We have finally made it to the last year of In Your House shows. Just in time too, as we’re about to get locked down again any day now, so there’s plenty of time for watching wrestling.
In Your House 13: Final Four – February 16, 1997 – Chattanooga, TN
What came out of a booking cluster was one of the best matches in In Your House history. Yeah, there’s a clue as to what will wind up in the must-see category.
The WWF title has been vacated after Shawn Michaels lost his smile and went home. So the planned four-way match that was supposed to resolve the disputed finish to the Royal Rumble became a title match. And oh thank god, McMahon is gone from commentary and it’s just JR and the King.
Marc Mero and Leif Cassidy get us underway tonight and for two guys that have reputations as high flyers, they are spending a lot of time devoted to mat work. Cassidy does a lot of work on Mero’s leg but gets distracted by Sable on the outside allowing Mero to get his comeback, hit the Wild Thing and get the win. There is also a dramatic turn in Sable from when we last saw here at IYH 12. She is getting physically involved, has a far more revealing attire and more of an attitude in her body language. This was a slower opening match than Mero and Flash Funk had 2 months ago, but it wasn’t bad. It was a little formulaic at times, but it got the job done.
Up next, we get a replay of Shawn Michaels’ speech from Thursday Raw Thursday where he gave up the WWF Championship, you know the “I lost me smile” promo. Emotional then but it reads a little bit differently now that we have more insight into the backstage politics of the time. Oddly enough, they cut away from the Honky Tonk Man making his way to the ring to go to the replay, but they never again mention why he was there or what he ended up doing.
Flash Funk and the Funkettes dance down to the ring and we have our next event: Funk, Bart Gunn and Goldust vs the Nation of Domination of Crush, Faarooq and Savio Vega. All three faces have issues with the Nation they’re looking to solve this evening. The Nation enters through the crowd and appears to have grown to like 12 people, including a young D’Lo Brown. Funk gets some insane hang time diving from the top onto multiple Nation members on the floor. From there, what we have is a pretty formulaic six-man tag match. Funk takes most of the heat, Gunn gets a hot tag that turns into a brawl. Gunn has Faarooq beat but Crush drops a leg to the back of Gunn’s head and the Nation take the win. Goldust barely saw action. Once again, an alright match but nothing special.
Stone Cold cuts a promo on the vast office conspiracy to keep him from the title and Triple H is already in the ring for his rematch with Rocky Maivia from Thursday Raw Thursday. The Not-Yet-Rock started his first Intercontinental reign that night and is making his first televised defense tonight. There’s not much that needs to be said about the intense feud these two will have over the next 4 years but it’s cool to see it in its infancy. The chemistry between these two is clearly there, even this early in their careers. The in-ring work is, I know I’m repeating myself a bunch here, solid but simple and formulaic. Rocky gets out quickly, makes a mistake that Helmsley is able to take advantage of, then he grounds the champ. Once again, in the middle of Triple H’s heat, Earl Hebner catches Helmsley’s feet on the ropes while he had Rocky in a rear chinlock and he kicks Hunter’s feet off and a verbal confrontation ensues. Someday, I’d love to make the case that Hebner was one of Triple H’s longest running feuds. Rocky eventually made Hunter miss from off the top rope, got all his offense in (including a floatover DDT that looked botched and dropped Triple H right on the top of his head) before a cut off. Sidebar: Rocky hit a cross body from the top in his comeback. Who remembers that he had an aerial game? Goldust makes his way down the aisle, distracts Helmsley and costs him the victory. Now comes the memorable moment from this match: Chyna debuts, grabbing Marlena from behind the barricade and nearly choking her out.
The Tag Titles are on the line next as Owen Hart and the British Bulldog defend against
Doug Furnas and Phil Lafond. JR chronicling the friction between the champs over the last few weeks. Good tag work early from the challengers before Lafond falls victim to a double team and the champs take over. Hart and Bulldog even pull out a Power Plex for a near fall. We have problems between the champs as Owen missed a spinning heel kick on Furnas and clocked Bulldog who was holding him up. Bulldog would get up and clothesline Owen and look to be ready to walk off but came back to break up a pin on Hart. Owen kicked out of a couple of double team moves from the challengers before an enziguri and crawling to Bulldog for the double hot tag. There have been a number of moves that should be wins for the challengers but the champs keep kicking out. Bulldog eventually gets Lafond up for a powerslam, but Owen clocks Phil with a Slammy and gets the team disqualified. Bulldog is irate, even though he’s still got the belt, because he had the man beat. He even broke Owen’s Slammy in the post-match argument. This was their best title defense I’ve seen during this project, even though the finish was only an excuse to drive a wedge between the tag champs.
