WWF Monday Night Raw 18/07/1994

Diesel vs Lex Luger

This is one of those matches that starts off feeling pretty pedestrian, but really drew me into it by the end. There’s nothing fancy, with Diesel in particular very much going through his routine, but they work in enough nearfalls and a hot ending to make it work. I thought Luger was terrific here, hitting a lovely powerslam before taking a big spill to the floor to give Diesel control. Hard not to chuckle at Jim Ross and Randy Savage praising Diesel’s “technical skills” because he can lock on a sleeper. Lex earns a series of two counts on his comeback, with a second rope clothesline coming closest. There’s also a very close fall for Diesel, as Shawn Michaels superkicks Luger as he goes for the torture rack following a ref bump. Sadly, we get a cop out ending, as Razor Ramon comes down and all four men fight for a double DQ.

Mabel vs Austin Steele

Fun squash, with Mabel showing off his strength. Nice overhead suplex, big corner splash and a Bossman Slam get the win.

Owen Hart vs Reno Riggins

As the #1 contender to the world title, Owen maybe gives Riggins a bit too much offence here. Then again, it helps the story, as Owen gets frustrated at Riggins keeping up with him and starts putting in nastier blows. A slick belly-to-belly leads to the sharpshooter for the win.

Thurman Plugg vs George South

This is a pretty by the book squash. Liked the early spot where South went for a leapfrog, only for Plugg to stop and kick him in the stomach. Plugg has pretty basic offense here, but it’s all executed well enough. Top rope crossbody, with good height, gets three.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Gary Sabaugh

This was one of the better Bigelow performances, as he lays waste to Sabaugh. His corner splash is fast and painful looking, and a standing enzuigiri looks decent. However, Bigelow ends up winning with the worst looking move in the match, a Million Dollar Dream turned into a shitty bulldog. I think he quickly dropped this move, and with good reason. 

WWF Raw 16/05/1994

Very brief episode of Raw this week. A lot of time is spent on the Earthquake/Yokozuna sumo bout which ends this broadcast. Couple of fun matches though...

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sparky Plugg

Nothing makes a wrestler sound less threatening than Vince repeatedly referring to him as “Sparky”. I’ve not really enjoyed Bigelow on these old Raw’s, but this was pretty good. They worked a simple cat-and-mouse match, with the future Bob Holly using his speed to try and evade Bigelow. His hope spots are interspersed nicely, and I dug some of Bigelow’s offense here. His shots to the kidney with Holly trapped in the corner looked vicious. Plugg makes his comeback by avoiding a Bigelow corner charge, and hits a nice flurry of moves – bulldog, DDT, top rope crossbody – for two. Luna trips him as her runs the ropes, and this leaves him prone for a slingshot headbutt to give Bigelow the win. Best that both guys have looked in 94 thus far.

Diesel vs Mike Moraldo

Moraldo is a jobber with a thinning mullet, but he’s pretty fun here. Throws a few mean punches before letting Diesel hurl him over the top to the floor in a big bump. He also eats Snake Eyes with a big chest bump before the Jackknife gives Diesel the win.

Owen Hart vs Tony Roy

Owen looks great here, moving swiftly and with nice looking execution. His gutwrench suplex looks terrific. Loved Owen sitting back with a chinlock and having to be stopped by the ref from hitting Roy in the head with a clenched fist. Roy gets a brief flurry, but misses a dropkick and Owen immediately locks in the Sharpshooter to win. Loved Owen going straight to victory the moment he’s in the briefest trouble

WWF Raw 11/4/1994

Diesel vs Virgil

I had so few expectations for this match, so I was pretty pleased to see Diesel properly go at Virgil with some aggression at the start of the match. Also enjoyed Virgil’s armwork when he took control. Against Jeff Jarrett a few weeks earlier, he’d been content to just hold Jarrett by the wrist, but here he did some fun little bits, twisting it over the ropes and hitting a top rope ax handle to the shoulder. Of course, from there it all goes to shit, as Diesel slows things down, locking in THREE separate bear hugs. Virgil makes a brief spirited comeback but it gets ended by a big boot and a Jackknife for the win.

Thurman “Sparky” Plugg vs Barry Horowitz

Fairly pointless match, highlighted by the commentary team ignoring it for its entire runtime in favour of a chat with Mr Perfect. This was fairly enjoyable, though it’s odd that Horowitz had the best looking move of the match with a nice inverted DDT. The future Bob Holly was fairly pedestrian here, before winning with a top rope kneedrop.

