Monday Night Raw 10-9-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, October 9th, 1995
Welsh Auditorium
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Yokozuna, Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs. Undertaker, Shawn Michaels & Diesel

We get a video of Shawn helping out the kids and talking about how choked up he gets. We get some fun stuff at the beginning with Michaels and Owen and then the match breaks down. The crowd of course loves this, as do I. Diesel and Undertaker hit a double boot on Yoko, knocking him out of the ring. Taker hits Old School on Yoko, but then runs into a Samoan drop. Yoko then destroys Michaels and in comes Owen. Waylon Mercy also came out to check things out ahead of his big match with Diesel on Superstars. Never mind that he couldn't even beat Savio Vega. We come back from commercial break and now Dean Douglas is out. Surprisingly, Yoko has been involved more than you would expect here. Michaels attempts a comeback, but is hit by an Owen spin kick. They go to commercial break right as Owen is in midair off the top rope. When we come back, they show Michaels moving out of the way and he now tags in Diesel. Bulldog is also in to give us our preview of In Your House. The numbers game gets to Diesel and Bulldog hits the running powerslam, but Undertaker makes the save. Yoko then hits a leg drop behind the ref's back and Bulldog pins him in the center of the ring. That's kind of surprising for an In Your House build. Mabel now runs in and attacks Undertaker and Yokozuna joins in. This was a fun match, as you would expect here. Dean then comes back down and attacks Shawn. 

Match Rating: ***

When we come back from commercial, Diesel and Undertaker are still selling their injuries and then they show the aftermath of the Bret Hart/Jean Pierre Lafitte match where Bret was attacked. Next week it will be Bret vs. Isaac Yankem in a steel cage. They show a good portion of their match from SummerSlam with Lawler and Vince talking over it. They talk about Lawler is going to be hoisted in a smaller cage if he interferes in the match next week. 

Skip vs. Fatu

That battle of the four letter, one word names. Well, Fatu is getting a pay-per-view match, so we have to remind everyone that he exists. These two guys definitely have two of the more mid-90s gear that you will see on the roster right now. The match shifts when Skip tries a headbutt on Fatu and you know what that means. Sunny makes her presence felt though and distracts Fatu before he can climb the top rope. Skip then goes for a supeplex, but Fatu blocks it. Skip sells a back injury and then goes for it again. Fatu hits him with a right hand and then hits the top rope splash for the victory. This was pretty basic stuff. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

After commercial break, they go to Dok Hendrix to check in on Diesel and Undertaker, but he is just shown pacing, so we get another commercial? 

They are doing a ton of stalling here tonight. They show clips of the post-match stuff from earlier on. We go back to Dok and he says that it's not a good time to interview any of these guys. Dok says he'll do it if Vince wants him to, but Vince says no. So Jim Ross goes into Cornette's team's locker room. He talks about Bulldog being the guy to pin Diesel tonight. I mean, this interview has run longer than just about every Bulldog interview ever. This feels like one of those "bonus" interviews they would show after a pay per view. Mabel then walks in and talks about how both he and Bulldog accomplished the impossible by pinning Undertaker and Diesel. 

Vince and Lawler then talk about the cage match again. More stalling and then we get a Todd Pettengill hype video. 

Like I mentioned, this was a filler episode of Raw. They must not have filmed enough and this was the episode they decided to fill with a lot of fluff. I mean they showed most of a match from SummerSlam just to fill time. The opening match/angle were good, but the back half was pretty dull. 

Overall Rating: 49%

Superstars 10-7-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, October 7th, 1995
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, Indiana

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Barry Horowitz vs. Dean Douglas

Barry comes out hot, but Dean quickly gains control of the match. Out comes Skip, Sunny and Rad Radford. Radford is trying to be a Body Donna, while Dean continues with some dull offense. Horowitz makes his comeback, but it is short lived. Douglas is able to drop Barry on the top rope and hits the Perfect Plex, which is called the Final Exam for the win. This wasn't very good, as Douglas continues to flounder here so far. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We go to Dok Hendrix to talk about In Your House. He announces that the Smoking Gunns will defend their tag titles against Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid. The newly reunited friends tell the Gunns that they've never faced a team like them. Goldust is also going to make his debut against Marty Jannetty. 

