Monday Night Raw 11-6-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, November 6th, 1995
Keystone Centre
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

We get a quick Todd Pettengill hype video and then it's straight to business.

British Bulldog vs. Marty Jannetty    

Dok Hendrix is with Vince now because of Jerry Lawler wrestling tonight. How many times did this poor crowd have to hear Jannetty's music at this taping? They work a nice pace to start things off, which once again is why Marty is so valuable. He brings out the best in his opponents. Bulldog then press slams Marty onto the top rope. We hear from Clarence Mason and he says that Bulldog will face the winner of Bret Hart/Diesel at In Your House on December 17th. Bulldog continues his dominance into a commercial break. Cornette gets in some cheap shots behind the referee's back. Bulldog gets Marty in the tree of woe and he gets in a few stomps and then slows things down. Jannetty gets some momentum, but then he runs into the ring post. Bulldog immediately scoops him up for the running powerslam and picks up the win in a nice opening match. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We go to a pre-recorded video from Washington D.C. with a cheesy Bill Clinton impersonator. 

Dok then interviews Bulldog and Cornette. Bulldog is going to win the WWF Championship like he should have before. He then tells Shawn Michaels that if he double crosses Bulldog, he's going to make Syracuse look like a walk in the park. 

They show the interview from Superstars with Goldust. Bam Bam Bigelow interrupted and challenged Goldust to a match. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Terry Richards

Richards is Rhyno in I believe is his WWF debut. Don't quote me on that. Godwinn looks a little more motivated here and getting back to his better squash ways. He hits the Slop Drop and that's all. After the match, Helmsley attacks Godwinn and hits the Pedigree outside the ring. He then puts on some gloves and then dumps the slop on Godwinn. We are finally getting some character development here with Helmsley.

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time for the Survivor Series Slam Jam, this time with Todd. They announce that Undertaker will captain a team with Fatu, Savio Vega and Henry Godwinn against King Mabel's team that includes Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Isaac Yankem and Jerry Lawler. We hear from Paul Bearer and then Diesel. 

Kama vs. Tony Roy

You can buy 1,000 Mad Caps for only $21! Are you kidding me? Just in case you weren't sure that no one cared about Kama, we get a Shawn Michaels phone interview here. Kama wins. Nothing important happens. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week on Raw, it will be Sid vs. Razor Ramon with 1-2-3 Kid as the referee. 

We get a Smoking Gunns Karate Fighters promo. 

Jerry Lawler & Isaac Yankem vs. Bret Hart & Hakushi

You have to love wrestling logic when Bret and Hakushi are able to team up now. Hakushi hits the cartwheel reverse elbow, but the second time around Yankem knocks him silly from behind. Hakushi goes for a dive outside the ring, but Yankem catches him and rams him into the ring post. Lawler hits a piledriver on Hakushi, but he doesn't go for the cover. He hits a second piledriver instead. We get a commercial break and now Yankem has Hakushi in a Boston crab. Bret breaks it up and it leads to him getting the hot tag. He hits a double noggin knocker and a side Russian leg sweep. He goes for the Sharpshooter and locks it in. Hakushi blocks Lawler's attempt, but Hakushi distracts the ref when Yankem is submitting. Lawler tries to hit Bret with a chair, but Barry Horowitz makes the save. The ref sees Horowitz with the chair and calls for the bell. That's a lame finish. Yankem sucks.

Match Rating: *3/4

Next week, Helmsley will face Godwinn and Ahmed Johnson will debut. They show clips of the Raw, proving that the show is taped. Interesting strategy.

This was a good Raw overall, thanks to a better than expected Jannetty/Bulldog match. They seem to be sprinkling in a little bit more of storyline development now. 

Overall Rating: 51%

Superstars 11-4-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, November 4th, 1995
Agridome
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Jerry Lawler is going to interview Goldust today, plus Bret Hart will take on Sid with Bret having the Saskatchewan Roughriders in his corner. 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Mike Legacy

Helmsley hits a high knee to the face of Legacy. Helmsley hits a neckbreaker and then the Pedigree for the easy victory. At least they have something for Helmsley to do now. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show clips from Raw, which just reminds me of how mad I am that Netflix hasn't added a single Raw episode since day 1.

Henry Godwinn's music hits and he teases slopping Helmsley, who still isn't to the back and we go to commercial. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Otis Apollo

Godwinn nails Apollo with a big clothesline and calls for the hogs. He hits the Slop Drop and we're moving quickly here today through the squashes. Jim Ross interviews Godwinn after the match. He says he's going to beat Helmsley and slop him. Can't get much more clear cut than that. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to the Survivor Series Slam Jam with Dok Hendrix. We hear from Razor Ramon about his wild card match. He says he can't trust his teammates, but they can't trust him. We then hear from his three partners, but only Cornette and Owen do the talking. 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott D'Amore

We are on the last legs of Bam Bam in WWF here. We then get an awkward pause in the commentary and go to commercial. Was something edited out there? Bam Bam hits a sling shot dive from the apron for the win? He must have known he was done. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show The Body Donnas doing sit ups on the concrete floor. They find M&Ms in his shirt and spill them out, but he still eats them. 

Jerry Lawler interviews Goldust in the ring. Bam Bam comes out to join them. I should note that the lights are down with his gold lighting in the ring. Bam Bam doesn't even know what Goldust is. He challenges him to a match anywhere, any place. This was kind of an odd interview segment and not probably in the way they were aiming for. 

King Mabel vs. Tim McNeany

We hear from Paul Bearer as Mabel enters the ring. Mabel swats away a dropkick and hits his signature kick to the back of the head. Mabel hits a splash in the corner and a belly-to-belly suplex for the win. This show is flying by, but there are still about 20 minutes left. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid will get a rematch against the Smoking Gunns next week on Superstars. 

Sid vs. Bret Hart

Sid is accompanied by the Million Dollar Corporation, which somehow still exists. Glen Kulka is one of the players who are out with Bret, who would briefly be with the WWF. This is treated like a lumberjack match, but JR flat out says it isn't after Bret clotheslines Sid and they throw him back in the ring. I just realized that Skip is out with Sid. DiBiase trips up Bret and Sid hits a leg drop. So apparently when it was the Ottawa team, it was the Rough Riders and when it was Saskatchewan, they were the Roughriders. Kulka then gets a spot where he hits a shoulder tackle on Skip. This all leads to Kulka distracting Sid and Bret rolling up Sid for the victory. The crowd absolutely loved that finish. The match was pretty good and the crowd was into every second of it. 

Match Rating: **

We go back to Dok Hendrix. I was reading another review on this show and reading about all the backstage drama going on around this time, with the company really struggling. It's kind of interesting since they were able to sell 14,500 tickets (I'm sure some were giveaways), but still. Dok announces an 8 woman Survivor Series match. We then hear from Diesel and he says that he saw fear in Bret's eyes for the first time. Dok then announces the Underdogs taking on the Body Donnas. They announce Avatar as being on the Underdogs and Jean Pierre Lafitte as being on the Body Donnas. They would eventually be replaced. 

They interview Bret Hart backstage. He says that Diesel is wearing a belt that should be his and he's better than he is. He tells Big D that he's going to hit the truck stop right here. 

This was a typical episode of Superstars for the most part with the exception of getting a legit main event in terms of star power. I am looking forward to watching Survivor Series again, but so far the build outside of Diesel/Bret has just been decent. 

Overall Rating: 44%