zkonedog As an "on-and-off" fan of professional wrestling for the past two decades, I have seen the business at its best (Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, The Rock) and at its worst...the mid-1990s when this event was produced. At least, however, this tape showed a glimmer of hope for the end of the decade and the beginning of the next.As far as the preliminary matches are concerned, they are basically a joke. The Nation of Domination was one of the dumbest concepts ever implemented in the WWE, Sid Justice/Sid Vicious/Psycho Sid (just pick a name already!) is a terribly one-dimensional heel, and Shawn Michaels (though a fan favorite) had already seen his storyline peak after an epic match with Bret Hart at the previous Wrestlemania.For the Rumble itself, it is by and large just as boring as the previous edition, one of the worst in company history. All but about 6-7 slots are filled with jobbers, fat guys, or just plain boring schmucks (whether through personality or failed "kayfabe"). When the WWE allows a pot-bellied Jake "The Snake" Roberts to still "compete", you know they are desperate for talent, seeing as how the WCW was on top of its game at the time.Yet, there also was a glimmer of hope shining through the dredge. Characters such as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Rocky "The Rock" Miavia, Mankind, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (shortly thereafter re-branded "Triple H") were just coming into their ring personas, a stable of talent that would ultimately vault the WWE past the WCW once more. Plus, though just beginning his heel turn, Bret Hart was still a top-tier talent in the business, as was The Undertaker.Thus, although this tape is quite boring and not at all exciting in its own right, it does offer some promising steps forward for a corporation that had reached rock bottom.

bh_tafe3 Well, Bret Hart and Steve Austin continued their classic rivalry, The Undertaker had a not so classic match with Vader and Shawn Michaels tried to win back the WWE Championship in his billed home town in one of the best ever Royal Rumble PPVs.The night started off with Goldust wrestling Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the Intercontinental Championship. The main story going in had been Helmsley's attempts to seduce Goldust's manager Marleena (Terri Runnels) in the build up. Helmsley retained his title here in one of the Goldust's better matches. Good start to the night really.Next we saw the continuing rivalry between Ahmed JOhnson and the Nation of Domination. Tonight he would be facing Nation leader Faarooq, who was upset that the powerful Johnson had refused to join his group of bad guys. They have a slow big man match, which Johnson won by DQ after the entire Nation jumped him. He was able to power them off though and get the win.Following some comments from men who would be participating in the Royal Rumble later in the night, Vader and the Undertaker had a disappointing match, won by Vader following a distraction from Paul Bearer. Taker was very unhappy, and he would only get angrier as the night went on.After some more comments from Rumble participants it was time for the midgets to come in and it was the team of Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal and Jerry Estrada defeating Perro Aguayo, El Canek and Hector Garza.This was followed by a classic Royal Rumble match. The story of the match was Steve Austin and Bret Hart. Austin came in at 5, and eliminated ten guys, but business really picked up when Hart came in. Hart and Austin brawled all over the ring. It looked as though Hart had had the last laugh, eliminating Austin, but the referees missed it as they were arguing with Vader. Hart eliminated the Undertaker and should have won the Rumble, but Austin threw him over and was declared the winner. Hart, furious at being screwed out of an opportunity to headline Wrestlemania for the second consecutive PPV went off on a tirade directed at Vince McMahon, JIm Ross and Jerry Lawler. On the subject of Lawler, he was briefly in the Rumble match and never had a finer PPV as a heel commentator. He was another reason why this Rumble was one of the very best ever.This finally brings us to the main event, which saw Shawn Michaels defeat Sycho Sid to regain the WWE Championship. Michaels had lost the championship to Sid after Sid knocked him out with a TV camera, and turned the tables here, knocking out Sid with a TV camera shot of his own to get the win. This was another good main event outing for Sid, who, mainly thanks to being put against Hart and Michaels, had proved an effective short term champion.Well, surely we'll hear more of this screwy ending to the Royal Rumble at the next PPV, and how would Shawn Michaels pull up after his gruelling match with Sid. As it turned out, both questions would have the same answer, with Michaels injured and a vacant title.

hebevan A great event, as the Rumble usually is, but this one changed the rules a little. After rising stars Kevin Nash a.k.a 'Diesel' and Scott Hall a.k.a. 'Razor Ramon' were 'stolen' from the WWF by WCW, a void was left in the line up for the Royal rumble match up. A fake Razor Ramon made his way to the ring to a chorus of boo's and was promptly throw over the top rope. Soon after Glen Jacobs (now wrestling as Kane) came to the ring to Diesels music,and dressed as Kevin Nash's character. Despite the crowds obvious disapproval for the 'fake diesel', Jacobs wrestled on and help make the match a success, finishing in the final four. For wrestling buff's the '97 Royal Rumble is an opportunity to see Kane without his mask on, and some great wresting too.

Big Movie Fan The 1997 Royal Rumble was like all other Royal Rumble events-brilliant and exciting mainly because of the 30 man Rumble which is everyone's favourite part of the show.The undercard matches were brilliant-Vader batted the Undertaker in a great match and I was pleasantly surprised by the Goldust/Triple H match and the scrap between Ahmed Johnson and Farooq.The 30 man Rumble itself was exciting with plenty of action; the only thing that spoiled it was the controversial ending.Shawn Michaels and Sid had a great match for the WWF Title; Shawn was wrestling in his hometown of Texas and he put on a great show with Sid.Fantastic stuff!