STW - In Your House 2 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

In Your House 2

Coming off the horrific KOTR 1995 show where Mabel goes over and Diesel & Bam Bigelow main eventing against Sid & Tatanka we move on to In Your House 2.

Wrestling Observer 7/3/95

All that we know of right now for the In Your House II PPV show on 7/23 in Nashville is that it will have Diesel vs. Sid in what was advertised on television as a lumberjack match although there have been rumors it may be changed to a cage match, for the title, on top. They'll also have Jeff Jarrett defending (and probably losing) the IC title to Shawn Michaels in what should be the show-stealer, Bret Hart vs. Hakushi and Bam Bam Bigelow vs. King Kong Bundy. Coming as the third show in a nine-day period following the Shamrock-Severn on 7/14 and Hogan-Vader cage match on 7/16, WWF may find itself in a very rare position of coming in third in a three way race.

Was there fear with the competition (WCW) and UFC running so close together with a big show how badly it would impact In Your House?

It appears that The Ultimate Warrior (Jim Hellwig) will make his first wrestling appearance in the United States in almost two-and-a-half years on 7/22 for promoter T.C. Martin in Las Vegas.

Does Vince get wind of this and want to talk about bringing Warrior back?

We don't have any details on the Raw taping on 6/26 in Danville, PA other than what aired live. In the TV main, Jarrett retained his title getting DQ'd against Vega when Roadie interfered. Michaels, who was doing commentary with Lawler absent, wound up fighting with Roadie just before the finish and ended up cleaning house of both Roadie and Jarrett to start the build-up for the IC title match. Jarrett was really good carrying the match. They announced Bigelow vs. Sid as TV main event for 7/3. Lawler did an interview with the new storyline basically being that because of what Hart did to him, his breath is bad and his teeth are in rough shape and his dentist, Dr. Isaac Yankum, is so mad he's coming to the WWF to get revenge on Hart. Lawler said Yankum used to be a pro wrestler under an assumed name which makes me think it could be Shane Douglas. We'll know for sure by next week.

Isaac Yankum...DDS...but not Shane Douglas. Did you know at this point it’s gonna be Glenn Jacobs?

Rumor has it that Dustin Rhodes signed this past week and should be in shortly.

When does the idea of Goldust come into play?

Lots of talk regarding Titan and the USA network but my feeling is it's all talk. Titan's contract with USA expires at the end of December. The story that's been reported in many places is the current deal for the three shows is that USA pays Titan $12,000 per week and Titan gets to keep two minutes of advertising time either to sell or for its own use in each of its three cable shows. Titan wants that increased to five minutes of advertising time and is using the "E Network" as negotiating leverage. Monday Night Raw is on a phenomenal ratings run with it often being the highest rated regular weekly show on cable. Ratings of the other two shows, while nowhere near that level, are competitive for their time slot. However the E Network only reached about 28 million homes as opposed to about 65 million for USA, so there's really no leverage there at all. With syndication dwindling, Titan simply can't afford that kind of a loss in exposure so it isn't going to happen.

Was there a worry about the USA Network going anywhere? Was anyone else sniffing around for the TV rights back then?

The World Wrestling Federation filed suit this past week against Matt Osborne, 37, the original Doink the Clown. Titan is asking a federal judge to order Osborne, who now lives in Ellwood City, PA to stop using the Doink name and gimmick on independent shows.

According to the lawsuit, Osborne, who was better known in his pre-Doink days as second generation wrestler "Maniac" Matt Borne, had promised Titan he would stop appearing as Doink but had refused to put that in writing. Titan is claiming trademark infringement because Osborne appeared as Doink, in among other places, 4/21 in Ellwood City, PA and 3/17 at Plum High School near Pittsburgh. Titan attorney Jerry McDevitt, who was quoted in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said Titan would go to court if necessary against anyone using the Doink name and gimmick, which is probably the most popular name used by millions on the independent scene right now.

Titan is asking a federal judge to order Osborne to stop using the Doink name and gimmick and to account for all monies he may have earned since leaving Titan using the gimmick.

