bh_tafe3 WWE embraced the spirit of Canada in this satisfying PPV event, featuring Vader's final WWE Championship match, a very well done 10 man tag main event, and Mankind seeking revenge on recently crowned King of the Ring, Hunter Hearst Helmsley.The night began with the two men who had wrestled in the King of the Ring final a month earlier, Mankind and Hunter Hearst Helmsley, going at it in a spirited opener. Chyna accompanied Triple H to the ring and interjected herself several times, the match eventually ending in a double count out as both men brawled outside. A fun match to start the night.Next it was time for Taka Michinoku, who would be used to this by the time his WWE tenure came to an end a few years later, to get beaten, in a pretty long match for what it was, by The Great Sasuke. Fun in parts and certainly not awful, this was part of the WWE's attempts to compete with WCW's very strong cruiserweight division. It never really caught on, and although the WWE kept a small man's title of some sort until 2007, it was mainly used as a joke, unless Rey Mysterio was holding it.Next came the big WWE title match which saw the Undertaker successfully retain the title against Vader. Taker and Vader had been feuding on and off since Vader had arrived in the WWE a year and a half earlier. Both on their own were good wrestlers, but they had no chemistry together and put on a string of poor matches. This was no exception. Vader's loss here marked the end of his title aspirations in the WWE. Near the end of the year he'd make an unsuccessful transition to a fan favourite, lost a bunch of matches, and didn't see out 1998.Out comes the Farmer's Daughter to sing O Canada. I never could remember the words to that song.Now came a big time Main Event match with the beloved home town heroes (who were booed throughout America, but were fan favourites in Canada) The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Brian Pillman and Jim Neidhart) taking on the arrogant, hated Americans (Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Hawk and Animal) in one of the best 10 man tag matches ever to happen in the WWE. The big rivalry throughout 1997 had been Bret Hart vs Steve Austin. Austin had cost Hart victory in the Royal Rumble, then cost him the WWE Title a month later. Fans had turned on Hart after he defeated Austin at Wrestlemania 13, so Hart re-established the Hart Foundation as an anti-American, and more to the point, anti-Austin group and they cost Austin the title at the "Cold Day in Hell" PPV in May. So here it was time to get it on, and they certainly did. Owen Hart eventually won the match by pinning Austin who was being distracted by some of the Hart brothers at ringside. Austin had only himself to blame: he'd tried to attack them in their seats.So there you have it. Canadian Stampede was a tremendous show, and a grand end to the two hour In Your House spectaculars. From here In Your House would be three hours in length. In May 1999, the final In Your House PPV was held, but the real ending was here, where the original two hour concept was abandoned. The two hour shows had produced some great cards, some horrendous cards and some in between, but had played their part in transitioning WWE into a monthly PPV schedule.

tyhdavis None of the matches, except for the free-for-all, were below the 3/5 range. Mankind and Hunter Hearst Helmsley battled in the best brawl that they ever had (until, of course, Royal Rumble 2000), TAKA/Sasuke is the best high-flying, non-gimmick one-one-one match in the history of the company, and Vader and Undertaker put on an incredible big-man match. Oh, and, not to mention, THE BEST GIMMICK TAG-TEAM MATCH IN THE HISTORY OF WRESTLING. Respectively:Mankind and HHH's match was a downright fight. After the King Of The Ring a month earlier, these two had built up so much heat to their feud that it felt impossible to settle it in one match. Without spoiling it... well it's impossible to go further. SCORE: 3.75/5The Great Sasuke is one of the greatest light-weight Japanese wrestlers of all-time, maybe the best alongside Tiger Mask I. TAKA Michinoku is one of those wrestlers that, if given at least 10 minutes and a half-capable opponent, WILL produce a 4 star match. Needless to say, given the intro I gave them, they put on a clinic. SCORE: 4.5/5Undertaker and Vader: Now here's a story. Originally, Faarooq (Ron Simmons) was scheduled to face The Dead Man for the title on this evening. Due to an injury, a last minute substitute was issued, that being Big Van Vader, one of the all time great heavyweights in the industry. With little build and hardly any mic time given to the Rocky Mountain Monster, the two were left to simply wrestle in front of the lions. Without a doubt one of the Taker's best Title defenses of his career, and Vader's second best WWE match of his short tenure. SCORE:3.5/5Team America (Steve Austin, The Road Warriors, Goldust, Ken Shamrock) vs. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Brian Pillman, Jim Neidhart) is without a doubt the best non-traditional tag-team match in the history of pro wrestling. Building up to this event, The Hart Foundation was the most hated thing in pro-wrestling at the time, while Steve Austin was on his way to becoming THE professional wrestler of all time. Most all of WWF's shows and events were held in the U.S.. For this event was held in Calgary, the home of the famous Hart family, The Hart Foundation was treated as it's hometown heroes (of-course) and Team America was booed simply because they opposed Calgary's home team. The match was so phenomenal, however, that neither team received any heel heat from the Canadian crowd. In-ring, however, you had five of the best wrestlers of the nineties, those of which made up a good 75% of the ring time. Simply amazing, and a ridiculously overlooked classic. SCORE: 5/5

