WWF Monday Night RAW (November 28, 1994)

Original Airdate: November 28, 1994

From Poughkeepsie, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

We start with highlights of Bob Backlund defeating Bret Hart for the WWF Title at the Survivor Series five days ago, as well as the Shawn Michaels/Diesel split during the opener. Then, in the big shocker, we learn that Diesel defeated Backlund three days later (in eight seconds, no less) to win the title at a house show at Madison Square Garden. To say that this was shocking at the time would be an understatement. I mean, this was way before the days when everyone was online, and if you hadn't watched since last Monday, suddenly DIESEL is WWF Champion? Uh, what? This was a huge disappointment to me as a young fan at the time, as I wasn't as into Diesel as a lot of other people were, and I really wanted to see Bret get the title back from Backlund. Of course, turns out so did a lot of other people, but trying someone new on top wasn't a bad idea given the state of the business at the time, so you can't blame them. It also could have done a LOT better than it did, but forget the character makeover, this thing was botched right at conception as the random 'oh, Diesel beat Backlund in eight seconds' deal must have been great for the fans at the Garden that night, but it does nothing to get all the other fans behind him as champion, because we never had a chance to invest in any sort of chase, or storyline. Vince immediately dubbing him the 'leader of the New Generation!' also came off really awkwardly, given that he was a heel only a week earlier

Opening Match: Owen Hart v John Paul: Owen carries the towel he coerced his mother to throw in at Survivor Series with him as a trophy, since Owen was awesome. Vince actually tries to sell Paul pulling off an upset with a straight face as they trade wristlocks early on, and frankly, that's quite a low opinion of Owen. I mean, really? As Owen squashes away, Bret Hart phones in to talk about the loss, and reveals that he will be out of action for a while to heal up from the Crossface Chickenwing. There was another thing that pissed nine year old me off, as my mom had just gotten us tickets to my first ever live show, which was supposed to be headlined by Hart/Backlund, but due to the 'injury,' we got Diesel/Backlund instead. What a terrible house show that was, too. I mean, I loved it at the time, but going through History of the WWE and reading the results back, it's amazing they were actually selling tickets with those lineups. Owen with the Sharpshooter at 4:00. ¼*

Survivor Series Encore promo. Well, it was certainly an eventful show, if nothing else

IRS v Adam Bomb: IRS is still calling out The Undertaker during his pre-match spiel - which actually headlined at that house show I went to the next month. IRS tries to wrestle him, but Bomb uses his power advantage to toss him around, and hooks a standing side-headlock. IRS escapes and bails, but Bomb drags him back in by the tie, so Ted DiBiase hops up onto the apron, and Bomb goes after him like a dummy. Dude, FOCUS! And, indeed, IRS jumps him from behind, and dumps him to the outside for some abuse. Serves him right! I mean, DiBiase was up on the apron, but he wasn't getting physically involved. If anything, Bomb should have used the momentary cover from the referee's observation to work in a cheapshot on his opponent. Inside, IRS works a chinlock, but Bomb escapes, and bodypresses him for two, but ends up in an abdominal stretch. Bomb inside cradles his way out, but IRS quickly slugs him down again, and goes back to the chinlock. Geez, why were they pushing this guy? He has fine with Money Inc, and he would have been fine in a title run with Bam Bam Bigelow, but this singles stuff is like pulling teeth. Why not push Bomb instead? I know I've said it before, but this guy could have actually gotten over had they gotten behind him, instead of acting as fodder for guys like IRS. Bomb escapes and fires off a series of clotheslines to set up a flying version, but one of the Druid's comes out and shoves him off the top for IRS to pin at 9:51. Afterwards, IRS tries a beat down with DiBiase and Druid, but Lex Luger makes the save. Yes, this was actually the feature match for the live show after Survivor Series! DUD

Vince narrates some still photo highlights of the Casket Match from Survivor Series

Bob Holly v Tony DeVito: Sign in the crowd 'Bob Holly is HOT!' with 'HOT' spelled in red letters. Luckily, fans would get more creative with signs into the Attitude Era. Hey, now there's an idea for someone to put together into a comedy website: Best Crowd Signs. You'd buy it. Holly takes his head off with his always impressive dropkick right away, and finishes with a flying clothesline at 2:50. ¼*

Henry O Godwinn vignette. Because, if you can't get behind a hog farmer with a punny name as potential world champion, well, you just don't understand pro-wrestling, do you?

Lex Luger v Bert Centeno: Luger's got a little kid as his flag bearer tonight, a role I politicked for at the house show, but didn't get. ROBBED! ROBBED I was! Speaking of Luger, I've been watching those Monday Night Wars broadcasts on the Network, and was pleasantly surprised to see him as a talking head. Tony Schiavone, too. I guess Randy Savage was really literally the ONLY guy Vince never made peace with. Rebel Rack finishes for Luger at 2:09. DUD

Vince McMahon brings Diesel out for an in-ring interview, since the title win wasn't just a nightmare I had, but a real thing that happened. Interesting to see just how quickly they changed the whole character, as suddenly he's a whole different guy - smiling, and aww shucks'ing his way through the interview. I can sorta get why they went that way initially (to hammer home the face turn), but sadly, the character would only get more sweetened as the reign went on, before coming full circle at Survivor Series the next year - which, not coincidentally, is when he got over again

The Heavenly Bodies v Gary Scott and Buck Quartermaine: His name is Buck and he likes to… LINE! Here's some more guys I don't know why they're bothering putting on the live show. The Bodies are fine as JTTS or house show filler, but do they really need a squash on the live episode? And, it's not that I don't appreciate their talents, but they weren't doing anything with them anyway (and wouldn't ever), so it seems like kind of a waste for everyone. Meanwhile, Bob Backlund makes his way down (complete with bowtie!) to sit in on commentary, to discuss his eventful week. Bodies finish with flying splash at 3:41. DUD

They show the Backlund/Diesel match in full again (all eight seconds of it), and Backlund gets so upset that he threatens to put McMahon in the Chickenwing

BUExperience: Terrible feature match, but if you were watching live at the time, it was certainly an interesting show given how much had happened since the last episode