Dark Pegasus Video Review: In Your House 15 – Cold Day in Hell

IYH 15: Cold Day In Hell by J.D. Dunn Wow. How do I recap the interim between Revenge of the Taker and this show? Austin challenged Bret to a street fight but got Owen, Bulldog and Bret. Shawn Michaels attacked the Harts, inadvertently saving Austin. Austin and Shawn got in each other’s faces, with Austin saying he didn’t need any help. Austin waited for Bret to be loaded into the ambulance and then beat the living hell out of him. Shawn, again, saved Austin from a beating. Owen defeated “blue-chipper” Rocky Maivia for the IC Title. May 11, 1997 Live from Richmond, Va. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Flash Funk vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna). Funk doesn’t have the Funkettes with him due to some budget-cutting measures, but they explain it by saying Chyna intimidated them. It’s too bad, too, because I enjoyed the Funkettes. Funk controls with his state-of-the-art offense, but Chyna nails Funk from behind, allowing Hunter to take over. Hunter plays a lot to the crowd in between moves. Flash takes a hard bump from the apron to the steel ramp. Helmsley comes off the top right into a boot from Funk. Funk comes back with a spinning legdrop and a crossbody, but he lets Helmsley up. Funk goes up but gets crotched on the top. Hunter hits a belly-to-back superplex and finishes with the Pedigree at 10:05. Funk had some good moves, but Hunter hadn’t yet learned how not to bore people in between his offensive moves. Chyna crotches Funk on the top rope again for poops and giggles. ** Clips of Ken Shamrock in UFC. He’s “the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” you know. Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia. Can you believe this would be the main event just eighteen months later? Can you believe the curtain-jerker in the first match would be the most dominant champion in years? Rocky gives a philosophical interview on his rise and fall. Mankind was kind of a tweener at this point, which earns him a lot more face heat than the Rock gets. Rocky gets a powerslam and grabs a hammerlock. He does a nice springboard into a flying chop, but the fans are out of it. Mankind knocks him to the floor and hits a cannonball. Ross wonders why everyone is so resentful of Rocky. Rock hits a Rock Bottom on the steel ramp. Back in, Mankind can’t even stand up. Rocky gets two off a belly-to-belly. He’s getting considerably heelish here. He hits a crossbody, but Mankind rolls through to the Mandible Claw for the win at 8:47. And that’s the end of the “Rocky Maivia” experiment. In fact, Foley admits in his book that he said the WWF should probably just cut their losses and get rid of the Rock. ** Gauntlet Match #1: Ahmed Johnson vs. Crush (w/the Nation of Domination). If Ahmed beats all three Nation members, the Nation has to disband. Gorilla sends the NOD to the back to make it a fair fight. Ahmed hits an ax kick early, but Crush comes back with a thrust kick and a flying clothesline. Ross works in his favorite double entendre – “the big Johnson is hard to handle.” A sleeper nearly puts Ahmed (and me) out. Ahmed comes back with a schoolboy, but Crush kicks out and hits a piledriver. Crush wants help from the Nation, but they stay at the top of the ramp. Crush signals for the Heart Punch, but Ahmed hits a jumping spinkick for the win at 5:38. 1/2* Gauntlet Match #2: Ahmed Johnson vs. Savio Vega. Savio wisely goes right after Ahmed’s kidneys. I’m not sure why Crush wouldn’t adopt such a strategy, considering Ahmed’s history of back problems. Ahmed starts to come back, so Savio just hits him in the face with a chair for the DQ at 5:59. Savio continues to destroy him with a chair as the set-up becomes obvious. *1/2 Gauntlet Match #3: Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq. Faarooq thinks he has it won, but Ahmed suddenly explodes with a Pearl River Plunge. He crawls to the cover, but Faarooq kicks out at two. Ahmed stops to argue, so Faarooq chop blocks him and hits the Dominator at 2:00. The whole thing was boring, and kind of pointless in retrospect. 1/4* Submission Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Vader. This is Shamrock’s WWF wrestling debut, and it seemed natural to put him in with a guy who had a history of shoot-style matches. Unfortunately for Vader, this was Shamrock’s first pro-wrestling match in seven years so he’s having a hard time pulling his strikes. Vader stalls a lot by using the ropes. Shamrock keeps peppering Vader with stiff strikes, which just pisses Vader off more. Shamrock tries a triangle choke, but Vader powers up and tosses Shamrock to the floor. Apparently, Vader was going “off-script” at this point. Vader calls for the Vader Bomb but goes for a moonsault instead. Shamrock rolls out of the way. Kenny powerslams him and locks in an anklelock. Vader is in the ropes, though. Shamrock unleashes a flurry of strikes in the corner, pissing off Vader again, so Vader just ENDS HIM with a haymaker. Shamrock surprises Vader by rolling him up into an anklelock for the win at 13:21. It was definitely a different style than the fans were used to, but I liked the stiffness and intensity. **3/4 WWF Heavyweight Title: The Undertaker vs. Steve Austin. The Hart Foundation has procured front-row seats from a scalper, so you already know how the PPV ends. Austin jumps the Undertaker before he can even take his belt and robe off. They brawl to the floor and abuse Owen Hart for a while. Back in, Taker hits a flying clothesline for two. Austin grabs a headlock to kill some time. Taker tries to backdrop out of it, but Austin lands on his feet and clips Taker’s knee. Taker fires back with a flurry of punches. Austin slips out of the Tombstone and into an STF, which King doesn’t recognize so Ross tells him to move out of Memphis. Ross and Lawler making cracks at one another is a thing of beauty. Taker comes back with a series of punches and locks in a half-crab. Austin makes the ropes and calls time, but Taker ain’t havin’ it. Back in, Austin goes after the knee again. Taker goes up for the Ropewalk Forearm, but Austin crotches him. Taker blocks a superplex but misses a flying elbow. Taker corners him and fires off more punches. Austin goes low, drawing a chiding from Earl Hebner. Hilarious spot as Earl turns his back, so Austin flips him off behind his back to a big pop. Then, when Austin tries to capitalize, Taker goes low. Austin complains to the ref, but Hebner flips him off right back. Austin hits the Stunner, but the bell rings before the three count. Turns out it was just Brian Pillman being screwy. That match resumes, and Taker goes for a Tombstone. Austin reverses to his own, but Taker reverses THAT to the Tombstone for real at 20:07. After the match, the Harts storm the ring, but Austin steals Bret’s crutch and clears the ring. Austin gives Taker one last Stunner because that’s how he rolls. This was probably their best match outside of Summerslam’98 because it featured a lot of strategy and psychology rather than just brawling and resting. ***

The 411: Austin was blowing up here, and the angle with the Hart Foundation would be so good that it overshadowed Taker's WWF Title reign throughout the summer. As with most 97-98 shows, the undercard is horrible, but the main event players get the job done, and they were about to get Shawn Michaels back. I'll go with a mild thumbs up thanks to all the Austin-Hart stuff, a decent Shamrock/Vader match, and the semi-historic jobbing out of Rocky Maivia. Mildly recommended.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]