Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part Twenty (5/14 - 5/20)
We have the first In Your House show, Bob Backlund runs for president, PWFG tag action, lots of stuff from the big Smoky Mountain shows, and more!
If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook, unless otherwise stated.
How ya now?
Holy butts, we're on Part Twenty already! Frankly, I’m surprised I haven't given up on this yet. Kinda proud of myself.
We have an important week here at the Dive as the WWF enters the monthly PPV market. We also see a promotion for the first time since the Bridge of Dreams show, and we have a ton of hot Smoky Mountain action from their big weekend of shows.
Well…
MAY 14th
WWF In Your House - We kick the week off with the first iteration of In Your House as the WWF dips their toe in the monthly PPV pool. WCW was increasing the frequency of their paid offerings, so the WWF felt they had to, as RuPaul might say, “step their PPV pussy up” and added more shows to the calendar to keep pace. Taking place during months with no “Big Five” show, In Your House was positioned as budget pay-per-views, starting off at a $14.95 USD price point for two hours of blistering WWF action.
Besides being the first event of its name, this edition of In Your House stands out because the WWF gave away an honest-to-goodness house in Orlando, FL.
Yes, the WWF held a sweepstakes with the prize being a vacation home. The winner of the sweepstakes was 11-year old Matt Pompaselli. However, with his family just having moved to Las Vegas from New York, they didn't want to deal with another major move (and likely the taxes that come with this kind of property), so the family sold the house six months later for $175,000. That's over $345,000 in today's money, mighty tall cash for an 11-year old. Nowadays, though, you'd be lucky to get a toolshed to live in for $345K.
Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. Hakushi - This is the first of two Bret matches tonight, and the very first match in In Your House history (Housetory?). Hakushi is of course Michinoku Pro star Jinsei Shinzaki, and he is managed by Shinja, the Oriental Express’ Akio Sato in whiteface. The crazy thing is that Hayabusa was initially offered the role of “Japanese guy” in the WWF, but he rejected the offer and opted to work for FMW, so Shinzaki (who worked a Japanese WWF tour) was offered the spot instead. This should be a great contest despite the insipid “racist Bret” storyline leading to it. Man, imagine how long it takes to write that kanji all over Hakushi face and body.
This being Mother's Day, Bret dedicates the night to his ma. Hakushi impresses with some early acrobatics and knocks Bret down with a floaty shoulderblock. Hakushi works over the arm in the early stages, but Bret comes back with a roll-up and some armdrags. Hakushi powders for a bit, but comes back with some chops, then reverses an Irish whip, allowing Bret to take his trademark turnbuckle bump. Hakushi gets a sweet pump splash for two as Jerry Lawler watches on.
Hakushi slows things down a bit with some chokings, then hits a proto-Bronco Buster. After a bit, Hakushi dumps Bret, allowing Shinja to interfere. Hakushi continues to work over Bret in rather slow fashion. That's one issue I've had with Shinzaki's work: it feels lacklustre between the more impressive spots. I know it’s part of his style, but it does make things drag a bit. Hakushi gets a couple chops, then nails a handspring elbow. Hakushi counters a tilt-a-whirl with a gutwrench backbreaker for two. Diving headbutt gets a close two! Springboard splash…misses!
Bret mounts his usual comeback, hitting a Russian legsweep, a bulldog, a backbreaker, and a second rope elbow, earning a couple of two counts in the process. Sharpshooter attempt is thwarted by Shinja, but Hart gets a Manhattan drop and a clothesline, complete with Jannetty sell from Hakushi. Shinja trips Bret, so Hitman flies out with a suicide dive onto him!
Back in, Hakushi hits a nice dropkick for two, then both guys take a HUGE bump to the floor off a vertical suplex. While Bret is distracted with Shinja, Hakushi hits an absolute BEAUTY of an Asai Moonsault!
Bret makes it back in and soon scores a front roll-up for the three!
***3/4 - Man, I was ready to not like this one much because of the slow spots during Shinzaki's control period and a bit of awkwardness at the beginning, but this turned into a hell of an opener. In victory, Bret did a great job putting over the capabilities of the new guy. Despite my complaints about the downtime between spots, Hakushi had amazing execution here, hitting his bigger moves incredibly well. You really didn't see much of what Hakushi brought to the table in The Fed back then, so this one really stood out. Unfortunately, they really weren’t able to capitalize on this and Hakushi ended up out of the company in early 1996.
Post-match, Bret appears to bugger up his knee hopping off the apron. Could this mean TROUBLE for his match with Jerry Lawler later on? Read on to find out!
Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler - OK, guess you didn't have to read on too far. Lawler is in the ring with a woman he claims to be his “mother”. She's obviously too young to be his mother, yet also too old to be his girlfriend.
To be fair, a lot of grown-ass adults on Twitter refer to Jamie Hayter and Rhea Ripley as “mommy”, so maybe Lawler was ahead of the curve, I guess? Lawler rails on Helen Hart for a bit, then we cut to Bret with Todd Pettingill, who asks about the knee injury…WHICH WAS A RUSE! Bret's knee is 100%! Lawler is dismayed at this recent development. Bret beats The King from pillar to post until Lawler scores a piledriver…but Bret IS RISEN. The beating continues as Bret gets his own piledriver!
Bret continues playing with his food until Lawler comes back with a bodyslam and heads upstairs…but Bret catches him coming down with a fist in the guts. Shinja comes out for the distraction, and the ref ends up getting tied in the ropes. Bret continues beating Jerry down and goes for a cover…but Hakushi runs in and blasts Bret with an axehandle off the top!
Hakushi then hits a couple of diving headbutts. Lawler gets a jackknife roll-up for the pin.
After the match, Bret fends off Lawler and Hakushi, then beats the turd out of Shinja.
1/2* - This was likely rushed due to the show running long, so it wasn't much of a match. It was Bret beating the shit out of Lawler until the Hakushi interference cheated Bret out of his win. Unfortunately, this prolongs a feud that should have ended years ago.
We cut to Sycho Sid whispering his usual insane promo, promising to end Diesel's reign as champion.
We then join the WWF Championship match between Diesel and Sycho Sid in progress as Sid has a camel clutch locked in.
Diesel fights out, but Sid gets a one-handed chokeslam. OK, that was cool. Sid hits the powerbomb, but takes an eternity to go for the cover. Diesel, in a shocking development, kicks out at two. Sid misses a hilarious-looking blind charge, allowing Diesel to mount his comeback. Diesel hits the Jackknife, but Tatanka runs in, awarding the match to Diesel via DQ. Bam Bam Bigelow runs in for the save, setting up the (terrible) main event for King of the Ring. The full match is complete pants, as one would expect.
Here's what else happened on this show:
Jean-Pierre Lafitte (we'll get to him later on in the series) defeated Bob Holly in the pre-broadcast dark match.
Razor Ramon bested Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie in a not-bad handicap match.
Mabel dispatched Adam Bomb in under 2 minutes to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament. We'll see how THAT pans out.
Owen Hart & Yokozuna successfully defended the WWF Tag Team Championship against The Smoking Gunns in a short match.
Undertaker pinned Kama in the first of three post-broadcast dark matches. This one ended up as a bonus match on the VHS release of the show.
Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Tatanka in another dark match.
Owen Hart and British Bulldog wrestled to a 15-minute time limit draw in a King of the Ring qualifying match. This would end up on the June 6th episode of RAW.
MAY 15th
WWF Monday Night RAW - We start with Vince McMahon who is in the ring with Mr. Bob Backlund, who has a Tony Khan-like HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Bob goes on an insane rant about having an epiphany at WrestleMania XI, and rattles off some historical events, including the assassination of JFK, which he says happened on “December 22nd, 1983”. That's a bit over a month before I was born. Man, history comes at you FAST. This marks the second time this year that a wrestler cites the incorrect date when referencing the JFK assassination in a promo.
After some stalling, he declares his intention to run for the President of the United States! I mean, he wouldn't have been a worse option than the guy who was in the Oval Office from 2016-2020. Yeah, I said it.
Next, we have a music video for Shawn Michaels, set to his “Sexy Boy” theme music. This is essentially footage of Shawn interspersed with crowd shots of ladies going BUCK wild for the Boy Toy. The purpose of this is to build excitement for Shawn's return next week on RAW as he faces King Kong Bundy in a King of the Ring qualifying match.
Said Bundy pops up at the end and promises that Shawn's comeback will be short-lived.
MAY 16th
ECW Hardcore TV - Joey Styles brings Cactus Jack out for an interview ahead of his ECW title match against The Sandman (where Shane Douglas will be special guest referee). Jack feels for Shane, who is OBSESSED with being champion. He says that Shane has an obsession with the belt that “makes OJ Simpson look like a matrimonial philanthropist”, drawing an incredible “oh shit” reaction from Joey.
Jack advises Shane to call it down the middle, or he'll send him down “a rocky road to Stamford”. Another great one from Foley.
We get another music video, this time with clips of the Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer saga integrated into the actual music video for Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
It's mostly clips of Dreamer beating the crap out of Raven and footage of Raven brooding while Kurt Cobain and company blatantly rip off the melody and video for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Smells Like Nirvana”. Goddamn hacks.
MAY 19th
Fujiwara Festival - We start Kane Day off with some shoot-style tag action courtesy of Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi.
Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Shoichi Funaki - If one of those names sounds familiar to you, that is because one of the competitors is future Kai En Tai member and Smackdown Number One Announcer Sho Funaki. I also remember Ishikawa from the PWFG match at the Bridge of Dreams show and liking what I saw. He was also the guy that started Battlarts and took most of the PWFG roster with him. I’m not overly familiar with the other two, but it looks like Usuda is in the grey and Ikeda is in the black and red.
Funaki and Usuda start off, with Usuda getting an early knockdown with some harsh kicks and knees. Funaki catches a kick and grabs a legbar. They struggle over that until Usuda gets the ropes. They continue with the mat-based graps until Ikeda kicks Funaki to break a hold. Ishikawa checks in, but Usuda gets a few nasty kicks in, nearly felling Ishikawa. We get more grapples, with Usuda working on top.
After a bit, Usuda kicks Ishikawa right in the mush, knocking him on his ass. Ishikawa beats the count and immediately picks the ankle and dominates on the mat. Usuda attempts more strikes, but ends up getting wrestled to the mat again by Ishikawa. Usuda gets a couple of knees and it's his turn to work over Ishikawa, going for the arm. Ishikawa wrestles out of it and grabs a leglock, sending Ishikawa scurrying to the ropes.
Ikeda and Funaki check back in, and Funkai IMMEDIATELY runs into a leg lariat. Ikeda kicks and slaps the SHIT out of Funaki, but Funaki catches kick and turns it into a legbar. Ikeda rolls out and again kicks the bejesus out of Funaki. INDEED.
Nasty release German and a spinkick follows, and Ishikawa understandably tags back in. Ikeda and Ishikawa slap and punch the tar out of each other, Ikeda being especially aggressive. After trading some holds, Ikeda continues to kick Ishikawa into gelatin, then gets some vicious slaps in a full mount. Ikeda sinks on a rear-naked choke, and Ishikawa is OUT! Ikeda and Usuda win!
***1/2 - That was some good Shooter McGavin, I tell you what. Loved the ridiculously aggressive striking from Usuda and Ikeda and the fun mat wrestling throughout. Ishikawa held up well on the mat for a while, but Ikeda was just too much at the end. Funaki didn't really get to show much other than some grapping, but he took a good shellacking. I'd say this was a much more successful representation of what PWFG had to offer than the comedy-infused mess from the Weekly Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome Show.
SMW Volunteer Slam - Hey, we're back to the fan cam with the first of a big weekend of shows for Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
USWA Tag Team Championship: PG-13 (c) vs. The Thugs - Wow, an actual PG-13 match! They're in full heel mode here as expected, while the fans give Dirty White Boy and Tracy Smothers a hero's welcome.
JC Ice opens with a rap that the crowd abhors, and Smothers retorts to the crowd's delight. Smothers and Wolfie D start us off…but JC Ice cuts a promo on the old lady in the front row. DWB hugs the lady in response, getting great babyface heat. Wolfie D and Smothers each get armdrags to start, each one milked for all the heat they can get. Lots of strutting from Wolfie and taunting from JC that pisses off the crowd. Smothers makes a babyface comeback with some dropkicks, and the heels bail to the floor to regroup. The Thugs get their own Fargo struts to the delight of the fans.
JC Ice checks in, but Smothers counters an arm wringer and tags in Dirty White Boy. This leads to some double-teaming that the crowd LOVES. Anthony punches Ice to counter a leapfrog, and that causes PG-13 to regroup. After more shtick, we get a fun drop-down spot that leads into PG-13 running into each other.
After some stalling, the Thugs double-team Wolfie for a bit, but Ice kicks Smothers in the back during an Irish whip, leading to Wolfie D clotheslining him out as the champs take over. The house lights come back up as Smothers is whipped into the guardrail. The fans scream bloody murder at this ghastly development. PG-13 nail a double-team facecrusher and continue to beat down the Wild-Eyed Southern Boy. PG-13 make an illegal switch behind the ref's back, further drawing the crowd’s ire. Smothers fights out of a chinlock and hits a sunset flip, but Wolfie D has the ref distracted!
Parental Guidance 13 continue beating Tracy down, cutting off several potential comebacks. Ice crotches himself after missing a charge, but Wolfie cuts off a potential Thugs tag. Smothers keeps fighting the heels off, finally getting a double-DDT and MOLTEN HOT TAG go DWB! He takes out both guys, hitting a powerslam and a big boot. DWB hits Ice with a Bossman Slam, but Wolfie blasts him with a hubcap. Smothers breaks up the pin and HE hits Ice with the hubcap! Smothers nails Wolfie on the apron with the hubcap as White Boy covers Ice for the win and the titles...
…but wait!
USWA representative Randy Hales comes out to let referee Mark Curtis know what went down.
Curtis reverses the decision and awards the match to PG-13 via disqualification! Crowd chants “BULLSHIT” at that one.
***1/2 - This is another one where your mileage may vary depending on if you enjoy this style of wrestling, but this was so much fun. You know you're not exactly getting Young Bucks vs. Aussie Open in terms of high-octane work, but it was still solid and well-done. What made this match, though, was the babyface/heel dynamic and how they worked the formula. The Thugs did really well as the babyfaces here, with Smothers being a terrific face in peril, and PG-13 were excellent shitweasel heels. And that CROWD, man. This crowd was HOT, and these guys know how to milk it for all it was worth. You'd think PG-13 attended a pro-gun control rally with how much Tennessee hated them. Yes, it was 20 minutes and had a lot of stalling and a Dusty finish, but it was still a fascinating watch.
This would lead to more USWA vs. SMW content, which we should be seeing more of during the course of this series.
Texas Death Match: “Bullet” Bob Armstrong & Terry Funk vs. The Gangstas - Of course, the stip here is that if Funk turns on Bob during the match, Jim Cornette will refund the ticket money of everyone in attendance. That doesn’t reek of desperation AT ALL. It didn't exactly pack them in, either, with a lackluster 1,500 fans in attendance.
It's a four-way brawl to start, with Funk immediately piledriving Mustafa on a table (kind of), then rams him into said table while New Jack and Bullet Bob brawl. Bob stomps on Mustafa and pins him for a quick three. We then get a 30-second rest period before Mark Curtis starts the 10-count on Mustafa, but he gets back up at 6. Funk rains down some punchings on Funk until New Jack brings in a table and whacks him in the head with it!
Mustafa pins Funk, and we get our next rest period. Jack breaks up the count with punchings, whips Funker into the table, and pins him again. Funk gets up again and endures more abuse, as Jack flies off the apron with a clothesline. Bob FINALLY helps Funk out to stop the double-teaming. Mustafa tags in and continues beating on Funk until it's HOT TAG BULLET BOB! He beats those whippersnappers around until Jack uppercuts him in the wiener.
