Cook’s WWF SummerSlam 1995 Review

The World Wrestling Federation was running on Diesel Power in 1995. Big Daddy Cool had defeated Mr. Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship just after Survivor Series 1994, and was crowned as the Face of the New Generation. After fighting off challenges from Shawn Michaels & Sycho Sid, Diesel would meet the most recent King of the Ring winner at SummerSlam. Which just so happened to be…King Mabel.

Indeed, the larger member of Men on a Mission had won the prestigious tournament in June, defeating the likes of Savio Vega & The Undertaker in the process. This event is most noted for the fans in Philadelphia pooping all over the final match of Mabel vs. Savio, with some even chanting the initials of a local independent wrestling promotion. Despite their negativity, King Mabel rode into SummerSlam with all kinds of momentum on his side.

Shawn Michaels was the Intercontinental Champion and back on the good guy side of things. He was feuding with his former bodyguard Sycho Sid, and the two were originally scheduled to meet at SummerSlam. However, plans changed. New WWF President Gorilla Monsoon declared that nobody wanted to see that match, and he booked a ladder match between Shawn & Razor Ramon instead. Which we were all happy about because this show needed something.

The 1995 edition of SummerSlam was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even though Pittsburgh wasn’t all that far from Philadelphia, their reaction to the WWF’s efforts couldn’t have been more different than Philadelphia’s. They were more than happy to finally play host to a major PPV.

Cook’s WWF SummerSlam 1995 Review

King Mabel promises to be the next WWF Champion. Diesel says he’ll set King Mabel’s kingdom on fire with a blowtorch. Jerry Lawler says that Bret Hart’s career is terminal. Bret Hart’s gonna knock somebody out. Kama’s taken Paul Bearer’s urn. Undertaker will put Kama’s career in a casket and steal his soul. Razor Ramon says everybody knows what happened last time. Shawn Michaels is going to stake his claim as the WWF’s greatest athlete.

Vince McMahon welcomes everyone to SummerSlam and talks about the record crowd in Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena. He’s joined by Jerry “The King” Lawler, and they’re joined by Dean Douglas in his satellite classroom.

1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi: Hakushi is coming off of a loss to Barry Horowitz on the Action Zone thanks to Bodydonna Skip. That’s not going to help him in the rankings even if he beats the Kid here. That Stridex inflatable blimp had to be obnixious as hell to people trying to see what was going on in the ring. Kid & Hakushi exchange hammerlocks & headlocks, Kid flips out of an armbar and takes Hakushi to the mat. Both guys getting cheers early on. Shoulderblock by Hakushi, hip toss by Kid, Hakushi kicks Kid down and it’s a standoff. Headlock and shoulderblock by Kid, Kid misses a spin kick. Hakushi gets a jab to the Kid’s throat to take control. Kid works out of a slam attempt, but Hakushi hits a modified backbreaker. Hakushi with some stomps. Cartwheel into an elbowstrike in the corner by Hakushi. Hakushi hits a broncobuster, minus the incessant busting after the landing. So that’s where Kid got the move from! Hakushi kicks away at Kid’s left leg, then the back of the head. Vince thinks the referee will stop this one, but the pump splash only gets a two count for Hakushi. Backdrop, then a spin kick sends the Kid outside for a Space Flying Tiger Drop! Sadly Vince didn’t call it that, it would have been on par with the time Mike Hogewood actually called Diamond Dust on an ROH TV show. Back in the ring, Hakushi hits a top rope shoulderblock for two. The diving headbutt misses though, and the Kid fights back. Kid with the tope con hilo! These guys are pulling out some stuff here, that’s for sure. Kid slams Hakushi back in the ring, hits a top rope splash for two. Kid off the ropes, goes for something but Hakushi catches him and hits a back suplex for a sudden three count.

Winner: Hakushi (9:27 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/2

I remember when WCW would throw the cruiserweights out there pretty much every single PPV to have a hot opening match and get the crowd hyped for the rest of the show. WWF had the same idea here, and it worked out pretty well. It could have gotten some more time, but you still had Hakushi & Kid doing stuff that was pretty rare on WWF television in the mid-90s. 11 year old me hadn’t seen any Space Flying Tiger Drops, so I would have been pretty excited. Unfortunately this wouldn’t lead to much of value for Hakushi, unless you really liked the vignettes with Barry Horowitz introducing Hakushi to American customs.

