-Clips are shown of last night’s triple header match at In Your House 3. Owen Hart was missing for the match so the British Bulldog substituted for him. In the shock of the century, Owen returned at the end of the match, got Jackknifed and pinned by Diesel, and Diesel and Shawn Michaels became the tag team champions. Owen’s appearance at the end of the match allowed Jim Cornette and his attorney Clarence Mason to argue that there was a legal loophole that nullified the changing of the tag team championships. To my knowledge this was Mason’s first appearance in the WWF. WWF interim president Gorilla Monsoon agreed but is forcing the tag team champions to square off against the Smoking Gunns tonight and Shawn Michaels & Diesel at a later date. So much for that guaranteed title change last night Gorilla.
-Vince McMahon and Jerry “the King†Lawler are in the booth and are coming to us live from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
–Opening Contest: Skip (w/Sunny) vs. Marty Jannetty:
This was Jannetty’s return to the WWF after being gone for over a year. Headlock sequence starts and Jannetty gets an arm drag and a dropkick to send Skip to the floor. Skip regroups with Sunny as the crowd chants for Marty and Sunny throws a temper tantrum. Marty blows a kiss at Sunny as Skip rolls back into the ring and Skip and Jannetty work through some slow choreographed spots. Jannetty rolls to the outside and hugs Sunny when she turns back around after taunting the crowd in a funny spot. Jannetty then decks Skip and dances around ringside and in the ring like a five year old. Back in, Jannetty works the arm but has his leg grabbed by Sunny when he runs the ropes. Skip capitalizes on the distraction by hitting a gutwrench powerbomb and a suplex. Dean Douglas is shown in the aisle taking notes with a smile on his face as the crowd continues to chant for Jannetty. Skip slams Jannetty as we head to a commercial break.
We return with Skip clotheslining Jannetty off the ropes. Skip gets a snapmare and a knee drop off the ropes for two. Jannetty reverses a whip into the corner and then catches Skip when he tries to go over him on a blind charge. However, Skip manages to escape Jannetty’s grasp but then gets caught in a release German suplex. Jannetty reverses Skip’s hurricanrana attempt with a powerbomb but doesn’t cover. Jannetty gets a fist off the ropes and then hits a spinning elbow off the ropes. Jannetty catches Skip with a knee lift for two. Jannetty gets a bodypress off the ropes for one before releasing the count because Sunny is on the apron. However, Jannetty turns around in time to see Skip running at him and backdrops him to the floor. Jannetty tries to suplex Skip back in, but Sunny trips him and Skip crashes down on him for a two count. Sunny should have just kept her hands on Jannetty’s foot there and he wouldn’t have been able to kick out. Jannetty hits a Rocker Dropper when Skip puts his head down too early on a whip and a top rope fist drop finishes it at 7:27 shown. This match got off to a slow start but picked up steam after the commercial break. Grade: C
-We see Clarence Mason interrogating Gorilla Monsoon and how Owen Hart could not have been pinned in the match because Monsoon had recognized Yokozuna and the British Bulldog as the tag team champions. Lawler claims that you can’t have three men holding the tag team champions ignoring the precedent set by Demolition about five years earlier.
-Call 1-800-TITAN-91 to get your In Your House: Triple Header t-shirt. It’s $20 and you can get a free WWF classic tape. What’s on the tape? It doesn’t even have a case!
–WWF Tag Team Title Match: Owen Hart & Yokozuna (Champions w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) vs. The Smoking Gunns:
We come back from promotional ads with the action underway between Owen and Bart. Bart frustrates Owen to start and takes him down with an arm drag. Tag Billy and he works the arm until Owen elbows out. Billy reverses a whip to the buckle and floors Owen with a right hand. However, Owen gets a drop toe hold off the ropes and tags in Yokozuna and to quote good ol’ JR the crowd senses that business is about to pick up. Billy and Yokozuna lock up and Yokozuna gets the better of him as Diesel and Shawn Michaels are shown watching from the back. Billy uses his quickness to maneuver around Yokozuna, daze him, and then hit him with a bulldog. Billy gets squashed quickly thereafter with a Samoan Drop and he falls to the floor where Owen attacks him behind the referee’s back. Back in, the champions deliver a double headbutt and Owen puts on a chinlock until Billy elbows out and gets a fluke sunset flip for two. Owen drills Billy with an enziguri and gets a leg drop for one as we cut to a commercial.
