By Haydn Gleed
WWF Raw on the USA Network
Macon, Georgia at Macon Coliseum
Well, well, well, Raw episode No. 100 which means this is the Retro Raw No. 100. I just want to take a quick moment to thank everyone who has read one of my Retro Raw’s and also anyone who has taken the time to send me an email or tweet. It really has spurred me on to carry on doing these, especially during the dark days of Raws from 1994, when the shows were awful. With that being said, let’s take a look at Raw No. 100…
WE HAVE A NEW INTRO VIDEO……sort of. It’s exactly the same bad dated saxophone music, but it’s a different cooler and more mid-90’s video presentation. Hey, I’ll get tired of it within a week or two, but for now I am doing a little dance in celebration.
Vince welcomed us to the show, and hyped that we would hear from Lawrence Taylor later in the show. He introduced his co-host Jim Cornette, who was stood at ringside with Vince, who said that LT’s words would only be words of wisdom if they are words of apology. He said that tonight was his chance to get on his hands and knees and beg for forgiveness. Vince said that might happen but he doubts it. Vince hyped that tonight is the culmination of one of the biggest rivalries in the WWF between Tatanka and Lex Luger. He threw to backstage for pre-recorded comments from Lex…
Lex was standing in a changing room with red lights behind him….hmmmm….nah that joke is too easy. Lex said that this all started at SummerSlam. He said that Tatanka and Ted DiBiase convinced everyone that it was Lex who had sold out to the Million Dollar Man, but it was you Tatanka. He also said that three weeks ago, Tatanka ambushed him from behind again. He said two weeks ago Tatanka went to lower depths when he attacked Chief Jay Strongbow. He said that Chief would be in his corner tonight to keep an eye on DiBiase…
Retro Verdict: Ok, this is about the 100th match between the two, and I am more than fed up with this feud, but at least they put some effort into making it feel like a big deal with this recap promo. Hopefully this might be the end tonight? I seriously doubt it though.
In the arena, the Native American war cry bellowed out and out came Tatanka followed by The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. As he walked down the aisle, Tatanka pulled a face into the camera, because he’s not a nice man, that’s what makes you a bad person pulling faces. Tatanka grabbed a mic and said something along the lines of we made a fool of you at SummerSlam blah blah blah. Luger made his entrance to a pretty good reception although I think there might have been some manipulation in there as it didn’t look natural. He was accompanied to the ring by Chief Jay Strongbow…
1. Lex Luger (w/Chief Jay Strongbow) vs. Tatanka (w/The Millon Dollar Man Ted DiBiase). Lex rolled into the ring and Tatanka jumped out of the ring. Lex gave chase but fell for the same heel tactic as always with Tatanka rolling back in the ring and cutting Lex off when he was in the ropes reentering the ring. Tatanka laid in some right hands until Lex burst back into life and knocked Tatanka back out of the ring where the Native American took a minute to recover. Lex chased after him which Tatanka managed to get away by fleeing around the ringside area. There was a USA chant which no one on camera looked like they were part of.
Tatanka climbed back in the ring and used the referee as a distraction and gained the advantage. Tatanka chopped away at Luger in the corner, but Lex no sold it and came charging out of the corner and lay in a series of right hands to the corporation member. He hit a clothesline and continued laying in right hands. Lex stood over Tatanka and told him to get up, so Tatanka grabbed the tights and threw him out of the ring. At ringside, Tatanka smashed Lex’s head into the ringside steps. Lex eventually tried to climb back in the ring on several occasions but was knocked back down with a chop several times as we went into a commercial.
Back from the break, Lex was knocked down and holding the feet of Tatanka who would pick him up and knock him back down with a chop. After a sustained period of offense, including a bear hug, both men weirdly started to walk around the ring like in some kind of zombie trance. Seriously that looked awkward. Tatanka charged at Lex who got the foot up, which he followed up with a sleeper hold. Tatanka quickly broke the hold and went back on offense. Tatanka decided to ignore his opponent and went after Strongbow at ringside and took the head dress off him and broke it into pieces. Strongbow hit a number of chops which allowed Lex to recover who threw Tatanka back in the ring and unloaded with a number of punches.
