Royal Rumble 1997

1. Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Goldust by pinfall

The first half of this match was excellent. Unfortunately, things really slowed down towards the end. Still, a pretty good opener.

Rating: 2.75

2. Ahmed Johnson defeated Faarooq by disqualification

This wasn't great, but man was the crowd into Ahmed. Too bad he was injury prone.

Rating: 1.25

3. Vader defeated Undertaker by pinfall

It was nice to see Vader pick up the victory here, even if they did nothing with it. Why Vader was never given the title is still beyond me.

Rating: 2

4. Hector Garza, Perro Aguayo, and El Canek defeated Heavy Metal, Jerry Estrada, and Fuerza Guerrera by pinfall

You want to hear 50,000 people sound as quiet as possible? Watch this match.

Rating: 1

5. Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble

The first 2/3rds of the Rumble were pretty pedestrian, but once the big guns came in, this was awesome stuff. This is still one of my favorite Rumbles ever.

Rating: 3.75

6. Shawn Michaels defeated Sid by pinfall to win the WWF Championship

This was a pretty good match, but Michaels was sick and it led to Sid dominating most of the match.

Rating: 2.5

Well, the Rumble itself is great and the undercard is pretty solid. There's the feel good moment at the end and the controversial ending to the Rumble match itself. That alone makes this a fun show.

Overall Rating: 75%