What the World Was Watching: In Your House 9: International Incident

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross commentate, live from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, 14,804 fans attended the show, with 11,955 paying for tickets. According to wrestlenomics.com, the show drew a low 0.37 buyrate (99,000 domestic buys), making it the third-lowest purchased pay-per-view of the In Your House series.

Free for All: Justin Bradshaw (w/Zebekiah) (11-4-1) pins Savio Vega (8-4-3) after powerslam and a Flair pin at 4:42:

Savio tears into Bradshaw and goes on to dominate the match, aided by Bradshaw inadvertently punching the ring post when Savio moves. Savio hits his spinning heel kick but Bradshaw kicks out because Savio takes too long to cover him. Then, when Savio goes for a body press off the ropes, Bradshaw catches him and Zebekiah provides a weak shove, allowing Bradshaw to powerslam Savio and put his feet on the ropes to even the series between these two at 1-1-1. That means more matches will happen between these two beyond this rushed, incomplete effort. Rating: *¼

When the match ends, Savio gets branded for the second time after Bradshaw delivers a lariat and the heels put the boots to him.

There is an in-ring debate between Jose Lothario and Jim Cornette. Each man is given a podium and faces each other. A generic conversation takes place about which of their teams will win tonight’s main event until, predictably, Cornette leaves his podium to get in Lothario’s face and is shoved. Cornette tries to hit Lothario with his tennis racquet but Lothario ducks and knocks Cornette down. Vader intercedes to lay waste to the WWF champion’s manager, but before he can do anything, Shawn Michaels slides into the ring. No fight between Michaels and Vader breaks out because officials and referees separate them.

Kevin Kelly makes his debut as a WWF broadcaster, interviewing Steve Austin. Austin promises to keep destroying people in the WWF until someone stands up to him.

The Free for All ends with Cornette promising to refund all the people who buy the pay-per-view if Camp Cornette loses.

Now onto the pay-per-view.

The Bodydonnas write Cloudy out of storylines, saying that she showed them that they did not need a manager and that all they needed were the fans.

Opening Non-Title Contest: The Bodydonnas (13-4) defeat the Smoking Gunns (WWF Tag Team Champions w/Sunny) (10-0) when Zip pins Bart after a Skip missile dropkick at 13:06:

Even though the Bodydonnas claim that they have the backing of the fans, the fans still pop more for Sunny and chant “Buns of steel” when the match starts. As the Bodydonnas get some shine, McMahon and Ross note that Jake Roberts will not compete tonight because he has been hospitalized from the rib injuries he suffered at King of the Ring. Henry Godwinn will replace him, thereby removing any intrigue for who is going to win that match against Mankind. Lawler says that Roberts is feeling “The wrath of grapes.” Sunny feigns a fainting spell to lure Skip toward her on the outside and when he helps her to her feet, he gets slapped and double clotheslined by the champions. Again, instead of having sympathy for Skip, the crowd chants for Sunny. The Gunns have an embarrassing double body guillotine spot later when Billy cannot jump over Bart to do the move. That finally gets fans to boo the titleholders. Skip does an inverted atomic drop to counter a Billy dive off the top rope, ending a long segment where he is in peril. Zip is quickly cut off when Billy trips him running the ropes. Bart lifts Zip for the Sidewinder but Billy is nowhere to be seen, going over to the opposite corner where Sunny is arguing with Skip. Referee Harvey Wippleman is distracted to get Sunny back to where she belongs, allowing Skip to come off the top rope with a dropkick to Bart, allowing the Bodydonnas to win this non-title match and theoretically set up a Tag Team title match in the future. At least the crowd pops for that so maybe the Bodydonnas can get some traction after all. The match was nowhere near as good as their battle earlier in the year at The Royal Rumble. The finish was a creative counter to the Sidewinder, though. Rating: **¼

Mr. Perfect interviews Camp Cornette in the locker room. Cornette accuses Jose Lothario of pulling a switchblade on him at the Free for All debate. The British Bulldog says that his wife is going to stay in the locker room because the six-man tag team match is no place for a lady. Owen Hart adds that he looks forward to knocking Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson out with his cast.

