The Wrestling Observer Yearbook '97: The Last Time WWF Was Number Two

by Dave Meltzer

  As is typical with WCW, when it comes to the wrestling, it was the undercard that stole the show, with the two best matches being a cruiserweight title match between Chris Jericho and Ultimo Dragon, and an amazing aerial circus involving Hector Garza & Lizmark Jr. & Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis & Villano IV & La Parka.

  WWF SummerSlam

  There were quite a number of major themes to the WWF’s SummerSlam PPV show on 8/3 from the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ.

  There was the main event, where Michaels began the heel turn by “accidentally” hitting Undertaker with a chair as Bret Hart ducked, leading to Hart capturing the WWF title for a record-tying fifth time. Hulk Hogan was the only other wrestler in WWF history with five title reigns. Neither Hogan nor the fifth time tying the record were mentioned in the commentary or storyline leading up to the match or after the match for the obvious political reasons (although Jim Ross did mention at one point during the show that the first WWF show at the Meadowlands was in 1981 headlined by Bruno Sammartino vs. George Steele, which for history buffs, was at the time billed as Sammartino’s retirement match).

  And there was the crowd, 20,213 strong (17,361 paying $523,154 along with a whopping $202,500 in merchandise sales), selling out about one week in advance. The show broke pro wrestling records in all three categories at the former Meadowlands Arena with the previous records set at the August 28, 1989 SummerSlam event of 17,202 paying $326,658 for a show headlined by Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake vs. Zeus & Randy Savage. The gate will be the second largest of 1997 in North America, trailing only WrestleMania in Chicago.

  But overall, despite the WWF riding a major wave of momentum from the U.S. vs. Canada angle storm, the show generally had to be considered a disappointment. The WWF’s top talent and the promotion itself, Austin, Hart and Undertaker, showed without question they were over by selling out one week in advance and with the generally strong house show business of late. But the crowd response from the sellout was disappointing, particularly from a live perspective.

  Aside from a few carefully choreographed spots during the show and the last few minutes of the Undertaker-Bret title change, there was no real heat in the building, which made the show seem unimpressive to the television viewers who were comparing it with the current industry standards, let alone the spectacular response at the recent Calgary PPV show four weeks earlier and some of the recent Raw tapings. Some there live credited the dead crowd to the idea so many had been at the afternoon tailgate party and boozed it up heavily and by the time the show started, they were all tapped out. There were reports of numerous fans who by midway in the show appeared to be on the verge of falling asleep because of too much partying in the hot sun before the show.

  Even discounting the lack of crowd reaction, the match quality wasn’t good. There were far too many botched up spots and messed up finishes for a major league show. Owen Hart and Austin were on the way to doing the show-stealer of a match before the injury cut them short and left the match flat, but they were the only ones who were working a great match.

  Bret and Undertaker, while not a bad match, was a very long match that was largely identical to all their previous matches until the finish and was certainly nothing out of the ordinary. While the storyline built well, for match quality this would have been a middle-of-the-road quality match at most of the recent PPV shows.

  Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley had a few spectacular spots, but overall never got serious momentum. The cage prevented the outside the ring spots that are usually the highlight when Mankind has a great match. But the cage didn’t prevent the outside interference, which was overdone to the point of silliness when it comes to the whole gimmick of a cage match. Chyna is the only thing in Helmsley’s repertoire that the crowd seems to care about so her constant interference is something of an easy out.

  None of the other four matches were any good, and about the only moment from any of them the slightest bit memorable would have been Ken Shamrock, bleeding from the mouth, doing his caged lion routine and he “lost it” and took it out on executives and former wrestling stars Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco and two referees en route to having his name chanted after a match which had to be classified as disappointing.

  Except for the main event, most of the finishes came off somewhat botched. Chyna did a run-in one spot early in the cage match, then had to go out of the cage and do the exact same thing for the “real” finish. Goldust and Brian Pillman messed up their finishing sunset flip spot to the point of almost complete embarrassment. Shamrock vs. British Bulldog was technically a DQ finish for Shamrock hitting Bulldog with a dog food can, cheap on its own, but so poorly explained after the fact that virtually everyone at home assumed it was an equally flat double count out finish to end what was only a fair match. The only thing positive to say about the Los Boricuas vs. DOA finish was that at least there was one, and it came about two minutes too late. And Owen Hart and Austin’s finish, which was just a matter of one of those nightmarish moments, a momentary panic due to fear of a catastrophic injury with 20,000 peoples eyes glued to them.

