What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night RAW – 12.12.94

Bob Backlund tells Doink the Clown that he has manipulated WWF fans for long enough. Doink rebuts that he respects Backlund but is prepared to counter his crossface chicken wing.

Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels handle commentary, live from Liberty, New York. This taping took place at Liberty High School and, according to thehistoryofwwe.com, drew a sellout crowd of 1,400 fans. Of course, the WWF bills the location as “Liberty Central.”

Opening Contest: Bob Backlund (13-2) beats Doink the Clown (w/Dink) (34-3) via submission to the crossface chicken wing at 12:24 shown:

Backlund did have a few clashes with the original Doink last year. This time the dynamic is different because the babyface-heel alignment is inverted and Matt Borne was much better at wrestling Backlund’s style of match than Ray Apollo. Dink comes out alone, enabling Doink to jump Backlund from behind. Doink does not do much with that, just doing a drop toe hold and not following up. After a length amateur sequence, Backlund works the arm and Doink gets a new fluke near-falls but they are not enough to keep the crowd with them. McMahon and Michaels talk about Michaels’ issues with Diesel, leading to Michaels suggesting that he may accompany Backlund to the ring for rematches against Big Daddy Cool. At the 11-minute mark, Doink has a brief comeback but misses an elbow drop. He blocks one crossface chicken wing but Backlund floats over a body slam attempt and locks it in for a victory. This match had good psychology but was just a glorified squash for Backlund, which is all it needed to be. Giving it as much time as it did was questionable. And again, Backlund’s style is dated to where newer fans would not rate this as highly. Rating: **½

Backlund refuses to break the hold for more than a minute after the bell. It takes several WWF referees to persuade him to do so.

Michaels plays WWF RAW as himself, pinning Diesel. Michaels got a horrible model in the game that barely looked like him. McMahon adds that there is a Coliseum Video coming out on Wednesday to provide strategies and secrets to the game.

Non-Title Match: Razor Ramon (Intercontinental Champion) (35-4-1) pins Mark Starr after the Razor’s Edge at 3:16:

Starr made his wrestling debut in Memphis in 1986, forming tag teams with Steve Keirn and his brother, Chris Champion. This led to stints on the Florida independent circuit and for various Japanese promotions, including Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) where he became the AWA World Light Heavyweight Champion for seven days. It was a bit ironic that Starr made his WWF debut on a show featuring Doink the Clown in the opening match as he also wrestled under that gimmick for the Las Vegas-based National Wrestling Conference (NWC) earlier in the year.

Like Chris Canyon it is surprising that the WWF did not sign Starr because both men looked better than most of the WWF’s enhancement crew. Interestingly, Starr and Kanyon would team up the following year in WCW as Men at Work. Starr unloads with fists and chops on Ramon in the corner but the champion shrugs them off. There is a botch when Ramon goes for the fallaway slam, crumpling to the canvas and unable to do the move. To play it off, Ramon sells the knee and McMahon talks about how Ramon hurt his knee a few days ago. Once things get back on the same page, Ramon does the super backdrop suplex and is still able to do the Razor’s Edge despite the knee.

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Irwin R. Schyster, with a couple of druids, is a guest on the King’s Court. There is a weird sidebar of talking about professional athletes not paying taxes on what they are now charging for autographs before IRS calls out the Undertaker as a tax cheat. IRS tells the Undertaker that he and his druids are coming to make him pay up. He adds that he has a lot of friends that would love to back him up against the Undertaker. Then, IRS hypes a match next week on Monday Night RAW with Lex Luger for getting involved after his match with Adam Bomb a few weeks ago. The crowd treated this with silence. There is just no interest for this Undertaker-IRS feud because the Undertaker has slaughtered giants for the last couple of years so IRS looks like easy pickings in comparison.

Aldo Montoya (4-0) defeats Nick Barberri after the reverse flying bulldog off the second rope at 2:38:

Montoya and Barberri try to do a series of reversals to start the match that is supposed to end with Barberri slung to floor out of a standing switch but Barberri just runs his face into the second rope instead. Montoya slows the match down with an armbar as Harvey Wippleman walks to the ring. McMahon announces that next week’s RAW will see Well Dunn & Wippleman team up to face the Bushwhackers & Howard Finkel. After a flying headscissors, Montoya dropkicks Barberri and earns another win with his convoluted finish.

After Finkel announces Montoya as the winner, Wippleman says that he is going to kick him out of the arena like a piece of garbage, shoving him into a chair. Finkel opts not to retaliate.

King Kong Bundy (w/Ted DiBiase) (11-0) pins Bob Knight after the Avalanche at 4:05:

Knight wrestled three matches for the WWF in 1992, losing to the Beverly Brothers, the Mountie, and the Undertaker.

Knight mugs for the camera like he is a legitimate star during ring introductions, so that is good for a laugh. It does not take long for Michaels to throw in a joke about Indiana basketball because McMahon keeps referring to the enhancement talent as “Bobby Knight.” Bundy thinks of going airborne but Knight intelligently rolls out of the ring to avoid it. In response, Bundy just tosses him back in and chokes a ton before winning.

Michaels marks out for Santa Claus walking to the ring. He is not happy when Santa gives him a replica of the WWF Women’s Championship belt.

Tune in next week to see Lex Luger face Irwin R. Schyster! Also, the Bushwhackers & Howard Finkel battle Well Dunn & Harvey Wippleman!

The Last Word: This was not a good start for the television taping as Bob Backlund and Doink the Clown took a relatively hot crowd and killed it and no other act was able to bring it back. Not even Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon got much of a reaction. At a time when the WWF was starting to have a worse box office for house shows, a televised product like this was not going to help.

Up Next: WWF Superstars for December 17!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1993 WWF, 1993-1995 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!