1997 Royal Rumble

The 1997 Royal Rumble was the 10th annual Royal Rumble show produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 17th, 1997. The attendance was 60,712 people and took place from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The main event was the 30-man Royal Rumble match, won by Steve Austin who last eliminated Rocky Maivia. The main matches on the undercard were the WWF Championship match between Duke "The Dumpster" Droese" and Diesel and the WWF Undisputed Championship match between Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker.

## Background

The main event match of the show was the Royal Rumble match, a 30 man over the top battle royal, where the winner would main event Wrestlemania 13 in a title match of their choosing. Leading up to the event several matches were held to determine what spot a wrestler would enter at, called Rumble Matches. The first of these matches was at the In Your House: Papa Johns.com PPV between Steve Austin and the Undertaker. Austin won due to interference from Shawn Michaels, and defended his reward in two matches against Scotty 3 Hotty 5 Me and Mo, defeating both men. Another one of these matches took place on the RAW after In Your House: Papa Johns.com, with Bret Hart defeating Scotty 3 Hotty 5 Me. A third Rumble match took place on the same show between the Ultimate Warrior and Spooky Steve, with Warrior winning. Also on the same show a match was held between Rocky Maivia and Lex Luger, with Maivia emerging victorious. The next RAW saw Chris Benoit defeat Flap Jack New Jack due to botched interference from Jack's stablemate Aunt Jemima, as well as Dude Love defeating Yoshi Kwan as well as Xanta Klaus being defeated by a returning Owen Hart. On a special edition of Kwang TV on the January 11th edition of RAW, Kwang hosted a show where the winners of the Rumble Matches would announce what spots they picked. Bret Hart was selected to go first and he picked #30. Next was Steve Austin, who chose #8, the lucky number of current WWF Champion Duke "The Dumpster" Droese. Following Austin was Chris Benoit who picked #26. Owen Hart picked #27 after Benoit. Dude Love picked #2 as it was his favorite number, which was followed by the Ultimate Warrior, who picked #1. Love and Warrior got in each others faces but were seperated by host the Mighty Kwang. Last to speak was Rocky Maivia, who picked #4. On the January 14th edition of Main Event, Lex Luger challenged Chris Benoit to a match at the Royal Rumble with Benoit's #26 spot on the line. Benoit would accept the challenge and the match was set to start the Royal Rumble.

The main match on the undercard was champion Duke "The Dumpster" Droese defending his WWF Title against Diesel. The match was made by Sgt. Slaughter as on the last PPV, In Your House: Papa Johns.com, Droese defeated Diesel due to interference from Droese's manager Paul Heyman. Heyman would be banned from ringside in this bout. Leading up to the event, however, Heyman and Droese cut promos on Diesel. Diesel reacted by jackknife powerbombing Paul Heyman the RAW before the Royal Rumble.

Another one of the main matches on the undercard was Shawn Michaels vs the Undertaker. The feud started at In Your House: Papa Johns.com, when Michaels cost Taker a match against Steve Austin. The next RAW, Michaels explained his actions by calling Taker a fraud and a coward. However, Michaels would run away when Undertaker challenged him to a match with Michaels' WWF Undisputed Championship on the line. The next Main Event, Michaels ambushed Undertaker and attacked him with chairs before being pulled away by refs, with Michaels declaring that he would end Undertaker's sad career. The following RAW, Vince McMahon booked a job vs title hell in a cell match at the Royal Rumble. On the same show, Undertaker cut a promo on Michaels, stating that Michaels was jealous of the Undertaker's acomplishements and that he will make Michaels rest in peace at the Royal Rumble.

The feud for the Intercontinental Championship was between champion Man Mountain Rock and Mo. After winning several matches in prior weeks, Mo claimed he was gaining "Mo-Mentum" and asked Sgt. Slaughter for a title shot at the Royal Rumble. Slaughter said if he could defeat Man Mountain Rock in a non title match he could have a title match at the Royal Rumble. Mo accepted the offer and ended up going to a double countout with Rock. Slaughter, impressed by Mo's performance, granted the match to the anger of Rock. The following RAW, Mo was attacked by Man Mountian Rock. The Main Event before the Royal Rumble, Man Mountain Rock faced Owen Hart in an IC Title match, however the match went to no contest due to Mo laying out Rock.

The feud for the Papa Johns Championship was between Yoshi Kwan, the Mighty Kwang, and Dude Love. On the January 4th, 1997 edition of RAW, Kwan surprisingly defeated Kwang to win the Papa Johns Championship. This led to a rematch at the Royal Rumble. Dude Love demanded that he be in the match because he defeated Kwan a week earlier on the December 28th show, and because he pinned the champion he should have a title shot. Love was then placed in a match against Kwang on the January 11th edition of RAW, with Love emerging victorious.