In Your House 1

Background

The pay-per-view was the first ever under the In Your House banner, which signaled the beginning of the WWF's monthly pay-per-views. The In Your House pay-per-views were promoted at US$14.95, which was cheaper than WWF's other pay-per-views, in an effort to increase its revenue from the pay-per-view market after several years out of the spotlight.

The most prominent rivalry heading into the pay-per-view was between then-WWF Champion Diesel and his storyline rival Sid. At the previous pay-per-view, WrestleMania XI, Diesel defeated Shawn Michaels to retain the WWF Championship, partly due to an interference by Michaels' bodyguard Sid backfiring. The following night, Michaels stated that for a potential rematch, he would give Sid the night off, causing the bodyguard to turn on Michaels by powerbombing him three times. Diesel eventually came out to help Michaels. Michaels was legitimately injured, and this sidelined him for six weeks, effectively shelving plans for a rematch between Diesel and Michaels. Diesel was then scheduled to defend his title against Bam Bam Bigelow, a member of the Million Dollar Corporation stable, after a staged confrontation between the two on the April 16, 1995 episode of Action Zone, a secondary television program for the WWF. On the same day, on Wrestling Challenge, another secondary television program, in a segment featuring the Corporation, Bigelow was noticeably snubbed, signaling a turn. Over the weekend of April 16, a match between Sid and Diesel was scheduled for In Your House, in which Sid could potentially face Diesel for the WWF Championship, depending on whether he retained or lost his title against Bigelow. On the April 24 episode of Raw, Sid stated he was unhappy about this stipulation, as it meant that if Bigelow won, Sid would not get a shot at the title. Diesel retained the title when the Corporation turned on Bigelow, with Tatanka tripping Bigelow as he ran off the ropes. Diesel hit Bigelow with a big boot and executed a powerbomb for the win. After the contest, Bigelow was insulted by Ted DiBiase and attacked by the Corporation. Diesel, who had gone back to the locker room, came to Bigelow's aid. In Sid's match with Razor Ramon on the May 1 episode of Raw, Diesel approached the ring ready to fight Sid, who, along with the Corporation's manager DiBiase, left the arena abruptly. The following week on Raw, DiBiase revealed that he and Sid had been working together for a while, admitting that it was him who told Shawn Michaels to get a bodyguard.

Prior to the event, the feud between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler, which dated back to King of the Ring 1993, was revived to also include Hakushi. After Hart won the WWF Magazine "Award of the People" on the February 20, 1995 episode of Raw, Jerry Lawler suggested that Japanese votes had been excluded and that Hart was a racist. Lawler persuaded Hakushi that Hart was a racist, and on the March 25 episode of Superstars of Wrestling, Hakushi attacked Bret after he received a separate award from the Japanese media. On the April 10 episode of Raw, Bret teamed up with the 1–2–3 Kid and Bob Holly to take on Hakushi and the WWF Tag Team Champions, Owen Hart and Yokozuna. Bret's team won the match as Holly pinned Owen. On the April 23 episode of Wrestling Challenge a match between Bret and Hakushi was set for In Your House. On the same day, on Action Zone, Bret teamed with Razor Ramon to take on WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett (accompanied by The Roadie) and Hakushi. Bret and Ramon won the match, with Ramon pinning Jarrett. On the May 1 episode of Raw, Bret offered to face Lawler at In Your House after his scheduled match with Hakushi. Bret dedicated his match with Lawler at In Your House to his mother, as the pay-per-view was going to take place on Mother's Day. Lawler also responded that on the May 8 episode of Raw that his mother was going to be at ringside for their encounter.

The most prominent rivalry on the undercard was for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. The feud took place between Razor Ramon, the 1–2–3 Kid, the Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett, and his personal enforcer, The Roadie. Ramon and Jarrett faced each other at WrestleMania XI, but Jarrett was disqualified. Jarrett faced Aldo Montoya on the April 8 episode of Superstars of Wrestling in a non-title match, where Jarrett accidentally pinned himself (he never lifted his shoulder off the ground after being slammed to the mat by Montoya). Jarrett was initially announced the winner, but Montoya was later declared the winner. Jarrett and Montoya faced each other again two weeks later, on the April 22 episode of Superstars of Wrestling. During the match, Razor Ramon came to ringside and chased The Roadie backstage. Despite this, Jarrett managed to gain the victory, making Montoya submit to the figure four leglock. The next day on Wrestling Challenge, Ramon and the 1–2–3 Kid were scheduled to square off against Jarrett and The Roadie at In Your House. After the 1–2–3 Kid a legit neck injury rendered Kid unable to wrestle, the match was changed into a Handicap match, in which Ramon would face both Jarrett and The Roadie by himself.

The other main rivalry on the undercard was for the WWF Tag Team Championship between the team of Owen Hart and Yokozuna and The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart). The Smoking Gunns dropped their WWF Tag Team Championship to Hart and Yokozuna at WrestleMania XI, the previous pay-per-view event. Their rivalry was reignited on the April 23 episode of Action Zone, when the Blu Brothers (Don and Ron Harris) faced the New Headshrinkers (Sionne and Fatu). Hart and Yokozuna interfered in the contest, attacking the New Headshrinkers, causing a disqualification. The Smoking Gunns ran to the ring, attacking Hart and Yokozuna. The Headshrinkers posed with Hart and Yokozuna's tag team belts and celebrated with the Smoking Gunns. The following night, on Raw, the Smoking Gunns were awarded a rematch for the WWF Tag Team Championship at the In Your House pay-per-view. They made their intentions of winning the title clear by quickly defeating Barry Horowitz and the Brooklyn Brawler. In their last encounter before the event, Bart defeated Hart via pinfall on the May 8 episode of Raw.