The main event Final Four match is on, as Vader, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Bret Hart do battle for the vacant WWF Championship. The unique addition to this no disqualification elimination match is that a participant can be eliminated by being thrown over the top rope in addition to via pinfall or submission. Don’t think that won’t come into play at some point in this match. Vader and Taker spend about 90 seconds in the ring before bringing the brawl to the outside. Undertaker kicks a chair into Vader’s face, and about 2 minutes in, Vader is busted open over his eye. Everyone has taken turns pairing off with each other. On the outside, Austin drops the steel stairs on a prone Vader and it looked like he just pissed Vader off. Then Austin whips Vader toward the other set of stairs, and Vader ust kind of dances out of the way and continues all the way to the railing, squashing a ring attendant in the process. Bret takes Vader into the crowd for a bit of a tussle, not a place we’re used to seeing Bret work at all. Then Austin hits a top rope clothesline on Taker. It’s a reminder of what Austin’s in-ring work was before the neck and knee injuries really caught up with him. Vader to the top floor and misses a moonsault as Taker moves out of the way. Incredible agility from the big man, even though there was no water in the pool. The pace finally starts to slow a bit after we’ve been going about 10 minutes. This has been a knock down, drag out fight from the opening bell. JR throws out a line about this not being walking and talking, which gets a marky giggle from me. Hart takes Vader to dick kick city and there didn’t seem to be any attempt to pull that kick. Vader’s elbow afterwards might have been a receipt. Undertaker and Austin are trying to throw each other over the top rope while Vader has an arm submission on Bret on the other side of the ring. Surprisingly enough, Austin is the first one out when Bret tosses him over the top rope with a fireman’s carry at 18:09. Vader sends Undertaker to the outside so he can take over on Bret. Vader to the top, Bret cuts him off and brings the big man down with a terrifying superplex where Vader just barely got over and avoided getting spiked. Taker gets back in the ring, jettisons Hart and he and Vader keep pounding on each other. Vader eventually goes up for a Vader Bomb but Taker sits up underneath him, upper cuts Vader in the balls and he goes over the top rope and to the floor to be eliminated at 23:33. We’re down to Taker and Bret and Hart is on the receiving end of a huge chokeslam. Taker goes for the Tombstone but Austin is back and tries to pull Bret off his shoulder. Taker turns his attention to the Rattlesnake, Bret clotheslines him over the top to claim his 4th WWF Championship. Bret’s celebration is cut short by Sid who makes his way to the ring. Those two would do battle the next night on Raw for the title and spoiler alert, Sid would take the belt and ride into Wrestlemania as champion.
Fun fact: this was the only time the WWE Championship would trade hands in Chattanooga and the first of only two WWE titles to switch in the city. Raven would take the Hardcore Title off of Steve Blackman on an episode of Raw in December 2000. No belts have changed hands there since.
Must-See Match: WWF Championship – Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker vs. Vader
The mayhem of the main event is well worth the time to pull this one up. It really was the highest-profile four-way match up to that point and they really did a tremendous job of keeping everyone busy for the entire match with next to no slow downs. The match was about 15 minutes old before the pace slowed down and the intensity never came down. It was also a harbinger of main events to come as almost every title match in the Attitude Era would devolve into a physical brawl all over the arena.
Overall Grade: B-
At first, this looks like a one-match card. But scan beneath the surface and there’s a solid Intercontinental title match between two legends early in their careers, and the best tag team title match I’ve seen in this series of reviews.
In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker – April 20, 1997 – Rochester, NY
I will admit that I have never seen anything from this show, so these will be my virgin reactions to this card. This is the comedown from Wrestlemania 13. While that wasn’t the best Mania of all time, this show has a much better reputation.
The show kicks off with the Legion of Doom challenging Owen Hart and The British Bulldog for the WWF Tag Team titles. The LOD do LOD things to start off the match before Bulldog gets the upper hand on Hawk. He even gets the Hawk up for a huge vertical suplex. I think Owen and the Bulldog are getting the heat on Hawk, like normal, but JR and The King are too busy sniping at each other to call the match. Animal gets the hot tag and hits Bulldog with a powerslam off the second rope for the win and the straps. Wait, here comes a second official to tell the match official that the Road Warriors didn’t pin the legal man and the match must continue. A different twist on the Dusty finish. The champs take over on Animal off the restart but eventually the power game is too much. Owen eats a Doomsday Device and is the legal man, but Bret comes running down to break up the pin to give the LOD the DQ win. An interesting way to protect that champs. The Road Warriors would have to wait until October of ‘97 to finally regain the tag straps. Not a bad match, but like most LOD matches, not an amazing display.
Nation member Savio Vega challenges Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental title next, long before the days of The Rock in the Nation. There’s a lot of rest holds here as Vega takes control for most of the match. Even as Rocky gets a pin after a fisherman suplex, the Nation runs interference for him. Vega even kicks out of a Rock Bottom. The challenger propels the champion out of the ring onto Crush, who pops him with a heart punch and Rocky is counted out. Two matches in and two questionable finishes. There’s some post match tension between Crush and Savio as Vega wants to know why Crush didn’t fire Maivia back into the ring, which is a really good question. Not a whole lot here.
The New Age Outlaws do battle next, a little bit before they would join forces to become the Outlaws. For now, its country gimmick vs country gimmick as Double J Jesse James takes on Rockabilly. This turns out to be the debut of Gunn as the Honky Tonk Man’s protege and we learn that Billy can not dance to save his life. Billy spends a lot of the match showboating with his horrible dancing, but it’s pretty basic outside of that. Double J rolls up Rockabilly before he could execute his version of a jackhammer and we have our first clean win of the night.
Now for a very abrupt change of events as The Undertaker and Mankind write the next chapter of their feud. They go at it right as Taker gets into the ring and spend maybe a minute inside before taking it to the outside. Mankind gets chucked into the railing back of the head first twice if it tells you where this match is going. Taker is in firm control until Paul Bearer jumps up with a distraction and Mankind bounced the urn off of Taker’s face. Mankind leans on some rest holds while he’s getting his heat but this one returns to brawl mode pretty quickly. Taker eats a water pitcher and a steel chair to the face, then an elbow from the second rope on the outside and Mankind is picking the champion apart. We get a huge ref bump and the mandible claw puts down The Undertaker. Here comes a second ref and Mankind wipes him out. In comes a chair, in come the steps and carnage is the order of the evening. Taker drop kicks the stair into Mankind’s face, how often did the Dead Man throw a dropkick? He then teed off on Mankind’s skull with a chair. Somehow Foley is up and then into the hangman, which he escapes by dropping out of his mask. Then we get the iconic spot where Taker sends Mankind head first through the Spanish announce table with the steps. That and a chokeslam only gets a two-count! A Tombstone will finally do it and The Undertaker retains the WWF Championship. You may pause here if you need a breather. Or hang with it for a few moments for a famous botch. Paul Bearer was supposed to eat a fireball from Mankind after Taker pulled him in the way. But poor Mick couldn’t get the thing to light, so after missing the set up twice, Taker just takes the flash paper and lighter from Mankind and just throws it into Bearer’s face.
