In Your House 12: It’s Time

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James Dixon: There is much to say about the HELL that is this tape. When compiling these books we look to be as accurate and informative as possible, but we nearly didn’t make it with In Your House 12. We just couldn’t fathom out why it was never released by Coliseum Video, and what made it so special that it bucked convention and avoided a silly renaming. The reasons are still unclear, but at least we knew it did get a US release, only it was a direct port of the UK distributor Silver Vision’s version of the tape. However, the only difference was the format, being that the US version was NTSC rather than PAL, with everything from the artwork (albeit the American version sported a slightly darker shade of blue, for whatever reason) to the catalogue number the same. What that means for anal collectors is that both In Your House 12 and In Your House ‘97: Final Four (In Your House 13) have the same cat number. Maddening. If you have the US version (and make sure you do, because many an unscrupulous trader has attempted to make a quick buck from the UK one) then sell it and buy yourself a house. That’s how rare it is…

 

Arnold Furious: Part of the reason the WWF abandoned their event specific titling was that occasionally the booking went array. When they named IYH #12 as “It’s Time” it was back in the summertime when the intention was for Vader to win the WWF title from Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam and dominate the title scene toward the year’s end. Hence the riffing of “It’s Time” from his catchphrase “It’s Time, It’s Time, It’s Vader Time”. But Shawn nixed losing the title until Survivor Series, believing he needed a longer reign to prove himself to the marks, and eventually jobbed to Sid instead. The New York crowd at Survivor Series was clearly tired of Shawn’s title run and booed him out of the building, cheering a cheating Sid to his first world title. Maybe they’d caught wind of Shawn’s politicking backstage? New York has always been a smart crowd. After all, at the same event they happily latched on to new star Steve Austin. Speaking of which, neither Austin nor Michaels feature on this PPV, instead appearing in special dark matches for the live crowd. What? The two hottest talents in the company don’t work the PPV? They must have been mad.
For your amusement here are the dark matches from IYH 12:

 

Rocky Maivia vs. Salvatore Sincere

Brakkus vs. Dr. X

Steve Austin vs. Goldust

Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind

Can you believe this lot didn’t make the PPV? Rocky Maivia had only just debuted and he’s relegated to the Free For All. Meanwhile two potential showstealers are left to the live crowd. Madness. When you look at some of the shit that made the card you’d have to question the WWF’s sanity and the structure of In Your House shows. Brakkus is an odd fellow. A gigantic 300lb German the WWF signed with high hopes but he never quite mastered enough in-ring technique to get a push. He got farmed out to the USWA and ECW before returning in 1998 and getting shoved out the door after losing to Savio Vega in the career destroying Brawl for All. His opponent, Dr. X, is his trainer and former Heavenly Body and Bodydonna, Tom Prichard.

We’re in West Palm Beach, Florida. Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. The latter predicts Bret Hart will submit Sid to win the title.

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In Your House 10: Mind Games

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James Dixon: Everyone that collects VHS tapes knows about this video. The US release is one of the rarest and most sought after wrestling tapes out there. It was one of the few that were only available from WWF Magazine mail order and thus had a very limited release. If you have an official copy (again, the Coliseum Video release rather than the Silver Vision UK title, which is fairly common and can be snapped up for around £10), hang onto it, because it can sell for over $200! An absurd amount for a video tape, but this does have a main event that almost makes it worth it…

 

Arnold Furious: Desperation is an intriguing thing. It makes you try new things, anything, to make a difference. With WCW absolutely killing the WWF creatively in 1996, Vince McMahon was suddenly open to doing different things, which gave us the Boiler Room Brawl at SummerSlam, Paul Bearer’s shocking heel turn and Mick Foley scoring a massive victory over the Undertaker. The original plan was to give Taker time off to build to another match, but desperation kicked in once again. So Foley found himself as top contender and challenger for the WWF title on this show, which would prove to be a great decision, while Taker would finish up with Goldust. Mark Henry is thrust into the PPV limelight here, following his run-in with Jerry Lawler the previous month, and makes his in-ring debut. Finally Owen Hart and the British Bulldog were set to team up and save the tag division. This was the first major show after Vince McMahon’s assertion that the WWF should change. Attitude really began in 1996. The changes had been happening (Goldust’s stuff especially), but the angles would start getting a little stranger from here on in. Case in point is the sheer number of quasi-shoot comments and occurrences on this PPV.

 

We’re in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Mr. Perfect.

