STW - In Your House: Mind Games 1996 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re discussing one of the more interesting pay-per-views in WWF history!

We’re coming off of Summerslam 1996 with Shawn Michaels retaining the WWF World Title over Shawn Michaels, Mankind defeating the Undertaker in the Boiler Room Brawl when Paul Bearer joins Mankind breaking the relationship with Undertaker and we’re about to start the path to a new Intercontinental Champion.

But really the big story in the WWF at the time is the contract negotiations with Bret “The Hitman” Hart. We’ve covered Bret’s 1996 in the archives so be sure to check it out. Is this something that’s terribly distracting to Vince at the time?

At Raw the night after SummerSlam in Wheeling, West Vriginia there’s some interesting footnotes in the history of the WWF. Flex Kavana...better known as the Rock....defeats David Haskins in a dark match. It is the first record of Dwayne Johnson to enter a WWF ring at a live event. Do you remember seeing this and what did you think of him?

In less exciting news...Kevin Kelly makes his World Wrestling Federation debut working with Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler and also the first vignette airs for the Stalker Barry Windham. Were you thinking Kelly was an addition and not a replacement for anyone?

Owen Hart wins his first round IC title tournament match on the show over Davey Boy Smith by countout. Sunny … who is doing commentary at ringside gets into an argument with Davey Boy and Jim Cornette comes out to defend Davey Boy and calls Sunny a slut for trying to interfere and this is to lead to Owen & Davey Boy against the Smoking Gunns at Mind Games. Do you think Sunny had an issue with Cornette calling her a slut or was that Jim being off the cuff?

This Raw is to build to Raw Championship Friday since the US Open is moving Raw to Friday’s. Was this a big challenge to get the viewership to make the move?

Was there a worry about lost market share because Nitro was getting hot and here you guys are going to be off the normal night?

Superstars is moved off syndication to the USA Network to replace Action Zone. How amazing is it that syndication...one of the biggest reasons the WWF took over control of the national wrestling scene was syndication...is really dead at this point in 1996?

What changed? The WWF was on cable as far back as Tuesday Night Titans. Was it a gradual shift or was it more of a overnight shift?

Later in the week at a Superstars taping Owen Hart defeats Flex Kavana. What was the reaction of Owen after working Rocky?

Brian Pillman does an interview with Steve Austin as Austin begins to push for a match against Bret Hart. Is the creative team under the assumption that Bret is coming back and why Austin?

From the Observer … “Pat Patterson will do commentary on some of the IC tourney matches under the guise that he was the first IC champion. When he came out, they played the "stripper" music I guess as some sort of an inside joke.”

Who played the rib Bruce?

On August 24th you run Exhibition Stadium in Toronto with Shawn vs. Goldust in a ladder match for the WWF Title draws 21,211 which is a gigantic crowd at the time. Were you at this show and what do you remember?

There’s a lot of talk at the time of Davey Boy Smith’s contract coming up and talks with WCW. Eric Bischoff recently claimed on 83 Weeks that Davey was in no talks with WCW and that it was bullshit. What say you?

From the Observer … “Hart was originally scheduled to return for the 9/22 Mind Games PPV to do an interview segment which would lead to an angle to build up his match with Austin. However, that has yet to be announced for the show and we've received unconfirmed reports that Hart will still be in South Africa filming the new "Sinbad" television show.”

Was that the plan and Bret couldn’t do it because he was out of the country?

“Jim Hellwig filed an unfair termination and trademark infringement lawsuit against Titan Sports on 8/28 stemming from his dismissal after missing three house shows on 6/28, 6/29 and 6/30.”

We’ve also covered this in the archives but man there’s just so much going on at this time. In how many different directions is Vince you & Pat being pulled?

In the Observer it’s reported that Brakkus was offered a deal and signed while Kurt Angle was offered a deal but had yet to agree. Talk about two different ends of that spectrum. We don’t talk a lot about Brakkus Bruce...chat me up!

From the Observer… “There is still underlying heat between Michaels and Jim Cornette and also Jim Ross. Apparently Michaels feels he's drawing the big houses but that the booking is outdated and resented Cornette, who works in the office, getting a big push.”

