In Your House 8

Legacy Review

In Your House 8: Beware of Dog

This is the famous IYH where a storm knocked the power out for the whole middle portion of the show, so Vince restaged the matches that were missed on TV the following Tuesday night.

 

Night 1- May 26, 1996 from the Florence Civic Center in Florence, SC

 

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler

 

On the preshow match the Smoking Gunns ended the one week reign of the Godwinns as WWF tag champs. They also stole Sunny from them, after the Godwinns had taken Sunny themselves from the Bodydonnas when they won the tag titles. Sunny got around more than Missy Hyatt.

"Wildman" Marc Mero (w/Sable) def Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 16:23- Mero "rescued" Sable after she was Trips' valet of the week at Wrestlemania. Mero does the becoming standard quick jump as soon as he hits the ring. Slugfest in the corner and Trips goes over the top to the floor. Mero plancha! Slingshot legdrop for 2. Trips dodges in the corner and Mero posts his shoulder. Trips then runs it into the post again on the other side. Vince mentions the storms, "If we leave you it won't be for long". Some smarky fans at ringside are flashing too sweets at Trips. This is only a couple of weeks after the Curtain Call. Trips high knee for 2, followed by lots of work on the hurt shoulder. He wraps the arm around the post again. Man that high pitched screeching sound is awful. Must be something with the storm.......oh no, it's just Sable screaming. After Mero tries to block it Trips gets a cross armbreaker on. Mero manages to get to the ropes. Kneedrop on the shoulder. Mero flips out of a back suplex. Gedo clutch for 2! Trips kills the momentum with a clothesline and barely hits an ax handle off the top. He plays cat and mouse with the ref getting rope leverage on an armbar. Trips goes up top again. Mero falls into the ropes and Trips gets crotched. Mero with a hurricanrana! Flying headscissors! Mero goes up top and hits his old Johnny B Badd finisher, the sunset flip off the top rope. Trips *just* kicks out! A dropkick sends Trips outside. Mero with a diving senton! But Trips moved, and Mero tweaks his knee on the landing. Shoulder and knee, he's having a bad night. Trips wants the Pedigree to finish it, but won't hit it unless Sable is watching. After arguing with her on the outside he goes for it but Mero counters. He slingshots Trips into the post, and covers for 3! Not too shabby. Maybe a bit too long, but Trips did a good job keeping all the shoulder/arm work interesting while Mero hit his high spots. A small preview of Trips' future "cerebral assassin" moniker and definitely his best match to date. ***1/4

 

Right after this match the TV power went out and the next three matches were only seen by the arena audience.

And we're back! Mr. Perfect is in the back with Camp Cornette. The story in the main event is the British Bulldog's wife Diana Hart-Smith accused Shawn Michaels of making sexual advances toward her, which was really just a Cornette ploy to throw Shawn off his game. Cornette says the Slammy Award winning Owen Hart has gotten a one night manager's license and will be in Bulldog's corner for the title match. He also promises another "bombshell" before the match starts.

WWF Championship: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (c) (w/Jose Lothario) and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (w/Owen Hart and Diana Hart-Smith) draw in 17:21- Vince references the storm again, saying they just got back on air. Before the match the hilariously wounded Clarence Mason (neckbrace and arm immobilized) takes the mic and says "May I have your attention please!". Did he get an email from the anonymous Raw General Manager? He has his stooge present Shawn with a summons to court on charges of "attempted alienation of affection". Is there even a law on the books about that? Shawn tears the summons up and Bulldog jumps him from behind. They go into a good rapid fire counter run. Bulldog dodges a superkick and bails to the floor. Shawn with a plancha! Mini-reset in the ring with Shawn working a headlock. And working. And working. Finally they go speed again. Bulldog catches Shawn leaping with a bearhug. Shawn enzuguri for 2. Shawn wraps up an armbar into an armscissors. After another long stall Bulldog lifts him with one arm and slams him. Bulldog backdrop. To the chinlock, as the match continues to come in fits and starts. Canadian backbreaker from Bulldog. Shawn powers out and tries a crucifix. Bulldog drops him down. Legdrop for 2. More chinlock. Shawn has another one of his famous mid-'90s in-ring tantrums as he flat stops selling, looks annoyed, then argues with Hebner presumably about the finish with a very WTF look on his face. After Shawn powers out they hit the ropes again, but they have some kind of miscommunication as Shawn flies out onto the floor for no clear reason. Bulldog follows and runs him into the guardrail. After some very obvious head clearing and reset Shawn comes back in with shoulderblocks and a slingshot clothesline. Midring collision. Shawn flying forearm and kip up. Double ax handle off the top for 2. Bulldog comes off the ropes and runs into Hebner, who absolutely FLIES out of the ring. Shawn elbow off the top rope. Owen tries to sneak in behind him but eats a superkick! Bulldog hits Shawn from behind as replacement ref Mike Chioda runs in. Bulldog sets up the powerslam but Shawn slips out of it. Shawn with a German suplex! Chioda counts 3! Even though all four shoulders are clearly down at the 3 count, Bulldog's music plays and Fink starts to announce AND NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW before the music cuts off. Diana appropriates the belt. Then Shawn's music starts and stops. The refs argue with each other. Diana's on the floor holding up the belt, clearly claiming the title for herself. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon comes in, takes the belt, and confers with the refs. After getting the word from Monsoon Fink announces that all four shoulders were down and the match is a draw, and hints at a future rematch. I get what they were going for but in the end the overbooking is a bit of a mess. Whether it was the storm and power outage or something else, the whole match was definitely off and well below both guys' standards, especially the way Shawn had been tearing it up all year. **1/2

