SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report originally published 30 years ago this week in the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter paper copy…
KELLER’S WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW REPORT
APRIL 15, 1996
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER (ISSUE #384)
(Taped 4/1)…
-The show opened with footage of Bret Hart storming out of the arena after his title loss. Vince McMahon promo’d that Bret will be breaking his “deafening silence” on the program…
(1) Marc Mero beat Leif Cassidy at 9:23. A very good match. Lots of innovative spots and high energy as always by Mero. Al Snow has the Cassidy character down well, also. The best line was by Lawler: “That was the carousel head scissors. Mero’s stealing my moves”…
-McMahon and Lawler interviewed Diesel on the phone from Germany. Nash said he has a master plan and he’s the smartest man in the business…
(2) “Stone Cold” Steve Austin beat Bart Gunn at 11:00. Another good match…
-McMahon interviewed… well, actually, he held the microphone for Jim Cornette. “I may not be Jean Dixon, but I’ve got a crystal ball. I’ve looked into your future and I see the future of Razor Ramon after Apr. 28 taking a severe and sharp downward spiral. Razor Ramon may soon cease to exist. Razor Ramon made some very bad career choices by signing a contract to wrestle Vader.” Cornette was especially good perhaps because he was shooting. He concluded, “You’re never going to forget that the WWF assigned you the man they call Vader,” almost trying to imply Vader would be shooting on him. Of course, he’s not going to, but why not give that impression…
-A bumper with a segment of Bret’s interview aired. He said that he’s let his family become strangers and strangers become family and sometime he’s going to have to swap that arrangement…
-The Sunny music video aired…
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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(3) Goldust beat Savio Vega via DQ after a false title change. McMahon asked, “Goldust, what do you think? Boxers or briefs?” (Why is McMahon wondering this?) Lawler responded: “It’s a secret. Victoria’s Secret.” McMahon stressed more than usual that Goldust is just an act to distract his opponents. Another good match both in terms of solid workrate and getting across their respective characters. Over the house mic Goldust threatened to kiss each of the fans in what for the WWF is a rare heat-spot over the house mic. You can see Dustin Runnels gaining confidence with the Goldust character with each match. After a convincing ref bump, Marlena gave Goldust the belt to hit Savio, but Savio got it and nailed Goldust. They did the Dusty finish with a second referee disagreeing with the decision of the first ref. Gorilla Monsoon held up the title and ordered a rematch next week on Raw…
-Jim Ross plugged his 900 line segment, the question being Mean Gene-esque: “What is it that British Bulldog and Magic Johnson have in common?”…
-An excellent segment aired on Bret. It showed him leaving the arena after the match telling the camera man to “f— off for a while.” Bret said he would have won the match had it continued at the 60 minute mark. Bret said, “I could never see myself working for another organization because it would be a step down.” He said other groups are throwing money around. He said he’s not greedy for money, he’s greedy for respect which comes from being in the WWF. He said every time he loses the title he feels betrayed…
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