We kick off Raw with a recap of the destruction of Shawn Michaels the month prior as HBK takes on King Kong Bundy in a King of the Ring qualifier. It's Vince and Lawler at ringside as we continue the Binghamtam tapings. Vince warns Lawler that Bret will be here to confront the King. Lawler is as arrogant as usual, believing that if Bret does show up, he'll give him some more of what he gave at In Your House.
Opening action is Razor Ramon taking on Mike Bell. Razor is accompanied by his friend "Carribean Legend" Savio Vega. Okay, calm the hell down on that. Let us know at least a little more about Savio before we begin with this whole legend business. We also learn that Razor won back the Intercontinental title over the weekend, only to lose it back to Jarrett, making both men three time IC champs. In other Razor news, Razor's advanced in the King of the Ring as well.
Bell takes Razor to the corner to stop, much to the arrogance of Razor. Bell gets a takedown on Razor, who is still laughing it off. Shoulder blocks and an exchange of hammerlocks from both men, until Razor gets in a slap to Bell. Bell takes Razor back to the corner. Razor turns it around with some hard slaps and a big hiptoss. Hard whip and a clothesline in the corner by Razor followed by a fallaway slam. STF and some paintbrushes by Razor. He dumps out Bell. When Bell gets back in, he gets hit with a chokeslam. Back suplex off the top buckle . Razor calls for the Razor's Edge, but just shoves down Bell and covers him for the three. Pretty basic Razor squash, your standard array of moves from the bad guy.
Bret Hart walks down to ringside to confront Jerry Lawler. He calls Lawler a worthless little scum, and how he could lose to Lawler. It was bad enough that he lost his title. He's gone through enough "stuff". Lawler will never be better than him. He brings up how hard it was to talk to his mother after the match and how he let everyone down. Bret talks about how he was embarrased. But he wants one more match with Lawler to destroy him once and for all. Any king of terms that Lawler could come up with, he'll take. So, if Lawler wanted a "Bret's hands tied behind his back, Lawler gets a gun" match, he'll take it I guess. Bret starts shoving Lawler asking "what's it gonna take?" He calls Lawler more than shit (bleeped obviously) and grabs at Lawler asking for a match. Officials pull Bret away from Lawler. A great segment to show how annoyed Bret is in this whole situation, even if it did feel like it went a bit long, leaving Bret to ramble and lose his focus in the promo. But then again, Bret was never a good talker.
Up next it's the Raw debut of Hunter Hearst Helmsley taking on John Crystal. Arm wringer by Crystal to start, but Hunter rolls out and drops a knee. He walks around the ring with a snobbish swagger and locks in a hammerlock. Crystal reverses it with one of his own. Eventually Hunter gets to the ropes. Lawler shills Mortal Sin starring Christopher Reeve as Hunter lands some European uppercuts and a spinning heel kick. Suffice is to say as someone who is used to the more modern in-ring work of Triple H, seeing a spin kick feels weird. After a choke, he bows to the crowd and follows with a suplex and some hard strikes to Crystal. Irish whip and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Hunter. He continues with his snobbish walk and lands an Ace Crusher for the win. Guess he was using a neckbreaker before the Pedigree. Otherwise a really good first match for Hunter.
We get our first vignette for Bob Backlund as president. He brings up the ecosystem and education in the United States running amok, and he would make sure that everyone gets a job and can save enough money to purchase a dictionary. He would demand that everyone would get motivated to read one great American novel a week. He advocates the ebolishment of spellcheck and plans to removes calculators. He wants to get rid of computers. The youth are not receiving the education they should. There will be no summer vacations as schools will be 12 months a year. Meh, still better than Trump.
Dibiase is backstage with Bundy telling him to shove Shawn Michaels right back into the hole he crawled in.
We get a conclusion to the House saga as we see Matt Pomposelli and his family in the house they never technically lived in. I think once he learned that the Bushwhackers were in his closet, the decision to sell the house for his college fund was the right idea. It still is a helluva shack though, I'll give the WWF credit for that.
