Monday Night Raw - October 3rd 1994

• The show opens with a recap of the altercation between Neidhart and Bulldog last week on the King’s Court, and then footage of Jim and Owen arriving at the arena together telling Bulldog to keep his nose out of family business. In the arena, the British Bulldog has some new entrance pyro complete with whoosh sound effects and comes out first for this brother in law vs. brother in law match. Their wives are sisters, as well as being the sisters of Owen and Bret Hart. Owen is at ringside and this is a big power match between two very thick, powerful men. I’d comment on how neither of these men fit into the New Generation given their prominence during the Hulkamania era but really, a talent still being around on the roster 6 or 7 years later only feels old during this period because there was such big visual upgrades to the product so shows from 5 years ago look 20 years older than they were - in modern WWE, it’s the norm for a talent to be an active member of the roster for a decade or two now. Owen trips Bulldog and he takes a spill to the outside, hurting his knee and that brings Bret Hart down to watch Davey Boy’s back. Neidhart works on Bulldog’s leg for a long time. Bob Backlund comes down to the ring and gets in Bret’s face, gesturing that he wants a WWF Championship match. Owen gets in the ring and attacks Bulldog as soon as he starts to make a comeback, causing a disqualification. Bret ignores Backlund to help out his brother in law and Bret and Bulldog fight off Owen and Neidhart, sending them out of the ring to regroup and lick their wounds.

• Doink the Clown battles a jobber. Macho and Vince discuss how the dastardly Jerry Lawler has gone too far this time, destroying Dink’s tricycle! Doink wins with the Whoopee Cushion backsplash off the top, complete with comedy fart sound effect. Vince loves that no doubt.
• The Undertaker cuts another ominous promo threatening Yokozuna. He says basically the same as last week. They really want to see tickets to the Hart Attack live tour. That does lead neatly into the next segment which is Yokozuna appearing on The King’s Court. Vince actually yells at Lawler to pick up the pace because he really takes his time introducing himself, the segment and his guest. He does talk about Doink dressing up in a silly costume for attention, which is funny because he’s dressed as a King but Macho points it out to make sure all the kids in the audience get it. Yoko has Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette with him this week which is good - he needs Cornette to do all the talking for him. The point of this is that Yokozuna is NOT afraid of The Undertaker, despite what everyone else thinks or claims. They basically rehash the same story from January with everyone avoiding saying the word casket around Yokozuna because he’s afraid of caskets, and he flips out when King does accidentally say it. Cornette promises that on the Hart Attack tour in casket matches, Undertaker will be the one to rest in peace. It’s weird that they’re just acknowledging that these two will be having multiple casket matches on the house show tour. 

• In a special women’s tag team match, Bull Nakano and Luna Vachon take on Heidi Lee Morgan and Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze. These for are really the entire women’s division at this point but they’ll be adding more in time for the Survivor Series, mostly imports from Japan. Another really good effort from the women here with all four of them cycling through fast, impressive looking spots. Macho and Vince debate whether Bull Nakano is attractive or not - I’m with Macho, Bull is hot. Alundra wins this for her team with a German suplex on Luna. Great stuff.
• There’s another video promoting the arrival of King Kong Bundy. He’ll be in the ring next week.

• After footage of how Bob Backlund lost his WWF Champion back in the 80s (Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel and submitted for him), he is in action tonight. Bob has cut his hair short and swapped out his brightly coloured ring jacket for a classic robe with a towel around his neck. He’s a serious man, but also deeply disturbed. I loved his segment last week and think this is a well chosen heel turn. Using all the big words? That’s something he does in real life too by all accounts. He bullies a jobber who looks a bit like Dean Malenko but with a curly mullet and stretches him from submission to submission before finally taking him down into the Chickenwing. He refuses to break the hold, screaming like a mad man. When he does finally break it, it stares at his own hands like he is in awe of his own power and abilities. At the end of the show, Vince asks Bret for his thoughts on Bob Backlund. The Hitman says that he thinks Backlund is losing his marbles but he’s already beaten Backlund and there’s a long line of guys who deserve a title shot so as far as he’s concerned, Backlund is at the back of the line. That’s fair enough. 