Night 2- May 28, 1996 from the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, SC

Commentary: Jim Ross (YAY) and Mr. Perfect

Caribbean Strap Match: Savio Vega def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (w/Ted DiBiase) in 21:27- We get some footage from the dark match (literally dark) from the originally scheduled PPV. The standing stipulation for this match is if Vega loses, he has to become DiBiase's chauffeur. But the night before on Raw, DiBiase added another twist- if Austin loses, DiBiase would leave the WWF! This is purported to be Vega's specialty match that he's undefeated in. It's the Caribbean part, you see. Austin uses the strap to try to keep Vega out of the ring. Once they get attached Austin quickly ducks a swing and rolls out. After some more caution Austin pounds away. Vega hits a backdrop. Austin rolls away from a whip shot so Vega pulls him into the ring apron! Hardest Part of the Ring TM. Austin gets whipped like a government mule, a line I'm disappointed JR didn't get in. It's so great hearing him on a PPV again. Austin gets dangled over the top rope and whipped some more. After a roundhouse kick Vega starts hitting corners. 1, 2, Austin pulls the strap up and Vega does a crazy flip sell of it. Now Vega gets whipped. Vega takes Austin down. They go into full rolling around the mat brawling mode and end up on the floor again. Vega chops and Austin backs him into the HPOTR, aka the apron. He drops Vega on the guardrail. Badly, and checks on him right after. Austin suplexes Vega back in. He wraps the strap around Vega's ankle and goes for corners. 1, the strap comes undone, 2, Vega pulls away and spins Austin around into the corner. He clotheslines Austin with the strap. Austin backdrops Vega to the floor, but the strap pulls him down too! Vega suplexes Austin on the floor! He ties Austin up and hits corners. 1, 2, Austin grabs the bottom rope so Vega slacks the strap a bit for 3. He charges for the last corner, but Austin catches him and hits a spinebuster! Austin chokes Vega with the strap. He gets a couple of corners but Vega dead weights him then gives him an eye poke when Austin gets close. They do a series of tombstone reversals and Vega tumbles to the floor. Vega gets hung by the strap. Austin goes up top. Vega yanks the strap and Austin flies down into the guardrail! They trade stair and post shots. Vega lifts Austin in a fireman's carry. 1 corner, 2, Austin falls off and grabs Vega by the jeans. Vega fights him off for 3. Austin pulls the strap to JUST jerk Vega away from the last corner! Austin hits a piledriver! DiBiase says to give him another one. Austin tries but Vega backdrops out! Austin hooks in the Million Dollar Dream! Vega carries Austin and starts touching corners! After two he pushes off in the corner to break the hold. Austin lifts Vega up and straight drops him head first on the post! He wraps the strap around Vega's throat and drags him to corners. But unbeknownst to Austin, after he touches a corner Vega also does behind his back. They get up to 3 each. By now Austin's realized what's happening and they tug of war trying to get to the last corner. Austin pulls the strap and Vega falls into it to win! DiBiase is gone! Austin walks out on him and Vega gets the crowd to chant the goodbye song to him. DiBiase was, like so many others at this time, WCW bound. In the weeks after Austin would say he lost on purpose to get rid of DiBiase. Not long ago I said that Sting vs Vader at Superbrawl III was probably the best strap match of all time. This is most likely second best. Intense, well booked, stiff, and these two just plain worked well together. A classic that was buried for many years due to the storm and redo situation. ****

