Badd Blood: In Your House - Kiel Centre, St. Louis Misouri, October 5th 1997

Sad news to open this show; Brian William Pillman was found dead on the morning of this PPV in his hotel room. He was only 35 years old. I’ll discuss the plans for his storyline with Goldust and Marlena which were, obviously, cancelled later on in the show. Vince McMahon broke the news at the very start of the event to the audience at home but there were no real details available at the time. He passed away from undiagnosed heart disease leading to heart failure, likely caused by years of substance abuse. Brian actually beat throat cancer during childhood too which is why he had such a gravelly voice. 

This show is considered the final PPV of the WWF’s New Generation era. The Attitude era isn’t here yet but it's rumbling towards us at a break-neck pace. This show is also the final PPV with Vince McMahon on commentary, so it's the end of an era. 

There’s a great opening video package focused on Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker’s big showdown inside Hell in a Cell. 

Handicap match

The Nation of Domination (Kama Mustafa, D’Lo Brown and Rocky Maivia) vs. The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)

Ken Shamrock was supposed to team with Hawk and Animal and make this a six man tag but the World’s Most Dangerous man is injured and can’t compete. Before the match, Hawk lets the crowd know and says that while he and Animal were offered a replacement partner but they’ve turned it down and aren’t afraid to go three vs. two. That’s silly, he should have got Ahmed Johnson! 

The crowd is all over The Rock in the early going, chanting Rocky Sucks at him and while he does well against Animal initially, he gets a lot of boos for bailing to the outside and collecting himself after a dropkick.

The Nation are a well-oiled machine and having an extra person gives them a huge advantage of course, isolating Animal in their half of the ring and working him over with quick tags in and out. He brings the crowd to their feet with a big clothesline to D’Lo but they stop him before he’s able to tag in Hawk and The Nation presses their advantage. That’s the story of this match and each time Animal tries to mount a comeback he’s cut off by the Nation including being run into the ringsteps. He does finally make the tag to Hawk after catching The Rock with a slam and Hawk runs through all the three men with slams, clotheslines and a neckbreaker. The fans went NUTS for the LOD’s comeback and they set up a Doomsday Device on The Rock which brought Faarooq down to ringside. He doesn’t get physically involved but does distract the LOD enough for D’Lo and Kama to take out Animal and The Rock to hit the move later known as a Rock Bottom on Hawk to pick up the victory! A big PPV win for Rocky “The Rock” Maivia and The Nation. This was a decent opener with a straightforward story, helped by the crowd being absolutely red hot for everyone involved including the Rocky Sucks chants.

In the back, Sunny and Dok Hendrix encourage us to call into the WWF Superstar line. What was the point of the Superstar line? It made money. It was a premium number where you’d call in and listen to a taped promo by the winners and losers of each match. 

Before the next match an emotional Vince McMahon re-explains that Brian Pillman was found dead earlier today in his hotel room and gives his sympathies to the Pillman family. It’s sad stuff, and this next match is the replacement for the planned Dude Love and Pillman match. Later in the show, Vince provides more updates which personally speaking I think was a major mistake and rather tasteless, however in 1997 I can see why he’d want to get the story out there. It’s sad to think how many of his friends and acquaintances probably learned the news from watching this show. Vince is honest and says that there’s been no signs of foul play thus far and a suspected overdose from either prescription or recreational drugs is the cause at this time. That seems especially cruel given that it would turn out to be the case. 

Mosaic and Tarantula vs. Max Mini and Nova

This is Mosaic and Tarantula’s debut in the WWF as part of the mini division. I never really got the mini division as a kid but I totally get it now; these guys are awesome and always get a good reaction especially Max Mini! 

I don’t even know how to call this match; the four guys bounce around the ring and flip and roll up and over each other. It's like very high speed lucha and it's pretty great. They make liberal use of comedy spots too, shoving each other and acting indignant which always gets a laugh.

Mosaic and Tarantula isolate and try to work over Max but he’s fast as lighting and gets out of it with armdrags and dropkicks. 