Dok Hendrix is with King Mabel. “Fool me once, shame on me! Fool me twice, shame on you!” I don’t think that’s how that goes, but I’ve been confused on it for decades now.

The bottom line is don’t get fooled the first time, then you won’t have to figure out the old Tennessee/Texas saying.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bob “Spark Plug” Holly: This Helmsley guy went on to some things, none of which I remember off the top of my head. Might have appeared on a few SummerSlams later on. Can’t say I was a big fan in 1995…I thought I was done with Jean-Paul Levesque when he left WCW. Then he popped up in the WWF with a different name! Just can’t get rid of some people. Helmsley pauses before tying up with the race car driver, it’s probably a smart move but Holly slams Helmsley down. Cheap shot over the referee’s shoulder sends Bob down and Hunter goes to work in the corner. Holly fights back but gets hot-shotted on the top rope. Holly nearly breaks the ring on an Irish whip from Helmsley. Helmsley works the back with a vertical suplex, then drops a knee for two. Our announcer from Tennessee is talking down on Alabama, in case you’re wondering how commentary is going. Holly & Helmley trade abdominal stretches before Helmsley hip tosses Holly out of the ring. Holly hits a DDT almost right after getting back in the ring. Helmsley gets up before Holly, showing no respect at all to the DDT. Holly hits a dropkick though, and both men are down. Maybe Hunter was trying to do the FIGHTING SPIRIT gimmick. Inverted atomic drop and a clothesline by Holly. Baaaack body drop, then another dropkick from Holly. Bob hadn’t quite perfected his dropkick at this point, it’d eventually become one of the best in the business. Holly goes for another backdrop, but Helmsley blocks it and hits a Pedigree. That’s all.

Winner: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (7:11 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **

Pretty basic stuff. My dislike of Helmsley’s character at this point aside, you could tell he’d be a force to be reckoned with down the road. Not saying I expected him to marry Vince’s daughter and run the business, just that he’d be a solid hand.

The War on the Water pitted the WWF Superstars against the Pittsburgh Fire Department in tug of war action on the Majestic riverboat. The wrestlers won, so the firefighters took a plunge into the river. Nothing like a nice day on a riverboat, I always say.

Jacob & Eli Blu (w/Uncle Zebekiah) vs. The Smokin’ Gunns: Billy Gunn starts off against Jacob (per Lawler), who takes Billy down and tags in Eli. Slam and some elbow drops. Jacob comes back in and gets rolled up by Billy. Billy then does an early version of the Famouser before tagging Bart in. Bart gets his neck dropped on the ropes while the referee’s back is turned. Eli is back in getting cross-bodied by Bart for two. Nice doubleteam work from the Gunns. The Blus try some of their own, and end up hitting the H-Bomb. Billy getting beat up now, takes a hard Irish whip that ranks behind the one Holly took earlier. More double teaming on poor Billy. Knee drop gets two. Zeb’s facial hair looks short by his standards. Billy barely gets his shoulder up before three. Billy hits a facebuster to set up his tagging Bart. That tag happens, and Bart punches down Jacob & Eli before eating some shoe leather. Jacob knocks Eli out of the ring, and the Gunns hit the Sidewinder for the three count.

Winners: The Smokin’ Gunns (6:10 via pinfall)
Match Rating: *1/2

I included the Blus as part of my “Top 7 Worst Tag Teams” some time ago, mostly because I’d never seen them have a good match under countless different gimmicks. That trend continues here.

Todd Pettengil recaps the story of Barry Horowitz & Skip.