Ronald Quincy Dobbs Deep into the WWF's "US vs. Canada/Hart Foundation" storyline, the WWF decided to have their July In Your House in the Hart family's hometown of Calgary, Alberta Canada. The environment is absolutely UNREAL as the fans go nuts for everything the Canadians do (Brian Pillman gets cheered for cheating for example) and boo the US team out of the building with their every move (Steve Austin takes on a heel persona and plays against the crowd getting some of the loudest heat ever, Ken Shamrock tries to play to the crowd and gets booed right out of the building) Just a break down of the matches here.Mankind vs. HHH Probably the best of their original feud, if you loved the Street Fight or the HIAC or the MSG Raw match this is an essential, this is from their original feud and was an absolutely wild brawl leading to a double countout and they fought throughout the rest of the show, the feud culminated the next month at Summerslam ****Taka vs. The Great Sasuke Although they've had many matches on Michinoku Pro TV this is the first time North American WWF fans had been treated to these two (although they made a very very impressive NA PPV debut at ECW's barely legal 4 months prior), a great outing which changed Taka's entire career path because of how the crowd rallied behind him, originally Sasuke was to be pushed and Taka was supposed to be fodder for the light heavyweight division. This match was excellent although a bit short, and is one of the best cruiserweight matches i've ever seen, even close to Eddy vs. Rey. ****1/4 Vader vs. The Undertaker This was originall supposed to be Ahmed vs. Taker, but big surprise, Ahmed Johnson got injured before the match! Thank god his heel push got cut off at the legs. Anyway, this is a really good big man match that really makes you realize how washed up Taker is after he was this great in 97. The selling and bumping are really sound for these two, especially considering how injuries were getting to Vader at this point. ***3/4 10 Man Tag Steve Austin/Ken Shamrock/Goldust/Road Warriors vs. Bret Hart/Owen Hart/Jim Neidhart/British Bulldog/Brian Pillman Wild, 30 minutes of non stop action with the best crowd heat ever for any match (although it was nearly duplicated on Raw in 2000 during the Radicals debut). Wild stuff as Owen Hart and Steve Austin both were "injured" during the match, leading to their exits and eventual return for the finish, Austin gets in a brawl with the Hart family at ringside and gets taken to jail, but is able to get the middle fingers up past the handcuffs. Why couldn't he play THIS character in 2001? Awesome stuff, and i wish that Bret Hart could've gone out on this note. ***** If you don't own this tape...what is wrong with you?!!?!? Get a VHS copy of the coliseum video version "WWF Maximum Impact (97)" which should say contains matches with the July in your house and has Bret Hart on the cover. Probably the best show the WWF has EVER done in competition with only Wrestlemania X-7 and a few others. WWE is nuts not to release this on DVD, i'd upgrade my copy in a second.

Michael Stamp Take 5 Americans, 5 Canadians, put them in a Calgary Saddledome full of rabid Canadians and what do you get? The best WWF PPV ever.Even though this is only a four match event it still ranks among the best ever. The matches range from good to excellent and encompass a range of styles from crazy American brawling to Jap-Lucha to a typical US big man match. New fans who have been weaned on HHH and Stone Cold (yes I know they were both on the card) really out to check this out and see how good this is.