Monday Night Raw – August 21, 1995: Get Us Out Of Here
Monday Night Raw
Date: August 21, 1995
Location: Worcester Memorial Auditorium, Worcester, Massachusetts
Attendance: 4,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler
It’s the go home show for Summerslam and that means we’re almost free from this mess. I’m already sick of hearing about Diesel vs. King Mabel, despite only watching two shows this month. Hopefully Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon gets some extra attention this week as it’s the only good thing about the pay per view. Let’s get to it.
We look at Kama destroying another black wreath on Superstars. It’s a casket match at Summerslam.
Undertaker is ready to hurt Tatanka tonight as he begins destroying the Corporation. This feud started before Wrestlemania and he’s just now starting to destroy them? I know Undertaker is slow by definition but come on now.
Opening sequence.
Men on a Mission vs. Roy Raymond/Joe Adcock
The jobbers get jumped to start until Mabel gets Hancock (with a smashing mustache) in the corner. A double clothesline keeps Hancock in trouble as the announcers talk about the show being preempted for the next few weeks. Raymond comes in for some forearms, only to get crushed in the corner. A bad top rope elbow gets two on Raymond as the fans want Diesel. Mabel finishes with a belly to belly.
Rating: D. You would think Mabel would be getting a singles win before he challenges for the World Title on Sunday but that would suggest watching him wrestle a singles match, which is never a good idea. The match was just a squash but I’m really not getting the thinking behind it. Eh at least it was short.
Post match Mabel issues a challenge for a tag match later to the Allied Powers. They were still a team here?
Dean Douglas gives Mabel a grade of NC for new champion. I remember this vignette.
1-2-3 Kid vs. Brooklyn Brawler
Brawler jumps him to start as Vince promises to never rip fans off with short fights like Mike Tyson just did. Kid gets caught in the ropes but comes back with a kick to the head. Another kick and la majistral puts Brawler away without much effort.
We look back at Henry Godwinn slopping Ted DiBiase last week.
Undertaker vs. Tatanka
Undertaker wastes no time hammering on Tatanka before faceplanting him for a hard crash. Old School makes it even worse but Tatanka grabs what looked to be a backdrop that turned into a Samoan drop. We hit the chinlock as Lawler talks about DiBiase giving Undertaker a Jerry Garcia tie at Summerslam. A belly to back suplex gets Undertaker out of trouble and we take a break. Back with the jumping clothesline dropping Tatanka again, followed by the chokeslam and a Tombstone for the pin.
Rating: D+. Standard Undertaker match here and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s not much he can do when he’s fighting a midcarder like Tatanka to get ready for his midcard match on Sunday against a slightly bigger name (at the time at least). This feud felt like it went on forever and it’s in full swing around this time.
Summerslam Insider with a look back at Razor and Shawn fighting over the Intercontinental Title last week.
We hear Isaac Yankem’s answering machine, saying he has an appointment to extract revenge on Sunday.
Bret says five out of five dentists recommend that he extract revenge from Isaac. That’s all he gets to say.
Men on a Mission still want the Allied Powers. Why is this part of the Summerslam Insider?
Time for Tee Vee Trivia, a stupid game show parody designed to talk about how awesome Raw is. Thankfully this only takes about thirty seconds.
Jean Pierre LaFitte vs. Scott Taylor
The pirate hammers away to start but Scott gets in a dropkick and high crossbody. That just earns him a gutbuster though and LaFitte stomps away. Another gutbuster allows LaFitte to drape the pirate flag over Taylor, followed by the Cannonball for the quick pin.
Rating: D. Taylor tried here but he was fighting an evil pirate. The worst part is LaFitte was one of the people trying to do his best with what he was given but he wasn’t the best in the first place. He and Bret Hart were having issues over a stolen jacket (though they managed to turn it into something pretty good). What can you really expect from him?
Goldust is still in Hollywood and he’s still whispering very quietly. This week he wants to fight Shawn Michaels.
Vince brings out Diesel for a chat about his title match on Sunday. Diesel isn’t worried about Summerslam because he had Shawn Michaels behind his back last week. Maybe he’ll just Jackknife Mabel, but no matter what, the WWF is going to be running on Diesel Power. Cue the British Bulldog to wish Diesel good luck on Sunday. For tonight though, there’s no Lex Luger due to a medical emergency, so maybe Diesel could be his partner. Diesel says it’s on.
Diesel/British Bulldog vs. Men on a Mission
Diesel slugs Mo down without much effort and hits the slow motion right hands in the corner. The big boot puts Mo down but Mabel comes in….and so does Bulldog, who clotheslines Diesel in the back, turning heel for the first time in the company. The match is thrown out despite no rules being broken.
Mabel holds Diesel so Bulldog can slap him in the face as we have Diesel’s next challenger ready before Mabel even gets his title shot. Bulldog gets in the powerslam so Mabel can drop the huge leg.
Post break the heels gloat to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. The big angle at the end helped things a lot but really, the fact that they’re getting rid of Mabel so soon tells you all you need to know about him. He was a one off experiment which thankfully seemed to go up in flames. Other than that, the show was your usual boring build to a bad pay per view. At least Summerslam can come and go now, which is best for everyone involved.
There’s no show on August 28 and since I’m not watching Summerslam 1995 again, here are the two reviews I’ve done of it before:
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