83 Weeks - RAW & Nitro 05.27.96 Watchalong [Show Notes] (Patreon)

83 Weeks - Raw/Nitro WatchAlong May 27, 1996

Eric this week we’re celebrating the 25 year anniversary of the beginning of the shift in professional wrestling, Scott Hall makes his return to WCW as this unnamed “invader.”

Before we get started let’s talk about what’s happened in the last week from last week’s episode to this week’s.

The WWF ran a pay-per-view, In Your House, in Florence, South Carolina where the power went out due to a storm shortly into the show. Do you remember anything like this happening to WCW during your time and what do you think you would do if it happened?

Last week’s episode of Nitro main evented by Arn Anderson vs. the Giant won the Monday Night War over Raw with a 3.1 vs. 2.3 rating. Raw, main evented by Davey Boy Smith vs. Jake Roberts and was taped, lost handily obviously. It was Nitro’s first win in 5 weeks but legitimately started a 3 week winning streak before Raw would win on June 10th...and then 83 weeks would begin. It’s surreal to go back in time and look at this now is it not?

Let’s start with Monday Night Raw! 3-2-1!

We’re live coming off the In Your House pay-per-view at the Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium in Fayetteville, NC in front of 4,200 paid and 5,000 in the arena.

Goldust vs. Ultimate Warrior opens the show and we’re going almost 15 minutes here. Eric if you had seen this at the time...would you still have brought back Warrior in 1998?

It’s crazy to watch this and know that at this point Dustin Rhodes had been wrestling for 7 ½ years...and here he is today still going 25 years later!

Was this the perfect example in your mind of what was wrong with the WWF...between their characters and work...and what you were trying to mold Nitro against?

Ted DiBiase cuts a promo stating that if Steve Austin can’t beat Savio Vega in the rematch at In Your House: Beware of Dog Part 2...he’ll leave the WWF. It’s odd to have a stipulation added one day after a major match and one day before the same match...what did you know about Ted and his WWF situation and how quickly were you able to make a deal with him?

This is the last Monday Night Raw where Steve Austin will have a mouth piece for the rest of his career. Do you blame the WWF for putting him with Ted in a worry about his promo skills at the time?

The Smoking Gunns are defending their WWF Tag Team Titles and now have Sunny facing off against the Bodydonnas. The Gunns are now heels after Sunny helped them win the titles and the Bodydonnas are faces...but really who’s gonna cheer for them?

How freaking good is Chris Candido?

Watching this do you think Billy or Bart was the guy who was gonna be the breakout star of the Smoking Gunns?

Gunns win and retain the tag team titles. Almost 12 minutes for this match. It’s a lot of wrestling on Monday Night Raw.

Next up is Vader vs. Ahmed Johnson. What did you think of Ahmed Johnson the first time you saw him?

Vader ends up handing Ahmed Johnson his first loss on TV after Owen Hart helps him. This is a very good big man match. Do you think these two matched up well together?

Then the classic angle of this Raw happens. Ahmed...knocked out from the cast shot from Owen Hart...is stretchered out. Goldust intercepts to give mouth to mouth to awaken Ahmed....which he does. Ahmed goes on a rampage and then runs through a “security guard” to get into Goldust’s locker room and doesn’t find anyone and attacks the camera guy as we go off the air. In 2021 obviously this angle doesn’t work but at the time it’s a super hot angle.

Onto Monday Night Nitro...3-2-1!

We’re going into this as being the first Nitro for 2 hours. Last week we discussed what goes into producing a 2 hour show compared to a 1 hour show. Talk us through where the 2 hour idea comes from and if you were in favor of it.

Were you for or against the idea?

We’re LIVE from Macon, Georgia with a show that drew 4,309 fans but only 1,811 paid for a gate of $22,168.

With the change in format we now have Tony Schiavone & Larry Zybysko doing the first hour and you & Bobby Heenan doing the second hour. What was the thought process behind splitting up the announcers?

Do you know if Tony had an issue with doing the first hour and you doing the second hour since he was the “senior” announcer?

The American Males open the show against Ric Flair & Arn Anderson. The VIP table paid for by Randy Savage from last week is still ringside and Flair at points in this match serve the announcers champagne. Eric what is going on here?

Bagwell crushes Flair with a missile dropkick but Arn hits a DDT to get the win and the pin on Bagwell after Woman pokes him in the eye. Meltzer gave this * ¾. What’d you think Eric?

The promo afterwards is classic Flair (who may have been concussed from that dropkick) where he pours champagne all over himself, signs Afternoon Delight and clarifies that Savage’s money makes Liz his “Sugar Mama.” This is all just classic Flair right Eric?

Mongo & Kevin Greene are lifting weights. Yup.

Steve Doll vs. The Mauler...which is obviously just a backdrop for the Scott Hall debut. From the Observer…”Hall came out first, dressed in blue jeans but everything else similar to his old Razor Ramon character, in the middle of a dead match between Steve Doll and The Mauler (Mike Enos). The match basically ended with no finish and Hall came into the ring, doing his Latino accent, and acted as if he was a WWF wrestler who came out to avenge his company knocking WCW as if it were a hillbilly promotion and talking about Billionaire Ted, Scheme Gene and Nacho Man, the characters from the Vince McMahon parodies. The crowd was somewhat stunned by all this, with some cheering and most not really reacting out of shock.”

