STW - In Your House 6 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

In Your House 6, also known as In Your House Rage in the Cage, happened on February 18, 1996 at the Louisville Gardens in Louisville, Kentucky before a live crowd of about 5,500 fans. It doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s a full sell-out for the Louisville Gardens arena. Meltzer said the company fibbed about it being a “sellout weeks in advance, though.” The company brought in $83,000 at the gate.

(How does the company decide in this era to use an arena on TV? What is too small? We’ve seen Raws that looked like they were in high school gyms during the mid-90s)

The show did a 0.75 buyrate, which was an estimated 150,000 pay-per-view buys, per reports, all at a price tag of $14.95. Insane to think that back then, as cheap as that was, it still cost more than a month of the WWE Network. I mean, the WWE Peacock Network. But, that number is a vast improvement over the prior two IYH events. IYH 4 did a 0.40 and IYH 5 did a .35. So this show does over double the buyrate of the last show.

(Is that just because we are back in Wrestlemania season? There wasn’t a tremendous change in storylines from then until now, except maybe Shawn Michaels wrestling on this show.)

On commentary tonight, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Vince McMahon will call the action!

News and Notes

Since we’re talking about Jerry Lawler already, let’s talk about some of the shows leading up to this event. At the time, the company was doing a lot of cross-over work with Lawler’s USWA promotion in Memphis. On February 14, a USWA show featured Lawler and Jeff Jarrett beating The Undertaker and Bret Hart (by DQ). Imagine showing up to a local Memphis wrestling show and seeing Bret Hart and the Undertaker. Yes, us Memphis fans were spoiled.

That show was used to build up to a big Memphis event on February 17 at the Pyramid, which drew nearly 8,000 paid fans, drawing $90,000. At the time, it was a possible record holder for the biggest gate in Memphis wrestling history. One of those in attendance was a young producer on our shows. The show, part of the WWF World Tour De Force, was headlined by Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler for the WWF title in a SALAD Steel Cage. Bret won, of course. But the card featured all the top acts, including Shawn, and loads of USWA talent, too.

(What are your memories during this era of cross promoting shows in Memphis with Lawler’s crew? Was Jerry Lawler the hottest heel in the WWF in the mid-90s?)

Speaking of that show...Jeff Jarrett suffered a serious back injury on 2/17 in Memphis taking a bump wrong against Ahmed Johnson. He was carried out of the ring and hospitalized. He's out of the hospital but no word on when he'll be back. On 2/16 in Nashville, which also drew a big crowd Johnson won the match via DQ when Jarrett hit him with his unified title belt. Undertaker, Ramon and Helmsley all no-showed the Memphis card so they put Yokozuna instead of Undertaker in the IC title match with Goldust with the walk out finish.

(Are we starting to get the picture that Ahmed Johnson is reckless and dangerous? He nearly killed himself at the Rumble with a flying head dive into the pavement.)

(Any reason why Ramon, Helmsley, and Taker might have no-showed this card?)

They also had a triangular tag match where they allowed locals Tommy Rich & Doug Gilbert to go over both the Godwinns and Bodydonnas. It was kind of funny for Memphis fans to see Tex Slazenger on Wednesday, and Phineas Godwinn on Saturday in the same arena as two different people.

(R A S S L I N THAT'S RASSLIN)

More news now...

Vader signed his two-year contract in February. The deal allows him to still work Japan, however Titan must approve of any U.S. indie dates which would include the Los Angeles show. He's expected to start full-time on the road after WM. He injured himself at the In Your House doing a run-in as his shoulder hadn't recovered at all from surgery on 2/6. The reason he wore the overcoat on IYH and sweatshirt on Raw was to hide two large incisions and an arthroscopic hole which removed part of his AC joint and repaired a torn rotator cuff. He busted open the stitches doing the IYH run-in, but still did a couple of run-ins at Raw.

