WWE In Your House #4: The Great White North

WWE In Your House IV: The Great White North

Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA - October 1995

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Diesel was the WWF Champion, Shawn Michaels was still recognized as the Intercontinental Champion, and the WWE Tag Team Champions were The Smoking Gunns. Bertha Faye was the Women's Champion but does not appear on the card.

The 4th ever In Your House show is a bit notorious (it was the lowest selling PPV that the WWE had ever put on up till that point, though I think Tuesday in Texas might've been close), but it starts off much like any other pay-per-view from this era - Hunter Hearst Helmsley taking on Fatu (the future Rikishi). 5 years later, that would be a TV show main event if not a pay-per-view worthy match but in October 95' its an undercard match and only gets 8 minutes, which still seem like 2-3 too many. Helmsley gets the win and gets a post-match interview with Jerry Lawler but ends up nearly doused in slop by Henry O. Godwinn, who he was in a lengthy feud with at the time. Actually, Godwinn and Helmsley would end up having a pretty underrated Hog Pen match not too long after this that is much better in execution than it would seem on paper. (1.5/5)

The Smoking Gunns defend their WWE Tag Team Championships against Razor Ramon and The 1-2-3 Kid next. This is the first of two Razor matches on the card as Ramon had the opportunity to leave Winnipeg with both the Tag Team Titles and the Intercontinental Championship. Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid had been having some difficulty getting along in the run-up to this match, forecasting their feud in 96'. I was surprised to read that this was the Smoking Gunns' first run with the titles despite debuting in 93' and having some somewhat "natural" rivals in The Quebecers (who held the titles 3 times between September 93' and March 94'). Anyway...This match is a significant improvement from the opening contest, but its still not something I'd consider "must see." What works is that Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid are "gray area" babyfaces and The Gunns, who are less popular, are also working a touch heel, lending the match the rare feel of being a contest between two teams that are focused more on winning the Tag Team Championships than pleasing the fans or doing it 100% "the right way." For example, there's a clever moment where both teams attempt to get over on the other by pulling their partner atop an opponent for a pin, something not 100% evil but still clearly an attempt to cut corners. The finish comes when Razor hits his finisher on Billy Gunn but then, instead of making the immediate pin, decides to let The Kid (who was was going crazy trying to get tagged in) come in and get the glory only for him to be rolled up and pinned by his much stronger, much larger opponent. I like that this is a perfectly reasonable way to take advantage The Kid's size and that Waltman has become too arrogant to ignore taking the W at any possible chance - which was precisely what his gimmick was when he debuted as an underdog. (2.5/5)

Goldust makes his debut next against Marty Jannetty. This one is a bit...bizarre. The Goldust character was not fully formed yet and was obviously a very risky gimmick to attempt, but at the same time, one would still expect a new character to have a more dominating debut performance. Instead, this is a fairly back-and-forth contest, with Jannetty almost carrying things with his dynamic offense. I can understand Dustin Rhodes wanting to really, really distinguish his previous persona from this new character, but he just doesn't look impressive at all and he hasn't incorporated all the quirks he would to get the character over either. Its basically a Jannetty carry job, but because Goldust - the character - looked more bizarre than he acted at this point, the match is mostly boring and unremarkable. Things would get much, much better with Goldust in the months after this while Jannetty, oddly enough, would basically be demoted even further over the course of the next year. The match only goes 10 minutes but feels like 15 and not in a good way. (0.5/5)

In a Battle of the Bigs, Yokozuna took on King Mabel next. Yokozuna would be turned face fairly soon after this but was still a heel at the time. King Mabel had been feuding with the Undertaker so I expected him to get the semi-clean win here with Yokozuna teasing his face turn. Instead, we don't get much of anything, both guys basically running the other out of the ring to show that they are of equal stretch. Its like Warrior/Hogan if they were wearing those big sumo suits. After 5 tedious minutes and Lawler making fat jokes, both men get counted out. Instead of coming to blows after the match, they hug it out. Of all the late era Yokozuna matches, this one may be the saddest to watch. At least when he was a face and feuding with Vader the next year, there was a brief moment where he at least had some sort of direction and spark. Here, he is no longer any sort of heel threat and can barely move, feuding with another oversized nobody in Mabel, who was just Undertaker cannon fodder. A half-point for not going too long. (0.5/5)

