Raw History
Episode #67
June 20th, 1994 | Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York
We are live just 24 hours removed from the King of the Ring Pay-Per-View! The biggest news from that show was that Diesel and Bret Hart had a great match that ended via disqualification, while Owen Hart won the King of the Ring tournament. Also, Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler stunk up the joint. Tonight, Gorilla Monsoon is on commentary with Macho Man.
Diesel w/ Shawn Michaels vs. Mark Thomas
This is obviously a non-title affair. Diesel dominates the jacked Mark Thomas. Shawn Michaels gets in a cheap shot outside because that’s what heels do. Diesel goes through his five or six moves and wins with the Jackknife.
Winner: Diesel in 4:00
Typical Diesel squash. Again, it was kind of clear that he was going places fast.
King of the Ring Report time! Todd Pettengill recaps the night and says that Owen Hart will now be known as the King of Harts. Jim Neidhart returned to corner Bret Hart during the WWF Title match and attacked Diesel, leading to the DQ. He then assisted Owen in winning the tournament and sided with him.
Number One Contender’s Match
1-2-3 Kid vs. Nikolai Volkoff w/ Ted Dibiase
The winner gets a WWF Title shot in THREE WEEKS! Kid wrestled twice the night before and sold an injury. He also had one of, if not the best, under five minute matches in history. Volkoff hasn’t really earned a shot but I guess Dibiase bought him this spot. Here, we have a big styles clash and Volkoff overpowers Kid from the get go. Kid bumps for him until he starts to light up Volkoff with those educated feet. Kid scores some near falls with rollups. Volkoff does hit some big moves but none of them look very good. Kid pulls him into a small package to become the number one contender.
Winner: 1-2-3 Kid in 6:04
Their styles did not mesh well. 1-2-3 Kid has been one of the better performers in Raw history and Volkoff was way past his prime. At least this sets up Kid/Bret. *¼
Nikolai Volkoff and Ted Dibiase attack the 1-2-3 Kid until Virgil of all people make the save. He fails miserably though because he’s Virgil. Lex Luger has to come out and save both of them. Ted Dibiase surprisingly gives Luger a thumbs up and leaves. CONTROVERSY!
Next week, Mabel vs. Bigelow!
Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette vs. Nick Barberri
Yokozuna has nothing to do now that Earthquake is gone. Gorilla Monsoon says that the other Natural Disaster, Typhoon, is coming for Yokozuna. Oh no. Yokozuna destroys the jobber and he’s not even worth a Banzai drop.
Winner: Yokozuna in 2:25
Hey, it was kept short, which is how I like my Yokozuna squash matches.
As Typhoon makes his entrance, he is blocked by Yokozuna. During a commercial break, Yokozuna takes a swing, but Typhoon blocked it and leveled him.
Typhoon vs. Black Phantom
Black Phantom is still Gangrel from what I can tell. Typhoon tosses him around easily. He wins with the Tidal Wave.
Winner: Typhoon in 2:29
Ho hum. They tried building to Typhoon vs. Yokozuna, but I don’t believe Typhoon stuck around much longer after this.
Time for another King’s Court. I’m guessing it will be a dreadful episode since the guest is Duke Droese. We are shown clips of Duke dumping garbage on Jerry Lawler on Superstars. Lawler throws insults as Duke, who responds by saying that Lawler stinks too much for even the trash man. He goes to leave but Lawler attacks and beats him up with the trash can.
The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette vs. Jim Powers and Russ Greenberg
Jim Cornette gets on commentary and announces that the Headshrinkers are being forced to defend the WWF Tag Team Titles against the Heavenly Bodies. He even calls them 98 pound weaklings. Jim Powers does his best to make this competitive, with a few near falls. The Bodies bust out some double team moves and Del Rey pins Greenberg with a moonsault press.
Winners: The Heavenly Bodies in 4:02
More competitive than most squash matches, but still nothing to write home about.
Gorilla Monsoon tells us that the WWF doesn’t condone the actions of Jerry Lawler and he must apologize on Raw next week. Cut to Ted Dibiase, who informs everyone that Lex Luger will be unstoppable with a million dollars backing him.
Overall: 2/10. Another weak episode of Monday night Raw. The big match wasn’t very good and the squashes weren’t either, but at least they were short. The King’s Court was again, a disaster and continues to make these episodes of Raw tough to get through. It’s like they are highlighting the wrong people.
Raw History
Episode #68
June 27th, 1994 | Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York
We start with a recap of the altercation between Jerry Lawler and Duke Droese. Duke speaks, saying that it’s one thing to hit him from behind, but it’s another to use his own trash can on him. Because the use of your own trash can is the real issue here. Lawler then speaks and can’t even bring himself to say “apologize”. He would rather get fined or suspended.
Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon vs. Mabel w/ Oscar
One of those classic Vince McMahon “big man vs. big man” clashes. Gorilla gets to use his tired “IRRESISTIBLE FORCE MEETS THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT” line. Bigelow shows that he’s far superior early but then Mabel starts to rally. Luna gets on the apron and ends up getting knocked off as Mabel is sent off the ropes. Bigelow lays out an absolutely winded Mabel and sees Oscar outside checking on Luna. Bigelow throws him aside. He must have heard Oscar rap. Mabel actually does an axe handle from the apron on Bigelow and they land on Luna. They continue to brawl until Mabel beats the count.
Winner via countout: Mabel in 3:29
Yea, this was a mess. The fact that, about two minutes into this, Mabel was visibly winded, should tell you something. ¼*
Ted Dibiase comes out to calm down Bigelow, who was arguing with the official. MORE CONTROVERSY! We then see that Ted Dibiase brought back the “Undertaker” two weeks ago on Superstars and the Undertaker won a match on this past week’s Superstars.
IRS vs. Rich Myers
Hey, no IRS “YOU’RE ALL TAX CHEATS” promo tonight. I appreciate it. The match itself though, was still typical IRS boring stuff. He wins with an STF.
Winner: IRS in 2:24
IRS is boring. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.
The King’s Court is with Jim Neidhart tonight. He comes out to the old Hart Foundation theme and says that he turned on Bret because Bret was always ungrateful for everything Neidhart did for him. Owen Hart comes out with the crown, cape and scepter. He bashes Bret and says that he’s coming for a title shot. Hey, it’s an entertaining edition of the King’s Court.
The Headshrinkers w/ Captain Lou Albano vs. The Executioners
Did Afa get fired? While the Tag Team Champions beat up the jobbers, Gorilla Monsoon says that Ted Dibiase is having some sort of confrontation backstage with someone. They seem to want to send the cameras to the back but never do it. The match drags and the Headshrinkers win with a splash.
Winners: The Headshrinkers in 4:55
Overly long. Maybe they have technical issues since they never went backstage and maybe that’s why the match went a big long.
We now go backstage to Ted Dibiase, who is seemingly working out a deal with Bigelow.
Kwang w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. Mike Moraldo
Kwang’s offense is seemingly a million kicks. I honestly wonder if he has anything else in his arsenal. He spits the mist during the match and wins with, you guessed it, a spinning heel kick.
Winner: Kwang in 3:28
Another match that isn’t very good. Kwang is another guy who has squash matches that don’t impress me.
Lex Luger vs. Mike Bell
We see Ted Dibiase watch from the curtain like some kind of peeping Tom. Luger is like, the only dude to get a near fall in a squash when he tries a schoolboy. Luger then uses the Torture Rack for the submission.
Winner: Lex Luger in 2:57
Sign, Lex Luger is a terrible face. This was lame.
Lex Luger poses a ton in the spotlight and Macho Man considers joining him, but can’t get his jacket off. Yea, it was pretty strange.
Overall: 1.5/10. It’s pretty telling when the only positive thing about a show in the King’s Court. The marquee match was horrible and the rest of the show wasn’t much better. There’s a nostalgia factor watching these old Raws, but some are just downright putrid.
Raw History
Episode #69
July 4th, 1994 | Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York
Jeff Jarrett vs. Tatanka
They start with some uninspired mat work before Tatanka hits a back drop. He seems to be packing on the pounds as of late. The fight spills outside, which gets Macho Man unexpectedly excite. Jarrett shoves Tatanka into the ring post and wins via countout in 6:14. BUT WAIT! Jarrett grabs a microphone and says that unlike Macho Man, he won’t take a countout win and wants the match restarted. They really had plans for Jarrett/Savage didn’t they? The match restarts and Jarrett works a chinlock. Tatanka fights out but Jarrett goes back to it for an EXTENDED period of time. Tatanka finally rallies and hits the flying chop. Jarrett quits and goes to walk away, but runs into Dink and Doink, who threaten him with a bucket of water. He runs in the ring and is rolled up for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Tatanka in 13:40
I wish this ended in 6:14. That portion of the math was decent. The rest was incredibly boring and they just sat around doing next to nothing. Seemed like a house show match. ¾*
Time for the King’s Court. Again. His guest is the 1-2-3 Kid. Jerry Lawler wants the Kid to beat Bret Hart because he hates him. Hilariously, Kid calls him “Mr. Lawler” and says that he respects “Mr. Bret Hart”, claiming that he’s the best wrestler in the world. Kid continues to play the respectful card while Lawler wants him to get angry but he doesn’t.
Jim Neidhart w/ Owen Hart vs. Gary Scott
Completely one-sided as Neidhart just dominates. Owen shouts into the camera that both he and Jim carried Bret at different points in their careers. Gorilla Monsoon straight ups says that they were the weak links. Dang. Neidhart hits a powerslam to win.
