JANUARY

1995 started off with a interesting tone. William Shatner arrived and hyped up his new show on USA. However, as usual whenever a celebrity enters the world of wrestling, it ended up being much more than just a friendly visit. Jerry Lawler had a few choice words for Shatner who was on a edition of Kings Court. Shatner dished out few of his own insults and proceeded to have Bret Hart’s back in a match against Jeff Jarrett. Shatner would get the best of Lawler by sending him over the top to the floor.

Also at the time, Hakushi debuted. Hakushi was a Japanese man who had vertical tattoos with Japanese symbols. Hakushi would later be involved in a feud with a big star in WWF.

At the Royal Rumble their were a few new champions. The rather obnoxious Jeff Jarrett backed up his words by defeating Razor Ramon to win the IC Championship. Jarrett had won the bout before with Ramon being counted out because of a knee injury. Jarrett convinced Ramon to continue and managed to defeat him. Undertaker defeated I.R.S but didn’t get his urn back. King Kong Bundy attacked Taker and took the urn. 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly defeated Bam-Bam Bigelow and Tatanka to win the vacant tag team championships. In perhaps the biggest scene at the event Lawrence Taylor was shoved by Bigelow who was laughing at him for losing the contest. Shawn Michaels won the Royal Rumble last eliminating the British Bulldog after nearly being eliminated. Bulldog’s music even began to play. Michaels gets a World Title shot at Wrestle Mania XI.

After the Bigelow/Taylor incident, Bigelow was forced to apologize but he wasn’t not serious during the apology. Bigelow made it known that he was challenging Taylor to a fight.

The Smoking Gunns managed to defeat the newly crowned Tag Team Champions 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly on the RAW following the Rumble.

FEBUARY

A few weeks after his Rumble win, Shawn Michaels needed protection and insurance. In perhaps one of the biggest moves in WWF history. Shawn Michaels would bring in Psycho Sid Vicious. Michaels was convinced that with Sid by his side he would be able to dethrone Diesel at Wrestle Mania XI. Along with Pamela Lee Anderson and Sid, Michaels had everything in his corner.

Jeff Jarrett was convinced that since he was the IC Champion that he could become the WWF World Champion. Diesel took notice and they had a match for the WWF World Championship. Jarrett held his own but in the end Diesel managed to defeat Jarrett and retain the title.

Lawrence Taylor finally decided to show Bigelow that he was up to the challenge and accepted the challenge to fight Bigelow at Wrestle Mania XI.

MARCH

March was more of a hype month for the big month of April and Wrestle Mania. Plenty of press covered the LT/Bigelow match and Pamela Lee Anderson being in Michaels corner. Also, their was much anticipation for the Diesel/HBK match. Who was the best out of the duo?

Bret Hart and Owen Hart managed to continue their feud in a No Disqualification match which hyped up Bert’s match against Bob Backlund. Bret would win the match and effectively killed that rivalry.

APRIL

The biggest show of the year was hyped heavily around Taylor/Bigelow and Diesel/HBK. At the show, the Allied Powers defeated Jacob and Eli Blue, Ramon was unable to win back the IC Title from Jarrett as he won but only by DQ. Undertaker finally managed to beat the Million Dollar Corporation as he pinned King Kong Bundy, the returning Yokozuna and Owen Hart won the WWF Tag Team Titles by beating the Smoking Gunns, Bret Hart made Bob Backlund submit in a I Quit match, Diesel retained the WWF Championship by defeating Shawn Michaels, and in the main event, Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam-Bam Bigelow.

With Shawn Michaels losing, he wasn’t happy. Sid wasn’t happy because Michaels wanted to win on his own. So, the night after Wrestle Mania Sid showed his frustration by power bombing Michaels three times. Diesel would run down and save Michaels from a further beat down. This effectively turned Michaels into a baby face.

As it turns out, Sid had a price and would join Ted DiBiase and the Million Dollar Corporation. In order to make room for Sid the Corporation had to get rid of someone. That someone would be Bam-Bam Bigelow who embarrassed the stable by losing to Lawrence Taylor at Wrestle Mania XI and failing to defeat Diesel to win the WWF Championship didn’t help.

MAY

Hunter Hearst Helmsley debut in the WWF as a rich snob. Promos of the rich arrogant young man would air. HHH would position himself into being one of WWF’s top mid-card heels in the months to come.

