Alternative History
Register
Advertisement


WWF In Your House: Night of Armageddon was a 1995 professional wrestling event put on by the World Wrestling Federation. It was the 6th In Your House Event, the 10th event of 1995 and the 70th event overall in the alternate WWF timeline. Hailing from the Olympic Center Ice Rink in Lake Placid, New York, the main event of the show was a casket match between WWF Champion Sycho Sid and his challenger, The Undertaker. Other matches on the card included Waylon Mercy vs. Bret "The Hitman" Hart, a TV title match between the 1-2-3 Kid and Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and an encounter between Diesel and Owen Hart (originally scheduled to be Owen Hart versus Shawn Michaels) for the Intercontinental Title.

Prelude[]

At the conclusion of the previous month's In Your House Pay Per View, The Undertaker had made his intentions clear in facing off against WWF Champion Sycho Sid in his quest to win his first ever title in the WWF. Sid had initially declined the challenge, only for Commissioner Slaughter to order the match, making the added stipulation of making it a Casket Match as well. The Undertaker then played Mindgames with the Crown Jewel, while Sid tried to say that he was afraid of no man or Casket. Things came to a head during a Sid title defense against Philippe of the Northstar Lumberjacks where, after being victorious, a casket was wheeled down to ringside. When Sid opened it, he saw a body double of himself resting in peace, spooking him and sending him fleeing to the back as the bells tolled.

Off-camera, a brawl in a bar in Syracuse New York had injured Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels. In storyline, however, it was alleged that the beatdown he had suffered at the hands of Camp Cornette in the previous month's In Your House was to blame for his injuries. Shawn had promised to return at Night of Armageddon to defend the Intercontinental Title against Owen Hart, but there was question going in as to whether or not the match would actually happen, as part of the larger context of the feud between "the Kliq" and "Camp Cornette" that was playing out on screen.

Following his victory over Jeff Jarrett the previous month, the Hitman was refocusing himself and setting his sights on the WWF Championship once more. Standing in his way though was Waylon Mercy, who had only lost one match in his entire WWF career (a pinfall loss to the Undertaker at Summerslam) and who had put everyone else down with his dreaded version of a Sleeper Hold. This fate befell the Hitman on an episode of Raw, after Mercy blindside attacked the Hitman and locked the hold in, knocking him out in an attempt to gain an advantage psychologically heading into the match at Night of Armageddon.

Rookie sensation Ahmed Johnson had been on a tear since his debut in the WWF at the end of August, easily dispatching his competition without any difficulty. In an attempt to get even stronger, Jim Cornette had appeared at ringside with his charge Lex Luger, offering to mentor the young Johnson and sign him to a managerial contract. Ahmed however tore up the contract, saying he wanted nothing to do with Cornette. This caused The Narcissist to attack him and lock him in the Torture Rack, setting up this match between the two behemoths.

Event[]

The event began with a Free For All match featuring Ted DiBiase's bodyguard, Chris Benoit, facing one half of the Thrillseekers in Chris Jericho. An athletic match between the two future rivals followed, with Benoit pulling out the victory in the end. The first official match of the event saw Rad Radford take on the Native American Tatanka. Radford had been auditioning the become a "fitness guru" like the other members of the Bodydonnas, making this match his unofficial tryout. Tatanka though, fully back from multiple injuries throughout the year, looked to make short work of the newcomer, hitting the End of the Trail to nearly pick up the win. However Sunny distracted the referee, providing the opportunity for Candido to hit Tatanka with a weight lifting bar to allow Radford to pick up the victory "officially" inducting him into the Bodydonnas.

The next match saw Television Champion the 1-2-3 Kid defend against Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The American Blueblood had been on a losing streak as of late, but you wouldn't know it from the ferocity that he showed against the TV Champion. Helmsley dominated the early part of the match, but acted too full of himself before finishing off the champion, allowing the Kid to counter an attempt at the Pedigree. The Kid then made a comeback, using his educated feet and a high flying offense to keep Helmsley at bay. In the end though, Hunter appeared ready to win the title, hitting the Pedigree in the closing seconds, only for the Kid to barely get a foot under the bottom rope, breaking the count. As Helmsley argued with the ref, the time limit expired, officially ending the match in a draw to Hunter's discontent. The next match saw Ahmed Johnson challenge "The Narcissist" Lex Luger, who appeared supremely confident in his abilities. However that confidence would prove to be his undoing, as Johnson dominated much of the match with an explosive, high octane offense that Luger had no answer for. Not even interference from Jim Cornette could save Luger from the upset loss, as Ahmed put him away with the Pearl River Plunge. This was followed by the tag team title match, as The Smoking Gunns successfully defended their titles against the duo of PG-13.

