In Your House 13: Final Four - Background

Background

The main feud heading into In Your House 13 was between Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and Vader over the finish of the Royal Rumble. As per stipulation, the winner of the Rumble match would face the WWF Champion for his title at WrestleMania 13. At the Royal Rumble event, Shawn Michaels won the title from Sycho Sid in the main event following the Rumble match. According to Bret Hart, Michaels was scheduled to drop the title to him at WrestleMania in return for Hart having dropped the title to Michaels at the same event one year earlier. Michaels later suffered a legitimate knee injury during a three-way match with Sid and Bret Hart two weeks after the Royal Rumble, and on the February 13, 1997 edition of Raw, known as Thursday Raw Thursday, Michaels vacated the title by speaking to the fans, telling them that he was told by doctors that he suffered a very bad knee injury and that he should at least consider retirement. He 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. This did not sit well with Hart, who had legitimate backstage problems with Michaels at this time and who also thought Michaels' injury was not as severe as he was claiming it to be.

This match came about as 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 eliminated Austin from the match. However, the officials did not see this as they were trying to break up a fight between Mankind and Terry Funk and the match continued with Austin's elimination not counting. Hart, Undertaker, Vader, and Fake Diesel were the four wrestlers who were still involved in the match other than Austin, who went back in the ring to eliminate Undertaker and Vader behind Hart's back. As Hart dumped Fake Diesel over the top rope, he raised his arms in victory thinking he had won the match. Hart never saw Austin, who then followed up Hart's elimination of Fake Diesel by throwing Hart out over the top rope and was declared the winner. On the following night's edition of Raw, Hart demanded that he receive the title shot because he had truly won the match. When he did not get what he wanted, Hart declared he was quitting the WWF and stormed out of the building. Hart was coaxed into coming back when a Four Corners Match was set up where he would face Austin, Undertaker, and Vader in an elimination match with the winner facing Michaels at WrestleMania 13. After the injury to Michaels, the plans changed. Sid was named the #1 contender for the vacant title, which would go to the winner of the elimination match, who would then defend the title against Sid the following night on Raw.

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.