What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 05.16.94

Todd Pettengill narrates a video package to hype tonight’s sumo match between Earthquake and Yokozuna.

Vince McMahon and Randy Savage commentate, concluding the taping in Burlington, Vermont.

Opening King of the Ring Qualifying Contest: Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) (15-2) pins Thurman Plugg (12-1-1) after a slingshot flying headbutt at 6:27:

McMahon and Savage throw in racing puns throughout, referencing time trials, yellow flags, and engines overheating. Vachon even gets in on the act, yelling at Plugg that he is a crash dummy. McMahon tries to get over Plugg’s resiliency, almost as a declaration of “I’m sorry but we needed to job you in this match.” Plugg’s comebacks remain bland but he does get some impressive hang time on a flying body press. After a decent back and forth match, Plugg is protected in defeat as Vachon trips him when he runs the ropes, Bigelow clotheslines Plugg when he refocuses, and then the big man wins with a slingshot flying headbutt. Bigelow will now face Razor Ramon in the first round of the King of the Ring Tournament. Rating: **

Todd Pettengill does The King of the Ring Report. He urges fans to make donations to the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The new story for the Roddy Piper-Jerry Lawler match is that Piper is donating a portion of his winnings to the hospital, not all of it.

Non-Title Match: Diesel (Intercontinental Champion) (11-0) pins Mike Moraldo after the Jackknife at 3:12:

Michaels’ absence is explained as him partying with celebrities like Sylvester Stallone and Demi Moore. When Diesel wrestled Moraldo three months ago he did not give him a Jackknife. He does this time after throwing Moraldo around the ring with ease.

A gas pump attendant claims to have seen the Undertaker going down the street in a hearse, causing him to accidentally get gas on himself.

Jerry Lawler says that it is going to be the greatest day of his life when he gets his hands on Roddy Piper at The King of the Ring. His insult material is thin, claiming Piper wears a “dress” to avoid military conscription.

After a commercial break, Ted DiBiase and Nikolai Volkoff are guests on the King’s Court. DiBiase does not take kindly to Volkoff repeating that he hates his guts. He unveils new gear that Volkoff will be wearing, which includes black and gold trunks that say “Property of the Million Dollar Man” on the back of them. The sides of the trunks have a cent symbol instead of a dollar symbol like DiBiase’s gear, which is a nice touch. The gear also includes a tuxedo-like shirt that has a big cent sign on the back. DiBiase makes Volkoff put them on while getting rid of his antiquated gear. Again, this angle is wasted on Volkoff. The audience barely reacted to it.

Owen Hart (18-0) defeats Tony Roy via submission to the Sharpshooter at 2:18:

The most entertaining part of the squash is Savage complaining about reading hype for the latest USA Network movie. After submitting Roy, Owen tells Bret Hart through the camera that he is going to beat him again to avenge what happened in childhood. Then, Owen picks Roy up and gives him a spinning heel kick, doing his post-match routine of putting the Hitman shades on Roy. He does a nice bit of putting back the shades and having them smack against Roy’s face.

Duke Droese is found sleeping in a dumpster. He talks about being ready to work. By the looks of things Droese could use some patronage from Ted DiBiase as well.

Sumo Match: Earthquake (17-0) beats Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) (8-2) at 5:58:

For this match the ropes and turnbuckles are removed and a wrestler must knock their opponent to the mat or the arena floor. Earthquake wears sumo gear, carrying his own salt bucket and sandals to the ring. There is three minutes of stalling before the combatants smash into each other. Like a worked boxing match it looks silly for anyone who has seen actual sumo wrestling. The crowd gets into it, though, chanting for Earthquake. Yokozuna ends up in a bad leverage position near the edge of the ring and Earthquake knocks him down to win, earning a good pop. Savage runs into the ring afterward to raise Earthquake’s hand in victory. This would be a good swan song for Earthquake, who quit the promotion at the time this episode aired because he was reportedly angry about having to do clean jobs to Yokozuna at house shows as well as the payoffs he was receiving for “B” house show main events. He would sign later in the year with WCW.

Tune in next week to see Earthquake face Owen Hart in a King of the Ring qualifying match!

The Last Word: The episode was fine for what it was. The sumo match got over with fans in the arena and the King of the Ring qualifier was perfectly acceptable wrestling. The King’s Court segment took way too much time, though. Since Roddy Piper is not going to show up until The King of the Ring that means Jerry Lawler is going to have to find some good material to keep that feud warm for another month.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for May 21!

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