WWE In Your House (1995)

Lack of good storyline.

Admirable film.

A Major Disappointment

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

1st Match: Bret Hart vs Hakushi. A solid opener with good spots and action to kick off the show. I have no idea who this Hakushi guy is, but he showed a lot of skill here against Bret. Rating: 4/52nd Match: Razor Ramone vs Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie, 2-on-1 Handicap match. As is usual for a Handicap match, it's suppose to have the face overcome the odds, and thankfully Razor does here. It's a feel good match, even if Razor gets beat down after the match. Rating : 3.5/53rd Match: Mabel vs Adam Bomb, King of the Ring Qualifying match. Less than 2 minutes, nothing important. However, this sets in motion the 1995 King of the Ring PPV, which I've heard is terrible. Rating: 2.5/54th Match: Owen Hart and Yokozuna vs The Smoking Gunns, WWF Tag Team Championships. For a rematch to a Wrestlemania match, there's not much here. It's less than 6 minutes, and nothing special happens. It's watchable I guess, mostly because it's so short. Rating 2.5/55th Match: Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler. I thought this would just be a heel Lawler getting his butt kicked for 5 minutes, and it is, until Hakushi shows up and screws Bret over. The match is an entertaining squash up to that point, but the ending just kills the fun for me. Rating: 2.5/56th Match: Sid Vicious vs Diesel, WWF Championship. The match is a good match for having two giants in it, the ending just leaves a lot to be desired. I know they were trying to make Vicious this monster heel, so it makes sense that he wouldn't get pinned here, but the main event of a PPV ending in a DQ will almost always leave a bad taste in my mouth. Rating: 3/5Final Rating: 6 out of 10. The show's good for the most part, the only real problem I had was with some of the match endings. The opener is really good though, and worth a look.

Live from Syracuse, NYAttendance: 7,000Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Dok HendrixBret Hart Vs Hakushi (W/Shinja)Bret wins with a victory roll. This was an outstanding opener! Bret and Hakushi just went out there and wrestled with no BS, aside from a lot of interference from Shinja. Hakushi's offense was very impressive at the time because a lot of people hadn't seen it at that juncture. The only thing keeping this from four stars is the slow beginning.***3/4Bret Hart hurts his knee jumping over the top rope after the match. Jerry Lawler is ecstatic, because he has to face Bret Hart later on.Handicapped MatchRazor Ramon Vs Jeff Jarrett & The RoadieRamon wins by pinning Jarrett with the Razor's Edge. Jarrett and The Roadie assault Razor after the match. Aldo Montoya tries to make the save but he fails. Savio Vega makes his debut and saves Razor. We're starting off with some quality wrestling! This is another good match. Razor and Jarrett have always had good chemistry, and I was surprised at how well The Roadie did. (better known as Road Dog) Razor overcoming the implausible odds didn't bother me.***1/4Jerry Lawler wants his match with Bret Hart to take place now. He argues with president, Jack Tunney about it. We also get a highlight package of Sycho Sid.King of the Ring Qualifying MarchMabel (W/Mo) Vs Adam BombMabel wins pretty quickly with the world's strongest slam. This was during the big push that Mabel got in 1995 where Vince inexplicably made him King of the Ring. I loathe 1995! LOATHE IT. 3/4*Jerry Lawler comes out during the Smoking Gunn's entrance, trying to get his match with Bret started now. As much as I dislike him on commentary, Lawler was brilliant at times as a heel.Tag Team ChampionshipOwen Hart & Yokozuna (C) (W/Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) Vs The Smoking GunnsOwen and Yokozuna retain after Yokozuna hits a legdrop on Bart Gunn. This seemed awfully short. That being said, it was a decent match. Yokozuna was wisely kept out of the match for most of it. **1/4Jerry Lawler brings out a gorgeous woman, who looks to be in her 20's. He claims it's his mother. This was just creepy. Also, Bret Hart isn't injured after all. Bret fooled Lawler with his knee. Jerry Lawler Vs Bret HartLawler wins after interference from Hakushi. If you've seen matches between Bret and Lawler, then you know not to expect much. Lawler's antics usually make the matches, not the wrestling. This match falls under that category.**WWF gives away a house to some guy named Matt Henderson. I believe this was the only time they did this.WWF ChampionshipDiesel (C) Vs Sycho Sid (W/Ted Dibiase)Sycho Sid has the match won with a powerbomb, but Sid decides to bask in his own glory, and takes too long to cover. Diesel ends up kicking out at two. Diesel has the match won with a jackknife, but Tatanka runs in to cause the DQ. They double team Diesel until Bam Bam Bigelow runs in to make the save. I rank this as one of the worst main events in history. It's nothing but punching, kicking, brawling, and a lengthy Camel Clutch by Sid. As bad as this match was, they'd have a rematch.*The PPV kinda goes downhill after a very good start. Bret and Hakushi is well worth a watch, and Razor's handicapped match is surprisingly good as well. But after that, there isn't much to recommend on this PPV. The main event is horrible and not worth your time. Overall, I'd say this is worth a watch, but that's about it.5.5/10 overall.