Mankind (10-0) defeats Henry Godwinn (w/Hillbilly Jim) (0-2) via submission to the Mandible Claw at 6:53:

This pay-per-view is not kind to Golden Age stars as the Ultimate Warrior did not make it to Vancouver and neither did Jake Roberts. Mankind has a funny, perplexed reaction to Godwinn and Jim dancing in the ring before the match. Lawler continues making digs at Roberts, saying that “Unlike President Clinton, Roberts always inhaled.” When Mankind rips some of his hair out, Lawler has a funny quip that McMahon wishes he could still do that and asks if McMahon has renewed his membership in the HairClub for Men. The task for both combatants is to make the crowd care about the match so they expose some of the concrete floor for some spots where Mankind does a swinging neckbreaker and later Godwinn throws Mankind off the apron onto the exposed area. That ends up getting a reaction but the crowd still knows Godwinn does not have a prayer. Back in, Godwinn goes for the Slop Drop but Mankind grabs the ropes and then applies the Mandible Claw. Ross wonders if there is any counter for Mankind’s finisher. Rating: **

Steve Austin (18-5-1) pins Marc Mero (w/Sable) (13-3) after the Stone Cold Stunner at 10:48:

Austin now has “Stone Cold” written on the back of his trunks with a star underneath it as the WWF aims to give him a logo. However, it seems unbecoming for the tough man, uncompromising character he is creating. There is a callback to King of the Ring as Mero does his reverse victory roll and Austin feigns that his lip has been busted open again. When Mero inspects the supposed damage, Austin goes to the eyes and takes control, followed by a fun spot where Austin slingshots Mero into the ring post. At the eight-minute mark, Marlena and Goldust’s usher come to ringside and present an envelope to Lawler, who hands it to McMahon. During that, Austin tries to do his powerbomb into a stun gun variation that helped him win at King of the Ring and they nearly botch a sequence where Mero hurricanranas out of it and sends Austin to the floor. Mero excites the crowd with a somersault senton off the apron, a moonsault off the apron, and then a slingshot splash into the ring for a close near-fall. There is another good sequence where Mero tries a hurricanrana but Austin crotches him on the top rope. Austin goes for the Stunner but Mero grabs the ropes to block and scores another near-fall from a slingshot leg drop. Since Marlena and the usher have repositioned themselves in the aisle, Mero is now distracted by them and Austin chop blocks Mero’s leg and successfully hits the Stunner to beat Mero again. This was not as good as King of the Ring but had some fun spots toward the end. The finish did not make much sense, though, as Marlena and the usher had been around ringside for several minutes prior to Mero suddenly thinking they were a problem. Rating: ***

Bob Backlund resurfaces, campaigning in the crowd for the United States presidency even though he is in another country.

It is announced that tomorrow night on Monday Night RAW that the Smoking Gunns will defend the WWF Tag Team Championship against Shawn Michaels & Ahmed Johnson.

The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) (7-3-1) beats Goldust (w/Marlena) (11-6-2) via disqualification when Mankind interferes at 12:08:

Lawler now says that Jake Roberts should not be cremated “because his ashes will burn for four days.” Goldust stalls for the first four minutes until the Undertaker tires of it, chokeslams his rival on the steps; slams Goldust’s head into them; and picks up the steps to throw on Goldust, thwarted only by Marlena getting in the way. The match makes Goldust look weak, in contrast to how Goldust has been presented as a more aggressive wrestler at In Your House 8 and King of the Ring. Most of what Goldust tries is countered so he has to expose the corner turnbuckle and whip the Undertaker into it to go on offense. That is followed by dropping the ring steps on the Undertaker’s back. However, even this run does not last long as the Undertaker comes back and surprisingly uses a small package for a near-fall. The Undertaker hits the Tombstone but before the referee can log the pinfall, Mankind comes through the bottom of the ring and attacks the Undertaker, applying the Mandible Claw and dragging him underneath the squared circle. Rating: *½

Mankind quickly emerges from the hole and smoke starts to come out of it. The Undertaker’s bell tolls and the arena’s lights flicker. Eventually, the Undertaker comes from underneath the ring on the other side, attacks Mankind, and the two fight to the dressing room. This was a nice way to keep their feud going.

As the announcers hype the main event to kill time while the ring is repaired, a fan puts a Burger King crown on Lawler’s head. He stays in character while screaming for security. The fan avoids being tossed out.

Backstage, the Undertaker and Mankind keep fighting. It is too dark to see much and the feed is cut but McMahon tells viewers that the fight has spilled into the arena’s boiler room.

A video package recaps how the six-man tag team match evolved from King of the Ring to tonight’s show.

Dok Hendrix interviews Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson & Sid. Michaels is confident that his team will find a way to win. Ahmed, who has a habit of calling Hendrix “Mike” (something he did at King of the Ring), discusses how Cornette’s team has to back up its talk. Sid seems to be setting up Michaels to say that all three will rule the world after the main event is done but Michaels instead acts like he is Hulk Hogan, asking Cornette what he is going to do when his team gets a hold of him.

