Raw #161 - May 27th, 1996

Goldust is in the ring at the outset of the show, and Vince speculates that the arena will “shake, rattle, and roll” when “The Man They Call The Ultimate Warrior” enters. Vince has just confused Warrior with both the Honky Tonk Man and Vader. Warrior does enter to pyro, but no hip-shaking. Goldust stays out of the ring, afraid of the Warrior, so Warrior slowly stalks him.

Raw #68 - June 20th, 1994

Tonight, Raw begins with a brief recap, featuring stills and sound bites, of last night's King of the Ring pay-per-view. If you haven't already read my massive recap of the event that inspired this blog in the first place, do so now. I'll wait here. Anyway, Diesel defeated Bret Hart last night by disqualification after interference by Jim Neidhart, but Hart retained the WWF title. Later, Neidhart helped Owen win the King of the Ring tournament.

King of the Ring 1994: Enter Donovan

Given that my blog is called, "How Much Does This Guy Weigh?", it's a foregone conclusion that I would review 1994's King of the Ring, where the phrase was coined by Art Donovan. To write an original analysis of the event, however, is a daunting task, considering that Wrestlecrap's induction of Art Donovan years ago, along with compilation videos like Botchamania 72, not only have covered Art's antics at the PPV extensively, but were my inspiration for taking the name Art0Donnell in the first place. What could I possibly add to the conversation (assuming that there is indeed a "conversation" about an eighteen-year-old pay-per-view)? Fortunately, if you have ever read a single post of mine on this blog, you'll know that I have been following the Federation during this time period very closely, so you may yet learn something from this recap (besides how much Mabel weighs).

Raw #67 - June 13th, 1994

Tonight's episode is the "Countdown to the Crowning," a "very special edition of Monday Night Raw," which makes it a) a commercial for the pay-per-view, and b) technically an episode of Raw, which means that I am obligated to recap it. The great thing about the King of the Ring is that it's the only WWF pay-per-view that lends itself to magnetic chalkboard displays, in this case the tournament bracket.

Raw #66 - June 6th, 1994

Raw emanates from Youngstown, Ohio for the third week in a row as Tatanka and Crush face off in a rematch from last week's inconclusive King of the Ring qualifying match. As per usual, tonight's main event opens the show, which realistically is what an organization would do to make sure its feature attraction doesn't run over time if it only had one hour of television. The lumberjacks are in the process of filing in when the show opens, leading to a confrontation between Razor Ramon and IRS.

Raw #65 - May 30th, 1994

It's the last Raw of May, and next month's King of the Ring bracket is almost set in stone. We see a video package of all of the qualifiers as the bracket takes shape. IRS, Razor Ramon, Mabel, Bam Bam Bigelow, Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart, and The 123 Kid have all been entered into the first round, leaving just one slot left to go. That position will be filled by the winner of tonight's main event, which was advertised last week: Tatanka vs. Jimmy Del Ray, who has recently undergone a makeover where he wears face paint, has added muscle mass, and gained several inches in height to look exactly like Crush. In fact, he's even calling himself "Crush" now and taken Mr. Fuji as a manager. This is going to be confusing for many viewers.

The resemblance is uncanny.

Raw #64 - May 23rd, 1994

After his face-stealing victory over Yokozuna last week in sumo competition, Earthquake looks to win a berth in the King of the Ring tournament... or does he? Our announcers wonder where exactly Earthquake has gone, since he is not at the arena tonight. He was Banzai-dropped by Yokozuna at a house show in Anaheim, which is used to explain his absence. What a strange run for Earthquake; he returns to the WWF ring, squashes Adam Bomb at Wrestlemania, goes undefeated, beats the former champion, then is gone from the Federation for the next four years. Owen Hart comes to the ring to face a mystery opponent on this first-ever Raw in Youngstown, Ohio. Vince, however, calls it "Struthers, OH," which is about five miles away from Youngstown. Somebody is wrong here.

Raw #63 - May 16th, 1994

Welcome everyone to Mon-day-Night-Raw! Tonight is the sumo match between Earthquake and Yokozuna, the only such match the promotion would put on for 11 years. Bam Bam Bigelow takes on Thurman Plugg (his friends call him "Sparky") in a King of the Ring qualifying match.

Raw #21 - June 14th, 1993

The twenty-first episode of Raw begins with an interview taped after last night's King of the Ring, featuring Mr. Fuji and new WWF champion Yokozuna. Fuji plans to celebrate on July 4th at an American historical landmark, much to Mean Gene's shock. A foreigner celebrating something in America? Sick.

Raw #18 - May 24th, 1993

We start off the eighteenth episode of Raw (available online in WWE re-relase and VHS rip forms) with a re-re-match of Mr. Perfect vs. Doink for the final spot in the King of the Ring tournament. Adam Bomb makes his debut tonight, while his future WCW tag team partner Crush is in action tonight, as well. Doink comes down the aisle only to crawl under the ring. Outside the arena, Lord Alfred Hayes is with Matt Borne-Doink, who tells him that he's not standing out there, it's an illusion! Borne squirts Hayes in the eye and runs off. The referee checks under the ring and pulls out Borne-Doink, who faces Mr. Perfect.

Raw #16 - May 10th, 1993

The sixteenth episode of Raw opens with footage from earlier in the evening. A fight breaks out between Shawn Michaels and Mr. Perfect outside the Manhattan Center. Perfect tosses Michaels onto the hood of Perfect's car (actually, Howard Finkel's car). Federation officials try to pry the two apart as Michaels leaps at the restrained Mr. Perfect.
 

Raw #15 - May 3rd, 1993

We open the fifteenth episode of Raw with the entrance of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Michaels, the IC champion, is already in the ring. This is supposed to be Duggan's first shot at any WWF title. His most recent shot was to have been a shot at the tag titles in 2008, with Jerry Lawler as his partner, but he would be replaced with Michael Cole at the last minute. The fans chant "USA" during the match between the New Yorker and the Texan. Michaels keeps getting knocked out of the ring, eventually trying to flee the match altogether. Hacksaw brings him back to the ring with a fireman's carry.