WWE In Your House 10: Mind Games (1996)

Too much of everything

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

1st Match: Savio Vega vs JBL, Caribbean Strap match. While not as good as Vega's similar match with Austin a few shows ago, it at least has a decent pace to it. The biggest problem the match has is that it ends the exact same way the last one of these ended, with Vega accidentally hitting the last turnbuckle instead of Bradshaw. Also Sandman, Dreamer, and Paul Heyman get kicked out, this would set up an ECW invasion angle that got the company some much needed attention, so that was good of Vince to throw them a bone there. Rating: 3/52nd Match: Josè Lothario vs Jim Cornette. This match exists. It's less than 1 minute and it took me longer to type this than watch the match. Rating: None3rd Match: Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs The Smokin' Gunns, WWF Tag Team Championships. After Pillman, Austin, and Owen destroy the Philly crowd, we're treated to this decent match. There's nothing really special here, but the match doesn't drag on, and The Gunns finally lose the belts to guys that can do some good with 'em. Nothing against the Gunns, but Owen and Bulldog are just more interesting championship material. Rating: 3.5/54th Match: Mark Henry vs Jerry Lawler. A typical Lawler gets destroyed match. At least this is better than his abomination of a match with Roberts at SummerSlam. No rating for this match, but I won't hold it against the show's overall rating, because at least it was entertaining. Rating: None5th Match: Undertaker vs Goldust, No DQ match where the only way to win is via pinfall. I was expecting more interference than we got here. Other than Goldust cheating slightly, there's no run-ins or other distractions, which is refreshing. It's not as good as their previous matches, but it's entertaining. Taker was interesting choice to have Goldust cut his teeth on, he does a decent job here. Rating: 3/56th Match: Shawn Michaels vs Mankind, WWF Championship. This is the savior of this show. It's the only match the show's really known for, and for a good reason, it's a brawl and a half. There's not a lot of technical wrestling here, it's just a fight. Foley takes some serious punishment, but so does Shawn, who shows a mean streak that I haven't seen in a long time. There are chair shots, bumps on the concrete, the Spanish announce table gets broken, and it goes almost 30 minutes. The only thing holding this back is that it ends in a DQ, with Vader coming in to ruin the fun. However, the match is insanely good up to that point, so it doesn't damage the match too much. While the ending will probably keep the match from being on my Match of the Year list, it's still worth a watch, because it's aged really well. Rating: 4.5/5Final Rating: 6 out of 10. While it's an OK overall show, it's only really known for Michaels' brawl with Foley. At least it's better than SummerSlam, and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters to me.

Live from Philadelphia, PAAttendance: 15,000Your commentators are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross & Mr. PerfectCaribbean Strap MatchJustin "Hawk" Bradshaw Vs Savio VegaSavio Vega wins. This was a very physical match, if nothing else. Both guys busted their asses, even if the crowd didn't really care about it. Unfortunately, Savio wasn't over enough to make the crowd care. Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman were shown scuffling with security. **1/2The fake Razor Ramon and fake Diesel attack Savio Vega backstage. Jose Lothario Vs Jim CornetteLothario completely squashes Cornette in very quick fashion with a big right hand. All I'm gonna say is this had no business being on the card. Cornette got in no offense what so ever. It was a complete waste of time.DUDBrian Pillman makes his way out to the ring. He insults Philadelphia in epic fashion before bringing out Owen Hart. Owen says he and Bret really did patch things up. Bret had started to accept that he was getting older and slower. But most importantly, Bret accepted that Owen was the best Hart. Owen says Bret might be getting senile, because they made an arrangement for Bret to be there. Owen says Bret is scared of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Steve Austin makes his way down to the ring. Austin says Bret is scared of him, and that's the bottom line. Steve says Bret took his karkas all the way back to Canada because of Steve. Steve comes up with one of the greatest lines in history. "If you put the letter S in front of hit-man, you have my exact opinion of Bret Hart" Steve says he and Bret are alike in many ways. Steve says Bret calls himself the excellence of execution, but Steve lives it every day of his life. He says Bret is too busy caring what the people thought. He never gave a rats ass about anybody. Austin says if Bret ever comes back to the ring, he's gonna get his ass whipped, because Stone Cold said so.Thoughts: This was a fun segment. Owen and Pillman were fun, but it's Austin who shined the most. Even though he was a heel, you couldn't help but love Austin with his delivery here. It just screamed "badass" Tag Team ChampionshipThe Smoking Gunns (C) (W/Sunny) Vs Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (W/Clarence Mason)This is heel vs heel, but Bulldog and Owen Hart are playing the faces. Bulldog and Owen Hart win the titles after a miscommunication between the Gunns. Sunny fires The Smoking Gunns after the match, and says she's had it with them. As JR would say, what a Jezebel. This was an average match between the two that had the potential to be much more. They just didn't click on this night. The crowd seemed to be into Bulldog and Owen, though.**Jerry Lawler Vs Mark HenryHenry wins by submission with a backbreaker. The New Rockers and Triple H attack Henry after the match, but Henry jettisons them all with ease. Well, they made the most of it. I'll give credit to Jerry Lawler for really making this match more entertaining than it should have been with his heel antics. That being said, it still sucked pretty good. Henry was WAY too green at this juncture.*1/4Final Curtian MatchThe Undertaker Vs Goldust (W/Marlena)Undertaker wins with a tombstone. This moved at a very slow pace. Goldust's offense was very methodical and he controlled for lengthy portions of the match. It made the match rather tedious to sit through. I didn't care for it at all.*1/2WWF ChampionshipShawn Michaels (C) (W/Jose Lothario) Vs Mankind (W/Paul Bearer)Shawn wins by DQ after Vader interferes. Sid runs down to save Shawn from a double team from Vader and Mankind. The Undertaker pops up out of nowhere from the casket that was brought down to ringside and brawls with Mankind. This match had almost everything but the kitchen sink in it. They used everything to their advantage. You want great storytelling? You'll get it. Hardcore brawling? That's here in spades. Good wrestling? You'll get lots of that. It's a fantastic match that is absolutely wild. Mick Foley looked like a star here. This is definitely one of the most underrated main events I've ever seen.****1/25/10 overall.

