WWE In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies Review

There was a sense of newness in WWE in April 1996 because Shawn Michaels was the WWE Champion for the first time in his career.

Shawn was the leader of the “New Generation” that WWE loved to promote as a guy that was in the prime of his career, that went from being a tag team wrestler to the Intercontinental Champion and now the WWE Champion after beating Bret Hart at WrestleMania 12. His opponent at this show was one of his best friends in Diesel, who was WWE Champion for most of the year before and a guy that beat Shawn at WrestleMania 11 in 1995. It was an easy main event to set up especially with Diesel in heel mode.

There was no Bret Hart on this show because he took a break after putting Shawn over at WrestleMania 12. There was also no Undertaker match due to the lack of a feud although he did beat Mankind (new in WWE at the time) in a dark match. Two more newer WWE guys named Steve Austin and Hunter Hearst Helmsley weren’t part of the shows as well although they were in dark matches too.

Behind the scenes, there was a big story brewing because word got out that Razor Ramon was leaving WWE for WCW and Diesel was going too. I wasn’t reading about wrestling online at this point (I jumped in full throttle around late 1997), but I remember hearing it from friends at school. Until it actually happened, though, you never knew what was true and what was just a rumor.

It was not a hot time for the business and this show did 150,000 buys on pay-per-view for this two-hour show that cost around $14.95 US. It did better than the other In Your House events that year, so at least it was a success in that way. I think the main event was compelling enough that people wanted to check it out.

Here is the synopsis on WWE Network:

“In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies features Goldust defending the WWE Intercontinental Title vs. The Ultimate Warrior. Razor Ramon battles Vader. No Holds Barred match for WWE Championship pits Shawn Michaels against Diesel.” (14+ L, V)

The VHS looks like this:

WWF In Your House 7 – Good Friends, Better Enemies
From Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska
April 28, 1996

The opening video package focused on the No Holds Barred main event that favors a man the size of Diesel while the WWE Champion Shawn Michaels lost his close friend Diesel on the way to the championship. The theme of the show was based off that match.

The show began with Vince McMahon screaming on commentary: “Welcome everyone to Omaha, Nebraska. Welcome to the heartland of America. Welcome to In Your House.” Vince was on commentary at ringside with Jerry “The King” Lawler talking about the main event.

The British Bulldog entered with Owen Hart along with managers Jim Cornette and Clarence Mason. Jake “The Snake” Roberts was doing an interview from the backstage area. Jake said that he had something and he’s going to bring it out there right now.

Jake Roberts made his entrance with the bag that had a snake in it. There was a court document from Clarence Mason and Jake ripped it up. Jake took the snake out of the bag and he knocked down Mason/Cornette with it. Cornette sold it like he fainted from it. Jake was told to take the snake backstage. When Jake returned, he had Ahmed Johnson with him, so it was going to be a tag team match.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Ahmed Johnson vs. Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette & Clarence Mason)

Pre-match notes: This was originally going to be Roberts vs. Bulldog in a singles match, but they changed it to a tag team match. Bulldog was also dealing with a knee injury, so that was part of the reason why it changed. Roberts and Johnson were faces while Hart and Bulldog were heels. Ahmed was selling a broken thumb injury on the right hand caused by Bulldog.

Roberts was in control of Hart with a wrist lock while Mason took Cornette to the back. Bulldog tagged in against Johnson, but then Bulldog tagged out to show fear as a heel. Johnson sent Hart into the turnbuckle, he wanted Bulldog and Bulldog tagged to Owen to keep Owen in the ring. Johnson picked up Owen for a suplex-like move, but then he tossed Hart forward. Roberts was back in, Owen avoided a DDT and then Jake hit an elbow to the face with another DDT attempt, but Owen avoided it. Bulldog finally tagged in with a body slam on Jake, then he missed an elbow, went to the apron and tagged Owen back in while Ahmed was in the ring again. Johnson controlled Owen with a test of strength leading to Ahmed stomping on the hand. Owen ran the ropes right into a clothesline by Johnson. That led to Johnson unloading on Hart with punches and kicks. Bulldog went into the ring with cheap punches to the back. Bulldog tagged in with a body slam. When Owen tagged back in, he tried a body slam, couldn’t do it and Ahmed hit a press slam to a big pop. Roberts tagged in, Hart got the double knees up and jumped off the middle ropes with a dropkick. Bulldog back in with kicks, then Hart did some choking that the referee didn’t see and Bulldog continued with punches. Jake came back with punches, but Bulldog stopped that offense and hit a leg drop. Owen tagged in with a diving elbow off the top. Owen with a chinlock, Jake got out of it and avoided a Sharpshooter, but Owen held onto the leg to prevent Jake from tagging out. Bulldog was back in, Owen did a cheap shot to Jake’s back and choked Jake against the rope while Bulldog distracted the referee. Owen tagged in with a sleeper and Jake hit a jawbreaker to break it. That led to Johnson finally tagging in against Bulldog with the fans popping big for him with Johnson hitting a spinebuster on Bulldog and a clothesline on Hart with Vince shouting his “fuggetaboutit” (forget about it) phrase he loved so much. Roberts was back in, he hit a back body drop on Owen, who was illegal and the faces cleared the ring of both opponents. Bulldog had Cornette’s tennis racket and he hit Jake in the knee with it repeatedly. Owen pulled Johnson out of the ring. Bulldog applied a kneebar submission on Roberts and Jake gave up to give the heels the win at 13:47.

