In Your House #4 - October 1995

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

It was kind of weird hearing them talk about Goldust like he was a new wrestler who no one had ever seen before

 

I just remember watching the vignettes and wondering if Dustin Rhodes was actually going to wrestle with a wig on. The question was answered at this show.

[KCC 0]

Dustin was pretty pudgy when he debuted, wasn't he?

You obviously have never seen Black Reign.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I'll admit I didn't put my finger on the fact that Goldust was Dustin Rhodes until I actually saw him w/o the wig wrestling.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I didn't know at first if it was Dustin or Barry Windham, who was also coming in at the time.

[strummer 0]

I had no idea Dustin was Goldust until I read it in PWI in October of 95'.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I had no idea Dustin was Goldust until I read it in PWI in October of 95'.

 

I got a free copy of 'The Wrestling Tribune' by Eric Cmiel (out of Buffalo) in the mail, of which I subsequently subscribed and, thus, began my indefinite run as a smart fan, where he was talking about Rhodes playing the Goldust character, in early September or so of that year, so I was clued in early on. I didn't notice that it was him during the first vignette, but I don't really know if I was paying close attention either.

[cabbageboy 0]

I didn't think Windham debuted until about a year after Goldust had already been in the WWF. But yeah I was also baffled at Goldust initially until he got in the ring and took off the wig, then I saw the obvious short blond hair and knew it was Dustin.

 

The sad thing about Dustin Rhodes' career is that his actual work was quite good in his early 90s WCW run, but he had little charisma on the mic. Once he became Goldust he certainly improved light years as a character and on the mic, but his physical peak had passed and his ring work was largely crappy.

[Jericholic82 0]

Why would they cut a match not involving Benoit? Anyhow this show pretty much sucked, and could they have a wei rder title win then Ramon's? That finish looked off.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

They cut a minis match off of Bad Blood 97 before too. Who knows why - I wish they were more open about these things as the 24/7 online crew seems very subscriber friendly. I used to converse with a producer (he contacted me after some poor reporting went down over why an episode of Nitro from June 97 didn't air) and we had some contact but he made it clear his bosses frowned on it.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

*Heenan-tone* I'm sure his bosses do frown on Nitro.

[Papacita 0]

I haven't watched it since I was 12, but for some reason, I remember liking Yoko/Mabel. I just remember this one clothesline spot that Mabel may or may not have even done and it just made my night, man! Made my night!

 

I remember the Tag Title match being good, with Kid heeling it up. Of course, I liked the Douglas/Razor match (aside from the odd ending) at the time, and after viewing it (and the one from the previous show) a couple of years later, I realized how bad they were, so who knows how the other one was.

 

I think I was incapable of disliking a wrestling show at this point in my life, but even watching with that mindset, this show was pretty forgettable.

[Bix 0]

The best part about the leadup to Goldust's debut was that initially, after hearing the name, people thought it would be some sort of old Western movie style cowboy. Then there were short bumpers with a Goldust logo on the screen with Finkel announcing "From Hollywood, California, weighing 260 pounds, Goldust!" And then the first vignette with Dustin aired, and fans collectively shared a "WTF?!?!?" reaction.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

People can bash 1996 WWF all they'd like, but 1995 will always stand out as the worst year of the pre-Attitude era. Diesel as the champ meant virtually no good main events, Bret Hart was stuck in several dead-end feuds, the tag team division was awful, and the mid-card talent sans a couple wrestlers, was non-existent.

 

Some friends and I watched this show today for the lone reason of it being material ripe for all sorts of witty banter. There were actually a few points during the show where we got into side conversations with each other and then would direct our attention back to the TV and be shocked the match was still going. The main event is just a train wreck. Diesel and Bulldog don't even try anything particularly innovative and yet, there's still a ton of clearly blown spots.

 

The commentary was pretty entertaining, though. Vince no-selling Lawler's crack about Fatu's house is a subtle classic.

 

Lawler: Fatu's house is the only house I've been in where the cockroaches have their own names.

Vince: You've been in Fatu's house?

Lawler: ...yes...

