Craig Wilson
In 1995 WWF introduced more PPVs in order to bridge the gap between the then five major events they ran – Rumble, ‘mania, King of the Ring, Summerslam & Survivor Series. This event, ‘In Your House 1’ was the first of these, held in Syracuse, New York on May 14 1995.
Your hosts Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix
Match 1: Bret Hart v Hakushi (w/ Shinja): A recap video of the feud to-date airs which kicked off on an episode of WWF Superstars in March of that year. Hakushi comes to the ring with his manager Shinja, who was Sato in the Orient Express in the early 90s.
Backstage Todd Pettengill catches up with Bret Hart, who plays up Hakushi’s undefeated streak before dedicating the match v Lawler to his Mother, this card is held on Mother’s day.
The two lock up early and Hakushi takes the early advantage. Bret breaks out and whips him into the ropes but Hakushi demonstrates his agility with a series of flips and cartwheels to avoid any attack. Test of strength lock up that Bret breaks up and Hakushi is able to get the advantage with a pull at Hart’s hair.
An early 2 count for Hakushi with a shoulder block before he starts to work on The Hitman’s arm and shoulder area. A quick roll-up gets Hart a 2 and then he starts to work on his opponents arm. Hart takes control with a driving elbow to the back of Hakushi’s head and a series of arm drags forces him out of the ring as he regroups with Shinja.
Back in the ring Hakushi hits Hart with a bronco buster in the corner. Hart attempts to block a slam attempt with a roll-up but that’s countered and he’s sent hurtling to the outside. Hakushi is then able to chock on Hart with Shinja distracting the referee before Hakushi takes his turn to distract the referee and his manager then chocks out Hart.
Back in the ring and a big chop sends Hart down before he’s whipped into the corner and Hakushi nails the cartwheel back elbow. Hart mounts a comeback but that’s foiled by a jab to the gut and Hakushi gets another near full, this time with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Another near fall follows with a top rope diving headbutt that Hart is just able to kick out of.
A slingshot diving headbutt misses and Hart is on his feat first and lands a series of punches. Punch to the gut off the ropes into a Russian legsweep gets Hart a 2 count while a running bulldog gets him another near fall. We’re in Bret Hart trademark move territory as we see the backbreaker and diving second rope elbow before Hart attempts a Sharpshooter. Shinja is up on the apron and Hakushi is then clotheslined to the outside whne back on his feet.
Hart is tripped as he runs off the rope and he then dives through the ropes onto Shinja. Back inside and Hakushi picks up a near fall with a dropkick. Hart then blocks a suplex attempt and instead suplexes Hakushi and himself over the top rope to the outside.
Shinja holds Hart’s foot and that allows his man to gain the upperhand with a top rope moonsault to the outside. Hakushi then attempts to suplex Hart back in but that’s countered with a sunset flip that Hakushi is able to block but Hart is able to pick up the win with a victory roll.
Overall: A great match there, no wonder it features on the best of In Your House. End to end stuff and a great opener.
Match 2: Jeff Jarrett & The Roadie v Razor Ramon: The Roadie is the pre Road Dogg gimmick of Brian James. Vince conducts a phone interview with the 1-2-3 Kid who was supposed to be Razor’s partner in this match and that’s why it is now a handicap match.
Ramon’s music gets a big pop from the New York. JJ tries a sneak attack but is caught and the referee tries to exert control over proceedings. JJ takes the early advantage after Razor is distracted by The Roadie.
A series of hard right hands sends JJ to the outside. Back in and Jarrett hits a right hand of his own before ramming Razor head first into the turnbuckles. He misses a dropkick and is clotheslined over the top rope and to the outside where the two fight until Roadie attacks from behind.
Razor is whipped into the turnbuckle then sent to the matt with an enziguri as JJ draws jeers from the crowd with his trademark strut in the ring. Off the ropes and JJ attempts a cross bodyblock but is caught mid air and takes a fall-away slam and The Roadie has to interfere to break the count.
