In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies (1996): Diesel Leaves WWF Swinging a Prosthetic Leg

The opener begins as a British Bulldog-Jake Roberts singles match and becomes a tag match after Clarence Mason tries to remove Jake's snake from ringside. Ahmed Johnson arrives as backup, Owen Hart joins Bulldog, and the audience gets a stronger match on paper than the original pairing probably could have produced.

Owen does most of the technical work because that is what the match needs. He bumps for Ahmed's power, cuts Jake off whenever the veteran tries to reach the DDT and keeps the middle moving while Bulldog protects his injured knee. Ahmed is most effective in short bursts. His hot tag produces the largest reaction in the match because the crowd wants explosive power, not sustained mat work.

Jake spends much of the match getting isolated, which is logical but not especially exciting. Bulldog and Owen use basic control offense, cheap shots and repeated tags while Jake sells. The structure is old-fashioned and effective without becoming memorable.

The finish gives Bulldog the result he needs for the next title program. Cornette's tennis racquet is used on Jake's knee while the referee is distracted, and Bulldog forces the submission with a leg hold. Shawn Michaels' next challenger therefore leaves Omaha with a direct victory rather than merely sharing Owen's success.

C / 6.3 reflects a competent, useful tag match. TJR and Leighty both land at two stars, and the harsher 411 assessment argues that Owen cannot completely carry the limitations around him. WrestleFile gives slightly more credit for the hot crowd and the clean storyline purpose.

The match does exactly one job well: move Bulldog toward Shawn. Everything else is serviceable. Owen is the best wrestler in the match, Ahmed is the most explosive, Jake is the sympathy figure, and Bulldog gets the submission that matters.

Goldust's knee injury explains why this match is bad without making the seven minutes enjoyable. Warrior chases him, Goldust retreats, Marlena becomes part of the stalling and the audience spends several minutes waiting for an actual wrestling match to begin.

Warrior takes Marlena's cigar, sits in her director's chair and puts on Goldust's robe and wig. Goldust eventually enters, Warrior burns his hand with the cigar, hits one clothesline and Goldust leaves for the countout. That is essentially the competitive content of an advertised Intercontinental Championship match.

The crowd remains surprisingly engaged because Warrior's return still has novelty and Goldust is an effective character. The reaction does not solve the underlying problem. WWF has an injured champion, a challenger who cannot carry a conventional match by himself, and no alternate plan beyond stretching the segment until the referee counts ten.

F / 1.7 is generous compared with the harshest historical review. TJR gives it negative one star and notes that Meltzer went as low as negative 3.5. Leighty calls it a dud and says it barely qualifies as a match. WrestleFile agrees with the substance of those reactions even if the numeric system cannot represent negative wrestling.

Goldust retains because titles do not change hands on a countout, so at least the championship survives the injury. Everything else feels like television time that accidentally made it onto pay-per-view. The most useful historical fact is not who won. It is that WWF charged for this.

Vader and Razor Ramon are more competitive than the circumstances require. Razor is leaving WWF, Vader is being positioned upward and a short decisive win would have been easy to justify. Instead, WWF gives them nearly fifteen minutes and lets Razor make Vader work for the victory.

The early story is size. Vader throws Razor around, attacks the ribs and treats each lockup as a reminder that Razor cannot simply wrestle him normally. Razor adapts by punching, moving and looking for moments when Vader's momentum can be redirected. The crowd responds every time Razor manages to knock the larger man down.

The match becomes much better once Razor starts testing whether his signature offense can work. He suplexes Vader, catches him with a powerslam, hits a second-rope bulldog and later brings him down with an electric-chair drop. The Razor's Edge remains the unreachable goal. Each attempt either fails because Vader is too heavy or leaves Razor vulnerable.

Vader eventually escapes another Razor's Edge and simply drops his full weight across Razor's chest for the pin. The finish is less dramatic than the match deserves, but the victory is clean and the larger story is obvious. Vader has survived everything Razor can improvise.

