In Your House

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

In Your House: Canadian Stampede.

 

Let's take a look at this then, a pay-per-view often brought up in discussion of the best shows ever, and one that holds a special place in my heart.

 

Mankind Vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley: This is probably better than the King of the Ring final from the month before, as it's a more focused brawl. Basically, it's Hunter going back to what he does best, playing the bitch. Chyna gets involved quite a bit, and they end up going to a double count-out. Of course, that wasn't the end, as they would continue to fight in the crowd and outside the arena throughout the night. Did anyone do more for Hunter's career than Foley?

 

TAKA Michinoku Vs The Great Sasuke: It was cool seeing these two, who would have been unknown to the majority of the crowd, win everyone over with this match. They really work a perfect showcase match, a truncated NJ juniors match, cutting out most of the matwork and going quickly to the strikes and high spots. Everything is really cleanly hit too. Fun match.

 

Vader Vs The Undertaker: This was supposed to be Ahmed Johnson challenging the Undertaker, but he injured his knee in the build-up. Johnson had joined the Nation by this time, and I thought that was really the death knell for his WWF career. Anyway, this was a decent match, but not as good as their Royal Rumble match from earlier in the year. The highlight actually was Paul Bearer strutting around ringside and calling Taker a murderer.

 

Lots of footage shown throughout the night of the Hart Foundation being honoured in Calgary.

 

Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman Vs Steve Austin, the Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock and Goldust: So, this is my favourite match ever, and pretty much represents the peak of my wrestling fandom. Bret had been my favourite wrestler pretty much since I first got into wrestling in 1992, and I was so invested into this angle, the Hart Foundation and the feud with Austin and America. I was, and still am, basically, a massive Bret mark. At this point in time I didn't have Sky, so a friend of mine would tape Raw and Nitro and the WWF pay-per-views for me. I was 15 at the time, still in school obviously, and had to be in bed by 10:30 on school nights. I distinctly remember watching this match late one night (probably a Monday night), and the match going past my curfew, so turning the volume down so my mum wouldn't hear that I was still awake watching wrestling. The match is excellent, helped by an electric crowd, one of the best crowds for a wrestling match ever. They react to everything, and it's especially fun to hear them cheering so jubilantly every time one of the Harts (usually Pillman) breaks the rules. Every guy in the match has a part to play, and it really does have the feel of an out-and-out war. Perfect story too, with Owen and Austin being taken out of the match, but returning for the finish. The post-match is just as memorable as the match itself, with all the Hart family pouring into the ring to celebrate, Austin coming back in alone to fight them, getting arrested, and flipping the bird at the Harts as he carted off in handcuffs. Just the perfect storm, both in the match, the angle, and in my wrestling fandom.

 

MOTN: The main event steals the show, and you may say I'm biased, but to me that's a 5 star match. I'd put both Mankind/Hunter and TAKA/Sasuke at 3 1/4, and Vader/Taker at 3.

Show rating: Well, I don't know if it's the greatest ppv ever, but it's certainly strong, with no match dipping below 3 stars, a great main event, and a hot crowd throughout, which certainly adds to any show. I'd call it a 4 star show.

[twiztor]

TAKA Michinoku Vs The Great Sasuke: It was cool seeing these two, who would have been unknown to the majority of the crowd, win everyone over with this match. They really work a perfect showcase match, a truncated NJ juniors match, cutting out most of the matwork and going quickly to the strikes and high spots. Everything is really cleanly hit too. Fun match.

 

i'd recommend searching out the rematch on Raw. either the next night or the next week, it's also very good. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

In Your House: Ground Zero.

 

This is the first In Your House to be 3 hours. These things have been remarkably easy to digest so far, just because of the 2 hour running time, so we'll see how this effects things.

 

Brian Pillman Vs Goldust: If Pillman wins, he gets Marlena for 30 days, and if Goldust wins, Pillman is out of the WWF. Really corny video of the Runnels family frolicking on the beach to set this up and establish the stakes. Vince and JR are disgusted by Pillman, while Lawler is practically giddy at the prospect of Marlena's potential rape. The match is good, worked at a high tempo, with a lot of fire from Goldust, which you'd expect. I don't know, but this could be Pillman's best WWF singles match. It wouldn't surprise me. Pillman uses Marlena's purse to knock out Goldust and get the win, a call-back to the Summerslam finish. It is revealed that the purse contained half a brick. Pillman grabs Marlena and scarpers, with Goldust in pursuit. They escape in a car. This was such a sleazy angle, but I confess to loving it. King spends the rest of the card making cracks about Pillman and Marlena, until Vince eventually has to tell him to stop, and sounds quite serious about it.