Shawn Michaels makes his way down the aisle looking super somber and barely interacting with the fans. Michaels has been forced to relinquish the Intercontinental Championship to Dean Douglas (Shane Douglas) after suffering injuries at the hands of "9 Marines" after a drunken bar fight a week or so earlier. Of course, even if he had been in full health, Michaels was not going to drop the title to Douglas and, rather than doing a job, probably would've had some storyline reason to forfeit the title as, by this point, I'm guessing Vince already had Shawn pencilled in to win the big one at WrestleMania XII. Anyway...Razor Ramon comes out and they go 11 minutes. This match has been maligned for years just because of all the politics involved but its really no worse than any other match on this show. The truth is, Scott Hall was just never that great of a "full match" worker. He bumped well. He had charisma. He was solid in tag matches and when he got to be around a ladder. But his resume of actually good singles matches is really, really thin. (1.5/5)

Main event time - Diesel defending the WWE Championship against The British Bulldog, who scored a pinfall victory over the champ during the build to this match. Bret Hart joins on commentary, which sends Lawler hightailing it for backstage. Having Bret at ringside helps set up some tension when Diesel and Bulldog end up on the arena floor and there's a moment when Bret's presence seemingly gives his brother-in-law an advantage. Bulldog gets chop-blocked at that moment and this allows Davey Boy to take over, with Cornette also getting involved. Bulldog focuses his offense on the leg and Diesel sells it properly, these two not doing anything spectacular but doing the basics right (which is sometimes all you need to do). Bulldog applies a Boston Crab right near the corner and Diesel opts not to grab the ropes to break the hold despite being less than a foot away. Its a dumb, dumb moment that a smarter worker would've fixed by dragging their opponent to the center of the ring. Bulldog continues to go after Diesel's knee, grapevining his leg and raining down on it with punches. Diesel hammers his way out but gets chop-blocked for the second time. Bulldog grapevines his knee again but Diesel grabs the ropes this time. Back on their feet, Diesel tries to fight back but, again, Bulldog brings him to the mat by the leg. The Winnipeg crowd gives Bulldog a bit of a mixed response, with some of the audience cheering him as he works over the champ. Bulldog gets booted out of the ring and Diesel goes to the corner. Diesel tries for an elbow drop but Bulldog dodges it and goes right back into the grapevine. Its repetitive, but it makes sense as Bulldog has been in full control of this match, his strategy clearly working. Diesel drops his other leg across Bulldog's neck to escape. Bulldog attempts a vertical suplex but Diesel counters it with one of his own! After ducking a clothesline, Diesel hits a big back suplex! The crowd is coming alive for the big man, chanting his name. Bulldog goes for a cover on the winded champ, but Diesel kicks out. Davey Boy drags him back into the middle of the ring and applies the Sharpshooter but struggles to keep it locked on. Diesel kicks him off. Bulldog tries a bodyslam but Diesel falls atop him for a nearfall. Bulldog gets him up for the running powerslam but Diesel shoves him off and catches him with the big boot to the face! Diesel gets to his feet first and calls for the Jacknife. In comes Cornette and gets inadvertently run over by Bulldog. Diesel is in the driver's seat and they head to the outside. Diesel attempts a bulldog headlock but Bulldog pushes him into the ring post. Bulldog shoves the table into Bret and Bret jumps into the ring, causing the DQ loss for Diesel. Diesel comes into the ring and he's pissed at the finish. Bret and Diesel come to blows and need to be separated by refs. With a better finish, this match could almost be considered a hidden gem, but because it ends in such a copout, its really hard to recommend this. The clear match of the night to me, but partially because the rest of the card is so poor. (3/5)

With a fairly woeful Kwang Score of 1.58-out-of-5, In Your House #4 is impossible to recommend unless you're a fairly massive British Bulldog or Diesel fan. And, even if you are, these matches probably wouldn't even rank in either guy's Top 10.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville