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Repost: In Your House 4

The SmarK Retro Rant for WWF In Your House IV

- Originally aired October 22, 1995, this show not only was so humdrum that they couldn’t think of a witty subtitle, but it also has the distinction of earning the lowest buyrate ever for a WWF PPV, at 0.4. Kevin Nash, just call him “Money”.  (Actually, on the RAW shows building this up, they were trying to make “Great White North” into a thing as the subtitle, but it didn’t happen.  I’d like to go with Davey Boy’s summation from one of his promos as a subtitle:  “That 50 below hellhole Winnipeg”  Spoken like someone who spent years touring the Prairies. 

- By the way, thank you to the Russians for inventing vodka, so I was able to make it through this one. On a related note, thank you to the makers of ibuprofen.  (I’ve heard conflicting reports over the years about my roommate’s patented “take three Tylenol and a giant glass of water before bed to prevent a hangover” advice.  At the time this rant was originally posted on the blog, it triggered a firestorm of discussion about the merits of Tylenol v. Advil for booze-related headaches, with each side saying that the other is the one that will cause your liver to implode.  That being said, even though I don’t really drink any more because I’m old as fuck, I did partake recently at my work conference and found that cheap pizza at 3 in the morning works remarkably well to prevent barfing and headaches as well.) 

- Live from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

- Your hosts are Vince, Jerry & JR.

- In a pretaped segment, President Gorilla strips Shawn Michaels of the IC title because he has a boo-boo and is incapable of laying down for Dean Douglas. If you want to stop and get some Kleenex in case of bursts of tears now, I’ll wait for you.

- …

- Okay, all done? On with the show…

- Opening match: Makin’ a Difference Fatu v. Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Welcome to Gimmick Hell, as Fatu gets repackaged in one of the dorkiest gimmicks in history – The Caring Samoan. See, the WWF was then gonna bring in his evil cousins, the Samoan Gangsta Party, who were kinda streetwise, rappin’ samoan with attitudez. They’d try to corrupt him like D-Von Dudley did with Buh Buh Ray in ECW, but they’d probably fail because he’s Makin’ a Difference for the kids on the streeet. Sadly, Fatu’s career collapsed in on itself when everyone released what a moron he must have been for taking this gimmick, and the Gangsta Party never saw the light of day. (Those guys are like the lost Samoans or something.  They spent FOREVER in developmental and then just vanished.)  More’s the pity. I’m not sure if Wrestlecrap has a section for Fatu, but they really should. Fatu gets a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack bodydrop to start (ah, Vince McMahon, play-by-play guy, those were the days). They brawl outside, and back in where Hunter stalls. Fatu does this horrible leapfrog out of the corner, but gets hung up in the ropes, and Hunter pounds on him. He hits a piledriver, which is no-sold by Fatu. They slug it out, but Hunter hits a neckbreaker for two. Kneelift gets two, and we HIT THE CHINLOCK. Vince notes Hunter’s undefeated record. Oh man, even back in 1995 that guy wouldn’t job. Lariat leads to the 360 clothesline sell by Fatu, although with Marty Jannetty on this card he might have competition later. Hunter gets two, but Fatu rolls him up for two. Pedigree is reversed, and a superkick cues the comeback. A pair of clotheslines and a backbreaker for Fatu set up the flying headbutt, which gets a one count. Running Diamond Cutter out of the corner sets up a flying splash, which misses. Pedigree finishes at 8:00. As blueblood snob v. streetwise samoan matches go, this was pretty decent. **  (Meltzer’s note on HHH at the time:  “They’re clearly protecting and building him for the future.”  You don’t say?) 

- The drama continues as Henry O Godwinn stalks Hunter with a bucket of slop, setting up the allegory for the Monday Night Wars that was the Hogpen Match at In Your House V.

- WWF tag team title match: The Smoking Gunns v. 1-2-3 Kid & Razor Ramon.