 

Brian Christopher Vs Scott Putski: Putski gets injured after Too Sexy dives over the top onto him. The match has to be stopped. Loud "Jerry's kid" chants aimed at Christopher throughout the match.

 

Savio Vega Vs Crush Vs Faarooq: Oh, for the days when triple threats were so rare that they had to show the rules prior to the match starting. This match still sucks a dick, despite its uniqueness at the time. The crowd turns on it pretty early too. I was Team Boricua for this feud, probably because I always liked Savio, and bikers are lame. Savio wins.

 

Max Mini Vs El Torito: Remember the minis? Max is the world's smallest athlete, at just 86 pounds. The crowd are really digging his stuff too. The comedy sequence was needless here, with Mini biting the ref on the ass, and then being chased around by him. He ends up jumping on Lawler's lap and putting his crown on, which I admit is a funny visual. Another "Jerry's kid" chant breaks out. Funny.

 

The Headbangers Vs The Legion of Doom Vs The Godwinns Vs Owen Hart and the British Bulldog: This is for the vacant tag team titles. Before the match Dude Love and Steve Austin come out and forfeit the belts due to Austin's injury. This results in JR eating a stunner, which gets Vince all pissy. It's starting. The match is way more boring than all that stuff. LOD are dq'd, then the Godwinns go. The Harts are in control, but Austin comes back out and stunners Owen, giving the Headbangers the upset win. I don't have a problem with an underdog team winning the belts, but the Headbangers were trash, and were a poor choice as champions. I hated everything about them, from their look to their wrestling.

 

Bret Hart Vs The Patriot: My recollection of this was that it was quite dull, but it's actually a pretty darn good match. Not worked like a typical heel Bret match, where he controls a lot of it with limbwork. Instead, Bret works more like a touring NWA champ, coming into a territory and making the babyface challenger look great before sneaking a win. He takes a couple of Uncle Slams and the Patriot Missile, gives the Patriot a visual fall, has Bulldog run interference, and basically plays it like he's hanging on by the skin of his teeth for most of the match. Vader ends up coming in to counter Davey Boy, and does a number on Bret too. Bret wants the dq win, but the ref says the match will continue, likely because he caught Bulldog interfering first. Patriot's big mistake was using the sharpshooter, which Bret reverses to get the submission pin. Lawler compares Patriot losing to America losing the Vietnam war. Vince looks equal parts disgusted and confused by this. 

 

Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker: This starts off as a crazy brawl before the bell has even rang. Taker throws the ref over the top rope onto Shawn. Great spot. Someone should use that now. Shawn's bumping is just the right side of ridiculous for this. Finally we get another ref and match starts. Tonnes of bullshit in this. DX come down and get involved, there are like, a million different ref bumps, but it's all entertaining stuff. Finally a no contest is called, but the fight continues, with Taker coming out on top. The whole locker room clears to try to separate the two, and Taker delivers his tope to Shawn and a bunch of other heels. Really fun stuff.

 

Match of the night: I'd put both the top two matches at 3.5 stars, but give the nod to the Taker/Shawn match as the better of the two. The opener was a solid 3 star match.

Show rating: Well, after a hot opener, this became a bit of a slog to get through, before a strong final hour with the top two matches. 3 1/4 seems about right.

[Brian Fowler]

That Taker HBK 97 feud is so fucking great.

[twiztor]

i can't stand the minis in 97 wwf. max mini always fucking wins.

man, that Goldust/Marlena/Pillman angle was awesome. King is a huge sleezeball. just knowing that he starts shouting "PUPPIES" every other second a year or so from this is the icing on the cake.

i really enjoyed the hart/patriot match, up until hart won with the sharpshooter after taking like everything the patriot had and shrugging it all off.

the headbangers were crazy over at the time. i always enjoyed them even if they weren't all stars in the ring. they were definitely passable.

i'm a huge shawn michaels fan, but his '97 schtick is terrible. that said, the Undertaker matches were all excellent.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Two more shows and that's it.

 

I've enjoyed the reviews. Again, I need to start a project myself...

[SirSmUgly]

I'm waaaaaaay behind Yo-Yo, but quickly, I gathered two things from IYH 3.

