Monday Nitro 11-27-95 Review

Monday, November 27th, 1995 
Salem Civic Center
Salem, Virginia

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They talk about the controversial finish from World War 3. I'm really not sure how there can be controversy when something was filmed on camera. We then get blessed by seeing the whole friends forever promo from Hulk Hogan. 

WCW Television Championship Match
Johnny B. Badd vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Badd is with the Diamond Doll. DDP walks out distraught and has a bouquet of flowers. DDP uses that as a reason to sucker punch Badd and we're underway. Diamond Doll is looking at her flowers and finds a chain inside them. DDP looks at her expecting her to throw in the chain. She throws it in and purposely throws to Badd and he uses it to knock out DDP and pick up the victory. Badd isn't sure he likes it and Diamond Doll tells him he won. This was just kind of weird and hardly a match, which is a shame because these guys work well together. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Mean Gene is with Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. They're arguing about Lex Luger associating with Sting. Hart says he has a plan for all of it. 

Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto

So the first two matches are just re-matches from last night? The ladies pick up where they left off last night. Lots of fun action here and the crowd is getting into it. Nakano misses with a top rope leg drop and then Suzuki and Ozaki hit a double stomp off the top rope for a 2 count. Hokuto hits a brainbuster and picks up the victory. Another real solid match here from these ladies. 

Match Rating: ***

Hugh Morrus vs. Hulk Hogan

Morrus is the newest member of the Dungeon of Doom and then he comes out with no one from the group. This is every Hogan 3 minute squash you have ever seen. He hits the big boot and the leg drop for the easy win. Why?

Match Rating: 1/2*

Watch the encore of World War 3 tomorrow. Or don't. It's really up to you. 

Mean Gene introduces the new WCW Champion, Randy Savage. I kind of forgot how much Gene was on every episode of Nitro. He really was a key piece to the puzzle for sure. It's not surprising because there really hasn't been anyone that has come close to doing the job he did. Out comes Hulk Hogan to interrupt and remind us that there were two men who didn't get thrown over the top. They show the footage but it goes to all static and out comes Giant to attack both men. He chokeslams Savage on the concrete and then brings Hogan into the ring. Out comes Sting and that distraction gives Hogan a chance to hit Giant with a chair. The fourth swing finally gets Giant over the top rope. He continues to hit him with the chair down the entrance ramp. Savage is still down, and they check on him. 

Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman vs. Sting & Lex Luger

Sting and Luger mostly dominate the early going of the match. They are playing up the Sting/Luger relationship of course, which honestly is probably the best storyline they have going. Sting is able to slap on the Scorpion Death Lock in the middle of the ring on Anderson. Pillman tries to climb up top and break up the hold, but Luger shoves him off and he lands right into Sting. The Horsemen work on Sting and then out comes Flair to help with the attack. Flair puts the Figure Four on Sting and out comes Hulk Hogan...again. We get a really awkward spot between Flair and Hogan, which just leads to Hogan no selling the chops. Flair and his pals retreat, so then Hogan is about to go after Luger and Sting says no. Luger leaves and Sting and Hogan are disagreeing. They shake hands and go to commercial. This was more storyline than match, but it was better than some of the other matches earlier.

Match Rating: *

The announcers say to watch Saturday Night to get an update on Randy Savage. There's also going to be a big announcement on Starrcade. 

This was a storyline heavy show, which is fine coming off a pay per view. My only real complaint was that it was way too much Hogan here. The women's match was another good one and the Luger/Sting storyline has been well done so far. 

Overall Rating: 58%

World War 3 1995 Review

Sunday, November 26th, 1995 
Norfolk Scope
Norfolk, Virginia

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Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan give their predictions for the battle royal tonight and then mention the other random matches that were never really advertised at all ahead of this show. We go to Mean Gene and he is with Sting, Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. Hogan says that the dark side is over and he rips off his black shirt and Sting lights it on fire. He wants to be Sting's friend forever. Savage then apologizes to Sting and calls him the coolest dude in the world. Hogan then says that Savage's arm injury was just a plan. He then makes fun of the Observer and lights it on fire. This is about as bad of a way as you could start a show as humanly possible.

They then show Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly from Saturday Night and she isn't happy. 

