Dec 21, 2023 3:19:04 GMT Baker said:

A while back I threatened to recommend a bunch of 95-96 WWF tv matches. Tomorrow I plan to make good on that threat, beginning with '95.

Better late than never. Don't be surprised if I go off on random tangents. It's 1995 WWF so it's practically a given.
*lol I only scratched the surface tonight. Might have to turn this into a multiple day project. Might even break it off into its own separate thread. Today's matches are the best of the best tho. 

1995 WWF TV: The Cream of the Crop

3. Bret vs. Hakushi- Raw 7/24
1. Owen/Bulldog/Yoko vs. Michaels/Taker/Diesel- Raw 10/9
2. Owen vs. Michaels- Raw 11/20
4. Lafitte vs. Bomb- Action Zone 6/11

3. Bret/Hakushi is the consensus/workrate tv match of the year. It's like a truncated version of their IYH mini-classic. Hakushi hits the first Space Flying Tiger Drop in mainstream US wrestling history. Bret wins clean to end the feud. Then he sends Hakushi's forgotten manager Shinja packing with a postmatch piledriver. A good time was had by all.

Most smart fans knew about their IYH match. Many had even seen it. It showed up on a lot of tape trader pages. But their Raw match largely flew under the radar. It was one of those 'hidden gem' matches that only tru wrestling connoisseurs knew of. They would bring it up on forums or the AOL chatroom from time to time. Always to my excitement, of course. And the smartest of the smart fans had seen both! And they'd argue over which one was better. Fwiw I don't think I saw either hyped Bret/'Kushi match until 00-01. It was a different time before everything became so readily accessible.

1. Camp Cornette vs. Babyface Dream Team was like The Empire Strikes Back of 1995 WWF tv. The bad guys win! And they do so in a very convincing, very un-WWF manner. Then The Dean takes out Michaels and Mabel squashes The Deadman. Not since the Foreign Fanatics squashed Tatanka had their been such a dominant bad guy victory in the good guy dominated WWF. So of course I loved it.

This was during the 3 weeks or so Bill Watts was in town and, unless you want to credit Watts with the Ahmed Johnson push, this is the shining moment of his 3 week run. Like I said, it was extremely un-WWF. That's why it stood out so much.

I can't say this is THE reason I became a Camp Cornette fan. I was always going to be a Camp Cornette fan. Just look at that lineup! But I do feel like this is a big reason why I rate them so highly. Y'know what? I didn't originally order these, but upon further review I am doing just that, and putting this at #1. 

2. Owen & Michaels had great chemistry. They just moved on a different level than nearly everyone else in 1995 wrestling. After a few minutes of tremendous back and forth action we get one of the most memorable moments ever in Shawn's collapse. Great work. Greater angle. The line between work and shoot is blurred for the first time. Wrestling would never again be the same. Plus it's another 'bad guys win' moment that always stuck with this heel fan.

4. The Birth of Workrate. See my recent post in the Match Review thread for more details. 

Horowitz Wins Tier

5. Horowitz vs. Skip- Superstars 8/12
Horowitz vs. Skip- Action Zone 7/9

5. This is the actual good match. It's after Horowitz won. Barry has to last 10 minutes against an increasingly desperate Skip. It's gloriously old school.

Earns bonus points for solidifying my friendship with Rick. He was this kid I met at the beginning of summer. A friend of some friends who came into my life because we needed some extras for our summer Courtball league. Didn't care much for him at first. He had a reputation as a bad kid, a troublemaker. Plus he wore this stupid visor. He was between my brother and I in age and more his friend than mine. But Rick soon grew on me. By August 95 we had become pretty good friends. In the midst of some boyish horseplay I hit him with a double wrist clutch Northern Lights Suplex onto our couch that I saw in this very match. He blurted out something like "This guy watches wrestling" and I was like "darn tootin'." And that's when we realized the other was a wrestling fan. We were best friends by September and inseparable over the next few years. He came over after school most days. Often stayed over on weekends and during school breaks. Went with us on vacation to NC. My parents (mom in particular) loved former "bad kid" Rick. And it all started with a move I jacked from neighborhood hero Barry Horowitz.

