WWE In Your House 8: Beware of Dog (1996)

Very Cool!!!

Good movie but grossly overrated

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

1st Match: Marc Mero vs HHH. Marc Mero is Johnny B. Badd from WCW, so if I interchange the two, there's the reason. This is actually a solid match. It mostly revolves around Hunter destroying Mero's left arm, but it does well for Mero's selling, and getting Hunter more heel heat. Kind of a shame that Mero never did much in the WWF, but hopefully he has some more entertaining matches like this before he leaves in a couple of years. Rating: 3.5/52nd Match: Shawn Michaels vs The British Bulldog, WWF Championship. So the power cut out after the first match, and then came back on for the final match, so the other 3 matches were redone a couple of nights later. Kind of strange to have the title match second, but they did the best they could. I feel like this match could've been better, had it felt more personal, but it really didn't. It just felt like a generic Bulldog match, Michaels never really shines, and the match honestly never rises above "alright". They tried to be clever though, by having a double pinfall draw finish, this could've worked, had it been more physical, but it wasn't, so it comes off as more cheap than anything. The reason the Flair/Steamboat match from Spring Stampede '94 worked is because both guys gave it 110%. This on the other hand, feels phoned in. Rating: 3/53rd Match: Savio Vega vs Stone Cold Steve Austin, Strap match. This is probably the best strap match I've seen. It doesn't have any slow spots, it's pretty stiff, and it has a great flow. This would be the last show before Austin 3:16 was born, and you can see that the company saw a lot of potential with Austin here. Rating: 4/54th Match: Vader vs Yokozuna. A pretty good big man match. Similar to the strap match, there's a constant flow to the match, so it keeps it from being dragged down by Yokozuna and Vader's shortcomings. Is it the match of the night? No, but it's entertaining for being less than 10 minutes. Rating: 3.5/55th Match: Goldust vs The Undertaker, Casket match for the Intercontinental Championship. One of the better casket matches I've seen, Goldust surprisingly holds his own pretty well against Taker, and Taker does a good job as always. The biggest surprise is Mankind coming out of the casket and screwing Taker over, kickstarting their feud that would be pretty brutal. That's an example of a surprise ending that works. Rating: 3.5/5Rating: 7 out of 10. Even though technical difficulties screwed up the match order, it certainly didn't ruin the overall product. If you can put up with the odd order, and the weird ending to Michaels' match, this is a great watch.

Because of a power outage, this took place at two different arenas. (05.26.96)Live from Florence, South CarolinaAttendance: 6,000Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler Hunter Hearst Helmsley Vs "Wildman" Marc Mero (W/Sable)Triple H has Mero set up for the Pedigree, but he's too focused on Sable's attention. Mero takes advantage by catapulting Helmsley into the post to pick up the victory. This match takes too long to fully kick into gear. They told a decent story but I felt Helmsley spent too much time focusing on Mero's arm. **1/4Because Jim Cornette is busy with Vader and other things tonight, Owen Hart is going to be The British Bulldog's manager.WWF ChampionshipShawn Michaels (C) (W/Jose Lothario) Vs The British Bulldog (W/Owen Hart & Diana Hart Smith)I'll explain this as best I can. The British Bulldog initially wins the WWF Championship. Shawn delivered a German suplex with a bridge to The Bulldog. However, Shawn fails to get his shoulders up during the bridge and both men's shoulders are counted down. Gorilla Monsoon comes down and declares the match a draw.Thoughts: This match is certainly above average, but they didn't click like you might think. It just wasn't good enough to make this match special like it had the potential to be. The screwy finish would lead to a rematch at King of The Ring. That match kinda fails to live up to expectations as well. **3/4Part 2(06.28.96)Live from North Charleston, South CarolinaAttendance: 4,500Your hosts are Jim Ross & Mr. PerfectCaribbean Strap Match"Stone Cold" Steve Austin (W/Ted Dibiase) Vs Savio VegaIf Austin wins, Vega is forced to become Dibiase's chauffeur. If Vega wins, Dibiase must leave the WWF. In order to win this match you have to touch all four turnbuckles. Savio Vega wins the strap match when Austin accidentally pulls Vega towards the turnbuckle. This was an extremely physical battle with both men giving it there all. They made the most of the limitations from this match by incorporating some really creative spots into this match. It's just a fantastic match with two men beating the crap out of each other. Austin lost by a fluke so he was very protected in defeat. This match is so underrated. ****Vader (W/Jim Cornette) Vs YokozunaYokozuna has the match in hand until Jim Cornette starts interfering. Vader takes advantage with a Vader bomb and pins Yokozuna. You get pretty much what you pay for with a match like this. There was too much stalling at the beginning, but this wasn't very good to begin with. The booking didn't really do Vader any favors.*Intercontiental Championship (Casket Match)Goldust (C) (W/Marlena) Vs The Undertaker (W/Paul Bearer)The Undertaker has the match won with the tombstone, but Mankind pops up out of nowhere in the casket and applies the mandible claw. The lid gets shut and Goldust wins the casket match. Smoke starts to come out of the casket, but when they open it, The Undertaker is gone. On paper, this match is intriguing, but this wasn't a great main event. I felt it was a little too bland with not enough excitement. The Undertaker would continue his feud with Mankind, and Goldust would move on to Ahmed Johnson.*1/26/10 ranking overall.

