We start Monday Night Raw with a recap of Bam Bam Bigelow's fall from grace with the Million Dollar Corporation. From the loss at Wrestlemania, to the recent addition of Sid to the corporation, it all boils down to this edition of Raw from Omaha, Nebraska as Bam Bam challenges Diesel for the WWF Title. It's Vince with Jerry Lawler on commentary for tonight's show. Lawler promises that Bigelow will not be embarrassed tonight. He will not fail.
Opening action is the Smoking Gunns taking on The Brooklyn Brawler and Barry Horowitz. We learn from Vince that the Gunns will get their rematch for the tag titles against Yokozuna and Owen Hart at In Your House. Horowitz breaks a hammerlock with a shoulder block, but Billy gets a takedown and a dropkick, followed by a hiptoss to the Brawler. Bart gets tagged in and lands an ax handle to the arm of the Brawler. Brawler tries a hiptoss, but is reversed by Bart, who covers for two. Double Russian leg sweep by the Gunns as Billy comes in. Tag back to Bart who continues to wring the arm. Back and forth tags working the arm. Brawler tries to come back, but the gunns lands the Sidewinder to win a really boring squash. After all the good graces I've given the GUnns, it's a shame to see that we're back to the dull arm-related offense.
We cut to Dibiase and Bigelow backstage. Bam Bam sporting a massive shiner over his right eye. Bigelow doesn't divulge in how he got his shiner, but he promises that he will win the title for the corporation tonight.
In an interview with Diesel, he continues to sound like a dull drone saying that he's a fighting champion who will take on all challengers, including Bam Bam Bigelow.
Up next it's the in-ring debut of Bertha Faye. So, we've gone from kind of bad ass looking black getup with the mask to unflattering multicolored getup with the joke now being about how fat she is (Even going back to the Tom Arnold/Roseanne jokes from a year ago). Not to mention her getup being mostly polka dots, which makes me think that this is also a subtle pot shot at Dusty Rhodes. And to make things even worse, she's the love interest of Harvey Whippleman. They bring up that Bertha Faye had broken the nose of Alundra Blayze in her debut, but the real excuse is that Alundra was taking time off for both a nose and boob job. Facing Bertha Faye tonight is Pantera Serena.
Bertha skips around the ring and tries a clothesline, but Pantera ducks it. Pantera tries to take down Bertha Faye, but gets nothing. She tries a roll up, to no effect. Clothesline by Bertha Faye, followed by a hip smack. Irish whip and a toss as Vince and Lawler make jokes about how heavy she is. Pantera takes down Bertha for the moment, but Bertha shoves her back down. Bertha Faye misses a diving headbutt as pantera hits a horrible cross body. Pantera tries a sunset flip, but Bertha Faye drops her weight on her and hits a hairpull slam.
Lawler and McMahon go right into promoting Duckman as Bertha Faye drops a series of leg drops. She shoves Pantera around some more, but Pantera tries some offense with hard chops. But Bertha Faye still lands a splash in the corner and a power bomb. She blows a kiss to Harvey as she drops Pantera with a gorilla press and headbutt in a messy, messy, messy squash.
Todd Pettengill is here to shill In Your House as the card is starting to fill out much more:
Diesel defends the WWF Title against Sid
Double J and the Roadie take on Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid
Bret Hart takes on Hakushi
The Smoking Gunns challenge Yokozuna and Owen Hart for the WWF Tag Team Titles
The WWF House Giveaway
Sid is not happy. Only one thing will make the master happy, and that's becoming WWF champion. Tonight, he has friends in low places. Yay, we're getting some great crazy Sid promos.
Up next, it's the WWF title on the line. Diesel defending the WWF title against Bam Bam Bigelow. Diesel takes down Bam Bam early, sending Bigelow to the outside. The crowd chants "L.T" to get to Bigelow. Both men collide, but It's Diesel that shoves Bigelow down and follows with a couple big clotheslines out of the corners. He follows with some elbows and knees and a big hip toss. "You know L.T's watching this matchup" says Vince. Somehow I doubt that.
Headbutt by Bam Bam as he sends Diesel to the corner. But a twist of the face and a clothesline gets the control back in DIesel's favor. Cover gets a two. Body slam by Diesel and a big elbow. Cover gets a two yet again. Boot choke in the corner by Diesel followed by an elbow to the back of the head and an arm bar. Bam Bam escapes, but misses an elbow drop. Diesel returns to the arm bar until Bigelow takes DIesel to the corner and hits a headbutt. Body slam and a falling headbutt by Bigelow. Diesel ducks a clothesline and lands one of his own for another two count.
