Every WWE PPV From 1997, Ranked Worst To Best
In 1997, WWE was back in action. After falling to some of the worst years of its existence, the company now found itself battling WCW and the arrival of the nWo. The competition made the company better, as things turned around in 1997 with a new creative direction.
This was the year that the Attitude Era really started to take form. Stone Cold Steve Austin became a star. Shawn Michaels and Degeneration-X started to wreak havoc. New stars like The Rock were stepping up, and Undertaker started to achieve the potential he always had. The WWE PPVs that year were also great, which was not always the case for the Attitude Era.
12 D-Generation X: In Your House
D-Generation X: In Your House followed up the Survivor Series and DX was highlighted throughout. Most of the matches were terrible, including a boxing match between Butterbean and Marc Mero.
However, it was lifted by the two final matches, both of which were decent but not great. Stone Cold beat The Rock, and Ken Shamrock beat the world champion Shawn Michaels by DQ in a match that should have been better than it was.
11 Ground Zero: In Your House
This was not a great show either, but it featured a very famous main event. This was the first time WWE went three hours with an In Your House PPV, and it showed as they tried to stretch out the action.
That main event was Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker, and when the match ended in a no-contest, it had a perfect setup to the first-ever Hell in a Cell match. Another great match on the card was the world title match between Bret Hart and The Patriot, surprisingly.
10 Survivor Series
This was the most infamous PPV in the history of WWE. This was the Montreal Screwjob. The main event was Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels for the world title, and then Vince McMahon called for the bell and awarded Shawn the title, causing Bret to flip out at the betrayal.
This was technically where Mr. McMahon was born. There were also two pretty good traditional Survivor Series matches here as well.
9 In Your House: Cold Day in Hell
The In Your House PPV Cold Day in Hell had some really good matches from surprising people. Of all people, Flash Funk opened against Triple H, and the two had an entertaining match. The second match was a hint of things to come as Mankind beat a young Rocky Maivia.
The Vader vs. Ken Shamrock match was better than anyone might remember, as they just went at each other in an intense fight. The main event was also great, with Undertaker beating Steve Austin in a world title match, which also hinted at bigger things to come for Stone Cold.
8 Badd Blood: In Your House
Badd Blood is the In Your House event where Kane made his first-ever WWE appearance. That means this was also the first-ever Hell in a Cell match, with Undertaker and Shawn Michaels battling inside the cage and Shawn winning thanks to Kane's debut.
Outside of that great match, there was also a really solid tag match with Bret Hart & British Bulldog beating Vader & The Patriot.
7 SummerSlam
SummerSlam 1997 saw Bret "The Hitman" Hart win his final WWE Championship in the finest match they ever had. At this event, it was Bret vs. Undertaker with Shawn Michaels as the guest referee.
This was what set up Shawn and Taker as well as Shawn and Bret for Survivor Series. The best match on the show was Owen Hart vs. Stone Cold, but this is also where Austin broke his neck leaving a dark cloud hanging over an otherwise classic encounter.
6 Royal Rumble
This was the first Royal Rumble that Stone Cold Steve Austin won, but the swerve here was that he didn't get his title shot as he was involved in a match for the title before WrestleMania and failed to win it there.
Despite that, Austin winning was a huge deal here and further pushed him to superstardom. Outside of the Rumble, Shawn Michaels won the WWE Title from Sid in a match where HBK was sick with the flu but still turned in a superb performance.
5 WrestleMania 13
WrestleMania 13 had one of the most important matches in the history of WWE. The babyface Bret "The Hitman" Hart wrestled Stone Cold Steve Austin with Ken Shamrock as the guest referee. This is the match where Bret won when Austin passed out, and the fans turned on Hart, making Austin a babyface for the first time.
The only other really good match on the show was the Chicago Street Fight with The Legion of Doom and Ahmed Johnson vs. the Nation of Domination.
4 King of the Ring
Triple H was supposed to win the King of the Ring the year before this, but he was punished for the Curtain Call, and Steve Austin won instead. Triple H paid his penance and was back and won it in 1997. The final match saw Triple H vs. Mankind, which went 20 minutes and made Triple H a star.
The match that saved the show was next, with Stone Cold Steve Austin battling Shawn Michaels. This match would eventually set up their world title match at WrestleMania in 1998, but this match was the better of the two.
3 In Your House: Revenge of the Taker
The show is called Revenge of the Taker, which meant that Undertaker was set to battle Mankind in this match for the WWE Championship. Foley was amazing in this match, taking a beating by Undertaker and coming back for more.
It was matches like this that showed Mick Foley was more than just an average hardcore brawler. This show also featured the Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold match that continued their feud and proved they were perfect in the ring together.
2 In Your House: Final Four
This show featured another early match between two men who would become hated rivals in the future, with Rocky Maivia successfully defending his IC title against Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
It would be a year or two before The Rock vs. Triple H was the main event pairing, but this was a nice precursor. The main event was fantastic, a four-way match for the WWE Championship. This was Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin vs. Vader vs. Undertaker, and with those four, it was guranteed to be good. The match stole the show and was one of the best of 1997.
1 In Your House: Canadian Stampede
The best WWE PPV of 1997 was In Your House: Canadian Stampede, and it was a bizarro PPV because it was in Canada and featured the heel Hart Foundation cheered like conquering heroes.
The main event saw Bret Hart, Own Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart & Brian Pillman fight Steve Austin, The Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock & Goldust, and the fans blew the roof off the building.
It wasn't the only great match either. Undertaker defending his world title against Vader was amazing, with the two guys beating the heck out of each other. There was also a great light heavyweight match between TAKA Michinoku and Great Sasuke, and Triple H vs. Mankind opened the show. Every match on this card was a four-star match or higher.
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