Monday, August 22, 2016

A Taste of the New Generation: Broken Harts: WWF Monday Night Raw: November 14th, 1994



We open Raw this week with... Technical difficulties? Yes, due to some issues, this Raw is actually not presented in its completed format.  So due to this, we enter this Raw with Bob Backlund locking in the Crossface Chicken Wing on the 1-2-3 Kid much to the chagrin of Vince McMahon, and the delight of our color commentator this week Ted Dibiase.


Bret comes to the save, but officials  keep the champion and challenger apart. Backlund almost locks in Bret in the Chicken Wing, but lets go and leaves the arena. He grabs hte mic and says a lot of large words, essentially saying that it will be a reminder of what will happen at Survivor Series. Bret attacks Backlund and locks in the Sharpshooter, but also lets go of his hold quickly. He grabs the mic and says that he didn't have to let him out of the hold either, but he will never let him out at Survivor Series.


Mabel is in action next against the Black Phantom (who Vince calls the Blue Phantom despite there not being a trace of blue on him). Mabel take the Phantom in the corner and follows with a massive hiptoss. Hard whip and a back body drop follow. He follows with a vertical suplex. Phantom tries some clotheslines and boots, but Mabel takes him down. However, he misses an elbow drop, allowing the Phantom with more running offense. He tries a whip, but Mabel reverses it into a hard whip in the corner. He follows with a sidewalk slam for the three in a decent squash.


Todd Pettengill is here with the Survivor Series report. Nothing has really changed from the card given in the last episode. Chuck Norris is promising to stop anyone who tries to get involved in the casket match, though Tatanka thinks he'll have no issue taking out the Texas ranger.


Up next it's Jeff Jarrett in action against Gary Sabaugh. Vince is shocked that Sonny Bono is now a congressman while Jarrett gets some hiptosses and a body slam. Jarrett struts, which gets him prone for a punch, a hiptoss and a body slam from Sabaugh. Jarrett regains momentum tripping Sabaugh into the second buckle. He follows by dropping the leg into the back of Sabaugh's head and a snap suplex. Sabaugh gets a sunset flip for two. He misses a dropkick, allowing for Jarrett to do some damage to  his leg. Sabaugh gets a small package for two, but Jarrett follows by more damage to the knee. Sabaugh misses an enziguri, letting Jarrett continue with elbow drops to the knee. He finishes off with a figure four for the win in an okay squash.


Don't forget kids, Vince wants your dollar. The opinion poll is still active. Hear controversial interviews with different superstars daily and behind the scenes gossip. Not sure if this was around the time of Gene Okerlund's WCW hotline, but it definitely feels like this is an attempt at actively competing against it. But considering it's the WWF, you're getting, I dunno,  the opinions of Headshrinker Sione.


Holy shit, I was kidding about IRS actually digging up someone to tax them, but he actually did it. But yeah, Irwin is so commited to punishing tax cheats that he actually got the shovel and got to bringing up the literal stiff. He takes the piss about how his family splurged for a good casket instead of  paying his taxes. We cut to a shot from inside the hole where IRS continues to berate the tax cheat. Holy crap you guys, he  literally stole a dead man's casket and threw the corpse back in the hole.

IRS is officially the greatest thing ever.


It's time for yet another edition of the King's Court. What could possibly be better than having one king in the house? Two kings of course. His guest is "The King of Harts" Owen Hart, who has the towel for Bob Backlund in the submission match at Survivor Series. He promises that unlike Arnold Skaaland, he will not throw in the towel in the match.

However, his other guest is also the British Bulldog, who has the pink and black towel for Bret. He promises that at Survivor Series, Bret will still be champion. Owen promises that when Backlund gets the Chicken Wing on Bret, there's no way out, and Bret's Sharpshooter is easy to get out of. He tells Bulldog to sit back and watch him suffer before he throws the towel. Bulldog promises that he won't throw the towel no matter what because Bret will win.


Up next is the Raw debut of the "Portugese Man O' War" Aldo Montoya, better known as PJ Walker who once upon a time got an upset victory over IRS. He's also everyone's favorite rat faced knacker Justin Credible. And now he look like he made his outfit out of old Starburst wrappers. He debuts against the Brooklyn Brawler.

Brawler gets a shoulder block, but misses an elbow drop. He follows with a stomp and a series chops. Aldo ducks a clothesline and gets a hiptoss and a scoop slam followed by a dropkick. Brawler tries to escape, but Aldo drops him with a plancha. Brawler lands a neckbreaker as Dibiase shills Young Guns (stumbling through the promo). He's so bad at it that Vince does it again and gets it right. Hard whips to the buckle and a backbreaker from the Brawler for two. Aldo ducks a clothesline and hits a hurricanrana and some punches. Springboard cross body off the buckle  gets the three for Aldo Montoya.


Dibiase enters the ring and says that he has a lot of potential and offers Aldo an opportunity of a lifetime. He offers him a shot in the Million Dollar Corporation. Aldo badmouths him in Portugese. Dibiase offers him some money. He then speaks english and tells Dibiase to take his money and shove it in his ass... err, ear.


We get an interview with Alundra Blayze suited to the nines. She's defending the Women's title against Bull Nakano in Japan the upcoming weekend.  Spoiler: Nakano wins the title.  We end with a run through of next week's Raw card, including Diesel vs Razor Ramon.

Technical issues aside, this was a mediocre Raw. I did enjoy Bret and Backlund's promos to hype their match at Survivor Series as well as the King's Court to build the importance of Owen and Bulldog's parts in the match as well. the squashes were decent, and Aldo Montoya's debut was okay, but nothing I'd call special really. When the best part of Raw is IRS stealing a casket from a corpse, then you know this isn't an amazing episode. Still, issues and all, I give this Raw a B+. 

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