Sunday, December 17th, 1995
Hersheypark Arena
Hershey, Pennsylvania
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We get a Todd Pettengill narrated intro and that leads into Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler in the arena. I have to say that it looks like more than the 7,289 people that Wikipedia lists that are there. I remember begging to buy this show as I was in peak fandom here.
Sid & 1-2-3 Kid vs. Razor Ramon & Marty Jannetty
They show Goldust in the crowd when Razor makes his entrance. There is an usher with him. The crowd is very much into this one and the action starts off at a good pace. They do a nice blind tag spot to Sid and he nails Razor with a clothesline. He gets some big boos along with his usual applause from the adult males. Todd interviews Goldust during the match and he talks about how much of a man Razor Ramon is. Meanwhile in the ring, Sid hits Marty in the back while he is running the ropes and Kid hits him with a spin kick. Goldust hands Todd a golden envelope to give to him. Marty goes off the top rope, but Sid catches him and hits a power slam. We get a bit of a sloppy spot where Razor distracts Sid and Marty rolls him up for Kid to break it up. Kid hits a frog splash on Marty and gets a 2 count. Kid hits a running dropkick and is followed up with a Sid clothesline. Marty is able to make a tag to Razor and he hits a bunch of his signature moves. He hits a bulldog from the second rope and that's enough to pin him for the victory. Kid tried to make the save but was unable to get there in time. That honestly looked almost like he was supposed to break it up. Razor tries to give Kid a Razor's Edge but Sid pulls him out through the ropes. They cut to Goldust fanning himself as he watches. This was a good match and the crowd cared about it.
Match Rating: ***
Buddy Landel vs. Ahmed Johnson
The ring announcer calls him Buddy Rydel. Jerry Lawler then talks on the mic and gets in the ring. He then introduces Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett is still doing the same schtick of spelling his name. Lawler presents him with a gift and it is a gold record for "Ain't I Great". This is all done after they announced Buddy. He stumbles over his words as he announces that he's the first participant in the Royal Rumble. He's going to win that and head to WrestleMania XII and win the championship. I bet he doesn't even wrestle there. Jarrett joins the announce team and out comes Dean Douglas. All of this is just really bad for a pay-per-view. Dean grabs the mic and he says that class is in session. He says that his back is at 65% and doctors sidelined him. He says that instead it will be Buddy Landel and he makes his entrance. Landel tries chopping Ahmed and that doesn't work. Ahmed hits a sort of chokeslam and then a Pearl River Plunge for the total squash. Dean is upset and Ahmed comes from behind and hits him with the paddle. What a terrible segment all of this was. I wonder how much Landel got paid for this night?
Match Rating: 1/4*
After the match, Lawler wants to interview Ahmed. We get the usual lame Lawler/Jarrett humor and it leads to Jarrett smashing his gold record on the back of Ahmed and then getting hit with a chair. Eventually, Ahmed starts to no sell it and chases Jarrett down the aisle. We then get an awkward brawl and the crowd doesn't really react to it.
Todd interviews Razor and talks about him facing Yokozuna on Raw tomorrow. Todd then hands Razor the gold envelope. Razor reads it to himself and crumples it up before storming away.
Hillbilly Jim is brought out as the special guest referee for the next match.
Hog Pen Match
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Henry Godwinn
Godwinn misses with the slop bucket outside the ring but then about a minute later is able to shove some in the face of Helmsley. Helmsley recovers and takes control. The action goes out to the aisle and Helmsley throws Godwinn into the metal door of the hog pen. Helmsley goes for the Pedigree in front of the hog pen but Godwinn counters it. Helmsley is able to catch himself on the fence and hits an elbow drop off of it. They head back to the ring and Godwinn runs into a boot from Helmsley in the corner. It doesn't take long for the match to go back to the pen and Helmsley this time is thrown into the metal door. Godwinn hits the Slop Drop right outside the pen. Godwinn charges at Helmsley and he gets dumped into the pen to win the match to remain undefeated in singles competition. He swats away Hillbilly Jim's arm as he raises it so Godwinn attacks him and military presses him in the pen. Helmsley's back is bleeding pretty good and then he does a spot where he keeps slipping in the mud. The pigs want nothing to do with him though. This was a fun enough novelty of a match even if it wasn't anything great in terms of action.
Match Rating: *3/4
We get a Royal Rumble commercial. Unfortunately, it is looking like that is where my journey will end for this timeline.
We get a video package talking about Diesel's new attitude.