Osborne's two recent arrests may have played a part in Titan's timing although there had been rumors of this action dating back before Osborne's first arrest. In May, Osborne was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct for vandalizing a car. On 6/13, Osborne was charged with domestic abuse from a dispute with his girlfriend and jailed in Ellwood City and released two days later on a $1,000 bond. The arrest actually stemmed from officers going to Osborne's home to investigate a traffic violation and found him in the midst of the dispute. In an AP follow-up story, Osborne was quoted as saying he hit his girlfriend because she was seeing another man. "We got into it, and I slapped her. It's an embarrassment for me. I never slapped a woman before."

"This guy was arrested. People think, `Oh, that's Titan's character,'" said McDevitt in the Pittsburgh newspaper story. "Titan is very concerned about the image of its wrestlers. That's part of the reason you don't want people using your trademark because it dilutes the meaning of your trademark."

How much of a mess does Matt Borne make for you guys because of this?

We have no preliminary buy rate estimates on King of the Ring, however the total attendance in the Spectrum was 14,181, and paid attendance was no doubt less than that. The WWF's continued announcements of a sellout of 19,500 both on the broadcast in later hype falls under the category of needless exaggeration (as in lies that in no way are needed to sell the product since the real figure is impressive on its own and are just done because those involved in the profession have a difficult time with the truth).

The latest information on In Your House II from Nashville on 7/23 is that Diesel vs. Sid WWF title match will be a lumberjack match with 30 lumberjacks (IRS, Jean Paul Lafitte, Henry Godwinn, Blu Brothers, Mantaur, Mabel, Skip, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Heavenly Bodies, Smoking Gunns, Bob Holly, Duke Droese, Man Mountain Rock, Savio Vega, Bam Bam Bigelow, Adam Bomb, Shawn Michaels, Fatu and Tekno Team 2000 already announced). Two matches have changed in regard to the local hype in Nashville. The Bam Bam Bigelow vs. King Kong Bundy match wasn't announced on TV this past weekend and may have been dropped since Bundy has been out of action of late, apparently from pneumonia. Bret Hart's opponent on the show has been switched from Hakushi to Lafitte. Also on the show will be Jeff Jarrett vs. Shawn Michaels for the IC title, Jarrett doing a live concert of the song on the video (apparently there will be a screw up with the lip synching to reveal that it's really Roadie who is doing the singing as in the video where it's Roadie's voice and Jarrett lip synching), Roadie vs. 1-2-3 Kid and Owen Hart & Yokozuna defending the tag titles against Davey Boy Smith & Lex Luger.

Why the switch from Hakushi to Lafitte? Hart had been programmed together with him for a long while and the switch had to be instigated by someone…

When did you get the feeling that Jarrett may be on his way out?

Notes from the TV tapings. On 6/26 from Danville, PA, besides the live hour of Raw that aired that night, also on the show had Lex Luger & Davey Boy Smith over Henry Godwinn (who is now in the Million Dollar corporation with a push apparently replacing King Kong Bundy) & Tatanka with Tatanka being pinned which shows Godwinn being protected. 1-2-3 Kid returned and looked pretty damn good for a guy who broke his neck two months ago. Waylon Mercy (Dan Spivey) debuted and his gimmick is interesting as he shakes hands with the ref and his opponent and goes psycho during the match using the sleeper as the finisher. His wrestling is really bad, tho. In the main event that aired on 7/3, Sid beat Bam Bam Bigelow when Godwinn pushed Bigelow off the top rope and after the match Sid power bombed Bigelow as well. Sid is actually getting worse as if that was even possible as the match was pretty bad. Shawn Michaels also pinned IRS in a match that airs 7/10 and Men on Mission beat Kid & Savio Vega while Diesel over Sid via DQ in 4:00 in the dark match when Tatanka and Godwinn interfered.

Was the bloom off the rose for Bigelow at this point? Was it because of the Kliq downgrading Bigelow after the babyface turn?

Superstars taping 6/27 in Bethlehem, PA included the debut of the Jarrett video which was really good. During a Skip squash, Sunny said that what happened (which didn't happen until the next night) would never happen again. The only real angle was during a Godwinn vs. Adam Bomb match which only went 41 seconds, Godwinn after a DCOR finish poured the slop bucket on Bomb. Kid & Vega beat Jarrett & Roadie but later lost to Blu Brothers. This time Diesel beat Sid via count out in 4:00 when Sid just walked out. Diesel jackknifed Tatanka after the match so the fans could go home happy.

