Ground Zero '97: In Your House

Legacy Review

Ground Zero '97: In Your House

September 7, 1997 from the Louisville Gardens in Louisville, KY

Commentary: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

After a little over two years of In Your House shows being discounted 2 hour PPVs on the months there's not one of the "Big 5" shows (Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam, Survivor Series), all WWF PPVs become 3 hours and full price starting with this show. It's also the start of the phasing out of the In Your House name as it's now secondary to the monthly name. This is also the only PPV to use the Ground Zero name.

The opening video focuses on the new Undertaker/Shawn Michaels feud after Summerslam and the transformation of Shawn into "the most hated man in the WWF". Per Shawn, "You're either with me or against me". Well, only a Sith thinks in absolutes so there you go. Case closed. It's not mentioned in the video but D-Generation X has also come together, with Triple H, Chyna and enforcer Rick Rude all joining Shawn. Despite the In Your House name being pushed down the ladder the house set is still being used. The old red, white and blue ring ropes are also making a temporary comeback, likely because it's Labor Day weekend.

Brian Pillman def Goldust (w/Marlena) in 11:06- Pillman having to wear a dress on Raw after losing at Summerslam was only the start of this feud. It's gotten completely nuts. Pillman is now pulling the Ric Flair, saying he was with Marlena before Dustin was (something everyone says is true), and then he drops a bomb: Dustin's 3 year old daughter Dakota is ACTUALLY PILLMAN'S LOVE CHILD! Yes, the soap opera-ization of wrestling is in full gear. Also I can't see how anyone can watch angles like this and think the Attitude Era doesn't start until '98. We're there already. With all that happening, the stipulations for tonight's match are- if Pillman loses, he leaves the WWF FOREVER; if Goldust loses, Pillman gets Marlena for 30 days and 30 nights. Goldust jumps Pillman on the ramp as Pillman's coming in. Inverted atomic drop and clothesline in the ring, followed by mounted punches. Pillman begs off then chokes Goldust with his shirt. Chops. Pillman jumps out to stalk Marlena and Goldust attacks him from behind. More Pillman chops. Goldust blocks a Pillman bulldog and Pillman lands crotch first on the top rope. Pillman walks and Goldust follows. Goldust suplex on the entrance ramp. He crotches Pillman on the ring post. After a few shots to Pillman's oft-injured knee Goldust tries for the bulldog. Pillman counters. Backdrop. Double chinlock from Pillman. Goldust electric chairs out. Back elbow in the corner from Pillman. He goes up top but Goldust hits the ropes and Pillman gets crotched for the third time tonight. He's going to need an icepack down there. Goldust tosses Pillman off the top rope down to the guardrail. Marlena slaps Pillman. Pillman counters a superplex. Goldust dodges a missile dropkick. He hits the Curtain Call, but Pillman pushed Hebner down. Cover but no ref. Marlena gets on the apron and tries to hit Pillman with her purse. Pillman blocks it, takes the purse, waffles Goldust with it, and covers for 3! Marlena is devestated. Pillman drags her away as she tries to fight him off. That was better than their Summerslam match but not by much. *1/4

Lawler's got Marlena's purse. He opens it up and there's a brick in it! As Bobby Heenan once said, you never know when you'll need a brick. We go backstage to see Pillman throw Marlena into a car and drive off with Goldust trying to chase. In classic Russo fashion this was supposed to lead to the big swerve of Marlena voluntarily joining Pillman. Sadly, the angle was never completed as Pillman passed away in his hotel room the night before the October PPV Badd Blood.

 

"Too Sexy" Brian Christopher def Scott Putski by ref stoppage in 4:45- We've got a couple of second generation wrestlers making their PPV debut here. Christopher is Jerry Lawler's son, though in a fun angle Lawler denies it on air while everyone else drops endless hints that it's true. He'd go on later to be half of the popular Attitude Era tag team Too Cool. Putski is the son of WWF legend Ivan Pustski, who never really amounted to much and had already had his career peak of winning multiple titles in the old GWF in the early '90s. JR mentions in passing this is a Light Heavyweight match. The crowd chants "Jerry's kid" after the bell. Christopher stalls, then tries to jump but Putski was waiting for him. Corner clothesline. A dropkick sends Christopher to the floor. Back in Putski hits some armdrags. Christopher blocks a hiptoss and hits a clothesline. Putski catches Christopher coming off the top rope. Hurricanrana for 2. Christopher hits a Skull Crushing Finale like faceplant. Clotheslines from Putski. Christopher hits a German suplex and tosses Putski to the floor. Christopher plancha that was pretty eh. He hit Putski with his back. Putski is down on the floor, holding his knee and barely moving. The ref counts, then goes out to check on him and calls for the bell. The medical team comes out and we get a shot showing Putski's left kneecap currently in the vicinity of his mid-thigh. I'd call that a legit injury. He's stretchered out while Lawler raises Christopher's hand and crows on the mic because he's not his son don't you even dare insinuate that. The match was OKish before being cut short. I can't fully criticize because I've never had an injury like that, but the unwritten creed among wrestlers is you always finish the damn match no matter what. Putski didn't, and he never wrestled another match for WWF. 3/4*