Skip (w/Sunny) vs. Barry Horowitz: Sunny does her best to get “Horriblewitz” over during her entrance speech. It doesn’t really work. Horowitz attacks right away, and he’s wearing suspenders! Barry hits a dragon screw, then clotheslines Skip out of the ring. Skip gets bounced back into the ring before getting the advantage in the corner. Horowitz leapfrongs Skip, goes for a rollup and gets sent to the apron. Horowitz suplexes Skip to the outside, and Sunny enters the ring to throw a white towel and forefeit the match! Earl Hebner refuses to allow this, probably because he remembers why Mr. Bob Backlund snapped all those years later. They don’t need a repeat of that fiasco. Barry tosses Skip back into the ring, then gets tripped by Sunny whilst running the ropes. Skip does some jumping jacks and then a vertical suplex. Second rope legdrop, but Skip opts to pose instead of covering Horowitz. Skip kind of hits a fistdrop, then does a high 10 with Sunny. Skip tells the cameraman at ringside to get a good shot of that loser, but Kevin Dunn neglects to change the camera angle so we can see that shot. These were the days before Dunn did 30 camera cuts per minute. Horowitz gets a two count with a couple of shoulderblocks. Sunset flip gets two, then Skip clotheslines Barry down. Crowd gets behind Barry, Skip hits the Lou Thesz Press for two, then gets bodyslammed. Skip with three driving legdrops before doing some more posing. Skip’s problem here: He obviously watched Hulk Hogan matches as a youngster, but forgot that Hogan got the victory before the posing routine. Skip forgets to get the win and just launches into a posing routine after the legdrop. You’d think his manager would help with this, but Sunny had other things on her mind at this point. Barry & Skip exchange strikes in the corner. Then they both try to dropkick each other, it doesn’t really work. Skip goes up top for a moonsault, but Horowitz crotches him on the top turnbuckle. Barry gets knocked off anyway, and Skip hits a diving headbutt for two. Largely because Skip releases the cover. Skip goes for a piledriver, Barry backdrops Skip out of it. Then Skip takes a random bump. Dropkick by Horowitz, who tries to go up top but gets crotched by Sunny. Skip hits a superplex, then pauses to talk to the crowd while Hakushi wanders down to ringside. Skip & Sunny want Hakushi to leave, but Hakushi jumps up to the apron, launches himself over both wrestlers and leaves the ring. This leads to Horowitz rolling Skip up for the three count. Hakushi didn’t touch anybody, so there was obviously no reason to call for a disqualification. Clever!

Winner: Barry Horowitz (11:21 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***

Barry gives Earl a big hug! Fun little story here of the overconfident heel getting his comeuppance against a plucky underdog. Easy for people to connect to.

The story-telling did not connect with Dean Douglas. The referee gets an F. Horowitz gets an S for slacker, as he won based off of other peoples’ work.

Todd shows us some clips from Shawn Michaels’ & Razor Ramon’s ladder match at WrestleMania X. Shawn tells us that it’s impossible to prepare for a ladder match, and only two people in the WWF can even have one. Shawn has nothing in his life except the IC Championship, and Razor isn’t going to take it away from him.

WWF Women’s Championship Match: Bertha Faye (w/Harvey Wippleman) vs. Alundra Blayze (c): Bertha & Harvey have their back to the hard cam for most of their in-ring introduction. You’d think Harvey would have known where it was, or somebody would have clued them in. Blayze hits some kicks to start things. She trips Faye up. Faye misses a charge in the corner and Blayze hits some more kicks before running into Faye. Bertha knocks Alundra down a few times. Slam by Bertha and a couple of legdrops. Bertha goes to the middle rope and misses a splash. Alundra goes for a victory roll, it gets a two count. Bertha knocks Alundra down, slams her again but Alundra Matrixes out of the pin before the movie was a thing. Blayze takes Bertha down, but Harvey has the referee distracted. Blayze chases him around until he falls. Back in the ring, Alundra gets a crucifix pin for two, then runs into Bertha again. A rana by Blayze gets a two count. Blayze hits two dropkicks off the middle rope, but misses the third. Faye hits a sitout powerbomb for three.

Winner: Bertha Faye
Match Rating: 0 stars

We went from one of the best WWF women’s matches of the time period at last year’s SummerSlam to one of the worst WWF women’s matches of the time period. It’s no wonder this division was gone by the end of 1995. Everything about Bertha Faye was a bad idea. All due respect to Bertha, she tried her best. The whole thing was there so the announcers could make jokes about her weight. No more thought was put into it than that. Granted, it’s not like WCW ever took women’s wrestling any more seriously than the WWF did, but one can’t blame Alundra for making the jump while watching nonsense like this.

Jim Ross tries to put his hands on Bertha, which Harvey takes offense to. JR’s vest and bowtie match with Bertha’s outfit, so I think Harvey was in the right here. Besides, if you follow JR on Twitter you know he’s got that wandering eye.

