The Fed Zone: Reviewing WWF 1995

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #129

Date: 2 October 1995
Location: Grand Center; Grand Rapids, MI (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon settle the score! Jean-Pierre Lafitte gets another crack at Bret Hart!

We're taped from Grand Rapids again this week. RAW actually won the live battle with Nitro last time, and in style. We'll see how long that lasts for them.

After a recap of last week's episode, Vince and Jerry welcome us to the show.

Razor Ramon def. The 1-2-3 Kid (2:55)
Razor (who is still yet to beat the Kid) takes charge of the match early and roughs him up using his physical advantage. Kid responds with speed and throws a series of kicks at Razor to level the playing field. Razor grabs him off one of them though and hits the fallaway slam. We see Dean Douglas in the aisle now, taking notes. Kid tries to mount a comeback and goes for a couple of leg drops, but the spinning heel kick misses Ramon, and Kid gets nailed with a clothesline for three. That's where I'm officially calling the match, but Kid is not done and wants another round. We go to a break just as Razor puts Kid in a stretch, and when we come back, we learn that Razor pinned him again. They're going at it for a THIRD round now, and Razor has the chance to go for the Razor's Edge, but pins Kid with a small package instead out of kindness. Post-match(es), Kid tries to restart things for a fourth round and gets two off a roll-up, but Ramon again resists the urge to Razor's Edge the little runt and they hug it out. I guess all is well? Probably not. This was an angle, not a match, and thus I won't give it a rating. I don't think it was very effective though; it made Kid (the soon-to-be heel) look like a loser and Razor (the babyface) seem like a dick.

It really seems like PPV reports are dead, as Vince and Jerry run down some of the matches for IYH4 (basically the same ones announced last week, plus Goldust vs. Marty Jannetty).

Also, tonight, you can vote on whether you think O.J. Simpson is innocent or not! All proceeds will go to a child abuse charity, which wasn't consulted about being associated with a poll about a murder trial and demanded an apology. D'oh!

Hunter Hearst Helmsley def. Barry Horowitz (5:34)
Barry still has his theme music! F*** yeah! Hunter dominates the early exchanges with his technical prowess, but Barry continues trying to steal pins and makes Hunter, currently undefeated, look a little unsure of himself. Barry then gets a genuine near fall off a Thesz Press and rolls Hunter up for another two count. Let's go Barry! Hunter really looks all at sea here, but gets his deadly Pedigree over by catching Barry in a split second — just as it looked like Horowitz was on top — and hitting the finish. That ends it for the blue blood. Decent enough extended squash, and I appreciate they're giving Barry the opportunity to look like more of a legit roster member. HHH moves on to the next contest (which will be Fatu at IYH4). (*½)

PG-13 def. Al Brown & Sonny Rogers (3:45)
First appearance for PG-13 here, who came over to work for WWF as part of a talent exchange with USWA. They're actually the USWA Tag Team Champions, so you can think of this like The Heavenly Bodies coming over from SMW a few years prior (although these guys don't wrestle nearly as many matches). There's not much to this one and the jobbers barely get any offense at all. PG-13 are pretty good at playing to the crowd though and they work a pretty neat top-rope bulldog into otherwise unremarkable offense. A tilt-a-whirl combo finishes it for the newcomers.

Bret Hart def. Jean-Pierre Lafitte (12:04 shown)
Lafitte gets on top and is the aggressor early, but Bret absorbs that pressure and takes things outside, giving Lafitte a sick slam onto the side of the steps. That looked painful as shit! Back inside, Lafitte recovers and rattles Bret by sending him flying into the ropes, which Bret sells like a beast. A brief REST HOLD follows, but Lafitte gets bored of that and heads up top for a flying headbutt. That connects but only gets two. Bret recovers and rolls up Lafitte into a small package for two, but Lafitte kicks out. Back from a break, Lafitte stays on top but can't connect with a legdrop and has to take things out to the floor, where Bret gets absolutely HURLED into the steps. Ouchie! Bret gets back in the ring and begins to mount an offense, hitting the atomic drop and middle-rope elbow (the classics). Lafitte gets a roll-up to halt Bret's momentum, but Hitman kicks out and meets Lafitte at the top as he goes for a Cannonball. A superplex follows and the Sharpshooter is locked in for a quick submission. And with that Lafitte is basically done in the WWF (besides a short Quebecers revival in a few years). This wasn't as good as their PPV bout but a really enjoyable TV match for the time with only one commercial breaking it up. Both guys took some really stiff shots here too. (***)

Post-match, Bret celebrates and draws the ire of Jerry Lawler on commentary, as this feud will NEVER END. Bret and Lawler get into it and King gets sent over the barricade into the crowd, but the Big Red Dentist Isaac Yankem saves Lawler's bacon and DDTs Bret on the outside. We learn after a break that Gorilla has been watching and will sanction a STEEL CAGE match on RAW in a few weeks between Bret and Yankem.

Before we finish, we get promos from the two all-star teams clashing next week, and discover that 51% of WWF fans think O.J. isn't guilty! I'm sure that will swing things.

Not quite as good an episode as last time, although the main event here was the best match on either show. This has that slightly diluted, taped feel to it. Thumbs in the middle.

NEXT WEEK: All-star tag action as Camp Cornette team up to face Diesel, HBK and The Undertaker!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #130

Date: 9 October 1995
Location: Grand Center; Grand Rapids, MI (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: Undertaker becomes the Third Dude with Attitude to take on Owen Hart, Yokozuna & The British Bulldog!

We're still in Grand Rapids and, for a second week in a row, RAW and Nitro were pretty much tied in the ratings.

Vince and Jerry welcome us to the show and we're right into the action, but not before we get a clip of Shawn Michaels getting all teary at the Survivor Series press conference. He loves kids, that's all!

Owen Hart, Yokozuna & British Bulldog def. Diesel, Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker (11:55 shown)
This is pretty much all the top talent — bar a few obvious names like Bret Hart and Razor Ramon — in one match. An early break means we join in progress, as Shawn works some catch sequences with Owen Hart, monkey flipping him across the ring. HBK then clotheslines Owen out of the ring and skins the cat, which always gets a pop from me. A massive brawl breaks up at this point, but Taker and Diesel DOUBLE BIG BOOT Yoko out the ring. After some order is restored Diesel and Bulldog tag in and mix it up a bit. It's just a quick tease for IYH4 though, as Big Daddy Cool tags in Taker, while Bulldog introduces Yoko. I don't need to see Yoko vs. Taker again, please and thank you. Undertaker goes up to the rope for OLD SCHOOL, but that doesn't keep Yokozuna down for long and he wipes out Taker with a big Samoan Drop. As usual, Undertaker barely sells and is up quickly to DDT his nemesis. Shawn enters now, as Waylon Mercy looks on from the shadows (you just lost to Savio bro, give it up), but Bulldog tags back in and roughs him up. A press slam and a lot of heat on Shawn follows, as we enter the commercials. Back from the break, Dean Douglas is out and taking notes, as everyone seems interested in this match. Owen tags Bulldog in as the heels continue to punish Shawn, and he levels HBK with a vertical suplex. Owen is back in now and puts Shawn in a REST HOLD. Shawn breaks free, only to get walloped with a spinning heel kick. That gets two as Owen goes up for a flying headbutt. Back from another break and both men are down (so I guess the headbutt missed), but Shawn makes it back to his corner and tags Diesel. He cleans house, but Owen clocks him from the outside and Diesel gets hoisted up for a power slam. That gets just two as Undertaker saves the day. The referee reprimands Taker, meanwhile Yoko drops the leg on Diesel. Bulldog covers and pins the champ! Pretty much exactly what you'd want from an all-star tag, setting up the PPV and weaving various other storylines in. None of the work was remarkable but I had fun with it. (***)

After the match, it's a full-on heel assault, as Dean Douglas and King Mabel join Camp Cornette in beating down the babyfaces. Everyone gets laid out, but this is famously where Undertaker fractures an orbital bone, leading to him wearing that weird mask for a while.

This beatdown is still being sold after another break, which means we should take it SERIOUSLY.

For some reason (maybe there were lacking for content or something) we now go back to Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem at SummerSlam, with Vince and Jerry commentating on the latter half of the match over the existing commentary? Feels like a waste of time, but this was all promotion for next week's Hart/Yankem cage match.

Fatu def. Skip (5:54)
Haven't seen Do the Right Fatu in a while, good to know he's still around. Skip tries to mash up Fatu's head on the turnbuckle, but he's Samoan you dummy! After a momentary distraction from Sunny on the outside, Fatu gets back to work, but his corner charge misses and Skip suplexes him to take charge. An enziguiri follows to give the Bodydonna a two count. Time for a REST HOLD now, as Skip continues to wear Fatu down. He then goes for a flying headbutt, plumbing new depths of stupidity. That has no effect on Fatu, who powers up. Sunny once again draws him outside for the distraction, allowing Skip to send Fatu head-first into the post. That knocks him loopy, finally. Back in the ring, Skip tries to end things with a vertical, but he can't get Fatu's big ass up. Fatu clocks him and flies off the top with a Samoan Splash (or an Uso Splash, if you will) for three. This was fine for a elevated squash, which Skip matches are at this point. Fun story with Skip being dumb about the attacks to Fatu's head. (*3/4)

Backstage, J.R. ambushes Cornette's crew in their dressing room, where some celebrations and strange hat-wearing is occurring. Cornette seems nigh-on orgasmic over the decimation earlier, which is pretty funny. Bulldog promises to take the WWF Championship back home to England at IYH4. Then Mabel storms in and threatens to bury Undertaker in the snow. I mean, his spirit literally levitated out of a casket a few years ago, I think he'll be fine.

A weird episode this week, although I did like the featured match quite a bit. That strange lull for the rest of the episode was just plain odd, though. Slight thumbs down here.

NEXT WEEK: The first Steel Cage match on RAW ever!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #131

Date: 16 October 1995
Location: Grand Center; Grand Rapids, MI (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: Bret Hart meets Isaac Yankem inside a steel cage! Will Jerry Lawler end up in his own cage?!

It's the final episode of the taping and the go-home show for In Your House 4: Great White North. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are our hosts, as usual.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley def. Doink (3:51)
So Doink is still around, I guess? According to my research though, this is the official end of the line for him (although he'll pop up here and there for cameos). Meanwhile, we learn that Undertaker has a "crushed face", which is definitely an actual term real doctors use. As for the match, Doink does get to have some fun on his final RAW outing, grabbing the particularly large proboscis of Hunter and getting a small reaction from the audience. It doesn't last long though, as HHH takes over and elbow smashes the clown. Doink makes a small comeback with a backbreaker but misses an elbow drop. Hunter gets two off a suplex and then locks in a sleeper. Doink escapes a steals a few quick pins for near falls, but a cross body attempt fails and WHAM PEDIGREE. That's it for the clown. Just a squash really but as a slightly fond farewell to Doink (mainly the 1993 Matt Borne version), I shall rate it. (3/4*)

Backstage, Barry Horowitz and the virtually forgotten Hakushi have a discussion about baseball. This feels like it's building to something (maybe a short tag team run), but I can't remember that ever coming to fruition.

World Tag Team Championships: The Smoking Gunns (c) def. PG-13 (5:06)
The word is this wasn't even supposed to be aired originally, but hey, they got PG-13 over with this crowd already, so why not get some value out of them? Before the match gets underway, we learn from Gorilla Monsoon (via split screen) that Yokozuna will now face Mabel at IYH4. That'll put butts in seats. Anyway, the Gunns start like a house on fire and throw the smaller PG-13 boys around the ring with ease. Eventually, PG-13 use their cunning and work Billy outside of the ring, using the double-team action to stomp on Billy while keeping Bart out of reach. Important sidebar now, as we hear about the famous incident of Shawn getting his ass kicked by 10 military guys, which sounded pretty brutal. A lot of people try to get Shawn's ass for this one but really, I don't think many people would be able to take 10 soldiers at once in a fight. Anyway, Billy eventually gets to Bart in the corner after engineering a PG-13 collision and the Sidewinder quickly follows. Short and sweet here, with the Shawn stuff the bigger focus, but PG-13 didn't look too bad in there. We'll see them pop up again a bit further down the road. (*1/4)

Interview time now, but not in Grand Rapids. We go back to one of the WWF's tour shows this past weekend for a British Bulldog promo, as we look ahead to his match with Diesel at IYH4. Pretty bland, boring stuff here, even from the usually reliable Jim Cornette (who is basically a caricature of himself at this point).

Meanwhile, Ahmed Johnson makes his first RAW appearance in a vignette to educate us about HONOR. This was something alright.

Dean Douglas def. Joe Dorgan (2:08)
As of right now, the plan is for Dean Douglas to face Shawn Michaels at IYH4, but we all know that it doesn't happen. More on that in the PPV review. They actually go into more detail on the incident with HBK now, as Jerry seems to enjoy rubbing salt in the wound. I can't imagine Shawn took too kindly to that. Shawn then dials in and says he will be at the PPV on Sunday. In the ring, Douglas works away on Dorgan and finishes the job with a fisherman's suplex.

