Continued from Part 1
The WWF was looking to beat WCW as they were gaining momentum in 1997 but were barely able to stay afloat financially in order to do so. Throughout 1997, Vince McMahon and the WWF were in financial perils in order to compete and beat WCW.
McMahon figured out a way to get the WWF to be more profitable and that would be to take the company public on the New York Stock Exchange. In order to do so, McMahon needed to get rid of one big contract and that big contract was Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
Bret went on hiatus following WrestleMania XII as his contract with the WWF was up as Bret was even doing some acting on the TV show Lonesome Dove. While Bret was contemplating returning to the WWF in the summer, he was approached by WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff about joining WCW as they reportedly offered Hart a three-year contract worth approximately $3 million a year.
While Hart was tempted to sign with WCW and join other former WWF superstars in WCW, Vince McMahon counter-offered WCW by offering Bret an unprecedented 20-year contract even though it was nowhere near what WCW offered to pay Bret per year.
Bret decided to re-sign with the WWF and took the 20-year contract and returned to the WWF in October 1996. However in September 1997, McMahon first approached Bret about how the company was struggling financially and needed to pay him less for now but the money would be deferred to him later on in the contract when the company was in better financial shape.
Before the September 22, 1997 edition of Raw from Madison Square Garden, McMahon approached Bret about breaking the contract that Bret signed the year before. McMahon could not afford to pay Bret the contract he signed and needed to get out of it altogether.
McMahon also wanted to build the company around Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker and not around Hart as Vince was having buyer's remorse. Vince was planning on taking the WWF to the "Attitude Era" while Bret was not a fan of that type of content plus Bret was getting up there in age as he was 40 years old then.
Bret was not a fan of the direction the WWF was heading in an attempt to turn the company around. Bret called Michaels and Triple H "homos" on one episode of Raw and in another, The Nation of Domination's locker room was trashed with all kinds of racial slurs written all over it and the Harts were blamed for it. Bret hated those angles so much. Bret also did not let his kids watch Raw due to its raunchy, sexual, and violent storylines.
McMahon then told Bret to go contact WCW to see if they would offer him the same contract as they did the year before. Bret did not want to leave the WWF but realized he had no future in the WWF as they could not afford him along with lousy storylines and the direction they were headed so he called Eric Bischoff and Bischoff willingly offered him the same exact contract they offered him the year before.
Bret was scheduled to defend the WWF Championship against arch-nemesis Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series on November 9, 1997 from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in Hart's home country. To say there was bad blood between Hart and Michaels was an understatement to say the least.
When Bret returned to the WWF in late 1996, he restarted a rivalry with Shawn that stemmed from Michaels beating him for the WWF Title earlier that year at WrestleMania. It appeared that at WrestleMania 13, Bret was going to win back the WWF Title from Shawn.
However on the February 13, 1997 edition of Thursday Raw Thursday, Michaels forfeited the title in the ring due to a knee injury that prevented him from wrestling especially against Hart at the upcoming WrestleMania PPV. It was Michaels' infamous "lost my smile" speech.
Bret thought that Shawn was faking the whole injury since Shawn did not want to lose the title to Bret. This caused severe bad blood between the two for Bret feeling like Shawn was faking it and Shawn for Bret suggesting he was faking the injury as the two soon became bitter enemies outside the ring as well as inside.
In the meantime, Bret turned heel as he was now this "anti-American" villain and pro the rest of the world hero as Bret was involved in a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hart reformed The Hart Foundation with brother Owen, brother-in-laws Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart and friend Brian Pillman before Pillman's sudden death in October.
He would still feud with Shawn while Shawn was still injured. At WrestleMania 13, he verbally attacked Shawn, who was sitting at ringside to call the WWF Championship main event, by saying he was faking the injury.
The next night on Raw, Shawn confronted Bret saying that Shawn will live the way he wants to and that Bret was not a better man because he was "righteous." Bret then kicked Shawn's knee when his back was turned and gave him the Figure Four around the ring post, further cementing his heel status.
The Hart Foundation would attack Michaels just like they did Austin. In the spring of 1997, Bret had knee surgery and could not wrestle (due to a storyline attack from Austin), but still appeared on TV in a wheel chair bashing Michaels and Austin and the rest of the United States.
On the May 12 episode of Raw, Hart was supposed to be in the ring in his wheelchair to badmouth the United States and their fans and Shawn Michaels. Michaels was supposed to come to the ring after Bret continued to trash him and then Michaels was supposed to give him Sweet Chin Music and cause Bret to fall out of his wheelchair at the end of the show.
The segment went on as is with Bret trashing the fans and Shawn came down to confront Bret. Bret then rips on Shawn saying he screwed him out of the title at WrestleMania XII and that he faked the knee injury to get out of facing him at WrestleMania 13. Bret then mocked Shawn for posing once for Playgirl and while he was running down Shawn, the show went off the air.
Bret then challenged Shawn to hit him when Shawn gave him Sweet Chin Music causing Bret to fall out of his wheelchair. The Hart Foundation ran into the ring to attack Shawn until Steve Austin ran to make the save on Michaels.
Shawn felt that Bret buried him on TV and ran him down and going a lot longer on purpose so that Shawn's superkick on Bret would not be shown on TV. Shawn was super pissed at Bret for this and decided to fire back the next week on Raw.
Bret and The Hart Foundation came out with Bret challenging Shawn to a match at the King of the Ring. Shawn appeared on the titantron and said Bret had been having some "Sunny days lately" implying that Bret had an affair with WWF Diva Sunny.
Bret took serious exception to this and decided to ignore Shawn backstage for several weeks. The Bret-Shawn King of the Ring match was called off due to Bret's storyline knee injury but it was because Bret and Shawn could not work together. An impromptu match between Michaels and Steve Austin was created instead.
The night after King of the Ring on June 9 from Hartford, Conn., Bret and Shawn were involved in an infamous backstage fight. Bret finally confronted Shawn before the show about the Sunny days comment. Shawn was not happy with Bret finally wanting to talk to him after not saying a single word to Shawn for several weeks.
Shawn was not happy Bret finally was speaking to him and words were said and a heated exchange ensued and the two would fight in the locker room. The two locked up with Bret grabbing a hold of Shawn's hair and ripped some of Shawn's hair out of his head as the two were eventually separated.
An angry Shawn stormed into Vince McMahon's office where he slammed the hair Bret pulled out of his head and slammed it on McMahon's desk. Shawn then said he was quitting and demanded his release from the WWF saying this is an "unsafe working environment." Shawn wanted to leave the WWF and go to WCW to be with his Kliq buddies Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
McMahon, however, did not want to lose his top performer in the midst of getting his butt kicked by WCW so he wisely refused to let him out of his contract. Shawn did not show up to work as he wanted out of his contract and did not want to work with Bret, but he still had four more years left on his contract so McMahon would not let him go.
Shawn would be suspended without pay until he returned to work. When Shawn came back, he and Bret agreed to work together and be professional regardless of whether they could stand each other or not. They worked together for the most part for the remainder of the year before Bret left the WWF.
Bret and Shawn's paths again crossed in the summer and fall of 1997 when Shawn unintentionally helped Bret beat The Undertaker at SummerSlam to win the WWF Championship. Shawn became the biggest heel and joined forces with his Kliq buddy Triple H and his girlfriend Chyna and the returning Ravishing Rick Rude to form D-Generation X.
Bret had enough of Shawn and Triple H's shit and called them degenerates and Shawn decided to call themselves "D-Generation X" a play on the words degenerate and Generation X. If Bret and the WWF weren't aggravated with Shawn and Triple H before, DX and their antics would further drive them up a wall.
DX did everything to embarrass and get under Bret's skin which they were successful. Michaels won the right to take on Bret for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series. This was not going to be any match between Bret and Shawn, this was going to be their last match and it was very personal.
So Bret was told by Vince McMahon to call WCW to see if they would give him the same offer as they did the year before and WCW did indeed offer him the exact same contract. Bret did not want to leave as McMahon could not afford him but McMahon told Bret that their financial situation was doing a lot better and that he could honor Bret's contract as originally planned.
Bret was caught in between and a rock and a hard place as he did not to leave, but Vince told him to go and now after Bret is about to leave, Vince tells him to stay. For the heck of is, Bret asked Vince what was the plan for Bret's character going forward in the WWF.
Vince laid out storylines for Bret leading up to WrestleMania XIV and turn Bret turn back into a babyface. However Bret was suppposed to lose four of the next five big matches he was scheduled to perform at, including dropping the belt to Michaels at Survivor Series,
Frustrated with his upcoming character, Bret gave his notice to the WWF and signed with WCW just before the midnight deadline on November 1, 1997. Bret also made sure that word did not get out about him signing with WCW until November 10, the night after Survivor Series, by making some sign confidentiality letters that word did not get out about his signing with WCW.
Bret felt his WWF character was hanging in "purgatory" as he was no longer the top heel as that was Shawn Michaels and he could no longer be the top babyface as that was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Bret could no longer be the top babyface in the United States due to him spending most of the year badmouthing the USA and just could not simply go back to being beloved in the States like nothing happened.
There was one last thing though before Bret was to leave to go to WCW and that was get the WWF Championship before he was to officially join WCW on December 5. Vince McMahon wanted Bret to drop the title to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series. However, Bret did not want to drop the title to Shawn especially in his home country of Canada at either Survivor Series or the next night on Raw in Ottawa.
Despite the fact that Bret and Shawn had not gotten along, they worked together professionally that was until about a month before Survivor Series when Vince first approached Bret about the idea of dropping the title to Shawn. Things got real personal between Bret and Shawn when Bret made Shawn promised to leave their respective families out of this and Shawn said on TV that Stu Hart was a "walking corpse", which infuriated Bret.
Bret said he would be glad to put Shawn over but Shawn refused to do the job back to Bret and Shawn would say it again a week later which infuriated Bret. Bret refused then to do the job to Michaels since he would refuse to do the favor to Bret. Bret said he would not lose to Michaels in Canada but would lose to him in the states and presented a list of who he would also drop the title to.
McMahon was adamant that Bret lose the title to Shawn at Survivor Series and said that Bret was in jeopardy of "breaching his contract." Bret said he had "reasonable creative control" over his character in the final 30 days of his contract and can basically do whatever he wants even though Vince said not dropping the title was not "reasonable."
Bret had this in his contract so McMahon and the WWF could not bury him on his way out the door and make him look terrible like he did to wrestlers in the past that left. Bret even asked Vince if he would bad mouth him on WWF TV after he left and Vince promised him he wouldn't.
Bret said he would drop the title after Survivor Series at a house show at Madison Square Garden on November 15. Bret and Vince agreed at a DQ finish at Survivor Series. Bret would then drop the title to Shawn in a Four-Way match at the December 7 PPV in Springfield, Mass.
He would then appear the next night on the December 8 Raw to say his farewell to the WWF and put the company and Vince over and even apologize to the American fans about his actions the past year in something that was not seen at that time. Despite being a WCW employee on Dec. 5, Eric Bischoff allowed Bret to work through 12/8.
Thanks to the internet and various newspapers throughout Canada, word got out that Bret signed with WCW and was going to leave the WWF. Vince now wanted Bret to drop the title to Shawn at Survivor Series or before 11/10 because he feared Bischoff would announce the next night on the November 10 episode of Nitro that he signed the WWF Champion Bret Hart.
Bret called Bischoff to delay the announcement of signing him but could not get a hold of him since Bischoff was out of town. Vince wanted Bret to drop the title the night before Survivor Series at a house show in Detroit, but Bret did not to do that saying it was better for the PPV that Bret come in as champion. Bret also suggested dropping the title at any house shows the week after Survivor Series and Raw.
Bret appeared on TSN's hit show Off the Record with Michael Landsberg before the house show in Toronto on November 7 to talk about his impending leaving the WWF for WCW, but Bret did not admit on the show that he was indeed going to WCW.
Bret appeared in a six man tag team match in the main event teaming with Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart losing to Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and Mankind later that night at the house show at the Sky Dome. Fans there chanted "You Sold Out!" at Bret for leaving to go to WCW.
Bret wrestled the next night at the house show in Detroit, one night before Survivor Series as he teamed with Smith and Neidhart and again lost to Austin, Undertaker and Mankind. While Bret was wrestling in Detroit, Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, and Pat Patterson and possibly Jim Ross and Jim Cornette went to Montreal, where Survivor Series was held, and met in a hotel room to discuss the finish.
However the brain trust called for a screw job finish to take the title off Bret that night so he won't take the title with him to WCW, which Vince was afraid of. According to Michaels, the idea was that of Triple H to get the belt off of Hart. Triple H later said that if Bret was not going to do the job for them, they will do the job for Bret.
The finish was planned to be a DQ finish were members of The Hart Foundation and DX ran in and started brawling calling for a DQ and Bret retaining the title. Earl Hebner, the referee, was supposed to get knocked down during the match. Shawn would lock Bret in his own Sharpshooter only for Bret to reverse it. Shawn would soon hit Sweet Chin Music on Bret calling for the Harts to run in and soon after DX.
Bret and Vince then agreed for Bret to hand over the title to Vince the next night on Raw from Ottawa and then tell everyone he was leaving. Vince only agreed to do this so that Bret would not no-show the event and take the title with him. Bret already more than worked his scheduled amount of dates that year so he did not need to even appear at Survivor Series.
There would be some paranoia heading to this match as Davey Boy Smith and Vader warned Bret about an impending screw job as they saw in their times in other promotions over seas. They told Bret not lie on his back for too long when being pinned and not to get in a submission hold too long. Bret asked referee Earl Hebner, his good friend, about a possible screw job and Hebner replied "I swear on my kids lives that I'd quit my job before double-crossing you."
It was time for the big match at Survivor Series between Bret and Shawn which was to be their last-ever match. Shawn came out to a massive chorus of boos and did not endear himself to the Canadian crowd by wiping a Canadian flag in between his legs and put it on the ground and started to hump it in the middle of the ring. Bret came out to a mixed reaction as the fans were upset he was leaving to go to WCW by chanting "You sold out."
The match started as is with the two brawling on the floor. Vince McMahon, who was no longer announcing matches, came out to ringside along with his associates Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, and Sgt. Slaughter to try and "restore some order" in the match.
The match would go on as scheduled as referee Earl Hebner was knocked down and Shawn put Bret in the Sharpshooter. Hebner was supposed to be down for a few minutes, but before Bret tried to reverse the move, Hebner quickly got right back up and signaled for the bell even though Bret did not give up. McMahon then yelled "ring the fucking bell" to the time keeper and he did as Michaels' music played.
Michaels was the new WWF Champion and Bret was screwed over and he knew it. Bret got up and saw McMahon standing at ringside and Bret immediately spat at McMahon. Hebner was long gone and McMahon ordered Michaels to leave with the belt. This would be forever known as "The Montreal Screwjob."
Michaels looked angry at McMahon for pulling this off as he told Shawn to deny any involvement in this. Michaels then left with the belt along with Brisco and Triple H as the PPV went off air with the last shot showing Michaels holding the belt up high and the Survivor Series logo.
McMahon and most of the WWF officials made their way to the back as an angry Bret began smashing cameras, TV monitors, and other equipment. Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart all came out to calm Bret down. Bret then traced with his fingers "W-C-W" and "I love you" to the fans before he headed backstage.
As shown on Bret's 1998 documentary "Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows", Bret asked Shawn if he had any involvement in this and Shawn "Swore to God" that he had nothing to do with it. Bret then asked Shawn to not carry the belt out the next night on Raw and say anything derogatory about Hart which Shawn agreed to do.
Also on the documentary, Bret's then-wife Julie angrily confronted Triple H and others who she believed was in on it. Michaels and Triple H were angrily confronted by many wrestling fans on their way to the hotel later that night as they did with Earl Hebner.
Vince locked himself in his office with Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and Sgt. Slaugher as Mark Calaway (The Undertaker) angrily knocked on the door and demanded that Vince apologize to Bret. McMahon went to Hart's dressing room to apologize and explain his actions. Bret wanted nothing to do with Vince and threatened to punch him if he didn't get out of his dressing room.
McMahon would not leave and Bret punched him in the face, knocking McMahon to the floor. Vince's son Shane McMahon and Brisco tangled with Bret and Davey Boy Smith but Bret threatened them with punches if they didn't leave.
Bret then asked Vince if he was going to screw him out of the money he is owed which Vince groggily replied no. Brisco accidentally stepped on Vince's ankle when Vince was trying to get and sprained Vince's ankle. Vince also suffered a concussion when he fell and also got a black eye from Bret's punch.
Bret, Owen, Davey Boy, and Jim Neidhart left Montreal on a plane and many of the WWF Superstars threatened to boycott and no-show the following night's episode of Raw in Ottawa or leaving the WWF altogether. McMahon held an emergency meeting with his wrestlers and explained why he did what he did was to protect the integrity of the WWF since Bret was jeopardizing the company's future by not dropping the belt.
Bret advised his fellow wrestlers to fulfill their contractual obligations to avoid risking their own futures over this incident. Bret's really good friend Mick Foley did not show the next night on Raw, but Bret told him to return to the WWF so he didn't ruin his professional future.
Bret, Owen, Davey Boy, and Neidhart all did not show up the following night on Raw. Bret left the company immediately after Survivor Series. Davey Boy got his release from the WWF and joined Bret in WCW. Neidhart still was in the WWF until December when he too got to leave the WWF for WCW. Owen was not as lucky as he could not get his release and was held in the WWF seemingly against his will.
One of Bret's best friends Rick Rude left the WWF shortly after Survivor Series since he was not under contract full-time and was only on a pay-per-appearance basis. Rude called Eric Bischoff to tell him what happened backstage and that Bret has left the company for good.
The next night on the November 10, 1997 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Bischoff and the nWo were standing in the middle of the ring holding Canadian flags and Bischoff announced that he signed Bret not only to join WCW but to join the nWo. Bischoff even made a joke about how Bret punched Vince McMahon. The Nitro announcers mentioned that Bret was screwed over the night before at Survivor Series.
Rude joined WCW and appeared on both Nitro and Raw on November 17, 1997. He appeared on Nitro, which was live and Rude was simply sporting just a mustache. Then an hour later, he appeared on Raw with a full beard as Raw was taped six days before and aired that night in a truly memorable moment in pro wrestling history.
