Fresh and Exciting

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Live from San Antonio, TXAttendance: 60,477Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler & Jim RossIntercontinental ChampionshipHunter Hearst Helmsley (C) (W/Mr. Hughes) Vs Goldust (W/Marlena)Helmsley wins with the Pedigree. This was better than I remembered it to be. I originally thought it was a boring match. It's actually a pretty decent match. It featured some intense brawling and solid psychology. **1/2Farooq (W/The Nation) Vs Ahmed JohnsonAhmed wins by DQ after The Nation interferes. Ahmed delivers a Pearl River Plunge to security member of The Nation through an announcer's table. This feud is more memorable for its solid buildup than the matches themselves. The intensity was good, but the match itself is mediocre. *1/2The Undertaker Vs VaderVader wins with a Vader bomb after Paul Bearer interferes. This was a dull match for the most part. Not only that, but it went too long for my liking. Vader getting a big victory is nice, but his momentum was ruined after Summerslam in 96. *3/4Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal & Jerry Estrada Vs Perro Aguayo, Canek & Hector GarzaAguayo, Canek & Garza win. This was all over the place! There was constant action, but the problem is that it wasn't exciting. It was rather deadening to watch. This was around the time where Vince was promoting AAA. *1/2Royal RumbleBret Hart ends up eliminating Stone Cold. However, the referee is too busy trying to get Mankind and Terry Funk to stop brawling on the outside. Stone Cold sneaks back in, dumps Vader and The Undertaker simultaneously, and then tosses Bret Hart to win the royal rumble. If you're confused, Stone Cold cheated to win because the referee didn't see Austin get eliminated. 'Bret Hart flips out after the match. This rumble is all about Steve Austin. You could really tell he was on his way to superstardom here with his amazing performance. He eliminated a lot of people and looked like a total badass in doing so. He was the star of the rumble here, and by far the biggest story. Austin cheating to win suited his character at the time. Aside from Austin's showcase, this rumble is decent at best. There were too many superstars from Mexico in here. **1/2WWF ChampionshipSycho Sid (C) Vs Shawn Michaels (W/Jose Lothario)Shawn wins the title with the superkick. This wasn't as good as their match at Survivor Series in 96. It moved a bit too slowly at times for my liking. Sid would slap on a bearhug or a chinlock to slow the pace down. I have to give it credit for the solid drama. With San Antonio being Shawn's hometown, it made the match feel more important. **1/2This is an average show overall. It has a few good moments. I consider this to be Austin's breakout moment, and Shawn's title win is cool as well. Unfortunately, that's about it. 5/10

Well, Bret Hart and Steve Austin continued their classic rivalry, The Undertaker had a not so classic match with Vader and Shawn Michaels tried to win back the WWE Championship in his billed home town in one of the best ever Royal Rumble PPVs.The night started off with Goldust wrestling Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the Intercontinental Championship. The main story going in had been Helmsley's attempts to seduce Goldust's manager Marleena (Terri Runnels) in the build up. Helmsley retained his title here in one of the Goldust's better matches. Good start to the night really.Next we saw the continuing rivalry between Ahmed JOhnson and the Nation of Domination. Tonight he would be facing Nation leader Faarooq, who was upset that the powerful Johnson had refused to join his group of bad guys. They have a slow big man match, which Johnson won by DQ after the entire Nation jumped him. He was able to power them off though and get the win.Following some comments from men who would be participating in the Royal Rumble later in the night, Vader and the Undertaker had a disappointing match, won by Vader following a distraction from Paul Bearer. Taker was very unhappy, and he would only get angrier as the night went on.After some more comments from Rumble participants it was time for the midgets to come in and it was the team of Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal and Jerry Estrada defeating Perro Aguayo, El Canek and Hector Garza.This was followed by a classic Royal Rumble match. The story of the match was Steve Austin and Bret Hart. Austin came in at 5, and eliminated ten guys, but business really picked up when Hart came in. Hart and Austin brawled all over the ring. It looked as though Hart had had the last laugh, eliminating Austin, but the referees missed it as they were arguing with Vader. Hart eliminated the Undertaker and should have won the Rumble, but Austin threw him over and was declared the winner. Hart, furious at being screwed out of an opportunity to headline Wrestlemania for the second consecutive PPV went off on a tirade directed at Vince McMahon, JIm Ross and Jerry Lawler. On the subject of Lawler, he was briefly in the Rumble match and never had a finer PPV as a heel commentator. He was another reason why this Rumble was one of the very best ever.This finally brings us to the main event, which saw Shawn Michaels defeat Sycho Sid to regain the WWE Championship. Michaels had lost the championship to Sid after Sid knocked him out with a TV camera, and turned the tables here, knocking out Sid with a TV camera shot of his own to get the win. This was another good main event outing for Sid, who, mainly thanks to being put against Hart and Michaels, had proved an effective short term champion.Well, surely we'll hear more of this screwy ending to the Royal Rumble at the next PPV, and how would Shawn Michaels pull up after his gruelling match with Sid. As it turned out, both questions would have the same answer, with Michaels injured and a vacant title.

The 1997 Royal Rumble was like all other Royal Rumble events-brilliant and exciting mainly because of the 30 man Rumble which is everyone's favourite part of the show.The undercard matches were brilliant-Vader batted the Undertaker in a great match and I was pleasantly surprised by the Goldust/Triple H match and the scrap between Ahmed Johnson and Farooq.The 30 man Rumble itself was exciting with plenty of action; the only thing that spoiled it was the controversial ending.Shawn Michaels and Sid had a great match for the WWF Title; Shawn was wrestling in his hometown of Texas and he put on a great show with Sid.Fantastic stuff!

The Royal Rumble '97 was great. There were a couple of lame matches (e.g. The six man tag match, Farooq vs. Ahmed Johnson)but other than that, it was pretty enjoyable. The Undetaker vs. Vader was okay and Shawn Michaels vs. Sid was great. The best part, though, was the royal rumble match itself. It was great seeing newer stars like Rocky Maivia and veterans like Jake Roberts and Terry Funk in the same match. This royal rumble match had a lot of Mexican wrestling stars. And of course, Austin wins! Also, you should time how long Jerry Lawler is in the rumble (I think it's like 10 seconds)