411's Roundtable Review: Summerslam 1997

Posted by Ryan Byers on 08.17.2006

Snap in to Austin's neck! Ooooooh yeah, dig it!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Summerslam 1997 as reviewed by the 411 Mania staff. We're speeding up the review schedule as the Summerslam pay per view approaches, with THREE big reviews Thursday, THREE big reviews Friday, TWO reviews Saturday, and one final review on Sunday. To keep up with this breakneck pace, we needed to round up a special breed of writer . . . and three fine examples of that special breed are on display here today. They are:

- From This Week in Hardcore and That Was Then,Stuart Carapola. He does a lot of these things. He is to Roundtable Reviews what Wilt Chamberlin was to women.

- From The Complete Playbook, Ryan Mancuso. I had to go through his contribution and edit out the many references to "LARRRRRRRRRITOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOs."

- From the Movie Zone's Doctor in the Hall News Report, Ben Moser. He automatically gets big cool points because his name rhymes with "Gozer," who is one of the greatest movie villains in history.

These three men are set to review Summerslam 1997. Though the majority of the people credit the Survivor Series of '97 as the beginning of the "Attitude Era," the vast majority of its pieces were already in place by Summerslam. Shawn Michaels was teetering on the verge of heel-dom, Steve Austin was teetering on the edge of superstardom, and Bret Hart was teetering on the edge of getting screwed out of everything that he had worked so hard to achieve. This show, however, was all about Hart and his Foundation, which came in to the pay per view as the strongest heels in wrestling, with almost all of the members being booked in matches against singles rivals that had some high stakes. Every one of those matches had the potential to be quite good from bell to bell as well, and we'll see now whether that potential was lived up to.

Match Number One: Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Mankind in a Steel Cage Match

Ryan Mancuso: These two men had been feuding for the summer of 1997. It started when Triple H defeated Mankind to win the finals of the 1997 King of the Ring. After the match, Triple H continued to assault Mankind. They had a rematch at the great Canadian Stampede PPV a month later, but there was not a decisive finish. This cage match would end the rivalry. Even though this was the feud ended, they did have a rematch at Madison Square Garden late September in 1997 where Foley's most famous persona, Cactus Jack, made his WWE debut. I thought this was a solid opener, but disappointing considering that these two men have had much better matches. They did a few cool things with the cage such as Triple H superplexing Mankind off there to a hard fall on the mat. Despite Chyna interfering for Triple H many times in the match, it was Mankind who pulled out the victory when he jumped off the cage with an elbowdrop and climbed out over the top of the cage. After the match, Dude Love's music played and Foley transformed into that persona for some time.

Stuart Carapola: HHH had beaten Mankind in the King of the Ring finals, and they went to a double DQ in a wild brawl at Canadian Stampede, and Mankind finally beat Helmsley here. Mankind took a sick shot when Chyna slammed the cage door on his head, but came back and was about to come over the top of the cage to the floor, but instead went back up and dove off the top of the cage Snuka-style, then made his escape for the win.

Ben Moser: The first Hunter/Foley feud. With the H's running towards the end of his "Connecticut Blueblood" gimmick and Foley having started to make his WWF transformation from Mankind to "Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy" by way of Dude Love. We'd been getting the hard luck/hard work story from Foley's end(including him being in The Garden for Snuka's top-of-the-cage dive), and the H's end was all "you're so ugly and I'm so rich, so I'm going to bow." The strangest thing about this match is seeing the crowd not care about Hunter at all. But Foley is insanely over, natch, now that we've been treated to some of his real personality. Also of note is the pre-surgery Chyna, who ends up taking a few extra bumps for good measure. The match itself has lots of cage usage, which is fun. Actually, the whole match is pretty fun in spite of Hunter not yet having progressed to ring-general status and relying mostly on knee-based offense. We get a Cactus Jack-styled elbow from the top of the cage from Foley in a tribute to the Snuka dive at The Garden, and Mankind gets a win. Both were destined for greater things, including a much greater feud.

Match Number Two: Goldust vs. Brian Pillman

Ryan Mancuso: This had a stipulation where if Goldust won then Pillman has to wear a dress on RAW the next night. If Pillman won, then he gets to have his way with Marlena for 30 days. This would have been a really good match before Pillman's unfortunate car accident which messed up his ankle and limited his movement in the ring. Sadly, Pillman's demons were also catching up with him. The action was nothing to write home about. Goldust scored the pin when Marlena nailed Pillman with her loaded purse. Pillman had to suffer some public humiliation the next night on RAW.

Stuart Carapola: Sadly, this match displayed little more than how much Pillman had deteriorated due to his leg injury. He was really little more than a shadow of his former self here.

Ben Moser: Oooh, let's embarrass the Hart Foundation with whacky stipulations, part I. Once again, some quick interweb research shows that Pillman wasn't long for this world at the time of this match. Sadly, it shows. So rather than harp on the rather poor quality of the match and the rather ridiculous stipulation attached to the match, I'd like to say that Brian Pillman was an amazing performer and it's a shame that he had to leave us so soon while his former Hollywood Blondes partner will probably still be on WWE TV well into his 60's making the 20-something talent look foolish(in spite of being a 63-year-old cripple) after delivering a weak stunner and pouring beer in his mouth only to let every bit of it fall to the floor and giving lame middle finger salutes to the delight of a WWE audience that still doesn't know any better. Just. Sad. Goldust wins via Marlena-terference.