Well a lot had changed since the last WWE PPV, Wrestlemania XI. On that night Diesel had defeated his former friend Shawn Micheals, with bodyguard Psycho Sid in his corner, to retain the WWE Championship. In the interim Sid had turned on Shawn, injuring him and costing him a rematch for the title. Diesel stepped in on behalf of his former friend and challenged Sid to a match at In Your House, a successful title defense against Bam Bam Bigelow on RAW made it a title match. In that match Sid had revealed he had joined the Million Dollar Corporation, after they turned on Bigelow.The night started off with the rivalry between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler was renewed. Hart would face Lawler later in the night, but only after he wrestled Hakushi in the opener. This is one outstanding match. Hart wins it with a victory roll to take the match. Lawler was happy with what he saw after the match, Bret had used a lot of energy in the match, he then appeared to injured his knee leaving the ring.This was followed by a handicap match with Razor Ramon taking on Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie. Jarrett had beaten Ramon to win the IC Title at the Royal Rumble four months before thanks to the Roadie, and had retained at Wrestlemania, again with the Roadie's help. Eazor got some revenge this night winning a passable match with his Razor's Edge Powerbomb. Ramon was then beaten down by Jarrett and Roadie before Aldo Montoya and then Savio Vega (making his WWE Debut) came out and made the save.Next up came a match which appeared of little consequence as evil monster Mabel destroyed Adam Bomb in a couple of minutes to qualify for the King of the Ring Tournament.Next up was the big match between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler. Lawler had won his only previous PPV match against Hart thanks to a reverse decision. Here he would have Hakushi to thank after he dove head first into Hart to cost him the match. This was a nice little match and Lawler was now 2 for 2 against Hart on PPV.This brings us to the main event, in which Diesel retained his WWE Championship by disqualification against Psycho Sid, who was led to the ring by his new boss, Ted DiBiase. This was a passable big man match, with the Million Dollar Corp's Tatanka interfering following a Diesel powerbomb to score the DQ. The MDC then got stuck into Diesel until Bigelow came in and made the save.This did a good buyrate and was a good show, ensuring that In Your House was here to stay. A new era had started. And the storyline was interesting as well, with Diesel taking on the whole MDC, Hart losing to Lawler and Michaels soon to return.

