We open The Canada Day edition of Raw with a one-on-one match between the former Rockers. It's WWF Champion Shawn Michaels (With Jose Lothario) takes on Marty Jannetty (With Leif Cassidy and Jim Cornette). Cornette taunts Shawn as we get some early stalling. Some shoves from both Shawn and Marty, followed by some dodges and counters. Double Nip-Up as we continue the stalemate between both men. Marty gets some control with a hiptoss, then gives Leif a high-five.
Shawn avoids a whip in the corner and gets a set of fast arm drags and a dropkick, sending his former partner to the outside. Shawn works the arm, but gets a punch in the face for his troubles. Shawn gets thrown hard into the buckle, but catches Marty with an inverse atomic drop and a clothesline. Shawn hits an ax handle off the top, then tries a sweet chin music. Leif Cassidy makes the save, dragging Marty out of the ring, but takes a baseball slike. This distracts Shawn long enough for Marty to attack him off the apron. With the ref distracted, Cassidy gets some cheap shots in. Marty covers Shawn for two.
Marty hits a back drop on Shawn, then plays to the crowd. Cover only gets a two. Marty throws Shawn into the ropes and continues to play the crowd. Slow cover still only gets a two. We return from commercial with Marty still in control, locking in a chinlock. Shawn breaks free and lands a cross body for two. Marty is quick to take him back down with a clothesline and covers for two. Back into the chinlock. Shawn recovers, but ends up ramming his shoulder into the buckle. Another cover only gets two for Marty. Marty throws Shawn into the buckle, but Shawn avoids an attack, sending the former rocker groin first into the post. Shawn tries a monkey flip, but Marty flips out of it, landing on his feet, and hits a clothesline.
Marty whips Shawn, but Shawn comes back with a facebuster. Big running forearm and a nip up from the WWF Champion who follows with a body slam and a dropkick to the head. Shawn catches Marty for a powerbomb, but Marty turns it into a roll up for two. Shawn fakes out a slingshot cross body, but turns it into a moonsault, which Marty rolls over for another two count cover. Clothesline by Marty who slowly covers for two. After the break, we see Marty hit a rocker dropper. Marty goes up for a flying fist drop, but Shawn avoids. He catches Marty and succeeds with a piledriver. Elbow drop off the top buckle follows. Sweet Chin Music gets the three.
Post-match, Leif Cassidy attacks Shawn from behind, but Shawn avoids and hits a sweet chin music. Shawn avoids an attack from Cornette, allowing Jose to get the punch on the Louisville Lip. As for the match, it was really good. But considering that it's rare to have a bad match between Shawn and Marty, it was expected to be some solid work. Good long match work with the right kind of pace. Slow to start, warming up in places in the middle, and a nice and fast final few minutes. Can't ask for anything better.
We recap the previous weekend's Superstars as Sunny was trying to distract Phineas by apologizing to him for his actions these last few months. Phineas says that he loves her. She tells him to pucker up and bend over, leading ot a slap in the face. She says that someone like her would never be involved with a hog farming hillbilly like him. The Smoking Gunns attacked Phineas before Henry and Hillbilly Jim came to his aid. Sunny ends up cornered by Henry and Jim, allowing Phineas to grab the slop bucket. At first he hesitates, but when she blows him a kiss, he finally slops her. And hearing stories about some of the stuff they'd put in that slop bucket, particularly the one meant for Sunny, I can't imagine that smelled good.
Up next, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese is in action against Mankind. Jake "The Snake" Roberts is on commentary as he's ready to take on Mankind at International Incident. Brawling to start with Mankind winning that exchange. Lawler takes this time to make multiple shots at Jake's alcohol problems, setting up their feud for the future. Mankind throws Droese shoulder-first into the post. He continues the shoulder work with an arm bar. He rams Droese into the corner and lays in some more fists and a knee in the corner. Droese catches Mankind with a nice spinebuster. He locks in a sleeper, but Mankind escapes by ramming him into the corner. Droese gets a boot and a clothesline. Cover only gets a two. He tries another spinebuster, but Mankind locks in the mandible claw for the win in a basic squash. However, the focus was more on Lawler's rapid-fire "Jake's a drunk" commentary.
Post-match, Lawler continues to get on Jake's case about his alcoholism, slapping him in the face a few times. This is finally enough for Jake to snap and start choking Lawler. Mankind then grabs Jake and locks in the mandible claw while Lawler drives his foot in Jake's face. Officials break the thing up while Lawler panics on commentary about Jake assaulting him, eventually returning to the remarks.
Main event action up next is Goldust taking on "Wild Man" Marc Mero. Stone Cold Steve Austin, stitched lip and all is on commentary for this match, focusing on his upcoming match with Mero at International Incident. Speaking of incidents, apparently Marlena and Sable had some sort of incident in the parking lot earlier in the week. Something involving grabbing Sable's butt. Goldust is in control until Mero ducks a clothesline and gets a cross body for two. Uppercut to the jaw by Mero sends Goldust in retreat to the outside. Mero regains control, sending Goldust back out as we go to break.
When we return, both men brawl outside until Godlust brings him back in, landing a stiff clothesline. Goldust locks in a chinlock as the crowd is chanting for Sable. Mero escapes, but gets caught with a knee to the sternum. Goldust throws Mero back out and bashes Mero into the steps. Mero returns to the ring, but Goldust gets him with a kick to the face. Cover only gets a two. He returns to the chinlock. Mero escapes, but Goldust is right back on him, landing a body slam and a fist drop. Cover, but only a two count. After a commercial break, Mero goes for an elbow, but Goldust avoids, peppering in punches.
Goldust locks in a rear chinlock. Mero slides under, gets Goldust on his shoulders, and drops him with an electric chair drop. Goldust sends Mero to the mat face first, and covers for two. Mero gets in some rights and whips him to the buckle. He then catches Goldust with a powerslam, covering for a close two. Double clotheslines from both men send them both to the ground. Marlena heads over to Sable, checking her out. Sable pays her no mind for as we see Mero hit a big back body drop. Mero goes up and hits an ax handle, covering to two. He lands a knee lift as Marlena blows smoke in Sable's face. This distracts Marc long enough for a curtain call by Goldust. Cover and the three. Ending a pretty solid match between both men.
Overall, this was a good hour on Raw. Two really solid matches with Shawn and Marty being the standout and Goldust vs Mero being good, though about on average to how their usual output. I do find it interesting that the focus on the "gay mind games" was with Marlena going after Sable instead of Goldust's usual stuff. A nice change of pace. As for the rest of the show, the Lawler/Jake Roberts stuff was some excellent heeling by Lawler. He never let up on the attacks on Jake's character for a second. You could complain that it took away from the match, but it was a Mankind squash over Duke Droese, so it didn't matter. Overall, the booking for International Incident has been some top notch stuff and this week was no exception. This Raw gets an A-.
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