Superstar Sleeze

Commercial was very good and made WWF seem way bigger that they were in their nadir year. Pamela Anderson at her apex.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Owen Hart - WWF RAW 1/9/95 I have had this one earmarked ever since I found it existed. Two of the most beloved 90s upper Midcard Acts. I was underwhelmed by their KOTR 94 match but otherwise these two aren’t really associated with each other. So it is a pleasure to get these two together. I really enjoyed this match and I thought they structured this flawlessly. If they got the better finish, you could say this was a hidden gem. Owen tries a sneak attack and Razor clotheslines him. It is off to the races. Razor works a really fun shine. At every pass, Owen is thwarted. We get a great back body drop, clothesline to the outside so Owen goes up top press slam. Razor works the arm and Owen does a great job making this fun doing a great comedic flop. Razor works the arm well and when Owen gets out he clocks him with a right and when Owen spits at him it is the Sack of Shit. It is my favorite style of wrestling. Heel feeds a baby face by trying some sort of shortcut and baby face thwarts him and hits badass offense. At the perfect time before this gets old, Razor goes for his finish and Owen back drops him over the top. Owen hits a beautiful suicide dive. Notice how it is almost a high speed crossbody block through middle rope. It is an easy bump for the wrestler to absorb so it looks better. Owen’s heat segment follows Razor’s shine. Since Owen is a heel, I would have liked more viciousness or cheating. This is more of a Japanese-style control segment. Owen runs through his offense: enziguiri, straddle, spinning heel kick, back breaker, sleeper. The beauty of all this is how it is set up. Razor is constantly fighting trying to throw his signature right or Irish Whip and Owen thwarts him with one of his signature move. It is not my turn, your turn. They strategically set up each high spot. Really well done. I like how Razor uses the back suplex out of the sleeper as the leveling the playing field. Razor hits those signature, stinging rights, great set up and execution of the Chokeslam, Razor really getting a chance to show off his offensive arsenal. Razor goes for his signature set up love the Super Back Suplex but Owen fights out. Owen goes for his own Back Suplex, but loses his balance and Razor gets dropped ass first hard on the top rope and takes quite the tough bump to the floor. His ass must have felt that. Owen gets the Sharpshooter and Bret as jealous as ever can’t stand to see his younger brother win the Intercontinental championship blatantly attacks Owen in front of the ref. Here comes Razor’s Rumble opponent, Double J Jeff Jarrett, this sets up the Jarrett vs Bret match. I really liked the structure of this a lot. They really meshed their high spots well setting up each one logically and executing them really well. I would have liked to seen Owen show more of mean streak in the heat segment but he is a great stooge. Razor is a great baby face. Too bad about this finish, but this is great *** 3/4

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Tatanka - WWF RAW 9/26/94 The trio of WWF Midcard acts I have avoiding are Crush, Savio Vega and Tatanka. I have legitimately watched enough Crush to know I don’t care for him. There’s something about Vega and Tatanka that’s so lame it is off-putting just seeing their name on the screen. I out of my big boy pants to watch to say I’ve seen every 1994 IC Title from TV. Probably the 3rd biggest match of Tatanka career besides the WrestleMania IX and the Luger RAW match. A strange matchup as Tatanka was feuding with Luger and Razor was still in Shawn/Diesel orbit. I have said before Razor is the King of 3 star match I mean that as a compliment because he has sold, good to very matches. He is reliable to be always be good. Hall/Razor stock has really risen with me. He went from someone I just liked because he was a childhood favorite to someone respect as someone as the best to ever do it. They being said this was probably his most boring match. Between this and Luger match, Tatanka is as boring and as basic as I expected him to be. There was really no structure to the match. Razor was nominally upending Tatanka and besting him at every turn. It was the usual good punches and some arm work. Tatanka was throwing chops and elbows. It was so basic. The transition to heat was a Tatanka snapping Razor throat across the rope. The climax was an abdominal stretch. The near fall was a body slam. This was like so lame. Razor came back hit his super back suplex but he gets distracted by Ted DiBiase. Luger comes to help. Bigelow attacks him to set up their match in 2 weeks. Melee ensure. Tatanka gets counted out. Nothing to see here. Keep it moving.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Diesel - WWF RAW 11/21/94 The last Diesel match before his baby face turn and WWF Championship victory. I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted yet next week on RAW Diesel would be Heavyweight Champion of the World. This is non-title but the rubber match. Diesel won IC Title in April and Razor won it back at Summerslam. This the go home show to Survivor Series and they are playing up the Diesel team vs Razor team dynamics. Lots of dissension between Diesel and Michael’s. The Teamsters jumped Razor at the beginning of the show in the entrance ramp so the match got moved to the end of the show. I am surprised they didn’t run Diesel/Razor in 95 they had great chemistry and it would have required a Razor heel turn but they desperately needed heels in 95. Just a thought. A really Lo-fi but fun match between these two. I don’t think Razor hit an angle high spot but his stinging right hand was more than enough to keep this scintillating. Razor came in hot off the beat down just tagging everything that moved with rights. I should say both teams are presence. Some liberal Shawn Michaels interference is peppered throughout the match. Diesel himself is just working massive knee lifts and elbows. He shows off his length with his boot to the throat and a sleeper. Anytime Razor gets some momentum Shawn interferes. Diesel gets the Snake Eyes and the straddle comes off great with Shawn holding the hair and Diesel crashing down. Throughout this Razor is never dying and is always fighting back. He backs drops out of the Jacknife. As expected the whole thing breaks down first Jarrett ends up in the ring and then Owen is flung into Diesel and then leads to everyone coming in and a melee ensues to send us to Survivor Series. I enjoyed this as a Lo-fi slugfest. *** 1/4

