Mike Reviews Shows Considered To Be Stinkers – WWF In Your House 12: It’s Time

Happy Stinky Friday Everyone!

I was unsure what to do a Stinker Review on this week, but It’s Time is a show that I’ve seen some conflicting opinions on, so I thought it might make an interesting subject. For those not familiar with my Stinker Reviews; I look at a show with a bad reputation and I decide whether that reputation is deserved or not.

What makes WWF In Your House 12 interesting to me is that I’ve seen it given good reviews, middling reviews and outright bad reviews. I’ve honestly never thought of it as an outright terrible show, but I also haven’t watched it in quite a while so I felt it would be good to take a look at it and refresh my memory as it were.

I did some research into the show and found that it was generally well-liked by the readership of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter at the time, as 76.20% of the people that watched it and wrote into the WON gave it a Thumbs Up. By comparison, Scott Keith in his review really didn’t seem to like the show at all, saying that “There’s literally NOTHING on the show to warrant going back and watching it”.

Over on Cage Match, the “Inmates” have given It’s Time a thoroughly middling 4.79 score. It’s Time did a pretty lousy buy rate at the time (although pretty much any WWF show was going to get pumped in December 1996 due to WCW both being so hot and the fact they had Hogan Vs Piper at Starrcade that year, back when people still actually wanted to see those two wrestle each other) but maybe 30 years removed the show itself has some entertainment value?

Let’s watch on anyway and see if we can answer the question as to whether In Your House 12 is really a Stinker or not

You can view the full card for the event by clicking below;

WWF In Your House 12: It’s Time card

In Your House 12: It’s Time is emanating from the West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida on the 15th of December 1996

Calling the action are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon Jr.

The opening video package is one of the usual dark ones from this period, with dramatic music and close ups of big moves. It does the job intended, but it’s by no means a classic.

Opening Match
Leif Cassidy Vs Flash Funk w/ The Funkettes

Cassidy would likely be better known by most of the readership as Al Snow, whilst Funk was previously Too Cold Scorpio in WCW and ECW. Cassidy’s gimmick had been that he was one half of The New Rockers with Marty Jannetty, but then Marty did a Jannetty and lost his state of employment. With his partner gone; Cassidy was retained and ended up becoming a solo act who was going nowhere on the lower card treadmill. Thankfully for Cassidy, he would head to ECW in 1997 under his old wrestling name of Al Snow and found a mannequin head that would set him on the way to (moderate) fame and fortune. Vince makes sure to drive a truck through any cool factor that Flash might have by doing the lamest white man dancing ever whilst Flash enters, which Flash has to politely smile for because it’s the boss doing it.

The live crowd doesn’t get too invested in this one to start, with the two wrestlers mostly working holds on the mat. Flash Funk tries a cross body off the ropes at one stage, but initially slips, meaning that Cassidy heads over to attack him to cover for it. However, Flash decides that he’s gonna do the move hook or by crook, but by this point Cassidy is out of position and the move goes awry. Cassidy fights back by flinging Funk out of the ring with an overhead suplex and then follows with a dive, which not surprisingly is enough for the cut off and heat segment. Cassidy works Flash over with basic stuff whilst yelling at points to get across the idea that he’s now a bit unhinged.

Cassidy playing the crazy man here didn’t really work, but giving him The Head to talk to gave the act a bit of extra flavour and he eventually got over as a popular mid-card act later on in the Attitude Era. Flash eventually fights back and sends Cassidy to the outside so that he can follow up with a TOPE CON HILO. Flash follows with a Moonsault back inside the ring, which surprisingly only gets a two count. That would have been a believable finish to be honest, but it was nice for Cassidy that they let him kick out of a big move like that. The two wrestlers do a fun fishtails pinning sequence, with neither being able to get the win, and that leads into Funk heading up top with a 450 Splash for the three count.

11 Minutes

WINNER: FLASH FUNK
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: The crowd never really got that into the match, but the work was decent overall. Cassidy got a chance to show off some of his own athleticism before getting pinned, so he didn’t come across as enhancement talent. Arguably they could have just taken it home after the Moonsault and the match wouldn’t have been any worse, but having Cassidy kickout at least gave him something worthwhile to take from the experience

Stone Cold Steve Austin is annoying Sunny and Ray Rougeau on the WWF Superstar Line.

