It's the final Raw before In Your House 8: Beware of Dog. The WWF held a live event the previous night in Madison Square Garden, where a major, earth shattering, industry changing event went down. That's right: Phineas Godwinn kissed Sunny! That's the most newsworthy story to come out of this event. What's a curtain call? Don't be clever, it's Monday Night Raw time!
Opening action tonight on Raw sees Stone Cold Steve Austin taking on "Wildman" Marc Mero. Both men roll around the ropes until the referee forces a break. An exchange of waistlocks followed by an exchange of arm work until Mero gains control. Drop toe hold by Austin, but Mero regains control with a hammerlock. Elbow by Austin, but Mero trips him and returns to the hammerlock. Mero ducks a clotheslien and hits a cross body for two, then returns to arm work.
Elbow to the back of the face by Austin, but Mero gets in a few more shots. Headlock and shoulder block by Austin, but Mero comes back with some fast arm drags and a dropkick, sending Austin outside. He goes for a Bad Mood, but Austin avoids, forcing a cancellation of the spot. Austin gets a stun gun in, sending Mero face first into the buckle. Austin drapes Mero on the rope and then drops his weight. Cover, but only a one count. Mero fights back, but Austin throws him out of hte ring as we go to break. When we return, Mero escapes an apron suplex and covers Austin for two, only t get caught with an Austin clothesline.
Austin hits an elbow off the second rope and covers for two. He transitions right into a chinlock. Mero escapes and manages a sleeper hold, but Austin hits a jawbreaker (almost a proto-Stunner) and covers for two. Austin drives his knee into the back of Mero and covers again for two. He returns into the chinlock, but Mero escapes. Slugfest between both men, but Mero gains control with a shoulder block and a headscissors, followed with a big knee lift. He goes to the top buckle and hits an ax handle. Cover, but only a two count.
Corner punches by Mero, but Austin shoves him off, only for Austin to get caught with a clothesline. Cover only gets a two. Dibiase trips Mero, allowing Austin to get a cheap clothesline. He slams Mero then goes up top again. However, Savio Vega shows up and starts whipping Austin, forcing a disqualification. Shame as this was actually a decent match. Good back and forth from both men, and definitely the first really good showing of Marc Mero on Raw so far.
We get more footage from Kuwait as we see Ahmed Johnson dominating at the live event and winnig the Kuwaiti international tournament. We also see the shilling of the Ultimate Warrior's comic book.
Oh dear, the Warrior comic book. If you thought the WWF shilling his crappy wrestling school was bad, then try your luck with his nonsensical comic series where Warrior babbles on about Destrucity, seemingly giving birth to himself, and of course, who can forget stripping Santa Claus, stealing his clothes, and shackling him to a wall.
Ho, Ho, H-oh my god I can't even.
Savio Vega is in action next against The 1-2-3 Kid. Ted Dibiase is on commentary with a chauffeur's hat ready for Savio after he loses the Carribean strap match at In Your House. In the ring, Savio works the arm of Kid, but Kid gets in some elbows. Savio lands a hiptoss and a dropkick. Whip to the corner and a rolling wheel kick to the face. Dropkick to the face and a cover only gets two for Savio. He locks in a chinlock, as we see the Kid's got a bloody lip. He rams the Kid into the buckle then hits a hiptoss, returning to the chinlock. Dibiase distracts Savio with the hat, allowing Kid to catch him with a heel kick.
Kid starts stomping down on Savio, then rams him into the buckle. Big corner kicks and a hard whip to the buckle, landing a dropkick. Kid then goes up and hits a splash, covering for two. He gets in some kicks to the chest, following with a boot to the face. Jumping splash and a cover still only gets two as we go to break. When we return, Kid has a headlock on, using an elbow on the top of the skull. Savio breaks free and hits a headbutt. Big elbow, but Kid avoids, following up with a super fast leg drop. Cover only gets a two however.
Kid kicks Savio, who begins to no-sell, but gets kicked back down. Savio gets a big kick out of the corner and falls into a cover for another close two. He ducks a clothesline and hits a ura nage, covering again for two. He follows up with a back body drop. He tries a second, but gets hit with a spin kick. Kid goes up top for another splash, but Savio avoids. Savio rolls up the Kid for the three count.
Austin immediately runs in and attacks Savio, but Savio fights back. Kid catches Savio with another kick as the heels work down on him. Dibiase hands Austin the strap and he ties Savio up. Dibiase places the chauffeur's hat on Savio, and Austin slaps Savio right in the face. The heels celebrate while the referees check on Savio. Overall, a good TV match that gave Savio some momentum going into the strap match. Well, until Austin came in and beat him up at least.
