Announcers: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

SummerSlam ’97: Hart & Soul (how lame does that sound for a PPV the size of SummerSlam?) gets underway with the ppv promo hyping the Bret Hart vs Undertaker World Title main event. We hear the words, “Life isn’t fair, but whoever said it would be”. Little did we know that just over three months later Hart would be on the receiving end of those very words.

Match #1: Hunter Hearst Helmsley w/Chyna vs Mankind (Steel Cage match)

Commentary: A Steel Cage match in 1997 (or any year before that) meant the old WWF blue bars. No mesh fencing just steel bars. The ‘blueblood’ HHH enters first with his bodyguard Chyna. Helmsley looks very small. Chyna looks very big. How things change. Mankind gets a good pop considering Mick Foley was strictly mid-card at this time and his music hardly inspired you to get up and cheer. The match gets underway and after a barrage of right hands, Mankind gives Helmsley the classic “Bang, Bang”. Chyna repeatedly interfered in this one, most notably by smashing Foley’s skull with the unforgiving cage door. Mick later commented on this by saying the pain was “unbearable”, and looking at it over and over again you can see why. Ouch!

Finish: As Helmsley prepared for the Pedigree on a steel chair, (which was thrown in by Chyna, who else?) Mankind reversed by slightshoting his opponent into the cage and subsequently into Chyna who was stood on the apron outside the steel. Foley then drilled Triple H with a Double Arm DDT and climbed the cage. He reached the top, he was over the top, this must be it. But no, to a massive pop, Mankind ripped his mask off and climbed back to the top. He then hit a big Elbow Drop off the top of the cage (in tribute to Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka) and scaled back up the bars for victory. Post match saw Mankind ‘morph’ into Dude Love by dancing (if you can call it that) to the Dude’s music.

Comments: A mildly thrilling opener in which both men worked their asses off and it reflected in the quality of the match they produced. Although it started slowly, as soon as the contest picked momentum the fans were behind it 100%. A well structured match and a somewhat brutal one for it’s time. Just watch how many times Foley’s skull connects with the steel in some way. It’s got to be heading into double figures. Match Rating: ***

We now have to endure the first of two really pointless and boring segments with Todd Pettengill. ‘The man who Michael Cole surely modeled himself on introduces the governor of New Jersey who gets unanimously booed by the Jersey faithful. Heh.

Match #2: Goldust w/Marlena vs Brian Pillman

Commentary: Before the match we get a glimpse of future WWF jabroni, Tiger Ali Singh in the crowd with father, Tiger Jeet Singh. Singh Snr. is wearing a turban, which Jerry Lawler describes as an “ugly hat”.

The stipulation to this match is that if the late Pillman loses then he has to wear Marlena’s (now Terri) skimpy gold dress. I’ve got to say that the Goldust gimmick is truly dreadful as a face.

Finish: Goldust really, really (really!) botched a Sunset-Flip, which resulted in the golden one landing on his head and Pillman falling to the canvas on his backside. The two manage to make a bigger mess of redeeming the move. With Goldust still looking for the flip, Pillman stuck his head out of the ring only to be walloped by Marlena with a handbag (supposedly containing a brick). This results in Goldust rolling up “The Loose Cannon” for the 3 count. Pillman was forced to wear a dress over the next few weeks until he got a rematch with Goldust at the next PPV, Ground Zero.

Comments: Passable because both men made the effort, although it wasn’t anything special either. I wish we could have seen Pillman during his prime in the WWF, he was a class act. Match Rating: **

Match #3: Legion Of Doom vs The Godwinns

Commentary: Footage is aired of the LOD accidentally breaking Henry Godwinn’s neck with their Doomsday Device finisher. It looks real nasty as Henry was clotheslined off of Road Warrior Animal’s shoulders and landed right on his head with his neck sort of snapping to the side under the force. The LOD (Hawk especially) were really past their prime by this stage of their careers and the Godwinns was plain sucked period, so I wasn’t expecting anything special here.

Finish: After taking control of the bout, The LOD polished off Henry Godwinn with a Spike Piledriver for the three count.

Comments: Actually, a better contest than I was expecting and it was quite good at times for their standards. However, it was just another regular tag match but with a remarkably clean finish. Nothing to get excited about and nothing worth watching twice. Match Rating: *1/2

Another boring and pointless segment hosted by Michael Cole’s hero, Todd Pettengill, was up next. Two gormless fans had the opportunity to win $1 million. Only worth mentioning because Sunny (Tammy Sytch) is looking incredibly HOT! After seeing her look so healthly here, you can see what a real shame she let her personal problems get the better of her.

Match #4: European Championship match - The British Bulldog (c) vs Ken Shamrock

Commentary: If Bulldog lost this match then he would have to eat a tin of dog food. A lame stipulation for a match that could be of very high quality. The action started heavy with Shamrock hitting a hard Belly-to-Belly Suplex and generally controlling the early going until Davey Boy caught “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” walking in with a boot to the face. Kenny survived an onslaught of stiff blows, a busted mouth and a wedgie (had to mention that).

