One Night Stand 2007 Review

Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
Jacksonville, Florida

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Stretcher Match
Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam

It's looking like this may be my last show to watch for 1997 for some time since Netflix seems to be in no hurry in uploading more Raw episodes. I'm enjoying 1995 much more, so I'm good with it. RVD is all over Orton to begin, hitting a number of kicks. Orton gets a shot on the head of RVD and he oversells the concussion way too much. RVD is able to hit a kick when Orton goes for the RKO. When RVD leaps up top, he falls to the floor and the announcers are showing no concern to help sell this angle. Orton hits a standing dropkick and continues to attack the head. He rolls RVD onto the stretcher, but he falls over along with the stretcher. RVD fights back and hits a leg drop on the stretcher. He goes for a Rolling Thunder, but Orton hits an awesome counter into a powerslam. RVD goes for a somersault splash over the top rope onto the stretcher and misses. That looked painful. Orton lifts RVD off the ground and puts him on the stretcher and starts wheeling him up the ramp. Orton falls to a knee and then RVD gets up. RVD fights his way back, throws him on the stretcher and pushes him past the finish line. That was a terrible finish. This was shocking at the time, as RVD was leaving here and everyone expected him to put RVD on his way out the door. After the match, Orton attacks RVD from behind. Orton then punts him in the head and then hits the draped DDT off the barricade and to the floor. Proof that winning a match doesn't mean you were put over. RVD gets medical attention and is put on a stretcher. The match had the couple of cool spots, but the rest was nothing special thanks to the concussion angle, which is what they were going for. 

Match Rating: **

Vince McMahon tells Shane that they end Bobby Lashley tonight. 

Tag Team Tables Match
Sandman, Tommy Dreamer & CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von & Matt Striker

It's good that they keep giving Punk spots on pay per view, I think he has a future. He and Dreamer do the Dudley "Get the tables" bit, but the crowd doesn't pop for it for some reason. Things break down after that and Sandman hits Striker with the kendo stick. Sandman and Dreamer try to suplex Striker through a table, but Burke moves it. Burke hits his corner elbow drop on Punk and Striker slides a table in the ring. They try to throw Punk through the table in the corner, but Dreamer makes the save. Sandman goes for his top rope huricanrana, but Striker sends him to the floor. Cor Von hits a variation of a powerbomb on Punk and stands the table up and sets Punk on it. Cor Von goes up to the second rope, but Sandman hits him with the kendo stick. Dreamer hits a piledriver on Burke. Cor Von grabs Sandman to the floor. Punk hits a superplex on Striker onto Burke and through the table. That was kind of a messy finish. This was basically a TV match with a table spot. The guys gave it their all though for the short amount of time they were given. 

Match Rating: **

Edge and Orton are in the back. Orton talks about how his two former partners are battling in a steel cage tonight. Orton says that he's on the biggest role of his life, taking out RVD and ending the career of Shawn Michaels. Orton says that if he gets picked over to SmackDown, with Edge being to champ, he'll be next. Edge says that he'll end up just like Batista later tonight. 

Ladder Match For The World Tag Team Championships
The Hardys vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team

This is the epitome of a thrown together match. The only reason it exists was to give an excuse to have Jeff Hardy and Shelton Benjamin in a ladder match together. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but it would be nice if they would actually do anything with Benjamin. They get right to business here and the ladders are immediately introduced to the match. Matt pulls Charlie Haas off the ladder and hits him with an electric chair. Matt and Jeff both reach the top of the ladder with their hands on the belts until Shelton tosses a ladder at them to knock them off. We get our first true ladder spot with the Hardys double hip tossing Shelton onto a ladder set on top of two more ladders. They then slam Haas onto the same structure. The next big spot is with the ladder on the barricade and ring and they throw Shelton from the ring onto it. They put Shelton back on it and Jeff goes up to the top, but Haas interrupts. Matt comes in and hits the Side Effect on Haas. Haas sets Matt onto a ladder laying on the ring and another ladder. He holds him in place and Benjamin leaps off a ladder in the ring and hits him with his legs open onto Matt's back. Interesting choice of landing. Back in the ring, Haas and Jeff battle at the top of the ladder and Jeff suplexes him off the top. Jeff is climbing and Shelton tries to springboard himself from the top rope, but messes up and makes a nice recovery by doing a somersault kick into the ladder and causing Jeff to fall. All four men climb the ladders and are battling up top. The Hardys get shoved off, but land on their feet and shove Haas and Shelton down. Shelton falls over the top rope and through the ladder outside the ring. Jeff hits a Swanton on Haas and they climb to retrieve their title belts for the victory. This wasn't necessarily as memorable as a lot of ladder matches, but they really did a great job keeping the pace at a frantic speed. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

