[1994-01-17-WWF-Raw] The Undertaker and Yokozuna

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Jim Cornette is apparently at a press conference (house show) in Tokyo, Japan (probably somewhere in Kentucky), which is why he isn't present. Yes, Fuji is in the U.S. while the American spokesperson is in Tokyo. Anyway, the party is quickly interrupted by Paul Bearer pushing a casket to ringside. Yoko's scared reaction is really good. Fuji gives Yoko orders to squash the casket, but the Undertaker jumps out when they're about to do the deed, and Yoko completely freaks out and literally trips over himself to get out of the ring. Fun segment, but I don't need to hear Crush doing commentary again.

[KB8]

I saw this when I was going through a bunch of episodes of RAW from '94 a few months back, and I thought Yoko was pretty great too, all google-eyed and spazzing out. I had never heard Crush doing commentary on it before, even though I thought I'd seen the segment a bunch of times in the past (must've always seen an edited version). "He's just saving himself for Wrestlemania, brudda."

 

Semi-related (I guess); Vince would have a different guy on commentary with him on RAW practically every week in '94. One week you'd get Jim Ross, the next week you'd get Savage, a week later you'd get Crush, or IRS, or Harvey Whippleman, and one week he even had Bastion Booger.

[Kevin Ridge]

Yoko good, Crush Bad. This sets up the Rumble match as Yoko is deathly afraid of casket matches. Sells is really good when Undertaker pops out.

[shoe]

Overall a pretty effective segment. Though I'm not a fan of making the monster heel afraid of things. Yokozuna and the casket, Kamala and the Iron claw, Andre and Snakes etc.

[Exposer]

Good God Crush is the worst person to listen to on commentary. That doesn't discount the coolness of this segment. Yoko was great here showing fear and busting his ass as he ran away from the emerging Taker out of the giant casket. Fun, fun segment.

[soup23]

Kind of saddened to hear Crush getting raked through the coals here, I thought he did a good poor man Bobby Hennan coming up with sort of ridiculous but also sort of valid points about why Yoko is scared and that the Undertaker is strange to be hanging out in a casket. Yoko did a great job of potraying the fear. This angle was a lot better well done so far than would appear on the surface.

[Zenjo]

If you want to make your dominant monster heel champion look like a spineless pussy, then it's a great segment. It was the Kamala angle all over again.

[Dooley]

Don't know why people are sour on Yoko showing fear. If Yoko's not scared of the casket, then why make the stipulation? It would have killed the match dead for Paul Bearer's big contractual manuever to be met with a "pffft....so?"

[Guest stanley]

Good God Crush is the worst person to listen to on commentary. That doesn't discount the coolness of this segment. Yoko was great here showing fear and busting his ass as he ran away from the emerging Taker out of the giant casket. Fun, fun segment.

Art Donovan will forever rule as worst guest commentator. And its not even close

[PeteF3]

You know what, if Crush would just drop the ridiculous faux-Asian accent he's attempting, he'd be just fine. He is trying very hard to put everything over, I have to give him that--and some of his absurd explanations for what's happening and attempts to stay calm are genuinely funny ("He's coming over to talk to me, brudda!"). Even Vince isn't quite buying the idea of Cornette being in Tokyo. He does a Lance Russell and basically cuts the entire promo for everyone. Yokozuna is planning to squash the casket but Undertaker pops out and Yokozuna runs away. Like heels running from Damian, big monsters running in fear from the Undertaker is a recurring theme that's really played out.

[garretta]

Oh, it is? Then why have an Undertaker gimmick? That's the entire point: Everyone in the WWF, no matter how big and bad they think they are, is scared witless at the very sight of Taker. Even Andre would probably have had to have another "heart attack" to get across his (ahem) deathly fear of caskets had they feuded like some thought they should have. Man on man without bullshit, this shouldn't be much of a match, because Yoko's just plain too big to be budged or hurt. It's either have him scared him down to size or don't have the feud at all. Or just book Yoko against Gigante, if he's still around.

 

Vince was such a delightful pot-stirrer here, practically bullying Yoko over toward the casket. If there's anyone who probably needed to show a little more fear, it's him. Of course, he's been around big guys his whole career and everyone knows it, so I give him a pass. As for Corny not being there, this was taped on January 10, the same night as an SMW TV taping in Chilhowie, Virginia. The Bodies and Rock 'n' Roll were the final match on the card, and he and the Bodies were guests on ​Down and Dirty during one of the hours. Personally, I'd have run some kind of suspension angle for myself so I could be gone for four shows (January 15 through February 5) and done Raw ​instead, since this was the big angle leading up to the casket match. He probably didn't trust anyone else to run the tapings, and he knew Fuji would be at Raw ​with Yoko. (Vince must not have thought he was needed either, or he would have taped the angle on a night when Corny could have been there without conflict.)

 

Speaking of the Devious One, he was excellent for someone who hadn't done much serious promo work for at least three months. He seemed to take the whole casket thing in stride until Taker popped out, at which point anyone with sense would have turned and run. I liked him looking over the casket and simply saying stuff like "Big casket", as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be seeing at the time. It made Yoko's fear stand out more, because he was the only one in the building who was afraid to that extent.

 

As much as Yoko selling fear was needed, I could have sworn he fell twice, which was once too often. Selling fear is one thing; acting like such a coward that your own stablemate appears to be disgusted with you is something totally different. I was surprised that Crush appeared to be so hard on Yoko. Wouldn't he have run a mile if he'd been in Yoko's place, or if it had been Savage who popped out of that casket instead of Taker?

 

I agree with Pete about Crush's accent. It's almost like Vince is trying to say that Hawaii's some exotic Far Eastern land instead of our fiftieth state, the way he's portraying Crush. I know Hawaiians have their own language, but I'm sure they identify as American. Crush isn't the only one either; I've told the story before, but Don Muraco mysteriously developed a similar accent once he turned face, and I'm surprised Vince didn't tell Steamboat to work on one too. Maybe he did and Ricky laughed in his face. I know I would have.