In Your House 6

Legacy Review

In Your House 6: Rage in the Cage

February 18, 1996 from the Louisville Gardens in Louisville, KY

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

For the first time ever, WWF is holding a PPV in between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. You can easily tell when you're in the years WWF was struggling financially when the ring mat is already dirty before the show even starts. It's awful tonight.

Crybaby Match: Razor Ramon def The 1-2-3 Kid (w/Ted Dibiase) in 12:01- This seemingly dormant feud was revived when Kid cost Ramon the IC title at the Rumble. So what is a Crybaby Match you ask? Well, it means the loser has to wear a diaper and suck on a giant baby bottle. Yeah. The crowd seems into the idea though so there's that. Toothpick flick and slaps at the start. Kid gets clotheslined 360 to the floor. He hits Ramon with a springboard clothesline coming back in and unleashes the kicks. Chop exchange. Ramon hits a corner clothesline and the fallaway slam. Kid escapes a Razor's Edge setup. DiBiase gets some baby powder they brought with them and throws it in Ramon's face. Kid hits a missile dropkick for 2. Splash off the top for 2. He hits another kick to Ramon's face and slaps on a sleeper. Ramon backs into the corner but Kid puts it back on, and we get five minutes or so of Ramon's usual scintillating hold selling. In other words, he lies there and does pretty much nothing. When he finally gets up he lifts Kid and drops him crotch first on the top rope. Both guys are down. Kid crawls over and covers for 2. Ramon punches and sets Kid up for the back superplex. Kid fights it off and hits a reverse crossbody, but Ramon rolls through it for 2. Kid spinning heel kick for 2. Ramon sets Kid up on the top again and hits an avalanche fallaway slam! He calls for the Razor's Edge. DiBiase distracts and Kid gets another handful of powder. Ramon kicks it in his face and hits the Razor's Edge! It's done....no! Ramon pulled Kid up out of the pin! Second Razor's Edge! Now it's done. Kid takes a forced sip from the bottle and Ramon fits his diaper on. Pretty good start and finish, dull as hell middle. **1/4

In the Superstar Line room backstage, Jake Roberts accosts Sunny with his python. He's also holding a snake. Meanwhile, as Fink's getting set up for the next match we can see jack of all trades Tony Chimel doing his best Cleaner era Kenny Omega impersonation sweeping the ring out.

 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Elizabeth Hilden) def Duke "The Dumpster" Drose in 9:40- This is a rematch of the Rumble preshow match, the first ever PPV preshow, where Drose won by DQ to get #30 and saddle Trips with #1. Trips also cut Drose's hair on weekly TV leading up to this. Hilden's appearance is another sign of WWF's slow lurching toward the Attitude Era, as she was a Penthouse model at the time. Instant slugfest as soon as both guys are in. Drose throws Trips by the hair. Trips flip in the corner. Press slam. Drose distracts the ref by handing him his shirt then whipping Trips with his belt. Big boot. Trips is selling like a champ. Drose goes for mounted punches. Trips counters by dropping him on the turnbuckle. Lawler's got a mic to talk to Hilden during the match. Oh, great. Drose counters the Pedigree with an inverted atomic drop. Trips backdrops Drose to the floor and runs him into the stairs. Back in Trips hits European uppercuts and a kneedrop for 2. An eye poke cuts Drose's comeback off. High knee for 2. Drose gets a boot up in the corner. Double clothesline! Drose hits a spinebuster. After a powerslam he yells "IT'S TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH" and hits....another crappier powerslam. Instead of covering he goes to the floor to get his garbage can. While the ref is taking the can away, Trips takes the lid and whacks Drose in the head with it! Trips covers for the win. That dumbass Drose did it to himself. *

1-800-TITAN91. It's how people shopped before the internet. We get a recap of Yokozuna face turn, which began with him and Vader getting into it at the Rumble. Yoko and Bulldog miscommunicated in a tag match on Raw, Cornette got in Yoko's grill about it, and the rest is history. Not shown in the package is Vader's famous attack on WWF President Gorilla Monsoon the Raw after the Rumble that got him immediately suspended just after his WWF debut. Backstage Yokozuna cuts his first ever promo in English. Then Dok Hendrix says "Get ready for a train wreck!". Ah, shoot comments that aren't meant to be shoot comments. The best.

 

Yokozuna def "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (w/Jim Cornette) by DQ in 5:05- Another slugfest at the bell. Yoko hits clotheslines and Bulldog begs off. Yoko hits a slam but Bulldog dodges the elbow. Bulldog slowly chops Yoko down with clotheslines. Cornette gets a quick racket shot it. Yoko reverses a corner whip and hits an avalanche. He sets up the Banzai Drop. Cornette pulls Bulldog to safety. On the floor Bulldog dodges and Yoko runs into the post. Bulldog double ax handle off the top for 2. More clotheslines that Yoko no sells. Samoan drop. Belly to belly! Cornette gets in the ring and whacks Yoko in the back with his racket for the cheap DQ. Vader is here! Presumably he's been reinstated. The heels handcuff Yoko to the top rope and proceed with the beatdown. Cornette's attorney Clarence Mason also makes an appearance. Finally the officials restore order. That was about as "good" as it possibly could have been. 1/2*

IC Champ Goldust fondles the IT guy in the AOL room. WWF, ahead of the curve on everything the internet had to offer. Everyone should be happy Chris Hansen wasn't hiding somewhere.

