#legit he takes his shirt of and bret's like “is that for the guys or the girls”

[demoralizedreprobate]

so normal about the segment where heel bret hart comes on screen and shawn just starts stripping. (raw 5/5/1997)

[closetofanxiety]

Nitromare: Underneath the Barrel

Another week, another episode of Nitro from the Vince Russo era. This Monday is November 1, 1999, and we’re live from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I went out to Minneapolis to see a wrestling show last year, and had a fine time. I don’t know if I’ll have as much fun watching this Nitro.

We open up with Bret Hart upbraiding Hall and Nash for interfering in his match last week. They don’t know why he’s upset, since they interfered on his behalf. “Screw you, Scott!” Bret yells. 

Bret walks out to the crowd, on crutches, and tells people he thinks Bill Goldberg is the rightful U.S. champion. Sid Vicious, hair product spilling down the back of his leather vest in thick rivulets, comes out and beats on Hart. Hall and Nash come out to mock the injured Canadian hero. 

We’re still in the midst of this nonsensical tournament to crown a new WCW world heavyweight champion. The brackets make me realize I’ve been misspelling Lash LeRoux’s name wrong for two straight installments of Nitromare. It’s in the spirit of Crash TV, bro!

One thing I appreciate is that the WWE Network has left in the commercials that are wrestling-themed, so there are some Randy Savage Slim Jims ads, and a lot of ads for WCW toys. It’s amazing how little ads for wrestling toys have changed since then. The medium is ripe for reinvention.

Some recap, some backstage nonsense, and we’re onto our first match: Vampiro vs. Berlyn, in a battle to see who is the top mall goth in all of WCW. It’s a pretty decent match, and then ... Oh God, it’s the Michael Graves-era Misfits running out of the back for some reason. “Vampiro is a musician as well,” Tony notes. I’ll say this: the Michael Graves albums aren’t as bad as people claim. Some decent songs on those, but people were just going to shit on anything that wasn’t Danzig, casually overlooking that “Earth A.D.” was terrible.

Ah, let’s see: ref bump, the Misfits take out Berlyn’s bodyguard, The Wall, with a chair shot, and then help Vampiro get the cheating win over Berlyn. The Wall has miraculously recovered from being knocked unconscious 15 seconds ago, and gives the microphone to Berlyn. “From now on, screw USA!” he says. 

Backstage, Hall is reading a newspaper. Ah, the 1990s! He and Nash mumble semi-audibly to each other. In another part of backstage, the Revolution have locked a leather-clad Torrie Wilson in a cage. “She’s the property now of the Revolution,” Brain informs us. 

The Revolution come out to the ring. Perry Saturn is wearing an outfit entirely composed of denim except for his leather Kangol. “You say you want a revolution?” Shane Douglas asks. No one said that, Shane. They let Perry talk for a while, which is a bold choice. Perry demands a key on top of a pole match, the key being the one to let Torrie Wilson out of her cage. Is this the first item on a pole match of the Russo era? I believe it is. 

Dean Malenko takes the mic to call out Chris Benoit. “You’ve been nothing but a puss, old buddy,” he says. DANGEROUSLY EDGY.

Benoit comes out. All these guys are in street clothes, which hilariously means polo shirts tucked into jeans. They look like a bunch of office guys getting ready to cut loose with a game of touch football at the company picnic. Chris Benoit announces he will wrestle Dean Malenko in a cage, which for some reason causes Malenko to have some kind of psychotic break. 

Backstage, the Filthy Animals are coming into the building, and a security stops them, demanding to see backstage passes. This makes a huge amount of sense. The Filthy Animals beat the security guy up, because they can’t be contained by your rules. Meanwhile, Mike Tenay is interviewing Kimberly Page, who is flanked by all the Nitro Girls. How many Nitro Girls can you name without looking it up? Was one of them named Sapphire? That’s about as much as I can muster. Kim tells the Nitro Girls she’s leaving the group. I never really thought of her as a Nitro Girl tbh. 

