Sunday, September 22nd, 1996
CoreStates Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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We get a Todd Pettengill narrated intro featuring Shawn Michaels/Mankind and Undertaker/Goldust. That leads into a creepy CGI skeleton with a Mankind mask on and then pyro leading us into the arena. Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect and Jim Ross are your announcers tonight.
Caribbean Strap Match
Justin Bradshaw vs. Savio Vega
This match was created during the Free For All. The match starts before they even get both wrestlers wrists are in the strap. Bradshaw just keeps smacking Savio with the strap and then Savio finally gets his wrist in there while lying face-first on the mat. The crowd starts chanting "E-C-W" and Savio pulls Bradshaw's shoulder into the ring post. Then the Sandman spits beer into Savio Vega's face with Tommy Dreamer sitting next to him. We get security out to escort them as some of the crowd cheers them on. Honestly, it's not as loud as you would think. It is distracting the crowd though as Savio tries to drag Bradshaw to hit the 4th turnbuckle, but Bradshaw is able to swing him to the mat. Savio hits a spin kick and goes for the turnbuckles again. He does a nice sell of Bradshaw yanking the strap on this one. Bradshaw hits a big boot and then a clothesline. They do the predictable ending where Bradshaw is hitting the turnbuckles but so is Savio. Savio holds him back from the last one and launches himself into the corner and wins the match. That's the downfall of this type of match. This was fine, but the crowd didn't care.
Match Rating: **
We get a hype video for Jim Cornette/Jose Lothario. Yes, really.
Jim Cornette vs. Jose Lothario
Cornette comes out to Vader's music in the dorkiest looking outfit you'll ever see. They show Razor Ramon and Diesel backstage attacking Savio from afar. Cornette runs down Jose on the mic and out comes Jose to Shawn's music. Perfect compares Cornette to the Michelin man. Jose hits a big uppercut and ends this match in under a minute. I mean honestly, I really don't get what the point of this was, but they didn't make it long.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Sable and Marc Mero and Sunny and Faarooq are on the Superstar Line right now. They will wrestle tomorrow for the Intercontinental Championship on Raw. Wouldn't it have made more sense to have them wrestle on the show we are paying for right now rather than Jose Lothario?
Out comes Brian Pillman and then they show a clip of Bret Hart from Saturday on the World Tour. Bret calls Pillman a liar and says that he never made a commitment to be on pay per view. Pillman then trashes Philadelphia crowd. He says he is going to bring some class to this program and introduces Owen Hart. Owen rips on Bret and calls him senile. They say that Bret is afraid to Steve Austin and bring him out to the ring. I have only seen this show one time and completely forgot any of this even happened. This just feels like they were about 30 minutes short on this show and are killing time. This is where the line "If you put the letter S in front of the Hitman" comes from. This was kind of mediocre considering it contained three of the most entertaining WWF stars ever.
They show Mark Henry seeing the sights of Philadelphia.
WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs. Smoking Gunns
We get a heel vs. heel match and no Cornette. They go back to Dok Hendrix with Cornette being checked out by a doctor and Clarence Mason giving Cornette documents to sign. Sunny unveils her banner and it's a doctored photo of her and that makes Sunny upset. Clarence Mason is out now for the match and there is cotton candy available should you want any. Owen gets in some babyface offense to start and the crowd is sitting on their hands. There surprisingly is a little bit of a pop when Owen tags in Bulldog. Owen gets tagged back in with a nice double team with Owen taking out Bart's knee. That at least drew a reaction from the crowd. We get some action on the outside with Billy throwing Bulldog into the steps before tagging himself in. This is such a weird dynamic, but the action is better than I remember. Billy leaps off the back of Bart to hit a leaping fist in the corner. The Gunns hit the Sidewinder but Mason gets on the apron to distract the referee and that allows Owen to hit Bart with a shot off the top rope. Bart puts Bulldog on his shoulder, but Bulldog shoves him off and into Billy. Bulldog hits the running powerslam and Owen blocks Billy's attempt to stop it and we have new champions. After the match, Sunny is yelling at her team and then grabs a mic. Sunny says she gave everything to them and then calls them cowboy wannabes. She fires them and storms off. The ending was a little flat, but I enjoyed this. The tag division had grown stale very quickly, so putting the straps on a new team made sense.
Match Rating: ***
Kevin Kelly is in the bowels of the arena with Paul Bearer and Mankind. Bearer blames the Creatures of the Night for doing what he did. Mankind says it's his destiny tonight and that we'll all have a nice day.
Jerry Lawler vs. Mark Henry
Lawler is on a mic on his way to the ring, but Vince just talks over him and then shows Lawler spilling coffee on Henry on Superstars. They also ran an angle on the Free For All. JR says that Lawler is the heavy favorite in this match. Sure. Henry's hideous USA gear inspires a mild "U-S-A" chant. Lawler puts on a headlock and then Henry just shoves him to the mat. Lawler continues to try to do Wrestling 101 and Henry keeps showing off his power as a counter. I mean, if they truly felt the need to rush Henry into the ring, Lawler is the right opponent from a non-kayfabe point of view. Henry sidesteps Lawler and he flies through the ropes and into the guardrail. That was honestly the craziest bump I think I can remember Lawler taking in a WWF ring. Lawler has something in his right hand and hits him with it after tricking Henry into a test of strength. Henry puts Lawler up on his shoulder into a backbreaker and Lawler submits. As far as matches go, this wasn't good. However, this was designed for Henry to look strong without making a fool of himself. For some reason, Leif Cassidy comes out and attacks Henry. Henry quickly gets rid of him so then Marty Jannetty is out and he's quickly tossed out. Now it's Hunter Hearst Helmsley's turn. He gets in a few moves before Henry chucks him onto the New Rockers.
