The Fed Zone: Reviewing WWF 1995

ChristianCaged · Thursday at 7:25 PM

Monday Night RAW (#93)

Date: 2 January 1995
Location: Liberty High School; Liberty, NY
Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon & Shawn Michaels

Tonight, Double J sings!

This is the last of the holiday taping cycle from a high school gym in New York and looks incredibly low rent. For some reason Grumpy Gorilla is covering this one in front of the green screen with HBK.

Lex Luger & The British Bulldog fought The Million Dollar Corporation (Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka) to a double count out (8:46)
Luger and Bulldog are not yet The Allied Powers, as you sense they still see Luger as a star for now. Lex gets attacked on arrival before Bulldog can make his entrance, and the heels quickly get the upper hand, putting the heat on Lex in what is a very basic, chronically dull tag team match. Eventually, Lex makes it to his corner and gets the hot tag, letting Bulldog run wild for a bit. Then things head out to the floor for a lazy double countout. Snooze fest with a crappy finish, but we'll come back to this later. *

Royal Rumble Report now as Todd Pettengill hilariously shits all over the finish of the last match before running down the card for the Royal Rumble. Also, Pamela Anderson will be there! Hopefully she scats and tells the snowman to stay away (iykyk). Meanwhile, The Roadie is getting shit together for Jarrett's big performance. This is a rare mid-nineties gimmick I actually quite dig.

Duke Droese def. Mike Bell (1:34)
Very straight-forward squash here with little to no selling of any kind by Dumpster. Probably for the best. An awesome looking Trash Compactor finishes it. At least he had one good move.

~~Papa Shango~~ Kama is coming! On a motorbike!

King's Court now with Owen Hart. I think Neidhart had been fired at this point as Owen comes out to meet King alone. Owen has a bombshell to share, which is that he'll win the WWF Championship and never lose it, unlike Bret. Very on brand for Owen. This was an awkward segment as Owen was never comfortable talking for too long and Gorilla was jabbering constantly over the top of it.

Jeff Jarrett def. Buck Quartermaine (2:52)
Before he sings, Jarrett has a ham 'n' egger to bounce. This was another brief squash with very little offense given to Quartermaine at all, as Double J took it easy and mostly strutted around before synching in the figure-four for the win.

Post-match, it's time for Double J to perform, but in a predictable bit the mic is too loud, the spotlight goes missing, and the mic stand collapses. Monsoon actually blames Kevin Dunn for this and they didn't edit it out. I guess Dunn must have been gnawing his way through a redwood or something.

In what I can only assume was a USA Network cross-promotional bit, Super Dave Osborne gets into mischief, including a pretty hilarious stunt-gone-wrong that made me wish I was watching his show instead.

Lex Luger & British Bulldog def. The Million Dollar Corporation (4:58)
After the non-finish earlier, it's declared that the match must continue! Great. It pretty much resumes the same formula as earlier, with Lex getting beaten down by the heels. More interestingly, HBK absolutely buries Luger on the call for a lack of talent. He gets to Bulldog for the hot tag once again and Davey cleans house. Tatanka gets whipped into Bam Bam on the apron and Bulldog makes the cover for the win. This didn't need to exist. 1/2*

As the heels leave, DiBiase gets on top of Bam Bam, so it's pretty obvious where that's going. And we're outta time.

Overall, thumbs way down for this show, which came off lazy and thoughtless in pretty much every way.

NEXT WEEK: RAW has its second birthday; Razor faces Owen (that should be good); Shatner reunites with King; and Whippleman takes on Fink in a Tuexedo Match! Good lord.

ChristianCaged · Saturday at 10:46 AM

Monday Night RAW #94

Date: 9 January 1995
Location: The Summit; Houston, TX
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Shawn Michaels

Monday Night RAW is two years old...

We're live from an actual venue tonight, as RAW celebrates its second birthday from The Summit. We've got a classic, MSG-inspired set up, with the hard cam facing the entrance.

Later tonight, William Shatner joins Jerry Lawler on The King's Court, but warns him that he's not looking for a fight. He just wants to promote TEK WAR (you guessed it, a new USA Network show).

