good old Bart and Bacne Billy.
It's Vince McMahon and Ted Dibiase at the commentary table tonight as Vince runs down the rest of the card, which includes a special presentation for Tatanka, tonight. Hey, if it doesn't involve me having to see the same damn turnbuckle spot I see in every Tatanka match, then I'm down for whatever. Jeff Jarrett will take on Virgil, Doink is in action and we'll see Dibiase's old tag partner IRS in action. Hell, with Virgil in action too, it's all of The Million Dollar Man's sloppy seconds.
Opening action is Owen Hart and Crush against the Smoking Gunns. Owen jaw jacks to the crowd on the way to the ring, confident in his chances against big brother Bret at Wrestlemania. Loud USA chants, but really not much of a reaction for the Gunns.
Nikolai Volkoff is once again at ringside. Sadly, not next to Vladmir the superfan.
Owen starts with some offense, but Bart turns it around to some arm drags and his patented long arm bars. Owen regains advantage and tags in Crush who gets a body slam to Bart. Bart jumps over the rope off a whip to the corner and hits a cross body off the top for a two. Tag to Billy who locks in a side headlock. He gets a sunset flip for barely two. Crush regains advantage with face rakes and headbutts in the corner. Billy tries to fight back, but gets a headbutt for his troubles.
Whip to the corner by Crush, who goes for a charge, but gets two boots to the face and a top rope bulldog for two. Owen gets tagged and gets a few arm drags for his trouble. Lots of back and forth until Owen hits the enziguri. Suplex and a leg drop by Owen, who follows by throwing Billy to the boot of Crush. Tag to Crush as the chant of "We Want Bret" breaks. Crush cheap shots Bart to distract the ref as both men double team Billy. Knee to the back for a two. Dropkick by Owen as he gets in. When we return from break, Bart gets the tag and like a house of fire takes out both Owen and Crush. He gets in a decent clothesline and a powerslam to Owen for the two. Crush takes out the knee of Bart with a chop block and gets Billy out of the ring as Owen locks in the Sharpshooter for the win.
Not a bad tag match. Definitely the best work of the Gunns so far, despite being mostly the team in peril for the majority. Crush wasn't too impressive honestly, and as usualy Owen is the one I felt stole the show. His style in the ring, his mocking of Bret, everything he's doing as a heel character is killing it at this point in time.
Vince interviews Owen and Crush about Crush's match with Bret at the upcoming March to Wrestlemania show. Owen tells Crush not to hurt Bret too much so there's no excuse when Bret loses to Owen at Wrestlemania.
Todd Pettingill is here with the Wrestlemania Report. He shills March to Wrestlemania and gives us the card we already know about. Oh, and of course the celebrities that were brought up over the last few weeks. Overall, the card is pretty much solidified, so nothing new from Todd and his earring this week other than it's now confirmed that Alundra Blayze will defend her women's title against Leilani Kai. Yes, the same Leilani Kai who wrestled Wendi Richter at the first Wrestlemania.
It's Jeff Jarrett in action next against Subway Virgil. Jarrett avoids the attempted fisticuffs from Virgil. A series of hammerlocks from both men as a Virgil chant breaks out. So at least Virgil's a little over. Drop toe hold from Virgil who reapplies the hammerlock. Vince brings up that Rhonda Shear from Up All Night will be a timekeeper at Wrestlemania X. What a shame, I was hoping for Gilbert Gottfried.
Virgil gets a roll up out of the corner for two. Arm drag and an arm bar from Virgil as Jarrett complains about his hair being pulled. Dibiase gets to do the USA Network shilling this week. It's "Past Midnight". A Rutger Hauer mention on WWF TV, how about that? Virgil winds the arm of Jarrett as he struggles to get the rope to break. In fact the arm lock is so long, it loses the crowd quickly. Jarrett breaks free, but misses an elbow drop. Virgil goes right back to the arm. Jarrett breaks out, but Virgil gets some punches in and an inverse atomic drop that Vince calls a reverse piledriver. God dammit Vince. Running DDT from Jarrett for the three. Not a very good match for either man, way too much arm work and not too much gelling from either men.
It's Doink in action next against Iron Mike Sharpe. Poor Sharpe, having to make face Doink look good. He gets squirted by Doink's flower and then tries to chase Dink around. A bit of stalling early on as Sharpe is unable to lock Doink in anything. He locks in a headlock but gets shoved off. Dropkick by Doink and a series of armdrags. Sharpe comes back in with some chops and a choke on the ropes. Sharpe clubs Doink so hard his wig starts to nearly flop off. Sharpe misses a splash in the corner and ends up whoopee cushioned for three. Good god I hate face Doink.
Vince is in the ring with the Chief Ray Little Turtle of the Lumbee tribe, as well as Chief Wahoo McDaniels and Chief Jay Strongbow. This is the big ceremony for Tatanka. Little Turtle is here to give him feathers for how good he's been doing lately. With tears in his eyes, Tatanka thanks him for the feathers as some fans boos and generally crap over this segment. In fact it's Wahoo and Strongbow who get a better reaction than Tatanka, that's for certain. Tatanka promises to wear the sacred feathers and hopes to reach the heights of Wahoo and Strongbow. A bit of an overlong and dull segment. But at least we don't end this with Wahoo trying to ram Tatanka into the buckle. That will not end well.
It's IRS up next complete with tax cheat promo. It's Mark Thomas as his opponent. Hard throw into the buckle and a suplex by Irwin. Vince is more interested in talking about baseball. Can't say I blame him right now. Another hard whip to the buckle, but IRS misses a collision in the corner. Roll up by Thomas for a two count. Abdominal stretch complete with some rope grabs from IRS. He works the leg for a bit and finishes with the write off shoulder block for three. Dull squash.
We end Raw with Jim Cornette flanked by the Heavenly Bodies. It'll be Jimmy Del Ray taking on Lex Luger at the March to Wrestlemania X. Cornette equates Luger like a lemon vehicle. He doesn't care if Jimmy Del Ray loses as long as Luger is in no shape for Wrestlemania. Luger is going no further than Yokozuna. The day of Wrestlemania X will be Luger's last match.
A very dull edition of Raw for what is the final Raw before Wrestlemania. The opening tag was fine, but nothing spectacular. Jarrett and Virgil was bland, I hate face Doink, IRS was business as usual, and good god was the Tatanka segment dull. There's really nothing of substance on this one to go back to. Maybe Jimmy Del Ray rubbing himself, and that's reaching. A D+ show.
And now we're officially ready to enter our second Wrestlemania for the TOTNG review series. It's Madison Square Garden, it's Wrestlemania X. Brother vs brother, a ladder to success and two WWF championship matches. Will we finally be able to review a good Wrestlemania after the debacle of WM9? Find out next time on this blog right here.