Connor McGrath
WWF Monday Night RAW
February 20th, 1995
Live from the Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia
Announcers: Vince McMahon and Jim Cornette
Tonight, RAW is live from the State of Georgia, for the very first time. Hmm. It must be a total coincidence that they’re running a huge RAW taping right before their biggest show of the year in the home state of their biggest rival. Vince McMahon also points out that the host city for RAW for the next few weeks, Macon, Georgia, is also the home of Little Richard and Otis Redding. Huh. Add classic R&B to the list of things Vince McMahon enjoys with woman getting gross stuff dumped all over them and humiliating Jim Ross. McMahon hypes tonight’s show, headlined by WWF World Champion Diesel Vs WWF IC Champ Jeff Jarrett! Shawn Michaels announcing his new bodyguard on King’s Court, and the return of Bam Bam Bigelow.
Promos from Jeff Jarrett and Diesel. Jeff Jarrett wearing a sweet flashing suit. Diesel says we’ve all heard of MTV Unplugged but tonight, Jeff Jarrett’s lights get unplugged!
Bam Bam Bigelow (with Ted DiBiase) Vs Gary Sabaugh
Bam Bam Bigelow called Lawrence Taylor a “wimp” on Superstars ten days ago. This past weekend, Lawrence Taylor’s lawyers calling out for a cease and desist against WWF for perpetuating the idea of a Bam Bam-LT match. Hey! Lay off the WWF! Vince had spent enough time in the courts in ’94! Not doing a great job of building Bam Bam as a monster heel as Sabaugh gets in some token offense as Vince puts him over a former AAU Champ (!!!). Cornette says more like the world SPAGHETTI eating champ. I know all jobbers got in token offense on these ’95 shows but Bam Bam Bigelow should have looked like an absolute destroyer to build him up for WrestleMania XI, not just like any other dopey midcard heel. Crowd chants “LT.” Jim Cornette asks why these fans care about pro football so much! MACON DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A TEAM! Bam Bam having a back and forth with a job guy is made even more unimpressive by the fact that it’s Gary Sabaugh, who is unimpressive in every shape and form. I can’t watch this guy without thinking about how he ripped off The Hardy Brothers! Anyway, Bam Bam wins with the Diving Headbutt.
Bam Bam grabs the mic and accuses LT of hiding behind his manager and hiding behind his lawyer. Bam Bam says LT is a wimp and challenged him to a match anytime, any place. Cornette laughs and Vince fumes at the fuel being added to the fire of a potential lawsuit. Jim Cornette says Colin Ferguson should defend WWF in the trial. Wow, can’t get more of a 1995 reference than the Colin Ferguson trial.
Adam Bomb Vs Rip Rogers
The Leader of The Bomb Squad taking on BattleBowl ’93 participant, Rip Rogers. Cornette says Rip is the #1 citizen of Seymour, Indiana. Vince disagrees and says that would be John COUGAR Mellencamp. Cornette says Mellencamp WISHES he could be as big in Seymour as Mellencamp. Rogers does some goofy heel mugging. Wasn’t Rip the guy that Mick Foley mentioned in Have A Nice Day as sticking his hand in a diarrhea filled toilet to fetch Barry Windham’s keys?
Uh, anyway… I thought Adam Bomb should have been a huge star when I was a little kid but watching his matches, I kind of see why he wasn’t. He did some moves that you wouldn’t expect a guy of his size to do but he didn’t really do them all that well. He probably reached his potential as a mid-card powerhouse. And he wins this match with a flying clothesline. Wow, Adam Bomb, a guy who isn’t on WrestleMania XI and has no storyline looked more impressive in his squash than Bam Bam Bigelow, a guy who is in the main event at WrestleMania. Jim Cornette says there’s no joy in Seymour, Indian tonight now that their hero Rip Rogers got pummeled.
Vince McMahon shows us a clip from Superstars this weekend of Bret Hart getting an award from WWF Magazine declaring “The Award of the People”. This seems like the wrestling equivalent of the time Michael Jackson received the “Artist of the Millenium Award” at The MTV VMAs back in the early ’00s.
