Monday Night Raw - October 23rd 1995

• Raw kicks off with a 20 man battle royal where the winner will get a shot at the Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon. Of note, they’ve already changed the new Raw intro - it’s no longer the country song We Like It Raw, it’s a generic royalty free bit of rock music. This match also marks the TV return of King Kong Bundy, who I haven’t seen since just after Wrestlemania. He’s the first man eliminated and that marks his departure from the company. I won’t miss you Bundy. All the people you’d expect are in this from Henry Godwin to HHH to Skip to Bam Bam Bigelow. This is the first time I’ve seen Duke Droese in a while too. Based on the recent booking - their fall outs and the 1-2-3 Kid slowly drifting heel - I’d have predicted him to win and get a title shot against friend Razor Ramon but he’s eliminated during the commercial break by Issac Yankem. The final two are Owen Hart and the unlikely Marty Jannetty. They go at it with Owen just barely holding on multiple times until finally The British Bulldog runs down and beats up Marty on the outside, throwing him back into the ring where he’s easy pickings for Owen who wins the Battle Royal and gets himself a title shot next week. Bulldog and Owen are family obviously but they’re also both managed by Jim Cornette. After the battle royal, Jerry Lawler interviews Owen Hart who doesn’t say much of note - he’s going to beat Razor and win the Intercontinental title next week because he’s the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. 

• After a recap of last night’s (terrible) main event and the altercation between Bret and Diesel after the match it is made official; they will meet at Survivor Series for the WWF Championship. In other Survivor Series news the “wildcard” match will be a mix of heels and faces in a classic eight man Survivor Series match. The teams are very bizarre which you can see below and what a way for Ahmed Johnson to make his debut - they obviously have very high hopes for him and he has some comments, promising Shawn that he can trust him and telling Sid that if he even thinks of getting out of line he’ll put him back in his place.

• There’s another newly debuting superstar - Avatar. This is Al Snow to long time fans, one of my boys! In a weird twist he carries a mask to the ring and then puts it on once he’s in the ring. Putting on the mask is his “metamorphasis” apparently. He uses karate strikes and judo throws before picking up the win with a standing moonsault and a splash on the mat. He takes the mask back off after the victory, his work done. This was…weird, and the crowd were silent about it.

• Barry Didinski is back to try and sell us stuff. Dok Hendrix tried to push these on us at the PPV too and I thought maybe Barry had been given the sack. Two full sized cardboard cutouts of Bret and Shawn for only $25 is a steal.

• In the main event, Alundra Blayze gets her rematch for the Women’s Championship against Bertha Faye. Much like their Summerslam match this is a classic big power wrestler vs. smaller, faster wrestler match and Alundra is slammed and leg dropped but fights back like a good plucky babyface. She avoids a charge sending Bertha crashing into her man Harvey on the apron and follows up with a German suplex to regain the WWF Women’s Championship for the third time. 

• In the ACTUAL main event of the show, Jim Ross sits down for an interview with Shawn Michaels about his injuries and having to forfeit the Intercontinental Championship. Shawn is so sad and beaten down. There’s no sign of the Heartbreak Kid we all know and love. He hopes to be back and healthy by next week but we’ll need to wait and see what the brain scans say. He is nervous about teaming with former rival Sycho Sid at Survivor Series of course but he loves a challenge. A very different side of Shawn Michaels on display here.

Monday Night Raw - October 30th 1995

• This is a special halloween edition of Raw and Todd Pettengill while doing a hokey dracula impression runs down tonight’s big happenings - Owen Hart challenging for the Intercontinental title and the TV debut of Goldust. Todd Pettengill makes this kind of stuff work.
• Vince and Lawler have made a real effort with their outfits for halloween which I respect - King’s is better.

• The opening match is the “Broadcast television premiere” of Goldust. The company has big hopes for this character as he was added to the new Raw intro weeks before he’d even debuted. Just like at In Your House he gets a confused reaction from the live audience. His opponent is Savio Vega. It’s another dull match for Goldust and he wins out of nowhere just pinning Savio tight after he seems to hurt his shoulder. I wonder if that was a real injury?

