Next cab off the rank - Diesel faced The British Bulldog at IYH4
Listen to our October 1995 WWF podcast, reviewing WWF In Your House 4.
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Hot off the heels from In Your House 3, where the WWE promised a title change before undoing it 24 hours later, came In Your House 4: Great White North. We’re in Winnipeg, so logically none of Bret Hart, Owen Hart or Jean Pierre Lafitte are on the card. But that’s ok, because Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker are… no, wait – Undertaker broke his orbital bone and Shawn Michaels got beaten up by a bunch of marines a couple of weeks prior.
Instead, Diesel would be facing The British Bulldog for the WWF Title, the culmination of a program that started before Summerslam. Bret Hart would at least be in attendance, on commentary for the main event out to scout both men – as he would be facing the champion at Survivor Series. Undertaker was mercifully spared facing King Mabel – who would now opposed to Yokozuna, so the fans got to suffer instead.
Razor Ramon and The 123 Kid had patched up their differences, they would be facing The Smoking Gunns for the tag titles. Dean Douglas was the named opponent for Shawn Michaels – who for the time being at least was still the champion. We start the show with announcement from Interim President Gorilla Monsoon that Shawn Michaels will be stripped of the title, and it has been awarded to Douglas. Douglas gets to face Razor Ramon – who gets to pull double duty for the evening.
Fatu vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley
An early rendition of Rikishi vs Triple H here, some nice stuff but neither character is particularly developed by this stage. That being said the closing few minutes of this match were really solid, Fatu no sold a DDT before hitting a lovely superkick. He goes for a top rope headbutt, Helmsley moves and goes for a Pedigree (the crowd popped for the set up of it), and wins the match.
The Smoking Gunns vs Razor Ramon & The 123 Kid for the WWF Tag Team Titles
The beneficiaries of the tag title schmoz from the last pay per view were the Gunns, who won the titles on Raw the following day. Billy is now sporting a shorter, blonder haircut, which for some odd reason makes him seem a lot taller. Razor is super popular in this spot, at the detriment of not only the babyface Gunns but often even The Kid. Razor hits the Razor’s edge, but The Kid wants to tag in… after a bit of stalling Kid just goes for the pin – gets caught in a roll up and loses. Razor isn’t happy. Odd finish, couldn’t the Kid have at least gone for a big move and missed?
Marty Jannetty vs Goldust
A bizarre debut, indeed. After a lot of fan-fare, and a long entrance… it was just Dustin Rhodes looking ridiculous (Jannetty too). Quite what the logic process was behind the match, I’m not sure, but this was a really poor debut for Goldust. If you wanna be making Goldust into something, he shouldn’t be debuting with a 50/50 match against Marty Jannetty, he wins with a reverse suplex of sorts.
King Mabel vs Yokozuna
This match was every bit as bad as you would have imagined. Yokozuna by this stage is massive and, well, Mabel was always massive. Two heels, no heat, lots of stalling. The match spills to the outside, Yokozuna falls onto Jim Cornette, and both men get counted out. Awful.
Shawn Michaels comes out in street clothes with his intercontinental title and a black eye and visible scars on his face. He doesn’t want to relinquish the title, so Dean Douglas just snatches it off him. Shawn looks upset and wanders to the back. Razor Ramon comes out and it’s game on.
Dean Douglas vs Razor Ramon for the WWF Intercontinental Title
It’s hard to work out why this was as bad as it ended up being. Both guys are experienced enough, both guys have good enough ring authority where they should’ve been able to adapt to what wasn’t working in front of a crowd that was loud when it was given the opportunity to. It got a little better down the stretch, Douglas hits a crossbody from the top, Razor hits a belly to back suplex, pins Douglas who slides his foot under the ropes, the ref misses it and Razor is your new champion.
Diesel vs The British Bulldog (w/ James E. Cornette) for the WWF Championship
You have to feel a lot for Diesel, the guys he was paired with in the main event (Sid and Mabel) were hardly designed to get great matches out of him. Now, not that Davey Boy is Bret Hart, but you’d figured both would be motivated to try and steal the show? Instead we got an 18 minute snooze fest, with far too long spent on Davey working Diesel’s leg. The match ended with Davey shoving Bret on commentary, who attacks him.
The show closed with a brawl between Bret and Diesel – quite who thought it’d be a good idea to put Diesel against Bret in Canada I’ve got no idea. Diesel ended up being booed quite heavily, and this was the night (it seems) where Vince gave up on the champ.
