WWE: In Your House: Season's Beatings

WWE In Your House: Season's Beatings

Hershey, PA - December 1995

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Bret "The Hitman" Hart is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Razor Ramon holds the Intercontinental Championships, and the WWE Tag Team Champions are The Smoking Gunns. 

I'm going to go ahead and reward this a point right from the jump for an excellent pre-show video narrated by Todd Pettengill followed by a ridiculous CGI clip of the In Your House logo's house getting hit by snowballs.  (+1)

In the opening match, The Kid and Sid of the Million Dollar Corporation team up to take on Razor Ramon and The Kid's ex-tag partner, Marty Jannetty. Before the match, as Razor Ramon makes his way down the aisle, he is leered at by Goldust, who had debuted via vignettes just a couple months before this. What's interesting is that they're clearly building up to the feud with Razor, but at this point, Ramon was still fully locked into a program with 1-2-3 Kid. Its smart multi-level booking. The match begins with a good back-and-forth between Jannetty and The Kid, with the future X-Pac eventually making a tag to Sid (who levels Ramon with a clothesline). As this show was in Hershey, roughly 90 miles from Philly, Sid gets a sizable pop (especially from the fans in the front row sporting ECW merch). Razor takes a beating for a little bit before we get a double-clothesline spot that puts both guys on the mat. Jannetty and The Kid come back in and things speed up, the ex-Rocker now in control. As Jannetty applies a cobra clutch, Todd Pettengill interviews Goldust in the crowd, who proceeds to describe Razor in some extra flattering terms. Sid comes in and Jannetty gets bodyslammed from the top rope on a crossbody attempt. Kid comes back in and hits him with a frog splash, the heels in full control. Jannetty eventually gets a hot tag to Razor and Ramon levels Sid with some big right hands before hitting The Kid with his fallaway slam. Ramon attempts a Razor's Edge, but Sid counters it with a back body drop. Ramon ends up hitting Sid with a bulldog headlock from the top to get the W and nearly gets The Kid with a Razor's Edge after the bell, but Sid pulls him out in the nick of time. Not a bad match at all. (2.5/5)

"Nature Boy" Buddy Landell is announced as the next combatant (to no response), but before he makes his entrance, Jerry Lawler steps into the ring and welcomes noneother than "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, who had been gone from the WWE for five months. I'm not exactly sure why he had taken the time off (according to wikipedia, he had gone back to the USWA for a stint). Lawler presents Jarrett with a framed "Gold CD" award for selling half a million copies of his debut album, Ain't I Great. Jarrett announces that he'll have a second album coming out before announcing that he will also be entering the 1996 Royal Rumble. For some reason, Dean Douglas comes out next (with Landell still nowhere to be seen) for a match against Ahmed Johnson. Douglas announces that he is still sidelined with a back injury so...out comes Buddy Landell, Dean's graduate student, after all. This would've been a kind-of cool moment if they hadn't spoiled the surprise before the Lawler/Jarrett segment. Anyway, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how this one is going to go. Ahmed no-sells Landell's attempts at offense and then swiftly brings him to the mat with an ugly spinebuster and then the Pearl River Plunge for the W in less than a minute. After the match, Lawler attempts to get an interview with Johnson but really just so he and Jarrett, who was on commentary, can get some cheap heat by mocking him. Johnson grabs the mic and calls Jarrett a fake and an "'Achy Breaky Heart' Wannabe." As Johnson threatens The King, Jarrett takes him out with the award and then bashes him head-first into a steel chair. This whole segment/match was just too poorly executed to be considered even average, even with Jarrett's post-match beat down being pretty good (until Johnson decided to just no-sell that too). This whole segment/match/segment was a mess from beginning to end when, with a little bit of ending and planning, it could've been good-to-great. (1/5)

Todd Pettengill talks to Razor Ramon backstage and hands him the golden love letter than Goldust had him deliver. Ramon storms off, presumably in search of The Bizarre One.