Second Match
WWF Tag Team Titles
Challengers: “Diesel” and “Razor Ramon”
Vs
Champions: British Bulldog and Owen Hart w/ Clarence Mason

“Diesel” and “Razor” are being played by Glenn Jacobs and Rick Bognar respectively, as opposed to being Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Nash and Hall had jumped to WCW in the Spring of 1996, but the WWF (well, Vince McMahon mainly) wanted to prove that they owned the characters and could easily replace the two departees, leading to Jacobs and Bognar getting saddled with these lame imposter gimmicks. Fans hated the characters and they weren’t around for long after this. Bulldog and Owen were squabbling at the time, which was seemingly building to Bulldog turning Face and feuding with his brother-in-law, but that didn’t end up happening. You can read more about that in the first edition of Mike Looks Back.

Jim Ross is kind of a Heel announcer here, as in storyline it was him who brought The Imposters into the WWF. Thus Ross is lamenting the fact that the fans are booing the fakers. In a pre-match interview, British Bulldog says he isn’t worried about Stone Cold getting involved tonight, which essentially guarantees that we’ll see Stone Cold get involved in this one at some point. Owen was very much a sneaky villain at the time, but Bulldog was behaving more like a Face, so that means that the Champs will essentially be working as the de facto babyfaces for the night, seeing as no one is going to cheer for the lame “Diesel” and “Razor”. Glenn Jacobs is a serviceable big man wrestler, so he handles himself well enough in there with Owen to start, whilst Pierroth and Cibernetico from AAA come down to watch the match in order to build-up the AAA involvement in Royal Rumble 1997. The fans either don’t know who they are, don’t care about them, or both.

Stone Cold of course eventually shows up, which leads to Bulldog heading out and attacking him before a gaggle of agents and referees drag Austin away. Fake Razor isn’t as good as Fake Diesel, but he doesn’t look too bad in there thanks to Owen and Bulldog both being experienced pros who can carry him to something watchable. Eventually Fake Diesel low bridges Owen from the apron and attacks Owen on the floor, which is enough for Owen to be cut off and work over. The fans actually get behind Owen during the heat and clap for him to make a comeback, whilst Owen sells well for the challengers, so it’s an effective heat segment overall. Glenn Jacobs is actually kind of a better Kevin Nash than the real Kevin Nash when it comes purely to wrestling, although Nash clearly had more charisma and presence in the Diesel role than Jacobs did and it took Jacobs adopting the Kane persona to finally connect with WWF fans.

Bulldog eventually gets the hot tag and runs wild, looking good in the process. The challengers actually take some decent bumps for Davey Boy, including Fake Diesel taking a lovely bump from a Bulldog clothesline at one stage. Things eventually break down, with all four wrestlers going at it in the ring. This leads to Owen and Fake Diesel taking a tumble to the floor whilst Bullodg and Fake Razor battling in the ring. Fake Razor goes for the fake Razor’s Edge, but Owen takes him out with a spinning wheel kick and that allows Bulldog to get a jack-knife cover for the three count.

11 Minutes

WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: BULLDOG & OWEN
RATING: **3/4

Thoughts: This was another solid match, elevated by all four competitors putting forth pay per view effort and the champs doing a decent job of carrying the challengers. The fans actually got quite into it at points, which is impressive due to how lame the fake Razor and Diesel gimmicks were. Sometimes if you have some talented people involved and work a proven formula, you can get some satisfactory results

Stone Cold comes back to give Bulldog a chop-block following the match, although Owen is a bit slow to help his partner, thus continuing the dissension storyline between the champs.

The Nation of Domination has taken over the WWF Superstar Line.

Vince McMahon brings Ahmed Johnson down to the ring. Ahmed was returning from an injury that was attributed to Faarooq. Vince reveals that Faarooq and Ahmed will battle at Royal Rumble 1997. Ahmed is ticked off about Farrooq injuring him, as it led to Ahmed losing his home, car and girlfriend. If she left you because you were injured then you probably had a lucky escape there Big Johnson. Ahmed notes that all he has left is his fans, which does get him cheered at least. Faarooq interrupts though, calling Ahmed an “Uncle Tom” and saying that he’ll defeat Johnson by any means necessary at The Rumble. Ahmed wants to fight Faarooq right now, but Faarooq isn’t up for that, so Ahmed just gets the crowd to chant “You’re Going Down” instead. This was an acceptable angle that did it’s job of officially confirming the match between Faarooq and Ahmed. That match did seem to be one that the fans were interested in seeing at least.

