Two weeks remaining until In Your House 8: Beware of Dog and Raw is right in the middle of its Sioux City, Iowa tapings. Opening action sees one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions, Zip taking on Ahmed Johnson. Jim Ross interviews Ahmed, but he gets oiled down by Sunny. Ahmed says that his mother said to take out trash, not bring it in. Zip tries a top wristlock, but Ahmed breaks it easily. Ahmed gets in a hammerlock and goes for a back suplex. Zip tries to evade and hit a sneak attack, but Ahmed keeps him down with clotheslines.
Sunny goes to distract Ahmed, while Skip takes Zip's place. He drapes Ahmed on the ropes and drops his weight. He goes into a chinlock, but Ahmed picks him up and drops him with an electric chair. He goes for a running elbow drop, but Skip avoides. Skip goes on the attack, but Ahmed back drops him over the ropes. Zip tries to get in, but the ref catches him. While Ahmed catches Skip with a spinebuster. Pearl River Plunge gets the win in a quick, yet fun match. Good use of the "twin magic" only for it to fail.
We get an ad for "Warrior University", Warrior's wrestling school. Yes, the Ultimate Warrior tried his hand at a wrestling school around 1995. Part of the reason for him coming back to the WWF was to hock this scam of a product. It didn't last long in its initial run and didn't produce any actual graduates.
Up next, it's Duke "The Dumpster" Droese taking on Vader. Vader takes Droese to the corner and lays in fists. Droese gets in a boot to the midsection and gets in a clothesline that takes the big man down. He follows with a cross body that sends Vader over the ropes as we go to break. When we return, we see that Vader throws droese twice into the steps, giving him control. Splash by Vader follows.
He lays in more fists, then a clothesline. He gets in a sleeper hold, then transitioning to grinding at the head. Droese tries to break free, managing a jaw breaker. A pair of clotheslines and a dropkick knock Vader down. He then hits a headbutt to the lower extremities. Droese goes up for a diving headbutt, but Vader avoids. Slam and a Vader Bomb get the win in a dull match honestly. Neither really got a chance to click.
The Undertaker and Paul Bearer arrive with the gold casket. Vince is in the ring to interview them. Paul Bearer says that Goldust loves to he in the spotlight, but he's getting ready to cross over into the dark side. They have designed a special casket for his next movie "In Your House". Undertaker starts talking, but Goldust and Marlena make it to ringside. As "faggot" chants can be heard from the crowd, he begins to talk about how Undertaker is tall, dark, clammy and stiff. He remarks on the embalming fluid smell of Taker, the says that he can lay him in that coffin any time. He's never danced with the devil in the pale moonlight, but he'll try anything once. He grabs the arms of Taker and talks rigor mortis, but Undertaker begins to pull at his arms.
Mankind shows up and attacks Undertaker from behind. He locks in the mandible claw again on Undertaker as Goldust crawls around. He tells Mankind to remove the hold as he stands atop the dead man. He starts to disrobe over Undertaker, then covers the arms of Taker.
He grinds himself over Taker, then kisses to the crowd, but Taker sits up. Goldust freaks out and rolls out of the ring, smacking into the guardrail in the process. Both he and Marlena make their retreat as we end this really good segment.
Aldo Montoya in action next against Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. Aldo avoids offense for a while, but Bradshaw catches him with a hairpull takedown. Dropkick by Aldo, but his attempt at a cross body is met with a body slam. Uncle Zebekiah joins commentary saying that there are members of the WWF afraid to face Bradshaw, including Shawn Michaels, Yokozuna and Vader. In the ring, Bradshaw hits a gutwrench slam, then follows with an elbow.
Bearhug by Bradshaw until he takes Aldo to the corner and hits him with a massive whip to the corner. Bradshaw hits a suplex, then an elbow drop. Aldo avoids an elbow in the corner then hits some dropkicks. He goes to the top buckle and lands another missile dropkick. Bradshaw reverses a whip and lands a massive big boot and a clothesline for the win in a basic squash. Zeb grabs the branding iron and lays it on to Aldo.
