WWF at Nassau Coliseum (June 9, 1995)

 

Original Airdate: June 9, 1995

From Uniondale, New York

Opening Match: Aldo Montoya v Jean-Pierre LaFitte: LaFitte gets a headlock on to start, but Aldo forces a criss cross, only to get steamrolled with a shoulderblock. They trade hammerlocks, leading to another criss cross, won by Aldo with a hiptoss. Aldo adds an inverted atomic drop and a dropkick to send LaFitte to the outside, and Montoya dives after him with a plancha. Aldo with a flying punch for two on the way back in, and he takes LaFitte to the mat in a fujiwara armbar. LaFitte fights to a vertical base and forces a criss cross, allowing him to nail Montoya with a knee to turn the tide. LaFitte goes to work on the abdomen, so Montoya tries a splash, but hits Jean’s knees. Trying a splash after getting your abdomen worked over sounds like a pretty dumb decision anyway. LaFitte drops him front-first across the top rope to put Aldo on the outside, but Montoya beats the count, and dives with a flying twisting bodypress - only for LaFitte to sidestep, and cover for two. LaFitte ties him in the ropes to set up a pair of bodypresses for two, but Aldo counters a powerbomb with a rana for two, so LaFitte blasts him with a clothesline. LaFitte tries a straddling ropechoke, but Aldo throws a jumping forearm to block, and he makes a comeback. A jumping clothesline gets two, and a flying bodypress is worth two. Backdrop, but LaFitte counters with a DDT, and he goes up for a flying somersault senton splash at 8:46. Solid opener! **

The Smoking Gunns v The Blu Brothers: The heels charge over with an attack, and dump Bart Gunn out so they can tandem scrapbuster Billy Gunn. The Brothers work Billy over in their corner, but a charge in the corner allows Billy a sunset cradle for two, and Bart catches a tag. He comes in hot with… armbars. And people wonder why he didn’t set the world on fire as a single? The Gunns trade off working armbars, and a tandem verticals suplex allows Bart a two count. A criss cross allows a cheap shot, however, and the Brothers cut the ring in half on Bart. Jacob Blu misses a 2nd rope elbowdrop to allow the hot tag to Billy, and Roseanne Barr the door! The Gunns hit a combo, but Eli Blu pulls Billy out of the ring, and both teams brawl for a double countout at 8:28. Really paint-by-numbers stuff here. ½*

20-Man Battle Royal: We've got: Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Duke Droese, Mabel, Mo, King Kong Bundy, Shawn Michaels, Aldo Montoya, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Jean-Pierre LaFitte, Man Mountain Rock, Adam Bomb, Bart Gunn, Billy Gunn, Jacob Blu, Eli Blu, Tatanka, Henry Godwinn, Bob Backlund, and Doink the Clown. The usual battle royal stuff here, until we get down to Owen, Bundy, Michaels, and Tatanka. Shawn is outgunned against three heels, and they try to corner him, but he comes out swinging. That only gets so far, however, and it’s beatdown time on Long Island. Shawn manages to catch Owen with a clothesline to dump him, so the remaining heels focus on properly beating him up. Tatanka charges with a big kamikaze blow to put them both out to give his Corporation-mate Bundy the win, but Shawn skins the cat, and catches a distracted King Kong with a dropkick to win at 12:43. What a waste of Shawn Michaels’ talent. But then, the guy was taking sick bumps off the tops of cages at other house shows around this period (like the next night at MSG, for example), so you can’t say he didn’t deserve a light night. DUD

Duke Droese v Skip: Droese powers him around to start, with Skip mostly taking comedy bumps. Duke gets a side-headlock on, but Skip forces a criss cross, which Droese wins with a shoulderblock, then a hiptoss. Duke with a backdrop and a press-slam, so Sunny distracts him, and Skip attacks. To the outside, Skip smashes Droese’s face into the apron, but a vertical suplex gets reversed on him on the way in. Droese looks for an elbowdrop, but Skip dodges, and delivers a legdrop for two. He grounds Droese in a chinlock, but Dukes escapes, and uses a sunset flip for two, before getting cut off with a clothesline. Skip adds an elbowdrop to allow him to go back to the chinlock, but Duke uses a jawbreaker to escape, and manages a catapult into the turnbuckles. He makes a comeback, and a backbreaker gets him two. A powerslam follows, so Sunny tries another distraction, but Skip misses the sneak attack this time. That allows Droese to try for the tilt-a-whirl slam, but Skip counters to a rollup at 9:25. A perfectly solid, if incredibly basic, match. *