B / 7.8 reflects a good farewell match. TJR gives it 3.25 stars and Leighty gives it 3.5. WrestleFile sides with that range because the match is physical, competitive and unusually generous to a wrestler already headed out the door.

Scott Hall's next major televised chapter begins in WCW. That hindsight makes the match more interesting, but it does not create the grade. Razor and Vader earn the score by making a predictable result feel competitive for fourteen minutes.

The Bodydonnas and Godwinns have a simple styles contrast that never becomes much more than background for Sunny. Skip and Zip are quicker, Henry and Phineas are larger, and the match spends seven minutes cycling between those identities without finding a memorable escalation.

There are competent moments. The Bodydonnas use faster tags and a slingshot suplex, while the Godwinns answer with power offense. Phineas taking the spill when the top rope is pulled down gives the champions a useful control point. Nothing is badly executed enough to collapse the match.

Then Sunny becomes the story. She presents Phineas with an autographed picture, distracting him while Henry appears to have the match won with the Slop Drop. The referee becomes occupied with the commotion, Skip and Zip switch positions and the illegal man steals the pin with a small package.

D+ / 5.1 reflects functional wrestling with a weak championship finish. TJR and Leighty both rate the match around 1.5 stars, and Campbell likewise treats it as forgettable. WrestleFile gives credit for basic competence but little more.

The most revealing part of the segment is that Sunny is already more compelling than the tag-title rivalry. WWF will soon move her through several teams because the company understands where the audience is looking. The championships remain in place. The attention has moved elsewhere.

Shawn Michaels and Diesel begin before the match has time to become ceremonial. Shawn rushes the ring and throws punches because waiting would concede the physical advantage. Diesel absorbs the attack, catches him with one hard knee and immediately reminds the audience why Shawn's first pay-per-view title defense is dangerous.

The match is built around Diesel discovering increasingly cruel ways to use his size. He whips Shawn with Earl Hebner's belt, loops it around the champion's neck and hangs him across the ropes. He uses a chair, knocks Shawn from the apron and keeps glancing toward Vince McMahon as though the match is also a farewell message to the company. Diesel has rarely looked more comfortable as a heel.

Shawn's offense works because it comes in bursts. The early moonsault to the floor, chair revenge and later flying forearm all feel like openings stolen from a larger opponent rather than extended periods of control. That structure helps the champion remain sympathetic without asking the audience to forget the size difference.

The Jackknife through the commentary table is the match's turning point. In 1996, this is not routine furniture destruction. Diesel drives Shawn through a wooden table with the monitors still present, then grabs the WWF Championship because he believes the match is essentially over. Shawn recovering as quickly as he does is the main flaw. The spot deserves more selling than the match gives it.

The comeback is still terrific. Shawn uses the fire extinguisher, fights back with the chair and survives another attempt at the Jackknife. Diesel then turns toward Mad Dog Vachon at ringside, pulls him from his seat and removes the prosthetic leg. It is one of the strangest weapons in WWF history and somehow fits perfectly because the match has spent eighteen minutes teaching the audience that Diesel will use whatever he can reach.

Shawn hits the low blow, takes the leg and strikes Diesel with it before setting up Sweet Chin Music. The superkick ends the match cleanly. No manager saves Shawn, no referee mistake protects Diesel and no technicality interrupts the farewell. The new champion beats the departing former champion in the fight Diesel asked for.

A / 9.4 makes this WrestleFile's Match of the Night by a wide margin. TJR and Dave Meltzer both rate it 4.5 stars, Leighty gives it five and Mike Campbell gives it 3.75 while criticizing Shawn's quick recovery from the table powerbomb. That single selling issue keeps WrestleFile below A+.

The match also changes how Diesel is remembered. Kevin Nash has better business accomplishments elsewhere, but this may be his best WWF singles performance. He leaves not as the failed champion of 1995 but as the monster who forced Shawn Michaels to survive a table, a belt, a chair and a stolen prosthetic leg. That is a much better goodbye.