Dark Pegasus Video Review: In Your House III – Triple Header

IYH 3: Triple-Threat by J.D. Dunn We are steeped firmly in the Nitro era at this point, and the Monday Night Wars were off and running. Things were about to get a LOT more interesting…on TV at least. See, Vince countered by bringing in none other than legendary booker Bill Watts. It didn’t work out, but at least it was a fun series of shows. Lex Luger jumped from the WWF back to WCW without notice, leaving the British Bulldog without a partner. Bulldog responded by recruiting Diesel to help him in a match against Men on a Mission. After all, the Dies was feuding with Mabel at the time, so it just made sense. Then, to the shock of everyone, Bulldog turned on Diesel in the middle of the match, beating the champ down and aligning himself with Camp Cornette. Why “to the shock of everyone?” Because Davey Boy had never been a heel to that point. I don’t even recall him being a heel in Stampede. In other news, Shawn Michaels finally polished off Sycho Sid with three superkicks, retaining his Intercontinental Title. But then, you probably already knew that because it was the match that Eric Bischoff gave away the ending of on Nitro. Also on that show, academic douche Dean Douglas showed up and started stirring things up between Razor and the 1-2-3 Kid. Douglas was roughing up the Kid quite a bit in their weekend match, so Razor ran in to save the Kid further beating, inadvertently getting the Kid disqualified. Kid accused Razor of being overprotective of him just because he was a little squirt and challenged him to a rematch of the biggest upset in Raw history two years earlier. That led to the rematch to blow off a little steam between the two, but Douglas interrupted that one, attacking both guys. Bret Hart went off to film Lonesome Dove, and his acting career was not exactly of Hogan proportions let alone Rock-level. But that didn’t stop him from getting his spiffy leather jacket stolen by evil pirate Jean-Pierre Lafitte. See why people wanted to watch Nitro at this point? September 25, 2005 Live from Saginaw, Mich. Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. (This would be the historic first pairing of Ross and Lawler on commentary). Opening Match: Savio Vega vs. Waylon Mercy. This is Mercy’s only appearance on PPV. If you’ve never seen him, he’s Danny Spivey with a black dye-job. The character itself is brilliant, kind of a semi-retarded version of Max Cady from Cape Fear. Or, if you want to get a little more literary, Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird. Or, if you wanted to get even more literary, Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Not evil crazy in the Sycho Sid way, but sympathetically crazy in the “Why are you making me do this to you?” sort of way. Spivey wrestles slowly and clumsily, which fits the character (and Spivey’s deteriorated body). He gets a crazy sleeper where he looks to the sky with a “Look at me, ma!” sort of grin on his face. Savio fights back but takes a brainbuster, which was way stiffer than the WWF was used to. Savio kicks out and hits a spin kick for the win at 7:06. Waylon was a great character, the kind of complex character I wish the WWE would do more of today. Unfortunately, Spivey was broken down at this point and wasn’t given an opportunity to get the character over before he was released. * Owen Hart is a no show, apparently, but that won’t stop Acting President Gorilla Monsoon from ensuring the main event goes on. Sycho Sid (w/Ted Dibiase) vs. Henry O. Godwinn. Henry was a lackey for the Corporation, but he refused to join and actually slopped both Sid and Dibiase. Lawler gets hits first great dig on Ross: “You know what Arkansas’ state motto is? At least we’re not Oklahoma!” This match is pretty bad, as you’d probably expect. Sid is not exactly an idiot when it comes to knowing where he is on the card, and considering he was in the main event just two months earlier and now he’s in the second match against the Hogfather he decides to dog it. Henry hits the Slop Drop (reverse DDT), but Dibiase pulls him off the cover. Dibiase trips him up again, allowing Sid to hit the powerbomb at 7:24. Bam Bam Bigelow runs down to attack Sid, which draws out fellow Corporation member Kama to turn it into a two-on-one. Henry recovers and slops Dibiase while he’s distracted. 3/4* Monsoon tells Jim Cornette that he can find a surrogate partner for Yokozuna if Owen doesn’t show. The British Bulldog vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. The Bulldog attacked Diesel on an episode of Monday Night Raw, raising the hackles of resident Friend of Diesel Bigelow. Davey and Bigelow trade power moves early on. Bigelow misses a charge and tumbles to the floor, but he blocks a suplex back in and hits a flying headbutt. The count is too slow for Biggie’s taste, so he stops to argue, allowing Bulldog to clip his knee from behind. Bulldog continues to work the leg with a kneebar and a half-crab. Bigelow powers back and squashes Bulldog on a sunset flip attempt. Bulldog hits his own diving headbutt and avoids a charge. The powerslam gets the win for Bulldog at 12:01. Not bad for a power match. Much like Sid, Bigelow was quickly falling out of favor with both Vince and the Clique, so he’d job to Golddust at the next PPV and disappear from the WWF. ** Bob Backlund gives one of the great Presidential stump speeches of all time, blasting the crowd for having chronic limitations due to not reading and writing. He introduces us to Dean Douglas, a man we can all be proud of. Dean Douglas (w/Bob Backlund) vs. Razor Ramon. Dean Douglas is ECW legend and current TNA star Shane Douglas. Douglas (the character) was highly critical of the Shawn/Razor