WWF King Of The Ring 1997 is an odd show. KOTR was definitely still one of the Big 5 at this time, and yet the match bookings make this feel, on paper at least, like a second-rate card. Still, it still had some exciting action to offer, even if the event as a whole is barely remembered today.
WWF King Of The Ring 1997
Free For All – King Of The Ring 1997
The Headbangers vs. Bart Gunn & Jesse James
Did you know that the future Road Dogg teamed not with Billy Gunn, but with Bart Gunn, on the PPV stage first? Well, the Free For All for a PPV at least? Nor did I, and that interesting tidbit is the only thing worth noting about this match, as the fairly popular Mosh and Thrasher secured what would be a fairly easy win ahead of the event beginning proper.
Main Show – King Of The Ring 1997
King Of The Ring Tournament 1997 Semi-Final Match
Ahmed Johnson vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Kicking off the actual show, we had our first semi-final, which saw Ahmed Johnson at a time when he was building towards a showdown with The Undertaker. Presumably, to help him move away from being a babyface, he lost this match, which in some respects was strange because Ahmed winning the KOTR tournament would have given him more credibility in chasing down the WWF Champion. More noteworthy is that Helmsley won, because he had actually already been eliminated!
That’s right, Ahmed defeated Hunter by DQ in the qualifying stage, but Helmsley threatened a kayfabe lawsuit over not being instructed sufficiently beforehand (sure), though the real reason he went back in is because he was replacing an injured Vader. I mention this because we often hear about Hunter’s planned KOTR win not happening in 1996, but we rarely consider that, if Vader hadn’t been injured by Ken Shamrock at In Your House: A Cold Day In Hell, Helmsley might not have won the crown here, either. So who was meant to be the 1997 King if it hadn’t been Hunter?
King Of The Ring 1997 Tournament Semi-Final Match
Mankind vs. Jerry Lawler
Perhaps it would have been Mankind, who was in the early stages of a babyface turn, in line with his weekly sit-down interviews with Jim Ross, which would lead to Mick Foley reaching unforeseen levels of popularity. At least the masked man still made it to the final, though, rolling over Jerry Lawler in the latter’s only real appearance within the tournament itself. The King trying to underline his royal credentials was unique, though it’s still weird to see Lawler facing Mankind on a PPV.
It’s even stranger to see it happen in 1997, by which point his in-ring days were largely behind him in the WWF (though not elsewhere, as he had just made a big splash in ECW the night before as part of an inter-promotional rivalry). In the end, Lawler succumbed to the Mandible Claw, which was slightly pleasing to the announcers that he usually verbally abused, JR and Vince McMahon.
Before the next match, Brian Pillman taunted Stone Cold Steve Austin in a promo (more on the details later). However, Austin jumped Brian from behind. Stone Cold dragged The Loose Cannon into the men’s toilets and flushed his head down the loo. This was funny stuff, and it only added to the appeal of the increasingly-popular rebellious babyface persona for Austin.
Goldust vs. Crush
This was pretty much a card-filler, since the personalities of Goldust (who had also participated in a sit-down interview with Ross, which helped him to become more popular than he had ever been before up to that point) and Nation Of Domination member Crush couldn’t have been more different. That’s normally material for a good feud, but there wasn’t really a storyline reason for this to happen either, making this something to complete a few more minutes on the PPV and nothing else. Goldust pinned Crush with a DDT, and this would contribute to Crush being removed from the NOD shortly thereafter.
Six-Man Tag Team Match
Psycho Sid & The Legion Of Doom vs. The British Bulldog, Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart
As the America vs. Canada war was escalating, and with Bret Hart still sidelined by a knee injury (The Hart Foundation did cut a group promo later on to make the challenge for the ten-man main event at In Your House: Canadian Stampede, with Hart stumbling over his words at one point), this represented a small opportunity to keep the feud going while we waited for Bret to resume action. This six-man tag was watchable enough, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the aforementioned Canadian Stampede match. The heels picked up the win here when Owen pinned Sid, and that would be Sid’s final PPV match in the WWF; outside of one or two Raw appearances, he wouldn’t wrestle again for the company, aside from a brief cameo in 2012 when he pinned Heath Slater ahead of Raw 1000.
