In Your House 10: Mind Games

Legacy Review

In Your House 10: Mind Games

September 22, 1996 from the CoreStates Center in Philadelphia

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect

Another piece of the coming Attitude Era falls into place, as this is the first PPV after Vince Russo was promoted to a more prominent position within the creative team. The change is immediately apparent.

Caribbean Strap Match: Savio Vega def Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw (w/Uncle Zebekiah) in 7:07- Bradshaw is the future JBL. He had a brief run out at Summerslam but this is his first PPV match. This was set up during the Free For All when Bradshaw bitched to Vince about not being booked while Vega was defeating Marty Janetty, then he attacked Vega again like he had done at Summerslam. Good thing Vega always traveled with a strap in the bag just in case I guess. Vega charges right in and gets whipped. Bradshaw chokes him with the strap. More whipping. Finally ref Harvey Wippleman gets Vega strapped up. As soon as he does and the match is fully legal Bradshaw goes right for corners. Vega stops him at 2 and falls out of the ring. Bradshaw gets pulled into the post. As Vega walks around on the floor he gets beer spit in his face by a fan! Wait, it's not a fan, IT'S SANDMAN! ECW IS HERE! Tommy Dreamer is hanging around with him too. They try to jump the rail but security stops them. Vince: "There's a local wrestling group here trying to make a name for themselves". Is it trying too hard to recreate Hall and Nash showing up on Nitro in that worked shoot style? Maybe, but it's still well done and the Philly crowd obviously loves it. Meanwhile, there's still a match on. Bradshaw drags Vega to 3. Vega barely holds him back from 4 and hits a back suplex. Now it's Vega's turn to get some whips in. JR gets "whipped like a government mule" in. Vega gets 3 corners before Bradshaw pulls him away. Vega hits clotheslines and the spinning heel kick. He gets 3 corners, dives for 4 but gets roughly jerked back by Bradshaw. Bradshaw big boot. Clothesline from....well, that was not quite stiff enough to be from hell. It's early days. Clothesline from purgatory? Clothesline from Newark Airport! Anyone that's flown through there will tell you it's the 6th circle of hell. Read Dante. After that they do the usual Vega strap match finish of Vega getting corners behind Bradshaw's back and beating him to the last one. They had a lot of distractions and a match type that didn't lend itself to a wide variety of layout options to fight against, but the raw physicality pushes it up to about watchable. He may not have been the most gifted wrestler but Bradshaw was never afraid to get snug in the ring. *3/4

During Cornette's entrance for the next match cameras cut to the back, and Vega is getting beat up by guys wearing Razor Ramon and Diesel's gear! Fake Razor and Fake Diesel are here! They run off before we can get a good look at them. JR brags that he's delivering on his promise to get them in, an angle that lead to the short lived and universally panned JR heel run. Vince dismisses it as a "ratings ploy". Oh yes, the Monday Night Wars are getting interesting.

 

Jose Lothario def Jim Cornette in :56- Cornette sells the few things Lothario is capable of doing and loses with zero drama. It's a match that exists. They kept it under a minute so I won't completely trash it. NR

Brian Pillman comes out to the ring wearing a "Don't Call 911" shirt with a handgun on it. Unintentional foreshadowing. He's been claiming Bret Hart personally told him and Owen Hart that he would show up tonight to make his first TV WWF appearance since Wrestlemania. Bret taped a response from the WWF's South Africa tour, saying that Pillman and Owen were full of horse manure. Pillman runs Philly down then brings out Owen. Owen claims he and Bret have patched things up and says again Bret promised he'd be in Philly tonight. He says Bret is scared of Steve Austin, who also now comes out. Austin had been challenging Bret for months to no response. Austin drops his famous "If you put an S in front of Hitman you'll know what I think of Bret Hart" line. Good promo segment that wasn't a complete waste of PPV time, but still would have been better on Raw.