Monday Night Raw - October 10th, 1994

• In the opening match, Bam Bam Bigelow battles Lex Lugar. Bam Bam has plenty of back up with his Million Dollar Corporation stable mates in Ted Dibiase, Tatanka and Nikolai Volkoff. Lex doesn’t have any backup - a US flag is all he needs. Lugar has to fight off a lot of outside interference with Bam Bam taking control after cheap shots from both Volkoff and Tatanka, as well as the newest Corporation member the returning King Kong Bundy. I’m not sure when he joined, but he came down to ringside to show support for Bam Bam about half way through the match. Fellow babyfaces Adam Bomb and Mabel come down to ringside to watch Lex’s back and even the odds a bit shortly after that. After some more back and forth, the interference comes back to bite Bam Bam as Tatanka gets up on the apron, Lex reverses him into his own team mate and rolls up Bigelow for the victory. Adam Bomb and Mabel immediately rush the ring to celebrate with Lugar and the flag as the Million Dollar team argue at ringside, Ted trying to calm them down.

• This past weekend on WWF Superstars, Bob Backlund appeared on the Heartbreak Hotel. Shawn Michaels said he’s crazy and he and Big Daddy Cool want to party with him, but he flips it and insults them instead - they aren’t in his league and don’t belong in his generation. He challenges Bret Hart - Backlund believes he is still the WWF Champion and never lost the title and throws big words around while telling Bret that he’s going to take his title from him. 

• Back on Raw, Mabel faces Reno Riggins. The 500lbs Mabel has no problems with the jobber of course and finishes him off with a falling elbow drop off the middle ropes. 
• Owen Hart, with The Anvil in his corner of course, takes on John Chrystal. Owen shows off his wrestling skills, taking him down and chaining hold to move to hold to submission again, never releasing him. He finally finishes him off with the Sharpshooter and then he and Neidhart beat him up a little and dump him out of the ring. Pair of meanies.
• The Undertaker and Paul Bearer cut another promo threatening Yokozuna, showing him a casket and declaring it his final resting place. This is like the fourth show in a show where he’s cut more or less word for word the same promo about Yokozuna. 
• King Kong Bundy makes his in ring return. There was no indication during the hype videos for him in the previous two weeks that he’d be returning as a heel, or that he’d be aligned with the Million Dollar Man until tonight. Vince quickly recaps his old gimmick - the walking condominium (that’s a house) who insisted on pinning opponents for a five count rather than a three count, just to prove his dominance. Bundy slaps around the jobber and has the match won multiple times but keeps breaking his own pins until finally, after a splash, demanding a 5 count and wins with ease.
• There’s a recap of the past weekend’s Superstars as Jerry Lawler had a war of words with Doink. As he was distracted, Dink placed a cream pie on Lawler’s seat unbeknownst to him. The King sat in it and Vince had a good laugh at his expense. We’ll see footage of this at Survivor Series no doubt.
• On The King’s Court, Lawler talks about how sick he is of Dink and of little people in general and after a ton of height jokes, introduces his own midget sidekick to counteract Doink’s. His name is Queazy. He says that he’ll grind Dink under his boot because he and Jerry are Royalty.

• In the main event, the New Headshrinkers dominate a jobber team with newcomer Sionne finishing off one of them with a stiff kick to the face. Fatu even checks on the guy after the bell. Of note during this match, Vince mentions a WWF Magazine interview with Macho Man where he beared his soul that month - in that interview, Macho said he’d never go to WCW, even for $100 million because the WWF is the big time. Remember that in a few weeks. 
• After the main event, Doink comes out with Dink, puts Burger King crowns on both Vince and Macho’s heads and says he has a little surprise for Jerry Lawler next weekend on Superstars. We all see where this is going.

Monday Night Raw - October 17th, 1994

• Raw starts with Doink, Dink and the little surprise he mentioned at the end of last week's show; Wink. Now he has two midget sidekicks. Doink is facing Double J who he’s technically been feuding with since before the King of the Ring they just never finished it. As they wrestle, Queasy and a second midget, also dressed as Jerry Lawler, comes down and distracts and attacks Doink. The match continues anyway and after a long back and forth, as the four midgets get into a fight on the outside and distract the referee, Jerry Lawler comes down and knocks out Doink with a fist off the top rope allowing Double J to pin him and pick up the victory. Lawler goes over to see Vince and Macho and introduces us to Sleasy. So now he and Doink both have two sidekicks.

