Since we’re all spending a lot more time in our houses, what better time to look at the In Your House series of pay-per-views? This series of off-month shows (the WWF still ran just their Big 4 and King of the Ring back then) was created to compete with WCW’s decision to expand their PPV calendar. Originally intended to be smaller versions of their normal pay-per-views, these shows were shorter (usually under 2 hours), cheaper ($10-$20 cheaper than the big 4) and were intended to help set up the big shows more than being the place where all the blow offs took place. Today, let’s take a look at the first year of In Your House’s existence: the five shows held in 1995.
When looking back to this time, we have to remember one undeniable fact: wrestling was in a bad place in the mid-90’s and ’95 is peak bad. The whole industry was in trouble and that fact is especially evident on these ‘B’ shows. Feel free to follow along on the Network, but honestly… maybe just wait for the must-see list because… well, there’s a lot to avoid here.
In Your House 1: Premiere – May 24, 1995 – Syracuse, NY
If you’ve ever wondered why the WWE runs a pay-per-view event once a month, you have this event to thank. Responding to WCW’s expansion of their PPV calendar, the In Your House series was created to fill in the gaps between the Big 5 shows. They were shorter (usually 90 minutes) and were $10-$20 cheaper than the other shows. Some may point to these being ‘B’ shows and they started out that way, this show included. Only six matches were shown on PPV and no match went longer than the opener’s fourteen and a half minutes. More on the opener to come.
Our second match of the night is a handicap match between Razor Ramon and the team of The Roadie and the Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett. This was just a speed bump in the on and off feud Jarrett and Razon had over the I-C title. Despite the convoluted way we go to a handicapped match (Razor’s original partner, the 1-2-3 Kid was injured), it’s a well done 2-on-1. A simple story of Razor overcoming the odds to come out on top, this match includes the debut of Savio Vega. Unfortunately, the Razor/Jarrett feud petered out after this, with Shawn Michaels moving back into the I-C hunt. This match is worth a watch because its the rare handicap match done right where the babyface looks great in victory and the heels hold on to all their heat.
Up next, the dud of the night: Adam Bomb and Mable in a King of the Ring Qualifying Match. There’s a lot more to say about Mable and the 1995 KOTR, but that’s coming when we get closer to June. Two big bulls crashing into each other. Bomb shows off his agility with top rope clothesline, a plancha to the outside and a slingshot clothesline coming in. Then Mable hits his terrible spinning heel kick, a big slam and poor Adam is squashed in under 2 minutes. The only good thing about this one is how fast it finished. Fast-forward and don’t look back.
Owen Hart and Yokozuna are up next, defending the Tag Team titles against the Smoking Gunns. I think these teams had an underrated feud in 1995. I don’t think they ever had a five-star, classic battle but they had good chemistry together. They had an alright match here. Nothing spectacular but all the beats were in there. It could have used a few minutes to breathe but it got cut off around the 5 minute mark.
Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler continued their years-long feud with the backstory of Bret feigning a knee injury after his first match of the night. Bret gets most of the offense in but is screwed in the end as Hakushi interferes. By the way, props to Earl Hebner who is bumped through the ropes and gets hung up by his foot in the second and bottom ropes. It wasn’t meant to be a blow off, never really got into second gear and was shorter than it probably should have been. They had and would have better matches, even if one of the dumbest stipulations ever (kiss my foot) would be attached to their next encounter.
Sidebar: Why would they leave the house giveaway in the Network version? There’s eight minutes of data they could have saved. Granted, we would have never gotten to enjoy Todd Pettengil’s epic mullet.
Finally, Big Daddy Cool defends the WWF Championship against Sid. The formula of two big guys running into each other proves once again not to produce the best main events. Diesel comes out hot, gets cut off after some interference by Sid’s manager Ted DiBiase, Sid locks in a camel clutch for a solid 3 minutes, continues to work the back to continue a storyline from Superstars the day before, hope spot and powerbomb before the big comeback, jackknife and cov… oh, Tatanka jump Diesel and gets Sid DQ’d. Bam Bam Bigelow makes the save and here’s your main event for the much-maligned KOTR next month.