Yokozuna vs Adam Bomb - WWF RAW 7/25/94 Man how the mighty have fallen. They knew that still had some money left in Yokozuna in losing to Undertaker but they couldnt go to that well until the Fake Undertaker angle was completed. It was an interesting concept for an angle, but one fumbled in execution. As for Yokozuna, it is actually quite shocking how far the Mighty Yokozuna had fallen. The most effective heel World Champion in WWF since Superstar Graham and he is doing jobs for Earthquake and eeking out countout victories over Adam Bomb, who barely qualifies as a midcarder. It was very strange booking. I have seen Wrath and Kronik matches, but never an Adam Bomb match. What the fuck was Adam Bomb supposed to be? I guess maybe a successor to an Ultimate Warrior or a Road Warrior. What the fuck is the hook? He is not dissimilar than his Kronik partner, Crush/Bryan Adams. A really big dude with very little charisma. I would say Clark/Wrath/Bomb had a slightly better look, but not much better in the ring. The Crush match in 1993 had a much better post-match angle so that elevates it, but the actual work is not that much different. Yoko is the total ring general in this match. Adam Bomb is a freshly minted babyface having dropped Harvey Whippleman. Yoko takes the beginning of the match to establish himself as a mountain. He feeds and weeble wobbles for Bomb before he takes him down and Yoko bumps through middle rope in a classic Yoko bump. After the commercial break, Yoko hits a headbutt, a couple clotheslines, and a nerve pinch. They do another weeble wobble spot this time Adam Bomb hits a DDT as punctuation mark and then a flying clothesline. Thats Adam Bomb big moment. Fucking KWANG~! and Harvey Whippleman come out and KWANG~! trips Bomb. Bomb beats up Kwang pretty easily and he pressed Harvey, but Bomb was counted out. Yoko could NOT even beat Adam Fucking Bomb. Pretty fucking lame. This was a lame match.

Yokozuna vs Earthquake - WWF RAW 5/16/94 Sumo They were at a complete loss what to do with Yokozuna between WrestleMania and Survivor Series. They knew Yokozuna still had value to do the job to Undertaker, BUT they wanted to do the Fake Taker angle first in Summerslam, which honestly is not a bad concept for an angle they just botched the execution horribly. Coming off Royal Rumble, the Yoko/Taker match definitely had money written all over it. They were the ones that closed out Survivor Series. The question is what to do with Yokozuna for seven months. It turns out not much. The Earthquake push seems weird to me. Earthquake is definitely a guy that I am consistently underwhelmed by. People seem to like him, but I cant get into him. I couldnt get it into this. That paled in comparison to the Duggan/Yoko knockdown match. Duggan has way more charisma than Earthquake. The 1994 crowd is much more forgiving than I am. The stalling was brutally boring. Yoko looks so much more like a star than Quake. The initial shouldertackle exchange was good. They tease going out. They do a double underhook grab the waistband test of strength. Finally Earthquake ducks and gets a mighty sumo slap to take Yoko off his feet and Yoko tumbles out of the ring. Earthquake would be out of the WWF by the time this was televised. His last WWF match was on May 15th. It was a weird choice to me to push him, but I think they were trying anything to see what would stick. Clearly they had big plans for Earthquake if he won this match. I didnt care for this, but your mileage may vary. I preferred Duggan/Yoko by a country mile.

Yokozuna vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan - WWF Superstars 2/6/93 Excellent piece of business. This felt like I was watching Watts Mid-South not the WWF. The USA vs Japan, the Knockdwon Challenge stipulation, the flag burying. It all feels so Watts and boy Duggan pulls it off so well. Call me crazy they could have pushed Duggan instead of Luger and I think it would have been way hotter and way better. I say that as a huge Luger fan. Between this and the Summerslam Spectacular match, Duggan has way better chemistry with Yokozuna than Luger and is way more over and way more authentic as the All-American Hero. He is the blue collar hero that people would have rallied around instead of Luger who looked more like an American Gladiator. It is super simple but so effective. Duggan and Yoko work this perfectly. Duggan is psyching himself up and working so hard to win against the immovable object. Yokozuna is stoic monster. Duggan charges with all his might but ricochets off Yoko to the mat. Then on the second time, Yoko sells the shoulders. The third time we get the weeble wobble. The fourth time we finally fell the monster! The pop is huge and the feeling is still electric 31 years later. Then they kick it into overdrive with an incredible angle. Yoko blinds Duggan with the Salt. Three Banzai Drops! Drape the American Flag over Duggan's body and one more Banzai Drop for good measure! Absolutely incredible! All-time great angle. Really loved this.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett vs Razor Ramon - WWF WrestleMania XI Besides his title loss to Shawn Michaels at IYH 2, the biggest match of Jarrett's first run with IC belt. I was on Cagematch looking at his challengers and it is pretty lame slate. The Bob Backlund (heel vs heel match) looks interesting, but Aldo Montoya, the weird two match series with Bob Holly where the belt is held up, the house show title switch with Razor, which gets Jarrett up to being a 3-time champion in short order, finally a match against Savio Vega leaves a lot to be desired. It is not surprising that besides Jarett's matches with Razor and Shawn, this period of his career is not discussed and pretty much forgotten. As for the match, I watched the Shawn/Diesel match from WrestleMania XI first and I have to say this felt like the midcard version of the match. Right down to a similar beginning. Diesel hits a back body drop on Michaels so he can pose with Pamela Anderson. Razor sends Jarrett packing with some hard rights so he can pose with 1-2-3 Kid. I think Big Daddy Cool one that one Razor. I needed to do some stuff for work, but it has only been 30 minutes since I watched this match, but a lot of it seems to have evaporated. I remember when I watched it. It didnt feel sticky. It was good, uptempo work, but there was no strong hook that made you say ok thats the story of the match. It was just a lot of really, really fucking good Razor Ramon punches with some fun Jarrett bumping & stooging. Also you could tell Kid was pumped to be at this WrestleMania. He was not WrestleMania X and didnt have a match on this show, but he was stoked to be out there tonight. Like Shawn in the Diesel match, I thought Jarrett gave Razor a lot of different looks early only to end up eating the Knuckle Sandwich. He used the Roadie way more effectively than Shawn used Sid. I thought Jarrett played the cat and mouse game well and only to get stopped by a hard Razor Right. Roadie yanking Jarrett down from the Razor's Edge was a good spot. The climax of the shine was really good with the Roadie eating the turnbuckle and The Bad Guy sending Double J over the top to the floor to crash down on the Roadie. I thought the transition to heat was weak. All of sudden Jarrett was landing dropkicks and hit his straddle. Jarrett suffers from lack of offense so we get the chinlocks and the sleeper here I dont think it built to as well as Shawn's sleeper in the Main Event. I might be screwing up the order here but I think whats first is there's the weird exchange of three double knockouts to level the playing field: a suplex where they both hit the back of their heads, a double noggin knocker and a double punch. The crowd boos this. It is very rare that a crowd will boo a match so that was interesting and I was eye rolling myself so glad the crowd agreed. Then I think Razor mounts a comeback with the Sack of Shit, but tweaks his knee on the Bulldog. Now it was a bum knee at the Royal Rumble (Roadie chop blocked him) that cost him the IC Title. So this was expected and a good play off that match. Jarrett gets the Figure-4 which helps add so much needed drama to this match. I have noticed that WWF has a tendency to not let the heels do their finishes in their match which can hurt the drama of the match. I also believe in protecting finishes, but I think there is a way to do both. Razor counters it. I think it is pretty much into the finish. The usual prelude to the Razor's Edge, the super Back Suplex. Razor's Edge and Roadie chop blocks the knee blatantly in front of the ref. Wicked lame finish. Kid BLASTS Jarrett with a Spinning Heel Kick pretty sure thats where Jarrett got the bloody nose and then smokes Roadie too. Great kicks from the Kid. Who is super jazzed to be there. Jarrett and Roadie beat him up. I wish Kid got the Savio spot and this spun off into a Jarrett/Kid program in May and June as that would have been great. Typical WWF Jarrett match starts out promising and loses steam. Loved the Shine, but after that it was hit and miss. Still good. *** 1/4

