WWF In Your House – Beware of Dog

WWF In Your House – Beware of Dog
Florence, SC
Civic Center
May 26, 1996

Oh boy… one of the WWF’s most notorious PPV trainwrecks and an event that we endlessly mocked at the time. From its ridiculous name to goofy main event feud, everything about this show made us laugh so much, and watching it again immediately took me right back to the spring of 1996. It’s a companion show to Good Friends Better Enemies, with the feuds and matches already being set then, but wow does the WWF landscape feel different.

Change was certainly in the air. Only a week before Beware of Dog, the infamous ‘curtain call’ went down at Madison Square Garden and wrestling history was changed forever. I’m always surprised to look back and see how many landmark moments took place during this mostly boring and monotonous year. 1996 completely changed the wrestling business and we didn’t even know it. As an early internet user, I was reading all kinds of crazy rumors, but who really knew what was real and what wasn’t!

As for the show itself, Beware of Dog took place in Florence, South Carolina… whaaaat? Why Florence of all places? The WWF never ran PPVs in the Southeastern US prior to this, other than Florida and maybe Louisville if that counts, so why the small city of 40k in the middle of South Carolina?! In my few minutes of Google research, I didn’t turn up much. The WWF hardly ran Florence, so I wonder why they chose this city for a PPV location? Feels so incredibly random.

Watching through the Free For All brought back so many memories from this time. Forget watching through all the boring TV from this era, just watch the Free For Alls for the best recaps. After Good Friends Better Enemies, the British Bulldog began levying allegations that Shawn Michaels was trying to get with his wife Diana! This was batshit nuts and completely ridiculous! Bulldog accused Michaels of being a PUHVURT and we even get the all-time amazing moment where the British Bulldog attacks Shawn Michaels on a beach in Kuwait and says the hysterical “all over the world pervert” line that we quoted endlessly back in the day. This feud was beyond stupid and featured all the Jim Cornette and Clarence Mason legal nonsense along with it. Good grief. I wonder why they even went back to the Bulldog as a main event challenger, given his boring title match with Diesel at IYH IV and his sound defeat to Bret Hart at IYH V. Did anyone even buy his chances at beating the invincible Shawn Michaels??

Free for All: The Smoking Gunns defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Henry & Phinneas Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim & Sunny) to win the titles at 4:57 when Bart Gunn pinned Phinneas with a back suplex after Phinneas became distracted by Billy Gunn kissing Sunny on the ring apron

In a mostly useless and forgotten piece of WWF history, the Godwinns won the tag team titles from the Bodydonnas at the ‘Curtain Call’ MSG show a week before Beware of Dog. Why?? What the fuck was the point?! Once again the tag titles are relegated to the pre-show as this division continues to circle the drain. This match was given all of 5 minutes and all the focus was on Sunny, who earlier on revealed that she’s the new manager of the Godwinns, and that fucker Phineas was SMITTEN! He was so fucking smitten with their new manager! Of course this was all a pointless SWERVE as Sunny kissed Billy Gunn on the apron to distract Phineas and allow Bart to beat him with the back suplex. And of course that idiot Phineas is all sad after. Who the fuck cares lol.

In a fun bit of foreshadowing during the Free For All, Vince McMahon brings attention to the terrible storm in Florence, and how fans may have been having trouble getting to the building. Vince warns that the storm may cause some issues for Beware of Dog but they will do their best to stay on the air! About that.

The Florence Civic Center has a pretty good look for an In Your House, with a full crowd in a small building. I wonder if WCW even ran Florence? McMahon and Jerry the King Lawler are on the call as usual.

1) Marc Mero (w/ Sable) pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley at 16:23 by reversing an attempt at the Pedigree into a slingshot which sent Helmsley face-first into the ringpost

The PPV kicks off with the feud that’s been brewing since Wrestlemania XII. New talent like Mero and Austin really changed the WWF’s mid-card, with these longer, WCW-style matches. At the time I found these matches to be on the boring side, but there’s some great ring work here, and it was a matter of adjusting to a new style. I’m really enjoying these great mid-card matches now, as they feel so different from years prior. Mero and Helmsley were a solid match, sticking to the mat for the most part, with some brawling on the floor. Lots of talk on commentary about Sable as manager of the Wildman, which didn’t seem like that big of a deal at the time, but was another integral ingredient of the brewing Attitude era. Marc Mero pins Helmsley clean after a slingshot to the post, and I wonder if that was always the planned finish, or if it was the first “punishment” for Hunter after the ‘Curtain Call’? It was a big win for Mero as he steadily establishes himself in the upper mid-card.

Stone Cold Steve Austin makes his entrance next, soon followed by Savio Vega. As Vega’s coming down the aisle, suddenly the PPV feed cuts off for the first and only time so far in the WWF’s history. I was watching this show live on scramblevision and had no clue what happened. I figured it was my own scrambled feed that got lost. I was so surprised to find out later that the power to the building was knocked out due to the storm. We’d come to find out that the show kept going, mostly in the dark, for the fans as they tried to restore power and the satellite uplink. The power outage is by far the most memorable part of the show, with cool clips and images from the event surfacing after. I found some clips on YouTube of the PPV being restored at a couple short points with messages from Vince. It’s neat to see this production stuff.

The power is finally restored before the main event, and they just decide to roll to the end of the show as planned. I always found it interesting that they didn’t have a Michaels-Bulldog rematch at Beware of Dog 2, but that probably fucks with their rematch plans for King of the Ring.

Before the world title match there’s all kinds of extra nonsense, like Clarence Mason handing Shawn Michaels a subpoena, which he then ripped in half, and Diana and Owen Hart are allowed at ringside. Completely forgotten out there is that mummy Jose Lothario. I can’t get past how out of place he feels in these matches!

2) WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels (w/ Jose Lothario) fought Davey Boy Smith (w/ Jim Cornette, Owen Hart, & Diana Hart Smith) to a draw at 17:25 when both men had their shoulders down following a German suplex into a bridge by the champion, with second referee Mike Chioda and original referee Earl Hebner each counting one wrestler’s shoulders down for 3; after the bout, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon came to the ring, regained possession of the title belt from Diana, declared the match a draw

Considering how great both Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog are individually, it’s incredible just how boring their matches are. I was hoping that maybe I overlooked this one in the past and it might just be a forgotten gem, but definitely not. It’s a slow-paced snoozer, with the Bulldog “methodically” wearing down Shawn Michaels with extended rest holds. Yes, after weeks of trying to get at the guy who was lusting for his wife, including attacking him at he Persian Gulf, Bulldog pretty much chinlocks Michaels through the vast majority of the match. About half way through the match, things just kind of stop, with the Bulldog, Michaels, and Earl Hebner openly having a conversation while Michaels lays in the Bulldog’s chinlock. Online rumors suggested this was Michaels protesting the match finish and changing it on the fly, or it was a discussion about whether or not the show was still live on the air. Either way it’s weird and takes away from the already bland action. Things sort of pick up a bit towards the end with a big ref bump, but it leads to the double pin spot where another ref runs down and counts the pin for the Bulldog, while the ref on the floor counts the pin for Michaels. So much needless drama. I did have a hearty chuckle when Gorilla Monsoon finally marches down and snatches the title away from Diana before declaring this a draw. This whole storyline was bad and the match was very disappointing.

In Your House: Beware of Dog 2
North Charleston, SC – Coliseum – May 28, 1996

Months later I’d rent the Beware of Dog VHS tape which included the first two matches and then the final three from the second Beware of Dog PPV. Apparently the PPV also showed the matches in this same order as well. Things pick up again before a Superstars taping in Charleston. Interestingly, Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect are now on the call, giving the rest of these matches a whole different feel.

3) Savio Vega defeated Steve Austin (w/ Ted Dibiase) in a Carribean strap match at 21:26 when Austin pulled Vega into the fourth and final corner after Vega touched the first three corners without Austin knowing; due to pre-match stipulations, Ted Dibiase was forced to leave the WWF

I got my wish and found a true hidden gem buried in Beware of Dog 2. This is another match and feud I didn’t appreciate at the time, but have really come around to. Vega and Austin worked super well together, and I do like how the WWF kept a number of these feuds consistent for months. This was a real hard-nosed battle, with Austin and Vega laying in the strap shots and fighting hard. Touching four corners has never been my favorite stipulation, but Austin and Savio pulled it off, working a a real good match around it and the fans were very excited. This was a long battle too, going north of 20 minutes, with both guys taking an absolute beating. I’d even say this was Austin’s best match in the WWF to this point, and one of his best of 96, outside of his matches with Bret. Really good work and a hard fought battle. I highly enjoyed this.

Post match Savio Vega leads the crowd to sing “na na na hey hey goodbye” and they even play the old classic song. Watching it in 96, I don’t think I even clued in on Ted Dibiase going to WCW and just figured he was retiring. Hard to believe that he too would factor into the NWO storyline not too long from here. I’ve forever wondered how they were originally planning on having Ted Dibiase leave the company. This stipulation wasn’t part of the first Beware of Dog and was only added to this re-match.

4) Vader (w/ Jim Cornette) pinned Yokozuna at 8:54 with the Vader Bomb following an assault on Yoko’s left knee after Yoko failed a Bonzai Drop on an interfering Cornette

Another big disappointment on this show. After months of build-up and feuding, this battle of the beasts was slow and terrible. Sadly Yokozuna had nothing left to offer and this was his last big WWF PPV match. He’d get a couple more, but both were terrible and embarrassing. This should have been crushing big man battle, but it was so slow and clunky, with Yoko looking downright immobile. Vader was doing his part by going after the injured knee of Yokozuna and looking somewhat like a killer, but this just failed to deliver. The ending was pretty good though, as Vader just destroys Yokozuna’s knee with the Vader Bomb after saving Cornette.

5) WWF IC Champion Goldust (w/ Marlena) defeated the Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) in a casket match at 12:34 when, after Taker hit the tombstone on the champion and prepared to stuff him inside the casket, Mankind came out of the casket, applied the Mandible Claw, forcing Taker into the casket, and then shut and locked the casket shut; after the bout, smoke came out of the casket and once it was opened, the Undertaker was no longer inside

I have no idea why Goldust and the Undertaker had this brief Intercontinental title feud. No clue how this even started. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention during the Free For All. I think it’s safe to say that I hate 1996 Goldust even more than 96 Shawn Michaels. Goldust seems incapable of having anything resembling a good match, as this was another absolute slog to sit through. What a fucking boring casket match. And why the hell was it even a casket match? They didn’t want the Undertaker to lose? Then why even book this shit?! I probably hate this more than most, but man, so boring. The ending saves it, with the cool effect of Mankind suddenly appearing in the casket at the end and costing the Undertaker the match. I’ve always been curious as to how they pull off the magic trick, likely with the casket having a false bottom. Mankind attacks the Undertaker and shuts him in the casket, giving Goldust the win. Mankind was steadily becoming one of the best characters in the company. More Undertaker magic concludes the show, as he’s not in the casket when they open it.

It was definitely fun to watch through this event again, but these 1996 PPVs feel so much longer than their runtime. There’s a lot of stuff I just can’t stand from this period!