In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker - Rochester Community War Memorial, Rochester New York, April 20th 1997

Here’s the spooky video package for tonight’s event; I’m excited to see Undertaker vs. Mankind again, are you? The theme song for this event is an atmospheric “Phantom of the Opera” type deal and that’s pretty cool too! 

WWF Tag Team Championships

Owen Hart and WWF European Champion The British Bulldog © vs. The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)

Wasting zero time and heading straight into the opener before we even know who’s on commentary tonight! Only Vince McMahon has spoken so far (it’s Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, as usual) Hawk and Animal get pyro for their entrance because they’re a big deal; in 1997 this team is as close to “Tag Team Main Eventers” as you can get. In the build up to this event Owen and Bulldog have avoided the LOD and caused them to be accidentally slopped by The Godwins AND lose to them thanks to a title belt shot to the head. 

Owen and Bulldog are back on the same page and have formed an allegiance with the newly heel Bret Hart, confirmed by the fact that they entered to Bret’s theme song tonight. That’s interesting. The group doesn’t have a name on TV yet but Jerry Lawler called them the Hart Foundation - I suspect he was aware of the long term creative plan for that to be the name and misspoke, revealing it earlier than he was supposed to because no one else has said it since. 

Owen and Animal kick things off and the big man hammers Owen with first and elbows. JR says that Owen and Bulldog are the greatest tag team champions in company history having now held the titles for quite a while but also having held the titles individually with other partners on so many occasions. He has a point and certainly on paper, these two long time upper mid-card legends seem like an awesome full time tag team. Owen tags out, as does Animal and Bulldog doesn’t fare any better against Hawk until he gets distracted by taunting Owen so Bulldog can jump him from behind and put him down with a delayed vertical suplex. The champions isolate and work over Hawk with quick tags from there. It doesn’t last long and a boot to the chest gives Hawk the opening to tag in and recover with a big powerslam and then a gorilla press slam. He is throwing Owen around the ring with ease! 

The match is back and forth and Owen hits a well timed enziguri kick to the head to make the tag to Bulldog. The match breaks down and with Owen as the legal man, he’s thrown out of the ring. Animal and Hawk work together and hit Bulldog with a powerslam off the top rope! That’s enough for a three count and the Legion of Doom win the WWF Tag Team Championships! 

Nope, they don’t. It’s a Dusty finish and a second referee runs down to point out that Bulldog was NOT the legal man and therefore the match must continue. Owen and Bulldog aren’t keen to return and just want to have their titles awarded back to them but instead they’re told to head back to the ring and restart it or they WILL be stripped of the titles. They do exactly that and the Harts are aggressive as the match continues. JR is really on top of keeping track of who’s the legal man and Owen and Bulldog work over Animal in their corner. For those unaware; a Dusty finish refers to Dusty Rhodes (Goldust’s dad) who was a booker in the NWA and WCW for years. He became well known for writing finishes where the babyfaces would win the match and usually a championship, the crowd would loudly celebrate and then some rules nonsense would reverse that and restart the match so that the bad guys could come out on top in the end. He did it a LOT, especially in PPV main events and fans always hated it.

The match doesn’t last for long before it breaks back down and the LOD overmatch Bulldog and Owen with their strength. This time we KNOW Owen is the legal man and Hawk and Animal, after throwing Bulldog into the ringsteps, hit him with the Doomsday Device! It’s over and they have the titles won but Bret Hart sprints to the ring to break it up right in front of the referee, getting Owen and Bulldog disqualified. The LOD win the match but not the titles which remain safely with the Hart Foundation. This was a decent match even with all the shenanigans and screwy finish, I would have happily seen it go another few minutes. Hawk and Animal were always limited wrestlers but their explosive power against two faster and more athletic wrestlers makes for an entertaining combo.

Backstage Dok Hendrix grabs a word with the champions and after calling them lucky, which Owen takes issue with, asks if Bret will be as lucky against Stone Cold Steve Austin tonight. Owen and Bulldog seem shocked that Austin is even here - he arrived late due to some car trouble so it seems like it might have been the Hart Foundation who caused that and tried to make him miss the show.

