WWF Monday Night RAW – March 21st, 1994

March 21, 1994

From the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. This was the first live RAW to take place the day after WrestleMania.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and “Macho Man” Randy Savage

Vince, whose voice is almost gone, says the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart will be here tonight. Savage then says he would have been a three-time World Champion had it not been for Crush then Vince asks Savage for Crush’s whereabouts with Savage says he’s hanging around the streets of New York.

The Bushwhackers vs. The Quebecers w/ Johnny Polo

The Quebecers bail after the bell then pull Polo out to safety. The Quebecers then sneak up and attack The Bushwhackers from behind. The Bushwhackers fight back then bite the Quebecers in the ass before marching around like idiots. They send Jacques over the top rope with a double clothesline then get a nearfall against Pierre. Polo comes in but accidentally gets decked by Polo as the ref was distracted then Vince apologizes for the 10-man tag match scheduled for WrestleMania not taking place but that it will occur in two weeks on RAW. The Quebecers regroup then the match actually settles down with Butch running over Jacques. The Bushwhackers ever so slowly work over Jacques in their corner until Jacques is able to slam Luke before tagging out. Butch then tags in to beat on Pierre then we go to commercial and return with Jacques having Luke in a chin lock. The Quebecers almost put Luke away after a double-team move then Luke kicks out a few other moves as Vince is thinking about anything else to talk about with Savage calling WrestleMania X the beginning of a new era. Vince says that an angry Diesel will be here after getting kicked out of WrestleMania, with Savage calling the ladder match one of the greatest he has ever seen, then Butch tags in and runs wild briefly until all four men are in the ring. The Bushwhackers take out both Quebecers with battering rams then Polo attacks Butch from behind. Luke chases Polo around the ring and The Bushwhackers end up attacking Polo, sending off the apron into the barricade, then Pierre hits Butch from behind with a high knee for the win (9:21 shown) 1/4*.

Thoughts: First off, this match was absolutely horrendous. The Bushwhackers could barely move and the crowd even grew tired of their schtick before it ended. However, notable was the commentary in which they pushed the narrative of WrestleMania X being the start of a new era while touting the ladder match as must-see.

Vince now interviews The Quebecers & Polo at ringside. They say they’ll take on anyone then Capt. Lou Albano challenges them to a match against his team. Albano now asks for the belts to be put on the line and since Albano is a “has-been” they accept as Vince hopes this match takes place on RAW. We now know why Albano was out scouting The Quebecers a few weeks ago now lets see what team he has lined up for the champs. The segment itself was nothing to write home about but we now know that Men on a Mission have been put on the backburner as #1 challengers and they did have heat on them with the company after Mabel injured Fatu a month prior in a house show match. Wade Keller of the “Pro Wrestling Torch” reported that the locker room was pissed off at the nonchalant attitude from MoM regarding Fatu’s injury with a source telling Keller that the tires of MoM’s car were slashed the following day and that MoM was disliked by the locker room shortly after arriving into the company.

We get a still photo narration of WrestleMania along with a plug for next Monday’s PPV encore airing. It will air after RAW.

We now see Tatanka in his head dress backstage getting ready for his match.

IRS is shown with reasons why we should pay our taxes. It was terrible.

Chris Hamrick vs. Tatanka

Tatanka catches Hamrick with a knee to the gut after a fast-paced Irish whip sequence. Tatanka follows with a back drop then a back suplex as we see Howard Finkel back to being bald. Tatanka side steps a dive as Hamrick flies through the ropes and crashes onto the floor as we even see a slo-mo replay of that bump. The announcers now talk about Michael Jordan making $212 a week playing minor league baseball as Savage says its what you save, not how much you make. Tatanka stays in control as the announcers talk about Lex Luger getting screwed out of the title by Mr. Perfect then Tatanka puts Hamrick away with the Samoan drop (4:44).

Thoughts: Good performance by Hamrick here in his role as an enhancement talent. Not much mentioned about the Tatanka/IRS feud though but the announcers did talk about Luger getting screwed over by Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania.

We get more still photos of WrestleMania X that are narrated by Todd Pettengill. We now hear from Rhonda Shear and how much she loved the show.