Fresh of his face turn, Bam-Bam Bigelow was out for revenge against Ted DiBiase and everyone in the Corporation. Bigelow would get revenge against I.R.S on a edition of RAW. However, could he get revenge against Sid and former partner Tatanka?

The new and interesting Hakushi began a feud with Bret Hart. Hakushi attacked Bret Hart before when Hart accepted a “Wrestler of the Year” award. Hakushi was out to end Bret Hart. These two would meet several times and put on fantastic matches. However, Hakushi wasn’t the only man Bret had to worry about. Hart had reignited his feud with Jerry Lawler. Hart would compete against both Hakushi and Lawler in two different matches.

At In Your House, Bret Hart would defeat Hakushi in a good match, Ramon would beat Jeff Jarrett and the Roadie in a handicap match, Mabel demolished Adam Bomb, Owen/Yoko retained the WWF Tag Team Championships by beating the Smoking Gunns, Jerry Lawler defeated Bret Hart, and Diesel retained the WWF World Championship by beating Sid via disqualification.

JUNE

Jerry Lawler and Bret Hart had been feuding for almost exactly two years on and off starting at King of the Ring 1993. The feud had gone from Lawler insulting Bret Hart’s mother to challenging him to a match where the loser must kiss the others foot. Lawler claimed that not only would he end Hart’s career once and for all, but that he wasn’t going to wash his feet in order to really embarrass Hart.

At the King of the Ring, their wasn’t much to be happy about. Yokozuna, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker were all favored to go deep in the tournament. However, in a attempt to create new stars, all three men were eliminated during the Quarter finals by Vega, Kama via draw, and Mabel respectively. Vega and Mabel would reach the finals where Mabel would defeat Vega to become King Mabel, a heel. Bret Hart embarrassed Jerry Lawler by not only beating him but also by having Lawler kiss his foot. In the main event of the evening, Bam-Bam Bigelow alongside Diesel got revenge as they defeated Sid and Tatanka. It should be noted that during the Mabel/Vega finals match their was a large “ECW” chant. This was because the show was being held in Philadelphia and the fans were not happy with what they were witnessing. Vince McMahon took notice and in the coming outlines, even worked with ECW.

JULY

With Jerry Lawler suffering a loss in the “Kiss My Foot” match, Lawler had to go to the dentist to get his teeth repaired. While their, Lawler met a evil dentist and would form an alliance with him to take out Bret Hart once and for all. His name, Isaac Yankeem D.D.S.

In Your House #2 consisted of Men on a Mission beating Razor Ramon and Savio Vega, Jeff Jarrett singing “With my Baby Tonight”. Jarrett had been praising his music skills for quite some time. Bam-Bam Bigelow defeating Henry Godwin, Shawn Michaels winning the WWF IC Championship by pinning Jeff Jarrett, Owen/Yoko retaining the WWF Tag Team Championships defeating Luger and Bulldog, and in the main event Diesel managed to beat all the odds and pinned Psycho Sid in a Lumberjack Match to retain the WWF World Championship.

The following night on RAW a familiar face to internet fans and fans of ECW arrived. Shane Douglas, repackaged into a teacher gimmick names Dean Douglas debut in the WWF. Douglas would go on to give wrestlers grades on their matches. By doing so, Douglas would upset quite a few wrestlers.

On the same edition of RAW, a character by the name of Goldust arrived in the WWF. However, it would take several months to get a full grasp on who exactly the man was.

AUGUST

In one of perhaps the years most shocking turns, the British Bulldog attacked the WWF World Champion and turned his back on the fans. Bulldog had been a clean cut baby face for quite some time.

WWF Summer Slam 1995 consisted of, Hakushi defeating the 1-2-3 Kid, HHH defeating Bob Holly, The Smoking Gunns defeating the Blue Brothers, Barry Horowitz getting a rare win defeating Skip, Bertha Faye winning the WWF Women’s Championship defeating Alundra Blayze, The Undertaker defeating Kama in a Casket match, Bret Hart defeating Isaac Yankeem by Disqualification, Shawn Michaels retaining the WWF IC Title in a ladder match defeating Razor Ramon, and in the main event Diesel defeated King Mabel to retain the WWF World Championship.

Summer Slam 1995 would mark the last appearance of Lex Luger on WWF television. Next month has the explanation.