  While Austin’s injury was the major one, a second apparent injury took place involving Ahmed Johnson. Johnson, recovering from recent arthroscopic knee surgery, had just gotten word earlier in the week that his recovery was behind schedule. He had been scheduled to return to the ring this coming weekend but word late in the week was he wouldn’t be able to return until early September, and like Marc Mero, would be forced to wear a heavy knee brace. After the spot leading to the finish of the eight-man match, where Johnson was supposed to give Chainz (Brian Lee) a Pearl River plunge on the floor, Johnson seemed to change his mind on the move in mid-air, and it came off more like a power bomb, and apparently re-aggravated the knee.

  They did put him in the ring at Raw the next night to do an angle where the NOD turned on him to explain his longer absence and give him an issue to return for, although even before the NOD attack, it was clear in the ring that his knee was gone. With him limited by injury and Chainz limited by lack of ability, it gave the two the additional opportunity to try to set new standards for the category of awful pro wrestling. No word on when he’ll return but his first major match had been scheduled against Undertaker on the 9/20 “One Night Only” England PPV show. Undertaker also screwed up his back taking a superplex off the top rope from Hart, although he wasn’t expected to miss any time from it.

  NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament

  New Japan’s answer to March Madness, the seventh annual G-1 Climax tournament every August at Tokyo Sumo Hall, ended with Kensuke Sasaki as the winner, Hiroyoshi Tenzan as the rising star and MVP, and Masahiro Chono in the hospital.

  Sasaki, whose first G-1 tournament win and overall biggest career win to this point took place one day before his 31st birthday, had a first round bye, and then became the ultimate NWO-buster by being put over Marcus Bagwell in the second round on 8/2, and both Scott Norton in the semifinals and Tenzan in the finals on 8/3. Tenzan, who along with Satoshi Kojima was also legitimately injured over the three hard-fought days, was put over IWGP heavyweight champion Shinya Hashimoto in the semifinals, where he suffered a knee injury which initial reports are should require arthroscopic surgery. However, due to the storyline, combined with the injury to Chono, Tenzan came out for the finals and won’t be missing any action, losing to Sasaki’s lariat and Northern lights bomb (his wife’s finishing maneuver) in 8:09.

  Chono didn’t work the third night and reporters at the matches were told that he would be forced to undergo surgery on the ankle after all, which would be taking place this week, and would have to miss the Nagoya Dome show, where he was scheduled against Hashimoto for the IWGP heavyweight title. This may have resulted in New Japan changing the finish of the Hashimoto vs. Tenzan match that night, as it would have been more dramatic for Sasaki to score his biggest career win against Hashimoto than against Tenzan, and from a storyline standpoint it would make sense with Sasaki set to challenge for th
e IWGP title on 8/31 in Yokohama. However, with New Japan needing a replacement for Chono on 8/10, Tenzan needed the credibility immediately of not only going to the finals, but scoring a clean win over Hashimoto in the G-1.

  Tenzan scored the clean win over Hashimoto with a diving head-butt in 14:01 in what was reported as a great match, while Sasaki won his semifinal over Norton in 5:16 with the Northern Lights bomb. The quarterfinals on 8/2 saw Sasaki beat Bagwell in a match of wrestlers with a first round bye in 8:04 with the reverse ipponzei (judo hiptoss); Tenzan pinned Kojima in 11:43 after a moonsault; Norton pinned Great Muta in a battle of NWO members in 6:31 with a powerslam and Hashimoto beat Chono in 5:45. The Muta-Norton match saw the two shake hands at the beginning but Muta blew the mist in Norton’s face. Muta then was beating on Norton outside the ring using objects until Bagwell washed the green out of Norton’s eyes to start the comeback. Bagwell wound up fighting outside the ring against fellow NWO members Tenzan and Hiro Saito. Finish saw Muta go for a Frankensteiner off the top but Norton held on, and powerslammed him for the win.