(At the PPV, it was announced we would see Yokozuna vs. Vader at Wrestlemania. But, that was changed to a six-man tag. Was that because of Vader’s injury? And was the company desperate to get a new top heel on TV?)

Funny enough, Bischoff did bring up Vader on Nitro saying he ran away with his tail between his legs after Paul Orndorff got through with him while plugging the "Baywatch" episode filmed that summer with several WCW wrestlers including Vader.

And while we’re on the subject of the war...

McMahon filed a complaint on 2/8 with the pre-merger notification office of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, lol. The exact details of the complaint were not available as of press time as the FTC claimed to not have a copy of it, but McMahon was vociferous in getting the word out about his complaints.

He claimed it wasn't any single action that was so bad on the surface to warrant the complaint, but it was the combination of all the different actions. Among them is WCW putting Nitro up against Raw, starting the show a few minutes early and ending it a few minutes late which he called unprecedented in television; alleged contract tampering with his performers; gaining syndicated time slots, in some cases that WWF would have gotten, using the leverage of CNN Headline News to put together the deals or by spending more money to buy the time; attempting to drive his television advertising rates down by charging less for ad time than WWF even though having more shows with a larger total audience; the name-calling on television and the consistent fabrication of stories about the WWF on the WCW 900 line.

(What do you remember motivating Vince to take this step? Was there a tipping point? I love ruthless aggression-Vince!)

In the WWF's period of expansion, it also bought out existing established television time slots from regional promoters. It also raided the best drawing talent of regional offices with the lure of them being able to earn a better income and went back into the region with those headliners. In the case of the AWA in particular, McMahon systematically picked off a large percentage of the key headline talent, both in the ring and behind the scenes, one by one.

McMahon practically drove Jim Crockett out of business by putting the first Survivor Series on PPV on the date Crockett had already booked for his first Starrcade PPV show in 1987, and coming off McMahon's PPV success, virtually every cable company in the country went with McMahon and Crockett ran a PPV that he expected to be a major cash windfall that ended up costing him money. He followed it up by creating the Royal Rumble as a free television special on the USA Network in 1988 to counteract Crockett's second PPV show, the Bunkhouse Stampede. Crockett didn't follow suit until later in 1988, creating the first Clash of Champions as a head-to-head free special opposite that year's Wrestlemania, but by that time he was already financially strapped having two straight PPVs not pay off. Despite rumors of such, WCW has no plans at all now of running free television specials opposite McMahon's PPV events.

(How is what WCW did literally any different from what the WWF did in the 1980s? In fact, how is the WWF not WORSE, considering A) They did it first and B) They did worse by counter programming PPVs?)

When it comes to television ad rates, WCW officials have claimed that their ads for the entire network for a 30 second spot are $19,000 while WWF's are $15,000, claiming that it is WWF that is actually undercutting them. McMahon listed figures of $25,000 for WWF and $18,000 for WCW, and since McMahon's shows deliver a small audience and yet he's charging more, he's made the claim that they are undercutting him. According to a third party buyer, the figure McMahon has claimed would be accurate.

For the most recent weekend ratings are out, which would be the week ending on 1/28, all WCW for a week on 177 stations and the various cable networks would reach a total of 6.78 million homes (7.1 rating); while WWF on 161 stations and USA would hit 4.77 million homes (5.0 rating).

(If WCW is undercutting your ads, does that mean they’re calling your advertisers and offering them a cheaper option? Did anyone ever offer free ads in exchange for pulling spots off of the competition? How dirty did it get?)

Meltzer wrote about this…

The funny thing is, if it weren't for McMahons public response and if you just looked at the stats, WWF is actually still ahead today in most facets even though the general perception is that WCW is winning the war based almost entirely on television rating comparisons. WCW has more television and more viewership, particularly stronger ratings on cable. WWF is way ahead when it comes to house shows, which WCW doesn't even do, and merchandise. They were dueling evenly by the end of the year on PPV, however the Rumble buy rate, and expected Wrestlemania buy rate, will be figures WCW probably won't approach this year.

