Raw opens with Yokozuna taking on his former tag team partner Owen Hart, but our first bit of focus is on Jerry Lawler promising to present a special portrait to the Ultimate Warrior as a peace offering.
Owen gets in some cheap shots on Yoko to start, but the big man comes back with a clothesline and some chops. He lands a few more strikes and a big slam. He goes for the elbow drop, but Owen rolls out in time. Cornette makes sure to get in a cheap shot with the tennis racket while Owen continues to lay strikes. Some "We Want Bret" chants from the crowd as Yoko finally goes down with a spinning heel kick. Owen tries an elbow off the second rope, but Yoko dodges. Yoko lands a big headbutt, then a back elbow. He sets Owen up for the Banzai Drop, but he wobbles off like a goof, allowing Owen to cover him using his feet on the ropes. Owen advances to the King of the Ring.
We get a recap of a candid interview with Jake "The Snake" Roberts talking about how bad things were getting for him with his addictions. This leads to him joining the table as we go to our next King of the Ring qualifier, Skip vs Marc Mero. J.R is backstage with a distraught Yoko. He says that he can't believe he lost to Owen. This is not the old Yoko, he's just losing it. He says that he's going to find himself.
Stalemate early on as both men take each other to the corner. Headlock and shoulder block is turned around as Skip dodges Mero, only to eat some fast arm drags and dropkicks. Mero flips around the ring as he tries to make contact with Skip. More stalling until Mero gets a big hiptoss. Skip catches Mero with a boot in the corner and follows with a suplex that sends Mero sternum-first on the ropes. Stiff snap suplex followed by a diving fist drop off the second buckle from Skip. Mero trips the leg and works some fists until Skip counters.
Mero tries a superplex, but Skip shoves him off. Skip tries a dropkick, but gets causht with one from Mero. Skip is the first to recover, locking Mero in a bow and arrow lock. Skip sets Mero for a Frankensteiner off the top, but Mero blocks it and lands a massive sunset flip off the top, only for Skip to quickly kick out and come back with a clothesline. Slow to a cover, but Mero kicks out at two as we go to break. When we return, it's still Skip in control as he gets a knee to the midsection and follows with a nice gutwrench suplex. Cover gets a two.
After a chinlock, Skip hits a slam and covers for two again. Back into the chinlock until Mero comes back with a boot and some hard lefts. He gets in a big knee lift and follows that with a cross body, only for Skip to dodge, causing him to fly over the ropes. Skip goes for a plancha, but misses. Allowing Mero to try another flip, this time succeeding. Slingshot splash over the ropes and a cover gets two for Mero. He sets Skip on the buckle again and hits his own Frankensteiner. Cover gets the three. Good match. Slow in spots, but it did pick up by the end with lots of energy from both men.
Vince is in the ring to interview The Ultimate Warrior and Jerry Lawler. Lawler tries to apologize for costing the Warrior his King of the Ring qualification and starts praising the Warrior comic. He says that he's an artist himself, so to square things between the both of them, he is here to give a portrait of the Warrior to him as a form of a peace offering. Warrior says that Lawler may be an artist, but more of a con artist. He can appreciate the art, but there's only one king in the WWF, and that's Warrior. At the King of the Ring, he's going to kick his ass.
Lawler then attacks Warrior from behind with the portrait (hitting him with the back of it so no glass actually touches him), and Warrior just no-sells it and chases after the king to end the segment.
Lawler returns to the table in time for our main event as The Undertaker takes on The British Bulldog. We get an interview with Shawn Michaels as the match starts off. Michaels says that he's going to go out there and do what he does best at King of the Ring. In terms of that rematch, he has a chance to right a wrong for what went down. Jim Cornette grabs a mic and asks Michaels how it felt that Bulldog's music played at Beware of Dog, but Michaels isn't interested in getting into this. Cornette says that when it comes to the lawsuit against Monsoon, it's been settled out of court. In agreement for dropping it, he can choose the referee at King of the Ring. Shawn says that he's not going to complain, but he then complains about this sudden stipulation.
We get into the match itself. Bulldog hesitates getting into the ring as the Undertaker is far too imposing. Bulldog ducks some clotheslines and taunts Taker to keep it up. He starts to lay in some rights, but gets caught and thrown into the corner as Taker hits some body blows and a double arm choke. Bulldog leaves the ring to the arms of Diana. Bulldog goes back into the ring, but gets caught with old school by Taker. Taker then follows with a choke in the corner and a body slam. Big leg drop and a cover only gets a two count. Taker throws Bulldog around until he gets caught with an elbow and a few punches.
Bulldog sets Taker up for the suplex and stalls in the air before bringing him down. But Taker sits right up. Taker hits some more strikes and goes for a whip, but Bulldog turns it into a powerslam for two. We go to commercial break, and return with Bulldog putting Undertaker in a chinlock. The crowd chants "Rest in Peace" as the referee does the arm drop spot. Of course on the third drop, Taker recovers, and starts to break free of the hold. He whips Bulldog, but Bulldog comes back with a neckbreaker and a leg drop. Cover only gets a two as Taker sits right back up.
Bulldog returns into the chinlock position. After a long lock, we get another arm drop spot as Taker breaks free again, getting in a back suplex. Taker sits up and sets Bulldog for a tombstone, but Bulldog turns it into an attempted running powerslam, only for Taker to escape. Both men exchange blows, but Taker knocks him down. Another commercial break follows. We return with Taker ducking a clothesline and hitting one of his own (that barely gets much air). Chokeslam connects, followed by a clothesline to the outside.
Bulldog drags Taker outside as both men brawl for a bit. However, Mankind grabs Taker's legs, allowing Bulldog to win by count out. The two heels beat down on Taker until Cornette tells Camp Cornette to keep their distance from the deranged one. Mankind lands a big piledriver in the middle of the ring. The officials keep Mankind cornered as we end this edition of Raw. As for the match, it was decent. Good fire from both men in places, but suffers from two similar rest hold spots. Also, logical booking of Mankind being involved at the end to continue their feud going into the King of the Ring.
As for this Raw in general, it was better than last week, that's for certain. Yoko and Owen was logical booking, even if it just continues this run of Yoko being booked like a joke. Skip and Mero was slow in places, but had good energy when it was needed. The Lawler/Warrior segment did a good job in building their match up at the King of the Ring, and the Bulldog/Taker match was a decent way to end the show. Overall, the build to King of the Ring is running smoothly and it should be interesting to see where we go from here. This Raw gets a B-.
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