soup23

Bret has a big surprise...... but the fans ruin it by heckling him. Keep this angle up. Amazing how much heat Bret has put on himself being confined to a wheelchair.

Really good finish and I too would like to see the full match since they have had some big stinkers since then. The finish was really clever with the harts escalating everything by being at ringside. Pillman does the false alarm bell spot which Lawler has a great call on saying he just got overly excited. I was also impressed with the tombstone reversal sequence and it looks like Austin got dropped right on his dome. Good stuff to close out a B show PPV.

I actually think this was the most disappointing match so far of 1997 on rewatch. I had remembered liking it before based on how different it was but now seeing so much other shoot style wrestling, this pales in comparison to me. I'm not one that usually is really bothered by crowds, but this crowd not really reacting at all did some serious damage in this match. I would still say the match was good but not the hidden gem I was coming in expecting and maybe not even the best use of Shamrock debuting.

I think it was too early to run this match ,but the build up has been honestly better than I remembered/expected as it does feel like they have a built in mini feud against each other even though Austin has his sights mainly set elsewhere.

The triple threat is born which should feel like a big deal knowing the history of ECW but after all the great stuff that has happened angle wise in the big two the last month, ECW feels like it has taken an even bigger backseat even coming off of their first PPV.

Wolfie smacktalking the fans was great and a preview of the IWA-MS crowds to come. Morton looks insanely old and maybe even worse than Eaton at this point. At least they werent winning titles but watching them I do get a bit of Freebirds in 1990 uncool vibe. I have no idea who the valet was with Morton either. The match was a lot more mundane and less spirited than I imagined. The finish was ok but overall I was expecting more.

Hogan attacking DDP was really good and something they could have went with as a main event feud. The visual of the MegaPowers working together in the aisle but the main components of Slamboree in the ring also really worked for me. These one hour Nitros are really frantic but they pack a lot into them.

This was a solid appearance to keep Hogan on everyone's mind and to build up his next two major feuds. Hogan really hasn't done a ton since February to be honest but things have been progressing nicely. Bischoff gloating over Hulk never gets old.

I think it makes Rey look a little foolish but more courageous overall and the crowd was popping like huge when he was getting his shine in the early going. That Razor's Edge has to be one of the best ones ever done as it looked vicious. Syxx continued to be a highlight with his rant on JJ after he broke up the buzzkill.

Good catch by kevin on the stunner as it did feel forced here. Still Austin picks up a good victory on the road to IYH. The final brawl was chaotic but damn did Furnas/Lafon feel really random and out of place mixed in with the other guys.

Quick segment basically showing Austin's arrival and how quickly the Harts retreat.

Shawn on the mic just honestly feels a good step behind everything else we have seen from Austin/Hogan/Bret/Outsiders so far this year. He yammers on then mercifully gets interrupted by Owen/Bulldog. LOD makes a save in one of their last bits of relevance.

Goldust comes out of the closest as Dustin Runnels. On one hand, this feels extremely business exposing revealing the bit with dusty and how the Gold Dust character was essentially an act of rebellion. The video was really well done and fascinating to watch but I'm still not sure if it was a good piece of business in the long run and think its one of the most debatable points so far in 1997.

This was a cool feature showing how Ken's path has lead him to WWF. His past background makes him seem like a tough guy but someone that is able to channel that anger.

Another good Bret promo as he was straight gold at this point. He lays out the objective for tonight as Shawn Michaels.

I can see the arguments for giving tenryu an extra appearance on the set and this does feel very much like a FMW style match with old ass Abby waddling around, but the actual action drug a lot and only really picked up for the big comeback by Tenryu. Fun to watch but nothing I really need to see again.

Atkins seems like a good choice if you are in the "dont notice him, then he is doing their job" camp. I can't think of any other referees who were more unnoticeable but still had a good many marquee matches, maybe early Mike Choida? Atkins was very good at doing his job and being serious. He didn't have much personality but that was kind of his gimmick and wasn't needed in a promotion that had Randy Anderson, Nick Patrick, and Tommy YOung to interact with managers.

This angle started out promising but now I just wish Stevie would knock him out and be done with it.

Not an elimnators fan so that lessened the video for me but as far as a package interspersing clips into a cool song, this did the job.

I enjoyed this little feud a good bit. I will attest that Ogawa's shortcoming and awkwardness kind of add to the danger of him in this type of environment. Finish felt like a big triumphant victory for Hash.

Great match overall and a really neat mixture of New Japan and M-Pro guys. It was also refreshing to see a match go two falls only and the heels to look that dominant. hamada was spry and still a little bastard at that age. Nakajima looked real good for a person I had never given much though to. Just a blast watching this overall.

Would like to see this in full. Pretty emotional and visually potent sendoff.

I enjoyed this a lot. Funk as ECW champ and Mankind coming off a title match wrestling for a Japanese indy feels so random. Awesome had a few awkward spots but looked like a great power man in other stuff. This kept building and building and mixed in some sick hardcore spots effectively. This was one of the most fun matches so far in 1997.

This was filled with cool stuff but I was left cold as it felt rushed for a big stipulation match. Part of that may be that they knew what the ending angle would be so they didn't want to blow everything here but I also was not crazy about the ending angle and Busa being blatantly unmasked in this fashion.

I kind of love Flair in this as the crazed uncle that is not going to back down from an insult to his family. His line on SYxx was really good and I'm saddened that he didn't want to work with him because just watching this, I thought Flair was purposely trying to put over Syxx. the beatdown and brawl with him was good but the Piper stuff made no fucking sense at all.