WWF In Your House - Great White North (October 1995)

I never actually saw this show as a kid, as the monthly pay per view war had not only taken its toll on the WWF and WCW – but on my parents’ wallets, and they refused to keep buying two monthly pay per views any longer – leaving me listening to this one at our kitchen TV like a radio broadcast, back when pay per view audio still used to come in with a scrambled picture. I feel that kids today miss out on that part of growing up with wrestling due to the digital age of pay per view.

From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.


Fatu v Hunter Hearst Helmsley: Hunter tries to spray Fatu with cologne to start, but Fatu misunderstands, and thinks HHH is trying to send him to development to learn to work WWE Main Event Style, and just loses his shit on him, beating him to the floor, and all the way around the ring. HHH better learn to watch his mouth until he marries into the family. Fatu gets caught in the ropes - Foley in Germany style - and HHH hits a piledriver. Swinging neckbreaker gets two, and Helmsley works a chinlock. Pedigree, but everyone knows it's too early (not for me - I'd have been fine with it ending there - but 1995 WWF booking wise, I guess) so Fatu backdrops out, and superkicks him. Another backdrop, and a backbreaker. 2nd rope falling headbutt gets two, and a diamond cutter follows. Flying splash looks to finish, but HHH moves, and the Pedigree does it at 8:06. Decent entry in the endless series of Triple H opening matches from early in his career. ¾*.

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Smoking Gunns v The 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon: Kid looks astonishingly like a middle school girl here, so maybe the whole Savio Vega thing was Razor just wanting someone a little more butch? That angle could have been 10x more interesting (making it entry level interesting) had it not been 1995, and Vince Russo was booking. Kid starts with Billy Gunn, and they criss cross around, until both guys tag out. Ramon is very over, getting a huge pop, and a 'Razor' chant to boot. He had a lot of substance abuse issues at this point, and was in-and-out of Vince's doghouse, but there was no denying the guy was over. I remember as a kid, when I heard a rumor at school in early '96 that Razor had a drug problem, I heavily denied it - as he was 'way to cool to do stuff like that.' Boy, would that one come back to bite me in the ass. Also, the rumor about my friend Joey and our 6^th Grade music teacher. Anyway, he destroys Bart Gunn, and Kid comes in with his lightning kicks. Spinkick, and a pair of baseball slide legdrops. Neat spot, as Razor blockbusters Kid, using him as a football (hey, he did spiral), and into Bart. They cut the ring in half, but Bart gets a hairpull slam on Ramon. Both guys tag out, and the crowd is definitely lukewarm on Kid. Billy destroys him, and an elbowdrop gets two. Bart tags in, forgetting the entire five minute beat down, and looking fresher than... I dunno, like, really fresh breakfast muffins. He hits a pair of backbreakers, and follows with a suplex/dropkick double team combo. Billy misses a Stinger Splash, however, allowing both Razor and Bart to cheat from the apron in a nice bit. See now, had my parents coughed up the fifteen bucks for this show, I'd have seen Razor do that bit of cheating - and I'd totally be on to him. Ramon gets the tag, and the Razors Edge looks to finish Billy, but Kid wants the tag to get the pin himself instead of letting Razor cover. That, of course, gets him rolled up, and the Gunns retain at 12:46. Afterwards, Kid jumps the Gunns, and continues to tease a breakup with Ramon - but they don't go through with it. God, these two needed their own reality show in the fall of ‘95. Though, that idea would be a lot more interesting today than for some shitty angle in 1995, but, you know. Match worked well, and avoided a lot of the usual face/face match pitfalls, with Ramon/Kid playing good, subtle heels, and the Gunns turning it up a bit to hang with them. * ¾.

