Raw opens with a look back at famous summits over the years. Kennedy and Khruschev, Nixon and Brezhnev, Reagan and Gorbachev. In the world of the WWF last week, we saw conferences of sorts between Razor Ramon and Rick Martel, along with Lex Luger and the newly coined "Hellraiser from Helsinki" Ludvig Borga. As Vince shouts this epic promo, he tells us that the greatest conference of all time will take place tonight as "Macho Man" Randy Savage will finally confront Crush after the past month of accusations.
This intro is amazing. I swear you could not open up a Raw with more cheese if you tried. What's even more hilarious is they're building this up as sort of a cooled over cold war confrontation, hence the political stuff earlier. Crush is from friggin' Hawaii! He's just as American as Savage. You can't help but chuckle at that.
Raw returns to Poughkeepsie, New York for the next set of tapings. I never made mention before the Connecticut shows that we won't be seeing Raw in the Manhattan Center from this point on, which is a shame as I loved the atmosphere of the building. The ignorant New York fans can go screw, but considering we're not leaving New York entirely, I guess we have to grin and bear it.
Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and an agitated Macho Man are on commentary tonight. Savage believes he will finally be able to talk to his friend Crush and talk some sense back into him, while Heenan continues to stir the pot. We see a camera at the entrance to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in anticipation for Crush's arrival. Gotta admit, I'm liking how big a deal they're making of Crush's return.
Opening action tonight is the Steiner Brothers in tag competition against PJ Walker and Tony DeVito. Boy, I guess PJ isn't getting the whole 1-2-3 treatment after gettng the upset on IRS.DeVito and Scott open action. Shoulder block by Steiner. DeVito leapfrogs Scott, but gets caught into a double underhook suplex. Scott throws DeVito into Walker as both teams make tags.
You want to know how little Vince pays attention? He mistakes PJ Walker for Cory Student. Despite, you know, Walker appearing a lot more on Raw. Elbow by Rick Steiner and a hard clothesline. Vince reminds us that the Steiners are still owed a rematch for the titles. Tag to Scott Steiner who gets a nice dropkick and a Steiner Screwdriver on PJ Student Walker. He throws Walker to DeVito and makes the tag. Nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Scott as the team get the Racked Steinerline for the three in a fun squash. Fun not only for the in-ring work, but Vince's flub.
We're reminded about the existence of Shawn Michaels since his "suspension" back in September. This brings us to tonight where we the fans have apparently been given the power to reinstate the Heartbreak Kid via a phone line. You might want to be careful with those phone polls. Next thing you know Shawn Michaels will be beaten to death by the Joker via crowbar.
Our moderators for the overall vote is Dieself for Shawn's reinstatement and Mr. Perfect for Shawn's firing.. Perfect reminds us that back at Summerslam Perfect would have beaten Michaels if Diesel hadn't interfered. Gotta admit, I like the concept, but knowing they would be brining Michaels back either way, this just feels like ripping kids out of their money.
We cut to stock footage from Japanese monster movies, as badly voiced actors wonder what the giant monster is on the horizon. It's Charles Barkley? a giant Monster? No, it's Yokozuna. Building explode (from what I can only assume are Yoko's chili farts). First the opening package, then the Shawn's lifeline, now Yokozilla. This may be one of the greatest Raws ever.
Scott Taylor is in the ring to job this week to Irwin R. Shyster. IRS starts off with his regular "tax cheats" promo to the audience. Bell rings, as VInce mentions that Macho Man is barely speaking. Whip to the corner and a suplex by IRS. He follows with a whip and a nice elbow to the face of Taylor. Taylor manages a sunset flip, but barely gets a three before IRS kicks out.
Another nice suplex and an elbow to the face. The Irwin chants aren't very loud tonight. In fact the crowd is less rowdy for a New York crowd overall. Another whip to the buckle and some more offense as Vince shills Pet Semetary airing. Heenan in classic form tells the kids to get their parent's permission before watching, but if they say no, just go into another room and watch it anyway. The Irwin chants get a bit better, but not too loud. Abdominal stretch for a second by IRS before he hits the write-off clothesline for the three. An okay squash, though a bit slow in between.
A newcomer is on his way to the WWF. Why it's none other than J-E-Double F J-A-Double R-E-Double T. Holy crap, it's Double J. Son of legendary promoter Jerry Jarrett, Jeff started wrestling in 1986 in his father's CWA organization, along with the USWA, also owned by Jerry Jarrett after merging CWA with WCCW. After a few years on the indy scene, Jarrett is getting his break in the WWF. The first of what will be a few breaks in the company, but we'll see as time goes on with this blog.
Jeff Jarrett's character is is a country music star who is using the WWF as a stepping stone to further his career. We cut to the Country Music Hall of Fame as we see Mr. Jarrett there. He's coming to the WWF to be the biggest country music star ever, since he can't get his break due to the corrupt politics of the industry. Jeff stumbles a bit in this promo, but since it's the first one, I can't fault it as he does a fine enough job of establishing the character. This has been an amazing show so far
But the fun can't stay sadly as we have a Tatanka squash next against Iron Mike Sharpe. We're recapped from the previous week's Superstars as both Tatanka and Borga have a confrontation under some stairs. Back in action, Sharpe locks in a full nelson, which Tatanka reverses. Sharpe complains about hair pulling while Heenan probes the "Mulling Man" Randy Savage. Savage mentions that he doesn't want his friendship with Crush to end up like his friendship with Hulk Hogan at one point. Oh don't worry Randy. There's no Elizabeth to make this whole situation worse.
