Royal Rumble (1997)
Royal Rumble | |||
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Promotion World Wrestling Federation | | ||
Date | January 19, 1997 | ||
City | San Antonio, Texas | ||
Venue | Alamodome | ||
Attendance | 60,477[1] | ||
Tagline(s) | No More Mr. Nice Guy! | ||
Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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Royal Rumble chronology | |||
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The 1997 Royal Rumble was the 10th annual
The attendance of 60,477 is the highest recorded live crowd in the Royal Rumble's history with the
Production
Background
The
Storylines
The event comprised six matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed
The feud between
On July 22, 1996,
Vader and The Undertaker did not have a substantial buildup to their match at Royal Rumble 1997. Vader had joined other heel wrestlers to attack The Undertaker on several occasions, but there was no major storyline behind their match.[8] The Undertaker had been involved in a feud with Paul Bearer that dated back to SummerSlam 1996, when Bearer had turned on The Undertaker.[14] On the January 5, 1997 episode of WWF Superstars, The Undertaker attacked Vader's manager, Jim Cornette,[8] leaving Vader without a manager at the Royal Rumble.[15]
The
Event
Role: | Name: |
---|---|
English commentators
|
Vince McMahon |
Jim Ross | |
Jerry Lawler | |
Spanish commentators | Carlos Cabrera |
Arturo Rivera | |
Hugo Savinovich | |
French commentators | Jacques Rougeau, Sr.
|
Raymond Rougeau | |
Interviewer
|
Dok Hendrix |
Todd Pettengill | |
Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
Referees | Mike Chioda |
Jack Doan | |
Jim Korderas
| |
Earl Hebner | |
Pepe Casas |
The event opened with the
In the next match, Faarooq faced Ahmed Johnson. Johnson won the match by disqualification after members of the Nation of Domination, who were at ringside, interfered on Faarooq's behalf.[22][23]
The third match was the encounter of The Undertaker and Vader. Undertaker gained control early into the match; however, Vader gained control after Paul Bearer, who was at ringside in Vader's corner, hit Undertaker with an urn. The Undertaker did not retaliate, as Vader hit a Vaderbomb on him, which gained a successful pinfall for the win.[22][23]
The next match was a
The
The main event was a
Aftermath
Shawn Michaels later vacated the WWF Championship on the Thursday Raw Thursday special, where he gave his now-infamous "lost my smile" promo, citing knee problems as his reason to abdicate the title.[25] Due to this and the controversial situation over the Royal Rumble ending, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Vader were pitted against each other at In Your House 13: Final Four in a Four Corners match for the vacant WWF Championship,[26] which saw Hart win the title.[26] The next night on Raw, Austin interfered in a WWF Title match between Hart and Sid, causing Hart to lose the title after only one day.[27] On the March 17 edition of Raw, Hart and Sid faced off in a Steel Cage match for the WWF Title. Sid won after interference by both Stone Cold and Undertaker.[8][28] At WrestleMania 13, Undertaker defeated Sid for the WWF Title, while Hart and Austin battled each other in a Submission match with Ken Shamrock as the special referee.[29]
Results
No. | Results Free for All |
---|
Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations
A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds. Early in the Rumble match, Vince McMahon stated on commentary that they had problems with the clock.
