But our first debut of the night is the Raw debut of Savio Vega taking on Kenny Kendall. Kendall tries a sneak attack, but Savio gets in some shots an a clothesline in the corner. Some hard chops and a whip to the buckle, which he follows with some corner punches. Savio is such a "Caribbean Legend" that he even has his name shaved into the back of his head.
Talk about commitment to the bit.
Kendall gets in some strikes in the corner, but Savio fights out, getting a really terrible sidewalk slam. More chops and an elbow to the back of Kendall's face. He follows with an octopus lock that gets the win in what was honestly a rather boring debut squash. I wasn't thrilled with his in-ring work as Kwang, and this isn't much different.
We get a music video for Diesel, since he's still recovering from his elbow injury. I guess if the WWF champ can't be here in the flesh, he can be here in spirit through a basic recap package. We follow that up with Ted Dibiase is with Tatanka and Sid. He says that they will put Diesel right back in the hospital, and a bed will be reserved for Bam Bam Bigelow.
Skip (with Sunny) makes his debut against Barry Horowitz. Sunny introduces herself and Skip as we get into the match. Arm drag and hiptoss by Skip, who follows with some jumping jacks, but he eats some European uppercuts from Barry, and a few arm drags. Body slam and a dropkick by Barry. Horowitz tries a gutwrench, but Skip counters it, following up with a knee drop off the second buckle. Snapmare and an elbow by Skip, but Horowitz comes back with a Lou Thesz press. Skip recovers with a clothesline and lands a suplex. Skip ascends the top buckle and lands a leg drop to get the win. Another messy debut, but a bit more impressive than Savio's.
It's time for the latest King of the Ring report. Aww, Todd chopped off the mullet. Our card as it is includes Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow vs The Million Dollar Corporation. Bret Hart will face off against Jerry Lawler in a "Kiss My Foot" match. We also have our almost finalized King of the Ring tournament brackets.
Mabel, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Kama, Roadie, Bob Holly and Razor are entered. With the final entrant to be determined between Owen Hart and the British Bulldog. And speaking of which...
It's Owen Hart taking on the British Bulldog in the final qualifier for the King of the Ring. And since this match didn't air in Struthers, Ohio, we have Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon on commentary. It's been quite a while since we've heard good ol' J.R on Raw. Long wrist lock by Bulldog to start as Owen has a hard time trying to escape the lock despite his athleticism. Owen eventually manages to roll out of it, and pulls the hair of his brother-in-law. An exchange of hammer locks until Owen escapes, just to end up caught in a press slam. Cover by Bulldog only gets a two.
Owen tries a timeout, but Bulldog brings him back in and locks in another long arm bar. Eventually Bulldog gets in a shoulder block and a big hiptoss. He locks the arm bar back in, but Owen gets in some European uppercuts to take down Davey Boy. He follows with a headbutt and a headlock. Bulldog escapes, and manages to monkey flip owen. He goes right back into the arm bar. Owen takes him to the corner and lands some chops. He whips Bulldog into the corner, but misses a charge, crashing shoulder first into the buckle. This gives Bulldog the opportunity to hit a long vertical suplex. Cover only gets a two.
Bulldog locks in a headlock, but Owen turns it around with a knee to the abdomen. He stomps on Bulldog for a bit, taking him ot the outside, clubbing him on the apron with some elbows. He chokes Bulldog with his foot until the ref stops the hold. Bulldog tries to recover as we go to commercial break. When we return, Owen hits a big spinning heel kick. Roll up by Owen only gets a two. Owen locks in a sleeper hold as we learn that there's only five minutes left in this match. Bulldog escapes the sleeper after the arm drop spot. He gets a sunset flip, which only gets a two. Owen gets an Enziguri which only gets a two.
Owen tries a dropkick, but gets caught in a catapult to the buckle. Bulldog smashes Owen's head into the buckle ten times and hits a fisherman suplex for two. Bulldog locks in a surfboard lock as there's only under two minutes remaining. But hte downside to the surfboard is that his shoulders end up on the mat, so Bulldog quickly breaks it. Owen whips Bulldog into the buckle, But Bulldog counters into a running powerslam. Cover, but Owen gets his foot on the rope. Cradly by Bulldog only gets a two. Crucifix by Bulldog only gets a two. Cradle is turned around by Bulldog for two. Owen tries a piledriver, but Bulldog reverses, but Owen gets a cover for two. Backslide by Owen, but the bell rings, forcing a time limit draw. Neither men advance to the King of the Ring. Well, that's lame.
But other than that, this was a decent match. Bulldog's offense was kind of weak to be honest, and Owen as always is crisp in the ring, delivering excellent offense. I do find the time limit draw outcome to be pretty lame though. All that buildup to this match and that's how it ends? Boo-urns.
We cut to Jerry Lawler's dirty, smelly feet. He hasn't washed them in over two weeks. He accepted Bret Hart's challenge, but the loser has to kiss the feet of the winner. He promises corns, callases and hammer toes. Oh dear, we're really going to have to deal with this, huh?
Speaking of Bret, Vince is in the ring with the hitman. Bret's seen a lot of things through his years in the WWF, but when he allowed Lawler to come up with a match, he's not surprised that it would be something that would come from a sick person. Lawler pulls out his foot to the camera as Bret says that he accepts the terms and he'll kiss the feet. But for the past few weeks, all he's done is think about Lawler getting a pin back at In Your House. Bret notices the foot of Lawler, and says it would be easy to take out his frustration, but he'll hold it back until the King of the Ring. He re-dedicates the match tho his family and although it's not the most pleasant thought of having Lawler kiss his foot, he's gonna take it one step further. After Lawler kisses Bret's feet, he'll cram Lawler's foot down his own throat. I am hating this angle already.
We go right into a Jean Pierre LaFitte match. He's taking on Jerry Flynn. Lafitte gets a shoulder block and follows with some stomps to the hand. Flynn gets in a wrist lock and some kicks, taking Pierre in the corner. LaFitte reverses a whip to the corner and hits a boot. He tosses Flynn out of the ring and hits a cannonball out of the ring. He rolls Flynn back in and lands a sidewalk slam. Diving cannonball off the top buckle gets the win in a super quick squash. We also learn that Lex Luger will take on Yokozuna in a match for the last King of the Ring spot.
Bob Backlund is still campaigning outside, despite the fact that everyone left his little rally already.
Vince shills next week's Raw, including Bam Bam in action and more. Lawler promises to show his training video next week as well. Man Mountain Rock is also in action, which triggers Bob Backlund. Remember that Backlund hates that rock and roll music and whatnot. We end Raw with a recap of the now two year history between Lex Luger and Yokozuna, even including the destruction of Hogan-Senpai. Never forget, the world technically still revolves around him.
This was a pretty mediocre episode of Raw. Neither the Savio nor the Skip debut really impressed me that much. the Jean Pierre LaFitte match ended too quick for me to care, and while a decent match, the time limit draw in Owen Hart vs the British Bulldog felt like a real cop out. All so we can get ANOTHER Luger/Yokozuna match? Oh dear. I'm not that hot on the whole foot angle with Bret and Lawler either, sad as it is to say. Bob Backlund was the highlight, but there wasn't enough of him to justify this Raw getting anything better than a C this week.