What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw – December 4, 1995

–Vince McMahon narrates tonight’s promo video for the Razor Ramon-Dean Douglas Intercontinental title match and Sid-Marty Jannetty encounter. Sid and Jannetty give dueling promos, with Jannetty promising to light Sid up.

–McMahon and Jerry Lawler are tonight’s commentary team and they are taped from Richmond, Virginia.

–Opening Contest: The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette) (15-5-1) defeats Bob Holly (14-11-1) after a running powerslam at 5:05:

The Bulldog gets everything he asked for in this tune up match for In Your House as Holly quickly scores some near-falls and forces Camp Cornette’s WWF title contender to regroup. The crowd knows that Holly is a JTTS, though, so they find it hard to get behind him. Holly tries to float over the Bulldog on a blind charge, but the Bulldog catches him and powerslams him for a hard fought victory, capping off the best Bulldog’s singles match in a while. However, giving Holly so much offense against a world title contender was probably not the best idea to build interest for the Bulldog’s match against Bret in a couple of weeks. Rating: ***

–Footage of Bob Backlund attacking Bret Hart and Bob Backlund over the past week of WWF shows is aired. McMahon says that Backlund will face Bret in a non-title match on next week’s show.

–Lawler interviews Backlund, who is in the crowd campaigning. Backlund gets very upset when he finds out that his match with Bret next week will not be for the title, spazzing out about how he needs the title to reign over the plebeians. During the commercial break, Backlund finds the sound guy who cuts off his microphone for a commercial break and later puts him in a crossface chicken wing.

–Fatu (7-3) beats The Brooklyn Brawler after a top rope splash at 1:24:

Fatu barely breaks a sweat against the Brawler, winning this match to kill some television time. Lawler discusses concussions in the NFL.

–Dok Hendrix announces that Diesel has taken up Owen Hart’s open contract challenge for In Your House.

–Intercontinental Championship Match: Razor Ramon (Champion) (23-7-1) pins Dean Douglas (7-1) after a Razor’s Edge at 4:30 shown:

Ramon is wearing a piece of tape on his boot with Shawn Michaels name to pay tribute to his friend. This serves as the blowoff for the Ramon-Douglas feud that has been going on since SummerSlam, with Douglas getting in more offense than he did at In Your House 4 but still coming up short when Ramon rolls through a body press, clotheslines him, and then easily dispatches him with the Razor’s Edge. McMahon puts over that Ramon wins a “decisive victory” as Douglas was on his way out of the company so this was his de facto burial tour. Rating: *

–Brother Love interviews King Mabel, who is now wearing the urn chain after stealing it at the end of last week’s show. Mabel says that In Your House he will become the first man to put the Undertaker in his own casket, ignoring the fact that Yokozuna already did that at the 1994 Royal Rumble. Love reveals a “surprise” as a druid brings a casket to the ring and when Mabel gets angry over this, the druid is revealed as Sir Mo and the casket is “custom made” for Mabel. The customization only goes so far as to put graffiti on an existing casket.

–Razor Ramon tells Marty Jannetty backstage that he has his back for his upcoming match against Sid.

–McMahon tells fans that the RAW Bowl is coming to USA Network on January 1, 1996.

–Barry Didinski puts over the Diesel and Undertaker cardboard cut outs that fans need to buy for $25 (plus $3.95 shipping & handling).

–Sid (w/Ted DiBiase) (8-4) wrestles Marty Jannetty (5-2) to a double disqualification at 5:07 shown:

Jannetty does his best to keep Sid grounded and they go through the motions until the 1-2-3 Kid comes out to attack Jannetty on the floor, which brings out Ramon, who chases the Kid into the ring and into the crowd, causing the match to the get tossed out. After the bell, Sid powerbombs Jannetty, receiving some cheers from some diehard fans facing the hard camera. Rating: *

–Dr. Jeffrey Unger, Shawn Michaels personal physician,runs down the negative effects of post-concussion syndrome and he tells Todd Pettengill that Michaels’ tests have not gone well and that he may never fully recover. He says that Shawn may have to retire. McMahon then chimes in that Shawn’s injury has made everyone re-evaluate how they view WWF superstars, doing a great voiceover to make fans sympathetic to what Michaels is going through.

–Tune in next week to see WWF Champion Bret Hart face Bob Backlund in a non-title match!

The Last Word: This card looked good on paper but after the opener everything was filler. Razor Ramon and Dean Douglas never had chemistry in their series of matches and the main event was angle advancement for the In Your House 5 tag match. Survivor Series and the episode after it gave the company some energy but that is dwindling quickly as Shawn Michaels is sidelined and Diesel is AWOL.

Monday Night War Rating: 2.6 (vs. 2.4 for Nitro – Randy Savage vs. Lex Luger)

Up Next: WWF Superstars for December 9, 1995!