The Allied Powers are in action next against Tony Devito and Bill Payne.We recap the Action Zone as Bulldog managed to lift Mabel on his shoulders. Yikes. Devito tries to attack Bulldog, but gets an arm drag and an arm bar for his troubles. Devito reverses a whip, but gets caught with a patented Bulldog stalling vertical suplex. Tag to Luger as the Allied Powers hit a double back body drop. Payne comes in ang gets some hiptosses by Luger who follows with an arm bar of his own. He wrings the arm to Payne. Tag to Bulldog as the Allied Powers land double elbows. Headbutt by the Bulldog followed by some elbows. Payne misses a charge in the corner and gets caught with a running powerslam for the three in a basic squash. Another case of Bulldog doing all the work and Luger getting maybe two moves in.
Up next is Kama in action against Barry Horowitz. Kama still has the gold chains he made from the Undertaker's Urn. We learn that next week will feature Undertaker vs Jarrett in a King of the Ring qualifier. Horowitz tries a top wristlock, but gets taken down easily by Kama. Another easy takedown from Kama. He talks to Dibiase, but gets some shots from Horowitz. Kick by Kama, but when he goes for Horiwitz, he gets tossed over the top rope. Kama pulls out Horowitz and lands some body shots. Back in the ring, Kama hits some body blows in the corner followed by some more strikes to the ribs. Kicks to the ribs and a Boston crab to get the win for Kama in a mediocre squash.
Todd Pettengill shills the 2nd annual Hall of Fame banquet the night before the King of the Ring. Antonino Rocca is the first name inducted for the year.
Barry Didinsky shills another shirt. This time it's the Shawn Michaels "All Over" T-Shirt and the Raw shirt as we get to our main event. It's King Kong Bundy taking on the returning Shawn Michaels.
Bundy tries a sneak attack, but Shawn avoids and manages some punches and a knee to the head of Bundy, sending the big man tumbling out of the ring. Shawn continues with his entrance as we go to commercial break. When we return, Shawn chases away Dibiase and hits a dive off the top buckle on to Bundy on the outside. So, to say that Shawn's lost much of his step after a 7-week vacation is kind of a stretch.
Bundy comes back in and Shawn tries a handshake, but Bundy denies it. Bundy gets a punch and kick, but Shawn avoids a clothesline and lands some more punches, taking the big man in the corner with some punches. Bundy shoves Shawn off, so Shawn slides to bother Dibiase outside some more. Michaels goes back up and lands an ax handle. He tries to whip Bundy to the corner, but Bundy reverses, sending Shawn tumbling over the buckle to the outside with a classic Michaels oversell.
Bundy body slams Michaels on the outside. He brings Shawn back in and hits a back body drop and an elbow. He stands on the back of Shawn's head until the Ref forces a count. He follows with a boot choke and a long bearhug. Eventually Shawn slides behind to try a sunset flip, but gets squashed down by Bundy. Cover only gets a two. Bundy puts in a chinlock. Shawn eventually escapes, but Bundy takes him down. When we return from break, Shawn hits a bad flip cross body to knock Bundy down and lands a Sweet Chin Music for the three as Diesel and Bam Bam watch in the back.
Not a bad match for a Shawn Michaels return. Kind of a mismatch, with Bundy's offense being slow and dull, while Shawn pulled out a lot of his flashy offense. Started strong and fun, but got really dull by the end. But, for a comeback, this was still a great enough way to bring it back.
Bam Bam and Diesel come to the ring to show their allegiance with Shawn Michaels. Shawn and Diesel finally high five each other as it appears that Bam Bam, Shawn, and Diesel are all on the same page at last. Vince ends the show by shilling Sid and Hakushi in matches next week, and continues to egg on Lawler for a match against Bret. Lawler feigns a weak throat instead. Vince shills Undertaker vs Jarrett next week.
Throughout the ages, the Undertaker has been the king of darkness, but next week, he'll soon be King of the Ring.
An overall average edition of Monday Night Raw. Nothing major in the squashes this week. Razor's was by the books, Kama's was bland and the Allied Powers was 90% Bulldog offense. It was good to see Triple H's debut, even if his moveset feels so different from what it would eventually evolve into. Shawn vs Bundy was fun, even if it did get slow in the end. The Bret promo against Lawler went a bit too long and perhaps got a bit too heated on Bret's end. And, of course, I'm on board with the Bob Backlund candidacy. So, in the end, it's another B edition of Raw for me. A decent build to King of the Ring is what we're getting at the very least.