The Palmetto, Florida tapings finish off with this, the February 6th edition of Monday Night Raw. It's Vince and Shawn at the table as we open our event with a six man tag match. Men on a Mission tag with Lex Luger to take on the Million Dollar Corporation's King Kong Bundy, IRS and Tatanka. This is a continuation from the incident in last week's "one man Royal Rumble" where the corporation threw Mabel out.
Mabel and Bundy lock up. Some clubbing blows by Mabel, but Bundy whips Mabel to the corner. Mabel fights back with a clothesline for two. Enziguri to the back of the head by Mabel. Cover gets two. Tag to Mo, who gets a shot to the back of Bundy. Some strikes and an attempted body slam is met with no avail. Tag to IRS who whips Mo and lands an elbow to the face followed by an elbow drop for a two count. Mo ducks a clothesline and gets a cross body followed by a dropkick and a scoop slam for a two count.
Tag to Tatanka who lays in chops as we go to break. When we return, Mabel gets the tag in. Tatanka ducks a clothesline, but gets a big shoulder block. Tatanka ducks again, but gets another clothesline. Big elbow drop by Mabel, who follows with a tag to Luger. Tatanka backs away and tags in IRS. Shoulder block by IRS. He tries a hiptoss, but Luger manages a backslide for two, quickly getting a clothesline for another two count. Tag to Mo who pulls an arm wringer, but gets caught with a knee lift. Tatanka gets a cheap kick to the back of Mo as Irwin tags in Tatanka. A chop by Tatanka followed by some hard whips and more chops. Body slam by Tatanka who tags in Bundy. Another whip to the corner and a chop followed by a knee drop for two. Another knee drop for two.
Tag to IRS who works an abdominal stretch, using Tatanka for leverege. Tag to Bundy who gets a shot ot the sternum and an elbow to the back of the head. Tag back to IRS who goes for a sunset flip, but Irwin grabs the ropes. Mabel pulls the arm off, causing him to fall for a two count. Tatanka is tagged back in and lands a clothesline. Tag to Bundy, who misses a splash in the corner. Vince brings up how he's not impressed with either team's coordination. Honestly, the Corporation at least put the teamwork in.
Tag to Luger who gets some strikes on all three members of the Corporation, even getting a double noggin knocker on Bundy and IRS. Luger slams Bundy, but gets hit with a clothesline by Tatanka. Mabel tries to stop it, but gets stopped by the ref. DDT by Tatanka and a cover by Bundy gets the three on Lex Luger.
A decent 6-man tag match. Not really much in terms of innovation or great offense. But there weren't any slow rest holds, nor did it feel too long. I am already tired of the Luger/Tatanka feud, and I hope this is nearing the end. It's honestly kind of sad to see how far down the ladder Luger's stock has fallen so fast. At this point last year, Luger would have never looked this weak.
We go to Bobby Cupo, agent for Lawrence Taylor, who reads a prepared statement from L.T, who accepts the apology of the WWF, but still wants an apology from Bam Bam. When it comes to the challenge, Lawrence Taylor does not want to wrestle, but if this keeps going, he'll seek legal remedy.
Up next is the Raw debut of Man Mountain Rock. Dressed in all tye dye and strumming a guitar in a way that you can tell that "this man doesn't play much guitar". It's Charlie Hunter taking him on this week. Shoulder blocks by Hunter gets no luck. He tries a hiptoss, but Man Mountain gets the advantage with one of his own. Slam and an elbow followed by a second. Whip in the corner followed by a back elbow from Man Mountain Rock. He follows with a snapmare and a splash. He wobbles on a headbutt but follows with a fist drop. Elbow to the face followed by a face first suplex for the three for Man Mountain Rock. Not a bad debut, but went on a bit too long.
We go to an interview earlier in the day with Vince and Diesel. Well, it's different from another King's Court segment. Diesel praises Owen Hart for his attempts in the WWF title match on Sunday's episode of the Action Zone. Diesel mentions his bad legs as his Achilles heel. Boy, ain't that the truth. On the subject of Shawn Michaels and his involvement in Diesel's matches he wanted to remedy it yesterday, but Shawn wanted none of it. The mindgames have an effect on him with Diesel unable to get Shawn at this point. On the subject of the man behind the diesel Kevin Nash being an ambassador for the company (shilling the ads for Slim Jim and Acclaim and rubbing elbows with the likes of Lawrence Taylor and former president Gerald Ford). Diesel says he has no time for anything outside of the commitments for the company, but he keeps going like a Diesel would. To sum this segment a bit quicker...
Shawn Michaels claims that on the next edition of Raw, he'll unveil his new bodyguard. This will be in two weeks due once again to the Westminster Dog Show. We'll also see Diesel defend his title against Jeff Jarrett.
Mantaur is in action next against Leroy Howard. Mantaur shoves Leroy into the corner and follows with a hiptoss. Leroy dodges an elbow drop and lands some of his own. He goes to the top and goes for a cross body, but gets caught into a slam by mooing Mantaur. Mantaur stomps down Howard and follows with a sidewalk slam. Leroy avoids a back drop and goes for some clotheslines and a dropkick, but Mantaur doesn't go down. Leroy ducks some clotheslines, but gets caught in another slam. Big back body drop followed by a moo from Mantaur. Whip to the corner and a splash followed by a second. Mantaur finishes with a belly to belly for three in a decent, albeit a bit too long, squash match.
Razor Ramon is up next against Frankie Lancaster. Razor shoves Lancaster early on. Lancaster wrings the arm, working in some elbows, but Razor turns the wringer around and follows witha back drop. and a leg drop to the elbow. He paintbrushes Lancaster's head a bit and continues with the arm, until Lancaster gets a rake in the face, allowing him to get some chops in the corner. However Razor turns it around to some hard strikes and a hiptoss. Shawn Michaels shills TekWar as Razor lands the fallaway slam. Short abdominal stretch by Razor and a back suplex off the top rope. Razor's Edge gets the finish in a pretty good, albeit business as usual for Razor, squash.
Henry Godwinn vs Bill Weaver is up next. Weaver tries some dropkicks, but is unsuccessful. Godwinn hits a pretty decent wheelbarrow slam sending him face first. Vince and Shawn reference Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig as Godwinn rakes at the face. Big clothesline from Godwinn as Vince shills the superstar line (he needs that dollar!). Slop Drop gets the three for Godwinn in a quick squash.
We run through the next episode of Raw which will feature Diesel vs Jarrett, Shawn's bodyguard and the return of Bam Bam Bigelow. Shawn also makes the announcement that he can no longer allow himself to be vulnerable, so this officially signals the end of his commentary run for Raw.
Overall a pretty by-the-numbers edition this week. The six man tag was better than expected but nothing special. As for the squashes, none were all that great. Razor's was basic, Man Mountain Rock's was average and Mantaur's was too long. Thankfully at least Henry Godwinn was shorter. This whole episode just felt like the stale leftovers of the three weeks of tapings and was more focused on building the next episode of Raw. I've seen better filler Raws. This edition gets a C.
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