Winner: Jim Neidhart in 4:00
One-sided, which is how it had to be. Neidhart got to look as good as he could.
Duke Droese vs. “Iron” Mike Sharpe
I love me some Mike Sharpe! There isn’t enough loud selling from him in this for me to enjoy it. I mean, there’s some, but not enough to make up for Duke’s lack of talent. He scores with an elbow to win.
Winner: Duke Droese in 3:58
Another standard squash from a dull worker.
It’s the debut of the classic “BREEEETTTT” commercial.
The “Undertaker” w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Mike Bell
It’s clear that this Undertaker is shorter than the original, but props to Brian Lee as his imitating is pretty good. He wins with a tombstone.
Winner: The “Undertaker” in 4:03
Typical squash but again, I’d like to comment Brian Lee. Knowing that he’s not the Undertaker is kind of clear now, but I can picture myself and a lot of people not being able to tell the difference back then.
Paul Bearer shows up with the urn, trying to get the Undertaker to come back to him. Ted Dibiase combats that with money but Undertaker is having none of it. However, two handfuls of cash sways his decision, leaving Bearer to exit shaking his head. Also, the King’s Court will feature Ted Dibiase next week, but it will not be live in the arena.
Overall: 2.5/10. Better than the last few episodes, but by the slimmest of margins. Again, the main match failed to deliver the squashes weren’t really entertaining. I did think that the King’s Court was alright and I actually rather enjoyed the Undertaker impersonation. Oh well, next week it’s Hart/Kid which should turn things around.
Armageddon 2005
December 18th, 2005 | Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island | Attendance: 8,000
The final Pay-Per-View event of the year 2005 is a Smackdown exclusive show. An interesting note for this event is that the World Heavyweight Title is not defended. Actually, the Cruiserweight Championship is the only belt on the line. That’s not something you see very often. This would be the sixth of nine Armageddon Pay-Per-View events.
The opening video package hypes the main event match between Randy Orton and the Undertaker and their feud that spanned 2005.
John “Bradshaw” Layfield w/ Jillian Hall vs. Matt Hardy
JBL cuts a promo beforehand about how this is the pinnacle of Matt’s career. He throws in some serious jabs, including one about Matt losing Lita to a “main event wrestler”. Ouch. Matt attacks from behind because of this. JBL quickly turns it around and ties Matt’s head up in the ring ropes, big booting him. JBL stays in in control for a while, beating on Matt. Matt finally starts to make a bit of a rally but it is never threatening and then JBL hits the Clothesline from Hell, earning a fairly easy win.
Winner: JBL in 6:44
So, this wasn’t what I expected. I mean, I figured JBL would be the aggressor, but Matt Hardy barely got anything in. This was basically a prolonged squash, which isn’t how you want to start your Pay-Per-View. *
We get footage from Smackdown where Melina banged Batista to try and get him to not face MNM later in the night. Then, when they finished, Batista was all like “Thanks, but I’m still gonna kill MNM”. He then proceeded to do that and win the Tag Titles with Rey Mysterio. Then we cut backstage where the Mexicools tried to run a train on Melina in exchange for canceling the match. Yup, this actually happened.
The Mexicools vs. MNM w/ Melina
This was originally supposed to be for the straps from what I can tell but the title change this past Friday made this a normal tag. The first big spot comes as Psicosis does a corkscrew dive onto MNM. Super Crazy goes to follow but Charles Robinson stops him, so he just jumps over him. Super Crazy could still do decent stuff despite getting pretty out of shape by this point. Both teams trade relatively impressive double team moves for near falls. Psicosis begins to play the face in peril, which works since MNM had gotten good at drawing heat. Super Crazy gets the hot tag and does his thing. Melina gets involved but is knocked to the floor. Crazy comes close to winning but Nitro breaks up the pin. He and Mercury then win with Snapshot.
Winners: MNM in 8:55
Solid tag team match here. This should have opened things as the crowd was very anti-MNM and were much more into this than the opener. They worked tag formula well, played to their strengths and had a good match. MNM was a damn good team that probably got split too early. ***
Booker T and Sharmell are interviewed about Booker’s upcoming match. It’ll be match four in the best of seven against Chris Benoit. Booker is up 3-0 and is looking for a sweep.
Match Four in Best of Seven Series
Booker T w/ Sharmell vs. Chris Benoit
Their Best of Seven in WCW was great, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the first match in this series, which I reviewed a few months back. The early goings are different than expected as it is Booker who is timid, despite having a commanding lead. Neither guy really gains a real advantage for a rather long time. Booker finally seems to when he knocks Benoit outside. Things start picking up as they go back and forth. Booker has the triple Germans scouted so he counters, but eats another suplex anyway. Then Benoit goes into the Three Amigos, in honor of the recently deceased Eddie Guerrero. Benoit continues the barrage with the three Germans and signals for the end. Sharmell sneaks in with a low blow and Booker hits the Scissors Kick for two. The crowd absolutely believed that false finish. Benoit goes back to the Germans, hitting another trio. We get a ref bump before Benoit locks in the Sharpshooter and Booker taps. Sharmell hits Benoit with the broom but Benoit no sells it, only for Booker to hit him. Benoit doesn’t care and locks in the Crossface, making Booker submit.
