Dark Pegasus Video Review: In Your House 13 – Final Four

IYH 13: Final Four by J.D. Dunn February 16, 1997 Live from Chattanooga, Tenn. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Opening Match: Marc Mero (w/Sable) vs. Leif Cassidy. Leif (Al Snow) is the heel here, and Mero is going more heelish. Even Sable is heeling it up (and going from elegant girlfriend to leather-clad sexpot in the process). Mero yanks Leif down by the hair a few times, and Sable interferes, so Leif starts arguing with her while working over Mero’s leg. Cassidy locks in the figure-four. Leif stops to go after Sable, allowing Mero to dive out on top of him. Leif is no match for the pissed-off former Gold Gloves boxer and falls to the Wild Thing at 9:30. Hitting the SSP after eight minutes of legwork is “interesting” psychology, but the match would have been entirely heatless without it. As with Sunny, Sable overshadowed her men and their opponents. Leif would be sent to ECW shortly after this and retool his career with “Head.” ** Recap of Shawn Michaels “losing his smile” and forfeiting the title. Depending on whom you listen to, the original idea was supposed to be Shawn returning the WrestleMania XII job to Bret this year (Bret) or Bret defeating Austin for the title (RSPW apocrypha). In Shawn’s shoot interview, he categorically denies that he was supposed to job to Bret and then says Bret’s finish for their match wasn’t right – you know, the finish to the match he says was never booked. **cough** Shawn used to be a horrible liar, at least in his shoot interview. By that, I mean, he lied often and not very well. He tells people who don’t believe that he was injured to kiss his ass because he wrestled injured every day of his life and could barely even more when he wrestled Austin. So…why didn’t he wrestle here when he was comparatively healthy? **cough** Thankfully, God intervened and made an honest man out of Shawn. Six-Man Tag: Faarooq, Crush & Savio Vega (w/Clarence Mason & PG-13) vs. Flash Funk, Goldust & Bart Gunn (w/Marlena & the Funkettes). Goldust cuts off Faarooq’s prematch spiel, triggering a big brawl. The faces clear the ring, and Flash dives off the top on the heels. Back in, Faarooq puts on the breaks and spinebusters Funk. Bart presses Funk out on the NOD, but they catch him and beat him up. Funk plays face-in-peril for a while, even taking a spiked piledriver but kicking out at two. Bart gets the hot tag and cleans house. He hits a flying bulldog on Faarooq, but Crush sneaks in behind the ref’s back and hits a legdrop. Faarooq covers and gets the win at 6:42. *1/2 Steve Austin complains about being screwed by the office for seven years, but he beat all of his opponents at the Royal Rumble and he’ll do it again. Intercontinental Title: Rocky Maivia vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Rocky had just won the title a few days before this. This was actually an important match in the growth of Hunter as they saddle him with the Rock, who was a tremendous talent but had almost zero experience, and expect him to call the match. To his credit, Hunter does a great job of getting heat in spite of the fact that the fans hate Rocky (which would become more evident the following month at WrestleMania). Rocky hits a crossbody for two. Hunter gets his feet on the ropes and gets two of his own, but the ref catches him. Rocky busts out a sloppy floatover DDT. I’m shocked that they even let him try that one again after that. Goldust walks down and fondles himself, distracting Hunter long enough for Rocky to hit a German Suplex for the win at 12:29. Marlena walks down to join Goldust and gets attacked and choked out by “some large woman.” Security drags her the woman off as Jim Ross tells fans not to try to get involved in the show. Of course, that large woman would turn out to be Chyna. **1/2 WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (w/Clarence Mason) vs. Phillip Lafon & Doug Furnas. The champs have a bit of tension because Owen eliminated the Bulldog at the Royal Rumble. Lafon and Owen start with a good mat sequence. He hits Bulldog with a leg lariat, but Owen knees him from the outside to take over. Lafon sunset flips the Bulldog, but Owen has the ref distracted. The champs work in the Rockerplex (DBS suplex with an Owen Crossbody). Owen accidentally takes out the Bulldog with a leg lariat and then slaps him in the face for being a failure. Bulldog gets pissed and