Back from a break, Lex hit a bulldog on Tatanka and followed up with several clotheslines, the final one knocked Tatanka out of the ring. Tatanka started walking towards the back, which Cornette claimed was him going to the back to get a towel to wipe the sweat away. Lex chased after him, put him on his shoulders and threw him back in the ring. Big powerslam and Tatanka again rolled to the outside. Lex grabbed Tatanka by the hair and suplexed him into the ring.
Lex continued on the offense which in all fairness was as vicious as the feud deserved. Ted DiBiase climbed onto the apron and distracted Lex. Tatanka again walked to the back but this time was counted out….
Lex Luger defeated Tatanka via countout in 19:12.
After the match, Lex looked angry and ran down the aisle looking slightly like the Ultimate Warrior…
Retro Verdict: Oh, god, this is going to continue even longer?!?! What is this BJ Whitmer vs. Corino from ROH?! There were times in this match when everything seemed to click and the offense and psychology matched the feud, but there were some really weird moments like when they were both walking and following each other around the ring. Strange strange match, and was not the greatest near twenty minute match I’ve ever seen to say the least.
Back from another commercial, they showed highlights from a battle royal style match on Superstars and Jerry Lawler being thrown over the top but only one foot touched the floor. He hoped around the ring until Bret Hart stomped on his planted foot….
Retro Verdict: Oh, god, that feud is still going on/re-igniting again?! Just remembered this leads to the introduction of Glenn Jacobs to the WWF down the line.
In the arena Owen Hart made his entrance and his opponent already in the ring was Larry Santo….
2. Owen Hart vs. Larry Santo. Cornette repeated the weird line from last week about Bret Hart being a racist, very very strange. The announcers during the match talked up the storyline that Owen was looking for a new partner as Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart had been fired behind the scenes once again. They talked about how Owen was looking for a new partner to take on the Tag Team Champion The Smoking Gunns. They also talked about the mainstream media attention that the LT/Bam Bam Bigelow feud had generated.
Owen eventually finished off Larry Santo with a missledrop kick followed by the Sharpshooter…
Owen Hart beat Larry Santo in 3:23.
Retro Verdict: The match was what it was, it was more of a vehicle to allow the announcers to talk about Owen’s current storyline and again pimp that Lawrence Taylor would be talking later on. I’m not sure what the mainstream media in the States made of all this, but I very much doubt it was all as positive as Vince is claiming on commentary, I can imagine they shit all over it to be honest.
After the break, we saw LT and Bam Bam in their respective rooms getting ready for the interviews. Vince again talked about the USA Today and New York Post reporting on a possible match at WrestleMania. He said they were now joined by Lawrence Taylor to put an end to all the speculation. Taylor was in an Orange room backstage. They showed a video of The Royal Rumble with Bam Bam shoving LT to the ground. Vince asked him if he felt that Bam Bam was correct in saying that he disrespected Bigelow. LT said no because he disrespected himself by losing to a 13 year old.
Retro Verdict: OK, so he didn’t disrespect Bam Bam Bigelow, but now he’s disrespecting the 1-2-3 Kid. Ten seconds into this interview and it’s annoying me.
LT continued and said that he was just there for a good time after being invited by his friend Diesel. He said that he didn’t go after Bam Bam because Bigelow had been childish and that they’ll settle their issues in other ways. Vince said that it seems to him that the incident was a rather embarrassing one specially for the WWF. LT said it was embarrassing because he wasn’t expecting it. He said that the WWF had been gracious to him, but you are now replying it over and over again on national tv, and that’s when it became embarrassing. Vince said it must be frustrating being asked what he is going to do in response, to which said LT said Bam Bam pushes like a wuss. He said he’s taking his time to decide what his next step will be. Vince asked what his thoughts were on Bam Bam as an athlete. LT said that he’s a big guy and he’s amazing for his size, as for an athlete he’s tremendous. He said he doesn’t want to go into what he thinks of him as a human.