 

First, this was a solid PPV from an in-ring standpoint. Except for KotR, I think all the PPVs post WM XI have been really quite good in terms of the in-ring work. I'm surprised at this because RAW in 1995 is usually a slog (and it's only an hour), but I have genuinely enjoyed the work in each IYH.

 

Second, Bret Hart has to be the in-ring MVP for WWF in 1995. He had an awesome match with Lafitte. I enjoy Carl Ouelette and am actually looking forward to him showing up on Nitro in 1996 as part of the Amazing French Canadiens, but even with my like of Ouelette out there, this was really noticeably good, stiff work. Bret also had multiple good matches with Hakushi and I honestly really liked Hart/Yankem from Summerslam of that year. Hart pretty much killed himself bumping around for Yankem, and for his part, Yankem did whatever he could to make that match good (top rope legdrop to a draped-over-the-top-rope Bret looked sweet, he was doing some really good monster-movie stalking of a hurt and scrambling Hart mid-match). 

 

Bret started 1995 having that awesome match with a still pretty green Nash and ended it with two classics against Nash and Bulldog. In between, he has really good matches with almost everyone. I think here between 1995 and 1997, he does his best work in the ring by far, better than anyone else I can think of in the company. He has good matches with everyone from Nash to Yankem to the Patriot to Austin. It's not like those guys are all bad or something, but he just gets the best out of everyone he's in the ring with.

 

I wish we could pull 1995 Bret Hart out of a time machine and have him wrestle Roman Reigns on three straight PPVs to get him ready for delivering longer matches that guys working WWE mains and semi-mains need to consistently pull off. I'd get 1995 Hart in there with Ryback for a couple months, too. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

You're preaching to the choir on Bret as 95 MVP (and for the record, when I ranked all the Summerslam matches, I had Hart/Yankem ahead of the Shawn/Razor ladder match from the same year, so I'm probably the world's biggest fan of that match). He really did have an incredible run, and it makes me sad, knowing how badly he was wasted in WCW, that he missed all that time in 1996, because that's like 7 months of peak Bret that we missed out on.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

 

i really enjoyed the hart/patriot match, up until hart won with the sharpshooter after taking like everything the patriot had and shrugging it all off.

 

 

I don't think he shrugged it off, it was more just that he survived, and took advantage of the Patriot's mistake. I think he sold the effects of the match just fine.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

One Night Only.

 

For some reason the network has edited out Flash Funk Vs The Patriot, Leif Cassidy Vs Tiger Ali Singh (gutted I won't get to see that one!), and most strangely, Bret Hart Vs The Undertaker.

 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley Vs Dude Love: I guess this is the forgotten Hunter/Foley match, and it's little wonder, because it isn't very good. The Dude Love character worked much better as a heel, for me. Lazy finish here: Dude hits the double-arm DDT, Chyna puts Hunter's foot on the ropes, Foley is briefly distracted by Chyna, and then turns into the kick-Pedigree.

 

The Headbangers Vs Savio Vega and Miguel Perez Jr: The 'bangers are really over in the UK. The Boricuas are pulling out lots of heel tag team shtick to make this interesting. It still probably goes a bit too long, but it's an okay match.

 

The Legion of Doom Vs The Godwinns: This is pretty crap though. LOD sell quite a bit for the Godwinns, before Phinneas gets the Doomsday Device.

 

Owen Hart Vs Vader: This is a good little match. Owen is really over here, and works like an underdog babyface. Vader has some really nice looking offence, and is having a good 97 in the ring.

 

Bret Hart Vs The Undertaker: I have this one on DVD, so gave it a watch anyway. Terrific match, easily better than the Summerslam match, and the best match these two had together. This could well be the best none-gimmick match Taker ever had actually.

 

Shawn Michaels Vs The British Bulldog: Fuck this match. This is like the wrestling equivalent of a rape. The most egregious example I can think of of a wrestler's backstage attitude impacting the quality of a match. The fact that Bulldog dedicated this match to his cancer-stricken sister, and Shawn still pulled the power-play to get the win just says it all about the type of person Michaels was back then. Only Montreal makes me angrier than this match.

 

There was also an in-ring interview with Ken Shamrock, which was interrupted by Rockabilly. You can probably guess how that ended.

 

Match of the night: The Bret/Taker match hands down. 4 1/4 stars. Owen/Vader is probably a 3 star match.