Ernest “The Cat” Miller comes to the ring, and the fake music the WWE Network inserts over his entrance song is unbelievably bad. Seriously, go and watch this. It’s incredible. It sounds like a Casio keyboard has been sunk in a vat of pickle brine before being struck by hammer-wielding orangutans. 

He’s wrestling Lash LeRoux. “Big future ahead for this guy,” Brain says. “I can see it. He’s going to explode.” He’s now a Christian cartoonist and illustrator, so maybe? This match lasts maybe two minutes. The Cat’s knee gives out and LeRoux picks up the win.

Backstage, Hart is raging about Nash and Hall. “These guys aren’t the bottom of the barrel, they’re underneath the barrel!” he fumes. Meanwhile, dissension in the Nitro Girls as they try to decide who will be the new leader. Elsewhere, the Filthy Animals are secretly videotaping Lex Luger and Miss Elizabeth. Eddie Guerrero is wearing a fetching Cosby sweater. The camera keeps rolling after they stop acting and then they show an actual behind-the-scenes TNT director. Everyone is cracking up. LIVE TV, BRO! Maybe that was deliberate? Maybe Vince Russo was out to destroy the fourth wall once and for all?

Now we cut to a remote segment with a shockingly subdued, normal Scott Steiner talking about a back injury to Larry Zbyszko. This is a totally different Steiner. No shouting, no babbling, just a guy talking like a football player about the specifics of an injury and surgery. Larry is wearing a colored denim shirt with the Nitro logo on the breast pocket. At last, a garment fine enough for me to be wed in. Was this an attempt to do a “shoot interview”? Russo pulling back the curtain - this ain’t Scott Steiner the character, this is Scott Steiner THE HUMAN BEING! 

Now we’re back in the ring, and the Nitro Girls are dancing. I would like to read an oral history of this dance troupe. Get on that, Bixenspan. The dancing ends with some pushing and shoving, but before that can go anywhere, we’re backstage again, with Tenay interviewing Buff Bagwell. The Buff Daddy complains about “the writers” holding him back. 

A series of vignettes show us Kevin Nash doing a Vince McMahon impression. What am I doing with my life?

Back to the Nitro Girls. More pushing and shoving backstage. Trying to turn them into workers was such a characteristically Russovian decision. And, like most of his ideas, it was terrible and obviously doomed to fail.

A crowd sign: “BUFF IS THE REAL PEOPLE [sic] CHAMPION”

Stevie Ray comes out and announces that “the powers that be” have determined there will be a strap match. “Who said that? The two writers in the back?” Buff yells. Yes, Buff. So now we have a strap match. It’s not a good strap match, and the two suited goons who work for THE DAMN WRITERS IN THE BACK run out because Buff starts to win. Why do Russo and Ferrara hate Buff so much? 

We switch from the ring as the ring announcer is talking to Tenay interviewing Jeff Jarrett. “Don’t get slappy with me, Tenay!” he says. He drops some more insider terminology, because Vince Russo thought that was what normal people wanted. 

Kevin Nash comes out, a vision of horror in putty makeup, as Vince McMahon. “The fans out here, they don’t even know who he is,” Tony says. Which explains why they’re silently watching this terrible skit. Less than three years after this, Nash would be working for Vince McMahon once again, and losing to Chris Jericho in a hair vs. hair match. Life comes at you fast, Kevin.

“I put anyone out of business until I was the only show in town,” Nash as Vince says, eerily predicting what will happen in less than 18 months. The crowd is restless and bored. He uses some insider lingo, as was the style at the time. Nash-Vince introduces Scott Hall as “the Trouser Snake.” 

“He’s clean and sober!” Nash-Vince proclaims. This is grim. Fifteen years before this, a young “Magnum” Scott Hall was starting off in this very city, in the dying days of the once-great American Wrestling Association. How far we had all come. 

Hall launches some more insider lingo and does a crotch chop aimed at “the boys in New York.” Seconds and minutes of my life, rushing by, never to be held again. 

