Monday Night Raw - August 1st 1994

• Raw opens up with a video recapping Razor and Shawn’s awesome ladder match at Wrestlemania, followed by comments from both men ahead of their match tonight on Raw. At Summerslam, Diesel defends the IC title against Razor but two weeks ago Diesel and Shawn both beat up Razor. Razor promises to take out Shawn tonight before Summerslam. This is Shawn’s first match on TV since Wrestlemania. Vince McMahon is back - Macho mentions that Vince and the WWF pinned the US Justice Department 1-2-3 - NOT GUILTY! Vince smiles sheepishly at Macho’s comments and moves on to the show. I wonder who’s idea those comments were? 

• The opener is Shawn vs. Razor, and yes the 7 foot Intercontinental Champion is at ringside for HBK (that’s the Heartbreak Kid, I just realised I probably use that a lot for Shawn and haven’t explained the nickname in a while). The two start fast and it’s Shawn who comes out on top, slowing things down and working over Razor. With Vince back on commentary he really kicks the New Generation branding into high gear as Macho makes a bunch more jokes and comments about court cases and hung juries, now that Vince is totally in the clear over his steroid charges. In fairness, as terrible of a human being as Vince McMahon has been outed as in the years since, it was right that he was found not guilty in that court case. He didn’t deserve to go to jail. Not for that anyway. Razor mounts a comeback and slingshots Shawn up and over the top, landing on Diesel and the crowd goes nuts! Back from a commercial break, they’re back in the ring and Shawn is back in control but it’s back and forth and Razor starts throwing him around with backdrops and suplexes. It feels like they’re entering the finishing stretch but Razor slows things back down with a bearhug. Vince speculates that Michaels hasn’t wrestled since the ladder match because of an injury and maybe Ramon knows about it and is working on it. That’s quite clever stuff. More back and forth including interference from Diesel inside and out makes the difference as in the finishing stretch, while the referee is distracted trying to stop Shawn from using the IC title belt as a weapon, a big boot from Diesel leads into a roll up and a victory for Shawn Michaels. Great match. Big Daddy Cool lays into Razor after the match until referees stop the two on one assault.

• In the Summerslam Report, Todd runs down the big matches already booked as well as adding one more to the card - Lex Lugar has accepted Tatanka’s challenge. A rare babyface vs. babyface match, even if they are still bickering.

• Bull Nakano, with Luna Vachon makes her Monday Night Raw debut. She’s facing WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze in a non-title match. This is technically Alundra’s Monday Night Raw in-ring debut too. Bull is a powerful bruiser and hammers Alundra who keeps going for roll ups like a scrappy babyface. She hits her German suplex which Macho correctly identifies as her finisher but Bull kicks out. The fans really start to get into it when they brawl outside and Alundra dives from the top rope to the floor, they go into the ringpost and then Bull takes a backdrop on the floor. Vince and Macho lose it for these two but it ends via double count out. This was good stuff. Luna tries to attack Blayze from behind but the champion fights her off, runs her into Bull to knock her off the apron and has the last laugh, if not the victory.

• Jerry Lawler is scheduled to have Bob Backlund on the King’s Court but before that, he goes out into the crowd to see a couple who have a special moment planned. King gives it away calling her his “soon to be fiance” and the lad does ask his girlfriend to marry her but King won’t let her answer and brings her into the ring so that we can go to a commercial on a cliffhanger. In the ring, she does say yes and then King forces a kiss on her. Gross, but all his jokes about them as well as Macho Man were pretty funny. Vince had a hard time not laughing at the heel banter too. This was fun. 

• His actual guest is Bob Backlund, who Lawler calls the real WWF Champion given that he never actually lost the title back in the day. He did hold it for over 5 years. Backlund rants about how the people have changed and have no morals anymore. Weirdly, Vince and Macho start talking over him, saying he’s cracked. Backlund wrestled Bret Hart this past weekend and lost, and then slapped Bret and locked him in his Crossface Chickenwing submission hold until being forced to stop by referees. This is a big heel turn for a former WWF Champion but Vince and Macho weirdly just talk over him and cut him off, ending the segment early. The main event is the same as The Smoking Gunns face two jobbers and the match goes 90 seconds before the show ends during the final three count. I believe this week’s show was live so I can only assume there were some major timing issues forcing them to wrap up the Backlund promo and main event squash match early to get them over with. 

