WWF: In Your House De-Generation X
December 7, 1997
Springfield, MA
Reviewed on March 15, 2014

Background: Where to start? This was the first PPV after the infamous Montreal Screwjob. The WWF was looking toward the Stone Cold Steve Austin era, but now had this lull between Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble. Reportedly, Bret vs. Shawn was supposed to be the top feud to get us to Mania for Austin vs. Bret, but here we are.

The WWF had just turned to the Attitude phase of their marketing. You can’t really blame them for their lack of success though…WCW was promoting the Match of the Century: Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting which everyone watched. All eyes for the short term were on Bret Hart as well, so WCW really had all the momentum (and with a great Starrcade could have really put the pressure on the WWF). As the WWF was in the lame duck status, they decided to try to get some money out of Ken Shamrock and threw him in the main event with Shawn. The WWF had two really big time things here: DX was in fact revolutionary, and Austin was on the rise.

The Card

WWF Lightheavyweight Championship Tournament Final
Taka Michinoku vs. Brian Christopher

You knew the WWF blew the Lightheavyweight title when Brian Christopher was in the final of the inaugural tournament.

Match starts off with a LOT of stalling.

Taka’s springboard plancha was always a thing of beauty.

Taka is doing all he can to steal the show. Nice Asai moonsault using the corner.

Most of the commentary is about Christopher being (or not being) Jerry Lawler’s son.

Taka Michinoku wins the title when he pins Christopher in 12:00. Christopher misses the Tennessee Jam and Taka gets the Driver for the win. Way too much stalling from Christopher for this to have any flow. At least Taka gets a good pop when he wins the title.

The Disciples of Apocalypse (Chainz, Skull and 8-Ball) vs. Los Boricuas (Miguel Perez Jr, Jesus Castillo Jr, Jose Estrada Jr.)

The sooner this is over the better.

Does anyone care about this feud anymore? This spawned from when Crush and Savio Vega were members of the Nation of Domination, but were fired. They created their own gang and have been feuding with each other ever since. The Truth Commissionalso got involved at some point. The Gang Warz these are, and they suck.

Miguel Perez gets the Albert shave your back chants.

Miguel Perez with a standing moonsault. More excitement that I expected.

Skull or 8-Ball (can’t be assed to figure out who is who) can’t even take an Irish Whip correctly.

Los Boricuas win when Estrada pinned Chainz in 7:58. Perez was faking a knee injury! Somersault legdrop on Chainz! Perez puts Estrada on Chainz for the win. Ridiculously boring.

Toughman Match
Butterbean vs. Marc Mero

Story: Mero thinks Butterbean is a nobody. Mero’s also been treating Sable like crap, which Butterbean doesn’t like.

The only person to get over from this whole thing was Sable, and well, that’s how it should be.

Four round boxing match here. This is a WRESTLING PPV you know.

A whole lot of nothing happens in round 1.

Mero takes a cheap shot in between rounds.

Mero with some heel tactics in round 2. A knee to the back and a choke with tape.

Boring chants are faint, but there.

Mero nails Butterbean with a dropkick after the bell.

Mero gets his ass kicked in round 3 but is saved by the bell. Butterbean then tosses ice cold water on Mero at the end.

Butterbean wins by DQ in 10:20. Mero gets nailed again early in round 4, and Mero lowbridges Butterbean for the DQ. This sucked and the finish sucked. What a waste of PPV time. No one cared.

Oh god…here comes The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust and Luna. This shit is just disturbing. He reads Green Eggs and Ham.

JR wins the segment by apologizing to Dr. Seuss.

You know there’s not a Mick Foley or Kane match on the card for this shit.

Luna then shoves Goldust down and then pulls him by his chain. It’s over thank god.

LOD promo. Hawk compares the Outlaws to a booger. At least there was intensity there.

World Tag Team Championship
The New Age Outalws© vs. The Legion of Doom

Let me say this, the LOD may have not really worked here…but they way they put over the Outlaws was fantastic. They received instant legitimacy from this feud.

Very strange start with LOD trying to fight NAO and the Outalws just running to the back to stretch.

Funny spot where Road Dogg crawls to a corner where Billy Gunn isn’t.

It ends up happening again, but at least Dogg crawled to the correct corner (Gunn was knocked out from Hawk earlier).

Ice bucket shot to the head! This match kinda sucks.

Road Dogg busts out the worm? The hell?

Hawk sells the knee to the gut with a spin. Well at least he sold it.

The New Age Outlaws win by DQ in 10:32. Doomsday Device set up…but Henry Godwinn comes down and smacks Animal with a bucket. Hawk goes nuts with the bucket and gets DQed. Match and finish sucked. I guess putting over the Outlaws again was too much to ask.

Promo video putting over Sgt. Slaughter. Look, Slaughter looked washed up against Hogan at Mania VII. This was a bad idea at this point.

