Powerful

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

So with Austin OOA for several months, and Todd Pettengill replaced by someone named "Michael Cole", it's up to the other wrestlers to make an impact. Spoiler alert: it doesn't happen here.1st Match: Goldust vs Brian Pillman. Due to injuries, Pillman is hardly the guy he once was in the ring, which is a shame, because his gimmick is God Tier. The story now is that Dustin's kid is actually Pillman's kid, this is Russo's doing, only it kind of fits with Pillman's character. If Pillman wins, he gets Marlena for 30 days too, so be prepared for a lot of innuendoes from Lawler. The match is decent, but Lawler is just disgusting here. This is how Pillman's PPV matches go out, with a wimper. Rating: 2.5/52nd Match: Brian Christopher vs Scott Putski. Christopher is Grand Master Sexay, and Lawler's kid. Putski is the son of someone. The match goes less than 5 minutes until Putski catches Chris wrong and blows his knee out. The match ends via countout. Because of the injury, I won't count it against the show, but it wasn't good to start anyway. Rating: None3rd Match: Crush vs Savio Vega vs Faarooq, Triple Threat match. I believe this is the first Triple Threat match on PPV, if so, it sure looks it. This formula would go on to be perfected, but this just hits basic notes until Vega wins. The gang wars continue, much to my apathy. Rating: 2/54th Match: Max Mini vs El Torito. This is a midget lucha comedy match. I don't care for midget wrestling, the lucha matches are just an attempt to copy WCW, and the comedy isn't funny. There are some spots sure, but not enough to keep me remotely interested. Rating: 2/55th Match: The Road Warriors vs The Headbangers vs The Godwinns vs Owen Hart and the British Bulldog. Four Corners Elimination Tag match for the WWF Tag Team Championships. Due to Austin's neck, the tag titles are forfeit. Road Warriors are out first, so now the crowd is dead. The match then drags on without any suspense or thrills until the Handbangers of all teams win. Man, Austin almost getting paralyzed is really hurting the product. Rating: 2/56th Match: Bret Hart vs The Patriot, WWF Championship. I know this was probably going to be Austin/Bret IV, because did anyone really expect Patriot to win this? I know I sure don't. So the match has no suspense because Patriot has no chance of winning, it did a good job of furthering Bret's Canadian heel gimmick, but that's it. Rating: 1.5/57th Match: Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker. The only chance of a saving grace this show has. A crazy brawl that goes all over ringside, has multiple refs KOd, and skyrockets their feud. Do yourself a favor and just watch this match, it doesn't save the show, but it's the only good match on the card. Rating: 4/5Final Rating: 4 out of 10. Stretched to 3 hours, and bearing only one good match, this is a serious drop off from the show before it.

Live from Louisville, KYAttendance 4,963Your commentators are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross & Jerry LawlerGoldust Vs Brian PillmanIf Goldust wins, Brian Pillman must leave the WWF. If Pillman wins, Pillman gets Marlena for 30 days. Pillman wins after nailing Goldust with Marlena's purse while the referee is out. I thought this was a decent match. I wasn't expecting much, considering their match at Summerslam in 97 wasn't very good. It turned out to be a rather entertaining match. I felt the stipulations helped.**1/2 out of 5Scott Putski Vs Brian ChristopherChristopher wins after Putski can't continue anymore after legitimately hurting his knee. I felt badly for Putski. He didn't have much charisma and he didn't interest me all that much, but I really do feel horrible for him. He'd never be the same after this. This match would have probably been decent if it didn't end so abruptly.*1/2 out of 5Triple Threat MatchFarooq Vs Crush Vs Savio VegaVega wins after pinning Crush with a spinning heel kick. This was a boring match that killed the crowd. The crowd got rather restless after a while, and rightfully so. I'm not sure what the point was to give Vega the win. Farooq needed the win the most here. *1/4 out of 5El Torito Vs Max MiniThis is a midget match. Max Mini wins. This was entertaining for what it was. I normally don't like midget matches, but this one was admittedly fun. I enjoyed Max Mini's antics. Sitting on Jerry Lawler's lap was hilarious.Sgt. Slaughter says he is suspending Steve Austin and is ordering him to forfeit the tag team title to him. Dude Love comes out. He says he could defend the tag team titles by himself, but that wouldn't be fair to Austin. He says if it wasn't for Austin, he wouldn't have a tag team title. Steve Austin comes out next. He tells Jim Ross to blow it out his ass. He warns Vince to take that look off his face before he stomps him in the ground. He says Slaughter can't tell him what to do. If he says he can wrestle, that's what he'll do. He tells Slaughter to drop down and give him 20 push ups. He tells Slaughter to pick up the title before he stomps a mud hole in him. He says the entire WWF makes him sick. He calls Jim Ross a fat ass. JR says Austin is the toughest SOB in the WWF, and he wishes that he could wrestle. Austin delivers a stunner to Jim Ross and gives the middle fingers to Slaughter. There are loud "Slaughter sucks" chants.Tag Team Championship (Fatal Four Way)The Headbangers Vs Owen Hart & The British Bulldog Vs The Godwinns Vs The Legion of DoomThe Headbangers win the titles after Steve Austin runs out and delivers a Stunner to Owen Hart. This was a decent match that is memorable because of a great ending. Austin running out and delivering a stunner to Owen Hart provided a feel good moment with The Headbangers winning the titles. **1/2 out of 5Jim Ross says the fans and Steve Austin can kiss his ass. He warns Vince that if this happens again, he isn't gonna be around.WWF ChampionshipBret Hart (C) Vs The PatriotBret retains after making The Patriot submit to The Sharpshooter. This turned into a solid match after a bit of a slow start. I've never cared for Del Wilkes (The Patriot) , but he worked well with Bret here. The last 5 to 10 minutes are especially exciting. There should have been a DQ twice after Vader and The British Bulldog interfered.*** out of 5Shawn Michaels Vs The UndertakerThe match ends in a no-contest. The Undertaker fends off Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and a bunch of other superstars after the match. This was basically Shawn Michaels getting his ass kicked. Shawn managed to make it extremely entertaining by bumping like a mad man. It was a good formula that worked very well. ***1/4 out of 5I enjoyed this PPV. It has some memorable moments and some good matches. It's one of the better In Your House PPV's.7/10

