Pro Wrestling Love #74: Best of WWF Monday Night RAW (January 1994-June 1994)

 Hey yo,

Classic MartMan, I did all this work from September 2024 to December 2024 and I am writing the summary in late February 2025. So I am a bit fuzzy, but I will try to remember my conclusions. 

My recollection is that 1994 is much more boring that the second half of 1993. Seemingly over night, Vince went back to his standard style of booking, which is shoot one angle every month or two and just let it ride out. He was no longer booking week to week like he was in the second half of 1993. Booking week to week is more of a Southern phenomenon, which was borne out of necessity because they were essentially weekly territories. So if the same people were going to see you every week, you needed to shoot angles every week. However Northern territories such as WWF and AWA running monthly loops only needed to shoot an angle once a month. You actually see once the Attitude Era ends that Vince goes back to the style of booking he cut his teeth on. In the 21st Century, he often would shoot an angle after the PPV, then it is 3-ish weeks of just reiterating the same talking points until the PPV. Obviously there were some exceptions, but that was his norm. That's why WWE TV was never compelling on a week to week basis in the 21st Century. 1994 has that feel. 

In terms of some positives, the Quebecers were the MVPs of September 1993 through May 1994. The 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty which had been a week to week storyline with Johnny Polo since October paid off so well on the 1 Year Anniversary of RAW. It was that perfect feel-good underdog victory. 1-2-3 Kid went from unexpected victory against Razor in May 93 to a Champion at 1 Year Anniversary of RAW. The 1-2-3 Kid story arc was the best story arc of the first year of RAW. I often write in my reviews that there is an alternate universe where Kid & Marty rule the WWF Tag Team Division from 1994-1996 as the New Generation Rockers and it would fucking rule!

January 1994 was this bizzaro month where WWF had like the best tag team roster of all time with Quebecers, Kid/Marty, Bret/Owen, Steiners and Headshrinkers. It was a sick month for tag team wrestling. Just to finish up on the tag teams, the Quebecers/Headshrinkers title change is a shit ton of fun. I highly recommend it. It is also an end of an era. It is the last time the WWF feels like a viable division until the Edge & Christian/Hardyz/Dudleyz. Quebecers feel like the last classic Golden Age WWF tag team. They are like a WWF version of Midnight Express.

I am surprised that there is not more chatter about Randy Savage vs Yokozuna. It is a WWF World Title defense on a RAW; it is one of the last great Randy Savage matches in WWF and it is in the running for the best Yokozuna match of all time. Along with the Quebecers/Kid&Marty, it is one of those times that RAW feels must-see and have a big match feel. It is an easy example that Randy Savage had plenty of gas in the tank. To me, it was cut & dry and a clearly mutual beneficial departure. Savage wanted to wrestle more and he had more to give thus going to WCW benefitted him. But it also benefitted WWF, WWF was promoting a New Generation and Randy Savage just didnt fit in the system any more. 

After February, things get dire. The Bret/Owen angle happened on the Royal Rumble and they never really do another angle post-WrestleMania. The Owen upset victory over Bret in an instant 5 star classic is enough steam to get them to the next PPV, but they went with Diesel at KOTR and they didnt really do much with Bret/Owen on RAW. The Bret title reign is actually pretty dull in the grand scheme of things. Yes, the Bob Backlund heel turn is great, but that is on Superstars. There really is not much in the way of depth to the Bret Title Reign. The Bret title reign lives and dies by its PPV matches, the 1-2-3 Kid RAW match and Backlund Superstar match. Yes the matches are great, but there is not a lot of depth and there are really no angles/storylines to really enhance the reign.

