WWF in Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

Take 5 Americans, 5 Canadians, put them in a Calgary Saddledome full of rabid Canadians and what do you get? The best WWF PPV ever.

Even though this is only a four match event it still ranks among the best ever. The matches range from good to excellent and encompass a range of styles from crazy American brawling to Jap-Lucha to a typical US big man match. New fans who have been weaned on HHH and Stone Cold (yes I know they were both on the card) really out to check this out and see how good this is.

Singles: Hunter Hearst Hemsley vs Mankind Rating: ***1/2 Thoughts: Pretty good match. The ending was stupid but I liked it. It was a very good brawl. I like the idea of Triple h exploiting Mankind's knee injury after it hit the corner of the ring steps during the match.

Singles: Taka Michonoku vs Great Sasuke Rating: **** Thoughts: A very athletic and awesome match. These two went at it. The high risk moves were incredible. The ending was amazing. Taka Michonoku is a great wrestler. Great Sasuke isn't bad either.

WWE championship: Vader vs undertaker(c) Rating: ***1/2 Thoughts: A very good match for the WWE championship. Vader and Undertaker worked there butts off. Vader had a lot of near falls. Undertaker had a lot also. This was a brutal, barbaric brawl.

Ten man tag: Team Austin (Goldust, Ken Shamrock, Road Warrior Animal, Road Warrior Hawk and Steve Austin) vs Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Nied Hart and Brian Pillman) Rating: ****1/2 Thoughts: An incredible ten man tag match. They really want at it from the minute the bell rang to the very end. I thought Owen and Steve's injuries were a good inclusion into the match. Its an eye for an eye like they always say. Owen did a real good job. Team Steve was a very bizarre tag team but they somehow were able to co exist.

Final Thoughts: A very good pay per view. One of the most if not the most best pay per view in WWE history.

Deep into the WWF's "US vs. Canada/Hart Foundation" storyline, the WWF decided to have their July In Your House in the Hart family's hometown of Calgary, Alberta Canada. The environment is absolutely UNREAL as the fans go nuts for everything the Canadians do (Brian Pillman gets cheered for cheating for example) and boo the US team out of the building with their every move (Steve Austin takes on a heel persona and plays against the crowd getting some of the loudest heat ever, Ken Shamrock tries to play to the crowd and gets booed right out of the building)

Just a break down of the matches here.

Mankind vs. HHH Probably the best of their original feud, if you loved the Street Fight or the HIAC or the MSG Raw match this is an essential, this is from their original feud and was an absolutely wild brawl leading to a double countout and they fought throughout the rest of the show, the feud culminated the next month at Summerslam ****

Taka vs. The Great Sasuke

Although they've had many matches on Michinoku Pro TV this is the first time North American WWF fans had been treated to these two (although they made a very very impressive NA PPV debut at ECW's barely legal 4 months prior), a great outing which changed Taka's entire career path because of how the crowd rallied behind him, originally Sasuke was to be pushed and Taka was supposed to be fodder for the light heavyweight division. This match was excellent although a bit short, and is one of the best cruiserweight matches i've ever seen, even close to Eddy vs. Rey. ****1/4

Vader vs. The Undertaker

This was originall supposed to be Ahmed vs. Taker, but big surprise, Ahmed Johnson got injured before the match! Thank god his heel push got cut off at the legs. Anyway, this is a really good big man match that really makes you realize how washed up Taker is after he was this great in 97. The selling and bumping are really sound for these two, especially considering how injuries were getting to Vader at this point. ***3/4

10 Man Tag

Steve Austin/Ken Shamrock/Goldust/Road Warriors vs. Bret Hart/Owen Hart/Jim Neidhart/British Bulldog/Brian Pillman

Wild, 30 minutes of non stop action with the best crowd heat ever for any match (although it was nearly duplicated on Raw in 2000 during the Radicals debut). Wild stuff as Owen Hart and Steve Austin both were "injured" during the match, leading to their exits and eventual return for the finish, Austin gets in a brawl with the Hart family at ringside and gets taken to jail, but is able to get the middle fingers up past the handcuffs. Why couldn't he play THIS character in 2001? Awesome stuff, and i wish that Bret Hart could've gone out on this note.

*****

If you don't own this tape...what is wrong with you?!!?!? Get a VHS copy of the coliseum video version "WWF Maximum Impact (97)" which should say contains matches with the July in your house and has Bret Hart on the cover. Probably the best show the WWF has EVER done in competition with only Wrestlemania X-7 and a few others. WWE is nuts not to release this on DVD, i'd upgrade my copy in a second.

This wrestling event is still talked about today and many wrestling magazines over the world still rate this card as one of the best of the 1990's.

It may have only had four matches but isn't it better to have four good matches on a card than dozens of meaningless and pointless matches?

Rising star Hunter Hearst Helmsley had a wild brawl with the deranged Makind. Japanese stars Taka Michinoku and The Great Sasuke had a dazzling match. The Undertaker defended his WWF Title against Vader in a sensational match.

The main event was fabulous. At the time the WWF were promoting a storyline featuring Canada VS The United States. On American soil the American wrestlers were the good guys (obviously) but this event took place in Calgary, Canada so paradoxically the good guys became the bad guys and vice versa. In Canada, Bret Hart and his team battled Steve Austin and his team in one of the best WWF matches ever. This match was amazing which was typical for the WWF of 1997.

With the hindsight of what was to come in the weeks months and years ahead. This event feels so much more important than it probably did at the time. Bret Owen Jim Dave Boy and Brian pillman joined by stu hart and all the family feels like a fitting send off. As wrestling and the hart family would change forever from this point. Take all that away and you are still left with some great matches and some brilliant wrestling mankind Hunter's never ending match. Featuring a brilliant moment when Earl Hebner grabbed a man in the crowd. Who try's to take a cheap shot at a wrestler about 26 minutes in. Vader v Undertaker with talk of taker have a brother Kane beginnings of one of the best storylines in wrestling. Then there's team American Stone cold Hawk and Animal Golddust and Ken shamrock. Add to that a fired up Canadian crowd with stone cold working the crowd til it's final moment. Best House show of the year.