What the World Was Watching: In Your House 8 – Beware of Dog (Night One)

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler commentate, live from Florence, South Carolina. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a crowd of 6,000 fans, 4,796 of which paid. This left a third of the Florence Civic Center empty. On pay-per-view, wrestlenomics.com reports that it drew a 0.45 domestic buyrate (116,000 buys). That was a steep drop from the 165,000 who bought the prior month’s pay-per-view and it was the lowest for an In Your House since In Your House 5 in December 1995.

Free for All for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Smoking Gunns (5-0) defeat the Godwinns (Champions w/Hillbilly Jim & Sunny) (8-3-1) when Bart pins Phineas after a back suplex to win the titles at 4:56:

Remember that piece of paper Sunny had leaving the Godwinns dressing room at Madison Square Garden before they faced the Bodydonnas? That document makes her co-manager of the Godwinns, so she is in their corner with Jim for the match. Bart and Phineas have a terrible sequence on a blind charge that kids in the front row laugh at. Then the Gunns work Phineas’ arm until Sunny gets on the apron, presumably to distract the Gunns. Billy responds by kissing her. This distracts Phineas, who is back suplexed by Bart and pinned, making the Gunns three-time Tag Team champions. The match never got going as the teams knew it was meant to sell what Sunny was doing so the effort was low. Rating: ¼*

Dok Hendrix interviews the Gunns afterward. The team turns heel as Billy complains about the fans not caring about his neck surgery.

Now it is on to the rest of the pay-per-view.

Hendrix interviews Marc Mero and Sable. Mero tells Hendrix that today is a new day in his life and that it is time for Hunter Hearst Helmsley to feel the jungle.

Opening Contest: Marc Mero (w/Sable) (6-1) pins Hunter Hearst Helmsley (10-4) after a slingshot into the ring post at 16:25:

Helmsley’s valet is a doppelganger of Stephanie Wiand. The Greenwich snob attempts to blitz Mero before the bell but Mero quickly turns the tide and goes to his WCW finishes of a slingshot leg drop and a right hand for near-falls. After a Mero blind charge sends him shoulder-first into the ring post, Helmsley focuses his offense there. Since that slows the pace down, McMahon tells fans that there are storms in the area and the pay-per-view feed might be cut for technical difficulties. Helmsley kicks out of a flying sunset flip and avoids Mero’s tope, leading to Mero selling his knee. Confident of victory, Helmsley jaws with Sable and decides not to do a Pedigree until he has her attention. When he goes for his finish, Mero counters with a slingshot into the ring post and wins. Mero sold well and the psychology of the match made sense. However, it would have been helped by Mero having more rallies during the heat segment because the crowd was not into Helmsley’s submission holds and limb work. Rating: **½

Mr. Perfect interviews Camp Cornette. Clarence Mason has a neck brace and has his arm in a sling. Jim Cornette announces that he has secured a manager’s license for Owen Hart, who will be the Bulldog’s official manager in the main event. Cornette promises another bombshell before the WWF title match.

The next match is supposed to be the Caribbean strap match between Savio Vega and Steve Austin but during Savio’s entrance the power to the arena goes out, along with the feed for the pay-per-view. When the broadcast resumes it is time for the WWF Championship match. Prior to the show coming back the WWF had matches continue in the dark.

Hendrix talks with WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario, asking if he is focused. Michaels says the storyline makes sense for Melrose Place but does not bother him. Before Michaels walks through the curtain, he crosses Mr. Perfect. The old rivals stare each other down before Michaels makes his entrance.

McMahon announces that on Tuesday night there will be an encore of the two matches that made pay-per-view and include the matches that did not air.

Before the main event, Clarence Mason has Shawn Michaels served with papers in a lawsuit for alienation of affection. Michaels glances at the papers and then rips them up.