ladder match at Summerslam, starting a feud between Douglas and both of those guys. It was supposed to culminate in Douglas winning the Intercontinental Title from Shawn Michaels, but…well, it’s 1995, and the Clique is running things. The match gets a one-way ticket to Boredomville thanks to a Razor armbar. We catch a glimpse of Backlund reading a book at ringside, prompting Lawler to get in another dig on JR saying, “You were in grammar school so long the other kids started bringing you apples.” More tedium via a Douglas surfboard. Razor powers out of a chinlock and drops him with the Electric Chair. Razor gets two off a wrist-clutch suplex. Douglas comes off the top with a crossbody, but Razor rolls through for two. Douglas tosses Razor into the ref, bumping him. Razor hits the Razor’s Edge, and the 1-2-3 Kid runs down to make the meaningless count. Razor is pissed a the Kid anyway, and this isn’t helping, so he tosses Kid out of the ring. Douglas sneaks in, though, and rolls Ramon up for the win at 14:54. After the match, Ramon and the Kid come to blows before the officials break it up. Started out slow, ground to a halt, and then kicked into high gear near the end. **1/4 Earlier, Cornette was trying to put together a tag team of Mabel and Yokozuna, but the two big guys are distrustful of one another thanks to their tag team match on the Raw just before this. For Bret’s Jacket: Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte. Bret hits a CRAZY tope suicida to start the match, and it’s all Bret early. He gets two off a crucifix, but Lafitte NAILS him with a clothesline to block a hiptoss. Bret reverses a corner whip but posts his shoulder. Pierre doesn’t help it out by posting him again. Bret takes the “Bret Bump” on the other side. Bret dips his shoulder and backdrops Pierre to the floor, but Lafitte lands on his feet, pulls Bret out and tosses him into the steps. Things settle down with a chinlock and then pick up when Pierre hits a legdrop. Pierre gives the Creole signal. “Ladies and gentleman, I have an urgent announcement. I need you to drop everything you’re doing and pay attention to me.” CANNONBALLLLL! It misses. Bret goes for the Sharpshooter, but Pierre kicks him to the floor. Pierre goes for a somersault plancha, but Bret just walks away and lets him splat. So that’s where Samoa Joe got it. Bret goes with the FIVE MOVES, but Pierre cuts off the second-rope elbow (just like their last match). Bret tries another crucifix, but Pierre counters to a sloppy Finlay Roll. Pierre covers and puts his feet on the ropes, but Bret kicks out. Bret tries a bulldog but gets sent straight into the corner for another “Bret Bump.” He misses a charge and crotches himself too. This is just not his day. Bret avoids a splash, and they clothesline one another. Bret manages to wriggle into a Sharpshooter for the win at 16:39. Surprisingly hard-fought match. Pierre kept things interesting simply by not allowing Bret to go through his offensive routine. ***3/4 Jim Cornette recruits the British Bulldog as Yoko’s partner, which was no surprise since he was already managing him. Gorilla co-signs. WWF World Title/Intercontinental Title vs. WWF Tag Titles: Yokozuna & The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) vs. Diesel & Shawn Michaels. The crazy stipulation is that if Shawn or Diesel get a win, they become the tag team champions. If either one of them get pinned or submit, the guy who beat them gets their title. That creates an interesting dynamic because one of the tag champs would have to sacrifice a title so his partner could win. On the other hand, one of the singles champs might try to avoid tagging in because he can’t lose his title if he doesn’t tag in. Of course, that aspect never manifests in these matches. Instead, they just go with a straight tag match. Shawn and Bulldog start out, and do a hot sequence. Yoko tries to interject but gets his clock cleaned by Diesel. Shawn challenges Yoko to a sumo duel and then ducks between his legs. Yoko nails him with an elbow, though. AH’M BIGGER’N YOU! AH’M HIGH’R ON THE FYOOD CHAIN! GET IN MAH BELLY! Diesel blitzes Yoko and knocks him to the floor, so Bulldog gets in. Bulldog gets a hanging suplex on Diesel after a botched attempt. Shawn plays face-in-peril for a while. Ross actually points out how stupid the Bulldog is for tagging out instead of trying to finish Shawn, and Vince seems totally clueless about it, explaining that Davey Boy wants Yoko to finish Shawn off. Shawn avoids the Banzai Drop and tags Diesel. The faces clean house, and Diesel sets up for the Jackknife. Yoko breaks it up but gets kicked to the floor by Shawn. Bulldog powerslams Diesel, but Shawn saves with the Picture-Perfect elbow. Suddenly, Owen Hart runs down and comes off the top, but Diesel catches him and hits the Jackknife Powerbomb at 15:44. So Shawn and Diesel hold all four titles in the WWF (but the Clique never had any influence!). Ah, but Owen wasn’t even in the match, so this stupid stipulation would be overturned by the time Raw went on the air. Too much Yoko dragged this one down. Now, if they had replaced Yoko with the Bulldog…**

The 411: This was an interesting time for the WWF. The Clique lovefest soured a lot of people on this era, and it was a horrible time business-wise, but the wrestling was a lot more wide-open and not as cookie-cutter as you see today. It was more like the Wild West with guys like Jarrett and the Roadie doing whatever they thought would get them over, the Clique watching each other's backs, and everyone just backstabbing the hell out of one another. It wasn't much fun as a viewer, but it's a lot more fun as a wrestling analyst. Mild thumbs up.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]