-Horowitz Wins isn't actually much of a match. It's like 2-3 minutes with a memorable finish. But what a moment! Therefore no list of 1995 WWF tv matches would be complete without it.

*More next time

More 1995 WWF TV Goodness

*This project is a work in progress as there's actually a surprising amount of star vs. star matches I haven't seen/don't remember. Mostly from Raw, but even a few from Superstars, including the Bret/Sid LUMBERJACK Match that honestly deserves a storytime of its own. Maybe later... 

Recent Discoveries- read more here pwcom.proboards.com/thread/28/match-review-thread?page=64

Jeff Jarrett vs. Barry Horowitz- Raw 3/13- The sort of thing they'd show in Wrestling School as an example of an effective 5 minute tv match
Marty Jannetty vs. Duke Droese- Action Zone 10/15- Fun, sensible match that earns bonus points for the novelty of "Dumpster" working heel

Match Clusters 

pwcom.proboards.com/thread/28/match-review-thread?page=64
Smoking Gunns vs. Shoguns- Superstars 4/15- The Shoguns...
Hakushi vs. Kwang- Superstars 4/29- EXPLODE!

Dean Douglas vs. 1-2-3 Kid- Superstars 9/9
1-2-3 Kid vs. Razor Ramon- Raw 9/18
Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid- Raw 10/2
Sid vs. Razor Ramon- Raw 11/13

-OK, so Dean vs. Kid is famously mediocre, but still memorable for being The Dean's debut. It also plays into the overarching Razor/Kid story. The real cream of the crop here is those two Kid/Razor matches in the middle, with the Dean & Sid matches serving as bookends to the story. Now more than ever I am convinced this storyline was supposed to see Kid turn on Razor to go with Dean. Which is why I did it that way in my fanfic project. Of course The Clique didn't like Douglas so Sid got the spot instead. You could even include...
Razor Ramon vs. Dean Douglas- Raw 12/4- if you're some kind of weird Dean-hating/Razor-loving JERK. 

More Solid Match Clusters I Don't Feel Like Looking Up All The Dates For Right Now

Owen & Yoko vs. Smoking Gunns vs. Razor & Partner
Horowitz/Hakushi/Skip/Radford in various singles and tags

February Fun

Battle Royal- Superstars 2/25- A major star wins a consolation prize but the real draw here is a classic Lawler performance ruined by bitter Bret to reignite their forever feud. Haven't seen this since it aired but syndicated Battle Royals were always memorable. There was this was one, the one on Shotgun Rock won in '98, the tag team one in early 91, and the one with Warrior's debut that Bigelow won in October 87. All 4 of these stuck with me. 

Bret & Bulldog vs. Owen & Mr. Backlund- Action Zone 2/26- Including this because it's a pretty famous match. I watched it for the first time during the old PW days and surprisingly didn't love it for reasons I forget.

Matches Only A Baker Could Love

Sid & The Kid vs. Hakushi & Horowitz- Superstars 12/2- OK, so this was actually disappointing even in real time. Way too one sided for a match that should be on a Big 4 PPV with the tag titles up for grabs. But it had a cool finish, is notable for being one of only 4 televised Sid & The Kid matches, all of which should be cherished, and you can never go wrong with a little H & H Wrestlery. Also earns bonus points for having clips appear on the quasi-mainstream George Michael Sports Machine.

Xanta Klaus vs. Scott Taylor/Buddy Landel vs. Matt Hardy- Superstars 12/23- These two airing back to back is pretty much peak wrestling and the perfect way to end this post.

*Broke this off into its own separate thread. Feel like this is the thread I was born to do. Like I've spent the last 11 years on PW building up to this moment. Maybe I call it a PW Career when I'm finally satisfied with this and become, I dunno, a dog mushing enthusiast? Yeah, that sounds good.