Goldust v Marty Jannetty: After weeks of hype we get... Goldust, in his debut. This was definitely one of the odder things the WWF did in the mid-90s - or maybe ever - as they had Dustin Rhodes dress as a drag queen, along with gold face paint, and do a number of EXTREMELY uncomfortable vignettes, that you would then start to miss once he'd begin sexually assaulting half the roster. It was really interesting stuff (especially compared to the rest of the offerings at the time), and the Goldust character in the early days was a fascinating study - not only of Rhodes' portrayal - but of the way people reacted. If they really wanted to go for heat, they should have done the debut in the Deep South, but I guess they didn't want anyone actually dying on pay per view. But, then, what of 'Anything Can Happen in the WWF?' I'd sure rank live TV ‘gay-hate crime murder’ under 'anything.' Marty chases him around to start, scaring Goldust, so he bails to the floor, and walks around the ring a couple of times. Inside, Goldust rolls him up for two, but Marty hits a rana. Goldust feels offended, so he gives him a few effeminate shoves, luring Marty into a criss cross, and Goldust with a lariat. Of course, they booked Marty Jannetty, so it's an excuse to do his 360 sell. Chinlock, and a backdrop gets two after the rest sequence. To the outside, but Goldust gets caught on the apron, and Jannetty snapmares him off, to the floor, in a nice spot. The honeymoon of offense doesn't last, however, as Goldust suplexes him back in. DDT gets two, and he tries a backdrop, but Jannetty hits the Rocker Dropper for two. Marty goes all Ultimate Warrior on him with a series of clotheslines (seriously, he's dressed like him, and he did the little dance between each one), and tries a flying fist drop (which he tried earlier, but was out of position for), but hits boot. Front layout suplex finishes at 11:15, as I guess he hadn't come up with the proper Curtain Call finisher yet. Very slow, plodding match, and certainly not an exciting debut for a guy they were building up so heavily. Marty Jannetty wasn't the wrong guy to book if you need to make someone look good, but these two just didn't click. ½*.

Mabel v Yokozuna: Mabel actually has the balls to have guys carry him out on a throne for his entrance, despite weighing half a battle royal. Good God, no wonder they were bombing financially at this point - can you imagine the workman’s comp for shit like that? Can you imagine that doctor’s visit? 'I was carrying a five hundred pound black man to a wrestling ring on a throne when my back went out.' 'Why were you doing that?' 'I’ve got nothing' Slugfest to start, but it's interesting because they're both really fat. Mabel wins it, as Yoko regroups on the floor. Inside, Yoko gets caught with an avalanche (I would have paid to see Mabel bounce off), and they take turns missing elbowdrops. Mabel blows a bulldog, but Yoko is kind enough to sell it anyway, and they spill to the floor for a double count out at 5:12. Make no mistake, this sucked, but it wasn't boring. They gave it a good enough go, given their limited talent. Still a definite DUD, though. Yoko would, of course, go on to better days, as Hurley on LOST.

Shawn Michaels comes out to surrender the WWF Intercontinental title, after suffering a legitimate injury in a Syracuse, New York bar. The story there changes depending on who is telling it, but the general conscientious is that Shawn mouthed off to some guys in a bar over a girl, and ended up getting in over his head out in the parking lot. The WWF's version of it is that it was 'nine Marines jumped him' outside of the bar, but that has been heavily debated over the years, and considering Shawn's severe attitude issues during this period, I have a hard time buying that one. In an interesting personal note, I actually saw Shawn perform the night before the injury - as the WWF held a house show in Rochester, NY, where he main evented against Davey Boy Smith. I remember being absolutely shocked the next day when I heard the news. Shawn silently surrenders the title to WWF President Gorilla Monsoon, who awards it to Dean (Shane) Douglas right then and there. He then says that Shane is kind of a jobber, and that he should put over one of Shawn's friends, so they bring out Razor Ramon to substitute for Michaels.

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Dean Douglas v Razor Ramon: Razor takes it right to him, and Douglas bails, trying to milk every bit out of the title run that he can. Inside, Razor works the shoulder. For a really, really long time. Looks like he spent it all on the Smoking Gunns earlier, but little did he know that he didn't have to settle for just the silly old tag titles at all! Blockbuster looks to finally kick things into high gear, but Douglas bails. To the floor, Razor... pours... a... bottle of water on his head. Uh huh. I don't understand your strategy, sir, but I do respect any sort of general water tomfoolery. Inside, he goes for the Edge, but gets backdropped to the floor. Back in, Dean comes off of the top, but gets caught with a chokeslam. Razor with the side superplex, but Dean counters with a flying bodypress, which Ramon rolls through for two. Ramon side suplex, and the referee counts both shoulders, but it turns out Razor's wasn't down, or something, so he gets the pin out of nowhere at 11:01. The crowd didn't even realize the match ended/title changed there - bad booking on the finish. Ramon, despite his issues, was the right guy to go with at this point, and I've never had any sympathy for Shane Douglas. He was just someone a bunch of guys from Philadelphia in the late 90s decided was really important. Match actually managed to be worse than the one the month before, including a really odd ending. DUD.