Monday Night Raw - August 8th 1994

• Raw kicks off with Ted Dibiase’s Undertaker vs. Butch Banks. What a name for a jobber. Undertaker slowly works over Butch - he does a decent impression of the original, but it’s not quite right. You can see the difference for sure. “Undertaker” wins with the tombstone and then Ted Dibiase gleefully helps him stuff the jobber into a bodybag. Staying with this same story, there’s a video about Leslie Neilson’s investigation into the case of the Two Undertakers. Funny stuff as he moves in front of green screens of different places on Earth monologuing about how lost he is. 
• Lex Lugar enters for his match but he runs into Ted Dibiase in the entrance way. He gives Lugar a thumbs up and flashes the cash. Lex doesn’t seem to be his friend but he doesn’t seem to be his enemy either. Has Lex sold out or not? His in action against Chad Phillip. Another silly name for a jobber. Lex quickly finishes him off with the running forearm smash. When he was a heel, that was a highly illegal move with his metal forearm plate but as a babyface it makes him a smart badass. 
• This week’s Summerslam Report comes with more matches added to the card including Double J vs. Mabel and a WWF Tag Team Championship match. As you can see, IRS has re-joined his former Tag Team Championship partner Ted Dibiase and will team with his other man Bam Bam Bigelow.

• That leads into this week’s big match - IRS and Bam Bam, with Ted Dibiase vs. Tatanka and Doink the Clown. IRS speaks before the match saying that Money Inc is alive and well. This stable of superstars purchased by Dibiase doesn’t have a name yet, but the commentators have taken to calling it The Corporation. This is a back and forth match but a Write Off clothesline to Doink gives Dibiase’s hired guns the victory. They attack Tatanka after the match until Lex Lugar runs down to rescue him. They back off and Dibiase forces a wad of cash into Lex’s hand. Tatanka stands up and sees Lex holding the cash and so turns his fury on him, accusing him once again of having sold out. The two of them are about to come to blows but are held back by the joint efforts of Bam Bam, IRS and referees. Macho Man points out that Bam Bam and IRS could easily attack Lex but they aren’t.

• On the King’s Court this week, Jerry has multiple Hart family members - Owen Hart, his brother in law Jim Neidhart and he brings out Bruce Hart too. Owen says he wishes Jim was his real big brother because he’s the ONLY family member he can trust. Owen reminds us that he beat Bret at Wrestlemania, and then became the King of Harts at the King of the Ring. He says the whole family will be there in person to watch him defeat Bret for the WWF Championship in a steel cage. Owen says the whole family is on his side, not Bret’s. That’s when Bruce steps in. He rants that NO ONE is on Owen’s side and they’re all ashamed of him. The Harts bicker and argue and Vince talks over them and just ends the segment, they’re all gone after a commercial break. Weird, he did that last week too.

• After a New Generation commercial, a man who is NOT part of the New Gen, Bob Backlund is in action. Vince goes a good job of putting over his new character - he was the undefeated WWF Champion in the late 70s and early 80s and now at age 44 he’s back to show these youngsters that they are morally weak and not as good as him. He wants to be a leading light for the younger people. A role model. He lost to Bret and slapped him in the face and attacked him but after that, he stared at his hands like he was in a trance. If he’s undefeated how did he actually lose the title? His corner man and manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel, submitting on his behalf when he was locked in the Iron Sheik's camel clutch. That’ll be important after Summerslam. The fans chant “boring” and “we want Bret” at Backlund who shows off his basic mat skills, taking down the jobber over and over until finally locking him in the Crossface Chickenwing for a quick submission. The demented Backlund holds on for a long time, doing more damage as Vince and Macho tell us how extremely painful the hold is. Backlund looks crazy.

• At the end of Raw, the camera go to see Lex Lugar where he finds Nikolai Volkoff waiting for him in his locker room. Tatanka bursts in seconds later and, seeing the two of them together, takes it as MORE proof that Lex has sold out and the show ends with Lugar and Tatanka in a shoving match, shouting at each other. 

Monday Night Raw - August 15th 1994

• Raw starts with an exciting match, Owen Hart vs. the 1-2-3 Kid. The hype for this is that Owen beat the Kid at King of the Ring but he’d been weakened beforehand. Can he still beat him when he’s healthy? Owen has some new entrance graphics with him depicted like a playing card - the King of Harts, y’see. I love it. Owen tries to attack him during his entrance but a big spinning heel kick puts Owen down and we’re off the the races, moving at 100mph from the bell. This is a really good match moving through quick counters, mat wrestling and roll ups. Owen gets control after a dive to the outside but then misses a second jump off the top, hurting his knee. The Kid goes after the leg and locks Owen in a single leg Boston crab but he’s attacked by The Anvil. The 1-2-3 Kid wins by disqualification but Owen locks him in the sharpshooter and punishes him for a long time before the referees are finally able to end the attack. Neidhart even sank his teeth into the Kid’s head at one point - he’s a psycho! 

• In the Summerslam Report there’s more updates to the card - Razor Ramon will now have former NFL player Walter Peyton in his corner to back him up against Shawn Michaels, and Alundra Blayze will defend her Women’s Championship against Bull Nakano.

