SummerSlam (1997)

SummerSlam 1997

Details
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	August 3, 1997
Venue	Continental Airlines Arena
City	East Rutherford, New Jersey
Attendance	20,213
Pay-per-view chronology
In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede	SummerSlam 1997	In Your House 17: Ground Zero

SummerSlam 1997 was the tenth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event from the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 3, 1997 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The tagline for the event was "Hart & Soul".

[edit] Results

Mankind defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) in a Steel cage match (16:25)
- Mankind won by escaping the cage after delivering elbow drop off the top of the cage.
Goldust (w/Marlena) defeated Brian Pillman (7:15)
- Goldust pinned Pillman after Marlena hit Pillman in the head with her purse.
- As a result of losing, Pillman had to wear a dress the next night on RAW.
The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) defeated The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) (9:51)
- Animal pinned Henry after a spike piledriver.
The British Bulldog defeated Ken Shamrock to retain the WWF European Championship (7:29)
- Shamrock was disqualified when he "snapped" after Bulldog put dog food on him. Shamrock proceeded to choke Bulldog blatantly until the referee disqualified him. If Bulldog had lost he would have had to eat dog food.
- After the match Shamrock attacked several referees who tried to stop him from attacking Bulldog.

Steve Austin, with a legitimate broken neck, holds up his newly won Intercontinental Championship

Los Boricuas (Savio Vega, Miguel Pérez, Jr., Jose Estrada, Jr. and Jesus Castillo) defeated The Disciples of Apocalypse (Crush, Chainz, 8-ball and Skull) in a Eight-man Tag Team (9:07)
- Miguel pinned Chainz with a roll-up after The Nation of Domination came down to the ring causing confusion.
Steve Austin defeated Owen Hart to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship (16:16)
- Austin pinned Owen with a roll-up. If Austin had lost he would have had to kiss Owen's ass.
- Austin broke his neck when Owen botched a Piledriver during this match, resulting in Austin winning by a quick roll-up. The injury contributed to Austin's current hiatus from in-ring action.
Bret Hart defeated The Undertaker (w/Shawn Michaels as special guest referee) to win the WWF Championship (28:09)
- Hart pinned Undertaker after Michaels accidentally hit Undertaker with a steel chair. (28:07)
- After he was introduced, Hart had the Canadian national anthem played.
- If Bret lost he would never wrestle in the United States again. In addition, if Michaels showed any favoritism to The Undertaker, he couldn't wrestle in the United States either.

Promotional poster of SummerSlam 1997, featuring The Undertaker and Bret Hart

This is the first SummerSlam to have the WWF championship change hands.
Todd Pettengill introduced New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Gorilla Monsoon and The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher). Todd Pettengill went on to say how Whitman took taxes off of professional wrestling in New Jersey and that was the reason why the WWF had returned after not being in New Jersey for over eight years. Monsoon then presented Whitman with a replica WWF Championship belt for getting rid of the taxes.
This show marked Pettengill's last appearance for the WWF.
This was the final SummerSlam to use the generic blue and orange SummerSlam ring apron and rafter banner.
Jim Neidhart said that if any combination of Bret, Owen, Pillman or Bulldog lost at SummerSlam, he would shave off his goatee on the following episode of Raw. Owen and Pillman both lost their matches but Neidhart never shaved his goatee. The reason the stipulation was dropped was because Neidhart left the WWF temporarily to finish wrestling his independent circuit contract.