Mustafa drops an elbow for another pinfall as Funk threatens to beat up the ref during the rest period. Bob gets up and makes the tag to Funk, who goes HAM on the Gangstas with Cornette's tennis racket. In the ruckus, New Jack hits Funk with a club, resulting in another pinfall. Mustafa goes after Cornette (good!). Bob gets a BIG piledriver on Jack. Funk makes it back to his feet, but New Jack doesn't! Funk and Armstrong win!
**1/4 - This was a decent brawl with some fun moments, but it was hamstrung by the structure. Texas Death Matches having the 10 counts is going to already add some downtime, but adding 30 seconds after each pinfall before the ten count really slows things down. I know that the Houston version of this match type incorporates the rest periods, but it hurt the overall flow of the match. It also would have benefitted from ditching the tag rules completely and just letting all four guys go at it.
Post-match, Funk and Cornette expectedly turn on Bullet Bob via the use of a FIREBALL because Cornette is a WIZARD. Insert your own “Grand Wizard” joke here. As the match is already over, Cornette doesn't have to refund the fans. Funk and Corny beat down Bob and Mark Curtis until Steve Armstrong comes in, only to be accosted by Buddy Landel. Bobby Blaze comes down to get him some of Buddy, but The Punisher (the future Bull Buchanan) comes in and locks him in a full nelson. Boo Bradley comes in and HE gets full-nelson'd. The beatings and full nelsonings continue as the villains stand tall.
MAY 20th
WCW Worldwide - Holy crap, a match from WCW Worldwide, WCW's syndicated B-show offering.
Ric Flair & Vader vs. Dos Amigos - Well, this should be breezy, though the jobbers do look pretty big…
As the bell rings, The Renegade comes out and attacks Arn Anderson from behind. Coward! He comes in and double-clotheslines Vader and Flair, then Dos Amigos beats down on the heels! One of the Amigos unmasks to reveal…HULK HOGAN! BAH GAWD! The other one, of course, turns out to be Randy Savage! They run the heels out of the ring and pose. OK, this was a lot of fun. Most Hogan angles from around this time are complete clown meat, but I enjoyed this. It was a fun recycling of the Dos Hombres stuff with Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas from a couple years prior. I'm a sucker for these types of angles (DDP dressing as La Parka to fool Savage, oddly enough, is a favorite).
The Monstermaniacs, Jimmy Hart, and the Wish.com Warrior celebrate as we learn that WCW Worldwide is brought to you by BABY RUTH!
Tony Schiavone interviews Dos Amigos at the entryway. El Racista Hulk Hogan says to “Let me tell you something, AMIGO!” and they both speak fake Spanish. I guess we got Macho Libre a whole decade before the revived ECW!
Smoky Mountain Wrestling - Well, shit, a week without the USWA TV show? Kinda crazy, though we did get the USWA tag title match earlier on. This week on CONFRONTATION WITH CHIP KESSLER, we have The Thugs. Tracy Smothers looks particularly bloody.
We get clips of a double-chain match between The Thugs and The Gangstas, which is apparently 2/3 falls as we are at one fall apiece. Per Cagematch, this took place on May 6th. Dirty White Boy beats down Mustafa as a busted Smothers unloads on New Jack with kicks. D'Lo Brown goes to splash DWB to break up a pinfall, but lands on Mustafa instead, leading to White Boy getting the pin.
The Gangstas beat down the faces and the ref after the match. We then cut to The Gangstas backstage as New Jack challenges The Thugs to another match and threatens to kill them.
DWB challenges The Gangstas to a Ghetto Street Fight/Stretcher match for Charlotte Memories, which we will see fairly soon! Both guys cut impassioned promos and Tracy lays down that awesome Thugs catchphrase.
We now see clips of Ricky Morton vs. Al Snow in a cage match, also from May 6th. Unambomb and Robert Gibson are handcuffed at ringside to prevent any interference. Snow attempts some early escapes, but Morton thwarts them and tosses Snow against the cage.
Morton continues pounding away as Snow sells his ass off and makes frequent escape attempts. We clip to Snow hitting a swinging neckbreaker, then to Snow removing Morton's neckbrace. We then cut to Snow impaling himself on Morton's knees on a frog splash attempt. Morton mounts a comeback, but Snow hits a glancing blow on a back heel kick. Piledriver is attempted as everyone is freaking out, but the ref gets bumped in the process. Snow then gets back body-dropped into the poor ref!
