WWF Monday Night RAW (May 15, 1995)

Original Airdate: May 15, 1995

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

Opening Match: Owen Hart and Yokozuna v Nick Barberry and Bill Weaver: Yoko starts, and I guess these jobbers have never seen any of his Handicap matches from 1993, because they try double-teaming - and fail spectacularly. Speaking of Handicap matches, History of the WWE, in a rare error, lists this as a Handicap squash for Yoko. Poor Owen. And speaking of Yoko, he finishes Weaver with a belly-to-belly suplex at 3:00. DUD

Last night at the inaugural In Your House, Jerry Lawler beats Bret Hart via interference from Hakushi, and Bret cries backstage - Lawler helpfully adding tears in his eyes via a drawing

Meanwhile, aliens decide to postpone the destruction of earth because they don't want to miss more WWF programming. Must have been a pity thing

Man Mountain Rock v Mike Sharpe: Rock's WWF block logo guitar is pretty fucking awesome. Nothing to the match, (un)fortunately, as Sharpe stupidly tries a bodyslam, and almost immediately ends up in the Whammy Bar at 1:30. DUD

At In Your House, Todd Pettengill and Stephanie Wiand (along with two accountants who look like the entire 90s threw up on them) pick the winner of the house giveaway/bribe sweepstakes

Vince recaps Savio Vega's 'shoot' debut at In Your House, then tries to conduct an interview with him, but Savio doesn't speak too good English. You know, this angle was super irresponsible, because they were basically saying that this random guy jumped the rail, attacked some wrestlers, and got a contract out of the deal. I remember even at ten years old, I thought that was setting a bad precedent

Hey, for only $16 you can get a Diesel versus Sid commemorative t-shirt that looks like it was made on Microsoft Word by a sixth grade computer class, then printed at a kiosk at the local mall

WWF King of the Ring Tournament Qualifying Match: Bob Holly v Mantaur: Even the Qualifying round is too far into the tournament for Mantaur. Also, Vince's level of enthusiasm for Bob Holly is kind of creepy. Like, not on par with his exuberance for 1996 Shawn Michaels, but pretty close. Mantaur controls with power stuff in the early going, and tosses Bob out of the ring. Holly sticks and moves with a pair of dropkicks, and a sloppy sequence where both guys miss their marks ends on Mantaur bodyslamming him. Mantaur with a powerslam for two, and a straddling ropechoke sets up Holly for a bootchoke in the corner. Sidewalk slam and a hanging vertical suplex get two, but a mistimed corner charge misses, and Holly schoolboys him for two. Dropkick and a pair of clotheslines setup Holly's always impressive missile dropkick for two, and a flying bodypress finishes things at 5:29. The crowd got into Holly's comeback, but man, you could have heard a pin drop during Mantaur's 'heat' segment. ¼*

Vince McMahon brings Bob Backlund out for an in-ring interview, and Backlund, like all great politicians, uses Monday Night RAW to announce his intentions to run for President. Of the United States. My friends and I totally bought that as kids, and spent the entire summer relishing every moment because we were certain it would be our last summer vacation, since Backlund promised to eliminate them if elected. We were stupid kids

Last night at In Your House, Diesel proved he was at least as tall as Sid. Maybe even taller. The match sucked, but the visual of them exchanging powerbombs is still pretty cool, though

Earlier today, Jim Ross caught up with Ted DiBiase backstage, with DiBiase challenging Bam Bam Bigelow and Diesel to a tag match against Sid and Tatanka. That'll show 'em

Bam Bam Bigelow v IRS: IRS tries attacking, but gets atomic dropped out of the ring in short order. IRS tries some elbows on the way back in, but runs into a shoulderblock. They mistime a falling headbutt spot, and IRS bails, but runs into Diesel out there, and sent back in for another falling headbutt. Flying version, but IRS rolls out of the way, and clotheslines Bam Bam down for two. Pair of elbowdrops get two, and he slaps on a chinlock as Diesel tries to stay awake at ringside. Abdominal stretch, but Bam Bam escapes, so IRS corner whips him, and hits a backelbow. He exposes a turnbuckle and knocks Bam Bam into it, but Diesel saves by knocking Irwin's feet off the ropes as he covers. Into the buckle again, but this time Bigelow reverses the smash, and hits another falling headbutt at 7:04. Dull, house show match. ¼*

BUExperience: This was pretty damn boring, especially for a post-pay per view live show