The WWF quickly recovered from the disastrous In Your House 4 with one of the better Survivor Series ever produced, where the main event saw Bret Hart rightfully installed back to the top of the company, ending Diesel's year-long reign in a crunching, thrilling end to their trilogy. The workrate quotient of the main event scene takes an obvious leap forward with Bret as champ, and Vince wasted no time giving fans a delectable treat to end the dismal year that was in 1995, as the fifth In Your House event would feature a rematch of the historic SummerSlam 1992 headliner. Three years prior, Wembley Stadium rocked for a historic Intercontinental Championship collision between Bret and The British Bulldog, where Bulldog sent the gigantic crowd into a frenzy by Bret's shoulders to the mat for a well-received title change. By the end of 1995, both men were now in altered positions in the WWF. Bret was an established world champion, ready to try and bring the WWF back from the brink, while Bulldog had transformed into a vicious heel, aligned with Jim Cornette, and ready to ruin Christmas by kneecapping Bret's third WWF Championship reign before it can truly begin. The pressure was high on Bret and Bulldog to find a way to live up to what they had accomplished once before, and while this main event might not be as well remembered as their first bout, they came pretty damn close to topping themselves.
- In Your House 5 comes to you from the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, owned and operated by the Hershey's Company, and despite all these mentions of the brand name, I'm somehow still not sponsored. Vince McMahon and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call, with Jim Ross busy on backstage interview duty, which is a shame, as Vince and Jerry really could've used his help in the booth.
- Our opening contest sees The 1-2-3 Kid, now a heel and a member of the Million Dollar Corporation, teaming up with Sycho Sid to take on Razor Ramon and Marty Jannetty. Ramon and Jannetty both were eliminated from their matches at the Survivor Series after chicanery from the two heels, which results in this oddball tag match, that's mostly about Razor's current feud with The Kid and his upcoming one with Goldust. Dustin Rhodes is starting to find his feet in the character, and I loved his sleazy interview with Todd Pettingill, where Goldust lusts over Razor's body, hair, and machismo. It's all so creepy and off-putting and wonderful, a brilliant start to their heated rivalry. The actual match was fine, but not essential viewing. The Kid played up his cowardly heel status, bailing on a scuffle with Razor and only getting in cheap shots when Sid overwhelms the smaller opposition. Marty, despite a lack of crowd interest in his character, is still entertaining in the ring, his clothesline bump was impressive and he even broke out a middle rope Natural Selection, although no "WOOO!" followed. Razor pinning Sid clean with a middle rope bulldog was a shock to me, Sid was just fighting in the main event a few months ago, and Vince and Lawler don't even play up how decisive this loss was, instead quickly shifting their focus to Sid saving The Kid from a Razor's Edge.
- Dean Douglas is saved from doing another job on pay-per-view as he decides to withdraw from his match with Ahmed Johnson, claiming a back injury, and introduces his prize student, "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel, to compete in his place. Landel entering wearing Ric Flair's robe and walking out to Flair's WWF theme has to be a rib, as there's no chance for Landel to even come close to equaling the grandeur and starpower of Flair. Johnson walks right through Landel, no-selling strikes and planting Landel with a top rope chokebomb and the Pearl River Plunge to win this 45 second squash. Afterwards, Johnson sets up his next feud, confronting Jerry Lawler during an interview, which leads to Jeff Jarrett (now returned to the WWF as an ally of Lawler's) battering Johnson with the framed gold record that Lawler had presented to "Double J". Jarrett's beatdown was vicious, but after a while, Johnson starts no-selling again, and they brawl to the back, ending on a hilarious botched production moment, as Johnson forgets to keep chasing Jarrett all the way backstage, instead just calmly walking through the curtain, breaking any illusion that he's hot in pursuit of the hated heel.
- The literal trough of 1995 on pay-per-view is shown off in our next match, as Henry O. Godwinn faces Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a "Hogpen" match, where to win, you must toss your opponent into a pen that several friendly-looking pigs are hanging out in. Before this match can properly begin, it's already an embarrassment, as the camera catches a sight of a massive Hogan sign (the name is spelled out in white letters) in the crowd, which must've made Vince blow a gasket considered the effort he had put in to distance his company from "The Hulkster" since the latter's WCW defection. The match itself is a surprisingly fun little brawl, albeit one that nobody cares about, as everyone in the arena is just anticipating a bump in the pig filth. I did really enjoy Helmsley showing his resourcefulness, landing on the edge of the pen after taking a backdrop, before then leaping off of it to land an elbow drop. one of the only high spots I can ever remember seeing out of him. Godwinn's inverted wheelbarrow facebuster was cool, as was the bulldog headlock run-into-the-steps maneuver he pulled off. But you're not here for lists of wrestling moves, you want to hear about wrestlers being covered in muck, and that's exactly what you'll get, as Godwinn takes a back bump into the pen to lose the match. That was only to save face for Helmsley, as he then is portrayed like an absolute goof, taking two big slams in the pen, which popped the crowd, before he does some pratfalls, falling on his keister in pig scat. If we were talking about anyone other than a future 14-time world champion, I would have a lot harsher things to say here, as Helmsley could've been absolutely ruined by this moment, but it would all turn out okay in the end.