 

Triple Threat Match: Savio Vega def Faarooq and Crush in 11:37- Vince Russo's gang wars continue, as the three current gang leaders meet in one of WWF's first ever true Triple Threat matches. They're still trying to figure out how to make them work and frankly these aren't the guys to be trusting with figuring it out. All three are alone without their gangs too. Small note of significance: it's not mentioned at all during the match but during the prematch video package we see Rocky Maivia is back from injury and has joined the Nation of Domination. Crush tries to attack before the bell but the other two gang up on him. Crush double clothesline. Faarooq gets a boot up in the corner on Crush and Vega rolls him up on the rebound. Faarooq breaks it up. A belt has been introduced and everyone gets a taste of it. After a hip toss sequence both guys try to pin Vega. Faarooq low blow on Crush. Spinebuster on Vega for 2. Crush works Vega over a bit. Powerslam on Faarooq for 2. 3 way slugfest. Vega heel kick on Crush. Faarooq gets knees up on a Vega splash. More pins are broken up. Crush chinlock on Vega. Faarooq comes off the top rope with a headbutt to Crush's back and covers for 2. Crush electric chair on Faarooq. Vega quickly covers for 2. Crush inverted atomic drop on Vega and both guys cover for 2. Vega gives Faarooq the worst swinging neckbreaker ever. They went in completely opposite directions. Vega gets beat down by Faarooq while Crush decides it's super important to tie his hair back. Then he pushes Faarooq aside and backbreakers Vega. Crush and Faarooq work out a deal and double suplex Vega. Both guys cover him but the ref says you can't do that. Vega gets tossed out and Faarooq attacks Crush. Crush and Faarooq try to beat each other while Vega keeps breaking the pins up. Crush and Vega team up for a spike piledriver on Faarooq. Crush clotheslines Vega to the floor. Heart punch on Faarooq. Vega comes back in, hits Crush with his spinning heel kick, and covers him for the pin. Nothing about that worked. The match was little more than a lethargic series of pin breakups, and without the large gangs brawling with each other the crowd didn't give two shits. 1/4*

 

Max Mini def El Torito in 9:21- And now for something completely different. As part of the limited deal WWF had with AAA back at the beginning of the year they're getting some of the lucha midget wrestlers over for some variety on the card. Torito has bull horns on his mask and charges around on his entrance like a bull. Mini is billed at a scant 86 pounds and is called the smallest athlete in the world. Wonder if this is a Light Heavyweight match too? Some flippydo counters at the start from Mini and he hits a couple of spinning flying headscissors. Torito goes to the floor. Mini somersault plancha! Back in Torito pounds away with his huge size advantage. In terms of midget wrestling this is almost Rey Mysterio vs Big Show. Mini dodges a senton and works a wristlock. Torito bites Mini's ass! He's a bull I guess. Stiff kicks from Torito. Mini dodges a corner charge and they do the same wristlock/ass biting sequence again. Mini gets pissed at the ref for letting it happen. Mini bites the ref's ass! The ref chases him around and out of the ring! How is that not a DQ? Mini runs around commentary, then hops in Lawler's lap! He puts Lawler's crown on! JR asks if this reminds Lawler of when Brian Christopher was a kid. After that bit of fun Mini flips back in the ring, right into a kick to the face. Torito hits the senton this time. Mini hurricanrana! Cover for 2. Torito powerbomb for 2. Mini sunset flip for 2. Torito hits a huge clothesline. Mini chops Torito down with clotheslines of his own. Armdrags and Torito is on the floor again. Mini with a springboard moonsault! He got some serious air time on that for someone of his stature. Back in Torito crashes into the corner. Mini hurricanrana off the top rope. He hits another sunset flip and that gets the pin! Fun stuff. Mini sure is a little dynamo in there. Reminds me a bit of Taiji Ishimori. He's only slightly smaller than Ishimori is too. ***

