The memorial day edition of Monday Night Raw kicks off with Hacksaw Jim Duggan outside the Manhattan Center rallying the crowd. Inside said center, Vince tells us that tonight will see Razor Ramon in action, along with the Steiners and Mr. Hughes. But we open the show with the intercontnental title on the line. Marty Janetty with Sensational Sherri will defend against Bam Bam Bigelow with Luna Vachon in his corner.
However, before the match even begins Luna and Sherri go after each other, since both have unfinished business. Marty holds Sherri back, which leads to a cheap shot by Bam Bam. Big shoulder block sends Marty flipping in mid-air. He gets another, and they just look silly seeing Marty spin off them. Another big clothesline by Bigelow keeps Marty on the mat. Another clothesline is missed as Marty gets some right hands, and follows with an axe handle off the top turnbuckle. Bam Bam gets in a headbutt to regain offense, and works on the back of Marty's skull. A big back body drop is countered by Marty, but he ends up being caught in a bear hug by Bam Bam.
Marty manages to get back offense with what appears to be ramming his knees into Bam Bam off the top. He gets a head scissors, but the second attempt is met with an electric chair drop as we go to break. Upon returning from break Bam Bam locks in Marty with a long head lock. A rake to the eyes impairs Marty's vision. Big avalanche in the corner from Bam Bam only gets a two with Marty's foot on the rope. Crowd is fully behind Marty at this point. Marty manages to counter a splash in the corner with a clothesline off the turnbuckle. He hits an elbow, but Bam Bam recovers, only to get his head slammed into the mat for a two count. Superkick by Marty is followed with a clothesline and dropkick for another two count. Bam Bam gets a body slam and follows with an underhook backbreaker. He attempts a headbutt, but Sherri grabs his leg, which leads Marty to sends Bam Bam out of the ring.
Marty ascends the top rope and hits a cross body off the top to the outside as the referee makes the count. Marty tries to get back im, but Bam Bam sends Marty head first into the turnbuckle. Bam Bam tries to get back in, however Sherri distracts him again to get him counted out. Bam Bam attacks Marty post-match with a body slam and a jumping senton. Referees hold Bam Bam back as he leaves feeling satisfied with his actions.
Great opener. A mismatch on paper with both men's size and weight, and though it was slow in a couple spots, I thought both Marty and Bam Bam worked pretty hard to make a solid match. But then again I think Bam Bam's one of the best on the roster right now, and Janetty's always been one of those criminally underrated workers. I wouldn't mind seeing them go at it again, that's for certain.
Sherri isn't done yet however, and she calls out Luna Vachon. It doesn't take long for Luna to oblige, but the ref tries to keeps her from entering the ring. Sherri runs up from behind her and manages to get in some shots and a body slam on the outside. However Bam Bam grabs Sherri, as Luna pummels Sherri. This goes on for a while until Tatanka makes the save, leading Bam Bam and Luna to exit. On a cloe up, you can see that Luna cut up Sherri's chin on some of her clawing. Another great segment between Sherri and Luna. It feels more and more like these two have the intent to murder each other.
Up next is the Steiner Brothers in action. Rick is sporting a rather nice number covered pink singlet, and all I can think of now is Scott Steiner's classic math promo from TNA. They're taking on Rich Meyers and the Executioners. Rick starts the match off with a nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and works in an arm wringer. We're told that we'll have a mixed tag of sorts as one Steiner and one Smoking Gunn will take on one Headshrinker and one member of Money Inc. Tag to meyers is met with Rick slamming him into the corner. Tag to Scott who lands a beautiful belly to belly suplex. He rams Rich Meyers hard into the corner and tags in Rick who locks in an arm wringer.