Premise is I'm creating a 6 hour comp tape with only 1995 WWF TV matches being eligible. Later I'll come up with a 6 8 hour 1996 tv match comp. (Editor's Note: Expanded '96 to 8 hrs. because it's deeper/has more memorable matches than '95). So far I've got...

The Ultimate 1995 WWF TV Comp Tape

20 Man Battle Royal- Superstars 2/25
Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Owen Hart & Mr. Bob Backlund- Action Zone 2/26
Jeff Jarrett vs. Barry Horowitz- Raw 3/13
Smoking Gunns vs. Shoguns- Superstars 4/15
Hakushi vs. Kwang- Superstars 4/29
Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Adam Bomb- Action Zone 6/11
Barry Horowitz vs. Skip- Action Zone 7/9
Bret vs. Hakushi- Raw 7/24
Horowitz vs. Skip- Superstars 8/12
Dean Douglas vs. 1-2-3 Kid- Superstars 9/9
1-2-3 Kid vs. Razor Ramon- Raw 9/18
Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid- Raw 10/2
British Bulldog/Yokozuna/Owen Hart vs. Undertaker/Shawn Michaels/Diesel- Raw 10/9
Marty Jannetty vs. Duke "The Dumpster" Droese- Action Zone 10/15
Sycho Sid vs. Razor Ramon- Raw 11/13
Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels- Raw 11/20
Sid & The Kid vs. Hakushi & Barry Horowitz- Superstars 12/2
Razor Ramon vs. Dean Douglas- Raw 12/4
Xanta Klaus vs. Scott Taylor- Superstars 12/23
Buddy Landel vs. Matt Hardy- Superstars 12/23

Bonus Segments
-All Jean Pierre Lafitte, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Dean Douglas & Goldust vignettes
-Throw in the Waylon Mercy vignettes as well
-Mr. Backlund gifts Dean Douglas the Board of Education
-"Horowitz Loses" commercial bumpers
-Mr. Perfect commercial bumpers (unless this was 96 or even 94- can't remember for sure)
===============
*This is still a work in progress. Expect updates. There's a surprising amount of major star vs. star matches I haven't seen/don't remember. Some of the matches currently on The List may fall off. If enough do, I might even break it up into two theoretical comp tapes expand it to 8 hours like I did for '96.

Bold matches denotes the best of the best while italicized matches are the next tier down. Most Bonus Segments are boldworthy.

*It only seems like I went overboard with this post (EDIT: Wrong! I eventually did go overboard). Added up all the match segment times I could find on Youtube or Dailymotion and came up with conservative estimates for the handful I could not find. It came out to a roughly 420 minutes. Still 60 minutes short of the 480 minutes required to fill an 8 hour VHS tape. So I added a bunch of highlights & non-wrestling segments at the end. This is a mix of good/important/memorable/goofy matches that capture the 1996 vibe + every single Sid & The Kid tag match cuz them's the rules. There are still a few big matches I haven't seen/don't remember/thought sucked. So changes may be made when/if I (re)check them out. But for now....

The Ultimate 1996 WWF TV Compilation Tape

Bold denotes show MOTY- one for Raw, one for Superstars. Italicized are the 8 next best matches. And underlined the best/most memorable angle.

