Raw Retro Review: Episode 7: Bret Hart vs. Fatu
By Mike Smith
WWE.com
The seventh episode of Monday Night Raw came from the Manhattan Center, just a few weeks away from WrestleMania. On commentary was Vince McMahon, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Elvis (Rob Bartlett in an Elvis costume).
Bret Hart vs. Fatu
Bret Hart got the win by putting Fatu in the Sharpshooter. At one point in the match, Hart had Fatu in the Sharpshooter, but The Headshrinkers’ manager, Afa, distracted the referee, so Samu came in and hit Hart to break the hold, then he covered Hart, but Hart kicked out and the referee got distracted again and Fatu came back in. Decent match, but pretty long, and Hart sold for way too long for a champion going into WrestleMania.
WrestleMania Report
Mean Gene gave a report on WrestleMania, which was only five weeks away. Mean Gene talked about the audacity of Money, Inc. who were going after Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Hulk Hogan. He then hyped Giant Gonzales vs. The Undertaker, Tatanka vs. Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect vs. Lex Luger, and Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna. Mean Gene closed by making fun of Randy Savage’s outfit and making a Joey Buttafuoco joke.
Crush interview from Hawaii/Doink the Clown vs. Koko B. Ware
Crush came out of the ocean and started talking through a video feed to the announce team. Crush said that the Hawaii weather was “miserable”, as it sat at 75 degrees and sunny. He demonstrated how his WrestleMania match with Doink would go by crushing a coconut with his bare hands.
Doink locked Koko in the Stump Puller, who tapped out to give Doink the win. This was a squash match. Doink pretty much dominated the whole way.
Money, Inc. in-ring interview w/ Vince McMahon
Money, Inc. came out to talk about the challenge from The Mega Maniacs, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Hulk Hogan. Money, Inc. talked a big game about The Mega Maniacs, and their tag match at WrestleMania. Money, Inc. eventually decided to put their tag titles on the line. Interesting segment. It’s never a good thing for the heel(s) when they decide to put their title on the line.
Lex Luger vs. P.J. Walker
Luger got the win with a forearm smash. Bobby Heenan joined the commentary team by phone. He said that the man on commentary claiming to be Elvis was not, he said that it was George Steinbrenner. A woman claiming to be Priscilla Presley then got on and confirmed this fact. Not much accomplished by the commentary team, but Luger dominated and continued to be an arrogant heel throughout the match.
The Steiner Brothers vs. Barry Hardy and Duane Gill
Scott Steiner gets the win by hitting the Frankensteiner. The Steiners were a lot of fun at this point in the career. This squash match probably got the hottest reaction from the crowd, and it was deserved.
Overall Impression
Slow show. Not many important developments in this show and that certainly hurt it. It really is a different world when there’s only four pay-per-views a year, storylines need to be drawn out so much longer, and it shows.
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