I'm not sure this one really requires a lengthy intro, to be honest. If you've been a wrestling fan for anytime at all, you should already be aware of the circumstances surrounding Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels' infamous battle in Montreal. In case you need it, the cliffnotes: about a year prior, Bret signed an unprecedented 20 year contract, but Vince couldn't honor it due the increasing financial troubles in the WWF. Bret then signed with WCW, refusing to drop the belt to Shawn in Canada due to long standing personal grievances between the two, though he did agree to surrender it the following night on Raw, after the match with Shawn was scheduled to end in a non-finish. Vince, growing more and more paranoid with his company on the edge of bankruptcy, wasn't willing to let Bret leave the event with his top prize, and put together a plan with some of his top allies, plus Shawn. There's plenty more that could be mentioned, but that's all you really need to know heading into a truly historic night for professional wrestling.
- Survivor Series 1997 comes to you from Molson(now Bell) Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. For the first time, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler are alone in the commentary booth, another reason why this night was so significant, as Vince's departure from the booth would allow Ross and Lawler to become the longest running commentary team in WWE history, staying primarily together for over a decade.
- We open with the first of four traditional Survivor Series elimination matches, as the Godwinns and the New Age Outlaws team up to face the Headbangers and the New Blackjacks. Nothing too special to be found here, a theme on the night, though the crowd is really anti-Billy Gunn. You can definitely tell that the Outlaws are being pushed hard, as they survive this match together and would set their sights on tag team champions the Legion of Doom later in the night.
- More elimination action quickly follows, as the recently debuted Truth Commission take down the Disciples of Apocalypse. Yet again, nothing much to write home about here, lots of punching and kicking between eight big dudes, with Kurrgan(The Interrogator) being put over strong. He puts down Chainz, 8-Ball and Crush, all in under 10 minutes, to exit as the Sole Survivor.
- Even more tag team elimination action to come, though we do at least finally have some bigger stars and better workers in the third match of the night. It features Team Canada(The British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon) taking on Team USA(Vader, Marc Mero, Goldust and the recently debuted Steve Blackman). As you could've expected, the Canadian team are given a massive ovation for their entrance and treated like superheroes by the crowd throughout the match, despite obviously being heels. More over than any Canadian on the night, though, is Sable, and Furnas does actually catch some heat for eliminating Mero, who takes his catsuit-clad wife to the back with him. After struggling to gain momentum for so much of his run to this point, it seems like Vader is finally being taken a bit more seriously in this match, as he eliminates Neidhart, Furnas and LaFon, before finally going down to Bulldog, who won dirty with the use of the ring bell. In retrospect, it seems like this performance for Vader did absolutely nothing to raise his stock, possibly because he quickly moved into a feud with obvious midcarder Goldust, who bailed on the team during the match. This was far from the best Survivor Series tag match ever, but it was a big improvement on the first two on the card and had enough action in it to being mildly entertaining.
- There may be no hotter star in the company right now than Kane, just a month following his legendary debut in the first Hell in a Cell match. He's battering Mankind on this night, and I got very hyped for this match after Foley cut a hell of a backstage promo beforehand on Paul Bearer, who called him "a pebble" despite managing him in the past. This is a hellacious brawl that sees both men batter each other with weapons, including Kane throwing the steel steps at Mankind, and Foley takes some ridiculous bumps to get the new monster over. Mankind is sent flying through a table, gets planted on the floor after attempting a top rope move, and finally goes down to the Tombstone Piledriver. This was a very fun match, not the best of either man's career, but one that definitely continues Kane's rise up the card. I could've done without the obnoxious red lighting, though, I've never gotten why Vince thinks different colored lights get certain wrestlers over.
- In the final, and probably best, elimination match of the night The Nation of Domination take on the Legion of Doom, Ahmed Johnson and Ken Shamrock. There's a lot more heat going into this match than any of the other tag matches, as these guys have been in each other's orbit for months. The match ends up coming down to Shamrock down 2 on 1 against Rocky Maivia and D'Lo Brown, after Animal gets counted out going after Billy Gunn and Road Dogg, who have stolen the LOD's shoulder pads. Shamrock is terrific fighting for his life against the numbers game, and is shockingly quite over in Montreal. "The World's Most Dangerous Man" lives up to his monicker, tapping out D'Lo and Maivia to take home an impressive win. It's worth noting that Rocky and Shamrock already have some decent chemistry in the ring, setting up their battles to come in the following year. Saying this was the best tag match of the night doesn't really mean much, but if you're into seeing Ken Shamrock batter some guys, and let's be honest, who isn't, this is probably worth a watch.