We get confirmation that Vader will be battling The Undertaker at Royal Rumble 1997 as well. We also learn that Stone Cold, Rocky Maivia, Mankind, Jake Roberts, Crush and Savio Vega will all be competing in the Rumble Match itself.

Third Match
WWF Intercontinental Title
Champion: Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Vs
Challenger: “Wildman” Marc Mero w/ Sable

The story here is that Hunter was feuding with Mr. Perfect and the two were supposed to wrestle on an episode of Monday Night Raw. However, on the night of the match, Hunter attacked Perfect to seemingly take him out of commission, leading to Mero stepping up to take the match and defend his IC belt against Hunter. However, Hunter and Perfect were actually working in tandem, leading to Perfect helping Hunter to win the belt and seemingly begin an alliance between the two. That didn’t end up happening though, as Perfect did a runner and eventually joined WCW in 1997, meaning that the WWF just kind of pretended that Hunter ran Perfect out of town once he’d fulfilled his usefulness and everyone quietly moved on. Hunter has already sowed the seeds for his next feud, as he was hitting on Marlena on the pre-show, which might anger the man she currently manages…

Sable had initially been brought into the WWF at WrestleMania XII as a valet for HHH, but she quickly left Hunter and hooked up with Mero, which led to HHH and The Wildman feuding for most of the remainder of 1996, with this supposedly being the final match between the two of them. There’s the odd moment in the initial exchanges where they don’t seem to be on the same page, but aside from that the work in the match is decent and the two generally work well together. The opening exchanges are also worked at a quick clip, which keeps the tempo up. Eventually Hunter lures Mero to the floor, where he uses Sable as a human shield to slow Mero down and then flings the challenger into the metal ring steps for the cut off. Hunter works some heat following that, focusing mostly on Mero’s back and mid-section. Mero sells all of that well and HHH’s offence is solidly delivered, so it’s a decent heat segment.

The big joke surrounding Hunter at the time was that all of his offence tended to involve his knee, and that’s somewhat the case here as he destroys Mero with a series of Back Breaker’s. Hunter does break up the knee based offence somewhat by going to an abdominal stretch, although sadly Gorilla Monsoon doesn’t show up to tell us all that he’s applying the hold incorrectly. Hunter eventually makes the mistake of trying a flying nothing from the second rope though, which allows Mero to get his boot in the air to block it and then make the comeback. HHH bumps and feeds well for Mero, whilst Mero’s offence looks decent, so it’s a good comeback, although the crowd isn’t quite as in to it as you’d perhaps like them to be. This must have been a cold feud after the WWF crowds at the time had been watching it for nearly 8 months in fairness.

Mero wakes the crowd up somewhat with a rana off the top, but Hunter manages to kick out at two from the resulting pin to keep his Title reign alive. Things get a bit screwy in the closing stages, as Hunter knocks the referee into the ropes in order to crotch Mero, but that only nets the champ a two count. Mero responds to that by giving Hunter a catapult into the corner, which is how Mero defeated Hunter back at the May 1996 In Your House, but Hunter is able to kick out this time. Mero continues to hit some impressive moves, including a Moonsault body block off the top. Mero accidentally clotheslines the referee following that though, which leads to chicanery involving Goldust, as teased by the pre-show. Goldust is a bit perturbed that Hunter put the moves on Marlena and that leads to him laying out both Hunter and Mero outside the ring. Mero manages to make it back into the ring before the ten count ends and that gives him the count out win.

14 Minutes

WINNER BY COUNT OUT: MARC MERO (HHH RETAINS HIS TITLE)
RATING: ***

Thoughts: That was a lame finish, but the match itself was decent up to that point. The finish also set up the next feud for Hunter and essentially turned Goldust babyface, so it served it’s purpose and meant that Mero could at least get a win over Hunter in their final pay per view encounter

Mero lays out Hunter with a Shooting Star Press after the bout to rub some salt in The Greenwich Blueblood’s wounds. Goldust then attacks Hunter once again as well, making this probably the most laid out that Triple H has ever been.

