STW - Survivor Series 1995 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Survivor Series 1995

Milton Bradley Karate Fighters presents the 1995 WWF Survivor Series! It happened on November 19, 1995 at the USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland before a crowd of 14,500 fans, which was a little more than 3/4ths full. Rumor and innuendo is that about 12,500 fans paid to attend, drawing a live gate of $250,000.

This was the first of three Survivor Series sponsored by Milton Bradley Karate Fighters. The company would hold little tournaments leading up to the event where superstars battled with the toys - which were basically action figures attached to a mechanical device that let you swing them around - making their legs and arms flail in what could generously be described as a kick or punch. Notably, Jerry Lawler faced Vince McMahon - and won with the help of some tape :).

What can you say about the partnership with Karate Fighters?

Did you produce the segments involving games between superstars? Any fond memories?

Sounds silly but...I know at least one big WWF fan who bought the entire Karate Fighters set over this advertising. Was Milton Bradley happy?

Reports are that this is the least bought Survivor Series PPV ever, at least, at that point, with only about 140,000 households buying the event. This was during the first year of monthly PPVs and the In Your House events before and after barely reached 100,000 buys (In Your House 5 was 80,000).

Is this major concern for the office? The King of the Ring and the first three In Your House events did better numbers in 1995 than the Survivor Series...

Maybe one of several reasons for the bad buy rate...This was the first Survivor Series to take place on a Sunday night! No more “Thanksgiving” or “Thanksgiving Eve” dates.

Why was that decision made? Why Sunday? Why not Saturday so people can stay up late or travel and not miss work?

News and Notes

A name who met with Titan this past week (Nov 20) was Cactus Jack. Jack, who has just moved from New York to Atlanta, was thought due to his look and style to be a wrestler the WWF would never be interested in, but times have changed. He was said to be very close to going with some saying it could be shortly after Royal Rumble. Heyman supposedly told WWF officials, which have been attempting to make friends rather than enemies, that he didn't want to lose Jack until he could properly finish this current program, which he said would be April of 1996 and WWF said they were in no hurry to bring him in. WWF is also looking at ECW as a place where they can send their own wrestlers to get work next year since they aren't going to be running as many house shows and guys are already complaining about not getting enough dates. Jack is long-time good friends with Troy Martin (WWF's Dean Douglas), who is well-known to be unhappy with his situation with Titan, which may prove to be a factor as well.

We’ve heard that JR was a big proponent of bringing in Mick Foley and that Vince even finally agreed to prove the idea was a failure - which it most certainly was not.

Were you there when JR was pushing for the idea of bringing in Foley? What did that sound like?

Was there talk about bringing him in as Cactus Jack - or was that ever even considered?

(For Context - House Show on 11/6 South Bend, IN WWF - 2,200):

Savio Vega b Jean Pierre Lafitte **,

Fatu b Brooklyn Brawler DUD,

Goldust b Marty Jannetty **,

Avatar b Rad Radford **,

Bob Backlund b Bob Holly **,

Slop match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley b Henry Godwinn ***,

Isaac Yankem b Bam Bam Bigelow *,

IC title 1-2-3 Kid as ref: Razor Ramon b Owen Hart **,

Diesel & Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels b Mabel & Davey Boy Smith & Yokozuna **

Diesel, Shawn...and BRET. That’s a very interesting partnership….

A story in the Observer read the Hart Family would like to invite all Hall of Fame type wrestlers from WWF, WCW and Cauliflower Alley and wrestlers who worked the Stampede Wrestling territory in the past to be part of their 12/15 show in Calgary. They are looking at getting in touch with people who headlined the territory in the past such as Harley Race, Dory Funk, Tolos Brothers, Lou Thesz, etc. Besides Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon vs. Davey Boy Smith and 1-2-3 Kid vs. Owen Hart, it appears they'll have Chris Benoit vs. Dean Douglas, and are hoping to put Bruce Hart & Brian Pillman together as a tag team although Pillman isn't confirmed yet. Abdullah the Butcher has committed and will face either Les Thornton or Leo Burke, and the original Dan Kroffat, who probably hasn't wrestled in about ten years, will wrestle Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie (Mongolian Stomper), who was the territory's big draw as a heel in the late 60s.

