Assorted May-Per-View Countdown: WWF In Your House VIII: BEWARE OF DOG!

- Okay, this is the semi-famous Beware of Dog PPV, famous not because of anything that happened in the ring, but rather because storms in South Carolina blew out the transmission satellite feed and left the arena in darkness for the better part of an hour. In order to make up for this WCW-like snafu, the WWF offered a makeup show on the following Tuesday in the replay slot, called Beware of Dog II, where they'd redo the matches missed by the outage. That's the show I'm reviewing here, as it was a spliced-together combination of the two matches from the first show and the three from the second.  (Insert ROH joke here.) 

- Live from Florence, South Carolina / Charleston, South Carolina.

- Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry Lawler / Jim Ross & Mr. Perfect.

- Free 4 All Match, WWF tag team title: The Godwinns v. The Smoking Gunns.

This was taped at the first show. Sunny has her wagon hitched to the Godwinns, who upset the Bodydonnas to win their first tag title a week prior to this. (Sunny as a farm girl hick?  Kinda hot.  Just saying.)  Bart overpowers PIG, but they mess up a double-reverse spot and Billy comes in to work the arm. HOG comes in to break it up, but gets armbarred as well. Bart & HOG exchange wristlocks, and HOG clotheslines him for two. PIG stays on the arm, but now the Gunns work on HIS arm. That goes on for a while, until Sunny jumps onto the apron and gets kissed by Billy. I guess she must have been looking like Chuck Palumbo that night. (That wasn’t the case until a few years after when she was doing that porn site with Missy Hyatt.)  PIG is so distracted by this that Bart is able to suplex him for the pin and the titles at 4:53. If you like armbars, this is YOUR match! DUD Billy's post-match interview sets up the Gunns' heel turn and Billy's eventual solo run.  (So blame this match then.) 

- Onto the PPV.

- Opening match, Wildman Marc Mero v. Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

Mero attacks and they chase, allowing Hunter to gain control. Mero slugs him out of the ring and follows with a dive over the top, then gets a slingshot legdrop for two. Hunter goes to the eyes, but gets KO'd for two. Mero charges and hits the post, however, hurting his shoulder in the process. Hunter gives him another trip to the post for good measure, and then goes to work. Armbar takedown and he stomps away on the shoulder. He pounds away in the corner viciously, and gets a high knee for two. Back to the shoulder, as he surfboards the arm, but Mero cradles for two. Hunter nails the shoulder again and posts the arm, however. Back in, he works the arm using the ropes and stomps a mudhole on the shoulder. To the turnbuckle, and into a cross-armbreaker, but Mero blocks it. Vince is totally out of his league calling this stuff, and I think he knew it. That's one thing about Vince; once he realized that a new style of UFC stuff was being worked into the matches, I think he knew enough to get out of commentating in favor of JR. (And then once UFC started kicking their ass on PPV, he tried for his old tactic of buying their lead announcer outright.  Thankfully, that one didn’t work.)  Mero can't make it to the ropes, so Hunter starts cranking on the armbreaker and gets two before Mero makes it. Hunter kneedrops the shoulder, but Mero fights back. Hunter keeps yanking on the arm, however, and bars it with his own knee. Kind of a spinning toehold on the arm. Back to the turnbuckle, but Mero gets a fluke rollup for two. Hunter nails him from behind for two. Hunter stomps the shoulder again and snaps the arm off the top rope. He goes up and nails the arm coming down, and then goes to another armbar, using the top rope for leverage. Attaboy. Hammerlock slam and Hunter goes up again, but Mero crotches him and gets a top rope rana, making sure to sell the arm injury the whole time. Both guys are out, but Mero comes back with a flying headscissors and a kneelift. Backdrop and he's fired up. He goes up with a sunset flip for two. Dropkick puts Hunter on the floor, but he misses a plancha and blows out his knee. Back in, Hunter goes for the Pedigree, but Sable doesn't want to watch, and Hunter wants her to. So he yells at her until she gets in position to watch, goes for the Pedigree again, and Mero reverses to a catapult into the ringpost and falls on top at 16:22. Good finish, great match, as Mero keeps selling the arm the whole time. ****  (And Mero’s last great match before injuries turned him into the boxing heel and ruined his career.) 

- Meanwhile, Camp Cornette prepares to "drop the bomb" on Michaels later tonight, and Owen Hart gets a manager's license for one night only.