Michael Hayes is interviewing WWF Champ Sycho Sid in the locker room. We get clips of Sid, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart getting into a scrap outside the building earlier in the day and Sid then does his usual “talk quietly and THEN START SHOUTING” promo.

Match Four
Armageddon Rules Match
The Executioner w/ Paul Bearer Vs The Undertaker

“Armageddon Rules” essentially means Texas Death rules, where you have to pin your opponent and they have to stay down for a ten count. The Executioner is being played by Terry Gordy. Gordy was one of the best wrestlers in the world at one stage, but a terrible stroke in Japan left him a shell of his former self. It was sad to see him struggling in this role, but at least he got a paycheque for a bit and some pay per view time. The Executioner had prevented Undertaker from finally getting his revenge on Paul Bearer back at Survivor Series 1996, so Taker wants to take him out and remove a thorn from his side. Executioner actually has Papa Shango’s entrance music, which doesn’t really suit him but I guess they wanted something dark and menacing sounding and Jim Johnson was too busy to come up with something fresh that month.

Gordy matches up well with Taker size wise, and they have the standard “two big lads who aren’t really going to sell” brawl to start things off. Undertaker moves well and works at a decent clip, but Executioner can’t really match that sort of pace and kind of just lumbers around. Eventually Mankind heads down to help Executioner (falling flat on his face in the process) and the match essentially becomes a handicap bout at that pount because the rules allow it. This does mean we get to see Mankind wrestle Undertaker, and pretty much every match they had in 1996 was good, so adding Mick Foley to the mix ups the quality instantly. Mankind of course takes some trademark big bumps, including getting thrown through both the window and the door on the In Your House set.

Mankind’s involvement, and the fact they’ve destroyed the entrance area, has at least got the crowd to care about the match a bit, which they really didn’t when it was just a straight 1 Vs 1 battle between Executioner and Taker. Some folks in green shirts run down to the ring to mace Mankind and put him in a straightjacket, which allows Taker to drag Executioner out of the building, where he throws him into a water feature at the entrance of the arena. With Executioner in the drink, Taker heads back into the building to lay a whupping on the subdued Mankind. Mankind can’t really defend himself at this stage, so Undertaker punches him a few times before the soaked Executioner heads back down to the ring for the Tombstone followed by the three count and ten count.

12 Minutes

WINNER: THE UNDERTAKER
RATING: **

Thoughts: I’m not sure this really needed the Texas Death styled ten count after the pin, especially as they were only doing one fall in the entire bout. I know some really hate this match, including Scott Keith, but I thought it was okay. The Executioner Vs Undertaker bits weren’t that good, but the Mankind Vs Undertaker bits were good fun, so it evened out in the end for me

Michael Hayes is interviewing Bret Hart in the locker room. Bret gives a good intense promo saying that he’s been looking to win back the WWF Title for 8 months and then he gets annoyed that Shawn Michaels’ entrance music plays. They were doing a great job of building up Bret as the bitter warhorse annoyed at all the attention Shawn was getting, and it probably would have led to an interesting Main Event at WrestleMania 13 if Shawn hadn’t lost his smile.

Main Event
WWF Title
Champion: Sycho Sid
Vs
Challenger: Bret “Hitman” Hart

Rumour has it that it was originally supposed to be Vader in the role of Champion here (hence why the show is called “It’s Time”, as Vader would regularly yell “It’s Time, It’s Vader Time!” during this period) but Shawn Michaels preferred working with Sid, so he got the nod for the belt instead back at Survivor Series 1996. On that same show, Bret Hart had defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin in an excellent bout and had earned himself a Title shot here. Shawn Michaels is doing guest commentary for this one, and he dislikes both competitors, so I’m sure that’ll lead to something as the bout progresses. Shawn makes sure to deliver some snide insider lines whilst sitting at the desk, including saying that Sid is the most expensive piece of luggage in the WWF because everyone in the WWF has to carry him. As Marge Simpson would say “it’s true, but he shouldn’t say it”. Normally someone would get in trouble for describing the WWF Champ like that, but this is Shawn Michaels in 1996, so Vince McMahon just lets it slide.

