WWF In Your House – Good Friends… Better Enemies

WWF In Your House – Good Friends… Better Enemies
Omaha, NE
Civic Center
April 28, 1996

Talk about a transitional pay-per-view. There’s so much to discuss after watching the seventh In Your House event. This show, in my opinion, marks the end of the New Generation era and the very beginning of the Attitude era, though it wouldn’t full take shape until much later in the year. And of course just a couple months after this the wrestling world gets turned upside down and things are never the same again.

Watching through these events chronologically, it’s funny how 1995 is infinitely more interesting than 1996, with some truly great hidden gems and laughably terrible wrestlecrap. 1996 has its moments later in the year, but really drags from Wrestlemania to Survivor Series. Back in 96 I watched a number of these shows live with Matt on PPV and the rest scrambled, and would also rent all of these shows when they were released at the video store. But I had such a growing negative opinion of the WWF at that time that it clouded my enjoyment of the shows and it would be years before I re-watched most of these PPVs. Just over 10 years ago I started re-watching through 1996 again and found the events to be overall better than I remembered, but still a slog to get through.

1996 WWF as a whole is a pretty boring year. There’s some good wrestling found on these events, but a lot of the matches are just kind of bland. I especially dislike the title picture, with so much Goldust, Shawn Michaels and the brutal tag team division. The absence of Bret Hart and the the thin main event scene are really noticeable from spring through fall. Though I didn’t appreciate it at the time, the mid-card was drastically improving, as new wrestlers like Steve Austin, Marc Mero, and Mankind were working hard. I liked the elevated role of new heavyweights like Ahmed Johnson and Vader, but their matches and booking drops off hard by fall. But here in spring 1996, it’s a massive re-positioning and shift, as things are changing rapidly.

So where to start? How about with the ridiculous name! The WWF was losing all its magic for me in 1996, and these corny In Your House names were beyond cringey. The In Your House concept was stupid to begin with, as they should have come up with individual PPV names right from the start. It was obvious they needed to differentiate the In Your House shows, and this was the first one with it’s own unique name, and it’s just fucking terrible. It’s derived from the main event event, which sees Shawn Michaels’ first major title defense and the end of the of the line for Diesel.

While watching through IYH, my mind was focusing on the impending departure of both Diesel and Razor Ramon and the impact that it would have on wrestling history. I was on all the internet newz sites at the time, and still had trouble believing that both of these wrestlers were headed back down south after becoming much huger stars in the WWF. By 96, WCW was the Hulk Hogan cartoon show, so how would Razor and Diesel fit in? Without the NWO, what happens to Hall and Nash? Probably just a couple of regular baddies, wrestling in tag matches against Hulk Hogan and the Macho Man. No one could have anticipated the seismic shift in wrestling that would occur just weeks after this In Your House. It’s still fun to think about.

I skimmed through the Free For All and laughed my ass off at all the stupid 1996 stuff we hated so much at the time – Phineas being infatuated with Sunny, Goldust being infatuated with the Ultimate Warrior, everything Ahmed Johnson, McMahon’s fawning over Shawn Michaels, the insanity of the Ultimate Warrior in general, newcomers like the Wiiiiiiiiillllldman, and so on. It’s all so ridiculous and unique to this specific era.

The event takes place in Omaha, Nebraska, and I applaud the WWF with staying true to their idea of holding IYH in smaller cities. I love the unique locations for these shows, and it creates a much different atmosphere and makes them far more memorable in my mind. During the opening matches McMahon stresses that the building is sold out, but fans are still filing in due to traffic issues from all the construction in the area. I love this kind of minutia! These ridiculous small details are sorely missing from modern events.

Free for All) Wildman Marc Mero (w/ Sable) defeated the 1-2-3 Kid (w/ Ted Dibiase) via disqualification at 7:17 when Hunter Hearst Helmsley interfered and hit the Pedigree on Mero

This Free For All match is absolutely fascinating to me, as we have a new arrival facing an impending departure. I often forget that the 123 Kid still hung around for months into 96, technically in a stable with Stone Cold Steve Austin, which is just nuts to think about. Kid was already checked out and had his bags packed for WCW. This was also the Kid’s last PPV appearance for two years, and at them time, it seemed so minor that he’d be leaving with his buddies. This match wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been, as they didn’t take it out of first gear, but there was still some nice mat wrestling and aerial offense. Not bad for a Free For All match, and much better than shit like Jake the Snake vs Tatanka! Wildman was still finding his character, and it’s funny to me how he seemed like a totally different wrestler than Johnny B Badd. The match ends in a super lame DQ as Helmsley just runs in and blatantly hits the Wildman with a pedigree, furthering their feud from Wrestlemania. I should also mention that this was Sable’s first major show appearance in the Wildman’s corner, and is another staple of this 96 era.

