What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – January 3, 1994

Vince McMahon and Johnny Polo are doing commentary, taped from Poughkeepsie, New York. This episode was part of a taping on December 13. Polo is part of a series of guest commentators that have been used since Bobby Heenan left the WWF after the December 6 episode.

Opening Non-Title Contest: Yokozuna (WWF Champion w/Mr. Fuji) pins Dan Dubiel after the Banzai Drop at 3:52:

Yokozuna became the WWF’s biggest heel, literally and figuratively, in 1993. He won the Royal Rumble and defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania IX. Although Hulk Hogan beat him minutes later, Yokozuna avenged that defeated at The King of the Ring, beating Hogan with his own leg drop. After the win, Yokozuna defended the title at house shows against Hart, with the two drawing the largest WWF house show crowd of the year to Anaheim, California on August 21 for a steel cage match. He was plugged into a feud with Lex Luger, who turned babyface after body slamming him aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid on July 4, but retained after losing via count out at SummerSlam. Since Luger could only receive that title shot, Yokozuna feuded with the Undertaker throughout the fall in a cycle of house show matches that drew good crowds. The feud became prominent on television at Survivor Series when the Undertaker recovered from Yokozuna’s big moves in the All Americans-Foreign Fanatics elimination match and the two eliminated themselves fighting outside of the ring. That led to the two being booked to face off in a casket match at The Royal Rumble, a stipulation that Paul Bearer allegedly sneaked into the fine print underneath the nose of Yokozuna’s American spokesperson, Jim Cornette.

Dubiel was trained by longtime WWF enhancement talent Mike Sharpe, entering the business in 1991. He started doing WWF enhancement matches in 1992 and was featured 12 times. One likely unintentional booking choice was for him to face Shawn Michaels on television before and after Michaels was suspended.

Polo says that Yokozuna is “dope,” having to explain to McMahon what the terms means. The champion ignores the crowd’s “USA” chants, throwing more slaps and kicks than doing actual moves. Dubiel takes a hard Banzai Drop at the end as Yokozuna comes down with his full weight. There is a rumor that Dubiel disrespected Fuji backstage and Yokozuna took it out on him in the ring. After Yokozuna does the move, he sits on Dubiel’s chest for a prolonged period and referee Jack Doan tries to get Yokozuna to get up but Yokozuna does not heed his commands. Dubiel seems to be in pain or at least discomfort as he is verbally telling Doan something with Yokozuna on his chest.

After showing Lex Luger’s victory over Jacques on Superstars, a sit-down interview between McMahon and Luger airs. He thanks fans who have phoned in to vote for him so he can get a chance to compete in the Royal Rumble. Luger argues that he should be in the Rumble because Yokozuna may not be the champion by WrestleMania were he to win the Rumble. This was one of Luger’s best segments since SummerSlam as he seemed into what he was talking about instead of going through the motions.

The Smoking Gunns beat Bam Bam Bigelow & Bastion Booger (w/Luna Vachon) via count out at 8:16 shown:

The Gunns, kayfabed cowboy brothers Billy and Bart, entered the WWF in the spring of 1993. They won both of their pay-per-view matches, teaming with the Steiner Brothers to beat Money Incorporated and the Headshrinkers at The King of the Ring and teaming with Tatanka to beat Bam Bam Bigelow and the Headshrinkers at SummerSlam, but they seemed stuck like many other teams in the division because the WWF ignored developing feuds outside of the Tag Team title scene. As a result, the Gunns spent time facing the Headshrinkers – and often losing – on house shows and were also getting Tag Team title matches against the Quebecers by the end of the year. They did not get the best reactions from the crowds but had good energy in the ring, so one could see them as possible champions down the road.

