What the World Was Watching: In Your House 6

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, live from Louisville, Kentucky. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a sellout crowd of 5,500 fans and, according to wrestlenomics.com, it solicited a 0.75 buyrate (186,000 buys). This was the highest number of buys for an In Your House pay-per-view since the first edition last May.

Free for All: Jake Roberts pins Tatanka (w/Ted DiBiase) (2-1) after the DDT at 5:35:

Roberts was an upper midcard talent from the WWF’s Golden Age, leaving after WrestleMania VIII to go to WCW after McMahon scuttled supposed plans for Roberts to replace Pat Patterson on the creative team. The son of professional wrestler Grizzly Smith, Roberts started working in Louisiana in 1975 after getting training from Buck Robley and Moose Morowski. By 1986 he made stops in Stampede Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class, and Mid-South Wrestling. Roberts signed with the WWF in 1986 after Mid-South told him that they did not consider him a top talent. He attracted attention with great promo work and carrying a snake to the ring to fit his nickname. Positioned as a heel, he worked a long program against Ricky Steamboat but crowds started to cheer him, reportedly nixing a feud with WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. For the next five years Roberts would be one of the most over babyfaces in the promotion. He was often positioned as the worker that a heel wrestled before facing Hogan in a bigger program or that they wrestled on their way back down the card. After leaving the WWF, Roberts’ tenure in WCW was short as Bill Watts, who he never got along with, scuttled Roberts’ big contract. Roberts also believed Watts was starting to kill his character by taking his snake away. Roberts headed abroad, wrestling in Europe and New Japan before doing a program with Konnan in Mexico’s AAA, culminating in Roberts losing a hair vs. hair match to Konnan at Triplemania II-C in May 1994. Roberts also worked for Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1994, winning the promotion’s Heavyweight title. However, his title run was short because he no-showed title defenses and was stripped of the belt. It was around this time that Roberts became a born-again Christian, speaking to churches around the country about his problems with drugs and alcohol. Due to the reception he received in the Royal Rumble, the WWF signed him to a new deal.

The crowd reacts well to Roberts, chanting for the DDT, but he is not in good shape, having a noticeable gut underneath the t-shirt that he wrestles in. DiBiase, who Roberts feuded with in 1989 and 1990, provides a few distractions in a match that moves in slow motion. Tatanka dominates more than eighty percent of the contest and Roberts only gets in a short-arm clothesline and some punches. The crowd gets the DDT it wants when Roberts gets out of Tatanka’s End of the Trail but this match was not a good singles showcase for him. It also undermines the WWF’s offensive against WCW as they are throwing their own aged stars into the ring, albeit not in main event roles. Rating: ½*

After the match, Roberts gets out his snake, Revelation, and dumps it on Tatanka.

To end the Free for All, Vader and Jim Cornette are interviewed by Todd Pettengill in the ring. Cornette tells Louisville that he owns the town and will soon own the WWF because Vader is coming after the WWF Championship. Cornette teases Vader wrestling tonight and that if he is not booked in one then he is going to cause havoc. Even though Vader is a heel, the crowd holds up their fingers in his “v” symbol and screams “Vader time!” when he asks what time it is.

The pay-per-view starts with Sunny kneeling on a beach in a bikini as waves wash over her.

Opening Crybaby Contest: Razor Ramon (1-3) pins the 1-2-3 Kid (w/Ted DiBiase) (2-1) after two Razor’s Edges at 11:59:

Ramon and the Kid had a point that this humiliation stipulation where the loser will be fed a baby bottle and put in a diaper was not needed for their feud, which had been going on for five months. Like previous Ramon-Kid battles this is a test of Ramon’s power against the Kid’s speed and agility. DiBiase throws baby powder in Ramon’s eyes to help the Kid but a missile dropkick and splash fail to put the former Intercontinental champion away. There is a long battle over a sleeper hold in the middle, which Ramon escapes in a creative way by crotching the Kid on the top rope. The Kid blocks Ramon’s super back suplex by throwing an elbow but Ramon rolls through a reverse flying body press for a near-fall. Even though the Kid throws a spinning heel kick, Ramon catches a body press off the ropes and turns it into a super fallaway slam. DiBiase distracts Ramon while the Kid gets some baby powder but Ramon turns around in time and kicks the powder into the Kid’s face. Ramon refuses to pin the Kid after one Razor’s Edge, doing one more to win. These two are incapable of having a bad match. It had a good amount of heat despite the silly stipulation attached to it. Rating: ***

