In Your House 6 (1996): Shawn Michaels Earns WrestleMania, Undertaker Comes Through the Floor

The Crybaby Match is a better wrestling match than its name deserves. Razor Ramon and 1-2-3 Kid already have years of chemistry behind them, and the heel turn gives their familiar size-versus-speed dynamic a personal edge. Kid does not simply need to beat the larger wrestler; he needs to embarrass the friend he betrayed. Razor needs the opposite, which unfortunately means somebody has to end the night near a giant baby bottle.

Kid's offense is sharp from the beginning. He uses kicks, a springboard clothesline, missile dropkick and Superfly Splash to make Razor work from underneath. Ted DiBiase adds baby powder from ringside, and the interference creates exactly the kind of frustration the rivalry has been built around. Razor's comeback works because he has spent months being prevented from getting his hands on Kid cleanly.

The one major drag is the sleeper sequence. Kid returns to the hold several times and the pace stalls for too long. Once Razor escapes, the match quickly regains shape. The fallaway slam from the middle rope is excellent, Kid's spinning heel kick produces another nearfall and the baby powder eventually backfires.

Razor hits the Razor's Edge and deliberately pulls Kid up before three so he can hit another. That decision would be silly in an ordinary match; here it fits the feud because Razor is not merely trying to win. He is trying to settle an account. The second Razor's Edge ends the match, and the diaper, bottle and powder follow.

B / 7.7 reflects good wrestling attached to a stipulation that threatens to make the feud look less serious than it actually was. TJR gives it 3.25 stars and Leighty gives it three. WrestleFile agrees with that general level. The match is fun, the crowd is invested and the correct wrestler wins. The infant-costume ceremony is the price of admission.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Duke Droese are wrestling because Hunter cut the garbage man's hair. That sentence tells the reader almost everything about WWF's undercard problem in early 1996. The performers are competent, the feud is easy to understand and the audience has little reason to treat any of it as important.

Droese starts aggressively and throws Hunter around by the hair, giving the match at least one direct connection to the story. Hunter bumps generously, sends Duke into the steps and controls the middle with knees, uppercuts and a suplex. Nothing is disastrously executed. The issue is that the crowd gradually stops reacting because the action never creates a reason to care beyond the occupational gimmicks.

Duke eventually hits the Trash Compactor and could plausibly win. Instead he retrieves the trash can, the referee removes it and Hunter uses the lid behind the referee's attention to steal the pin. The finish protects Duke slightly while giving Hunter another pay-per-view win.

D+ / 5.2 reflects competent wrestling with almost no urgency. TJR gives it 1.75 stars and Leighty 1.5, both noting the quiet crowd. WrestleFile lands slightly higher because the match has a coherent beginning and finish, but coherence is a low ceiling when the rivalry itself is fighting for relevance.

The historical interest comes entirely from Hunter. Within a few years he will become one of the defining wrestlers of the company. Here he is still an aristocrat winning because a referee loses track of a trash-can lid. Careers can be patient things.

Yokozuna against British Bulldog is a five-minute setup for an angle, and the five minutes feel longer because Yokozuna is visibly struggling. The recent babyface turn gives the crowd a reason to support him, but his movement is limited enough that Bulldog has to keep the offense basic. Clotheslines, choking and Cornette interference do most of the work.

There are still a few impressive power moments. Yokozuna's belly-to-belly suplex gets the reaction it should, and Bulldog's Samoan Drop on a man of that size remains visually absurd. Those flashes are not enough to create a sustained match because Yokozuna appears exhausted before the finish arrives.

Cornette hits Yokozuna with the tennis racket for the disqualification, and the real segment begins. Vader attacks, Bulldog joins him, Yokozuna is handcuffed to the rope and officials flood the ring while the heels continue the beating. The angle gives Vader substantial heat and turns Yokozuna's break from Camp Cornette into something more serious than a manager dispute.