We return with Owen having Billy in a chinlock again and Billy elbowing out. Owen stops that with a swinging neckbreaker and tries to hit a flying body press off the top rope but Billy rolls with the move and gets a cover for two. Owen cuts off the tag and the champions’ double team Billy as Bart inadvertently distracts the referee. Yokozuna applies a nerve hold to Billy as the match slows down significantly. After what feels like an eternity, Billy elbows out only to be hit with an elbow off the ropes. However, Yokozuna misses a big fat running elbow drop and we have our double KO spot. Billy gets up first and tries a leg drop but it misses. Yokozuna THEN gets up and tries to hit a big fat splash but Billy rolls out of the way of that and we have double KO #2. Tag Owen but he can’t keep Bart from getting the momentum swinging tag. Bart cleans house, whips Owen into the corner with authority, and gets a gorilla press slam for two before Yokozuna breaks it up. All hell breaks loose as the Gunns whip Yokozuna into Owen. The Gunns deliver a Sidewinder and Bart covers but the referee forces Billy out of the ring. Yokozuna attempts to splash onto Bart but Bart rolls out of the way and Yokozuna squashes Owen like a bug instead. Owen sells it like death as the crowd loses its mind and Billy dropkicks Yokozuna out of the ring as Bart covers for the victory at 10:14 shown. Afterward, Diesel and Shawn Michaels come to the ring to congratulate the Gunns. Everything from the first double KO spot was beautifully executed. What I also liked about this match is that earlier in the show they hyped a rematch of In Your House 3 main event so you thought that the Gunns had absolutely no chance here. Grade: C+
–Gorilla Monsoon is interviewed by Doc Hendrix to discuss the In Your House 4: The Great White North card. Gorilla informs us that the Undertaker will face King Mabel, Goldust will debut, the British Bulldog will battle Diesel for the WWF Championship, Shawn Michaels will defend the Intercontinental title against Dean Douglas, and Bret Hart will face the winner of Diesel-Bulldog at the Survivor Series.
–The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer):
The Undertaker stalks the Bulldog on the outside to start and the Bulldog gets in first and attacks the Undertaker when he gets inside. The Bulldog puts his head down too early on a whip and the Undertaker throws him to the canvas. The Undertaker whips the Bulldog against the corner and chokes away. As the Undertaker intimidates the referee, the Bulldog attacks him from behind again but just gets caught in a flying clothesline off the ropes. The Undertaker goes for his ropewalk spot but the Bulldog suddenly becomes the smartest superstar alive and just tugs the Undertaker off the buckles. However, the Undertaker comes right back with a big boot and a slam. A running elbow drop misses and the Bulldog clotheslines the dead man to the floor. The Undertaker is the Undertaker, though, so he lands on his feet and chokes out Jim Cornette who is conveniently nearby. The Bulldog breaks that up by chop blocking the knee and he tosses the Undertaker into the ring steps. Men on a Mission make an appearance by the entrance as we head to a commercial break.
We return with the Bulldog attacking the knee and now we see Waylon Mercy watching the action. Geez, don’t they have television monitors in the locker room? I guess they had an interest in an Undertaker-Mercy program before Mercy was forced to retire. The Undertaker crumples to the canvas when the Bulldog tries to whip him into the corner and the Bulldog applies a half Boston crab. The Undertaker tries to rally on one leg after the Bulldog releases the hold but he just gets whipped into the corner for his troubles. The Bulldog goes for a running powerslam but the Undertaker drops behind him and delivers a side suplex. A slugfest ensues after a double KO and the Undertaker wins it. The Undertaker whips the Bulldog into the corner and tries another ropewalk spot and gets it that doesn’t makes sense considering how much his knee has been worked over. I mean he doesn’t even have the urn! The Undertaker puts his head down too early on a whip and that lets the Bulldog deliver a piledriver for two. The Bulldog nails his sweet vertical suplex for two. The Bulldog hits another suplex for two. The Undertaker goes under a Bulldog clothesline and hits a chokeslam but doesn’t cover. King Mabel comes into the ring and when the Undertaker turns to face him the Bulldog gives the Undertaker a knee lift in the back and Mabel delivers a belly-to-belly suplex. The Bulldog delivers a running powerslam and Mabel delivers a leg drop but they are forced to flee once Diesel and Shawn Michaels hit the ring. All of this of course causes a disqualification at 7:35 shown. Since everyone else from the locker room is out there, Owen and Yokozuna come down too and when it looks like they will have 2-on-4 odds on the Clique, the Smoking Gunns come out to even things up. This match had some nice booking where the Bulldog threw everything he could at the Undertaker and when things went south he figured that he would just abandon his plans and beat him up with Mabel. Grade: C+
–We come back to see the Undertaker shake hands with the faces who came to help him. We go to another commercial and come back with Shawn Michaels dancing in the ring and Vince doing the same at the announce booth. It’s quite a sight.
-Clips of Dean Douglas’s victory over Razor Ramon at In Your House 3 are shown with the 1-2-3 Kid arguing with Ramon after the match. Lawler says that the Kid has been meeting with Ted DiBiase. Shawn Michaels does some more dancing and we are done.
-Next week tune in to see Jean Pierre LaFitte battle Bret “Hitman†Hart in a rematch from In Your House 3! Also, see the 1-2-3 Kid battle Razor Ramon again!
The Final Report: Another solid Raw this week but this one was destroyed by Nitro in the ratings. That’s unfortunate since all of the matches were solid and the talent put on another great effort. The Undertaker-British Bulldog match is surprisingly good with no rest holds and with both of them just beating the tar out of each other. Considering the Undertaker’s opponents, it might be considered his best match of 1995.
Show Grade: C+
