IWF SummerSlam (1997)

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Current revision as of 09:06, 21 September 2021

SummerSlam was the tenth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE). It took place on August 3, 1997, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

[edit] Production

[edit] Background

SummerSlam is an annual pay-per-view, produced every August by International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE) since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer," it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, eventually dubbed the "Big Four". It has since become IWF's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 1997 event was the tenth in the SummerSlam chronology.

[edit] Storylines

SummerSlam 1997 featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines that were played out on Raw Is War and other International Wrestling Federation (IWF) television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches.

The featured rivalry heading into the event involved IWF Champion The Undertaker and Bret Heart. On the July 7 episode of Raw is War at Edmonton, Alberta, Hart was announced as the number one contender for the IWF Championship. In an interview with Vince Matteson, Heart said that if he did not win the title at SummerSlam, he would not wrestle on American soil again. The next week, Shawn Michaels, Heart's nemesis, requested Vince Matteson to be a part of SummerSlam. On the July 21 episode of Raw Is War, Heart, his brother Owen, and his brother-in-law The British Bulldog (The Heart Foundation), challenged three American wrestlers into a flag match. Michaels was announced as a special referee for the main event at SummerSlam, and in response to the announcement, Heart attacked Michaels and Matteson. Later, the Heart Foundation defeated the American team that contained the IWF Tag Team Champions Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dude Love, with the Undertaker, where the Heart Foundation won thanks to an interference from Brian Pillman. The next week, Hart challenged The Patriot, a match where Heart lost thanks to an interference from Michaels. After the match, the referees prevented Heart from attacking Michaels while the Undertaker watched from the entrance ramp.

A predominant feud entering the event featured IWF Intercontinental Champion Owen Heart and Stone Cold Steve Austin. On July 6, on the Canadian Stampede pay-per-view, Heart managed to pin Austin in a five-on-five match. The day after it, Austin attacked Heart while he was singing the Canadian national anthem. At the same night, Austin told Vince Matteson that if he did not win the title from Heart at SummerSlam, he will kiss Heart's ass. The next week, Austin teamed up with Dude Love to win the vacant tag team titles in a match with Heart and the British Bulldog. On the July 21 episode of Raw Is War, Heart's team managed to defeat Austin's team at a three on three flag match. The next week, Heart attacked Austin during a IWF Tag Team Championship match against The Godwinns, counting him out. After the match, Austin attacked Heart.

Another rivalry heading into event featured the IWF European Champion The British Bulldog and Ken Shamrock]. The two were at opposing teams of the Canadian Stampede pay-per-view. On the July 14 episode of Raw Is War, the Bulldog said that if he lost at SummerSlam, he would eat a can of dog food right after the match. The next week, the Bulldog attacked Shamrock during a match with Vader, powerslamming him on the steel ramp, and making him lose the match via countout. The next week, Bulldog and Shamrock competed in an arm wrestling contest, but as Shamrock was about to win, the Bulldog headbutted him, hit him with a steel chair and poured a can of dog food over him.

[edit] Steve Austin incident

The event is perhaps best remembered for the IWF Intercontinental Championship match between Owen Heart and Stone Cold Steve Austin that featured Heart delivering a botched piledriver that legitimately broke Austin's neck and temporarily paralyzed him, leaving him with many years of neck issues and potentially derailing the IWF's momentum in the Monday Night Wars during a time when the IWF could ill afford to lose any more ground to World Championship Wrestling.

In his audio book autobiography, Austin revealed that he and Heart were planning on the spots in the match when Austin (who was booked to win the match and the title) suggested to Heart about performing a piledriver as a false finish, under the condition that it was the knee-drop Tombstone piledriver variant used by The Undertaker as opposed to the more common variant of landing on his butt. Heart said he was more comfortable performing the latter variant but assured Austin that he would not hurt him. Coming off a critically-acclaimed feud with Heart's brother Bret Heart (who gained a reputation of not injuring opponents), Austin obliged.

However, at the planned spot Haert wasn't able to protect Austin's head, leading to Austin to break his neck and temporarily suffer paralysis. (In an ironic bit of foreshadowing, Jim Ross mentioned several times on commentary about Austin's history of neck problems prior to the botched move.) Austin informed referee Earl Hebner that he could not move and that Heart should not touch him. Once Hebner informed Heart, he started buying time for Austin to recover by taunting the crowd that Austin was about to "kiss his ass" (per the pre-match stipulation if Austin did not win the title) until Austin had recovered enough to perform the "worst roll-up ever" to end the match early and with the scheduled finish of Austin winning the Intercontinental Championship.

The injury left Austin sidelined for weeks, during a time when the IWF could ill-afford to have their biggest rising star off of television during their lowest point in the Monday Night Wars, when WCW was in the midst of an 83 week winning streak with WCW Monday Nitro beating out Raw is War. While Austin was able to recover, he continued to suffer neck issues and was written off television at the 1999 Survivor Series to undergo neck surgery, eventually forcing him to retire at age 38 in 2003.

Austin has since stated that his neck is in good shape and he is in zero pain after his neck surgery was successful. The accident was a source of backstage conflict between the two men, but Austin ultimately forgave Heart, and paid tribute to him on Raw Is War the night after Heart fell to his death at Over the Edge 1999. However, Austin did admit that he does regret that he and Heart were not able to fully discuss the incident at hand before Heart's unexpected death.

The botch, while initially appearing fatal for the IWF in the Monday Night Wars, ultimately proved to be a speed bump. However, the IWF still took preventative action, legitimately banning the piledriver in 2000. The Undertaker and Kane were grandfathered to keep using it, as the two were proven safe with the move (though Kane would eventually switch to the much safer chokeslam as his finishing move), while Rikishi began to use the Banzai drop (co-opted by his real-life cousin Yokozuna) as his finishing move. Subsequent wrestlers who used variations of the piledriver on the independent circuit such as Kevin Owens dropped the move from their moveset upon signing with the now-IWE.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Results

[edit] Other on-screen talent

[edit] References

[edit] External links