Savio Vega vs. Tom Knox

Vega hits a series of dropkicks against a jobber who looks a little more impressive than most of the guys they trot out here. JR makes a school of hard Knox joke for him. While Savio is working on Knox in the corner, Jean Pierre Lafitte steals Savio's flag and he doesn't see it. Savio hits a bulldog and then a spin kick that you can hardly see thanks to the large blur over something and they even mute the announcers during it. I'm assuming it was just the hotline, but I'm not sure why they muted the audio. After the match, he looks for his flag but has no luck. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We hear from Ahmed Johnson again talking about role models. Why is he looking off to the side during these? 

Isaac Yankem vs. Tom Torres

No one wants to see this. In case you haven't watched wrestling for the last 30 years, Yankem/Kane is one of the worst wrestlers of my lifetime. He hits the DDS and I lose about 2 minutes of my life.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week, Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid will face Jacob and Eli Blu.

Vince is in the ring and brings out Shawn Michaels. He talks about a teacher that kept him after class and gave him high marks. Out comes Dean Douglas to make this even worse. He says Shawn will get an F at In Your House and then walks away. Michaels then says he gets a 4.0 when it comes to performance and then dances around. This was a pretty terrible way to build this feud. 

Kama & Sid vs. Henry Godwinn & Bam Bam Bigelow

HOG and Kama start things off. Kama gets a tag into Sid and they are able to double team and slam Godwinn to the mat. Bam Bam is tagged in, but runs into a Sid boot. He fires back with a clothesline and gets a 2 count. Bam Bam misses in the corner and gets hit with a clothesline from Sid. We get some illegal double teams before Kama slows it down, as he always does. We get a commercial break before we come back and Bam Bam is able to hit a vertical suplex on Sid. Sid is able to block the tag attempt but then misses Bam Bam in the corner and Bam Bam hits a Samoan drop. Bam Bam goes up to the second rope, but Sid gets him and hits a chokeslam. For some reason Sid didn't pin him there and goes for the powerbomb. Bam Bam hits the back body drop and tags in Godwinn. Godwinn takes care of both men, but DiBiase gets some cheap shots to the ribs of Bam Bam. Godwinn hits a Slop Drop on Sid, but the ref is distracted by DiBiase. Kama hits Godwinn off the top rope and Sin pins him for the victory. This was a big man match, so it was about what you would expect from this era. 

Match Rating: *

Marty Jannetty vs. Brooklyn Brawler

We get right to the action and Jannetty wrestles the same style as you would expect here. We hear from Goldust about their match at In Your House. Jannetty hits the top rope fist for the easy victory.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go back to Dok Hendrix and he continues hyping up In Your House by announcing Fatu vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. We hear from Jim Cornette and British Bulldog about his title shot. We hear from King Mabel and he talks about torture and pain. 

They hype up Yokozuna, Owen Hart and British Bulldog vs. Diesel, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. Next week on Superstars, it will be Diesel vs. Waylon Mercy and the aforementioned tag team match. 

This wasn't as good as last week's episode, but it was fine for filler. Nothing really happened and the feature match was just halfway decent.

Overall Rating: 39%

Monday Nitro 10-2-95 Review

Monday, October 2nd, 1995 
Denver Coliseum
Denver, Colorado

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Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael hype up the show tonight and are interrupted by Ric Flair. He tells Arn Anderson that he better be ready tonight. We then see the set up for our first match between Lex Luger and Randy Savage. 

Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage

If Luger loses, he has to leave WCW. A whole lot of nothing happens before the commercial break and we kind of don't get a whole lot of anything right after it either. This one has the feeling of "we don't want to give away too much". Finally we get Savage leaping off the top rope for a double ax handle to Luger on the floor. We get a referee bump and Savage hits the top rope elbow drop, but there's no count. Out comes the Giant and he hits the chokeslam on Savage. Thankfully the referee was looking the other way for that one. Luger slowly pushes Savage on his back for the Torture Rack, which was kind of sorry looking because Luger was selling the elbow still. Why he couldn't have just pinned him is beyond me. I think even the referee was expecting that. This was a big disappointment. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Disco Inferno comes out and dances until Eddie Guerrero's music interrupts him. Sure?