Here are the matches . . .Bret Hart v Hakushi: Bret does double duty because he signed a match with Hakushi and Lawler decided to use his open contract on Bret that night. This match first and it's definitely the best of the night with Hakushi doing some nice spots including a flip-over into a gut-wrench back-breaker, an asai moonsault, ham-spring elbow into turnbuckle and a lovely flying head butt with nice hang time. Bret attempts a suplex that sends the pair spilling to the outside. In all truthfulness, this is Basic Bret - back-breaker, Russian leg-sweep and elbow-point drops but it all work pretty well. Hakushi's manager Shinja does a little interfering here and there. Bret pins Hakushi after a lovely inverted victory roll. A great way to start a PPV. 7/10 Razor Ramon v 'Double J' Jeff Jarrett and Roadie in a handicap match: 1-2-3 Kid is injured so can't wrestle with Razor so he goes it alone. There are a few things wrong with this match. 1. Handicap matches are rarely entertaining. 2. The Roadie is in it. 3. Too much time is spent lying on the floor. I know the wrestlers are trying to sell the idea that they are tired but it doesn't quite gel because Razor lies on the floor motionless, manages to do a move swiftly and then fall to the floor again showing poor ring-psychology. The Roadie isn't a bad wrestler by the time he becomes 'The Road Dog' but in this PPV he is reduced to punching, kicking and clothesline moves. The nice part of the match is at least Razor gets a clean pin over Jarrett via a Razor's edge - that is before he gets beaten up. Montoya comes in to help Razor but he gets dumped to the outside. Then a stranger comes to the ring to beat up Roadie and Jarrett before being helped out by the police. It turns out to be the man formerly known as Kwang though this time he is introduced to us after the match as Savio Vega. As things stand, not a complete mess but slow. 5/10 Adam Bomb v Mabel in a 'King of the Ring' qualifying match: Adam Bomb flies over the top rope to hit Mabel and a slingshot clothesline but it doesn't change things as one fallaway slam later the match is over. Adam Bomb gets pinned for reasons only known to the WWF because Bomb could have been a force to be reckoned with and would have preferred him to go through to the next round any day over useless Mabel. This would be Adam Bomb's last PPV. 3/10Smoking Gunns v Owen Hart and Yokozuna for the tag titles: Bart Gunn looks the most impressive of the Gunns and would find it almost silly to believe Billy would have a much better career than Bart at this point. Bart military presses Owen and dropkicks him at the start. The Gunns do a suplex/dropkick combination and also a belly to back suplex./neck breaker combination double-team moves. However, Bart misses a body cross on Owen and hit's the outside floor which allows Yokozuna to hit the leg drop on him. Yokozuna rolls Bart into the ring and Owen pins him. A mediocre match. 4/10 Bret Hart v Jerry Lawler: I have absolutely no idea why Lawler wrestles with the WWF after Royal Rumble 1993 because his work-rate is next to nothing from there. Here he gets beaten up by Bret after Lawler says nasty things about his mother Helen Hart on Mother's Day (which we are told at every opportunity before we forget) and sells his offence poorly. The highlight of the match is Hart's piledriver on Lawler. Hakushi enters the ring and hits the flying headbutt on Bret while the referee's leg is trapped in the ring ropes. Lawler rolls up Hart for the pin. Hart wrestles some odd matches around this time and carrying Lawler seems part of the course for the first half of 1995. 3/10 Diesel v Psycho Sid for the World title: The quality here is almost none-existent. Sid virtually kicks and hammers his way through to the conclusion. He also spends some time stalling and pandering to the crowd. I know he did it a lot during squash matches with WCW but they were squash matches. Sid slaps on a camel clutch but Diesel manages to get out of it. Sid puts the power bomb on Diesel, Diesel puts the jack-knife power-bomb on Sid and attempts pin but Tatanka makes the save and the disqualification victory for Diesel as Tatanka and Ted Dibiase beat up Diesel at the end. A waste of time basically. 4/10 After a great opening match with Bret and Hakushi the PPV goes down the pan rather quickly ending with a very lethargic main event. This was Vince McMahon's answer to the monthly PPVs that WCW started at the time and was right to make these events 2 hours as he didn't have an extensive roster. On the PPV, there was also a competition to win a house in Florida on a golf course at the time too - probably the first and only time the WWF tried to bribe people to watch their PPVs as the whole idea stunk of desperation. These mini PPVs would evolve into monthly events like Armageddon, Unforgiven, Judgement Day and Backlash.