We get a recap of Steve Austin's injury at Summerslam, followed by video from Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter (the new on-screen authority figure due to Gorilla Monsoon's health troubles) saying Austin claims he can wrestle but WWF won't risk it and he wants Austin in the ring at Ground Zero to vacate the tag titles. Slaughter flat says Austin has "more guts than brains". They're letting Austin keep the Intercontinental title for now but that would be vacated the next night on Raw. Back live and Slaughter is in the ring with JR. Dude Love comes out first. He says he's doing this reluctantly, he thought about defending the titles by himself (something Foley would end up doing at a future PPV) but it's thanks to Austin that he got them at all so he's going to respect that and hands the belt over. Next out is Austin to what's becoming the Austin pop. He flips off JR and goes nose to pointed chin with Slaughter. Austin takes the mic from JR, tells Vince to take that stupid look off his face, he says he can wrestle so he can wrestle and the whole WWF is out to screw him. He drops the belt at Slaughter's feet and tells him to drop and give him 20. And that's an order! Slaughter picks the belt up without incident. JR takes the mic back and tells Austin no one wants this, we want to see him wrestle but the company isn't willing to risk permanent paralysis for it. Stunner for JR! Love holds Austin back from giving Slaughter one. Austin flips Slaughter off as he leaves. Vince leaves commentary in a fury. JR gets carried to the back. When Vince gets back to commentary he says "Austin's a jackass!". Could this have been done on Raw? Sure, but it got Austin on the PPV, and Austin is so great and on the talking run of his life so getting him on the PPV while he's hurt however they can is the right call. The injury to Austin was bad in terms of it kept him from wrestling for a while, and while he was on a massive hot streak of good to great PPV matches too, but in the long run it might have helped. This is without a doubt the early version of the "Austin vs WWF corporate world" and Austin vs Vince feuds that would take over most of the product in '98 and give them the final huge push to get ahead of WCW and the NWO again, this time for good.

 

Fatal Four Way Elimination Match for the vacant WWF Tag Team Championship: The Headbangers def The Godwinns, The Legion of Doom and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart in 17:19- Just Vince and Lawler on commentary for the rest of the show. The Headbangers are replacements for Austin and Dude Love. Thrasher and Phineas start. After a shoulderblock standoff they hit the ropes with Thrasher getting a counter into a roll up for 2. Thrasher tags Henry to try to make the Godwinns go at it. Phineas says nah and tags Mosh. Henry and Mosh stand and stare at each other forever. Do something! Finally they lock up. Mosh gets a hiptoss and armdrag. Headbanger double team. Animal tags in but gets caught in the Godwinn corner. Henry and Animal collide and don't move a muscle. Henry gets tossed to the floor. Hawk comes down and punches him. The Godwinns and LOD still have a thing going on. Henry's had enough and tags Mosh. Animal powerslams him. Hawk clothesline off the top. Press slam. Bulldog refuses to tag Hawk. Hawk punches him and the ref counts that as a tag. OK then. Henry press slams Owen for 2. Owen enzuguri for 2. Animal goes in peril for a bit before getting his boot up on Phineas coming off the second rope. Hot tag to Hawk. The Godwinns break up the Doomsday Device. Animal grabs the Godwinns' bucket and swing it at anything that's moving. It's in plain view of the ref and LOD are DQ'd and out. Mosh works Phineas over a bit. Headbanger double team suplex for 2. Thrasher somersault plancha! Henry pulls the top rope down and Thrasher falls to the floor, going Headbanger in peril. He manages to get a sunset flip on Phineas and that gets a pin. The Godwinns are gone. Owen comes in with a gutwrench suplex and legdrop. They work Mosh to double team. Bulldog back elbow and delayed suplex. Owen missile dropkick for 2. Thrasher crossbody for 2. Owen neckbreaker. Thrasher and Bulldog try to do a counter but it ends up being a huge mess. Tags on both sides. Mosh runs wild. Owen and Bulldog try a double team but Owen hits Bulldog with a spinning heel kick. Here comes Austin again! Stunner on Owen! The Headbangers cover for the pin and the titles! Riding the hot hand I guess as that most late '90s of teams gets a big pop for the win. They go and celebrate in the crowd after. Like the triple threat match earlier this didn't come together well at all and there was a distinct lack of noticeable effort. The only team really capable of putting a good match on sat parked on the apron most of it. *1/2

Slaughter is in the back with an iced up and pissed off JR. He says he doesn't give a damn how popular Austin is, he can't get away with this shit. Yes, he really says shit. Lots of bleeps in this segment. He didn't come here to get beat on. "They can kiss my 3:16 ass. Tell Vince if this shit happens again my ass is gone." I think this is the maddest I've ever heard JR until Jay White accidentally knocked over his announce table and knocked him down at one of the early US shows while JR was still commentating for New Japan.