Fun fact: Starrcade 1996 did 350,000 buys while Wrestlemania 12 did 300,000.

(Today’s business is not just judged based on the ratings but based on profitability and revenue. But back then was a simpler time, right? Did the company place as much focus on ratings as the public or did you also consider revenue sources, etc…?)

There’s a story from around this time that doesn’t get talked about a lot. Davey Boy Smith was on trial for eight-days on charges of aggravated assault. It stemmed from a 1993 fight in a bar where Davey Boy was accused of causing permanent brain damage to a 22-year-old for flirting with his wife. The story was big in Canada, especially after Smith testified on the stand that wrestling was fake.

Here is the summary of the story from the Calgary Sun...

"Every single thing in wrestling is a fake." Smith said from the witness box while defending himself in an aggravated assault trial.

...

Smith insisted he was telling the truth about the events, July 25, 1993 that led to Kody Light, 22, being severely brain injured. Smith said he, his wife Dianna and nine friends had a quiet evening at the Back Alley Bar in south Calgary until Light appeared. Smith said he had had about four beers when he went to the dance floor around 1:20 a.m. to tell his wife it was time to leave for the evening. He said that was the first time he met Light, a six-foot-three, 180 pound student.

Smith said Light appeared at his side, grabbed his right hand, shook it vigorously and repeatedly said: "You got a nice f------ wife."

Court heard earlier that Light asked Dianna for a dance and that Light was waiting for Dianna when Smith appeared. Smith said he didn't see the exchange between his wife and Light.

I said, "Thank you very much. I just wanted to let go (of the handshake) and leave," Smith said.

Light then lurched forward. Fearing Light was trying to head butt him, Smith said he put Light into a wrestling hold known as a "face lock." Smith said he walked Light backwards about three metres toward a rear door and left him with two bouncers.

"I told them, 'This guy is trying to cause a problem. Get him away from me.'" Smith said, adding he tries to keep a low profile in public because people constantly hassle him with questions about the fakery of wrestling.

The five-foot-ten-inch 245-pound wrestler said he let Light go, turned his back to meet his wife then turned again to see Light lying un-conscious on the bar-room's concrete floor.

Smith's version differed sharply from that of another Crown witness who said earlier in the day that Smith punched Light in the face after Light asked Smith's wife for a dance.

Peter MacKenzie, a friend of Light's, said Light fell to the floor after the punch and that Smith then put Light into a reverse head lock, dragged him across the room and rammed Light's head into a brick wall.

It’s interesting because Davey Boy Smith is working for the company throughout all of this, including being scheduled for Wrestlemania, all the while facing a felony trial in court.

(Was the company concerned about this case, at all? Was there any concern or heat over Davey testifying that wrestling was fixed? What can you remember about this case?)

Perhaps the biggest story of all from around this time surrounded members of the Clique preparing to give notice and leave the company. The rumors had been swirling in the dirt sheets for months that there was concern Razor and Diesel would leave for WCW once their contracts expired. But, the news became official in the March 4, 1996 Observer.

... In a situation spoken of with some disdain by WWF CEO Vince McMahon, Hall sent a telegram to McMahon on 2/21 officially giving his 90-day notice that he was leaving the company. On the same day, Hall was suspended by the WWF for six weeks for reasons theoretically having nothing to do with him giving notice, causing him to miss his scheduled appearances this past weekend. The suspension would take him a few days past Wrestlemania, which Hall was no doubt counting on as his last big payday before leaving. With him gone, the WWF will set up a gimmick match with Goldust against Roddy Piper for the vacant slot since they began to work in that direction on the 2/26 Raw show with Goldust doing a sexually suggestive phone interview talking about Piper and wanting to play his bagpipes. While Hall would be eligible to return on 4/3 and work out the remainder of his notice, the general belief is that he'll be sitting out from now until he can join WCW.

(Vince did not like that, did he?)