• The WWF has a new weekly show starting soon, The Action Zone. They’re promoting that on the first episode Bret Hart will defend the WWF title against Owen Hart in their “final ever encounter”
• The British Bulldog takes on a jobber who’s full name I didn’t catch but Vince keeps calling him Raymond. Bulldog cycles through all his classic trademarks with the delayed suplex holding him up for a long time, a superplex and finally his over the shoulder running powerslam to pick up the victory. 
• This past weekend on WWF Superstars, Vince McMahon interviewed Arnold Skaaland, who was Bob Backlund’s former manager. He threw in the towel to submit on Backlund’s behalf, costing him the WWF title back in the day. Skaaland is an old man and didn’t do it maliciously, looking out for his client’s well being but Bob doesn’t take it that way - he ran down during the interview and put his former manager in the Crossface Chickenwing. On Raw, Backlund marches to the ring unexpectedly and demands Vince interview him now. McMahon gets quite angry at Bob’s conduct, attacking a man who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year and demands he explain himself. He apologises for ever picking Skaaland as his manager, but not for what he did to the man. He rants about what a role model he is, never swearing or taking drugs and the infamous line “I have never ever eaten marijuana!” Vince brings it back to the Crossface - Backlund says its all about pride and determination and offers an open challenge for anyone in the crowd to come to the ring and try to escape his hold. A lot of the fans sound up for it but it's Lex Lugar who comes out. He reminds us that Bob has put the hold on a magazine writer and now an old manager, but why doesn’t he try it on an actual wrestler? Backlund looks like he accepts and starts warming up in the ring and daring Lugar to bring it but the referees and officials hold him back. They both want the match now but it looks like the powers that be aren’t going to allow it tonight. 

• Thurman “Sparky” Plugg battles a jobber with bushy hair. Sparky picks up the win in about 90 seconds with a crossbody off the top rope.
• Before his match, IRS says that there’s only two things in life that are certain - death and taxes, and he plans to expose the biggest tax cheat in the WWF, The Undertaker. His opponent is Tim McNeany? I think that’s what Vince called him. IRS wins by submission with the penalty.
• This past weekend on Superstars, Undertaker brought a casket to ringside during Yokozuna’s match and freaked him out. I’ll talk more about them next week when Yoko is in action against Razor Ramon
• In the main event, Jim Cornette leads the Heavenly Bodies against Barry Horowitz and some other guy who’s name I didn’t catch. Cornette gets a big laugh out of Vince before the match calling the Bodies a team who “have won more wrestling matches than The Beatles and Elvis Presley combined”. The Bodies win with Del Ray’s moonsault off the top which pretty much missed but ended the match anyway.
• Lex Lugar issues an official challenge to Bob Backlund for a wrestling match, daring him to prove himself against a New Generation star. 

Monday Night Raw - October 24th, 1994

• In the opening match we waste NO time and get right into the big Intercontinental Championship match - Yokozuna challenges Razor Ramon. Macho Man confidently predicts that Yoko is about to win the IC title. He’s too big and powerful, even for Razor. Yoko attacks Razor but the champion rallies back with a lot of punches and the fans go nuts when he FINALLY knocks the big man off his feet. That doesn’t last long and Yokozuna comes back and overwhelms Razor, slowly working him over with chops, chokes and the occasional huge leg drop. The long chokes on the mat give Yokozuna a chance to catch his breath. Razor finally comes back and rocks Yoko who bails to the outside for a break but Undertaker has had a casket wheeled to ringside. Yoko sees it, freaks out and runs away getting counted out. Razor Ramon retains the Intercontinental title by count out in a decent match until the finish. I love Yoko. 

• In the Survivor Series Report, Todd Pettengill has some big news about the event. This year’s Survivor Series matches will be 5 vs. 5 and the first match is confirmed - Guts and Glory led by Lex Lugar against The Million Dollar Team lead by Tatanka, dressed like a 1980s stock broker. 

• The day before this show, the WWF premiered The Action Zone and in the first main event, Bret Hart retained the WWF Championship over Owen Hart, and then after the match finally addressed Bob Backlund. He accepts his challenge for a title match which will take place at Survivor Series. Bret frames the match as Backlund’s generation vs. Bret and The New Generation. I’m a fan of that, and a huge fan of Backlund’s heel turn and demented character. They’ve done a good job of making the Crossface Chickenwing the most dangerous move in wrestling. In other Backlund related news, next week’s show will feature Bob vs. Lex Lugar after their run-in last week. Fun.

