Raw #119 - July 10th, 1995

Tonight's Raw opens up with a raucous crowd that, according to Vince McMahon, is "anxiously awaiting the presence of the Caribbean legend, Savio Vega." Either that, or they were told to make a lot of noise right before the cameras started rolling. Tonight, the Allied Powers take on the team of Tatanka and Henry Godwinn, with whom Ted DiBiase has replaced King Kong Bundy.

Raw #115 - June 12th, 1995

Raw kicks off with a recap of Lex Luger and Yokozuna's ongoing feud, which comes to a head tonight in a King of the Ring qualifying match. We see the tournament bracket, with faces written first and heels written second for each match. Razor Ramon, a face, gets top billing in the final match, which spells misfortune for Lex Luger.

Raw #114 - June 5th, 1995

Footage from Bob Backlund's campaign rally earlier today airs to kick off Raw. Mr. Backlund calls the crowd "lazy" and "infamous individuals" who need an education. I'm used to people misusing the word, "infamous," but not like this. Tonight, Owen Hart faces the British Bulldog in the "last" qualifying match for the King of the Ring (in a match taped 22 days earlier at In Your House. Also, Savio Vega wrestles his first non-Kwang match tonight, while the Bodydonnas debut as well. And don't forget about Jean Pierre Lafitte, whom Jerry Lawler is rooting for based solely on his name: LaFeet. That's because Bret Hart accepted Lawler's challenge this weekend to a "Kiss My Foot" match.

Raw #109 - May 1st, 1995

Vince and Jerry are at ringside in the flesh to open this taped edition of Monday Night Raw, perhaps marking the end of the brief but unfortunate era of green screen technology on Raw. Our opening match is the Allied Powers versus George Anderson and Ron Hagan, two jobbers who probably still make a better team than Davey Boy and Luger. For one thing, I bet you that Hagan won't accidentally powerslam his opponent on top of his own partner like Luger did at Wrestlemania. McMahon and Lawler discuss the events of yesterday's Action Zone, in which Bob Holly (filling in for the newly-injured 123 Kid) appeared to defeat Jeff Jarrett (who had his foot on the rope) for the Intercontinental Title. As a result, the title was vacated instead of just immediately restarting the match or returning the belt back to Jarrett.

Raw #105 - April 3rd, 1995

It's time for the fallout from the greatest Wrestlemania ever to be held in a shopping mall, Wrestlemania XI! First, we get a recap of the event through video stills, Vince McMahon's narration, and the cheesy Wrestlemania theme that Linda McMahon would later use. It's a homecoming of sorts for Raw, as tonight's episode emanates from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, the home of Raw after it left the Manhattan Center.

Raw #100 - February 27th, 1995

Raw's 100th episode starts off with the first ever announcement that the World Wrestling Federation has for over 50 years been the revolutionary force in sports entertainment. Plus, Raw gets a revamped intro. Vince McMahon promises a response from Lawrence Taylor himself tonight on Raw. Vince and Jim Cornette are live at ringside this week, sporting mics with the blue Raw logo. See, Raw hasn't always been the "red" brand, and the alternate logo color fits nicely considering how much the WWF's popularity has cooled off by 1995. Lex Luger will face Tatanka to end what Vince generously calls one of the hottest rivalries ever (a rivalry highlighted by extremely boring matches and Tatanka accusing Lex of selling out over and over again then swerving us all for some reason).

Raw #98 - February 6th, 1995

Raw begins in much the same way as last week, with Shawn and Vince in front of a green screen and Mabel entering first. He is joined by Mo and later Lex Luger for the six-man match against the Million Dollar Corporation. With this being Black History Month, Vince wonders if Men on a Mission will make history tonight.

Raw #93 - January 2nd, 1995

The first faces we see on Raw in 1995 are those of the as-of-yet unnamed Roadie and Jeff Jarrett, who promises to sing in public for the first time tonight. Shawn Michaels is back on commentary along with Gorilla Monsoon, who is filling for Vince. McMahon may be "under the weather," but Gorilla and Shawn are in front of a green screen. Ted DiBiase's music plays over the two announcers as The Million Dollar Man accompanies Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka for their match against the soon-to-be Allied Powers. Monsoon wonders if there will be gold coming to the Million Dollar Corporation, and there most certainly will, as long as you count Paul Bearer's urn as gold.

Raw #92 - December 26th, 1994

It's the last Raw of 1994, and tonight's episode kicks off with the British Bulldog against Lex Luger's arch-rival, Tatanka. Hey, wouldn't it be great if Bulldog and Luger teamed up? Shawn and Vince are once again our commentators for the evening and are joined briefly by Ted DiBiase and Tatanka on their way to the ring as if to prove that the announcers are actually in the arena tonight and not standing in front of a green screen. Raw's opening rolls, this week without Tyco's logo plastered over top of it, seeing as Christmas shopping has just ended.

Raw #91 - December 19th, 1994

Lex Luger enters the ring to kick off tonight's Raw in the cold opening. Shawn Michaels, who is a semi-regular now at the announce table, sports a Santa cap, as does Vince McMahon. A brilliant fan in attendance holds up a sign reading, "I cheat on my taxes." "Hey, look," says Michaels, "it's Joe Montana!" I can only assume that the 49ers quarterback is in some sort of tax trouble at this time. Fortunately, Vince explains the context of the joke (Montana is being investigated for a sports memorabilia business, but Vince insists that just because the government is investigating someone doesn't mean that the person has done anything wrong. Gee, I wonder why he would say that?), but not before expressing how appalled he is that Shawn would say such a thing. Hopefully no actual IRS agents are watching this episode, or else this fan might be getting some phone calls.

