We open Raw with yet another recap of the nearly two year long history of Lex Luger and Yokozuna as tonight we'll see both Luger and Yokozuna in the final King of the Ring qualifier. Yes, I have really covered almost two years of Raws and pay per views since the Luger push started and stalled. Also tonight we'll see Jerry Lawler's training secrets as he prepares to take on Bret Hart in the "Kiss My Foot" match.
But opening Raw is Bam Bam Bigelow taking on Duane Gill. It's been a while since we've seen the Gillberg-to-be. Diesel is on the phone as Bam Bam escapes a headlock and lands a shoulder block and enziguri. Nash says his elbow is healing and he'll be at the King of the Ring. Bigelow puts weight on the chest of Gill while Nash says that he's chomping at the bit to get a hold of Sid. Gill gets some strikes in until Bam Bam just decides to no sell everything and catches Gill in a slam. Bam Bam misses a headbutt as Gill goes to the top. He gets caught again as Bam Bam lands a suplex. He follows with a headbutt off the top for the win in a quick, simple squash.
We get a vignette for another newcomer to the WWF, and it's one I've been excited to talk about. This is Waylon Mercy. Played by wrestler Dan Spivey, this is a character based on Robert De Niro's performance of the murderer Max Cady from Cape Fear. This character would also be one of the inspirations for what would be Bray Wyatt. Mercy says that he's enjoying nature, especially the worms. But he doesn't like worms crawling on him. He doesn't like wrestlers crawling on him either. If they do, they'll get crushed, like the worm on his arm. Know what I mean?
And we go from the creepiness of Waylon Mercy to the absurdity of the Smoking Gunns playing pogs (Sorry, caps. Don't wanna get sued) with Barry Didinsky and someone named "The Mad Capper". Barry is hocking WWF Pogs, complete with a WWF slammer, and a "Just Slam It" T-Shirt.
Kama is in action next against David Haskins. But the bigger focus is a man placing a black wreath at ringside. Very similar to the mind games we saw from the Undertaker in 1993 with Mr. Hughes. Kama takes down Haskins and locks in a half crab for a second, before he focuses on the wreath. Haskin tries some shots, but eats a spin kick. Arm wringer, some kicks and one kick to the back of the head from Kama, followed by a clothesline that sends Haskins spinning. He grinds his fists into the head of Haskins, and yells at him to fight back. USA Network Shill for "Mr. Mom" as Kama lands a belly to belly for the win.
Post-match, Kama yells at the people in black and shoves down the wreath.
Todd Pettengill is here with this week's King of the Ring report. We get another basic promo from Sid and Tatanka saying that they'll destroy Bam Bam and Diesel. It does work for some great whisper promo work from Sid. On the subject of the "Kiss My Foot" match, Lawler has a bust of what his foot will look like at the King of the Ring. In terms of the tournament itself, Undertaker will face Mabel, Shawn Michaels will take on Kama, The Roadie will take on Bob Holly and Razor Ramon will take on either Lex Luger or Yokozuna.
We cut backstage to Yokozuna doing what he does best. And that's eating a whole lot of food as he prepares for his match with Lex Luger.
Man Mountain Rock is up next against Bob Cook. Cook takes down Man Mountain Rock, but Man Mountain Rock comes back with a big shoulder block. He misses a charge in the corner as Cook lays in some punches and kicks in the corner. Man Mountain Rock reverses a whip and gets an arm bar for the win in another insanely short squash.
We get an update on the 1995 Hall of Fame, including newcoming inductees The Fabulous Moolah, The Grand Wizard, Pedro Morales and George the Animal Steele.
Bob Backlund is backstage searching for Man Mountain Rock. He spots Rock's guitar and knocks it down. He picks it up as if he's touching a lump of turd, and then kicks the guitar some more. He tells Rock that the plebeans don't understand how their appetitie grows, but he'll smarten up. They are being surrounded by devious activity and noise that comes out of guitars and he can't stand it. Bob Backlund has officially become John Lithgow from Footloose. He talks about the Crawling Stones, Frozen Tea and Others.
