WWF RAW 11/4/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation presents RAW
Date: 11/4/1996
From: Ft. Wayne, IN

Matches:
1.) Goldust fought Barry Windham to a double disqualification
2.) The Sultan defeated Alex Porteau
3.) Razor Ramon defeated Marc Mero

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Kevin Kelly is in Walton, Kentucky outside of Brian Pillman’s house for an interview. Austin has threatened to arrive to the house. Pillman is out with an injury thanks to Austin’s attack on Superstars a couple of weeks ago.

2.) Goldust and Windham brought their teammates for Survivor Series to ringside to watch the match. Windham and Goldust brawl on the outside to start before entering the ring where Windham tosses Goldust down with an arm drag. Dox Hendrix lets us know that Steve Austin has called into the program. Austin tells us that he is in a rental car to get to Pillman’s home. Windham nails Goldust with a couple of clotheslines to keep the upper hand. Barry catches Goldust on a leapfrog attempt and hits a power slam. Windham locks in a figure four looking for a submission but doesn’t get it. Goldust misses a cross body and rolls to the floor. Barry backdrops Goldust and follows up with a gut wrench suplex. Windham places Goldust on the top turnbuckle but Goldust delivers a few head butts and a kiss to knock Barry to the canvas. Goldust comes off but is met with a boot to the face as the show goes to commercial. Goldust catches Barry and they crash to the floor. That leads to a brawl between the Survivor Series teams. Mark Henry goes after Jerry Lawler as the match has been thrown out. (**. It was a decent match as Windham worked well with a guy that he had some good matches with years prior in WCW. The match did lack some crowd heat, but it was still fine for TV.)

3.) Footage from the Big Bang Boom Tour, which was really just a segment not aired on RAW, saw the Undertaker reveal a blowup doll looking like Paul Bearer hanging upside down in a cage. Bearer will be put in a cage and will be hovered over the ring as the Undertaker wrestles Mankind at Survivor Series on November 17th.

4.) We go to Brian Pillman and Kevin Kelly for the interview. Pillman had surgery on his left ankle and tells Kelly that he is alive and well. Pillman has been in many bitter feuds in this business. Brian says that Austin has made this personal and crossed a line as result. McMahon tells us that Austin is circling the neighborhood. Pillman tells Vince that Austin is a dead man walking because he has a gun and shows that to us before going to commercial.

5.) Back to Pillman’s house where Austin has attacked Brian’s friends and shoves one of them into a children’s swimming pool, which is hilarious. He wedges another guys head between a car door. Austin arrives to the front door but it is locked.

6.) Kelly is with Pillman who is holding a gun. Austin breaks open a door by breaking the glass the unlocking the door. Pillman has the gun pointed at Austin and looking deranged but the feed goes out and we go to commercial.

7.) Jim Ross is in the ring and introduces Psycho Sid for an interview. It looks like it’s going to be a confrontation between Sid and Michaels. There is a podium in the ring with JR being the moderator. Sid and Michaels will be partners next week for a tag team title match against Owen and the British Bulldog. Shawn says that he has forgiven Sid for three power bombs after WrestleMania XI last year. Sid calls Michaels out on his bullshit for getting him out of the looney bin. Shawn tells Sid that he may not believe it but it was the truth. Sid tells Ross that he accidentally hit Michaels the other week. Michaels agreed saying it was a mistake. Michaels recalls beating Sid once and will do it again at Survivor Series. Sid thinks he is the favorite because of his ability. Michaels thinks that will be the downfall. Shawn says that Sid isn’t in his league and Sid says he isn’t in the little leagues. Michaels is getting fired up and knocks over the podium over and gets in Sid’s face. They begin to shove each other but Jim Cornette appears from the backstage area with Owen, Bulldog and Vader. Sid and Michaels are back to back waiting for the heels to enter and here they come. Michaels attacks Bulldog while Sid works over Vader until Owen whacks Sid with a chair. Shawn picks up the chair and heels bail. Michaels has the chair in hand and Sid gets up seeing Michaels has the chair in hand. They have a confrontation and the heels enter again but are sent to the floor. Several officials come out to separate Sid and Michaels.

8.) Ramon slaps Mero in the corner and taunts him to start the match. Mero comes back with a drop toe hold and works over Ramon with an arm lock. Mero arm drags Razor to continue his advantage on Ramon. Marc comes off the top but Ramon blocks a double axe handle and drops Mero throat first across the top rope. During the match, WWF Director Kervin Silfe called in but is seemingly attacked during the phone call. McMahon and Ross are going at each other as McMahon is fed up with Ross and his jabs. Mero knocks Ramon down with a high knee and hits a missile dropkick for a near fall. Marc hits a top rope hurricanrana but Ramon kicks out at two again. Here comes Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Mr. Perfect as RAW goes to commercial. Perfect has gotten on the apron and Hunter shoves Mero off the top. That allows Ramon to get up and hit the Razors Edge to get the cheap victory. (*1/2. Nobody cared about this match and the announcers were more focused on talking about the Pillman/Austin issues. This was literally just an afterthought.)

9.) Back to Pillman’s house where Pillman is being held by his friends as Pillman is going nuts. Kelly says that nobody has been shot and doesn’t know where Austin is. Steve Austin comes back into the home but is shoved out by Pillman’s friends as Kevin Kelly is begging for someone to call the police. That was an intense ending to RAW!

Final Thoughts:
This show is memorable just for the gun incident as it nearly got the WWF kicked off the air. It was an excellent segment to promote Austin and make him appear bigger in the fans eyes. The segment with Sid and Michaels was your standard segment to promote a good guy vs. good guy main event with Sid playing the heel role more so than Michaels would be.

Thanks for reading.