WCW Television Championship Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd

I'm trying to remember if DDP has even been on Nitro yet. It's kind of interesting to see that Badd will be debuting in WWF in about 4 months. After not really promoting the undercard of this show, I will be interested to see if they improve that for Starrcade. The first big spot of the match is Badd hitting a dive over the top. Page then uses Kimberly to block Badd's follow up offense and then capitalizes on by throwing Badd into the guardrail. This has been a good match so far. These two had good chemistry together. Badd makes his comeback and hits an inverted atomic drop. Kimberly gives Badd a 10+ sign. Badd hits a sit-down powerbomb, but Page kicks out. Badd runs into an elbow and Page goes for the pin with his legs on the ropes, but Badd kicks out. Badd hits a spinning headscissors and then goes for the Bad Mood, but DDP gets his knees up. Badd reverses a piledriver and hits one of his own for another 2 count. Badd hits the somersault dive to the outside and throws Page back in the ring. Badd hits a slingshot leg drop into the ring and picks up the victory. That was a little abrupt in terms of a finish, but the match was very good. They crammed a lot of good action in there. After the match, Badd and Kimberly hug. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

Mean Gene is hyping up an update on the WWF steroid scandal on the WCW Hotline. He then meets with Badd and Kimberly. Badd offers for Kimberly to be his manager but doesn't want an answer tonight. He wants her to think about her hopes and dreams. 

Taped Fist Match
Big Bubba Rogers vs. Jim Duggan

Duggan attacks Bubba during his entrance and this one just feels more like 1994 WCW to me. They take advantage of the multiple rings as Duggan shoves Bubba's head between two ring posts. Bubba dominates for a little bit and does a lame bit where he tapes Duggan's arm to the top rope. Duggan comes back until VK Wall Street comes down to make this all feel so distinctly WCW. Duggan hits Wall Street with the 2x4. The distraction allows for Bubba to hit a huge uppercut with a chain and Duggan doesn't get up before the count of 10 and gets the win. They could have just done this on TV. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Ric Flair is with Mean Gene and he does his usual promo and says that he'll be the WCW Champion because he has Hogan, Sting and Savage where he wants him. 

Mayumi Ozaki & Cutie Suzuki vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto

No complaints about seeing Bull in the ring again. Similarly to the Survivor Series match, they are working at a frantic pace to cram as much as they can. We get a double half crab by Ozaki and Suzuki. Suzuki accidentally dropkicks Ozaki off the apron when Bull moves and then Bull misses a moonsault. Ozaki and Suzuki both hit top rope double stomps. Bull comes back with a double suplex but Hokuto misses off the top. Bull breaks up the double superplex attempt. Hokuto hits a double dropkick off the top rope. Hokuto then hits a somersault dive off the top rope. They hit a Doomsday Device but the pin attempt gets broken up. Bull hits the guillotine leg drop for the victory. This was a good match with solid action from bell to bell. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Call the hotline! Only $1.49 per minute. Mean Gene now brings over Lex Luger and Jimmy Hart. Luger yells more than usual and says he'll be the new WCW Champion. 

United States Championship Match
Chris Benoit vs. Kensuke Sasaki

This one starts off at a crawl and it stays there for some time. Benoit hits a top rope headbutt but it's not enough to end this snoozefest. This is honestly just an absolute bore. Kensuke hits a chokeslam and then locks in a submission hold, but Benoit grabs the ropes. Benoit hits a clothesline, but Sasake no sells it and hits one of his own. He hits a brainbuster and retains his title that no one cares about. That sucked. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Mean Gene is now with Kevin Sullivan, Giant and Jimmy Hart (again). Mean Gene has no problem bringing up Giant's "dad" and how disappointed he'd be in his "son". The Giant says "Roses are read, violets are blue, I'm going to kick your butt to Kalamazoo". No, I am not kidding. 

Starrcade is coming to you...on a Wednesday night? Makes sense. 

We get a video package for Savage/Luger and now Savage is with Mean Gene and he reminds us that being jittery is part of his charm.