Show rating: Apart from the Bret/Taker match, there's nothing outstanding here, although in some ways the Shawn/Bulldog match needs to be seen to be believed. I'll give it 3 1/4.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

I just watched the One Night Only mainevent. When I was a kid it was awesome. I loved HBK and One Night Only was controversial. The fact that little of it was shown in the states for so long helped build the mystique in my mind. Knowing what I know now, all I could think about was all the potential politics HBK and company most likely played that night (and the days/weeks leading up to the event) to ensure the fans went home pissed. Bulldog and The Hart Foundation were booked like heels back in The States, so the TRUE FACE going over that night (using heel tactics) makes sense from a U.S. business standpoint. Bulldog was over and a big draw for one night only (hehe). Let's pretend Bulldog went over HBK. Let's say Bulldog won the main and retained the title. Then what? HBK vs. Bulldog II for the European Championship on a future PPV? If so the fans, as it would most likely happen in the U.S., would be squarely behind HBK and rooting against Bulldog. HBK would have won and the place would have popped, but it wouldn't have been as memorable as the crowd's reaction at One Night Only.

 

One Night Only is a run-of-the-mill WWF PPV and is in the history books and discussed due to the tomfoolery in the last match. I guess it all worked out in the end.

 

Re: Not showing the entire show

 

 

Has WWE ever came out with a reason for that? This isn't the first time someone has mentioned it. Why have a network if I have to go on Youtube to watch some of the content?

[cwoy2j]

In Your House: A Cold Day in Hell.

 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley Vs Flash Funk: If anything this was a showcase for Chyna, and they really got over what a threat she is at ringside with a couple of interference spots, and then after the match she picks Funk up and crotches him on the top rope. The match itself isn't that good. Hunter is transitioning into a more methodical style, which does make him seem like more of a threat, so was probably good career-wise, but he's at his most fun when he's bumping around and playing the bitch. Funk didn't really impress in this either.

 

Mankind Vs Rocky Maivia: Another future main event, after we got Hunter/Rocky a couple of shows ago. The highlights here were a Rock Bottom (before it was a Rock Bottom) on the entrance ramp, and Mankind reversing a high cross body into the mandible claw for the win. The mandible claw scared the shit out of me when I was younger. It just struck me as such a terrifying move, even though I knew wrestling wasn't 'real' by this point. The thought of another man forcing his fingers into your mouth, and not being able to breathe is horrifying. Mankind's victory music is so great- such a great concept to have two different themes. This era of Mankind is my favourite Foley character ever.

 

Ahmed Johnson Vs Crush: This is part one of the gauntlet match, and the rest of the Nation are sent up the ramp. It seems like Ahmed and Crush are going at it for ages, but it was probably only 5 minutes or so. Crush, for some reason, wants the Nation to run interference even while he's in charge of the match. This stupidity costs him.

 

Ahmed Johnson Vs Savio Vega: Savio has an injured ankle, but we soon find this is a ruse. He's the worker of the Nation, but can't pull much out of Ahmed. He eventually gets himself intentionally disqualified with a chair attack.

 

Ahmed Johnson Vs Faarooq: Faarooq looks confident despite having his arm in a sling. Also a ruse. Ahmed gets a hope spot or two, and even hits the Pearl River Plunge but can't capitalise. Faarooq hits the Dominator to win, as the Nation celebrate. That was pretty rough going.

 

Ken Shamrock Vs Vader: This is billed as a No Holds Barred match, but is played up as more of a shoot-style bout, with no pinfalls, just submission or knockout. It's basically a dumbed down UWF match, with a couple of hard shots from Vader, and bits of nice mat work from Shammy. Interesting to see this style of match in a WWF ring.

 

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Vs The Undertaker: It's weird to hear Austin's music without the insta-pop for the glass shattering. It's like mild applause for the glass shattering, and then more of an ovation when he actually appears. The Hart Foundation come out, having bought front row seats from a scalper, and the heat for them is awesome. Pillman is swinging around one of Bret's crutches like a lunatic. This match is pretty good. They brawl around the ring a bit, and then do some dueling legwork. It's definitely made better by the antics of the Harts though. Owen gets dragged out of the crowd by Austin and bumped around a bit, then Taker gets some shots in. Austin gets a visual pin on Taker, but he doesn't feel quite ready to be world champion at this point. I prefer this to their Attitude Era matches.

