Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 39 (9/24 - 9/30)
The Bill Watts era begins in the WWF, Bret wrestles a pirate, three titles on the line in one match with a screwy finish, LIVE Monday Night Wars, IWGP Heavyweight title action, CMLL, and plenty more!
If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook, unless otherwise stated.
How ya now?
Last week was an insane amount of content. This week isn’t quite as hefty, but we still have some fun stuff to look at. We officially start the short-lived Bill Watts regime in the WWF, we look at the third In Your House event, we hit a milestone in the Monday Night Wars, we get an IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense, plenty of WCW nonsense, El Hjio del Santo returning to CMLL, and more!
Well…
SEPTEMBER 24th
WWF In Your House 3: Triple Header
Emanating from Saginaw, Michigan, this is a mildly noteworthy show in that it was the first event with “Cowboy” Bill Watts as Vince McMahon’s second in command. Watts was plucked out of retirement to lead the booking and creative while Vince focused on the executive side of things and announcing. As a brief primer, Watts was a legendary promoter and booker, specifically with Mid South Wrestling in the 1980s. Years after Mid South was sold to Jim Crockett Promotions, he was put in charge of WCW in 1992. That didn’t exactly work out due to his ideas being outdated (banning top rope moves being his biggest bonehead decision) and the draconian way with which he ran the ship. This made him supremely disliked among the boys. Racist comments printed in the PW Torch newsletter got in the hands of Turner Executive and Atlanta institution Hank Aaron, and that sealed the Cowboy’s fate.
Let’s just say that some executives and talent in the WWF weren’t exactly jumping for joy at the new appointment, especially guys like Diesel who got into it with Watts when working in WCW years prior. The Cowboy didn’t win many supporters with his old-school rules for the dressing room (faces and heels being unable to hang out, no playing cards backstage, etc.). Watts also butted heads with Vince himself quite a bit due to the latter’s insistence on being hands-on with the product despite hiring the former to be in complete control. They also disagreed on the direction of the WWF title (Watts pushed for Bret Hart while Vince wanted Shawn Michaels, which clashed with Watts’ “tough guy” philosophy). After three weeks, Watts handed in his notice because Vince just couldn’t keep his hands off the product. Watts would be gone before 1995 was out.
Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte - God bless Bret. The Fed kept putting him in there with all these new guys in the midcard, a lot of them either with no future direction (Hakushi) or pigeonholed into silly occupational gimmicks (Isaac Yankem and Lafitte), and Bret did what he could to elevate them and give them great matches (or serviceable, in Yankem's case).
Honestly though, a pirate gimmick may not be inherently bad for a low-card attraction. Who knows how over Paul Burchill, who took a crack at it during the height of “Pirates of the Caribbean”-mania, could have gotten had he not been injured. However, this feud centered around Lafitte plundering Bret's jacket and swiping the sunglasses he gives to kids. That's it.
At least Lafitte is a great worker and has had past chemistry with Bret.
It's wild to think that Lafitte is STILL working to this day in Impact Wrestling/TNA as PCO, was a former Ring of Honor World Champion, and routinely takes ridiculous bumps in his mid-50s. PCO must have eaten some form of Devil Fruit during his seafarin’ days.
Hell, Lafitte even reprised the pirate character at CHIKARA King of Trios 2018 and murdered Cajun Crawdad.
The Hitman suicide-dives onto Lafitte to start things off! Bret pulls the jacket over Lafitte’s head and hockey-punches him! Yeah! Back in, Bret works over Lafitte until an eyepoke turns things into JPL’s favor. Blind charge misses, and Bret works the arm. Lafitte blocks a hiptoss and absolutely clobbers Bret with a clothesline! Lafitte chokes Bret and stomps on his abdomen.
Bret posts himself shoulder-first when charging into Lafitte, then soon takes his trademark sternum-first turnbuckle bump. Lafitte gets backdropped out of the ring, but he lands on his feet and whips Bret into the stairs! Bret fires back with punches but quickly runs into a spinebuster.
Bret fights out of some chinlocks, but is cut off by Lafitte every time. Lafitte lands a side slam and hits a top rope legdrop for two! Lafitte signals for the *Ron Burgundy voice* Cannonball (front-flip senton), but Bret evades! Hart makes a comeback, but Lafitte blocks a Sharpshooter by pushing Hart out of the ring. Lafitte follows with a tope con hilo…that Bret dodges! Nasty splat on the floor for Lafitte.
It's soon his turn to eat the steel steps! Back in, Bret whips Lafitte sternum-first into the turnbuckle and mounts his usual comeback, but Lafitte counters Bret's elbow with a boot to the face. Lafitte catches a crucifix and hits a rolling fireman's carry! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE! Bret kicks out at two, but Lafitte catches a charging Bret with a knee to the face. A pin with the feet on the ropes gets two!
Bret dropkicks JPL in the face, but Lafitte counters a bulldog by sending Bret careening into the turnbuckle for another nasty sternum bump. Bret gets a flying forearm to knock Lafitte into the ropes, but the pirate dodges a crossbody, leaving Bret to get tangled up in the ropes. Lafitte misses a rop-rope splash, and they both end up clotheslining each other down. Bret grapevines the legs from the ground and works his way into the Sharpshooter for the submission!
**** - Yeah, this one still kicks ass. Bret does it again as he has a clever, hard-hitting, athletic match with a very game opponent in Lafitte. I loved both guys having each other scouted, so they had to adjust their strategies in order to get the upper hand. It was nice to see Lafitte counter a lot of Bret’s signature offense, giving this match a more unique feel than other Hitman matches.
Lafitte was a great combination of power, agility, and the willingness to throw his body around like a bag of meat for our entertainment. Unfortunately, like several others around this time, he ran afoul of The Kliq backstage and ended up gone by November. I’ll get into that one in a future article.
Post-match, Bret reclaims his precious booty, that being his jacket.
We clip to the end of Diesel (c) & Shawn Michaels (c) vs. British Bulldog & Yokozuna (c) in the Triple Header main event. As discussed before, all three titles (Diesel’s WWF title, Shawn’s IC belt, and Owen Hart & Yokozuna’s tag titles) are up for grabs in this one match. If Diesel or Shawn get pinned, whoever scores the fall gets their title, and if Shawn or Diesel pick up the win, The Two Dudes with Attitudes win the tag belts.
So…where the hell is Owen? Well, earlier in the show, it was explained that Owen had to leave as his wife was going into labor, so fellow Camp Cornetter Davey Boy Smith subbed in.
Bulldog clotheslines the crap out of Shawn and double-teams him with Yoko. Yoko locks in a nerve hold, then threatens a Banzai drop as the xenophobic fans chant “USA! USA!”.
Shawn moves and it's HOT TAG DIESEL! Big Daddy Cool runs wild on Bulldog and it's a four-way fray! The Dudes whip Bulldog into Yoko in the corner, and Yokozuna falls on top of Davey Boy! Big boot to Bulldog, but Yokozuna hits a Samoan drop! Superkick from Shawn to Yoko! Bulldog hits a powerslam on Diesel, but Shawn breaks up the pin!
Hey, Owen’s here! He runs in and gets immediately Jackknifed and pinned by Diesel! We have new tag team champions…or so we thought.
The PPV ended with Shawn and Diesel as tag champs, but they were stripped of the titles on RAW the next night because Owen wasn't a legal participant in the match. Kind of a dickish bait-and-switch here as the fans were sold on a guaranteed title change. Technically, they did get one as this reign is counted in the tag title lineage, but it's still not exactly the best way to build trust in your paying audience. Ah, wrestling.
Rumor has it that the original result was meant to be Shawn and Diesel holding the titles, then end up splitting and feuding, but Vince waffled at the last minute and changed the story to what we ended up with. We’ll see more about how this plays out when we get to RAW.