This was to set up the heel turn that would turn Sean Waltman into the character that eventually became X-Pac. So think about that – he’s essentially been playing the same annoying little creep heel for 6 years, and people wonder why the gimmick’s stale? Anyway, the Cliquesters have matching lavender tights here. Both teams were ostensibly babyfaces, although the crowd likes Ramon the best. Kid & Billy start, as Billy debuts the short hair look that remains to this day. (Even shorter on top these days, if you know what I mean.  Unintentionally short.  HE’S FUCKING BALD, OK?)  Billy wins a hiptoss sequence, so Razor tries next with Bart. Bart holds him off pretty well, and stalling follows. Kid cheapshots Bart, and the Red Eye Express takes over. Ramon pounds on Bart in full heel mode, but still draws mad face heat. Kid hits his kick combo and a pair of snap legdrops, then Razor suplexes him onto Bart for two. Beating continues, but Bart gets a hair takedown for a double KO. Taggery abounds. Billy cleans house and drops an elbow on Kid for two. Bart comes in and kills him with backbreakers for two, and the Gunns hit their suplex/dropkick combo for two. Billy misses a blind charge, but Kid is still out and Bart rolls Billy on top of him, and then Razor sneaks in and reverses that for two. Hot tag Razor, and he cleans house. Razor’s Edge for Billy, but the Kid wants the tag. Razor obliges, and Kid promptly gets pinned at 12:44. D’oh! Kid heels on the Gunns and steals the belts, but Razor makes peace. How sweet. **1/4  (And then they all went out and did a shitload of pot together to celebrate.) 

- Marty Jannetty v. Goldust.

This is Goldust’s in-ring debut after months of bizarre promos. The morality factor is somewhat in question here, as you’ve got your alcoholic drug addict taking on the sexual deviant son of Dusty Rhodes. However, the presence of Rhodes DNA swings things to Marty’s side by my count. I’m shocked Jannetty didn’t try to snort the gold confetti that fell from the ceiling during the entrances. (High five!  Anyone?)  Jannetty attacks and dumps Goldust, who takes a walk up the aisle. Back in, he bails again. Stalling follows. Goldust gets a rollup for two, but Marty comes back with a rana, and you guessed it, Goldust stalls again. They exchange leapfrogs and Goldie gets a lariat (allowing Marty to work the 450 clothesline sell in) and chokes him out. That goes on for a while, then he changes things up with a chinlock. Backdrop gets one as the match drags JUST A BIT. Marty gets dumped and they brawl for a bit, then he hits the post. Suplex back in gets two for Dustin. Back to that thar chinlock. Jannetty escapes and fucks up a backdrop reversal spot, then hits the post again. Goldust DDTs him for two. Jannetty gets a Rocker Dropper and goes up, but misses the fistdrop. However, in the most intelligent spot of the show, he doesn’t sell it because it wouldn’t actually hurt to miss that move. He goes up again and this time Goldust holds up his foot, and that gets sold. Front suplex finishes for Goldust at 11:12. Amazingly, his push actually continued after that performance. ¼*  (You have to give Vince some credit for patience here, because the Goldust gimmick was flopping on every level during the buildup and this debut, but he stuck with it when normal modus operandi would be to cut him loose.)

- Yokozuna v. King Mabel.

Yes, you read that right. Just accept it. Both guys were still heels, but were being punished for putting Undertaker out of action for three months. That’s all well and good, but there’s no need to cause misery for the poor fanbase, too. Slugfest to start, and Mabel bails. Back in, he gets a lariat and now Yoko bails. Back in again, Mabelanche hits and he takes over. Mabelanche #2 misses, but Yoko misses the Hulkbuster. Mabel misses an elbow as I’m having trouble keeping up with the torrid pace. They brawl outside for the merciful double countout at 5:12. And the fans actually BOOED the end of the match. As if they wanted it to continue. Well, that’s Winnipeg for ya. -**

- We get our Heartfelt Moment as Shawn Michaels comes out to surrender the Intercontinental title to Dean Douglas, due to his being horsewhipped by 12 guys in a bar in Syracuse. (FIFTEEN!) My heart bleeds. Here’s a hint on Wrestling Ethics and why Shawn isn’t in the WON Hall of Fame: If you’re healthy enough to WALK, you’re healthy enough to do the right thing. (Well, Shawn at least is in the Hall of Fame now.)  On the other hand, if anyone deserved to get screwed over this badly, it’s Shane Douglas, so really it’s just funny on all sides.

