As mentioned in our previous episode, Earthquake was supposed to wrestle Owen Hart in the King of the Ring qualifyer for this, the May 23rd edition of Monday Night Raw. However, due to injuries he was written off TV in an angle involving Yokozuna and Crush at a house show prior. This situation is what opens our Raw from the Struthers Fieldhouse in Youngstown, Ohio. It's Vince and Savage at the table as we open with said King of the Ring qualifier.
It's Owen Hart taking on his mystery opponent... Friggin' Face Doink. It sounds like Dink is mic'ed because he comes off pretty loud in this match (I swear he says Shit pretty early on too). Owen gets a cheap shot on Doink to start and both men trade blows. Owen rakes the eyes on the rope and uses the ropes to choke Doink. Definitely a far more aggressive side to Owen as we've seen in the past few appearances. The crowd chants "We Want Dink". YOU DO, BUT I SURE AS HELL DON'T!!
Owen hits a side suplex and a nice elbow drop off the second rope for two. Doink tries a roll up but fails, but Doink follows with some slams and a biiiiig back body drop as Owen takes an exit from the ring. Doink and Dink mock Owen's tantrums. Why the referee is not sending the illegal member Dink out of the ring and disqualified is beyond me. I blame Jack Tunney.
Owen gets some fists, but he eventually gets hiptossed by Doink. Owen exits the ring again, and focuses his attention to Dink. He chases the little nuisance, only to get clotheslined by Doink. Doink slams Owen and tries a count out. When Owen tries to get back in, he's kneed right back to the floor. Owen eventually gets the clown and starts smashing his leg into the steel post. When we return from break, Owen covers for a two count.
He applies the chinlock. Doink breaks, but gets caught immediately into a belly to belly overhead suplex for a close two. Owen puts in a deeper chinlock (Which Vince refers to as a Boston Crab, because of corse he does). Doink breaks out and both men collide with clotheslines. Some rights from Doink, who has lost damn near all his paint at this point. He hits a belly to belly of his own for two. He lays in ten punches in the corner and hits a neckbreaker...
But Jeff Jarrett arrives and clownnaps Dink. Stole a thousand midgets. Never drew a dime. This distraction lets Owen get the roll up for three. Doink chases off Jarrett to save Dink. This match was pretty decent. Slow in areas, but for a face Doink showing, it was actually a decent showcase of Apollo's ability. He's no Bourne, but still that Belly to Belly was slick.
It's the King of the Ring report with Todd Pettengill. Along with Owen, Jeff Jarrett has also entered due to his win over Lex Luger on Superstars. The final two slots are revealed with 1-2-3 Kid taking on Adam Bomb on Superstars and on next week's Raw it's Jimmy Del Ray vs... ugh... Tatanka. Other than that, the card remains around the same, Bret vs Diesel for the WWF title and Jerry Lawler vs Rowdy Roddy Piper. The newest match added is the Headshrinkers vs Yokozuna and Crush for the WWF Tag Team Titles.
Up next it's the debut of Duke "The Dumpster" Droese to in-ring action. He's taking on good old Barry Horowitz. Banging on a trash can on the way to the ring not unlike one Douglas Yancy Funnie. Hiptoss and a scoop slam from Drosese early on. He follows with a clothesline and another hiptoss. He goes for a splash in the corner, but misses. Horowitz hits an axe handle off the top rope. He focuses on the shoulder by ramming it into the buckle and putting in a nice shoulder lock. A few wringers from Horowitz, but he misses a big dropkick. Droese hits a nice double A spinebuster and finishes him with a giant elbow drop for the three. Overall, not that good a first appearance, though that spinebuster was slick.
Raw does a recap of its live event at Anaheim, California. And it's even got the endorsement of 90's relic Jonathan Taylor Thomas (misspelled Johnathan). This won't be the last we see of JTT in the WWF, but we'll save that for 1995.
IRS is in action next against Gary Sabaugh. He reminds everyone that they're tax cheats, especially Tatanka. It's time for weekly Clinton talk as IRS is endorsing Hilary in 1996. Irwin gets a whip and an elbow to Sabaugh and follows with an elbow drop. He locks in a headlock, using the ropes for leverege. "Irwin" chants get louder as it ires IRS. He puts Sabaugh in a hammerlock, using the ropes some more. He rams Sabaugh into the corner, but Sabaugh does not possess the Native American power of no selling. This is followed with a double underhook suplex from IRS, which he breaks the cover of. Sabaugh regains momentum with an elbow to the face. He whips, but IRS gets the elbow to the back of the head. He uses Sabaugh's momentum to guillotine off the ropes, which leads to a write-off clothesline for three in a dull match.
We go back to Superstars to learn how Lex Luger was eliminated from the King of the Ring qualifyer. With the referee distracted, Crush showed up to attack Luger, leading to Jarrett getting the win via count out as Luger goes after Crush. Lex just does not understand how a count out works, does he?
It's King's Court time. He jaw jacks Savage and Piper. He personally invites Piper to the King's Court. He'll send Piper to visit the children's hospital permanently. His guest this week is his first guest since this whole King's Court started on Raw. It's Lex Luger. Lawler says that ever Luger's been whining and complaining since losing the King of the Ring qualifier. Lawler says "Remember what happened to you at your first Wrestlemania"? Yeah, he got a win over Mr. Perfect. Or are we just completely trying to deny the existence of the Narcissist at this point? ;)
Luger brings up how Crush cost him the match, even though, let's be honest, Lex Luger ran after him. He had all the time in the world to get back in the ring. Speaking of Crush, he's laid up in a sling. Lawler claims it was because of a sneak attack on Crush at a live event. Crush promises that he'll make Luger's life a living hell, but his shoulder's a little hurty, so he can't do it tonight. Luger gives Crush a clothesline, and voila! It heals Crush's arm. Luger grabs Lawler's couch and threatens a right bludgeoning of the man from Kona Hawaii.
Finishing up action tonight is Nikolai Volkoff in action. Taking on, no your eyes are not playing tricks, that is indeed a young Matt Hardy. Matt and his brother Jeff started wrtesling in the backyards with their own trampoline promotion Omega. They worked for a few North Carolina promotions before getting an opportunity at becoming regular enhancement talent for the World Wrestling Federation in 1994. Hardy is still just 19 at this point in time. We'll be seeing them from time to time in this blog for certain.
Ted Dibiase is at the table and he brings up the recent mentions of Undertaker sightings. He also once again talks about how everybody's got a price for the Million Dollar Man, even the dead man. Wow, we're getting into that angle sooner than I realized. Hardy goes for a cross body early on, but crashes and burns, leading to a double underhook from Volkoff. After some slow work, Hardy gets in some strikes, but gets turned around and eats a knee to the gut. Hard whip to the buckle and a slam from Volkoff folled by a Boston Crab (That's what it looks like, Vince!) for the win.
We end Raw with Jerry Lawler telling us who the guest is next week. It's Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Also Tatanka vs Jimmy Del Ray in the final slot of the King of the Ring eight. What? No USA plug this week, what a ripoff!
Overall, this Raw was a pretty ho-hum edition. The King's Court was another dullard really, Duke "The Dumpster" didn't make much of a big splash out of the trash and the IRS match near put me to sleep. Though I did enjoy Owen vs Doink and it was neat to see Matt Hardy so early in this timeline. So I can't fault this show too much. It's definitely putting the right pieces towards the King of the Ring pay per view which is rapidly approaching. This Raw get a final score of a C.