Back again this week folks, but I tell ya, I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen or not.  I have two weeks to go before my thesis needs to be submitted so I’m really hitting crunch time right about now.  However, I had this review done a while ago so I only needed to proofread it this week, which doesn’t take long.  Hence, there’s actually a review for you to read this week.
 

Nothing else much to report at this point.  The mailbag has been relatively light lately so not much to give ya there.  I did, however, receive an email from a fellow NC State student.  It’s nice to know I’ll have at least one fan down there once I head there in August.  Other than that, I’m pumped for the start of the baseball season.

My Indians aren’t off to the best start, but solid enough that I think they’ll have a chance to compete for the Central Division title come the end of the season.  OK, I’m done with the pleasantries, let’s get on with the show.

OOld Time Rasslin Revue for WWF In Your House: Final Four

Emanating from the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, TN

Your commentators are Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler.  Whoa, where’s Vince?  Maybe he just didn’t want to come to Chattanooga.

Opening Match: WILDman Marc Mero vs. Leif Cassidy

I have absolutely no idea why these two are fighting here.  Leif still wears his New Rockers outfit, despite disbanding over two months ago.  The two trade slaps to the face and we’re off and running.  A series of armdrags by Mero give him an early advantage.  Leif takes a breaker on the floor.  Mero attempts to come after him, but Leif grabs his leg and rams his knee into the apron.  Leif tries to ram Mero’s knee into the post, but Sable slaps him.  That allows Mero to go back on the offensive.  A legdrop by Mero gets 2.  A dropkick to Mero’s left knee by Leif slows him down.  Leif now really begins to work over that leg by stomping and kicking it.  The punishment continues for Mero as Leif applies a number of submission holds on Mero’s left leg.  Mero is finally able to end the onslaught with an enziguri to Leif.  Leif is able to come right back, however, with a figure four leglock on Mero.  After Mero is able to reach the ropes, Leif goes outside to yell at Sable.  Sable retaliates by slapping Leif again.  Must be that time of the month.  Then, Mero dives through the ropes and hits Leif with a crossbody.  Inside, Mero repeatedly rams Leif’s face into the mat and then hits him with a Samoan drop.  Mero then goes up, hits the Wild Thing and scores the pinfall.

Bottom Line: While not the most exciting, I was digging the solid work by Leif as he worked over Mero’s leg.  What I didn’t get was the rather flat comeback by Mero.  It took very little effort and few offensive maneuvers.  I guess it doesn’t say much for WWF’s opinion of Leif at this time.  This certainly needed a hotter finish to be a better opener.  **

- Honky Tonk Man strolls out to the ring, no doubt to do something important, when the producers decide to disrespect the greatest entertainer in the history of the WWF by cutting away to footage from last week’s special Thursday RAW Thursday.

- This footage is pretty historic as it is the memorable “I lost my smile” speech by Shawn Michaels.  For the unaware, Shawn had won the WWF title last month at the Royal Rumble.  The plan was then for Shawn to face Bret Hart at Wrestlemania, where Shawn would return the job Bret did at last year’s Wrestlemania.  Well, Shawn evidently didn’t like this plan, so he announced that he suffered a knee injury (an injury that was at best, very minor and at worse, completely false) and would have to forfeit the WWF title.  This happened during that speech on RAW.  So now the match tonight between Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Undertaker and Vader that was supposed to be a #1 contenders match, will now be for the vacant WWF title.

- After the clip from RAW, Kevin Kelly talks to Sid, who meets the winner tomorrow night on RAW.  Boy, talk about a tough situation for the winner.  Good news, you’ve just become the WWF champion.  Bad news, you’re going to have to risk your career by getting in the ring with a certified nutcase.

6-Man Tag Team Match: Flash Funk, Bart Gunn and Goldust vs. The Nation of Domination