1. WWF tag Team Title Match: The Godwinns Vs. Champs-The Smoking Gunns - Ordinary bout 5.5/10 2. Hunter-Hearst Helmsley Vs. Marc Mero - Lol HHH did job for Mero? Not a chance. Stupid booking. 6/10 3. WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: The British Bulldog Vs. Champ-Shawn Michaels - Bulldog is heavily boring. I don't like matches with him. And bonus: silly draw ending. 5.5/10 4. Strap Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. Savio Vega - Nothing special occurred even in Austin's match. Good portion of a match was basic brawling. And Vega won, so Dibiase had to leave WWF. Another "great" match. 5/10 5. Vader Vs. Yokozuna .- Clean victory for Vader, interesting. WWF Champ of 1993 Yoko is now a big piece of ... 6/10 6. Intercontinental Title Casket Match Champ-Goldust Vs. The Undertaker - First nice booking. Mankind took taker in the casket and Goldust retains. He was a great heel in this time, it would be mistake to take belt from him. 7/10 Either way, that was one boring PPV in my opinion.

Well the first attempt at In Your HOuse: Beware of the Dog had not gone as hoped, with the lights turning out half way through the show and then coming back again for the big matches at the end of the show. It was decided to have a re-do of the matches effected by the lights two nights later, and show the taped main event matches from the original PPV. The result is pretty interesting and actually adds up to a nice little show.So we start things off with Marc Mero, making an early PPV for the WWE, accompanied by the gorgeous Sable defeating Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Helmsley was currently in trouble over the "curtain call" episode, but had been on something of a losing streak even before then. This was not a great match, but wasn't terrible either. This was one of the matches from the original show, edited in before the re-do show. If that makes any sense at all.Next up comes a very good match, also from the original show, with WWE Champion retaining his title after he and challenger the British Bulldog simultaneously pinned each other. This is a pretty mice match. Shawn and Davey Boy were both wrestling consistently well in singles matches at this point in their careers.Next up follows a match that is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly it is the first really important match Steve Austin had in the WWE. Secondly this would be the final appearance by Ted DiBIase as a manager in the WWE. He was headed off to WCW after this, and finally this was far and away the best match Savio Vega ever had in the WWE. The story going into this Caribbean Strap match was that DiBiase had put his career on the line, meaning that if Austin lost he would be forced to leave the WWE. Austin and Vega work a nice match for about twenty minutes and then Austin deliberately lets Vega get the win to emancipate himself from his manager. This was not the start of Austin becoming a good guy, this was just Stone Cold wanting to go out on his own. Anyway, it did more for Austin than Vega in the long run.Next we saw Vader, in the middle of annihilating everyone on the roster, take down Yokozuna in a dreadful match. Zuna was just about done by this stage, and would tragically die in 2002. Vader was past his best and was probably beyond having a good match with such a mastodon on his best day anyway.FInally the night ended with Goldust defeating the Undertaker in a casket match after Mankind, who'd been hiding in the coffin throughout the match, interfered and dragged Undertaker into the coffin using a mandible claw. Not a good match really.So In Your House 8: Beware the Dog turned out to be a strange night with a couple of good matches, a couple of awful ones and a rather bizarre order to the card after the lights went out.