- Oh, and since the fans DEMAND a title match tonight, Douglas has to defend against Razor Ramon. But the Clique didn’t have any backstage power, nope.

- Intercontinental title: Dean Douglas v. Razor Ramon.

Douglas bails early. Back in, Ramon works the arm. That lasts a while. Dean comes back and stomps Ramon, but walks into a blockbuster suplex and gets dumped. Stalling follows. Suplex back in and Ramon stomps him. Douglas bails again to keep up the excitement level. Back in, Ramon goes back to that arm. Razor’s Edge is reversed, and they brawl outside. Back in, Douglas goes upstairs and gets caught with a chokeslam. Slugfest is won by Ramon, and he goes for a superplex, which is blocked. Bodypress by Douglas is rolled through for two. Douglas takes over, but gets suplexed and pinned out of nowhere at 11:00, despite having his feet in the ropes. Nice of Ramon to basically give him no offense and then pin him with a transition move. No wonder Douglas is so bitter. This, by the way, is the shortest IC title reign ever. ½*  (Ramon was a total shithead here, as he barely even sold anything for Douglas and looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, while winning his fourth IC title.) 

- WWF World title: Diesel v. The British Bulldog.

Yes, kids, this is actually the main event of a PPV. To spite Lex Luger, Vince McMahon actually pushed his partner to the main event for three PPVs to end 1995 (In Your Houses 3,4 and 5). Bret Hart joins us for commentary, replacing Jerry Lawler. Diesel hits an elbow and Bulldog bails. Stalling follows. Back in, but Diesel bails and jaws with Bret. Back in, Bulldog works the leg. That lasts a while. They head outside and Cornette pounds on Diesel’s leg. Back in, Bulldog gets a half-crab to work on it. Diesel uses his POOCHIE POWER to escape, but Bulldog goes back to it. Legdrop gets two. Diesel fights back, but Bulldog goes back to the leg. IT JUST KEEPS GOING. Diesel reverses a suplex for the double KO. Bulldog goes to a bad-looking Sharpshooter, but Diesel powers out. Powerslam is escaped and Diesel gets the big boot, but Cornette comes in and gets tossed, as does Bulldog. They brawl outside and Diesel eats post, drawing Bret into the ring for the DQ at 18:13. The crowd just boos that finish out of the building, and after the show went off the air Vince threw his headset down in disgust and chewed Diesel out right at ringside, basically sealing his fate then and there. He jobbed the title to Bret Hart at the very next PPV and was gone to WCW six months later. *

The Bottom Line: Aside from the Shawn Michaels farce and the seeds of the 1-2-3 Kid’s heel turn, this may be quite possibly the most unremarkable show in the history of WWF PPV. Several horrible matches on top of the card didn’t help matters, either. But hey, if you like that early Goldust stuff, this is the show for you!

Strong recommendation to avoid. (STRONGEST recommendation to avoid. This one is legendarily bad.  I think the Jets left because they were so ashamed of playing hockey in the same arena that hosted this show.) 

Comments

  1. >If you’re healthy enough to WALK, you’re healthy enough to do the right thing.


    Yea, probably not so much anymore.

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  2. I'm getting to the age where I can't shake off hangovers as easily as I once did and thus take measures to prevent them if I can. Things I find that help:

    -Ibuprofen (or whatever painkiller) before bed. Yeah, it's probably bad for your liver. So was the 10 Sierra Nevadas and god-knows-how-many Bud Lights I drank on Saturday. If I was that concerned about my liver, I would have made a lot of different choices.

    -HYDRATING. Drink some water or Gatorade while drinking, or at the very least before bed. If you're really diligent, drinking a glass of water or a decent amount of Gatorade for every drink you have will stave it off.

    -Eating. You're absolutely right about that. The worse it is for you, the better it is for your hangover.
    -Sticking to the same drink the whole day/night. If I'm only drinking beer as I normally do- and even better if possible, the same beer- the hangover is a small fraction as bad as it is when I mix it up. Unfortunately, my most recent drunken endeavor was at a football tailgate. And around my friends, this means that goddamn bottle of Fireball is getting shoved in your face, and taking a pull isn't an option.