Score Rating: 1.5/10
Go Back and Watch: Erm… er… Shawn’s acting is decent I suppose? Maybe you’re getting some nostalgia from the Goldust debut and Rikishi vs Triple H. Don’t hold your breath, mind.
Instead, Diesel would be facing The British Bulldog for the WWF Title, the culmination of a program that started before Summerslam. Bret Hart would at least be in attendance, on commentary for the main event out to scout both men – as he would be facing the champion at Survivor Series. Undertaker was mercifully spared facing King Mabel – who would now opposed to Yokozuna, so the fans got to suffer instead.
Razor Ramon and The 123 Kid had patched up their differences, they would be facing The Smoking Gunns for the tag titles. Dean Douglas was the named opponent for Shawn Michaels – who for the time being at least was still the champion. We start the show with announcement from Interim President Gorilla Monsoon that Shawn Michaels will be stripped of the title, and it has been awarded to Douglas. Douglas gets to face Razor Ramon – who gets to pull double duty for the evening.
Fatu vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley
An early rendition of Rikishi vs Triple H here, some nice stuff but neither character is particularly developed by this stage. That being said the closing few minutes of this match were really solid, Fatu no sold a DDT before hitting a lovely superkick. He goes for a top rope headbutt, Helmsley moves and goes for a Pedigree (the crowd popped for the set up of it), and wins the match.
The Smoking Gunns vs Razor Ramon & The 123 Kid for the WWF Tag Team Titles
The beneficiaries of the tag title schmoz from the last pay per view were the Gunns, who won the titles on Raw the following day. Billy is now sporting a shorter, blonder haircut, which for some odd reason makes him seem a lot taller. Razor is super popular in this spot, at the detriment of not only the babyface Gunns but often even The Kid. Razor hits the Razor’s edge, but The Kid wants to tag in… after a bit of stalling Kid just goes for the pin – gets caught in a roll up and loses. Razor isn’t happy. Odd finish, couldn’t the Kid have at least gone for a big move and missed?
Marty Jannetty vs Goldust
A bizarre debut, indeed. After a lot of fan-fare, and a long entrance… it was just Dustin Rhodes looking ridiculous (Jannetty too). Quite what the logic process was behind the match, I’m not sure, but this was a really poor debut for Goldust. If you wanna be making Goldust into something, he shouldn’t be debuting with a 50/50 match against Marty Jannetty, he wins with a reverse suplex of sorts.
King Mabel vs Yokozuna
This match was every bit as bad as you would have imagined. Yokozuna by this stage is massive and, well, Mabel was always massive. Two heels, no heat, lots of stalling. The match spills to the outside, Yokozuna falls onto Jim Cornette, and both men get counted out. Awful.
Shawn Michaels comes out in street clothes with his intercontinental title and a black eye and visible scars on his face. He doesn’t want to relinquish the title, so Dean Douglas just snatches it off him. Shawn looks upset and wanders to the back. Razor Ramon comes out and it’s game on.
Dean Douglas vs Razor Ramon for the WWF Intercontinental Title
It’s hard to work out why this was as bad as it ended up being. Both guys are experienced enough, both guys have good enough ring authority where they should’ve been able to adapt to what wasn’t working in front of a crowd that was loud when it was given the opportunity to. It got a little better down the stretch, Douglas hits a crossbody from the top, Razor hits a belly to back suplex, pins Douglas who slides his foot under the ropes, the ref misses it and Razor is your new champion.
Diesel vs The British Bulldog (w/ James E. Cornette) for the WWF Championship
You have to feel a lot for Diesel, the guys he was paired with in the main event (Sid and Mabel) were hardly designed to get great matches out of him. Now, not that Davey Boy is Bret Hart, but you’d figured both would be motivated to try and steal the show? Instead we got an 18 minute snooze fest, with far too long spent on Davey working Diesel’s leg. The match ended with Davey shoving Bret on commentary, who attacks him.
The show closed with a brawl between Bret and Diesel – quite who thought it’d be a good idea to put Diesel against Bret in Canada I’ve got no idea. Diesel ended up being booed quite heavily, and this was the night (it seems) where Vince gave up on the champ.
Score Rating: 1.5/10
Go Back and Watch: Erm… er… Shawn’s acting is decent I suppose? Maybe you’re getting some nostalgia from the Goldust debut and Rikishi vs Triple H. Don’t hold your breath, mind.
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