That’s a pretty stacked card for the time - especially with Bret vs. Shawn both as babyfaces. Was Vince okay with his stars being on a show with WCW or other companies’ wrestlers?

WWF is blowing WCW away on promotion of the women with the video features talking about all the women coming in, showing who they are and their finishing maneuvers. On the other hand, WCW's Gene Okerlund, when mentioning the names of the ones coming to WCW, said they sound like something from the menu at a sushi bar.

You guys seemed to be making a push for women’s wrestling during this period, although we know that would end with some bumps in the road after Medusa returned to WCW.

What would the future have looked like if the women’s division continued to grow from this point? Could Alundra Blayze have headlined a Raw - or more?

Vince McMahon attended house shows this week in Cincinnati, Columbus and the Meadowlands. Usually he only attends Madison Square Garden.

Any ideas why Vince showed up to the house show? Do people at the house show panic when they see the boss unexpectedly arrive?

There was a lot of unhappiness among wrestlers regarding not getting enough dates. Bam Bam Bigelow is almost certainly going to New Japan and depending upon his bookings there, will either work WWF in between his Japanese commitments, or leave WWF. Jean Pierre Lafitte, Kama and Bob Holly also complained about not getting enough bookings although none actually officially gave notice.

We know Bam Bam would finish up at the Survivor Series and never be back with the company. Pierre was also reportedly having clashes with the Clique. Not sure about the other two, although Bob Holly did write about tensions with the Clique in his book.

Was any of this related to backstage politics? Or were they just not being used for other reasons?

"Lonesome Dove" will start airing episodes in late November involving Bret Hart.

Originally a book, Lonesome Dove was adapted into a miniseries. The series was originally broadcast by CBS from February 5 to 8, 1989, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, and reviving both the television western and the miniseries.

So the idea was born to create a full TV series out of the concept. The show ran for 21 episodes before the plug was pulled on it. Bret Hart played Luther Root in two episodes.

Bret wrote in his book that he planned to make a career out of his work on the show but learned around Wrestlemania 12 that the show was finished. Is this something he needs permission from the office to be part of? Was there a feeling that Bret might try to break through to Hollywood, too?

Diesel was on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" around this time.

WWE did a lot with Robin Leach over the years. How did that relationship form?

WWF is instituting a three saves rule in tag matches, which they got over on a weekend television match with Gunns over Kid & Ramon via DQ when Ramon made a fourth save.

Is this still the rule? Can you discuss why it would help and not hurt a match to have rules like this?

Aldo Montoya was told they were going to take the mask off him, do his hair differently, and give him a new character.

It always felt like you guys planned to do more with Aldo. He came in with a big pyro show but quickly got buried on TV as a guy wearing a jockstrap on his head. What happened?

Diesel was on a phone-in show on 11/13 in Washington, DC plugging Survivors. Among his comments when callers asked about wrestling Hulk Hogan, he said he'd never wrestle anyone older than his uncles. He complained during the show about inside politics regarding pushes in WCW. When asked about Ric Flair, he said Flair had already had his time and made disparaging remarks about his age as well.

Of course, Nash would be working with those old guys within the next year. Were these just lines from the company or his actual feelings at the time?

Some news from the USWA…

Vince McMahon did a heel interview on the 11/18 television show teasing Lawler about no longer being so popular in his home town, since Ahmed Johnson got a lot of cheers when he beat Lawler for the title and putting over Johnson as a WWF superstar and thus trying to make him the heel going against the local hero. He brought up how Lawler wrestles differently in Memphis than in WWF and said he should wrestle in Memphis like in WWF, and Lawler's explanation for being a face on one show and a heel on the other is that he hates everyone in the WWF.

Some of these old promos have made it to YouTube and basically, they’re the first example of Vince playing a heel. They’re really good, too.

What can you tell us about Vince agreeing to do this program with the USWA?

Now, this is a little bit of a detour but it’s a big story. We’ve summed up the details as much as we could without cutting apart the story:

According to a story in the 11/22 New York Post, federal prosecutors are investigating whether there was witness tampering and obstructed justice in the trial of Vince McMahon in July, 1994.

