STW - Royal Rumble 1996 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today, we’re going back in time to the beginning of 1996 to cover the Royal Rumble, which happened on January 21 at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California. 9,600 fans were reported in attendance at the event, a sellout for the arena. It was the biggest wrestling crowd yet for that venue and sold out several days in advance. The event had the tag line: Welcome to the Dark Side.

The buyrate for the show is going to be the best the company has done since Wrestlemania 11. 250,000 buys were reported for this show, which was also a big jump from the year before’s Rumble, which did 205,000 buyrates. We’re also going to be seeing bigger numbers over the next several months compared to the prior few shows, some of which (In Your House) had drawn UNDER 100,000 buys.

So is the company in emergency mode yet? And are you feeling like the increase in buys here is in response to your direct efforts yet, or can you tell?

As a reminder of where we are in the world of the New Generation, Shawn Michaels’ career had been put in jeopardy, at least in storyline, because of Owen Hart’s enziguri kick on a 1995 episode of Raw. Michaels took the kick, continued to wrestle, and then storyline blacked out in the ring with officials scrambling. Vince even left commentary and went to check on Michaels to help sell the angle. In the weeks after, Shawn appeared in interviews where he talked about not knowing if he could continue to perform. Some of these included moments where he almost reacted like he had PTSD at the idea of his career being over.

Was this booking designed to elevate Shawn to the next level, to help him be more sympathetic to fans, or something else?

But at a press conference in front of a banner with the old Rumble logo, Shawn announced he was going to disappoint a lot of people. He would be returning to action at the 1996 Royal Rumble. Shawn was the favorite going into tonight’s big match.

But there was another big name who we knew might win the Rumble, too. Big Daddy Cool Diesel. Just two big shows ago, Diesel saw his year-long WWF title reign succumb to Bret Hart. Since then, Diesel began showing a lot of attitude, basically turning into a “tweener.” He also would only high five fans who wore his black-style glove. And at tonight’s event, if I’m not mistaken, he’s going to be the first WWF superstar to give the middle-finger to someone on camera!

You’re adding a lot of attitude to Diesel but this was still being done at the time when you thought he was staying with the company, right? So...what would the long-term plans for a tweener-Diesel look like at this point in time?

Was there ever any thought given to what it would do to Shawn if he was forced to be the straight-laced company man while his buddies all got to cuss and have fun on TV?

Related News

(Note: It looks like I skipped this but many news items are within the Rumble event and match)

This event was the auspicious debut of The Headhunters tag-team, which came in as the “Squat Team.” They came in, got their asses kicked by Vader and Yokozuna, and were eliminated. They appeared again the next night on Raw but weren’t around for long.

What happened to the Squat Team?

Vader's deal to work the Stockton tapings was put together at the last minute. Originally he was coming in just for the Rumble.

At the Stockton tapings, which we will talk about after the Rumble, is Vader’s big angle with Gorilla Monsoon. Was that put together last minute?

Speaking of Vader, the latest episode he was in on "Boy Meets World" aired on 1/19. He does his total Vader character exactly like in wrestling with the same name and everything as the father of this huge middle school kid that everyone is afraid of name Frankie the Enforcer. Seeing an exaggerated wrestling character in the context of a supposed real life world setting is really funny, although what he actually does is nothing different than what you see of him on wrestling and it isn't funny at all in a wrestling context.

It was never mentioned on TV that Vader was going to be on that show - but he also hadn’t debuted yet. Is that why?

The Event

WWF ROYAL RUMBLE

• Thumbs up 103 (41.4%)
• Thumbs down 102 (41.0%)
• In the middle 44 (17.7%)

BEST MATCH POLL

• Goldust vs. Razor Ramon 52
• Royal Rumble match 49
• Bret Hart vs. Undertaker 48
• Smoking Gunns vs. Bodydonnas 19

WORST MATCH POLL

• Duke Droese vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley 42
• Royal Rumble match 29
• Jeff Jarrett vs. Ahmed Johnson 28
• Bret Hart vs. Undertaker 28
• Goldust vs. Razor Ramon 20
• Smoking Gunns vs. Bodydonnas 14