Winners by submission: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog

Analysis: ** The match was just decent with the crowd getting into it for Ahmed as well as whenever Jake tried a DDT. The fans loved seeing Johnson since this was early in his WWE run and he came across as a big deal. It was mostly Owen Hart working the match for his team. Bulldog did get in the ring a bit, but he barely took any bumps. The reason Bulldog got the win is that he got a main event push against Shawn Michaels at the next two PPVs, so they wanted to build him up strong.

They showed the WWF Superstar Line with Marc Mero with Sable and 1-2-3 Kid talking separately.

Goldust made his entrance as the Intercontinental Champion with the lovely Marlena by his side. They also had some guy that was a bodyguard that was the guy that was named Mantaur, but they didn’t give him a name. There was some incident from the Free For All show where Goldust and Marlena interrupted an Ultimate Warrior interview and then Goldust fell running away, so Goldust had his left knee bandaged.

The Ultimate Warrior made his entrance running to the ring with the fans popping big for the madman. Vince McMahon was, of course, screaming on commentary telling us to “get ready” and then they had some big pyro display in the ring. Vince: “UNBELIEVABLE!” Lawler wondered why the people liked Warrior.

Analysis: The Goldust injury was legit in the sense that he wasn’t able to work a regular match, yet they still advertised him here. I did some research on HistoryofWWE to find that Goldust missed about six weeks of action with the knee injury.

Intercontinental Championship: Goldust (w/Marlena) vs. The Ultimate Warrior

Pre-match notes: Goldust was the heel Intercontinental Championship and Warrior was the babyface.

Goldust hobbled back up the aisle with Warrior chasing after him. Warrior got Marlena’s cigar on the ground and Warrior smoked a few puffs. The referee Jack Doan was counting while Goldust was on the floor, but then he stopped as Warrior put the director’s chair in the ring. Warrior also had Goldust’s robe and wig to kill more time. Goldust told the fans that if they don’t shut their mouths right now, he will personally kiss each and every one of them. The fans booed. Goldust reluctantly got in the ring while hiding behind Marlena and Marlena got her cigar back. Warrior put Goldust’s coat back on him. Goldust sat in his chair, Warrior smoked the cigar again and Vince asked: “What is going on here?” I don’t f’n know at this point, Vince. You booked this shit, not me. Warrior put the cigar on Goldust’s hand and hit a clothesline to knock Goldust over on the chair. Goldust left with Marlena for the countout loss. This waste of time took 7:38.

Winner by countout: The Ultimate Warrior (Goldust remained Intercontinental Champion)

Analysis: -* That’s a negative one star in case you’re not used to seeing that. They called this a match and basically just killed ten minutes by booking a terrible match that they failed to deliver because of an injury to Goldust. Warrior was known for having shitty matches anyway, so I don’t really mind that we missed out on the match. It’s just weird that they would go ahead to promote the match, make it look like they were going to have a match and then only do one move in a match leading to a countout. Book it for like two or three minutes instead of going as long as they did. It was unnecessary to go this long. What’s funny about it is you’ve got Vince McMahon on commentary wondering what the hell is going on and HE booked this shit! Thanks Vince.

After the match was over, the bodyguard with no name punched Warrior, who no-sold it and Warrior hit him with clotheslines and a leaping clothesline. Vince did his “Fuggetaboutit” call for that as Warrior hit a body slam and the bodyguard left.