Winner: Chris Benoit in 20:09
Early on, this was pretty dull. What they were doing made sense but it just wasn’t very interesting. However, the third act of this match was pretty fun. I’m not fan of a ton of interference, but Benoit overcoming it all while the fans bit completely into everything was well done. ***¼
Teddy Long and Palmer Cannon come out to promote Christmas. Vito and Nunzio show up as Santa and an elf asking for gifts of their own. Cannon brings out the Boogeyman as their gift and he does his thing.
Even though the match isn’t on now, we get a lengthy video package chronicling the Randy Orton/Undertaker rivalry. I’ll admit, a lot of what they show looked pretty cool.
Bobby Lashley vs. Paul Burchill and William Regal
This is only a few months into Lashley’s run. Lashley no sells some of their offense but the numbers game takes its toll. However, even when Burchill nails a nice flying knee off the top, Lashley kicks out at one. Hell, while he’s feeling the effects of their work, Lashley suplexes the hell out of Regal. Lashley then goes off and wins, defeating two men on PPV.
Winner: Bobby Lashley in 3:38
About as good as one could expect considering this was a glorified squash match. ¾*
Josh Matthews is at the “Friendly Tap”, a bar owned by referee Tim White. White hasn’t officiated a match since he got injured while overseeing the Jericho/HHH Hell in a Cell match back in 2002. Tim White doesn’t really want to speak but when he finally does, he says that everyone in his life has left him and he’s been in pain since that night. Josh makes a terrible joke and White attempts to walk off screen to shoot himself with a shotgun. Yup, that’s two lame segments on this event.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Juventud (c) vs. Kid Kash
It’s like WCW and ECW collide on a WWE Pay-Per-View. Judging by Juvi’s waist, calling him a cruiserweight might be a stretch. He attacks before the bell to take the advantage, before botching a rana. Kash focuses on the leg arm of Juvi for a bit. I’m not sure how I feel about this since it seems like a random body part to work. Despite it being random, the work Kash does on it is solid. He tries a moonsault but Juvi gets his knees up. He then hits a massive top rope rana but the crowd doesn’t pop for it at all. Kash gets his foot on the bottom rope. Juvi just can’t put him away and misses a 450 leg drop. Kash then hits the Dead Level Brainbuster to win the gold.
Winner and New WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Kid Kash in 9:25
They were given a solid amount of time and did their best with it. The arm work was odd though as it only lasted a short while and then was forgotten about. Also, the crowd was completely dead for it and having both guys be heels didn’t help. **¼
Batista and Rey Mysterio vs. Big Show and Kane
Both teams currently reign as the Tag Team Champions of their respective brands in this interpromotional match. This was about six months before Show’s ECW run but he’s already pretty massive here. Batista starts against him and they play the game of Show overpowering him for a while. It’s cool to hear commentary be one-sided as they are firmly behind their Smackdown guys. When Rey and Kane come in, Kane no sells his stuff as much as possible. As expected, Big Show and Kane end up working a heat on Rey Mysterio, which is the clear way to go. The monsters on the resilient little man is perfect. One of the shots from Show to Rey is especially brutal. Instead of going for the hot tag though, Batista just gets pissed and charges in, taking Big Show out. Rey goes for the 619 but it’s blocked and he eats a massive Chokeslam for the finish.
