We open this Raw with a quick blurb from Vince about how this is the official 1st anniversary of Monday Night Raw. Hard to believe that we've seen a year of the program already. And what a year it was. From 1-2-3 Kid upsets, to the never ending supply of Jeff Jarrett vignettes, to that time Doink gave Kamala a p resent with nothing inside. My oh my what a great first year it's been. And we're definitely due for some more memories and moments in year two of this New Generation rundown.
We also run down the story involving tonight's match for the WWF Tag Team Championships between challengers Marty Janetty and the 1-2-3 Kid and the champions the Quebecers, while in a far less piss yellow filter for once. In a backstage promo, Polo calls the challengers cockroaches and suckers. The Quebecers are focused on their real challenge of Bret and Owen Hart at the Royal Rumble.
Raw is Live from Richmond, Virginia. And making his entrance to the ring is the reinstated "Macho Man" Randy Savage, wearing a really bad ass Raw jacket. If I could ever take something that's likely stashed in the WWE vault, that would probably be a top contender. Also in action tonight will be Bam Bam Bigelow taking on Bastion Booger. Plus the Undertaker and Ludvig Borga will see action.
But we kick Raw off with our WWF Tag Team Title match. It's the Quebecers defending against Marty Janetty and the 1-2-3 Kid. Quebecer manager Johnny Polo looking more and more like some bird you'd find in the bowery. Starting is Jacques and Marty. Janetty gets a roll up for two for a near upset. Jacques whips Marty into the corner, but gets sunset flipped for another near fall. Tag to the Kid and Pierre. Big shoulder block by Pierre, but the Kid follows with a spin kick for a two. Great energy from the challengers early on, proving that they aren't to be taken lightly.
Jacques comes in, but Pierre gets a cheap shot in on the Kid. Marty tries a save but gets caught. However, the challengers manage to shove the Quebecers into each other, and a series of dropkicks take the champions out of the ring. Polo tries to help strategize as Marty is tagged in. Arm wtingers on Pierre, and a tag to the kid. who hits a nice catapult dropkick to Pierre.
The champs once again try to time out as they head up the ramp. They continue to stall for a while until Jacques gets back in, as does Marty. Shoulder block by Marty, who stops a catapult with a punch to the head as we go to break. When we return, we missed a big near upset as Marty landed a superkick for three, but the foot was on the rope, nullifying the fall. Back in main action, Marty gets launched over the rope thanks to a rope pull by Pierre. Pierre holds down Marty, but Jacques accidentally hits him instead.
Tag to the Kid who gets a spinning heel kick on Jaques, and a flying kick off the top rope to the outside to Pierre. He tries again, but gets tossed off the rope by Pierre. Pierre chokes the Kid with the tag rope as the ref is distracted with Marty managing to finally get back in. Double flapjack on to the rope by the Quebecers on the Kid. Cover by Pierre only gets a two count. Pierre lands punches to the back as more double teaming by the Quebecers take us to break.
As we return from break, Jacques hits a slam on the Kid and tags in Pierre. Nice back body drop onto the Kid from the champs for a two count. Back and forth tags as a double clothesline to the kid is hit hard by the Quebecers. Pierre stalls on a cover and hits a headbutt for two.
He really is Marty Confetti!
Jacques back in and hits an elbow to the sternum. He lands a piledriver, but still refuses to cover. Instead, Pierre hits a slingshot senton onto the Kid. Jacques still doesn't cover the Kid, as they believe they have the situation well in hand. They go for the senton again, but Marty makes the save. This gives the Kid enough time to tag in Jannetty . Slams and elbows to both champs and even a shot to Polo. Suplex and splash combo gets the three as we have new tag team champions. Marty Janetty and the 1-2-3 Kid.
Awesome match. Very back and forth with plenty of effort put in by all the men involved. Jannetty and Kid offering a fast paced style that is still unique to this time in wrestling. And the Quebecers worked as great heels that put on some great double team maneuvers as well. I also like that the match wasn't just 90% the faces being beat down. And even when it did become that, it was still helped by great teamwork by the heel champions. And in the end we get a great upset victory. Certainly the best way to start the second year of Monday Night Raw.
Randy Savage congratulates the champions as they go into the crowd to celebrate.
