WWF Monday Night RAW (September 11, 1995)

Original Airdate: September 11, 1995 (Taped August 28)

From Canton, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler. We have a new opening this week, many clips of which would later be recycled into the DX entrance video in 1997

We start with some video highlights (as opposed to the usual stills) of the Michaels/Ramon Ladder rematch at SummerSlam

Razor Ramon v Davey Boy Smith: Bulldog has a new buzz cut and long tights to go along with his heel turn. The fans chant 'USA' to support Ramon, but his character is Cuban. It works regardless, as Razor quickly clotheslines Bulldog out of the ring, then works a wristlock as Davey heads back in. Davey manages to reverse a corner whip and hit a hanging vertical suplex, as the kids in the front row lose their shit to boo him. The heel run may not have set the world on fire, but no doubting the turn worked wonderfully. Davey with a clothesline for two, and a press-slam for two. Bodyslam gets two, but Razor manages to counter the Running Powerslam with a bodyblock for two. Smith quickly cuts off the comeback, but ends up getting slammed off the top rope, and Razor hits a fallaway slam for two. Razor's Edge, but Dean Douglas runs in while the referee is down. 1-2-3 Kid runs in to stop his attack on Ramon, but Douglas kills him with a forward suplex, and Bulldog Running Powerslams Razor. Cover, but Kid's back with a flying splash to break the cover, and the referee calls for the disqualification at 7:10. Decent stuff, with Davey easily transitioning into working heel. Look into it, Tatanka. *

After the break, Vince joins Ramon and Kid in the ring, and proceeds to go to great lengths to recap everything we literally just saw. Some things never change. Kid is pissed that Ramon doesn't respect him, and always 'treats him like a kid.' Huh, well, maybe the fact that you have the word 'kid' written on all of your clothes, and look like Mitch Kramer has more to do with it than anything Razor's done. He tells a shocked Ramon off, and challenges him to a match for next week. I remember being upset by this as a kid, because I liked Kid and Ramon as buddies, and Waltman was so naturally underdogish and babyfaced at this point that it was hard to buy him as a heel. This was a good segment, though Lawler constantly talking over everything was really annoying

The Smoking Gunns v Rad Radford and Brooklyn Brawler: Have the Gunns done anything over the last few months, other than squash random jobber teams what feels like every week? Of course, they would end up with the tag titles again by the end of the month, so I can see why they wanted to keep giving them a TV presence. Sidewinder finishes Brawler at 2:46. ¼*

Goldust vignette. Too bad that shiny golden top hat got scrapped before his actual debut, because it's BAD ASS!

Isaac Yankem v Scott Taylor: Jacobs should grow his hair back out like that today. People are tired of seeing Kane, and they've already done the mask on/mask off bit to death. We've never seen PERMED Kane! He's big, he's red, he's curly! DDS (a DDT - get it?) finishes at 2:14. DUD

In Your House Report, complete with graphics that no doubt caused at least a few seizures. The big news here is the Triple Header main event, as Diesel and Shawn Michaels defend their world and intercontinental titles against Yokozuna and Owen Hart's tag titles - winner take all. And if that sounds like a bait-and-switch waiting to happen, congratulations, you've just booked 1995 WWF! Collect your unemployment check at the door! Also, that's kind of telegraphing the finish for the main event tonight, but then, Nitro had already given it away anyhow, so it's not like it was a well guarded secret to begin with

Barry Didinsky wants you to dress like a WWF themed homo this weekend!

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Sid: Given the angle after WrestleMania, this should have been a super hot blowoff, but they botched Sid so badly during his summer program with Diesel that it wasn't even worthy of pay per view. You'd think, in an era when they really lacked any top heels, Sid would be a homerun. I mean, they were pushing Mabel and British Bulldog as top heels, for fucks sake! New entrance gear for Shawn tonight, though he's still wearing those ugly black/red tights. Shawn sticks and moves in the early going, then head fakes Sid in the corner with a 2^nd rope sunset flip. Dropkick and a jumping clothesline put Sid on the floor, and back in, Shawn stupidly tries to work a standing side-headlock. Yeah, that doesn't work when the guy has six inches on you. And, indeed, Sid easily escapes, and launches the champ out, but Shawn skins the cat, and plants another dropkick on his challenger to knock him back to the outside. Back in, Sid grabs a (much more appropriate) headlock of his own, so Shawn tries a Thesz press, and gets absolutely PLANTED with a spinebuster. Ouch! He unloads on him in the corner, and a clothesline puts HBK on the outside for Ted DiBiase to abuse. Sid then proves that he's a fucking moron - trying to win via countout, and forcing Michaels to climb back in while he stands there with his arms raised. Okay, fine, Sid is stupid. But DiBiase knows better, come on! Shawn beats the count (why?), but walks into a bearhug, and Sid chokeslams him. Michaels' facial expressions are brilliant here. Powerbomb time, but Shawn backdrops him to block, and wins a slugfest to set up a diving forearm. Flying bodypress gets two, and three Superkicks finish him at 7:21. Well, two Superkicks and a setup kick, really. Still, a nice bookend to the feud, as it started with three Powerbombs and ended with three Superkicks. Nothing special… this would have been fine at SummerSlam, but obviously nowhere near as good as the Ladder Match. * ¼  

In Your House promo

Backstage, Shawn celebrates the title defense with Diesel, and they hype up the Triple Header match for In Your House

Weird closing bit, as they show highlights of next weeks Ramon/Kid match, with the hook being that Kid is crying at the end – either because he lost the match, or lost a friend. They usually never pointed out pre-taping like that this far into the shows run – very strange

BUExperience: Good episode, with the blowoff to the Shawn/Sid feud, as well as a good angle with 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon. They kind of kicked it into high gear this week, not because of Nitro so much (this was taped before Nitro even debuted), as because they only had two episodes to build to the pay per view, due to having two off weeks for USA Networks coverage of the US Open

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	9/11/1995
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.5	2.4