Who produced the Jeff Jarrett video and why was it you Bruce?

Challenge and Action Zone tapings on 6/28 saw Barry Horowitz pin Skip when Skip was doing push-ups and Horowitz (who was pushed on his squash losses as having never won a match) did a side roll for the pin. After the match Skip demanded a rematch and Horowitz said he couldn't beat him within 10:00. I don't know if they did a rematch that night or are saving it for the road, but the gimmick is they tease the time limit but Skip wins in like 9:55. Debuting was Spellbinder (Del Rios) from Memphis doing a magician gimmick either as Maurice the Magnificent or Magnificent Maurice.

Why the push for Horowitz here at the expense of Candido? How good was JR’s call on the upset?

What did you think of Spellbinder? Del Rios spent a lot of time in Memphis and here he is doing this gimmick. Was this a favor to Lawler bringing him in?

The Head Shrinkers have been broken up. Fatu is getting a new gimmick, with the same name, now being from San Francisco (which is a shoot) as a street gang type of guy telling kids to stay in school and not to use drugs.

Fatu with this gimmick didn’t stand a chance right?

Wrestling Observer 7/17/95

The end of a mythical era in WWF came on Wednesday when "President" Jack Tunney resigned, at least according to WWF storyline. Both Tunney and his long-time associate Billy "Red" Lyons out of the Toronto office are no longer affiliated with the WWF due to the WWF wanting to more aggressively promote and build up other avenues of the business such as merchandising throughout Canada. It was part of a major week-long major housecleaning of the WWF front office which saw numerous key people in the promotions, public relations and PPV departments let go including bigwigs like Steve Planamenta, Rex Lardner and Skip Desjardins. The WWF hadn't released any official statement or comment regarding the cutbacks, which some within wrestling are attributing as much to Titan's immense legal bills and real estate costs as to the downturn in the wrestling industry. While there are no figures available that I'd consider reliable enough to print as far as King of the Ring, within wrestling it is widely being said that it was the lowest buy rate in WWF history and that those within the company have termed both the apparent lack of buys and the poor show as a major wake up call to the promotion. The WWF is opening up a new Canadian office which will be headed by Carl DeMarco, the former business agent of Bret Hart. Tunney and Lyons had run the WWF operations in Ontario since 1984 when Tunney had a falling out with Jim Crockett Jr. and ended his business relationship with the Crockett office. Tunney, whose uncle Frank was a legendary promoter during the heyday of Toronto wrestling where crowds of 15,000 to Maple Leaf Gardens every other Sunday afternoon for 12-match shows headlined by three minute main events by The Sheik, had taken over the business when Frank passed away. Frank Tunney and Vince McMahon Sr. were long-time friends and both men and their wives even took wrestling vacations together.

When Jack Tunney left the NWA during the early stages of one of the most bitter wrestling promotional wars in history, which to some extent is still going on today with WCW having superseded the NWA, he was given the figurehead title of WWF President as a bone when McMahon Jr. convinced him to switch affiliations. This led to him being the man on television to make decisions (WCW's Nick Bockwinkel character was patterned after Tunney), many of which often made no sense, and appearing to the fans to be a bumbling semi-senile over-his-head President who oversaw all the chaos.

With Tunney and the WWF parting ways, the figurehead President role will be going to someone new, and on television there were hints there will be an angle coming out of the decision making process. It has already been speculated that Shane Douglas' initial role with the promotion could be as a heel commissioner and eventually he'd be parlayed into being a heel wrestler. Douglas had not signed as of press time but it was still considered by both sides as a 95% possibility that would happen. Wouldn't Bob Backlund be an awesome choice for that spot?

Where's Dave Pound (who had a strong run doing a heel commissioner gimmick in the Philadelphia Roller Games in the early 70s and boy is that a reference outdated enough to be worthy of Bobby Heenan) when you need him?

