[1994-12-19-WWF-Raw] King's Court: Bob Backlund / Interview: Diesel / Mabel and Santa Claus

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

There is a small segment of fans chanting "8 seconds" at Backlund, which I would almost guarantee are planted. Backlund calls Diesel KEVIN NASH. Vince and Shawn have a hilarious exchange based on that.

 

Diesel accepts Bret's challenge for the Royal Rumble in Tampa. I don't know why they were coaching him to act so cheesy on his promos.

 

Next, Mabel sits with Santa Claus, who seems to be struggling to deal with Mabel sitting on his lap.

[soup23]

Best thing about King's Court was the kevin Nash exchange and Shawn and Vince have some chemistry on commentary. Diesel's promos are so bad and it is real easy to see where he failed to connect based on these promos.

[Zenjo]

Another fantastic Backlund interview as he has a few new words to help educate the masses. He gradually gets more and more worked up until he's right in the cameramans face and practically frothing at the mouth by the end. The reinvention of his character in 1994 was a revelation.

[PeteF3]

Bob's most focused (relatively speaking) promo yet, and maybe his best overall. Stern comments axioms for the plebeians, for Mr. McMahon, for Bret Hart, and for Diesel.

 

Diesel vs. Bret at the Royal Rumble. What a great first major challenger for your new #1 babyface. This is like a poor man's version of Hogan having to turn around and wrestle against Bruno at the 2/84 MSG show. I still can't grasp why they couldn't let Backlund keep the belt until at least the Rumble and let Diesel win it there. Diesel makes some hackneyed comments about the colors of Bret's ring attire, trying to balance being "cool" with being a respectful babyface and ending up not being very good as either one.