Week 3, January 1997
Alamodome in San Antonio, TexasAttendance: 53,501
Preshow
Match 1 - The Godwinns vs The Hardy Boys vs The Headbangers, 3 Team Elimination Match
Long pre show match between these three tag teams. Match lasted about 12 minutes in total. Headbangers were eliminated first by The Godwinns and then in a surprise finish, The Hardy Boys picked up the victory over the more established Godwinns. Not the best match, but it is great to see WWF putting some more effort into building up the tag division.
Winners: The Hardy Boys
Rating: 4/10
Match 2 - Pierroth Jr. vs Bob Holly
Pierroth Jr. of AAA goes one-on-one with "Sparkplug" Bob Holly in this pre-show battle. Pierroth Jr. is a pretty decent name throughout Mexico, but of course, WWF isn't going to allow AAA wrestlers to defeat their Superstars. Bob Holly picks up the win after hitting Pierroth Jr. with a Dropkick.
Winner: Bob Holly
Rating: 4/10
Match 3 - Bart Gunn vs Flash Funk
For our final Pre Show match of the night, we see Bart Gunn vs Flash Funk. Zero heat between the two, especially since they are both faces, however, it was still the best match of the preshow. Flash Funk wins at about the 10-minute mark with the "Diss That Don't Miss".
Winner: Flash Funk
Rating: 5/10
Main Card
Pyros go off in the Alamodome and we are off. Vince McMahon is in the ring and welcomes us all to the event. Vince says that tonight, we will see Hunter Hearst Helmsley defend the Intercontinental Championship against Goldust. Mankind will go one-on-one with The Undertaker, we will crown the 1997 Royal Rumble winner who will go onto the main event of WrestleMania, and of course, we will see Sycho Sid defend his WWF World Heavyweight Title against San Antonio's own heartbreak kid, Shawn Michaels. Good Segment to get us hyped for tonight's event.
Rating: 6/10
Mankind's music hits and it looks like we will be starting off with Mankind vs The Undertaker. We first see Paul Bearer walk out behind the curtain as 53,000 strong Boo "The Bearer of Bad News" Paul Bearer. We then see Mankind coming out behind, rolling out a massive casket. The casket though isn't an ordinary casket. The camera cuts to a close-up to the casket as we see that the casket looks to be covered in barbed wire, thumb tasks, and a few other sharp object Mankind was able to throw onto it. I am no psychic but I think this next match is going to be brutal.
Rating: 7/10
Opening Match - The Undertaker vs Mankind w/Paul Bearer
What a fantastic match to kick off the show. Mankind and Undertaker overall looked great out there. I would have loved to see a little bit more selling between both wrestlers since they both seemed to pop right back up after getting hit with some strong moves, but it was still a great match nonetheless. Of course, Bearer and his men tried everything that can to take out The Undertaker. The Executioner and Vader both came out during the match to attack The Undertaker. After some failed attacks the ref sent both men to the back or risk DQ for Mankind. The best part of the match though was by far the finish. The referee ended up getting knocked out as the two brawled. While Taker was dazed Mankind dragged him out to the Apron right next to the casket that was covered in barbed wire. It first looked like Mankind was going to throw Undertaker onto the casket but Undertaker was able to fight back. Undertaker was then able to grab Mankind and nail him with a massive Tombstone onto the barbed wire casket. Undertaker then rolled Mankind back into the ring where the ref was just able to wake up just enough to count the three count. Great match overall and a great way to kick off one of the WWF's biggest shows of the year.
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: 8/10
After the match we see Paul Bearer at the top of the ramp, looking onto the carnage. Taker is able to somehow get to his feet and grab a microphone. "Bearer, what you see here is only the beginning. You can run...you can hide...you can send as many men as you want to defeat me, but look at Mankind here in the ring. Soon...this will be you. Undertaker falls to his knees in exhaustion and drops the microphone. The camera cuts to Bearer who looks terrified of what Undertaker just said. Great segment.
