Monday Night Raw 11-20-95 Review

Monday, November 20th, 1995
Richmond Coliseum
Richmond, Virginia

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We go back to getting still photos, as they show us some of the chaos of the Diesel/Bret Hart match from Survivor Series. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler recap Survivor Series and then show the 1-2-3 Kid heel turn last week. They show some more still photos of the Kid's match and the Wild Card match. 

Hakushi vs. 1-2-3 Kid

These two had one of my favorite matches of the year at SummerSlam. Let's see if they get some time. We get a Razor Ramon phone interview, so that's not a great start. Razor says that he won't cry about what happened, but Kid knows firsthand just how bad Razor can be. Hakushi hits a dropkick and then out comes Marty Jannetty with the referees trying to hold him back as we go to commercial break. This is definitely a slower paced match compared to SummerSlam. Hakushi gets it going a little bit and hits a top rope shoulder tackle. He hits a back body drop and then a kick that sends Kid to the floor. Hakushi climbs the top rope, but DiBiase pushes him off behind the referee's back. Kid hits the spin kick and picks up the victory in a pretty good opener. After the match, DiBiase hands Kid some money. 

Match Rating: **

Lawler interviews DiBiase and Kid after the commercial break. This seems to be their new trend. They make fun of Marty and out he comes. Sid is there and he attacks Marty and then Kid gets in his cheap shots. Sid hits a powerbomb to the floor and tells him that's what he gets when he messes with the Kid. 

We go to Dok Hendrix for the Slam Jam. He reminds us that it will be Bret Hart taking on British Bulldog at In Your House. We hear from Bulldog and Cornette, reminding us of what happened at SummerSlam 1992. Dok also announces that Henry Godwinn will take on Hunter Hearst Helmsley in an Arkansas Hog Pen Match. He also announces that Diesel is in the building. They show Skip and Sunny in the ring and then Diesel talking to Shawn Michaels backstage before the commercial break. 

Skip vs. Savio Vega

Don't forget to buy your denim jacket for $59.75! Take your pick of Diesel, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart. I would love to know how many those sold. There is a Body Donnas Fan Club sign in the crowd today. Why do wrestlers who have the straps on their gear never actually wear the straps? Anyway, Vega has Skip bumping around the ring and then out comes Diesel. Savio sends Skip over the top rope and face-first to the floor. Diesel takes Skip and shoves him to the ground. He grabs a microphone and says that he thought about coming out here and apologizing to Bret and his dear fans for what he did. He's not going to do that. He said that for the first time in a year, he saw a smile on his face. He said he's not some corporate puppet that Vince decided to create, he's himself. He tells Vince that he missed the ball instead of dropping the ball. He was sick of being told to smile more and be a little bit more corporate. He says that last night was the tip of the iceberg and that Big Daddy Cool is back. He says the only things that matter to him are his family and friends, including Shawn Michaels. He says he's back and heads to the back. That's also the end of the match. We did get enough action I guess for me to rate it, but just barely. This is most notable for really being the first time that Vince was outed as someone more than just an announcer. They show Diesel walking with Shawn backstage and out of the building. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Next week on Raw, it's Undertaker vs. Kama. Plus, Brother Love makes his return to interview Bret Hart. Talk about random. 

Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels

These two are two of the best in 1995 wrestling and we get an opening segment that shows that off. Owen hits a German suplex into a bridge and gets a 2 count. Owen is in firm control into the commercial break. Shawn is able to explode for a clothesline and both men are down. Shawn kips up and hits the leaping forearm after an Irish whip. Shawn hits the top rope elbow drop for a nearfall. He sends Owen into the corner sternum first and tries for Sweet Chin Music, but Owen hangs on in the corner. Shawn goes after him and Owen hits an enzuigiri. He goes for the Sharpshooter, but Shawn is able to wiggle out of it before he slaps it in. Shawn clotheslines Owen over the top and skins the cat. Shawn then falls to the ground in the ring, leaving Cornette a little confused. Owen isn't sure what to do either. The referee checks in on Shawn and Vince leaves the announce booth into another commercial break. When we come back, the medical team is giving Shawn oxygen. They even show Lawler looking concerned and we get another commercial to sell the drama. When we come back, we can hear Pat Patterson asking if Shawn can hear him and Shawn is shaking his head. They keep selling it and we go off the air. The match was what you would expect until the big angle. This is one of the more memorable angles up to this point in Raw history. 

