The American wrestling business hit the doldrums in 1995, with both the WWF and WCW languishing through terrible creative decisions, unpopular championship runs, and growing apathy towards the profession as the days of packed houses and appointment television events seemed lost to a time gone by. But in just a couple weeks, both companies would be shaken to their core, as two of the most important nights in wrestling history occurred in an impossibly short amount of time. First, on June 23rd, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was crowned King of the Ring, demonstrating a rougher, cruder side of his personality with the legendary "Austin 3:16" promo, and within days, his fanbase began to multiply. Then, on July 7th, Hulk Hogan did the unthinkable, dropping the leg on Randy Savage and forming the nWo in the process, an industry-altering lightning rod of a faction that brought WCW crashing straight into the era of cool heels, shoot names, and moody colors. In the midst of that historic backdrop, it would be easy to right off the WWF's latest In Your House event, with fans more concerned about the seeming "invasion" of WCW by Hogan, Hall, and Nash, and the main event of this show losing significant star power with the departure of The Ultimate Warrior, who had only just been brought back a couple months previous. But the WWF pushes forward without Warrior, returning to Canada for the first major event since the disastrous In Your House 4.
- In Your House 9: International Incident comes to you from the General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver, the home of the Canucks. The trio of Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call.
- Our opening contest is a tag match between the Bodydonnas and the Smoking Gunns, continuing their feud that centers around Sunny, who ditched Skip and Zip after they lost the tag titles, and is now in the corner of the Gunns, complete with her own western getup. I really enjoyed the work of Skip (Chris Candido) in this one, as he brought extra life to the proceedings by bouncing around the ring and taking a few crunching bumps. Skip is a part of two entertaining sequences, as he takes down Billy with a hurricanrana before getting dropped by the (as of yet, unnamed) Fameasser, and later, he takes the fight to Bart, taking flight with a twisting crossbody, before getting hammered by a big clothesline. Sunny does her part by mimicking a heart attack (I think that's what she was going for?), allowing her to lure in Skip for a mighty slap, but the braggadocio of Sunny and Billy cost them, as they're too busy bigging each other up on the outside, allowing Skip to stop the Sidewinder set-up Bart had, as Zip smoothly falls into a splash and a cover to pick up the win. That was a cool finish, and an overall solid opener.
- Since debuting in the WWF after WrestleMania 12, Mick Foley, under his Mankind persona, is quickly moving up the card, as Vince seems to be putting a lot of faith in a guy that he had to be talked into signing in the first place. Foley is definitely doing his upmost to ensure that he continues to standout, turning a standard midcard match with Henry O. Godwinn into a wild 6-minute collision by taking several hard bumps on exposed concrete. The first is when he's delivering a move, a swinging neckbreaker, and the second was a far more wincing fall, as he takes a Biel toss off the apron onto the concrete. Mankind battles back from that, and pulls off a resourceful counter to the Slop Drop, as he hangs onto the ropes, sending Godwinn crashing to the mat, where Mankind can apply the Mandible Claw for a submission victory. That was another finish I really liked, and huge props as always to Foley, who sacrificed his body to give us a few highlights from an otherwise straight-forward match.
- Steve Austin and Marc Mero collided in a long, physical encounter last month in the King of the Ring opener, one that left Austin bloodied and provided an excellent start to his historic night. They run in back here, though this match failed to do much of anything for me. There was lots of punching and kicking, and a near-disaster on Mero's hurricanrana to the outside, as the lack of chemistry between the two was demonstrated as they struggled to make the move look good. Marlena shows up, setting the stage for a Mero/Goldust feud by distracting the "Wildman", who does come close to getting his win back with a springboard legdrop, before falling to the Stunner.
- Goldust and The Undertaker put on a clunker at In Your House 8 in a Casket match, and can't do much in a straight singles match here. I can't tell if they just don't want to wrestle each other or are simply out of ideas, but it all came together in another dull encounter with very few highlights. They mess around with the ringside steps for a bit, and Undertaker breaks out an inside cradle for the first and likely last time in his career, which JR freaks out over on commentary. After Undertaker delivers the Tombstone, Mankind tears his way through the canvas to stick his nose in Undertaker's business again, officially ending the match in a DQ win for 'Taker. Undertaker is dragged underneath the ring, but after a spell of lights flickering and smoke billowing, he rips his way through the other side of the mat, and brawls with Mankind up the aisleway.
- Main event time, as after 15 minutes of stalling between matches, we finally get to the show closer, as Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart, and the British Bulldog) team up to take on WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, Intercontinental Champion Ahmed Johnson, and Sycho Sid, who is replacing the Warrior. It's hard to believe that Sid wasn't originally intended for this match, because he's the star of the show, with the crowd going nuts for a sequence where he starts throwing clotheslines, leading to thunderous chanting of his name during the build for a hot tag. Ahmed Johnson also looks good in the early going, tossing Owen around with rough German suplexes, but the two big men are neutralized for a long time as Shawn gets worked over. Between this long heat stretch, and the layoff between matches, it makes the final 40 minutes of this show hard to get through, as it's obvious that everyone is just running out the clock. Shawn's arduous journey to make the tag finally concludes after Owen accidentally dropkicks Bulldog, and the crowd joyously celebrates the return of Sid, who chokeslams each member of Camp Cornette. Shawn and Sid combine for a Rocket Launcher, and Cornette, sensing trouble, gets involved. Jim can't get his racket to Vader for a cheap shot (Shawn steals it and uses it), but he can trip the WWF champ up, halting Sweet Chin Music at the starting gates. From there, Vader establishes himself as the number one contender, splashing Shawn in the corner and finishing him off with a Vader Bomb. The babyfaces get their shine back afterward, as Owen and Bulldog take powerbombs from Sid, while Shawn flies onto Vader with a plancha. This was a fun show closer, setting the stage for SummerSlam.
5/10
In Your House 9, while not stuffed with content and agonizingly slow at times, did its job, hyping up the feuds to come and offering the folks in Vancouver some decent entertainment.
- Henry
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