Intercontinental Championship: Owen Hart def. Razor Ramon (c) via DQ (11:13)
Well this is a worthy match for RAW's birthday. Razor attacks Owen right from the starting, threatening to waffle his opponent with the IC Title right away until the ref pulls it off him. This is of course a rematch of the 1994 King of the Ring final where Owen and Anvil screwed Razor. The first segment of the match is pretty much all Razor, as he beats on Owen, grinds him down and hits an impressive fall-away slam. Owen makes a comeback after the break, hitting a tope out to Razor before levelling him with a bunch of flying kicks, before swinging around Razor like a pole in a sweet transition into the sleeper. Razor back body drops Owen out of that and we're at a stalemate. Owen then gets back on top, but just as soon as that happens Bret returns for his first RAW appearance since Survivor Series and attacks Owen for the DQ. This brings out Jeff Jarrett for a four-man brawl, which the geeks eventually quell. Really good match here between Razor and Owen, who were cooking up something special until the non-finish. ***¼

Royal Rumble Report now with Todd Pettengill, who runs down the card once again. We also cut to a Diesel promo in his "I'm trying to be a cool babyface" voice, as he gets in some subtle jabs on Bret over his absence. Man, Diesel just sucked in this role and they stuck with it for *so* long.

Lawler previews King's Court, and Shatner better pay him some respect.

Hakushi def. Matt Hardy (1:06)
One of those weird RAW matches that's only cool in retrospect. In fairness, Matt gets to show off some athleticism early with a flip off the turnbuckle, but the rest of this is the *awesome* Hakushi just hitting him with all kinds of sick, ahead-of-its-time offense. A bit of a weak finish ends it early.

It's time for King's Court, as Lawler welcomes William Shatner to the ring. When you think about it, Shatner was comfortably one of the biggest celebrities they had got on the show to this point, and at a real low point for the business. Shatner isn't impressed by King and that riles the latter up. He starts getting physical, but William Shatner gets him in an arm lock and then monkey flips him. King is all embarrassed, so Bret comes out and rubs it in some more by lifting Shatner's hand. Jarrett is out again to have his Memphis buddy's back and that's it. A pretty basic segment but at least it was to the point.

Everyone on the roster is calling Pam Anderson's phone. My money's on Doink, personally.

King Kong Bundy def. Gary Sabaugh (0:32)
As usual, a blink and you'll miss it squaaash from Bundy, who overcomes an early onslaught from Sabaugh and avalanches him in the corner for the pin. Bundy then tries to give HBK some flack at ringside, which is a subtle tease of the face turn we'll see in a few months.

In the Tag Team Championship Tournament, 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly replaced the Smoking Gunns and advance to face The Heavenly Bodies. The semi-finals will both happen on Superstars, because f*** me only doing the RAWs I guess.

Howard Finkel def. Harvey Whippleman in a Tuxedo Match (2:39)
If you're expecting a review of this, kindly see the exit door. They basically roll around in the ring and tear each other's clothes off. It hardly qualifies as a match but Finkel technically wins and him and the Bushwhackers dance as the Fink/Harvey feud mercifully reaches its conclusion. DUD

Vince and HBK close the show and preview next week, before Double J arrives to put the bad mouth on Bret. The Roadie will be on hand to stop any Shatner shenanigans.

I'll give this a thumbs in the middle, as I quite enjoyed the first featured match and King's Court was mildly entertaining for once, but man Fink vs. Harvey was dreadful (albeit short).

NEXT WEEK: It's the go-home show for Royal Rumble, as Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett collide. That should be fun.

ChristianCaged · Sunday at 2:19 PM

Monday Night RAW #95

Date: 16 January 1995
Location: The Summit; Houston, TX
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Shawn Michaels

Bret gets back to business...

We're back at The Summit for week two of this taping, which happens to be the go-home show for Royal Rumble 1995. Shawn should be off the commentary desk and back in action after tonight, I think.

The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly def. The Heavenly Bodies (4:37)
Kid/Holly beat the Bodies on Superstars to advance to the finals of the Tag Team Championship Tournament, so this is the return match. Bodies jump right on top of the babyfaces from the off, and after some back-and-forth they manage to isolate and work some heat on Holly. As Bigelow and Tatanka arrive to cast an eye on their Rumble opponents, Holly gets to Kid for the hot tag and things breakdown. After a neat little exchange, Kid manages to hook Jimmy Del Ray into a Northern Lights Suplex for the pin. Fine little match for the amount of time given. *½

Backstage, Bret Hart and William Shatner look forward to the featured match. Shatner will be in Bret's corner to keep "Roadkill" out of trouble.