WWF Championship Match: Shawn Michaels (Champion w/Jose Lothario) (11-0) wrestles the British Bulldog (w/Owen Hart & Diana Hart Smith) (5-3-1) to a draw after both men pin each other at 17:21:

Michaels and the Bulldog always have great chemistry as the Bulldog’s power was a great contrast with Michaels’ speed and agility. However, this match happens at half speed that was more akin to a house show as each man uses a plentiful amount of rest holds. One chinlock sequence is really bad as Michaels does not sell, rolling his eyes at referee Earl Hebner, and the Bulldog has it so loose that no pressure is around Michaels’ neck. According to Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer on June 10, this exchange was due to both men being told that their match needed to be shortened to fit the pay-per-view airtime and that they would not be wrestling a new match on Tuesday night. After a double KO, Michaels goes into his finishing sequence but the Bulldog wipes out Hebner when running the ropes. Hebner arguably takes the best bump of the match by flying between the ropes and to the floor. When Michaels cues up Sweet Chin Music, an interceding Owen takes the blow. Referee Mike Chioda runs in to takes Hebner’s duties as the Bulldog hoists Michaels for the running powerslam. Michaels gets off the Bulldog’s shoulders and pushes him into the corner, hitting a German suplex and appearing to get the pin. However, the Bulldog’s music plays and Chioda raises the Bulldog’s hand as the winner. Diana grabs the WWF title as Jim Cornette races down to celebrate. Hebner, who has now recovered, argues with Chioda and raises Michaels’ hand. Diana attempts to leave with the belt, hoisting it above her head upside down, thereby ruining that moment for posterity. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon comes down the aisle, takes the belt from Diana, talks to the referees, and declares the match a draw. This builds another match between these two but this was the classic definition of two capable athletes sleepwalking, jilting paying customers who were already mad that they were robbed of three other matches on the show. Rating: *½

The Last Word: This was a weird event because of the pay-per-view outage, causing fans to only receive two matches (three if one counts the Free for All). If the main event had followed the standard Shawn Michaels-British Bulldog template of speed and agility versus raw power then the show could have redeemed itself. Instead, it turned into Michaels’ worst pay-per-view outing since his run in the midcard as Intercontinental champion in 1993. Vince McMahon reportedly kept calm during the fiasco but he never forgave South Carolina for what happened. As of 2026, the WWF has never returned to the state for a marquee event.

Since the show continued in the dark until the power returned, here were matches the fans were treated to, according to thehistoryofwwe.com. Win-loss records do not count as the matches were not televised:

-Savio Vega beat Steve Austin in a Caribbean strap match. After the match, Austin attacked Savio with the strap.

-Yokozuna pinned Vader with a Samoan drop after about three minutes of action.

-Intercontinental Champion Goldust defeated the Undertaker in a casket match when Steve Austin, Vader, Justin Bradshaw, and Isaac Yankem attacked the Undertaker and helped put him in the casket at the eight-minute mark.

-Jake Roberts pinned Justin Bradshaw with a roll up in 30 seconds. After the match, Bradshaw attacked Roberts and branded him.

Backstage News*: Memorial Day weekend saved the WWF’s In Your House disaster as they would not have had an encore presentation scheduled without it. The WWF thought the buyrate for the Sunday show would be down due to the holiday so they were counting on a stronger set of buys for the replay.

-There were other dark matches at In Your House once the show went off the air. Ahmed Johnson defeated Jerry Lawler with a sidewalk slam and the Ultimate Warrior pinned Owen Hart after a series of clotheslines. In a dark match before the Free for All, Bob Holly pinned Isaac Yankem.

-Some of the Shawn Michaels-British Bulldog storyline will be reworked as it was supposed to end with it coming out that Diana Hart Smith tried to seduce Michaels and he turned her down. The Bulldog and Diana did not like that idea so it has been scrapped.

-The WWF will be shortening the tournament matches at The King of the Ring to the semi-finals and finals. Vader is believed to be the odds-on favorite to win to help his heel push. The WWF is disappointed that Vader is not getting over as much as they hoped.

-As part of its war with WCW, the WWF has locked in some exclusives with major arenas. One example is Buffalo’s new building that will replace the War Memorial there. WCW is thinking of filing suit over such agreements.

-Some state athletic commissions will be forcing the WWF to do HIV testing.

-In talent relations news, Brian Pillman had a meeting with Vince McMahon on May 23. Many believe it is more likely that Pillman ends up in the WWF rather than returning to WCW. The WWF appears to be agreeable to letting Pillman do an ECW angle with Shane Douglas.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for June 3.

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for May 27!

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