Also there was a real thinning of the main event scene in early 1994. Undertaker went on sabbatical after Royal Rumble and if you look at how 93-94 are booked, it is the Undertaker, NOT Bret is the main eventer. He closes 3 out of 5 PPVs and the two he didnt, he was on break. It is he not Bret that closes Summerslam and Survivor Series. In the Summer, it is Undertaker/Underfaker and did Lex Luger sell out are the main angles going into Summerslam NOT Bret vs Owen. In fact, Ted DiBiase much like Adrian Adonis in 1986 is the straw that stirs the WWF drink. Continuing on the thread of the thinning main event, by having Lex Luger choke at the Rumble and WrestleMania, it pretty much killed any chance of him being in the main event again, BUT they did effectively use him in the midcard with the Million Dollar Corporation sellout angle and Tatanka. Finally, there was Yokozuna, who they clearly knew there was some money in him jobbing to Survivor Series. Then they really did not do much with him at all between WrestleMania and Survivor Series, he did not even do anything at Summerslam. 

The last crew to look at is the Kliq. We have covered 1-2-3 Kid and there is no HHH, so there's 3 remaining. There is Shawn Michaels' bizarre and to my knowledge unexplained absence from the ring. He was doing a weekly talk show called Heartbreak Hotel and was basically Big Daddy Cool's mouthpiece. Not having Shawn and Bret wrestle on a weekly basis really hurt the WWF. The Diesel mega push was on, but it didnt really take place on RAW. The IC Title victory which is fun, short sprint on Superstars and then he has the WWF Title match on King of the Ring. Because Razor dropped the IC Title about a month & half after WrestleMania Ladder match and Diesel was not the type of a champion that would be wrestling a week to week. Then Razor really did not get to do anything until Summerslam. It was the perfect storm to hollow out the midcard of the WWF so instead we got saddled with...

As can be observed in the table below, after May 2nd, there was nothing I deemed worth watching. Kwang, Bob Holly, Tatanka, Crush, non-Matt Borne Doink The Clown, and Sexy Nikki V are nadir WWF shit. It is not really the top card of WWF that had an issue, it is these midcarders. It is just depressing shit. 

Date	Match	Rating
January 3, 1994	Smoking Gunns vs Bam Bam Bigelow & Bastion Booger	DNW
January 10, 1994	Quebecers vs 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty	3.5
January 17, 1994	Randy Savage vs IRS	3
January 24, 1994	Headshrinkers vs MOM	DNW
January 31, 1994	Marty Jannetty vs Johnny Polo	DNW
February 7, 1994	IRS vs Martv Jannetty	DNW
February 21, 1994	Quebecers vs Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid	3.25
February 21, 1994	Bret Hart vs Tom Pritchard	DNW
February 28, 1994	Randy Savage vs Yokozuna	3.75
March 7, 1994	Owen Hart & Crush vs Smoking Gunns	DNW
March 21, 1994	Quebecers vs Bushwhackers	DNW
March 28, 1994	Lex Luger vs Rick Martel	2.5
April 4, 1994	Rick Martel, IRS, Jeff Jarrett & Headshrinkers vs Sparky Plugg, 1-2-3 Kid, Tatanka & Smoking Gunns	DNW
April 11, 1994	Quebecers vs MOM	2.5
April 18, 1994	Bret Hart vs Kwang	DNW
April 25, 1994	Razor Ramon vs Jeff Jarrett	3
May 2, 1994	Quebecers vs Headshrinkers	3.5
May 9, 1994	Razor Ramon vs Kwang	DNW
May 16, 1994	Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sparky Plugg	DNW
May 16, 1994	Yokozuna vs Earthquake	DUD
May 23, 1994	Owen Hart vs Doink The Clown	DNW
May 30, 1994	Crush vs Tatanka	DNW
June 6, 1994	Crush vs Tatanka	DNW
June 13, 1994	Headshrinkers vs Quebecers	DNW
June 20, 1994	1-2-3 Kid vs Nikolai Volkoff	DNW
June 27, 1994	Mabel vs Bam Bam Bigelow	DNW

In terms of match of the month, my pick is Randy Savage vs Yokozuna, which is a ton of fun, but I also recommend Quebecers vs 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty as well as Quebecers vs Headshrinkers. It was a rough six months for RAW.  

WWF World Tag Team Champions Quebecers vs Marty Jannetty & 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 1/10/94

 

Fun fact: This takes place in Richmond, VA and I am currently in Richmond, VA!