Other stuff that happened:
Fatu pinned Hunter Hearst-Helmsley in a pre-show dark match.
Savio Vega pinned Waylon Mercy with a spinning heel kick in Mercy’s one and only PPV match.
This was pretty much the end of Mercy in the WWF as his body was shot to hell and had to step away from in-ring competition. He’d leave the WWF within the next month or so.
Sycho Sid defeated Henry Godwinn with a powerbomb after a distraction from Ted DiBiase.
H.O.G. got some revenge by dumping his slop bucket on DiBiase after the match.
Believe it or not, this was the first PPV win of the year for the Million Dollar Corporation. Holy shit, that faction sucked.
The British Bulldog pinned Bam Bam Bigelow after a powerslam as Bulldog further ascends the card while Bam Bam continues to freefall.
Dean Douglas pinned Razor Ramon with a sloppy roll-up in a plodding match that served more to further the Ramon/1-2-3 Kid situation than to do anything for Douglas.
The ref was bumped, so the 1-2-3 Kid ran in to count the fall. Razor saw Kid and angrily shoved him out of the ring, leading to the roll-up.
Bob Backlund introduced Douglas as his new charge in a partnership that really wouldn’t last.
Goldust defeated Bob “Spark Plug” Holly in a post-show dark match.
Ahmed Johnson (YEAH!) pinned Skip in another post-show dark match.
The Undertaker defeated Mabel in the final dark match of the evening.
The show ended up scoring a 0.7 buyrate, or 160,000 purchases. It’s down from Summerslam, but it was slightly up from In Your House 2 and King of the Ring. However, things get REALLY ugly at the next PPV, In Your House 4.
SEPTEMBER 25th
NJPW G1 Climax Special 1995, Night 9
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Keiji Muto (c) vs. Junji Hirata - This is Muto's third defense for this title reign. Hirata is currently one half of the IWGP tag champs with Shinya Hashimoto.
They take it to the mat to start, with Hirata going after the arm and working some amateur-style grappling. Muto escapes and goes after the arm himself. They then go after each others’ legs.
The nifty matwork continues until Hirata hits a headbutt, a clothesline in the corner, and a DDT. Muto comes back with a spinning back kick and that SWEET elbowdrop. After a few moments, Hirata peppers Muto with headbutts and kicks until Muto catches one and lands a dragonscrew legwhip! Legbar is immediately broken up via the ropes. Hirata catches a handspring elbow and attempts a release German suplex, eventually landing one after resistance from Muto.
Lariat from Hirata gets two, then a bridging German nets another near-fall. Diving headbutt misses, and Muto follows with a dropkick and a Frankensteiner for two! Springboard dropkick, but Hirata soon fires back with a lariat! We soon get a frenetic strike exchange that ends with Hirata getting a Ligerbomb for a VERY close two!
Hirata hits another German and lands the diving headbutt…for two! The crowd is going bonkers at this point. Muto ‘ranas out of another powerbomb for two, then hits a missile dropkick to the back of the head. Top rope Frankensteiner and moonsault ends it. Muto retains!
***3/4 - The winner was a foregone conclusion as I can't imagine anyone thought Hirata was walking out with the belt, but the match definitely got exciting in the last few minutes. The opening matwork was also really well-done as it looked like a genuine struggle instead of something used as time padding. I’m not really sure how Hirata earned the title match, but he did acquit himself well, and Muto is having a very good year bell-to-bell.
WWF Monday Night RAW
We come to a major first in the Monday Night Wars: the first head-to-head meeting of live broadcasts.
Marty Jannetty vs. Skip - This is actually Marty’s first televised match since returning to the WWF after disappearing in early 1994 due to the Chuck Austin trial. We saw him earlier this year in ECW and Smoky Mountain.
Marty shines early, hitting a couple of dropkicks to send Skip into the waiting arms of Sunny.
What's looking rougher in 2023? Sunny's rap sheet or Marty Jannetty's foot? I'm not posting images of the latter. You can head down that unfortunate highway yourself.
