Shoulder block by Bulldog to start. Some stalling from both men until Marty avoids some offense and lands a thumb to the eye. What a face! Arm wringers from Marty, followed by some dodges and an enziguri. Marty goes after Cornette while working on the arm some more.
Cut to Clarence Mason who tells us that he has managed to make it official that at In Your House 5 in December, the winner of Bret/Diesel will face the British Bulldog. Bulldog is back in control in the ring, landing his patented stalling suplex. Bulldog follows with a hairpull takedown and a chinlock. Marty tries to escape, but Bulldog is quick with the knee and a headbutt. Cover gets only a two. Chinlock once again by Bulldog, but Marty escapes, getting a crucifix pin for two. Bulldog recovers and lands a massive clotheline that sends Janetty spinning. Elbow drop and a cover for two.
After a commercial break, it's back to the chinlock from Bulldog. Marty breaks free, and both men collide with shoulder blocks. Cover from Bulldog only gets a two. Back into the chinlock, but Marty escapes again, only to be thrown outside. Cornette gets some stomps in while the referee is distracted. Marty comes back in, and tries for a sunset flip, but Bulldog quickly avoids. Chinlock yet again, but Marty breaks out again, taking Bulldog to the corner and follows with a hard whip to the buckle. Marty goes for the attack, but gets caught in the rope, allowing Bulldog to stomp him down.
Chinlock AGAIN by Bulldog. Marty escapes again, and comes back with a really nice facebuster off the top rope. He follows with a facebuster. Back up to the top rope goes Marty, but Bulldog escapes, only to be hit with a DDT. Cover, but Bulldog gets his foot on the rope. Marty misses a charge in the corner, slamming into the ring post. Running powerslam gets the win for Bulldog. A decent match. A bit too reliant on chinlocks, but Bulldog looked strong, and Marty looked good in the ring. Perhaps his best since coming back, that's for sure.
Cut to footage of "fake Clinton" who says he'll be at the Survivor Series. Guessing this has something to do with presidential hopeful Bob Backlund who, while somewhat quiet lately, is still on the campaign trail.
Dok interviews Cornette and Davey Boy who confirm what Clarence Mason has said about In Your House in December. Cornette promises that Bulldog will show that he belonged there all along. On the terms of the Wild Card match at Survivor Series, he's still upset, but he promises Shawn Michaels that if he turns on Bulldog, Syracuse will look likea walk in the park (still getting some digs on the attack).
In the strangest trio I've ever seen, we cut backstage to Hakushi, Bret Hart, and Barry Horowitz are preparing for their match.
Up next, it's Henry O. Godwinn taking on Terry Richards, AKA lil' Rhyno. Richards starts early with a whip to the corner, but his charge leads little results as Godwinn avoids, and follows up with a body slam and an elbow. He rams Richards head first into the buckle and continues with a leg drop off the ropes. After some more basic spots, he continues the clubbing on Richards. Richards tries an escape, but gets caught in the Slop Drop for the win in an okay squash.
Post-match however, Hunter Hearst Helmsley attacks Godwinn from behind and lands a pedigree on the outside. He puts on gloves as he grabs the slop bucket...
And drops the slop over the head of Godwinn. Hunter walks off, proud of his actions as he'll face off with Godwinn next Monday.
It's Todd Pettengill with the Survivor Series Slam Jam. Our card is now as follows:
Bret Hart vs Diesel for the WWF Championship
"The Darkside Team" (Undertaker, Fatu, Savio and Godwinn. Hell, might as well just call it Team BSK) taking on The Royal Team of Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Isaac Yankem.
The Wild Card Match. Shawn Michaels, British Bulldog, Ahmed Johnson and Sid taking on Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, Yokozuna and Dean Douglas.
