Throwback Thursday – Looking back at WWE In Your House 14: Revenge of the ‘Taker

Each and every Thursday I will look back at a different pay-per-view event from the past via the WWE Network. Want to see a certain event covered? Send your suggestions to @VaughnMJohnson on Twitter.

Last time, I covered the WWE Fully Loaded 1999

WWE In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker

Date: April 20, 1997

Venue: Rochester Community War Memorial (now the Blue Cross Arena), Rochester, N.Y.

Some random notes

The pay-per-view opened with a cool video package that documented the rivalry between The Undertaker and his longtime nemesis, Mankind.

The Undertaker-Mankind match was promoted as the main event. Heck, the event even carried The Undertaker's namesake, but it was switched to the semi main event for storyline purposes that I will explain later.

Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler were on hand to call the action. With that said, let's get to the matches:

WWE Tag Team championship – The Legion of Doom def. Owen Hart & British Bulldog via disqualification

Bulldog and Owen Hart walked in as the WWE Tag Team champions, making them the best tag team the company had to offer at the time, but for whatever reason, McMahon and Ross touted them as the greatest tag team in WWE history.

WWE is never one to shy away from hyperbole to get something over, but I found that to be a bit too hyperbolic.

Bulldog and Owen Hart walked into the match with other forms of gold as well. Bulldog was not only one half of the tag champs, but he was also the WWE European champion.

Owen Hart not only flaunted his WWE Tag Team title, but he also showcased the two Slammy awards he had won a month earlier.

The basic story of the match was Hawk and Animal dominating whenever they were in the ring with Owen Hart because they could easily overpower him. Since Bulldog matched them in power, he was essentially the team's lone source of offense.

During the match, a cameraman got a shot of Steve Austin as he arrived to the arena. It didn't take long for him to curse out one of the security guards on his way in.

The Legion of Doom looked to have the match won when Animal landed a power slam from the top rope on Bulldog and pinned him, but he was not the legal man. Owen Hart, who was knocked out of the ring moments earlier after Bulldog was shoved into him, was supposedly legal.

However, in the midst of the Legion of Doom's celebration a second referee went to the ring to inform the first official that Bulldog was not the legal man.

Ring announcer Howard Finkel then got on the microphone and said that the Legion of Doom pinned the illegal man, meaning that the pin fall did not count and the match had to continue.

Bulldog and Owen Hart attempted to leave the arena, but Finkel then announced that if the champions did not return to the ring they would lose the match and the titles. Owen Hart and Bulldog reluctantly ran back into the ring.

Despite the hubbub about Owen Hart being the legal man, the match restarted with Bulldog in the ring against Animal. Hart eventually tagged himself in and immediately hit Animal with a spinning kick.

Owen Hart and Bulldog maintained control of Animal until Owen Hart missed a dive from the top rope, which allowed Animal to tag in Hawk, who immediately swung the momentum in his team's favor.

Hawk and Animal eventually hit the doomsday device, which should have given them the victory, but Bret Hart ran to the ring and broke up the pin, which disqualified Owen Hart and Bulldog.

Although they technically lost the match, Owen Hart and Bulldog retained the titles, which I found strange since minutes earlier, they could have lost the titles by being counted out.

WWE Intercontinental championship – Savio Vega def. Rocky Maivia by count out

Vega went to the ring flanked by his running mates in the Nation of Domination. Among the members that joined him were PG-13, D'Lo Brown, Crush, Clarence Mason and eventually Farooq, who joined McMahon and company in the announce booth.

Farooq tried to use his own headset to talk, but the microphone wouldn't work. Ross eventually had to lend Farooq his headset so that the Nation's leader could talk.

While Farooq sounded genuine in what he was saying Maivia — better known to the world as The Rock — sounded anything but.

Before the match he cut this bland, vanilla promo that made it easy to see why the fans never got behind him.

Maivia's bland character hurt this match, in my opinion, because the fans didn't care to see him win or lose. I know I didn't. I cared more about what Farooq said on commentary about Ahmed Johnson.

It is shame that no one really cared about this match because The Rock's talent is well documented, but Vega was supremely gifted in the ring as well, and they worked their butts off during this match.

At one point of the match, Maivia went out of the ring and hit Crush, which prompted Crush to retaliate with the heart punch. Maivia sold the punch to the point of being counted out.

Vega was not happy with the result because he did not win the title. Vega and Crush bickered for a moment, but were brought on one accord by Farooq.

Farooq then demanded PG-13 to toss Maivia back into the ring so that the Nation of Domination could beat the daylights out of him. Before the Nation could do too much damage, Johnson ran out with a 2x4, which alerted the Nation of Domination to head for the hills.

After the match Doc Hendrix interviewed Marc Mero and Sable when Austin loudly walked into the bathroom behind them. As soon as Austin walked in, a commotion could be heard.

Moments later, Bulldog and Owen Hart came out of the bathroom, as they apparently ambushed Austin.

Jesse James def. Rockabilly

This match came about because of James turning down the opportunity to be the Honky Tonk Man's protégé by destroying his guitar.

That made Honky want to find someone else to teach James a lesson and that person was Billy Gunn.

Gunn, who had already turned down the Honky Tonk Man, but apparently changed his mind, was only known as one half of the Smoking Gunns up until this point, but as Honk Tonk's protégé, he was known as Rockabilly.

Gunn went from the lame gimmick of the Smoking Gunns to another in the shucking and jiving Rockabilly.

