Well this took a lot longer than expected. But once you start down a path, you’ve got to finish right? Let’s continue our trip through IYH history with a look at 1996, and we are now fully into the PPV wars, with both companies running 12 events on the calendar.
I’ve been writing these reviews as I watch them, some of these event for the first time in their entirety. I’ll confess to getting way too wordy during some of these, so for the TL DR crowd, here’s a rundown of the matches to seek out, including 1995’s contributions:
| Event | Match | Date |
| IYH 1: Premiere | Bret Hart vs. Hakushi | 5/14/95 |
| IYH 2: The Lumberjacks | Jeff Jarrett vs. Shawn Michaels | 7/23/95 |
| IYH 3: Triple Header | Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Laffite | 9/24/95 |
| IYH 5: Seasons Beatings | Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog | 12/17/95 |
| IYH 6: Rage in the Cage | Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels | 2/18/96 |
| IYH 7: Good Friends Better Enemies | Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel | 4/28/96 |
| IYH 8: Beware of Dog 2 | Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega | 5/28/96 |
| IYH 9: International Incident | Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson & Sid vs. Camp Cornette (Owen Hart, British Bulldog & Vader) | 7/21/96 |
| IYH 10: Mind Games | Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind | 9/22/96 |
| IYH 11: Buried Alive | Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin | 10/20/96 |
| IYH 11: Buried Alive | The Undertaker vs. Mankind | 10/20/96 |
| IYH 12: It’s Time | Marc Mero vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley | 12/15/96 |
For those interested in some live reviews, here we go:
In Your House 6: Rage In The Cage – February 18, 1996 – Louisville, KY
For the first time, the WWF ran a pay-per-view in the month before Wrestlemania to help set up that year’s card. After the run of crap that was the first 5 cards in the series, I’m hopeful for the action here. We get the rematch between Bret Hart and Diesel after an all time classic back at Survivor Series. Also, Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart could be a show stealer.
We’re starting right off with Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid in the first ever crybaby match. The Kid’s heel turn is complete, as he cost his former friend the Intercontinental title back at the Royal Rumble. Kid has been rubbing it in over the past few weeks, complete with baby strollers, etc. Razor is hot early with the Kid bouncing all around the ring. Kid getting a good amount of offense in here, including a pair of crisp sliding leg drops and the extended use of a sleeper. It’s actually a really well done spot, showing Razor vulnerable but that Kid needed to have the hold sunk in for a good amount of time because of the size difference. There’s the old school powder in the eyes spot, as Razor kicks it back into the Kid’s face, two Razor’s Edges and the Kid will wear the diaper. A very good opening match, fast paced even with the sleeper spot and plenty of action. I will say this about the stipulation. It is extremely silly but at the same time, effective. It’s an old school, dare I say Southern style stipulation that emphasises the pain of humiliation in a feud. The face comes out triumphant, the heel has to wear something silly, the fans get a good laugh out of his reaction. A well done opener all around.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley continues his feuds against all the day laborers in the fed, taking on Duke “The Dumpster” Drose. Hunter is accompanied by Elizabeth Hilden, former Penthouse Pet of the year and good lord, Lawler literally howled at her. I think we forget just how lecherous the King was on commentary for most of his time on color. The Dumpster is out for revenge after HHH cut his hair a few weeks back on Superstars. Duke starts off on fire, even fighting out of a Pedigree after Hunter takes way too long to cinch in it. Duke tries to introduce his trash can into the mix, it ends up doing him in (remember the days when one shot from a trash can lid put a guy out), and the referee has to look like an idiot as he gets hit by the trash can lid while HHH tries to get rid of it. A basic match that gets ruined by the crap finish.
We get a recap of Yokozuna breaking away from Camp Cornette to set up this match against the British Bulldog. Hey, they let Yoko do his own promo. Not terrible, just yelly. He laid into Davey to open up the match, as Bulldog bounced off of him. Bulldog gained a brief advantage after Cornette got a racket shot in on the big man. Yoko set up for a bonzai drop but Cornette pulled his man clear. Bulldog is flying around the ring tonight, out of necessity mostly. He still took all of Yoko’s big moves here. Until Cornette comes in to lay into Yoko with the tennis racquet to trigger the DQ. Yoko menaces Cornette until Vader comes down to make the save. The Bulldog and the Mastodon handcuff Yoko to the top rope and tee off on him. Officials finally make the save and break this up. As a match, it wasn’t much. But it all makes sense to finish Yoko’s face turn and get the feud against Vader going into full swing. I will say this, Cornette got some great sound out of the racquet as he was bashing Yoko in the back with it.
Shawn Michaels puts his Wrestlemania XII title shot on the line up next against Owen Hart. Owen has been vocal recently in putting out HBK with another concussion, leading to this grudge match. If I had to guess, we’re about to see the match of the night. In what is a prelude to his Wrestlemania entrance, Michaels is on the roof of the In Your House set and comes swinging down to the aisle. Michaels having fun, sliding out of the first encounter to take a high five lap of ringside. When Owen does it to mock Shawn, he ends up on the receiving end of a top rope dive to the outside. Shawn continues to get one over on both Owen and Cornette before Owen takes over and starts working on Shawn’s back. A hope spot from Michaels as he suplexes Owen over the top, but then tried a dive and got powerslammed on the floor. There’s the first application of the sharpshooter, but after some struggling, Shawn escapes. Our first enziguri of the match follows shortly and Michaels sells like he’s been shot all the way to the floor. Owen breaks the count and throws him in for a near fall. Why not just leave him on the floor if he was out? Here comes the comeback, the flying elbow, the kip up, dodges another enziguri and Shawn is on to the main event of Mania. A finish you could see coming a mile away but still a very good match with a great story told.
It’s time for the main event, but we’ll need some packages and fill while the ring crew sets up the old blue bar steel cage. A promo from acting president of the WWF Roddy Piper is a good way to do that. Here we go, Bret and Diesel in the cage for the title.
