WWF Monday Night RAW (November 27, 1995)

Original Airdate: November 27, 1995 (taped November 20)

From Richmond, Virginia; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Ahmed Johnson v Rad Radford: Radford attacks from behind, but Johnson no-sells everything, and goes to town in the corner, before sending Rad over the top with a right hand. Johnson only oiling up his front and not his back is a weird choice. Meanwhile, out in the crowd, Bob Backlund rants and raves, apparently on the campaign trail. Rad sweeps Johnson to the outside for a few smashes into the apron, and back in, Radford chokes him in the corner. Cross corner whip, but Ahmed counters with a short-clothesline, and he hits an ugly looking axekick, followed by an equally ugly bicycle kick. Spinebuster connects, and the Pearl River Plunge finishes this lethargic squash at 2:48. These two had no chemistry at all for two dudes who were regularly working together on the house show circuit during this period. Afterwards, Lawler calls Ahmed over for a ringside chat, which leads to Dean Douglas coming out to take issue with Johnson's butchering of the English language. They tease a fight, but the referee's step in before it can get out of hand. DUD

We take a look at what happened with Shawn Michaels last week, as Jerry Lawler eats candy bars

Barry Didinsky wants you to drop $24 on a pretty badass looking Bret Hart t-shirt. Not something I'd want to be seen in out in public, but I'd wear the shit out of that around the house

Alundra Blayze and Kyoko Inoue v Aja Kong and Tomoko Wannabe: The heels attack in the middle of Didinsky's spiel, but he doesn't even stop for a moment, which is pretty funny. Dust settles on Inoue and Kong to start, with Aja no-selling a bunch of strikes, and hitting a cross corner clothesline. Kong with a splash before passing over to Wannabe to work a bow-and-arrow. Springboard bodypress misses, however, allowing Inoue to slap on a surfboard, then tag. Alundra's looking good tonight. Wannabe is less impressed, and thumps on her some, but Blayze returns fire with a series of turnbuckle smashes, and both girls tag. Kong pounds Inoue with kicks, and delivers a hanging vertical suplex for two. In comes Wannabe, but she misses a dive off the top, and Inoue bodyslams her to set up a flying back elbowdrop for two. That was way out of position, with Inoue landing on her knee. Wannabe goes up, but gets armdragged off, and Blayze comes in to finish with the German suplex, but Kong stops it. She tries to spinning back-fist Blayze, but misses, and Alundra fires off an enzuigiri. Blayze with a pair of flying dropkicks off the middle, but a third misses, so Kong tries a 2^nd rope flying splash - also missing. Tag to Inoue, but she fails to powerbomb Kong, and gets drilled with a saito suplex, then finished with the back-fist at 8:02. Really disappointing compared to the kind of stuff we saw at Survivor Series. And this was actually the end of Blayze in the WWF, as she wrestled one more match for the promotion the day after this was taped, and then bolted for WCW by mid-December. *

Last week, Diesel got cool again

Brother Love returns for the first time since 1991, hosting an in-ring interview with WWF Champion Bret Hart. I always hated Brother Love in his own era, and he felt like a man out of time in this one. And he hasn't changed at all, doing the same tired act from the late 80s. It's one thing to do something like this as a one time nostalgia thing (like on an anniversary show, or like when he appeared in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-7), but quite another to actually bring this goof back as part of the regular show. They could have at least tweaked the character a little. Anyway, after what feels like an eternity passes with very little actually said, Bob Backlund pops out of the crowd, and slaps the Crossface Chickenwing on Bret from behind. Hey, speaking of angles that had already passed their expiration date, right?

Hunter Hearst Helmsley v John Chrystal: Henry Godwinn pops up on split screen to hype up the Hog Pen match for In Your House, and we also see footage of Howard Finkel getting caught in some slop crossfire over the weekend at a house show at Madison Square Garden. Because, when in doubt, embarrass Howard Finkel. They could have had that printed up on business cards in the 90s. HHH quickly puts him away with the Pedigree at 1:40. DUD

Owen Hart is still riding the high of killing off Shawn Michaels, and makes an open challenge for In Your House. That one wouldn't turn out too well for him

Next week, Razor Ramon faces Dean Douglas. Call your favorite armbar connoisseur!

Undertaker v Mo: This is scheduled as 'Taker versus Kama, but Kama comes out on crutches, so manager Ted DiBiase announces that he's bought a replacement for tonight: Mo. Really, Mo? I think DiBiase would have been better off lacing up the boots himself, even after years in retirement, than banking on fucking Mo. Also, how lame is the Corporation that DiBiase has to hire outside help for this? You think Bobby Heenan would ever let that shit happen? Rude's hurt? Fine, send in Andre! Did Sid have a softball game that night, or something? What's the point of even having a stable? Mo manages to clothesline Undertaker over the top following a distraction from DiBiase, and Kama puts the boots to the Dead Man out there. Back in, Mo works him over, but that goes about as well as you'd expect, and Undertaker big boots him down, then hits a jumping clothesline. Mo is such an afterthought that Undertaker even pops out to beat up Kama before casually coming back in to bodyslam Mo, and hit a chokeslam for the pin at 5:58 - this goober not even warranting a Tombstone. Afterwards, Mabel comes down to try and steal the gold chain made from the remains of the urn, but he's so fat and slow that even fucking MID-90S UNDERTAKER wins that foot race. And speaking of ‘fat and slow,’ Yokozuna comes down, and as he's staring down 'Taker in the ring, Mabel jumps Paul Bearer, and steals the chain. Man, they really liked to lean on that 'heel steals the urn' shit back then, didn't they? And it’s not like they even needed it this time! They already had an angle where Mabel literally BROKE THE UNDERTAKER'S FACE to set up a grudge match, and they still couldn't resist the urn stuff? DUD

BUExperience: Last week was one of the most revolutionary episodes of RAW, ever. This was not last week.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	11/27/95
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.3	2.5
Total Wins	5	5
Win Streak		2
Better Show (as of 11/20)	3	7