7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 1997

5. Vader Pinned Undertaker Thanks To Paul Bearer

The Undertaker and Vader are two of the best big men performers ever in terms of having good matches. However, their match at the 1997 Rumble was very underwhelming. This was during the period where Paul Bearer had turned on The Undertaker and aligned himself with Mankind. Following a comeback by The Undertaker, Bearer walked down to the ring with the urn. Undertaker dropped Vader with a Chokeslam and looked like he was ready to finish him off. Undertaker knocked down Bearer with a punch and then brought him in the ring. Bearer recovered, saved Undertaker from an attack. Following a Bearer attack with the urn to the back of Undertaker's head, Vader hit his Vader Bomb splash for the win. It was the beginning of Bearer's run as the manager of Vader. WWE wanted to make Vader a strong heel again after ending 1996 on a sour note. It didn't really work in the long run. They actually had a better match later in 1997 at the Canadian Stampede PPV. Perhaps it was a case of them not working that often prior to this match, so they got better as they got used to working with eachother.
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