The shark cage has lowered, so it must be main event time. If Jerry interferes in the match, Gorilla has promised that he will go inside the cage! First, Vince runs down the card for the PPV:

• WWF Championship: Diesel (c) vs. The British Bulldog
• Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Dean Douglas
• World Tag Team Championships: The Smoking Gunns (c) vs. Razor Ramon & The 1-2-3 Kid
• Mabel vs. Yokozuna
• Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Fatu
• Goldust (debut) vs. Marty Jannetty

Can't say much of that excites me! Paul Bearer informs us that Undertaker will be back real soon and he's coming for revenge!

Bret Hart def. Isaac Yankem DDS in a Steel Cage Match (15:34)
Escape rules only here! Bret takes charge early and hits a lot of his big guns to kick us off, atomic dropping Yankem and hitting the middle-rope elbow before trying to climb the cage. The next few minutes involve Bret and Yankem taking it in turns to climb, which kind of worked when you had a hot feud in Bret and Owen, but just feels tedious here. Bret tries for the door next but Tim White can't open it, as Jerry Lawler has the key! Okay, that bit is kinda neat. Back from a break, Bret continues to wear Yankem down and applies a Sharpshooter, but that won't win it for him owing to the rules. He does some damage to Yankem though and goes for a climb again, at which point Jerry takes matters into his own hands and meets him at the top of the cage. Monsoon is out now, as this quickly becomes more about Lawler outside the cage than the match inside it. Bret punches Lawler to the floor and Monsoon has the drones put King in the shark cage, which ascends high in the air. He looks terrified and even gets a nosebleed, but it's not that high really. Back from another break, Yankem is in charge and connects with a DDT, but Bret stops him leaving the cage. Lawler throws him the key (surely they should have taken that off of him earlier?!) but Bret cuts him off before he can escape and then nails Yankem down low. Bret finally unlocks the door but isn't done with the dentist yet, unfortunately. A running bulldog and elbow drop puts Yankem down, and Bret decides to go the hard way, climbing out of the cage for the win while Jerry wails above. That pretty much ended the Bret/Lawler feud for good, as Bret finally moved on to better things after a year of treading water. Jerry would do angles and matches here and there, but he's mostly just a commentator from now on. Pretty terrible match here, as the camera was mostly focused on Lawler, and everything in the ring just felt pretty by-the-numbers. Apparently this was also intended as a dark match, but they decided to put it on TV. (*)

Jerry continues to hang high above the ring, as apparently there's a mechanical issue and they can't bring him down.

Awful episode this week, as I suspect a lot of these "fourth week of the taping" shows will be. The crowd was lifeless, the action was weak, but at least Bret finally gets to move on. Thumbs way down.

NEXT TIME: A 20-Man Battle Royal to determine a new No. 1 Contender for the Intercontinental Championship! And Alundra Blayze wants her Women's Title back!

 

[ChristianCaged]

In Your House 4

Date: 22 October 1995
Location: Winnipeg Arena; Winnipeg, MB
Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross

It's real cold up in the Great White North!

We're fast approaching the end of this year as we stop off in Canada for another In Your House PPV. Jim Ross once again joins Vince and Jerry on commentary but he's not doing the whole Okie gimmick just yet.

As a quick sidebar, Jim Watts has walked out of the company after an argument with Vince. I'm sure nobody saw that coming. Gorilla has also announced that Shawn will relinquish his IC Title to Dean Douglas tonight!

Hunter Hearst Helmsley def. Fatu (8:02)
Hunter has some cologne with him, clearly unconcerned about Rick Martel gimmick infringement. He tries to spray Fatu but the Samoan takes the fight to his opponent and sends HHH bumping out to the floor. Old school! Fatu beats up Hunter all around the ring but gets his neck caught in the ropes, which allows Hunter to take over. He nails Fatu with a piledriver now, which looks pretty nasty, and gets a near fall off a swinging neckbreaker. A quick REST HOLD now, but Fatu works out of it, only to get whipped into hard into the corner and decimated by a clothesline. Hunter gets a near fall for that and then goes for his finish, but. Fatu backdrops out of it and gets right back up from a DDT. Samoan! Strong head! He back drops Hunter again and takes him down repeatedly with clotheslines, before hitting a backbreaker to set up a flying headbutt. An ace crusher follows as Fatu goes up high for the splash. He misses the mark though and kick, wham, PEDIGREE! There's your finish, as Helmsley remains undefeated. Just your average midcard opener with decent energy levels but a lack of heat, as there wasn't much build (if any) for this one. Both guys put on a respectable showing, however. (**1/4)

Post-match, we lay some groundwork for HHH's first actual feud, as Henry O. Godwinn heads out with the slop bucket to chase Hunter to the back.

Backstage, Bulldog cuts a generic heel promo and criticises Canada for being really cold. Earth to Bulldog, you're literally from the north of England!

World Tag Team Championships: The Smoking Gunns (c) def. Razor Ramon & The 1-2-3 Kid (12:46)
So I guess Razor and Kid made up for good then? Kid and Billy kick us off with a fast-paced, catch-style sequence, as Billy hip tosses Kid around the ring. They both tag out and Bart gets control over Razor early, after he mocks their pistols (which sounds like, and probably is, double entendre). Bart goes flying out to the floor after Kid pulls the rope down on him and gives Razor some momentum. Back in the ring, Razor roughs up Bart and works the double-team with Kid, who hits a spinning heel kick on Bart. Razor tags in and hits a fallaway slam on Bart and then tags Kid in to send him flying him into Bart for a near fall. Backstage, Dean Douglas takes notes! Kid and Bart collide mid-ring now for the EVERYONE DOWN spot, and Bart makes it over to Billy first. Billy runs wild and hits a jumping elbow drop for two. It's the Gunns' turn to work the double-team now, as Bart destroys Kid with several backbreakers, before picking up Kid into the vertical position for a suplex-dropkick combo with Billy. Billy goes for a Stinger Splash next but that misses. In a pretty heelish move, Bart then sneaks in and pulls Billy on top of 1-2-3 Kid, which earns the scorn of the referee. Meanwhile, Razor reverses it and flips Kid over on top of Billy. That gets two as Kid desperately tries to tag Razor, and he does. Razor goes crazy and hits Billy with the Razor's Edge, which should win it. However, Kid wants the pin and calls Razor to tag him in. Billy then catches Kid by surprise and rolls him up for three! What a tool. I enjoyed this but it didn't feel like an extraordinary effort or anything. Kid is already playing into a more heel-adjacent character and style, which made him less fun to watch than normal. (**1/2)

Post-match, Kid is all pissy about losing the match for the team and fobs off Razor. He then gets in the Gunns' faces and fires away with kicks, which brings Razor back in to defend Kid. Things settle and Kid walks off, as frustrated with himself as ever.

Goldust def. Marty Jannetty (11:17)
Finally, the bizarre one makes his televised debut after months of build-up. The entrance pretty much confirms they're going to treat this guy like a big deal. Goldust tries a sneak attack on Marty to begin but he's wise to it and avoids before ending Goldust out of the ring. Goldust takes his sweet time heading back inside as Marty calls him a coward. Goldust rolls up Jannetty for q quick pin attempt, after which Marty catches Goldie with a hurracanrana. A series of leapfrogs end up with Jannetty getting levelled by a clothesline. Goldust heels it up with an eye rake and cinches in a REST HOLD. Jannetty works out of it, but Goldust sends him outside and slams his head into the steps. but then he flips Goldust back out to the floor Marty then does the same, until Goldust shoves him off the apron, and into the ringpost, which looked for nasty. As Jannetty makes his way back inside, Goldust hooks him up with a suplex and brings him back in for two. The REST HOLD is in again, which Marty escapes in a slightly botched manner. Jannetty goes for a Stinger Splash now, but Goldust responds and destroys him with a DDT for a near fall. Marty recovers and hits the Rocker Dropper, but a fist drop misses. He tries again from the top but Goldust gets the foot up and hits a front suplex (that would become the Curtain Call) for the three count. Not a great debut for Goldust, to say the least. Usually Marty's good value for a decent match with just about anybody, but something didn't click here and everything felt extremely clunky. (*)

Yokozuna fought King Mabel to a double count out (5:12)
I need this match like I need a hole in the head. Hopefully they've reinforced the ring! Clumsy start to this one, as Yokozuna and Mabel take turns throwing each other out of the ring. Back in the ring, Mabel seems to take the advantage with an avalanche in the corner, but a double tap is met with a stiff clothesline from Yoko. It stays even, as both men go for ass drops but miss. They then head out to the floor again, where Yoko somehow ends up crashing down on Cornette during a melee involving Sir Mo. This chaos outside leads to a double count out and that's that. Both men head back inside for a showdown, before hugging it out and acting like they both won. Perhaps the idea was that they outsmarted President Monsoon but it just seemed dumb and nobody cared. As you'd expect, this was awful and probably the worst PPV match of the year so far. At one point, Jim Ross calls it "as scientifically imperfect as you can get", which is code for "drizzling shits". And we didn't even get a finish! (DUD)

Ahead of the next match, HBK arrives with the Intercontinental Championship, as he cannot compete tonight and must relinquish it. I won't go into it all, but the story from Shane Douglas is that this was just a way of Shawn not having to put him over. Dean Douglas is also out there and gleefully accepts the belt. But...he's got to defend it right now against Razor Ramon. If you ask me, it actually makes booking sense to get the belt off Shawn without beating him, but I have no doubt some politicking was at play.

Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon def. Dean Douglas (c) (11:02)
Razor heads out and fights off Douglas early, before working the arm. He keeps control for a while, technically besting Douglas, until the latter says f*** it and cheap shots Razor to give himself an opening. Unfortunately for Dean, he gets caught by Razor and nailed with a fallaway slam, before getting sent out to the floor. Razor seems confident and suplexes Douglas back into the ring. The brawl outside a bit now, as Razor douses Dean in J.R.'s water. Razor takes him back inside and looks set to deliver the Razor's Edge, but Douglas backdrops out of it and sends Razor crashing to the floor. Razor heads back in and quickly catches Douglas with a chokeslam, but the Dean reacts and connects with a flying crossbody for two. Razor recovers and hits a back suplex, and both men are down. Razor has the wherewithal to drape the arm over Douglas, and the ref counts to three! You can clearly see Douglas' leg under the rope at two but the referee's decision is final and Razor is the first-ever four-time IC Champion. I actually liked this a tiny bit better than their IYH3 contest, as it got to the point quicker and felt a little more heated. It still wasn't great though and there was no way back for Douglas as a character after this humiliation. (*3/4)

It's main event time, and Bret (who will face the winner at Survivor Series) heads out to join the commentary desk. He has to chase off Lawler first, though, as I guess things aren't quite settled between them.

WWF Championship: The British Bulldog def. Diesel (c) via DQ (18:14)
Back and forth stuff to start this one, as Bulldog works an early REST HOLD (well that's an omen), only to get smashed by an elbow from Diesel. Bulldog retreats outside and grabs Diesel's leg from the floor, attempting to crotch the champ on the ring post. Diesel pulls forward though and sends Davey hurtling into the post. Back in the ring, Diesel hammers away on Bulldog, but Bulldog reacts with a dropkick and sends Diesel to the outside. This leads to a momentary fracas with Bret, who helps Diesel get his balance, only to receive a shove in the face. Bulldog takes advantage and attacks the knee of Diesel, which becomes the theme of the rest of the match. Bulldog continues to punish the knee and eventually goes for a Sharpshooter, but it looks like crap and Bret hilariously buries it on commentary while Vince scrambles to cover. That's probably the highlight of the match. Bulldog boots Diesel to the outside and Cornette goes to town, which is also pretty funny. Back in the ring, Bulldog continues to work over the knee with a half crab and oh lord, this feels like it's going on forever. Eventually Diesel powers up, but Bulldog hits him with a leg drop for two and goes back to the knee. Diesel gets a brief reprieve by booting Davey to the floor, but the challenger recovers quickly and goes for a suplex. Diesel reverses that though and both men are down. Bulldog earns a two count after getting up first and goes for the Sharpshooter again, which Bret continues to make a mockery of. And it looks really bad, so I'm not sure why he keeps doing it? Bulldog moves on to an attempt at a slam, but he can't hoist Diesel up and the big man falls on top of him for two. Bulldog then goes for the running powerslam, but that doesn't work either as Diesel escapes and nails Davey with his boot. Diesel goes after Cornette now and whips him into the ring, as Jim takes a ridiculous bump off a punch. Bulldog is sent out of the ring too but uses this moment to breathe to recoup and attack the knee of Diesel once more and send the champ into the post. It seems like we're a long way from a finish, but Bulldog then slaps Bret at ringside. Hitman loses his temper and heads inside to attack Bulldog, which brings the DQ win for the challenger. After all that, a screwy finish! Honestly, whether it's Bulldog still working out how to be a compelling heel with almost no experience of it, or just bad chemistry between him and Diesel, this was absolutely terrible and somehow interminably long at less than 20 minutes. It's probably better from a technical perspective than the Sid matches but those at least had the good grace to be short. Another bad PPV main event in a year full of them. (1/2*)

Post-match, Bulldog is declared the winner and Diesel is pissed, so a fight breaks out between Diesel and Bret to get the build going early for their match next month. Some babyface geeks (and I'm including the tag champs in that) head out to break it up and that's the show.