Backstage shit. Lex, Liz, Meng, Perfect. Ah, Perfect. The last great star of the Minneapolis-based AWA, a native of nearby Robbinsdale. What did Verne make of all this? I mean, Verne probably would have tried to put a 59-year-old Baron Von Raschke over Bret Hart, but I digress.

Hennig gets a good pop when he comes out. Brain points out Hennig’s father, the great AWA star Larry Hennig, at ringside. The ghosts of the 1970s are all around us. This is a match against Disco Inferno. This will not be up to the standard of one of Hennig’s matches in the previous decade with Nick Bockwinkel. 

The crowd absolutely fucking loses it for Larry Hennig, chanting “LARE-EE! LARE-EE!” as he punches Disco Inferno. Ah, that does my heart good.

Of course, this has to be interrupted by the random appearance of some goober walking down the ramp from backstage. Disco Inferno runs out to talk to him, and they walk down the ramp to the back. The bell rings, and Hennig wins by contour. Larry claps at ringside while looking like he’s seen someone shoot a family pet. 

Some backstage garbage. We come back to the ring for a “hardcore three-way dance.” The Barbarian w/Jimmy Hart, Meng, and ... Norman Smiley dressed as a baseball catcher. Two of the all-time legit tough guys and a star from the old British wrestling, in this goofy-ass plunder battle. This should have been a stiff, nasty classic. Instead it’s a slow, sloppy farce. 

Crowd sign, evidently made by a lunatic: “PUSH DAVID FLAIR.” 

In the ring, Meng and the Barbarian are chopping the shit out of Norman Smiley. THIS IS MORE LIKE IT. Smiley’s shoulder is sliced open, probably on one of those fake trash cans. He’s stretchered away from the ring for some reason. He jumps off the stretcher when he sees that Meng and the Barbarian have knocked each other out, and covers the Barbarian for the win.

Backstage, Jim Duggan is begging an unseen Vince Russo for his job. “I’ve been wrestling for 20 years, and I think I have more fan support than some of these guys out here doing the dropkicks.” Fancy, fancy dropkicks! 

Russo, off-camera, sneers, “It’s all about ratings. Next!” He managed to keep his voice off TV for two whole weeks. As we know, the amount of Vince Russo time would only grow. 

Jarrett comes out and demands to see Luger. Jarrett is mad that Luger accused him of beating up Miss Elizabeth two weeks ago. “This is not the WWF. We don’t abuse women here!” Luger comes out and apologizes for accusing Jeff Jarrett of hitting Miss Elizabeth with a guitar. This is exactly like “War and Peace.” But it’s all a ruse! Luger goads Jarrett into insulting Meng, who runs out. Jarrett flees, wisely. 

Miss Elizabeth and Luger join Meng. Elizabeth thanks Meng, and then ... maces him. Luger pulls out a crowbar and beats on Meng. None of this makes sense. None of it has to. We are deep within the heart of the Nitromare. 

Backstage nonsense. The Filthy Animals, who Mark accurately describes as “The Go-Bots version of DX,” come out for a good ol’ fashioned object on a pole match. The object here is a key that will free Torrie Wilson from a cage. If Eddie Guerrero wins, he will reunite Torrie with her crew. Perry Saturn implies that if he wins, he will have sex with Torrie, presumably against her will. Whenever someone talks about how great wrestling was in the late 1990s, I will remember this.

Perry Saturn is driving a forklift with the Torrie cage on it. I’m not sure he’s a licensed forklift operator. Also, I’m pretty sure the Target Center is a union shop. Could be a strike in the works here. 

Tony: “It’s been a wild night.” Brain: “It’s getting better every Monday!” Only Tony is truthful. 

Eddie vs. Saturn should be a good match, but of course it’s not. After about two minutes, there’s interference from Shane Douglas, and most of the action in the match revolves around attempts to get the key off the pole. This is the problem with object on a pole matches. 

Sign in the crowd: “CONAN [sic] IS THE TACO BELL DOG.” This is a racist reference that may be lost on younger people reading this today.

