WWF Monday Night RAW: January 9, 1995

Announcers: Vince McMahon & Shawn Michaels

The Summit – Houston, TX

Vinnie Mac & “The Heartbreak Kid” promote the 2nd Anniversary of “Monday Night RAW” as the show comes on the air from The Summit in Houston, Texas. They discuss both the Intercontinental Title match-up and “The King’s Court” as Jerry Lawler will have as his special guest the one and the only William Shatner. In pre-recorded comments Shatner warns Lawler he hasn’t come to RAW tonight to fight and/or to wrestle but to promote his new TV series “TekWar.” Yeah, whatever, Shatner, wrestling fans have tuned in for wrestling so let’s see some shall we?

WWF Intercontinental Championship:

“The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon (c) -VS- “The King of Harts” Owen Hart

Result/Analysis: Owen Hart via disqualification (11:13 shown) due to the outside interference of Bret Hart. It’s logical booking here given Bret’s return to action following his near two-month hiatus post the Survivor Series when Owen played a significant role in costing Bret the WWF Championship that night. With the title change out of the question and unlikely Razor would go over Owen clean with a pinfall victory we get the obvious result but a very good match from beginning to end. Michaels points out on commentary that Ramon’s motivation other than retaining the Intercontinental Title is to avenge his defeat to Owen at the King of the Ring (in June 1994). Shawn reminded the viewers of that nugget. Vince alerts the television audience to both Bret and “Double J” Jeff Jarrett being in attendance and no doubt watching the match unfold backstage. Jarrett tries to get himself a piece of Ramon in the aftermath of the DQ only to get pummeled by Razor and Bret. Next week, as Vince tells us during this match, Bret and Double J will square off. In Bret’s corner will be Shatner. Anyway, a high quality pay-per-view level title bout on RAW this match is. Ramon controls the initial 4-5 minutes with a series of high impact moves. Owen is seemingly in for a short night until he’s able to counter The Razor’s Edge, with a back drop of Ramon outside the ring, and he then controls the next 5+ minutes not including a commercial break. Owen scores a series of near falls off moves that defeat the average man. Good stuff. Owen nearly puts Razor out with a sleeper hold but of course no one by 1995 won a match that way. Razor counters with a back suplex as both men are down for the count. Owen stirs first and covers for a two count. Razor then wins a slug fest and hits a chokeslam after a reversal sequence. Shawn reminds us that trying to win fist-a-cuffs with Razor isn’t a smart move. Razor tries for his fallaway back suplex next but Owen flips over the back and counters with his own back suplex. Owen goes for the sharpshooter and the submission but that’s when Bret runs out to screw Owen and referee Earl Hebner disqualifies Ramon. The aforementioned melee with Jarrett caps off the segment.

Rating: ***1/4

Todd Pettengill gives the latest Royal Rumble report. WWF Champion “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel has a promo within the report for him to discuss his title defense against “The Hitman” Bret Hart. In the early days/months of Diesel being force fed as a fan favorite, the reaction to him as such, more so to him as the WWF Champion, was reportedly very lukewarm. The mic skills alone were certainly lacking, but to be fair, Diesel was given some rather crappy things to say. Hindsight is always 20:20 but Vince was too stubborn to change course even though he could have/should have.

Jerry Lawler warns William Shatner to show him the due respect he deserves tonight on “The King’s Court” or he threatens to beam him up so high (in the sky) Shatner might never come down. This will be one of those segments that carried no significance. To look back upon it 30 years into the future only further negates it.

Matt Hardy -VS- Hakushi (w/ Shinja)

Result/Analysis: Hakushi via pinfall (1:08) following a slingshot splash. The “Monday Night RAW” debut for Hakushi is a short one with other more important items on the card to get to within the 1-hour broadcast. I’d have loved to have seen 1995 Hakushi wrestle 2006 Matt Hardy. That match would have entertained for a solid 10-15 minutes. Hardy is a jobber in his youth and “green” as can be. Hakushi was getting “over” based on his move set alone but in an era where heels weren’t to be cheered for still “the powers that be” did what they could to negate a favorable reaction to him. With the WWF roster continually changing and gutted throughout 1995 Hakushi was given opportunities to ascend the ladder though and appear more on television. He was a good find by Vince or whomever.

