–Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross are calling today’s action, which is still unfolding in the confines of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
–Opening Contest: Hunter-Hearst Helmsley (21-0) pins Mike Legacy after a Pedigree at 2:28:
Legacy was a Scott D’Amore-trained talent, wrestling between 1994 and 2013 for Border City Wrestling. The announcers discuss Helmsley’s ongoing feud with Henry Godwinn as Legacy performs one of the weakest blind charges in the history of the sport. The ending to this one is never in doubt as Helmsley channels the Scott Hall version of squash matches, slapping and kicking the jobber in between moves.
–Footage of the end of the Razor Ramon-Owen Hart match on RAW is shown, including Ahmed Johnson bodyslamming Yokozuna.
–As Helmsley is walking backstage, Henry Godwinn is coming down the aisle for the next match. Godwinn teases slopping Helmsley but WWF officials intervene to stop that from happening.
–Henry Godwinn (23-6-2) beats Otis Apollo after a Slop Drop at 2:25:
As noted in the previous RAW recap, Phil Apollo is suddenly sporting the name “Otis.” Why the company felt the need to change a jobber’s name is lost on me. McMahon does an enthusiastic pig call and tries to get Lawler to do so throughout the contest. That is the only highlight here as Godwinn wins to built momentum for a future battle against Helmsley.
–Ross interviews Godwinn, who says that the next time Helmsley crosses his path he is going to beat him and slop him.
–A Bill Clinton impersonator, who fooled me as a kid, hypes Survivor Series near the Lincoln Memorial.
–The pog craze is clearly fizzling out by this point as Barry Didinski offers fans one thousand “mat caps” in a plastic bag and two gold slammers for $21 (plus shipping & handling)!
–Call 1-900-737-4WWF to solve a mystery on option three where the Million Dollar Corporation have stolen all of the WWF title belts!
–Bam Bam Bigelow (18-5) beats Scott D’Amore after a slingshot flying headbutt at 2:39:
McMahon makes fun of D’Amore’s weigh and back hair as Bigelow sleepwalks his way through this squash. It is pretty sad that Bigelow is now just a regular guy after main eventing WrestleMania and King of the Ring earlier in the year. McMahon is noticeably bored calling this match, a bad sign for Bigelow going forward.
–The Bodydonnas are shown training Rad Radford backstage. They get upset after finding some candy underneath Radford’s t-shirt as he does sit ups.
–Lawler conducts a special interview with Goldust, who has a small “paparazzi” crew taking his picture as he walks to the ring. Goldust quotes House of Wax and calls out Bam Bam Bigelow, who responds by walking into the ring, or at least that is what I can assume happens because the entire arena is kept dark during the interview so it is hard for the viewer to see anything. Bigelow demands a future match against Goldust, who accepts by saying that Bigelow will remember his name.
–King Mabel (w/Sir Mo) (11-2-1) pins Tim McNeeny after a belly-to-belly suplex at 2:37:
Paul Bearer warns Mabel that the Undertaker will get revenge for his disfigured face at a later date in a promo that airs right before this squash. Ross laments that the Undertaker missed Halloween this year because of Mabel, which somehow means that their feud has kicked up a notch by 1995 standards. Mabel uses his fatness to overwhelm the much smaller McNeeny, screaming more about how he is the king.
–Bret Hart (w/the Saskatchewan Roughriders) (15-2-2) beats Sid (w/the Million Dollar Corporation & Skip) (7-3) after a school boy roll up at 8:15 shown:
This match is not billed as a lumberjack match but it might as well be as each man has multiple seconds accompany them to the ring and they serve the same role as lumberjacks do throughout the match. In Bret’s corner are the Saskatchewan Roughriders, coming off a 6-12 season in the Canadian Football League (CFL) The match got a lot of promotion before the taping, with the Roughriders making an appearance at a WWF press conference and getting into a tussle with the Corporation. According to Bret, Sid did not want any of the Roughriders touching him and Bret had to talk him into doing it so the match could generate a reaction from the crowd. Skip showing up at ringside made zero sense at first but as the match develops his purpose becomes clearer as he eats a shoulder tackle from one of the Roughriders, which keeps the crowd engaged during a Sid chinlock spot. The match picks up after a commercial break, with Bret scoring some near-falls and when the Corporation tries to beat up Bret at ringside he goes under the ring and surprises Sid with a school boy after Sid jaws with one of the Roughriders on the apron to win. After the match, Bret is lifted onto the Roughriders shoulders and fireworks go off, possibly commemorating the continuation of Bret’s ten-match winning streak. The wrestling was basic but the Roughriders played their role well and the crowd was into it. Rating: ***
–Dok Hendrix hypes Survivor Series and the Undertaker, his face shrouded in darkness, says that it is time for him to get a WWF title shot, which he is scheduled for on the house show circuit after the upcoming pay-per-view.