- It's a rematch of the most controversial match of the year, at least prior to this night, as Owen Hart once again defends the Intercontinental Championship against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Rather wisely, this match has been booked to have Austin avoid any potentially dangerous bumps, as he just throws hands with not just Owen, but his allies Bulldog, Neidhart, Furnas and LaFon. "The Anvil" gets a Stunner, then after a few minutes of wrestling, Owen gets one too, as Austin becomes champion once more. After the match, Furnas and LaFon each get one as well, as I guess Davey Boy couldn't be arsed to take a bump either. Look, the match is bad, totally unworthy of both the IC title and appearing on a pay-per-view, but that absolutely doesn't matter. The appeal here is to watch Austin make his grand return to kick some a** and hold some gold, and that's exactly what we got. Even parts of the Montreal crowd appreciated seeing Austin's return, which is really saying something.
- Main event time, as it's the third pay-per-view main event meeting between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, with Bret's WWF Championship on the line. About a week before this show, Bret officially signed on the dotted line with WCW, and his departure has become the worst kept secret in all of wrestling. Even though he does get a tremendous pop for his entrance, some "you sold out" chants can be heard, and there are multiple derogatory signs that show up on camera, though I suppose it's possible those could've been plants. The most obvious warning sign of what's to come is the large contingent of WWF officials gathered around ringside, including multiple referees, Sgt. Slaughter and Vince McMahon himself, and at this point, Bret should've really taken the hint. He doesn't, and that match starts just as it was booked, with a very messy brawl. The most dangerous spot comes when Shawn is thrown into the crowd, mere minutes after publicly desecrating the Canadian flag, definitely encouraging any drunk, riled-up patriot to try and take a shot. Fortunately for all involved, Bret and Shawn are able to get back into the ring, and wrestle a pretty standard match. Bret works the leg and cycles through his reliably impactful repertoire, while Shawn focuses more on rest holds and working the crowd. It seems like neither man was really willing to work through the match with each other and build something truly special, which is kind of understandable given the situation. After a ref bump and a rake to the eyes, Shawn locks in the worst Sharpshooter in history, and Earl Hebner signals for the bell to ring. All hell breaks loose, as Bret doesn't seem to understand what just happened, while Shawn, feigning first surprise and then anger, gets his new prize and is escorted to the back by Gerald Brisco and Triple H, and the broadcast just ends. Unseen by the pay-per-view audience, Bret spits in Vince's face, and then starts smashing cameras and other equipment, while the crowd erupts, tossing trash into the ring and on any WWF employee in sight. He finger traces the letters "W-C-W" in the air, before finally departing with Owen, Neidhart and Bulldog.
- Where to begin with this one? Well, as someone watching the pay-per-view feed, there's not actually a lot to talk about, as it gets cut off pretty quickly. There still exists a large contingent of both fans and performers that insist this was a work, and I can maybe seen some of the reasoning there. If this had been planned, it would be one hell of a way to build a top heels in Michaels and McMahon, and eventually set up an absolute hero in a returning Hart. That being said, this is obviously a shoot to me. You can't possibly convince me that Vince McMahon was capable of a plan so intricate, nor would I ever believe that Bret and Shawn could work together to pull it off. Real life is often times stranger than fiction, and no example in wrestling fits that saying more than the Montreal Screwjob.
In honor of our departing hero,
4/10
What happened in Montreal may have turned out to be the best possible scenario for Vince and the WWE, turning McMahon into one of the best drawing heels in the history of the business. But they lost a truly special talent in Bret Hart, and struggled for years to find a true ring general to replace him. Other than the main event and the circumstances surrounding it, there's not much else truly memorable from Survivor Series 1997. At least there were some big wins for the likes of Steve Austin, Kane and Ken Shamrock, the next generation of main eventers at this time. The Attitude Era wasn't really known for quality wrestling, and that shines through here. I don't think there's much on this show that really needs to be watched, as the main event has appeared in many highlight packages and is probably more interesting to read about than watch, but it's not a terrible show either, mostly thanks to all the tag matches, which ensured that most guys didn't wrestle for more than a few minutes. Survivor Series 1997 will always hold a place in wrestling history, but feels entirely skippable as a pay-per-view.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: We move fully into the Attitude Era, which means more reviews per year than ever before. For '98 and '99, I will review 6 shows each, including all of the Big 5(Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam and Survivor Series), plus one bonus review for each year that I will keep secret for now. So first up is Royal Rumble 1998. See you soon.
- Henry
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