 

MOTN: Austin/Taker, 3.5 stars. I might put Shamrock/Vader at 3.

Show rating: Not great really, but interesting to look back on in hindsight with the early Rock/Mankind and Austin/Taker matches, the shoot-style match, and the match that really established Chyna. 3 stars.

 

I was at this ppv. Rocky was absolutely hated by the crowd. Mick got a huge pop for rolling through his crossbody and putting him out. The Rock Bottom on the ramp was impressive. Mick's body hitting the steel made a huge thud.

 

There was also a dark match after the Austin/Taker match. Owen/Bulldog vs. LOD that went to a DQ after about 7 min IIRC. Weird to have a dark match after the ppv but I remember that used to happen quite frequently.

[SirSmUgly]

The Smoking Gunns Vs The 123 Kid and Razor Ramon: Good little match. Razor is over like crazy. He comes off as such a cool guy, and they really could have utilised him better. Kid is essentially working heel here, being ultra aggressive with the Gunns, and then asking to be tagged in to get the win after Razor has hit the Razor's Edge. This backfires, he gets rolled up and pins, and then throws a hissy fit. Good booking on the Kid heel turn, but kind of a weird finish to the match.

 

I actually REALLY liked this match, which I just watched. There are three reasons beyond what you've talked about.

 

First, this a face team vs. face team match where everyone works borderline heel. They come in talking shit to one another and do so throughout the match, Bart has that great bump over the top rope after the Kid pulls it down, both teams try to cheat and move their partner on top for a pin behind the refs back, and everything seems actually fairly violent (particularly the striking), especially compared to what I expected coming in.

 

Second, this match feels like a real harbinger of things to come. Billy comes out with short hair and no mustache, looking like he'd be putting on those ridiculous Mr. Ass tights any day now. Kid comes out throwing up a Kliq sign and looking Syxx-level sleazy. Even Razor comes off more like Scott Hall than Razor in the pre-match promo. It really added to this match for me personally for whatever reason.

 

Third, the crowd is very hot for this match, chanting for Razor and popping pretty loud on a couple of near falls, especially one where they thought Kid got the three. 

 

I need to watch this again to temper myself, but right now, I'd place this as one of the five best matches I've seen so far on RAW or PPV in 1995. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

In Your House: Badd Blood.

 

Why does the poster for this have the Undertaker holding up his own severed head?

 

Rocky Maivia, Kama Mustafa and D'Lo Brown Vs The Legion of Doom: Shamrock was meant to be teaming with the LOD, but he had been injured at the hands of Faarooq. Pretty basic match, with the Nation needing interference from Faarooq to win. Rock uses the Rock Bottom to win, although it still wasn't called that.

 

Max Mini and Nova Vs Tarantula and Mosaic: This was one of two matches added to the card to replace Dude Love Vs Brian Pillman. Pillman had died earlier that day. Kind of a weird tone when they talk about the death, strangely emotionless. I suppose they were all a bit in shock. Just a short match, not as good as the last minis match.

 

The Godwinns Vs The Headbangers: The Godwinns are with Uncle Cletus, who is Tony Anthony. I don't remember that. They try to outdo each other in grossness, as first one of the Godwinns spits up in the air, catches it and wipes it in their hair, and then one of the Headbangers spits in the air and catches it in his mouth. That's pretty much the only memorable thing about the match, apart from the Godwinns winning the tag belts.

 

Owen Hart Vs Faarooq: This is the final of the Intercontinental title tournament, and Austin has been ordered out by Commissioner Slaughter to hand the belt to the winner. The match itself is short, and ends with Austin hitting Faarooq with the belt so Owen can win. The highlight is without a doubt Austin taking over each commentary booth (US, Spanish, French) and talking trash, including knocking off JR's hat. Quality work from Austin here.

 

The Disciples of Apocalypse Vs Los Boricuas: This is the second late addition to the show. Savio is starting to get a little porky. Perfectly acceptable 8-man, won by the DOA.

 

Bret Hart and the British Bulldog Vs The Patriot and Vader: Flag match with the added stipulation that it can be won by pinfall or submission (not sure why they added that, unless they didn't have faith in these guys to work a long match with no nearfalls). It starts off as a wild brawl, with the Americans getting a jump on the Harts as they come out, before settling into a normal tag match. It's pretty hard to get any kind of momentum going though, because every time someone tries to climb the flag pole, the guy on the apron interferes. So there's no real traditional face in peril work. This ends up hurting the match (which is won by a Bret Hart roll-up anyway), and you wish they'd have just gone with a traditional tag match, or worked it as a tornado-style brawl.