Must See Match: Bret Hart vs. Hakushi
The evening’s opener blows away the rest of the card. A fast-paced match where both men got to show off their offense, Hakushi really took advantage of the spotlight he was being given in working with Bret. His unique high flying moves had not been seen in the Fed at this point and it was a great contrast with Bret’s ground-based style. Hakushi also busts out a proto-Bronco Buster at one point. There was no multiple bouncing on Bret so it really just looks like a dick in the mouth spot, which was just kinda funny. We get some great heel manager work from Shinja, interfering from the outside. Bret finally makes his comeback after Hakushi biffs a springboard splash attempt. The two get in a sick bump as well, as Bret suplexes Hakushi out over the top rope and they both take a nasty spill to the floor. But that also leads us to an Asai moonsault from Hakushi, also probably the first time that was seen on WWF TV. (I said probably, but I’m sure I’ll be corrected in the comments). Back inside, Bret gets a victory roll and hands Hakushi his first televised loss in the Fed. Too bad his push would pretty much die out in the next month or so. This is probably the top match from the first year of In Your Houses. Go out of your way to catch this one… then maybe stick around for the handicap match before finding another event to start.
Overall Grade: D+
This whole night feels like a glorified Raw for the time. Nothing is solved at this card and everything is pointed towards the King of the Ring. Which is fine for TV, but something should be resolved at a PPV. Every finish is meant to be a feud-continuer in the most blatant of ways. I’m willing to accept the point that the company was feeling its way through these shows and they would get much better in the near future but outside the opener, everything just misses the mark. Also, I can’t stand Michael Hayes as a color man alongside Vince. It’s like he left all of his charisma at home and boy does he clash with Vince.
In Your House 2 “The Lumberjacks” – July 23, 1995 – Nashville, TN
Six matches coming to us from Music City as the entangled storylines of Jeff Jarrett/Razor Ramon and all their satellite participants figure heavily into this evening. The locale for the show also gave the company reason to record a country theme, so bon appetit.
Vince’s introduction is particularly dramatic, about how Nashville is a town that will make or break stars but the mood is changed up as soon as he and The King are on screen with the King wearing his crown over a cowboy hat.
The 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Roadie kicks off the action tonight and the pair put on a pretty fast paced match and Nashville is hot for The Kid. The future Road Dogg eats a bunch of offense from the Kid before cutting him off with a powerslam. Kid eventually comes back but is cut off and pinned after a piledriver from the second rope which is actually a pretty impressive finish. A really good opener to the evening.
The momentum could be coming to a screeching halt next as King Mable and Sir Mo take on Razor Ramon and Savio Vega. At this point, it was rare to see Mo getting into the ring. I’m sure he was more active on the house show circuit, but I don’t remember his wrestling on TV much after Mable won KOTR. Despite coming in with Mable as a tag team two years before, Mo was mostly in a managerial role by now. Pretty standard tag match here, Savio eats most of the punishment before a hot tag to Razor. A slam off the top wouldn’t keep Mable down, impressive as it is to see a man that size take a bump off the top. Razor would eventually be overwhelmed by the king and go down after a massive belly to belly suplex. This wraps up the king’s program with Razor and sets us on the path to the main event of Summerslam and the heels are 2-0 this evening.
The undercard has been focused on this moment, Double J performs live. Normally, I’d hate a musical performance in the middle of the show, but it makes sense here. This is Double J’s country music gimmick in Nashville.
After our musical interlude, we get us a big hoss fight as Henry Godwin takes on Bam Bam Bigelow. The Beast from the East is in the middle of his face run and is coming off of main eventing last month’s KOTR in a tag match with Diesel. HOG has been a satellite member of the Million Dollar Corporation recently, costing Bam Bam a match against Sid on a recent episode of Raw. A short and sweet slugfest that saw Bam Bam get even with the hog farmer after HOG misses an elbow from the top rope.
Up next is the most memorable match from the night, so we’ll talk about that one down below.
After the I-C- title match, Dok Hendrix has a stroke backstage, and then more gold is on the line as Owen Hart and Yokozuna defend the Tag Team Championships against the Allied Powers of Davey Boy Smith and Lex Luger. An alright match that sees a little tension between the champs. Hart and Yoko retain in what at the time was seen as an upset, as the Powers were being pushed big time in the weeks leading up to this show. Fun fact: this would be Luger’s final PPV match in the WWF. He would keep Sir Mo from interfering in the main event at next month’s Summerslam and then walk out on Nitro one week later.