Lots of brawling early at a rather slow, plotting pace. Both guys taking their fair share of offence. Diesel stopping Bret from leaving the cage on multiple occasions. Diesel misses a high knee in the corner and Bret relentlessly attacking the leg, but Diesel powers back flinging Bret in the corner for his trademark chest-first bump. With the cage, it sounded even more impactful. Diesel takes back over with more power shots and probably could have made a move for the door but spent more time taunting than winning. Bret fights back and struggles to lock on the sharpshooter but why? Sure you could say there’s something to weakening the knees but still, why not just leave? Another Bret escape cut off, this time via a fist to the wang. Diesel is crawling towards the door, but a purple hand punches through the canvas! The Undertaker emerges to pull Diesel down through the canvas and Hart scrambles over the top to win and retain. Taker has his receipt from the Rumble and we have our main event and co-main event set for Mania. Although that finish didn’t seem to go over that well live. Like it took a minute from the crowd the register what was going on and by then it had already happened. The fact that Nash reemerged from the hole seconds later for a staredown also helped to blunt the impact a bit. The match itself was a passable cage match, a bit slow and plodding for my tastes but the finish was effective in setting up the Diesel/Taker Mania match.
Must see match: Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart
These two put on a very entertaining, very athletic match that told a great story throughout. The outcome was extremely predictable but still worth taking the trip to the place we knew we’d end up at.
Overall grade: C+
Once again, the in-ring action outside of the highlight match was alright. A minor feud ended and more importantly, at least three were pushed forward towards Wrestlemania. Bret and Shawn would have their epic title match. Diesel would become victim #5 of The Streak, and Yokozuna and Vader would meet at Mania but in the context of a six-man tag because of various injuries. This was exactly what you’re looking for in a bridge-type show.
In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies – April 28, 1996 – Omaha, NE
This show ends up having more impact than just being a Wrestlemania follow up. This would be the final PPV appearances by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash before they headed south to WCW.
We kick it off with an impromptu tag match that was supposed to be the British Bulldog and Jake Roberts. But Jim Cornette and Clarence Mason present a legal writ, ordering Jake to take the snake to the back. He comes back out with Ahmed Johnson, so why not? I mean, Owen Hart came out with Bulldog, he’s there. Ok then.
It’s clear from the beginning that Bulldog wants no part of Ahmed, dodging him a few times early on. He finally engages when Ahmed is at a disadvantage, Johnson falls to some double teaming but turns things back around by press slamming Owen. Jake takes a bunch of heat, Ahmed gets the hot tag but quickly gets Jake back in so he can apply the DDT but we get everyone involved. In the chaos, Bulldog blasts Jake’s knee with Cornette’s tennis racquet, conveniently left ringside when he fled to the back, and gets a submission with a standing knee bar. Odd move to end what was a standard tag team opener. What it does remind me is how tremendously over Ahmed Johnson is at this point.
The Intercontinental Title is on the line, as Goldust defends against The Ultimate Warrior. Goldust is accompanied by a large man, dressed as a gangster but the camera never is on his face long enough to pick up who he is. Oh… wikipedia says its Mantaur sans face paint. That’s probably why they’re not lingering on his face. Goldust bails and hightails it up the aisle way. Warrior retrieves Marlena’s cigar and puffs it around the ring while trying to goad the champ back into the ring. He brings the director’s chair into the ring and lounges while the Goldust camp rages at ringside. And Omaha starts an f-word chant. Well, 1996 is a very different time… Hey, something finally happened. Warrior burns Goldust’s hand with the cigar, Warrior clotheslines him and we have a countout. Mantaur will take the clotheslines and shoulder blocks tonight and Omaha doesn’t get an I-C title match. We don’t do blow offs on PPV here…
We can start angles though as Dox Hendrix reporting from backstage that Bulldog is livid, trying to get into Shawn Michaels’ locker room and insinuating that Davey’s wife Diana is in there with the champ. Which isn’t right, he’s not looking for Sunny. Either way, the setup for their series of title matches has begun.
Vader on his way to the ring to take on Razor Ramon, who is making his final TV appearance for the WWF. Razor has appeared on all seven of these IYH cards we’ve looked at so far. Vader fires Razor over the top rope off the opening lock up, so the pace may be being set early. Yup, just beating the piss outta Razor for the first few minutes, lots of punch-kick here. Razor getting his fair share in as well. Vader is having some mask issues here. Impressively, Razor kicks out of a Vaderbomb, doesn’t lead to a comeback yet. Good lord, I know Vader was notoriously stiff but some of these shots look like they have to be live rounds. Razor with a vertical suplex, but that’s not enough to hold off Vader. A middle rope bulldog won’t do it either. Vader goes for a Vaderbomb, but Razor cuts him off and tries a Razor’s Edge but nothing doing. Vader recovers and goes back up, to the top this time to try a moonsault but Razor somehow lifts him up for an electric chair drop. Doesn’t matter though, one ass drop and Vader gets the duke. It was a slower paced match but still a solid, hard-hitting encounter. Vader doing some crushing on his way to the title program with Shawn.
The Tag Team titles are on the line, as the Body Donnas defend against the Godwinns. A lot of talk early about Phinneas’ concentration easily travelling to Sunny, so I’m expecting that to play into the finish. The hog farmers work on Zip’s arm early, Henry busts out a rough looking wheelbarrow suplex but the Donnas eventually start getting heat on Phinneas, including a good-looking double team slingshot suplex on him. Skip even throws out a rana. Things getting sloppy at the end and, yep, here comes Sunny with an autographed picture for Phinneas. The ref, Phinneas and Hillbilly Jim all involved on the outside, Henry hits the slop drop, the Donnas pull the ole switcharoo in the confusion and roll up Henry for the win. An alright match with a meh finish, but Phinneas made sure to get that picture. The big man was all of us teens back then.
Finally, the one we’ve been waiting for, Shawn Michaels and Diesel for the WWF Championship, no holds barred. It will be interesting to see how far down the hardcore road this goes. This was still the era where all blood was banned. King points out McMahon is sweating, asks him if he’s nervous, maybe tipping some of the real life tension between he and Nash? Well, Diesel throws his jacket at Vince, maybe there’s something to that. They hit the outside almost immediately and Shawn throws down a top rope moonsault. Poor Hugo Samminovich, Shawn rips off his boot to batter Nash with. Diesel all over Shawn Michaels but makes sure to take the time to come over and spit at Vince. Huge sidewalk slam, Diesel got some air on that one. And Nash takes his wrist tape off to choke… Hebner? Huh? Oh, he just wanted the ref’s belt to whip Shawn with. Shawn gets flung over the top rope by the belt around his neck and that’s a scary looking spot. Here comes the steel chair. Diesel does the spot where he misses a chair shot, it bounces off the top rope and hits himself with it, but unlike 99% of the time you see that, it didn’t look like crap. No matter, a quick punch in the penis and Nash is back in control. To the outside and Nash with a powerbomb through the announce table and the english announce table to boot! Vince begging Shawn to let it be over. His repeated insistence that this match has gone too far is starting to border on whining. Shawn finds a fire extinguisher under the ring and a quick blast from that starts his comeback. The diving elbow and the band is tuning up but Diesel catches the kick and levels the champ with a huge clothesline for a double down. Diesel hits the outside and for some reason goes after Mad Dog Vachon at ringside to… oh, um, pull off his prosthetic leg. Shawn gets it away from him, blasts Nash with it and lines up Sweet Chin Music for the win. That was a heck of a physical match, especially for the time. Although we know that is where PPV main events would end up during the Attitude Era, it’s a little jarring to see it this early on.
