November 19, 1995,
USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland
Attendance: 14,500
By the time November 1995 rolled around, Vince McMahon must have surely been ready to face facts: The Diesel Experiment had hardly been the kind of resounding success he must have been hoping for.
Almost a full calendar year had gone by since Big Daddy Cool captured the title from Bob Backlund in the wake of Survivor Series 1994, and between then and now, we’d seen Shawn Micahels’ former bodyguard run roughshod in a series of main events which -whilst entertaining in places- pretty much bombed.
Indeed, there were only two matches throughout Diesel’s entire run that were memorable for the right reason; his Wrestlemania 11 match against the aforementioned HBK, and his Royal Rumble 95 outing with Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, a man who tonight would lock up with the champion in an attempt to claim back the title he lost a year ago.
Who emerged victorious? What else went down at Survivor Series 1995? Let’s find out together, shall we?
Survivor Series 1995 – A Wild Card
Immediately following the company’s ident, tonight’s show began with a backstage promo from Razor Ramon. Sat in the locker room and getting into his gear, The Bad Guy hyped tonight’s ‘wild card’ match, a contest where the traditional ‘Good Guys vs. Bad Guys‘ story had been flipped on its head, instead seeing both heels and faces join forces on the same team.
Mr. Perfect Returns
From there, we went straight to the arena, were Howard Finkle introduced a returning Mr. Perfect. Joining Jim Ross and Vince McMahon as our commentary team for the evening, Perfect looked a picture of radiance as he settled in ready to host tonight’s show.
Four vs. Four Traditional Survivor Series Match
The Underdogs (Team Captain Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, Bob Holly, and Barry Horowitz)
vs. The Bodydonnas (Team Captain Skip, Rad Radford, Dr. Tom Pritchard, and 123 Kid, w/ Sunny and Ted Dibiase)
With the good guys making their way to the ring first, it was up to Sunny to introduce three out of the four members of her team to the live audience.
Once safely between the ropes, our standard ring announcer did the honors for ‘surprise’ teammate the 123 Kid, who, following a year of tension with one-time best friend Razor, had finally turned heel and aligned himself with Ted Dibiase’s Million Dollar Corporation
Still seething at the betrayal, Ramon darted through the curtain in an attempt to get at the Kid, only to have his efforts thwarted by a wall of referees, who sent him to the back so that our match could begin properly.
And man, what a match it was. This match was so good that I dedicated an entire episode of The Retro Pro Wrestling Show podcast to it.
In fact, your writer is quite prepared to go on record as saying that The Underdogs vs. The Body Donnas is by far one of the best traditional Survivor Series matches that ever took place.
Seriously, despite their low status on the card at the time, all eight men went out to the ring that night to show that they were every bit as talented (if not a whole lot more) than their peers in the top tier of the card.
From start to finish, both teams delivered bell-to-bell excitement that really had the crowd hooked. I mean, this thing had everything: high flying, technical wrestling, a touch of comedy (Skip raising his arm to celebrate before collapsing face-first into the canvas was hilarious), and entertainment aplenty.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I’m prepared to say that this isn’t just one of the best Survivor Series matches I’ve seen, but by far one of the most enjoyable bouts I’ve watched since I first started Retro Pro Wrestling a few years ago.
After the better part of 20 minutes, only 123 Kid and his former tag team partner, Marty Jannetty remained. With both men battling towards a dramatic climax, Sycho Sid made his way to the ring, interfering on behalf of his Million Dollar Corporation stablemate, and giving the win to the Kid.
Your Winners: The Body Donnas (123 Kid is your sole survivor)
As the 123 Kid celebrated in the ring, we were shown a backstage clip of Razor Ramon destroying the dressing room, visibly pissed off at the Kid’s victory.
Speaking of Ramon, his ‘wild card’ teammates Owen Hart, Yokozuna, and Dean Douglas were waiting backstage, where Jim Cornette claimed that even though nobody on that team wanted Razor to join them if he absolutely had to, The Bad Guy had better get his head together.
Four vs. Four Women’s Traditional Survivor Series Match
Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe, and Lioness Asuka (with Harvey Wippleman) vs. Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa and Chaparita Asari
There was only one real reason why this match even took place; to set up a WWF Women’s Championship match between reigning champion Alundra Blayze and Aja Kong.
