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

Howard has a good look (Think Ice Train if you remember him. If not…yeah I’ve got nothing for you.). Mantaur misses a charge in the corner to start but is still able to catch Howard’s (who has some size) high crossbody. We hit the standard big man offense until Howard hits a clothesline and a dropkick, only to get caught in a World’s Strongest Slam. Jim Cornette screams at Mantaur to stay on him and you can imagine him wanting to kill someone for being stuck managing a character like this. A belly to belly ends 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.

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Monday Night Raw
Date: May 15, 1995
Location: Broome County Arena, Binghamton, New York
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

We’re past In Your House and that means it’s time to go towards……towards……dang it we’re going towards King of the Ring 1995. Diesel is still WWF World Champion as Sid still can’t win a singles title. Other than that, we still have Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart because why stop at two years? Let’s get to it.

We open with dueling IRS and Bam Bam Bigelow promos with both saying they’re ready.

Lawler is VERY happy after beating Bret Hart last night. That’s quite the accomplishment for him actually.

Owen Hart/Yokozuna vs. Nick Barbarry/Bill Weaver

Non-title of course. Cornette yells that a fan didn’t get enough oxygen as a fetus. I’ve asked this before but WHERE DOES HE COME UP WITH THIS STUFF??? A double clothesline drops the jobbers and it’s off to Hart to beat on Weaver. Barbarry actually gets in a hiptoss and they take turns working on Owen’s arm. Yokozuna will have none of that and finishes Owen with a Rock Bottom.

Rating: D. Just a squash here though I’m not sure what the need was after a successful title defense on pay per view the night before. Owen and Yokozuna were a good oddball tag team and held the belts for a good long reign, possibly due to a lack of any real competition. They weren’t a great team or anything really close to it but when there were almost no other teams of worth around, it wasn’t hard to stand out.

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

That WWF guitar is still one of the coolest things in the history of the world. Like, up there with Tang. Sharpe (How is he still around?) bounces off the huge Rock and gets crushed with an elbow. A Fujiwara Armbar (thankfully not on Sharpe’s bad arm) ends Mike in a hurry.

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.

Savio speaks Spanish and I think says he’s here to work. Vince calms him down enough to speak English and say no one is going to hurt his friends when he’s around.

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

Oh….dang man. Mantaur shoves Bob outside like he’s nothing and shrugs off some dropkicks back inside. We hit the choking on the ropes as it’s very clear that Mantaur isn’t very good. Mantaur slowly forearms Bob in the chest and gets two off a suplex. A rollup and missile dropkick give Holly two each and a high cross body is enough for the pin.

Rating: D-. Oh yeah this was bad and that really can’t be a surprise. Mantaur was as bad of a big man as there’s been since the last time Mabel had a match (so last night) but Holly isn’t exactly the most thrilling guy in the world. There was just no depth to the roster at this point and it’s showing more and more every single week.

Bob Backlund has a big announcement. Back at Wrestlemania XI he saw a sign and now everything has ionized. Backlund talks about the Olympics starting in 1776 and John F. Kennedy being shot in December 1982. Then there’s February 20, 1978, when he won the WWF World Title, which brings us to his announcement: he’s running for President of the United States and that means a marching band. Vince is STUNNED for a great visual. I’m actually stunned this hasn’t been referenced in 2016 when Backlund is around again.

Stills of last night’s main event and post match brawl with Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow getting involved.

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

I.R.S. vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Bigelow, now a fire enthusiast, brings out Diesel to be in his corner and sounds like he accepts the challenge. Diesel chases DiBiase off and we’re ready to go, despite that not being fair to I.R.S. Bigelow sends the tax man outside early on and it’s time for an early break. Back with Bigelow dropping a headbutt but missing its top rope cousin. Vince mentions Bigelow having a bad knee, which A, should have been brought up earlier and B, should have been noticed earlier.

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.

Rating: D-. Egads they’re actually getting worse. You would think a leg injury coming into the match would warrant an actual attack on the leg but instead it was a chinlock and an abdominal stretch. Also I hope this isn’t their way to launch Bigelow to the next level as a main event face because he just had to cheat to beat a career midcarder.

Shawn Michaels is coming back next week so here’s a video to get you fired up.

Overall Rating: F. Oh yeah they’re already dying and this is coming off a pay per view. I have no idea how they could have thought this was going to be a good idea and pushing Bigelow as a main event face, at least like this, is only going to make things worse. Now we’ve got tournament qualifiers on top of the bad matches, but maybe Shawn can do them some good. It certainly can’t make things worse.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s WWE Grab Bag at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Monday Night Raw
Date: June 26, 1995
Location: Danville High School, Danville, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 2,700
Commentators: Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon

We’re FINALLY past King of the Ring and the big story is the rise of King Mabel. For reasons that I’ll just never understand, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker were taken out in the first round, leaving us with one of the worst tournaments of all time. Ok to be fair the tournament was always going to be one of the worst ever but that didn’t help things. Let’s get to it.