Great Khali yells, Ranjin Singh talks and I don't listen. 

Lumberjack Match
Mark Henry vs. Kane

Why do I do this to myself? Every time I see Kane wrestle, I hope it's my last. Henry drives Kane's back into the ring post and then the lumberjacks throw him back in the ring. I will never forget this match because to me this is the "bearhug match". Henry slaps it on for what feels like 3 hours. Kane is able to dump him through the ropes and then leaps off the top. Kane hits a top rope clothesline inside the ring and hits the chokeslam. Then Kenny Dykstra and Chavo Guerrero attack Kane because lord knows we have to protect Kane here. Henry puts on the bearhug again. Michael Cole says he is sucking the life out of Kane, but he forgets to mention the thousands of people watching this crap. The ref rings for the bell and the crowd moans. This sucked more than you could ever imagine. JBL keeps lecturing us on how Bruno Sammartino used the bearhug. Great, that was decades ago. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

They show The World's Greatest Tag Team and Hardys getting checked on by the doctors. The challengers are arguing with them and a brawl ensues. 

Street Fight For The ECW Championship
Mr. McMahon vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley instantly leaps over the top rope and lands on Umaga. Shane throws Lashley in the ring and takes some shots at Lashley, but then gets clotheslined and tossed over the top rope on Umaga. As you would expect, this just turns into a 3 on 1 situation. This is absolutely thrilling television. Lashley eventually makes his comeback and hits Vince in the head with the steel chair. He then unleashes on his back with the chair. The numbers game catches up again and Shane hits the top rope elbow drop onto Lashley through the table. This is just such a boring storyline and match. Lashley comes back, he hits the Spear and wins. Great.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Maria is flirting with Santino Marella. Todd Grisham comes in to get Maria's thoughts on the pudding match coming up and she gives an intelligent answer because that's funny. Candice then says that she'll beat Melina in any kind of match for the third time. Candice comes in with her horrible acting and asks for a kiss for good luck, so Maria kisses her instead of Candice. In comes Ron Simmons. 

Pudding Match
Candice Michelle vs. Melina

This is as good as you would expect. Candice wins. This was stupid. Maria comes out to congratulate her and she throws Maria into Melina in the pool of pudding. The referee gets thrown in too. This show sucks. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Steel Cage Match For The World Heavyweight Championship
Edge vs. Batista

Edge immediately tries to win via escape and as you would expect, it doesn't work. That leads to a short Batista offense sequence until Edge is able to dropkick Batista into the cage. That slows down things big time and it has the feeling of a match that gets 20+ minutes, except it won't get anywhere near that. Batista is able to hit a superplex. Batista tries to go off the top rope, but Edge catches him with a dropkick. I will never understand how Batista had better chemistry with Undertaker than he did with Edge. Batista slingshots Edge into the cage and gets a 2 count. Edge comes back with a Spear and that gets a 2 count. Batista hits a spinebuster, that gets a 2. It kind of just feels like they are doing moves. Batista goes for a Batista Bomb, but Edge is able to grab the cage and holds on. He gets up to the top, but Batista is able to drag him back in. Edge is able to knock him down and then start climbing again. Batista tries to climb through the door, but Edge beats him out. What a boring finish that was. The cage match is such a watered-down gimmick that it takes something really special to make a good one. This one felt more like the kind you would get from a TV main event. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Falls Count Anywhere Match For The WWE Championship
Great Khali vs. John Cena

