9 Things We Learned From Bruce Prichard's In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog Podcast
Vince McMahon kept remarkably calm during a stormy pay-per-view in 1996...
In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog took place across two dates on May 26 and 28, 1996, and must be considered one of the most disastrous pay-per-views in WWF/WWE history. A thunderstorm in the South Carolina area completely wrecked the live broadcast and left company officials scrambling to keep the event running.
Bruce Prichard, one of Vince McMahon's most trusted lieutenants during the 90's and a key member of the WWF creative team, was one of the frantic bunch camped backstage who desperately tried to keep the show ticking over.
Last week, Bruce recalled the ill-fated pay-per-view in depth via his 'Something To Wrestle With' podcast series and revealed what really happened behind the scenes.
9. The Show Only Drew Just Over 4,000 Fans Paid
In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog is still the only pay-per-view that WWE have staged in the state of South Carolina, and Bruce Prichard admitted via his podcast that the power problems experienced in 1996 play a huge part in that.
The Florence Civic Center hosting the show was set up for around 9,400 fans, yet only around 6,000 were in attendance. In addition to that key information, Prichard revealed that just over 4,000 actually paid for the privilege of being there, drawing a fairly low $63,000 gate for the company.
Business wasn't exactly hot for the WWF at the time. Bruce was keen to point out that business in pro wrestling was down across the board though, and both Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff were scrambling to find ways to make the WWF and WCW successful.
WWE average an attendance of 13,000-17,000 for pay-per-views nowadays (WrestleMania being an obvious exception), so the crowd number at In Your House 8 shows just how much things have changed.