    -If all else fails, smoke weed the next day. Unless you're like me and life has played a cruel trick on you. I like weed more than booze anyway these days, but when I'm hungover, it does nothing for me because I have an unfairly strong gag reflex and inhaling the smoke/coughing will make me throw up.

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  3. Cheap pizza, or anything with bread/crust works to prevent hangovers. I don't drink much at all, but when I do, something in the bread family is getting eaten before I hit the bed.


    About the show - what exactly did Vince read Diesel the riot act about? I'm sure that finish was approved ahead of time, no?

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  4. I find that Mexican food is also good. Bread or anything greasy. If both...great! So pizza really is the perfect food.
    I'll gladly trade a hangover for some disgusting shitting the next morning.

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  5. A fascinating show off-camera though.

    Shane Douglas claimed he never made any money in WWF. As in ''zero profit'', which is mind-blowing.

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  6. I'm not surprised. Both Holly and Foley said that at that time, everyone other than the top guys were struggling to cover their road expenses.

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  7. My hangover cure consists of a gigantic gatorade, a Monster Revive drink, an Emergen C packet, lots of water, some food, a hot shower, and furious masturbation. It doesn't work instantly but you may feel human again by early afternoon. You have to wake up kind of early to start this regiment.

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  8. I tried watching this show and was so appalled at how bad it was; I mostly was surfing the internet outside of the IC Title Switch.

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  9. Also, my hangover cure consists of sitting on my couch for a few hours, running to try to burn off the hangover, and then sitting on the couch again.

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  10. If I have to work the next day, I'm fucked.

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  11. Wasn't this the show where Vince had a mini-breakdown almost immediately after it went off the air? Rough times, indeed.

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  12. Water, water, and more water. I got drunk off of too much whiskey once, and once I realized I was getting pretty fucked, I chugged water the rest of the night. Felt like a million bucks the next morning.

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  13. CruelConnectionNumber2October 29, 2014 at 10:11 AM

    Goldust always sucked. He wouldn't get interesting to me until he was an Artist Formerly Known as Goldust.

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  14. MyrtleBeachHappyHourOctober 29, 2014 at 10:17 AM

    Wasn't the Samoan Gangsta Party just Rosey & Jamal? You could argue Rosey is the real lost Samoan, but Jamal as Umaga had pretty decent career before he died. Or am I getting my Samoans mixed up? (Not hard to do)

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  15. Totally different.

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  16. Yep, this is the one after the main event he screamed at Diesel for putting on a horrible match.

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  17. The fans weren't the only ones deserving of I Survived '95 T-shirts.

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  18. Samoan Gangsta Party was Samu and Rosey.

    Rosey and Jamal were the Island Boyz before they became 3 Minute Warning.

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  19. Man, is there a term that makes people sound more old than saying somebody was 'doing pot'?

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  20. I feel pretty much the same way.

    I always liked him as a character, but he was absolute death in the ring until 2002.

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  21. My hangover cure is knowing exactly when to stop drinking, even if it's mid-beer. It's a gift.

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  22. "Doing THE pot." Unnecessary uses of "the" when talking about drugs, generally.

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  23. Is this like Bret always saying "The WCW"?

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  24. I don't really get hangovers, mostly due to drinking lots of water before and after drinking, and eating greasy foods.

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  25. "wacky tobacky"?

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  26. Indeed. Also, "at the SummerSlam!"

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  27. Has Nash ever commented on the Vince thing? I must have seen a dozen shoots of his but never heard it mentioned.

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  28. "Vince threw his headset down in disgust and chewed Diesel out right at ringside"

    "THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE GOING FOR YOU IS YOUR HAIR AND THAT PEOPLE NOTICE YOU IN AIRPORTS BECAUSE OF YOUR HEIGHT!"

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  29. In defense of the low buyrate, WCW had Halloween Havoc with Hogan vs the debuting Giant, and a few other good matches like Sting/Flair vs Arn/Pillman, and the tease of a Savage vs Luger match.

    I would have probably saved my money to order that instead of this IYH.

