Throwback Thursday: Looking back at WWE Survivor Series 1995

Each and every Thursday I will look back at a different pay-per-view event from the past via the WWE Network. Want to see a certain event covered? Send your suggestions to @VaughnMJohnson on Twitter.

Last time, I covered the WWE No Way Out 2001

WWE Survivor Series 1995

Date: Nov. 19, 1995

Venue: USAir Arena, Landover, Md.

Some random notes

This was the ninth annual Survivor Series. The event took place on the final day of a government shut down, which explained why WWE felt the need to unearth its Bill Clinton impersonator again. It also explained the line, "I've got nothing else to do," during one of his interviews with Todd Pettingill.

That was because due to the government shut down, the real Clinton literally had nothing else to do.

The gag was mostly stupid, but the lone humorous part was when Bam Bam Bigelow's pyro went off during his entrance, prompting the "secret service" to jump in and protect the "president."

The show opened with Mr. Perfect making an entrance. He joined Vince McMahon and Jim Ross on the commentary team.

With that said, let's get to the matches.

Survivor Series – The BodyDonnas (Skip, Rad Radford, Dr. Tom Prichard & 1-2-3 Kid) def. The Underdogs (Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, Barry Horowitz & Bob Holly)

It was only 1995 and the Survivor Series gimmick had clearly already run its course. A prime example was this match.

It Sounded weird that Jannety was still using The Rockers theme song long after he and Shawn Michaels went their separate ways. Not to mention, his attire looked like he was stuck in the 1980s as well.

You're probably wondering who in the blue hell is Rad Radford. His name was awful and symbolic of the creative rut the company was in at the time. However, he was born Louis Muccioli Jr., but you may know him better as Louie Spicolli from Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. Unfortunately he died on Feb. 15, 1998 from to a drug overdose.

I completely forgot about the time 1-2-3 Kid turned heel and sold out to Ted DiBiase.

Razor Ramon came out before the match started and attempted to attack 1-2-3 Kid after Kid turned on him the week before.

Vince McMahon actually referred to Holly as a "two-sport superstar" due to his character being a racecar driver. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Holly doesn't have any professional races under his belt.

The fans in the arena were really into Hakushi. He had a unique arsenal of moves for 1995 and fans were probably enamored by it.

This had to be one of the few — and maybe the only — pay-per-view match for perpetual loser Barry Horowitz. He didn't get many opportunities to shine so he had to take full advantage of the few chances he got.

The most spectacular elimination came courtesy of Jannetty, as he eliminated eliminated Skip with a power bomb from the top rope.

The conclusion of the match came when Sycho Sid came out to lend an assist to his comrade in the Million Dollar Corporation, 1-2-3 Kid, which helped him become the lone survivor for his team.

Survivor Series – Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe & Lioness Asuka def. Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa & Chaparita Asari

According to Ross, these were the first women to compete in Survivor Series match since the very first event back in 1987.

Although these women were making history, Mr. Perfect still thought they all should have been in the kitchen cooking dinner for their significant other and even said as much during the match.

It was good thing Hasegawa didn't hear Perfect say that, as she would have probably taken him to suplex city like she did multiple women in the match.

The most dominant woman in the match was Kong, as she eliminated three people, including WWE Women's champion Blayze to pick up the win.

Despite all of the talent in the ring, this match wasn't really anything to write home about, as it got pretty sloppy toward the end.

Goldust def. Bam Bam Bigelow

Dustin Runnel's had just debuted as Goldust in WWE only three months prior to this event. Although Goldust was just getting started in WWE, Bigelow was apparently on his way, as this his final WWE match.

Bigelow had some very high profile moments in WWE, but he left the company with an uneventful loss here.

Survivor Series – The Darkside (The Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu & Henry O. Godwinn) def. The Royals (King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem, DDS & Hunter Hearst Helmsley)

This was the debut of the "Phantom of the Opera" version of The Undertaker, as he donned a mask to shield his orbital bone, which was broken by King Mabel a month earlier.