Vader, the British Bulldog & Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette) (3-0) defeat Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson & Sid (w/Jose Lothario) when Vader pins Michaels after the Vader Bomb at 24:34:

During Michaels’ entrance, a guardrail gives way and Michaels has to navigate through some fans like he is wrestling in the WMC-TV5 studios in Memphis. Ahmed wears a cool spray-painted shirt to the ring that features the participants of the match. Sid get a good reaction from the crowd with Ross speculating that Sid cannot be trusted. The babyfaces also come out separately whereas the heels come out as a team. Vader and Michaels start and Michaels wins the exchange, knocking Vader to the floor with a body press and pescadoing onto him until a dive off the apron eats the guardrail. Sid is tagged in thereafter and has a fun run clearing the ring, earning a loud cheer and appearing to be genuinely touched by the response. Ahmed also earns a loud pop for some rolling German suplexes on Owen, the first time that spot has appeared in the WWF; giving the Bulldog a spinebuster and Pearl River Plunge; and then going toe-to-toe with Vader, which ends with a powerslam for a near-fall. What the match does well is allowing short spurts of each side being in control, letting everyone play their best hits and putting each of the babyfaces in some peril. Michaels and Owen have one of the best of these sequences, going through a crazy series of pinfall reversals that sees Owen use an Oklahoma roll. Not surprisingly, Michaels spends more time in peril than his partners and Vader beating him down shows that the WWF is pivoting the main title feud to the former WCW World champion. When Vader has Michaels in a modified chinlock – which does not look devastating and looks like Vader is doing a generous side hug – an overzealous fan tries to intervene, getting on the apron. That results in the Bulldog and Ahmed having to put kayfabe aside to chase him off and the fan gets an ovation from the crowd. The Bulldog goes on to hit the running powerslam on Michaels and the referee stops the count at two so Sid can break it up with a leg drop. A false tag spot is thrown in too, resulting in Michaels taking a triple team until heel miscommunication wipes out the Bulldog due to an Owen missile dropkick. The roof blows off the arena when Sid gets the hot tag and chokeslams anything that moves. A Rocket Launcher forces the Bulldog to make the save and all hell breaks loose. This leaves Michaels and Vader in the ring. Michaels blasts Vader with Cornette’s tennis racquet but the big man kicks out. When Michaels goes to Sweet Chin Music, Cornette grabs his foot and that enables Vader to avalanche Michaels against the buckles and earn a pin on the champion after the Vader Bomb. As the description attests, this was a well laid out six-man tag. It played to everyone’s strengths and kept the crowd engaged the entire time, which is never easy to do. Everyone came out of it looking good and the result sets up the presumed SummerSlam main event of Michaels against Vader. Rating: ****¼

To send the fans home happy, Ahmed and Sid clear the heels from the ring. The Bulldog and Owen get the worst of it by taking Sid powerbombs. Vader almost meets that fate but the Bulldog pulls him out of the ring. Before Vader can go to the back, Michaels planchas onto him and Camp Cornette flees.

The Last Word: There was only one interesting match going into the pay-per-view – the main event –
and that match delivered, making the show worth the $20 price tag. The only below average contest was Undertaker-Goldust, used once again to further the Undertaker-Mankind feud just like In Your House: Beware of Dog. The low buyrate was not surprising, though, because the pay-per-view lacked a strong hook and too many matches had no stakes attached to them.

Backstage News*: It is unclear why Jake Roberts no-showed In Your House 9. Roberts was supposed to call into a Toronto radio show on Thursday to hype the event and never did. When the radio station reached out to the WWF, they were told that the WWF did not know where he was.

-In Your House 9 drew a gate of $214,985, the largest for an In Your House so far.

-SummerSlam has now sold more than 8,800 tickets, resulting in a preliminary gate of $274,380.

-In a dark match that preceded the Free for All, Phineas Godwinn defeated Jerry Lawler.

-Accusations that the WWF had too many transvestite, lesbian, and gay characters played a role in terminating the Cloudy gimmick.

-WrestleMania XIII will take place in Chicago at the Rosemont Horizon.

-In talent relations news, the Iron Sheik has been signed to be a manager. Hunter Hearst Helmsley recently agreed to a new, three-year contract and this will probably result in a new push for him.

*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for July 29

Up Next: Monday Night RAW for July 22!

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