Diesel vs. Ken Lucia

This match is joined-in-progress with Diesel beating Lucia down, even getting the fans to chant his name in the process. Savage then talks about “rocking the world” of Shear with the announcers then putting over the ladder match as a classic and how Shawn is conspicuous by his absence. Vince then says he expects Diesel to challenge Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Title then Diesel hits the Jackknife powerbomb for the win (2:34 shown).

Thoughts: The story here was Diesel being ultra aggressive due to getting tossed from ringside during the ladder match. And with Vince saying he expects Diesel to challenge for the IC Title its clear we are building to that match.

We get a video hyping up next week’s Lex Luger vs. Rick Martel match.

Vince now welcomes Bret Hart to the ring. Vince asks him about finally pinning Yokozuna with Bret saying he didnt start off on the greatest footing but at the end pleased his fans. Bret says he will still take on all challengers as champion and will give Yokozuna his rematch. He is then asked about losing to his brother Owen as Bret said he did the best he could but that it was just one match. Bret then tells Owen things are different now that he is champion once again and sometimes you don’t always get what you want, just what you need, before leaving. A generic interview from Bret that makes it clear after he gets past Yokozuna he’ll give his brother a shot at the title.

A clip of Burt Reynolds is shown where he talks about the WWF having the best athletes in the world and says its “unbelievable.”

Jeff Jarrett vs. Koko B. Ware

The announcers put over Reynolds for being cool as Jarrett struts around the ring. Koko has his High Energy gear on and has easily gained about 20 lbs in his gut. Koko runs Jarrett over a few times then flaps his arms as Jarrett bails. Vince hypes up next week’s Luger vs. Martel match as Jarrett now complains of hair pulls. Koko misses an attack in the corner then Jarrett stomps away. Jarrett drops Koko with a back elbow smash then connects with a dropkick. Jarrett now chokes out Koko on the middle rope. Jarrett stays in control and beats on Koko but wastes too much time taunting the fans and misses a splash from the middle rope. The announcers talk about Luger getting screwed over then Koko makes his comeback with Vince saying Jarrett will go to the “minors” if he loses this match but Koko ducks his head and Jarrett puts him away with a DDT in a contrived spot (5:01) *1/2.

Thoughts: A basic match here with a crappy looking finish. Koko could still work but much less explosive due to the noticeable weight gain. We also got the Luger/Martel match for next week hyped up heavily on commentary.

Jarrett gets into Savage’s face after the match but Savage pumps his fist causing Jarrett to back off. Savage then poses on the table as Jarrett is in the ring. Savage now removes his hat and glasses before going to the top rope then the two finally get into a confrontation. Koko ends up decking Jarrett then Savage tosses Jarrett outside as the faces celebrate to end the show as Koko’s theme plays. You’d think they would be building towards a Savage/Jarrett match here but that never ended up happening because his final WWF televised match was the prior night at the PPV as mentioned in my WrestleMania X recap. However, I do have two fan-cam house shows with Savage matches I’ll be recapping as part of this timeline.

We now get an ad for “WWF Greetings on Call” where you can get a WWF Superstar to wish you happy birthday, get well wishes, or anything else. Its $9.95 per call. We even see Bret call Owen in the ad, with Owen hanging up on his brother. That was amusing.

Vince now raises Savage’s hand at the announcers table with Savage saying he still has WrestleMania fever. In hindsight this was almost like a curtain call of sorts for Savage.

Also in action next week are the 1-2-3 Kid, Owen Hart, and the Luger vs. Martel match.

Final Thoughts: Not a ton happened on the show and the in-ring portion was not very good at all. However, we set up for the 10-man tag previously scheduled at WrestleMania and a future Tag Team Title match with Capt. Lou Albano back and now managing a team. The main thing though, and it would be a lot more evident on “Superstars” is this push of a new era in the WWF that started on commentary here. With Hulk Hogan now in WCW the WWF is going in a different direction in terms of pushing top young stars at the top although the veteran presence would not go away. In fact, it will remain throughout the year. Anyway, stay tuned and see how the company changes going forward.