• Dok Hendrix presents the “Survivor Series SlamJam” which is replacing the old PPV Reports with Todd Pettengill. His big news this week is that after the screwy non-finishes in their previous two matches Gorilla Monsoon has decreed that the WWF Championship match at Survivor Series will have no count out, no disqualification and no time limit. There must be a winner between Bret Hart and Diesel.

• Marty Jannetty battles a jobber I’ve never seen before. He looks in better shape than most of the usual jobbers too. Marty has a big match next week with the British Bulldog as fallout from their altercation last week which is what this match is here to promote. Jannetty picks up the win with his finishing move - a diving fistdrop off the top rope. That’s a terrible finisher. 
• Vince McMahon conducts an interview in the ring with Jim Cornette, his legal counsel Clarence Mason and The British Bulldog. Cornette is angry that Gorilla Monsoon isn’t giving Bulldog a rematch for the WWF Championship after he defeated Diesel (by disqualification) at In Your House. In modern wrestling they’d just make Survivor Series a triple threat match but triple threats hadn't been invented yet in October 1995. Mason is a softly spoken man but is supposed to be a parody of Johnny Cochrane who was all over the news at the time as the lawyer to OJ Simpson. His demand is a match with Bret Hart so that Bulldog can get his revenge and a rematch for the WWF Championship. He also doesn’t want to be involved in the wildcard match at Survivor Series, forcing Bulldog and Owen to be on opposite teams and team up with rivals Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon and others. Cornette does a decent job of wittering on about the ramifications of making his clients team with men who would happily stab them in the back - that’s very much the point. Bulldog finishes off by screaming that next week he’s going to drop Marty Jannetty, who isn’t in his league. That brings Marty running to the ring to attack him and he dropkicks him out of the ring followed by beating up Jim Cornette a little too! He’s about to attack the lawyer as well but stops short. It seems obvious to me that he was supposed to be attacked from behind by a recovered Bulldog but he missed his cue - probably because he was high, Bulldog was famous during this era for forgetting spots and being out of position for things because of his substance abuse issues.

• The Smoking Gunns face a pair of jobbers. During the match the 1-2-3 Kid appears via a picture in picture interview. He apologises to Billy and Bart for his poor sportsmanship at the PPV but challenges them to a rematch on behalf of himself and Razor Ramon for the Tag Team titles. The Gunns win this match with the Sidewinder.
• Bret Hart cuts a prerecorded promo about Diesel and the WWF Championship. He says that the new rules at Survivor Series work to his advantage and he is going to be the one to finally stop the Diesel truck and become a three time WWF Champion. Paul Bearer has a prerecorded promo of his own from the graveyard promising King Mabel that his Undertaker will be back to take his revenge. Oh yes! 

• In the main event Razor Ramon defends the Intercontinental Championship against Owen Hart. The Bad Guy wastes no time, running to the ring and starting the match quickly. As they go back and forth, Yokozuna comes down to ringside. He’s the tag team partner of Owen Hart of course but now he’s also teammates with Razor Ramon at Survivor Series in the wildcard match so there’s extra layers. Razor works over Owen slowly with a long, long shoulder hold. With Cornette, Fuji and Yoko cheering Owen on he mounts a comeback but when Razor is about to hit the Razor’s Edge, Yokozuna gets in the ring to put a stop to that causing a disqualification. Razor wins but is beaten up by Yokozuna and Owen Hart. The 1-2-3 Kid runs down to try and help but he’s flattened too and Yoko squashes him with a 600lbs+ leg drop. Newcomer Ahmed Johnson who is involved in the same wildcard match at Survivor Series runs down and in a spot which gets a huge reaction actually bodyslams Yokozuna! Only the second man to do so after Lex Lugar, this was a good way to immediately make him seem like a big deal. British Bulldog runs down too but backs off rather than fight Johnson and Raw ends in chaos with Cornette trying to coral his men on the outside as Johnson checks on Razor and the Kid in the ring.