 

Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker: Here it is then, the first Hell in a Cell match, and it holds up as a great match. Shawn's bumping and ragdolling around in the first portion of this is quality, before he takes over. Honestly, I'd have liked to see The Undertaker dominate more of this one. Shawn's bump of the cage seems strangely tame now, but the fans at ringside are absolutely losing their shit over it, as I believe I was at the time. Then "that's got to be Kane". Still one of the best debuts ever, in my opinion. Shawn, a bloody and broken mess crawling over to the cover is one of the best visuals of this era of the WWF, and then he honestly looks dead as Triple H carries him out.

 

MOTN: HIAC at 4.5 stars. The flag match is about 3 1/4.

Show rating: Pretty much a throwaway show until the main event makes it a must-see. 3.5.

[Jiji]

On the one hand, I love the Kane debut and Vince's work there (so cheese). On the other, it destroyed the entire gimmick of the cell in the first fuckin' go. I think it would've been better served in a cell match that wasn't its debut. Then again, this is the same company that has escape victory conditions in a gotdayum steel cage match.

 

Regardless of that bitching, that match is so incredibly good. If Bret had stuck around, I wonder how he would've pulled off a hell in a cell match with, say,... Austin. *drools*

[Brian Fowler]

Still my favorite match ever.

[Josh Mann]

If I were to make a list of favorite matches ever this is at least on it.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

In Your House: D-Generation X

 

Taka Michinoku Vs Brian Christopher: This is the final of the light heavyweight title tournament. Lots of bickering between King and JR over whether or not Christopher is Lawler's son, with Jerry leaving the booth at one point to check on his boy. Christopher had a lot of good-looking high-end offence, but not much else. He dominates Taka for most of the match, but misses the Tennessee Jam and gets caught with the Michinoku Driver for the win. This made Taka seem a little undeserving. They tried to make a big deal out of this, with lots of photographers and a presentation ceremony for the new champ.

 

Miguel Perez, Jose Estrada and Jesus Castillo Vs Skull, Chainz and 8-Ball: Savio is sent to the back, while Crush is out thanks to an attack from Kane. Typical match between these two teams. The Boricuas steal it when Perez pretends to be injured, Savio comes out to take his place, which causes the distraction for Perez to come back in and hit a tumbleweed legdrop on whichever one of the DOA it was. Oh, and the Boricuas are rapping their way down the aisle now.

 

Butterbean Vs Marc Mero: A toughman match, the rules of which were never really explained. Boxing for the most part, and, like most worked boxing matches, pretty boring, although Mero is amusing as a cheating weasel.

 

Goldust and Luna come out doing their BDSM bit. Goldust reads some Dr Seuss before Luna socks him.

 

Billy Gunn and the Road Dog Vs The Legion of Doom: The pre-Outlaws Outlaws are the tag champs. I've been generous in my praise of Jesse James, but I can't remember ever seeing a good Outlaws match. We'll see if that changes over the course of this project. This is mostly boring and ends when Henry Godwinn comes in with his slop bucket, and the ref catches Hawk using it on the Outlaws.

 

Triple H Vs Sgt. Slaughter: Boot Camp match. Trips cuts a promo beforehand about visiting Sarge's wife after he wins. Sarge takes the best bump of the match, with his trademark over the turnbuckle bump. Otherwise this is plodding brawling. Chyna gets involved, of course, kicking Slaughter in the nuts leading to a Pedigree on a chair.

 

Jeff Jarrett Vs The Undertaker: Everything about Jarrett here screams jobber to me, from his music to his gear. I know people criticise the look/gimmick of his first run, but I thought that was goofy enough that it gave him heat (plus the music was cool). This time around he just looks bad. Match is poor, honestly, and finally Kane comes in and attacks Jarrett, giving him the dq win. 

 

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Vs Rocky Maivia: Austin comes out in a pick-up, Rocky has the Nation as back-up. Short match in which Austin goes through everyone (D-Lo takes a stunner atop the pick-up, which I strangely remember really clearly from when this first aired) and wins with the stunner to retain the IC title. Fun stuff.