Randy Savage vs. Lex Luger

We get the usual fun frenzy from Savage at the beginning and he then puts Luger in a Boston crab before Luger grabs the ropes. Now we're at the point where they are hyping up Nitro instead of talking about this match. Outside the ring, Luger puts the Torture Rack on Savage. He drops Savage down and he rolls back in the ring. Luger doesn't take the cheap victory though and throws Savage in the ring. Luger cranks on Savage's arm and Savage is knocked out, so the ref calls for the bell. Sting then runs out and convinces Luger to let go, making Jimmy a little disappointed he didn't break his arm. Sting then checks on his pal. This wasn't much of a match. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Ric Flair vs. Sting

These are the kind of decisions that drive me nuts by WCW. They just booked Sting to come out right before this match at the end of the Savage match. Then they have him go back and come out again for this match. Now this is the match we've been needing here tonight. The crow is big time into this one and Flair is doing a lot of his fun antics. Now Col. Parker and Sister Sheri are out. Sting clotheslines Flair over the top but then misses with a Stinger Splash and lands on the guardrail. Back in the ring, Flair hits Sting below the belt. Flair keeps working and then slaps on the Figure Four. Flair slaps Sting and that gives Sting the motivation to reverse the hold. Flair gets a 2 count and argues with referee Nick Patrick, who then shoves Flair to the ground. The best part of this match is how they keep switching rings. Sting hits the press slam and some clotheslines, but Flair hits a thumb to the eye. Flair goes up top and it ends the way you think it would. Sting slaps on the Scorpion Death Lock and picks up the victory. This was a fun match. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

Oh, good. More Hulk Hogan. And more Fee-fi-fo-fum talk. The fact that so many people love this clown explains a lot. 

We find out we are also joined by Eric Bischoff and Dusty Rhodes at a separate announce table. Chris Cruise and Larry Zbysko are also covering a ring here. Pulling out all the stops for a match where most of the time it's a bunch of guys doing rest holds. 

World War 3 Battle Royal For The WCW Championship

Each guy gets his name announced on the way to the ring. We get Michael Buffer and pyro and then it's chaos to start. At least they knew to do that. We get a split screen with all three rings being shown and them moving around the announce teams. This is not a great presentation. We'll see how long they can keep up this pace. "The stunner is that the Yeti has already been eliminated" is something that was actually said here. This is really hard to get invested in. Eric and Dusty sign off because their ring is empty. They stick with the 3 camera angles though. We are finally all in one ring and we can actually enjoy this. I guess I'm not sure "enjoy" is the right word. The final guys are all the ones you would expect and One Man Gang. Flair and Arn get eliminated one after another which is a little surprising. Luger and Sting are trying to get the Giant out and then Hogan comes and eliminates all three of them. Sure. Hogan goes under the ropes and they announce Savage as the new WCW Champion. Hogan gets back in and tells them that he went under the ropes. Typical unlikeable Hogan here. What a stupid controversy that they're trying to build up here. Mean Gene is in the ring now and Hogan is whining. Savage says it is what it is and then Hogan surveys the crowd. Savage wants to see the film and of course we have to see it on Nitro. What a scam. This was a really stupid match. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

There were two very good matches, 3 bad matches and the rest was solid. The main thing about this show is that none of it felt important. Even the new champion being crowned felt like just another scam. This definitely not a bad show, but it lacked a main event to make you ever want to watch it again.

Overall Rating: 58%

Off The Grid, Volume 56: Saturday Night's Main Event XXIX

Original Airdate: Saturday, April 27th, 1991
Omaha Civic Auditorium
Omaha, Nebraska

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Off The Grid, Volume 56:

Vince McMahon is your host and this time he is with recently retired, Randy Savage. For some reason the banner in the background shows The Main Event. 

Savage is with Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan and Col. Mustafa. He talks about taking Warrior's breath away. That leads to us going to Mean Gene and Ultimate Warrior. They show the Undertaker shoving Warrior in the casket and being locked in. Tonight will be the ultimate battle. 

