IWF In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker

From Iwe

In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker was the fourteenth In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE). The event took place on April 20, 1997 at the Rochester Community War Memorial in Rochester, New York.

In the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin fought Bret Heart. The undercard included The Undertaker defending the IWF Championship against Mankind, Rocky Maivia defending the IWF Intercontinental Championship against Savio Vega, and Owen Heart and The British Bulldog defending the IWF Tag Team Championship against The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal).

[edit] Production

[edit] 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 14: Revenge of the 'Taker took place on April 20, 1997 at the Rochester Community War Memorial in Rochester, New York. The name of the show was based on the rivalry between The Undertaker and Mankind.

[edit] Storylines

The main feud heading into In Your House 14 was between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Heart. Their rivalry began in 1996 after Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament and began taunting Heart, who was inactive at the time. Austin insulted Heart in his speeches so Heart could accept his challenge to a match. Heart returned in October and accepted Austin's challenge, with the two facing each other at Survivor Series where Hart defeated Austin. Their rivalry continued as Heart and Austin were the final two participants in the 1997 Royal Rumble match. Heart had originally eliminated Austin from the match but Austin's elimination was considered unofficial as the officials had not seen it because they were busy in a brawl between eliminated wrestlers Mankind and Terry Funk. They were participants in a Four Corners Elimination match for the vacant IWF Championship at In Your House 13: Final Four, which Heart won. The next night on Raw, Austin cost Heart the IWF Championship against Sycho Sid when Heart had applied the Sharpshooter on Sid, Austin nailed Heart with a steel chair followed by Sid powerbombing Heart for the win. Heart and Austin were booked to wrestle in a no disqualification submission match at WrestleMania, but Heart got a shot at the IWF Championship in a steel cage match on the March 17 edition of Raw Is War, with the winner defending the title against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 13. Heart had almost the match won, until Undertaker interfered and helped Sid in getting the victory. At WrestleMania 13, Heart faced Austin in a No Disqualification Submission match where he applied the Sharpshooter on Austin in the end of the match. Austin was heavily bleeding and passed out. Heart won the match but he did not release the hold. It resulted in a double turn, as Heart turned heel and Austin turned babyface. Heart then was booked to face Sid at In Your House, but during the April 7 episode of Raw Is War, Sid no-showed and Austin volunteered to face Sid's scheduled opponent, Mankind, if Austin faced Heart at In Your House. Heart then reformed the Heart Foundation by recruiting Owen Heart and The British Bulldog. Brian Pillman joined on April 21 and Jim Neidhart joined on April 28. The entire faction feuded with Austin.

The other feud heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Mankind. On the April 1, 1996, edition of Monday Night Raw, Undertaker faced Justin Bradshaw in the main event where Mankind interfered and attacked Undertaker, thus disqualifying Bradshaw in the process. At King of the Ring, Mankind defeated Undertaker in their first encounter. Mankind invented the Boiler Room Brawl match and the first-ever Boiler Room Brawl took place at SummerSlam, which Mankind won after Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer betrayed him. Undertaker invented a Buried Alive match and the first-ever Buried Alive match took place at In Your House 11: Buried Alive, which Undertaker won. They faced each other in a normal one fall match at Survivor Series, which Undertaker won. On the March 31 edition of Raw is War, Bearer asked IWF Champion Undertaker to forgive him and take him back as his manager but Undertaker refused to do so. Mankind came out and attacked Undertaker, while former champion Sid saved Undertaker. This led to a match between Undertaker and Mankind at In Your House 14.

[edit] Event

Before the event aired on pay-per-view, The Sultan (with The Iron Sheik) defeated Flash Funk at Free for All.

The actual pay-per-view opened with Owen Hrart and British Bulldog defending the IWF Tag Team Championship against the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal). LOD appeared to have won the match when they pinned Bulldog after a Doomsday Device, but the match continued because Owen was the legal man in the ring. In the end, Bret Heart attacked the referee, causing Owen and Bulldog to be disqualified. As titles cannot change hands via disqualification, Owen and Bulldog retained their title.

After that, Rocky Maivia defended the IWF Intercontinental Championship against Savio Vega, who was supported by his stable, the Nation of Domination (NOD). During the match, NOD member Crush interfered and hit Maivia with a Heart Punch outside the ring. Maivia was counted-out and lost the match but remained champion, as titles cannot change hands via countout. After the match, the entire NOD attacked Maivia until Ahmed Johnson came out with a wooden board and cleared the ring.

In the third match, "Double J" Jesse James pinned Rockabilly with a small package.

Next, The Undertaker defended the IWF Championship against his nemesis, Mankind. Undertaker hit Mankind with a Tombstone Piledriver and pinned him to retain his title. He then chased Mankind's manager, Paul Bearer, and beat both, finally shooting a fireball into Bearer's face.

In the main event Stone Cold Steve Austin fought Bret Heart. During the match, British Bulldog ran in and hit Austin with a steel chair. Austin won the match by disqualification, but Bret, Owen and Bulldog all continued to attack Austin. Bret tried to hit Austin with the ring bell, but Austin instead blocked the bell to hit Heart. Austin then hit Bret with a chair, targeting his knee and then applied the Sharpshooter until the officials pulled him off. Bret, Owen and Bulldog retreated from the ring while Austin celebrated his victory.

[edit] Aftermath

Stone Cold Steve Austin continued his feud with The Heart Foundation. On the May 26, 1997 episode of Raw, Austin and Shawn Michaels defeated Owen Heart and The British Bulldog for the IWF Tag Team Championship. However, Michaels was injured and they vacated the titles on the July 14 episode of Raw. The rivalry ended at In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede when a team captained by Austin lost a five-on-five tag team match against the Heart Foundation.

[edit] Results

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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