SUMMERSLAM 1997
August 3, 1997 East Rutherford, NJ
Continental Airlines Arena
After a poor showing in 1996 the WWF came roaring back in 1997.
Riding high on the back of the reformed Hart Foundation, the WWF flame started burning brightly heading into summer, culminating with Bret back in the main event going up for the WWF Championship against the Undertaker.
Brother Owen was also riding high as Intercontinental Champion and was feuding with the white-hot Steve Austin. Tragedy struck in the match when a mistimed piledriver broke Austins neck and in it’s own funny way, helped establish Austin even more as a tough S.O.B when he still won the match. It also kept the Curse of the IC Champion alive as Owen was yet another losing champion.
The British Bulldog was now European Champion and he went up against Ken Shamrock, transplant from UFC. While Brian Pillman was involved in his own personal feud with Goldust. This meant 4 of the 7 matches on the card direct involvement of The Hart Foundation.
While ultimately only one member of the foundation made it to the next years event, for this year it was all theirs.
To give their own insight into this years even id..
Greg De Marco: Greg plies his trade doing The Wrestling 5 & 1 every Sunday and can also be found has a regular contributor to But & Sell and he also has his very own podcast. Greg is a very busy cat.
Larry Csonka: 411 webmaster and editor of just about everything around these parts. Often hated and always over opinionated, Larry offers his old school, southern thoughts to proceedings.
Scott Rutherford: Longtime 411 stalwart and jack of all trades for over 7 years. Has bounced between most zones as an editor or news columnist. Spends most of his time these days offering music reviews and a Top 5 Wrestling contributor.
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Steel Cage Match – Hunter Heart Helmsley vs. Mankind Winner: Mankind via escape. Time: 16:25
Loser Must Wear A Dress: Goldust vs. Brian Pillman Winner: Goldust via pinfall. Time: 7:05
European Championship and Loser Eats Dog Food Match – The British Bulldog vs. Ken Shamrock Winner: The British Bulldog via DQ. Time: 7:29
Los Boricuas vs. The Disciples of the Apocalypse Winner: Los Boricuas via pinfall. Time: 9:07
Intercontinental Championship – Owen Hart vs. Steve Austin Winner: Steve Austin via pinfall to win the IC Championship. Time: 16:16
WWF Championship – The Undertaker vs. Bret Hart Winner: Bret Hart via pinfall to regain the WWF Championship. Time: 28:09
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Best Match: Bret Hart vs. Undertaker (Shawn Michaels as referee) – The stipulation for the match was Undertaker defending the WWE title and if Bret could not win, he would not be able to wrestle in the United States again. With HBK as ref, everyone assumed he’d screw Bret (get it?) but he claimed he would be honest (haha) and rule straight down the middle (I think there was another stipulation to make sure Shawn had to be fair or else he’d lose out on something or other). The match is not particularly memorable beyond the ending. HBK went down and Bret used a chair on Taker. When he went for the pin, he only got 2 and he accused Shawn of the slow count. After more bickering, Bret spit in his face (and I’m talking a huge wad here, not quite as large as the wad he spit Vince’s way a few months later though). Shawn took the chair, swung at Bret and NAILED!!! Undertaker straight on the cranium (holy shit, looking back, these guys are nuts). Bret chuckled, pinned Taker and Shawn reluctantly had to count the fall, giving Bret his fifth and final WWE Championship. Worst Match: Los Boricuas vs. DOA – This period in WWE featured some of the most annoying stable wars between the Latinos and the hick biker guys. This was an eight-man tag that was just “THERE” on the card. Too much happens for any of it to mean anything (hello, TNA) and you end up either taking a bathroom break, a food break or just plain fast forwarding through this