Eddie gets the key while Torrie chokes Saturn. The Filthy Animals were, theoretically, a pretty good faction. It’s kind of a fun mixture of personalities, and their all-for-one mentality really helped them stand out. They were let down by the fact that Vince Russo was in charge. 

More backstage shit, and then we’re back in the ring for a Filthy Animals match. I mean, we just had all the Filthy Animals out for the previous match, but here they are again. No way the crowd could possibly become bored by 25 minutes of the same people, right? 

Kidman and Konnan, the tag team champs, are going to be wrestling Sting and Luger. We’ve also seen a lot of Luger tonight. This is WCW, but they’re running the show like one of those super local indies where everyone has to wrestle twice on the same show. 

Some people in the crowd have Juggalo face paint, the second week in a row I’ve noticed this. Did the Misfits ever wrestle the Insane Clown Posse on a WCW show? If not, why not?

This match sucks, but Sting is still insanely popular. The crowd goes berserk at every Stinger splash. The match ends after three or four minutes via DQ, when Rey and Eddie jump Sting. The Filthy Animals were the babyfaces in the previous match, and they’re the heels here. Welcome to Vince Russo’s World of Moral Ambiguity and Veiled Rape References.

Sting is mad because Lex didn’t help against the Filthy Animals. Sting and Luger have quite the rocky friendship. Backstage, Sting knocks over an (empty) barrel of Surge, the none-more-Nineties soft drink. 

We come to the ring, where Booker T is walking out. He’s jumped on the ramp by Jeff Jarrett. This is a fun, Southern-style match, or more like a hyper fast, caffeinated version of a Southern match. Naturally, it gets interrupted by the two besuited goons working on behalf of Russo and Ferrara, and Jarrett wins. Has there been a clean pin once tonight?

A remote piece from the set of “Slam,” which would later be renamed “Ready to Rumble,” the godawful David Arquette wrestling movie. Tenay interviews Goldberg. Goldberg sure doesn’t like the Outsiders and Sid! 

A bunch of backstage garbage. Madusa, another AWA favorite, gets a nice reception from the crowd. She’s going to wrestle Evan Karagias. This is pretty much what people who don’t like intergender wrestling are thinking of when they talk about intergender wrestling. Madusa keeps trying to seduce Karagias rather than wrestle him. Madusa pins him and then makes out with him. Everything is awful.

Benoit and Malenko are wrestling in a cage. This should be a brutal classic by two of the best technical wrestlers of all time. “I can’t wait ‘til this match is over,” Brain says. I feel the same way about this episode, and this entire insane project. 

The match is not a brutal classic. It’s over in 4:29. A few decent spots, but more like a highlight reel than anything. Perry Saturn runs out to try and help Malenko. It doesn’t work. Benoit wins with a diving headbutt off the top of the cage, which is insane. The Revolution gets into the cage and they beat up Benoit. The Filthy Animals have turned into babyfaces again, and they run into the cage to help Benoit. The crowd doesn’t know what to do, so they do nothing. David Flair, the least electrifying man in sports entertainment, shows up with a crowbar to attack the Filthy Animals. Now Sting comes out to attack the Filthy Animals. With any luck, we’ll get Meng out here to attack the Filthy Animals. 

Instead, we cut to the parking garage. David Flair is trying to sneak away, but gets run down by someone driving a car. It’s Kim Page. This show is terrible. 

Backstage: someone has beaten up Nash-Vince. Good. 

Now the main event: Sid vs. Scott Hall. Why am I doing this to myself? How much longer am I going to be able to do this?

The match is bad. It lasts 4:53. For a second I have the horrifying fear that this is the match where Sid broke his leg, but then I look it up and see that it happened during the Sin PPV in January 2001. 

There’s a ref bump. Second of the night. A referee was also attacked by Shane Douglas after the key on a pole match. Bret Hart comes out on his crutches. Hits Sid. Swings and misses with Hall. Hall gets the pin on Sid. Who cares about any of this? What is even happening in this show?