Analysis: This sucked too because the bodyguard angle didn’t really lead to anything. It was just done to allow Warrior to do some of his signature moves to pop the crowd. Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer wrote about this match saying: “Not only a worst match of the year candidate, but a worst match of the decade candidate. -***1/2.” That’s harsh although it’s understandable as well.

There was a backstage scene with The British Bulldog and Owen Hart outside of the locker room of Shawn Michaels. Tony Garea and Dave Hebner were there preventing Bulldog from getting into the room.

Analysis: The story was that Bulldog was claiming that Shawn was hitting on Bulldog’s wife Diana. That was the angle they used for the Shawn/Bulldog feud over the next two PPVs.

Vader made his entrance with Jim Cornette as his manager. Razor Ramon was up next as the opponent and he got a good ovation from the crowd since Razor was an established babyface.

Vader (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Razor Ramon

Pre-match notes: Vader was the heel here while Razor was the face. This was Vader’s first year in WWE after a very successful run in WCW. As I mentioned earlier in the review, Razor was leaving for WCW one month after this, so this was his last WWE PPV match until his eventual return six years later.

Vader used his power early to toss Razor out of the ring and then back in with Vader shoving Razor on his ass. Vader with punches, a headbutt and more punches to the ribs. Razor with punches, but Vader overpowered him with a punch followed by a clothesline leading to Vince’s “fuggetaboutit” phrase. Razor with punches, a kick to the gut and Vader sent Razor over the top to the floor. Razor went right back into the ring with punches that knocked down Vader by the turnbuckle. Razor hit a punch combo, then a clothesline and two more clotheslines to knock Vader over the top to the floor. Vader broke the referee’s count two times and then went back to the floor. Cornette was on the apron for a distraction, Vader was back in and Razor met him with a punch, but Vader was in control with a running splash followed by a clothesline. Vader with an elbow to the ribs, a splash and a “fuggetaboutit” from Vince for a two count. Razor ducked a clothesline and hit a belly to back clothesline for two. Vader with a body slam by the turnbuckle and Vader hit a Vader Bomb splash for just two because Razor got his left shoulder up at the last moment. Razor with a couple of punches, Vader with a headbutt and Vader hit a belly to back suplex. Vader teased a suplex, Razor blocked it two times and Razor hit a suplex that looked impressive on the big man Vader, which led to a two count for Razor. Vader was back up with a clothesline. Vader went to the middle ropes, he jumped off and Razor hit a powerslam for two. Razor with a clothesline, then Vader ran right into a boot and Razor jumped off the middle ropes with a bulldog for two. Razor bounced off the ropes running right into Vader knocking him down with a body attack. Vader went to the middle ropes, Razor punched him in the ribs and tried a Razor’s Edge, but Razor dropped him because Vader was too big. Vader with a body slam and then Vader up to the top rope. Razor got back up, put Vader on his shoulders and Razor fell back onto the mat with an Electric Chair drop, but Razor was too hurt to try a cover. Vader with a back body drop out of the Razor’s Edge and he sat on Razor with a splash for the pinfall win at 14:49.

Winner by pinfall: Vader

Analysis: ***1/4 A pretty good match here. They could have booked it in a way where Vader squashed Razor within a few minutes since Razor was leaving, but they had a competitive match. Razor did a nice job of countering some of Vader’s big moves, he even kicked out of a Vader Bomb, but in the end, it was a Vader win since Vader was getting a big push. I think the finish could have been better because instead of a big move like a Vader Bomb or a Powerbomb type of move, it was just Vader sitting on top of Razor to win. I just think they could have come up with something better there.

Post match, Vader and Jim Cornette were at ringside with Dok Hendrix letting them know that Gorilla Monsoon told them that Vader will face Yokozuna at the next In Your House event. Cornette did a promo trashing Yokozuna and then they left.

They showed a video of Paul Bearer and The Undertaker talking to the fans on WWF’s AOL chat. That looked comedic to me.

They had a commercial about WWE merchandise.

The Bodydonnas made their entrance with Sunny as their manager. They were up against The Godwinns.

WWE Tag Team Championships: The Bodydonnas (Skip & Zip) w/Sunny vs. The Godwinns (Henry O. & Phinneas I) w/Hillbilly Jim

Pre-match notes: The Bodydonnas were the heel champions while the Godwinns were the faces. Sunny was at her prime here in her early 20s and one of the best-looking women in WWE history. Zip was Tom Prichard with a different name to make him look more like Skip, who was Chris Candido.