– indicates a wrestler from
– Winner
Draw | Entrant | Order | Eliminated by | Time | Eliminations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Crush | 3 | Phineas Godwinn | 06:17 | 0 |
2 | Ahmed Johnson | 2 | Himself | 03:02 | 2 |
3 | Fake Razor Ramon | 1 | Ahmed Johnson | 00:17 | 0 |
4 | Phineas I. Godwinn
|
4 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | 02:52 | 1 |
5 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | - | Winner[1] | 45:07 | 10 |
6 | Bart Gunn | 5 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | 00:26 | 0 |
7 | Jake Roberts | 6 | 01:10 | 0 | |
8 | The British Bulldog
|
8 | Owen Hart | 08:04 | 1 |
9 | Pierroth
|
10 | Mil Máscaras | 10:32 | 1 |
10 | The Sultan | 7 | The British Bulldog | 03:23 | 0 |
11 | Mil Máscaras | 11 | Himself | 07:28 | 2 |
12 | Hunter Hearst Helmsley
|
12 | Goldust | 06:42 | 0 |
13 | Owen Hart | 17 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | 08:29 | 2 |
14 | Goldust
|
13 | Owen Hart | 05:33 | 1 |
15 | Cybernetico | 9 | Mil Máscaras and Pierroth | 01:25 | 0 |
16 | Marc Mero | 16 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | 03:53 | 0 |
17 | Latin Lover | 14 | Faarooq | 01:47 | 0 |
18 | Faarooq
|
15 | Ahmed Johnson[2] | 00:41 | 1 |
19 | Savio Vega | 18 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | 00:46 | 0 |
20 | Jesse James | 19 | 00:29 | 0 | |
21 | Bret Hart | 29 | 21:12 | 2 | |
22 | Jerry Lawler | 20 | Bret Hart | 00:04 | 0 |
23 | Fake Diesel | 28 | 17:49 | 0 | |
24 | Terry Funk | 24 | Mankind | 15:18 | 0 |
25 | Rocky Maivia
|
23 | 13:00 | 0 | |
26 | Mankind | 25 | The Undertaker | 12:20 | 2 |
27 | Flash Funk
|
21 | Vader | 06:12 | 0 |
28 | Vader | 26 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | 10:06 | 1 |
29 | Henry O. Godwinn | 22 | The Undertaker | 06:11 | 0 |
30 | The Undertaker | 27 | Stone Cold Steve Austin | 06:46 | 2 |
^ Austin was eliminated by Bret Hart, but snuck back in the ring while officials were distracted by a brawl between Terry Funk and Mankind on the other side of the ring.
^ Faarooq was eliminated when Ahmed Johnson (who had eliminated himself from the Rumble earlier on) came back into the ring with a 2×4 and went after Faarooq, causing him to go over the top rope.
In this match,
References
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- ^ Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
- ISBN 9781439193211.
At the time, SummerSlam was one of WWE's "big five" Pay-Per-Views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and Survivor Series were the others), ...
- ^ "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Archived from the original on July 14, 2005. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
- ^ Waldman, Jon (February 2, 2005). "Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
- Discovery Communications. Archivedfrom the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
- ^ ASIN B00RWUNSRS.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Ring Results: 1996". The History of WWE. Archived from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
- ^ "WWF Raw: July 22, 1996". The Other Arena. Archived from the original on February 12, 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
- ^ "Wrestler Profiles: Ron Simmons". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
- ^ "World Wrestling Entertainment Substitutions". Softwolves. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
- ^ "WWF/WWE Intercontinental Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
- ^ "The Undertaker". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "WWF Royal Rumble 1997". Online Onslaught. Archived from the original on 2011-01-30. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
- ^ "WrestleMania 11". The Other Arena. Archived from the original on 2008-02-12. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
- ^ a b "WWF RAW: April 3, 1995". The Other Arena. Archived from the original on 2008-01-22. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
- ^ a b "Survivor Series 1995 Re-Revued". Online Onslaught. Archived from the original on 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
- ^ "Wrestler Profiles: Sid Vicious". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
- ^ "WWF IYH: Buried Alive". Online Onslaught. Archived from the original on 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
- ^ a b "WWF Survivor Series 1996 Re-Revued". Online Onslaught. Archived from the original on 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Royal Rumble 1997 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ a b c d e f "Royal Rumble 1997". AWT. 1997-01-21. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
- ^ "When WWE Hall of Famer refused to lose; eliminated himself from the Royal Rumble".
- ^ "RAW results – 1997". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ a b "WWF In Your House 13: Final Four". PWWEW.net. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "WWF Raw – February 17, 1997". the Other Arena. Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
- ^ "WWF Raw – March 17, 1997". the Other Arena. Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
- ^ "WWF WrestleMania 13 Results". PWWEW.net. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
- ^ "1997 Royal Rumble match". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "Royal Rumble 1997 official results". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "WWF Royal Rumble 1997". PWWEW.net. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "Royal Rumble 1997 Results". Hoffco. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
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