Tarantula gets Max Mini up in a gorilla press and walks him around ringside before dumping him face first onto the announce desk right in front of a gleeful Jerry Lawler. Vince keeps explaining the rules of this tag team match which allows a lot more freedom as far as who the legal man is, how many are allowed in the ring and whether they can swap in and out without tagging. It’s Mexican rules in order to keep the match pace high and allow them the freedom to do whatever spots to keep things exciting. I like it. After a sloppy back and forth where Tarantula failed to catch Max’s crossbody and they improvise into an arm drag combination, Max pins Tarantula with a crucifix pin to get the victory for his team. This was fun but probably a couple of minutes longer than it needed to be. 

Sunny has been acting as special guest ring announcer for at least one match on every show lately and tonight is no different. I’m sure she was good friends with Brian Pillman, as were a lot of the people on this show so I’m sure coming out to perform on a night like this must have been hard. Sunny has history with The Godwins of course from back in the doldrums of the New Generation but while the commentators mention it, none of the performers do.

WWF Tag Team Championships

The Headbangers © (Mosh and Thrasher) vs. The Godwins (Henry O and Phineas I w/Uncle Cletus)

The Headbangers have been pretty great champions in my opinion. They’ve had good matches against the Hart Foundation and Los Boricuas as champions and that's pretty much all I can ask of them! They’re popular too; their gimmick was VERY 1997. 

The two teams go back and forth and there was a very scary spot as Mosh and Thrasher set up a double flapjack but Phineas obviously misheard the planned move and tried to rotate into a backdrop. Without Mosh and Thrasher helping him turn his big frame over he ended up spiking himself high and tight on his shoulders and head. Thankfully he was ok! Neither team really establishes much of an advantage, tagging in and out and resetting back to a stand off and feeling out process every few minutes. I’ve complimented the Headbanger’s performances a few times lately so I’m going to assume that The Godwins are to blame here. I don’t want to say this match is bad but the commentary trio spend most of it discussing Thrasher’s tongue piercing and that’s the first thing we get a replay of - him sticking out his tongue to show it off. Finally, Henry and Phineas isolate Thrasher in their corner and work him over with quick tags, dumping him on the ropes and illegally double teaming while the referee is distracted.

King runs through a bunch of jokes about the Godwins, basically repurposing Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck material. “If you think people who have electricity are “uppity”, you might be a Godwin” Uncle Cletus gets involved with a clothesline and then after Thrasher counters a backdrop into a sunset flip and has a visual three count on Phineas, Henry keeps the referee distracted. The Godwins use raw power to slam Thrasher around the ring and Mosh has to break up the pin more than once to keep their tag title reign alive. 

After a double clothesline, Thrasher finally makes the tag and Mosh comes in on fire, throwing right hands and clotheslines at Phineas, Henry and Uncle Cletus to knock him off the apron. Thrasher powerbombs his own partner down onto Phineas for a close near fall and sets up for the Mosh Pit dive but Phineas counters it into a sit down powerbomb! Cletus grabs Thrasher to stop him from breaking up the pin and the Godwins win the WWF Tag Team Championships! This match was pretty dull but picked up at the end. 

After the match, Cletus hits Thrasher with a metal horse shoe and the new champions beat up the former champions, laying them out with a pair of Slop Drop reverse DDTs. The fans chant for the LOD to come out and make the save but the don’t and instead the Godwins finally stop the attack when threatened with having the match outcome reversed and their titles taken off them. JR yells at them to get out of here and take a shower which made me laugh.

They show the same video about Stone Cold’s path of destruction from Raw, followed by Vince McMahon’s ultimatum; he either gets medically cleared to wrestle, signs papers to say that he’ll wrestle even though he isn’t medically cleared, or he can be fired. Back at the arena, Owen Hart says he has no interest in what Stone Cold thinks and that he wants him fired, right after he surrenders the Intercontinental title belt over to him! 

In the ring, Jim Ross introduces multiple legends of the St. Louis wrestling scene Gene Kiniski, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz, and promoter Sam Muchnick. They get a nice respectful reaction and a little Kevin Kelly-narrated video package each too. 

Vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament Final

Owen Hart vs. Faarooq

The commentators speak very openly about the impact Brian Pillman’s death must have had on the mentality of Owen Hart which seems wildly inappropriate, to fold that real life tragedy into the storyline like that. Stone Cold Steve Austin gets introduced last and is here to present the title belt to the winner. Commissioner Slaughter makes him sit in the corner and behave himself. Before the match in an interview with Faarooq, he takes issue with the assumption that Stone Cold will help him win the match because he doesn’t need anyone’s help.

Austin has fun, ringing the ring bell and stealing Vince McMahon’s headset to provide some commentary too. Owen taunts him with the “I just broke your neck” Owen 3:16 t-shirt and he calls it cheap heat. Vince gets his headset back but seems a little shaken and intimidated by Austin’s presence as he continues to stand nearby and berate all three commentators. 

Faarooq throws punches and turns this into a brawl but Owen goes after his leg, picking it apart. Stone Cold continues to rampage around ringside, taking one of the Spanish commentator’s headset and chatting to Tito Santana. It’s funny stuff, he clearly doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish but plays along anyway. He heads over to the French announce desk and does the same thing; the Rattlesnake doesn’t give a crap about this match or either of these men but does tell the French team that he’ll be in Montreal for Survivor Series to kick the hell out of someone. 

Oh yeah, there’s a match going on! Faarooq gets a near fall with a backbreaker. My commentary is as disjointed as the real life commentary but in truth it doesn’t matter. They’re keeping the camera on Stone Cold rather than the ring anyway! 

Jim Neidhart comes down to ringside to cheer on Owen just as Faarooq hits a spinebuster and then chokes Owen on the middle rope. He misses his charge and as he recovers, Stone Cold hits Faarooq in the head with the Intercontinental title belt! Owen Hart covers and wins the match and the title and then the Rattlesnake throws the title belt into the ring for Owen and leaves. The men in the match and commentators seem as confused as anyone else - this match was nothing but Stone Cold was damn entertaining and we’ve now got the storyline development of Austin helping Owen Hart become a two-time Intercontinental Champion. What is Stone Cold’s game?

Disciples of Apocalypse (8-Ball, Chainz, Crush, and Skull)

vs.

Los Boricuas (Jesus Castillo Jr, Jose Estrada Jr, Miguel Perez Jr, and Savio Vega)

This is a second match added to the show to fill up time with the loss of the Brian Pillman and Goldust match. I don’t have a huge amount to say about this match and neither do the commentators. They tag in and out and the DOA lads take turns being isolated and worked over by Los Boricuas. There’s a lot of double team clotheslines and long, long chin locks on the bikers as they’re ground down one by one in the Puerto Rican corner. 

It breaks down after a tag to Crush and he has the match won with a Heart Punch on Savio but the referee is distracted. Jesus almost steals the three with a DDT but Crush kicks out. With men fighting everywhere all around the ring, Crush hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Jesus to get the final three count. The fans were quiet for most of this but let out a big cheer for the three count. Maybe they were just glad it was over? 

Michael Cole speaks to WWF Champion Bret Hart and the British Bulldog backstage. Bret doesn’t have much to say; tonight it’ll be the Canadian flag thats flying. Bulldog cuts a classically terrible promo where he says that they’re going to win, right here, right now, right here, tonight. Jesus. 

Flag match

WWF Champion Bret Hart and The British Bulldog vs. The Patriot and Vader

The rules of this match have been changed to make it possible to win by either pinfall or submission. The reason for that might be because Vader can’t climb the pole, or it might be because The Patriot has an injured knee. Spoilers but this is the last we’ll be seeing of the Patriot. 

The Hart Foundation team enter first and then, once Patriot and Vader are at ringside they rush them and start this four man brawl all around the ring. Bulldog and Patriot fight up the entrance ramp as Bret and Vader wail on each other around the announce desk and timekeeper’s table. The flag poles are used liberally as weapons because the match hasn’t officially started so there’s no disqualifications to be made! It’s pretty intense until finally, after winning the fist fight, Vader and Patriot get in the ring so this match can actually start. 

Bulldog and Bret have the advantage when they’re tagging in and out on The Patriot but Bret makes the mistake of trading punches with Vader, an exchange he loses badly. The fans come alive and JR really puts over how much Vader is dominating this match so far which he is. 