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In Your House 11: Buried Alive

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Arnold Furious: This was released after the Survivor Series show that it preceded, so this is before Bret Hart returned and still during Shawn Michaels’ WWF title run. And yet he’s not on the show either, demoted to a live title defence against Goldust for the paying local rubes (with Goldust doing bizarre double duty where he challenges for both WWF and IC title in the same night). The PPV audience have to make do with a bizarre gimmick match between Mick Foley’s Mankind and the Undertaker. The winner being the man to bury his opponent alive. We’re in Indianapolis, Indiana. Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. JR is having microphone problems as part of his “Evil JR” heel turn angle. Incidentally, the WWF had started doing preview pieces before the shows and this one is terrific. Mainly because Mick Foley was a great promo guy and Undertaker knew his character inside out.

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In Your House 9: International Incident

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Arnold Furious: The WWF released In Your House 9: International Incident as Tour de Force ‘96 in the USA, after SummerSlam ‘96, which it preceded. I don’t know either. Just go with it. Nothing makes sense from this era thanks to Coliseum’s insane renaming of the PPV events. If I had to hazard an educated guess it’d be due to the poor buy-rates of the PPV’s and attempting to con Johnny Punchclock into buying the shows on tape without knowing what they were. Living in the UK, the In Your House shows were just released under their PPV names, due to their limited availability when aired live. There was a market for the shows as the audience had never seen them.

 

We’re in Vancouver, British Columbia. Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler. The three man team was established at this point. JR was too good not to be on the shows, but Vince wanted to be there to keep his control over commentary.

 

The following is from the pre-show Free For All:

 

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In Your House 7: Good Friends… Better Enemies

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Arnold Furious: This show was released as Mega Matches ‘96 in the United States, and is one of the rarest Coliseum releases there is. In the UK release and on PPV at the time, this was In Your House: Good Friends… Better Enemies! Now that’s what we needed; a PPV with punctuation in the title! It was an attempt to spice up the In Your House brand, which had delivered low, low buy rates, and showcase an enormous PPV main event. Previous IYH’s had subtitles, but this was the first one where the subtitle was how the show was described. Diesel is all pissed off because he can’t get his title back and now finds his buddy Shawn as the champ. He turned on Shawn and kicked his ass, then provoked him into a No Holds Barred match one PPV after Shawn’s title win in an Ironman match. Of course, Shawn should have nothing to worry about because Diesel is off to WCW, but hey, hindsight is 20-20. We’re in Omaha, Nebraska. Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

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In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog

 

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Arnold Furious: Originally this In Your House pay-per-view (given the terrible subtitle “Beware of Dog”) was a bit of a disaster. Whilst airing live in Florence, South Carolina, a massive storm wiped out the arena’s power and subsequently, the broadcast, leaving viewers at home with just the opening match and the main event. Looking to repay Beware of Dog buyers for their patience, the WWF kindly ran all the missing matches the following Tuesday at a television taping in Charleston, broadcasting them live during the replay. This tape has the two matches from the original broadcast (along with a UK exclusive dark match) and the rest of the card from the replay. Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

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In Your House 6: Rage In The Cage

 

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Arnold Furious: Seeing as the WWF had gained a busier PPV schedule, this In Your House PPV event would be the first “Road to WrestleMania” style show (though it is rather uncunningly released post-‘Mania by Coliseum). Shawn, having won the Rumble, now faces a challenge from the man who put him on the shelf: Owen Hart. He still doesn’t know his WrestleMania opponent as Bret Hart defends tonight against Diesel. An added twist is that it’s a cage match to stop potential Undertaker interference. This would becomes important later in the evening. The rest of the card? Razor and 1-2-3 Kid finally get it on in a “crybaby” match. Also, Yokozuna has turned face and now opposes Camp Cornette. The WWF has so little else going on that the other live match is HHH vs. Droese in a re-match of the dreadful Free for All bout at the Rumble. And the WWF’s hottest property Vader? He’s suspended for crushing WWF President Gorilla Monsoon. Roddy Piper has taken over the position until Monsoon is fit again. So no Vader match tonight. Boo! Jim Cornette does show up with Vader on the Free for All to promise Vader’s involvement this evening though. We’re in Louisville, Kentucky. Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

 

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In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings

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Arnold Furious:

 