WWF President Linda McMahon sent out a business statement on 7/11 stressing a need to constantly adapt to marketplace changes, talking about doing direct merchandising through On-line services and that licensing and international television deals have exceeded projections and that the first In Your House exceeded internal projections. In regard to the changes, McMahon wrote, "We are moving forward, but we must consolidate and streamline some areas and change the management systems in order to operate efficiently. Some positions will be lost, and the transition phase will require everyone's cooperation. When additions are necessary for growth, they will be added."

Why the Tunney move here? Did you feel the pinch financially at this point as well? Any thoughts on any else taking over this role that eventually goes to Gorilla Monsoon. 

Besides the employee cutbacks, come August, there will be major changes made in the way they do television. They've already moved from doing tapings every three weeks to every four weeks, doing four Raws and four Superstars at every taping. The Wrestling Challenge show is being dropped in the fall. WWF was facing cancellation of the show in both the New York and Los Angeles markets and had weak times in most of the other markets so felt the costs of doing the third day of taping weren't worth whatever exposure they were getting. The show had been almost a throwaway for the past several months with the only newsworthy items from most Challenge tapings being Action Zone main event matches, which have for the most part discontinued the past few weeks. Action Zone, which consisted of the Challenge matches plus an added main event, will stay on USA but with a format change. In markets where Titan has a second syndication clearance, they will do a highlight show, which may be called Challenge or Spotlight or something else but with the Spotlight format so all the major angles will be on either Superstars or Raw. The tapings will always come the Monday and Tuesday after a PPV show, that way they never will publicly tip their hand as to PPV finishes the way WCW constantly does.

This was the next logical step for TV after the cutbacks.

King Kong Bundy is still with the company. He missed the tapings because of walking pneumonia and Henry Godwinn was given his spot and his push including Bundy's original match at the 7/23 PPV show against Bam Bam Bigelow. Bundy is being phased down because it's been readily acknowledged his matches have been poor, although he worked against Bigelow on top at weekend "B" team shows in New Jersey which drew between $12,000, $20,000 and $25,000 respectively. The "A" team with Diesel vs. Sid in cage matches, Undertaker vs. Kama in casket matches, Jarrett vs. Shawn Michaels for the IC title (Jarrett walking out in the finish via COR) and more drew $41,000; $55,000; and $105,000 respectively in Columbus, OH, Indianapolis and Chicago. Bigelow and Bomb broke the ring the first two nights. The first night the ring ropes broke, and the second night one of the metal supports broke.

How was Bundy to work with at this point?

Expect Sid to be phased down from the top and Mabel to be given the shot at being top heel.

Why????????? I mean it’s not like Sid was a world class worker but seriously what did anyone see in Mabel?

WWF is starting its own newsletter being put together by Vince Russo, who did a terrible newsletter of his own three years back which lasted all of a few issues. Actually WWF could put out a very profitable newsletter if they did it correctly but the ability to give up the b.s. is virtually impossible within the industry and that's their biggest handicap.

Russo vs Meltzer the newsletter wars!

The new WWF blimp cost $250,000. They are going to send the blimp to different cities ahead of time where they run live event.

Cost cutting vs. blimp…

Speaking of SummerSlam, with no matches even finalized or announced other than the Undertaker-Kama match, Pittsburgh has already sold 8,000 tickets for $200,000 which is downright mind-boggling.

How hot was Pittsburgh back then?

Tom Prichard is out of action with a knee injury.

How serious was it for your brother to miss shots?

Roadie missed the weekend due to being banged up in an auto accident but he'll be back this week. He's going to get a huge push as a face it appears since on TV this week they were already referring to him as having so much charisma.

This was obvious from the beginning of his career was it not?

Negotiations with Steve Williams are still alive but he's neither agreed to come in or turned anything down and if he came in would surely get a huge push.

How close was Dr. Death to coming in at this point?

Expect Waylon Mercy to get a huge push as the character has been well received.

Rad Radford got a badly bloody nose in his match with Fatu on Columbus, OH. Fatu went over in Radford's first house show matches.

What were your thoughts on Louie Spicolli and ergo the Rad Radford gimmick?

Wrestling Observer  7/24/95

WCW’s Bash at the Beach happens around this time with Vader vs Hulk Hogan as the main event.