The night after Survivor Series on the November 10 episode of Raw, Shawn Michaels came out with the WWF Championship and mocked Bret by saying he beat Bret Hart in Bret's home country with Bret's own finishing move. Shawn clearly lied when he told Bret he wouldn't carry the belt or trash him on TV, which he did both and Bret would be furious with Shawn to the point where he wouldn't speak to Shawn for over 12 years.
Despite Bret no longer being in the WWF, the WWF would still mention him and bury him even though Bret had Vince McMahon promise Bret that he would do no such thing. Vince did a two-part series of interviews on Raw after Survivor Series where he famously said "Bret Screwed Bret" referring to the Montreal Screwjob. This was the birth of the villainous "Mr. McMahon" character.
On the November 24 episode of Raw, Harvey Wippleman, known as "Handsome Harvey" portraying Rick Rude, introduced DX. Shawn Michaels shoved Harvey out of the ring and said "that was a tough spot to fill." Michaels then said since Bret was still under contract, they had some unfinished business to fulfill and decided that they would settle things in a match later that night on Raw.
Michaels brought out "Bret Hart" as Bret's music played yet it was a dwarf dressed like Bret that came out. DX embarrassed the dwarf Bret by locking him in the Sharpshooter and sent him out of the ring with a WCW sticker attached to his butt. Jim Neidhart came out to attack DX but DX talked him into joining them saying he was the best member of The Hart Foundation and needed to work for his family.
Neidhart had no other choice but to join DX and helped Shawn defeat Vader later that night. As Neidhart celebrated with DX, Chyna gave him a low blow and Shawn and Triple H attacked him. They spray-painted "WCW" on The Anvil's back to further embarrass Hart as Neidhart left the WWF to join his brother-in-law in WCW.
Bret finally made his WCW debut on the December 15, 1997 episode of Nitro to announce that he was the special guest referee for the Eric Bischoff-Larry Zbyszko match at Starrcade. While Bischoff insinuated Bret was nWo, Bret was in fact WCW as he helped Zbyszko win the match. He later helped Sting beat Hollywood Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
The careers and lives of Bret and Shawn would both take dramatic turns. Bret did not speak to Vince McMahon for several years after the screw job. Bret and Shawn would not speak to each other for over 12 years until finally making up and burying the hatchet in January 2010.
Bret would deal with the death of his brother Owen in 1999 after an accident at a WWF PPV and also suffered a stroke in 2002, two years after being forced to retire after suffering multiple concussions. Shawn would suffer a serious back injury that ended his career in 1998. After dealing with the injury and other personal demons, Shawn found Jesus, cleaned up his life, and made his return to the ring in 2002.
For the whole detailed scoop of the Montreal Screwjob, read this piece by Dave Meltzer.
1997 was a very trying year for the WWF but it would be the stepping stone to its best year ever. 1997 paved the way for the foundation of the very successful Attitude Era and most successful year at the time 1998.
Friday, December 9, 2016
Thursday, December 8, 2016
WWF 1997 Part 1: Getting Their Butts Kicked By WCW; DX; The Start of the Attitude Era; Stone Cold Becomes Most Popular Wrestler; Undertaker Vs. Kane; Three Faces of Foley; Rocky Maivia Becomes The Rock; Brian Pillman Dies
From beginning to end of 1997, the WWF got their butts kicked by WCW ironically with the help of a lot of former WWF wrestlers and personalities such as Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash as well as the nWo and the Franchise of WCW Sting.
They lost every the ratings war to WCW Monday Nitro every Monday night in 1997 and had done so since June 10, 1996 as they were losing the "Monday Night Wars." RAW had some of its lowest ratings ever, highlighted by an awful 0.7 on March 3rd.
They were also beaten routinely by WCW in terms of PPV buyrates and WWF suffered financially. The WWF lost $6.5 million from May 1, 1996 until April 30, 1997 as they were in the worst financial crisis ever in the company's history.
Vince McMahon would ultimately respond by taking the WWF to a different direction by incorporating more realistic and edgy storylines as opposed to the childish cartoon gimmicks. Gone were the characters of clowns, garbage men, plumbers, rich aristocrats, police officers, etc. and they were replaced by what was out there in the real world: sex, violence, swearing, and drinking.
This would be known as "The Attitude Era." The storylines would go from the obvious scripted ones to much more deeper and personal levels with it looking like it was real. In fact some of the storylines came from real-life hatred of a couple of individuals that you will read about later.
Following the dreadful March 3rd Raw, McMahon promoted Vince Russo to head writer of the WWF. His influence helped create the Attitude Era and Raw ultimately would routinely beat WCW Nitro in head-to-head ratings starting in 1998 and would be untouched from 1999 until WCW's demise in 2001. But it was amazing how close WWF's demise was in 1997.
1997 started how 1996 ended with the focus on Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Shawn Michaels, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Bret and Shawn were the ones on top with Austin quickly rising to the top and eventually taking their places at the top.
Hart and Austin were involved in a thrilling feud that started the previous year. Hart was still the babyface and Austin was the top heel in the company. However before long, the roles would be reversed. The fans got sick of the squeaky clean hero that was Hart and adopted the foul-mouthed bad ass villain Austin as their hero as times were changing in society where the anti-hero was now the hero. The fans were also sick of Hart constantly whining about being screwed over.
Michaels lost his WWF Championship to Sycho Sid at Survivor Series and looked to win back the title from him at the Royal Rumble in January in his hometown of San Antonio, TX. Michaels won back the title for the second time and was booked to face the winner of the Royal Rumble match at WrestleMania 13 in March.
Hart and Austin were the two heavy favorites to win the Royal Rumble. Late in the match, Hart threw Austin over the top rope and eliminated him, but the referees did not see it so he wasn't technically eliminated. Austin came back into the ring and threw both The Undertaker and Vader over the top rope and then threw Hart over the top rope to win the Royal Rumble.
Hart vehemently protested this declaring he should be the winner. It was announced that at In Your House 13: Final Four there would be a Four Way match with the final four contestants of the Royal Rumble: Hart, Austin, The Undertaker, and Vader and the winner would face Michaels for the title at WrestleMania 13.
However just before the Final Four PPV on the special February 13, 1997 edition of Raw dubbed "Thursday Raw Thursday", Michaels announced he had a legitimate and serious knee injury that would keep him from wrestling and had to vacate the WWF Title. Michaels infamously said he "lost his smile."
Bret Hart was upset at Michaels as he believed Michaels faked the injury to get out of wrestling him at WrestleMania. Hart was supposed to take on Michaels and defeat him for the title at WrestleMania as a favor for putting Michaels over the year before at WrestleMania XII in the Iron Man match. This started major bad blood between two inside and especially outside the ring.
Hart won the Final Four match to win the vacant WWF Title. He lost the belt one night later on Raw to Sycho Sid after Steve Austin hit Hart in the head with a steel chair as their rivalry continued. Hart got another opportunity to face Sid for the title in a Steel Cage match on the March 17 edition of Raw is War. Hart lost when The Undertaker interfered and cost him the match.
Afterwards, Hart shoved then-commentator Vince McMahon down as he was trying to interview Hart and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on everyone and everything wrong with the WWF. This would be the start of Hart's heel turn.
Six days later at WrestleMania 13, Hart took on Austin in a Submission match that really stole the show. Legendary UFC fighter Ken Shamrock was the special guest referee. This is considered one of the greatest matches ever as it was voted 1997 Match of the Year by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
The match went to the audience where the two fought in the crowd. Hart bloodied Austin as Austin choked Hart with a TV cable and Hart nailed him in the head with the timekeeper's bell. Hart put the bloodied Austin in the Sharpshooter. After Austin refused to submit for several minutes, Austin passed out from the loss of blood and pain and Shamrock called the match giving Hart the win.
Austin's refusal to give up and his toughness drew high praise from the audience. Hart continued to attack Austin after the match much to the fury of the audience who turned on him. Shamrock grabbed Hart and back suplexed him off of Austin and challenged Shamrock to a fight. Shamrock accepted only for Hart to back out to further cement his heel turn. Shamrock soon began a career wrestling in the WWF.
Austin refused medical attention and walked to the back all by himself as the crowd gave him a standing ovation, further cementing his status as the top babyface in the company. Austin and Hart completed the greatest double-turn in company history.
Later that night, Shawn Michaels did commentary for the WWF Championship main event between champion Sycho Sid and The Undertaker. Hart came out to rip everyone including Michaels before Sid attacked him and powerbombed him. Hart interfered and helped the Undertaker win the WWF Championship for the second time in his career and first time since 1991.
Hart further completed his heel turn the next night on the March 24 episode of Raw when he came out at the beginning of the show to cut a heel anti-American promo. Hart praised the fans all over the world except those in the United States who have turned on him and decided to worship guys like Austin and Michaels.
Hart continued to be the hero of the fans all across the world, especially Canada, but to those in the United States he told them to "kiss his ass!" Michaels came out to confront Hart and told him he will live the way he wants to only for Hart to attack his injured knee and put him in the Figure Four around the ring post. He would do the same to Rocky Maivia later.
The next week on the March 31 edition of Raw, Bret's brother Owen Hart and brother-in-law British Bulldog were in a match as they had a brief falling out and things got real heated during the match. Bret came out to try to get the two to reconcile.
Bret then emotionally tried to reconcile with his baby brother Owen after their long-standing feud. He told Owen the fans here in America made them fight and that he loves Owen, which Owen started crying. Soon, Bret, Owen, and Bulldog all reconciled and formed an alliance The New Hart Foundation to fight the heroes of the American fans.
Soon after, Bret's other brother-in-law and former Hart Foundation tag team partner Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and friend of the family Brian Pillman joined The New Hart Foundation. Their targets were Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and anyone else the American fans loved.
The Hart Foundation were heels in the U.S. but babyfaces everywhere else, especially in Canada, which was very rare and unusual at the time but totally awesome. The bad blood between Bret and Shawn Michaels escalated to real life hatred and backstage fights which would last all the way until the end of the year, but more on that in part 2.
The best example of how popular Bret and The Hart Foundation outside the U.S. was no more evident than at In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede on July 6, 1997 from Hart's hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They took on Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and The Legion of Doom in a 10-man tag team match.
All of the Hart family, especially Bret's parents Stu and Helen Hart, were sitting at ringside. The Hart Foundation were given a loud standing ovation despite being heels in the U.S. whereas the American wrestlers, babyfaces in the states, were all booed, especially Austin. Owen rolled up Austin for the win as The Hart Foundation celebrated in the middle of the ring with members of the Hart Family.
The Undertaker after winning the WWF Championship still feuded with old nemesis Mankind and his former manager Paul Bearer. Undertaker burned Bearer with a fireball to the face at the end of the In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker PPV.
Bearer returned all bandaged up the following month and wanted to be Undertaker's manager, which Undertaker wanted no part of. However, Bearer knew a horrifying secret about The Undertaker's past and threatened to reveal it to the world unless Undertaker took him back as manager.
Not wanting everyone to know his terrible secret from the past, Undertaker had no choice but to take Bearer back. However, Bearer was a dictator making The Undertaker do things and attack anyone that Undertaker did not want to do under the threat of having the secret revealed.
Eventually, The Undertaker could not take anymore and attacked Bearer and turned on him again. Bearer then told everyone the secret that he worked at The Undertaker's parent's funeral home and knew Undertaker since he was a child.
He also mentioned that Undertaker had a "little brother" named Kane. One night, Undertaker accidentally set the funeral home on fire and it "killed" his parents and his brother Kane. Bearer accused Undertaker of being an "arsonist", "murder", and "liar." Undertaker then attacked Bearer telling him he was a liar and that Kane was a pyro and set the home on fire.
Bearer then mentioned that Kane was still alive and that Bearer had been taking care of him since Kane was all "burned" and "scarred." He told Undertaker Kane was coming back to get revenge on Undertaker. Bearer later admitted that he had an "affair" with Taker's mom and that he fathered Kane and Kane was really Undertaker's "half-brother." More on Kane later.
Jim Ross conducted an awesome series of interviews with Mankind on RAW in an attempt to show everyone the real person behind the deranged lunatic Mankind. In what was unprecedented at the time in pro wrestling, they showed Mankind's life before becoming a pro wrestler and showing everyone the real person behind the mask.
Mankind was even called by his real name Mick Foley by Ross. Ross went back to his childhood and teen and early adult years. Foley mentioned how when he was in college, he hitchhiked to Madison Square Garden to see his favorite wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka perform a flying splash off the top of a steel cage onto Don Muraco. Foley was in attendance during the match.
Ross then even talked about Foley's home movies about his hippie-inspired wrestling character known as "Dude Love." Mankind then ended the series of interviews by attacking Ross with the Mandible Claw but Mankind realized what he had done and helped Ross.
The Mankind character soon became sympathetic to the fans as he became immensely popular with them. Mankind went from being a deranged lunatic that lived in boiler rooms to being a comedic and goofy and lovable character.
Mankind then wanted to be Stone Cold Steve Austin's tag team partner as Austin was one-half of the WWF Tag Team Champions while his tag team partner Shawn Michaels was "injured" and they were forced to vacate the titles. Austin kept denying him saying he did not want to be partnered with a "freak." One time, Austin looked to have accepted Mankind's offer only to give him the Stone Cold Stunner.
The next week on Raw, Austin was single-handily took on Owen Hart and The British Bulldog for the vacant titles when all of a sudden, Foley appeared on the jumbotron as the hippie known as "Dude Love" and appeared as Austin's tag team partner. He helped Austin win the vacant titles as Austin reluctantly teamed with Dude Love.
Foley had been feuding with Hunter Hearst Helmsley following losing to Helmsley in the finals of the King of the Ring Tournament when Helmsley cheated to win the tournament he was supposed to win the year before before the "Curtain Call" incident. He defeated Helmsley in a thrilling Steel Cage match at SummerSlam '97.
On the September 22, 1997 Raw, the first ever Raw from Madison Square Garden, Foley was set to take on Helmsley in a Street Fight. Foley appeared on the jumbotron as the Dude Love character saying he would not fight Helmsley but knew someone who was more capable of doing more damage to him than Dude Love as Foley appeared as Mankind and Mankind said someone even worse than him would be more suitable for this match.
Then out came Foley reprising his old hardcore icon Cactus Jack gimmick as all three Foley gimmicks were on the screen at the same time in a truly memorable segment. Cactus took on Helmsley and defeated him. Foley would go throughout the year portraying any of his three gimmicks as this would be known as the "Three Faces of Foley."
Bret Hart would take on The Undertaker for the WWF Championship in the main event at SummerSlam. Hart declared if he can't beat The Undertaker he would never wrestle in the United States ever again. It was announced that Shawn Michaels would be the special guest referee for the match which pissed Hart off big time and he even got into a scuffle with Vince McMahon.
To ensure that Michaels calls the match fairly and down the middle, Michaels could not cost Hart the match or else he would never be allowed to wrestle in the United States ever again. Towards the end of the match, Michaels noticed Hart had brought a steel chair in the ring and questioned him about it.
Hart then tried to get Michaels to hit him with the chair as he spit in Michaels' face. Michaels then swung the chair and Hart ducked as Michaels nailed Undertaker with the chair. Hart pinned him in and Michaels had no other choice but to count the pin as Hart won the WWF Championship. Michaels soon became the most hated wrestler in the WWF even more than Bret.
Michaels started a feud with The Undertaker. Michaels needed some protection so he enlisted the help from his real-life best friend and fellow Kliq member Hunter Hearst Helmsley, now known as Triple H, along with Triple H's bodyguard and then-girlfriend Chyna (Joanie Laurer) and the returning Rick Rude as they formed the group "D-Generation X" or DX for short.
Chyna was this muscular, body-building woman that Michaels and Helmsley met and convinced her to join the WWF. Chyna joined the WWF in February 1997 when she made her debut giving Goldust's wife Marlena a vicious bearhug and shook her violently. Chyna was Helmsley's bodyguard and helped him win many matches with her interference.
DX was the WWF's answer to WCW's nWo that featured Kliq members Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltmann. DX, mostly Michaels and Triple H, soon became known for playing nasty jokes on face wrestlers and various WWF announcers and personnel. DX showed absolutely no respect to anyone in the company, especially WWF owner Vince McMahon and WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter.
They would also push the envelope on TV by saying rude, crude, and sexual things and acting out in a sophomoric manner to show that the WWF had moved into the "Attitude Era." DX did their signature taunt and told people to "Suck It!" and then pointed to their crotch called a "crotch chop." They pointed with their arms forming an "X" while pointing at their crotch.
DX feuded with The Undertaker and the New Hart Foundation, mostly between Michaels and Bret Hart. DX picked on announcer Michael Cole by giving him a wedgie and then shaking his hand while Triple H pushed Cole down while Chyna was behind him and pushed him over Chyna. They mocked McMahon by showing footage of "The Curtain Call" MSG Incident on RAW.
The man they picked on most was Sgt. Slaughter, calling him "Sgt. Slobber" mocking him for spitting when he talked. On one episode of Raw, they took out face shields and attached miniature windshield wipers to mock Slaughter spitting when he talked.
DX soon had their own entrance theme and titantron. They even had their own PPV named after them called D-Generation X: In Your House on December 7, 1997. Slaughter continued to have his problems with DX, losing to Triple H in a "Boot Camp Match" at D-Generation X In Your House thanks to interference from Chyna.
Slaughter thought he would one up DX by forcing Shawn Michaels to defend his WWF European Championship (a championship which the WWF created in 1997 as Shawn Michaels became the first-ever WWF Grand Slam Champion) against Triple H on the December 22 episode of Raw.
However, DX had the last laugh on Slaughter as Michaels laid down in the ring so that Triple H simply pinned him to win the title. Afterwards, DX had a mock interview where Michaels was "upset" over losing the title to Triple H and that Triple H was crying that he was so happy he won the title.
DX did some other memorable skits such as Michaels trying to moon the camera only for DX to hold up "DX" signs covering his ass, playing strip poker in the middle of the ring, doing a cook out of hot dogs in a skit called "Suck the cook", and the ever hilarious "State of the Union Address" skit where they were saying words that they couldn't say on TV and every word was bleeped out.