How ugly is the heat between Cornette & Michaels and how does Jim Ross come into play?

The South Africa tour which is upcoming and headlined by Bret Hart is almost sold out. Was that just the power of Bret internationally?

Meltzer would report… “The Bodydonnas are no more. Zip (Tom Prichard) is being taken off the road and will work as a trainer for guys like Mark Henry and Albrecht and anyone else they sign. Skip is injured, and when he comes back, it'll be with a new gimmick and probably back as a heel.”

How did Tom feel about this transition and who’s idea was it?

From the Observer: “Undertaker missed the weekend house shows due to a staph infection in his arm. He cut the arm open doing the Boiler Room match on 8/18, and it apparently got infected over Labor Day weekend when he worked some shots in Puerto Rico for Carlos Colon. He was hospitalized and pumped full of IV fluids to kill the infection but wasn't well in time to make the shots. There is a chance he'll be ready for this coming weekend's shows but it's a day-to-day deal.

With Undertaker off the tour, they brought in Mark Henry and of all people, Cowboy Bill Watts, to work angles with Mankind. Henry worked in Austin, Houston and Dallas, ending up using the bearhug on Mankind. Not sure of the exact angle Watts did in Oklahoma City. I believe Watts did an interview where he talked about how great the WWF was and then Paul Bearer came out and Watts ended up slapping him in the face and then Mankind jumped Watts. It was described as the same angle Watts did with Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express in early 1984 which built to probably the biggest house show run in the history of Mid South Wrestling.”

Bruce did JR put this altogether?

So as we get ready to get close to Mind Games...the talk at the time is that the WWF...desperate for some attention...has Jim Ross go on TV and announce that Diesel & Razor Ramon would be returning. The story always was that Jerry McDevitt came up with this idea. How did you go about preparing for this gimmick...how did JR feel about it...how was Rick Bogner & Glen Jacobs chosen for it? Walk me through it Bruce.

On Raw Championship Friday an interesting segment airs where Jerry Lawler is in the ring with new signee Mark Henry...and he refers to the Olympics and Jake Roberts and that they have something in common … they both bombed. This doesn’t play well in 2021 but how funny was it then?

The Stalker debuts and defeats TL Hopper. Such an odd sentence to hear isn’t it Bruce?

What was the story behind the hold up of Sean Waltman’s release for WCW?

The next week on Raw The Sultan debuts with Bob Backlund & The Iron Sheik with a win over Jake Roberts. This is a big re-introduction for the future Rikishi. How did Backlund & Sheik feel about working together?

Sapphire passes away on September 10th. What are your favorite memories of Juanita Wright?

And then out of nowhere Bruce...from the Observer… “J.J. Dillon (Jim Morrison), who was one of the key talent liaisons and bookers in the World Wrestling Federation, resigned on Thursday afternoon. The news came as a shock apparently to Vince McMahon, although there had been rumors of it for several weeks since Dillon had gone to Orlando at the same time WCW was doing Disney tapings.”

How are you told about this and what are you dreading at this point for your job?

And then after that this is next in the Observer: “Another front office change in the WWF is the addition of Jake Roberts (Aurelian Smith Jr.) to the booking committee. Roberts had been pushing for this for several months. The way the structure is set up right now, Roberts will join Jim Cornette as the assistant to Bruce Prichard, who writes the television shows. Despite other people taking heat for booking, the booker is, has and always will be Vince McMahon, although Prichard, Cornette, Jim Ross and Jerry Brisco certainly all have a hand in coming up with ideas, it is still McMahon's decision on what ideas are going to be implemented and how. The role for the other people has always been to take the heat, which is actually a role historically in wrestling where many major promoters of the past that actually did their own booking and storylines, would use a loyal wrestler as their booker to deliver the messages and thus take the heat from people who aren't happy with their push (which is 95% of the guys in wrestling due to the nature of the industry).”

How did Jake feel being your assistant?

September 14th...Shane McMahon is married to Marissa. This is a whirlwind for you at this time isn’t it?