King Of The Ring 1997 Tournament Final Match
Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
This was the first of numerous PPV encounters between Foley and Triple H. But while their classic Royal Rumble 2000 and No Way Out 2000 wars put HHH on the map as a bona fide main eventer, Hunter had even more to prove here, since he had yet to truly make a lasting impression on WWF fans, despite his previous reign as Intercontinental Champion. With Mankind’s help, he was able to achieve that here, as the two had a very good and very physical match. Helmsley Pedigreed Mankind through an announcer’s table after removing his mask, and later on, Chyna smashed a sceptre over Mankind’s exposed head, just like Randy Savage did to The Ultimate Warrior back at Royal Rumble 1991.
Another Pedigree was enough to beat Mankind, thus not only crowning Hunter as King one year later than planned, but in a manner that made him look like a bully while making Mankind look sympathetic. Afterwards, during his coronation, Helmsley bashed Mankind even more with his crown. Apparently, he did this partly because he genuinely didn’t want to wear the crown. This would lead to matches at Canadian Stampede, SummerSlam, One Night Only and on Raw in Madison Square Garden, during which time Hunter would face all three of Foley’s personas (Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack).
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels
The original plan was for Bret Hart to face Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 13; everybody knows that. That was, of course, before Michaels “lost his smile”. But do you remember that the WWF booked a match between the two for this show? The stipulation was that Bret wanted to prove he could beat Michaels inside ten minutes. More than likekly, Bret was going to use shenanigans to secure the victory. But Hart told Vince that he hadn’t fully recovered by this point, meaning that the WWF scrapped the match again. This necessitated the WWF to delay the scheduled Austin vs. Pillman bout until Raw. And that allowed uneasy partners and Tag Team Champions Austin and Michaels to duke it out here instead. Stone Cold couldn’t resist taking a shot at the faction backstage, though, who had just completed their previously-mentioned promo, as he was heading to the ring.
This took a bit of time to get going. And due to the booking changes, it felt like an odd pairing. It seemed like a match that would have been much more heated with a proper build-up. Nonetheless, even under these circumstances, the two men slowly built towards delivering an awesome back-and-forth bout, one which had the fans in Providence, Rhode Island divided between the established hero Michaels (who incidentally was wrestling on PPV for the first time since Royal Rumble) and the anti-authority Austin, who was rapidly becoming the WWF’s most popular performer.
Questionable Ending
To circumvent having one of these guys lose to the other, numerous referee bumps to avoid and accidentally take finishers from one another led to the match being stopped, but the fight itself resumed until cooler heads prevailed between the Tag Team Champions, and they walked to the back, while still bickering amongst themselves. This was an enjoyable match and a better bout overall than their WrestleMania XIV clash the following year. On a side note, the Austin-Shawn alliance ended here. That’s because Michaels had a real backstage fight with Bret prior to Raw the next night. This would lead him to lose his smile again and take another leave of absence. Incidentally, the debuting Dude Love would fill Shawn’s role in the tandem.
WWF Championship Match
The Undertaker (C) vs. Faarooq
In the main event of King Of The Ring 1997, Faarooq was about to have his most significant match. That’s because he was challenging The Undertaker for the WWF Title. This felt like a B-rate main event, but Faarooq’s controversial persona did have enough crowd heat. And when you factor in the hordes of associates within the Nation Of Domination backing him up, he had just enough to make himself a threat to Taker’s championship.
Mind you, the match wasn’t particularly memorable. And while the numbers game was clearly in the heel’s advantage, Taker was still always going to overcome the odds. That he did when he Tombstoned Faarooq for the win. I should mention that, by this point, Paul Bearer was managing UT again. But only because he was blackmailing him over a dark and sordid secret.
Post-Match
After the match, Bearer shouted orders at Taker, with the WWF Champion being reluctant to follow his orders. This brought out Ahmed, who blasted Taker for not standing up to his manager. This led to Undi’ taking a Pearl River Plunge from Johnson. Ahmed turned heel proper on Taker and joined the Nation eight days later. However, their planned Canadian Stampede match didn’t happen. That’s because Ahmed suffered an injury very shortly afterwards. Therefore, this promising rivalry never got out of the starting blocks. Vader would replace Ahmed at Canadian Stampede, by which point Bearer had let slip the big secret concerning Undertaker. This secret would ultimately be about the existence and planned WWF arrival of Kane.
King Of The Ring 1997 Summary
Considering it has some real lulls, King Of The Ring 1997 wasn’t too bad to watch back. The fact that it is a forgotten card actually makes it more appealing. That’s because it’s fascinating to view the WWF at this time of transition. It happens after the famous Bret-Austin Submission match at WrestleMania 13 but before Attitude truly began to define the product. It’s hardly a great event, mind you. However, you can garner a fair amount of entertainment from rewatching WWF King Of The Ring 1997.