In an interview, Hall said...“So back then, in your contract was required you give your notice 90 days in advance, in writing. And I’ll be darned if I didn’t fail a piss test the next day. And it was six weeks old. And I went, ‘Wow, I guess they got my notice.’

(Who made the call on the suspension?)

[Razor] is believed to have earned approximately $270,000 in 1995, well down from what he earned in 1994 which is believed to have been well in excess of $400,000. It had been no secret he had been unhappy with the WWF the past few months, both because the office didn't adhere to his wishes that his feud with Goldust, be vetoed in favor of working with either Hunter Hearst Helmsley (who the clique wanted Ramon to drop the IC strap to and feud with) or 1-2-3 Kid, and also unhappy with the baby bottle and diaper angle leading to the most recent PPV with Kid. Ramon also missed some house show dates of late because of family pressures. The combination of guaranteed money, perhaps offered long-term by WCW, combined with the easier road schedule which means more time at home and less road expenses which theoretically would ease family pressures, probably led to the decision which wasn't unexpected by most in wrestling.

However, there was bitterness within the WWF for how Hall handled his departure, since he was on the road with the entire office crew from Sunday through Tuesday, giving no indication he was leaving, and was booked prominently in both the tag team title tournament (where he and Savio Vega beat Kid & Tatanka in a first round match taped on 2/20 and scheduled for airing on 3/9) and in angles leading to a planned street fight gimmick match against Goldust. The latter was planned to theoretically take place live in Miami on a downtrodden street and be beamed "live via satellite" on PPV as part of the Wrestlemania show, although it is most likely had the angle taken place, that it would be similar to the Dustin Rhodes-Blacktop Bully match from a year ago and be taped several days in advance and inserted into the show. Then, when the office crew after booking Ramon in a strong position for the future, arrived back in the office, they had a telegram from him giving notice.

(Who found the fax? Who was bitter?)

Not long after that, on March 5 at 10:50 AM, Kevin Nash phoned Vince McMahon to give his notice as well. We all know this would end up leading to the WCW’s boom period for the next several years. But, several interviews have indicated that Nash made his decision to leave the company after frustration from tonight’s In Your House show…

While being interviewed by our friend Sean Oliver at Kayfabe Commentaries, Nash said the one incident that insured that he was not going to renew his contract happened at this very In Your House show. Nash said he was supposed to hit the Jackknife and be set to win the match - until the Undertaker came through the ring. But Nash says Bret refuses to take his finish. Bret says no, thinking people will feel like he was beat. Nash says Taker, who never says anything, jolts up out of his chair and says “Motherfucker, not everything is about you! This helps make our match mean more at Mania.” But they got there the day of and Vince made the call that Bret was not going to take the powerbomb.

Nash says that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

(The Butterfly Effect...Bret complains...Nash quits...etc...Do you believe Kevin Nash would have left if Bret didn’t get the finish changed here? If Hall leaves but Nash stays...how would that have changed history? Or do you think Nash was seriously on the fence as he indicates now?)

The Event Itself

WWF IN YOUR HOUSE FINAL POLL RESULTS

Thumbs up 107 (55.4%)

Thumbs down 50 (25.9%)

In the middle 36 (18.7%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart 154

Bret Hart vs. Diesel 12

WORST MATCH POLL

Yokozuna vs. Davey Boy Smith 47

Jake Roberts vs. Tatanka 41

Bret Hart vs. Diesel 34

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Duke Droese 16

Meltzer described it as basically a show designed more to build to Wrestlemania than stand alone on its own.

While the show was generally well received, I was in the minority on this one. Shawn Michaels and Owen Hart had an excellent match, but from a wrestling standpoint it was a one match show. Bret Hart and Diesel's main event cage match was terrible, up until the creative ending where Undertaker came from underneath the ring to pull Diesel under the ring and allow Hart to escape from the cage. As expected, Hart once again came out of the match devalued as a champion going into the biggest show of the year. The show was largely designed to set up Michaels' expected title win over Hart, by giving Michaels a strong clean win over an established star, the Diesel vs. Undertaker match and the Vader vs. Yokozuna match. All three were well accomplished, but in doing so, two of the top three matches on the show itself suffered.