Finish: Out of nowhere, The Bulldog grabbed a handful of doggie food from the announce table and smothered Shamrock’s face with it. Oh dear, big mistake. Shammy flipped, opening up on Davey with a flurry of rights and lefts. He then levelled The Bulldog with the tin of dog food earning himself a disqualification. But the punishment didn’t end there; Ken locked on a chokehold causing Bulldog’s face to turn a deep shade of purple. As officials freed the European Champion from the hold, Shamrock ‘snapped’ again, this time laying out Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco and two referees with Belly-To-Belly Suplexs.

Comments: While it lasted, the match itself wasn’t as good as I was expecting. The finish and post match events grabbed everyone’s attention. It was a good piece of booking because Shamrock’s assualt(s) garnered a huge reaction from the fans. A good way to put Shamrock over without having Davey Boy do the job for him, although the match was a let down. Match Rating: **1/2

Match #5: The Disciples Of Apocalyse (Crush, Chainz, Skull & Eight-Ball) vs Los Boricuas (Savio Vega, Miguel Perez, Jesus (pronounced HeyZeus) & Jose Estrada

Commentary: Oh no, the WWF gang wars of ’97. A stereotypical angle which produced ZERO entertainment. The DOA entered on their Motorcycles (ala “The American Bad Ass” Undertaker) and things got underway with an 8-man slugfest. Absolutely nothing of any note occurred in this bout so let’s get straight to the finish before I bore you any longer. Move along...

Finish: After five minutes of predictable ‘action’, The Nation Of Domination joined the fun by positioning themselves at ringside. Soon enough they inevitably got involved. Chainz was thrown to the outside and Ahmed Johnson attacked him with a Pearl River Plunge on the concrete. Sounds worth seeing, right? Wrong, Johnson made the move look as crap as possible by landing Chainz’ full body weight on his legs. Chainz was rolled back into the ring and Miguel hit a big elbow (I thought this was 1997 not ’87) to earn a victory for the Los Boricuas. Post match saw Crush pretending to try and run the Nation down with his bike.

Comments: A boring and typically one dimensional match, these eight men produced absolutely nothing of any relevance. Match Rating: 1/2*

Match #6: Intercontinental Title Match - Owen Hart (c) vs ‘Stonecold’ Steve Austin

Commentary: Another match was outlandish stipulations: If Austin lost he would have to ‘pucker up and kiss Owen’s ass in the middle of the ring’. Champion, Owen enters first to a chorus of boos then the classic Stonecold glass breaks and Austin gets a massive pop. The pop was even more impressive considering at this time he was yet to main event. Both men look great, trading some nice moves in the early going. Stonecold looks much more agile than he does nowadays (for obvious reasons) and is quite effective in the technical department, matching Owen move-for-move. Hart decides to try and break one of Austin’s middle fingers (to prevent him from ‘flipping the bird’) by stamping and biting on it. After an Austin Powerbomb and hard Clothesline over the top rope, ‘The King Of Harts’ regains control with a beautiful Belly-To-Belly and a well-executed Swinging Neckbreaker. Owen targets Austin’s neck, wearing him down for the finish. After the obligatory matwork, Hart nails a superb German Suplex for the first real near-fall of the contest. As Owen applies a Camel Clutch, the announce team begin putting over Austin’s ‘fragile neck’. With Owen still in control of the match, the moment that would change Steve Austin’s career approached...

Finish: After a neat reversal, Owen sets up Austin for a Tombstone Piledriver but instead lands a devastating sit-down Tombstone/Reverse Piledriver. Steve was too low in the move meaning his head was below Owen’s legs at the point of impact with the canvas. As you may well know, in a Piledriver, the wrestler performing the move uses his legs to support his opponents neck upon impact. However, Austin’s head hit the canvas before Hart’s legs (meaning he had no support) thus his neck/spine was effectively jammed into the mat. You could tell this was very bad from just looking at the stunned expression on Owen’s face. Stonecold was unable to move so for a minute or two Hart played to the crowd hoping ‘The Rattlesnake’ could get up and finish the match if given time. Slowly, Austin crawled up behind Owen and (barely) rolled him up for the 1-2-3. Everyone knew he was in serious trouble, the roll-up was incredibly weak, he hardly touched Owen who just laid flat on his back while Steve tried his utmost to make the cover look respectable (it didn’t, but that doesn’t matter). As the fans went nuts over having a new I.C. Champion, Austin was writhing in pain on the mat but managed to walk out of the arena with the help of officials. The planned finish was for Hart to lay Stonecold out with a Piledriver (or it has been suggested, multiple Piledrivers) and for Austin to suffer a worked neck injury (this explains why the commentators were playing up the fact that Stonecold had a prone neck throughout the bout) only to recover just enough to pull out a victory. In a cruel act of irony, Steve Austin really did suffer a neck injury and he was lucky to be able to even walk out of the Continental Airlines Arena.