Did you watch the event or the main event and do you think it hurt Vader’s ability to be a draw in the business?

The company is in something of a panic following the firing of several key execs including the head of public relations (Steve Planamenta) and head of marketing (Rex Lardner). Wrestlers on the bottom are worried about their jobs. Apparently there had been discussion of doing this even before Wrestlemania but it wasn't until last week when it happened.

What did you think of Steve Planamenta and Rex Lardner? How worried were you at this point?

They will be filming another Jeff Jarrett music video in Denver at the Grizzly Rose on 8/11. They will introduce a line dance called the Double J strut.

How much practice did you have with Jarrett over the line dance?

Most reports indicate King of the Ring did a 0.65 buy rate which would make it by a sizeable margin the lowest rated WWF PPV in history. That would indicate about 150,000 buys and a $1.68 million company gross. If one year ago you told me that UFC would be beating WWF on PPV, I would have doubted it but considered it as a possibility. If you told me they'd be more than doubling the WWF, I'd have thought you were out of your mind. Live gate for the show at the Spectrum was impressive, however, with 16,590 in the building and 14,142 paid with a $311,680 gate. Gate would be the second largest of 1995 in the U.S. trailing only Wrestlemania in Hartford.

Good and bad news here.

Speaking of Mania, one of our readers bumped into Lawrence Taylor this past week who made it clear he'd never wrestle again, saying it was the biggest mistake of his career to do so.

Do you believe this?

The morale on the road is really bad and I'm told the majority of the wrestlers right now are trying to do as little as they can to get by, which makes for lackluster house shows.

This is a very tough time in the business obviously. How many talents were coming to you worried?

They are doing an angle where WWF wrestlers are supposedly having things stolen from them in the dressing room which apparently will wind up with Jean Pierre Lafitte to get over his pirate gimmick.

Really?

Wrestling Observer 7/31/95

While In Your House II was the best received WWF PPV show in a long time, the quality of the show was overshadowed by behind-the-scenes news in the WWF.

After cutting several highly paid executives over the past few weeks many questions about the financial state of the WWF were being asked. Even Multi Channel News, a television industry insiders publication began asking questions upon the dismissal of Skip Desjardins, who had been the head of Titan's PPV department and was well respected within that industry. Apparently cable operators were beginning to question the future of the WWF, which had been the most consistent money drawing PPV entity since the evolution of that industry.

How many questions were you fielding regarding the status of the company and the issues financially?

Even more questions about the financial stability of the company were being asked after all sorts of rumored wrestling cuts took place this past week. While a complete list is unavailable, those believed to have been dropped include Sionne (Sionne Vailahi, formerly The Barbarian), whose position was dropped when Fatu was made a single, managers Afa and Lou Albano, Doink and Dink, television announcer Stephanie Wiand, Duke Droese and road agent Tony Garea. There are many other names expected to be dropped between now and September, the biggest names on that list being King Kong Bundy and Hakushi (who supposedly has given notice which explains why his push was abruptly dropped). In addition, Mantaur, Heavenly Bodies and Tecno Team 2000 will be phased down and get limited if any bookings after about a few more weeks. The only real surprises on the list are Doink and Dink, even though the gimmick has more than run its course, since WWF merchandised them heavily and even brought forth a lawsuit against Matt Osborne just a few weeks ago for continuing to use the Doink name and gimmick on independent shows. Talk is that there will be less "B" shows in the future to go along with the cutback in television production costs by going from 51 television tapings during the past September-to-September television season down to 26 for the upcoming season based on dropping the Challenge tapings and increasing each taping from three hours to four hours.

Thoughts on:
Sionne
Afa
Lou Albano
Doink & Dink
Stephanie Wiand
Duke Droese
Tony Garea
Hakushi
Mantaur
Heavenly Bodies
Tecno Team 2000

Titan Sports has lost millions of dollars over the past few years due to a combination of a major decrease in revenue from house shows, a decline in PPV buy rates, major legal bills and high real estate bills. Rumors went around wrestling like crazy over the past week about just how serious the condition is, although there is no way to really know how this affects the long-term. The two indications that Titan was really in trouble to me would be for the McMahon family (which owns 100% of the company) to sell a percentage of the company to outsiders, which hasn't happened, in order to raise funding. This is something I believe the McMahons would only do as a last resort. The other sign of real danger would be a move from Titan Towers to a less expensive office set-up. Since neither has happened, I don't take seriously any talk of impending doom, although clearly this is a company facing a major downsizing and as Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987 and 1988 and the UWFI in 1994 and 1995 showed, it doesn't take long for a wrestling company that looks to be thriving on the surface to get financially overextended and cease to exist.