The U.S. Justice Department's Brooklyn office is reported as investigating television producer Marty Bergman and his wife, Laura Brevetti, who was the lead defense attorney in McMahon's trial on the allegation that Bergman offered a key witness in the trial between $250,000 and $400,000 according to government documents. Emily Fineburg, McMahon's former administrative assistant who was the government's key witness, told investigators about Bergman's offer.

FBI Agents and an assistant U.S. Attorney have been interviewing witnesses regarding Bergman's conduct before the trial. The investigation is said to determine whether Bergman pursued witnesses and potential witnesses against McMahon in an effort to change, taint or discredit their testimony by inducing them to accept money as television consultants.

Leading to the trial, Bergman represented himself as a producer for "60 Minutes," "Hard Copy," "A Current Affair" and "American Journal" while withholding that at the time he was living with Brevetti and was working out of her office.

Bergman is also being investigated for allegedly writing several smear stories about Sean O'Shea, the lead prosecutor in the McMahon case on the eve of the trial. Bergman, according to the story, is being investigated for being responsible for a story in the New York Observer which came out during jury selection days before the trial began, attacking O'Shea for sexual misconduct. Sources at the newspaper admitted Bergman timed the story to appear just as McMahon's trial began. The same sources said Bergman also planted two other negative stories about federal investigator Anthony Valenti while he was preparing the indictment against McMahon. The stories were all based on complaints deemed as unfounded in Justice Department investigations.

Were there negative stories on the prosecutor orchestrated by those close to Vince, to your knowledge?

The investigation reportedly centers on whether there was a financial connection among Bergman, McMahon and McMahon's lawyers.

Brevetti responded to the allegations by writing a statement saying, "I have been advised of no investigation and have never been contacted by anyone in the government about the existence of one. In any event, there is absolutely no basis for any claim of wrongdoing by me. It is clear to me that this story is being waged by certain individuals within the government who have a personal vendetta against me."

Were the prosecutors still sore about losing in their effort to convict Vince and just looking to grind an axe here?

What can you tell us about Laura Brevetti?

What was Vince’s reaction to this news?

The Event Itself

Readers of the Observer - not the one with the negative stories about the prosecutor - enjoyed the show. Thumbs up 165 (73.0%) Thumbs down 32 (14.2%) In the middle 29 (12.8%)

Mr. Perfect gets a special introduction and a big pop. He talks about the ovation all night on commentary.

Meltzer would write that it was the biggest surprise on the show, which appeared to have been re-booked late in the week leading to the show. Perfect was introduced before the opening credits on the show as a return of a major player in company history, but unfortunately like many other similar returns, he appeared to have not been following what had been going closely and seemed to have little knowledge of current storylines and overall did a poor job, particularly in the womens match where he mainly made jokes about what it would be like to date the different Japanese women. It appeared from television the next night that Perfect's role, at least to this point, will be doing the heel commentary on Superstars, leaving Jerry Lawler only for Raw.

A. Smoking Gunns (Kip Sopp & Mike Plotcheck) beat Public Enemy (Mike Durham & Ted Petty) in the dark match.

Wait a second...Public Enemy in the WWF in 1995? This even seemed to surprise Meltzer in the Observer. They eventually went to WCW for a run. Why weren’t they brought in here?

