WWF Monday Night RAW (October 23, 1995)

Original Airdate: October 23, 1995

From Brandon, Manitoba, Canada; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

#1 Contender's 20-Man Battle Royal: Winner gets an Intercontinental Title shot next week. We've got: Aldo Montoya, Bam Bam Bigelow, Barry Horowitz, Bob Holly, Duke Droese, Fatu, Hakushi, Henry Godwinn, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Isaac Yankem, Jean-Pierre Lafitte, Kama, King Kong Bundy, Marty Jannetty, Owen Hart, Rad Radford, Savio Vega, Sycho Sid, Skip, and 1-2-3 Kid. Bundy (who I forgot was even still on the roster at this point) is the first to go, as everyone slugs it out in typical battle royal style. Skip tosses Aldo in a bit of ECW on ECW violence, as Sid kinda just walks around looking generally useless. How did they manage to botch this guy so badly in 1995? And it's not like they had some crazy deep bench when it came to heels, either. I mean, freakin' Mabel and Tatanka were headlining pay per views during this year! Makes you wonder not only how they dropped the ball so badly with Sid, but also why they scrapped the proposed Razor Ramon heel turn, because that could have added some much needed depth on the heel side. Things whittle down to Lafitte, Jannetty, Hart, and Vega, and since only two of them are heels, that should narrow things down by fifty percent. Marty and Owen face off in one corner as Savio battles Jean-Pierre in the opposite corner, mostly going nowhere. Owen and Savio trade spinheel kicks, and Vega is just the worst - not even trying to toss Owen after rattling him with an enzuigiri, but instead going after Marty, and getting dumped. Marty gets rid of Jean as well, but Owen hangs on to avoid going over the top - doing a bunch of neat teases. He manages to fight Jannetty off by snapping his throat across the top rope, and a leg-feed enzuigiri leads to an elimination attempt, but Marty blocks. Owen manages to dump him, but through the ropes instead of over the top, and Marty actually stands around confused like he thinks he might have been eliminated. He's been a veteran for HOW MANY years now? While he figures his shit out, Davey Boy Smith runs down and clobbers him, and there's nothing the referee's can do about it, since it's a battle royal. I always loved that little hop Davey would do while stomping down a guy. He rolls Marty back in, and Hart finishes up at 20:07. It was a battle royal. Seen one, seen 'em all, basically. ¾*

Survivor Series Slam Jam, with Dok Hendrix running down the card from his man cave. Seriously, what else was that room supposed to be, and why was Dok seemingly the only guy to have access to it? Also, how lazy is the graphic for Shawn Michaels in his advertised match? Like, there are little headshots of everyone, but Shawn's is recycled from an In Your House ad, and they don't even bother cropping a large chunk of the In Your House logo out. Geez, I know the TVs were a lot smaller in 1995, but how lazy can you get? And why are they even advertising Shawn yet? It hasn't been twenty four hours since he tearfully surrendered his title, and they're already promising him for the next pay per view? Kind of makes Gorilla Monsoon look like a dick for forcing him to give up his title, instead of simply postponing the match a couple of weeks

Bob Backlund is in the crowd taunting Canadians

Avatar v Brian Walsh: This is Al Snow's debut as Avatar, and in a weird twist on a masked man character, he comes out without a mask, putting it on before the bell. Lawler correctly notes that he looks like a Karate Fighter toy (sponsors for Survivor Series), which is the kind of seamless corporate synergy that has kept Lawler his job for so many years. This jobber is terrible, blowing all sorts of basic stuff, and generally looking like your uncle in his underpants. And Avatar actually allows him quite a bit of offense for such a scrub. Avatar misses a flying moonsault, but quickly recovers with a spinning backbreaker, and a standing moonsault sets up a frogsplash at 2:25. Avatar was trying, but this was a less than impressive debut. ¼*

Barry Didinsky wants to sell you life sized cardboard cutouts of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels for $25 each. They should have had Dok shill these. I'll never forget the one time he was pushing the Hart cutout by telling us we need him to stand in our bedrooms and watch us sleeping. 'Can you imagine, waking up, and there's Bret Hart, watching you?!'

WWF Women's Title Match: Bertha Faye v Alundra Blayze: Faye attacks from behind, and shoulderblocks her down, then hits a press-slam. Bodyslam sets up a pair of legdrops for two, so Blayze tries a sunset flip for two, but gets cut off with a clothesline. Alundra tries again, but Faye counters with a sitdown splash for two, and a sitout powerbomb follows. Blayze tries a Boston crab, but Faye won't quit, so Alundra unloads a series of turnbuckle smashes, and then hiptosses her. Blayze with a 2^nd rope flying dropkick for two, and a spinkick is worth two. Earringer and a series of matslams get one, but an attempt to piledriver big Bertha goes badly. Yeah, no shit. Faye with a bodyslam to set up something off the middle rope, but we never get to find out what, because Blayze handstand ranas her down. That signals Harvey Wippleman onto the apron to interfere, but it backfires, and Blayze hooks a bridging German suplex to win back the belt at 9:00. Not great, but much better than the terrible match they had at SummerSlam, that's for sure. Afterwards, Bertha chases Harvey to the dressing rooms, as Blayze is in tears celebrating her new title. * ¼

Backstage, Jim Ross catches up with Shawn Michaels, who looks like the depressed kid in an after school special. Hang in there, buddy!

BUExperience: Not much doing here, with the lengthy battle royal taking up the bulk of the episode, and little in the way of angle development, or fallout from the pay per view. The only real notable thing was the title change, but then it was the belt no one really cared about anyway.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	10/23/1995
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.2	2.6
Total Wins	3	2
Win Streak		1