WWF In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies (Version II)

Original Airdate: April 28, 1996

From Omaha, Nebraska; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

Opening Match: Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith v Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson: Jake looks like he's about to tell us he has 22 in his pre-match comments from the Gorilla position. Or like he's got really bad gas. Terrifying regardless. He looks terrible here, it's honestly hard to believe he's only forty at this point. I mean, to put that into perspective, Bret Hart was only two years younger, and he'd just come off a WWF Title reign. Clarence Mason tries to have the snake removed before the bell, but Jake responds by throwing it onto both Mason and Jim Cornette instead. Owen starts with Jake once that's all out of the way, and Hart gets dominated on the mat. Um, yeah right. Tags all around, but Bulldog is hesitant to match power with Johnson, and sends it right back to Owen without even making contact. Ahmed throws Hart right back and demands Davey, but Smith talks Owen into giving it another go. Hart tries a headlock, but Ahmed is so damn oiled up that he's easily able to escape. He's sick of Owen, and passes back to Jake to hiptoss Hart, but Owen escapes the DDT. Jake's looking so bloated here that even the custom made top he has on is bursting at the seams. Owen gets control, and passes to Bulldog, but Ahmed tags in before Davey can cut the ring in half, so Smith quickly retreats back to tagging Owen. Davey is really great at playing a cowardly heel, and it's especially fun to see, since the big guys rarely get to show vulnerability. Johnson takes out his frustrations on Owen, but gets nailed from behind by Smith, and NOW Bulldog is good with tagging in. He hammers Ahmed down, but Johnson starts no-selling, so Davey quickly passes back to Owen. Hart pounds him, but a bodyslam gets blocked, and Ahmed press-slams the King of Harts. Tag to Jake, so Owen dives with a 2^nd rope missile dropkick, and Bulldog tags in for some double teaming. They cut the ring in half on Roberts, but Jake manages to escape a sleeper from Owen with a stunner, and there's the tag to Johnson! He comes in hot on Bulldog with a spinebuster, then sends it back to Jake to finish with the DDT - which seems like a weird choice given he's spent the entire match trying to get his hands on Bulldog. No matter, Owen breaks it up anyway, and Bulldog whacks Jake in the leg with Cornette's tennis racket to set up a standing leglock at 13:48. Couldn't he have at least slapped on a crabhold, or something? I like how Finkel announces the winners as "the British Bulldog, and the 'King of Harts' Owen Hart!" Like, Owen gets his full name AND nickname, but Davey only gets his nickname? That's some lazy Finkel'ing. Jake and Ahmed as a team might actually have had legs, since it was a great way to mask both of their limitations, and play up their strengths. It would have limited Johnson though, and it seemed like they had big plans for him, so I get why it wasn't really a thing. * (Original rating: ¾*)

