Raw opens this week with a quarterfinal match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Savio Vega. Long history with these two which has been well documented on this blog. Austin wastes no time beating down on Savio as he tries to get into the ring. Savio catches him with an enziguri, and covers for two. Austin rolls out of the ring to get a breather. Austin then drags Savio's leg and smashes it over the post. He follows up with a chop block and some damage to the knee, including twisting the knee over the ropes. He then clotheslines Savio out of the ring.
Savio grabs Austin's leg and gets revenge by smashing Austin's knee into the steel post. Savio whips Austin, but Austin's knee buckles and he collapses. Savio continues on stomping the leg and then pulls him hard off the ground. Austin sends Savio in the buckle, then tries a slam, but his knee gives in and Savio lands on him, covering for two. Cross body and a cover by Savio again only gets a two. Kneebreaker and a cover from Savio still just gets a two. He goes for a splash, but Austin gets his knees up.
Austin whips Savio into the buckle, but Savio collides into him as we go to break. When we return, Austin tries to drop his weight on Savio, but Savio avoids, causing Austin to do more damage to the knee. Slugfest from both men, but Savio wins the exchange. Savio trips the knee then follows with a wheel kick. Cover, but Austin gets the foot on the rope. Savio lays in a bunch of body blows, but Austin suddenly hits what appears to be one of the first Stone Cold Stunners ever. Cover gets the three as Austin goes to King of the Ring. Really good match. Just back and forth brawling that never felt too slow or methodical. These two have managed to have one of the better feuds over the past few months, so I was expecting good work either way.
Up next, it's another quarterfinal match. Wildman Marc Mero taking on Owen Hart. Stone Cold Steve Austin is on the announce table saying that it doesn't matter if it's Owen or Mero, they will go down to him at the King of the Ring. Marc takes Owen to the corner, but Owen complains to the ref about his cast being touched. Lots of stalling for a bit until Owen gets a drop toe hold, but Mero gets in a hammerlock on the injured arm. Owen counters with one of his own, but Mero flips over and gets in a hiptoss. The crowd yells at Owen, who resonds with "shut up, I've got a hurt arm!"
More exchanges of arm holds until Mero grabs the arm of Owen and lays some boots. Owen comes back with a shoulder block, which leads to some leap frogs and a monkey flip. Drop toe hold and more arm locks. Owen gets in a monkey flip, but Mero is still in control of the arm hold. Vince shills Goldust vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts later, mentioning that Goldust may eat a 15-foot python later. I caught that phrasing Vince. Mero goes for a flip off the top buckle, but Owen avoids. Owen transistions into a chinlock, until Mero breaks free. However Owen catches him with a perfect spinning heel kick. Cover only gets a two count. Owen follows up with a backbreaker.
We go to break as Vince screams that Austin's taken off his headset and is heading to the ring. And when we come back, nothing happens. That's something Vince has been doing lately in this time period. Shouting that something big is going to happen only for no payoff. Regardless, Austin is gone from commentary. Owen mounts and punches, but it gets turned into a pinning position for a two count. Owen takes Mero to the corner with some strikes and follows with a crisp suplex. He locks in a Boston crab, but Mero flips him over and covers for two. An exchange of blows from both men, but Owen gets in a fisherman suplex for two. He slams Mero then goes up top, but his dive is met with two knees from Mero.
Mero whips Owen and hits a back body drop. He then hits a high knee. Owen rakes the face, then throws Mero in the corner. Mero flips over a back suplex and rolls up Owen for the three to advance. Good match, kinda slow in spots, but it was still decent. Post-match, Owen attacks Mero with the cast, knocking him outside. Then dives off the buckle, smashing Mero with the cast again. Lawler says that Goldust should give Mero some "Artificial Insemination".
