WWF Monday Night RAW (January 30, 1995)

Original Airdate: January 30, 1995 (Taped January 23)

From Palmetto, Florida; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels

Opening Over The Top Rope Match: King Kong Bundy v Mabel: See, they're both fat, so it's a two man battle royal. Because FAT! And you know that works for Vince, because one of these guys headlined a WrestleMania, and the other a SummerSlam. Mabel goes right for it, but Bundy slugs away to get off the ropes. He tries his own toss, but Mabel reverses, so Bundy rakes the eyes. Holy shit, if the whole match is going to be like this, we may have negative stars, folks! Bundy tries and fails a couple more times, so he executes an actual move (the Avalanche), but still can't get Mabel over (to be fair, no one could get Mabel over in 1995), and purple far hits an enzuigiri. Elbowdrop misses, however, but Bundy still can't get him out, so IRS and Tatanka run down to assist, and King Kong wins at 3:10. Some ten year old in the front row does my proud with the dumbfounded look on his face at that finish. Not quite negative stars, but not like they weren't trying! DUD

Vince interviews Bam Bam Bigelow via satellite (this week, ditching the boy band suit for something from the Tony Soprano collection) to get Bigelow's official apology to Lawrence Taylor over the Royal Rumble incident, only for Bam Bam to balk at the last second, and instead challenge LT to a match

Hakushi v Ricky Santana: I remember all the kids in school (Well, not ALL the kids, but the wrestling fans. So, basically, four of the kids) tore Hakushi apart immediately after his debut because he was wearing a white belt, which we learned in our JCC karate classes was the lowest rank. McMahon and Michaels completely ignore the match to talk about everything from LT to Disneyland, but they actually work a decently competitive little squash to help wash the taste of that opener out of everyone's mouth. Hakushi with a nice side suplex, followed by a flying shoulderblock, and a handspring moonsault to finish at 4:00. ¾*

Royal Rumble Encore promo

Aldo Montoya v David Sierra: Aldo's pyro is still really cool. If he couldn't get over with that pyro, he just didn't deserve to get over, frankly. Another energetic squash, as Aldo busts out a plancha within the first thirty seconds, and puts the jobber away with a 2^nd rope bulldog at 2:00. I guess he was less an assassin, than an errand boy, sent by bookers, to collect a bill. ¼*

WrestleMania XI promo

Jerry Lawler hosts The King's Court with Bob Backlund, with Bob stating that from now on, if he puts you in the Crossface Chickenwing, the only thing that will make him break the hold are the words 'I Quit' - thus setting up the showdown with Bret Hart for WrestleMania

Royal Rumble Encore promo

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Smoking Gunns v 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly: Billy starts with Kid, and Kid controls through a criss cross, and hits a spinheel kick for two. Nice one, too. Billy regroups in his corner, but still ends up in a headlock, and Bart tags himself in to spank Kid proper. He walks right into a snapmare, however, and Holly tags in with a tandem dropkick for two. The challengers try a quick tag, but Kid walks into a backelbow, and a tandem Russian legsweep from the Gunns. Back to Holly, he fires off a nice dropkick on Bart for two, as the flow of this one can't seem to pick a direction and stick with it. They settle into the challengers cutting the ring in half on Bart, as I notice Bill Alfonso is the referee for this. Didn't realize he still had that gig into 1995. Holly misses a charge in the corner to allow the tag to Billy, and now the Gunns cut the ring in half. Holly manages to escape a chinlock to get the tag, and Kid is a house of arson! He ends up wiping out on a flying somersault bodyblock attempt, however, and the referee stops the match due to injury at 11:00. Well, that was certainly one way to avoid a job. And it worked in 1995, but I can imagine kids today watching that, and not getting why Kid was seemingly killed off a transitional move. Not on the level of last weeks, but given that 'last week' was in reality an hour before this, that's understandable. Jet lag, you know? * ¼

Kama v Jumbo Berretta: I had no idea this was the same guy as Papa Shango as a kid, so kudos to them for that, at least. And, really, what was wrong with Papa Shango? Too bad they didn't bring him back as the puppet master behind Bob Backlund as was rumored at the time. STF finishes at 3:45. DUD

BUExperience: Even though the two feature matches weren’t particularly good, this was a fun episode this week