WWF In Your House #6

WWF In Your House #6
Louisville, KY
Louisville Gardens
February 18

The sixth In Your House took place on my 15th birthday in 1996, but I don’t remember having any interest in it, not even scrambled. As the calendar flipped into 1996, my interest in the WWF in general was fully on the decline. Don’t get me wrong – I was still a massive fan, watching as much as I could, but I pretty much stopped caring as much about the pay-per-views and was outright making fun of the WWF by spring. Like many WWF fans my age, a shocking and sudden shift in allegiance to WCW was unknowingly on the horizon, and the WWF would have to make a massive tonal shift to keep up. Looking back, the seeds for what was to come were already being planted in these early 1996 pay-per-views.

Despite my overall disinterest, I have clear memories of renting this PPV as a new release at my favorite video store, which had just undergone a huge renovation. It would be bought out by Blockbuster soon after and never felt like the same place again. Kind of sad end of an era with everything I loved changing so much over this time.

In Your House 6 took place in the classic Louisville Gardens, an arena that has such a unique look to it. It’s a smaller old-timey arena, with just a lower bowl and a tiled ceiling. It always stood out to me during these old events. The small crowd is pretty hot for most of the show, making for an exciting atmosphere.

Free for All) Jake Roberts pinned Tatanka (w/ Ted Dibiase) with the DDT at 5:29 after avoiding the Samoan Drop

It was a battle of the returnees, two guys who came back at the Rumble, something I thought was awesome at the time. What’s not awesome is the sad ass baggy green cut-off t-shirt Jake’s wrestling in. What the fuck happened to his vest? Also, why even try to hide his gut? He never had a great physique. Jake’s return was a cool and huge surprise and he added a credible veteran presence to the face side of the mid-card. He definitely wasn’t the same in the ring, but could still go and seemed to have no issue putting anyone over. There was nothing to this match though, as Tatanka was just fucking done and seemed to be mailing it in. He’d be gone in a couple weeks, after jobbing out on a couple TV tapings. It’s funny too that Ted Dibiase was still managing him at this time too. Hilarious to think that Tatanka, 123 Kid, and Steve Austin were all in the same stable together, not that it was every acknowledged. The crowd goes ballistic when Jake finally DDT’s Tatanka’s sorry ass and wins the Free For All

Another huge moment of the Free For All was the announcement that Vader would be re-instated, following his suspension after destroying Gorilla Monsoon! Man that’s such a memory and what an awesome angle! They showed all the great highlights, and I just love how Monsoon wouldn’t stand for Vader’s bullshit and chopped him right back before being demolished. You NEVER saw that kind of a thing at the time, and was a very small hint of the edgier direction the WWF would slowwwly be heading in. Jim Cornette and Vader hit the ring for an interview and Vader looked like a fucking monster! How did they fuck up his push so badly? These early months of Vader are just fantastic and it sure seemed like he’d be on top of the mountain in no time.

1) Crybaby Match: Razor Ramon pinned the 1-2-3 Kid (w/ Ted Dibiase) after kicking baby powder into the Kid’s face and hitting the Razor’s Edge twice; pre-match stipulations called for the loser to wear a diaper after the match

Finally this long time storyline comes to a close at In Your House. The Crybaby stipulation is just fucking stupid, but the crowd is hugely into this and Razor is mega over. It’s a solid match between these two buddies and the Kid takes a crazy beating from Razor. It’s nuts to think about how far removed this felt from the Kid’s first win over Razor nearly three years prior. This was all action, with the baby powder coming into play multiple times. Razor hits the Edge twice to definitively put this one to bed and knock out the Kid, to a massive roar from the crowd. Razor diapers the Kid for some classic McMahon ha-ha-halarity. Despite the dumb stipulation this was a fun match, but the end of the line for Razor. He works the TV tapings after this, but is mysteriously suspended and his Miami Streetfight with Goldust never happens. He kind of sort of returns for job duty before heading down south. There are a lot of lingering questions around Razor’s suspension. Was it for drug testing? Was it because of the WCW negotiations? And this is pretty much it for the Kid being relevant, as he too is on job duty as well.

