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The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW–11.07.94

The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 11.07.94

My friend sent me a Destiny beta code. No idea if it’s something I’ll care about, but yay for free stuff and yay for finally getting something interesting for my Xbox One!

Live from Bushkill, PA. Is that literally a high school gym? Good lord.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and the empty hole in my soul once occupied by Randy Savage. Also, Jerry Lawler, beginning a run that would last for 20 years, give or take.

Bret Hart & British Bulldog v. Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart.

The brawl is on to start and the babyfaces clean house, as really Bret and Bulldog were a dream team from the 80s that never happened. UNTIL NOW. The heels regroup and Bret beats on the Anvil in the corner, but he walks into a bearhug and bites his way out. Bulldog comes in and dominates Owen with a clothesline and backdrop out of the corner, and a delayed suplex gets two. Nice to see Davey looking motivated for once. Owen hits him with a leg lariat to take over, and Neidhart goes to the chinlock and gets a knee to the gut for two. One guess who the weak link in this match is. Back to Owen for another chinlock, and he elbows Bulldog down for two. Neidhart with a gut wrench for two. And we take a break with nothing in particular happening. Back with the OWENZUIGIRI on Bulldog for two, and they annoy Bret enough to draw him in before hitting Bulldog with the Hart Attack for two. Owen with a crossbody, rolled through by Bulldog for two, but Owen cuts off the tag again. Vince notes what a big deal it is that Bret is the only two time WWF champion, Intercontinental champion and tag champion at that point. To put this in perspective with respect to how ridiculous things are today, The Miz is only one more WWE title away from not only doing that but also multiple US titles as well. We take another break and return with Bulldog FINALLY fighting off the heels and making the hot tag to Bret, and man is he pissed. IT’S A DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER! There’s the Vince we love. Bulldog on Anvil gets two. Middle rope elbow gets two. Owen gets a cheapshot from the apron and Anvil goes for the powerslam, but Bulldog dropkicks them over and puts Bret on top. Owen then comes off the top with an elbow to put Anvil on top for two. The heels double-team Bret, but he clotheslines Anvil while Bulldog gets rid of Owen, and the Sharpshooter finishes Neidhart at 20:13. Classic 80s tag action. ***1/2

Survivor Series Report! Don’t be the guy who stole last year’s show on home video and ended up in jail! Especially not for Survivor Series 93.

Bam Bam Bigelow v. Tyron Knox

Keeping with the cartoonish gimmick theme of this era, Knox is a black guy introduced from Charlotte, North Carolina. YEAH RIGHT. Sign in the crowd: “Vince for Senate”. Well, they were close. Bigelow tosses the mythical “Black person who lives in North Carolina” around the ring and chokes away, then adds some stomps as well. Dropkick and enzuigiri finish at 4:40. Really lethargic squash from Bigelow.

Vince McMahon announces that Randy Savage didn’t sign his new contract, and he wishes him the best in his future endeavors, giving him a really heartfelt goodbye. Holy cow would THAT tune change later.

The King’s Court with 1-2-3 Kid. Bob Backlund quickly runs in to cut off Kid’s promo, but gets chased off again by Bret Hart.

Doink the Clown v. Pat Tanaka

Oo, the quality jobbers this week. Pat’s into his black pajamas phase, like he woke up one morning and decided to stop trying with his gear. Doink works the arm, but Tanaka takes him down with a vicious legdrag and goes to work on it. Doink comes back with a backdrop suplex and finishes with the whoopee cushion at 3:10. Given how depleted the roster was, why would you not find something for Tanaka to do? Presumably he worked cheap and was a better worker than 60% of the guys on TV at that point.

Next week: 1-2-3 Kid v. Bob Backlund, and the debut of ALDO MONTOYA!

Comments

  1. Shouldn't bushkill be somewhere in Iraq?

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  2. Bulldog is one of those guys who always floated around the main event scene and even took part in it but I still never considered him a main eventer, if that makes sense.

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  3. "Keeping with the cartoonish gimmick theme of this era, Knox is a black
    guy introduced from Charlotte, North Carolina. YEAH RIGHT."

    I don't get this; someone explain please?

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  4. I remember Tyrone Knox. He wrestled for The Italian Stallion's PWF... an indy based in Charlotte that drew flies but stuck for a few years. Just so you know he's not mythical.

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  5. Also, I'm reading Bulldog's wikipedia page and it says he was supposed to jump ship to WCW in '96 as the fourth member of the NWO but decided to stay with WWF instead. Any truth to this?

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  6. He got main event ppv matches against world champs vader, diesel, shawn, and in the attitude era 6 pack challenge. None of those matches made me believe he would win the title.

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  7. I agree. He worked plenty of main events, but I have never considered him a Main Eventer. There was never a single time I considered him a possibility to win the title

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  8. Wow, what an underwhelming addition he would have been

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  9. Stranger in the AlpsJuly 23, 2014 at 10:15 PM

    He's saying that NC is racist.

