Raw History: Episode 134 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 10

Raw History
Episode #134
November 6th, 1995 | Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

It’s time for the third of four shows in a huge block of tapings. I’m so glad they move away from this format soon. Things open by showing Ahmed Johnson slam Yokozuna. He went “obscurity to the stuff legends are made of.” Lex Luger was the only guy I remember slamming Yokozuna and it didn’t quite make him a legend. They also showed clips from the upcoming episode which I still dislike.

Since Jerry Lawler is in action tonight, Vince McMahon’s co-host here is Dok Hendrix.

British Bulldog w/ Jim Cornette vs. Marty Jannetty
Bit of a clash of styles here. Marty is still more over than I think he should be. During the match, they go split screen with Clarence Mason, who says that he has used his legal savvy to set up another British Bulldog WWF Title shot. He will meet the winner of Diesel/Bret Hart at the December In Your House. Bulldog nails his stalling vertical and holds serve due to his power. They make it through one commercial break, with Bulldog working a chinlock as they return. Marty starts the comeback with the same offense he’s had since the 80’s, coming close on a near fall where Bulldog got his foot on the bottom rope. He misses a corner charge and hits the ring post. Bulldog plants him with the running powerslam to win.

Winner: British Bulldog in 9:31
Decent little start to the show. Marty Jannetty got in his stuff and had the crowd invested, while Bulldog looked like a powerhouse and picked up the clear win. **¼

We get pre-recorded words from a fake Bill Clinton. He will actually be at Survivor Series. Oh joy.

Dok Hendrix interviews Jim Cornette at ringside. He just hypes the Wild Card match.

Backstage, Barry Horowitz is talking strategy with Bret Hart and Hakushi. Why? What could he tell them that would help? Both guys are more successful.

SUPERSTARS ~ This past weekend, Goldust was being interviewed by Jerry Lawler. For some reason, Bam Bam Bigelow interrupted and challenged Goldust to a match at any time. It is going to happen at Survivor Series.

Henry O. Godwin vs. Terry Richards
Terry Richards would go on to have a much better career than HOG down the line as Rhino. He’s just nineteen here. Most of commentary talks about Hunter Hearst Helmsley potentially getting slopped. Godwin wins with the Slop Drop.

Winner: Henry O. Godwin in 2:06
About what you’d expect from a Godwin squash.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley shows up and nails Henry from behind. He then puts on gloves and pours the slop bucket onto him. I love the little addition of the gloves since he wouldn’t dare touch the bucket.

SURVIVOR SERIES SLAM JAM ~ Todd Pettengil is back to hosting these things. Outside of Goldust/Bigelow, the only other new thing announced is the Darkside taking on the Royals. The Royals have King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, HHH and Isaac Yankem, while the Darkside consists of the Undertaker, Fatu, Savio Vega and Henry Godwin. What a weird team.

Kama w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Tony Roy
Oh shit. I thought we were done with the Million Dollar Corporation. Shawn Michaels calls in to plug the Wild Card match because nobody gives a damn about Kama. Kama wins by knocking out Roy.

Winner: Kama in 3:12
Too long for Kama

NEXT WEEK ~ Razor Ramon defends the Intercontinental Title against Sid! The 1-2-3 Kid will be the special referee and the title can change hands on a countout or disqualification.

Bret Hart and Hakushi w/ Barry Horowitz vs. Isaac Yankem and Jerry Lawler
I thought I was done with the stupid Lawler/Hart feud after that terrible Steel Cage match. Hart and Hakushi start in control, pretty much owning Yankem and Lawler. That’s kind of been the way the entire feud has gone. Shortly after they started hot, the faces get in typical trouble. Hakushi takes the heat since he isn’t going anywhere and Bret is headed for a title shot. The heels do some dull offense to wear him down until he gets an opening and makes the tag to Bret. Bret’s hot tag is surprisingly lackluster. He really didn’t seem to care about this program, yet he’s still much better here than he was in WCW. FIVE MOVES OF DOOM! As Bret locked Yankem in the Sharpshooter, Lawler tried to bring a steel chair into play. Horowitz entered and took the chair from Lawler, resulting in a disqualification.

Winners via disqualification: Isaac Yankem and Jerry Lawler in 10:43
Well that was a shitty finish. Lawler gets another one up on Bret Hart and I still don’t care about him. The match itself was decent at best. Bret wasn’t at his best, Hakushi seemed past the point of caring and the other two guys involved aren’t very good. *½

Clips are shown of next week’s matches, again giving away that it’s taped. This is so dumb.

Reliving Nitro
Episode #10
November 6th, 1995 | Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida

Tonight, it’s WCW Interactive. Yea, it’s basically the WWE App before technology really allowed it. You can call the WCW Hotline to choose tonight’s main event. Pick from the babyface side of Alex Wright, Dave Sullivan (why?), Jim Duggan, JL (who lost the Mr. part), Johnny B. Badd, the Nasty Boys and Sting. Then, select their opponent from the pool of Big Bubba Rogers, the Blue Bloods, DDP, Meng, Ric Flair, Scott Norton and Shark. Bobby Heenan says he wants Tony Schiavone vs. Gene Okerlund.

Non-Title Match
WCW Champion The Giant w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Cobra
Who keeps giving Cobra and Pittman TV time? The title isn’t on the line but Giant hoists up Dave Penzer to announce that it is. Giant hits a Chokeslam and ends Cobra quickly.