[placetobenation]

*** Scott & JT’s Vintage Vault Refresh reviews are a chronological look back at WWE PPV and TV history that began with a review of WrestleMania I. The PICs have revisited these events and refreshed all of their fun facts that provide insight into the match, competitors and state of the company as well as their overviews of the match action and opinions and thoughts on the outcomes. In addition, Jeff Jarvis assists in compiling historical information and the Fun Facts in each of the reviews. Also, be sure to leave feedback on the reviews at our Facebook page. Enjoy! ***

Monday Night Raw #117

June 26, 1995 Danville High School Danville, PA Announcers: Vince McMahon & Shawn Michaels

1) Smoking Gunns defeat Jason Ahrndt & Black Phantom when Billy pins Ahrndt with the Sidewinder at  2:15

Scott: So, after… well whatever the hell happened last night in Philly we open with the Smoking Gunns. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what pile of crap I watched last night. Of all the talent in that tournament, MABEL WON? Seriously? Then Mo mush-mouthed his way through reading the scroll as Shawn Michaels just alluded to on commentary. I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that. At least Bret Hart won and we don’t have to deal with all this foot nonsense. The Gunns win in a pretty quick squash here, but as we continue I will delve more into last night. Grade: DUD

JT: Hey! We are finally back live here on Monday Night Raw and we are less than 24 hours removed from a very bizarre night in Philadelphia as the third annual King of the Ring is in the books. Vince McMahon and his old commentary buddy Shawn Michaels have the call for us here tonight. Michaels flamed out quickly last night, wrestling Kama to a draw and bowing out in the first round of the tournament. I would ask why they even bothered having him in it just to go that route, but whatever at this point. Vince notes that Michaels is here because the King is still cleaning out his mouth after the foot fiasco following his loss to Bret Hart last night. The Smoking Gunns head out to the ring for our opening bout as they look to rebuild their credibility and relevance a bit in the tag division. Vince and Shawn talk about Mabel shocking the world and winning the KOTR crown while Michaels quips about not realizing Mo could read. The Gunns make really swift work of these bums and pick up the win. Grade: DUD

*** Jerry Lawler joins us from the office of his personal dentist Isaac Yankem, DDS. He is there trying to get the brutal stench and smell out of his mouth after his tough loss in Philadelphia last night. Lawler vows that Hart will pay for what he did and that their issue isn’t over yet. He also mentions that Yankem, a former great wrestler, is promising to extract some revenge as well. ***

*** Barry Didinsky is in the aisle shilling the official King of the Ring shirt and hat as well as a Bret Hart hat and sunglasses combo. Order now! ***

2) Skip defeats Scott Taylor with a Frankensteiner off the top rope at 2:00

Scott: Ah Sunny…oh sorry. As I was saying, last night’s show was trash. They just had a recap to shill tomorrow’s Encore Plus of the show. Who would buy that? Anyway, Skip and my girl Sunny are here to pretty things up. I love how even Shawn rips Vince’s hair, even while a babyface. So it appears Sid begged off during last night’s tag team match. That’s an abomination. Even as a heel, Sid’s not a coward. They are totally ruining his character, turning into a typical WWF heel and not the heel he should be. Skip is getting roughed up by these jobbers before he wins matches, which isn’t helping his character in my opinion. Grade: DUD

JT: We head back down to the ring as Skip and Sunny hop on down to the ring to both fat shame the fans and beat down Scott Taylor. Michaels brags about his skills with the ladies as the Bodydonnas rant in the ring. Taylor actually starts off hot with a flurry until Skip drops him with an enziguri to take over. Vince and Shawn talk more about Jerry Lawler in the feud that just won’t ever go away. Taylor dropkicks Skip outside, where he stooges around a bit before turning the tide again. Skip chewing gum during these matches is pretty funny, as is Shawn’s clear disdain for his name. Skip hits a pretty crazy splash off the top rope to the floor and then wins with a top rope Frankensteiner, busting out the high spots in this throwaway bout. Even though he probably gives a bit too much to the jobbers, Skip has a really unique arsenal, even impressing Michaels in the end. If only he had a better name, maybe he could be a legit player, as he has really looked good in limited action thus far. Oh, and Sunny. He has her too. Grade: 1/2*

