WWF Survivor Series 1995

Survivor Series 1995 is one I never actually saw live, but I did hear live – sitting in front of our ten-inch kitchen TV, listening in to all the pay per view action – back in the days when that was still something you could do. You’d think three hours of listening to McMahon, Ross, and Perfect prattle on by medium meant primarily for visual enjoyment would be tedious – but as a ten year old mark – I was in heaven. Occasionally, the picture would even descramble, and I’d get a five second glimpse of the action – while my mother worried it was getting too close to bedtime on a school night. Listening in was plenty exciting – but it was the results of the main event that truly left me near hysterics. 

From Landover, Maryland; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect – making his return to the WWF.


Opening Survivor Series Elimination Match: The BodyDonnas (Skip, The 1-2-3 Kid, Tom Prichard, and Rad Radford) v The Underdogs (Marty Jannetty, Barry Horowitz, Bob Holly, and Hakushi): Kid had just turned heel on Razor Ramon the week before this, and was subbed onto the BodyDonnas team for Jean-Pierre Lafitte. This was also before they repackaged Prichard as 'Zip,' to team with Skip - so he's still out there doing a sad, lone Heavenly Body routine. Jannetty and Prichard start, and Marty backdrops him to the outside to regroup, and tag. Rad Radford (Louie Spicolli) goes with Holly, but eats a quick rana. He tries his own, but gets powerbombed, and Holly works the arm. Hakushi tries to take over, but gets spinebustered, and Kid hits a flying splash for two. Lightning kicks, and Skip tries to finish with a side-superplex, but Hakushi counters with a bodyblock, then tags Holly back in. Backdrop for Skip, but Holly gets caught in the wrong part of town and Prichard gutwrench powerbombs him. Flying moonsault misses, though, and Holly puts him away with a flying bodypress at 5:17. Skip runs right in, however, and rolls Holly up at 5:23. Well, that's what he gets for taking out Prichard. You don't do that to a dude's boy toy during the courting phase. You just don't. Heavenly Body indeed! Hakushi jumps him - throwing kicks – but a Vaderbomb hits the knees. Skip with a top-rope rana, and Kid tags - but gets caught with the handspring elbow. Hakushi with a flying shoulderblock for two, but a slingshot splash misses. Tag to Radford, but Kid nails Hakushi with a spinkick to the back of the head on the way out, and Radford gets the easy fall at 8:10. Barry Horowitz in (whose push I loved as a kid, since I remember Horowitz on WWF TV since I started regularly watching in early '94, but as a mark, didn't know the story behind 'jobbers,' and 'enhancement talent.' Remember, it was all still real to me. Watching matches with guys like Horowitz, PJ Walker, etc, and seeing them lose week after week - I even explained to my mom that those guys were famous wrestlers, but just 'weren't very good yet.' So, when Horowitz actually GOT THE WIN it was pretty awesome to a ten year old - and to a lot of others, too, it seems - as the crowd is considerably into him), though Radford unloads. Gutwrench suplex gets two, and a Northern Lights suplex for two. Skip encourages him to stop to do pushups, and that allows Horowitz to cradle him for the pin at 11:26, however. This was during an angle where Radford was trying to impress Skip into teaming with him by become fit – though you'd think racking up victories would be more effective, but I was never a BodyDonna - so I could be wrong there. Skip chews him out, but walks into fists of fury from Horowitz. Blind tag to Kid allows him the baseball slide legdrop, and Horowitz is gone at 12:25 - pissing off Razor Ramon, who's watching from the locker room with the motliest crew of guys you'd ever expect to crew. Sure, Razor and Savio Vega were known kayfabe friends - but Razor, Vega, Fatu, and Henry Godwinn all together? An Arkansas pig farmer and a Samoan street thug? Were Shawn and Diesel busy? Jannetty in (no shit!), and he counters Skip's powerbomb with a well executed sunset flip. Rocker Dropper, and a powerbomb off of the top rope finishes Skip at 15:02. Kid in with a spinkick, and a flying legdrop gets two on his former tag partner. Cross corner dropkick, but a senton bomb misses. Jannetty with a dropkick for two, but that draws out Sid - Kid's new best buddy after he helped him get a victory over Ramon on RAW during the heel turn. Jannetty with a faceslam, but he slows it down, as he becomes very aware of Sid's presences. Rocker Dropper for a series of two counts, and Sid nails him to allow Kid the cheap pin at 18:45. Oh, come on. Put the guy over cleanly - you're supposed to be building him anyway, and Jannetty was a glorified jobber at this point.