Skip fights back briefly, but Jannetty regains the upper hand and sneaks a hug with Sunny. Sunny goes to slap him, but Marty ducks, causing her to strike Skip! That one got a good pop out of the crowd. Back in, Jannetty works the arm but he gets tripped up by Sunny, allowing Skip to hit a Test-like gutwrench powerbomb! Nice!
Skip hits a suplex while we cut to Dean Douglas HA HA taking notes.
Skip continues to work over Jannetty as RAW ROLLS ON…
…and we're back with Skip still in control, hitting Jannetty with a lariat to give us Marty’s 360 sell. Marty catches an up-and-over and manages a release German suplex after countering Skip's attempt at one. Marty catches a hurricanrana with a powerbomb and slugs away at Skip, getting a kneelift for two. Sunny distracts Jannetty, but he backdrops a charging Skip out of the ring. Jannetty tries a suplex into the ring, but Sunny holds his foot down, allowing Skip to fall on top for two! Marty hits a Rocker Dropper and a top rope fistdrop for three!
**3/4 - This was a pretty solid little TV match. Marty looked fine in his return, if slightly rusty and slow as he hadn't wrestled for a couple of months. Both guys worked well together, had some fun offense, and Skip did a great job bumping around for Jannetty.
As discussed earlier, the tag title win by the Two Dudes with Attitudes at In Your House was mired in controversy because Owen Hart was pinned despite not being an authorized participant in the match. Due to pressure from Jim Cornette and his attorney, Clarence Mason, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon stripped The Dudes of the belts and gave them back to Owen and Yokozuna. However, Owen and Yoko were made to defend the belts against The Smoking Gunns TONIGHT.
We cut to Owen Hart & Yokozuna (c) vs. The Smoking Gunns for the WWF Tag Team Championship in progress. Owen hits Billy with a neckbreaker, but Daddy Ass rolls through a crossbody for two.
The champs work Billy over for a while,with double-teams and a LONG nervehold from Yoko. Like, you could have done a full pacifist run in Undertale in the time he had that sucker latched on. Billy fights out, and Yokozuna misses an elbowdrop. Billy, like an idiot, misses a legdrop instead of going for the tag, but he dodges a splash. Owen tries to cut Billy off, but it's HOT TAG BART!
Bang Bang Bart is a house afire as Owen bumps all over the place. The Gunns whip Owen into Yoko and hit the Sidewinder. Yoko tries a splash to break up the pin, but ends up landing on Owen!
Bart covers for the pin and the titles! Diesel and Shawn Michaels come out to celebrate with the now two-time champs. Man, Yoko looked ROUGH out there from what was shown, and it would only get worse for him as time went on. Owen sure gave it a go out there, though.
We now pick it up at the end of The Undertaker vs. The British Bulldog. Taker sits up after multiple suplexes and hits the chokeslam. Bulldog worked the leg earlier, and Undertaker is actually selling it! Mabel ambles in and hits a massive belly-to-belly on Taker for the DQ.
Bulldog powerslams Taker, so Shawn and Diesel run in to chase the baddies off. Owen and Yokozuna come out, so The Smoking Gunns, literally fresh out of the shower, run in to keep THEM at bay.
We get an ad for WRESTLEMANIA XI: THE SPECIAL. It was basically a replay of the two top matches (Shawn vs. Diesel and LT vs. Bam Bam) on Fox.
We come back with all the faces standing tall.
WCW Monday Nitro
We cut to Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart in the locker room. Hulk is sporting a neckbrace after The Giant’s necksnappery at Fall Brawl. Hogan is coming for that STINKY Giant and challenges him to not only a WCW title match, but also to a battle of MONSTER TRUCKS!
#NeckStrong
Hogan not only threatens to slam The Giant in Detroit, but he plans to put him in the ground next to his father!
This was INSANE. Hilarious, but SO over the top, and it only gets worse from here.