The PPV opens with a whole angle that could have easily been done in the Free For All. It was supposed to be a Jake Roberts vs British Bulldog singles match (seriously?) but there was a whole protest surrounding Jim Cornette, Clarence Mason, Jake’s snake, and it all leads to Owen Hart and Ahmed Johnson being added into an impromptu tag team match. The tag match is a much better idea, as they wanted to protect both Bulldog and Johnson, setting them up for big months ahead, but why even have this whole stupid angle when they could have just booked this match in the first place?

1) Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart defeated Jake Roberts & Ahmed Johnson at 13:45 when Roberts submitted to a modified half crab by Smith after Smith repeatedly hit Roberts in the knee with Jim Cornette’s tennis racquet which had been left at ringside

I remember watching this show live scrambled and being thoroughly confused by what was going on. Eventually when I’d rent the tape, I was still left scratching my head trying to figure out what the point of all this was. I’m sure I’m in the minority, but I actually liked this tag match, though I’m also a fan of the six man at Wrestlemania. Ahmed Johnson was great in the first half of 1996 and was best used in short bursts, especially as a hot tag guy. Jake the Snake looked old and terrible, but still had the fans firmly behind him and worked equally well in tag matches, as he could take a quality beating. Diana Hart is seen watching from the crowd, as she was about to become prominently involved in the main storyline over the next couple months. The match ends with all kinds of craziness and the British Bulldog gets hold of Cornette’s tennis racket and works over Jake’s knee, then forces him to submit to his lame looking half crab. I can’t even imagine how boring a Snake-Bulldog singles match would have been, this match was much much better.

2) The Ultimate Warrior defeated WWF IC Champion Goldust (w/ Marlena & Bruiser Mastino) via count-out at 7:38 when Goldust & Marlena left ringside after Warrior stuck Marlena’s lit cigar in Goldust’s hand and then clotheslined him out of his director’s char in the ring; after the bout, Mastino – acting as Goldust’s bodyguard – attacked Warrior but Warrior fought him off and hit a bodyslam

What the fuck was this shit! You can’t even really consider this a match! So much going on here and it’s all just shit. For whatever fucking asinine reason, the Ultimate Warrior’s first feud upon his return was with Goldust?! Why??? What the fuck was the point?! I watched through all of those rare Ultimate Warrior matches last year and the way his return was handled was just terrible. Warrior really should have gone over someone like Owen Hart on PPV in a more competitive match, rather than this crap. By this point, everything with Goldust was out of control awful and he was one of the worst parts of 1996. I remember him dominating every Raw with his boring interviews, matches and feuds. He was apparently hurt for real coming out of Wrestlemania, so rather than have him drop the title, they worked around his injury by having this terrible non-match. Further adding to this disaster is the debut of Goldust’s bodyguard – the former Mantaur – who’s called Bruiser Mastino in reports only, but was never named on TV. This bodyguard was never mentioned again after this and was only there to take bumps from the Warrior. So so so completely pointless. This crap between the Warrior and Goldust stretches on endlessly and actually ends in a count out when Goldust runs away. Wow this sucked and was beyond pointless, truly one of the worst things ever put on a WWF PPV.

After the “match” we go backstage where the British Bulldog was trying to get at Shawn Michaels in his locker room. YES!! It’s the start of the “puhvuhrt” feud! They actually did a great job setting up the next In Your House during this show, announcing matches and starting some new feuds.

3) Vader (w/ Jim Cornette) pinned Razor Ramon with a sit-down splash after blocking an attempt at the Razor’s Edge and hitting a backdrop at 14:49

This is by far one of the strangest matches in WWF PPV history. After disappearing from TV for two months, Razor was suddenly announced as Vader’s opponent for In Your House. He was never on TV leading up to the show and the match felt so completely random. As it turned out, Razor was being used to put over Vader on his way out the door, and would be gone along with Diesel a few weeks later. I don’t think many fans knew this at the time, which is what made his sudden appearance on Nitro all the more shocking. After watching through some WCW 94 events recently, it’s disappointing to see the change in Vader. He no longer has the menace or the ferocity, and most of his WWF matches are nowhere near the quality of his WCW peak. Vader just seems like more of a fat guy monster in the WWF, with his large gut and doughy appearance. He looked far more built and imposing in WCW. Still, at the time, the WWF was slowly building up Vader as their top monster, and he has a surprisingly great match here with the departing Razor. You’d think this would just be a squash, but it’s a solid back and forth battle, with Razor getting in a ton of offence. I wonder if these competitive matches ultimately hurt Vader in the end? He probably should have been mowing through wrestlers on his way to the title, but politics would get in the way of that anyway. Vader slowly dominates Razor and finishes him off by simply sitting on him at the end.