- Though Shawn Michaels quickly returned from both the legitimate and kayfabe injuries he suffered during his scrap with a Marine in Syracuse, Vince wanted to earn extra sympathy for his new top babyface by playing off the incident with a storyline. During a match with Owen Hart, Shawn took an enziguri to the back of the head that supposedly resulted in a career-threatening concussion, a rare case of head trauma being taken seriously before the 2010's, even if it was entirely scripted. Taking Shawn out of action resulted in Owen drawing the ire of Diesel, who needed to take out his frustration from losing the WWF title on someone, and the man that savagely beat his friend was a good place to start. Owen does get some shine in this match, working on Diesel's left leg, and even pulls off the wonderful heel move of showboating while kneeling on the leg. Of course, Diesel quickly overwhelms Owen, battering "The King of Harts" with a Snake Eyes, a running leg lariat in the ropes, and a big boot. Diesel has the match won after a Jackknife, but stops his one foot cover, still seeing red and wanting to deliver more punishment. The referee (I didn't notice which one) attempts to stop Diesel, and gets shoved to the mat, resulting in a DQ for Diesel, who delivers another Jackknife to Owen anyway. It would've been nice to see Owen presented as more of a threat here, but this was a purely story-driven match, intent on re-heating Diesel after losing to Bret, and beginning to add a significantly more aggressive side to the former champion's character. I love this version of Diesel (though we only had him for a short time), Kevin Nash never excelled as a white meat babyface, and his more edgy and vicious persona would make him a much bigger star in the future.
- At long last, the main event push of King Mabel is coming to an end, as The Undertaker begins the process of making Mabel irrelevant by beating him in a Casket match. Considering Mabel has one foot out the door, I was surprise at how even this was booked to be, with Mabel completely laying Undertaker out after a distraction from Sir Mo. Undertaker takes a belly-to-belly suplex, a legdrop, and a big running splash, and is rolled into the casket with relatively little effort, looking completely beaten. The only reason Mabel didn't just win there is because he decided to strut around with his crown, allowing Undertaker the time to escape, and quickly close this one out. Mabel takes a chokeslam, Mo takes one too, and both are shut in the casket, with Undertaker also retrieving the gold chain Mo was sporting, which is the chain that Kama Mustafa made out of the remnants of Paul Bearer's urn.
- Main event time, as Bret Hart defends the WWF Championship against The British Bulldog, with Bulldog's wife (and Bret's sister) Diana watching at ringside, and Jim Cornette in the challenger's corner. This is a much more aggressive and visceral match than the SummerSlam encounter, demonstrated early when Bulldog drives knees into Bret's midsection, with the champion hung up in the Tree of Woe, and Bret is then choked on the bottom rope. Bret largely outwrestles Bulldog in the first half of the match, using his speed and slick technique to stay a step ahead, but Bulldog completely pivots the match by dropping Bret's groin onto the top rope to counter a superplex, then ramming Bret's spine into the ringpost. It's here that Bret decides to blade, which I'm not sure made complete sense, as it was his back that hit the steel, not his forehead, but it was a stirring sight to see, as color was extraordinarily rare during this era. The crowd, who overwhelmed their earlier chain wrestling with "EC dub" chants, are now completely hooked, showering Bret with "he's hardcore" chants and gradually increasing in volume as both men build towards the finish. It really demonstrates how well Bret gets his audience that he realized that with this show taking place under 100 miles from Philly, the folks in attendance might expect something more edgy from a main event. The blade job also puts over the danger of heel Bulldog, as he is visually different from every other WWF villain now, he's hurt Bret in a way that literally no one else did. Bulldog gets a dramatic near fall after nailing Bret with a piledriver, and the crowd erupts for Bret escaping a bow-and-arrow hold and almost applying the Sharpshooter in a tense mat scramble. The action gets more intense from here, as Bret counters a vertical suplex into a gorgeous bridging German suplex for a near fall, and then later leaps backwards into Bulldog's running powerslam on the floor. Bulldog takes a bump off the barricade, then gets battered in the ring, planted by Bret's textbook backbreaker and fitting in an extra flip while being Irish whipped, which gets an audible gasp from the crowd. A crisp superplex from Bret follows, and the building almost explodes during a trade of roll-ups, with Bret coming so close to victory while grabbing onto Bulldog's tights, a cheap move from the otherwise noble champion, again putting over how different this match was. The finish was one I've never seen before, as Bulldog crumples after running into an uplifted boot from Bret, a standard wrestling move, but is sold as a flash knockout here, as Bret gets the win with a La Magistral Cradle. This was as good a main event as you'll ever see, an instant classic that may very well surpass their first effort in terms of in-ring action.
5/10
1995 Final Average: 4 (Up from 3.89)
In Your House 5 was a mixed bag in terms of quality, with an excellent show closer, but very little else that passed even the "decent" level. There was some great character work, most notably Goldust's interview, and Diesel's slow-burning heel turn (which included a confrontation with The Undertaker after the main event). The hogpen match was an obvious down note, and much of the card was mostly just there prior to Bulldog and Bret. There was a lot of momentum built towards the opening of 1996, which got off to an entertaining start at the Royal Rumble.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: In Your House 6, where Diesel and Bret Hart tangle in a Steel Cage match, the final match of their years-spanning rivalry. See you soon.
- Henry
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