WWF World Champion Diesel vs Shawn Michaels - WWF WrestleMania XI What a fucking shine! Five star fucking shine! Fuck! They couldn’t finish the match off. The Good Friends Better Enemies Street Fight is the better match and overshadows this one. Damn I thought I found the hidden gem hiding in plain sight. They just couldn’t take it home. This is Shawn Michaels at his most Ric Flair I have ever seen him. This has to go down as one of the all time great shines. Because what makes a Ric Flair shine special is all the different looks he gives he his opponent. This was a beautiful work of art by Shawn. We start with unrelenting speed. Cat and mouse. Eventually Diesel clobbers him. Then we try to work the arm. Diesel powers out and throws him around. Shawn spits at him to get him riled up. Diesel shoved him down. Shawn goes for the eyes, Diesel hits a magnificent knee lift and Shawn takes an awesome bump and even makes up for not going over the top with a cool bump through middle & bottom ropes. This was fabulous. Every turn Diesel thwarted Shawn and bested him using power and size. Shawn used at least four strategies as documented above (I might have missed one or two, I do these based off memory no notes). It was terrific! I thought the transition to heat was also fantastic. Another cat and mouse run the ropes exchange except Diesel goes for the Big Boot the prelude to the Jacknife Powerbomb finisher so you know he is trying to end it. He misses Shawn and gets hung up in the top rope. Shawn clotheslined Big Daddy Cool over the top; skins the cat; top rope splash to the floor. Great consolidation. The cherry on top on his desperation Diesel lunges at Shawn and hits his ribs on the post/ring steps. Shawn splash from apron onto the bad ribs. It is a five spot transition but it is does masterfully. Unfortunately this is where the match starts to drag. Diesel in my opinion oversells the ribs. This grinds the match to a halt. Shawn does a pretty good job staying on the ribs. The Top Rope Elbow Drop was onto ribs WWF an excellent spot. The heat segment was not bad but it was not great. If Shawn had more offense would’ve it been better yes, but I don’t think he did a bad job per se. I think very easily some Diesel hope spots or struggle could have easily boosted the heat segment. Diesel slings Shawn off a couple times and things look to pick up. I like the sleeper as the last ditch Shawn attempt to keep control but Diesel powers out and that’s when the match goes off the rails. A strong comeback/finish could have easily over come that alright heat segment but I think the story is true: Kevin Nash was blowed up. None of his shit had any zip on it. I will say there was a Diesel chant during the heat segment but before that when he was selling the ribs on the outside there was a pretty sizeable SID chant and Sid didn’t do shit this match. There was a Let’s Go Shawn chant during Diesel’s comeback so the Hartford crowd was all over the place. Overall the crowd was dead for the comeback. It was how Diesel was doing it. The what was solid shit; he just had nothing left in the tank. Shawn was doing his best bumping hard but Nash was cooked. The finish was ridiculous they wanted Shawn to get the visual pin and hit an exposed buckle (botched catapult but man did he hit the middle buckle hard). I know he was turning baby face that’s a lot of protection. The Earl Hebner twists his ankle off camera sucked that’s why Sweet Chin Music didn’t get the pin. I liked the Shawn Bulldog converted into a Sidewalk Slam that was somewhere in there. The Big Boot and the weird Jacknife Powerbomb finishes it. I am not one to penalize on blown spots BUT this one has a lot of hiccups. Tough one to grade because I loved the Shine and transition to heat. Five stars no joke. The heat segment drags it down and comeback/finish really drags it down. Four stars means a great match in my eyes and I don’t think you can truly call it great. So let’s go *** 3/4