It’s main event time as Sid tries to take the WWF Title from Diesel in a lumberjack match. With 30 men surrounding the ring, we have been guaranteed a winner as Sid now can’t run away. Which as an angle was kind of laughable. Sid can heel, but no one was buying Sid as the coward. I wasn’t high on their encounter two months ago at the first IYH, and despite being a close copy of their May match, this one would be worse.
Sid meets the lumberjacks first and is quickly returned to the ring. He would bail a minute later on the side where the Corporation is, which leads to a big HBK-lead brawl and Diesel eats some of the Corporation’s wrath which allows Sid to take over. In the middle of his comeback, Diesel goes flying over the top onto the heel lumberjacks in an impressive, if not pointless, dive. The match does at least start the set up for the main event at Summerslam, as Mabel pulls the champ out to the floor, splashes him against the ring post, drops a leg on the floor and sends him back in for Sid. Once again, Diesel eats a powerbomb and kicks out. The finish went over like a fart really. Multiple heel lumberjacks get in the ring, Diesel puts them all out and then whiffs the big boot for the three count. Thankfully, Sid and Diesel’s feud is over. Unfortunately for the champ and the title, the run with Mabel would be worse for a number of reasons.
Must See Match: Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
One of the most athletic matches of 1995. Michaels flies around the ring, throwing a plancha off the top to the outside, taking his back drop over the corner bump, vintage HBK here.This match actually has some of the best psychology of the era. Double J plays the cowardly heel so well. He and the Roadie work great as the heel team, as the Roadie interferes multiple times and always pays the price for it. Watch for a beautiful dropkick from Double J as Michaels starts to fight back. The finish is a little simple compared to the sequence that leads to it, but the heels get their comeuppance, the good guy gets the belt and all is right with the world. Double J and The Roadie would actually both leave the Federation after this. Jarrett wouldn’t return until the end of the year and the Roadie would be gone for nearly a year before coming back and starting a fued with Jarrett.
Overall grade: C
I think that overall, this show was better than the first edition. There were better matches on the undercard and an underrated classic in the Intercontinental title match. No squashes and nothing so bad that it is unwatchable. And then we get to the main event where all the goodwill gets thrown out the window. Look, Sid and Big Daddy Cool just never had any chemistry and it really didn’t improve years later in WCW. This show gets a better grade because of the improved undercard and the way this show neatly wrapped up a number of programs and started new ones that would be featured a month later at Summerslam.
In Your House 3: Triple Header – September 24, 1995 – Saginaw, MI
Saginaw is not really the first place you’d think of as a PPV venue, but that was the year 1995 in the WWF. As far as I can find, it was the only WWF in Saginaw to air live on TV as everything else run there was either a house show or a taping. Nitro emanated from Saginaw in April 1997. This is the definition of a one-match card. You had the main event where all three titles were on the line and then 5 matches to fill out the show. But would any of those be worth your time to seek out?
Savio Vega and Waylon Mercy open up the action tonight. Vega has been a fixture at the first 3 IYH shows, debuting in May and losing a tag match in July. Mercy was still on his undefeated run as he’d been in the Fed for about 2 months now. This would be his only PPV appearance as Dan Spivey would retire from the ring due to injuries by the end of 1995. Me giving you the background of this match was more interesting than the match. Aside from a nasty looking brainbuster from Mercy, this one was forgettable.
Sid will try to make Henry Godwinn pay for slopping him and Ted DiBiase in the last few weeks, while Godwinn will try to overcome getting powerbombed on the floor this weekend on Superstars. Based on the reactions of Vince and The King, we may have also just heard the first use of “slobberknocker” from JR on WWF TV. A physical brawl between the two big men, Ted DiBiase would ultimately be the difference. Powerbomb, 1-2-3 and Sid has finally won a match on PPV. The hog man would get his heat back though and the Million Dollar Man would wear slop one more time.
