It’s time again to put the ‘Flashback Friday‘ into Flashback Friday as we leap our way through the WWE Network randomly reviewing it pay per view by pay per view and show by show. While last week was WrestleMania week and we ‘randomly‘ landed at WrestleMania 17, this week is post-WrestleMania or ‘RawAfterMania‘. So we leap this week to the first ever live and not prerecorded Raw after WrestleMania.

Raw #105 [April 3 1995]

We open with pictured highlights of last night’s WrestleMania 11 with Vince McMahon telling us every celebrity that was there and how Laurence Taylor, Diesel and Owen Hart won their matches. We then get the opening credits.

Hakushi vs Bob Holly

Collar and Elbow tie up into a Headlock by Holly before Hakushi sends him off the ropes to break it. Holly comes back with a Shoulder Block that knocks Hakushi down. A series of leapfrogs by both men ends in Holly hitting Hakushi with two Dropkicks. Another Collar and Elbow but this time it’s a Headlock by Hakushi. A Shoulder Block knocks Holly down this time but Holly catches a rebounding Hakushi with a Hip Toss. A Wrist Lock by Holly and some Elbows to Hakushi’s elbow. Hakushi escapes the Wrist Lock by pushing Holly into the corner and gains control with a spinning kick to the gut. A whip into the corner by Hakushi but he misses an Avalanche as Owen Hart and Yokozuna come to the ring. Holly climbs to the top and leaps with a High Cross Body but Hakushi ducks and Holly lands with a thud on the canvas. Back from the ads and Hakushi is working on Holly’s arm and shoulder in the corner. An Arm Wringer on Holly by Hakushi before he wrenches Holly’s arm over his own shoulder, twice.

A Snapmare and a knee to the good shoulder gets Hakushi a two. On the outside of the ring, Owen Hart charges at The Kid who ducks and hits Owen with a Spinning Kick and a chop. Back in the ring Holly counters a Superplex by pushing Hakushi off the top turnbuckle and flies at Hakushi with a top rope Clothesline and both men are down. Back to their feet and Holly blocks a Right Hand and hits a series of his own. A Back Body Drop gets Holly a Two as does a Dropkick. The referee doesn’t see Yokozuna trip up Holly and Hakushi takes advantage with a match winning running Senton.

Winner: Hakushi

We see an ad for the merch from WrestleMania 11 including a cap. a program and some shirts. JR shows us photo highlights of Bam Bam Bigelow vs Laurence Taylor, Taylor won. At a press conference Bam Bam Bigelow tells us he is disappointed but he’ll come back from it. Stills from the Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund match, Bret won. Same from The Undertaker vs King Kong Bundy. Yes Undertaker won.

Vince McMahon is in the ring with Diesel. Does Diesel remind anyone else of Roman Reigns? Vice versa? Diesel says that if it wasn’t for Sid interfering last night and injuring the referee, Shawn Michaels might have won and Shawn Michaels deserves a rematch. Diesel says that Sid is not Shawn’s friend and he should leave Sid at home for the rematch.

Lex Luger & British Bulldog vs Timothy Well & Steve Dunn

Dunn starts with a couple of punches to Bulldog’s back before Bulldog reverses a whip into the ropes and hits a Gorilla Press Slam. Well runs in and meets the same fate from Luger before Luger Clotheslines him to the outside. A tag to Luger and a Double Back Elbow gets Luger a two count. A headlock by Luger but Dunn shoots him off the ropes and is knocked down by Luger following a Shoulder Block. Luger goes to bounce off the ropes but is grabbed by Well who gets an Elbow in the face from Luger. Dunn clobbers Luger with a Spinning Heel Kick and Well and Dunn team up to hit Luger with a leaping backbreaker. Well puts the boots to Luger and gets a two count before laying into Luger with Right Hands for another two. A tag to Well and a top rope Back Elbow gets yet another two. Well bounces Luger off the ropes but Luger catches him with a Facebuster. Bulldog tags in and he flattens Dunn with a Clothesline and a Back Body Drop before a Powerslam gets two. Luger whips Well out of the ring as Bulldog hits Dunn with a Flapjack. Luger tags in and they hit Dunn with a modified version of the Hart Foundation’s old Hart Attack finisher. Luger then covers Dunn for the three count.

Winners: Lex Luger & British Bulldog

We hear from the celebrities last night and, to be honest, it feels like they have been handed either cue cards or a script with buzzwords on it. Jenny McCarthy, Johnathan Taylor Thomas, Nick from NYPD Blue and Pamela Anderson all said the same thing. It was ‘WWF, thank you for having me. Wrestlemania was a blast. New Generation.‘ Odd.

Alundra Blayze vs Bull Nakano [Woman’s Title]

I complain a lot about the champion coming out first in matches, but this takes the cake and the biscuit. Not only is the Woman’s Champion out first, she is already IN THE RING!!!!! The Champion got ‘jobber entranced‘!!!

And breathe.

Nakano hits a series of rights before the bell to start the match followed by a Facebuster before climbing to the second turnbuckle. I’ve no idea what for though as Blayze counters it with what I can only describe as a Stratusphere. Blayze whips Nakano off the ropes but it is Blayze that gets Clotheslined before a Hair Grab Snapmare by Nakano spins Blayze across the ring. Blayze is clutching her nose, wonder if that will come up? Nakano hits a Clothesline and a Legdrop for a two count before applying a modified version of a Half Crab but Blayze reaches the ropes to break the hold. Nakano climbs to the second rope to hang Blaze in a chokehold before a Bulldog that looked more like a Facebuster. Blayze rolls out of a second one before hitting Nakano with not one but three Sling Blades before catching Nakano with a Leg Lariat and two second rope Dropkicks that gain a two count.

