What the World Was Watching: No Way Out of Texas - In Your House

by Logan Scisco

-Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are live from Houston, Texas.  Ross and Lawler speculate on who the eighth man will be on the heel team, since WWF Champion Shawn Michaels is injured and is not competing.  Ross says that the main event tag is going to be no holds barred.  Why didn’t they just clarify that stipulation on the previous RAW?

-Opening Contest:  The Headbangers defeat “Marvelous” Marc Mero & The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust (w/Sable & Luna Vachon) when Thrasher pins Mero with small package at 13:54:

Before the match, Mero banishes Sable to the locker room because the crowd is cheering for her and because she and Luna cannot get along.  Goldust is still rocking the Marilyndust outfit.  Mero has nuclear heat at the beginning of this, but has trouble sustaining it after the first few minutes of the match.  Thrasher blades after getting dropped on the steps by Goldust, but it is an unnecessary spot considering the stakes of the match.  Goldust and Mero kill the crowd with their offense and the heat segment on Thrasher lasts for an eternity.  After Luna interferes to break up the Stage Dive and Mero hits Mosh with a TKO, Sable walks out and Mero and Goldust have to keep their respective valets from fighting each other.  This distraction enables Thrasher to switch places with Mosh and that helps the Headbangers secure their first pay-per-view victory since September.  Fun finish, but it took a long, long time to get there.  Rating:  *

-After the match, WWF officials run into the ring to keep Sable and Luna from fighting and Goldust has to carry Luna to the locker room.  Mero proceeds to yell at Sable and Sable yells back at him, before pushing him to the canvas and getting a loud pop.

-Kevin Kelly and the Jackyl urge us to call the WWF Superstar Line at 1-900-737-4WWF.  The Jackyl predicts that the mystery man for the heel team will have a big impact.

-Michael Cole interviews European Champion Owen Hart, who has gone back to a clean shaven look.  Owen says he doesn’t care who the mystery man is for D-Generation X and the New Age Outlaws because his big target is Triple H.

-Sunny comes out to do guest ring announcing duties for our next match.

-Light Heavyweight Champion Match:  Taka Michinoku (Champion) defeats El Pantera with the Michinoku Driver at 10:10:

This was the first WWF light heavyweight championship match to take place on pay-per-view if you exclude the December In Your House.  Sunny gives Michinoku a kiss before the match and Lawler gets angry about that.  Brian Christopher wanders out before the match starts to do commentary because we seemingly can’t have a light heavyweight match without him involved in some way.  Pantera does an insane flying hurricanrana where he jumps onto Taka’s back while Taka in on the apron and sends him to the floor and follows that up minutes later with a somersault plancha splash.  Pantera concentrates his offense on the back and he nearly wins the title when Michinoku is too injured to hit the Michinoku Driver.  However, Michinoku kicks out and rallies to retain the title.  A good match that deserved a better crowd reaction.  Rating:  ***¼

-After the match, Christopher wants to go after Michinoku, but Lawler tries to hold him back.  Michinoku decides not to wait for a decision and dives onto both men on the floor.  He then escapes through the crowd when they rush the ring to go after him.

-Kelly is with Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie at the America Online center.  Cactus says that he and Charlie have devised some creative ways to destroy the New Age Outlaws.  Charlie says that he has great partners and promises that the Outlaws are not going to be laughing at the end of tonight’s match.

-The Godwinns beat The Quebecers when Phineas pins Pierre after Henry clothesline Pierre from the apron at 11:14:

The Quebecers debut a generic rock theme here and it does not fit their characters at all.  I mean really, if you are going to bring in the Quebecers, why not outfit them with their old uniforms and pull out their old entrance music?  Both of these teams are heels and are in need of some momentum in the tag team division, so this was an important contest.  However, since both teams are heels the crowd stays quiet and you know you are in trouble in one of these matches if Jacques is the man in peril.  The Quebecers bust out the Quebecer Crash for old time’s sake, but Henry breaks up the fall.  The Godwinns secure a victory here and lay out the Quebecers with slop buckets after the bell, which was another signal that the Quebecers were only on a short stint in the company.  The Godwinns are beyond stale by this point as well, since they have been around for nearly two years.  Awful contest, but I would have been surprised if it wasn’t.  Rating:  ½*

-Dok Hendrix asks the WWF Tag Team Champions the New Age Outlaws who the mystery man is on their team, but the Road Dogg says that they do not know.

-Call 815-734-1161 to get your “Stone Cold” Steve Austin 100% whoop ass t-shirt, which comes in its own silver can of whoop ass.  It will cost you $30 (plus $6 shipping and handling).  Such a corny gimmick to get people to buy a shirt, but I know lots of people did.

-Jim Ross interviews NWA North American Champion Jeff Jarrett and Jim Cornette, who are in the backstage area.  Cornette says Jarrett can beat Bradshaw by himself and Jarrett says that he has perfected the figure-four, unlike other wrestlers that have used it before.

-NWA North American Championship Match:  Bradshaw beats Jeff Jarrett (Champion w/Jim Cornette) by disqualification when Jarrett is caught using Cornette’s tennis racket at 8:59:

The referee forces Windham and the Rock N’ Roll Express to leave ringside because they do not have managerial licenses and Stan Hans..er, Bradshaw helps force the NWA faction to the locker room.  This was the first time that an NWA championship was defended on a WWF pay-per-view.  In light of how Jarrett is the top guy in the NWA faction, shouldn’t this match have been Bradshaw against Barry Windham and save the Jarrett match for a later date?  Despite the fact that Bradshaw’s knee was damaged two weeks ago on RAW, it takes five minutes for Jarrett to focus on it.  When he does, Bradshaw forgets about selling it near the finish.  Average contest in series of them tonight.  Rating:  **

-After the bell, he fights off the NWA faction with the tennis racket, but when he tries to give Cornette a lariat the NWA pounces him until the Legion of Doom make the save.