 

Ken Shamrock Vs Shawn Michaels: Shawn is interviewed before the match and calls JR a fat tub of goo. JR seems genuinely annoyed by Shawn here. This match isn't up to much. Shawn's bumping around seems kinda hollow, and Shammy wasn't very interesting unless he was flipping out on people. Shawn wins by DQ when Hunter and Chyna interfere to break up the ankle lock. Most memorable about this though, is Owen Hart attacking Shawn after the match, driving him through a table and unloading on him with punches. That was a really well-done angle, that I wish Shawn had sold a bit more (he's up and celebrating to end the ppv). They really didn't make anything of what could have been a really hot feud. Owen Vs Hunter was a poor substitution.

 

MOTN: As short as it was, Rock/Austin was probably the most exciting thing on the show, at about 2 3/4 stars.

Show rating: This felt like the first Attitude Era show. You had Rock Vs Austin, Goldust doing what he was doing, the Outlaws. Plus, no really good matches. 2.5.

[cwoy2j]

 

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Vs Rocky Maivia: Austin comes out in a pick-up, Rocky has the Nation as back-up. Short match in which Austin goes through everyone (D-Lo takes a stunner atop the pick-up, which I strangely remember really clearly from when this first aired) and wins with the stunner to retain the IC title. Fun stuff.

 

One of my favorite matches. Austin probably still shouldn't have been in the ring at that point but they disguised his limitations well. Also, D-Lo had to sell that stunner for about 10-15 minutes. That's up there with Big Show having to lay around for 15 minutes after Hogan hit him with the belt at Hog Wild 96 and Seth Rollins having to play dead forever after the Zig Zag.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

So, I know star ratings for matches are kinda frowned upon, and I admit I feel kinda dickish throwing them out for this project, but I wanted to keep a record of all the matches I think are safely good (3 stars+) on these shows, just as a reference for myself more than anything. So, that said, here's a rundown of the all the guys with 3 star+ matches through 1997. Obviously, just my opinion.

 

Bret Hart: 11

Shawn Michaels: 8

The Undertaker: 7

Vader: 7

British Bulldog: 5

Steve Austin: 5

Owen Hart: 4

Mick Foley: 3

The 123 Kid: 2

Razor Ramon: 2

Diesel: 2

Triple H: 2

Sid: 2

Ken Shamrock: 2

Brian Pillman: 2

Goldust: 2

The Patriot: 2

Hakushi: 1

Jeff Jarrett: 1

The Roadie: 1

Jean-Pierre Lafitte: 1

Dean Douglas: 1

Marc Mero: 1

Savio Vega: 1

Yokozuna: 1

Ahmed Johnson: 1

Taka Michinoku: 1

The Great Sasuke: 1

Jim Neidhart: 1

Hawk: 1

Animal: 1

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

In Your House: No Way Out of Texas

 

The Headbangers Vs TAFKA Goldust and Marc Mero: There was really no subtlety to Mero's act, was there? It was still fairly entertaining though. Here he sends Sable to the back, so Luna can be the only woman at ringside. Goldust is dressed as Marilyn Manson. Oh, the late 90s. Decent match, marked by Thrasher getting quite badly busted open, and a win for the 'Bangers.

 

TAKA Michinoku Vs Pantera: Brian Christopher is out for commentary. The Christopher/Lawler father and son denial story is funny and all, but I don't need it taking up the whole commentary like this. Also, Christopher calls TAKA a slant-eyed something or other, which is just mind-boggling. This match is actually really fucking good. TAKA probably sells for too much of the match again, but Pantera's offence is really cool, flashy and well-executed. This match would definitely be right at home in WCW's cruiserweight division.

 

The Godwinns Vs The Quebecers: There's an alternate reality where 1995 WWF had Pierre Oulette and Henry Godwinn kicking the shit out of each other over the WWF title. I'm not saying I'd like to live in that reality, but I would probably be okay paying it a visit. This is a weird match to put on a pay-per-view, being heel/heel, and with neither of these teams working a terribly crowd-pleasing style. Godwinns win.

 

Bradshaw Vs Jeff Jarrett: This is for the NWA North American heavyweight championship. I remember quite liking this NWA stable at the time, so we'll see how it holds up. Windham and the Rock N Roll Express are sent to the back. Jarrett still looks like a goof, and Bradshaw isn't much good. Bradshaw wins by dq when the rest of the NWA guys come back out. LOD make the save.