1. Goldust - Brian Pillman - YEAH! Pillman beat that sicko. I lol my Lungs out, when Goldust got beat with that brick. 8/10 2. Scott Putski Vs. Too sexy - Their PPV debut. Brian Christopher won, cuz Scott "Always the Jobber"Putski hurt his right knee. 7/10 3. Triple Threat Match: Faarooq Vs. Crush Vs. Savio Vega - Ordinary match 6/10 4. El Torito Vs. Max mini - Nothing left to say 7/10 Stone Cold stunnered J.R. :) 5. WWF Tag Team Title Fatal 4 way Match: The Headbangers Vs. The Godwinns Vs. The British Bulldog/Owen Hart Vs. Legion of Doom - Nice Headbangers won with a little help by awesome Stunner. 7.5/10 6. WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: The Patriot Vs. Champ-Bret Hart - Kinda uninteresting feud and match either 6.5/10 7. The Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels - First ever one-on-one match but no contest 6.5/10

Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had their first ever meeting, Bret Hart wrestled the Patriot for the WWE Championship, and Steve Austin returned from injury and took out Owen Hart as the Head Bangers won their first and only WWE tag team Championship in this decent, but not great, In Your House PPV, the first to happen over three hours.The night started off with a match that was tragically ironic in retrospect as Brian Pillman took on Goldust. If Pillman won, he would win the services of Goldust's manager Marlena. If Goldust won, Pillman would be forced to leave the WWE. Pillman picked up the victory in a very average match, knocking Goldust out with Marlena's purse, containing a brick. Sadly, Pillman make a far more final exit from the WWE a month later, tragically dying the day of the next PPV.The next match was a continuation of the WWE's efforts to compete with WCW's strong cruiserweight division with small men Brian Christopher and Scott Putski having a match. The match ended early and suffered as a result, Putski losing by count out after receiving a knee injury. Putski's career in the WWE would not last much longer. Brian Christopher, the son of Jerry Lawler (though he was always billed as the nephew) would have moderate success as part of the tag team Too Cool along with Scotty 2 Hotty.Next match, which was poor, saw Savio Vega defeat Crush and Farooq in a Triple Threat match. All three were at this stage still involved in the Nation of Domination. This was followed by a midget match, with Max Mini defeating El Torito. Midget wrestling's not really my cup of tea, and this was a little long.The next match saw the vacant Tag Team Title put on the line in a four team elimination tag match. This was an average match, lifted by a tremendous ending. The first two teams eliminated were the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) with Animal getting disqualified after hitting the Godwinns with their slop bucket, with Thrasher eliminating the Godwinns, pinning Phineas with a sunset flip not long after. The team of Owen Hart and British Bulldog appeared in complete control until the intervention of Steve Austin, who had been off TV following a neck injury he'd received from Owen Hart. Austin hit Owen with a stunner, allowing Mosh to get the pin and the Head Bangers were WWE Tag Team Champions for the first time.Next match saw Bret Hart successfully defending the WWE Title against the Patriot. The Patriot had come from pretty nowhere to defend American values against the evil Canadian and had pinned Hart on RAW in the lead up to the event, and put on a solid match with Bret here. But Hart was too good, hitting the sharpshooter to get the win.This was followed by the main event which saw Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker fight to a no contest in an excellent match. Michaels had cost the Undertaker the WWE Title at Summerslam, accidentally knocking him out with a steel chair. He then started to act strangely. By the end of this match there was no doubt that Michaels had become a bad guy and was about to form one of the WWE's most fondly remembered stables: The Original De-generation X.So there you have it. An interesting PPV, with some good matches and a high profile return. It served its purpose at the time, and isn't a bad watch now. I wouldn't recommend going to a lot of trouble to find it, but if it's easily available, is worth a look.