[1997-02-16-WWF-Final Four] Bret Hart vs Steve Austin vs The Undertaker vs Vader

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Gregor]

A lot of people call this a great match, and I've never really understood it, so I'm looking forward to reading others' thoughts, especially of those who love it. I watched it again today and ended up liking it more than I had before. I knew Vader's performance here was always praised, but I never really appreciated just how much punishment he takes, all after his eye has been busted open. The guys spend most of the match split into pairs, and it's usually Vader vs. whoever that is the more interesting of the two.

 

There's not enough rhyme or reason to the stuff going on for it to be great, though. Bret wrestles like he'd rather be somewhere else, which is odd given that he's winning the title. His win does come off as anticlimactic. I'm having trouble thinking of three things he did before the match came down to him vs. Undertaker, and then he just clotheslines Undertaker over the top for the win. Austin looked like he really did injure himself before going out.

 

Ross and Lawler were good together on commentary. For all of JR's faults, I think that the WWF's announcing improved a lot once he became a regular in the booth. Part of it is that Vince and Lawler seemed to bring the worst out in each other.

[Loss]

I don't think this was a great match, even though I always thought that before. Still, I thought it was effective and everyone involved worked as hard as could be expected. Some of the shine wearing off of this for me is admittedly because of the lame 3-way and 4-way matches that followed this one for years to come. Vader's eye is nasty looking, which I'm guessing is the old Tokyo Dome injury from the Hansen match re-aggravated. Some of the problem is also that I think Jim Ross tried too hard to get this over as a classic, to a point where it comes across as unnecessarily desperate. Also, the over-the-top elimination makes this a glorified final stretch of a Royal Rumble and leaves this too open to screwjob finishes. There were moments of this that I liked, and I do appreciate the effort and acknowledge that it worked at the time as something really unique and physical. But for whatever it's worth, it doesn't really work now.

 

Now the booking of this is really terrific, with Austin being eliminated first and coming back to attack Bret anyway, and Undertaker sort of getting screwed this time around by outside interference and Bret not really having a problem with that since he benefitted from it.

[Childs]

I agree that this was more effective than great. They kept everything moving and got everyone where they needed to be in storyline. But the match didn't build to many great moments on its own terms. Vader rightly gets credit as the performer of the night. Not only did he work through that gnarly cut, which added a tone of seriousness to the match. He took most of the biggest bumps despite outweighing everyone else by at least 100 pounds.

[Migs]

Thought this was just a really fun brawl, with a great pace. The over the top or pinfalls rule was a bit goofy, but it gave the match a certain uniqueness that was effective (and perhaps worked well for the unsettled nature of the promotion at the time).

 

I believe it has been stated that Austin legit hurt his knee in this match, and was supposed to be the winner, with the booking being changed to Bret winning mid-match.

[Loss]

I believe it has been stated that Austin legit hurt his knee in this match, and was supposed to be the winner, with the booking being changed to Bret winning mid-match.

Scott Keith made this up. It is a complete lie.

[bradhindsight]

I believe it has been stated that Austin legit hurt his knee in this match, and was supposed to be the winner, with the booking being changed to Bret winning mid-match.

Scott Keith made this up. It is a complete lie.

 

Beat me to it

 

It never made any sense to me why they would waste Austin's first title win on a match like this anyway. That story (made up as it is) never jived.

[Frankensteiner]

I believe it has been stated that Austin legit hurt his knee in this match, and was supposed to be the winner, with the booking being changed to Bret winning mid-match.

Scott Keith made this up. It is a complete lie.

 

The part about Austin injuring his knee is true though. Think this is the last match for Austin sans any knee braces.

[soup23]

I love the camera angle they use with Bret's entrance that literally follows him from the interview segment to the ring.

 

The opening of this started hot and was real explosive with all these big personalities that have been yapping at each other finally getting physical. Vader busts his eye and the desperation is even better. Then they seem to lose their focus and the match came to a fairly big halt for me. Stuff was going on but it didn't have much rhyme or reason and it was just moves executed or outside brawling. I think this match looks worse in comparison to surrounding stuff in the year. There has been a lot of thinking man matches including a big one right before this match in Hash vs. Yama. This felt like a match with an ending sequence mapped out and instructions for the guys to fill in the 25 minutes before them. I also usually am not one to point out botches but both the stunner Austin gives Taker and Vader running into the timekeeper position are hilarious. Vaders superplex getting little to no reaction made me sad and he was the star of the match.

 

The end result of Austin being obsessed with Bret and the screwing indirectly benefit Bret worked real well here and this still was a good match overall, but in the context of worldwide 1997 matches, this will not be a memorable one in the long term.

