Raw History: Episodes 73-75

Raw History
Episode #73
August 1st, 1994 | Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio

The show opens with a recap of the short history between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon, including their ladder match at WrestleMania. Vince McMahon is back on commentary for the first time in weeks.

Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels w/ Diesel
A hot start by Razor sends Shawn to the outside. Razor uses his strength, including a fallaway slam, to keep the pressure on HBK. The back and forth is impressive here as neither guy is really allowed to take firm control for any lengthy period. They trade offense and have the crowd completely into them. Razor catapults Shawn over and out onto Diesel. Shawn over does the jump, but it comes off looking fine. Shawn looks to come off the top but Razor slams him down like he’s Ric Flair. Razor continues to try and use his power with a bearhug and abdominal stretch. This has gone through two commercial breaks and is getting a good amount of time. Shawn has turned the tide, using underhanded tactics like a good heel. Shawn wears him down but Razor starts to rally. Both men are down after Razor hits a big kick when Shawn sets too early. They get up and trade blows before Shawn takes his signature corner bump. Shawn goes for the Razor’s Edge but Razor counters with a backdrop. He gets up and calls for a Razor’s Edge of his own but Diesel gets on the apron. He eats some right hands as Shawn grabs the Intercontinental Title. He fails at using it but Razor ends up running into a boot from Diesel behind the official’s back. Shawn rolls up Razor for the 1-2-3.

Winner: Shawn Michaels in 17:59
Shawn gets his win back from WrestleMania and these two have another really good outing. It obviously wasn’t on the level of their Ladder match, but still a good showing. I liked Razor playing the powerhouse, which doesn’t always work for a face, but did so here. Razor probably had better chemistry with HBK than anyone else. ***½

Diesel and Shawn Michaels look to continue the assault after the bell but officials break things up.

Todd Pettengill brings us the SummerSlam Report. He says that Shawn and Diesel should just come out together since they’re working together by the end of the match anyway. That would be good, but Diesel and Shawn already do come out together. We find out that Lex Luger accepted Tatanka’s challenge for SummerSlam.

Non-Title Match
WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano w/ Luna Vachon
Bull Nakano is just given the old Orient Express theme. Vince does a good job in putting over Nakano as a dominant force in Japan. She proves him right quickly by tossing Alundra around like a rag doll. Macho Man calls her BULL NAKANAKANAKANO for some reason. Nakano hits a big piledriver but Blayze gets her foot on the bottom rope. Nakano follows with a sitout powerbomb for two again. Blayze gets a victory roll near fall before making a mistake and missing high risk. Nakano missing a flying leg drop and kicks out of Alundra’s bridging German. Alundra dropkicks Nakano outside and leaps off onto her. They brawl outside until a double countout is called.

Double countout in 5:25
A fantastic first TV showing for Bull Nakano. She got to show off her power offense, went to a draw with the champion and this sets up a rematch. They showed off moves that you wouldn’t see men bust out in this era, let alone women, while exciting the crowd with close near falls. ***

Next week, Bigelow and IRS take on Doink and Tatanka. I guess not every show can be like this.

It’s time for the King’s Court, but Jerry Lawler goes into the crowd to bash fans. He says that all of Macho Man’s girlfriends are inflatable. Macho Man’s response is “how did he know?” There is a marriage proposal in the crowd and Lawler pulls the woman away to give her time to think. She says yes. Lawler’s guest is the man who says that he never lost the WWF Championship, Bob Backlund. We see footage from a recent show where Bret Hart beat Bob Backlund. Bob slapped Bret and put him in the chicken wing. Bob seems to be on the verge of snapping.

The Smoking Gunns vs. George Anderson and Tom Bennett
Billy and Bart do their double team offense and we actually go to a commercial during this. They win as the show goes off the air.

Winners: The Smoking Gunns in 1:44
It was kept short and that’s how I like it.

Overall: 8.5/10. One of the better episodes of Raw so far. You got a really good match between Razor and HBK, while Bull Nakano and Alundra Blayze had a great five minute showcase. Throw in an important Backlund interview setting up a new top heel and keeping the lame stuff to a short under two minute match and you’ve got a winner.

Raw History
Episode #74
August 8th, 1994 | Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio

Our usual hosts are here this week.

The Undertaker w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Butch Banks
I feel like Butch Banks drew the short straw when it comes to jobber names. Obviously, this is the Underfaker, since the real Undertaker won’t be back until SummerSlam. He wins with a tombstone.

Winner: The Underfaker in 3:07
Totally one-sided, which was fine and how it should have been.

A clip is shown of Leslie Nielsen searching for the real Undertaker. Those ads were really hit or miss.