Was there talk of moving Titan Towers? Was there talk of other investors or was Vince dead set on raising the capital himself via bank loans?

The biggest story revolving around the WWF In Your House II show was just minutes after being involved in the two best matches on the show, Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie (Brian James) quit the promotion. Details as to why are sketchy at press time although it is known they were unhappy about the angle which had been a major source of discussion over the past few weeks. Originally during the In Your House PPV show, when Jarrett was lip synching a concert of the song, there was to be a screw-up revealing Roadie as the singer, and between that and the screw-up in the IC title match, it would start the feud with them meeting at SummerSlam. There was a lot of talk, largely based on how well the video was received, that doing a turn this early was premature. As it was, they did the turn or at least were booked to do it later in the show during the match where Jarrett lost the IC title to Shawn Michaels with an attempt at interference by Roadie backfiring and leading to the finish. Jarrett and Roadie were supposed to do a break-up after the match, but didn't do it. Instead they went backstage and had Dok Hendricks (Michael Seitz) in his lone appearance talk about the break-up happening backstage and a fight without it actually taking place. Jarrett and Roadie both simply walked out of the building that night in the middle of the show. There are plenty of rumors as to why the two would leave together since Jarrett, mainly from the video, was actually starting to show some charisma after a lengthy megapush had for the most part been unsuccessful. There are also rumors with Jarrett's father Jerry working as a consultant to WCW that somehow there's a connection there, and WCW is said to be interested in Jarrett but there is a not so small matter of Jarrett's WWF contract to overcome. Roadie, who was being given his first career break after being a jobber with WCW and SMW as Brian Armstrong, from the looks of things seemed to be walking away just as his career was getting ready to take off. At the live Raw show 7/24 in Louisville, they didn't give a strong impression that both were gone but Vince McMahon did give away that Jarrett was lip synching the previous night and left the impression Roadie was singing, and said that Jarrett would never sing again on a WWF show.

Did Jarrett & Roadie just leave after the match? When did you first start to hear resistance on their part? Was it just about the angle?

WWF IN YOUR HOUSE II

• Thumbs up 180 (88.7%)
• Thumbs down 9 (04.4%)
• In the middle 14 (06.9%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Jarrett 159

1-2-3 Kid vs. Roadie 10

WORST MATCH POLL

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Henry Godwinn 76

Diesel vs. Sid 53

Men on Mission vs. Ramon & Vega 14

Hart & Yokozuna vs. Luger & Smith 11

My own opinion of In Your House II on 7/23 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium was that it was an easy thumbs up, although I was a little surprised at the response here. I've seen plenty of better WWF and WCW PPV shows that didn't get anywhere near the level of positive response this show got. I'm not sure if it's an indication of decreasing expectations and thus one outstanding match, three better than average and two bad matches constitutes an excellent show nowadays, or simply that people vary their responses based on the price tag, and since this show was $14.95, less is expected than for other shows. A lot of people thought this was the best PPV of the year, but to me Royal Rumble and both UFC shows were a lot better. Shawn Michaels and Jeff Jarrett was easily the best worked PPV match thus far in 1995 and except for the Eddy Guerrero-Dean Malenko ECW match, as good as any singles match I've seen in the United States, but that speaks more for the quality of matches WWF and WCW have been delivering because it is no better than many matches every week on international television.

