Record Live Gate show for this In Your House event. It's in Philadelphia so the ECW fans (and wrestlers) are in attendance. Should make for an interesting atmosphere.
Caribbean Strap Match: Justin Bradshaw (w/Uncle Zebekiah) vs. Savio Vega
A rather impromptu opening match. Savio Vega wrestled moments before against Marty Jannetty on the Free 4 All section of the show (basically a pre-show) but Bradshaw came out and began cutting a promo, complaining about not getting PPV matches over Vega. So Bradshaw challenged Savio Vega to a match. Vega’s specialty, a Caribbean Strap match. Fair enough reason to have a match.
The match is rather uneventful with the crowd totally uninterested by the minimal action which consisted of a few strap whips and not so hot brawling on the outside. The match is still known for the worked shoot (I think) with the ECW wrestlers on the outside. Sandman, totally drunk out of his mind, spit beer into Savio Vega’s face and Bradshaw attacks him and Dreamer. It doesn’t last long but it’s the highlight of the match. There was one other good bit in the match where Bradshaw pulled Savio Vega away from 4th ropes and Vega took a wicked twisting bump from it. Looked super painful. Bradshaw ruined the moment though with his Hansen cosplay, shouting “youth” to a meek crowd. This is a Pilly crowd but I doubt they were watching All Japan in 96, except for one or two. No one will get it or if they do, it comes off as a cheap imitation. Anyway the match ended in typical strap fashion (you know the one) with Savio Vega just sneaking the victory as Bradshaw pulled him towards the 4th corner. JR called this “intense” but this was anything but. Cold opener. *
Jim Cornette vs. Jose Lothario
If this was 80s Texas, this would be a great feud. Lothario still being able to go against Cornette and the Midnight Express would’ve produced some excellent matches. Anyone who’s unfamiliar with Lothario aside from knowing him as an ill-fitting manager for Shawn Michaels, only there to try and make Shawn a sympathetic figure, Lothario used to be a very popular, and very good, wrestler for the Texas territories of the 70s, wrestling for promotions such as WCCW (NWA Big Time Wrestling as it was known then) and Houston Wrestling. However, in 1996, I’m not sure this would be considered a worthy midcard match by most. Even in a comedic sense. I’m not most though.
The video package was pretty great. Cornette telling old jokes was gold. You couldn’t understand a word Lothario said though - THICK accent. TIL that Lothario was so old that History wasn’t on the school curriculum. The more you know. Keeping fun, Lothario came out to ‘Sexy Boy’. The match was super short with Lothario throwing a few wicked punches with Cornette pinballing himself around before going down for the 3. Inoffensive at worst, fun at best. **
As soon as I saw Brian Pilman coming down to the ring, I was worried. Loose Cannon promos go way over my head but the segment soon turned into something much more as he and Owen began claiming Bret Hart, who was returning soon, was afraid of Steve Austin. Down came Austin who cut a pretty cool promo, using the famous “You put the letter S in front of Hitman, you’ve got my exact opinion of Bret Hart” line. A decent promo that’ll help set up the upcoming Austin/Bret match at Survivor Series.
WWF World Tag Team Title Match: The Smoking Guns (Bart Gunn & Billy Gunn) (w/Sunny) (c) vs. Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (w/Clarence Mason)
The lack of charisma that the Gunns possess oozes out off the tv screen. It’s incredible. Owen and Bulldog aren’t exactly the Rock themselves but the difference is incredible. As a joke to Sunny, Owen and Bulldog painted over the usual poster that would hang above the ring for the Guns’ entrance, covering her up which led to a great moment of commentary - Vince stated that Sunny has a big ego, causing him and JR to laugh heavily. The first half of the match was rather humdrum with Owen and Bulldog working over Bart’s leg after a nasty chop block by Owen. Since the Guns are also heel, no sympathy or heat is garnered from it. The Guns gained control soon after and worked over the Bulldog. The Guns had a few tandem moves but it was a really uneventful portion of the match. The finish is very bad and makes the Guns look very stupid, Billy in particular. Bart runs into Billy while he’s talking with Sunny, Bart gets pushed into Bulldog who splashes him and Billy, who could very easily break it up, walks past the cover to get hit by Owen. Dumb. Sunny fires them post match. No one cares. Generic heel v heel match that basically serves as a backdrop to break Sunny away from the Smoking Guns. *1/2
Mark Henry vs. Jerry Lawler
This was interesting. A good way to kick off one of the more weird wrestling careers of all time. Mark Henry fresh off his disappointing Olympics appearance (where he was injured) began feuding with Lawler who claimed Henry wasn’t taking wrestling seriously and wanted to defend the honour of it, basically. Henry is clearly innocent and wasn’t trying to disrespect anything so it still keeps him as a face despite the roles. In non kayfabe terms, having Henry’s first match to be against a world class wrestler like Jerry Lawler, even in his late career, is a smart way to go.
