What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 08.15.94

There is a recap of last week’s events between Lex Luger and Tatanka.

Vince McMahon and Randy Savage commentate, live from Lowell, Massachusetts. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, 2,300 fans attended the show.

Opening Contest: The 1-2-3 Kid (14-4-1) defeated Owen Hart (w/Jim Neidhart) via disqualification when Neidhart interferes at 9:52 shown:

These two pick up where they left off at The King of the Ring, wrestling at a fast pace for the first minute. There is some sloppiness as the Kid does not complete a crucifix and later Owen delivers a back suplex where the Kid falls on top of his head but the Kid sells like he took more damage. This is forgiven by the Kid exciting the crowd by baseball sliding Owen into Neidhart and body pressing Owen on the arena floor. Not to be outdone, Owen does an insane suplex reversal when the Kid tries to send him inside and that takes the Kid from the ring to the floor. That injures the Kid’s back so Owen focuses his offense there until he misses a flying knee drop. The Kid turns the tables to work Owen’s knee, avoiding an enzuigiri he took earlier to trap Owen in a half Boston crab. Owen seems like he is trapped, making no move to the rope, so to save him Neidhart charges in and clotheslines the Kid, causing Owen to suffer his first singles loss as a heel. The ending was a shame but this was a really fun match with a great mix of wild aerial spots and psychology. Rating: ***¾

It takes a while for the bell to ring. After it does, Owen and Neidhart double team the Kid and Owen applies the Sharpshooter. Neidhart tosses referee Earl Hebner across the ring and Owen refuses to release the hold despite several WWF officials entering the ring.

Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz moves through the crowd with a sign that reads “I’m on Strike!” A taped interview earlier in the night airs where Schwartz tells the crowd that the owners and players are not responsible for the Major League Baseball strike. Instead, fans are to blame. The promo was not good and it seemed like a disguised rant by McMahon.

Duke Droese (12-0) pins Nick Barbery after the corkscrew elbow drop at 1:25 shown:

The squash is joined in progress after a commercial break. It is another quick, low-key win for the trash man, who has lost his house show program against Jerry Lawler.

Ted DiBiase joins the announce desk. He doubts that Leslie Nielsen can find the answer to the Undertaker controversy.

Call 1-900-454-SLAM to vote for whether you think Lex Luger has sold out! Calls cost $1.49 for the first minute and 99 cents for each additional minute on the SummerSlam Hotline.

Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) (18-4-1) pins Tony Roy after the spinning heel kick in 46 seconds:

DiBiase argues that he will be in Lex Luger’s corner when Luger faces Crush on Sunday Night Slam this weekend. Once he completes his rant, Kwang hits his finisher on Roy to win in less than a minute.

DiBiase and Paul Bearer are guests on the King’s Court. Bearer accuses DiBiase of tarnishing the Undertaker’s name, arguing that his Undertaker will destroy DiBiase’s version at SummerSlam. DiBiase has the Fake Undertaker come into the ring. The WWF is not even trying to maintain the illusion now as they do not dim the lights when the Fake walks out. Bearer repeats what he told DiBiase to the Fake, so the Fake chokes Bearer. The lights go out, allowing Bearer to escape and proclaim that his Undertaker’s presence is in the arena. There is a small pop for that but fans are disappointed the real Undertaker did not show.

Mabel (w/Oscar) (12-1) defeats Raymond Roy after a flying elbow drop off the second rope at 2:31:

Oscar fails trying to get the crowd to chant “Monday night is gonna get raw.” McMahon prefers to talk about the Undertaker feud more than the Mabel clash with Jeff Jarrett. Mabel slowly works over Roy before finishing with a big fat elbow drop off the second rope. Afterward, Oscar tries to get his rap over but fails again.

Jeff Jarrett (24-5-1) beats Scott Taylor via submission to the figure-four leglock at 1:51:

Taylor manages a few fluke near-falls from a sunset flip and small package but is ineffective otherwise. He sells his right knee after missing a reverse flying body press off the second rope and Jarrett targets the body part for a submission win.

After Jarrett’s win, his theme music stops and Mabel and Oscar come out, with Oscar doing another rap about how Jarrett will lose at SummerSlam. The crowd is more willing to play along with “Whoomp there it is!” than what Oscar was doing earlier. WWF officials prevent Mabel from getting into the ring.

McMahon announces that Sunday Night Slam will also feature Heidi Lee Morgan vs. Bull Nakano and a special interview with Bret Hart. Fans can also call in for 30 minutes and ask whatever they want of McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

The Last Word: The 1-2-3 Kid-Owen Hart match was better than their King of the Ring encounter since they were given more time to tell a story. It is surprising that Owen took a loss two weeks before wrestling for the WWF Championship, though. The rest of the broadcast was flat as the Undertaker program has no more juice in it and no one cares about Kwang, Duke Droese, and the Mabel-Jeff Jarrett feud.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for August 20!

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