A Wrestlemania that has a bad reputation, with one obvious exception that generally keeps it from the bottom of most people’s rankings. Although I had been a fan long before this, WM 13 was the first PPV I was ever able to order live at my house, so it’s always been one that I have a soft spot for.
The Raw before this featured the possible WM lineup-altering Cage match between Sid and Bret Hart for the title (which I couldn't find), and this AWESOME final go-home segment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxCDDlSw9-A
And then there was this awesome WM 13 promo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrH1vLNdAaU
Godwinns vs. Headbangers vs. Furnas & LaFon vs. New Blackjacks
New Blackjacks are the only team to get a pre-match interview, which made them seem like the favorites… but they get DQ’d halfway through. They pretty much did nothing the rest of the year, until a mini-feud with the New Age Outlaws in October. The crowd really doesn’t care, outside of a few flying spots from the Headbangers. I do like Vince’s response to Lawler’s question about if he listens to White Zombie:
“White… Zombie?? Have they ever played with Tony Bennett?”
IC Title: Rocky Maivia vs. The Sultan
Without verifying, this has to be the weakest IC Title match in WM history. It was supposed to be Rocky vs. a heel/tweener Marc Mero, though, if I remember correctly. Honky Tonk Man, who has been scouting for a new protégé, is doing guest commentary, which I’m sure I think is funnier than probably anyone else. On trying to talk to Rocky prior to the match:
“He slammed the door on me, said he had to go to the restroom, HE WAS UPSET STOMACH!”
The match sucks, but they did at least give it a decent moment post-match, having Rocky’s dad make the save from Sultan, Sheik, and Backlund.
Goldust vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
I was never greatly interested in this feud but never thought it was as bad as others, although I think most people’s complaint is that it seemed to be neverending. Thankfully this is not as slow, or long, as the match at the Rumble. The ending sequence sees HHH knock Goldust into Marlena, sending her flying into Chyna’s grasp to be swung around like a rag doll, allowing HHH to hit the Pedigree for the win. This was a very one-sided feud, as I don’t think Goldust ever got a definitive win.
The network and DVD edit out a backstage segment of Marc Mero & Sable showing off WM 13 merchandise, allowing for an even more awkward transition from a crying Goldust carrying a crying Marlena away to Vince exclaiming, “HEY THAT’S SHAWN MICHAELS!” who’s struggling to use the internet.
Tag Team Titles: Bulldog & Owen vs. Vader & Mankind
Weird match, as all four are technically heels, although the Bulldog is kind of on the verge of a face turn due to squabbling with Owen, and recently beating him for the European Title. As a result, the crowd is kind of apathetic throughout, but they do liven up a bit on occasion. I like this match, but the best way to describe it might be ‘disjointed’, as I want to say it lacks a certain flow. Bulldog and Owen are faces by default and wrestle the match like that, as each has a face-in-peril segment.
Stu & Helen Hart are seated in the front row, ringside, on the hard camera side, so it seems like all four go out of their way to bring any outside action to right in front of them, including Vader & Mankind hitting a Demolition Decapitation on Owen from the apron! A funny moment happens at one point when a camera closes in on Stu for a reaction shot, but he gets startled and jumps when he faces the camera, allowing for Lawler to make a joke about him waking up.
There’s good enough action throughout, but the ending falls flat with a double countout, as Mankind holds Bulldog in the Mandible Claw in front of Stu & Helen.
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin
Honestly, not much more to say about this that hasn’t already. To me, it’s absolutely perfect and will forever be my favorite match of all time. I got several non-wrestling fan friends to sit down and watch this with me years ago, and it had them completely engaged throughout.
There are just so many nice touches. The build-up for this had you believing Bret and Austin wanted to tear each other apart, and that’s exactly what they do from the start, as Bret enters the ring and stands in the center, ready for Austin to attack. From the corner, Austin gives this great look away from Bret for a single second before quickly tackling him down, and the two immediately exchange blows. Survivor Series 96 was largely about wrestling to see who was the best. This was about killing each other.
Love seeing the spot, midway through, where Austin grabs the chair off of his ankle and nails Bret off the top rope with it, surrounded by tons of camera flashes. With a molten hot crowd, along with Lawler's corny follow-up line on commentary of "IT'S WRESTLEMANIA BABY!", and another vicious chairshot to Bret's back, this whole sequence is just great.