[stomperspc]

This is not a great match by any means but it is another good segment into the clustered booking they were doing around the championship at this time. It was probably given too much time as it sort of meanders in the middle. You didn't get a lot of non-tag, multi-wrestler matches before this so it definitely was not a style anyone in the match was used to. It was a necessary step to get where they were going but as a match I didn't think much of it.

[Kevin Ridge]

I never saw this until picking up Will's Hart Foundation set. Even now watching it, I thought it was a much longer match. Yearbooks have not been kind to Vader's eyes. While I think he does a good job selling the injury here I thought his timing was off a few times in some other action. There was some awkward mid move stalls. Though the over the top rope elimination rule is in effect they don't do a whole lot of teases with it. Pinfalls/submissions are also in play but they are never really considered. Austin gets eliminated first which is surprising since it leaves two faces against one heel. And then Vader gets thrown out by Undertaker to a big bop. Crowd was behind Taker being champion again. The finish just seems off with Austin being involved and Taker walking right past Bret so he can take a shot at Austin on the apron. Bret ends up eliminating Undertaker from behind. In his book, Bret thought pretty low of this title reign since it didn't last long.

[ajtroma]

It lasted exactly one day.

 

I'd never seen this until tonight and I really really enjoyed it.

[BackToBionic]

I watched this as a youngster (with no internet/dirt sheets) so I didn't think of it this way at the time (I was pretty convinced Taker would win here) but if you watch this with knowledge of the way wrestling (though not always WWE so maybe that's the point) works, you would assume Vader would win this. The winner faces a babyface Sid so right there you are to assume one of the heels would win. And not Austin because he has a hotter feud with Bret to deal with and the belt will come eventually regardless, you just sense that. Then the way they're working, Vader is working his ass off even after a pretty nasty injury and (as pointed out before) Bret just seems pretty blase about it all. This whole period really was booked in the most complicated way possible but I guess Shawn leaving kinda screwed them so they at least have SOME excuse. The amazing thing is that they gave him the belt again when he came back. Oy.

[PeteF3]

This is a good match and I can see why it was praised at the time--in a time of workrate trumping almost everything in the online/newsletter world, this was 25 or so minutes of high, high workrate from 4 big stars in a company not defined by it. Plus, BLOOD! Intentional or not, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't. It sure added to the effect of the match, though. I agree that this doesn't age that well--the 4-man clusterfuck match isn't as novel as it once was, and while the opening 4-way brawling starts off hot and fun, it probably goes a little too long without a lot *really* happening in terms of psychology or storyline until Austin's elimination. Vader turned in a terrific performance and Undertaker held up his end as well as the other 2, so there's not much to dislike here. Just a fun action movie of a match.

[drew wardlaw]

This was one I was really excited about watching on the Network, as I hadn't seen it in years. Didn't hold up super well but I love the dream match aspect to this where you take the four biggest guys in the company and throw them together to fight each other. I really appreciated that it never devolved into the 1 on 1 with one guy laying on the ground thing then they switch, but maybe that's more of a modern thing I don't know.

[Zenjo]

This was an interesting and original match with plenty of ups and downs. An early foray into the four way. It was a little chaotic and disorganised at times. On the bright side it didn't have a bunch of contrived multi-man spots. Tornado action all the way and DQ rules were certainly not in effect. Long-ish duration with all four men staying in for the most part so they could pair off. Vader sustained a nasty cut above the eye, but I'll give him MVP honours to make up for it. Overall it was always watchable and intriguing, but no more than good. The finish wasn't the best.

[Exposer]

Really fun match that isn't quite as good on rewatch. This is Vader's best WWF performance though with the cut eye & the awesome brawling with the other three when they're split in pairs. My favorite part might have been Austin dropping the steps on Vader & Vader getting right back up & brawling. He looked like a total badass in this. I really liked Taker in this too. His exchanges with Vader are great & it seemed like he was putting in a lot effort. Austin gets eliminated by Bret. He comes back out later & brawls with Bret on the floor. Austin should have just attacked him in the ring instead of Taker breaking up the sharpshooter which doens't make sense in an eliminaton match. Maybe Austin missed his cue. Vader's elimination gets a massive pop which is a testament to how hard he worked in this match. The blood & his toughness made his elimination feel huge. Chattanooga is going crazy for Taker has he chokeslams Bret & signals for the tombstone. Austin pulls Bret's feet on the attempt which crotches him effectively costing Taker. Austin's distraction continues to cause problems & results in Bret eliminated Taker & winninng the title. Taker is pissed & Bret celebrates. Sid comes out & goes face-to-face with Bret to close the show hyping up their match on RAW the following night. Not a great match, but as others have said certainly an effective one with an awesome Vader performance. I'm lean towards it being very good though. They've kept Austin-Bret going, teased Taker-Austin, & have a big title match coming up on RAW so this did a pretty good job of moving things forward & setting up more intrigue going into Mania.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Bret Hart vs Steve Austin vs Undertaker vs Vader - WWF Final Four 1997