A. Duke Droese (Mike Droese) beat Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Paul Levesque) via DQ in 6:25. This was the unannounced pre-show match where the winner would get to enter the Rumble at No. 30 and the loser would be the first one in. You'd think they'd use this time to put on a hot match with guys that are over, or at least if the purpose is to tell a story with Helmsley, put Helmsley in with a guy who can carry him to a hot match. Helmsley got away from Droese's take out the trash finisher. After a ref bump, Helmsley used Knux on Droese. Gorilla Monsoon came out and reversed the decision. 1/2*

Hunter would go on to put on the longest performance of the night in the Rumble while Droese put in a few minutes worth. Is the last spot in the Rumble less valuable to the real life performer than the character, because of this reason (less show time)?

Our first main-card rivalry actually began at the last In Your House show. There, Ahmed Johnson made short work of Nature Boy Buddy Landell but then, was attacked by Jerry Lawler and a returning Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett hit Ahmed in the literal face with the chair, which looked brutal. Several stiff shots here.

1. Ahmed Johnson (Tony Norris) beat Jeff Jarrett via DQ in 6:40. Johnson is really green. The transitions from spot-to-spot were weak. Jarrett tried to carry it but it's hard when nobody buys Johnson being in trouble because he's so physically impressive and doesn't know how to sell to overcome the impressive size. After a sidewalk slam (called a spinebuster by McMahon although it's not the same move as the one Arn Anderson uses), Johnson did a dive over the top and crashed into the guard rail in the process. Johnson then did a full somersault splash off the top and missed, selling his knee. Jarrett used the figure four but Johnson reversed it. He tried it a second time but Johnson kicked him out of the ring. Jarrett came in with a guitar and came off the top rope, smashing it on Johnson's head for the DQ. The guitar shot sounded great. Johnson keeled over from the shot, but recovered before Jarrett was back in the dressing room and got up and ran after him but never caught him. *¼

What are your memories of these two working together? Any heat between them?

In the weeks on Raw leading up to this, Ahmed is basically throwing around younger talent, sometimes in dangerous ways. But here, we see him throw himself over the top rope and come down on his head similar to the Undertaker at Mania 23 - but on concrete. Ahmed instantly gets up and acts like it was nothing but…

Is Vince starting to realize we might need to tap the brakes on this guy and get him some training before he kills someone?

Next up, the thriving tag-team division of the World Wrestling Federation will be on display - along with Sunny. She’s managing her new tag-team of the Body Donnas. It was previously just “Sunny and Skip” but now, it’s “Skip and Zip.” But following Skip’s losing program with Barry Hororwitz, was it pretty much impossible for him to be programmed in singles with anyone serious?

2. Smoking Gunns (Kipp Sopp & Mike Plotcheck) retained the WWF tag titles beating The Bodydonnas (Chris Candito & Tom Prichard) in 11:14. Everyone worked hard, but the match didn't come together. Since it was similar to a Lucha match with lots of choreographed spots, it was the quality of a first or second match with young but hard working guys who give you a few great high spots but overall the match is just okay. After the Bodydonnas gave a double slingshot to Billy into the ring, they tried the same with Bart, who reversed it, and they were both slingshotted to the floor. Billy hit both with a plancha. Gunns still can't throw punches and in this match they tried way too many. Sunny, wearing a short skirt with the camera practically right up her butt, took a nice bump off the apron. Billy came out to help her allowing the Bodydonnas to start the double-team. Skip also did a dive over the top on Billy to zero crowd response. After hitting the old Midnight Express flapjack (or Freebirds POMF) on Billy, Billy made the hot tag out. The Gunns need to use high spots like dropkicks on the hot tag because the punches look bad and kill the momentum of the hot tag. Billy used a legdrop off the top on Zip (who McMahon called Flip several times during this match) but Sunny distracted the ref so no fall was counted. Finally both Bodydonnas went for a double suplex on Bart, but as he was in the air, Billy tackled them both and Bart fell on Zip for the pin. **

Did you share Meltzer’s disdain with the Gunn’s punches?