Overall

The only reason this isn't the worst PPV of the year is because i) it isn't King of the Ring, and ii) it's a short enough show to not totally lose your mind over some of the awful in-ring work and nonsensical booking. It's really bad though and easily the low point for the IYH series so far (which hasn't exactly been a roaring success from a quality point of view). Fortunately, the main event and general vibe of this show was so bad that I think it famously woke Vince up a bit. 2/10.

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #132

Date: 23 October 1995
Location: Keystone Center; Brandon, MB
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: A new No.1 Contender for the Intercontinental Championship emerges and the Women's Title is up for grabs!

We're live for Monday Night RAW following an absolute stinker of a PPV (and judging by how quickly the commentators brush past it, I'm guessing they realised how bad it was). This show gets well beaten by Nitro (2.6 to 2.2), as a slight tide shift begins in the Monday Night Wars.

The ring is filling up!

Owen Hart won a 20-Man Battle Royal (14:51)
The winner of this match gets a shot at Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon NEXT WEEK! I won't read out everyone involved, but you're big hitters and favourites are probably Sycho Sid, Owen Hart and 1-2-3 Kid. There's a bunch of Corporation guys in here too, along with jobber fodder like Rad Radford, Skip and Barry Horowitz. Most of this is just a messy battle royal with too many bodies in the ring to actually see what's going on. After a bunch of eliminations (and at least two commercial breaks) we get down to a final four of Owen Hart, Marty Jannetty, Savio Vega and Jean-Pierre Lafitte. I should mention that King Kong Bundy's earlier elimination is pretty much the last we see of him. They also have Barry Horowitz eliminate Skip to keep that whole programme running. Anyway, Savio decks Owen with a spinning heel kick, only to get caught in a head scissors by Marty while he skins the cat and dumped out of the ring. So Marty has left himself alone with two heels. Not for long though, as Lafitte charges in only to get tossed as well. Marty mania running wild?! After some back-and-forth attempts to dump each other out of the ring, Owen levels Marty with an enziguiri. Owen can't eliminate him but does send him out through the middle of the ropes, as the match continues. Marty then goes for a chase of Jim Cornette, only to get waffled by a sudden appearance from The British Bulldog. He throws Marty back inside and Owen finishes the job to win the title shot. I love Owen but we've literally already run him and Razor for the IC belt this year, change the record. I don't rate battle royals but this wasn't a particularly good one; it went on too long and by the time we got down to a final four the result was elementary.

Post-match, Owen gets a rare chance to speak and promises to win the gold next week. I'm sure that'll be a decent enough match.

Time for a Slam Jam with Dok Hendrix now, which is basically a Survivor Series report. Along with Bret vs. Diesel, we'll also be getting a WILDCARD match, as HBK has to team up with his old pals Sid and Bulldog, along with newcomer Ahmed Johnson, to face Razor, Dean Douglas, Owen Hart & Yokozuna! Gorilla Monsoon must have had too many bananas.

Avatar def. Brian Walsh (2:35)
A debut! Avatar is, of course, the unfortunate first gimmick in the WWF for Al Snow, who came in with a lot of momentum from ECW but, by his own admission, got off to a rough start. This Mortal Kombat gimmick basically involves him walking to the ring and then putting the mask on before the match starts. Who thought that would work? Jerry buries the whole thing pretty much immediately. They do some basic back-and-forth to start but then things go off the rails as Walsh screws up a monkey flip and then sells a kick to the head that obviously didn't connect. Botchamania would have had a field day. Then Avatar whiffs on a plancha (Al Snow claims this was due to the different type of ropes in WWF, which we'll call the Sin Cara defence) and it all looks so disjointed. Back in the ring, Walsh gets some momentum with a few clotheslines, but Avatar recovers and hits a standing moonsault, followed by a standing splash off the chest, for the pin. A pretty hilariously bad squash here and very much a case of grand opening, grand closing on Avatar's first night.

Women's Championship: Alundra Blayze def. Bertha Faye (c) (7:44 shown)
Big Bertha uses her power early to dominate Blayze and then hits a couple of leg drops for our first near fall of the match. Blayze reacts with a sunset flip for two, but Bertha clotheslines her and resumes the punishment, before reversing another sunset flip into a sit-down SPLAT. That gets two also. We head into a break with Bertha on top, but when we return, Blayze has a Boston Crab cinched in and we learn that she actually kicked out of the sit-out power bomb that beat her last time. Bertha escapes and catches Blayze in the corner, but the challenger recovers and builds up a head of steam, flying from the top with a missile dropkick for another near fall. Blayze continues the assault, but that is ultimately foiled by a backdrop as Blayze goes for the piledriver. Bertha then tries to go high. but gets into it with the ref, giving Blayze the chance to catch her with a hurricarana. Harvey then gets up on the apron and tries to interject, only for Bertha to collide with him and receive a German suplex from Blayze. That's three and another Women's Championship for Alundra. It would, of course, be the last. Well, I bet Vince regretted booking this title change (not that Madusa really moved the needle or did anything important in WCW). Acceptable match by the standards of the time and far better than the SummerSlam encounter earlier in the year (*1/2).

After a rundown of next week's show, Jim Ross catches up with Shawn for an interview and asks him it felt to forfeit the title. Shawn "subtly" buries Douglas here and then promises he'll be back in action soon, once his tests come back positive. A nice, candid bit of character formation here as Shawn prepares to get back on the horse. They would of course play on this incident next year though.

A pretty weak sauce effort for a live show and PPV follow-up, if you ask me. Survivor Series already looks a hell of a lot better (as does next week's RAW), but the company feels like its on unsteady ground at this point. We'll see if they can bounce back. Thumbs slightly down.

NEXT TIME: Goldust makes his RAW premiere and Owen Hart challenges Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #133

Date: 30 October 1995
Location: Keystone Center; Brandon, MB (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: It's spooky season as Owen Hart challenges Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship!

We get a Halloween-themed opening from Todd Pettengill putting on a Dracula voice. That must be a hate crime against somebody, or just me. Vince and Jerry welcome us to the show, with Vince dressed as a prisoner. It's like he knows he's a bad person.

Goldust def. Savio Vega (5:45 shown)
Goldust makes his RAW debut here and gets a typically lavish entrance. They certainly did him justice with all the bells and whistles. Goldust gets the jump on Savio early, but has to ride a backdrop as Savio counters. Goldust gets back into it though, driving Savio's shoulder into the turnbuckle before wearing down the arm some more. Hey, Goldust has an ironic fan club already! After a break, Vega connects with a cross body for a near fall and then heads to the corner, as Vince describes Goldust as being like RuPaul. Goldust tries to splash Savio in the corner but misses. Vega fights back with a few clotheslines but the spinning heel kick completely whiffs as Goldie ducks out of the way. Goldust gets a cradle and that's enough for a slightly flukey win. This was slightly better than the match with Jannetty at IYH4 but only because it was less protracted. Goldust is still finding himself as this character, it seems. (*1/4)

Time for another Survivor Series Slam Jam with Dok Hendrix, who seems to have totally stolen Todd's spot at this point. Big news is that Diesel vs. Bret at Survivor Series will now be a No Disqualification Match, by order or Gorilla Monsoon. These are ten-a-penny now but No DQ was relatively rare in the WWF at the time. Backstage, Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid are involved in some kind of melee.

Marty Jannetty def. Joe Dorgan (2:45)
"Hot Bod" Dorgan gets control early here and grabs a hold of Marty's arm, before giving him a cheap shot in the corner. Jannetty responds though with an elbow smash to Dorgan, followed by a monkey flip that takes the jobber down. Marty clotheslines Dorgan in the corner now, before applying a REST HOLD. Oh, come on Marty! Jannetty goes high and finishes Dorgan with the flying fist drop. Next week, Jannetty faces Bulldog!

Speaking of whom, Vince in his prison overalls now welcomes British Bulldog and Jim Cornette in the ring, along with their attorney Clarence Mason, for an interview. Mason has big Stokely Hathaway vibes. Cornette bemoans the fact that Davey won the match at IYH4, but won't be wrestling for the title at Survivor Series. To cut a long story short, the heels want a title match. Mason is also going to look into the legality of a wildcard match, whatever that means. Bulldog gets on the mic now and runs down his opponent for next week, Marty Jannetty. This brings out Marty, who dropkicks Davey from behind and then threatens violence to Mason, only to make him squeal and celebrate.

The Smoking Gunns def. Otis Apollo & Scott D'Amore (2:50)
Hey, it's future TNA booker Scott D'Amore! Billy Gunn goes to work on Apollo to start as we cut to an apology from 1-2-3 Kid, who is real sorry about attacking the Gunns at the PPV. He then completely undermines that by demanding another title match. The Gunns continue to work quick tags and isolate D'Amore for a bit. He gets over to Apollo and tags him in, but the Gunns overpower him and hit the Sidewinder for three. Basic squash here.

Quick promo from Bret now, who looks ahead to Survivor Series where only one man — he or Diesel — can walk away the winner.

Meanwhile, Paul Bearer is in a graveyard and vows revenge on Mabel!

Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (c) def. Owen Hart via DQ (10:45 shown)
Owen goes for a sneak attack to start this one, but Razor has his number and sends him over the top. Owen attempts a comeback, but Razor works over the arm and keeps control. A fallaway slam follows as Cornette gets up on the apron, but Razor bats him away. Back from a break, Yokozuna and Fuji have arrived and Razor looks outnumbered. Owen finally breaks out of the arm-related holds Razor is applying and builds up a head of steam, sending Razor to the floor and connecting with a baseball slide. Back in the ring, Owen hits a missile dropkick for two, while a spinning heel kick gets another near fall. Owen continues the assault with a neckbreaker and elbow drop combo that, once again, only gets two. When we get back from another break, both men are down, as we learn that Razor hit Owen with a back suplex. Owen gets an arm across, but Razor kicks out. Razor gets back into it and sets up for the big back suplex from the top, but Owen executes a neat reversal mid-air and engineers another near fall. Finally, this is picking up. A final break follows, as we return with Owen in the Razor's Edge position. That brings Yoko in to pull Owen down and cause a DQ. Just an average match here, as it didn't get going at all until the last few minutes and that final commercial break interrupted it just as the match was hitting its peak. (**1/2)

Post-match, Owen and Yoko double-team the man they're teaming with at the PPV, and Kid's attempts to intervene fail as he gets totally squished by Yokozuna's ass. That brings out Ahmed Johnson, who runs wild and gets Yokozuna up for a slam in an impressive feat of strength. Bulldog is out and steps to him, and we go off the air.

Decent finish to an alright show this week, despite the lame attempt at a Halloween vibe. None of the action was that great but it felt like a more focused programme. Thumbs in the middle.

NEXT WEEK: Bret and Hakushi team up to face Jerry Lawler and Isaac Yankem, in a match that might finally (finally) end their feud!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #134

Date: 6 November 1995
Location: Keystone Center; Brandon, MB (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Dok Hendrix

TONIGHT: Bulldog meets Marty Jannetty one-on-one and Bret gets one more chance to slay the Lawler dragon!

Jerry's in action tonight, so Dok steps in for color commentary duties. We're less than two weeks away from Survivor Series!

The British Bulldog def. Marty Jannetty (9:31 shown)
Bulldog and Jannetty both try to take each other down off a shoulder block early, with Davey getting the early advantage. Marty recovers, however, and works the arm. Davey has the power advantage and works out of that, dropping Marty on the top rope. Clarence Mason appears via split screen now and informs us that Bulldog will get his shot at the WWF Championship at IYH5. Bulldog nails Marty with a suplex now and locks up a REST HOLD. Jannetty reverses that situation into a crucifix pin for two, but Bulldog puts him down with a clothesline. Wham! Back from a break, Bulldog quickly has the chin lock back on and hurls Marty outside when the escape becomes imminent. He tries to return with a sunset flip, but Bulldog blocks that and once again puts him in a chinlock. Does he think being good heel just means inducing boredom in the viewer?! Marty gets to the corner and escapes, laying a back elbow and fist drop on Bulldog, before levelling him with a DDT. He goes for the pin but Davey puts his foot on the rope. Jannetty then charges Bulldog in the corner but misses and that's the setup for the running powerslam and a pretty uninspiring victory for Bulldog. This could have been half as short and achieved just as much. Just a really dull match based around REST HOLDS and Davey's performance level was under the floor. I thought this stunk. (3/4*)

After a break, we return for a ringside interview with Bulldog and Cornette, as they continue trying their hardest to get over as top heels. Usual proclamations of victory here, along with a warning to Shawn Michaels that he better not cross Bulldog when they are forced to team up at Survivor Series.

