The Name on the Marquee: WWF Survivor Series 1997 (11.09.97)

All right, happy 28th birthday to me! Thank you to Ben for the Three Stooges calendar, thank you to Alyssa for the Password 12th Edition game, and thanks to myself for the last present…yeah, go ahead and laugh at me and call me a wimp all you want. Don’t care. I treated myself to volumes 1 & 7.

-We look back at highlights of the Bret vs. Shawn Resthold Challenge from Wrestlemania XII. We then look back at some of the trashtalking and bitching back & forth between them throughout 1997. Onto Summerslam ’97, where Bret became a five-time champion with Shawn’s accidental help.

-It’s November 9, 1997.

-We’re LIVE from Montreal, Quebec. It’s the fascinating transitional period for the company where the word “ass” is used twice in the opening, but tonight’s event is still brought to us by Milton Bradley’s Karate Fighters.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler. Noticably absent from the broadcast position: Vince McMahon.

HEADBANGERS & NEW BLACKJACKS vs. ROAD DOG, “Bad Ass” BILLY GUNN, & GODWINNS
-They aren’t the New Age Outlaws just yet. Road Dog calls the crowd a bunch of “Maple Leaf-lovin’ freaks” which isn’t exactly true of Quebec, and then hits the opposition with an especially clever insult, calling them the Steers & Queers.

-PIG starts with Windham. Shoulderblocks by Windham and PIG goes to the floor to ponder things. Road Dogg convinces him to come back. Right hand by Windham back inside the ring. Bodyslam by Windham and here’s Bradshaw with a powerslam for two. PIG gets some offense in and tries to tag, but Dog & Gunn both refuse to tag in. HOG has no such reservations and clubbers Bradshaw’s back. Bradshaw tries a suplex, but it’s countered by HOG for two. Irish whip and a clothesline by Godwinn for two. Bradshaw applies an abdominal stretch on HOG, then rolls over backward to make it a pinning combination for three, and HOG’s gone. First elimination of the night seems to wake up the crowd a bit.

-Fists are exchanged while the crowd begins booing loudly for no clear reason. Windham tags in and charges at PIG, but PIG comes off it with a clothesline for three to eliminate Windham. A clothesline for three? Yep, it’s Survivor Series.

-Mosh drop-toeholds PIG and applies an armbar. PIG punches free and Billy Gunn comes in and helps with a little double-teaming. Billy stomps away at Mosh as the crowd seems to be chanting “Faggot.” Billy gets pissed by that, and that’s a good enough distraction for Mosh to take advantage again. Mosh goes for a bulldog, but Billy counters by faceplanting him for three.

-Tags bring in Thrasher and PIG. Side headlock and a thumb to the eye by Thrasher. Switch to a wristlock as Jerry Lawler finally asks “Where’s McMahon?” and JR assures him that he’s in the building and he’s just a little busy right now. Shoulderblocks and a hiptoss by Thrasher. Armdrag into an armbar. Faceplant by Thrasher, and he goes up top and connects with a vertical splash for three.

-Road Dog comes into the match for the first time and runs right into some double-teaming from Thrasher & Bradshaw. Short lariat followed by a powerbomb from Bradshaw. Billy Gunn distracts him on the apron, and Bradshaw falls prey to schoolboy pin for three. He retaliates by clotheslining Dog & Gunn into mush before leaving.

-Thrasher stomps away at Road Dog, but Gunn offers a knee to the back from the apron to turn things around. Abdominal stretch by Dog, but Thrasher hiptosses free. Road Dog tries a pumphandle slam. Thrasher reverses and tries to pin, but Gunn comes off the top rope with a kick to the head that KOs Thrasher, and that’s enough for the pin. Your survivors are the Road Dog and the Bad Ass. 0 for 1. This was pretty lame, as everybody seemed to come to the ring without a plan and there were actually little moments in the match where they stared at each other like “What next?” So they just drifted through the match and didn’t even really do any memorable spots. It was just “Oh, time signal, we need to eliminate someone” until we got to the end.

