Monday Night Raw
July 24, 1995
Louisville, KY
Louisville Gardens

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Diesel (11/26/1994)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (7/23/1995)
World Tag Team Champions: Owen Hart & Yokozuna (4/2/1995)
Women’s Champion: Alundra Blayze (4/3/1995)

Last Night at In Your House: Shawn Michaels pinned Jeff Jarrett to become a three-time WWF Intercontinental champion.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

• Non-title match: WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Jimmy Del Ray (w/Jim Cornette & Tom Prichard)
  

Jimmy Del Ray is part of the cuts coming in August, so this is the last we see of the Heavenly Bodies in the WWF. Shawn works the arm to start. Del Ray tries to bounce off the top rope to twist out of a wristlock, but winds up taking a clothesline out to the floor instead. Del Ray receives a baseball slide into the guardrail. Shawn tries another, but Del Ray avoids the slide and Prichard grabs Shawn from behind. Shawn ducks a punch and Prichard gets nailed. That allows Shawn to deliver a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. Back inside, Del Ray gives Shawn a Hurricane DDT. Delayed cover gets two. Reverse neckbreaker scores another nearfall. Del Ray misses a flying splash leading to a Shawn comeback. Flying Forearm, Flying Elbow, and SWEET CHIN MUSIC ends Del Ray. (5:21) After the match, Shawn teases that he might “strip down past the pube line” to quote Bret Hart. *½

We take a short look at Jeff Jarrett’s live performance last night. There’s some speculation as to whether or not he was lip syncing and it was the Roadie who was actually singing the song. We also get another taste of the Michaels/Jarrett finish.

Let Us Take You Back to: WWF Superstars, March 1995. Bret Hart received an award from Japan for being such a great guy. Hakushi was pissed that he didn’t receive the award himself and then beats up Bret. Then there was that time where he had a Bret Hart mannequin head. There was also that time when he cost Bret a match against Jerry Lawler at In Your House. So yeah, Hakushi has been a thorn in Bret’s side for quite some time now.

• The Smoking Gunns vs. John Faulkner & Rick Stockhauser
  

Vince and King make some rumblings about Jacob & Eli Blu being future opponents for the Gunns. Bart holds up Faulkner on his shoulder while Billy comes down on him for the win at 2:01.

We get our first vignette promoting Goldust’s debut.

• Waylon Mercy vs. Gary Scott
  

Mercy goes from being real nice and polite to destroying Gary Scott. SLEEPER HOLD puts away Scott in 2:01.

Elsewhere, King Mabel tells Big Daddy Fool to bow to his knees. Mabel grants Diesel a match with him. At SummerSlam, Mabel says he’s going to drop him like a bad habit. That is if he has the guts to enter his royal kingdom.

• Bret Hart vs. Hakushi (w/Shinja)

Since neither man saw PPV time the night before, they get this opportunity to shine. Shinja distracts Bret after he gives a kid his shades. That brings Bret to the floor so Hakushi can attack from behind. He sends Bret into the ringpost a couple times and drops him on the guardrail. Into the ring, Hakushi’s pump splash hits knees. An inverted atomic drop sets up a clothesline Bret continues to keep Hakushi grounded until he reverses a corner whip to send Bret sliding back first into the ringpost. Commercial break! Hakushi whips Bret across for a Handspring Elbow. Lawler makes a Stridex joke directed at the 1-2-3 Kid just as Hakushi gives Bret a bronco buster. Bret comes back with a Russian legsweep, but Hakushi mule kicks him back down. Hakushi flips out of a backbreaker attempt and nails Bret with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 1-2-NO! Hard whip into the corner for Bret. Hakushi drags Bret over for a Flying Headbutt to the back! Cover, 1-2-NO! Nerve hold is applied. Bret elbows out, but gets tossed out to the floor. Another commercial break. Just as we come back, Hakushi delivers America’s first ever televised SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP! Incredible! Bret regroups and gives Hakushi and Shinja a double noggin knocker. Bret gives them both a pump splash off the apron to knock them out. Back in, Bret hits the backbreaker and the flying vertical elbow drop gets two. Shinja gets nailed off the apron. Bulldog to Hakushi gets another two-count. Small package gets a third two-count. Hakushi surprises Bret with a back suplex, but misses a second Flying Headbutt. Bret hits a top-rope superplex and applies the SHARPSHOOTER for the submission. (9:22 shown) Excellent TV match. Bret beats up Shinja afterwards and gives him a Piledriver. When the lights go out during Bret’s celebration, Jean-Pierre Lafitte appears and steals Hakushi’s sack that had Bret’s mannequin head inside. ***½

We now go to the Report Card with Dean Douglas. This is the first we’ve seen of him on Raw. He gives us the definition of “knowledge”. Those in the WWF fraternity are going to know what it’s like to be great. He accuses everyone of being cheaters. The Superstars of the WWF will be graded by the only person who has the “knowledge” to do it accurately. Some people will feel like they should get an “A”, but most of them will receive an “F”. Until next week, class dismissed.

Vince and King talk with Shawn Michaels before we go. Lawler tells Shawn that now he’s a marked man and everyone will be gunning after him – including the King himself. HBK looks for a fight with Lawler as we go off the air.

NEXT WEEK: Razor Ramon and Savio Vega go after the WWF tag team champions Owen Hart and Yokozuna! Plus, we’ll see King Mabel, Skip and Sunny, and Bam Bam Bigelow all in action.