Monday Night Raw – March 18, 1996: MONTAGES!
Monday Night Raw
Date: March 18, 1996
Location: Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas
Attendance: 9,364
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler
We are less than two weeks away from Wrestlemania and you can see most of the card from this far out. The matches are either already made or are close enough to being made, with a few more possibly being confirmed this week. Other than that, I’m sure we’ll get some more Bret vs. Shawn stuff, which should be fine as well. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening preview.
Opening sequence.
Jake Roberts vs. British Bulldog
Jim Cornette is here with the Bulldog. Roberts works on the arm to start and Bulldog bails straight to the floor. The threat of a DDT has Bulldog backing off again but he starts hammering on the back to take over. Bulldog’s legdrop misses and the DDT connects but Cornette grabs Roberts’ leg. Roberts gets the snake and gives chase, earning the countout at 4:52.
Rating: D+. Nothing to this one, as it’s just part of the preview for the six man tag. The problem is that Roberts is little more than the DDT at this point and that isn’t enough to carry him through the match. Bulldog was a bit better, but not quite better enough to make this work.
Just like last week, we see a Shawn Michaels training video. At least it’s a different package.
Likewise, we get a similar Bret Hart training video, this one from Calgary.
Goldust vs. Fatu
Marlena is with Goldust and I don’t think the Intercontinental Title is on the line here. Goldust is wrestling in a kilt and Fatu starts fast by sending him into the corner and mocking the deep breath. A possibly low blow connects as Roddy Piper calls in and we take a break. We come back with Fatu missing a Superfly Splash, allowing Goldust to rub his chest. The Curtain Call finishes at 4:41 as Piper rants about being dangerous. Not enough shown to rate but it was more of the last minute push towards Goldust vs. Piper.
Video on the Ultimate Warrior.
Here is Camp Cornette, with Jim Cornette agreeing to a six man tag with Ahmed Johnson/Jake Roberts/Yokozuna at Wrestlemania. The villains are ready to go, with Cornette seemingly writing Mr. Fuji off TV by saying he hurt his knee in a fall. Hold on though, as Roberts and Yokozuna pop up on screen to say that if their team wins, Yokozuna gets five minutes with Cornette. Panic ensues as Yokozuna beats up a Cornette doll.
We look at an MSG house show over the weekend, with Diesel turning on Michaels. This led to Michaels promising to “kick his seven foot a**”, which was the setup for their In Your House match after Wrestlemania.
Diesel vs. Barry Horowitz
Diesel hammers away to start but here is Paul Bearer, wheeling a casket to ringside. Horowitz actually fights back but gets booted in the face for two. Instead a right hand finishes Horowitz off.
Post match Diesel grabs the timekeeper’s hammer and goes to the casket, which contains….Diesel. Oh dear.
Ted DiBiase throws a camera out of the locker room.
Bret Hart vs. Tatanka
Non-title. Tatanka strikes away in the corner to start but gets dropped with a quick clothesline. Hart goes after the arm, with a knee to said arm setting up an armbar. Back up and a crossbody gives Hart two and it’s right back to the arm. Cue the 1-2-3 Kid as Tatanka is back with a clothesline. Hart stays on the arm but gets dropped by another clothesline as we take a break. We come back with Hart fighting out of a chinlock and grabbing the Five Moves Of Doom. The Kid’s distraction doesn’t work though as Tatanka is sent into him by mistake, allowing Hart to grab a rollup for the pin at 8:40.
Rating: C+. It really is amazing how Tatanka went from someone interesting to this in the span of a few years. That heel turn killed everything he had, as there was nothing to him after the change over. He was just a guy in trunks who used to have a big undefeated streak but was now Tatanka: Heel Who Happens To Be Native American. Where was that supposed to go?
We get another Billionaire Ted skit, this time parodying A Few Good Men with Ted talking about how he needs to use predatory practices. We also get the contact information for the FTC in case you’re worried about the idea of Ted Turner getting to merge his company with Time Warner. Perhaps spending time on this week after week is why Wrestlemania feels so weak?
Overall Rating: C-. Remember how the last two weeks were good? Forget all of that for this week, as it was another boring show with mostly bad action and little that would make me want to see Wrestlemania. Hart had a mostly nothing main event and it felt like little changed for the pay per view. Building towards a pay per view shouldn’t be this hard but they are managing to mess it up fairly well.
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