Raw opens with a recap of last week's beatdown on Razor Ramon by Sycho Sid. Vince asks if this attack was a deliberate message to Diesel. Well, duh. Vince and Lawler are at ringside. Lawler is still beaming with delight after getting Bret to face him at In Your House. But opening action tonight is the Intercontinental Champion "Double J" Jeff Jarrett taking on Doink the Clown. We see how Jarrett retained over Holly on the previous day's episode of Action Zone.
We go heavy on the recaps with this Doink/Jarrett match, looking back at Jarrett as "Fake Doink". Doink gets some strikes to begin. The Roadie tries to trip Doink, but Doink stomps on his hand. This gives Jarrett time to send Doink into the buckle. Arm bar by Doink. Jarrett tries to grab the Roadie, but Doink kicks the Roadie's arm away. Drop toe hold by Jarrett, but he misses the elbow drop. Hiptoss by Doink. Whip to the corner by Jarrett. Doink reverses a whip, but eats a boot to the face.
The Roadie grabs Doink, but before Jarrett can strike, Doink escapes. Doink drops the Roadie throat-first onto the ropes, sending him tumbling to the floor. Jarrett is distracted, allowing Doink to get a roll up, but only manages a two count. Jarrett counters a back drop into a facebuster. Elbow to the face of Doink, followed by a clothesline. Dink tries to distract, but to no avail. Jarrett drops his weight on Doink, who's draped on the middle rope. Hard whip o the buckle is met with a boot by Doink. Body slam by Doink, but a miss of the elbow drop. Sunset flip by Doink, but Jarrett gets up at two. Jarrett rams Doink into the buckle as we go to break.
When we return, Jarrett is still in control as it appears that some work has been done on Doink's leg. This is made no better as Jeff locks the leg. Doink tries to escape with an enziguri, but Jarrett dodges. He continues with stomps to the leg and locks in a half crab. Doink's wig is nearly torn off as it's have a haard time staying in one place. Jarrett locks in a sleeper. Doink escapes, and manages to get a DDT in. He whips Jarrett and hits a powerslam for two. Whips to the buckles and a bite from Dink. With the ref distracted by Dink, the Roadie takes out the knee of Dink, allowing a figure four for Jarrett, giving him the win.
A pretty good match, honestly. Slow in some places, but there was a lot of action. The pace was quick for the most part, and as always I enjoy the outside antics of the Roadie. Honestly, I haven't hated Jarrett as much as so many seem to. I know the whole "never drew a dime" thing, but he could work in the ring. And this was definitely one of those cases.
We get the first vignette for the Bodydonnas, a pair of fitness nuts. This is Skip and Sunny, AKA Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch. They mock the out of shape fans and promise that they'll be in the WWF soon.
We get a video of Bam Bam apologizing for shoving Lawrence Taylor at the Royal Rumble, and giving props to both L.T at Wrestlemania and Diesel for the title retention a couple weeks ago. This is essentially the finalization of Bam Bam's babyface turn. He promises to burn brighter in the future. As for the corporation, he promises to deal with each of them. Starting with IRS next week.
Vince is in the ring to interview Ted Dibiase and the #1 contender for the WWF title, Sycho Sid. Dibiase addresses Shawn Michaels and tells him that it was him that told Shawn that he needed a bodyguard. He suggested Sid. And since Sid's arrival, he took Shawn Michaels out of action, he took out Razor, and at In Your House, they'll be taking the WWF title from Diesel. Sid can stop a Diesel in its tracks. It's too bad Diesel can't win the house, but he'll have residence at a rest home. Sid gives Vince a history lesson. The greatest predator that roamed Africa was a lion named (EY Tamayla? I can't hear Sid that well). In the WWF, Sid is the super predator. At In Your House, he promises to lift Diesel ten feet in the air and drive him through the mat. He will tell Sid that he is the man that rules the world.