Meanwhile, Bam Bam Bigelow has taken issue with Goldust and will meet him in Washington D.C. at Survivor Series!

Henry O. Godwinn def. Terry Richards (2:06)
Apparently this Richards guy is only 19 here. Pfft, big deal. Jeff Hardy was about 16 when he got his ass beat on RAW by Razor Ramon a few years back. Godwinn's feud with Hunter Hearst Helmsley has continued to intensify. Godwinn makes light work of the young jobber and hits the Slop Drop for the win.

Post-match, Hunter arrives and catches Godwinn by surprise, nailing him with a kick, wham, PEDIGREE on the floor. For the first time, Godwinn finds himself slopped.

Weirdly, we're back to a Survivor Series Report after weeks of the Slam Jam. I guess that's a Hendrix gimmick only. Todd Pettengill runs down the card and informs us of a new Survivor Series Elimination Match, as Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu and HOG (BSK for life) take on King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem and Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Kama def. Tony Roy (3:12)
I'm not sure there are any plans at all for Kama moving forward, so not sure why we need to waste time on a squash for him here. The match is just a backdrop for a HBK phone-in, with Michaels boosting the ego of Survivor Series partner Ahmed Johnson a bit. Great googly moogly! Kama nails Roy in the face with a stiff punch and puts him down for three.

Jerry Lawler & Isaac Yankem DDS def. Bret Hart & Hakushi via DQ (10:43 shown)
It isn't over until it's over baby. Bret and Hakushi are cornered by Barry Horowitz for this one and work a double team on the big Yankem early, with Bret taking him down and Hakushi flying from high for a diving headbutt. A classic handspring elbow into the corner follows and a Bronco Buster, after which Hakushi hands over to Hitman. Some classic offense from Bret now, as he gets a couple of near falls on Yankem, before being sent out to the floor. Bret returns inside with a sunset flip for two. Hakushi tags back in and tries for another handspring elbow, but Yankem has it clocked this time and nails Hakushi in the back of the head. Hakushi recovers with a dropkick and sends Yankem out to the floor, but his Pescado dive gets caught by Yankem and the "modern day Kamikaze" (Vince's words, not mine) is driven into the post. Yankem wears Hakushi down some more now and tags Lawler, who hits a piledriver (and then another). They could probably have finished it there but decide to punish Hakushi through the break. When we come back, Hakushi has a brief hope spot but a dropkick gets caught by Yankem, who locks in a Boston Crab. Lawler tries to help Yankem get some extra leverage, so Bret intervenes and breaks the hold himself. Lawler tags in and goes for the fist drop, but Hakushi makes him eat boot and tags Bret. He bulldogs Yankem and goes right after Lawler, before bringing Yankem down with a leg sweep. Middle rope elbow! Bret cinches in the Sharpshooter now and Yankem clearly taps, but Hakushi has the ref distracted and Lawler goes outside for a chair. Horowitz heads inside now and grabs the chair, but the ref catches him and somehow disqualifies the babyfaces (even though he hadn't used it). The match wasn't too bad to be fair and Hakushi's dynamism in ring has been missed, but did we really need a screwy finish here when Bret's moving up to the title picture anyway? (**)

That's pretty much all for this week's show as Vince and Dok wrap up and preview next week!

A limp show this time out. As usual, the closer we get to the end of the taping, the worse the quality gets. At least the main event wasn't the worst. Thumbs down.

NEXT WEEK: Razor defends the IC Title against Sid and 1-2-3 Kid will be the special referee! Also, Ahmed Johnson debuts!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #135

Date: 13 November 1995
Location: Keystone Center; Brandon, MB (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: Razor Ramon meets Sycho Sid for the Intercontinental Championship in a non-title match!

It's the final show before Survivor Series and we're nearly ready to get the hell out of Canada! Vince and Jerry welcome us to the show, after we learn that Monsoon has changed tonight's main event to a non-title match, as he doesn't want 1-2-3 Kid to cause a title change as special referee. You could have just got rid of him as the ref, you know?

Hunter Hearst Helmsley fought Henry O. Godwinn to a no contest (1:20)
Helmsley gets aggressive early and knocks HOG off the apron, before nailing him with a baseball slide. HOG gets mashed into thr steel steps now, as Hemsley poses for the crowd and gets a tiny amount of heat. Hunter goes for his Rick Martel gimmick infringement cologne, but Godwinn equaliser that by grabbing the slop bucket. It's pure mind games though, as he slops himself. Hunter looks horrified! The blue blood makes a break for it and comically slips on the slop like it's a banana skin. That's pretty much the match; we don't get a final decision.

Hey, the Survivor Series Slam Jam is back! Dok Hendrix runs down the card again, but focuses in particular on Diesel vs. Bret and the Wildcard Survivor Series Match.

Time for a Shawn Michaels video package, as the big company push to the top really starts to ramp up. Not many others would get this kind of video package treatment around this time!

Ahmed Johnson def. Jake Steele (2:27)
This is Ahmed's RAW debut and he wastes no time laying waste to the jobber after Steele foolishly slaps him pre-match. Ahmed is mad now and clotheslines the shit out of Steele, as HBK phones in and talks up the abilities of his preferred Survivor Series team mate, Ahmed Johnson. Meanwhile, the man of the hour spinebusters Steele and looks all set to fold this one up, as he locks up his opponent and ends him with what Vince calls a Tiger Bomb. Classic squash, barely a lick of jobber offense outside the cheap shot.

Time for a split-screen interview segment between Bret and Diesel, which feels like WWF grasping for something a bit more raw and edgy. Both men are somewhat muted and pragmatic here. I won't run down everything they say but Bret makes a good point, reminding Diesel that he didn't defeat Bret and that the match at Royal Rumble was probably the toughest of his reign yet. Diesel rebuffs that and suggests Shawn took him to the limit too. Got to look out for your Kliq brothers. There's some nice discussion here too about styles and how Diesel may actually fare less well against smaller, more technical guys. Bret then suggests Diesel was ducking Bulldog. Got to look out for your in-law brothers. This went a bit too long but enjoyed the tonal shift from the cartoonish stuff we've become used to.

VINCE AND JERRY FACE OFF AT KARATE FIGHTERS! And you thought aggressive advertising was reserved for today's product.

King Mabel def. Roy Raymond (3:02)
Undertaker cuts an insert promo as the match begins, but we can't see his face. Cool mask Taker is upon us! Mabel whips the jobber Raymond around the ring a bit and levels him with a clothesline. Mo holds up the crown at ringside because people still care that Mabel won that tournament of course. A neckbreaker and splash to Raymond follows, and Mabel finishes him off with a belly-to-belly suplex.

The fake Bill Clinton is coming to Survivor Series!

Sycho Sid def. Razor Ramon with 1-2-3 Kid as the Special Guest Refereee (9:50 shown)
So, this was meant to be an Intercontinental Championship Match but so the story goes, Vince changed his mind and Sid never actually wins the belt. At the start of this, Kid actually holds the title belt up, so presumably it was a title match for the live crowd? Razor bats off Sid early and clotheslines him out to the floor, but Sid recovers and hits Razor with a chokeslam. Sid goes to work but Razor rallies and and tries to mount a comeback, only for Sid to slam him. MASTER AND RULER OF THE WORLD. Razor hits a knee lift and looks to get Sid up for the Razor's Edge, but Sid backdrops him out the ring and then keeps Kid busy while DiBiase nails Razor with stomps. Dean Douglas arrives and takes up DiBiase's mantle, putting the boots to a man he'll team up with at Survivor Series. Kid is none the wiser, or so we might think. Razor gets back inside just in time but Sid has the momentum and connects with a back suplex for two. A mandatory REST HOLD now to work some heat, as the crowd start to murmur in Razor's favour and drive him on to deliver an electric chair to Sid. Everyone down! Sid rises first and hits Razor with a big boot, but Razor makes him eat sole off a charge and goes high for a flying bulldog, which gets two. It's Razor's Edge team as Razor signals to the crowd and gets Sid up for the drop, but wait! Kid pulls Sid down and allows him to nail Razor in the gut, before delivering a big POWER BOMB. Kid counts insanely quickly and hands the match (but not the title) to Sid to complete his heel turn. Pretty much just a means to an angle here, but it would have been a lot more powerful if it was, you know, for the belt. Sid could have easily dropped it to someone more reliable in-ring down the line, but I guess the Kliq made their case known. Decent enough match though, for Sid (*3/4).

Post-match, DiBiase shoves a Canadian five dollar bill in Razor's mouth and 1-2-3 Kid pinches it! Man, he's cheap! We actually see Razor walk out with the belt, so I guess it was non-title after all.

Backstage, J.R. is hanging out with Camp Cornette and Douglas, when Razor comes in and tries to start a ruckus with Douglas. Surely he should be more mad at his friend who just betrayed him?! Officials hold Razor back as we go off the air.

Hey, we got an actual angle on the fourth week of the taping. A pretty meh show outside of that though and no action you need to see (as usual). Slight thumbs down.

NEXT WEEK: The fallout from Survivor Series!

 

[ChristianCaged]

Survivor Series 1995

Date: 19 November 1995
Location: USAir Arena; Landover, MD
Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross & Mr. Perfect

Who's fit to survive!

It's the ninth annual Survivor Series and man, do we need at least one good PPV from the year of 1995. Vince and J.R. are on the call tonight, but what's this?! Mr. Perfect is back! He gets a decent ovation and we're off to the races with our opening match.

1-2-3 Kid, Skip, Tom Prichard & Rad Radford def. Marty Jannetty, Bob Holly, Hakushi & Barry Horowitz in a Survivor Series Elimination Match (19:09)
Jean-Pierre Lafitte was supposed to be on the heel team for this one but it seems like he might be gone from the company. So the freshly heel-turned 1-2-3 Kid subs in and arrives with Ted DiBiase. Holly is also standing in for AVATAR. Tom Prichard is still in Heavenly Bodies mode here, by the way. Before the match can start, Razor arrives to face off with Kid, but a bunch of referees keep them at arm's length. Fast start to this one, as Marty Jannetty gets cornered by Prichard but fights out and runs wild! Holly and Radford tag in now but the babyfaces keep the momentum, as Holly hits Radford with a hurricanrana and a pop-up power bomb. He tags in Hakushi, who gets levelled with a spinebuster by Radford. 1-2-3 Kid finally enters now and gets a near fall off a splash. After some kicks in the corner, Kid tags Skip who continues going to work on Hakushi, but a back suplex effort is reversed and the Japanese star tags out. Holly is in now but Skip out-manoeuvres him and tags in Prichard. He goes up for a moonsault but misses and Holly eliminates him after a flying body press (5:41). The babyface advantage doesn't last long, though, as Skip enters and rolls up Holly to even the score (5:47). Hakushi enters again now and goes wild on Skip. The latter manages to get the knees up for the Vader Bomb though and then takes Hakushi down with a hurricanrana (before doing a Flair Flop). 1-2-3 Kid tags in and tries to get control, but Hakushi is feeling it tonight and hits Kid with the handspring back elbow into the corner. Crowd loves this! A flying shoulder block follows for two. He then goes for a springboard splash but whiffs and Kid tags out for Radford. Like the true scumbag he is though, Kid boots Hakushi from behind and allows Radford to get a shock pin. Hakushi is out and I'm bummed out (8:34). Horowitz enters now for the first time but immediately gets cornered and has to play the numbers game vs. the heels. Radford gets too cocky though and tries to impress Sunny with some press-ups, only for Barry to cradle him and level things up once again (11:49). Horowitz keeps up the momentum and goes to town on Skip, but Kid gets a blind tag and sends Barry into the ropes. A sliding leg drop follows and darn, Barry is out of here (12:48). Marty is all by himself now and has to fight from underneath. Skip misses a charge in the corner though and gives Jannetty an opening. He counters a power bomb attempt into a roll-up for two and then hits a Rocker Dropper. Jannetty goes high but Sunny meets him there and crotches him on the rope. No DQ, ref?! Skip goes up for the superplex, but Jannetty counters and POWER BOMBS him from up high. No getting up from that as Skip is out (15:26). Kid is straight in and hits a flurry of kicks, but the flying leg drop only gets two. Jannetty then moves out of the way of another assault and has momentum but uh oh, here comes SID! Marty focuses and hits a Rocker Dropper for two, with Kid getting his foot on the rope. DiBiase distracts the ref now as Sid snaps Marty's throat on the ropes. Kid capitalises and pins Marty to win the match. Razor is furious in the back and destroys a monitor. I think everyone saw that coming. Nonetheless, this was all action with very little downtime and every undercard guy brought their best to the table for this one. Sadly, I think this may well be the last non-Rumble appearance on PPV for the likes of Hakushi and maybe even Horowitz. (***1/2)

Todd is backstage with Owen, Yoko, Dean Douglas and Jim Cornette, as they look ahead to tonight's wildcard match! Douglas tells Razor he needs to keep his head in the game.

Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe, Lioness Asuka & Bertha Faye def. Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa & Chaparita Asari in a Survivor Series Elimination Match (10:03)
This is a vision of what the WWF's women's division might have looked like for the next few months had it not all gone up the chute in about a month's time. All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling was so ahead of the curve in 1995 it was crazy and WWF managed to get a bunch of their stars in for this one, as they looked to build a feud between Blayze and Aja Kong. Asari and Asuka (not that one) start, as the latter takes Asari's head off with a spin kick. Asari makes it over to Blayze and tags her in. Blayze slams Asuka and Asari follows up with a Sky Twister Press, which is a cool spot alright. Blayze then gets the first pin with her bridging German Suplex, as Asuka departs (1:43). Watanabe gets on the attack quickly but misses a flying moonsault and gets sent out to the floor, where Blayze meets her with a dive. Hasegawa tags in for the faces now and levels Watanabe with a bunch of suplexes like she's a female Brock or something. Watanabe responds with a seated senton from up high but that only gets two. Aja Kong tags and oh boy, someone is in trouble. The Back Drop Driver connects and Hasegawa is gonzo (3:57). Kong then quickly dispatches the much-smaller Asari with a splash (4:26). Blayze enters and rocks Kong with an enziguiri, before tagging Inoue in. She tries to eliminate Kong with a sunset flip, but Kong just parks her ass on her chest for another pin (5:03). It's 3-on-1 now as the heels launch a triple attack on Blayze. The referee gets control and Blayze connects with a snap suplex on Watanabe for two. In a slightly awkward spot, Blayze then gets Watanabe up for a piledriver and pins the AJW Champion (6:32)! Bertha Faye enters and levels Blayze, but an attempted double team with Kong leads to an accidental collision and Blayze hits Bertha with a bridging German for another pin (7:13). We're down to a one-on-one now. I should mention at this point that Perfect has been making extremely sexist remarks throughout this entire match and it's kind of uncomfortable to listen to today. Kong suplexes Blayze for two and tries for her deadly Uraken strike, but Blayze evades it smartly and goes for another German. Aja fights the attempt off though and uses her weight advantage to take control. Blayze responds with a hurricanrana for two. A missile dropkick and standing moonsault combo gets another near fall. Kong then thwarts Blayze from heading up top and wears her down before unleashing a URAKEN to pin the champ. The work was good here and everything looked crisp (mostly) but there was negative heat for this and it just felt like a bunch of spots with no real story or flow. This should have lead to a title reign for Kong but let's just say that belt ends up in the trash somewhere before she can get it. (**)

Todd Pettengill is hanging with the fake-ass Bill Clinton out in the crowd, as he confuses Bam Bam Bigelow with a character from The Flintstones. Then Bam Bam’s pyro goes off and Bill cowers behind his security staff. Okay, that tickled me.

Goldust def. Bam Bam Bigelow (8:20)
It seems like Mr. Perfect’s masculinity is a little insecure in the face of Goldust, who gets his usual glamourous entrance (which is contractually obliged, supposedly). Goldust fires away on Bigelow to begin, but jets after the Beast from the East powers up himself. Goldust gets a little playful now, slapping Bigelow, but that just makes the big man mad and he decks Goldust. In a bit of trouble, Goldust heads outside and pulls his opponent with him. Goldie clotheslines the post but recovers quickly and takes things back inside, before sending Bigelow right over the top again. Back in the ring, Goldust wears down Bigelow with a choke in the corner, before hitting a knee lift for a near fall. A REST HOLD face lock follows before Bigelow gets his fat ass thrown out the ring AGAIN. Goldust meets him on the floor for more punishment, firing Bigelow into the steps. This is basically just a squash, huh. Goldust sends him back in the ring but Bigelow rallies and both men are down following a back suplex. Bigelow then goes up for the flying headbutt but that misses, as Goldust takes advantage and nearly steals a pin. Another REST HOLD from Goldust follows, which Bigelow escapes with an electric chair. A clothesline allows Goldust to cinch it in again though (oh god, this is so boring) as the crowd sound totally dead. Bigelow gets one last hope spot with a back suplex, but a corner splash misses and Goldust hits a bulldog to win the match and end Bigelow’s WWF career. We’d never see his face in the promotion again. Needless to say, this was extremely dull and lethargic, which is becoming a theme of Goldust’s matches. Bigelow was obviously not that motivated here either, but hey, he did the job. (3/4*)

Another check-in with the Bill Clinton phony now, as Bob Backlund has arrived to cross words. Clinton basically just ignores Backlund here and corpses, which is about the right reaction to this laboured gimmick.

The Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu & Henry O. Godwinn def. King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Hunter Hearst Helmsley & Isaac Yankem DDS in a Survivor Series Elimination Match (14:26)
It’s Taker’s first appearance in over a month and he is, of course, wearing that gargoyle-ish mask that looks pretty awesome. We kick off with a replay of IYH4’s opening contest, as Hunter and Fatu mix it up to start. Hunter actually gets Fatu in a Pedigree position early but the terrifying visage of The Undertaker makes him back off. Godwinn tags in now and Helmsley bails, bringing Lawler into the match. Lawler don’t want none of HOG either, so he tags Yankem immediately. Ha! Godwinn gets distracted by HHH and Yankem attacks. HOG is ready though and hip-tosses the dentist, before dropping an elbow. Yankem manages to turn it around though and Godwinn gets isolated in the corner. Perfect then refers to Hunter as “Triple H” in a low-key historical moment. Godwinn eventually rallies and lifts Hunter up high in the press position, threatening to hurl him out the ring like he’s Claudio Castagnoli. The referees make him think better of it. Lawler and Vega enter the fray now, with Savio getting the better of King. Lawler pops Savio in the face for a brief respite, but then eats boot off a dropkick. Fatu then tags in and smashes Lawler’s head into the turnbuckle. Lawler does make it over to his corner and tags his buddy Yankem. The heels get on top again and Mabel finally enters. Vega goes off on him but Mabel catches him with the spinning sidewalk slam. Vega gets cornered now and the heels go to work, with Mabel decking him off a vertical suplex, before taunting the crowd about being a king. Lawler tags in now it’s safe and lays Savio out with a piledriver. He only gets two though after a little too much posturing. Helmsley tags in now but Savio rallies and connects with a uranage. Lawler tags back in and hits another piledriver, but Savio HULKS UP (well, not exactly) and doesn’t feel a thing. He makes it over to the corner and tags Undertaker, and it’s basically a procession from here. Undertaker gets hold of Lawler after his teammates blow him off and decimates him with a piledriver for the first elimination (12:20). Yankem jumps in now and attacks Undertaker (wait, so this is the first Undertake vs. Kane match in WWF?!). Deadman responds with a flying clothesline though and another Tombstone eliminates Yankem (12:51). Helmsley tries to take a walk but HOG cuts him off with the slop bucket and forces him back towards the ring. Undertaker grabs his mop and hauls him back inside to deliver a chokeslam, for what must be Hunter’s first defeat (13:36). Mabel is the last heel standing and sneak attacks Taker, before hitting him with a leg drop. Undertaker sits up though and Mabel does a runner, escaping up the aisle to hand the match to The Dark Side (14:26). A lame ending to a pretty lousy Survivor Series match, although it was cool to see BSK all teaming together here as one big gang. We didn’t need nearly 15 minutes just to get to an obvious conclusion. (*1/4)

Backstage, Todd has found Cornette again, this time with British Bulldog (who faces Bret or Diesel at IYH5 next month), Sycho Sid and Ted DiBiase. Naturally, Todd questions Cornette’s allegiance, but Jim denies he was even with Owen and Yoko earlier, obviously.

Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, The British Bulldog & Sycho Sid def. Razor Ramon, Owen Hart, Yokozuna & Dean Douglas in a “Wildcard” Survivor Series Elimination Match (27:26)
Now this is a star-studded elimination match! Shawn gets the big entrance at the end and Perfect is all riled up about it! HBK opens up proceedings with Owen Hart and it’s a furious start, as both men whip each other around the ring, before HBK head-scissors Owen outside. Shawn goes outside and gets the boot in on Jim Cornette. That gives Owen an opening though and back inside, he hits a belly-to-belly. Douglas tags in now, but Shawn fires up and hits a double axe-handle for two. Douglas responds with a high knee and attempts a Vader Bomb, but that misses, and Shawn reverses the momentum with a moonsault press. Owen saves Douglas’ blushes for two. Shawn introduces Ahmed Johnson now, who runs wild but gets outnumbered by the heels on Razor’s side. Eventually Razor does get some shots in on Ahmed, as the heels and faces start to muddy. Ahmed recovers as the referee establishes order and powerslams Douglas, before tagging Shawn and using him as a javelin, which gets two. Shawn sets up for Sweet Chin Music now, but Douglas rolls out. He returns and gets into it with Razor (on his own team), which HBK uses as an opportunity to roll him up for a near fall. Douglas goes back to Razor, but this time he gets decked and Shawn rolls up Douglas to eliminate him (7:31). It’s now the turn of Cornette’s charges to go head-to-head, as Owen and Bulldog battle each other. A spinning heel-kick from Owen gets a near fall, after which Shawn and Razor tag in for a confrontation with no ladders in sight. Shawn sends Razor out of the ring with a clothesline, but Razor rallies and gets HBK up for a Razor’s Edge. That connects, but Ahmed heads inside to break up the pin. Another exchange leaves both men laying, at which point Sid enters the fold for the first time. He goes to work on Razor’s back, but Yokozuna steps in and tries to help! The referee won’t stand for that , as Sid and Razor take each other down with stereo clotheslines. Sid rises first and goes up high for some reason, but Razor meets him in the corner and slams him off the top for two. Sid recovers quickly though and hits a chokeslam. He tags Shawn now, holding a limp Razor up for the superkick, but Razor ducks and Shawn whomps Sid. He lets Razor pin him after an initial cover is thwarted by Bulldog (16:19). Bulldog takes the fight to Razor, while Sid power bombs Shawn in a rage. Fair enough. Shawn gets caught in the wrong corner now, as Owen and Yoko take it in turns to punish HBK, as Perfect jokes about the Syracuse incident. Owen gets ahead of himself eventually, taking too long for the diving headbutt, which misses. Shawn makes it over to Ahmed and the big man is unleashed, taking everyone down. Owen is the ultimate victim, as Ahmed hits a Tiger Bomb for three (20:50). Razor goes after Ahmed now and bulldogs him, before hitting a Razor’s Edge! Bulldog interrupts the pin though and goes to work on Razor. At this point, Sid returns along with the 1-2-3 Kid to cause some chaos. Razor hits the fallaway slam on Bulldog and looks to be in control, but Kid gets a hold of his leg outside, allowing Bulldog to attack. Davey hits the running powerslam and Razor bows out (24:09). Yokozuna is left to fend for himself now and holds his own, slamming Michaels. He then drops his ass on Shawn and sets up for a Bonzai Drop, which Shawn evades. HBK makes it over to Ahmed, who gets Yoko up for the slam, much to the crowd’s delight. Bulldog pulls a fast one though and breaks up his own team’s pinfall. Johnson and HBK dispatch Bulldog, as the latter boots Yoko with Sweet Chin Music, while Ahmed splashes Yoko for the win. It’s a big celebration now, as Shawn raises Ahmed’s hand and gives him the rub. Pretty good work all round here and the audience was mostly along for the ride, although the match spins its wheels a bit and could easily shave five minutes off. The upended heel-face dynamics was a cool experiment, in any case. (***)

One last visit to the Presidential box now, as the fake Bill Clinton now has Sunny on his lap, which feels like a Marilyn Monroe bit. Clinton gets some popcorn on Sunny and it’s all a bit weird and bawdy for this era of WWF.

It’s video package time, as we look back on the Diesel/Bret Hart rivalry ahead of their match, which is coming up next.