Let's see if Cena is able to top his ** miracle at Judgment Day against Khali. So far it's all Khali, so you can guess how it's going. Cena tries to get something going by going up to the top rope, but Khali chops him and sends him to the floor. They spill out into the crowd and Cena sort of hits him with a TV monitor. Cena goes for the FU, but he can't get Khali on his back. Cena then uses the boom camera as a weapon. He gets Khali on his back, but Khali hits him with his elbow. Khali then picks him up and throws Cena onto the crane that is part of the entrance set. They battle on the crane and Cena gets Khali up for the FU and throws him off the crane. Cena covers him and that's all. Yeah, that wasn't as good. Cena tried, but it's no easy task. 

Match Rating: *

This show sucked big time and was even worse than I remembered it being. Kudos to the four men in the ladder match for putting their bodies on the line, but the rest of the card was so poor. I sure hope that is the last time I ever see that Kane/Mark Henry match. I can't imagine that I'll ever watch this again.

Overall Rating: 26%

Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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John Cena vs. Great Khali

Hey, we're showing you this match for free, but buy the pay per view tomorrow with them fighting again! Cena attacks Khali as soon as he walks in and tries to get him up for the FU, but fails. Khali pretty much manhandles Cena here, as really the only purpose of this match existing is to make you think Khali will win the title tomorrow night at One Night Stand. Cena tries to get Khali up for the FU again, but this time he gets him in the air, but Khali elbows him. He hits the double hand chokeslam and then covers him with one foot and gets the pretty unprecedented win over Cena here. Cena basically never loses anything and they are throwing it away for this feud on a pointless show. After the match Khali yells at Cena and then Ranjin Singh says that Khali will beat him anywhere and become WWE Champion. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

There is nothing more that I want to see than an arm wrestling match between Mr. McMahon and Bobby Lashley. I definitely also want to see a whole segment just showing me the backstory on this feud too. Vince does the typical heel move of backing out to get ready. He then says that he won't embarrass Lashley tonight, only tomorrow night. So he brings out Mark Henry instead. Lashley is starting to come back, so Henry attacks him. Lashley comes back with a spear, but then Vince hits him with a chair to the back. This could have never existed and no one would have complained. 

Maris is with Edge and he says that he is the greatest. 

Batista & Chris Benoit vs. MVP & Edge

Benoit and MVP kick things off. Edge is supported here in Toronto tonight. When Batista is in there, no one wants a piece of him, but MVP is the one stuck with him. Benoit hits a trio of German suplexes and then knocks Edge off the apron while climbing the top rope. That gives MVP the extra time to roll out of the way of the diving headbutt. Benoit is able to hit an enzuigiri on Edge, but MVP prevents the tag to Batista. Benoit is finally able to make the tag and he hits a couple of clotheslines before hitting the running powerslam. Edge distracts Batista and then grabs his title belt before leaving the ring. Benoit hits a spinebuster and Benoit hits the top rope headbutt for the victory. This was as basic as it gets. 

Match Rating: *1/4

They show Finlay, Hornswoggle, Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman heading to the ring. 

Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman

Hornswoggle climbed under the ring before the match. We get a moment with Finlay and Little Boogeyman and Finlay slaps him. Little Boogeyman hits a DDT on Finlay and then he tags Hornswoggle, who we can only see his hand from the apron. Hornswoggle rolls up the sleeves and gives him the hat. That distraction allows Finlay to hit a kick to the head of Little Boogeyman. Little Boogeyman is able to get a small package in on both Hornswoggle and Finlay, but both attempts are broken up. Boogeyman then chases Hornswoggle to the back. Finlay kicks Little Boogeyman in the face and picks up the win. As good as Finlay is in this role, I think we can move on. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Just in case you didn't realize that this show is just all filler, here is Extreme Exposè. While they are dancing, they show Little Boogeyman chasing Hornswoggle. Boogeyman gets involved and Finlay hits him with the shillelagh and then mocks his dancing. It comes back out to the ring and they lift up Layla and Brooke on their shoulders for a chicken fight. Little Boogeyman then chases him back up the entrance ramp. I would not be too mad if Netflix continues to take their time on uploading 2007 Raw episodes. 

