On October 20, 1996 the WWF presented the first ever buried alive match in the aptly named In Your House: Buried Alive pay per view. This show was decent, and was about on the same level as the previous In Your House: Mind Games pay per view. Like that show, there isn’t too much to talk about besides the main event.

   The show put the spotlight on the long-running (and perhaps best) feud of 1996 between The Undertaker and Mankind. These two already had several wars, including brutal no DQ matches and a boiler room brawl.

   Also on this show was the beginning of the build to the showdown between Sycho Sid and Shawn Michaels at the 1996 Survivor Series. Before facing the Heartbreak Kid, Sid had to beat the mastodon Vader.

   Something else of note was the fact that JR is still a heel at this point in time, taking every opportunity to throw some shade at Vince McMahon on commentary. He leaves halfway through the show though, but it can get really annoying.

   This show featured the progression of various fuels such as Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs Mr. Perfect and Steve Austin vs Bret Hart. But without further ado, let’s look at In Your House: Buried Alive.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs Stone Cold Steve Austin

   We start off with a match that will be a money maker in a few years, but right now is just a preview of what these two can do with each other. There wasn’t really a reason for this match to happen, besides the fact that the Helmsley vs Perfect feud needed to continue.

   This is the second longest match on the show, clocking in around 15 minutes and it is a little plodding. There are a lot of rest holds and the focus is more on the commentary team, as JR’s mic doesn’t work and he gets irate about it.

   This is a pretty average match that ended when Helmsley ate the Stone Cold Stunner after being distracted by Perfect. I have seen the same finish in these Helmsley matches about five or six times now.

   Also, little bit of trivia here: This was the first time Stone Cold’s iconic theme with the glass breaking would play on TV.

Rating: 2.5 Helmsley escorts taken away out of 5

Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs The Smoking Gunns (WWF Tag Team Championship)

   Much like their match at Mind Games, this contest is pretty boring and is really just building to the breakup of the Gunns. Sunny was on commentary and played her role well, while Billy was constantly distracted due to being smitten with her.

   There were some solid sequences, but it all led to a really silly finish. Billy went on the top to perform the team’s finishing move on Owen, but Bulldog hides behind Bart with a handful of tights (note: Bulldog is barely below Bart’s head, and how does Bart not feel his tights being pulled?) and gives Owen the assist for the pin and the win.

   Not very compelling stuff.

Rating: 2 of Owen Hart’s Slammy awards out of 5

Marc Mero vs Goldust for the Intercontinental Championship

   The night after Mind Games saw the final match in a tournament between Mero and Farooq to determine the new Intercontinental Champion. Mero won in an average bout that showcased his high flying abilities, which were pretty impressive for 1996.

   However, I don’t know what his character is supposed to be. Is he supposed to be the new “Macho Man” Randy Savage, since his name is Wildman and he has a pretty valet? He also does high flying moves like him but has a tenth of Macho’s charisma, so I don’t know.

   Either way, this match was pretty decent. Mero can’t really carry a match or work a long match, but Goldust is probably the best dance partner he could have. At this point, the crowd was pretty heated towards Dust, and he handles a lot of the offense, with Mero occasionally getting a desperation move in.

   The match ends with the shooting star press from Mero and a win for the champion. It was short and did its job. Nothing more, nothing less.

Rating: 2.5 Mero mustaches out of 5

Sycho Sid vs Vader

   This match was for the number one contendership to the WWF title, and was one I was looking forward to. This was a battle between the two best big men in the WWF.

   There is one huge problem with this match. The whole four minute hype video makes special notes that both guys use the powerbomb, and we would figure out who is the true master of the maneuver. Guess what? Not one powerbomb is used in this match. It certainly isn’t the finish either.

   However, it’s still a fun affair, with the two big men throwing all their trademark moves at each other in a nice back and forth. As I noted earlier, the crowd absolutely loves Sid for some reason and are into everything he does here.

   In the end, Sid manages to avoid the Vader Bomb and then hits the Mastodon with a horrible looking chokeslam to earn the pin, and setting him on a collision course with Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series. All in all, a decent match that should’ve been better.

Rating: 3 incoherent Sid promos out of 5

The Undertaker vs Mankind in the first Buried Alive Match

   Now on to the main event. This match was awesome, as was every match these two had in 1996. This one was more of a straight up brawl, with the two fighting all over the ringside area. At one point Taker even hits a jumping clothesline over the guardrail onto Mankind.

   Both men took some nasty bumps and a plethora of weapons were used, from steel chairs to shovels to the steel steps. Then, following about 17 minutes of back and forth action, The Undertaker was able to chokeslam Mankind into the grave and buried him alive.

   The victory was short lived, however, as a masked man attacked Take with a shovel and threw him into the grave. Then, the masked man, Mankind and the entire random lower card heel roster such as Crush, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Goldust and Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw for some reason helped completely bury the Deadman alive.

   Then, a lightning bolt and the sound of thunder boomed throughout the arena and the heels scattered. We are then left with the image of the Undertaker’s arm rising from the grave to close out the show.

   The actual match was great and another installment of the best rivalry of 1996. But the aftermath and the burying angle was pretty long and boring, but it led to a change in Taker’s character, so it is what it is.

Rating: 4.5 midcard heels trying to kill The Undertaker out of 5

   Overall, this show wasn’t much to write home about. The main event was tremendous, but the rest of the show either had boring matches or flat finishes. The MVP of the night was definitely Mankind, as he took some hellacious bumps during the main event.

   However, it was only two hours, and was a lot less painful to watch than a current bad WWE show like Backlash 2018. Check back next time where we’ll look at the episodes of Raw from August to November.

PPV Rating: 2 Mankind squeals out of 5

   Also on a side note: R.I.P. to Leon White, also known as Big Van Vader, who passed away Monday night. He’s known as one of the absolute toughest guys in the wrestling business and arguably the best big man to grace the squared circle, with amazing strength, agility and wrestling knowledge.

   He won several titles, including three reigns with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and was the first gaijin (non-Japanese) wrestler to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling, winning it three times in total.

   He had many struggles in his time, but left everything in the ring for the fans. He gave us many great matches and moments and won’t be forgotten.

Henry Wolski
Executive Editor