A. Jake Roberts (Aurelian Smith Jr.) pinned Tatanka (Chris Chavis) with a DDT in 5:36. Roberts got the big pop coming out but even his loose ring top couldn't hide that he was terribly out of shape. He blew up fast and judging from comments here, a large percentage of fans noticed. DUD

Vader and Jim Cornette then did an interview with Cornette basically saying that Vader would get involved on the show. Actually it was stronger than that. They teased that Vader would be added to the card at the last minute (this aired during the pre-game show) in a match as a sleazy last second attempt to get buys, similar to what WCW did last year in making a last second tease that a Hogan-Vader match would be added to a PPV show that neither was booked nor wrestled on. For all the legitimate complaints Vince McMahon makes about WCW, when it comes down to the core of things, he's guilty of a lot of them himself.

Now, the PPV itself begins…

For the past several months, Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid have been involved in a slow burn feud that began with the two as friends, then became a rocky relationship after the Kid lost a match for the two against the Smoking Gunns. Before long, the 123 Kid was a full-fledged heel member of the Million Dollar Corporation.

1. Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) pinned 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman) in a baby bottle match in 12:01. Kid came out with a stroller and a Ramon teddy bear. Kid looked smaller than usual, like in the 180 pound range. Even with the size difference, they had a good match. Ted DiBiase threw baby powder in Ramon's eyes to give Kid an advantage. Kid used a lengthy sleeper which neither Ramon nor the announcers had a clue how to effectively sell and went over the head of most of the crowd as well. Finally Ramon broke the hold by crotching Kid on the ropes. They went to several near falls before DiBiase distracted the ref and threw the baby powder bottle to Kid. Kid poured the powder in his hands, but when Ramon turned around, he kicked Kid in the hands and the powder went into Kid's eyes. Ramon used one Razor's edge and refused to pin Kid, but then did so after a second one. Ramon then put the baby bottle in Kid's mouth, threw powder in DiBiase's eyes, put a diaper on Kid and poured baby powder all over him. When Kid revived in the ring, he started crying. ***

(I genuinely felt embarrassed watching this match. Who booked this shit?)

(Between booking Razor with Goldust and booking him in a Baby Bottle match - which was BEFORE he gave notice btw - are you really surprised he wanted to quit the company?)

Up next, a feud that has been pretty low-profile: Duke the Dumpster vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. They wrestled at the Royal Rumble preview show for the number 30 Rumble spot, which Drose ended up getting. Then Drose, whose last name rhymes with Gross-ey, got his head shaved. In the pre-match interview, Duke completely botches his interview, skipping over Todd Pettingill and saying his entire spill before basically running out of stuff to say and having to repeat it. Never let this man talk.

2. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Paul Levesque) pinned Duke Droese (Mike Droese) in 9:38. Droese has lost even more weight than Kid. Helmsley came out with another model type. It's hard to tell with his outfit, but Droese could have lost 30 or 40 pounds in the last month and it wasn't as if he looked cut, he just looked like a much smaller short-haired brother of himself. He showed good fire but in spots almost came off geeky showing the fire by posing with his new body that isn't a posing body, but isn't a very good wrestler. Helmsley is improving and the match was significantly better than their Rumble match. After a powerslam, Droese used his new finishing maneuver called the trash compactor, which is a spinning powerslam. He then left the ring to get the garbage can. He threw the lid into the ring (and accidentally hit Helmsley in the mouth and appeared to have split his lip open) and then tried to bring the can in. As the ref tried to stop him, Helmsley got the lid and hit Droese with it for the pin. *1/2