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  10. I just watched this show to see the tag match and Scott isn't kidding. Awesome 80's style tag throwback. Can't go wrong with the 4 hart dudes.

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  11. There was definite talk of him leaving for WCW sometime in 1996, but he resigned with Vince and even had the European Championship included in his new contract.

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  12. I'm also curious. That was strange for Netcop.

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  13. I agree it would have fallen flat, but he was being pushed as a top guy in the WWF at the time having just challenged HBK for the world title on consecutive PPV's.


    It just goes to show how ruthless Eric Bischoff was getting at the time, he'd throw huge money at pretty much anyone.

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  14. The Miz hate here makes me sad.

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  15. Watching the show now, Bret cuts one of the worst live interviews in the ending filler. Still surprises me that Vince had any faith in him at this time.

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  16. 35% of Charlotte is black.

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  17. Well, Scott lives in Canada.

    Doesn't he?

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  18. Which is a great reason to not make jokes like that.

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  19. Fun fact: the writer who wrote the Atlantic piece about WWE's problematic attitude towards race, the piece that evidently inspired Xavier Woods' new character, is a black guy from Charlotte.

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  20. Is the tag match the same one that appeared on the Hart & Soul dvd?

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  21. We have markedly different ideas of fun facts.

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  22. Not really, no.

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  23. Eh, I kinda took it the other way, like if he was doing it with Sheamus: "A pasty guy named Sheamus from Ireland? Yeah right" where they're doing a bunch of crazy, silly, and/or stupid character ideas and this poor guy gets the plain, old generic treatment of Joe Blow from Idaho

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  24. OK sure maybe he doesn't deserve all the title reigns but he's a great heel character, especially his current faux Johnny Cage look.

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  25. Fun fact: we are all gonna die.

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  26. Did a squadron of helicopters drop a bunch of ink bombs on the city?

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  27. Dammit I want the character to work because I want Woods to succeed. I saw him during his indy phase and he still comes to DragonCon every year. Hope I can talk to him a bit but he might not be able to show this year if they're actually using him regularly now.

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  28. And, what part of Charlotte? If he lives on the outskirts, I don't consider him Charlotte enough.

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  29. More power to him, but if I were him, I'd run to the nearest classroom and finish his phd and leave WWE behind.

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  30. And we all we be resurected either into eternal death with Satan or eternal life with Jesus. Other worldviews have similar concepts, but not historical realities.

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  31. And Doink the Clown was booked to be world champion instead of Shawn Michaels.

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  32. What happened to the 10/31 show with Luger/Backlund?

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  33. I was going to say, whatever point Scott was trying to make with that comment went WAY over my head. Either he mistook Charlotte for rural Wisconsin or something or was doing some sort of vague and ill-defined form of sarcasm. Neither suggestion really makes any sense.

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  34. Much like the A's trading for Jason Hammel or Vince stealing away Meng, it's a move that would have hurt the WWF a lot more than it would have helped WCW in and of itself.

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  35. Charlotte isn't "white enough" for the joke to work in that fashion, but it's also not "black enough" (ugh) like Compton, CA or something, to work in the other.

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  36. What happened to the 10/31 show with Luger/Backlund?

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  37. If he started doing the Johnny Cage ball punch, I'd get behind the Miz.

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  38. This is some strange overanalysis for an offhand wacky joke about a jobber.

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  39. What happened to the 10/31 show with Luger/Backlund?

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  40. Nope. Worm food.

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  41. Given how Bret was reduced to a midcarder in 95, I always thought Bret should have teamed up with Bulldog that year instead of Bulldog teaming up with Luger as a Bret/Bulldog v Yoko/Owen would have been a hot midcard program. Plus Bulldog eventually turning on Bret and turning heel would have a lot more of an impact than Bulldog turning on Diesel.

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  42. Savage re-upping with the WWF will always be one of the greatest "What if?" scenarios ever. How much different would they and WCW have turned out if Savage never jumps ship?

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  43. Surely expect over analysis for any joke concerning race? I've heard people are touchy about it.

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  44. WCW never really used Savage right after a point - he was a Hogan Buddy, then vanished into hovering around the nWo off and on for years. I don't think he made much difference in the Wars, especially with the stacked WCW roster.

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  45. I think the joke just confused people- it seemed like you were going for a joke about the city being super white or black, which didn't really fit. I assumed it was a pop culture reference or something.

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  46. Bulldog wrestling the Harts is like a totally different guy than Bulldog wrestling anybody else. It was like that entire family knew how to work with him best, turning him into a ***** worker, when he's usually peaking at ***.

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  47. Stacked? I think you misspelled "bloated". They had half the damn planet under contract before the end. *I* was in World War 3 one year.