• The Smoking Gunns face Mike Bell and…some guy, I didn’t catch his name. Billy and Bart finish off Bell with their Sidewinder tag team finish, which I like. I certainly like it a lot more than their mullets and bushy moustaches.
• Tatanka has a new entrance, with his traditional Native American war cry then leading into the Million Dollar Man’s awesome theme. Ted Dibiase leads the Native American to the ring with $ signs projected all over the arena. Before the match, Tatanka calls Lex Lugar an immigrant. Tatanka wins his exhibition match with a jumping chop off the top rope. He continues to kick and beat on the jobber after the match at Dibiase’s encouragement and puts him down with the Papoose to Go. 
• IRS cuts a pre-recorded interview from a funeral home about how most dead people are tax cheats and even after you die, you STILL have to pay our taxes. He’s provoking The Undertaker.

• Adam Bomb faces Phil Apollo. Bomb wins with the Meltdown pumphandle slam. After discussing The Klique and their backstage influence at Summerslam, it occurs to me that the real reason he had to change his finisher is because two members of the Klique use powerbombs as their finishers. As Bomb celebrates he’s attacked from behind by Bob Backlund. Bomb is one of Lex’s team mates at Survivor Series, and Bob has his match with Lex next week so there’s a connection. He clamps him in the Chickenwing and wrenches and tears at his shoulder until finally referees are able to separate the two. Backlund is a madman! 

• Jerry Lawler hosts another edition of The King’s Court. King recaps everything that’s gone on with him and Doink so far - Doink added Wink and now a third midget called Pink to his entourage alongside Dink. King countered with Queasy, Sleasy and now he has a third too in Cheesy. The three little King’s come down to the ring as Macho Man just loudly tells Lawler to hurry up and end this segment on commentary. Thank you, Randy. Even though this year’s Survivor Series matches are 5 on 5, Lawler challenges Doink to a 4 vs. 4 match with their three midgets as team mates. Are you excited? 

• In the main event, one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions Big Daddy Cool Diesel beats up a jobber in tie-dye trunks. The fans have really taken to Diesel and cheer for him as he murders this little guy and finishes him off with the Jackknife. 
• At the end of Raw, Bob Backlund comes out and starts his in-ring warm up routine as Macho and Vince say their goodbyes and wonder what he’s doing. He’s so crazy, he’s shown up for his match with Lex Lugar a full week early! 

Monday Night Raw - October 31st, 1994

• This episode of Raw marks Macho Man Randy Savage’s final WWF appearance. After months of debating his role in the company with Vince, the two amicably split, unable to come to terms on a new contract. Macho believed he still had a lot to give and was desperate to wrestle as much as he could, but Vince wanted to focus on the New Generation and given that Macho was as closely identified with the previous era as Hogan himself, it's easy to see why he thought Macho being in a top spot sent a mixed message. He wanted Randy to remain on commentary and be a full time non-wrestler and so that was the end. This episode of Raw was taped along with the previous two on October 17th and at the end of the tapings, Macho told Vince he’d be leaving. He was in WCW with a new contract which promised not only wrestling matches but a spot at the top of the card by December, where he wrestled full time until 2000. There was no ill-will and it's a testament to Vince and Macho’s close friendship at the time that Vince said an on-air goodbye to Randy wishing him well on the next week’s Raw, which I’ll obviously mention in November’s article. 
• In other big commentary changes, Jim Ross is gone again. He was fired in February after his Bell’s Palsy attack and then brought back in the summer while it looked like Vince might go to jail, but in October he was fired a second time with the reason given that he was passing official company secrets to outsiders. I’m not sure if there’s any truth to that, but he will be back for a third (and final) time before too long, relegated to the syndicated and weekend shows. 
• This show takes place on Halloween so the opening video focuses on Backlund’s “spooky” character change and being haunted by the ghost of never actually losing the WWF Championship back in the day. His match with Lex Lugar kicks things off and the crowd is red hot for it, even more impressive when you consider that this was the third episode of Raw these fans had sat through that night. Vince does a good job with Backlund’s character in this match, suggesting he’s trying hard to be someone he’s not. He comes out to use big long words and often uses them incorrectly. He is affecting this image that he is above everyone else and it’s not true. He has snapped with regards to the WWF Championship and it’s made him backwards. It’s really good stuff, especially for the New Generation which is not famous for its clever storytelling. Tatanka is shown watching this match from the top of the ramp, creeping on rival Lugar but disappears after the commercial break. Backlund focuses his attack on Lex’s arm and shows off his impressive mat and submission wrestling, dominating this match. Lex comes back and gets on a roll with slams, but can hardly lift Backlund with his bad arm. Tatanka comes down to distract Lex and that leads to him clamped in the Crossface. Tatanka stupidly gets in the ring and attacks Lex while he’s in the hold, so Lugar wins by disqualification and the two beat on Lugar for such a long time, Macho Man is forced to leave commentary and rush the ring to attack Backlund and rescue Lex Lugar. After a commercial break, Vince talks to Randy about how he’s not allowed in the ring and Randy’s angry retort that there’s no REASON he can’t get in the ring and Vince’s very serious almost annoyed expression is very interesting given all the additional context I gave at the start of the episode. That continued for the entire show with Macho being very quiet and at one point telling Vince that he’s “tired of sitting in this chair” which is ignored. 