Owen Hart vs. Diesel
I remember thinking this match felt really random when it was booked back in 1995. Owen was riding high off of knocking Shawn Michaels out and Diesel being the hot new "heel". While it made sense for Shawn's best friend to take on Owen, it seemed like these were two guys they were trying to put over and having them face each other at this moment just felt like a mistake. Diesel for the most part dominates this match here. He hits a Jackknife pretty quickly and says that one is for Shawn. He puts a foot on him and lifts it off before the referee can count to 3. He goes for another one and the ref tries to stop him, so Diesel shoves him to the ground and the bell rings for a DQ. He hits a second Jackknife and heads to the back. What a stupid finish. This wasn't much of a match either, but the action that we did get was pretty good.
Match Rating: *1/2
Santa Claus is out here with Santa Claus all while Ted DiBiase is in the ring with his music playing. Savio and Ted talk about the magic of Santa Claus. It leads to Santa attacking Savio and Ted getting a few kicks in all while the crowd has no reaction at all. Savio then chases Santa down the aisle and attacks him. Santa's beard comes off and Vince lets us know that it isn't actually Santa.
They play a short hype video for Undertaker/King Mabel.
Casket Match
King Mabel vs. Undertaker
Boy, I am excited for this one. Taker hits a splash in the corner but Mabel comes back with a Boss Man Slam. Taker sits up so Mabel hits a body slam. Mabel goes to the second rope and misses with a splash after Taker sits up. Taker hits a couple of clotheslines but then Mo grabs his ankle for the distraction. Mabel hits the belly-to-belly suplex and hits the leg drop. Taker tries to sit up but he can't do it. Mabel hits a big splash and then Mo drags Taker out of the ring. Mo carries Taker on his shoulder and puts him in the casket. They don't close the door and then Mo grabs Mabel's crown and puts it on. Mabel struts over and Taker naturally blocks it. Taker is back in the ring and hits some more clotheslines. The leaping clothesline finally knocks Mabel off his feet. Taker kicks Mabel in the back and he falls into the casket. Mo attacks Taker before he can close the door. Taker hits a chokeslam on him and rolls him into the casket on top of Mabel. Before he closes the lid, Taker grabs the gold chain from Mo and then slams it shut to put us out of our misery. At least it was short. After the match, Undertaker gives the signal that he wants the WWF Championship.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Jim Ross is with British Bulldog, Diana Smith and Jim Cornette. They continue to hype up the fact that Bulldog beat him at SummerSlam. They switch it over Todd Pettengill and Bret Hart. Bret says that the British Bulldog is going to go down.
WWF Championship Match
British Bulldog vs. Bret Hart
Let's see how this one holds up. After feeling each other out, Bulldog puts Bret in the tree of woe and we get a weird spot with Bulldog hitting the referee and him playing it up like it was accidental, but not in a heel way. We get an "E-C-W" chant with Bulldog still on offense, but it doesn't last too long. Vince makes an announcement that Undertaker will take on the winner of this match. In 1995, this wasn't a bad thing to do since they didn't really do a ton of babyface vs. babyface matches during this time. Cornette gets in a cheap shot and Bulldog goes back to rest holds. We do get the big Bret sternum-first turnbuckle spot as well. Bret makes his comeback with a monkey flip and hits a bulldog on the Bulldog. Bret goes for a superplex, but Bulldog crotches him on the top rope and Bret falls to the floor. Bulldog lifts Bret up and drives his back into the ring post. Bret is gushing blood now and Bulldog throws him back into the ring. Bulldog hits a piledriver and the delayed vertial suplex while Vince says the match needs to be stopped. Bulldog puts on the bow and arrow submission, but Bret leaps out of it and tries to put on the Sharpshooter in a nice little momentum shift attempt. Bulldog knocks Bret with a shoulder tackle and Bret rolls out of the ring. Bret is always so good at timing his little spots. He makes a comeback and hits a dive onto Bulldog to the outside. He tries to do a reverse jump on top of Bulldog, but he catches him and hits a powerslam to the floor and Bret continues to bleed. Bulldog rolls up the protective padding outside and Bret blocks the suplex attempt by crotching Bulldog on the guardrail. He clotheslines him and Bulldog falls to the floor. We go back to the ring and Bret hits a top rope superplex. Bret works on Bulldog and goes for a quick pin attempt and pulls off the victory. Diana is not happy about it and comforts her husband to the back. This was a very good main event. With that being said, for whatever reason, I don't like the Bret/Bulldog matches as much as a lot of people do.
Match Rating: ****
Todd is with Undertaker and before they can really say anything, Diesel comes in and interrupts. He's not very happy about this decision and says that people are dodging him. Taker says that he doesn't dodge anyone and we get a staredown.
This leads to the In Your House highlight video package.
This is famously known as a one match show and that is definitely the case. I liked the opener more than most people and found probably more enjoyment out of a few of the other matches. That doesn't really make this a very good show, but there were worse things going on during this time period in wrestling.
Overall Rating: 58%
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