Since we’ve gone into WWE In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede years ago, we’re now in August with WWE SummerSlam 1997: Hart & Soul featuring a main event showdown as The Undertaker defends his WWE Championship against Bret Hart! What a tagline for this one, folks!
The Best of WWE SummerSlam 1997
The opener to SummerSlam ’97 was a fun but kind of slow cage match between Mankind and Young Triple H. These two just worked well together during this time and would only get better as the years went on. I really dug this rematch from their King of the Ring ‘97 finals.
Mankind left it all on the dancefloor and added that something extra to what could’ve been a standard but solid cage match in Big Blue. I wouldn’t even say it went too long but it takes some hits on it being over 16 minutes and being somewhat slow-paced.
Also, a cage match at the start of the show is odd but given the bulk of the card between this and the main, it was the opener we needed.
The Intercontinental title match between champion Owen Hart and Steve Austin was mostly good. It had a good pace, good action, there were hints at something that could’ve been magical later in the year. However, Owen dropping the “Rattlesnake” on his head not only ruined the match’s ending and slowed it to a crawl but also severely derailed Austin’s progression in-ring.
Fortunately, Austin was able to finish the match the best he can and remain on television while nursing his neck. Some have knocked the score down for this bout but again, in comparison to the rest of the card’s matches before it and after the opener, this was a gift.
The main event of WWE SummerSlam 1997 saw The Undertaker defend his WWE Championship against Bret Hart. While he was the champion, the stars that shone the brightest were Bret and special guest referee HBK who bickered throughout the contest.
That isn’t to say Taker took a light day since he wasn’t really the primary focus. He showed up to wrestle and gave the Hitman a good bout but in the end, Bret scored his fifth and final WWE Championship after a reluctant Shawn Michaels counted the three.
I like that WWE not only continued the buildup of Hart vs. HBK but this is also the road to HBK vs. The Undertaker. This was an important match for the remainder of 1997. It definitely could’ve been a few minutes shorter but the length is necessary. The opener went a bit long for the pace, Austin vs. Owen was shortened, and the other matches didn’t really deserve PPV time for the most part.
The Rest
Oof. Let’s zip through these because…oof. Goldust vs. Brian Pillman wasn’t good at all but Goldust hustled to make this match worth being on PPV. He didn’t succeed and it should’ve been on RAW but an effort was made.
Following that match was a tag bout between Legion of Doom and the Godwinns. The crowd has always loved LoD and they were the seasoning in this match. If you could’ve taken the pop for their entrance and the finish, this would’ve been an enjoyable nine minutes.
Also, this shouldn’t have gone nine minutes! For the Godwinns? Audacious! The British Bulldog defended his European title against Ken Shamrock in a truly mediocre match that probably could’ve flipped times with either the prior tag match or the following entry.
However, Shamrock was still being shaped up in shorter matches and Bulldog could only do so much with a Shamrock that didn’t have a ton of experience but still had some experience in the ring. I mean, this wasn’t Davey Boy Smith taking on Steve McMichael or anything.
It was on the short side which I didn’t really have a problem with but it was a slow seven and a half minutes. Oh yeah, 1997 was the year of the Gang War storyline with Los Boricuas taking on the Disciples of Apocalypse. The Nation of Domination was in the house but this was an eight-man tag between these two teams and it wasn’t enjoyable.
Also, Ahmed Johnson had a heel turn and did nothing on the show. He wasn’t even announced as being in the house. That said, this was the most notable thing involving the match aside from The Nation of Domination showing up.
WWE SummerSlam 1997 Verdict: Bronze Medal (2.07/5)
It’s safe to say that WWE SummerSlam 1997 wasn’t a good PPV at all. There was a serious injury, a lot of criminally mediocre matches, a good that just went long and needed more juice, and the main event that was very good but a little too lengthy.
I don’t know what the hell happened here. The match of the show was Bret Hart taking the World title from The Undertaker. It was one of two significant matches on the card and the only one of the two that finished as intended. Fortunately, it wasn’t a nine-match affair like WCW’s PPV tends to be since with this undercard action, it would’ve warranted a refund.
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