WWF In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings
December 17, 1995
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Reviewed on February 6, 2015
The War is under way.
With WCW breathing down their throats, the WWF looked to change course. Diesel dropped the WWF Champion to Bret Hart, with the ultimate plan to get the belt to Shawn Michaels. A solid plan, but it wouldn’t remotely be enough.
The WWF also looked to end some experiments here. King Mabel’s reign of terror looked to be just about over here. Gimmicks like Dean Douglas were also on its last legs. The WWF looked to be trying to go with edgier characters, such as Sycho Sid and Goldust.
Really, right now the WWF is just trying to get to Wrestlemania.
The Card
The opening promo hypes up the Bret vs. Bulldog title match, still pointing out how, never in a 1 v. 1 match, had Bret ever beaten the Bulldog. Of course, they call back to Summerslam ’92.
1-2-3 Kid and Sycho Sid vs. Razor Ramon and Marty Jannetty
The Kid recently joined the Million Dollar Corporation after turning on Razor Ramon in a match against Sid. Marty Jannetty’s comeback has kinda been considered a big deal, so I guess he fits as a partner here. Sid did cost Jannetty a Survivor Series match against the Kid last month as well.
Goldust is at ringside and he obviously has his eye on Razor.
Good storytelling early on, as Jannetty tries to get Razor in there against the Kid, but the Kid keeps running away.
We get sidetracked by a mid-match Goldust promo, to which he seems to be attracted to Razor Ramon.
Unfortunately the match went downhill…no one seems to care about Jannetty. All the heat is with Ramon.
Razor Ramon and Marty Jannetty win when Ramon pins Sid in 12:20. Ramon hits a second rope bulldog for the win. Fun start, but match cooled off when Jannetty was the face in peril. Still, a good enough opener.
The ring announcer tries to set up the next match, but Jerry Lawler stops him. It looked like the ring announcer messed up, as he was announcing Buddy Landell, who had to be introduced by Dean Douglas anyway.
Lawler announces that Jeff Jarrett is back! He’d be back for like 8 weeks. Lawler presents a Gold Album to him. Jarrett also enters the Royal Rumble…which I feel like he wasn’t in for some reason. What a waste of PPV space this is. Jarrett joins the commentary team.
Dean Douglas is hurt, but no worries, his pupil will take over for this match.
Ahmed Johnson vs. Buddy Landell
Landell is the homeless man’s Flair here. This is an inside joke of course, since Douglas hates Flair. So Landell is Douglas’ student here. Landell even uses Flair’s old WWF music.
Ahmed Johnson made a splash at Survivor Series by bodyslamming Yokozuna. What was wrong with an Ahmed vs. Yoko match here?
Ahmed Johnson pins Buddy Landell in 0:45. Pearl River Plunge in 40 seconds. Not sure what this was supposed to accomplish, but sure why not. I think this is the last of Dean Douglas.
Lawler and Jarrett mock Ahmed, then Lawler tries to interview him. This sets up Jarrett vs. Ahmed for the future when Jarrett smashes the gold CD over Ahmed’s head. Ahmed does make his comeback and goes after Jarrett.
Razor Ramon interview. He’s defending the IC title against Yoko on RAW He receives the telegram from Goldust here, which seems like some sort of poem.
Hogpen Match
Henry O. Godwinn vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Hillbilly Jim is your referee!
I think to win you have to dump your opponent in the pigpen.
Henry tries to slop Hunter, but Hunter moves and Henry gets an official.
I mean, if you ignore the gimmick this isn’t too bad.
HHH with a great counter to the Slop Drop…he holds the guardrail and HOG crashes to the floor. HOG would get him a few minutes later though.
HHH wins in 8:58. Henry runs at HHH, and HHH backdrops him over into the pen for the win. Jim and Henry would get HHH in the pen anyway. Whatever to all of this. Its amazing HHH survived all of this get to the very top four years later. HHH would feud withDuke “The Dumpster” Droese next, so things weren’t really looking up.
Diesel vs. Owen Hart
Diesle had begun turning, but he still was on Shawn Michaels’ side, and Owen had taken him out a few weeks prior. So, he’s out for revenge.
This is a weird match as they cram in a 12 minute match in 5 minutes total.
Owen Hart wins by DQ in 4:34. Poor Owen gets destroyed and Jackknife Powerbombed. Diesel puts his foot on the chest, but takes it back at 2. He then shoves the referee to draw the DQ, then hits a 2nd Jackknife. This was to add edge to Diesel, who would be a heel soon enough. Poor Owen really didn’t need to get killed that way, did he though?
Ted Dibiase introduces us to Xanta Claus, the future Balls Mahoney. It’s almost like we could have had another match in there somewhere. Anyway Savio Vega gets involved and gets beat down by Xanta before making a comeback. Whatever.
Casket Match
The Undertaker vs. King Mabel
The conclusion of the Mabel-Taker storyline. During Mabel’s reign of terror he broke Taker’s face with a legdrop. He also (horrifically) beat him at King of the Ring ’95. Taker came back with the Phantom of the Opera mask at Survivor Series and ripped through Mabel’s team before Mabel ran. So here we are.
Yes, that is Jeff Hardy struggling to carry Mabel.
I have no idea why, but this match has a special place in my heart. It’s such a stereotypical early 90s Undertaker match, and really the last one.
Here’s the match. Mabel is shocked Taker rises up a couple of times. Mabel hits a fat guy move (belly to belly, splash) and Taker is done. They fail to close the lid on the casket. Taker comes back and destroys Mabel and wins.
Undertaker wins in 6:11. He gets the urn back too. There were a couple of more appearances, but for all intents and purposes this was the end of the King Mabel experiment. And what a failure it was. Taker afterwards calls for the WWF Title. Well it’s about time. 1995 was a real waste for the Undertaker. His PPV opponents were IRS, King Kong Bundy, Mabel and Kama. Yikes.
WWF Championship
Bret Hart© vs. The British Bulldog
The only way that they can push the Bulldog as a realistic threat here is to continually refer to Summerslam ’92.
Early on the Bulldog knocks down Earl Hebner, then helps him up. That’s not really playing a good heel there Davey.
Bret Hart had a crazy good piledriver.
Awesome superplex counter from the Bulldog as he crotches Bret on the top rope, then comes down with a top rope stomp!
Bulldog sends Bret into the steps, and Bret “accidentally” bleeds. Bret admitted he did this purposely to make this match mean more. The WWF had a no blood policy at the time. You can hear Vince is clearly taken about on commentary.
Vince points out how we don’t need any close-ups as well.
Bow and Arrow from the Bulldog…and Bret almost turns that into the Sharpshooter. Bret always found creative Sharpshooter spots.
Bret with the odd Vader Bomb type move on the outside, which is caught by the Bulldog. Running Powerslam on the floor!
The floor Running Powerslam is oddly no selled. But whatever, this match is picking up!
Bret Hart retains by pin in 21:09. Bret rolls the Bulldog up in La Majastral, and gets the win. Chris Jericho taught Bret that for this finish! Anyway, great main event that at least made something out of this show. The blood sure as hell helped as well.
We get one more In Your House extra, as we get a staredown between Diesel and The Undertaker after Taker is declared the #1 Contender for Bret’s title.
Total nothing show here, but at least it was building for the future. Ramon vs. Goldust was set-up. Diesel vs. Taker was set-up. Bret and the Bulldog had a great main event. That’s enough for a C at least. Can’t give it more because well, hogpen matches, Buddy Landell and King Mabel can’t really be half your show here. And Diesel really didn’t need to squash Owen Hart.
Final Grade: C