He then calls Hogan a Primadonna, a backstabber, and a liar. Well, he's right about all those things. And if you've been following the recent situation with the leaked audio, Hogan's actually a lot worse. Both men grapple some more, before Sharpe rolls out of the ring. Savage thinks that Crush has been talking to Hogan. How in the hell did this turn to talking about Hogan? The guy's been out since June, and somehow the world still revolves around him. This match keeps going slow until... take a wild guess what happens? Why it's what
EVERY
SINGLE
PERSON
HAS
DONE
IN
A
TATANKA
MATCH!!!!
Mike Sharpe rams Tatanka head first into the buckle, which wakes up the Native American. He proceeds to do his war dance and no sells all of Sharpe's offense. Several tomahawk chops and a hard whip and chop follow. Tatanka gets the three with his Samoan Drop. Awful match, predictable finish. Tatanka in a nutshell.
joe Fowler with the Survivor Series report. Oh right, there's actually a pay per view coming up in a month. He brings us up to speed about the basics of the Survivor Series event, specifically the four on four elimination tag matches that make up the majority of the card. The double main event will feature the team of the All Americans (The Steiner Brothers, Tatanka, and Lex Luger) taking on the Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, and the Quebecers).
The second main event is a "Family Feud" elimination match as the Hart family will take on Jerry Lawler and his knights. With all due respect to the Hart family, Bruce looks like he got off a bad porn parody of The Warriors, and Keith looks like he's been banned from the adult video store for diddling in public. That stache and hair just scream unsettling. But there's Bret and Owen, and they're pretty cool. I will say one thing about this match, you know the old term "card subject to change"? Well, we'll get into that in a later edition. Also then Family Feud host Ray Combs will be on commentary. Survey says... meh.
But never mind all that, Crush is in the building. And Heenan made sure to meet him at the door.
Bam Bam Bigelow is in action next for the last match of the night against Dennis Diamond. Big toss out of the corner by Bam Bam who lays in some more shots to Diamond before he hits another big toss. More stomps while Heenan chastises Savage for his treatment of Crush. Big suplex by Bigelow and a series of diving headbutts. More throws and offense in the corner as we get an update on Shawn Michaels. So far it's 66% against reinstatement. Dropkick in the corner and a rather impressive slingshot splash for the three in a rather dull squash (save for that ending).
Diesel gives one last plea for people to save Shawn's career. He even tries to trick the no voters to call the yes number. Vince then feels the need to explain it because, you know, stupid children. But what does he care? He gets their dollar either way.
It's time for the summit. Sadly, no podiums or rigamarole. Just Bobby Heenan in the ring to introduce the two men involved. First is Crush...
Accompanied by Mr. Fuji interestingly enough. And I mean interestingly enough because when we last saw Crush in the WWF, it was Yokozuna, the man Fuji manages, that laid him out with several banzai drops. So the fact that Crush has somehow turned Yokozuna's attack into blaming Randy Savage is an interesting case of pot stirring.
Crush used to call Randy not only his friend, but his best friend, brudda. He used to listen to Savage all the time, brah! But when Crush got better than Savage, Randy couldn't handle it, brah. He thanks Bobby Heenan and Master Fuji for helping him see the light. He blames Savage for not having his back in the match with Yokozuna, even after knowing he was injured during the Stars and Strips challenge. He blames the entire beat down on Savage for not coming to his aid. Gotta admit, I'm loving the continuity here. Hell, Crush is no master orator, but he's putting in some effort in this whole angle.
Savage finally gets up and to the ring. He tells Crush that he's making a big mistake siding with Fuji and Heenan. Crush tries to ignore him until he physically provokes the big man. Savage asks for a change to talk to Crush as long as he backs off. He offers a handshake, but Crush is against it.Savage insists upon it, and at first it looks like Crush is considering the handshake, and eventually grasps hands with the Macho Man.
However, much to Savage's idiocy, he fell right into a trap. Crush clotheslines Savaage on the outside and assaults him. He takes Savage and drops him throat first into the guardrail. But things get worse as Cornette and Yokozuna arrive. Crush bows to the WWF champion as he enters the ring. Officials try to tend to Savage, but Crush rams Savage into the steps and the post, busting Savage's mouth. He throws Savage into the ring and hits a kick to the face of the Macho Man, and sets Savage up for the banzai drop.
Which Yoko lands with full success.
He goes for a second, but the referees and officials manage to grab Savage in time as we go to break. When we return, Vince tells us that he has a lacerated tongue. And honestly, I doubt that's the worst of his problems at this point in time. But I know what's on your mind right now... What about Shawn Michaels?
In a shocking turn of events, it appears that 64% of the WWF fans are against the prospect of a returning HBK. I guess Diesel at least was able to convince a whole 2% to change their minds. So no HBK for now I guess. Next week we'll see Ludvig Borga, 123 Kid vs Marty Janetty for some reason, and Crush will return to action.
This Raw was awesome. From start to finish they packed in a solid hour of television. From some fun segements involving the planned reinstatement of Shawn Michaels, to the Steiners match, to the debuting Jeff Jarrett, to a really well done final segment involving Crush. They managed to do a great job adding some impact to this heel turn. Even managing to take some of the more convoluted elements of the turn and have them make sense. Now more than ever the WWF feels like there's a sense of everything having a place and lots of interesting feuds and concepts throughout the product. As for this show, it almost got an A+. but the in-ring was kind of bland for the most part. So a fair A rating is worth it for an excellent edition of Raw.