  Reports are that the first night was just shy of a sellout with 10,500 fans, and that the second and third shows were complete sellouts of 11,000. The third show, a Sunday afternoon card, had been sold out for weeks in advance, with the gate the second and third night around an estimated $600,000.

  Chono, who had suffered a badly injured ankle delivering an atomic drop to Dusty Wolfe at WCW’s World Wide tapings in Orlando, FL two weeks earlier, announced he was going to work the tournament and his scheduled title match on 8/10. This also may have been initially scheduled as a title change, and he would also work the main event on New Japan 8/31 show at Yokohama Arena since it was the Riki Choshu Memorial Night.

  The actual injuries suffered in Florida were a dislocated right ankle, torn ligaments in the ankle and a broken heel bone. An operation was recommended by both the doctors in Florida and by the New Japan doctors when he returned, which would have put Chono out of action until November. Chono decided not only against the operation because of the important matches on the immediate schedule, but to also work the big shows rather than take time off. Chono worked his first round match on 8/1, getting his expected win over Michiyoshi Ohara in 18:39 of what was said to have been a very dramatic match due to Ohara’s working on Chono’s left ankle. However, apparently it was during this match that the injury was re-aggravated.

  In the second round, he faced Hashimoto. On the house mic, Chono challenged Hashimoto not to attack his bad leg so as to not make it a handicap match. Chono opened by kicking the hell out of Hashimoto using a special shoe to protect the injury. Hashimoto sold it like he was knocked out in the ring. In apparent desperation, Hashimoto went after the bad leg. This saw the rest of the NWO, Tenzan, Norton, Bagwell and Hiro Saito hit the ring and several New Japan wrestlers hit the ring for a brawl. This allowed Chono to attack Hashimoto and use his favorite STF, but Hashimoto made the ropes. Hashimoto made the big comeback, using a standing ankle lock before the referee stopped the match in just 5:45.

  New Japan held a press conference on 8/4 to officially announce Tenzan as Hashimoto’s opponent for the Nagoya Dome, since New Japan couldn’t get any major last minute help from WCW to fill the slot (not that there’s anyone in WCW who would mean a lot except possibly Norton since he has two pins earlier this year against Hashimoto challenging for the IWGP title) because the Road Wild PPV makes it impossible for anyone on that show to work Nagoya. They didn’t make an announcement regarding the main event on 8/31 in Yokohama which was initially scheduled as Chono & Great Muta & Tenzan vs. Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami & Genichiro Tenryu.

  Kojima apparently suffered a concussion in his match on 8/2 where he lost to Tenzan in the tournament and attempted to wrestle in a six-man tag the next night. He collapsed in the ring during the match and was pinned by Akira Nogami, and he was taken out by a stretcher to the hospital.

  Even though on paper the G-1 shows didn’t look anywhere close to the level of last year, reports we had were that all three shows were great with most of the matches being good and that Tenzan and Tadao Yasuda put on career performances.

  One of the surprises was the major league pro wrestling debut of Don Frye (who about nine years ago did work a half-dozen or so indie dates in Arizona), facing Kazuyuki Fujita on 8/2. This was reported as having the most heat of any match on that show. Fujita, a New Japan rookie whose credentials include being a Japanese national champion in amateur wrestling, got a tremendous crowd reaction for hanging in with Frye, particularly getting him in a submission where Frye needed a rope break. Frye made the comeback doing punches from the mount before using what I believe was a crooked head scissors for the victory at 6:40. However, Frye, who was managed by former pro wrestler Brad Rheingans, “turned heel” by refusing to break the hold until Naoya Ogawa hit the ring and started throwing kicks. The place went wild as Frye and Ogawa squared off until New Japan wrestlers pulled them both apart, but not before Antonio Inoki was in the ring as well. Frye faces former UFC fighter Cal Worsham at the Nagoya Dome, building toward a match with Ogawa that is scheduled to take place on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome.