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko

They show Guerrero beating Psicosis on Main Event to earn the right to face Malenko here I guess? McMichael tries to sell us on that by saying these guys fly more than vultures over dead meat. That's one way to put it. They put on a clinic of fast paced action to slowly start to win over the live crowd. Don't worry though, Hulk Hogan's limo is here and they show that in a split screen and then eventually they just show Hogan. Just what the world wants to see, Jimmy Hart and Hogan saying the same crap he has been saying for a decade. We go back to the match and McMichael tries to hype up the match, but even Heenan is talking about Hogan. Guerrero hits a top rope splash from the corner to the floor. Back in the ring, Guerrero goes for the Frog Splash, but Malenko gets his knees up. Guerrero then counters a Malenko pin attempt with one of his own and picks up the victory. After the match, Malenko pulls Guerrero back in the ring and tells him he got lucky and shakes his hand. This was solid, but was ruined by the Hogan stuff. They obviously are capable of much more than this. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Mean Gene brings out Hulk Hogan for an interview. He looks dorkier than most do in a neck brace. Hogan says that he's going to the back to confront the Giant. On his way to the back, a "woman" throws salt in his eyes and attacks him with a cane. In a shocking turn of events, it's the Taskmaster. Out comes Zodiac and Giant to continue the attack. Giant rips off the neck brace and does the same neck snap that no one else believed the first time. They then shave off Hogan's moustache. The American Males come out to try and save him, but as you would expect, that doesn't work. Out comes the Nasty Boys and they eat it too. We get the reunion we have all been waiting for and that's with Zodiac and scissors. Struttin' and cuttin' baby. 

Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair

Congrats to the announcers for making it about a minute before mentioning the Hogan thing again. We then move onto baseball results. Meanwhile, the match here is very vanilla so far. Flair does get on the Figure Four, but Arn is right by the ropes. Flair goes off the top rope, but Arn hits him in the midsection. Flair then blocks a piledriver and hits a back body drop onto the mats outside the ring. Flair does get the Figure Four on again, this time in the middle of the ring. Out comes Pillman and the referee rings the bell before he even jumps off the top rope. Pillman breaks up the hold and then attacks Flair. I don't know if these two could possibly have a duller match than what we got here.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Bischoff says that next week we'll get Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson in a cage match. Plus, Sabu will take on Mr. JL and Big Bubba Rogers will face Hawk. 

Well, this episode stunk big time. This was lifeless television and it felt like no one wanted to do anything to make it special. 

Overall Rating: 29%

Monday Night Raw 10-2-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, October 2nd, 1995
Welsh Auditorium
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid

We get a bunch of highlights during the entrances, including them talking about Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. I know this will shock you, but these have good chemistry. Dean Douglas is out to take notes and mostly just to make this not as enjoyable. We get a mostly back and forth match here that kind of ends out of nowhere. Kid missed a spin kick and Razor hits him with a clothesline for the victory. Has Razor ever won with a clothesline? After the match, Kid confronts Razor and then they go after each other. Razor puts him in the abdominal stretch, but Kid slaps him. Razor then brings him down and slaps him in the back of the head. Kid again fights back, so Razor sends him into the corner, but runs into the Kid's boot as we go into a commercial break. It' snot often that you get a commercial break after a match is over. During the break, Razor caught Kid off the top rope and apparently pinned him again. So then Kid wants another match, so we are now apparently in the third match between these two. Razor hits a back superplex. He goes for a Razor's Edge, but instead uses a small package to beat him for a third time. After the match, Kid raises Razor's hand and then rolls him up and again the referee counts, but Razor kicks out at 2. The crowd wants the Razor's Edge and Kid holds out his arms for him to put him in it. Then Razor gives him a hug and we're all good? This was kind of a bizarre ordeal. The action was good though. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Barry Horowitz vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

It feels like we haven't seen a whole lot of Helmsley lately. You can call the WWF Hotline to vote to let everyone know if you think OJ Simpson is guilty or not. In a surprising twist, the money actually goes to charity. Helmsley hits a delayed suplex, which is kind of surprising with Bulldog on the roster. The problem with this version of Helmsley is that he has to work so slowly. Helmsley dominates most of the match. Barry gets his little comeback, but ducks his head too early and gets hit with the Pedigree for the victory. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Al Brown & Sonny Rogers vs. PG-13

PG-13 arrives here with no vignettes or anything. They do get a pre-recorded interview and say that they're the USWA Tag Team Champions and want the Smoking Gunns titles. They are definitely on the small side for this era, but they are working a nice squash here. This was a solid debut, even if they don't really look the part. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Next week on Raw, it's Owen Hart, Yokozuna and British Bulldog taking on Diesel, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. Dok then tries to sell us an ugly Bret Hart shirt while Jean Pierre Lafitte is on his way to the ring. 