Match Number Three: The Legion of Doom vs. The Godwinns

Ryan Mancuso: This match was the result of Henry O. Godwinn suffering a broken neck from taking the Doomsday Device from The Legion of Doom. I was not expecting much from this match, but this was way better than what I had expected. It still was not great, but it was not bad either. The only part I didn't care for the extended beatdown on Animal during the middle of the match. They played off Henry's neck injury with the finish when Hawk spiked him with a piledriver.

Stuart Carapola: The LOD had accidentally broken Henry Godwinn's neck some time earlier, and the Godwinns turned heel and came for revenge. LOD gets the win with a spike piledriver.

Ben Moser: We get some pretty good tag team stuff here, but LOD is obviously past their prime and you can tell that Hog Farming Cousins isn't a golden gimmick anymore for the Godwinns. I find the WWF in this pre-Attitude era but post Blue Collar Job + Wrestler = Gimmick era very interesting. They haven't found their footing yet and are willing to try a little of everything. Really sick-looking spike pile driver finishes this one.

Match Number Four: Davey Boy Smith (c) vs. Ken Shamrock for the WWF European Championship

Ryan Mancuso: This was back in the day when Ken Shamrock had a proud legacy. The former King of Pancrase and UFC Superfight Champion was trying his hand in pro wrestling with the WWE. 3 years before Kenny gassed out in the Fujita fight and said the famous "Petey, My Heart" line. Out of all the King of Pancrase's from the open hand palm strike and leglock era, Ken was definitely behind Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, Bas Rutten and Frank Shamrock in coolness factor. The angle behind this match was that if Bulldog loses the match then he would have to eat a can of dog food. With Shamrock's inexperience in full time pro wrestling, it was solid match with a lot of basic moves and holds. Bulldog tries to humiliate Shamrock by smearing dog food on his face. Shamrock snaps by beating everyone in sight. This included Bulldog, referees and road agents. I will say that outburst definitely helped Shamrock gain popularity with wrestling fans.

Stuart Carapola: See, at the time they'd get Shamrock (who was a legit UFC badass) out of doing actual jobs by having him "snap and go too far," resulting in him getting disqualified. That's basically what happened here. Shamrock snaps again after the match and beats up a bunch of referees.

Ben Moser: Oooh, let's embarrass the Hart Foundation with whacky stipulations, part II. Shamrock would get better, but still sells Bulldog's power stuff like a champ. The match itself is a fun wrestling match right up until about three-quarters of the way in, when Shamrock just looks like he can't go anymore. I know that his UFC matches didn't last longer than a few seconds, but I really thought he would have been in better shape than that. The end of the match is what should be particularly noted. Bulldog wins via DQ after smearing the dog food in Shamrock's face which causes Shamrock to go into his trademark "snap" and choke out the Bulldog until he's finally pulled off. The audience was eating that up with a spoon, and Shamrock would end up getting massively over.

Match Number Five: Los Boricuas vs. DOA

Ryan Mancuso: This was an 8-man tag during the Gang Warz era of WWE. I got the feeling there were some racial hostility with this Gang Warz stuff. Maybe I'm totally off base with that feeling, but that was the vibe I was getting. The Nation of Domination got involved in this match. These matches were not too good during this rivalry. This was no different as it was just a dull brawl. Ahmed Johnson nailed Chainz, also known as Brian Lee, with the Pearl River Plunge. Miguel Perez Jr. covered Chainz for a Los Boriquas victory. Not surprisingly, there was more brawling after the match.

Stuart Carapola: Next.

Ben Moser: So. Farooq does some spring cleaning in the Nation of Domination. The ousted members form their own gangs and proceed to fight with...each other. Make sense? Good. This thing is a cluster of nonsense that gets even harder to keep track of once the Nation 2.0 (featuring Farooq, D-Lo, Ahmed Johnson, and Kama/Godfather/Papa Shango/Goodfather; but still no Rocky) hits the scene. In the nonsense and confusion, Johnson(who looks like he could eat the New England Patriots' offensive line alive without much effort at this point) hits the Pearl River Plunge on one of the Harris Brothers for Los Boriquas to pick up the win. I had a scorecard and this match didn't make any sense to me.

Match Number Six: Owen Hart (c) vs. Steve Austin for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Ryan Mancuso: This was the infamous match where Owen's piledriver messed up Austin's neck for the rest of his career. Before the piledriver happened, this was a great match. It started out with Owen and Austin trading holds. The pace would pick up with Austin using his brawling and Owen using his technique with suplexes. It looked like they were going to the finish when that piledriver happened. Owen stalls and Austin has enough to cradle Owen for the pin. It was a weak cradle because there was no pressure on Owen's shoulders. Considering the circumstances, it was a miracle that Austin could move at all. Thankfully Austin was okay, at least as okay as he'll ever be, and the WWE was able to gain a huge boom with Austin as the top star.

