10 Times WWE Booked Themselves Into A Corner
1. Survivor Series 1997
Survivor Series 1997 was the ultimate example of screwing oneself, ironically enough. Vince McMahon couldn't have found an easy way out even if he starred in a Survivor-soundtracked montage.
The machinations in play were far more complex to solve retrospectively with a modern lens that does not factor in the old paradigm. Bret Hart was a star; Vince couldn't just cycle him out the mix, and what's more, he was significantly less impulsive in 1997. His grasp of storytelling was stunningly intricate in its long-term vision, the moving parts of which had to be considered very carefully. He didn't want to strap Steve Austin yet; he knew WrestleMania XIV would better power his star. The Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels grudge programme didn't require the title, and that it was so deftly removed from the Dead Man at SummerSlam '97 shaped the next two major programmes. This wasn't the Network era, it was war time, and the slaughtered WWF needed as much narrative and star power as it could generate.
The problem, of course, was that the destination plotted in the summer was untenable. Vince wanted Bret out, but he would not be moved, particularly by Shawn, in Canada, after Shawn had declared he wouldn't put Bret over. Bret would put Austin over, but it wasn't the time. Even the gripping reactive elegance of WWF's '97 booking could not resolve this amicably.
Helpfully, Triple H removed the WWF from the corner by being the embryonic ruthless politician he would become. Let's just screw him, he said, changing the course of the industry forever.