WWF In Your House IV (Version II)

Original Airdate: October 22, 1995

From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler

Opening Match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley v Fatu: HHH offends Fatu by trying to spray him with cologne before the bell, and gets beat down as a result. Remind me never to walk through a department store with Fatu. Fatu with a backdrop, and a cross corner whip sends Hunter bumping over the top. Fatu follows to ram him into the steps out there, and he keeps pounding Hunter on the way back in, but misses a charge, and ends up with his head caught between the ropes. HHH capitalizes with a piledriver once Fatu is pulled free, and a swinging neckbreaker follows for two. Hunter throws a knee for two, and he grounds Fatu with a chinlock, then hits a clothesline for two - Fatu doing a nice spiral sell. HHH argues the count, allowing Fatu a schoolboy for two, so HHH tries the Pedigree, but Fatu counters with a backdrop. Hunter tries a DDT, but Fatu no-sells, and superkicks him, then hits a backdrop of his own. Backbreaker sets up a 2^nd rope flying headbutt for two, and Fatu adds a cutter to set up a flying splash, but HHH gets out of the way - capitalizing with the Pedigree at 8:06. Pretty dull, but not horrible. * (Original rating: ¾*)

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Smoking Gunns v Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid: Both teams feel each other out to start, and though both are babyfaces, the challengers play the heels. Kid pulls down the top rope on a criss cross to send Bart Gunn crashing over the top, and he rolls him back in for Razor to corner whip a few times. Tag to Kid for some lighting kicks in the corner, and he whacks Bart with a spinheel kick to set up a pair of sliding legdrops. Back to Razor for a fallaway slam, followed by a neat spot that sees Ramon fallaway slam Kid INTO Bart, as the challengers cut the ring in half. Razor gets winded doing so many quick tags with Kid, allowing Bart to capitalizes on the fatigue with a matslam, and he gets the tag to Billy Gunn. Gunn comes in hot (SMOKING hot?), and the champs settle in on Kid. Bart hits him with a three-alarm no-release backbreaker for two, and a vertical suplex/dropkick combo is worth two, but Billy misses a stinger splash, allowing Razor to sneak in and put Kid on top in a cover for two! Crowd was totally ready to see a title change there, and would have popped huge. Tag to Razor, and Roseanne Barr the door! Ramon hits Billy with the Razor's Edge, but Kid wants the tag instead of letting the Bad Guy cover. Razor stupidly obliges, and Kid makes the cover himself - only for Billy to counter the cover into a crucifix cradle to retain at 12:46. Afterwards, Kid throws a tantrum, and decides to clean house on the champions all by himself, with Ramon having to step in to make sure he doesn't get his ass kicked. How many times do you think that scenario played out outside of the ring. While it was kind of fun to see Ramon play a heel again, the match was pretty weak. * ½ (Original rating: * ¾)

Marty Jannetty v Goldust: This is billed as Goldust's debut, though he'd wrestled in some non-televised matches since August. Counting how many times Vince says the word 'bizarre' during this could make for an interesting drinking game. I'd be hammered before the entrances are over. Marty sneak attacks him, the initial blitz leaves Goldust on the outside. He stalls out there, so Marty runs at him with a clothesline, and he rolls him back in, but Goldust bails right back out to stall some more. Watching Dustin Rhodes as Goldust must have been a trip for JR. Inside, Goldust manages a rollup for two, so Marty tries one of his own, but Goldust blocks. Jannetty responds with a rana, which pisses Goldust off, and gets Marty shoved a couple of times. Jannetty responds to that with his fists, but a criss cross ends in Marty back flipping through the air to sell a clothesline. Goldust cross corner whips him, and a snapmare sets up a pointed elbowdrop for two. Goldust works him over in plodding fashion, but gets snapmared over the top to the outside, where Jannetty rams him into the steps. A shot into the post gets reversed, however, allowing Marty to do a wild oversell off of it. Goldust vertical suplexes him back in for two, and he works a chinlock. Marty tries coming back with a stinger splash, but misses, and Goldust drops him with a DDT for two. Jannetty keeps coming with a rocker dropper, but Goldust avoids a flying fistdrop - Marty able to land on his feet to avoid crashing. He throws a trio of clotheslines, and goes back up for the flying fistdrop, but Goldust lifts a boot to block this time. I think that first attempt was supposed to get blocked, but there was a miscommunication somewhere. No matter, as Goldust finishes him with a gourdbuster at 11:15. A bit longer than it needed to be for a debut, but I get what they were shooting for. Rhodes had settled into the character, but was still getting the hang of working heel, after spending his entire career as a babyface. * ¼ (Original rating: ½*)

