WWF Monday Night RAW – June 5th, 1995

June 5, 1995

From the Struthers High School in Struthers, OH

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

Tonight, Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog in a King of the Ring Tournament qualifying match. Also in action are Savio Vega, Skip, and Jean Pierre Lafitte plus an interview with Bret Hart.

The first thing we see before the show is the WWF Blimp flying above the “arena” according to Vince. Arena is a fancy term for High School auditorium. He tells us that Kerwin Silfies is flying the blimp. We then see Bob Backlund campaigning to a bunch of kids how without an education they will be slaves to the government. They film it close enough up to where you do not pan out to be recognized as a school.

The hosts run down the show. Lawler wants Bret to try to get into his face again as he vows to stick his foot down Bret’s throat while using other foot related puns.

Savio Vega vs. Kenny Kendall

Kendall misses a sneak attack and gets beaten down in the corner. Savio continues to hammer away as Vince refers to him as a “Caribbean Legend.” Lawler makes fun of Vega for having his first name cut into his hair as Kendall now takes control of the match. Kendall taunts the crowd after smacking Vega but that does not work out too well. Speaking of not working out to well they mess up a side slam spot so Vega instead lands a chop then an elbow smash. The crowd did not appreciate the snafu but soon after that Vega submits Kendall with a creative-looking stretch (2:04). The crowd appeared to like the finish, however.

Thoughts: The Vega character has had an unimpressive start but that didn’t stop Vince trying to push him as a Caribbean Legend. Not much mention of his team with Razor, however.

A Diesel music video airs.

After the video, we cut to Ted DiBiase flanked by Tatanka and Sid. They are in the locker room. DiBiase talks about Dr. Andrews being a world renowned surgeon who did a fine job but Diesel will need a hospital bed reserved for him after his match at King of the Ring. Tatanka says Diesel better call Andrews again while Sid talks about not having any remorse. This promo was rather poor and the feud itself continues to struggle.

Still to come, the interview with Bret Hart, Bulldog vs. Owen, and the Body Donnas RAW debut.

We see the Body Donnas backstage with Skip warming up by running up and down the stairs as Sunny says he doesn’t even need it and when he gets in the ring, it will be “no sweat.”

Barry Didinksy sells the King of the Ring t-shirt and plugs how you can now get it before the event airs. It costs $18 plus $3.95 for shipping and handling. He is also wearing the Backlund for President pin and stresses you cannot sell the pin itself but you get it for free with order of the shirt.

Skip w/ Sunny vs. Barry Horowitz

Before the match, Sunny tells the “fat, out of shape sorry excuses of human beings” in attendance they are getting a treat tonight by watching Skip wrestle. Skip does jumping jacks after a hip toss but that allows Horowitz to fight back. Horowitz hits a few arm drags and a slam as Vince wonders if Horowitz could win his first match on RAW. Skip retreats after a Horowitz dropkick then the crowd pops for Horowitz telling off Sunny. Skip reverses a gutwrench suplex and follows up with a flying knee smash. Sunny taunts the crowd as Skip drops an elbow. Horowitz comes back with a Thesz Press for a nearfall but runs into a clothesline. Skip hits a suplex as Lawler talks about how disgusting his feet will be for the PPV then Skip hits a flying leg drop for the win (2:41).

Thoughts: Good action while it lasted and it will not be the last we see of these two in 1995. The Skip character, however, is rather lame but Sunny’s charisma and looks cannot be denied.

King of the Ring Report with Todd Pettengill, who is no longer sporting a mullet. First round matches so far are Undertaker vs. Mabel, Shawn Michaels vs. Kama, Bob Holly vs. The Roadie, and the winner of tonight’s match against Razor Ramon.

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Owen Hart w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette vs. British Bulldog