The Roadie is in now and takes control with a series of elbow drops to the prone Ramon. JJ is tagged back in and he and Razor trade near falls until Ramon is knocked down with a back elbow. Razor blocks a suplex and gets a two count with a roll-up. Roadie is tagged in as the crowd get behind Ramon and he tries to fight back until he’s nailed from behind by Jarrett.
Jarrett is back in again but is caught coming off the top rope and Razor attempts a Razor’s edge but he is back body dropped to the outside where the Roadie catches him with a clothesline. Ramon is just able to break the 10 count. Back in and he rolls through a JJ crossbody for a two count but Jarrett is up first and remains in control with a spinning neckbreaker.
Another tag and the Roadie gets a two count following a knee drop off the second rope. Comeback time and Razor fights back and slams him face first into the mat. Jarrett is tagged in but Ramon continues his superhuman/John Cena esque comeback and tosses the heels together. Ramon hits a second rope superplex on the Roadie but Jarrett attacks from behind and floors Ramon. Jeff tries the figure-four leglock but Ramon kicks him off into the Roadie on the apron and hits the Razor’s Edge on Jarrett and gets the victory.
Post match, Razor tries to Razor’s Edge the Roadie but Jarrett clips the leg and Jarrett slaps on the figure-four leglock. Aldo Montoya runs in and takes out the Roadie but Jarrett blindsides him and they toss him to the floor. “A fan”, who would reveal himself as Savio Vega, runs into the ring and makes the save.
Overall: Really boring match that felt like it lasted a lot longer than the 12 minutes that it did.
Match 3: KOTR Qualifier Mabel v Adam Bomb: Men on a Mission had recently turned heel and were all business here – i.e. no rapping or general happiness as they made their way to the ring. This was, of course, the beginning of Mabel’s push that would lead to him winning the 1995 King of the Ring. Dok Hendrix makes Adam Bomb the favourite here in order to try and build Mabel up further.
Adam Bomb nails Mo who was hanging around in the ring too long; Mabel nails him from behind and hits an avalanche. Mabel misses a second avalanche and Bomb hits a shoulderblock knocking Mabel to the floor. Adam Bomb then, somewhat surprisingly, hits a pescado – I did not expect that. A slingshot clothesline from the outside gets Bomb a one count. He then hits a top-rope clothesline for the second one count in quick succession. Then Mabel floors Bomb with a spinning wheel kick and catches Bomb off a crossbody and hits a World’s Strongest Slam for three. Mabel qualifies for the King of the Ring tournament.
Overall: A quick squash match with the sole intention of getting Mabel over.
Backstage Todd Pettingill is with Razor Ramon who introduces us to Savio Vega, the mysterious man that rescued him from Jarrett and The Roadie.
Match 4: WWF Tag Team Championship Owen Hart & Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) v Smoking Gunns: Pre-match, Jerry Lawler charges to the ring to try get his match with the injured Bret Hart going; Bret is shown in the locker room icing his injured knee.
Yoko was Owen’s surprise partner against the Gunns at WrestleMania XI, where they won the titles and tonight’s bout is the rematch. Yokozuna starts the match off with Billy Gunn. Billy applies a headlock but runs into Yoko; Billy hits a few dropkicks and tags in Bart Gunn, who takes a headbutt and Owen is in.
Bart is able to press-slam him and hits a dropkick before Billy is tagged back in and they duo hit a delayed vertical suplex/dropkick combo. The Gunns did have some pretty innovative tag team moves, to be fair to them. It is just a shame that the gimmick, much like others during this time, was so naff.
Billy gets distracted by Mr. Fuji waiving the Japanese flag allowing Owen to score with his enziguri. Yoko tags in and takes out Billy with a clothesline. Yoko then punches away on Billy and then clamps on his trapezius hold. Owen tags in and hits a neckbreaker before Billy gets a sunset flip for two. Owen puts him down with a spinning wheel kick and tags in Yoko who sets up Billy on the floor but misses a charge and goes shoulder first into the post.