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  30. Nash makes up random shit, like saying the Undertaker once chewed out Bret Hart for whining too much, or that Bret took a pay cut so he could be champion, which meant everyone else had to pay cut because no one could make more than the champion.

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  31. That Bret/Taker story was good. I didn't understand Bret's logic at all though. He refused to take Diesel's finisher at the end of the cage match, cause it would make him look weak? Wouldn't it make him look weaker if he was beaten WITHOUT the finisher??? Doesn't make sense at all. At least if you take the powerbomb, you have an excuse for being beaten!!!

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  32. The only two things I remember being excited for on this show were HBK-Douglas (which didn't happen) and Mabel-Yoko.

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  33. What's with that stupid exclamation point on Dean Douglas' tights? Solid Snake must run and hide everytime he sees him.

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  34. Part of that is because Goldust's "mind games" style was not really suited for putting on great matches. Lots of stalling and such to fit the character. Only really good Goldust match I can remember during this period was a match against HBK on RAW for the WWF title in the early fall of 1996.

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  35. I think the Powers To Be told him to say it that way.

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  36. Goldust "feeling up" Razor at the Rumble was 5 stars on its own, just for Razor's reaction.

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  37. RIGHT when I was about to ask this same thing, I read your comments. I've always been curious about this, and I don't think Nash (or anyone else for that matter) has ever commented on this.

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  38. Bret was paranoid as fuck at this point ... he knew the HBK train was about to leave the station and he was frankly such a mark for himself and took it so seriously that he was a role model and champion that he just nit-picked the shit out of everything. He complained that in the vignettes leading up to WM12 it just showed him lightly jogging while Shawn was doing upside down pushups.


    Regarding the powerbomb, Bret's been pretty open at how useless he felt in that run as champion leading up to the Michaels match and talked about how many good matches he'd had that were ignored. He had to know he was a transitional champion, not sure why he was complaining so much.

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  39. He did a Timeline 1995, didn't he? They must have brought it up on that.

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  40. I think the problem was at Rumble, he took the Tombstone and the story was that Taker would have been champ if not for Diesel's interference, then he took the powerbomb and Diesel would have been champ if not for Undertaker's interference... That's real lame duck booking for a champion, and the champ shouldn't be a device to get another feud over really

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  41. My brother, who holds a masters degree in chemistry and has
    worked in pharmaceuticals, tells me in no uncertain terms that Advil is the
    safer of the two to mix with booze.



    He’s a bit of a dumbass though, so who knows?



    Me? I just do the
    pot.

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  42. Ok... But in this case, he was still beaten and down from the count... And Diesel didn't even have to hit him with his best shot. So it made him look even *WEAKER*. That's my point. Diesel just shoved him down with his foot, and Bret was down for the count.

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  43. They had a PPV in Canada but couldn't find a match for Bret? Weird time period.

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  44. I'm confused. Bret won the match, didn't he?

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  45. Crikey Mate Down Under AussieOctober 29, 2014 at 11:15 AM

    Does anyone know more about what Vince said to Diesel?

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  46. Yes, after he was beaten, but Taker interfered and sucked Diesel into the pits of hell (Aka, the debut of Taker coming from through the canvas). So Powerbomb or not, Bret was still down and out, and Diesel had the match won.

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  47. The "Great White North" thing might work for Winnipeg in late October, but I loved that Cornette cut a promo about the "International Incident" PPV, and also used the Great White North... For July in Vancouver... Ummm... no. :)

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  48. "If only your work in the ring could match your damn hair!"

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  49. Ah okay, right. I just found the clip on dailymotion, and you can tell Bret's not into this finish at all. He is down for a few seconds as Diesel kicks him away as Taker starts to come out of the ring, but he basically then gets up immediately as Taker appears and he could probably have caught the crawling Diesel himself.

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  50. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 29, 2014 at 11:29 AM

    I remember IYH 2 had a couple dark matches after the show went off the air, with Bret going on last. Wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happened here.

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  51. Extant1979 Most Must-See BoDerOctober 29, 2014 at 11:30 AM

    When I was in college, any time my friends and I were out drinking for a long night, before we headed back home we either stopped at a diner we called "Skank and Scary's" for some eggs and toast or we went to the all-night pizza place. The pizza was shit during the day time when we were sober but was the best fucking thing ever when we were drunk.


