What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 12.05.94

Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are in the booth, still taped from Poughkeepsie, New York. Michaels gets an entrance but does not say much when he gets the microphone to start the show.

Opening Contest: Jeff Jarrett (w/Unnamed Second) (37-7-1) beats the British Bulldog (9-0) via count out at 12:03 shown:

The unnamed second with Jarrett was Brian Armstrong, a former U.S. Marine who was part of the famous Armstrong wrestling family. Trained by his father, he debuted in 1986 for NWA Southeast Wrestling. Obligations to the Marine Corps caused him to go in and out of wrestling for WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the early 1990s, used in an enhancement capacity in both promotions. He was signed by the WWF after a tryout match in August, given a gimmick of being a gofer for Jarrett.

Jarrett’s tights are awful, with gold stars on black gear and then yellow tassels on the sides and over his nether region. Jarrett stalls early and his second creates a barrier between he and the fans on the guardrails. No interference is necessary to give Jarrett the advantage as Jarrett crotches the Bulldog on the top rope and superplexes him off. Michaels has some fun digs on the Bulldog, arguing that the Bulldog knocked himself out at Survivor Series and that going to sleep in a Jarrett sleeper hold is normal behavior because the Bulldog slept through the pay-per-view. Michaels also dings the fisherman’s suplex as a finisher in a jab at Mr. Perfect, who was angling for a job in WCW. While there are spurts of good action, much of the bout is choppy as Jarrett grabs a rest hold after a few moves. The Bulldog starts a comeback after doing an inverted atomic drop, leading to Jarrett taking a powder after some clotheslines. The Bulldog follows Jarrett and puts him in a gorilla press position, throwing Jarrett back into the ring. However, the unnamed second, who is underneath the ring, grabs the Bulldog’s leg so he cannot re-enter and Jarrett gets a cheap win. Rating: **

The 1-2-3 Kid (24-5-1) beats Barry Horowitz with a cradle at 2:52:

The announcers put over the potential of a Kid tag team with Aldo Montoya. Horowitz looks good on offense, getting near-falls from a leg drop and a half nelson cradle. He cannot avoid the Kid’s spinning heel kicks, though, and gets pinned.

There is an announcement that next week’s RAW will feature Doink the Clown against Bob Backlund. The announcement is voiced by Stephanie Wiand, who would make her debut as a new host on WWF Mania, delivered as a gift from Santa to Todd Pettengill.

Footage of the new WWF RAW game shows Shawn Michaels beating up the 1-2-3 Kid. Michaels acts like he does his spinning dropkick mega move in his matches.

Kwang (w/Harvey Wippleman) (25-5-1) pins Scott Taylor after the spinning heel kick at 2:55:

After the match starts, Wippleman throws pieces of paper at ring announcer Howard Finkel, reheating a feud that was dropped in April. Wippleman keeps ripping into Finkel as Kwang earns a victory over Taylor for the third time this year. Fans in attendance do not care about anything he does.

The Action Zone will have a feature match this week as it is announced that Lex Luger will face Owen Hart.

Jerry Lawler does a King’s Court with a “very important guest.” McMahon assumes it will be WWF Champion Diesel but after Lawler makes fun of some women in the crowd he welcomes Michaels into the ring. Michaels takes credit for Diesel’s success, arguing that he will dismantle him. The content of the promo was fine but fans were not into what Michaels was saying. The feud does not feel like a main event program out of the gate.

Footage of Bob Holly racing in the Snowball Derby is shown. It is revealed that he crashed in the race and did not finish.

McMahon tells fans that Hakushi will be coming to the WWF from Japan.

Harvey Wippleman takes the microphone from Howard Finkel to announce his own team. Wippleman bills himself as “Handsome Harvey Wippleman.” Finkel stands in the corner and fumes.

Well Dunn (w/Harvey Wippleman) (5-3) defeat the Bushwhackers (15-2) when Steven Dunn pins Luke after a knee to the back at 5:05:

These teams have had a house show program that has not been discussed on television. McMahon relays an announcement from WWF President Jack Tunney that there will be a Superstars exclusive tournament to crown new Tag Team champions and the finals will take place at The Royal Rumble. The participating teams will be announced on this week’s episode. As expected, this match is terrible as the Bushwhackers move like they are stuck in quicksand and their offense looks too soft to be believable. Butch prevents Luke from getting pinned after a Steven Dunn flying forearm and then receives the hot tag after Luke kicks Timothy Well in the face when Well puts his head down too early for a backdrop. The Bushwhackers knock Well out of the ring with the Battering Ram but fail to do it to Dunn. That leads to a trademark Bushwhacker finish as Wippleman trips Luke, Dunn knees Luke in the back, and then covers him for the win. Afterward, Finkel tries to convince referee Earl Hebner that Wippleman cheated, leading to a shoving match between the two. The decision is not reversed despite Finkel’s efforts. Rating: ½*

When the show returns from commercial, Bob Backlund is with McMahon and Michaels. Backlund says he hates clowns, which have no place in his society, and that Doink the Clown will be exterminated next week. Michaels enhanced some of this by making funny facial expressions as Backlund talked.

Tune in next week to see Doink the Clown wrestle Bob Backlund!

The Last Word: A selling point for next week’s episode is to tune in and see Bob Backlund kill Doink the Clown. That might work for older fans who hated what the gimmick turned into after Matt Borne was fired. This episode started okay with the Jeff Jarrett-British Bulldog match, giving Jarrett a helping hand that may aid in his quest for the Intercontinental Championship. But when the Bushwhackers and Well Dunn is the next best thing that the WWF can offer, it brings down the show.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for December 10!

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