Mantaur def. Jason Ahrndt (1:43)
Oh dear lord, it's the RAW debut of Mantaur! Now being managed by Cornette, which feels like a rib, he no longer rocks the animal head and just looks like a generic fat guy with weird hair. This is a pretty lousy squash with Mantaur looking absolute ass. He falls on Ahrndt for the win.

Royal Rumble Report now, as Todd makes one more hard sell for the PPV. Here's the final card:

• 30-Man Royal Rumble
• WWF Championship: Diesel (c) vs. Bret Hart
• Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett
• World Tag Team Championships: 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly vs. The Million Dollar Corporation (Tatanka & Bam Bam Bigelow)
• The Undertaker vs. IRS

Bret Hart def. Jeff Jarrett (9:00)
Hey, an actual finish! Jarrett does a lot of stalling early, but Bret soon gets a hold of him and starts kicking his ass, forcing Jeff to cower away. Double J's attempts to get back into it are foiled as Bret consistently out-wrestles him, but some extraneous involvement from Roadie helps Jarrett take the advantage. He even manages to synch in the figure-four on Bret, but he makes it to the rope with the support of Shatner. Bret then gets the roll-up on Jarrett as the momentum reverses and pins him. This was fine and technically sound, but they didn't really click and a lot of the match felt like going through the motions. **½

Post-match, Roadie tries to get a few licks in on Bret but Shatner is on hand to protect the Hitman and gets to embarrass Jarrett's stooge before hurling him out of the ring. Get Captain Kirk in the Rumble match!

This week on King's Court, Lawler welcomes Ted DiBiase and his Million Dollar Corporation. He cuts a promo promising three victories at Royal Rumble for his charges. Once again, Shawn poo-poohs the notion of Bundy winning the Rumble, subtly hinting at his face turn.

Mabel def. Lee Tobin (2:31)
Mo is back in action but Mabel is still being pushed as a single. Tobin actually gets a bit of offense here despite the huge size difference, but Mabel tosses him around and finishes him with the leg drop as the big man builds some momentum going into the Rumble.

Post-match, Vince and Shawn interview Mabel about the Rumble, which brings out Bundy for a fracas between two of the company's meatiest men. DiBiase manages to beg Bundy off, so we'll have to wait until Sunday for that major collision (sarcasm alert).

The episode closes with a Diesel video package, as the company continues its campaign of begging fans to like him.

Slight thumbs down for this episode, which had an okay but disappointing featured match and a bunch of ugly squashes. The company feels cold as ice right now so you can see the logic behind turning HBK into a face in a few months.

NEXT WEEK: The Smoking Gunns take on whoever the new World Tag Team Champions turn out to be and we speak to the winner of the Royal Rumble!

ChristianCaged · 2025-08-12T03:02:32-0400

Royal Rumble 1995

Date: 22 January 1995
Location: Sun Dome; Tampa, FL
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

The night of The Heartbreak Kid...

Pamela Anderson is here and the locker room empties to ogle her. Send them all to horny jail right away. Vince and King welcome us to the show.

Intercontinental Championship: Jeff Jarrett def. Razor Ramon (c) (18:06)
Big pop for Razor entering in his "home state". Razor takes charge of the match early, hitting Jarrett with a bunch of strikes and forcing him to retreat to the floor, where he consults with Roadie. Back in the ring, Jarrett goes for the strength test, but that doesn't go so well. Double J does pick up some steam eventually, using his pace and agility to pick away at Razor, and the two have a fun pin fall exchange, with Jarrett trying to use the ropes until he gets caught. Then we get a paradigm shift as Jarrett lifts Razor out of the ring, causing him to hurt the knee. Jarrett distracts and Roadie goes to town on Razor's knee on the outside, which leads to the count out. Not satisfied with this, Jarrett goads Razor into restarting the match so we can get a definitive winner, and then goes after the injured knee once the action resumes. This all builds up to the figure-four, which Razor overcomes. Unfortunately, his knee buckles on an attempted Razor's Edge and Jarrett rolls him up for the title. I don't think this needed all the bullshit with the false finish, but it got Jarrett over as a bit of a schemer I guess. Nothing extraordinary here, but the action was good and, as ever, the crowd really gets into Razor matches. ***

Backstage, Todd meets Pam Anderson, while Double J celebrates.