We cut to Randy Savage, who is with Gene Okerlund in the ring. Savage calls out Lex Luger, who jogs to the ring. Luger calls out Savage's lack of RESPECT for him. Anyone who would dare “slap the Total Package” (giggity) lacks common sense and care for their well-being.
Luger wants a match and puts up his title shot AND his WCW career! Savage accepts! The match is SET for next week!
Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman now join Gene in the ring. I can only dream of achieving the level of drip Arn achieves here.
Pillman makes fun of Ric Flair for begging people to be his partner and looks delightfully unhinged in general. Because he was. Arn says the better man WON at Fall Brawl and calls out Flair's transgressions against Randy Savage and Sting, people who Flair recently sought partnership with. What goes around, comes around.
In this battle of live broadcasts, the WWF picked up a decisive victory with a 2.7 rating against WCW’s 1.9. The post-PPV bump was real here.
SEPTEMBER 26
ECW Hardcore TV
Tod Gordon joins Lance Wright as a rematch between Raven & Stevie Richards and The Pitbulls is announced. Both Gordon and Bill Alfonso will be guest referees. Gordon promises fairness, but Alfonso, who is wearing his referee’s bowtie OVER his cervical collar, steps into frame. This is a very #NeckStrong week at The Dive.
He pledges revenge on ECW for what 911 did to him at Gangsta’s Paradise.
Gordon threatens to kick his ass if he doesn't get out of his face, so Fonzie accuses him of wanting to beat up a defenseless man. This dynamic is great, and the Fonzie character continues to be tremendous fun. I imagine Joel Gertner took note of Fonzie’s neck attire.
SEPTEMBER 29th
CMLL Super Viernes
El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas - Hijo del Santo had actually just returned to CMLL from AAA, a move that CMLL REALLY needed at the time. This gives them a huge star and one of the best workers south of the border.
I love that Corona ring.
PRIMERA CAIDA: Casas goes to the eyes and grinds Santo on the mat, but Santo escapes and works the arm. Santo chops Casas out of the ring, and they scrap on the mat when Casas re-enters. Santo gets an anklescissors and throws Casas around a few times with it.
Casas escapes and pounds at Santo, but Santo soon hits a rebound dropkick. Casas grounds him with a sleeper which Santo breaks via the ropes, but Casas dropkicks the hell out of him and stomps him flat. Santo soon comes back with an elbowdrop for two, but Casas catches a hurricanrana with a powerbomb. Scorpion deathlock gets the submission and the first fall for Casas.
SEGUNDA CAIDA: Santo comes out of the gate with dropkicks and rams Casas’ head repeatedly into the ringpost. Casas is BUSTED OPEN!
Casas dodges a dropkick and rips away at Santo's mask! Casas continues punching away at Hijo del Santo and dropkicks him in the corner. Casas beats the crud out of Santo in the corner and elbows the ref down! He got him good, too as that nets a few replays. A new ref comes in, and Santo sunset-flip powerbombs Casas to the floor!
The second referee considers this a martinete (piledriver) and disqualifies El Hijo del Santo, thus giving Negro Casas the win in two straight falls!
Post-match, Santo continues to attack Casas, then poses for the Arena Mexico fans.
***1/2 - Man, these guys were COOKING until the match got cut off with the screwy finish. Solid, engaging matwork in the first fall, but that second fall was a REALLY good fight with blood, brawling, and mask rippage. This was meant to be the opening chapter of a longer narrative, though, so it served its purpose. I just wanted to see more of these guys beating the shit out of each other.
SEPTEMBER 30th
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
This week on KESSLER'S KORNER, we have Cornette’s Militia.
Tommy Rich addresses Buddy Landel ahead of their series of “Four Faces of Fear” matches. Jim Cornette plugs the series, which includes a Tennessee Chain match in Knoxville, Falls Count Anywhere in Morristown, First Blood in Cookeville, and a Barbed Wire match in Johnson City. Jim takes more shots at Landel's demons, accusing him of acquiring his courage from alcohol. Cornette goes after Landel's wife and kids, so Budro comes out to get him some! He fights off Rich and Punisher, then slugs Cornette! Good.