Survivor: The 1-2-3 Kid
Really good, fast paced match (there wasn't a single resthold in twenty minutes, making good use of tags), with well executed stuff from everyone - and while I see what they were going for (put Kid over as a shitheel little punk who needs Sid to get his wins) - I didn't appreciate the cheap ending. Still, a really good exhibition from what were essentially eight jobbers (one team was even effectively named that), as the roster was thinner than whatever actress everyone thinks is an anorexic this week.  *** ½

Women's Survivor Series Elimination Match: Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa, and Chaparita Asari v Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe and Lioness Asuka: Asuka takes Asari's head off with a spinkick to start, and the big swing leaves her for dead, but she throws a Sky Twister Press to comeback, and Blayze tags in to send Asuka home with a German suplex at 1:41. Blayze gets jumped, but catches Watanabe with a flying bodypress, and tags to Hasegawa, who hits rolling butterfly suplexes - in an impressive spot. Kong in, but a series of cobra suplexes lay her out. Flying splash misses, however, and Kong finishes Hasegawa with a side suplex at 3:58. Asari runs in, but gets quickly squashed with a 2^nd rope flying splash at 4:25. Inoue has some better luck with a series of clotheslines, but a sunset flip gets her buttsplashed at 5:02, leaving Blayze alone. All three 'ladies' jump Alundra in the corner, but Blayze starts throwing suplexes (and probably hair pulling!), and a piledriver finishes Watanabe at 6:30. Faye jumps her, but a miscommunication with Kong allows Blayze to German suplex her back to whatever diner she came from at 7:11. Kong – sick of her teams bullshit – decides to finish what she started herself – and begins by hitting a superplex for two. Blayze tries the German again, but gets railroaded into the corner. She tries a 2^nd rope missile dropkick instead, and a standing moonsault gets two. Blayze tries her own superplex, but gets dumped, and the Uraken punch (a spinning backfist) puts Blayze away at 10:01.  
Survivor: Aja Kong 
I've made my opinion on actual women's wrestling known before, but this was a well worked spotfest – filled with crisp spots – and kept short for the attention span of the casual viewer, like myself in 1995, who just didn’t care. Kong got the Diesel push from the year before here - casually clearing out the entire face team - and this was supposed to lead to a match against Blayze for the Women's Title at the '96 Royal Rumble, but Blayze bailed to WCW a few weeks later, dropping the Women's Title in the trashcan on Nitro - in one of the more famous images of the Monday Night Wars - killing the division altogether for about three years until the Attitude Era, when they brought it back for the Divas, and the title was contested in Evening Gown and Mud Wrestling matches. ***

Bam Bam Bigelow v Goldust: Since we're in suburban Washington, the Bill Clinton impersonator they've hired to sit in the crowd for the night notes he loves Bam Bam Bigelow - ever since he saw him on the Flintstones. Well, at least that's close to what actual Clinton might say, and they're not in danger of any libel suits there. Goldust chokes to start, and bails when Bigelow fires up a comeback - stalling. He suckers Bam Bam to the floor, and inside, clotheslines Bigelow to the floor. To the steps out there, but back in, Bam Bam catches him with a side suplex. Falling headbutt misses, however, and Goldust with a headvice. Bam Bam powers out with an electric chair drop, but he can't capitalize (that must have been one hell of a headvice...), and Goldust catches him with a jumping clothesline for two. Chinlock, but Bigelow fires out with another side suplex. Avalanche misses, however, and Goldust finishes with a bulldog at 8:18. Dull match, though psychologically sound enough – as Bam Bam missed the falling headbutt to weaken the neck, Goldust worked on it throughout the match, and finished with a bulldog. ½* This would be Bam Bam's last WWF appearance, as the Kliq forced him out shortly after.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Darkside (The Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu, and Henry Godwinn) v The Royals (Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley): God, this combo makes even less sense than when Razor Ramon was hanging out with them during the opener. At least that's somewhat logical - but The Undertaker breaking bread with pig farmers and Caribbean street kings? Now they're really stretching it – even for a ten year old. 