The three faces all were attacked in some fashion by the Nation in the past few weeks, which brought about this craptacular match.  The Nation is now comprised of Farooq, Crush and the newest member Savio Vega, who joined about a month ago since he wasn’t doing anything productive as a face anymore.  Farooq tries to talk on the mic, but Goldust attacks him.  Soon all six men enter and the faces clean house.  As the Nation regroups on the floor, Flash launches himself onto all three of them from the top rope.  Inside, Farooq comes off the ropes and plants Flash with a spinebuster.  Savio comes in and whips Flash, but Flash reverses it.  Flash then perches Savio in the corner and hit him with a top rope hurricanrana.  That gets 2.  Flash gets caught on the floor where he’s attacked by all three Nation members.  Back in the ring, the Nation cut the ring in half, forcing Flash to play Ricky Morton, pimp style.  A spike piledriver on Flash gets a nearfall.  Savio and Farooq try a double clothesline on Flash, but Flash reverses it and clotheslines both of them.  Flash then makes the hot tag to Bart Gunn, who begins to clean house.  Bart powerslams Farooq and covers, but it’s broken up by Savio.  All six men are back and it’s turned into chaos!  Bart escapes a Dominator attempt by Farooq, goes up top and nails Farooq with a top rope bulldog.  As Bart covers, Crush is able to nail him with a legdrop.  Everyone else is preoccupied, so Farooq is able to roll over, cover Bart and get the 3 count.

BL: Given the talent, the action was better than I expected.  The flow could have been better, but everyone seemed to be trying.  The main problem I had with the match was that it wasn’t given enough time to develop.  Just like the last match, everything ended just as people were getting into the match.  * ¾

- Dok Hendrix asks Stone Cold if he thinks he has a shot at winning tonight since he doesn’t have a clear-cut victory over any of his opponents.  Oh man, Dok is gonna get it now after asking such an insulting question like that.  Sadly, Austin doesn’t inflict any pain on Dok and instead just answers the question.  He must be saving his energy for the match tonight.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Match: Rocky Maivia (champ) vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

We are shown a clip of Rocky winning the Intercontinental title from HHH last week on Thursday RAW Thursday by using a small package.  Embarrassed and upset, HHH wanted the rematch immediately.  Rocky comes out to almost no reaction at all.  And it would only get worse in the weeks to come.  Match begins with Rocky trying a drop toehold, missing and then being on the receiving end of one by HHH.  Both men exchange a couple more moves, with neither man gaining an advantage.  Rocky reverses a whip and hits HHH with a back bodydrop.  HHH catches Rocky coming off the ropes and heaves him out of the ring.  As Rocky gets up, HHH hits him with a baseball slide, which causes Rocky to crash into the guardrail.  HHH directs his focus on Rocky’s head and neck as he hits Rocky with a slingshot that sends his throat into the bottom rope.  A knee to the head by HHH gets a nearfall.  HHH slaps on a chinlock and puts his feet on the ropes for leverage.  A high knee by HHH gets another 2 count.  Rocky catches HHH in a small package, but this time it only gets 2.  A crossbody by Rocky connects, but when he goes for a dropkick, HHH is able to avoid it.  After clotheslining Rocky, HHH goes up top.  But when he comes down, Rocky nails him in the gut.  Rocky whips HHH to the corner where he tries Shawn Michaels’ flip, flop and fly sell, but can only complete the first two.  A high crossbody by Rocky gets a nearfall.  Rocky tries a 10-punch count, but HHH stops it midway and hotshots Rocky in the corner.  HHH covers him with his feet on the ropes, but Rocky still manages to kick out.  Rocky hits a sloppy tornado DDT that looks like it killed HHH.  HHH feebly kicks out of that at 2.  A thumb to the eye by HHH slows down Rocky.  As HHH hits a neckbreaker, Goldust makes his way down to ringside.  Goldust taunts HHH long enough for Rocky to sneak up from behind, hit a bridged German suplex and scores the win.

Postmatch: As Goldust teases getting into the ring with HHH, we see a muscular female fan choking out Marlena.  Goldust tends to her as HHH flees the scene.  And if you haven’t figured it out yet, that muscular fan was Chyna.

BL: They had this match go longer and it wasn’t for the better.  Everything these did was so pedestrian and unexciting.  To make matters worse, they’re trying to tell this underdog story with Rocky in there and the crowd wasn’t reacting to it at all.  A very dull affair.  * ¼

- Kevin Kelly talks to Vader, who runs down all of his opponents.  Then we have to listen to Paul Bearer warble on about how great Vader is.  I never thought I would say this, but I miss the melodic tones of James E. Cornette.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: Owen Hart and the British Bulldog vs. Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon

Well, after scoring a win over the tag champs last November at Survivor Series, we haven’t heard from Furnas and LaFon since.  But now, they’re finally getting their shot at the titles.  Furnas and Owen begin with some mat wrestling.  LaFon gets tagged in and he trades a number of nearfalls with Owen.  Lawler makes a very interesting remark about the validity of Shawn Michaels’ knee injury when J. R. questions whether Owen has been faking a knee injury.  The Bulldog is in now and LaFon gets him in a sunset flip for 2.  As LaFon comes off the ropes, Owen kicks him in the back.  Now the heels do a good job of double-teaming LaFon as the referee is yelling at Furnas.  LaFon rolls through a high crossbody and gets a nearfall.  As Owen hits a backbreaker, Lawler begins to make fun of Helen Hart.  That will never get old.  LaFon gets the Bulldog in a sunset flip, but Owen distracts the referee long enough to kick out.  Owen is tagged back and he tries for the Sharpshooter, but LaFon kicks him off.  As a result, Owen decides to work on the leg of LaFon some more.  A nice double-team by the heels as the Bulldog gets LaFon in the delayed suplex and Owen hits him with a high crossbody as the Bulldog was still holding him up.  However, the move was only good enough for a 2 count.  LaFon gets Owen with an inside cradle, but the Bulldog comes in and reverses it.  Then, Furnas comes in and reverses it back.  Owen is able to kick out and then goes over to yell at the Bulldog.  LaFon takes that opportunity to hit them with a double noggin knocker.  After the Bulldog trips LaFon, he holds him for Owen.  Owen goes for the spinning heel kick, but accidentally hits the Bulldog.  LaFon covers, but the Bulldog gets his foot on the rope at 2.  Owen and the Bulldog argue again and this time the Bulldog floors Owen with a clothesline.  LaFon comes off the top rope with a splash and covers, but not the Bulldog actually saves Owen from being pinned.  Wild!  Furnas dropkicks Owen and gets a nearfall.  The faces continue to hit big moves on Owen, but somehow he kicks out after each one.  Furnas and LaFon hit this awesome kick/clothesline/DDT combo, but Owen still can’t be pinned.  Out of nowhere, Owen nails Furnas with an enziguri.  Owen makes a tag to the Bulldog, who takes it to LaFon.  All four men are in now and the faces throw Owen and the Bulldog into each other.  Furnas covers the Bulldog and HE kicks out.  That was about the fourth time in this match that the faces should have seemingly won.  The Bulldog catches LaFon in the corner with a hotshot.  As the Bulldog sets LaFon up for the running powerslam, Owen comes in and hits LaFon with his Slammy to draw the DQ.  Ha!  Now that was good.

Postmatch: Angered, the Bulldog throws down the tag belt and yells at Owen.  The Bulldog then throws Owen’s Slammy and it breaks.  Somehow, though, things cool down and the Bulldog leaves with Owen, albeit reluctantly.

BL: Now that was a fun match.  Things started off with some solid tag team wrestling.  Then, when Owen and the Bulldog begun to have problems, it got real interesting.  Furnas and LaFon pulled out some solid moves that you would have thought would get the job done.  Some great storytelling going on between Owen and the Bulldog that ended with one of the few acceptable DQ finishes I’ve ever seen.  *** ¾

- The Undertaker tells Dok in great detail how he’s gotten his edge back and why that means he’ll win tonight.  Man, for a guy whose promos usually just consist of “Rest in peace”, he was downright chatty tonight.

Final Four match for the WWF Championship: Bret “the Hitman” Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker vs. Vader

