WWF Monday Night RAW – September 26th, 1994

September 26, 1994

From the Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica, NY

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

Tonight, Tatanka will challenge Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Title.

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Tatanka w/ Ted DiBiase vs. Razor Ramon (c)

Oddly enough this match was not hyped up last week or even on the syndicated shows. DiBiase distracts Razor, allowing Tatanka to attack from behind. Tatanka hammers away but Razor chops back in the corner. Razor then whips Tatanka into the corner twice before clotheslining him over the top rope. Tatanka returns and uses a overhand chops and forearm smashes but Razor fights back. Tatanka clotheslines Razor then stomps away. Razor regains control and works the arm as the announcers talk about what Tatanka & DiBiase did to Lex Luger at SummerSlam. Tatanka breaks up a hammerlock with a back elbow smash then hammers away. Elbow drop gets two but soon after that Razor dumps Tatanka outside. Razor knocks Tatanka off of the apron a twice but misses on his third attempt and Tatanka uses a neck snap. Tatanka stomps away then sends Razor outside and heads out to inflict punishment. We go to break and return with Tatanka targeting the back. Tatanka uses a chop then rolls Razor back inside and gets a two count. More chops from Tatanka as he is working at a methodical pace to say the least. It gets even slower as Tatanka works an abdominal stretch with Tatanka occasionally grabbing DiBiase’s hand for leverage. Tatanka uses more chops and stomps and goes for another abdominal stretch but Razor reverses. Tatanka breaks that up with a hip toss but misses an elbow drop as both men are down. Razor wins a slugfest then hits a super back suplex. DiBiase is up on the apron to distract the ref as Razor was about to go for the Razor’s Edge. Razor goes out to head towards DiBiase then Tatanka sneak attacks him with more chops. Luger now comes out but before he can reach the ring he’s attacked from behind by Bam Bam Bigelow. Tatanka now heads over to beat down Luger as Razor rolls back into the ring and gets the win via count out (13:36 shown) *. Razor now runs towards the aisle and attacks Tatanka.

Thoughts: I’m still shocked they just randomly put this on RAW without any buildup whatsoever. With that being said, the action here was awful. Tatanka’s work as a heel was terrible. As a babyface he threw solid knife-edge chops but here he was using enhancement talent level overhand chops and stomps for about 85% of his offense. And the match was a slog and way too long for this type of finish. Everything about this seemed lazy from the fact Tatanka, a title challenger, showed zero urgency, and the run-ins and the fact it took about 30 seconds for Razor to roll back inside and win via countout. It does keep the Tatanka/Luger feud going and could set up a tag but this was bad and even the crowd was quiet throughout. I guess plans changed as this was the first show of the taping and aired live.

We get the Paul Bearer & Undertaker promo to hype the casket match against Yokozuna at the house shows. They sure are spending a lot of time hyping this match to sell tickets.

Kwang w/ Harvey Whippleman vs. Rich Myers

Vince tells us that Shawn Michaels & Diesel and 1-2-3 Kid will be in action later tonight plus British Bulldog on the King’s Court. Myers uses a flying headscissors and a dropkick but runs into a chop. Vince tells us that Randy Savage was traded to the Phoenix Cardinals to play quarterback, Phil Simms will take his place on RAW, and The Bushwhackers will be a part of “NFL Gameday” on ESPN. Kwang stays in control then puts Myers away with a spinning heel kick (2:08).

Thoughts: Just a backdrop for Vince to bring up the NFL, which since moving to Fox really hurt the WWF in syndication with shows being put in much less desirable time slots due to the network opting to air the NFL Pre Game show.

King’s Court with guest British Bulldog. Lawler makes some bad dog jokes until Bulldog gets pissed off. Jim Neidhart heads down to the ring and says Bulldog is not even a Hart family member but if he wants to stick his nose into family business than he should face him next week on RAW. Bulldog says he is a member of the family because he married “Bret the Hitman’s” sister and was invited to SummerSlam by Bret to watch his back. Bulldog says he is back into the WWF as part of the New Generation and accepts Neidhart’s challenge. Neidhart said that Bulldog just made the worst decision of his career. Bulldog then says it will be the best decision for his WWF career and promises to go to the top. The mic work here was uninspiring to say the least but Bulldog feuding against Neidhart & Owen on TV was inevitable after what happened at SummerSlam.

Vince says next week we will see Alundra Blayze & Heidi Lee Morgan vs. Bull Nakano & Luna Vachon as Savage calls it a “four-way cat fight.” This is also the entire women’s division.

Clip of last week with Bob Backlund putting Louie Gianfriddo in the chicken wing.

1-2-3 Kid vs. Kerry Davis

Haven’t seen Davis in a couple of years. And he’s gained about 40 lbs it seems. Vince tells us that Gianfriddo’s condition is better than expected before wishing Jack Lalanne a happy 80th birthday. Vince rags on Davis’ conditioning as Kid takes control. Backlund comes out to ringside and gives Savage a gift and walks away. Kid lands some chops then kicks in the corner as Vince reads the card as Backlund gave Savage a dictionary to “procure his discourse” for all the plebeians. Kid misses a dropkick in the corner and Davis lands a few weak overhand chops before walking into a kick. Savage looks at the dictionary and finds the word “has-been” as Kid uses a flying leg drop for the win (3:25).

Thoughts: Poor Kid looked pissed having to deal with Davis in this match. However, based off of this and even last week it also seems like they’re building to a Backlund/Savage match but we will see if that was the case soon enough.

The first King Kong Bundy return vignette airs.

We see Shawn Michaels & Diesel backstage as their match is coming up next.

An ad for the debut of Action Zone airs.

Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs. Chris Kanyon & Bob Starr

Vince tells us that Samu has recently been a “no-show” and how Shawn & Diesel are taking credit. Vince talks about Shawn being full of himself as Shawn takes Kanyon down with a jumping back elbow smash. Diesel tags in and destroys Kanyon in the corner. Diesel drops Kanyon with an elbow smash as Vince mentions how Shawn is from San Antonio, TX which is where the Royal Rumble will be taking place and tickets go on sale Saturday. Shawn is back in and hits Starr with a flying elbow drop as Vince runs down next week’s show. Diesel then hits Starr with a jackknife and tags out as Shawn runs the ropes and stops to make the cover and gets the win (3:44). However, we then see The Headshrinkers run in and attack from behind. However, Samu is not there and we see The Barbarian, who is not named as Savage says its a cousin.

Thoughts: The big news here is Vince telling us how Samu has not been showing up. And he actually would be seen on TV one more time, although it was taped before Samu stopped showing up for shows and got fired. They keep building to a Headshrinkers rematch for the belts.

Back from break as Capt. Lou Albano & Afa are at ringside and introduce the former Barbarian as “Sionne.” Albano also tells us that Samu got a disease by from eating raw fish that can only be cured in Samoa. If he happens to get cured they will bring him back as we see the replay of the attack with Vince saying they are the New Headshrinkers. Shawn is now seen holding Diesel back as the New Headshrinkers wave them into the ring. According to Fatu in his shoot interview with RF Video, the office felt they could put Sionne with Fatu to capture the same magic The Headshrinkers. In that same interview, Fatu said the Headshrinkers lost the belts due to refusing to do something at a TV taping but did not remember the specifics.

Final Thoughts: Well, the Intercontinental Title match was terrible and they did other angles here too but most of it missed making it a bad show overall.