Todd recaps the issues between Undertaker & Kama the Supreme Fighting Machine.

Casket Match: Kama (w/Ted DiBiase) vs. The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer): Welp, if the Kliq guys are going to have a ladder match later on, the BSK guys deserve equal time. Well, maybe not the same amount of time. Undertaker makes his usual elongated entrance, but the action picks up pretty quickly once he disrobes. Taker throws some soupbones into the corner, then chokelifts Kama before dropping him. Kama fires back though, then immediately gets tossed on top of the casket. Vince declares he got “the willies”, which I believe there’s a pill for here in 2022 if there wasn’t back then. Undertaker delivers a half-assed Stinger Splash in the corner, then gets ready to take things Old School. Paul Bearer is pretty happy, and it’s time to open the casket. Kama gets tossed into it, but gets right out. We’ve got a camera inside the coffin! Kama goes up top, hits a clothesline! Taker does the ol’ zombie situp, but Kama still has some kicks. Taker tries another Stinger Splash, but Kama catches him and hits a World’s Strongest Slam. Taker sits up again, but Kama fights him into that casket. I was wondering for a second if Taker was going to skin the cat like he was Ricky Steamboat, but he does manage to headscissor Kama into the casket. DiBiase distracts Taker with the urn necklace, and Kama takes advantage. Bearer screams about Kama using his fist, but I’m pretty sure casket matches are a no-disqualification situation. Kama clotheslines Taker on the apron, who falls on top of the casket. DiBiase stomps on Taker on the outside, and Paul Bearer is trying to get over there! He actually threw a punch on a referee! I love PB, but he was never a physical threat at any point. Meanwhile, Taker gets distracted by DiBiase, which leads to Kama driving Taker into the ringpost. Kama suplexes the Dead Man onto the casket. Now he’s trying to piledrive Undertaker, but Taker backdrops out of that. Kama hits a powerslam and tries to cover, but this is a casket match you dumb SOB. So Kama then hits the rear chinlock. Kama uses the ropes for leverage! Paul comes over and knocks the feet off. So Kama reapplies the hold in the middle of the ring. I will say that even if Kama wasn’t the most over of Charles Wright’s personas, it was the best one for a long match like this one. Papa Shango & Godfather couldn’t go this long. Undertaker back suplexes out of that chinlock. Kama hits another kick. Taker fights back with kicks, but Kama hits another strike. Taker with the flying clothesline. Both men go flying into the casket! Kama comes out first, but Taker has his legs. Taker lands some strikes and gets out first, but Kama follows him out. Kama hits a swinging neckbreaker back in the ring. Taker comes back, hits the chokeslam. He motions for the casket to be opened, then motions for the Tombstone. Hits the Tombstone, then rolls Kama into the casket.

Winner: The Undertaker (16:26 via casket closing)
Match Rating: **

Kinda drug a bit, but I can’t deny that the Pittsburgh people were into Undertaker here. He was more over in Pittsburgh than two Undertakers were in Chicago.

Todd recaps the issues between Bret Hart & Jerry Lawler, which led to the match we’re going to see next. A wrestling dentist? That’ll never work!