2) Hunter Hearst Helmsley pinned Duke Drose after hitting him with Drose’s own trash can lid

After their Royal Rumble Free For All match, this ends up becoming a real feud, with Helmsley famously cutting off Duke’s long hair, something that Matt and I have laughed about endlessly since – the “Duke the Dumpster Drose Haircut.” Duke looks like a skinny Big Bossman with the hair and goatee and he gets his one and only PPV singles match. The crowd is pretty hot for him as he uses his basic punch and kick and power offense to take it to HHH for a big chunk of the match. Out of all the various goofy heels to debut in 1995, other than Goldust, Helmsley was being pushed the most, always being featured on PPVs, and always picking up singles victories. It’s no different here. Duke has Helmsley beat, but gets wrapped up in revenge for his hair and hauls the trash can into the ring to inflict some damage. As the ref tosses the can, Helmsley grabs the lid and waffles the Dumpster in a badly timed spot, directly in front of the ref, but still gets the pin. Duke showed some good fire in this match, but he’d drop back down to the low card before leaving in summer, due to his drug addiction and poor sounding attitude. Duke never shows up again in the Attitude era, though did have tryout matches in both WWF and WCW.

Before the next match we get a recap of Yokozuna’s good guy turn. This stuff is a huge memory and actually was a great way to get Vader over and establish the new killer in Jim Cornette’s stable. Yoko was totally stale by this point, but could he work as a fan favorite? Before the match, Dok Hendrix has the first ever INTERVIEW with Yoko, where he of course speaks in perfect English, which made us laugh so hard at the time. Man, everything about this 96 era is a huge ass memory! Maybe I like it better than I thought?

3) Yokozuna defeated Davey Boy Smith (w/ Jim Cornette) via disqualification after Cornette used his tennis racquet as a weapon; after the match, Smith and Vader handcuffed Yokozuna to the ring ropes and double teamed him

It’s weird to think about how less than a year earlier, Bulldog and Yoko were on opposite sides, fighting over the tag team titles. This was a fairly basic power match, but it was fun to see the fans buying into Yokozuna as a fan favorite. Bulldog bumped and worked as his ass off for Yoko, and for what it was, this match was pretty good and fun. The whole thing ended in a crappy and predictable DQ, but the fun really begins as Vader hits the ring and starts laying in shots on Yoko! They’re just smashing each other and soon Vader and Bulldog handcuff Yoko to the ropes and lay in a beating, with no one coming to save Yoko given his prior heel ways. Fuck, Vader looks UNSTOPPABLE at this point! How the fuck did they fuck up his push so bad?!

4) Shawn Michaels pinned Owen Hart (w/ Jim Cornette) with the superkick at 15:57 after avoiding the enziguri; Michaels’ world title shot at WrestleMania XII was on the line in this bout

I love this match and I’ve reviewed it twice before. As much as I can’t stand mid 90s Shawn Michaels, he was still capable of some classics. Of course he has to make a stupid Shawn Michaels entrance, dancing on the roof of the house set while McMahon was losing his mind, but once the bell rang, this was all action. Just a thrilling match from start to finish, with the added twist of the Wrestlemania title shot being on the line. They leaned heavily on Owen putting Michaels out of action and teased it at numerous points in this match. Owen and Michaels had crazy chemistry, what a shame they never had a 1998 blood feud. Really good long match, one of my favorites of this era, ignoring all the HBK crap before and after the match.

