WWE In 1997 | Wrestling Timelines

10. September 20, 1997 | One Night Only

Behind only Canadian Stampede as the best top-to-bottom PPV offering of the year, One Night Only is an excellent show with a bleak, hateful conclusion. 

Well, the second half is; the undercard is typically flat and boring, though the intense crowd noise summoned by an under-served market helps. Vader’s win over Owen Hart is one of the more fun midcard offerings of the year, where Bret Hart’s DQ win over the Undertaker is a long, twisting match that is better promoted in Birmingham than in the United States, where they may have lost the crowd. The main event is thrilling, dramatic, and disgusting.

Shawn Michaels does not need the European title. Well beneath him even as a struggling babyface, he’s fast becoming the hottest heel in the promotion. As such, you could argue that he can’t withstand a loss, but this is a UK-exclusive pay-per-view. It doesn’t really count. Shawn however is at his most egotistical, defensive, and power-hungry. He petitions to beat the British Bulldog under the idea that it makes more sense to build a rematch a year later. It might not be too cynical to state that Shawn knows full well that he will be in a different stratosphere to Davey Boy Smith by that point. 

The ring is littered with trash in the post-match. The Bulldog, when tentatively planned to win, had promised his home nation that he would get the job done in honour of his dying sister. Shawn plays politics regardless. He gets his heel turn, a belt he doesn’t even want, and, almost instantly, Bret’s spot.