  There was also a three-day long storyline involving injured Shiro Koshinaka trying to get Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura to join the depleted ranks to Heisei Ishingun. This led to Kimura teaming with Nogami & Akitoshi Saito on 8/2 and a match on 8/3 where Fujinami & Kimura & Nogami beat Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi & Junji Hirata. Also on 8/3 in the undercard, Tatsuhito Takaiwa got the biggest win of his career in a non-title match beating J Crown champion El Samurai in 16:42 to set himself up for a future title match.

  The G-1 first round matches on 8/1 saw Kojima pin Steve Regal in 9:45 with a diamond cutter; Tenzan pinned Yasuda in 10:39 with a moonsault; Norton pinned Hirata with a powerslam in 6:31; Chono beat Ohara with a chicken wing and cross face submission in 18:39; Muta pinned Manabu Nakanishi in 10:25 after a Frankensteiner off the top rope and Hashimoto beat Kazuo Yamazaki in 11:25 with the armbreaker. Yamazaki didn’t tap out, but ref Masao Hattori stopped the match.

  WCW Road Wild

  With PPV shows coming with such frequency, there are going to be good ones and bad ones. The industry is moving at such a ridiculously frantic pace that there is no time to savor the good ones or dwell on the bad ones, because for the most part by the end of next night, they are already old news.

  WCW’s Road Wild was one of the bad ones. That in itself isn’t a big story because WWF and WCW have their bad ones. But the reasons why are a huge story.

  There have been inner demons festering within WCW during this period of outward success. We know about the good and often great ratings, the best house show business in company history and a talent pool with depth when it comes to both marketable names and those who work at a world class level that would be the envy of virtually any wrestling promotion in the history of the industry. We also know about the egos involved, and the problems that entails.

  The failure of Road Wild as a show points more to the problems with egos and decision making than to the poor show as a measuring stick of where the promotion is today.

  To start with, there’s the very concept. The Sturgis rally is a big deal to biker enthusiasts around the country. It doesn’t mean crap to anyone else. The idea of doing a show on location outdoors near the mountains in front of the bikers was a novel concept last year, much like the beach show in Los Angeles in 1995. As a concept, it failed, like the beach show, but every time you take a new chance in this business you take the risk of it failing. But since it gave those in charge of the company and some of the top wrestlers a chance to ride their Harleys from Detroit (or Minneapolis) to Sturgis for a week, which apparently is more akin to their leisure time than riding waves, it was done again.

  WCW is in a lot different situation than it was in 1995. Today in any major market, a WCW PPV event will, between ticket sales and merchandise, gross from a low of $150,000 to a high of around $300,000. So doing a free show is basically givin
g away the opportunity for a tremendous amount of revenue. One can argue that Eric Bischoff turned the profitability of the company around far more than that, and doing shows that are fun for the boss and a few of the boys that like to ride and hang out in that atmosphere is just a perk of the company’s success.

  But the show suffered for it. The whole situation, with the ring on a platform, limited greatly the out of the ring antics and flying moves because the ring itself was elevated so much higher than the ground and made the risk factor such that a lot of out of the ring antics weren’t even attempted. This hurt the excitement of the matches last year, and this year did so even more because most of the high fliers were kept off the card since their talents couldn’t be used properly. And that handicap was already going to take the workrate down a couple of notches.

  Luckily for WCW, the live crowd, something of a problem last year, wasn’t much of one this year. Well, at least until the end of the show, but that has been consistent with a lot of crowds with a lot of promotions ever since television not so subtly encourages them the end of a show signifies the time they have free license to throw objects to their hearts content at the performers. Hulk Hogan got a rock thrown upside his head, and had to call an in-ring audible, and shielded his head with the title belt as he and his cohorts changed the title change celebration to an indoor event backstage while the befuddled announcers were left sitting there trying to kill time at the end of a show that was about ten minutes short.

  But that was the least of the problems. Fact is, the crowd was totally different than expected. It was more wrestling fans than bikers with nothing to do. Harlem Heat, the biggest heels on the show last year because of their skin color, got no racist heat at all. Hulk Hogan, the big babyface last year because virtually nobody in the audience even knew about his turn, was a total heel this year. The crowd knew the storylines and reacted, most notably when it comes to the Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael stealing the wife storyline.