Michaels was scheduled to take on The Undertaker in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, 1997 from the Kiel Center in St. Louis. The winner would get a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart at next month's Survivor Series.
However before the PPV was to take place, Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room and it was announced on the Free For All Show before the event. Pillman was scheduled to take on Dude Love at the PPV. Pillman died of a heart condition similar to the one that killed his father. He was 35 years old. The WWF honored Pillman's memory the next night on Raw.
Michaels took on The Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell match in what was a thrilling match that even got a 5-Star Rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer. This would be the last WWF/E match to receive that honor until 2011. Undertaker looked to have the bloodied Michaels beaten when all of a sudden the lights went out.
Red lights then came on as Paul Bearer came out with a giant of a man wearing a red and black bodysuit with a red and black mask as it was indeed Kane. Wrestler Glenn Jacobs, who portrayed Dr. Isaac Yankem and the fake Diesel over the previous two years wore the mask with long hair attached to to hide his identity as he portrayed the Kane character.
Kane then ripped the cage door off the hinges and entered the ring. He turned the lights on the arena back on when he did his signature summoning fire from the corners of the ring. Kane then hit The Undertaker with the Tombstone Piledriver and left the cage. Michaels pinned Undertaker to win the match.
Kane challenged his half-brother, albeit non-verbally since Kane did not speak at that point, to a match and no matter how many times he provoked The Undertaker, Undertaker would not fight his brother. Kane even defeated Bearer's former protege Mankind in his debut match at Survivor Series.
Stone Cold Steve Austin became perhaps the most popular wrestler maybe ever in the history of the WWF/E starting in 1997 feuding with Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation. Austin soon turned his attention to Bret's baby brother Owen Hart and his Intercontinental Championship.
He faced Owen for the title at SummerSlam with the stipulation if he could not beat Owen, he would kiss Owen's ass in the ring. Austin was supposed to win the match and the title when the match nearly turned tragic. Owen reversed a Tombstone Piledriver attempt by Austin and proceeded to piledrive Austin.
However, Owen totally botched the move as too much of Austin's head and neck was exposed and his head and neck went violently crashing onto the canvas. Austin was out and seriously hurt as he did not move for over a minute. Owen and the referee stood around not knowing what to do when Austin suddenly regained movement and rolled Owen for the 1-2-3 to win the title.
Austin suffered a broken neck and this caused him to have numerous neck problems that would ultimately cause him to retire from the ring in 2003. The WWF did not clear Austin to wrestle due to the neck injury and forced him to forfeit the Intercontinental and Tag Team Titles. Austin would give WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter the Stone Cold Stunner and would do so to announcer Jim Ross.
Owen would mock Austin and would take credit for injuring Austin by wearing a t-shirt that read: "Owen 3:16 Says I Just Broke Your Neck." This caused Austin to go after Owen even though he could not wrestle.
On the historic edition of Raw, the first ever from Madison Square Garden, on September 22, Austin attacked Owen after a match when police ran into the ring to arrest Austin as Austin was trying to fight them. This caused Vince McMahon to jump out of his announce seat to jump into the ring to talk some sense into Austin.
McMahon told Austin that the WWF cared about him and did not want him to suffer serious injuries that could end his career or worse his life. Austin told McMahon he appreciated that McMahon and the WWF cared so much.
Austin then gave the owner of the WWF McMahon the Stone Cold Stunner as McMahon just flopped around like a dead fish in the ring. The Police then arrested and took Austin out of the ring. This would be the beginning of the legendary Austin-McMahon feud.
Austin wanted to get back into the ring and back at Owen as eventually, Austin was forced to sign a waiver to prevent Austin from suing the WWF in case he got injured, which Austin did. Austin helped Owen defeat Farooq in the finals of the Intercontinental Championship at Badd Blood so that Austin could defeat Owen for the title at Survivor Series.
Austin defeated Owen to win back the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series. Austin's next challenger would be a foe that would be a thorn in the side of Austin for the next several years in what would be one of the top feuds in WWF/E history; Rocky Maivia better now known as "The Rock."
Rock joined the WWF late in 1996 as the squeaky clean third-generation Rocky Maivia as he received a push immediately upon entry in the WWF as fans did not like the talented yet boring babyface Maivia. They also did not like that he was being pushed so early on.
Despite supposed to be a good guy, the fans hated him as they chanted "Rocky Sucks!" and "Die Rocky Die!" He won the Intercontinental Championship from Triple H in Feb. 1997 and lost it to Owen Hart two months later. Maivia would soon suffer a knee injury and would be on the shelf for several months.
Maivia returned on the August 11 episode of Raw when he helped Farooq win his match when he gave Farooq's opponent his finisher The Rock Bottom. Rocky turned heel and joined Farooq's Nation of Domination stable, replacing Ahmed Johnson, that consisted primarily of African American wrestlers (Farooq, Kama Mustafa, and D'Lo Brown).
The next week on Raw, Rocky cut a killer promo where he badmouthed the fans for being against him when he was a babyface. Rocky showed his killer microphone skills that made him one of the top wrestlers in WWF/E history. Rocky Maivia was no longer boring anymore. He became known simply as The Rock.
The Rock would further show off his mic skills by insulting and ripping on fellow face wrestlers, fans, and announcers in very comedic fashion that soon made him one of the most popular superstars ever. The Rock transformed from this goody two shoes character to this narcissistic, arrogant, bully of a character that the fans grew to love.
The Rock soon targeted Stone Cold Steve Austin and his Intercontinental Championship as The Rock and the Nation of Domination attacked Austin and Rock stole his Intercontinental Title. The Rock began calling himself "The Best Damn Intercontinental Champion of All Time."
One time, The Rock received a message on his pager that simply read "3:16!" The Rock saw this and was frightened and when he turned around, Austin was in the ring and beat up The Rock. Despite the Nation of Domination helping The Rock, Austin defeated The Rock to retain the title and get it back from The Rock at D-Generation X: In Your House.
The next night on Raw, Vince McMahon made Austin defend the title against The Rock in a rematch since Austin used his "Austin 3:16" pickup truck to attack The Nation of Domination. Austin refused and McMahon made Austin forfeit the title to The Rock.
Austin gladly forfeited the title as he gave The Rock the Stone Cold Stunner and knocked McMahon off the ring apron. Austin then took the title belt with him and then proceeded to throw the Intercontinental Championship off a bridge and into the river.
Before the WWF could move forward with beating WCW, there was one last hurdle to climb and it would not be easy. You will see that here in Part 2: The Montreal Screwjob.
They lost every the ratings war to WCW Monday Nitro every Monday night in 1997 and had done so since June 10, 1996 as they were losing the "Monday Night Wars." RAW had some of its lowest ratings ever, highlighted by an awful 0.7 on March 3rd.
They were also beaten routinely by WCW in terms of PPV buyrates and WWF suffered financially. The WWF lost $6.5 million from May 1, 1996 until April 30, 1997 as they were in the worst financial crisis ever in the company's history.
Vince McMahon would ultimately respond by taking the WWF to a different direction by incorporating more realistic and edgy storylines as opposed to the childish cartoon gimmicks. Gone were the characters of clowns, garbage men, plumbers, rich aristocrats, police officers, etc. and they were replaced by what was out there in the real world: sex, violence, swearing, and drinking.
This would be known as "The Attitude Era." The storylines would go from the obvious scripted ones to much more deeper and personal levels with it looking like it was real. In fact some of the storylines came from real-life hatred of a couple of individuals that you will read about later.
Following the dreadful March 3rd Raw, McMahon promoted Vince Russo to head writer of the WWF. His influence helped create the Attitude Era and Raw ultimately would routinely beat WCW Nitro in head-to-head ratings starting in 1998 and would be untouched from 1999 until WCW's demise in 2001. But it was amazing how close WWF's demise was in 1997.
1997 started how 1996 ended with the focus on Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Shawn Michaels, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Bret and Shawn were the ones on top with Austin quickly rising to the top and eventually taking their places at the top.
Hart and Austin were involved in a thrilling feud that started the previous year. Hart was still the babyface and Austin was the top heel in the company. However before long, the roles would be reversed. The fans got sick of the squeaky clean hero that was Hart and adopted the foul-mouthed bad ass villain Austin as their hero as times were changing in society where the anti-hero was now the hero. The fans were also sick of Hart constantly whining about being screwed over.
Michaels lost his WWF Championship to Sycho Sid at Survivor Series and looked to win back the title from him at the Royal Rumble in January in his hometown of San Antonio, TX. Michaels won back the title for the second time and was booked to face the winner of the Royal Rumble match at WrestleMania 13 in March.
Hart and Austin were the two heavy favorites to win the Royal Rumble. Late in the match, Hart threw Austin over the top rope and eliminated him, but the referees did not see it so he wasn't technically eliminated. Austin came back into the ring and threw both The Undertaker and Vader over the top rope and then threw Hart over the top rope to win the Royal Rumble.
Hart vehemently protested this declaring he should be the winner. It was announced that at In Your House 13: Final Four there would be a Four Way match with the final four contestants of the Royal Rumble: Hart, Austin, The Undertaker, and Vader and the winner would face Michaels for the title at WrestleMania 13.
However just before the Final Four PPV on the special February 13, 1997 edition of Raw dubbed "Thursday Raw Thursday", Michaels announced he had a legitimate and serious knee injury that would keep him from wrestling and had to vacate the WWF Title. Michaels infamously said he "lost his smile."
Bret Hart was upset at Michaels as he believed Michaels faked the injury to get out of wrestling him at WrestleMania. Hart was supposed to take on Michaels and defeat him for the title at WrestleMania as a favor for putting Michaels over the year before at WrestleMania XII in the Iron Man match. This started major bad blood between two inside and especially outside the ring.
Hart won the Final Four match to win the vacant WWF Title. He lost the belt one night later on Raw to Sycho Sid after Steve Austin hit Hart in the head with a steel chair as their rivalry continued. Hart got another opportunity to face Sid for the title in a Steel Cage match on the March 17 edition of Raw is War. Hart lost when The Undertaker interfered and cost him the match.
Afterwards, Hart shoved then-commentator Vince McMahon down as he was trying to interview Hart and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on everyone and everything wrong with the WWF. This would be the start of Hart's heel turn.
Six days later at WrestleMania 13, Hart took on Austin in a Submission match that really stole the show. Legendary UFC fighter Ken Shamrock was the special guest referee. This is considered one of the greatest matches ever as it was voted 1997 Match of the Year by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
The match went to the audience where the two fought in the crowd. Hart bloodied Austin as Austin choked Hart with a TV cable and Hart nailed him in the head with the timekeeper's bell. Hart put the bloodied Austin in the Sharpshooter. After Austin refused to submit for several minutes, Austin passed out from the loss of blood and pain and Shamrock called the match giving Hart the win.
Austin's refusal to give up and his toughness drew high praise from the audience. Hart continued to attack Austin after the match much to the fury of the audience who turned on him. Shamrock grabbed Hart and back suplexed him off of Austin and challenged Shamrock to a fight. Shamrock accepted only for Hart to back out to further cement his heel turn. Shamrock soon began a career wrestling in the WWF.
Austin refused medical attention and walked to the back all by himself as the crowd gave him a standing ovation, further cementing his status as the top babyface in the company. Austin and Hart completed the greatest double-turn in company history.
Later that night, Shawn Michaels did commentary for the WWF Championship main event between champion Sycho Sid and The Undertaker. Hart came out to rip everyone including Michaels before Sid attacked him and powerbombed him. Hart interfered and helped the Undertaker win the WWF Championship for the second time in his career and first time since 1991.
Hart further completed his heel turn the next night on the March 24 episode of Raw when he came out at the beginning of the show to cut a heel anti-American promo. Hart praised the fans all over the world except those in the United States who have turned on him and decided to worship guys like Austin and Michaels.
Hart continued to be the hero of the fans all across the world, especially Canada, but to those in the United States he told them to "kiss his ass!" Michaels came out to confront Hart and told him he will live the way he wants to only for Hart to attack his injured knee and put him in the Figure Four around the ring post. He would do the same to Rocky Maivia later.
The next week on the March 31 edition of Raw, Bret's brother Owen Hart and brother-in-law British Bulldog were in a match as they had a brief falling out and things got real heated during the match. Bret came out to try to get the two to reconcile.
Bret then emotionally tried to reconcile with his baby brother Owen after their long-standing feud. He told Owen the fans here in America made them fight and that he loves Owen, which Owen started crying. Soon, Bret, Owen, and Bulldog all reconciled and formed an alliance The New Hart Foundation to fight the heroes of the American fans.
Soon after, Bret's other brother-in-law and former Hart Foundation tag team partner Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and friend of the family Brian Pillman joined The New Hart Foundation. Their targets were Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and anyone else the American fans loved.
The Hart Foundation were heels in the U.S. but babyfaces everywhere else, especially in Canada, which was very rare and unusual at the time but totally awesome. The bad blood between Bret and Shawn Michaels escalated to real life hatred and backstage fights which would last all the way until the end of the year, but more on that in part 2.
The best example of how popular Bret and The Hart Foundation outside the U.S. was no more evident than at In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede on July 6, 1997 from Hart's hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They took on Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and The Legion of Doom in a 10-man tag team match.
All of the Hart family, especially Bret's parents Stu and Helen Hart, were sitting at ringside. The Hart Foundation were given a loud standing ovation despite being heels in the U.S. whereas the American wrestlers, babyfaces in the states, were all booed, especially Austin. Owen rolled up Austin for the win as The Hart Foundation celebrated in the middle of the ring with members of the Hart Family.
The Undertaker after winning the WWF Championship still feuded with old nemesis Mankind and his former manager Paul Bearer. Undertaker burned Bearer with a fireball to the face at the end of the In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker PPV.
Bearer returned all bandaged up the following month and wanted to be Undertaker's manager, which Undertaker wanted no part of. However, Bearer knew a horrifying secret about The Undertaker's past and threatened to reveal it to the world unless Undertaker took him back as manager.
Not wanting everyone to know his terrible secret from the past, Undertaker had no choice but to take Bearer back. However, Bearer was a dictator making The Undertaker do things and attack anyone that Undertaker did not want to do under the threat of having the secret revealed.
Eventually, The Undertaker could not take anymore and attacked Bearer and turned on him again. Bearer then told everyone the secret that he worked at The Undertaker's parent's funeral home and knew Undertaker since he was a child.
He also mentioned that Undertaker had a "little brother" named Kane. One night, Undertaker accidentally set the funeral home on fire and it "killed" his parents and his brother Kane. Bearer accused Undertaker of being an "arsonist", "murder", and "liar." Undertaker then attacked Bearer telling him he was a liar and that Kane was a pyro and set the home on fire.
Bearer then mentioned that Kane was still alive and that Bearer had been taking care of him since Kane was all "burned" and "scarred." He told Undertaker Kane was coming back to get revenge on Undertaker. Bearer later admitted that he had an "affair" with Taker's mom and that he fathered Kane and Kane was really Undertaker's "half-brother." More on Kane later.
Jim Ross conducted an awesome series of interviews with Mankind on RAW in an attempt to show everyone the real person behind the deranged lunatic Mankind. In what was unprecedented at the time in pro wrestling, they showed Mankind's life before becoming a pro wrestler and showing everyone the real person behind the mask.
Mankind was even called by his real name Mick Foley by Ross. Ross went back to his childhood and teen and early adult years. Foley mentioned how when he was in college, he hitchhiked to Madison Square Garden to see his favorite wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka perform a flying splash off the top of a steel cage onto Don Muraco. Foley was in attendance during the match.
Ross then even talked about Foley's home movies about his hippie-inspired wrestling character known as "Dude Love." Mankind then ended the series of interviews by attacking Ross with the Mandible Claw but Mankind realized what he had done and helped Ross.
The Mankind character soon became sympathetic to the fans as he became immensely popular with them. Mankind went from being a deranged lunatic that lived in boiler rooms to being a comedic and goofy and lovable character.
Mankind then wanted to be Stone Cold Steve Austin's tag team partner as Austin was one-half of the WWF Tag Team Champions while his tag team partner Shawn Michaels was "injured" and they were forced to vacate the titles. Austin kept denying him saying he did not want to be partnered with a "freak." One time, Austin looked to have accepted Mankind's offer only to give him the Stone Cold Stunner.
The next week on Raw, Austin was single-handily took on Owen Hart and The British Bulldog for the vacant titles when all of a sudden, Foley appeared on the jumbotron as the hippie known as "Dude Love" and appeared as Austin's tag team partner. He helped Austin win the vacant titles as Austin reluctantly teamed with Dude Love.
Foley had been feuding with Hunter Hearst Helmsley following losing to Helmsley in the finals of the King of the Ring Tournament when Helmsley cheated to win the tournament he was supposed to win the year before before the "Curtain Call" incident. He defeated Helmsley in a thrilling Steel Cage match at SummerSlam '97.
On the September 22, 1997 Raw, the first ever Raw from Madison Square Garden, Foley was set to take on Helmsley in a Street Fight. Foley appeared on the jumbotron as the Dude Love character saying he would not fight Helmsley but knew someone who was more capable of doing more damage to him than Dude Love as Foley appeared as Mankind and Mankind said someone even worse than him would be more suitable for this match.
Then out came Foley reprising his old hardcore icon Cactus Jack gimmick as all three Foley gimmicks were on the screen at the same time in a truly memorable segment. Cactus took on Helmsley and defeated him. Foley would go throughout the year portraying any of his three gimmicks as this would be known as the "Three Faces of Foley."
Bret Hart would take on The Undertaker for the WWF Championship in the main event at SummerSlam. Hart declared if he can't beat The Undertaker he would never wrestle in the United States ever again. It was announced that Shawn Michaels would be the special guest referee for the match which pissed Hart off big time and he even got into a scuffle with Vince McMahon.
To ensure that Michaels calls the match fairly and down the middle, Michaels could not cost Hart the match or else he would never be allowed to wrestle in the United States ever again. Towards the end of the match, Michaels noticed Hart had brought a steel chair in the ring and questioned him about it.