Rating: 8/10
We cut to the back where Bret Hart is talking to the camera. Hart starts to talk about what the Royal Rumble event means and how tonight we start on the road to WrestleMania, but when it looks like Hart is about to say more we see Austin run up from behind and attack The Hitman. Austin beats down on Bret for about 10 seconds or so until WWF officials go storming into the room and pull Austin off him. Great segment overall. Can't wait to see these two men lockup in the Royal Rumble match.
Rating: 8/10
We cut to Hunter Hearst Helmsley who is backstage. Hunter says that "Goldust is just another nobody, another peasant, another stepping stone for him." Hunter looks at his Intercontinental belt, looks over at the camera, and gives a little smirk. Pretty good segment with Hunter.
Rating: 7/10
Match 2 - Goldust vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the Intercontinental Championship
Decent match between these two men. I certainly did expect a little more due to how they have been building up this match, especially from Hunter Hearst Helmsley, but by no means was it a bad match. Very open match that could have gone either way, but in the end we see Hunter Hearst Helmsley walk away with the win after taunted Marlena who then got up onto the apron. Once she was up the Ref ran over to tell her to get down. As we know, whenever the ref turns his back in pro-wrestling, something is about to happen. Hunter ends up nailing Goldust with the Intercontinental Belt, allowing him to win.
Winner: Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Rating: 7/10
Match 3 - Furnas and LaFon vs The New Blackjacks
Quick throw-away match that was designed to give the audience a quick five-minute break for the bathroom, food, etc. before the big Royal Rumble match. Furnas and LaFon pick up the win. Sunny looked great as always at ringside.
Winners: Furnas and LaFon
Rating: 6/10
A quick video package recapping the Austin/Hart feud and everything that has happened so far between these two men. Nothing new came from this. Another way to provide the audience with a little bit more time to get ready before the big match.
Rating: 6/10
The Royal Rumble Match
Lots to talk about when it comes to this match. Of course, I will not be able to cover it all but let's talk about the big highlights.
- The Jesse James vs Crush storyline continued in this match. The two men were in the match fairly early on. James, once again, got the "victory" over Crush as he pulled the rope down at the right time and Crush went flying over the top rope. Jesse James didn't last much longer after that though because as James was yelling at Crush, Faarooq threw James over the top rope. Faarooq could be heard telling Crush "That's how you get a job done".
- AAA had a very limited impact on the match. None of the AAA guys really accomplished much of anything which is somewhat disappointing. I really wished to see guys like Mil Mascaras and Octagon last a little longer but doesn't seem like that is what the WWF had planned for them, however, the fact that these fantastic Mexican wrestlers didn't last much longer than their AAA counterpart Latin Lover was disappointing.
- Owen Hart was the true Iron Man in this match. Hart came out in the number 5 slot and lasted over 40 minutes in the ring. Impressive showing by him.
- Speaking of impressive showing, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (we will talk about him again soon) walked out with the most eliminations. Austin eliminated 9 of the 30 wrestlers who competed in the match. WWF really has been doing a great job of making Austin look dominant as of late.
- A hand full of surprise entrants were apart of tonight's Royal Rumble. First off, we saw some of the older WWF guys make their in-ring returns. Bob Backlund and The Iron Sheik entered the match and although they didn't last long, they did help Sultan eliminate Rocky Maivia. We also saw Honky Tonk Man return to the ring, although he was eliminated too fairly quickly.
- AAA wasn't the only company that had their presents felt in tonight's match. ECW's Sabu was a surprise entrant in the match. Sabu came out wearing an ECW shirt, and due to that I am going to assume that Sabu will not be joining WWF full time. This also might explain why Mankind made an appearance on last night's taping of ECW Hardcore TV.
