Last year, WWE announced that they would be bringing back the In Your House concept as their latest NXT: TakeOver event.
In Your House was a major concept for the World Wrestling Federation back in the mid to late 90’s. Prior to last year’s event, the last In Your House show was back in 1999.
NXT TakeOver: In Your House had a nostalgic feel to it that wrestling fans old and new could enjoy. It was such a success that it appears that WWE is currently planning to use it every year as a TakeOver theme.
Since this year’s event is taking place this weekend, it might be time to revisit some of the history that makes In Your House so important.
Why was it created?
In 1995, the World Wrestling Federation came up the with an idea to help combat their competitors—World Championship Wrestling—in the pay-per-view market. WWF would normally put on five major pay-per-view events a year: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.
Their idea would be to put on monthly events in between their big five, which would be at a cheaper pay-per-view rate. They would call these events WWF: In Your House. Similar to WWE’s monthly events today, these events would help continue major storylines while also being a platform for their top match-ups.
The Set
The set of the show goes down as one of the more iconic and memorable sets in wrestling history. They set up and actual house theme for each of the events and built it into the arena.
The full set would then be adapted to fit the theme of whatever the In Your House concept was for the event. For example, if there was a Buried Alive match, the house’s yard would feature a cemetery.
History of the Names
In Your House started out as the original name of the pay-per-view, but each of the events had a special name attached to it. The first 16 events had a number attached to them, but WWF eventually dropped the number and just stuck with a supplemental theme.
For example, the second event is In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks, but the seventeenth event is In Your House: Ground Zero. The names would usually have something to do with the main event.
In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks had the main event of Sycho Sid vs Diesel in a Lumberjack Match—hence the name.
During the In Your House years, some of the events were also named after WWF’s most valuable stars. In Your House: D-Generation X and In Your House: Rock Bottom were perfect examples of this.
This would vary as time would go on, and the names would become a bit more traditional.
Some of these In Your House names stuck even after the idea was retired. No Way Out, Unforgiven, and Judgment Day were WWE pay-pay-per views for many years after the expiration of In Your House.
Memorable Match-Ups
The In Your House events took place during the heart of the Attitude Era of wrestling. That period had some of the best wrestlers in history, which made for some memorable matches.
In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings saw a classic match between Bret “Hitman” Hart and another member of his family, The British Bulldog.
In Your House 11: Buried Alive, gave the fans the first ever Buried Alive match. The match featured The Undertaker and Mankind. The only way to win the match would be to bury your opponent in a grave.
The Undertaker and Mankind have a history of matches together themselves. The two famously had a Hell in the Cell match where Taker threw Mankind off the top of the cell.
In fact, the Hell in the Cell concept came from In Your House: Bad Blood. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker fought for the WWE Championship in what turned out to be a classic. The match was also used as a way to debut Taker’s “brother” Kane.
Mankind and The Rock would also go one to have many matches during the time this time period. One of which was a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship.
Again, the company ended this concept after many years in 1999. What was expected to be the last In Your House event took place on Valentine’s Day and was called In Your House: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
During the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin took on The Chairman himself, Vince McMahon. The match took place in a steel cage match and gave the WWF the debut of The Big Show.
Last year, was the first time that a women’s match was the main event of an In Your House event. NXT TakeOver: In Your House was main-evented by Charlotte Flair, Io Shari, and Rhea Ripley as they battled for the NXT Women’s Championship.
In Your House: The Extra Stuff
This year’s In Your House event marks the 29th event with the title. Now that WWE is going to have events with fans in attendance, next year’s event will be the first In Your House event-taking place outside of Florida in over twenty years.
The In Your House concept is also a theme of a former WWF video game. The games of today that usually feature a full roster of WWE stars. WWF In Your House on the other hand, only featured a short list of main event stars.
Stars like Goldust, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and Vader were featured, and each character had their own specialty moves. The game was released in 1996 and was commentated by Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect.
The In Your House theme is a huge part in the history of professional wrestling. It will continue to do so as long as WWE uses it under the NXT banner. What were some of your favorite In Your House moments?