DISCIPLES OF APOCALYPSE vs. TRUTH COMMISSION
-Truth Commission was a weird, weird faction introduced in 1997 that played out the following way. A guy called “The Commandant” arrived in the company out of nowhere to say that he was introducing a new faction that hated all things American and that his Commission would be here to spread the truth about the evil decadent nation, and as his first member of the faction, he introduced Bret Hart, who came out, spewed some anti-American venom, and then left. Bret then formed his own faction, the infinitely cooler Hart Foundation and suddenly the Truth Commission was a bunch of new guys (Jackyl, Sniper, Recon, and the Interrogator) that nobody ever heard of and none of them ever said anything. Just marched around and frowned a lot. And then the Commandant left and suddenly The Jackyl became the promo guy of the group, but instead spouted a lot of cult leader-like bullshit, so it was an anti-American group that promoted their agenda by pretending to be a church. Or something.

-DOA charges the ring and it’s an eight-man brawl immediately. Referees get a little order restored and Interrogator (aka Kurrgan) starts with Chainz. Series of punches by Chainz. Interrogator shakes it off and slobbers everywhere, then charges and misses, ramming his head into the turnbuckle. Chainz tries to capitalize, but runs into a sidewalk slam for three.

-Recon punches away at Skull and grounds him. Jackyl hits a knee from the top rope, but Skull no-sells and gets punched. Sidewalk slam by Skull gets three, and Jackyl’s out.

-Sniper elbows Skull down and connects with a bodypress for two. Jackyl arrives at the broadcast table to hang out for the rest of the match. Recon winds up in the wrong corner and gets wailed on for a spell. Belly-to-belly suplex by Crush gets two. JR whips out a reference to “GE College Bowl” to make this a Match of the Year candidate in my book. Skull & 8-Ball pull the ol’ switcheroo and the wrong man pins Recon.

-Sniper returns and Skull traps him in a neckbreaker for two. Double-chokeslam by Skull & 8-Ball, but Interrogator distracts the referee to allow for a breather, so it only gets two. Sniper recovers and bulldogs 8-Ball to eliminate him.

-Snapmare and an elbow by Skull. Crush tags in and suplexes Sniper. Headscissors are clamped on, and Skull tags in to keep punishing him. Skull taunts the Interrogator, but that’s a mistake because he sneaks in and hits a…shit, another sidewalk slam, and that’s three.

-Sniper & Interrogator switch off on Crush to work him over, but Crush gets in a lucky powerslam to eliminate Sniper.

-Interrogator walks in immediately and connects with, sweet Jesus, a sidewalk slam to eliminate Crush. Your sole survivor is the Interrogator. 1 for 2. This flowed MUCH better than the opener, even if four eliminations came from the same move. Everybody seemed to know what they wanted to do and everything unfolded logcally.

-We get some predictions from fans in attendance about who’s winning the main event tonight. Predictions are overwhelmingly in favor of Shawn, it seems.

-We go to the WWF on America Online room, where Kevin Kelly is building a little tower from all the “72 free hours” CDs that have been mailed to him in the past week. Steve Austin offers some threatening words, such as “ass,” while hanging out in there.

-We look back at RAW is War, where a fan by the name of Steve Blackman cleaned house to rescue Vader from an attack.

TEAM U.S.A—VADER, GOLDUST, MARVELOUS MARC MERO, & STEVE BLACKMAN (with Sable)
vs.
TEAM CANADA—“British Bulldog” DAVEY BOY SMITH, JIM “The Anvil” NEIDHART, DOUG FURNAS, & PHILLIP LAFON
-Team USA comes to the ring to the entrance music for the departed Patroit, who is the guy that Blackman is replacing on the team. Team Canada has exactly one Canadian on it, Phillip LaFon. The story on this match is entirely on the USA side, where Mero & Goldust have both just turned heel, so how cohesive will they be with the rest of their team.

-Mero & Bulldog start. Bulldog wipes his ass with an American flag bandana and tosses it at Mero. Mero gets pissed and charges, and Bulldog easily takes care of him and clears him from the ring with a dropkick. Fans nearby start chanting “Sable,” so Mero moves her away from her corner, then tags in Vader. Vader takes full control by throwing his weight around, then goes to the second rope. Bulldog catches him coming off with a slam and a suplex. LaFon steps in and gets avalanched. Mero tags back in and throws a few jabs and knees. LaFon fights back with a spinning kick. Mero gets dazed and stumbles into the wrong corner, and Team Canada pinballs him around. Blackman tags in and shows his stuff with a dropkick and a necksnap. LaFon comes back with a DDT for two. Crucifix gets another two. Team Canada tries ganging up on him, and Blackman clears the entire ring. They gang up on him on the floor a little bit, and that works better because Blackman gets himself counted out.

