In Your House 13: Final Four

The main angle entering this edition of In Your House was, initially, the resolution to the Royal Rumble match from the previous pay-per-view; the controversial ending of the match featured four wrestlers whose feuds became intertwined as a result.

The first feud was that between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin, which had been brewing since shortly after Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring crown. Hart, at the time, had taken a leave of absence from the company following his WWF Championship loss to Shawn Michaels in an Iron Man Match at WrestleMania XII and the possibility existed that he might not return to the WWF (he had been negotiating with, and had received a contract offer from, World Championship Wrestling and was said to be considering leaving). Austin began berating Hart in his absence trying to goad him into a match. Hart would eventually return at Survivor Series in November 1996 and defeat Austin. [4]

The other feud was between The Undertaker and his former manager Paul Bearer, who had turned on him at SummerSlam in August 1996. Vader, who had joined the WWF in 1996, was drawn into said feud when Bearer interfered in their match at the Royal Rumble and began managing Vader. [5]

The winner of the Royal Rumble match, as is almost always the case, was to face the WWF Champion in the main event of WrestleMania 13 in Chicago in March 1997. In this particular instance, the Royal Rumble winner would face the winner of the main event of the pay-per-view where reigning champion Sycho Sid defended his title against Michaels, from whom he had wrested the title at Survivor Series. [5]

Hart, Austin, Undertaker, and Vader were all entered in the Royal Rumble match. Late in the match, Mankind eliminated Terry Funk from the match and was himself eliminated shortly thereafter by The Undertaker. Both men began brawling with each other outside the ring, and all of the referees ran over to try and break up the fight.

While this was going on, Hart threw Austin over the top rope. Since the officials were still busy trying to break up the fight between Funk and Mankind, there was no one on the side of the ring where Austin had landed. Once he realized that, Austin climbed back into the ring as if nothing had happened. Hart, Undertaker, Vader, and Diesel were still in the match. Austin pushed Undertaker and Vader, who were tangled in the ropes trying to eliminate each other, over the top to eliminate them while Hart threw Diesel out and began to celebrate what he thought was a victory. He never saw Austin return to the ring, and Austin took advantage of this and tossed Hart out; since he had not been officially been eliminated from the match, Austin was declared the victor as a furious Hart protested the decision.

The next night on Monday Night Raw, Hart came out unexpectedly at the start of the program and expressed his frustration over what he perceived as constant mistreatment since he had returned from his self-imposed exile. He demanded that Vince McMahon give him the WrestleMania title match, since as far as he was concerned Hart was the last legal man in the Rumble and the winner of the match. When McMahon ignored him, Hart said he was quitting and walked out.

A short time later, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon made an announcement regarding the previous night’s event. Since the long-standing policy of the WWF was that all referee decisions were final, Austin’s victory in the Royal Rumble stood. However, Monsoon refused to award Austin the WrestleMania title match due to his actions and instead came up with what he called the “Final Four”, a special elimination match featuring Austin and all three of the wrestlers he eliminated once he illegally returned to the match; once he heard this, Hart returned to the ring and announced he would reconsider his previous decision to quit and participate in the match with Undertaker, Vader, and Austin.

The original idea was for the match at In Your House to be contested for the guaranteed title shot at WrestleMania 13. Immediately following the controversial Royal Rumble match, Michaels defeated Sid to regain the WWF Championship he had lost at Survivor Series; ergo, unless Michaels lost the title before WrestleMania, he would be squaring off with the winner of the Final Four match. However, a real life incident got in the way and changed the plans for WrestleMania in a rather significant manner.

As Bret Hart recalled, the plan was for him to face Michaels in a rematch of their classic at WrestleMania XII in 1996. In that match, Hart was supposed to defeat Michaels for the WWF Championship as a reward for agreeing to lose the year before. However, on a special Thursday edition of Raw that aired on February 13, 1997, Michaels announced that he was vacating the championship. Several weeks earlier he had wrestled Hart and Sid and suffered a knee injury; Michaels revealed that doctors had told him that the damage was severe enough that he would likely have to retire from wrestling. He also said that he had “lost (his) smile” and needed to find it again, and thus he was walking away for a spell.[2] Hart was said to be furious with the situation; he believed that Michaels was only doing this so he could get out of having to lose the belt to him as they had agreed upon and that the injury was not as bad as he was letting on.

Nevertheless, the entire situation involving the WWF Championship had just been thrown into chaos. Sid, as the #1 contender, was scheduled to face Michaels on the Thursday Raw for the title, but now could not. The participants in the Final Four match also had nothing to strive for after the title was vacated.

To correct the issues Michaels’ actions had created, Monsoon explained how the WWF was adjusting their plans. Sid was still guaranteed a title shot and would get it on the Raw one night after In Your House 13. The Final Four match would now be contested for the vacant belt, with the winner making their first defense against Sid.

