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.
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