The big news coming into this PPV was that WWE Champion Shawn Michaels had finished his long rivalry with Jim Cornette and his stable of monsters. He'd now beaten Owen Hart, The British Bulldog and Vader. Unfortunately for Shawn, he had now moved onto the most dangerously unpredictable opponent of them all, the maniacal Mankind. Could Shawn possibly defeat not only Mankind, but his evil manager Paul Bearer? Before we found out the answer to that question there were other matters to be resolved. Starting with an issue fueled that very night by a young wrestler by the name of Justin Bradshaw. Bradshaw would later go onto one of the longest WWE Title reigns ever by a heel and co headline Wrestlemania, but tonight he was just a big bloke who beat up Savio Vega when Sav was celebrating a win. This led to a Caribbean strap match, with Sav picking up the victory. Not a good match, but worth a try after Sav's previous strap match against Steve Austin. Also of note here was the presence of ECW alumni Sandman, Tommy Dreamer and Paul Heyman at ringside.Next up it was Shawn Michaels' manager getting revenge on the evil Jim Cornette, knocking him out in a short comedy match. It was official the Cornette/ Michaels feud was over.Insult was added to injury for Cornette moments later when he had the British Bulldog and Owen Hart's managerial contracts stolen from under him by Clarence Mason minutes before they defeated the Smoking Gunns to win the Tag Team Championships. Guess that's the last we'll see of him for a while. Tag match wasn't bad. The night then went from bad to worse for the Gunns as their manager Sunny fired them and stormed off.Next up came the PPV debut of Mark Henry, who destroyed Jerry Lawler after a lot of stalling from "The King." His celebrations were short lived however as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Marty Jannetty and Lief Cassidy came out to the ring to beat on him, but the gigantic Henry powered them all off.Then came the next match, which saw the Undertaker pin Goldust following a tombstone. This was short, average and contested under "Final Curtain" rules. This meant that you cold only win by pinning your opponent. Always nice to see Terri Runnels at ringside too.Next came the brilliant main event, which saw Shawn Michaels retain his title following a disqualification. This was a violent, brutal match which allowed both Michaels and Foley to cut loose in a thoroughly entertaining match. It was not even hurt by the ending, which saw Vader interfere by attacking Michaels and thus drawing the DQ. Sycho Sid came to Shawn's rescue, brawling with Vader all the way to the back. But Mankind, and his manager Paul Bearer weren't done yet, and attempted to stuff Michaels into a casket. But the Undertaker, in a heated rivalry with Mankind was waiting inside. It turned out the cat had been playing with the mouse all along.So a strange little PPV with a tremendous main event. If nothing else it wrote Cornette out of the WWE and split up Sunny and the Gunns. Not great, but well worth catching up on.

I have to admit that most of this card isn't that great, but I've seen it over and over, I would have to give this an 8, only because of the main event of Mankind vs. Shawn Michaels, that would get a 10 just itself. Without that mainevent I would give the PPV a 5. The bad news is that it's Mark Henry's first PPV. A lot of people might say that it would be good news, but who the hell wants to hear about a chubby guy having sex with his sister at age 8... ughh... SO many bad memories. And another wrestlecrap moment... Cornette vs. Lothario, know hmm let me think... oh yes, doesn't every just love the sound of some old guy vs. some guy who can't fight... WHY WASN'T THAT THE FRIGGIN MAIN EVENT?!?!?! Anyways sweet main event and nice pre-main event(Undertaker vs. Goldust, better than it sounds)