But in comparison to King of the Ring, WWF rebounded big-time. In every match except the Diesel-Sid main event and the Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Henry Godwinn match, which was a throwaway, the motivation level of the wrestlers was way up. The live concert with Jarrett doing the lip synch was bordering on unbelievable considering how one would think a pro wrestling group would handle something of that type. In fact, the entire angle has been from a creative and execution standpoint, an all-time classic. It's not a classic angle because at the end it probably isn't going to draw money since at this point it doesn't look like it'll even come to fruition, but the set-up was well executed. It did seem that the WWF recognized the last show as being below standard and went all out for a cheap price to give as much entertainment as possible, including having the show go about seven minutes overtime (it went 1:57, originally planned for 1:50). About the only negative to the show would be the announcing. Hendricks was far superior last month on color to Jerry Lawler's performance here. It was also the first show where Vince McMahon visibly showed signs of time passing him by. When guys were doing new age moves, McMahon had no idea how to call them. The saddest to watch in a sense was when Shawn Michaels did the plancha onto the floor on Jeff Jarrett and Roadie and McMahon could only say he'd never seen anything like that in his life, when it's a move that is seen literally several times on a weekly basis on American television nowadays.

How do you feel about the statement that wrestling was passing Vince by or was Vince just over stressed and shouldn’t have been an announcer?

We don't have a crowd figure at press time other than even with kids at half price, the show wasn't sold out although it came close with an estimated 6,500 to 7,000. WCW sold out the same building in December for Starrcade, although reports we got from Nashville is that WCW did a far better job locally of promoting its show as a major event coming to town. WWF pushed the live event hard on its local television pushing the fact it would be the only WWF live show in Nashville in 1995 and that the only way to see Bret Hart and Undertaker would be to attend the show live.

A. Skip (Chris Candito) pinned Aldo Montoya (P.J. Walker) in the opening dark match in about 4:00 when Montoya came off the top with a crossbody block and Skip rolled through holding the trunks for the pin. Told it was all action, just too short. **

Could’ve been an ECW main event a few years later.

1. Roadie pinned 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman) in 7:26. Kid did a lot of hot moves with his feet, particularly hot looking kicks. They twice went backstage to Jarrett in the dressing room to tease the turn as Jarrett was all into himself and paying no attention to the match. Roadie did a clothesline off the apron and crotched Kid on the post. Roadie missed a splash off the top and Kid came back with a great spin kick. Kid used a frog splash for a near fall. Roadie hit a power bomb off a huracanrana by Kid for a near fall. Finish saw Kid on the top rope, but Roadie hooked the rope and Kid crotched himself, and Roadie used a piledriver off the middle rope to score the pin, which looked to be a risky bump for someone to take who has just come off a career threatening neck injury. Damn good and would have been even better had they been given a little more time. ***¼

Obviously Roadie doesn’t go over here if you know about the impending issues correct?

2. Men on a Mission (Nelson Frazier & Bobby Horne) beat Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) & Savio Vega (Juan Rivera) in 10:09. Probably the surprise match of the night considering Ramon was in his first match back after missing six weeks with a rib injury and Men on a Mission are usually awful. Mabel used a sidewalk slam on Vega and threw him over the top rope. He used an enzuigiri on Vega. Vega tried a bodyslam but Mabel crashed on him. Vega spent most of the match getting pounded on until Mo missed a moonsault. Ramon got the tag top at the 7:50 mark using the backward superplex and signalled for the Razor's Edge but Mabel broke it up. Mabel even took a bump where he was slammed off the top rope by Ramon for a near fall. Mo kicked Ramon from behind and Mabel hit a DDT but missed a splash. As Vega and Mo both went over the top, Mabel squashed Ramon with a belly-to-belly suplex for the pin. This was gutsy but also logical booking having one of the most over faces do a clean job to get the heel ready for his title shot. It's something most U.S. offices have backed away from for years. **¾

The rocket is strapped to Mabel here but why the fall to Razor and not Vega?

Jarrett did the concert. It was pointed out that the fat guitarist was Al Anderson, formerly of the band NRBQ, which years ago had a connection with Lou Albano. The lip synching was obvious when you were looking for it but it came off great.

This really is one of the best “gimmick angles” ever done. Did you feel personally insulted that there couldn’t have been the follow-up because of Jarrett and Armstrong leaving?

3. Bam Bam Bigelow (Scott Bigelow) pinned Henry Godwinn (Mark Canterberry) in 5:33 with a cradle. Nothing wrong with the match but it was kind of dead. 3/4*

How the mighty have fallen in such a short time. From main eventing WrestleMania against LT to beating Godwinn in the middle of the card.

4. Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) pinned Jarrett in 20:01 to win the IC title. Lots of stalling early but every spot was perfectly timed. At one point Michaels sidestepped Jarrett who went over the top onto Roadie and Michaels did a plancha on them both. The early part of the match was really more AAA style Lucha Libre than American pro wrestling and the latter few minutes was basic last few minutes of a 1980s Ric Flair match. Jarrett backdropped Michaels over the top rope and got near falls with a face first suplex and a DDT. Roadie's first interference was choking Michaels on the ropes. Jarrett went to legdrop Michaels, who moved, and hit Roadie instead and Michaels hit a rolling reverse for a near fall. Michaels took an incredible Ray Stevens flip into the corner and over the top bump and Roadie clotheslined him off the apron. Jarrett did a crossbody and Michaels rolled through for a near fall. Jarrett also used a crucifix and an excellent dropkick. Jarrett used the sleeper which Michaels broke with a back suplex. Michaels used a flying clothesline and a flying forearm and a double ax off the top for near falls. He did a great Randy Savage elbow off the top (a lot better than Savage does) and crotched Jarrett on the post. Michaels went to the top but Roadie shook the ropes and Michaels crotched himself. Jarrett used a superplex and went for the figure four but Michaels got a near fall with an inside cradle. After a kneebreaker, Jarrett went for the figure four again, but Michaels kicked him off into the ref. Michaels signaled for the superkick but Roadie clipped him. Jarrett used a crossbody off the top for a near fall. Jarrett signalled for Roadie to trip Michaels as he whipped him into the ropes but Michaels reversed it and Jarrett was tripped. As he got up, Michaels hit him with the superkick for the pin. After a celebration with Michaels in the dressing room, they went back to the ring presumably for the Jarrett/Roadie split, but it didn't happen and later Hendricks did a stand-up babbling about a phantom split. ****½

Did they go into business for themselves by not having the break-up and was this an on the fly recovery?

5. Owen Hart & Yokozuna (Rodney Anoia) retained the WWF tag titles beating Lex Luger (Larry Pfohl) & Davey Boy Smith in 10:54 in something of an upset. Hart & Yokozuna teased a split early when Yoko fell on Owen's foot and Owen sold it big. Hart was great and pretty much a one-man match and Smith was great when in with Hart. Luger didn't do a thing and Yokozuna is so limited by his weight that what he does looks great but he can't do much. At one point McMahon speculated that Luger & Smith might turn out to be a better tag team than Smith's old team with Dynamite Kid. Hey, compared to what was being said this weekend on WCW television, that was mild. Finish saw Luger & Smith do a double back suplex on Yokozuna and Luger had him pinned. Hart came off the top onto Luger and put Yokozuna on top. **½

Was this a message to Luger?

6. Diesel (Kevin Nash) retained the WWF title pinning Sid (Sid Eudy) in the blow-off of their feud in a lumberjack match in 10:02. This would have been a negative star match if not for the lumberjacks. Sid somehow gets worse every time you see him and Diesel didn't look any good either, but he's not exactly the calibre of a performer who can carry someone that bad. It was weird because Diesel looked so much taller and larger than Sid. The lumberjacks, particularly the heel ones, kept interfering to take attention from the fact these two simply can't work together. Finally Diesel did a plancha (seriously) onto all the heel lumberjacks who caught him but I'm sure he's still the largest man ever to try a stunt like that. At one point Mabel squashed Diesel into the post and leg dropped him outside the ring as the angle to set up the next PPV, however Diesel kicked out of the pin attempt. After a lengthy chinlock, Sid hit the power bomb but Sid was high-fiving everyone so Diesel kicked out of the pin. Diesel backdropped his way out of the second power bomb. Sid then for some reason went out of the ring and started fighting with all the face lumberjacks allowing Michaels to come off the top with a double sledge to the head of Sid. As Sid stumbled in, Diesel hit him with a poorly timed foot-to-the-face for the pin. 1/2*

Holy shit this was awful. God bless Meltzer for putting a half a star.

Very weird time for the business from behind the scenes into the front of the camera. Was this really a true reset?