10 Biggest Mistakes WWE Made In 1997

3. Overestimating The Draw For The Royal Rumble

Seeking to capitalise on home-town boy Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon booked the absolutely massive Alamodome building in San Antonio, Texas for the 1997 version of the Royal Rumble. The capacity of the arena was in excess of 60,000, a number the WWF hadn't drawn for any show in quite some time. Even WrestleMania in 1996, the biggest event of the year, had only pulled in just shy of 20,000. That didn't matter to Vince, he thought Michaels deserved this big platform. When the show was booked, Shawn was going to be taking the WWF Heavyweight Title back from Vader. Sadly, HBK didn't enjoy working with the behemoth, and he instead dropped the belt to Sycho Sid at Survivor Series in November. The plan for the Rumble was that he would have his redemption and once again be crowned champ. The WWF wasn't a hot product in January, 1997, so it's hardly surprising that ticket sales were slower than management wanted. Around 30,000 were sold legitimately, almost half of the Alamodome's capacity. This wasn't good enough for McMahon, and the event ended up being heavily papered. A smaller building should have been booked, instead of letting around 30,000 in for free.