The Undertaker def. IRS (12:21)
The first of many Undertaker vs. Million Dollar Corporation matches in 1995 *gulp*. This all started with IRS hanging around in graveyards trying to tax dead people. IRS gets the jump on Taker after the big entrance, but Undertaker is too powerful for the tax man and fends him off. After IRS is sent flying into Ted DiBiase on the apron, the heels retreat and call upon their druids (by the looks of it, two jobbers in ill-fitting monk costumes). With their help IRS gets back into it, hitting Taker with a bunch of elbow and leg drops to try and keep him down. That doesn't work though and the druids start to get creative, beating on Taker outside the ring off a distraction. Taker then manages to take them out while going for a Tombstone, only to get clocked by IRS' big clothesline. That's not enough for a win though, and Undertaker finishes him with a chokeslam. It probably benefits by comparison to Undertaker's last few PPV matches, but this was not terrible and at least IRS got Taker moving a bit quicker in the ring. *½

Post-match, the heels gather themselves and go on the attack, as King Kong Bundy emerges to face down Undertaker and set up his next programme. Meanwhile, IRS "repossesses" the urn (which is about the size of the Champions League trophy by now) and Bundy leaves Undertaker laying while Paul Bearer wails.

In some pre-recorded interviews, neither Bret Hart or Diesel want to speak to Todd Pettengill ahead of their WWF Championship match.

WWF Championship: Diesel (c) fought Bret Hart to a draw (27:19)
Big-match feel right off the bat here, as Bret goes for shock-and-awe early. Diesel bats him off though and hits a big slam to take control. Bret changes tact and manages to start a campaign on Diesel's knee, smashing it into the ring post before working it over the ring. Diesel squirms out of a figure-four using the rope, but Bret keeps up the momentum by hitting a tope out of the ring! Sweet! The momentum shifts again though as Diesel whips Bret into the ring steps and then works him over in the ring with a side body slam and torture rack for good measure. Bret manages to reverse out of this position though and does some clever, heel-ish stuff to regain control, like using his wrist tape to tie up Diesel's legs in the corner and continue the attack on the knee. More quickfire offense from Bret now, but his attempt to hit the cross body out of the ring is foiled when Diesel catches and drives him back-first into the ring post. That's a pretty neat set-up for the Jackknife, but HBK is on hand to break up the pin and attack Diesel. Hebner decides that he isn't going to let this end in a DQ and the match MUST CONTINUE! Bret tries to take advantage of Diesel's weakened knee and applied more submissions. Bret actually gets a bit naughty around this point, even going for a chair shot against the post with Diesel's knee sandwiched between, but that misses. Fans are starting to boo Bret for his heel tactics now, so I guess the dynamic is working. Bret applies the Sharpshooter and Diesel looks finished but not Owen Hart is out to break that up, exposing a top turnbuckle in the process. He fires Bret into the turnbuckle and takes a walk, but Hebner still insists the match MUST CONTINUE! Both guys are going through it now, as Bret tries to sneak a win by a playing possum and hooking an inside cradle for a great near fall. Both men then collide with the referee and everybody is down! That brings out all the heels once again and everything breaks down as Hebner finally calls for the bell and the stooges try to break things up. It's a draw! This was pretty great and a little bit better than their KOTR match, as you can see Diesel has more experience now and Bret's heelish antics gave this bout a fresh flavour. A shame about the finish but they clearly didn't want to beat Bret or Diesel at this point and at least they'd have a chance to settle the score later in the year. ****

Post-match, Bret and Diesel collect themselves and hug it out, confirming that they're both babyfaces for the foreseeable.

Meanwhile, backstage, Pettengill continues creeping on Pamela Anderson and Stephanie Wiand interviews Kid and Holly, the "cinderella" team, ahead of the World Tag Team Championship match.

