WWF Monday Night RAW – May 29th, 1995

Well, I finally have the time to continue these recaps. Its been a while but they should be daily going forward.

May 29, 1995

From the Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler

Before the credits, we see Jeff Jarrett in the ring (with The Roadie kneeling down in the corner) calling out the Undertaker ahead of their King of the Ring qualifying match. Jarrett stresses how he is not afraid but then the lights go out as Jarrett panics and asks for a flashlight.

We see Diesel, with his arm bandaged with a bag of ice on top while looking concerned as Vince tells us he just had surgery.

Also in action tonight are Sid and Hakushi (Lawler refers to Hakushi as his “sushi eating pal” which might or might not survive the Peacock edit of this broadcast). Plus, an interview with Alundra Blayze.

Sid w/ Ted DiBiase vs. Mike Khoury

Vince talks about Dr. James Andrews performing Diesel’s surgery and puts over how he has performed surgeries on NFL stars and even Lex Luger. Sid beats on Khoury in the corner and screams at him as we hear a chant for Diesel. Judging by the fans shown on hard cam sitting on their hands, gonna go with those chants being canned. Vince says that Diesel will return to action in several weeks as Sid hits a powerbomb for the win (1:20). After the match, Sid crawls over to Khoury and screams about no Diesel or Bigelow then puts Khoury’s face in the mat as he screams some more.

Thoughts: As usual, Sid’s facial expressions and presence were incredible. The action never mattered here as it was all about advancing the Sid/Diesel feud.

We are shown slo-mo clips of Sid using a powerbomb and chokeslam on Diesel during their match at “In Your House” to show how he injured his elbow. Well, in reality, it was during a dark match from this RAW taping, which took place on 5/15, where Diesel said that he hurt it after a double clothesline spot with Kama. After that, Dr. Andrews shows us the x-ray of the injury while describing the injury. He anticipates a “good” recovery while putting over Diesel for being an “excellent and intelligent” patient. We are then shown Diesel talking about Andrews being the top orthopedic surgeon in the country and how that belief is shared among the wrestlers. They really put over Andrews here as being the best in his field, which was accurate.

Backstage, The Roadie is trying to calm down Jarrett. However, Jarrett stresses he is not afraid despite appearing visibly anxious.

Adam Bomb vs. Bob Cook

Vince puts over a one-hour special of WrestleMania XI coming to “broadcast television” this coming Sunday. He is also “proud as a peacock” to present WrestleMania on broadcast TV for the first time ever. Both men trade hammerlocks until Bomb takes control of the match. Bomb works the arm as the announcers talk about Jarrett vs. Undertaker. Bomb uses a mat slam then hammers away as Lawler does the USA premiere movie read. Vince teases Lawler that Bret Hart is running out as Bomb stays in control before hitting a flying clothesline for the win (2:05). After the match, Bomb tosses out his “bombs” to the crowd.

Thoughts: This was all about hyping the WrestleMania XI special. The announcers barely even acknowledged Bomb and add that with the fact he was destroyed by Mabel in a KoTR qualifying match its safe to say that his midcard push is coming to an end.

King of the Ring Report with Todd Pettengill. We are shown a clip from “Superstars” where Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow accepted Ted DiBiase’s challenge of a match against Sid & Tatanka. After that, Pettengill asks Lawler if he will accept Bret’s challenge of a match where he can name the stipulation and venue. Lawler then says Bret doesn’t want to be beat and embarrassed again.

Hakushi w/ Shinja vs. John Snakowski

For some reason we have a lot of enhancement talent billed from Florida on this show. Wonder who drove the van? Snakowski has quite the gear. Lawler makes fun of Helen Hart for having “old-timers” disease. Shinja now opens up a sack and Hakushi pulls out a mannequin head made up to look like Bret. Hakushi chops down Snakowski as Vince puts over Bret vs. Hakushi from “In Your House” Hakushi hammers away in the corner and hits a pair of slams then follows that up with a Vader Bomb. Hakushi taunts the crowd as the announcers talk about Bret being embarrassed about losing to Lawler at “In Your House” after dedicating the match to her since it was Mother’s Day. Snakowski’s comeback attempt is cut off as Lawler makes more jokes about Helen then Hakushi uses a senton for the win (2:25).

Thoughts: Lots of jokes about Helen Hart on commentary courtesy of Lawler. Hakushi stuck to the basics here and did not do anything to stand out but Vince at least put over his match against Bret from the PPV. Hakushi is just a bit player in the Bret/Lawler feud.

Ivan Putski is the newest name announced for the WWF Hall of Fame during a brief video package Pettengill narrates. Pettengill adds that more inductees will be announced in the weeks to come.

