This week Throwback Thursday revisits the In Your House 13: Final Four go-home edition of WWF Superstars, as seen on the WWE Network and Peacock, that aired 27 years ago tomorrow!
As In Your House 13: Final Four drew near, Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was in serious trouble.
The so-called “Monday Night Wars” had become a one-sided drubbing, with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) dominating the head-to-head competition since June of 1996, often drawing twice the audience of the WWF’s marquee Monday Night RAW program.
As WCW continued to ride on the backs of former WWF Superstars like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash (Diesel), Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), Randy Savage, and Roddy Piper, the WWF was focused on building the Superstars of tomorrow.
But with the media and wrestling marketplaces rapidly shifting around them the WWF was forced to make changes to more than just its roster.
A family-friendly product since he purchased the New York territory from his father, Vince McMahon was now forced to embrace a more adult approach to content if he wanted to stay relevant. The creative changes would include more violence, more sex, more risque angles, and edgier gimmicks than the WWF was used to seeing. Or, as McMahon would put it later, more “attitude”.
The biggest changes, however, involved Monday Night RAW. Not only would Monday Night RAW expand to two hours on February 3, 1997, but would go live each and every week, ditching the trusted bi-weekly live format used for so long. While these changes, ones McMahon had been wary of, allowed the WWF to better fight their war with WCW, they came at a steep financial risk.
The Federation’s war with WCW, however, was not the promotion’s only concern.
Days before the February 13, 1997, edition of Thursday RAW Thursday, WWF Champion Shawn Michaels informed the WWF that his knee injury was of the potentially career-ending variety and that Michaels would be forced to vacate the WWF World title, a company first.
Michaels forfeiture of the World title not only scuttled plans for the February 16, 1997, In Your House: Final Four pay-per-view but the top of the card for WrestleMania XIII the next month.
As WCW continued to grow, looking to expand to Thursday nights by at least the end of 1997, the WWF seemed to be stuck in neutral. No matter how hard they worked, nor the quality of their programming, very little of what the WWF was doing had caught any kind of traction outside the WWF bubble.
Though many within the WWF believed they had the superior product, the bulk of fans did not agree. With WrestleMania XIII little over a month away the WWF was facing the kind of headwinds it had heretofore evaded.
To be sure, the very future of the WWF as a nationally touring promotion was very much in the air.
The top story in the WWF the week this edition of WWF Superstars aired was, without question, Shawn Michaels forfeiting the WWF Championship three days prior, something that had never happened before in the WWF.
Other top stories included the “Final Four” match (Vader/Undertaker/Bret Hart/Steve Austin) to declare a new WWF Champion later this same night on PPV and Rocky Maivia winning the Intercontinental title from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on the same Thursday RAW Thursday where HBK relinquished the WWF Championship.
With that out of the way let’s head over to the WWE Network on Peacock, hit ‘play’, and see how well this In Your House: Final Four go-home edition of WWF Superstars holds up in 2024!
Edits are not an issue with this edition of WWF Superstars on the WWE Network and Peacock. Context, meanwhile, is great. It should be noted, however, that (as of this writing) this is presently the final chronological edition of WWF Superstars available on the WWE Network and Peacock. Nearly every prior edition of WWF Superstars, dating back to the series relaunch on April 18, 1992, as well as all past edition of WWF Monday Night RAW and all prior WWF pay-per-view events, are available for you to enjoy right now on the WWE Network and Peacock!