Scheduled to be next was the Intercontinental Title match between Shawn Michaels and Owen Hart. However Commissioner Slaughter appeared to make it clear that Shawn Michaels hadn't been medically cleared to defend his title that night, meaning that he would have to forefit the title to Owen. After a great deal of reluctance, Michaels did so, making Owen Hart the new Intercontinental Champion by default. However, Commissioner Slaughter ordered the King of Harts to immediately defend his Intercontinental Title against "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel. The big man came out guns blazing and nearly hit Owen with the Jackknife early on, but a distraction from Jim Cornette saved Owen from immediate defeat. Owen recaptured his bearings and managed to get the big man down, working over his knees in the process. Diesel however powered out of an attempt at the Sharpshooter. Another attempt at a Jackknife from Big Daddy Cool was interrupted by interference from The British Bulldog, leading to the disqualification of Owen Hart, but allowing him to keep the title. Razor Ramon then ran down to help Diesel, chasing off the heels.

Bret Hart faced Waylon Mercy next, and the bigger man took control early, tossing the Hitman around the ring with reckless abandon. However Bret adopted something of a Rope-A-Dope strategy to try and wear down Waylon Mercy, hitting only a few offensive moves here and there to keep him off balance. Mercy locked in the Sleeper Hold, seemingly ready to defeat Bret, but the Hitman was able to ram him into the corner to break the hold. He then got Mercy unaware with several quick offensive moves, ending in locking the bigger man in the Sharpshooter and eventually scoring the submission victory and becoming the #1 contender to the WWF Title. The championship was on the line in the final match, a casket match between Sycho Sid and the Undertaker. The Deadman took early control, dominating Sid and constantly forcing him to the outside in an attempt to regroup. Ted DiBiase interjected himself, only to be hit with a Chokeslam from the Deadman, but the distraction allowed Sid to get a temporary amount of offense in. The Undertaker resumed control though and appeared ready to hit Sid with the Tombstone, ordering the Casket lid to be raised. The lid however wouldn't lift when the referees tried to lift it, leading the Undertaker to come over and open it himself. In that moment, a man in a brown mask jumped out of the coffin and attacked the Undertaker. The assailant (later identified as Mankind) pummeled away at the Undertaker and then locked in some kind of submission hold, shoving his fingers down the throat of the Undertaker and causing him to pass out before rolling the unconscious Deadman into the Casket with him. Sid came to and, seeing the Undertaker down, closed the lid, winning the match and retaining the title, as the announcers were left in shocked silence as the show went off the air.

Results[]

No. Results Stipulations Time
FFA Chris Benoit w/Ted DiBiase d. Chris Jericho by Submission Singles Match 8:24
1 Rad Radford w/Chris Candido & Sunny d. Tatanka by Pinfall Singles Match 10:03
2 The 1-2-3 Kid & Hunter Hearst Helmsley wrestled to a Time Limit Draw Singles Match for the WWF Television Title 15:00
3 Ahmed Johnson d. "The Narcissist" Lex Luger w/Jim Cornette by Pinfall Singles Match 9:07
4 The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) (c) d. PG-13 (JC Ice & Wolfie D) by Pinfall Tag Team Match for the WWF Tag Team Titles 11:02
5 "The King of Harts" Owen Hart w/Jim Cornette d. "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (c) via Forefit Singles Match for the WWF Intercontinental Title 0:00
6 "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel d. "The King of Harts" Owen Hart w/Jim Cornette (c) by Disqualification Singles Match for the WWF Intercontinental Title 12:33
7 Bret "The Hitman" Hart d. Waylon Mercy by Submission Singles Match 14:00
8 Sycho Sid w/Ted DiBiase (c) d. The Undertaker w/Paul Bearer Casket Match for the WWF Title 18:00

Aftermath[]

Shawn Michaels would attempt an early comeback a few weeks later, only to collapse from a kayfabe concussion suffered at the hands of Owen Hart, playing into a 5 on 5 Survivor Series match between the Kliq and Camp Cornette. Sid would defend the WWF Championship at Survivor Series against Bret Hart, while The Undertaker wouldn't be seen on WWF television (he would still appear on house shows) until after the first of the year. Helmsley's losing streak would end the week after Night of Armageddon, after he attacked Mr. Perfect in the ring when Perfect tried to offer him advice after yet another loss on WWF Superstars. This would lead to Perfect's return to the ring at the Survivor Series, in an elimination tag against Helmsley.

Advertisement