'Taker himself debuts the Phantom of the Opera facemask - as Mabel and Yokozuna had legitimately smashed his face on RAW a few weeks back - apparently forgetting that they each weigh in excess of four hundred pounds before repeatedly jumping on it. Sometimes you just have to let your kids make their own mistakes. Sometimes you just do. Helmsley and Fatu (who finally got used to footwear - good for him!) start off, and Fatu unloads with backdrops. Godwinn tags in, so Helmsley bails to Lawler, but it's fucking Jerry Lawler, so he immediately tags Isaac Yankem (the future Kane - before that gimmick saved his career). Godwinn with a pair of bodyslams, but he gets caught with a side suplex, and Helmsley tags back in now that Godwinn is controlled. High knee for two, but he gets press slammed. Vega in, but a cheap shot from Yankem allows the Royals to cut the ring in half, until he catches HHH with a uranage off of a criss cross. Tag to the Undertaker, and tombstone sends Lawler home at 12:19 - as the Royals do a nice bit where no one wants to tag him. Yankem in, but he gets caught with the jumping clothesline, and the tombstone at 12:50. Hunter next, but this is long before this was a prospective WrestleMania main event, and 'Taker quickly chokeslams him out at 13:35. That leaves Mabel, and he deftly catches Undertaker with a belly to belly suplex. Legdrop, but 'Taker sits up, and Mabel bails, giving the Darkside the countout victory at 14:21. Oh, but don't worry wrestling fans! The Undertaker and Mabel would settle their issues, one-on-one, next month at In Your House!  
Survivors: The Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu, Henry Godwinn 
The Match was very punchy-kicky, until 'Taker woke the crowd up with the finishing sequence. Too long for what it was – especially with team-captain Mabel in the WWF's doghouse after injuring their prize pig – not even getting a token elimination when transitions called for it. ¼*

WildCard Survivor Series Elimination Match: Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, and Dean Douglas v Shawn Michaels, Davey Boy Smith, Ahmed Johnson, and Sid: This was a neat concept from WWF President Gorilla Monsoon (kayfabe) wanting to keep the Superstars on their toes (apparently the risk of having your face crushed by one of the guys in the match wasn't enough to do it) - so he threw the names in a hat, and formed the teams - pitting friend against friend and foe alike. The concept is derivative of WCW's Lethal Lottery, except that they booked it in advance (giving them a chance to actually promote the match), and didn't use 'random' teams - taking an established match, with established feuds, and mixing up the competitors to stir things up. Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels start, and Shawn dumps him with the skin-the-cat move. Inside, Hart powerslams him, and Douglas tags in with a hanging vertical suplex. He gets caught with a diving forearm, however, and a flying axehandle gets two. Michaels with a flying moonsault for two, and Ahmed Johnson (in what is effectively his debut) tags. He's a house of arson, but a slam attempt on Yokozuna slows him down. Dude, it's basically your first match. Who do you think you are? Black Lex Luger? Bluger? They cut the ring in half on Johnson (with even Ramon letting his heelish side show - throwing in some cheap shots), but he powerslams Douglas. Tag to Michaels, and Ahmed press slams him onto Dean for two. Superkick, but Dean bails. He gets into an argument with Ramon out there, and Razor decks him, allowing Shawn a schoolboy (with a handful of tights!) for the pin at 7:30. Owen runs in, but Shawn passes to Davey, forcing them to faceoff. Davey offers a left-handed handshake - and then decks him when he goes for it, of course. Owen with a spinheel off of a criss cross for two, and Shawn tags. Owen forces Ramon to do the same thing, and faceoff with his pal, and they psyche each other out. Shawn with the diving forearm, and a backdrop, but he gets caught in the Razor's Edge, so Johnson saves him from elimination. Seriously, though - backdrop attempt on Razor Ramon? He deserved to get eliminated. He then tries it again, but Ramon is dazed, and only throws a kneelift this time, leading to a double knockout. Reluctant tag to Sid, and he hammers away - with only Davey clapping from the apron. Up top, but Razor slams him off for two. Sid with a chokeslam, and he forces