Winners: Big Show and Kane in 8:37
There was potential for a pretty good match here but it didn’t get the time it needed. Mysterio is the perfect guy to build a hot tag with considering his size and how over he is, but instead they didn’t let it marinate and it felt very rushed. Take out the two nonsense segments we’ve had on this show and put that time here and you could have had a damn good match. **
Hell in a Cell
Randy Orton w/ Bob Orton vs. The Undertaker
I appreciate that Randy Orton doesn’t show much intimidation at the start or during Undertaker’s entrance. He’s beaten Undertaker before and should have some confidence. He uses his speed and athleticism early but strikes allow Taker to get in the driver’s seat. Orton is now beaten from pillar to post and gets busted open as Undertaker grates his face across the cell. Undertaker is being vicious, even choking a bloody Orton with a chain. Randy’s blood stains the ring post after he fails to use the steel steps and ends up sent into it. Orton pulls an RKO from out of his ass that hands Undertaker up on the top rope, swinging the momentum again. A successful steel stairs shot busts Undertaker open. The weapons continue to be used as Orton hits Undertaker with a chair but he is up quickly and throws Randy around outside. Inside, Taker misses a big elbow drop and Orton gets a table like his name is D-Von Dudley. It doesn’t get used yet though as Undertaker I sent outside, where Bob Orton pulls his hair through the cell. Taker turns it around and pulls him into the cell, giving us our third blade job of the match. Taker is in control inside, getting some near falls. It’s interesting to see how resilient Orton has looked throughout this. Orton puts Undertaker on the table and splashes him through it, overshooting it a bit, for two. After some counters, we get a ref bump. Uh-oh. Randy counters a Chokeslam into an ugly RKO. Nick Patrick, from a punch, becomes the fourth person to blade. With a new official running in, Bob Orton is also able to get in the cell. Orton takes the Last Ride and his dad pulls the referee out. Undertaker lays him out and goes back in. He tries a Tombstone but Orton counters and hits one of his own. He has the match won but the official takes too long and Undertaker sits up. He takes out Bob again before beating Randy with a Tombstone.
Winner: The Undertaker in 30:31
While I don’t think this match was bad, it is on the lesser side of Hell in a Cell matches. Not only was it easily forgettable, but I do feel like it was overly long. It didn’t need to be a half hour and while I liked Randy Orton looking resilient, there was a bit much going on. It’s like they tried to do a ton of extra stuff and it didn’t click the way it has in other situations. ***
Overall: 4.5/10; Below average. There was potential for this to be better than it was. There are some solid matches (HIAC, Benoit/Booker and the MNM tag), but the rest of the card underwhelmed and they wasted time with some overly long nonsense segments. It also felt longer than three hours, which is never good. Up next on “Random Network Reviews” will be Starrcade 1999!
Things start this week with a recap of the Dragon Azteca/Black Lotus/Pentagon Dark stories. During Aztec Warfare III two weeks ago, the Black Lotus Tribe arrived and cost Pentagon that match. Tonight, he runs the gauntlet against them.
In the back, Pentagon and Vampiro bump into each other for the first time since Pentagon attacked him at the end of Ultima Lucha Dos. Vampiro says that everyone pays for their sins and those he isn't his master anymore, he hasn't forgotten. Pentagon does the "zero fear" hand signal and walks off.
Gauntlet Match: The Black Lotus Triad def. Pentagon Dark in 26:09
Vampiro stayed quiet on commentary while Matt Striker ran down the setup of the match. First up is Doku, better known as Kari Hojo. She is great. The best intergender matches are the ones where they the guys don't hold back. Too often we get situations where the woman is portrayed as not being on the same level (though she's champion, this happens with Sexy Star a lot). Pentagon held nothing back, delivering a vicious superkick and some badass chops throughout. Pentagon was in control for most of it but Doku never looked out of place. She hit an awesome elbow but Pentagon caught her second one into the armbar and broke her arm! The referee called for the bell at 6:10.
After a commercial break, Jeremiah is working out backstage when Catrina comes up to him. She says that Ivelisse's injury is a shame. They know each other and Catrina says that he isn't love with Ivelisse, but in love with her. The stone around his neck was stolen from her but she's in love with someone else.
Back to Pentagon Dark who has a microphone and promises to break Black Lotus in two, Up next is Yurei, better known as the awesome Mayu Iwatani. Let's just say that I never expected to see Petagon vs. Iwatani. She fared better than Doku, hitting a big cross body and even laughing when Pentagon screamed for more kicks from her. She did hit a really weak looking shot with the ring bell. Pentagon fought back and twisted her leg in awkward ways. Yurei actually kicked his ass for the most part but made the mistake of somersaulting into position for a running package piledriver. Pentagon then broke her arm at 7:12 (13:22 cumulative) and is halfway home.
An angry Matanza is punching the wall of his cell. Dario Cueto shows up to tell him that he wins his title back next week. Matanza shouts "NO" and wants "MYSTERIO!" He punched his hands bloody and made a question mark symbol with the blood on the wall.
Hitokiri was next, which translates to assassin. Hitokori is Io Shirai and she's arguably the best of the three. Hitokiri brought it with a missile dropkick and high impact offense before bringing a chair into play. As this has progressed, Vampiro has made it seem more and more like he's the one behind it all. She dominated until Pentagon dropkicked her when she tried a handspring move. Pentagon's kicks were just brutal as was him throwing Hitokiri into a bunch of chairs. The violence factor got kicked up in this part of the gauntlet. Hitokiri climbed Dario's office and leapt off with an insane cross body. Back inside, she countered a Package Piledriver into a Canadian Destroyer to beat Pentagon at 12:47 (26:09 cumulative).