• In a duo of silly gimmicks, Abe Schwartz blames the fans on the baseball strike that was going on at the time. I’m going to assume you don’t care about that because I certainly don’t. That’s before Duke “The Dumpster” Droese faces Nick something-or-other. Duke hammers him and with a big clothesline and spinning elbow drop combo, wins the match in dominant fashion. 

• There’s another update on Leslie Neilson’s attempts to solve The Undertaker mystery. This is my favourite one. 

• Ted Dibiase joins commentary during a match (Kwang defeats Tony Roy in about 12 seconds) to talk about Lex Lugar. On Sunday Night Slam before Summerslam, Lex Lugar is facing Crush and Dibiase says he WILL be in Lex’s corner for that match, as well as in his corner at Summerslam when he battles Tatanka. From there, Ted gets into the ring for The King’s Court where both he and Paul Bearer will be Lawler’s guests. Dibiase (and King) are forceful in saying that HIS Undertaker is the REAL Undertaker and Paul Bearer has provided no evidence that he even HAS an Undertaker to face him at Summerslam. Bearer says that his Undertaker will destroy Dibiase’s at Summerslam. The Million Dollar Man then calls his Undertaker to the ring so Bearer can say it to his face. King keeps rambling and Dibiase has to tell him to be quiet so we can bask in Undertaker’s entrance. The fake Undertaker grabs Bearer around the throat but then the lights flicker and go out. He seems to teleport out of the ring while the lights are out and squeals that his Undertaker is here and tries to get the crowd to cheer for it. The real Undertaker will be at Summerslam. 

• Mabel is rapped to the ring by Oscar (Mo is still injured) for a match with a jobber in stripey ring gear. Mabel and Jeff Jarrett have a little feud going over different musical styles I guess. I thought Double J was feuding with Doink, but babyface Doink sucks so I don’t mind not seeing him. Mabel wins this with a falling elbow drop off the middle rope. The 500lbs Mabel has had quite the push lately. 
• Double J takes on Scott Taylor in the main event. He wins quickly with the Figure Four but as he celebrates, Mabel’s music hits and Oscar comes out and raps at him. Jeff really commits to doing a chicken impression, daring Mabel to come and fight him as Vince shouts about Rap vs. Country Music.

Sunday Night Slam - August 21st 1994

• Like the previous pre-PPV specials, this show is available to watch entirely on WWE’s Vault YouTube channel. They’ve gotten rid of the individual branding for these go-home shows in favour of calling them all Sunday Night Slam, which we’ll see before Survivor Series too. Commentary is handled by Jim Ross and Macho Man and this particular edition will have a 30 minute call-in segment at the end with Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler fielding calls from fans. I won’t be covering that bit.

• In the opener, Lex Lugar battles Crush. This is the blow off to a short lived feud that’s run since May. Ted Dibiase did say he’d be at ringside, but he isn’t. Crush doesn’t have Mr. Fuji or Jim Cornette with him either so I think his alliance with Yokozuna is at an end. Crush dominates this match, focusing on Lex’s lower back. He hammers him for a long time and as he locks in a deep bearhug, Ted Dibiase does come to ringside for a closer look. Lex finally mounts a comeback and this match is better than you’d expect given the talents involved. Crush looks really impressive lifting the massive Lugar with an overhead gorilla slam. The Million Dollar Man gets up on the apron and offers Crush cash to leave Lex alone. He rejects it but the distraction allows Lugar to hit his loaded forearm for the pinfall victory. Lugar leaves without interacting with Dibiase and that’s enough to convince Macho Man that Lex HAS sold out and is in cahoots with the Million Dollar Man now. 

• Speaking of which, the busiest man in the WWF Ted Dibiase leads his Million Dollar Team of IRS and Bam Bam Bigelow to the ring for a match against the 1-2-3 Kid and Sparky Plugg. The Kid and Sparky are fast on their feet and knock IRS and Bam Bam off balance, coming close to victory more than once. Eventually they’re slowed down with a big clothesline and then the Million Dollar Team isolates and works over the 1-2-3 Kid for a long time, blocking him from tagging out to Sparky. The 1-2-3 absorbs a long beating and kicks out of all of IRS and Bam Bam’s big moves eventually making the tag. Sparky comes in with momentum and well rested but his crossbody is caught, turned into a slam and he’s defeated. Come on Thurman, get it together! 
• After a long Summerslam Report running down the full PPV card, Razor Ramon is in action against a no-name to warm up for his big Intercontinental title match at Summerslam. JR and Macho spend the entire match discussing Walter Peyton and how he’ll be at ringside for Razor to neutralise Shawn Michaels. Ramon hits all his big moves, finishing off with the back suplex off the top rope and a brutal Razor’s Edge where the guy landed right on his head. It looked really dangerous! Razor doesn’t even bother celebrating.
• There’s another update on Leslie Neilson’s investigation into the Two Undertakers. I love all of this stuff and this one is a commercial for Summerslam’s sponsor Dominoes Pizza, but if you’ve ever wanted to see Undertaker work as a pizza delivery boy, here you go!