Yokozuna v Mabel: Big slugfest to start, won by Yokozuna with a clothesline to send Mabel to the outside. Lots of stalling follows, and then another slugfest, this time won by Mabel with a jumping clothesline. It's funny watching these two criss cross, as they're both so large that it's hard for them to get around each other. Yoko ends up on the outside for more stalling, so Mabel avalanches him on the way back in, but Yokozuna counters a second charge with a clothesline. He tries adding a legdrop, but Mabel rolls out of the way - only to have Yoko dodge his elbowdrop. Riveting. Yokozuna unloads in the corner, so Mabel tries a bulldog, but Yoko doesn't go down for it. That looked weird. They spill to the outside, where Yokozuna reverses him into the post, and we have a double countout at 5:12. This was legitimately terrible. -* (Original rating: DUD)

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Dean Douglas v Razor Ramon: Douglas is awarded the title right before the bout, as his scheduled opponent (champion Shawn Michaels) is forced to forfeit the title following a legit injury outside of a nightclub in Syracuse. They make a big angle out of it, with an emotional Shawn having to surrender the belt in the ring before the bout. I think they should have made an angle out of whatever the hell that jacket Shawn was wearing out there was all about. Maybe have Jean-Pierre Lafitte steal it to set up the WrestleMania main. Razor charges in like he did the month before, blitzing the new champion, and knocking him to the outside. Back in, the Bad Guy works the arm, wasting no time boring the crowd. Dean tries a bodypress, but gets caught in a fallaway slam, and Ramon clotheslines him over the top. He's surprisingly relaxed about the count too, hanging back and just kind of hoping Dean beats it. Razor with a hanging vertical suplex, followed by a corner whip, and Dean ends up on the outside again. Man, Ramon has been in control of literally the entire match thus far. Razor pours a bottle of water on Douglas' head out there, and he delivers a short-shoulderblock on the way back in, followed by an atomic drop. Razor's Edge time, but Douglas manages to backdrop him over the top to block, and he follows Ramon out for some abuse on the floor. He tries a flying clothesline on the way back in, but Razor counters with a chokeslam. Side superplex, but Dean blocks, and hits a flying bodypress for two. Dropkick gets two, but Razor fires back with a side suplex, and gets a weird pin at 11:01. Like, he was flat on his back, and just sort of put his arm across Douglas for three - the crowd not even realizing he had won. This was basically an extended squash. I swear, Razor used to give enhancement guys more offense in three minute Superstars matches than he allowed Douglas here. It was like he was sleepwalking out there. Too bad Michaels couldn't go on, because even if he was half-assing it, I'm pretty sure he'd break three-stars with Douglas. ¼* (Original rating: DUD)

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Diesel v Davey Boy Smith: Bret Hart joins us to do guest commentary for this, since he'll be challenging the champion at Survivor Series. Lawler, who has spent the entire night ripping on Bret, wisely runs the hell away before he gets killed. They measure each other for a while to start, and Bulldog tries a bodypress, but gets caught in a slam. Diesel adds a second bodyslam, so Davey bails to the outside to kill the momentum. He manages to sweep Diesel in the corner, but trying to crotch him on the post backfires, and Diesel hits a pair of cross corner clotheslines on the way back in. Diesel unloads in the corner, but Smith clips the leg to stop the assault, and uses a dropkick to knock Big Daddy Cool over the top. He gets into an altercation with Hart out there, allowing Bulldog to sneak out and clip the leg again, and he grounds the seven foot champion in a leglock on the way back in. Davey stays on the leg with a variety of boring holds, and the crowd is so unimpressed by Diesel that they can't even draw any heat with it. I mean, not only aren't they supporting Diesel, but they're actually cheering Bulldog! The match drags on with Bulldog working the leg, as I fight the urge to fall asleep at my desk here. It's just leglock after leglock, with Diesel not even having the ring presence to realize he needs to get in some hope spots. He finally reverses a vertical suplex, and adds a side suplex, but the leg is too battered, and Bulldog thumps him with forearms for two. He decides to try a sharpshooter, and gets on perhaps the worst version of it I've ever seen. Like, he makes Rock look like Bret Hart himself. Diesel powers out, so Bulldog tries the Running Powerslam, but Diesel topples him for two. Davey tries again, but Diesel counters with a big boot, and he calls for the Jackknife. That summons Jim Cornette in, but Diesel takes him out, and hits Davey with a straddling ropechoke - remembering to sell the knee at the last second. Smith bails, so Diesel goes after him, but gets reversed into the post out there. Smith decides to smack Bret in the head while he passes by, but Hart loses it, and attacks Smith - getting Diesel disqualified in the process at 18:14. Really? Eighteen minutes for that shitty TV finish? I mean, I get that they wanted to set up Survivor Series, but the finish didn't even make sense! Like, Davey was in complete control of the match, and instead of finishing things up and winning the WWF Title, he needs to attack Bret, totally unprovoked? This was excruciatingly boring. But, at least it led to two great matches at the following two pay per views. ¼* (Original rating: ½*)

BUExperience: Don’t even think about it. No, no, and no. And no again.


DUD