10 Biggest Mistakes WWE Made In 1997

Booking the Alamodome for the '97 Royal Rumble wasn't the only glaring error...

1997 was a strange year to be a fan of the then-World Wrestling Federation. The previous 12 months hadn't exactly been a rip-roaring success, although it's safe to say that 1996 was vastly superior to an often-horrendous 1995. Even so, there was still relative unease over exactly which direction Vince McMahon would choose to take his promotion in 1997. World Championship Wrestling were looking ominously strong, and they'd seize a tighter grip on the North American market share by the end of the year. Things didn't look as desperate for the WWF as they had done in prior years, but the top of the card was still thin in terms of bankable stars. Throughout the year, that was something McMahon and his cronies backstage would try to address. There are loads of awesome moments from 1997 that have been explored at length by fans over the years. Bizarrely, one of the most distasteful would wind up helping the company in the long run. On the surface, the 'Montreal Screwjob' should have hurt the WWF, but it helped give the new 'Attitude Era' some serious momentum. This article explores 10 of the biggest mistakes the WWF made in 1997. From booking out cavernous arenas they had no hope of filling, to green lighting a supremely dangerous move that injured a fledgling main event star. There were a lot of errors, and they're examined here.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.