Survivor Series Flashback Report - 15 years ago
November 19, 1995
Top Ten Things To Know!

(1) Main Event: Bret Hart pinned Diesel (Kevin Nash) to capture the WWF Title at 24:50.

(2) Semi-Main Event Oddball Pairings: Shawn Michaels & Ahmed Johnson & British Bulldog & Sid defeated Razor Ramon & Yokozuna & Dean Douglas & Owen Hart in the Wildcard match.

(3) Classic Mid-1990s Survivor Series Team Names: The Underdogs, The Darkside, The Royals.

(4) Triple H, Is That You?: Triple H, then Hunter Hearst Helmsley, teamed with Mabel, Jerry Lawler, and Issac Yankem (Kane).

(5) The Undertaker Gets: Taker teamed with Savio Vega, Henry Godwinn, and Fatu opposite Hunter's team.

(6) Ted DiBiase Gets To Manage: Skip, Rad Radford, Tom Prichard, and 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman).

(7) Who's Still In WWE In 2010: Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Triple H, Issac Yankem (Kane), Goldust, Jerry Lawler.

(8) Announcing Team: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig.

(9) Bad Angle From WWF 1995: Todd Pettengill was interviewing a President Clinton impersonator at ringside prior to Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Goldust.

(10) Foreshadowing For The Next 15 Years: Undertaker quickly disposed of Yankem (Kane) with a Tombstone and a pinfall.

***

Survivor Series 1995
November 19, 1995
Landover, Md. at U.S. Air Arena

The show opened with the introduction of the returning Mr. Perfect who joined Vince McMahon and Jim Ross in the announcing booth.

(1) The Underdogs (Barry Horowitz & Marty Jannetty & Hakushi & Bob Holly) beat The BodyDonnas (Skip & Rad Radford & Tom Prichard & 1-2-3 Kid (replacing Jean Pierre Lafitte who had abdominal surgery last week) mgd. by Ted DiBiase) at 18:12. Holly replaced Avitar (Al Snow) because management believed Holly deserved a pay-per-view payoff. This has led to speculation that Snow's gimmick may be repackaged.

Order of elimination was as follows: Holly pinned Prichard with a flying bodyblock. Skip pinned Holly with a roll-up, Radford pinned Hakushi with a handful of tights, Horowitz pinned Radford with an inside cradle, 1-2-3 Kid pinned Horowitz, and Marty Jannetty pinned Skip with a top rope powerbomb leaving just Jannetty vs. Kid. Sid then came to ringside and snapped Jannetty's neck over the top rope leading to Kid pinning Jannetty. Sid picked up Kid and put him on his shoulders. (***)

Footage aired of Razor Ramon backstage throwing a monitor across the locker room in frustration with Kid's alliance with Sid and DiBiase.

(2) Bertha Faye & Aja Kong & Lioness Aska & Tomoko Watanabe beat Alundra Blayze & Kyoko Inoue & Chaparita Asari & Sakie Hasegawa at 9:55. The match seemed extremely rushed with six pinfalls taking place over the course of nine minutes at such a rapid pace that the pinfalls lacked credibility. The order of elimination was as follows: Blayze pinned Aska after a German waistlock suplex, Kong pinned Hasegawa after a suplex, Kong pinned Asari after a buttdrop, Blayze pinned Watanabe after a piledriver, Blayze pinned Faye with a German suplex, and Kong pinned Blayze after a spinning backfist to the face. The Japanese women didn't have a chance to show what they are capable of and the spots they did do were at times poorly timed. They had a few good flashes. (*1/4)

(3) Goldust pinned Bam Bam Bigelow at 7:37. Tod Pettengill was interviewing the President Clinton impersonator at ringside when Bigelow's ring entrance fireworks went off. The "President" ducked as if he feared being shot and "Secret Service agents" covered the "President's" back. Goldust attacked Bigelow at the beginning. Goldust dominated offense throughout the match. Bigelow made a brief comeback at 7:00, but Goldust quickly surprised him with a bulldog and a pinfall. Vince McMahon classified it as an upset. (*3/4)

(4) The Darkside (Undertaker & Savio Vega & Henry Godwinn & Fatu) defeated The Royals (Mabel & Jerry Lawler & Issac Yankem & Hunter Hearst Helmsley) at 13:15. Undertaker made his return to the ring after his eye injury. He revealed upon entering the ring a new facegear molded to fit the contours of his face. He looked much more creepy, sort of like at the end of that Twilight Zone episode where everybody ended up deformed in the face in the expressions of their personalities.