Henry with a clothesline on both Bodydonnas. Phinneas was in for a bit, Henry was back in and Skip couldn’t do much against him so Henry slammed him off his shoulders. Henry rammed Skip into the turnbuckle followed by a wheelbarrow suplex leading to Vince doing his “fuggetaboutit” line again. Zip was in against Phinneas, who hit a shoulder tackle and Zip took over with some punches. Zip with a whip into the turnbuckle, Phinneas with a boot to the face and Skip pulled down the top rope, so Phinneas bumped over the top to the floor. The heels took over with some quick tags including a double team slingshot suplex. The camera was doing a closeup of Sunny, which was the highlight of the match so far. Zip with a knee drop on Phinneas. Skip grounded Phinneas with a chinlock and then Skip hit a hurricanrana for a two count. Phinneas was doing his babyface comeback and Sunny had a framed picture of herself. Henry tagged in and he was cleaning house with slams on both Bodydonnas including a press slam. Henry gave Skip a Slop Drop (reverse DDT), but the referee wasn’t there to count because he was busy looking at Sunny, Phinneas and Jim on the floor with Jim trying to calm Phinneas down. That led to Zip switching places with Skip and Zip got an inside cradle on Henry to win by pinfall at 7:17.

Winners by pinfall: The Bodydonnas (Skip & Zip)

Analysis:*1/2 This was pretty bad. They didn’t have many nearfalls or interesting moments. The story was about how Phinneas had a crush on Sunny, so he was distracted by her throughout the match and that led to the Bodydonnas getting the win by switching places. The best part of the match were the shots of Sunny at ringside.

After the match, Sunny bragged about the win and said that they the champions that are going to keep the titles for as long as she wanted. Vince replied with a “fuggetaboutit” to that too. Henry was mad about Phinneas being distracted by the picture that was in the slop bucket and then Phinneas put the framed picture inside his overalls.

There was a commercial for the next In Your House taking place on Memorial Day weekend on May 26. They promoted Yokozuna vs. Vader, Marc Mero vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Savio Vega vs. Steve Austin and the WWF Championship will be defended.

Analysis: That show ended up being a disaster due to technical issues because of a power outage and then they had to re-do some of it on Tuesday night. I haven’t covered it yet, but I will do it at some point.

Marc Mero with Sable was interviewed by Dok Hendrix in the locker room. They showed the issues between Mero and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Mero said that Hunter has unleashed the beast and he’ll find out what the “Wildman” is made of.

A video package aired to set up the main event showing that Shawn Michaels and Diesel are good friends, but now they make better enemies. They did a good job with this video talking about both guys being Intercontinental Champion, they were Tag Team Champions together and Diesel became WWE Champion first in late 1994. After Diesel lost the WWE Title to Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1995, Diesel slowly started his heel turn. Meanwhile, Michaels overcame concussions issues in late 1995, won the Royal Rumble and then beat Bret Hart to become WWE Champion at WrestleMania 12. Now Diesel has lured Michaels to a No Holds Barred match for the WWE Title, so we will find out who the better man is.

Analysis: From a logical point of view, Diesel shouldn’t have got this title shot after he lost to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 12, the PPV prior to this. However, WWE wanted heels for babyface Michaels to beat, and with Diesel on his way out of WWE, it did make sense to do this match. It’s not like they were going to have babyface Michaels against babyface Undertaker as Shawn’s first PPV title defense. I’m just saying in terms of wins/losses, Diesel lost at WrestleMania and he gets the title shot.

There was an interview with Shawn Michaels from the Free For All earlier in the day. They also showed Diesel saying he had something for Vince tonight too.

Diesel made his entrance with a serious look on his face. There were not a lot of boos for him while Lawler said that Diesel is going to do something to Vince McMahon tonight. Diesel threw his heavy leather vest on Vince on commentary and Lawler laughed about it. They showed Mad Dog Vachon sitting at ringside. That’s an important thing to remember for later.

Shawn Michaels made his entrance with the WWE Championship around his waist and with his trainer/manager Jose Lothario with him. Vince was screaming about Shawn to make sure you know Shawn is the top guy.

WWE Championship No Holds Barred Match: Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) vs. Diesel

Pre-match notes: Michaels was the babyface WWE Champion while Diesel was the heel challenger. This was Diesel’s last PPV match in WWE since he returned to the company six years later using his real name of Kevin Nash.

