WWE In 1997 | Wrestling Timelines

In the first allusion to Kane, Paul Bearer cuts a promo on Raw Is War. Having been burned by a fireball launched by the Undertaker, Bearer says that their bond has been “seared”. Bearer offers ‘Taker one last chance to reconcile - or else, he’ll reveal the Undertaker’s darkest secret. ‘Taker, fearful of the truth, begrudgingly goes along with it. 

Meanwhile, this is the night on which the Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels saga reaches a stage of inexorable chaos. 

Bret Hart is confined to a wheelchair as a result of Steve Austin’s frenzied attack when he shares an iconic segment with Shawn Michaels. Bret and Shawn are feuding over the direction the WWF is taking, but the feud is taking another direction of its own. It’s getting ugly. Bret resents Shawn for sullying the WWF’s family-friendly image which, as the man who steadied the promotion in the wake of the steroids scandal, is of great importance and proud to him. Shawn thinks Bret is a boring loser who is getting in the way. This animosity is compounded by an intense professional jealousy; Bret remains convinced that Shawn didn’t want to put him over, despite conceding that he too knows a thing or two about obscuring the extent of a knee injury, whereas Shawn is convinced that Bret only did the job in 1996 to get his win back, and never had any intention of allowing Shawn to be the guy. Shawn is so adamant that he was no transitional champion that he’d rather set the World Wrestling Federation on fire. 

As Bret rages about Shawn’s contempt for family values, he says Shawn doesn’t have the “insides” to hit him. Shawn drops him with Sweet Chin Music; in a great bit of physical comedy, Bret crashes down onto and falls out of the chair in one seamless motion. Bret willingly plays the stooge idiot, but the problem is that this happens off air. Bret reckons he missed the cue over the noise in the arena, but it’s notable that this happens only when he’s cast as the fool. (This will be replayed, and will be remembered fondly in spite of the botch, but it feels at the time like the moment is lost). 

Bret is often cast as the sympathetic protagonist, Shawn the careerist dickhead antagonist, but perhaps Shawn is right to be furious here. After all, Bret never botches. He never makes a mistake, and is very enthusiastic about letting people know this at virtually all times. That said, the receipt is something else.