Boy, were James and Rockabilly lame at this point. I know they thank they heavens above every single day for them eventually coming together as the New Age Outlaws. I know I would.

This match was a lot of nothing.

WWE championship – The Undertaker def. Mankind

In an effort to give Austin time to recuperate from the attack Owen Hart and Bulldog had laid on him earlier, WWE commissioner Gorilla Monsoon rearranged the match order and made the WWE title match the semi main event.

The Undertaker had feuded with Mankind for the majority of 1996 and up until this point Mankind was the only man to have The Undertaker's number, as he had defeated The Undertaker twice during that year.

The Undertaker entered the match with bandages over his right eye due to Mankind throwing a fireball in his face leading up to the match. Remember that fireball.

Because the rivalry was so personal, The Undertaker skipped his usual pre-match ritual of turning the in-arena lights on. Instead, he took his jacket off, tossed it to the side and bolted into the ring to fight Mankind.

The Undertaker immediately took control and fought Mankind outside of the ring. He even rammed the back of his head into the steel guardrail. They even fought their way into the crowd.

Once they were back into the ring, Paul Bearer jumped onto the ring apron to distract The Undertaker and the official, which allowed Mankind just enough time to grab Bearer's urn. As soon as The Undertaker turned around, Mankind hit him upside the head with the urn and went for a cover, but the champion kicked out.

The Undertaker might have kicked out, but Mankind was in firm control of the match.

Both men eventually fought their way out of the ring again, which allowed Mankind got his hands on pitcher of water. He then used it to wallop The Undertaker on the damaged area of his face.

Somehow, this did not warrant a disqualification. Neither did Mankind's use of a chair moments later.

Later in the match, the referee got crunched in between Mankind and The Undertaker. While the referee was down, Mankind locked in the mandible claw and put The Undertaker on the mat.

Another referee came into the ring, but Mankind slapped the mandible claw on him as well. Mankind then grabbed the steel steps tossed them inside the ring. He then held them above his head, but did so just as The Undertaker sat up.

The Undertaker quickly made his way to his feet and drop kicked the steel steps into Mankind's face. The Undertaker then returned the favor by bashing Mankind over the head with a steel chair. My words could do no justice as to how brutal this chair shot looked.

The champion then got a hold of Mankind's mask before picking up the steel steps and ramming them into Mankind, which sent Mankind flyring from the ring apron head first through the announce table below.

The Undertaker then dragged Mankind back into the ring and choke slammed him. The Undertaker went for a cover, but Mankind kicked out.

That didn't matter to The Undertaker, as he signaled for the tombstone, delivered it and officially ended the match to retain his title.

The Undertaker wasn't done dishing out pain, as he chased Bearer into the ring to finish him off. Mankind made his way back to his feet and attempted to throw another fireball that was supposed to inadvertently hit Bearer, but Mankind was unable to light the flammable paper, making the spot look awful.

The Undertaker attempted to salvage things by pushing Bearer into Mankind so he could throw the fireball, but Mankind was still unable to light it.

The Undertaker eventually took matters into his own hands by kicking Mankind to the ground, picking up the lighter and the flammable paper, showing it for all of the world to see and threw the flame into Bearer's face himself.

The whole point of the spot was to create the illusion that the fireball came out of nowhere. No one was supposed to see the lighter and the flammable, but The Undertaker threw that window so that the fire spot could still go as planned.

The Undertaker simply did what he had to do to make sure that a fireball went into Bearer's face. It had to happen by any means necessary.

Steve Austin def. Bret Hart via disqualification

Bulldog and Owen Hart attempted to accompany Bret Hart to the ring, but Monsoon and a bunch of officials blocked them from doing so and sent them back to the locker room.

No one stopped Austin from getting to the ring and he started fighting as soon as he got there to gain the early advantage.

It didn't take long for this one to spill outside of the ring before heading into the crowd. Bret Hart eventually got a hold of a steel chair and brought into the ring, but Austin prevented him from using it.

Austin tried to use it himself, but Bret Hart dropkicked Austin in the back, which sent him into the referee. While the referee was down, Bret Hart used the steel chair to work on Austin's injured knee.

Bret Hart then dropped the chair and helped the referee back to his feet so that he could really go to work on Austin. Bret Hart worked on the knee some more and even put Austin in a figure four on the ring post.

Bret Hart then used the chair on Austin's leg while the referee's back was turned.

Bret Hart worked on Austin's knee the entirety of the match. Austin had little spurts of hope, but the match mostly belonged to Bret Hart.

Bret Hart eventually went for the sharpshooter, but Austin hit him in the head with the knee brace that was ripped off earlier in the match. Austin then countered with sharpshooter of his own before Bulldog and Owen Hart returned to the ring to help Bret Hart.

Austin fended off Bulldog and Owen Hart and went back to locking on the sharpshooter on Bret Hart. However, Bulldog found a way to sneak into the ring and clobbered Austin in the back with a steel chair, causing Bret Hart to be disqualified.

Bret Hart was not happy with the outcome of the match and attempted to bash Austin in the head with the ring bell. Austin countered by hitting Bret Hart in the knee with a chair and locking in the sharpshooter again while officials tried to pry him off Bret Hart.

Owen Hart and Bulldog were finally able to drag Bret Hart out of the ring and helped him hobble away.

Meanwhile, Austin, also a bit hobbled, celebrated his victory over his longtime rival in Bret Hart.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.