WWF officials keeping Owen and the Bulldog from ringside as Bret Hart comes down for his match with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This match has been moved to the main event slot to give Austin more time to recover after getting jumped by Owen and Bulldog in the bathroom earlier tonight. And this is a fight from the word go, another match that starts quick and maybe spends 60 seconds in the ring before heading to the outside. Bret eats the railing and both sets of stairs hard. Austin is beating the hell out of Bret until Earl Hebner eats it and Bret goes to work on the injured knee of Austin with a chair. Bret is all over Austin’s knee, including a good looking figure 4 around the ring post. He even goes so far as to remove the brace from Austin’s leg. What started out as a fierce brawl had developed into a technical fight where one competitor is trying to physically dissect his opponent. This fight spills back to the outside where Austin is able to take back over. Back in the ring, Bret takes one of his signature turnbuckle bumps that always looks absolutely devastating. The momentum changes again when Austin’s knee buckles when he tries to execute a piledriver and Bret is right back to the knee. Austin goes for the Stunner, but Bret clings to the ropes and dispatches Austin with a back mule kick to the twig and berries. Stone Cold reverses a sharpshooter attempt only to put it on himself but here comes Owen and the Bulldog to distract Austin. Stone Cold gets the hold back on but this time Bulldog is able to interfere with a solid chair shot to the back. Austin will win by DQ and is robbed of a clean win against Hart.
Must-see matches: WWF Championship – The Undertaker (c) vs. Mankind and Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
A pair of incredibly physical and intense matches, these are great for their own reasons. The WWF title match is a car crash in the good sense of the word. The main event is a war, with alternating brawls and technical mastery.
Overall grade: C
This one is a two-match card. The first three matches are easily passed by, the last two are must-see. If I had to complain about the evening in general, it’s that we didn’t get finishes for a majority of matches. Too many DQs, count outs and swerves really fings the show in my eyes. This card could have been a lot more.
In Your House 15: A Cold Day In Hell – May 11, 1997 – Richmond, VA
Another first time watch for me, but this one features a much-discussed undercard battle between Vader and the debuting Ken Shamrock. We’ve also got a gauntlet match and Stone Cold Steve Austin gets a shot at The Undertaker’s WWF Title.
Flash Funk and Triple H get us underway tonight and Funk comes to the ring without the Funkettes, which is being pitched because of the presence of Chyna. She makes her presence felt twice early on, blasting Flash with a clothesline and a huge right hand. Flash gets some good looking offense in during a comeback but eventually Triple H takes back over. He throws Flash off the top rope with a belly-to-back suplex that turns Funk completely inside out, pedigree and the win. This is pretty much a showcase for Chyna to get over.
Mankind and Rocky Maivia face off next, in one of the first battles in their storied history. Mankind weathers an early storm to beat on Maivia for a little while. Rocky snap mares Mankind over the top rope to start the brawl on the outside, topped off with a Rock Bottom on the steel ramp. Mankind is worse for wear for the rest of this match, Rocky tees off with a rough looking clothesline from behind, a shoulderbreaker and tries a cross body from the top but Foley rolls through with the mandible claw to get the win out of nowhere. Not a bad match at all, if not a little formulaic but no where near the caliber that they would have down the road.
The gauntlet match is up next as Ahmed Johnson will take on up to three members of the Nation. If Ahmed can run the gauntlet, Faarooq will disband the Nation. Crush is first up. Match one was short and a little sloppy, but ultimately not much there. It’s kinda telling that in a five-and-a-half minute match, they spent nearly one of those in a sleeper spot. For some reason, Crush kept trying to call the Nation into the ring, even though they’d been banished from ringside by Gorilla Monsoon. He’d set up the heart punch, eat a heel kick and go down. Savio Vega up next, he sold an ankle injury down the ramp but then was healed as soon as he got in the ring. All Savio early as he just beats on Ahmed from the time he first gets in the ring. Ahmed makes his comeback, complete with a huge powerslam. Savio bails before he can eat a Pearl River Plunge and drives a chair into Ahmed’s face, to draw the disqualification. He continues to wear Ahmed out with the chair while Faarooq makes his way to the ring. Looks like this match is going to go the same as the first two: Ahmed gets pounded on by the fresh man then comes back. This one includes a Pearl River Plunge, which Faarooq kicks out of. A chop block and a Dominator and the Nation will continue on. Ahmed showing great effort and endurance. But ultimately, these were three very similar matches that for the most part were rather slow.
