the audience applauded

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

1st Match: Razor Ramon and Marty Jannetty vs Sid and The Kid. A good match. Longer than you'd normally expect a starter to go, but all four guys get good offense, so it's a good showcase. I figured Sid and The Kid would win though, beings they've been pushing Waltman a couple months. Rating: 3.5/5 2nd Match: Ahmed Johnson vs Buddy Landel. Nothing, just Jeff Jarrett being stupid on commentary. Rating: None 3rd Match: HHH vs Henry O. Godwinn, Arkansas Hog Pen match with Hillbilly Jim as special guest referee. It still make me laugh seeing Hunter in these gimmick matches, but everyone's gotta start somewhere, even Hunter. He wins though, which is surprising, but he gets thrown in anyway, to the crowd's delight. Despite the gimmick, the match is actually a solid brawl. Rating: 3.5/5 4th Match: Owen Hart vs Diesel. The match is just a way to show Nash's new attitude, by him just destroying Hart and getting DQ'd. Maybe if they used Nash this way, he would've been a better draw as champion, but time's were different back then. Rating: None 5th Match: Undertaker vs Mabel, Casket match. This is like the third Casket match this year, it's lost it's luster to me. The match itself is OK, I'm just sick of it. Rating: 3/5 6th Match: Bret Hart vs The British Bulldog, WWF Championship. A phenomenal match. I've never seen their match at Wembley, but this is great. Great back and forth action, the ending is clean, and both guys put everything they had into it. Way to save the best for last. Rating: 4.5/5 Final Rating: 6 out of 10. WWF had a solid year, not the best year, but a lot of their PPVs were above average at best. A serious bounce back from the previous year. One more show to go, and then the Best and Worst lists.

(12.17.95)Live from Hershey, PAAttendance: 7,289Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry LawlerRazor Ramon & Marty Janetty Vs The 123 Kid & Sycho Sid (W/Ted Dibiase)Goldust is shown watching in the crowd. There is also a "Marty must die" sign! Wow. Stay classy, Hershey. Razor and Janetty win after Razor pins Sid with a bulldog. This was an OK way to start the show. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it does just enough to keep the viewer invested. I was surprised that Sid got pinned with a measly bulldog, though. The highlight of this match is Goldust's bizarre lengthy monologue**1/4Jerry Lawler has a surprise for us all. His surprise is the return of Jeff Jarrett. Jerry Lawler presents Jeff Jarrett with a gold CD to commemorate over 5,000 sales of his album "Ain't I Great" He's working on a new album "Greater Than Great" and declares himself the first entrant of the 1996 Royal Rumble.Thoughts: Jarrett left the WWF earlier in 95 after his loss to Shawn Michaels at an In Your House PPV. He'd stay a couple of months before bolting to WCW.Ahmed Johnson Vs "Nature Boy" Buddy LandellJarrett joins Vince and Lawler for commentary. Dean Douglas was the original opponent, but he cites a back injury will prevent him from competing. In reality, Douglas was leaving the WWF for ECW. Landell comes out with Ric Flair gear, as well as Flair's old WWF theme song. Johnson wins in 42 seconds with a Pearl River Plunge. DUDAfter the match, Jerry Lawler conducts an interview with Ahmed. Ahmed calls Jeff Jarrett a "Achy Breaky Heart wannabe" (Well, okay, then) Jarrett nails Ahmed from behind with the gold CD Lawler gave him, then he gives him a couple chair shots to the head as well. Ahmed, virtually no-sells it and chases Jarrett to the back. Thoughts: This was done to set up a feud between Ahmed and Jarrett.Hogpen MatchHunter Hearst Helmsley Vs Henry GodwinIn order to win, you have to toss your opponent into a hog pen filled with pigs. Hillbilly Jim is the guest referee. Godwin goes to clothesline Hunter into the hog pen but Hunter ends up backdropping him straight into the hog pen to win the match. Hunter gets thrown in the hog pen anyway to a big pop. This was a relatively painless brawl that went better than I expected. Hunter was undefeated so the win made sense. At one point, Hunter gets a small gash on his back from being whipped into the gate for the hog pen. *3/4Diesel Vs Owen Hart (W/Jim Cornette)Diesel has the match won with a jackknife, but Diesel picks him up during the count and delivers another jackknife. Ostensibly, that's enough to get Diesel disqualified. This was unmitigated dominance from Diesel. Owen got in a few moves here and there, but this was mostly about Diesel getting revenge for Shawn Michaels. Owen is protected somewhat by the finish since he didn't get pinned, but that's not saying much.*1/2In a really silly segment, Ted Dibiase tries to buy Savio Vega, but he refuses. The Santa that comes out with Savio Vega ends up attacking Savio Vega. The point being illustrated is that even Santa has a price for The Million Dollar Man. Santa is played by Balls Mahoney. Casket MatchKing Mabel (W/Sir Mo) Vs The Undertaker (W/Paul Bearer)The Undertaker wins and gets the remnants of the urn back. This was as bad as I expected. Thankfully, it was short and that made it less painful. Mabel would leave the WWF shortly after this and wouldn't return until 1999. ½*WWF ChampionshipBret Hart (C) Vs The British Bulldog (W/Jim Cornette & Diana Smith)Bret Hart retains the title with a Magistral Cradle. What a match! These two busted their asses to give us a very memorable match. Bret being busted open on the forehead really added some great emotion to this match. The Bulldog's penchant for the reverse chinlock in the start of the match brings the match down a notch, but once they got going they never stopped. I also liked the finish to the match as well. It was a nice tribute to the finish of their match at Summerslam 92. My only huge complaint are the constant closeups of Diana Smith. That wasn't necessary****1/4 (out of 5)Diesel and The Undertaker go face to face backstage after Diesel complains about not getting a rematch. Diesel was slowly turning heel at this point. As most know, Diesel would face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 12.Great main event aside, this is a pretty run of the mill event. The WWF was in for some drastic changes. Diesel, Razor Ramon, and a couple of other key players would be on their way out of the WWF not too long after Wrestlemania 12. The main event is a must see, everything else is passable.

