WWF Monday Night Raw Results
October 9, 1995 (Taped September 25)
Grand Rapids, Michigan (Civic Auditorium)
Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler
Results by: Mike Tedesco of Wrestleview.com
“The World Wrestling Federation: for over fifty years, the revolutionary force in sports entertainment.” The WWF video leads us into the show.
Video: The WWF Monday Night Raw video plays to open the show.
Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler welcome us to the show. McMahon wishes everyone a Happy Columbus Day.
Camp Cornette is in the ring to start the show. The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, and Yokozuna prepare for battle as Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji watch on.
The Undertaker heads to the ring with Paul Bearer.
-Commercial Break-
Video: Last week at the Survivor Series Press Conference in Washington, DC, WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels spent some time with children. HBK was moved that the kids looked up to him.
WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels makes his entrance, followed by WWF Champion Diesel. They pose together in the ring.
The 6-Man Tag Team Match is next.
-Commercial Break-
6-Man Tag Team Match
Camp Cornette (Yokozuna, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog) w/ Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer, WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels, and WWF Champion Diesel
Referee: Earl Hebner
We join the match in progress. It’s Shawn Michaels starting against Owen Hart. HBK has a side headlock applied, but Owen Hart whips him off. HBK counters a hip toss and goes for one, but Hart won’t go over. HBK pokes him in the eyes and does a backflip before punching him. HBK sends him into the ropes and hits the ropes. Hart ducks a clothesline, and HBK takes him down with an arm drag. HBK applies an armbar, but Hart fights up. HBK wrenches the arm, but Hart reverses the pressure. HBK whips him off, but Hart shoulder tackles him. Hart hits the ropes, so HBK drops down before doing a leapfrog. HBK then connects with a back body drop before hitting a clothesline over the top rope. HBK goes over the top as well, but he skins the cat to get back in.
The British Bulldog runs in, but HBK hits him with a hip toss. Diesel then punches Bulldog down from the apron. HBK attacks Hart, and Diesel punches at Bulldog in the corner. Undertaker gets in the ring and takes it to Yokozuna. HBK and Diesel whip Hart and Bulldog into Yokozuna, who doesn’t go down. Diesel and Undertaker then hit Yokozuna with a double-team big boot, sending the behemoth out of the ring. HBK, Shawn Michaels, and Undertaker stand tall in the ring.
Yokozuna stumbles around the ring and walks into the ring post. Diesel and Bulldog, despite not tagging in, continue the match. Diesel punches Bulldog and sends him to the corner for a clothesline. Diesel punches Bulldog out of the ring. Undertaker grabs Bulldog by the throat and places him on the apron. It looked like it could have been a Chokeslam, but it wasn’t sold as such. Diesel grabs Bulldog and punches him down. Yokozuna tags in, and Diesel attacks him as he gets in the ring. Yokozuna reverses a whip, but the WWF Champion takes him down with an Undertaker-esque diving clothesline. Diesel wrenches the arm and tags the Undertaker in. Undertaker wrenches Yokozuna’s arm and punches him before pulling him to the corner. Undertaker climbs to the top rope, walks on it, and comes down with a big club to the back. Undertaker hits the ropes and ducks a clothesline, but Yokozuna catches him with a Samoan Drop. Jim Cornette shouts, “Now that’s the way you do it!” Yokozuna punches Undertaker as he gets up and sends him into the ropes, but he lowers his head, and Undertaker hits him with a DDT.
Waylon Mercy is shown watching this match from the aisleway. He will battle WWF Champion Diesel in a non-title match this weekend on WWF Superstars.
HBK tags in and hits a double ax handle to Yokozuna’s shoulder. HBK wrenches the arm, but Yokozuna whips him off. HBK ducks a clothesline, but Yokozuna catches him with a massive sambo suplex. Hart tags in and covers HBK for a two-count. Hart grabs HBK and hits a backbreaker before stomping away at him. Bulldog tags in. Hart and Bulldog send HBK into the ropes for a double-team back elbow. Bulldog presses HBK above his head before slamming him down for a two-count. Bulldog pulls him up by the hair and slams him down. Bulldog covers, but HBK gets a foot on the bottom rope to break the count. Bulldog punches HBK down and tags Hart back in. Hart hits a shoulder thrust before distracting the referee. Yokozuna and Bulldog choke HBK. Diesel and Undertaker get in the ring, but the referee admonishes them. Hart gets some cheap shots in as the referee is distracted. HBK collapses to the mat.