Something I thought was a little interesting during the double-turn at the end, that I never noticed: After Shamrock throws Bret across the ring, during some camera angles, you can see Vince at the commentary table standing up, presumably gauging and fully taking in the crowd’s reactions, which were as good as they could have hoped for, as Bret not only gets booed out of the building when he walks away from Shamrock, but Austin gets the “Austin! Austin!” chant as he limps away to the back.
Nation of Domination vs. Ahmed Johnson & LOD
Back in 97, I was disappointed that this wasn’t literally happening on the streets of Chicago, as was often implied in the hype. Probably for the better that it wasn’t. Ahmed getting to wear LOD shoulder pads for the entrance is awesome.
Like many hardcore matches have, this one lost some of its luster over the years, depending on if you thought it had any to begin with. An all-out garbage brawl was still relatively fresh in the WWF at this point, so at the time, having seen little WCW and no ECW, I thought it was pretty great. Faarooq gets to take two table spots: Animal gives him a super-safe non-piledriver on top that that doesn’t break the French announce table, only to scoop-slammed (!) through a few minutes later. The camera can’t follow all the action, spread out around ringside, but it really does add to the chaotic feel, as does the presence of the ENTIRE Nation, including PG-13, D’Lo, and the rest of the nameless bodyguards. Enjoyable enough, and a good choice to fill in between the classic before it and the main event after.
Sid vs. Undertaker
In 97, I was a huge Taker fan and was really excited to see him going for the title. But with all the hot-shotting of the title between HBK, Bret, and Sid leading up to this, along with the various times Taker was screwed out of winning it in previous years, I didn’t think him winning was a sure thing. After months of wearing the new black leather, Taker has reverted to his classic hat, jacket, and grey gloves and boots, which JR points out is what he wore in his WM VII debut. He had also been wearing purple instead of the grey since 1994. Always thought it was a nice touch.
One thing I always loved about Sid: even after he technically turned heel at Survivor Series 96 to win the title, he still continued to acknowledge his fans with fist bumps during his entrances. Shawn Michaels is out for guest commentary, and he’s in a bit of a better mood than he was doing commentary at IYH: It’s Time. Bret Hart comes out before the bell to all but cement his heel turn by whining and yelling at everyone. While HBK and Sid laugh it off, along with a powerbomb, Taker doesn’t move a muscle to anything, until he attacks Sid to start the match.
Often considered one of the worst, if not the worst, WM main events, which I guess can be a little hard to argue, although some underwhelming main events in recent years have likely given it solid competition—Cena vs. Miz, Rock vs. Cena II, and possibly coming soon, Brock vs. Roman. I haven’t watched the previous two since their initial airings, so I don’t remember enough to really compare.
The match: There are two blatant rest hold spots in the middle of this, but dare I say it… this is not nearly as bad as it often is said to be, although it could have stood to lose about 5-10 minutes. Like many of his later title defenses in 97 (an underrated reign), Taker seems pretty energetic throughout the match and tries to get the best out of Sid. The two rest spots bring it to a halt, but otherwise the pace isn’t so bad for these two. Sid counters a Tombstone attempt into one of his own and even does the RIP pin, to his amusement, but Taker kicks out. I know it was supposed to set up a match at the April IYH, but I always thought it was unfortunate that Taker ‘needed’ Bret’s interference on Sid to win, instead of a stronger, clean win. Earl Hebner gives one of the Hebner-iest slow three counts of all time (he wasn’t even knocked out at any point!) to telegraph the win, not that it wasn’t obviously over, anyway. Taker celebrating his first title win in a little more than five years is a good high note to go out on, and super fan Vladimir seems pretty psyched.
Overall:
I can’t say you’d go wrong by just watching Bret-Austin and skipping the rest, but personally, I actually do like a lot of this show. I mentioned at the top that this being my first live PPV on TV makes me have a soft spot for it, but additionally 1997 is my favorite year of the WWF, so I tend to be a bit biased in my opinions for most of it.
So the original plans were to have HBK vs. Bret II for the main event, but that leaves one of Taker, Austin, or Sid as the odd man out for other matches. What were the plans?
There was also talk of a Vader-Mankind match, which would presumably have Bulldog & Owen either defending against, say, Furnas & LaFon, or having a rematch for the European Title. HHH & Goldust were pretty locked in to their own feud, and Marc Mero was injured, so there were few options for the odd man out, assuming a Triple Threat Match, yet to debut, was off limits. I guess Vader or Mankind could have substituted into an IC Title match with Rocky, allowing for some combinations of the remaining four. Ultimately, it was probably best that HBK lost his smile to give us what we got, as Bret-Austin makes the weaker undercard well worth it.