A recap airs from Superstars when Shawn Michaels had Lex Luger on the Heartbreak Hotel and was trying to goad him into saying that he was now employed by Ted Dibiase. He barely denies it, which continues the speculation. That’s a fine idea, but if Luger was really a straight face, why not just deny it?

Lex Luger vs. Chad Miller
Ted Dibiase shows up to talk to Luger during his entrance. After a break, Dibiase appears on a split screen, saying that he just told Luger not to worry about a thing. Luger goes through his stuff and wins with the loaded forearm.

Winner: Lex Luger in 3:00
As usual, Lex Luger squashes aren’t the most entertaining.

Todd Pettengill and the SummerSlam Report brings us the ENTIRE SummerSlam card. We already know about the Battle of the Undertakers, Luger/Tatanka, the WWF Title Steel Cage match and Diesel defending the Intercontinental Title against Razor Ramon. Razor is gonna have former Chicago Bear Walter Payton in his corner to oppose HBK. Added to the card is a Women’s Title match between Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano, Mabel vs. Jeff Jarrett because rap vs. country is a thing and lastly, the Headshrinkers will put the Tag Team Titles on the line against IRS and Bigelow.

Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Doink and Tatanka w/ Dink
I do not have high hopes for this one. Doink and IRS start things and Doink keeps the pace quick, while IRS struggles and has to tag out. When the match moves to Bigelow and Tatanka, it ends up improving but still isn’t what I would call great. The heels start to work the heat on Tatanka which surprised me. He’s the guy going into a big PPV match, so I’d assume he’d get the hot tag. That hot tag comes to Doink but it ends up failing as he eats a kick from Bigelow while IRS is the legal man. He hits the Write-Off and they win.

Winners: Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS in 8:00
Outside of Bigelow, I don’t really like any of the other workers in this match. Due to this, I wasn’t a fan. It wasn’t outwardly bad as they followed tag formula fine, but it was pretty dull. *

The winners throw Doink out of the ring and attack Tatanka until Lex Luger runs them off. Ted Dibiase gets in the ring with money and makes an offer to Luger. He shoves the money in Lex’s hand and Tatanka bumps into him. He sees the money and flips out, shouting that Lex sold out.

Next week, Owen Hart takes on the 1-2-3 Kid in a rematch of their excellent King of the Ring bout. Sweet!

King’s Court time with guest Owen Hart, how is accompanied by Jim Neidhart. Owen runs down his family and mentions that Neidhart is the only member that has had his back from the start. He reminds everyone that he humiliated his brother at WrestleMania before winning the King of the Ring. Then Owen flips it and says that the whole family now backs him. Bruce Hart is brought out as the next guest. He was always my least favorite Hart Family member. He says that nobody in the family is behind Owen. He also says that Owen cheated at WrestleMania, which did not happen at all. They bicker and argue into a commercial that ends the segment. It helped build the upcoming WWF Title match but Bruce was pretty bad here.

Bob Backlund vs. Kevin Krueger
Backlund’s style was pretty different from what was going in around this era. He was stuck in the 80’s, but it kind of worked in his insane character during this time. He was just beginning it here and hadn’t cut his hair yet. Every single time he takes his opponent down, he starts leaping around. There are some “boring” chants before a “we want Bret” chant takes over. He wins with the Crossface Chicken Wing.

Winner: Bob Backlund in 3:48
Backlund was kind of entertaining here.

He holds onto the chicken wing for long after the bell and then stares at his own hands.

Overall: 3.5/10. A big downfall from last week but that was expected. Most of this show is an easy skip, especially since the main match wasn’t good, but I did enjoy Backlund and the Owen Hart portion of the King’s Court.

Raw History
Episode #75
August 15th, 1994 | Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts

For weeks, the Tatanka/Luger issue has broiled over and Luger keeps ending up in situations where he looks like he’s joining the Million Dollar Corporation. Macho Man and Vince McMahon are on commentary.

1-2-3 Kid vs. Owen Hart w/ Jim Neidhart
Similar to their King of the Ring match, Owen attacks before the bell, but the Kid is ready. He scores a quick near fall on a spinning heel kick. I don’t know what it is about this episode, maybe it’s the lighting, but it looks better than other recent episodes. Kid blocks some back suplexes and takes Owen to the mat. Owen finally hits one, followed by an enziguri for two. Both guys pick up the pace and kip up at the same time. Kid knocks him outside and follows with a springboard dive. He dropkicks Neidhart’s fat ass off the apron heading into the commercial. Returning, Owen hits a suplex from the apron to the outside and Kid takes the bump like they were actually in the ring, which is sick. Owen now picks the Kid apart, taking joy in playing the bigger guy. Owen makes a crucial mistake, missing a knee drop from the top and starts to limp. Kid goes right after the leg and applies a single leg crab until Neidhart runs in for the DQ.