A freshly heel British Bulldog gets Bam Bam Bigelow next. Bulldog spends a good chunk of the match working on Bam Bam’s knee. A solid if unimpressive match that Bulldog will take. Not really too much here. He’d go on to face and lose to The Undertaker the next night on Raw, while Bam Bam would work for the company a few more times over the next month or so before leaving after Survivor Series.
Dean Douglas meets Razor Ramon next, after we get a recap of how this issue started. Douglas beat on The Kid, Razor came to the rescue and here we go. A technical back and forth before Douglas takes over on Razor’s back. Ramon makes a few attempts at a comeback before being cut off and having more attention paid to his ribs and lower back. Then we get to the finish and are treated to an utter cluster. There’s a ref bump, The Kid comes in, Bob Backlund (who accompanied Douglas btw) distracting the ref, a Razor’s Edge, the Kid makes the 3 which didn’t make Razor happy. He forcibly ejects The Kid from the ring, Douglas gets a roll up with a handfull of tights. The Kid and Razor nearly come to blows before being seperated and perhaps do we see the return of a heel Razor?
Jean-Pierre Laffite has been going full klepto on Bret Hart in recent weeks, so we get this unlikely PPV matchup with the two. Laffite gets the better of Hart in the early going, including Hart missing a shoulder corner thrust and hitting the post hard. Hart thought he’d gotten some distance and tossed Laffite to the outside, but he got pulled out and introduced to the ring steps. Lawler is having the time of his life during Laffite’s offense. That feud never really stopped, even if the Hitman got the better of the King at every turn. The pirate has been impressive offensively, even nailing a top rope leg drop but he wiffs the Cannonball and here comes the comeback. Laffite takes a nasty bump on the outside as he went for a somersault plancha and Bret just walked away. Laffite even busts out a standing Green Bay Plunge. A heck of a match that wraps up with Bret locking on the Sharpshooter from the mat to pick up the victory.
Our main event has been teased all night, as Owen Hart hadn’t shown up but The British Bulldog has stepped up to do double duty and take his place. So now its the WWF Champion Diesel and the WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels against the WWF Tag Team Champs Yokozuna and sub British Bulldog with all the belts on the line. Shawn and Bulldog start off with some fast chain wrestling before it breaks down. Shawn mocks Yoko and eats a back elbow for his troubles before tagging in Diesel. Scary moment when Bulldog hoists up Diesel for a vertical suplex but loses him and drops him prematurely. He would get it on the second attempt. Shawn splashes Bulldog from Diesel’s shoulders but the momentum is short lived and its the heels time to get some heat. Double hot tags and the Dudes with Attitude (it’s 1995 remember) start cleaning house. Wait, there’s Owen! He’s running in and gets jackknifed and… covered… for the win? So they win the belts by pinning a guy who wasn’t in the match and it was made very, very clear that for tonight the British Bulldog is a tag champ? Well that finished ruined everything the match had going for it. That was the best of the 3 In Your House main events but a confusing and illogical finish doomed it. It reeks of the best finish they could come up with, not really wanting to give Diesel and Michaels all the gold for too long but definitely not wanting to change either singles title.
Must See Match: Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Laffite
Once again, Bret faces off with an opponent with a completely different style and turns in a heck of a match. Laffite was up for the challenge though. The future ROH World Champion bumped his ass off for the Hitman and did the most with the heat he got. Check this out as another example of Bret at the top of his game, doing the most on the card, even when he was given a pedestrian angle to work with.
Overall Grade: C+
The best In Your House at this point with the best main event of the first three events, so why can’t it get a better than average grade? Well, the first three matches of the night were meh at best and the main event suffers from a ridiculous finish. I was really on the fence of a B+, but not much on this card pushed us forward. Since that’s what the whole concept of IYH is supposed to be, it falls just short of “kinda good”.