Bret shows how fired up he is by trying to make this a slugfest early doors, and he even busts out dirty tactics like raking Sid’s eyes over the top rope. Despite them displaying a reasonable intensity in the early going by going straight to throwing bombs at each other, the crowd doesn’t seem that hot for the contest for some reason. It could be that the crowd doesn’t have a clear favourite out of the two, as both were playing a more tweener role at the time and there isn’t a clear Face and Heel in there. Ostensibly I’d say Sid is a Heel (owing to him battering a defenceless old man with a camera on the previous PPV) and Bret is a Face, but they’re not really wrestling the match like that and are both just tearing into each other. If anything, Sid is playing more of the Face role here, as Bret rams him back first into the metal ring post and then works over the back area inside the ring. In fairness to Sid, his selling of the back whilst getting worked over is actually decent, which isn’t something he was always that good at.

As with most Bret Hart matches, everything in the bout feels like it’s measured and done with purpose, but it’s gritty and workmanlike as opposed to flashy and exciting. Bret eventually removes one of the turnbuckle pads, but Sid blocks an attempt at getting thrown into it, leading to Bret going after the back again and the exposed buckle getting saved for later. Bret stupidly tries heading to the top rope though, and that allows Sid to throw Bret down to the mat and make a comeback, getting some awful overhand haymakers at one stage. Thankfully Sid manages to deliver a nice look powerslam for a near fall, as his power offence was generally okay in fairness to him. It was Sid’s strikes, bumping and feeding that often let him down and make his work look goofy. Bret gets sent to the floor at one stage, where Stone Cold Steve Austin runs out to give him a chop-block and reheat that feud. British Bulldog runs down to brawl with Austin to the back, but Bret is on the defensive now and Sid can start controlling things.

They try and do a spot where Bret goes into the buckle that he himself exposed, but it takes them two tries sadly as they both crumple to the mat on the first attempt and it looks really messy. Sid follows up with a Choke Slam following that, but Bret kicks out at two to a decent pop from the crowd. They’ve gradually got the crowd more invested the longer the bout has gone on for, although it has been a bit of a struggle for them at times. That was a very well-executed near fall. The two end up brawling to the floor and over to the commentary desk, where Sid shoves Shawn. Shawn of course tries to get involved following that, and this leads to Sid flinging Bret and Shawn into one another before catching Bret with a Powerbomb for the three count.

17 Minutes

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: SID
RATING: **3/4

Thoughts: Honestly, you can see why Bret’s character thought he was getting screwed all the time. Why was there a need for Shawn to be out there on commentary other than for him to cause chaos? Feels pretty sus to me. They were clearly trying to get Sid over as a top guy here by having him defeat Shawn and Bret on consecutive pay per views, but he was ultimately still Sid at the end of the day and it didn’t really work. For those that care about the eternal Shawn Vs Bret battle, the Shawn match with Sid at Survivor Series 1996 was better than this one, although it felt like Shawn Vs Sid was given more bells and whistles than this one in order to give it a better chance of getting over. I personally felt this bout was okay but it was missing some truly believable near falls for Bret, as you never really felt like he had a moment where he could win. Sid got the big near fall with the Choke Slam, but there was never a bit where Bret had Sid in The Sharpshooter or a close near fall that the crowd really bit on. Bret worked the bout in his usual sensible manner, with Sid becoming the de facto babyface in peril for most of it. Bret selling as the babyface and making comebacks might have been the better storyline for the crowd, as you felt like they wanted Bret to win more so they could have exploited that dramatically

Bret clocks Shawn after the match, and honestly, that’s fair enough I think. Shawn didn’t need to get involved in the match and he indirectly cost Bret a chance to win the belt.

Is It Really A Stinker?

No I wouldn’t say that It’s Time is a Stinker.

None of the matches are actively bad and it chugged along at a reasonable pace for two hours. I can see why Scott thought it was such a nothing of a show, as it kind of is, but it’s watchable whilst it lasts. It’s just lacking at least one great match in the 4 star range, which most 1996 WWF pay per views were able to flaunt. It’s Time is by no means the worst show I’ve ever seen. but it’s not one that you need to go out of your way to see either.

Final Score – Odourless
(Scores done on a scale of Stinker/Stinky/Odourless/Pleasant/Fragrant)