We open Raw with a recap of the Neidhart/Bulldog confrontation. We get footage from Neidhart and Owen arriving to the arena earlier in the day (despite this show being part of last week's Utica tapings). They call Bulldog a mutt dog and Anvil will hammer some respect into him. This leads us to our opening match with The British Bulldog taking on Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Also in action tonight are Bob Backlund and... sigh... Face Doink. Also Yokozuna on the King's Court plus Bull Nakano and Luna Vachon vs Heidi Lee Morgan and Alundra Blayze.
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Owen distracts the Bulldog to start as Neidhart gets a cheap shot in. He lays several forearms in and tries a whip, but the Bulldog lands some collisions, eventually knocking the Anvil out of the ring. After some stalling, the Bulldog regains the adantage with a hiptoss. Anvil gets an uppercut and tries a headlock, but gets dropped with a drop toe hold. Both men engage in a test of strength. Anvil gets the advantage and lays in some kicks, but Bulldog recovers and lands a dropkick and a headlock takedown.
Neidhart regains momentum with a hard whip into the buckle followed by a hard right to the head. He locks in a chinlock as the crowd chants "We Want Bret". Wow, way to fizzle out on the Bulldog support, guys. Bulldog escapes the lock and tries a knee to the face, which Neidhart no-sells. He lays a boot to Bulldog's abdomen. He locks in a headlock, which Bulldog escapes. He runs to the ropes, but Owen pulls the rope out, sending him tumbling and injuring his knee.
Seeing all he can stands and can't stands no more, Bret Hart comes to ringside to support the British Bulldog. When we return from commercial break Anvil is still in control, choking Bulldog on the ropes. He drops Bulldog throat first into the ropeBoth Bulldog and Neidhart exchange blows, but Anvil gets the better. Anvil locks in a bearhug. Bulldog tries to escape, but a rake to the face ends any chance at Bulldog recovering. Neidhart beats on the knee and slaps Bulldog around, hitting a right that sends Bulldog in the corner. Bulldog hits a big running clothesline out of the corner and covers for two. But with him still injured, Neidhart immediately goes for the leg lock.
Neidhart locks in a camel clutch. He lets go of the lock and tries a splash off the second rope, but the Bulldog escapes. A couple clotheslines followed by a big vertical suplex. Cover only gets a two.
Out of nowhere Bob Backlund comes down to ringside (in a beautiful smoking jacket I might add. Similar to what Damien Sandow would wear decades later) and distracts Bret while Owen attacks Bulldog, causing a DQ. they continue to beat down Bulldog until Bret comes in for the save. Bret and Bulldog send Owen and Neidhart colliding into each other, sending the duo in retreat.
A dull opening match honestly. It was very hard hitting, but constantly felt like any chances at being interesting constantly fell apart with slow offense and maybe a bit too much heel dominance, especially for what was Bulldog's return match for the company. Also this is at least the third opening match on Raw that's ended in a count out or disqualification in the last few weeks. Not a healthy trend at all.
Capitalizing on the baseball strike, we get a vignette with a sad kid at a baseball plate as audio stating that there will be no world series this year plays in the background. His discouragement is dashed when Macho Man offers to play ball with him. That makes sense considering Savage's history with baseball. The vignette ends with the tagline "Our Season Never Ends", which considering the amount of injuries and the lack of a union, that's not entirely a good thing.
Up next is Doink (with Dink) taking on Barry Horowitz. Vince compares Doink to the movie Ed Wood. But the thing is, Ed Movies are fun to watch for how bad they are. Doink is just... just the worst. Horowitz gets a headlock takedown to start, but Doink escapes and hits a poor leapfrog and monkey flip. Headlock takedown by Doink gets a one count. Horowitz tries a gutwrench, but Doink counters, getting a backslide for two. Horowitz hits a big knee lift and continues the offense with hard strikes. He whips Doink in the corner, but misses the charge. Powerslam and the Whoopee Cushion drop (complete with fart sound effect) gets the win for Doink.
It's time for yet another edition of the King's Court. Lawler asks for respect, but gets louder boos. He insults Doink for his choice in attire and focuses on liars like he claims Vince and Savage are. He wouldn't believe Savage if his tongue was notarized. Speaking of liars, he's going to get the truth about Yokozuna not being afraid of the Undertaker. This brings in our guests, Yokozuna, Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette. Vince and Savage take some shots at Roseanne Barr and make references to the birthdays of Chubby Checker and Gore Vidal.