SEPTEMBER

In a rather shocking turn of events, the once main eventing Lex Luger showed up on WCW Nitro while many believed he was under contract with the WWF. Well, as it turns out, Luger had expired and apparently it wasn’t anyone’s top priority to re-sign. This was perhaps a huge blow to WWF at the time, as viewers took it as WCW was the place to go and in Luger case the place to be.
Shawn Michaels finally got a match with Sid after nearly five months. Remember back in April when Sid turned on HBK. Well, they have a match on free television, which WCW’s Eric Bischoff spoiled on national television. HBK would get revenge by defeating Sid after three super kicks.

Having been a baby face throughout his entire WWF run, 1-2-3 Kid started to develop a “whining” personality. Kid is seemingly on a heel turn, but hasn’t quite gone full fledged at this point. Kid would win a match against Ramon, after Dean Douglas got involved costing Ramon the match.

Marty Jannetty returned to the WWF at this time. He hadn’t been seen since early 1994. He wouldn’t have a significant impact with the company.

In Your House #3 consisted of the following. Savio Vega defeated Waylon Mercy, Sid defeated Henry Godwin, The British Bulldog defeated Bam-Bam Bigelow, Dean Douglas defeated Razor Ramon, Bret Hart defeated Jean Pierre Lafitte, Diesel and Shawn Michaels defeated Yokozuna and British Bulldog to win the WWF World Tag Team Championships.

OCTOBER

Continuing the Ramon/Kid series of matches, Ramon defeated Kid not once, not twice, but three times. Kid couldn’t stand that Ramon beat him so Ramon would go on to beat him three times in one night. Eventually, Kid games in and hugged Ramon and seemingly got over whatever issue he had.

Remember in August when Bulldog turned on Diesel? Well, WWF actually continued the storyline. Bulldog would pin the champion in a six man tag team match and thus earned a title shot at In Your House #4. It took only two months after the turn for Bulldog to get a title shot.

In Your House #4 consisted of the following. HHH defeated Fatu, The Smoking Gunns retained the WWF Tag Team Championships by defeating 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon, Goldust won his PPV debut defeating Marty Jannetty, Yokozuna and King Mabel fought to a double count-out, Dean Douglas won the IC Title from HBK by forfeit, which didn’t last long as Razor Ramon defeated Dean Douglas to win the WWF IC Championship, in the main event, British Bulldog defeated Diesel by Disqualification thanks to Bret Hart. Diesel retains the championship.

At around this time, Ahmed Johnson arrived in the WWF. Johnson was a big powerhouse who quickly got over with the crowd. More on him in 1996.

NOVEMBER

Well just when you thought the 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon batched things up 1-2-3 Kid decides to screw Ramon over and cost him a match against Sid. This is the beginning of when 1-2-3 would become really, really hated for a long time in the WWF.

British Bulldog was screwed out of the World Title last month by Bret Hart who attacked Diesel. For some reason Bret Hart was awarded the number one contender ship, which Bulldog was livid about.

The following occurred at Survivor Series 1995, The Body Donnas, Rad Radford and 1-2-3 Kid defeated Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, Barry Horowitz and Bob Holly. Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomko Watanabe and Lioness Asuka defeated Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Saki Hasegawa, and Chaparita Asari. Goldust defeated Bam-Bam Bigelow. Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu and Henry Godwin defeated King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankeem and HHH. Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, British Bulldog and Sid defeated Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon and Dean Douglas. In the main event, Bret Hart defeated Diesel to win the WWF World Championship in a No Disqualification Match. Also on the show, the 1-2-3 Kid joined the Million Dollar Corporation.

On a memorable edition of RAW, Owen Hart delivered a kick to the back of Shawn Michaels head which knocked Michaels out cold. People in the arena were stunned and the announcers were playing it off as if Michaels was seriously injured by the move. So for the next few weeks their was the question “will HBK ever wrestle again?”.

DECEMBER

Furious with the fact that Bret Hart became the number one contender and winning the championship from Diesel, British Bulldog made it known that he wanted his opportunity in getting a title shot. Bulldog would end up getting the title shot at In Your House V.

After losing the title to Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1995, Diesel power bombed Hart and effectively became an apparent tweener a mix of being a bad guy and good guy, and it worked for a little while.

At In Your House V the following occurred. Ramon and Jannetty defeated the 1-2-3 Kid and Sid, Jeff Jarrett was given a “gold” record for selling a million country albums, Ahmed Johnson defeated Buddy Landel who was a sub for Dean Douglas, HHH defeated Henry Godwin in a Arkansas Hog Pen match, Owen Hart defeated Diesel by Disqualification, The Undertaker defeated Mabel in a Casket Match, and in the main event, Bret Hart retained the WWF World Championship by defeating the British Bulldog.