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Bret Hart

These two had a great one at In Your House, so it only makes sense to give Lafitte another shot on TV. They start brawling on the outside and Bret body slams Lafitte on the steel steps. Back in the ring, Lafitte is able to shift the momentum when he throws Bret on top of the ropes. Lafitte continues to hit high impact moves here to keep Bret grounded. Lafitte is able to throw Bret into the steps after the commercial break and Lawler loves it. How did Lafitte never do anything big in WWF again? Bret is finally able to put together a few moves after hitting an inverted atomic drop. Lafitte tries to go for the Cannonball, but Bret crotches him. He hits a superplex and locks in the Sharpshooter for the victory. This was another really good match between these two and one of the best Raw matches of the year.

Match Rating: ***1/2

After the match, Lawler confronts Bret, which leads to Isaac Yankem attacking him from behind. Really? Did anyone want to see more of this? 

When we come back, they are helping Bret to the back. Vince informs us that Bret will have a cage match with Yankem "in several weeks". 

We hear from Jim Cornette and his squad for next week's six man tag match. We then hear from their opponents and Undertaker talks about rotting carcasses. The results of the OJ poll says 49% guilty, 51% not guilty. What a world.

This Raw taping has to be one of the best of all time up to this point. That is two really good episodes in a row and next week looks like it should at the very least have another good match. Thumbs up again.

Overall Rating: 70%

Superstars 9-30-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, September 30th, 1995
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, Indiana

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Scumbag Vince talk about the tag team division being hot at the moment. They then show Barry Horowitz teaching Hakushi about America as they are walking down to the ring.

Barry Horowitz & Hakushi vs. Skip & Rad Radford

This is the feud that just keeps on giving. This match gets a commercial break, so it's not a rushed Superstars match. Radford hits a big spinebuster and Skip covers him for a 2 count. Dean Douglas is out to the ring to check out the action. They do a poorly executed double team behind the referee's back. I'm not really sure what happened here, but Barry didn't seem to interested in participating. Barry avoids a splash and tags in Hakushi. He hits cartwheel reverse elbows in the corner on both opponents. He props Skip on the top rope and tags in Barry. They hit a double superplex and Barry hits a weird leg drop. Radford is able to break up the pin attempt and then hits a second rope elbow behind the ref's back. Hakushi comes back and hits a splash behind the ref's back to even the score. Barry is able to cover Skip and picks up the victory. There were a few weird spots, but the match was good overall. Hakushi is too good for this role, but it worked here.

Match Rating: **

It's time to go to Dok Hendrix to hype up the next In Your House. British Bulldog and Diesel both talk about their main event match. Shawn Michaels will definitely also take on Dean Douglas for the Intercontinental Championship.

Razor Ramon vs. Al Brown

Razor rocking the bright yellow and red combo here today. He hits the same notes he has been hitting for awhile in his squashes. The crowd loves it though, so you can't blame him. I'm good with it as well. He's always done a good job of maintaining his bully status despite being a face. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get to see Ahmed Johnson for the first time. He talks about competition. For some reason he's talking on an angle like he's watching a TV backstage. 

Bob Holly vs. AC Conner

At this point, I'm not really sure what the point of Holly is any more. Conner is of course D'Lo Brown and he gets in a spin kick. Conner goes for a top rope splash, but Holly rolls out of the way. Holly comes back and hits a top rope crossbody for the victory as JR compares him to the recently returned Marty Jannetty. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They recap the tag team situation from In Your House. To be honest, I can't really remember what ends up happening in the next few months, if anything, with those titles. I do know we'll have some new teams soon, I just don't remember if anything happens prior to then. We'll see if Netflix allows me to continue this truly engaging saga. 

Fatu tells us he's going to take care of British Bulldog today while the Blu twins are entering the ring. 

Jacob & Eli Blu vs. Bill Gorgan & Sonny Rogers

Here's a reminder that the Blu twins still exist. It's a shame that we were stuck with 8 Ball and Skull for so long because this variation is much better. That's not saying much, but it's true. They make quick work of the jobbers here, which is how it should be. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week, it's Henry Godwinn and Bam Bam Bigelow against Sid and Kama. Plus, Marty is back too. 

We go to Dean Douglas, who is now in his wrestling gear for a Report Card. At least he isn't with the chalkboard. He challenges Barry Horowitz next week, ha ha ha.

