97.
Intercontinental Championship
Dean Douglas (c) vs. Razor Ramon
In Your House 4 - Great White North
By 1995 the Kliq had a strong influence on the direction of the company - the Intercontinental Championship was for two years almost solely in possession of one of them (with the exception of a couple of brief Jeff Jarrett reigns). The WWE Championship had been held by Diesel for nearly a year to this point. Naturally that meant if you weren’t in their good books, things didn’t look great for your prospects unless Vince really liked you.
This is a rematch from the previous month’s pay-per-view but under slightly different circumstances. Michaels was the Intercontinental Champion going into this show, but the previous night had an unfortunate run in where he flirted with the wrong lady and got IRL beaten up by a marine. That leads to this show where he turns up with a nasty looking bruise beneath his eye and vacates the Intercontinental Championship. The title is then handed over to Dean Douglas, the ill-fated gimmick of the Franchise Shane Douglas.
This was a doomed match from the start, and a bad situation all round that could have never led to a good match. For starters, Razor had already wrestled earlier in the night. Secondly, it’s clear Douglas had mentally checked out by this point. He was reportedly deeply unsatisfied with the gimmick and position in the company, not to mention the backstage politics surrounding him. This is where my opening paragraph comes into play. Douglas and the Kliq did not get along, in particular tensions between Douglas and Michaels and Douglas and Hall. Depending on who you listen to, this match was designed to humiliate Douglas by giving him the distinction of being the shortest reigning Intercontinental Champion in history.
Knowing this, it’s not surprising how this match plays out. This match is just pure laziness from start to finish. Razor works over the arm of Douglas. And it goes on. And on. And on. Every now and then Razor lightly slaps Douglas across the head. Whatever offence Douglas gets is brushed off by Razor. It’s clear Hall has no interest in making this a competitive or interesting match. At numerous points, Razor is essentially laughing off or making Douglas look like crap. The icing on this shit cake is the finish. Razor hits a very basic back suplex near the ropes and lightly puts one arm over Douglas’ chest. That is inexplicably enough to give Razor the win, despite Douglas being under the bottom rope. If you’re going to bury Douglas then do it decisively, I’m not sure why you need the controversial finish here. Everything about this match is miserable and you can tell nobody involved was enjoying any of it.
As an aside, In Your House 4 is one of the more miserable events in WWE history. Goldust vs Jannetty, Yokozuna vs Mabel and Douglas vs Razor might be the worst three match stretch in WWE history. The other two matches just missed this list but will be on the honourable mentions list.
Up next - what does a year of injuries, steroid scandals, and vacated championships give you? The 2007 SmackDown main event scene.
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