WWF Monday Night RAW (December 5, 1994)

Original Airdate: December 5, 1994 (Taped November 28)

From Poughkeepsie, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels

Opening Match: Davey Boy Smith v Jeff Jarrett: Jarrett tries to get cute in the early going, but makes the mistake of trying to match power with Smith, and ends up getting hiptossed out to the floor. He regroups with the Roadie ('Road Dogg' Jesse James, in his debut appearance), and comes back in bitching to the referee about Davey hooking the tights. Jeff tries taking it to the mat, but Davey finds counters to everything Jarrett tries, and ends up shoving Jeff across the ring. Criss cross ends in Smith hitting a hanging vertical suplex, and Jarrett falls back out to the floor. Jarrett sweeps Bulldog off of his feet on the way back in, but runs into a boot during a cross corner charge, and Davey unloads a series of turnbuckle smashes. To the top rope, but Jarrett knocks him onto the turnbuckle, and superplexes him for two. Chinlock, but Davey powers up, so Jarrett blasts him with a flying clothesline for two. Criss cross ends in a double knockout, but Davey's up first with a cradle for two. Backelbow, but Jarrett ducks, and slaps on a sleeper - Smith fading fast. Jarrett rides him with his full weight, but Davey still dead lifts him, and falls into the corner to break. He can't capitalize before Jarrett bulldogs him though, but kicks out at two. Davey fires back with a fisherman's suplex for two, but Jarrett takes it back to the mat with another chinlock. Into the ropes, Davey counters a leapfrog with an inverted atomic drop, and follows with a backdrop to set up a series of clotheslines. Jarrett is quick to bail, but Bulldog follows to drag him back in (in this case, carrying him over his head), but Roadie grabs Davey's leg as he tries to re-enter, and Jarrett gets a countout victory at 14:00. A bit too long (they went back to the chinlock one time too many there), but decent back-and-forth stuff otherwise. Also some nice foreshadowing of Roadie's eventual involvement in Jeff's Intercontinental Title win the next month. Plus, somewhat historically significant for the debut of Jesse James, if for nothing else. *

Holiday Wish Tour promo. The first live show I ever saw was part of this wretched tour

They continue to neuter Diesel by showing footage of him rubbing elbows with your grandpa at the American Sportscasters Association Dinner. I get who they'd want him there, and I get that they're trying to maximize the exposure, but little shit like this wasn't doing Big Daddy Cool any favors in getting over

1-2-3 Kid v Barry Horowitz: Oh, wow, Kid. Kinda forgot about him, actually. Post King of the Ring and the title shot against Bret over the summer, they really didn't do much with him until the Cinderella Story tag title run, did they? And then kinda forgot about him again until the heel turn, and that's still not until deep into 1995. Kid tries working a side-headlock early, but Barry side suplexes him to escape, and hits a double-underhook suplex for two. Nice snapmare into a cradle for two, and Horowitz headbutts him into the corner for a few European uppercuts. Bootchoke, and another snapmare sets up a somersault necksnap. Headlock, but Kid escapes with a spinheel kick, and throws another before diving into an Oklahoma roll for the pin at 2:52. Looks they were already toying with the Horowitz push at this point, because he actually gave Kid a run for his money here, and got actual near falls and everything. Of course, that too didn't actually happen until well into 1995, either. *

Shawn Michaels demos the new RAW video game by squashing 1-2-3 Kid with his character. Man, I forgot how badly they botched Shawn's tights in that game. Just burgundy, without even a heart or animal print? No wonder the guy was such a dick to everyone during this period

Kwang v Scott Taylor: There's a squash going on, but the focus of this is to allow Kwang's manager, Harvey Wippleman, to antagonize Howard Finkel at ringside - in perhaps the most ridiculous feud of the entire decade. Like, even as a kid, I didn't get why they were showing it. I mean, I liked that Finkel eventually stood up to Wippleman, and I guess it was harmless enough for TV, but really? Kwang with a spinheel kick to finish Taylor at 3:00. ¼*

This weekend on the Action Zone, Lex Luger faces Owen Hart in what they dub a 'patriot versus traitor' match

Jerry Lawler hosts The King's Court with guest Shawn Michaels. The focus here is that Shawn feels he carried the team with Diesel, and therefore thinks he can beat him for the title. I love Shawn, but did they seriously think this guy was ready to headline a WrestleMania at this point? 1996, absolutely, but he still had a long way to go

Bob Holly leads the WWF Racing Team through car races! Wait... the WWF had a Racing Team? Really?

WWF Mania celebrates its 100th episode this Saturday, with special guest Dink! Easy to laugh now, but I used to watch Mania religiously every Saturday morning in those days. And, actually, it was a fun, not overly micromanaged format that was entertaining for what it was. Like, I've occasionally caught the weekend shows they put out in recent years, and they're just brutal corporate 'RAW-lite' drivel that does not hook you, if you're not already a fan. Also, I don't remember them making this big a deal out of RAW when it hits episode 100, but again, they weren't micromanaging Mania, so I'd bet someone just noticed the episode count, and decided to do an anniversary show to entertain themselves

Hakushi vignette. I guess business was really terrible at this point, since it's just a graphic with 'Hakushi' superimposed over some clouds

The Bushwhackers v Well Dunn: This is yet another excuse to allow Harvey Wippleman to verbally abuse Howard Finkel, so don't get too excited. Well Dunn jump the 'Whackers and go to work with tandem stuff on Luke as they immediately cut the ring in half. Luke manages to clothesline Timothy Well to block a backdrop, and gets the tag - Butch an outhouse of fire! Battering Ram, but Wippleman trips him as he runs the ropes, and Steven Dunn hits a high knee for the pin at 5:00. Afterwards, Finkel objects, but the referee brushes off his protests. Despite the stupid gimmick, Well Dunn actually looked good, and did their best to carry this, but the 'Whackers aren't exactly guys to have matches with. ½*

Bob Backlund comes down to hype his match with Doink on next weeks show by (get this) telling us that clowns have no place in society, and that they need to be exterminated – starting with Doink. And yes, he actually said it in those words. Shawn’s reaction to the whole thing is pretty hilarious, too

BUExperience: Good episode this week. No classic matches, but there’s the debut of Jesse James, as well as Shawn Michaels killing it on commentary the entire time to make the squashes entertaining. Plus, Backlund promising to ‘exterminate the clown race that he’s hated since being a small child’ is pretty wild and wacky stuff