The SmarK Rant for Monday Night RAW – 11.20.95
Has anyone ever gotten an ad since the one time weeks ago that they started putting them on? I watch tons of content on the Network and I’ve only ever seen one. That would certainly match up with the definition of “limited”, but honestly I’m OK with one 30 second ad before each show. So it’s curious they appear to have dropped that idea.
LAST NIGHT! Diesel Power runs out of gas for good, as Bret Hart wins his third WWF title to put a merciful bullet in the reign of Kevin Nash.
LIVE from Richmond, VA!
Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler.
The 1-2-3 Kid v. Hakushi
Kid works a headlock, but Hakushi goes an armbar while Marty Jannetty tries to run in and gets mugged by a roving gang of referees as we take a break. Damn punk refs! Back with Kid working on a chinlock, but Hakushi fights out and misses a dropkick. Kid drops an elbow for two. Flying splash gets two. Hakushi fights back with a spinkick and flying shoulderblock for two, and Kid bails to the floor. Hakushi tries to follow with a dive, but Dibiase pushes him off the top and Kid finishes with a leg lariat at 8:46. Didn’t really get going. **1/2 Marty Jannetty again tries to exact revenge, but this time Sid lays him out. This poor bastard.
In Your House SLAM JAM with Dok. So we’ve got Bret v. Bulldog and HOG v. HHH thus far. And no one buying it.
Skip of the Greenwich Bodydonnas v. Savio Vega
Before the match, Barry Didinski shills a jean jacket with various gaudy WWF logos on it. C’mon, even a Canadian wouldn’t stoop THAT low, and we pioneered jean jackets as formal wear! Savio slugs away and catapults Skip into the corner, but Skip gets a bodypress for two. Savio with a suplex and he throws chops in the corner, but Diesel (basically just dressed in Kevin Nash street clothes) comes out and beats up Skip to end the match at 3:00 or so. Poochie, you look like you have something to say…do you? He ain’t apologizing for his actions, because he’s not SOME CORPORATE PUPPET that was created by Vince any longer. In fact, 24 hours after he won the title, the suits told him to start smiling more, and he’s sick of it. So he’s back, basically. And he’s only high-fiving fans who wear his merchandise. That’s a distinctly Kevin Nash point of view. This was pretty mind-blowing, fourth-wall shattering stuff for the time, although now dripping with irony in that they based a whole storyline around a babyface getting neutered and seeking revenge for it, and then made the exact same mistake with Shawn Michaels immediately afterwards and nearly drove HIM to WCW as a result. I mean, Vince would never let him leave, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Anyway, I wish Diesel would have cut this promo months beforehand, because it would have saved his title reign.
Shawn Michaels v. Owen Hart
So yeah, this is pretty famous. They trade some near-falls off a headlock to start and Shawn dropkicks him out of the ring while Vince notes all the terrible head injuries that Shawn sustained last night. FORESHADOWING. Owen clotheslines him out of the ring and follows with a baseball slide as the official count of Marines is up to “nine hoodlums”. Owen fires away with forearms back in the ring and follows with a backbreaker before going to the chinlock. Shawn fights out and Owen gets a leg lariat for two as we take a break. Back with Shawn making the comeback, but Owen cuts him off with a clothesline for two. Shawn slugs back but does a great job of selling his concussion problems, and he reverses a superplex attempt for two. Shawn makes the comeback with the flying forearm and flying elbow for two, but Owen hits him the ENZUIGIRI OF DEATH and goes for the Sharpshooter. Shawn fights him off and clotheslines him to the floor, but clowns around and passes out in the middle of the ring and EVERYONE FREAKS THE FUCK OUT. Match is stopped at 12:25 and the show just grinds to a jarring halt as no one seems to know what to do. We take a break and return with Vince himself assisting EMTs in the ring and no commentary, which gives it an extra sense of realness, exactly the sort of thing that Vince Russo spent years trying to duplicate with little success. Match was excellent before the wacky finish, by the way. ***1/2 Although it should be noted that WCW still won the night, 2.6 to 2.3, so it was not yet the reality era in WWF.
Really great show up and down this week.
Next week: Kama v. Undertaker!