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

On the subject of tag teams in 1995, I was watching SummerSlam 95 the other day and for the life of me could not figure out why they putt Gunns vs Blus on the card. Was it to showcase the hot new heel duo of Eli and Jacob? No, they already jobbed in the WrestleMania XI opener. Was it to give the Smoking Gunns a big win? Not really, they'd been on the roster since 1992 and were always pushed. Was it to settle a score? I don't believe these teams had any issue before or after this match.

 

So, really, why not just book Owen/Yokozuna vs The Smoking Gunns in the Gunns big rematch from Mania XI? Instead, it was a pointless tag match that went nowhere and Owen's only appearance was getting giddy over the prospect of being in a World/IC title match the next month on PPV (which Todd Pettengill interpreted as "the tag champs being unhappy" - good work, Todd).

 

I also caught that Fatu thing and was quite amused by it.

[Guest]

Star ratings, thirteen years too late. Gosh, thirteen years.

 

Fatu vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

 

Pretty good (as in way better than what you'd expect), nothing special, but the nice-sized pop for Helmsley at the end was funny. Looking back, it's not too surprising that Fatu was repackaged into a guy who stuffed his ass in people's faces. **1/4. Henry Godwinn stuff at the end was something. Don't quite know what.

 

Razor Ramon & The 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Smoking Gunns for the WWF World Tag Titles

Planting the seeds for Kid's turn. Um, good match as well. I like the Razor-Kid team. **1/2.

 

Goldust vs. Marty Jannetty

Awful. I believe the fans started chanting "Dusty" at some point...yeeeah. Just not a very good performance from either guy. 1/2*.

 

Mabel vs. Yokozuna

 

Wasn't there. Probably a big pile of shit.

 

Razor Ramon vs. Dean Douglas for the Intercontinental Championship

Crappy finish, crappy for Shawn to drop the title here. Not crappy of him, it just sucked. I don't like Shane Douglas very much. The match sucked. *.

 

The British Bulldog vs. Diesel for the WWF World Title

Never-ending match. Bad stuff. I really didn't hate the finish, the match was so bad that I just wanted it to be over. Quite the bad show we've got here. 1/2*.

[cabbageboy 0]

Bruiser, I think the reason 1995 isn't as utterly dumped on as 1996 is that there really was no decent alternative in 1995. In my area we didn't get ECW back then, so that was out. USWA was just what it was, the usual silly stuff. But WCW? For the vast majority of 1995 they sucked as bad or worse than the WWF. The WWF at least had a few guys who could still wrestle, even if they were misused or in bad angles.

 

Perhaps I am being kind to WWF 1995 because I thought SS 95 was a pleasant surprise when I saw it in the box set recently. I had avoided it like the plague for years, but aside from the crappy main event and the bad women's match it was quite a fun show. Of the 1990s Summerslam shows I'd probably take it over 1990 (which is frankly horrid outside of the Harts regaining the tag belts), 1993 (decent wrestling but the booking is unforgivable for a major PPV), 1996 (nothing really good on it), and 1997 (kind of underwhelming and could have been better).

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

The original pay-per-view price of IYH #1-5 was $12.95.

[Jericholic82 0]

The original pay-per-view price of IYH #1-5 was $12.95.

where? It was 14.95 for me (and I only ordered 2 and 5). I didn't realize Goldust was Dustin until PWI pointed it out for me in early 96. I should have known by the voice but the shorter non-curly hair must have thrown me off.

[shadylpete 0]

Maybe it depended on the cable company. Like today some cable companies have the ROH PPVs for $9.95, but others have them for $14.95

[Boner Kawanger 0]

What's the deal with the Bela Lugosi impersonator in the crowd?

[Jericholic82 0]

What's the deal with the Bela Lugosi impersonator in the crowd?

I assume it was due to it being Halloween time.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I saw the bad pumpkins added to the IYH intro and couldn't put 2 and 2 together. Thanks.

[Slickster 0]

They cut a minis match off of Bad Blood 97 before too.

 

That match was prefaced by the announcement of Brian Pillman's death. The minis match was announced as a replacement for Pillman/Goldust.