Isaac Yankem D.D.S. vs. Bret “Hitman” Hart: There’s no polishing this pig of Isaac Yankem D.D.S.. Just a horrendous presentation. A big ugly looking dentist with an entrance theme of drilling. I can’t imagine anybody thought this thing would actually get over, even if Glen Jacobs had more wrestling ability than anybody on the planet. Presentation matters, and this was the drizzling shits. Bret talks to Todd & calls Isaac a tooth fairy. Isaac powers out of the go-behind. Chokehold by Yankem into the corner. Yankem has the advantage early on. Hart dives into a powerslam, but evades the elbowdrop. Bret enters the Irish whip contest, it was close but I gotta give Holly the advantage. It’s early yet. Hart delivers some clotheslines to Yankem, including one over the top rope. Then a tope! Back in the ring, a second rope clothesline leads to a Sharpshooter attempt, Yankem blocks but gets headbutted low. An O’Connor Roll gets two. A backslide gets two. Yankem drops Hart on the ropes throat first. Isaac drops an elbow for a two count. Jerry is very excited at ringside, in contrast to this reviewer and most of the fans. Mike Chioda had some pretty fast counts in this match, I can only assume he wanted to get out of this as soon as possible. Then he yanks Yankem’s hair, but Yankem still clotheslines Bret out of the ring. Yankem drives Bret’s back into the ringpost. Yankem does a legdrop off the top rope onto Bret’s neck hanging over the top rope, it kind of hits, which is impressive enough I guess. Short-arm clothesline gets two. Bret kicked out so hard that Yankem flew out of the ring, then Bret dives onto him and delivers some punches. Bret tosses Yankem back into the ring. He hits a bulldog for two. If this was 2022, people would be losing their minds over somebody shorter than their opponent kicking ass this big. Bret hits a side Canadian legsweep for two. Backbreaker, then up top for the driving elbow. Bret goes for the Sharpshooter, and gets it locked in. Here comes Lawler! He puts Yankem on the ropes, which apparently means the hold must be broken. Some shoddy officiating there. Hart backdrops Yankem over the top, but Yankem lands on his feet, dragss Bret outside and throws him into the steps. Bret gets tossed in the ring, Yankem goes up top and Bret tosses him off. 10 punches in the corner. Bret then crotches Yankem on the ringpost and wraps some cord around his ankles so he can deliver some stomps. Bret then goes after Lawler on the outside. Yankem goes up to the top rope and delivers a double axehandle to the outside like he’s Randy Savage. Back in the ring, Bret knocks Yankem down, then Lawler trips Bret after. They wrap Bret’s neck in the ropes and the referee finally calls for the bell. They’re trying to hang Bret in the ropes!

Winner: Bret Hart (16:08 via disqualification)
Match Rating: *3/4

There was some good action here, but nothing Bret did was going to make people care about Isaac Yankem D.D.S..

Dok Hendrix asks Razor Ramon if history will repeat itself. Razor tells the Boy Toy that it will. If Shawn is ready to dance, then Razor leads.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (c): I always thought Razor had the coolest pyro during this time period. We mentioned presentation during Yankem’s entrance, and Ramon was presented like a tippy top guy in 1994-95. We can probably guess why he didn’t get a shot with the big title, but I definitely thought it was going to happen at the time. Michaels’ blue zebra tights were a good look, dunno why he didn’t use them more often. Dok Hendrix joins Vince on commentary, Lawler left after his attack on Bret Hart. The referees are having some difficulty figuring out exactly how high and where to position the title belt. To be fair, this was like the third ladder match in WWF history, not like recent years where they had them every other week. Both men tease their finisher within the first minute of action or so. Ramon & Michaels exchange strikes, then Michaels flips over the turnbuckle to the floor on an Irish whip. Michaels stops Ramon from retrieving the ladder in the aisleway, but then gets suplexed from the ring to the floor not long after. HBK taking big bumps will be a trend here. In retrospect it’s easy to see why he had to take some time off. Both men tease their finishers again and end up clotheslining each other down. Ramon whips Michaels into the corner and ends up doing a fallaway slam off the second rope. Sid watches TV in a normal manner backstage. Very strange to see. Ramon gets the ladder in the ring and starts climbing, but Michaels knocks him off. Michaels tries to climb up, Razor yanks his pants down to the delight of the crowd. Michaels then gets knocked off the ladder and ends up with his legs entwined with the ladder. Razor stomps the ladder, causing pain to Shawn’s leg. Michaels’ knee is repeatedly introduced to the ladder, then he gets clipped like he’s Nancy Kerrigan. Bodyslam onto the ladder. Michaels’ knee won’t even allow him to get whipped into the corner. Ramon tosses Michaels onto the ladder in the corner in a kneebreaker. Michaels manages to vault Ramon over the top rope, but that doesn’t stop the onslaught. Ramon with a drop toe hold! He takes the ladder out of the corner and just lets it fall onto Michaels’ leg. I laughed. Michaels manages to knock Ramon off the ladder. Shawn then shoves Razor into the ladder. Ramon tries to climb up, Michaels follows him up and back suplexes him down. Ramon gets whipped into the ladder in the corner a couple of times, and the momentum has shifted. Shawn with a bodyslam, he climbs up the ladder and hits a moonsault! Some punches for Razor, and Shawn goes back up the ladder. He’s going for the splash and finds nothing but canvas. Both men eventually climb up the ladder and exchange punches. They both fall off and straddle the top rope in uncomfortable fashion. Michaels gets the ladder and tries to hit Ramon with it, but Ramon evades and they both tumble to the floor. Michaels gets the ladder into the ring, Ramon looks under the ring and finds another ladder! Vince is perplexed, as typically ladder matches only involve one ladder! Now they involve like twenty. Ramon manages to Razor’s Edge Michaels off the ladder. He takes too long to climb the ladder though, and Michaels meets him by climbing the other ladder. Michaels dives for the belt but comes up a little short. That looked like it hurt. Razor goes for the Edge again and gets backdropped out of the ring! Michaels climbs up and reaches for the title, but still can’t get it. Michaels is furious! The third time will be the charm.