Winner via disqualification: 1-2-3 Kid in 9:57
A fast paced match that was probably a notch below their King of the Ring encounter. Fun, quick and not the kind of thing we’d see often on Raw in this time period. The finish was pretty lame though. ***

After the match, Jim Neidhart keeps officials at bay while Owen Hart locks the 1-2-3 Kid in the Sharpshooter.

Todd Pettengill and that SummerSlam Report! No new information comes here.

In the crowd, Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz is on strike. You see, Major League Baseball was on strike at the time and the WWF wanted to take advantage of that. He was played by Steve Lombardi, or the Brooklyn Brawler. In a promo from earlier in the evening, he blamed the fans.

Duke Droese vs. Nick Barberry
This is what you would expect it to be. Barberry gets in like two moves before Droese hits a clothesline and body slam. He shouts “ITS TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH” before winning with an elbow.

Winner: Duke Droese in 1:27
Just how I like my Duke Droese matches; short.

Another Leslie Nielsen vignette is shown, saying he will solve the case at SummerSlam.

Kwang w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. Tony Roy
Kwang attacks, spits the red mist in the air and wins in incredibly quick fashion.

Winner: Kwang in 0:32
Whoa. That was short.

Jerry Lawler and Ted Dibiase are out for the King’s Court. Lawler talks about how Dibiase has been wrongfully questioned about the legitimacy of his Undertaker. Out comes Paul Bearer as Lawler has him as a guest too so Ted can clear the air. Bearer sends a message for Ted’s Undertaker saying that the real Undertaker is going to end him. Out comes the Underfaker. Bearer tells him to his face that at SummerSlam, his eyes will be closed forever. So, basically, the Undertaker is going to murder Brian Lee. As he chokes Bearer, the lights flicker and the crowd loses their minds. They go out and when they come back on after a gong, Bearer is out of the ring and screeching that his Undertaker is here.

Mabel w/ Oscar vs. Raymond Roy
I wonder if the jobber is related to the dude who Kwang killed. Mabel does some different offense like a neck snap but it still isn’t among the most impressive showings. He wins with a second rope elbow

Winner: Mabel in 2:33
Kudos to Mabel for bringing out some new moves.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Taylor
In the Attitude Era, the crowd would have been pretty into this pairing. Jarrett dominates here and wins with a figure four, which I believe is the first time he’s won with that on Raw.

Winner: Jeff Jarrett in 1:58
Hey look, another short squash. That has certainly helped this show move along.

Jeff Jarrett’s celebration is cut short by the arrival of Mabel and Oscar. They rap to show that rap music is better than country.

Overall: 6.5/10. A solid episode here. Owen/Kid was a good showing and the rest of the squash matches were kept short, which is a very good thing. Add in the fact that I was actually entertained by the King’s Court this week for the most part and you’ve got a thumbs up.

Random Network Reviews: Battleground 2013

Battleground 2013
October 6th, 2013 | First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York | Attendance: 11,700

Entering the fall of 2013, the WWE was in the midst of a WWE Championship controversy. After Daniel Bryan won the belt at SummerSlam, Randy Orton cashed in Money in the Bank on him. Bryan beat Orton for the title at Night of Champions, but there were some fishy circumstances there, so the title entered this show in abeyance. This was the first Battleground Pay-Per-View in history.

Kudos to the opening video package for doing a good job of hyping a card that isn’t very good.

World Heavyweight Championship Hardcore Match
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Rob Van Dam w/ Ricardo Rodriguez
The pairing of Ricardo Rodriguez and Rob Van Dam was certainly a strange one. Even Ricardo’s announcement of RVD comes off as a poor version of what he used to do for Del Rio. Commentary mentions that this is the perfect chance for Damien Sandow to cash in Money in the Bank, but he worked the Kickoff show and hurt his knee. The first big spots come from RVD, who hits a moonsault off the guardrail and a DDT on the chair. Well damn, where do you go after the DDT? Both guys get in offense following this until RVD brings a ladder into play. Del Rio is sent into it an RVD follows in with a heel kick. Del Rio comes back with an enziguri. The ladder falls on RVD and Del Rio double stomps it onto him. There’s a point where Del Rio leaps from the top with a garbage can and gets it dropkicked back into himself, but it looks weak because of how Del Rio jumped. You could tell he had no offensive plan. RVD misses Rolling Thunder on a ladder, hurting him greatly. When the champ applies the Cross Armbreaker, Rodriguez attacks with a bucket. Del Rio kicks the hell out of him for it. In a cool spot, RVD does the Five Star Frog Splash from the apron onto a ladder onto Del Rio. The fans clearly chant “we want tables” so when RV grabs a chair, Jerry Lawler says “they’re chanting we want chairs.” Idiot. RVD misses the Van Terminator and Del Rio delivers a big kick of his own. He gets RVD’s arm caught in a chair and stomps on it before applying the Cross Armbreaker with it still wrapped up. RVD submits.

Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Alberto Del Rio 16:01
Okay, well that was better than I remembered or expected. It was mostly just a bunch of spots, but at least the spots are pretty big and brutal, and Alberto Del Rio finishing things with the Cross Armbreaker in the chair was great. ***¼

Zeb Colter and his Real Americans cut a promo backstage on Santino Marella and the Great Khali.

The Great Khali and Santino Marella w/ Hornswoggle vs. The Real Americans w/ Zeb Colter
What is this doing on a Pay-Per-View? Santino plays the comedy role, failing on a nip up and bringing out the Cobra. Swagger runs from it but Hornswoggle gets the mini-Cobra. I swear none of these are sexual references. Swagger rips it up, causing the commentators to actually laugh. Commentary is horrible throughout this whole thing. The Real Americans work some nice double team moves at least. Tag to Khali, who comes in as hot as he possibly can. It ends up being Cesaro and Khali alone and Cesaro swings him to the delight of everyone. He pins a dizzy Khali for the win.

Winners: The Real Americans in 7:06
Outside of seeing Cesaro swing Khali, there was literally no point to this match. It wasn’t good, but the Real Americans did their best to try and make it watchable. I bumped the score up slightly due to the ridiculous feat of strength. *¼

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Curtis Axel (c) w/ Paul Heyman vs. R-Truth
They go through some uninspired back and forth in the early goings. R-Truth is popular, but the crowd doesn’t really care about his win/loss record and it shows here. Axel uses a spinebuster into the guardrail, which is pretty cool, to get in control. Axel is a solid hand but he’s a charisma void. The pairing with Heyman could have been better if he was booked better during the run. The fans are so bored that they chant for “JBL”. Axel wins with the Axehole or whatever he called his finisher at the time.

Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Curtis Axel in 7:38
This is one of those matches that technically isn’t very bad, but it had no heat and an absolutely dead crowd. They were bore throughout and they had every right to be as the match was just dull. *¾

WWE Divas Championship
AJ Lee (c) w/ Tamina Snuka vs. Brie Bella w/ Nikki Bella
AJ Lee is sporting pigtails tonight, making this one of my favorite looks she’s ever had. Brie slaps AJ and sends her outside but Tamina stops her from capitalizing. Despite this, Brie stays in control inside until AJ kicks her in the knee and sends her into the ring post from the apron. It looks surprisingly vicious. AJ now works Brie over for a while, focusing on the arm. I appreciate that since it makes sense given her finisher and it’s not just working the arm for the sake of it. Brie goes into her comeback, complete with “COOME OON” shout, which is always grating. Tamina chokes Nikki outside, distracting Brie and allowing AJ to roll her up and retain.

Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: AJ Lee in 6:37
To the people who feel that the Bella Twins haven’t improved, I’d like to point to this match. Brie Bella looked lost at times and if you watch something that she did in 2014 or 2015, you’ll see a better performer. Here, she struggled and AJ Lee wasn’t much better. *½

The Rhodes Family cuts a promo before the next match and it’s pretty great.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust w/ Dusty Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins w/ Dean Ambrose
If Cody Rhodes and Goldust win, they get their jobs back. Their opponents are the reigning Tag Team Champions, who have been pretty dominant in 2013. The fiery Rhodes brothers start hot, causing the Shield to regroup. They try to go after Dusty but Cody and Goldust go outside and it leads to a standoff. Dusty takes off his belt, looking to give a whipping and the Shield decide against it. Despite their fire, Cody and Goldust have to be careful to not get themselves disqualified. The Shield have weathered the storm and now have control over Cody Rhodes. Cody uses a picture perfect moonsault on Rollins to get himself free for the hot tag. He comes in hot and even busts out a top rope cross body for two. He makes the mistake of missing a regular cross body and falls outside. Cody gets off the apron to make sure that Ambrose doesn’t do anything to Goldust, which is a small thing but it is appreciated. The Shield now pick apart Goldust. He eventually makes the hot tag to Cody, who looks incredibly motivated. He uses some of Hardcore Holly’s old offense for two. Reigns comes in with his power but eats a Disaster Kick. He even knocks Ambrose off the apron. This leads to Dusty giving Dean a right hand and he brings the crowd to their feet with the Bionic Elbow. Cody kicks out of a rollup and hits the Cross Rhodes on Rollins to get their jobs back.

