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That's right, we're doing WWF, too! If we're going to do a weekly WCW Monday Nitro review starting with episode 1, we might as well cover the entirety of the Monday night war. To do so, we're also going to cover WWF Superstars. RAW and Nitro were on Mondays, and Saturday Night and Superstars both aired on Saturdays. This thread begins with the September 9, 1995 edition of Superstars, because oddly enough, there was no RAW on September 4. I never knew this before, but Nitro had no competition on their debut episode, as 09/04/1995 was the only time in history RAW took the week off. So, let's jump into it with my Retro WWF Review of Superstars on 09/09/1995.
WWF Superstars
09/09/1995
Canton, OH
Memorial Civic Center
Another first for me, as I present to you my Retro WWF Review of WWF Superstars on September 9, 1995. The 1995 journey began with WCW Monday Nitro from September 4, on the only night RAW ever took a night off. At the time, WWF was still running Challenge, Action Zone, weekly shows on the MSG Network, and who knows what all other programs. To save my own sanity, I’m keeping it simple and will only be doing reviews of RAW and Superstars.
Before I get started on this taping, I just want to say 1995 WWF sucked. I’ve seen some of the Pay Per Views, I’ve watched a RAW or two in the past, but this is my first time actually diving into the weekly product of that era. The first thing we see on this taping is Man Mountain Rock. I’d just like to say, for 30 years, Kevin Nash has been blamed as the worst WWF Champion of all time because he was the lowest drawing. This was not Kevin Nash’s fault. I wouldn’t have been caught dead buying tickets to a show in this era. I don’t care about Man Mountain Rock, Jean-Pierre Lafitte, or Dean Douglas. That’s half our show right there. So no, it’s not Kevin Nash’s fault I think this show sucked. The poor guy had nothing to work with.
With that off my chest, let’s get into this thing. My first review of WWF Superstars from September 9, 1995. Enjoy.
PART 1: SYCHO SID DANGEROUS MAN, BRITISH BULLDOG ENGLISH MAN
We kick things off with a hype video and voiceover from Vince McMahon. Right off the bat, I have to mention that Vince is my all-time favorite commentator. The things people hated about his announcing are the things I love. I’ll point a couple things out as we go along here.
He’s hyping up the debut of Dean Douglas. Douglas has issues with Razor Ramon and will be taking on the 123 Kid later on tonight. We’ve heard that the Kid was WWF’s “measuring stick” at the time, and if the office wanted to see if a guy would make it, they’d put them in the ring with the Kid. I’m curious if that was the case here, or if they knew Shane Douglas was good and just wanted to use Kid to progress the story with Razor. Either way, the gimmick sucked and he was doomed from the start.
And now we watch the all-time worst wrestling intro of all time. I don’t know who sings the Superstars theme song, but it sounded like Michael Hayes a time or two. Whoever it was should be ashamed of themselves. This was awful. The lyrics are so 90s-cartoon-for-kids crap that I GUESS was a trend at the time. I don’t know how else to describe it. “Sycho Sid dangerous man, British Bulldog English man” are the caliber of lyrics we’re listening to.
McMahon and Jerry Lawler are on commentary, so at least that should be fun for me. On tonight’s show will be Shawn Michaels taking on the Million Dollar Corporation’s Tatanka in the main event. Also, Owen Hart and Yokozuna will defend the WWF Tag Team Titles.
PART 2: MAN MOUNTAIN ROCK VS JEAN-PIERRE LAFITTE
In the ring, Man Mountain Rock (MMR) is playing his WWF guitar. Immediately, I hear a lot of fan interaction but see everyone sitting on their hands. That takes points away for me. I understand piping in crowd noise, but I hate it. It’s distracting for me and I’d personally rather hear crickets throughout the show because then the genuine reactions mean more. But I’ve never run a TV show, so what do I know?
MMR continues playing guitar while McMahon and Lawler talk over him the whole time. As a guitar player myself, I can tell MMR was legitimately playing in the ring. There was no sound-synching or any of that. I respect him playing the instrument, but does anyone really come to a wrestling show for that? It was an ambitious gimmick, but I just don’t think things like that work unless you’re a heel and you use it to progress your stories (Rock, Elias, or even Boogs/Shinsuke).