Match Rating: **

This was a big time episode with the Shawn drama and the Diesel attitude change. They continue to step up their game in presenting a better television product as we near the Attitude Era. 

Overall Rating: 67%

Survivor Series 1995 Review

Sunday, November 19th, 1995 
USAir Arena
Landover, Maryland

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Right off the bat, Howard Finkle introduces Mr. Perfect and then we go into the hype video for Bret Hart vs. Diesel. When we come back, Mr. Perfect is with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon as part of the announce team. 

The Underdogs (Marty Jannetty, Barry Horowitz, Hakushi & Bob Holly) vs. The Body Donnas (Skip, Rad Radford, Tom Prichard & 1-2-3 Kid)

They treat Marty Jannetty as the captain of the team, despite the name coming from Barry Horowitz's gimmick. Bob Holly has replaced Avatar. Sunny introduces their 4th partner, the 1-2-3 Kid. He replaces Jean Pierre Lafitte. The Prichard inclusion is such an odd one, especially since he will eventually be Zip. Razor Ramon is out during the Kid's entrance and has to be held back. We get a nice little segment with Holly and Skip before a tag into Prichard. The crowd is chanting for "Barry". Prichard misses with a moonsault and Holly hits a top rope crossbody and eliminates Prichard. Skip comes in and rolls up Holly and he's eliminated. Hakushi comes in and hits a reverse kick to the jaw. He goes for the splash in the corner, but Skip gets his knees up. It's about time that Skip gets some shine. Skip hits a top rope hurricanrana, but for some reason he sells an injury to and falls face-first. Vince says he landed on his head. He clearly did not. The Kid gets tagged in and takes it to Hakushi. Hakushi doesn't want any of it and hits a top rope shoulder tackle. I know this is the opening match, but the crowd is really into this. They show Razor watching backstage with the Darkside. Kid gets a kick to the back of the head of Hakushi and Radford holds the tights to eliminate him. Barry is finally in and runs into a double elbow of Radford and Kid. Radford dominates but is being cocky by pulling Barry up before the ref can count to 3. Radford starts doing some pushups and that leads to Horowitz rolling him up and eliminating Radford. Skip is upset and Barry is right behind him. He takes out some aggression, but we get a blind tag to Kid and he hits a dropkick to the back. He follows up with a leg drop and eliminates Barry. We're down to a 2 on 1. Skip goes for a powerbomb, but Marty rolls over for a sunset flip and gets a 2 count. Marty hits the Rocker Dropper and climbs to the top. Sunny shakes the ropes and Marty loses his balance. Skip climbs up to meet him, but Marty hits a top rope powerbomb and eliminates Skip. That was a great move, but I'm not sure Marty is the guy I'd let do that to me. Kid comes in and hits a spin kick right off the bat. Kid goes up top and hits a leg drop, but Marty kicks out at 2. Kid hits a running dropkick in the corner and DiBiase likes what he sees. Marty battles back and then out comes Sid. Marty hits a reverse elbow, but Marty is distracted. Marty hits a Rocker Dropper but Kid gets his foot on the bottom rope. DiBiase is on the apron to distract the ref and Sid snaps Marty on the top rope. Kid rolls over and covers him for the victory. That was a really enjoyable opening match that was boosted by the crowd being really into the story being told despite it being the lower mid-card. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

After the match, they show Razor throwing things around in the back. 

We go to Todd Pettengill with Jim Cornette, Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna, Dean Douglas and Owen Hart. They get on Razor for not being focused. 

Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe & Lioness Asuka vs. Alundra Blayze, Sakie Hasegawa, Kyoko Inoue & Chapparita Asari

This will be a tough one to call. At least we have JR here to help out. Asari hits a great corkscrew off the top rope, but tags in Alundra and she hits a German suplex into a bridge to get rid of Asuka. Watanabe is in right away but misses with a moonsault. Alundra then dives off the top rope to the floor. Hasegawa hits a series of double arm suplexes. Aja Kong is tagged in and she surprisingly gets dropped on her head with a suplex by Hasegawa. Kong comes back with a kick to the midsection and hits a suplex of her own to eliminate Hasegawa. Asari is back in and tries a crossbody but gets swatted away. Kong hits a second rope splash and Asari is gone unfortunately. Inoue gets tagged in for the first time and she hits a clothesline on Kong. Inoue goes for a sunset flip, but Kong sits on her and gets a controversial cover. It looked like her shoulder was up, but the referee sticks with it. We're down to 3 on 1 here for Alundra. Alundra hits a suplex on Watanabe and we get another possible miscommunication with Watanabe kicking out. Alundra struggles to get her up for a piledriver but does and that time she pins her. Bertha is finally in and squashes her in the corner. Kong runs in and Bertha accidentally runs into her. Alundra hits the German suplex into the bridge and she's gone. We get an awkward pause in the corner and Kong hits a superplex for a 2 count. I should note that Vince and Perfect are giving us the typical announcing you'd expect from this era. At least Perfect is playing a heel, I guess? Alundra hits a standing moonsault, but Kong kicks out at 2. Kong catches Alundra with a spinning back punch and that's all. Aja gets the Orient Express music for her victory. This wasn't as good as I remembered it being. There were a lot of miscommunications, and it felt rushed. 

Match Rating: **

We get an interview with "Bill Clinton" during Bam Bam Bigelow's entrance. When his pyro goes off, he goes down and his secret service is all over it. Yep.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Goldust

This is basically it for Bam Bam before he would go onto being a top guy in ECW. The action spills outside and Bam Bam ducks a clothesline and he hits his arm on the post. They are back in the ring and this time Goldust clotheslines Bam Bam to the floor. Goldust has pretty much been dominating this match. Bam Bam gets a quick burst of offense but misses with a splash in the corner. Goldust hits a bulldog and that's all. That was a more convincing win than most of his matches so far. It also continues the trend of his matches being pretty dull for the most part. 

Match Rating: *1/2

We go back to "Bill Clinton" who is with Bob Backlund now. Backlund calls him out, but Bill likes Bob. Why is this on the show? 

The Royals (King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Hunter Hearst Helmsley & Isaac Yankem) vs. The Darkside (Undertaker, Henry Godwinn, Savio Vega & Fatu)

Fatu and Helmsley start things off, but it all leads to Godwinn being tagged in and Helmsley quickly tagging out. Things start off pretty slowly, so I blame Yankem. He sucks. Still does. It all just leads to Undertaker finally getting tagged in. Lawler is in there when he does, and no one wants to tag in. He hits the Tombstone and Lawler is gone. It's Yankem's turn now and gets his Tombstone and is gone. Helmsley decides to give it a try but then rolls out of the ring. He tries to leave, but Godwinn is there with the bucket. Undertaker pulls him into the ring and gives him a nice chokeslam for his elimination. Mabel comes from behind and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. He follows up with a leg drop and starts dancing. Taker naturally sits up and Mabel rolls out of the ring. Mo comes in the ring to distract him and Mabel is off to the back. Mo eats a chokeslam and the Darkside wins 4-0 for the first face victory of the night. This was just to re-establish the Undertaker's character and nothing else. 

Match Rating: *1/2

We get pre-recorded interviews from Bret Hart and Diesel where they talk about their match tonight and also about the match with British Bulldog. 

We go to Todd with British Bulldog, Sid, Ted DiBiase and Jim Cornette. Ted isn't buying Cornette sticking with Bulldog and not with Owen and Yoko. Shawn and Ahmed join the party. 