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior

This was the last Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC until 2006, which is kind of wild. Slaughter tries to surprise Warrior by going up to the top, but Warrior grabs him and tosses him across the ring. Warrior continues his offense until Col. Mustafa gets involved. Slaughter slaps on my favorite move, the bear hug. Warrior powers out of it and hits a body slam, but is selling a back injury. Slaughter once again goes back to the bear hug. Warrior is on his knees and out comes Paul Bearer wheeling out a casket. Warrior gets out of the hold and sees Bearer. This allows Slaughter to clothesline Warrior to the floor. Slaughter attacks the back again and we have a commercial break. Slaughter throws Warrior back into the ring, but Warrior is starting to shake the ropes. He hits a series of clotheslines and a shoulder tackle. Bearer opens up the casket and Undertaker is in there. The distraction again allows Slaughter to attack Warrior, but this time Mustafa and Taker join in, causing the disqualification. Out comes Hulk Hogan to make the save. He hits Undertaker with the belt in the face and Taker no sells it. Taker misses an elbow drop on Warrior while Hogan chases Slaughter away. Warrior clotheslines Taker a couple of times and again gets to no sell it. The flying shoulder tackle knocks Taker to the floor, but on his feet. Officials are now out and that's all. That was a pretty poor match even before the no finish. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Mean Gene is with the Nasty Boys and they do a lot of yelling and claim that they're Nasty, but at least they aren't disgusting. We then go to Roddy Piper with the Bushwhackers. More yelling and they find a way to make Roddy Piper feel uncomfortable. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Nasty Boys vs. Bushwhackers

Is this the Bushwhackers most high profile title match? We get some chaos early on and the Bushwhackers throw Knobbs into Sags and then hit a double clothesline on both. This is actually a pretty spirited match with the Bushwhackers looking like more of a threat than I expected here. It all breaks down and a distraction on Luke allows Knobbs to sneak a pinfall with Sags helping a little bit (and a little bit in front of the ref) for the win. After the match, the Bushwhackers hit the Battering Ram because they are poor sports. I expected nothing here and got a pretty fun little match.

Match Rating: *3/4

Mean Gene is with Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Bearer is doing a more normal voice here for some reason. Undertaker says that he won't rest until Warrior rests in peace. 

Battle Royal

We go to the ring with Mr. Perfect on his way and then get an entrance from Big Boss Man. We go back to Mean Gene with Jimmy Hart and Earthquake. They show him squashing Damien and he says he'll squash Jake Roberts too. We then go to Randy Savage with Jake and he says how much it has affected him. Jake gets an entrance and then we go to Mean Gene with Hulk Hogan. He has nothing worthwhile to say as always. We get his entrance and we are underway. Paul Roma has the honor of being the first one eliminated as Marty Jannetty uses a headscissors to take him over the top. We get a lot of bodies in the ring for what feels like a long time. Duggan gets eliminated pretty early, which is a surprise. Hogan then gets Earthquake out of there. Hogan gets Kato out but then Tugboat eliminates him from behind. The ring then starts to clear. Mr. Perfect dropkicks Boss Man from behind and Barbarian helps him on his way out of the ring. Haku accidentally chops Perfect and Shawn Michaels dropkicks Haku over the top. This feels like Michaels first true test. He throws Perfect out, but he's able to catch himself on the apron. Perfect is able to elbow Michaels to the floor, leaving us with Perfect, Barbarian and Greg Valentine. Just as you predicted. Perfect accidentally dropkicks Barbarian and Valentine helps push him to the floor. Perfect does a signature bump out of an atomic drop and into the turnbuckle. Valentine has the crowd into this thing, I'll give him that. He throws Perfect over, but he rolls under the bottom rope. He tries lifting him over, but his momentum takes him over and Perfect hangs on to pull off the victory. I liked that the finalists were a little unpredictable here and Perfect was really good in his role. 

Match Rating: **

Mean Gene is with Sensational Sherri and Ted DiBiase. Did you know he has a lot of money? 

Bret Hart vs. Ted DiBiase

The Bret solo push begins. Roddy Piper is now with the announce team here. Sherri gets involved and tries to trip up Bret and it leads to DiBiase accidentally hitting her with a knee and sending her to the floor. DiBiase comes back with a stun gun and shifts the momentum. Sherri gets involved again and chokes Bret with her jacket. She then levels him with a right hand to the throat. Hart makes a comeback and hits his inverted atomic drop. This is one of the better DiBiase matches I can remember seeing. Bret hits a second rope elbow drop and gets a close pin attempt. Sherri tries tripping Bret again and this time he goes out of the ring to confront her. DiBiase hits him in the back with a double ax handle. Piper heads down to the ring as the action goes back in the ring. Piper chases Sherri around the ring before grabbing a broom under the ring and mocks her for being a witch. He then slaps her on the butt with it and chases her back. DiBiase catches wind of it and goes after Piper. Bret goes out in the aisle and they start brawling which leads to the obvious double countout. This was a really enjoyable match with everyone playing their role extremely well. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Mountie vs. Tito Santana

