WWF Monday Night Raw
December 11, 1995
Richmond, VA
The Coliseum
(Taped on 11/20/1995)

Your Hosts are Vince & King!

Tonight!
Bob Backlund goes one-on-one with the WWF Champ Bret Hart!
We’re going to hear from Shawn Michaels for the first time since his fainting accident!
Also, Ahmed Johnson will be in action!

Hit that edgy Raw intro video!

• Owen Hart (w/Yokozuna, Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) vs. Jeff Hardy
  

Yes, that Jeff Hardy. Geez, talk about being out-numbered. Owen hits a shoulderblock off the ropes, but then goes down to a hip toss. Jeff starts to work on the arm, but Owen shoves him off and hits him with a running knee to the gut. By the way, Big Daddy Cool is watching on from the back. Owen hits a back suplex and follows up with a nice suplex. They show Davey Boy’s wife and Owen’s sister, Diana Hart, is in attendance. Owen turns Jeff INSIDE out with a clothesline! Owen goes up and hits a missile dropkick! Owen looks to be going for the SHARPSHOOTER, but decides to go for a jackknife pin for the three-count. (2:36) Post-match, Yokozuna waddles into the ring to give Hardy a BANZAI DROP! After that, Owen applies the SHARPSHOOTER to Jeff! That brings Diesel out running to get at him. Owen sees him coming and scurries out and leaves Yokozuna alone in the ring with him. Diesel boots Yoko out and raises his arm much to the delight of the crowd. ½*

• Aja Kong vs. Chaparita Asari
  

Kong misses a corner charge to set up a pair of handspring mule kicks from Asari! Next, she tries a regular crossbody off a whip, but she bounces right off of Kong. She hits a Vader-like avalanche on Asari and then gets a couple snap-hairs to set up a stiff kick to the back. Kong hits a suplex and covers, but lifts Asari up at two. Spinning cradle piledriver (!!) from Kong will finish this one. No it won’t! Kong lifts Asari up again at two. How is she going to top that?! This time she hits a splash off the ropes and picks her up after the one-count. Asari tries to come back, but gets a dropkick swatted away. Kong sets her up and tries for a middle-buckle splash, but Asari moves out of the way! Asari goes up and tries a phoenix splash (!), but nobody there. URAKEN gets the win for real this time. (4:05) **

Todd Pettengill is sitting next to Shawn Michaels for that long-awaited interview. Let me sum it all up for you.

Todd ~ “How ya doin’, Shawn?”
Shawn ~ “I think I’m okay.”
Todd ~ “How’s your head?”
Shawn ~ “Fine.”
Todd ~ “When are you coming back?”
Shawn ~ “Ask the doctors.”
Todd ~ “Must be cool to be you.”
Shawn ~ “Yeah. I’ve still goals to achieve though.”
Todd ~ “You still think you can achieve your goals? Maybe you should retire.”

That’s when Shawn lets Todd know he’s crossed the line. Shawn tells Todd that this is not his job, it’s his life. He’s not even going to dignify that with an answer.

• Ahmed Johnson vs. Rick Stockhauser
  

Ahmed no-sells Stockhauser’s offense and hits a pair of spinebusters to set up the PEARL RIVER PLUNGE for the win. (1:08) DUD

After the commercial break, Lawler stops Ahmed for a word or two on his way back to the locker room. He tells Ahmed that Dean Douglas has done his homework on him. As a matter of fact, the hardest four years of Ahmed’s life was in the third grade. Lawler ~ “That’s what Dean Douglas said!” King asks Ahmed what he thinks of the Dean. He says if Dean has done his homework on Ahmed, he wouldn’t want to get in the ring with him. Ahmed says he’s not a man of words, but a man of action. Ahmed tells Lawler to go back and sit down with Vince. So Lawler goes and sits back down with Vince. Smart man.

WWF Christmas promo. A kid is giving testimony with a lineup of Santa Clauses. “They can’t see you,” the officer says, but apparently they can hear him. As the kid recites his list of grave charges against the Santa of his choice, the others, who are in fact Razor, Fatu, Yokozuna and Hakushi, turn around and deal instant justice.

We get more interviews, and this time it’s McMahon’s turn, with the newly downsized Million Dollar Corporation. I mean that literally, now that the Kid’s on the team. At least the Kid has been trained to delegate authority as necessary, which means that DiBiase will be answering any questions directed to the Kid. This is a good thing. With all these people around, DiBiase moves to address someone not present, namely Razor Ramon. Essentially, with regard to the breakup of him and the Kid, DiBiase tells him to get over it. Then the Kid recites what he’s learned: 1) Don’t worry about the fans; 2) Worry about winning; 3) Most importantly, get the money, no doubt a reference to the Kid’s job of retrieving currency left in the mouths of defeated opponents by DiBiase, formerly held by Irwin R. Schyster. Sid, for his part, gives his condolences to Marty Jannetty, whom he regards as an innocent bystander who unfortunately must be destroyed in the slaughter to come. But that doesn’t mean Sid won’t have fun doing it.

• WWF Champion Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund – non-title match
  

They go through a fairly decent headlock sequence to start off this match. About two minutes in, Lawler leaves to go talk to Diana Hart. They go to a split-screen once Lawler catches up with her. He asks her if she hopes that the results are the same as they were at SummerSlam ’92. She says she wants to go home happy, meaning that her husband would be the winner. Next, Lawler asks her what she thinks of Davey Boy’s new aggressive style. He says she has to support him no matter what. Man, she seems spaced out or something. She also thanks Cornette for getting Davey a title shot. Back to the match, Bret has Backlund in a waistlock after Backlund was controlling with an overhead wristlock. Backlund gets dumped out to the floor as we go to break. We come back to Bret getting a backslide on Bob for 1, 2, NO! Backlund rolls out to the floor to regroup. Bret finally pulls Bob back in by his arm and starts working on it. Bob rolls out of a back drop and goes for the CROSSFACE CHICKENWING, but Bret falls into the ropes. Now Backlund begins to work on the arm. Backlund grounds Bret to the mat and locks on a Fujiwara armbar. Bret fights up, but Backlund gets in a nice forearm shot. Backlund tries for a slam, but Bret falls on top for a two count. Bret gets a small package for two. Commercial time! After the break, Bret is setting Bob up for the Russian leg sweep for two. Backbreaker is followed up by the second-buckle elbow drop. SHARPSHOOTER?! No! Davey Boy Smith runs down and gets in the ring to distract Bret. Ring the bell! Backlund runs up behind Bret and locks in the CROSSFACE CHICKENWING! (around 13:30) Post-match, Backlund refuses to relinquish the hold while Davey Boy puts the boots to Bret. The refs come down to stop it, but only because Backlund actually let go on his own free will. Davey Boy tells Bob, “Good job!” as things come to a close. **½

Final Thoughts: More talking than last week, but somewhat better matches. Seeing a rookie Jeff Hardy is a pretty neat thing to behold. I guess that’s just the nerd in me though.