• Bull Nakano takes on Heidi Lee Morgan. Heidi is the woman that Alundra defeated in tournament finals to become the WWF Women’s Champion and Bull is the challenger for Summerslam. This is a REALLY good match and Heidi uses a lot of offense and counters I’ve never seen before. It felt like a modern match with a backwards hurricanrana and some submission counters. Great stuff which Bull wins with a slam and then a leg drop off the top rope. 

• In the ring, Ray Reugeau interviews WWF Champion Bret Hart. He talks to Owen directly. He beat him at Wrestlemania but the WWF title wasn’t on the line. That’s not the only thing on the line - family honour is on the line. He says that his entire family will be there to see the end of this rivalry between the two brothers. He puts over how dangerous the cage is and that it’ll keep everyone else out. Jim Neidhart is fat and stupid, which feels a bit primary school but if someone attacked me I’d just call them whatever nasty names I could think of too. Bret talks about seeing Owen cry in his crib when he was a baby and he’ll make him cry again at The Summerslam. He calls the event The Summerslam three times in fact.

• Typhoon battles Intercontinental Champion Diesel (non-title match of course). Shawn Michaels leads Big Daddy Cool to the ring. Macho and Jim discuss whether Diesel is able to lift Typhoon for the Jackknife but it ends up not mattering as with a big boot and a big clothesline, he pins the big man and moves onto Summerslam with momentum.
• In the main event, Ted Dibiase’s Undertaker faces a jobber named Sonny who he defeats in about 25 seconds with a Tombstone. Fake Undertaker uses his own version of the supernatural powers to turn the arena lights off while he and the Million Dollar Man stuff poor Sonny into a body bag. The show ends with the same Leslie Neilson investigation video I shared during the above Raw and we’re out! 

I have to say, seeing the Summerslam card come together over the past three months has me quite excited. I think it’s a decent card and Diesel and Lex Lugar have both been putting in much better in-ring efforts than I thought they were capable of. Here’s the card as it stood 8 days before the event, but there’s a big change at the last minute which we’ll address on the show itself.

Steel Cage match for the WWF Championship

Bret Hart © vs. Owen Hart (w/Jim Neidhart)

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker (w/Ted Dibiase)

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Diesel © (w/Shawn Michaels) vs. Razor Ramon (w/Walter Payton)

Lex Lugar vs. Tatanka

WWF Women’s Championship

Alundra Blayze © vs. Bull Nakano (w/Luna Vachon)

WWF Tag Team Championships

The Headshrinkers © (Samu and Fatu, w/ Afa and Captain Lou Albano) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow and Irwin R. Schyster

Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel (w/Oscar)

Summerslam - United Centre, Chicago Illinois, August 29th, 1994

So hot it’s Scary! Summerslam 1994. This is the 7th edition of Summerslam. Last year’s show was Ok, can this year’s top it? So far 1994 has been up and down - Royal Rumble and King of the Ring were worse than 1993 (in my opinion), but Wrestlemania was much better. I’m pulling for you, Summerslam.

I loved the start of this PPV with Macho Man warming up the crowd. They made a big deal about how this is the first ever live televised event from this new arena in the build up to the event - it is a massive and very nice stadium. It’s funny timing with me watching this show as this was the only WWF or WWE event ever promoted from this arena…until 2026. WWE just announced that Elimination Chamber will be the second event to take place in this arena, 22 years later. 

Jerry “The King” Lawler and Vince McMahon handle commentary duties tonight and we kick off with some big news - last night on a non-televised event, Diesel and Shawn Michaels defeated The Headshrinkers for the WWF Tag Team Championships. That means Diesel is now a double champion (for now) and the opening tag team match is now a non-title affair. King also mentions that The British Bulldog is here in the arena tonight - he’s another brother-in-law of the Hart family, and so there is drama about whether he’s on Bret or Owen’s side in their dispute.

The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu, w/ Afa and Captain Lou Albano) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow and Irwin R. Schyster (w/Ted Dibiase)

I’m glad Dibiase is accompanying his Million Dollar Team because his theme music is much better than Bam Bam’s, and IRS somehow still doesn’t have a theme. I feel sorry for Samu and Fatu - they’re wearing nice fancy new outfits they clearly had made specially for their big title defence on the second biggest show of the year. I’ll talk about the title change and the backstage reasons for it after the match.

