What the World Was Watching: Monday Night RAW – February 6, 1995

–Vince McMahon gives a recap of last week’s show where King Kong Bundy needed interference from the Million Dollar Corporation to beat Mabel in a “mini Royal Rumble” match. Tonight Mabel looks to settle the score in a six man tag.

–Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are doing commentary and they are still taped from Palmetto, Florida.

–Opening Contest: King Kong Bundy, Tatanka & IRS (w/Ted DiBiase) defeated Men on a Mission & Lex Luger (w/Oscar) when Bundy pins Luger after a Tatanka DDT at 11:27 shown:

The ongoing feud between Luger and Tatanka is the focal point of this bout, with Tatanka fleeing the ring when Luger tags in. Ted DiBiase also fails to appear with his men when the match begins but then shows up mid-match for reasons that are not explained. Although the company wants to protect Bundy, this match exposes him as his strikes do not look grisp and he moves too slowly around the ring. Still, Bundy gets the winning pin over Luger when Tatanka takes advantage of the six-way brawl to hit Luger with a DDT and give the Million Dollar Corporation a victory. It looks like Luger will get his revenge on The Action Zone, where he is booked to face Tatanka one-on-one. This bout never built a good flow and the heel beatdown on Mo, who was in peril for much of the match, was boring. Rating: ½*

–Man Mountain Rock is coming!

–Bobby Cupo, Lawrence Taylor’s agent, announces that Lawrence Taylor accepts the WWF’s apology for the actions of Bam Bam Bigelow at The Royal Rumblebut still wants one from Bigelow. Taylor does not wish to be a professional wrestler and if Bigelow keeps goading him he warns that his team will seek a legal remedy.

–Man Mountain Rock plays a solo in the ring to the delight of McMahon, who shouts that he is “getting’ down.” Michaels cracks a nice joke by telling McMahon to stop the headbanging or else “the rug on his head will fly off.”

–Man Mountain Rock pins Charlie Hunter after the Wallapalooza at 2:47:

This is Rock’s debut after weeks of vignettes heralded his arrival. The gimmick mirrors what Rock was doing in WCW as Maxx Payne, although this time he is wearing a tie dye shirt and pants. Michaels proceeds to make fun of that on commentary. After dropping what seems like a zillion elbows, Rock hits an inverted suplex – the Wallapalooza – for the win.

–McMahon and Michaels narrate footage from the recent episode of The Action Zone where Diesel successfully defended the WWF title against Owen Hart.

–A pretaped segment sees McMahon interview Diesel, who discusses his nine knee operations and how that appears to be the scouting report to beat him after wrestling Bret and Owen Hart. McMahon recaps Diesel’s attendance at various sporting events, including the upcoming NBA All-Star Game and Diesel says that he wants a piece of Shawn Michaels soon.

–Michaels says that he will announce his bodyguard choice on the February 20 edition of RAW.

–Mantaur (w/Jim Cornette) (5-0) beats Leroy Howard after a belly-to-belly suplex at 3:46:

Howard was a long-time enhancement talent for the WWF and WCW in the 1990s and he gets two offensive flurries against Mantaur, which is usually something that you do not see in a squash. In a sign that WrestleMania tickets are not selling as quickly as they could, McMahon once again hypes the phone number people need to call to obtain them despite the fact that he warned last week that the event would soon be sold out. Mantaur is not someone that needs to be in four minute squash matches as this match got repetitive by the two minute mark.

–Razor Ramon (3-1) defeats Frank Lancaster after a Razor’s Edge at 3:45:

Lancaster was another enhancement talent that made a small career in the WWF and WCW by doing an excellent job selling his opponent’s offense, especially their punches. In this match he makes it look like Ramon knocked him silly in the corner with a right hand. Ramon earns an easy win here, renewing his momentum after dropping the Intercontinental title to Jeff Jarrett at The Royal Rumble.

–Henry Godwinn (3-1) pins Billy Weaver after a Slop Drop at 2:21:

Godwinn departs from his usual yellow color scheme, wearing a black shirt under his overalls. This causes him to look really generic and unimpressive. The crowd is really getting burned out on the tapings by this point, with the crowd being very disinterested in Godwinn winning his fourth match of the year.

–Michaels announces that he is done with color commentary duties. The rumor at the time was that Jesse Ventura would be making a comeback, but it came out later that WCW lied about that on its hotline.

–RAW is being preempted for the Westminster Dog Show next week but when it returns on February 20 we will have champion versus champion when WWF Champion Diesel defends his title against Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett! Bam Bam Bigelow will also be competing after the completion of his suspension!

The Last Word: The company has a lot of big wrestlers in it right now between King Kong Bundy, Mantaur, Mabel, Man Mountain Rock, and Yokozuna. The problem with putting four of those five men on the same show is that they are less unique, especially when they share a lot of the same “big man” offense in their squash matches. This was a dull episode, but that happens near the end of a taping cycle as the company prepares for another live show. It was funny to hear McMahon continually deride the fact that RAW was being sidelined “for the dog show” throughout the broadcast, though.

Up Next (on Tuesday): WWF Superstars from February 11, 1995!