- The biggest surprise entrant though was not Sabu or the old-timers already working in the WWF but Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Steamboat was last seen in a WWF ring in 1991 so his return was a fantastic surprise. No word yet on if this was just a one-time deal or if we will be seeing The Dragon more on WWF programming.
And now for the finish of the match. The final four of the match were Bret "The Hitman" Hart, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Undertaker (who somehow was able to fight after his hellish match with Mankind), and "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock. Shamrock was eliminated first out of the four men after Austin threw him over the top rope cleanly. Taker, Austin, and Hart then brawl back and forth in the ring for about 5 minutes or so. After 5 minutes, Undertaker looked to be in control of the match when Paul Bearer's voice comes blasting over the PA system. "Hey Taker! I hate to be the Bearer of Bad News but..." As soon as Taker heard Bearer's voice he turned his attention to the top of the ramp, and that was all Austin needed to somehow stumble over to Taker and flip him over the top rope. Undertaker looks furious as he starts to run up the ramp. By the time Taker gets close to the top of the ramp, Bearer is long gone... and then there were two. Many of us could have predicted that it was going to be Austin and Hart to be the final two in the match. The two men start to fight back and forth as the crowd starts to get hot. As the two men are fighting Hart accidentally backs into the referee who falls to the ground hurt. Austin and Hart continue to fight when out of nowhere Austin throws Hart over the top rope as we see Hart's feet hit the ground. It's over, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is your...but wait. The referee is still down but starting to get himself back up. Bret realizes that the referee never saw him go over. Hart slides back into the ring where Austin is celebrating on the top turnbuckle. Hart quickly runs over to Austin and gives him a hard punch to the back. Austin comes down from the turnbuckle as the two continue to brawl again for about a minute more before Hart is able to grab Austin and throw him over the top rope. This time the referee saw everything. The bell rings and the match is over. Bret "The Hitman" Hart has won the 1997 Royal Rumble.
Overall, it was a solid Royal Rumble match with a fantastic ending and one big surprise entrant in Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. I do wish that more happened in the match since the match lasted an hour in length, but you can't really complain when you see a classic ending like that.
Winner: Bret "The Hitman" Hart
Rating: 8/10
It is now time for our Main Event. Shawn Michaels is to go one-on-one with Sycho Sid. We start off with a grand entrance for the hometown hero, Shawn Michaels. HBK's music hits as we see about 20 or people come running out from the backstage area. Jim Ross tells the audience at home that the men, women, and children we are seeing are HBK's friends and family who came to the Alamodome to cheer him on. Shawn comes out and gives hugs and high fives to everyone. We even see him give a big hug to Jose Lothario, who will not be at ringside for this match.
Rating: 7/10
Main Event - Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
Great match to end the show. Shawn Michaels put on a hell of a performance. I could say he stepped it up because he was in front of his hometown, but the reality is he puts on these kinds of performances every night, regardless of where it is and how many people are watching. About 1/2 way during the match we can see Sycho Sid holding his neck as it appears he hurt it in some way. Sid was able to finish the match with no problems, so hopefully, he just pulled it a weird way and is fine. Clean finish for this match at about the 16-minute mark, after an exhausted Sid stands up only to be greeted with a Sweet Chin Music. HBK is able to pick up the victory clearly. No shenanigans in this match, just a straightforward match between two of the WWF's biggest names.
Winner: Shawn Michaels
Rating: 8/10
Shawn Michaels celebrates in the ring as his friends and family storm the ring. They lift Michaels in the air as Shawn holds the WWF World Heavyweight Title high in the air. We fade to black as the 1997 Royal Rumble comes to a close.
Rating: 7/10
Overall Show: 8/10
Great show overall. Although there were a few lower points, particularly the video segments and some parts of the Royal Rumble match, there was no time in the show that I wanted to turn it off. Every match seemed to serve a purpose, and WWF has done a great job of finally making me care about majority of their storylines, which was a problem leading into the Royal Rumble. Hopefully, the storylines continue to stay strong going into WrestleMania.
