A Taste of the New Generation: Days of Diesel: WWF Monday Night Raw: February 20th, 1995

Raw is live in Macon, Georgia for the next set of tapings. It's February 20th, 1995 and Raw was once again delayed a week due to the Westminster Dog Show.  The event saw Ch Gaelforce Postscript taking the best in show for 1995.

It's Vince and Jim Cornette at the commentary booth for tonight's show which will feature a King's Court with Shawn Michaels' new bodyguard, plus Diesel defending his WWF title against Jeff Jarrett.

But opening Raw tonight is the returning Bam Bam Bigelow, now off his 30 day suspension. Bigelow is still trying to gaud Lawrence Taylor into wrestling him, but lawyers and spokesmen for L.T continue to deny his request. Gary Sabaugh is the first man in Bam Bam's path. Sabaugh tries an STF, but is unable to put it in fully. Some clubbing punches from Bam Bam. Sabaugh ducks a clothesline and lands a hiptoss. He locks in a top wristlock, but some headbutts stop the momentum. Sabaugh ducks another clothesline and grabs the leg of Bam Bam, only to get an enziguri kick to the back of the head. Cornette brings up Asbury Park, Bam Bam's hometown and says that "people don't shoot you there, they insert the bullets manually".

Bam Bam works some more strikes in the corner followed by a headbutt and an elbow to the back of the head. Snapmare and some stomps follow. Sabaugh fights out of the corner, but is quickly stopped. Bam Bam rakes at the face of Sabaugh and follows with a whip to the buckle, but misses a splash. Sabaugh tries some clotheslines, but eats a dropkick and a DDT. Diving headbutt off the top gets the win for Bigelow in one of his better squashes in a while.

Bam Bam grabs a mic and accuses L.T of hiding. He calls him a punk and a wimp and keeps his challenge going. He'll face L.T any time, any place.

Adam Bomb is in action next. He's now the "creation of devastation". So add that to the Kool-Aid tongue, the glasses, the fart pyro, the contact lenses, the stock footage, etc. Rip Rogers is his opponent for this week.  Rogers shoves Adam  Bomb, but Adam shoves back a bit harder.  Side headlock by Rogers is turned into a shoulder block. Rip leapfrogs, but gets caught in a hiptoss and a body slam from Adam Bomb. Big dropkick sends Rogers jumping out. Adam Bomb follows up with a plancha over the top rope. Rogers gets back in and hits some strikes. He reverses a whip, but his strikes are ineffective as Adam Bomb gets some hard clubbing blows of his own. Big back body drop from Adam Bomb followed by a back suplex. Big flying clothesline gets the three for Adam Bomb in another decent squash.

We recap Superstars the past weekend where Bret Hart is the winner of the fan voted Superstar Award from the WWF Magazine. Bret is chosen by the people as the best representitive of the new generation. Instead of, you know, that big guy who has the belt right now.

It's time for the King's Court with Shawn Michaels who will be debuting his new bodyguard. Lawler has an issue with Bret Hart winning the WWF Magazine award. He mentions that if there were Japanese readers, they wouldn't vote for him. He calls Bret a racist for some reason. I have no idea where this angle came from honestly. Michaels comes to the ring on his own. Michaels says that he's about to blow the lid off the WWF. Ever since the Heartbreak Kid has won the rumble, he's been a marked man. And things are going to get worse the closer we get to Wrestlemania. You can't look like him, talk like him, and be given the natural god-given ability like him without being the envy of every WWF superstar. Even the Heartbreak Kid can't beat everybody at the same time. And for that reason, he has found a man to watch his back. And that that man is none other than...

Sid!

 The former Sid Justice had a brief run in the WWF in 1991, coming in as a babyface. His most famous feud in this run being with Hogan-Senpai after Sid eliminated Hogan in the 1992 Royal Rumble and Hogan, like the face he is, helped get him eliminated by Ric Flair. After his Wrestlemania match with Hulk Hogan, Sid  would leave the WWF in April of 1992. Sid returned to WCW in May of 1993 and stayed throughout the summer. Then came an infamous U.K tour in October of '93 as a brawl ensued in a Lancashire hotel room with Sid and Arn Anderson with the reult being both men stabbing each other with a pair of scissors.  Sid got the better of Arn, getting in twenty stabs to the chest.

Sid was fired from WCW not long after and found his way to Jerry Lawler's USWA promotion, winning the championship and holding it until February of 1995 as plans were already underway to bring him back to the WWF. And thus here we are now with Sid being brought back to be the new bodyguard for Shawn Michaels in this angle involving Diesel and the WWF title.

Sid tells the people in his spitty promo style that Shawn chose him because he has no remorse for anyone when things got tough. There will be no bad times because together he and the Heartbreak Kid will rule the world, because he is the man they call Sid.