 

RAW's 1 year anniversary and Vince decides to commemorate it with a tag title switch. Crowd pops huge and it is a great feel good moment. The whole 1-2-3 Kid storyline was really building to him winning a championship and a great time to pull the trigger. It is too bad the Kid would have a serious neck injury not too long after this. In an alternate universe, Kid & Jannetty are the ace babyface tag team of the mid-90s, they had some much potential. I thought this as a ton of fun. Great shine. Loved Jannetty getting the Victory Roll right off the bat. It showed the babfyaces were here to win. Lots of fun, quick moves. Dropkicks abound everything to keep the Champs off their feet, who may have been looking ahead to the Rumble against Bret & Owen Hart. There is a false finish during the break where Jannetty hits a superkick, but the Quebcer's foot was on the ropes. Ref still counted 3, huge pop, but they called it off and restarted the match. The Quebecers pulled down the top rope down during a Jannetty criss cross which led to a nasty spill to the floor, but it was not the heat segment as Jannetty crawled through the legs to tag Kid. KID WAS A AN AWESOME HOUSE OF FIRE! Loved the somersault from the top rope to the floor. He was nailing everything. The ref got distracted and they shoved him off the top rope. The Quebecers were great at treating Kid like a ragdoll. Tossing him around and kicking his ass. There could have been more hope spots. I felt Kid was dying and Quebecers were choking not getting the job done. Loved the Canonball move even if wasn't the finish. Finally Marty has had enough and interferes feel like there should have been more of that. Marty tags in short house afire and Suplex/Crossbody gets the win for Marty & The Kid! Huge pop! Macho Man rushes the ring to celebrate in a great feel good moment. Great way to commemorate the one year anniversary of RAW and only a taste of what should have been with the tag team of Marty & 1-2-3 Kid. ***1/2

Randy Savage vs IRS - WWF RAW 1/17/94

On paper this seems like a random match up to headline RAW, BUT Savage smashed some cake into IRS’ face last week during the 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty celebration. I am sure he deserved it for his shit talk. Savage is knee-deep in the Crush feud and IRS is wrapping up his feud with Razor at the Rumble. They used Savage a lot in this stretch on TV. He had a RAW match against Fatu the month prior which I am skipping and he has the World Title match against Yokozuna the next month which rocks. 
 

This match exceeded my expectation. It was a sort of break neck, frenetic pace. There were not a lot of high spots or narrative per se. It was a lot of slam bang action but most importantly how it was done. It was heatedly and with a competitive ferocity. Savage tries it cut IRS off at the pass which seems heelish. IRS slams him into the buckles a lot. a lot of just dropping his weight onto Savage. Savage timed his hope spots right before the commercial breaks (or if this was taped they timed the breaks around his hope spots). The use of the atomic drop into clothesline or a double axe handle from the apron to set up attacking Crush who is doing commentary. IRS for his part did well on offense suplex into the ring coming out of the break. There were some chinlocks and an ab stretch but it was not too bad. IRS ate a boot on a top rope splash. Nice throat first drop by Savage to get revenge on IRS doing that earlier. He goes for the Top Rope Elbow but Crush interferes to trigger the DQ. All the main eventers pour of the back to simulate the Royal Rumble as hype for the show later that week. Like I said better than I thought. A good competitive frenetic energy to this one. ***

WWF World Tag Team Champions Quebecers vs Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid - WWF RAW 2/21/94

Fun fact, if I had to pick the best WWF match that did not involve Shawn or Bret between 1993-1997, I would pick the Kid & Jannetty vs Quebecers match that was a couple weeks prior to this one. Quebecers are a great old school Southern tag team. They feed, bump and stooge with the best of them and they have sick Midnight Express-like offense during the heat segments. This was supposed to be Kid & Jannetty, but Jannetty was either suspended or injured. Real-life best friend Scott Hall jumps in. 

