The animosity between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels is as well traveled a road as any in wrestling folklore, as the two leaders of their era clashed frequently, both on and off the screen. As the WWF entered 1997, a year that would be defined by clashes between Hart and Michaels, with Bret slowly transitioning into an embittered heel, right in time to takes the WWF title away from Shawn at WrestleMania 13, one year after Shawn emerged triumphant from their historic Iron Man match. But as they often did when Shawn was involved, plans began to slowly unravel. Shawn claimed to be working through a painful knee injury he suffered in a match (one which conveniently also included Bret), and needed to take time off to heal. On the go-home episode of Raw, Shawn tearfully informed the fans that his knee was troubling him, and that he had "lost his smile", vacating the gold so that he could presumably head off to surgery, and chase down that rascally grin. Bret was riotous after this moment, certain that Shawn was attempting to escape doing the job out of spite, and it likely didn't help that Shawn soaked up a whole heaping of sympathy on his way out. Whether Shawn was legitimately injured, depressed, or some combination of the two is a question that will never truthfully be answered, but I do know that the infamous promo was one of the best Shawn, or any babyface, has ever delivered. Shawn played the role of valiant warrior, battling against his own body and emotions, to perfection, and it's difficult, even knowing that he's likely lying throughout, to not feel some empathy towards the man in that moment. Either way, with the top prize now needing a new owner, the four men at the center of the Royal Rumble's controversial ending the previous month now had the opportunity to suddenly ascend to the top of the mountain.
- In Your House 13: Final Four comes to you from the UTC (now McKenzie) Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the basketball venue of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call.
- Our opening contest sees Marc Mero develop more of his vicious side in a win over Leif Cassidy (Al Snow). Mero opens fiery, shoving Cassidy aggressively in the face, before Cassidy takes control with crisp leg work. I liked a lot of the offense Cassidy delivered to Mero's knee, but there's not much urgency to his attack, which makes the end result predictable. Mero fires back when Cassidy confronts Sable on the outside, and from there trounces the New Rocker, ending it with a Samoan Drop and the Wild Thing (450 Splash). A well worked but completely forgettable opener.
- The Nation of Domination (represented by Faarooq, Crush, and Savio Vega) build momentum in advance of WrestleMania as they defeat the trio of Flash Funk and the Smoking Gunns, winning dirty as Crush snuck in with the referee distracted, laying out Bart Gunn with a legdrop, allowing Faarooq to make the cover. The bulk of the wrestling was covered by Funk and Faarooq, with Flash making a brief comeback for his team, getting his knees up for a low blow on Faarooq and evading a double clothesline from the other two team members. Funk remains an entertaining presence in the ring, but this was incredibly short and forgettable.
- Rocky Maivia and Hunter Hearst Helmsley duke it out for Rocky's Intercontinental Championship years before their battles in the Attitude Era would headline pay-per-views, with Rocky emerging triumphant on this night thanks to a distraction from Goldust. The two blue chippers had themselves a solid scrap, with Helmsley wearing down the champion with several big slams and liberal cheating. Rocky and Hunter display their knack for building to the finish, with an engaging final stretch that sees Rocky take flight with a big crossbody and nail a float-over DDT. It's here that Goldust enters, continuing his rivalry with Hunter over the latter's pursuit of Marlena, and Hunter gets pinned by a bridging back suplex. Goldust can't celebrate this moral victory for long, though, as Chyna makes her debut, choking Marlena from over the railing in a vicious display. Everything about Chyna's presentation worked here, as Marlena's miniscule frame made Chyna look monstrous, and the announcers not identifying her before she's dragged out by security effectively increased the mystery surrounding this new arrival. Though the match dragged at times, this was a brilliant piece of midcard building, establishing a brand-new threat for Goldust and Marlena, plus allowing Maivia and Helmsley the opportunity to elevate their stock with a competitive battle.
- Owen Hart and the British Bulldog escape a moderately entertaining tag team championship defense in the penultimate match of the night, as Owen brains Phil LaFon with his (Owen's) Slammy Award to retain through a DQ loss. LaFon and partner Doug Furnas took a while to get anything going, as the champions dominated early, but made a comeback when Bulldog accidentally clotheslined his own partner. From there, the match picked up as Furnas got the hot tag and Owen bumped around, taking a big powerslam, a double backdrop, and then was dropped after a thrust kick and DDT. After nailing an enzuigiri, Owen got disqualified, seemingly to prevent Bulldog from getting the win with the running powerslam. The on-going tension between the two heels made for an intriguing dynamic, as Owen tries to cover for his "mistake" after the match by lifting Bulldog's arm in victory, though it wasn't worth the lame duck finish, and the crowd sat on their hands for most of the match.
- Main event time, as Bret Hart outlasts Vader, The Undertaker, and mortal enemy "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a chaotic elimination match to claim his fourth WWF Championship. I didn't much care for the ruleset of this match, as the WWF included a "toss over the top rope" method of elimination in addition to pinfall and submission, which was intended to tie into the finish of the Royal Rumble, where Austin had tossed out the other three men despite being eliminated himself (the referees missed it due to a brawl between Mankind and Terry Funk). While I understand the idea of that callback, it really didn't work here, as all four men spend a ton of time outside the ring regardless, exiting through the middle rope to circumvent the rules. It all descends into a wild brawl, with several weapons being introduced. Vader is cut after taking a chair shot and being dropped into the steel steps by Undertaker, but that only livens him up. Vader dishes out all kinds of punishment as this match goes on, refusing to stay down in his most impressive showing in the WWF to date. The eliminations start coming after a long section of brawling, as Bret spikes Austin with a piledriver and tosses his nemesis out. Vader receives assistance from Paul Bearer, who clocks Undertaker with the urn, and, despite taking a big superplex from Bret, has Undertaker in prime position to land the Vader Bomb. But the former WCW Champion topples out after Undertaker recovers to connect with a low blow, and 'Taker is left to deal with Hart, who is worse for wear after Austin returned for more brawling. The crowd go nuts for the Chokeslam, but Austin is not done meddling, still steaming and security can't keep him away from the apron. That anarchy distracts Undertaker, who is clotheslined to the floor by Bret. This match was literally and figuratively all over the place, and I can't say I was too fond of it. The outside brawling was aimless and repetitive, and while there were a number of entertaining hardcore spots, almost nothing stuck with me that I needed to include in this review. It was a conveyor belt of action that lacked the dramatic substance to back it up, a trend that would continue into main events of subsequent years.
6/10
All three championship matches had their moments, but nothing was truly special on this night. Final Four was an enjoyable bridge between the Rumble and WrestleMania, but not a show that I would recommend going out of your way to watch.
- Henry
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