Kane, Doink & Eugene vs. Kevin Thorn, Viscera & Umaga

Just when you think things can't get any worse, they give you Kane. Doink stalls to fill airtime here and then Thorn finally hits him with a clothesline. Eugene is wearing his superhero costume and now has buzzed hair. Umaga takes care of him and I can't believe this match is still going on. This is a 3 minute and done match. Instead they're making us sit through 11 minutes of it. Viscera hits his big side slam on Eugene and Eugene rolls out of the ring. Kane gets tagged in and takes care of the other team. He hits the worst looking top rope clothesline in the business on Thorn, but Umaga breaks it up. Thorn tags in Viscera and he misses a splash in the corner. Kane hits a chokeslam and wins. This was absolutely terrible. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

We then get a music video recap of this turd of a show. 

I am far away from reviewing all of the Saturday Night's Main Events, but I would be shocked if this one doesn't end up in the bottom 3. There were no redeeming qualities to this one and did nothing to make me want to watch One Night Stand. 

Overall Rating: 24%

Monday Nitro 10-9-95 Review

Monday, October 9th, 1995 
Rosemont Horizon
Rosemont, Illinois

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They show Hulk Hogan getting his moustache shaved off. Eric Bischoff, Bobby Henan and Steve McMichael are all wearing Chicago Bears jerseys. Heenan's has a ? instead of a number. Sting joins them and says that he has a solution for a problem between Randy Savage and Lex Luger. 

United States Championship Match
Shark vs. Sting

Shark's gear has to be among some of the worst there is out there. Shark hits a few moves until he misses in the corner. Stink leaps into him from behind, causing Shark to hit the ring post. Sting hits a top rope crossbody and that's it. Whatever. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show all of the Hogan drama from last week again. 

Sabu vs. Mr. JL

It's probably a good idea to let Sabu wrestle someone who is used to Sabu's style. With this being a Chicago crowd, they are very much into Sabu. Sabu hits a lot of the high notes. He goes for a hurricanrana off the top, but Mr. JL blocks it. Mr. JL goes off the top rope, but Sabu catches him for a powerbomb. He puts on the Camel Clutch and picks up the victory. After the match, he hits a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor. This felt chaotic in a good way for 1995. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Mean Gene is in the ring with Sting and Lex Luger. In order for Sting to solve the problem, he calls out Randy Savage. Sting wonders why Giant hasn't put his hands on Sting. Sting tells him that he's paranoid and talks about how all of them want to become champion. Sting says that if Luger beats Meng and Savage beats Kamala, the two of them should square off. Luger isn't happy about it and Sting calls him disgusting for that. He says he's tired of sticking up for Luger. Luger looks like he's trying not to crack up. Luger agrees and Savage does as well. This was really cheesy. 

They show Chris Benoit arriving in a limo. 

Disco Inferno is out to dance again. They cut off his music and he turns on his boom box as Big Bubba enters. He keeps doing it while Hawk comes out too. He then steals a kid's WCW hat and puts it on the spike of Hawk. Right. 

Big Bubba Rogers vs. Road Warrior Hawk

Hawk hits a powerslam on Hawk and then Disco Inferno starts dancing on the ring. Hawk rips his shirt and chases him down the aisle. It causes a countout and that's all. Lame.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Mean Gene brings out Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart. Hogan comes out in all black and tells both Gene and Jimmy not to talk. Hogan talks trash, but Gene says that won't happen because he is barred from the arena tonight. He then talks about Vince McMahon choking on his own ego for whatever reason. He then talks about beating Gorgeous George in heaven. I don't know, he's just doing his usual nonsensical promo. They show Giant and Taskmaster trying to get in the arena with a monster truck. The cops won't let him in, so Hogan says he'll go back there himself. 