Cornette started to heel on LT and said he wants answers, so he called for the live link up so Bam Bam and LT could talk to each other. Bam Bam thanked Jimmy, and said he has heard what LT has had to say. He immediately said that the 1-2-3 Kid is not a 13 year old, he’s a member of the WWF (thank you! Wait, who’s the heel in this again?!). He said as for himself as a man, he’s more of a man than LT. He said he hears from LT’s agent, his manager but he wants to hear from Taylor, to which LT replied you don’t want to hear from me. Bam Bam said he’s not scared of any man. He continued to talk smack to LT, who then responded weirdly with, I’m right here if you want me. Bigelow hilariously said, well you are right there and I’m right here and unfortunately I’m not a genie who can click my fingers and magically appear there. He said one day he will be there. They talked about a press conference and LT said he’ll see you there before he got up and walked away.
Retro Verdict: That wasn’t as bad as I was fearing ten seconds into it, but Taylor wasn’t comfortable in this setting at all and you could tell. I’m still into this feud despite my better judgement, and I’m kinda looking forward to reliving the buildup to their WrestleMania match.
Oh god, Doink The Clown’s music hit and out he came out with Dink. His opponent was Bob Cook, and despite the fact that it’s been a while, I still refuse to cover anything Doink The Clown related…
3. Doink The Clown vs. Bob Cook. Doink won with the whoopee cushion….
Doink beat Bob Cook.
Retro Verdict: Urgh urgh urgh. At one point Dink rubbed his bottom into Bob Cook’s face……I guess it wouldn’t be Retro Raw #100 without me complaining about a silly gimmick…
An advert hyped that on next weeks show we would have Shawn Michaels against The British Bulldog and showed highlights of the last two at The Royal Rumble…
Retro Verdict: I have a vague memory of this match, and I remember it being a good one, so fingers crossed my memory is not falling (more than it has).
Back in the arena, the most recent entrant into the 2016 Hall Of Fame Charles Wright made his entrance with his gimmick Kama. Basically he has no music and he fights in an MMA style…..it sucked. His opponent was Ken Raper, who’s surname I hope is not his real one otherwise I feel sorry for that dude….
4. Kama vs. Ken Raper. Kama quickly gained the advantage and slapped him around the top of the head a few times for good measure. He rolled up the jobber quickly before letting him go. Raper was given some offense but Kama no sold it as Jim Cornette and Vince went through their weekly USA Network plug. Vince mocked Jim for his weight who said he wasn’t overweight, he was underheight. I’m going to use that.
Kama finished Raper with a belly to belly and a STF type manoeuvre….
Kama beat Ken Raper in 3:52.
Retro Verdict: Kama was quite impressive here but there was only so far this gimmick could go…..although I probably would have said that about The Godfather gimmick when it started and that ended up being over huge.
To close the show, The British Bulldog was shown backstage. Vince asked him about the match next week. Bulldog said that he was very excited about the match next week, and he knows that the big man Sid will be in his corner, but it will take a lot more than that to stop him. With a smile he said he’s determined to next week to take a bite out of the Heartbreak Kid. With that the show closed…
Retro Verdict: There was something really creepy with the way that Davey Boy was smiling when he said he was going to take bite out of Shawn Michaels. Anyhoo, the show was ok, and apart from Doink, it flowed nicely for me.
Obviously the big talking point was the Lawrence Taylor interview, and as I said above, I thought it went alright, but that’s on the scale of how much of a disaster was it. This show made me look forward to the following show, so all in all it was an average but decent for the era episode of Raw.
As always feel free to get in touch via email haydn.gleed@gmail.com or via twitter @haydngleed.
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