–Bret tells the announcers that he feels confident about Survivor Series and that he looks forward to there being a winner after his last two matches against Diesel have had inconclusive finishes.
–Tune in next week to see the Smoking Gunns defend the WWF tag team titles against Razor Ramon & the 1-2-3 Kid!
The Last Word: With Bill Watts out of the company, Superstars is quickly becoming an afterthought again, loaded up with lots of squashes and a feature match. The squash matches were dull this week, but the feature match delivered, with Bret Hart remaining a Canadian hero as he heads into the Survivor Series to face Diesel for the WWF title.
The WWF’s house shows returned to the United States in November, swinging through the Midwest for a series of shows. Since there are just “A” shows at this point there will be fewer results posted since results were largely the same across cards in a given week. Here was the result of one of the shows (courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com):
Indianapolis, Indiana – Market Square Arena – November 5, 1995: Savio Vega beat Jean-Pierre LaFitte after a small package…Bob Backlund defeated Bob Holly with the crossface chicken wing…Fatu defeated the Brooklyn Brawler with a top rope splash…Ahmed Johnson pinned Rad Radford with the Pearl River Plunge…Goldust defeated Marty Jannetty with the Curtain Call…Hunter-Hearst Helmsley beat Henry Godwinn in a slop bucket match…Isaac Yankem defeated Bam Bam Bigelow…Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon pinned Owen Hart with a roll up. The 1-2-3 Kid was the guest referee…WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns defeated Sid & Kama…Diesel, Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels defeated Yokozuna, the British Bulldog & King Mabel.
And here were some notes about occurrences within the company in early November (courtesy of The Wrestling Observer for November 13):
*Vince McMahon held a surprise meeting with talent at the November 3 house show in Cincinnati, Ohio. The meeting was more of a pep talk since morale had slipped due to the cancellation of “B” house shows and talent cutbacks. All of the superstars are not happy about the new house show model because all of the top talent on shows will have to take a pay cut if they are not in the main event, which they might have been on a “B” or “C” show in the past. The cancellation of some shows due to poor ticket sales have also hurt morale because talent is only getting paid for shows they work and if a show does not happen they are paying road expenses with no new income.
*In terms of talent releases, Man Mountain Rock is now working for the Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) in Europe despite being under WWF contract. Rock has not worked on television in a while and the company brokered the CWA deal for him. Waylon Mercy has also quit the promotion. Adam Bomb keeps demanding a release from the company but they are not granting him one at the present time.
*The Public Enemy to WWF rumors are heating up after they reportedly had a meeting with Vince McMahon on November 2. It is likely that they will sign and Paul Heyman seems to be pushing the Enemy to get a job in New York. However, it is unclear how the Enemy will get over in a new environment because the WWF does not allow for tables to be broken in matches. The likelihood is that they could be used as the next version of the Bushwhackers.
*Ahmed Johnson was getting great reactions on the house show circuit after the recent RAW where he bodyslammed Yokozuna.
*Rumors that ECW’s 911 was headed to the WWF appear premature as they are not interested in bringing him in at this time.
*The poor Goldust-Marty Jannetty match at In Your House 4 is being chalked up to nerves and Jannetty showing up late, which did not allow the two men to have enough time to plot out their match.
*The company thought of making the Diesel-Bret Hart match at Survivor Series a cage match but changed their mind when they realized that Diesel could do more against Bret without it. This resulted in the no disqualification match that is being booked to headline that show.
*Dean Douglas was replaced by Owen Hart on house shows due to his ongoing larynx injury. He should return to the road next week.
*The company recently signed a two-year extension with USA network.
Up Next: Monday Night RAW for November 6, 1995!