Vince welcomes Alundra Blayze to the ring. Lawler makes fun of Blayze’s looks on commentary. He asks her about retaining the Women’s Championship the last time she was on RAW. However, she was then attacked by Bertha Faye. Alundra says she doesn’t know Faye but her nose was busted. Alundra is ready for Bertha and wants us all to know she is back in the WWF stronger than ever and promises to keep the title for a long, long time. Brief, basic promo by Blayze here but the reality was that she went away for cosmetic surgery as you could see her nose was still swollen. We can now get ready for a Blayze/Faye title match.

We get a video package for next week’s King of the Ring qualifying match between Owen Hart and the British Bulldog.

Men on a Mission vs. Gary Scott & Aaron Ferguson

Scott fires away on Mo then takes him down with a dropkick for a two count. Mo comes back with a clothesline as Vince says the Smoking Gunns want another shot at MoM. Mabel tags in as Vince reminds us that Mabel was the first person to qualify for the King of the Ring. Vince also talks about Bulldog lifting Mabel on his shoulders then talks up next week’s qualifying match. Mo tags in and quickly fights off Ferguson as Lawler makes more jokes about Helen. MoM work over Ferguson in the corner as Vince tells us the winner of tonight’s qualifier will face Mabel in the 1st round. MoM stay in control as Vince plugs the WWF Superstar Line then Mabel hits an avalanche before putting Scott away with a belly-to-belly suplex (3:46).

Thoughts: Longer than it needed to be with the focus on Mabel. Also, even more jokes about Helen Hart on commentary.

Back to Pettengill as he talks more about the King of the Ring PPV. And once again teases Lawler about Bret’s proposal.

Barry Didinsky is in the crowd showing us the new Undertaker shirt and Monday Night RAW hat. He is still awful at this job.

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Jeff Jarrett w/ The Roadie vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer

Vince once again brings up the WrestleMania special. Jarrett bails after avoiding an attack in the corner. Undertaker stalks him but gets stomped coming back into the ring. Undertaker fights back then chokes out Jarrett in the corner. Jarrett gets whipped into the corner a few times then Undertaker works the arm. Undertaker hits the ropewalk attack as Roadie is worried on the outside. Undertaker headbutts Jarrett after a hiccup then brushes off Roadie grabbing his leg and hits a slam. Jarrett avoids an elbow drop then sends Undertaker over the top rope with a clothesline. Undertaker landed on his feet and grabs Roadie by the throat but Jarrett attacks from behind. The crowd rallies behind Undertaker as Jarrett stomps away. Vince mentions Kama melting down the Undertaker’s urn into a gold chain as Jarrett hits a dropkick for two. Jarrett targets the back then hits a flying clothesline that barely gets a two count. Jarrett now targets the knee as Undertaker came up limping. We head to break and return as Jarrett continues to work over the knee. Jarrett now locks on the figure four as Roadie grabs his arms for leverage. The crowd is behind Undertaker then really gets into it when Bearer chases off Roadie on the outside. Undertaker gets on his feet and kicks Jarrett in the corner. Jarrett comes back with a corkscrew neckbreaker that looked terrible then goes up top with a fist drop. Jarrett struts around but does not see Undertaker sit up. Undertaker blocks a punch and hammers away before hitting a flying clothesline as both men are down. Undertaker is up first but still limping. Jarrett knees Undertaker and heads up top but Undertaker catches him by the throat and hits a chokeslam. Undertaker hits another chokeslam and limps around before signaling for the tombstone and hits that for the win (9:56 shown) **1/4. After the match, Roadie drags Jarrett outside as the lights go off with Vince talking about Undertaker/Mabel match in the 1st round.

Thoughts: The match told a good story that started from the beginning of the show with Jarrett pretending to not be afraid of Undertaker. And the crowd was hot for The Undertaker. However, these two had some timing issues in the ring and the part where Undertaker all of a sudden hurt his knee before it was worked over by Jarrett felt convoluted. Still, the best qualifying match to date.

We go to the announcers after the break as Vince asks Lawler if he has accepted Bret’s challenge. Lawler gets upset and gives a non answer.

Next week in action are Savio Vega, Man Mountain Rock, and the Owen/Bulldog qualifying match.

Bob Backlund gives us another presidential campaign ad. He is worried about the music youth of today listen to and will require them to listen to classical music to improve their intlligence unlike rock n’ roll, which he says attributes to the high crime rate. A shorter segment than usual but more of the same with diminishing returns.

Final Thoughts: The main event was fun enough but the rest of the show did not click. The Helen Hart jokes became quite tiresome and the stuff about Diesel’s surgery was fine but the feud with Sid has been struggling a bit after the bad match at In Your House. Next week though we get another qualifying match as the PPV is just a few weeks away.

Here is my schedule for the rest of the week:

Tuesday: WWF Superstars 6/3/95, WWF Wrestling Challenge 6/4/95

Wednesday: WWF Action Zone 6/4/95

Thursday: WWF Monday Night RAW 6/5/95

Friday: WWF Nassau Coliseum 6/9/95

Saturday: WWF Madison Square Garden 6/10/95

Monday: WWF Superstars 6/10/95, WWF Challenge 6/11/95