WWF King of the Ring 1997

Though I was a still a super fan in mid-1997, and had made a point of seeing nearly every WWF and WCW pay per view offering of the year live, my initial interest in King of the Ring was limited, at best. The show focused on the rivalry between Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels (both of whom I couldn’t stand at the time, as they were also engaged in feuds with Bret Hart – who wasn’t on the show), and a WWF Title match between The Undertaker and Faarooq – something I wouldn’t even have been excited to see on RAW, let alone pay per view. The show seemed so dull on paper, that I didn’t even bother to order, and this will actually be the first time I have ever seen it in full before.

From Providence, Rhode Island; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jim Ross.


Free for All Match: The Headbangers v Bart Gunn and Jesse James: Mosh starts with Jesse, but gets quickly hiptossed, triggering an early four-way brawl. The dust settles on James trying an armbar on Thrasher, but he gets double-teamed to turn the tide. The Bangers cut the ring in half, but a double knockout allows both to tag. Bart's a house of arson, but the Bangers double-team, and the Stage Dive (powerbomb/flying legdrop combo) finishes up at 6:10. TV match, but they put in a decent effort. James would have significantly greater success later in the year when he started teaming with the other B. Gunn. ½*

Opening King of the Ring Semi Final Match: Ahmed Johnson v Hunter Hearst Helmsley: HHH is cautious about tying up with the big Johnson, and once they do, Ahmed launches him across the ring. Ahmed calls for a test-of-strength, so HHH fires off a predictable cheap shot, but Ahmed shrugs him off, and press slams him. Hunter bails to regroup, and tries a cross corner whip on the way back in, but gets leveled with a lariat. Bodyslam, but Ahmed misses an elbowdrop, allowing Helmsley to dump him, and throw him into the stairs to take some pep out of his step. Baseball slide keeps him outside, and a flying axehandle gets two. Slugfest goes Ahmed's way when he starts openly no-selling, and he hits a sloppy axekick. Backdrop, and a spinebuster set up the Pearl River Plunge, but Chyna (Hunter's valet/lover/top) gets involved, and HHH hits the Pedigree to advance at 7:42. Just going through the motions, with Ahmed looking particularly sluggish. ¾*

King of the Ring Semi Final Match: Mankind v Jerry Lawler: Lawler does his always great entrance bit, where he walks down the aisle with a microphone in hand, insulting random audience members along the way. He throws in a few shots at Mankind, too, until he has enough, and jumps Lawler on the floor. He rams him into the announce table, and drags him in for a backelbow. Mandible Claw, but Lawler bails to the floor. He pulls a pair of knux out of his tights to slow Mankind down (half from the force of the blow, half from the thought of being forced to touch something pulled from where Lawler blows), and the King hammers him. He keeps playing 'hide the knux' on Mankind's face, but gets rammed into the rail. Mankind tries a blind charge into the steps, but Lawler sidesteps, and Mankind goes crashing head first into them. Lawler makes sure he hits his 'Brutal Insane Bump' quota by brutally throwing his head into the rail a couple of times, and hits a piledriver outside to try for a countout. Mankind beats it in, so Lawler piledrives him again for two. He goes back to the knux, but Mankind starts firing off closed fists, and backdrops him. Lawler tries a 2^nd rope fistdrop, and another piledriver, but Mankind backdrops, and hooks the Claw to finish at 10:24. Well paced, with no restholds, and Mankind's bumping to keep it interesting. *