But it's time once again to say goodbye. This time to the 1-2-3 Kid. As previously mentioned (several times at this point), the curtain call happened the previous night in Madison Square Garden. And in its wake, both Scott Hall and Kevin Nash worked their last matches with the WWF, and as such the Kliq was already dissipating from the WWF. However, the only Kliq member not involved was Sean Waltman AKA the 1-2-3 Kid, who at the time was in drug rehab, and didn't work the garden that night. The Kid was eventually fired from the WWF shortly after, making this match with Savio the last WWF match of the 1-2-3 Kid. We will see Waltman again soon in WCW, but for now this is the end of the road.
I liked the 1-2-3 Kid, he played a good underdog, had some great matches, especially his match with Bret, and his second incarnation as the cocky heel being managed by Ted Dibiase was great. He definitely feels like a very underrated character in the mid-90s WWF. By no means a WWF champ level guy, but a good solid midcarder that could always be depended on to put in some quality to his work. He will be missed for certain.
Speaking of Madison Square Garden, we see Phineas backstage being wooed once again by Sunny. This leads to the WWF tag title match between the Body Donnas. It all seems to go according to plan for Sunny, however he eventually planted a kiss on her and slop drops Zip. The Godwinns get the pin and become the new tag team champions.
Jim Ross is with Paul Bearer and the casket. Paul says his Undertaker is ready for the match at In Your House. He says it's time for Goldust to face the grim reaper. They open the casket, as Taker says that this will be Goldust's future. He promises to seal his fate, but he's interrupted by Mankind and Goldust. Mankind seals the casket with a strap while Goldust keeps Paul Bearer away. Mankind then starts bashing the casket with a steel pole, then flips the casket over.
It's main event time as British Bulldog takes on Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Shawn Michaels was supposed to be on commentary, but Jim Cornette has other plans. He had Clarence Mason file a restraining order, keeping him within a hundred yards from Diana. However, president Gorilla Monsoon arrives to check on the restraining order. He complies, but instead forces Diana to leave instead.
Arm drag by Jake early on. Jake works the arm a bit more, getting in an arm drag and follows with a knee lift. Bulldog leaves the ring to regroup while "DDT" chants can be heard. Bulldog takes Jake to the corner and rains in punches. He throws Jake to the buckles and then starts to stomp him down. Bulldog points at Shawn Michaels then goes back at Jake. But Jake comes back with more shots in the corner.
Bulldog gets a knee to the face and continues to work Jake while on commentary, Lawler and Michaels are getting heated on commentary as Lawler continues to berate him, mentioning a possible relationship between Shawn and Pam Anderson. Meanwhile back in the ring, Bulldog works the leg. Jake breaks free with some boots to the face of Bulldog. Jake returns to leg work, dropping his weight on the leg, then continuing to point at Shawn. He then takes the leg of Jake and slams it into the steel post. He whips Jake, but Jake collapses. Meanwhile, Lawler is still heating up on Shawn at commentary.
Jake breaks free of another leg lock, and hits a shortarm clothesline. He goes for the DDT, but Bulldog is right back on the injured leg. Half crab by Bulldog while Lawler talks about Shawn Michaels posing for Playgirl, to which Shawn admits. Jake goes for the snake bag, but Bulldog drags him away and works the leg again. Jake eventually recovers and hits a knee lift, while still selling the bad leg. Bulldog clips the knee, then drags Jake away from the bag. Bulldog focuses on Shawn again, allowing Jake to roll him up for two. Bulldog reapplies the half crab, then goes back to talking to Shawn. He turns into a punch, but Jake collapses again.
Diana shows up, despite the supposed restraining order. She berates Shawn some more, then throws a drink at him. Shawn wouldn't hit a woman, but gladly hits Cornette. Bulldog attacks Shawn and the show just ends. Yep, another Raw where we get an abrupt ending. My favorite.
This was an okay Raw. Good opener with Austin vs Mero with a logical disqualification ending, 1-2-3 Kid looked good in his last Raw showing against Savio. I'm still not really on board with this feud with Shawn and the Bulldog, but Lawler pestering Shawn during the main event was great stuff. Better than the match which returned to In Your House 4 territory. Remember in the Slamboree review how I gushed that the strength of Dean Malenko's leg work was the variety of holds he placed? Well in this case it was basic stuff like leg locks and half crabs. Plus another non-finish ending as we just cut right off. Really hurt this Raw in the long run. For the Raw before In Your House, this didn't exactly come off as a strong go-home, but was still fair enough. Final rating a C+.
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