[1996-12-16-WWF-Raw] Billy Gunn vs Bart Gunn

[Superstar Sleeze]

I fast forwarded to the finish. Never heard of this and was totally surprised. Interesting. Billy takes a hot shot and sells it as a stinger, temporary paralysis. Wives rush the ring as does the medical team. This has Russo's fingerprints all over it. Novel idea to waste on a midcard match. Billy's selling was pretty good. Bart was atrocious. But by doing it on a midcard match makes it feel like it could happen anytime. I don't know. The follow up the following week was weak and to really sell it they should have had all the heavy hitters talking about it and make the repercussions felt in other storylines. That is the downfall of Russo booking, no follow-up.

[dawho5]

To me what they did here smacks of desperation & the stuff that got them where they are in the first place.

First, you open the show with Bret inserting himself in the SCSA (their hottest new star) match against Vader because he's pissed that everyone continues to involve themselves in his business.  Then you put these two on in the main event instead of flip-flopping those two matches, which would drive ratings up and help you fight WCW.  All so you can run an angle with 2 fake wives of midcarders that nobody is really invested in based on a move you see every week on both shows.  I know injuries happen on basic stuff, but this is just a horrible idea that needed to be scrapped before it was discussed.