1. Skip (Chris Candito) & Rad Radford (Louis Mucciolo) & Tom Prichard & 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman) beat Marty Jannetty & Barry Horowitz & Bob Holly (Robert Howard) & Hakushi (Kensuke Shinzaki) in 18:45. There were two late changes in this match. Kid replaced Jean Pierre Lafitte, who had hernia surgery earlier in the week from a stomach injury suffered at the Nassau Coliseum show on 11/10. It was announced on the show that Ted DiBiase had paid Pierre off to stay home and had bought the spot on the show for Kid. Holly replaced Avatar. This change wasn't even acknowledged on the show with a storyline reason. What happened was that Holly was one of the wrestlers unhappy and ready to leave last week, complaining about not getting enough dates, and as a perk to keep him since PPV pay-offs are several thousand dollars, they put him on the show. They called Al Snow up to tell him he was off the show because Holly had been with the company longer. I thought this was the best match on the show. Razor Ramon came out at the start to go after Kid, but was held back by numerous officials. Kid was over strong as a heel. He looked good in some spots and in other spots looked rusty since he hadn't worked as a heel in years. First out was Prichard, who missed a moonsault and was pinned by Holly with a crossbody off the top rope in 5:17. Skip won the second fall in :06 with an immediate schoolboy on Holly using the trunks. The next fall contained a lot of great work from Hakushi and Skip in particular, ending with Radford pinning Hakushi after Kid kicked him in the back of the head in 2:47. Radford, billed as a wannabe Bodydonna, was out next. He had Horowitz beaten with a Northern Lights suplex, but instead did weak looking push-ups and Horowitz pinned him with an Oklahoma side roll (an old Brisco Brothers finish) in 3:16. Horowitz was out next at :59 when he was supposed to whiplash himself on the top rope as Kid moved away, but the spot came off sloppy. Kid pinned him after a legdrop. This left Kid & Skip vs. Jannetty. Even more great action here with lots of near falls by Jannetty. When he was on the top rope, Sunny shook the ropes and he crotched himself. Skip went up top for a superplex, but Jannetty blocked it and came down with the move of the night, a power bomb off the top rope for a pin in 2:37. This left Kid with Jannetty. After Kid missed a somersault legdrop off the top rope, Sid came out. Jannetty used the Rocker dropper (which Curt Hennig cleverly said could break someone's neck as if Vince McMahon actually wanted that acknowledged given the Chuck Austin case) but Kid got his foot on the ropes. Behind the refs back as Ted DiBiase distracted the ref, Sid snapped Jannetty's neck on the top rope and Kid scored the pin. After the match they went backstage where Ramon went crazy throwing a television monitor against the wall a few times, destroying it. ***¾

Give us your thoughts on the match. Why did Kid win here?

Did you see Kid throw the clique sign during his entrance?

Mr. Perfect saying “That’ll break your neck…” about the Rocker Dropper had to irk Vince a little, right?

Was the monitor Razor destroyed a broken monitor or did he really just throw that money away?

2. Bertha Faye (Rhonda Singh) & Aja Kong (Erica Shishedo) & Lioness Asuka (Tomoko Kitamura) & Tomoko Watanabe beat Alundra Blayze (Debbie Micelli) & Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa & Chapparita Asari in 10:01. This match was a disappointment because it came off as a total rush job and because the referee counted two pinfalls that were supposed to be near falls. The Japanese women flew in on an eighteen hour flight after doing the Wrestlemarinpiad show the day before and obviously were tired. Inoue must have been injured or held back since, with the exception of Michaels and possibly Hart, she was the best all-around worker on the card but did absolutely nothing. My guess is they were told to hold back since the spotlight was supposed to be on Kong and focus on getting her ready for a singles match with Blayze at Royal Rumble. Blayze pinned Asuka with a german suplex in just 1:42. Kong pinned Hasegawa with a back suplex in 2:16, which I believe was the first of the two mistake pinfalls. Hasegawa looked the best of the Japanese women in her brief period in. Kong pinned Asari in :27 with a splash off the middle rope. Asari did try her Sky twister press earlier but didn't hit it perfect, but got a good pop. Kong pinned Inoue with a splash in :37. That was supposed to be a near fall but the ref counted three. At this point, nearly everyone looked real confused. Actually this was the second pin that wasn't supposed to happen at that point and it kept Inoue from doing all her signature moves before going out. This left Blayze against three. Blayze pinned Watanabe in 1:28 with a piledriver. She immediately pinned Faye in :41 with a german suplex, or at least a good effort at doing one. Hennig got really embarrassing on commentary since the idea here was to get Kong over as a monster heel threat to Blayze's title, and Hennig kept trying to tell jokes with Vince McMahon almost forcing himself to laugh as a response. You could tell that Hennig and Jim Ross were on each others' nerves in the booth from this point forward in the show. Kong wound up hitting the backhand punch for the pin in 2:50 and made a hand motion about challenging for the womens title although it wasn't really emphasized in the commentary. The All Japan women as a group are remarkably consistent and I don't think I've seen a match involving this level talent be as bad as this one in years and it wasn't as if it was Bertha Faye's fault. **¾

Why didn’t this match click (or clique)?

