What the World Was Watching: In Your House: Cold Day in Hell

by Logan Scisco

-Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are live from Richmond, Virginia.

-Free for All:  Rockabilly (w/The Honky Tonk Man) defeats “The Real Double J” Jesse James with a DDT at 3:10:

Talk about the very definition of a lower midcard match.  This is the continuation of the Rockabilly-Jesse James feud, which is a feud that seems very out of place by 1997 standards.  I caught the clipped version of this match on YouTube and its very tolerable because it eliminates some of Rockabilly’s slow offense.  The DDT Rockabilly delivers at the end of the match is vicious.  This was a simple squash for Rockabilly, but it’s not like he was going anywhere with this 1980s-style gimmick.  However, I have to ask again:  If they were going to push Rockabilly why did they job him out in his first match a month ago?  Rating:  ½*

-The Hart Foundation tells Jim Ross that they have procured front row tickets for tonight’s event and they bought them from scalpers outside of the building.

-Now onto the pay-per-view…

-Opening Contest:  Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) pins Flash Funk with a Pedigree at 10:02:

The Funkettes had been axed because of budget cuts, but the storyline explanation was that they were afraid of Chyna and decided not to show up.  Interestingly enough, Helmsley’s Titantron still shows the lady friends he was bringing to the ring in 1996.  Helmsley’s small feud with Mankind began the previous night on Shotgun Saturday Night, when Chyna gave Mankind a low blow to help Helmsley get out of the Mandible Claw.  Predictably, Chyna interferes several times to put Helmsley in control of the match.  Helmsley does a better job mixing up his offense, but the crowd is still bored until Funk starts flying around on his comeback.  Funk goes for the Funky Flash Splash, but Helmsley crotches him and delivers a brutal super side suplex to set up a clean victory.  After the match, Chyna crotches Funk on the top rope.  A good opener, but Funk looked much more impressive than Helmsley.  That’s not who got the push, though.  Rating:  **

-Call 1-900-737-4WWF to hear from the winners and losers of tonight’s matches.  It’ll cost you $1.49 a minute!

-Ross interviews Ken Shamrock on the Titantron and Shamrock says that although he was attacked by Vader and Mankind on the Free for All, he isn’t going to be shaken.

-Todd Pettengill interviews Rocky Maivia, who admits that success may have come too soon but says that he has learned a lot.  Maivia says that tonight’s match is about his determination and not his destiny.  You can sense more attitude in these promos from Maivia, which is foreshadowing the Rock character.

-Mankind defeats “The Rock” Rocky Maivia with the Mandible Claw at 8:47:

This was supposed to be Sid-Mankind, but like the last pay-per-view Sid was not available, so Maivia was plugged into this spot to give us a battle of the future Rock N’ Sock Connection.  Mankind was on the verge of a face turn through the shoot interview segments with Jim Ross that were aired on RAW, while Maivia was quickly plummeting down the card after a disastrous run as Intercontinental champion.  There’s another small story behind this match and that is that Mankind eliminated Maivia from the Royal Rumble in January, so Maivia is trying to get a small measure of revenge here.  The crowd boos Maivia each time he is on offense, but they do pop for him giving Mankind a Rock Bottom on the entrance ramp.  Both guys are really trying to raise the status of this match to more than a run of the mill midcard match, but the crowd is having nothing to do with it.  Maivia hits his finishing flying body press, but Mankind has a great counter by applying the Mandible Claw and gets the victory.  Foley wrote in his book that after this match he told some guys in the back that the WWF should cut Maivia loose because he just “didn’t have it”, but I think that isn’t justified if you watch this match.  You can see glimpses of a future star in Maivia, but he was in desperate need of a repackaging.  Rating:  **½

-Buy your Austin 3:16 t-shirt by calling 815-734-1161 and then paying $20 (plus shipping & handling)!

-Crush losing the gauntlet match to Ahmed Johnson on Raw is shown.

-Pettengill interviews Ahmed, who says that he is used to overcoming the odds.

