In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies
by Brendan "Shaddax" Welsh-Balliett

#4 of 12, keep on truckin', do it till you drop….

Introduction To IYH: Good Friends, Better Enemies

Wrestlemania had finally put the WWF where they wanted to be, more or less, in the main event picture; the title was now on Shawn Michaels, the Next Big Thing, and it was his ball to run with. However, with the impending defections of Diesel, Razor Ramon, 1-2-3-Kid, and the disappearance of Bret Hart, he was going to be put in the position, sooner rather than later, of carrying the load all by his lonesome. He'd already been put over Bret Hart in a mostly clean fashion, so this show represented the WWF's last chance to put a major rub on Michaels with nothing to lose, since Razor and Diesel were leaving essentially after this show, (the Kid followed shortly thereafter) bar a few house show commitments; and for once, politics worked in the WWF's favor, as Diesel agreed to put Shawn over here without the BS and little tricks which made his "putting someone over" a joke in later years, much as it is with the Undertaker currently.

On the undercard, the WWF finally wised up somewhat in their push of Vader, giving him Razor Ramon to mug and beat up for some rub. The Warrior was back in the WWF, and the fed was busy trying to resuscitate his credibility by feeding him people. The tag titles were locked into the immortal Godwinns vs. Bodydonnas feud, which has since become almost the perfect joke target for this era, and rightfully so. In essence, this was to be another somewhat transitional show, really the last of them, as more and more of the new performers were fed in (Marc Mero debuting at this show) and the old guard phased out.

-Michaels/Diesel video package, and some footage of other occurrences.

-"Live" from Omaha, Nebraska, with Stacy's hero and Steve's best friend

1. Free For All: Actually, a decidedly non-suck affair featuring a debuting Mark Mero and the 1-2-3 Kid in a match representative of the North American juniors style prior to the major Mexican and Japanese influences brought about by Eric Bischoff and the WCW cruiserweight invasion beginning to heat up about this time. Stylistically, a close cousin to Raven vs. Brian Pillman from Beach Blast '92, though with more flying since the earlier match was hamstrung by the stupidity of Bill Watts' no-flying-from-the-top-rope rule. 1-2-3 Syxx Pac gets DQ'd due to HHH interference, and the future DX members put a whupping on Mero. Outside of this match, you get another fantabulously godawful Warrior promo and a million video packages.

-Me, I kinda miss the old WWF logo.

-Diesel/Shawn video package. Again.

2. Owen Hart/British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette and Clarence Mason) vs. Ahmed Johnson/Jake Roberts Full disclosure: I just wrote up a review of a New Japan show for Buster Time, so I'm not in the best frame of mind to deal with the craptacular stylings of Jake, or Ahmed for that matter. High expectations can be a killer. To start is the inevitable "Cornette faints from the sight of the snake" deal to kill time, which Jimbo does nicely. Eventually, things get going, and I'm sure you will be shocked to read this: brawl…to start. The theme of the match is that Bulldog wants no part of Ahmed who is supposedly stronger than he, despite Ahmed having a broken hand suffered (kayfabe) in an attack after an arm wrestling contest with Davy Boy a while back. The first several minutes are simply the faces mauling the heels with their limited offense, and Jake teasing the DDT several times on Owen to big crowd heat; Jake may have been a colossal wreck by this point, but his move was still over huge. Despite the limitations of the faces, the match almost works; Bulldog and Owen could each work for two in these days, and Ahmed and Jake together had an immense store of charisma, though where that was coming from in Jake's case I've not a clue. 7 ½ minutes in Jake misses the blind charge to the corner to become the face-in-peril, as things continue along the familiar tag match format for the US. Bulldog and Owen keep the pressure up on Jake with kicks, stomps, various double team offense and blatant cheating, getting a series of 2 counts; they do several teases of the inevitable hot tag, which finally comes at 12 minutes in as Ahmed destroys Cornette's boys with lariats and such. Jake becomes victim to a tennis racquet to the knee from behind however, and Bulldog hooks a standing knee…hold…or something…for the tap at 13:47. Well, it was a formula tag match. As such, it wasn't exactly bad, neither was it good especially; the face team was remarkably untalented here, and Owen and the Bulldog can only save so much by bumping and utilizing their offense to fill the body of an over-long match. Finish was overdone and unnecessary; did Jake REALLY need to be this protected? * ¼.

