10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 1996

5. Vader's Attack Started A Trend

Vader Gorilla Monsoon
WWE.com

Conversely, the first chapter of Vader's WWF career was his best.

24 hours removed from debuting in the 1996 Royal Rumble, the big man squashed Savio Vega and assaulted everyone in sight on the 22 January Raw, including ageing WWF President Gorilla Monsoon. Ol' Gorilla took quite the pasting from Vader, and it's pretty special to look back on now.

Authority figures had never really been beaten up like that on WWF television, so Monsoon was a bit of a trendsetter. He'd pave the way for the kind of capers Vince McMahon, Sgt. Slaughter and countless others would get up to over the next several decades.

Perhaps the only downside to this is that Vader was kayfabe suspended (he actually needed to rehab from surgery) and didn't show back up for another few weeks. By that point, it was clear to see that he still wasn't 100%, but the WWF didn't want to wait any longer.

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