Dean Douglas wrestling Razor Ramon, in some singlet!
Listen to our September 1995 WWF podcast, reviewing In Your House 3.
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As we reach the first consecutive set of In Your House pay per views this is the first real feeling of the WWF replacing the spacing of pay per views with a regular monthly show. Off the back of Summerslam 1995, and the fact that there were only three Raw’s between the shows as the show went on a two week hiatus (one which included the opening WCW Nitro), this was a show without much build-up.
But the main event offered a very intriguing prospect. The “Triple Header” featured WWF Champion Diesel and WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels teaming up to face the WWF Tag Team Champions Yokozuna and Owen Hart. If Shawn and Diesel won the match, they would become tag champions. If Yokozuna and Owen Hart won the match, the person who made the pin would take the championship off the person who got pinned. So if Yokozuna pinned Diesel, he would win the Intercontinental Title, and if Owen pinned Shawn, he would win the Intercontinental Title (the idea of Owen winning the WWF Title was apparently so preposterous the company hid away mentioning it). Long story short – if you bought the pay per view you’d see a title change.
Elsewhere on the card we saw the freshly turned heel British Bulldog (a heel for the first time in his career) facing the falling Bam Bam Bigelow. Dean Douglas took on Razor Ramon, that match involved in the triangle feud with the 123 Kid and Bret Hart faced Jean Pierre Lafitte – a feud literally based around Lafitte stealing Bret’s jacket.
Savio Vega vs Waylon Mercy
The perception was that this match represented the beginning of the end of Waylon Mercy as an act, not long after he started. Mercy too beaten up, his knees gone. This, of course, didn’t stop them feeding him to The Undertaker first! Nothing much to write home about this, Vega works a decent babyface role but is clearly suffering from not being that long on WWF television. In the end Vega wins it with a spinning back kick.
We cut backstage, and Dok Hendrix interrupts an argument between James E. Cornette and Interim WWF President Gorilla Monsoon. Owen Hart isn’t in the building, Monsoon says the match will take regardless. We haven’t heard the end of this. We later establish that Monsoon will allow someone to become “temporary” co-champion with Yokozuna, so Cornette begins his hunt to find a partner.
Psycho Sid vs Henry O’Godwinn
Since you’ve seen us last, Godwinn turned babyface dumping pig slop over Ted DiBiase. Again, solid but no better action from these two, with DiBiase doing his best on the outside to keep things interest. Godwinn hits a reverse DDT, but DiBiase breaks up the pin with the referee somehow missing it. In the end Sid hits a powerbomb for the clean win. After the match, Sid and DiBiase argue over who will slop Godwinn, Bam Bam runs out and attacks sid, Kama follows. On the distraction, Godwinn comes around and dumps the slop all over DiBiase.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs The British Bulldog
To compliment his new heel turn Bulldog has had his hair cut, it’s very short. Bam Bam Bigelow’s career has stalled at this stage, now being used as a setup for Bulldog ahead of him main eventing In Your House 4. This match is nothing special, but they put together something decent. Bam Bam pulls out a moonsault, but Bulldog moves before hitting a powerslam for the clean victory.
Dean Douglas (w/ Bob Backlund) vs Razor Ramon
Bob Backlund comes out and seems to align himself with Douglas, introducing him. Douglas is wearing a splendid turquoise blue singlet with an exclamation mark on the back. He and Razor have quite a decent long match, Douglas dominates the middle (as the heel should) Razor rallies rolling through a flying body press and almost getting a three. In the end a the ref takes a bump, Razor hits the Razor’s edge, pins Douglas. Without a ref, the 123 Kid runs out and counts the pin, unbeknownst to Razor. In the kerfuffle, Douglas rolls up Razor, the ref comes around and counts Douglas as the winner. Good action, best Shane Douglas match I’ve seen.