The Quebecers vs Men On A Mission

This match was the result of an audience phone in, where the viewers could pick MoM, the Bushwhackers or the Smoking Gunns for this title match. They could have voted better, but then they could also have voted worse. This was a bit of a mess, to be honest, not aided by some overly fussy refereeing by Earl Hebner. It really hurt the match from as his insistence on clearing everyone from the ring hindered the drama on the nearfalls. I did enjoy some of this, largely due to the Quebecers. Loved Jacques’ intelligence as he eyepoked big Mabel and kept kicking at his legs to try and knock down the redwood, and there were some nice Quebecer double teams – a double stungun on Mo and a nice rocket launcher shoulder block that sent Pierre hurtling at Mabel from the top rope. Mabel had some fun fat guy offence, but Mo stinks as usual and the aforementioned Hebner refereeing prevent this from being a good bout. The Quebecers picked up the win with the assisted cannonball.

WWF Raw 03/04/1994

Earthquake vs Adam Bomb

This is a WrestleMania X rematch, though this one goes a little longer. Quake controls with ease to start, no-selling shoulderblocks and ducking a Bomb clothesline in order to hit his own. Bomb takes over with a nice flying clothesline. There’s an underlying story of Bomb being over-presumptuous during the bout, missing an elbow because Quake isn’t hurt enough then not getting the pin off a top rope clothesline by conferring with Harvey Wippleman before pinning. This builds to the ending, where he rushes into a boot from a corner charge, before eating a massive belly-to-belly suplex, a legdrop and the seated splash for the Quake win.

Razor Ramon vs Austin Steele

Basic squash, with Razor casually going through his moveset. Ramon acts quite heeling, slapping Steele about and contemptuously kicking him in the head. Steele lands viciously on the Razor’s Edge and that gets the win.

IRS, Rick Martel, Jeff Jarrett & the Headshrinkers vs 1-2-3 Kid, Sparky Plugg, Tatanka & the Smoking Gunns

This is the delayed match from Wrestlemania, but it’s still curious to see the Headshrinkers on the heel team directly after showing a video of their face turn. They lay the match out to give everyone a brief chance to shine, and it’s interesting to see how people use it. The opening segment between Billy Gunn and Samu is really good, ending with Gunn taking a big 360 bump off a clothesline. The terrible flying headscissors Billy hits on Jarrett is less impressive. Plugg uses his chance to shine to hold an armbar on Martel, which isn’t very interesting, but 1-2-3 Kid decides to hit as many moves as possible in his 2 minutes, looking crisp throughout. It all breaks down and, in the hubbub, Kid misses a corner charge and gets rolled up by IRS for the clean win. This was pretty fun.

Yokozuna vs Scott Powers

Really quick squash here. Yoko’s back suplex is really nice looking, gets really snap on it. Legdrop and Banzai Drop get the swift win.

WWF Raw 07/02/1994

The Smoking Gunns vs Barry Horowitz & Reno Riggins

Decent little squash to start the night. Riggins and Horowitz are upper-tier jobbers, so they get a little offence to start, hammering Billy in their corner. I loved the Bart Gunn top rope crossbody off the tag which took out both opponents. The Gunns control with a few nice double-teams, nothing mindblowing, but good basic teamwork. They finish with Billy Gunn hitting a top rope elbow on Riggins as Bart held him in an Argentine backbreaker.

Owen Hart vs John Paul

Great work by Owen in this match, his first on Raw since the heel turn. He highlights his new found aggressiveness with some sharp back elbows and uppercuts, which distance him from his old persona. After a lovely backbreaker, he locks in the Sharpshooter for the win.

 

IRS vs Marty Jannetty

Quick tempo to start, as Marty sends IRS from the ring after getting attacked from behind. Jannetty takes a huge bump on the floor after getting sent into the ringpost, but seconds later hits a lazy sunset flip into the ring, with the post bump seemingly having no effect. The Quebeccers come out as we go to break, continuing the Jannetty/Johnny Polo beef, but have been sent to the back by the time we return. IRS makes sure to work in a lengthy abdominal stretch and that spot when he jumps off the top rope onto his opponent’s outstretched foot to make sure I don’t enjoy myself. Marty makes his comeback as a whole load of people come out to the ringside, as Polo is followed by Razor Ramon, who is followed in turn by a returning Quebeccers. This leads to a ref distraction where Polo pushes Marty as he leaps into the ring, and IRS wins. Jannetty and Razor clean house to lead to a tag title match in two weeks time

Thurman “Sparky” Plug vs Duane Gill

Poor old Bob Holly. He’s in an awkward position where he’s kinda portrayed as a high flyer, but he doesn’t do that many high flying moves, so he hits a lot of dropkicks and quick armdrags to show he has speed. I dug the spot where Gill tried to outsmart Plugg by springboarding himself out of the ring, only to meet a punch to the face on the ring apron. Plugg hits a nice powerslam and finishes with a top rope kneedrop (“he calls that the Overhead Cam”, a wretched finisher name)

Crush vs James Thornberg

Surprisingly fun. I loved it early when Thornberg hit two no-sold clotheslines, and Crush grabbed the third and yanked him to the mat for a Fujiwara armbar. Crush’s offence is ok, with a few nice kick combo’s thrown in, and he hits a legdrop for the win.