Raw is live in Liberty, New York for our last set of tapings for 1994. It's Vince and Shawn Michaels on the commentary table as the first topic of the night is Diesel, of course. Shawn claims that Backlund will regain his championship. Speaking of crazy Bob, it's Backlund vs Doink to open our night of action.
Dink comes out first, and conspicuous by his absence is Doink early on. After some stalling, Doink trips Backlund from behind and hits a couple drop toe holds. Backlund sells the nose injury for a few minutes. A very pro-Doink crowd in Liberty as there's still some stalling. Doink tries a takedown, but gets reversed by Backlund, until Doink manages an escape using the ropes. He grabs Doink's leg and goes for a trip and another waistlock. Doink grabs a rope and forces another break.
Doink gets a takedown with a bridge for two. He takes down Backlund and tries a flip. He gets another roll for a two. Doink's paint is so leaky tonight it's getting all over Backlund's back. Headlock takedown from Backlund is turned into a headscissor by Doink. Backlund gets a roll over for two, which Doink turns into a bridge for two. Takedown for two from Doink. Doink locks in a headlock. Backlund gets a cheap forearm and begins to wring at the arm, following with some elbows to the shoulder. Backlund tries a Chicken Wing, but Doink gets the ropes.
Doink turns a back drop into a sunset flip for two as we got to break. When we return it's an arm bar. Doink escapes another hold, but Backlund quickly gets another elbow to the arm. Doink turns another lock into a body slam, and manages a small package for two. Backlund continues to wring at the arm as Dink looks on in great concern. Backlund locks in some more arm bars and top wrist locks. He gets a nice looking arm drag takedown continuing to twist at the wrist of the clown.
He continues the offense on the arm as a "Let's Go Doink" chant can be heard (though the crowd looks absolutely bored). Roll over gets a two for Bob. Even Vince is more interested in the future of Shawn Michaels, of course to keep bringing up the SEVEN FOOT WWF CHAMPION DIESEL (2 times mentioned so far). Doink manages to get a springboard cross body for two. Small package for two followed by a backslide for two. Scoop slam by Doink who then misses an elbow. Backlund tries the Chicken Wing, but Doink counters. Doink tries a body slam, but Backlund slides behind, finally locking in the Chicken Wing. He scissors the leg, getting the win. He refuses to release the hold, even with the bell ringing and the concerns of Dink. The refs force the hold broken as Backlund stares at the hands once again.
A pretty good match to be quite honest. I rag on Face Doink a lot, mainly because the more face-ish antics have always been more annoying than endearing, but he really held his own in this match, showing some really good amateur wrestling against a master like Bob Backlund. The downside however is that this match went way too long. Eight minutes when it should have been at least five. And while it was good, it just didn't have the strong storytelling backing it like the submission match with Bret at Survivor Series. But the in ring was good and it made Face Doink look pretty solid, so I really can't fault it that much.
With Shawn and Diesel vacating the tag team titles, we now have an ongoing tournament to determine the next WWF Tag Team Champions, culminating at the Royal Rumble. An interesting group of names, and some interesting matches for sure. But sadly, this tournament is exclusive to WWF Superstars and as such won't be covered here.
Proving that the WWF will indeed sell anything, there's also a strategy guide VHS for WWF Raw. Hosted by Pettengill, it's dripping in some delicious NewGen Cheese. With their partnership with Acclaim/LJN, they would do tips sections on several WWF VHS tapes throughout 1995.
Because who else is gonna teach you how to play True Lies and NBA Jam: Tournament Edition? Nobody but the Toddster, that's who!
Well if this isn't a blast from the past! We're back with Double J vignettes. Jarrett is now in Las Vegas, Nevada. He claims that Nashville missed out on getting the greatest entertainer in the world, but Vegas is rolling out the red carpets. They're waiting for the debut song for his "Ain't I Great" album.
Razor Ramon is in action next against Mark Starr. Vince brings up how Double J is the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship. Razor gets a shove early on. He wrings the arm and lands some shoulder blocks and Shawn mocks Barbara Walters (Babwa Wawa). Razor lands some hard chops in the corner and lands a big hiptoss. Mark gets caught for the fallaway, but Razor collapses, selling a knee injury. Starr goes for a leg lock and follows with some stomps. Razor comes back with a clothesline. Despite his hobbling, he manages to get Mark Starr onto the top buckle and lands a big back suplex. Razor's Edge gets the three.
It's the King's Court up next. He mocks the crowd saying that a kid in the crowd is getting nothing for Christmas. McMahon's stocking were hung in the chimney with care, he had worn them for months they needed the air. Lawler's guest this week is IRS. Irwin is accompanied by a pair of hooded druids. Lawler brings up professional athletes making multi-million dollar salaries. And if you want their autographs, you have to pay for it. But now they haven't been paying taxes. Irwin brings up Joe DiMaggio, Reggie Jackson and Daryl Strawberry being investigated. But the biggest tax cheat is The Undertaker with the power of the urn. Irwin has the power of the Million Dollar Man and the Druids. Sooner or later, he's going to get his hands on the Undertaker and he will pay. IRS also brings up the situation with Lex Luger from two weeks ago, and we'll see the two wrestle next week. Luger is just like the Undertaker and that one of his friends might be one of Luger's enemies. A bit too long a promo this week, but it was to the point at the lest.
Up next it's Aldo Mondoya, the Portugese Man-O-War against Nick Barbary (or Barberri this week). After some hammerlocks, Montoya gets some leapfrogs, but gets caught trying to do a monkey flip, however he sends Barbarry nose first into the ropes. He follows with a plancha to the outside. When both are back in, he lands a hiptoss and a dropkick. Harvey Whippleman coes to ringside to observe Aldo (Guess it's not just DiBiase who's interested). Barbary sends Montoya into the ropes. Montoya gets a headscissors and a clothesline. Montoya gets a bulldog off the buckle to get the win.
As Howard Finkel announces Montoya as the winner, Whippleman grabs his mic and mentions that next week it'll be Finkel in the corner of the Bushwhackers in the rematch against Well Dunn. If Fink gets in his way, Harvey will throw him out of the arena like the garbage he is. Harvey shoves Finkel, but Fink doesn't retaliate.
Our last match of the night is King Kong Bundy (With Ted Dibiase) against Bob Knight. Some Roseanne jokes (She got the role in Disclosure, but nobody paid to see it). Shoulder block by Bundy and a massive toss sending Knight shoulder first into the buckle. Shawn makes a Hoosiers reference to Bob Knight as Bundy keeps Knight out of the ring for a bit. When he brings him back in, he gets an elbow to the face followed by a body slam. Bundy ascends the buckle as Knight escapes. Bundy tosses him back in the ring. Shawn makes bowling references as Bundy throws Knight to the corner and lands a chop and a boot choke, eventually standing on Knight. Whip in the corner and a big splash gets the end for the five count, but just gets the three.
We end this edition of Raw with Santa Claus greeting the crowd. He arrives in front of Vince and Shawn and mentions that while Vince has been a good boy this year, Shawn's been a pretty good boy and gives him a present. it's a toy version of the WWF Women's title. Wah-Wah. Well, it's a step up from a lump of coal I guess, but at least the lump of coal would get more focus on Raw.
This was a decent Raw. The Doink/Backlund match was surprisingly good in-ring despite being a bit too long for its own good. Razor and Aldo's squashes were decent fare, though Bundy's bored me. The King's Court with IRS was straightforward and to the point, and Shawn Michaels' commentary was pretty entertaining this week. Overall, it was an easy sit, even if nothing was super outstanding to the show. I give it another B-.
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