Bam Bam exits the ring, and gets Diesel with some slams into the steel post. He brings Diesel back in and hits a Samoan drop. Cover gets only a two as we go to break. When we return, Diesel escapes a chinlock, but his momentum is stifled as both men collide into each other. Diesel sweeps the leg of Bam Bam and hits a splash for two. He drops his weight on Bam Bam as he's draped on the ropes. Diesel whips Bam Bam to the corner, but Bam Bam comes back with an elbow. He rams Diesel into the buckle and tries for a suplex, but is countered with one by Diesel. Cover only gets two.
Chinlock from Diesel until Bam Bam comes back with some more punches. Diesel blocks a punch with some forearems, but Bigelow lands the suplex. He slowly covers, but only gets two. Chinlock from Bigelow now as the crowd does start to chant for Diesel. Meanwhile, Tatanka heads to ringside as Bigelow locks in a front facelock. However, Diesel gets up to land a back suplex. Bigelow recovers first and stomps down Diesel.
With the ref distracted, Tatanka gets a cheap shot on Diesel as we go to break. When we return, Diesel gets a boot out of the corner on Bam Bam. Tatanka, seemingly by accident, trips Bigelow. With Bigelow distracted, this allows for a boot and a jackknife for get the win for the champ.
I was hoping for a bit more from this match, but honestly it was a pretty boring affair. I dont know why, but there was far less energy as I was expecting from both men. Bam Bam felt slower, Diesel felt like he wasn't putting in the work he put in back at Wrestlemania. It was long, very dull in spots, and really lacked a lot of moments that felt like this deserved to even be for the title. Which is a shame, since I've often sung the praises of Bam Bam, but this was definitely not the same Bigelow I enjoyed back in 1993.
Post-match, Dibiase grabs the mic and berates Bigelow for losing at the Rumble, losing at Wrestlemania and now losing this WWF title match. Though to be fair, look at the win-loss record so far for the corporation, it ain't just Bam Bam. Despite that, Dibiase fires Bigelow and slaps him. Tatanka begins to attack Bigelow, but eats a clothesline and a toss out of the ring. Bigelow grabs the mic and says that he quits. Before he can go after Dibiase, IRS shows up. And finally, Sid arrives and lays boots to Bigelow. He hits Bigelow with a really ugly powerbomb. Diesel returns and clears the ring, getting some shots in on Tatanka and sending him flying out of the ring. The Corporation leaves as Diesel challenges Sid to return.
Oh right, Aldo Montoya is still a thing. He's taking on the Black Phantom. He reverses a hiptoss and dropkicks the Phantom, sending him outside. Slingshot cross body by Montoya to the outside. Lawler sends get well wishes to Bret Hart's mother, who injured herself trying to iron the wrinkles in her face. DDT by the Phantom as Vince shills the Superstar Line. Screw Aldo, Vince wants your dollar! Boot in the corner by the Phantom followed by some stomps and a body slam. Cover for two. Aldo gets a slingshot cross body and a really bad looking chop. Clothesline by Aldo followed by a dropkick in the corner and a slingshot bulldog for three in a dull match.
Paul Levesque started his wrestling career in 1992, trained by the legendary Killer Kowalski. He made his first televised appearances in WCW under the names Terror Risin', Terra Ryzin, and then finally as a French aristocrat, Jean Paul Leavesque. The height of his WCW run being a feud with Alex Right that culminated at WCW Starrcade 1994. While in a tag run with Steven Regal, Levesque wasn't satisfied with his role as a tag team worker and eventually left WCW to go to the WWF where they would tweak his Jean Paul Levesque character. Gone is the snooty Frenchman and now we have Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the blueblood snob from Greenwich Connecticut.
Next week on Raw it's Razor vs Sid as we leave this edition of Raw.
Overall a pretty bland edition of Raw this week. None of the squashes were any good, I'm already not a fan of this new rendition of Bertha Faye, and the Bam Bam/Diesel match disappointed. That aside, there were some positives, particularly the first appearance of Hunter Hearst Helmsley and while the title match lacked, I did like the story behind Bigelow and this title match, particularly that this was his last chance to impress the corporation. But those aside don't help this Raw from getting better than a C-.
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