by Logan Scisco
-Jim Ross and Jerry
“The King” Lawler are doing commentary and they are taped from Lowell,
Massachusetts, which is one of my favorite venues. It’s sort of amazing how the WWF was able to
do a ton of pyro by the constricted entrance without engulfing the building.
-Opening
Contest: Edge beats “Double J” Jeff
Jarrett (w/Southern Justice) via disqualification when Jarrett hits Edge with a
guitar at 5:14:
It is funny to hear Lawler ask the same questions about Edge that people
asked about the Shield: Where do they hang
out before shows? Why do they feel the
need to enter through the crowd and not the traditional way? Jarrett debuts the Stroke here, but it is
only used as a transitional move. Edge
busts out an impressive spot where he hits two consecutive suplexes and
transitions a third into a facebuster.
This is a decent, competitive match with Jarrett giving Edge a few hope
spots before getting desperate and hitting the newcomer with a guitar. Rating: **¼ (1 for 1)
-Bradshaw defeats
Darren Drozdov with the Flair pin at 4:01:
No one would call this a technical exhibition, but it is
a tolerable brawl that plays to the strengths of both men. Bradshaw uses the old heel tactic of putting
his feet on the ropes to pin the rookie and then gives him a lariat to put the
finishing touch on this match. The
crowd’s silence brought this down a notch, but both guys were trying. Rating: *¾ (2 for 2)
-A video package
hypes the triple threat main event for Breakdown, where WWF Champion Steve
Austin will defend his title against the Undertaker and Kane. The announcement for that match took place on
Sunday Night Heat.
-“Marvelous” Marc
Mero (w/Jacqueline) pins Miguel Perez with the TKO at 3:38:
The anti-Sable element in the crowd tries to work up a
“Jackie” chant but that goes nowhere.
You can tell that Perez (who has shaved his back) is motivated to make
this work, but Mero’s heel offense slows the pace down so much that it takes
something away from the match. Mero hits
a TKO out of nowhere to win. Rating:
*½ (3 for 3)
-Michael Cole
interviews The Oddities and Insane Clown Posse.
The ICP cut pretty good promo against the DOA and dare I say, it is
better than at least half of the WWF roster at this point.
-Cole interviews
DOA and Paul Ellering, who says that the DOA will drop the Oddities like the
DOW Jones Industrial Average.
-DOA (w/Paul
Ellering) beats Golga & Kurrgan (w/Giant Silva, Luna Vachon & The
Insane Clown Posse) via disqualification when the Insane Clown Possee interfere
at 1:54:
Within the first minute of the match Golga hits the top
rope with so much force that it breaks.
Everything goes downhill from there, which is probably why the ICP runs
in and gets beaten down by the DOA. No
word on whether the outcome of this match was later annulled because of the
broken top rope.
-The Undertaker and
Kane destroying the Rock on last week’s show is the Penzoil Rewind segment.
-The Rock walks out
and reiterates how he is still the People’s Champion despite losing to Triple H
at SummerSlam. He promises to get
revenge on Kane for chokeslamming him on last week’s show. By calling out a main eventer, the Rock
symbolized that he was rising up the card here.
4 for 4
-The Lion’s Den
match from SummerSlam is shown in its entirety.
-Southern Justice
defeats Too Much when Mark Canterbury pins Scott Taylor after the Problem
Solver at 4:06:
Southern Justice are getting a small push to appear as a
threat to the New Age Outlaws, who are really devoid of significant challengers
in the tag team division. Too Much are
positioned as the faces in this bout, which makes no sense at all, but Southern
Justice can’t really play that role either.
Southern Justice wins this abbreviated match to keep on rolling
along. Rating: * (4 for 5)
-Vader pins Dustin
Runnels after a Vader Bomb at 3:25:
They might as well bill this match as “two WCW guys who
are struggling to establish their position in the Attitude Era.” During the match, Val Venis mocks Runnels
Christian advocacy by parading around with a sign that reads “I Have
Come.” Runnels starts praying when he
sees Venis’s sign and Vader takes advantage to win his first RAW match via
pinfall in what seems like forever. Rating:
½* (4 for 6)
-A video package
highlights Sable’s in-ring performances.
-Al Snow comes out
of the crowd and says that he will not leave the ring until he sees a WWF
official. Commissioner Slaughter, Pat
Patterson, and Gerald Brisco come out and order Snow to leave the ring. Since they do not book Snow in a match, Snow
gives Patterson a low blow with Head and flees through the crowd. This was wasn’t very good until Patterson got
hit below the belt. 4 for 7
-Call 815-734-1161
to get your “Down Where? Down Here!” DX
shirt for $25 (plus $6 shipping & handling)! I’m sure that lots of kids were forced to
take that shirt off when they came to school wearing it.
-Cole interviews
the Headbangers, who are confused about why they are wrestling on RAW since
they rarely appear. They make some
nonsensical comments about their opponents before heading to the ring.
-D-Lo Brown &
Mark Henry beat The Headbangers via disqualification when Chyna interferes at
5:23:
I was always a fan of the D-Lo Brown & Mark Henry tag
team and wish they had been given a run with the tag team titles around this
time. This is your
paint by the numbers tag match that ends when Chyna runs in and tackles Henry
for the second consecutive week. WWF
officials get decked by Chyna and D-Generation X has to run in to restrain
her. Rating: *¾ (4 for 8)
-Get a big poster
of Triple H when you buy Stridex pads!
-D-Generation X
(w/Chyna) defeat Kaientai (w/Yamaguchi-San) when X-Pac pins Taka Michinoku with
an assisted X-Factor at 4:33:
These two teams have contrasting gimmicks: one side tells you to suck it and the other
side wants to chop it off. This is a fun
squash, with Kaientai mounting very little offense (and what they do get comes
at the expense of the Road Dogg – surprise, surprise), but I do not like how
Michinoku, who is the light heavyweight champion, ate the pin. Then again, since when does that title mean
anything? After the bout, Chyna nails
Yamaguchi-San with a forearm. Rating:
*½ (5 for 9)
-After the bell, DX
gets a female fan to moon the audience.
The Final Report Card: Well, this RAW was better than last week’s in
terms of in-ring action and I was entertained enough to give it a thumbs up. If you want to see your usual main event
players, though, then this will not be your kind of show. Next week’s RAW will be back in its regularly
scheduled time slot, so we are thankfully done with these “Shotgun RAW”
shows. Who knows, we might even get an
appearance from Steve Austin!
Show Evaluation: Thumbs Up
Does the Jarrett-Edge finish get used anymore? It protects both guys and actually advances the need for a rematch.
ReplyDeleteAs I watched these shows recently and I'd get to a Raw without Austin, it's crazy how much of a difference he made on the show. Yes DX, Rock, Taker and Vince were all awesome and entertaining, but I always felt a little less interested with Austin absent.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, those comments from the Headbangers were rendered nonsensical because they literally blurred Thrasher's mouth and muted his voice due to him saying something about Mark Henry eating bananas.
ReplyDeleteIt was also around this time that I distinctly remember Triple H in a tag match with Henry doing exaggerated gorilla pantomime. And of course you have X-Pac's Mizark impression.
All in all, it was a pretty blatant discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen. They are so lucky no one gave a shit.
"A video package hypes the triple threat main event for Breakdown, where WWF Champion Steve Austin will defend his title against the Undertaker and Kane."
ReplyDeleteIs that the match where Taker and Kane did the double pin spot and the title was held up?
That's the way i feel about Daniel Bryan.
ReplyDelete