D- / 4.2 is more generous than the major retrospective star ratings. TJR gives the match 0.75 stars and Leighty gives it 0.5. WrestleFile gives limited credit for the few power spots and the effective transition into the post-match attack, but the match itself is poor.

The post-match material should be watched. The bell-to-bell portion can be reduced to a few highlights. WWE is trying to establish Vader and protect Yokozuna's new alignment; the wrestling is merely the corridor connecting those two ideas.

Shawn Michaels against Owen Hart has one of the most obvious results imaginable and still becomes the best match on the show. Shawn has just won the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania XII is built around his title challenge and WWF is promoting the pursuit relentlessly. Owen's job is not to make the audience believe the entire WrestleMania plan is changing. His job is to make them forget that certainty for a few seconds at a time.

The opening is playful because both men know how popular Shawn is. They trade speed, crowd gestures and increasingly sharp offense until Owen's belly-to-belly suplex changes the tone. From there Owen works the back, uses the camel clutch and eventually reaches the Sharpshooter. The strategy could be more consistent, but it gives the middle of the match direction.

The crucial moment is the enzuigiri. That kick had been attached to Shawn's collapse in late 1995, and Owen has spent months claiming responsibility for putting him out. When the kick lands again and Shawn falls to the floor, the match suddenly has a threat larger than a pinfall. Owen drags him back inside because he wants the definitive victory and nearly gets it.

Shawn's comeback is explosive without erasing the danger. He lands the flying forearm, kips up, hits the elbow and lines up Sweet Chin Music. Owen avoids it and tries the enzuigiri again. Shawn ducks, Owen turns around and the superkick ends the match. The final exchange pays off the entire feud in seconds.

A- / 8.8 makes this WrestleFile's Match of the Night. TJR gives it four stars, Leighty 3.5 and Rated R 3.25. The lower assessments criticize Shawn's inconsistent selling of Owen's back work, which is fair. WrestleFile stops short of A because the outcome is too obvious and the middle strategy is not as focused as the finish.

What the match does perfectly is close one chapter before WrestleMania. Shawn survives the move associated with his lowest point, beats the wrestler who has mocked him for it and leaves with the title opportunity intact. Bret Hart is waiting. The road is now clear.

Bret Hart and Diesel had excellent chemistry at Survivor Series 1995, which makes this cage match more disappointing than it would be in isolation. The problem is not effort. Bret attacks the leg, Diesel uses his size, both men take hard cage collisions and the history between them is easy to understand. The problem is that the escape-only rules turn too much of the match into slow motion.

Every offensive sequence eventually becomes a crawl toward the door or climb up the bars. Bret's leg work is supposed to explain why Diesel struggles to escape, but Diesel's selling is inconsistent enough that the strategy never fully pays off. The crowd becomes quiet during long stretches because neither man creates the sense that escape is suddenly possible.

There are good individual moments. Diesel slams Bret from near the top of the cage, Bret takes his familiar sternum-first turnbuckle bump, and Bret eventually dives from the cage structure with an elbow. The match also becomes more desperate late, including Diesel's low blow when Bret nearly gets over the top.

Then Undertaker arrives from underneath the ring. Diesel is almost through the cage door when the canvas opens, smoke appears and Undertaker grabs his leg. Diesel is dragged into the hole while Bret climbs over the opposite side and reaches the floor. As spectacle, it is terrific. As a WWF Championship finish, Bret might as well have been picking up luggage while two other men begin their WrestleMania feud.

C- / 5.6 reflects a below-average main event with an unforgettable ending. TJR and Leighty both give it two stars, while Rated R is somewhat more forgiving of Bret's work. WrestleFile gives credit for the psychology Bret attempts and the creativity of the finish but cannot ignore the pace or how secondary the champion becomes.

The result protects Diesel, keeps Bret champion and gives Undertaker revenge for Royal Rumble. Three goals are accomplished at once. The fourth goal—having a compelling cage match—is the one that gets left under the ring.