-Commercial Break-
Back from the break, Hart is applying an abdominal stretch. Dean Douglas comes down the aisleway to take notes on Shawn Michaels, his opponent at In Your House. Hart keeps the hold applied and grabs Bulldog’s hand for additional leverage. Referee Earl Hebner catches them and kicks their grip apart. HBK then takes Hart down with a hip toss. Hart quickly gets up and sends HBK into the ropes, but he lowers his head and gets caught in a backslide for a two-count. Hart immediately pops up and clotheslines him down.
Yokozuna tags in, and they hit HBK with a wishbone split. Yokozuna taunts the Undertaker before punching HBK down. Bulldog tags in and hits a double-team headbutt with Yokozuna for a two-count. Bulldog pulls HBK up and hits a delayed vertical suplex for another two-count. The Bulldog argues with the referee over the count. Hart tags back in, and they hit another double-team headbutt. Hart hits a snapmare and applies a rear chin lock. HBK fights to his feet and punches out. HBK hits the ropes, but Hart drops down before taking him down with a jumping calf kick for a two-count. Hart argues with the referee, so HBK rolls him up for a two-count. Hart quickly stops him from making a tag and hits a gutwrench suplex. Hart goes to the top rope and leaps… and they go to commercial mid-flight.
-Commercial Break-
Back from the break, they show a replay of the move we missed as we went to commercial. Hart dove for a splash, but HBK moved out of the way.
Both men are crawling toward their corners. Diesel and Bulldog tag in, giving us a preview of the main event of the next In Your House. Diesel punches Bulldog before sending him into the ropes for a sidewalk slam. Yokozuna runs in, but Diesel punches him before hitting Hart with a big boot. Diesel punches Yokozuna to the corner and hits the ropes, but Hart clubs him. Bulldog hits Diesel with a Running Powerslam. 1… Undertaker pulls Bulldog off. As the referee admonishes the Undertaker, Yokozuna drops a leg on Big Daddy Cool. Bulldog covers for the win! Bulldog has pinned the WWF Champion.
Winners by Pinfall: Camp Cornette
Undertaker attacks Yokozuna and Bulldog before King Mabel gets in the ring and attacks him. Mabel sends him to the corner and whips Yokozuna into him. Mabel then avalanches the Undertaker. Undertaker collapses to the mat. Yokozuna drops a leg on the Undertaker, followed by a leg drop from Mabel. Mabel drops a pair of elbows on Undertaker.
Dean Douglas comes back to ringside and attacks Shawn Michaels, driving him into the apron. Douglas moves the steel steps and gives HBK a front suplex onto them!
In the ring, Yokozuna and Mabel continue to hit Undertaker with leg drops and splashes. Meanwhile, Bulldog and Hart double-team Diesel. Bulldog stomps away at Diesel. HBK, Diesel, and the Undertaker are completely unconscious.
Mike’s Thoughts: A solid 6-Man Tag Team Match. It wasn’t common to see the WWF Champion get pinned on television, but they had Bulldog pin Diesel’s shoulders to the mat. That was pretty surprising and definitely a symptom of the “Cowboy” Bill Watts effect. I really liked that. That single image is enough to give the Winnipeg main event some real momentum. If you weren’t sold on Bulldog’s credibility before, you’re definitely paying attention after that.
The match was fine, especially when it was Shawn Michaels and Owen Hart. The rest were just plodding big guys. The post-match beating was really well done. It’s crazy that the majority of the beatings that happened to hype up the upcoming PPV won’t even pay off at the event. We’ll find out why soon.
The only real negative was the bizarre placement of that commercial break as Owen Hart was mid-flight. It’s a taped show, unless the goal was to keep people tuned in to see if he hit it or not? It also took forever to get started. The heels entered, then a commercial. The faces entered, then a commercial. A lot of start and stop.
Now, something else happened in this match, so let’s take a quick detour into WWF history.
History Corner: Waylon Mercy
When we saw Waylon Mercy standing in the aisleway watching this 6-Man Tag, you’re actually looking at the final run of Dan Spivey, a guy who’d been around wrestling for a long time. In the 1980s, Spivery was part of the U.S. Express in the WWF, which is when he stepped in as Mike Rotundo’s partner after Barry Windham left. They were actually called the American Express, but that name didn’t stick. He also wrestled in Japan and WCW, where he was part of the Skyscrapers with Sid Vicious and later “Mean” Mark Callous (who, of course, became The Undertaker).