The match becomes a back and forth encounter with the teams trading offence. The difference is when each man tries to get their country’s flag, normally resulting in being blocked and brought back down off the top rope the hard way. The match breaks down into a four man brawl which I thought was leading to the finish for sure but it settled back down into a straight tag team match quickly enough. Bret locks the Sharpshooter on The Patriot but he powers out of it and locks in one of his own! That’s the biggest sign that Bret already knew he was leaving the company; he let people break the Sharpshooter to put them over. Later, Vader tries a Sharpshooter of his own but Bulldog breaks that up too. They cycle through their trademark moves, all for near falls. The commentators do a good job of picking apart the story of this match, specifically that Vader has no chance of climbing one of the poles so needs to go for pins and submissions but Bret and Bulldog have a lot more freedom. 

In an incredible spot, Vader goes for a moonsault but, seeing Bulldog move out of the way, he lands on his feet! That didn’t get nearly the reaction it should have - amazing stuff. On the outside, Bret uses the ringbell as a weapon on Vader which, once again feels like it should be the finish but the match just continues in the ring as normal. It’s very disjointed with both teams just taking turns being in control. It’s not unentertaining but it's definitely not as polished as you’d expect from a Bret Hart match which normally has a clear story. 

A fan rushed the ring and was swiftly shut down - Bulldog got some stiff kicks to their ribs as they were dragged out - and Vader hit a Vader Bomb on Bret Hart. It looks like The Patriot and Vader have this match won but Bret counters The Patriot’s attempted roll up into one of his own to steal the victory for his team. The Patriot attacks Bret after the match like a sore loser but he and Bulldog just roll out of the ring and leave. Honestly? This match wasn’t great. I can believe that Bret and Bulldog were off their game given Pillman’s death earlier in the day so I’ll give them a pass.

There’s a cool commercial for the Survivor Series! 

We get our first good look at the Hell in a Cell cage, an awesome, ominous sight which Vince and Jim Ross talk about and explain to us. Backstage, Dok Hendrix interviews Shawn Michaels who chews gum and sarcastically refers to his European title as coveted. What an asshole. He cuts a good promo; if it wasn’t for his amazing athletic ability and the fact that he’s tough as nails then he’d be scared! Hilariously Triple H goes to speak at the end but he only gets one syllable out before Vince cuts him off. 

Hell in a Cell match

The Undertaker vs. WWF European Champion Shawn Michaels 

The winner will challenge for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series

Here’s the video package for this one with not only all the build up to this match but a bit of a spotlight on Shawn Michaels and who he is as a person.

When Shawn comes out he has Triple H, Rick Rude and Chyna with him and Helmsley is announced as Triple H for the first time. Sgt. Slaughter looks under the ring with a torch to make sure there’s no one hiding under there before the Cell is lowered which is a nice touch - the whole point of this is to make sure there will be no interference so I’m sure HHH, Chyna and Rude will be heading backstage soon enough. Michaels is great here as, after Undertaker’s entrance and he finds himself locked in the Cell with the Grim Reaper he suddenly realises what he’s done and freaks out, rushing for the door and trying to find a way out of the Cell. Sgt. Slaughter is there to keep Helmsley, Chyna and Rude away from the door. 

Undertaker stalks HBK around the ring and lets him think about what he’s in for - the Cell is an awesome sight and I hope the fans in the arena realised they were about to see something special. 

Undertaker dominates Michaels and as he tries his best to fight back, Undertaker shrugs off his right hands and puts him down with a big boot to the face. The Deadman exercises his dominance with his top rope walk, a big boot and leg drop and he covers - not because he’s expecting three but just to show that he’s on top. Michael absorbs a huge amount of punishment from the Undertaker early and gets thrown up and over the top rope to the floor. Shawn is the first to be thrown into the cage wall and the first to climb it, trying to escape. He’s brought back down the hard way. Undertaker is taking his time to punish Shawn Michaels but HBK finally gets lucky, avoiding a charge and letting Undertaker crash into the wall. He follows up by knocking him off the apron into the wall, a running dive to the outside and then climbing the cage wall so that he can drop an elbow. Michaels getting creative with this Cell and the moves it allows him to do is exactly why you put a performer like him in the first ever one. HBK keeps his advantage with the ringsteps, driving them down onto Undertaker’s body over and over to finally build some momentum.