Hart then tried to get Michaels to hit him with the chair as he spit in Michaels' face. Michaels then swung the chair and Hart ducked as Michaels nailed Undertaker with the chair. Hart pinned him in and Michaels had no other choice but to count the pin as Hart won the WWF Championship. Michaels soon became the most hated wrestler in the WWF even more than Bret.
Michaels started a feud with The Undertaker. Michaels needed some protection so he enlisted the help from his real-life best friend and fellow Kliq member Hunter Hearst Helmsley, now known as Triple H, along with Triple H's bodyguard and then-girlfriend Chyna (Joanie Laurer) and the returning Rick Rude as they formed the group "D-Generation X" or DX for short.
Chyna was this muscular, body-building woman that Michaels and Helmsley met and convinced her to join the WWF. Chyna joined the WWF in February 1997 when she made her debut giving Goldust's wife Marlena a vicious bearhug and shook her violently. Chyna was Helmsley's bodyguard and helped him win many matches with her interference.
DX was the WWF's answer to WCW's nWo that featured Kliq members Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltmann. DX, mostly Michaels and Triple H, soon became known for playing nasty jokes on face wrestlers and various WWF announcers and personnel. DX showed absolutely no respect to anyone in the company, especially WWF owner Vince McMahon and WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter.
They would also push the envelope on TV by saying rude, crude, and sexual things and acting out in a sophomoric manner to show that the WWF had moved into the "Attitude Era." DX did their signature taunt and told people to "Suck It!" and then pointed to their crotch called a "crotch chop." They pointed with their arms forming an "X" while pointing at their crotch.
DX feuded with The Undertaker and the New Hart Foundation, mostly between Michaels and Bret Hart. DX picked on announcer Michael Cole by giving him a wedgie and then shaking his hand while Triple H pushed Cole down while Chyna was behind him and pushed him over Chyna. They mocked McMahon by showing footage of "The Curtain Call" MSG Incident on RAW.
The man they picked on most was Sgt. Slaughter, calling him "Sgt. Slobber" mocking him for spitting when he talked. On one episode of Raw, they took out face shields and attached miniature windshield wipers to mock Slaughter spitting when he talked.
DX soon had their own entrance theme and titantron. They even had their own PPV named after them called D-Generation X: In Your House on December 7, 1997. Slaughter continued to have his problems with DX, losing to Triple H in a "Boot Camp Match" at D-Generation X In Your House thanks to interference from Chyna.
Slaughter thought he would one up DX by forcing Shawn Michaels to defend his WWF European Championship (a championship which the WWF created in 1997 as Shawn Michaels became the first-ever WWF Grand Slam Champion) against Triple H on the December 22 episode of Raw.
However, DX had the last laugh on Slaughter as Michaels laid down in the ring so that Triple H simply pinned him to win the title. Afterwards, DX had a mock interview where Michaels was "upset" over losing the title to Triple H and that Triple H was crying that he was so happy he won the title.
DX did some other memorable skits such as Michaels trying to moon the camera only for DX to hold up "DX" signs covering his ass, playing strip poker in the middle of the ring, doing a cook out of hot dogs in a skit called "Suck the cook", and the ever hilarious "State of the Union Address" skit where they were saying words that they couldn't say on TV and every word was bleeped out.
Michaels was scheduled to take on The Undertaker in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, 1997 from the Kiel Center in St. Louis. The winner would get a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart at next month's Survivor Series.
However before the PPV was to take place, Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room and it was announced on the Free For All Show before the event. Pillman was scheduled to take on Dude Love at the PPV. Pillman died of a heart condition similar to the one that killed his father. He was 35 years old. The WWF honored Pillman's memory the next night on Raw.
Michaels took on The Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell match in what was a thrilling match that even got a 5-Star Rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer. This would be the last WWF/E match to receive that honor until 2011. Undertaker looked to have the bloodied Michaels beaten when all of a sudden the lights went out.
Red lights then came on as Paul Bearer came out with a giant of a man wearing a red and black bodysuit with a red and black mask as it was indeed Kane. Wrestler Glenn Jacobs, who portrayed Dr. Isaac Yankem and the fake Diesel over the previous two years wore the mask with long hair attached to to hide his identity as he portrayed the Kane character.
Kane then ripped the cage door off the hinges and entered the ring. He turned the lights on the arena back on when he did his signature summoning fire from the corners of the ring. Kane then hit The Undertaker with the Tombstone Piledriver and left the cage. Michaels pinned Undertaker to win the match.
Kane challenged his half-brother, albeit non-verbally since Kane did not speak at that point, to a match and no matter how many times he provoked The Undertaker, Undertaker would not fight his brother. Kane even defeated Bearer's former protege Mankind in his debut match at Survivor Series.
Stone Cold Steve Austin became perhaps the most popular wrestler maybe ever in the history of the WWF/E starting in 1997 feuding with Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation. Austin soon turned his attention to Bret's baby brother Owen Hart and his Intercontinental Championship.
He faced Owen for the title at SummerSlam with the stipulation if he could not beat Owen, he would kiss Owen's ass in the ring. Austin was supposed to win the match and the title when the match nearly turned tragic. Owen reversed a Tombstone Piledriver attempt by Austin and proceeded to piledrive Austin.
However, Owen totally botched the move as too much of Austin's head and neck was exposed and his head and neck went violently crashing onto the canvas. Austin was out and seriously hurt as he did not move for over a minute. Owen and the referee stood around not knowing what to do when Austin suddenly regained movement and rolled Owen for the 1-2-3 to win the title.
Austin suffered a broken neck and this caused him to have numerous neck problems that would ultimately cause him to retire from the ring in 2003. The WWF did not clear Austin to wrestle due to the neck injury and forced him to forfeit the Intercontinental and Tag Team Titles. Austin would give WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter the Stone Cold Stunner and would do so to announcer Jim Ross.
Owen would mock Austin and would take credit for injuring Austin by wearing a t-shirt that read: "Owen 3:16 Says I Just Broke Your Neck." This caused Austin to go after Owen even though he could not wrestle.
On the historic edition of Raw, the first ever from Madison Square Garden, on September 22, Austin attacked Owen after a match when police ran into the ring to arrest Austin as Austin was trying to fight them. This caused Vince McMahon to jump out of his announce seat to jump into the ring to talk some sense into Austin.
McMahon told Austin that the WWF cared about him and did not want him to suffer serious injuries that could end his career or worse his life. Austin told McMahon he appreciated that McMahon and the WWF cared so much.
Austin then gave the owner of the WWF McMahon the Stone Cold Stunner as McMahon just flopped around like a dead fish in the ring. The Police then arrested and took Austin out of the ring. This would be the beginning of the legendary Austin-McMahon feud.
Austin wanted to get back into the ring and back at Owen as eventually, Austin was forced to sign a waiver to prevent Austin from suing the WWF in case he got injured, which Austin did. Austin helped Owen defeat Farooq in the finals of the Intercontinental Championship at Badd Blood so that Austin could defeat Owen for the title at Survivor Series.
Austin defeated Owen to win back the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series. Austin's next challenger would be a foe that would be a thorn in the side of Austin for the next several years in what would be one of the top feuds in WWF/E history; Rocky Maivia better now known as "The Rock."
Rock joined the WWF late in 1996 as the squeaky clean third-generation Rocky Maivia as he received a push immediately upon entry in the WWF as fans did not like the talented yet boring babyface Maivia. They also did not like that he was being pushed so early on.
Despite supposed to be a good guy, the fans hated him as they chanted "Rocky Sucks!" and "Die Rocky Die!" He won the Intercontinental Championship from Triple H in Feb. 1997 and lost it to Owen Hart two months later. Maivia would soon suffer a knee injury and would be on the shelf for several months.
Maivia returned on the August 11 episode of Raw when he helped Farooq win his match when he gave Farooq's opponent his finisher The Rock Bottom. Rocky turned heel and joined Farooq's Nation of Domination stable, replacing Ahmed Johnson, that consisted primarily of African American wrestlers (Farooq, Kama Mustafa, and D'Lo Brown).
The next week on Raw, Rocky cut a killer promo where he badmouthed the fans for being against him when he was a babyface. Rocky showed his killer microphone skills that made him one of the top wrestlers in WWF/E history. Rocky Maivia was no longer boring anymore. He became known simply as The Rock.
The Rock would further show off his mic skills by insulting and ripping on fellow face wrestlers, fans, and announcers in very comedic fashion that soon made him one of the most popular superstars ever. The Rock transformed from this goody two shoes character to this narcissistic, arrogant, bully of a character that the fans grew to love.
The Rock soon targeted Stone Cold Steve Austin and his Intercontinental Championship as The Rock and the Nation of Domination attacked Austin and Rock stole his Intercontinental Title. The Rock began calling himself "The Best Damn Intercontinental Champion of All Time."
One time, The Rock received a message on his pager that simply read "3:16!" The Rock saw this and was frightened and when he turned around, Austin was in the ring and beat up The Rock. Despite the Nation of Domination helping The Rock, Austin defeated The Rock to retain the title and get it back from The Rock at D-Generation X: In Your House.
The next night on Raw, Vince McMahon made Austin defend the title against The Rock in a rematch since Austin used his "Austin 3:16" pickup truck to attack The Nation of Domination. Austin refused and McMahon made Austin forfeit the title to The Rock.
Austin gladly forfeited the title as he gave The Rock the Stone Cold Stunner and knocked McMahon off the ring apron. Austin then took the title belt with him and then proceeded to throw the Intercontinental Championship off a bridge and into the river.
Before the WWF could move forward with beating WCW, there was one last hurdle to climb and it would not be easy. You will see that here in Part 2: The Montreal Screwjob.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
WCW 1997 Part 2: The Man Called Sting; Starrcade '97's Screwy Finish; Bret Hart's WCW Debut
Continued from Part 1
The nWo continued strong and looked to be unbeatable minus a five-day reign by Lex Luger as World Champion for some reason which could have made Hollywood Hogan and the nWo even stronger. Hogan and the nWo had run WCW for 18 months since their creation in June 1996.
There was, however, one man and one man only that could stop the reign of terror by the nWo. That was "The Man Called Sting." It should be no surprise that the man who bled WCW would be the one to stop the nWo from totally taking over WCW but it was not easy.
At the end of 1996, Sting was sick of everyone doubting him for the nWo tricking WCW into thinking he joined the nWo as he cast this loner Crow gimmick where he did not speak or wrestle for over an entire year. For many months, Sting would not help WCW from nWo attacks and even attacked several WCW stars who doubted him.
Many wondered if Sting was done with WCW and was a member of the nWo. Sting then showed he was WCW through and through at Uncensored in March when he attacked members of the nWo after their win in the main event and started to challenge and go after Hogan for his WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Throughout the entire year of 1997, Sting would come through the crowd, rappel from the rafters, or even came from under the ring to attack various members of the nWo at numerous shows. At the end of the final ever edition of Clash of the Champions on August 21, Sting was standing in the rafters with a giant crow which flew to the ring to scare the nWo. That was also the debut of his new theme song.
Sting continued to not wrestle and never said a single word in 1997. This was perhaps the best gimmick or the best marketed gimmick ever. As popular as Sting was before 1997, he was way more popular under blacks and white crow gimmick and without ever saying a word. Who else could draw this well despite never wrestling or talking?
One of the reasons why WCW was so much more popular than the WWF and why Nitro beat Raw in the ratings for nearly two years was because everyone tuned in to see if Sting would show up and what would Sting do if he showed? I for one wondered when was he going to wrestle or say a word so I kept tuning in that's for damn sure.
Throughout the summer and fall of 1997, Sting non verbally called out and challenged Hollywood Hogan for the World Title, but WCW Commissioner James J. Dillon did not understand Sting since Sting did not speak. He kept offering Sting contracts to fight other nWo members, but Sting ripped them up and only wanted one man: Hogan.
We would finally get our wish for Sting to finally get his hands on Hogan and return inside the wrestling ring as it was announced that Hogan would defend the title against Sting at Starrcade '97, live from the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. on December 28, 1997.
This was Sting's long-awaited return to the ring as he would finally end Hogan and the nWo's dominance so it was going to be huge or so we think. The match itself was dubbed "The Match of the Century!!" The buildup of this match going back to when Sting turned to the Crow and was silent for 15 months is arguably the best buildup ever for a match.
The nWo tried to gain a new member to their organization before Starrcade as Bret "The Hitman" Hart left the WWF after the 1997 Survivor Series to join WCW in December as he signed a three-year contract worth about $2.5-3 million a year.
"Ravishing" Rick Rude (albeit as a manager as he was retired as a wrestler) returned to WCW as a member of the nWo late in 1997 after a brief stint in the WWF. Rude informed Bischoff what had transpired between Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon at Survivor Series and Rude left the WWF to go with his good friend over how McMahon screwed him over in the infamous "Montreal Screwjob."
Rude created wrestling history as he is the only one to appear on WCW Monday Nitro and WWF Monday Night Raw on the exact same night on November 17, 1997. Rude appeared at the beginning of Nitro, which was live, as Rude sported only a mustache where he ripped the WWF and Michaels. An hour later on Raw is War, which was taped six days earlier and played that night, Rude appeared sporting a beard in a truly memorable moment.
Eric Bischoff was confident Bret Hart would join the nWo. Hart was named special guest referee for Bischoff's match with Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade over who would control WCW Nitro: WCW or the nWo. Also if Zbyszko won he'd get a match with Scott Hall since he was feuding with Hall. Hart could not wrestle yet in WCW due to a 60-day no-compete clause from the WWF so the referee angle was used to keep him on WCW TV.
On the Nitro before Starrcade on December 22, the nWo "invaded" and took over Nitro. The nWo ran the announcers off and setup shop. They tore down the sets and did some remodeling by replacing WCW Monday Nitro signs with nWo Monday Nitro signs and spray paint nWo in the middle of the ring as they were anticipating Bischoff winning at Starrcade and nWo taking over Nitro.
Bret Hart kind of allowed Bischoff to cheat in his match at Starrcade to perhaps show he was nWo after all while preventing Zbyszko from attacking Bischoff. Scott Hall put a steel plate in Bischoff's shoe. Bischoff kicked Zbyszko in the head knocking him out. The steel plate flew out of Bischoff's shoe.
Hart saw this as Bischoff wants him to declare him the winner, Hart punched Bischoff down. Hall ran into the ring only to be attacked by Hart as he locked Hall in the Sharpshooter. Zbyszko then choked Bischoff with his own belt. Hart then raised Zbyszko's hand in victory declaring him the winner and WCW remains in control of Nitro. This wouldn't be the last time we saw Hart that night.
Now it was finally time for the match we had all been waiting for about 18 months or even since Hulk Hogan first came to WCW. Hogan took on Sting as Sting is finally wrestling for the first time in 15 months when he began his transformation from surfer Sting to Crow Sting. I don't care if Hogan was in WCW it was still WCW's biggest star ever in Sting vs. the WWF's biggest star in Hogan.
With all the time WCW and Eric Bischoff did to hype up this match and build up Sting for well over a year by not saying a single word and not wrestling one time you would think Sting would end up winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, cleanly from Hogan. You would think that but ultimately be wrong.
Sting definitely looked like someone who had a lot of ring rust and being out of the ring for over a year. The match did not go well as Hogan dominated Sting most of the match. It was a rather quick match, less than 13 minutes, for a high-caliber PPV match maybe the biggest in company history.
Hogan gave Sting the big boot and the leg drop and pinned Sting as referee Nick Patrick counted 1-2-3. To the disappointment of many, Hogan retained the title as we all thought Sting would be the champion. Sting did not even kick out or even make any attempt to kick out. We are all so confused as to what the hell happened!!
Bret Hart, still as a WCW referee this night, came out and said Patrick counted three "too fast", which he did not. Patrick was a former nWo ref turned back to WCW as many felt they could not trust him. Hart prevented the time keeper from ringing the bell and yelled out on the microphone he wasn't going to let Sting get screwed over like Hart did at Survivor Series. He punched Patrick and ordered the match to restart.
Hart grabbed Hogan and threw him back into the ring. Sting nailed Hogan with two Stinger Splashes. Sting then locked Hogan in the Scorpion Death Lock. Hogan submitted and Hart rang the bell as Sting won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and giving WCW their biggest victory in 18 months over the nWo.
This night was to belong to Sting and of course WCW but it was not to be. Due to the controversial finish of Starrcade and the subsequent rematch between the two the next night on Nitro, Sting was forced to vacate the title but we'll discuss that in WCW 1998.
Originally Sting was supposed to win the title cleanly over Hogan, but Hogan used his creative control in his contract to change the finish to a screw job finish as Hogan did not want to drop the belt cleanly to Sting. Many were mad as this was another example of how Hogan used his creative control card to change numerous outcomes of matches and another example of backstage politics that were in WCW.
The new finish was to be where Hogan cleanly pinned Sting following the leg drop and Nick Patrick was supposed to count 1-2-3 really fast and Bret Hart claimed the count was too fast and take over the refereeing duties. Patrick, however, did not count 1-2-3 fast as no one knows if Hogan told him not to count it fast to make Sting look bad or it was Patrick's or it was simply a mistake.
Eric Bischoff said it wasn't Hogan that changed the outcome rather it was Bischoff who changed the finish as he said on Ric Flair's Podcast. Bischoff said Bischoff, Hogan, and Sting all met before Starrcade to discuss the match. They noticed Sting looked out of shape and was very unsure of everything so Bischoff and Hogan thought they couldn't put the belt on Sting yet.
Starrcade '97 was the highest-grossing best selling WCW PPV of all-time as it drew a whopping 1.90 buy rate, doubling the 0.95 of Starrcade the year before. Starrcade '97 absolutely destroyed the buy rate of the December WWF PPV In Your House: D-Generation X, which only drew a 0.44. WCW looked to put away the WWF going into 1998 but a funny thing happened and that was the WWF came back to kick their ass.
How come WCW ultimately failed while it was so far on top? While there were a lot of reasons as to why WCW ultimately failed and go out of business a few short years later despite being on top for a period, this PPV and horrible finish was the start of WCW's downfall and eventual demise. WWF would be back on top and never looked back.