Ramon follows the post-match stipulation of putting the baby bottle in the Kid’s mouth and putting a big diaper on him. When DiBiase tries to intervene, he gets baby powder thrown in his eyes. Whatever baby powder is left ends up on top of the Kid. When the Kid wakes up and realizes what has been done to him, he cries.

Duke Droese tells Pettengill that he is going to take Hunter Hearst Helmsley out like yesterday’s garbage.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (2-1) beats Duke Droese (3-0) after hitting Droese over the head with a trash can lid at 9:38:

Elizabeth Hilden, a former Penthouse Pet of the Month from June 1995, accompanies Helmsley to the ring and Lawler flirts with her throughout the match. Droese’s garbage attire has changed from navy blue to green. The two men tear into each other early, matching the tone of the feud. However, the crowd dies in the middle when Helmsley pounds away after backdropping Droese to the floor. Droese’s comeback does not include much but he does hit the Trash Compactor. He refuses to go for the pin, though, and that is his undoing as he throws his trash can into the ring. In doing so the lid hits Helmsley in the face. As the referee puts Droese’s trash can on the floor, Helmsley picks up the trash can lid and cracks Droese over the head with it, stealing a victory. McMahon argues that the feud is far from over. This was reminiscent of a WCW Power Plant match where a seasoned audience could tell that both guys had some good ideas but the execution left something to be desired. Rating: *½

A video package recaps Yokozuna’s babyface turn. It is followed by an interview Dok Hendrix has with Yokozuna, who does his own promo for the first time in the WWF. It is a good one as Yokozuna talks about how Jim Cornette got all of the credit for his own efforts, that Owen Hart only won a title by teaming with him, and that he is going to burn Camp Cornette to the ground.

Yokozuna (1-1) defeats the British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette) (0-1) via disqualification when Cornette interferes at 4:59:

The Bulldog tries to trade power moves with Yokozuna early and that is a bad idea, forcing Cornette to pull him out of the ring so that he does not get Banzai Dropped. On the floor, Yokozuna’s blind charge at the Bulldog sends him into the ring post, leading to a near-fall in the ring. Some of that does not make sense as Yokozuna rolls himself into the ring because it has been established that the Bulldog cannot pick him up and put him back in. Bulldog clotheslines wake Yokozuna up and the former WWF champion devastates the Bulldog with a Samoan drop and belly-to-belly suplex. Sensing defeat, Cornette jumps into the ring and hits Yokozuna multiple times with his tennis racquet, drawing a disqualification. This was a limited match but it showed there was potential with Yokozuna as a babyface because his big man moves could pop a crowd. Rating: *

Yokozuna does not sell Cornette’s blows and backs him into a corner. Before Yokozuna can assault his former manager, Vader walks out and he and the Bulldog handcuff Yokozuna to the top rope. Yokozuna tries to fight back but he only has one available arm and is overwhelmed. Officials flood the ring but Vader keeps them at bay, prolonging the assault. That includes more racquet shots from Cornette and the Bulldog.

A video package recaps the Shawn Michaels-Owen Hart feud.

Michaels guarantees victory in the next match when talking to Pettengill.

WrestleMania XII WWF Championship Title Shot Goes to the Winner: Shawn Michaels (2-0) pins Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) (3-0) after Sweet Chin Music at 15:56:

