WWF Backlash: In Your House, Providence, RI
This feud, which really climaxed at WrestleMania XV the month before this match, where Austin regained the WWF title from The Rock, had recently added lots of vehicles and Austin’s old smoking skull belt and a grave and a bridge and all kinds of shit. Shane McMahon, Corporation member, is referee for this WrestleMania rematch, which is also made no holds barred.
Rock carries the smoking skull belt to this match, which is then handed off to an official of some sort with orders from Shane to “wait until he gets to the ring, then put this in my office.”
Austin charges into the ring and we’re right to the punching and kicking immediately, with Austin dropping Rock while still wearing his vest. Rock back with right hands thanks to a Shane distraction. Vest off, Rock off the ropes, ducks a back elbow, but runs into a Thesz press and the right hands. Elbowdrop from Austin for one. Swinging neckbreaker from the Rock as Austin makes the cardinal mistake.
Rock with his slightly fancy stomps in the corner, with that theatrical little leg shake before each one. Austin back out of the corner with right hands, but then he’s dumped out to the floor. The fight goes into the entrance aisle with a Rock clothesline dropping Austin.
With the In Your House series officially, truly ending here, even though they had changed to “Title: In Your House” rather than “In Your House: Title,” they get the go-ahead to destroy the entrance set, and off they go. Austin crashes into some chain link fencing and knocks that and a couple pillars over.
Austin with a suplex in the entranceway, then the fight goes over the other side of the big cleared out area and back toward the set. Rock gets thrown into the fencing on the other side. Austin finds some electrical cord or cable to choke Rock with, and choke him he does. Austin whips Rock into a piece of guardrail and toward the electrical setup.
“This is not a wrestling match! This is nothing more than a Saturday night, or make it a Sunday night fistfight!”
Austin with a big ol’ anvil case and runs it into Rock’s head, but he gets caught jumping off of it with a right hand to the breadbasket. Rock shoves the anvil case into Austin and knocks him head over heels.
Rock with a clothesline, Austin down again. Austin coming back with his own clothesline. Scoop slam on the floor. Austin with a kneelift as he walks Rock back toward the ring, shaking his own right hand out like maybe he broke it. (He didn’t.) Austin whips Rock into the ring steps, then puts him back into the ring. The crowd immediately quiets down, it’s a little weird.
Shane gets in Austin’s face about stomps in the corner. Rock tries to run in on a distraction, but gets ossed to the floor, where Austin hits him with a clothesline from the apron. Spanish commentary table in play now. They look so annoyed to have to get up and move.
Austin looks for a piledriver on the table, but Rock drops down, low blow, and hits the Rock Bottom through the table. Too bad Shane didn’t also make it falls count anywhere, this would be over. Rock grabs a headset and talks some trash.
Austin eats a right hand but fetches a chair, Shane takes it from him and tosses it to Rock, but Austin unloads with right hands before being thrown over the barrier to the bare floor in the crowd. Punch to the nuts from Rock. I miss the WWF’s overbearing security guy, Jim Dotson.
More Rock trash talk as he grabs a camera and shoots down at Austin, who is prone on the English commentary desk. He pans away to the crowd, turns around to Austin’s BIRDS and a stunner. Austin hits Rock with a tiny fan meant to keep JR cool, the kind I buy when I have to go to a hotel so I can sleep.
Back into the ring, and Rock hits a second Rock Bottom. Cover, two, kickout. Shane McMahon gets the title belt and swings at Stone Cold, but misses and hits Rock. He counts two, but refuses to count three, leaving with some BIRDS for Austin.
Vince McMahon and another referee come down the aisle, Vince holding the smoking skull belt. Shane tries to take it from Vince, who eventually hits Shane in the face with it and then falls down on top of his son because Vince’s balance fucking sucks.
Back in the ring, the Rock hits Austin with the belt, Earl Hebner counts, and gets two. Vince is…relieved. Stunner! Belt shot! Cover, two, three, Austin retains AND Vince gives him the smoking skull belt back.
Rating: 3/5. In their famous and classic rivalry, these two had a pair of great matches at WrestleMania X-Seven and WrestleMania XIX, and they also had some other matches. This is firmly in the “other” category. It’s good enough and entertaining and the two main stars of a huge era for WWE, sure, but it’s not that great, very “of the time.” Still, it beats the pants off of the HHH-X-Pac and Taker-Shamrock matches that preceded it on the show, simply because the audience was fully invested and truly cared about this. On that note, watching this show again makes a clear point: yes, there were many stars who contributed to the WWF’s explosion, but the main two, without question, were Austin and Rock. Nobody else was in their league. Everyone else was a role player, they were the superstars.
WHERE TO, STEPHANIE?!
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
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