Hakushi is in action next against Gary Scott. Vince shills the WWF Line as Jim Ross has info on why Hakushi was in Calgary. Vince brings up that Hakushi is undefeated so far, and that could lower the chances for victory for Bret at In Your House. Hammerlock exchanges from both men until Hakushi gets an elbow. Arm bar by Hakushi as the crowd chants "We Want Bret". Scott tries to get up, but eats a clothesline. Chops to the throat by Hakushi. Scott ducks a chop and gets a cross body for two. More strikes from Hakushi keeps Scott down. He follows with a front suplex, sending Scott smacking into the ground face first. He locks in an abdominal stretch. Body slam by Hakushi who follows with a slingshot splash over the ropes for the three in a short, but decent squash.
It's time for the final In Your House report. Here's our finalized card:
Diesel defends the WWF Title against Sycho Sid
Bret Hart takes on Hakushi, then Jerry "The King" Lawler
Razor Ramon takes on Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie
Mabel takes on Adam Bomb in the first qualifier for the King of the Ring.
The Smoking Gunns get their rematch against Owen Hart and Yokozuna for the WWF Tag Team Titles.
And the house giveaway
Our main event is next. It's Owen Hart (With Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) vs Bart Gunn. Vince shills Duckman and alludes that Backlund is Duckman. Lawler takes a shot at Beavis and Butt-Head and Ren and Stimpy, because "Duckman is cool". Owen tries to escape a wristlock, but Bart takes him down for a two count. Owen gets a hammerlock, but Bart sends Owen tumbling out of the ring. Cornette and Fuji distract Bart, allowing Owen to get a cheap shot. Hard whips to the buckles, but Bart counters with an elbow and a cross body off the top buckle for two.
Hammerlock by Bart as he drops some knees to the elbow, following by dropping the weight of his body on the arm. Wihip by Owen, but he gets caught into a slam by Bart, who follows with an elbow for two. Another hammerlock is countered by Owen, who hits some shoulder blocks, but gets caught in a spinning sidewalk slam. Fuji trips the leg of Bart, allowing Owen to knock him out of the ring. He scoops Bart up and slam him into the ring post as the ref is too distracted by Billy. Neckbreaker by Owen for a two count.
Bart manages a sunset flip for a two count. Owen comes back quickly with an enziguri and covers for tw as we go to commercial break. Bare breaks out of a hold when we return, but Owen gets a knee to the midsection. Lawler promises a bunch of piledrivers to Bret at In Your House while in the ring, Owen gets a clothesline to Bart. Cover for two. Bart reverses a suples and sets Owen on the top buckle. Cornette grabs Owen's Ankle, sending Bart crashing. But Billy manages to shove Owen off the buckle and groin-first into the rope. Bart manages a roll-up for the win. Overall, not a bad match. Definitely the best work of Bart Gunn so far. But then again, he is wrestling Owen and Owen can make almost anyone look amazing.
We recap WWF Mania as Todd Pettengill and Stephanie Wyand are in the house that's being given away. Gotta admit, this is a damn fine house. Beautiful kitchen, a screened-in pool, cathedral ceilings. At least they're giving away a great looking place.
We recap the challenge acceptance from Bret to Lawler last week. Jerry says that since Bret is dedicating his match to his mother, Lawler will be bringing his own mother to ringside. You'll see what he means by that, when we cover In Your House.
A pretty basic episode of Raw. The matches were all decent stuff, with Bart vs Owen and Jarrett vs Doink being surprisingly good. I like the heavy build towards Sid vs Diesel and the general feel of importance to everything going into In Your House. Compared to the rather lackluster card going into Wrestlemania, this already feels like a massive change of pace. That has a lot to do with Raw starting to become more and more the priority program, with matches and moments mattering more. So, this Raw gets a B+. Nothing amazing, but nothing boring either. Overall, a solid enough show as next we make our way In Your House. Diesel takes on Sid, Bret does double duty, and someone wins a house. Stay tuned to see what goes down.
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