In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell - Richmond Coliseum, Richmond Virginia, May 11th 1997

Tonight isn’t the first match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker but it is the first marquee, PPV main event match between two men who went on to have many more over the next 4 years. Here’s the video package and Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler’s hellos and some hype for tonight’s two main events. 

They actually ran down the entire card at the start of the show which seems like an odd thing to do considering we’d have already paid for the PPV BUT, this was something WCW did at the start of all their PPVs so they’re trying to copy them. The funny thing is that WCW usually HAD to run down the card at the start of their PPVs because they often hadn’t promoted most of the card in the lead up to the event.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) vs. Flash Funk

This match was announced ahead of time on TV but there’s no feud here; this is a showcase match for two men who the WWF wanted to build up as top singles guys. You can tell the WWF was starting to tighten their financial belt because the Funkettes aren’t with Flash tonight but JR and King claim that they’re not here because they’re scared of Chyna which is great stuff.

Last night on Shotgun Saturday Night (which is no longer filmed in a nightclub and is now just a normal arena show, replacing Superstars) HHH battled Mankind and Chyna made the difference, blasting Mankind with a low blow to break up the Mandible Claw. Mankind ignored that and kept onto the hold and it took a second low blow to finally stop him.

Flash Funk is really good and he out wrestles the aristocrat and then, with him on the outside, hits a gorgeous springboard splash up to the top rope and then down onto HHH at ringside. He has the match in control until Hunter distracts the referee so that Chyna can nail him from behind. Flash sold it by going down like a ton of bricks and that got a decent reaction from the crowd - Chyna already has a lot of aura.

Triple H works over Funk with a variety of knee-based offence which was his trademark for most of his career - facebuster into his own knee, a running high-knee and then a knee drop across the head. JR and King spend must of the match discussing Chyna’s attractiveness and whether she has a boyfriend; she did, it was Helmsley and I wonder how he felt about the commentary team calling her a man and a monster and a pitbull and all of that during every show. This was before Chyna had lots of cosmetic surgery and totally altered her appearance - she looked like a totally different person just two years later. 

Flash gets his comeback going after HHH attempts an axe handle off the top rope but its blocked by a big boot right to the jaw/face/chest. It looked good either way. Flash lights him up with some spectacular looking moves which brings the crowd to its feet - a twisting leg drop off the ropes, a springboard into a twisting crossbody off the top and a spinning heel kick. He signals for the 450 splash but HHH counters by knocking him off the ropes and brings him off the top with a back suplex where Flash flipped up and over and landed face and chest first on the mat with a crash; another really cool looking move. Helmsley follows up with a particularly impactful Pedigree to pick up the win in a match I really enjoyed, mostly thanks to Flash Funk’s moveset looking awesome. 

After the match, Chyna picks up Flash Funk and walks around the ring to show off how strong she is before planting him crotch first on the top rope and knocking him to ringside. JR calls her a “cyborg female who will do anything Helmsley tells her” which isn’t a bad gimmick. I suppose they have previously established that HHH was a ladies man with all of his money and beautiful women accompanying him to the ring so a somewhat plain, unusual looking girl like Chyna would believably fall for him and do whatever he says - they aren’t playing this as romantic however which is ironic given that in real life, it was.

During the previous match, JR revealed that the Hart Foundation have purchased five front row tickets to this event at the last minute through a scalper and aren’t here yet but no doubt will be in time for Stone Cold’s WWF title match later. They also show us some footage of Ken Shamrock in the UFC dominating his opponents in the octagon which leads to an interview with Shamrock. He was attacked by both Vader and Mankind during the pre-show but all that’s done is make him more focused; he is in The Zone. 

Rocky Maivia vs. Mankind

Mankind was announced as facing Sycho Sid in his TV return during this match but Sid is still out with a neck injury (I think, it’s all very vague during this period but I will talk more about Sid soon) so he has a mystery opponent here. Of course you can see who his opponent is just above because I’ve told you.

Jim Ross talks about Mankind’s origins and who he is in real life, mentioning that as a teenager he’d drop elbows off the roof of his house onto his friends. That’s true and we will see and learn a lot more about that in the coming month. We’ve seen more and more of this “forget the gimmick, lets get to know the real man” stuff lately and the Goldust and Terri sit-downs on Raw felt very fresh! Mankind got a little bit of a cheer when he came out here which is nice to see.