Here we go - its time for tonight's Hog Pen Match! Hillbilly JIm comes out first, followed by Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H), who, if I'm not mistaken, had not yet been joined by Sable or Chyna (who, I think, debuted sometime in late 96'?). His opponent is Henry O. Godwinn, aka Shanghai Pierce. The story behind his Shanghai Pierce persona in WCW is funny as, according to legend, Dusty Rhodes put him under a mask because he felt like he was too handsome to be a believable heel. Uh? Really? I mean, he's not an outright ugly dude or anything, but I wouldn't call him a movie star either - and, obviously, Vince didn't have any problem bringing him in as a pig farmer. Godwinn brings a bucket of slop with him to the ring and after dumping most of it on an innocent bystander, ties up Helmsley in the ropes and rubs some of it into his face. Hillbilly Jim, who is in incredible shape here, is the guest referee - but he's super bias and blatantly seems to be helping Godwinn, which makes Helmsley somewhat sympathetic (especially as Helmsley doesn't really take any shorcuts and comes off as the more talented wrestler). The live crowd is definitely behind Godwinn, though, cheering him on as he carries Hunter towards the hog pen (where there are a number of actual hogs just milling around). Helmsley sends Godwinn into the wall of the pen, which gets a good reaction, and nearly gets back-body dropped into it after attempting a Pedigree to another pop. As cartoonish as this is, one would have to admit that the crowd is actually into it. Unfortunately, instead of staying by the pen, they go back into the ring, which seems unnecessary as I'm not sure anyone really wanted to see these two have a genuine wrestling match. Triple H pinballs around, taking some big bumps into the corner, obviously channeling his chief inspirations Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. Godwinn attempts a Slop Drop on the outside, but Helmsley counters it by grabbing the nearby guardrail and Godwinn ends up hitting the floor himself. Helmsley tries to whip him into the pen, but Godwinn counters and Helmsley takes an awesome bump into the pen wall. Godwinn hits a Slop Drop and this one looks like it could be over. Considering how much of a disaster this match could've been, one has to give credit to Triple H for his performance here. Godwinn tries to clothesline Helmsley into the pen, but Helmsley back body drops him into the pen to win the match! After the match, though, Hunter gets press slammed into the mud as Hillbilly Jim's plays and the crowd goes wild. What's most crazy, though, is that Helmsley's back has been sliced open from the bump he took into the pen wall. How he didn't end up with hepatitis, I have no idea. This was surprisingly good and maybe even one of the better Triple H performances I've seen in years. (3/5)

A Royal Rumble commercial airs next, followed by a video package highlighting the return of the heel Big Daddy Cool, Diesel. This is all a prelude to his match against Owen Hart. Diesel gets a face pop - which makes sense as his heel turn wasn't fully established and Owen had been a villain forever. Plus, Diesel's entrance was still enhanced by fireworks. I wonder if, by this point, Nash was already thinking about heading to WCW? Anyway, Nash controls early, at one point launching Owen from the second rope with a single hand that sends Hart neck-first into the middle of the ring in a terrifically gruesome bump. Wow. It looked like it could've crippled him. Aside from Diesel pivoting into a "neutral" character, Owen Hart had been proudly taking credit for Shawn Michaels being injured. In actuality, if I'm not mistaken, Michaels had suffered a concussion after getting beaten viciously outside a bar by some marines in October and, because he was suffering from post-concussion syndrome and Vince was hoping he'd clean up, McMahon gave Shawn some weeks off. Of course, Diesel trying to get revenge for Shawn was a babyface move, but as the roster was pretty thin around this time, I'm guessing they decided to just run this match anyway. Owen rallies with a spinning heel kick followed by a dropkick from the top before getting to work on Diesel's leg. I'm guessing these two wrestled dozens of times over the years, so its not surprising that they have good chemistry. After hitting Owen with a big boot, Diesel puts him down with a Jacknife Powerbomb but instead of taking the obvious 3 count, Diesel stops pinning him at the count of 2. The ref tries to stop him from performing another Jacknife, but Diesel shoves him and hits him with one anyway! Diesel gets DQ'd for shoving the referee, but the crowd clearly loves it. Plus, as Diesel leaves the ring, he slaps fives with the fans - which, again, is a very babyface-ish thing to do. Its kinda neat to see that, even as early as December 95', Nash seemed to realize that being a "cool heel" was going to get over huge. Not a bad match, not a great match, but definitely interesting. (2.5/5)

Savio Vega and Santa Clause pass out toys by ringside as The Million Dollar Man cuts a promo in the ring. DiBiase tells Vega that even he has a price, challenging him to come into the ring as Jerry Lawler spews some super racist jokes on commentary. Vega grabs the microphone and says that he does believe in Santa Clause and Lawler continues to make racist jokes. Santa attacks Vega, though! I'll admit, I did not see that coming at all. That segment was shameful, but was also subversive and, aside from the blatant racism, entertaining. 