WWF Championship: Bret Hart def. Diesel (c) in a No Disqualification Match (24:53)
Both men get big entrances but Bret definitely seems like the people’s choice. This is, outside of cage matches and other specific stipulations like Taker and Yoko’s casket match, the first straight-up no holds barred match we’ve seen for the WWF Championship on PPV. Someone will probably correct me on that. Just to make it clear that rules are out the window, Diesel and Bret untie the top turnbuckles in each of their corners. Bret goes for the jugular early, but Diesel leverages his physical dominance and roughs Hitman up. Bret drops out to the floor and Diesel meets him there, levelling him with a big axe-handle and dropping him throat-first across the guardrail, ala Savage-Steamboat. Diesel then grinds Bret down and chokes him against the bottom of the rail with his foot. This is getting ugly alright. Bret continues to lose the brawling match, as Diesel’s raw power is far too much for him. Back outside, Bret is launched into the post, and then the steps. Now the weapons start to come into play, as Diesel grabs himself a chair and cracks him in the back. In the ring, Diesel is just about ready to finish this with the Jackknife, but Bret fights out of it and makes it over to the ropes. Bret realises he needs to get down and dirty now, as he bites Diesel! Bret also goes for the knee of Diesel much more viciously than normal, trapping the champion in a modified figure-four. Diesel makes it to the rope and Bret relents, even though I’m not sure the referee can make him do anything in a match like this. Bret keeps up the assault on the leg, but Diesel forces him back into Chekhov’s exposed turnbuckle for some momentary relief. Diesel goes on the attack now, but Bret ducks out and trips Diesel up around the ring post, slamming his knee into it for a nice call back to their previous matches. He also ties up Diesel’s leg in the corner. As Diesel flails around helplessly, Bret comes of the top for an elbow smash and takes the big man down. It’s Bret’s turn to grab a chair now. He whacks Diesel in the back with it and then goes for some targeted strikes on the knee, as this match gets even more brutal. Ross sells this perfectly on commentary by the way, and in his work in general for this match is outstanding. Bret hits a backbreaker now but comes unstuck, as Diesel catches him up top and crotches him on the rope. Diesel unties himself and wraps the cord around Bret’s neck, for a pretty gnarly spot. A side slam follows for two. Bret gets sent into the opposite exposed turnbuckle, before Diesel picks up and sends him face first into the steel for snake eyes. Diesel goes back to the well, but a second snake eyes fails him, and Bret sends him into the steel instead. A clothesline and a flying bulldog get Bret a few near falls, and Hitman then fires Diesel over the rope with a clothesline. Bret flies out for a pescado, but Diesel moves and the challenger crashes hard. Diesel gets back in the ring while Bret recovers, and as Bret finally makes his way up on to the apron, Diesel slingshots him off into the Spanish announce desk for an awesome spot! This would become a predictable feature of main events of course, but it clearly shocks the crowd on this occasion. Diesel pulls Bret out of the wreckage and throws him inside, as the fans boo him. He tees up the Jackknife but seems to take pity on his opponent briefly, which gives Bret a moment to recover. As Diesel goes for the Jackknife a second time, Bret hooks him in a small package and pins him for the WWF Championship. Diesel visible says “motherf***er” on camera, as he can’t believe Bret has stolen his title. At last, the curse of terrible main events since the first IYH PPV is lifted, as this was a fantastic war and one of the best matches of the year. It started pretty slow (or slower than Bret and Diesel’s other matches) but grew into a deliciously vicious battle and peaked at just the right time. It was the right call to go with Bret again (even if this just a transitional reign). (****1/4)

Post-match, Diesel flips his lid and absolutely destroys a bunch of referees, before hauling Bret up for a couple of Jackknife power bombs. He yells “I’m back” and then heads up the entrance way, with Bret laid out. The fans actually seem to respond kindly to this, happy that the cool version of Diesel is back. The commentators wrap things up and wonder if Bret will even be able to defend the belt at IYH5.

Overall

Well, there had to be one good show in 1995. While this was far from perfect, with a dip in quality and crowd heat following the opener, the PPV finished strong with a fun Wildcard match and an excellent main event between Bret and Diesel. A bunch of guys would leave right after this show, and the company’s prospects weren’t exactly positive, but on this night things came together. 7/10.

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #136

Date: 20 November 1995
Location: Richmond Coliseum; Richmond, VA
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: It's a dream match as Shawn Michaels and Owen Hart go one-on-one!

We begin with a recap of Survivor Series and we have a NEW World Champion in Bret Hart. Of course, they don't miss an opportunity to plug the replay here.

Vince and Jerry welcome us to this live episode, as the latter's head still hurts from taking a Tombstone the night before.

The 1-2-3 Kid def. Hakushi (6:48 shown)
Well this is a rematch I'm definitely keen to see. Kid is out with DiBiase once again and grabs a headlock to start us off, just to confirm he's a heel and won't be doing all that flippy-dippy shit anymore. Razor gets on the phone and sounds pissed at "stick man", which is admittedly a funny nickname for Kid. Hakushi fights back and nails Kid with a dropkick, then goes to the arm. Marty Jannetty, still salty after being screwed last night, comes out to ringside and has to be marshalled away by a bunch of referees. Back from a break, Kid has won back control and drops Hakushi with a spin kick in the corner. He then begins to work the body of Hakushi, as we see a more methodical style emerge. Hakushi tries for a comeback but Kid levels him with an enzuiguiri and goes back to work. REST HOLD! Now that's a heel. Hakushi uses a throat thrust to break out of it, but a dropkick attempt misses and Kid slams him to the mat. Kid then goes up high for his first aerial manoeuvre of the match, as he connects with a frog splash. That looked like shit, sadly. Hakushi quickly recovers though and whacks Kid in the corner with the handspring back elbow. I'm going to miss seeing that move when Hakushi leaves. A flying shoulder tackle follows and gets two. Kid gets fired to the outside now and Hakushi looks to mount some offense from the top, but the referee is too focused on Kid and DiBiase doesn't miss a beat, pushing Hakushi off the top. Kid goes back inside and a spinning heel kick wins it for him. This was fine but all felt a bit rushed and nowhere bear as fun as their SummerSlam match. Sadly, I think we'll be seeing a lot less of Hakushi from now on. (**1/4)

Post-match, Lawler steps off commentary to interview DiBiase and Kid, as DiBiase is beaming with pride about his latest acquisition and pays Kid the money he's worth. Jannetty heads out again though and gets in Kid's face, but here's SID! Sid and Kid beat Marty down, and Sid POWER BOMBS him on the outside. Message sent!

Time for the Slam Jam with Dok Hendrix now, as we're already looking forward to next month's PPV, In Your House 5. We already know Bret vs. Bulldog will main event, but we're also getting an "Arkansas Hog Pen Match" between Godwinn and Helmsley. First man in the pen loses! What a stipulation. Meanwhile, Diesel has arrived and he looks mad.

Skip vs. Savio Vega was fought to a no contest (2:50)
Skip tries a sneak attack on Savio to begin but Savio is wise to it and clotheslines Skip to take him down. Skip rallies though and levels Savio with an enzuiguiri. Skip is slow to capitalise on this and Savio fights back, sending Skip into the corner. Savio keeps the momentum, back dropping Skip and laying into him with chops. At this point though, everything comes to a halt as a big, bad Diesel emerges in the aisle and marches to ringside, pushing Skip aside before grabbing a mic. And that's pretty much it for this "match".

Diesel has some things on his mind. Last night, for the first time in a year, he slept like a baby. That's because he no longer has to be the corporate, politically correct puppet of Vince McMahon, forced to smile all of the time. He directly references that Vince is the booker and leader of WWF here, which was pretty much known at this point but never spoken about on television. Big Daddy Cool is back and he'll only look out for his family, friends, and fans wearing the black glove from now on. This was a pretty electric promo by Nash, even if he meant to say "dropped the ball" rather than "missed the ball". There's the spark of "attitude" here that effectively marks a maturation of the company's presentation, but don't expect a total sea change right away.

Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart was fought to a no contest (10:44 shown)
Before HBK enters, we see him embrace Big Daddy Cool backstage, so they're still tight for now. Shawn gets his usual flashy entrance here as Vince builds him up. It's Owen who strikes the first blow though, and he engineers a few near falls to start us off. Shawn recovers and takes hold of the match, back dropping Owen. Shawn nails Owen with a dropkick now and sends him to the floor. Back inside, Shawn keeps on top and takes Owen down with a hurricanrana, but Owen rallies and clotheslines Shawn over the top, before hitting a sweet baseball slide. Back in the ring, a bridging German Suplex nearly wins it for Owen, who continues to work over the neck and back of Shawn, before applying a REST HOLD to wear his opponent down further. Shawn works out of that, but Owen whomps him with a spinning heel kick as we go to commercials. Back from the break, Shawn gets some momentum and back slides Owen for two. Owen then takes Shawn up high for a superplex, but Shawn reverses and falls on top for a near fall. HBK then launches at Owen with a flying clothesline that sends both men down. Shawn is up first and hits a flying forearm on Owen, before heading up top and connecting with the flying elbow drop for two. Shawn then tries for Sweet Chin Music but Owen telegraphs it and hangs onto the ropes, before nailing Shawn with a stiff-ass enzuiguiri. And I think you know what comes next. Owen tries to put HBK in the Sharpshooter, but Shawn pokes him in the eye and clotheslines him out of the ring, before skinning the cat and playing to the crowd. At this point though, something comes over Shawn and he collapses to the mat. We'll discuss the angle separately, but as you'd expect, a really crisp and well-worked match between these two, up until the finish. (***1/4)

HBK looks completely out of it and the ref calls a halt to proceedings, as even Owen looks concerned. Officials head out now and enter the ring, along with Vince himself. Jerry is at ringside too and looks disturbed. We end up going off the air with all this chaos still unresolved, and I guess we'll have to tune in next week to find out what will happen to Shawn. This angle was probably mind-blowing at the time, as it was rare (if unheard of) for WWF to press up against the fourth wall this closely. What I can say is they do a really good job of selling it. Of course, Shawn is fine in the end and this angle has little in the way of long-term implications but it was certainly attention-grabbing for this era of WWF!

Well this show was a bit of a heater, with decent-to-good action and some great angles that felt like a small paradigm shift in the company's approach to booking and building interest in its product. Thumbs up.

NEXT WEEK: Undertaker battles Kama for the urn chain! Brother Love interviews Bret Hart!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #137

Date: 27 November 1995
Location: Richmond Coliseum; Richmond, VA (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

TONIGHT: Undertaker wants what's left of his urn back! And Brother Love returns to teach Bret Hart a lesson in looooove.

Last week, Shawn Michaels collapsed in the ring due to post-concussion syndrome and we're not sure when he'll return. Here's a clue: it won't be in this thread.

Ahmed Johnson def. Rad Radford (2:47)
Radford is a "Bodydonna in training" right now but no sign of Skip or Sunny. He attacks early but Ahmed drops him and sends him outside. Meanwhile, Backlund is canvassing the audience because we have to keep that whole gimmick afloat apparently. Back to the action, Radford snaps Ahmed's neck on the rope and heads inside, where Ahmed gives him a short-arm clothesline and nails him with a scissor kick. A pump kick follows, followed by a spinebuster. We learn that Ahmed will be facing Dean Douglas at IYH5 (wrong!) as he finishes Radford off with a Tiger Bomb.

Post-match, Lawler is at ringside to interview Johnson and taunts him about the match with Douglas at the upcoming PPV. That brings Douglas out, who glazes Ahmed a bit before saying that the pathway to stardom goes through his classroom, whatever that means. Ahmed then offers him a lesson in the ring right now, but the stooges arrive and break it up. As it turns out, Douglas hurt his back really bad at a house show in Philly (after this RAW was taped) and would never wrestle for the company again.

More on the Shawn Michaels situation now, as Lawler shills Twixes (a stupendous confectionery, so I'll allow it).

Aja Kong & Tomoko Watanabe def. Alundra Blayze & Kyoko Inoue (6:04 shown)
The heel team arrive to the Orient Express theme music, which they must have found down the back of the proverbial couch somewhere. Speaking of the heels, they attack early but Blayze and Inoue team up and dropkick Kong to the mat. Kong recovers though, and Inoue ends up getting caught in a corner, as Kong and Watanabe take it in turns to apply a beating. A crossbody from Watanabe misses, though, and Inoue has an opening. She tags Blayze, who slaps Watanabe and gets some momentum for the babyfaces. Back from a break, Inoue runs wild and takes both the heels down with clotheslines, before a really neat falling back elbow for a two count. Watanabe connects with a crossbody and goes up high, but Inoue meets her there and suplexes her from the turnbuckle for some well-earned ooh's and aah's. Kong tags in now and goes for the URAKEN but it misses and Blayze is unleashed, firing dropkicks left., right and centre. She tags Inoue, who foolishly goes for a piledriver on Kong, but instead gets nailed with a Saito suplex! While Vince blabbers on about Princess Diana, Kong connects with the back fist and pins Inoue to add to her collection of wins in WWF. Not a bad effort here from all four women, but it lacked any flow and the commentators seemed like they couldn't care less, which hurt it a bit. (**1/2)

It's time for the return of the Brother Love Show, because Vince was clearly out of ideas at this point and didn't want to rekindle the Bret/Lawler feud by making this a King's Court segment instead. Brother Love chastises Bret for making his mother cry by fighting his family and says he's afraid of The Undertaker (this will make more sense in a few weeks time). Bret responds and tells Love to shut up, before calling Diesel cheap and saying that he still hasn't swallowed his defeat to Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992. I'm no fan of the Brother Love shtick, but this at least sets up two of three different feuds for Bret right off the bat. That's not all though, sadly, as Bob Backlund sneak attacks Bret and cinches in the Crossface Chicken-Wing, because we all need to see another Bret/Backlund match! Bret famously hated the way they booked him right after Survivor Series 1995 and I'm not surprised.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley def. John Chrystal (1:40)
In a picture-in-picture segment during the entrances, Henry O. Godwinn is on the farm and shows us where Hunter will be sleeping with the pigs come In Your House. Helmsley strikes the first blow here, before levelling Chrystal with a load of strikes. Chrystal tries to mount a comeback but HHH powers through and it's kick, wham, PEDIGREE for the quick victory. Thanks for coming, John.

