[1995-07-23-WWF-In Your House II] Diesel vs Sid (Lumberjack)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. This was also shown earlier in error instead of the Sid/Tatanka vs Diesel/Bigelow tag at KOTR.

[El-P]

Fucking awful match from memory. This Sid vs Diesel feud was the nadir of the year. Even Mabel vs Diesel was better.

[PeteF3]

Blink and you'll mess Erik Watts among Tekno Team 2000 in the crowd of babyface lumberjacks. Triple H is in full tuxedo regalia while everyone else is in their in-ring gear or street clothes, which is pretty amusing.

 

We pick up just after Mabel attacked Diesel on the floor, setting up the biggest groaner PPV main event in company history, probably still to this day. Diesel kicking out of the power bomb is built up to as the ultimate last-ditch comeback. Too bad we already fucking saw him do that one In Your House ago. Shawn hits Sid with a dive off the turnbuckle and Diesel cuts off the Corporation, who jump in to attack him ninja-style (one at a time). Sid doesn't even get the dignity of going down to the Jackknife, as Diesel puts him down with a big boot that doesn't even connect. Horrible on just about every level.

[cactus]

Looking at the lumberjack gives us a rare chance to see some of the worst gimmicks that the New Generation had to offer. We've got Mantuar, Tekno Team 2000, and Man Mountain Rock. We also have Triple H making his debut PPV appearance as one of the heel lumberjacks. The match opens with the usual lumberjack spots. Each wrestler takes a tumble to the outside and they get mauled for a few seconds. The actual action inside the ring was even more basic than Sid and Diesel's last title match. It's just a whole lot of punching and kicking and not much else. Diesel is coming into this with an injured elbow, but Sid never works on it. The only entertaining thing Diesel did was take an insane dive over the top rope onto the heel lumberjacks. I wasn't expecting that from him! Mabel attacks Diesel on the outside, setting up their Summerslam snoozefest. Shawn takes a big dive from the top turnbuckle and clears out a lot of the lumberjacks. HBK is more over than Diesel at this point. Much like their first singles encounter, they were smart enough to keep this short. If they went out there and tried to wrestle a 20+ minute match, then I would definitely give this a much lower rating. ★½

[xlynwoodx]

Saw there was 20 minutes left on the PPV and they hadn't even made their entrances yet.  At least it won't be long.  123 Kid was a lumberjack, guess he wasn't too hurt taking the second rope piledriver earlier in the night.  The match was pretty boring and Sid looked especially terrible.  Only highlight was a huge dive by Diesel onto the heel lumberjacks.  A very rough looking big boot by Diesel gets the win.  Post match featured a Kliq celebration in the middle of the ring with HBK, Nash, Hall, and Waltman giving the Wolfpack hand signal.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs Sid - WWF In Your House 2 Lumberjack

Remember I said their first match at In Your House was average and almost good, well, the rematch sucked out loud. I dont know between this and WrestleMania VIII what is worse. I guess there is no interminable rest hold in this. The highspots of the match were Shawn Michaels diving on the heel lumberjacks early, Diesel slingshotting himself over the top rope onto the heel lumberjacks and then Shawn doing another dive. There were no high spots in this match until the Powerbomb. There was no sense of momentum or progression. It was abysmal goop. The clear takeaway was actually to set up the Diesel/Mabel Summerslam match. Mid-match Mabel gets some good shine squashing Diesel up against the apron. Shawn gets some licks in on Sid because of the Sid turn in April and to resume that. Sid gets a Powerbomb but Diesel kicks out because Sid lallygags again this time high-fiving the lumberjacks. Diesel who hit the Jacknife in May, just beats Sid with a big boot here. Terrible. 

Some comments on 1995 WWF Booking:

1. With friends like Shawn, who needs enemies. Shawn did everything he could to upstage Diesel from the entrance to the match to the finish. 

2. I like Kevin Nash a good bit, but just like Stunning Steve Austin, it shows really charismatic people can be really bad at promos and uncomfortable/nervous. The Diesel promo was terrible. This is not the Big Sexy from the NWO as a kid who I thought cool as fuck. 

3. Mabel, it is possible Mabel gets a bum rap, it is possible he sucks, I might explore it at some point. That outfit/aesthetic was doing the man zero favors. Even if he was fucking Vader, dressed like that, who would take him seriously. 

4. This is a very interesting point in Sid's career. For the first time since the Skyscrapers run...Sid was going to the MIDCARD *gasp*. I think there was some definite politics in play here. I think there was a ready made feud with both Bam Bam Bigelow and Shawn Michaels that could have easily kept Sid in the main event picture through the end of the year. The Shawn feud was simple given Sid's turn, but they decided to blow that off on the first RAW against Nitro, the famous "he beats the big guy with three superkicks" match. They could have easily gotten a PPV out of that. Then given that Sid was the biggest star in the Million Dollar Corporation, him and Bam Bam Bigelow should have gotten a program since Bam Bam turned on the MDC after the Lawrence Taylor match. Bam Bam looked like he had something going at KOTR 95. I just looked up his Cagematch they really pushed him out the door come Survivor Series 95. He was getting no opportunities. I think there was more juice in Sid, but honestly someone like a Sid is miscast as a heel. He is a badass, ass-kicker and you want him to beat the shit out of the cowardly heels, but the WWF babyface roster was stacked with Bret, Diesel, Shawn and Razor. I think a Sid/Kid tag team title run would've been cool. It was probably for the best for Sid to do what he did...peace out until International Incident the next year.