Bam Bam and Samu start off and go for quick covers with a crossbody and a jumping kick. Vince calls this a grueling match-up less than 30 seconds after it started. King’s commentary is pretty racist towards the Island savages. 

It’s been true for a while but I’ve not felt the need to mention it but my goodness IRS is a sweaty man. He is drenched, seconds into this match and is always so wet during his matches. Little bit of trivia for you - back in the day when he wrestled under his real name of Mike Rotundo, in a “pros and cons” feature in a wrestling magazine, they were so stumped for positive things to say about this man that they listed "excessive perspiration” as a plus, because it makes him slippery and able to escape from holds. The Headshrinkers are too much for IRS when he tags in but a cheap shot from Bam Bam and a little illegal double teaming gives the Million Dollar Duo control for a bit. You can tell this match isn’t going to last long as Fatu makes a hot tag to Samu and he throws around both Bigelow and IRS and has the match won with a falling headbutt off the middle rope but it's broken up. We’re definitely in the finishing stretch. The Headshrinkers drill IRS with a double team faceplant and a big splash off the top but Dibiase distracts the referee from counting. Bigelow hits Captain Lou so Afa gets in the ring and lights him up with headbutts, causing a disqualification. The Headshrinkers and Afa beat up Bam Bam and put him down with a triple headbutt. Dibiase’s team wins by disqualification but the two teams brawl in the entrance aisle after the bell, all the way to the top of the ramp and backstage. This match was too short to be bad or good but the disqualification finish didn’t help.

At this time in 1994, the WWF’s money still mostly came from ticket sales. That’s why you see so many title changes on non-televised events in this era. The company needed to convince fans that they should always go to their local live events because there’s as much chance of a title change there as anywhere else. That’s smart business. This particular title change was controversial as The Headshrinkers (and many others) believed that Michaels and Diesel used their behind the scenes friendship with Vince McMahon and perceived political power to get the titles just to bolster their own careers at the expense of someone else. I’ll talk more about that later too. It clearly touched a nerve for HBK as over a decade later in his autobiography, he talked about this very title change and felt the need to justify it. He says that he, Razor and Diesel had made the Intercontinental title “red hot” by holding it and feuding over it for the past year and so he believed they could do the same for the Tag Team Championships, which were languishing in the lower card. Now whether you agree that he, Diesel and Razor had made the IC title red hot in 1994 is for you to decide. 

Backstage, Leslie Neilsen tip toes around looking for The Undertaker. Whether you like The Naked Gun or not will determine whether you find this stuff funny. He runs into his Police Squad friend George Kennedy who is ALSO on the trail of The Undertaker - the literal trail, judging by the signs on the wall behind them. As the story goes, Nielsen tried to get a payday for his friend George and offered to split his fee but Vince was happy to bring him in and pay him too. What a nice guy. 

WWF Women’s Championship

Alundra Blayze © vs. Bull Nakano (w/Luna Vachon)

Alundra looks like a star when she enters. This is the heights of the women’s championship during this era with a major title defence on PPV. She gets a warm welcome from the crowd. Bull Nakano is awesome - I spoke in glowing terms about her match with Heidi Lee Morgan on Sunday Night Slam but her double count out draw with Alundra on Raw a couple of weeks ago was very good too. 

Luna gets a little cheap shot in on Alundra before the bell but the champion no-sells it. She’s feuded with Luna and wrestled her quite a few times on the house show circuit as well as on the weekend TV shows. They start fast and Alundra wriggles out of a big slam and follows with a pair of dropkicks. The much bigger Nakano throws her around by her hair to slow the blonde down. The fans really react to that, which is nice to hear. Alundra is stopped in her tracks with a big slam and then Bull takes her time, choking the champion and using her power to lock her in holds while holding her up off the mat. That gets a really big reaction from Vince and Lawler, as well as gasps and applause from the live crowd who in 1994 had never seen anything like this.

Alundra fights out and gets on a roll with big jumping clotheslines and take downs which get a near fall but her attempt to piledrive Bull is backdropped. Alundra actually bridges up out of a pin attempt and starts going for roll ups but her hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb. This is awesome. Bull slams Blayze and heads upstairs for the top rope legdrop but she misses! Alundra knocks Luna off the apron, follows up with her German suplex and retains the Women’s Championship in a fantastic match. There wasn’t a lot of competition at the time but even looking into the future, this was probably the best WWF Women’s match on PPV ever until sometime in the 2000s. 

