King of the Ring 1997 King of the Ring 1997 was the fifth King of the Ring professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Federation . The event took place on June 8 , 1997 at the Providence Civic Center in Providence , Rhode Island . The main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWF Championship . The Undertaker defeated Faarooq to retain the title . The undercard featured the 1997 King of the Ring tournament , won by Hunter Hearst Helmsley . Other matches featured on the undercard included Shawn Michaels versus Stone Cold Steve Austin , Hart Foundation ( Owen Hart , The British Bulldog , and Jim Neidhart ) versus Sycho Sid and The Legion of Doom ( Hawk and Animal ) in a six - man tag team match and Goldust versus Crush . Background . King of the Ring featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing feuds , plots , and storylines that were played out on " Raw is War " — World Wrestling Federation ' s ( WWF ) television program . Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension , and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches . The pay - per - view event featured the annual King of the Ring single elimination bracket tournament . The tournament started on the May 12 , 1997 edition of " Raw is War " , with Ahmed Johnson defeating Hunter Hearst Helmsley in the first quarter - final match by disqualification . On the May 19 edition of " Raw is War " , Helmsley got another spot in the tournament because he was not properly instructed before his match with Johnson and thus threatened to sue WWF with legal action . He replaced the injured Vader , who was originally scheduled to wrestle Crush in the spot but had been injured in a No Holds Barred match against Ken Shamrock at . Helmsley defeated Crush and regained his spot in the tournament . On the May 26 edition of " Raw is War " , Jerry Lawler defeated Goldust in the third quarter - final match . The final quarter - final match was held on June 2 edition of " Raw is War " , as Mankind defeated Savio Vega . The predominant rivalry heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Faarooq over Undertaker ' s WWF Championship . On May 12 edition of " Raw is War " , Undertaker had nearly defeated Faarooq ' s stablemate Savio Vega in a non - title match until Faarooq interfered and attacked Undertaker . On May 31 edition of " Shotgun " , Faarooq , Crush and Vega defeated Undertaker , Mankind and Vader in a six - man tag team match . It would eventually lead to a title match between Undertaker and Faarooq at King of the Ring . Another predominant rivalry heading into the event was between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels . On May 26 edition of " Raw is War " , Austin and Michaels defeated Owen Hart & British Bulldog to win the WWF Tag Team Championship . However , after the title win , Austin went to fight Bret Hart and Michaels was attacked by the rest of Hart Foundation , which created jealousy between the new champions . On June 2 edition of " Raw is War " , Austin and Michaels began fighting each other during a title defense against Legion of Doom ( Hawk and Animal ) . This led to a match between Austin and Michaels at King of the Ring to determine the captain of the team .