-Back in the ring, it’s Mero & the Anvil. Anvil misses a charge and gets rolled up for two. Anvil tries a splash and misses. Vader tags in and clotheslines Vader for two. Elbow drop to the nuts by Vader turns the tide, and a big splash gets three to eliminate the Anvil.

-Spinning kick by LaFon knocks Vader over the top rope. Vader gets dominated out there, but back inside Vader takes control again. Belly-to-belly by Vader, and a second rope splash gets the pin. LaFon is…LaGONE. LOL! Epic McWin!

-Furnas comes in and goes right on the offensive, but Vader dodges a dropkick and tags Mero. Mero jabs away and goes to the top rope. Furnas completely fucks up a moonsault-counter spot and it looks ugly. He tags the Bulldog and the referee takes some time to check on Furnas while Bulldog rams Mero into the turnbuckle ten times. Mero tries a sunset flip, but Bulldog blocks and tries for a running powerslam. Mero counters and elbows him down. Furnas comes back in and they trade roll-ups until Furnas finally gets one that sticks and Mero is eliminated.

-Vader hammers Furnas. Both men are wiped out by a clothesline and Bulldog tags in and throws forearms at Vader. Vader tries to tag, but Goldust refuses to tag in. Vader manages to fight off Furnas while he can. Vader tries to tag again and Goldust just walks away. Low blow by Furnas to capitalize. Bulldog comes in and charges, but runs into Vader’s foot. Vader keeps fighting off both opponents while Goldust keeps refusing to tag. Vader finally slaps him across the face, which constitutes a tag, and slingshots him into the ring. Goldust retaliates by just walking away and getting counted out. HUGE heat for that, too.

-So Vader’s back to fighting off both opponents and he manages to connect with a Vader Bomb to eliminate Furnas.

-Bulldog grabs the ring bell and KOs Vader with it and pins him immediately. Your sole survivor: British Bulldog. 2 for 3. Another good match with stories and good action all the way through.

-We take a look at the incredible saga that the Undertaker went through in 1997. Paul Bearer embarrassed and blackmailed the Undertaker into convincing that he accidentally killed his parents and his little brother Kane in a fire as a child, and then turned right around and told him that Kane was still alive. And then in October, a 7-foot-tall masked giant emerged and beat the crap out of Taker. Kane has arrived, and man, when he first got there, he was scary as fuck.

MANKIND vs. KANE (with Paul Bearer)
-This is Kane’s first actual match, after weeks of just randomly showing up and killing people. Mankind meets him on the floor during the entrances and Kane rams him into the stairs a few times. We get into the ring to start the match proper, and your idea-that-seemed-better-on-paper of the night: The entire match will be done in glowing red lights. JR attributes the red glow of the ring to “the mysterious power that Kane has.” Yes, the power to walk up to the lighting guy at the coffee machine and say “Hey, can you put red gels on the lights before my match?”…Very mysterious.

-Kane just mauls Mankind and Mankind gets zero offense. He rips out his own hair to motivate himself, but Kane just boots him down. Kane chokes and chokes and chokes Mankind, and then hits a…what, REALLY? A sidewalk slam?!

-Kane takes him out to the floor and rams him into the stairs again. Kane charges and Mankind finally gets some offense in, booting him in the face and then dropping him facefirst on the stairs. Mankind grabs a chair and smashes it across Kane’s face. Kane goes back into the ring, dazed but not going down.

-Mankind finally grounds him with a piledriver and goes for the mandible claw, but changes his mind and does it to Paul Bearer instead. Kane retaliates by chokeslamming Mankind from the apron into the Spanish broadcast table. Mankind still has life left in him and comes back with an elbow off the apron. He goes to the second rope to do it again, and Kane Flair-slams him to the concrete.

-Kane just goes back in the ring and hangs out for a while until Mankind finally crawls back inside the ring, fights his way to his feet, and struggles over to Kane to finish the match…and Kane just tombstones him and pins him. 3 for 4. I wouldn’t say Mick Foley carried him because Kane really did hold up his end of the match well, but Foley did an incredible job here of using his own strengths to make Kane look like an even bigger monster than he already came across.

-We go to Michael Cole, who talks to Vince McMahon & Commissioner Slaughter, who assure the fans that they have extra security blocking off the dressing rooms and separating Shawn & Bret, ensuring this match WILL happen tonight. Michael asks Vince to pick a winner, and Vince tells him “I don’t know.”