British Bulldog vs. Fatu

There's a lot of time left in the show for one match. Fatu gets no televised entrance here. I know I am a broken record here, but Fatu is another guy who has done absolutely nothing since coming back. People knew and liked this guy, even if his new gimmick is lame. Fatu gets off to the hot start, but then Jim Cornette slaps Fatu's ankle. He goes after Cornette, but is too wise for Bulldog and catches him before he can sneak attack him. Bulldog is eventually able to take control and uses the steel steps to do so. Two matches with commercial breaks this week. Bulldog slows down a Fatu comeback with a knee to the gut and then slows down the match. Bulldog hits a DDT, but Fatu no sells it and he does some Rikishi Fatu dancing before hitting a superkick. Fatu hits a top rope splash, but has some pain from the splash I guess. Bulldog crotches him the top rope. This has to be one of the longer Superstars matches of 1995. Bulldog then hits a knee to the back of the head and lifts him up for an impressive running powerslam for the victory. It wasn't necessarily a great match, but both guys put in a good effort and came out looking good. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Back to Dok and he talks about Mabel vs. Undertaker in a revenge match from King Of The Ring. When do the fans get their revenge? We hear from Undertaker and Paul Bearer and he talks about the hounds of Hell or something. 

Barry Horowitz is on his way back to the ring into the final commercial break. When we come back, they just tell us that he will be facing Dean Douglas. I'm not sure anyone is mad, but that was a weird choice. Kama, Sid and Ted DiBiase yell and we're off. 

This was a good episode by Superstars standards. The two matches were both effective in what they were trying to accomplish. They are trying to build heel Bulldog and they succeeded.

Overall Rating: 56%

Monday Nitro 9-25-95 Review

Monday, September 25th, 1995 
Florence Civic Center
Florence, South Carolina

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

We get the usual intro and then we're right off to the matches. I don't hate watching these shows that don't have the 15 minute interview spot to start the show.

Alex Wright vs. Disco Inferno

For as much as WCW liked to poke fun at WWF's gimmicks (and a lot of the time, rightfully so), this was right out of Vince's bad idea box. Wright is able to hit a missile dropkick to the back of Disco and he dumps him out of the ring. He hits a dive to the floor. Steve McMichael tells us that we already know that San Francisco is going to win tonight. Well guess what, my friend. The Lions took care of business over the 49ers and I was there. They do a good job keeping the pace up for this quick match and Wright finishes him off with a backslide. This was forgettable, but fun. 

Match Rating: **

We go to Jimmy Hart and Hulk Hogan in a neck brace. He's building himself a new Hulkamania monster truck. Oh, good. He also challenges Giant to a WCW Championship match. Sorry, the big, nasty, stinky Giant. This was as terrible as you would expect. 

After a Slim Jim commercial, Mean Gene is in the ring. He shows us what happened last week with Randy Savage and Lex Luger. Savage is out when we come back and then Luger comes running out. Luger challenges him to a match next week and puts his #1 contender spot on the line. He also says that if he doesn't beat Savage, he'll leave WCW. Did he really have to put up 2 things here to get Savage to agree? I'm pretty sure he didn't have to offer either of these stipulations to get him in the ring.

Kurasawa vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman

Kurasawa hits a flurry of kicks and then hits a unique slam onto the concrete outside the ring. Pittman is able to send a charging Kurasawa over the top. Bischoff can't shut up about this stupid monster truck. Pittman tries to put on Code Red, but Kurasawa gets his foot on the rope before it happens. Kurasawa hits a German suplex into a bridge and he pins him for the victory. Kurasawa looked good here. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman are now in the ring with Mean Gene. Pillman yells a lot and flashes the 4 sign. Anderson tells Flair that he's made enemies with the people he wants to be his partner. 

They then show us the lame Kevin Sullivan attack on Savage at the beach. Absolutely terrible. 

Taskmaster vs. Randy Savage

Zodiac is also at ringside. He's able to attack Savage behind the referee's back. Sullivan continues the attack outside the ring. This match is mostly shenanigans, as Zodiac ends up in the ring. That doesn't end the match though. Instead Savage takes the referee and throws him on the ground and that's the end of the match. He stacks Sullivan on top of Zodiac and goes for the elbow drop. Sullivan moves out of the way, so Zodiac eats it. Out comes the Giant and he gives Savage a chokeslam. The ring bell has rung about 75 times by this point. A couple of jobbers come out and they get chokeslammed. Alex Wright comes out and he gets a bear hug. Luger is now out and he takes his time. He stands over Savage and then Giant grabs him. They get into it and he eats a chokeslam. Taskmaster doesn't seem happy that he did that to Luger. This was pretty good for what they were trying to accomplish. 