Kama is up next against Tony Roy. But none of that matters as Shawn Michaels is on the phone, talking about his return to the ring over the weekend. He says that there are still some cobwebs, but he hopes that will go away. On the topic of Survivor Series, he says he's impressed by Ahmed Johnson's body slam to Yokozuna on Raw last week. Despite his faith in Ahmed, he fears that most likely he'll be beaten up by nine guys again. In terms of the WWF title match he has no answer as to who he thinks will win. Meanwhile, Kama wins with a punch in a generic squash.
It's commercial time as we see the Smoking Gunns face off against each other in a round of Karate Fighters. Much like fate would ultimately see it, Billy gets the win over Bart Gunn. After Hakushi vs Horowitz and Gunn v. Gunn, next week we'll apparently see Vince and Lawler go one on one... in Karate Fighters of course.
Speaking of Lawler, up next is our main event. Lawler and Yankem vs Bret and Hakushi. Plenty of time to shill Forever Knight as the heels make their way to the ring. Bret and Yankem start things off as Isaac takes Bret to the corner with some strikes. Hard whip to the buckle, but Yankem's charge is met with an avoidance by Bret. Bret begins working on the shoulder, but Yankem escapes and catches Bret. But Bret bites at the nose of Yankem. What a face! Tag to Hakushi, who lands a flying headbutt. He works the arm some more until Yankem takes him to the corner. Reversal and a handspring elbow from the White Angel.
Hakushi peppers strikes on Yankem while the ref's distraced and Hakushi lands a bronco buster. Tag to Bret who stomps at Yankem. Inverted atomic drop and a clothesline followed by a headbutt to the lower extremities. Bret works the arm, but Yankem escapes, only to take a cross body by Bret, covering for two. Sunset flip by Bret follows, covering again for only two. Tag to Hakushi, but his second handspring is met with a clothesline. Isaac throws Hakushi over the ropes, but Hakushi follows with a springboard dropkick. Plancha from Hakushi is caught by Isaac who rams him spine-first into the buckle.
Cheap shot by Lawler followed by a slam back first into the apron from Yankem. He brings Hakushi back into the ring and hits a backbreaker. Cover only gets a two count however. Tag to the King, who mocks Bret and gets in some cheap shots and a piledriver to Hakushi. He follows with a second and continues to taunt Bret while Yankem lays some stomps in. More double teaming while Bret distracts the ref. Isaac throws Hakushi to the buckle as we go to break. When we return, Hakushi breaks free from a bearhug. He catches the boot of Yankem and lays a sweep. He tries some dropkicks, but Yankem catches him and turns it around into a Boston Crab.
Tag to Lawler who continues the punishment on Hakushi. He goes up top, but gets caught with a shot to the throat. Tags to Bret and Hakushi. Bret lays some rights in and follows with a bulldog. He grabs Lawler and lands a noggin knocker on the heels. Russian Leg Sweep and elbow drop combo by Bret. He goes for the Sharpshooter and locks it in. Lawler tries to stop it, but Hakushi makes the save. Yankem is tapping, but Lawler grabs a chair.
Horowitz grabs the chair to stop King, but referee Tim White sees Barry with the chair, forcing hte disqualification. Due to this, Lawler gets the win on Bret yet again.
A really good tag match. The face in peril stuff didn't feel as slow and boring as it usually is. Everyone looked good in the match with Hakushi as always being the standout with how amazing he is in the ring. And the continuing issues with Bret and Lawler is amazing to see with just how the King seems to get away with embarrassing the hitman almost every time. Definitely the most fun main event we've seen on Raw in a while.
This was a great episode of Raw. One of the stronger shows in a while. Marty vs Bulldog was decent, if not a bit slow in places. I like the storyline with Godwinn and Hunter so far, and the main event was pretty good, continuing one of the company's strongest feuds with Bret and Lawler. Also Kama wrestled... *cough*
The build for Survivor Series is starting to pick up, and this Raw definitely worked to push some of the matches leading up to it. So that makes this Raw worthy of an A- rating.