WWF at Brendan Byrne Arena (November 12, 1995)

Original Airdate: November 12, 1995

From East Rutherford, New Jersey

Bret Hart v Davey Boy Smith: Davey is more focused on jawing with the fans than engaging with the Hitman at the bell, but he still manages to shove Hart onto his keister when they finally lock horns. Bret responds by grabbing a standing headlock, so Bulldog tries forcing a criss cross, but Bret takes him down in the hold instead. Bulldog fights back to a vertical base, so Hart switches to a hammerlock to ground him again, but Smith manages to force a criss cross, so Bret bodypresses him for two. Armdrag puts Bulldog in an armbar, and a crucifix gets the Hitman two. Back to the armbar, so Davey press-drops him across the top rope to shake him off, and that’s enough to take the pep out of the Hitman’s step. Davey grounds him in a chinlock, until Bret escapes, and he clotheslines Davey over the top. Hart dives after him with a Thesz-press from the apron, but Smith catches him, and runs him into the post, then whips him into the steps for good measure. Inside, Bulldog puts the boots to him, and rattles the ring with a cross corner whip. Davey hammers the back ahead of another chinlock, but Hart escapes, so Bulldog throws a knee for two. Clothesline connects, setting up a legdrop, and Hart rolls out of the ring to try and regroup, but Davey is right on him with more abuse. Bulldog leaves him out there to take the count, but Bret beats it in, and throws hands. Cross corner whip, but Smith reverses for two, and he grabs another chinlock. Bret tries another crucifix, but Davey is ready with a Samoan drop for two this time, and he adds a hanging vertical suplex for two. He goes to the top, but Bret vertical superplexes him off, and adds an inverted atomic drop to set up a clothesline. A bulldog on Bulldog gets two, and a piledriver is worth two. Vertical suplex gets two, and a backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope elbowdrop. Davey lifts his boot to block, but Hart anticipates it, and lands on his feet - grabbing the extended leg for a seamless shift into the Sharpshooter! Great spot! Unfortunately for him, Smith has the ropes right away. Bret stays focused by pounding Bulldog in the corner, but Davey grabs him for the running powerslam - only for Hart to topple him for two. Criss cross sees Davey tries a monkeyflip, but Hart stops short for a cradle - only for Smith to reverse at 19:07. These two could have a good match in their sleep, and while this one was pretty heavy on the restholds, the execution was there, and it was a nice blueprint for the In Your House match that came the following month. ***

Main Event: Lumberjack Match: Diesel and Shawn Michaels v Owen Hart and Yokozuna: Diesel and Yokozuna start, and Yoko gets in his face, but loses a slugfest. Diesel with a matslam, so Owen runs in, but Diesel is ready with a hiptoss, and here comes Shawn for backup. They clean house, and those poor lumberjacks have their work cut out for them peeling Yokozuna off the mats and getting him back in. Come to think of it, considering how SummerSlam ‘93 went, I’m surprised they didn’t book even a single lumberjack match between Yoko and Lex Luger at any point. Or a cage match, or really anything to follow up on it. Back in, Diesel keeps sticking and moving on Yokozuna, but runs into a Samoan drop, and Owen tags in to wishbone him. Hart puts the boots to him, and a corner whip works, but Diesel blocks the charge with an elbow. He uses a snake-eyes before passing to Shawn, and Michaels uses a cross corner whip to rebound Hart into a jumping forearm. Michaels with a flying axehandle for two, so Yokozuna clobbers him with a cheap shot, and Owen is right there with a spinheel kick. Hart adds a neckbreaker, and a backbreaker follows. The heels go to work on Michaels, and the lumberjacks aren’t shy about getting their licks in as well. Luckily, this ain’t Syracuse, and Diesel is there to make saves for his little buddy along the way. Shawn fights off a dive from Owen to allow the hot tag to Diesel, and the heel lumberjacks are so upset that they openly run in. Diesel fights them off, and it’s a big boot on Owen to set up a rocket launcher from Shawn, but Yokozuna comes in to break the count - only to hit Owen with a splash by accident! That allows Shawn to superkick Yokozuna out of the ring, and the path is clear to pin Hart at 11:38. Shawn taking a heat segment + limited involvement from Yokozuna = entertaining. It’s not rocket surgery! **

BUExperience: Unfortunately, the bulk of this show is cut out (including some pretty intriguing stuff, like Bam Bam Bigelow’s last house show match for the WWF, or Ahmed Johnson before he’d debuted on TV), but it is what it is. Too much is cut out for me to throw a rating on it, but I’d definitely check out the Hart/Bulldog match, and it wouldn’t kill you to stick around for the main event either.