The Quebecers v Razor Ramon & 123 Kid (RAW, 2/21/94)
My fears were confirmed: Jannetty went and got fired before he and Razor could wrestle the Quebecers. But then the 123 Kid takes his place and that's about as good a replacement as we could've gotten. On the one hand Kid isn't as good a tag wrestler as Jannetty. On the other hand he was REALLY good in '94. Either way, this turned out to be as good as I was hoping. Razor has a pretty uninspired FIP spell, and going through all of this stuff he hasn't really looked, like...good. Hasn't been terrible, but I'm not sure 1994 Razor Ramon would make the top 25 WWE wrestlers of 2012. Still, he and Kid have some neat double-teams, like Razor fallaway slamming Kid onto Pierre, and he only gets worked over for a few minutes before they head into a longer heat segment on Kid. Kid is miles better as a FIP than Razor. He just bumps and sells his ass off for everything. He's still nursing the leg injury that kept him out of the Rumble and is visibly limping, so the Quebecers zero right in on it -- Jacques slams Pierre straight on his knee at one point, they repeatedly stomp on it, etc. Finish is screwy and they almost mistime it, so you've got Michaels running through the crowd and hopping the rail at a million miles an hour just to get in the ring and break up the pin. Really, this was a Hell of a match. I was psyched about it when it was announced, then my excitement died a little when Jannetty got canned, but then Kid stood in for him and I was psyched again...and it totally lived up to my expectations.
Bret Hart v Tom Prichard (RAW, 2/21/94)
This was okay. All really basic, but it got plenty of time and built well. Bret controls early by always going back to the arm. He slips out of a headlock and hammerlocks Tom's arm; he armdrags him down and bars it; he applies a top wristlock and takes him down to keep him grounded, etc. It's the kind of stuff you've seen in a thousand Bret matches, but it keeps things moving along nicely and they don't waste a ton of time sitting idly in holds. Eventually Prichard takes over, and there's a nasty looking spot where Cornetee winds up the tennis racket to take a pop at Bret, but Savage jumps up form the announce desk and rips it out of his hand, and Cornette stumbles back and falls into the steps, smacking the back of head on the way down. Bret ends up on the floor, so Owen comes down and tosses him back in the ring. Then as he's walking back up the aisle Bret scores the win, and Owen makes a bunch of pissed off faces. He thought he was throwing him back in so Prichard could finish him off...then THAT happens? Wasn't the plan. They tease a scrap there and then, but the refs keep them apart. Their match for 'Mania has been built up pretty well. They built to the Owen turn well, then the turn came off great, and Bret has been good as a guy that doesn't want to fight his little brother, but has resigned himself to the fact that it has to happen. Owen continually acting like a little shit is only making it easier to accept.
Randy Savage v Yokozuna (RAW, 2/28/94)
This started the show and it was GREAT. Savage is super fired up and you can just tell he's psyched to be wrestling on TV again. Vince seemed to have been trying to phase him out for about a year and a half at this point, but he still looks like one of the best wrestlers in the company. They should've put him in a programme with Bigelow and had them beat the shit out of each other for a million years. Yoko bumps and flings himself around like an absolute trooper here, taking a huge faceplant airball bump off a missed splash, hurling himself out to the floor, etc. Savage has to stick and move and flies around like a bearded pinball. Crowd is crazy hot for all of it as well. We get shenanigans at the finish with a salt bucket shot and run-ins, but Savage is amazing in the post-match trying to get at Crush, taking wild swings and spitting on him. There aren't many guys that sell "I want to tear your head from your shoulders" quite like Savage, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the Wrestlemania match. I fucking love Savage, Yoko was boss, and this was really good.
1994 WWF Project
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