Cornette claims that it's all a smear campaign about Yoko's fear of the Undertaker. In fact, it's the other way around. He brings up the upcoming casket match at the Hart Attack Tour (again, what a choice of name for this era of wrestlers. Sadly most of them did kind of go on a heart attack tour). Lawler tries to say casket, but Cornette advises against it. He brings up that Yokozuna is the only man who beat Taker in a casket match. With the entire heel locker room, but still. Lawler says casket again, which Yoko reacts to. Some good facial reactions from Yokozuna, trying to look both angry and also paranoid. Cornette promises that the Undertaker will finally rest in peace. Not a bad King's Court this week since it got right to the point. Plus Cornette is too good on the mic.
Up next, it's women's tag team action. Luna Vachon and Bull Nakano vs Heidi Lee Morgan and the WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze. Savage and Vince decide to take a few more digs at Roseanne and Whoopi Goldberg as we get underway. Luna whips Heidi, who manages to counter it into a pin for a two. Heidi gets a cross body for two. Luna turns it around into a hair pull toss and allows Bull Nakano to get a cheap choke. Vince and Savage are still more focused on Roseanne Barr than the action in the ring. A slingshot splash off the second rope by Luna for a two count.
With the ref distracted, Luna and Nakano choke Heidi in the corner. Tag to Bull as Heidi who tries some shoulder blocks, but is unable to take down Nakano, so she opts for a headscissor takedown that manages to do the trick. However Nakano makes a hairpull takedown. She tries a powerbomb, but Heidi gets a hurricanrana. Tag to Luna who hits a clothesline. Heidi regains momentum with a dropkick. She eventually tags in Alundra who gets a couple neckbreakers until Luna tags in Nakano. The heels try a double team, but Alundra gets a cross body. Blayze and Morgan try a double suplex, but fail. Another flying body press by Blayze only gets a two. Blayze and Morgan try a double clothesline, but get hit with a clothesline from Nakano. Tag to Luna as Nakano holds Blayze. Luna jumps off the top turnbuckle only to accidentally hit Nakano, giving Blayze enough time to hit a german suple for the three.
An excellent match with a lot of fast paced action throughout. I didn't know much of Heidi Lee Morgan, but she was surprisingly good in the ring, managing to hold her own against the likes of Bull Nakano. And as always Bull, Luna and especially Alundra put on the great work they're used to, offering intense wrestling action that you wouldn't expect from a women's division in that era. A great match all around. But sadly, it's time to say goodbye again.
This is the end of Luna Vachon's first run with the WWF. She would end up in the independents and make a stint in ECW and even WCW. She would return to the WWF in 1997, just around the end of the New Generation era. But we'll get to that when we get to it. But it's been a good run with Bam Bam's main squeeze. Debuting at Wrestlemania 9 and being a strong heel presence ever since. Her monstrous look was awesome and unique while her screechy promos were great heel stuff. She'll definitely be missed on this blog.
Also leaving the WWF in a couple weeks will be one Johnny Polo. We haven't talked much about him since the Quebecers split. He stuck around as a co-host of Radio WWF and a color commentator. He also had a role as associate producer for Raw. His last appearance would be in the Jacques Rougeau retirement match against Pierre. And of course, Scotty Levy, that little boy that nobody liked would end up going to ECW and becoming...
Raven.
If you've ever wondered about what is the greatest character 180 in wrestling, there really is no topping goofball Johnny Polo with the cane and the colorful outfits transforming into the depressed sociopath that was Raven. A character that led Levy to two ECW Championship reigns. Raven would also make appearances in WCW, an eventual return to the WWF in the early 2000's and several runs in TNA Wrestling. So, this was definitely an exit that benefitted someone far greater than expected.
If you thought last week's King Kong Bundy vignette was amazing, this one is somehow even crazier. The behemoth Bundy stomps through New York City and climbs the Empire State Building. The man has finally become akin to the ape he got his name from.
Up next it's "Mr. Bob Backlund" in action against Gary Scott. He gets a takedown on Scott early on and follows with an arm drag. Scott manages in an arm drag take down. Both men try to jockey for position with takedowns. Backlund gets a stepover toe hold until Scott grabs the rope. Scott gets tripped and locked into the crossface chicken wing for the win. Backlund refuses to let go of the hold, but when he does, he stares at his hands maniacally. He picks up Scott, then drops him.
We get an interview with Bret to end the show. Bret mentions that Backlund was rambling about the real champion. Bret says Bob had his shot and he should get to the back of the line to earn it, ending this week's edition of Raw.
This week's edition was actually not too bad. The Bulldog/Neidhart match was underwhelming as was the Doink squash. But everything else was excellent. The women's tag was the highlight in terms of in-ring, some great vignettes like the baseball one and the King Kong Bundy return. The King's Court was simple and to the point and Backlund remains a highlight. This Raw was more easy to watch edition than most lately, earning it a B+.
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