IYH: Revenge Of The Taker Review

Undertakers first championship defense on a ppv after his victory at Mania 13. He's facing his on/off rival Mankind. Mankind threw a fireball in his face a little while back to restart their feud. McMahon, JR and Lawler are at ringside.


Free For All Match

The Sultan w The Iron Sheik Vs Flash Funk


Didn't expect much for a Free For All match so I wasn't dissapointed. Sultan pinned Flash after a powerbomb off the ropes at 2:37. 1/2 star.


Match #1


World Tag Team Championship Match

The British Bulldog and Owen Hart Vs The Legion Of Doom


Well Bret has gone full blown whiner heel and he's back together with Owen and Bulldog. He also brought in Neidhart and Pillman and formed the Hart Foundation stable. LOD control with their power for the opening moments. Owen and Bulldog take over and a miscommunication between them results in a hottag to Animal. Animal powerslams Bulldog off the top rope and pins him. NEW TAG CHAMPS!!! Crowd errupts. No.....another ref feels like pointing out that the wrong guy was pinned. So we continue. Animal gets worked over then hottags Hawk who goes nuts. Doomsday finishes off Owen but Bret makes the runin for the DQ and the Harts keep the belts at 10:11. Meh, 1 1/2 star. Screwy referees and when Hawk is pinning Owen he motions for Animal to get out of the ring before he tries to make the count, but goes ahead anyway once Bret is on his way in. Bret mustve been late on the runin somewhat.


Match #2

Intercontinental Championship Match

Rocky Maivia Vs Savio Vega w The Nation Of Domination


Suprised Rocky still has the belt after almost getting booed out of the building at Mania 13. Faarooq sits in on commentary with racist remarks. Rocky gets a fisherman suplex but distraction from the Nation insures only a 2 count. Savio follows up with a superkick. Rocky makes the superman comeback but Savio puts him to the floor and he crashes into Crush on the way out. Crush gets pissed and heartpunches Rocky leading to a countout. Miscommunication and eventual firing of Crush and Savio which lead us to the fantastic Gang Wars. Nation beats down Rocky then Ahmed makes the save. 1 star.


Backstage Dok Hendrix interviews Marc Mero and Sable who are back after Mero's knee injuries sidelined him for weeks. He wouldn't show up on ppv until Survivor Series though. Meanwhile Austin walks into the crapper behind them and gets jumped by Bulldog and Owen who run out of the bathroom and both do a double take at the camera. Best part so far tonight.

Match #3

Singles Match

Jesse James Vs Rockabilly w *beep* Tonk Man

*beep* unveils his new protege, Rockabilly. You can tell *beep* wasn't thrilled about the announcement, he had the look on his face like he knew (as most did) it would suck bigtime. One of the shtiest angles/gimmicks in WWF history. Crowd is bored stiff. I can't get into watching these two goofs. Although I liked Roadoggs entrance music. Jesse gets a suprise small package 6 minutes in and avoids a guitar shot. 1/2 star. Somebody finally got the idea to put these two together and let them lose and then they hit their career peak before sinking back down to lower card.


Monsoon changes the card so Austin has time to rest.


Match #4


World Heavyweight Championship Match


The Undertaker Vs Mankind w Paul Bearer


Taker still has the bandage on his face covering the "burn". Both guys are on the floor already and Mankind gets sent over the railing. Bearer passes Mankind the urn and he cracks Taker and pins him for 2, crowd cheers the kickout. Referee goes down soon and Mankind claws Taker. Another ref runs in and immediatley gets the mandible claw. Bearer throws in a chair but Mankind goes for the steps. Taker kicks them back in his face and whallops him with a chair. Mankind gets caught in the ropes and for the first time in his WWF stint (I think) the mask is knocked off. Undertaker hits him with the steps knocking him off the apron and into the Spanish announcers table!!! Holy sht!!! Mankind actually went through the middle of the table, he looks like a gopher sticking out of it!! Taker brings him back in and a chokeslam gets 2. A tombestone finishes it at 17:26. Mankind tries lighting a fireball but they kind of goof it up and Taker grabs it and uses it on Paul Bearer. This would begin the introduction of Kane, which took MONTHS. Im going 3 1/2 stars. An extra star for that crazy table spot.


Match #5

Singles Match

Bret The Hitman Hart Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin


This is a hot one. Bulldog and Owen are barred from ringside. Both guys fight outside and Bret goes into the steps. They fight out into ringside and Bret gets knocked around then sent back over the railing. Bret gets pummeled all over the place until he gets a chair and smacks Austin in the knee and works that portion of the body for the next few moments. Bret even gets the ringpost figure four, which even if it is fake it looks like it hurts like a bitch. Austin gets some token offense but Bret just kicks him in the knee to drop him and continues. Hart yanks off the knee brace to cause even more damage. Austin gets a low blow but misses an elbow followup and Bret is back to the knee. Austin uses some wrist tape. Is this a no DQ match??? Austin on the apron, Bret suplexes him back in. Bret with a figure four but Austin counters it. Bret wraps the bad leg around the post. They fight outside where Austin drops Bret accross the railing then clotheslines him from the apron. Bret does his chest first crash into the corner. Austin tries a piledriver but the knee craps out. Bret Superplexes Austin then goes for the sharpshooter for the first time. Austin grabs his knee brace off the mat and smacks Bret in the face then puts on the sharpshooter. The families back and Bulldog manages to get into the ring with a chair and lays out Austin drawing a dq at 21:08. Total chaos!!! Bret goes outside and grabs the ring bell he takes a swing at Austin but Steve grabs the chair and smacks Bret right in the knee in convincing fashion and puts Bret in a wheelchair for a couple of weeks. Austin smacks him again and puts the boots to him. Bret, crippled gets helped out and Austin celebrates. That was nuts start to finish. Im going 4 stars even. 4 1/2 if there was a clean finish and 5 if there wasn't so much hardcore and more technical.


Overall Opinion: The undercard blows but Taker/Mankind and Bret/Austin saved the ppv.


Final Score: Im giving it a 4.1 out of 10 stars, which is pretty high by IYH standards.