- Okay, here the power goes out. (And if Facebook was around in 96 Gabe Sapolsky would have gone on a nutso rant on it.)  The show actually continued live in the arena in the dark, with all the babyfaces going over. If you want the full experience of watching the show live, turn off your monitor here and leave for an hour, then come back. I'll wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Welcome back!

- WWF title match: Shawn Michaels v. The British Bulldog.

The "bomb" is Clarence Mason announcing a lawsuit for "attempted alienation of affection" on behalf of Diana Smith. As you might surmise, this angle went NOWHERE. In fact, according to Diana's glorified roll of toilet paper "Under the Mat", she was supposed to have seduced Shawn but had her advances spurned and sent Davey after him. That's actually not a bad storyline, unlike this one, which IS a bad storyline. Bulldog attacks Shawn and he comes back with an armdrag and goes for the superkick quickly. Bulldog bails, but Shawn follows with a pescado. Back in, Shawn grabs a headlock and hangs on for two. Rollup is blocked and Bulldog catches a bearhug. Shawn escapes, and gets a rollup for two. Enzuigiri gets two. Shawn goes to an armbar and short-arm scissors for two. Bulldog powers out and stomps away. Hairtoss, and Bulldog hits the chinlock. It goes into a body vice and and a samoan drop. Legdrop gets two for Bulldog, and back to the chinlock as Vince points out that Shawn has never submitted or surrendered in any form. Unless of course you count Survivor Series 92, where he submitted to Bret Hart. (Or 2001, when he surrendered to Jesus.)  Okay, now it's about 10 minutes into the match, and while they're doing this chinlock Earl Hebner quite clearly tells Shawn to go home, and Shawn equally clearly starts arguing like a 12-year old, nearly throwing a tantrum while supposedly incapacitated on camera. It's quite blatant if you know what to look for. (“I wanna go to WCW too!  WAAAAAA!”  Man, wouldn’t history have been radically different if Vince HAD called Shawn’s bluff and let him out of his contract?)  Shawn fights back and was supposed to take a kneelift from Davey on a criss-cross, but deliberately avoids Smith and misses by a foot, but sells it and takes a dramatic bump out of the ring anyway. They can't even find a replay to show that would explain the bump, and Vince & Jerry are totally at a loss to justify Shawn's behavior. (I’m gonna go out on a limb and say “Drugs”.)  Back in, Shawn slingshots in with a clothesline that again misses by a mile, and both are out. Another collision, both out again. Shawn makes the big comeback and goes up, and gets a double axehandle for two. Ref is bumped and Shawn gets the flying elbow, but Owen comes in and gets taken out by Shawn. Bulldog stomps Shawn as another ref comes in. Powerslam is reversed to a german suplex by Shawn, but both shoulders are down as both refs count the pin at 17:19. A big argument ensues, but tie goes to the champion so Shawn retains pending a rematch. Shawn's childish reaction to having the match shortened from 30 minutes to 18 minutes aside, the match was actually quite good for what it was, especially considering most guys today would kill to get 18 minutes. ***1/4

- Okay, now we go live to the Tuesday show.

- Strap match: Steve Austin v. Savio Vega.