Shawn back in - asking for the Superkick - and in a nice callback to the spots that broke Shawn and Diesel up, he holds Ramon, only to have him slip free, and Shawn clobber him with the kick. Razor pins him at 16:18 off of it, though Shawn was the legal man at that point - but it was nevertheless a nice bit. Sid takes Shawn out with a powerbomb on his way to the dressing room, giving Razor a two count. Owen with a backbreaker, and a backdrop before bringing Yoko in to finish him off. Shawn Flair flips, but Yoko grabs a nervehold. This was the problem with Yoko during this period (and a big reason he got shipped off to fat camp not long after) - he's resting on the apron for most of the match, he tags, and almost immediately needs to go to a resthold. Give them credit, they tried to work around his size by putting him in a team with Owen (who could work an hour a night without breaking a sweat), but even that was too demanding for him at this point in his career. Owen with a suplex, but a gorgeous flying headbutt misses, and Shawn gets the tag to Ahmed Johnson. Pearl River Plunge quickly puts Hart away at 21:49. Razor charges in, but Ahmed is out of position for the 2^nd rope flying bulldog, so Ramon quickly recalibrates into a standard version. It doesn't help him, though, as Ahmed catches him with a spinebuster off of a criss cross. He then stops the offense to go showboat on the ropes - with two arms outstretched in a cross-like position - and, hey, guess what, Razor walks over and Edge's him off. Really poor transition there - even if you take into account that they're selling Ahmed as a rookie. Davey saves him, but gets blockbustered for two, as Sid and the 1-2-3 Kid rejoin us at ringside. That's enough of a distraction to allow Davey to hit the Running Powerslam at 24:08. Shawn goes with Yoko next, but loses a slugfest, and Yoko drops the leg. Right - because one golden goose wasn't enough for the month. Banzai Drop, but Shawn hasn’t entered the suicidal phase yet, and dodges him, getting the tag off to Ahmed. Bluger slams him, but Davey breaks up the pin. Shawn and Ahmed take him out in stereo - Travolta and Jackson in Pulp Fiction-style - and Shawn superkicks Yoko for Ahmed to pin at   27:24.   
Survivors: Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, Davey Boy Smith
Interesting concept, but it had some clumsy transitions (Ramon's elimination came off awkwardly, the noted Razor's Edge on Johnson, and others), lapses in psychology (Shawn trying to backdrop Ramon... then doing it again after getting caught in the Edge), and Scott Hall’s generally sluggish, unmotivated performance. Ahmed Johnson came off looking strong, and hungry - and as I've noted elsewhere - would have likely been a much bigger star if health problems didn't sideline him. Not a bad match – just disjointed, and disappointing, considering the expectations I had going in. ** ½

Main Event: No Countout, No Disqualification WWF Title Match: Diesel v Bret Hart: After their battles at the '94 King of the Ring, and the '95 Royal Rumble all ended in disqualifications, Gorilla Monsoon made this one a No DQ match, to ensure a winner. The storyline was a definite winner - with Hart having lost the WWF Title one year earlier at Survivor Series, but while he was recovering from injury sustained during the match, Diesel won the title from Bob Backlund. Bret would get a shot at the '95 Royal Rumble, but as noted above, the match had a non-ending, when Bret and Diesel's various enemies ran in. Now, after a year of dancing around each other, the only man to hold every WWF title twice (Hart) faces the only man to win every WWF title in one calendar year (Diesel) - and this time, there must be a winner. Great angle – though today 'holding every title twice,' or 'winning them all within a year' sounds a lot less impressive than it did in 1995 - when that was actually quite a feat for both men. Diesel rips off the top turnbuckle as the bell goes, so Hart responds in kind - hammering home that it's no DQ, and that even though it's face/face - they'll both do whatever it takes to win. Bret shoots at the leg to start, but Diesel hammers him - not letting him out of the corner. Bret finally manages to escape to the floor, but Diesel follows, dropping him onto the rail. Bret tries to keep distance from Diesel - firing off quick shots at the leg to try and take away the vertical base - but Diesel just keeps overpowering him, and whips him into the steps. He posts Bret, and a chair shot lays Hart