International Incident can only be described as a lesser PPV in a series of purposefully lesser PPVs, one of the most forgettable and uneventful In Your House events the WWE ever put on, the card made up of matches that were likely near-identical to what one might've seen at a house show. But is this necessarily a bad thing?
The show begins with WWE Tag Team Champions, The Smoking Gunns, now heels managed by Sunny, taking on Sunny's former team The BodyDonnas in a non-title match. Before the match, the 'Donnas explain why they've dropped "Cloudy," basically saying that she showed them that what they needed all along was the fans' support and, having done that, she's no longer needed in their corner. Sure. Like I wrote in my review of Good Friend, Better Enemies, the tag team division in the WWE in 95'-97' was woeful. Billy and Bart botch a double-team move and that failed spot might get the biggest reaction of the whole bout. A referee distraction results in the BodyDonnas getting the win, which made them top contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships, but they'd end up split and out of the company within a couple months of this event. Not a great way to start the show. (0.5/5)
Things do get better, though, as Mankind takes on Henry Godwinn. Godwinn isn't a great worker or anything, but re-watching some of his matches from this era, he was better than I remembered. I love Foley during this time too as he was clearly working his ass off, in probably the best shape of his career, and trying to get noticed by doing crazy bumps but also getting this new, bizarre character over. Compared to the TL Hoppers, Duke Droeses, and Mantaurs that had been filling the WWE's cards in 95', Mankind was a revelation and these early matches are fun to watch because the audience, expecting something like the dull opener, end up getting something action-packed and way more violent. Its also worth noting that this was originally going to be Roberts/Mankind, but Jake had either shown up drunk or been sent to rehab so, instead, Lawler (at Vince's request I'm sure) cracks jokes about his real-life struggle with addiction throughout the show. Roberts and Lawler feuded throughout the spring and summer so it is "part of the show" but it makes me cringe hearing it years later knowing what Roberts was going through. Further proof that Vince was a scumbag all along. Anyway, not a match I'd necessarily recommend, but Mankind drags it into watchable range. (2.5/5)
Another surprisingly solid match follows as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin takes on "The Wildman" Marc Mero. These two crossed paths quite a bit in WCW (I'm guessing) so its not that much of a shock to see that they have decent chemistry, but Mero's WWE work has a bad reputation and Austin was obviously not yet at his peak in terms of his character yet. Still, like the Mankind match that precedes, there's more twists and turns and high spots and violence than one would expect considering what the WWE was like at this time. I like how this match involves progresses two storylines as Mero and Austin have beef from the previous month's King of the Ring show (where Mero busted Austin's lip open hardway) and there was also a simmering issue between Mero and Goldust (Marlena makes her way down the aisle at one point). Another above-average match. (3/5)
Speaking of Goldust...he faces The Undertaker next. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed their Beware of Dog match when I reviewed it some months ago but this one just doesn't have the same energy, likely because Taker dominates most of it rather than actually making Goldust out to be a real threat. The most interesting thing about this match - aside from the finish, which I'll get to - is how much different the Undertaker is working than he was just a year earlier when he was still pretty much just doing Zombie Wrestler. Here, he backs off when Marlena gets involved (something kinda valiant for a zombie), attempts to use the steps as a weapon (showing an anger and desperation never really seen before) and at one point even tries to win the match with an inside cradle. The aforementioned finish occurs when Taker hits the Tombstone and seems to have the match won but Mankind emerges through the ring and drags him underneath. Its a cool visual that should've ended with some mystique, but instead, Taker emerges from the other side of the ring and the two brawl their way to the Boiler Room, foreshadowing their epic encounter at SummerSlam. (1/5)
Main event time - Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, and Sid vs. Vader, Davey Boy Smith, and Owen Hart. There's two big plot points worth mentioning here: first, Sid was a somewhat last-minute replacement for the Ultimate Warrior, who had started no-showing scheduled appearances and was suspended and then fired off-screen. Second, Jim Cornette had guaranteed victory for his team, promising that if Camp Cornette lost this match, he would personally refund everyone in the arena and the fans who had purchased the PPV. Talk about desperate McMahon marketing ploys...Anyway, considering that Vince was never going to pony up refunds, the only question is how the babyfaces will get screwed, not if. As I noted in the introduction, this match plays like something you'd get at a house show - but that's not necessarily a bad thing because Michaels has working boots on, Owen and Davey were always solid tag wrestlers, and Sid is over (as he almost always was when he showed up after a lengthy break, in this case 6+ months off TV). When Michaels makes his way down the aisle, the guardrail collapses. Then, way, way later, a fan tries to rush into the ring but gets blocked by Davey Boy and Ahmed. Michaels is the face-in-peril for the bulk of this match's 25 minutes. And it is a loooong 25 minutes. Like the Vader/Razor Ramon match from the previous In Your House show, Vader is a bit exposed here, eating a Sid chokeslam at one point and a powerslam from Ahmed Johnson too. He miraculously kicks out of a racket shot from Michaels, but it would've been a bigger deal if he'd kicked out of the Sweet Chin Music, which HBK never gets to hit because Cornette grabs his foot (allowing Vader to squash him in the corner and then hit a Vader Bomb for the relatively clean win). This wasn't a terrible match and the crowd was undoubtedly into it, but it doesn't feel at all like a worthwhile pay-per-view main event. I've seen some write-ups that praise this match and, in a vacuum, the work is good...but I can't get past the nagging feeling that there aren't really any stakes, Vader doesn't come out of it looking strong enough to beat Michaels at SummerSlam, and there's really no drama due to the counter-productive guarantee put out by Cornette. (3/5)
In Your House: International Incident starts out awful, picks up with the Mankind and Austin bouts, and then settles into just passable range. Anyone who paid $20 to see this should've been real, real upset that the babyfaces lost and they didn't get their refund. With a Kwang Score of 2-out-of-5, this one gets a...
FINAL RATING - DUDleyville
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