I mean this in the nicest way, Hall might have been the King of *** match. Nothing of his ever sucks, it is just plain fun wrestling. He is working some great opponents in these matches. Quebecers try to double team the injured Kid, but he wriggles free and shows them up. The babyface shine comes off great. Quebecers are total stooges. Razor & Kid eat them up. Loved the Razor's Edge on Polo on the floor to take him out after the he tripped Razor. Great highspot early to get the crowd going. Heel in peril WWF in 1994 wow, amazing it lasted that long. Quebecers were great. Double FIP with Razor going first. The Kid was predictably better because he is just smaller and more maneuverable. Some great double teams by the Quebecers. Loved the hot tag. Jacquer sold exasperation so well. Loved how Pierre charged into the bodyslam. Super Back Suplex prelude to Razors Edge. Can he hoist the big man up? He does! Razor's Edge! Forgot to mention that Diesel had been looming and his mere presence led to the initial heat segment. It looks like there will be new Tag Champs, BUT Shawn Michaels comes flying out of the stands for the last minute DQ to put some heat on the Mania Ladder Match. Another fun Razor match and the Quebecers were really good so much better than the Rougeaus! ***1/4  

WWF Champion Yokozuna vs Randy Savage - WWF RAW 2/28/94

Surprised this didn’t make the 1994 yearbook, a World Title Defense on RAW, Yoko’s last defense, Savage’s last WWF Title Shot, and it is a pretty killer match to boot.

Bret vs Yoko from MSG 93 is still the best Yoko match I have seen, but this is a definite second place match. I think Cagematch has this as the #1 Yoko singles match and I don’t blame them.

We are a couple weeks out from WrestleMania X and winner defends against Both Luger and Bret at Mania. Savage jumpstarts the match before the bell attacking before Yoko disrobes. Savage EATS a hard elbow but moves on the elbow drop. Go Macho Go! Quick near fall but the ref was distracted by Fuji. Savage takes his eye off the prize and gets a karate thrust to the throat. Great Savage battling from underneath peppering in shots and making Yoko resort to cheating. Yoko misses the big splash. High Knee sends Yoko crashing to the floor. Top Rope Double Axehandle to the floor. Cornette’s out, Savage can not get the humongous Yoko back in the ring. Corny distracts. Yoko gets another Karate Thrust. Savage mounts an aerial comeback with a top rope double axe handle in the ring and a top rope crossbody. This shit is cooking! Yoko comes back now with a big splash in the corner. Savage slumps down in such a way that it has Vince thinking Banzai Drop but Yoko pulls him to the middle. He goes for the Legdrop but misses! Both men are out! Fuji gives Yoko the salt bucket but Savage gets control of it and bashes the Champion in the head! Pin em! They take a standing 8 count! 1-2-NO! TOP ROPE FLYING ELBOW DROP CONNECTS! THE MACHO MAN IS GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA! REWRITE THE HISTORY BOOKS FOLKS! 1-2-CRUSH INTERFERES AND TRIGGERS THE DQ!

Interestingly, the crowd chants for Luger to make the save and when Bret does there is not much of a pop. When Luger makes the ultimate save there is also not much of a pop. Just a wicked fun TV title defense played into both wrestlers strengths. Savage is so scrappy and Yoko was a beast. The home stretch was one of the best I have seen on these early RAWs. *** 3/4

Lex Luger vs Rick Martel - WWF RAW 3/28/94

I am interested to see how Luger is presented after the title loss. Vince harps on him being screwed out of the title but I think Mr. Perfect’s name only comes up once. Ted DiBiase is sitting ringside for this match. I am not sure if Perfect was ever going to happen. It looks like DiBiase trying to buy Luger was already in the works. How refreshing to let an angle play out over 5 months rather shoot the whole angle in one week then rehash the same shit for 3 months. DiBiase has a sneaky important 1994 with both Undertaker vs FakerTaker and Luger/Tatanka being 2/3 major angles going into Summerslam 1994.

Luger and Martel are two of my 50 favorite wrestlers so I had to check this out even if there was no fanfare. It is still so weird watching Luger on RAW and watching Martel in 1994 period. It is perfectly average match nothing I would recommend seeking out but not bad. Martel does a good job cowering from Luger. Luger pulverizes him with clotheslines and they work really well in and out of a headlock. I feel like if they were in the NWA they could have a strong 20-25 minute match but instead transition to heat is basically non-existent. Martel just takes over and starts working boring chin locks and chokes. Luger works some decent hope spots. Back body drop. Powerslam! And a hitherto unseen TORTURE RACK WHICH POPPED ME!