Blame Hogan. Blame Bischoff. Blame Hogan and Bischoff. Blame Sting if you like. Blame all three. Whoever is at fault, they ruined what was supposed to be their biggest night ever and put the WWF away for good. Wrestlers were getting sick of the backstage politicking that had been going on and it would get worse as the years wore on.
Ted Turner looked to spend Vince McMahon into the poor house and drive the WWF out of business and leave WCW as the lone professional wrestling company in America. What McMahon lacked in capital, he made up for in intestinal fortitude where he refused to quit and was determined to beat Turner. When it looked all but dead for McMahon, many believed McMahon would bounce back better than ever and unfortunately for WCW, he did.
WCW and it's record-breaking profit year would carry over for another year as they were clearly riding the wave of momentum. Beyond 1998, however, the end for WCW was near.
The nWo continued strong and looked to be unbeatable minus a five-day reign by Lex Luger as World Champion for some reason which could have made Hollywood Hogan and the nWo even stronger. Hogan and the nWo had run WCW for 18 months since their creation in June 1996.
There was, however, one man and one man only that could stop the reign of terror by the nWo. That was "The Man Called Sting." It should be no surprise that the man who bled WCW would be the one to stop the nWo from totally taking over WCW but it was not easy.
At the end of 1996, Sting was sick of everyone doubting him for the nWo tricking WCW into thinking he joined the nWo as he cast this loner Crow gimmick where he did not speak or wrestle for over an entire year. For many months, Sting would not help WCW from nWo attacks and even attacked several WCW stars who doubted him.
Many wondered if Sting was done with WCW and was a member of the nWo. Sting then showed he was WCW through and through at Uncensored in March when he attacked members of the nWo after their win in the main event and started to challenge and go after Hogan for his WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Throughout the entire year of 1997, Sting would come through the crowd, rappel from the rafters, or even came from under the ring to attack various members of the nWo at numerous shows. At the end of the final ever edition of Clash of the Champions on August 21, Sting was standing in the rafters with a giant crow which flew to the ring to scare the nWo. That was also the debut of his new theme song.
Sting continued to not wrestle and never said a single word in 1997. This was perhaps the best gimmick or the best marketed gimmick ever. As popular as Sting was before 1997, he was way more popular under blacks and white crow gimmick and without ever saying a word. Who else could draw this well despite never wrestling or talking?
One of the reasons why WCW was so much more popular than the WWF and why Nitro beat Raw in the ratings for nearly two years was because everyone tuned in to see if Sting would show up and what would Sting do if he showed? I for one wondered when was he going to wrestle or say a word so I kept tuning in that's for damn sure.
Throughout the summer and fall of 1997, Sting non verbally called out and challenged Hollywood Hogan for the World Title, but WCW Commissioner James J. Dillon did not understand Sting since Sting did not speak. He kept offering Sting contracts to fight other nWo members, but Sting ripped them up and only wanted one man: Hogan.
We would finally get our wish for Sting to finally get his hands on Hogan and return inside the wrestling ring as it was announced that Hogan would defend the title against Sting at Starrcade '97, live from the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. on December 28, 1997.
This was Sting's long-awaited return to the ring as he would finally end Hogan and the nWo's dominance so it was going to be huge or so we think. The match itself was dubbed "The Match of the Century!!" The buildup of this match going back to when Sting turned to the Crow and was silent for 15 months is arguably the best buildup ever for a match.
The nWo tried to gain a new member to their organization before Starrcade as Bret "The Hitman" Hart left the WWF after the 1997 Survivor Series to join WCW in December as he signed a three-year contract worth about $2.5-3 million a year.
"Ravishing" Rick Rude (albeit as a manager as he was retired as a wrestler) returned to WCW as a member of the nWo late in 1997 after a brief stint in the WWF. Rude informed Bischoff what had transpired between Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon at Survivor Series and Rude left the WWF to go with his good friend over how McMahon screwed him over in the infamous "Montreal Screwjob."
Rude created wrestling history as he is the only one to appear on WCW Monday Nitro and WWF Monday Night Raw on the exact same night on November 17, 1997. Rude appeared at the beginning of Nitro, which was live, as Rude sported only a mustache where he ripped the WWF and Michaels. An hour later on Raw is War, which was taped six days earlier and played that night, Rude appeared sporting a beard in a truly memorable moment.
Eric Bischoff was confident Bret Hart would join the nWo. Hart was named special guest referee for Bischoff's match with Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade over who would control WCW Nitro: WCW or the nWo. Also if Zbyszko won he'd get a match with Scott Hall since he was feuding with Hall. Hart could not wrestle yet in WCW due to a 60-day no-compete clause from the WWF so the referee angle was used to keep him on WCW TV.
On the Nitro before Starrcade on December 22, the nWo "invaded" and took over Nitro. The nWo ran the announcers off and setup shop. They tore down the sets and did some remodeling by replacing WCW Monday Nitro signs with nWo Monday Nitro signs and spray paint nWo in the middle of the ring as they were anticipating Bischoff winning at Starrcade and nWo taking over Nitro.
Bret Hart kind of allowed Bischoff to cheat in his match at Starrcade to perhaps show he was nWo after all while preventing Zbyszko from attacking Bischoff. Scott Hall put a steel plate in Bischoff's shoe. Bischoff kicked Zbyszko in the head knocking him out. The steel plate flew out of Bischoff's shoe.
Hart saw this as Bischoff wants him to declare him the winner, Hart punched Bischoff down. Hall ran into the ring only to be attacked by Hart as he locked Hall in the Sharpshooter. Zbyszko then choked Bischoff with his own belt. Hart then raised Zbyszko's hand in victory declaring him the winner and WCW remains in control of Nitro. This wouldn't be the last time we saw Hart that night.
Now it was finally time for the match we had all been waiting for about 18 months or even since Hulk Hogan first came to WCW. Hogan took on Sting as Sting is finally wrestling for the first time in 15 months when he began his transformation from surfer Sting to Crow Sting. I don't care if Hogan was in WCW it was still WCW's biggest star ever in Sting vs. the WWF's biggest star in Hogan.
With all the time WCW and Eric Bischoff did to hype up this match and build up Sting for well over a year by not saying a single word and not wrestling one time you would think Sting would end up winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, cleanly from Hogan. You would think that but ultimately be wrong.
Sting definitely looked like someone who had a lot of ring rust and being out of the ring for over a year. The match did not go well as Hogan dominated Sting most of the match. It was a rather quick match, less than 13 minutes, for a high-caliber PPV match maybe the biggest in company history.
Hogan gave Sting the big boot and the leg drop and pinned Sting as referee Nick Patrick counted 1-2-3. To the disappointment of many, Hogan retained the title as we all thought Sting would be the champion. Sting did not even kick out or even make any attempt to kick out. We are all so confused as to what the hell happened!!
Bret Hart, still as a WCW referee this night, came out and said Patrick counted three "too fast", which he did not. Patrick was a former nWo ref turned back to WCW as many felt they could not trust him. Hart prevented the time keeper from ringing the bell and yelled out on the microphone he wasn't going to let Sting get screwed over like Hart did at Survivor Series. He punched Patrick and ordered the match to restart.
Hart grabbed Hogan and threw him back into the ring. Sting nailed Hogan with two Stinger Splashes. Sting then locked Hogan in the Scorpion Death Lock. Hogan submitted and Hart rang the bell as Sting won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and giving WCW their biggest victory in 18 months over the nWo.
This night was to belong to Sting and of course WCW but it was not to be. Due to the controversial finish of Starrcade and the subsequent rematch between the two the next night on Nitro, Sting was forced to vacate the title but we'll discuss that in WCW 1998.
Originally Sting was supposed to win the title cleanly over Hogan, but Hogan used his creative control in his contract to change the finish to a screw job finish as Hogan did not want to drop the belt cleanly to Sting. Many were mad as this was another example of how Hogan used his creative control card to change numerous outcomes of matches and another example of backstage politics that were in WCW.
The new finish was to be where Hogan cleanly pinned Sting following the leg drop and Nick Patrick was supposed to count 1-2-3 really fast and Bret Hart claimed the count was too fast and take over the refereeing duties. Patrick, however, did not count 1-2-3 fast as no one knows if Hogan told him not to count it fast to make Sting look bad or it was Patrick's or it was simply a mistake.
Eric Bischoff said it wasn't Hogan that changed the outcome rather it was Bischoff who changed the finish as he said on Ric Flair's Podcast. Bischoff said Bischoff, Hogan, and Sting all met before Starrcade to discuss the match. They noticed Sting looked out of shape and was very unsure of everything so Bischoff and Hogan thought they couldn't put the belt on Sting yet.
Starrcade '97 was the highest-grossing best selling WCW PPV of all-time as it drew a whopping 1.90 buy rate, doubling the 0.95 of Starrcade the year before. Starrcade '97 absolutely destroyed the buy rate of the December WWF PPV In Your House: D-Generation X, which only drew a 0.44. WCW looked to put away the WWF going into 1998 but a funny thing happened and that was the WWF came back to kick their ass.
How come WCW ultimately failed while it was so far on top? While there were a lot of reasons as to why WCW ultimately failed and go out of business a few short years later despite being on top for a period, this PPV and horrible finish was the start of WCW's downfall and eventual demise. WWF would be back on top and never looked back.
Blame Hogan. Blame Bischoff. Blame Hogan and Bischoff. Blame Sting if you like. Blame all three. Whoever is at fault, they ruined what was supposed to be their biggest night ever and put the WWF away for good. Wrestlers were getting sick of the backstage politicking that had been going on and it would get worse as the years wore on.
Ted Turner looked to spend Vince McMahon into the poor house and drive the WWF out of business and leave WCW as the lone professional wrestling company in America. What McMahon lacked in capital, he made up for in intestinal fortitude where he refused to quit and was determined to beat Turner. When it looked all but dead for McMahon, many believed McMahon would bounce back better than ever and unfortunately for WCW, he did.
WCW and it's record-breaking profit year would carry over for another year as they were clearly riding the wave of momentum. Beyond 1998, however, the end for WCW was near.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
WCW 1997 Part 1: Their Best Year Ever as They Continue to Own the Monday Night Wars; nWo and Hogan Continue to Dominate; The Rise of DDP; Bret Hart Joins WCW; Rick Rude on Nitro Same Night He Was on Raw; The Man Called Sting
1996 saw the birth of the nWo which helped finally put WCW on top of the WWF. Eric Bischoff claimed WCW finally turned a profit in 1995 whether that's true or not remains to be seen but they definitely turned a profit in 1996.
WWF was in really bad shape throughout 1997 and it looked as if Ted Turner was finally going to win this wrestling war. WCW was easily winning the "Monday Night Wars" ratings between Nitro and RAW as it simply was no-contest as WCW won the ratings for the entire year of 1997 and had done so since June 1996.
While the WWF had some really good ideas like former WCW wrestler Steve Austin, they still could not compete with Turner and WCW especially on a financial level. Anytime Vince McMahon looked to have a good idea and perhaps beat WCW, Turner would just spend more money that McMahon and the WWF did not have.
Turner outspent McMahon to get his WWF superstars Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash among others. By the end of the year, he got McMahon's biggest star at the time: Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
1997 started off as 1996 ended very poorly for WCW with the nWo dominating WCW, Eric Bischoff ruining WCW by leading the nWo in their crusade against WCW, Hollywood Hulk Hogan as the WCW/nWo World Heavyweight Champion, Hall and Nash as WCW World Tag Team Champions, and of course, Sting being all silent and not helping WCW.
The nWo hosted their own PPV called Souled Out on January 25, 1997 where each match was to be refereed by nWo referee Nick Patrick. The nWo's Bischoff and Ted DiBiase did play-by-play for the event. The Steiner Brothers defeated Hall and Nash to win the Tag Team Titles after Patrick was knocked out and WCW referee Randy Anderson ran and counted three for the Steiners.
However, Bischoff overturned the decision and gave the belts back to The Outsiders. Bischoff then fired Anderson. Anderson had been battling Testicular Cancer (which he would eventually pass away from in 2002) and it was even announced in a story where he asked Bischoff to give him his job back which Bischoff cruelly rejected him.
He forced Anderson to defeat Patrick in a match to get his job back. Anderson won after using a foreign object but Bischoff again overturned the decision and Anderson was again "fired." Bischoff had been very arrogant and being very abusive with his power to favor the nWo and screw over WCW.
The Outsiders would lose the tag team titles a couple of times only for Bischoff to hand the belts right back to Hall and Nash due to a "technicality." The Steiner Brothers finally defeated The Outsiders (with Syxx replacing an injured Nash) to win the Tag Team Titles on an episode of Nitro in October.
The main event at Souled Out was Hollywood Hogan defending the World Heavyweight Title against former nWo member The Giant, who was kicked out of the nWo late in 1996. The Giant looked to have Hogan beaten when Nick Patrick refused to count three. The nWo ran in and attacked The Giant. The Giant soon joined forces with Lex Luger to take down the nWo.
Hogan defeated "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at SuperBrawl when an unlikely ally helped him. "Macho Man" Randy Savage's WCW contract ran out at the end of 1996 and the only way Eric Bischoff would let him wrestle was to join the nWo. Savage helped Hogan beat Piper and helped Hogan beat Piper down and Savage was the latest to join the nWo. Savage was even reunited with ex-wife Miss Elizabeth after Elizabeth joined the nWo late in 1996.
Hogan and Team nWo (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Savage) defeated Team WCW (The Giant, Lex Luger, and The Steiner Brothers) and Team Piper (Roddy Piper, Chris Benoit, Jeff Jarrett, and Steve McMichael) in a Triangle Elimination Match at Uncensored. Hogan brought NBA Superstar Dennis Rodman to the ring with him as a "secret weapon" as he helped with some of the eliminations.
Hogan and the nWo celebrated their latest victory when Sting rappelled down to the ring from the rafters carrying a baseball bat. Many wondered where Sting's allegiance was with WCW or the nWo. Sting showed the world he was WCW all the way as he attacked Hall, Nash, and Savage with the bat and gave them each a Scorpion Death Drop.
Sting then wanted Hogan in the ring as Hogan was out of the ring with Rodman. Hogan demanded Sting drop the bat to come into the ring, which Sting did. Hogan did and Sting took him down and hit him with the Scorpion Death Drop. Great news as Sting was WCW through and through. Sting would make sporadic appearances throughout 1997 to attack various members of the nWo and saved WCW wrestlers from nWo attacks.
The nWo soon lost members as referee Nick Patrick left the nWo and returned to WCW albeit few trusted him with real good reason. Ted DiBiase also left the nWo after a change of heart and joined forces with The Steiner Brothers. There were issues with Scott Hall and his drug and alcohol problems as he would be in rehab and would not be on TV for a while.
Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx-Pac all had real life problems backstage with Ric Flair and especially Roddy Piper throughout the spring. Nash and Syxx and Flair and Piper traded insults, especially Nash and Syxx delivering a nuclear shoot on Flair and Piper and all the old timers for taking everything and not leaving anything for the young, up-and-coming wrestlers.
Anyway, Hall, Nash, and Syxx (known as The Wolfpac) took on Flair, Piper, and NFL Hall of Famer Kevin Greene in the main event at Slamboree in May in Charlotte, NC. Despite the problems, The Wolfpac decided to do the job to Flair, Piper, and Greene and let them beat them and have their moment.
Despite getting his butt whipped routinely by the nWo, Diamond Dallas Page became a star in WCW because of it. Page who toiled around being a mid-carder if even that finally became a star in WCW after starting his wrestling career a lot later than most. When the nWo first took over WCW, Page was the last person you would have thought would lead WCW.
Page did not even break into the wrestling business until he was 32 years old because he was running night clubs in Florida and got to know many in the wrestling business, but was only a manager. He finally trained to become a wrestler under Dusty Rhodes in Florida and was a rookie at the age of 35.
Page lasted only a couple of years in WCW before an injury led WCW to fire him, seemingly ending his wrestling career and dream. When Page was healthy, he went right back to work and trained down at the WCW Power Plant determined to work his way back, which he would to his credit.
Page made his way back to WCW in 1994 full-time. Page started make headways in 1995 when he introduced his wife Kimberly, who was known as The Diamond Doll as his valet to the ring. He won the WCW TV Title and the Battlebowl Battle Royal at Slamboree '96. Late in 1996, Page lost to Eddie Guerrero in the finals of the vacant United States Heavyweight Championship tournament.
Page's best friends and nWo members Scott Hall and Kevin Nash actually cost Page the match and the title against Guerrero. They did that to prove a point to Page stating he needed the nWo to watch his back and demanded he joined them. Even Page's really good friend and neighbor Eric Bischoff wanted Page to join.
Page on Nitro in the new year looked to have joined the nWo as he celebrated with Hall and Nash and even took the nWo t-shirt and put it on. However, Page gave them both Diamond Cutters and took the shirt off and ran into the crowd.
At Souled Out, the nWo gave Page one last chance to join them. Page again put the shirt on and again attacked members of the nWo with the Diamond Cutter and ran into the crowd and celebrated with them as Page became the most popular wrestler in WCW except for Sting later in the year when he feuded with the nWo.
Page's first real big feud, which lasted pretty much throughout 1997, was with new nWo member Randy Savage as this was without a doubt Page's first really big feud. Savage would attack Page on many occasions and he along with members of the nWo would constantly beat down Page. Page was the nWo's favorite "whipping boy" since Savage the year before.
At Uncensored in March, Savage publicly outed The Diamond Doll Kimberly as Page's real life wife as he and Elizabeth were shown holding an issue of Playboy where Kimberly was the centerfold. Kimberly then came from the back crying as she had "nWo" spray painted all over her.
Savage then viciously attacked Page as Kimberly threw herself on top of her husband to prevent further damage. All that happened was Savage and Liz spray painting her. Savage made this feud personal by involving Page's wife in it as the intensity of this feud was turned up.
Page met Savage in the main event at Spring Stampede. Page defeated Savage with the Diamond Cutter in what was without a doubt Page's biggest win to that point in his career. Page always credits Savage for putting him over and putting Page in main event status. Page continued to feud with Savage facing him singles matches or in tag team matches where Savage teamed with Scott Hall.