Smoking Gunns vs. Owen & Yoko vs. Sid & Kid vs. Razor & Savio- 1/1 Raw Bowl
Skip vs. Rad Radford- Superstars 1/6- Zip debuts
Jeff Hardy vs. Razor Ramon- Superstars 1/13
Sid & The Kid vs. Aldo Montoya & Avatar- Superstars 1/20
Vader vs. Savio Vega + postmatch Gorilla Monsoon angle- Raw 1/22
Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett- Superstars 2/3
1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi- Raw 2/5
Ahmed Johnson vs. 1-2-3 Kid- Superstars 2/17
Shawn Michaels vs. 1-2-3 Kid- Raw 3/4
Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega- Raw 3/11
Jerry Lawler vs. Al Jackson- Superstars 3/23
Shawn Michaels vs. Leif Cassidy- Raw 3/25
Mankind vs. Bob Holly- Raw 4/1
Undertaker vs. Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw + postmatch Mankind angle- Raw 4/1
Caribbean Kid vs. Steve Austin- Superstars 4/13
Goldust vs. Savio Vega- Raw 4/15
Bulldog vs. Bob Holly- Superstars 4/20
Goldust vs. Savio Vega- Raw 4/22
Shawn Michaels vs. 1-2-3 Kid- Superstars 4/27
Undertaker vs. Owen Hart- Raw 5/6
Vader vs. Ahmed Johnson- Raw 5/27
Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw vs. Henry O. Godwinn- Superstars 6/1
Vader/Bulldog/Owen vs. Savio/Aldo/Horowitz- Raw 6/24
Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty- Raw 7/1
Ultimate Warrior vs. Owen Hart- Raw 7/8
Aldo Montoya vs. Jerry Lawler- Superstars 7/27
Jerry Lawler vs. Aldo Montoya- Raw 8/5
11 Man Battle Royal- Raw 8/5
4 Man Battle Royal- Raw 8/19
Salvatore Sincere vs. Aldo Montoya- Superstars 8/31
Shawn Michaels vs. Goldust- Raw 9/6
Undertaker vs. Salvatore Sincere- Raw 9/9
Marc Mero vs. Faarooq- Raw 9/23
Shawn Michaels vs. Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw- Superstars 9/29
Savio Vega vs. Fake Razor Ramon- Raw 9/30
Godwinns vs. Owen & Bulldog- Superstars 10/13
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Marc Mero- Raw 10/21
Shawn Michaels vs. Salvatore Sincere- Superstars 11/10
Steve Austin vs. Vader- Raw 12/16
Jason Ahrndt & Eddie Jackie vs. Steve Austin- Superstars 12/29

Bonus Segments (roughly 60 minutes to work with)

-All Billionaire Ted skits- Various
-Ringmaster debuts on the Brother Love Show- Raw 1/8
-Helmsley vs. Dumpster angles- haircut & trash can attack- Superstars 1/27
-Mankind vignettes- Various
-SPOTS: Diesel sees himself in the casket/punches Barry Horowitz for the win- Raw 3/18
-SPOT: Helmsley hits Marty Garner with THAT Pedigree- Superstars 6/1
-SPOT: Phineas slops Sunny- Superstars 6/29
-SPOT: Freddie Joe Floyd sits up from a Mankind corner elbow attack- Raw 7/22
-Faarooq debuts- Raw 7/22
-SPOT: Sal Sincere invents(?) the alley oop on the awesomely named Billy Two Eagles- Superstars 7/27
-SPOTS: Various sells of Crush's awesome heart punch
-Bret Hart's return promo- Raw 10/21
-Austin Pillmanizes Pillman's ankle- Superstars 10/27

*If I still have time left (all depends on how many Mankind vignettes there were), throw in the "synchronized swimming" promo, the gayest, most outlandish Goldust promo(s), the goofiest New Rockers promo(s), and *sigh* Pillman's got a gun, in that order. 
===============
*I'm proud of this post. Already consider it one of the best things I've done on PW. But it's still incomplete. Here are hyped/cool on paper star vs. star matches I need to (re)watch...

Bret vs. Goldust- Raw 1/22
Michaels vs. Yokozuna- Raw 1/29 & Raw 8/19
Bret vs. Undertaker- Raw 2/5
Michaels vs. Lawler- Raw 4/8
Michaels vs. Helmsley- Raw 5/13
Undertaker vs. Bulldog- Raw 6/10
Undertaker vs. Austin- Raw 6/24 & Raw 7/29
Michaels vs. Owen- Raw 8/12
Michaels & Lothario vs. Vader & Cornette- Raw 9/30
Michaels vs. Austin- Raw 10/14
Michaels vs. Bulldog- Raw 10/28
Austin vs. Mankind- Raw 11/18
Bret vs. Owen- Raw 11/25
Undertaker vs. Mankind- Raw 12/9

EDIT: There's no way I'm still under 8 hours as I've been editing in all sorts of cool things. So let's just include all those cool-on-paper matches listed above, throw in more Goldust & New Rocker promos, and break it up into two tapes. Plus add...