Elsewhere on the Superstar line, Sunny and Brian Pillman are on the job and are whispering, giggling and are all over each other. Given Sunny’s reputation at the time it is extremely likely they did sleep together at some point (which sounds like me being nasty but it is a fact, and she’s currently in jail for killing someone so I’m probably allowed to be nasty about her) but remember late last year when we found out Pillman was married with kids? Yeah. 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Rocky Maivia © vs. Savio Vega (w/The Nation of Domination)

Straight forward build for this match as Savio beat Rocky in a non-title match on Raw. Kevin Kelly speaks to Rocky backstage and asks how he feels about going up against the entire Nation. He says that if tonight is the night he loses the title then it is what it is but if he wants it he’s up for a hell of a fight. Not a bad promo from the rookie - he doesn’t have his boundless charisma on display yet but he’s certainly eloquent and didn’t trip over his words which makes him better and more confident than a lot of the veterans (Bulldog in particular is a genuinely awful promo and always was, he trips over his words every time).

Rocky attacks before he’s even taken his title belt off but is quickly shut down and the match becomes a slower affair with a lot of chin locks and sleepers on the mat. Faarooq joins commentary to talk about his challenge to Ahmed Johnson from Raw; Ahmed runs the gauntlet against himself, Crush and Savio and if he wins then the Nation has to leave the WWF. Faarooq says this issue with him and Johnson will never be over and it only ends when one of them dies, or Ahmed sees the light and joins him in the Nation. Faarooq is a better promo here in conversation with Lawler and Vince (JR had to give him his headset because they couldn’t get the 4th one working) than he was on Raw.

In the ring, Rocky hits a nice float over DDT and then a back suplex followed by a kip up. He is impressive. Savio throws the champion to the outside and distracts the referee so that Crush can lay him out with the heart punch. That turns out to be a miscalculation and Savio wins the match by count out, meaning no title. Crush seems to immediately realise his error and Savio is furious at his Nation mate. It seems like they’re about to come to blows so Faarooq gets in the ring to calm things down and tries to make amends by calling for Maivia to be brought in the ring for a gang attack. Vince is furious about it screaming “come on!” but the beating doesn’t last long before Ahmed Johnson runs down with his ever present 2x4 to chase them out of the ring and defend the rookie. This was more of an angle than a match.

Ahmed grabs the mic after the match and says he can beat “an illegal immigrant, a convict and your black ass” in one night and accepts the challenge for a match down the road. I’m sure we’ll find out when that match will be taking place very soon (I’ll just tell you now; at the next In Your House PPV).

Backstage Dok Hendrix speaks to Miss Slammy 1997 Sable and Wildman Marc Mero who is recovering from a knee injury. In this very building Mero won the Golden Gloves competition and as he talks about his history there’s a loud disturbance in the room behind them. Referees and officials run in and leaving and carrying pipes are Owen Hart and Bulldog! They see the cameras and run off as official Dave Hebner explains that they just jumped Stone Cold Steve Austin and he needs immediate medical attention! 

The next match is Jesse Jammes (who still sings his own entrance theme, With my Baby Tonight, which is quite a good song) vs. Honky Tonk Man’s mystery man. He tried to recruit Jammes and had his guitar smashed on the mat. He also tried to recruit Billy Gunn and got punched in the face so you’d assume this will be someone totally different but nope - Bully Gunn gave him a second change and is now “Rockabilly”

Rockabilly (w/The Honky Tonk Man) vs. Jesse Jammes

Jim Ross catches an interview with Honky and asks what changed and how he managed to convince Billy Gunn to go with him - he asked him again and he said yes. Alright then. 

Jesse throws Rockabilly around the ring, hip tosses him to the outside and then comes off the apron with a clothesline. That was nice. He screams “you’re next!” at Honky Tonk and then breaks out Jeff Jarrett’s old Jackie Fargo strut in victory. The fans aren’t super into it but A for effort so far lads. 

Jesse drops his head after sending Rockabilly to them which is counted into the move that would be later known as the Fameasser and his finishing move. Jammes kicks out at two. 

Rockabilly works him over for a bit but takes time to dance and pose before a big corner splash which backfires and Jesse moves out of the way and rocks him with punches and some dancing of his own. There’s a lot of dancing in this match. The finish comes out of no where as Rockabilly sets up a suplex which is countered into a small package. 

