Monday Night Raw
July 8, 1996
Green Bay, WI
Brown County Expo

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Shawn Michaels (3/31/96)
Intercontinental Champion: Ahmed Johnson (6/23/96)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (5/26/96)

Before we even get Raw, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon comes to us from his WWF office to announce the suspension of the Ultimate Warrior for failing to appear at three different house shows. The suspension will be lifted once Warrior pays an appearance bond to ensure the fans that he will appear where advertised. Nevertheless, he’s here to wrestle tonight. They don’t want you to know it’s not live like those other guys! Gorilla hopes he posts the appearance bond and returns to action. He finishes by saying no matter how popular you are, you’re not above answering to the loyal WWF fans. According to the dirt sheets, Warrior no-showed these events in order to attend his father’s funeral. But with all the Warrior University and comic book deals, there could be more to the story than they are letting onto us. Just channeling my inner Gene Okerlund there.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

• The Ultimate Warrior vs. Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette)
  

So WO-YAH never paid the appearance bond and this will prove to be his final TV match in the WWF. Since Warrior is now suspended, what does this mean for International Incident? We go LIVE on split-screen to Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson. Shawn says they have secured their third man and he’ll be later in the show. Of course he will! Ahmed mutters something. This has been all Warrior as he dominates Owen with clotheslines. Warrior even NO-SELLS the Spinning Heel Kick, which puts down everybody. Warrior hits a suplex and goes for the Guerrilla Splash, but hits knees. Commercials! When we return, Cornette jabs Warrior in the throat with his racket. Bossman straddle connects. Owen lands an enziguri and celebrates with one of his Slammy awards. HA! Missile Dropkick gets two. Warrior kicks away the Sharpshooter as Davey Boy Smith comes down to ringside. Time to WARRIOR UP! Clotheslines and shoulderblocks everywhere. Bulldog tries to ambush Warrior and fails for the DQ. (8:48 shown) Vader appears to make this 3-on-1. Davey Boy Smith delivers a Running Powerslam and while he and Owen hold down Warrior, Vader scares away the WWF agents and then gives Warrior a VADER BOMB. ¾*

After the break, we see referees carrying Warrior out of the ring, which is exactly the way he should be written off TV.

Back over to Shawn and Ahmed, Shawn says he’s had his differences with this new mystery partner in the past, but who hasn’t he had problems with in wrestling? Ahmed thinks that Camp Cornette won’t be able to walk over their new partner like they just did with the Ultimate Warrior. SNAP!

• Savio Vega vs. Justin Hawk Bradshaw (w/Uncle Zebekiah)
  

During Chevy Vega’s entrance, Brian Pillman tries to whack him with one of his crutches, but JJ Dillon puts a stop to it. Vince – “Brian Pillman is a walking ticking time bomb!” This is a rematch from over a month ago when these two fought to a double-DQ on Superstars due to Vega attacking Bradshaw with his Caribbean strap and Bradshaw attacking Vega with his bull rope. Wild stuff! They get into a scuffle and Bradshaw pie-faces Savio to start. That fires up Savio as he nails that Spinning Heel Kick in the corner. Bradshaw boots Savio around and wears him down with a sleeper or chinlock situation. While Bradshaw whips Savio from corner to corner, Lawler thinks Shawn and Ahmed’s mystery partner will be Neidhart’s latest character: Who. Really? Bradshaw stops a Savio comeback by avoiding a dropkick. Back to the sleeper. Vega fights out with a jawbreaker. Mr. Perfect calls into the show. As soon as Lawler asks if Perfect will be the mystery partner, we go to commercial. You and your tricks, WWF! When we return, they lost the phone call to Mr. Perfect. Is that supposed to make us think it is him? Pumphandle slam by Bradshaw gets two. Flying shoulderblock gets two as well. Let’s just fast forward to the finish. Some miscommunication between Zeb and Bradshaw gets Savio tripped and Bradshaw missing a clothesline. As Bradshaw stands up, Savio lands the SPINNING HEEL KICK for the win. (12:33 shown) Long, boring match. I just don’t care about Savio Vega anymore. He’s been booked horribly ever since beating Steve Austin. Who would ever think that would be a problem for you? After the match, Bradshaw leaves Savio laying with his cowbell. ½*

Still standing in the same spot as they have been all hour, Shawn and Ahmed tell us that their mystery partner is on his way. They send out some serious threats to the Smoking Gunns.

We get a few video clips of the recent house shows and Vince thanking everyone for their support.

Jean-Claude Van Damme’s “Sudden Death” Slam of the Week: Mankind putting down Jake Roberts with the Mandible Claw last week. That’s not a slam at all!

• Davey Boy Smith & Vader (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim)
  

YES! Jim Cornette joins us for commentary. Corny freaks out when Vince shakes his hand after the Godwinns shake Vince’s hand. He threatens to sue. He’s got a lawyer, ya know! Too much suing going on in 1996! Nothing can ruin his night though because of what Camp Cornette did to the Warrior. Henry gets in some trouble to start, but counters a suplex on Vader of all people. Tag to Phineas, he splashes Vader for a nearfall. He beats on Vader in the corner and bites his face. Vader fires back with a clothesline and tags in Davey Boy. Another short heat segment as Camp Cornette can’t quite get things to stay in their favor. However, Bulldog wears down Henry with a chinlock. He fights out and runs into a knee. Tag to Vader, he immediately splashes Henry for two. Cornette puts down his headset and tries to get his boys motivated. This is taking too long! Henry nails a back suplex and Cornette has to hop off commentary again for a moment. VADER BOMB to Henry’s back! Cover, 1-2-NO! Commercials. Henry escapes the Hourglass Suplex, but not the Avalanche from Vader. He tries another Avalanche, but Henry catches him for a slam! Cornette has to get up again. HOT TAG TO PHINEAS! In a nice touch to show that he doesn’t really care about anyone but himself, Corny calls his boys “idiots” and then corrects himself. The whole thing looks to be backfiring for Camp Cornette making you think an upset is coming. As the match breaks down and the ref tries to get Henry out of the ring, Vader nails Phineas with a clothesline and knocks him into a powerslam by the Bulldog for the 1-2-3. (13:37 shown) Not sure why they let the Godwinns look so good here, but whatever. Were they too confident after destroying the Warrior? That’s as good a narrative as any. **¼

Over on the WWF Superstar Line on Option 6, they provide some speculation on an alleged love triangle between Goldust, Marlena, and Sable. Where does Mankind fit in? Call 1-900-737-4WWF and find out!

Cornette appears on a split-screen with Shawn and Ahmed to get his reaction when they reveal their mystery partner. He’s confident that no one in the WWF would team up with those two after what Camp Cornette did to the Warrior. Who does Shawn and Ahmed have in their back pocket? Wait, is that Isaac Yankem? No, it’s PSYCHO SID! Cornette loses his mind while Sid shows us how insane he is.

NEXT WEEK: WWF Champion Shawn Michaels takes on Billy Gunn, while the WWF IC Champion Ahmed Johnson battles Bart Gunn! All the champions will be here!