Crush v Goldust: The Goldust character had been completely watered down by mid-97 - even openly acknowledging the fact that he was Dustin Rhodes at this point. Crush goes right at him, knocking him to the floor with a flurry of fists, but Goldust reverses a shot into the steps. Inside, Goldust with a ten-punch, and a jumping clothesline for two. Swinging neckbreaker gets two, but Crush reverses a cross corner whip, and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Crush works on the back, and a backbreaker gets two. Reverse chinlock, but Goldust powers out, so Crush hits a pressed gutbuster. Nervehold (this is what happens when you team a guy with Yokozuna), but Goldust quickly escapes, and hits another jumping clothesline. Series of jabs set up a bulldog, so Crush's Nation of Domination buddies start pulling a Night at the Roxbury on Goldust's wife, but Goldust stays on point, and hits a DDT at 9:56. Dull, but mostly psychologically sound work. ½*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Sid and The Legion of Doom v The Hart Foundation: Animal starts with Owen Hart, and overpowers him, but misses an elbowdrop. They mess up a criss cross sequence, and Animal press slams him before firing him into the corner with a slingshot. Powerslam gets two, and he tags Sid for a 2^nd rope axehandle. Test-of-strength, but Owen thinks better of it, and tags Davey Boy Smith in to do it. Davey still throws a cheap shot, and hits an impressive hanging vertical suplex - but Sid no-sells, and takes out the entire Foundation. Tags to Hawk and Jim Neidhart for a power-stalemate, but Neidhart misses a blind charge, and Hawk hits a flying clothesline for two. The faces work Neidhart over in their home corner, but Hawk fails to cut the ring in half, and Davey Boy tags back in. Piledriver gets no-sold, and Animal tags, but walks into a spinkick from Owen. Neidhart rams him into the stairs for good measure, and Owen with a suplex for two. The Foundation cut the ring in half, and Davey looks to finish Animal with a superplex, but only gets two. The Harts keep on him, but Owen gets overpowered, and Animal gets the tag off to Hawk. Flying shoulderblock misses, and they start working Hawk over with triple-teams. He gets the tag off to Sid, and he's a proper house of arson (if you ever need someone to start a house fire - accidental or not - look no further than Sid), and the Powerbomb looks to finish Davey, but Owen comes off the top with a flying sunset flip for the pin at 13:37. This was the last major WWF appearance of Sid, as he left the promotion almost immediately after, and didn't resurface until ECW in 1999, before going on to WCW later that same year. Match was a well paced, completely competent six-man - making good use of tags, and not overstaying its welcome. **

WWF King of the Ring: Hunter Hearst Helmsley v Mankind: Hunter controls with a headlock (going after the injured ear from Jerry Lawler's brass knux exhibition earlier), but Mankind goes to the eyes, and chokes Helmsley on the mat. HHH bails to regroup, so Mankind takes the fight to the floor, and rams him into the rail. Inside, Mankind with a ten-punch count, but HHH rudely interrupts with a stungun. Swinging neckbreaker, but he loses a slugfest, and throws a clothesline to slow Mankind down. Mankind keeps coming, but HHH dodges, and Mankind ends up with his head viced in the ropes, 1994 Germany-style. Baseball slide allows Mankind to take another head first fall into the rail, and inside, Hunter works the ear/head. Mankind with a sloppy stungun (he basically stunned his wrists), so he repeats the spot properly, and hits his running knee in the corner. HHH Flair Flips into a tree of woe, and ends up on the floor for Mankind to backdrop. Cactus elbow, and inside a double-arm DDT looks to finish - but Chyna gets involved to hold up the count. That allows HHH the Pedigree, but Mankind backdrops into the Mandible Claw (just the way he beat Lawler in the Semi Finals), but Chyna gets involved again to break it up. HHH rips off his mask to get cleaner shots off at the ear, but Mankind knocks him off of the top rope, and hits an inverted atomic drop for two. Cactus Clothesline puts them both out on the floor, and Mankind tries to follow up by diving off of the apron with a backelbow - but HHH sidesteps, and Mankind crashes into the rail again. Pedigree through the announce table, but Mankind keeps coming, so Chyna nails him again, and HHH hits a high knee to send him flying off of the apron to the floor. Inside, that only gets two, so the frustrated Hunter Pedigree's him again to become King at 19:26. These two would go on to have quite a few good, high profile matches over the next couple of months - but this one was overlong, sloppy, and very punchy-kicky - with a few nice bumps trying to keep it going. This was the beginning of Triple H's rise to the top,  as he would have a well received feud with Mick Foley into the fall, and at the same time join Shawn Michaels to form Degeneration-X. * ¼

