The March 27th, 1995 edition of Raw isn't exactly a regular edition, so to speak. It is, much like a lot of pre-PPV Raws from 1994, a preview show as Wrestlemania was the following Sunday night. As such, we have Vince McMahon and Todd Pettengill at the studios in Stanford, while Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon are in the green screened crowd to call the only match on this show, Bret Hart vs Owen Hart. There really isn't anything major on the Vince and Todd stuff as we build to what Vince calls (with a straight face) "The biggest Wrestlemania of them all". We get recaps and quick interviews from everyone involved. So, since there isn't much meat to cover, and frankly I'm tired of everything involved with Lawrence Taylor, I have chosen to instead focus solely on the Bret vs Owen match for this edition of TOTNG.
It's Bret Hart vs Owen Hart in a no holds barred match as our sole match of this edition of Raw. Owen gets some cheap shots in on Bret to start until Bret manages to take Owen to the corner to lay in some hard strikes. Hard punches off the turnbuckle followed by a snapmare and a hairpull slam. Owen backs away, but is quickly grabbed and choked on the rope, snapping him backward. DDT from Bret followed by a leg drop. He tosses Owen out like some pink and black garbage and rams him into the steel barricade followed by a hard whip into the steps.
Bret drops a forearm to the head of Owen as he beats his brother up the entrance way. Body slam to the floor by Bret, who then throws Owen back into the ring. Owen tries to back away, but eats some more rights. Bret drops the headbutt to the groin area amd land some more clubbing blows to the chest. Bret tries a backbreaker, but Owen rakes at the eyes and followes with a stomp to the hand and another rake to the face. He rakes the eyes again using the ropes and follows with his own headbutt to the groin.
Inverted atomic drop by Owen, who mocks the crowd. He pulls down his singlet straps and gets in a headbutt and enziguri. Cover only gets a two. Owen pulls his straps back up and tosses Bret out, ramming the Hitman into the steps, followed by a hard whip into the barricade. European uppercut by Owen sends Bret hitting the mat hard as we go to break. When we return, Owen is back in the ring with a chinlock to Bret. Bret escapes with some rights and gets a crucifix pin for two.
Owen recovers quickly to get a headbutt to Bret. He ties Bret in the Tree of Woe and lands some stomps. Owen exposes the turnbuckle pad and tries to ram Bret face first, but Bret turns the tables, sending Owen face first into the buckle, allowing Bret to get a clothesline. He drops the elbow off the second rope for a two. Backbreaker by Bret and an elbow to the face for another two. Bret drops Owen with a nice piledriver for another two count.
Bret tries a sharpshooter but is poked in the eyes. Owen rams Bret sternum first into the exposed turnbuckle, and covers for two. Owen goes to the top rope, content that he can finish Bret off, but gets caught in midair, and catapulted into the exposed buckle. Bret manages to lock in the sharpshooter, getting the win in a great match. Bret keeps the hold locked in, despite the referees trying to force the release, shades of Bret's match with Jerry Lawler back at Summerslam in 1993.
As always, Bret and Owen delivered in an amazing matchup. And unlike their more technical affair back at Wrestlemania X, this was a more hard hitting match, much like a good no holds barred match should be. Good start with Bret being focused on torturing Owen with Bret even acting somewhat heelish in his offense. It makes sense considering the long standing issue between brothers, especially since Owen has not once, but twice cost Bret the title in the past couple months. So, for Bret to get his revenge before focusing on Bob Backlund at Wrestlemania is very good stuff.
And that really is all that's worth covering from this edition of Raw. Apologies on the briefness of this edition, but now we can focus on what's next. It's Wrestlemania XI, considered by many as one of the worst of 1995. Am I in for WM9-level hell? Find out next time.
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