In Your House 4: Great White North – October 22, 1995 – Winnipeg, Manitoba
Our set up for the Survivor Series takes us to the home of the Jets twice, as Diesel defends the WWF title against the British Bulldog, Razor and The Kid go for the Tag titles and Goldust debuts. But that’s not why this night is remembered. This is where Shawn Michaels relinquished the I-C title to Dean Douglas after being jumped by that Marine…. those 2 Marines…those 14 Marines in Syracuse.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Fatu open up the PPV, and 25 years later, we now understand the BSK cap the future Rikishi is wearing to the ring. HHH is still early HHH, with the full horse riding get-up and cane. Fatu is a house of fire to start and Helmsley is bumping all around the ring and ringside. And there’s the cut-off and a hangman spot. Not the thing you’d expect in an opening match. In the middle of Trip’s heat, Fatu takes the inside out clothesline bump. It’s pretty incredible to see these two guys at this point in their careers developing the in-ring style that they’d take to the top of the Attitude Era a few years down the road, not to mention the diamond cutter Fatu is pulling out in the opening match of a B PPV… in 1995. But it is all for naught. In a show of things to come, Helmsley hits a Pedigree to continue his undefeated streak. A decent opening match, these two actually had good chemistry in the ring, even this early. Henry Godwinn interrupts the post match promo with a threatened slopping, bringing us that much closer to their classic hog pen match in December.
Up next, Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid challenge the Smoking Gunns for the tag titles, the rare face v face title fight. Evenly matched through the early going and just as I was about to type something about a clean match coming, the Kid pulls down the rope as Bart goes to hit it, sending him to the floor and Razor takes over. Are we getting closer to the Kid’s heel turn? Kid’s on fire as he tags in and throws all the spinny stuff. We get some interesting tag team offense as Razor uses the sack of shit toss to throw Kid onto Bart, but the tag champs are getting handled so far. Billy eagerly awaiting the hot tag. Double down, double hot tag, Billy and Kid both duck the right hands the neither threw. Really impressive move I forgot the Gunns did, as Bart hoists up Kid for the vertical suplex and Billy comes in with a drop kick. Razor cleans house and pops Billy with the Razor’s Edge and for some reason, tags in Kid so he can get the pin, which of course backfires when Billy reverses to retain. A pretty good tag match that gets way too muddled by the confusing finish. Kid then throws a temper tantrum and sends flying feet into the mush of both Gunns before Razor acts as peacemaker.
It’s the debut of Goldust and the returning Marty Jannetty will be his first victim. Dust’s entrance takes forever which was want to do and he tries to jump Marty but Jannetty uses his quickness and ends up sending Goldust to the outside. He soon takes over and generally beats on Marty, even through a hurricanrana-fueled hope spot. The beating continues for several more minutes inside and outside the ring. Oof, Jannetty snap mares Goldust over the top rope, nasty looking bump. But he took back over pretty quickly and eventually finished off Jannetty with a gourdbuster. An inauspicious premier for Goldust. This essentially was an 11 minute squash match that got a little botchy at times.
It’s King Mable and Yokozuna next and you just have to feel for the local workers carrying Mable’s sedan to the ring. LOL at Cornette calling the interim president Gorilla Baboon in the pre-match promo. Yoko gets a bit of a face pop here as Mable was peak heel at the time. Hands are flying and Yoko gets the better of the exchange, sending the King to the floor. A huge flying clothesline from Mable and it looked like he hooked Yoko’s chin on the way down. Yoko to the outside. Somehow Mo with the distraction so Mable could hit the big splash in the corner. They take turns missing leg drops and we are back to detente. Until Mable goes for a bulldog and Yoko didn’t follow. That was bowling shoe ugly. They’re on the outside, Yoko fell on Jim Cornette and that’s it. Double countout. That was a lot of not good. There probably could have been something here, but since they were both heels at the time and both in the middle of something with The Undertaker, this match might have killed any possible program going forward.
Here comes the rather infamous cluster where Shawn Michaels forfeits the Intercontinental Title to Dean Douglas, then immediately loses it to Razor Ramon who already wrestled and lost a match tonight. So there’s a quick dagger in any heat Douglas may have had. And that could have been a pretty good series of matches between the two in a what if scenario. Razor starts out hot then works on the arm, slow and methodical for the opening few minutes of the match. Razor has the body language of a man who wants to be anywhere else except in the ring. Seeing this seems to lend credence to the Franchise’s retelling of the match that Hall did his share of sandbagging during this one. Dean’s comeback cut off with a sack of shit throw. At least something else happened. Dean’s comebacks got cut off again and again, though he did get a nice drop kick in. We have a belly to back suplex, Razor puts an arm over Dean, Douglas’ leg is hanging over the edge of the ring, no matter. This one’s mercifully at an end and Razor is I-C champ for the 4th time. Although, the announcers do make an effort to uncover the fact that Douglas’ leg was outside the ring which shoots some holes in the Franchise’s story that they completely ignored the gimmicked finish. Now, they may not have followed through with this possible storyline, but they did mention it.
