What the World Was Watching: In Your House - Revenge of the Taker

by Logan Scisco

-Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are live from Rochester, New York.

-I couldn’t find footage of the Free for All match, but on that show the Sultan defeated Flash Funk with a powerbomb at 2:55 for those that are interested.

-Opening Contest for the WWF Tag Team Championship:  The Legion of Doom defeat The British Bulldog & Owen Hart (Champions) by disqualification at 10:09:

It’s really disheartening that three of the four participants in this contest are no longer with us.  The tag team champions face another tough matchup in the opener of the pay-per-view and they had to be wishing for the days when The New Rockers, The Godwinns, and the Bodydonnas constituted the tag team division.  The crowd loves to chant “LOD”, but they are subdued during much of the match, even in parts when it looks like the LOD might win the titles.  Animal hits a powerslam off the second rope to pin the Bulldog, but the decision is overturned because it is ruled that the Bulldog was not the legal man.  The champions start walking towards the locker room dejected, but when they hear the announcement Owen gives a great “I knew that!” expression.  After the restart, it doesn’t take long for Owen to eat a Doomsday Device, but before the three count, Bret Hart runs out of the locker room and creates the disqualification.  This was just a standard tag match, but it could’ve come off better with a more vocal crowd.  Rating:  **

-Dok Hendrix interviews The British Bulldog and Owen Hart and Owen says that they didn’t keep the titles on a fluke.  The champions refuse to believe that Steve Austin is in the building to face Bret later tonight.

-Sunny and Brian Pillman hype the Superstar line and urge us to call 1-900-737-4WWF!

-Kevin Kelly interviews Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia, who says that Savio’s in for a hell of a fight in their upcoming match.

-Intercontinental Championship Match:  Savio Vega (w/The Nation of Domination) beats “The Rock” Rocky Maivia (Champion) by count out at 8:34:

Savio defeated Maivia on Raw prior to the pay-per-view and you would think that after the beating Maivia took on that show that he’d bring some backup to this encounter.  Faarooq wanders out to do guest commentary and he discusses the gauntlet challenge that he laid down to Ahmed Johnson on last week’s RAW.  You can hear a pin drop for this match, showing how little enthusiasm Maivia was generating as champion.  This isn’t much better than their match on Raw, with Savio draining the energy of the match with chokes and nerve holds.  At least Maivia gets in more offense in his comeback.  Savio tosses Maivia to the floor and Crush gives Maivia a heart punch behind the referee’s back, but Crush doesn’t roll Maivia into the ring and that costs Savio the title, much to Savio’s chagrin.  There is some arguing between the two before Faarooq gets into the ring and the Nation resolves the problem by beating the young Maivia until Ahmed makes the save.  This match continued Maivia’s weak run as champion and he’d lose the belt shortly after this.  Rating:  *

-Ahmed gets on the mic and accepts Faarooq’s challenge.

-Ken Shamrock is shown having some fun on America Online.

-Hendrix interviews Sable and Marc Mero.  Sable says she appreciates that she is a two-time Slammy winner and Mero says he hopes to be back soon.  Austin goes into the bathroom behind them, cursing the whole way, and an altercation is heard in the room.  The British Bulldog eventually emerges with a deer in headlights look as he holds an iron bar in his hand and he runs off.  Owen follows shortly thereafter.  Dave Hebner tells Hendrix that Austin is hurt and he needs help before also running away.  The whole segment was hilarious because of the bad acting of everyone involved.

-“The Real Double J” Jesse James pins Rockabilly (w/The Honky Tonk Man) with a small package at 6:44:

This was the blowoff of the Honky Tonk Man protégé angle, which had been going on for months, and the end result was terrible as Billy Gunn, who had rejected The Honky Tonk Man two weeks prior to this, emerged as the chosen man with a new name:  “Rockabilly.”  Oh well, on the other side of the coin you can look at this an encounter of the future New Age Outlaws.  Billy dances around a lot, but the crowd could care less and was probably wondering why they paid top dollar for pay-per-view tickets by this point in the show.  The match is dreadful and James scores the victory out of nowhere, thereby killing any hopes for the Rockabilly gimmick out of the gate.  That’s a clear vote of no confidence from the booking team.  Rating:  DUD

-Hendrix urges us to call 815-734-1161 to get an Undertaker door banner for $29.95 (plus shipping & handling)!