 

I watched this match last week at like 2am when I randomly woke up and couldn't get back to asleep. I loved the match the first time I saw it like 5 years ago. I still think it is great and very enjoyable, but it is not a classic. More than anything else it just shows how wasted Vader was in the WWF. They left Vader vs Bret Hart and Vader vs Steve Austin on the table when those match could have been classics. Easily Vader's best individual performance in the WWF as he back to classic Vader destroying muthafuckas and getting the biggest pops of the match. The blood definitely helped, but man did he work his ass off. I thought the other three wrestlers were great too, but Vader ruled in this. In the 8 bajillion multi-mans that followed this, I think what also stands out is how unique each of these characters are and how they all feel like huge stars. It had a big fight feel that so many multi-mans lack.

 

The match came about because of Shawn Michaels' Lost My Smile promo and Steve Austin coming back into the Rumble after he had been eliminated and dumping Taker, Vader and Bret Hart to "win" Royal Rumble. So they devised this Fatal 4-Way to make up for it, but due to Shawn's bullshit they made for the championship. Since Sid did not get his rematch, the winner of this faces Sid the next day at RAW. Taker boots a chair into Vader's face and this bloodies his eye bad which is from the Stan Hansen match I imagine. Vader with all the big spots like the missed Vadersault and the superplex. Austin hurts his knee and is dumped by Bret. Vader gets dumped going for Vaderbomb. Vader was just brutal in this match kicking ass. It has been a while a week but just on memory, he killed it. It is Bret and Taker left. Here comes Austin again to fuck over Bret just like the Rumble. It is total chaos. Taker knocks Austin off the apron. But tries around and eats a clothesline from Bret to send him over the top. Feels like they would have spun off a Taker/Austin feud, but I love this period of WWF because there is so many intersecting feuds. Great match, but there is no one hook that really elevates the match to classic status, but it is a good way to keep progressing the Austin/Bret story and Vader looks like classic Vader for once in WWF. ****

[KB8]

This was pretty fun, but largely messy and not always in the good way. At times it came off chaotic, but then at others you could see they were struggling a little to adjust and they'd sort of get in each others' way. Aside from a couple ropey moments where he either no-sold something or ran into the timekeeper's table, Vader was really good. He seemed super motivated and game to try a bunch of interesting things, which is more than you could say for Bret. I agree that this felt more like an extended finishing run of a royal rumble than a great match, but I'd still probably take this over the majority of later fatal four ways and their micromanaged nature. Vader's bloody eye definitely added to this and actually made it feel a bit like the war JR was trying to sell it as on commentary. 

[KetamineEnjoyer]

I would call this by far the best 4-way match WWE has ever done, no competition whatsoever, and despite the fact that these four set the standard for this kind of match, not just quality wise but also in terms of structure and atmosphere, it still hasn't been topped nearly 25 years later. This match is a messy and chaotic brawl, which isn't surprising given the guys involved, and how this match is hyped up on commentary, I've seen people complain about this aspect of the match, and that there aren't enough high spots or whatever, but that's exactly why the match is good, it doesn't feel choreographed or planned, it feels like 4 guys having a war to become champion. Of course the stuff between Bret and Austin was amazing, and set the stage perfectly for their ensuing WrestleMania match, Vader was insanely good too, his crimson mask forming over his actual mask was a great visual, by far his best performance during his time in the company. I don't think Undertaker stood out particularly but the other three more than made up for that.

[cactus]

This was chaotic. We might see multi-man matches on a weekly basis in 2022, but this felt fresh and the crowd came alive for this. Undertaker kicks a steel chair into Vader's face and he bleeds a right gusher. Vader bleeding through his mask made for a harrowing visual that will stick with me for a while. We get a lot of brawling around the ring and up the aisle. Bret Hart can brawl as well as he can wrestle. Seeing Vader and Austin clobber the crap out of each other makes me feel sad that we didn't get a proper program between them. Austin is eliminated first by Bret, but that won't be the last time we will see him tonight. The over-the-top eliminations were obviously put in place to protect everyone, but I don't think it hurt the match. Bret gets one last babyface hurrah before his world comes crashing down on him and he finally turns heel. ★★★★