July 1994 Week 1: Monday Night Raw & Superstars

Week 1 July, 1994
Hartford Civic Center--Hartford, CT (New England Region)

15,000 in attendance (Sell Out)

Dark: Men on a Mission defeated Well Dunn (45)

Dark: IRS puts himself over and berates the crowd while being interviewed in the ring by Todd Pettengill (51)

Dark: Yokozuna defeats “Sparky Plug” Holly (55)

Dark: Jeff Jarrett cuts an in-ring promo about how great he is (57)

Dark: Jeff Jarrett defeats Virgil (62)

Raw opening video package featuring The Superstars of the WWF: Bret Hart, The Undertaker, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Shawn Michaels (78)

Jim Ross and Randy Savage, tonight’s commentary team, discuss tonight’s Main Event: Diesel defends the Intercontinental Championship against Tatanka! Also Ted DiBiase will make a major announcement concerning The Undertaker on the King's Court! Let's go to the ring! (78)

123 Kid defeats Reno Riggins in a relatively short match designed to warm up the crowd and let Kid to shine. (54)

When we come back from a commercial break, Vince McMahon is in ring. He begins by announcing that in the wake of Jack Tunney's retirement, that the WWF executive board has named an “interim President,” and he's proud to present Gorilla Monsoon! Gorilla comes out to crowd's delight. Monsoon promises big match and and exciting time for “The New Generation.” Vince wants to know what plans are for the #1 Contendership. This question brings out Owen Hart accompanied by Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Owen gets right in Gorilla's face. 

"I beat my brother Bret Hart at Wrestlemania. I won the King of the Ring last night! I should be the number one contender!"

Gorilla replies "Owen, while your certainly a top contender,I don’t like your attitude very much. I'm not inclined to give you anything until you have a major attitude adjustment!" The Hartford Civic Center pops for Gorilla shutting down the whiny younger Hart brother.

Owen and The Anvil sulk their way out of the ring. As he makes his way up the aisle, Owen is crying out in outrage! Gorilla should be fired! (64)

The Smoking Gunns defeat the team of Adam Bomb and Kwang w/ Harvey Wippleman-- The match is pretty even most of the time. Eventually, the heels take control as Kwang and Adam Bomb continue making quick tags while double teaming Billy Gunn. Jim Ross and Randy Savage remark that maybe Harvey Wippleman has smoothed things over after the friction between the two following a disastrous King of the Ring qualifying match.

It all changes when Wippleman accidentally clocks the big Adam Bomb. This infuriates the big man. He begins chasing his own manager on the outside while The Gunns hit the Sidewinder on Kwang for the win. It seems pretty clear to JR and "The Macho Man" that Adam Bomb has fired Harvey Wippleman. (58)

Up next, Jerry Lawler is in the ring for another edition of The King’s Court. He reviews the controversy surrounding The Undertaker's disappearance since The Royal Rumble. He reminds everyone that Ted DiBiase has been claiming for the last few weeks that he, and he alone as the ability to bring The Deadman back to the WWF. Ted DiBiase joins Lawler and announces that HIS Undertaker will be in the ring on Raw, next week! 

"Nobody should forget King, I'm the one who brought The Undertaker into the World Wrestling Federation! It was me! Not Paul Bearer! Even Dead Men have a price for the Million Dollar Man!" (85)

VS

Jim Ross and Randy Savage react to Gorilla Monsoon's first act as "Interim President." Next week on Raw: Lex Luger will face Bam Bam Bigelow for #1 Contendership to the WWF Championship! Randy Savage remarks "I like it, I like it! Yeah! But you have to think that Owen Hart might be a little upset with Gorilla...oh yeah!" (74)

"The following contest is scheduled for one fall and is for the Intercontinental Championship..." 
The Fink continues to introduce the challenger, Tatanka, and the champion, being accompanied to the ring by Shawn Michaels, Diesel. (68)

Diesel (with Shawn Michaels) vs Tatanka--The match begins with Diesel offering to meet Tatanka in show of strength--the classic Greco-knuckle lock! This allows the Big Man to take an early advantage and begin building heat as Shawn Michaels parades around the outside.

Eventually, the Native American warrior begins to mount his comeback. Just as he hits a series of signature moves, Shawn Michaels jumps on the ring apron distracting the challenger. This provides Diesel the opening he needs to put Tatanka away with a Jackknife Powerbomb! (66--these two didn't seem to click)

After the match, the two heels continue to pile on the vulnerable challenger. The Hartford crowd begins to rain "boos!" down on the heels.

The boos turn to cheers when Razor Ramon comes flying out from the back to save Tatanka! Diesel and HBK slither out of the ring and Raw ends with Razor eyeing down Michaels and Diesel (71)

Overall Show Rating: 73  

TV Ratings: 5.82 USA; .96 Sky; .10 RTL

***

Augusta Civic Center--Augusta, ME (New England Region)

3,831 in attendance

Dark: The Rock & Roll Express defeat "Iron" Mike Sharpe & Abe Schwartz (54)

Dark:  Tom Prichard defeats Jim Powers (50)

Dark: The Barbarian defeats Barry Horowitz (56)

Superstars Open Video shows featuring Randy Savage, The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels (80)

Jim Ross and Jim Cornette, our commentators, review Monday's Raw events including new "Interim President" Gorilla Monsoon's decree that Lex Luger will meet Bam Bam Bigelow for the no. 1 contendership to Bret Hart's WWF Championship. Little brother Owen Hart can't be happy about this development. (70)

The WWF Tag Team Titles are up for grabs when The Headshrinkers defeat the team of Johnny Polo and Pierre. The Headshrinkers take the win when Jacques Rougeau distracts his former associates (65)

Ted DiBiase is backstage with his client, Bam Bam Bigelow. Next week's Raw will be great for Million Dollar Corp. Bam Bam will destroy Lex Luger and then Bret Hart to become the next WWF Champion. Plus, HIS Undertaker will be in the ring for the first time since The Royal Rumble.(82)

Crush defeats Koko B. Ware (61)

A music video focusing on Bret Hart plays. (85)

Razor Ramon defeats Rick "The Model" Martel (74)

After the match, Todd Pettengill gets in ring and Razor Ramon promos on HBK and Diesel "Hey Chicos, the bad guy....he's coming for you!" (60)

Overall Show Rating: 76 

.33 Rating US Medium Syndication