WWF Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Jeff Jarrett v Razor Ramon: The belt’s been hanging over the ring for the whole show, which is certainly a time saver. They should have tried that at SummerSlam. Razor slugs him around to start, giving Jarrett a chance to bump around. Jeff manages to catch him with a swinging neckbreaker, and a dropkick puts the challenger on the outside. That allows Jarrett to go for the ladder, but Ramon cuts him off in the aisle, and steals it away. Jarrett responds by sending the ladder into him with a baseball slide, and he throws Razor into it next, before smashing his face into the steps. That allows Jeff to make a climb attempt, but Razor manages to stop him. Jarrett responds with a 2nd rope fistdrop, and he beats on the Bad Guy with the ladder a bit. Jarrett climbs again, but Ramon tips him over, and wins a criss cross with a fallaway slam. Razor climbs, but Jeff cuts him off, and backdrops him over the top - before falling out of the ring himself. Jarrett gets in with the ladder in tow, and starts to climb, but Razor crawls up the opposite side, and ends up slamming the champion off - only for the ladder to tip before Razor can grab the belt. Jeff recovers first, and unloads on him, but Ramon reverses a whip into the ladder, then adds another one for good measure. Razor uses the ladder to knock Jarrett around, and the champion takes a bump over the top. Razor climbs, but Jarrett tips him over, and makes a climb of his own - pretty easily grabbing the gold at 12:49. This was pretty derivative of the WrestleMania X ladder match, with Jarrett just kind of plugging into the Shawn Michaels role, though without a lot of the big, famous spots that made that Shawn’s breakout performance. This is also notable for being where Ramon picked up the injury that kept him out of the King of the Ring tournament, probably on the baseball slide spot, it looked nasty. * ½ 

Tatanka and King Kong Bundy v Adam Bomb and Man Mountain Rock: Tatanka and Bomb start, and Tatanka nails him with the tomahawk chop right away, but a criss cross goes Adam’s way with a hiptoss. Bomb lands a dropkick for two, and he grabs an armbar. Over to Rock for one of his own, but Tatanka escapes, and catches him with a jumping shoulderblock. Rock goes to a headlock to slow things down, but Tatanka forces another criss cross, only to walk into a hiptoss. Tatanka bails to break the momentum, and tries a cheap shot on the way back in, but Rock reverses a wristlock on him. Rock with a pair of clotheslines, but Tatanka suckers him over to the ropes, and dumps him. Rock beats the count in, so Tatanka welcomes him with some stomps, and passes to Bundy. Bundy tries using his size, but Rock actually wins a shoulderblock exchange, leaving Bundy having to dodge an elbowdrop. The heels go to work on Rock, but a collision allows the hot tag to Bomb, and Roseanne Barr the door! Bomb goes upstairs for a flying clothesline on Bundy at 11:42. Really dull stuff. The Corporation were terrible heels in general. ¼*

Main Event: Sycho Sid v Bam Bam Bigelow: Bam Bam is subbing for WWF Champion Diesel, who is injured. Sid stalls early on, since we’re into the stupid period where he’s a main event monster… who’s also kind of afraid of the babyfaces. A period which, as you can imagine, they made billions. Sid manages to power him into the corner for a fist, and Bam Bam is on his ass after a single blow. Again, billions. Bam Bam comes back with a pair of shoulderblocks to put Sid on the outside, and he stalls out there. Back in, Bigelow slugs him, but gets reversed into the corner, and Sid follows with a corner shoulderblock. Another charge, but Bigelow sidesteps, and DDTs him. That sets up a dive, but Ted DiBiase distracts him, and Sid attacks with a high knee. Sid goes to work with a camel clutch, and a big boot finds the mark. Sid with a legdrop for two, and he goes to a chinlock from there. Bam Bam escapes, and a snapmare allows him a headbutt drop, but Sid dodges, and uses a big boot to put Bigelow on the outside. Bigelow gets into it with DiBiase on the outside, allowing Sid to clobber him with an axehandle from the apron, and he takes Bam Bam in for another chinlock. Oh, come on, just get to the finish already. Bigelow escapes, but hits a boot while trying an avalanche, and Sid chokeslams him. Powerbomb looks to finish, but Shawn Michaels shows up to distract him, and Bam Bam schoolboys at 8:44. Gosh. You know, when I saw that Bigelow was replacing Diesel, I actually got excited, thinking that might be better. I’m actually thinking Diesel might have been an improvement. ¼*

BUExperience: This version is missing the Hunter Hearst Helmsley/Doink the Clown match. Probably not a big loss there. A pretty lackluster house show, with the two best workers on the card (Shawn and Owen) stuck in the battle royal, and not much of note otherwise.

DUD