There is no countout or disqualification in this match.  A man is eliminated by pinfall, submission or if he is thrown over the top rope and both of his feet hit the floor, as in the Royal Rumble.  The bell rings and immediately Vader squares off with Taker and Austin goes after Bret.  Taker clotheslines Vader down and then goes over and attacks Bret and Austin.  After hitting Austin with the ropewalk, Taker is caught by Vader and nailed with a belly-to-belly suplex.  Vader and Taker go through the ropes and begin to brawl on the floor.  Meanwhile, inside, Austin whips Bret sternum-first into the corner.  Vader charges at Taker with a chair, but Taker boots it into his face.  As Taker whips Vader into the steps, we can see Vader has been busted open around his eye from that chairshot.  Bret locks a sleeper on Austin, but he escapes by jawjacking Bret.  Taker hits Vader with a chokeslam, but then Austin comes over and hits Taker with a move that was supposed to be a Stunner, but looked more like a neckbreaker.  Austin covers, but gets 2.  Vader takes Bret to the outside and attacks Bret with a chair.  As Bret and Vader come back into the ring, Austin and Taker head out.  Austin goes for a piledriver, but Taker blocks it and hits Austin with a back bodydrop on the floor.  Now Vader and Austin brawl on the floor, where Austin throws Vader’s face into the steps and then throws the steps into Vader’s face.  Vader’s eye is a bloody mess.  In the ring, Bret begins to work over Taker’s leg.  Austin and Vader brawl over by the timekeepers table, where Austin hits Vader in the head with the title belt and Vader hits Austin with the ringbell.  Vader pulls Bret out of the ring and soon they are fighting in the crowd.  Taker is able to get Austin over the top rope, but Austin stays on the apron and thumbs Taker in the eye.  We now get a shot of Sid watching the action on a monitor in the back.  Forget him, let’s go back to live action.  We return to see Vader lock Bret in a Sharpshooter on the floor.  Everyone is now just taking shots on everyone else.  The action moves back into the ring, where Austin hits Vader with a Lou Thesz Press and then repeatedly hits Vader in the eye.  A piledriver by Bret on Austin gets 2.  Vader tries for the moonsault on Taker, but misses.  Bret and Austin try to get the other over the top rope as Taker and Vader take turns choking the other one with camera cables.  Austin rolls up Bret for 2.  Taker is once again able to get Austin over the top rope, but can’t knock him to the floor.  Now Austin gets Taker over, but he too stays on the apron.  Taker heaves Austin over the top rope and again Austin hangs on.  However, it appears as if Austin hurt his knee when it hit the apron.  Bret comes over by Austin, picks him up and is able to dump him over the top rope with relative ease.  Austin has been eliminated.  (More on that later).  As Taker and Bret duke it out, Vader chopblocks Taker’s leg.  After being knocked through the ropes and to the floor, Taker is nailed by Paul Bearer with the urn.  In the ring, Vader goes up top, but Bret catches him and hits him with a superplex.  Impressive!  Bret locks Vader in the Sharpshooter, but Taker comes in, breaks it up and knocks Bret to the floor.  Well that was dumb!  As Taker attacks Vader, Austin comes back out and beats up Bret on the floor.  Vader sets up for the Vader Bomb, but Taker sits up and lowblows Vader, which causes him to fall over the top rope and hit the floor.  Vader has been eliminated.  We’re down to Taker and Bret, but Austin is back in the ring still attacking Bret.  Taker knocks Austin out of the ring and then jaws at him.  Bret tries to clothesline Taker from behind, but Taker sees it, grabs Bret and chokeslams him.  Crowd popped huge for that.  Taker sets Bret up for the Tombstone, but Austin grabs Bret’s leg and crotches him on the top rope.  Taker yells at Austin, which allows Bret to roll Taker up for 2.  Now Bret and Austin brawl on the apron.  Taker tries to hit Bret, but Bret dodges it.  Then, Bret clotheslines Taker and sends him to the floor.  Bret becomes the WWF champion for the fourth time.

Postmatch: Sid comes down and goes face-to-face with Bret as we fade to black.

BL: This was quite the lively affair.  They went all out right from the beginning.  A nice mix of wrestling and brawling.  Vader’s eye was just nasty and gave the match more of an edge.  Things sorta slowed down around Austin’s elimination, but then picked up again at the finish.  There may have been a logical reason for that, actually.  There were rumors going around that Austin was supposed to win this match.  However, once he got that knee injury, they called an audible and gave the win to Bret.  Whether that’s true or not, it doesn’t matter a great deal as Sid won the title the next night on RAW and once again changed their plans for Wrestlemania.  As for the match, it was a solid brawl that often gets overlooked.  ****

Final Thoughts: Things were looking grim early on as most of the undercard matches underperformed.  But, the show improved in the second half as the tag match was a lot of fun and then the main event provided a decent brawl.  I must also mention that I was impressed with the commentary.  Without Vince, I figured they would miss a step.  But JR filled the void nicely and worked well with Lawler.  Boy do I miss those days.  Anyways, I wouldn’t give this an enthusiastic recommendation, but for being an In Your House PPV that didn’t have high expectations, it is a decent outing.

Next time, the bookers just throw up their hands and give up trying to come up with logical matches.  But don’t worry, it’s not like it’s an important show or anything.

Until then, thanks for stopping by the OOld Tyme Rasslin Revue