Before the match Todd Pettengill chats to Rocky backstage and reminds us of his success so far, winning the Intercontinental title and losing it only two weeks ago. Did success come too soon? He says he learned a lot on the way up but learned a lot more on the way back down. The crowd gave him a little boo when he came out here; I think fans are starting to resent the instant success and big push given to this good looking stud. JR mentions that Rocky got married a week ago today, and it was his 25th birthday the day before that! 

The match immediately spills out of the ring which Mankind wins because he’s a brawler, running him into the ring apron and ring steps before taking the fight back into the ring. Rocky recovers with a big powerslam which gets boos, and then misses an elbow which gets some boos. The reactions aren’t BIG, but they’re audible. Maivia focuses his attack on Mankind’s arm with a hammer lock and some elbow drops but Mankind knocks him out of the ring and then comes flying off the apron with a rolling cannonball. Mankind has the advantage when the match is outside the ring which is as good a story for this match as any. 

They go back and forth in the ring and then when the match spills back outside, Rocky shows a little more edge and hits the move which would become known as a Rock Bottom onto the metal entrance ramp. It makes a clattering noise on impact and the fans groan while Lawler reacts to the trauma to the back of Mankind’s head and calls for a disqualification. Rocky has the advantage after that and back in the ring keeps on the pressure with a belly to belly suplex and a back suplex for near falls. That is the first time I’ve seen the Rock Bottom on TV and it’s not his finishing move yet, as far as I can tell. Rocky shows a lot more intensity since losing his Intercontinental title and hits some big hard clotheslines and a shoulder breaker which IS his finisher. He stops to pose for the crowd and gets more audible boos but doesn’t go for a cover and climbs to the top rope instead for a diving crossbody. It hits but Mankind rolls through the impact and turns it into the Mandible Claw! That got a big cheer and a few seconds later, Mankind is the winner. He sells the back of his head as his gentle piano victory music plays. Poor Mankind cries and screams for his Uncle Paul, who we haven’t seen since The Undertaker burned his face three weeks ago but is rumoured to return tomorrow night on Raw is War. 

This was another match which I really enjoyed but I suspect that’s coloured slightly by the historical meaning of Mankind vs. The Rock on a PPV, the fans starting to turn on Rocky and the debut of the Rock Bottom as a move. Having to pay attention to the story of these matches and looking for things to comment on and talk about while I write these does definitely lead to me enjoying the wrestling more. 

Gauntlet match

Ahmed Johnson vs. The Nation of Domination (Faarooq, Crush and Savio Vega)

In the build up to this event they promoted this as being three individual matches spread out across the evening but it looks like they’re going for a more traditional gauntlet where it’s three back to back. PG-13 rap the Nation’s entrance music as usual and I don’t know if it was my imagination but they did it with a lot less energy than usual and sounded bored! In a prematch interview Ahmed reveals that he is the one who wanted the three Nation members one after another and says he wants Faarooq to kick things off. He still has his arm in a sling but he showed no signs of still being injured on Raw so JR is firmly of the belief that he’s faking, I guess to play opossum and/or avoid having to just wrestle Ahmed. 

The Pearl River Powerhouse gets a big positive reaction when he comes out; he really was crazy over at the time which is a shame as he was always a terrible wrestler and I have to imagine that’s the reason his push ended and he started to slide down the card after this.

The Nation huddles outside the ring to talk strategy until President Gorilla Monsoon comes out and gets some order, forcing all of the various extra Nation members to leave and insisting that the Nation make it clear who is starting. It’s Crush up first so he makes Savio and Faarooq go up to the top of the ramp and wait their turn up there! That’s sensible and gives Ahmed a fighting chance. 

Johnson slams Crush around the ring but misses a big elbow drop to give the Nation member an opening. Crush slowly works over Ahmed and keeps stopping to point and raise his first at the rest of the Nation for moral support. Johnson comes back with a suplex which instead of turning into a normal back bump, he plants Crush face first like a sort of reverse falcon arrow. Crush basically just no-sells it and locks in a long sleeper hold. I don’t want to be mean but neither of these guys was very good, so this isn’t a very good match so far. He finally releases the sleeper and hits a piledriver but while he’s setting up the heart punch (very, very slowly) Ahmed counters with a messy spinning heel kick and gets the win with a roll up! Crush is eliminated and Savio Vega is up next. Coming into this match the Nation were all making excuses just in case they lose - Crush had “flu like symptoms” and Savio has “twisted his ankle” although neither of them is showing any signs of those in the ring. Savio gets the early advantage on Ahmed and hits a nice rolling heel kick into the corner before working him over with clubs to the back and ribs. Ahmed sells like he’s dying and JR brings up the serious kidney surgery he had in 1996, thanks to Faarooq. Savio throws big punch after big punch while taunting Ahmed and this is just another very slow exchange so far. The crowd is still into it and pop for Ahmed’s comeback but go silent again when he misses a splash off the middle rope. 