Steel Cage Match
Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair

They hype up this match as being a pay per view caliber match and they aren't wrong there. However, we go to commercial within the first minute, which never helps. When we come back and Arn hits a spinebuster. Out comes Brian Pillman to start climbing the cage. Flair sees him and shoves him to the floor. Flair tries to put on the Figure Four, but Arn hits Flair with something and that's enough to pick up the win. They show the replay and he has brass knuckles. They couldn't have given us a few more minute of ring action there? 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Ric is fuming and goes to the announcer booth. He says he wants both Pillman and Arn next week. We then get more recap stuff from the announcers. Next week it will be Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd, Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero and Meng vs. Jim Duggan. 

This was another underwhelming show. They had a hot crowd and didn't really take advantage of it. They are so stuck on anything Hogan, that they just don't care about much else. Even the Luger and Flair segments always seem to be rushed. This wasn't bad, just not as good as I felt it should have been.

Overall Rating: 42%

Monday Night Raw 10-9-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, October 9th, 1995
Welsh Auditorium
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

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Yokozuna, Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs. Undertaker, Shawn Michaels & Diesel

We get a video of Shawn helping out the kids and talking about how choked up he gets. We get some fun stuff at the beginning with Michaels and Owen and then the match breaks down. The crowd of course loves this, as do I. Diesel and Undertaker hit a double boot on Yoko, knocking him out of the ring. Taker hits Old School on Yoko, but then runs into a Samoan drop. Yoko then destroys Michaels and in comes Owen. Waylon Mercy also came out to check things out ahead of his big match with Diesel on Superstars. Never mind that he couldn't even beat Savio Vega. We come back from commercial break and now Dean Douglas is out. Surprisingly, Yoko has been involved more than you would expect here. Michaels attempts a comeback, but is hit by an Owen spin kick. They go to commercial break right as Owen is in midair off the top rope. When we come back, they show Michaels moving out of the way and he now tags in Diesel. Bulldog is also in to give us our preview of In Your House. The numbers game gets to Diesel and Bulldog hits the running powerslam, but Undertaker makes the save. Yoko then hits a leg drop behind the ref's back and Bulldog pins him in the center of the ring. That's kind of surprising for an In Your House build. Mabel now runs in and attacks Undertaker and Yokozuna joins in. This was a fun match, as you would expect here. Dean then comes back down and attacks Shawn. 

Match Rating: ***

When we come back from commercial, Diesel and Undertaker are still selling their injuries and then they show the aftermath of the Bret Hart/Jean Pierre Lafitte match where Bret was attacked. Next week it will be Bret vs. Isaac Yankem in a steel cage. They show a good portion of their match from SummerSlam with Lawler and Vince talking over it. They talk about Lawler is going to be hoisted in a smaller cage if he interferes in the match next week. 

Skip vs. Fatu

That battle of the four letter, one word names. Well, Fatu is getting a pay-per-view match, so we have to remind everyone that he exists. These two guys definitely have two of the more mid-90s gear that you will see on the roster right now. The match shifts when Skip tries a headbutt on Fatu and you know what that means. Sunny makes her presence felt though and distracts Fatu before he can climb the top rope. Skip then goes for a supeplex, but Fatu blocks it. Skip sells a back injury and then goes for it again. Fatu hits him with a right hand and then hits the top rope splash for the victory. This was pretty basic stuff. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

After commercial break, they go to Dok Hendrix to check in on Diesel and Undertaker, but he is just shown pacing, so we get another commercial? 

