Badd Blood: In Your House

Badd Blood: In Your House was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation and presented by PlayStation, that took place on October 5, 1997, at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri. On the afternoon of the event, Brian Pillman, who was scheduled to face Dude Love on the show, was found dead in his hotel room. The announcement was made to fans during the half-hour "pregame show" prior to the pay-per-view being broadcast. The event was also notable for the on-screen debut of The Undertaker's brother Kane, who interfered in the inaugural "Hell in a Cell" match, as well as for Vince McMahon's last pay-per-view appearance as the WWF's lead commentator, this event also said to be one the few beginnings of the Attitude Era.

Background

WWF Intercontinental Championship tournament

The tournament to determine the new WWF Intercontinental Champion was held between September 8 and October 5, 1997, with the finals occurring on October 5 at the pay-per-view. The tournament brackets were:

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Brian Pillman

Dude Love

Brian Pillman

Owen Hart

Goldust

Owen Hart

Faarooq

Faarooq¹

Ken Shamrock

Faarooq

Ahmed Johnson

Ahmed Johnson

Rocky Maivia

Notes:
¹ Ken Shamrock initially won the match. But he was injured so Faarooq advanced.

Event

A Legends Ceremony was held during the event to honor some legends of St. Louis Wrestling Club. It was hosted by Jim Ross and honored wrestlers, including Harley Race, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk, Jr., Gene Kiniski, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz, and promoter Sam Muchnick. Also, at the top of the show, as the Nation of Domination was preparing for their match, Vince McMahon announced, as had been already announced on the Free For All show directly preceding Badd Blood, that Brian Pillman had died earlier that day (October 5, 1997). This was the last pay-per-view event that McMahon called in his position as the WWF's lead broadcaster, as he left the broadcast team altogether following the events of the next month.

The event started with the Nation of Domination taking on The Legion of Doom in what was supposed to be a six-man tag team match. However, as noted above, Ken Shamrock (who was supposed to be Hawk & Animal's partner) was out due to injury. Faarooq interfered on behalf of his Nation teammates, which enabled Kama Mustafa to kick Hawk in the back of the head and Rocky Maivia to hit the Rock Bottom for the pin.^[1]

Due to Pillman's death, his match with Dude Love was canceled and two matches had to be added to the card at the last minute to fill out the time. The first of those was a midget wrestling tag team match pitting Max Mini and Nova against Tarantula and Mosaic; Max Mini and Nova emerged victorious when Mini pinned Tarantula despite a kickout at 2.^[2]

The Headbangers then defended their WWF Tag Team Championships against The Godwinns. Late in the match, Phineas caught Mosh going for his Mosh Pit finisher and powerbombed him for the pin while Uncle Cletus held Thrasher to prevent him from making the save. After the contest was over the new champions assaulted the old champions, only stopping when threatened with losing the belts.

The next match saw the finals of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament, where Owen Hart faced Faarooq for the belt that Stone Cold Steve Austin was forced to vacate due to an injury he suffered at SummerSlam in August. Austin was at ringside for the contest, as he was to present the belt to the winner. Austin also served as guest timekeeper and guest commentator, and factored in the outcome as he hit Faarooq with the belt to knock him out while Commissioner Slaughter, who was also at ringside to prevent any incidents, was distracted. After Hart pinned Faarooq to win the belt, Austin then attacked him.

The second of two matches necessitated by the cancellation of Pillman's match was an eight man tag team contest pitting the Disciples of Apocalypse against Los Boricuas. DOA won the match after Crush pinned Miguel Perez, Jr., after a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

WWF Champion Bret Hart and The British Bulldog took on Vader and The Patriot in a tag-team match that followed the eight man tag. Originally scheduled to be a capture-the-flag match, where the object was to go to the opponent's corner and grab their country's flag (Canada's or America's) to win, this was changed to allow for pinfalls and submissions due to all four competitors entering the match with injuries. The changed enabled Hart to roll-up The Patriot and pin him for the victory. After the match both members of the American team assaulted their opponents.^[3] The match is notable for having two fans interfere by attempting to climb into the ring.

The main event of the evening saw European Champion Shawn Michaels face off against The Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell match, with the winner to face Hart for his championship at Survivor Series in November. Michaels was initially accompanied to the ring by Triple H, Chyna, and Rick Rude, his cohorts in D-Generation X, but after the cage was locked all three of Michaels' allies were forced to leave the ring. Undertaker took the fight to Michaels early and often, and his opponent was unable to mount much of an offensive attack early on in the match. Approximately halfway through the match a cameraman was (kayfabe) injured, forcing the cell door to unlock. Michaels and Undertaker took the fight to the outside of the cell; Michaels was then thrown face-first into the cage, causing him to begin bleeding profusely. The two men even climbed to the top of the Hell in a Cell to fight. This culminated with Michaels hanging from the side of the cell helplessly while Undertaker stomped on his hands, causing Michaels to fall and crash through the Spanish announcers' table. Action then returned to the inside of the cell, where the door was once again locked.