Vader welcomes Ken Shamrock to active competition in a no holds barred match, the only way to win here is knockout or submission. This one absolutely has the big fight feel. Vader eats some solid leg kicks here, those are live rounds. There appear to be a good number of live rounds being fired in this one. Shamrock manages to throw a couple of suplexes on the big man, but every time he tries to get a submission on, Vader makes for the ropes and/or takes a powder. Shamrock transitions from an armbar to a triangle. Vader recovered with a vertical suplex over the top rope and Shamrock takes a rough looking bump to the outside. We get some brawling on the outside where Vader takes control and bounces Ken off of whatever is around the ring. Vader with a decent RNC attempt, but his size works to his disadvantage and Ken is easily able to roll over and out. Vader goes for the moonsault but Shamrock moves, mostly. Shamrock pinning Vader in the corner with a number of solid looking shots. Vader takes so much before pushing Ken backwards and knocking his dick stiff with a right hand. Somehow, Shamrock is conscious enough to single leg Vader and roll into an ankle lock. This was a fight. They worked at times, but this was a fight and physical as hell.
Our main event is next as Stone Cold Steve Austin challenges for the WWF Championship against The Undertaker. The Hart Foundation makes their way to ringside before the match starts, but they come out from the back, despite being told the whole show that they had to buy five seats in the first row. So they come down the ramp, then hop the barricade to sit down? Austin attacks in the commotion and here we go. Taker throws Austin to the outside, who immediately pulls Owen Hart over the barricade. Both guys pound on Owen to send him back to his seat. We get some pretty good chain wrestling back in the ring. In the years to come, these two will have some great brawls but this is a pretty technical matchup early. Austin goes after Taker’s knee but eventually the champ has had enough and starts throwing soupbones. Austin is all over Taker’s knee, inside and outside the ring. Undertaker gets a short comeback in, but Stone Cold ducks a big boot and goes right back to the knee. Austin getting a ton of offense in in this one. Austin eats a HUGE chokeslam but is able to come back and hit the champ with a Stunner. Before Austin can make the cover, Brian Pillman rings the bell. The distraction is enough to let Taker recover, he goes for a Tombstone, Austin reverses, Taker reverses back, tombstone and he retains. The Hart Foundation immediately hits the ring after the three-count.
Must-See Matches: Vader vs. Ken Shamrock and Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker
The second half of the card is more than worth your time. Vader and Shamrock beat the tar out of each other in a near MMA fight. The title match is an old-school championship match where the hell finds a way to just almost beat the champ before he is ultimately vanquished. Ric Flair made a living going to every town and making every single local challenger look good before walking out with the belt, just like Taker did for Austin. Plus, this might be some of the best technical work that Austin did in a PPV main event. During his title run, almost all of his big main events would be wild brawls but here he shows off all of the technical skill that brought him to the dance.
Overall Grade: C+, maybe B-
The second half of the card was great, the first half was… pretty slow. Even with the names involved in the first three matches, the action was rather plodding throughout.
In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede – July 16, 1997 – Calgary, Alberta, Canada
This is most often cited as one of the best pay-per-views of the era and one of the best the company ever put on. So I’ll try not to let this show’s reputation precede it. I’ve only seen one of the four matches on the card. It was promoted as a one-match card, around the 10-man main event but undercard delivers on so many levels. The first thing you notice is just how hot the crowd in Calgary is. They are into every match, from the opening bell to emotional closing shots. I’m also going to try to write less from here on out. We’ll see how well this goes.
Triple H and Mankind continue their quickly intensifying rivalry from King of the Ring last month. This starts as a fast paced opener where both guys get all of their spots in, which for Mick means most of his big bumps. They are all over the ring and ringside and the aisleway and of course, Chyna finds her way into the match as well. It then evolves as Triple H starts working on Mankind’s knee. Also need to point out that Foley suffers a case of ringpostitus at the hands of Chyna. Unfortunately, this one ends as a double countout, but it helps set up their epic cage match at Summerslam perfectly. They continue to brawl through the crowd as officials try to separate the two of them.
A very unique match for the time up next, as The Great Sasuke takes on Taka Michinoku in a light heavyweight showcase. The match style was unique for the time but also the fact that the WWF put two guys on pay-per-view who were not contracted talent for them. Taka hadn’t signed his deal with the fed yet, but they were planting the seeds to start the LHW division. I don’t think Sasuke wrestled for the company again. You can judge how well they followed through for themselves. Before the match gets going, Helmsley and Mankind come brawling back out into the crowd which is a great touch. This match built beautifully for the time it was given. They started out with ground-based mat wrestling, then opened up and started with the big strikes and quick, high-flying moves. Sasuke tried to kick Taka’s head into the 3rd row on multiple occasions. The crowd also built into this match. It was pretty quiet to start with, but they got into the action after a few minutes. The building popped big when Taka hit the huge plancha off the top rope. Sasuke even kicks out of the Michinoku Driver, which was kinda high and tight on the landing. A Thunder Fire Bomb is what finally gives Sasuke the win. Then back to more of Mankind and Triple H, this time out behind the Saddledome.
The WWF Championship is on the line next as The Undertaker defends against the man they call Vader, replacing Ahmed Johnson. The build to the reveal of Kane has just started and in the pre-match promo, Paul Bearer has started calling The Undertaker a murderer. In fact, you’ll hear him chirp that word at Taker throughout the match as well. This match is a stylistic departure from the first two of the night, as it’s slower and more deliberate. Vader takes a ton of offense early until Undertaker goes after Paul Bearer on the outside and the Mastodon is able to take over. The fans are really into Taker’s comeback, even shaking the hard camera with their stomps. Two chokeslams, including a one off the second rope, won’t put away Vader but the damnedest Tombstone you’ve ever seen will and Taker retains.
