WWE’s ending 1996 with WWE In Your House 12: It’s Time. Featuring five main card matches, it took place on December 15 from West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Our main event for this card sees WWE World Champion Sycho Sid defend his belt against Bret Hart. We also have WWE Tag Team Championship action with Owen Hart and The British Bulldog taking on the Fake Diesel and Fake Razor.
The Intercontinental title is being defended as Hunter Hearst Helmsley defends against Marc Mero. Is WWE’s last hurrah for 1996 a loud one? Let’s dive into WWE In Your House 12!
Low-Tier
The only inhabitant of the low-tier is the Tag Team title defense that saw Owen and Bulldog defeat the Fakesiders. This should’ve been a shorter, sound thrashing since it’s an established Tag Team Championship combo against a parody team.
It’s just a little under 11-minutes but it wasn’t an enjoyable 11-minutes.
Mid-Tier
In the Mid-Tier is a nice brawl between The Undertaker and The Executioner. Terry Gordy (The Executioner) wasn’t as good as he once was at this point but he always had the know-how to do a decent brawl regardless of his condition.
This one could’ve probably stood to trim a minute or two but it was a Texas Deathmatch so technically it should’ve been longer.
On the bright side, it kept rolled with the moment of the IC title match and was a good lead in to the main event.
Top-Tier
Flash Funk taking on Leif Cassidy was actually pretty damn good. If it had a couple of minutes from the Tag Team title bout, this would’ve floated clean into Top-Tier territory.
While the star power isn’t there, quality-wise this would’ve been a dope match to end a RAW is WAR on. It was short but exciting.
Young Triple H had a really good match against Marc Mero who was just athletic as hell even after leaving better competition in WCW.
I don’t care for the “Wild Man” gimmick but it’s not as if he isn’t wrestling the same style here. The only downside to this match was the ending but the pace and action made up for it.
One of the worst things WWE could’ve done was have a boring, boggy match end in a count-out. Enough time would’ve already been lost, might as well have a definitive winner.
This was a good defense for Hunter so I can excuse the finish. The main event WWE World title bout between champion Sycho Sid and Bret Hart was just good enough to not get overshadowed by the IC title bout and the opener.
There’s just something I don’t like about Sid matches that float over the 15-minute mark but Bret manages to keep everything interesting and Sid does his thing.
The two don’t clash or didn’t make for an awkward match but a lot of this is playing it safe and telling a story rather than trying to rip the roof off the Auditorium.
WWE In Your House 12 Verdict: Mid-Tier (6.25/10)
Two really strong matches, two rock-solid bouts, and a lemon no one requested. This wasn’t a bad show at all, nothing bogged the show down much, the Tag Team Champions deserved better opponents but whatever.
The match of the night was the World title brawl between Sycho Sid and Bret Hart but the IC title bout between Triple H and Mero was right on its ass.
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