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Jeff Jarrett - WWF RAW 4/25/94 "Who throws a better punch than Razor Ramon?" - Macho Man Randy Savage. Nobody, brutha, nobody. This is Jeff Jarrett's first feature singles contest on Monday Night RAW, a couple weeks prior he was in a 10-man tag, but here is his first proper main event. He would go to wrestle Tatanka in July and Doink the Clown (the lame babyface, non-Matt Bourne version) in October, before the British Bulldog match in December where the Roadie debuts and he starts getting pushed. Like so many Jarrett matches I have watched from his first WWF run this started auspiciously. I thought I finally found the WWF hidden Jarrett gem, but the chinlocks rear their ugly head and this match like his others are simply good. None of his matches are bad mind you, but the only true great one remains the Shawn Michaels classic. Great, heated start to this one. You might even think Double J is the babyface the way he gets so much offense in early against Razor, but I think that speaks to the selflessness of Razor and also that fact Razor was established and over. They needed to establish Jarrett as a credible threat. Commentary is mostly focused on Razor's upcoming title defense against Diesel this weekend on Superstars, which is where Razor lost the title. This match against Jarrett is non-title. Jarrett gets a takedown early and smacks Razor around. I am surprised given Razor's size advantage they worked that spot, but like I said it puts Jarrett over and he is the one that needed the cred. Razor finally catches Jarrett in the sack of shit. Jarrett powders, but Jarrett comes back on the outside. Jarrett's ferocity on offense is what keeps this compelling. Jarrett hits Razor with a couple good down South rights, but Razor who might have the best right ever just comes across and smacks the shit outta Jarrett and mows him down. Out of all the WWF New Gen guys, Hall's stock is the one rising the most with me. He is always working hard and kicking ass. Jarrett comes back and hits a fist drop. Here comes the chinlock. Razor works out of it but sets too early into a commercial break. Vince/Savage go on a long tangent about George Foreman's comeback and basically promote his return fight harder than they promote either Razor or Jarrett. Some free publicity for Foreman. Back from the ad and now Jarrett has a sleeper on Razor. They really milk this. Razor gets the back suplex. Razor starts firing off those right and steamrolls Jarrett with a clothesline. He looks a like million bucks on offense. Signature Razor taunt. Here comes Michaels. He beats Michaels from pillar to post. Diesel saves Michaels from the Razor's Edge and clobbers him with the Big Boot and Jacknife polish off Razor. Diesel and Michaels take turns stepping on the fallen Razor and parading around with the IC Title. A bit unusual given that they were going to do a title switch to have Diesel get the upper hand before the title match, but chock this one up as a curveball. Before the ad break, they were really humming along. After the first chinlock and the DQ finish, cant say this is much better than good. I had their Rumble match at good. Interested to watch their WrestleMania match next. ***

Jeff Jarrett vs British Bulldog - WWF RAW 12/5/94 I have a soft spot for both these guys because I started watching in the Summer of 1997. Both always come off uneven to me unless they are in the ring against Bret or Shawn. I earmarked this as something I was interested to see how it unfolded. It was very much a Jarrett match. It was very uneven. The shine was terrific and easily the best part of the match. The heat segment left something to be desired. I feel like all the criticisms laid at Shawn Michaels should be weighted tenfold against Jarrett. He really has no offense and the WWF house style does him no favors so you get a lot of chin locks. I would say the match is more hit than miss but disappointing. Like I said loved the shine. Jarrett is celebrating the smallest arm drags and takedowns with the Fargo Strut and Reclining On The Top Rope. He goes to hip toss Bulldog, nothing doing, tries again, nah nah, and now Bulldog sends Jarrett flying. We get the worst looking strut from the Bulldog but it is endearing. Bulldog mows him down with a shoulder tackle. Great bump. Headlock - Headscissors Bulldog is rolling. Bulldog delayed Vertical. I thought was watching the second best Jarrett in WWF match. Jarrett clocks Bulldog with a right when Bulldog goes up top. Here comes the chin locks. Shawn Michaels is on commentary makes some good Bulldog napping jokes in reference to how long Bulldog was out during Survivor Series. Jarrett does a couple moves off the top neither is graceful. We trade a couple high spots with Jarrett getting a Bulldog on the Bulldog and the irony was not lost on Vince and Shawn. Bulldog gets a Fisherman Suplex which Shawn says no one ever wins with that move. Quite the swipe at Curt Hennig, wonder what that was about. Jarrett gets the best right hand of the match. Jarrett clearly knows how to work a great shine but his next best move is hai punch but WWF doesn’t really work brawls except on special occasions and that hurt Jarrett. Again the chin lock it was at least 3 if not four. Bulldog begins his comeback inverted atomic drop always a Sleeze Pleezer and then back drop. Mows him down with three clotheslines. Jarrett bails but Bulldog Military Presses him in the aisle way and tosses him back in the ring. Very cool and impressive high spot. Wait what’s this someone is hanging onto Bulldog. Jarrett wins by countout. Shawn says Bulldog was caught sleeping again. lol. It is the Roadie! Except he has not been named yet. So in case anyone was wondering this is the debut of the Roadie. Both these guys had quiet 1994s but were poised for new programs. Jarrett would have the best stretch of his first WWF run coming up now armed with Roadie he feels like an upper mid card act. He gets featured bouts against Bret Hart and a title shot against Diesel on RAW and wins the IC Title against Razor Ramon at Rumble which kinda feels like a mild upset in this context. Bulldog was about to have the opposite trajectory as he was destined for midcard hell to be partnered with Lex Luger against the Million Dollar Corporation. This December-February stretch is littered with Luger vs MDC, Bulldog vs MDC or them together vs MDC on RAW. It is something I’m going to skip. It looks like Luger vs IRS from later this month and Bulldog vs Tatanka the week after is how the Allied Powers were born. Anyways, the finish is lame but it gets the Roadie over and establishes him as Jarrett’s new buddy. Take out the Jarrett chin locks this is a really good match, with them it is just good. Elevated a little by how much I loved the shine. ***1/4