We go to footage from Kuwait as the WWF held a live event over the previous week. We hear from Shawn who says that after Operation: Desert Storm, it's amazing and ironic that the first form of sports and entertainment they wanted to see was the WWF. But also during that tour, he was ambushed by the British Bulldog on a beach. He throws Shawn into the water and tries to drown him for being a "fornicator". Eventually he gives up, making his message known. That and he's on camera so that wouldn't have gone well for him.
Up next, it's our main event. WWF Champion Shawn Michaels (with Jose Lothario) taking on Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Vince talks about the woman who made accusations on Shawn last week and invites her to WWF Studios next week for a more in-depth interview. Hunter starts with an arm drag, then stalls some. Go-behinds from both men until Hunter gets another arm drag. Headlock and shoulder block spot is turned around as Hunter trips Shawn. Raw seems angry and focused as we go to break,
When we return, Shawn avoids contact and trips Hunter, walking over him. Hiptoss and a clothesline sends both men over, but Shawn skins the cat back into the ring, only to go right back out, Shawn goes to Hunter's valet Amy, then gets a strike in on Hunter. Another skin the cat to get him back into the ring. Shawn takes Hunter over the ropes by the head, then drops him nose-first. Headlock takedown and a cover for two by Shawn, who then transitions into a headlock. Hunter tries to escape, but Shawn grabs him by the nose. Back into the headlock, grinding on the nose.Hunter avoids, but Shawn catches him again in the nose. Shawn tries a cross body in the corner, but Hunter avoids, kicking him outside the ring.
Hunter gets a baseball slide, as Mr. Perfect shows up. Hunter tries another, but Shawn avoids and rams him nose-first into the ring apron. Hunter follows by sending Shawn head-first into the guardrail as we go to break. When we return, Hunter hits a knee drop, then covers for two. Hunter beats down on Shawn in the corner until referee Earl Hebner forces a break. He follows with a whip and a high knee, covering for two. Hunter locks in a chinlock as the crowd gets behind HBK. He escapes, but Hunter gets a shot to the midsection and an uppercut to the face. He sets Shawn over the ropes and hits a forearm to the face. Shawn fights back with a cross body escape, covering for two. Hunter lands some European uppercuts, but Shawn turns it into a backslide for two.
Hunter recovers with a clothesline. He lands some more forearms in the corner until the referee forces another break. Shawn gets whipped hard into the buckle as Hunter follows with a neckbreaker. Cover only gets two as we go to yet another break. When we return, Hunter is still in control with a sleeper. Shawn breaks free, but Hunter recovers. Both men exchange punches with Shawn being the victor. Hunter tries to recover with a pedigree, but Shawn turns it into a catapult. Inverse Atomic Drop and a flying forearm with a nip-up. Shawn slams Hunter down then goes up for the elbow drop, connecting. Cover only gets a two.
Shawn whips Hunter, who reverse it into a powerbomb, but Shawn turns that into a Hurricanrana, only for Hunter to counter that into a cover for two. Really nice sequence as we reach the twilight of this matchup. Blatant thumb to the eye by Hunter who hits a few more strikes in the corner. Shawn avoids a whip in the corner, but gets caught in another Pedigree attempt. Shawn back drops Hunter, then sets up Sweet Chin Music. He connects perfectly and covers for the three. Mr. Perfect walks away as Shawn celebrates in the ring. Post-match, we get an interview from Camp Cornette as we learn of Bulldog's match with Jake Roberts next week. He says that if he sees Shawn anywhere near him next week, he'll finish him before In Your House. Vince mentions Diana, but he says that he'll take Shawn's head clean off his body if he gets near her.
A really strong main event. Lots of back and forth work between both men. While you can always expect great workrate from Shawn, this was definitely a great showing for Hunter. Definitely his best work in-ring so far in his year plus in the company.
Overall, this was a far better Raw than the past few weeks. Granted there were some bland matches in Droese vs Vader and Aldo vs Bradshaw, but I did enjoy the antics of Zip/Skip vs Ahmed Johnson, thought Shawn and Hunter had a really solid main event, and enjoyed the segment involving Undertaker, Goldust and Mankind. Also, while I hated the whole infidelity angle for how hokey it was, I do think I'm starting to flip flop as Bulldog has been great in this whole thing. Focusing less on trying to win the WWF Title and just trying to straight up murder Shawn. Great stuff. So for that stuff, I have to give Raw a solid B this week.