Monday Night Raw - November 6th 1995

• Raw kicks off with The British Bulldog vs. Marty Jannetty. Tonight’s commentary duo is Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix because Jerry Lawler is actually wrestling tonight. More on that later. As Bulldog dominates this match, lawyer Clarence Mason has some breaking news for us - his legal challenge was successful and at the next In Your House in December he will challenge the WWF Champion whoever that may be after Survivor Series. Marty puts up a good fight but a running powerslam gives Bulldog the victory. Dok Hendrix interviews Bulldog and Cornette about the big news for the next In Your House. Cornette says that in December Bulldog will right the wrong and be the next WWF Champion. He promises Shawn Michaels that if he tries to doublecross Bulldog as partners in the wildcard match at Survivor Series he’ll put him back in the hospital. Bulldog then repeats what he said but shouting it in a confused Manchester accent. He’s a terrible promo.

• In a pre-recorded video from Washington DC, a Bill Clinton impersonator says he’ll be at the Survivor Series. That’ll sell tons of tickets I’m sure. In other Survivor Series news, during an interview with Goldust at the weekend Bam Bam Bigelow challenged him to a match at any time and in any place which was accepted by Goldust for Survivor Series.

• Henry O. Godwin battles Terry Richards. I immediately recognised him - he's a very young looking future ECW and WWF superstar Rhyno! H.O.G is feuding with Hunter Hearst Helmsley and he’ll face the American Blueblood next week on Raw. Godwin wins with the Slop Drop but as he celebrates he’s attacked from behind by HHH who drills him with a Pedigree on the outside the ring and then, after putting on a pair of pristine white gloves, pours Godwin’s own slop bucket all over his head. Disgusting. 

• This week my boy Todd Pettengill hosts the Survivor Series SlamJam! Happy to see him back on Raw and he has a new match for the PPV to add - Undertaker and King Mabel will captain a pair of teams and battle. Undertaker has some comments and while hiding his face from the camera and with Paul Bearer recoiling in horror from his face he promises Mabel that he will rest in peace. You know the drill, you’ve seen an Undertaker promo. 

• Kama represents the Million Dollar Team against Tony Roy. It’s an easy victory for Kama but the big story is that Shawn Michaels calls in during this match to talk about his in-ring return over the weekend. He’s healed up but not quite 100% and is super impressed by Ahmed Johnson and is trusting him to have his back at Survivor Series. He also can’t pick a winner for the WWF title match but interestingly he refers to both Diesel and Bret as good friends of his - I guess he and Bret hadn’t fallen out yet. 
• There’s a big main event announced for next week’s Raw with multiple stipulations but I’ll talk about it at the start of the next show. This week’s main event is Jerry Lawler and Isaac Yanker vs. Bret Hart and Hakushi. Hakushi has his tag team partner Barry Horowitz out at ringside with him for moral support and now that he’s a babyface he’s trying to right some wrongs and make amends, hence helping Bret against rivals Lawler and Yankem tonight. The odd couple tag team has been done to death since but Hakushi and Horowitz as a makeshift comedy duo could have had legs, especially because Hakushi as a babyface means the fans can cheer for his spectacular moveset - he should always have been a babyface, he’s awesome. Yankem and Lawler isolate Hakushi and a pair of piledrivers would probably end the match for King is too busy taunting Bret Hart to cover. Hakushi finally mounts a comeback and tags out to Bret who runs through Issac and Lawler. Jerry grabs a plastic folding chair and uses it as a weapon but when Barry Horowitz disarms him, that’s what the referee sees and so Lawler and Yankem win the match by disqualification. This felt like an easy win for Bret who has a PPV main event to worry about but once again, Jerry Lawler defeats him.

• Raw ends with hype for the big segment next week - Diesel and Bret Hart face to face. Is it just me or does this graphic make Bret look like a little boy? He is a lot shorter than Kevin Nash but seeing it on screen like that just looks ridiculous! 