Boot Camp Match
Triple H vs. Sgt. Slaughter

Slaughter has the Kurt Angle music…although I assume it was considered The Patriot’s music at the time.

This match starts with all Slaughter. What?

Slaughter goes for the cover on the outside but ref says it has to be in the ring. What was the point of that?

HHH finally takes control. Slaughter takes his over the top rope corner bump which shocks the hell out of me to be fair.

HHH tries to grab the ring bell, and the timekeeper holds on for dear life. HHH smacks him with it. How randomly awesome was that?

Slaughter does the Ric Flair slammed off the top spot.

Powder to Chyna!

HHH pins Slaughter in 17:36. Chyna saves HHH from the Cobra Clutch. Pedigree on the chair for the win. Horrible match. Slaughter shouldn’t be in the ring. What was the point of making HHH barely beat Slaughter and for Slaughter to look like the better wrestler? Absolutely horrible on all accounts.

Jeff Jarrett interview! He calls Michael Cole “Mark”.

The Undertaker vs. Jeff Jarrett

This was a quick push Jarrett got as he just returned from WCW. His gimmick was to shoot on things. It would lead to the midcard and the NWA North American Champion gimmick. I’m a Jarrett fan, but this sucked.

This is a pretty random match for Undertaker.

Jeff Jarrett wins by DQ in 2:52. Here’s Kane! Jarrett tells Kane to attacks Taker, so Kane chokeslams him for the DQ. Funny as he got Taker DQed the same way at Deadly Games. Kane wants to fight Taker. Taker doesn’t want to fight him…yet. Nothing match that felt longer than three minutes, but I guess the postmatch is what mattered.

Jeff Jarrett with the postmatch attack! This Jarrett push did not last. Jarrett gets chokeslammed for his troubles.

Michael Cole is in the crowd with [Mark Henry! Henry will return from an injury soon! Woo?

Intercontinental Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin© vs. The Rock

There are a lot of similarities between early Randy Orton and early Rock.

This was the classic feud with the 3:16 beeper. This was the first real attitude Austin feud.

Rock is out with the entire Nation.

Austin drives the truck into the arena!

D’Lo gets backdropped on the truck. Stunner on the truck!

Austin whips Kama into the truck!

People’s Elbow didn’t have a name yet!

Austin accidentally stuns the ref! Nice spot that worked into the story on RAW!

Steve Austin retains when he pinned Rock in 5:31. Stunner gets the win. You can see the first ref calling for the DQ. Fun little match, although too short. The ref bump would led to Austin forfeiting the title to Rock on RAW. This became the standard Stone Cold main event style, so historically, this match is a huge deal.

We get a recap of HBK vs. Shamrock. Then a bland Shamrock promo.

WWF Championship
Shawn Michaels© vs. Ken Shamrock

Great kick from Shamrock that HBK sold like a million bucks.

Overall HBK is just making Shamrock look like a million bucks.

Despite the great selling from HBK this match isn’t clicking. A lot of slow Shamrock stuff with HBK ducking and moving.

DX getting involved. Slam by Chyna!

HBK with a splash from the apron. That’s new.

Shamrock near the end gets caught in the top rope in a weird way and it hits his eye it seems. Strange.

Ken Shamrock wins by DQ in 18:27. Shamrock makes a comeback and hits the belly to belly. Ankle Lock but HHH and Chyna cause the DQ in record time. Match didn’t click at all and I assume how this went ended any chance of a Shamrock main event run (I always assumed it would have been Austin vs. Shamrock at some point in 98). Finish blew as well. You know that was the fourth DQ finish of the PPV. Not good.

As HBK celebrates on the apron Owen Hart shows up out of nowhere and shoves HBK off and through the announcer’s table (although the camera misses it). It’s a cool moment though and it’s a shame they don’t run with HBK vs. Owen (this would have worked at No Way Out, as both had a history with Stone Cold). Rumor has it that HBK didn’t want to work with Owen (ugh) and we know Austin didn’t (a lot more understandable). So, Owen’s main event push was DOA.

Anyway, this PPV is awful. No really good matches. A lot of crap. A boxing match. Whatever the fuck that was with Goldust. Bad finishes. Boring main event. Very close to F status. But this show has a big redeeming quality that helps it tremendously.

This was THE SHOW where Stone Cold vaunted to the main event. He was still really an upper midcarder at this point. This also showed The Rock could have a fun match and be that upper midcard guy for a while. HHH was also shown off here, even if the match blew, as another guy at that Rock level. Kane too continued his path of destruction. At least storylines showed progression here. This PPV also showed that some guys just weren’t going to make it on top. Shamrock and Jarrett, I’m looking at you two.
And again, the Owen thing was pretty cool, just a shame it went nowhere.

Final Grade: C-