Must-See Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel for the WWF Championship
Like I just said, a heck of a brutal match for the time. Even without the shock value of pulling off the Mad Dog’s leg, this was easily the match of the night and probably belongs on a list of the best of 1996.
Overall grade: C+
Another show that comes in right down the middle. I think the main event speaks for itself and the Razor/Vader match was better than expected. It might be marred in our memories as the last night for Razor and Diesel but there’s still some worthwhile action here. While I can understand what the I-C title match was trying to accomplish, but that was a 10-minute time suck that ended up being nothing more than a tease. Warrior and Goldust would meet one more time on Raw, not for the belt but in the King of the Ring tournament, which ended in a double countout. I don’t know if some party didn’t want to commit to the program or if there was tension backstage but if you were going by the crowd reaction, it’s something the people wanted to see. The beginning of the HBK/Bulldog angle was just planted into the show, but they had to start something somehow. This show was somewhat of a hard reset, especially at the top of the card.
In Your House 8: Beware of Dog – May 26 and/or 28, 1996 – Florence/N. Charleston, SC
We get to an infamous night in WWE PPV’s. For the first time in company history, this PPV had to deal with a weather delay. A thunderstorm in Florence knocked out power to the building, plunging the show into a black out. The matches that weren’t seen on Sunday got a re-do on Tuesday and I’m interested to see how they stitch these two shows into one on the Network.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Wildman Marc Mero gets us started tonight, as Mero hits the ring a house of fire, clears out Helmsley and comes over the top rope with a nice looking plancha. Good back and forth throughout the beginning until Mero got posted and is now selling his shoulder. Shout out to the two guys in the front row throwing up the “Too Sweet” sign at Hunter every time he looks their way. Hunter working over that injured arm, one could even call his targeting Anderson-like. Mero starts his comeback with an impressive rana off the top, but goes for a somersault plancha and crashes and burns and is now working with a knee injury. Seems like a bit of overkill. Hunter stops his onslaught to hit the floor and tell a crying Sable to look at what he’s going to do to her man. Slingshot to the post, Helmsley’s head clangs off the post and that’ll do it. A good match wrapped up in a meh finish.
We have our answer to how they’ll present the show as we go right to our main event, and the British Bulldog heads to the ring with his wife and Owen Hart who has been granted a one-night one manager’s license. Clarence Mason laying it on thick before serving HBK with a subpoena in a lawsuit against him for attempted alienation of affections. I’m no lawyer but I don’t think that’s how that works. See, all of the affair stuff is much funnier in hindsight. However, Bulldog jumps the champ and here we go. They open up with a flurry of moves, highlighted by Shawn’s dive over the top rope onto Bulldog. But we’ll slow it down now. HBK spending a lot of time with Bulldog in a headlock. Now we have a long arm scissors that just gives them more time to split screen a close up of Diana Smith. Through Bulldog with the impressive escape of just powering up and standing up. Bulldog continues his heat and now it’s Shawn’s turn to hang out in some rest holds. Impressive looking over the shoulder backbreaker from Bulldog though, he held Shawn up there for a good long while. But we’re back to a headlock, so more Diana. We hear Owen berate Shawn from the floor, which has been the only involvement from him so far. They blatantly botch a rope run that sent Shawn to the floor despite the fact that Davey didn’t touch him. So what do they do? Show it in slo mo from an angle that makes it obvious that there was no contact. Fast forward through a standard comeback and Bulldog catches Earl Hebner and knocks him to the outside. Actually, Earl went flying and barely caught a rope on his way to the floor. Owen tries to take advantage of the situation and eats Chin Music. Another ref rushes in and I feel a Dusty finish coming. Belly to back suplex, a three count and the new ref raises Bulldog’s hand. Diana storms off with the belt and wouldn’t you know who won the pony, Earl is disqualifying Bulldog for plowing through him. Here comes Gorilla Monsoon to fix this. They just showed a replay and no one tried to get a shoulder up. Here’s the Fink, so there were two three counts and Gorilla calls it a draw. That’s an odd twist on the Dusty. Seems overly complicated. Either way, this match was slow as hell until about 5 minutes ago. The rematch next month at King of the Ring would be much much better.
Now on to night 2, so this is the PPV feed from the second show. We’re lead by the interesting commentary team of Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect. First up is the Carribean Strap match between Savio Vega and Stone Cold Steve Austin with the newly added stipulation that if Austin does not win, Ted DiBiase will leave the WWF. Savio starting out hot, wearing Austin out with the strap as Austin makes multiple attempts to bail out of the ring. The first 5+ minutes have been all Vega. Austin finally turns the tables on the outside after shoving Vega back first into the ring apron. These two are whipping the hell out of each other with that strap. Austin gets 2 turnbuckles before Savio gets an interesting airplane spin like thing whipping Austin into the corner. Austin dumped Savio over the top then took a nasty spill over the top himself and that’s a turned ankle if I’ve ever seen one. Back inside, Savio got a run of three buckles before a nice back heel trip cuts off his momentum. If all of that wasn’t enough in a match like this, we just got a superplex. More physicality in the ring as both guys make cut offs. Austin tosses Vega to the outside, climbs to the top and gets yanked off to the floor and barricades. They have had some great cutoffs here. Austin locks on the Million Dollar Dream before Vega kicks off the turnbuckles and breaks it. Austin is dragging Vega around by the neck, but Savio is hitting turnbuckles right behind him. We got a tug of war that Vega wins and the Million Dollar Man is gone. That was a hell of a strap match. Of course, Vega leads the crowd in singing Na Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye to DiBiase. Two and a half months later, he’d resurface as the money man behind the nWo.