    I barely remember this PPV.

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  52. I do feel the last sentence of the main event report kinda makes it seem like Vince decided to get rid of Nash, which wasn't really true.

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  53. Nash of course paints it as him having enough of the shitty booking and politics of the WWF and deciding to jump with Hall, but I daresay he saw the writing on the wall - he was in all likelihood going to get shunted down the card supremely quickly if he stuck around.

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  54. Nash Fact: That's the only thing you need.

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  55. Gunther the Nasty LoserOctober 29, 2014 at 11:44 AM

    The Samoan Gangsta Party showed up in ECW for a bit

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  56. Gunther the Nasty LoserOctober 29, 2014 at 11:47 AM

    "Purple monkey dishwasher"

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  57. In fairness, those ARE the two most important qualities for a champion.

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  58. To be fair, I can see both sides of it.


    On the one hand, no one in the top spot (even if they are a placeholder) should be the victim of repeated visible pins in their title reign (especially when they're taking the belt to Mania). I'd feel more than a bit lame if I was given the belt but then effectively jobbed in two of the three PPV title defences between my victory and me losing the title outright.


    On the other, Diesel/Taker was scheduled to be a major feud going into Mania, and the match a second main event, and I can understand wanting to hype it and give it a bit of extra meaning in the run up (although, as has been remarked upon further up, a champ generally has no business being used as a tool to further a non-championship feud).


    When this was discussed previously, someone made the (excellent) point that the Diesel/Bret cage match main evented the WWF's first bridging PPV between Rumble and Mania. Being in uncharted territory might've accounted for a short sighted booking decision like this, as they may not have realised how bad it would look that their champion is as good as beaten the month before Mania. Or they may have known this and not cared.

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  59. Guy i went to highschool with called his chewing tabaco that

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  60. In my experience, this is the truth of it.

    Rehydrate and you'll be fine

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  61. My point has been from the start, Bret was the visible loser no matter what. So whether he gets powerbombed or not, he was gonna look like he got saved regardless. That was not what Bret was arguing.

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  62. Even without that in play, they offered him a ton of $$ for less dates. He'd have been a fool not to take it. Nash is actually pretty astute when it comes to money by all accounts. Saved and invested wisely over the years

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  63. Bret generally takes his character too seriously and was a bit of a mark for himself, but with these few months he was right. He was the champ and booked to look like a total loser.

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  64. But.. I thought Ted Turner lured Nash and Hall over to the dark side with big money contracts.. He built his empire on acquiring talent that the WWE molded into superstars while Vince was distracted by the government unfairly going after his livelihood.

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  65. Agreed, but it was a low buy rate b/c they booked like crap all year and the product was totally down at that point.

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  66. wasn't the Samoan Gangsta Party also Three Minute Warning?

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  67. YankeesHoganTripleHFanOctober 29, 2014 at 12:17 PM

    Talk of the Hog pen match reminds me of two great digs Kurt Angle got in on HHH. 1. "I was winning olympic gold metals while you were wrestling in hog pen matches" 2. "Big deal he tore his quad. I tear my quad all the time. I tore my quad this morning and I'm fine"

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  68. Left-handed cigarettes?

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  69. "You were wrestling in...HOGPEN matches, or something." You could almost see the scare quotes around "hogpen" in Angle's voice.

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  70. Still doesn't heal as fast as Cena does.

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  71. Possibly. But even still you'd think you'd feature on of your biggest stars on the show especially when 2 of your top acts are out with injury.

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  72. I think that was the instance where Vince finally had had enough of Diesel as champ, at least. Though it seems that eventually getting the belt to Shawn was the endgame before then.

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  73. I love the decade long myth that the Hogpen match was part of the punishment for the MSG incident.



    1- It happened 6 months before the incident
    2- HHH actually won the match.

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  74. Oh Jesus tap-dancing Christ.


    The point Bret was complaining about was that HE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN IN THAT POSITION TO BE BEATEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

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  75. Actually, according to Nash's story, no it wasn't. The story was that he seemed fine with it, just didn't wanna take the powerbomb.

