WWF Survivor Series 1997 featured the World Wrestling Federation Championship on the line in a battle between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in Montreal. The face of the World Wrestling Federation would never be the same again. Plus Stone Cold Steve Austin takes on Owen Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Title, Kane faces Mankind, and Team USA takes on Team Canada. It is WWF Survivor Series 1997, Part 1 of the WWF Attitude Era Series.
WWF Survivor Series 1997-November 9th 1997, from Montreal Quebec Canada.
The first match featured the Godwinns, Billy Gunn, and “The
Road Dogg” Jesse James teaming up to take on the New Blackjacks and The
Headbangers.
Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg had just been teaming
up recent weeks, forming on an episode of WWF Shotgun in October of
1997. Previously, Billy Gunn had been Rockabilly, managed by the Honky
Tonk Man, but the gimmick flopped and the Road Dogg was not much better,
as “The Real Double J”. They were one of the key parts of the Attitude
era as the New Age Outlaws. The Godwinns were a leftover staple from the
loathed New Generation Era of WWF, hog farmers. The Headbangers were
skirt wearing metalheads and a long term tag team on the independent
scene that had a cup of coffee.
There has never been a team that had
been an updated version of an established tag team that had been good
and the New Blackjacks were no exception. They were Barry Windham and
Justin Bradshaw, who would go onto be Bradshaw and then John Bradshaw
Layfield. Windham was the real life son of Blackjack Mulligan and they
claimed that Bradshaw was the son of Lanza, but obviously that was not
true. It should be noted that this entire card was not good or
memorable. The Not Quite New Age Outlaws are your Sole Survivors. Gunn
and the Road Dogg would go onto better things rather shortly.
The Truth Commission took on the Disciples of Apocalypse in a Four on Four Survivor Series
Match.
The Truth Commission were South African mercenaries and were Sniper,
Recon(who later was Bull Buchanan in Right to Censor), The
Interrogator(also known as Kurrgan and he had a part in the movie 300),
and the Jackly(the man known as Cyrus the Virus, the head of the Network
in ECW).
The Disciples were bikers and consist of Chainz, who was Brian
Lee, who had a stint in ECW and also played Ted DiBiase's fake
Undertaker. Crush is Brian Adams and is this is like his fifth gimmick,
after Demolition Crush, Kona Crush, Japanese Crush, and Convict Crush.
8-Ball and Skull are Ron and Don Harris, who have been around forever.
The Truth Commission are your winners and the less said about this
match, the better.
Team Canada took on Team USA.
Team Canada was Doug
Furnas, Phil LaFon, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart. Funnily enough,
the Canadian team consisted of two Americans, a British Bulldog, and one
Canadian in Phil LaFon. Team USA was Vader, Goldust, Marc Mero, and a
man who was the last minute replacement for the Patriot, who suffered
injuries, Steve Blackman. Goldust was about to take a really weird turn.
Marc Mero was on the American team for reasons that I still don't know
and he turned heel the next night. His former wife, Sable, now married
to Brock Lesnar, became a bigger star than he ever was and Mero would
return to the spotlight in 2007, as one of the fifty million wrestlers
to try and get their fifteen minutes based off of the Chris Benoit
murder-suicide. Bulldog pins Vader to win after Goldust bails. The Team
Canada with One Canadian wins. This was much better than the first two
matches but that's like saying that a root canal is better than a kick
below the belt.
Kane with Paul Bearer took on Mankind.
Kane had
made his WWF debut, as the horrifically burned brother of the
Undertaker, who had thought to have died in a fire that may or may not
have been started by the Undertaker. The entire Kane/Undertaker
backstory is one that's going to give you a headache if you try and make
everything try to fit. The back story of this match was Dude Love was
attacked by Kane and Choke Slammed on the ramp twice. This caused Mick
Foley to morph into his more psychotic alter ego, Mankind. Mankind was
the first person to take Kane off of his feet, hitting him with a
wrench.
Kane was very green in this match and he gets the win, obviously
building him up for his match with Undertaker at Wrestlemania 14. Kane
is your winner. Other than Mick killing himself to get the monster over
on a couple of points, this match was just merely passable.