Sid & 1-2-3 Kid vs. Razor Ramon & Marty Jannetty
Survivor Series caused a rift between former tag partners Kid and Jannetty. The Kid had joined the Million Dollar Corporation but pissed Jannetty off when Sid helped him win the opening Survivor match. Ramon is still the IC champion and Goldust is just starting to get enamoured with him, thus leading to their IC title angle. Jannetty and Kid have decent chemistry and run some fun sequences. There’s no heat on it though, because the fans are eager to see Razor put a beating on the Kid. The Kid can’t get anything without help from Sid, which sums up their angle. The WWF went a bit far with it all and it damaged the Kid’s reputation, where he was totally humiliated every time out, to the point where he got legitimately depressed. The fans are strangely heel, which shows you how outdated the WWF was at the time. They chant loudly for “Sid” and one ringside fan has a sign marked “Marty must die”. The WWF get a bit bored and cut to Goldust for a promo where he wigs everyone out with his admiration of Razor Ramon. Vince doesn’t get it but it’s a killer promo. McMahon also turns on his own wrestlers by calling a slam from the Kid “sloppy”. It was, but it’s very strange hearing Vince actually say so. Kid started getting a bit loose going into 1996, which would lead to a de-push and his eventual move to WCW. Most people seem to put it down to drugs, but Kid isn’t the same talent from this point onwards. Hot tag to Razor and he cleans house. Bulldog finishes Sid off and the faces go over. Sid would promptly get fired/injured (depending on who you believe) and wouldn’t return until the summer. The match was decent to begin with but the Kid started making mistakes and Sid was incredibly lazy at the time. The WWF wasn’t keen on either of them, hence the job in a curtain jerker.
Final Rating: **¼

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In Your House 4: Great White North

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Arnold Furious:

Fatu vs. Hunter Heart Helmsley
Fatu is rocking his colourful gang attire because he’s “Make A Difference” Fatu. Watching HHH from 1995 makes it hard to even relate him to the DX era Triple H. Both guys are around the same level and traded wins in late ’95. Triple H bumps around, selling like a drunk nobleman. The idea behind all of Triple H’s early feuds is they were against common men. Triple H hits a piledriver, which makes no sense to me because his finish has the same setup. So why not do it? He also hits it really soft, to the point where Vince says he got “most” of it. Triple H was originally an old fashioned grappler. He believed in absorbing lengthy chunks of the match with his own heat and following the formula. Fatu can take a few tasty bumps so the match isn’t completely dull. The crowd already hate Helmsley because of his snobbish attitude. Fatu backdrops out of the Pedigree and no-sells a DDT. The Samoan hard head thing is too unevenly booked for my liking. Why no sell a DDT but sell a piledriver? Especially when Fatu no sold the better applied hold. Fatu finds a Diamond Cutter (!) from somewhere but then misses off the top and walks into the Pedigree. A passable outing from both guys. The effort was there but Triple H still didn’t have his structuring down. So he’s really rough around the edges. Hanging around with Shawn Michaels improved him drastically. Henry Godwinn shows up afterwards to threaten a slopping and naturally Triple H sells his presence like the Grim Reaper.
Final Rating: **¼

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In Your House 3: Triple Header

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Arnold Furious: As 1995 started to wind up, you could see where the WWF experiment was going. Vince had spent all year injecting new blood. The dark matches for this show included bouts for Triple H, Ahmed Johnson and Goldust. Not all the new blood were talented, but the WWF were at least coming up with ideas and switching things around. Shawn Michaels was undoubtedly part of the driving force behind some major changes. That included a big push for himself, as the showstealer, and he was edging his way into the main events. The only problem being his buddy Diesel; the WWF champion. With this IYH it was decided that gimmicks were required to market and sell the show. The gimmick here sees a main event with all the titles on the line, with Diesel & Michaels defending both of their singles honours against the tag champs; Yokozuna & Owen Hart. But Owen is injured so cue shenanigans. We’re in Saginaw, Michigan. The crowd for this event was barely over 5,000 strong, which even for the WWF at a low ebb, is pretty poor (although this is a smaller venue, it’s not full). Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross, with the Oklahoman joining the announce team officially after bumming around doing interview jobs and such. I suspect this comes about based on Vince’s lack of knowledge when it comes to PBP and he’d certainly be better off just handing over to JR right here and now. I guess Vince figures he’s a better shill man. Everyone predicts Shawn Michaels will lose his IC title so that’s not happening.

 

Tangent: The In Your House music, done all country style at IYH2, is re-done as a bluesy number here, which immediately reminds me of The Wire where they’d re-jig the theme music each series. Same song, different approach. It’s actually fairly ahead of its time and I like it. Plus it’s not country music now, which is always a bonus.

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