Backstage, Owen is lapping up the headlines as the man who put Shawn Michaels out of the company and refers to himself as the most feared man in the WWF. Ha ha, nice! He has an open contract out for IYH5 and dares anyone to face him!

The Undertaker def. Sir Mo (3:59 shown)
Mask-taker is out but Kama is on crutches and can't wrestle! Vince smells a rat. Instead, DiBiase has paid for the services of Sir Mo, who will wrestle Taker instead. Great, just what we all need. DiBiase works an early distraction, tripping Taker, before Mo clotheslines him over the top. Mo then heads outside and works Taker's back. Back from a break, and Mo is still on top, somehow. Undertaker rallies though and gets Mo in a chokehold. Meanwhile, Vince is awaiting the arrival of Mabel, so Lawler calls him paranoid. Undertaker goes outside after Kama now, revealing that he is, in fact, not injured at all. DiBiase and Kama leave, as Undertaker heads back inside and finishes Mo off with a chokeslam. The match was complete trash, but short enough to not ruin my day. (1/2*)

Post-match, Mabel does arrive and tries to steal the urn-chain (wait, Kama just left it out there, how kind of him), but Taker claims it. Yokozuna is also out now to back-up his fellow fat-ass heel. This gives Mabel a chance to attack Bearer and steal the chain back, before exiting as quickly as he can. Undertaker "chases" after him and that's all for whatever this was. I guess we need a blow-off to this dreadful Taker/Mabel feud before Deadman can move on to something more meaningful. And that's pretty much the show, as Lawler and Vince wrap things up.

One step forward, two steps back (scratch that, about ten steps back). This was a really boring show with questionable booking, lame action (aside from the ladies) and a dead crowd. One month to go and 1995 is over! Thumbs way down.

NEXT WEEK: Marty Jannetty goes face-to-face with a Sycho called Sid! Razor faces Dean Douglas for the IC Title one last time!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #138

Date: 4 December 1995
Location: Richmond Coliseum; Richmond, VA (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

Razor, Douglas, the rubber match!

Nitro has been on a mini winning-streak of late, so let's see if RAW can bounce back tonight. Vince and Jerry welcome us to the show, as usual.

The British Bulldog def. Bob Holly (5:04)
Bulldog is challenging Bret at the next IYH PPV, so think of this as a warm-up match. Despite Bulldog's push, Holly gets the best of the early exchanges using his speed and agility. Davey heads outside to recalibrate. Back in the ring, Bulldog tries for a headlock but Holly squeezes out and slams him. That gets the first near fall. Holly works the arm, but Bulldog puts on an impressive strength display and lifts Holly up to crotch him on the rope. Bulldog tries to pull Holly up for the delayed vertical suplex now, but Holly manages to reverse that into a small package and gets two. Davey clotheslines Holly and picks him up again, nailing the suplex for a near fall. REST HOLD now, but Holly breaks free and attempts a sunset flip, which works and gets two. That's the last window Holly gets, as Bulldog knees him and delivers a leg drop, before taunting the crowd. Holly rallies with a dropkick and hits another one for a near fall, before launching ten punches in the corner. Davey whips him out of that though and then catches Holly for a RUNNING POWER SLAM to finish Sparky Plugg off. Decent little match but weird this felt as evenly fought as it did; a squash would have been more effective. (**)

We recap the events of The Brother Love Show last week and Backlund attacking Bret; they'll face off once again next week. Since last week, Backlund has also attacked J.R. and he's also in attendance tonight to speak to Jerry, who looks nervous around him. Bob gets pissed when it's revealed next week will be non-title and flips out, and Jerry scarpers before he's the next victim of the chicken-wing.

Back from the break, Backlund is still going mad and seems more unhinged than ever.

Fatu def. The Brooklyn Brawler (1:25)
Sneak attack from Brawler to begin here, who whips Fatu across the ring and then knees him in the gut. Steve Lombardi special! Fatu responds quickly and nails Brawler with a backbreaker. A neckbreaker follows, and Fatu heads high for a big splash to finish. Just a squaaash.

Backstage, Backlund is tearing a sound engineer apart for cutting off his mic earlier. Somehow he's still a better fit for President than the orange menace.

Intercontinental Championship: Razor Ramon (c) def. Dean Douglas (4:31 shown)
This match was taped prior to Douglas' injury in the house show loop. He sneak attacks Razor to begin and then tries to clock him with the belt! Well that's a smart move. Ramon gets on top and hits the fallaway slam to send Dean outside. Back in the ring, Razor sends Dean into the corner but gets booted in the face on the charge and Dean smashes his face on the turnbuckle! Ugly. A springboard splash connects from Douglas and we go to commercials. Back from the break, Douglas keeps grabbing the rope with Razor locked up in an abdominal stretch, but Hebner clocks it and breaks the hold. Razor then applies a stretch of his own, which Douglas works out of by hip tossing his opponent. He goes high and hits a flying body press, but Razor reverses it into a pin attempt for two. Both men are up, but Razor decks Douglas with a short arm and hoists him up for the Razor's Edge. That's the end of the match and, pretty much, the end of Douglas' WWF career. He's never wrestle for Vince McMahon again. Similar to their other matches but shorter. Just no chemistry at all between these two. (*1/4)

We now get another edition of The Brother Love Show, as you can see the fans in attendance scanning for the exit. His guest tonight is King Mabel, who gets the usual pomp and circumstance on arrival. Mabel promises to put Taker in his own casket and claims he'll be the first to do so. Has he met Yokozuna? Brother Love then brings out a druid with a custom casket, and it's Sir Mo of course. I imagine this was meant to get heat but nobody gave a shit.

Sid vs. Marty Jannetty was fought to a no contest (6:30 shown)
These guys are facing off in singles action ahead of their tag match at the PPV. Marty is a house on fire to start, connecting with a crossbody before slamming Sid's head into the mat. Marty goes high again, but Sid makes the catch and slams him. Sid wears Marty down in the corner, until Marty gets the boot up and then decks Sid with a sick somersault neckbreaker that looked a bit like a Sol Snatcher (but not quite as beautiful). A fist drop follows but that only gets two for Marty. Back from a break, Sid is in charge, clotheslining the shit out of Marty. REST HOLD! Sid now sends Marty out of the ring and distracts the ref, as DiBiase puts the boots to him. Marty goes after Ted now, bit 1-2-3 Kid emerges and spin kicks Marty. Razor is out too now, and everything breaks down, so Hebner calls for the bell. Razor chases Kid out of the arena; meanwhile, Sid hits a POWER BOMB on Marty and stands tall. This was fine thanks to Marty working REAL HARD to sustain his current push, but it's a Sid match so...you know. (*1/2)

We finish off with a weird segment about Shawn Michaels, as his doctor reveals he may never return to the ring. Then Vince does some weird spiel about how the wrestlers are not invincible and then seems to blame the fans for it? Lots of whiplash in this one. And that's all for this week.

Another sub-par episode this week, even with no less than three featured matches. We're in the December death throes so no surprise really. Thumbs down.

NEXT WEEK: Bret and Backlund clash one more time!

 

[ChristianCaged]

RAW #139

Date: 11 December 1995
Location: Richmond Coliseum; Richmond, VA (taped)
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

Aja Kong kills a bitch!

It's the final show in Richmond as we roll into IYH5. Vince and Jerry welcome us to the show and we're right into the action.

Owen Hart def. Jeff Hardy (2:36)
I don't think the Hardy Boyz got their proper push until after Owen passed away, so this is a fun collector's item. Jeff actually gets Owen on the mat with a hip toss early on, but Owen knees the young gun in the gut and goes to work. Apparently, that open contract Owen promoted last week has been answered by Diesel, and he's watching backstage. Owen levels Jeff with a series of suplexes as Diana Hart Smith watches on. Owen clotheslines Jeff's head off and then goes high for a nice missile dropkick. He teases a Sharpshooter but changes his mind and jackknifes Jeff for the victory. Delicious squash.

Post-match, Yoko flattens poor Jeff with a BANZAI DROP SPLAT and Owen hooks up the Sharpshooter. That provokes Diesel to come out and clean house, booting Yoko out of the ring to remind us he's not a complete heel just yet.

Aja Kong def. Chaparita Asari (4:05)
Asari evades an early attack from Kong and hits a bunch of mule kicks to briefly rock her opponent. A crossbody attempt fails though as Asari bounces across the ring. Avalanche in the corner follows before some strikes and hard kick to the back of Asari, as this thing starts to get really stiff and violent (for the time at least). Kong nails a suplex for two and then goes to the well for a cradle piledriver that looks like a total arse to take. Kong could finish Asari there but wants to inflict more punishment. A splash follows but Kong won't stop there either! Let the poor woman live! Asari has a brief comeback, but the dropkick effort is silenced and Kong drops her to the mat. Kong then goes for another splash from the middle turnbuckle but misses, as Asari mounts a last-ditch offensive. Asari goes for a Phoenix Splash, but Kong moves out the way and wipes out Asari with the URAKEN. And that's three. Really hard-hitting, fun little match here, but it was as rushed and heatless as you'd expect. (**1/4).

After the match, we see Asari has a busted nose and is bleeding quite a bit. Obviously the goal here was to set up Kong as a beast opponent for Blayze but, as we'll discover next week, that never actually happens.

It's time for a stiff dose of awkwardness, as Todd Pettengill interviews Shawn Michaels, speaking for the first time since his collapse. To cut to the chase, Todd questions whether Shawn will ever return, which seems to rub HBK the wrong way, and he terminates the chat. This kind of made Shawn come off like a stroppy teenager (okay, so that might not be untrue).

Ahmed Johnson def. Rick Stockhauser (1:08)
Stockhauser looks almost exactly what you'd think someone called Stockhauser looks like. Ahmed doesn't waste any time here and smashes through the jobber with a bunch of spinebusters, before a TIGER BOMB ends the suffering at a little over a minute.

Post-match, Jerry interviews Ahmed once again and agitates him some more. He even suggests that Ahmed might be stupid?! Not sure where he's got that from. Anyway, Ahmed has been studying Dean Douglas and is ready for him on Sunday. We'll see about that.

After a break we get another interview segment, as Vince huddles with the Million Dollar Corporation ahead of Sid and Kid vs. Razor and Jannetty. DiBiase bad mouths the bad guy and tells Kid that all he needs to care about is winning and money; forget friendship. This didn't get much heat or serve any purpose, to be honest.

Bret Hart def. Bob Backlund via DQ (13:30 shown)
This is non-title, as stated last week. Bret and Bob exchange headlocks to begin as Jerry interviews Diana in split screen. Apparently, she's all in for Davey, which makes sense I suppose. She seems pretty out of it though; maybe this show has bored her into a fugue state. More technical exchange now between Bret and Bob, as they trade holds and try to take the upper hand. That pretty much continues right up until the break, where Bret sends Backlund out of the ring. As we come back, Bret gets a near fall off a back slide and Bob scatters outside for a rethink. Back in the ring, Backlund counters a back drop and tries for the Chicken Wing, but Bret gets to the rope. Backlund goes for an armbar instead and wears Bret down a bit with that, before hitting the champ with a forearm as he tries to get out of it. Backlund then attempts to slam Bret, but the latter counters and falls on top for a two count. Bret then scores another near fall with a small package. Following another set of commercials, Bret hits the side Russian leg sweep for two as he starts to work through his repertoire. The backbreaker and middle rope elbow follow, which should lead to thr Sharpshooter. However, Bulldog is out and enters the ring, distracting Bret for long enough to allow Backlund to apply the Crossface Chicken Wing. It matters not though as the ref has already called for a DQ. As usual, this was a dour technical contest with no real bite. Backlund is just dull and to make matters worse, he brings out a bad side of Bret that didn't previously exist. The match was not too horrendous, however. (*1/4)

Post-match, Backlund won't release the hold as Davey kicks the shit out of his IYH5 opponent. Eventually the referees and stooges get out there to stop it, but the damage may already be done. And with that, we're off the air.