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Diesel v Davey Boy Smith: Bret Hart comes down to do guest commentary, but first chases Jerry Lawler to the dressing rooms, since this is the best way they came up with to book Bret Hart on the first WWF pay per view in Canada since 1990. Shoving match to start, and Diesel slams him, so Davey bails to the floor. Diesel posts him out there, but gets into a shoving match with Bret, and Davey clips the knee. He teases slugging Bret, too, but instead gets his focus on, you know, winning the WWF World Title. Leglock inside the ring, as the crowd chants for Diesel. I've said before that I don't appreciate Bulldog's psychology of working the leg when his finish punishes the back, but with Diesel it does work, as Diesel is so much taller than he is, and taking away his vertical base (not to mention his ability to hit his finisher) cuts him down to size. Davey continues to pound on the leg, and hooks a Boston Crab. That's really more aimed at the back, but, okay, we'll go with it. Diesel powers out, so Davey goes back to the leg, this time with appropriate holds, and everything. Come on, dude, you're basically a Hart – this should be like breathing to you. Diesel reverses a suplex, and hits a side suplex to follow. He can't mount a comeback, however, so Davey locks on literally the worst Sharpshooter I have ever seen – basically making The Rock's version look textbook. Running powerslam gets botched when he drops him, but they save it nicely by making it look like Diesel was countering. Another attempt gets legitimately countered with a big boot, and they spill outside again. Davey posts him, and then smacks Bret Hart right in the face for no reason I can think of, other than maybe to remind him that he’s giving it to his sister regularly. In the ass. That leads Bret to jump him, and Diesel gets disqualified off of it at 18:14. Diesel is not happy that Bret got involved in his bidness, and they brawl, setting up Survivor Series. I can sort of understand Davey's strategy there, as he couldn’t get it done (two failed finisher attempts), so he gets Bret to interfere, and then at least he'll technically have a DQ win over the champion, and reason enough to get a rematch, but it's still pretty stupid, as he'd been in control for the entire bout, Diesel's leg was all but shot, he just posted him on the floor. If Diesel starting making a comeback, it would make more psychological sense, but otherwise, he cost himself a pretty reasonable shot at becoming WWF Champion when Bret didn’t even provoke him. The match was slow – as the bulk of it was Davey working the leg – but it wasn’t outright horrible, as it was psychologically sound. Where it suffers is the ending, some botched spots, and being about five minutes too long for the story being told. ½*.

BUExperience: The story goes that Vince McMahon was so disgusted with the main event that he actually threw his headset down on the announce table after the show went off the air, and bitched Kevin Nash out. It was no classic, to be sure, but certainly no worse than Nash's several pay per view spanning battles with Sid, or many other main events the WWF put on over the years. I think McMahon may have just been feeling very frustrated, with WCW breathing down his neck at this point, and needed to vent a bit. As for the rest of the show – it suffers from some interesting choices. It’s the first WWF pay per view in Canada in over 5 years, but no one thinks to book either Hart brother, even though the roster is so thin at this point that guys are still pulling double duty on pay per view shows that don’t even break the two hour mark. It certainly has some historical significance for the Goldust debut, and the Shawn Michaels title forfeiture, though Shawn forfeiting titles in the 90s became something of a running gag, as he dropped almost every title he won without laying down (the WWF Tile once, the Intercontinental title twice, the Tag Titles three times, and the European Title by doing a finger poke with Triple H during the DX days).  

I think my parents did me a favor by spending that $14.99 on something other than this piece of shit show. DUD.