Up next, Yokozuna will try to get revenge on the man they call Vader for breaking his leg two months ago. They came out throwing forearms, until Vader is seemingly reluctant to engage. The crowd is behind Yoko as they finally engage and Vader is knocked down and then to the floor. Vader comes back and unleashes a flurry of strikes before Yoko comes back with an ankle pick, then drops an elbow on Vader’s knee, looking for a measure of revenge. Vader goes for a slam but his knee won’t let him and Yoko responds with a Rock Bottom. Yoko drags Vader to the corner but Cornette jumps up and takes a swing with the racquet, which Yoko effortlessly catches. Cornette gets pulled into the ring and takes his lumps, but when Yoko tries to hit him with a Bonsai drop, Vader yanks him out of the way and eventually throws down a Vader Bomb for the win. He keeps selling the knee on his way out though. A basic, but pretty good match with the two biggest guys in the company.
Our main event will be a casket match for the Intercontinental Championship as Goldust defends against the Undertaker. The lights go down, Paul Bearer comes down the aisle, the lights come up and Taker appears in the ring behind Goldust. Goldust is flying around the ring to Taker, bouncing off of everything in and around the ring but he clearly wants nothing to do with the golden casket at ringside. Impressively, Goldust drops Taker with a tombstone. I don’t remember him taking his own finisher much if at all before Kane did it to him the next year. Taker the first into and out of the casket and he takes back over until getting dumped to the outside. Goldust tries a sleeper and this is an example of Taker doing all the little things right in the ring. He fights the whole way down to the mat with Goldust laying on him. Taker is in the casket, but he’s got his arm in the lid. Goldust tries to get on top of the box to close it, but Taker powers both he and the lid off. A big boot and a power slam and Goldust is really taking it to Taker in the dead man’s match. Goldust even tries to walk the ropes but that ends poorly for him and he’s healed off the top, which leads to a tombstone. He opens the casket but Mankind is there and locks in the mandible claw. He forces the dead man in and locks the lid to save the belt for Goldust. Mankind is sitting on the box as smoke starts emanating from the casket. Paul Bearer finally opens it up and Taker is gone. Fade to black.
Must-see match: Caribbean Strap Match – Savio Vega vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
This one was a masterpiece in physicality. Even though the end of the match is a pretty standard ending for a strap match, they actually teased it a few times and it didn’t feel as blatantly obvious as those endings tend to do. It’s a brutal one, but definitely worth your time.
Overall Grade: B+
Even with a less than stellar main event, this was the best In Your House to date. The strap match is a classic, the opener is a pretty good piece of business held back by a meh finish and even the two big men punching each other is pretty entertaining. The casket match was also surprising for the amount of offense that Goldust got it on the Undertake. Usually, he was only staying down like that after being attacked by a monster (Mabel) or multiple wrestlers. It also did the right things in continuing and concluding feuds. The HBK/Bulldog angle was just ramping up on the way to King of the Ring. Things just fell into place very well out of this show.
In Your House 9: International Incident – July 21, 1996 – Vancouver, British Columbia
Not much has been determined following the King of the Ring. Camp Cornette’s cadre of heels are being pushed to the top of the card, which leads to our main event match here tonight. Side note about the ME six man tag: the Ultimate Warrior was supposed to be the third man with HBK and Ahmed, but Warrior had been fired in the weeks leading up to the show, which is why Sid came back and turned face. For some reason, I don’t remember much of anything from this card, unlike most of the shows so far. I don’t know what I was doing in July of 1996. I didn’t get an Nintendo 64 until just a couple of years ago and I wasn’t into Star Ocean so my other nerdly pursuits weren’ distracting me at the time. Now, I’m legit curious what I was doing back then…
Anywho, we start the night off with The Bodydonnas and the Smoking Gunns continuing their feud, which was really all over Sunny. Oh, that’s right, this is in the middle of the “Cloudy” bit for the Bodydonnas. The less said about that one the better. Also, a non-title match but at least there’s a storyline reason behind it. Sunny refuses to put the best up against her former team. One thing that’s not clear here is who are the faces and who are the heels. Solid chain wrestling early as Bart gets worked over early. Nice little spot to switch momentum to the Gunns and Sunny feigns a faint, Skip runs over to help her up and gets trucked for it. Then the Gunns botch their leapfrog over one onto the back of the other spot. Bart didn’t duck and Billy couldn’t get over him and that was bowling shoe ugly. Skip still taking a ton of the heat here. And now it’s clear the Gunns are heels, but I don’t think anyone was buying the Donnas as faces yet. Double hot tag and Zip cleans house. Bart Gunn sets up for a Sidewinder but Billy is outside with Sunny, Skip hits a top rope drop kick, Zip rolls on top and the Donnas take this one. A pretty standard, if not sloppy at times, tag team opener.
Mankind is up next in singles action taking on Henry Godwin. This was originally scheduled to be Jake Roberts, but the commentary team has explained that he was hospitalized with rib injuries and cannot compete tonight, which gives Lawler all the opportunities to make alcoholic jokes to continue their feud. Mankind jumps HOG at the bell, but Henry eventually fights him off and ejects Mankind from the ring with a clothesline. Most of this match is offense from Mankind, although I forgot he’d do the Kabuki spin before a move when he first got into the Fed. He pulls up the mats on the outside and hits a spinning neck breaker on the concrete. That comes back to bite him when Mankind is slammed off the apron to the floor in the middle of Hank’s comeback. Mankind blocks the slop drop, slaps on the mandible claw and as much as Godwin tries, he cannot break the hold and goes out. Foley looked good in the win, it was sort of competitive, not quite a squash but not a barnburner either. It was there and it wasn’t too long.
The 1996 King of the Ring is up next, as Stone Cold Steve Austin takes on the Wildman Marc Mero. This is a rematch from the King of the Ring semifinal match where Austin gave Mero his first pinfall loss in the Fed and caught a wayward boot and had to get his mouth sewn up to compete in the finals. We get an exchange of punches and I think it’s just a bad instance because Mero’s punches looked like poo. A solid back and forth so far until Austin bails to the outside to menace Sable and eat an ax handle. Nice call back to their last match as Mero does the same roll up that caught Austin at the KOTR, Austin acts like he got kicked in the mouth again, but Austin was feigning and knocks Mero to the floor. He takes some time to drag Mero over to a post and slingshot him into it. Austin with some stiff looking stomps to Mero’s head as Marc tried to get back into the ring. Scary moment as Austin had Mero in the powerbomb position but started to lose him before recovering and Mero completed the head scissors over the top. Mero hitsa few dives to the outside then a slingshot splash back inside for a two count. Austin gets back in control by crotching Mero on the top rope and clipping the knee, stunner and three count. I’m just ignoring that Marlena and an usher just randomly came down to ringside in the final minutes to deliver an envelope to Lawler. A damn good match and my only complaint about it is that they only got eleven minutes. This could have easily gone 20 minutes.