Black Lotus, flanked by Yurei and Doku holding their broken arms, picks up the pieces and breaks Pentagon's arm. She kicked the referee so there was no official decision on her portion. Pentagon/Doku was good, Yurei/Pentagon was better and then Hitokiri/Pentagon was insane. This got progressively better and more violent, before ending with Lotus getting revenge on Pentagon. Quite possibly the best intergender match I've seen and the best gauntlet match I can recall. ****
Dragon Azteca Jr. returned and has issues with both Lotus and Pentagon. He got in the ring and Black Lotus Triad calmly exited. Azteca grabbed Pentagon and broke his other arm. Pentagon now knows what his victims feel.
Prince Puma awakens in the coffin he was put in a few weeks ago. Vampiro is there and tells Puma to come with him.
Overall: 8.5/10. Once again, Lucha Underground does a one match show and totally nails it. Pentagon Dark against three of the best Japanese women's wrestlers was just as great as I hoped it would be. Not only did we get a great match but they advanced the story of Catrina/ivelisse, set up Matanza/Mysterio, brought back Prince Puma and added to the intrigue of Vampiro and even Jeremiah.
If you do want to check out Lucha Underground, which you absolutely should, and don't get El Rey Network (like me), you can sign up for the streaming service Fubo.TV. It's a great way to support the company and channel while streaming the show online. You can sign up and get Lucha Underground right here with Fubo.tv!
1) Pete Dunne: A major title win this past week saw the "Bruiserweight" Pete Dunne capture the PROGRESS Championship. An injury to Mark Haskins caused him to vacate the title. There were qualifying matches throughout Chapter 39 to earn a title shot to end the show. The PROGRESS Tag Team Champions, British Strong Style, which consists of Dunne and Trent Seven, retained their belts early on and gained spots in the main event. In that main event, which also featured Matt Riddle, Jimmy Havoc, TK Cooper, Travis Banks and Sebastian, Dunne got help from a returning Tyler Bate to lastly eliminate Havoc. The win came as a shock to many and Dunne is now a double champion for PROGRESS.
2) Johnny Mundo: There was one other major championship victory during the past week of wrestling. The reign of Sexy Star only lasted one week. After taking the Gift of the Gods Championship from her earlier this year, Johnny Mundo used that to get a title shot and took the Lucha Underground Championship from Sexy Star as well. What a dick! Admittedly, this wasn't anywhere near the best match of the week. Both of their matches have lacked in quality but this is still the biggest accomplishment for Mundo since leaving the WWE. When he won, Matt Striker said that since the first episode of the series, you just knew Mundo would one day be champion. That proved to be very true as Mundo is finally at the top of the Temple.
3) Kevin Owens: Enough about guys winning titles. Time to focus on someone who retained his. WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens main evented Raw in a really good title defense against Seth Rollins. Their series of matches have not quite reached great levels and this didn't either, but it was much better than their Clash of Champions match and I think I liked it more than the Hell in a Cell one. They fought around the arena in a No DQ match and just when Seth might have had things won, Chris Jericho interfered in a Sin Cara mask. That allowed Owens to retain and move into a feud where he'll get to look inferior against Roman Reigns.
4) James Ellsworth: Sure, the WWE has run the James Ellsworth stuff into the ground as they tend to do. However, the guy keeps getting a strong reaction and while he isn't a great wrestler, his acting skills are pretty strong. He got over in a way that most guys on the roster weren't able to. This week, he got his third win over AJ Styles (though he has never looked superior to the top champion, unlike when Kevin Owens loses on Raw). This was a ladder match that saw Ellsworth earn a Smackdown contract and he'll officially be sticking around. It wasn't a great match but it did what it needed to and had the crowd way invested.
5) American Alpha: Won a tag team turmoil match.
Raw History
Episode #64
May 23rd, 1994 | Struthers Fieldhouse in Youngstown, Ohio
We get told that during the WrestleMania Revenge Tour, Yokozuna and Crush took out Earthquake. That means that Earthquake cannot compete against Owen Hart in the King of the Ring Qualifying Match tonight. Vince McMahon and Macho Man are our hosts.
King of the Ring Qualifying Match
Doink the Clown vs. Owen Hart
This would have had a ton of potential if it was Matt Osburne. Owen attacks quickly and holds serve. When Doink sends him outside, Dink comes in to celebrate. Owen tells the camera that he has to deal with two and a half clowns, counting the referee. He chases Dink around the ring, allowing Doink to get in a clothesline. When Owen takes back over, commentary does a good job in explaining that Owen badly wants to win the tournament because Bret did it last year. It goes from technical to a bit of a brawl with the men trading shots. As Doink seems to pick up steam, Jeff Jarrett shows up and steals Dink. Owen rolls up to Doink to qualify.