The WrestleMania rematch that probably only I wanted to see. Santana hits an atomic drop and some dropkicks, causing Mountie to roll out of the ring and hug Jimmy Hart. Mountie gains control but when he goes for a splash, Tito gets the knees up. Tito hits the flying forearm but Jimmy climbs into the ring. Tito hits Jimmy with a forearm and Mountie grabs the shock stick. Mountie sticks it right in Tito's throat and we get the cheesy sound effects and that's enough for the win. That was probably the match they were supposed to have at WrestleMania and then had to cut it down to about 90 seconds. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Mean Gene is with Sgt. Slaughter and crew again. He yells Hulk Hogan's name a lot. He then talks about pulling the skin of Hogan's face off. 

Now it's off to Piper and Hogan. He hits all the notes he always hits. Yawn.

Vince and Savage recap tonight's happenings with Savage still playing heel, which makes no sense.

As someone who loves 1991 WWF, this was an essential watch for me. However, you can also see the shine wearing off with a lot of the booking decisions they were making. Still, if you are like me and enjoy this time period, this one is a nice little appetizer before SummerSlam.

Overall Rating: 70%

Superstars 11-25-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, November 25th, 1995
Richmond Coliseum
Richmond, Virginia

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1-2-3 Kid vs. Rich Myers

They show some footage of the impact Sid has had with the Kid. Kid hits a running dropkick in the corner right away and Sid gets in a cheap shot. We get an interview from Marty Jannetty, who is disappointed in the Kid. Think of how much it would take to disappoint a guy like Marty. This squash is way too long for what it is supposed to be accomplishing. He hits a spin kick for the win. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We now get a recap of Shawn Michaels collapsing in the ring on Raw during his match with Owen Hart. 

Fatu vs. Reginald Walker

Walker is a pretty big guy here for an enhancement talent. Fatu usually gets a decent reaction, even under this gimmick, but not here. Fatu hits the top rope splash and picks up the easy victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Dok Hendrix and he's rocking a wind suit with a zipper open and rocking the chest hair. He announces In Your House and that we know the main event is Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog. We hear from Bulldog and he says that he'll beat Bret again. We also are getting Henry Godwinn vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a Hog Pen match. 

British Bulldog vs. Tony Williams

We join this match in progress because why not? For some reason Williams gets a little spurt of offense. He goes up top but Bulldog catches him in midair and throws him up on his shoulders for the running powerslam for the win. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We see Diesel snapping after his title loss at Survivor Series and then go to his interview from Raw. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Jason Ahrndt

While the match is about to start, they show Hunter at a farm. This is probably the closest to DX era Hunter we have seen so far. I would have thought they would have done 2 feature matches coming off the hot pay per view, but I guess not. We then get some pre-recorded comments from Godwinn and he says that Hunter is going to find out what they do to pretty boys in Arkansas. This one is over quickly after a Slop Drop. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week, 1-2-3 Kid and Sid will take on Barry Horowitz and Hakushi. 

After the commercial break, they show Godwinn slapping hands with the crowd and Bob Backlund is there. He threatens to dump the slop on him, but doesn't. They really were trying to fill time because we go to another commercial here. 

Goldust vs. Ken Raper

It's time to get Goldust a true storyline because it feels like he's already running on fumes a little bit. Goldust hits a Curtain Call and gets the 1-2-3. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Skip & Rad Radford vs. Smoking Gunns

Richmond has always seemed like a pretty good WWF town, but they are sitting on their hands today. After some early offense from the champs, Skip and Radford are able to use shenanigans to take control into the commercial break. Bart comes back with a double crossbody. Sunny trips him up before he's able to capitalize on it. Bart goes flying over the top rope and takes a scary looking fall with his hand getting tied up in the rope. Skip comes out and hits a somersault over the top for good measure. Skip misses with a rocket launcher and now Bart is able to tag in Billy. We get some chaos and it leads to Sunny getting knocked off the apron. The Gunns hit the Sidewinder and retain their titles. This was a decent match this week. 

Match Rating: **

We go back to Dok Hendrix and we hear from Bret. No new matches announced here. 

Next week we'll have Ahmed Johnson and King Mabel. Jerry Lawler says he's going into WWF Championship training and he announces that Mr. Perfect will be taking his place on Superstars. 

