WWF Monday Night RAW (December 19, 1994)

Original Airdate: December 19, 1994 (Taped November 28)

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

Opening Match: Lex Luger v IRS: Luger uses his power advantage to toss IRS around a bit in the early going, so Irwin bails to the floor to regroup. He manages to frustrate Luger enough to sucker him into a kneelift and a turnbuckle smash, but gets reversed going into the ropes and hiptossed. Luger with a bodyslam and a clothesline for two, but IRS' Druid distracts Lex, and Irwin knocks him to the floor with a high knee. Back in, IRS puts the boots to him, and hits a backbreaker for two. Pair of elbowdrops get two, so IRS tries a rope-assisted chinlock. Lex powers up with a side suplex, and hits a running kneelift followed by a series of clotheslines - but the Druid trips him up, and IRS schoolboys him for two. Lex jumps out to the floor to go after the Druid, and pulls his hood off to reveal rival Tatanka, but isn't mindful of the referees count, and IRS gets the victory at 8:25. Just your average TV match with the usual screwy ending. ¼*

We get clips of Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow defeating Men on a Mission to advance in the tag team title tournament on Superstars over the weekend

Backstage, Howard Finkel hangs out with The Bushwhackers to get mentally prepared to stand in their corner later on

Jeff Jarrett is still in Las Vegas, though this time, is at least in front of a respectable hotel on the strip, and not a titty bar like last week

The Smoking Gunns v Roy Raymond and Chris Avery: Ha, Avery is dressed like a thin(ner) version of Vader. Not that it helps him, as the Gunns sleepwalk through their usual tandem stuff, and finish with the Sidewinder at 4:00. DUD

Jerry Lawler hosts the King's Court, with guest Bob Backlund, who taunts Bret Hart and wants a rematch with Diesel for the WWF Title. And he deserves one, frankly. Diesel's win was kind of a fluke. This is pretty much only notable for old man Backlund referring to Diesel as 'Kevin Nash,' which considering this show was taped weeks and weeks before is a flub they should have had ample time to fix in post. Shawn has a field day with it on commentary, though, much to McMahon's annoyance. Not a bad segment, though this angle never really went anywhere outside of house show matches. This episode was taped two days after the title switch, though, so it certainly made sense for the (excited) live crowd

Bob Holly v Chris Kanyon: Kanyon looks like he borrowed Crush's tights from 1993 here tonight, and somehow made them worse. Ah, who am kidding? Crush's fashion choices were awesome. Kanyon manages a bodyslam and a side suplex, but Holly wraps the squash up with a flying elbowdrop at 3:39. This had potential to be good, had Kanyon was still strictly a jobber at this point. ½*

Royal Rumble Report! Todd makes sure to congratulate Holly on his win tonight, though not because of anything related to, you know, wrestling, or titles, or that goofy stuff, but because now Holly can focus of the WWF Racing Team! And, wow, they're actually PROMOTING Dick Murdoch for this, and not just putting him out there as a body? Holy shit, no wonder 1995 was such a terrible year for the promotion, financially

The Bushwhackers v Well Dunn: The big gag here is that the 'Whackers have Howard Finkel with them to make sure Harvey Wippleman walks the line, and he's doing the Bushwhacker walk, and dressed like them. It's supposed to be funny, you see. Anyway, the 'Whackers clean house so they can pose with Finkel, but once the match actually starts, Butch gets quickly overwhelmed in a double-team. Luke comes in for the save, but also runs into a double-team, and the heels manage to cut the ring in half on them - giving me a chance to comment on their outfits. Of all the horrible gaudy 90s outfits, this has to be the worst. Not only pink-and-black in a non-Bret Hart awesome way, but with giant lips (in a non-Shawn Michaels awesome way), and topped off with thongs work on the outside, over bicycle shorts. So bad it's almost disturbing. So, Well Dunn go for the kill when Wippleman cheats again, but this time Finkel pulls his pants down (setting up something truly repulsive for next month), and Butch gets the pin at 4:30. Well, it was short, at least. DUD

Mabel sits on Santa's lap, but he's too fat, so they switch places

Jim Neidhart v Nick Barbarry: Really weird bit before the bell, as Neidhart goes over to the Spanish announce table, and taunts the team - in another angle that never went anywhere. And, actually, why are they even giving Neidhart prime time squashes at this point? He didn't have any feuds, or even appear as a body in the Rumble - and considering they were using the likes of Dick Murdoch and Aldo Montoya, you'd have to think that's about as big of a slap in the face as possible. Neidhart with a camel clutch at 2:00. DUD

Royal Rumble promo

BUExperience: Shawn’s commentary continues to be supremely entertaining, but the show is just terrible – loaded with bad matches, directionless squashes, and ridiculously bad angles.

Ah, well, only one more to go before this year crawls through the finish line