Michaels gets a fun entrance of dancing on top of the In Your House set and then swings down to the aisle like he is Tarzan. As part of the entrance, he briefly brawls with Owen in the ring and throws him over the top rope. Michaels also kisses a middle-aged woman in the crowd, giving her a story of a lifetime. There is good play to the crowd as Owen slides out to taunt in the aisle and Michaels dives onto him from the top rope and slaps hands with the fans. In the ring, he pulls Owen’s hair for a headlock and when referee Earl Hebner starts counting for a break, he quickly releases the headlock and then reapplies it. There is also a fun kip up spot where both men do it simultaneously. Things get serious when Owen catches Michaels off the ropes with a belly-to-belly suplex, setting up some Owen near-falls. Even when Michaels suplexes Owen from the apron to the arena floor Owen counters a Michaels dive into a powerslam on the floor. In the ring, Michaels does a great job selling a Flair flip in the corner, walking dazed into the center of the ring where Owen mows over him with a clothesline. Owen locks in the Sharpshooter and drags Michaels into the middle of the ring but Michaels still crawls to the ropes. When he gets to his feet, Owen catches him with an enzuigiri and Michaels collapses to the arena floor. Owen could win at this point via count out but his arrogance leads him to want to pin Michaels in the ring. So he defies Cornette’s wishes, rolls Michaels in, but a cover only gets two. A blind charge fuels Michaels’ comeback, which includes knocking Cornette off the apron after a flying elbow drop. Owen avoids Sweet Chin Music but tries to go back to the enzuigiri, only to have Michaels duck it this time and then blast Owen with his finish to go to WrestleMania XII to face the WWF Champion. Even though it seemed unlikely that Owen was going to get the WrestleMania title shot the match had a few teases that he might pull it out. The finishing sequence was a great feud ender as Michaels countered the move that knocked him out months ago. Rating: ****

After winning, Michaels dances with a young fan in the ring to keep bolstering his babyface credentials.

To kill time while the blue bar steel cage is erected for the main event, Pettengill does a platform interview with interim WWF President Roddy Piper. After giving Michaels some training advice for WrestleMania he jokes about Vader’s mask, calling it a jockstrap, and calls Yokozuna dumb for getting attacked earlier on the show. This leads into Piper booking Yokozuna to face Vader at WrestleMania. Jim Cornette and Clarence Mason arrive to confront Piper and Cornette does a great promo for Vader, arguing that what happens to Yokozuna is on his head. Piper walks away after implying that Cornette might get a beating at WrestleMania as well.

Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship: Bret Hart (Champion) (2-1-1) defeats Diesel (3-0) after climbing out of the cage following the Undertaker’s interference at 19:11:

The cage matches between these two on the house show circuit were doing great business. This is the fourth pay-per-view match between them going back to the 1994 King of the Ring. Bret leads the series 1-0-2. There is better action than Bret’s match against the Undertaker at The Royal Rumble but the cage stipulation takes away a lot of possible tools because there can be no drama over pinfalls or submissions and nothing around ringside can be used like their no holds barred clash at Survivor Series. Various escapes are teased as Diesel uses his power to ram Bret into the cage and then Bret works Diesel’s left leg to hinder his ability to leave. But the crowd does not react much unless one of men try to leave the cage, an exception being when Bret takes his chest-first bump into the corner turnbuckle and when he goes into the moves of doom. The one innovative thing Bret does is to do his elbow drop off the top rope instead of the middle one. Bret tries to climb out of the cage after that but Diesel, who has received some chants in the match, goes low and then that is compounded when Bret crotches himself on the top rope falling back into the ring. Diesel attempts to crawl out but the Undertaker comes from underneath the ring and pulls Diesel into the hole, which cartoonishly fills up with smoke. Bret knows better than to ask questions, climbing out and retaining the title. This match was trying to tell a story of a war of attrition but McMahon and Lawler did not quite nail that story when calling it. According to Diesel, Bret was supposed to take a Jackknife to set up the closing spot but Bret complained that it would make him weak. This caused the Undertaker to yell at Bret that not everything was about him. Usually, that would be a small locker room blow up but it caused Diesel to send word to WCW that he would consider leaving with Razor Ramon if the offer was right. Diesel giving Bret a Jackknife would have been a better finish before the Undertaker intervened but it is also easy to see Bret’s side of things that he already looked weak at The Royal Rumble and this show was not doing him any favors either. Rating: **½

After Bret is declared the winner, Diesel re-emerges from the hole with one leg of his pants slit. The Undertaker climbs out of the hole as well and Diesel climbs out of the cage to avoid a confrontation. As Diesel retreats, the Undertaker stands on the cage and points at Diesel as his theme music plays.