We are at the main event, where Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler have a quick game of cat and mouse before Lawler hightails it to the back and Bret sits down for color commentary. The British Bulldog will challenge Diesel for the WWF Championship. The last 3 IYH main events were not great title defenses for Nash so let’s hope for better. We get a wide shot during Diesel’s entrance to see…no one on the hard camera side. Someone probably got lit up for that one. There were 10,339 in attendance that night, so the place was about 2/3rds full, and they probably just moved everyone over, but it still didn’t look good. Diesel did his power moves early, Bulldog went to work on the knee. Diesel takes a dropkick to the outside, then goes after Bret and got chop blocked for his trouble. Bulldog back on the knee and all the normal chopping down the tree spots: knee bar, stomps on the knee, jumping on the knee on the bottom rope, a bad sharpshooter, etc. Holy shit! Jim Cornette drops an elbow on the floor on Diesel’s knee. That was a pretty looking elbow from Corny. Belly to back suplex, is that the hope spot for the champ? Never mind, Bulldog points at Bret then blows the sharpshooter again. Bret even calls him out on commentary and Nash with the easy kick off. Bulldog goes for a slam then his legs go out from underneath him, 2 count for the champ and then seconds later, the Bulldog gets him up for the powerslam just fine. Diesel escapes with a big boot, brings in then ejects Cornette. To the outside and Bulldog posts the champ, and then shoves Bret. Hart goes after Bulldog in the ring and we get a DQ finish. The show closes with a huge pull apart between Bret and Diesel and we’re on the way to their no hold barred match at Survivor Series, which is a very good match indeed. This match, not so much. When you pop the biggest for the manager interference, you know there wasn’t much going for the match. And we drug that out for 18 minutes of leg locks to get to the big Diesel/Bret confrontation at the end.
Match of the Night: The Smoking Gunns (c) vs. Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid
I can’t give anything a must see status. If I have to pick the best of the night, its the tag match. The action was alright, the pacing was good, everyone got their stuff in and it was a masterpiece compared to the rest of the card.
Overall grade: F
This is hands down the worst show of the lot so far. Unlike IYH 1 and 2 where the action wasn’t great, but matches either ended feuds or continued them in a clear path or pushed the story forward. We didn’t get any of that here. The only real advancement was after the main event and that’s after it ended a boring match in a BS finish. While the opener was cool to see two future Attitude Era stars lock up early in their WWF runs, the novelty wears off quickly. Go ahead and give this one a miss unless you’re hell-bent on seeing all the shows in order.
In Your House 5: Season’s Beatings – December 17, 1995 – Hershey, PA
The final PPV event of 1995 and the final review in the first edition of our series here. Tonight, the fallout from the Survivor Series wraps up and the march towards the Royal Rumble begins. It’s an interesting time for a show like this with such a short run up between the two big PPVs. I think the company would get much better at short builds but we are still in the infancy of the 12-PPV calendar year. I have also heard a lot about the main event so I am hopeful to finally see a good IYH ME. Oh, and the infamous Arkansas Hog Pen match happened here, so we can see if it actually earns its reputation
We start off with tag team action as Razor Ramon teams up with Marty Jannetty to take on Sycho Sid and the 1-2-3 Kid. Well, well, well, the teased turn in Winnipeg finally happened and the Kid is now under the tutelage of the Million Dollar Man. Marty and the Kid gets us going to start, continuing their rivalry. It looks like the main story here will be the Kid trying to avoid being in there with Razor. We almost got it, but Kid with the blind tag and Sid comes in to take over on the I-C champion. And a double down like 3 minutes in, okay then. A pair of hot tags and Jannetty is a house of fire, though I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that every time he gets into the ring, someone ringside holds up a “Marty must die” sign. The match is thankfully broken up by a lustful promo from Goldust, who is sitting in a private box. He hilariously makes Todd Pettengill his errand boy. I’m assuming this is the start to the build to their match at the Royal Rumble where Goldust would win the I-C title for the first time. Oh yeah, there’s still a tag match going on. Razor comes in after a cheap shot from the Kid and Jannetty gets the double team beating for Razor’s trouble. Decent tag work from Sid and The Kid as Jannetty is taking most of the punishment here. Razor finally gets the tag, and a bulldog will put away Sid. The big man does save The Kid from a Razor’s Edge before the Corporation high tails it. This was an average match with a rather abrupt finish.