Winner: The Giant in 0:16
Can’t really rate this due to the length. I preferred it this short though.

Mean Gene is in the “red” locker room, which is where the heels are. They’re arguing and yelling nonsense. Norton and Shark are shoving each other, while the Blue Bloods calmly sip tea in the back. The faces are more civil but Duggan just walks by the screen shouting for some reason. Also, there was no Big Bubba.

An ad runs for the inaugural World War 3 event.

After losing the World Title, Hulk Hogan returns to his roots in Venice Beach. Apparently, returning to his roots means to hang out with homeless looking dudes in the street. Macho Man is with him and both guys are in black because they’ve come to the “dark side”.

Kevin Sullivan w/ Jimmy Hart vs. The Renegade
The Renegade is still a thing? He charges the ring like the bootleg Ultimate Warrior that he is. Unlike Ultimate Warrior though, he had no good qualities, so Sullivan turned things around quickly. Renegade makes a small comeback with a corner handspring elbow but you know the outcome here. Sullivan wins with a second rope double stomp that Bobby Heenan calls the Dungeon of Doom Heimlich Maneuver. Okay.

Winner: Kevin Sullivan in 2:44
As usual, something involving the Taskmaster is pretty bad. ¼*

After the match, Jimmy Hart throws beer in Renegade’s face and rubs off the red and yellow paint. He shouts that he’s no longer the Renegade and is just plain old Rick now. Well, there goes that gimmick.

Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero
Eddie’s theme sounds like a Badstreet USA rip-off. Benoit brings out his excellent snap suplex, followed by a huge spinebuster right into the Liontamer. These guys aren’t playing around. THE NJPW contingent, consisting of Sonny Ono, Masahiro Chono, Jushin Thunder Liger and others are all eating dinner near the crowd. Poor Liger looks sad, probably because he can’t eat the food through his mask. Eddie starts to bring out the aerial stuff, causing Benoit to take a powder. Eddie follows with a dive off the top rope. Back inside, they just continue to hit each other with stiff moves. Commentary hypes the main event, saying that they want to see Sting vs. Ric Flair. Oh, look at you guys really making it the choice of the fans. Benoit brings Eddie over the apron with a back suplex but Eddie falls on him. Benoit gets his foot on the bottom rope, but the referee misses it.

Winner: Eddie Guerrero in 6:29
A really fun sprint from two of the best guys on the roster. The finish sets up a rematch, hopefully getting more time, which I have no problem with. ***¼

Ric Flair vs. Sting
Gee, I wonder why the fans chose this for the main event. Also, we get no vote tallies or anything like that. They just give us this. Sting is pissed from Halloween Havoc and just beats the hell out of Flair from the opening bell. Flair does his best pleading to no avail. Despite the hot start, which included brawling outside, Flair swings the momentum and locks in the Figure Four. He uses the ropes for leverage, which is such a lost art in today’s world. Sting powers up and flexes at Flair before turning the hold over. The fight moves outside where Flair tries to use a chair but the referee stops him. Flair shoves him but decides not to take it any further. Schiavone announces that some big news will be coming by the end of the program. Flair tries to cheat and win with his feet on the ropes but Sting keeps kicking out. We get the classic Flair spot where he gets slammed from the top rope. Sting powers up and hits a superplex leading right into the Scorpion Death Lock. Flair gives up but the angry Stinger refuses to let go of the hold. Somehow this doesn’t result in a DQ.

Winner: Sting in 9:16
It’s shorter than their more well-known classics but dammit this ruled. In the compact time given, they had a hate filled battle while still managing to do the stuff that has worked for them in the past. I’m surprised they didn’t opt to have a dirty finish here and do the clean end on the PPV. ***½

Tony Schiavone screams that Lex Luger is running out but he’s nowhere to be seen. Looks like he missed his cue. Sting still refuses to release the hold while the faces that didn’t get chosen to compete (and Eddie Guerrero) rush out to talk some sense into him. He lets go and runs back into the ring, slapping the hold back on. Luger finally shows up and talks right into Sting’s face. Whatever it was, it causes Sting to let go and leave with Luger.

Returning, Mean Gene is with the Giant, Jimmy Hart and Kevin Sullivan in the ring. Jimmy Hart announces that while Hogan was off doing charity work and making bad movies, he was Hogan’s power of attorney. Using that, he signed the contract for the Halloween Havoc match and added a stipulation that if Hogan lost by DQ (which he did) Giant would win the World Title. They bring in a “real” lawyer who says that Jimmy Hart is partially right. Hogan did lose the belt, but Giant isn’t the champion. WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinekl and the Championship Committee have decided to hold the belt in abeyance! The new champion will be determined in the upcoming World War 3 battle royal. Giant doesn’t want to give up the title but Sullivan calms him down by saying that nobody can eliminate him so he’ll be champion again soon.

Raw Rating: 2.6
Nitro Rating: 2.0

5.3

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Raw: Not much too really enjoy in this episode. Jannetty/Bulldog was alright but the main event saw guys mostly phoning it in to continue a feud that has totally sucked. Why did Kama get a squash? Does he ever do anything significant again? Also, what kind of shit finish to the main event was that? 3.5

Nitro: A much better effort from WCW this week. With a better first third, this would be a contender for one of the best Nitros ever. After the Sullivan match though, everything is pretty damn good. Benoit and Guerrero continue to shine, while Sting and Flair had a good old fashioned hate filled match. Even the final segment, while a bit convoluted, at least adds intrigue to the PPV. 7.0