Yet until we got to that point, the eight women involved delivered a great little match chock-full of high spots and the kind of innovative wrestling moves not normally seen by US audiences.
Whilst Mr. Perfect delivered a tirade of chauvinistic sexist comments on the mic, both teams exchanged frequent tags, more suplexes than your typical Brock Lensar match, and all kinds of off-the-top rope goodies to create the second enjoyable contest of the evening.
Though not quite on par with our opener, this was a pretty captivating affair, which came to a head with Kong and Blayze as the sole representatives of their respective teams. A short tussle later, the woman from Japan went over, leading to the inevitable challenge for the Women’s title.
Your Winners: Bertha Faye’s Team (Aja Kong is your sole survivor)
Out in the crowd, Todd Pettingill interviewed a Bill Clinton look-alike in one of the worst attempts at humor you’ve ever seen on a wrestling show. As Bam Bam Bigelow made his way to the ring, ‘The President’ claimed he’d followed The Beast From the East’s career ever since he was ‘a little boy playing around with Pebbles.’ Indeed.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Goldust
After two exciting matches, things were set to slow down considerably with our next match; a slow, lumbering bout which, for the duration of its 8+ minutes, constantly threatened to send the crowd to sleep.
Truth be told, I really wanted to watch this match.
Bam Bam Bigelow was an incredible performer. As Goldust, it was certainly interesting to see one of the WWE’s longest-running characters here in the early stages of his career.
Put the two together, and there wasn’t much to get excited about.
Given the huge push he’d received since his debut, it wasn’t too surprising to see Goldust pick up the victory thanks to a simple running bulldog. What was surprising though, is that two otherwise talented wrestlers just couldn’t pull it together enough to create anything but an entirely forgettable contest with very little good to say about it.
Your Winner: Goldust
Heading back to the crowd, our friend Bill Clinton urged Bob Backlund to run against him in the next presidential ellections. No doubt kicking off the whole ‘Backlund for President’ gimmick that would run for several months in the mid-90s, this was another completly unfunny segment, complete with some topical news references which, some 23 years later, make very little sense to this writer.
Four vs. Four Traditional Survivor Series Match
The Royals (King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem, DDS, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley w/ Sir Mo) vs. The Darkside (The Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu and Henry O. Godwinn w/ Paul Bearer)
If you recall, this whole thing began back at the 1995 King of the Ring, when Mabel toppled Undertaker en route to his eventual tournament win.
Building things up slowly throughout the remainder of the year, things eventually exploded in the run-up to the October 95 In Your House PPV, when Mabel ‘face-crushed’ THe Undertaker (Vince McMahon’s words, not mine), putting him out of action for over a month.
Making his return at tonight’s show, The morbid and morose Undertaker sought revenge by teaming with three happy-go-lucky, perma-smiled babyfaces to take on his rival, Mabel, the man who would later become his brother, Isaac Yankem, Jerry Lawler and future WWE COO, Triple H.
As matches go, this was far from the worst that ever happened, but it almost looked like it could have been in the early going. Indeed, things only reached any level of excitement once The Undertaker himself tagged in. Having watched his goofy teammates go back and forth with The Royals, The Phenom finally entered the ring and systematically destroyed each of his opponents.
Your Winners: The Dark Side (everyone survives)
Prior to our next contest, Vince McMahon and Jim Ross reminded us that the winner of tonight’s Hitman/Diesel WWF Championship match would go on to face The British Bulldog at the December In Your House Pay Per View.
Cutting to pre-recorded comments from the champ and challenger, both men claimed that they’d worry about the Bulldog later. For now, they were entirely focused on tonight, each man reminding us that this would be a battle between the skill of Bret versus the size and strength of Diesel.
Moving to live interviews, Todd Pettingill questioned Jim Cornette about whose side he was actually on tonight. ‘I just interviewed you earlier with the other team!‘ exclaimed Todd, only for James E. to claim he had seen neither hide nor hair of Pettingill all day.
Following Ted Dibiase’s warning that the Bulldog should in no way cross the Million Dollar Man, Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson arrived, insisting that everyone get on the same page and work together.