Rick goes for a chin lock, but slips momentarily. Headlock takedown and another quick rest hold. Tag back to Scott who gets a nice pump handle slam while Vince shills an airing of Arthur on USA network. If this was modern WWE they'd have had Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli in a horrible segment to promote it. Scott turns a suplex into a piledriver that literally looked like it may have snapped Rich Meyers' neck. This is followed by the bulldog from Rick off the shoulders of Scott for the three in another solid squash. While Rick's offense is a bit slow, I love everything Scott does. Beautiful suplexes, unique offense, and lots of energy. The Steiners continue to be one of my favorite things in the product at this point.
Mr. Hughes is up next fo a match against Bert Centeno. The crowd chants "shine our shoes, Mr. Hughes", which I'm going to assume is slightly racist. Maybe it's just clever rhyming, but this is the crowd that keeps chanting "Shawn is Gay", so I have very little faith in them at this point. Large body slam by Hughes opens the match and is followed by a hard hip toss and a rather sloppy power bomb. He covers Centeno, but picks him up to add more offense. Big boot by Hughes. He picks up Ceneno again several times. More clubbing blows until Hughes finishes it off with a nice slam for the three. I honeslty don't mind Mr. Hughes that much. The gimmick seems odd, but his power work has been solid. Though since it's against jobbers it's really hard to say how great it really is. We'll see how well he is when he faces Mr. Perfect at the King of the Ring.
Up next is Hacksaw Jim Duggan in yet another squash match. This time the body is Mark Thomas. Thomas starts with cheap shots, and after ducking two clotheslines attempts a cross body, but gets caught and slammed into the corner by Hacksaw. Body slam and a jumping knee. He yells at Yokozuna and lays into some fists in the corner. Irish whip and a big back body drop followed by more clubbing blows. Hacksaw hits a sloppy suplex and follows with a body slam. He sets up his three point stance and a battering ram clothesline for the three in a harmless squash. Following the match, he asks for the US flag and asks the fans to stand up and recite the pledge of allegience. Not the biggest fan of Hacksaw, but this really wasn't too bad.
Our final squash match is Razor Ramon taking on Tony Roy. Before the match Vince reminds us of the upset victory by the 1-2-3 Kid a couple weeks back, we also learn that in regards to the challenge last week the kid has turned down the offer. But since, Razor has now offered five grand. We go to a pre-recorded video with the 1-2-3 Kid, and honestly looking at him, as someone who got into watching in 1999, it still wows me how young Shawn Waltman looks. He definitely aged quick by the time he became X-Pac. He talks about the five thousand dollar offer, but he still turns it down knowing the consequences.
Macho Man leads the crowd into chanting "1-2-3", which distracts Razor long enough for Roy to try a roll up, but only gets a two and a hard clothesline for his troubles. Razor lays in hard chops, and follows with his fallaway slam. STF by Razor for a couple seconds as he slaps the head of Tony Roy. Macho Man continues to egg the crowd on, as Roy tries again with the roll up. Razor lays in boots in the corner, and follows with a whip and an elbow. He locks in an abdominal stretch as the crowd chant "We want Kid". Back suplex off the top turnbuckly by Razor, who then sets up the Razor's edge for the three. Decent enough squash that at least played to the whole storyline of Razor possibly being upset again by another jobber.
We end the show with Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji at ringside being interviewed by Vince. Vince is none too happy that the two have the audacity to show pride in their Japanese heritage on Memorial Day. Ah, good old WWE xenophobia. Fuji says that he'll be celebrating Memorial Day on June 13th, and they'll memorize the end of Hulkamania. Yokozuna says that Hulkamania will die. Yokozuna is a guest on the King's Court next week, and he advertises the possibility that maybe that guy who has that trinket toy belt might be there. We end the show with Hacksaw in the balcony leading the crowd to USA chants.
This Raw was decent, though it sort of just fell back into squash match city by the mid-point. Although the opener with Marty Janetty and Bam Bam Bigelow was great and helped move forward a lot of storylines going on at the moment. As for said squashes, none were boring, and all served their purposes to further wrestlers that actually appear to be pushed on the show currently. In the end, it's a B show. Average, but inoffensive.