Monday Night Raw - November 13th 1995

• Tonight’s big main event was to be an Intercontinental Championship match between two men who are in the wildcard match at Survivor Series - Razor defends against Sycho Sid but for extra interest, the 1-2-3 Kid is the special guest referee and for this match only the Intercontinental title CAN change hands via count out or disqualification - there must be a proper winner. Raw kicks off with a video package about various fallings out between Razor and The Kid over the weekend on the house show tour - these two have been at odds a few times lately and it seems that it might finally come to a head. Gorilla Monsoon made the last minute decision that tonight’s Razor and Sid match is no longer for the Intercontinental Championship seeing as the 1-2-3 Kid’s loyalties are now in question. That’s sensible enough.

• Hunter Hearst Helmsley, American Blueblood, faces Henry O. Godwin, pig farmer. A feud which makes sense and HHH Pedigree’d and slopped Henry last week so there’s heat. He keeps spraying Godwin with perfume so H.O.G brings his slop bucket into the ring. He actually slops himself which gets big cheers and of course it now forces his opponent to put his hands on him. HHH decides that the slopping is too disgusting for him and he runs away, slipping on the slop at ringside as he does! He leaves and Godwin chases him all the way to the back. The match ends as a double count out all because Hunter was too disgusted by Godwin to put his hands on him. Funny segment.

• Ahmed Johnson makes his Raw debut against jobber Jake Steel. Shawn Michaels cuts in with a picture-in-picture promo about how impressed he is by Ahmed while Vince puts over how scared the Bulldog in particular seems to be of his Survivor Series teammate. He wins with a sitdown powerbomb and after the match cuts a promo with Vince which I could barely understand. He said something about Sid. 

• A commercial for Survivor Series focused on Bret vs. Diesel leads neatly into what was billed as a face to face confrontation but is in fact both men appearing via satellite. Vince stirs the pot and asks Diesel if he agrees that Bret is the best there is, best there was and best there ever will be - he’s the WWF Champion so he thinks that makes him the best. Vince asks Bret if he agrees Diesel is the leader of the New Generation? Bret disagrees and believes that he is the leader, and he brings up the way he lost the title last year. He’s not wrong in saying that he should never have lost the title. He’s never beaten Diesel but Diesel has never beaten him either. They break down their strategy and Bret has a point when he says Diesel has no problem against big guys but when it comes to smaller guys like him and Shawn Michaels he’s struggled. I enjoyed this segment very much.

• On the past couple of Raws there’s been a commercial for MB’s Karate Fighters. They’ve been amusing but not particularly noteworthy until this week when, with a little hype, Jerry Lawler battled Vince McMahon. Lawler cheated and used tape to keep his guy on the platform but Vince has the last laugh when he tells him that his team of Royalty is going to pay when The Undertaker returns at Survivor Series. 

• Speaking of which, King Mabel who is the captain of the royal team faces a skinny jobber which seems like a huge mismatch. He’s actually not that skinny on closer inspection, he just looks tiny compared to Mabel. He’s smashed and defeated with a belly to belly suplex. 
• Ahead of the main event Vince and Lawler recap some of the issues between Razor and the Kid; they got a rematch for the Tag Team Championships over the weekend but Razor got his team disqualified because he kept breaking up pins, and the 1-2-3 Kid got slopped by Henry Godwin and then blamed Razor for it (no details on what exactly made it Razor’s fault or not). I believe that the plan was for this match to be for the title and for Sid to actually win the Championship but the Klique pulled some strings and got it changed to a non-title match to prolong the title reign of Scott Hall. That’s kind of shady. As the match goes on and the two are back and forth, Dean Douglas comes down to the ring and gets some cheap shots in on Razor until he's ejected from ringside by the 1-2-3 Kid. He calls this match fair and square down the middle until Razor lifts Sid up for the Razor’s Edge - the Kid pulls him out of the move to safety and when Sycho Sid follows up with a powerbomb of his own, the Kid counts very fast and raises Sid’s arm after the match and leaves with Sid and Dibiase - the 1-2-3 Kid has sold out and joined the Million Dollar Corporation! It didn’t get much of a reaction from the crowd sadly but I thought this heel turn was well done!