 

Vader (w/Jim Cornette) def Yokozuna in 8:53- After months of teasing and false starts these two are finally getting their one on one match. Vader's definitely getting cheers on his entrance. And once again we're slugging it out before the bell. Yoko hits a throat chop and Vader ducks out in the corner. Yoko wants a sumo match. Vader stalls. There's an audible Vader chant. Vader gets down in a three point stance....and bails. Try again. Another false start. It's working though, the crowd's booing Vader now. He knew what he was doing. They set up a third time, charge, and Yoko knocks Vader down! He clotheslines Vader 360 to the floor. Vader comes back in with potato shots. Yoko does a leg takedown and drops an elbow on Vader's knee. Vader sells it like his leg just got pulled off and rolls to the floor again. His knee pad was broken during that exchange. Vader gets back in and they do the exact same sequence again. Vader gives Yoko and eye poke and hits more potatoes. He tries to slam Yoko. JR: "The only person I can recall slamming Yokozuna was Ahmed Johnson". Smart use of the "I can recall" there. Yoko blocks it and hits a uranage. Yoko avalanche and Samoan drop. He's done blowed up. Yoko's sucking in enough wind to knock the power out again. He sets up the Banzai drop. Cornette jumps to the apron. Yoko causally blocks his racket shot. He flips Cornette in the ring, headbutts him, and sets him up for the Banzai. Vader times it, pulls Cornette out just in time, and Yoko splats on the mat. He attacks Yoko's knee that he injured a couple of months ago. Vader bomb! Good night. After the match Vader limps off. As good as it possibly could have been considering Yoko's physical condition. *

Ad for the next PPV, King of the Ring. And it's a doozy, with Jerry Lawler choking on a piece of chicken and going to wrestling heaven, only to find it's wrestling hell. JR and Perfect go over the 16 man bracket, as the tournament already started the previous night on Raw. After that is footage from another moment on the last Raw- Goldust giving Ahmed Johnson the infamous "mouth to mouth resuscitation" kiss.

 

Casket Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Goldust (c) (w/Marlena) def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) in 12:36- Both these guys are engaged in other feuds so you have to expect some kind of screwy finish here. The casket is Goldust themed. The lights come on early during Taker's entrance and he's already in the ring behind Goldust. He gives Goldust a shot from behind and the early match pillar to post beating commences. Goldust freaks out anytime he gets near the casket. Taker throws him on top of the casket! Slam and legdrop. Rope walk drop. Classic Taker choke in the corner. Goldust gets a desperation back elbow and slams Taker. Zombie situp. Goldust with a tombstone! That's different. Diving clothesline. He gets Taker in the casket. Taker fights out quickly. Goldust backdrops Taker to the floor and chokes him with a TV cable. Taker starts to get comeback momentum in the ring so Goldust locks on a sleeper. After he thinks he's out Goldust rolls Taker in the casket again. Taker *just* prevents the lid closing by sticking one arm out! Goldust tries again, getting all the way on top of the casket. Taker throws the lid open and Goldust falls to the floor. The lid completely broke off when he did that. Taker flying clothesline. Cactus clothesline! Goldust fights off a chair shot and hits a clothesline on the floor. Goldust powerslam in the ring. Clothesline off the top rope. He covers Taker. No pins in this match. Goldust tries to do Taker's rope walk. Taker flips him off. Tombstone! Taker lifts the lid. MANKIND IS IN THE CASKET! Mandible claw! Taker goes out and Mankind closes the lid on him! Goldust wins! The casket starts to smoke. Bearer opens it up, and Taker's gone! Bearer's expression seeing the empty casket is priceless. Match was decentish. Once it got going it was nice to see Goldust get a chance to establish that he really could wrestle well, not just be weird and run away from everyone. In contrast to the WWF Title match, this was overbooking that made sense. **1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's hard to judge given the circumstances with the power outage and having to redo most of the show another night, but overall it's pretty good, anchored by a great strap match, a good opener and nothing truly awful. It's also important to note that the pieces continue to be put in place for WWF's recovery, with more and more spotlight on new (to WWF) faces like Triple H, Mero, Austin, Mankind and Goldust alongside company stalwarts like Shawn and Taker.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B