Ahmed Johnson vs. Jeff Brettler- Raw 1/8
Bret Hart vs. BUDDY LANDEL- Mania? 1/13? (show/date varies on this one and the Sid & Kid Rule applies to Budro as well)
Goldust vs. Fatu- Raw 3/18
Jerry Lawler vs. Greg Davis- Superstars 4/6
Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. Salvatore Sincere- Superstars 10/6

It's only fair that I do 95-96 WCW next. Guessing it will be deeper than 95 WWF, but not as overkill as 96 WWF.

*Can't include matches I haven't seen/don't remember. This will also help me to limit things since I went way overboard with 1996 WWF. As always this is a work in progress I may add to, or streamline, as I watch more stuff. Consider this a rough draft for now...

The Ultimate 95-96 WCW TV Comp Tape

Grandfathered In From Memory

Mr. Wonderful vs. Disco Inferno- Worldwide 12/16/95
Konnan vs. Psicosis- Clash of the Champions 1/23/96
Konnan vs. Devon Storm- Nitro 2/12/96
Arn Anderson vs. Hulk Hogan- Nitro 2/12/96
Scott Norton vs. Ice Train- Pro 2/24/96
Scott Norton vs. Ice Train- Saturday Night 2/24/96
Ric Flair vs. Alex Wright- Worldwide 3/2/96
Lord Steven Regal vs. Fit Finlay- Nitro 4/29/96
Giant vs. Ric Flair- Nitro 4/29/96
Dean Malenko vs. Shinjiro Otani- Worldwide 5/18/96
Brad Armstrong vs. Mr. JL- Worldwide 6/22/96
Eddy Guerrero vs. Barbarian- Nitro 6/24/96
Flair/Arn/Mongo/Benoit vs. Rock & Roll Express/Gomez/Renegade- Nitro 7/1/96
Giant vs. Chris Benoit- Clash of the Champions 8/15/96

Cool Series I Need To Do More Research On Or We Can Just Include Them All. Whatever.

Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero
Steiners vs. Fire & Ice
Giant title defenses on Nitro

Vaguely Remembered Matches That Look Cool On Paper

Randy Savage vs. Chris Benoit- Nitro 2/5/96
Steiners vs. Road Warriors- Nitro 3/11/96
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko- Nitro 7/8/96

PW Discoveries

Sabu vs. Disco Inferno- Nitro 10/30/95
Faces of Fear vs. High Voltage- Nitro 6/3/96
Flair/Arn/Benoit/Mongo vs. Faces of Fear/Bubba/Sullivan- Nitro 9/2/96
Chris Jericho vs. Mike Enos- Nitro 9/23/96

In Search Of...

That time Kevin Sullivan ganso bombed a jobber. I think it was on Worldwide.

Memorable Moments/Sublime Sports Entertainment

-All Blue Bloods segments
-All Dungeon of Doom segments
-All Mr. Wonderful & Gary Spivey segments
-All Mr. Wonderful return teases
-Loch Ness debuts- Main Event 2/11/96
-Ultimate Solution & Zeus debut- Nitro 3/18/96
-The Saga of John Tenta: From Fish to Man- Nitro 6/3/96
-Arn Anderson "morgue" promo- Nitro 8/5/96
-Lord Steven Regal "pit fighting in India" promo- Saturday Night 8/31/96

Miserable Moments/Sports Entertainment 4 Sadists

-Lex Luger returns- Nitro 9/4/95
-Horsemen spike piledrive Mr. Wonderful- Nitro 12/11/95
-Madusa returns- Nitro 12/18/95
-Road Warriors return- Clash of the Champions 1/23/96
-Scott Hall returns- Nitro 5/27/96
-Kevin Nash returns- Nitro 6/10/96
-NWO wreak havoc/Nash lawndarts Rey- Nitro 7/29/96