 

Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson, Chainz, Skull and 8-Ball Vs Faarooq, Rocky Maivia, D'Lo Brown, Mark Henry and Kama Mustafa: Billed as a War of Attrition match, which didn't actually mean anything. Dissension is forming in the Nation between Faarooq and Rocky. Okay match, worked mainly at a fast pace, and playing to Shamrock's strenghs- he gets to come in for the hot tag and clean house, making the Rock tap to the ankle lock. The Rock blames Faarooq for the loss, and they get into a shoving match, before Faarooq pulls rank and lines his troops up for the black power salute.

 

Kane Vs Vader: Pretty good monster Vs monster match, with both guys hitting their big bombs, and no selling shit. They really played Kane perfectly in these early months. He wins with the tombstone, and then hits Vader with a wrench, which leads to this gem from JR: "we don't want to alarm Vader's fans or family, but it looks like his face has been caved in".

 

Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie Vs Triple H, The New Age Outlaws and Savio Vega: This starts off as a wild brawl, and it should have stayed that way, being billed as an 'unsanctioned match'. I hate when no dq tag matches aren't worked tornado-style. The highlight once the action gets under control is Savio wrapping Cactus in barbed wire. Finally Austin gets the hot tag and, stunners Road Dogg for the win. After the match he gives the stunner to Chyna, which is played up as a really big deal. Is that the first time anyone had got physical with Chyna? This match should have been better than it was.

 

MOTN: Taka Vs Pantera, which is a bit of a hidden gem. I'd put it at 3.5 stars. Kane/Vader and the main event at 3.

Show rating: I enjoyed this quite a bit actually. Probably the easiest to get through of the 3 hour shows. 3 and a quarter stars.

[brandonr4s]

I still maintain that Shawn going over Bulldog in England was the right move. Shawn became WHITE HOT heading into the meat of the Taker and Bret feuds, and Bulldog was always going to be a draw there, so it didn't hurt his status, especially since he was basically screwed out of the belt by DX interference. The only thing I didn't like was the European title treated like shit afterwards.

 

Still, how many instances do guys have that kind of heat in real life? Babyface dedicates the match to his dying sister, it's in his hometown, and the heel is such a prick, he steals his thunder, takes his belt and hits on his wife afterwards. The entire building screaming with anger and the ring filled with broken bottles and debris says "pro wrestling" to me. I love that match, but I can see where others would disagree.

[kafkonia]

I still maintain that Shawn going over Bulldog in England was the right move. Shawn became WHITE HOT heading into the meat of the Taker and Bret feuds, and Bulldog was always going to be a draw there, so it didn't hurt his status, especially since he was basically screwed out of the belt by DX interference. The only thing I didn't like was the European title treated like shit afterwards.

 

Still, how many instances do guys have that kind of heat in real life? Babyface dedicates the match to his dying sister, it's in his hometown, and the heel is such a prick, he steals his thunder, takes his belt and hits on his wife afterwards. The entire building screaming with anger and the ring filled with broken bottles and debris says "pro wrestling" to me. I love that match, but I can see where others would disagree.

It's great if it keeps fans coming back. Without a payoff, it risks killing a territory.

 

Obviously, that didn't happen here... but it was a dangerous choice.

[caley]

In Your House: No Way Out of Texas

 

This was one of my fave PPVs nobody talks about.  I loved the main event (Though Savio coming out was kind of a deflating moment as it was the era of surprise debuts and people were hoping/thinking it was an angle with some ECW/WCW guy jumping ship and not what it really was: one of our guys is hurt so here's a guy who's not doing anything else!) more than you apparently, reminded me of sorta ECW-lite.

 

That Pantera-Christopher match was great.  I was as much amazed by Pantera's ridiculous through-the-turnbuckle dive as I was by Christopher saying that "no-good slant-eyed..." and JR just getting annoyed with him.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

He did the through the turnbuckle dive, the Santito-style somersault plancha onto a grounded opponent, a standing top rope hurricanrana, and some other stuff that was really spectacular and unexpected. I was trying to work out who Pantera was, and when I came onto Wiki and found that he was just... Pantera, I wondered why I hadn't heard much about him. The guy had a long career too.

 

I enjoyed the early part of the main, where it was tornado style, even though it was hard to follow and there were a few too many goofy weapon shots, but once "the ref got control" of the match, it was pretty unspectacular. I think at the time I was okay with Savio as the mystery man, just because I really like Los Boricuas for whatever reason.

 

In general it is a pretty good ppv.