10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 1997
4. A Royal Replacement For Stone Cold Steve Austin
Having spent years as bitter rivals in WWE canon, it was quite the jaw-dropping turnabout from Jerry Lawler when he started favouring newly-minted heel Bret Hart in the summer of 1997.
This - as with most things ‘The King’ did for the market leader - didn’t really count in Tennessee. Or at very least only counted with ‘The Hitman’ himself. In local markets, Jerry was the eternal babyface hero in contrast to any of the local heel threats and/or those he opposed on WWE television.
As a result, he worked a unique match as, effectively, a fill-in for none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin the night before WWE pay-per-view Ground Zero: In Your House. At that show, Austin and Dude Love surrendered the Tag Team Championships due to the devastating neck injury sustained by ‘The Rattlesnake’ against Owen Hart. 24 hours earlier though, Dude and ‘The King’ defeated Owen and Davey Boy Smith in a best-case scenario house show make-good.In the weeks that followed, Lawler was one of several company figures Austin hit with the Stunner as he convalesced.
For one night, he was the audience’s surrogate for the industry’s fastest-rising star.