Raw #88 - November 28th, 1994

Tonight's Raw is a rarity: an episode airing live immediately after a pay-per-view. This means that we will actually get to see the fallout from Survivor Series instead of having the announcers merely tell us about it via dubbed-in post-production commentary while a bunch of matches with no storyline relevance take place. Vince McMahon is at ringside, for real this time, with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who tells us that we will be joined by even more royalty in the form of Owen Hart. Also appearing will be Diesel, the new ___ Champion. Since I'm watching a WWE-re-released version of Raw, the word immediately before "champion" is blurred out; I can think of at least one adjective describing Diesel as a champion that would have to be censored. Regardless of how Big Daddy Cool's reign would turn out, I'm sure this announcement really confused basically everyone who wasn't at the MSG house show where the title change took place, seeing how it took place over the weekend, off TV, in the days before the internet was prevalent. Also, Adam Bomb takes on IRS in a battle of things that liberals and conservatives hate about America, respectively.

Raw #84 - October 31st, 1994

Tonight's Raw is the last one ever to feature Macho Man Randy Savage. Don't expect a tribute or farewell, though, as Vince doesn't know that Savage is jumping to WCW. Lex Luger enters the ring, led by flag-bearer Nicole Matilda (no relation to Davey Boy Smith's bulldog).

Raw #82 - October 17th, 1994

Raw opens up with a series of outdoor clips from Burlington, Vermont, which hosts tonight's live episode. A confused Macho Man (at his last ever WWF taping) says, "This isn't The Learning Channel!" and he's right. The main difference between Monday Night Raw and TLC is that for the past decade or so, Raw has had provided more culturally enriching programming than the cable network known for fashion, decorating, and Honey Boo Boo. Speaking of cultural enrichment, Doink comes to the ring with Dink and the newest addition to his entourage, Wink. They josh around with the Spanish announce team before the Raw intro, over which a Stridex logo is plastered as Todd Pettengill hocks the acne treatment. This is the most disgraceful act of commercialism since Pepsi bought South Korea.

Raw #81 - October 10th, 1994

Bam Bam Bigelow comes to the ring on tonight's Raw to take on Lex Luger. He doesn't come alone, though; he is followed by the other members of the Million Dollar Corporation, except IRS for some reason. Vince McMahon calls this Ted DiBiase's own "Columbus Day parade." I hope he teaches us some more fun facts about Christopher Columbus like he did last year. Instead, Macho Man gives us this quote from Columbus: "One if by land, two if by sea!" Actually, that was Paul Revere in Longfellow's famous poem, but at least this time the misinformation is intended as a joke. Also, "Longfellow" is a great last name.

Raw #79 - September 26th, 1994

For the first time in a month and a half, Monday Night Raw is live tonight, this time from Utica, New York. The cold opening announces the night's main event, Tatanka vs. Razor Ramon with the Intercontinental title on the line. That certainly sounds like the kind of match that they should have announced the previous week, especially given that Jerry Lawler vs. Duke "The Dumpster" Droese got more promotion than this match. Randy Savage says that the eyes of the world are on Utica tonight, and not Los Angeles, where the O.J. trial has just begun.

Raw #78 - September 19th, 1994

The cold opening for the September 19th episode of Raw centers around Tatanka, who fooled us all by having sold out to Ted DiBiase all along. The exact purpose of this deception will never be explained, but he certainly fooled a lot of people, and that's all that matters! Vince McMahon would later take the lessons learned from this angle and incorporate them into the Corporate Ministry angle, revealing himself to be the Higher Power so that he could fool Stone Cold Steve Austin at great personal expense.

Raw #76 - August 15th, 1994

In the cold opening this week, we see clips from last week's episode, where Tatanka caught Luger with a fistful of dollars, then found him backstage in Ted DiBiase's dressing room. In an important development to this riveting angle, Tatanka is now calling Luger a "turncoat" to add some variety to his accusations of selling out. Somehow, at a time when 6'6'' Brian Lee is dressing up as and (very poorly) imitating  the Undertaker, this Luger-Tatanka-sellout angle is the stupidest storyline of the summer.

Raw #75 - August 8th, 1994

This week's Raw begins with Ted DiBiase's Undertaker in action. Ted's 6'6'' version of the Taker faces the formidable competition of Butch Banks. McMahon insists that this Undertaker vs. Undertaker match would be a one time only event. That's a relief; too bad the guarantee wouldn't apply to Kane.

Raw #73 - July 25th, 1994

We open Raw with a recap of Lex Luger's rumored sellout to the Million Dollar Man. this past weekend, Lex showed up on the Heartbreak Hotel when introduced by DiBiase. Tatanka then came out to shame the American Original, but Lex Luger denied signing with DiBiase. "He's either telling the truth, or he's lying!" says Macho with deep insight. Frankly, this whole mystery is rather silly. If Lex did sell out to DiBiase, then eventually he'll start coming out to the Million Dollar Man's music, teaming up with Ted's clients, and being escorted to the ring by DiBiase. Then we'll know. And if he did sell out, what's he denying it for? Eventually it's going to become really obvious.

Raw #72 - July 18th, 1994

The big question on tonight's Raw is whether Lex Luger has sold out to the Million Dollar Man. Personally, I can't see Luger turning his back on his fans to wrestle for some rich guy named Ted on Monday nights. Luger challenges for Diesel's Intercontinental title in tonight's featured match.