The ring announcer just introduced “Nature Boy” Buddy Ly-dell… so this is gonna be a cluster. Instead, Jerry Lawler brings out the returning Jeff Jarrett. He’s been off TV since losing the I-C title at In Your House 2 in Nashville. King presents Double J with a gold CD for his hit single “With My Baby Tonight”. He declares himself the first entrant in the 1996 Royal Rumble and sits down at commentary. Then we get a limping Dean Douglas for a match with Ahmed Johnson, claiming a back injury will keep him out of the match and instead introducing his replacement, graduate student Buddy Landel. Buddy is full Nature Boy here, coming out to Ric Flair’s old theme. Out comes the Pearl River Powerhouse, in the time it took you to read that paragraph, Johnson squashed Landell. Ahmed no sells some chops, Landell backs off Flair style, spinebuster, Pearl River Plunge, fineto. Squash on PPV… woot.
Next up, the infamous Arkansas Hog Pen match between Triple H and Henry Godwinn. Hillbilly Jim will be your referee for this match. There’s an honest to God hog pen on the floor of the Hersheypark Arena with live hogs and everything. Helmsley dodges a bucket of slop, but a ringside official and the first row do not and the fight is on. Lots of punch-kick before we go outside, Henry headlocks Hunter and tries to run the top of his head into the stairs, but he really eats more metal than Helmsley. HHH tries a Pedigree in front of the pen but gets back dropped on to the top of the fence, but doesn’t go in. Instead, he drops a big elbow from the rail to the floor, good looking move. Best looking thing so far. We go back to the ring where Henry can take back over. I take it back, that wheelbarrow facebuster thing HOG just delivered is the best looking thing in this match. They’ll brawl back towards the pen, HOG teases a Slop Drop on the floor, but Hunter escapes but eats the pen gate and does not escape another Slop Drop on the pads next to the pen. Here’s the obvious setup and Helmsley backdrops Godwinn into the pen to win this thing. Henry gets his heat back by dragging HHH in via press slam. Mud is flying, Helmsely is doing the old slip n slide routine and a fan nails him in the head with a drink! Triple H remains undefeated, Godwinn gets his heat back and best of all, this match is over.
Up next we have Diesel and Owen Hart and they are making it clear that this is a new Diesel, clearly laying out his heel turn, even as he’s still pretty over. Owen starts out trying to keep his distance but Nash corners the smaller man. The story here is that Diesel is out for revenge for Shawn Michaels, who Owen put on the shelf by retriggering concussion symptoms. It’s still a little odd seeing a concussion used to storyline purposes, given the current climate on head injuries. Owen is getting some offense in, going after the knee and hitting a missile dropkick from the top. There’s the inzigurthat put out Shawn and a strong kickout after. So much for Owen’s offense. A jackknife and a one foot cover that he takes off at 2, then Nash shoves the ref to give Owen the DQ win, but he’ll take a ride one more time. I guess it just pushes him down the heel road a little bit more, but that match was just there to “avenge” Shawn Michaels but there wasn’t much to it.
King Mable and The Undertaker square off next in a casket match. See, The Undertaker is still a little miffed about having his face crushed, a legit fracture of the orbital bone, which is why it has come to this. This is the peak of ‘Phantom of the Opera Undertaker’ with his giant facemask. This one is all Taker, even if Mable got offense in, Taker just sat up and came right back. Mable did eventually take over and keep Taker down with a leg drop and a big splash. Sir Mo carries Taker over and dumps him in the casket, but they decide to celebrate before shutting the lid and there’s their mistake. A series of clotheslines, a chokeslam and Mable is in the box, Mo interferes and get chokeslammed for his troubles, Mo goes in on top and the lid is shut and one of the shortest casket matches is already over in 6 minutes. The Undertaker has the remnants of his urn back and Mable and Mo are on their way out of the company. They would both be gone after the Royal Rumble.
