• ON THIS DAY IN WWF HISTORY (April 15, 1996) – WWF Monday Night RAW
On this day in 1996, the World Wrestling Federation aired another episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF Monday Night RAW’.
It was broadcasted from the Orange Pavilion in San Bernardino, California and featured pre-taped matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWF In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies’ PPV.
Here’s the card:
1. Marc Mero vs. Leif Cassidy
2. Steve Austin vs. Bart Gunn
3. Goldust vs. Savio Vega
• WCW Veteran Says WWE Took A Huge Risk With Boneyard Match At WrestleMania 36, Undertaker Increased AJ Styles’ Stock
During a recent edition of his 83 Weeks podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff talked about the Boneyard match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36.
Below is what Bischoff said:
“Jarring, but in a great way. Hats off and major props to everyone in WWE who made the decision to try this because this is one of those things that required a lot of conversation.
The fact that you’re going to present this match in such a unique way and is so counter to everything that’s really been done before and at such a high level, you run the risk of the audience going ‘Come on, not a movie inside of a WrestleMania.’
When you produce television, you’re a category, take this match out of the live venue and put it in the pre taped venue, that’s been done before, but to put the sound effects and music behind it and all the things they did to make it a cinematic experience, I thought it was a huge risk that paid off massively. It raised the storytelling of WWE to an entirely new level. Can’t say enough great things about it.
I think AJ Styles is becoming one of the most interesting characters in WWE. He is really really expanding as a performer. I worked with AJ a lot when I first got to TNA, and he saw his character through the eye of a needle, that’s how narrow he saw his character and Hulk [Hogan] and I pushed him to expand the way that he looked at his character and try to do new things. He’s embraced it, he’s expanded it.
He was so good in this, and obviously so was Undertaker, but Undertaker is Undertaker, everybody expects him to put on a great performance, but I think the story is AJ Styles. If this was a movie, he should win an Academy Award for a supporting cast member.
I think AJ delivered a performance that made Undertaker look even more believable than he already is. I think Undertaker brought out the best in AJ. What we saw here was great storytelling. This was a huge ‘different than’ moment for WWE.”
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