What are your favorite memories from Shane’s wedding...that is if you were invited.

Supposedly the Stalker vs. Crush was supposed to happen at the show. Was it cut for time or just decided against?

We’re here now Bruce...Mind Games in Philadelphia which is the first wrestling show in what is now known as the Wells Fargo Center. At the time...Philly is the home of ECW...Mick Foley is main eventing in his first high profile WWF World Title match...going in, is there a lot of internal anticipation for the show?

The show got a 79.1% thumbs up...12.4% thumbs down...and 8.4% thumbs in the middle from the Wrestling Observer readers.

Before the show starts though the negotiations between the WWF & ECW are heavy. From the Observer: “Several weeks ago, Vince McMahon contacted Paul Heyman about the two sides working together against their mutual enemy which would make sense since the PPV show was scheduled for Philadelphia. The two worked out their own fake shoot, kept it pretty much hush-hush, where Heyman, Tommy Dreamer and Sandman attended the PPV show and briefly got involved and it was barely mentioned, because if it was pushed harder, hardcore fans would see it was an angle. This epitomized the biggest problem facing the industry today. It's not that working an angle with ECW was a bad idea, it's a no-lose situation for ECW provided its wrestlers don't end up jobbing out for WWF, because it gets that group more exposure. It can be a positive for WWF, in fact, it's something the group needs to turn up the heat. But both sides, both Heyman and McMahon, were more concerned about putting together an angle that would fool people, which, in fact, they largely accomplished, than an angle that would do business and spike the ratings, which was supposed to be the idea of the whole thing. The fact was, to the casual fan watching the PPV show, they didn't even remember that Sandman threw a beer at Vega and smashed a beer can on his head and juiced, since it happened in a nothing opening match and they don't know who those guys are to begin with, it was never acknowledged or pushed in commentary as they were more concerned with fooling smart fans than getting something over, and many more angles took place on the show which climaxed with a tremendous match. The next day several wrestling officials had fooled themselves, ironically, because such a large percentage of people who gave them immediate response didn't think it was an angle and the super hardcore WWF fans in Philadelphia live were furious at ECW, that proved it was successful, forgetting that the majority of people, because it wasn't pushed as an angle, didn't even know it took place. The internet and hotline response to this as the lead story in wrestling (which it was to that audience, as it is to the newsletter audience) confused people into thinking it would mean something to the television ratings the next night.

Actually, Heyman played it right. His audience will know about it on their television as he'll play it up big. It gets his group over as a renegade group, exactly how it has positioned itself, particularly with the much more high profile NWO around and he no longer has the monopoly on that market. The next night, ECW "crashed" WWF on the live Raw, with Taz jumping over the guard rail with a sign that says "Sabu fears Taz" and it was again blown off, although given a minute bit of commentary with Ross talking about the promotion that runs at the Bingo Hall looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Actually a lot more happened after they cut immediately to a commercial (a Heyman demand so as to make it appear it wasn't supposed to happen) including McMahon screaming about not letting it happen and it got over great in Hershey, PA, with the fans chanting "We Want Taz" after the commercial break.”

What did you feel about giving the time to ECW? How did the deal all go down? Is this considered the first worked shoot in the WWF at this point?

The show in Philly draws 11,969 paid and about 15,000 in total in the building for $210,290...which are records at the time for an In Your House show. Do you credit that to the launch of the building being a big deal in Philadelphia or the creative?

On the free-for-all Jerry Lawler and Mark Henry have an interview segment where Lawler slaps Henry and walks off. Why was Jerry the best person to put Mark with in the beginning of his career?

Savio Vega beats Marty Jannetty and Bradshaw and Uncle Zeb (Dutch Mantel) jump Savio and challenge him to a strap match on the pay-per-view. Is this the type of thing done to generate last minute buys?