No time to breathe, just a promo for Raw and Goldust is headed to the ring to take on The Undertaker. Goldust really reluctant to enter the ring to start. Is he spooked or are these more mind games? Referee Jimmy Cordaris being forced in between the two of them by Goldust and getting manhandled in the process. Taker doesn’t move until he pops Goldust in the staredown. The Golden One bails up the aisle and back just to pull Taker to the outside but eats a chokeslam butt-first on the steel steps. Taker threatens to drop the steps on Goldust until Marlena dives on top of her man. This has been the opposite of their casket match at Beware of Dog, Goldust finally getting offense in about 5-6 minutes into the match. But that doesn’t last too long. After a couple of tries, Goldust finally gets a turnbuckle pad off and sends Taker back first into it. Tossing the Phenom to the outside, he rips the top ring steps off and drops them right onto Taker’s back which did not look fun. The ref is letting everything go in this one. Taker eventually takes back over and tombstones Goldust but Mankind cuts a whole in the canvas (he left the boxcutter in the ring), pulls Taker off and drags him under the ring with the mandible claw. And that causes an immediate DQ. The lights start flashing, there’s a ton of smoke coming from the hole but Taker rips a hole in the other side of the ring and they brawl to the back. Well, they’re gonna need some time to patch those up before the main event. Much like their casket match two months before, it wasn’t a bad match but it was more of a vehicle for the Mankind rivalry.
Main event time as Camp Cornette (The British Bulldog, Owen Hart and Vader) take on the WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, Intercontinental Champ Ahmed Johnson, and Sid. Jim Cornette has guaranteed a win for his charges or he will personally refund everyone’s money in the building. Makes the outcome a little obvious.
Shawn and Vader will start and Shawn flying all over the place to top Vader, even pulling out a rana and a cross body over the top to the outside. Vader is not down for long and forces Shawn to eat barricade. Sid gets the tag and unleashes some interesting strikes on Vader before clearing the ring of Camp Cornette to a huge pop. Ahmed gets in and does some work, including hitting Bulldog with a Pearl River Plunge. Vader with the save there and I believe Ahmed will be taking the heel heat this evening. Vader traps him in the corner, charges for the splash and Ahmed catches him, carries him out and slams him. That’s ridiculous strength. And to counter that impressive feat, Bulldog gets Sid in a vertical suplex and holds him up so he can post. Great tag team work from Camp Cornette, quick tags and effective double teams here. We get an Oklahoma roll from Shawn and Owen, cool little maneuver there. More back and forth near falls from these two and this match has changed gears. Shawn now taking the beating from the heels. And we’ve got a fan trying to come into the ring, but he was smart enough to get out before Bulldog and Owen got to him. Vader holding Shawn in an odd head and arm hold for at least a full minute, which he keeps switching back and forth to a choke. Ahmed Johnson jumps in and pops Vader with a clothesline to make your dick stiff but it doesn’t help Shawn make a tag. Davey comes in to take over and they reuse a few spots from their title matches. Owen gets in but knocks heads with Shawn after a criss-cross and we’ve got our double down. Owen makes it to his corner, Shawn does not. Bulldog gets the running powerslam but Sid cuts off the pin with a leg drop. Shawn gets the tag but somehow the ref missed it, Hebner looking a fool while Shawn getting triple teamed. Owen with the mistimed drop kick and Shawn drags himself to the hot tag. Sid comes in and chokeslams the universe before bringing Ahmed in to double team Vader and hit a rocket launcher with Shawn. He cuts off Cornette, steals the racquet and brains him, but only gets two. Set up for Sweet Chin Music but Corney has Shawn’s foot, Vader connects with the splash and a Vader Bomb and gets the duke, despite Shawn not being the legal man as far as I knew. The faces will get their heat back in the post match brawl.
Must-See Match: Camp Cornette vs. Michaels, Johnson and Sid
In a match that could have been slow and plodding, it was a well put together six man tag. Everyone looked good and got their stuff in. Vader bumped his ass off for Ahmed and Sid. Shawn took a good beating like he always did. It was a very well done match and one of the better In Your House main events.
Overall Grade: C
The main event was great, Austin/Mero was good and the rest of the card was pretty meh. It all balances out to an event right in the middle. It’s a solid set up for Summerslam as we got Vader beating Shawn to make the main event of Summerslam. Undertaker and Mankind made it into the boiler room to plant the Brawl. There were even seeds planted for Goldust and Mero. These were designed to be setup shows and a good setup show this was.
In Your House 10: Mind Games – September 22, 1996 – Philadelphia, PA
I can already tell you we’ll have one must-see match tonight because the main event is one of my favorite matches of all time. I don’t remember much else about the rest of the card, but I could have just pushed it all out in lieu of memories of the title match. This one is known for the confrontation between Savio Vega, Justin Bradshaw and Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman. Now, we know it was the beginning of the first ECW invasion angle but back then my little mind was blown. These guys I knew who wrestled in the bingo hall in South Philly just jumped on worldwide pay per view. I couldn’t wait to see if they would keep showing up and wrecking stuff.
We start with a rather creepy open for the time, followed by a goofy logo for the event. Our opening contest has its roots all the way back to… the Free For All before the PPV. Savio Vega wrestled Marty Janetty, Justin Hawk Bradshaw attacked him, challenged him to a Caribbean Strap Match and here we go. This match is really only remembered for the confrontation between them and Sandman and Dreamer. It’s a paint by numbers strap match. There’s nothing bad about it, everything is done well, but it’s nowhere near as good as Vega’s strap match with Steve Austin a few months ago.
Jim Cornette takes on Jose Lothario next in what was probably a remnant of the HBK/Vader angle that was cut way short. Jim probably just had to recycle all of the old guy material he used on Bill Watts back in Mid-South in 1985. Jose looks good for being 62 at the time. Cornette bounces around the ring for less than a minute, eats two less than impressive punches and this manager v. manager fight is over. I don’t know that needed to happen but it was blessedly short.