Winner: Owen Hart in 8:30
Hey, look at Canadian Country helping each other. They’d be Tag Team Champions in five years. The match was like a lot of what I’ve seen on Raw in 1994 so far. Solid, but unspectacular. **
King of the Ring Report time! IRS will face Mabel in the first round, while Razor Ramon takes on Bigelow. Jeff Jarrett qualified over Lex Luger, who has fallen hard and Owen just qualified. Jimmy Del Ray faces Tatanka and the 1-2-3 Kid takes on Adam Bomb in the final to qualifiers. They also announce that the Headshrinkers will defend the Tag Team Titles against Crush and Yokozuna. Todd then bills Jerry Lawler vs. Roddy Piper as the “match of the century.”
Duke Droese vs. Barry Horowitz
IT’S THE RAW DEBUT OF THE DUMPSTER! Honestly, I feel like Horowitz is the superior worker. Duke does a tiny leap over a flat Barry and Vince is like “LOOK AT THE AGILITY!” Barry gets in some arm work, but Duke puts him down with a jumping elbow.
Winner: Duke Droese in 3:00
Duke’s first showing on Raw wasn’t the most impressive of squashes.
Time for highlights from the WrestleMania Revenge Tour. They had celebrities and everything on hand.
IRS vs. Gary Sabaugh
Before the match, IRS cuts the same tired promo he’s been cutting for years at this point. He is incredibly sweaty about 15 seconds into the match. Since he’s IRS and he can never do anything of interest, he applies a chinlock during a squash. Vince compares Shaq to Luger on commentary somehow. He wins with the Write Off.
Winner: IRS in 4:16
Too much time for an IRS squash. He’s quite possibly the most boring wrestler that I have ever seen.
Footage airs from Superstars, when Crush attacked Lex Luger during his KOTR Qualifier. The referee started counting Luger out and had he just laid there and lost, it would have been okay. Instead, he gets up and goes after Luger, getting eliminated from qualifying because he was too stupid to leap back into the ring.
Ugh, it’s King’s Court time. His guest is Lex Luger and Jerry Lawler spends time calling him a choke artist. I mean, Jerry isn’t wrong. Lawler reveals that Luger supposedly attacked him from behind in the city and Crush’s arm is in a sling. Crush appears in a bootleg looking sling. It looks like he took his bedsheets and just used that. Crush’s promo is pretty bad as he messes up several words. Luger clotheslines him outside and it is revealed that nothing is wrong with Crush’s arm.
Nikolai Volkoff vs. Matt Hardy
Matt Hardy has a flattop haircut that does not suit him. Ted Dibiase joins commentary to say that he is trying to communicate with the Undertaker. Matt sells decently for him but you know this is about Volkoff. He uses the Boston Crab to win.
Winner: Nikolai Volkoff in 2:32
Better than the IRS squash but still nothing worth checking out.
Jerry Lawler announces that his guest next week on the King’s Court will be the WWF Champion Bret Hart!
Overall: 3.5/10. These Raw episodes have kind of hit a plateau. I’ve given the same score three straight weeks. The marquee match is always decent at best and the rest of the show is either bad or barely watchable. That was the case here again.
Raw History
Episode #65
May 30th, 1994 | Struthers Fieldhouse in Youngstown, Ohio
The show opens with a recap of each person that has qualified for the King of the Ring. We see that the 1-2-3 Ki became the 7th person to do so on Superstars.
King of the Ring Qualifying Match
Crush w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Tatanka w/ Chief Jay Strongbow
Vince literally gives ZERO reason for why the change was made here. He’s just like “Jimmy Del Rey was scheduled but now it’s Crush.” Vince says that Crush also has the Tag Team Title match at KOTR, which meant that if he qualified, he could wrestle four times in one night. That would be atrocious. Crush dominates the early stages and has on the dreaded bearhug after a commercial. They fight outside after Strongbow chops Fuji and it leads to a double countout.
Double Countout in 7:08
Two of the worst people to watch since Raw started are given a match and they, as expected, put on a bad match. ½*
Vince McMahon calls the double countout “the worst thing that could happen.” Really? I’d rather someone get a bye than see one of those two in there. They continue to brawl after the match.
Todd Pettengill brings us the King of the Ring Report. His shirt is absolutely ridiculous. We get a promo from Roddy Piper who talks about how tough his neighborhood is. Owen Hart also chimes in to say that he should get a bye because Tatanka and Crush both got counted out. A year later, he and British Bulldog would fight to a double countout and neither man would get another shot in the tournament.
Ted Dibiase is shown in a funeral parlor (no, not the Paul Bearer talk show). He says that the Undertaker will soon be his property again.
1-2-3 Kid vs. George South
As noted earlier, this past weekend, 1-2-3 Kid qualified for the King of the Ring. Kwang accidentally spit mist into Adam Bomb’s eyes, leading to the win. Kid goes through some of his fun offense. Interestingly, Kid wins with the La Magistral cradle. Macho Man calls 1-2-3 Kid his new favorite wrestler.