Show opens with Vega and Bradshaw. From the Observer: “1. Vega beat Bradshaw in 7:09 in a Caribbean strap match with the same finish as in almost every strap or chain match. The heel drags the face around to three corners while the face also touches the corners, then as the heel is attempting to pull the face so he could touch the final corner, he pulls so hard the face goes flying right into the final buckle for the win. The two whipped each other pretty hard with the strap. Match itself was mainly a backdrop for the ECW angle. Sandman, Dreamer and Paul Heyman were at ringside and Sandman threw his beer at Vega, smashes the beer can on his head and juiced (a planned juice spot on a WWF PPV event which is interesting), lit a cigarette while security led all three off. Off camera, but very noticeable to the live fans, Sandman, Dreamer and Heyman were calling attention to themselves at ringside up to that point of the show and Heyman kept giving the finger to McMahon, and McMahon gave him dirty looks back. A lot of people live thought all this was a shoot. After the match, they did a far away shot of the new Razor and Diesel attacking Vega in the locker room after the match. Even in the far away shot, it seemed obvious it wasn't Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, although the clip was so far away and so sudden in and out it's doubtful the majority of those watching picked up on that. At this point McMahon acknowledged that Ross wasn't just making up a story, positioning himself in the babyface role when the fans turned on the angle which was set up to be blamed on Ross. McMahon later in the show was more skeptical when Ross brought the subject up, Ross slipped in a mention of McMahon's indictment, the two had a few minor arguments about who was better, Owen Hart or Davey Boy Smith, and McMahon even made mention that he thought Ross' statements about Razor and Diesel were nothing but a stunt to garner TV ratings, acknowledging all the negative reaction and acting like he agreed with the negative reaction to the angle up to that point, thereby positioning himself as the babyface when the angle went down. *¼”

So much to unpack here. First off there’s long been a story you told about how Brisco was ready to fuck some motherfuckers up. What was the tension like backstage after the ECW cameo?

Did Savio or Bradshaw have any issues with this taking place on them?

What about the JR and Vince commentary all night? Was Vince just telling JR to come at him? I mean indictments and shit is a big deal.

“2. Jose Lothario pinned Jim Cornette with a left to the head in :57. Cornette's knee has been swelling of late so it was even worse than you'd think. After the match they showed Cornette "knocked out" laying on a bed signing a piece of paper which apparently is the angle where Cornette was tricked into signing away the contracts of Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith to Clarence Mason. -*”

Why the transition from Cornette to Mason at this point for Owen & Davey? How much did Cornette love and hate doing this? Supposedly the original main event of this show was supposed to be Cornette & Vader against Jose & Shawn. Was this the make good?

“Brian Pillman came out for the Bret Hart interview that didn't take place. He's no longer on crutches and seemed to be walking much better. He brought out Owen Hart who said that Bret was afraid of Steve Austin. Austin came out and did a promo on Bret saying that if you put the letter "S" in front of Hit Man, that's what Bret Hart is, and saying he's worse than a chicken, he's the slimy stuff that comes out of a chicken's butt.”

Was this the hope that Pillman, Owen & Austin would be able to go up against Bret when he returned?

“3. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith won the WWF tag titles from the Smoking Gunns (Mike Plotcheck & Monte Sopp) in 10:59. When the poster of Sunny came down, it was all marked up giving her a beard and a moustache which supposedly Hart & Smith did. Mason came out to manage Hart & Smith. Smith led the crowd in a chant of "Bart sucks Billy." After the Gunns used the sidewinder slam on Smith, Mason distracted the ref and Hart came off the top on Billy for a good near fall. Finish saw Billy and Bart collide, and Smith used the powerslam on Bart for the pin. Match itself was a disappointment considering who was involved and the fact it was a title change match. After the match Sunny got on the mic and called the Gunns no good cowboy wannabees, fired them, and stormed off. **¼”

Lots of managers change here. What was the reasoning behind a lot of it? Fresh coat of paint?

Do you think these 4 just didn’t click for a particular reason?

The rumor and innuendo at the time is that some type of title reign was promised to Davey Boy when he resigned with the WWF...was this something he was promised?

How difficult is heel vs. heel to pull off?