As we saw at the In Your House match against Savio Vega, Dan Spivey’s body was wrecked by 1995. His match against Diesel on WWF Superstars would be the final of his career… and he beat the WWF Champion by count-out. After being pinned in this match, they’re showing that Diesel is on a run of bad luck. Diesel would destroy Mercy after that match.
The Waylon Mercy character was great, probably a little too ahead of its time for WWF in 1995. However, it was perfect when a young man named Windham Rotunda came along and carried on the character of Waylon Mercy with a persona named Bray Wyatt. Wyatt and Spivey would be so close that Spivey was actually the voice of Mercy the Buzzard in the classic Firefly Funhouse segments. Mercy the Buzzard was based on Waylon Mercy. Pretty cool. One can only wonder what Spivey could have done with this character if he his body could’ve held up. A neat “what if.”
Anyway, back to 1995…
-Commercial Break-
Back from the break, we see The Undertaker and WWF Champion Diesel unconscious in the ring. WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels is unconscious at ringside. Paul Bearer looks on with concern as WWF officials check on them.
Replay: Last week on Raw, Bret “Hitman” Hart defeated Jean-Pierre Lafitte. After the match, Jerry “The King” Lawler taunted Hart into attacking him. This led to Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS, attacking Hart and hitting him with a DDS on the floor.
We see Diesel and Undertaker slowly starting to stir in the ring. They get to their feet to an ovation as Shawn Michaels gets to his feet at ringside.
Next week on Raw, Bret “Hitman” Hart will battle Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS, in a Steel Cage Match.
Final moments of Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS at SummerSlam
The final moments of Bret Hart versus Isaac Yankem at SummerSlam are shown. At this point, Yankem is beating an exhausted Hart against the ropes before hitting a flying leg drop as Hart hung over the top rope for a two-count. Hart got to his feet and avoided some offense from Yankem, but Yankem hit a clothesline to the back of the head.
Vince McMahon announces that if Jerry Lawler interferes in the Steel Cage Match, Lawler will be put into a shark cage and hoisted above the ring. Lawler says he is afraid of heights.
Back to the SummerSlam match, Hart hit Yankem with a suicide dive and punched away at him. Hart bounces Yankem off the steel steps and gets him in the ring. Hart takes the evil dentist down with a running bulldog for a two-count. Hart sends Yankem into the ropes and hits a side leg sweep for a two-count. Hart hits a backbreaker before going to the second rope for a diving elbow. Hart applies the Sharpshooter, but Lawler gets up from commentary and pushes the bottom rope to Yankem’s hand to break the hold. This infuriated Hart as he continues to attack Yankem. Yankem charges, but Hart hits a back body drop over the top rope. Yankem pulls Hart out of the ring and sends him into the steel steps. Yankem gets him in the ring and goes to the top rope, but Hart flips him down to the canvas. Hart puts Yankem in the corner and does the ten punches. Hart whips Yankem into the corner, sweeps the feet, and pulls him crotch-first into the ring post. Hart hogties Yankem’s feet around the ring post with a camera cable and stomps away at him.
Hart then attacked Lawler. Yankem frees himself from the hogtie and comes off the top rope with a double axe handle to the spine. Yankem gets Hart in the ring and sends him into the ropes, but Hart ducks a clothesline and runs him over with a shoulder tackle. Hart hits the ropes, but Lawler trips him. Lawler continues to attack, and they hang Hart in the ropes. The referee disqualified them as they continued to choke Hart in the ropes.
Mike’s Thoughts: Woof, those last few moments of Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem at SummerSlam were not good, and the ending was awful. Hopefully, the Steel Cage Match will be better next week.
Back at the Civic Auditorium, Skip and Sunny are in the ring. Raw is presented by Tyco. Fatu makes his way to the ring, ready to make a difference.
Video: This past Friday at Madison Square Garden, the WWF had a benefit show for the handicapped and underprivileged.
-Commercial Break-
WWF World Tour de Force is coming to your area. WWF is coming to Springfield, Massachusetts, tomorrow. On Wednesday, they’ll be in Glens Falls, New York. Thursday, they’ll travel to Rochester, New York. Friday, they’ll be in Binghampton, New York. Saturday, they’ll be in Syracuse, New York. Then, on Sunday, they’ll hit Utica, New York.
Mike’s Thoughts: That’s a pretty brutal, non-stop schedule. It’s no joke when the veterans talk about being on the road 300+ days of the year.
