WWF In Your House (IYH 1)
May 14, 1995
Syracuse, NY
Reviewed on February 27, 2014

Background: 1994 was a changing of the guard for the World Wrestling Federation. Firmly past the days of Hulkamania, Bret Hart was placed on top of the company. And while Bret had a stellar year in 1994, Vince McMahon clearly thought that he needed a World Champion that was big and strong, much like Hogan. Enter Big Daddy Cool Diesel. With Diesel on top, Bret was pushed back to the upper midcard; being the workhorse while Diesel got the top spot.

WCW had planned to run 10 PPV events in 1995. In 1994, the WWF ran five (Rumble, Mania, KOTR, Summerslam and Survivor Series). In Your House would become the PPV event to bridge the major shows. Thus, the monthly PPV format had been established. The WCW-WWF War continued on.

The Card

Todd Pettengill! WWF is giving away a house!

Bret Hart vs. Hakushi

Video before the match shows Hakushi doing a moonsault off a stage onto Bret. That’s good enough for me.

Maybe I am mistaken, but isn’t the name “The Modern Day Kamikaze” racist?

Anyway, Hakushi is an awesome heel, it’s a shame he didn’t do better in his one year in the WWF. This match should be absolutely awesome.

Bret dedicates the match to his mother, the PPV is on Mother’s Day afterall. Hakushi has an undefeated streak on the line. This is also the first of two matches that Bret Hart will be wrestling in. He fights Jerry Lawler later.

Crowd is chanting “USA”. Bret’s Canadian you know…

Nice scientific wrestling early on. Hakushi has control, which by default puts him over, as it seems like he is out wrestling Bret Hart.

Bret really is making Hakushi look like a million bucks here.

I had no idea Hakushi had the Bronco Buster in his arsenal.

This is still all Hakushi. Perfect handspring elbow into the corner.

Bret starts a comeback, but Hakushi stops him again. Beautiful diving headbutt by Hakushi. This match is also continually putting over Bret’s resilience.

Bret starts to make the comeback. I never understood the whole Bret Hart Five Moves of Doom thing in regards to him never changing it up. Unless a bulldog is one of those moves. Even so, he didn’t do all five.

Hakushi just sold a clothesline but flipping in the air. Wow.

Shinja (Hakushi’s manager) tried to trip up Bret, and Bret responded by diving through the ropes onto Shinja!

Hakushi goes for a vertical suplex…only for Bret to reverse it over the top rope. Both men go flying out. Hakushi hits a perfect springboard Asai Moonsault on the outside! What a match!

Bret Hart pins Hakushi in 14:39. Bret tries to roll Hakushi up, only Hakushi blocks and tries a roll up himself. Hakushi then tries a belly to back suplex, but Bret rolls Hakushi up and gets the win. Fantastic match. Hakushi and Bret looked strong.

Bret twists his knee coming down from the ring apron. Lawler then in the 1-900 hotline room tries to get the match started with Bret right away. Great stuff.

Handicap Match
Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie vs. Razor Ramon

This feud started at the Royal Rumble, where Jarrett won the IC title from Ramon. The Roadie caused a DQ in the Wrestlemania rematch.

Apparently The 1-2-3 Kid was supposed to be Ramon’s partner but he was injured.

Not sure why we didn’t just get Jarrett vs. Ramon for the IC Title here.

Ramon and Jarrett seem to have good chemistry. Story of the match is Jarrett dominating, and everytime Ramon takes control The Roadie attacks Ramon.

Apparently this is the Roadie’s first match. Roadie is the Road Dogg, in case anyone reading didn’t know.

One of my favorite spots is Jarrett going for a sunset flip, and Ramond breaking it by just punching Jarrett in the face. So effective.

Another good spot between these two is Ramon setting up the Razor’s Edge, and Jarrett just backdropping him over the top rope.

Razor Ramon def. Jeff Jarrett and the Roadie when he pinned Jarrett in 12:36. Ramon knocks Jarrett into the Roadie, then hits the Razor’s Edge for the win. It’s a standard Jarrett vs. Razor match with some Roadie stuff, but that’s not a bad thing.

Jarrett and Roadie double team Ramon afterwards…when Aldo Montoya tries to make the save? Okay? Montoya gets thrown out of the ring before a random guy comes in to save Ramon. This is the Savio Vega debut. They treat him as a random fan, with police and all coming to escort him out.

Michael gets in a funny line about Montoya. “Knocks that athletic support attire off his head”.

Lawler’s still begging to fight the injured Bret Hart right away. He tells Jack Tunney that he’s just a president, but Lawler’s a King!