Match Rating: *

Lex Luger vs. Meng

Luger is already down in the ring from the attack and Meng comes running out to be able to continue the attack. Meng just dominates the wounded Luger the whole match. Luger attempts to make a comeback, but Meng uses a spike and the referee doesn't see it and picks up the victory. That was a pretty flat main event. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We get a recap of the show and they want us to come here next week. Hulk Hogan will be here and so will the American Males. Also, the Nasty Boys and Dean Malenko. 

This was a much better show than last week. Both Raw and Nitro were strong this week, but I'd give the edge to Raw overall. 

Overall Rating: 60%

Monday Night Raw 9-25-95 Review

Monday, September 25th, 1995
Welsh Auditorium
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Vince hypes up Undertaker being on the show before going into the controversy over the Tag Team Championships from last night's In Your House. They show Jim Cornette with Clarence Mason working on getting a resolution. Owen Hart and Yokozuna are the champions still, but will have to defend their titles tonight. 

Marty Jannetty vs. Skip

Vince hypes up the big surprise of Jannetty returning tonight. He 100% will never do anything stupid again. I promise. Skip doesn't get a televised entrance, which is surprising because, you know, Sunny. We get lots of Marty being too quick and outsmarting Skip and Sunny here. Skip eventually slows things down and for some reason Dean Douglas is watching and taking notes. After a commercial break, Skip hits a clothesline and is still in control. Marty is able to hit a German suplex and catches Skip for a powerbomb. Sunny distracts Marty, but he sees Skip coming and sends him flying over the top. He tries to suplex him back in the ring, but Skip falls on top with the help of Sunny for a 2 count. Marty hits a Rocker Dropper and hits a top rope fist for the victory. I guess you had to have him win his debut, but they sure have made Skip a jobber quickly. Lawler continued to hype up the name Clarence Mason. The match was solid, as you would expect from these two. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We go over the title situation, this time showing Mason negotiating with Gorilla. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs. Smoking Gunns

Don't forget to buy your In Your House t-shirt. After 2 commercial breaks, we finally get to the match. We get some good action from both teams and the crowd is into this one. Just as Owen is pinning Billy, we get another commercial break. Yokozuna putting on my second favorite move, the nerve hold, is a perfect time to hype up the WrestleMania special on Fox. Billy is finally able to move out of the way of a Yoko elbow drop, but then he misses a leg drop of his own. Owen is tagged in and tries his best to keep Bart out, but Billy makes the tag and Bart hits a military press slam. Yokozuna barely gets in the ring on time to break up the count. They throw Owen into Yoko, knocking him down. They hit the Sidewinder and then Yoko goes to break up the count, but they move and he splashes Owen. The Gunns make the pin and we have new champions. Diesel and Shawn Michaels are out to give high fives to the new champs. What is going on here in the last 24 hours? There's been quite a few really strong matches here on WWF television. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Next week on Raw, Jean Pierre Lafitte will once again Bret Hart. I'm good with that. Razor Ramon will also take on 1-2-3 Kid. Obviously, Nitro has had an impact. 

Dok Hendrix talks to Gorilla Monsoon and he announces that British Bulldog will take on the WWF Champion Diesel at In Your House. He also says that Bret Hart will take on the winner of that match at Survivor Series. He then says that Shawn Michaels will take on Dean Douglas for the Intercontinental Championship as well. I bet he won't.

British Bulldog vs. Undertaker

It's kind of an odd booking decision to have Bulldog take on Taker just after being announced the #1 contender. Taker goes for Old School, but Bulldog drags him off the top. A Jim Cornette distraction helps out Bulldog and he hits a chop block on him. King Mabel and Sir Mo are now watching the match from the aisle. Bulldog surprisingly hits a traditional piledriver and gets a 2 count out of it. Taker comes back, but then Mabel is in the ring. Bulldog knocks into Mabel's arms and he hits the belly to belly suplex. Bulldog then hits the running powerslam, followed up by a Mabel leg drop. Diesel and Michaels are out to make the save. The match was fine for what they were aiming for here. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

They actually show video footage of the end of the Razor Ramon/Dean Douglas match. No still photos! They hype up next week's double main event while Diesel and Shawn continue to celebrate in the ring. 

This was one of the absolute best Raw episodes of the year. We got some new champions, a couple of good matches and the new style of announcing matches with Gorilla Monsoon just making stuff happen. The main event was meh, but it had star power at least. 

Overall Rating: 77%