Austin101

Austin101's "WWF Royal Rumble 1997" Review:


Live on PPV from San Antonio Texas in the Alamo Dome.

Vince, JR and The King are doing commentary together for the first and ONLY time at the Royal Rumble.

There were a lot of Free For All Matches before the event due to it being in southern texas, they got to showcase a lot of the local talent. Here is some of what went down.....

1) Venum and Perro Aguayo, Jr. defeated Maniaco and Mosco de la Merced (10:00)

2) Octagón, Blue Demon Jr., and Tinieblas Jr. defeated Heavy Metal, Abismo Negro, and Histeria (14:00)

3) Mascarita Sagrada and La Parkita defeated Mini Mankind and Mini Vader (4:29)

During the Free For All pre-event match featuring "Mini Vader" and "Mini Mankind", Vince McMahon inquired if there was a "Mini King" (in reference to Jerry "the King" Lawler), to which Lawler promptly reminded him that were, in fact, "mini Kings", in the form of Cheesy, Sneezy, and Queasy at the 1994 Survivor Series.


Now onto the ppv.....



1) Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Curtis Hughes) vs Goldust (w/Marlena) for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

This opening contest was very long (felt longer then the actual time anyway) but it was a very solid wrestling match as Triple H and Goldust are two very solid workers. No surprise there. The crowd could have been louder but that was about the only thing that made it seem to drag. A lot of holds but a pretty good number of moves throughout as well. Helmsley retains the IC Title at 16:50 with the pedigree.


** 3/4





2) Ahmed Johnson vs Farooq (w/Nation of Domination

This was a very underrated feud in 1996-1997. But this Rumble undercard match between the two was very forgettable. Dissapointing and rather boring to say the least. Faarooq was disqualified after the Nation interfered and attacked Johnson at 8:48. Following the match, Ahmed put one of the Nation's members through the French Announcers' table.


* 1/2





3) The Undertaker vs Vader

Pretty good big man slugfest early and these two work pretty well together given the size and weight differences for both being big guys. This match came off alright and most definately better then the one previous to it. I remember when I was a kid I was excited to see Taker get his hands on Paul Bearer.

Vader pinned Undertaker after a Vaderbomb at 13:19.

Paul Bearer came out and interfered on behalf of Vader. Bearer also later hit Undertaker with his urn.

After the match, The Undertaker chokeslammed referee Jack Doan.


** 1/4




4) Héctor Garza, Perro Aguayo and El Canek vs Jerry Estrada, Heavy Metal and Fuerza Guerrera

A tremendous amount of moves shown throughout this contest. Aguayo pinned Metal after a diving double foot stomp off the top rope at 10:56.

****


Great match, dead crowd.




5) The 1997 Royal Rumble Match


A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds this time around.

This was the second straight year the Rumble match was not the main event of the PPV.

Steve Austin broke the elimination record for a single Royal Rumble match previously held by Hulk Hogan from the 1989 Royal Rumble with ten.



The Rumble match started with Ahmed Johnson and Crush (The second time on the evening Ahmed would go against a Nation member) and entering third was the "Fake Razor Ramon. Talk about a dissapointment. Not only was it not Scott Hall (as the fans knew by this time) but the clock didn't work and he had no entrance music! Pretty dissapointing I remember when I watched this live. Phinneas Godwin came out at number four and then the man himself who was gaining a lot of fame at the time Stone Cold Steve Austin entered at #5. Bart Gunn entered sixth and Jake the Snake came in at seventh. Funny spot when the Snake enters at #7 Austin actually gets down on his knees and prays in the center of the ring. Gold. He also starts to dominate as he eliminates Bart, Jake and Phinneas (and before he throws out Phinneas he does the famous head shake infront of his body that is lying down)

Austin would continue to be dominant throughout the Rumble match but the ring started to fill up after that start. The Bulldog who was sort of feuding with Austin off and on at this point in time went one on one with Stone Cold in the ring and then after that the ring really started to fill up with Mexican wrestlers and guys like HHH, Owen Hart, The Sultan, Goldust, Marc Mero, Farooq, Savio Vega, and Jesse James. Funny spot where Owen "accidentally" eliminates his tag team partner the Bulldog and Bulldog calls him an idiot as he leaves...classic.