It’s time for the King’s Court! Jerry Lawler says the WWF Magazine must not allow votes in Japan because Bret Hart’s remarks about the Japanese people. Lawler calls Bret Hart a racist. Vince is appalled. Lawler’s rant is interrupted by Shawn Michaels. Is HBK coming out to call Bret Hart a racist too? Not this time. He’s here to introduce his new bodyguard! He’s a marked man and things will only get worse when he wins the WWF World Title at WrestleMania XI! Shawn Michaels can’t beat everybody in the WWF, at least not at the same time so he needs a man to watch his back and that man is… SID!
YES!
SID is back in the WWF. McMahon and Cornette do a great sell of SID’s appearance. Cornette says NO ONE wants this guy around. He doesn’t talk to anyone. Sid’s a PSYCHO. Sid says he’s a perfect bodyguard because he has NO FEELINGS, NO REMORSE… for ANY LIVING SOUL! I love SID promos.
The Blu Twins (With Uncle Zebekiah) Vs Mark Starr & Leroy Howard
I’d love to see Zeb Coulter bring up his days as Uncle Zebekiah sometime. Maybe for a RAW Old School. This is the first of the Harris Twins runs that no one cared about in WWF. Todd Pettingell cuts in a minute in, via satellite, to tell us that Lawrence Taylor will be here on Monday Night RAW next week to respond to Bam Bam Bigelow! Cornette says The Blus are from Appalachia, which is right next to the Smokey Mountains. Vince probably elbowed Jimbo in the ribs to get him to shut up about Smokey Mountain after that. Cornette and McMahon build up a feud between the Blu Twins and The New Headshrinkers by saying that both teams eat raw fish. Not exactly a Hogan Vs Andre like buld here. Jacob (or is it Eli?) wins with a legdrop. The Blu Twins are dumbfounded by a camera and stare into it confusedly. They’re from the Mountains. They don’t know what television is. “ZZ Top lives!” Vince yells.
Vince McMahon takes us back to Diesel’s visit at NBA All Star Weekend. Vince shouts out David Stern. We see Diesel judging a slam dunk contest with Conan O’Brien. Hanging out with Jenna Von Oy, Six from Blossom! And Tatyana Ali from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Big Daddy Cool chills with the Atlanta Braves David Justice. Diesel shakes hands with Cal Ripken Jr. Diesel also met some actual NBA superstars as we see him hanging out with Danny Manning and David Robinson.
WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Diesel (c) Vs “Double J” Jeff Jarrett (with The Roadie)
Jim Cornette says it’s Jeff Jarrett’s DESTINY to win the WWF World Title in Macon, Georgia. He’s the #1 music star of the day and how appropriate he wins in the home of Otis Redding and Little Richard. Diesel’s rocking a Lorenzo Lamas/Kip Winger type look with a trimmed beard. Kind of odd for this era that they’d give away their house show main event on free TV. Cornette says he has has a bet on this match with his secretary Mrs. Wynowski! Funny spot where Diesel works a wristlock on Jarrett and Roadie tries to break it up and gets pulled into the ring and kicked by Earl Hebner. This match is pretty entertaining, basically a poor man’s version of Diesel’s matches with HBK but with the added bonus of Roadie being an tremendously entertaining goofball heel lackey. Diesel wins with the Jackknife Powerbomb. After the match, The Roadie wants to mix it up with Diesel. C’mon, Roadie, if you couldn’t beat up William Shatner, what makes you think you can beat up Diesel? Roadie eats a big boot and gets a powerbomb himself. I liked this match. I don’t remember Nash and Jarrett’s matches being good when they feuded in WCW five years later. But then again, nobody’s matches were that good during that era of WCW.
Cornette & McMcMahon hype next week’s show. Shawn Michaels & SID wander out even though Diesel’s left the ring. Did HBK & Sid miss their run in for the last match by five minutes? Jim Cornette’s gonna get an exclusive interview. Cornette is petrified of SID. Michaels says Diesel better be afraid because now he’s got a bodyguard bigger and crazier than Diesel ever was. It seems odd that they’d do a second HBK & Sid promo that just repeated the same point of the first.
Show closes with Todd Pettingell narrating an ad for next week’s show.
Next Week on RAW: It’s the 100th Episode of Monday Night RAW! Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor responds to Bam Bam Bigelow’s comments! Plus Lex Luger has Chief Jay Strongbow in his corner as he takes on his former friend, now enemy Tatanka in a rematch of their bout at SummerSlam ’94!
