1997 is one of my favorite years in WWE history, filled with fantastic characters arcs and insanely clever booking, mostly all revolving around the quartet of Bret Hart, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker. With WCW dominating the Monday Night Wars thanks to the New World Order, Vince McMahon countered by creating more intricate storylines and creative characters, and also focused on offering some unique events throughout the year by investing in the concept of "partisan crowds". We'd see a lot more of that as 1997 went along, culminating in the insane atmosphere of In Your House: Canadian Stampede, one of the greatest crowds for any WWE event ever, and one that was whipped up into a fervor in support of their local heroes. To open the year, the Royal Rumble sets up shop in San Antonio, the hometown of former world champion Shawn Michaels. Shawn was originally intended to be booked to challenge Vader for the WWF title at this event, and I've already gone into some of the reasons that didn't occur in my recent reviews, but Michaels still ended up dropping the gold and was put in the position to attempt to reclaim it in front of a crowd that was sure to be solidly in his corner.
- Royal Rumble 1997 comes to you from the massive Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, the former home of the Spurs and the first of two Royal Rumble events to be hosted in the venue, the second coming in 2017, a little over two decades later. Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call.
- Our opening contest is for the Intercontinental Championship, as Hunter Hearst Helmsley defends against Goldust. "The Bizarre One" has lost the sexual ambiguity aspect of his gimmick, emphatically stating that he was not gay in a rather uncomfortable segment with Lawler, and now Goldust is just a regular old straight guy, fiercely protective of valet Marlena, whom Hunter has made a few passes at. Without any of the more lustful parts of his move-set, Goldust has lost what made him a stand-out character in the first place, converting into a very basic worker with little flash or intrigue, although Dustin Rhodes is still capable enough in the ring to tell a good story, taking apart Hunter's knee in a vicious assault. Goldust gets away with a lot in this match, hitting Hunter with the ring steps on multiple occasions, which strangely sets up the heel champion as the plucky underdog. Helmsley survives the onslaught for long enough to plant a smooch on Marlena, but his attempt to lay out Goldust with the IC belt backfires, and the challenger nails a belt shot instead. Hunter's bodyguard, Mr. Hughes, makes the save by pulling Helmsley out of the ring, which seems like it would be grounds for a disqualification, but I guess anything goes in this match. Given a moment to recover, Helmsley charges back into the ring to hit a clothesline, which turns Goldust inside out, and then the champion retains with a Pedigree. Outside of the confusing officiating and the destruction of Goldust's character, this was a solid opener.
- Ahmed Johnson was being positioned as the next big star of the WWF in 1996, capturing the Intercontinental Championship at King of the Ring, and seemingly was on the fast track to a featured spot in the main event picture. But Johnson was suffering from legitimate kidney issues, which forced him to vacate the gold and put the former middle linebacker on the shelf for four months. Johnson was written off TV with the explanation that the recently debuted Faarooq had caused the injury, and Faarooq would quickly transition out of his ill-advised gladiator gimmick, taking on a much more famous role as the leader of the Nation of Domination, setting him up as an intimidating threat for Johnson to conquer when Ahmed was cleared to return. We get that grudge match here, as Johnson and Faarooq collide in a bit of a clunky encounter. The two clearly don't work well together, and aren't able to put together too many impressive spots in this match, besides a couple big slams from Ahmed that pop the crowd. Faarooq spends much of the match working over the kidney area of Johnson, but it's clear he can't handle Ahmed's unrelenting power, and the Nation runs in for a DQ, a very lame finish. The fans aren't that disappointed, though, as they continue to pop for Ahmed as he bulldozes his way through the bunch. Johnson finishes off the attack by slamming one member of the Nation, I believe it was D'Lo Brown, through a ringside table with the Pearl River Plunge.
- Mankind was soundly defeated by The Undertaker at Survivor Series, so Paul Bearer is in search of a new charge to take out his former client, settling on Vader. "The Mastodon" could definitely use an opportunity to re-establish his credibility after the mess with Shawn Michaels, and a singles match with The Undertaker at a major event would seem to be the perfect fit. Unfortunately, this match only proves that Vader is really struggling physically, as he gets more and more gassed while the match wears on, and it has a significant impact on his performance. Vader is too tired to properly sell, and Undertaker hasn't developed enough of an offensive repertoire to keep the crowd engaged, leaving this match to die a death in complete silence. Fortunately, the folks in attendance do perk up for Undertaker laying out Bearer with a right hand, which Paul repays by clonking Undertaker in the head with the trusty urn. Vader then hits his big middle rope splash, one of a couple different moves referred to as the Vader Bomb, and picks up a quality win. A frustrated Undertaker chokeslams the official after the match, continuing to add to a more violent and sinister mystique for his character, as opposed to the more cartoonish variant that Undertaker had portrayed in the years prior.