After the match, Dok Hendrix shows up to interview Vader and Jim Cornette and announces that Yokozuna will be returning to face Vader at the next In Your House! This feud was great in theory, but it’s the sad end of the line for Yokozuna. Imagine how awesome a 93 Vader-Yoko match could have been.

4) WWF Tag Team Champions Skip & Zip (w/ Sunny) defeated Henry & Phinneas Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim) at 7:16 when Zip pinned Henry with an inside cradle after switching places with Skip, moments after Henry hit the Slop Drop on Skip but the referee was distracted by an altercation on the floor between Phinneas, Hillbilly, and Sunny

GROANNNNNN…. Oh man, the tag team division was death in 1996 with these shitty teams. I guess I should be happy the tag team titles made it to the actual PPV for a change. The Bodydonnas are somehow even worse than the Godwinns. There’s no chemistry between Skip and Zip and their matches are so damn boring, just routine wrestling. All the attention was on Sunny at ringside, and man, I have a hard time looking at her, knowing everything that was going on backstage and in the years to come. But at the time, Sunny was the best part of the show for 15 year-old me. Of course all the stupid Phineas-Sunny crap leads to the Bodydonnas retaining the titles because Phineas was SMITTEN! He was SMITTEN for fuck sake! LOL this crap is burned so deeply in my brain.

5) WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Diesel in a no holds barred match at 17:52 after landing a low blow, hitting Diesel with Mad Dog Vachon’s prosthetic leg – which the challenger ripped off Vachon as he sat at ringside – and hit the superkick

And thus begins the Shawn Michaels main event title run. I fucking hated hated HATED Shawn Michaels in 1996. I hated his invincibility, I hated his antics, I hated the endless fawning over him, I hated the endless commentary about him – I could not stand Shawn Michaels, and he pretty much tanked the year for me. Now, that being said, there’s no denying that Michaels was an amazing wrestler and had some true all-time classics throughout the year, including this all-out banger against Diesel. But fuck, his on-screen personality alone was so grating and irritating, let alone all the backstage clique news that was being rumored in this early internet era. For some inexplicable reason, they kept that old Mr. Dressup looking Jose Lothario with Shawn Michaels all year, which made NO SENSE, as the ancient Jose added nothing to Michaels’ matches or presentation. I love how Shawn doesn’t even interact with Jose at any point before, during, or after this match. He’s just clapping and fist pumping away, while Michaels’ ignores his presence and goes about his stripper routine.

All that crap aside, this match ruled! Diesel’s wrestling like a full heel here and even whips his vest at Vince before the match. He’s of course extremely motivated, working against his best buddy before heading out the door for more money, and as a result this match easily tops Wrestlemania XI. The dynamic works so much better with Diesel as the monster heel and Michaels’ as the sympathetic face. At the time, I thought this match should have been ECW-levels of bloody insanity, but you know, watching it know, I actually appreciate this simpler hardcore style even more, as the milder violence looks far more natural and the spots look more spectacular. Diesel absolutely powerbombs Michaels through the commentary and what a crazy visual, with monitors and papers and junk flying everywhere. I really enjoyed this match and it left me wondering what a heel Diesel would have been like had he remained in the WWF in 1996. Probably would have just ended up feuding with the Ultimate Warrior and the Undertaker before turning face again. It’s still so hard to believe that this event marks such a hard stop in wrestling history, as both Diesel and Razor were done on TV and finished up their house show commitments before showing up in WCW a month later. Crazy times! Speaking of crazy, the end of this match is truly nuts as Diesel rips the prosthetic leg off of Mad Dog Vachon at ringside, in a truly horrifying moment, and goes to hit Michaels with it. Shawn dodges and gets hold of the leg to clock Diesel and finish off his WWF run with the superkick, officially capping off the New Generation era. Wow! What a fucking great match, easily one of the best of the year.

Dark Match) The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) pinned Mankind with the chokeslam and tombstone at 11:04

Years and years ago, the WWE released the Attitude Era Unreleased blu-ray set, filled with dark matches and house show matches mainly from 1996 and 97, including a bunch of these IYH dark matches. I don’t know why, but I never finished the last couple matches on the set and never wrote a review for it. I really should re-visit it, as it contained some absolute gems. One of the coolest surprises was the main event dark match from this In Your House, the first ever Undertaker – Mankind match! So cool! Mankind was the most awesome opponent for the Undertaker in 1996, after an absolute slog in 1995. Being the first time they met, this didn’t quite hit the levels of their upcoming matches, and the fans were still getting into this brand new character, but this certainly set the stage for the battles to come. Most shockingly the Undertaker wins CLEAN! He beats Mankind straight up with the tombstone to a huge ovation. I love the Undertaker posing after the match while the fans are getting on their coats and leaving. I’ve said this a hundred times – I would LOVE it if they would release full start to finish events and tapings. From the second the cameras start rolling to the second they stop. I want it all lol