Austin eliminated the majority and he is alone as some of the crowd cheers him and he sits on top of the turnbuckle looking at his imaginary "watch" (where the whole Watch bit started) until he hears Bret Hart's music and he is in a lot of fear as the place erupts. A showdown in the Rumble in the middle of one of my favourite feuds ever with my two favourite competitors of all time. Austin and Bret exchange blows and then the next entrant is just hillarious. Bret has Austin in the sharpshooter and the King Jerry Lawler says "It takes a King..." (takes off headset) Bret then dropped Austin's legs and gave the King an uppercut over the top rope as he lasted 4 seconds, the King went back to the booth and said "To know a king." That was great and now it's back to Bret And Austin.

The Fake Diesel (aka Kane), Terry Funk, Rocky Maivia, Mankind, Flash Funk, Vader, Henry Godwin, and The Undertaker were the next and final entrants in the match. As you can see by just looking at those entrants alone this was probably the best Rumble roster in at least 3-5 years.


After being eliminated, Mankind and Terry Funk began brawling outside the ring and had to be broken up by referees. As this was going on, Hart eliminated Austin but as the referees were preoccupied with the brawl, Austin's elimination was unseen. Austin then snuck back in and proceeded to illegally eliminate Vader and the Undertaker (who were fighting on the ropes) and then Bret Hart (who had just eliminated Diesel) to win the 1997 Royal Rumble at 50:29. It was unique but the fans were puzzled clearly as they probably didn't know if Austin was supposed to go out, or if it was all in kayfabe where he'd sneak back in so it didn't come off well LIVE but looking back it's pretty great.


*** 1/2





6) Main Event- Shawn Michaels vs Psycho Sid for the WWF Championship

HBK gets a huge ovation as he comes out in San Antonio with pyro's and all. He gives his mother a hug and then poses and dances, takes up more time then the match itself I'm pretty sure.

Sid is the villain here obvioussly and looks pretty intimidating as WWF Champion with his black vest and that bad ass Psycho theme, and the letters S-I-D for a pyro.

Sid pushes HBK down a couple times to start then the two go back and forth as HBK doesen't get on the offense a whole lot as this is your typical, Heel beat down on the face, then cue the heroic come back.


Michaels pinned Sid after after hitting him with a camera (revenge for Lathario being hit from Survivor Series 1996), followed by a Sweet Chin Music at 13:49 to win the WWF Championship for a second time in his own hometown.

Shawn Michaels later vacated the WWF Championship on the Thursday RAW Thursday special. So due to this and the controversial situation over the Royal Rumble ending, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, The Undertaker and Vader were pitted against each other at In Your House 13: Final Four in a Four Corners match for the WWF Championship. As a result, Austin was the first Royal Rumble winner to not receive a WWF Championship shot at the following WrestleMania since the stipulation was introduced in 1993. But it's ok because Stone Cold did get to main event a Wrestlemania and win the gold in a year in which he did not win the Rumble (1999) so it all ends well.

The Main event title match was kept relatively short but that came off well as Sid doesen't usually fair all that great in long matches. This one was still pretty good though.


*** 1/4




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Final PPV Rating for Royal Rumble 1997= 7.5/10


This PPV event had a lot of matches that were either average or better and the Rumble match while not bad, is pretty good and very memorable given the ending. The main event is also solid with the home town boy winning the title back (before he lost his smile though) and A LOT of fans left the show happy. A pretty good Royal Rumble overall and worthy of the 7.5/10 Rating.



Up Next from Austin101: Royal Rumble 1998

(stay tuned.....)



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