Monday, October 23rd, 1995
Keystone Centre
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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They talk about Diesel/Bret, the women's match tonight, the battle royal that is next and Shawn Michaels forfeiting the Intercontinental Championship to Dean Douglas, who then lost it to Razor Ramon. In all honesty, that's a decent way to make tonight feel important.
Battle Royal To Become The Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender
Marty Jannetty, Sid, and Isaac Yankem all get televised entrances. Marty and Sid also get interview spots. King Kong Bundy is eliminated within 15 seconds. Just about the entire roster is in this one. This is a great example of a bunch of guys standing around doing a whole lot of nothing. We finally get a fairly large exit of guys and we are down to six. Savio Vega, Sid, Marty, Owen Hart, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Jean Pierre Lafitte are left. Just as I finish that sentence, Sid is eliminated. They show Razor in the back watching intently. During the commercial break, Bam Bam is eliminated by Jean Pierre. I would love to see Razor take on him next week on Raw. The crowd is chanting for Marty. This episode is creeping up on being half over. Marty is able to eliminate both Savio and Jean Pierre. He almost gets Owen out of there, but Owen does a nice bump to spin upside down into the ropes. We get another close call with him teetering on the edge of the ring. Owen was so good. We get some good action and then Owen sends Marty through the ropes and not over. Marty then grabs Jim Cornette's tennis racket and chases him around. Bulldog comes out and attacks Marty. Back in the ring, Owen is able to throw Marty over the top and become the #1 contender in a King Of The Ring 1994 rematch. Like most battle royals, the first three quarters were boring and the ending was good.
Match Rating: *1/2
Lawler interviews Owen and he insults Bret for the cheap heat.
They show some video footage of the main event, which is really surprising. I guess I always remembered them showing still photos at this time, especially the night after.
We go to the Survivor Series Slam Jam with Dok Hendrix. This is the Karate Fighters in one of the more memorable product placements of the era. He hypes up the Wild Card match where Shawn Michaels, Sid, British Bulldog and Ahmed Johnson take on Dean Douglas, Yokozuna, Owen Hart and Razor Ramon. They then show Bob Backlund campaigning in the crowd in Canada. Back to Dok and we hear from Ahmed, who says he has Shawn's back.
Avatar vs. Brian Walsh
The infamous Avatar debut here. I'll never understand why they had him put on the mask after he got to the ring. I'm also not sure why he has Fatu's colors. Avatar is a little sloppy, losing his balance on the top rope. He makes up for it by just doing a dive instead. He misses with a moonsault and Walsh hits a couple of clotheslines. Avatar comes back with a somersault clothesline and a backbreaker. The crowd is dead silent here. He hits a standing moonsault and then stands on his chest before leaping for a splash for the win. He got no build and was stuck wrestling a style that was nothing like the style that worked for him in the future. It's pretty easy to see why this failed.
Match Rating: 1/4*
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WWE Women's Championship
Bertha Faye vs. Alundra Blayze
They show Bertha winning at SummerSlam, which feels like the last time we saw her. Bertha uses her size to dominate the opening portion here. We then get kind of an oddly timed commercial break with no drama. I know they got more into that in later years, but this one felt like there was no reason to not change the channel. When we return, Alundra makes her comeback. She tries to pull off a powerbomb, but Bertha hits the back body drop instead. Bertha climbs to the second rope, but Alundra pulls off her handstand head scissors. Harvey tries to get involved, but it backfires and Alundra picks up the win to regain the championship. After the match, Bertha chases after Harvey to the back. That would have been a lot more satisfying if there was anything that happened between the time Bertha won it and now. Bertha put on a good performance here, but it's hard to care when the promotion doesn't care.
Match Rating: **
Next week, it's going to be Goldust's TV debut against Savio Vega and Razor Ramon defends his title against Owen Hart. We go back to Jim Ross and he interviews Shawn Michaels. He talks about how hard he worked for the Intercontinental Championship and it sucked having to hand it over to someone as overrated as Dean Douglas. They talk about his Survivor Series match and how he has some tests to pass before he can compete.
This was a disappointing live edition, especially compared to the one last month. It wasn't bad by any means, but just felt a little flat.
Overall Rating: 43%
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