Owen Hart, Yokozuna, Dean Douglas & Razor Ramon vs. British Bulldog, Sid, Ahmed Johnson & Shawn Michaels

Shawn gets the start, which is a wise move in 1995. He hits a moonsault on Douglas, but Owen pulls him off during the pin attempt. Ahmed gets tagged in and is cleaning house. He goes to slam Yokozuna, but it doesn't work out this time and Yoko goes to work. Ahmed and Shawn work together to get back in it and then a Razor distraction causes Douglas to get rolled up by Shawn and eliminated. Now it's time for Bulldog and Owen. Bulldog hits a monkey flip on Owen and then Owen hits a spin kick on Bulldog. Now we have Shawn tagged in and Razor tagged in. Razor gets Shawn up for the Razor's Edge and hits it. Ahmed runs in and makes the save before the count of 3. We get a collision and that leads to Sid being tagged in. Sid works on his back for a bit until they hit a double clothesline. Sid hits a chokeslam on Razor and tags in Shawn. He holds Razor up, but Razor ducks and Shawn accidentally hits Sid with Sweet Chin Music. Razor covers him and Bulldog runs in and hits Sid, but I think he was wanting to hit Razor? Razor sort of sells it and then covers him again to eliminate Sid. Sid then gives Michaels a powerbomb out of frustration. Owen and Yoko work on Shawn until Owen misses with a top rope headbutt. Ahmed gets tagged in and hits the Pearl River Plunge to eliminate Owen. Razor is in and hits a bulldog on Ahmed. Ahmed comes back with a spinebuster. Ahmed celebrates and that allows Razor to hit the Razor's Edge. Bulldog is in though and he gets caught in the air for a fall away slam. DiBiase, Sid and Kid are now out at ringside. Kid gets up on the apron and Razor hits him with a right hand. Bulldog then hits him with the running powerslam and he's out of here. Yoko is the last man standing for his team. Michaels is able to avoid a Banzai Drop and tags in Ahmed. He hits a body slam and Bulldog inexplicably breaks up the pin attempt. Shawn and Ahmed hit him with right hands and a double clothesline. Shawn hits Yoko with Sweet Chin Music and Ahmed jumps on him for the victory. This was pretty good and better executed than any of the BattleBowl's I have seen. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

If you were hoping for more fake Bill Clinton, you're in luck. Now we get innuendo with Sunny sitting on his lap. 

This leads to a Bret/Diesel hype video. It's such a fun throwback to hear Gorilla Monsoon calling their King Of The Ring 1994 match. 

No Disqualification Match For The WWF Championship Match
Bret Hart vs. Diesel

I gave their KOTR match ***1/2 and their Royal Rumble match ***3/4. They both take turnbuckle covers off as soon as the bell rings. They establish quickly that this is a no DQ match and also don't fall into the trap of Diesel getting a fast start. Instead, he is working a more methodical pace, as this one is going to be lengthy. Diesel goes for the Jackknife, but Bret is able to block it and bites him to get out of it. Bret is able to get the Figure Four on and JR reminds us that Bret used this multiple times back in January. Bret slams Diesel's leg into the ring post and then takes a microphone cable and ties Diesel's leg around the post. Bret tries to use a chair, but Diesel is able to kick him in the face with the foot that isn't tied to the post. Bret still is able to take advantage and uses the chair on Diesel's leg. Bret climbs up top, but Diesel launches him off and then unties the cord. Even though Vince is being his usual annoying 1995 self, the announcers are doing a good job of playing up the fight aspect of this match. As Bret is trying to get back into the ring, Diesel pushes him off using the ropes and through the table. This is the most iconic spot of this match and was very rare for this company at this time. Diesel pulls him back into the ring and goes for the Jackknife. Bret collapses before Diesel can lift him up. He goes for it again, but this time Bret uses a small package and steals the victory and the WWF Championship. After the match, Diesel shoves the referee away and hits a Jackknife on Bret. He then attacks the officials that run into the ring and then hits a second Jackknife. He lifts up his arm and says that "I'm back" to the crowd. This was a really good main event and a great finish. The Diesel character has needed this for months and they finally pulled the trigger. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

We get a highlight package to wrap up the show. The announce team sells the carnage that just occurred as the officials check in on an injured Bret. 

I'm sure some of it is nostalgia, but I really like this show. Not everything is great, but it felt like it all had a purpose. The main event had that big fight feel and both competitors came out of the match better than when they entered. The opening match is an underrated match that fans of this time period will enjoy and the wild card match is a good novelty in an era that didn't do heel/face teams often. Thumbs up from me. 

Overall Rating: 83%