Now our main event: The Hart Foundation of Bret, Owen, the Bulldog, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman take on Stone Cold, Goldust, Ken Shamrock and the LOD. I have never heard a louder crowd for an entrance, than when the members of the Hart Foundation come out one by one. This is an incredible moment for this entire family and a bittersweet one as well, but I’ll talk more about that later. This is hands-down one of the best multi-man matches I have ever seen. It is so well put together, so well conceived with so much chaos and drama sprinkled in. Not to mention the atmosphere of this match. It’s a damn good match in any other building. It was raised to legendary status in the Calgary Saddledome. The Anvil is really the workhorse for his team in this match, while the Americans all seem to get equal time in the ring. Shamrock gets some feature spots but all five guys get their time. The finish is almost an afterthought as
The match breaks down into a chaotic brawl with other Hart family members joining the fight from ringside. It’s then a Hart family reunion in the ring, as Stu, Helen and a number of other relatives make their way into the ring as the show closes. I said this was also a bittersweet moment as this is really the final public triumph for the family and things start to fall apart from there. Pillman will pass away less than three months from this night. Owen, Bulldog, Niedhart would all pass away prematurely in the coming years. Shots of Owen and his son are still just heartbreaking.
Must-See Matches: All of them
There are no misses here and the main event is one of the best in a long time. Just watch the whole show. It comes in at about 1:45, which is short even for In Your House standards. It’s well worth your time investment.
Overall Grade: A+
This is, hands down, the best show I have seen during any of my review projects so far and without a doubt will probably take the top spot for the best In Your Show show ever. There’s not much else I can really say, you need to see this card.
Ground Zero: In Your House 17 – September 7, 1997 – Louisville, KY
The fallout from Summerslam is front and center here, as The Undertaker is looking for revenge against Shawn Michaels for costing him the WWF Championship the month before. However, just a quick glance down the card makes me think we might be dealing with a one-match card.
Goldust and Brian Pillman kick us off this evening, in an “Indecent Proposal” match. If Pillman wins, Marlena must be his valet for the next 30 days. If Goldust wins, Pilman will leave the WWF. This will also be Pillman’s final PPV, as he would pass away the day of Badd Blood just a month later. I forgot that Pillman claimed the Runnels’ daughter was his and that’s how this got fired up. That’s a bit of a shock right at the beginning here. Pillman sells like crazy for Goldust, which is extremely appropriate given the story they’re telling in this match. Pillman really doesn’t get enough credit for his selling throughout his career. The crowd is really behind Goldust in this one. Ugh, we get a ref bump in the first match, Pillman steals Marlena’s purse, bashes Goldust with it to win Marlena for the next month. We get the rather uncomfortable visual of Pillman dragging Marlena away and into an awaiting car as Lawler reveals there was a brick in the purse. A decent match that told a good story that doesn’t look as good in retrospect as we watch a kidnapping live on TV and the King jokes about a likely rape. Some of the Attitude Era really does not hold up in 2020. At the very least, JR and Vince are rightfully giving Lawler all the shit for being giddy for Pillman.
Brian Christopher and Scott Putski are up next for a blow off of their short feud. Lawler and Christopher recently attacked Putski after a match so here’s a match. The crowd is significantly quieter for this one. Funny to see Christopher bust out The Stroke in the middle of this one. This one looks like it was cut short before it had a chance to get going because of injury. It looks like Putski did something to his knee taking a dive on the outside from Christopher. And yes, as they zoom in on Putski, that is in fact a dislocated patella, yikes. As someone who’s done that before, that brings back some memories…
The triple threat match is up next as we devolve into full gang warfare between the Nation, Los Boricuas and the DOA; it’s Savio Vega vs. Faarooq vs. Crush. They explain the rules of a triple threat match in the introduction and it’s a little quaint to think of a time when that wasn’t a common stipulation that everyone is familiar with. Faarooq uses his belt on both guys early and catches Savio right across the face. There may be a receipt somewhere in this match for that one. We get a lot of pinfalls broken up, really hammering home the third man aspect of the match. I think the company is still learning how to plan out and pace a triple threat match here. I doubt this is the first one they did, but it’s rough compared to many later matches. I also wonder if this match wasn’t originally supposed to stretch past ten minutes but they needed to get the time back. Crush nails Faarooq with a heart punch, Savio catches Crush in the back of the head with a heel kick to get the win. Physical but a little sloppy, it wasn’t a terrible match but the slow pace definitely hurt it.
El Torito takes on Max Mini next and this one seemingly comes out of nowhere. Mini is way over in Louisville. That was a fun lucha match that ended in a lame way. Aftera bunch of amazing moves, a simple sunset flip got the win for Mini.
Sgt. Slaughter is in the ring with JR before our next match to have Dude Love and Stone Cold Steve Austin officially relinquish the WWF Tag Team Title belts. Austin is just a few weeks out from the neck injury that would ultimately shorten his career and he’s showing few effects. Dude Love with a great line: “It is with a heavy heart and a pained pancreas that I give up this belt.” Austin is not happy about being kept from wrestling and makes his point very clear by stunning JR. I guess they didn’t become friends until later in his run there.
And now the match for those vacant titles, a four-way elimination match between The Headbangers, The Godwinns, Owen Hart and the British Bulldog and the Legion of Doom. Bulldog is the European Champion here, he wouldn’t have to job to Shawn Michaels in his hometown for another 2 weeks. Phineas Godwinn is in full Deliverance mode here. The fun-loving Godwinns are long gone. Just like the excitement in this match. The pop in this match came when Austin came back to stun Owen and cost him and Bulldog the match. The Headbangers with the upset for the titles and man that was just a plodding mess.