After the song, Jean-Pierre LaFitte (JPL) makes his entrance. McMahon tells us JPL is a real modern-day pirate who has a habit of stealing from Bret Hart and from children. He stole Bret Hart’s jacket, stole the pink shades from a child last week, and will have to answer for his crimes at In Your House when he faces the Hitman. MMR was allegedly at the MTV Video Music Awards the previous week. Or at least that’s what McMahon wanted us to believe.
This was not a terrible match. A good little back and forth opener that saw JPL pick up the win after his Cannonball.
WINNER: JEAN-PIERRE LAFITTE
PART 3: IN YOUR HOUSE REPORT
We go now to Todd Pettengill with your In Your House report. In Your House 3 takes place on September 24 and will be headlined by the TRIPLE HEADER MAIN EVENT… more info on that later. Also on the card, Bret Hart will take on Jean-Pierre LaFitte. We get a Bret promo here where he says he knows JPL is used to living like an outlaw on the high tides, but JPL is swimming in Bret’s pool now. Bret won’t stand for JPL stealing children or him.
Also at IYH 3, we’ll get Razor Ramon vs Dean Douglas and Savio Vega vs Waylon Mercy. I’m actually excited to watch this show.
PART 4: SHAWN MICHAELS/SYCHO SID HYPE
We get a hype video telling the story of Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid, which will happen on the 09/11/1995 RAW. Sid was brought back to the WWF earlier this year as Shawn’s new bodyguard in the build to Wrestlemania 11 against Diesel. Shawn blamed Sid for costing Shawn the match, because Shawn had Diesel laid out but the referee was knocked out, and Sid woke the referee up. Diesel kicked out and came back to defeat Shawn Michaels in the match. So… this was Sid’s fault, according to Shawn. And Shawn is our babyface here?
Sid is now aligned with Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation. We get a quick shot of Sid standing in the shadows whispering like a psychopath and SID IS AWESOME. I LOVE SID.
PART 5: 123 KID VS DEAN DOUGLAS
The 123 Kid makes his entrance and I still love his entrance music. I do not, however, love Dean Douglas’s entrance music. It begins with nails on a chalkboard. If that doesn’t sum up an entire run of a gimmick in wrestling, I’d like to see what does. Even the referee cringed in the ring when he heard it.
Dean Douglas has a decent match with the Kid here. Douglas looks strong, dominates most of the match, and gets a disqualification win after Razor Ramon interferes. Douglas began picking Kid’s shoulders up during pinfalls because he wanted to inflict more punishment. Razor wouldn’t stand for it, so he comes to ringside fired up. Douglas knocks Razor off the apron, prompting Razor to jump in and attack Douglas. After the match, the 123 Kid is upset with Razor Ramon for costing him the match, which will set up the eventual turn when the Kid will join the Million Dollar Corporation.
WINNER: DEAN DOUGLAS VIA DQ
PART 6: GOLDUST VIGNETTE
We get the classic Goldust vignette with Los Angeles in the background. This is very early Goldust, not much black face paint on top of the gold, his music is just some generic/dramatic sounding weird (bizarre, if you will) tune. I’m pumped for early Goldust. That sounded bad.
PART 7: OWEN HART/YOKOZUNA VS AC CONNER/TONY WILLIAMS
The World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championships are on the line as Owen Hart and Yokozuna defend against AC Conner (D’Lo Brown) and Tony Williams. Two things: I love getting to see Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette, and I love being able to say WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION. Of all the differences between WWF/WWE, I think that’s what I miss the most. It feels big, it feels fun, and it feels right.
During the entrance of the champs, our “Triple Header Main Event” for In Your House is finally explained. It will be a tag team match featuring Owen Hart and Yokozuna against Shawn Michaels and Diesel with all titles on the line. Basically, a winner-take-all match. If Owen Hart pins Diesel, his team retains the Tag Team Titles, Owen will be the WWF Champion, and Yokozuna will be the Intercontinental Champion. If Michaels or Diesel win the match, they will be the new Tag Team Champions. They’ve done this a time or two over the years (Backlash 2001 comes to mind) and I love it. It’s rare and it always felt huge to me as a kid.
This is a squash match, quite literally. Yoko catches Tony Williams in mid-air and just slams him onto the mat with all 600 lbs coming down on top of him. But instead of going for the pin, Yokozuna tags in Owen Hart just so Owen can score the pinfall. Owen was such a scumball heel and I love it so much. Owen was great.