I think I know one of the key differences between Luger in NWA/WCW vs WWF there’s a severe lack of flexing. If he did that signature flex before the Powerslam and Martel sold like he soiled himself that would have been amazing. Perfectly fine match. 

WWF World Tag Team Champions Quebecers vs Men On A Mission - WWF RAW 4/11/94

I have never seen a Men On A Mission match thus have never seen Mo wrestle. Mo looks old, brutha. Mabel is way taller than I remembered. I thought he was just heavy, but he is a tall dude. These two teams traded the tag belts in Europe and then MOM via Countout I believe at WrestleMania X. This match is a result of a fan poll where MOM beat Bushwhackers and Smoking Gunns. There was a "Lets Go Mo" chant live! I am surprised how popular these fan polls were both in WWF and WCW in the mid-90s and now with much better technology they have hardly been utilized since Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday. 

Midnight Express vs Rock N Roll Express this was not. I had an open mind for Men On A Mission, but there really was not too much going on in this match. I thought Mo doing the Press Slam crotch drop on a Quebecer was pretty fun and Mabel's leg drop looked killer. Quebecers break up a pin on Mo and thats the transition to heat, a kick to the head. The heat segment was pretty passe. The back drop by Mo looked good. Mabel's house of fire was not as good as his leg drop. Missed Mabel Splash leads to the rocket launcher on Mabel. They trade some cheating. Mo puts Mabel on top and then Quebecer puts the other Quebecer on top. Quebecer Cannonball finishes it as Mabel was distracted beating up Johnny Polo. It was not the worst match I have ever seen. It was just decidedly average. Nothing I will remember tomorrow. 

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Jeff Jarrett - WWF RAW 4/25/94

"Who throws a better punch than Razor Ramon?" - Macho Man Randy Savage. Nobody, brutha, nobody.

This is Jeff Jarrett's first feature singles contest on Monday Night RAW, a couple weeks prior he was in a 10-man tag, but here is his first proper main event. He would go to wrestle Tatanka in July and Doink the Clown (the lame babyface, non-Matt Bourne version) in October, before the British Bulldog match in December where the Roadie debuts and he starts getting pushed. Like so many Jarrett matches I have watched from his first WWF run this started auspiciously. I thought I finally found the WWF hidden Jarrett gem, but the chinlocks rear their ugly head and this match like his others are simply good. None of his matches are bad mind you, but the only true great one remains the Shawn Michaels classic. 

Great, heated start to this one. You might even think Double J is the babyface the way he gets so much offense in early against Razor, but I think that speaks to the selflessness of Razor and also that fact Razor was established and over. They needed to establish Jarrett as a credible threat. Commentary is mostly focused on Razor's upcoming title defense against Diesel this weekend on Superstars, which is where Razor lost the title. This match against Jarrett is non-title. Jarrett gets a takedown early and smacks Razor around. I am surprised given Razor's size advantage they worked that spot, but like I said it puts Jarrett over and he is the one that needed the cred. Razor finally catches Jarrett in the sack of shit. Jarrett powders, but Jarrett comes back on the outside. Jarrett's ferocity on offense is what keeps this compelling. Jarrett hits Razor with a couple good down South rights, but Razor who might have the best right ever just comes across and smacks the shit outta Jarrett and mows him down. Out of all the WWF New Gen guys, Hall's stock is the one rising the most with me. He is always working hard and kicking ass. Jarrett comes back and hits a fist drop. Here comes the chinlock. Razor works out of it but sets too early into a commercial break. Vince/Savage go on a long tangent about George Foreman's comeback and basically promote his return fight harder than they promote either Razor or Jarrett. Some free publicity for Foreman. Back from the ad and now Jarrett has a sleeper on Razor. They really milk this. Razor gets the back suplex. Razor starts firing off those right and steamrolls Jarrett with a clothesline. He looks a like million bucks on offense. Signature Razor taunt. Here comes Michaels. He beats Michaels from pillar to post. Diesel saves Michaels from the Razor's Edge and clobbers him with the Big Boot and Jacknife polish off Razor. Diesel and Michaels take turns stepping on the fallen Razor and parading around with the IC Title. A bit unusual given that they were going to do a title switch to have Diesel get the upper hand before the title match, but chock this one up as a curveball. Before the ad break, they were really humming along. After the first chinlock and the DQ finish, cant say this is much better than good. I had their Rumble match at good. Interested to watch their WrestleMania match next. ***