The Raw before this featured the possible WM lineup-altering Cage match between Sid and Bret Hart for the title (which I couldn't find), and this AWESOME final go-home segment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxCDDlSw9-A
And then there was this awesome WM 13 promo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrH1vLNdAaU
Godwinns vs. Headbangers vs. Furnas & LaFon vs. New Blackjacks
New Blackjacks are the only team to get a pre-match interview, which made them seem like the favorites… but they get DQ’d halfway through. They pretty much did nothing the rest of the year, until a mini-feud with the New Age Outlaws in October. The crowd really doesn’t care, outside of a few flying spots from the Headbangers. I do like Vince’s response to Lawler’s question about if he listens to White Zombie:
“White… Zombie?? Have they ever played with Tony Bennett?”
IC Title: Rocky Maivia vs. The Sultan
Without verifying, this has to be the weakest IC Title match in WM history. It was supposed to be Rocky vs. a heel/tweener Marc Mero, though, if I remember correctly. Honky Tonk Man, who has been scouting for a new protégé, is doing guest commentary, which I’m sure I think is funnier than probably anyone else. On trying to talk to Rocky prior to the match:
“He slammed the door on me, said he had to go to the restroom, HE WAS UPSET STOMACH!”
The match sucks, but they did at least give it a decent moment post-match, having Rocky’s dad make the save from Sultan, Sheik, and Backlund.
Goldust vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
I was never greatly interested in this feud but never thought it was as bad as others, although I think most people’s complaint is that it seemed to be neverending. Thankfully this is not as slow, or long, as the match at the Rumble. The ending sequence sees HHH knock Goldust into Marlena, sending her flying into Chyna’s grasp to be swung around like a rag doll, allowing HHH to hit the Pedigree for the win. This was a very one-sided feud, as I don’t think Goldust ever got a definitive win.
The network and DVD edit out a backstage segment of Marc Mero & Sable showing off WM 13 merchandise, allowing for an even more awkward transition from a crying Goldust carrying a crying Marlena away to Vince exclaiming, “HEY THAT’S SHAWN MICHAELS!” who’s struggling to use the internet.
Tag Team Titles: Bulldog & Owen vs. Vader & Mankind
Weird match, as all four are technically heels, although the Bulldog is kind of on the verge of a face turn due to squabbling with Owen, and recently beating him for the European Title. As a result, the crowd is kind of apathetic throughout, but they do liven up a bit on occasion. I like this match, but the best way to describe it might be ‘disjointed’, as I want to say it lacks a certain flow. Bulldog and Owen are faces by default and wrestle the match like that, as each has a face-in-peril segment.
Stu & Helen Hart are seated in the front row, ringside, on the hard camera side, so it seems like all four go out of their way to bring any outside action to right in front of them, including Vader & Mankind hitting a Demolition Decapitation on Owen from the apron! A funny moment happens at one point when a camera closes in on Stu for a reaction shot, but he gets startled and jumps when he faces the camera, allowing for Lawler to make a joke about him waking up.
There’s good enough action throughout, but the ending falls flat with a double countout, as Mankind holds Bulldog in the Mandible Claw in front of Stu & Helen.
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin
Honestly, not much more to say about this that hasn’t already. To me, it’s absolutely perfect and will forever be my favorite match of all time. I got several non-wrestling fan friends to sit down and watch this with me years ago, and it had them completely engaged throughout.
There are just so many nice touches. The build-up for this had you believing Bret and Austin wanted to tear each other apart, and that’s exactly what they do from the start, as Bret enters the ring and stands in the center, ready for Austin to attack. From the corner, Austin gives this great look away from Bret for a single second before quickly tackling him down, and the two immediately exchange blows. Survivor Series 96 was largely about wrestling to see who was the best. This was about killing each other.
Love seeing the spot, midway through, where Austin grabs the chair off of his ankle and nails Bret off the top rope with it, surrounded by tons of camera flashes. With a molten hot crowd, along with Lawler's corny follow-up line on commentary of "IT'S WRESTLEMANIA BABY!", and another vicious chairshot to Bret's back, this whole sequence is just great.
Something I thought was a little interesting during the double-turn at the end, that I never noticed: After Shamrock throws Bret across the ring, during some camera angles, you can see Vince at the commentary table standing up, presumably gauging and fully taking in the crowd’s reactions, which were as good as they could have hoped for, as Bret not only gets booed out of the building when he walks away from Shamrock, but Austin gets the “Austin! Austin!” chant as he limps away to the back.