 

Wrestlemania Title Shot on the Line: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels def "The King of Harts" Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) in 15:57- It's the first PPV between the Rumble and WM so it only makes sense to have the Rumble winner's title shot on the line. It's also blowing off the feud that started when Owen gave Shawn the Enzuguri of Death on Raw in November, a really good worked shoot angle where Shawn collapsed in the middle of the match and was worked on by EMTs as if it was a legit injury for several anxious minutes. Shawn starts his entrance on the roof of the house set and swings off on a rope, foreshadowing his epic upcoming WM zipline entrance. Shawn charges the ring, jumps Owen and tosses him out as his music still plays. Shawn then takes his time with the rest of the entrance. We're full on in the smarmy, super arrogant Shawn that was pretty much him in real life, as evidenced by his crowd interactions. Some people loved it and some people absolutely hated it. Shawn himself has admitted numerous times he was a total jackass in this period. Still one hell of a wrestler though. Once he's finally done stripping Owen jaws at him about kicking his head off again. Shoving. Shawn ducks a clothesline, slides under Owen's legs to the floor and starts high fiving everyone around ringside. When he gets back in they go speed again, and this time Owen slides under Shawn to the floor. Shawn hits him with a crossbody off the top to the floor! Double ax handle off the top back in the ring. Owen tries to counter a headlock with a back suplex, but Shawn flips out of that, does a double leg takedown, and literally walks on Owen. Shawn blatantly pulls hair to keep a headlock on, then makes a big show of pulling it more when Cornette protests to Hebner. Another crazy speed run ends with a cool double kip up. Shawn hits a hurricanrana. Owen does that great snap belly to belly suplex and stomps away on Shawn. Backbreaker. Neckbreaker for 2. Shawn fights off a Sharpshooter attempt so Owen puts a camel clutch on instead. A spinning heel kick sends Shawn to the floor. Owen tries to suplex him back in, but Shawn blocks and suplexes Owen to the floor! Back in Owen hits a missile dropkick for 2. Shawn slips out of a slam and gets a Gedo clutch for 2. Owen clotheslines him out of his boots. Sharpshooter! After a few tries Shawn just crawls to the ropes. Another flash Shawn roll up for 2. ENZUGURI! Shawn falls to the floor. He's dead, Jim. Owen rolls him back in and covers. Shawn kicks out! Shawn dodges and Owen crashes in the corner. Flying forearm. Shawn Kip Up of Bounding Energy. Another flying forearm. Slam and top rope elbow. Cornette gets on the apron and takes a shot. Shawn tunes up the band but Owen ducks the superkick! Shawn ducks another enzuguri! SUPERKICK! Shawn covers for the pin. Great match as you'd expect from these two, let down a little by the fact it never truly felt like Owen had a real chance at winning with the title shot stips. ***3/4

Promo for Wrestlemania 12. As the cage is being set up acting WWF President Roddy Piper comes out to the interview stage with Todd Pettingill. He officially sets up Shawn as the #1 contender for WM, and presages the overtime finish in the as yet unannounced Ironman match by saying the match will not stop until there's a winner. After that he calls Yokozuna a dumbass for letting himself get cuffed, runs down Vader in classic Piper style, and announces Yoko vs Vader at WM (a match that ended up being turned into a 6 man tag). Cornette and Mason come out to protest and we get some classic Cornette and Piper mic dueling. Pretty good way to kill time.

 

Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) def Diesel in 19:13- For the fourth time in less than two years Bret and Diesel are in a PPV match for the WWF Title. The cage is here because of Diesel interfering in the Bret/Undertaker title match at the Rumble. In fact, the blue bar cage is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and frankly it's looking its age. Nothing a fresh coat of paint couldn't cure but WWF's budget was awful tight. It's traditional WWF escape only rules with no ref in the ring. In a sign of which way the fandom was turning, Bret's pop was microscopic compared to Shawn's earlier. Back and forth slugfest start. Diesel knees in the corner. Bret kicks at his knee but Diesel's power is too much early. Bret blocks and Diesel takes the first cage shot. Bret climbs and Diesel stops. Bret's back is run into the cage. Man, the old cage is squeaking like crazy on these hits. Needs fresh paint and some WD-40. Diesel goes for the door, but as he steps over the top rope Bret pulls it up into his crotch. Both go for the door and counter each other. Bret starts working the knee. Diesel counters with a short clothesline. I mean, that's been Bret's strategery in every single one of their matches so far, you'd think Diesel would be ready for it this time. Diesel hits a side suplex. Bret gets up and starts to climb, but sees Diesel going for the door and turns around to stop him. More knee work. Another Bret climb is stopped and Diesel slams him off the top rope. Bret gets a knee up in the corner and hits a bulldog. Diesel stops a climb and back suplexes Bret from the cage. Bret dodges a charge and Diesel knees the top turnbuckle. Yet more knee work. Diesel reverses a whip. Bret bump! That woke the crowd up. They're about 70/30 for Bret with Diesel getting some pretty big boos. Bret kicks Diesel knee and quickly climbs. He gets over the top but Diesel stops him and drags him back in. Another Bret bump. Diesel goes for snake eyes but Bret pushes him into the cage. Diesel fights off the Sharpshooter. Bret changes tactics and starts working the back. Bret hits his usual second rope elbow off the top rope instead. Diesel stops another climb and hits a straight no nonsense low blow. He crawls for the door. Bret tries to stop him but Diesel fights him off. Just as he's about to get out, the Undertaker comes up from under the ring! He drags Diesel down into hell! Or Little People Land, whatever's under the ring this week. Bret easily climbs over to the floor to win. The show ends with Taker and Diesel staring off, their WM match all but official. The match was hurt by the classic escape rules. The layout was fine and logical, but the action never got out of second gear. It would have been better with pin/submission rules instead I think. The Taker/Diesel stuff worked pretty well too. *1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Very much a one match show, but the overall package isn't completely awful. It's also an interesting show to watch historically, with feuds ending to clear the decks for WM while setting up WM matches on the first ever post-Rumble pre-WM PPV.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-