Before the next match a delirious Cornette signs away the rights for the Bulldog and Owen to Clarence Mason, a move Mason has been trying to make happen for months.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Slammy Award Winning Owen Hart and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (w/Clarence Mason) def The Smoking Gunns (c) (w/Sunny) in 10:59- Billy and Owen start. The dynamics are interesting as Owen and Bulldog are clear heels, and the Gunns have been heel-leaning tweeners since winning the titles back and hooking up with Sunny. The Philly crowd is of course firmly behind Owen and Bulldog. Mason coming out distracts Owen and Billy rolls him up for 2. They roll through some good basics. Owen hits a crossbody and Billy bails for his corner. Vince starts in on fake Razor and Diesel again. JR: "You got the benefit of the doubt when you were indicted". Insert shock reaction GIF here. Owen gets a flash small package for 2. Bulldog avoids a Bart knee and rolls him up for 2. Owen takes Bart's knee out with a huge chop block and Camp Cornette goes to work on it. Bulldog works in the vertical suplex and hits a legdrop for 2. Owen cranks a spinning toe hold. Bart grabs a small package out of that for 2. Owen enzuguri! Billy breaks the pin up, then grabs Bulldog's hair when he hits the ropes. Bulldog gets beat down on the floor. The Gunns double team. Billy looks ready for a singles run. The Gunns hit their sidewinder finisher. Mason distracts the ref and Owen takes Bart out from behind. Both guys are down. Bulldog crawls over and covers for 2 before going in peril again. He slips out of a Bart powerslam and pushes him into Billy. Billy pushes Bart back! Bulldog powerslam! Owen cuts Billy off with a spinning heel kick, allowing Bulldog to get the pin and the titles! HUGE Philly pop for that win. After the match Sunny looks so pissed someone might have to charge her with domestic terrorism. She says "I gave everything to you!", clearly implying she's been riding some cowboys, and fires them. This was the best WWF tag title match in a good long while. Owen and Bulldog would hold them about 8 months while helping to rebuild a tag division that had gone pretty far down the toilet. This was also the kickoff of the Gunns' breakup angle and Billy Gunn's eventual singles run. **3/4

 

Mark Henry def Jerry "The King" Lawler in 5:13- Oh great, Lawler's coming out with a mic. Fortunately Vince or the video package drowns most of it out. After doing commentary at Summerslam in his first official WWF appearance after signing, Henry is making his in-ring debut here. Calling him green is almost generous, he's literally just started training. Lawler says Henry can't get out of a headlock before losing the mic. After the mandatory Lawler stalling Henry shows he can in fact get out of a headlock. Lawler tries a slam which no shock doesn't work. Henry press slams him. Lawler bounces off Henry trying to shoulderblock him. Finally Lawler gets desperate and gets the knucks out of his trunks. Henry no sells it all. He hooks Lawler in a Canadian backbreaker and Lawler gives it up. Lawler walked Henry through it as best he could. 1/2*

The main event for the next In Your House has already been set: Undertaker vs Mankind in a Buried Alive Match, which they call the first unsanctioned match in WWF history. After that is a recap of the Taker vs Mankind and Goldust feud. It's speculated Goldust was the mastermind behind getting Paul Bearer to betray Taker and align with Mankind.

 

Final Curtain Match: The Undertaker def Goldust (w/Marlena) in 10:23- The rules for this one and only "Final Curtain" match in wrestling history are you can only win by pinfall, nothing else. Taker comes out without a hat or jacket and goes right for Goldust. Pillar to post beating. Legdrop for 2. Goldust rolls out. Taker gets snapped across the top rope and Marlena slaps him. Goldust swinging neckbreaker. Situp. Taker big boot and suplex. Rope walk drop. Taker sends Goldust over the top to the floor. Marlena hands him a bag and Goldust throws gold dust in Taker's face. Between that and the gold discs that were dropped during Goldust's entrance like usual the ring is a hell of a mess. We need 2016 Kenny Omega out here to clean it. Goldust goes into punchy kicky beatdown mode. Taker takes a shot on the Spanish announce table. Not the last action it'll see tonight. Goldust clothesline for 2. Taker fights out of a claw/smother hold. Goldust starts feeling himself up and Taker grabs him by the throat. Goldust powerslam for 2. Situp. Taker flying clothesline. Goldust goes up top. Taker goozles him and gives him a super choke slam. Tombstone and good night. *1/4

A little personal "beauty of wrestling" moment: as I'm typing this last match up from 1996, Dustin Rhodes is wrestling CM Punk live on Dynamite in 2022, and still doing it all. The man's had one hell of a career.

