WWE In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker (1997)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

1st Match: Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs The Road Warriors, WWF Tag Team Championships. An alright match to start, the biggest problem is the false finish. The Road Warriors win, only for the match to be restarted, and then ends in a DQ when Bret interferes, making the restart pointless. I guess it was a good way to get some heat on Bret, but it still feels unnecessary. Rating: 3/52nd Match: The Rock vs Savio Vega, WWF Intercontinental Championship. The Nation of Domination are in a feud with Rock, and I'm guessing Vince was trying to help Rock become more of a face. The problem is that Rock couldn't connect with the crowd, compared to Austin who was super over, and the exact opposite, gimmick wise. The match ends in a countout, and only really served to extend Ahmed Johnson's feud with the NOD. Rating: 2.5/53rd Match: Road Dogg vs Billy Gunn. Honky Tonk Man's back, great, now there's something else to annoy me. Road Dogg's back with Jarrett's gimmick, and HTM doesn't like him for some reason. Enter Billy Gunn, under an atrocious Rockabilly gimmick, and you have a match made at the last second. This is bad, neither guy has any connection with the crowd, and spends more time pandering than wrestling. It's bad, it's boring, and both of their gimmicks were killed off shortly after. I like both these guys, and their future tag work, but this is garbage. Rating: 1/54th Match: Undertaker vs Mankind, WWF Championship. A great brawl, that tries it's best to salvage a below average show. It's not a No DQ match, but the ref is super lenient, like he allows chair shots and steel steps. The match hits hard for sure, with Foley taking a nasty crash through the Spanish Announce Table, and the angle going in was interesting. After Taker wins, they try to do a spot where Foley throws a fireball in Bearer's face on accident, but it doesn't work. After some awkward brawling, Taker sets it off in Bearer's face. The aftermath is pretty awkward, but props to Taker for handling the spot well. Rating: 4.5/55th Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Bret Hart, #1 Contender's match for the WWF Championship. This is something that has never worked, taking a phenomenal match, and trying to capture the magic twice. This has happened in the past, and I guess I can't blame them for trying, but this fails to ever hit a stride. It hits a lot of the bases, brawling on the outside, into the crowd, Figure-4 around the ringpost, but it lacks the intensity of their WrestleMania match. The match also ends in a DQ, so it really helps no one, you could argue that it does, but it doesn't. An OK follow-up to a 5 Star match. Rating: 3/5Final Rating: 5 out of 10. Despite their best efforts, this is a mediocre show. Two matches end in DQ's, one in a countout, and one is just terrible. Not even Taker's wild brawl with Foley is a reason to watch this.

Live from Rochester, NYAttendance: 6,477Your commentators are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler & Jim RossTag Team ChampionshipOwen Hart & The British Bulldog (C) Vs The Legion of DoomLOD initially win the titles, but it turned out Animal pinned the illegal man. The match restarts. LOD has the match won, but Bret Hart runs in and causes the DQ. This match was ruined by overbooking. I didn't see the need for what happened here. Bret Hart came late for the run-in and it looked really bad.** out of 5Intercontinental ChampionshipRocky Maivia (C) Vs Savio Vega (W/The Nation of Domination)Savio wins by countout after Crush nails Rocky with the heart punch on the outside. The Nation attacks Rocky until Ahmed makes the save. This was much better than the match they had on Raw on the Raw before this. It's weird to see Rocky hit a Rock Bottom and not get the three count. That wasn't his finisher at the time, though.**1/4 out of 5Owen Hart & The British Bulldog ambush Steve Austin in the men's room. Jessie James Vs Rockabilly (W/The Honky Tonk Man)Rockabilly is Billy Gunn. Jessie James wins with an inside cradle. This was a mediocre match without any heat behind it. It's amazing that these two would become a legendary tag team (The New Age Outlaws) when they were stuck in crappy gimmicks like this.*1/2 out of 5Steve Austin says Bret Hart will have to kill him to be done with him. He will wrestle tonight and he will whip Bret Hart's ass. WWF ChampionshipThe Undertaker (C) Vs Mankind (W/Paul Bearer)The Undertaker wins with a Tombstone piledriver. The Undertaker lights fire in Paul Bearer's face after the match. This was another good brawl between these two. These two have a lot of chemistry with each other and they've had many brawls. You can always count on these two. Mankind took some sick bumps. *** out of 5'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Vs Bret Hart Steve Austin wins by DQ. Austin gets a measure of revenge on Bret Hart by attacking Bret's knee and putting him in the Sharpshooter after the match. Don't get me wrong, this is really good match between these two with solid storytelling and excellent psychology. It just pales in comparison to their matches at Wrestlemania 13 and Survivor Series 96. ***1/2 out of 5This is a decent event overall. The last two matches are pretty good and worth watching for this PPV alone. My only true complaint is how dead the crowd is. They barely reacted to anything, aside from the odd chant and cheers here and there. Steve Austin and Bret Hart's feud would continue for a bit after this.6/10

1. The Sultan Vs. Flash Funk 6/10 2. WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Legion of Doom Vs. Champs-Owen Hart/The British Bulldog - Thx God they didn't lose the belts to LOD. 6.5/10 3. WWF Intercontinental Match: Savio Vega Vs. Champ-Rocky Maivia - Count Out ending. Ehrm. Match was nothing special. 6/10 4. Jesse James Vs. RockABilly - Never like ROad Dogg's Double J gimmick. 5.5/10 5. WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Mankind Vs. Champ-The Undertaker - First half of the match was boring, but second was great. Mankind's head-first into commentator's table :)8.5/10 6. Bret Hart Vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin - What to say, WM's match wasn't it. DQ ending... Average matches, average main events, Average PPV. 6.5/10

The In Your House events were never in the same league as say, WrestleMania but they did produce some good matches from time to time.Up until late 1997 In Your House events were no more than two hours and some of the undercard matches were nothing spectacular. It was usually the main events that helped the In Your House series get a good PPV buy rate.There are only really two matches which stand out. The Undertaker has a brutal battle with Mankind in this match (those two must have loved pain) and Bret Hart had a wild brawl with Stone Cold Steve Austin.I wouldn't recommend anyone buy this video but at least rent it for the Undertaker VS Mankind match.