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 08/08/1994

The “Undertaker” vs Butch Banks

Nothing like kicking off with a painfully dull squash. Really slow paced match, with Brian Lee successfully aping the methodical pace of the real Taker, which unfortunately doesn’t make for an entertaining bout. Lots of choking against the ropes, awkward looking big boot before an admittedly nice chokeslam gets the win.

Lex Luger vs Chad Miller

Doesn’t feel like Lex is really putting his all into this. He openly telegraphs some armdrags, doesn’t bother rolling back on a failed O’Connor roll and spends the bulk of this three minute squash working Miller’s arm. Miller hits a few crap leaping kicks to really highlight how poor this is, before Luger hits the flying forearm to win.

IRS & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Tatanka & Doink the Clown

Surprisingly decent tag match, with an ending that actually benefits from hindsight. Million Dollar Corporation members IRS and Bigelow have a tag title match at Summerslam, whilst Tatanka is facing Lex Luger in the belief he’s sold out to the Million Dollar Man, so there’s some storyline strands tying this all together. Doink is the odd man out, so the smart money would be on Doink taking the fall. There’s a nice spot early on in this where Doink catches a boot from Bigelow, and instantly I thought “Ah, Bam Bam is going to hit an enzuigiri here”, only for Doink to duck the enzuigiri and hit big elbows to Bigelow’s back. Odd moment where Tatanka hits two clotheslines to stagger Bigelow, only for IRS to try and pull the ropes down as he runs them and tries a third time. However, Tatanka completely no-sells this and hits a clothesline on Bigelow anyway. The heat gets worked on Tatanka after IRS interferes more successfully. There’s a short period of heat on Tatanka before he collides full-force with Bam Bam as they both try crossbodies. Looks like a car crash. Doink gets the hot tag, but Tatanka manages to distract the referee, leading to a Bam Bam enzuigiri to Doink, followed by the Write-Off to give the heels the win. Knowing as I do now that Tatanka joins the Corporation in a few weeks time, this is a lovely little detail, with Tatanka “accidentally” giving Bam Bam and IRS the win.

Bob Backlund vs Kevin Kreuger

This is evidently just after Backlund turned heel, as he’s still got the floppy hair and acts like a cheery 80’s babyface. He just outwrestles Kreuger, sending him to the mat and letting him get up, only to send him back down again. He keeps looking for cheers, cheers that he’s not going to get. The “We Want Bret” chants from the crowd visibly annoy him, and he instantly whips on a crossface chicken wing to tap out Kreuger. Really effective, you can see the gradual swing into madness.

WWF Raw 23/05/1994

Owen Hart vs Doink the Clown

This is a King of the Ring qualifying match. Really great Owen performance here. He’s suitably aggressive at the start, jumping Doink at the bell, hitting big upper cuts, and cheating with chokes and eyepokes. Doink is pretty generic by comparison, and relies on Dink outside the ring to give his performance some colour. Dink is a pretty irritating little twat, it has to be said. Honestly, the clowns are so unlikable, it makes it hard to feel bad for Doink when Owen goes after his leg, wrapping it around the ringpost. Owen also hits a perfect belly-to-belly suplex. Doink makes a brief comeback that gets stopped by Jeff Jarrett kidnapping Dink. This distraction lets Owen kip up and roll up Doink to win. Love that Owen kipped up to do the roll up, so wonderfully cocky, and I love that Jarrett let Dink go as soon as Doink lost – can’t blame him for not wanting to be stuck with the shitty little clown.

Duke Droese vs Barry Horowitz

I’m sure this wasn’t the aim of this bout, but I left it thinking Horowitz had a great performance. He bumps around to make Droese look more powerful than he probably was, and his control section on the arm was really fun. Dug him wrapping the arm around the ropes, then giving the ropes a kick. For his part, Droese was fine, nice power moves, but he’d look a touch lost between moves. His spinebuster looked good, and his finishes it with an elbow that looked far worse than the Trash Compacter that he’d later use.

IRS vs Gary Sabaugh

This is really dull. Sabaugh is the former Italian Stallion, but this is a one-sided squash for IRS, and he’s a terrible squash worker. His offence is really basic, and whilst there’s been many a good in-ring story told with not many moves, a squash needs something more interesting to carry the bout along. Not IRS hitting short back elbows, then going to the mat for extended hammerlocks and chinlocks. A brief Sabaugh comeback ends with a stungun, and IRS hits a basic clothesline to win. Waste of time.

Nikolai Volkoff vs Matt Hardy

I liked far more of this than I should have. Volkoff is old and pudgy, and he unleashes some of the weakest looking strikes in this match, but he also works a fun match section to start the bout, he avoids a springboard crossbody by casually walking out of the way, he hits  nice butterfly suplex and wins with a nice Boston crab. I dug this. 