WWF Superstars #253 (WATCH)
Date: February 16, 1997 – Location: UTC Arena, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Attendance: N/A – TV Ratings: N/A
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, & Jerry Lawler – Interviews: Vince McMahon, Dok Hendrix, Kevin Kelly & Jim Ross
IN POP CULTURE:
Number One Song: “Wannabe” (Spice Girls)
Number One Album: Gridlock’d: The Soundtrack (Various)
Number One on Network Television: ER (NBC)
Number One on Cable Television: South Park (Comedy Central)
Number One Film in Theaters: Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (Special Edition) (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, & Alec Guinness)
U.S. President & Vice President: Bill Clinton & Al Gore
CHAMPIONS AT THE TIME:
WWF World Heavyweight Championship: VACANT (February 13, 1997, WWF Thursday RAW Thursday; then-WWF Champion Shawn Michaels was forced to relinquish the World title after sustaining what was believed at the time to be a potentially career-ending knee injury; this would be the first time in WWF history that the World title was vacated due to forfeiture)
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Rocky Maivia (February 13, 1997, WWF Thursday RAW Thursday, from Hunter Hearst Helmsley)
WWF World Tag Team Champions: “King of Harts” Owen Hart & Yokozuna (September 22, 1996, WWF In Your House 10: Mind Games, from the Smoking Guns (Billy & Bart))
Following the standard WWF signature of the era this edition of WWF Superstars begins with footage of Shawn Michaels forfeiting the WWF World title from this past Thursday night.
We then get a shot outside the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee, home of tonight’s In Your House 10: Final Four event, where Jim Ross welcomes us to the show.
J.R. introduces his partner Dok Hendrix, who has a bit of trouble with his mic, as the two discuss Shawn Michaels forfeiting the WWF Championship and its impact on tonight’s “Final Four” match between Undertaker, Vader, Bret Hart, and Steve Austin.
J.R. hypes interviews to come with three of the wrestlers in the WWF Championship “Final Four” bout, Undertaker, Vader, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, before setting up and tossing to highlights of Shawn Micheals forfeiture speech from this past Thursday’s Thursday RAW Thursday show.
After a clip of Shawn Michaels walking gingerly to the ring (2:11) we get highlights of Shawn Michaels speech, with Michaels saying he won’t be in the WWF World title picture for a while, if ever again, and that he’s not entirely sure where his health is at at this moment in time.
Michaels says he took on the grueling schedule of the last year because he felt like he couldn’t “say ‘no’” and wanted to live the “life” of a WWF Champion (including riding in Learjets and limousines). Whatever happens, Michaels says, he can take that stuff with him.
Michaels notes that this is an era where “toughness” is a “big deal”, but all HBK has is “sorrow”, “tears”, and “a lot of emotion”; there’s no “toughness” left for anybody.
Micheals hands the WWF Championship title belt to WWF President Gorilla Monsoon and says that he intends to go home and “see what’s left” for himself in and out of the ring.
Over the past several months, HBK says, one of the things that Michaels has lost has been his “smile”. While that may not mean a thing to anyone else, it’s important to Shawn. HBK says he needs to “fix” and “take care” of himself and, most importantly, find his “smile”, which HBK says he lost “somewhere along the line”.
Michaels doesn’t care is it’s popular or if he’s mocked for being emotional, but being WWF Champion is all Michaels has ever wanted to do. Over the last year, Shawn says, he got to do just that and it was the “most wonderful” year of his life.
If Shawn never gets to do it again that’s “okay”, he says, because he got to live one full year as the top guy in the business and it was the greatest year of his life.
Michaels thanks Vince McMahon and the fans and says he’s “going home now”. HBK gives a visibly uncomfortable McMahon a hug before reluctantly giving Gorilla Monsoon the same.
HBK’s music hits as McMahon wraps the interview and Shawn Michaels takes a final walk around the ring as Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler put a bow on the segment, giving voice to the magnitude of the moment. J.R. notes that he knew HBK “had it” when he saw Micheals as a “rookie” in Shreveport, Louisiana, at the Irish McNeil Boys Club (home of Mid-South Wrestling tapings at the time).
As Michaels approaches the curtain J.R. says, “Goodbye Shawn; godspeed.” With that we head to our first Peacock ad-break of the show.
Following the break we return to J.R. & Hendrix inside the UTC Arena. J.R. tells us that tomorrow Shawn Michaels will be in Birmingham, Alabama, to visit with Dr. James Andrews, “the same guy who put Bo Jackson back together”.