There was a story in the Observer around this time...WWF had to change Tom Prichard’s Body Donna name because of a copyright issue. Meltzer reported the reason Flip was changed to Zip is because there was a copyright on the Skip & Flip name from a 60s singing duo.

I didn’t remember this. Did someone get upset or did you just realize it was copyrighted?

Up next, it’s the return of Dustin Runnels to the Royal Rumble! We last saw him compete at the 1991 Royal Rumble with his father as Dustin Rhodes. But tonight, he’s back...as Goldust.

It’s been an interesting debut for Goldust, too. He began this program with Razor at the last In Your House event, sending him a love letter that Razor got angry over. The announcers tried to get Razor to read the letter on Raw but Razor didn’t want to. They toyed around with the idea of getting further and further into the weeds with the gay-aspect of the character but the company seemed to back off from that significantly tonight, including with the addition of a female valet.

Are you trying to back away from the initial extremes of the character, by now? And if so why?

3. Goldust (Dustin Runnels) won the IC title from Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) in 14:17. Goldust came out with a nicely dressed woman with an unlit cigar in her mouth and a director's chair, whose name the next night was given as Marlene. The woman was Terri Runnels, his wife, who used to be Alexandra York in WCW several years back. There were several "faggot" chants in the crowd. Goldust rubbed his chest, fondled Ramon's chest, and got spanked by Ramon but liked it. Then he started hiding behind Marlena. When Ramon finally picked her up to get to Goldust, he jumped him. After a bulldog and a slingshot back suplex for near falls, Ramon came back but had Marlena blow something in his eyes. Goldust got a sleeper on and Mr. Perfect commented that if he put Ramon to sleep, he could do anything with him he wanted which McMahon ignored. McMahon totally toned down the gay inferences on the commentary but Perfect more than made up for it although it appeared McMahon wasn't happy that he did. Ramon broke it with a low blow and came back with a choke slam and fallaway slam for near falls. As Goldust went to the top, Ramon took out his legs and Goldust crotched himself. Ramon used a backward superplex. At this point Marlena faked that she twisted her ankle, distracting the ref, allowing 1-2-3 Kid to come out and use a spin kick off the top rope on Ramon, and Goldust got the pin. **¾

This finish surprised a lot of people. Why was the decision made here to have Razor lose the belt so early in his program to Goldust?

A report from Metlzer said…

Razor Ramon is complaining long and loud about his program with Goldust. The babyfaces in the clique hate the gimmick and unfortunately have taken it out on Dustin Rhodes the person rather than accepting him as someone saddled with a bad gimmick who is just trying to do his job. Granted, the angle is really lame. Ramon is trying to get the program switched to working with Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Do you think making Razor work the Goldust angle contributed to him going to WCW?

“Despite the similarities of it with other SMW segments, the Goldust-Razor brawl was choreographed by Bruce Prichard and not Jim Cornette.”

This was a note by itself in the Observer but I had to ask when I saw it...what are your memories of the brawl segments between these two?

Next up is the Royal Rumble match itself. Yep - we’re not closing the show with the Rumble but instead, we’re closing with the WWF title.

4. Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) won the Royal Rumble in 58:49 by superkicking Diesel over the top rope just as Diesel was eliminating Kama. They played everyone's entrance music as they came to the ring. This led to artificial high pops and then dead crowd reactions afterward. Overall the Rumble was below par due to a lack of depth as far as talent that's over, too many people in the ring at once for almost the entire match so there were few focused squaring offs, a lack of over grudges in the promotion so not much time of known rivals going after each other and it basically dragged. There were a few worked out high spots. Henry Godwinn threw the slop bucket on Jerry Lawler, Bob Backlund and Helmsley. Jake Roberts put the snake on Lawler and cleared the ring with the snake. When Dory Funk came out, Vince McMahon acknowledged him as a former NWA champion and said his brother Terry was in Germany with Bruce Willis and mentioned that Terry was invited to be in the Rumble.

(Any stories about this? Vince mentioning the NWA seemed odd.)

