WWF Raw 3/10/1994

British Bulldog vs Jim Neidhart

This was perfectly ok, while at the same time maybe not being as good as you’d hope for with two family members, one of whom is in his comeback match. Liked the opening battle of the shoulderblocks, with Bulldog winning with a leaping version, and DBS showed nice agility in hitting a standing dropkick out of a test-of-strength. Neidhart goes to “a semblance of a chinlock”, as described by Vince. Bulldog hurts his leg crashing to the floor after Owen Hart pulls down the ropes, which lures out Bret from the back, and Neidhart does a bit of token work on it. Loved Neidhart’s rope-assisted choke, standing on Bulldog’s throat and really working the rope to add emphasis. Neidhart misses a splash and Bulldog hits the delayed suplex, albeit with a minimal delay due to the leg. Owen interferes after Bulldog was going for a sunset flip, and this draws the DQ. Feels like an odd time for Owen to come in, especially after quite a lengthy match.

Doink vs Barry Horowitz

Horowitz looks really good in this match, substantially better than Doink. Doink barely gets enough elevation on a leapfrog and almost loses Horowitz on a backslide, while Barry gets a nice bridging pin and fully commits to a missed corner charge. Doink gets a powerslam and the Whoopie Cushion to win.

Bull Nakano & Luna Vachon vs Alundra Blayze & Heidi Lee Morgan

Odd match this, with Morgan taking 90% of the match, and totally dominating Nakano every time Bull is in. Morgan gets a fun, through-the-legs bridging pin on Vachon, before Luna takes over. However, as soon as Bull gets in, Morgan starts no selling shoulderblocks and getting a victory roll before Luna comes in to take control again. Really odd way to book the monster heel. You can almost hear Vince’s frustration as he complains about Morgan needing to get the champ in there. He also criticises Heidi’s decision to try a missed splash rather than make the tag, before Alundra gets in. Nakano blocks a double suplex and takes both Morgan and Blayze over instead. However, Luna accidentally hits a missile dropkick on her, and Blayze hits the German on Luna to win. Baffling booking of Nakano.

Bob Backlund vs Gary Scott

Fun little squash, with Bob letting Scott look quite competitive on the mat and working a nice sequence with him, before locking in the chicken wing for the win after a missed clothesline. Good way to end the show.

WWF Monday Night Raw 01/08/1994

Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon

This starts off really well, with a really fluid fast paced sequence ending with Michaels cockily walking over Ramon’s back, only to turn round into a Razor right hand. At this point, I was excitedly expecting a hidden Raw gem, but then a few things really go against it. This goes nearly 20 minutes, and it does feel like they’re stretching to fill the time in places. I think the term “rest hold” is sometimes lazily used, but here Michaels holds one on Razor for a minute or so, before Ramon just casually gets up and escapes. No struggle, just Ramon going “Right, time to get out of that”. There’s also weird moments like the undersized heel winning a slugfest, or the undersized heel having to fight out of two bear hugs. There’s some really neat moments too, like a slingshot that sends Michaels hurtling to the floor and taking Diesel out as well. Diesel hits some nicely timed interference, clotheslining Ramon on the floor and being on the other side of the ring before the ref turns around. Michaels gets the win after running Ramon into a big boot from Diesel, and this feels like a missed opportunity.

Bull Nakano vs Alundra Blayze

Non title match, really shows the lack of depth of the 1994 women’s division as Nakano faces Blayze in her first televised WWF match. Indeed, according to Cagematch, the only other female wrestler Nakano faced in her near-two year WWF run was Heidi Lee Morgan, normally tagging with Blayze. Luckily, Blayze and Nakano seem to have chemistry right away. Loved Nakano hurling Blayze by the hair, Alundra taking several rotations before landing. Blayze fires back with a nice roundhouse kick, but a second is ducked and Nakano violently clotheslines her against the ropes. They really throw some big bombs at each other, making the most of their 5 minutes of ring time. Huge Nakano piledriver and a big powerbomb, with Alundra hitting the German suplex for two. Blayze hits a huge crossbody to the floor, looked great, before they both gets counted out whilst fighting outside. Really felt ahead of it’s time, just a compact sprint of a bout.

The Smoking Gunns vs George Anderson & Tom Bennett

Hardly any time is dedicated to this, joined in process then cut up by ads. Pretty much a timekiller to finish the show, though the Gunns match-winning Sidewinder looks great.