They are doing a ton of stalling here tonight. They show clips of the post-match stuff from earlier on. We go back to Dok and he says that it's not a good time to interview any of these guys. Dok says he'll do it if Vince wants him to, but Vince says no. So Jim Ross goes into Cornette's team's locker room. He talks about Bulldog being the guy to pin Diesel tonight. I mean, this interview has run longer than just about every Bulldog interview ever. This feels like one of those "bonus" interviews they would show after a pay per view. Mabel then walks in and talks about how both he and Bulldog accomplished the impossible by pinning Undertaker and Diesel. 

Vince and Lawler then talk about the cage match again. More stalling and then we get a Todd Pettengill hype video. 

Like I mentioned, this was a filler episode of Raw. They must not have filmed enough and this was the episode they decided to fill with a lot of fluff. I mean they showed most of a match from SummerSlam just to fill time. The opening match/angle were good, but the back half was pretty dull. 

Overall Rating: 49%

Superstars 10-7-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, October 7th, 1995
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, Indiana

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Barry Horowitz vs. Dean Douglas

Barry comes out hot, but Dean quickly gains control of the match. Out comes Skip, Sunny and Rad Radford. Radford is trying to be a Body Donna, while Dean continues with some dull offense. Horowitz makes his comeback, but it is short lived. Douglas is able to drop Barry on the top rope and hits the Perfect Plex, which is called the Final Exam for the win. This wasn't very good, as Douglas continues to flounder here so far. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We go to Dok Hendrix to talk about In Your House. He announces that the Smoking Gunns will defend their tag titles against Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid. The newly reunited friends tell the Gunns that they've never faced a team like them. Goldust is also going to make his debut against Marty Jannetty. 

Savio Vega vs. Tom Knox

Vega hits a series of dropkicks against a jobber who looks a little more impressive than most of the guys they trot out here. JR makes a school of hard Knox joke for him. While Savio is working on Knox in the corner, Jean Pierre Lafitte steals Savio's flag and he doesn't see it. Savio hits a bulldog and then a spin kick that you can hardly see thanks to the large blur over something and they even mute the announcers during it. I'm assuming it was just the hotline, but I'm not sure why they muted the audio. After the match, he looks for his flag but has no luck. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We hear from Ahmed Johnson again talking about role models. Why is he looking off to the side during these? 

Isaac Yankem vs. Tom Torres

No one wants to see this. In case you haven't watched wrestling for the last 30 years, Yankem/Kane is one of the worst wrestlers of my lifetime. He hits the DDS and I lose about 2 minutes of my life.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week, Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid will face Jacob and Eli Blu.

Vince is in the ring and brings out Shawn Michaels. He talks about a teacher that kept him after class and gave him high marks. Out comes Dean Douglas to make this even worse. He says Shawn will get an F at In Your House and then walks away. Michaels then says he gets a 4.0 when it comes to performance and then dances around. This was a pretty terrible way to build this feud. 

Kama & Sid vs. Henry Godwinn & Bam Bam Bigelow

HOG and Kama start things off. Kama gets a tag into Sid and they are able to double team and slam Godwinn to the mat. Bam Bam is tagged in, but runs into a Sid boot. He fires back with a clothesline and gets a 2 count. Bam Bam misses in the corner and gets hit with a clothesline from Sid. We get some illegal double teams before Kama slows it down, as he always does. We get a commercial break before we come back and Bam Bam is able to hit a vertical suplex on Sid. Sid is able to block the tag attempt but then misses Bam Bam in the corner and Bam Bam hits a Samoan drop. Bam Bam goes up to the second rope, but Sid gets him and hits a chokeslam. For some reason Sid didn't pin him there and goes for the powerbomb. Bam Bam hits the back body drop and tags in Godwinn. Godwinn takes care of both men, but DiBiase gets some cheap shots to the ribs of Bam Bam. Godwinn hits a Slop Drop on Sid, but the ref is distracted by DiBiase. Kama hits Godwinn off the top rope and Sin pins him for the victory. This was a big man match, so it was about what you would expect from this era. 

