Newark88
Superstar
1997 represented a great transitional year heading into the big wrestling boom of the late 90's. It was a big year for all 3 Feds (WWE, WCW, ECW). WWE went into the Attidude era and starting to come out of the rating wars slump. You see the rise of Austin, the formation of DX, a young Rock starting to find his way, the formation of Mr. McMahon with the Bret Hart Montreal screw job and early stages of his feud with Austin, of course Bret Hart had a controversial year as we all know, the first Hell In A Cell match with HBK and Taker, the introduction of Kane, Mick Foley introduces Dude Love and brings back Cactus Jack. In WCW ratings were still number 1, NWO was still strong, the year build up with crow Sting leading to Starcade against Hogan, cruiserweight and mid card division were top notch with Eddie, Rey Mysterio, Malenko, Benoit, Jehrico, DDP vs Macho Man feud. ECW had their first string of PPV's, the original invasion angle with them invading Monday Night Raw (leading up to their first ppv Barely Legal), Jerry Lawler invading the ECW arena and having RVD and Sabu take out the entire locker room, a young RVD coming into his own, the end of the Raven vs Dreamer feud (As Raven went onto WCW later in the year), the infamous Terry Funk vs Sabu barb wire match, tag team division with the Dudley Boys, Pitbulls, Eliminators, Gangsters, BWO, FBI, Taz being Taz lol, Bam Bam Bigelow beating Shane Douglas for the world heavywight championship (although the reign was short lived), Rick Rude being a free agent and making guest appearances in all 3 Feds. We all may think of 98 as being the top year. But to me, 97 was an exciting year because all 3 Feds were putting out quality shows.