The Undertaker's team was essentially the Bone Street Krew, which was his group of real-life friends backstage. Fatu, who eventually became Rikishi, even wore a hat that had the letters "BSK" on it. Other members included Yokozuna and The Godfather. At this point, he still went by Kama.

All of the guys in the ring worked hard, but the hardest workers in this night had to be the sad souls tasked with carrying Mabel to the ring on his throne. The throne itself looked to be quite heavy and then Mabel added another 500 pounds on top of that. It was always a rough day at the office for those guys.

On top of being a 500-pound man wearing gold pajamas and a crown, Mabel's hair was pretty outlandish as well.

Yankem was and always will be an awful gimmick. Glenn Jacobs got extremely lucky that the character didn't destroy his career and that he was eventually cast to play The Undertaker's brother Kane.

Another random thought: How did Fatu's butt get so big over the years? Sure, he put on some weight as the years went by, but it apparently all went to his butt and nowhere else.

Perfect actually referred to Helmsley as Triple H during the match. That wouldn't officially become his name for another couple of years.

This match was all about The Undertaker and the crowd knew it. That's why the fans went absolutely crazy when he was finally tagged in. He came right in and eliminated Lawler and Yankem with a couple of tombstones.

He then eliminated Helmsley with a choke slam. Mabel wanted no parts of The Undertaker and literally ran away, causing his team to lose. Not sure if that did much to help Mabel get over as a heel.

Survivor Series – Team Michaels (Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, The British Bulldog, & Sycho Sid) def. Team Yokozuna (Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon & Dean Douglas)

This wasn't long after Michaels' infamous incident in Syracuse, N.Y. where he was legitimately attacked by multiple men during a night out on the town. In storyline, Michaels suffered a severe concussion.

This was Johnson's pay-per-view debut. He made his WWE debut less than a month earlier. He eventually became the Intercontinental champion, which made him the first African American to win a singles title in WWE. I can't believe such a distinction belongs to him.

This was billed as the wild card match that pitted heels and babyfaces on the same team in an effort to create strange bedfellows and unique matchups.

Prime examples were Ramon and Douglas being on the same team despite feuding over the Intercontinental championship.

Unique matchups were British Bulldog and Owen Hart squaring off although they were related by marriage. Another unique pairing was Michaels and Ramon, who didn't get a chance to face each other outside of their legendary ladder matches for the Intercontinental title.

This also created some confusion, especially for British Bulldog, who stopped a pin attempt for his own team for no real reason.

Bulldog almost cost his team the match, but wound up being one of the survivors along with Michaels and Johnson.

WWE championship (No disqualification) – Bret Hart def. Diesel

I recently covered one of this pair's other title matches, which took place at the 1994 King of the Ring. I was a fan of that match and I was a fan of this one as well.

I just love seeing Diesel and Bret Hart go against each other. The size difference created contrasting styles and that always makes for good and intriguing matches.

Diesel and Bret Hart utilized that to tell a story within their matches. In this one, Diesel overpowered Bret Hart until the latter found a way to begin attacking Diesel's lower body.

Bret Hart did everything he could to damage Diesel's legs and got to show some of his vicious side due to the match having no disqualifications.

Bret Hart even showed some ingenuity by using a cable to tie Diesel's leg to one of the ring post. After suffering a lot of damage to his legs, Diesel did a tremendous job selling the injury.

The conclusion of the match came when Diesel knocked Bret Hart through an announce table and seemingly had him beat, but Bret Hart quickly rolled up Diesel to clinch the victory and the WWE championship.

After the match, an unsatisfied Diesel attacked a couple of referees and delivered a pair of power bombs to Bret Hart, signifying that he was officially turning heel. Although it wasn't the classic heel in that he hated all of the fans. He only liked the fans that cheered for him, specifically ones that wore his patented black glove.

If you didn't have a black glove, Diesel didn't care about and I thought that was cool, especially for 1995-96. That type of character was unique at that time.