WINNERS: OWEN HART AND YOKOZUNA
PART 8: SHAWN MICHAELS VS TATANKA
Before our main event, we get more teases for Shawn Michaels and Sycho Sid on RAW next Monday. They’ve mentioned the dynamic that if Sycho Sid beats Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship, what will that mean for the main event of IYH?
Tatanka has recently joined the Million Dollar Corporation. And I LOVE Tatanka. He was one of the few lucky guys who survived the gimmicks of the mid-90s. He started in 1992 as a white-meat babyface, had a great undefeated streak until he didn’t, fell into obscurity somewhere along the line, and decided to take the money from DiBiase because the fans never truly cared about him. Asshole Tatanka is my favorite Tatanka, which is unfortunate, because there’s not a lot of him to watch. I’ve often wondered what went wrong or why he didn’t last longer in the WWF.
The match starts with Shawn Michaels making fun of Tatanka’s Native American heritage with the stereotypical gestures that wouldn’t fly in 2025. Again, am I supposed to believe Shawn Michaels is a babyface? After my aforementioned breakdown of Tatanka’s character arc and now Shawn’s blatant racism directed at Tatanka, I feel bad for the guy. I’m Team Tatanka.
It’s a short but fun match that ends with a superkick and a pinfall for Shawn Michaels. After the match, we get a promo from Shawn Michaels hyping up RAW and IYH and says he’s coming for all the gold. Knowing the behind-the-scenes stories these days, we can surmise Shawn Michaels was 100% shooting when he said he was coming for all the gold.
WINNER: SHAWN MICHAELS
After Shawn’s promo, we get more Todd Pettengill and MORE hype for Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid on RAW. Vince McMahon wraps up the telecast and asks Lawler to tell everyone, “goodnight, King.” Jerry Lawler ends the show by saying, “Goodnight, King.”
And that’s a wrap. Final thoughs:
So that’s WWF Superstars on September 9, 1995.
WWF Superstars
09/09/1995
Canton, OH
Memorial Civic Center
Another first for me, as I present to you my Retro WWF Review of WWF Superstars on September 9, 1995. The 1995 journey began with WCW Monday Nitro from September 4, on the only night RAW ever took a night off. At the time, WWF was still running Challenge, Action Zone, weekly shows on the MSG Network, and who knows what all other programs. To save my own sanity, I’m keeping it simple and will only be doing reviews of RAW and Superstars.
Before I get started on this taping, I just want to say 1995 WWF sucked. I’ve seen some of the Pay Per Views, I’ve watched a RAW or two in the past, but this is my first time actually diving into the weekly product of that era. The first thing we see on this taping is Man Mountain Rock. I’d just like to say, for 30 years, Kevin Nash has been blamed as the worst WWF Champion of all time because he was the lowest drawing. This was not Kevin Nash’s fault. I wouldn’t have been caught dead buying tickets to a show in this era. I don’t care about Man Mountain Rock, Jean-Pierre Lafitte, or Dean Douglas. That’s half our show right there. So no, it’s not Kevin Nash’s fault I think this show sucked. The poor guy had nothing to work with.
With that off my chest, let’s get into this thing. My first review of WWF Superstars from September 9, 1995. Enjoy.
PART 1: SYCHO SID DANGEROUS MAN, BRITISH BULLDOG ENGLISH MAN
We kick things off with a hype video and voiceover from Vince McMahon. Right off the bat, I have to mention that Vince is my all-time favorite commentator. The things people hated about his announcing are the things I love. I’ll point a couple things out as we go along here.
He’s hyping up the debut of Dean Douglas. Douglas has issues with Razor Ramon and will be taking on the 123 Kid later on tonight. We’ve heard that the Kid was WWF’s “measuring stick” at the time, and if the office wanted to see if a guy would make it, they’d put them in the ring with the Kid. I’m curious if that was the case here, or if they knew Shane Douglas was good and just wanted to use Kid to progress the story with Razor. Either way, the gimmick sucked and he was doomed from the start.
And now we watch the all-time worst wrestling intro of all time. I don’t know who sings the Superstars theme song, but it sounded like Michael Hayes a time or two. Whoever it was should be ashamed of themselves. This was awful. The lyrics are so 90s-cartoon-for-kids crap that I GUESS was a trend at the time. I don’t know how else to describe it. “Sycho Sid dangerous man, British Bulldog English man” are the caliber of lyrics we’re listening to.