A video highlights the build-up for our next contest - The Undertaker vs. King Mabel in a Casket Match. These two had been feuding for a few months by this point, all based on Mabel crushing Taker's face and then stealing the melted-down-urn-turned-RUN DMC-sized chain from Paul Bearer (after Taker had just won it back from Kama). This match is exactly what one might expect - there's not too much action and aside from a decent belly-to-belly out of Mabel, there are very few big slams or high spots. We don't even get an Old School. It also features some of the dumbest heel work ever when Big Mo heaves Taker into the Casket and celebrates with Mabel but forgot to close the casket. On the plus side, the match has no downtime as Taker and Mabel keep things moving and don't try to make this more epic or self-important than it needs to be. It may be the shortest Casket Match in history and that's actually a compliment as Mabel just wasn't a good enough performer to work multiple false finishes and keep things interesting. Not as bad as it would seem on paper. (2/5)

Main event time - Bret Hart defending the WWE Championship against his brother-in-law, The British Bulldog. This match had an interesting build as the story was Bret was winless against Davey Boy with much emphasis placed on their main event match at SummerSlam 92'. There are some key differences for this one, though - first, the Bulldog is coming in as a full-blown villain, managed by Jim Cornette and supported by Bret's sister, Diana. Second, they're wrestling in front of a considerably colder crowd, with an audible chant for "ECW" during the opening minutes as Hart and Bulldog trade holds and put on a not-so-interesting wrestling match. Things heat up considerably after Cornette interferes and Hart starts to sell and fight from underneath. I'm guessing it was always in the plan to "get color" to heat up this match, but when Bret cuts himself and a huge pool of blood collects on the mat outside of the ring, the indifferent fans in the front rows erupt in a "He's Hardcore!" chant and the match goes into a second gear. Wearing a crimson mask, Bret continues to fight from underneath, his hope spots now carrying much more emotional weight. From here, we get a number of terrific moments, including Bulldog taking a nasty bump out of the corner and literally bouncing off the mat on his head, a superplex, a powerslam on the floor, and Bulldog get crotched on the guardrail to a loud gasp from the audience. Plus the obligatory callback to the SummerSlam roll-up finish. Speaking of finishes, I didn't love this one as it came a bit out of nowhere. That being said, it did make some sense as the story here was that these two are so evenly matched that it always comes down to a clever pin combo (in this case, a magistral). Back in 95', Dave Meltzer gave this match nearly 5 stars, one of the highest ratings for any WWE match ever up to that point. Watching it 20+ years later, it doesn't hold up as a near-masterpiece - the first third of the match is nothing special, Bret attempts the Sharpshooter once and building up to his finisher seems like its never part of his strategy (which is odd), and the finish is kind of tacked-on. The match feels like a war and it goes a full 20 minutes, but it kinda needed an extra 2-3 with a more riveting finish to make it an all-time classic. That being said, it is still a very, very good match and a "must see" for any Bret or WWE New Generation Era fan. (4/5)


In Your House: Season's Beatings is the rare WWE PPV that works not because it is loaded with great matches, but because it is tightly-packed with purposeful matches and, aside from the awful and overbooked Lawler/Jarrett/Ahmed Johnson/Dean Douglass/Buddy Landell segment/match (see how many /s I needed to use to describe it?), nearly every character featured is either given some character progression or satisfactorily protected in a loss. Take Sid in the opener, for example. Sure, his team loses clean - but the big man doesn't eat a powerbomb and comes out of the match as much a monster as ever (its also worth nothing that the 1-2-3 Kid doesn't take the Razor's Edge either). Mabel is buried and Dean Douglas is made to look like an idiot - but its in service to the pushing of Undertaker (who was set to challenge for the title at the Royal Rumble) and Ahmed Johnson, who was being positioned for a huge run in 96'. Even the Hog Pen match, as goofy as it is, was able to accomplish the two things it needed to: keep Helmsley undefeated and also give Godwinn the moral victory by having the snob fall on his ass a bunch of times in pig shit. None of the matches were just there with no purpose or stakes - every match felt like it was important to the competitors involved. The Kwang Rating of 2.67-out-of-5 seems low to me when I think of how watchable this 2-hour show was. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote In Hand