We have yet another Raw debut tonight. It's Tekno Team 2000. Troy and Travis are, get this, a pair of time travelers from the year 2000, or at the very least two guys who think they're more future forward with their silver getups. Travis is Chad Fortune and the slightly more well known Troy is Erik Watts, son of Bill Watts. Mike Khoury and John Krystal are the opponents. (both wearing awful jean shorts for some reason)
Troy takes down Khoury, who tags in Krystal. Arm wringer from Troy followed by the headlock and shoulder block spot, followed by a slap. Troy locks in an arm bar and tags in Travis who drops an ax handle to the arm. More arm wringers until Travis gets a back body drop. Tag to Troy as both men jump over Krystal and land a double team hip toss. Khoury gets a knee to the back ot Troy as Krytal gets a cheap shot. Double clothesline by Troy. Tag back to Travis who attacks both Khoury and Krystal. Double spin kick on Krystal and a double elbow to Khoury. Body slam and sloppy cross body gets the three for Tekno Team 2000 in a rather ugly debut.
Man Mountain Rock is backstage, lamenting over his destroyed guitar. He says that now it's personal against Bob Backlund. Well, look on the bright side. At least it wasn't that sick WWF guitar.
Up next, it's the King of the Ring qualifier. Lex Luger taking on Yokozuna. Loud "USA" chants asthe match is about to begin. Lots of stalling to begin, but Luger eventually gets in several punches, but gets caught in a slam from Yoko. Yoko goes for an elbow, but misses. Arm wringers from Luger, who puts in a top wristlock. Yoko escapes, but misses a charge in the corner. Luger locks in an arm bar and continues the wringers until Yoko takes him to he corner. He tries to ram Luger into the corner, but Luger turns it around with ten rams into the buckle. A right hand sends Yoko tumbling out of the ring.
Yoko eventually manages to get into the ring after some time. In fact, His entry takes way more than the normal ten seconds. But Luger gets Yoko quickly with some punches in the corner, only for Yoko to shove him off. Yoko tries a leg drop, but misses. Fuji distracts Luger as Yoko gets a cheap shot and works in more strikes in the corner. He chokes Luger until referee Earl Hebner brings a stop to it. We go to break.
We return from break with Yokozuna still in control. He whips Luger into the corner, but misses the charge yet again. Luger gets in some strikes followed by some ax handles. They have little effect in taking him down. Luger goes up and lands a clothesline that knocks down Luger. Fuji attacks the US flag bearer, which draws the attention of Luger. Cornette tries to use the tennis racket, but gets attacked from Luger. Luger gives the flag back to the flag bearer. But his patriotism leads to a cheap shot from Yokozuna and a leg drop on the outside from the big man. Yoko rolls in and manages to get the win, qualifying into the King of the Ring.
Probably the best Luger/Yokozuna match, but that's not saying much. While far less Yoko rest holds, those were replaced with corner strike spots, which at least had a lot more energy to them. I gotta admit, despite the extra weight on him, and his lackluster return at Wrestlemania, I do feel that Yokozuna is at least back to somewhat top form. As for Luger, he once again comes off looking like a doofus focused more on patriotism than winning this match. The circling sound of Luger's WWF run going down the drain continues to ring.
We end Raw with the training foot-age of Jerry Lawler. Jerry is preparing ot make sure his feet are completely rotten for his match with Bret Hart. This speaks less of a wrestling training video and more of a weird porn fetish video as Lawler shoves his feet deep into horse manure. We also see the recap from Superstars as Lawler used his training against Aldo Montoya.
You know, it took almost six months into 1995, but now I'm really starting to see why people call this the worst year of the WWF.
Despite that gruesome foot-age, this was a decent episode of Monday Night Raw. Granted, none of the in-ring was all that special as we had some simple quick squashes, and Luger vs Yokozuna was okay at best, which is better praise than maybe they deserve. But everything surrounding this episode made it more enjoyable, including the debut of Waylon Mercy, Lawler's continued foot-related jabs at Bret Hart, and most importantly as always, Bob Backlund being the best thing in the product at this point in time. All that gives this Raw a deserving B rating, not an amazing show, but there was still some fun within.