Match Rating: *

Marty Jannetty vs. Brooklyn Brawler

We get right to the action and Jannetty wrestles the same style as you would expect here. We hear from Goldust about their match at In Your House. Jannetty hits the top rope fist for the easy victory.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go back to Dok Hendrix and he continues hyping up In Your House by announcing Fatu vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. We hear from Jim Cornette and British Bulldog about his title shot. We hear from King Mabel and he talks about torture and pain. 

They hype up Yokozuna, Owen Hart and British Bulldog vs. Diesel, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. Next week on Superstars, it will be Diesel vs. Waylon Mercy and the aforementioned tag team match. 

This wasn't as good as last week's episode, but it was fine for filler. Nothing really happened and the feature match was just halfway decent.

Overall Rating: 39%

Monday Nitro 10-2-95 Review

Monday, October 2nd, 1995 
Denver Coliseum
Denver, Colorado

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Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael hype up the show tonight and are interrupted by Ric Flair. He tells Arn Anderson that he better be ready tonight. We then see the set up for our first match between Lex Luger and Randy Savage. 

Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage

If Luger loses, he has to leave WCW. A whole lot of nothing happens before the commercial break and we kind of don't get a whole lot of anything right after it either. This one has the feeling of "we don't want to give away too much". Finally we get Savage leaping off the top rope for a double ax handle to Luger on the floor. We get a referee bump and Savage hits the top rope elbow drop, but there's no count. Out comes the Giant and he hits the chokeslam on Savage. Thankfully the referee was looking the other way for that one. Luger slowly pushes Savage on his back for the Torture Rack, which was kind of sorry looking because Luger was selling the elbow still. Why he couldn't have just pinned him is beyond me. I think even the referee was expecting that. This was a big disappointment. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Disco Inferno comes out and dances until Eddy Guerrero's music interrupts him. Sure?

Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko

They show Guerrero beating Psicosis on Main Event to earn the right to face Malenko here I guess? McMichael tries to sell us on that by saying these guys fly more than vultures over dead meat. That's one way to put it. They put on a clinic of fast paced action to slowly start to win over the live crowd. Don't worry though, Hulk Hogan's limo is here and they show that in a split screen and then eventually they just show Hogan. Just what the world wants to see, Jimmy Hart and Hogan saying the same crap he has been saying for a decade. We go back to the match and McMichael tries to hype up the match, but even Heenan is talking about Hogan. Guerrero hits a top rope splash from the corner to the floor. Back in the ring, Guerrero goes for the Frog Splash, but Malenko gets his knees up. Guerrero then counters a Malenko pin attempt with one of his own and picks up the victory. After the match, Malenko pulls Guerrero back in the ring and tells him he got lucky and shakes his hand. This was solid, but was ruined by the Hogan stuff. They obviously are capable of much more than this. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Mean Gene brings out Hulk Hogan for an interview. He looks dorkier than most do in a neck brace. Hogan says that he's going to the back to confront the Giant. On his way to the back, a "woman" throws salt in his eyes and attacks him with a cane. In a shocking turn of events, it's the Taskmaster. Out comes Zodiac and Giant to continue the attack. Giant rips off the neck brace and does the same neck snap that no one else believed the first time. They then shave off Hogan's moustache. The American Males come out to try and save him, but as you would expect, that doesn't work. Out comes the Nasty Boys and they eat it too. We get the reunion we have all been waiting for and that's with Zodiac and scissors. Struttin' and cuttin' baby. 

Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair

Congrats to the announcers for making it about a minute before mentioning the Hogan thing again. We then move onto baseball results. Meanwhile, the match here is very vanilla so far. Flair does get on the Figure Four, but Arn is right by the ropes. Flair goes off the top rope, but Arn hits him in the midsection. Flair then blocks a piledriver and hits a back body drop onto the mats outside the ring. Flair does get the Figure Four on again, this time in the middle of the ring. Out comes Pillman and the referee rings the bell before he even jumps off the top rope. Pillman breaks up the hold and then attacks Flair. I don't know if these two could possibly have a duller match than what we got here.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Bischoff says that next week we'll get Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson in a cage match. Plus, Sabu will take on Mr. JL and Big Bubba Rogers will face Hawk. 