Randy Savage vs IRS - WWF RAW 1/17/94 On paper this seems like a random match up to headline RAW, BUT Savage smashed some cake into IRS’ face last week during the 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty celebration. I am sure he deserved it for his shit talk. Savage is knee-deep in the Crush feud and IRS is wrapping up his feud with Razor at the Rumble. They used Savage a lot in this stretch on TV. He had a RAW match against Fatu the month prior which I am skipping and he has the World Title match against Yokozuna the next month which rocks. This match exceeded my expectation. It was a sort of break neck, frenetic pace. There were not a lot of high spots or narrative per se. It was a lot of slam bang action but most importantly how it was done. It was heatedly and with a competitive ferocity. Savage tries it cut IRS off at the pass which seems heelish. IRS slams him into the buckles a lot. a lot of just dropping his weight onto Savage. Savage timed his hope spots right before the commercial breaks (or if this was taped they timed the breaks around his hope spots). The use of the atomic drop into clothesline or a double axe handle from the apron to set up attacking Crush who is doing commentary. IRS for his part did well on offense suplex into the ring coming out of the break. There were some chinlocks and an ab stretch but it was not too bad. IRS ate a boot on a top rope splash. Nice throat first drop by Savage to get revenge on IRS doing that earlier. He goes for the Top Rope Elbow but Crush interferes to trigger the DQ. All the main eventers pour of the back to simulate the Royal Rumble as hype for the show later that week. Like I said better than I thought. A good competitive frenetic energy to this one. ***

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Jerry Lawler - WWF RAW 8/14/95 The main event of the penultimate RAW before the Monday Night Wars begin. Shawn Michaels the Main Eventer is fully crafted before our eyes. The Jeff Jarrett IYH 2 match is the birthplace in my opinion (perhaps it is on a RAW against King Kong Bundy or IRS when Michaels return from the Sid attack/betrayal, but I have no desire to watch those matches). The Kip Up is here, Top Rope Elbow Drop and it is called Sweet Chin Music and all the fanfare around is there. If you compare this to the Bulldog match in March of 1995 (5 months earlier), Michaels is still a heel and he has Sid as his bodyguard. He feels like an Upper Midcarder on the cusp on breaking out. I have never thought about it this way, but his breakout match is that Jarrett match. It is funny to see his next big match is against fellow Memphis legend, Jerry Lawler. You can see that Shawn Michaels would have fit like a glove in Memphis. He is just so campy and he can do the dog and pony shit so well. He has always been able to see the Rougeaus match from Paris and London. He cut his teeth against Buddy Rose for goodness sake. Shawn brings that camp and playfulness that WWF sorely needs. That being said, I say this as a Shawn defender for the most part, he was pretty damn uncool in his promos. The bad Dad jokes are so weird when youre supposed to be this ultra-cool playboy rockstar. He looks bitchin' as fuck, but he sounds corny as fuck. Last week, Diesel wrestled Sir Mo, (Mabel's tag team partner) and in the process Mabel beat up Shawn Michaels. Even though this was brought multiple times, Shawn basically said he was not going to sell the attack during his promo and followed through on that. This RAW also had the infamous Lawler/Yankem vignette (which made me cringe and it was as bad as I expected) so Lawler is still full steam ahead on trying to get vengeance on the Hitman. Lawler is a great character to have on teh roster. He get heat but you can beat him like a drum and keep getting heat. He is a great mouthpiece for all random heels. Really fun shine as expected, Shawn baseball slides through the legs and trips the King. Single leg pick up. I LOVE trips! I love when babyfaces use trips to show up a heel. Lawler says here is a "Whopper" in response to the "Burger King" chants and BIG SWING AND A MISS! Shawn clobbers Lawler. Piledriver! Nah! Nah! Shawn splays! Big Punch. Excellent Memphis bullshit. Thankfully for Lawler, Sid comes out distracts Shawn and Lawler clocks Shawn and sends him careening to the floor on a hard Irish Whip. Back from commercial, this is the best Lawler heat segment I have seen in WWF. He kicks some ass, gets his fist drop and DDT. He actually looks competent, which is not always the case in the Bret matches. He misses a splash from the top. KIP UP~! Look how Lawler sells the KIP UP~! This is a missing ingredient for Shawn that pre-Summer 1995 that he was missing. Shawn hits the top rope elbow. It was a middle rope elbow against Bulldog. Again, a big change that helps legitimize Shawn. I need to either read my review or watch the Jarrett match because I wonder if all this here. SWEET CHIN MUSIC! It is called as such and he gets sold as such! Sid attacks here. Razor saves. Razor shoves Shawn to get more of Sid. Diesel tries to calm down his fellow Kliq boys. Interesting booking at the end, Shawn/Sid is a natural big time match because of the Sid turn and now that Diesel is finished with Sid it makes sense for Sid to come down the ladder and wrestle Michaels. It is interesting that rather than have that at Summerslam they wanted that to be big first RAW Main Event against Nitro. They always say that Shawn/Razor II they wanted the "better" match for Summerslam, BUT I wondered if they wanted the "BIGGER" match for the first RAW. Just food for thought. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Perfect TV wrestling. #2 babyface just having a fun, popcorn match against the sleazy, scuzzy heel. Whats not to love! *** 1/2

Watched this for the first time. The content needs a little tweaking and he was a little too quiet at times, BUT the aesthetic and the vibes are on another level! Absolute genius from jump! He just jumps off the page with the look and DEEEEPPPPPP INHALE! Incredible! Would love for a Modern Day Goldust to really shake things up nowadays.

Was watching this episode for Shawn Michaels vs Jerry Lawler and saw this come on first. Fast forwarded to the finish. Heard Worcester chanting "Kill The Clown" and I was like "Yep, this made the Yearbook" and here it is. This is the penultimate RAW before their summer break heading into the Monday Night Wars and this is definitely a microcosm of their issues. Non-Matt Borne, Babyface Doink was given a feature attraction match on RAW as recent as May 8th against IC Champion Jeff Jarrett. It is weird how much cooler heel, Matt Borne Doink is than this version of Doink. Not a good look heading into the Monday Night Wars.