WWF World Tag Team Champion Quebecers vs Headshrinkers - WWF RAW 5/2/94

“They are chanting USA for American Samoa! “ -Macho Man popped me big!

I would argue Quebecers were the MVPs of RAW since Sept 93. They had frequent matches and had a long term week to week feud with Marty & Kid and a marquee match against the Harts. This is beginning of the end of this; they do have one last match left. The Headshrinkers much like the original version of the USOs are bland in their presentation. Besides being Samoan and related to Afa they don’t have a hook.

The opening shine is as solid stuff they established the Shrinkers as more powerful and tougher than the Quebecers. Shoulder tackles and head butts. Quebecers get desperate and start making mistakes. Splashing each other being whipped into each other. The head for the hills but the Fink says if they get counted out they lose the belts. 
 

Back from commercial, Shrinkers are working the Quebecers on arm in a throwback heel in peril segment. Quebecers bury a Hart Foundation knee and a Pierre clothesline transition to heat. Sick Total Elimination! Lots of slamming each other onto Fatu. Back from another break, they gave them a ton of time. Fatu back drops Pierre out. Sami pretty standard hot tag until he gets HIS HEAD CAUGHT IN THE ROPES!!! Jacques pulls his hair while his head & neck are wrenches between the ropes. That was SICK!!! Jacques PILEDRIVER! Cannonball Splash…looks to be over WAIT IT MISSES!!! Afa slugs Polo! Jacques hits Pierre by accident…Pierre clocks Jacques on purpose! Double Stroke by Shrinkers and Fatu hits the USO Splash damn Rikishi you crazy for the win! Burling Vermont pops huge for the win! Way better than I expected! Quebecers had a really terrific run and should be remembered more fondly. This title victory represents the beginning of the end for tag titles. Headshrinkers get a marquee match against Yokozuna & Crush at KOTR but after that they lose the tag titles to Shawn & Diesel and that really is the end. This is a fun, throwback match, Quebecers are great heel champs and Shrinkers brought it. *** 1/2 

Yokozuna vs Earthquake - WWF RAW 5/16/94 Sumo

They were at a complete loss what to do with Yokozuna between WrestleMania and Survivor Series. They knew Yokozuna still had value to do the job to Undertaker, BUT they wanted to do the Fake Taker angle first in Summerslam, which honestly is not a bad concept for an angle they just botched the execution horribly. Coming off Royal Rumble, the Yoko/Taker match definitely had money written all over it. They were the ones that closed out Survivor Series. The question is what to do with Yokozuna for seven months. It turns out not much. 

The Earthquake push seems weird to me. Earthquake is definitely a guy that I am consistently underwhelmed by. People seem to like him, but I cant get into him. I couldnt get it into this. That paled in comparison to the Duggan/Yoko knockdown match. Duggan has way more charisma than Earthquake. The 1994 crowd is much more forgiving than I am. The stalling was brutally boring. Yoko looks so much more like a star than Quake. The initial shouldertackle exchange was good. They tease going out. They do a double underhook grab the waistband test of strength. Finally Earthquake ducks and gets a mighty sumo slap to take Yoko off his feet and Yoko tumbles out of the ring. 

Earthquake would be out of the WWF by the time this was televised. His last WWF match was on May 15th. It was a weird choice to me to push him, but I think they were trying anything to see what would stick. Clearly they had big plans for Earthquake if he won this match. I didnt care for this, but your mileage may vary. I preferred Duggan/Yoko by a country mile.