Winners: Cody Rhodes and Goldust in 13:54
The match is really good, but it is taken over the top by the angle they had to work with and the emotion involved. The Authority had been winning each and every week, so seeing the good guys get one meant a lot. The Dusty involvement was great, the Shield worked like a well-oiled machine and the Rhodes family had to do everything in their power to win. The fact that the performances in 2013 by Cody Rhodes didn’t lead to a mega push is a travesty. ****

We go to the Pre-Show Panel for some nonsense. Then Brad Maddox asks Vickie Guerrero for help in making the show run smoothly but she laughs it off. I guess that she senses how mediocre this show has been so far.

Bray Wyatt w/ The Wyatt Family vs. Kofi Kingston
At this point, Bray Wyatt had been on the main roster for about two months. He was about a month away from a legit feud with Daniel Bryan, so for now, this is pretty filler. Bray dominates the early goings, because he is clearly the guy they have bigger plans for. Kofi goes into his rally, getting the crowd somewhat into it but Bray just runs him over with a big body attack. There is a cool moment as Kofi leaps over the top and takes out all three Wyatt Family members. Back inside though, he falls victim to Sister Abigail.

Winner: Bray Wyatt in 8:17
Similar to most of this card, this screamed filler and would have worked better as a match on Raw or Smackdown. It was a prolonged squashed as the outcome was never in doubt. *½

CM Punk vs. Ryback w/ Paul Heyman
Ryback uses his power, but hen Punk retaliates with kicks, he exits to talk strategy with Heyman. Heyman’s advice is “HE’S A BULLY! STAND UP TO THE BULLY!” Some “you can’t wrestle” chants as Ryback slams Punk all around the ring and into the post. Anytime it looks like Punk may rally, Ryback goes back to work on the mid-section. After what seems like forever, Punk starts his rally. Paul Heyman gets on the microphone to call himself the “best in the world” and brag about pinning CM Punk at Night of Champions. It works beautifully as Ryback attacks from behind. It goes back to the story of Punk trying to come back, but Ryback being ready for everything. From seemingly out of nowhere, Punk uses a low blow to score the pinfall.

Winner: CM Punk in 14:47
Despite CM Punk being really popular, the crowd seemed to not care about this at all. Ryback’s dull wear down offense put them to sleep and even Punk’s rally attempts didn’t get much from the crowd. It was overly long and pretty boring. *¾

The video package shows just how much potential this rivalry had. From the Authority being vicious to Orton finding his “inner Viper” to the underdog Bryan and even to the involvement of Brie Bella. Then it all disappeared toward the end of the year and only picked up because CM Punk walked out.

WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton
We get an extended feeling out process between the two men. Nothing really interesting happens until Orton goes all Nigel McGuinness with a lariat while Bryan is crotched on the top rope. Bryan skins the cat and uses a headscissors to bring Orton over to the outside but it looked pretty terribly. He followed with a much better looking suicide dive. Inside, Orton really starts to get more “Viper” like, focusing on picking apart Bryan. Outside, we nearly a table spot but Bryan sends Orton into the steel steps, then dives out onto him and then hits a flying headbutt for two. Bryan goes into a flurry of corner dropkicks that finally wakes the crowd up. Orton stops him and goes for the RKO but Bryan shoves him off. Orton rolls him up for two and Bryan’s kick out leads right into the Yes Lock. As Bryan has it applied, Big Show’s music hits and he runs out. He pulls the official out of the ring hard and looks disappointed in himself. Bryan questions him and gets knocked out. For those wondering, Show was doing the bidding of the Authority against his will at this time. Brad Maddox appears to send out the referee who was fired for the fast count he made during last month’s title match. Show pulls this ref out and hits him with the WMD. He gets in the ring and Orton scolds him, leading to him getting knocked out too.

No Contest in 24:00
Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton don’t really have bad matches together, but something about this one didn’t work, even before the dumb finish. It seemed to lack something that the other ones had. It’s like they knew they were working towards a no contest and didn’t put as much into this as they would their other matches. It picked up near the end, but not enough to save the score. **¼

Overall: 2.5/10; Bad. This show is pretty terrible. The opening World Heavyweight Title match is pretty good but everything else outside of the Shield/Rhodes tag match is either flat out bad or barely watchable. Even the Bryan/Orton match failed to deliver the ending a PPV this way is usually recipe for disaster. Go out of your way to see the emotional tag and avoid everything else. My next “Random Network Review” looks like it will be In Your House: A Cold Day in Hell!

Fave Five 12/5/16-12/11/16

1) The Miz: Unlike the previous week, this wasn't full of major accomplishments. Instead, I'm giving the honor this week to the guy who won the main event of Smackdown, The Miz. Miz scored a pinfall victory over Dean Ambrose, which was big. It's one thing to beat Ambrose by countout or disqualification but getting a pin, even with interference from James Ellsworth, was a big deal. Add in Miz's great work during MizTV where he handed out the hilarious "Miz Participation Award" and you've got another great week for a guy having one of the best runs of anyone since the draft. Miz should hold the Intercontinental Title until WrestleMania.