Diesel was about one foot taller and nearly 100 pounds heavier. Michaels made his way down to the ring quickly and Diesel used his size advantage early with a punch that knocked Michaels down. Michaels came back with a dropkick that sent Diesel over the top to the floor. Michaels with a baseball slide dropkick and then Michaels went up top with a moonsault onto a standing Diesel. Michaels grabbed a cowboy boot off a Spanish language announcer and jumped off the top with a boot to the head with Vince shouting “fuggetaboutit” for that. Diesel came back with a hard whip into the turnbuckle with Michaels bumping over the top, Vince shouted “fuggetaboutit” again and Diesel used a forearm to knock Michaels off the apron to the floor. They were back in the ring with Diesel delivering elbows, forearms to the face and Diesel hit a big clothesline as the fans booed. Diesel did the snake eyes move where he sent Michaels face first into the top turnbuckle and Diesel stared at Vince again. Diesel told Jose Lothario “hey old man, this is how we do it in the 90s” and he delivered some knee drives followed by some choking. Diesel with a sidewalk slam. Diesel choked referee Earl Hebner with wrist tape and then took Hebner’s belt to whip Michaels with it. Diesel put the belt around Shawn’s neck, then he hung Michaels by the ropes, Lawler joked “hang in there, Shawn” and Diesel tied Shawn to the middle ropes. Diesel threw down the ring announcer Howard Finkel and grabbed a steel chair. Diesel hit Michaels in the back with the steel chair. Diesel delivered another steel chair shot to the back. Diesel was going for another chair shot, Michaels moved while against the ropes and the chair bounced back into Diesel’s face. Michaels was about to use the chair, but Diesel did a low blow punch to the groin!

Diesel remained in control with a huge back body drop for a two count. Diesel was dominant with punches with Michaels popping back up every time until Diesel was able to knock Shawn out of the ring. Vince: “Stay down, Shawn!” Vince was doing the over-the-top commentary style where he was saying that the babyface Michaels couldn’t take anymore. Diesel picked up Shawn and gave him a Powerbomb through the announce table of Vince and Lawler! That was HUGE! This was before they made those big tables. The announce table at this point was just a regular wooden table with a black cloth covering it. This was also the kind of thing that they never did in WWE before that moment, so it was a big deal. Diesel grabbed the WWE Title and celebrated with it. Michaels was out on the table while Vince was clearing the monitors and they were helping to clear the path so that Shawn could get back up. As Shawn got up, Vince yelled to him “let it be over” repeatedly. Diesel approached the ring apron where Shawn had reached under the ring and used a fire extinguisher to spray into Diesel’s eyes.

Shawn ran the ropes leading to a running forearm to the head. The fans were SCREAMING and going crazy for Michaels. Michaels grabbed a steel chair and he hit Diesel in the back followed by a chair to the head with Diesel getting his hands up to block it a bit. Diesel was able to recover quickly with a forearm to the back followed by the big boot to the face. Diesel went for the Powerbomb in the ring, but Michaels was able to move forward with his momentum and punch Diesel down to the mat. Michaels went up top and jumped off with an elbow drop to the chest. Michaels set up for Sweet Chin Music, Diesel caught the foot and hit a clothesline. McMahon and Lawler were standing at ringside holding microphones because their headsets were destroyed. Diesel got up first with a clothesline that sent Michaels over the top to the floor. Diesel sent Michaels throat first across the metal guardrail and tossed Michaels back into the ring. Diesel walked over to ringside and grabbed Mad Dog Vachon out of his seat. Diesel pushed the old man down and pulled off his prosthetic leg! Vince mentioned Vachon had his leg amputated after a car accident. Diesel was about to hit Shawn with it as Vince yelled: “That’s the lowest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” Oh, you’ve booked much lower, pal. Anyway, Diesel was about to hit Shawn with the DREADED FAKE LEG~! but Shawn got some payback with a low blow punch of his own. The crowd loved that payback! Michaels tapped the DREADED FAKE LEG~! on and swung it like a baseball bat leading to Michaels hitting Diesel in the head with it. Great bump by Diesel there too. Michaels set up for the Sweet Chin Music superkick and he connected with it for the one…two…and three! The main camera shot almost missed it because they were focused on Shawn’s foot-stomping. The match went 17:53.