-Gauntlet Match:  The Nation of Domination defeats Ahmed Johnson when Faarooq pins Ahmed after a Dominator at 15:45:

The stipulation here is that if Ahmed wins the Nation of Domination will be forced to disband.  At the time, this seemed to be the final blowoff for the never ending Ahmed-Nation feud.  Prior to the bell, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon throws the Nation of Domination out of ringside and says that only one wrestler will be allowed in the ring at a time.  This shows Clarence Mason’s legal ability has really been in decline since 1995 because the old Mason would’ve outmaneuvered Monsoon and forced Ahmed to defeat ten members of the Nation as they surrounded the ring with billy clubs.  Ahmed and Crush run through a DUDesque encounter that last five minutes, with Ahmed countering the heart punch with a spinning heel kick and pinning him.  Savio gives it a go and the crowd grows restless about the lack of action ten minutes into the contest.  Savio lasts seven minutes in a match that wouldn’t crack ½* and when it appears that he’s going to lose, he grabs a chair and wears Ahmed out with it to set up Faarooq’s entry into the match.  Faarooq shows that his separated shoulder injury was a rouse, but Ahmed catches him with a Pearl River Plunge, of which Faarooq inexplicably kicks out, drawing the biggest heel reaction of the night thus far.  Faarooq quickly recovers and finishes an exhausted Ahmed shortly thereafter to keep the Nation of Domination intact.  This told a good story during its last three minutes, with Savio weakening Ahmed and Ahmed  being too exhausted to secure a victory, but it took forever to get there and it made this match a great cure for insomnia.  Rating:  ½*

-A recap is provided for the issue between Ken Shamrock and Vader.

-Pettengill interviews Vader, who says that his attack on Shamrock earlier in the evening was a way to play with his mind.

-No Holds Barred Match:  Ken Shamrock defeats Vader by submission with an anklelock at 13:23:

The only way to win this match was by knockout or submission and this was an excellent way to debut Shamrock, since it provided a transition from his UFC background to the squared circle of the WWF.  Vader was also an ideal opponent, since he was seen as the toughest guy on the roster.  Shamrock doesn’t have his awesome theme music yet and it’s more befitting a late 1980s jobber than the World’s Most Dangerous Man.  Vader always loved stiff matches and he gets all he can handle from Shamrock, who goes Antonio Inoki on Vader’s legs.  Vader counters that with Memphis, as he continually rolls out of the ring to avoid Shamrock’s offense.  Although this is a work, it is a smooth one and they do a good job mixing in brawling and MMA-style offense with professional wrestling moves.  During the last couple of minutes, Shamrock just absolutely mauls Vader, which is something that professional wrestling fans had never seen before and when Vader tries to pose over Shamrock after knocking him down, Shamrock surprises him with a takedown and finishes with the anklelock, which legitimately messes up Vader’s ankle and puts him on the shelf for a couple of weeks.  This wasn’t your conventional wrestling match, but it was a breath of fresh air when compared to other things on the card.  Rating:  ***

-Pettengill interviews Steve Austin, who says that after he defeats the Undertaker he’s going to go after the Hart Foundation, who will be at ringside for the WWF title match.

-Pettengill narrates some highlights of Steve Austin’s interactions with the Undertaker the last couple of weeks.

-WWF Championship Match:  The Undertaker (Champion) pins “Stone Cold” Steve Austin with a Tombstone at 20:09:

Oddly enough, this is the only title match on the entire card.  WWF history is a funny thing because a year after this pay-per-view it would be the Undertaker coming to Austin’s aid in an attempt to help him keep the WWF title.  The Hart Foundation comes out and takes their positions in the front row and Austin has a hard time keeping his concentration on the Undertaker.  Austin wears down the Undertaker’s legs and the Undertaker responds in kind.  The problem with this is that neither guy really sells the leg damage long enough and it renders a good sixty percent of the match meaningless.  Even Ross is forced to drop his euphemisms for a boring match.  Austin and Hebner have a fun sequence where Austin flips off Hebner behind his back and Hebner reciprocates when the Undertaker tosses Austin across the ring.  Austin hits a Stunner after a hot shot, but Brian Pillman hops the guardrail and rings the bell prematurely and this changes the momentum of the match to allow the Undertaker to reverse an Austin Tombstone attempt into his own version and retain the belt.  A lackluster main event that does few favors for the Undertaker, as he receives a mixed reaction when he’s announced as the winner and he eats a Stone Cold Stunner at the end of the broadcast.  Rating:  *½

-After the match, the Hart Foundation jumps the guardrail and attacks the Undertaker, but they leave Bret alone and Austin goes into the crowd, dumps Bret out of the wheelchair, and clears the ring with one of the Hart Foundation’s crutches.

The Final Report Card:  The Shamrock-Vader encounter was the most interesting part of the pay-per-view and it delivered, but the rest of the show lacked the same “big match” feel.  Even the WWF title match played sideshow to what the Hart Foundation was doing at ringside and it hurt some of the quality of the main event.  Overall, I’m giving this a thumbs down because although Vader-Shamrock was good, the first two matches weren’t all that important and the gauntlet match and WWF title match didn’t live up to the hype.

Attendance:  9,381

Buyrate:  0.57

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Down