 

WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) def The Patriot in 19:19- Bret at the peak of his Canadian pride anti-American heel run against the Patriot is an obviously logical way to go for a placeholder defense. I mentioned the GWF earlier, the Patriot was their big Hulk Hogan-like star in the early '90s. He also had some success in WCW's tag team division in the early Bischoff years and had a couple of decent stints in All Japan. His overly serious old school character was not a good fit for where the WWF is at the moment though, and he wouldn't last long. He's also openly being called Del Wilkes and even did an interview without his mask during the build. Yes, that's Kurt Angle's music Patriot is coming out to. It was originally written for him. Both guys prop their flags up in the corners. Bret jumps before the bell! That's different. Back suplex and gut headbutt from Bret. He puts Patriot in the tree of woe and stomps away. Chokes and bites from Bret. Patriot reverses a corner whip and hits a clothesline. Dropkick and another clothesline sends Bret to the floor. He stalls on the floor to regroup, then hides in the corner when he gets back in before running into armdrags. Patriot spends the next few minutes working Bret's arm over. Bret shakes the arm off after a corner break then comes out with kicks to Patriot's knee. Bret starts picking the knee apart. Spinning toe hold, pretty much a .5 figure four. Post wraparound figure four! Bret posts Patriot's knee. The Bulldog is out to ringside. Bret Russian leg sweep for 2. Backbreaker. Patriot blocks a suplex and hits his own! How dare you break up the Five Moves of Doom! Patriot sunset flip for 2. DDT for 2. Bret gets a knee up in the corner but is caught coming off the second rope. Bulldog trips Patriot. Bret rolls him up off the distraction for 2. Patriot pushes Bret, who knocks Bulldog off the apron. Patriot roll up for 2. The crowd bit pretty hard on that one. Uncle Slam (a full nelson slam) hits! Cover and Bulldog makes a save. Patriot hops out to discuss it with him. Vader is out! I honestly don't remember what beef he had with the Harts but he attacks Bulldog and all four guys brawl on the floor. Vader whips Bret into the steps. Bret wants a DQ but we must have Red Shoes reffing this one because he's letting everything go. Patriot goes back on the attack in the ring. Big boot. Patriot Missile! Bret kicks out! Atomic drop/back suplex combo for 2. Bret counters with a hot shot! They muffed it a little as Patriot hit the middle rope instead of the top one, you can see Bret trying to save it but he can't. Bulldog. Elbow off the second rope. You knew those Five Moves of Doom would be completed somehow. They swap corner punches and Patriot accidentally hits the ref. Another Uncle Slam! The ref is slow to get over to count and Bret gets a foot on the rope. Midring collision. Patriot blocks a roll up. Small package reversals for near falls. Bret bump! Patriot hooks on a Sharpshooter! Bret reverses it! He's the master. Patriot is close to the ropes but can't reach far enough to grab one and has to give it up. Perfectly solid Bret Hart title defense and probably the Patriot's best match, at least in North America. Bless the crowd for thinking Patriot actually had a chance of winning. They were so innocent back then. ***1/2

After the bell Bret continues the assault. Piledriver. He breaks Patriots US flagpole, tears the flag off and chokes Patriot with it. Things get so heated Bret even punches Pat Patterson. But he's Canadian too! I know he's French Canadian but that still counts.

 

