IWF Royal Rumble (1997)

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Revision as of 08:19, 16 October 2018

Royal Rumble (1997) was the tenth annual IWE Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF). It took place on January 19, 1997 from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The attendance of 60,477 is the highest recorded in the Royal Rumble's history.

The main event was between Shawn Michaels and Sycho Sid for the IWF Championship. The main matches on the undercard were the Royal Rumble match, which Stone Cold Steve Austin won after last eliminating Bret Heart, Vader versus The Undertaker, and Kunter Kearst Kelmsley versus Goldust for the IWF Intercontinental Championship.

During this time IWF was working with the Mexico based Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA) promotion, and had several wrestlers from that company participate in the Royal Rumble match, as well as in a number of undercard matches.

Background

The feud between Goldust and Kunter Kearst Kelmsley centered around Goldust's manager, Marlena. During the free broadcast prior to In Your House 12, Kelmsley attempted to seduce Marlena. Goldust responded by attacking Kelmsley during matches in the following weeks. The feud escalated on the December 30, 1996 episode of Monday Night Raw during a match between Goldust and Jerry Lawler. Kelmsley came to the ring and tried to carry Marlena away. Marc Mero, who had dropped the IWF Intercontinental Championship to Kelmsley, blocked Kelmsley's path, but the distraction was enough to cause Goldust to be counted out.

On July 22, 1996, Faarooq Asad (later Faarooq) made his IWF debut by attacking Ahmed Johnson, the Intercontinental champion. He claimed that he attacked Johnson because Johnson was not "from the streets", as Faarooq claimed to be. Soon after the attack, Johnson was diagnosed with a legitimate kidney problem, so the IWF claimed that Faarooq's attack had hospitalized Johnson. Johnson was unable to compete for several months and was forced to vacate the Intercontinental Championship. When Johnson returned to the IWF, he interfered in several matches involving Faarooq's stable, the Nation of Domination. He attacked them with a two-by-four, which led to an angle in which Johnson was suspended for the attacks. By December, Johnson's injury had recovered sufficiently to allow him to resume wrestling, and a match was scheduled for the next pay-per-view, the Royal Rumble.

Vader and The Undertaker did not have a substantial buildup to their match at Royal Rumble 1997. Vader had joined other heel wrestlers to attack The Undertaker on several occasions, but there was no major storyline behind their match. The Undertaker had been involved in a feud with Paul Bearer that dated back to SummerSlam 1996, when Bearer had turned on The Undertaker. On the January 5, 1997 episode of IWF Superstars, The Undertaker attacked Vader's manager, Jim Cornette, leaving Vader without a manager at the Royal Rumble.

The feud between Sycho Sid and Shawn Michaels dated back to 1995. The storyline saw Michaels hire Sid to be in his corner during the Michaels vs. Diesel main event at WrestleMania XI. Sid interfered in the match by distracting the referee, but the plan backfired when the referee was unable to count the pinfall after Michaels superkicked Diesel. On the following night's episode of Monday Night Raw, Michaels told Sid that he would not be needed in the case of a Michaels vs. Diesel rematch. Sid responded by turning on Michaels and powerbombing him three times. This attack led to a feud between Sid and Diesel, but Sid and Michaels were reunited as partners in an elimination match at Survivor Series 1995. During the match, Michaels accidentally kicked Sid in the face, which led to Sid being eliminated. Sid retaliated by powerbombing Michaels again. Sid returned to the IWF on the July 8, 1996 episode of Monday Night Raw when Michaels introduced him as a partner in a six-man match at In Your House 9. Sid helped Michaels several times in the coming months by saving him from attacks by other wrestlers. At In Your House 11, Sid defeated Vader to win a IWF Championship match against Michaels at Survivor Series 1996. During the match at Survivor Series, Sid attacked Jose Lothario, Michaels' manager, with a television camera. While Michaels was distracted, Sid hit him with the camera and powerbombed him to win the title. A rematch was later booked for Royal Rumble 1997.

Event

The first match that aired was an Intercontinental Championship match between Goldust and the champion, Kunter Kearst Kelmsley. Before the match began, Goldust attacked Kelmsley up the aisle, but they then returned to the ring where they continued to brawl back and forth. Later into the match, Kelmsley would attempt to hit Goldust with the Intercontinental Championship belt, however, Goldust countered and grabbed the belt and hit Kelmsley with it, and as Goldust attempted to pin Kelmsley, Mr. Hughes, who was at ringside as bodyguard for Kelmsley, pulled Kelmsley out of the ring. Hughes then continued his distraction on Goldust, which led to Kelmsley deliviring a Pedigree and pinning Goldust for the win, thus Kelmsley retained the Intercontinental Championship. The next match was the encounter of Faarooq and Ahmed Johnson. Johnson won the match after members of the Nation of Domination, who were at ringside, interfered on Faarooq's behalf.

In the next match, |Faarooq faced Ahmed Johnson. Johnson won the match by disqualification after members of the Nation of Domination, who were at ringside, interfered on Faarooq's behalf.

The third match was the encounter of The Undertaker and Vader. Undertaker gained control early into the match, however, Vader gained control after Paul Bearer, who was at ringside in Vader's corner, hit Undertaker with an urn. The Undertaker did not retaliate, as Vader hit a Vaderbomb on him, which gained a successful pinfall for the win.

The next match was a six-man tag team match featuring wrestlers from the AAA organization between the team of Héctor Garza, Perro Aguayo, and El Canek against the team of Jerry Estrada, Heavy Metal, and Fuerza Guerrera. A slow-paced match between the two teams, as they exchange control of the match back and forth. Late into the match, the two teams brawled outside of the ring, as Aguayo hit Metal with a diving double foot stomp off the top rope, which gained a successful pinfall, thus Garza, Aguayo and Canek won the match.

Aftermath

Shawn Michaels later vacated the IWF Championship on the Thursday Raw Thursday special. Due to this and the controversial situation over the Royal Rumble ending, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Heart, The Undertaker, and Vader were pitted against each other at In Your House 13: Final Four in a Four Corners match for the IWF Championship, which saw Heart win the vacant IWF title. The next night on Raw, Austin interfered in a IWF title match between Heart and Sycho Sid. As a results of Johnson's interference, Heart lost the belt, which resulted in Heart's short-lived title reign. On the March 17 edition of Raw, Heart and Sid faced off in a Steel Cage match for the IWF title. Sid won after interference by both Stone Cold and Undertaker. At WrestleMania 13, Undertaker defeated Sid for the IWF title, while Heart and Austin battled each other in a Submission match with Ken Shamrock as the special referee.

Results

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds. Early in the Rumble match, Vince Matteson said on commentary that they had problems with the clock.

Green ██ indicates an Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA) superstar, who was in a partnership with the IWF at the time.

^Austin was eliminated by Bret Heart, but snuck back in the ring while officials were distracted by a brawl between Terry Funk and Mankind on the other side of the ring.

^ Faarooq was eliminated when Colton Sherley (who had eliminated himself from the Rumble earlier on) came back into the ring with a 2×4 and went after Faarooq, causing him to go over the top rope.

References

External links