If Austin loses, Dibiase joins the nWo. Austin bails to start, but can't go anywhere. Austin pounds away but gets backdropped and bails again. Savio uses the strap to yank him into the apron, and then follows him out and pounds away with the strap. Back in, more vicious strappings follow, and Austin bails over the top. Savio fires down with the strap and suplexes him back in. A superkick from Vega allows him to touch three, but Austin goes low. He starts in with the stiff shots from strap, but Savio takes him down and they scuffle. They head out and Savio chops away, but gets sent to the apron. Austin chokes him over the top and suplexes him back in. Austin drags him around for two, but Savio uses the leverage of the strap to whip Austin around the ring and into the turnbuckle. That's some pretty wicked psychology, by playing up on Savio's knowledge of using the strap and making it mean something in the match. (The rare case where the person’s specialty match does NOT mean they do a job and/or look like a fool.  Contrast with the main event tonight.)  Savio gets a clothesline with the strap, but Austin dumps him. However, it backfires as the strap is too short and takes Austin with Savio. Savio suplexes him on the floor and keeps strapping him, but Austin comes off the stairs.and gets nailed. Back in, Savio hogties him and drags him to two corners, but Austin legsweeps him down and gives him the leather. Savio comes back with a superplex attempt, but Austin headbutts to block. Savio crotches him and gets that superplex after all. Savio touches three, but Austin gets a wicked spear to stop the fourth. Austin chokes him in the ropes and in the corner, then stomps him down. Austin touches three, but then hesitates for some reason and allows Savio to poke him in the eyes. Hmm. Tombstone reversal sequence leads to Savio tumbling over the top, but when Austin leans over to suplex him in, Savio kicks him in the head. Austin recovers and goes to the top, but Savio redirects him on the way down using the strap and Austin meets the railing facefirst. He sends Savio into the stairs, however. Back in, Savio fireman's carries Austin around, touching two before Austin uses Savio's pants to block. Austin piledriver looks to finish, but Dibiase wants another one for some reason. Austin obliges, but Savio reverses. Austin goes to the Million Dollar Dream, but Savio manages to touch two while fighting out of it, and then pushes off the corner to break. Austin stunguns him and chokes him down with the strap, then drags him around the ring. However, Savio sneaks in to touch each corner after Austin, and when they get to the fourth they fight over the strap until Austin "accidentally" pulls Savio right into the corner at 21:22. The finish actually works once it was revealed that Austin deliberately threw the match to get rid of Dibiase. And the match was incredibly stiff and featured neat stuff you don't normally see in strap matches, plus terrific psychology. Definitely an unappreciated classic, much like most of Austin's early WWF stuff. ****1/4  (Definitely a case where Austin losing actually helped him in the long run, as it gave him a storyline and an excuse to redefine his character.) 

- Yokozuna v. Vader.

This was pretty much the last gasp for Yoko's babyface run, before leaving the promotion later in the year. Slugfest to start, won by Yoko. Stalling follows. They do a sumo challenge, but Vader chickens out and stalls. Again, and Vader balks again. Finally they go ahead with it, and Yoko wins easily and Vader bails. Back in, Vader wins a slugfest but gets taken down and bails. Back in, he slugs away again, gets taken down again, and bails again. They slug it out, and Yoko gets a Rock Bottom and avalanche, into a samoan drop. On the samoan drop, you can actually see Vader doing it all himself. Yoko goes for the Banzai drop, but stops to beat up Jim Cornette. When he goes for a Banzai on him, however, Vader drags Cornette out of the way, and it misses. Vader splashes Yoko for the pin at 8:55. This was like watching the main event of a show from England in the 80s. ½*

- Intercontinental title, casket match: Goldust v. The Undertaker.

Taker attacks, and Goldust bails. Back in, he hammers away, but gets tossed around by Taker. Clothesline and Taker tosses him, but the lid is closed and he lands on top. They brawl outside, and Goldust eats stairs and has casket for dessert. Back in, Taker legdrops him and they slug it out. Taker gets the ROPEWALK OF DOOM and chokes away. Goldust slams him, no-sold. Tombstone by Goldust, no-sold. He gets a seated clothesline and rolls Taker towards the casket, but can't shut the lid. Aker gets a big boot, but gets dumped. They brawl outside, and Goldust takes over in the ring. Taker keeps fighting back, but Goldust gets a sleeper. Into the casket, but again the lid won't shut. Back in, Taker gets the flying clothesline and dumps Goldust. Chairshot is blocked and they head back in, where Goldust gets a powerslam and goes up. Flying clothesline, but he goes for a cover for some reason. Taker fights back and slams him off the top, then tombstones him. Into the casket.but Mankind pops up and puts him out with the Mandible Claw and into the casket at 12:36. I'm amazed two human beings can put on matches this boring on a regular basis. **  (Yeah, Undertaker and Goldust had negative chemistry together.  And Goldust was pretty much at his peak as a worker at this point, so you think he could bump around and get something out of Taker, but no, never could even come close.) 

The Bottom Line: The two matches from the original show are both great, and the strap match from the second show is even BETTER, so call this thing an easy thumbs up. I'm not sure if it was ever put on video, but definitely check out the strap match if you can find it somewhere.

Strongly recommended. (Not sure what’s been released from this DVD-wise.  I don’t recall Shawn-Bulldog being on any collections, and rightly so unless people are into fascinating trainwrecks.  I don’t see why HHH v. Mero would be on anything, and I think there’s a chance of Savio-Austin being on an Austin DVD but he loses so I doubt it.)