Raw opens with a recap of the William Shatner incident on the King's Court last week, with Vince trying his best at a cheesy Star Trek opening voice. All this is to also advertise tonight's match between Bret Hart and "Double J" Jeff Jarrett. Shatner will be in Bret's corner with The Roadie in Jarrett's corner.
Shawn and Vince are totally not in front of a green screen tonight as we're still in Houston with tonight's Raw. The final Raw before the 1995 Royal Rumble mind you.
Opening action is the Heavenly Bodies against the newly formed tag team of Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid. The Kid/Holly tandem formed after the Smoking Gunns had to be taken out of the tag title tournament due to injuries. So they took their place and have made it to the finals, where they'll face Bam Bam and Tatanka at the Royal Rumble.
Del Ray and Pritchard get cheap shots on the Kid and Holly early, sending the Kid to the outside, and hit a double slam on Holly. Hard body slam and elbows by Pritchard while Del Ray keeps the Kid off the apron. The Kid tries to get in as the Bodies get a double elbow. Choke by Del Ray followed by a superkick for a two count. Tag to Pritchard who lands an assisted leg drop for a two. Holly tries to fight back, but is once again stalled.
Pritchard hits a gutwrench powerbomb (or a suplex maneuver via Vince). Tag back to Del Ray who hits an ax handle off the top and taunts the Kid before hitting a suplex and a knee drop for a two. Body slam by Del Ray, who heads to the top rope, landing a cross body, but Holly turns it around for two. Dibiase, Bigelow and Tatanka walks their way to ringside as Pritchard drops a knee for a two. Holly ducks a double clothesline and sends the Bodies colliding into each other. Tag to the Kid who lands dropkicks and spin kicks on both men. The Bodies try a double suplex, but Holly spears Pritchard, allowing for the Kid to get a fisherman suplex on Del Ray for three.
A decent opener. The Bodies showing excellent tag team work as always and their offense was entertaining. Did feel the match spent a little too long with Holly as the face in peril just to get a more rushed ending, but that aside, I don't mind Holly and the kid as this underdog tandem going into the Royal Rumble.
Bret is backstage and says that he has no ring rust and he has William Shatner in his corner. Shatner says that the Roadie (Roadkill) should just stay out of his way.
Up next is the Raw debut of Jim Cornette's new addition, Mantaur. What the hell is a Mantaur you may be asking? Correct anser is hell if I know, but to be a bit specific he's a cow man. Normally he'd be wearing a giant cow head like so.
And if this is really new to you, welcome to 1995. This is the level of what in the hell we've entered. He walks like a cow man, prances like a cow man, moos like a cow man. He's a literal frigging cow man. I have been waiting over 100 reviews to get to him and I'm already in awe.
His opponent is Jason Arhndt. He charges Arhndt to the corner twice and hits a belly to belly, mooing afterward. Arhndt tries to dodge some offense, but gets caught in a slam. Mantaur hits an ax handle and a body slam followed by another sloppy looking sets charge. Moos and a splash for three in... whatever the hell I just watched. Not impressed with the Mantaur in-ring. Lots of clumsy charges and mooing. Wrestling is weird, man.
Todd Pettengill is here with the final Royal Rumble report. Some new additions to the Rumble have been added since the last time we covered this show as well as the tag title finals between 1-2-3 Kid/Bob Holly and Bam Bam/Tatanka. In the middle of this, we get a promo from Double J saying that you should place your bets on him in this match against Bret Hart.
Speaking of which, that is our next match. Jarrett jaw jacks Shatner for about a minute before finally locking up with Bret. Bret blocks a punch with a couple rights and a rake of the eyes in the rope. Inverted atomic drop and a big clothesline followed by a leg drop. Jarrett reaches for a towel from the Roadie, but Bret stops that, Hitting an elbow to the face. Bret drops the knee to the groin area and lands an elbow. Definitely a lot more energy from Bret early on than usual in these types of matches.
