-A video package hypes tonight’s Razor Ramon-Sid matchup where the 1-2-3 Kid will be the referee. Vince McMahon announces that WWF President Gorilla Monsoon has grown suspicious of the 1-2-3 Kid’s actions after a recent house show tour and has decided that tonight’s match will not be for the Intercontinental championship. You’ve gotta love bait & switch.
-Our hosts are McMahon & Jerry “the King†Lawler and they are nearing the end of a long television taping at this point.
-Opening Contest: Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Henry O. Godwinn:
This match is a grudge match of sorts after Helmsley ambushed Godwinn on last week’s show and slopped him. Helmsley knees Godwinn off the apron when he tries to enter the ring to start and follows up with a baseball slide. Outside, Helmsley takes Godwinn to the steps and bows for the audience. If anyone ever wants to mock Helmsley after he calls them “puffy man†or anything on RAW they should bring up this stuff. After Helmsley sprays perfume towards Godwinn, Godwinn teases taking his bucket of slop into the ring before he decides to just dump it on himself. Helmsley doesn’t want to tie up after that so he bails and slips on some slop outside the ring. Godwinn chases Helmsley backstage and we have a double count out at 1:37. This didn’t have enough in-ring action to rate, but as far as storyline development goes this segment was passable and it got Helmsley the biggest reaction he’d gotten to this point in his WWF career.
-Slam Jam segment with “Handsome†Doc Hendrix. He runs down the card for this Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
-Video package where Shawn Michaels recaps how hard it was to give Shane Douglas the Intercontinental title at In Your House 4. It then hypes his in-ring ability.
-Ahmed Johnson vs. Jake Steele:
I wouldn’t want to be in Steele’s shoes for this matchup. Ahmed is pretty over with the crowd. Steele attacks Ahmed from behind after Ahmed gives a clean break but Ahmed doesn’t sell his offense. Imagine a milder version of the Hulk up and that’s what Ahmed is doing here. Ahmed hits a short-arm clothesline as Shawn Michaels cuts a promo in the split screen. Steele tries an arm ringer but Ahmed just reverses it and delivers a nasty shoulder block. Ahmed hits a devastating spine buster, wags his tongue for the camera like Michael Jordan, and a Pearl River Plunge ends it at 2:27. THIS is a squash match. Even fifteen years later I’m still a big Ahmed Johnson mark.
-After the match, Ahmed cuts an unintelligible promo about the Survivor Series.
-Call 1-900-TITAN-91 to get your 1996 Diesel calendar. But wait, it’s not a Diesel calendar it’s just a generic WWF calendar with all your favorite WWF superstars inside. You can get a Diesel glove and some of his shades too. You just have to pay $21 and $3.95 shipping and handling to get it.
-Diesel and Bret Hart square off in a taped, duel interview segment that is moderated by McMahon. Bret whines about his 1994 Survivor Series loss and how his mother shouldn’t have been able to throw in the towel because she wasn’t designated to do that. The best part of the segment is where Diesel tells Bret not to toot his own horn about taking him to the limit because Shawn Michaels did that at WrestleMania. This segment didn’t look good for either guy because neither of them looked comfortable in front of the camera. If there was a winner of this segment it was Bret, as it showed that he was looking at different strategies to defeat Diesel in the title match while Diesel was too defensive and didn’t look like he wanted to be there.
-McMahon and Lawler face off in a Karate Fighters matchup. Lawler wins the first matchup but that’s because he put a piece of tape on his fighter’s foot to prevent him getting kicked off. Lawler’s cheating gets exposed and McMahon warns him that the Undertaker will destroy him at Survivor Series.
-King Mabel (w/Sir Mo) vs. Roy Raymond:
Mabel gets carried to the ring by servants on his throne and one of them is a clean shaven Rhino. The Undertaker cuts a brief promo from the graveyard as Mabel prepares to wrestle. Mabel pounds away and delivers an overhead suplex. Raymond throws an ineffective dropkick and Mabel nearly kills him with a clothesline. Mabel chokes Raymond on the ropes and hits a slower version of Mr. Perfect’s rolling snapmare. Was that supposed to tease Perfect’s return at the Survivor Series? Mabel avalanches Raymond against the buckles and a belly-to-belly suplex finishes at 3:02.
-Newly Christened Non-Title Match With the 1-2-3 Kid as the Special Guest Referee: “The Bad Guy†Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) vs. “Sycho†Sid (w/Ted DiBiase):
If I were Sid I’d be quite angry at Monsoon’s last second decision to make this a non-title match. If I were him I’d be demanding that DiBiase use some of his personal fortune to get a lawyer like Clarence Mason to get those decisions overturned. Also, in storyline terms this is the second time in three months Monsoon has kept Sid out of an Intercontinental title match. Sid unloads on Ramon against the ropes but Ramon goes under a clothesline and fires away, knocking Sid over the top rope and to the floor. Back in, Ramon ducks another clothesline but gets nailed with a big boot for two. Sid hits a chokeslam and taunts as if he’s Hulk Hogan to get some heat from the crowd. Sid beats away on Ramon’s back and becomes momentarily distracted when the crowd cheers for Ramon. Ramon catches Sid with a knee lift and tries a Razor’s Edge but he’s too close to the ropes and Sid backdrops him to the floor. You’d think Ramon would have learned not to do that anymore after WrestleMania X. Sid distracts the Kid and DiBiase stomps Ramon on the floor as we go to a commercial break.
When we return from the break Dean Douglas has come to ringside and he proceeds to take Ramon to the school of hard knocks. Outside, Sid drops Ramon throat-first across the apron and after a long count rolls inside. Sid continues to work the back and hits a side suplex for two. Big leg drop from Sid out of the corner gets two. Sid locks in a reverse chinlock and transitions it to a camel clutch. However, Ramon is able to maneuver his weight, get on his feet with Sid on his shoulders, and fall backwards for a double KO. Sid takes a sick bump out of it as well, nearly breaking his neck in the process. Sid gets on his feet first but a blind charge eats boot and Ramon hits a second rope bulldog for two. Ramon slugs away and when Sid puts his head down too early, Ramon lifts him for the Razor’s Edge. However, the Kid pulls Sid down and Sid hits a powerbomb for the fast count pin at 9:50. DiBiase puts money in Ramon’s mouth and the Kid takes it and leaves the ring with Sid to complete his heel turn. The crowd is in shock at this turn of events and isn’t sure how to react. The match wasn’t anything to write home about as Sid was too methodical on offense and the match never established any momentum. Considering last week’s build, though, I wonder if the WWF considered giving the Intercontinental title to Sid here and changed their mind at the last second. Grade: D
-Jim Ross interviews Dean Douglas, Yokozuna, and Owen Hart backstage. They are with Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji and before they can saw much of anything, Ramon arrives backstage and ties up with Douglas as the show runs out of time.
The Final Report: This functioned primarily as a Survivor Series hype show but it did little to make me want to order the pay-per-view. The heel turn with the Kid was a long time coming and they had to pull the trigger here because of the role the Kid would play at the Survivor Series pay-per-view. However, to make his turn go over it better it would have been wiser if they had done it in front of a live crowd and had given Ramon and Sid more time because the match never allowed for the audience to become clued in on the Kid’s turn. Not a very good show, but I look forward to having a live crowd instead of a crowd that is lulled to death for the next one.
Show Grade: D