Todd Pettengill has morphed into good old J.R, as he's the host of this week's Royal Rumble report. Not really much has been changed, with the exception now of what will be the situation involving the Harts/Quebecers match considering the titles have changed. As for the Rumble match itself, the 30 men have been announced already, but we'll go through them again.
Shawn Michaels
Diesel
Doink
Bret Hart
Owen Hart
Bam Bam Bigelow
Bastion Booger
Billy "Just got fired from WWE literally at the same time i was finishing this article up" Gunn
Bart Gunn
Rick Martel
Crush
Tatanka
Adam Bomb
Samu
Fatu
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
Ludvig Borga
Jeff Jarrett
1-2-3 Kid
Marty Jannetty
Scott Steiner
Rick Steiner
Greg Valentine
Kamala
Mo
Mabel
Bob Backlund
Lex Luger
And added to the list, the Great Kabuki and Tenryu. Listed as mercenaries added by Mr. Fuji. Also added is Tatanka vs Ludvig Borga as a single's match. Overall, this is looking to be a pretty solid card.
After recapping the segment between Jerry Lawler and Tiny Tim from a few months back, we go into our next match. It's Ludvig Borga against Brad Anderson. Clothesline by Borga immediately. Anderson stops a back drop and tries to clothesline the Finnish brawler down, but gets taken down quickly. USA chants annoy Borga as he gets a shot to the sternum on Andersron.
Lex Luger is on the Raw Line who congratulates himself for getting in the Rumble, as well as congratulations to the Kid and Jannetty. Side slam by Borga as Luger thanks the fans for getting him into the rumble itself. Borga gets in the torture rack on Anderson for a quick, and decent enough squash.
We recap Superstars from last week as Yokozuna easily wins a handicap match against two jobbers. The lights go off, and footage of Bearer and the Undertaker is played on the tron, as we see that Taker is finishing off his "double wide, double deep" casket. Great reactions from Yokozuna as he's scared at even the sight of what could be his fate at the Royal Rumble. This leads to our next squash match featurning the Undertaker.
Undertaker is up next against Ray Hudson with quite the nice mullet on him. Some strikes by Taker start things off. He throws Hudson out and rams him head first into the stairs. He throws him back in, while Vince and Macho Man talk about John Madden, as Vince is trying to get Madden to join the WWF. I guess this is just regular commentary banter, but I can imagine Vince literally trying to sign John Madden to a WWF contract. Chokeslam by Undertaker and the tombstone piledriver finish off Ray Hudson in a simple squash.
We recap last week's Raw as the issues between Bam Bam Bigelow and Bastion Booger come from Booger trying to come on to Luna after a little bit of hump rubbing. We also learn that next week "Macho Man" Randy Savage will take on I.R.S next week on Raw.
There is a Raw anniversary cake at ringside as we go to our last match of the night, Bam Bam Bigelow vs Bastion Booger. Bam Bam wastes no time as he lands some strikes into the back of the Booger man. Shoulder block doesn't take Booger down, but Booger hits one of his own. He misses a headbutt. Bam Bam goes for a charge in the corner, but gets flopped over the rope. Luna distracts Booger with blown kisses, while Vince makes a random Lorena Bobbitt reference. Bam Bam slams Booger head first into the steps, while Vince shills "Let it Ride" with Richard Dreyfuss. Body slams by Bam Bam and a diving headbutt gets the three in this match that was ugly in more ways than one. Post-match, Luna slaps Booger, and Bam Bam continues the assault.
The Quebecers are quite upset over their loss of the tag titles earlier, but seeing as how Johnny Polo is a genius, he has signed a rematch for the Quebecers for the following weekend at Madison Square Garden. We end Raw with I.R.S trash talking Macho Man next week. But Irwin ends up taking the cake literally as we sign off for another Monday.
For an anniversary episode, this was a great edition of Monday Night Raw. An excellent tag team title match to open, a lot of build up to the Royal Rumble PPV, and just a general feel of things happening overall. The Bam Bam/Booger match was rough, but far from the worst match I've seen for certain. And the squashes, while simple, were far from offensive. I'd say that this is definitely a Raw worth checking out, if only for the tag title match. It gets a solid A-.