He follows up with a piledriver on the base of the ring steps which makes an almighty thud and gets a big reaction from the crowd. 

Shawn Michaels loses his temper and starts swearing at the camera man, shoving him out of the way. It was beeped on my version of the event but Michaels getting angry at camera men for being in his way isn’t new. Michaels hammers on Undertaker’s back with a steel chair but gets cocky and when he charges the Deadman he’s backdropped up and over the top rope, landing on a camera man. This one was a planned spot and HBK gets angry, beating up the camera man and stomping on him and kicking him in the head. Why would Michaels do that? Well because now the officials will be forced to unlock the Cell door to provide medical assistance to the camera man! They’ve given him a way to escape the Cell. 

Back in the ring, Michaels puts Undertaker down with a flying forearm and kips up to his feet, followed by his gorgeous diving elbow drop in the middle of the ring. He hits the Sweet Chin Music but before he can even think about pinning, Undertaker sits up! Michaels runs away at that, leaving the Cell through the unlocked door but doesn’t get far before Undertaker catches him and drives him into the Cell wall with a catapult and then a javelin up and over his shoulder. Michaels is bleeding heavily after that and kicks Undertaker in the crotch to get some separation and escape which he does by…climbing the Cell! Undertaker gives chase and the two of them end up on the roof of the Cell with the fans going ballistic. They have an iconic brawl on the roof of the Cell, suspended 30 feet in the air and the fans explode for every move from backdrops to a Gorilla press and in an awesome camera shot, Michaels’ blood drips down through the roof of the cage and onto the camera lens. 

HBK flails to get away and finds himself hanging off the side of the Cell so Undertaker kicks at his feet and sends him crashing through the Spanish announce table! An incredible spot which is almost ruined by some fan loudly whistling over and over and over again. Michaels struggles to crawl away from the wreckage but Undertaker refuses to let him go and launches him up and over the French announce table, followed by Gorilla pressing him again this time down onto what's left of the Spanish announce table.

Undertaker brings Shawn Michaels back into the Hell in a Cell and the middle of the ring as Commissioner Slaughter quickly gets the door re-padlocked. Undertaker has this match won but might end Shawn Michaels’ career first. He chokeslams him all the way off the top rope which sounds cooler than it looked to be perfectly honest but after a big, stiff chairshot to the head he signals for the Tombstone Piledriver. But not so fast! 

The arena lights go out and ominous organ music plays. With pillars of flame shooting behind him, a huge figure in black and red is led to the ring by Paul Bearer. Vince McMahon has the iconic call “That’s gotta be Kane! That’s gotta be Kane!” He rips the door to the Hell in a Cell off its hinges and comes face to face with his older brother. Kane raises his arms and signals for flame pyro from each corner and then he drills Undertaker with a Tombstone Piledriver right in the middle of the ring. Hopefully I made it sound cool but if not, you can always watch it for yourself above! 

Shawn Michaels crawls and drapes a single arm over The Undertaker’s chest and with Kane and Paul Bearer gone, the referee returns to the ring and counts the three. Shawn Michaels wins and will now face Bret Hart for the WWF title at Survivor Series. I will, of course, have a huge amount to say about that when we get there! 

Shawn Michaels is carried, bloody and basically unconscious, from the ring by Triple H and Chyna as the commentators discuss the ramifications of Kane’s debut. The gravity of the situation is somewhat ruined by Shawn Michaels’ theme song playing on loop as The Undertaker lays in the ring trying to come to terms with what's happened tonight. 

Well, that was certainly a PPV to remember. Most of the card was unremarkable and in truth, I didn’t enjoy a lot of the matches despite my best efforts to find the positives. The main event more than made up for the rest of the show with both an amazing match and a very important debut. Great stuff. This show could have and probably should have been overshadowed as taking place on the day when Brian Pillman died and perhaps it would have if it had been given the gravity it deserved but with Vince talking openly about it during the show it became just another plot point in the fledgling Attitude era. We don’t have time for deaths and being sad, we’ve got Sports Entertainment to enjoy!