It's the 25th episode of Monday Night Raw once again eminating from the Manhattan Center. Opening Raw is the WWF Championship match that was announced the week prior. It's champion Yokozuna taking on Crush. The ceremonial flower girls give Yokozuna their flowers, which he angrily throws away, seeing as how the last few weeks have been embarrassing to the big man, due mainly in part to the body slam heard around the world the previous week.
The crowd actually does the national anthem as a chant, which I gotta admit is pretty clever. Match starts slow as neither man can shove the other. Eventually Crush gets in rights, but his momentum gets him slammed. Yokozuna tries an elbow, but misses. Big boot by Crush sends Yokozuna flopping out of the ring. Shoulder block attempts by Crush get nothing, so he tries rights into the corner followed by a big corner splash. The second attempt at a splash is avoided by Yokozuna.
Yokozuna throws Crush throat first into the top rope, and chops him out of the ring. Bringing him back in, Yoko hits another hard chop, and works shots on a prone Crush, and locks a nerve hold as we go to break. When we return, Yokozuna gets a side kick on Crush, derailing any attempt at a comeback. Back into another long nerve hold. More chops by Yokozuna, knocing "the original Hawaiian punch" down. A whip to the corner. Yoko goes for a big body thump, but misses. Dropkick by Crush gets nothing, but the following clothesline knocks down Yokozuna. Crush goes up top and hits a nice shoulder block off the top rope for a two.
Crush goes back to the top turnbuckle, but Mr. Fuji jabs him with the Japanese flag pole, sending him tumbling to the floor. Body slam by Yokozuna on the floor. He brings Crush back in and lands a belly to belly followed up with a massive leg drop. He signals to Mr. Fuji and sets up the Banzai Drop for the three.
This was a pretty good match. Slow in the middle, but a strong start and finish. Definitely the best match I've seen of Crush since starting this review series, and I'm always impressed with just how athletic Yokozuna was for a man of his size and girth. He's also a great heel foreigner who the fans just love to hate, and this title run's been solid so far.
Post-match, Yokozuna isn't done yet with Crush, as he hits another banzai drop, followed by a third. Tatanka, a little late on the save, tries to help, but Yoko swats him off the apron. He then hits a fourth banzai drop. More jobbers come in, but are also thrown away. Randy Savage jumps in to stop a fifth banzai drop, as both him and Tatanka drag Crush out of the ring. Macho Man grabs a chair and threatens hitting the champ with him, as Yokozuna celebrates his actions. Crush is put on a stretcher and carried out of the arena.
Up next is the Headshrinkers in action against Aaron Ferguson and PJ Walker. After taking their entrance gear off, Samu and Fatu go right after the two jobbers. Ferguson gets thrown out, and both men do a double toss on Walker, causing him to crash horribly on his head. Samu then hits a wicked clothesline as both shrinkers headbutt each other. Tag to Fat as both men roll Walker, and make them tag Aaron Ferguson. Vince notably mistakes both jobbers names. Walker is still dead as both shrinkers hit a doble leg sweep on Ferguson and follows up with a splash off the top by Fatu for an easy three. A brutal squash match.
Speaking of brutal, oh goody. It's a frigging Tatanka match. But he's facing the Brooklyn Brawler, so I can at least care a little about this one. Brawler tries to play to the crowd before sending Tatanka in the corner. However, Tatanka turs it around before the Brawler shouts him out. Randy Savage returns to ringside and tells us what we pretty much knew, that Crush is pretty messed up after the beat down. Chop by Tatanka, followed by another one and a hip toss, and a body slam. Brawler rolls out of the ring to rest up.
More jaw jacking by Brawler as both men shove each other. Slap by Brawler infuriates Tatanka who gives chase, and gets a big powerslam. He works on the arm of Brawler, until Brawler gets a big shoulder to the face followed with a decent neck breaker. He follows up with a bit to the face, which wakes Tatanka up to hit yet more chops. But a spash in the corner gets nothing, and Brawler hits a clothesline. He then takes his shirt and tries to choke out Tatanka. Eye rake by Brawler and a snapmare for a two count. This is followed up with a headlock, which Tatanka tries to break, but Brawler keeps the momentum up. Then he does what EVERY. SINGLE. JOBBER. DOES
He rams Tatanka into the buckle,which wakes him up, makes him do his war dance, and then follows up with tomahawk and knife edge chops. He goes to the top rope and hits another chop. Samoan drop for the three for yet another boring by the book Tatanka match. Yuck.
We cut to comments from fans who all agree that Lex Luger should win the title. Followed by that, it's Mr. Hughes in action. He still has the urn, and now has shiny gold rimmed shades. Tony DeVito is the jobber of the week. Before the match a giant black wreath is being brought to ringside. As Hughes lays clubbing blows, he's somewhat distracted by the wreath. However, he remains dominant laying in stomps and a hard whip into the buckle to DeVito. This is followed by a headbutt and a cover, but Hughes breaks it. A whip and a nice dropkick. He hits his chokeslam for the three. I'm sorry if it seems odd, but I really don't find Mr. Hughes terrible in any way.
Post-match, he looks at the wreath that has indeed been sent by the Undertaker. He smashes up the wreath in anger.
It's the Summerslam report with Mean Gene Okerlund. Officially added to the card will be Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler, a match that of course stems from the ending of the King of the Ring PPV back in June. We also learn that Luger's planning to launch some kind of campaign to earn the title shot he's been denied.
We follow this up with another Men on a Mission vignette. With Osca laying great rhymes like "His name's Mo not Joe", and "M to the A to the B.E.L, whe's guaranteed to ring your bell." I don't think I've cared less for a debut ever.
Main event time with Adam Bomb taking on jobber Scott Amati. No added items to the gimmick. He still has his nuclear contacts and kool-aid red tongue. Though I never noticed that giant "Adam Bomb" tattoo so I'm guessing that's this week's addition to an insanely overblown gimmick. Bomb slams Amati to the mat and rams him head first into the mat. Boots to the gut followed by a massive toss out of the corner. Hard clothesline by Adam Bomb followed by a rib breaker. He then appears to tickle the stomach of Amati before tossing him over the rope. Adam Bomb follows it up with a throwing body slam on the outside. He brings him back in the ring and goes up top hitting a nice clothesline off the top. Powerbomb for the three in a much better squash than the last few times we've seen him.
Next week on Raw, it's Shawn Michaels vs Marty Janetty for the intercontinental title, Men on a Mission debuting, and a special King's Court where Jerry Lawler will interview... Tiny Tim? The hell? I mean that came out of the leftest of fields. I mean, if we can have Tiny Tim and his ukulele...
Then maybe we can actually get that Woody Allen/Mia Farrow cage match. I'm still waiting, Vince.
This Raw was a decent episode. The title match between Crush and Yokozuna was better than it should be, and helped to build Yokozuna as a devastating threat to anyone who tries to oppose him. I enjoyed the Headshrinkers squash and even the Adam Bomb squash, and I still have no issues with Mr. Hughes. The only down point was the Tatanka match, but that's no shocker there. Other than the opening, there isn't much of a reason to revisit this one. It's a fair B rating.