- The American wrestling scene is currently in the middle of an arms race for luchadores, after wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Misterio Jr. began opening eyes while competing in ECW, leading WCW to begin integrating a cruiserweight division. Rather than attempting to take specific talent, Vince McMahon negotiated a deal with the AAA promotion in Mexico City, bringing in a number of different performers to wrestle at this event. Six of them compete in a six man tag up next, as Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal, and Jerry Estrada, team up to face El Canek, Hector Garza, and one of the bigger stars in lucha libre history, Perro Aguayo. I'm personally a big fan of the lucha that I've seen, and I was expecting something spectacular on this night, which wasn't really delivered. Don't get me wrong, this was still a fast-paced match with some impressive athleticism shown off by Garza in particular, who really is great, but this contest didn't feature any of the high-flying acrobatics and tightly choreographed spots that I'm used to in lucha. I can't say I'm familiar with anyone other than Garza, so maybe this was just me expecting something out of these guys that they just don't deliver, or maybe they felt a random six man tag in front of a totally uninterested audience wasn't the time to break out their best stuff, which I could totally understand. Aguayo gets the win for his team, botching his diving double foot stomp but getting the pinfall anyway after delivering a standing elbow drop.
- The 1997 Royal Rumble match kicks off with Crush against Ahmed Johnson, as Ahmed looks for revenge against one of the main members of the Nation of Domination, although Crush gets the better of it and outsmarts Johnson to force the former Intercontinental Champion to eliminate himself. Johnson does comeback later to swing wildly with a 2x4 against Faarooq, eliminating the leader of the Nation and continuing their feud. The majority of the focus in this match is on Steve Austin, who enters at number 5 and scores 10 eliminations in his 45 minutes of competition. Austin is so damn entertaining in this match, dominating while putting on a show, first relaxing by sitting on the turnbuckle and pretending to check a wristwatch while he waits for the next entrant, then getting down on his knees to pray when Jake Roberts walks out, later eliminating Jake and tossing Roberts' snake bag at him. After Austin's initial run starts to slow down, we get a period without a whole lot of action, save for Owen Hart eliminating his own tag partner, the British Bulldog, and Goldust tossing out Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Faarooq enters at number 18, and after he's eliminated by Johnson, Austin clears the ring for a second time, tossing out both Marc Mero and Owen Hart, then taking out Savio Vega and Jesse James (the former Roadie and future Road Dogg) quickly after they enter. Austin is starting to wear down and tries to get a breather, only for Bret Hart's music to hit, and Austin's expression is priceless, selling the complete horror of his nemesis entering while Austin's energy is beginning to wane. The two men immediately start trading hands, giving this match a jolt of electricity, and the crowd goes nuts for it. The building gets even louder when Lawler gets off commentary to enter at number 22, only to be quickly sent packing after a pair of right hands by Bret. Jerry then refuses to acknowledge that he was even in the match the whole rest of the way, which was hilarious, this was a brilliant little piece of booking. The match slows down as the final 8 men enter, and eventually ends up with a final eight of Austin, Hart, Mankind, Terry Funk, Vader, The Undertaker, who entered at number 30, Rocky Maivia, and fake Diesel, what a collection of talent, and I actually say that unironically, everyone left is either a former or future world champion. Mankind takes out Maivia and Funk, then is sent to the floor by Undertaker, where Funk awaits for a brawl that distracts the entire officiating crew. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, Bret eliminates Austin, but none of the referees see it. Austin re-enters to toss out Vader and Undertaker, Bret eliminates "Diesel", and Austin scores the tainted win by sending Hart packing. The majority of this match may not have particularly interesting, save for Austin's work and Lawler's elimination, but the finish is a classic, providing a ton of different potential directions for the product as WrestleMania draws near.
- Main event time, as Shawn Michaels seeks to wrest back the WWF Championship from Sycho Sid, with the advantage of a completely rabid crowd in his corner, in addition to mentor Jose Lothario. This wasn't quite on the level of their Survivor Series match, but it was still a fun watch, with Michaels again bumping like a boss to put over Sid's power. Sid did slow the match down a little too much with rest holds as he worked over Michaels' back, but Shawn and the crowd added plenty of energy. Shawn gets dumped to the floor and takes a powerbomb on the outside, which Sid took great care in performing safely, looking to avoid incurring Shawn's wrath for being too stiff. Sid goes after both Lothario and Lothario's son, but Michaels is back up, and Sid elects to focus on the champion. Shawn accidentally takes out referee Earl Hebner with a diving crossbody, and Sid takes the opportunity to hit a chokeslam, but the second official takes a little too long getting into the ring, as Michaels kicks out at two. The furious champion then sends the ref flying with a punch, losing his cool and he pays for it. Shawn gets revenge for Survivor Series by blasting Sid with a ringside camera, and though Sid does kick out after the cover is made, Shawn ends it with Sweet Chin Music, reclaiming the gold.
6/10
Overall, this was a solid show that provided just enough entertainment to make it worth three hours of my time. The main event showcased another great performance from Shawn Michaels, bolstered by an energized crowd, and Steve Austin carried a so-so Rumble match, adding more layers to his feud with Bret Hart. Everything else was miss-able but not bad by any means, which is about what you can say for just about every event that took place in '97. If you're interested in what came next for the WWF, you can check out my review of WrestleMania 13.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: King of the Ring 1997, where Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Mankind, Ahmed Johnson, and Jerry Lawler compete in the annual tournament. See you soon.
- Henry
Comments