Bret Hart vs Jean-Pierre Lafitte
The match wasn’t fitting for the storyline, but the storyline was shite and the match was very good. A tale of two high risk dives to the outside. Bret goes for a suicide dive, “hits it” but overrotates and does well not to land on his head early doors. Later in the match Lafitte goes for a somersault plancha, Bret moves and Lafitte takes a technically very clean if brutal looking back bump on the outside. Match crechendos nicely, Lafitte hits a rolling fireman carry for a two, before Bret rolls Lafitte into the sharpshooter and wins the match.
In the mean-time, Jim Cornette recruits The British Bulldog to replace Owen, having canvassed Sid and King Mabel. All of that effort before landing on a wrestler he already manages. Gorilla Monsoon makes the British Bulldog a temporary WWF Tag Team Champion, and if he pins Diesel or Shawn he will win their title.
Diesel © and Shawn Michaels © vs Yokozuna and The British Bulldog © (w/ Mr Fuji and Jim Cornette) in a “Triple Header” match.
If Diesel and Shawn win, they win the tag titles. If Yokozuna and The Bulldog win, the person who makes the pin will win the singles title of the person who gets pinned.
A genuinely nice idea, with “any title changing hands” but the company’s inability to have the balls to make a decision ruins this. Shawn and Yokozuna have a lovely sumo stand-off, Yokozuna’s facial expressions are still fantastic. I did enjoy this, but Yokozuna, in his current shape, just spent too long in this match. This match also failed in properly doing a job to convince the audience either Diesel or Shawn’s title was in jeopardy. In the end, Owen Hart runs out, eats a Jacknife powerbomb and get pinned. Yes, they pinned a guy not officially in the match.HELLO – WCW called, wants its finish back.
In a shock to no-one, the screwy finish in the main event was a bait and switch. The following evening on Raw, after protestations from Jim Cornette’s lawyer, Interim WWF President Gorilla Monsoon reversed the decision… and Yokozuna and Owen Hart proceeded to lose the titles that night on Raw to the Smoking Gunns. Thanks for buying the pay per view, folks!
Score Rating: 6/10
Go Back And Watch: Bret vs Lafitte is very good, the main event and the Douglas/Razor match are decent too. Solid card, good by 1995 WWF standards, but that’s about where the praise ends.
But the main event offered a very intriguing prospect. The “Triple Header” featured WWF Champion Diesel and WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels teaming up to face the WWF Tag Team Champions Yokozuna and Owen Hart. If Shawn and Diesel won the match, they would become tag champions. If Yokozuna and Owen Hart won the match, the person who made the pin would take the championship off the person who got pinned. So if Yokozuna pinned Diesel, he would win the Intercontinental Title, and if Owen pinned Shawn, he would win the Intercontinental Title (the idea of Owen winning the WWF Title was apparently so preposterous the company hid away mentioning it). Long story short – if you bought the pay per view you’d see a title change.
Elsewhere on the card we saw the freshly turned heel British Bulldog (a heel for the first time in his career) facing the falling Bam Bam Bigelow. Dean Douglas took on Razor Ramon, that match involved in the triangle feud with the 123 Kid and Bret Hart faced Jean Pierre Lafitte – a feud literally based around Lafitte stealing Bret’s jacket.
Savio Vega vs Waylon Mercy
The perception was that this match represented the beginning of the end of Waylon Mercy as an act, not long after he started. Mercy too beaten up, his knees gone. This, of course, didn’t stop them feeding him to The Undertaker first! Nothing much to write home about this, Vega works a decent babyface role but is clearly suffering from not being that long on WWF television. In the end Vega wins it with a spinning back kick.
We cut backstage, and Dok Hendrix interrupts an argument between James E. Cornette and Interim WWF President Gorilla Monsoon. Owen Hart isn’t in the building, Monsoon says the match will take regardless. We haven’t heard the end of this. We later establish that Monsoon will allow someone to become “temporary” co-champion with Yokozuna, so Cornette begins his hunt to find a partner.