WWF Raw 09/05/1994

Razor Ramon vs Kwang

King of the Ring qualifier here, and a pretty entertaining match. The Kwang gimmick was goofy, but he’s been having fun bouts on 94 Raw. Both guys exchange some nasty chops, and this is worked at a high tempo. Loved Ramon twice punching Kwang off the apron, only for Kwang to leap back up to take another blow to the face. Even better, the third time he ducked the swing and dropped Ramon over the top rope to take over. Great little spot. Ramon briefly works over Kwang’s shoulder after a missed corner charge and though it doesn’t lead to much, it was nice to see Kwang occasionally favour his shoulder during the bout. Also liked Kwang blocking the trademark second rope back suplex, using just a sharp back elbow to the nose. Ramon struggles to hold Kwang up for the Razor’s Edge, and just in case there were any doubts it wasn’t intentional, they do one Irish whip and then repeat the spot. That minor flub aside, good bout.

Crush vs Raymond Roy

Curiously, Roy is allowed to hit a dropkick from behind and roll up Crush for two at the start of this bout. Feels odd, as Crush is getting a decent push at this time. The advantage is brief, as Crush hits a vicious superkick, a few big blows to the spine and a heart punch to win. Decent squash.

Doink vs Mike Terrace

Terrace wins me over early by bumping a Doink legsweep onto the back of his head in a big bump. Dink keeps getting involved in front of the ref, eye-poking Terrace and then running all over him whilst Doink has him in a hold. No idea why that’s not a DQ. Dink is a little twat. Whoopee Cushion finishes.

Mabel vs Mike Bell

Mabel is a super fun squash worker, in a very literal sense. Here, he hits a few stiff slaps on Bell, flattens him with a corner splash and a huge legdrop, then nails the Boss Man slam to win. Mo is apparently injured here, so I’m looking forward to more Mabel squashes in the future. 

WWF Raw 27/03/1994

Lex Luger vs Rick Martel

Luger is coming off his controversial loss at WM10. Pretty high paced to start, with Luger showing some real fire in his punches. Loved some of Martel’s in-ring stooging, turning around lost on a criss-cross in time to get bulldozed by a Luger shoulderblock. Sadly, things slow down at this point, as both guys decide to apply long headlocks. Luger actually works his, but Martel locks in 3 dull headlocks. His control doesn’t get any more inspired, with a few boots and blows. Luger blows landing on his feet off a backdrop, but hits a powerslam and the torture rack for the win.

Owen Hart vs Mike Freeman

Perfectly fine squash, as Owen schools Freeman on the mat. Some nice little touches, with Owen hitting a nasty stomp to the prone elbow on Freeman. Owen gives Freeman one or two hope spots, but nails a lovely looking bulldog and locks in the sharpshooter for the win.

Doink vs Eric Cody

The problem in the early days of Doink post-Matt Borne, is that the replacement Doink would try and replicate Borne’s mat skills to maintain the same style. However, he was nowhere near as capable as Borne, so you’d get periods of Doink holding armbars as if he was the new Ricky Steamboat. This is largely dull, bar Dink coming in to run over Cody’s prone body, which the ref seems to deem perfectly fine. A bit of token armwork and a slam seem to render Cody totally incapable of movement and the Whoopee Cushion gets the win.

1-2-3 Kid vs the Black Phantom

Fun little match, as Kid’s small stature means this is worked a bit more evenly than the usual squash. Black Phantom gets to show a bit with a nice short back elbow and a committed headfirst dive into the turnbuckle. Kid takes a big bump, almost landing on his neck on a missed dropkick. 1-2-3 Kid comes back with a lovely running dropkick in the corner, and a moonsault crossbody gets the win.

Crush vs Ray Hudson

Crush has been surprisingly fun in squashes in 94. Loved him grabbing a running Hudson by the throat with a swift chokeslam, and a thrust kick to the jaw looks vicious. Knee drop gets the very quick win.

WWF Raw 07/03/1994

The Smoking Gunns vs Owen Hart & Crush

All four guys cut quite a quick tempo to start, including Bart Gunn hitting a moonsault crossbody on Crush, which looked good. The Gunns do a few bits here that I really liked, with Billy trying to take Crush over with a crucifix and, when Crush proved to be too strong, transitioning to a sunset flip instead. Loved Owen tagging in, but his ego causing him to rush into a hiptoss right away. Owen takes over with a leg lariat on Billy, but we miss almost the entire heat section due to commercial break. We actually come back right on the hot tag. Terrific. The end sees Crush clip Bart’s leg as he has Owen up for a powerbomb, and Owen locks on the Sharpshooter for the win. What we saw was fine, but they really missed the heart of the match.