Winner: 1-2-3 Kid in 2:33
As usual, Kid has an entertaining squash match that is given far too little time. Fine stuff though.
King’s Court time. Jerry Lawler goes through the same tired jokes he’s used on the Hart Family because he has no new material and hasn’t since the 90’s. Bret Hart comes out and Lawler continues to say nonsense. He brings up his attack on Bret after last year’s King of the Ring, leading Bret to prepare to fight. Lawler brings out his other guests for tonight, Diesel and Shawn Michaels. Diesel makes a remark about giving Bret the VIP treatment, which is very intense pain. Was that the best they could think of? HBK distracts Bret, allowing Diesel to hit him and nail the Jackknife. The three heels all stomp on Bret until officials show up.
The Smoking Guns vs. Austin Steele and Reno Riggins
Commentary spends the match advertising for the USA Network and discussing the Crush/Tatanka controversy. Vince acts like Owen Hart only wrestling two matches on the KOTR PPV is a big deal when Bigelow did that last year. The Guns dominate this match as expected.
Winners: The Smoking Guns in 3:19
Standard stuff here.
Todd Pettengill informs us that Jack Tunney has made a decision. Next week, we get a Crush/Tatanka rematch (oh joy) and it will be a Lumberjack match.
Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Hammerick
The future “Confederate Currency” of ECW is doing the job tonight. Jarrett talks smack to Macho Man beforehand, which, coupled with their issues a few weeks back, makes me feel like there may have been plans for a program. Jarrett goes through all of his offense, which isn’t very exciting and never has been. He wins with a figure four.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett in 3:53
Man, Jeff Jarrett is kind of boring. Not IRS bad but nowhere near Owen or 1-2-3 Kid levels of interesting.
Jerry Lawler informs everyone that his guest next week will be a Scottish man in a kilt with a “Hot Rod” shirt.
Overall: 2.5/10. The actual in-ring stuff was pretty horrible this week. Outside of the short 1-2-3 Kid match everything was kind of just there. The Crush/Tatanka match was pitiful and now we get a damn rematch next week. The only good thing about this episode was the King’s Court surprisingly. Lawler’s jokes were bad but at least it built the WWF Title match well.
Raw History
Episode #66
June 6th, 1994 | Struthers Fieldhouse in Youngstown, Ohio
King of the Ring Qualifying Match
Crush w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Tatanka w/ Chief Jay Strongbow
Oh my god. These poor Youngstown fans had to sit through this match twice in one taping. Good lord. Everyone nearly fights to start but Earl Hebner calms things down. The heels surprisingly don’t really beat on Tatanka when he goes outside. Maybe one cheap shot but that’s it. They fight through a commercial break and do nothing of interest. This is honestly one of the most boring matches I could think of. They are just wearing each other down with dull offense. Oh goodness, they go through a SECOND commercial break. Vince again hypes the possibility of four Crush matches on the PPV, showing that he wants nobody to purchase it. A big fight breaks out outside, where Lex Luger runs out and lays out Crush with the BIONIC FOREARM OF DOOM! Tatanka covers Crush and qualifies.
Winner: Tatanka in 17:09
Seriously? This takes up the majority of the show. This was BEYOND boring and one of the worst things Raw has done this year. Just all around terrible. DUD
King of the Ring Report time! There isn’t really any news of note, but there are some pretty out there Roddy Piper promos.
Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon vs. John Paul
Nothing of note really happens in here, except that Vince calls Luna the Wilma Flintstone of the WWF. Macho Man says he liked Betty more. Bigelow dominates and wins with an ugly splash.
Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 2:49
Typical Bigelow squash. He got to do some decent stuff and looked alright in doing so.
Jerry Lawler is out for the King’s Court. He teases bringing out Roddy Piper but it’s an impersonator. A skinny kid who is nailing the Piper impersonation for sure. Lawler throws insults and makes the skinny kid kiss his feet and crawl out of the ring on his hands and knees. It was a good idea but Lawler is pretty dire to watch at times.
Razor Ramon vs. Keith Davis
The jobber doesn’t sound familiar right? He looks familiar though because it’s Jeff Hardy. He leaps right into a fallaway slam. Jeff/Keith bumps pretty well as Razor wins with a Razor’s Edge.
Winner: Razor Ramon in 4:04
Fun to see Jeff Hardy. He made for a good jobber because he could bump around for the star.
Somewhere strange, Paul Bearer claims that Ted Dibiase will not be able to produce the Undertaker. Back to the arena, Ted Dibiase shows up and promises to produce the Undertaker this weekend on Superstars.
Overall: 1/10. The big match of the evening outright sucked. Whoever thought to give those two nearly twenty minutes should have been fired. The rest of the show wasn’t much better and this was all flat out horrible.