Wow, this In Your House is like a Saturday Night’s Main Event, with only five matches and lots of angles and interviews. Interim President Rowdy Roddy Piper comes out for an old-fashioned podium interview in the arena to stall for time while they build the cage. I’ll just say, President Piper sucked. He was terrible, with rambling and goofy ass promos and terrible jokes. He’s still mega over and I was initially happy to see him back, but he’s a self-parody by this point. It’s interesting, while WWF was fully burying WCW with the Billionaire Ted stuff, they brought back dinosaurs like Piper, Jake Roberts, and the Ultimate Warrior, all the while pretending that they were still fresh new stars. All the Billionaire Ted stuff was funny at the time, but has aged so poorly. It was so dumb to mock WCW when they were actively trying to bring back Hulk Hogan and the Macho Man as well.

5) WWF World Champion Bret Hart defeated Diesel in a steel cage match at 19:13 by escaping over the top as the Undertaker came up through the canvas and pulled the challenger underneath the ring

Out of all the great Bret-Diesel PPV matches, this one rarely gets mentioned. Watching through all of these events in order, it’s tremendous seeing the evolution of Bret-Diesel from KOTR 1994 to this steel cage match. While not quite the classic that their other PPV matches were, this is still a hard-hitting battle, but you could tell that it had run its course. They smartly use the cage stipulation, with Diesel working like a true heel, punishing Bret and slamming him hard into the cage. The sell for this is that Bret has never lost a cage match, and he relies on all his usual tricks and attempts to escape, only to be repeatedly cut off and pummeled by Diesel. It’s a really good story, but it just doesn’t quite have the same juice and drama as their past matches. The ending was cool at the, as Diesel powerbombs the Hitman dead and is heading for the door, when the Undertaker suddenly pops up through the canvas like a horror movie monster and then drags Diesel to hell apparently. While this is going down, Bret’s in the background, climbing over the cage. Bret was furious about this finish, feeling like he was treated like an afterthought, but I thought it was really well done and a creative way to keep everyone strong for Wrestlemania. Looking back, this match certainly feels like the end of an era.

In a SUPER COOL surprise I forgot that the Coliseum Video release included a bonus dark match from the show! I had 100% forgot about this, as I had only rented this tape maybe once. After the first couple In Your House tapes, I so wished that we would have been treated to other bonus dark matches.

6) The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) defeated WWF IC Champion Goldust (w/ Marlena) via count-out at 13:39 when the champion left ringside after suffering a chokeslam

I was expecting a terrible stallfest, but this was a surprisingly decent and hard fought match. Undertaker was wrestling more aggressively in early 96, making for better matches. He’s still slow, but it was an improvement. Goldust is trying all his usual antics and running into the crowd and such, but the Undertaker keeps on taking it to him. Things slow down later in the match, but the crowd is going nuts for the Undertaker and goes crazy when he chokeslams Goldust. Predictably, Goldust takes the walk for the cheap ass countout, but the crowd is happy nonetheless to see the Undertaker victorious. Goldust sucks, but this match wasn’t bad. I think I was more excited at the surprise and memory of it than anything else.

Action Zone – 2/25/96 – included Todd Pettengill conducting an interview with Jake Roberts on the interview stage about his return to the WWF in which he for the first time on TV spoke about his past with cocaine and alcoholism, his newfound religious beliefs, and said his new snake was named Revelations

In another fun discovery, I found a cool interview with Jake that was also taken from this show. It’s another classic podium style interview, with Todd interviewing Jake in the arena. It’s like a semi shoot, as Jake opens up about his addictions, saying his toughest fight wasn’t Andre the Giant or Rick Rude(!), but with himself. It’s an extremely candid interview that again hints at the edgy direction the WWF would be in a year later. Jake openly discusses his religious beliefs, which is also surprising to hear on a WWF show. Jake seemed so sincere in early 1996, that it was a shame to see how much harder he fell into addiction in the ensuing years.

In Your House 6 wasn’t nearly as terrible as I remembered, and I enjoyed quite a bit. It’s not exactly a great wrestling show, but there was a lot of action and angle development and it felt a lot more like a classic SNME than a pay-per-view.