crap. Highlight: Stone Cold’s Life Changes Forever – Who knows what would have happened had this match gone smoothly with no injury. Perhaps Steve Austin would not have been forced to seek a career in Hollywood, perhaps he would still be wrestling on a semi-regular basis. He obviously would not have retired when he did because of fearing further permanent damage. Well, the injury happened in this match with Owen Hart. For whatever reason, instead of the classic piledriver, Owen landed a sit-down piledriver and Austin landed directly on his head, breaking his neck. He was paralyzed briefly before getting enough feeling back in his limbs to the extent that he could “pull” Owen into a roll-up for the quick pinfall victory. It’s still one of the most surreal things you can watch because of what you know has happened to the man’s health. According to various interviews, Austin never did really “forgive” Owen for the accident but obviously life has a way of forcing you to change your perspective. Hidden Highlight: Foley Honors Snuka – Everyone has heard the stories of a young Mick Foley hitchhiking his way to the famous cage match between Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco. We’ve all seen the footage of a young Foley flying off the roof of his parent’s house imitating Snuka. Well at the end of his cage match with HHH, you can see an old Mick Foley honor Snuka by pulling off the top rope splash yet again. This time, it was much more impressive. MVP: Shawn Michaels – I’d name Bret the MVP but this match with Taker is not one of my favorites (personally, I like their U.K. match a few months later). Shawn as the conflicted man, trying to be fair and do what’s right makes the main event much more interesting. Undertaker was just there for this, it seemed to me, deferring to the other two to get the story over. Overall Rating:4.0 – With a thin roster, this was just not a good show. You should check out the opening cage match between Mankind and HHH (it’s not necessarily a great cage match, but who will turn down watching the old blue cage?), the Austin/Owen match if you’ve never seen it (otherwise, there’s no reason to rewatch it) and the main event. Following this, Bret went into a program with The Patriot (Del Wilkes) while Shawn and Taker had a classic program with a very good match at Ground Zero and the classic original Hell in a Cell in October. While 1997 RAW is fondly remembered for the Hart Foundation angle, in hindsight, it’s a lot more hit or miss. After Summer Slam is also when Shawn, Hunter, Chyna and Rick Rude eventually form Degeneration-X and the original group was indeed awesome.
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Best Match: Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker — this is close to being an all-time classic for me. Bret still near the peak of his powers and as a heel at that and UT bringing his working boots big time and Shawn plays the ref who wants to keep it as far as possible to perfection. Worst Match: Goldust vs. Brian Pillman — I am/was a fan of both guys but this was awful. Highlight: Mankind’s Snuka dive off the top of the cage — Mankind switching into the Dude Love to emulate his hero, Jimmy Snuka was a great unexpected moment and thankfully didn’t cost him the match. Hidden Highlight: Owen’s heel work — Prior to the piledriver, Owen was putting on quite the heel clinic from premature celebrations to idiotic shouting justifications to the ref. Even after the tragic mistake on the piledriver, Owen stays in character enough to not panic and continue to work the crowd like a professional. MVP: Bret Hart — the match Bret laid out was terrific and gets him the MVP award for me. Bret broke out everything from the ring post figure 4 to the even deadlier RINGPOST SHARPSHOOTER! He even “lets” UT escape from the Sharpshooter in a great moment to lend drama to the outcome. Overall Rating: 7.5 — cage match is terrific, Austin/Owen is phenomenal prior to the abrupt ending and Bret/UT is a classic.