Backstage, Todd Pettengill interviews the new WWF Tag Team Champions Shawn Michaels and Diesel. His Intercontinental title defence is up next. Michaels says that between them, he and Diesel have held the Intercontinental title for the bulk of the past two years, which is true. He calls them the two most happening cats in all of the WWF. Diesel turns his attention to Razor - his nickname should be midas because everything he touches turns to gold. He’s on top and he’s not going anywhere - Razor has no chance tonight. Pettengill asks Shawn how he’ll deal with Razor’s corner man, former NFL player and local hero “Sweetness” Walter Payton. Michaels calls him a munchkin and tells him to stay out of his way. 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

WWF Tag Team Champion Diesel © (w/ WWF Tag Team Champion Shawn Michaels) vs. Razor Ramon (w/Walter Payton)

Diesel’s entrance isn’t music, it’s just the sound of a massive truck idling and blowing its horn. I do really like the lighting they use for his entrance which looks like two huge headlights behind him. Michaels comes out behind Big Daddy Cool but then skirts around him to get in front and steal the spotlight. The fans go nuts for Payton when he comes out - he was a Chicago Bear, I believe. 

Razor lights Diesel up with right hands immediately, rocking him and sending him bumping and bouncing around the ring in the early going. He gets a rep talk from Shawn and takes control with a knee to the ribs and slowly works over Ramon including using a sleeper hold. Some interference from Michaels including pulling his hair and a big clothesline diving off the ringsteps almost gives Diesel the win via countout. Walter Payton does his best to stop Michaels but all he does is distract the referee so that Shawn can take off a turnbuckle cover. Razor is whipped into the steel and given a sidewalk slam but barely kicks out. Diesel is in confident control of this match, hammering Razor with HBK still getting in the odd cheap shot while Payton is powerless to stop him.

 He mostly just has a big smile on his face, enjoying being part of the show. Diesel turns his focus to Razor’s ribs and uses the ropes to assist him with an abdominal stretch. That’s such an old school spot, you don’t see that much anymore. Razor counters out of it and gets on a roll, sending Diesel into his own exposed turnbuckle and getting a really close near fall with a diving bulldog off the middle rope. The fans are going nuts for Razor’s comeback. Diesel blocks a back suplex off the top rope and tries for a Jackknife, which is countered with  backdrop. Both men go down after a big shoulder tackle in the ring so Michaels grabs the Intercontinental title belt to use as a weapon. He gets into a tug of war over the belt with Payton which distracts the referee. Michaels releases and runs into the ring to try and superkick Razor while Diesel holds him in position but the challenger ducks and HBK kicks his own buddy in the face! Walter Peyton holds HBK on the outside to stop him from interfering when Razor crawls into a pin and with Diesel knocked out cold from Shawn’s kick, Razor gets the three count and regains the Intercontinental Championship! This was a decent match but I didn’t love the finish. 

Diesel is furious and chases after Shawn, angrily telling him off for costing him the title while Razor celebrates in the ring with Peyton and his son. 

By this point in 1994, The Klique was in full force. But what is The Kilique? In basic terms, real life best friends Kevin Nash, (Diesel), Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), Sean Waltman (the 1-2-3 Kid) and Shawn Michaels worked together to help each other’s careers. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Well they were close with Vince McMahon and being that they represented such a big chunk of the stars of the New Generation, held significant political power and were able to refuse to lose, refuse to wrestle people they didn’t want to, and position themselves as champions at the top of the card. They convinced Vince that they were best for business and in a lot of ways, they were right but I’m sure you can imagine how much that ruffled people’s feathers. The Klique will only be more prominent as we end 1994 and head into 1995, including gaining a new member but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. There was, in the same time period, another group of talent backstage who bonded together and tried their best to counteract The Klique - led by The Undertaker and also including Yokozuna, The Headshrinkers and others, the BSK (that’s backstage crew) looked out for each other too. It was a cut throat time in wrestling with the top of the card wide open for anyone to step up and become the next big main event player and people were prepared to backstab and bury each other to management in order to get there.

Elsewhere, Macho Man Randy Savage is up at the back of the arena. He’s the host of this event and he sums up the events we just saw, reminding us that Diesel and Shawn better resolve their issues quickly - they are the new Tag Team Champions afterall! 

Todd Pettengill interviews Lex Lugar and Tatanka together. There was a WWF call-in fan poll. 54% believe that Lex HAS sold out to the Million Dollar Man and believes Tatanka’s evidence. He has been claming for weeks that he has seen and heard the evidence himself. Here, Tatanka angrily tells Lex off and calls him a liar, recounting all of his evidence. Dibiase told them all that it was a done deal, he’s caught Lex with money and in the Million Dollar locker room, Dibiase helped Lex defeat Crush…its damning evidence. Lugar says that it’s NOT true - none of this evidence proves anything because Made in the USA Lugar has NOT sold out and has never taken any of Ted Dibiase’s money. He’ll be flying solo tonight and he will win. 

Lex Lugar vs. Tatanka

Lex’s theme music has added a false crowd chanting “USA” to the start of it. That’s pretty shady, and to be honest even after his main event run ended and with fans losing interest in him, he does still get a lot of cheers and USA chants without having to force it. Vince points out a mixed reaction to Lex - the fans really aren’t sure if he has sold out or not! 