3. Goldust (w/bodyguard and Marlena) vs. Warrior This is for the IC title…sorta. See, Dustin had an injury of some sort to his knee and really had no business in the ring. So, WWF took one look at the money they were paying Warrior per appearance, and rightly decided to either get him a different opponent or take him off the card.

Oh wait, did I say get him a different opponent?

I MEANT, put him in a dreadful, 15 minute comedy skit involving Goldust stalling endlessly, Warrior stealing Marlena's director's chair and sitting in it for upwards of 10 minutes of PPV time smoking a cigar, and finally Warrior beating up Goldust's never-seen-again bodyguard to an even more anemic pop then he came out to. On rolls the Warrior's fantabulous freight train of stupidity, on an unbroken track from the contract BS of the early '90's, through squashing HHH at a Wrestlemania and this idiocy, through the maybe-even-worse skit with Jerry Lawler two months hence, through the magic smoke and the Hogan "match" of his WCW '98 run; Warrior may, when we look back on this era in a few decades, be considered the worst, and strangest, headlining wrestler ever. I don't hold this segment against this show; it was caught in the path of a true force of nature, a creature of such malevolent and omnipotent idiocy that nothing might stand in its path. This show was a victim, and it deserves out sympathy, not our scorn.

4. Vader (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Razor Ramon Lot of suspense on this one, huh? Hall had been retrieved from rehab pretty much for the express purpose of jobbing here, and that he does, in spades. This would be his last WWF match to be televised, as I understand it, though like Diesel he still had a few house show dates to fill. Vader dominates the match with power, hitting strong punches and bouncing Ramon around the ring, then throwing him over the top rope on a shove. The match is a pretty methodical killing, as Vader works Hall over in between stifling the occasional Ramon comeback with bulk and power. They blow, of all things, an elbow drop to the gut, and it's fairly noticeable. There are a few hope spots for Ramon, including the Vader bomb getting only 2, and a Ramon suplex, but the basic match plan doesn't change much from start to finish, which comes as Vader goes up for the Big Van Crush, Hall blocks and backdrops him, but foolishly goes for the edge and gets sat on for the 3 at 14:58. Psychology was nil, since Hall had missed the move earlier in the match due to excessive weight and yet went for it a second time, like a yutz. Reasonably competent squash match, with Hall selling effectively and Vader finally getting a chance to mug a smaller man and look like the monster he should be. **1/4.

-Paul Bearer and UT spook the AOL typists.

-WWF merch shill. Some things never change.

5. The Godwinns vs. The Bodydonnas (w/Sunny) Ahem.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…(gurgling sounds)….

I hate the Godwinns with a passion, not just for their negative workrate, but for the fact that I feel slightly insulted as a wrestling fan whenever I have to endure their intelligence-insulting gimmick; more than anything, it reminds me why I'm sick of Vince McMahon using the WWF as his personal wank-off zone to deal with his animosity toward the south, Bret Hart, the government, women, and life in general. He's a small man with a large stage, and that's never a good combination. This, however, bears the shame of also being for the tag titles, during probably the worst period in their history; the Bodydonnas had won them the previous month on the Free-For-All (showing what the WWF thought of this division at the time) at Wrestlemania XII, in the finals of a tournament to put the belts on some team or other while Billy Gunn's neck injury healed.

The match itself is what you'd expect from these two teams, a slightly plodding brawl close to the usual formula for an American tag, with notable spots including HOG using a wheelbarrow suplex that sends the 'donnas outside for a breather early. Skip low-bridges the ropes off a whip 4 minutes in to put PIG in position for the heat segment, and the 'donnas work him over for a bit with their slightly mediocre offense, dumbed-down for the uselessness of the Godwinns. HOG gets the hot tag at about 7 minutes and puts on a slow-motion comeback, but the Bodydonnas do the old switcheroo and get the rollup for the win at 7:18. No use for this. ½ *.

-IYH: Beware Of Dog promo

-Marc Mero interview

-Diesel/HBK promo video. "I wanna ruin your life!"

6. Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) Diesel does his standard slow, smirking ooze towards the ring, and throws his jacket towards the announce table, in a sort of "quasi-shoot" gesture designed to fit the Diesel-as-dangerous-over-the-edge-badass vibe they were going for. Diesel had previously made very slightly camouflaged remarks implicating McMahon as owner of the WWF, and intimating that he was going to have some sort of "surprise" for him at this show. Michaels, in turn, strides toward the ring with his best "I'm intense" scowl (and the clique/kliq handsign, the third member to do so on camera on this show, if you're keeping a tally). The story of this match, as is the wont of the WWF, is fairly simple; nevertheless, it's a rather interesting one especially given the circumstances of the WWF's situation at the time this match was happening. Diesel is portrayed here as the epitome of a current WWF babyface, though oddly in the role of a tweener due to who he was programmed against in the preceding months; as such, he represents the attributes of disrespect for authority, transgression of limits, youth, a combative attitude, essentially all the various qualities associated with "WWF Attitude ". It's a representation that plays into how the match develops.

Michaels manages to get in some offense to start; he sends Diesel out with a dropkick and follows up with a baseball slide, then follows that up with a twisting body press from the top to the floor; basic psychology, as he utilizes speed and agility to counteract size and power. He utilizes a stolen boot from a Spanish announcer for a 2 count, but Diesel reverses a whip and triggers the Michaels flip bump out to the apron, which he follows with an elbow that sends Michaels to the guardrail.

They move into the second act of a standard singles match, as the heel dominates following an opening burst of face offense. Michaels is bumping for three here, which is good since Diesel's running at about ½ of his ability, even for 1996. Inside, Diesel takes apart Michaels with hard strikes and his usual offense (knee strikes in the corner, etc), taking time to stare out at McMahon (who Jerry Lawler frames and points at, helpfully). They then put together a really fun and interesting spot: Michaels lies helpless on the mat, as Diesel slowly unrolls his wrist tape, Earl Hebner yelling at him the whole time. But as Hebner goes to check Michaels, Diesel chokes HIM out with the tape instead, then steals his belt and uses it to first whip Michaels, and then hang him over the ropes to the outside. Quite an effective arrogant heel tactic, and a suitable one to get over the no-holds-barred stipulation for this contest, especially with Michaels' great sell job. Diesel continues to run through all the abuse moves he can think of, whacking Michaels with a chair, generally pummeling him, and only occasionally trying for the cover. They do a few effective hope spot teases, as Michaels briefly gets the chair after a low blow (emphasizing the stip) and later does a brief comeback out of a headlock before Diesel's superior size puts him down; for the latter of these two spots, they do it in the manner of Michaels being struck down only to pop up again repeatedly, a nice touch. Little things like that are what enable characters to be adequately fleshed out in the context of a match, as that spot by itself emphasizes Michaels' quality of superior resiliency.

Michaels is finally knocked outside, leading to a truly impressive spot for the time: Michaels takes a jackknife through the ringside announce table, a really high-level bump for 1996 WWF; it's actually notably worse than current WWF table bumps, what with the monitors falling on him and such. Several things about this spot are important: first, contextually, it's perfect given the stipulation and the personal nature of the match; it also fulfills an interesting part of the story of this match. The powerbomb was Diesel's "surprise" for Vince, and as such it represents the high water mark of his character, the peak of his anti-authority gimmick; what transpires in the match from here on out is what WWF bookers in 1996 decided should be done with such a character. Also, Michaels' "I'm dead" selling and Vince's fabulous acting ("just let it be over!") should be noted.

Inside the ring Diesel poses with the belt, as Shawn literally staggers out of the wreckage at ringside (all of this without commentary). Shawn finally manages to turn the tide with a fire extinguisher blast, then back inside he runs through his standard forearm-kip up sequence and hits a few chairshots, but a big boot puts him down, as he literally spins in the air selling the move. Diesel tries the jackknife (to a large "Diesel" chant) but Shawn does the standard punching reversal and hits his Savage elbow. He then tries the superkick, but Diesel simply catches the boot, spins him around, and levels him with a lariat. This section is a nice bit of structuring; neither man has been able to hit their finisher on the other, and thus must look for some other means of securing victory, or at least an opening to nail their big move.

They brawl to the outside, where Diesel gets a bad idea: he assaults Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, ex-AWA wrestler, and steals his artificial leg (a car crash took his original limb years before). Diesel tries to whack Shawn with the limb, but he counters with a low blow, smacks Diesel with the stolen leg, then superkicks him for the win at 17:51; Diesel promptly no-sells the kick, even as Shawn mocks Hulk Hogan in the ring; shades of things to come.