Bret locks the elbow in a bar, but Jarrett tries to turn it into a hiptoss, only to be backslided by Bret for two. Jarrett tries a scoop slam, but Bret turns it around into an arm bar. Jarrett tries again, but gets caught more. Jarret ducks a clothesline, but gets caught in a sleeper, but Jarrett turns it into a back suplex. He hits a couple stomps and follows with a nice dropkick. Spinning neckbreaker as we go to break. When we return, Bret nearly pulls Jarrett's tights down on a sunset flip, but gets countered, only for Bret to come back with a counter of his own for a two count.
Jarrett regains control with some strikes and a hard whip to the buckle. Bret tries a whip, but gets met with an elbow to the face. Jarrett drops an ax handle off the top rope. He stalls on another, but Bret comes back with a shot to the gut, followed by some strikes and an inverted atomic drop. Russian leg sweep and a cover from Bret for two. Bret hits a big suplex for a two count followed by a backbreaker and his patented elbow drop for another two.
Bret tries to lock the sharpshooter, but gets raked in the face by Jarrett. Bret comes back with some punches and a headbutt. He ties Jarrett to the ropes and goes for a charge, but the Roadie frees Jarrett, sending Bret crashing. Jarrett puts in the figure four leg lock, but Bret gets the ropes. Jarrett gets some strikes and tries a whip. He rolls up Bret, but Bret turns it around for three. The Roadie tries a chap shot, but Shatner gets an elbow. The Roadie tries again, but misses a drop off the top. He rams the Roadie a couple times then tosses him out.
A pretty good match. Lots of fast paced action and some great back and forth. Both Bret and Jarret brought some great offense and even with some restholds, the match never felt too slow or too long. And for the first time in a while, a big promoted match ending without a screwy finish. I hope that's a good sign of things to come.
All of the Million Dollar Corporation is in attendance for the King's Court. At the Royal Rumble, Ted Dibiase will not just be the richest man, but the busiest man in the show. With IRS taking out the Undertaker, Tatanka and Bam Bam winning the tag team titles, and one night later, his new champions will defend the tag titles against the Smoking Gunns. He also has his money on King Kong Bundy winning the Royal Rumble, with the prize not being Pamela Anderson, but Bundy winning the WWF title. The Corporation is alive in '95. Well, as we'll see their PPV win record will say differently.
Hey kids! It's time for another PPV so once again Vince wants your dollar! It's the WWF Superstar Line where you can play Royal Rumble trivia and hear an exclusive Bret Hart/Diesel interview. Ooh, I bet it had a few swears in it.
Our last match of the night sees Mabel in action against Lee Tobin.Tobin runs right into a shoulder from Mabel, followed by a double choke slam. Tobin tries a headlock, but gets tossed and hit with some more clubbing strikes. Mabel lands a vertical suplex followed by some headlocks and a spin kick. Tobin tries some clotheslines and trikes in the corner, but Mabel turns it into a whip to the corner and a clothesline. Jumping clothesline and a leg drop gets the three for Mabel in an okay squash.
Mabel is interviewed, and says he'll win. Shawn thinks he's going to win as both are interrupted by King Kong Bundy who claims he'll win. Mabel challenged him to a fight in-ring as we go to break.
We shill next week's tag title match with the Gunns taking on the winners of the tag title tournament. Plush, the Royal Rumble winner will be here, much to the confidence of Shawn Michaels. And we literally end on a Diesel music video. Because we're two minutes behind and we need something to cut the show off I guess.
A pretty good edition of Raw this time around. Lots of action, some good matches, decent at best squashes and a good sense that the Royal Rumble PPV is important for more than just Pamela Anderson as arm candy. I will say the Mantaur... thing was strange and the King's Court was bland and basic stuff. Other than that, I can't complain with this episode of Raw. The first in a while to earn an A- rating.
We've covered all the Raws, now it's time to move forward once again. 30 men, one ring, one Wrestlemania goal and one Baywatch beauty on the line. It's 1995, the days of diesel and Taste of the New Generation goes for round 3 at the Royal Rumble!
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