Well, this episode stunk big time. This was lifeless television and it felt like no one wanted to do anything to make it special. 

Overall Rating: 29%

Monday Night Raw 10-2-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, October 2nd, 1995
Welsh Auditorium
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid

We get a bunch of highlights during the entrances, including them talking about Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. I know this will shock you, but these have good chemistry. Dean Douglas is out to take notes and mostly just to make this not as enjoyable. We get a mostly back and forth match here that kind of ends out of nowhere. Kid missed a spin kick and Razor hits him with a clothesline for the victory. Has Razor ever won with a clothesline? After the match, Kid confronts Razor and then they go after each other. Razor puts him in the abdominal stretch, but Kid slaps him. Razor then brings him down and slaps him in the back of the head. Kid again fights back, so Razor sends him into the corner, but runs into the Kid's boot as we go into a commercial break. It' snot often that you get a commercial break after a match is over. During the break, Razor caught Kid off the top rope and apparently pinned him again. So then Kid wants another match, so we are now apparently in the third match between these two. Razor hits a back superplex. He goes for a Razor's Edge, but instead uses a small package to beat him for a third time. After the match, Kid raises Razor's hand and then rolls him up and again the referee counts, but Razor kicks out at 2. The crowd wants the Razor's Edge and Kid holds out his arms for him to put him in it. Then Razor gives him a hug and we're all good? This was kind of a bizarre ordeal. The action was good though. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Barry Horowitz vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

It feels like we haven't seen a whole lot of Helmsley lately. You can call the WWF Hotline to vote to let everyone know if you think OJ Simpson is guilty or not. In a surprising twist, the money actually goes to charity. Helmsley hits a delayed suplex, which is kind of surprising with Bulldog on the roster. The problem with this version of Helmsley is that he has to work so slowly. Helmsley dominates most of the match. Barry gets his little comeback, but ducks his head too early and gets hit with the Pedigree for the victory. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Al Brown & Sonny Rogers vs. PG-13

PG-13 arrives here with no vignettes or anything. They do get a pre-recorded interview and say that they're the USWA Tag Team Champions and want the Smoking Gunns titles. They are definitely on the small side for this era, but they are working a nice squash here. This was a solid debut, even if they don't really look the part. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Next week on Raw, it's Owen Hart, Yokozuna and British Bulldog taking on Diesel, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. Dok then tries to sell us an ugly Bret Hart shirt while Jean Pierre Lafitte is on his way to the ring. 

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Bret Hart

These two had a great one at In Your House, so it only makes sense to give Lafitte another shot on TV. They start brawling on the outside and Bret body slams Lafitte on the steel steps. Back in the ring, Lafitte is able to shift the momentum when he throws Bret on top of the ropes. Lafitte continues to hit high impact moves here to keep Bret grounded. Lafitte is able to throw Bret into the steps after the commercial break and Lawler loves it. How did Lafitte never do anything big in WWF again? Bret is finally able to put together a few moves after hitting an inverted atomic drop. Lafitte tries to go for the Cannonball, but Bret crotches him. He hits a superplex and locks in the Sharpshooter for the victory. This was another really good match between these two and one of the best Raw matches of the year.

Match Rating: ***1/2

After the match, Lawler confronts Bret, which leads to Isaac Yankem attacking him from behind. Really? Did anyone want to see more of this? 

When we come back, they are helping Bret to the back. Vince informs us that Bret will have a cage match with Yankem "in several weeks". 

We hear from Jim Cornette and his squad for next week's six man tag match. We then hear from their opponents and Undertaker talks about rotting carcasses. The results of the OJ poll says 49% guilty, 51% not guilty. What a world.

This Raw taping has to be one of the best of all time up to this point. That is two really good episodes in a row and next week looks like it should at the very least have another good match. Thumbs up again.

Overall Rating: 70%