Lost Smiles and Rising Stars – Revisiting In Your House: Final Four
It’s no secret that 1997 is considered one of the most significant and transformative years in professional wrestling history. So much was happening that attempting to cover it in print would likely fill numerous books, which many have already attempted over the years. Yet we still find ourselves going back over to relive that year's highs and lows. Whether you were a fan of the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling or Extreme Championship Wrestling, all three big promotions seemed to be hitting all cylinders at the time. And now, a quarter of a decade later, we get to look back on what at the time seemed to be just another B-level Pay-Per-View but became legendary for many reasons, not just the show itself, but the state of the promotion and the stars around it. Join us as we revisit WWF’s In Your House: Final Four, which took place on February 16th, 1997, from the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Lead-In
1997 was a chaotic year, which was clear from the beginning. Rumors have abounded over the years about the original plans for many different storylines, that all saw their origin at the previous year’s WrestleMania. When Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart for the WWF Championship in their 60-minute Iron Man match, the plan was to have a return match the following year where Michaels would return the favor for Bret.
In the meantime, a plan was hatched to see Shawn compete with Vader in a series of matches. The first in their series of matches occurred at SummerSlam 1996, where following multiple restarts, Shawn would get away with the title intact. He would then drop the strap to The Mastodon at Survivor Series before regaining it at the 1997 Royal Rumble in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Unfortunately, this plan would fall apart due to Vader’s known penchant for stiffness in the ring and Michaels’s admitted prima donna attitude at the time. Sycho Sid would be slotted into Vader’s spot, winning the WWF Championship at Survivor Series, on the same night Bret Hart would return from a several-month hiatus to kick off his new feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Things seemed to have settled in, and by the time the Royal Rumble had rolled around, most of the plans for WrestleMania seemed good to go. Shawn Michaels had his moment in the sun in his hometown, avenging his Survivor Series loss and regaining the WWF Title from Sycho Sid, while the Rumble match itself was not without controversy. Despite being eliminated from the match, Stone Cold Steve Austin would use the fact that the referee’s being distracted by a brawl outside the ring involving Mankind and Terry Funk to return to the ring. He would go on to eliminate both Vader and The Undertaker, while Bret Hart would eliminate “Fake” Diesel, only to find himself eliminated by Austin, who was declared the winner. Even though technically Diesel was one of the final entrants, WWF would run with the concept of a final four of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Vader and Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, placing the four in the namesake match of the next In Your House Pay-Per-View. The plan was for the winner of the match to be declared the man who would go on to face the WWF Champion at WrestleMania 13 in the main event. Everything seemed set until three nights before the show on the particular Thursday RAW Thursday (yes, that is what they called it.)
Two big events would transpire on Thursday RAW Thursday, one immediately much more important than the other. First, during what appeared to be a routine Intercontinental Championship defense for Hunter Hearst-Helmsley, he would shockingly drop the title to the young upstart Rocky Maivia. This is important for numerous reasons. It would be a major catalyst in the forthcoming ‘Die, Rocky, Die’ movement, which would help transform Rocky Maivia into The Rock, who went on to a pretty moderate level of success that you may have heard about. It also would lead to a rematch at Final Four. The other event would be Shawn Michaels relinquishing the WWF Championship with the infamous “Lost my smile” speech. Much has been made over the years on the validity of the knee injury that led to this moment, with many believing it was all a ploy so that he would not have to return the favors to his heated rival Bret Hart at the Showcase of the Immortals. Given his actions over the next few months and rather quick return to action give this viewpoint a lot of ammunition, but that is overall a story for another day. Following the vacation of the title, WWF on-screen President Gorilla Monsoon would announce that the Final Four match would now be for the Championship itself, with the winner having to face Sycho Sid the following night on Monday Night RAW. The stage was now set, and the fallout from Final Four would help solidify what would go on to happen the following month at WrestleMania 13.
The Event
Much of the undercard for the show was just filler to help pad out the show’s runtime. The first match for the PPV audience was a one-on-one bout between Leif Cassidy (better known today as Al Snow) and Wildman Marc Mero, accompanied by Sable. Mero had not even been in the Federation for a full calendar year, but it was becoming clear by this point that the company was about to give up on him. A longstanding rumor is that Vince McMahon brought him in mainly because he was enamored with his previous Johnny B. Badd character from WCW but had not realized that he couldn’t use it as it was a Dusty Rhodes creation and thus trademarked by his former employer. Despite this fact, one could quickly tell that big things were in the works for Sable, as she helped play into the finish of the match, slapping Cassidy across the face and leading to a suicide dive by Mero. This would lead to Mero landing a Shooting Star Press for the pinfall, a revolutionary move, especially for a man of his size.
In between the matches, we would see promos not only from the four men involved in the main event, but Sycho Sid would also have his say about his upcoming title match the next night. The second match of the evening would be a 6-man tag team match, featuring The Nation Of Domination (Faarooq, Crush and Savio Vega) taking on the rag-tag team of Flash Funk, Bart Gunn and Goldust. Seemingly nothing more than an excuse for the announce team to discuss what would happen upon the return of Ahmed Johnson and his desire for revenge on Faarooq, The Nation would predictably pick up the win.
