Reviews From The City of Orange: WWF In Your House XV: A Cold Day In Hell

Posted by Mike Campbell on 09.10.2009

The first Austin/UT and Rock/Foley PPV matches!

IN YOUR HOUSE XV: A COLD DAY IN HELL
May 11, 1997

Yes, it’s another oldie from the WWF, and there’s several firsts for PPV to be found here. Steve Austin and The Undertaker have their first PPV match, and its Austin’s first time challenging for the WWF Title on PPV. Mick Foley and The Rock also have their first PPV match too.

Mankind . . . defeats the future People’s Champion, clean as a brand new sheet, via submission.
Vader . . . gives Ken Shamrock a few wake up calls regarding how tough it is inside the WWF.
Bret Hart . . . gets a front row seat for an honest to goodness wrestling match for the WWF Title.

HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY vs. FLASH FUNK
The only thing really worth giving much praise to is Flash’s bumping (aside from taking the Pedigree on his knee).1997 HHH only had three or four spots at his disposal, the rest is just mediocre brawling and distracting the ref so Chyna could interfere, but Flash did what he could to try to make it look like HHH was seriously putting the hurt on him. Flash isn’t a wrestling genius himself, aside from the boot to the face when HHH was coming off the top, all of his moves are flying moves. Yes, they’re very well done, but that’s all he’s got to do. They do have a pretty smart finish, Flash had HHH beat with the flying body press, but picked him up at two so he could do the 450. Flash plays to the crowd and HHH recovers, crotches him, and hits the Pedigree for the win. But it’s hard to praise them too much for the last thirty seconds or so, when it came after about nine minutes of boredom.

ROCKY MAIVIA vs. MANKIND
Well, this is better than the HHH/Funk match, but its still not what you’d expect from this pairing. They’ve also got a good finish, although it’s a bit more like a fluke instead of being as cut and dry as the babyface making a mistake. Rocky attempts his flying body press and Foley rolls through and gets the Mandible Claw. They’re also a little better about making their moves matter, such as when Rock hits the not-yet-called-the-Rock Bottom on the ramp, and when he tries to whip Foley into the ropes, Mick isn’t able to follow along and just falls to the mat. Even afterwards, Mick is favoring his head and neck area. But there isn’t much else beyond that. Rocky has some good moves (belly to belly, shoulder breaker, powerslam) but there’s very little context to why he’s doing them, the flying chop when got whipped into the ropes was a good idea in theory, but the execution didn’t turn out well, because Mick didn’t seem to know what he was doing. It’s not entirely his fault, he was only about two years in (counting his time in Memphis), and he was carrying the offense instead of the twelve-year veteran.

AHMED JOHNSON vs. CRUSH
Crush’s sleeper hold is very powerful indeed, not only did it nearly put Ahmed out, it almost put me to sleep too. Crush and Ahmed with a lot of pedestrian brawling, but at least a decent finish, with Ahmed countering the Heart Punch (Crush stopped to play to the crowd before he did it) with a spin kick for the win, which is weird since he’d beaten Crush in mere seconds on the RAW before this show.

AHMED JOHNSON vs. SAVIO VEGA
This is a little better thanks to Savio’s bumping and selling, he takes a big back body drop from Ahmed, and his reaction to missing a charge in the corner is great. Beyond that, it’s more of the same, lots of generic brawling, and nothing very engrossing. Of course, the whole point of this is just to soften him up for Farooq anyway, so it’s no surprise that there isn’t much thought put into it, but they could have easily done the bit with the chair from the get-go instead of stretching this out for six, painfully boring, minutes.

AHMED JOHNSON vs. FAROOQ
Farooq seems to have Ahmed right where he wants him, but Ahmed Hulks Up and hits a spine buster and the Pearl River Plunge, and is then too hurt to follow up. Farooq hits the Dominator and Ahmed is done. Isn’t the point of the babyface running the heel gauntlet for them to defy the odds and then win in the end? Of course, Ahmed was gone within a year while Farooq eventually found his calling.

KEN SHAMROCK vs. VADER
Vader was probably the perfect opponent for Shamrock’s WWF debut, not just because of his size, but also because of his UWFI experience. Of course, Vader was two years removed from working in UWFI and Shamrock had to be at least six years removed from doing worked fights, so this is far from smooth. This is a lot more exciting and fun than it is good though. Shamrock wasn’t great with pulling his punches, and Vader returned the favor a few times, which gave the match a sort of exciting vibe to it, like something big could literally happen at any minute. Vader does a pretty respectable job of showing Shamrock that this isn’t just a paid vacation after fighting in UFC, he throws a few stiff punches, nearly takes his head off with a lariat, and at one point he even does an inverted suplex over the top and throws Shamrock to the floor. Vader is also generous enough to take a couple of suplexes, and he’s good about getting over Shamrock’s holds, even the simple ones like his wristlock.

Compared to Vader, Shamrock appears to come to the match empty handed. He provides a few good moments in the form of unique holds for 1997 WWF like the Triangle choke, heel hook, and the ankle lock, and he had a couple of nice escapes, like when he rolled out of Vader’s rear naked choke, but Vader was the one doing the heavy lifting, and, luckily, he was able to deliver.

THE UNDERTAKER © vs. STEVE AUSTIN (WWF World Heavyweight Title)
For a match between two guys who are primarily known as brawlers, this is quite the fun little match. It’s almost surprising how much effort that Austin and UT put into the match, considering that everyone else is paying more attention to the Hart Foundation in the front row. Granted, it does lead to some exciting moments, like Austin pulling Owen over the rail and stomping him, and UT brawling with Bulldog, but Austin and UT also put on a pretty good wrestling match.

They’ve both got the same general idea, which is to take out the legs, and it makes perfect sense for both of them to do so. The best way to take away UT’s considerable size advantage is to take out a leg, and Austin had been wearing a knee brace since WrestleMania. It’s downright odd to see Austin staying on task so well, he uses things you’d expect out of him, like the post and stomping, but also surprises with a spinning toehold and even attempts an STF. It’s weird to think of UT selling (especially during his initial run as the Dead Man), but he does a very respectable job of remembering to limp and favor the leg, and Austin’s leg work pays off when he isn’t able to do the rope walk. In that sense, it’s a little disappointing to see him take a bump from Austin’s jawbreaker on his knees and not sell the knee at all. When the coin on the other side, it’s still good, but not nearly as good. UT doesn’t show the depth and variety that Austin had, sticking with more basic things like a half crab and a simple leg lace, although Austin’s selling was still good.

There’s other good stuff beyond the limb work. Austin’s early headlock and UT’s inability to break the hold is surprisingly effective, and their comedy with the ref after Austin low blows UT, and then UT returns the favor. The Harts in the crowd guaran-damn-tees shenanigans and they deliver with Pillman ringing the bell after Austin hits the stunner to create confusion and delay Austin going for the pin and winning the title, and the big run in and brawl after the match ends. It’s a bit disappointing to not see them continue putting over their weakened legs, especially considering their finish was a Tombstone reversal sequence, that ended with UT hitting the Tombstone and getting the pin. UT having a hurt leg would have been a good way to explain why UT couldn’t keep Austin up for it, but it’s not a huge deal and the match is still more than good enough to be match of the night. ***1/2

The 411: This is a show that’s more good in a ‘where are they now?’ sense than it is in a ‘good wrestling’ sense. The main event is damn good, and Shamrock/Vader have their moments, so, in my view, that’s enough for a mild recommendation.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]