411 Video Review: Wrestlefest 97

This show was called Revenge of the Taker when it aired on Pay Per View but it was released on video as Wrestlefest 1997.

Live from Rochester, NY. Your hosts are Vince, King and JR.

The Sultan (w/The Iron Sheik and Bob Backlund) v. Flash Funk (w/Funkettes)

The Sultan is now known as Rikishi. Funk turns his back on Sultan and gets his ass kicked. Funk uses his speed to control and dropkicks Sultan off his feet. Sultan bails and Funk misses a baseball slide. Back in- Sultan no-sells a DDT and superkicks him. Sultan works him over but misses a blind charge. Spinning heel kick by Funk and a 450 Splash gets two. Funk goes for a top-rope hurricrana (idiot) which Sultan counters into a powerbomb for the win. Ѕ*

Owen Hart and the British Bulldog v. The Legion of Doom for the WWF Tag Titles

Owen and Animal start. Animal kicks his ass. Lockup- Owen goes low and hammers away. Animal counters a front facelock by throwing in. Tag Davey Boy. Hawk tags in and gets a clothesline and kneedrop for two. Hawk puts his head down allowing Bulldog to come back. Standing vertical suplex (nine seconds) and he tags in Owen. Hawk blocks the Sharpshooter and gets a clothesline on Owen. Tag Animal. Powerslam gets two. Animal with a resthold as Austin arrives and is confronted by Patterson. Animal with a press slam and hairslam on Owen. Tag Hawk. Top-rope splash gets two. Hawk takes a face first corner bump but elbows Owen while going down. Enziguri by Owen and Bulldog is tagged back in to make Hawk the official face in peril. Hawk counters a sleeper with some slams and some heel miscommunication befalls the Bulldog and Owen. Hot tag Animal and he hist a top-rope slam for the pin and the titles. BUT WAIT! Animal pinned the illegal man so the match is restarted. Bulldog and Owen aren’t too happy and they seem to want to take a leave. BUT WAIT! If they leave and don’t come back by the count of 10- they lose the belts. They make it in at 9.999999. Owen dumps Hawk and Animal goes after Bulldog. Owen is tagged in and hits a spinning heel kick and stomps away to make Animal the face-in-peril. Animal gets a sunset flip but Owen is explaining to the referee how the free healthcare in Canada works and the ref is delayed making the tag. Owen comes in and misses something- hot tag Hawk. Hawk cleans house. Doomsday Device to Owen but Bret runs in for the DQ finish. Well that was stupid. *3/4

Dok Hendrix is with Owen and Davey. They seem to be shocked that Austin is here.

Kevin Kelly is with Rocky. Rocky shows no sign of the charisma he would grow to have.

Rocky Maivia v. Savio Vega (w/Nation of Domination) for the WWF I-C Title

It’s funny seeing a bunch of kids in the crowd do the Nation salute. This is when the NOD had PG-13. I have no idea what the backstory was here.

Savio tries to attack but Rocky hammers away and takes out a member of PG-13.Rocky with some armdrags as Faarooq comes out. Rocky with an armbar as Faarooq joins us for commentator as Rocky hits more armdrags. The crowd is so in awe of the future seven time champion that they’re in complete silence. Savio with a nice kick in the corner that causes him to fall out of the ring. Savio works Rocky over as half of the screen is focused on Faarooq talking. Damn. If they don’t care why should I? The match is back to full screen as Savio hooks a nerve hold. Rocky gets a small package for two as a Faarooq basically hypes next months NOD v. Ahmed gauntlet match. Rocky gets a bridge pinfall but D-Lo is distracting the ref. Again we get the split screen with Faarooq as Savio beats on Rocky. Faarooq reveals he speaks Ebonics. Rocky gets the layin’ the smackdown DDT before he ever laid on any smack down. Savio rolls him up for two (He beat him like that a week ago). Savio misses a blind charge and Rocky gets a backdrop suplex. Belly to belly-two. Rock Bottom….gets two. Backslide-two. Savio tosses Rocky outside the ring onto Crush. Crush with the heart push on the outside and Rocky is counted out to end this atrocity. DUD Way to make your champ look like a pussy. That’s bullshit finish #2 for the night. Rocky would lose the title to Owen soon after.