Stuart Carapola: Austin really was in very bad shape after taking the piledriver, but somehow was able to (very gingerly) roll up Owen and get the pin. Unbelievable that Austin had it in him to finish the match despite the injury. This was right before I got on the internet, so I thought the whole thing was just a work. Just goes to show.

Ben Moser: Austin before this match and after this match is like looking at night and day. Good wrestling stuff here except Owen's strange desire to work the hand. Owen does a simply amazing cocky heel. I mean, he is the kid in 3rd grade who just knew he was the best at everything. It's still absolutely a joy to watch anything with a heel Owen in it. Now, after switching to working Austin's neck, we get the big injury. In a tombstone reversal sequence, Austin lands badly and changes the way he's going to be able to wrestle forever. It's kind of strange to see knowing how severe the injury is now. Austin is super-human, and they take home a weak-looking(but given the circumstances, entirely forgivable) cradle ending and Austin becomes your new champ. From here on out, there'd be much less wrestling from Steve and much more "mud hole stomping."

Match Number Seven: Bret Hart (c) vs. The Undertaker for the WWF Championship

Ryan Mancuso: The stipulation of this match was that if Bret Hart did not win the WWE Title, then he can never wrestle in the United States again. This meant that if Bret won the match by DQ or countout, then the banishment would take place. It was a pretty smart move to subtly tell your audience that they weren't going to get a cop out ending with Bret winning the match, but allowed to continue wrestling in the United States despite not winning the title. There was a stipulation for HBK in that if he favored Undertaker in any way during the match, then he would also be banished from wrestling in the United States as well. This was a really good match, but probably my least favorite of the Bret vs. Taker matches. They had better matches at Royal Rumble 1996 and the U.K. exclusive PPV One Night Only that is on the Bret DVD. The reason I felt that way was because the winner to me was not in doubt. It was just a wait for when HBK would accidentally cost Taker the belt. The buildup felt too slow, but the finish was good. Bret and HBK argued. It looked like HBK was going to nail Bret with the chair, and risk his wrestling career in the US. However, Bret got out of the way and nailed Taker instead. Bret covered, and HBK covered reluctantly for the pin that allowed Bret to be a 5-time WWE champion. This match would also plant the seeds for the birth of Degeneration X.

Stuart Carapola: The story here was that Shawn Michaels, Bret's arch enemy, was signed to be the guest referee, but would never be allowed to wrestle in the United States again if he didn't call the match fairly. Bret spent the whole match trying to provoke Michaels, and finally did by spitting at him. Michaels grabbed a chair and swung it, but Bret ducked and Michaels hit the Undertaker. Bret covered and, in order to keep his job, Michaels had no choice but to count the fall and hand the WWF Title to his greatest enemy. The blame for costing the Undertaker the WWF Title wowuld lead to Michaels turning heel the next night and forming DX.

Ben Moser: Oooh, let's embarrass the Hart Foundation with whacky stipulations, part III. Got all that? This match is historically significant for a ton of reasons. The Michaels heel turn here would lead to the initial formation of De-Generation X. The Michaels-Undertaker issue would lead to the first-ever Hell-in-a-Cell Match, which would itself feature the debut of Kane. The unfinished business between Michaels and Bret that is left unspoken at the end of this match is the setup for the big fat Montreal Screw-job that one or two of you may have read about. So. How's the match? It goes like this. 1. Slow, but methodical start. 2. Fast-paced middle. 3. Drama-filled ending, which I love in spite of myself. Shawn take the ref bump, making Bret think it's okay to grab a chair. Bret waffles Undertaker with said chair. Shawn only counts two and takes the chair. Bret and Shawn argue. Bret spits on Shawn. Shawn takes a swing, missing Bret and re-waffling a newly up-and-at-'em 'Taker. Shawn lets a bad word fly and counts 3. Bret wins. And the crowd is livid. I don't normally dig these kinds of finishes, but the story actually demanded a finish like this. The build to that finish alone makes this Summerslam worth checking out.

Final Thoughts

Ryan Mancuso: I felt that Summerslam 1997 was better than 1996. It was similar in that the last two matches delivered. However, the opening cage match is worth watching. Despite being fast forward material for the most part, the undercard was better than 1996's undercard.

Stuart Carapola: Summerslam 1997 was smack in the middle of my personal favorite year as far as WWF storylines goes. Even though the ratings and buyrates came later, I always felt that creatively, 1997 was the peak for the WWF. The wrestling wasn't top notch on this show by any stretch of the imagination, but there was some great storytelling. I may be biased, but this is as good as it gets in my opinion.

Ben Moser: This show is a historical curiosity more than an actual good show. Seeing the birth of Shamrock, one of Pillman's last performances, Austin's neck, and the prelude to so many WWF milestones in the main event is really interesting. I don't know if there's another PPV that resulted in so much. That alone is worth a recommendation, but not the strongest one I can offer.