Similar to last week, this felt like dregs of the taping mashed together, as we limp towards the final PPV of the year. Thumbs down.

NEXT WEEK: The fallout from In Your House 5!

 

[ChristianCaged]

In Your House 5

Date: 17 December 1995
Location: Hershey Park Arena; Hershey, PA
Commentary: Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler

It's time for some Season's Beatings!

It's the final PPV event of 1995 and oh boy, am I glad this year is nearly behind us. Jim is relegated to a backstage interviewer role for this show as Vince and Jerry take the call.

Razor Ramon & Marty Jannetty def. Sycho Sid & The 1-2-3 Kid (w/Ted Dibiase) (12:23)
This was built to by Sid and Kid's meddling at Survivor Series, and it's the last time Marty would get to rub shoulders with stars on Razor and Sid's level (and arguably Waltman's too). Goldust is watching on with an usher as we kick his character into next gear. Kid goes after Jannetty to begin, but Marty kicks him upside the head and goes for the corner. On several occasions though, Marty can't quite make it and Kid keeps him in play, until an atomic drop levels Kid and allows Razor to finally enter the fray. Kid then tries to bolt, but Marty has that pegged and throws him back inside for Razor to hit his own atomic drop. Sid does get a blind tag and finally enters the match, unleashing a load of ground and pound offense on Razor that bores the crowd from the jump. Sid and Kid exchange tags now, as they continue to wear Razor down in the typical heel fashion. However, Razor manages to get both men down and heads over to Marty for the hot tag. Marty runs wild and hits Diamond Dust on Kid (sick move) for a near fall. We now cut to Todd with Goldust, as the action in the ring slows down. Goldust seems smitten with Razor and hands Todd a gold envelope to deliver to the Bad Guy. Weird. Meanwhile, Jannetty has got himself caught in the heel corner, and Sid hits a powerslam on the former Rocker after catching him in-flight. That gets a two. More double-teaming of the smaller babyface follows as Razor is getting more and more irate. However, a momentum shift occurs as Kid whiffs on a dropkick and allows Marty over to his corner, as he tags Razor. He wipes out Kid with the fallaway slam, only to hit the deck off a clothesline from Sid. However, Sid eats shoe off a high boot in the corner and Razor goes up top for a flying bulldog. That's enough for three, as Sid jobs again. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he goes AWOL after this until he's brought back next summer. Post-match, Razor goes to deliver his finish on Kid, just for fun, but Sid pulls him down and the heels scurry away. A very flat, lifeless match here that felt like something switched the telly to slow-motion. Sid was basically buried and Kid has lost all his dynamism in ring. Competent enough in the end but not the exciting stuff you want from an opener. (*1/2)

In a weird blooper, the ring announcer calls the name of Buddy Landell but we're not there just yet, and Vince has to cover awkwardly. Jerry gets up from his seat though and welcomes Double J back to the WWF. Jarrett comes out to a very muted reaction and reveals he is back from a World Tour. Ah, so that's where he went. I guess the Roadie got left behind. Lawler presents him with a gold record as Jarrett announces another record and declares for the 1996 Royal Rumble. With some mild heat accrued, Jerry and Jarrett head to the announce desk for our next match.

Ahmed Johnson def. Buddy Landell (w/Dean Douglas) (0:43)
As mentioned before, Douglas had fought his last match in the WWF after getting a back injury and only appears here to announce his replacement, Buddy Landell. This is Douglas' last actual appearance and it's a pretty innocuous one. Johnson enters and takes some chops from Landell to begin, but they have no effect and Johnson proceeds to break the guy's back with a spinebuster. The PEARL RIVER PLUNGE follows and it's a wrap. No rating for this one as it was way too short and basically just a squash. Not sure why they needed to keep this on the PPV but there you go.

After the match, Jerry interviews Ahmed at ringside and basically gets to shit-talk him and call him stupid once again. Ahmed gets in Lawler's face, so Jarrett cracks him over the back of the head with the gold record (not using the guitar yet). Jarrett then gets a few licks in with a chair (including direct shots to the head that wouldn't fly today) before Ahmed HULKS UP and feels no pain. He brawls to the back awkwardly with Jarrett and that's that. I guess we'll see where that feud goes.

Meanwhile, Razor looks happy backstage, until Todd slips him the note from Goldust, which Razor seems far from pleased with.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley def. Henry O. Godwinn in an Arkansas Hog Pen Match (9:37)
Hey, Hillbilly Jim is here to serve as the special guest referee. I mean, there's no pins, submissions, or indeed any rules beyond "put man in hog pen", but I guess we still need a referee! Godwinn has brought stereo slop buckets to the ring and gives chase to Helmsley to start us off, before launching a metric ton of slop at poor Tony Chimel and probably several front row fans as collateral damage. They'll always remember when they got slopped at a WWF PPV. Pardon? Anyway, Godwinn finally catches up with Hunter and ties him up in the ropes, before spreading a load of slop across his chops. Gross! Hunter rallies with a clothesline and looks more aggressive than ever here, hitting a sharp swinging neckbreaker and a knee drop. Harley Race shit! Both men head outside now, as Henry rams Hunter into the steps head first. Both men head up the aisle now and brawl outside the hog pen. It's a near defeat for Hunter, as he's backdropped onto the fence but doesn't fall inside. Unfortunately, this seems to cut up his back real bad. Hunter reverses the situation quickly enough, getting up on the fence to deliver an elbow to HOG. They work their way back to the ring now, as Henry tries to take back control, but gets caught with the boot in the corner. Hunter then goes for a monkey flip, but Henry counters that into what looks a lot like Jade Cargill's finisher, sending Hunter face down into the mat. Godwinn sends Hunter flying out the ring now and we head back towards the pen. Godwinn hits a Slop Drop on the floor and looks primed to win, but Hunter sneakily backdrops Henry into the pen and that's a victory for the Blue Blood, who is still undefeated one-on-one, I believe. It's a bit of a hollow victory though, as Godwinn gets up and throws Hunter in the pen, covering his bloody back in loads of mud and pig shit. That can't be hygienic! Look, for a silly gimmick match, they did about as well as you could possibly want them to do. There were some adequately gross spots to play into the gimmick too and both guys worked hard. Then again, it's a hog pen match, so you know. (**1/2)

Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) def. Diesel via DQ (4:36)
Owen kicked Shawn's head in and put him out of the WWF (well, according to Owen), so Diesel took up his open contract and decided to fac him at IYH5. Diesel overpowers Owen early, decking him with a Side Slam. Owen rallies, but Diesel clotheslines him over the top and poses for the crowd. Owen heads back in and connects with the spin kick, followed by a missile dropkick. Owen then works the leg/knee and tries to go for a Sharpshooter. Diesel works out of it, but Owen clocks him with an enziguri. Diesel uses his power to reverse the situation though and sends Owen hard into the corner. He then gets Owen up for a Snake Eyes and whacks him with a big boot. Jackknife! That should get three but Diesel isn't done. The referee begs for mercy on Owen'a behalf, so Diesel shoves him out the way and loses via DQ. He then Jackknifes Owen again and signals that he wants his belt back. If the goal here was to make Diesel look strong whilst protecting Owen, then this didn't quite work, as Owen looked like a total geek here. Too short to really get anywhere but it was fine. (*)

Ted DiBiase is here for our next segment, as he is interrupted by Savio Vega and Santa Claus! Savio and Ted discuss whether Santa is real or not, before Ted reveals that Savio's buddy is actually a paid off bad actor. Santa attacks Savio from behind and him and DiBiase put the boots to Vega. Savio then tries to attack DiBiase and Santa, ripping off the latter's wig to reveal he's actually Balls Mahoney. The stooges arrive and break things up.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def. King Mabel (w/Sir Mo) in a Casket Match (6:12)
For the third time in a little over a year, we get a casket match on PPV to end an Undertaker feud. This is kind of significant actually, as it's basically the end of Undertaker slumming it out with midcard slobs (which has been the status quo for him since 1992) before moving up to the main event scene and more interesting stuff. Anyway, Mabel baits Taker in to begin and gets a few licks in, but Taker rallies and grabs a chokehold. He then goes to whip Mabel across the ring, but the big man reverses into the spinning sidewalk slam. That's enough to finish some people but Undertaker sits up and the writing is on the wall. Taker tries to drop Mabel with a clothesline, but Mabel catches him for a belly-to-belly (his usual finisher). A splash and leg drop follows as Taker looks finished. But of course, Mo and Mabel get ahead of themselves and take way too long putting Taker in the casket. Undertaker gets his arm up to stop the lid being slammed shut and then goes back to the clotheslines, finally dropping Mabel with the flying lariat. A big chokeslam follows and Taker sends Mabel flying into the wooden box with a big boot. Before he can slam the lid, Mo attacks, but Taker just chokeslams him as well and throws him in the casket with Mabel. Before he shuts the lid, he retrieves the remains of his urn (which Kama melted down into a chain) and then seals the fate of MoM. They'll stick around until the Rumble but that's pretty much it for Mo, and Mabel will of course pop up again later. Post-match, Taker poses and then makes the belt signal too! Diesel isn't going to like that. Look, it's a casket match involving Mabel, so obviously this was going to be ass cheeks, but at least they didn't labour the point and kept it short. And this feud is now behind us as Taker moves on to bigger and better things. (1/2*)

WWF Championship: Bret Hart (c) def. The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette) (21:12)
Diana is firmly in Bulldog's corner for this one, although she takes a seat in the crowd. Nice touch with Davey's attire, as he wears the same tights as SummerSlam 1992, when he beat Bret! Bret grabs the arm early here and works the submission a bit, until Davey overpowers him and hangs him up in the TREE OF WOE. Funny moment here, as Bulldog accidentally shoves Hebner over while stomping Bret, and then picks him up apologetically. REST HOLD now as Bulldog wears down Bret a bit. Bret escapes, bit Davey sends him chest-first into the ropes for the classic spot. Davey goes back to the REST HOLD bit Bret works out it and decks the challenger with a monkey flip. He then hits the inverted atomic drop and a bulldog (on Bulldog!) for a near fall. Bret goes to the well for a piledriver now, and that gets just two. To think it's a deadly move now! Bret then rolls through the hits, decking Bulldog with a side Russian leg sweep, which he follows up with the middle rope elbow drop. Bret then goes for a superplex, but Davey counters and drops Bret right on the rope, as Hitman falls outside to the floor. Bulldog hurls him face first into the steps and oh boy, the blood is flowing! Bret famously claimed this was accidental and Vince bought it. I'll go about 0.4 on the Muta scale for it, if only because Vince panics and subtly instructs the truck to not do any close-ups on Bret, so it's hard to tell how big a blade job it was. Anyway, Davey hurls Bret into the post and then back inside, as he is now firmly on top. Bulldog hits a piledriver of his own for two, before hoisting Bret up for the big vertical suplex. Another near fall. The press slam also fails to win it. Bulldog then goes high and launches a flying headbutt at Bret's back. That seems to hurt Bulldog, and he can only get two once again. Bret won't give up! Bulldog puts him in a submission now, but Bret escapes and tries for a Sharpshooter. Bulldog reverses though and sends Bret out to the apron, before attempting a suplex. Bret does the classic reversal though and jimmies his way behind Davey, hitting a German Suplex for two. Okay, this is kicking into gear now. Bret backdrops Davey out of the ring now and then goes over the top rope with a PESCADO. FLYING HITMAN! He goes for another aerial attack, but Bulldog catches him and levels Bret with a running powerslam on the floor! The ringside mats have been lifted now and Davey wants to cripple Bret on the concrete, the sick bastard! Bret rallies though and counters, crotching Bulldog on the railing. Ouchie! Bret sends him back inside and gets two off a backbreaker. Bret gets a few more near falls and then makes Davey eat boot off a corner charge! He's dazed and confused, which allows Bret to cradle him for three! Hitman retains and Diana looks miffed. This does take its time to get going and not a whole lot happens for 7/8 mins. The blade job livens it up though and they work a really stiff battle down the stretch. Like a lot of Bret matches, I think this one is slightly overrated, but it's still really good. (***3/4)

The Netflix version of the show has a Coliseum exclusive, as Undertaker and Diesel come to blows backstage. Big Daddy Cool is not happy that Taker has been named No.1 Contender, but I'm sure he'll get over it.

Overall

A very good main event doesn't make up for a pretty lacklustre card, as this is a very skippable show which feels more like a RAW episode than a PPV. I do appreciate the effort to start telling more compelling stories though, and the fact that they're finally positioning the top stars against each other. 4/10.

 

[Sky]

I believe Aja/Asari was what convinced Vince to kill the women's division again. He thought "uh this is what the women are doing now? Not for me thanks, glorified valets and hair-pulling and catfights forever". Proof number 23 million that WWF only won by accident