Match Rating: 1/2*
They announce that at the next In Your House, it will be Mankind vs. Undertaker in a Buried Alive match. The title would not be on the line should Mankind win since this will be unsanctioned. JR lets us know that they will be building a graveyard in Market Square Arena. That leads into an Undertaker/Goldust hype video.
Final Curtain Match
Goldust vs. Undertaker
Undertaker gets right to it, as he tries to finally put this B feud to rest. Goldust comes back with a swinging neckbreaker but Taker sits right up. Taker keeps on offense and Goldust is out of the ring. Marlena hands him a bag and then she distracts Taker. He lifts her up and that distracts the ref and Goldust throws the gold sequins in Taker's eyes. There is no disqualification so I'm not really sure why they needed a distraction. This match kind of dies as a result here. The crowd is into it though. My interest has certainly wained. Taker makes a comeback and hits the leaping clothesline. Goldust goes up to the top rope, but Taker gets there and hits a chokeslam. Taker hits a Tombstone and that's all. What was the point of this match? What was the point of this feud? Even Vince is upset Mankind didn't interfere.
Match Rating: *
Kevin Kelly is backstage with Shawn. He calls Mankind the "wackiest cat" in the WWF and is nervous for the first time since becoming WWF Champion. The idea was good, but this wasn't a great promo.
WWF Championship Match
Mankind vs. Shawn Michaels
The druids bring out a casket during Mankind's entrance. Mankind is revealed to be in the casket, which is pretty cool. They play up how nervous Michaels was in his pre-match interview and Mankind goes right to work. We quickly are outside the ring and Mankind kicks Michaels into the guardrail. Mankind tries to rip up the blue mat and Michaels knocks him down and he falls underneath it and Michaels walks on him. Michaels hits a dive and then slams Mankind's head to the concrete. Michaels hits a double ax handle off the top rope back in the ring. Michaels hits the top rope elbow drop and already starts tuning up the band. Mankind sees it coming and leaps through the ropes and grabs the urn so he can sit and rock with it. Back outside we go and Michaels hits a suplex where Mankind's leg hits the stairs. The announcers are doing a good job of talking about how Michaels is approaching this match differently. Mankind tries stabbing himself with maybe a pen to try to get the feeling back in his leg. Michaels is able to find enough strength to hit a back suplex and he tries to make a comeback but Mankind is able to whip him into the corner and he ends up in the tree of woe. Mankind quickly attacks him to take advantage of the situation. A boot to the face sends Michaels out of the ring again. Mankind moves the Spanish announce table but that gives Michaels time to recover and use the steps to his advantage yet again. They battle on the apron trying to do a suplex. It ends with Michaels avoiding Mankind and him hitting the ring post. Michaels sends Mankind into the ropes and Mankind gets his head stuck in the top two ropes. Mankind then stuffs his hand in Michaels' throat in a cool moment. They set Mankind free and he falls to the floor. Michaels goes out and again Mankind gets the hand in the mouth before Michaels throws him into the guardrail. Michaels grabs a chair but Mankind punches it and then Michaels hits the chair on his hand. He grabs Mankind by the hand and bites it before slamming it repeatedly into the mat. Mankind dumps Michaels to the floor and then hits an elbow drop from the apron. Mankind hits a suplex and gets a 2 count. Mankind is frustrated as he keeps going for pin attempts and not succeeding. He grabs some chairs and chucks them in the ring. He opens the casket and dumps Michaels in. Michaels fights back and hits the leaping forearm. The crowd is really starting to get into this now. It's just that moment where I think they are starting to realize that they are witnessing something special. Michaels gets crotched on the top rope. Mankind goes for a suplex and Michaels weight sends both of them through the table and to the floor. They are lucky they didn't land on the television monitors. Paul Bearer distracts the ref and Mankind grabs a chair on the top rope. Michaels leaps off the chair on the mat and hits Sweet Chin Music. That was awesome. Out comes Vader and we have a disqualification. Michaels is able to dump him out of the ring and Bearer hits Michaels with the urn. Out comes Sid to attack Vader and they brawl to the back. Mankind then puts on the Mandible Claw while the bell keeps on ringing. Out comes Undertaker from the casket and he takes care of Mankind and they announce Michaels as the champion. I have nothing new to say here. This is an amazing match that has a bad finish. I get why they did it, so it is what it is. The match itself is fast and furious and a true main event. It's a shame that these two never had a proper feud.
Match Rating: ****3/4
We get a highlight reel of the show to close things out.
This is the definition of a one match show and what a match it was. It took up a quarter of the show, so it at least was a big focus and kind of helps make up for the rest of it. The tag match was also pretty good, but the rest was pretty pointless or terrible.
Overall Rating: 58%
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