McMahon and Jerry Lawler are on commentary, so at least that should be fun for me. On tonight’s show will be Shawn Michaels taking on the Million Dollar Corporation’s Tatanka in the main event. Also, Owen Hart and Yokozuna will defend the WWF Tag Team Titles.
PART 2: MAN MOUNTAIN ROCK VS JEAN-PIERRE LAFITTE
In the ring, Man Mountain Rock (MMR) is playing his WWF guitar. Immediately, I hear a lot of fan interaction but see everyone sitting on their hands. That takes points away for me. I understand piping in crowd noise, but I hate it. It’s distracting for me and I’d personally rather hear crickets throughout the show because then the genuine reactions mean more. But I’ve never run a TV show, so what do I know?
MMR continues playing guitar while McMahon and Lawler talk over him the whole time. As a guitar player myself, I can tell MMR was legitimately playing in the ring. There was no sound-synching or any of that. I respect him playing the instrument, but does anyone really come to a wrestling show for that? It was an ambitious gimmick, but I just don’t think things like that work unless you’re a heel and you use it to progress your stories (Rock, Elias, or even Boogs/Shinsuke).
After the song, Jean-Pierre LaFitte (JPL) makes his entrance. McMahon tells us JPL is a real modern-day pirate who has a habit of stealing from Bret Hart and from children. He stole Bret Hart’s jacket, stole the pink shades from a child last week, and will have to answer for his crimes at In Your House when he faces the Hitman. MMR was allegedly at the MTV Video Music Awards the previous week. Or at least that’s what McMahon wanted us to believe.
This was not a terrible match. A good little back and forth opener that saw JPL pick up the win after his Cannonball.
WINNER: JEAN-PIERRE LAFITTE
PART 3: IN YOUR HOUSE REPORT
We go now to Todd Pettengill with your In Your House report. In Your House 3 takes place on September 24 and will be headlined by the TRIPLE HEADER MAIN EVENT… more info on that later. Also on the card, Bret Hart will take on Jean-Pierre LaFitte. We get a Bret promo here where he says he knows JPL is used to living like an outlaw on the high tides, but JPL is swimming in Bret’s pool now. Bret won’t stand for JPL stealing children or him.
Also at IYH 3, we’ll get Razor Ramon vs Dean Douglas and Savio Vega vs Waylon Mercy. I’m actually excited to watch this show.
PART 4: SHAWN MICHAELS/SYCHO SID HYPE
We get a hype video telling the story of Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid, which will happen on the 09/11/1995 RAW. Sid was brought back to the WWF earlier this year as Shawn’s new bodyguard in the build to Wrestlemania 11 against Diesel. Shawn blamed Sid for costing Shawn the match, because Shawn had Diesel laid out but the referee was knocked out, and Sid woke the referee up. Diesel kicked out and came back to defeat Shawn Michaels in the match. So… this was Sid’s fault, according to Shawn. And Shawn is our babyface here?
Sid is now aligned with Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation. We get a quick shot of Sid standing in the shadows whispering like a psychopath and SID IS AWESOME. I LOVE SID.
PART 5: 123 KID VS DEAN DOUGLAS
The 123 Kid makes his entrance and I still love his entrance music. I do not, however, love Dean Douglas’s entrance music. It begins with nails on a chalkboard. If that doesn’t sum up an entire run of a gimmick in wrestling, I’d like to see what does. Even the referee cringed in the ring when he heard it.
Dean Douglas has a decent match with the Kid here. Douglas looks strong, dominates most of the match, and gets a disqualification win after Razor Ramon interferes. Douglas began picking Kid’s shoulders up during pinfalls because he wanted to inflict more punishment. Razor wouldn’t stand for it, so he comes to ringside fired up. Douglas knocks Razor off the apron, prompting Razor to jump in and attack Douglas. After the match, the 123 Kid is upset with Razor Ramon for costing him the match, which will set up the eventual turn when the Kid will join the Million Dollar Corporation.
WINNER: DEAN DOUGLAS VIA DQ
PART 6: GOLDUST VIGNETTE
We get the classic Goldust vignette with Los Angeles in the background. This is very early Goldust, not much black face paint on top of the gold, his music is just some generic/dramatic sounding weird (bizarre, if you will) tune. I’m pumped for early Goldust. That sounded bad.