This was taped on 5/14 where the “In Your House” PPV was filmed in Syracuse, NY with Jim Ross & Gorilla Monsoon as the announcers. Monsoon notes that Owen believes since he won the tournament last year that he should receive a first-round bye. Bulldog works the arm to start. He then catches Owen with a press slam for a two count then Owen rolls to regroup with Cornette. Back inside, Bulldog goes back to the arm. Owen escapes and drops Bulldog with an European uppercut but gets caught with a monkey flip. Bulldog goes back to the arm but Owen backs him into the corner. Owen rams his shoulder into the post after missing a charge then Bulldog hits a delayed vertical suplex after a delay for some reason then Bulldog applies a headlock. Owen escapes and catches Bulldog with a knee to the gut then stomps away. Owen hammers away and chokes out Bulldog with his foot. We go to break as the announcers act like its some sort of travesty then return with Owen decking Bulldog with a spinning heel kick. Jackknife cover gets two for Owen as Ross tells us there is a fifteen-minute time limit match and currently have under five minutes left. Owen brings Bulldog down with a sleeper as the announcers note the time-limit has not been a factor in any other qualifying match. Bulldog is able to keep his arm up after the third raise by the ref and hits Owen with a back suplex as both men are down. Bulldog takes Owen down with a sunset flip for two then Owen comes back with an enziguiri for two. Bulldog blocks a dropkick and slingshots Owen into the corner then uses ten turnbuckle smash. Fisherman’s suplex gets two now Bulldog tries the Romero special but the ref counts as Bulldog’s shoulders are on the mat. Bulldog stops then catches a float over from Owen and hits the running powerslam but Owen was able to get his foot on the rope to break the pin. Bulldog uses a small package for two as there is under one minute left. Crucifix gets two then Owen uses a small package for two that Bulldog reverses for a nearfall of his own. Bulldog blocks a piledriver then Owen turns that into a sunset flip for two. Owen then tries a backslide but the bell rings as its a time-limit draw (12:00 shown) **1/2. Gorilla then tells us that both men are now eliminated from the tournament as a result. We cut split-screen to RAW where Vince says that President Jack Tunney is trying to come up with another qualifier as we speak.

Thoughts: Same style as a house show time-limit draw match nonetheless still solid with a good sense or urgency at the end. Although, mentioning the time-limit stuff after the break gave away the finish. And why would you have a time-limit in a qualifying match to begin with? The crowd seemed dead and this was filmed after the PPV plus there was no prompting the fans about the time-limit over the PA from what I could hear. But now, last year’s winner Owen Hart will not have a chance to repeat but this loss was a way to protect him and build to a future Tag Team Title feud.

We are shown Lawler’s acceptance of Bret’s challenge from the 6/3 edition of “Superstars.”

Vince welcomes Bret to the ring. Bret talks about Lawler’s disturbing mind for coming up with this match stipulation. Vince asks Bret about the risk of this match as we go split screen again but this time to Lawler’s dirty feet. Bret says he will honor the match stipulation then talks about the past few weeks and how he cannot stop thinking of his loss at In Your House. Bret once again mentions how he let down his family and fans. Bret then wants Lawler to hear what he is about to say and promises to stick Lawler’s own dirty foot down his throat. Not much of a promo by Bret and we really did not need these closeups of Lawler’s foot on a split screen throughout the interview. Makes their whole feud seem dopey and quite frankly these guys have been feuding for close to two years now so you need a lot better than this to keep people interested.

Jean Pierre-Lafitte vs. Jerry Flynn

Flynn in his pre Lightning Foot days. We miss the entrance and shown the match right as the bell rings. Lafitte runs over Flynn after a fast-paced Irish whip sequence then works the arm. Flynn fights back and lands some kicks in the corner but gets dropped with a thrust kick. Flynn gets dumped outside and Lafitte flies out with a somersault plancha. Back inside, Lafitte hits a side slam as Vince tells us that the winner of next week’s Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger will advance to the King of the Ring tournament then Lafitte puts Flynn away with a cannonball (1:30).

Thoughts: Big news here is learning of Luger/Yokozuna next week in a KoTR qualifying match. Lafitte racks up another win but remains without any direction.

We go back outside and see the blimp in the dark as Backlund is still campaigning although no one else is around.

Next week in action are Bam Bam Bigelow, Man Mountain Rock, and the King of the Ring qualifying match. Lawler then promises to share his training video for his Kiss My Foot match.

Vince then asks Backlund if he will be here next week. Backlund goes off on a tangent after learning that Man Mountain Rock will be here next week and how his music is ruining today’s youth. Building to a Backlund/Man Mountain Rock confrontation as Backlund continues to be the crazy old man infuriated with today’s “new generation.”

Pettengill narrates a video package on the history between Luger and Yokozuna.

Final Thoughts: The qualifying match was the only thing decent as this show was just not any good. I don’t know why they had the qualifying match filmed at In Your House in front of a tired crowd though. The foot stuff with Lawler is just the shits, the newer characters are not clicking and the top feud in the company is also not any good as we are now less than three weeks from the PPV and nothing is intriguing.

Here is my schedule for next week:

Monday: WWF Nassau Coliseum 6/9/95

Tuesday: WWF Superstars 6/10/95

Wednesday: WWF Madison Square Garden 6/10/95

Thursday: WWF Challenge 6/11/95. WWF Action Zone 6/11/95

Friday: WWF Monday Night RAW 6/12/95

Saturday: WWF Anaheim, CA 6/17/95

Sunday: WWF Superstars: 6/17/95