LEVELS Owen with a lariat. That leads to a splash from Lafon, but Bulldog makes the save. Furnas & Lafon DESTROY Owen with a doubleteam sequence. He comes back with an enzuigiri and grabs his Slammy Award. Bulldog picks Furnas up for a powerslam, but Owen clocks Furnas with the award while he’s on Bulldog’s shoulder. That draws the DQ at 10:29, despite the fact that Bulldog would have had a clean victory. After the match, Owen and Clarence have to calm down the Bulldog. In the process, the unthinkable happens, and Owen’s Slammy gets destroyed! The fans were aching for a Bulldog face turn, but it didn’t happen and never would. Bret would intervene and reform the Hart Foundation, but not before an AWESOME Owen vs. Bulldog match to crown the first European champion. That match ranks as one of the best in Raw history. ***1/2 Vacant WWF Heavyweight Title, Final Four: Bret Hart vs. Vader (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Undertaker vs. Steve Austin. These were the last guys left at the Royal Rumble, which Austin cheated to win after he was already eliminated, but the refs didn’t see the elimination. Okay, that’s not entirely true. Diesel was actually in the Final Four, but come on. Like they’re going to put Fake Diesel in there! To make up for Austin’s cheating, Gorilla Monsoon made this match, which is basically the same as a Battle Royal only pinfalls and submissions count. Funny moment as Ross apologizes for Stone Cold flipping Vader off. Vader and Taker pair off and brawl to the floor. Bret takes the “Bret Bump” early off an Austin whip. Vader’s eye starts to bleed, and I’m pretty sure that has something to do with the plate they put in after his eyeball popped out against Stan Hansen. Austin hits Take with a Stunner, and they switch off with Vader going after Bret. We get a good look at Vader’s eye, which is swelling shut underneath the blood. Taker crotches Austin on the top as Bret whips Vader over the railing. Sid watches on the monitor, awaiting the winner. Vader actually puts Bret in the Sharpshooter on the outside. They switch back off, and Austin hits Vader with the Thesz Press. Bret and Taker get back in. Bret gives Austin a piledriver for two. Vader is about to Vader Bomb Taker, but Bearer tells him to try a moonsault instead. It misses. Austin nearly puts Bret out as Vader strangles the Undertaker with a piece of cord. Austin backflips out of a backdrop and O’Connor Rolls Bret for two. That’s like Lucha for Steve. Austin nearly puts Taker out, so Taker tosses Steve to the apron. Steve appears to injure his knee and is easily dumped by Bret. Austin would return a few minutes later to attack Bret, which should dispel the myth that Austin was “too injured” to go over for the belt here. Meanwhile, Vader goes up for the Vader Bomb, but Taker just sits up and punches him in the nuts. Vader tumbles to the floor. That leaves Bret and the Undertaker. Bret charges right into a big chokeslam from the Taker. Taker is about to finish off Bret with the Tombstone, but Austin pulls Bret down and screws up the move. Taker knocks Austin off the apron, allowing Bret to turn and clothesline Taker out at 24:05. The old RSPW rumor was that Austin was supposed to win here and drop the title to Sid the following night, but his knee injury forced Bret into that role. But that doesn’t make sense either in the context of the match or in the long-term booking, especially when Austin could have simply rolled to the outside and walked around for a bit to test it out. Besides Sid has since confirmed that he was told he would be getting the title from Bret (even though Sid may have an inflated sense of self-worth, there’s no reason for him to lie about that). Hopefully, that dispels the rumor once and for all. My guess is that it was all part of one of those “work the smarts” moments. Anyway, Vader once said that Vince called him the MVP of this match, and I’d have to agree, but it was a stellar performance by all four men. I think it doesn’t get a lot of respect, but that’s probably part of the drawback of a multi-person match. ****1/4 After the match, Sid and Bret have a staredown.

The 411:  One of the better IYHs. Thankfully, it progressed with the matches getting better as it went along until they got to MOTYC status. The WWF was still experimenting with a less patronizing style, and it was working at the time. Solid thumbs up.
Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]