*** Scott & JT’s Vintage Vault Refresh reviews are a chronological look back at WWE PPV and TV history that began with a review of WrestleMania I. The PICs have revisited these events and refreshed all of their fun facts that provide insight into the match, competitors and state of the company as well as their overviews of the match action and opinions and thoughts on the outcomes. In addition, Jeff Jarvis assists in compiling historical information and the Fun Facts in each of the reviews. Also, be sure to leave feedback on the reviews at our Facebook page. Enjoy! ***

Monday Night Raw #106

April 10, 1995 (Taped April 3, 1995)
Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Poughkeepsie, NY
Announcers: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

1) Adam Bomb wrestles Tatanka to a double countout 7:45

Scott: I kind of like this hoss vs. hoss battle here, and if there’s any chance for Adam Bomb to get into the groove as a babyface, this is a match he needs to win. Tatanka’s shine since the heel turn has pretty much dulled so him losing isn’t really a dig at him, but a clean Adam Bomb win would surely push him up the card. Vince mentions that DiBiase has a HUGE announcement coming soon. I wonder if that means someone is joining his Corporation. Perhaps someone who is huge in his own right? Hmmmmm. Tatanka works Bomb over early but recovers to throw some clotheslines until Tatanka bails to the floor. Adam Bomb follows to the floor and both men brawl to a double countout. That is a horseshit decision here, unless more matches are to follow in this feud. Otherwise Bomb should have won this clean. The match was standard but the ending was pretty awful. Grade: *

JT: Welcome back to Poughkeepsie for this week’s taped episode of Monday Night Raw! Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth this week and Vince is rocking a very odd brown sports coat and black turtleneck combo. Not exactly his best look. We are now a full week removed from WrestleMania but the effects on the WWF are still being felt across the roster. However, our opener doesn’t quite fit that description as we have a battle of two aimless wrestlers that haven’t accomplished much of anything in 1995. Adam Bomb makes his way out first as Vince notes how popular Bomb was at the Fan Festival, especially with the Special Olympians that were in attendance. Tatanka heads out next, accompanied by Ted DiBiase and Vince talks about how the Million Dollar Team was embarrassed back in Hartford. Tatanka lands some strikes off the bell but Bomb counters with a hip toss and slam and then sends the Native American bailing with a dropkick. Tatanka returned and regained control with some more lazy strikes but Bomb struck back with a leaping clothesline for two. After a break, Tatanka was stomping away and Lawler and Vince were still discussing football. Tatanka continued to meander through some offense, eventually hitting a DDT for two. Tatanka cranked on a chinlock and then leveled Bomb with a knee to the gut after the big man broke the hold. Bomb powered up again and started to unload a flurry of offense, mixing in punches and clotheslines. Tatanka bailed to the floor but Bomb followed him out and the two brawled out there until a soft double countout. What a waste of a match. Just put Bomb over! Tatanka is going nowhere and Bomb has accomplished nothing in nearly two years. The match was plodding and aimless and then capped with an insipid finish. Grade: 1/2*

2) Headshrinkers defeat Mike Bell & Tony Devito when Fatu pins DeVito with a splash off the top rope at 3:00

Scott: Standard tag team match here with a babyface team that can give Owen & Yoko a great big man match with Owen doing all the bumping. I love seeing Sionne back in the company, as he’s one of my favorite big men of all time. Vince & Lawler are yapping about Duckman, which is on after Raw on USA. I miss the crap movies plugs during Raw. This wasn’t much. Grade: DUD

JT: As the Headshrinkers march to the ring for our next bout, Vince and Jerry chat about the new blue M&M as well as USA’s Duckman. Sionne and Fatu are accompanied by Afa and Lou Albano as always and Vince thinks they could be our next WWF Tag Team Champions. They are also embroiled in a feud with the Blu Brothers. Albano is rocking jeans which just looks weird for some reason. Fatu and Bell open things up with the Samoan unloading headbutts and right hands before cutting Bell down with a clothesline. Lawler plugs tonight’s Duckman episode which guest stars Heather Locklear, so check that out if you are around. The Headshrinkers take turns beating on Bell and DeVito until Fatu pins DeVito after a splash from the top rope. The Shrinkers are still squash artists and may be in line for a big time feud based on the commentary. Grade: DUD