Even though Bigelow had a good run in 1993 one could say that it could have been better. He beat the Big Bossman at The Royal Rumble and was supposed to face Kamala at WrestleMania but the match was shelved because of time constraints. In the spring he was paired with Luna Vachon, who was cast as his love interest, and the two feuded with Tatanka and Sensational Sherri, a program that became exclusive to Bigelow and Tatanka after Sherri was fired in July. As that went on, Bigelow reached the finals of the King of the Ring Tournament, beating Typhoon to qualify and scoring a rare clean pin over Hacksaw Jim Duggan in the first round before getting pinned by Bret Hart. The momentum from the tournament did not vault Bigelow into the upper midcard, though, as he had a long, inconclusive feud with Tatanka and was plugged into a new feud with Doink the Clown after SummerSlam after Doink pranked the couple. Bigelow assembled a team of he, Booger, and the Headshrinkers to battle Four Doinks at Survivor Series but his team was knocked out in a sweep, unable to deal with the unorthodox hijinks of the Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission. So even though Bigelow had the mic skills, look, and ability to be a main event player, fans lowered some of their evaluation of him as he was feuding with a comedy character going into 1994.

Bigelow’s speed and agility as a big man make Booger look terrible by comparison. There is a scary spot after a commercial break where Booger holds down the top rope as Bart charges him and Bart decides to fly through the middle rope than go over the top. Bart spends some time in peril and Bigelow bumps like a madman for the Gunns after the hot tag. As all of that happens, Booger is getting his hump rubbed by Vachon. He takes that as a sign of affection and comes onto Vachon, kissing her. She slaps him in response but he does not take no for an answer, hugging her close as Vachon does a great job looking disgusted with her facial expressions. Bigelow appears to miss his cue to break it up earlier so they have to repeat the hugging bit some more until Bigelow comes to his senses, sees what happens, and starts fighting with his tag team partner, getting counted out in the process. The match fell apart after the Booger-Vachon interaction began on the floor but was decent before that. Rating: *½

After the match, officials pour out of the locker room to separate Bigelow and Booger. In a nice touch, Vachon also gets involved, punching Booger over her man.

Jeff Jarrett pins John Crystal after the DDT off the ropes at 3:03:

Jarrett arrived in December after a seven-year run in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) that his father, Jerry, co-owned. He had some good vignettes as a country music singer who wanted to use the WWF as a platform to get into the music business but for some reason the WWF did not give him a ring attire that reflected his gimmick. Instead of wearing a cowboy hat or having a guitar, Jarrett wore neon colors, tassels, and a bandana to the ring. Announcers tried to say that this made Jarrett eccentric but fans were confused and they were not reacting much to the new star.

The squash is a chance for McMahon and Polo to hype the Royal Rumble. Crystal surprises Jarrett with a sunset flip and then avoids a blind charge to hit a powerslam for a near-fall. However, Crystal puts his head down too early after an Irish whip and Jarrett hits a DDT off the ropes.

After showing footage of Polo beating Marty Jannetty on last week’s show Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid come to ringside. Jannetty issues a challenge to Polo for the Quebecers to defend the Tag Team titles on next week’s program. Polo is reluctant to accept but gets goaded to do it when Jannetty and the Kid ask if he is scared or does not have confidence in his team.

Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) (1-0) pins Brian Walsh after the piledriver at 5:17:

Walsh was a Killer Kowalski trainee who had been wrestling since 1985. He worked for the USWA in 1986 and wrestled in different European promotions in the 1990s. In 1993 he wrestled in three matches, losing to Adam Bomb, the 1-2-3 Kid, and the Quebecers.

This is the first time that Diesel has been at Michaels’ side since Michaels returned from suspension. Jacques calls in during the match, okay with Polo signing them up to face Jannetty and the Kid because he and Pierre are fighting champions. There is a lot of good action early as Michaels generously gives Walsh some offense and the crowd bites on a backslide near-fall. Walsh also gets a schoolboy roll up later for a near-fall, giving Michaels a sense of urgency to win, which he does after a superkick and piledriver.

Tune in next week to see a celebration of the first year of Monday Night RAW! WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecers defend against Marty Jannetty & the 1-2-3 Kid! Also, Bam Bam Bigelow faces Bastion Booger!

The Last Word: This was a good show for several reasons. First, Johnny Polo had good chemistry with Vince McMahon in a “young man-old man” way which helped to make the squash matches fun. Second, the show had some good segments to build interest and matches for next week’s show, which commemorates the first year that RAW was on the air. It also had Lex Luger’s best segment in months. The latter will probably not be enough to turn things around, though, as many fans have an “eh” attitude concerning whether Luger gets to wrestle in the Royal Rumble or not.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for January 8!

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