Skip w/ Sunny vs. Fatu
Referee: Danny Davis
The bell rings, and Skip knees and punches Fatu. Skip applies a side headlock, but Fatu whips him off. Skip ducks a clothesline and jumps over him before doing some jumping jacks. Sunny is pleased with what she is seeing. Fatu soon wrenches the arm, but Skip pokes him in the eyes. Skip punches Fatu and bounces him off the top turnbuckle, but Fatu doesn’t feel it. Fatu does some dancing and headbutts him down. Fatu grabs the legs, and Sunny jumps up to the apron. Fatu gets out of the ring and approaches Sunny. Fatu then turns around and punches Skip down before he can blindside him. Fatu gets Skip in the ring, and Skip begs him off. Fatu sends him to the corner and charges, but he hits the ring post when Skip moves. Skip connects with a back suplex and does some more jumping jacks. Skip hits a scoop slam and goes to the second rope for a diving fist drop. Skip sends Fatu into the ropes, but Fatu ducks a clothesline and punches him down. Fatu sends him into the ropes, but Skip jumps over him and kicks him in the back of the head. Skip poses and high fives Sunny. Skip then covers for a near fall. Skip punches Fatu and elbows him in the head. Skip connects with a snapmare and applies a rear chin lock. Fatu eventually fights up, but Skip pulls him down. Skip goes to the top rope and hits a diving headbutt, but Fatu’s head is too hard. Skip is more hurt than Fatu.
Fatu attacks Skip and hits a back body drop. Skip gets up in the corner, and Fatu hits a corner clothesline. Fatu connects with a backbreaker and heads to the apron. Sunny distracts Fatu, so Skip attacks and bounces his skull off the ring post. Skip powers Fatu to the top rope and slaps him a few times. Skip sets up for a superplex, but he can’t lift him. Skip gets down and holds his back. Skip goes to the top rope and hooks the head, but Fatu punches him down to the canvas. Fatu hits a massive diving splash for the win.
Winner by Pinfall: Fatu
Mike’s Thoughts: This was rough. The pacing dragged, and the crowd sat on their hands. The “Make a Difference” Fatu stuff was dull and not long for this world. Fatu’s wheelhouse was being a part of the Headshrinkers. It’s too bad that Samu didn’t last because they were a great tag team. Throughout these Monday Night War recaps, you’ll see different iterations of Fatu. His most famous one is coming up in a few years. The father of Jey and Jimmy Uso isn’t connecting here, though. The best part was that it ended. I will say that Skip can bump, and Sunny can draw heat.
-Commercial Break-
Backstage Segment
Dok Hendrix is pacing outside the Men’s Locker Room. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler try to talk to him, but he can’t hear them.
-Commercial Break-
Back from the break, Vince McMahon says Dok Hendrix’s audio problems have been cleared up.
Replay: Earlier tonight, The British Bulldog pinned WWF Champion Diesel in the 6-Man Tag Team Match. Mabel and Yokozuna viciously beat the Undertaker down after the match. Dean Douglas destroyed Shawn Michaels. Bulldog and Owen Hart destroyed Diesel.
Backstage Segment
Dok Hendrix is outside the Men’s Locker Room. Hendrix says it’s not a good time to interview WWF Champion Diesel, WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker. Hendrix tried to interview HBK, but he collapsed. Diesel is losing his cool. The Undertaker took the worst of it.
Hendrix offers to do an ambush interview, but he looks nervous about going into the locker room. Vince McMahon declines.
Backstage Segment
Jim Ross walks into another locker room to see The British Bulldog and Jim Cornette. Cornette is furious with Ross for barging into their locker room. Cornette asks if Ross is a weirdo who was hoping to catch them indecently. Cornette says he wants people to feel the glory, glee, and total disregard for regulations they’re feeling. They have done something that nobody else has done. Bulldog has been denied and never gotten his rightful due in the World Wrestling Federation. Now, he’s done something no one has been able to do, which is beat Diesel in the middle of the ring. There were bodies and carnage everywhere. They proved what will happen in the Great White North. Diesel has to save his guts and pride. Diesel has to put the title against the Bulldog. One more time, Bulldog will powerslam Diesel and pin him. This time, when the referee raises Bulldog’s hand, they’ll give him the World Wrestling Federation title belt. Cornette tells Bulldog to take it to England since the people here don’t deserve to see it.
The British Bulldog says he’s been denied title shots in the WWF for many years. He stepped into the ring with Bret Hart at Wembley Stadium for the Intercontinental Title and beat him in front of 83,000 people. This time, he steps into the ring with “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel and beats him in the middle of the ring on Raw. If Diesel thinks he can run and hide in Winnipeg, he’s wrong. This Bulldog needs a bone to chew on. Bulldog is coming to that hellhole in Winnipeg and will defeat Diesel for the WWF Title before taking it to England.
