We recap the situation involving the shenanigans of Razor vs the Bulldog last week on Raw. From Dean Douglas' interference, to the Kid's foolish interference, to finally the Kid being sick of being treated like a kid, challenging Razor to a match. Remember the history involving the Kid and Razor and that the Kid has once beaten Razor in the past. It's Raw airing on a Thursday Night this week, once again making Nitro unopposed. And speaking of Razor/Kid, this is what we're opening Raw with.
The Kid attacks Razor early on with some strikes and kicks that sends Razor tumbling out of the ring before he can even get his vest and gold off. Kid ducks some clotheslines, but gets caught by Razor who sets the Kid up on the buckle and lands a fallaway slam off the second buckle. Cover only gets a two. Very noticeable piped in crowd reactions as you can see the crowd pretty quiet and solemn. Razor lands a hip toss out of the corner and follows with a hard slap that sends Kid to the outside.
Kid tries for a hiptoss, but Razor blocks. His attempt to break free just winds up getting him chokeslammed. Razor tries a clothesline, but the Kid throws Razor over the top rope to the outside. Kid dives over the ropes, landing both knees to the face. He brings Razor back into the ring and hits a spin kick. Cover, but Razor gets his foot on the rope. Kid decides to go for a sleeper hold as we go to break. When we return, the hold is still locked in, but Razor finally breaks free with a back suplex. Slow cover gets only a two for Razor. Razor lays in some rights and follows with a hard right to the buckle. He picks up Kid, who lands a thumb to the eye. A collision happens that knocks down the Kid, Razor and the Referee.
This gives Dean Douglas enough time to yet again interfere and hit a splash on the prone Razor. Douglas makes his retreat as the Kid and referee Earl Hebner slowly recover. Cover by the Kid gets the win.
A really strong opener. Lost of good back and forth from both men. The Kid's slow heel turn is so far looking very good. Lots of great offense, particularly the chokeslam spot. Also, good continuity on Dean Doulglas continuing to get involved in Razor's affairs as we get closer to their match at In Your House 3. A much more competitive match up than I was expecting, I consider this a pleasant surprise.
Speaking of Dean Douglas, he ran his ass back to his satellite classroom for this week's edition of The Report Card. He grades the Kid with a D for Dumb, because the Kid thinks he's the one who won. He gives Razor an E for Elevate, because Razor is trying to climb the gutter and failing. Dean gets an A and at In Your House, he grades an N for no-brainer. The winner will be D-E-A-N.
Up next, it's Kama and Tatanka of the Million Dollar Corporation taking on Savio Vega and Bob Holly. We recap Superstars the prior week with Dibiase getting slopped yet again by Henry Godwinn, which will lead to a match between Sid and Godwinn at In Your House. Savio and Tatanka start as after some leap frogs, Savio lands a hip toss and a few dropkicks, following with some for Kama. Tags to Kama and Holly as Holly get some rights in, ducks a boot and gets an a few arm drags, locking in the arm bar.
Tag to Savio who tries to continue offense on the arm, but eats a fist from the Supreme Fighting Machine. Tag to Tatanka who gets in some fists and ducks a spin kick, making a retreat to the outside for a breather. He goes after Holly and distracts the ref as Kama gets in some cheap shots on Savio. Holly tries to make the save, but this just allows for the heels to land double teams. Tatanka lands a slam and an elbow drop. He taunts Holly, causing the referee to be distracted yet again and allowing the heels to double team. In comes Kama who lays som kicks to the ribs and the back of the head. Yet again the heels get to Holly and go yet again for double teams.
Savio finally comes back somewhat as both he and Tatanka hit clotheslines on each other. Tag to Kama and a tag to Holly who gets some kicks and a knee lift. He goes up top and lands a missile dropkick. Cover, but Tatanka breaks the cover. Savio goes after Tatanka while Holly gets some fists on Kama. Holly hits a cross body, but Kama turns it into a powerslam for the win.
A pretty good tag match, honestly. I liked the story involving Holly's hot headded actions being a detriment and allowing for the heel double team work. Also good storytelling from Lawler who brings up Holly not being used to working as a tag team wrestler, despite, you know that one time he won the tag titles with the Kid. Everyone looked pretty good, even Tatanka, I guess, so I have to give it praise.
Vince interviews Razor about the recent actions of Dean Douglas. He says that if Dean wants Razor's attention, he has it. He says that the classroom is going to be in his house, the gutter. Forget about the ivy league education, because it won't save him from being carved up.
Jean Pierre LaFitte is in action next, taking on Brian Walsh. Pierre's been quite the klepto lately. He stole a pair of Bret Hart shades from a kid in attendance a few weeks back and most recently absconded with Bret Hart's jacket. And thus we have our reasoning for Bret to be taking on Pierre at In Your House 3. Pierre takes Walsh to the corner and lands some hard chops. Walsh avoids a splash and lands a dropkick, only to crash and burn.