Hendrix does a backstage interview with Roddy Piper, who adds the Undertaker vs. Diesel to the WrestleMania card.

A video package recaps the action on the show to play the pay-per-view out.

The Last Word: The Shawn Michaels-Owen Hart match was enough to make the pay-per-view worth it and the main event cage match was fine for what it was, creating an angle that got people talking the next day. Even though the WWF wants WrestleMania XII to be all about Shawn Michaels’ quest for the WWF Championship, Bret Hart is limping into the show as a weak titleholder, only managing to retain at the last two shows because Diesel and the Undertaker have a beef with each other. The Undertaker vs. Diesel is arguably the premiere attraction for the next pay-per-view because they had never wrestled before and their storyline has the potential to go in more interesting places than a babyface vs. babyface battle between Michaels and Bret.

Backstage News*: On February 8 Vince McMahon filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), arguing that Turner Broadcasting is trying to put the WWF out of business to establish a wrestling monopoly. WWF attorney Jerry McDevitt also sent a letter to WCW Senior Vice President Eric Bischoff demanding an apology for insinuating that the WWF cut power to a Monday Nitro show in Lakeland, Florida on February 5, something that Bischoff was forced to do at the behest of Turner attorneys on February 12. Even though McMahon feels his company is fighting for its life, the talent do not necessarily think it is as bad as he makes it seem, pointing out strong ratings for wrestling television on Monday nights and growing pay-per-view and house show business in relation to 1994 and 1995. When asked how the tactics of WCW are different from his own in the 1980s, McMahon argues that he never wanted to put other promotions out of business, only to expand the national footprint of his own. McMahon added that he has to put his own money on the line whereas WCW can keep losing money and threaten the WWF’s position.

-McMahon has discussed the idea of moving Monday Night RAW’s time slot on USA Network, possibly to 10 p.m., but USA Network has not agreed to do so. WCW believes such a move to a later timeslot will not happen because it would reduce the WWF’s appeal to children. There is also the possibility that if the WWF was able to move RAW to 10 p.m. that Nitro could run for two hours, building up an audience unopposed in the first hour before running head-to-head in the second hour with the WWF. McMahon is not worried about the two-hour threat, though, believing that it would force WCW to water down its product.

-The idea of contract tampering has become a source of frustration between the WWF and WCW as well. McMahon has noted that WCW has reached out to Diesel, the Bushwhackers, and Jean-Pierre LaFitte, purportedly offering Diesel anywhere from $450,000 to $750,000 per year to jump. It is believed Hulk Hogan in WCW wants to work a program with Diesel, who would come in as a heel. The Bushwhackers were offered $120,000 each and McMahon refused to let them out of their existing contract because WCW is competition Diesel’s contract does not expire until the spring and McMahon argues that WCW reaching out to him before that time is interfering with acceptable business practices. The same is true of LaFitte, who has all but committed to going to WCW with Jacques Rougeau even though his contract does not end until July 7. Added onto this was Lex Luger jumping to WCW after SummerSlam last year. McMahon still insists that Luger was under contract although he has never provided evidence of such and it is generally believed Luger was working under a handshake agreement. McMahon’s anger reportedly stems from Luger telling him that he had been contacted by WCW but had no interest in going there. One way that McMahon could make his situation better is to offer guaranteed contracts but thus far he is reluctant to do this.

-Dark matches after In Your House went off the air included Ahmed Johnson beating Isaac Yankem, the Godwinns defeating the Bodydonnas, and the Undertaker beating Intercontinental Champion Goldust via count out when Goldust left ringside.

-The WWF is looking to hold WrestleMania XIII in Pittsburgh, possibly at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena.

-Antonio Inoki’s World Peace Festival has been moved from May 18 to June 1 to accommodate wishes by the WWF that it not clash with a house show in Madison Square Garden or run alongside a pay-per-view event.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for February 19 and 26.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for February 19!

And if you would like to read a compiled breakdown of 1990-1993 WWF, 1993-1995 ECW, or of various promotions in 1995, check out my Amazon author page to purchase e-books or paperback copies!