The two slowly circle and lock up, keeping things clean and neither wanting to be the aggressor. Lex gets a lot of boos mixed with the cheers as the fans struggle to decide and he seems distracted by that. After a couple of roll ups, he gets more aggressive with punches and a suplex but misses his big elbow drop. Vince McMahon seems conflicted too on commentary for this babyface vs. babyface match. He doesn’t know what to think. After a few minutes of back and forth, Ted Dibiase does come down to the ring with a big bag of cash. He distracts Lex and Tatanka rolls him up to steal the victory! He makes his excuses but as Lex turns to argue with the Million Dollar Man, Tatanka attacks Lex from behind! It was Tatanka who sold out all along! Tatanka beats Lex up with chops and kicks and a pair of Papoose drops as Ted laughs hysterically. Referees finally manage to stop the beating and get Tatanka to leave, but Ted isn’t done and tells his new product to head back and give Lugar a little bit more of a beating, which he happily does. He locks Lugar in the Million Dollar Dream submission, symbolically pledging alliance to the Million Dollar Corporation. He finally ends it by stuffing cash into Lex’s mouth. Everybody DOES have a price. 

Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel (w/Oscar)

Oscar gets the crowd (and Vince) singing along and bouncing with his entrance rap. Jarrett seems remarkably confident even against the 500lbs Mabel. This is an odd match where it was announced first and THEN they feuded. 

Jeff moves fast and avoids all of Mabel’s big shots but whenever he is caught, he’s easily lifted and thrown around. Double J avoids a corner charge but can’t knock the big man off his feet with clotheslines or even when he jumps onto his back with a sleeper hold. Abe Schwartz comes out into the crowd with his On Strike sign which was a topical joke about the 1994 baseball strike, but not a very funny one. 

Mabel slams Jeff but he’s too close to the ropes for him to get the three count and, even though he’s already struggling, Jarrett goes out to attack Oscar. He pays for it with a slap, being crushed against the ring post but Mabel misses his splash off the middle rope back in the ring. Mabel misses a leg drop too and that’s somehow enough for Jeff to pin him and get the three count. Mabel isn’t happy and chases Double J out of the arena.

We now get a decent bit of filler so that the steel cage can be built for the next match. There’s a funny pantomime “behind you!” spot with Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy where Undertaker appears behind them in silhouette in the arena but by the time they listen to the crowd and turn around, he’s gone.

Some good filler with a Todd Pettengill narrated recap of the Bret and Owen journey from late last year until tonight. I cut the video short of the interview with Stu and Helen Hart - I wouldn’t put you through that.

Jerry Lawler mouths off at the entire family but then goes to speak to the British Bulldog and reminds us that he beat Bret at Summerslam 1992 for the Intercontinental title. They all stay calm, but are ultimately on Bret’s side. Hilariously, Jim Neidhart is sitting with the rest of the family despite being on Owen’s side. Vince speaks to Jim who seems like he’s absolutely off his face on something, which isn’t a difficult thing to imagine given his history of substance abuse. 

Todd interviews Bret Hart last and mentions that he’s getting over a throat infection. Bret brushes it aside - no excuses, he is going to prove that he’s better than Owen. He tells his little brother that he doesn’t hate him and never has - the problem with Owen is all inside his own head. 

Steel Cage match for the WWF Championship

Bret Hart © vs. Owen Hart (w/Jim Neidhart)

Important rule here as you can ONLY win this match by escaping the cage. 

Owen attacks Bret the second he steps through the ropes and slams him to the corner. He’s really aggressive with right hands and kicks, wailing on his brother and this is already more physical and their technical masterpiece at Wrestlemania. They keep trading right hands and Bret comes out on top and makes the first escape attempt but is quickly brought back down by Owen. That’s the story of this match as both men hit big moves and then dive dramatically for the door, or try to climb the cage.

This is a match where the winner is the one who runs away and while I could question the logic of that for this story of wanting to prove who the best man is, the WWF Championship is on the line and the fans are really into it. A big dropkick off the top, a big suplex off the top as well as slams and running each other into the cage - none of it is enough to keep one man down long enough for the other to escape. The various Hart family members are shown reacting to the match at ringside, and Helen’s heart is in her mouth as they battle at the top of the cage. Bret loses that exchange and comes down on the ropes groin first, which Jim Neidhart loves! The back and forth continues and Bret misses an elbow drop off the top rope, but recovers quickly enough to stop Owen from climbing out over the top, holding him up by his hair! 