Bret is on the phone from the set of Lonesome Dove and says that he's not happy with the pirate man stealing shades from kids. Lawler is fine with the idea of Pierre beating Bret, but Bret says he's going to take him down for taking the jacket and the shades. Meanwhile, back in the ring Pierre catches Walsh with a belly to belly suplex. He follows by dropping his weight on the back of Walsh and hits a big slap. Sidewalk slam and the cannon ball gets the win for Pierre in a basic squash.
Up next, it's Men on a Mission taking on the WWF Tag Team Champs Owen Hart and Yokozuna. This being Yoko and Owen's last stop until their triple header match against Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House. Vince has a hard time advertising Milk, who is one of the sponsors for this show. After a staredown between Yoko and Mabel, we start things off with Mo taking on Owen. Lots of strikes by Mo who follows with an elbow to the face. He rams Owen into the corner and whips him into the buckle. Owen gets a boot in and a clothesline.
Hard whip to the buckle by Owen, but Mo comes right back with a powerslam. Tag to King Mabel, who pulls Owen by the head and slams him to the mat. Mabel tries to charge into Owen in the corner, but Owen avoids and gets some punches in before being shoved off. Tag to Mo as Mabel gets a cheap shot on Owen. Elbow to the back of the head by Mo, who throws Owen into the corner. He jaw jacks Yoko as Mabel chokes Owen in the corner. It's like the situation with Holly and Savio only more slow and lumbering.
Sunset flip by Mo is turned around by Owen, but Mo turns it around for a two count. Owen throws Mo hard over the top rope as Mo tumbles hard. Yoko calls for Mabel, allowing for Owen to get some cheap shots on Mo. Yoko lands a right to Mom who Vince refers to as a wooly mammoth, despite the lack of wool of any kind. Yoko pounds on Mo constantly until Mabel tries a save, but that just allows Owen and Yoko to gets some double teaming.
We return for break as Mabel and Yoko are the legal men and we get ourselves a good old fashioned hoss slugfest, with Mabel being the victor, landing a ring rattling clothesline. He grabs Owen and throws him on to Yoko. Tag to Mo as M.O.M hit a double clothesline. Yoko reverses a whip, allowing Owen to get a cheap shot. Tag to Owen who lands a missile dropkick off the top rope. Neckbreaker by Owen. He goes up top again, but Mo turns it around, landing a suplex. Cover, but Yoko comes in with a stomp to break it. Yoko knocks Mabel to the outside as Owen hits the drop toe hold. Leg drop by Yoko as Owen covers. Yoko trips King Mabel as the champs get the win.
I really enjoyed this match. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I really thought everyone looked pretty good. Owen and Yoko looked strong going into their title defense against Diesel and Shawn, Mo really worked hard and felt like the true workhorse of the match. And I'll openly admit it, I really marked for the slugfest between Yokozuna and King Mabel, that was actually really fun to watch. Also, for a heel/heel match, everyone played their parts and didn't veer into babyface territory, and even with really nobody to root for, it was still a great match. Consider me shocked.
We go to prerecorded footage of the "Dudes With Attitude", Shawn Michaels and Diesel. He says that Owen's been spreading lies and at In Your House, Michaels and Diesel will be the new tag champs. Diesel's coming home to Michigan with his best buddy Shawn. Give John Madden a call, because they're coming home with all the hardware.
Vince is in the ring with the tag champs. Cornette says this is history in the making on pay per view with all the gold on the line in one match. He says that it's not "two dudes with attitudes" but "two fellows who are yellow". He says that Yoko is looking for his third WWF title and Owen is ready to take either the I.C or WWF titles. He also brings up Survivor Series last year with Shawn and Diesel's dissent, and believes their egos won't last, and one of them will lose their gold at In Your House. After In Your House, Owen and Yoko will not only be tag champs, but also a WWF or I.C champs thanks to president Magilla Gorilla. Great classic Cornette heel promo work. We get our last shills for In Your House and a Bulldog/Undertaker match for next week's Raw and we're out.
This was a surprisingly good edition of Raw this week. Razor and Kid was a hot opener that continued both the gradual turn of the Kid and Razor's feud with Dean Douglas. The tag match with the Million Dollar Corporation against Holly & Savio was good basic tag work. The LaFitte squash was forgettable, but did a good job in building to the match against Bret Hart, and most importantly the main event tag match with Men on a Mission vs Yoko and Owen was a surprisingly good match complete with a great hoss slugfest. Raw has only had two weeks to build In Your House 3, but this did a fine enough job doing so. I think this Raw was fine enough for an A-. Up next, we got a triple header in our way as we go into In Your House 3.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK 2: NITRO
Despite a really good episode of Raw building to In Your House, I feel that Nitro used their hour much better for the week, with lots of great angles going forward out of Fall Brawl and into Halloween Havoc. And while Raw's card did a good job building to In Your House, the card itself feels very bland and generic. But this one was definitely the closest so far.