 

WWF Championship: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (c) (w/Jose Lothario) def Mankind (w/Paul Bearer) by DQ in 26:25- The story here is Mankind's bizarreness has thrown Shawn off his game, hence the Mind Games title for the show. Foley has definitely gotten the Mankind character down to perfection at this point. A casket is brought out to the ring for Mankind's entrance. The lid is lifted and Mankind is inside! Well done. Quick Mankind start. Cactus Clothesline! Bang bang! He starts pulling the floor mat up. Shawn dropkicks him under the mat, then jumps and stomps on him! Reverse crossbody off the second rope to the floor! Mankind takes a light Foley bump on the floor. Back in Shawn hits an early elbow off the top and starts tuning up the band. Mankind gets the hell out of town. Bearer gives him the urn and he takes a moment to get it back together. A corner slugfest turns into an all out brawl. Mankind blocks a snap mare and tries to hook the mandible claw in. Shawn blocks it and lays in some ground and pound. They go to the floor again. Mankind moves the Spanish announce table closer to the ring. Shawn dives over it onto him! Mankind gets suplexed into the steps! Shawn clips his knee and rams it into the casket. Knee work follows. Dragon screw leg whip! Figure four! Mankind punches out. Shawn dropkicks the knee and hooks in a half crab. Mankind gets to the ropes. Shawn leaps, possibly for a hurricanrana, but Mankind catches him and gives him a hot shot! Bearer hands Mankind what looks like a pen and Mankind jabs it into his knee to get feeling back into it. Mankind hits a running knee in the corner and some faceplants. Shawn counters with a back suplex, then slides under Mankind and gets a leg takedown. Shawn flip! He gets stuck in the tree of woe. Another Mankind running knee while Shawn is trapped! He hits a legdrop to the back of Shawn's head. A high kick sends Shawn to the floor. Shawn dodges another running knee and Mankind crashes into the stairs. Drop toe hold into the stairs! They have a suplex standoff on the apron. Shawn gets on the apron, dodges, and Mankind runs into the post! Shawn powerslam for 2. Mankind gets hung in the ropes. When Shawn gets close he puts on the mandible claw! Hebner gets everyone free. The claw gets slapped on again on the floor! Shawn pulls Mankind by his pants and he falls into Carlos Cabrera! Shawn blocks a punch with a chair! Chairshot to Mankind's knee, then his hand! Smart. Taking out the mandible claw hand. Shawn bites the hand and starts picking it apart. The claw glove comes off. Shawn charges but gets backdropped to the floor. Mankind elbow off the apron. Swinging neckbreaker on the floor. Double underhook DDT in the ring! Shawn kicks out! Piledriver from Mankind. Shawn kicks out again. Mankind freaks out and starts pulling his hair out. He tosses a couple of chairs in the ring, then opens the casket and gets Shawn in it. Shawn fights out. Flying forearm! Kip up! Shawn crossbody off the top for 2. He goes up top again. Mankind runs into the ropes and Shawn gets crotched. They both get up top. The Spanish announce table is still set up down there......BOTH GUYS FALL OFF THE TOP ROPE THROUGH THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE! When they get back in Shawn kicks a chair into Mankind's face and covers. Vader runs in! The bell rings for a DQ. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Shawn knocks Vader out of the ring with a flying forearm. Sid comes out and fights Vader off. Mankind hooks Shawn in the mandible claw again. He opens the casket up again.....UNDERTAKER IS IN THE CASKET! The crowd is going ballistic. Taker chases Mankind off. There's still a few minutes left so Shawn dances around and shows off his ass tattoo for the ladies. I'll resist the urge to knock the match down for that. Back to that, the match was absolutely sensational. Pitch perfect with both guys wrestling their style and meshing perfectly. The only reason I'm not giving this the full monty is because it has a DQ finish, a small quibble in what's otherwise pretty damn close to a masterpiece. ****3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Outside the Iron Man Match the main event is probably the WWF's match of the year so far. The rest of the show is nothing special wrestling wise, but it's the most direct pre-Attitude Era show yet with the worked shoot (shooty work?) style slowly becoming more and more prominent.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-