This match went over 30 minutes and normally the more I enjoy a match, the more detail you get of the back and forth and the individual spots. This one is the opposite as I really liked this match and the fans were RED hot for it but ultimately it is the same spot over and over with both men hitting big moves and then trying to escape, getting gradually slower in their climbing as the match proceeds. The moves and spots increase in intensity from moves on the mat to moves off the top to ramming each other into the steel cage itself and hitting big moves from the walls, crashing on the mat. It’s great stuff, but as I say, hard for me to recap repeatedly without it being boring to read. It builds to Bret perplexing his little brother from the corner of the cage. In reality, it wasn’t that much higher than off the top rope but it looked incredible and it puts both Harts down and out in the middle of the ring.

Bret tries to crawl out of the cage but is too slow and Owen recovers enough to not just drag him back into the ring, but to lock him in the Sharpshooter. Bret grabs Owen’s ankle to trip him and manages to reverse it into one of his own and the fans go ballistic for him. Submissions don’t count but this will take him out long enough for Bret to escape I’m sure.

He releases the hold and makes his way to the cage wall to test that theory but Owen dives dramatically to grab Bret’s hair and stop him AGAIN!

They fight and both go to the top, both climbing over and with both men fighting on the outside of the cage, Owen’s leg gets caught in the cage leaving him hanging upside down as Bret falls to the floor, winning the match and retaining the WWF Championship in an awesome steel cage match. 

Afterwards, Jim Neidhart attacks Bulldog from behind, clotheslining him and sending both himself and Bret and Owen’s sister Diana (Bulldog’s wife) up and over the barrier. Jim and Owen bring Bret back into the cage and beat him up two on one, and chain the door shut so no one can rescue him. Side note - Bret and Owen were furious about Diana being hurt too, but she and Bulldog planned to do it together and include her for fun! She was fine. Owen and Jim beat the hell out of poor Bret in the cage, fighting off the other Hart family members as they try to climb in and rescue him. Finally, Bulldog is able to get to the top of the cage and knock off Owen, getting into the cage to save Bret. Owen and Jim quickly escape themselves, running to safety. This was some fun chaos at the end of a really great match. All in all, a solid 45 minutes of this PPV was spent on the Bret vs. Owen match with all the build up and then all this aftermath. 

Thankfully, both main events tonight get build up sections so that I can save myself having to recap everything that’s gone on since the Royal Rumble. My favourite is still the little girl who claims to have seen the Undertaker slide down the slide. 

The Undertaker’s character had a supernatural element since his debut - the undead who can’t be hurt, controlled by the urn - but could always be dismissed as just a powerful man who felt no pain, playing mind games with his oppoentns. In 1994, starting with the Royal Rumble, the character started moving deeper into that territory. He could now appear and disappear at will, and control the arena lights with his mind. Having magic powers was a new addition to The Undertaker which remained a huge part of his persona and aura for the remainder of his career. 1994 was a big turning point for him, despite not being on TV for a big chunk of it. 

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker (w/Ted Dibiase)

Ted Dibiase enters first by himself and gives his Undertaker a big introduction. The Million Dollar Man is having a good night with a DQ victory in the opener and the business with Tatanka and Lugar. Jerry Lawler is insistent that Dibiase’s Undertaker is THE Undertaker. Howard Finkle has made his decision as he announces Paul Bearer’s as The One and The Only Undertaker. It is indeed the man himself - Mark Calloway, as played since 1990. Bearer walks out first and gestures for a casket to be wheeled out - the same one that he was stuffed into back at the Royal Rumble. It’s not The Undertaker inside, it's a new urn - a much bigger one, with a light inside it. The lights go out, Bearer opens the urn, there’s a loud hissing noise and when the lights come back up, The Undertaker comes slowly down the ramp with 100 times more aura than Dibiase’s. The fans go nuts - this was AWESOME. 

Lawler calls the Undertaker’s identical. Vince points out that they are not - the original Undertaker is in much more impressive shape. He’s switched out his grey gloves and boots for purple too.

As for the match itself, I don’t have much to say - the crowd is in stunned silence, or maybe the thought this was stupid? I thought it was awesome. The real Undertaker beats up the fake Undertaker in and out of the ring, who does a decent impression of the Deadman, sitting up and no-selling periodically. The UnderFaker hits the tombstone but the Undertaker sits up. He tries a second one but the Undertaker reverses it into one of his own. Dibiase’s Undertaker is out so Bearer’s picks him up for a second and then a third to prove a point. The one and only real Undertaker wins a decisive victory after quite a dull match. This was all good fun anyway though.

He throws the fake Undertaker into the casket to be wheeled away from ringside and the PPV closes with Undertaker and Paul Bearer (with his shiny new urn) celebrating amid thunder and lightning and flashing arena lights. Macho Man says a final goodbye and throws it to Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy to solve the final mystery - they open Undertaker’s casket backstage and the fake Undertaker’s body is gone! The case is closed.