1. Sid/The Kid Vs. Razor Ramon/Marty Jannetty - Ordinary match, but Sid did a clean job for Razor Ramon, great! 6/10 2. Buddy Landel Vs. Ahmed Johnson - Too short, but sometimes it's better. I fakin' love Pearl River Plunge. 6.5/10 3. Hunter Hearst Helmsley Vs. Henry O. Godwinn - There were some good maneuvers. Goal was to throw opponent into piggy barn. HHH Won. 6/10 4. Owen Hart Vs. Diesel - Poor Owen have to wrestle with Diesel Stiff. Nothing special occurred. 5.5/10 5. Casket Match: Mabel Vs. The Undertaker - Another victory for Taker 5/106. WWF Heavyweight Title Match: The British Bulldog Vs. Champ-Bret Hart 6/10

This was the fifth In Your House PPV and the fourth worthwhile entry (the third one was rather poor) in the series. This was the final PPV for 1995, a year not remembered particularly fondly by most WWE fans (or WCW ones for that matter). The British Bulldog had joined forces with the evil Jim Cornette following Summerslam and then received his only meaningful run in the main event in the WWE, headlining his third consecutive In Your House PPV, and he would later make it five out of six in 1996. His opponent on this night would be Bret Hart, who had defeated Diesel to win the WWE Title at the Survivor Series PPV a month earlier.But the night kicked off with a rather poor backstage skit with tag team champions the Smoking Gunns with Santa Claus (it was December 1995), leading into our opening tag team match which saw Razor Ramon and Marty Janetty defeating Psycho Sid and the 1-2-3 Kid (with Ted DiBiase) in a decent opener. 1-2-3 Kid had been a good friend with Ramon earlier in the year, but The Kid had turned on Razor and joined the Million Dollar Corporation. He gets his come uppance here as Razor runs wild on him and then gets hammered by Sid. Sid ends up getting hit by a bulldog for the three count.Jerry Lawler then comes to the ring to tell us all that Jeff Jarrett, having supposedly gone on a long world tour as a country singer is back. Jarrett tells everyone he'll be entering the Royal Rumble in a month and sits down to do commentary with Lawler on our next match. The next match is actually over in under a minute as Ahmed Johnson defeats 'The Nature Boy' Buddy Landell. Jarrett then attacks Johnson, who chases him out of the building. In the meantime, Razor Ramon reads a note he received from Goldust and looks kind of creeped out.Next up we see Hillbilly Jim return to the WWE to be the special guest referee in a pig slop match between the Pig Farmer Henry O'Godwinn and the rich snob Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The only way to win is to throw your opponent into a pig pen. Hunter wins it but gets thrown in the pig pen anyway. Fun little match.Next comes the big match between recently dethroned WWE CHampion Diesel and Owen hart. Diesel's best friend Shawn Micheals had collapsed in the ring on an episode of RAW a few weeks before the PPV and Owen Hart had taken credit for his injury, so Diesel fought him here and absolutely destroyed him, but pushed over the referee in his anger and was disqualified. He power bombed Owen and then signalled for Bret Hart's WWE Championship belt. Waste of time. Guess they couldn't think of anything else for Diesel.Next up we get a visit from Ted DiBiase, who is soon joined by Savio Vega and Santa Claus. Long story short, Santa Claus had a price for the Million Dollar Man, sold out and started beating on Vega. Vega chases them away and that's it.Next up is the Undertaker, who was forced to wear a Phantom of the Opera style mask after being leg dropped in the face by King Mabel, (who was also wearing a gold chain made from the Undertaker's melted down urn, stolen by Ted DiBiase among others), taking on Mabel in a casket match. You know the drill here, Taker gets beaten up for a while, gets the advantage, hits a tombstone, rolls Mabel into the casket and slams the lid. Before doing so he reclaims his gold chain. Guess the Undertaker vs Million Dollar Corporation feud is finally over.Brings us to the main event, one of the finest matches in WWE history as Bret Hart defeats his brother in law the British Bulldog in a fun brawl with some excellent technical wrestling as well. The ending comes out of nowhere, which works here as the two were shown to be even the whole fight. Great work from both men and a tremendous match to end a satisfying PPV.But before we go off the air, we are informed that The Undertaker will be facing Bret Hart for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. Diesel butts in to tell us how unfair it is that the Undertaker only needed to beat Mabel to get a title shot. I think we'll here more on this in the future.