Monday, April 24th, 1995
Omaha Civic Auditorium
Omaha, Nebraska
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We get a recap of Bam Bam Bigelow's rough start to 1995.
Smoking Gunns vs. Barry Horowitz & Brooklyn Brawler
The legendary jobber team of Brawler and Horowitz here with us tonight. The Gunns hit the double side Russian leg sweep on the Brawler. I would love to figure out the travel schedule here back in the day. Raw has a much better energy live in front of a much bigger crowd than normal for Raw. The Gunns hit a variation of a double team neckbreaker for the easy victory.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We go back to Ted DiBiase and Bam Bam Bigelow. Bam Bam says that he's bringing the jewel to the Corporation tonight. Bam Bam has a black eye here, but he doesn't let us know how he got it when asked by Vince
Vince and Lawler talk to Diesel real quickly about his match with Bam Bam tonight. He said he promised to be a fighting champion and Bam Bam wanted a match, so he's got it.
Bertha Faye vs. La Pantera Serena
Bertha has upbeat music here rather than her slow love ballad that she'll eventually have. A lot of her offense is very telegraphed. Serena gets a few small opportunities and it leads to a botched spot from the top rope that even Vince calls a "miscommunication", which seems like a botch in its own right. This all leads to them talking about Duckman. Bertha hits a sit down powerbomb and for some reason that's not it. She hits a press slam and falls on her for the victory. As far as debuts go, this was a bit of a flop. It was too long and was sloppy.
Match Rating: 1/4*
It's time to go to Todd Pettengill for the In Your House Report. Have you seen the price of popcorn lately? No new matches are announced here and lots of house talk. Sid then says the only thing that will make him happy is winning the WWF Championship.
WWF Championship Match
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Diesel
They do a commercial break after each entrance and then it looks like the entire match is commercial free, so I'll take that as a win. Diesel has an energetic start to the match, hitting some running forearms in the corner before throwing Bam Bam around. Two things of note so far are that these guys are running a pretty quick pace for big guys and the crowd is very much behind Diesel. Bam Bam drives Diesel into the ring post to slow things down. Well, there is a commercial break, but Peacock isn't making me take one, so I guess my theory was incorrect. When we come back they collide off the ropes and both men are down. Diesel hits a splash, but Bam Bam kicks out at 2. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a Diesel splash until this moment. Diesel runs into an elbow and then eats the top turnbuckle. Bam Bam tries to hit a vertical suplex, but Diesel blocks it and hits one of his own. Bam Bam is eventually able to hit one and gets a 2 count out of it. Out comes Tatanka and also a cotton candy vendor in the crowd. Diesel hits a back suplex and they are both down again. We get another commercial break and this time I am forced to take it too. So that's technically four commercials for this match. Tatanka accidentally trips up Bam Bam and it allows Diesel to hit a boot. Diesel hits a Jackknife and that's all. That was a very quick post-commercial finish. I actually liked this match quite a bit. The put in a very strong effort and kept up a quick pace for big men, especially in 1995.
Match Rating: ***1/4
After the match, Ted DiBiase gets on the microphone to recap how embarrassing Bam Bam has been. DiBiase says 3 strikes and you're out and he fires him. Tatanka attacks him from behind, but Bam Bam hits a clothesline before throwing him to the floor. Bam Bam grabs the mic and says that DiBiase can't fire him because he quits. Out comes IRS and he attacks him from behind. Now Sid is out and he hits him with some boots to the gut while the other two jobbers hold him. Sid then hits a dangerous looking powerbomb. Out comes Diesel and he attacks Tatanka while the other head to the back.
Next week on Raw, it's Sid vs. Razor Ramon in a pretty big marquee match.
Aldo Montoya vs. Black Phantom
Speaking of big marquee matches, it's Justin Credible vs. Gangrel. Montoya hits a hip toss and a dropkick before hitting a dive to the outside. There's no canned crowd noise here, so it's dead silent for this. Phantom comes back in and hits a DDT. Montoya hits a reverse crossbody and a running dropkick. He hits a second rope bulldog and that's all. The squash matches have stunk.
Match Rating: 1/4*
We see a glimpse of Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
Vince and Lawler recap the Bam Bam saga and then we see what happened during a commercial break. Diesel and Bam Bam shook hands and Vince talks about us not seeing enough of that in sports today. Okay, Vince.
Well this was a one match show and the match took up about a third of the show. The angle after was fine in turning Bam Bam face as well. The squash matches lacked pizazz, particularly the Bertha match.
Overall Rating: 51%
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