Shawn Michaels vs British Bulldog - WWF RAW 3/6/95 These have great chemistry together and their stock spots (short arm scissors and the press slam onto the top rope etc…) always hit. I am torn on this match. When Shawn is bumping & feeding, this match is a hoot BUT this is a great point in favor of the anti-Shawn contingent because when it is time for him to take control there’s a whole lotta nothing. They give them a shit ton of time this takes up half an episode of RAW and what we did about 17-18 minutes. Shawn is with Sid at this point and Shawn is headed into Mania against Diesel. Davey Boy was the runner-up in Rumble that Shawn won but Vince is crying foul for no reason. It sounds like Shawn won fair and square. I like the booking here as it is gives Shawn a definitive win over his fellow finalist and a quality win over an upper midcard act. Bulldog throws Shawn around pillar to post. He is atomic dropping Shawn, blasting him with clotheslines, Shawn takes the Harley bump, they play King of the Mountain. It is a shit ton of fun. Bulldog works a great headlock against Michaels bringing us down in a good way after the red hot start. He is consolidating control. Then we get their famous Short Arm Scissors spot which is always a crowd pleaser. Bulldog looked king - size there. Upside Down Surfboard. Delayed Vertical. They pulled out all the stops. Michael’s gets caught by Sid and hits a slingshot splash. I think besides the Short Arm Scissors that was his only offense. Shawn tanks Bulldog out by the tights and Davey Boy takes a nasty spill. Then it all evaporates. Shawn really doesn’t do much with his heat segment. Some punches, a reverse elbow and an elbow drop, two chin locks and a sleeper. It was pretty damn lame. This was perfect fodder for the Shawn has no offense crowd. Davey Boy powers out of the sleeper; they knock heads coming out of the second ad break. That’s the leveling playing field spot. Bulldog grabs a sleeper but that seemed like a time filler. Finally, we get to the finish which is gangbusters. Bulldog hits a series of clotheslines. Their favorite Press Slam, Shawn nuts first on top rope, shakes the Top Rope! Flair Flip! Which felt so killer! Cornette says shades of Ray Steven’s and follows it up with I have never seen anything like that. Way to contradict yourself. Bulldog is rolling, headbutt gets two. Shawn ducks a charging Bulldog who careens to the outside. Sid blasts him In The back with a knee. Shawn gets two and a Sweet Chin Music gets three. They should have had him nail Sweet Chin Music after the knee just to make the finish more efficient but I agree they needed to make Sweet Chin Music feel like it could take down Diesel. I would have loved to have seen a Running Powerslam attempt after the Flair Flip to really kick this up a notch. It was the best of Shawn, it was the worst of Shawn. The shine & comeback/shine are undeniable so I am giving this a thumbs up but acknowledging that this is one of Shawn’s worst heat segments. ***1/2

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Mr. Perfect - WWF Summerslam 1993 I would say this match is a victim of expectations and a rough Hennig performance early. In a lot of ways they wanted to wrestle this NWA/AWA Heavyweight Championship style match but were only given 11 minutes and a shitty finish. They trade holds early. It is symmetrical and respectful. The idea is to see who the best wrestler is. Michael’s is the one supplying the energy and movement. Perfect is cutting him off at the pass. They blow a flying hammerlock spot and Michael’s has to go to the corner twice. It was just weird. Was Perfect already Injured? I see he starts a Diesel program after this and last two more months before not returning until 1997 in WCW. He seemed off. Shawn is feeding him good spots to thwart him but even the top rope crossbody into arm drag feels weird. Shawn feeds him a catapult. Diesel distraction. BANG~! Sweet Chin Music! But it is not a big deal yet. Great transition. The back work by Shawn is tight. Love sit down splash and a good “Goddamnit!” by Perfect! Perfect fights his way out the backbreaker stretch. Perfect’s comeback is great! The hurdle->dropkick, the inverted atomic drop and axe looked great. Perfect Plex was killer. Diesel yanking him out and then brawling and Hebner watching and even getting hit BUT NOT calling the DQ was egregious. Calling that a count out victory for Michael’s was stupid. Diesel/Shawn beat down a feisty Mr. perfect to start the Perfect/Diesel program. Terrible finish aside, I thought from the Catapult on this was a good match but the beginning is rough. Disappointing given who is involved but still good. ***

Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels - WWF 12/1/93 Steel Cage Match A match I discovered through Cagematch that got a pretty high rating which I would attribute more to the names participating in the match than the match itself even though I do think the match is good just not great. It is a Coliseum Home Video with Gorilla and Polo on the call. Polo is pretty rough. Bret and Shawn fell out of bed and had a good match. Bret seemed to dog it a little more than Shawn. There are enough on the way of high spots to keep you entertained but the connective tissue is not there. Shawn attacks Bret right as he enters the cage. Shawn’s right cross is so much better than his jab. Bret just rag dolls for him. Does not make him earn it at all. Shawn gets caught in the catapult into the cage. Shawn had to feed this spot to Bret. Bret works in his usual moves. They tussle around the door. They trade Ball Busting spots. Shawn yanks Bret down from the cage and he lands nuts first on the top rope. Then when Shawn tries to go out the door, Bret catches him with the middle rope to the nuts. It is weird seeing the Sweet Chin Music without any fanfare. There is a great leap by Shawn to prevent Bret from going out over the top. The finisher is killer with both guys out over the top. Bret slams Shawn’s head into the cage but as he is falling his foot gets hooked into the cage and rope. Bret falls safely to the floor for the win. Awesome finish! The high spots were good and at 12 minutes this was breezy. They really don’t do much in between the high spots. Creative finish bumps it up. ***1/2

Hakushi vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF Summerslam 1995 Have to say, I was disappointed by this match. I wanted to see what Kid could do against a non-superstar. So many of his high profile matches are against Bret, Shawn, Owen, Razor etc... This is a decidedly midcard match in a good spot with about 10 minutes against an opponent who is capable of having good match. I just thought this was there. They are sort of telegraphing a Hakushi babyface turn on commentary which I do think comes to fruition. The match is wrestled pretty straight for the most part from Hakushi. Pretty standard opening, headlocks, armdrags, the usual stuff. Hakushi gets a thrust to the throat with his fingers, so that was heelish. I liked that Kid used an armdrag to get out of the Argentine Backbreaker. There are levels to selling and Hakushi had not done enough to apply it, but soon after that Kid was just rag dolling for Hakushi. No fight, no struggling no making Hakushi earn it. Hakushi's individual spots were good: back handspring elbow, the Bronco Buster (wonder if Kid got him from him) and the Vaderbomb. His kicks however are the shits. There is no connective tissue. The Flying Space Tiger Drop which should be the climax of all this and is not executed very well. Hakushi missed the diving headbutt. Kid's comeback is pretty good. Dive to the floor, slingshot legdrop, big top rope splash. Kid goes for signature Spinning Heel Kick, but Hakushi catches him and converts mid-air into a slam. I loved the finish. The rest of it just felt very average. There was no hook, there was no character work, it is something just two random midcard wrestlers could do. Didnt feel special.

