Intro
Way back in 2009, I borrowed the Summer Slam DVD boxed set from a friend and watched through them all. While I did so, I made some notes and turned them into a “Random Thoughts” thread on a wrestling forum. I have been tempted to take on another such project for some time.
I am going to be going through the WWE “In Your House” pay per view series, starting with the very first one. This will not be full reviews, where each match gets recapped and graded. Rather, it will be “random thoughts”, with my thoughts and impressions of various things. The approach is equally inspired by Hunter Thompson's gonzo journalism and Bill Simmons' running diaries for sporting events. I claim little in the way of originality. It will hopefully be entertaining to read and at least a bit amusing... though I make no promises of being actually funny.
As I will explain below, some of these are from periods where I didn't watch that much. So I will be blissfully ignorant of certain things. As a reader, feel free to correct me, point something out I miss, disagree with my assessment, whatever. These kind of projects are always more fun with some interaction.
What is “In Your House”?
“In Your House” was a pay per view series held by the WWE (then WWF) from May of 1995 to April of 1999. There were 28 events in total. They were used to fill the months between the “major” pay per view events (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, Summer Slam, and Survivor Series). The IYH series was numbered, with some events getting sub-titles. The sub-titles would eventually become the key part of the and a number of them would provide the names for the annual monthly events when the WWE switched.
In Your House pay per views started out at 2 hours and a slightly lower price-point than the “major” ones. This was back when Raw was just an hour weekly. The IYH events would eventually become full three hour pay per views.
Why “In Your House”?
Probably the toughest part of this project was picking what to cover. My tastes are pretty diverse and I wasn't limiting myself to a “good” era or product. I strongly considered the 1999-2000 WCW period just for the sheer maschocist job of . Going through the 1997-1999 WWE period was also very seriously considered, as I have all the shows from that period and have been watching through 1998. I gave some thought to early early TNA or perhaps the Invasion. A full history of one WCW pay per view – likely Starrcade – was one idea I was given that I really liked.
Someone suggested the In Your House pay per views. I already had most of them downloaded, which is a plus. They cover a very interesting swath of WWF history – starting in early 1995 when they were at a relative low-point to mid 1999, when they were at an all-time high. Despite being the smaller events, there are some really good matches (or so I'm told). It was was enough to sell me and here we are.
Note - I have downloaded all of these pay per views. If people are interested in watching them themselves, I can upload them and post the links.
A Brief History of Big Papa the Fan
Does this matter? Probably not. But I'll provide it regardless. My genesis as a fan was as a kid in the mid to late 80s. I watched the WWF and Stampede Wrestling (grew up in their touring territory) as much as possible. I was aware of other promotions, due to wrestling magazines, and always saw a special certain mystique in the NWA – created by or exacerbated by being able to watch it very rarely. I watched on and off through the late 80s and early 90s.
I started university in 1997 and we watched wrestling pretty frequently. That meant some WCW but moreso the WWF. By about 2000, my viewing had become more sporadic. I watched somewhat in 2002 and 2003, then watched only a bit in the 2004 to 2007 period. Even when I wasn't watching with much regularity, I still had some idea of what was going on. I was aware of the newer stars like Lesnar, Cena, Orton, Batista, Edge, etc. Aware of some of the bigger happenings and storylines.
I got back into watching it full-time in early to mid 2008 and have watched consistently ever since. I have now gone beyond the WWE and even TNA, so that I pay attention to ROH, the indy scene, and I've become pretty well-versed with puroresu. I watch a ton of older stuff when I can find the time. I like to think my tastes are pretty diverse and open, and my knowledge of the history of the business isn't too bad.
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