Behind Jarrett is what appears to be a production assistant. A roadie, if you will. Both McMahon and Michaels are perplexed at why the camera is focusing on him as he simply appears to just be a backstage assistant. As you can probably tell, this is the man who would become The Road Dogg Jesse James.
Jarrett opens with an arm drag and a strut. He follows up with a drop toe hold, walking over the back of Bulldog and laying on the ring ropes a la Shawn Michaels, proud of his arrogance. Jarrett follows up by taking Bulldog to the corner and laying in some knees. He tries a hiptoss but gets reversed by a massive hiptoss from the Bulldog. Jarrett exits the ring while the roadie checks on him.
Jarrett tries a shoulder block but is denied as Bulldog gets a massive shoulder block of his own. Vince mentions that Diesel doing that to Shawn Michaels would send Michaels to space, to the chagrin of the heartbreak kid. Both men exchance takedowns until Jarrett is shoved. The Roadie once again comes to the corner of Jarrett to check on him as Vince and Shawn still have no clue. Jarrett gets two leapfrogs, but gets caught with a big stalling suplex . Jarrett rolls out as the roadie tries to keep people from touching Double J.
Jarrett gets a cheap shot on Bulldog and whips him into the corner, only to eat a boot to the face. Bulldog follows up by ramming Jarrett ten times face first into the turnbuckle. If this was face Tatanka, he'd become the most powerful man on earth with the amount of no selling powers. Bulldog goes up, but Jarrett gets a strike and lands a suplerplex. Cover only gets a two. Bulldog breaks out of a headlock, but gets a knee to the gut for a two count. He follows with a chinlock. Bulldog gets a hard whip, but misses a shoulder to the corner. Jarrett gets a diving clothesline for two as we go to break.
When we return, Jarrett misses a fist drop off the top rope. Both men hit shoulder blocks and collapse to the mat. Shawn is more focused on the tinsel on Jarrett's tights than the small package from Bulldog that gets a two. Vince tries to make a weak Tim Allen Santa Clause reference as Jarrett gets in a sleeper hold. Bulldog manages to finally get up after a minute, backing him into the corner. Jarrett gets a kick and bullldogs the Bulldog as Vince coins it. Even Shawn gets a chuckle at the Bulldog losing to a bulldog. Bulldog gets a crucifix pin for two.
Bulldog lands a fisherman suplex for a two count. Shawn says the move never beats anybody, though Mr. Perfect would beg to differ. Vince mentions that Bret is still recovering from the Chicken Wing, promising a return to the WWF in early January, much to Shawn's disgust. After a long chinlock, Bulldog escapes and catches Jarrett to an inverted atomic drop followed by a big back body drop and several clotheslines. Jarrett rolls out again and says he's done with the match.
Bulldog grabs Jarrett and presses him over his head. He tosses Jarrett back into the ring, but before he can get back in, his foot is caught under the ring by the Roadie. Due to this, he ends up counted out, giving Jeff Jarrett the win. Jarrett and the Roadie celebrate as they exit.
Not a bad opening match. Some good in-ring work from both men. Jarrett with some great heel work and arrogance and Bulldog delivered in some solid power moves. The only issue I have is that I felt it went a bit too long, but nothing in the match was too offensive to make it hard to live with.
We cut to footage of the sportscaster awards the previous Wednesday as many superstars were on hand including the Bushwhackers, Doink and Dink, and of course the new WWF champion Diesel, who look stripperlicious in his sleeveless tuxedo.
The Jheri-Curl Kid is up next taking on Barry Horowitz. After a headlock, the Kid comes back with some leapfrogs and a dropkick. He follows up with some kicks in the corner and a snap suplex, covering for two. Kid goes for a headlock, but gets hit with a back suplex. Vince shills the upcoming King's Court, believing its guest to be Diesel. Seriously he is straight gushing over the seven foot champion. Horowitz gets an underhook suplex and a leg drop for two. He cradles the kid for a two count. Horowitz works Kid in the corner with uppercuts and a boot choke, following with a snapmare and a Mr. Perfect-escue neck snap. The Kid eventually recovers with a botchy spin kick, followed by a second and a snap count for a three.
