WWE In 1997 | Wrestling Timelines

31. January 19 | Royal Rumble

The 1997 Royal Rumble show is strange. While ostensibly gigantic, it feels off, suspicious, even before you become aware of the frantic desperation required to paper the Alamodome. 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley retains the Intercontinental title by pinning Goldust in an interminable 17 minute match, the tedium of which somehow isn’t enough to put an end to an interminable feud; in a bleak sign of the times, this gets rematched at WrestleMania 13. Triple H has Chyna to thank for getting him over this year. The WWF looks big in San Antonio, with a purported 60,477 fans packed into the Alamodome, but doesn’t feel it. 

Ahmed Johnson goes over Faarooq by disqualification in another rubbish effort, some ringside destruction aside. It’s actually better than the Undertaker’s loss to Vader; they’d develop some chemistry deeper into the year, but this is another slow, nothing-happening match. While it’s an odd sight to see El Canek, Hector Garza and Perro Aguayo going over Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal and Jerry Estrada, it’s explained by the WWF’s desperation: the promotion hastily struck up a relationship with AAA to tempt the Hispanic locals into attending the show. If the WWF was truly hot, the roster would be an attraction unto itself. The WWF is not hot; the regular tickets were priced very low, and to arrive at the “paid” number of 48,000, 20,000 of the overall tickets were sold as $5-7 coupons added to Taco Bell orders. 

In a shock move, Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the Royal Rumble match, which is one of the better titular matches in its history. Austin only wins in storyline because the referees had failed to spot his elimination by Bret Hart; he only wins in reality because Vince Russo as Vic Venom wanted to appear smart, heavily implying on LiveWire that originally scheduled winner Bret Hart was set to win. This compounds the weirdness of a show that couldn’t have been that big; it was down 27% at the PPV box office from Royal Rumble 1996, which didn’t exactly do amazingly well. 

In his supposedly glorious hometown moment, Shawn Michaels regains the WWF title at the expense of Sid. It’s no repeat of the Survivor Series 1996 miracle match, though it’s marginally the second best thing on the show. One of the more difficult WWE shows to analyse, it’s most easily reduced as an attempt to artificially inflate the popularity of Shawn Michaels as the top babyface. Not only does it not work, it’s pointless…