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  76. Yeah, "blueblood vs. dirty pig farmer" is a pretty natural feud. That's all it was.

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  77. Wasn't the real punishment jobbing him out in the KOTR qualifier that year? he lost to jake or bradshaw pretty convincingly if I remember

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  78. God, I love Angle from that era. So great.

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  79. YankeesHoganTripleHFanOctober 29, 2014 at 12:51 PM

    Muchmuchmuchmuchmuch quicker then Bryan however

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  80. Kind of like how Vince Russo booked Mae Young and the hand.

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  81. No the other member was Samu from the Headshrinkers.

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  82. Is it worth feeding Taker to Bret to keep him strong for a match that was a foregone conclusion anyway? I say no. Taker-Diesel was pretty well booked too.

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  83. 'Smoking the drugs' or 'smoking them tweeds'- my mother-in-law has said both.

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  84. Dustin seemed pretty motivated in the ring when he went to WCW in 2000. Dustin is a weird case because when he was playing a gimmick, his ring work sucked, but when he played himself, he made an effort to put on good matches. It's only in recent years where Dustin became motivated in the ring while playing the Goldust gimmick.

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  85. Hogpen match an allegory for the MNW? That's a new one to me. (though, if you remember the pre-show for IYHV, Henry did call one of his pigs "Terry") If it really was so, the hillbillies wouldn't get the last laugh at the end, would they?

    Still not as bad as Tatanka's heel turn being an allegory for the steroid trial, though.

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  86. YankeesHoganTripleHFanOctober 29, 2014 at 1:01 PM

    I always assumed that Tatanka turned heel because he was tramatized by the destruction of his Indian Feathers, and The Million Dollar Man offered to buy him new ones.

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  87. Pizza would also work because it's full of carbs and fat which helps absorb the alcohol and it's high in salt too which helps replace the body's depleted sodium.

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  88. I thought the hogpen match worked out ok.

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  89. there's your problem. Don't believe a word Nash says.

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  90. "Who the hell is burning tea leaves?"

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  91. they were telegraphing Shawn's win really badly ... I'm not sure what Bret could have done to make people think he would win at WM

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  92. Yep, no doubt hbk was winning at WM, but why put the strap on bret and make him look like a total chump as a part of the Diesel UT issue?

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  93. "EVERYTHING IS NOT ABOUT YOU!"

    I really hope that story is true, as it's my favorite Taker story.

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  94. Razor is one of those guys that's near-universally spoken of as being a shithead by people, and stuff like this is a good reason. Not only is he apparently a dick backstage, but he basically made Douglas look like a wimpy little pussy, so instead of just giving the heel his comeuppance, he made him into a jobber who didn't deserve a win at the same time.

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  95. It's an allegory because I think it was two Gimmicks fighting, instead of two Characters. It was like the perfect symbol of what the WWF had become. And also because it sucked and was full of shit.

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  96. Yeah, he lost badly to Jake and didn't even get on the PPV.

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  97. Yeah, and I always found that odd- HHH, the HEEL, physically winning the match against his babyface opposition in Godwinn's OWN kind of match. They kind of glossed it over, since HHH still got his comeuppance via being slopped anyways (50/50 BOOKING GODDAMMIT!), but in retrospect it was clear he was being protected.

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  98. heh, I like how you're saying "in defense of the low buyrate" while explaining that the show looked like a piece of shit and that WCW's looked much better on paper. That's not really defending it- you're just EXPLAINING IT.

    You're correct of course, but semantics.

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  99. I've heard more stories of Razor actually helping young talent in the back and giving advice. Shane was a dick who no one liked.

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  100. He didn't really lose badly to Jake. Jake was doing the whole underdog gimmick during the tourney where he got the crap beat out of him for most of the match then won with a DDT at the end.

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  101. To be fair, Bret was laughing about the jogging (and the swimming incident- "I swim about as well as The Giant Gonzalez used to wrestle"). Maybe he was more bitter at the time, but it was pretty damn funny to hear him talk about it after the fact.

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  102. Given how he was booked when he was NOT the Champ, I tend to agree with him for being a bit paranoid. A year-long feud with Lawler, a dentist & Jean-Pierre Lafitte?

