WWF Monday Night RAW (May 23, 1994)

Original Airdate: May 23, 1994

From Youngstown, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Randy Savage.

Opening King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Owen Hart v Doink: Doink replaces Earthquake, who was 'injured' in a house show match with Yokozuna, and bolted for WCW by way of Japan afterwards. What a letdown, too, as they hype a mystery opponent, and we get... Doink. Owen tries a sneak attack, and works in an eyerake and a ropechoke within the first ten seconds. Pair of European uppercuts follow, but Doink blocks a turnbuckle smash, and tries to rally with a side-headlock, but Owen quickly side suplexes him, and hits a 2^nd rope elbowdrop for two. Doink with a pair of lazy armdrags when Owen gets cocky (lazy in that they were basically hiptosses, with Doink not even bothering to go down with him), and a bodyslam follows. Backdrop and a dropkick have Owen wisely bailing to the outside to regroup, but Dink messes with him out there. Though, really, that's not helping Doink, because the longer Owen stalls out there, the more momentum the clown loses. He manages to lure Owen into a chase out there for Doink to clothesline, and Doink adds a bodyslam on the outside. He keeps Owen on the floor with a kneelift when Hart tries climbing back in (why is Doink wrestling like a heel here?), but Owen sweeps him off of his feet, and wraps the leg around the post from the floor. Though, hard to fault him, since he looks sympathetic with all the cheating Doink is doing. Inside, Hart dropkicks him and tries a chinlock, but Doink escapes, so Owen hits a belly-to-belly suplex for two, then slaps on a camel clutch. Doink escapes that as well, and they criss cross for a double-knockout spot. Doink takes control with a backelbow, and a well executed overhead suplex gets two. Ten-punch count sets up a neckbreaker, but here comes Jeff Jarrett to kidnap Dink, and Owen schoolboys Doink to qualify at 10:00. I didn't like the dynamic of the faces needing to cheat to take control, or Owen getting outsmarted like a midcarder by Dink when he's supposed to be getting a main event push (not to mention needing a cheap finish to beat 1994 DOINK), but the match itself was fine. * ¾

King of the Ring Report! Piper is training at the local Y! He's UNSTOPPABLE!

Hot RAW Girl Sign of the Week: RAW! RAW! RAW! Sock 'Em in the Jaw

Duke Droese v Barry Horowitz: Duke overpowers him in the early going, and hits a hiptoss followed by a bodyslam. Another hiptoss sets up a bearhug, but a cross corner charge misses, and Barry delivers a flying axehandle. He works the shoulder for a bit, but misses a dropkick, and Droese picks up a spinebuster, then adds an elbowdrop to finish at 2:51. No wonder I don't remember this guy until 1995. ¼*

WrestleMania Revenge Tour promo

IRS v Gary Sabaugh: Sabaugh with a shoulderblock as they criss cross, but IRS catches him with a hiptoss, and dumps him out to the floor for a beating. Serves him right! What kind of jobber strikes first? Inside, IRS slaps on a chinlock. It goes nowhere, so he switches to a hammerlock - which goes as far. Turnbuckle smashes and a double-underhook suplex get two, and it's back to the chinlock. Sabaugh tries a comeback, but it lasts all of five seconds before IRS pounds him, and hits a sloppy stungun before finishing with the Write Off at 4:15. Way too long for what they were doing out there. DUD

We take a look at footage of Crush attacking Lex Luger on Superstars, and costing him a King of the Ring Qualifying Match against Jeff Jarrett

Jerry Lawler hosts The King's Court, with guest Lex Luger. They discuss Crush to promote their house show feud, and Crush comes out to respond - leading to a brawl, of course. I get that the business was different in those days, but I hate when they build these feuds for the live event market, and never blow them off on TV at all. Like, Luger was doing this, and then after King of the Ring, he shifted to feuding with Tatanka, and this was essentially never mentioned again

Nikolai Volkoff v Matt Hardy: Ted DiBiase sits in on commentary for this one, and teases the epic fake Undertaker storyline. And, WOW, does Matt Hardy look strange with a buzz cut, and 80s jobber tights. Volkoff grabs him in a waistlock takedown right away, but Matt tries a springboard bodypress - so Nikolai simply moves out of the way. He'd have done well in the Attitude Era. Double-underhook suplex, as the crowd sits in pin-drop silence. Bodyslam, and Volkoff finishes him with a Boston crab at 2:34. This is more interesting in hindsight. DUD

BUExperience: For a live episode, this really, really sucked. Hart/Doink is fine, but everything else is just bottom of the barrel stuff, as Vince McMahon had all his focus on the steroid trial, and couldn’t be bothered with this wrestling shit. Hell, he couldn’t even be bothered to get the name of the town they were in right – incorrectly calling it ‘Struthers, Ohio’ about a dozen times.