-Michael Cole interviews Triple H & Chyna and asks who the mystery man is going to be.  Chyna looks extra manly tonight.  Triple H says that everyone wants to be part of DX, but no one can match Shawn Michaels so tonight will be a handicap match as he and the Outlaws will face Austin, Owen, Cactus, and Chainsaw.  Cole says WWF officials may appoint a partner, but Triple H says he doesn’t care.

-Jim Ross lets us know that if you send your cable bill to the WWF for buying the pay-per-view you can get a voucher to purchase WWF the Music:  Volume 2 for $5.  Why doesn’t the WWF do promotions like this anymore?

-Hendrix interviews the Nation of Domination and when he says he is going to get the leader’s comments, the Rock takes over the mic before Faarooq wrestles it away from him.  It’s really hard to pay attention to anything Faarooq says because the Rock does lots of funny poses, eye rolls, and other nonverbals.

-“War of Attrition” Match:  Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson & The Disciples of Apocalypse defeat The Nation of Domination when Shamrock forces The Rock to submit to the ankle lock at 13:46:

A group of fans make it a point to wave a large Confederate flag when the Nation of Domination make their entrance.  After all of the hype for this “war of attrition” match, whose language would suggest this is an elimination match, it turns out that it is just a one fall, ten man tag.  I think that was a last minute booking change.  This was Ahmed Johnson’s last WWF pay-per-view appearance, ending a tumultuous two and a half year stint in the company.  He does go out in a blaze of glory by having a fun encounter with Mark Henry and slamming him minutes into the match.  D-Lo Brown cements himself as the #3 member of the Nation during this match, as he gets to showcase the Lo Down and other elements of his mobile offense.  The crowd loses its mind when all hell breaks loose and left alone, the Rock is no match for Shamrock.  Even though this was a vehicle to further the Rock-Shamrock feud, I like to think of this as the blowoff to the “gang warz” feud due to Ahmed’s departure and the Nation devolving into an internal squabble between Faarooq and the Rock and then moving to feud with D-Generation X shortly after this show.  Well booked brawl that emphasized the important players and gave the crowd things to cheer about.  Rating:  **½

-After the match, the Rock gets in Faarooq’s face and Faarooq ends up striking D-Lo Brown to create problems.  The Rock teases leaving, but Faarooq gets him to come back to the ring and the Nation gives a unified salute before leaving.

-Cole interviews Steve Austin and Austin says he is excited to whoop some ass in Texas.

-A video package hypes the Vader-Kane match.

-Kane (w/Paul Bearer) pins Vader with a Tombstone at 11:00:

This is a vehicle to continue Kane’s path of destruction and it was only the second televised match for Kane in his WWF career.  The selling point of this encounter is that with the Undertaker gone Vader is the only hope for the WWF locker room to stop Kane.  For this match, unlike Survivor Series 1996, they decide to keep the normal ring lights on instead of keeping the arena illuminated in red.  Vader “hits” the moonsault, but Kane sits up.  Vader resorts to using a fire extinguisher like he did on RAW and hits a powerbomb, but Kane sits up and a distraction from Bearer produces Vader’s end.  An ugly brawl at the beginning, but the last couple of minutes had a suspenseful exchange of moves.  Rating:  *¾

-After the match, Kane gets a wrench from a toolbox that Vader pulled from under the ring earlier in the match and he smashes Vader in the face with it.  Bearer is able to calm Kane down and they leave.  Medics come to attend to Vader, who is unconscious in the ring.  He does a stretcher job, which is the first in his career.

-A video package hypes the main event tag team match.

-Unsanctioned Match:  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie defeat Savio Vega, Triple H & The New Age Outlaws (w/Chyna) when Austin pins The Road Dogg with a Stone Cold Stunner at 17:41:

Yes, that’s right.  The mystery partner to replace Shawn Michaels is Savio Vega, which constitutes one of the most disappointing “reveals” of the Attitude Era.  It makes sense from a booking perspective since Los Boricuas has been helping DX, but it’s still a sad replacement for the WWF champion.  The Road Dogg comes out wearing a “Tennessee Oilers” t-shirt, as the Oilers were moving from Houston at this time, and Austin comes out to the loudest pop of the night, thereby solidifying the fact that he was getting the belt at WrestleMania come hell or high water.  Since this is unsanctioned, everyone just pairs off and brawls with an assortment of weapons.  It is really hard to follow the action, but after seven minutes everyone takes their places on the apron and this starts to look like a regular tag match.  Charlie and Cactus take turns being in peril and Cactus ends up wrapped in barbed wire.  When Austin gets the tag he destroys everything and wins the match for his team.  This was too disjointed for me to get into, but it had its “OMG” moments.  Rating:  **½

-After the match, Chyna confronts Austin and after she pushes and flips him off, Austin gives her a Stunner, which makes the crowd lose its mind.  This was the first time that a male wrestler directly retaliated against Chyna since she joined the company in February 1997, so it was a big deal at the time.

The Final Report Card:  This was a transitional pay-per-view as the WWF was moving towards its second boom period.  This was the Triple H’s first appearance in a pay-per-view main event and guys from the “Dark Ages” period were being phased out like Ahmed Johnson and Vader.   Although some of the wrestling on this show was standard fare, the angles got lots of heat, as the Austin-Chyna, Mero-Sable, and Shamrock-Rock segments illustrate.  There is more good than bad here, so I’ll give this a slight thumbs up.  It’s not a historic show, but it was a quality three hours and the right people went over in the matches that mattered.

Attendance:  16,110

Buyrate:  0.52 (+0.02 over previous year)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up