Ricky gets his own piledriver, but Unabomb emerges from a hole he creates in the ring?!?!
It turns out that the Unabomb handcuffed to the cage was a FAKE! Snow then grabs the key from the ref and unhandcuffs the fake Unabomb (who is NOT Luke Gallows in this case). Several babyfaces try to scale the cage, but the heels fight them off until they powder. That was a pretty awesome piece of business.
We then cut to the Rock n’ Roll Express backstage. Ricky cuts a promo ahead of their tag team cage match against Al Snow and Unabomb for Charlotte Memories.
WCW Saturday Night - We board the Mothership for another Saturday night, starting off with Eric Bischoff coming at you from a golf course, where he hopes to speak with Diamond Dallas Page. He stops The Diamond Doll as she's walking by and asks for her real name. DDP wants her to keep her anonymity, but does she say to call her “Kimberly”.
Right on cue, DDP almost runs into Bischoff with a golf cart. Page is rocking an INSANE fit here.
DDP drives away with Kimberly while Max Muscle jogs along behind them. DDP then tees off, and the ball ricochets around until it hits Max. Max then grabs the club, tees up, and fucking OBLITERATES the ball!
We then get a golf MONTAGE until poor Kimberly, doing the caddying for both guys, passes out from exhaustion. More entertaining stuff here from these three.
We then kick it again with Randy Savage and his dad, Angelo Poffo. Angelo voices his concerns about the nefarious plans Ric Flair, Vader, and Arn Anderson may have planned for Slamboree. Savage assures Angelo (and a bunch of fans on the beach) that the Monstermaniacs will prevail.
Savage (in full regalia) and the beachgoers then hit the water! I'm not sure how safe that would be for Macho. Dude is dressed like the world's biggest fishing lure.
SMW Charlotte Memories - We close out a busy week with one last Smoky Mountain match courtesy of fan cam.
Ghetto Street Fight: The Gangstas vs. The Thugs - We start off with New Jack ripping on the crowd before The Thugs come out.
Smothers comes out rocking overalls and it's a four-way melee to start. Smothers beats down on Jack with a garbage can while Dirty White Boy strangles Mustafa with a noose. Oh, dear. Smothers comes off the top and clobbers New Jack with the Confederate flag. Oh, dear. Jack and Tracy brawl amongst the fans while DWB and Mustafa go at it in the ring. Moments later, Jack smashes Smothers in the head with a trash can lid.
New Jack brings in a frigging cinder block, but DWB thwarts an attempt to crush Smothers with it. The Gangstas take over for a while, with D'Lo Brown getting involved. New Jack lands a HUGE clothesline off the apron to DWB. After some brawling on the floor, the Thugs make a comeback as Tracy counters a noosing by New Jack with an uppercut to the testicles. Tracy hits the mounted punches, but Jack dumps him to the floor. New Jack piledrives Tracy through the table!
Somehow, Smothers comes back and rams both New Jack and D'Lo into a chunk of the broken table! They recycle the finish from the chain match where D'Lo inadvertently splashes Mustafa, leading to Dirty White Boy covering both for the win!
***1/2 - See, this is what the prior night's Texas Death Match should have been. This was a chaotic, messy, all-action brawl. Didn't entirely care for the repeated finish from their prior match, but this was a ton of fun. Two good Dirty White Boy matches in two days? What the hell is going on here?
Post-match, everybody continues brawling all over the arena as this issue is FAR FROM OVER.
So, yeah, there wasn’t any blow-away MOTYCs or anything, but there’s a lot of fun stuff this week. The Bret/Hakushi match is fondly remembered and definitely one of the better matches the WWF had so far this year. We also got a hard-hitting PWFG tag match, two very good (and different) matches from The Thugs, and some fun angles and vignettes from WCW.
NEXT TIME: We take a look at WCW Slamboree! Plus, a major return in the WWF, a big title change happens in Japan, and more vignettes and angles!
Smell ya later!