In Your House: It's Time Review

Sycho Sid was a top the WWF tree

Listen to our December 1996 WWF podcast, reviewing In Your House It's Time.

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With television already pointing towards January and the Royal Rumble, you'd be forgiven for thinking In Your House: It's Time (named after a man now not even on the show) was a bit of an afterthought. With the Rumble attempting to sell out the 70,000 seat Alamodome in Texas all attention had been pointed at it, but it did leave the December show in a bit of a dead spot. With the main event of the Rumble already announced as having Shawn in it, the main event like the entire show felt like a means to an end.

It was also illustrated by the matchups themselves, many of which just felt like filler compared to what had come before it. Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon had been showcased as the number one threat to tag title holders Owen and Bulldog, of course Furnas and Lafon sat off the show as Owen and Bulldog faced the fake Razor and Diesel. And while it perhaps made a bit of sense, all three losing singles acts from Survivor Series (Michaels, Mankind and Steve Austin) were off this card, even if Michaels and Austin both wrestled dark matches after the show had gone off the air.
 
Flash Funk vs Leif Cassidy
Because, when in doubt, go with two guys that can work. They were billing this as Cassidy's big singles chance having been a successful tag team wrestler (yeah, right) - but  for a guy who'd done very little of note in a year being with the company, this would give him a big showcase chance. His role would be helping get over Flash Funk, aka Too Cold Scorpio. Funk's outfit is complete with ridiculous silver thigh high boots – his entrance only topped by Vince McMahon's dancing. Lord.

The match was decent, the crowd were flat early on but going into the offense of both as Cassidy got some good early offense in with a headscissors and later a sit-out powerbomb. Funk managed to slip off the top going for something then tried to correct the mistake by simply starting again, which looked a bit awkward. Still, even in the WWF Scorpio still needed two top rope finishers to get the job done, after a lovely moonsault he finishes it off with a 450 splash. Not exceptional, but this probably caught a few people by surprise if you didn't know much about them.
 
(Fake) Razor Ramon & (Fake) Diesel vs Owen Hart & The British Bulldog for the WWF Tag Team Titles
Still have to put that bit in parenthesis! Odd match this, from Jim Ross (who now flip flops between face and heel depending on the time of day) to the slightly arbitrary appearance of a couple of AAA guys (Vince McMahon knowing who Cybernetico is almost bizarre). The match was flat, Ramon and Diesel are just busted flushes at this point, and neither Owen nor Bulldog is really able of carrying them. Austin walks out and Bulldog immediately went after him (a throwback to Austin's attack on Bret previously on Raw), was nice. The finish was nice, Razor goes for an Edge but Owen hits a wheel kick and Bulldog bridges into a pin. Still, ugh!
 
We get an in ring segment from Ahmed Johnson, who says since his injury has lost his girlfriend and his house? He's only been out four months, what the fuck happened? Do they not pay him? And what does that say about his (now-ex) girlfriend? Anyway, this is a decent promo, and possibly the strongest feud currently running in the WWF. Farooq and the Nation of Domination interrupt with a promo in the stands and we get a strong back and forth. Farooq talks about forming a new race of people, which is a bit jarring. These two will meet at the Royal Rumble.
 
Marc Mero (w/ Sable) vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the WWF Intercontinental Title
This whole show felt as if someone said in a creative meeting "hey, Vince, we can have storylines that involve more than two people". We've got Austin feuding with Bret – which has angered Bulldog, who currently isn't aligned with Bret. We've got Undertaker facing the Executioner – who is aligned with Mankind, we've got Bret Hart facing Sid, while Shawn Michaels is ratty with both of them, and here we have an Intercontinental Title match that ends with Goldust coming out and levelling them with a title belt.

Another decent if entirely forgettable match (could say the same about the show). Mero is good, and Hunter, called by the moniker "Triple H" in the video packages for the first time since Mr Perfect said it randomly on a pay per view the year before. We get a ref bump that preludes the Goldust interference, he levels both guys and Mero gets back into the ring before the ten to win by count out.
 
The Undertaker vs The Execution in an Armageddon Rules Match (basically last man standing w/ pins)
They got this right. We didn't need another advertised Undertaker vs Mankind match, but Taker vs Executioner could've been dreadful (as the early goings briefly suggested), but Mankind came out early doors and Undertaker started brawling with him and destroying the In Your House set. Security eventually come out and mace Mankind, Undertaker and Executioner brawl outside, Executioner ends up in a pond/water feature outside the building. We get back to the ring, Undertaker hits a tombstone (as water, brilliantly, comes out of Executioner's boots) and he fails to answer the ten count.
 
Bret Hart vs Sid for the WWF Title
Shawn Michaels is on commentary. Sid pulls up the ringside matting, a child in the front row actually tries to stop him, which is a real nice touch. Austin attacks Bret from under the ring, Bulldog steams out to attack Austin – like that. Bret kicks out of a chokeslam, both men tumble outside by Shawn's position. They return to the ring, Shawn climbs on the apron, Bret collides with him and Sid hits a powerbomb for, what it should be said, is a relatively clean win.

This wasn't a good match. Some of that is on Sid, some of it is on Bret and some is just on the goals of the match. Very little drama for what should have been a big match, I suspect the half turn of Sid heel did nobody any favours. Ending was messy – who am I supposed to like here? 

Score Rating: 2.5/10
Go Back And Watch: Genuinely nothing of note.