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Goldust v Ultimate Warrior: Goldust injured his knee while working against Razor Ramon in Germany a couple of weeks before this, and he can't really work a match in his condition, but that doesn't stop the WWF from presenting it anyway. This is also the debut of Mike 'Mantaur' Halac as Goldust's bodyguard, which lasted all of one show. Goldust stalls for an extended period, running up the aisle, and hiding behind Marlena over at the entrance set. She drops her cigar while running up the aisle with the champion, so Warrior picks it up, and smokes it himself - prompting Vince to very quickly note that Warrior does not usually smoke. So, for those keeping score, apparently it's perfectly fine for a WWF Superstar to engage in what basically amounts to a hate crime, but don't even SUGGEST they might be smokers. Because that's disgusting. Marlena objects to Warrior taking her cigar, so Warrior pushes the envelope further by bringing her directors chair into the ring, and sitting in it while puffing away. That's enough to get Goldust back to ringside, where he grabs the microphone to threaten the crowd with kisses if they don't stop taunting him. That draws loud 'faggot' chant, which is perfectly acceptable audience participation, as long as you understand that Warrior does not really smoke. Goldust and Marlena carefully climb into the ring to try and retrieve their possessions, and Warrior seems to be ready to play nice. He gives Marlena her cigar back, and even gives Goldust his robe back, but just as the champion gets comfortable in his chair, Warrior burns him with the cigar, then clotheslines him out of the seat! Goldust bails again, and this time keeps walking until it's a countout at 7:41. And this would be Goldust's last match until a month later at the next In Your House, once recovered. If you want to count this as a 'match,' that is. To me, it's an eight minute 'comedy' routine, where a bell happened to sound at both ends. It would be easy to give this negative stars, but that would mean admitting that this is an actual match, which it really wasn't. Afterwards, Warrior beats up the bodyguard too, because it's not enough to beat up the transvestite, you've got to beat up the people he employs as well. I will note that Warrior parading around the ring in Goldust's wig and the bodyguard's hat make him look like a ‘roided up E.T. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Razor Ramon v Vader: This is Razor's first televised match since early March (which itself was taped in February). Ramon is fittingly wearing his black tights/yellow vest outfit tonight, which is the color scheme I associate with the early days of the character from 1992. Makes for nice bookends to his WWF run. Vader dramatically tosses him over the top rope out of the first lockup, with Razor selling like he's Mr. Perfect on speedballs. He tries to use that speed and them balls to avoid trouble as he comes back in, but Vader starts teeing off on him with those rights and lefts like there's no tomorrow. Vader's just going to town here. Short-clothesline puts Ramon down, and Vader's feeling so confident that he just lets him get back up with no follow-up. That proves to be a mistake, as Ramon gets a second wind with his own flurry of rights, but Vader blocks the Razor's Edge with a backdrop over the top. Ramon rushes right back in and beats the big man down in the corner anyway, and a series of clotheslines send Vader over the top. Vader stalls out there, and uses Jim Cornette as a distraction to try a sneak attack, but Razor sees it coming, and fights him off. He gets thumped with an avalanche in the corner though, and Vader adds a clothesline to put him down for an elbowdrop. Looked like they had their wires crossed there, and Vader nearly crushed him for real with that one. Splash gets two, but a short-clothesline is countered with a side suplex for two, so Vader drops him with a slam. Vaderbomb gets two, and a side suplex of his own keeps Ramon in trouble, but a vertical version gets reversed by the Bad Guy for two. Vader returns fire with a clothesline, but a dive off the middle rope gets countered with a powerslam for two, and Ramon manages a cross corner clothesline. 2^nd rope flying bulldog gets two, but he runs into a wall while trying to charge the monster. That allows Vader to head up for another Vaderbomb, but Razor slugs at him, and tries the Edge off the middle rope, but collapses under the weight. That allows Vader to slam him to set up the Vadersault, but Razor is up again, and brings his big ass down with an electric chair! Feeling strong, Razor goes back to the Edge, but Vader counters with a sit-down splash at 14:37. And that marked the end of Razor Ramon on WWF TV, as he and Diesel jumped to WCW the following month. Good match to go out on too, with lots of back-and-forth, and power moves. Probably too much so for a guy on his way out, but a winner is me. *** (Original rating: **)

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Bodydonnas v The Godwinns: The Godwinns work together to dominate Zip to start, but Henry runs into the trouble of a double team, and Skip tags in. Henry fights him off with a fireman's carry slam and an ocean cyclone suplex, so Zip tags back in, but Phineas has his way with him. Skip thinks fast by pulling down the top rope during a criss cross to send Phineas over the top, however, and Zip gets a two count out of the deal, as the Bodydonnas settle into cutting the ring in half. Tandem slingshot suplex gets two, and Skip hits a rana for two, but Phineas fights off a double team in the corner, and gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door. Sunny thinks fast and distracts Phineas with an autographed photo of her, allowing the champs to pull an illegal switch on an outgunned Henry, and Zip cradles him at 7:10. It felt like it took them a while to get on the same page, and it was pretty mundane overall, but there was at least some interesting stuff peppered in. ¾* (Original rating: ¾*)

