IWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

From Iwe

In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede was the sixteenth In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE), which took place on July 6, 1997, at the Canadian Airlines Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The card of the event consisted of four matches.

The main event was a ten-man tag team match featuring The Heart Foundation (Bret Heart, Jim Neidhart, Owen Heart, British Bulldog and Brian Pillman) against Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal). On the undercard, The Undertaker defended the IWF Championship against Vader, The Great Sasuke faced Taka Michinoku and Kunter Kearst Kelmsley wrestled Mankind.

Production

Background

In Your House was a series of monthly pay-per-view (PPV) shows first produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE) in May 1995. They aired when the promotion was not holding one of its then-five major PPVs (WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble), and were sold at a lower cost. In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede took place on July 6, 1997, at the Canadian Airlines Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The name of the show was based on the event being held in Canada.

Storylines

In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede consisted of professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines that were played out on Raw Is War and other International Wrestling Federation (IWF) television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The main rivalry heading into the event involved Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Heart. While on hiatus from the IWF from April until October 1996, Heart received challenges from Austin. After he returned to the IWF, he feuded with Austin, who cost him a victory at the Royal Rumble match and the IWF Championship. After fighting with him on WrestleMania 13, Austin became a fan favorite, while Heart became a villain, criticizing the American fans for cheering Austin. Heart recruited his brother Owen, his brothers-in-law The British Bulldog and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and Austin's former partner Brian Pillman, creating the Heart Foundation, to fight with Austin. At King of the Ring, Heart challenged the five best American wrestlers of the IWF to fight his team at the event. Austin entered himself into the match the next day on WWF Raw is War, prior to his match with Brian Pillman. Before the match, the Heart foundation attacked Austin, prompting Mankind to replace him in the match. After the match, Austin and Ken Shamrock cleared the ring of the Heart Foundation, and Austin gave the Stunner finisher on Shamrock. Next week, Austin and Pillman fought as the Heart Foundation members were handcuffed into the ring posts, but they managed to release themselves and to attack Austin, who was rescued by Shamrock, Mankind and Goldust. After a brief brawl between Austin and Shamrock, which was broken by the Legion of Doom, Goldust suggested that he, Shamrock and LOD will team up with Austin in the 5 on 5 match at the event, to which Austin agreed. On the June 23 edition of Raw Is War, LOD fought The Godwinns, and after their victory, the Heart Foundation attacked them and Shamrock. Next week, while Austin fought Neidhart, Bret Heart (Who attacked Shamrock during the match) came and attacked Austin, putting the figure-four leglock on Austin while on the ring post.

Another predominant feud involved the IWF Champion The Undertaker and Vader. On the June 23 episode of Raw Is War, Vader was announced as the number one contender for the championship, as Undertaker had to team up with Vader in a tournament match for the IWF Tag Team Championship against the Nation of Domination's team of D'Lo Brown and Faarooq. Vader's manager, Paul Bearer, forced The Undertaker to do as he said or else he will tell a secret from the Undertaker's past. After the Undertaker attacked Vader in the match, Bearer told the secret next week: Throughout The Undertaker's childhood and teen years, he lived in a funeral home with his parents and half-brother. According to Paul Bearer, The Undertaker killed his parents and caused his half-brother's face to be bruised and scarred by setting the funeral home ablaze. The Undertaker denied it and said that Kane was the one that burnt the house. During an attack from the Undertaker after Vader's match with Rockabilly, Bearer said he heard that from Kane himself, because unbeknownst to The Undertaker, Kane had survived the fire and was still alive.

Another rivalry heading into event was the continuation of battle between Mankind and Kunter Kearst Kelmsley. At the King of the Ring event, Kelmsley and Mankind fought at the finals of the King of the ring tournament as Kelmsley won, and he kept attacking Mankind after the match. The day after that, Mankind requested a rematch, to which Kelmsley agreed. On the June 30 edition of Raw Is War, Mankind and Brian Pillman fought in a match, which Pillman won by a count-out after Kelmsley interfered.

Event

Prior to the main event Farmer's Daughter performed "O Canada".

In the first contest of the night, King of the Ring Kunter Kearst Kelmsley took on Mankind. The match ended in a double count out after a brutal brawl that saw Triple K's bodyguard, Chyna getting involved a good bit. The two men didn't stop fighting though, taking their brawl through the crowd into the parking lot. The two men were finally broken up, with Kelmsley left bloodied.

The second match saw Taka Michinoku taking on legend, The Great Sasuke. After some back and forth action, The Great Sasuke won the match via a tiger suplex.

Aftermath

Stone Cold Steve Austin's feud with Bret Heart ended after Canadian Stampede but immediately started a feud with his brother Owen the following night by attacking him while he was singing the Canadian national anthem. This led to a title match between the two for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam with Austin giving the stipulation that if he lost, he will kiss Hart's ass. During the match, Heart delivered a botched piledriver to Austin, legitimately breaking his neck and temporarily paralyzing him. Despite this, Austin was able to win the match and the title but due to the severity of his neck injury, he was forced to relinquish the Intercontinental Championship and the Tag Team Championships. Austin eventually recovered and ended his feud with Heart by defeating him for the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series.

Reception

This pay-per-view was awarded Best Major Show for 1997 by Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In 2013, IWF released a list of their "15 best pay-per-views ever", with In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede ranked at number ten. In 2019, Troy L. Smith of cleveland.com released a list of the "50 greatest wrestling pay-per-views of all time" from every professional wrestling promotion in the world, with the event ranked at number seven.

Results

See also

• Professional wrestling in Canada

References

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