.jpg)
The 11th In Your House show - subtitled "Buried Alive" - starts off with a somewhat awkward heel/heel match between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and a pre-"Triple H" Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Both guys were in the midst of relative pushes, though Helmsley was famously just getting out of the dog house after the Curtain Call earlier in 96'. Sadly, the big story of this match - and the next one - has nothing to do with what it is going on in the ring and everything to do with Jim Ross, who was a heel commentary at this point (as you might've guessed, this didn't get over at all), and his microphone not working. Its impossible to understand what the "story" here was supposed to be. Was this supposed to be Vince McMahon, who had been "outed" as the WWE owner on TV, screwing with him? Were the technical difficulties "faked" to further get Jim Ross over as a whiny baby? Or were they actually experiencing technical difficulties that resulted in JR's microphone cutting in and out? Whatever the case, it is incredibly distracting. The action in the ring is good, but the crowd isn't too enthralled - and why would they be? Helmsley was an impossible character to cheer for and while Austin does get some support, he too was very much a heel in 96' and Indianapolis ain't New York, Philly, or Chicago. This was supposed to be Austin vs. Vega (in what would've had to have been their 3rd or 4th PPV match?) but was switched to Austin/Helmsley due to an injury. I wonder if that injury was used as an excuse to try Austin out as a babyface as, surely, they could've filled that spot with any other random midcarder. Anyway...the in-ring work ain't bad as this is Austin pre-neck injury and Triple H was young and energetic and a great bumper. Eventually Mr. Perfect shows up - he was set to make his in-ring return the next night on Raw - and gets involved in the fracas. Its a shame that Perfect's WWE "return" never went anywhere as, had he actually come back to the WWE rather than go to WCW (he left the WWE just a few weeks after this show and popped up in WCW in mid-97'), he could've played an interesting role in the Attitude Era and maybe even found himself in a feud with Stone Cold in 98'. Not a bad match, but definitely hurt by the "technical difficulty" nonsense and a crowd that is only partially into things. (2.5/5)
Next up...another awkward match. The Smoking Gunns had never really turned heel, but because Sunny became their manager in the summer of 96' and Sunny was a heat magnet, they almost turned heel by default as Billy fell in love with her and Bart had to deal with it. Their opponents, the WWE Tag Team Champions, Owen Hart and the British Bulldog, were 100% heel but, kinda like Austin in the opener, had a little bit of crowd support from the older male demographic because they were two of the best technical wrestlers in the company and weren't silly gimmicks. Nothing too special here, but since getting the Network and watching more wrestling from this era with a closer eye, I've definitely come to see why Owen was so well-respected among his peers as he is incredibly smooth and maybe one of the best "PG" heels ever. His offense looks crisp and targeted, he moves with purpose, and though he can take big bumps and sell being overwhelmed or outmatched, he's never "bumbling" or looking like he can't hang with the best - something that separates him from other heels in similar positions (The Miz, for example). The Bulldog is less interesting to watch (aside from trying to gauge how disinterested he was on a scale of 1-to-drugged stupor). Again, even if this match was terrific, it'd be hard to tell with how much time and energy spent getting over the fact that JR is cranky because of the technical difficulties and blames them on Vince. (2/5)
Speaking of Jim Ross, before the next match, Good Ol' JR gets in the ring and takes credit for Bret Hart's upcoming appearance the next night. He berates Vince via a "worked shoot" promo. If I'm not mistaken, this was around the time that Vince Russo had started having greater input in WWE's so there was an increasing number of these types of segments. JR storms off in a huff after this.