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

Shawn Michaels comes out to do commentary in Lawler’s place as Lawler is the kind of guy who would take a week off to sell a beating like that. Today, he would have been back before the end of the show.

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.

Earlier today, Lawler was at his dentist’s office. That would of course be Isaac Yankem DDS, who would eventually become Kane. Lawler swears vengeance with Yankem (not shown yet) helping him along the way. The key here: Lawler says Yankem used to be a wrestler under a different name. That’s EXACTLY the kind of thing you never get and the simple key to make the whole story make sense.

Recap video of last night’s show.

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.

Todd Pettengill recaps last night’s show because we haven’t done that enough yet so far. Apparently this is supposed to make us want the encore, though you would think they might lower the price a bit when the ending could be spoiled by Raw. Anyway Sid walking out on the match (because SID is so cowardly) set up Sid vs. Diesel for the title at In Your House II in a lumberjack match.

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

You can hear the groans as soon as the throne makes its appearance. Mabel shouts about being the king and stomps away in the corner as the fans die more and more every second. A release northern lights suplex sends Kenny flying and Mabel throws him outside. Back in and Kenny’s comeback earns him a belly to belly for the pin.

Waylon Mercy is coming next week. He’s also a lifeguard this week.

Shawn declares Sid as all bark and no bite.

Hall of Fame recap eats up a good amount of time. It’s really strange to see this in a hotel instead of an arena like it is today. For reasons that aren’t clear, Bill Murray inducted George Steele from atop an elephant on the set of a movie called Larger Than Life. I actually saw that in theaters.

Intercontinental Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Savio Vega

Jarrett is defending of course. Roadie tries to get in a cheap shot from behind (therefore earning his pay), only to have Vega catch him coming in and knock Jeff down for his efforts. A slam sets up even more right hands before Jarrett accidentally knocks Roadie off the apron. There’s a clothesline to put Jeff on the floor next to his employee but Jeff stops to shout at Shawn on commentary for no apparent reason.

Back from a break with Jeff grabbing a swinging neckbreaker before Roadie adds in some choking on the middle rope. Jeff crotches himself on said rope though, allowing Vega to grab a belly to back suplex. A Rock Bottom plants the champ again but Vega has to dropkick Roadie, sending him into Shawn again. That triggers a fight between Shawn and Roadie, drawing Jarrett out to go after Shawn. For some reason that’s not a DQ but Roadie coming in and clotheslining Vega is.

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.

Shawn dances (sans shirt of course) on the announcers’ table until Jarrett and Roadie come out to yell some more to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Best show they’ve had in a few weeks but a lot of that is due to the lack of foot issues. Jarrett vs. Vega was fine enough and offered a nice break but there’s only so much you can do when you’re building towards Diesel vs. Sid AGAIN. They just have no idea what’s going on right now and the Mabel super push is going to make it even worse.

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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Monday Night Raw
Date: June 19, 1995
Location: Struthers High School, Struthers, Ohio
Attendance: 1,450
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

It’s finally the go home show for King of the Ring 1995 and it’s not a moment too soon. Last week was mostly built around Jerry Lawler’s feet and I’m really not sure how many more times I can sit through something like that. We might even get some build towards the tournament for a change. Let’s get to it.

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.

We look back at Bob Backlund destroying Man Mountain Rock’s guitar.

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.

King of the Ring control center with ANOTHER focus on Lawler’s feet. This really is the main event. Lawler torments Vince with the plastic feet and Bret says this is going to be a nice match against a slimeball. We wrap it up with a mention of the tournament with Razor Ramon’s injury being mentioned. It’s nice to have them actually tell you that a major name might be off the show. I can barely think of another instance in this era actually.

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.

Tatanka’s DDT just makes Fatu dance and you can see a lot of the Usos in there. It’s off to Sid so Fatu Moon Walks into the corner for the tag and the Headshrinkers knock Sid into trouble as well. A big clothesline turns Fatu inside out though to give us a signature bump and we take a break.

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.

Rating: D+. This was the dark days of the Headshrinkers as Fatu was kind of a Rikishi prototype and Sione never worked that well as a partner. There’s always room for a Samoan team and you can use them for jobbers in spots like this. The problem was that they were losing to Sid and Tatanka who were a pretty lame main event threat.

We look at Sid injuring Diesel’s elbow until Bigelow made the save. As a bonus, we get a recap of the entire build which really isn’t helping things out.

Diesel isn’t worried about his elbow injury and Bigelow says there’s a lot of positive energy. Vince doesn’t buy this, but to be fair almost no one bought King of the Ring.

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

We go to Lawler’s dungeon to see what he has planned to use on Bret, including something called the Fallbrett. Lawler is clearly having a blast with this, even though it’s such a stupid idea.

Buck Quartermaine vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

HHH is still undefeated at this point. Buck’s arm work goes nowhere so the announcers talk about the Kiss My Foot match again. Some right hands and chops have Buck (whose boots don’t match) in trouble in the corner, followed by the Pedigree for the pin.

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.