This main event gives me hope, Bret Hart defends the WWF Championship against the British Bulldog. Please save this card Bret and Davey.
Vince and King making multiple references to Summerslam ‘92 and the fact that Bret has never beaten the Bulldog, thank you captain foreshadowing. Some nice chain wrestling to open the bout and Bulldog keeps coming out with the advantage. Bret flashes some speed but then eats a knee to the gut and Bulldog will take over with a bunch of power moves. Lots of an extended shots of Davey’s wife (and Bret’s sister) Diana during Bulldog’s heat. They are making sure that we know there’s heat within the family, which has kind of been a go-to storyline in the last year or so. Remember how Bret and Ower tore the family apart for most of 1994 during Owen’s quest for the belt? Bulldog keeps slowing this one down, delivering a power move, near fall and going back to a rest hold. Lather, rinse, repeat. I should start a clock to see exactly how long Bret spends in a headlock. Heh, the Bulldog got bulldogged. Bret gets a snug looking piledriver in there to start a comeback for a near fall. Great sell from the Bulldog. Bret hoists Bulldog to the top, hooks him up for superplex but Davey powers him up, crotches Bret on the top rope and he takes a nasty fall to the outside. Bret gets posted and holy crap, blood in 1995. Ooh, there’s a decent size puddle on the mats outside. Davey will take back over in the ring and even more shots of Diana. We get it, she’s concerned for both guys, enough with the split screen close ups. Vince just calls the shot from ringside, telling the cameras to stay wide. I wonder if Bret got fined for this one, or got permission to get color. Davey busts out a bow and arrow, very nice, and Bret escapes into a sharpshooter attempt. Bret nails a snap german out of nowhere. Both guys executing great looking moves, Bret tries a springboard like Vader bomb thing off the second rope to the floor but Davey catches him and nails the running powerslam as Bret leaves a stain on the mat. These guys have gone into a second or third gear. Davey takes a bump into the buckles and takes a scary landing on the top of his head. O’Connor roll, a recreation of the finish at Wembley but only a near fall. A cradle out of nowhere and Bret scores the win, but it actually could have been a double pin.
Must-see Match: WWF Title – Bret Hart (c) vs. The British Bulldog
Without a doubt, the best IYH main event of the year. Before watching this, I read that Dave Meltzer gave this match a 4.5 rating and I actually started to question that in the middle. There was an extended slow period in this match, which is why I would easily put this second to their SummerSlam match. But they found another gear a few minutes later. Skip right to the end of the show for this great piece of business.
Overall grade: D
The main event saved this one from the depths of a failing grade. The in-ring action was mostly blah until the title match, the gimmick match was passable at best and we got an embarrassingly long bit that was blown in the beginning and only set up a squash that lead to a one month feud. If anything, the undercard can be remembered for the beginning of Goldust’s angle with Diesel and the final time we’d see Dean Douglas. Even taking his stories with a grain of salt, he got run around and screwed left and right by that company.
And that was the year of the WWF 1995. Five In Your House shows which can pretty much be knocked down to four matches worth going back to watch.
- Bret Hart vs. Hakushi – IYH 1
- Jeff Jarrett and Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship – IYH 2
- Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Laffite – IYH 3
- Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog for the WWF Champions – IYH 5
I’m not gonna sugar coat it, unless you’re looking to get the completionist achievement, skip the majority of these shows. It’s hard to even give this time the benefit of the doubt through rose colored glasses. There are a few bright spots but for the most part the wrestling landscape is pretty bleak. Thankfully, business picks up over all in 1996 so the IYH shows get much better as well.
Next week, we’ll cover the seven In Your Houses that were produced in 1996, so dial up those four matches and maybe, I dunno, rewatch Wrestlemania III as a reminder of better retro times.
The Finisher 