The Intercontinental Championship would be defended in a rematch from the previous Thursday, as Rocky Maivia and Hunter Heart-Helmsley squared off in a decent match. Still, they were far from the classics they would have upon fully finding themselves and their characters in the years ahead. The match would end thanks to a distraction from Goldust and Marlena, setting the stage for the post-match angle. While Hunter and Goldust prepared to face off, Marlena was grabbed from behind by a large woman and choked until security was finally able to peel her off and have her removed from the arena. This would, of course, be the WWF debut of Chyna.
The semi-main event would be a WWF Tag Team Championship defense seeing the Champions, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog, accompanied by their manager Clarence Mason defending against Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon. Furnas and LaFon had earned this opportunity several months prior at the aforementioned 1996 Survivor Series when they were the sole survivors in a traditional Survivor Series match. Unfortunately for the challengers, it seemed like the WWF had already given up on the former All Japan stars. The match was used more as a continuation of the evolving story of the rift between Owen and his brother-in-law. As Bulldog was about to deliver his patented Running Powerslam, Owen entered the ring and smashed Furnas with his Slammy Award, causing the disqualification. This would lead to their forthcoming match in the finals of the European Championship tournament, which in turn would lead to the formation of The Hart Foundation shortly.
Following a rather lackluster undercard, the main event was set. As it was based on the end of the Royal Rumble, the rules were laid out in an interesting manner, especially given the fact that this was the first Fatal, or in this case, Final Four match to occur on WWF television. The match would be contested under No Disqualification rules, and eliminations would be determined by pinfall or submission, being thrown over the top rope, and having both feet touch the ground. The match began with the two ongoing feuds being separated, as Vader and The Undertaker battled while Stone Cold and Bret Hart engaged in battle. One of the most brutal sights in WWF history would occur early in the match, as Vader attempted to smash a steel chair into The Undertaker only to have the chair smashed back into his face by The Undertaker’s boot. This would bust open Vader’s eye (indeed, not the first vicious eye injury in Vader’s career), leaving him bloodied. This image would later be used on the cover of RAW magazine, standing out as one of the earliest blood-drenched images that WWF would capitalize on in the early days of the Attitude Era. Had it not been for the bloody image of Stone Cold Steve Austin the following month during his WrestleMania 13 I Quit match with Hart, it may have gone on to even more iconic status.
The battle would ensue all over the ring and ringside area as the opponents swapped targets in the early going. Bret Hart and Vader would battle with the fans while Undertaker and Stone Cold engaged in the ring. Iconic moves would be swapped around, including a brief moment that would see Big Van Vader lock a Sharpshooter on Bret Hart on the outside. As all four men would battle, the match would descend into chaos, but given the talents of all four men, it was controlled chaos that would somehow be easy to follow and remain engaged in as a fan. The four-hundred pound plus Vader would go for a Vader Bomb splash on The Undertaker, but his manager Paul Bearer would instruct the blood-drenched big man to go up to the top rope for a moonsault that would have no recipient as Undertaker moved out of the way.
The first man to be eliminated would be Austin, who was dumped over the top rope by Bret Hart, leaving only three men to determine the new World Wrestling Federation Champion. The Undertaker would end up on the outside of the ring, only to be knocked out by Paul Bearer smashing the Urn into his skull, while in the ring, Vader would unmask to be hit with an earth-shattering top rope superplex by the Hitman. Austin would return to the ring to attack Hart, allowing The Undertaker to hit a low blow on Vader as he attempted another Vader Bomb, sending him reeling over the top rope to be eliminated. The Undertaker was about to deliver a Tombstone to end the match, but Austin caused another distraction. He finally allowed Bret Hart to clothesline Undertaker over the top rope, winning his fourth WWF Championship.
To say this has stood up as one of the best Four-Way matches in WWF/WWE history would be an understatement, and the amount of groundwork it laid for the future is undeniable. As Bret Hart would celebrate in the ring, his opponent for the following night, Sycho Sid, would make his way to face off with the new champion as the show went off the air.
The Aftermath
Bret Hart’s fourth title reign would be sadly short-lived. The match was set to kick off the show but would be interrupted by an enraged Stone Cold Steve Austin. A second attempt would again be interrupted, resulting in Gorilla Monsoon ensuring that the match would happen in the main event. In the match, Bret would lock in the Sharpshooter, only to be hit in the face by a steel chair by Austin, resulting in Sycho Sid hitting the Powerbomb to win his second WWF Championship.
The following weeks would lead to WrestleMania 13, with the main event set as Sycho Sid facing The Undertaker for the WWF Championship in the main event. But the true main event of the show, and the match that still stands up to this day as one of the greatest matches not only in WrestleMania history but WWF history, would be the I Quit match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart. The match would also result in the greatest “double-turn” in wrestling history.
The groundwork was laid, and looking back at the Final Four, except Vader, all participants would be a part of the WWF main event scene for the remainder of their WWF careers. Perhaps as we approach the 25th anniversary of the event and the I Quit match, we will revisit that soon. In the meantime, if you have never seen or not seen it in years, I implore you to revisit the Final Four match that helped establish the company's future for years.