Owen is tagged in but he misses a running corner dropkick and Bart gets the tag. With Yoko down on the floor the Gunns work over Owen and Bart hits a backdrop suplex. The Gunns score with the sidewalk slam/neckbreaker combo but don’t go for the pin straight away and Owen is able to kick out. Bart then misses a crossbody and flies through the ropes to the floor where Yokozuna squashes him with a 600+ pound legdrop before tossing him back into the ring where Owen is able to pin him and pick up the win.
Overall: Despite getting some offence in, this was essentially a squash match.
Todd Pettingill is with the WWF champion, Diesel who is in a sombre mood due to him losing his mother last year and it is on Mother’s Day. Diesel says he is 100%, from a Henry Godwinn beat down, acting in the employ of the Million Dollar Corporation. Diesel is coming for Sid after injuring Shawn Michaels on the Raw right after WrestleMania XI.
Match 5: Bret “Hitman” Hart v Jerry “The King” Lawler (w/His “Mother”): Lawler starts with a pre-match promo insulting Bret and his mother before dedicating this match to his “mother” at ringside, a woman thatlooks to be in her mid twenties.
Bret tells Todd Pettingill in the Gorilla position that his leg is fine and that he’s fooled Lawler. Bret limps to the ring and then shows Lawler he is fine; Lawler’s facial expression here is great. Bret beats Lawler and tosses him into the ring barricade. Back in the ring he snapmares Lawler and drops a leg before chocking him in the ropes. Bret attempts a backdrop but Lawler telegraphs it and hits a piledriver – a piledriver that Bret no-sells it and pops right back up.
Bret bulldogs the King and hits a piledriver of his own. Lawler tries to get to his Mother on the outside but Bret stands on him in the ropes. Lawler is able to rake Hart’s eyes and then bodyslams him. Lawler to the top and leaps but Bret pops up again and nails him on the way down.
Shinja reappears and distracts the referee and Bret whips Lawler into the ropes but he collides with the referee, who falls to the outside, but he gets his leg tied in the ropes and hangs there. Bret hits a Russian leg sweep and the driving second-rope elbow. Shinja shields the referee for Hakushi to run down and nail Bret with a top-rope double axe. Lawler sets Bret up for a pair of Hakushi swandive head-butts. At this point Shinja frees the referee so Lawler can jackknife cradle him for three. Post-match Lawler and Hakushi try to double team Bret but Hart able to fend them off.
Overall: Nothing great here, mostly Hart on the offence but Lawler is able to pick up the tainted win that sets up their “Kiss My Foot match” at the 1995 King of the Ring.
Sid says time has run out for Diesel and will become a symbol of many victories he will have. Sid calls himself the master and the ruler of the world.
Todd Pettingill and Stephanie Wiand give away a house in Orlando, Florida.
Match 6: WWF Heavyweight Championship Diesel v Sid (w/Ted Dibiase):
Diesel shoves Sid and pummels him and a series of clotheslines into the corner sees Sid to retreat to the floor. Diesel leaps off the apron with a double axe handle and tosses Sid back into the ring. Back inside and a series clotheslines knocks Sid down.
Sid fights back and is able to drag Diesel to the floor but Diesel beats him there and tosses him back into the ring. At this point Sid’s manager, Ted Dibiase, hops up on the apron and distracts Diesel which gives Sid the opportunity to knee him in the back and send him to the outside. Here, Sid continues his dominance and runs Diesel’s back into the ringpost.
In the ring and Sid continues to work on Diesel’s back with a number of clubbing forearms before he applies a camel clutch. Sid picks up a nearfall before reapplying the Camel Clutch; the referee checks Diesel’s arms but it only drops twice.
Diesel dodges a sit-down splash but Sid catches him with the one-handed chokeslam. Sid then hits the powerbomb and Vince McMahon calls him the new champion. Howsever, he takes forever gloating though, and only gets a nearfall. Sid misses a shoulderblock in the corner and Diesel scores with Snake Eyes, a big boot and the Jackknife follows.
Tatanka runs drawing the DQ finish and post-match, Dibiase joins his corporate team members for a three-on-one beat-down. Sid sets up another powerbomb but Diesel backdrops free and Bam Bam Bigelow runs in to even up the odds. The corporation scampers and sets up the main event at the next In Your House.