Owen Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 8/15/94 Kid had such a weird 94. The beginning has nice continuity with the Quebecers and climaxing of winning the tag belts on RAW. I don’t know if the situation with Marty screwed him over as he basically doesn’t have a program for the rest of the year. He just has killer 4+ star matches when called upon against Owen at KOTR, Bret on Raw and the Kliq Action Zone tag. A lot of people would kill for a year they good but there’s a whole lot of nothing in between the matches. Seemingly, this one other big featured Kid bout of 94, it is not as good as the KOTR 94 match but that’s the best sub 5 minute match ever so it is feed to compare. I really liked the match after the commercial break. I found the match before the ad break to be very noisy. It was a lot of disjointed spots/sequences kind of grouped together. I liked Kid outfoxing Owen early nailing a kick and avoiding charge and getting a near fall. Then the transitions just become random. Some arm work by each guy then some headlocks by each guy. Owen gets enziguiri and Kid gets a spinning heel kick. You get Macho shouting DOUBLE KIP UP! Maybe they were going for symmetry but Owen was using a lot of hair pulling. It just didn’t connect. To further that point you do get a Kid dive before the ad break and an Owen dive after the ad break. I like symmetry BUT it didn’t feel right in this match. I thought after the ad break it was a totally different match and a vast departure from KOTR style. This was Owen the bully heel which like Shawn is something you almost never get to see. That’s the value of Kid he allows these smaller heavyweights to get to play the bully. It is set up by a wicked suplex from apron to floor. Then the dive and a hard slap across the face. The bully shit kicks in with the back breakers to the ring post. The really targeted back work by Owen is excellent. He missed a top rope move landing on his knees. Kid makes a spirited comeback kicking the leg. Kid slaps on a single leg crab. I really thought they had something special, but Anvil doesn’t let them explore it as he attacks Kid triggering the DQ. The finish makes the match feel incomplete. Sometimes a DQ finish just feels right in the context of a match but this one, it felt too soon. Plus won at KOTR and could’ve used another win going into Summerslam so not only was timing off, it was not the right finish. Another 5-10 minutes I think they could’ve made up for the beginning and delivered another classic but that ain’t what happened. ***1/4

Marty Jannetty vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 10/25/93 There’s a world where Marty & Kid are the Rockers of the 90s and they rule the WWF New Gen tag team scene in glorious fashion. Their title victory over the Quebecers is 1 of 2 matches I think is the best non-Bret, non-Shawn WWF Matches of 1993-1997. After the DiBiase addendum to the Ramon program, the Kid has struck out on his own. Last month, he single-handledly showed up both Quebecers, WWF World Tag Team Champions. He knocked out Jacques to the point where he got farted to the back and he knocked out Pierre and it was only due to instinct and Johnny Polo that the Quebecers retained. Now here he is pitted against fellow baby face and recent IC Champion. Pretty basic baby face vs baby face wrestling here. Basic chain wrestling, lots of symmetry. I thought Kid was more aggressive than Marty. I don’t know if that is by design or if that is just a difference in their personalities. Kid gets some nice kicks and a Victory Roll. Marty gets a nice counter powerbomb. The aggrieved Johnny Polo is out to watch. He trips Marty and Kid has no problem immediately pouncing on Marty for a near fall. Kid misses a somersault splash from the top. Now it is Polo’s turn to trip Kid. Marty at least shows some frustration but Marty takes the cover. Kid nails a beautiful German after a series of suplexes from Marty. I agree with Brain Marty is wrestling this match lethargically. Marty wakes up with a stiff elbow. Kid nails the same Karate Kick that KO’d Jacques. Marty collapses to the outside. Polo pushes Marty out of the way of a diving Kid! SPLAT! Double Countout! Polo is very amused by his antics. Marty & Kid team up and kick Polo’s ass. Great double super kick that feels very 21st century. Marty & Kid feel perfect as a tag team. I want to rewatch the title change with Quebecers now. This match is alright. I thought Kid brought it but Marty dragged ass. ***