Ahmed comes back with a powerslam and a spinebuster and signals for the Pearl River Plunge so Savio rolls out of the ring and moments later, uses a steel chair right in front of the referee. Savio is disqualified and Ahmed moves onto match three.

Vega hammers Ahmed with the chair over and over to make things nice and easy for Faarooq who throws off his sling and swings his arm around so we can all see that it’s no longer separated and he’s all healed up. Ahmed counters off the ropes into a spinebuster and then hits the Pearl River Plunge! The crowd goes NUTS. Ahmed is hurt from the beating so far and takes his time crawling into a cover so Faarooq has time to recover and kick out. Faarooq takes him down with a chop block and follows up with the Dominator to pick up the win and end this gauntlet match. The previous two matches and the steel chair assault were too much for Ahmed to overcome so the Nation remains together and Faarooq gets a big victory. This wasn’t a very good match but the final couple of minutes with Faarooq was a good finish which the crowd was really into - they booed LOUDLY for Faarooq’s kick out.

No Holds Barred match

Vader vs. Ken Shamrock

Ken Shamrock has done stuff inside the WWF ring before, specifically the in-ring exhibition with Billy Gunn last month. This is his first official match. Before the match, Todd interviews Vader who says that he and Mankind’s attack earlier on the pre-show was just him playing with the boy and teaching him about the WWF.

A no holds barred match traditionally means a normal wrestling match but with no count outs or disqualifications but it has more UFC style rules. The on screen graphic and Howard Finkle’s introduction is immediately negated by JR offering a correction that there will be NO standing 8 count. Not a good start.

Shamrock doesn’t have his awesome theme song yet and comes out to a weird, cheerful jazz instrumental. He gets a big cheer from the crowd too who have bought into the aura of the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

This match has a bit of a legendary reputation as Vader was famous for stiffing his opponents; his offense always looked brutal because he left no margin for error and would really hurt people. I’m not sure if that's why Shamrock did what he did but the rookie goes in hard with Vader, kicking him in the legs and thighs as hard as he can. The two of them stay professional and I don’t think you’d notice Vader losing his temper and basically dropping character unless you were looking for it but the fact is Shamrock kicked the SHIT out of Vader’s legs and by the end of this match, the big man could barely stand. 

They slowly circle each other with Shamrock throwing kicks and trying for a wrist or arm lock a couple of times but the crowd doesn’t really pick up until he’s taken down with a big belly to belly suplex. Vader rolls out of the ring and sells his shoulder, stretching it out which I’m sure was legit. He rushes Shamrock with some body blows but is taken down with another suplex and then gets hit with a string of punches to the head. Vader keeps his distance and there’s a nice spot as Shamrock locks his legs around Vader’s head and turns it into a triangle choke until the big man lifts him up and throws him across the ring. He picks him up in a suplex and dumps the UFC fighter to the outside of the ring - Kenny takes a big of a rough bump on the floor, I’m sure he wasn’t used to that kind of landing yet. Vader gets things a little more WWF style and throws Shamrock into the ringsteps; his nose is bloody which I’m sure was from a stiff, misplaced punch by Ken. If my write up of this match so far seems disjointed and messy then that’s an accurate depiction of this match which feels really odd and rough around the edges. Vader beats on Shamrock for a bit and locks in a sleeper hold. He goes for a moonsault off the top rope but misses and Shamrock capitalises by slamming him and locking in a deep ankle lock. Vader makes it to the ropes and the referee has to audibly tell him to break the hold. Shamrock continues to kick at Vader’s legs and locks in a single leg boston crab until the referee again has to break it. Shamrock is in “The Zone” and hammers Vader with punches and elbows and kicks to the head but is far too snug and so Vader clobbers him with a forearm across the head which looked VERY real and was definitely a message for him to calm down and ease up. Shamrock quickly takes Vader down into the ankle lock for the submission victory in a weird messy match. I think the original plan was for Shamrock to wrestle exclusively under these weird rules but given the poor quality of this “fight” they changed their mind and had him learn to wrestle WWF style. 