Jacob and Eli Blu are in action next to take on Leroy Howard and Mark Starr. The Blus are managed by Uncle Zebekiah, AKA Dirty Dutch Mantel, or better known to modern fans as Zeb Colter. The Blus attack Star and Howard early on. Leroy tries for some offense, but get taken down quick. One of the Blus ram Howard into the corner. Tag to the other who stomps him down. Tag to the other as both hit a double clothesline. We go to Todd Pettengill who gives us news about Bam Bam's comments as he just got off the phone with L.T. Lawrence Taylor will be on Raw next week to respond to Bam Bam's challenge.

Since I'm confused on which Blu is which, I'll just say that Blu A is in the ring dropping knees to Mark Starr. He follows with a slam similar to the World's Strongest Slam. Blu B is tagged who hits a slam. Tag to Blu A who hits a couple clubbing blows. Starr gets some shots, but gets shoved into the ropes. Blu A lands a slam and a jumping splash. The Blus tie Mark to the ropes and hit a double big boot. Tag to Blu A I think as they land a spinebuster/leg drop combo for the three. Overall, not a bad squash, but trying to call the two apart is hard.

Maybe the easy way will be to look at the one with the obvious SS tattoo and that will help.

We go to footage of the NBA All Star Weekend. The NBA Jam Session featured an appearance by Diesel, who threw a few balls. Sadly he was neither on fire or teaming up with DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Speaking of the champ, it's time for our WWF title match. It's Diesel taking on challenger Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett goes for a charge, but gets a knee to the sternum and sone strikes in the corner. Hard whip by Diesel and a clothesline followed by a knee to the back. Diesel clotheslines Jarrett over the top rope. The Roadie tries for a distraction as Jarrett gets some rights. He tries a whip, but gets reversed. However, Jarrett avoids offense. He taunts and eats some elbow from Diesel in the corner.

Jarrett avoids Diesel in the corner and tries another whip, only to get a massive hiptoss. Diesel tries a snake eyes, but gets denied. Jarrett gets some punches in the corner, but referee Earl Hebner pulls Jarrett off of Diesel. With the ref distracted, the Roadie attempts a cheap shot, but eats the ring post for his effort. Jarrett tries a clothesline, but Diesel sends him over the rop on top of the Roadie who breaks his fall.  Jarrett tries to get back in, but takes another clothesline. Diesel drags him back in, but the Roadie grabs the arm of Jarrett, but Diesel tugs the both of them into the ring.

When we return from break, Jarrett dropkicks Diesel out of the ring and with the ref distracted, the Roadie hits a clothesline off the apron to Diesel. With the ref still distracted, Jarrett smashes Diesel into the steel post. Jarrett lays in body blows and pushes Diesel into the ring. He goes up  to the second buckle and hits a flying clothesline for two. Big dropkick follows for another two. Swinging neckbreaker by Jarrett who follows by choking Diesel on the ropes and a big leg drop to the back of the neck. He folloes with a bulldog off the second rope for two.

Jarrett lands a big cross body off the top rope for another two count. Diesel recovers with a sidewalk slam and some fists to the face. He lands the snake eyes this time and follows up with a big boot. Diesel lands the jackknife, getting the three.

Overall, I enjoyed this WWF title match. Lots of action throughout, some fun spots and Jarrett actually putting in great offense. His work with the Roadie is especially fun to sit through as their antics are actually entertaining. As for Diesel, it was mostly basic stuff from him, but he managed to gel well with Jarrett in the ring. Granted the rushed ending with Diesel just landing his bit hits wasn't that great, but everything prior worked fine.

Post match, the Roadie eats a big boot to the face. He calls for the Jackknife, and slams the Roadie hard into the mat. Shawn and Sid arrive on the entrance way, but Diesel is having too much time to celebrate to give them much time.

Shawn and Sid are still on the rampway, even with Diesel gone. We spend a good minute looking at them until they go to ringside as Cornette is forced to give the interview. Shawn says that yeah, Sid is nuts, but that's why he's on the side of the Heartbreak Kid. He has somebody that can do more than fill the shoes of Diesel, it's someone that can knock him clean out of his shoes. Next week on the 100th episode of Raw we'll see an appearance by Lawrence Taylor, along with...

Tatanka vs Lex Luger...

AGAIN. 

A solid edition of Raw overall this week. A great title match, some surprisingly decent squash matches from the likes of Bam Bam, Adam Bomb and the Blu Brothers. But the most important thing coming out of this Raw is the debut of Sid, who already feels like a big deal and someone who could be a threat to Diesel, or at the very least one that could ensure Shawn Michaels his title. Granted, I don't think the pairing of Shawn and Sid feels like the kliq as well as Shawn and Diesel, it's still a very intriguing development. Enough to give this Raw an A- rating.