Monday, February 13, 2023

Monday Night Raw 1-2-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, January 2nd, 1995
Liberty Central
Liberty, New York

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Jeff Jarrett and Roadie say that he's going to have a special musical performance here tonight. Let me tell you, there's no better way to kick off 1995 than with the 4th episode in a taping from December. Surprisingly, it's Gorilla Monsoon with Shawn Michaels this week. Vince is supposedly under the weather. I thought he never got sick? They are clearly in front of a green screen here. 

Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka vs. Lex Luger & British Bulldog

I guess this is technically the debut of the Allied Powers. Bam Bam and Tatanka attack Luger as his fireworks are going off and before Bulldog was even introduced. Bulldog comes out and they're able to fight them off enough to get the match started. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really didn't dislike Luger in 1994. I really felt like they should have done more with him. Luger goes on the offensive, but runs into an illegal knee from Tatanka as he's running the ropes. Not to sound like Gorilla here, but Tatanka doesn't look to be in quite as good of shape here as he was earlier in 1994. We go into a commercial break and Bulldog has still not been in the match. He does finally get the hot tag and gets Tatanka up for the running powerslam and hits it. DiBiase pulls the leg of Tatanka and out of the ring. They start brawling on the outside and we have ourselves a double countout. The bell is ringing, but they are all still going at it as we head to Todd Pettengill. The match was pretty pointless with the finish.

Match Rating: *1/2

It's time for a Royal Rumble Report. Todd even makes fun of the finish of that match. Now Todd is sick of football and then starts doing Wayne's World impersonations for Pamela Anderson. Todd is off to very Todd start to '95. Todd then tells us that he's getting word that the match we just saw will continue even though there is nothing in his ear to tell him that. 

Roadie is shown setting up some equipment. 

Duke Droese vs. Mike Bell

Roadie is still setting stuff up as Droese walks down the cafeteria aisle. Droese hits a powerslam as Gorilla tells us that next week we will be live from The Summit in Houston for the 2nd anniversary of Raw. Droese hits the Trash Compactor and picks up the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get the Kama vignette from Superstars. Roadie is getting more equipment ready for Jarrett's performance tonight. 

It's time for King's Court and tonight's guest is Owen Hart. It's January (well, not really) and we're still talking about Bret losing the title to Bob Backlund (who isn't champion). It's definitely time to move on from this storyline for Owen. He eventually goes on to say that he'll win the Intercontinental Championship and Royal Rumble. This was pretty pointless and I say that as someone who loves Owen. 

Next week at Raw it will be Owen Hart vs. Razor Ramon and Harvey Wippleman will face Howard Finkel in a tuxedo match. 

Jeff Jarrett vs. Buck Quartermaine

The whole Roadie gimmick does make Jarrett more entertaining. Jarrett snaps Buck's neck on the top rope and then hits a top rope clothesline. Jarrett hits a swinging neckbreaker and a back body drop. Jarrett props Buck on the top rope and hits a superplex before slapping on the Figure Four for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

The Roadie slides in a guitar and sets up a microphone while Jarrett celebrates his victory. Jarrett does a bunch of mic checks and has Roadie adjust it. The microphone accidentally gets knocked over and now Jarrett is ready to debut. They dim the lights and he asks for a spotlight that never comes. They get some feedback and Gorilla is wondering where Kevin Dunn is when you need him. Is that the first on air mention of Dunn? The feedback continues and Jarrett leaves upset. 

Gorilla now brings us to Super Dave Osborne. He has a new show in Las Vegas and they show a clip of him arguing with some fake credit that leads to his bodyguard punching him in his face. They then show him crashing through an entrance. Apparently his show is debuting on USA, which is the point of this interview.

Tatanka & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lex Luger & British Bulldog

We join this match in progress for the restart. The heels are dominating Luger again, so it's basically the same match as earlier. Luger ducks a double clothesline and hits one on Bam Bam but Tatanka ducked it despite selling it. Bulldog gets his second hot tag of the night and hits dropkicks on both opponents. He follows that up with body slams, but Bam Bam makes the save on the pin attempt. Luger clotheslines Bam Bam out of the ring and then Bulldog throws Tatanka into Bam Bam on the apron. That's enough for Bulldog to pick up the victory, which is kind of surprising. After the match, DiBiase is furious at them for losing, with most of the anger directed at Bam Bam. This was basically just a match, again.

Match Rating: *1/2

This was not a great way to start off 1995. There was no energy to this show and it just felt like they were filling air. Next week is live from a big arena, so hopefully it's got a little bit more life to it. 

Overall Rating: 39%

No comments:

Post a Comment