Hey kids! It's not too late to give Vince your dollar! We open the April 11th, 1994 edition of Raw with the final bet of pleading from the Smoking Gunns, Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission. This week at the table it's Vince and Randy Savage as Raw is going down for the first time in the Memorial Auditorium in Utica, New York. This is the first of a three show package in Utica.
Opening action for this edition of Raw is Diesel taking on Virgil. Yes, yes. I'm still surprised Virgil is being employed at this point too. Diesel starts with some elbows to the head of Virgil and a boot choke in the corner. Virgil dodges an elbow in the corner and begins work on the arm. He follows with an axe handle and an arm wringer. Diesel regains momentum with a sidewalk slam. A shortarm clothesline from Diesel followed by a bearhug.
Virgil breaks free and lands an axe handle, but his second attempt is met with a bearhug and a ram into the forner. Hard forearm to the face and some fists to the ribs from Big Daddy Cool. He reapplies the bearhug as about four people cheer on Virgil. THey do the arm drop spot, and of course Virgil breaks out on the third arm drop. He tries some clotheslines which don't fase Diesel, so Virgil stomps on his foot and lands a clothesline to take him down. Gotta admit, that's different. Virgil tries a roll up, but gets a massive boot to the mush. Disesel finishes him with the Jacknife Powerbomb for the three.
Not a bad opener, Virgil didn't look too bad, and Diesel continues to improve week by week. You can already see the signs that Vince is really going to put in motion a massive push for the big man.
Up next, it's time for the return of The King's Court with Jerry "The King" Lawler. Lawler is carried to the ring on a sedan carried by several jobbers including Duayne Gill, and yes, you aren't seeing things. That is indeed a young D'lo Brown. Lawler makes it to the ring, much to the boredom of Randy Savage...
when suddenly the jobbers drop him and he smacks his head into the apron, much to the delight of Randy Savage.
When we return to the ring, Lawler is still trying to compose himself after his pratfall. He says he'll slap the faces of the fans who mock him. He's particularly annoyed by Savage and Vince's mockery. But before he can cool off, his guest, Lex Luger heads to the ring. Even Luger's laughing at Lawler's "fall from grace". He mocks Lawler's entrance saying that even Arsenio, Leno and Letterman are shaking in their boots.
After sitting on Lawler's throne, Lawler finally gets to the point, that he thinks that he's holding a grudge against Mr. Perfect. Perfect doesn't hold a grudge, it's all Luger's fault for being disqualified. We even go back to the footage once again of Luger attacking both Cornette and Fuji followed by the shove which lead to the DQ. Luger admits that he's made mistakes in the past (You know, like letting Yokozuna get counted out), but all that Mr. Perfect had to do was to be man enough to tell him he had a beef with him. He took the coward's way out to cost Luger the title. He doesn't cry over spilled milk (but angrily yell over it apparently). He's dying for Perfect to return to the ring and to finally get his hands on him.
Up next, it's Sparky Plugg in action against Barry Horowitz. Headlock by Sparky followed by a body slam and a top wristlock. He gets in another hiptoss and a dropkick. Mr. Perfect is on the phone with Vince. He still claims that he doesn't understand why Luger has the issue with him. Savage claims that Perfect is hiding from Luger, but Perfect tries to defend his actions at Wrestlemania. If Luger opens his mouth one more time, he's gonna slap it. Back in the ring, Holly finishes the match with a double knee drop for the three.
Backstage, the Quebecers and Johnny Polo are concerned over who is going to win the phone vote, while all three teams are ready to go. Polo's got a massive patch over his eye due to a fastball to the face on All American Wrestling on Sunday. This leads to our main event of the evening. It's the Quebecers vs...
Men on a Mission! Well, at least people are a little smarter as to not go with the Bushwhackers, or watch a match that will be 67% top wristlocks. Mabel and Mo gets a cheap shot on Jacques and Pierre as we go to break.
When we return, Mo gets a shoulder block to Jacques, but Pierre gets a cheap clothesline to the back of his head. Pierre gets the tag and works Mo in the corner, until Mo reverses and sends Pierre crotch first into the ropes, which both men shake hard. Tag to Mabel as both men land a drop toe hold and leg drop combo. Mabel charges to the corner, but misses. Jacques gets the tag and starts stomping the leg of Mabel to weaken him. Perre gets a tag and tries to clotheslin Mabel. On the third attempt, Mabel turns it into a sidewalk slam. Tag to Mo as both men land a double suplex. Mo covers, but Earl Hebner is distracted.
Jacques is tagged in and stomps down Mo. Pierre chokes down Mo in the corner as Mabel inadvertently distracts the ref. More double teams from the Quebecers as we go to another break. When we return we see a double body slam from the Quebecers. Tag to Jacques as both men get a double flapjack sending Mo throat first into the ropes. Another tag and a double team clothesline for two. Crowd is Pro Mo, to the chagrin of Johnny Polo.
Pierre lands a hip drop on Mo on the ropes. He goes for a second, but his momentum is met with a back drop over the ropes. Mo tries for a tag to Mabel, but Jacques and Johnny Polo quickly toss Pierre back in to break the attempted tag. Both men end up colliding into each other with clotheslines. Mo tries a tag, but Pierre grabs the leg. Mo tags Mabel, but Earl Hebner again misses the tag. Mo fights off both Quebecers and finally gets the tag to Mabel who back drops Pierre and lands an elbow to Jacques. Mabel tries a splash, but gets nothing but canvas.
Double team shoulder block by the Quebecers take down Mabel, who I think is gassed already for barely a minute of action. Pierre is thrown on to Mabel, but Mo turns it around for a two count. Tag to Mo as both men hit a double team splash. Roll up by Mo, but now Jacques turns it around for a two count. Pierre uses Mo's momentum to toss Mo out of the ring to the waiting stomps of Johnny Polo. Mabel and Oscar go after Polo as the Quebecers hit a double team senton for the three.
Overall, not a bad tag title match. Lots of double team work from both teams. The face in peril stuff wasn't as long and drawn out as it can usually be, and for the action within there really wasn't too many slow spots. I gotta admit, Men on a Mission are kind of growing on me. Mo at least puts in an effort, and Mabel, while he gets gassed fast, does have some good hot tag moments. And, as always, the Quebecers have just been a top notch team. This was definitely the highlight of this show by far.
Next week on Raw, it's Bret Hart vs Kwang. Dammit, can I just pretend that Kwang doesn't exist.
We cut to the white house's Easter egg hunt, complete with Doink, Dink and the Bushwhackers. So I guess when Vince was talking about them throwing eggs, he meant it in a literal sense then. We even see the Bushwhackers licking Socks the Cat.
Could be worse, it could be Arn Anderson's version of a cat bath.
April 15th is in four days, so who better than IRS to once again show up for a couple seconds and call everyone tax cheats? Especially Tatanka who hasn't paid a gift tax on that headdress of yours. The King's Court returns next week, but before we even know who's on, we end Raw with another shot of Lawler's royal flush.
Kind of a dry episode of Raw this week around. Seems like this one was actually live as it felt a lot of time for certain things were far more compressed. Especially considering the multiple break spots during the tag title match. Speaking of which, it was the best match of the evening, which is saying something I guess when the only other matches are a Diesel squash and a forgettable Sparky Plugg match. The King's court was fine, remembered more for Lawler's pratfall than anything else. Though this really did Luger no favors as he sounded like a ranting baby over his loss. Overall, there's not really anything worth going back to, even the Lawler drop. It's a C+ show at best.