*** We check out footage from a celebrity softball game in Oklahoma City. Diesel took part of the game and all proceeds went to the families affected by the Oklahoma City bombing from earlier in the year. ***

*** We then join Todd Pettengill for a report filed last night from the Corestates Spectrum. Todd recaps all of the results from King of the Ring. He also reveals that Diesel will face Sid in a WWF Title Lumberjack Match at In Your House #2. ***

3) Man Mountain Rock defeats Phil Apollo via submission with the Whammy Bar at 1:00

Fun Fact: Tonight we say goodbye to Man Mountain Rock after a short stay in the Federation. He had asked to be an announcer when he came into the WWF, but his request was denied. During his run, he had several injuries, including a serious hernia. He also became addicted to pain pills and downers along with smoking marijuana. His substance abuse issues led to his release.

Scott: Wow, I thought they had shit canned Phil Apollo by now. Before this match we had Todd Pettengill doing a KOTR wrap-up and he announced the main event for next month’s IYH #2 from Nashville. It will be Diesel vs. Sid for the WWF Title, in a lumberjack match. That will likely be better than that snorefest they had in May. Man Mountain Rock has a cool WWF guitar, but that’s about as much as his charisma goes. He’s a mediocre worker at best, and poor Phil Apollo has to job to him. Grade: DUD

JT: Back to the ring we go as Man Mountain Rock is shredding his guitar in the middle of the ring for his prematch concert. Michaels takes shots at Bob Backlund for his stance on rock ‘n’ roll and then makes me chuckle when he says Phil Apollo has a big movie coming out: Apollo 13. Vince plugs the Superstar Line, where Jim Ross has more updates on the health of Razor Ramon. MMR picks up the layup win with the Whammy Bar. Too bad this is the last time we see the big guy because I felt like he was actually gaining some momentum and starting to establish himself a bit. The gimmick and look was pretty good, too bad he ended up flaming out so fast. Looks like Bob Backlund will win the war. Grade: DUD

4) King Mabel defeats Kenny Kendall with a belly-to-belly suplex at 1:45

Scott: So here we are. With all that talent in the tournament, they give the KOTR to this talentless hunk. I’m getting a sinking feeling that this guy is going to get a mega push over the next few months and that means…GULP… a WWF Title match. Ugh. This is an ugly squash to continue to push. Grade: DUD

JT: We waste no time getting to our next match and it is a big one as it is the first bout for Mabel as the new King of the WWF. In a nice touch, he is decked out in full royal regalia and is carried to the ring on a throne by some scrubs. That certainly adds to his presence. That said, he was clearly a very questionable and controversial choice to win the tournament, especially when you consider the other talent that filled it up. However, on the other hand they took it as an opportunity to make a new star, someone they have clearly been interested in pushing for a while now. Michaels calls “Mack Daddy Mo” the biggest piece of luggage you will ever see and jokes about his reading again, so I guess he isn’t a fan. Vince puts over the efforts of Savio Vega from last night as Mabel mows through Kenny Kendall, grabbing his first win as King. Grade: DUD

*** We pay a visit to the beach to check in on Waylon Mercy, who will make his official debut next week on Raw. He says that his opponents’ lives are going to be in his hands, you know what he means? ***

*** Todd Pettengill narrates us through a video package recapping this past weekend’s WWF Hall of Fame ceremony. ***

5) Savio Vega defeats Jeff Jarrett via disqualification at 4:45; Jarrett retains WWF Intercontinental Title

Scott: At least one positive came out of last night’s PPV, and that’s Savio Vega’s performance. He wrestled four times and almost won the tournament, and with that he’s earned an IC Title match against Jarrett, who for some bizarre reason didn’t wrestle last night. We had NO TITLE MATCHES last night. That’s bullshit. What color is Jarrett wearing? Looks like some kind of brown velour. It looks like it came off someone’s couch from 1978. Savio is taking full control and even caused some heel miscommunication with Jarrett decking the Roadie instead of the challenger. Jarrett eventually took control as Savio’s ribs are sore after Mabel’s post match beatdown, in which he also ended up attacking Savio’s friend Razor Ramon. Vega tries to make a comeback, however the Roadie trips him, and as a result Savio kicks him into Shawn Michaels at the broadcast table. Shawn and Roadie start jawing, then Jarrett tries to go after Shawn and Michaels starts throwing bombs. Roadie then ends the match by going into the ring and clotheslining Savio to force the DQ. The match really didn’t get going but it looks like we may have Shawn Michaels’ next feud. Grade: *1/2