• The 1-2-3 Kid (who has grown his hair out a bit into a bigger, curly mullet and looks less like a 12 year old boy) faces Tony Devito. Vince mentions that the previous night on the Action Zone, Shawn Michaels and Diesel retained the Tag Team titles over Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid which I’d have enjoyed seeing on Raw honestly. Vince talks about the 1-2-3 Kid being in a Survivor Series match of his own now, which I’m sure Todd will tell us about later. The Kid wins this match with a diving leg drop off the top rope.
• As promised, the Survivor Series Report is next and my boy Todd gives us the hard sell for the PPV and runs down the entire card. Backlund has challenged Bret Hart to make their WWF Championship match a submission match, a Casket match has been added to the show - Yokozuna vs. Undertaker in a rematch from the Royal Rumble but this time, special guest troubleshooting referee Chuck Norris will be at ringside to stop anyone from interfering this time. That makes five matches on the card - three Survivor Series matches, a casket match and a WWF title match. Perfect.

• King Kong Bundy (with Ted Dibiase) faces Burt Centino. Bundy wins with a big heavy elbow drop and insists on a five count before throwing him out of the ring. From one Million Dollar Team member to another, IRS is back at the graveyard to talk about dead tax cheats again. I am a big fan of the fake name John Dough. IRS repossesses his flowers, and says he still owes so much that he’ll need to go and confiscate his daughter’s birthday presents too.
• On a special spooky halloween edition of the King’s Court, Jerry Lawler has The Undertaker and Paul Bearer as his guests. Before we get into that, I will confirm that, excitingly, Doink has accepted Lawler’s challenge from last week so Survivor Series will indeed feature hot midget on midget action. Undertaker makes his full entrance as Vince bellows “Count Dracula, eat your heart out!” Undertaker’s new spooky super powers continue to expand as he summons pyro charges over the ring but leaves the lights off until Lawler requests they be turned on. Undertaker raises his arm and turns them back on for him. King taunts Bearer about how this casket match will have the same outcome as the last one. Bearer gets out a magazine (on sale now) to show off Undertaker’s gravest matches. There’s a messy edit to cover up the fact that when Bearer mentioned Hulk Hogan, the crowd loudly cheered so instead on the show he simply says that “this man is now gone” and then the crowd are shown cheering. It’s a bit silly hearing the ghostly Bearer talk about Chuck Norris, but Undertaker needs no help - that was the WWF’s decision, not theirs. Undertaker finishes off by telling Yokozuna that his crime has come and he will rest in peace. This promo is the birth of Undertaker calling his fans “creatures of the night”. 

• Next week, Owen Hart and Anvil face Bret Hart and Bulldog in a big tag team match. Tonight, Anvil is in action against Tony Roy. Neidhart attacks before the bell, beats the hell out of him and makes him submit to the camel clutch. 
• At the end of Raw, Vince McMahon leaves commentary and heads back to interview Lex Lugar. Hilariously there’s audio issues and we can’t hear Vince or Lex, so Macho Man has to just narrate the whole segment, pointing out that he has an ice pack on his shoulder. It’s weird that they left this in considering the show is pre-taped but as Macho tries to say his goodbyes, audio does finally come through of a skirmish in the back. The cameras just catch the tail end of Tatanka attacking Lex Lugar as referees and Vince try to stop the beating and we’re out!