Mr. Perfect and Jim Ross...was there tension between the two on headset?

3. Goldust (Dustin Runnels) pinned Bam Bam Bigelow (Scott Bigelow) in 8:18 with a bulldog headlock. Goldust's ring entrance is supposed to be the heel equivalent of Undertaker's, but it came off as so long it was boring. The two didn't work well together, although not from a lack of effort. *

What adjustments did you see that needed to be made for the Goldust character to eventually work?

This was Bam Bam’s last match with the company. Why?

There were several segments throughout the night with “Mr. President,” a Bill Clinton impersonator who appeared at various WWF shows during this time. He appeared seated in the crowd and Todd Pettingill would interview him. During one segment, Mr. President stares at Sunny’s tits and spills popcorn on them, then offers her a job as his under-secretary (This was prior to the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998). In another, he talks to Mr. Bob Backlund in what is basically an awkward conversation that he manages to navigate pretty well. But the funniest moment happens when Bam Bam Bigelow’s exploding pyro goes off and the fake Secret Service agents all rush to cover up Mr. President, as though he’s under attack.

Classic stuff. Who came up with the idea to do this?

Can you talk about the company’s decision to use the Clinton impersonator, who even appeared in promos leading up to the event?

Where did you get these fake Secret Service agents? :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv8ZH8ac54M

4. Undertaker (Mark Calloway) & Fatu (Solofa Fatu) & Henry Godwinn (Mark Caterberry) & Savio Vega (Juan Rivera) beat Jerry Lawler & Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Paul Levesque) & King Mabel (Nelson Frazier Jr.) & Isaac Yankem (Glen Jacobs) in 14:21. They teased Helmsley not wanting to work with Godwinn. The first 11:00 consisted of lifeless action involving all but Undertaker. Finally Lawler piledrove Vega, but instead of it being the end of a fall, Vega tagged Undertaker. Undertaker was wearing a cool looking face mask as a result of his recent surgery. Undertaker, who appeared to have gotten the biggest pop on the show, then hit the tombstone on Lawler for a pin in 12:19. He then hit the tombstone on Yankem at :31. Helmsley tried to run, but was thrown back in and chokeslammed in :45. This left Mabel against all four faces and he hit a belly-to-belly and legdrop on Undertaker, who then sat up. Mabel then took off and was counted out at :46. After the match, Undertaker gave Mo, who was at ringside, a choke slam. Not much for wrestling, but the booking was good. *½

Talk about the Undertaker’s mask, here. It still looks creepy. Was he cool with it?

Was it just to protect his face after Mabel potatoed him or was there a story behind it?

5. In the wild card match, Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) & Ahmed Johnson (Tony Norris) & Davey Boy Smith & Sid (Sid Eudy) beat Yokozuna (Rodney Anoia) & Owen Hart & Dean Douglas (Troy Martin) & Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) in 27:24. This was a good match, particularly when Hart was in with either Michaels or a brief spot with Smith. Johnson is pretty green but they are going to push him to the moon. He wasn't over as much as you'd think given his recent push on TV, but this match was part of the process to get him over. Yokozuna is a great worker for his size but he's got to drop weight because he's got no stamina. When he was in, he immediately went to a nerve hold. Sid tried but was also pretty bad. When Douglas and Ramon had words, Michaels pinned Douglas with a schoolboy in 7:30. Ramon pinned Sid in 8:48 when a Michaels superkick on Ramon was ducked and Sid took the brunt of it. Sid power bombed Michaels on his way out, but when Ramon tried to pin him, Michaels kicked out. After Hart destroyed Michaels, Michaels made the hot tag to Johnson who pinned Hart with what is being called a Tiger bomb (Tiger-driver or Liger-bomb in Japan) in 5:31. Both Sid and Kid came out as Ramon had Smith pinned. Kid tripped Ramon and Ramon punched Kid. This gave Smith the chance to get Ramon from behind and hit the running powerslam for the pin in 2:19. This left Michaels & Johnson & Smith all with Yokozuna, which is weird booking on the surface. Johnson bodyslammed Yokozuna to the expected big pop but Smith broke up the pin, saving his opponent. Johnson and Michaels then double-teamed Smith, knocking him out of the ring. Michaels gave Yokozuna a superkick and Johnson pinned him with a splash. ***½

Rumor and innuendo is that Bill Watts came up with the wildcard idea. Is that true?