After teasing the idea of having the returning Scott Levy as his Raven ECW character being his mystery partner against Savage and Hall at Bash at the Beach in July, Page brought the debuting Curt Hennig as his mystery partner. Hennig abandoned Page by refusing to tag in and walked out on him, causing Page to lose.
Page would then feud with Hennig. Page ended his feud with Savage at Halloween Havoc where he lost in a Las Vegas Sudden Death match when Hollywood Hogan dressed as Sting and hit Page with a baseball bat. Page would then feud with Hogan the rest of the year, facing him the next night on Nitro.
Ric Flair tried to convince his good friend Hennig to join him in the Four Horsemen to battle the nWo. He asked Hennig for a decision only for Curt to say he needed more time to think about it. The time for thinking was over on the August 25, 1997 episode of Nitro as Flair invited Hennig to the ring and again asked if he would join and Hennig again said he could not give him an answer.
Flair then brought out the right person to convince him to join and that was none other than fellow original Horsemen member Arn Anderson. Arn announced his retirement from wrestling in a touching ceremony and in-ring promo where he said he could not wrestle anymore due to a serious neck injury that nearly had him paralyzed.
Arn then offered Hennig a spot in the Four Horsemen but not any other spot: HIS spot!! Hennig had no other choice but to accept as he said "it would be an honor." Hennig would team with Flair and Horsemen members Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael to take on the nWo in a WarGames match at Fall Brawl.
The nWo responded the following week on Nitro with their own insulting yet hilarious parody of the Four Horsemen promo. Syxx was dressed as Ric Flair with a blonde wig and a giant fake nose and yelling WOOOO! every 10 seconds. Konnan was Steve McMichael. Buff Bagwell came out as Curt Hennig wearing a baseball hat with a blonde ponytail coming out of the back of the hat.
Syxx and Bagwell did the Flair and Hennig back-and-forth when they called out "Arn Anderson" as Kevin Nash dressed as Anderson with a bald-skin cap, a neck brace, a pillow to make him look like he has a beer belly, and carrying a cooler of beer to the ring. Nash then goes on about giving him his spot and making tons of spot jokes as Bagwell says "it would be an honor."
The nWo "attacked" Hennig backstage and "injured" him preventing him from competing in the WarGames match. Hennig comes down for the match with his arm in a sling and he managed to fight when it was time to enter the cage. However, it was a setup as he attacks Flair and rips off his sling as he was not injured and rips off his Four Horsemen t-shirt.
He pulls out two pairs of handcuffs as the nWo handcuff both Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael to the cage as the five men viciously beat on Flair. They asked Benoit and McMichael whether they would surrender or else more damage would be done to Flair. They refused with Benoit even spitting at Nash.
The beat down continued when they dragged a badly beaten and bloodied Flair to the cage door and put his head next to the cage structure where Hennig threatened to slam the cage door on Flair's head unless the Horsemen surrendered. McMichael finally gave in and surrendered as the nWo won. Hennig slammed the door on Flair's head anyway.
Shortly after Fall Brawl, a crazed Flair "disbanded" the Horsemen so he could go after Hennig and he attacked him any chance he possibly could. Flair took on Hennig for his U.S. Title the next two PPVs at Halloween Havoc and World War 3 where Flair lost via DQ at Halloween Havoc when he kicked the title belt in Hennig's head and Hennig used the title belt on Flair to retain the title at World War 3.
Flair was again supposed to take on Hennig for the U.S. Title at Starrcade but was "injured" at the hands of Hennig and the nWo a couple weeks before Starrcade and could not compete. Diamond Dallas Page took Flair's spot and defeated Hennig to win his first United States Heavyweight Championship as Page's stock continued to rise throughout 1997.
Speaking of World War 3, the 60-man battle royal featured an unusual twist and turn at the end of the battle royal. The winner was scheduled to get a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match in the future. 60 men were supposed to be there but there was only 59 as someone no-showed at that one no-show was Kevin Nash.
At the end it was only nWo's Scott Hall and WCW's Page and The Giant. Hall then motioned out someone to come from the back. First the nWo's music hit as we assumed it would be Nash but no one showed up. Then Hollywood Hogan's Jimmy Hendrix Voodoo Child music hit and Hogan surprisingly came out and helped out Hall.
Hogan beat on Page and threw him over the top rope to eliminate him leaving just Hogan, Hall, and The Giant left. All of a sudden, "Sting" came to the ring as he seemed to have grown about a foot as he easily walked over the top rope and was about the same height as The Giant.
Hogan then threw himself out of the ring to eliminate himself as he was "scared." "Sting" then nailed The Giant with the baseball bat as Giant went over the top rope to be eliminated as Hall won the World War 3 battle royal. Sting took off his mask to reveal himself as Kevin Nash as the nWo pulled yet another fast one over WCW.
NBA legend "The Worm" Dennis Rodman showed he was nWo as he made a bunch of appearances at WCW events alongside his good buddy Hollywood Hogan. Rodman made his WCW in-ring debut at Bash at the Beach on July 13 in the main event where he teamed with Hogan in a tag team match against Lex Luger and The Giant.
Rodman did not look to bad despite being in his first-ever wrestling match. Luger made Hogan submit to the Torture Rack to win the match. Luger earned a World Title shot against Hogan at the following month's PPV Road Wild live from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally from Sturgis, South Dakota.
However, five days before Road Wild on the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Luger demanded his title shot with Hogan that night. Luger again made Hogan submit to the Torture Rack and Luger ended Hogan's 359-reign of terror as WCW World Heavyweight Champion as Luger shockingly won the title as WCW finally felt good for the first time in over a year.
However at Road Wild, Hogan won the title back from Luger when Rodman, dressed as Sting, hit Luger with the bat, allowing Hogan to pin him to win back the title. It was weird that Hogan would drop the title for five days in the middle of his dominant period and hyping up his upcoming match with Sting at Starrcade. Why didn't they let Hogan keep the title from July 1996 and not drop it until Starrcade?
Former football player of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons Bill Goldberg had been training at the WCW Power Plant to become a professional wrestler throughout 1997 after his football career came to an end. Goldberg had been spotted by Sting and Lex Luger and told him to give wrestling a try. Goldberg wrestled some dark matches and house show events (where legend has it he lost one match before going on TV).
Goldberg made his televised and official WCW debut on the September 22, 1997 episode of Nitro where he faced veteran Hugh Morris (Bill DeMott). Nobody at the time knew anything of Goldberg as many felt it would just be a quick "squash match" where Goldberg was the glorified jobber to Morris.
It was a quick squash match alright, but it was far from what we expected. It was Goldberg kicking ass when he no sells Morris' attacks and picks him up like he's going to vertical suplex him only to powerslam him with authority in the move that would be called the Jackhammer.
Goldberg pinned Morris for the 1-2-3 as Goldberg pulled off a "huge upset." Gene Okerlund tried to get a word with Goldberg but Goldberg did not say anything and just walked past him. This mysterious Goldberg would quickly start to defeat anyone that came in his way in quick 1-2 minute squash matches as the mystery continued to grow. He soon dropped Bill Goldberg and went simply by "Goldberg."
Goldberg ran afoul with another former NFL player Steve McMichael after McMichael's ex-wife Debra had Goldberg give him the Jackhammer at Halloween Havoc. She gave Goldberg her ex-husband's Super Bowl ring to him. McMichael knocked Goldberg out with a lead pipe at World War 3 and took back the ring.
Goldberg was supposed to fight McMichael at the World War 3 PPV, but could not due to an injury. Goldberg's legendary undefeated streak might have come to an end long before had he wrestled McMichael there because McMichael would have won and gotten his ring back. Goldberg defeated McMichael at Starrcade in his WCW PPV debut.
Goldberg would end the year undefeated. His winning streak kind of happened by accident as WCW let him defeat everyone in 1-2 minute squash matches to hide his wrestling flaws. All of a sudden, this became popular with the fans and it would be established that Goldberg be pushed as undefeated. Goldberg would continue the momentum WCW built after a really strong 1997 into 1998
There is still one last big story but I am saving for it for Part 2 as there is no more room for it here. Check it out.
WWF was in really bad shape throughout 1997 and it looked as if Ted Turner was finally going to win this wrestling war. WCW was easily winning the "Monday Night Wars" ratings between Nitro and RAW as it simply was no-contest as WCW won the ratings for the entire year of 1997 and had done so since June 1996.
While the WWF had some really good ideas like former WCW wrestler Steve Austin, they still could not compete with Turner and WCW especially on a financial level. Anytime Vince McMahon looked to have a good idea and perhaps beat WCW, Turner would just spend more money that McMahon and the WWF did not have.
Turner outspent McMahon to get his WWF superstars Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash among others. By the end of the year, he got McMahon's biggest star at the time: Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
1997 started off as 1996 ended very poorly for WCW with the nWo dominating WCW, Eric Bischoff ruining WCW by leading the nWo in their crusade against WCW, Hollywood Hulk Hogan as the WCW/nWo World Heavyweight Champion, Hall and Nash as WCW World Tag Team Champions, and of course, Sting being all silent and not helping WCW.
The nWo hosted their own PPV called Souled Out on January 25, 1997 where each match was to be refereed by nWo referee Nick Patrick. The nWo's Bischoff and Ted DiBiase did play-by-play for the event. The Steiner Brothers defeated Hall and Nash to win the Tag Team Titles after Patrick was knocked out and WCW referee Randy Anderson ran and counted three for the Steiners.
However, Bischoff overturned the decision and gave the belts back to The Outsiders. Bischoff then fired Anderson. Anderson had been battling Testicular Cancer (which he would eventually pass away from in 2002) and it was even announced in a story where he asked Bischoff to give him his job back which Bischoff cruelly rejected him.
He forced Anderson to defeat Patrick in a match to get his job back. Anderson won after using a foreign object but Bischoff again overturned the decision and Anderson was again "fired." Bischoff had been very arrogant and being very abusive with his power to favor the nWo and screw over WCW.
The Outsiders would lose the tag team titles a couple of times only for Bischoff to hand the belts right back to Hall and Nash due to a "technicality." The Steiner Brothers finally defeated The Outsiders (with Syxx replacing an injured Nash) to win the Tag Team Titles on an episode of Nitro in October.
The main event at Souled Out was Hollywood Hogan defending the World Heavyweight Title against former nWo member The Giant, who was kicked out of the nWo late in 1996. The Giant looked to have Hogan beaten when Nick Patrick refused to count three. The nWo ran in and attacked The Giant. The Giant soon joined forces with Lex Luger to take down the nWo.
Hogan defeated "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at SuperBrawl when an unlikely ally helped him. "Macho Man" Randy Savage's WCW contract ran out at the end of 1996 and the only way Eric Bischoff would let him wrestle was to join the nWo. Savage helped Hogan beat Piper and helped Hogan beat Piper down and Savage was the latest to join the nWo. Savage was even reunited with ex-wife Miss Elizabeth after Elizabeth joined the nWo late in 1996.
Hogan and Team nWo (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Savage) defeated Team WCW (The Giant, Lex Luger, and The Steiner Brothers) and Team Piper (Roddy Piper, Chris Benoit, Jeff Jarrett, and Steve McMichael) in a Triangle Elimination Match at Uncensored. Hogan brought NBA Superstar Dennis Rodman to the ring with him as a "secret weapon" as he helped with some of the eliminations.
Hogan and the nWo celebrated their latest victory when Sting rappelled down to the ring from the rafters carrying a baseball bat. Many wondered where Sting's allegiance was with WCW or the nWo. Sting showed the world he was WCW all the way as he attacked Hall, Nash, and Savage with the bat and gave them each a Scorpion Death Drop.
Sting then wanted Hogan in the ring as Hogan was out of the ring with Rodman. Hogan demanded Sting drop the bat to come into the ring, which Sting did. Hogan did and Sting took him down and hit him with the Scorpion Death Drop. Great news as Sting was WCW through and through. Sting would make sporadic appearances throughout 1997 to attack various members of the nWo and saved WCW wrestlers from nWo attacks.
The nWo soon lost members as referee Nick Patrick left the nWo and returned to WCW albeit few trusted him with real good reason. Ted DiBiase also left the nWo after a change of heart and joined forces with The Steiner Brothers. There were issues with Scott Hall and his drug and alcohol problems as he would be in rehab and would not be on TV for a while.
Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx-Pac all had real life problems backstage with Ric Flair and especially Roddy Piper throughout the spring. Nash and Syxx and Flair and Piper traded insults, especially Nash and Syxx delivering a nuclear shoot on Flair and Piper and all the old timers for taking everything and not leaving anything for the young, up-and-coming wrestlers.
Anyway, Hall, Nash, and Syxx (known as The Wolfpac) took on Flair, Piper, and NFL Hall of Famer Kevin Greene in the main event at Slamboree in May in Charlotte, NC. Despite the problems, The Wolfpac decided to do the job to Flair, Piper, and Greene and let them beat them and have their moment.
Despite getting his butt whipped routinely by the nWo, Diamond Dallas Page became a star in WCW because of it. Page who toiled around being a mid-carder if even that finally became a star in WCW after starting his wrestling career a lot later than most. When the nWo first took over WCW, Page was the last person you would have thought would lead WCW.
Page did not even break into the wrestling business until he was 32 years old because he was running night clubs in Florida and got to know many in the wrestling business, but was only a manager. He finally trained to become a wrestler under Dusty Rhodes in Florida and was a rookie at the age of 35.
Page lasted only a couple of years in WCW before an injury led WCW to fire him, seemingly ending his wrestling career and dream. When Page was healthy, he went right back to work and trained down at the WCW Power Plant determined to work his way back, which he would to his credit.
Page made his way back to WCW in 1994 full-time. Page started make headways in 1995 when he introduced his wife Kimberly, who was known as The Diamond Doll as his valet to the ring. He won the WCW TV Title and the Battlebowl Battle Royal at Slamboree '96. Late in 1996, Page lost to Eddie Guerrero in the finals of the vacant United States Heavyweight Championship tournament.
Page's best friends and nWo members Scott Hall and Kevin Nash actually cost Page the match and the title against Guerrero. They did that to prove a point to Page stating he needed the nWo to watch his back and demanded he joined them. Even Page's really good friend and neighbor Eric Bischoff wanted Page to join.
Page on Nitro in the new year looked to have joined the nWo as he celebrated with Hall and Nash and even took the nWo t-shirt and put it on. However, Page gave them both Diamond Cutters and took the shirt off and ran into the crowd.
At Souled Out, the nWo gave Page one last chance to join them. Page again put the shirt on and again attacked members of the nWo with the Diamond Cutter and ran into the crowd and celebrated with them as Page became the most popular wrestler in WCW except for Sting later in the year when he feuded with the nWo.
Page's first real big feud, which lasted pretty much throughout 1997, was with new nWo member Randy Savage as this was without a doubt Page's first really big feud. Savage would attack Page on many occasions and he along with members of the nWo would constantly beat down Page. Page was the nWo's favorite "whipping boy" since Savage the year before.
At Uncensored in March, Savage publicly outed The Diamond Doll Kimberly as Page's real life wife as he and Elizabeth were shown holding an issue of Playboy where Kimberly was the centerfold. Kimberly then came from the back crying as she had "nWo" spray painted all over her.
Savage then viciously attacked Page as Kimberly threw herself on top of her husband to prevent further damage. All that happened was Savage and Liz spray painting her. Savage made this feud personal by involving Page's wife in it as the intensity of this feud was turned up.
Page met Savage in the main event at Spring Stampede. Page defeated Savage with the Diamond Cutter in what was without a doubt Page's biggest win to that point in his career. Page always credits Savage for putting him over and putting Page in main event status. Page continued to feud with Savage facing him singles matches or in tag team matches where Savage teamed with Scott Hall.
After teasing the idea of having the returning Scott Levy as his Raven ECW character being his mystery partner against Savage and Hall at Bash at the Beach in July, Page brought the debuting Curt Hennig as his mystery partner. Hennig abandoned Page by refusing to tag in and walked out on him, causing Page to lose.
Page would then feud with Hennig. Page ended his feud with Savage at Halloween Havoc where he lost in a Las Vegas Sudden Death match when Hollywood Hogan dressed as Sting and hit Page with a baseball bat. Page would then feud with Hogan the rest of the year, facing him the next night on Nitro.
Ric Flair tried to convince his good friend Hennig to join him in the Four Horsemen to battle the nWo. He asked Hennig for a decision only for Curt to say he needed more time to think about it. The time for thinking was over on the August 25, 1997 episode of Nitro as Flair invited Hennig to the ring and again asked if he would join and Hennig again said he could not give him an answer.
Flair then brought out the right person to convince him to join and that was none other than fellow original Horsemen member Arn Anderson. Arn announced his retirement from wrestling in a touching ceremony and in-ring promo where he said he could not wrestle anymore due to a serious neck injury that nearly had him paralyzed.
Arn then offered Hennig a spot in the Four Horsemen but not any other spot: HIS spot!! Hennig had no other choice but to accept as he said "it would be an honor." Hennig would team with Flair and Horsemen members Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael to take on the nWo in a WarGames match at Fall Brawl.
The nWo responded the following week on Nitro with their own insulting yet hilarious parody of the Four Horsemen promo. Syxx was dressed as Ric Flair with a blonde wig and a giant fake nose and yelling WOOOO! every 10 seconds. Konnan was Steve McMichael. Buff Bagwell came out as Curt Hennig wearing a baseball hat with a blonde ponytail coming out of the back of the hat.
Syxx and Bagwell did the Flair and Hennig back-and-forth when they called out "Arn Anderson" as Kevin Nash dressed as Anderson with a bald-skin cap, a neck brace, a pillow to make him look like he has a beer belly, and carrying a cooler of beer to the ring. Nash then goes on about giving him his spot and making tons of spot jokes as Bagwell says "it would be an honor."
The nWo "attacked" Hennig backstage and "injured" him preventing him from competing in the WarGames match. Hennig comes down for the match with his arm in a sling and he managed to fight when it was time to enter the cage. However, it was a setup as he attacks Flair and rips off his sling as he was not injured and rips off his Four Horsemen t-shirt.