3. Yokozuna (Rodney Anoia (ANN-O-WAH-HEE)) beat Davey Boy Smith via DQ in 5:05 when Jim Cornette hit Yokozuna with his tennis racquet three times. Smith did about as good as one could do given Yoko has no conditioning and can't do a singles match. Now as a face, Yokozuna spoke for the first time, and Mr. Fuji seems to have disappeared, I guess so somebody else can win his award. Yokozuna didn't sell any of the racquet shots and stalked Cornette, until Vader came running in. Vader and Smith did a double-team on Yokozuna, with Vader finally pulling out handcuffs and cuffing Yoko to the corner. The two continued to beat on Yokozuna, who made several comebacks before being beaten down, until finally all the agents (including for the first time on a PPV, the former George Steele) and the noted Clarence Mason ran in to break things up. *

(Why did you pull Mr. Fuji from Yokozuna only to return to having the two together? Were there any serious plans for Yoko as a babyface?)

If you bought the show to watch one good wrestling match, the next match is it. Shawn vs. Owen. It began in autumn 1995, after Michaels took a hiatus from wrestling due to an injury sustained in a real-life attack in Syracuse. Although that was talked about on-air, Owen Hart hit an enziguri kick on Raw that Michaels kayfabe blacked out from. Michaels teased retirement but returned in January 1996 to win the 1996 Royal Rumble match, earning him a title opportunity at Wrestlemania XII. However, Owen Hart taunted Michaels, claiming credit for the injury, leading to a match at the event, in which Michaels put his title opportunity on the line.

It’s important to note that this was the first time in history that the Rumble winner put his title shot on the line - which we get to see pretty commonly, these days.

(Was there ever any concern about Michaels looking stupid for doing this?)

4. Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) pinned Owen Hart in 15:57. Michaels danced on the roof of the House set and used a rope and came down for his ring entrance. The two had the expected excellent match although nowhere close to the Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith match in December. Michaels in the early moments did a twisting plancha off the top rope to the floor on Hart. After Michaels suplexed Hart on the floor, he came off the apron and Hart turned the crossbody into a powerslam on the floor. They continued doing well-timed excellent spots. Hart used a sharpshooter but Michaels made it to the ropes. Hart blew his nose on Michaels. Finally Hart hit the enzuigiri which was the key storyline point, knocking Michaels to the floor. Hart brought Michaels back in but Michaels kicked out of the pin attempt. Finish saw Michaels go for the superkick, but miss, then Hart went for the enzuigiri and missed, and finally Michaels connected on the superkick for the pin. ****

(This is one of the coolest ring entrances of all time and as a little kid who didn’t have pay-per-view, this was the thing I was most upset about missing on the show. Who came up with the idea for Shawn to swing in like Tarzan/Paul Burchill? He takes about an eight foot drop from the apex of the swing to the ground...was there any concern here about injury?)

(Give us your thoughts on the match. How did Owen and Shawn like working with each other?)

(Shawn beats Owen, who beat Bret at Wrestlemania X...it just occurred to me that there is legitimate logic behind this as the last stop before Shawn’s Wrestlemania match. Did you know last fall when Owen did the kick and the blackout angle happened that he would be programmed here with Shawn?)

Now, we’re at our main event of the evening. It’s actually a match that we’ve seen on PPV a lot! Diesel vs. Bret happened at King of the Ring 1994...Royal Rumble 1995...and Survivor Series 1995. Diesel won the first match by DQ. The second match was a no contest. The third match, Bret won.