Owen Hart and British Bulldog make their way to challenge for the WWF Tag Team Titles and they will be without Jim Cornette as he is convalescing after getting KO’d in the last match. The Smoking Gunns are clearly close to a split as Billy is all over Sunny on the way to the ring and Bart seems rather annoyed about the whole thing. The Gunns are in a weird spot where half the team is seemingly turning face and the other half heel. Owen and Billy get us underway and they actually have some pretty good chemistry in the ring. Billy and Owen going through some fast chain spots. Things don’t really slow down when Bart and Bulldog tag in. Owen chop blocks Bart and slows it down to work on the knee. He finally gets away and it’s Bulldog’s turn to take some heat. Billy even does a version of the Poetry in Motion, except Bart was in the middle of the ring so the best he could do is jump and touch Bulldog with a fist. The Gunns hit the Sidewinder, but a distraction from Clarence Mason allows Owen to break up the pin. A weird finish as Bulldog shoves Bart into Billy, whose not paying any attention to the match just Sunny, Billy shoves Bart into a running powerslam, then Billy stumbles into the ring and goes to Owen to get kicked in the face, instead of breaking up the pin in front of him. What started out with so much potential ended with a fizzle. Still, new tag champs as Owen and Bulldog start their first, and only, reign with the belts. It always felt like they held the straps for like 3 years, but it was really only one 246 day reign.
The world’s strongest man Mark Henry makes his in-ring debut against Jerry Lawler. The King comes down the aisle cutting a promo and the entire time, McMahon is recapping the King’s shenanigans leading to the match, but he’s drowning out Lawler the whole time. A very simple vet vs. rookie set up, there’s not much to this match. It’s a couple of headlocks, a couple of hammerlocks, a press slam, and a lot of pantomime. It does what it needs to do, which is get Henry over in his first TV match but there’s not much of a match to see here. Lawler does at least make it kind of entertaining.
We are moving right along, as The Undertaker and Goldust meet in the Final Curtain match. There must be a winner and it must be via pinfall. I forget how involved Goldust was in the early days of the Undertaker/Mankind saga. Just like their match back in July at International Incident, Taker is very aggressive early just beating on Goldust and cutting him off at every turn. Dust doesn’t get any offense in until he gets fired to the outside and grabs a handful of gold dust from Marlena’s handbag and fires it into Taker’s eyes. A deliberate match takes a turn towards even slower as Goldust takes over and beats on Taker. Some impressive strength from Goldust to powerslam a man the size of Taker. Goldust goes to the top, looks like he was going to set up a bulldog, but ate an ugly looking chokeslam from the top. One tombstone later and this one is over. I’ve been wrong about this in previous reviews but I think this is finally the end of this program. Goldust is up and walking back to the locker room after a Tombstone mighty quickly. Another match that wasn’t bad but wasn’t great. I don’t think these two had great chemistry in the ring. The promos and vignettes were great but the actual matches were just meh.
The main event is one of my favorite matches of all time, period. Shawn Michaels defends the WWF Championship against the bizarre Mankind. Paul Bearer follows a troupe of casket-bearing druids to the ring. Mankind took the ride to ringside in that casket and some woman’s shriek when Foley popped out of the box was perfectly picked up by the ringside mics. Shawn has to walk himself to the ring, so he takes the entrance L. Mankind bounces Shawn around the ring and to the outside but eats a drop kick when he tries to pry up the ringside pads. Michaels bounces Mankind’s head off the concrete in another bump that unfortunately became Foley’s signature. Michaels tried to end it early, but saw Sweet Chin Music coming and lept from the ring to be consoled by Paul Bearer. We actually get a botch as Michaels goes into the corner and it looks like he was going to do a blind cross body but Mankind didn’t follow and we clearly have a quick conversation in the middle of a flurry of right hands. There’s another spot only Foley was crazy enough to make his own: taking a suplex legs first across the steel steps. From there, Michaels works on Mankind’s legs for several minutes, even busting out a dragon screw. Mankind takes back over after an accidental hot shot and now the champ is eating the punishment, including the big knee in the corner. They trade more punishment inside the ring before heading to the outside and Mankind eats the steps twice more. Shawn hurls Mankind into the hangman spot but comes over and has the mandible claw on for several seconds. HBK starts working on the hand of Mankind to make sure he doesn’t taste the claw again, even cracking it with a steel chair, another piece of the great story being told. Mankind is still able to propel the champ to the outside and drop the big elbow off the apron. Mankind gets a near fall with a double armed DDT, which might have been the first of the match some 18 minutes in. They are in and out of the casket before a belly to back suplex from the second rope that drove the two of them through the Spanish announce table. Mankind has a chair, there’s a chair in the ring and leaping Sweet Chin Music, Van Damninator style. And then the only real negative in the match: Vader runs in for the DQ finish. A 25+ minute classic ended with a schmozz.
Must-see match: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Mankind for the WWF Championship
This match is a beautiful contrast of styles as the athleticism of HBK squares off with the physicality of Mankind. It was the first time that I remember Shawn being willing to get hardcore, if you will. Shawn was never the guy to deal with tables until now. Shawn’s use of chairs was limited until this match. Michaels didn’t become a hardcore brawler because of this match, but his style opened up. He needed to be more aggressive to counter the psychology and toughness of Mankind. Somehow this match is underrated in both men’s careers but do yourself the favor and watch this one.
Overall grade: C-
Much like IYH 1, a single great match cannot save a card of meh. There’s really no bad match here, except maybe the manager’s match but that one was supposed to be short and sweet between two guys who aren’t regular wrestlers. The opener was notable for starting the ECW invasion, but that’s about it. There’s the footnote of future Hall of Famer Mark Henry’s debut but beyond that, the undercard is pretty uneventful. A pair of stories ended in the Sunny/Gunns split and the end of Undertaker/Goldust, but beyond that this card just filled in some gaps as the biggest storyline in the company was blown up after Summerslam.
In Your House 11: Buried Alive – October 20, 1996 – Indianapolis, Indiana
The first ever buried alive headlines the event from Market Square Area in downtown Indianapolis. Besides that historical note, this is also the first PPV in WWE history where the active world champion did not work on the pay-per-view card. Shawn Michaels did wrestle on this night, but he defended his title against Goldust after the PPV main event. Another running issue is the technical difficulties on Jim Ross’ mic at ringside. It takes up way too much of the opening match and only amplifies how badly the heel JR period went. It’s also a reminder of how bad the commentary team was at the time. Also, for the first time inthe series, the house set is gone and we just get a set of cemetery gates, a nod to tonight’s main event.
Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin open us up, the very beginnings of this years-long rivalry three years before it caught fire. Even more so when you realize this was supposed to be a blow off for Austin and Savio Vega and that Helmsley is a replacement. This match has a slow build and nice ebbs and flows in action. It’s a very even match for most of the duration, both guys working on a body part, then making a comeback. I enjoyed that Austin hit the stun gun (his finisher in WCW) and JR calls it like it was 6:05 on Saturday Night. The JR mic difficulties angle really distracts from a solid match. This kicks into another gear after Mr. Perfect appears to steal Hunter’s valet again. It gets pretty physical on the outside, then two middle fingers and a stunner out of nowhere. Great opening match, even with the distractions.
Tag Team titles on the line as the Smoking Gunns get their rematch with Owen and The Bulldog and the main story here is Sunny. She fired the Gunns last month in Philly after they lost the belts and Billy has been on a quest to regain both her and the titles. Bart is less than happy about that arrangement. This was a standard tag match with an interesting story and a less than ideal finish. If you catch this one, take the silver lining and watch Owen and Bulldog do all the little things that make them a great tag team. Owen runs to Bulldog to tag before Billy can recover and tag out. Bulldog gets all his digs in in the corner. At the very least, the seeds of a split for the Gunns had finally started to sprout as they argued on the way out of the ring. It happened and it included nothing bad.
The Intercontinental title is on the line next. The Wildman Marc Mero was supposed to defend against Faarooq but Ahmed Johnson took him out during the Free For All so Goldust will step up and get the title shot. Lawler makes sure to say that Mero has never beaten Goldust. Another title match with a slow open that picks up once the face gets some momentum. Mero does bust out one of his tope con hilos, which is always a scary looking spot until it goes right. Goldust does bounce all around the ring for Mero, making the Wildman look like an even stronger champion. Goldust takes some time to grab a mic and drum up some homophobia with the crowd and then we get a very pretty moonsault from Mero. A timely distraction from Mr. Perfect (who came out to do commentary) and Hunter Hearst Hemlsley (who came to ringside to confront Perfect) and we get the Samoan Drop and shooting star press, which I completely forgot that Mero even did. Another alright match.
The Masters of the Powerbomb explode next as Sid takes on Vader for a WWF Championship match at Survivor Series. It’s hard to remember Sid at this point as an over babyface. Indy was hot for some fist bumps. HBK comes out to scope out his future challenger from the commentary position. I do like me a good old fashioned big man brawl, and Vader is at least holding up his end of the bargain. Then again, at one point Sid comes back into the ring with a sunset flip over the top rope, so impressive either way. Sid goes to the top rope and doesn’t break his leg, but gets caught by Vader trying a cross-body. Just impressive strength. Cornette sacrifices himself for the distraction and allows Vader to take control with a low blow. But Sid recovers to chokeslam Vader for the win. So the battle for mastery of the powerbomb ends with no powerbombs. Probably the safest thing. I don’t think this was a bad match though. It gets dragged in the ratings but I think it did what it needed to do, it didn’t drag on too long and we got a pretty physical matchup.
Main event time as we get the first Buried Alive match in WWE history as The Undertaker takes on Mankind. And within 60 seconds we have a flying Undertaker. Despite being a huge fan of this rivalry, this will be the first time that I’m seeing this match in its entirety. The match type itself can be inherently restrictive, but we’re at least getting a really good brawl out of this. They even briefly took it into the crowd at a time when the WWF didn’t take things to the crowd, if only for Mankind to take a sick bump over the railing. At one point, Paul Bearer hands Mankind a foreign object and as he’s beating on Taker with it, Vince says something about it being no holds barred but this can’t be allowed. It’s becoming very clear that Vince is not equipped to be the voice of the company with the direction he’s pushing it in. Mankind on the receiving end of some hellacious punishment, including some sick bumps with the steel stairs. Finally back at the grave, Taker chokeslams Mankind into the grave and starts to shovel dirt onto him. Then the ref just declares him the winner. After the bell, Taker shoves a few refs off the grave that tried to stop him from burying Mankind any more. Then a masked man breaks shovel over Taker’s head, pulls out Mankind and rolls in Taker. Then about 6 guys come out to finish filling the hole and we have a buried alive Undertaker. Which takes forever because they have to get the dirt to a certain level for the dramatic finish but it’s just 6 guys with shovels, not the backhoe full of dirt that we’d get used to seeing. We get the iconic shot of the purple hand coming out of the grave to close out the show.
Must See Matches: Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Yes, you should catch the opening match. If for nothing else than to see these two future main events start to develop the chemistry that would make their years-long rivalry worth seeing. It doesn’t hurt that the match is pretty good too.
Buried Alive Match: The Undertaker vs. Mankind
Another great brawl from these two, made even better when you think about the restrictions they were handed by this stipulation. This could have been very clunky (like the post-match burial was) but they found a way to balance the time they spent brawling at the grave and then in and around the ring. Besides that, it’s another historical note on the long road of this legendary feud.
Overall Grade: B+
The opener and closer are great and even though the middle bits were a little cookie cutter, there was plenty of action to go around and nothing sticks out as being particularly bad. There was enough set up to build us to Survivor Series that we can ignore the commentary in the first two matches and the inordinate amount of talk about the next night’s Raw. One of the best In Your Houses so far after two years of events.
In Your House 12: It’s Time – December 15, 1996 – West Palm Beach, FL
Yes, you are correct in thinking Vader should be a big part of this show since his tagline is in the show’s title. No, he’s not on the card at all, why do you ask?
Our opener is Al Snow vs. 2 Cold Scorpio, sorry, Leif Cassidy vs. Flash Funk in the battle of the gimmicks each would rather forget. At the very least, I’d bet Scorpio wants to forget those boots. This is a good, fast-paced opener with, oof, a little botch from Funk. Springboards can do that. Cassidy takes over after a full belly to belly suplex over the top rope to the outside, followed up with a somersault plancha. Funk tries a comeback and ends up eating a Lo Down. Snow keeps cutting off Funk’s comebacks until Funk throws down a handspring pele kick. Funk with a huge suicide dive to the outside and a tremendous moonsault back in. It’s pretty impressive to see these two in what is essentially a throw away match uncork all of these spots that we’re just used to seeing in every match. Funk takes the victory in what I believe I heard was his singles TV debut with a 450 splash. A pretty good match to get us started tonight.
