Good day everyone, it is I Speed On The... Errr...Wait... I'm True God Immortal, here on a special edition of WIRTB, done by yours truly. Today, I'm going to revisit one of the In Your House Pay Per Views from 1996, IYH 9: International Incident. Hailing live from Vancouver at the General Motors Place in Canada, this PPV boasted an illustrious 6 man tag main event with the WWF Champion Shawn Michaels teaming up with the Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson and Sycho Sid to take on the trio of Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog. Originally The Ultimate Warrior was supposed to team with Shawn and Ahmed, but he had a booking dispute which apparently made him leave the company(I'd leave too if I was booked to put over Jerry Lawler in 1996). On top of the main event, there were four other matches, along with a Free For All match between Justin Bradshaw(JBL) vs Savio Vega. Riveting action so far.
The Card is As Follows:
Free For All Match
Justin Bradshaw vs Savio Vega
Tag Team Match
The Bodydonnas vs The Smoking Gunns
One On One Match
Mankind vs Henry O. Godwinn(this was really a match on a WWF PPV)
One on One Match
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Wildman Marc Mero
One On One Match
The Undertaker vs Goldust
6 Man Tag Main Event
Shawn Michaels, Sycho Sid, and Ahmed Johnson vs Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog
There you have it. The full card. Looks really unappealing right? Well, let's get to that. First, I have to make a brief mention of a hilarious occurrence on the Free For All show. The funniest part of the Free For All came when Jose Lothario was in the ring with Jim Cornette, and Cornette goes to strike Lothario, but Jose ducks and start hitting Jim. Vader runs out to save him Cornette which prompts Shawn Michaels to follow suit and help Jose. This sequence was hilarious, first because of the Cornette/Lothario action, secondly because HBK comes out and flips a table in the ring a half ass push. A recap of this Free For All moment is what leads us into the PPV.
First up, is the tag match between The Bodydonnas and The Smoking Gunns. The Bodydonnas arrive without their manager Cloudy, who was the worst idea ever in WWF damn near. Cloudy was a cross dressing cheerleader who took over after the Bodydonnas lost their original manager, the Skype Show Champion of the world Sunny. She arrives with The Smoking Gunns instead and the match begins, as the action is pretty fast paced in the match. Both teams have good in ring workers and that was vital to making this a solid opener for the night, as The Bodydonnas pull out the victory as a ref distraction helped them in the end.
Next up... Mankind vs Henry O. Godwinn... In a one on one match.... On Pay Per View....Henry O. Godwinn in a singles match on a Pay Per View. As suspected, this match lasts about 6 minutes with Mankind picking up the victory, but leaving me in disbelief that they would even put that match on a Pay Per View. Mankind was in a feud against The Undertaker at the time, so I guess this was just filler for the card, but couldn't they have gave us a better match and opponent for Mankind? I suspect if Warrior didn't walk out on the company, Sid could have fought Mankind. However, things did not work out like that and we were left with this. One interesting note, the WWF Superstar Hotline was being run that night by Brian Pillman, which was actually pretty funny.
Moving onto the next match, which was match of the night, with Austin vs Mero. Now, if you know me well, you know one of my biggest disappointments in wrestling history is finding out Marc Mero wasn't an actual black man. Marc Mero was like the 90s version of Rachel Dolezal and that isn't even an exaggeration. Moving onto the match, it wasn't a classic or anything, it was just the best match on the card, as Austin was heavily cheered through this match and Marlena even made a random appearance during. Austin wins with a less impactful stunner(no gut kick before) and continued his rise to the top.
The Undertaker vs Goldust was your semi main event and I was not a fan of this match. The action was a bit sloppy and dragged on for about 13 minutes until Taker caught Goldust with a tombstone piledriver. The funny part here is that it was obvious Taker was waiting for an interference because he was stalling on putting Goldust's arms on his chest for the signature pin. Mankind interferes in the nick of time by coming through a hole in the ring and taking Taker back down into the hole with him as the Mankind vs Taker saga continued. That match would then lead into the main event.
This match is hilarious for a few reasons, a huge reason being that Shawn, Ahmed, and Sid's team were labeled "The People's Posse". Yes, that was the name they were given. Another reason is that they virtually gave away the end result by Cornette saying that if his team of Vader, Owen and Bulldog didn't win, he would refund everyone who bought the PPV.... Now, you know damn well Vince wasn't going to let that happen. Camp Cornette ended up as the winners, with Vader getting the pin on Shawn to set up their Summerslam main event the following month. Small note: watch the awkwardness that is Shawn, Ahmed and Sid's pre match promo, as well as Shawn's entrance to see fans break the barricade, just to get a chance to touch Shawn's hand. Weird, but hey, it's wrestling.
Overall, the event felt pretty boring, with the main event falling short. So Was It Really That Bad? Yes. Yes It Was.
-True
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