In Your House - Submit Or Surrender

Rocky Maivia and Diamond Dallas Page battled to a draw in 0:20:00.
Rating: **
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Number-One-Contenders-Match:
Steve Williams and Rick Steiner defeated Cactus Jack and Sabu when S. Williams
 pinned Cactus Jack after the Doctor Bomb in 0:11:07.
Rating: ***
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Number-One-Contenders-Match:
Dean Malenko and Rob Van Dam battled to a double countout in 0:13:47.
Rating: ***
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Vader pinned Ken Shamrock after hitting him with the urn in 0:11:18.
Rating: ***
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Iron Man Match:
Toshiaki Kawada and Masahiro Chono beat Jushin Liger and Kensuke Sasaki 5
 falls to 4:
         x Kawada beat Liger via a cross-body block in 0:04:26
         x Sasaki beat Chono via a Northern Lights bomb in 0:11:17
         x Kawada beat Sasaki via the Stretch Plum in 0:17:47
         x Liger beat Chono via the Running Lyger Bomb in 0:22:39
         x Liger beat Chono via a senton in 0:23:20
         x Kawada beat Liger via the Stretch Plum in 0:28:16
         x Kawada beat Sasaki via a lariat in 0:34:31
         x Sasaki beat Kawada via the Strange Hold Gamma in 0:44:37
         x Kawada beat Sasaki via the Stretch Plum in 0:46:56
         x time limit expired (Chono and Sasaki) in 0:48:00
Rating: ****
(Toshiaki Kawada and Masahiro Chono retained the WWF World Tag Team Titles.)
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Hayabusa pinned Brian Christopher with the Falcon Arrow in 0:12:38.
Rating: ** 3/4
(Hayabusa retained the WWF Intercontinental Title.)
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Steve Austin pinned The Undertaker with the Stone Cold Stunner in 0:30:29.
Rating: ** 1/2
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Submission Match:
Dan Severn made Chris Benoit submit to the Cross Armbar Submission in 0:20:04.
Rating: ****
(Dan Severn won the WWF World Title.)
Click here to see highlights.


Card rating: *** 1/4


Match observations: 

Unbelievable ! What a miscarriage of justice ! We have a new WWF World Champion 
and his name is Dan "The Beast" Severn. More on that later.

Breaking news first. The World Wrestling Federation will be creating a new title
for the first time in several years. It'll be called the "Brawl For All" title
and will be decided in a 32-man singles elimination tournament at a television
special in late February called, incidentally, "The Brawl For All".

A Brawl For All match is something completely different from a normal match.
Pinfalls don't count. Neither do submission, countouts or disqualifications. The
only way to win a Brawl For All is by knocking out your opponent, him going down
for a certain number of times - resulting in a technical knockout (TKO) - or by
winning on points. 

The fighters wear boxing gloves, and the only legal moves in the Brawl For All
are punches and takedowns. If a wrestler is taken down, the match immediately is
restarted. Five knockdowns will result a technical KO. 

There will be three rounds at five minutes each, and the winner of each match
progresses. The finals will then take place the next night on RAW to give the
fighters a chance to heal up.

Rocky Maivia and Diamond Dallas Page, two of the WWF's up-and-coming stars, are
the first ones to enter the tournament. They will be rematched at WrestleMania
given the fact they weren't able to come to a decision tonight.

Steve Williams and Rick Steiner, by their performance against Cactus Jack and 
Sabu, will challenge the WWF World Tag Team Champions Toshiaki Kawada and
Masahiro Chono at WrestleMania. This is going to be an all-out war, as all four
men have wrestled each other before in one way or another.

The IC title will be contested in interesting fashion at WrestleMania. First the
champion, presumably Hayabusa, will defend the IC title against the runner-up in
the Brawl For All tournament. Then the winner will defend the title against the
winner of the Rob Van Dam-Dean Malenko match which is also going to take place
at WrestleMania.

Ken Shamrock was irate after losing his match to Vader in a complete fluke. He
has challenged Vader to face him in the first round of the Brawl For All 
tournament. WWF officials have thus far not decided either way.

Toshiaki Kawada and Masahiro Chono have to be considered two of the toughest
SOBs in WWF history. Kudos go out to referee James Beard for giving the two 
teams another three minutes after the time limit was reached in the Kawada/
Chono vs Lyger/Sasaki match. Kawada and Chono were able to score another fall
and win the match, thus putting the title defense against Williams and Rick
Steiner at WrestleMania back on.

Hayabusa managed to retain the IC title against Brian Christopher but whether
you believe it or not, the match was a lot close than you'd think. Christopher
is going to make a serious play for the title in due time.

The Undertaker-Austin match was a complete slugfest. Neither of them dominated
the match but it was Austin who pulled out the win after hitting the Taker with
the Stunner out of nowhere.

This brings us to the main event... the submission match title defense between
Chris Benoit and Dan "The Beast" Severn. Just before the time limit was set to
expire with only 20 seconds remaining in the match, Severn locked Benoit in the
Cross Armbar Submission. Benoit, being the poised ring veteran he is, hung in
knowing full-well the saving bell was near. And it was. 

Then, something happened where referee James Beard definitely overstepped his
competences. It's one thing to give two teams some extra minutes in an Iron
Man match because they are dead-even, however it's a completely different thing
to overrule the bell in a championship match when one of the wrestlers is at a
clear and distinct disadvantage at the time the time limit is reached. It would
have been ok had he ordered a standup, however the way he did it here was 
completely inacceptable.

Thank God that it's Dan Severn, a man of honor, who was Benoit's opponent 
tonight. Severn immediately offered to give Benoit a rematch in the main event
of the Brawl For All tournament, and Benoit accepted, congratulating Severn on
his win. Hadn't it been Severn but, say, the Horsemen, things could have gotten
ugly...


See you at the Brawl For All !