Lawler hid under the ring for a long period of time. It was 14:48 before Backlund may have been the first man eliminated by Yokozuna (Henry Godwinn's elimination, which came earlier than scheduled because Mabel accidentally injured him and he just got out of there, was never acknowledged on television nor was it apparent on the screen, several eliminations were missed by the announcers but Godwinn's was the only one not at least seen being set up on the screen).

(Do you recall Mabel injuring Godwinn in this match? This would be the last match for Mabel for several years. Is that what led to Mabel’s departure?)

When 1-2-3 Kid came in, Ramon (not in Rumble) came out and chased after him before Ramon was sent to the back. It was funny to see Kid trying to spend as much time as possible working with Funk, who was probably a boyhood idol of Kid, who grew up as a big-time wrestling fan in Florida. Yokozuna eliminated Mabel in 20:59. Jake Roberts eliminated Takao Omori in 21:13. Vega eliminated Funk in 23:22. Vader made his debut at just past the 22:00 mark and immediately didn't sell for Roberts. Doug Gilbert came in, and Perfect mentioned that he had been a tag team partner of his brother the late Eddie Gilbert.

Vader clotheslined Roberts over the top in 25:08. The elimination looked sloppy since Vader hit him in the middle of the ring and Roberts had to go all the way to the ropes and over. Vader was destroying everything in his path at this point. Vader eliminated Gilbert in 27:29. Gilbert, announced as USWA rep, got zero crowd reaction, but his work, and bumps in particular, were better than all in the Rumble with the exception of the acknowledged great workers.

This Royal Rumble was the only match ever in the WWF, at least on TV or that we know about, featuring Doug Gilbert.

Was he just in this because you needed extra people? Or was it designed to be a boost for him or the Memphis territory?

Doug Gilbert still works on the indy scene. However, he’s perhaps most famous for going off on a shoot during a live interview on Memphis Wrestling around 1999  - and getting fired for it. It’s actually insane because he shoots three times during the interview, getting more and more extreme. Until eventually, he says something about Jerry Lawler’s allegations in the past...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is0oHPL-nis

Anyway, back to the Rumble...

Vader threw out one of the Squat Team (Head Hunters) in 27:45, and then the second twin came out, and Vader and Yokozuna then threw both over the top simultaneously in 29:22. To say they didn't show a thing would be the understatement of the year. At this point Vader and Yokozuna started working as a team destroying Vega. At this point Michaels came in at just past 32:00. Vader clotheslined Vega over the top in 32:54. Vader and Yokozuna then went at it and Vader finally going down after a head-butt. The idea appears to be to first team them, then turn Yokozuna face and feud them. As the two fought near the ropes, Michaels eliminated both of them at 33:47.

Michaels threw Kid out at 34:04. Vader got back in and threw out everyone in the ring, before Monsoon came out and the two went jaw-to-jaw and Monsoon overruled all the eliminations Vader did after being eliminated. Owen Hart threw out Hakushi in 38:30. At this point Michaels went under the ring and pulled Lawler out and got him back in the ring. Tatanka threw out Aldo Montoya in 40:32. I believe either Montoya or Bob Holly was a sub for Bam Bam Bigelow, who was the only no-show in the Rumble. Michaels threw out Lawler in 40:37. Diesel entered and dumped Tatanka in 41:06.

(Man, is Diesel’s entrance one of the coolest mid-Rumble entrances you could have? The engine starting, the horn, and then Roseanne’s music, it’s great!)

(Did Bigelow no-show this event?)

When Ringmaster entered, Vince McMahon called him "Steve Austin, known as the Ringmaster." It was amazing to see the physical difference in Austin compared with just a few weeks ago in ECW. Ringmaster kneed Holly over the top in 45:47. Diesel dispatched Helmsley, who was there from the start, in 48:03. Owen Hart threw out Barry Horowitz in 51:06. Michaels eliminated Owen Hart on a reversal in 51:40. Michaels, more than anyone else, continually teased being eliminated similar to last year. Davey Boy Smith eliminated Marty Jannetty in 55:26. Fatu clotheslined Ringmaster over in 55:50. Isaac Yankem then clotheslined Fatu out in 56:08.

The 1996 Royal Rumble marked the first pay-per-view appearance of Steve Austin, here using the name "The Ringmaster," a blond-haired master ring technician and the featured wrestler in the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's stable. His elimination was accidental as he was supposed to be in the final four, but he slipped on the ropes and fell out when he was doing a spot with Fatu.

What’s the reaction backstage when this happens? What did Vince say?

Owen Hart, after being eliminated, came back out to attack Michaels. At 58:03, Michaels dropkicked Yankem out. At 58:11, Diesel and Kama threw out Duke Droese, the final man in, leaving Diesel, Michaels, Kama and Smith. Michaels clotheselined Smith over the top in 58:32, followed by Diesel throwing out Kama in 58:45 and Michaels superkicking Diesel over in 58:49. After the match they teased that Diesel would attack Michaels, but instead they did their high-five routine. **1/2

• Shawn Michaels had the most eliminations at a whopping 8. The second most eliminations was 5 - by Diesel.
• The longest time spent in this year’s Rumble match was by Hunter Hearst Helmsley, at 48:04.

So we’re planting the seeds that Shawn and Diesel are going to be clashing down the line. I like that. Did you think you’d get more than just one In Your House out of them at this point, though?

Following Shawn’s victory...he begins to strip and get our 9 year old researcher who was watching at home with his religious parents grounded. There’s a point where he pulls his tights down to the pubic line before he looks at Vince and pulls them back up.

Was Shawn doing a striptease something that just came out of spontaneity or did this come from a plan, somewhere? What was Vince’s reaction to this? Any memorable backstage reactions to this?

Now that a man has shown us his pubes, it’s time for the WORLD TITLE MATCH. Undertaker had been named the number one contender at last month’s In Your House - causing a major backstage staredown between Diesel and he. Tensions between the two were already high...

Then...before the match, Diesel, leaving the Rumble, met with Undertaker in the aisle. Diesel shoved Paul Bearer which caused the two to square off and officials pulled them apart, but it pretty much gave the finish away (as if it wasn't obvious beforehand and as if they hadn't done it already at numerous house shows).

5. Undertaker (Mark Callaway) beat Bret Hart via DQ in a WWF title match in 28:31. Undertaker dominated early with power moves but the crowd was dead during this period. Hart had a brief comeback including using a plancha at 6:00. Hart came off the apron but Undertaker caught him and rammed his back into the post. Hart drove Undertaker's shoulder into the post but Undertaker hit Hart with a foot to the face on the floor as he attempted to follow up. Hart whipped Undertaker into the steps and he hit his knees on the ring steps. Hart worked over the knees for a long period of time (which even though it made sense, actually got boring because I don't think anyone accepted it as a possibility that Undertaker would lose to a knee injury). Hart put on the figure four and immediately McMahon killed the intensity to the television audience by saying he didn't think Undertaker would ever submit in a match. Undertaker reversed it after Bearer held up the new urn (supposedly from melting down Kama's chains). Hart went back to working the knee but Undertaker made a comeback but was still selling the knee. He smashed Hart's head into the steps, hit him with a chair and threw him over a table all while Bearer distracted the ref. Undertaker received a few boos (the crowd had been cheering both to this point) at this point. However, when Hart came back working on the knee, the boos for Hart were louder than the boos for Undertaker, and from this point forward Undertaker was the clear crowd favorite even though Hart had done nothing heel-like as he had in matches with Diesel. Hart wrapped Undertaker's leg around the post twice and went back to work on the leg. Match was dragging at this point. Undertaker made a comeback and went for the tombstone, but Hart wriggled away. Hart used a DDT for a near fall, then used his regular sequence of the leg sweep, bulldog and backbreaker, with Undertaker sitting up from the first two and laying there for the forearm drop for the third. As Hart went for the sharpshooter, Undertaker snatched him by the throat as a "Rest In Peace" chant began. Hart undid the padding on the turnbuckle and then got Undertaker's mask off and ran him into the post twice. There was a lot of booing for Hart at this point. Undertaker made a comeback and hit the tombstone piledriver. Diesel then grabbed the ref and threw him out of the ring and the ref called for a DQ. The match was dull in spots but had excellent psychology and built into a good match, but the horrible finish just killed it. **¾

Do you agree the finish was horrible and killed the match?

The idea here is pretty much that Diesel and Undertaker are each about to win the title but cost each other the match to build up to their Wrestlemania encounter, right?

After the show there were a series of interviews with Diesel, Michaels, Undertaker and Vader, with Diesel doing a Ric Flair saying that fans better "learn to love me because I'm the best thing going today" and in the background you could hear people clapping and going "Whoo!"

Any heat over that?

Overall, give us your thoughts on the Royal Rumble 96!

Meltzer had a lot to say about the show.

Coming off the big ratings loss the previous Monday, a lot of people seemed to expect an inspired effort across the board out of the Rumble. While the results of the three key matches were largely predictable going in, with the possible exception of the Goldust IC title victory over Razor Ramon, every match on the show fell below what would have been expected out of the match going in on paper.

It was also another step in what appears to be the new direction (stiffer blows, higher risk matches and a general lack of psychology and focus to the matches) of the WWF. The show began with a disclaimer saying that due to the graphic nature of the show that parental discretion is advised, and then went right into a shot of Sunny in a bath tub.

Conscious effort to step up the show and cater more to adults, here? And if that’s the case, how does that mesh with pushing a strip-teasing assless chaps wearing Shawn Michaels?

The show was more violent than of the past WWF standards, mainly with foreign objects being used liberally, which until recently had been a no-no, although no blood. For the most part, the workrate was below the level of most of the WWF's shows in 1995 although the matches had more high-risk moves. While the crowd appeared dead on television, those there live said it was poor crowd micing as they were about as live as you'd expect from a crowd hyped to be at a major show although for the most part they left on a dead note due to the weak main event finish. Overall, both the booking and in particular the announcing were really lacking. There were three disqualifications including a weak DQ in the main event after going far too long for such a weak finish. The Bret Hart vs. Undertaker match, while not a great match and slow and boring in spots, built to where it was a good match and had excellent psychology in that the Undertaker gimmick makes a match so limited that you usually can't get a lot of time out of it, and Hart not only got nearly 30:00 out of it but did so in a semi-believable manner. However, after building to a match which in some ways appeared to save the show, the run-in finish and subsequent nonsensical post-match left me feeling the investment of both time and money on the show was wasted.

Is there a way for fans at home to tell that the crowd has been mic’d bad? What’s that mean?

Even if you accept the non-finish as something that had to be done because Undertaker's gimmick is such that he can't lose, and Hart isn't supposed to lose the title, what they did made little sense because they ended up weakening the title and champion, which are still the main draws in the promotion, leading to Wrestlemania. In addition, when the show is over, the fans are left wanting either Undertaker to get a rematch at Hart where outside interference isn't going to take place, or Undertaker to get a grudge match with Diesel, which is being held off for Wrestlemania. Instead, it is Diesel getting the cage match with Hart, and no doubt they'll do the same arena match, where Hart doesn't beat his adversary but comes out with the title again, leaving him not looking strong in two straight PPVs going into the Michaels loss.

This is spot on, in terms of the next step in the booking plans. But Bret has given interviews talking about how he felt like he was being booked as a weak champion building up to Wrestlemania here. Do you think that hurt the main event by making him look weak?

The Smoking Gunns-Bodydonnas match and Ramon-Goldust match featured a repeated similar spot where the female valet would fake an injury for a distraction spot. And then in the Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Duke Droese match, Gorilla Monsoon reversed the decision after a pinfall was called because Helmsley had used a foreign object, but three matches later, when Goldust won the IC title due to interference from 1-2-3 Kid, there was no reversal. When Vader, who had already been eliminated, got back in the ring and cleared the ring by throwing everyone out, none of the eliminations counted because it was an illegal person doing them. In past Rumbles, most notably the 1992 Rumble in Albany for the finish where Hulk Hogan, after being eliminated, pulled Sid Justice out to give Ric Flair the victory, all it took was someone going over the top, even if it was caused by someone not in the match, to be eliminated.