AHMED JOHNSON, KEN SHAMROCK, & LEGION OF DOOM vs. NATION OF DOMINATION
-Hawk starts with D-Lo. Side headlock by D-Lo leads to a series of shoulderblocks that are all no-sold. Piledriver by D-Lo is no-sold and Hawk springs right up and gives him a neckbreaker. D-Lo tags in Rocky, who gets slapped around for a moment until Kama interferes from the apron, and Rock hits the Rock Bottom to get three and eliminate Hawk right there. Crowd seemed shocked by that.

-Ahmed and Kama go at it and Kama gets the advantage there. Faarooq steps in and hits a backbreaker on Ahmed. Faarooq gets a diversion going while the rest of the Nation assaults Ahmed in the corner. Faarooq tries a gutwrench, but Ahmed counters and hits the Pearl River Plunge to eliminate Faarooq.

-D-Lo immediately gets to work and hits a frogsplash on Ahmed. Ahmed no-sells a series of punches and follows with a modified gourdbuster. Rocky tags in and Faarooq trips up Ahmed and hooks his leg to allow Rocky to make the pin, eliminating Ahmed. Ahmed & Faarooq brawl all the way to the locker room.

-Animal puts the boots to Rocky, whips him, and clotheslines him. Shamrock clotheslines him down and dropkicks him beautifully. Rocky gets frustrated and tags Kama. Kama puts the boots to him, but Shamrock kicks right back. Kama tries a charge but misses, and Animal heads back in. Kama boots and clubs Animal. Press slams him across the ring, but then collide on a double-clothesline. Animal recovers and hits a back suplex for two. Animal charges and runs into a boot. D-Lo tries to offer some help but gets cleared from the ring. Kama gets dropkicked into Rocky, knocking him off the apron, and Animal rolls Kama over to pin him.

-Shamrock throws a series of jabs at D-Lo. Rocky steps in to assist with some double-teaming and that turns the tide. Animal and Rocky take their turns and Animal cleans house. Road Dog & Billy Gunn suddenly arrive, wearing LOD’s stolen shoulderpads and with painted faces. They goad Animal into coming out and they throw powder in his face to blind him, causing Animal to get counted out.

-Right hands by D-Lo on Ken Shamrock. Rocky & D-Lo attempt some double-teaming, but Shamrock counters and clotheslines Rocky to the floor. Ankle lock on D-Lo gets the submission.

-Rocky sneaks in with a chair, KOs Shamrock with it, and goes for the pin…but Shamrock kicks out. Rocky boots him down in the corner. Shamrock mounts a comeback, but Rocky stops it cold with a spinning DDT, but that only gets two. Rocky’s distinctive-but-as-yet-unnamed elbow gets two. Short jabs by Shamrock to try to get something going. Suplex by Shamrock and then a ‘rana. Ankle lock is clamped on, and Rocky taps to give the match to Shamrock. 4 for 5. Another well-done match in a series of them.

-We see the D-Generation X entrance video for the first time, promoting the D-Generation X-themed pay-per-view next month.

-We look at the saga of Steve Austin & Owen Hart. Owen injured Austin’s neck so badly at Summerslam that he had to take three months off. The angle here is that Austin couldn’t even get medical clearance for this match, and Vince McMahon made him sign a liability waiver so that the WWF wouldn’t be held responsible of Austin insisted on wrestling tonight.

INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE: OWEN HART (Champion) vs. “Stone Cold” STEVE AUSTIN
-After being held up as “Enemy of Canada #1” for the last seven months, Austin actually gets an impressive pop on his entrance, an unmistakable sign that things were changing and there was no going back. Owen comes to the ring with Team Canada. Fan holds up a sign about Brian Pillman (I can’t tell what it says) and it’s interesting to see Austin stop in his tracks to read it.

-Referee tries to order Team Canada to leave. They won’t, so Austin just gives Neidhart a stunner. Owen tries for the piledriver immediately and Austin backdrops out. Owen decides to target the knee instead and rams it against the post. Team Canada helps Neidhart to the locker room while Austin fights back. Owen gets frustrated and tries to leave, but Austin clotheslines him in the aisle and rams him into the barricade before bringing him back to the ring.

