Monday Night Raw
October 9, 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)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

• Diesel, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Davey Boy Smith, Owen Hart, and Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)

This actually would not have been a bad PPV main event. Thirty minutes for these six could be interesting. On his way to the ring, we check out Shawn Michaels crying over hanging out with some inner city kids at the Survivor Series press conference. He loses his smile and cries for a few moments. Such a great guy! Match is JIP as we take a commercial break as Shawn is getting the better of Owen with hiptosses and armdrags and monkey flips. You know the drill. After Shawn clotheslines out Owen and SKINS THE CAT back inside, it turns into a Katie bar the door brawl. It takes STEREO BIG BOOTS from Diesel and Taker to put Yoko out on the floor because he’s a rather large man. Next up, we get a preview of Diesel and Bulldog, which is *your* next In Your House main event. Taker tags in and gets his paws on Yoko to get himself ready for King Mabel, says Vince. Old School connects, but then he runs into a Samoan drop. Taker quickly fires back with the running DDT. Hey look, Waylon Mercy is watching from the entry way. Taker tags out to Shawn so the heels can get some heat. After Bulldog is done press slamming him, Shawn gets caught on the wrong side of town to draw in Taker and Diesel. Commercials! When we return, now Dean Douglas is out taking notes. Shawn fights off an abdominal stretch by Owen, but he’s knocked right back down. Tag to Bulldog, he hits the hourglass suplex for two. Owen works a chinlock to build to a Shawn comeback, but Shawn runs into a spinning heel kick! Cover, 1-2-NO! As Owen tries the Swandive Headbutt, they cut to commercial. AGH! When we come back, we see that Owen misses the dive. HOT TAG TO DIESEL! Side Slams and Big Boots are everywhere. Just when things are looking good, Owen nails Diesel from the floor knocking him into a RUNNING POWERSLAM by Davey Boy. Cover, 1-2-NO! Taker makes the save! While the ref is busy with Taker, Yoko comes over and drops a leg on Diesel. Bulldog lays on top of the WWF champ for the 1-2-3. (11:55 shown) The crowd is either in complete shock or really don’t care about Diesel. Anyways, pretty fun by-the-numbers tag match that sets up Bulldog nicely as a threat to Diesel’s title. Right? Afterwards, King Mabel appears and joins Camp Cornette to attack and squash the Undertaker. He and Yoko take turns dropping their gigantic legs on poor Taker’s face. Dean Douglas joins Cornette’s crew by default and attacks Shawn Michaels on the floor – even going as far as giving him a gourdbuster on the steps! This is an old school Bill Watts-style classic beatdown, pal. ***¼

After a break, we see that our beloved baby face heroes are still down selling the assault they just received. Paul Bearer is still beside himself and that is a large pair.

Let Us Take You Back: RAW, 10/2/95. After Bret Hart defeated Jean Pierre Lafitte, Jerry Lawler coaxed him into a fight, which led to Isaac Yankem showing up and dropping Bret with a DDT on the floor. Therefore, Vince announces that there will be a cage match next Monday night on RAW to settle the score once and for all between Bret Hart and Isaac Yankem DDS. If Jerry Lawler interferes in the match, he’ll be lifted high above the ring in one of those shark cages, which is SOOO territory days. Lots of action from their SummerSlam match gets shown. If you will recall, it ended in a DQ thanks to Lawler’s involvement.

• Skip (w/Sunny) vs. Fatu

Fatu is still “makin’ a difference”. Speaking of making a difference, stars bigger than Fatu met with special needs children at MSG this past weekend. Lawler says King Mabel is trying to get into the Undertaker’s dressing room. Skip makes the mistake of trying to smash Fatu’s face on the turnbuckle. Fatu wants to headbutt Skip’s balls, but Sunny proves to be a formidable distraction. Back inside, Skip avoids a corner charge and delivers a back suplex to keep Fatu off his feet. Once Fatu is vertical, Skip has to drop him with an enziguri for two. He wears on Fatu with a chinlock and tries a flying headbutt, but that’s dumb. Fatu NO-SELLS and starts his comeback. He looks to go upstairs, but Sunny once again distracts Fatu and Skip runs Fatu’s head into the ringpost. Ahh, steel is where Samoans draw the line. They must sell for steel. Skip can’t superplex the big guy, so Fatu knocks him down to the mat and delivers the SAMOAN SPLASH for the win. (5:54) I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. Nice to see Fatu get a win for once. **½

We get some clips from earlier tonight involving the Dudes with Attitudes and the Undertaker.

Dok Hendrix is leery about doing an ambush interview on these guys. Vince doesn’t think that’s a good idea. Meanwhile, ballsy Jim Ross doesn’t ask for permission and ambushes Camp Cornette in the locker room. Corny is completely euphoric about the chaotic assault on Diesel, Shawn, and the Undertaker. Bulldog is close by flexing and wearing an Ernest P. Worrell hat for some reason. He promises to take the WWF title over to England where he feels it belongs on October 22. They are already trying to make a foreigner heel in America and babyface in their motherland. 1997 is SUCH A WORK. King Mabel appears and calls Bulldog his “homey”. He vows to bury the Undertaker under a mountain of snow come In Your House in Winnipeg. Sir Mo is back there somewhere.

NEXT WEEK: Bret Hart vs. Isaac Yankem DDS – in a STEEL CAGE.