For as good as Survivor Series was and as hot of an angle the Shawn Michaels on Raw was, this felt like it took place on a different universe. Obviously, Superstars was the B show by a mile at this point, they usually do a good first episode. This one seemed to drag a little, even though the feature match was pretty good overall. The silent crowd didn't help here. 

Overall Rating: 38%

Monday Nitro 11-20-95 Review

Monday, November 20th, 1995 
Macon Coliseum
Macon, Georgia

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The announcers are going way over the top here, calling this episode the Super Bowl of wrestling with the main event of Sting vs. Hulk Hogan. It definitely is about as big of a match that they could give away on TV at this time, but we'll see what they deliver here. 

Scott Norton vs. Shark

Shark attacks Norton from behind during his entrance. They haven't really given us any reason to care about Norton. I obviously don't get to watch Saturday Night, so maybe he's been getting some action in on there. They get in the ring and the bell sounds. Shark hits a belly-to-belly suplex and McMichael is loving this. Shark hits a splash in the corner and continues to dominate. Norton hits a powerslam out of nowhere and that's enough for the win? They start shoving after the match and that's all. They really booked Tenta poorly during his WCW run. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Mean Gene is with Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. This is probably the most heel Hart has ever been in this storyline. Gene calls them two of the biggest pieces of human garbage, which made me smile. 

We're supposed to be getting our next match, but Disco Inferno interrupts to dance. 

Eddie Guerrero vs. Ric Flair Brian Pillman

Flair is out in his dress clothes and accompanied by Pillman. Flair grabs a mic and he says that people actually thought he would come out tonight and wrestle Guerrero. He says that Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit are on the jet and Flair says he'll hold it for him while Pillman takes care of business. I would rather this be the main event than Sting vs. Hogan, but that's me. Eddie gets the early offense in, but Pillman hits a dropkick on Guerrero while jumping off the top rope. Pillman goes off the top rope, but Guerrero side steps him and Pillman crashes into the guardrail. Guerrero then leaps off the top and hits a dive over the steps. Guerrero goes up top again, but Pilllman crotches him. Pillman goes for a superplex, but Guerrero shoves him off and hits the Frog Splash for a surprising victory. Eddie is probably the biggest success story of the early Nitro episodes so far. 

Match Rating: **1/2

They show highlights of Randy Savage getting attacked after his match with Meng. 

Big Bubba Rogers vs. Road Warrior Hawk

It's amazing how a match that would have felt like a big deal about 4 years ago, feels like it couldn't matter any less here. We get an awkward spot in the corner and eventually Bubba hits a spinebuster. Hawk gets thrown into the turnbuckle and bounces back, colliding with Bubba. Hawk's up first and misses with a clothesline from the top rope. Bubba pulls out tape and wraps up his fist. Duggan comes out and trips up Bubba and Hawk pulls off the win. This was kind of sad to watch, as these two just don't look like the guys we knew. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Sting vs. Hulk Hogan

Sting is in red and yellow tonight. Randy Savage comes out to Hogan's music and Hogan enters from behind. He's wearing an ugly mask for some reason. He doesn't attack him and taps him on the back instead. The crowd is chanting "Hogan sucks", which to me is more showing why it wasn't such a genius move to turn Hogan. It's that they had no other choice. Any time face Hogan gets booed, it just makes me happy. We do get some good intensity here thanks to Sting and a hot crowd. Sting gets the Scorpion Death Lock in the center of the ring. Hogan of course gets out of it and starts Hulking up. Hogan misses with the leg drop though and Sting puts on the Scorpion Death Lock again. The Dungeon of Doom is out and attacks for the non-finish. Giant is out and destroys everyone. Sting and Hogan team up with a chair to clothesline Giant over the top. I'm not sure I like the way the run in happened, but the chaos was well done after the fact. 

Match Rating: **1/4

After the commercial, Sullivan and Hart are at the announce table harassing them. Even Heenan seems annoyed and has a broken headset. 

It didn't deliver on being the Super Bowl of wrestling, but that's pro wrestling for you. This was a good show though that gave us two good matches that ate up most of the run time. The other two matches were a little rough, but this was an easy watch otherwise. 

Overall Rating: 61%

Monday Night Raw 11-20-95 Review

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

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

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%