WWF In Your House 5 - Seasons Beatings Review

Blood pours from Bret Hart's head... it was the first sight of blood in the WWF in well over a year

Listen to our December 1995 WWF podcast, reviewing In Your House 5.
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In Your House 5 didn’t have a massive amount of build, it didn’t particularly need it. In was in a lot of ways an absolute transitional show, with matches made for the show long before going in, and most programs focused on stuff headed into 1996. After the controversy in October, The British Bulldog was getting his WWF Title rematch against new Champion Bret Hart.

Undertaker was getting his October match against Mabel after Mabel broke the orbital bone in his eye, this time in a casket match. “Sid And The Kid” were starting their pursuit of the Tag Titles against Razor and Marty Jannetty, and we would get to find out whether Diesel vs Owen Hart should’ve been a major program earlier in the year.

This show also featured a "Hog Pen" match, that featured a literal hog pen (covered in shit) and literal pigs (who were largely asleep) and probably cost the WWF about 100 floor seats as it protruded from the aisle way. That would feature Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs Henry 'O' Godwinn later on.


"Sid And The (123) Kid" (w/ Ted DiBiase) vs Razor Ramon and Marty Jannetty
Decent crowd, who reacted well to all four participants. A fairly paint by numbers WWF tag team match, with the heels gaining control firstly over Razor, then Jannetty before he finally gets a hot tag. Razor sets for the Razor's Edge, which the crowd comes alive for – although Sid counters. Razor then grabs onto a bulldog from the second rope and that's enough for the clean win. Goldust is sat at ringside on an elaborate couch, he has Razor in his sights, in more ways than one.


Jerry Lawler climbs into the ring, and he has a special guest. The returning Jeff Jarrett! Lawler says Jarrett has been away promoting his World Tour, before gifting him a gold CD celebrating half a million copies sold of the "Aint I Great" Album. Jarrett then announces himself as the first participant in the 1996 Royal Rumble, before joining Lawler on commentary for the next match.

Read More: Jeff Jarrett And The Roadie Walk Out On The WWF
 

Buddy Landel (w/ Dean Douglas) vs Ahmed Johnson
Douglas comes out and says he's sidelined with a back injury (which he was), he then introduces his "graduate student" Buddy Landel – a proper Nature Boy Ric Flair knock-off (right down to Flair's WWF music). The match is very short, Johnson makes light work of him with a tigerbomb for the victory.

After the match Lawler interviews Johnson, before getting some comments from Jarrett – who was not impressed. Johnson calls Jarrett an "Achy Breaky Heart wannabe", so Jarrett nails him with his gold CD presentation case before attacking him with a chair. A great angle that quickly went awry (apparently some refs missed their cues) so Johnson abruptly starts no selling Jarrett's offense and they brawled to the back.

 
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs Henry 'O' Godwinn with Hill Billy Jim as the special guest referee in a "Hog Pen" match
The rules are simple, so much so that they only bother mentioning them about 2 minutes before the match finishes. Both participants started in the ring, and the first person to end up in the Hog Pen would be the loser. Godwinn attempts to slop Hunter, but ends up covering a WWF announcer and a few people in the front row with it. The match goes up the aisle way, then back to the ring, before returning to the aisle. Godwin nails the reverse DDT on the matting, before charging at Hunter who flips him over the fence and into the hog pen to win the match. Hunter rightly won the match, but would end up in the pen himself who bodydropped him right in it. Hunter slips and slides around for good measure.

 
Owen Hart (w/ Jim Cornette) vs Diesel
So, given this was one of the matches we were calling for when Diesel was Champion, this was interesting. For one thing, it felt like a massive size mismatch (Diesel didn't just feel taller, "bigger" too). A short match that Diesel never really looked in any danger in, Owen barely acting above an enhancement talent. Diesel hits a big boot, shouts "This is for you, Shawn", before powerbombing Owen. He cockily pins Owen with one foot, before pulling out at two. He sets up for another powerbomb, shoves the ref – and loses by DQ. He then powerbombs Owen, again.
 

We get an angle with Savio Vega giving out some presents with Santa Claus. Ted DiBiase goads Vega before the evil Santa claus attacks Savio. They brawl up the aisle way.

 
King Mabel (w/ Sir Mo) vs The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) in a Casket Match
File this under "really bad Mabel matches that you actually thought would be  a lot worse". Mabel chops Undertaker down a bit, they get him into the vandalised casket, but decide against/forget closing the lid. Taker rallies – chokeslam, big boot into the casket. Puts Mo in there, grabs the "urn" (smelted into a comedic gold neck chain), and wins. Not awful. More importantly, after the match, Undertaker signals that he wants the championship.

 
Davey Boy Smith (w/ Diana Smith and Jim Cornette) vs Bret Hart for the WWF Championship
Very good match this. The crowd were invested (Well, when they weren't having their signs taken off them), Bulldog dominated the mid parts, cutting Bret's hope spots off. He later slams Bret into thering steps that causes Bret to start gushing blood. Bret rallies, flings Bulldog towards the corner, who does a flip over, bounces off the turnbuckle then bounces literally on his head before tumbling to the mat. That spot looked awful but Bulldog is OK. They exchange near falls and Bret wins with a majistral cradle. Very, very good match this.


The show ended with a confrotation with Diesel and The Undertaker. Undertaker has been announced as the next contender for Bret's title, Diesel isn't happy. They square off in a really effective show closing segment.


Score Rating: 6/10
Go Back And Watch: A very watchable, if entirely forgettable undercard with a really good main event. Watch the title match, probably skip the rest unless you've got a couple of hours to kill.