What the World Was Watching: WWF Monday Night Raw – October 9, 1995

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-Vince McMahon and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth tonight.

-Clips are shown of Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series press conference in Washington D.C. and he tears up talking about how kids look up to him.

-Owen Hart, Yokozuna & the British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) vs. Diesel, Shawn Michaels & the Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) :

We come back from the promotional ads to action already unfolding in the ring between Michaels and Owen. Michaels works the arm, monkey flips Owen, and then clotheslines him over the top rope and out of the ring. Michaels skins the cat back inside and all hell breaks loose early. Diesel and the Undertaker hit a double big boot which sends Yokozuna to the floor and the heels bail to regroup. When things settle down and get back in the ring Diesel and the Bulldog tango and Diesel clotheslines the Bulldog against the buckles and proceeds to knock him to the floor. Outside, the Undertaker chokes Bulldog and tosses him back inside. Bulldog tags Yokozuna and Diesel hits him with a flying clothesline off the ropes. Diesel tags in the Undertaker and the Undertaker gets in his ropewalk spot. However, Yokozuna catches the Undertaker with a Samoan drop off the ropes. Unfortunately for Yokozuna, he puts his head down too early on a whip and the Undertaker plants him with a DDT as Waylon Mercy is shown standing just outside of the Raw entrance. Tag Michaels and he works the arm. Yokozuna catches Michaels with a side slam and Owen tags in to get a two count. Owen and the Bulldog work over Michaels and the Bulldog gets a gorilla press slam, with several reps included for two. Seeing Paul Bearer root for Michaels in the ring is quite a sight. The Bulldog picks Michaels off the canvas by his hair and slams him back down to the mat for a near fall before Michaels breaks it up by putting his foot on the bottom rope. The heels triple team Michaels behind the referee’s back and we go to a commercial break.

We return with Owen having Michaels locked in an abdominal stretch, with Bulldog lending a helping hand from outside. Dean Douglas is seen observing the match and taking notes from the aisle. I guess the power for the TV sets in the locker room went out again. Earl Hebner eventually sees Owen and Bulldog working together and kicks their hands allowing Michaels to hip toss out of the hold. Michaels gets a fluke backslide for two and Owen levels him with a clothesline. Tag Yokozuna and the former tag team champions make a wish with Michaels legs. Tag Bulldog and he and Yokozuna give Michaels a double headbutt for two. Bulldog hits his sweet vertical suplex for two. Tag Owen and he and Bulldog double headbutt Michaels. Owen gets a snapmare/chinlock combination but Michaels fights out of it. Owen just catches him with a spinning heel kick off the ropes for two, though. Owen argues with the referee and Michaels schoolboys him for two. Owen hits a gutwrench suplex and goes to the top rope and leaps for a flying headbutt off the top rope as we head to commercial…so we’ll never know if he hit it or not.

When we get back from the break we have a double KO between Owen and Michaels as Vince shows us the replay to confirm my suspicions that Owen did not hit his flying headbutt off the top rope. Owen tags the Bulldog as Michaels gets a momentum swinging tag to Diesel. Diesel catches the Bulldog with a sidewalk slam and then takes out the heels. However, Owen hits Diesel in the back when he runs the ropes and the Bulldog hits a running powerslam for one before the Undertaker interrupts the count. As the referee gets the Undertaker out of the ring, Yokozuna comes in and gives Diesel a leg drop and the Bulldog covers again for the three count at 11:50 shown. I loved every minute of this (and the aftermath) and if you’re a fan of the WWF in 1995 you will too. Grade: A-

-After the match, King Mabel comes in and he and Yokozuna avalanche the Undertaker against the turnbuckles. Yokozuna then gives a leg drop to the Undertaker and Mabel follows suit. Michaels tries to get in to help but Dean Douglas runs down and gives Michaels an inverted suplex onto the ring steps. Owen beats on Diesel for fun as Mabel continues to leg drop the Undertaker. Now THIS is a heel beat down. When it’s all over the faces are all left laying and we return from the commercial break to see a sea of WWF officials trying to help them.

-Clips are shown of Bret Hart defeating Jean Pierre LaFitte last week and then getting attacked by Isaac Yankem D.D.S. after he tussled with Jerry Lawler at the end of the show.

-We also join the Bret Hart-Isaac Yankem match from SummerSlam in progress. Vince explains that we’re watching it because the WWF officials are clearing out the ring.

-Highlights of the WWF show at Madison Square Garden for the underprivileged are shown.

Skip (w/Sunny) vs. “Making a Difference” Fatu:

Skip gets a knee to Fatu’s gut to start and taunts. Skip gets an eye rake and tries to take Fatu to the buckle but that only causes him to dance. Fatu unloads before deciding to check out Sunny on the outside and when Skip tries to attack him out there he only gets knocked silly. Back in, Fatu whips Skip into the corner but a blind charge sees Fatu smack his shoulder into the ring post and Skip gives him a side suplex. Skip delivers a slam and gets a fist drop from the second rope. Skip maneuvers around Fatu off the ropes and gives him an enziguri for two after he waits to cover. Skip hurts his forearm trying to hit Fatu in the head but that doesn’t stop him from snapmaring him and applying a chinlock. Sunny talks about her nails on the outside as Skip delivers a flying headbutt from the top rope but he hurts his head when it smacks against Fatu’s and Fatu rallies with a back body drop and a slam. Sunny distracts Fatu as he goes to climb the top rope and Skip crotches him. However, Skip hurts his back when trying to deliver a superduperplex. He tries it again and Fatu just knocks him to the canvas and a splash finishes at 5:52. I didn’t care for the slow pace of the match but both guys were having fun out there. Grade: D+

-We get a recap of the heel beatdown seen earlier in the show.

-Doc Hendrix says Shawn Michaels collapsed in the locker room, Diesel is mad, and the Undertaker looks like the wind is out of his sails.

-Jim Ross is in the heel locker room where Jim Cornette says he wants everyone to feel the glory of this moment. He warns Diesel that more is to come at In Your House: The Great White North. The British Bulldog says he’s been waiting for a World title shot for a long time and he deserves it after beating Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1992. He also makes me laugh by calling Winnipeg a 50 degree below hell hole.

-Tune in next week to see Bret Hart fight Isaac Yankem in a steel cage match and if Jerry Lawler interferes he’ll be locked in a special shark cage.

The Final Report: There weren’t a lot of matches on this week’s Raw but the main event match was excellent with all the heels brutalizing their face opponents before In Your House. Seeing faces get brutalized like that was a rarity in the WWF prior to that point so it made for excellent television.

Show Grade: B

Logan Scisco has been writing wrestling reviews for Inside Pulse since 2005. He considers himself a pro wrestling traditionalist and reviews content from the 1980s-early 2000s. Most of his recaps center on wrestling television shows prior to 2001. His work is featured on his website (www.wrestlewatch.com) and he has written three books, available on Amazon.com.