We never have seen this concept since 1995 but as a young fan back then, it seemed really cool to pair up the good guys and bad guys against each other. Why not bring it back?

Can you talk about the push Ahmed Johnson was getting here - and what went into it? What about Ahmed impressed Vince this early on?

We’ve arrived at the MAIN EVENT OF THE EVENING….

The announcer says the match is for the “World Wrestling Federation’s Championship”

Is that the wrong way to say it? Who was this announcer guy?

Diesel comes out and unlike the past few months, he’s entering the arena with totally wet hair. It’s partially pinned behind his head and his here’s even a braided strand in the back. It’s deep in the weeds but this was a period where Diesel was about to go from clean cut baby face to more of a tweener who would high five people wearing gloves only and displayed more heel tendencies.

Are the changes to the hair part of the story or is this a Kevin Nash decision?

Perfect says it’s hard for him to watch this - for the world title - “something that's eluded” him for years.

6. Hart pinned Diesel (Kevin Nash) in 24:54 to win the WWF title. Both men uncovered one turnbuckle at the start of the match. Diesel dominated the first 7:30 destroying Hart. Hart made a comeback working on Diesel's knee and using a figure four but Diesel made the ropes. As Hart went for a sharpshooter, Diesel kicked him into the unprotected turnbuckle to regain a short advantage. But Hart came back ramming Diesel's knee into the post twice and tied his foot to the ring post. Hart destroyed Diesel for the next few minutes as Diesel couldn't untie the knot. Finally Diesel broke free and did a great job selling the knee for the remainder of the match. Jim Ross had a Vinnie Vegas hallucination when Diesel dropped Hart's face on the top turnbuckle calling it "snake eyes." Hart made a comeback by ramming Diesel into the unprotected turnbuckle, and used a flying clothesline, a bulldog off the top and a leg sweep for near falls. However Hart missed a plancha and began selling his own knee. While on the apron, Diesel shoulder blocked Hart off the apron where he flew through the table that the spanish language announcers were sitting and Hugo Savinovich (a long-time former wrestler/manager in Puerto Rico) began selling his knee as well. Diesel threw Hart in the ring and signalled for a jackknife. He stalled for a second, and it appeared the storyline was (although it didn't appear to be the case) that he was asking the ref to stop it rather than have to jackknife Hart and the ref said no. As he went to do the move, Hart small packaged him for the title. Diesel then jackknifed Hart twice after the bell and beat up several referees. ***1/2

Readers of the Observer said this was the match of the night. What did you think about the match and what did you think about the story they told?

We think this is the first time the Spanish announce table was broken in a spot. Any memories of that conversation? How about that table bump?

Note: Hogan and Race did a table spot in 1988 on Saturday Night’s Main Event but it wasn’t the Spanish announce table.

How did Milton Bradley feel about Diesel screaming “Motherfucker” into the camera? :)

Notes:

• Diesel uses the padded chair to hit Bret on the back. It’s unusual to see a padded chair used but the hard thud, combined with Bret’s selling, makes it work.
• Bret gets tenacious, from biting to raking the eyes. JR says now with Diesel on the ground, it’s “vintage Bret Hart.” Perhaps inspiring a young Michael Cole? :)
• Why are there rope breaks in a no DQ match? There shouldn’t be, right?
• Bret Hart at his best: He used a mic cable to tie up Diesels leg. But there’s a botch as Bret swings the chair and Diesel tries for a kick that gets hung up on the cable. Bret just has to stagger back and try again so he gets hit with the kick.
• JR says it’s Bret’s 41st PPV appearance.
• Diesel looks like he feels sympathy for Bret after putting Bret through a table (one of the best looking table bumps. Actual tables with black table cloths look so much better)
• Diesel says I’m back. The director and commentators miss it
• Bret becomes the second ever three-time WWE champion here