Rating: 1/2*

“The King’s Court” w/ William Shatner:

Lawler puts Shatner over and discusses his illustrious acting career at the beginning of the segment but wants Shatner to admit to him the highlight of his life is appearing on “The King’s Court” next to him. Shatner doesn’t hesitate in including this appearance as NOT one of the many highlights of his life and says even chewing gum the day before was a bigger moment. Lawler and Shatner trade barbs after that with exchanges of the mic and chest pokes. Shatner surprises Lawler with a hammerlock shove from behind which elicits a crowd pop. Lawler doesn’t take kindly to that so he charges back at Shatner only to be monkey flipped into the ropes. Vince is hysterical on commentary. Bret Hart runs out to raise Shatner’s hand as Vince adds the two are good friends. Jarrett (w/ The Roadie) comes out with Lawler reeling in embarrassment outside the ring. Nothing further transpires. The crowd dug the segment and Shatner made news on this night prior to the debut of “TekWar” which followed RAW at 10:00. No harm, no foul.

Gary Sabaugh -VS- King Kong Bundy (w/ “The Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase)

Result/Analysis: Bundy via pinfall (:23) following the avalanche. Yep, that’s it. If the intent was to go for a WrestleMania I style repeat when Bundy squashed Special Delivery Jones on March 31, 1985, this attempt failed. Bundy spends more time jawing with Michaels outside the ring after the match as the two argue over which one of them will win the Royal Rumble. Vince still has Bundy as his favorite. Shawn points out to Bundy there’s no way that Pamela Anderson wants to walk him to the ring at WrestleMania XI. That’s exactly the reason that Bundy won’t be winning the Rumble.

Rating: DUD

We get an update on the Tag-Team Championship Tournament with the two semifinal matches both scheduled for “WWF SuperStars” on the upcoming weekend. In all seriousness, this tournament, such as it was, created the most juice for the WWF leading into the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. I dare anyone to disagree with me.

Backstage, The Bushwhackers prep Howard Finkel for the Tuxedo Match while Well Dunn does the same with their manager Harvey Wippleman. The second anniversary show for “Monday Night RAW” and a Finkel versus Wippleman Tuxedo Match is the “main event.” Holy hell’s bells. What a shit show Vince!

The Kama vignette airs to promote the soon arrival of “The Supreme Fighting Machine.”

Tuxedo Match:
Harvey Wippleman (w/ Well Dunn) -VS- “The Fink” Howard Finkel (w/ The Bushwhackers)

Result/Analysis: The Fink (2:38). Uncut. Uncensored. RAW. The only person who enjoyed this spectacle was Vince himself in the perverse part of his personality that he was letting more and more come out for all of us to see. Of all the “main event” matches in the 32+ year history of RAW, I can’t think of nothing any worse than this Tuxedo Match (+ overall feud). The aftermath of Finkel and The Bushwhackers endlessly parading around the ring adds to the overall farce of it all with that part lasting far longer than the match. A two-year anniversary of a landmark show and this crap was on it!

Rating: -*****

Vince and Shawn have to kill time for a few minutes so they discuss next week’s Jeff Jarrett versus Bret Hart feature, after a video package airs first to hype the match-up. Shawn sees Bret as a changed man based off his actions tonight. Jarrett comes out with The Roadie to assist with the need to kill off the remaining minutes and says The Roadie will take care of Shatner next week and Bret won’t be making it to the Royal Rumble after their match.

The Verdict: Owen Hart and Razor Ramon wrestle a pay-per-view quality Intercontinental Title match with Bret running interference to cost his brother the belt. The Lawler/Shatner “King’s Court” was entertaining and brief enough. Bundy continues to be force fed as a Rumble favorite but who honestly thinks so? Finkel and Wippleman defined RAW forever. Avoid watching at all costs. Diesel is the WWF Champion but only gives awful promos to discuss his WWF Championship defense against Bret in the Royal Rumble reports. He was appearing on The Holiday Wish Tour upcoming in title matches versus Bob Backlund but it’s as if Vince was trying to not overexpose “Big Daddy Cool” to the masses. The overall booking was a colossal mess. The roster was in shambles. The tag-team championship tournament and promoting Pamela Anderson as hosting the Rumble was the only hanging fruit on the Federation’s tree.