumble.
Then, bizarrely, we get the full Hogpen Match from In Your House 5 between Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Henry O. Godwinn. I've already reviewed this (**1/2) in my 1995 thread, but you can read my full recap and thoughts here.
Diesel def. King Mabel (w/Sir Mo) (0:08)
If Mabel's push didn't die at IYH 5 then this was the parting shot. Mabel gets the big entrance with jobbers (hey, that's Jeff Hardy) carrying him to the ring, only for Diesel to roll in, attack from the bell, boot Mabel in the face, and pin him in less than 10 seconds. Squaaaaash. He then grabs Miss RAW Bowl off Jerry Lawler and escorts her away from the pervert. And I'm meant to think this guy has a bad attitude?! No rating here, obviously.
Backstage, Brooklyn Brawler (real name Steve Lombardi) tries to present the Lombardi Trophy to The Smoking Gunns (a funny joke for the smarks) and then gets the crap beat out of him, before getting drenched by iced tea in an awkward bit of product placement.
The Royal Rumble is coming and we have our first tranche of participants announced. There's some obvious names in there like Diesel, Owen and Bulldog, a returning Tatanka, Bam Bam Bigelow (who isn't actually in the match), Dory Funk Jr. (a play to build a partnership with AJPW) and, most significantly, the man known as VADER! He wasn't actually signed yet but that would change soon enough, making him the first big name to cross the border to the WWF during the Monday Night Wars.
To close out a very weird episode, we get the first edition of “Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin’ War Room”, as we meet The Huckster, Nacho Man, Scheme Gene, and Billionaire Ted. These skits begin awful silly and then get progressively more personal as Vince gets more and more backed into a corner.
Well, so much for putting your best foot forward to start the year. This was a pretty lame episode, although the RAW Bowl stuff was fine, and Diesel squashing Mabel's push was a relief. Overall though, it felt like a very thin show/taping, seeing as they had to use content from IYH5 (and will do so again next week) to fill out the show. Thumbs down.
NEXT TIME: Shawn reveals what his future holds! Jeff Jarrett takes on Hakushi!
Date: 1 January 1996
Location: Bob Carpenter Center; Newark, DE (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler
The step-daddy of the mac-daddy of them all! Or something like that...
Well, this year can't be worse than 1995, right? Anyway, tonight is the RAW BOWL, a one-time only special episode to bring in the new year with *many* football references that I don't know or care about as a British person. This is actually part of the taping that began with the live episode on 18 December, so this is old-old at this point. Vince and Jerry are our hosts as usual.
The Smoking Gunns def. 1-2-3 Kid & Sycho Sid (w/Ted DiBiase, Owen Hart & Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette), and Razor Ramon & Savio Vega in the RAW Bowl (18:31 shown)
The rules here are pretty simple; it's basically a four corners elimination match with one optional time-out granted to each team (only one of which actually uses it in this match). The mat is green, Earl Hebner is dressed like an NFL referee, and each team has a different colour jersey. Okay, they have put some effort into this I suppose. On his way to the ring, Razor gets accosted by Goldust's usher to continue that feud (but no match is announced yet). Owen Hart and Bart Gunn begin the match, but Owen quickly tags in Billy to remind me about the dumbest part of four corner tag matches: team mates can fight each other. The Gunns quickly decide to just tag Owen and Yoko in at the same time. Yoko actually knocks Owen down, even though that makes little sense, so Owen tags out and brings Savio into the match. Yoko hits him with a slam and tags in Kid, who gets a near fall off a spinning heel kick. Tough break for Savio so far! Meanwhile, Jerry is being his usual creepy self at ringside with Miss RAW Bowl. Back in the ring, we get lots of tags exchanged in short order. Eventually, Savio makes it over to Razor, who takes it right to Kid and hits a fallaway slam! Kid knows what is next and pleads for a time-out, but Razor hits the Razor's edge anyway. Ha! Hebner won't count though as he's observing the time-out. Meanwhile, Sid enters and wipes out Razor with a clothesline (which the ref should probably see, as he nearly gets wiped out as well), allowing Kid to get the cover and elimination (9:43). Owen and Bart go at it again now, but Owen's diving headbutt whiffs and Bart gets over to Billy for the HOT TAG. He runs wild but Kid kicks him from the apron and allows Owen to hit a neck breaker. Owen signals Yoko to head up top for a Banzai Drop, but the Gunns engineer a last-second switcheroo and Owen goes splat! The Gunns hit a double dropkick on Yoko and send him through the ropes, before pinning Owen (14:02). Sid finally tags in and goes to work on Billy, before performing some double-team offense with Kid, whipping him across the ring into a dropkick in the corner. A clothesline leads into a REST HOLD as Sid keeps control. Billy fights out of it but eats Sid's boot and takes a leg drop, which gets two for Sid. Sid has Billy set for a chokeslam now, but everything breaks down and Razor returns to ringside, shoving Kid off the turnbuckle onto Sid himself. Billy takes advantage of the commotion and pins Sid. Hey, they actually put over their tag champs?! This was all smoke and mirrors really as the match itself played second-fiddle to the pageantry and constant football references on commentary and din't really mean anything. It wasn't bad though and moved at a fast enough pace. (**)
It's time for the RAW Bowl halftime show, as Dok Hendrix previews Diesel vs. King Mabel II later tonight and hypes up the big matches at the Royal Rumble.
Then, bizarrely, we get the full Hogpen Match from In Your House 5 between Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Henry O. Godwinn. I've already reviewed this (**1/2) in my 1995 thread, but you can read my full recap and thoughts here.
Diesel def. King Mabel (w/Sir Mo) (0:08)
If Mabel's push didn't die at IYH 5 then this was the parting shot. Mabel gets the big entrance with jobbers (hey, that's Jeff Hardy) carrying him to the ring, only for Diesel to roll in, attack from the bell, boot Mabel in the face, and pin him in less than 10 seconds. Squaaaaash. He then grabs Miss RAW Bowl off Jerry Lawler and escorts her away from the pervert. And I'm meant to think this guy has a bad attitude?! No rating here, obviously.
Backstage, Brooklyn Brawler (real name Steve Lombardi) tries to present the Lombardi Trophy to The Smoking Gunns (a funny joke for the smarks) and then gets the crap beat out of him, before getting drenched by iced tea in an awkward bit of product placement.
The Royal Rumble is coming and we have our first tranche of participants announced. There's some obvious names in there like Diesel, Owen and Bulldog, a returning Tatanka, Bam Bam Bigelow (who isn't actually in the match), Dory Funk Jr. (a play to build a partnership with AJPW) and, most significantly, the man known as VADER! He wasn't actually signed yet but that would change soon enough, making him the first big name to cross the border to the WWF during the Monday Night Wars.
To close out a very weird episode, we get the first edition of “Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin’ War Room”, as we meet The Huckster, Nacho Man, Scheme Gene, and Billionaire Ted. These skits begin awful silly and then get progressively more personal as Vince gets more and more backed into a corner.
Well, so much for putting your best foot forward to start the year. This was a pretty lame episode, although the RAW Bowl stuff was fine, and Diesel squashing Mabel's push was a relief. Overall though, it felt like a very thin show/taping, seeing as they had to use content from IYH5 (and will do so again next week) to fill out the show. Thumbs down.
NEXT TIME: Shawn reveals what his future holds! Jeff Jarrett takes on Hakushi!