But at the Royal Rumble 96, Bret Hart and the Undertaker’s match was interrupted by Diesel. So, Gorilla Monsoon announced he was putting Bret and..Diesel...in a “15 foot high steel cage.“

5. Bret Hart beat Diesel (Kevin Nash) in a cage match to retain the WWF title in 19:13. From reports live, it appeared Diesel received about 70% of the cheers, although some attributed it to the USWA television show that aired this weekend in Louisville where Hart was on doing several heel interviews for his match in Memphis with Jerry Lawler. I don't think the portrayal of Hart as a guy who is lucky to be champion and doesn't really deserve it in this day and age helps. With the exception of the Smith match in December which was the perfect match to get over the champion (since he wins clean), challenger (since he looks so great--better than you'd expect--while losing) and belt (since the obvious king of the promotion holds it). However, from a storyline standpoint, Hart lucked into the belt in a match Diesel should have won but was too nice a guy, and then Undertaker should have beaten him twice but Diesel saved his ass both times which is the last thing fans want to see happen involving a babyface champion against a popular challenger because the natural reaction to begin with is to want to see the title change. Anyway, the first 15:00 of the match were boring as Diesel was just so limited in what he can do in a match where the object is to climb and he's not climbing. Even forgetting the confines of the match, Diesel looked slow and unimpressive and Hart lacked fire. It picked up in the last few minutes and had a great finish. As Diesel was about to go out the door to win, Undertaker came from under the ring and grabbed his foot and dragged him under the ring and special effects of smoke under the ring went through the ring. Hart then escaped the cage to win but come out of the show once again as a second-tier star underneath Undertaker, Diesel, Michaels and Vader. Diesel then climbed back from under the ring, with his pants torn, and climbed the cage "running away" from Undertaker to show he was afraid of him. Ironically, after largely being cheered during the match, Diesel was almost 100% booed afterwards. *½

(Meltzer is making the point here that Bret has been booked to be a pretty weak champion, barely escaping with the title at every turn. Fair point. But, Diesel makes the point that he needed to be stronger to make his program with Undertaker work. Also a fair point. Who was right and who was wrong here?)

(Why did this match suck? Do you think Nash’s heart wasn’t in it after the backstage drama over the finish?)

(Do you think the Louisville fans were booing Bret because of his USWA angle or just because they needed a break from Bret?)

That’s the conclusion of what aired on PPV and what aired on the WWE Network...but if you bought the Coliseum Video release, you got to see even more action.

B. Ahmed Johnson (Tony Norris) pinned Isaac Yankem (Glen Jacobs) with the Pearl River plunge (Tiger-driver) in a pretty bad match. Yankem subbed for Jeff Jarrett whose back locked up on him in a match the previous day in Memphis, although he was out of the hospital by the next day.

C. The Godwinns (Mark Canterberry & Dennis Knight) beat The Bodydonnas (Chris Candito & Tom Prichard) in what was reported as a good match.

D. Undertaker (Mark Calloway) beat Goldust (Dustin Runnels) via a walk out count out so Runnels kept the IC title. Told this match was also pretty bad.

And that’s our show! Here’s what Dave Meltzer had to say about it

With the exception of possibly Michaels, it appeared the most over performer on the show was Roddy Piper. Piper did an interview segment as they were setting up the cage for the main event where he seemed to have a clue as to what was going on, and it wound up with Cornette and Mason coming out and Piper pinching Cornette in the butt. However, when hyping Wrestlemania's Yokozuna vs. Vader match, Piper said, "Let the blood flow," which must have made McMahon cringe considering the letter he wrote to Ted Turner. I expected McMahon to apologize for the remark, but he let is stand. After the show Piper did a second interview, this time backstage, announcing the Undertaker vs. Diesel match.

(Throughout the Roddy Piper segment, Vince KEPT saying “There’s only one Roddy Piper! There’s only one Roddy Piper!.” Was he just shitting himself at the crazy that Hot Rod was bringing to the table? And that being said...Piper was super over with the crowd. Why let him go to WCW? Reminder: He headlined Starrcade 96 against Hogan in what was the most bought PPV of the year. Did he just want too much money?)

After the PPV ended but in a segment taped that will probably air on the syndicated shows, Jake Roberts did an interview talking about the years where he was addicted to alcohol and cocaine and said that he was back in wrestling to glorify the Lord. He also said his snake is no longer named Damian, but is now named Revelation.

(So, Bruce...What did you think of In Your House 6: Rage in the Cage?