“4. Mark Henry beat Jerry Lawler via submission with a backbreaker over the shoulder in 5:13. Lawler mainly bumped for Henry. At this point, Henry seems a lot closer to Bill Kazmaier than to Ken Patera. After the match, Leif Cassidy, Jannetty and Hunter Hearst Helmsley all jumped Henry and he cleaned house on all of them, ending by pressing Helmsley and throwing him over the top rope on both Rockers. Henry showed nothing. DUD”

Mark Henry’s debut and it’s a big win over Lawler. Do you think the comparison at the time was apt about Bill Kazmaier and obviously we know Henry outgrew it and became a big part of the WWE for so long...but did he ever reach his full potential?

Didn’t someone see Henry’s gear and think...hmm maybe not?

“5. Undertaker pinned Goldust in a final curtain match in 10:23. The heat spot was Goldust throwing the gold dust in Undertaker's eyes so he sold for a few minutes. He made the big comeback, winning with the tombstone. *½”

It’s odd that this is just...there. There’s really not a lot to it. What was it about Taker and Dustin that didn’t click?

And now the main event...one of the best WWF Title matches of all-time in my opinion…

“6. Shawn Michaels retained the WWF title beating Mankind in 26:25 via DQ. Mankind was brought to the ring in a casket by druids. Michaels rammed his knee into the ring steps and got in the ring and gave Mankind a chop block, rammed his knee into the casket, used the dragon screw (called legdrag) to set up the figure four. Mankind then started stabbing his knee with a pencil supposedly to get the feeling back. After Michaels did the Ray Stevens flip into the corner and caught his ankle in the turnbuckles, Mankind went to work. At another point, Michaels on the floor gave Mankind a drop toe hold and Mankind crashed his head on the steps. Mankind was whipped into the ropes and hung himself in between the ropes, but when Michaels came after him, Mankind used the mandible claw. He kept the claw on and Michaels escaped, sending Mankind into the guard rail. Michaels clipped him with a chair and smashed the chair on his claw hand and began stomping the hand. Mankind came back back flipping Michaels over the top rope to the floor and doing his elbow drop off the apron onto the concrete. He did a swinging neckbreaker on the floor and a double arm DDT for a near fall, followed by a piledriver for another near fall. Mankind threw Michaels into the casket but Michaels fought his way back out. Michaels used a crossbody off the top for a near fall, and when he went up again, Mankind shook the ropes and Michaels crotched himself. He went for a backward superplex from the middle rope outside the ring, but Michaels turned in mid-air and the two went crashing backwards through the spanish announcing table. Back in the ring, Mankind was on the top rope with a chair when Michaels did a Sabu spot running across the ring, leaping off a chair and superkicking the chair Mankind was holding into his face. As he went for the pin, Michaels strangely got up and started punching Vader for the DQ. My guess is Vader was supposed to interfere at the count of two but was a tad bit slow and they had to improvise. As Michaels took care of Vader, Paul Bearer hit Michaels with the urn. Sid then ran in and chased Vader to the back. Bearer used the urn and Mankind sat up ala Undertaker and went to put Michaels in the casket, but when they opened the lid, Undertaker got out of the casket (they did the revolving inside casket gimmick) and chased Mankind to the back. A super match but the weak ending kept it from being a match of the year. ****¾”

First off, how great together was Michaels and Foley? It seemed like they had instant chemistry. Do you think it’s a similar mindset for both to go out there and just have the best match?

There’s a spot that Michaels & Foley have both talked about in the match where they planned it off the Vader & Michaels spot at SummerSlam where it seemed like they stopped cooperating. What did you think of that?

Do you think it was a weak ending? Was it the only way out of the match to get there? Was Vader late on the finish?

The internal reaction to this show was what?

What did you think Bruce...thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle?

This show is remembered for the ECW angle and the main event. Do you wish the ECW angle wasn’t such a big deal and let it stand on the Michaels - Foley match itself?

From the Observer …  “WWF officials have been told internally that the Mind Games PPV drew an 0.7 buy rate, which would be a huge success given that the hype for this show took a back seat to trying to hotshot for Monday night television ratings. The figures we received from outside sources claimed an 0.42 buy rate (105,000 buys; $838,000 company revenue).”

Is this a success in your mind between the gate and the buy rate?