World Tag Team Championships: 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly def. The Million Dollar Corporation (Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka) (15:32)
Fast start to this one as Holly and Tatanka exchange blows, but neither man gets the upper hand. Holly tags in Kid as Tatanka tags in Bigelow, and the latter crushes both his opponents with a huge double clothesline. Bigelow is clearly feeling it tonight. He goes toe-to-toe with Kid now, and in awesome spot gets him up for a power bomb, only for Kid to reverse it mid-air into a rana. The crowd went wild for that one. Kid then manages to lift Bam Bam over the top rope for a back body drop out of the ring. Holly and Tatanka are back in now and the heels finally start working some heat on the plucky babyfaces, as Holly gets caught in the opposite corner and worn down by Tatanka and Bigelow's quick tags. Holly even does the wrong corner spot! Nice. He eventually makes it over to Kid for the hot tag and Kid runs wild, hitting a ton of flying offense, including a sick springboard dive onto Tatanka. Bigelow manages to neutralise Kid and sets up for the DOOMSAULT, but the heels get their wires crossed and Tatanka accidentally knocks Bam Bam off. Kid takes advantage after the everybody down count and pins Bigelow to win the belts, in a pretty underwhelming finish. This was pretty decent, and 1-2-3 Kid put in an excellent performance, but the long heat segment on Holly brings it down a bit for me. **¾

Post-match, DiBiase and Tatanka abandon Bigelow, who wakes up from his fall and then circles ringside as the fans berate him. He eventually comes across Lawrence Taylor, who laughs in his face. Bigelow gets pissed at this and full-on shoves Taylor to the ground. I wonder where that's heading?

As if it wasn't already obvious that this year's Rumble is full of jobbers, the usual pre-match carousel of promos is just...HBK and Luger. Oh dear. Before the Rumble kicks off, Pamela Anderson gets the big entrance and is wearing a dress that seems to be made by Adidas?

Shawn Michaels won the Royal Rumble, last eliminating The British Bulldog (38:41)

• It's the shortest 30-Man Royal Rumble of all time, as a wise decision was made to reduce the entrance intervals to just a minute. So as rubbish as this Rumble is, at least it flies by.
• HBK is out at #1 and faces off with Bulldog at #2, so that's two of the four or five biggest stars entered already. They end up being the only two in the ring on a couple more occasions throughout the match, including the finish, so there's an attempt to tell some kind of story there.
• Absolute jobber procession fills out the first third of the match, to the point that it actually becomes a comedy. Where the hell did they find Rick Martel? This is the last of seven Rumble matches for Martel, so actually nice for him to make an appearance here.
• Owen Hart is #11 but Bret Hart attacks him before he can even get to the ring, and by the time Owen does get in, Bulldog dumps him straight away (and off camera, just to make it worse).
• After HBK and Bulldog manage to survive a mid-match purge, King Kong Bundy is out at #15 and makes an impact straight away, dumping #16 Mo. Mabel is #17 and we get the showdown promised on RAW, and Mabel actually makes pretty short work of him. I don't think Bundy could last too long out there.
• Lex Luger is #19 and he tosses Mabel to mark himself out as a new favourite in the match.
• The next significant entrance is Bob Backlund at #25, and once again Bret Hart and his new attitude are on hand to cause trouble, attacking Backlund before he can make it to the ring. Backlund makes it inside after the stooges pull Bret away, but Luger dumps him straight away.
• Dick Murdoch is #27 in one of the most random Rumble entries ever. You couldn't have just had Jarrett or Razor do double duty?
• Returning in the #30 spot is Crush, and the crowd goes mild.
• The final four, after a whole bunch of eliminations, is HBK, Bulldog, Luger and Crush. HBK, who has spent most of the match getting the crap beat out of him, catches Luger out as he wails on Crush in the corner, launching him over the top, before convincing Crush to join a double-team against Bulldog.
• That truce doesn't last long, but Bulldog clotheslines Crush out and HBK survives. This is all leading to an admittedly iconic finish, as Davey hurls Shawn and then celebrates victory, only to be thrown off the corner and out of the ring as we discover that only one of Shawn's feet touched the floor. This is a spot we'll see time and time again in future Rumbles, but you can't beat the original.
• Post-match, HBK poses awkwardly with Pamela Anderson, and the latter clearly wants to get away from the sweaty freak post haste.

Needless to say, this is not a good Rumble. At best, about a third of the participants are not what you'd call lower card talent and even some of the stars who do enter (Owen, Backlund) are barely in the match. The quicker pace and the awesome finishing spot help but this can't survive just how bad the roster was around this time. Probably the worst Rumble yet. **

Overall

Man, this was shaping up to be one hell of a show for the mid-nineties but the crappy Rumble sucks the wind out of it. I think if your undercard (i.e., everyone but Diesel and Bret) also enters the Rumble then you're looking at a far better show overall. As it is, this is still an enjoyable few hours and even a poor Rumble is usually entertaining enough. 6/10

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