We recap the history of Sid's turn since attacking Shawn Michaels after Wrestlemania. The focus on the recap is Sid's more cowardly actions since then, including his walk off at King of the Ring. Tonight we'll get an interview from a somewhat confident Sid who promises that he isn't worried at all about the lumberjack match at In Your House. It's Vince and Jerry Lawler on commentary as they run down tonight's card, including Savio Vega in action, plus the main event of the Allied Powers against Tatanka and Henry Godwinn.
Opening action is The Roadie vs Jerry Flynn. Vince and Lawler are still more focused on the big concert for Double J at In Your House. Roadie reverses a whip and gets a shoulder block, but Flynn manages to get some arm drags and an arm bar. Roadie breaks and works the wrist, only for Flynn to counter with a kick. He takes Roadie to the corner, but eats a boot. Roadie follows with some elbow drops. He goes for a punch, but Flynn catches it. He tries an enziguri, but Roadie avoids it and locks Flynn in a half crab, using the ropes whenever possible. The ref catches the Roadie, so he breaks the hold. Flynn reverses a whip and hits a spin kick. He goes for a leap, but gets caught in a powerbomb by the Roadie for the three.
We get a recap of the rise of Double J. From being kicked out of the music offices in Nashville, to his search for success in Las Vega to his crowning achievement, "With My Baby Tonight." The music video replays again as we are building up to the concert in Nashville at In Your House.
Barry Didinsky is busy shilling the shirt of the week, which is a Razor Ramon t-shirt. He says that Razor isn't here tonight as he's focusing on the upcoming tag match at In Your House, hoping ot get all over Mabel. but you can get this shirt if you "want Razor to get all over you in a different way". Whoooa, hold on there pal. I know he oozes machismo, but yikes.
Savio Vega is in action next against Mike Khoury. Hiptoss early on by Savio followed by a couple body slams. Cover only gets two. Khoury stops a back drop and lands some strikes while Lawler calls Savio "Burrito Breath". Savio escapes and takes Khoury to the corner, landing some hard chops. He follows with a back body drop and an elbow to the face. Roll up by Savio gets the win in a quick squash.
Vince is in the ring to interview Sid and Ted Dibiase. Dibiase try to state that Sid is far from a coward, and definitely not afraid of Diesel. He is what he says he is, the master and ruler of the world. Dibiase promises to bring the best lumberjacks that money can buy. He then brings out the million dollar lumberjacks. Tatanka, IRS, Henry Godwinn, Jean Pierre LaFitte, The Blu Brothers, Mantaur, Men on a Mission, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, even Jimmy Del Ray! Dibiase promises no escape for Diesel. He'll climb into the ring and pay the price of the WWF title. Sid says that he's the master and ruler of the world.
We get a recap from the Action Zone where, holy crap, Barry Horowitz actually won a match. Yes, in an upset not seen since the 1-2-3 Kid got a victory over Razor Ramon, Ol' Mr. pat on the back actually got a massive upset win over Skip of the Bodydonnas.
Up next, it's An unbroken Matt Hardy against the man with three h'es. Arm drag early on by Hunter followed by a headlock takedown with a knee to the back. Vince mentions the retirement of Jack Tunney the prior week. We'll talk about that shortly. Matt manages a long headlock, but Hunter breaks out in the corner and lays in some hard strikes. Hunter lands a vertical suplex and gives a bow to the crowd. Matt gets a boot in the corner and tries a moonsault, but Hunter avoids. He hits the pedigree on Matt for the win in a basic squash.
On to what befell Jack Tunney. As we know, Tunney played the on-air president for the WWF since the 1980's, although in actuality Tunney's actual role was as a promoter for the WWF in Canada. By 1995 however, things would become tumultous between the parties with the WWF eventually cuttings ties to Tunney and their long history with Maple Leaf Gardens and Tunney was also fired. Sadly, Tunney passed away of a heart attack in 2004, and no wrestler came to his funeral, which is pretty depressing. Overall, I think Tunney was a fine enough authority figure. He only was around when big announcements had to be made and that's that. Unlike current authority figures who bog the show down with their overbearing presence (Wink Wink Stephanie).
It's the Toddster with you for the In Your House report. We get a rundown of the card that has mostly remained unchanged from last week. Although added to the card is Savio Vega and Razor Ramon against Men on a Mission. Also Bam Bam Bigelow will take on Henry O. Godwinn. So, overall this is building up to be a super average card.
It's main event time. The Allied Powers taking on Tatanka and Henry O. Godwinn. Godwinn and Tatanka Pearl Harbor the Allied Powers, but Tatanka and Luger put a stop to them. Tatanka lands a DDT on Luger and stomps him down as "USA" chants rain (despite the fact that the only non-American is Lex Luger's partner the British Bulldog, so chalk that up to an idiot crowd). Luger tries to fight out, but Tatanka throws a thumb to the eye of Luger. He whips Luger to the buckle and rams Luger into the boot of Godwinn.
Tag to Godwin who lands a body slam and a knee drop. Cover gets a two. Tag to Tatanka as both land a double elbow on Lex. Cover gets only a two. Tatanka lands a cheap shot on Bulldog and double teams on Luger with Godwinn as we go to break. When we return, Luger fights out and whips Tatanka, only to get a kick to the face. Tag to Godwinn as both heels land a clothesline on Luger. Cover only gets a two. Whip and an elbow by Godwinn who covers for two. Hard body slam and an elbow attempt, but Luger avoids.
Tags to Tatanka and Bulldog. Bulldog lands some clotheslines and catches Tatanka for the powerslam, but Tatanka grabs the rope and drops his weight on Bulldog, covering him for two. Tatanka tries a back body drop, but gets caught in a suplex. Cover only get s a two for Bulldog. Luger gets a clothesline on Godwinn and Bulldog lands a dropkick, sending him outside. Godwinn manages to trips Bulldog and Tatanka lands a body slam. Tatanka goes up top, but Bulldog catches him for a powerslam for the win.
Surprisingly, not a bad match. A lot of heel work on one face, but I thought everyone played their parts well. Everyone moved pretty fast (though Godwinn was off cue a lot) and everything felt hard hitting. I was expecting the worse since Luger and Tatanka have never had a quality match since, but for the briefness of this match, everything worked pretty good.
It's time for another visit to Dr. Isaac Yankem D.D.S as we see his dental practices in action. Lawler laments over Bret, but he is particularly fawning over his dentist while Isaac lays the drill to his victim (which looks to be the girl in the office in the last vignette). The patient mentions Bret as her favorite superstar, which triggers Isaac as he lays the drill in to end Raw.
Another mediocre episode of Raw overall. The squashes were better this week with Savio and Hunter in particular looking great. The tag match was better than I thought, but still your basic "face in peril" stuff. I'm enjoying the antics of Lawler and Isaac Yankem, and I thought the Dibiase promo was decent for continuing the build toward the WWF title lumberjack match. But those aside, there really wasn't much to come back to. A C+ is fair for this episode.