---
However, before we get to next week's Raw, we have to talk about the events that went down in Madison Square Garden on May 19th. On the card that night, we saw Hunter Hearst Helmsley take on Razor Ramon, and Diesel face off against Shawn Michaels inside of a steel cage. That night in the garden would be the final matches for Razor and Diesel in the WWF as they had signed with WCW and were on their way out. This had been common knowledge for months as both men had given their notices months in advance (you may recall Scott Hall's suspension before Wrestlemania, killing his match with Goldust).
After the main event had ended, Razor Ramon jumped into the ring to celebrate with Shawn and Diesel. But he wasn't the only one, as Hunter also entered the ring. The four men then hugged each other and celebrated in front of the crowd in the Garden as this would signify the end of the Kliq in the WWF. It probably would have been considered a blip on the wrestling radar had a fan not managed to film the footage from the crowd that night. This moment forever became known as the "Curtain Call", and in the eyes of the more scholarly types in the business, the moment that caused irreparable damage to kayfabe. Something that may not seem that major now in an age where you'll see Titus O'Neil tweet a picture of Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman hanging out together, but in 1996, this was a serious matter.
So before we get to how this affects the business in the long run, it's first time to say goodbye. And we start by saying goodbye to the Bad Guy. Razor Ramon has perhaps the longest tenure of the people we've covered in the history of this blog, going all the way back to the 1993 Royal Rumble where Razor was still fresh in the company and was in the WWF title match against champion Bret Hart. While Razor never really touched the top title since then, he remained one of the company's most prominent upper midcarders. His feuds with 1-2-3 Kid, Shawn Michaels, Goldust, and yes, even Jeff Jarrett were legendary. And within that, he became a record (for the time) 4-time Intercontinental champion and was a part of the company's first two prolific ladder matches. Razor feels to me as one of the names who should have had at least one run with the WWF championship, but what we still got with Razor over the past three and a half years were still great. And while we may be saying goodbye to Razor Ramon, what comes next for Scott Hall will be even more iconic.
And then there's Diesel. Coming into the company in June of 1993 as Shawn Michaels' bodyguard, Diesel's run was also incredible. Capturing the Intercontinental Championship (from Razor), winning the Tag Team titles with Shawn Michaels (and never actually being beaten for them), and of course, his other big moment in the Garden, beating Bob Backlund for the WWF Title in record time. The year of Diesel's reign is a contentious one. He was a poor draw, his character felt retrained and dull, and was fed some rough challengers in King Mabel and Sid. Despite all of that, Diesel's heel run coming out of his loss at Survivor Series 1995 was great. Building up with a strange mix of pure intensity along with a sense of not caring about his future with the company, and who he rankled on the way out (Publicly outing Vince as company chairman in an era where they still tried to keep kayfabe on that). I heap a lot of praise especially for his final match at In Your House 7 as some of his best work, and it's a shame that has been cut short. But just like Scott Hall, the future of Kevin Nash is about to get a lot hotter.
So what became of the aftermath? Well, with Hall and Nash gone from the company, they couldn't b be punished, and Shawn Michaels is the WWF champion and the man they're trying to place as the face of the company, so he's untouchable. So the man who'll take the bullet for the remainder of 1996 is going to be Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Original plans for Hunter going forward would have seen him become the 1996 King of the Ring, but that becomes scrapped (a blessing in disguise as we'll soon talk about), and he becomes a jobber for the remainder of 1996. He'll recover, but right now he's the Atlas of the Kliq, carrying the weight of the heat on his back. In the end, the Curtain Call is one of the industry's most important moments. The ripples of it which still affect the industry today. And as such it ends this chapter in the New Generation Saga right here. Next up, we see the birth of the man who will save the WWF from near death. See you next time in "Chapter 3:16".
No comments:
Post a Comment