Savio and Crush get into a squabble over the finish but they decide to make up by beating on Rocky. Ahmed shows up with a 2x4to chase the bad guys away. Ahmed accepts Faarooq’s challenge for next month.

Dok is with Sable and Marc Mero. A commotion is heard in the mens bathroom. Owen and Bulldog come out of the bathroom with weapons. They both notice the camera and do hilarious double takes. Apparently they beat up Austin.

Jesse Jammes v. ???? (w/Honky Tonk Man)

For a long time Honky Tonk Man has been looking for a protйgй to be the next Honky Tonk Man. Billy Gunn and Jessie Jammes have both rebuffed Honky with James

Honky Tonk Man comes out and reveals that his protйgй- Rockabilly a.k.a. Billy Gunn. Billy Gunn dances his way to the ring.

JR talks to Honky and points out that Billy rejected him two weeks so why is he his protйgй now? Honky is like: Well ummm yea

Jesse Jammes v. Rockabilly

THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS EXPLODE!! Rockabilly stomps away to start but Jammes clotheslines him out and hits a flying clothesline off the apron onto Rockabilly. That was a cool spot. Back in- Rockabilly begs off but rakes the eyes and hits the Fameasser for two. Rockabilly stomps away and works him over with his scintillating restholds. Jammes comes back with clotheslines and the ten punches. Running clothesline but Rockabilly dumps James outside. Back in- Jammes gets a small package for the win. ј* Way to build up the new guy. Jammes avoids an El Kabonging. The next night on RAW Rockabilly would defeat Jammes.

Kevin Kelly is with Steve Austin. No matter what- Austin is fighting. Gorilla Monsoon makes Mankind v. Taker next to buy Austin time.

Lance Wright is with the Hart Foundation who plead innocence to attacking Austin.

Dok is with Paul and Mankind who cut their usual creepy promo.

Undertaker v. Mankind (w/Paul Bearer) for the WWF Title

Mankind destroyed Taker with a fireball to set this up.

Okay- NOW the show should stop sucking. Mankind brings a fire extinguisher to the ring. Mankind attacks to start but Taker destroys Mankind with punches. Mankind hammers away as Vince says ‘imagine him as WWF champion’. Taker does the zombie situp but Mankind comes back with the Cactus clothesline. Taker lands on his feet however and chucks Mankind into the railing. Taker one-ups that by chucking Mankind over the rail into the crowd where they brawl. Taker rams him into the rail twice and rolls him back in. Taker works on the arm and goes Old School. He accidentally lets go of him so he dives off the ropes onto him instead. Mankind blocks the Tombstone and Taker goes after Paul Bearer allowing Mankind to bop him with the urn for two. Mankind pulls out his hair and hits his running knee. They slug it out with Taker winning. Mankind gets a neckbreaker for two and goes to the nerve hold to slow it down. Taker comes back with some bodyshots and hammers away at Mankind sending him to the outside. They brawl on the outside with Mankind meeting the steps. Mankind nails Taker with a water pitcher. Mankind gets a steel chair and nails Taker in the head. Mankind with a flying elbow to the outside. Mankind works on his face. Back in- Mankind hits a piledriver for two. Another piledriver as they continue to talk about how weird Mankind as champion would be. Taker starts coming back with punches and hits a flying clothesline. Taker works him over but the referee gets bumped. Mankind gets the Mandible Claw- no ref. Another ref runs in but he gets clawed. Paul Bearer throws Mankind a chair but Mankind opts for the ring steps. Taker pops-up and dropkicks the steps onto Mankind and now he’s PISSED. Taker SMOKES him with a chairshot. Mankind gets caught in the ropes a la Germany 94 and he loses his mask. Mankind stands on the apron and Taker runs the stairs into him and Mankind goes flying HEADFIRST RIGHT THROUGH THE TABLE!!!!! Yep- Mankind sure is crazy. Chokeslam gets 2.9999999. Tombstone gets three. Except for the nerve hold in the middle this was an action packed match with some crazy bumping and some good ole Taker asskicking. ***3/4

Taker stalks Paul Bearer and Taker sends him into Mankind who was supposed to fireball him. But Mankind fumbles with the flame and can’t light it. He tries again but Mankind has trouble so Taker takes it form himself. Taker has trouble lighting the damn thing until he finally gets it off and lights into his face. Would’ve been cooler had they not screwed up.