Main Event: WWF Title No Holds Barred Match: Shawn Michaels v Diesel: I've always felt they should have booked this as a career match, considering Diesel was on the way to WCW anyway, and the feud was built on Shawn talking about how he brought Diesel into the WWF, and would be the one to take him out. Diesel is feeling moody tonight, and decides to express it by throwing his vest at Vince's head during the entrances. Shawn forgoes his full entrance routine, instead charging in and going right at the challenger for a slugfest, though it doesn't end well for him. Diesel turnbuckle smashes him, but Shawn avoids a cross corner whip, and sends his challenger to the floor with a dropkick. He adds a baseball slide and a flying moonsault press out there, then steals a cowboy boot off of one of the Spanish announcers to nail Diesel with in a dive off the top rope for two. Cross corner whip gets reversed, however, and the champion flips to the floor off of it. Diesel forces him back in for some abuse, bouncing Shawn around the ring with right hands, and drilling him with a short-clothesline - Michaels doing some wonderful selling throughout. Snake-eyes follows, and he props a limp HBK up in the corner to abuse with knees, then drops to the mat with a sidewalk slam. Not even a cover though, as Diesel decides to pull off some of his wrist tape to choke the champion with. The referee objects, so Diesel instead chokes HIM out with it, in a great bit. So with the referee down, Diesel decides to pull the official's belt off, and starts laying into the champion with it. He wraps it around Shawn's throat and throws him over the top in a noose, then ties the loose end to the middle rope to leave him hanging there. With Michaels prone, Diesel grabs a chair and whacks him with it, then adds another shot as Michaels comes loose. Third shot misses, causing the chair to backfire off the top rope at the challenger, and Michaels gets hold of the weapon. He winds up, but Diesel fires off a low blow before Michaels can whack him, and he adds a backdrop for two. He grounds Shawn in a headvice, but Michaels slugs free, so Diesel pinballs him around the ring with more rights, until HBK simply falls out of the ring in a heap. Diesel follows out and peels the champion off the floor, but instead of rolling him back inside, instead he Jackknifes him right through the announce table! That looked so much more badass that modern table spots, because they didn't stop to clear all the junk off the table first, he simply picked Shawn up and dropped him through it with no prep or set up, leaving Michaels in a pile of rubble underneath TV monitors, wires, and shards of wood. Not to mention that the tables didn't look like the cardboard puzzles they are today. Michaels gets hold of a fire extinguisher on the way back in, and uses the spray to blind his big challenger, allowing HBK to get some traction with a jumping forearm. He grabs a chair and goes to work with that, but Diesel puts him down with another right, and pops him with a big boot. Jackknife, but Shawn counters by riding him down with a seated senton, and he adds a flying elbowdrop! Nice one, too! Superkick, but Diesel catches the foot, and spins Michaels into a clothesline - both men left down. Diesel is up first, and clotheslines Shawn over the top, then follows after him for a drop across the guardrail. He rolls Shawn back in, but hesitates before following, spotting something in the crowd. He stalks over to where Mad Dog Vachon is seated, and knowing that Vachon has a fake leg as result of a car accident in the 80s, Diesel pulls the leg right off his body to use as a weapon! Absolutely wild! He takes the leg in to beat Shawn with, but Michaels manages a low blow to block, and he grabs it tee off on Big Daddy Cool with! Superkick, and it's all over at 17:56. What a great, innovative brawl this was, pulling out all the stops! This version of Shawn Michaels would have been so much more intriguing than the way they booked him as champion for most of the year, too. Afterwards, Shawn goes on a rant at the camera about how he's the best in the world, directed at Hulk Hogan. He wasn't mic'd up, and they never officially acknowledged what he was saying, but it's pretty obvious. **** ¼ (Original rating: *** ¾)

BUExperience: While not the most memorable show, the whole thing is shorter than an episode of RAW is today, and the two longest of the five matches on the card are both well worth checking out. Add in some historical significance with Razor and Diesel’s last TV appearances before their faithful jump to WCW, and while not a homerun, it’s a solid double. Or something. I don’t really understand baseball references.

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