Event

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Jean-Pierre Lafitte defeated Bob Holly in a standard dark match. In the weeks preceding the event, the WWF ran a competition to win a house in Orlando, Florida. Todd Pettengill and Stephanie Wiand showed footage of the home and later hand-picked one of the entries. They phoned Matt Pomposelli of Henderson, Nevada and told him that he and his family had won the vacant home. The home was officially presented to Pomposelli on the May 22 episode of Raw.

Preliminary matches

The first match that aired was a standard match between Bret Hart and Hakushi (managed by Shinja). Bret announced before the contest that he was dedicating his performances to his mother because it was Mother's Day. Jerry Lawler, who faced Bret later in the pay-per-view, watched the match backstage on a monitor. Bret won the contest, when he rolled-up Hakushi to gain a pinfall and end Hakushi's six-month-long undefeated streak. As Hart jumped to the arena floor after the contest, he appeared to legitimately injure his knee.

A two-on-one Handicap match was next as Razor Ramon faced Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie. During the match, Jarrett went to perform the figure four leglock submission hold, but Ramon blocked the maneuver, sending Jarrett to collide with his partner. Ramon performed his "Razor's Edge" finishing move and pinned Jarrett for the victory. After the contest, Ramon tried to perform the "Razor's Edge" on The Roadie, but Jarrett attacked him and applied the figure four leglock. Aldo Montoya went to ringside and attempted to help Ramon, but Jarrett and The Roadie threw him to the arena floor. An "unknown man" ran to the ring and attacked both Jarrett and The Roadie, and several people escorted the "unknown man" backstage. Later in the pay-per-view, Ramon introduced the "unknown man" as Savio Vega during an interview in the "WWF Hotline Room", a fictitious interview room for the WWF.

A qualifying match for the 1995 King of the Ring tournament took place next as Mabel faced Adam Bomb in a standard match. The contest was one-sided and ended in two minutes when Mabel pinned Bomb after he powerslamed him down to the mat. Mabel advanced to the next round of the tournament, beginning a push for the superstar.

Next, Jerry Lawler went to the ring to give a promotional interview before his scheduled match with Bret Hart, declaring that he wanted his match with Bret to take place despite Bret's injury. Lawler was then sent backstage by Tony Garea and Rene Goulet, and Bret was shown icing down his knee.

Next was a tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, where the team of Owen Hart and Yokozuna (managed by Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji) defended their titles against The Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy Gunn). Owen pinned Bart for the victory after Yokozuna delivered a leg drop to Bart's chest, therefore retaining the championship.

Main event matches

Before his match with Bret Hart, Lawler introduced a woman obviously younger than himself as his mother, and wished her a happy Mother's Day. Moments before the contest, Hart revealed that his knee injury was fake. During the contest, referee Earl Hebner became tied upside down in the ropes after being distracted by Shinja. While Hebner was tied upside down, Hakushi interfered and performed a diving headbutt to Hart. Lawler won the match when he rolled-up Hart for the pinfall.

The pay-per-view's main event was a standard match for the WWF Championship, where the champion Diesel defended the title against Sid (managed by Ted DiBiase). Late in the contest, Diesel performed a Jacknife Powerbomb on Sid and went for the pinfall. Tatanka came out and attacked Diesel, which resulted in Diesel retaining the championship via disqualification. Tatanka, along with DiBiase, attacked Diesel. Sid attempted to perform a powerbomb, but Bam Bam Bigelow ran to the ring, forcing the villains to go to the outside.

Dark matches

After the live pay-per-view went off the air there were 3 more dark matches. The first was between The Undertaker and Kama in a standard match, which The Undertaker won after giving Kama a "Tombstone Piledriver". While this match was not shown on pay-per-view, it was included as a bonus match on the VHS home video release.

The next dark match was between Bigelow and Tatanka, which Bigelow won after diving off the top rope and hitting a sunset flip for the pin. This match was also included on the VHS home video release.

The final dark match of the night was a qualifier for the King of the Ring tournament between Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart (managed by Jim Cornette). The match went to a fifteen-minute time-limit draw. Unlike the other dark matches, this was taped for the June 5 episode of Raw.

Aftermath

The pay-per-view garnered 332,000 buys, which is equivalent to a 0.83 buyrate, a large number that generally surprised many pay-per-view providers. It had more buys than all the other In Your House pay-per-views, with In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies receiving the second highest buyrate of 324,000 buys.

At the following pay-per-view, King of the Ring, Diesel teamed up with Bam Bam Bigelow to defeat Sid and Tatanka. Sid faced Diesel in a rematch for the WWF Championship at the In Your House 2 pay-per-view in a Lumberjack match. Diesel retained the title after hitting Sid with his boot. Mabel's push culminated with him winning the King of the Ring tournament by defeating Savio Vega in the finals. With this, Mabel went on to face Diesel at SummerSlam for the WWF Championship, where Diesel retained the title. The rivalry between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler also continued into King of the Ring, with the two facing each other at the event in a "Kiss My Foot" match. Hart won the match despite outside interference from Hakushi, making Lawler submit to the Sharpshooter. After the match, Hart forced Lawler to kiss his feet.