Savio Vega vs. Waylon Mercy is our opening contest. I would've sworn that Mercy debuted in 94' and was already out of the company by now, but I was wrong. Spivey has a low-key fascinating career having been broken into the business by Dusty Rhodes, then working in the WWE in the 80s, NWA/WCW in the early 90s, and back to the WWE in 95' in a variety of singles and tag roles. But as interesting as his life might've been, his in-ring prowess was never as captivating to me and this match didn't do much to change that view. Vega ends up getting the victory in under 10 minutes which did nothing for Mercy (obviously) but also very little for Vega as, despite being undefeated before this match, this is Mercy's first pay-per-view appearance so he doesn't seem like the big deal he could've/should've to make Vega's victory feel meaningful. Unremarkable opener. (1/5)
Next, Sid vs. Henry O. Godwinn. The build-up to this match was all about Godwinn slopping Sid (and DiBiase?) on TV prior to this show and Sid hitting Godwinn with a powerbomb on the arena floor, which would've been a big deal at the time but I don't recall it at all (then again, I wasn't really watching much wrestling from roughly late 92' until WrestleMania XII in 96'). This is a much more even match than Sid should've been having, no matter how underrated Godwinn might've been as a worker. His gimmick was one-dimensional and Sid was, at one time, a WrestleMania main eventer and would be used as one again in the future so he should've just demolished Godwinn here. Instead, there's more back-and-forth than needed and Godwinn even gets to hit his finisher and get a 2.9 nearfall. Sid would hang around for the next couple months but then disappeared from late 95' until the summer of 96', which, planned or not, helped him tremendously as feeling like a big deal again when he came back. Not good. (1/5)
Bam Bam Bigelow, who appeared just minutes earlier doing a run-in during the post-match bit in the last match, takes on Davey Boy Smith, who had recently turned heel, in the next match. These two get a fair bit of time and the match worked for me, mostly because Bulldog was getting a rather sizable push (which made him motivated) and Bigelow was almost always a reliable hand who seemed to be getting positioned to challenge Sid (in what would've been a relatively big midcard feud). Cornette is not in the Bulldog's corner as the storyline of the night - Owen Hart missing and Cornette needing to find a last minute replacement partner - has kept him busy backstage. I like Bulldog working on Bigelow's knee and Bigelow selling the damage while still being able to throw his ample weight around to put up a tremendous fight. As others have reported, this was the time in the company when the Clique had a ton of power over the booking and presentation of the show and, as Bigelow wasn't part of that inner circle, he found himself - like Sid and Bret and Jarrett and others - in the midcard despite arguably deserving a spot higher up the card. A solid enough match. (2.5/5)
Bob Backlund, who had moved onto his Presidential Nominee gimmick, comes out to introduce the man challenging Razor Ramon tonight - Dean Douglas! This is another example of Razor Ramon not being anywhere close to the level of worker that some ascribed him to be when he was mega-over in 97' and 98' and some folks - myself included - were clamoring for him to get a run with the World Championship. Truthfully, match for match, he was just too dull and lazy, a master at dragging matches out but not necessarily making those matches as riveting from bell-to-bell as a truly great worker like Bret, Shawn, Austin, Foley, or others. Hell, take away the ladder matches and I'm not sure Hall actually has a better resume than Kevin Nash really. Here, he and Douglas get close to 15 minutes and there are spells when this match works, but there are also boring, submission-based stretches and it all culminates in a disappointing finish involving 1-2-3 Kid that makes the whole preceding match feel like a waste of time. (2/5)
Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte is a bit of a hidden gem, though most fans of this era of the WWE and of Bret specifically are likely familiar with this tremendous contest featuring some wild spots including Bret nearly paralyzing himself before the bell even rings with a suicide dive. Later in the match, Lafitte does a ridiculous senton onto the padded floor from inside the ring that remains as spectacular a bump in 2021 as it was in 95'. It really is night-and-day watching what Bret does against Lafitte, making him look like an absolute killer, and how Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon tended to work with Jarrett, Douglas, and others as they just seemed to outshine and overshadow them rather than actually building them up (no matter how many people love the Michaels/Jarrett match from a few months before this, Double J didn't come out of that match better than he went in). Speaking of the Clique members, Lafitte was supposedly released not long after this based on disagreements with them about the finish of a house show match. That's a shame because Lafitte is terrific in this match and, as he was just 28 at the time, he clearly had potential to be a solid midcard hand at a time when they needed him. The rest of his career involves stints in WCW, ECW, and a return to the WWE, but its his more recent renaissance (wrestling under something closer to his given name - Pierre Carl Ouellet) that is most fascinating. A match worth checking out. (4/5)
Main event time - WWE Champion Diesel and Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels putting their titles on the line against WWE Tag Team Champions Yokozuna and Davey Boy Smith (replacing Owen Hart who was mysteriously "missing" the whole show), who also have their belts on the line. This is a fun match for what it is, though I do kinda wish Owen actually got to participate in it as he was on fire in 94' and 95' and often one of the best in-ring performers on any given show. HBK and Bulldog start things off, unsurprisingly, before we get a fun sequence involving Shawn and Yokozuna. I looked it up and Shawn and Yoko worked two times on Raw and though I've never seen those matches, if the chemistry they show here is any indication, I'm guessing those matches aren't half bad. There are other fun moments sprinkled throughout this match - a spot that sees Yokozuna squash Bulldog like a bug in the corner, Shawn breaking up a pin with his patented elbow drop, and a wild finish that sees Owen Hart appear out of nowhere only to get hit with the Jacknife and pinned despite not being in the match. Did you notice I didn't mention much about Diesel? At this point he was really drifting into the background of his own storylines despite being the champion as Shawn was becoming increasingly popular and Diesel's string of lackluster title defenses against Sid, Mabel, and others had not helped him one bit. Overall, not a bad match at all even if the finish doesn't make a ton of sense. (3/5)
Saved by the final two matches on the show, Triple Header isn't all too bad of a show, earning a Kwang Score of 2.25-out-of-5, which isn't all that low considering the WWE's roster in 1995 and the way these In Your House events were often booked around just a single major match. Bret's match is terrific and reason alone to fire this show up on the Network, but the main event delivers what it needs to also. I found the Intercontinental Championship match to be way too long, but fans of Hall and Douglas may have more patience for it than I did.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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