I like Dave but do you think he’s applying far too much logic to the wrestling business, here? Why wouldn’t Gorilla reverse the Goldust decision?

Dr. Jeffrey Unger did an interview saying Shawn Michaels was 100% fine and fully recovered. A few weeks earlier in the angle saying Michaels shouldn't ever return to wrestling. Michaels in his own interview announcing his return said he was doing so against the wishes of his doctor.

The show itself set up the Wrestlemania positioning, where by all accounts pending a change in direction, Shawn Michaels will beat Bret Hart to win the WWF title, and Undertaker vs. Diesel will be the semifinal. Those four, along with Vader (as the only top heel in the promotion), were positioned coming out of the show as the company's major stars. With the Yokozuna turn the next night at Raw, it appears he's being fed to Vader at Mania. They also announced a match with the Huckster vs. Nacho Man with Billionaire Ted as special referee, and showed on the PPV after the tag title match, a compilation clip of skits one and three (skit two, the one with the steroid theme, was eliminated) on the PPV. The match will probably be hilarious, particularly since it'll probably coincide with Hogan vs. Savage being the main focus of WCW, but doing so is a major tactical error. If Wrestlemania is to get any mainstream pub, by doing that skit, it immediately calls attention to the competitor and may change the mainstream story to it's Wrestlemania time to, there's a wrestling war and the WWF is no longer on top and Ted Turner pulled the WWF's best stars from Vince McMahon and her eroded the WWF's TV ratings and buy rates.

Is that why the match was shown on the Free For All and never sold on VHS? Because as a kid, I really wanted to see that match. Tell me what the company’s reason for pulling back on this was!

Ironically, with the exception of Michaels, it was Jake Roberts who received the biggest crowd reaction, including a "DDT" chant during the Rumble. Roberts, who had retired from wrestling to go into the preaching business last year, came back for a one-shot and it was almost scary how well he got over. In addition, Roberts, who has the reputation of being one of the most clever wrestlers when it comes to timing and picking spots, showed it once again because even though he wasn't in good condition and couldn't do anything physically impressive and he was never in the ring when the ring wasn't filled with combatants, he was able to get a crowd reaction for everything he did.

Thanks to Jake Roberts coming back from preaching, we will eventually end up with Austin 3:16.

The announcing was also a major weakness. Vince McMahon appeared distracted for most of the show. Mr. Perfect was better than at Survivor Series since he's getting familiar with what's going on, but he's still not up to the level when it comes to humor and ability to get things over. The two missed several eliminations, and their lack of knowledge when it came to moves was more obvious than ever because unlike the previous show, a lot of wrestlers were trying a lot of new moves. It's really obvious that the new moves aren't over like they should be because the announcers in the U.S. don't get them over, so we saw, for example, a man the size of Ahmed Johnson doing a pretty spectacular dive over the rope, risking life and limb so to speak, and getting virtually no pop for it other than a few "aaahs" because fans haven't been educated to it.

What was the take on Mr. Perfect’s commentary here at this show? He had a great voice for it but seemed to have trouble at times.

The next night on Raw…

Raw tapings on 1/22 in Stockton before a sellout 2,904. I recognize that numbers tell a different story and the numbers are the story that's most important, but the crowd in Stockton was so hot it certainly gave the impression this was a promotion that has tremendous momentum behind it. Opening the show with the best angle in a long time didn't hurt. Vader (who, despite what you hear, has not signed a WWF contract yet although I expect it will happen as there are details regarding Japan that haven't been worked out) pinned Savio Vega. Vader got a tremendous crowd reaction and they see him as a major player already. He flattened two refs including power bombing one of them when Monsoon suspended him (since Vader is going to undergo shoulder surgery on 2/1 and won't be ready to return until Wrestlemania). Monsoon actually chopped Vader several times and backed him up. Vader then attacked Monsoon and gave him the Vader bomb and Monsoon did a stretcher job.

First, is it true he was working major angles and shows and not under contract, because that seems fishy…

Second...Can you talk about how significant it was for Monsoon to be in an angle, and physically be attacked during it?