J.R. talks about the courage it took to relinquish the WWF Championship on Thursday night and chats with Dok Hendrix, whom J.R. notes was a wrestler, about the courage that it took and how scary a doctor’s verdict can be. Shawn Michael’s “misfortune”, Dok notes, “is going to be somebody’s gain tonight.”
The two then transition to the “Final Four” match for the vacant WWF Championship tonight, with J.R. taking a timeout to go over the rules for tonight’s unique main event and notes that one of the four men, Vader, Undertaker, Bret Hart, or Steve Austin, will walk about of the UTC Arena as the new WWF Champion.
J.R. hypes interviews to come with Undertaker and Vader but says an interview with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, whom we see pacing in the interview location, is coming up after the next break as we head to the next Peacock ad-break.
Coming out of the break we head straight to the interview location where Dok Hendrix is joined by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Hendrix reiterates his earlier comments about Shawn Michaels “misfortune” being another wrestler’s “fortune” before asking Austin if HBK’s injury makes Austin question his own “immortality”.
All HBK did was show how long the “yellow streak” down Michael’s spine really was. “You don’t quit at nothin’!” Austin can be called a lot of things, he says, but a “quitter” isn’t one of them.
Austin calls HBK a “coward” because Shawn Micheals knows that Austin is going to win the “Final Four” tonight and would have earned himself a World title match with HBK at WrestleMania XIII. All Micheals did was “preserve himself” so that Austin didn’t have to defeat HBK at WrestleMania.
Hendrix says there are two things at play tonight for “Stone Cold”: winning the WWF Championship and getting his hands on “arch nemesis” Bret “Hitman” Hart.
Hendrix then tosses to a brilliant vignette (11:49) that details that last year of Bret Hart’s career, from losing the WWF Championship to taking a six-month sabbatical to returning to face “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at Survivor Series ’96.
The vignette details Bret’s personal struggles and his dislike of both Shawn Michaels and the current direction of the WWF. We see highlights of Bret’s journey since returning, including matches with Steve Austin and Sid, and his simmering hatred for Shawn Michaels.
We see Bret get screwed out of a win in the “1997 Royal Rumble”, which would have given Bret a match with HBK at WrestleMania for the WWF World title, and Bret Hart losing his cool the next night on Monday Night RAW.
After the vignette Dok Hendrix asks “Stone Cold” if Austin can be “professional” and focus on three opponents rather just one. Austin says he’s going to focus on everyone, calling each “awesome pieces of talent.”
Austin, in just simple black tights and boots, just gets the job done. Nothing is going to stop Austin tonight, and that’s “the bottom line ’cause ‘Stone Cold’ said so!”
With that Steve Austin walks out as Dok Hendrix wraps the interview and sends us to our next Peacock ad-break.
After the break, following another In Your House: Final Four PPV promo, we head back to the UTC Arena where Jim Ross & Dok Hendrix turn their attention to “Sycho” Sid.
“Sycho” Sid, we’re reminded, awaits the winner of tonight’s “Final Four” match tomorrow night on Monday Night RAW for an immediate WWF Championship match, a match that was originally booked to take place this past Thursday night before former Champion Shawn Michaels forfeited the title.
J.R. hypes the WWF Championship match tomorrow night, which many believe will see Sid face Steve Austin, J.R. says.
—Singles Match (15:50)
“Sycho” Sid vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
This match is from this past week’s Thursday RAW Thursday broadcast. “Stone Cold” jumpstarts this one as Sid is stripping off his ring jacket, going right to work on Sid. Sid tries to get something going but Austin kicks his way out of a chokeslam.
The match is little more than a fight as it hits the floor, where Austin posts Sid. Austin is in control, working an abdominal stretch and a front face lock to ground Sid until Sid comes storming back.
Sid drops Austin and looks to be in control until Sid misses a leg drop. Austin goes for the Sharpshooter but Sid fights free and turns the tide.
