We’re wrapping up 1995 for the WWE with WWE In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings! I like how WWE added subtitles after a while—or after several years. Oddly enough, WWE used one of these matches for the WWF Winter Combat tape. Let’s find out what rocked and what sucked at WWE In Your House 5!
Low-Tier
Ahmed vs. Buddy Landel was no good. It wasn’t meant to be a match so much as some soft feud building. Also, Landel was such an odd signing for WWE but he was part of that Smoky Mountain crew. You could just look at him with no gimmick change or anything and go, “He’s going nowhere in WWE. This isn’t going to work for him.” Jeff Jarrett returned and that rocks. It’s about time the King of In Your House returned to the castle, anyway.
Throw Owen vs. Diesel in here as well. It ended by DQ because…I don’t know what the booking decision here was. Owen and Diesel would’ve delivered a solid bout. They did so on WWF Action Zone months later.
The Undertaker taking on Mabel in a casket match was your usual Taker vs. A Monster and put them in a box kind of match. I mean, Taker vs. Yokozuna was a better version of this, no doubt but for the most part, these matches when he faces big men in casket matches are mixed.
Mid-Tier
Marty and Razor Ramon? Good team. Razor was working well with smaller wrestlers in 1994-1995. It was your typical power and speed combo. Across the ring is a guy who teamed with both men: The 1-2-3 Kid. His partner for this showdown is Sid. There are enough of the right players in this match to make it not suck. They didn’t tear the roof off of the Hersheypark Arena and fling it like a frisbee but it was a solid bout.
The Hog Pen match between Hunter and Henry O. Godwinn. Phineas I. Godwinn wouldn’t be in the WWE until next year but he’s down in USWA. Hillbilly Jim is the special guest referee. The guy was just 43 at this time and looked in better shape than other wrestlers around his age—Hillbilly Jim, that is. Overall, this was a fun match. It was a brawl mostly and I really love a brawl.
I don’t know if Hall sat down with Triple H like he did Nash and told him he didn’t need to do all the athletic stuff but man, Triple H’s Flair corner bumps were in rare form here. He was very nimble in 1995 and 1996.
Exotic-Tier
The Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog match was going to rock off the bat. These two worked well together and they put on another dope showcase. The match had high stakes, great action, and British Bulldog always looked like he could’ve been the WWE World Champion. Honestly, if it was going to happen 1994-1995 would’ve been the best time for reign number one. I highly recommend this match if you watch nothing else from this show!
WWE In Your House 5 Verdict: 5/10
This was a mid-tier show. Like WCW World War 3 weeks earlier, there was more decent than dreadful. Some matches needed more time while there were some that never should’ve happened. However, when you realize that year one In Your House was basically an extra hour and a half of WWE Monday Night Raw, it’s a little easier to forgive these mediocre shows.
WWE Survivor Series Score: 8/10
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