Overall Rating: D. There’s a reason these shows are so nearly universally hated. Whether the WWF agrees with it or not, the Kiss My Foot match is the real main event on Sunday instead of the main event tag match which isn’t doing anything for anyone. The company was in a horrible place at this point and it’s really not surprising that King of the Ring was such a disaster.

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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Monday Night Raw
Date: June 12, 1995
Location: Struthers High School, Struthers, Ohio
Attendance: 1,450
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

We continue down the long road to King of the Ring 1995 and it’s getting less scenic by the week. The main event this week is Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger in another King of the Ring qualifying match and hopefully it’s something that wasn’t taped a month in advance like last week’s Owen vs. Bulldog match. Let’s get to it.

We open with a Luger vs. Yokozuna video and Vince actually says Luger has the country in his corner. I doubt he has his crazy uncle Lou in his corner at this point. This gives us another clip of the Bodyslam Challenge but good night it’s amazing how far both of these guys have fallen in such a short amount of time. On top of that though, now I’ll have “I’ll Be Your Hero” in my head all day.

Cornette says Yokozuna will win.

Luger says he’ll win.

Opening sequence.

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

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Duane Gill

Gill grabs a headlock and let’s forget all that as Diesel calls in to talk about the King of the Ring tag match with Bigelow against Sid/Tatanka. More shots to Bigelow have no effect and a suplex sets up the headbutt to end a match that was WAY more one sided for Gill than you would have expected.

Waylon Mercy (WOOT!) has a caterpillar crawling on his arm. He enjoys worms like this but he doesn’t enjoy worms crawling on him. When he gets in the ring, he won’t like wrestlers crawling on him and they’ll get smushed just like this worm. This was basically Bray Wyatt twenty years ago.

The Smoking Gunns play Pogs. Well they’re called Mad Caps but they’re Pogs.

Kama vs. David Haskins

This is during the time where Kama melted down Undertaker’s urn to continue a horrible feud, which included the Creatures of the Night (Undertaker fans) at ringside. Kama easily takes him down and tells Haskins to get up. Eventually Kama helps him out with that endeavor and plants David with a belly to belly for the pin. Of note: Vince plugged Mr. Mom airing on USA later in the week. No connection to the match of course but that’s a funny movie.

Kama rips up the Undertaker fans’ wreath.

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.

We go back to the arena to see Lawler holding up a hideous plastic foot covered in scabs and blisters. He promises even worse for Bret at King of the Ring. They’re really talking about how horrible feet will be at a pay per view match.

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

Before the match, we get an awesome guitar solo from Rock. That’s far more entertaining than the match, which is a total squash with Rock winning with a Fujiwara armbar in less than a minute.

Hall of Fame report, including Antonino Rocca, Ernie Ladd, Ivan Putski, Fabulous Moolah, Pedro Morales the Grand Wizard and George Steele. It’s really just a listing of the inductees.

Bob Backlund knocks over Man Mountain Rock’s guitar and kicks it around in his quest against rock and roll. This turns into a rant against Rolling Rock and Frozen Tea before he attacks a cameraman.

Tekno Team 2000 vs. Mike Khoury/John Crystal

Tekno Team 2000 is comprised of Travis and Troy (Erik Watts) and are considered one of the worst teams ever as they didn’t exactly have a gimmick but kept their jobs for a long time anyway. Oh and they sucked. Like really sucked. Troy takes Mike down with ease to start before it’s off to Crystal who gets caught in an armbar. Khoury gets in a shot to Troy’s back but he clotheslines them down and brings Travis in. This isn’t exactly thrilling stuff in case you can’t tell. Travis hits a spinning high cross body for the pin on Mike.

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

Scott Anton (Scotty Riggs) of all people carries Luger’s American flag to the ring. Of all the people they could have gone with, they picked him to carry the flag? They stare each other down to start before Luger’s opening right hands actually fire the crowd up. It’s already off to the arm but Yokozuna sends Luger into the buckle. Lex rams him head first into the buckle over and over, which Vince thinks might make him LOCOzuna. Well done at actually making me groan out loud.

Yokozuna needs time to get back inside in a tease of Summerslam 1993 because we needed to think of that again. Back inside and a Mr. Fuji distraction lets Yokozuna pound Luger down as we take a break. As you might expect we come back to a chinlock before Yokozuna pulls him down by the hair. Luger makes his real comeback with the clotheslines, including the middle rope version to drop Yokozuna. Fuji beats up Anton though and steals the flag, only to have Luger take it right back. Yokozuna posts Lex and drops a leg, setting up the countout win. Well at least…..never mind actually as there’s no way to spin this for Luger.

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 finally get Lawler’s training video, which consists of him walking in horse manure. When does Nitro debut again?

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

Overall Rating: D-. This show is about disgusting feet. Not the World Title or the upcoming King of the Ring tournament, but about how disgusting Jerry Lawler’s feet are. How we’ve reached this point is beyond me but my goodness this is actually worse than I thought it was going to be. Horrible show here and I have a feeling it’s only going to get worse.

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