The Undertaker and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels no contest in 16:20- Shawn may be the big heel besides Bret now but he still has young female fans. Oh yeah, this is the match that Shawn's in ring pyro goes off late and he doesn't take it well, mocking it then doing the jerk off gesture. This is the first singles meeting between these two in what would become a legendary decade spanning feud. Shawn freaks out when Taker makes the lights snap back on and hides behind ref Mike Chioda. Taker punches Chioda out before he can ring the bell to start the match! It's going to be one of those nights. Shawn refuses to wrestle and tries to run. Slaughter comes out and forces him back in. Chioda is back up. Good, we can get this thing started for.....Taker scoops Chioda up and throws him down to the floor on Shawn! Guess not. Shawn tries to get away again, crawling up the ramp all the way to the house set. He tries to open the house door but it's locked! Taker press slams Shawn on the ramp! Into the flower bed goes Shawn! A punch sends Shawn rolling all the way down the ramp. We've already seen Shawn at his worst and best tonight. Jerk Shawn getting pissy about his pyro, and great wrestler Shawn selling like mad for Taker. Taker chokes Shawn with a TV cable. Shawn tries to use the bell but can't. Into the rail goes Shawn. Taker punches Shawn onto the French announce table. Shawn stands on the table, and a Taker punch sends him down into the rail again! Finally back in the ring and Shawn begs off. The beating continues. Taker covers, but I don't know what he's expecting there because he's the one that killed the damn ref. Shawn flip! He falls back to the floor. Finally Earl Hebner joins the match. Shawn begs him to end it or DQ Taker but Hebner tells him to get in the ring and get it on. Taker stalks Hebner. Shawn uses the opening to chop block Taker. Hebner rings the bell to finally start the match officially. Yes, everything up to now was extracurricular and the match clock is only starting now. Shawn tries to hit mounted punches but Taker pushes him off. Goozle! Shawn kicks Taker's knee. Taker catches Shawn coming off the top and clotheslines him 360 to the floor. Shawn sunset flips back in but Taker lifts him up by the throat. Shawn gets kicked up in the corner and crotched. Clothesline and cover for 2. Taker cranks Shawn's arm. Shawn counters old school and now Taker is crotched. Baseball slide. Shawn plancha! Taker catches him! He posts Shawn's back. Shawn tries to get away in the ring but Taker gives him a low blow and goes to work on his back. Mile high backdrop. As is mandatory in this era Shawn's ass cheeks make an appearance outside his tights. Taker tries another backdrop but Shawn counters it with a swinging neckbreaker. Taker sits up and Shawn bails. He gets a chair. Taker cuts it off with a kick. He takes the chair. Hebner takes it away! That's a brave man. Shawn dropkicks Taker in the back and Hebner gets knocked down. Flying forearm. Elbow off the top. A second one. Cover. Hebner crawls over, slow counts, and Taker kicks out. Rick Rude is out. He tosses Shawn a pair of brass knucks and leaves. Shawn wallops Taker with them! Cover but Hebner's down again. Shawn stomps on him in frustration. Ref #3, Jack Doan, makes his way in. I can picture all the refs in the back drawing lots and the loser having to get in the match. Doan counts and Taker kicks out again. Shawn punches Doan out. Triple H and Chyna are now out too. HHH pounds on Taker and throws him knee first into the steps. Shawn runs Hebner into the turnbuckle. I think he's done for the night. Shawn continues the beatdown. On Taker, not the refs. Taker tries to fight back but Shawn clotheslines him back to the floor and the waiting fists of HHH. Chyna gets a shot in. That wakes Taker up. He fights with HHH and Chyna. Shawn comes off the top rope onto Taker's back. He chokes Taker with a cord. HHH gives the crowd a crotch chop. Back in Shawn squeaks out of a Tombstone. Taker blocks a superkick. Google and corner pounding. Taker confiscates Shawn's knucks. He hits Shawn with them! Taker takes HHH out too. Cover. Hebner, who's amazingly still alive, crawls over. Shawn kicks out! Taker choke slams Hebner. NOW he's done. Speed run and Taker hits the flying clothesline. Ref #4, Tim White, runs in and says enough of this shit and throws the whole match out. After him there's probably no refs left. Taker choke slams Trips into Shawn! Superkick! Taker gets tied up in the ropes Andre the Giant style. DX gets another chair but Taker big boots it into Shawn's face. HHH saves Shawn from a Tombstone. The officials gaggle is out. HHH gets Tombstoned. Now the locker room empties as everyone runs in to stop the fight. Everyone gets separated.....until Taker runs and dives over the top rope onto Shawn and all the other wrestlers on the floor! I think that was the first time ever Taker did his big swan dive. After that order is finally restored as Taker closes the show in the ring. Well. That was eventful. Even on PPV the non-finish works to keep the feud going and there was clear chemistry between the two. There's already getting to be diminished returns on all the ref murdering though after Shawn and Austin did basically the same thing back at King of the Ring. Still, the overall package was a lot of fun and these two clearly have even better matches in them. The next month at Badd Blood they'd have one for the ages, and not for the last time. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Pretty typical of the era in that everyone who you know will deliver delivers while everything else was pretty much crap. At least the best matches are backloaded to the end of the show. Keeping Austin on TV in any way they can while he's injured is most definitely a plus.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+