Bret Hart defends the WWF Championship against The Patriot up next. The Harts are fully at war with the USA and Bret is overwhelmed with boos when he comes out. It was the complete opposite reaction from the last event I watched in Calgary. This was a competently wrestled match, if not a little slow. Patriot works the arm, Bret works the knee.The end comes as the Patriot locks on the sharpshooter and Bret reverses into it for the submission win. It’s not a terrible match, though I did find it painfully slow at times.
Our main event is the first-ever one on one matchup between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. Shawn is the clear heel based on the crowd’s reaction, even though Vince claims that all the ladies still love Shawn. I cannot wait until the boss finally decides to get off of commentary in the next month or so. Michaels tries to bail early but is walked back to the ring by Sgt. Slaughter, only for Taker to use referee Mike Chioda as a weapon and throws his over the top rope and onto Shawn on the floor. Shawn bounces off of everything on the set, including taking a press slam on the steel stage. Michaels is selling like crazy for everything that Taker is doing to him, but it doesn’t feel like it’s as over the top as that Hogan match. He’s getting over the fury that Taker is unleashing in his quest for revenge. Slaughter finally sends a new ref and Shawn has never been happier to see Earl Hebner. The Undertaker just hammers Michaels, even through a few hope spots. Hebner gets squashed by Michaels and Rick Rude emerges to hand Shawn a knuckle duster. Taker eats the loaded right hand but there’s no official, so Triple H and Chyna bring one down. Taker kicks out from the loaded punch, so that ref is tossed to the outside and worked over by DX. Michaels helps up Hebner only to plant him into the top turnbuckle and we’re officially in clusterfuck territory. Tim White finally randomly comes to the ring to call for the bell but that’s not stopping anything. Taker eats Sweet Chin Music and gets tied up in the ropes. Shawn lines up to blast the prone Taker with a chair but Taker kicks it up in his face. The locker room finally empties to try to keep these two apart, Billy Gunn is the unfortunate recipient of a chokeslam and then we get the iconic leap from Taker into the aisle onto like 10 guys. DX flees and Taker stands tall in the ring.
Must-See Match: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
This isn’t here because it’s a tremendous wrestling match. This is a sloppy, physical brawl with a few iconic spots. This is here because it is the beginning of the years long rivalry between these two and if you love their encounters at Wrestlemanias 25 and 26, you may as well know their entire history and see the night that it all began.
Overall grade: C-
The whole night just seemed to crawl by. Every match was slow on its own merits, maybe with the exception of the main event. Poor Scott Putski had his WWF career cut off literally at the knees by this show. The tag team division slid into a really weird time in history. We’ll also just slide right by the whole kidnapping/rape angle thing that opened the show. It’s a show, it happened and while there really wasn’t anything that was blatantly bad there also wasn’t a whole ton of good here either.
Badd Blood: In Your House 18 – October 5, 1997 – St. Louis, MO
We all know why we know this card. Main event, Hell in a Cell, debut of Kane. But there’s a lot more here and unfortunately that includes the death of Brian Pillman. Pillman was found dead in his hotel room in Minnesota on the morning of this show. Needless to say, that affected the rundown of the show.
We open with a 3-on-2 handicap match between the Nation with The Rock, D’Lo Brown and Kama Mustafa and the Legion of Doom. Ken Shamrock was supposed to team with the Road Warriors but was injured by Faarooq 3 weeks before the PPV and apparently had re-aggravated his injury the weekend before. This one starts out pretty hot then settles into a Road Warriors match, but with the added element of The Rock. His work helps set a pace for this match. Animal takes a ton of the heat and I can’t think of a match where he takes this much punishment. Hawk gets the hot tag, Faarooq makes an appearance to distract Animal before they could hit Rocky with the Doomsday Device and The Rock gets Hawk with a Rock Bottom for a pin. I never liked how the LOD was booked in this run with the company and I think this a prime example of it. With as hot as this crowd was for the Warriors, they should have overpowered the Nation and overcome the numbers game.
Vince once again reports on Brian Pillman’s death and explains that the next match is the replacement for the Pillman v. Dude Love match. Mosaic and Tarantula take on Max Mini and Nova and you get the feeling these four have had this match many times before. The spots were all there and it’s a pretty standard lucha. Things got a little botchy at times including the finish, where Tarantula definitely kicked out and Mosaic definitely cut off the pinfall.
Sunny is out to be our guest ring announcer for the WWF Tag Team title match as the Godwinns challenge the Headbangers for the belts. It’s a tag team match. The commentary team spends as much time talking about Thrasher’s tongue piercing than calling the match. Hearing the broadcasters have a quiet moral panic about the Headbangers’ lifestyle is equal parts funny and cringy. The Godwinns take the tag straps when Phinneas catches Mosh mid-stage dive (mostly, Mosh almost got royally fucked up there) and turns it into a power bomb for the win. They would drop the belts to the LOD two nights later.
We get our legends ceremony, which is a great nod to the history of the sport in St. Louis. Gene Kiniski, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz and Sam Muchnich.
Our first singles match of the night is up now as Owen Hart and Faarooq square off in the finals of a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental championship. Owen is clearly out of sorts by the presence of Steve Austin at ringside, whose there to present the new champion with the belt. Owen and Faarooq are having a decent big man v little man match which you wouldn’t know because the broadcast is too busy following Austin to the Spanish and French announce tables, the time keepers table, etc. Austin nails Faarooq with the I-C title belt, Owen gets the pin, then the belt comes flying into the ring and Austin stomps off, Faarooq gets screwed and we’ll finally get that rematch at Survivor Series. The match is inconsequential here, it’s all about Austin.