But just as it looks like Sid is taking control of Austin, Bret Hart hits the ring and goes after Austin to give Sid the DQ win at 3:43.
WINNER is “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (Disqualification,3:43)
As the bell rings Bret is all over Austin, eventually knocking Austin to the floor. As Austin watches from the outside Sid goes after Bret and the two trade punches until referees and officials arrive to try, unsuccessfully, to break it up.
We suddenly cut back to the UTC Arena where Dok & J.R. continue to hype the issues between Bret and Steve Austin. Dok notes that whomever wins the big “Final Four” WWF title match tonight is going to be far from fresh as they step into the ring with Sid tomorrow night on RAW.
J.R. does the hard-sell once more for tickets to tomorrow night’s live RAW before hyping an interview with Vader, whom we see mugging for the camera in the back, before we head to the next Peacock ad-break.
After the break, and bit of promotional housekeeping from Dok and sightseeing with good ol’ J.R., we join Kevin Kelly in the locker room for an interview with Vader. Before the interview, though, we get a great vignette detailing Vader’s path of destruction thus far in the WWF.
Following the vignette Kevin Kelly attempts to ask Vader an opening question when Vader cuts Kelly off to say that Bret Hart, Steve Austin, and the Undertaker have not only felt he “power” of Vader but have been defeated by Vader.
Vader says that makes him the “uncrowned Heavyweight Champion of the World!” Tonight, no matter how tough it gets, Vader cannot be disqualified, stopped, or denied. Tonight Vader walks out with gold around his waist, Vader says. “What time is it?” Vader asks. “It’s Vader time!”
J.R. and Dok then transition to an interview with the Undertaker, whom we see preparing for said interview in the back, as we head to the next Peacock ad-break.
Following the break we get a solid vignette detailing the recent history of the Undertaker and his pursuit of the WWF Championship. Coming out of the vignette we return to Kevin Kelly for an interview with the Undertaker.
With just hours to go before the WWF Championship “Final Four” Undertaker says it is but the “quiet before the storm”. When the “evening grows black” three men must come “face-to-face with the Phenom”, Undertaker says, the most “powerful entity” in the WWF.
Undertaker tells his opponents not to concern themselves with becoming the next WWF Champion but on “survival”. Each man, Undertaker says, has looked into the “eyes of the reaper” and know that Undertaker owns each and every one of them. And when Undertaker beckons his demons each of them will fall to the “reaper”.
Undertaker says that Bret Hart has had his day, and that pursuit of winning another WWF Championship will be Hart’s undoing.
Vader, Undertaker says, embarrassed Undertaker when Vader defeater Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. That, though, will be Vader’s last piece of “glory” because tonight vengeance will be Undertaker’s.
As for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Undertaker says that all he hears about is what Austin says he’s going to do to people. Now Austin has to look “into the eyes of the unholy” tonight.
Undertaker has been the “hunted” for “many years”, he says, but tonight Undertaker becomes the “hunter”. Undertaker says that it is his “destiny” to not not only destroy “three of the world’s greatest athletes” but to become World Heavyweight Champion once more.
Undertaker points out that he was World Heavyweight Champion long before Bret Hart even thought about becoming Champion. But, Undertaker says, he lost his “edge”, an “edge” he now has back and an “edge” Vader, Bret Hart, and Steve Austin “can’t deal with”.
In theses final hours before “Armageddon”, Undertaker says, his three foes shouldn’t concern themselves with winning the WWF Championship but how they’re going to leave the UTC Arena with their health “intact”.
Once you cross into the “dark side”, Undertaker says, you don’t “cross back”. This is Undertaker’s night. The “creatures” asked for it, and what the “creatures” ask for they get.
The time has come, the holes are dug, and it’s time for Bret Hart, Vader, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to “rest in peace”. The lights go dark, the music swells, and we head to our next Peacock ad-break.
After the break we return to the UTC Arena where former Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley joins Jim Ross & Dok Hendrix for an interview.