Overall: As boring a match as you would expect from these two superstars but at least the WWF had the decency to keep it short.
This ends the PPV portion of the show but Coliseum Home Video has two exclusive matches that were post-PPV dark matches.
Dark match 1: The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) v Kama (w/Ted Dibiase): Kama had stolen The Undertaker’s urn at WrestleMania XI and melted it down into a chain that he is wearing around his neck. Undertaker is in the midst of this awful Ted Dibiase/urn storyline that began at Summerslam ’94 and continued all of the way up to WrestleMania XII.
Kama “The Supreme Fighting Machine”, was the gimmick Charles Wright had between Papa Shango and the infinitely more over, Godfather.
Kama hits two punches but gets whiplashed off a telegraphed backdrop. Taker then dominates proceedings with punches before he hits Old School.
Kama is able to mount a brief come back with a vertical suplex but this is no-sold and Taker continues the beating. He misses a running clothesline and Kama begins to unload with punches into the midsection. Kama uses some roundhouse kicks and stomps to keep the Taker down.
On the outside, The Undertaker misses a charge and hits the ringpost shoulder first. Kama slams Taker’s back into the ringpost twice as Dibiase taunts Taker with the urn necklace. Back in the ring, Kama applies a half-Boston crab. Kama releases it and continues to work on the back before a bodyslam gets Kama a nearfall.
Kama is only able to get in a few more kicks before The Undertaker mounts his comeback. Kama cuts it off and applies a bearhug but Taker frees himself and gets a back suplex. The Undertaker then hits a big boot and a clothesline before a double clothesline sends both down.
Kama is up first but The Undertaker manages to nail the flying clothesline. Kama counters Snake Eyes into a belly-to-belly suplex and follows up with a series of elbow drops. Taker looks to be out, so Kama celebrates; Taker, of course, sits up and chokeslams Kama. Tombstone piledriver follows and the Undertaker gets the three count.
Overall: This is a woeful match. Too many rest holds and the crowd cared not a jot for Kama.
Dark match 2: Bam Bam Bigelow v Tatanka (w/Ted Dibiase): After losing to Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI, he left Ted Dibiase’s Corporation and spent the rest of his WWF tenure as a babyface fending off Dibiase’s corporate charges.
Dibiase distracts Bigelow which allows Tatanka to get the early advantage here. Bam Bam comes back with clotheslines and a dropkick which forces Tatanka to retreat. Back in and Tatanka chops in the corner but Bigelow fires back with a clothesline and a tackle. Dibiase pulls down the rope which sends Bam Bam to the floor where Tatanka tosses him into the ring steps before hitting his Samoan drop finisher to Bigelow on the outside.
In the ring and Tatanka gets a nearfall with a crossbody. A chinlock follows until Bam Bam fights out but Tatanka rakes his eyes and stays in control. Tatanka reapplies the chinlock and again Bam Bam attempts to fight back but he misses an enziguri and it’s back to the reverse chinlock. Bam Bam tries a Samoan drop to Tatanka but the native American slides down into a sunset flip that Bigelow counters by sitting down.
They run the ropes and hit double crossbody blocks and both men are down. Tatanka is able to land a DDT, although a poorly executed one and he goes to the top. However, Bigelow counters on his way down then Tatanka charges Bigelow in the corner but meets a knee. Bam Bam then climbs to the top and nails a top-rope sunset flip powerbomb for the win.
Overall: As bad as the other exclusive dark match. It’s clear that Tatanka doesn’t really care by this stage of his WWF career and Bam Bam is utterly wasted having to take him on.
Overall: This card is exactly what you’d expect from the WWF at this stage. Nothing great in the ring, bar Bret v Hakushi, which I’ve included the video of in this post. 1995 really was a disastrous year for the company and it is a long way away from being able to mount a comeback.
Other than the novelty factor of being the first In Your House card, there really is very little going for this show.
Ring the Damn Bell 