BEST MATCH POLL

Bret Hart vs. Diesel 79

Underdog vs. Bodydonnas 54

Wild card match 47

Womens match 26

WORST MATCH POLL

Goldust vs. Bam Bam Bigelow 127

Dark Side vs. Royals 33

Bret Hart vs. Diesel 14

Womens match 13

Meltzer had this to say about the main event:

The WWF title change meant the group's top position was no longer in the hands of one of "The Clique," although only time will tell if that is temporary or not. The show also left a question in fans' eyes regarding Diesel, who strongly teased a heel turn by giving Hart two jackknifes after the match was over and attacking several referees. Diesel appeared to have been booed by 65 to 70 percent of the fans after the match and announcers McMahon and Jim Ross played it up as if it was a turn. The new character and new attitude of the promotion was set up by Diesel's mouthing motherf---er when he lost the title, so it appears they believe the ECW approach, or at least a toned down version, is now the most marketable approach in this country, which is funny on a lot of levels.

Questions:

Ryan asks...Why do you think the woman’s match didn’t get over and was abysmal when there was so much talent involved? And are you more of a fan of the traditional ss matches or more 1v1

Devyn asks...is this Diesel’s best match of all time?

Perry also asked...After watching this match Diesel said “ this was his best match he ever had in his career. “ What say you Bruce would you agree?

Buffaloco asks...This card had a lot of wrestlers who didn’t stick around in the WWE..most less than 5 years (Hakushi, H.O.G., Public Enemy, Ahmed, Savio Vega..throw Bart Gunn in there too). Which of those wrestlers do you think could have stuck around and turned in a better WWE career?

BillyGunnFact asks...Billy Gunn and his brother Bart defeated The Public Enemy in the dark match. Was The Public Enemy getting trounced so easily the reason the WWF didn’t sign them and let them go to WCW?

Nick asks...Bret talks in his book about Diesel stiffing him with one of the powerbombs and growling something like “Remember who did you the fuckin favour.” Was that ever discussed backstage post/match, or something that came out years later?

Willy Jakes has a great question...Did any higher ups know Jannetty and Candido were going to do the top rope powerbomb spot, and if not, what was the reaction backstage to it? I can imagine heads exploding at such a dangerous looking move.

It’s a good question considering how Jannetty had injured someone before…

Justin asks...How were Bret & Diesel’s attitudes going into this about working with each other. Was there any talk about turning Bret heel here and Diesel becoming a bigger baby face? 

Big Cal asks...Kevin Nash tells the story of meeting with Vince and being pitched a charity boxing match against Mike Tyson for an hour, before Vince finally slid in "oh and you're dropping the belt to Bret at Survivor Series" right at the end.  Any truth to this?

Dopper asks...Obviously Aja Kong was brought in to be Alundra Blayze’s next challenger.

But were any of their partners in that match being considered for a contract before, during, or after?

Ary Rosenbaum asks..I was there live. What was the point of the Bill Clinton impersonator again? They tried it at WM X. To quote Billy Crystal, it wasn't fun or funny. Whose idea was it?

Jesse has an interesting hypothetical question and it’s sort of a difficult question, too… If you could change the Survivor series to include Stakes what would you make stakes?

(Stan note: Title shots for the winners? Best spots in the Rumble? Kayfabe bonuses?)

Jamie has a question...Did Bruce feel like this was a transitional time for the company? With the debut of Goldust, Deisel mf-ing after losing and the fake Bill Clinton/Sunny sexual innuendos seems like the very early early seeds of more “Attitude” was being planted even in late 9

Derrick asks...Were there any plans to keep the championship on Diesel and have the defend it in a rematch with him vs Shawn at WrestleMania XII?

Dave asks...Whose matches with Diesel did you prefer, Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels? 

Adam asks..Was Bruce involved in creative behind the Bodydonna's and was it a rib/revenge on Dr Tom from Bruce?

Dev3 asks...F*ck marry kill- Aja Kong, Nicole Bass, Bertha Faye