The match was preceded by a typical Lawler promo calling Henry out for not even knowing how to lock on a headlock, and in great wrestling fashion, Lawler uses the headlock as his first move. This was a very safe and easy debut match for Mark Henry. Lawler brings out the stooging playbook for Henry, bumping around for him, putting over Henry’s power and strength. Including taking a sickening bump through the ropes, landing headfirst into the guardrail. Lawler could only use a foreign object to get any advantage on Henry but as soon as Lawler got rid of it, Henry ate him alive with punches before submitting him with a backbreaker. **
Final Curtain Match: The Undertaker vs. Goldust (w/Marlena)
I believe this is just a pin falls only match. Nothing really fancy, just a brand name to make a match seem more special. A very Gabe Sapolsky move by the WWF. Two of the more famous gimmicks that the WWF has ever produced. This is a bit better than their match at Beware of Dog which was mostly them stalling. There was a ton more oomph to this. Goldust gets launched into the turnbuckles to kick off the match, Taker works faster than usual and shows tons of urgency in his offence. Rabid fast punches, quicker to get on Goldust whenever he tries to get away. Taker picking up Marlena was a pretty cool spot that also transitioned nicely into Goldust gaining control via goldust being thrown in Taker’s eyes. Goldust works Taker over for a bit before Taker does his sit up and makes a comeback. A basic match that ends the sub-feud for Taker before he moves back to his main foe, Mankind. **3/4
WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) (c) vs. Mankind (w/Paul Bearer)
A match that wasn’t even scheduled to happen apparently. I heard that Vader was supposed to get a rematch for this show but Shawn throwing a fit at Summerslam scrapped those plans so they put Mankind in this match. Neat. The match reputation speaks for itself. Almost everyone considers this to be a great match. Some go as far as to claim it's one of the best matches WWF has ever done. I won’t go as far as that but this was an incredible match, for sure.
This was very unconventional and out of the box. A different match from what you’ll usually see from a WWF title match or a Shawn Michaels match. It was one of the few times where Shawn Michaels came across as wrestling rather than performing. He lays in his strikes, his aerial attacks have more malice than flash in them. He is very aggressive and totally game in this match. The first third of the match is so great. Mankind stiffs Shawn with a back elbow to kick it all off and what came after was a very rough and unpredictable scramble. Michaels dropkicks Mankind, who’s holding the outside mats and then jumps on him. It looks super dangerous as does the subsequent back bumps on the concrete he takes. One of my favourite moments of the match was Mankind, after the little worked shoot incident in the corner where Shawn shouts at Mankind for not running at him in the corner, baiting Michaels in and grapevining his legs around Michaels before trying locking in the mandible claw. It felt very off the cuff and raw. It worked perfectly into the tone of the match. The match is next spent with Michaels first working over Mankind’s knee after a sickening bump into the steeps after a suplex on the outside and then the hand after the chair gets brought into play. Michaels throws out a dainty dragon screw and the figure four on the wrong leg (Flair does it as well so I’ll forgive Shawn) but Mankind sells the work excellently. The match has tons of little moments but works great as a highlight reel as well. The table bump is awesome and was worked in seemingless both into the spot and afterwards to the finish. Mankind gets caught in the ropes in horrific fashion. Michaels hitting a running, chair assisted superkick looked incredible. Just so many things you can list off. The finish kinda sucks with Vader running in a tad too late making the planned false finish seem awkward and wasted since Mankind had to kick out of the aforementioned superkick to no fanfare. But Undertaker showing up out of the casket was pretty cool, admittedly.
So what we were left with was an unbelievable match with a great mix of brawling and highspots and some brilliant selling from both wrestlers (+ some great character work by Mankind with his squealing). They were given tons of time and they used it well to combine different components to make one very compelling and gripping match. The match probably needs a more tight finish to make it a top tier match but I haven’t got many complaints for this match. If you’re a Shawn Michaels critic, you'll probably like this. It has pretty much none of his bad attributes and some of his best. ****1/2
Overall
This was a one match show. The main event was incredible with two great performances put in a very gripping match [****1/2]. The first four matches are all skippable unless you’re really into 1 minute comedy matches or Henry’s first match. Bradshaw vs Savio Vega was heatless and boring [*], Lothario knocking out Cornette was fun but it was too short to be anything really [**], the tag match stunk big time. Backdrop for a breakup angle that I don’t care for [*1/2]. Lawler walked Henry through his match well enough but nothing worth seeing [**]. And the Undertaker v Goldust match was a basic match that served to end their feud [**3/4].
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