Our next match is Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson, and the WWF
Tag Team Champions the Legion of Doom against the Nation of Domination
of Faarooq, D'Lo Brown, Kama Mustafa, and Rocky Maivia.
To see
the Nation in this match was very surreal. D'Lo Brown was the least
important member of the Nation, which given the insane run he had in
1998 and 1999, would be very intriguing. Kama Mustafa was so far from
the Godfather that it was night and day. Rocky Maivia was showing
perhaps the faintest of the flashes of the Rock but there was a long way
to go. One may argue that the Rock did not really become the Rock until
his feud with Triple H in the summer of 1998.
Ahmed Johnson really fell
a lot in the past two years, being the future breakout star, to being
an out of shape sloppy competitor who had a reputation of injuring
himself and his opponents. Hawk and Animal had really had a lot of their
legacy damaged as well, and in fact, the feud that perhaps killed off
their credibility(while also elevating the New Age Outlaws), was set up
during this match some, when Gunn and Road Dogg interfered.
The only
person on the face side to really come out ahead was Ken Shamrock, who
after making both Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels tap out to his ankle lock
in back to back weeks on RAW, managed to beat both D'Lo Brown and Rocky
Maivia to become the sole surivor. Ken Shamrock, The Road Warriors, and
Ahmed Johnson are your winners.
Steve Austin took on Owen Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
Steve Austin was put on the shelf for months, suffering a brutal
piledriver at the hands of Owen Hart, which is why you should drop to
your knees on a Tombstone and not your behind. Owen Hart was not one
hundred percent in this match, due to the fact he suffered a concussion
at the hands of Ahmed Johnson. Yeah, I know, Ahmed Johnson injuring
someone, bit of a stretch.
Steve Austin gets the championship back,
after fighting off Team Canada and avoiding a piledriver, before hitting
the Stone Cold Stunner. This reign as WWF Intercontinental Champion
would be the launching pad to perhaps one of the biggest stars in
wrestling history. The match was not good due to both men being hurt.
If the Pay Per View had stopped right there, this would be one of
the least memorable WWF Pay Per Views of all time, with perhaps only a
couple of the matches being borderline decent. However, there is that
one match.
The match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels was
about was good as you could expect for a match between Bret Hart and
Shawn Michaels.
Yet, no one really is going to remember that, for the
finish. Referee Earl Hebner gets knocked down in the center of the ring
and Shawn Michaels puts Bret Hart in the Sharpshooter. This was supposed
to lead to Bret reversing the move and then it leading to a no contest
when everyone runs in.
Yet that's not what happened.
Ring the damn bell!
Four words that would change the entire face of wrestling. Just as
Bret Hart was reversing the Sharpshooter, WWF Owner Vince McMahon,
sitting at ringside, made the call. Shawn Michaels is told to take the
belt, he rushes off with Triple H and Chyna, and Bret Hart starts
throwing monitors at ringside. This is pretty much where it ends for the
fans at home. Shawn Michaels is your new WWF Champion and the biggest
scandal in the history of wrestling has happened.
The Aftermath:
Backstage after the show, Vince McMahon tried to explain his
reasoning to Bret Hart. Needless to say, Bret was not too happy and he
registered his displeasure by punching Vince McMahon right in the face.
This lead to Vince suffering a busted jaw and Bret Hart breaking his
hand on Vince's mouth.
The incident that was dubbed the Montreal Screwjob had taken place.
Bret Hart was off to WCW. Shawn Michaels was the WWF Champion, but there
was a number of fans who felt that he did not deserve the title. WWF
appeared to be disgraced, as many wondered how could anyone ever take
Vince McMahon at his word. There were many wrestlers who had threatened
to walk out over Montreal.
The Montreal Screwjob should have lead to a scandal that would have
shut down the McMahon wrestling empire. Yet, logic rarely has a point in
professional wrestling. It would get the ball rolling to one of the
hottest eras of wrestling and one of the famous feuds. And would be the
beginning of the end of Bret Hart's career as well.
The Attitude era had officially began for the World Wrestling Federation.
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