Before we get to the interview J.R. tosses to footage from this past Thursday’s Thursday RAW Thursday of Rocky Maivia pinning Hunter Hearst Helmsley with an inside cradle to win the Intercontinental title.
J.R. calls the loss an “upset” and notes that tonight on PPV Hunter Hearst Helmsley can right the “huge” wrong. Helmsley says he’s going to prove that Rocky Maivia doesn’t belong in the same ring with Helmsley. Rocky may have a lot of potential but it’s “Triple H’s” time.
Rocky doesn’t belong in the same arena or ring with Helmsley, Triple H says, and Rocky had better “give it up” or Maivia is “gonna get hurt”.
J.R. wraps the interview and hypes the Helmsley/Maivia rematch before he and Dok return to the subject of the “hot” “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, with Dok stressing that Austin must learn to separate his professional goals (winning the WWF Championship) from his personal (settling the score with Bret Hart).
This leads to a second, equally great vignette of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin that charts Austin’s rise from the 1996 King of the Ring to his war with Bret Hart to “winning” the “1997 Royal Rumble” to tonight’s big WWF Championship “Final Four” match at In Your House: Final Four.
Following the vignette we head back to the UTC Arena where J.R. and Dok push Austin as the favorite to win the WWF title tonight when “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s music hits.
Austin marches through the empty UTC Arena and to the ring as we head to our final Peacock ad-break of the hour. Following the break we get our final In Your House: Final Four PPV promo.
Coming out of the In Your House: Final Four promo we catch a glimpse of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin seemingly checking the turnbuckles before J.R. sets up and tosses to footage of the closing moments of the “1997 Royal Rumble”.
We join the footage as Bret Hart eliminates Steve Austin, an elimination the referees (distracted by the brawling Terry Funk and Mankind) did not witness.
We then see Austin reenter the ring and eliminate Undertaker and Vader as Bret Hart dropped “Diesel” over the top. Hart, thinking himself the winner of the “Rumble”, was then dumped over the top by the eliminated Austin to give Austin the win and the guaranteed World title shot at WrestleMania XIII.
We then see Bret Hart lose his cool at having the “Royal Rumble” stolen from him.
Back in in the UTC Arena, as Austin continues to pace around the ring, Vader’s music hits and the “Rocky Mountain Monster” makes his way out.
Vader marches towards the ring, where “Stone Cold” awaits, ready to fight, as WWF officials and referees arrive to step between the two.
As the lower third pops up and Austin continues to taunt Vader, J.R. announces that Bret Hart has just arrived at the area just as the show ends and we fade to black, bringing this edition of WWF Superstars to a close!
Final Thoughts
Despite the lack of in-ring action, this is an exciting, fast-paced, story-driven edition of WWF Superstars that sets the table perfectly for the monumental “Final Four” WWF Championship match later that night.
What action we get, the Sid/Austin fight, is great, but the real star of this show is the ECW-esque vignettes. The vignettes, told from the point of view of each of the four men in the “Final Four” match, brilliantly tell the story of the moment and spell out clearly the stakes for each man, win or lose, in the “Final Four”.
Faced with an unprecedented situation, Vince McMahon and the WWF quickly spun the bad luck into dramatic gold. Those wondering why the WWF went on to win the “Monday Night Wars” should look no further than this story-driven edition of WWF Superstars.
This show catches the WWF in a period of real-time transition, moving pieces on the board before our eyes to build a new card heading into WrestleMania XIII.
If you haven’t seen this In Your House: Final Four go-home edition of WWF Superstars, or even if it’s been a minute, it deserves your time and attention.
Don’t be surprised if you end up checking out In Your House: Final Four (at least the main event) after checking this show out! Who knows, you may end up liking it, and that’d never a bad thing!
Already subscribed to the WWE Network on Peacock? Then you can relive this classic In Your House: Final Four go-home edition of WWF Superstars right now or experience it for the very first time! As always, let us know what you think in the comments section below!
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