WWF 1997.02.16 - In Your House: Final Four

Location: UTC Arena, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

The foreign language commentators are introduced.

These two guys make me want to learn Spanish. They're introduced as the Spanish announcers, but that's only their language, not their nationality. Hugo Savinovich is from Ecuador, Carlos Cabrera is from Colombia. They have incredible energy. Whenever they can be heard, they talk really excitedly. It became a trope of the WWF/WWE PPVs that someone was slammed through the Spanish Announce Table in almost every PPV.

Jean Brassard and Ray Rougeau provide the commentary in French. They're both Canadians. They're not as wild as their Spanish colleagues.

Match 1. Marc Mero vs Leif Cassidy

Leif Cassidy is a wrestler who changed his name several names during his career. His real name was Al Savern, but he joined the WWF in 1993 as Steve Moore. From 1995 on he called himself Avatar. In 1996 he became Shinobi, and then Leif Cassidy. He wrestled mostly as part of the tag team, The Rockers. He later became known as Al Snow.

Marc Mero was the favourite to win the match, but Leif had the advantage from the start. Marc's manager Sable was at ringside. Maybe I should put the word manager in inverted commas. As I've said before, the so-called managers were either female eyecandy or annoying men who interfered in the matches.

This is the view the front row fans had.

Sable got involved whenever necessary. She slapped Leif's face when he fell out of the ring. Leif is no gentleman. He chased Sable round the ring. We never found out what he wanted to do after he caught her, because Marc Mero took advantage of the distraction, attacking him outside the ring and then pinning him while he was weakened.

Marc Mero was billed as the Wild Man (sometimes written as Wildman), but Sable was the Wild Woman. After Marc left the WWF, Sable used his entrance music for herself, "Wild Cat" by Jim Johnston. It suited her better.

Match 2. Six man tag team, Faarooq/Crush/Savio Vega vs Goldust/Flash Funk/Bart Gunn

The Nation of Domination is getting bigger all the time. The last time we saw them on Raw there were seven of them, including the manager Clarence Mason. Now there are ten.

It took a long time for the match to get started. Goldust, Flash Funk and Bart Gunn (a strange team) came in separately, which took four minutes. The Nation of Domination entered together, but they still needed three minutes, including the time they needed to pose in the ring. The match itself lasted seven minutes, which means that the entrance was just as long as the match.

The match was unruly. The referee lost control. Most of the time all six men were in the ring. Faarooq pinned Bart Gunn for the win. He should stay with his brother Billy.

Match 3. Intercontinental title, Rocky Maivia vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Rocky Maivia won the Intercontinental title from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Thursday Raw Thursday. Now Triple H has a chance to win the belt back.

The two fighters are evenly matched, until Goldust comes to ringside to mock Triple H. While Triple H is distracted, Rocky pins him.

After Rocky leaves, Goldust climbs into the ring to attack Triple H. He stops when a woman in the audience stands up and tries to strangle Marlena. Two security guards grab the women and escort her out of the arena.

This match is a good example of the differences in commentary styles between Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Jim is an unbiased commentator. He calls it as he sees it. Jerry always has his favourites, in this case Triple H, and he supports them in a partisan manner. When the opponent is successful, he accuses them of cheating. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are always arguing at the commentary table.

Match 4. Tag team championship, British Bulldog/Owen Hart vs. Doug Furnas/Philip Lafon 

When I first saw Doug Furnas and Philip Lafon on Monday Night Raw, I assumed they were jobbers, not to be taken seriously. Now they're here again, on a Pay-Per-View, so I must have been wrong. They don't even have a tag team name. 

But wait a moment. British Bulldog and Owen Hart don't have a name for their tag team either, and they're the champions! I shouldn't jump to any assumptions.

Bulldog and Owen make a valiant attempt to defend their tag team championship belt, despite hard resistance from Furnas and Lafon. Bulldog and Owen still have problems with one another. Whenever a move goes wrong, they stop to argue, or they even fight one another.

In the end Owen Hart hits Philip Lafon with his Slammy Award statue, allowing British Bulldog to pin him. The referee sees this, so he disqualifies Bulldog and Owen. Furnas and Lafon win the match, but Bulldog and Owen retain the title, because the championship titles can only change by submission or pinfall. This is good enough for Owen, but Bulldog is angry and throws the belt on the floor when it's given to him.

Match 5. WWF Championship, Bret Hart vs Steve Austin vs Undertaker vs Vader

This is the Final Four match that gives this In Your House Pay-Per-View its name. When it was originally scheduled, it was planned that the winner would be given a title shot at Wrestlemania. After Shawn Michaels vacated the title, Gorilla Monsoon decided that the winner would become the new WWF champion.

A quick word about the name of the main title of the WWF. Officially it's called the WWF Heavyweight Championship. The word Heavyweight appears on the belt, or at least on this version of the belt. Every few years there was a new design. The champion's weight isn't relevant, although it's usually a large wrestler who wins the championship. In the Olympic sport of wrestling heavyweight is 100 kg (220lbs) or more, but the WWF/WWE has had a heavyweight champion as light as 175 lbs (79 kg), Rey Mysterio. On air, the title holder is usually called the World Wrestling Federation Champion, omitting the word Heavyweight. I'm inconsistent. Sometimes I'll say it WWF Champion, sometimes WWF Heavyweight Champion, depending on my mood.

These are the rules of the Final Four match. It seems like a cross between the Royal Rumble and a normal match.

It's a very brutal match. This is Vader as he enters the ring.

This is what he looks like five minutes later. The commentators call it an eye injury, but if you look close you can see that it isn't. He has a cut along the side of his head, but when he rolls on the floor the blood flows into his left eye.

This is the only time I've ever seen Vader take his mask off during a fight. It was necessary. The blood was spreading underneath his mask, making it difficult for him to see.

The first wrestler to be eliminated is Stone Cold Steve Austin, when Bret Hart throws him over the top rope. This is a repeat of what happened at the Royal Rumble last month, but this time the referees see it. Steve Austin leaves the arena, but five minutes later he returns and attacks Bret Hart. The no disqualification rule didn't reckon with things like this happening. Six officials are needed to restrain him.

The Undertaker eliminates Vader.

Bret Hart eliminates the Undertaker and becomes the new WWF Heavyweight Champion.

After the match Sycho Sid comes to the ring and yells at Bret like a madman. It's what he does best. Tomorrow on Monday Night Raw he'll challenge Bret for the title. Is that even fair? It doesn't give Bret enough time to recover his strength.