Late in the match, Undertaker used a steel chair to hit Michaels hard in his head, which was referred to on air as "payback" for a similar incident involving Michaels costing Undertaker the WWF Championship at SummerSlam when Michaels was the guest referee for Undertaker's match with Bret Hart. As Michaels lay unconscious, Undertaker made his throat-slash gesture to signify that he was either going to chokeslam or hit the Tombstone Piledriver on Michaels. As he was readying to do so, all of the lights in the arena went out and organ music began to play. Within seconds, red light filled the arena and Paul Bearer walked to the ring with the debuting Kane. Kane proceeded to rip the door of the cell off its hinges, assault referee Earl Hebner, and enter the ring. He then turned the lights in the arena back on with his soon-to-be trademark gesture of summoning fire from the corners, and nailed the Tombstone Piledriver on the Undertaker before exiting the cell. Michaels then crawled over to the Undertaker while referee Earl Hebner, who had also been taken out, slowly crawled back into the ring. Michaels placed his arm onto Undertaker's chest, pinning the Undertaker and scoring the victory.^[4]

Aftermath

For the next several weeks leading up to Survivor Series, D-Generation X and the Hart Foundation engaged in a battle that largely centered around Bret Hart's being from Canada. Michaels took opportunities to deface the Canadian flag quite often, including in their match at the event. As for the match itself, the controversial ending lives on in professional wrestling history as the Montreal Screwjob. Hart left the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) afterwards for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Austin and Owen Hart resumed their feud that had been interrupted after Summerslam due to his injury. Austin made it a point to interfere in every single one of Hart's title defenses to ensure that Owen would keep the title until Survivor Series, where he planned to take it from him. Austin did exactly that and kept the championship for most of the remainder of the year.

The Patriot disappeared from the WWF after Badd Blood due to injuries, but Vader continued to wrestle and was part of an eight-man tag match at Survivor Series where he was pinned by Davey Boy Smith. He then entered a feud with Goldust, which lasted until the Royal Rumble.

Ken Shamrock returned from his injuries shortly after Badd Blood and set his sights on the WWF Championship. He got an opportunity at D-Generation X: In Your House when he faced off against Michaels, only to lose the match via disqualification. He resumed his ongoing feud with the Nation of Domination after that, specifically targeting Rocky Maivia (who by this time was known as The Rock).

The Godwinns lost their tag team championships to the Legion of Doom on the October 13 edition of Raw Is War aired eight days after Badd Blood. Shortly thereafter, the team began to move down the card and was eventually broken up and repackaged. The Headbangers returned to contending for the WWF Tag Team Championships for a brief period before challenging for the NWA World Tag Team Championship when that title began appearing on WWF programming as part of the WWF's NWA invasion angle. Mosh and Thrasher beat The Rock 'n' Roll Express for the titles in February 1998 and lost to Bob Holly and Bart Gunn, a repackaged version of The Midnight Express, the following month

Kane won his debut match against Mankind at Survivor Series and entered various feuds with other wrestlers, with the goal to eventually bring his brother The Undertaker into the ring with him. For months and months Undertaker staunchly refused to face Kane, not wanting to fight his brother. Undertaker then returned to pay-per-view action at D-Generation X: In Your House by losing to Jeff Jarrett via disqualification, after Kane, who initially appeared to help Jarrett instead chokeslammed him, giving Jarrett the victory by disqualification. Undertaker's feud with Michaels continued until the Royal Rumble next year. He faced Michaels one final time at the Royal Rumble in January 1998, in a casket match for the WWF Championship. Undertaker lost the match after Kane and Paul Bearer, who came to the ring and looked like they were going to help Undertaker, instead assaulted him and locked him in the casket themselves to give Michaels the victory. After the match was over Kane struck the still-locked casket with an axe, then poured gasoline all over it and set it on fire. This was enough for Undertaker to finally agree to wrestle his brother, and the two began feuding with a match at WrestleMania XIV, which Undertaker won after three tombstone piledrivers.

Reception

The main event was given a 5-star match rating by Dave Meltzer,^[5] which would be the last WWF/WWE match to receive the honor until the John Cena vs CM Punk match at the 2011 Money in the Bank event. The pay-per-view received a 0.60 buyrate, equivalent to approximately 240,000 buys.

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times^[6]
1	The Nation of Domination (Rocky Maivia, Kama Mustafa and D'Lo Brown) defeated The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)	Three-on-two handicap match	12:16
2	Max Mini and Nova defeated Tarantula and Mosaic	Tag team match	06:44
3	The Godwinns (Henry O. and Phineas I. Godwinn) (with Uncle Cletus) defeated The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) (c)	Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship	12:18
4	Owen Hart defeated Faarooq	Singles match for the vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship	5:51
5	The Disciples of Apocalypse (Crush, Chainz, 8-Ball and Skull) defeated Los Boricuas (Savio Vega, Jesús Castillo Jr., Jose Estrada Jr. and Miguel Pérez Jr.)	Eight-man tag team match	08:04
6	Bret Hart and The British Bulldog defeated Vader and The Patriot	Flag match	25:07
7	Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker	Hell in a Cell match to determine the number one contender to the WWF Championship	29:55
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References

↑ http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/97.htm
↑ http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/97.htm
↑ http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/97.htm
↑ http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/97.htm
↑ Harrington, Chris. "Dave Meltzer Star Ratings for WWF/WWE PPVs 1985-2013". Indeedwrestling.com.
↑ Powell, John (October 6, 1997). "Undertaker gets Cain-ed at Badd Blood". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved October 27, 2012.

External links

← 1996 1997 (1997) WWF pay-per-view events 1998 →

Royal Rumble In Your House 13: Final Four WrestleMania 13 In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell King of the Ring In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede SummerSlam Ground Zero: In Your House One Night Only Badd Blood: In Your House Survivor Series D-Generation X: In Your House

WWE pay-per-view and WWE Network events

Bad Blood	Badd Blood: In Your House 2003 2004

In Your House	1 2 3 4 5 6 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies 8: Beware of Dog 9: International Incident 10: Mind Games 11: Buried Alive 12: It's Time 13: Final Four 14: Revenge of the 'Taker 15: A Cold Day in Hell 16: Canadian Stampede Ground Zero Badd Blood D-Generation X No Way Out of Texas Unforgiven Over the Edge Fully Loaded Breakdown Judgment Day Rock Bottom St. Valentine's Day Massacre Backlash

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