-Kelly interviews Steve Austin, who says that he’s still going to compete despite being hurt tonight.  WWF President Gorilla Monsoon says that he’s going to reorder the lineup to make sure Austin has time to recover.  This lineup change makes Austin-Bret the de facto main event.

-Lance Wright interviews the Hart Foundation and the Bulldog and Owen rant about Austin.  Bret merely gives a “Who’s crying now?” and walks away, which is great.

-A video package is played for the Undertaker-Mankind title match.

-Hendrix interviews Mankind and Paul Bearer.  Bearer promises that Mankind will be the next WWF champion and Mankind says that the Undertaker’s screams will be music to his ear.

-WWF Championship Match:  The Undertaker (Champion) defeats Mankind (w/Paul Bearer) with a Tombstone at 17:26:

The Undertaker is wearing a bandage over the right side of his face because of the burns he suffered at the hands of Mankind several weeks prior to this.  This is a wild brawl, as Mankind takes some nasty bumps into the guardrail and delivers an elbow drop off the second rope while the Undertaker is on the arena floor and the Undertaker takes some stiff shots with the urn, a glass water pitcher at ringside, and a chair.  Referees take a beating as well, with the main one being sandwiched during an Undertaker blind charge and another receiving the Mandible Claw when he runs out to assist.  Mankind brings the steps and a chair into the ring, but the Undertaker kicks the steps in his face and then murders him with a chair shot, a bump that is tough to watch based on what we know about concussions today.  Just when you think you’ve seen enough, Mankind loses his mask and the Undertaker knocks him off the apron with the steps and Mankind goes head-first through the Spanish announce table, which has to be the craziest WWF table bump I’ve ever seen.  After that, things are just academic.  Mankind was just a lame duck challenger for the Undertaker in this contest, but credit Foley for nearly killing himself to keep his character relevant and creating a good first pay-per-view title defense for the Undertaker.  The match started slow, but after the first ten minutes everything was stiff and brutal and it ended up telling a great story.  Rating:  ***½

-After the match, they try to work a spot where Mankind accidentally throws a fireball into Paul Bearer’s eyes, but it doesn’t work, so the Undertaker grabs the materials and tosses it into Bearer’s face, which is just as effective as far as future storylines go.  Bearer leaves with his suit coat over his head and he’s later taken to the hospital by paramedics.

-Hendrix interviews the Hart Foundation and Bret says that he’s going to make an example out of Steve Austin tonight when he beats him for a third time.

-“Stone Cold” Steve Austin defeats Bret “the Hitman” Hart by disqualification when the British Bulldog interferes at 21:10:

Keep in mind that this was originally supposed to be Bret-Sid, but Sid no showed an episode of Raw so the card was changed.  I’m not sure what that would have done to Austin’s role on this show, but I’m sure he would’ve made his presence felt after Bret got his job back from Sid.  Owen Hart and the British Bulldog try to come down with Bret, but they are ushered to the back by WWF officials.  This is an extension of WrestleMania XIII, as they brawl into the crowd and Bret attacks Austin’s knee with a chair after an early ref bump.  Austin isn’t selling the attack earlier in the evening, but that becomes a mute point once Bret targets the legs for the better part of fifteen minutes.  Bret goes to finish Austin with the Sharpshooter, but Austin clocks Bret with his knee brace, which Bret took off early in the match, and applies the Sharpshooter.  Before Bret can submit, though, Owen and the Bulldog run out and the Bulldog clocks Austin with a chair to draw the disqualification.  This tried to recreate the climate of their WrestleMania encounter, but the electric atmosphere that surrounded that match was missing here.  Nevertheless, it was still a good technical match that continued the feud between Austin and the Hart Foundation.  Rating:  ****

-After the match, Bret tries to attack Austin with the ring bell, but Austin jabs a chair into Bret’s knee and applies a Sharpshooter before Owen and the Bulldog can come to Bret’s aid.

The Final Report Card:  This show started like a bad episode of RAW, but the last two matches increase the show’s quality.  The Austin-Bret feud would only get hotter after this show and the Undertaker-Paul Bearer storyline would morph into the “Kane” storyline that would dominate much of the Undertaker’s title run.  The company was about to right some of the wrongs that happened on this show as well, since Maivia was on his way out as Intercontinental champion and Rockabilly never made another pay-per-view appearance.

Attendance:  6,477

Buyrate:  0.5

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up