Honky Tonk tries to hit Jesse with his guitar after the match but he moves out of the way and it bounces harmlessly off the top turnbuckle. He escapes unscathed and with the victory as Honky consoles his new man. This was…pretty much nothing, but it is the start of something.

Next up was supposed to be Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold but Austin needs a little more time to recover from the sneak attack. Austin is pissed and says that Bret will have to KILL him to stop him and has no intention of backing out of the match. He doesn’t need medical attention but Bret and his whole family will when he’s done with them including his old fat father Stu! Gorilla says that he’s happy to take Stone Cold’s word that if fine to wrestle then he is but will move the card around a little to give him time to recover - Undertaker vs. Mankind is now next.

Elsewhere, a young interviewer named Lance who I’ve never seen before in my life is with the Hart Foundation and asks what happened - Bulldog and Owen are forceful in explaining that they were in the bathroom minding their own business and it was Stone Cold who attacked them first! Bret looks neutral and unbothered and ends by asking “who’s crying now?” with a smirk. 

WWF Championship

The Undertaker © vs. Mankind (w/Paul Bearer)

There’s a good video package for this match which serves as a nice highlight reel of these men’s previous wars with each other. 

Before the match Dok Hendrix spoke to Paul Bearer and Mankind so I’ve left that in the video above too. Mankind is so creepy and carries a fire extinguisher to the ring - he’s said he’s going to burn The Undertaker’s flesh again tonight which hopefully is just a metaphor. JR has some fun teasing company owner Vince about having to market Mankind as the face of the company over the summer of 1997 which amused me.

Uncharictistically The Undertaker abandons his usual slow entrance and rushes Mankind, throwing his jacket aside and hammering the challenger with right hands. He has a big bandage on his face where he was “burned” and JR says he’s heard there’s some vision problems in his right eye. Mankind fights back and clotheslines them both up and out of the ring but they land on their feet so Undertaker snatches him around the throat and launches him back-of-the-head first into the metal security wall. This is already brutal. 

Undertaker overwhelms Mankind and batters him around the ring and back inside. He’s about to hit the Tombstone early but a well timed distraction from Paul Bearer allows Mankind to hit him in the face with the urn! That gets a close near fall and the fans bought it because there was a big pop for the kick out. Mankind slows things down a little from there and works him over with a nerve hold and a lot of strikes to the head and face. Jerry Lawler mentions that Undertaker doesn’t have to worry about interference from Vader tonight because he’s in Kuwait after being arrested! Vince says we’ll hear more about that tomorrow on Raw is War so I’ll save that story for the next Preview. 

Mankind wears down Undertaker but can’t get the Mandible Claw on him yet so settles for a long chin lock. The fans are into it and loudly break out into a “rest in peace” chant. 

The fighting spills out of the ring and as Mankind cracks Undertaker in the head with a stiff steel chair shot the commentators wonder, as do i, why that wasn’t a disqualification? The referee is letting this one go apparently. Mankind follows up with an awesome diving elbow drop off the middle rope all the way to the floor which lands with a lot of impact. I guess this is the kind of match we expected from the two. He works on the champion’s wound and bandage on the head and exposes it - it’s a very good make up job. 

Back in the ring the referee gets knocked down as they go off the ropes and the match degenerates quickly, bringing a steel chair into the ring and hammering each other. Mankind tries to use the ring steps but The Undertaker dropkicks them back into his face! The Deadman is a man possessed and rips Mankind’s mask off, letting us see Mick Foley’s face on WWF TV for the first time. He hits Mankind with the ring steps which sends him flying off the apron and crashing head-first through the announce table! Incredible stuff. 

The Undertaker plants Mankind with a chokeslam in the middle of the ring and surely that’s all but Mankind kicks out! He follows up with an almighty Tombstone and THAT keeps him down for the three count. Another awesome match between these two men. 

The triumphant Undertaker celebrates not just with the title belt but with Mankind’s mask and turns his attention to Paul Bearer wanting to finish him off too. There’s a badly mistimed spot as what was supposed to happen was Mankind throwing another fireball into The Undertaker’s face but hitting Paul Bearer by mistake. Mankind has a really hard time getting the fireball to work and on two separate occasions the three men are left standing awkwardly in the ring. Finally The Undertaker takes charge and shoves Bearer down in the corner and launches the fireball at him himself! Bearer covers up his face with the jacket and the commentators do their best to blame Mankind for bringing the apparatus into the ring in the first place, sticking to the original story and plan. This after match stuff was messy and badly done but it doesn’t detract from the excellent match itself and they still managed to hit the key plot points - Paul Bearer’s face has been burned and it was basically Mankind’s fault. 

