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   DIR Return to:  Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week
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       #Post#: 12628--------------------------------------------------
       Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the week: The most controversial show 
       ever
       By: SheriffLonestar Date: May 25, 2013, 3:19 am
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       So then 1997, well really there is only one show to talk about
       in that year because 16 years later we are still talking about
       it and its ramifications still ring through the industry even
       though the two main protagonists of the card are long since
       retired. However first let us set the scene;
       It is 1997, the WWE is on the run like it never has been before.
       Its spot as the undisputed number one wrestling company in the
       world is under threat from the old enemy. WCW, streamlined, well
       financed and capable, was making all the headlines. The NWO was
       a stroke of genius, and everyone thought Eric Bischoff had
       Vince's number. The defections to WCW of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash,
       to a lesser extent Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and a host of
       others had made WCW the number one TV rated promotion on the
       planet. Vince knew there had to be change, and rapid change.
       Just like back in '85 and again in '87 he had to risk it all or
       be crushed by the oncoming storm. This show had all this drama
       unfolding in the background, in the foreground was the WWF
       Championship. Bret The Hitman Hart against The Heartbreak Kid
       Shawn Michaels, two guys who couldn't stand each other. With
       Bret due to leave within a week, but with creative control over
       his character. It was a night I will never forget as a wrestling
       fan, more importantly it was the night where the Internet and
       sites like this one came of age.
       I have been posting in wrestling forums and reading web based
       opinion for about 17 years. Back in the day I would post on
       newsgroups such as t.netz.pro-wrestling and
       Rec.sports.pro-wrestling, the Pro Wrestling Observer was just
       going web wide and everyone was talking about how this main
       event would play out. We knew that Bret had to drop the title,
       but the intrigue was how. Would it turn into a shoot fight?
       Would the match just get thrown out? It was in Canada would
       Vince risk alienating the fans? there was more intrigue about
       this match than any other in history and the first example of
       there being a global conversation.
       Bret was the darling of the Internet, the man who had brought
       Strong Style to the WWE. The legacy of The Dynamite Kid, NJPW
       Junior Heavyweights and Stampede Pro Wrestling. On the other
       side of the ring was Vince's boy. We all knew that Vince had
       asked Bret to leave WWF, he couldn't afford his contract, and so
       had gone back on his word. All of these intangibles made for
       soap opera only this time it was real. No angles, no story
       lines, if you measured success in fan interest this match and
       this card was off the charts. We also knew what the Macmahon
       family was capable of. Ever wonder why the Bruno Sammartino
       Buddy Rogers match was so short? 45 seconds in the era of hour
       time limit draws? That's because Bruno was orderd to shoot on
       sight and told Buddy "we can do this the hard way or the easy
       way" no one is sure if Buddy tried the hard way or just gave in.
       Wendi Richter having been screwed out of the title in match with
       a masked Fabulous Moolah.
  HTML http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendi_Richter#The_Original_Screwjob
  HTML http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendi_Richter#The_Original_Screwjob
       Looking further down the card it showed the WWE in transition.
       The opening Tag Team survivors match pitted 4 teams against each
       other; The Godwins and the New Age Outlaws, a strange mix of old
       school WWE characters and new school attitudinal talkers versus
       the decidedly faded New Blackjacks and the last of the character
       curiosities The Headbangers. The Headbangers worried me, a
       second stab at the slacker gimmick after Rad Radford, they where
       punk and obnoxious and well where kind of like me and my friends
       at the time, so I could relate, but kind of painted me into a
       corner because they where heels. Were the WWF saying I was the
       wrong kind of person to watch their product? Possibly but
       anyways the show continued with The DOA versus The Truth
       Commission, which as faction matches go was pretty dire. Though
       they where 6 capable big men the chemistry never really jelled
       between any of them and was part of the booking malaise that WWF
       had found itself in. This was followed by a match that seemed to
       be designed for All Japan wrestling fans. Furnas, Lafon, Davey
       Boy and Jim Neidhart vs Marc Mero, Vader, Goldust and Steve
       Blackman. However as you inched up the card, things seemed to be
       creatively more forward. Kane and Mankind in a brawl that
       established Kane and gave Mankind a fresh opponent, two of the
       best characters WWF/E ever came up with. The Nation of
       Domination (featuring The Rock) vs Ahmed Johnson, Ken Shamrock
       and The Road Warriors, not a classic, but you don't watch
       matches like that for the ring talent, you watch it for the
       hairs standing up on the back of your neck. To round off the
       show the IC title was on the line between Stone Cold Steve
       Austin and Owen Hart. Steve still hampered by injury was able to
       round off his feud with the sadly missed Owen in a short but
       satisfying match.
       And so the main event. If you would like a detailed and fair
       account of what happened that night go and read this;
  HTML http://www.wrestlingforum.com/general-wwe/577309-montreal-screwjob-full-story-wrestling-observer.html
  HTML http://www.wrestlingforum.com/general-wwe/577309-montreal-screwjob-full-story-wrestling-observer.html<br
       />
       So much has been written about this match, that I don't feel I
       can add anything else to it except my own perceptions. I loved
       Bret Hart, his style, his character and I knew he had to be
       gone. It was inevitable. It saddened me that it had to end this
       way, did I stop watching WWF because of it? No. I liked their
       other guys to much and could sense momentum shifting in the
       match quality, I loved Mankind and Steve Austin, they where my
       new heroes. I had begun to appreciate the brawling style more,
       but I still felt horribly for Bret. Then Bret was on a million
       dollar contract, and I was just a fan. That's what struck me
       more than anything else. The fans where robbed, the wrestlers
       would be paid. We lost our innocence that night. We became grown
       ups, just as the characters we watched transferred from the
       Godwin's and the Mark Mero's into the New Age Outlaws and The
       Stone Cold Steve Austins, we lost our heroes and gained new ones
       that where closer to us, but still a million miles away.
       Enjoy the show.
  HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5XlrfjsXB4
  HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfVT97U2vSg
       
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