WWE In Your House 11: Buried Alive (1996)

Fresh and Exciting

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

1st Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs HHH. Austin debuts his signature entrance theme here, aside from that though, the match just kind of exists. The big story for the first 2 matches is that JR is a heel commentator with a malfunctioning headset. Austin and Hunter would go on to have way better matches than this, but you gotta start somewhere. Rating: 3/52nd Match: The Smokin' Gunns vs Owen Hart and The British Bulldog, WWF Tag Team Championships. Again, not much to this, kind of the theme for the whole show. I think they're about to break up the Gunns here, which is fine with me, because their gimmick's running out. Even Owen and Smith kind of phone it in here. It's watchable, but that's about it. Rating: 3/53rd Match: Goldust vs Marc Mero, WWF Intercontinental Championship. With JR storming off, we're now joined by Mr. Perfect on commentary, another running theme of this show. His storyline wouldn't last long, because WCW came knocking, but Mero does a good job here. The best match so far. Rating: 3.5/54th Match: Vader vs Sid Vicious, #1 Contender's match for the WWF Championship. For being a "Battle of the powerbombs", neither guy uses them, great job there. An 8 minute match that sets up Sid vs Michaels at the next show, that's it. Could've been worse though. Rating: 2.5/55th Match: Undertaker vs Mankind, Buried Alive match. A good brawl to end the show, despite the obvious limitations of a Buried Alive match, there's enough action to make up for it. Foley's pain tolerance is insane, no wonder he kept doing matches like this. Even though Taker wins, a bunch of guys come out and help Foley bury him. At least the new match type added some spice to their feud, it's a better idea than another Casket match. Rating: 4/5Final Rating: 6 out of 10. A decent enough watch, even though it suffered from a lack of big names like Bret and Shawn. Hopefully with their returns at Survivor Series, the product'll be better.

Live from Indianapolis, IndianaAttendance: 9,649Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler & Jim RossAustin has some comments before the match. He says Savio Vega's injury doesn't change things one bit. He said he has a list and everybody's on it. He says there is nothing wrong with Savio Vega, and he knows that for a fact. He gives Triple H credit because he has the guts to step in the ring with Austin. He says he'll retire Bret permanently if Bret returns on Raw. He says everybody can kiss his ass if they are offended by his use of language. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Vs Hunter Hearst HelmsleyAustin wins with the Stunner. Despite that there were huge distractions by Jim Ross's microphone acting weird, and Mr. Perfect's appearance, this was a fairly good match. It was interesting from the outset because both were heels. Vince kept mentioning how neither were crowd favorites, yet the crowd loved Austin. Austin was starting to show some of the stuff that made him so legendary, like flipping the bird, foul language, etc.**3/4Tag Team Championship Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (C) (W/Clarence Mason) Vs The Smoking GunnsOwen and The Bulldog win. This was an average matchup, just like the one they had at In Your House: Mind Games. These two lack chemistry with each other and it shows. **Jim Ross gets in the ring and promises that Bret Hart will be back on Raw the next night. He says Vince is an egotistical maniac and cares only about himself. He walks off after that.Ahmed Johnson injures Farooq by assaulting him backstage. Therefore, Goldust has taken Farooq's place in the next match.Intercontinental ChampionshipMarc Mero (C) (W/Sable) Vs Goldust (W/Marlena)Mero wins with the shooting star press. When Mero was on offense, the match was rather entertaining. When Goldust took over, it would become tedious. The result is a rather inconsistent match. Mero was a great talent before injuries ruined his career.**1/4#1 Contender's MatchSycho Sid Vs Vader (W/Jim Cornette)Sid's ovation is deafening. Shawn Michaels comes out for commentary as well. Sid wins with a chokeslam. This was better than you may expect. Vader is one of the best wrestlers ever for his size, and Sid was decent when he wanted to be. Vader was initially scheduled to win this, but politics from Shawn Michaels ruined any chance of that.**1/4Dok Hendrix is about to interview Sycho Sid, but Jim Ross intrudes and interviews him instead. Sycho Sid admits that he and Shawn Michaels have had a rocky past. He says he'd powerbomb Shawn Michaels 5 times to become WWF Champion.Buried Alive MatchThe Undertaker Vs Mankind (W/Paul Bearer)The Undertaker wins the match. The Executioner (Terry Gordy) comes up and waffles The Undertaker from behind with a shovel. A bunch of other wrestlers like Triple H, Goldust, Crush, Bradshaw, etc come out to help bury The Undertaker. The Undertaker is gone. A bolt of lightning hits the grave, and The Undertaker's hand comes up from underneath the dirt. HE'S ALIVE! THE UNDERTAKER LIVES! This was another good brawl between these two. These two just have great chemistry with each other. They know how to entertain, and what spots to use when it comes to hardcore situations. It comes naturally to them. There were a couple of sick spots in this one. ***1/45.5/10 overall.

1. Hunter Hearst Helmsley Vs.Stone Cold - First PPV confrontation ended by Austin's victory in exciting match. Crowd love that. 8/10 2. The Smoking Gunns Vs. Owen Hart/The British Bulldog - OK match and champs retained. Continues the deteam of Smoking Gunns. 7/10 3. WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Goldust Vs. Champ-Marc Mero - Mero is great athlete, proved that here. Only for him I gave 7.5/10 4. Vader Vs. Psycho Sid - Decent match with chokeslam ending. By this victory Sid will face HBK for the title. 6.5/10 5. Buried alive match: The Undertaker Vs. Mankind - Kinda weird match, wasn't it? Taker won, but Mankind with his allies buried him then. In the End, Undertaker rose his hand like Terminator 6.5/10

Steve Austin and Triple H had their first one on one PPV match, Sycho Sid and Vader brawled for the No.1 contendership and Undertaker and Mankind's entertaining rivalry continued with the first ever buried alive match at this decent PPV, strangely not featuring WWE Champion Shawn Michaels (though he did wrestle Goldust in a non televised match after the PPV went off the air).The first match of the night saw Steve Austin, slowly building a following, taking on Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a good opener. Austin got the win, despite the presence of Mr Perfect, a welcome addition to the WWE, who actually confronted both men.Following this was a rematch between recently dethroned tag team Champions The Smoking Gunns and the team that had beaten them for the belts; Owen Hart and the British Bulldog. Owen pinned Billy to win a short, but watchable match. Watchabale tag matches were a rarity in the WWE at that stage.The next match was originally scheduled to be Faarooq and Marc Mero going one on one for the Intercontinental Championship, but Faarooq was supposedly injured backstage, so it was Goldust who got the title shot and was beaten. Mero, as always was accompanied by Sable and Goldust by Terri Runnels. So as always, many of the teenagers in the crowd were far more interested in the babes than the wrestling. This was not a very good match so who could blame them? Next came the big No.1 contender's match between Shawn Michaels' bodyguard Sycho Sid and Michaels' enemy Vader. Sid won a poor match and, to the surprise of many, would be facing his friend Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series. This was the beginning of the end for Vader in the WWE. He would never again be a serious title contender.Now it was time for the main event, which was to be won by whoever could push their opponent into a grave near the entrance and cover them with dirt. Mankind and Undertaker have another entertaining brawl, and it was the Dead Man who got the win, chokeslamming Mankind and then pouring some dirt on him. After the match The Executioner (Terry Gordy I believe), smashed the Undertaker over the head with a shovel, and with the help of Mankind, Paul Bearer, Justin Bradshaw (later JBL) Goldust, Triple H and Crush, buried the Undertaker alive. This was a suitably dramatic finish to a below average PPV.Nothing too offensive on it, but nothing really memorable either.