Virgil vs Jeff Jarrett

Man, whoever laid out this match deserved firing. Virgil takes 80% of this match, which is ridiculous considering which of the two was getting a push, and it’s not even compelling domination. It’s mostly Virgil working a wristlock on Jarrett with nothing to pop the crowd. The only entertaining thing about Virgil’s domination is Jarrett’s stooging: yelling “I got him” before Virgil reverses a hammerlock, and having this hilarious look of total shock as he goes over on a sunset flip. JJ breaks the wristlock and things speed up a bit….for 30 seconds before Jarrett DDT’s Virgil for the win. A match that helped no-one.

Doink vs “Iron” Mike Sharpe

In many respects, the comically loud Sharpe is the perfect foil for the hijinks of Doink. Sadly, there is very little of note to this squash, as a missed corner charge by Sharpe leads to the Whoopie Cushion for the Doink win. Missed opportunity.

IRS vs Matt Thomas

An IRS squash is not the exciting main event that would have kept me tuned in in 1994. Thomas looks in good shape, but isn’t much cop in the ring, as IRS holds his hand through an armwringer reversal before Thomas almost botches a roll-up. Not that IRS’ offence is much better. He works a dull abdominal stretch section that goes on too long, before pointlessly working over Thomas’ leg for about 30 seconds. I say pointlessly, as the very next move after releasing the leglock is the matchwinning clothesline. Not a good episode of Raw.

WWF Raw 24/01/1994

Lex Luger vs Austin Steele

Really dull squash, where Luger doesn’t do much to warm up the crowd. For example, why is buffed-up super-face Luger holding a side headlock on the mat on lumpy jobber Steele 2 minutes in? Steele gets in some basic looking offence before Luger finishes with a superplex.

Jeff Jarrett vs John Paul

Jarrett is proving himself to be a great squash worker on these old Raws. Loved his big dropkick here, and a nice heavy clothesline on Paul. Jarrett lets Paul get in a few flash pins throughout, but I love the fact that Jarrett will cheat even when in total control. What a heel. Dug seeing Jarrett bring out a slingshot suplex. The match ends with a fun little sequence of counters, and Jarrett wins with a roll-up and a handful of tights on a jobber squash. Great dickish work by Jarrett

 

Men On A Mission vs the Headshrinkers

This had been advertised prior to the Rumble as the Harts vs the Headshrinkers, so this is a real step down. Mo is really positioned as the weak link of the team, so you can see Vince plotting a Mabel push already. Mo even makes the mistake twice of trying to slam a Headshrinkers head, which doesn’t work. I liked a fun spot where, unbeknownst to Fatu, Mabel had tagged in and Samu refused to accept his tag. Fatu takes control on Mo with a pair of superkicks, so you can see where the Usos get their main offensive move from. A kick to the back makes Mo the face in peril, and the heat section is a little bland. Mo gets a few hope spots including a terrible small package. Mabel finally gets the hot tag, and I like that they paid off the “Headshrinkers no-sell head shots” story by having Mabel do a noggin-knocker with Afa and a Shrinker, with the payoff being that both heads were so strong that both felt pain. Things turn into a bit of a mess towards the end, before the Shrinkers finish Mo with the top rope splash. Not much to recommend here. 

Adam Bomb vs Tommy Angel

Interestingly, both Vince and JR talk up the bland looking Angel as a decent talent pre-match. Curiously, the commentators spend a lot of the match slamming manager Harvey Whippleman, stating that Bomb is wasting time and Harvey should order him to put Angel away. It’s odd, as Bomb is in complete control, bar a little flurry by Angel at the start. A flying clothesline and the Atom Smasher finish it.

Doink vs Joey Stallings

This is an odd state of affairs, as the recently sacked Matt Borne had been playing Doink as a talented mat wrestler and working all kinds of fun holds on guys. However, the replacement Doink (and I’m not sure which one it is here) is not as talented as Borne so, after an admittedly great overhead belly-to-belly, Doink hits some perfunctory armwork to try and maintain character. Problem is, he’s not as fluid or vicious as Borne was. Stallings gets to hit a nice side slam, before Doink folds him up with a side suplex (again, pretty good), and the Whoopee Cushion gets 3. 

Shawn Michaels vs Tyrone Knox

As good as Jeff Jarrett has looked on these old Raws, Michaels is proving to be a dull squash wrestler. He stooges too much for the stocky Knox here, then slowly works him over when he is on offence. This includes a chinlock that goes on for too long. Knox is allowed to no-sell a turnbuckle shot, but a superkick and piledriver win it for Michaels.