Hammerlock by Savio, but Austin gets in an elbow to the face, followed by a shoulder block. Austin wrings the head of Savio with a headlock, then applies another hammerlock, only for Savio ro break free with an elbow. Cross body by Savio who covers for 1, then tries for some arm drags.
Only for this to happen. Austin avoids an arm drag, causing Savio to flip and crash to the mat. Austin continues to pummel on Savio with more strikes. Savio gets in a nice clothesline. Austin ducks a boot and hits an ax handle.
Cut to a shot of Mark Henry in the crowd. Vince getting the "world's strongest man" moniker in for Henry as much as possible, especially since Henry was still in training for the 1996 olympics at this point. Back in the ring, Austin hits some knees to Savio, but Savio comes back with some chops. He tries a splash, but Austin gets his knees up. Cover using the ropes, but the referee catches him.
After a commercial break, Austin sends Savio sternum-first into the buckle, then follows with a clothesline to the back of the head. Guillotine off the ropes from Austin followed by more shots in the corner. Cover by Austin, but Savio kicks out. More elbows in the corner from Austin, but after a whip to the buckle, Savio gets a kick in. He blocks more offense from Austin and hits strikes of his own, following with a hip toss. Wheel kick by Savio sends Austin tumbling hard to the steps. Both men brawl outside until the referee counts both men out. Both men still brawl despite the match being over. Eventually the referee pulls Austin away, allowing Savio to hit a boot and continue punching. Austin comes back with some of his own. Savio wins the brawl with one more wheel kick to the face of Austin.
I actually liked this match. It was a good brawl from two guys who work great as roughneck brawlers. I didn't think they'd make me invested in a Stone Cold/Savio Vega feud, but having these two beat the hell out of each other like this really makes me intrigued to see where we go from here.
We cut to a segment earlier before Raw started with Mark Henry lifting up Jerry Lawler and slamming him to the mat, much to Jerry Lawler's chagrin.
The lights dim as Goldust and Marlena make their way to the ring. With Roddy Piper promising to confront Goldust, the bizarre ones want to beat him to the punch. After a commercial break, Piper heads to the ring with conviction. He calls Goldust a fruitcake and a transvestite (so in other words, this segment aged well). Piper says he say Goldust is embarrassing him because of how much attention he's trying to get. Piper says he beat Adrian Adonis half to death with a baseball bat, so the mindgames aren't working on him. He says that Goldust is what he is, but Piper is a lesbian (Oy).
He says that Goldust is messing with the wrong guy. Not even Freddy Krueger comes into his nightmares. Goldust grabs the mic and quotes Patriot Games, then says he wants a piece of Piper real bad. He gets to his knees and says that Piper strays from reality, and he's here to bring him down to earth. He gets close to Piper's crotch area and tells him to come in his backlot. He gets behind Piper and tries to pull up the kilt, only for Piper to stop him. They stare each other down and again starts to grab at Piper, only for Hot Rod to shove him. Goldust follows with a slap of his own, while Piper hits one that knocks him down. Piper says that he'll face Goldust in a a back lot brawl and will make a man out of him.
Up next, it's The Godwinns in action against Jerry Mead and Alex "The Pug" Porteau. Not only have they been joined by Hillbilly Jim, but now they have a hound dog mascot named Old Blue. Shoulder block by Henry on Mead. Tag to Phineas who begins arm work. Mead counters and gets in the tag to Porteau. However, Phineas gets rid of both men then starts doing mule kicks. That's Phineas' gimmick. Phineas reverses a whip to the corner, but Porteau hits a cross body, only to be caught and slammed. Tag to Henry who hits a quick slop drop and gets the sudden win.
Video package for Shawn Michaels in San Antonio as he trains for the Iron Man match. He introduces us to his mentor, one "SSock" Jose Lothario. Lothario was a former wrestler, best known for his infamous losing streak in the NWA, jobbing out in over 500 matches. But he did win multiples championships over his career, and he also trained Shawn Michaels in the 80s. So overall, not too bad for accomplishments. Jose speaks some spanish and welcomes Shawn home. Cut to training shots as Shawn punches the bag, runs up and down the steps, among many Rocky-esque training regimens
But then we go to Canada as we see Bret's training regimen, which involves being stretched in the legendary Hart family dungeon by patriarch Stu Hart. Bret says that Shawn is like a tennis ball bouncing around in the ring. It drives Bret nuts that people say that Shawn is better in the ring, and he knows that Shawn can't lace his boots up. He's good, but he's not the best.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley is in action next against Ben Greer. But the bigger story than this squash is that Hunter will be the man who'll face the returning Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 12. European uppercuts on Greer early by Hunter, followed by a high knee. Suplex and a knee drop follow. Hunter slaps Greer around and lays in some more fists. Pedigree and we're done with a quick dominant match.
It's time for the "Geriatric match report" with Scheme Gene. We learn that yes, they are actually having the Huckster and Nacho Man match at Wrestlemania as part of the free for all, so not even Gene can make a buck on this one. There will be no handcuffs or ladies shoes at ringside. Cut to a video packages as Huckster trains poorly due to being old, and one with Nacho Man needing to get his bald spot covered. Again, this is immediately after the WWF just promoted the return of the Ultimate Warrior for gods sake. "New Generation" indeed. This was painful, but next week it's the WWF's take on the Turner FTC hearings. Oh lord, only three more weeks.
Up next, it's the main event. Owen Hart and the British Bulldog against Yokozuna and his once longtime rival The Undertaker. We see Diesel backstage watching the match on the backstage TV. He says that he has matches tagging with Shawn against Undertaker and Bret, and alludes to rumors about Shawn. But when asked about the rumors, he swats away the camera. Yoko and Taker stare each other down, but they immediately go on the attack on Owen and Bulldog.
Yoko and Taker throw the in-laws into each other. Clothesline and a leg drop by Yoko on Bulldog while Taker pummels Owen in the corner. He throws Owen out while Bulldog rolls outside. Diesel walks out and clotheslines Paul Bearer while Undertaker is still distracted. Taker finally catches Diesel and goes to check on Paul, who tells Taker to go after him. This match now becomes a handicap match as we return from break. Both men continue to work down Yoko while the big man tries to fight back.
Things get worse as yet again Vader shows up. Yoko works down Owen and Bulldog, but Vader smashes him in the back of the head with a clonesline. Ahmed Johnson shows up and lays out Owen and Bulldog with spinebusters and powerslams. Vader tries to attack Ahmed, but Ahmed hits a bit clothesline. Jake "The Snake" Roberts comes in to try to even things out, but Owen tangles himn in the ropes while Vader attacks Yoko and Bulldog pummels Ahmed with the racket. Eventually the faces start to regain control and continue to brawl as officials try to calm things down. Vader grabs a chair and starts smashing it against the posts in anger.
This week's episode of Raw was pretty strong as we go towards Wrestlemania. Outside of Austin and Vega, the in-ring didn't really feel as strong this week with two really quick squashes and a final match that was more a brawl angle than a match. That being said, I did really like the Bret and Shawn training segments as we get to see how differently both men go about getting themselves prepared for the iron man match. The Piper/Goldust segment was okay, though mostly for Goldust. And then there's the Scheme Gene segment which, like all Billionaire Ted segments, was terrible, but that's to be expected. Overall, this Raw earns itself a C+. Nothing amazing in terms of in-ring, but we're still looking good going to Mania.
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