How do you think Scott did in the promo and was this what you were looking for in terms of the shock factor of the debut? Did Doll and Enos have an issue with this and did they know about this? Enos does a fallaway slam...one of Scott Hall’s signature moves...off the 2nd rope during the match. Was that an indirect shot at him? There are always rumors that you liked to “work the boys” so sending him out during this would fit that M.O.

DDP vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman

Pittman is with Teddy Long here playa. 2:57 and Page ends it with the Diamond Cutter. Meltzer gives this -¼*.

To piggy back off that everyone always looks fondly back at Nitro in 1996 as having all this undercard talent filling the shows with all these high flying lucha and cruiserweight matches. We’re definitely not at this point yet. Do you feel like you had a lot of mid-card filler you needed to cycle out around this time?

John Tenta as Shark has been kicked out of the Dungeon of Doom and he lets us know he’s looking for the Giant tonight. The fall from grace of Tenta here is evident. From working Hogan as a top guy back in 1989 to this in 1996...was it just a short shelf life for John?

It’s time for hour 2 and you let everyone know you won’t dignify the previous attempt at an invasion with a response. You were all about playing up the WWF vs. WCW aspect here. Do you think these types of things cost you legal ground in the later lawsuit?

4 minutes after Giant and Shark starts it ends with a choke slam. Meltzer calls it -*. Thought that was generous. It is kind of cool to see Jimmy Hart at ringside with Giant against Tenta considering how long Hart managed him in the WWF. Big Bubba makes his return and shaves half of Shark’s hair. Who put this together and who on the booking committee was dying to see this program?

TV Title match between Lex Luger and Maxx (not Muscle). Who gave this almost 6 minutes Eric? Holy shit. You say during Luger’s comeback that “Luger has to be careful or Maxx will eat him up like yesterday’s lunch.” Impressive you said that with a straight face. You tell a stage hand during this match that someone can wait until the end of the hour if they want to talk to you. How detail oriented are you to do these little things to build to Hall returning at the end of the show? Luger hits the forearm (which took out Yokozuna as you point out) and racks Maxx to win. DUD from Meltzer who asks who came up with the idea of putting these two guys together on TV and watching this...it’s a fair point.

Bobby Walker vs. Brad Armstrong. Jesus Eric. These two are pushed as cruiserweights...yup. Walker can’t get to the top rope and almost slips and falls off and breaks his neck but recovers and hits...a shoulderblock? For the win. Meltzer gives this ½*. You call these two top contenders for the cruiserweight title but the influx of talent that comes in will push both of these guys down considerably. You mention second generation wrestler Rey Misterio Jr during this...who is Rey’s daddy in wrestling Eric? :)

Lord Steven Regal vs. Alex Wright is here and you and Bobby...kind of don’t shut up during the match.

Who the hell is Jeeves with Regal?

Was Bobby...a bit tipsy on this show? Solid wrestling but boring and 10 minutes later Regal wins in a match Meltzer gives it *¼.

Sting and Scott Steiner is our main event! Bobby seems like he’s really on another planet here as he openly discusses that he doesn’t know if Scott & Sting had ever faced each other before when they’ve worked together twice on pay-per-view and literally did a match on World Wide where Bobby commentated in the last couple of weeks before this. Was this part of the Heenan charm or did this type of stuff frustrate you working with him live?

Really good match before everything breaks down when Luger and Rick getting involved and it’s a no contest. Dave calls it ***.

The amount of Zubaz in the breaking up of the brawl is amazing don’t you think?

What could’ve been at some point...Sting vs. Scott on top. Looking back is the nWo part of the reason we never got a Scott Steiner singles push until much later in his career?

You & Bobby wrap it up but here comes Scott Hall who’s not waiting anymore. He wants 3 of your best guys and he’ll have two partners...but they’re...taking...over. From the Observer…”No name was ever given to Hall, other than Bischoff's frequent references to him saying he wouldn't mention a name because he doesn't want any more legal letters "but you all know who he is." Hall's second interview was hyped throughout the second hour and came at the end of the show where he again acted as if he was a WWF wrestler challenging the WCW wrestlers to a three-on-three match and talked about his side taking over, and mentioning the "war" wouldn't be in commentary (referring to Bischoff's knocking of WWF) or in newspapers or in dirt sheets and continually using Billionaire Ted, Scheme Gene, Nacho Man and calling Bischoff a Ken-doll weatherman wannabe while Bischoff acted as if everything was an unplanned intrusion into the live show (which is why Bischoff had attempted to get word out that it wasn't definite Nash or Hall were coming and ran down Hall in a newspaper article because he was simply working an angle).”

Classic Nitro! What did you think of it Eric? Do you think the dead crowd hurt it? A lot of people look back at the 1996 Nitro’s with rose colored glasses when the nWo come along but the midcard filler here was evident and obvious. Watching back was it something that triggered you remembering watching some of this and knowing you had to upgrade the lower to midcard talent if you were going to have 2 hours of TV?