Later in the show during the main event, Paul Bearer is shown on a stretcher with an oxygen mask being wheeled out of the arena for medical attention. 

Dok Hendrix interviews Bret Hart, Owen Hart and the British Bulldog. We can hear Paul Bearer squealing in the background and Dok asks him if that gives him pause, seeing how animosity can cause serious injury. Bret blows past it and says he’s even more unforgiving than the American wrestling fans. He calls them idiots for cheering for scumbags and booing someone like him and finishes by reminding us that he’s beat Austin twice and after he does it tonight he’s going to destroy everyone else.

Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Bret initially brings Owen and Bulldog to the ring with him for backup but they’re stopped by a wall of referees who escort them backstage presumably on President Gorilla Monsoon’s orders. The man himself does arrive and confirm that they are barred from ringside. As you can see from a few of my screenshots, this has been a night of Owen Hart pulling funny faces. He’s awesome. 

With Bret Hart all alone in the ring Stone Cold comes out looking full of fury and the two immediately start trading punches, which Austin wins. He hammers on the Hitman with right hands and a back elbow and stomps to the gut. He is taking no prisoners and continues the attack on the outside when Bret goes out to try and catch a breath. He’s bounced off the security wall, the ring steps and then the ring steps on the other side! He doesn’t give a damn if he’s disqualified or counted out, he just wants to kick Bret’s ass and sends him into the crowd and follows with an axe handle off the security rail. 

Back in the ring Austin grabs a steel chair but while he’s arguing with the referee over it Bret hits him from behind and into the referee. That leaves Bret free to hammer over and over onto Stone Cold’s injured/braced knee and get a huge advantage as the referee recovers. Bret is now free to focus on Austin’s leg and weaken him for the Sharpshooter, including locking in the Figure Four around the ringpost. He got disqualified for using that on Raw a couple of weeks ago but the referees tonight are letting these matches go. The Hitman is forced to break the hold but hits Austin in the leg with a steel chair a couple of times for good measure. 

Stone Cold has a couple of flurries where he no-sells his knee and fights through the pain throwing punches and clotheslines like a pitbull but Bret goes right back to the leg with a swift kick and continues to focus all of his attack on Austin’s leg. Austin has no problem fighting dirty and catches Hart with a big low blow and starts to hammer him with elbows, punches and chokes. He makes a mistake of trying to suplex Bret out of the ring but that’s countered and Bret goes back to the leg attack and locks in the figure four for a spell. 

Bret removes Austin’s knee brace and tries to use the figure four around the ring post again but Steve kicks him off and starts to throw punches and kicks to get himself back into the match. If you need confirmation that Austin is now a babyface, Jerry Lawler has done a complete 180 on him and is now constantly criticising him. His long time heated rival Bret? He’s now in full support of this new attitude! It’s good for them to spell the story out to us sometimes. Austin tries for a piledriver but his knee buckles and that lets Bret get back on top. His knee crumbles again when he’s whipped across the ring too. Bret hits Austin with a big superplex and tries to set up the Sharpshooter but Stone Cold grabs his own knee brace and clocks him in the head! Austin locks Bret in his own Sharpshooter which brings Bulldog and Owen down to make the save. Stone Cold fights them off the first time but the second time Bulldog hits him with a steel chair right in front of the referee. Stone Cold wins via disqualification. It’s a shame about the finish because this was a really good match until then. 

Bret Hart isn’t happy and goes out to get the ring bell, planning to use it as a weapon but Stone Cold catches him coming in with a chair to the knee and then returns the favour, hammering and stomping on Bret’s leg and putting him back in the Sharpshooter while Bulldog and Owen are held back by referees and officials powerless to help him. Stone Cold wants to hurt Bret’s knee just like the Hitman did to him and once they’re finally separated by officials both men are down and injured. Stone Cold wins the match (the third of the night to end via disqualification or count out) and the PPV ends with him celebrating.