Winner by pinfall: Shawn Michaels

Analysis: ****1/2 This was an outstanding wrestling match. It was a match that featured Diesel dominating it like a bigger heel overpowering the smaller babyface as you would expect, but it was so much more than that. Since it was No Holds Barred, they were able to utilize weapons and low blow spots, which made it that much more impressive when Michaels found a way to make the comeback. The most memorable moment of this show was that table spot. There was a table spot in the Diesel/Bret Hart match at Survivor Series 1995 where Bret was shoved off the apron through the table, but this one was more vicious because it was a Powerbomb through the table. I had never seen a spot like that in the WWE before and it still holds up very well 25 years later. Diesel taking Mad Dog Vachon’s leg was also an incredible idea that put over Diesel as an evil heel, but Michaels got the low blow payback. I like how they told that story throughout the match with Diesel getting chair attacks, then Michaels got payback with chair shots of his own and after Diesel got a low blow, Michaels came back with a low blow of his own. What was also cool about the match is that Shawn didn’t get a lot of nearfalls in the match, but once he made the big comeback and had the combination of the DREADED FAKE LEG~! and the Superkick, it was all over at that point. I think this is probably the best singles match of Diesel’s career. Michaels had better matches, but it’s definitely one of the best tile defenses he had. I wouldn’t call it a carry job, either. Diesel more than held his own here and they told an incredible story together.

Michaels celebrated with the WWE Title while Diesel left. Vince was shouting about how Shawn was the leader of the New Generation. Vince was shouting words like “UNBELIEVABLE” while Shawn was doing his posing in the ring. There was some pyro that went off above the ring and Shawn kept on doing his posing. That was the end of the show at least on WWE Network. Michaels ended up posing WWE Title for another 30 seconds as you can see in this video of the full match, but that was cut out from the WWE Network version.

Analysis: This was Shawn’s second-best 1996 WWE Title defense based on my ratings because I went ****3/4 for the Shawn/Mankind match at the September 1996 Mind Games PPV. That one didn’t have a clean finish while this match did, but I just think that one was a bit better. Both matches are outstanding and a testament to how amazing of a performer Michaels was. However, as I said, I don’t think it was a carry job because Diesel/Kevin Nash was excellent in his role too.

This event had a runtime of 1:41:50 on WWE Network.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Show rating (out of 10): 5.5

It’s just an average show overall that is saved big time by the main event. My recommendation with this event is to watch Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel because it’s one of the best big man vs. smaller man matches you’re ever going to see. They were very close friends, so they worked well together and it was Shawn’s first major title defense, which meant he was highly motivated to have an excellent match. Diesel was highly motivated to put on a great showing on his way out of WWE. No carry job here. Diesel was impressive just like Shawn. Their No Holds Barred Match was one of the best matches in WWE in 1996. I loved it back then and it holds up very well 25 years later. That Powerbomb through the table followed by the use of Mad Dog Vachon’s DREADED FAKE LEG~! made for some excellent drama towards the end of the match as Michaels found a way to win with some Sweet Chin Music.

The rest of the card was nothing special. I did like Vader beating Razor Ramon as a match that elevated Vader while also making Razor look good on his way out of WWE. The opening tag team match of Owen/Bulldog beating Jake/Ahmed was flawed, but effective booking by the end to put over Bulldog. That Warrior/Goldust “match” was a mess and a colossal waste of time that is probably one of the worst PPV title matches ever. The Bodydonnas beating Godwinns wasn’t much, but at least we could enjoy “Sunny days” at the time. Also, keeping track of Vince saying “fuggetaboutit” (forget about it) during matches was one of my favorite parts of writing this review. He said it a lot, pal. I’m shocked by the lack of “WHAT A MANEUVER” usage, though.

I feel like a lot of these In Your House shows in this era are similar where there’s one great Shawn, Bret or Owen match to save it and then the rest of it is just average or mediocre. That’s what this was.

FIVE STARS

1. Shawn Michaels
2. Diesel
3. Vader
4. Razor Ramon
5. Owen Hart/British Bulldog

OPINIONS

Best Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel (****1/2 out of 5)

Worst Match: The Ultimate Warrior vs. Goldust (-**)

Most Memorable Moment: Diesel giving Shawn Michaels a Jackknife Powerbomb through the table. It was a huge spot that got over big.

That’s all for me. Check out the full list of my WWE PPV Review archive right here. Thanks for reading.

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My contact info is below.

John Canton

Email mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter @johnreport