In Your House 13: The Final Four

In Your House 13: Final Four was the thirteenth In Your House Professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The event took place on February 16, 1997 at the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The main event was a Four Corners Elimination match for the vacant WWF Championship, including Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and Vader, which Hart won. The main matches on the undercard were Owen Hart and The British Bulldog versus Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon and Rocky Maivia versus Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
==Background==
The main feud heading into In Your House 13 was between Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and Vader, initially over who would face Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 13 for the WWF Championship. Shawn Michaels won the title from Sycho Sid at Royal Rumble 1997, and, according to Bret Hart, was scheduled to drop the title to him at WrestleMania 13, even though plans had not yet been finalized for the main event. Michaels suffered a legitimate knee injury during a three-way match with Sid and Bret Hart two weeks after the Royal Rumble, causing him to relinquish the title due to injury on the February 13, 1997 edition of Raw, known as Thursday Raw Thursday, by explaining to the fans that he was told by doctors that he suffered a very bad knee injury and that he should retire. He contemplated thoughts of retirement and stated that he "had to find his smile again," which he had "lost" somewhere down the line. Michaels spent time rehabbing his knee at the same time Steve Austin was rehabbing his knee injury at HealthSouth in San Antonio. Bret Hart, who had lost the title to Michaels at WrestleMania XII the year before and who he had been having some legitimate backstage problems with, did not believe that Michaels' injury was legitimate and this led to further animosity between the two. As a result of the champion forfeiting the title, it was announced that the championship would be decided at Final Four between Hart, Austin, the Undertaker and Vader, with the winner facing Sycho Sid, Michaels' scheduled opponent on the night he forfeited the title the next night on Raw.
This rivalry was the result of two rivalries: Hart and Austin and Undertaker and Vader. Hart and Austin's rivalry began in 1996 after Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament and began taunting Hart, who was inactive at the time. Austin insulted Hart in his promos so Hart could accept his challenge to a match. Hart returned and accepted Austin's challenge, with the two facing each other at Survivor Series 1996 where Hart defeated Austin. Undertaker and Vader had no major storyline. Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer turned on Undertaker and cost him a Boiler Room Brawl against Mankind at SummerSlam 1996. As a result, he began feuding with wrestlers managed by Bearer. At Royal Rumble, Undertaker and Vader wrestled each other in a match where Bearer helped Vader in getting the win. Later that night, in the Royal Rumble match, Hart had originally eliminated Austin from the Royal Rumble match but was not declared the winner because the officials were busy in a brawl between Mankind and Terry Funk, two eliminated wrestlers. Officially, it came down to Hart, Undertaker, Vader and "Diesel" as the final four. Austin was not officially eliminated because no referee had seen this. He reentered into the ring and eliminated both Undertaker and Vader. As Hart eliminated Diesel, Austin (from behind), tossed Hart over the top rope, thus, Austin won the Royal Rumble match. Due to Shawn Michaels vacating the WWF Championship, a Four Corners Elimination match was made between Austin, Vader, Undertaker and Hart because all four had been feuding with each other in pairs and due to the controversial ending of the Royal Rumble match.
The other major feuds heading into the pay-per-view event were between Rocky Maivia and Hunter Hearst Helmsley over the WWF Intercontinental Championship. On Thursday Raw Thursday, Maivia defeated Helmsley to win the Intercontinental title in an upset at the time, with Maivia scoring a small package on Helmsley culminating in a rematch for Maivia's newly won Intercontinental title, and Owen Hart and The British Bulldog against Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon over the WWF Tag Team Championship which began after Furnas and LaFon had eliminated Tag Champions from a Survivor Series match at Survivor Series 1996 to earn a title shot.
==Results==
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*Dark Match: The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn & Phineas I. Godwinn) defeated The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher)
*Marc Mero (w/Sable) defeated Leif Cassidy (9:30)
*The Nation Of Domination (Crush, Faarooq & Savio Vega) (w/Clarence Mason, D-Lo Brown, JC Ice & Wolfie D) defeated Bart Gunn, Flash Funk & Goldust (w/Marlena) in a Six Man Tag Team Match (6:42)
*Rocky Maivia (c) defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship (12:30)
*Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon defeated Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (c) (w/Clarence Mason) by DQ in a WWF World Tag Team Title Match (10:30)
*Bret Hart defeated Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Vader (w/Paul Bearer) in a Four Corners Elimination Match to win the vacant WWF Championship (24:05)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Jerry Lawler
*Jim Ross
;Interviewers
*Kevin Kelly
*Dok Hendrix	
;Ring announcer
*Howard Finkel
;Referees
*Tim White
*Mike Chioda
*Jack Doan
*Earl Hebner
==See also==
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*WWE Event History
*In Your House
==DVD release==
* In Your Huse 13 on DVD
==External links==
* on WWE Network
* In Your House 13 at CAGEMATCH.net
* In Your House 13 at Online World of Wrestling
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:In Your House
Category:1997 pay-per-view events