We go to footage from another event as Jim Ross interviews The British Bulldog as we get to Sunday. Bulldog says that he's telling all the idiots tonight that he has all the confidence in the world. Shawn Michaels messed with his most prized possession, his wife and this Sunday, he'll take Shawn's most prized possession away from him, and that's the WWF title. He'll chew him up and spit him out. He stumbles on saying he'll bury him like an old dog... ... bone. Jim Ross mentions that Shawn is there tonight, but Bulldog doesn't give a frog's fat ass. If he has any guts, that pervert wil lcome out now. Shawn runs to the ring and tackles Bulldof. Both men brawl as officials and wrestlers pull them apart.
Up next it's Aldo Montoya in the ring, but instead of a match, Jerry Lawler goes in the ring. Lawler says that Vince wants to know what's going to happen when he faces the Ultimate Warrior. Lawler smashes the microphone in Aldo's face and starts laying in punches. He then hits a piledriver, screaming "Warrior, this is you!" Lawler puts his gear on as Jake "The Snake" Roberts makes his way to the ring. Lawler escapes in time.
We see a contract signing for Brian Pillman. He's choked up and emotional as the events of the past few weeks have changed his life. Those being the afforementioned Hummer accident that occured back on April 15th. He says that from going to the point of not knowing if he was going to live or not, to signing with the WWF is a dream come true. He thanks JJ Dillon and Gorilla Monsoon and the rest of his new extended family.
It's main event time, Goldust taking on Jake "The Snake" Roberts. This match literally feels booked just for vince to make a ton of "Goldust is going to eat a big snake" references. Goldust exits the ring to stall early on. Referee Harvey Whippleman (yes, he is now a referee after the past few months of criticizing the refereeing in the WWF) continues to fast count Goldust, who keeps getting into the ring to force a break in the count. Goldust begins to make his exit up the entrance way, but ultimately makes his way back in... just to exit again.
Eventually Jake gets in an arm bar on Goldust, but Goldust turns around and gropes the butt of the snake. Jake grabs the Intercontinental title and goes to smack Goldust, who escapes again. Goldust instead stars to rub himself before getting into the ring. Goldust cowers in the corner as we get even more stalling. Jake spanks Goldust and hits a hiptoss, sending Goldust into the snake bag. Goldust panics and again stalls. Goldust gets back in and lays some shots in, then smashes Jake's arm into the post. Lawler literally spoils Mission Impossible randomly, which I guess isn't as bad as Bischoff spoiling Raw results.
Goldust tries mouth to mouth, but Jake avoids and gets in a strike. He follows that with an atomic drop. Lawler randomly references Rosie O'Donnell's talk show as we cut to Mr. Perfect. Perfect says he knows who will be the referee for the WWF title, but he'll mention it after the match. Goldust throws Jake into the buckle, then sits on him and lays some punches as we go to break. When we return, Goldust has Jake in a leg lock. Jake escapes, and lands some punches. Shortarm clothesline sends Goldust down. Marlena puts some gold dust in Goldust's hand, who then throws it into Jake's eyes. Punch and a cover gets the win for Goldust in a pretty boring match honestly. Way too slow. However, Harvey sees the glitter and reverses the decision in favor of Jake "The Snake" Roberts. So I guess Harvey's a face? Goldust continues on Jake until Jake, blinded, hits a DDT.We then go to Mr. Perfect and Jim Cornette. Cornette's done a lot of soul searching and needed to find someone with integrity and honesty. He needed to find the perfect ref, and that of course means it's going to be Mr. Perfect.
A decent episode of Raw, but not exactly the strongest show to build toward a Pay Per View on Sunday. I liked Austin and Savio, which was a good brawl between two guys who work well together. Owen and Mero was fine, but a bit off. Don't know what exactly. And Jake vs Goldust was pretty dull with all the early stalling. Other than that, the brawl with Shawn and Bulldog was good stuff, and I do find joy in Aldo Montoya abuse, so I can call that a win. Raw's felt mediocre for a while, this is no exception. A C+ rating is fair.
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