Nation of Domination vs. Ahmed Johnson & LOD
Back in 97, I was disappointed that this wasn’t literally happening on the streets of Chicago, as was often implied in the hype. Probably for the better that it wasn’t. Ahmed getting to wear LOD shoulder pads for the entrance is awesome.
Like many hardcore matches have, this one lost some of its luster over the years, depending on if you thought it had any to begin with. An all-out garbage brawl was still relatively fresh in the WWF at this point, so at the time, having seen little WCW and no ECW, I thought it was pretty great. Faarooq gets to take two table spots: Animal gives him a super-safe non-piledriver on top that that doesn’t break the French announce table, only to scoop-slammed (!) through a few minutes later. The camera can’t follow all the action, spread out around ringside, but it really does add to the chaotic feel, as does the presence of the ENTIRE Nation, including PG-13, D’Lo, and the rest of the nameless bodyguards. Enjoyable enough, and a good choice to fill in between the classic before it and the main event after.
Sid vs. Undertaker
In 97, I was a huge Taker fan and was really excited to see him going for the title. But with all the hot-shotting of the title between HBK, Bret, and Sid leading up to this, along with the various times Taker was screwed out of winning it in previous years, I didn’t think him winning was a sure thing. After months of wearing the new black leather, Taker has reverted to his classic hat, jacket, and grey gloves and boots, which JR points out is what he wore in his WM VII debut. He had also been wearing purple instead of the grey since 1994. Always thought it was a nice touch.
One thing I always loved about Sid: even after he technically turned heel at Survivor Series 96 to win the title, he still continued to acknowledge his fans with fist bumps during his entrances. Shawn Michaels is out for guest commentary, and he’s in a bit of a better mood than he was doing commentary at IYH: It’s Time. Bret Hart comes out before the bell to all but cement his heel turn by whining and yelling at everyone. While HBK and Sid laugh it off, along with a powerbomb, Taker doesn’t move a muscle to anything, until he attacks Sid to start the match.
Often considered one of the worst, if not the worst, WM main events, which I guess can be a little hard to argue, although some underwhelming main events in recent years have likely given it solid competition—Cena vs. Miz, Rock vs. Cena II, and possibly coming soon, Brock vs. Roman. I haven’t watched the previous two since their initial airings, so I don’t remember enough to really compare.
The match: There are two blatant rest hold spots in the middle of this, but dare I say it… this is not nearly as bad as it often is said to be, although it could have stood to lose about 5-10 minutes. Like many of his later title defenses in 97 (an underrated reign), Taker seems pretty energetic throughout the match and tries to get the best out of Sid. The two rest spots bring it to a halt, but otherwise the pace isn’t so bad for these two. Sid counters a Tombstone attempt into one of his own and even does the RIP pin, to his amusement, but Taker kicks out. I know it was supposed to set up a match at the April IYH, but I always thought it was unfortunate that Taker ‘needed’ Bret’s interference on Sid to win, instead of a stronger, clean win. Earl Hebner gives one of the Hebner-iest slow three counts of all time (he wasn’t even knocked out at any point!) to telegraph the win, not that it wasn’t obviously over, anyway. Taker celebrating his first title win in a little more than five years is a good high note to go out on, and super fan Vladimir seems pretty psyched.
Overall:
I can’t say you’d go wrong by just watching Bret-Austin and skipping the rest, but personally, I actually do like a lot of this show. I mentioned at the top that this being my first live PPV on TV makes me have a soft spot for it, but additionally 1997 is my favorite year of the WWF, so I tend to be a bit biased in my opinions for most of it.
So the original plans were to have HBK vs. Bret II for the main event, but that leaves one of Taker, Austin, or Sid as the odd man out for other matches. What were the plans?
There was also talk of a Vader-Mankind match, which would presumably have Bulldog & Owen either defending against, say, Furnas & LaFon, or having a rematch for the European Title. HHH & Goldust were pretty locked in to their own feud, and Marc Mero was injured, so there were few options for the odd man out, assuming a Triple Threat Match, yet to debut, was off limits. I guess Vader or Mankind could have substituted into an IC Title match with Rocky, allowing for some combinations of the remaining four. Ultimately, it was probably best that HBK lost his smile to give us what we got, as Bret-Austin makes the weaker undercard well worth it.