The second replacement match is up now as Los Boricuas take on the DOA in eight-man tag team action. The Boricuas got some nice spots in during their heat on Chainz but the DOA take the win after a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker in an alright match.
The flag match is up and with a stipulation added today that the match can be won by pinfall, submission or by capturing your country’s flag. This was added because all four men were coming in with injuries. They start off with a brawl as Bret Hart and Vader pair off on one side of the ringside area as the British Bulldog and the Patriot brawl on the other. I actually think the new stipulation helped open up the match, allowing for more variety in how this match is composed. Pole matches tend not to be great wrestling matches because of the limitations of the win goal. These four mixed up working for the win to keep the match interesting throughout. Sometimes the Patriot is fighting his way up the pole, at times he and Bret are trading submissions, sometimes Vader and the Bulldog are trading pinfall attempts. It kept a long tag match from becoming stale. I’d also like to point out that Vader went for his moonsault, Bulldog moved and Vader landed almost on his feet. Vader was hovering around that 400 pound mark at the time. Read that sentence a few times if you need to. Then watch this (insert gif).
The finish came out of nowhere, Bret reverses a roll up on the Patriot, and the commentary team misses that Bret had a handful of tights.
And the Cell comes down. There’s not much that needs to be said about this match. The Undertaker. Shawn Michaels. The first Hell in a Cell match. That ending. You already know it’s going to be on the must see match list.
Must-see matches: The Nation of Domination vs. the Legion of Doom and The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
Let’s start with the not obvious one. I really think this was the best opening match I’ve seen in this series since Bret Hart and Hakishi back at IYH 1. It was up and down, it had the crowd going, it was well paced, it did everything you want an opening match to do.
Taker v. Michaels is the measuring stick by which all Hell in a Cell matches have been judged by ever since. They beat the dog out of each other, they fought on every surface available to them, the ring, ringside, outside the cell, and on top of the cell. And that poor cameraman Shawn brutalized.
Overall Grade: C
This is a tough one to grade because of the circumstances surrounding the day of the show. Pillman’s passing caused so many changes to the undercard and changes to the timing that it’s almost not fair to judge this one like the rest. That said, Hell in the Cell was amazing, the flag match was good, the opener was good and there was a lot of fill in the middle.
D-Generation X: In Your House 19 – December 7, 1997 – Springfield, MA
And we have reached the end. This show was really the beginning of a new era in the company. It’s the first pay-per-view they put on where Bret Hart wasn’t part of the company since Wrestlemania 2, 11 years prior. We’d see the introduction of a new title, a Hall of Famer return to the ring, a boxing match of all things and the first major title defense for Shawn Michaels as the leader of D-Generation X.
Brain Christopher and Taka Michinoku open the show, battling to become the first WWF Light Heavyweight champion. The WWF’s take on the cruiserweight division that was so successful in WCW had a lot of potential and unfortunately didn’t get the chance to fulfill it. We got a highly competitive, physical match that had plenty of aerial offence without going full lucha libre. At least on this night, they gave the match the time it needed to breathe and develop, something the title would rarely be allowed in the future. Another solid opener to a pay-per-view. Taka would take home the title after Christopher missed an Alabama Jam and followed up with a Michinoku Driver.
The gang wars continue as Los Boricuas of Jesus, Jose and Miguel take on the Disciples of Apocalypse of 8-Ball, Chainz and Skull in six-man tag team competition. It looks a lot like the eight-man tag match they had back at Badd Blood. It looked like Miguel Perez hyperextended his knee coming off the top rope, but it was a huge ruse as he came in after Jose took a Death Valley Driver, dropped a somersault leg drop and switched the pin to give the Boricuas the victory.
A special Toughman contest is next as Marvelous Marc Mero faces Butterbean, who fought the night before on the undercard of the Oscar de la Hoya v. Wilfredo Rivera card where he was successful. While the Butterbean/Bart Gunn fight at Wrestlemania 15 was legit, this one is a clear work and not that great a one. After taking a laughable dive at the end of the 3rd, Butterbean wins in the 4th when Mero punches him in the dick and hits him with a stool. A real Toughman contest that was.
The Tag Team titles are on the line as the Legion of Doom attempts to regain the straps from the New Age Outlaws. The champs do some walk and talk on the way to the ring, running down the LOD then fleeing to the back when the challengers come down at them. WWF officials would force the Outlaws to the ring before Hawk and Animal could drag them to the ring, the champs displaying a great ability to play the chickenshit heel. Outlaws eat most of the offense and try to powder before getting Hawk with a low blow and a random cooler shot on the outside. Hawk takes the heat, Animal gets the hot tag and they’re ready for the Doomsday Device before Henry Godwinn comes to the ring with a bucket, waffles Hawk, Hawk takes it away, clangs the Outlaws and we have a DQ finish. Blah.
Triple H and Sargent Slaughter are up next in the Boot Camp match, which I’m assuming is a no DQ match. Helmsley with the pre-match promo where he promises to bang Sarge’s wife after he wins. So he’s got that going for him. Which is nice. Helmsley selling like crazy for Sarge from the onset. This is apparently not a falls count anywhere match, which we don’t find out until Sarge tries a pin on the outside. Helmsely does take the stairs right in the dick, so there’s that. Triple H finally takes over and bounces Sarge around the ringside area, which includes plenty of Sarge pulling his pants up because he took his belt off the beat Helmsley with earlier. Sarge takes some huge bumps in this one, going over to the outside a few times then the Flair beale from the top. And we get a sleeper spot, in the middle of a street fight, and Springfield could care less. Triple H finally wins with a Pedigree on a steel chair like 8 minutes after he should have. Bleh.