I’ll take a moment here to talk about some future stuff - spoilers here, so feel free to skip the next match if you don’t want to read my pontificating about stuff that hasn’t happened yet! Stone Cold’s entire WWF Champion run was dominated by The Undertaker. His first title loss was due to The Undertaker. Six of his first seven PPV main events involved The Undertaker. He lost his 3rd WWF title to Undertaker and won his 4th one from him. His 5th title reign began with a 3 month feud with The Undertaker. His final successful WWF title match as a babyface was with The Undertaker. They wrestled each other many, many times on and off PPV and I didn’t realise until I watched the Attitude era back how much of his reign on top involved the Deadman. It is fitting that his first PPV title match was also against The Undertaker.

WWF Championship

The Undertaker © vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Before heading to the ring Todd Pettengill interviews Stone Cold and asks if he’s concerned about the five empty seats at ringside and the Hart Foundation possibly arriving. He says he doesn’t give a rat’s ass and if they do show up he’ll send them all back to Calgary in five wheelchairs. Austin’s music doesn’t create the massive roar from the crowd here that it eventually did but they get loud for him once he gets to the ring. He is no role model and doesn’t care if these people cheer for him or not, but that seems to just make them cheer for him more! 

Undertaker and Austin get face to face but before the match can begin, the Hart Foundation come down the entrance ramp with leader Bret still being wheelchair bound. It takes a little bit of effort to get him up over the security rail and into his seat so Austin takes advantage of the distraction and attacks The Undertaker, beating him up in the corners while he’s still wearing his entrance jacket and the WWF Championship belt! Undertaker gets a chance to remove both when Austin slides out of the ring and beats the tar out of Owen Hart! He pulls him up and over the railing and beats him up. Undertaker knocks him down but then throws a couple of punches at the Harts himself for good measure! 

That distraction gives Austin the advantage and he brawls with Undertaker and locks him down with a long chin lock in the middle of the ring. They get back to their feet and Undertaker sends Austin into the ropes - he hits a shoulder tackle and is taken aback when Undertaker no-sells it, so he goes right back to the punches and a sideheadlock on the mat. Meanwhile at ringside, some fans get a little rowdy in the Hart Foundation’s direction so security has to step in. Interestingly JR says that Brian Pillman is NOT officially a member of the Hart Foundation and has repeated that himself multiple times. I wonder why not? The crowd isn’t really into this long, slow mat exchange so Undertaker picks things back up with a flurry of punches and taking things to the outside. Stone Cold goes after Undertaker’s leg and wraps him around the ringpost, taking a moment to give the finger to the Harts who are desperate to jump the barrier and screw him over. It’s a tense situation.

Austin slowly works over Undertaker, picking apart his leg. He blocks his various attempts to come back including knocking him off the ropes when he tries for old school but then his own superplex is blocked. Undertaker locks in a sleeper which Austin breaks with a jaw breaker which looks a lot like a Stone Cold Stunner. It got a cheer from the crowd like it was. Jim Ross perfectly describes how I feel about this match - you think one guy has the advantage but as soon as you start to talk about it the momentum has shifted again. There’s a funny spot where Austin uses a low blow right in front of the referee and then gives him the finger for telling him off. Undertaker then retaliates with a low blow of his own and when Austin complains the referee gives HIM the finger. It must have been a funny spot because i don’t even mind that it was Earl Hebner. 

Undertaker hits a chokeslam and signals for the Tombstone but Austin comes back with a Stunner! The bell rings which distracts everyone - it’s Brian Pillman. He’s caused a huge distraction and it gives Undertaker time to recover and after a pair of reversed attempts, Undertaker scores with the Tombstone Piledriver to retain the WWF Championship.

He’s immediately swarmed by the Hart Foundation who beat the hell out of The Undertaker four on one but that leaves wheelchair bound Bret all alone! Austin dumps him out of his chair and then goes after the rest of the Harts with one of his crutches! With a weapon in hand, Austin and Undertaker turn the ride and fight them off and Owen Hart takes a big chokeslam! The Harts have just screwed Stone Cold out of the WWF Championship and if he wasn’t pissed at them before he definitely is now! Austin doesn’t take it lying down and hits Undertaker with a Stone Cold Stunner and leaves him laid out, grabbing the crutch and taking off after the Hart Foundation to get his revenge. Undertaker sits up and follows suit.