Four vs. Four ‘Wildcard’ Match
Team Michaels (Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, The British Bulldog, and Sycho Sid w/ Ted DiBiase) vs. Team Yokozuna (Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon and Dean Douglas (w/ Mr. Fuji)
Just to refresh your memory, the Unique Selling Point of this match was that it was the first Survivor Series elimination match to feature both heels and faces on the same side.
Davey Boy Smith was forced to join up with Shawn Michaels, newcomer Ahmed Johnson, and Sycho Sid to take on his Camp Cornette teammates Owen and Yoko, along with bitter rivals Razor Ramon and Dean Douglas.
An idea laid down by then WWF President Gorilla Monsoon, this break-from-the-norm was primarily designed (in kayfabe terms at least) to frustrate and torment Jim Cornette, who spent much of the match torn between both teams.
More than holding its own when compared to our opening Underdogs vs. Body Donnas match, Team Michaels vs. Team Yokozuna more than delivered. Clocking in at just under half an hour, early highlights included duels between Michaels and Owen, Michaels and Razor, and Owen and brother-in-law the Bulldog.
The result was an intense, dramatic affair with tensions brewing on either side and enough action in the ring to ensure there was scarcely a dull moment in the longest match on the card.
Eventually boiling down to Razor and Yoko against Smith, Johnson, and Michaels, the Bad Guy was distracted by Sid, who had previously been eliminated, only to return with the 123 Kid in tow. Faced against three opponents, Yoko gutted it out, missing a banzai drop on Shawn Michaels before Ahmed Johnson tagged in,
The Pearl River Powerhouse slammed the sumo star to the mat and made the cover, only for Davey Boy to turn on his teammates and break up the pinfall. Shooting Davey Boy of the ring, Johnson eventually picked up the win for his team, after which the Bulldog jumped for joy in the ring, much to the chagrin of his teammates.
Your Winners: Team Michaels (HBK, Davey Boy and Ahmed Johnson survive)
Back to the crowd for the final time, Fake Bill Clinton offered Sunny a job as his undersecretary, before we got a great hype package for our main event.
Making Diesel vs. Bret Hart seem like a legitimate big deal in a way that you just don’t see anymore, comments from both men were spliced with footage of their two previous PPV matches, both of which were some of the best either man would have in the WWE.
World Wrestling Federation Championship match
WWF Champion Big Daddy Cool Diesel vs. Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart
Whether they were doing battle at the 1994 King of the Ring or at the aforementioned Royal Rumble 1995, Hart and Nash always seemed to produce something special, and in their penultimate PPV encounter together, they did it again.
Trying their best to intimidate each other in the early going by removing the turnbuckle pads, both champ and challenger took their time to begin with, gradually building up the pace into a wild, no-holds-barred brawl, with both men throwing the rule book far out of the window and going at it with a passionate desperation that was truly captivating.
Heralding the start of BDC’s gradual heel turn (something he’d keep up until the end of his WWF run), the champion left it all on the line as he displayed an aggression that was unbecoming of a top-level 1995 babyface.
Not that Bret held much back either. Making up for his size disadvantage by going for the knee, the Hitman showed signs of the kind of viciousness he’d display in his heel run of 1997, eventually withstanding a brutal amount of punishment before wrapping up his opponent for the cover, the count, and the victory.
Your Winner and NEW WWF Champion: Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart
The new champion didn’t have much time to celebrate, however. Visibly irate, Big Daddy Cool returned to the ring and leveled his victor with two wicked Jacknife Powerbombs to bring the show to a close.
WWF Survivor Series 1995: Final Thoughts
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all she wrote. Easily one of the better pay per views of 1995, there was a lot to enjoy here. From the wildly entertaining opening match to the brutal brawl of our main event, Survivor Series 1995 marked a real turning point in the WWF’s in-ring quality, and looked to set things up nicely for an interesting 1996.
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Three things of note:
1.In the dark match, the Smoking Gunns defeated the Public Enemy. Yes, the very same Public Enemy who would go on to be DESTROYED by the Acolytes on the March 7th 1999 episode of Sunday Night Heat.
2.There were two substitutions for the opener, as Bob Holly replaced Avatar (Al Snow) on the Underdogs, while 1-2-3 Kid replaced Jean-Pierre Lafitte on the Bodydonnas.
3.You gotta admit, Savio, Henry, and Fatu all looked great in those Undertaker t-shirts, since they were three of his mates in real life.
How long after this until Madusa showed up on Nitro?