PART 7: OWEN HART/YOKOZUNA VS AC CONNER/TONY WILLIAMS
The World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championships are on the line as Owen Hart and Yokozuna defend against AC Conner (D’Lo Brown) and Tony Williams. Two things: I love getting to see Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette, and I love being able to say WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION. Of all the differences between WWF/WWE, I think that’s what I miss the most. It feels big, it feels fun, and it feels right.
During the entrance of the champs, our “Triple Header Main Event” for In Your House is finally explained. It will be a tag team match featuring Owen Hart and Yokozuna against Shawn Michaels and Diesel with all titles on the line. Basically, a winner-take-all match. If Owen Hart pins Diesel, his team retains the Tag Team Titles, Owen will be the WWF Champion, and Yokozuna will be the Intercontinental Champion. If Michaels or Diesel win the match, they will be the new Tag Team Champions. They’ve done this a time or two over the years (Backlash 2001 comes to mind) and I love it. It’s rare and it always felt huge to me as a kid.
This is a squash match, quite literally. Yoko catches Tony Williams in mid-air and just slams him onto the mat with all 600 lbs coming down on top of him. But instead of going for the pin, Yokozuna tags in Owen Hart just so Owen can score the pinfall. Owen was such a scumball heel and I love it so much. Owen was great.
WINNERS: OWEN HART AND YOKOZUNA
PART 8: SHAWN MICHAELS VS TATANKA
Before our main event, we get more teases for Shawn Michaels and Sycho Sid on RAW next Monday. They’ve mentioned the dynamic that if Sycho Sid beats Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship, what will that mean for the main event of IYH?
Tatanka has recently joined the Million Dollar Corporation. And I LOVE Tatanka. He was one of the few lucky guys who survived the gimmicks of the mid-90s. He started in 1992 as a white-meat babyface, had a great undefeated streak until he didn’t, fell into obscurity somewhere along the line, and decided to take the money from DiBiase because the fans never truly cared about him. Asshole Tatanka is my favorite Tatanka, which is unfortunate, because there’s not a lot of him to watch. I’ve often wondered what went wrong or why he didn’t last longer in the WWF.
The match starts with Shawn Michaels making fun of Tatanka’s Native American heritage with the stereotypical gestures that wouldn’t fly in 2025. Again, am I supposed to believe Shawn Michaels is a babyface? After my aforementioned breakdown of Tatanka’s character arc and now Shawn’s blatant racism directed at Tatanka, I feel bad for the guy. I’m Team Tatanka.
It’s a short but fun match that ends with a superkick and a pinfall for Shawn Michaels. After the match, we get a promo from Shawn Michaels hyping up RAW and IYH and says he’s coming for all the gold. Knowing the behind-the-scenes stories these days, we can surmise Shawn Michaels was 100% shooting when he said he was coming for all the gold.
WINNER: SHAWN MICHAELS
After Shawn’s promo, we get more Todd Pettengill and MORE hype for Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid on RAW. Vince McMahon wraps up the telecast and asks Lawler to tell everyone, “goodnight, King.” Jerry Lawler ends the show by saying, “Goodnight, King.”
And that’s a wrap. Final thoughs:
- I was not a fan. Superstars feels like a show that doesn’t know what it wants to accomplish. It wants to do enhancement matches, but it wants to showcase their actual stars. Is Man Mountain Rock a jobber? No, but he’s being booked as one. So next week, if Man Mountain Rock beats The Goon (I doubt this match happens, but I’m doing a hypothetical), what does that tell me about The Goon? If you’re going to do an enhancement match, use AC Conner, Tony Williams, Duane Gill, Randy Hogan, etc. Tatanka booked as enhancement to Shawn Michaels is no bueno for me. After watching and reviewing my first WCW Saturday Night, which aired on the same night, I can say WCW had the formula figured out and the WWF did not.
- They spend more time hyping RAW’s main event than the entire card at In Your House. Why are Savio Vega and Waylon Mercy having a match on Pay Per View? Nothing was said at all. Why would I watch a match if I have no reason to care about it?
- Diesel, the WWF Champion, wasn’t featured on this show at all. Everything was all about Shawn Michaels. I’m sure they knew by this time that Shawn was going to be the next face of the company, but this is a case of counting the chickens before they hatch. Anything could go wrong (and it did when Shawn picked a fight with a bunch of Marines and had to take time off), so why focus more on a secondary champion than your top champion? Diesel really didn’t stand a chance as the champion.
So that’s WWF Superstars on September 9, 1995.