Psycho Sid vs Henry O’Godwinn
Since you’ve seen us last, Godwinn turned babyface dumping pig slop over Ted DiBiase. Again, solid but no better action from these two, with DiBiase doing his best on the outside to keep things interest. Godwinn hits a reverse DDT, but DiBiase breaks up the pin with the referee somehow missing it. In the end Sid hits a powerbomb for the clean win. After the match, Sid and DiBiase argue over who will slop Godwinn, Bam Bam runs out and attacks sid, Kama follows. On the distraction, Godwinn comes around and dumps the slop all over DiBiase.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs The British Bulldog
To compliment his new heel turn Bulldog has had his hair cut, it’s very short. Bam Bam Bigelow’s career has stalled at this stage, now being used as a setup for Bulldog ahead of him main eventing In Your House 4. This match is nothing special, but they put together something decent. Bam Bam pulls out a moonsault, but Bulldog moves before hitting a powerslam for the clean victory.
Dean Douglas (w/ Bob Backlund) vs Razor Ramon
Bob Backlund comes out and seems to align himself with Douglas, introducing him. Douglas is wearing a splendid turquoise blue singlet with an exclamation mark on the back. He and Razor have quite a decent long match, Douglas dominates the middle (as the heel should) Razor rallies rolling through a flying body press and almost getting a three. In the end a the ref takes a bump, Razor hits the Razor’s edge, pins Douglas. Without a ref, the 123 Kid runs out and counts the pin, unbeknownst to Razor. In the kerfuffle, Douglas rolls up Razor, the ref comes around and counts Douglas as the winner. Good action, best Shane Douglas match I’ve seen.
Bret Hart vs Jean-Pierre Lafitte
The match wasn’t fitting for the storyline, but the storyline was shite and the match was very good. A tale of two high risk dives to the outside. Bret goes for a suicide dive, “hits it” but overrotates and does well not to land on his head early doors. Later in the match Lafitte goes for a somersault plancha, Bret moves and Lafitte takes a technically very clean if brutal looking back bump on the outside. Match crechendos nicely, Lafitte hits a rolling fireman carry for a two, before Bret rolls Lafitte into the sharpshooter and wins the match.
In the mean-time, Jim Cornette recruits The British Bulldog to replace Owen, having canvassed Sid and King Mabel. All of that effort before landing on a wrestler he already manages. Gorilla Monsoon makes the British Bulldog a temporary WWF Tag Team Champion, and if he pins Diesel or Shawn he will win their title.
Diesel © and Shawn Michaels © vs Yokozuna and The British Bulldog © (w/ Mr Fuji and Jim Cornette) in a “Triple Header” match.
If Diesel and Shawn win, they win the tag titles. If Yokozuna and The Bulldog win, the person who makes the pin will win the singles title of the person who gets pinned.
A genuinely nice idea, with “any title changing hands” but the company’s inability to have the balls to make a decision ruins this. Shawn and Yokozuna have a lovely sumo stand-off, Yokozuna’s facial expressions are still fantastic. I did enjoy this, but Yokozuna, in his current shape, just spent too long in this match. This match also failed in properly doing a job to convince the audience either Diesel or Shawn’s title was in jeopardy. In the end, Owen Hart runs out, eats a Jacknife powerbomb and get pinned. Yes, they pinned a guy not officially in the match.HELLO – WCW called, wants its finish back.
In a shock to no-one, the screwy finish in the main event was a bait and switch. The following evening on Raw, after protestations from Jim Cornette’s lawyer, Interim WWF President Gorilla Monsoon reversed the decision… and Yokozuna and Owen Hart proceeded to lose the titles that night on Raw to the Smoking Gunns. Thanks for buying the pay per view, folks!
Score Rating: 6/10
Go Back And Watch: Bret vs Lafitte is very good, the main event and the Douglas/Razor match are decent too. Solid card, good by 1995 WWF standards, but that’s about where the praise ends.
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