WWF World Tag Team Champions Quebecers vs 1-2-3 Kid & Barry Horowitz - WWF RAW 9/27/93 The Quebecers had just defeated The Steiners two weeks back in an awesome match under the convoluted Province of Quebec Rules match. Highly recommend that match. This kicks off the Quebecers vs 1-2-3 Kid feud which climaxes with Kid & Marty winning the Tag Team Titles at the 1 year anniversary of RAW in an awesome match which I have called one of two best non-Bret, non-Shawn matches of WWF 93-97. Quebecers claim they will have a high profile title defense. Raven as Johnny Polo is just so weird to me. It doesn’t feel right. They are in New Haven so he is wearing Harvard gear. That popped me. Instead it is against Miracle Jobber Connection of Barry Horowitz & Reno Riggins. Vince feels robbed and cheated. Wait! What’s that?!? Reno has the flu! Barry wants to choose a new partner and he chooses the 1-2-3 Kid. The Quebecers laugh it off and say you’re on. Bobby is worried about this. The Quebecers were the 90s WWF answer to the Midnight Express. Good stooges, great bumpers and killer offense. The whole match is 1-2-3 Kid, Horowitz does two maybe three moves. Kid starts off red hot with his karate and speed. The Quebecers are betwixt and between. It is dropkicks for everybody as even Horowitz gets in on the action. A cheap shot from behind sets up the heat segment on the Kid. Lots of MX style offense. Total Elimination looked killer. They take turns body slamming each other on the Kid. Lots of double teams. Jacques misses a reverse crossbody. Kid BLASTS him with a kick. Jacques collapses to the floor and he is out cold! This sold more for comedy than it would be today and that fits the Quebecers style. That crooked ref Earl Hebner says the match must continue as a virtual handicap match! Johnny Polo do something! Pierre is kicking Horowitz ass with a middle rope leg drop and a middle rope headbutt. Pierre slams Horowitz at the Kid’s feet to prove a point. He sends the Kid flying. He wants revenge for Jacques! Pierre plays with his food. KID BLASTS PIERRE WITH A KICK! Pierre out of instinct pulls the top rope down and Kid careens to the floor! I think we have a double KO situation. Polo tosses Kid back in and Pierre drapes the arm over for a cover. This is a nice piece of business. You get the Kid’s feet over as lethal. Jacques had to be carted out and Pierre was essentially knocked out. Kid has gone from plucky underdog now to a lethal weapon. The campy Quebecers are the perfect people to put him over. They still treat Horowitz as a total jobber so Kid looks like a superstar in this Herculean effort taking on and taking out both World Tag Team Champions. Now if only he had a better partner… ***

Razor Ramon vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 6/21/93 I have seen this match before but I misremembered it. If I recall listening to Scott Hall talk about this, Kid gets knocked for a loop legit and kind of fucks up the finish. It is unclear to me if it was the chokeslam which then causes him to slip off the top rope and nearly kill himself falling to the floor. Or if he was fine but just slipped by accident and that’s what’s KO’d him. Either way, Razor had to call for a moonsault and yell GET THE MONEY at the end to make sure Kid finished the angle. There is even the weird part at the end where Kid slows down before speeding back up which seems consistent with the story that he was concussed to fuck. This is such a Southern Fried story. The upset loss, the big bad heel with wounded pride doing everything he can to get the underdog back in the ring, risking $10k of his own money. The body of the match is pitch perfect. Kid gets a series of quick near falls to big reactions and really plays off the 1-2-3 moniker. Then Hall is able to get a hold of him Sack of Shit. Kid is slowed but keeps coming CHOKESLAM! It is brutal. That permanently slows him down. Razors slaps the back of his head and really vacillates between kicking his ass and embarrassing him. Real bully heel shit. Razor wants the Razor Edge on concrete. This is when Kid slips off the top either by accident or because the Chokeslam concussed him. If he didn’t have a head injury before now he does. They call the moonsault spot but this time Razor kicks out and Kid takes the money. The finish is a little odd as it is not a very baby face move for Kid to the take money BUT the match was fun and it shows Razor up. This leads to Razor turning baby face of all things. Really good Southern-Fried angle. This is also on the same show as the really fucking good Marty vs Doink 2/3 falls match. 1993 WWF is pretty damn fun actually.

Razor Ramon vs The Kid - WWF RAW 5/17/93 One of the best episodes of RAW ever as this also has the Marty return angle and victory over Shawn for the IC Title. What a great angle! Not only did they make 1-2-3 Kid a star but they used this to turn Razor Ramon baby face and Razor became an even bigger star. Talk about win-win. I have heard Hall talk about this match and how Kid wanted to do a bunch of shit. He told me he has got one move. That’s what makes the match. It looks like a squash. They never telegraph it. The way he smacks and throws him around. The abdominal stretch and the Sack of Shit. You never know something is up. Razor misses a charges overshoots knocks himself loopy. Kid’s moonsault is perfect because it is the knee to the head that sells it for me. Kid and Razor nail the reaction the crowd goes wild. It is clearly the match that made the Kid but I would argue it made Razor too. Brilliant angle!

Shawn Michaels vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 12/6/93 This looks fan-fucking-tastic when you’ve been watching a metric shit ton of New Generation WWF. This is during HBK’s fake IC title reign. I am surprised this isn’t talked up more because this completely different than anything else on WWF TV. This is downright Japanese workrate shit a precursor to WCW cruiserweight stuff. It is very avant-garde for WWF and really foreshadows what is to come. Kid comes out red hot. The one thing is Kid’s punching sucks. It will be interesting to see if he ever gets better at that. I can’t remember Syxx or X-PAC’s punch. They cut a great pace. Here are some of the high spot highlights: Strong dive to the floor by Kid. Shawn takes a weird bump into the post. He hooked it and spun out that I thought maybe he blocked it but I think he was supposed to hit. Kid eats a beautiful power slam off the apron to the floor. That was wicked. Beautiful German Suplex! Lots of movement, a dive and a suplex. Very different than most WWF. Also this is an interesting combination because Kid can actually slam/suplex Shawn which he normally can’t do that in WWF. Also Shawn can play the bigger bully heel a role he usually couldn’t play in WWF. Kid works a great side headlock but runs up the ropes one too many times and Michael’s suplexes him. Michaels works the backbreaker and in a rarity can really be that bully heel here. Kid gets a heel kick. Kid misses a somersault splash from the top rope. Crashes and burns. Back from commercial and Superkick (not quite sweet or musical yet). Shawn who was feuding with Razor over who was the real IC Champion hits TWO Razor Edges and they looked GREAT! Again that’s Shawn getting to play bully heel which he never gets a chance. Razor saves on the third attempt. The match gets thrown out. Diesel slugs Razor from behind the curtain. Shawn HITS TWO RAZOR EDGES ON SCOTT HALL! Damn I mean that is a big boy for Shawn to get up! He must have ate his Wheaties that morning. It didn’t look super good because it had to be done on concrete/floor so Shawn safely put Razor down but just hoisting him up and down was impressive. It was a spot fest but with character. Shawn was the bully heel and Kid was the plucky underdog. It was not overtly cooperative. It was not a weird a motion smoothing match. They took their time and made the high spots stand out. A really good 90s workfare match. *** 3/4