We get a video hyping up Sycho Sid. Man the main event is going to suck.

King of the Ring Qualifier
Mabel vs. Adam Bomb

Mabel’s path to the main event starts here!

Never realized Adam Bomb was a high flyer. He hits a flying clothesline off the top rope and dives over the top onto Mabel.

Mabel pinned Adam Bomb in 1:54. It doesn’t matter though. An Adam Bomb crossbody leads to a slam for the win.

In the 1-900 room, Razor introduces Savio Vega as a Caribbean Superstar.

WWF World Tag Team Championship
Yokozuna and Owen Hart © vs. The Smokin’ Gunns

Owen Hart had a surprise partner at Wrestlemania to take on the Gunns and revealed Yokozuna. They won the titles. This is the rematch.

They show Bret with an icepack on his knee.

Apparently according to Bret Hart’s book, Jim Neidhart was supposed to be Owen’s partner in this whole storyline, but he got himself fired.

You know, Billy Gunn is in the ring here. This was 19 years ago. Billy Gunn is a Tag Team Champion today. Heck the Roadie is his partner today, and we saw him earlier.

Pretty standard match. The Gunns isolate Owen Hart while trying to keep Yokozuna out.

Yokozuna and Owen Hart retain the title when Owen pins Bart Gunn in 5:44. Weak finish. Yoko takes himself out on the outside by running into the ringpost. The Gunns double team Owen but Owen survives. Bart Gunn ends up on the outside and Yoko legdrops him…although he only gets him with the end of his leg and not the thigh, which looked horrible. He rolls Bart in and Owen gets the pin. I wish it got more time and the match itself wasn’t bad.

Diesel interview. Kevin Nash just is not the Hulk Hogan type babyface.

Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler

Lawler has a gorgeous woman in the ring with him…who he claims is his mother.

Bret backstage reveals that he faked the knee injury. This I believe is also when Vince McMahon says Gorilla Position on air, but it is edited out here.

Bret sells the knee injury everytime Lawler looks at him. Great stuff.

Bret dominates Lawler early on. Lawler though gets a piledriver…which Bret basically no sells.

Lawler regains control with a rake to the face, but it doesn’t last long as a top rope leap goes wrong.

Jerry Lawler pinned Bret Hart at 5:01. Shinja comes to ringside and as the ref tries to tell him to leave, he gets knocked through the ropes with his leg getting caught. Bret has the match won, but Hakushi comes off the top rope and nails the Hitman. Hakushi hits two more diving headbutts, and the ref comes back just to see Lawler get the pin on Bret. Good match, but too short. Showed that Lawler can’t hang with the Hitman without help, which is basically the truth.

We spend about 10 minutes giving away this house. What a fucking waste of time. With this and the Mabel vs. Adam Bomb matches, we could have added a few minutes to the Tag Title match and Lawler vs. Bret.

WWF Championship
Diesel© vs. Sycho Sid

Sid was part of the Million Dollar Corporation here. Sid was Shawn Michaels’ bodyguard at Wrestlemania XI, where he inadvertently cost HBK the title. He turned on HBK the next night. Diesel saved HBK, turning HBK and setting up Diesel vs. Sid.

Diesel starts off with these fast moving flying clotheslines into the corner. I admit I was surprised.

Apparently there was a Henry Godwinn attack on Diesel on Superstars that injured his back, so Sid is working on that.

Match has really gotten pretty slow. It’s hard for Diesel to get sympathy as a babyface, and with Bret Hart having great matches on the card, it’s hard for Diesel and Sid to be the main.

We get a couple of camel clutches. This match hasn’t been horrid, but it’s just boring and slow.

Sid hits a low chokeslam on Diesel.

Diesel power kicks out of a Sid powerbomb. Now Diesel “Hulk’s Up”. I’m sorry but it’s obvious to me why no one bought this.

Diesel retains the title by DQ when Tatanka interferes in 11:31. Diesel hits the Jackknife before Tatanka runs in. Bam Bam Bigelow comes in to even the odds…he was kicked out of the Million Dollar Corporation after losing to LT. Slow match. I guess the best you could do considering who was involved.

The first In Your House could have been really good. Bret vs. Hakushi was a great start. The Ramon vs. Jarrett/Roadie match was solid as well. It goes downhill from there. Either give Mabel and Adam Bomb more time or don’t have them on the card (I pick the latter). This whole house giveaway thing…if even real…do it on RAW or something. Both the Tag Team Title match and Bret vs. Lawler could have been helped by having an extra few minutes each. And Diesel vs. Sid is just not the way to go…and ending it with a DQ is even worse.

Final Grade: C