Steve Austin v Shawn Michaels: Austin and Michaels had picked up the tag titles from The Hart Foundation the month before, but were having trouble getting along (fighting before, during, and after defenses), finally coming to a head, and setting up a blowoff. This Vince Russo booking technique of 'Feuding Tag Champions' was still relatively fresh (though they had teased a similar angle with Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith earlier in the year, before abandoning it to reform the Hart Foundation), and would go on to become a hallmark of Russo's booking style. Quick criss cross sees Austin level Michaels with a shoulderblock, so a teenaged Michaels fan with a mental handicap jumps the rail in protest. Security tackles him, but Michaels goes to the floor and personally helps the kid (still shaking his fist at Austin) to the dressing room to calm him down. Both a great testament to what a fantastic heel Austin was, and to how inconsistent Shawn's behavior could be. Back to business, Shawn gets Austin on the mat with a headlock, but Austin plain refuses, and smacks him with a backelbow before mocking his pose routine. Series of elbowdrops, but Michaels counters him on the mat, and hooks a chinlock. Austin refuses to use the nearby ropes to break, instead using the hair, and forcing them to a vertical base. See, that's why Stone Cold shaves his head. Criss cross allows Shawn a Thesz Press, but Austin catches him, and dumps him to the floor - triggering a three alarm pinball bump up the aisle. Suplex back in, but Shawn counters into a schoolboy for two, and droptoe's Austin into an armbar. Stuck, Austin takes the easy way out (ropes), and bails to the floor to regroup. Inside, Austin calls for a test-of-strength, and though Shawn is hesitant, Austin goads him into it - then fires off an immediate cheap shot. Michaels tries a backdrop, and goes back to the armbar, but Austin decides to show him how to properly press like Thesz. He gets overzealous with the punches, however, and Michaels puts him through a four alarm pinfall reversal sequence - ending with Shawn getting tossed to the floor. Austin works the count, but Shawn won't stay down, so Steve thrusts him off of the apron, and into the guard rail. Shawn flies into the steps next, and Austin puts the cherry on top with a press slam onto the exposed floor. Inside, Shawn tries a criss cross, but he's dazed, and misses a diving forearm completely - tumbling back out to the floor. Austin knows he's close, and drags him back in for the FU elbow, getting two. Austin with a rope-assisted chinlock, but the referee catches him, and breaks it up. Slugfest goes Michaels' way, and another criss cross allows him to return the favor, and dump Austin over-the-top. Baseball slide leaves Austin folded up like an accordion, and he tries a suplex back in, but this time Austin slips out. Irish whip, but Shawn comes out of the ropes with properly calibrated diving forearm. Backdrop and an inverted atomic drop, but he misses a blind charge. Austin tries to stomp a mud hole, but Shawn dives with an instinctual springboard bodypress, which Austin then rolls through for two. Flair Flip, and the Stunner, but the referee gets bumped and there's no one to count. Austin tries to revive him with a Stunner, but gets Superkicked for his efforts. Another referee runs in, but he doesn't count - he checks on the first referee. That earns him a Superkick of his own, and the whole thing gets thrown out at 22:29 - drawing huge boos from the crowd. Disappointing ending to an otherwise excellent match - filled with crisp, well executed spots, fantastic transitions, and intensity. *** ¾

Main Event: WWF Title Match: The Undertaker v Faarooq: This may have been the technical 'main event,' but the show was sold entirely on Michaels/Austin - especially since Faarooq was a total non-contender. Faarooq jumps him from behind, but gets literally caught on a cross corner charge, and hammered in the corner. Big boot gets two, but Faarooq catches him with a powerslam, and Faarooq's fellow Nation members Crush and Savio Vega fire off a couple of shots for good measure. 'Taker tries the ropewalk forearm to come back, but decides to let off mid-move, and turn it into an even more visually impressive spot, diving out onto the Nation. Back in to do it properly, but Faarooq's recovered, and crotches him on the ropes. Suplex gets two, and he tries to charge at him with the ring steps - but 'Taker kicks them back in his face. Faarooq still manages a piledriver for two, and grabs a chinlock. 'Taker eventually breaks with a stunner, but a splash hits Faarooq's knees, and he tries the Dominator - but 'Taker backdrops out. He can't capitalize, however, so Faarooq tries a 2^nd rope bodypress, but 'Taker instinctively powerslams him. Jumping clothesline, but Faarooq ducks him, and lets him crash to the canvas. The Nation gets involved again, but Savio and Crush start arguing over facial hairstyles (I’m guessing, but it’s a solid bet), and the distraction allows 'Taker the Tombstone at 13:43. Faarooq would 'fire' Crush and Savio for their efforts here (How do you get 'fired' from a street gang? Do you get to collect unemployment?), which led to them forming their own factions (The Disciples of Apocalypse and Los Boricuas, respectively), starting the wretched 'Gang Warz.' Both guys tried hard here, and put in a good effort, but the match fell flat, and suffered from a bad ending ('Taker can't beat fucking Faarooq clean, on pay per view?) ½*

BUExperience: Austin/Michaels is a forgotten classic, on a forgotten show (most people cite the more historically significant WrestleMania match between them), and while the rest isn’t horrible, it’s certainly a dull, with a bad main event to boot. Not at all a good sample of the fun, exciting product the WWF was putting on all summer, which, not coincidentally, centered on The Hart Foundation, Steve Austin, and Shawn Michaels – the best parts of this show. *