[1995-06-05-WWF-Raw] Owen Hart vs Davey Boy Smith

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

If these two have ever had a bad match against each other, I sure haven't seen it. They seem to bring out the best in each other. In terms of number of good-great matches, Owen isn't the #1 guy in the WWF, but when he does show up, he's a guy who shows up in a big way. He was just so, so good. These two do things that aren't common moves in the WWF, like Owen's spinning leg lariat, and Davey Boy's fisherman's suplex, delayed vertical suplex and surfboard. Nice stretch of nearfalls at the end, to a point where you think there might actually be a last-minute finish. Of course it's a WWF match, so Owen is the guy who gets screwed by the draw, but what can you do. I don't know if this would place all that highly on a 90s WWF set, but this would have stood out in a big way on an 80s WWF set. It definitely feels like the ultimate MSG undercard draw.

[Bix]

Trivia time: This match, inserted into a live Raw with different announcers, was actually taped weeks earlier as a In Your House dark match, which is why the entrances are cut out and they never shoot the aisle. While this match was airing on Raw, Chris Benoit got his first tryout match of the three days of tapings, this time against Bob Holly.

 

Pretty weird way of doing things.

[Tim Evans]

I didn't like the finish to this but other than that, the match is real good. Right up there with the best from WCW at the time. Owen reminds me so much of Dolph Ziggler.

[PeteF3]

Good match with a hot closing stretch. Davey Boy busts out some new offense and the rapid near-falls were all done well. This match really would have been helped with time calls, which I think they actually did for the Shawn-Kama draw at the PPV. But good for Davey and Owen for actually working accordingly to how much time was left, showing greater and greater urgency the longer the match went.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Owen Hart vs Davey Boy Smith - WWF RAW 06/05/95 KOTR Qualifying Match

 

Love their 1997 RAW match, never seen this before. Just a great pro wrestling match. Love the ups and downs of the shine. They move in and out of armbar so well. Davey Boy uses that as a base, but they have a lot of motion like monkey flips, press slam and hitting the post. Owen bumps so well so add excitement to the match. Builds perfectly to the Bulldog's delayed vertical. Great climax to the shine. Before you know Owen moves to his heat with a keelift, great sense of timing. Go to ad break and come to find there is a 15 minute time limit so that telegraphs the finish. Owen's spinwheel kick and then raising his arms with a Woooo is how I remember Owen. Bulldog makes his comeback outta chinlock. Nice catapult, Fisherman suplex, upside down surdboard, cool set up into Bulldogs powerslam. Owen get his foot on ropes. Great series of nearfalls adds to the drama as Gorilla counts down the time limit. Real time time calls to audience would have helped. Nice, tight wrestling match that built well to time limit draw, both wrestlers came out looking good. ***1/2

[Zenjo]

This was taped on 5/14 for those of you keeping score at home. 13m of the 15m draw was shown. These two always combined so well as both partners and adversaries. Some nice exchanges that had the purpose of making the face look good at the end of them. It would increasingly become forgotten by both bookers and wrestlers that heels are actually supposed to make babyfaces look impressive. The time limit kept things moving without ever feeling like they were rushed. I liked how the desperation escalated over time as the end loomed nearer. The closing stages were strong. A neat little undercard match, good fun.