The Tag Team titles on the line next as Owen Hart and The Bulldog defend against….uh, Diesel and Razor Ramon. You know, the ones that JR “brought back”. Hell JR is gonna be painful on commentary here, isn’t he? Pre-match promo making clear that Stone Cold is on the Bulldog’s mind. Except not according to Owen. Pretty formulaic early on until Cibernetico and Pierroth of AAA randomly make their way down the aisle. They’ll be at the Rumble next month, as we’re told. Bulldog gets about a minute of ring time before Austin makes his way to ringside and Davey immediately dives out to jump on Stone Cold. Owen eventually gets dumped to the outside and rammed kidneys first into the ringpost and he’ll take the heat from here. Bulldog gets the hot tag, we get all four men in the ring, Razor reverses the powerslam, sets up a Razor’s Edge but Owen gets all of a spinning heel kick for a roll-up and the win to retain. I hate to say it again about a tag match with Owen and the Bulldog but it was a match, it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great. It happened. And I hate to keep saying that for matches with Owen Hart, but he was being kept in the tag division which was weak as hell at the time. This one was all about the outside distractions.
The Intercontinental Title is on the line next as the Wildman Marc Mero challenges Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the belt. Mero/Helmsley is one of the more underrated feuds of this period. These guys had really good chemistry in the ring and put on a series of highly entertaining matches. Fast and physical early, Helmsley eventually takes control on the outside after whipping Mero into the steps and Mero taking them right into the lower back. That’s a much better looking way to take the steps there. Triple H will work on the back from there. Ref Earl Hebner physically removes Helmsley’s hand from the top rope during an abdominal stretch, Triple H gets in his face and Earl shoves him back. Great to see these two started doing their schtick all the way in ‘96. Mero makes his comeback, capping it with a hurricanrana off the top. He goes up for a shooting star press but Triple H shoves the ref into the ropes to crotch Mero. Merosault and a near fall. Mero comes for a clothesline but Triple H gets out of the way and Earl Hebner takes a hard bump. Triple H takes his corner bump to the outside, Mero hits the somersault plancha and Goldust is on the scene. He KO’s both men with the I-C belt and Mero just beats the count in. This was a hell of a match that started in third gear and never slowed down. Even though I’m not a huge fan of countout finishes, this one made sense in keeping this rivalry going and working Goldust back into the title hunt, as he also had to defend the honor of Marlena in the middle of all of this.
Up next, the Armageddon Rules match between the Undertaker and The Executioner. It’s a Texas Death Match all dressed up for the gimmicks. This is a big, sloppy brawl, plain and simple. They head to the outside where Taker pulls up the mats and is going to slam Executioner on the concrete floor until Mankind appears but he trips over the mats and just kind of grabs Taker’s ankle until he drops the Executioner. Now, we’ve got a handicap match. Mankind gets thrown through the window of the In Your House set and then takes the front door off the hinges coming back into the arena. Interim president Gorilla Monsoon brings in security to tie Mankind up in a straitjacket while the Undertaker and Executioner are fighting in the water feature out in front of the building. Undertaker pounds on a restrained Mankind for a bit before the Executioner comes jogging back into the shot to take a Tombstone and a ten count. It was sloppy mayhem, mostly fun especially with the set destruction, but nothing to write home about.
Bret Hart challenges Sid for the WWF Title in our main event and in a pre-match promo, is allowed to vent his frustration at waiting to get the belt back as well as a growing hatred for Shawn Michaels who will be ringside for commentary. Hart is starting to wade into the angry heel waters with the full blow up just months away. Sid comes out to a mixed reaction, even though he savaged the wonder boy HBK back at Survivor Series. Bret is really aggressive early, actually taking control of Sid pretty easily. Sid might be giving Bret a little too much early. Sid got the advantage for a time on the outside, but Bret got right back after the champ’s back inside the ring. Again, the challenger seems to be chopping the monster down a little too easily. Man, it’s also difficult to keep Shawn on commentary for ruining the match for me. I am reminded that as nostalgic as we want to be, Shawn was the Roman Reigns of 1996. Bret has targeted Sid’s lower back for nearly 10 minutes of this match before finally getting a comeback, which is all power and high impact. And to continue the theme of tonight’s show, more interference! Stone Cold comes sprinting to ringside while Bret is on the outside and nails him with a chop block before Owen and Bulldog run down and pull him to the back. Bret is favoring his knee and Sid takes way too long to pounce on the challenger. Once Bret is injured, the pace gets slowed way down. A big chokeslam won’t put Hart away. Both men go tumbling to the outside right in front of the announce position, where of course they both trade looks and stares with Michaels. Sid piefaces Shawn which causes him to jump on the apron when the action returns to the ring. Bret is whipped into Shawn, who goes flying to the floor, gets powerbombed and stays down for the three count. I could be mistaken, but this is like the second or third PPV match of Bret’s that Shawn has interfered in. Bret is becoming more and more justified when you look at his heel turn through that lens. Sid has been in a number of In Your House main events over the last two years and I have to say this was his best. A solid match with a good story where the big man was made to look vulnerable and had to overcome the chaos around him.
Must-See Match: WWF Intercontinental Title – Marc Mero vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
As I said before, this whole rivalry was really underrated at the time. Mero was one of one Triple H’s biggest early feuds where he got a chance to showcase all of his skills, all of his ability and had someone who he could truly play off of physically. Up until now, . everyone he faced seemed like they were matched off with the character of the blue blood better than the wrestler (i.e. Henry Godwinn). Not to mention, this was a rivalry that was allowed to burn for the better part of a year. Goldust’s inclusion in the end only helped expand this group battle over the Intercontinental title, elevating everyone with it.
Overall Grade: A-
Believe it or not, I will say that the final PPV of 1996 was the best In Your House show that I’ve seen so far. There are no bad matches here. The weakest is the Tag Title match and that was really the only match that didn’t continue an angle on some level. The main event set up the title picture for the first month and a half for 1997, until smiles were lost and chaos reigned supreme. The Armageddon Rules match was sloppy fun. The opener just missed the cut for must-see because of the innovative offense on display. I’ve already raved about the I-C title match and we got our best main event effort out of Sid in quite a while. By all accounts, this could have easily been a throwaway show meant only to get us to the Royal Rumble but it turned out to be a great night of action in its own right.
And that is the year that was 1996. We have seven more events on our whirlwind tour of In Your House shows and these will include some of the best pay-per-views the company ever produced, so I can’t wait to start. I also promise not to take an entire month to get my reviews out.
The Finisher 