He pulls out two pairs of handcuffs as the nWo handcuff both Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael to the cage as the five men viciously beat on Flair. They asked Benoit and McMichael whether they would surrender or else more damage would be done to Flair. They refused with Benoit even spitting at Nash.
The beat down continued when they dragged a badly beaten and bloodied Flair to the cage door and put his head next to the cage structure where Hennig threatened to slam the cage door on Flair's head unless the Horsemen surrendered. McMichael finally gave in and surrendered as the nWo won. Hennig slammed the door on Flair's head anyway.
Shortly after Fall Brawl, a crazed Flair "disbanded" the Horsemen so he could go after Hennig and he attacked him any chance he possibly could. Flair took on Hennig for his U.S. Title the next two PPVs at Halloween Havoc and World War 3 where Flair lost via DQ at Halloween Havoc when he kicked the title belt in Hennig's head and Hennig used the title belt on Flair to retain the title at World War 3.
Flair was again supposed to take on Hennig for the U.S. Title at Starrcade but was "injured" at the hands of Hennig and the nWo a couple weeks before Starrcade and could not compete. Diamond Dallas Page took Flair's spot and defeated Hennig to win his first United States Heavyweight Championship as Page's stock continued to rise throughout 1997.
Speaking of World War 3, the 60-man battle royal featured an unusual twist and turn at the end of the battle royal. The winner was scheduled to get a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match in the future. 60 men were supposed to be there but there was only 59 as someone no-showed at that one no-show was Kevin Nash.
At the end it was only nWo's Scott Hall and WCW's Page and The Giant. Hall then motioned out someone to come from the back. First the nWo's music hit as we assumed it would be Nash but no one showed up. Then Hollywood Hogan's Jimmy Hendrix Voodoo Child music hit and Hogan surprisingly came out and helped out Hall.
Hogan beat on Page and threw him over the top rope to eliminate him leaving just Hogan, Hall, and The Giant left. All of a sudden, "Sting" came to the ring as he seemed to have grown about a foot as he easily walked over the top rope and was about the same height as The Giant.
Hogan then threw himself out of the ring to eliminate himself as he was "scared." "Sting" then nailed The Giant with the baseball bat as Giant went over the top rope to be eliminated as Hall won the World War 3 battle royal. Sting took off his mask to reveal himself as Kevin Nash as the nWo pulled yet another fast one over WCW.
NBA legend "The Worm" Dennis Rodman showed he was nWo as he made a bunch of appearances at WCW events alongside his good buddy Hollywood Hogan. Rodman made his WCW in-ring debut at Bash at the Beach on July 13 in the main event where he teamed with Hogan in a tag team match against Lex Luger and The Giant.
Rodman did not look to bad despite being in his first-ever wrestling match. Luger made Hogan submit to the Torture Rack to win the match. Luger earned a World Title shot against Hogan at the following month's PPV Road Wild live from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally from Sturgis, South Dakota.
However, five days before Road Wild on the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Luger demanded his title shot with Hogan that night. Luger again made Hogan submit to the Torture Rack and Luger ended Hogan's 359-reign of terror as WCW World Heavyweight Champion as Luger shockingly won the title as WCW finally felt good for the first time in over a year.
However at Road Wild, Hogan won the title back from Luger when Rodman, dressed as Sting, hit Luger with the bat, allowing Hogan to pin him to win back the title. It was weird that Hogan would drop the title for five days in the middle of his dominant period and hyping up his upcoming match with Sting at Starrcade. Why didn't they let Hogan keep the title from July 1996 and not drop it until Starrcade?
Former football player of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons Bill Goldberg had been training at the WCW Power Plant to become a professional wrestler throughout 1997 after his football career came to an end. Goldberg had been spotted by Sting and Lex Luger and told him to give wrestling a try. Goldberg wrestled some dark matches and house show events (where legend has it he lost one match before going on TV).
Goldberg made his televised and official WCW debut on the September 22, 1997 episode of Nitro where he faced veteran Hugh Morris (Bill DeMott). Nobody at the time knew anything of Goldberg as many felt it would just be a quick "squash match" where Goldberg was the glorified jobber to Morris.
It was a quick squash match alright, but it was far from what we expected. It was Goldberg kicking ass when he no sells Morris' attacks and picks him up like he's going to vertical suplex him only to powerslam him with authority in the move that would be called the Jackhammer.
Goldberg pinned Morris for the 1-2-3 as Goldberg pulled off a "huge upset." Gene Okerlund tried to get a word with Goldberg but Goldberg did not say anything and just walked past him. This mysterious Goldberg would quickly start to defeat anyone that came in his way in quick 1-2 minute squash matches as the mystery continued to grow. He soon dropped Bill Goldberg and went simply by "Goldberg."
Goldberg ran afoul with another former NFL player Steve McMichael after McMichael's ex-wife Debra had Goldberg give him the Jackhammer at Halloween Havoc. She gave Goldberg her ex-husband's Super Bowl ring to him. McMichael knocked Goldberg out with a lead pipe at World War 3 and took back the ring.
Goldberg was supposed to fight McMichael at the World War 3 PPV, but could not due to an injury. Goldberg's legendary undefeated streak might have come to an end long before had he wrestled McMichael there because McMichael would have won and gotten his ring back. Goldberg defeated McMichael at Starrcade in his WCW PPV debut.
Goldberg would end the year undefeated. His winning streak kind of happened by accident as WCW let him defeat everyone in 1-2 minute squash matches to hide his wrestling flaws. All of a sudden, this became popular with the fans and it would be established that Goldberg be pushed as undefeated. Goldberg would continue the momentum WCW built after a really strong 1997 into 1998
There is still one last big story but I am saving for it for Part 2 as there is no more room for it here. Check it out.
Friday, November 25, 2016
ECW 1997: ECW's First Ever PPV; Dreamer Finally Beats Raven; ECW Invades the WWF and They "Invade" ECW Back; The Franchise On Top and Taz Tries to Get on Top
Despite some serious road blocks preventing ECW from getting their first pay-per-view event, which ECW created, it was finally announced that on April 13, 1997, live from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, ECW would hold its first-ever PPV card called Barely Legal.
Perhaps the biggest match on the card was the ultimate grudge match between two former tag team partners Sabu vs. Taz. This match had been almost two years in the making. In April 1995, Sabu no-showed an event and was legitimately fired, leaving Taz without a tag team partner.
At November to Remember 1995, Sabu returned to ECW after wrestling in Japan and a brief stint in WCW. Taz was mad that Sabu was brought back and Taz, who now was aligned with referee Bill Alfonso, and began challenging Sabu to a match and called him out. For a year, Taz called out Sabu only for Sabu not to answer. Finally at November to Remember 1996, Taz and Sabu finally faced each other in the ring.
Taz defeated Sabu in a thrilling match where he made Sabu tap out to the Tazmission. After the match, Taz offered Sabu a handshake as a matter of respect, which Sabu did. All of a sudden, Sabu's teammate Rob Van Dam attacked Taz.
Sabu argued with RVD only to join RVD in attacking Taz. Sabu even choked Taz out with the Tazmission. Bill Alfonso came into the ring and took off his Team Taz shirt to reveal a Sabu shirt underneath as Alfonso double-crossed Taz and joined Sabu and Van Dam.
The first main event was a Triple Threat match between The Sandman, Stevie Richards, and the ageless Hardcore icon Terry Funk where the winner would fight Raven for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship after. Tommy Dreamer was supposed to be in this match, but he gave up his spot for his mentor and friend Funk.
Funk won the match as Raven came in and immediately attacked Funk for their title match. Dreamer was sitting at ringside doing color commentary with Joey Styles for the match rooting on his mentor to defeat his biggest nemesis. Dreamer soon hit Raven with the DDT and put Funk on top of him as Funk won the ECW Title. Dreamer celebrated with Funk.
Other matches on the first ECW PPV include The Eliminators defeating The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von) to win the ECW World Tag Team Championships, RVD beating Lance Storm with the Van Daminator (kicking a steel chair into his opponent's face) and a Moonsault, as well as the debut of bWo Japan.
The other big match on the card was Shane Douglas defending his ECW World Television Championship against Pit Bull #2. Last year, Douglas beat Pit Bull #2 to win the TV title when Pit Bull's valet Francine turned on him and helped Douglas win the title and join forces with The Franchise. Also, Douglas broke Pit Bull #1 Gary Wolfe's neck, putting him out of action and Douglas bragged about what he did.
Douglas had several riot squad members with him to protect him from Wolfe, who was sitting at ringside, as well as protecting him from a masked man, who had been stalking Douglas and Francine since the beginning of the year. The masked man was thought to be Ravishing Rick Rude as the man sounded and acted a lot like him.
Thanks to interference from Francine and Triple Threat member Chris Candido, Douglas retained the title. The masked man returned wearing Rude's robe and planted a big kiss on Francine. Douglas attacked the man. The man unmasked himself only to be revealed as Triple Threat member Brian Lee.
All of a sudden, one of the riot squad members took off his helmet and revealed himself to be Rick Rude. Douglas pleaded as Rude nailed him with a punch and Lee chokeslammed Douglas. Lee was kicked out of the Triple Threat and replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow.
Paul Heyman was still business partners with Tod Gordon despite buying the company from him two years prior. However that relationship would be terminated when it was found out that Gordon was a "mole" in ECW helping WCW to acquire top ECW talent as Heyman and ECW had a working relationship with Vince McMahon and the WWF.
Apparently, WCW was willing to pay Gordon a ton of money to get the best ECW had to jump over to WCW in a massive walkout that probably would have ended ECW at that time. Heyman got wind of this and fired Gordon for this.
Raven, Stevie Richards, and Perry Saturn already had left ECW for WCW during the year while The Public Enemy left for WCW the previous year as they already lost wrestlers to WCW before. Gordon claimed this was all a work as he was originally supposed to come back to take on Heyman yet Heyman claims otherwise believing Gordon screwed him over.
Going back to the beginning of 1997 even before the Barely Legal PPV, ECW had been involved in a "war" with the WWF as Jerry "The King" Lawler badmouthed ECW on WWF Monday Night Raw after hearing fans chant "ECW" at WWF events. Lawler challenged ECW to come to the WWF and fight their guys.
On the February 24, 1997 edition of Raw from the Manhattan Center in New York City, ECW "invaded" WWF Raw. Paul Heyman entered the ring with The Eliminators and they give Total Elimination to a ring attendant as Heyman tells Lawler challenge accepted. This was done to help promote the Barely Legal PPV.
Heyman joined Vince McMahon and Lawler for commentary. "Big Stevie Cool" Stevie Richards, leader of the bWo, defeated Little Guido. Taz easily made Mikey Whipwreck tap out to the Tazmission. Tommy Dreamer, with Beulah McGillicutty, then quickly defeated D-Von Dudley with the DDT while Lawler and Heyman were going at it back-and-forth during the match.
After the match, Buh Buh Ray Dudley came out and attacked Dreamer. As the Dudleys were about to give 3D to Dreamer, Sandman rushed into the ring to help Dreamer and attack the Dudleys. ECW wrestlers came into the ring as a big brawl ensued as Heyman was going after Lawler on commentary.
Heyman said this show sucked without ECW as WWF Raw really struggled in early 1997 competing with WCW and Nitro as they got their asses kicked in weekly ratings each and every Monday night in 1997 going back to the middle of 1996.
During this time, Rob Van Dam would call himself "Mr. Monday Night" as he proclaimed he should be working for either WWF or WCW on their Monday Night shows and should be paid a lot more saying he was too good for ECW. Van Dam aligned himself with ECW hater Jerry Lawler to bring ECW down.
When he aligned with Sabu and Bill Alfonso, they too joined Van Dam and Lawler in their anti-ECW crusade. Van Dam and Sabu would even wrestle on episodes of Raw during May and June 1997 as they were portrayed as traitors for bashing ECW and being pro WWF. The ECW wrestlers all wanted a piece of RVD, Sabu, Alfonso, and especially Lawler for his anti-ECW rants.
While the stuff of getting their first PPV on the ground along with the battles with the WWF, there was still one final score to be settled and that was none other than the long-time, legendary feud between Tommy Dreamer and Raven. Dreamer had never pinned or beaten Raven since Raven came to ECW in January 1995 and had one more chance to do so or else.
Their score would finally be settled at Wrestlepalooza on June 7, 1997 from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. The loser of the match must leave ECW as Dreamer only had one chance to beat Raven or he'd be gone from ECW. Raven was going to leave ECW anyway as he going to go back to WCW after this match, where he was Scotty Flamingo.
Dreamer overcame the odds despite interference from Raven's valet Chastity and follower Lupus along with Louie Spicolli. Chastity sprayed hairspray in Dreamer's eyes only for Beulah to go after her in a cat fight!! Spicolli DDT'd Dreamer as Raven pinned him only for two. Spicolli then went for the Death Valley Driver only for Dreamer to counter it into a DDT.
Spicolli soon left ECW to go to WCW to work as a lackey for his friend Scott Hall and the nWo. He helped Hall in his feud with Larry Zbyszko and was booked to face Zbyszko at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998. Sadly one week before the PPV on Feb. 15, Spicolli was found dead as he was just 27 years old.
Raven then hit Dreamer with a DDT again only gets a two-count. Raven goes for yet another DDT only for Dreamer to counter that into the Death Valley Driver. Dreamer then grabs Raven for a DDT as he yells out "EC fucking W" and drops him with the DDT and covers him for the 1-2-3 as finally after two-and-a-half years of misery, Dreamer finally pinned Raven and sent him packing to WCW.
Before Dreamer can celebrate, however, the lights go out. When they came back on, Rob Van Dam was standing in the ring and attacked Dreamer. Dreamer fights back, but the lights go out again. When they came back on, Sabu was in there as he and RVD double-team him, only for Dreamer to again fight back and simultaneously DDT the duo.
Then the lights went back out for a third time. This time when they came back on, Jerry Lawler was standing in the ring. Dreamer goes after The King only to be tackled by both Sabu and RVD as they kick the crap out of Dreamer. Lawler then trashes ECW and calls out their wrestlers. Sabu and RVD would take out anyone who came in the ring, including The Sandman. Spicolli is holding and restraining Beulah as Lawler insults her.
Finally, Taz comes out and takes on Sabu in a revenge match. Taz quickly locked the Tazmission on Sabu and choked him out as he refused to let go of the hold. Refs tried to get him to break the hold only for Taz to lock them in the Tazmission. Finally, he was able to get his hands on Bill Alfonso and choked him out.
ECW TV Champion Shane Douglas was sitting up in a stage at the arena telling Taz to leave the ring. Taz insults The Franchise telling him to come into the ring to make him. Taz then challenges Douglas for the TV Title where he will make him tap out in three minutes or else he'll leave ECW for 60 days. Taz got the Tazmission on Douglas and made him tap out just before three minutes were up and Taz was the new TV champ.
A month later, Jerry Lawler again comes out to insult ECW. Dreamer attacks Lawler and finally gets his hands on Lawler and it about to DDT him when the lights go out. When they came back on, fellow WWF personality and ECW hater Jim Cornette whacks Dreamer in the back hard with his tennis racket.
Cornette, Lawler, RVD, and Sabu all attacked Dreamer and The Sandman. Lawler uses Sandman's kendo stick on both Sandman and Dreamer. He nails Dreamer in the balls with the kendo stick and rupturing Dreamer's testicles and sending him to the hospital. Lawler was fearing for his life what would happen to him by the ECW crowd for seriously injuring their hero.
At the Heatwave event on July 19 from the ECW Arena, Dreamer and Sandman were about to take on Lawler, RVD, and Sabu in a Steel Cage match as it was going to be a 3-on-2 Handicap match. However just before the match started, Rick Rude, who was doing commentary since he could not compete in the ring due to his real life back injury, said he would be Dreamer and Sandman's partner.
The trio entered the ring much to the shock of the crowd and the anti-ECW crusade. However, Rude double-crossed Dreamer and Sandman by attacking both as Lawler, RVD, and Sabu all beat the hell out of Dreamer and Sandman. Rude then threw Beulah into the cage and locked the cage door shut so no one could get in and help them.
For quite a long time, they beat up Dreamer and Sandman (and even give a few shots to Beulah) badly. They handcuff Dreamer and Sandman to the cage and keep beating on them as Lawler again gets on the microphone and again insults Dreamer and Sandman as well as the fans.
Dreamer finally got his hands on Lawler at Hardcore Heaven on August 17 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida in ECW's second-ever PPV event behind April's Barely Legal event. Before the match, Lawler again cut a promo on ECW and hyping up the upcoming WWF PPV: Ground Zero.
Dreamer quickly destroys Lawler and makes him bleed as the brawl goes to the outside and into the crowd. As Dreamer had the upper hand in the match, the lights go out as usual and Rick Rude was in the ring when they came back on and nailed Dreamer with a garbage can. Lawler pins Dreamer but only gets two.
Dreamer goes for a piledriver, but again the lights go out. When they come back on, it's Jake "The Snake" Roberts who attacks Dreamer. He gives Dreamer a short-arm clothesline and then nails him with the DDT. Roberts then nails Lawler with the short-arm clothesline for good measure. Lawler again goes for the cover but again only gets two.
Dreamer again goes for the DDT when the lights go out for the third time. When they came back on, Sunny was in the ring as she sprayed hairspray in Dreamer's eyes. Beulah attacks Sunny as we have a good old fashioned catfight!! Lawler grabs Beulah as she low blows Lawler. Dreamer then gives Lawler a testicle claw and then DDTs him for the win and ending their feud as Lawler never returns to ECW.
With Lawler out of the picture, Dreamer, Sandman, and Taz still had revenge on their minds against the traitors Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Bill Alfonso as they battled them for the rest of 1997. WWF wrestlers and fellow ECW invaders Doug Furnas and Philip Lafon were also involved in the feud.
Whenever Dreamer and Sandman did not team up to take on RVD and Sabu, Dreamer would go after RVD and Sandman would fight Sabu in singles matches. RVD and Sabu attacked Sandman at the beginning of Hardcore Heaven and sent him to the hospital.