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  103. I always wondered why he was given his big ECW Title reign. He was treated like the Hogan of that promotion for years- why that if no one liked him?

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  104. That's also around the time he denied being the "stalker" of Undertaker's wife- "to be honest, I don't think she's even that attractive!" *cue ass-kicking*

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  105. God, the "I'm here, I'm jumping around!" stuff about the quad tear...fucking hilarious.

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  106. I've never heard anyone say that about the Hogpen Match...? Weird.

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  107. Oh yeah, Bret's "I looked like an old man in MY vignettes!" ranks high in the top 10 Bret whines list.

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  108. Hell, Shawn ziplined in from the ceiling of the arena...I can only imagine what Bret was thinking considering his bitching about the vignettes and whatnot.

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  109. I heard a rumor they renamed the Target center to the Shane Douglas center. High five??

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  110. Backstage Razor may have been a dick to deal with, but I always thought he was one of the lesser evils of the Kliq and for the most part he was always a pro in the ring as he made guys look good and has jobbed a good number of times in his career.

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  111. Jericho did say Hall was fine until the nWo exploded, at which point things were "jojo" and he had no problem showing up hours late and pissing all over the cruiserweights.

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  112. I watched the Timeline '95 shoot, I don't think Sean asked him about Vince screaming at him at the announce table after his last successful World title defense on PPV.

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  113. This may be "whoosh" territory, but I think he just yelled "Horrible!" Or so I recall from Meltzer and Alvarez at the time.

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  114. Whoosh territory again, but as someone said elsewhere, I thought Scott meant southern hillbillies (WCW) vs. Greenwich upper class (WWF).

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  115. "I agreed to 5, MAYBE 10 seconds of dancing before he ziplined down! What an unprofessional!"

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  116. No, it was that mother f&^%er Dick Flair holding him the f&^% back again, *&^%$$^&*!!!!!!!!

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  117. And his healing factor was in the middle of the Speed Force compared to Ahmed Johnson and Mr. Kennedy.

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  118. Historyofwwe.com says Bret beat Yankem with the sharpshooter on the undercard (there were four dark matches before the PPV and Bret's was third. Interestingly enough, the fourth match was Owen and Yoko in a tag match. So much for the hometown guys).

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  119. tylenol is metabolized by the liver.


    ibuprofen is metabolized by the kidney. so yeah, better to take that with alcohol, if you don't want your liver to resemble Barney Gumble's.

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  120. Bret being a pain in the ass isn't the most outlandish story in the world.

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  121. Amazing how just one month after this bomb of a show, the WWF turned things around and put on the Survivor Series, their best PPV of 1995. Of course, having Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart actually wrestling on the latter show probably had something to do with it. But then, everyone had their working shoes on during the SurSer. Maybe Vince should have sh*t fits more often.

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  122. I'm not Canadian so I don't really get all the hate for Winnipeg. Is it really that much colder than all of the other major cities? I always thought Edmonton was the worst temperature-wise.

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  123. Sean needs to check his privilege and start asking tougher questions.

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  124. "(You have to give Vince some credit for patience here, because the Goldust gimmick was flopping on every level during the buildup and this debut, but he stuck with it when normal modus operandi would be to cut him loose.)"


    What's today's equivalent of this, where there's ZERO patience and they just cut the guy's legs off from under him? Bo Dallas?

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  125. Makin' A Difference Fatu would later take his cause a TAD too seriously when he decided to help out his fellow Samoan brethren at Steve Austin's expense.

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  126. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Generally, what I take from comments about Hall is something like, "Overall, a good guy. He's just brutally honest with people about their work."

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  127. He also mentioned that hall seemed like a good guy inside, but all of the politics and stuff turned him into a shithead.

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  128. Yeah, he's said that on here before, and literally have no idea where he got it from. Obviously, it isn't the case, since this match was before the MSG deal.

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  129. Yeah, Nash acknowledged in an interview with Keller several years ago that WCW offered him way too much money to say no to. The booking wasn't really a factor, at least according to that interview.

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  130. Yeah, I loooooove the Bret/Diesel match and dug the whole concept of the Wild Card Match they never went back to.

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