So there's a few wrestling event that I can say I remember watching as a kid, but to say what was the first one is hard to say. I can remember seeing Summerslam 1994 because of the Bret Hart vs Owen Hart title match and the Undertaker vs Underfaker match, or events after that. But the first one I know for I watched for sure is Survivor Series 1996.
The one after that? Yup, the 1997 Royal Rumble some 25 years ago (I know, I'm old). I can vaguely remember things that happened in the 1995 and 1996 Rumbles (both of which won by Shawn Michaels) but for the whole PPV, the 1997 is the first one I can remember ever watching it. It was one of those events I had on my VHS tapes and I'd watch it a few times. Even till this day, I'll go back on the WWE Network just to watch the 1997 Rumble match, personally one of my all time favourite matches ever. And the event itself it blew my mind as a 7-year old watching all of this.
(ok yes, I was meaning to post this on the 19th on January for it really be 25 years after the event but it slipped my mind, so here we are 10 days later)
It was the first time I had seen a wrestling PPV held inside an actual stadium too so the sound was completely different to the normal wrestling shows, you could hear the 60,000+ crowd chanting and making some noise during the event. Even hearing the theme songs for the wrestlers sounded way different on a stadium show to the usual you'd hear at an arena show.
The opening match was a straight out brawl between two guys everyone in the wrestling world knows by now, Goldust vs Hunter Hearst Hemsley. We all know about the bizzare one Goldust is but he had his best run during this time while Triple H was just starting to get find his way, we were getting glimpses of the Triple H we all know about during this time. Also the first time he had a bodyguard following him and not a valet, something he's known to do for a while. HHH won with a Pedigree, something we all got used to for the next 15 years hahaha!
Undertaker's old manager Paul Bearer, who turned on him a few months back, shows up to distract him but then we find out the new surprise. Vader's original manager Jim Cornette was a no show and we found out why! Paul Bearer is now Vader's manager???? I could understand him being with Mankind but Vader??? That was a surprise I didn't see coming. And the even bigger surprise? Vader beat Undertaker, clean 1-2-3 pin with the Vaderbomb! Now that's a surprise result. And the best part? Undertaker attacks the referee after that match, he was pissed about that match, we hadn't seen him this pissed before.
The match before the Royal Rumble was something very new to me. By this point, I only really knew about WWF and WCW. So seeing wrestlers from the Mexican company AAA was quite the eye opener. I really wished that WWE would do something like this, have wrestlers from different company show up not just for one match but even the Royal Rumble itself!
4 of the AAA guys were in the Rumble, that was something new to me. If you ask me, the Royal Rumble match is always the perfect time to open the "forbidden door" and bring someone from another company in just for the intrigue and I'm so happy that this year, WWE are actually doing that with Impact Wrestling's Mickie James being in the women's Rumble match.
And then the 1997 Royal Rumble match. Stone Cold Steve Austin made himself a star here. Before this, he was still not quite the mega-star we all knew about but his match with Bret Hart at Survivor Series put him on that path and it continued here with him winning the Rumble from the #5 entry spot too! It was also one of the first few times I remember seeing someone eliminate others quite quickly to give themself a few moments to rest, Austin did that early on in the match and also during the last third of the match too just before Bret Hart showed up as the 21st entrant. Go to youtube, see Hart's entrance and just look at Austin's reaction to it. That reaction and hearing Hart's theme song still gives me chills to this day.
There were some other fun stuff too. Owen Hart eliminated his own brother-in-law British Bulldog and trying to make it look like he did it accidentally haha! Mil Mascaras eliminating himself was super funny to see. Jerry Lawler being eliminated after just 4 seconds, Hart hit him with 2 punches and he was in and out of there so quickly he could "complete a sentence".
The finish of the Royal Rumble match was another "what the hell just happened" moment for little ol' me. Steve Austin was eliminated by Bret Hart but the referees didn't see it so Austin got back in as if nothing happened and eliminated Undertaker, Vader and Hart to win the whole thing. This kind of thing has never been done in the Royal Rumble and has only been repeated once but to no result either. It was an interesting spot and a genius way to further a story but man I was pissed because I was a Bret Hart fan and he got screwed yet again, he should have won the damn thing and his outburst at Vince McMahon after the match was just too real, you could feel it.
You can watch the whole Rumble match here:
And then the main event, WWF Champion Psycho Sid vs San Antonio's hometown hero, the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels! Not as good as the Survivor Series match but HBK wasn't feeling well so you could see why. But at least he got his big win in front of his family and friends to regain the WWF Championships. I still remember seeing the crowd go nuts when he got the 1-2-3 fall! Good stuff, when wrestling is done right, it's fun to watch.
Good memories. If you ask me to rank favourite PPVs of all time, Royal Rumble 1997 is easily in my top 3. No question. Not because there were many great matches or what not, it was the first big event I got really into and that started my fandom into wrestling that goes on till this date. I had lots of memories just watching this and still remember to this day thanks to the WWE Network whenever I'm in the mood to re-watch it. If not for this, would I even be talking about wrestling all the time? We always kept a few VHS and for the Rumbles, 1997 and 1998 were the ones I had and remember fondly but this one more so than any of the other PPVs we recorded. Good memories.