Rich comes back with a tennis racket to Buddy's head, then whacks him with a SLAPJACK. Landel is again busted open.
Cornette then pours a bottle of beer down Landel's throat! Good lord. Chip Kessler says this is the low point for Jim Cornette. Jim’s podcast alone set new lows many years later. This was a very effective beatdown, regardless.
Les Thatcher is backstage with Buddy who is nursing his wounds. Buddy explains he can't stand the taste of alcohol and says what Cornette did was lower than anything he would ever stoop to. Jim would give a junkie a shot of heroin just to watch them jerk.
He threatens to kick Tommy Rich's teeth in before walking off-camera. They’re doing an effective job making Buddy look like a flawed, yet heroic, figure if nothing else.
Jim Cornette vs. “Bullet” Bob Armstrong - Bullet Bob has to wrestle this match with one hand tied behind his back.
Cornette gets some shots in, all no-sold by Bob. As Bob pounds away at Corny in the corner, The Punisher grabs at his feet. Cornette uses this distraction to toss powder into Bob’s face. What, no ether rag? Cornette pounds and chokes away, and Punisher gets his shots in while referee Mark Curtis is distracted.
Cornette misses an elbowdrop and Armstrong fires back…until The Punisher runs in for the DQ. Bob fights The Punisher off by himself with ONE ARM. The Heavenly Bodies attempt to intervene, but The Thugs intercept them. Cornette tosses Mark Curtis out as Terry Gordy runs in and piledrives Bob!
Brad Armstrong hits the ring and runs off the Militia.
1/2* - An angle disguised as a match, which you had to expect given the stipulation and participants.
WCW Saturday Night
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) vs. Johnny B. Badd - This is the title shot Badd won at Fall Brawl in that classic with Brian Pillman…or so we thought. Badd's music plays, but he is nowhere to be found. Sting comes out in the meantime.
Referee Nick Patrick tells ring announcer David Penzer that Johnny B. Badd has not yet arrived, so they'll give him more time to get to the arena.
Mean Gene discusses the situation, and Brian Pillman comes in and taunts Badd for not being there and offers to take his place against Sting.
We get a music video for The American Males. Both guys are shown in varying degrees of shirtless as we hear an instrumental version of THAT theme song.
I saw someone online point out that parts of the instrumental version sound like “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks. I can kinda hear that.
Next, we get Up Close with Dean Malenko. He talks about growing up as the son of a wrestler. Even though his father (Boris Malenko) had passed away…
…Malenko still feels his presence when he goes out to the ring. Dean also discusses his time wrestling in Japan.
We get clips of what was likely an awesome match with Jushin Liger as Malenko wants to face the best that WCW has to offer. He especially looks forward to reigniting his rivalry with Eddy Guerrero. You can tell (at least for the time being) that WCW was serious about bolstering their undercard with stellar in-ring workers in order to further separate them from the WWF.
Mean Gene is now with Johnny B. Badd, who FINALLY made it to the building. Badd had a flat tire! Suddenly, Diamond Dallas Page shows up and chastises Badd for missing his title shot and says HE should have gotten the shot.
Max Muscle asks Badd about his FOUR flat tires, a fact Badd had not divulged. Badd slugs DDP as the show goes off the air. That sets up a feud that goes on until Badd leaves for the WWF in March 1996.
Not a bad week, all-in-all. Hart and Lafitte had a hell of a match, and the Hirata/Muto and Casas/Hijo del Santo matches were very close to excellence. Plus, Hogan gives us a deranged promo and Buddy Landel continues to thrive as a babyface in Smoky Mountain.
NEXT TIME: The WWF exploits the OJ Simpson trial, Bret wrestles a pirate (again), Steve Austin runs wild in ECW again, and more!
Not much more since it's a fairly slow week, but more nonetheless. I'm bracing for the low readership numbers with that one.
Smell ya later!