Monday Night Raw
October 2, 1995
Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Center

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Diesel (11/26/1994)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (7/23/1995)
World Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (9/25/1995)
Women’s Champion: Bertha Faye (8/27/1995)

FLASHBACK TO LAST WEEK: The Smoking Gunns dethroned Owen Hart and Yokozuna. What about Diesel and Shawn having to give up the belts and everything? Oh, that’s not important.

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler. 

• Razor Ramon vs. The 1-2-3 Kid

Razor just can’t beat the Kid on RAW. Since Dean Douglas flew in and lowered the boom on Razor this past time, he’s getting another rematch. It’s actually a night of rematches as Vince announces that Bret Hart will face Jean-Pierre Lafitte in tonight’s main event. Vince also stirs the pot wondering whether or not the Kid has been talking with that rich bastard Ted DiBiase. Kid gets thrown around like only he can to start. He fires back with a couple of his kick combos in the corner. Fallaway Slam gets two. Dean Douglas comes out and takes notes while Razor knocks the Kid around. Kid fires back with some sliding legdrops, but whiffs on a spinning heel kick and gets clobbered with a big clothesline for the three-count at 2:55. Huh? Kid wants some more and slaps Ramon across the face to show how bad he wants it, so Razor obliges and gives him another match. For the first time ever, ref Tim White lets it slide and resumes his normal duties. WHAT. Ramon throws Kid from corner to corner and then applies the abdominal stretch. OK – commercials, please. When we come back, we find that Razor pinned Kid during the break when he blocked a headscissors and drilled Kid with a powerbomb. Vince – “You’re getting a third match tonight here on Monday Night Raw!” Such a carny. Razor levels Kid with a Back Superplex, but shows mercy by pinning him with an inside cradle instead of beating him with the Razor’s Edge. (6:12 shown) Well, that dick move is all the motivation I would need to cheer Kid over Razor. Afterwards, Kid still tries to sneak a rollup on Razor (AND THE REF COUNTS? What planet are we on?) for two. Feeling bad about it, Kid turns his back on Razor and wants Ramon to give him the Razor’s Edge. Nah, Razor can’t do it. They hug afterwards, but Ramon embraces Kid in a “he’s my five-year old brother” fashion. What a douche that Razor guy is, amirite? Is this their way of Razor slightly getting some heat back after losing on THREE straight PPVs? *½

Vince and King run down the upcoming In Your House show. WWF champ Diesel meets Davey Boy Smith, IC champ Shawn Michaels takes on Dean Douglas, Undertaker faces King Mabel, and Goldust debuts against Marty Jannetty.

Let Us Take You Back: RAW, 9/25/95. King Mabel and Davey Boy Smith attack the Undertaker until Diesel and Shawn Michaels run in for the save.

Tonight, the WWF is doing a O.J. Simpson trial voteline where you can call in and vote “yes” or “no” on whether you think the Juice is guilty. Only 50 cents per call! All the proceeds benefit the National Exchange Club Foundation for the Prevention of Child Abuse. No battered women’s shelters or domestic violence groups? You know, WWE really missed the boat on the whole “Justice for Trayvon” movement. Is George Zimmerman guilty? Only 75 cents (inflation, people) per text! Although it’s not entirely the WWF’s fault, the Simpson MURDER trial was obviously overly parodied by everyone at the time, so I guess you can’t put the blame on them for trying to be hip and mainstream – even if their attempts are usually terrible and desperate.

• Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Barry Horowitz

The undefeated against the mostly defeated here. Helmsley tries to teach Horowitz a wrestling lesson, but he keeps on trying to get these fluke pins on Hunter. Barry hits a knockout elbow out of the corner and delivers the Thesz Press for 1-2-NO! OKLAHOMA ROLL gets another nearfall on Helmsley. Oh, but he ducks his head too soon and gets caught with the PEDIGREE as Hunter continues his undefeated ways. (5:34) I liked Barry Horowitz during this era. ¾*

• PG-13 vs. Al Brown & Sonny Rogers

The RAW debut of JC Ice and Wolfie D: PG-13. They are the current USWA world tag champs looking for the challenge of the WWF world tag champs, which isn’t so different than what the Heavenly Bodies were doing two years earlier when they came over here looking for the Steiner Brothers. Vince has no idea which one is which; yet he can tell the jobbers apart. VINTAGE VINCE. Lots of Memphis prancing and fancy bulldogs from these two. Wolfie D tilt-a-whirls JC Ice onto Brown for the win at 3:45.

Dok Hendrix hypes a new Bret Hart t-shirt using a model who DEFINITELY isn’t 18 or older, which might be some kind of a legal violation in some states. I keed.

• Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte

Jean-Pierre dictates the pace to start hammering the back and keeping Bret grounded. To the floor we go, Bret fires back and slams Lafitte on the steps because he just doesn’t give a crap. Back inside the ring, Lafitte ends Bret’s momentum by tossing him onto the ropes. Lawler is way too excited about that. Lafitte wears down Bret with a chinlock and then follows up with a flying headbutt for 1-2-NO! Bossman straddle scores another two-count. Bret gets squashed in the corner. Although he tries to get a flash pin with a small package, Lafitte kicks out and runs down Bret to take us into commercial. When we return, Lafitte is still in control. Flying Legdrop misses, but they go back to the floor where Bret gets whipped HARD into the steps. Looks like he even got tripped up in the camera cords. Nevertheless, we go back in the ring where Bret hits the Five Moves of Doom. Lafitte tries to stop him with the Finlay Roll, but Bret kicks out at two. Bret stops Lafitte up top and brings him down with a superplex to set up the SHARPSHOOTER for the win. (12:04 shown) Much like Hakushi in 1995, Jean-Pierre Lafitte would get one good match on PPV with Bret, another good match on Raw, and then that was basically the end of the push. This was pretty decent with both guys taking some pretty serious bumps on the outside, but I would prefer the Hakushi matches as far as back to back matches. Lafitte would be gone by November and would show up reunited with Jacques Rougeau over in WCW in the following year. ***

Afterwards, Jerry Lawler coaxes Bret Hart into a fight until Isaac Yankem saves his patient and drills Bret with a DDT on the floor. GET IT? THE DENTIST DRILLED HIM WITH A DDT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahahaha. Ahem. Crowd wants Diesel. They don’t get him. He can’t save everybody!

We get interviews from the two sides for next week’s main event. Taker says some things that just don’t exactly vibe with Diesel and Shawn’s personalities. HBK does a great job playing to that.

What’s the verdict on OJ? 51 percent voted NOT GUILTY. Good job, America.

NEXT WEEK: Diesel, HBK, and the Undertaker team up to take up on Davey Boy Smith, Owen Hart and Yoko!