A Sunset Flip by Blayze is countered into a Vertical Splash by Nakano for a two before applying a Scorpion Cross Lock. Nakano lets Blayze out of the hold, stupid move by Nakano, and hits Blayze with a Piledriver for a two. Nakano again goes to the second rope but this time Blayze Dropkicks Nakano out of the ring before climbing to the top herself and diving at Nakano. Back in the ring, Blayze attempts a Hurricanranna which is countered, as most are, into a Powerbomb which gets a two. A Bodyslam later and Nakano leaps off the top turnbuckle crashing down on Blayze with a huge flying Legdrop that somehow only gets a two. Nakano attemps a German Suplex but Blayze counters it with a Victory Roll of sorts for a two count. Nakano then misses a Clothesline allowing Blayze to hit a German Suplex for another two count. Same for a Second German Suplex. Blayze tries climbing to the top but is thrown out of the ring by Nakano who dives for, and misses, a Tope Suicida. Blayze seems stuck in Brock Lesnar mode as she hits yet another German Suplex, this time on the outside of the ring before Nakano Irish Whips Blayze into the ringside steps. Back in the ring, Nakano misses a top rope Moonsault allowing Blayze to hit another frickin’ German Suplex. This one wins Blayze the match and the title.

Post match, Blaze celebrates her win before a woman with facepaint, massive hair and wearing what can only be decribed as leather/pvc waders runs into the ring and attacks Blayze dropping her face first with a Snake Eyes on the turnbuckles. This would lead to a nose injury/nose job for Blayze. Next time we see the monster in the waders, she’s an overweight hippy. Wrestling is odd sometimes.

Winner: Alundra Blayze (New Woman’s Champion)

We get an ad for the replay of last night’s Wrestlemania. Plenty of celebrities, I don’t see many wrestlers getting named though.

Mabel & Mo vs Ben Jordan & Tony Roy

Yes Raw had matches like this at the time. Named wrestler vs Punchbag/ Jobber/ enhancement talent. Matches like this turn up to this day every so often, actually one was on Raw this week. Back then, this happened every week. Say what you will about WCW and Nitro but these matches pretty much stopped due to WCW and the Monday Night Wars.

Anyway.

Mabel and Mo attack their opponents before the bell, bit of a theme, before Mabel throws Roy out of the ring. With the referee distracted, Mabel and Mo pound Jordan in the corner with punches and stomps. Mabel Irish Whips Jordan who ducks a Clothesline and Dropkicks Mabel in the knee causing him to stagger into the corner. Jordan attempts to Irish Whip Mabel who reverses it into a Sidewalk Slam before throwing Jordan to his own corner allowing Roy to tag in. Mabel hits Roy with a Spinning Heel Kick before tagging in Mo who chokes Roy against the middle rope. A tag to Mabel and Mo whips Mabel into Roy who is in the corner. A huge Belly To Belly Suplex to Roy by Mabel and this is over and done.

Winners: Mabel & Mo

Vince is in the ring with Shawn Michaels and his bodyguard Sid. Shawn say his back is screaming and he feels like he’s been run over by a steamroller. He’ll go on to say something along these lines once a year for the next five. Shawn says that like Diesel he had trouble forgetting their friendship going into the match. He then says that the WWE Title is important to him so he accepts Diesel’s challenge of a rematch and says WHEN he wins, he’ll give a rematch to Diesel. He goes on to say he doesn’t need a bodyguard especially one that injure the referee, so he gives Sid the night off when he and Diesel have a rematch. Sid isn’t happy about getting the night off and calls Shawn a ‘stupid little puke‘.

To calm things down, Vince suggests we go to the ads. And we do.

We come back from the ads and Shawn looks dead. He lies motionless in the ring with Sid standing over him. Diesel runs in, hits Sid with a knee and a couple of punches and we fade out. Show over.

Post Show: While the Raw After WrestleMania is treated like a party and an event where there are returns, debuts and NXT call ups, nothing really happens here. There’s a debut on the show of the woman that would go on to be Bertha Faye but it’s nothing that you wouldn’t see on an average episode of Raw in any other week or month in 1995. What’s on here is OK but there is nothing special.

Match of The Night: Has to be the Woman’s Title Match. It was a cracking contest. Nothing else on here is.

MVP: I want to give this to Sid. His intensity at Shawn telling him he has the night off makes you think he wants to kill Shawn and when we come back from the ads it looks like he did just that. This show might have been a nothing show, but you’ll probably watch next week to find out what he did to Shawn and to see what he does next.

Rating: 4/10. It could and should have been something but instead was just an average show with mainly average matches.

With that I am done, done and on to the next one. I have been Stevie C and I can be found on Twitter @Callaweasy2220 for anyone who wants to tweet and chat about wrestling, live tweeting my way through Raw, Smackdown, NXT and (when there’s one on) pay per views. For those that don’t, I’m still going to be on Twitter. There is a vote going on over @theCHAIRSHOTcom where you can vote for where you want me to leap to in upcoming reviews. Until then #UseYourHead and I’m going blue.

“That looks like Goldberg when he was seven”

Oh boy.