Mr. Perfect joined the commentary team for the next match - "The Wildman" Marc Mero defending the Intercontinental Championship against Goldust. Originally, Mero was supposed to be defending against Farooq, but he was out with injury. If I remember correctly, when Farooq returned, he was no longer wearing the silly foam Roman headgear and started the original Nation of Domination with Savio Vega and Crush. Goldust had been working the house show circuit around this time vs. Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker but hadn't really had a major storyline of his own for a couple months (he was briefly involved in the Mankind/Taker feud in the summer of 96'). Goldust and Mero had both worked in WCW in the early 90s and had even been semi-regular tag partners so their chemistry is solid. Unfortunately, unlike the opener, which, while being a heel/heel bout, had a clear design and purpose (to put Austin over in preparation for his Survivor Series match with Bret and to also build up the Perfect/Helmsley storyline), the waters are muddier in this bout. Mero would end up dropping the title the next night, but still needed to look strong coming out of it as the champion. Goldust was also in limbo here with no clear direction - though that would change in December when he turned face. With the purpose of this match not clearly defined, you end up with basically just a rematch between two characters that had become a bit stale (Mero more than Goldust, but neither were "hot" at this time). The live crowd was into this more than the previous two matches, but I'd chalk that up to there actually being a clear face/heel dynamic more than this match actually being above average. At one point, Goldust grabs a mic and threatens the crowd that he's going to shove his tongue down all of their throats. That gets good heat, sure, but feels kinda cheap. Perfect gets involved which brings Helmsley back down to the ring and we get a bit of distraction ultimately leading to Perfect hitting Goldust with a big right hand. That leads to Mero hitting a Samoan Drop and then his Wild Thing (Shooting Star Press) finisher to end the match. Nothing I'd worth seeking out, but nothing too terrible either. For whatever reason, I liked Mero more in WCW. (2.5/5)
The next match is hyped as the Battle of the Powerbombs...so it will end with a chokeslam. Sid was being prepared for not just a World Title match at Survivor Series, but a somewhat unexpected victory there (though, anyone who was aware that the Rumble would be Shawn's hometown in January might've predicted he'd drop the title sometime in the fall and win it back there). His opponent, Vader, was on the unfortunate downturn of his disappointing WWE run and would be a non-factor in 97' aside from putting over Ken Shamrock. Considering the amount of times these two worked together, they don't have great chemistry...though, to be fair, Vader had really toned down his style for the WWE and one gets the sense that he'd lost some confidence by this point. Sid, meanwhile, was never a great worker, but got over with his physical charisma and presence. Shawn Michaels shows up before the match and jumps on commentary and isn't great at it, but he seems sober. They keep it short and the crowd is into things, but this wouldn't make either guys Best Of list. (1.5/5)
After a commercial for the Survivor Series, JR interviews Sid in the back. This isn't quite as classic as some of Sid's other jumbled promos, but he does make a mess of it and its pretty funny. A point for the Master and the Ruler of the World having limited control over the English language. (+1)
Main event time - an "unsanctioned" Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and Mankind. These two had been feuding for a ton of 96' and would continue their rivalry into 97' and then 98'. Taker's matches with Shawn Michaels are often noted as his best, but Foley deserves to be considered 1B for how many really good matches they had with somewhat goofy gimmicks (like this one). After some back-and-forth brawling, Mankind gets launched into the rail in a nasty spot. Undertaker busts out one of his first of two big dives soon after, these two not holding anything back to get the crowd into it. They fight near the gravesite before ending up in the crowd and Mankind gets sent back to ringside over the guardrail (this is when Undertaker hits his second impressive dive). Mankind ends up with a spike, but we, unfortunately, don't get any "color" (which would've been completely warranted into an "unsanctioned" match). Mankind brings a chair into the proceedings too and they go back towards the grave where they fight inside of the hole. Undertaker launches Foley off the gravesite and onto the arena floor with a big hip toss. Back in the ring, Foley hits a DDT onto a chair, but the Undertaker won't stay down and eventually hits Mankind with a chair shot to the back following by a chair-assisted leg drop. The next big moment happens once they're back on the floor as Mankind exposes the concrete, but his attempt at a piledriver fails and he is sent crashing back into the steps in a messy heap. I'm not sure what they thought was going to happen there, but physics wouldn't allow it to be anything other than brutal. Taker brings the stairs into the ring and uses them on Foley before hitting a Tombstone. Taker brings Foley to the grave and buries him for the win...but the match doesn't really end there as, after getting the W, Undertaker is attacked by a very non-menacing Terry Gordy in an Executioner mask. The story goes that Gordy was brought in as a favor to Michael Hayes (who was working as "Dok Hendrix" at the time), but that most everyone knew it would likely be disastrous as Gordy had suffered permanent brain damage 3 years early after a drug overdose put him in a 5-day coma. The Executioner is assisted by a bunch of other heels in burying the Undertaker in a scene straight out of 1994. This may not have been the last time they did a crazy "burial" storyline for the Undertaker, but it might be the last truly hokey one. All in all, the action in this match was good, but I'd still consider this one of their "lesser" bouts just because of the silly gimmick and post-match angle. (3/5)
Overall, Buried Alive is a breezy viewing - one of the positives of the In Your House series was their brevity - but I wouldn't look here for any classics. As they say in that Tim Robinson sketch, this show is more interesting than it is good. The main event is better than one may expect considering the gimmick, the opener is fun to watch just because of its mix of elements, and nothing is woefully terrible (even the big man match between Sid and Vader is tolerable). With an overall Kwang Score of 2.5-out-of-5, this is the kind of show that wouldn't have been worth the $19.99 it cost to watch at the time, but does have some highlights that fans of this era may enjoy revisiting.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
No comments:
Post a Comment