JT: We head down to the ring for our main event of the evening as the Caribbean Legend Savio Vega is set to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Title. As Jarrett and the Roadie strut out, Vince tells us that the premier of Jarrett’s music video “With My Baby Tonight” will air on Superstars this weekend. Vega had a monster night last night, winning three matches before falling to Mabel in the KOTR finals. It was a night that certainly put him on the WWF map as a threat. Not sure what the hell is going on with Jarrett’s tights this week. They are shiny plush shit brown. Roadie tries to jump Savio at the bell but Vega catches him and then works over Jarrett to compliments from Michaels, who is shocked he is a step ahead despite all his work last night. Jarrett turns the tide by slinging Vega into the corner but Savio came right back with a clothesline and right hands. Roadie gets involved again but Vega dodges a Jarrett charge and the two buddies collide on the apron. Michaels messes with Roadie’s hair and that draws Jarrett over to get in Shawn’s face. After a break, Savio pitches Jarrett back inside but Roadie punches the challenger and Jarrett gets to work with some kicks. The champ follows with a swinging neckbreaker and a nice suplex for two. Roadie got involved again but Savio fended him off and turned the tide, picking up a close near fall and then dropping Jarrett with a big uranage. Roadie again made his presence known, this time tripping Savio, who then dropkicked him right into the announce table. Michaels got in Roadie’s face again and Jarrett came to assist, leading to a brawl. Once the champ got back inside, Vega rolled him up but Roadie pounced and clotheslined Savio for the DQ and to save the belt for his pal. After the bell, Michaels got in the ring and he and Vega eventually ran off Double J and the Road Dog. This was a spirited match as Savio continues to impress, however it was all about getting Michaels into the path of Jarrett as it looks like these two will now start to feud. Roadie was real good here too, doing everything he could to help Jarrett retain and I also liked the psychology of Vega being a bit tired and Jarrett fresh after not competing last night. Grade: *1/2

Final Analysis

Scott: After the F-quality PPV last night, our episode tonight has the aforementioned King of the Shit Mabel, which at least means they’re going to strap the mini rocket ship on him. The Gunns get a win and perhaps can finally be the top babyface team they’re meant to be. We get an IC Title match which is nice, and then probably Shawn’s next feud is for the IC Title, which means he will probably win it because, well he’s Shawn. How did Undertaker lose to Mabel by the way? How did Mabel beat anybody? These next few Raws are going to be like a car accident. You probably know it’s going to suck but you can’t turn away. I won’t trash this Raw because they’re trying but there’s no light in this tunnel right now. FINAL GRADE: C-

JT: We bounce back from a tough night in Philadelphia with a pretty energetic night of Raw as they start to steer the course for the rest of the summer. We still have way too much damn focus on Jerry Lawler and his mouth issues and not as much mention or even appearance from Bret Hart. Also, I will say it was a treat having Shawn Michaels back in the booth after weeks of foot jokes from the King. Mabel is our King and we will see if the push works at all, but again at least they are trying to mix things up a bit up and down the card. The best course would be a slow burn push to build credibility but we will see. With Michaels on the face side, bumping him down to an IC Title feud makes sense because he can’t be in the main event picture with Diesel still there. It also helps elevate Jarrett and that strap a bit too. Over the course of 24 hours, Savio Vega is suddenly a reliable workhorse star for the company, and that is a good thing. Despite the grim night in Philly, I thought they actually rebounded well enough here with very focused stories and a quick paced show. We just didn’t really get a strong anchor match to really make it stand out. Final Grade: C