out. Inside, Diesel with a short-clothesline, but Bret blocks the powerbomb - grasping the leg, and then maneuvering into the ropes. He bites his way into control, and grabs a sleeper - again trying to take Diesel off of his feet. Diesel goes to the eyes, but he's still dazed, so Bret supermarket sweeps the leg, and finally gets him down. Bret works the leg, and slaps on a figure four. Diesel makes the ropes, but Bret takes his time to break - as it's no disqualification. He continues to work the leg - driving his knee into it - but Diesel counters the Sharpshooter with an eye rake. Second attempt, so Diesel shoves him off – this time into the exposed corner. He's still hurt, however, and by the time he lumbers over, Hart sweeps him again, this time wrapping his knee around the ringpost. He grabs an electrical cable, and ties the bad leg to the post - allowing him to unload with a chair. That's relatively hardcore for 1995 WWF, but it begs the question: doesn't Kevin Nash know how to untie a simple knot which he can easily reach? Backbreaker, and Hart goes upstairs with the chair, but gets slammed off. That finally allows Diesel the time to untie himself, and he hits a sidewalk slam for two. Bret takes the chest-first bump into the exposed corner, and snake eyes - though he stupidly uses the padded corner. Even Diesel realizes the mistake, and goes for it again with the exposed buckle - but this time Hart sees it coming - and rams Diesel in to counter. Hangman's clothesline for two, and a 2^nd rope flying bulldog gets two. Russian legsweep gets two, and a clothesline puts Diesel outside. Bret tries the slingshot bodypress, but Diesel dodges, and Hart face plants - in a nice bump. Bret regroups (no count to worry about, remember), but on his way back into the ring, Diesel catches him on the apron, and fires him off the ropes with a slingshot - sending him flying through the Spanish announce table, in another great bump. Cool nod to commentator Mr. Perfect, as well - with whom Hart worked a similar slingshot spot at the '93 King of the Ring – and then amplified here. If the chair was somewhat hardcore for '95 WWF, flying through tables is downright revolutionary – and would in fact become a staple in WWF / WWE main events afterwards. Diesel pulls him out of the wreckage, and goes for the powerbomb, but Bret can't maintain a vertical base. He tries again - but Hart throws a desperation inside cradle - and we have a new champion at 24:54. That doesn't please Diesel too much, however, and he decides to congratulate Hart on his new title with a pair of powerbombs. He takes out of couple of Officials for good measure, and yells 'I'm Back' - returning the unneutered, badass character that made him cool enough to put the title on to begin with... until he took the act to WCW a few months later. Diesel desperately needed this match, as his title run was bombing horribly, and Bret Hart was just the master of ring psychology to give him the sympathy he finally needed - and make him look like a badass - something his other challengers never could (Michaels stole the spotlight at WrestleMania, and both Sid and Davey made him look like a chump half the time). Hart actually let Diesel be the aggressor, and played a bit of a shitheel – getting the crowd behind Diesel – but knowing that they would forget about his naughty actions once he generated his own sympathy with the table bump, and Diesel’s heel turn. Great brawl - put together like an old school boxing match (down to the buildup), with great selling from both men (especially Diesel), and fantastic bumps from Hart. It reminded me much of Vader/Flair at Starrcade 1993 - with Hart having to figure out how to take down the big monster - only this match was far more creative, less formulaic, and had better, more innovative spots. *** ¾ As a kid, I was thrilled to see the title back on my hero, though unfortunately, he would turn out to be a transitional champion - with only one notable defense the next month.

BUExperience: Solid top-to-bottom, with a really good, somewhat historically significant main event, to boot. The mid-90s Survivor Series shows – while certainly not the most commercially successful – were well formatted, combining the elimination match gimmick with blowoff matches, and this is a solid example. Even with the insanely thin roster they were booking with at this point, the WWF easily delivered something I spent three hours listening to seventeen years ago – and it definitely still holds up today. ***