Cornette says the people in England are already celebrating. Bulldog wears a hat that Cornette says was given to him by Princess Diana. King Mabel walks in and happily greets Bulldog. Mabel says Bulldog accomplished the impossible and is his “homey.” Mabel also accomplished the impossible by pinning the Undertaker. Mabel proved he is the almighty king. In Winnipeg, the Undertaker claimed Mabel would rest in peace, but he’ll bury Undertaker underneath a mountain of snow. Mabel laughs evilly.
Video: Highlights from the 6-Man Tag Team Match are shown.
Next week on Raw, Bret Hart will battle Isaac Yankem in a Steel Cage Match. If Jerry Lawler interferes in the match, Lawler will be placed into a shark cage and hung above the ring. Lawler says Hart must have begged WWF President Gorilla Monsoon to do something about him. Monsoon came up with an idea to put him in a cage. He’s a king, not an animal. Lawler looks panicked about the cage. Lawler says he is the key to victory.
Video: Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS in a Steel Cage Match.
Quick Match Results
— Camp Cornette (Yokozuna, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog) def. The Undertaker, WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels, and WWF Champion Diesel in a 6-Man Tag Team Match
— Fatu def. Skip
Mike’s Wrap-Up: What We Learned from Raw
Another very focused Raw. There wasn’t much in terms of action, but this was definitely an angle show. There were spots, like airing the last few minutes of Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem at SummerSlam, where it felt like they were killing time, but what can you expect from a smaller roster being taxed with filming four episodes at one taping?
Like I said last week, I can’t 100% say with certainty that “Cowboy” Bill Watts had full control of the booking for this (he was only introduced to the roster the day before the taping), but there’s definitely a new influence here. Things feel different. The faces are made to look much more vulnerable, right up to the WWF Champion being pinned in the center of the ring by his challenger at the PPV. It’s a fresh approach to the same old, same old that normally happens.
They actually did a really good job building up the In Your House event, as well as the Survivor Series title match. With the British Bulldog gaining more credibility as a World Title contender, he’s looking forward to Survivor Series, where Bret Hart is waiting for the champion. Bulldog talking about how he beat Bret Hart in that classic match at Wembley Stadium definitely builds anticipation for that potential rematch at Survivor Series.
There was also a solid effort put into Shawn Michaels vs. Dean Douglas, as well as Undertaker vs. King Mabel at the event. However, those who know their history know that In Your House 4 is one of the worst WWF PPVs of all time, and these two matches aren’t on the card. Things are going to be happening that we’ll cover in detail here in the next two weeks. As is the case with WWF in 1995, they take one step forward and fall off a cliff, going backward.
The key is that the WWF is working with what they’ve got and pretty much going business as usual. It’s not much, but they’re trying to utilize it as best they can. On the other side of the war, you’ve got Hulk Hogan on this week’s Nitro, criticizing Vince McMahon in a bizarre promo.
From a historical perspective, everything HUGE happens next week, so stay tuned for that. It’s a fairly ordinary week in the WWF.
So, who won the battle in this edition of the Monday Night War? Last week, it was a tie.
— WWF Raw (USA Network, taped): 2.6 (Record: 2-1-2)
— WCW Nitro (TNT, live): 2.6 (Record: 1-2-2)
Winner: TIE!
Yet again, we’ve got another tie! On paper, WCW had the far superior show with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson battling in a Steel Cage Match, but for whatever reason, people aren’t turning away from the taped episodes of Raw. At least not yet.
The War for Monday Night – October 9, 1995
(TL;DR version)
WWF Raw leaned heavily on storylines this week, with the British Bulldog scoring a rare clean pin over WWF Champion Diesel in an attempt to heat up the build to In Your House 4. The show also had some good advancement of the storylines with Shawn Michaels vs. Dean Douglas and Undertaker vs. King Mabel. The Bill Watts influence was really felt here.
It still kind of feels like business as usual from a presentation perspective, but the booking feels a little fresher. Still, on paper, at least, Nitro had a stronger show, but in the ratings battle, both shows once again tied for the week with a 2.6.
The numbers are remaining even, but with major changes about to hit the WWF behind the scenes, this stalemate won’t last long.
To check out what happened on WCW Nitro’s side of the night, check out Roy Nemer’s recap!
Email – mike@wrestleview.com
X – @MikeTedescoWV
Thanks for reading!
Part of Wrestleview’s Monday Night War: 30 Years Later series, with weekly Raw and Nitro recaps every Thursday.