Winner: Shawn Michaels (24:58 via retrieval of the Intercontinental Championship)
Match Rating: ****3/4

Ramon presents Michaels with the belt afterwards in a show of sportsmanship. Obviously this was the best thing on this card by a country mile, and the best match WWF produced in 1995 unless I’m forgetting something. I also feel the need to point out that this was better than any ladder match I’ve seen in recent memory, as nothing about this came off as horribly contrived.

Dean Douglas presents us with the definition of “bad”. He sees why Razor Ramon is called the “bad guy”, as he came up short in his performance. Razor arrives in the classroom and takes exception. Dean eats a punch, then scratches the chalkboard.

While King Mabel makes his royal entrance, Diesel talks to Todd. He’s gonna get medieval on him!

WWF Championship Match: King Mabel (w/Sir Mo) vs. Diesel (c): There wasn’t a lot of time left in the PPV window for this one, but somehow I doubt Diesel minded. He likely told Razor & Shawn to take as long as they needed. Diesel & Mabel go right to work. Mabel shoulderblocks Diesel and tells the crowd he’s going to be the first black champion. Diesel clotheslines Mabel in the corner a couple of times and hits his trademark elbows. Diesel thinks he’s Hulk Hogan for a second and goes for a slam. That doesn’t work, but he does manage to shoulderblock Mabel to the floor. Diesel actually vaults over the top rope and splashes onto Mabel! Diesel ends up getting whipped back-first into the ringpost. Mabel runs into a boot and both men fall down onto the floor. Back into the ring, and Diesel delivers some knees in the corner. Mabel reverses the whip and slams Diesel down for two. He then drops down onto Diesel’s backside, which pretty much renders Diesel useless for the rest of this match. Mabel takes Diesel into the corner, then slams him down. Mabel knocks the referee out of the ring, then misses an elbowdrop. Sir Mo joins Mabel in the attack on Diesel, and Lex Luger comes down to try and make the save! Diesel doesn’t buy it, he clotheslines Luger onto the floor. Diesel then gets sent to the floor, and Mabel legdrops him there. Luger goes after Mo and takes him to the back. Mabel hits a belly to belly and covers for two. Then he goes to the second rope and misses a splash. Diesel goes to the second rope and hits a forearm/clothesline for the three count.

Winner: Diesel (9:15 via pinfall)
Match Rating: 1/4*

They had no chance of following that ladder match, but it still went worse than most people could have predicted. Diesel tried before he got sat on. As for the Luger run-in, it seemed confusing to some, but I saw it as Diesel not trusting Luger since Luger’s tag team partner Davey Boy Smuth turned on him last week. Smith didn’t turn on Luger, so for all Diesel knew they were still friends. Not that it mattered anyway, as Luger was out of the company a week after this show. The only thing this match really had going for it was the crowd being nice.

Diesel celebrates as the PPV window expires.

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

At the time, this event was met with almost universal praise. I feel like this was due to the awesomeness of the ladder match making people forget about the rest of the card. Yes, Shawn Michaels & Razor Ramon had an incredible performance. Other than that, there wasn't much to write home about. Hakushi & 1-2-3 Kid had a nice opener, the Barry Horowitz story was cute, but everything else on the undercard was mediocre at the very best. For the second straight year, we had a main event that had no chance in Hades of living up to the match before it. The WWF in 1995 was in a rough place, and it'd take some time to turn things around.