What the World Was Watching: In Your House - Final Four

by Logan Scisco

-Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are live from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

-There was no Free for All match for this show, as the Free for All featured promo battles between the four participants in the Final Four match.

-Opening Contest:  “Wildman” Marc Mero (w/Sable) defeats Leif Cassidy with the Wild Thing at 9:30:

Cassidy continues his run as the king of the jobber to the stars in the company during this time, as he pushes Mero to the limit by focusing on the knee for much of the contest.  Sable was starting to show more of a mean streak during matches and in this one, she helps Mero get to the ropes when he’s trapped in a figure-four and sets him up for a Mero suicide dive.  The crowd doesn’t buy into the psychology, but I liked it because that was the only way that Cassidy had any chance against Mero.  This would be Cassidy’s last pay-per-view appearance until the 1998 King of the Ring, where he would return as Al Snow, which was a gimmick better suited for the company.  Mero was supposed to go from this match to WrestleMania, where he was set to take on Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental title, but he tore his ACL and was sidelined for six months, during which time he lost all of his momentum, his ability to do major aerial maneuvers, and had to start carrying his wife’s bags into the arena.  Rating:  **¼

-Jim Cornette and Sunny urge us to call into the WWF Superstar line at 1-900-737-4WWF.  Only $1.49 a minute!

-Shawn Michaels “Lost Smile” speech from Thursday Raw Thursday is shown.

-Kevin Kelly interviews Sid, who is going to face the winner of the Final Four match for the WWF title tomorrow night on Raw.  Sid says that he’s going to take back what is his.

-Faarooq, Crush & Savio Vega (w/The Nation of Domination) defeat Flash Funk, Bart Gunn & Goldust (w/The Funkettes & Goldust) when Faarooq pins Bart after Crush leg drops Bart in the back of the head at 6:42:

All of the faces in this match had experienced run ins with the Nation of Domination recently, so that was what prompted this match to be signed.  It’s quite a fall for Goldust to be affiliated with two midcard talents after he challenged for the Intercontinental title on the last pay-per-view.  Funk is the MVP of the match as uses his high risk offense against the Nation, but they quickly catch on and in a great spot they catch him when Bart throws him over the top rope and beat him down on the outside of the ring.  Bart has the match won for his team with a flying bulldog, but the numbers of the Nation are too much to overcome and the faces go down in defeat.  Just a standard six man tag that wasn’t given enough time to develop.  Rating:  **

-The Honky Tonk Man is hanging out with the WWF America Online crew.  Honky doesn’t quite get the Internet, since he urges fans to call in.

-Dok Hendrix interviews Steve Austin and Austin is offended when Hendrix suggests that he doesn’t have a convincing victory over any of the men that he’s facing in the main event tonight.  Austin argues that he won the Rumble and that shows he can beat anyone at anytime.

-Intercontinental Championship Match:  Rocky Maivia (Champion) pins Hunter Hearst Helmsley with a German suplex at 12:29:

This was supposed to be Helmsley defending the Intercontinental title against Ahmed Johnson, but Maivia’s victory on Thursday Raw Thursday made him the new champion and in kayfabe Ahmed was injured by a Nation of Domination attack on that same show to give us this rematch.  Like their Raw battle four days prior, Helmsley controls most of the match and grows frustrated that Maivia keeps kicking out of his offense.  However, unlike their match on Raw, the crowd isn’t solidly behind either guy and it’s much slower, with Helmsley working in several chinlocks.  Goldust wanders out when Maivia is in a vulnerable position and the distraction enables Maivia to the retain the title.  These matches aren’t doing much for Maivia since he doesn’t appear to be on Helmsley’s level.  This was technically proficient, but you could hear crickets in the crowd.  Rating:  **

-After the match, Goldust gets on the apron to confront Helmsley, but as he does so a muscular woman chokes Marlena and Goldust comes to her aid.  This marks the debut of Chyna, who will create a bigger splash in wrestling than anyone could have anticipated in 1997.

-Kelly interviews Vader and Paul Bearer, who run down Vader's opponents in the Final Four match.

-WWF Tag Team Championship Match:  Doug Furnas & Philip LaFon beat Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (Champions w/Clarence Mason) by disqualification when Owen hits LaFon with his Slammy at 10:26:

Furnas and LaFon can’t even get an entrance on pay-per-view.  Most of the heat for the match isn’t on the action between the two teams, but instead for the miscommunication spots between Owen and the Bulldog.  A great one is when Owen slaps the Bulldog, so the Bulldog clotheslines him and panics when LaFon takes advantage with a splash off the top rope, so he breaks up the pinfall.  The Bulldog has LaFon beat with a running powerslam, but before he can complete the move, Owen nails LaFon in the back with his Slammy and gets his team disqualified.  After the match, Owen and the Bulldog argue some more and Owen gets really heated when the Bulldog touches his Slammy.  This had a great pace and had a nice combination of action and storyline development, but Furnas and LaFon could not generate any sympathy from the crowd and it hurt how the match came across.  This match was the end of the Furnas/LaFon-Owen/Bulldog feud, which failed to get Furnas and LaFon over as the top babyface team in the promotion.  Rating:  ***

-Hendrix interviews the Undertaker, who says that he’s going to win the WWF title by hook or by crook.  What the Undertaker says is very simple, but his voice makes it seem like if you get in his way that he’s going to kill you and that enhances its quality.

-Kelly interviews Bret Hart and Bret says nothing can stop him from winning tonight.

-Final Four Elimination Match for the WWF Championship:  Bret “the Hitman” Hart defeats The Undertaker, Vader (w/Paul Bearer), and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to win the title at 24:06:

Order of Elimination:  Bret eliminates Austin by throwing him over the top rope at 18:09; the Undertaker eliminates Vader by sending him over the top rope after a low blow when he attempts a Vader Bomb at 22:33; Bret eliminates the Undertaker by clotheslining him over the top rope at 24:06

The WWF didn’t normally do multi-man matches at this point, so this was a special attraction that was well suited for the concept of In Your House.  The rules for the match are that there are no disqualifications or count outs and elimination can occur by pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope.  I was disappointed by the over the top rope stipulation since I felt that the bookers would take the easy way out and they do, since all of the eliminations go that route.  The opening of the match provides something for everyone, as Austin and Bret have a technical showdown in the ring and the Undertaker and Vader brawl on the floor, which results in Vader opening up a nasty cut above his eye.  Austin tweaks his knee when the Undertaker tries to toss him over the top rope and Bret eliminates him shortly thereafter, sparking rumors that he was originally supposed to win the match (which have since been debunked).  The clear crowd favorite is the Undertaker, but he’s screwed out of the title here as Austin gets involved and his attempt to cost Bret the title backfires.  A wild and entertaining brawl that lived up to the hype, but the eliminations needed to be staggered better because the first one took too long and the last two happened too close together.  Rating:  ***¾

-As Bret celebrates with his title, Sid comes out and confronts him as the pay-per-view goes off the air.

The Final Report Card:  The undercard of the show is nothing special until you get to the tag team title match, but the main event delivers and considering the low prices of these shows at the time it was well worth the money.  All seemed right with the world now that Bret was champion for the fourth time, but the crowds were becoming more vocal in their desire to see the Undertaker as champion and the WWF had a different direction that they wanted to go in with the title, which we will touch on in our next review of the Raw after this show.

Attendance:  6,399

Buyrate:  0.50

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up