Stone Cold Steve Austin won the 1997 Royal Rumble

The other major feuds heading into the pay-per-view event were between Rocky Maivia and Hunter Hearst Helmsley over the WWF Intercontinental Championship. On Thursday Raw Thursday, Maivia defeated Helmsley to win the Intercontinental title in an upset at the time, with Maivia scoring a small package on Helmsley culminating in a rematch for Maivia's newly won Intercontinental title,[2] and Owen Hart and The British Bulldog against Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon over the WWF Tag Team Championship which began after Furnas and LaFon had eliminated Tag Champions from a Survivor Series match at Survivor Series 1996 to earn a title shot.[4]

The first televised match was between Marc Mero and Leif Cassidy. Mero began with a quick assault on Cassidy before getting distracted by Sable. Cassidy regrouped and applied the figure four leglock on Mero and also argued with Sable, who was in Mero's corner. Mero tried to do quick attacks on Cassidy but Cassidy managed to be on the offensive. Sable continued to distract him throughout the match and Cassidy was frustrated of her interferences. He ran before her before Mero hit Cassidy with a Wild Thing for the win.[1][2][3]

The second match was a six-man tag team match featuring Nation of Domination (Faarooq, Crush and Savio Vega) against Bart Gunn, Goldust and Flash Funk. All the six men began brawling with each other, until Nation were sent to the outside. As they regrouped, Funk dived from the top rope onto all the three members of Nation. Funk hit a hurricanrana on Vega from the top rope and tried to dive on the Nation again but they controlled his landing and dragged him into the ring. Faarooq, Crush and Vega took turns and attacked Funk. After a great damage, he was able to tag with Gunn who took care of all three men. Gunn, Goldust and Funk sent Nation outside the ring and Gunn hit a diving bulldog on Faarooq and went for the cover but the referee was distracted in sending Goldust and Funk to the outside. Crush took advantage and hit a leg drop on Gunn while Faarooq pinned Gunn to get the win.[1][2][3]

Bret Hart won the Four Corners Elimination match for the vacant WWF Championship

The third match was for the WWF Intercontinental Championship between champion Rocky Maivia and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Helmsley gained the early advantage by performing backbreakers and suplexes on Maivia. Helmsley began applying submission holds on Maivia but Maivia countered them into a small package. Helmsley kicked out of the pin until Maivia hit a flying crossbody on Helmsley. He kicked out again and nailed Maivia with a jawbreaker and a DDT. Goldust came to the ringside and distracted Helmsley. Maivia hit a Bridging German suplex on Helmsley and pinned him to retain the IC title. Following the match, as Goldust confronted Helmsley, Marlena was assaulted and choked by a female fan at ringside, who was later identified as Helmsley's new bodyguard/enforcer, Chyna. [1][2][3]

The fourth match was a tag team match pitting Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon against WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and The British Bulldog for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hart and Furnas started the match as Furnas hit Owen with a lariat and a leg drop. Furnas tagged in with LaFon while Owen tagged in with Bulldog. He overpowered LaFon and then Owen and Bulldog took turns by tagging with each other and attacking LaFon. Smith did a pinfall attempt on LaFon but the referee was distracted by Owen. Owen continued to distract the referee as accidentally hit Bulldog with a lariat. Bulldog hit Owen with a lariat and the two argued as LaFon hit a splash on Owen from the top rope but Bulldog controlled LaFon. Despite that, LaFon tagged in with Furnas and then the challengers double-teamed Hart until Hart tagged in with Bulldog. Bulldog picked up LaFon and went for a running powerslam until Hart hit LaFon with his Slammy statuette. LaFon and Furnas won the match by disqualification, but the title does not change hands by DQ, so the titles remained with Hart and Bulldog.[1][2][3]

The main event was the Final Four match for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship between The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vader. As mentioned, this was a no-disqualification match. In order to be eliminated a wrestler could be pinned, forced to submit, or thrown over the top rope with both feet touching the floor. Hart and Austin, who had a well-known rivalry, started brawling with each other while Undertaker attacked Vader and hit him with a crossbody over the top rope. Undertaker attacked both Hart and Vader. Vader recovered and then hit Undertaker with a steel chair to the outside. Undertaker blocked the chair and drove Vader in the chair and then the steel steps opening his right eye. Austin bumped Hart and then began working on Undertaker while Hart and Vader punched each other. All the four men began wrestling on outside as Undertaker crotched Austin. Vader attacked Hart with a steel chair. Undertaker began working on Hart, who eye raked Undertaker and was powerslammed by Undertaker. Vader and Austin attacked each other by hitting steel chairs, steps, bell and even a camera man. Vader applied Hart's own maneuver Sharpshooter on him, but Austin hit Vader with a Lou Thesz Press to break the hold. Vader tried to hit Undertaker a Vaderbomb, but instead went a Vadersault which missed. Hart then put Austin in a fireman's carry and threw him over the top rope, which eliminated him from the match. Hart and Undertaker brawled with each other while Vader recovered in the corner. Paul Bearer interfered and attacked Undertaker while Vader was superplexed by Hart. Despite being eliminated, Austin interfered in the match and attacked Hart. Vader went for a Vaderbomb from the top rope, but Undertaker low blowed Vader and threw him over the top rope. Undertaker and Hart remained the final two participants. He tried to hit a "Tombstone" on Hart until Austin distracted Undertaker while Hart clotheslined Undertaker over the top rope to win his fourth WWF World Heavyweight Championship.[1][2][3]