Paul Bearer would eventually change his appearance because of this and begin telling Taker about a brother he had. You know- Kane.

Dok is with the Hart Foundation. Bret cuts another great promo

Bret “Hitman” Hart (w/Bulldog and Owen) v. Stone Cold Steve Austin

This was supposed to be Bret v. Sid but I think Sid got hurt or went to play softball or something. WWF realised how hot Austin v. Bret was and decided to let them carry another PPV.

Gorilla Monsoon sends Bulldog and Owen to the back and takes a seat and watches the match.

They slug it out with Austin winning. Austin stomps away and gets an elbow. Suplex and he gives Bret a hard stomp. Bret bails but Austin flies out after him and they brawl on the outside with Bret going into the steps. Austin rams Bret into the steps again and shoots Gorilla a stinkeye. He mocks one of Bret’s poses, goes outside and lets Bret get close with the stairs again. He chucks Bret over the rail and Austin jumps off the rail with an axehandle on him. Austin brings Bret back into the ring and hits a middle-rope elbow for two. Bret bails. Bret gets a chair but Austin takes him down. Austin nails Bret to block a chairshot and he works him over. Austin gets the chair but Bret kicks Austin into the referee who is out. Bret goes medieval on Austin with the chair until the ref wakes up. Bret works on Austin’s knee. Austin stomps away to come back but Bret kicks at his leg to keep in control. Bret with the RINGPOST FIGURE FOUR! The ref is distracted so Bret hits him in the knee with a chair and keeps working on it as the crowd is getting anti-Bret. Austin keeps trying to come back but Bret always works on the knee to control. They cut to them leading Paul Bearer away from the arena as Bret takes off Austin’s knee brace and continues to work him over. Austin bails and Bret gets a blow that was kinda low if you know what I mean. Bret comes in and Austin gets a retaliatory ball shot. Austin with an elbow and he chokes Bret out with tape. Austin misses a middle rope elbow and Bret goes back to the knee. Austin drops him on the top-rope but Bret blocks a suplex to the outside and suplexes him back in. Bret locks in the figure four. Austin reverses but Bret makes the ropes. Bret goes downstairs again but Austin blocks a ringpost figure four. They brawl on the outside and Austin backdrops him into the crowd. Damn- Bret is bumping his ass off tonight. They brawl into the crowd and back on the outside. Back in- Bret does face first corner bump and Austin hammers away for two. Austin goes for a piledriver but his leg gives away. You gotta love the PSYCHOLOGY!~ Bret works him over but Austin gets a StunGun out of nowhere for two. Austin goes for the stunner but Bret goes into the ropes. Bret’s trick knee acts up and Austin gets groined. Bret with a superplex and he FINALLY goes for the Sharpshooter. Austin blocks it by nailing him with the knee brace and he puts Bret in the Sharpshooter but Bulldog and Owen run in. Austin fights them off and hooks the Sharpshooter again. Bulldog runs in with a chair for the DQ. ****1/4

Bret tries to get his shots in with the chair but Austin beats the hell out of him with a chair and locks in the Sharpshooter. Bulldog and Owen pull Bret out as the show goes off the air.

I can understand the weak ending here since they didn’t want to job either of them cleanly to save this match for a blowoff down the road. I also understand why Bret didn’t put Austin the Sharpshooter for the longest time because they didn’t want Austin escaping it or making the ropes because that would ruin the Wrestlemania finish.

While not as memorable as their Wrestlemania 13 encounter this match was still excellent. Instead of an all out bloody brawl they slowed it down and decided to do a match more based on psychology while still having crazy bumps and crowd popping spots.

The RAW the next night is much more memorable and you can read what happened in Sydney Brown’s review which is at- http://www.411wrestling.com/videos/article.php?videos_id=602

The Bottom Line- The show really sucks until the last two matches. Bret v. Austin is enough to make this a mild recommendation as like Benoit and Angle- these guys can’t have a bad match. Mankind and Taker is also pretty kick ass as well.

Mildly Recommended