*** We visit with soon-to-be WWF newcomer Jean-Pierre Lafitte as he sits on a throne and talks about buried treasure and his ancestors. He will debut next week. We also check out footage of Bob Holly in action on the Mobile International Speedway this past weekend.***

*** We head back to last week to check out footage, including what occurred during the break, of Shawn Michaels telling Sid his services were no longer needed, leading to Sid snapping and leveling Michaels with a trio of powerbombs. Diesel would eventually make the save for his old friend. Vince McMahon confirms that Michaels will be on the shelf for the near future. ***

3) Kama defeats Scott Taylor with a splash off the middle rope at 2:45

Fun Fact: At WrestleMania, Kama stole the Undertaker’s urn. Since then, he has had the urn melted down and made a gold chain from it.

Scott: So, this storyline continues with the Undertaker and the urn. It seems to be about two years old now, and is honestly pretty dumb. We need more Undertaker on Raw, as his storylines seem to be forgotten because he’s not on enough. Poor Scott Taylor took a pretty solid beating from Kama here, who’s wearing the urn around his neck. I feel a big match with Taker & this guy is coming down the line. This was a one-sided squash. Lawler thinks Taker will dump Paul Bearer because there’s no urn for him to carry anymore. Grade: DUD

JT: We head back to the ring as Kama jogs down to the ring flanked by Ted DiBiase and with a giant gold chain draped around his neck. Of course the chain is made up of the melted down urn, which was stolen at WrestleMania. Taylor gets some flashes of offense but Kama dominates the match as Vince and Lawler discuss the urn and Undertaker’s pans for revenge. The King also talks shit on Mongo McMichael as the match chugs along. Kama eventually nabs the win with an reverse splash off the middle rope. Basic squash here that helps set the stage for Kama’s impending feud with Undertaker. Grade: DUD

*** We head back to last week for footage of Alundra Blayze defeating Bull Nakano for the WWF Women’s Title as well as the aftermath when a mysterious woman attacked Blayze after the bout. McMahon reveals that Blayze suffered a broken nose as a result of the attack. ***

4) Bob Holly, Bret Hart & 1-2-3 Kid defeat Hakushi, Yokozuna & Owen Hart when Holly pins Hart with a roll up at 

Fun Fact: This match is a result of the interference that occurred during the Bob Holly/Hakushi match on MNR last week.

Scott: This has **** stars all over it. Six great workers with very different & distinct styles. Owen seems so much more mature now after winning with first title just one week ago. I also like Yoko with the beard, looking grizzled and veteran. There’s so much history in this match, with Yoko/Bret, Owen/Bret, Owen/Kid so all the chemistry is working perfectly. Hakushi is the wild card but really Yoko is just a boss here, smacking everybody with head butts all over the place and really working the babyfaces over with strong offense while Owen is heckling the crowd. The chants are really hot for Bret, but the match has been sculpted well with keeping him on the apron and the heels working on the smaller Kid, getting mangled by the massive Yoko and the underutilized Hakushi. Finally Kid gets the hot tag and Bret goes crazy but even he can’t fight through the double teams and the two guys with history on the Hitman really gets their shots in until he gets the hot tag to Bob Holly, and it’s Sparky Plugg who gets the pinfall win out of nowhere. That ending was kind of strange, but the match was a lot of fun and the crowd ate it all up. Grade: ***