The order of elimination was as follows: Undertaker pinned Lawler after a tombstone piledriver. Before getting tombstoned, Lawler tried to tag someone else, but no one would tag in. As soon as Lawler got pinned, though, Yankem ran into the ring and attacked Undertaker. Undertaker, though, quickly disposed of Yankem with a tombstone and a pinfall. Hunter then entered the ring. Hunter soon bailed out and tried to retreat to the locker room. Henry Godwinn somehow saw that attempt to escape coming and he was prepared as he stood in the aisle with a slop bucket. That caused Hunter to turn back around and head back to the ring. Undertaker yanked Hunter over the top rope by the throat and chokeslammed him to the mat for a pinfall. Mabel then left, deciding he would rather be counted out than face Undertaker. Everyone on the Dark Side survived (sort of ironic, huh?). The end of the match was clearly designed to give Undertaker a strong push and reestablish his character. Too bad he is still stuck with in feuds based around the repetitive, cardboard angle of trying to regain his stolen, melted down urn. (*3/4)

(5) Shawn Michaels & Ahmed Johnson & British Bulldog & Sid defeated Razor Ramon & Yokozuna & Dean Douglas & Owen Hart in the Wildcard match at 25:17. The match opened with Michaels vs. Owen. Owen then tagged in Douglas who remained in the ring for the next several minutes. He eventually fell victim to a superkick for the pinfall. Ramon distracted Douglas leading to the pinfall at 7:11, so it wasn't a totally clean job.

Razor Ramon pinned Sid after one of the better spots of the night. Sid held Ramon in place for a Michaels superkick. Michaels executed the kick, but Ramon escaped Sid's grip so Michaels kicked Sid instead. Michaels, rather than show concern for the backfiring of his move, looked down at Sid and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "Oh well." Ramon then pinned Sid to eliminate him at 16:07. Sid, in his anger, powerbombed Michaels before leaving.

A minute later Yokozuna entered and put a nervehold on Michaels. Owen soon tagged back in for most of the best exchanges of the night with Michaels. Ahmed tigerbombed Owen to score the pinfall. DiBiase led Sid and Kid back to the ring. Kid got on the apron. Ramon hit Kid, but Bulldog then surprised Ramon with a powerslam for the three count at 23:57.

That left Yokozuna against Michaels, Bulldog, and Johnson. Yokozuna first faced off against Michaels. Yokozuna legdropped Michaels and then went for the Bonsai splash, but Michaels moved. Michaels tagged in Johnson who bodyslammed Yokozuna. Bulldog made the save for Yokozuna even though Yokozuna was on the opposing team. Michaels and Johnson clotheslined Bulldog over the top rope in retaliation. Michaels then superkicked Yokozuna and Johnson splashed him to score the pinfall at 27:05. In a funny moment, Jim Cornette and British Bulldog celebrated as if they had a lot to do with the victory for their team. (****)

(6) Bret Hart pinned Diesel to capture the WWF Title at 24:50. The early part of the match was clearly paced such that the two wrestlers would be fresh enough to perform past the 20 minute mark. The hype for this match was so thorough that every move meant something in the early minutes. Bret and Diesel exchanged blows with Diesel outpowering Bret sending him to the corner. The action spilled to ringside early with Diesel dropping Bret on the guard rail and then the apron. Diesel choked Bret against the rail at ringside. At 4:25 they exchanged blows in mid-ring once again. Diesel rammed Bret into the ringpost. At 7:45 Bret fought back by biting Diesel's arm and then raking his eyes before applying a sleeper. At 9:30 Bret began working over Diesel's leg and then applied the figure-four. Diesel reached the ropes at 10:20 and, even though it was a no-DQ match, the referee ordered Bret to break the hold (or what?).

Bret continued to work over Diesel's leg wrapping it around the ringpost twice. At 13:00 Bret tied Diesel to the ringpost with a microphone chord. Bret went to hit Diesel with a chair, but Diesel blocked it. Bret tried again and nailed Diesel on the back with the chair and rammed the edge of the chair into his leg three times. At 16:00 Diesel knocked Bret off the top rope and then untied his leg. Bret laid on the mat just long enough for Diesel to untie the knot.

Diesel tried to gain some momentum to splash Bret who was draped throat-first over the middle rope, but couldn't get much height due to his bum leg. At 20:00 Bret began his trademark series of moves, including a Russian leg sweep for a two count. Bret clotheslined Diesel over the top rope. Bret went for a topé onto Diesel, but Diesel moved and Bret hit the floor hard. Diesel made it back into the ring first. When Bret began to reenter the ring, Diesel charged into him, knocking him hard and fast off the apron and onto the Spanish announcing desk at ringside. He crashed through the table and landed hard, knocking over several monitors and other equipment. Diesel went to get Bret and brought him back into the ring, bashing him with a few forearms first. Diesel took his time getting back into the ring, as if to give Bret a moment to recover.

Diesel raised his arm and signalled for his jackknife; boos and cheers could be heard. Diesel went to pick up Bret for the jackknife, but Bret was dead weight and dropped to the mat. Ross suggested Diesel just cover him for a pin. Diesel bent over to pick up Bret, but Bret surprised him with a small package for a three count.

Diesel sat up immediately and mouthed, "Mother f-----." He then shoved the referee to the ground and jackknifed Bret to the mat twice. Diesel was mad that he had been soft rather than going in for the kill when he had the chance. He was also visibly upset with Bret for playing possum at the end. Diesel shouted, ˆI'm back." McMahon called Diesel's actions a poor display of sportsmanship. Diesel walked to the locker room with his arms raised absorbing the cheers of the fans who thought "he was cool again."

The match itself was a bit too plodding. Had there been a few minutes here and there of quicker-paced action it would have broken the methodical pace that otherwise was credible and true to the build-up of the match. (***)

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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