There's a lot to be said about a match like this. On a practical level, it's an excellent though flawed performance. Individual spots in the match are excellent in both putting over the value of the no-holds-barred stipulation, and in weaving both men's characters into the fabric of the match. The quality of the work is also extremely good from Michaels, as he puts on a truly excellent one-man show with Diesel along for the ride. His bumping and selling were as good here as they ever were, and of a type that made him uniquely talented at carrying slugs to superior matches: most things Michaels did in these areas were always slightly exaggerated even for US Pro style, which would often come off slightly ridiculous against a normal-sized opponent. Yet they also aided him in drawing classic matches out of people like Diesel and The Undertaker, since the slight exaggeration worked perfectly in the context of a major size difference. The spots are advanced for the time and effective at creating a sense of drama and conflict, and while the structure and pacing of the match was in general the US Pro basic (face offense, heel dominant middle section, face comeback, finish) it was skillfully executed and nicely modified by the section of both men being unable to secure their finisher, creating a dramatic need for the use of something allowed by the stip to create an opening for a finisher. The notable flaws include the superkick being a weak finish given the preceding level of carnage, Diesel's native sluggishness, and a basic level of simplicity to the match's construction. I'd say it's **** ¼-ish.

What's more interesting to me is the tumult of ideas that are hinted at by this match. On the one hand, Diesel is portrayed here as the ultimate in current-era WWF babyfaces, a Rugged Individualist Who Hates Authority; yet at the same time, obviously, his character is played as a heel, despite receiving sizable cheers even in this match, against the WWF top new face. It reveals something of the mindset of the WWF creative hierarchy at this time: they had moved firmly out of the cartoon era of 1993-1995, but had yet to realize that the demographic most attracted to wrestling in recent years, young males, had a sizably different values structure from the WWF's old parents-and-kids audience; new ways would have to be found to exploit this new audience, ways and attitudes toward business those in power were not yet prepared to accept fully. Already though, they seemed to be drifting in that direction; the flow of this match seemed designed partly to try to encompass appeals to both the older kiddy crowd and the newer fan. Diesel at first maintains the mantle of the "badass" character, dominating the match, disrespecting authority, etc.; yet, after the table spot, it's Michaels who begins to dominate with weaponry and such, and who eventually takes the win off of a move set up by the use of the artificial limb, a sign of transgression. Not for nothing does Vince scream "he's gone too far!" or some such when Diesel extracts the leg from Vachon. The idea a viewer is supposed to get from this appears to be that Michaels is "badass cool" for his use of weaponry, etc., yet at the same time he retains the character of a then-traditional WWF face, since he's defending authority in his actions. It's a rather schizophrenic portrait, and one which reveals much about the internal drift of the WWF in this era: they had forgotten how to do what they used to do well, but hadn't yet figured out how to move on.

-Random Coliseum Home Video Interviews.

Closing Thoughts

Another of those shows from WWF 1996 which argues for the existence of a good comp tape to skim out the occasional quality stuff (like Diesel/Michaels, something of a WWF classic) while leaving behind some of the crap to which the fed was still prone in this era. For my part, I'd suggest a Michaels comp more then this tape itself, but if you can get/rent it cheap, it's a fun watch.

For the WWF it was an important show. They had finally completed the process of flushing out the detritus of the cartoon years and had finished the transfer from the older "New Generation" stars of the previous era to the newer stars they hoped would lead them to prosperity in the new. Shawn Michaels was now fully launched as a face, having been put over Bret Hart for the belt, and now Diesel for credibility; but now he faced the challenge of getting fully over as a champion, drawing on his own, and supporting main event-level plotlines without any other long-established WWF main eventers to help him. Taker, at this point, was still in his nebulous kept-strong midcard position, which he'd retain until early 1997. On the undercard, the WWF essentially had a collection of reasonably talented individuals, few of whom had much experience with each other and fewer still who were anything like proven commodities. The "solution" then, from here on out, was a lot of simply throwing together various people and seeing who worked well together. The bottom line was, for the first time since the death of the horrid Diesel title reign in November of the preceding year, the WWF had some promotional direction.

Brendan Welsh-Balliett
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