We get some more shilling for the WWF Raw video game with Shawn Michaels beating up the 1-2-3 Kid, complete with busting out his super move, which even Vince doesn't believe Shawn could pull off in real life. They also shill a special strategy VHS for the game.
Kwang is in the ring next against Scott Taylor. Despite the early offense of Kwang, the focus is more on Whippleman bad mouthing Howard Finkel backstage, throwing paper at him. Taylor gets some hiptosses and a dropkick, but gets hit with a facebuster. He follows with a mist and a spew of red mist in the air. He follows with a nerve hold while Finkel is still being browbeaten. Kwang gets a big flipsy kick to the corner and follows with a strike to the throat. He follows with a nerve hold and a stomp. More kicks and strikes from Kwang as the insults outside continue. Taylor slides under Kwang, but misses a cross body. Big spin kick gets the three in a dull squash.
It's King's Court time as Vince is still hoping for Diesel as the guest. Shawn is more focused on smacking his gum on the mic. Lawler says the crowd is the ugliest he's ever had. He berates on girl in the crowd (don't put the camera on her. She should only be seen through a pinhole in a piece of cardboard). He calls his guest the guiding light, the brains behind the brawn. The man behind Diesel's title win, Shawn Michaels.
Some good barbs from Lawler about Diesel (he thinks that when he bought Hamburger Helper that it came with another person). Shawn asks if the people ever heard of Big Daddy Cool without the Heartbreak Kid? He plucked him from obscurity and made him a household name, He's the Heartbreak Kid and he put the "cool" in Big Daddy. He put the Intercontinental and Tag Team title belts around Diesel's waist. And as much as everyone would hate to admit it, Shawn Michaels put the WWF Title around his waist. He's not talking trash, he's talking facts. Shawn isn't hard to find, he's down at the end of Lonely Street, Heartbreak Hotel.
We get some clouds as the name Hakushi appears. The next big upcoming superstar making his way very soon. I've honestly been getting excited to see Hakushi, so hopefully this will be worth the wait.
Up next it's our final match. It's... Ugh... Well Dunn taking on... Oh god... The Bushwhackers. Whippleman continues his berating of Howard Finkel as he introduces his team, Steven Dunn and Timothy Well. Double clotheslines from Luke and Butch. Dunn gets a cheap clothesline sending Luke outside as Well gets an ax handle to the outside. Some elbow drops from Well and a backbreaker. He knocks Butch and they follow with a double team. Tag to Well who gets a knee to the back and another shot at Butch.
Both men ram Luke back first into the corner. Dunn is back in and lands a massive whip to Luke in the corner. Drop toe holds and some leg drops from Well Dunn. USA Network Shill of the Week (been a few weeks): Big with Tom Hanks. More leg drops from Timothy Well. Luke gets a knee lift and a clothesline. Tag to Butch and Dunn. Punches and clotheslines to both of Well Dunn followed by a double noggin knocker. Battering Ram takes out Well. The referee is distracted as Whippleman trips Butch. Knee to the back of the head as Dunn gets the three. However Howard Finkel tells Earl Hebner what happened. Harvey shoves the Fink and the two are at each other throats.
A far better showing for Well Dunn compared to last year's match with the Smoking Gunns. Far better use of double teams and offense, even if it was extremely repetitive, also a far less comedy match from the Bushwhackers which was a fine change of pace. Wasn't too long, didn't feel too boring. I came in with zero expectations, and I leave with some praise.
We end Raw with Mr. Bob Backlund as Vince shills Backlund's match next week with Doink. He's never clowned around in his own like. When he was a small boy, he didn't like clowns. Now he's a grown man and he hates them. They have no place in society and the WWF. He'll exterminate Doink and walk tall as champion again. He will be god, even if he has to destroy a clown to do it. I love this man.
A pretty average edition of Raw this week. Nothing was too incredible in the ring, but nothing was too offensive either. Both squashes were just there, while the matches of Bulldog/Jarrett and Well Dunn/Bushwhackers were better than expected going in. Shawn did fine on the commentary adding a good sense of arrogance in this feud with Diesel and it played to a decent King's Court. Overall, this show flowed well enough to earn it a B- rating.
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