-Brawl goes back out to the floor and we get a weird edit to Owen stomping away at Austin back in the ring. I guess JR was screaming “Benoit! Benoit! WWF! WWF and Benoit!” orgasmically on commentary or something.

-And then just like that, Austin connects with the Stunner to get three and take the gold. 4 for 6. Time of the match: Four minutes. I can understand wanting to keep it short just case Austin still isn’t 100%, but why not just make it a total revenge squash match with Austin dominating?

-We get the historic first-ever WWF Attitude promo. And Bret’s in it for some reason.

WORLD TITLE: BRET “Hit Man” HART (Champion) vs. SHAWN MICHAELS (European Champion)
-Shawn does all kinds of crazy shit to the Canadian flag, as if he needed more heat at this point. Cameras follow both men all the way through the building and to the ring for their entrances, and it’s incredible how effective that is when there’s absolutely nothing left for you to do to build suspense for the match. The look on Bret’s face as he comes to the ring is pretty interesting, falling somewhere between “pissed off” and “worried.” Without really trying to, the cameras end up catching a few anti-Bret signs, all shaming him for being a sell-out.

-Shawn tries to attack before the bell and Bret’s ready for him and punches away before clotheslining him out to the floor. Bret posts him and they brawl on the outside. They keep battling on the floor and they spill into the crowd. Bret keeps beating on him as the Canadian fans encourage him. They make their way back to ringside, where Vince McMahon and a number of right-hand men arrive to try to restore sanity.

-Shawn rams Bret into the stairs, and into the barricade and back into the crowd. They brawl out there a little more. Shawn tries for a piledriver, but Bret counters with a backdrop back over the barricade. They battle it out on the floor. They head into the aisle and Bret backdrops Shawn onto concrete. Suplex by Bret. Pat Patterson tries to get them back to the ring, but Shawn punches him away. They brawl in the aisles as the referees try to break it up, and Tim White gets taken out. JR says it “looks like a locker room in Hartford” as the brawl continues.

-They go right back to the entrance area and Bret attacks Shawn with a fire extinguisher. Vince screams at both of them to “get into the ring” and Bret punches away Jack Doan. They brawl down the aisle with Bret having the decisive advantage all the way back down. He rams Shawn into the barricade and we have another random edit.

-So the match has finally officially started and Bret jars Shawn with an inverted atomic drop. Michaels fights back with a flying forearm. Shawn boots away at the Hit Man as fans uncharacteristically start tossing shit into the ring. There’s a huge cluster of pissed-off fans at the barricade screaming at Shawn and security actually gets a little worried and steps in to hold them back.

-Match goes back out to the floor and punches away at Bret. Gourdbuster on the stairs by Shawn. Shawn then breaks the pole off the Canadian flag and uses it as a weapon. Back to the ring, Shawn heads to the top rope and connects with a double axehandle. Front facelock by Shawn. JR calls it a slap in the face of Bret because a front facelock is one of his signature moves. Wait, what?

-Bret shows a little life and starts working the leg. Shawn fights back and slams Bret down. He goes to the top rope and connects with a bodypress, but Bret rolls through for a two-count. Bret goes right back to work on the leg and rams it into the post. Bret does the post-assisted figure-four leglock. He can’t get a submission out there, of course, so Bret eventually lets go and goes back into the ring. He keeps working the leg as the “Bret Sold Out!” chant erupts and JR hastily starts talking louder to try and drown it out.

-Figure-four in the middle of the ring by Bret. Shawn rolls over to reverse the pressure, and Bret gets to the ropes, so the hold is broken. Bret Irish whips Shawn and hits the Russian legsweep. Backbreaker by Bret, and he goes up top for an axehandle. Shawn pulls Earl Hebner into harm’s way and Earl takes the blow. Shawn goes to the eyes of Bret in the meantime, then decides to go for his own version of the sharpshooter as Earl Hebner recovers. You may have heard about what happened next. 5 for 7. Lost in all the controversy here is that this was a PHENOMENAL match that you could feel on your skin. As much as they disliked each other, they brought out the best in each other in the ring, and this was one last, great, shining example of it.

The 411: It gets a free pass because it's wrestling history, but here's the surprise: Everybody got so caught up by the world-famous screwjob that nobody ever took noticed how good a show it was. Even without that finish, the main event is a classic, Kane & Mankind are on their game, and for the most part, the rest of the card delivers. Very recommended.
Final Score:  8.1   [ Very Good ]