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Best Match: The Undertaker vs. Bret Hart – Owen vs. Austin was close, but I have to go with Hart vs. Taker as the top match for the show. It is really a close battle, but I will talk about Hart vs. Austin later. While some newer fans may not know it, Bret and Taker had really good chemistry and had some really good matches with each other. Shawn Michaels was the special referee, and we also had a stipulation. The stipulation was that if Bret touches Shawn, he can’t wrestle in Canada, but if Shawn favors the Undertaker, he can’t wrestle in the U.S. ever again. So we have a great match, and then after some ballyhoo, Bret uses a chair to level Taker. Shawn gets involved, Bret spits on HBK, and then HBK makes a horrible mistake by using the chair, missing Bret, and laying out Taker. Bret wins the title, HBK goes to HIAC, Kane arrives, Montreal screws people and history is made… Worst Match: Loser Wears a Dress: Goldust vs. Brian Pillman – This is highly regarded as the WORST Summerslam match in history, and I cannot disagree. It is two talented workers, going for over 7-minutes, in a slow and boring match, where the loser has to wear a dress. I tried to block this from memory, but thanks to this feature, I got to re-live it. Highlight: Owen Hart vs. Steve Austin – For the highlight of the show, I choose Austin vs. Hart. First of all, before the injury, this match was heading towards greatness. Thee guys could work and tell a story, and working together, they were money. Secondly, the match is ICONIC due to the neck injury suffered by Austin. The clip has been played over and over again, and for those of us that were around at the time, it is something that we do not forget. While it isn’t for the best of reasons, it is a Summerslam moment that will not be forgotten. Hidden Highlight: Mankind Leaps Off The Cage – The match between Hunter and Mankind was a really fun match, and more importantly, was a defining moment for his character wise I feel. Mankind, battling back against Hunter and Chyna, looks to have the match won. But he climbs back in, the crowd knows what will happen, they chant Superfly and Mankind LEAPS from the cage with a diving elbow in an homage to Snuka, an image stuck in his mind as he saw it as a young man. The funny thing is that Mankind rips off the mask, which is fine. But then rips open his shirt, supposedly to reveal a heart ala Dude Love, but it has been rubbed off by his shirt due to the sweat. MVP: Steve Austin – What can I say, I have mad respect for a guy that gets his neck fractured and somehow, someway finishes the match and walks away. If Austin doesn’t finish the match, I think fans have a different perception of him, because the way he finished it, added to his image of being a true badass. Overall Rating: 6.0 – While not the best PPV ever, and there were some stinkers on the show, no one can doubt the historical nature of the event. The character transformation hints with Foley, the angle with HBK, which would set up HIAC with Taker, and then the Montreal Screw Job match with Bret; and finally, Steve Austin getting his neck broken. So while the overall score may not represent the best of shows, the importance is there, and for that reason, you really need to check it out
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Best Match: Quality-wise, the Austin/Hart match was heading for fucking awesome territory before the piledriver. God knows what they had in mind but I’m pretty sure it would have made the match a near ****1/2+ affair. This PPV however managed to be booked in such a way that almost every match had meaning or purpose thanks to stips or general storyline goodness. So even a weak match like the Goldust/Pillman had something riding on the result. Worst Match: The 8-Man Tag. Maybe if it were a Street Fight or some sort hardcore match, it would have hidden the weakness of the men involved. But reality was that DOA and Los Boricuas were teams full of, at best, average workers and there was no hope for this match. Highlight: Ken Shamrock losing his fucking mind. Most of us first saw Ken at WM earlier in the year and for people like myself, who live in Australia and only ever got to see WWF via PPV on VHS months later, had no real idea who Shamrock was or his reputation. While the match was average, Ken’s reaction at the end of the match to losing by DQ was tremendous and helped really establish Ken as a badass not to be fucked with in the space of about 60 seconds. 4 quick fire belly-to-belly suplexes and a look in the eyes that could cut steel. Just an awesome way to get a CHARACTER over. Hidden Highlight: One of the victims of Shamrocks outburst was Pat Patterson and after taking his suplex and rolling off to the side, the camera cuts to behind him and you see him check his a-hole in a very obvious way. The jokes write themselves… MVP: Owen. Sure he did break Austin’s neck, be he knew how to cover long enough and then lay down for the win. Bret also gets special mention for another big outing in the main event. Overall Rating: 7-ish.I like this PPV. The match quality really isn’t the best but the booking leading into this was fantastic and most of all coherent making everything seem logical, so everything that happened during the matches made sense. This would be the tipping point for The Hart Foundation angle as everything from here was on the slippery slope down but they helped resurrect the WWF and create the platform for Austin, DX and The Rock to spring off in the months ahead.
-Listen to the latest edition of the 411 on Wrestling podcast! On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka is joined by co-host Steve Cook to discuss the CM Punk angle, what could have been Monday night and long term booking, also we’ll talk about the latest episodes of IMPACT Wrestling, WWE Smackdown and more!
You can listen to the show on the player below, or you can download the show here.