Comments: A very strong contest, which was sadly marred by the injury to Austin. Thankfully as we all know he recovered and went on to become one of the biggest names in pro wrestling. This match also exhibited Owen Hart at his best. Like his brother, Bret, Owen could have a great wrestling match with anybody and SummerSlam ’97 was no exception. As always he worked hard and had the natural ability to change gears in an instance and blended technical wrestling with high flying/power moves perfectly. Match Rating: ***1/2

Match #7: WWF Championship match - The Undertaker (c) vs Bret Hart Guest referee: Shawn Michaels

Commentary: Guess what? Even the main event had a stipulation to it: If Bret lost he would never wrestle in the Untied States again. If HBK screwed Bret somehow then he’d move to Canada and would also never be allowed to wrestle in the good ole’ US-of A. This has to be the work of Vinnie Ru. Living up to his anti-American (or pro Canadian, whichever way you look at it) moniker, Bret Hart has the Canadian national anthem played to a hostile reaction from the Jersey natives. HBK is out next and as usual takes the spotlight. The WWF Champ is out last with his always impressive deadman entrance.

We’re underway early with Bret attacking ‘Taker before the bell. The two trade advantage in the early stages with Hart throwing ‘Taker into the steel steps and Undi’ returning fire by ramming ‘The Hitman’ backfirst into the ringpost. The deadman continued to focus on Bret’s back with a Bearhug and Backbreaker until Hart set about the task of assaulting the left knee of his opponent. As ‘The Hitman’ applied a Figure-Four-Leglock, Paul Bearer, former manager of The Undertaker, made his way to ringside. As soon as Undi’ escaped the Figure-Four he exited the squared circle and attacked Bearer who was swiftly escorted backstage by officials. No sooner had Paul left, Owen Hart and Brian Pillman arrived on the scene. Meanwhile, Bret continued his methodical assault on ‘The Grim Reaper’s knee with the regular twists, pulls and blows. ‘Taker fought back and as HBK was busy ejecting Owen and Brian, he hit a big Chokeslam from out of nowhere. Things really hotted up, Undertaker could have had the 3 count but Michaels decided to make sure Bret’s running buddies were gone instead of making the count. As ‘Taker roughed up Michaels, ‘The Hitman’ crept up from behind with a roll-up for a close 2 count. After a Side-Russian Legsweep, Bret went for his favorite, the Sharpshooter. But it was too early, ‘Taker blocked it with ease. As the pace quickened, the future ‘American Badass’ launched himself at Hart with a flying Clothesline and stayed in control of the bout with a Chokeslam from the ring apron into the ring. This only earned a 2 count so Undi’ took a walk along the top-rope in vintage deadman fashion. However, ‘The Excellence of Execution’ knew exactly what was coming next and countered by crotching the champion on the top-rope. This set up a dangerous looking Superplex from the top tier. With Undi’ suffering, Bret locked on the Sharpshooter but the ‘Taker broke the hold, throwing ‘Hitman’ all the way to the outside. At this point Jim Ross was ready to explode… “The Undertaker broke the Sharpshooter, The Undertaker broke the Sharpshooter. Nobody has ever done that.” He (incorrectly) proclaimed.

Finish: With HBK on the outside taking a nap (he 'injured' a knee apparently), Hart grabbed a steel chair and walloped The Undertaker in the head with it. Michaels conveniently rolled back in the ring as Bret made the cover. With the crowd at fever pitch, ‘Taker kicked out for a very close near fall. With the competitors battling, Michaels noticed the chair still in the ring. HBK quizzed Hart about it who at first ignored him then responded with a ‘Fuck You’ and promptly spat in his face! Shawn took a massive chair swing at Hart, who ducked, and ‘Taker was accidentally knocked clean out with the shot. With everyone stunned Bret took complete advantage of the situation by covering the champion and forcing Michaels to reluctantly count 1-2-3. New WWF champion! With the crowd in utter disbelief, Michaels hurried to the back with the beaten former champ staggering after him. Meanwhile in the ring Bret, together with the Hart Foundation, celebrated ‘The Hitman’s’ fifth (and final) WWF Title reign.

Comments: A great main event with a creative finish, that paved the way for a Shawn Michaels heel turn. Throughout the bout, Bret was at his peak, bringing the best out of The Undertaker. As good as the match was, it has to be taken into consideration that it was a regular one-on-one contest. No gimmicks, not even No DQ. Therefore, extra credit must be given for the fact that it was such an engrossing straight wrestling match (especially with 'Taker involved). Indeed, it was so thrilling during the final stages that everyone in the arena and at home must have been sat on the edge of their seats (I know I was at the time) not knowing how it was all going to conclude. Spectacular stuff considering this was straight up one-on-one wrestling. Match Rating: ****

Overall: I would have to rate SummerSlam 1997 as an average WWF PPV offering. The undercard matches ranged from extremely good (HHH vs Mankind), through passable (Pillman vs Goldust) and into the realms of boredom (DOA vs Los Boricuas). However, for the main event drama alone, SS ’97 was a worthwhile watch.

High points:
Bret vs ‘Taker.
Bret & HBK confrontation leading to the main event finish.
Ken Shamrock ‘snapping’.
Mankind Elbow Drop from the cage top.

Low points:
DOA vs Los Boricuas
2 pointless segments, that had absolutely no place on PPV.
Steve Austin suffering career threatening neck injury.