WWF Monday Night RAW (May 29, 1995)

Original Airdate: May 29, 1995 (Taped May 15)

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

The show opens with Jeff Jarrett in the ring, mid-promo as he prepares for his King of the Ring Qualifying Match against The Undertaker tonight. Apparently, he's not scared of Undertaker because Undertaker's not the worlds greatest singer. Can't really argue with that logic

Opening Match: Sid v Mike Khoury: We also learn that Diesel has had emergency reconstructive elbow surgery, which the WWF suddenly claims is due to taking Sid's Powerbomb at In Your House. I get why they'd want to sell it that way to build the feud, but In Your House was two whole weeks before this, and we've since seen Diesel on the last two episodes, looking fine. Total squash here, as Sid tosses him around, and hits the Powerbomb at 1:20. Good sell job from Khoury here. DUD

More on Diesel's injury, as Dr. James Andrews shares the details of the procedure, and shills his business. Also, Diesel has been an 'excellent patient, and is very intelligent.' Not sure what that has to do with anything, but good to know, Doc!

Backstage, Jeff Jarrett and Roadie continue convincing themselves that they're not scared of the Undertaker

Adam Bomb v Bob Cook: This is kind of pointless, given how little they were doing with Bomb. I mean, squashes are perfectly fine, but they need to have a purpose - like Sid's squash earlier. Flying clothesline puts Cook away at 2:04. Energetic. ¼*

King of the Ring Report! Todd's mullet is getting kind of out of control at this point

Hakushi v John Snakowski: See, now this squash makes sense, because they're still building Hakushi, and having his do a squash gives the announcers a chance to refresh the audiences memory about his current angles - in this weeks case, the fact that Hakushi has now taken to carrying around Bret Hart's severed head in a burlap sack. That's kinda dark. Snakowski looks like he found his outfit in Max Moon's discard bin, then added some Randy Savage-like fringe for good measure. Hakushi with a somersault senton splash for the pin at 2:34. ¼*

Two more honorees announced for the WWF Hall Of Fame: Ernie Ladd and Ivan Putski

Vince brings Alundra Blayze out for an in-ring interview to discuss the attack by Bertha Faye the night after WrestleMania that put Blayze on the shelf. Vince's 'oh, really?' expression during these interviews is great

Men on a Mission v Gary Scott and Aaron Ferguson: Not sure why they're still sticking MOM out there in tag matches, when the objective is getting Mabel over for a main event push. Also, still not sure why they decided to try for that push to begin with. And it's not like the crowd reactions here were forcing their hand, or anything, because this is a totally heatless squash in every respect. Mabel with a belly-to-belly suplex at 3:45. DUD

Todd Pettengill is back to discuss the brackets for the King of the Ring Tournament. Why wasn't this part of the Report earlier? Were they worried people would die of mullet overload, or something?

Barry Didinsky wants you to buy an Undertaker t-shirt! He's got soul! Only $16! There's also a brand new Monday Night RAW hat (as opposed to all the used ones they usually sell?), but given how often the show graphics were changing during this era, it would have probably already been outdated by the time you got it

WWF King of the Ring Tournament Qualifying Match: Jeff Jarrett v The Undertaker: Vince: 'the lights are off, and Double J is winking and blinking!' Well, I think we've solved the mystery of the Mabel push. Jarrett stalls on the floor out of fear, but really, given how slow Undertaker is stalking after him, would it really be that hard to get away from him? He's like if the steamroller from Austin Powers took human form. Undertaker somehow catches up to him on the way back into the ring for a ropewalk forearm, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, but Jeff rolls out of the way. He manages to clothesline 'Taker over the top, and a distraction from Roadie out there allows Jarrett an axehandle off of the apron, and he posts Undertaker to take over. Inside, Jeff plants a pair of dropkicks on him for two, and he adds a straddling ropechoke. 2^nd rope clothesline gets two, and Jeff stops playing around, and starts going after the knee. Figure Four, but Paul Bearer stops Roadies illegal leverage assistance, and Jarrett breaks. He tries to keep it going with a swinging neckbreaker and a 2^nd rope fistdrop, but stops to gloat, and Undertaker hits the jumping clothesline. Pair of chokeslams setup the Tombstone, and Undertaker moves onto the tournament at 10:50. I kinda figured Jarrett would advance with a screwy finish involving Kama, actually. And given how meaningful Undertaker ended up being in the tournament, I'm still kind of surprised that didn't happen. As for the match, I was expecting nothing, but it actually turned out to be pretty decent, and well paced. * ½

Bob Backlund makes more campaign promises. This weeks target: rock and roll music – which he vows to do away with if elected. Given how shitty rock music was in 1995, I wouldn't argue with that one, actually

BUExperience: The promotion was at a low point, but this was actually a fun episode for the most part. Nothing particularly ‘good,’ but it didn’t feel like the soul sucking chore the live episode from two weeks before was