JT: Back to the ring for our big main event, a match that was set up a week ago on Raw. The brand new WWF Tag Team Champions, Yokozuna and Owen Hart, head to the ring alongside Hakushi, Shinja, Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji. What a crew. Vince puts over that Yoko is bigger and badder than ever and he certainly seems to have regained his menacing presence. He also notes that last week’s Raw scored the highest ratings in the show’s history and the King plugs the big In Your House giveaway. The Hitman, Bob Holly and the Kid hit the ring next and after a quick break we were ready to roll. We open up with a rivalry renewed as Yokozuna starts to work over the Hitman until Bret dodges an elbow drop and lays in some hard punches. Holly tagged in and worked the arm until Hakushi tagged in but that led to more of the same. After a break, Kid tagged in and grabbed the arm but Hakushi quickly turned the tag and tagged in Owen. Owen nabbed a side headlock but Kid broke free and leveled Owen with a hard spin kick. Owen recovered and grabbed control before tagging in Yoko, who leveled Kid with a headbutt. Yoko hooked in a nerve hold and when Kid fought free he drilled with a hard clothesline to keep him grounded. Hakushi tagged back in and worked over Kid as Vince reminds us of the White Angel messing up the Hitman’s award ceremony. Hakushi grabs a near fall and then tags in Owen, who hits a tight backbreaker. After another break, Kid was able to get a cross body block for two but wasn’t able to tag out. Owen tagged in Yoko, who came in and squashed Kid with a huge leg drop. Hakushi came back in next and kept the pressure on, focusing on the lower back. The tide turned when Kid caught a leap frogging Hakushi and planted him with a powerbomb. Kid was able to tag Bret, who met Yoko in the middle of the ring with a big flurry of clotheslines, the last of which took the big man down. Bret followed with a bulldog off the middle rope and then an elbow drop for two. Bret yanked Hakushi into the ring and worked him over in the corner until Yoko recovered and drilled him from behind. Owen tagged in and battered his brother, dropping him with an enziguri and some knee drops to the back of the neck. Bret dodged a charge and made the blind tag to Holly, who slipped in and rolled up Owen for the win and pop. That was some nice shine for Holly, who has really been elevated over the past five months. The match was fine enough but pretty short considering all the talent in there and it felt rushed as a result. It was basically a condensed showcase of what these guys could do if given a lot of time. We only got a taste of Bret and Hakushi going at it, teasing us for their eventual showdown. It also looks like the Kid and Holly could be getting queued up for a title match as well. This was fine enough, especially given how Raw has been of late, but a bit disappointing overall. Grade: **1/2

*** We wrap up with a plug for the WrestleMania Encore Plus, airing on PPV tomorrow night. ***

Final Analysis

Scott:This was a good epispde with a fun main event that got to ***, which you don’t see too often right now. Nothing jumped off the screen at me, mostly because we need some fresh content. The roster is working hard but the talent pool is VERY shallow right now. The Diesel/Shawn stuff is really good but Bret Hart has nothing to sink his teeth into and the tag team division is really bare. WrestleMania was a decent enough show for what they had but it’s really time to reshuffle this mess of a roster and get some fresh blood. Even the fading veterans like Bundy and even Backlund probably need to take a back seat and start to let the youth take over. Now for the first time we have a “secondary” PPV to promote and perhaps that will help things instead of a huge gap leading to King of the Ring. Again, not an awful episode but a lot of work needs to be done. Final Grade: C

JT: Well, this was a fine edition of Raw. There was nothing that stood out as bad but overall there just seems to be a stale air lingering around. Even though the roster is shaken up a bit and being leveraged well it just seems to be lacking star power and captivating characters. Outside of the Shawn Michaels/Sid/Diesel saga, what else is there to really hook you in? Bret Hart and Hakushi should be good in ring but there isn’t much juice to it at all. Beyond that everything just feels like it exists but doesn’t get you fired up. Raw has been fine these last two weeks but a serious roster reshuffle is needed at this point just to clear out some of the lingering deadwood that has accumulated over the past year. We are now just about a month away from the inaugural In Your House, so things should be taking shape soon. We will see if business starts picking up. Final Grade: C+