Sandman returned and attacked Sabu during his ECW World Heavyweight Championship defense against both Terry Funk and Shane Douglas. The two brawled and it ultimately cost Sabu the title.
Dreamer beat RVD one time where Sabu attacked him after the match and RVD and Sabu draped a WWF flag on top of Dreamer. They would do the same thing to Sandman a week later. This ultimately setup matches between the two at the third ever ECW PPV: November to Remember, the first November to Remember shown on PPV.
Dreamer took on RVD in a violent "Flag Match" that ended in a no-contest when the WWF invaders (and the returning Stevie Richards) attacked Dreamer and joined RVD and Sabu attacking Dreamer and even Beulah until Sandman came out for his Tables and Ladders match with Sabu. Sabu won when he gave Sandman an Arabian Facebuster onto the ladder.
Dreamer teamed with Beulah to take on RVD and Bill Alfonso at As Good as it Gets. Dreamer and Beulah defeated RVD and Bill Alfonso "Fonzie" when Beulah pinned Fonzie. Van Dam pinned Dreamer in a match where he a leg drop onto a trash can on Dreamer's face. Van Dam and Sabu defeated Dreamer and Taz at Better Than Ever on December 6.
Late in 1997, my hometown of Buffalo hosted an ECW event at Erie Community College's (ECC) Burt Flickinger Center as Dreamer fought Taz to a no-contest when Sabu and RVD interfered. Dreamer then fought RVD to a no-contest. Sabu defeated Sandman in a "Death Match."
Sandman defeated Sabu in a wild and violent Stairway to Hell barbed wire ladder match at House Party '98 in January 1998. Sabu broke his jaw and Sandman defeated him by using the Singapore Cane on him. The feud between these four finally ended in early 1998.
Shane Douglas started 1997 on top of his game and ended 1997 on top of ECW. As mentioned before, he lost the TV Title to Taz but would rebound to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship for the third time on August 17 at Hardcore Heaven in a Triple Threat match between the champion Sabu and Terry Funk.
Sabu had won the title from Funk eight days before at Born to Be Wired in a brutally violent barded wire match. The match was so violent where both men bled profusely and both men were tangled together in barbed wire and had to be cut free from ring technicians. The match was dubbed "Too Extreme even for ECW." The match might be the most violent in ECW history and that's saying something.
Douglas still had The Triple Threat backing him up and even had Ravishing Rick Rude "handpicking" wrestlers for Douglas to defend his title against. However in October, Rude picked Triple Threat member Bam Bam Bigelow to face Douglas. Bigelow defeated Douglas to become the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion and being kicked out of The Triple Threat.
Douglas would not be down for long. He defeated Bigelow to win back the ECW World Title at November to Remember and would not give up the World Title until January 1999, which would be an ECW-record 406-day reign. Bigelow's spot in the Triple Threat would be replaced by Lance Storm as Storm and Chris Candido ended the year as ECW World Tag Team Champions.
Douglas and The Triple Threat would be very strong in 1998 as ECW was still going strong despite being a lot smaller than the WWF and WCW. Over the next couple of years, the strongest ECW wrestlers would soon bolt for the "greener pastures" of WWF or WCW.
Perhaps the biggest match on the card was the ultimate grudge match between two former tag team partners Sabu vs. Taz. This match had been almost two years in the making. In April 1995, Sabu no-showed an event and was legitimately fired, leaving Taz without a tag team partner.
At November to Remember 1995, Sabu returned to ECW after wrestling in Japan and a brief stint in WCW. Taz was mad that Sabu was brought back and Taz, who now was aligned with referee Bill Alfonso, and began challenging Sabu to a match and called him out. For a year, Taz called out Sabu only for Sabu not to answer. Finally at November to Remember 1996, Taz and Sabu finally faced each other in the ring.
Taz defeated Sabu in a thrilling match where he made Sabu tap out to the Tazmission. After the match, Taz offered Sabu a handshake as a matter of respect, which Sabu did. All of a sudden, Sabu's teammate Rob Van Dam attacked Taz.
Sabu argued with RVD only to join RVD in attacking Taz. Sabu even choked Taz out with the Tazmission. Bill Alfonso came into the ring and took off his Team Taz shirt to reveal a Sabu shirt underneath as Alfonso double-crossed Taz and joined Sabu and Van Dam.
The first main event was a Triple Threat match between The Sandman, Stevie Richards, and the ageless Hardcore icon Terry Funk where the winner would fight Raven for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship after. Tommy Dreamer was supposed to be in this match, but he gave up his spot for his mentor and friend Funk.
Funk won the match as Raven came in and immediately attacked Funk for their title match. Dreamer was sitting at ringside doing color commentary with Joey Styles for the match rooting on his mentor to defeat his biggest nemesis. Dreamer soon hit Raven with the DDT and put Funk on top of him as Funk won the ECW Title. Dreamer celebrated with Funk.
Other matches on the first ECW PPV include The Eliminators defeating The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von) to win the ECW World Tag Team Championships, RVD beating Lance Storm with the Van Daminator (kicking a steel chair into his opponent's face) and a Moonsault, as well as the debut of bWo Japan.
The other big match on the card was Shane Douglas defending his ECW World Television Championship against Pit Bull #2. Last year, Douglas beat Pit Bull #2 to win the TV title when Pit Bull's valet Francine turned on him and helped Douglas win the title and join forces with The Franchise. Also, Douglas broke Pit Bull #1 Gary Wolfe's neck, putting him out of action and Douglas bragged about what he did.
Douglas had several riot squad members with him to protect him from Wolfe, who was sitting at ringside, as well as protecting him from a masked man, who had been stalking Douglas and Francine since the beginning of the year. The masked man was thought to be Ravishing Rick Rude as the man sounded and acted a lot like him.
Thanks to interference from Francine and Triple Threat member Chris Candido, Douglas retained the title. The masked man returned wearing Rude's robe and planted a big kiss on Francine. Douglas attacked the man. The man unmasked himself only to be revealed as Triple Threat member Brian Lee.
All of a sudden, one of the riot squad members took off his helmet and revealed himself to be Rick Rude. Douglas pleaded as Rude nailed him with a punch and Lee chokeslammed Douglas. Lee was kicked out of the Triple Threat and replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow.
Paul Heyman was still business partners with Tod Gordon despite buying the company from him two years prior. However that relationship would be terminated when it was found out that Gordon was a "mole" in ECW helping WCW to acquire top ECW talent as Heyman and ECW had a working relationship with Vince McMahon and the WWF.
Apparently, WCW was willing to pay Gordon a ton of money to get the best ECW had to jump over to WCW in a massive walkout that probably would have ended ECW at that time. Heyman got wind of this and fired Gordon for this.
Raven, Stevie Richards, and Perry Saturn already had left ECW for WCW during the year while The Public Enemy left for WCW the previous year as they already lost wrestlers to WCW before. Gordon claimed this was all a work as he was originally supposed to come back to take on Heyman yet Heyman claims otherwise believing Gordon screwed him over.
Going back to the beginning of 1997 even before the Barely Legal PPV, ECW had been involved in a "war" with the WWF as Jerry "The King" Lawler badmouthed ECW on WWF Monday Night Raw after hearing fans chant "ECW" at WWF events. Lawler challenged ECW to come to the WWF and fight their guys.
On the February 24, 1997 edition of Raw from the Manhattan Center in New York City, ECW "invaded" WWF Raw. Paul Heyman entered the ring with The Eliminators and they give Total Elimination to a ring attendant as Heyman tells Lawler challenge accepted. This was done to help promote the Barely Legal PPV.
Heyman joined Vince McMahon and Lawler for commentary. "Big Stevie Cool" Stevie Richards, leader of the bWo, defeated Little Guido. Taz easily made Mikey Whipwreck tap out to the Tazmission. Tommy Dreamer, with Beulah McGillicutty, then quickly defeated D-Von Dudley with the DDT while Lawler and Heyman were going at it back-and-forth during the match.
After the match, Buh Buh Ray Dudley came out and attacked Dreamer. As the Dudleys were about to give 3D to Dreamer, Sandman rushed into the ring to help Dreamer and attack the Dudleys. ECW wrestlers came into the ring as a big brawl ensued as Heyman was going after Lawler on commentary.
Heyman said this show sucked without ECW as WWF Raw really struggled in early 1997 competing with WCW and Nitro as they got their asses kicked in weekly ratings each and every Monday night in 1997 going back to the middle of 1996.
During this time, Rob Van Dam would call himself "Mr. Monday Night" as he proclaimed he should be working for either WWF or WCW on their Monday Night shows and should be paid a lot more saying he was too good for ECW. Van Dam aligned himself with ECW hater Jerry Lawler to bring ECW down.
When he aligned with Sabu and Bill Alfonso, they too joined Van Dam and Lawler in their anti-ECW crusade. Van Dam and Sabu would even wrestle on episodes of Raw during May and June 1997 as they were portrayed as traitors for bashing ECW and being pro WWF. The ECW wrestlers all wanted a piece of RVD, Sabu, Alfonso, and especially Lawler for his anti-ECW rants.
While the stuff of getting their first PPV on the ground along with the battles with the WWF, there was still one final score to be settled and that was none other than the long-time, legendary feud between Tommy Dreamer and Raven. Dreamer had never pinned or beaten Raven since Raven came to ECW in January 1995 and had one more chance to do so or else.
Their score would finally be settled at Wrestlepalooza on June 7, 1997 from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. The loser of the match must leave ECW as Dreamer only had one chance to beat Raven or he'd be gone from ECW. Raven was going to leave ECW anyway as he going to go back to WCW after this match, where he was Scotty Flamingo.
Dreamer overcame the odds despite interference from Raven's valet Chastity and follower Lupus along with Louie Spicolli. Chastity sprayed hairspray in Dreamer's eyes only for Beulah to go after her in a cat fight!! Spicolli DDT'd Dreamer as Raven pinned him only for two. Spicolli then went for the Death Valley Driver only for Dreamer to counter it into a DDT.
Spicolli soon left ECW to go to WCW to work as a lackey for his friend Scott Hall and the nWo. He helped Hall in his feud with Larry Zbyszko and was booked to face Zbyszko at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998. Sadly one week before the PPV on Feb. 15, Spicolli was found dead as he was just 27 years old.
Raven then hit Dreamer with a DDT again only gets a two-count. Raven goes for yet another DDT only for Dreamer to counter that into the Death Valley Driver. Dreamer then grabs Raven for a DDT as he yells out "EC fucking W" and drops him with the DDT and covers him for the 1-2-3 as finally after two-and-a-half years of misery, Dreamer finally pinned Raven and sent him packing to WCW.
Before Dreamer can celebrate, however, the lights go out. When they came back on, Rob Van Dam was standing in the ring and attacked Dreamer. Dreamer fights back, but the lights go out again. When they came back on, Sabu was in there as he and RVD double-team him, only for Dreamer to again fight back and simultaneously DDT the duo.
Then the lights went back out for a third time. This time when they came back on, Jerry Lawler was standing in the ring. Dreamer goes after The King only to be tackled by both Sabu and RVD as they kick the crap out of Dreamer. Lawler then trashes ECW and calls out their wrestlers. Sabu and RVD would take out anyone who came in the ring, including The Sandman. Spicolli is holding and restraining Beulah as Lawler insults her.
Finally, Taz comes out and takes on Sabu in a revenge match. Taz quickly locked the Tazmission on Sabu and choked him out as he refused to let go of the hold. Refs tried to get him to break the hold only for Taz to lock them in the Tazmission. Finally, he was able to get his hands on Bill Alfonso and choked him out.
ECW TV Champion Shane Douglas was sitting up in a stage at the arena telling Taz to leave the ring. Taz insults The Franchise telling him to come into the ring to make him. Taz then challenges Douglas for the TV Title where he will make him tap out in three minutes or else he'll leave ECW for 60 days. Taz got the Tazmission on Douglas and made him tap out just before three minutes were up and Taz was the new TV champ.
A month later, Jerry Lawler again comes out to insult ECW. Dreamer attacks Lawler and finally gets his hands on Lawler and it about to DDT him when the lights go out. When they came back on, fellow WWF personality and ECW hater Jim Cornette whacks Dreamer in the back hard with his tennis racket.
Cornette, Lawler, RVD, and Sabu all attacked Dreamer and The Sandman. Lawler uses Sandman's kendo stick on both Sandman and Dreamer. He nails Dreamer in the balls with the kendo stick and rupturing Dreamer's testicles and sending him to the hospital. Lawler was fearing for his life what would happen to him by the ECW crowd for seriously injuring their hero.
At the Heatwave event on July 19 from the ECW Arena, Dreamer and Sandman were about to take on Lawler, RVD, and Sabu in a Steel Cage match as it was going to be a 3-on-2 Handicap match. However just before the match started, Rick Rude, who was doing commentary since he could not compete in the ring due to his real life back injury, said he would be Dreamer and Sandman's partner.
The trio entered the ring much to the shock of the crowd and the anti-ECW crusade. However, Rude double-crossed Dreamer and Sandman by attacking both as Lawler, RVD, and Sabu all beat the hell out of Dreamer and Sandman. Rude then threw Beulah into the cage and locked the cage door shut so no one could get in and help them.
For quite a long time, they beat up Dreamer and Sandman (and even give a few shots to Beulah) badly. They handcuff Dreamer and Sandman to the cage and keep beating on them as Lawler again gets on the microphone and again insults Dreamer and Sandman as well as the fans.
Dreamer finally got his hands on Lawler at Hardcore Heaven on August 17 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida in ECW's second-ever PPV event behind April's Barely Legal event. Before the match, Lawler again cut a promo on ECW and hyping up the upcoming WWF PPV: Ground Zero.
Dreamer quickly destroys Lawler and makes him bleed as the brawl goes to the outside and into the crowd. As Dreamer had the upper hand in the match, the lights go out as usual and Rick Rude was in the ring when they came back on and nailed Dreamer with a garbage can. Lawler pins Dreamer but only gets two.
Dreamer goes for a piledriver, but again the lights go out. When they come back on, it's Jake "The Snake" Roberts who attacks Dreamer. He gives Dreamer a short-arm clothesline and then nails him with the DDT. Roberts then nails Lawler with the short-arm clothesline for good measure. Lawler again goes for the cover but again only gets two.
Dreamer again goes for the DDT when the lights go out for the third time. When they came back on, Sunny was in the ring as she sprayed hairspray in Dreamer's eyes. Beulah attacks Sunny as we have a good old fashioned catfight!! Lawler grabs Beulah as she low blows Lawler. Dreamer then gives Lawler a testicle claw and then DDTs him for the win and ending their feud as Lawler never returns to ECW.
With Lawler out of the picture, Dreamer, Sandman, and Taz still had revenge on their minds against the traitors Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Bill Alfonso as they battled them for the rest of 1997. WWF wrestlers and fellow ECW invaders Doug Furnas and Philip Lafon were also involved in the feud.
Whenever Dreamer and Sandman did not team up to take on RVD and Sabu, Dreamer would go after RVD and Sandman would fight Sabu in singles matches. RVD and Sabu attacked Sandman at the beginning of Hardcore Heaven and sent him to the hospital.
Sandman returned and attacked Sabu during his ECW World Heavyweight Championship defense against both Terry Funk and Shane Douglas. The two brawled and it ultimately cost Sabu the title.
Dreamer beat RVD one time where Sabu attacked him after the match and RVD and Sabu draped a WWF flag on top of Dreamer. They would do the same thing to Sandman a week later. This ultimately setup matches between the two at the third ever ECW PPV: November to Remember, the first November to Remember shown on PPV.
Dreamer took on RVD in a violent "Flag Match" that ended in a no-contest when the WWF invaders (and the returning Stevie Richards) attacked Dreamer and joined RVD and Sabu attacking Dreamer and even Beulah until Sandman came out for his Tables and Ladders match with Sabu. Sabu won when he gave Sandman an Arabian Facebuster onto the ladder.
Dreamer teamed with Beulah to take on RVD and Bill Alfonso at As Good as it Gets. Dreamer and Beulah defeated RVD and Bill Alfonso "Fonzie" when Beulah pinned Fonzie. Van Dam pinned Dreamer in a match where he a leg drop onto a trash can on Dreamer's face. Van Dam and Sabu defeated Dreamer and Taz at Better Than Ever on December 6.
Late in 1997, my hometown of Buffalo hosted an ECW event at Erie Community College's (ECC) Burt Flickinger Center as Dreamer fought Taz to a no-contest when Sabu and RVD interfered. Dreamer then fought RVD to a no-contest. Sabu defeated Sandman in a "Death Match."
Sandman defeated Sabu in a wild and violent Stairway to Hell barbed wire ladder match at House Party '98 in January 1998. Sabu broke his jaw and Sandman defeated him by using the Singapore Cane on him. The feud between these four finally ended in early 1998.
Shane Douglas started 1997 on top of his game and ended 1997 on top of ECW. As mentioned before, he lost the TV Title to Taz but would rebound to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship for the third time on August 17 at Hardcore Heaven in a Triple Threat match between the champion Sabu and Terry Funk.
Sabu had won the title from Funk eight days before at Born to Be Wired in a brutally violent barded wire match. The match was so violent where both men bled profusely and both men were tangled together in barbed wire and had to be cut free from ring technicians. The match was dubbed "Too Extreme even for ECW." The match might be the most violent in ECW history and that's saying something.
Douglas still had The Triple Threat backing him up and even had Ravishing Rick Rude "handpicking" wrestlers for Douglas to defend his title against. However in October, Rude picked Triple Threat member Bam Bam Bigelow to face Douglas. Bigelow defeated Douglas to become the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion and being kicked out of The Triple Threat.
Douglas would not be down for long. He defeated Bigelow to win back the ECW World Title at November to Remember and would not give up the World Title until January 1999, which would be an ECW-record 406-day reign. Bigelow's spot in the Triple Threat would be replaced by Lance Storm as Storm and Chris Candido ended the year as ECW World Tag Team Champions.
Douglas and The Triple Threat would be very strong in 1998 as ECW was still going strong despite being a lot smaller than the WWF and WCW. Over the next couple of years, the strongest ECW wrestlers would soon bolt for the "greener pastures" of WWF or WCW.
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