             2) Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma: I can't wrap my head about the booking decisions that Gedo makes. I think the best option for World Tag League winners was Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii, especially after Ishii got the best matches out of the Guerillas of Destiny a few months ago. Instead, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma won the World Tag League by defeating the IWGP Tag Team Champions, the Guerillas of Destiny. So yes, that means that the two teams who met at Invasion Attack, Wrestling Dontaku and in the World Tag League Finals will face off again at Wrestle Kingdom. I didn't care about this tournament finals, so I didn't watch it but I do hear that it was their best match together. That bodes well for the eventual Tokyo Dome match, but I just can't bring myself to care. I'm sure everyone will give it a high rating though since apparently NJPW can do no wrong in most people's eyes. I mean, I'm seeing people give lots of praise to the Wrestle Kingdom 11 card when it is easily the weakest Tokyo Dome care in years. Whether I agree with the booking or not, Great Bash Heel won the WTL for the second straight year, which is a fine accomplishment.

3) Roman Reigns: Like The Miz, Roman Reigns successfully defended the second most important title on his brand this week. It wasn't exactly the main event, but it was a good match. Reigns defeated Chris Jericho thanks to some botched interference from Kevin Owens. It was yet another win for Reigns who is right back on track after his suspension earlier this year. It seemed like his punishment for the suspension was taking three clean pins at the hands of Seth Rollins (Money in the Bank), Dean Ambrose (Battleground) and Finn Balor (Raw). Since then, the Big Dog has been back to eating.

4) Eddie Edwards: Again, I'll admit over and over that I just really don't follow TNA anymore in this day and age. However, they continually have TNA Title matches on almost a weekly basis. Last week, champion Eddie Edwards may have had his best defense so far when he retained against former champion Ethan Carter III. I'm just going based off what I heard. Edwards was a surprise to become champion but has done rather well with the title during this recent run, even if nobody is watching. Speaking of watching, I'm gonna do my best to check out TNA this week because it's Total Nonstop Deletion and that sounds like a blast.

5) Rich Swann: Successfully retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against The Brian Kendrick on 205 Live.

Raw History: Episodes 70-72

Raw History
Episode #70
July 11th, 1994 | Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania

Highlights of the year that 1-2-3 Kid has had are shown, from his debut to winning the Tag Team Titles to becoming the number one contender. Jim Ross and Macho Man are on commentary tonight.

WWF Championship
Bret Hart (c) vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
In the past year they mention that Bret Hart has won the King of the Ring, Royal Rumble, Superstar of the Year and WWF Title. Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart show up to talk smack to Bret but they are sent away. Right out of the first lockup, Kid brings Hart down with an arm drag, causing Bret to give a look that says “okay, I see this won’t be easy.” Bret takes things to the mat, but Kid uses his quickness and a flurry of kicks to send him reeling to the outside. Following a commercial, Kid is wrestling Bret’s game on the mat and is doing well for himself. Bret seems to get in control, but Kid scores some near falls on flash pins. He tries a crucifix but Bret counters and pins him for a three count. Kid gets his foot on the ropes and the referee misses it. Bret explains it to the referee and demands a restart. Instantly from the restart, Kid scores a near fall, showing that Bret may have made a mistake. JR asks Savage if he would have asked for a restart and Savage says “no way, I’d be in the shower getting ready to party.” Kid is in trouble, but busts out some kicks to save himself. The moonsault that he beat Razor Ramon with gets two. He brings out a powerbomb of all things and hits a top rope leg drop for another close near fall. Kid leaps out onto Bret, but kind of gets brushed aside and hits hard. He still tries more high risk and goes to the well too often as he misses a cannonball splash. Bret tries a superplex but Kid lands on top for two. He jumps from the top again but Bret catches his legs and locks in the Sharpshooter for the submission.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: Bret Hart in 17:34
I’d say this was the best match in the history of Raw up to this point. This worked so well since the WWF spent a year building Kid as this underdog who could win at any time, so the fans bit on every near fall. Bret gave Kid a ton and it took Kid making some mistakes for Bret to retain the title. Great match. ****½

Todd Pettengill brings us the first SummerSlam Report. He hypes that it will take place in the brand new United Center in Chicago and will have the largest crowd to see a WWF show this year. He announces the Undertaker vs. Undertaker main event.

Crush w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Matt Hardy
One of these guys would go on to be a big star. The other is Crush. Unfortunately here, this is all about Crush. His attire isn’t as ridiculously awful as it normally is. Macho Man has gone insane on commentary, just shouting “GOAAAALLLL”. Crush wins in short order with a big backbreaker.

