WWF RAW 8/19/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation presents RAW
Date: 8/19/1996
From: Wheeling, WV

Matches:
1.)Owen Hart defeated Davey Boy Smith by count-out in the WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament
2.)Vader defeated Freddie Joe Floyd
3.)Goldust won a 4-man battle royal
4.)WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Yokozuna in a non-title match

Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Owen and Davey shake hands before they begin the action. Smith uses his legs to flip Owen across the ring and Owen bails to the floor. Davey holds the ropes open to let Hart back in the ring. Owen dropkicks Smith to the floor and taunts the fans. Owen holds the ropes open for Smith as well. Smith drives Owen down to the mat with a scoop slam for a two count. Smith connects with a gorilla press slam and nearly wins the bout. The screen begins to go a little static. Which, the announcers make note of. Davey leg drops Hart but only gets a two count. Davey catches Owen in the corner to hit a power slam but only gets a near fall. Sunny makes her down to ringside for some reason. Smith misses a running knee attack in the corner and Owen focuses his attack on the right knee. Backstage, Cornette says he didn’t come out to watch the match because he didn’t want to choose sides and makes things worse. He thinks Gorilla Monsoon is against Camp Cornette. Owen locks in the Sharpshooter but Davey reaches the bottom rope. Owen backdrops Smith over the top to the floor. Davey suplexs Owen from the ring back to the floor. Hart nails Smith with a spinning heel kick on the floor and chops Davey towards Sunny. Owen goes back to the ring and Smith is counted out. Sunny tosses her drink at Davey! (**1/2. A decent match but this would appear to have been more focused on starting an angle with the Smoking Gunns and Sunny. After the match, Cornette calls Sunny a slut when he comes to the ringside area and yells at Sunny. Sunny thinks Smith tried to look up her dress.

2. Ahmed Johnson says he doesn’t hold anything against Gorilla Monsoon for stripping the championship from him.

3. Mark Henry is out at ringside and is meeting some fans and signing autographs. He did have a brief confrontation with Vader.

4. Jim Ross introduces Mankind and Paul Bearer for an interview. That’s right, Paul Bearer turned on the Undertaker and joined forces with Mankind at SummerSlam. Paul says he was sick and tired of carrying the Undertaker for six years all across the world. Bearer tells us that Mankind has the spirit now and hands him the urn. Mankind will be getting a WWF World Championship shot on September 27th in Philadelphia. Mankind says he loves the pain that his body is currently in due to the boiler room brawl. The lights are flickering during the promo. Bearer looks a little nervous. Mankind is happy to end the Kliq. Ross tells Bearer that the Undertaker isn’t gone and Bearer denies it. Taker’s theme music begins to play! The lights go out completely! Taker is being carried to the ring by druids. Taker sits up on the floor and rises to his feet. Taker raises his arms and fire comes out of the turnbuckles. Mankind and Bearer bail from the ring quickly!

5. A vignette promoting the debut of a wrestler named the Stalker is aired. Stalker was sitting in front of a fire and says that people shouldn’t believe everything they see.

6. Goldust, Vega and Austin all team up to eliminate Sid within the first fifteen seconds of the match. So, we are already down to three people. Vega is now double teamed by Austin and Goldust. Austin turns on Goldust quickly and hits a backdrop. Goldust hits a superplex on Austin to get some level of revenge. Goldust has nearly been eliminated a couple of times in this battle royal thus far. Vega is taking care of business on the heels but Austin puts a stop to that. Vega is able to catapult Austin over the top to the floor. Austin comes back and attacks Vega from behind before leaving. Savio counters the Curtain Call and hits a spinning heel kick on Goldust. Vega charges but is back dropped over the top and Goldust wins! Goldust gets a WWF World Championship shot against Shawn Michaels on September 6th. (I’m interested to see a Goldust/HBK match on TV since they had some good matches on the house show market. I didn’t like how they quickly got rid of Sid here since he was incredibly over as a babyface, but they needed a heel to win this one. A decent battle royal nonetheless.)

7. Jim Cornette is saying that he got Yokozuna back to his camp. Yoko tosses Michaels down to the canvas as soon as they lock up. Michaels hammers away on Yoko with right hands and the big man is staggering. Yoko falls on his backside in the corner. Yoko drops HBK with a head butt as Jim Cornette made his way down to ringside. Cornette attacks Jose Lothario on the outside! Yoko hits a belly to belly suplex on the champ! Yoko misses a big splash and Michaeks drops Yoko with a leaping forearm. Michaels goes up top to hit a big splash for a near fall. Shawn goes for the super kick but Yoko blocks it to hit a Samoan Drop! Yoko misses a leg drop and Michaels gets the win after the Sweet Chin Music! (**1/2. Uh, that was actually a fun match despite Yoko’s extreme weight at this point. Not a bad way to end the show.)

Final Thoughts:
A good episode of RAW as Owen/Bulldog and Yoko/Michaels both put on decent television matches and the segment involving Taker/Mankind was solid. You can’t go wrong with what they did on this episode. A thumbs up for RAW this week.

Thanks for reading.