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  48. Did you know: Randy Savage wrestled in TNA [i]after[/i] CM Punk.

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  49. I think all the wrestling he ultimately ended up doing was throwing one worked punch.

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  50. Paled in comparison to either man's work in rap music.

    (For some reason, I've just decided to start a rumor that CM Punk had a brief career in rap music.)

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  51. Did you at least make it to another ring?

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  52. They should feud him with Glacier.

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  53. He's trying to say that Ric Flair hates black people.

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  54. I just watched it. He threw several worked punches!

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  55. He's probably just needing a dissertation to finish the ph.d and that WWE paycheck helps him avoid paying back too many student loans.

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  56. She is? Boy, Flair really gets around, doesn't he?


    ...wait, no, hang on.

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  57. well sure it was bloated, but hell, you could run about 40 unique Main Events with the talent they had on top. Try doing that NOWADAYS, with their roster of up & comers and then Cena & Orton. Plus Kane thrown in there just for the hell of it.

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  58. I think I started in ring 1. I vaguely remember tossing Bobby Blaze.

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  59. Yes, we'll all be zombies who commune together in Candyland, North Korea.

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  60. Racism is funny.

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  61. From some shows I've seen from the WCW Hulkamania era, Savage was only barely more over than Hulk at times. I think he was resented by a lot of WCW fans too.

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  62. For me Luger and Hart should have been in the main event instead of Mabel or Tatanka. Maybe Bret Hart as Champion before Summer Slam and Luger winning the KOTR and turning heel. Even Bulldog would have been better than King Mabel...

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  63. I'm just happy you stopped using the term gaysex predator.

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  64. May as well be.

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  65. Still surprised how they TOTALLY gave up on Luger after WM 10. He was still very over, and still had lots of main event cred. But they just kept jobbing him out to the point where even his most loyal fans stopped BO-Lieveing in him.

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  66. So, Vince was still pushing guys without contracts to the top, even after Luger? I mean, I know Bulldog wasn't the future of wrestling or anything, but wow.

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  67. AverageJoeEverymanJuly 24, 2014 at 6:27 AM

    Skinnyfat Shady

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  68. AverageJoeEverymanJuly 24, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    How is there no discussion of the New Foundation reforming on this show to take on Bret/Bulldog? Come on people!! Imagine the reminiscing we would do if they brought back the puffy pants and suspenders!!!

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  69. I think Aldo Montoya was supposed to debut on this episode of RAW but his boat from Portugal was delayed due to a clash with pirates led by Jean Pierre Lafitte.

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  70. He was always treated like a big deal in WCW, even when he was in the nWo.

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  71. the usual exception to that rule: Shawn Michaels.

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  72. It's a generic heel character that any random indie dude could pull off.

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  73. Yes, The Giant was used as a replacement for him in the nWo.

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  74. The location is kind of a ballroom. They used to hold boxing events there fairly regularly. It's where I saw my first live wrestling event, the Raw in Nov. '93.

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  75. Always found it Bizarre that Bulldog didn't turn on Luger instead of Diesel.

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  76. There's a picture of him next to "upper midcarder" in the dictionary.

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  77. What a mark. "We know WCW can offer you more money, but hey, we'll throw in a vanity championship we'll create for you!"

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  78. In 94 he had at least a midcard feud, but in 95, they pushed the clique over everyone else. Just count the star which they didn't use for King of the Ring or Summer Slam.

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  79. He was good against Vader, too. Seeing Davey do the delayed suplex and his usual power spots with Vader was awesome.

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  80. I vividly remember the close-up of Vince at the ringside announce desk announcing that Savage was gone and saying goodbye. I remember, even as a 15 year old, thinking it was very odd for the WWF to acknowledge any superstar leaving. Usually, guys just disappeared off TV without any announcement about it. Of course, Savage was at a totally different level than 99% of wrestlers in history, but it was still a very strange moment that's always stuck with me...

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  81. Davey Boy worked to the level of his opponent. Thus he works ****+ matches with the Harts but when he works with the Warlord it's DUDs all around.

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  82. THere really are a lot of black people in Charlotte.

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  83. Knave! I shalt defend the honor of my hometown from... whatever it was you purported of us!

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  84. What surprises me is that you are surprised that Vince had any faith in him at that time. He didn't. That's why Bret got jobbed to Backlund and didn't return to the main-event scene for a year.

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  85. No that's from Action Zone.

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  86. I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

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  87. Yeah, he main evented several Hogan-less ppvs, including vs. DDP during WCW's hot streak. I am a huge Macho-Mark even today, and wish he had come back into the fold like Warrior did before he died.

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  88. Mania 7 says otherwise. Holy 3-star match from out of nowhere.

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  89. He renegotiated his deal with WWE. Any speculation of a WCW jump was just that.

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