[RESULTS/OPINION]Monday Night RAW/Monday Nitro (11/27)

Monday Night RAW: Taped 11/20.

 - Show opens with recap of Shawn Michaels collapse.

 - AHMED JOHNSON vs. RAD RADFORD
   Ahmed squashes Rad, pinning him after a double underhook powerbomb
   (Tigerbomb?) After match, Jerry Lawer interviews Ahmed, telling him about
   disparaging comments Dean Douglas made about him in regards to their
   upcoming match at IYH 5. Douglas comes out and confronts Ahmed, who then
   gets in the ring and challenges Douglas. Referees prevent Douglas from
   entering ring. 

 - Recap of Shawn Michaels' collapse. Short clip shown of Michaels strapped
   to a backboard being loaded into ambulance then taken into hospital.
 
 - AJA KONG/TAMOKO WATANABE vs. ALUNDRA BLAYZE/KYOKO INOUE
   Good, but short match. Kong pins Inoue following a spinning backhand
   blow.

 - Recap of Diesel's speech last week.

 - Bret Hart interviewed by Brother Love. Love does his old routine where he
   asks a question, then pulls the mic away before the interviewee can
   answer. Hart eventually grabs Love's wrist and says his usual " ... best
   there is ... " etc. Bob Backlund comes out and grabs Hart from behind,
   putting him in the cross-face chicken-wing. Ring fills with officials who
   eventually pull him off.

 - HUNTER HEARST HELMSELY vs. JOHN CRYSTAL
   Squash. HHH with pin following Pedigree. Clip of Henry Godwin and his
   pigs shown.

 - Brief taped interview with Owen Hart. Jim Cornette announces an open
   contract for anyone brave enough to fight Owen (who is now taking credit
   for putting Shawn Michaels in the hospital) at IYH 5.

 - UNDERTAKER vs. MO (Subbing for "injured" KAMA)
   Kama comes to ringside on crutches with Ted DiBiase, who announces that
   Mo will take his place. Kama interferes often, showing he is uninjured.
   Mabel comes to ringside. Undertaker demolishes Mo, chokeslamming, then
   pinning him. UT recovers necklace (former urn) and gives it to Paul
   Bearer. Yokozuna comes to ring, distracting UT long enough for Mabel to
   get necklace.

 - Next week's main event: Razor Ramon vs. Dean Douglas (plus Sid vs. Marty
   Jannetty).
  
Comments: Good, solid RAW. (Though Johnson and Helmsely matches were pretty
much squashes.) Several storylines were advanced for IYH 5. Womens match was
okay, but far below what they are capable of. Any thoughts of Michaels
collapse being real were pretty much squashed by this show. Same with
Diesel interview. The Undertaker is still Mark Callus, the same old UT, as
far as I can tell. The tattoos are the same, as well as most of the moves.
The mask really does screw up his facial expresiions, and the way his hair
looks (which probably explains the confusion).
  

Monday Nitro: Live.

 - JOHNNY B. BADD (w/ KIMBERLY) vs. DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE 
   Page gives the Diamond Doll (Kimberly) a bouquet of roses. Later, she
   finds a chain in the flowers. Page calls for the chain, but she throws it
   to Badd, who uses it to floor Page, hides chain in trunks, and gets the
   pin. Badd then acts confused as to why Doll threw him the chain, but Doll
   is ecstatic that Johnny won.

 - Interview with Hart & Sullivan. Sullivan questions Hart about Luger's
   relationship with Sting.

 - CUTIE SUZUKI/MAYUMI OZAKI vs. BULL NAKANO/AKIRA HOKUTA (w/ Sonny Onoo)
   Hokuta and Nakano dominate in a sloppy but entertaining match. Hokuta
   pins Ozaki after using her husband Kensuki Sasaki's finisher. (A
   fisherman suplex-perfectplex-into a brainbuster. Or something like that).

 - HULK HOGAN vs. HUGH MORRUS
   Match lasts less than 4 minutes. Morrus hits a moonsault headbutt and
   covers for the pin. Hogan kicks out, hulks up, hits the Big Boot, drops
   the Legdrop, gets the pin.
 
 - Interview with Randy Savage. Hogan comes out. Runs a clip of him
   eliminating Sting, Luger, and the Giant in battle royal at World War 3.
   Suddebly tape's picture goes out before Savage can see Giant pulling
   Hogan out under bottom rope. Giant comes out and hits Hogan with a
   double axehandle, then chokeslams Savage on the rampway. Giant sends
   Hogan into the ring. Prepares to deliver a legdrop, but Sting comes out 
   and grabs his foot. Giant grabs Sting. Hogan recovers and retrieves a
   steel chair. Delivers ELEVEN chair shots, driving the Giant out of the
   ring area. Sting stops Hogan from pursuing. Savage is show "unconscious"
   on arena floor.

 - STING/LEX LUGER vs. ARN ANDERSON/BRIAN PILLMAN
   Sting & Luger dominate until Sting puts Arn in Scorpion. Pillman goes to
   the top turnbuckle. Luger knocks him off, but Pillman lands on Sting.
   Bischoff alledges it was on purpose. Sting pins Pillman as Ric Flair runs
   in. Flair posts Luger. Horsemen then work over Sting. Hogan comes in to
   make the save. Hogan then goes after Luger, but Sting stops him.

 - Next week's main event: No matches mentioned, as they ran out of time.

Comments: Wild show! Absence of Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero, and the recently
departed Sabu was a bit disappointing, but they made up for it with a lot of
action among the heavyweights. The angles are getting more confusing, but
for the moment they are enjoyable. This women's match was better than the
one that ran simultaneously on RAW (IMO).

Bottom line: The WWF seems to be in something of a holding pattern while
it sorts out it's behind the scene's problems. WCW seems to be booking on
the fly. Hogan, who once looked to be leaving altogether, is now thoroughly
enmeshed in just about every major storyline. As a long time Macho Man fan,
it's kind of nice to see him with the title. I just wish he was healthy
enough to deliver some decent defenses. 

This week's winner: Nitro.