WWF In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog (partially found untelevised professional wrestling matches; 1996)

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Bewareofdogposter.jpg

Poster promoting the May 26 version of Beware of Dog

Status: Lost


WWF In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog was a wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment). Beware of Dog was first broadcast on May 26, 1996 at the Florence Civic Center in South Carolina, headlined by a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match between champion Shawn Michaels and challenger The British Bulldog. The event also featured five undercard matches, including singles matches between Marc Mero and Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Vader vs Yokozuna, a Caribbean Strap match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Savio Vega, and an Intercontinental Championship match between champion Goldust and The Undertaker.

At first, the broadcast of the event went smoothly, with Mero vs Helmsley being the first match on the card, Mero ultimately becoming victorious. However, during the introduction of the strap match, with Vega's entrance, a thunderstorm caused a power outage throughout the entire arena, as well as knocking out the pay-per-view feed. The live feed returned with a blank screen, whereby Vince McMahon notified viewers about the power outage and assuring them that either the event was going to return online as soon as possible, or a new PPV will be aired on the following Tuesday. The WWF were only able to successfully fully restore both the power and the feed before the main event entrances began.[1] This meant that the strap match, as well as Yokozuna vs Vader and Goldust vs The Undertaker, were not broadcast on PPV.

Nonetheless, all four matches did take place during the blackout, with the help of a low-powered generator and battery-operated cameras.[2] However, the generator only made the matches barely visible to the audience, and by the time WWF officials reviewed the footage after the event, it was decided that the matches would not be broadcast on a replay of the show for quality reasons.

Instead, another event, Beware of Dog: 2, was produced two days after the original, in the North Charleston Coliseum, which was free for all viewers that purchased the PPV on the 26th. It featured replays of the Marc Mero-Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Shawn Michaels-The British Bulldog matches, and three rematches.[3] Notably, because the replays were broadcast first, the main event instead became the second match to be shown on PPV. All re-matches also had different match outcomes compared to the originals; a stipulation was added in the Strap match whereby if Austin lost, his manager Ted DiBiase would leave the WWF. Vega won the re-match, causing DiBiase to leave the company (in reality, he left the WWF to join World Championship Wrestling). Meanwhile, although Yokozuna originally won against Vader in their first encounter, the outcome was changed so that Vader became victorious in the second by pinfall.[4] Finally, the re-match between Goldust and The Undertaker received the planned PPV outcome of Mankind interfering and costing Undertaker the match, unlike the original whereby Mankind was instructed to stay under the ring and six heels attacked Undertaker instead.[5] The wrestling quality of all three re-matches was said to be improvements over the originals.

Availability

Likely because the untelevised matches were believed to be inferior in both wrestling and broadcast quality compared to the re-matches, WWE has never released them in any form to the public. The only footage that remains of the strap match consists of Vega's entrance prior to the blackout, and a brief snippet of the match itself. The other matches, although recorded in the same fashion, have no footage that is accessible to the public currently.

Videos

Footage of the Caribbean Strap match

References