Winner: Crush in 1:27
Hey, they kept a Crush squash short and sweet. I appreciate that.

An ad actually discusses how the WWF Title has eluded Lex Luger. He’ll be facing Diesel for the Intercontinental Title though. Will he come up short with this title on the line too? FIND OUT NEXT WEEK!

Razor Ramon vs. Barry Horowitz
Razor is one of those faces that does heel things and is more over for it. He applies a submission on Barry, shrugs and then just smacks him in the back of the head a few times. Commentary spends the match discussing the company looking for a detective to search for the Undertaker. Surprisingly, Razor wins with a small package.

Winner: Razor Ramon in 2:54
Standard stuff here, not much to discuss.

Time for the King’s Court, taking place in one of Ted Dibiase’s offices. King mentions all of the people that Dibiase has bought and mentions that he’s heard Ted was trying to purchase Lex Luger. Dibiase claims that he isn’t trying, but he’s already bought his services.

IRS vs. Ray Hudson
Guess what IRS cuts a promo on when he walks to the ring? He calls the fans a bunch of tax cheats. As commentary discusses more potential detectives, IRS plods through his shitty offense. IRS wins with the Penalty, or STF.

Winner: IRS in 3:47
This was given too much time. Honestly though, more than 90 seconds of IRS is too much for me.

Bret Hart is interviewed and he puts over the 1-2-3 Kid. He is asked about Owen Hart wanting to take the title at SummerSlam. Bret mentions that with Owen having the Anvil in his corner, so Bret is going to bring one of his brothers to back him up.

Overall: 8/10. As noted previously, when the marquee match delivers and takes up about half of the show, the whole broadcast will get a high score. That’s the case here since the WWF Title not only delivered but was excellent. There was also some forward movement towards SummerSlam and only one match (IRS of course) that I didn’t care for,

Raw History
Episode #71
July 18th, 1994 | Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania

The show opens with footage from Superstars, where Tatanka called out Lex Luger for selling out to Ted Dibiase.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Diesel (c) w/ Shawn Michaels vs. Lex Luger
Commentary questions if Lex Luger has sold out or not. Both men are powerful and they play into that early on. They trade stuff early on, with neither man gaining a clear advantage. Luger falls outside, leading to a cheap clothesline from Shawn Michaels. We then see Ted Dibiase watching from the rafters like he’s 1997 Sting or something. Following a commercial, Diesel stays in control, hitting snake eyes for two. I love when Jim Ross asks Macho Man questions because he tends to just respond with “I don’t know”. Diesel slows thing to a crawl with chinlocks and sleeper holds. Things finally pick up as Luger rallies and gets two on a DDT. HBK’s ringside reactions are pretty great. Razor Ramon appears to equalize Shawn and chases him around the ring. Shawn enters the ring and gets into it with Luger, resulting in the DQ.

Double disqualification in 14:05
I appreciate seeing the Intercontinental Title getting a lot of time, but these weren’t the right two guys for it. Neither was very good at working lengthy matches and this dragged on. The finishing stuff was alright, but not enough to save things. *¾

The brawl continues and ends as the faces send the heels packing. Ted Dibiase appears in the aisle, disappointing that Lex Luger didn’t win the title. Get used to it man.

Mabel w/ Oscar  vs. Austin Steele
Mabel completely dominates the Buddy Landel impersonator throughout. The crowd chants “WHOMP THERE IT IS”, which is funny since R-Truth uses the same thing to this day.

Winner: Mabel in 2:15
At least it was short.

SummerSlam Report time! Todd informs us that Bret and Owen will meet for the WWF Championship inside of a fifteen foot high Steel Cage. The cage will be there to prevent the incredibly large Hart family from getting involved.

Owen Hart w/ Jim Neidhart vs. Reno Riggins
As the crowd chants “we want Bret”, Owen shouts back “I want Bret too!” Great stuff from Owen and this entire feud is so well done. Owen owns Reno and puts him away with the Sharpshooter.

Winner: Owen Hart in 2:54
As usual, an Owen Hart squash is relatively entertaining. Owen also doesn’t break the hold instantly, telling the referee that he couldn’t hear him.

Adam Bomb, no longer with Harvey Wippleman, faces Yokozuna next week. Oh joy.

Sparky Plugg vs. George South
We are just going through the motions of squash matches aren’t we? We’ve come to the match of the night where commentary just discusses random pop culture instead of pro wrestling. Hey, it even includes the trademark Randy Savage USA Network plug. Speaking of Plugg, he wins with a cross body.

Winner: Sparky Plugg in 2:41
Moving right along as this was kind of irrelevant.

We get some promotion for the Undertaker/Undertaker match.

Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Gary Sabaugh
Was getting rid of Luna part of the deal that Bigelow signed to join the Million Dollar Corporation? Bigelow goes through his stuff and applies the Million Dollar Dream. He turns it into a bulldog and wins.

Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 2:56
Standard Bigelow stuff though I like the change of finisher.

Ted Dibiase is interviewed after the match about the Lex Luger situation. He promises some answers this weekend. Tatanka comes out to say that he knows Luger signed on. Dibiase responds with “calm down Indian”. Whoa. He calls Tatanka jealous and then bets him $10,000 that Tatanka can’t beat Nikolai Volkoff next week. Good lord, I have to sit through that don’t I?

Overall: 3/10. Unlike the previous week, this week’s title match did not deliver. The rest of the show was pretty dull as well outside of Owen Hart being awesome. There seemed to be a ton of emphasis on Ted Dibiase as well and that looks like it will carry over to next week.

Raw History
Episode #72
July 25th, 1994 | Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania

We are immediately taken to a recap of the Tatanka/Dibiase altercation last week. On Superstars this past weekend, Dibiase made his huge announcement and introduced Lex Luger. Tatanka was there to confront him and Luger still denies selling out.

Nikolai Volkoff w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Tatanka
Don’t forget, but $10,000 is on the line here. I still don’t get why Ted Dibiase’s first new client was Volkoff. I would have looked at his physique and stayed far away. Volkoff starts in control until Tatanka chops him and sends him outside. Despite this, Volkoff gets back inside and takes control again. He goes for a slam and Tatanka pulls him into a small package to earn ten grand.

Winner: Tatanka in 6:13
Pretty dull affair between two dull workers. I liked almost none of this and thought it was pretty bad. ¾*

Macho Man jumps in the ring with a microphone to make sure Ted Dibiase pays him. He does so, but says that Tatanka couldn’t beat “his” Lex Luger. Tatanka says that he can do so on his worst day. Thigs brings out Luger, who accepts the challenge, but doesn’t really acknowledge Dibiase.

The Headshrinkers w/ Afa and Capt. Lou Albano vs. Barry Hardy and Joey Stallings
Afa is back at ringside with the Tag Team Champions. The match starts before a commercial and just sees the Headshrinkers completely kick ass. They dominate to the point where Jim Ross just wants them to put the jobbers out of their misery, which they do after a splash.

Winners: The Headshrinkers in 3:33
One of the more fun Headshrinkers squashes since they murdered their opponents.

Next week, we actually have a match that sounds good. It’s a WrestleMania X rematch when Razor Ramon meets Shawn Michaels.

Jim Neidhart w/ Owen Hart vs. Jim Powers
Owen talks trash to the camera while Neidhart goes through his typical offense. None of it is very impressive though. He wins with a camel clutch like move.

Winner: Jim Neidhart in 2:58
Standard stuff.

Oh snap, we also get Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano next week. That should be good.

Alundra Blayze is now interviewed in the ring by Jim Ross. She says that Bull Nakano is the kind of girl that could even beat the men in the company. Luna Vachon shows up and says that she is responsible for bringing Bull to the United States. Then she leaves. Alundra, as always, stumbles through her promo but says that she’ll always have the belt.

Adam Bomb vs. Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji
Hey, we get two non-squash matches tonight and next week. Yokozuna starts hot but Adam Bomb rallies with some clotheslines and uses a shoulder block to knock Yokozuna to the outside. The ropes sound so strange here, making a weird noise as Adam bounces off. After a commercial, Yokozuna goes into his slow offense, including the DREADED NERVE HOLD. Adam slightly rallies and hits a big flying clothesline off the top. Kwang and Harvey Wippleman come down to the ring and Kwang trips Adam. He goes outside and brawls with Kwang, leading to a countout.

Winner via countout: Yokozuna in 5:51
That was actually better than expected and continues my thought process that Adam Bomb could have been a bigger star than he was. Maybe not WWF Champion material, but certainly an upper card player in a time devoid of top stars. He definitely had the look. **

Todd Pettengill brings us the SummerSlam Report. He runs down the double main event that we already knew about, but adds a third match. Razor Ramon gets his rematch and faces Diesel for the WWF Championship.

Duke Droese vs. Duane Gill
Commentary discusses the unfortunate rivalry between Duke Droese and Jerry Lawler. Lawler calls in and badmouths Duke. Duke does his few moves while Lawler announces that his King’s Court guest next week will be Bob Backlund.

Winner: Duke Droese in 2:31
Typical stuff.

Overall: 4.5/10. I was pleasantly surprised that Yokozuna/Adam Bomb didn’t suck, but Tatanka/Volkoff absolutely did. The rest of the show was a mixed bag. The Neidhart and Duke stuff was kind of just there, the Blayze interview was short but dull and the Headshrinkers squash was kind of fun actually. Next week looks pretty good though.