In Your House 17 Ground Zero 1997

Commentary Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross
First triple threat match between the leaders of 3 factions. Faarooq representing the Nation of Domination, Crush representing Disciples of Apocalypse, and Savio Vega representing Los Boricuas. The three leaders obviously have waited a while for their match since they split up. The crowd are more on the side of Crush throughout the match. Towards the end Crush lands the heart punch on Faarooq but before he can go for a pin, Savio Vega hits Crush with the spinning heel kick from behind and takes the victory. None of the members of the faction interferes in this match which is unusual as this is what they are typically known for.
The next match is between El Torito against Max Mini, who is a mini version of Max Moon it seems. This is not the El Torito who appears in the WWE in 2013. Both athletes are dwarfs with El Torito nearly more than twice the size in height and weight than Max Mini.
LOD disqualified for using slop buckets on the Godwinns even though Phineaus brought in the bucket initially and used it first. Headbangers eliminate the Godwinns shortly after. When Owen Hart is about to go for the sharpshooter, Steve Austin suddenly appears and delivers a stonecold stunner on Owen Hart allowing the Headbangers to immediately score the pin.
The next match is between Bret Hart and The Patriot. The feud began from when the Patriot scored an upset win against Bret Hart. It is a typical battle between 2 patriots, with The Patriot representing the United States, and Bret Hart representing Canada. The Patriot’s entrance theme is the same theme music used by Kurt Angle a few years later (without the You Suck! crowd chants at the time). Bret Hart does stick his middle finger at a fan during the beginning of the match. He does this a second time to the crowd later on. The Patriot does attempt to weaken Bret’s arm at the beginning, but Bret later takes control and begins to work on the Patriot’s leg. Bret later on and screams “what happened to USA, USA” at him as well. The British Bulldog then appears down at ringside and ruins The Patriot’s attempt at a pinfall. This causes The Patriot to retaliate and fight the British Bulldog, until Vader comes down and beats the Bulldog, before going after Bret Hart too. Both British Bulldog and Vader then leave the ring. Whilst punching Bret Hart in the corner, The Patriot accidentally elbows the referee. The Patriot with the uncle slam but when it takes the referee a short while to deliver the count by which time Bret puts his foot on the bottom rope during the pin. Later on The Patriot then shockingly applies the sharpshooter on Bret, which is then reversed by Bret and The Patriot loses by submission. Bret then delivers an extended beating to the Patriot and snaps the American flag and choke The Patriot with it. Bret then strikes Pat Patterson too. Despite the Austin chants, Steve Austin does not reappear despite coming earlier to screw Owen Hart.
In Your House 17 1997 Ground Zero will also be remembered for the first time when Shawn Michaels faced The Undertaker. Despite Shawn Michaels being with the company before The Undertaker debuted in 1990, none of them had crossed paths with each other in seven years. This match is set up due to Shawn Michaels costing The Undertaker his WWE championship at Summerslam 1997.
The Undertaker knocks out the referee before the bell, and Shawn Michaels, shocked immediately tells Vince McMahon he does not want to be part of the match and walks away. Commissioner Slaughter, however, forces Shawn back to the ring where the Undertaker picks up the referee and throws him at Shawn. Shawn escapes up the aisle to the In Your House titantron, however, the Undertaker follows and beats him up and punches him so hard that Shawn rolls back to ringside. A great start to their first match. The Undertaker continues his assault around ringside, as chokes Shawn Michaels with a wire and throws him into the guardrails and around the table. Back in the ring, the Undertaker continues the offence. Finally as the referee orders the bell to ring, Shawn Michaels attacks Undertaker from behind to begin his offence, but the Undertaker manages to ain the upper hand shortly once again. The Undertaker continues to punish Shawn Michaels even more. During the middle of the match, Rick Rude appears and hands Shawn Michaels some brass knuckle dusters. Shawn Michaels uses on The Undertaker and hides them inside his tights. Triple H and Chyna also then come down to ringside and begin to interfere in the match. Triple H also does his DX suck it hand gesture to the ringside fans for the first time. The Undertaker manages to take out the knuckle dusters that Shawn Michaels was hiding and hit him with it. The referee is also knocked out and a second referee runs inside the ring. However, Shawn Michaels knocks out the second referee who arrives. It is a 3 on 1 attack on the Undertaker by Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Chyna. However, the Undertaker does manage to fight them all off. A third referee then finally appears and stops the match due to all the occurring chaos. Shawn Michaels manages to hit The Undertaker with sweet chin music who subsequently falls into the ropes and is trapped. Triple H knocks out the third referee whilst Chyna brings a steel chair inside. Shawn Michaels tries to hit the Undertaker with the chair but the Undertaker manages to prevent it. Triple H and Shawn Michaels continue to beat on the Undertaker despite several officials and wrestlers appearing to split them up. On the scene amongst others are Brian Christopher, The Sultan, Legion of Doom, Savio Vega, Rocky Maivia, and Disciple of Apocalypse. The Undertaker, however, breaks from the crowd and does a flying dive outside landing on Shawn Michaels and the other wrestlers around him. Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Chyna then quickly flee, leaving The Undertaker alone in the ring with a steel chair. The crowd are firmly on The Undertakers side. A great must-see match!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *