10 Highest Attended Non-WrestleMania Events In WWE History

After some dark years in the mid-1990s, the WWF kicked off 1997 in a big way with the Royal Rumble coming from San Antonio, Texas and drawing over 60,000 to the Alamodome.

While the event did feature quite a few comped tickets, the large crowd was meant to serve as a statement that WWF would not roll over and allow WCW to take over the wrestling landscape. Despite the show only drawing 280,000 buys (one of the lowest in history), live event attendance steadily climbed in 1997, helping to launch the Attitude Era later that year.

Much of the crowd came to see the hometown boy Shawn Michaels reclaim the WWF title from Sid after dropping it at Survivor Series. This would be one of the last appearances of the squeaky clean babyface Shawn before his character changed forever later in the year.

Michaels would surrender the title due to a 'knee injury' a short time later, kicking off the real-life rivalry with Bret Hart that would culminate at Survivor Series 1997.

In the Rumble itself, Steve Austin claimed his first of three victories in the match. Despite being pushed as a mega-heel, Austin got a showcase spot in the Rumble and was clearly one of the crowd's favorites.

Austin was actually eliminated by Bret Hart but the referees were occupied. Stone Cold managed to sneak back in and win the match, cementing his status as a main event guy and giving Bret Hart another reason to whine.