Jeff Jarrett returns to re-debut following his run as a Horseman, bleh. At least he’s not wearing his Chippendale’s gear anymore. He’s taking on the Undertaker in a match that I can’t remember if there was any build to or not. Jarrett rocking hair that I can only call Ziggler-esque. Taker beats on Jarrett, Jarrett finally takes out the knee but Takes fights back before Kane shows up and chokeslams Jarrett to get his brother DQ’ed. We get another face off in the ring, Kane even takes a few shots at Taker but the Undertaker will not fight his brother. This was one that didn’t need a PPV stage to get it’s point across. This would have been much better as a Raw match.
Stone Cold Steve Austin defends the Intercontinental title against Rocky Maivia, I mean The Rock. The Rock has possession of the belt, but Austin is still the champ. This is unfortunately a phase of their feud that isn’t remembered as fondly as their battles over the big belt. They still had a pretty intense build to this match with some great moments. Austin comes to the ring via pick up truck and the match gets off to a quick start with the Nation jumping in and stomping out Austin before the bell rings. Poor D’Lo gets tossed over the top rope into the windshield of the truck and gets a Stunner on the roof for his troubles. The match itself unfortunately isn’t much to write home about. They’d have far better matches than this. The rest of the Nation is all over this one, even right in front of the referee, the referee gets stunned (which we don’t see, thanks guys in the truck) but at least Austin got his belt back. By the way, this led to Austing being forced to forfeit the title to the Rock the next night on Raw. But that was not to be, as that was the night the Intercontinental belt went off a bridge into the Detroit River.
Main event time as Ken Shamrock challenges Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship. Shamrock is firmly in control for the early part of the match but Michaels takes over after grabbing the ref to avoid going for a belly to belly suplex and mule kicking Ken in the Shamrocks. Helmsley and Chyna take their shots on the outside and the numbers game looks like it will be too much for Shamrock to overcome. Shamrock finally makes his comeback, unloads his entire arsenal and gets the ankle lock on Michaels but Triple H and Chyna slide in and the champ is finally disqualified due to interference. This wasn’t really a bad match, but there wasn’t a ton of stuff that made it a standout match either. Shamrock looked good despite not winning the title and Michaels essentially pulled a Flair. The world champion made the next challenger look like he could best the best and then just pull the rug out from underneath him.
Must See Match: Taka Michinoku vs. Brian Christopher
There’s some history to back this one. Sure the Light Heavyweight title was a minor blip on the Attitude Era radar, but there’s still some intrigue here. Not to mention, it was a pretty good match and in the context of trying to match the success the WCW had been having with letting lighter wrestlers feature, it was a step in the right direction.
Overall Grade: D
There was some good on this night, but not enough to equal out the meh. Several matches would have and should have been segments on Raw. The Boot Camp match was several minutes too long, the tag match was an overbooked nothing, the main event was a solid match but nothing special.
And that’s it, that’s the end of the In Your House events. Well, not really. The show’s title would fade into the background of whatever they decided to call the next event. For example, the February 1998 event was officially titled “No Way Out Of Texas: In Your House”. That event would be the last one to carry any IYH bannering in the arena. The name would continue on promotional materials until December 1998, when Rock Bottom: In Your House became the final one to carry the moniker. But the idea of the original In Your House shows was long gone by then.
So there it is; 19 events over 3 years with 25 matches worth going out of your way to see:
| Event | Match | Date |
| IYH 1: Premiere | Bret Hart vs. Hakushi | 5/14/95 |
| IYH 2: The Lumberjacks | Intercontinental Title: 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 | WWF Championship: 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 | WWF Championship: Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel | 4/28/96 |
| IYH 8: Beware of Dog 2 | Caribbean Strap Match: 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 | WWF Championship: 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 | Buried Alive Match: The Undertaker vs. Mankind | 10/20/96 |
| IYH 12: It’s Time | Intercontinental Title: Marc Mero vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley | 12/15/96 |
| IYH 13: Final Four | WWF Championship: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker vs. Vader | 2/16/97 |
| IYH 14: Revenge of the ‘Taker | WWF Championship: The Undertaker vs. Mankind | 4/20/97 |
| IYH 14: Revenge of the ‘Taker | Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart | 4/20/97 |
| IYH 15: A Cold Day In Hell | No Holds Barred Match: Vader vs. Ken Shamrock | 5/11/97 |
| IYH 15: A Cold Day In Hell | WWF Championship: The Undertaker vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin | 5/11/97 |
| IYH 16: Canadian Stampede | Triple H vs. Mankind | 7/6/97 |
| IYH 16: Canadian Stampede | The Great Sasuke vs. Taka Michinoku | 7/6/97 |
| IYH 16: Canadian Stampede | WWF Championship: The Undertaker vs. Vader | 7/6/97 |
| IYH 16: Canadian Stampede | The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, the British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and the Legion of Doom | 7/6/97 |
| IYH 17: Ground Zero | The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels | 9/7/97 |
| IYH 18: Badd Blood | Handicap 2-on-3 Match: Legion of Doom vs. Nation of Domination | 10/5/97 |
| IYH 18: Badd Blood | Hell in A Cell: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels | 10/5/97 |
| IYH 19: D-Generation X | WWF Light Heavyweight Title: Brian Christopher vs. Taka Michinoku | 12/7/97 |
The Finisher 