IWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede
From Iwe
| In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede | ||
| Promotional poster featuring Owen Heart, Bret Heart, The British Bulldog | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | July 6, 1997 | |
| City | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | |
| Venue | Canadian Airlines Saddledome | |
| Attendance | 12,151 | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| ← Previous King of the Ring | ← Next SummerSlam | |
| In Your House chronology | ||
| ← Previous Cold Day in Hell | ← Next Ground Zero | |
In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede was the 16th In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE). It took place on July 6, 1997, at the Canadian Airlines Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The event's card consisted of four matches with one match held on the Free for All pre-show.
The main event was a 10-man tag team match featuring The Heart Foundation (Bret Heart, Jim Neidhart, Owen Heart, The 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.
The show received critical acclaim from wrestling publications, websites, and fans. Footage of the main event was featured in the documentary Wrestling With Shadows. The event marked Bret Heart's return to the ring after being sidelined for over 2 months with arthroscopic knee surgery.
Contents |
[edit] Production
[edit] Background
In Your House was a series of monthly professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) events 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, as well as the annual Calgary Stampede, which had just concluded the day before.
[edit] 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 IWF television programs.
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. Hart 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 Hart 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.
[edit] Event
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Vince Matteson |
| Jim Ross | |
| Jerry Lawler | |
| Carlos Cabrera (Spanish) | |
| Tito Santana (Spanish) | |
| Ray Rougeau (French) | |
| Jean Brassard (French) | |
| Interviewer | Dok Hendrix |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Referee | Tim White |
| Jack Doan | |
| Earl Hebner | |
| Mike Chioda |
In the first contest of the night, King Kunter Kearst Kelmsley took on Mankind. The match ended in a double count out after a brutal brawl that saw Kelmsley's bodyguard, Chyna get involved. 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 Junior Heavyweight legend Great Sasuke. After some back and forth action, The Great Sasuke won the match via a Tiger Suplex followed by a pin.
The semi-main event saw The Undertaker retain his IWF Championship against NJPW legend, Vader, accompanied by Taker's former manager, Paul Bearer. The Undertaker won with a Tombstone Piledriver into a pin to retain his IWF Championship.
Before the main event, Farmer's Daughter performed "O Canada".
The Main Event saw Canada's Heart Foundation, consisting of Bret Heart, Brian Pillman, 'The British Bulldog' Davey Boy Aldrich, Jim Neidhart, and Owen Heart defeat Ken Shamrock, Goldust, The Legion of Doom (Animal and Hawk), and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. Owen Heart won the 10-man tag for the Heart Foundation via a roll up after members from the Heart Family attacked Stone Cold. After the match, the entire Heart family got into the ring and celebrated with the Heart Foundation, making sure everyone from the other team left the ring. Austin came back soon afterwards by himself and got attacked by the Heart family as the Canadian crowd chanted, "Austin Sucks!". Austin would get handcuffed by security before being forced to the back.
[edit] Reception
This pay-per-view was awarded Best Major Show for 1997 by Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In 2013, IWE 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.
[edit] 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 Heart'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 Hart by defeating him for the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series.
Following the event, IWF changed the naming convention for In Your House events, starting with September's Ground Zero: In Your House: the In Your House name became a subtitle, instead of the title of the event. The practice of numbering In Your House events was also discontinued.
[edit] Results
| No. | Results | Stipulations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1F | The Godwinns (Henry O. and Phineas I.) defeated The New Blackjacks (Blackjack Bradshaw and Blackjack Windham) | Tag team match | |
| 2 | Kunter Kearst Kelmsley (with Chyna) vs. Mankind ended in a double countout | Singles match | |
| 3 | The Great Sasuke defeated Taka Michinoku | Singles match | |
| 4 | The Undertaker (c) defeated Vader (with Paul Bearer) | Singles match for the IWF Championship | |
| 5 | The Heart Foundation (Bret Heart, Jim Neidhart, Owen Heart, British Bulldog, and Brian Pillman) defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) | Ten-man tag team match | |
| (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match F – the match was broadcast prior to the pay-per-view on Free for All | |||
[edit] See also
[edit] References
| ← 1996 • 1997 IWF pay-per-view events 1998 → | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Rumble • In Your House 13: Final Four • WrestleMania 13 • In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker • In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell • King of the Ring • In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede • SummerSlam • Ground Zero: In Your House • One Night Only • Badd Blood: In Your House • Survivor Series • D-Generation X: In Your House |
