*

The Hart Family was at the center of WWF/E's In Your House: Calgary Stampede PPV 18 years ago today on July 6, 1997. Specifically, the hot Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart feud a few months removed from their double-turn at WrestleMania 13.

WWF/E was still coming out of the doldrums of mid-1990s programming, but Calgary Stampede was the highest-grossing IYH event to-date with a live gate of nearly $230,000 coming at the height of the U.S. vs. Canada storyline...

WWF IYH: CANADIAN STAMPEDE REPORT
July 6, 1997
Calgary, Alberta
Attendance: 10,974 ($229,598)
Report by Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

(1) Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) fought Mankind to a double countout at 13:09. Mankind opened the match with aggressive offense, including a double arm DDT at 0:25. Mankind followed that with a mock Hunter-style bow. Hunter bumped over the top rope to the floor, in the first of many good bumps by Hunter. Mankind chased Hunter up the ramp, then suplexed him on it. Mankind played to the crowd well as a total babyface. Several times in the match Chyna interfered to help Hunter go on offense. At 4:10 Chyna distracted Mankind, but Mankind still managed to turn around in time to catch Hunter in the stomach with a punch. Chyna followed by throwing Mankind into the stairs. Mankind took fewer crazy bumps than usual, yet the match didn't lose anything because of the solid storyline and pacing. Hunter hit Mankind with a chair and went on offense for three minutes, applying the figure-four at 8:00. At 9:00 Mankind came back with a low blow and then a piledriver for a two count. At 11:20 Chyna stopped Mankind from hitting Hunter with a chair, then she rammed him into the ringpost. Mankind and Hunter brawled into the crowd and were counted out. They continued fighting several minutes after the bell rang, including Mankind beal throwing Hunter over the boards into the hockey bench area. (***)

(2) Great Sasuke pinned Taka Michinoku at 9:57. Everyone (not just those in the WWF) continues to get the pronunciation of Sasuke's name wrong, calling him everything from Suzuki, Sasaki, and Sawsuekay, when it's "Saw-s'kay," (the stress is on the first syllable, not the second). This match would have fit right in with some of the better cruiserweight matches on Nitro, but was downright revolutionary for the WWF. No matter how you slice it, it was a very good match. The crowd didn't know how to react to either wrestler during intros. After ring intros, Hunter and Mankind appeared brawling in the crowd again. Mankind clotheslined Hunter into the crowd and Hunter bled from the forehead. The Sasuke vs. Taka match began slowly, but properly and credibly with some nice reversals in the early minutes. Sasuke hit some nice spin kicks that probably made a few fans at home thing Sasuke was Ultimo Dragon under a new name (although Dragon's kicks are a notch better than Sasuke's). Taka slapped Sasuke, send him to the mat, and then dropkicked him while he was sitting on the mat both on the back of his head and in the face. Sasuke backdropped Taka over the top rope and then jumped off the rope rope to the floor with a nice side kick. Back in the ring, with Taka sitting in the corner, Sasuke nailed him in the face with a spin sidekick. Taka eventually came back with a dragon screw and springboard onto Sasuke. Taka then played to the crowd, who by this time had totally gotten into the match. More dazzling moves closed out the final few minutes, including the Michinoku Driver II (he stopped doing the Michinoku Driver I a while back) for a near fall. Sasuke eventually won with a Thunder Fire Powerbomb (Atsushi Onita first used the move) and a Dragon Suplex. Too short to reach four stars. (***3/4)

After the match they cut to outside the arena where Hunter and Mankind were still brawling. They brawled through the corridor to the parking lot. Good action, good theme, and a good way to energize Hunter.

(3) Undertaker pinned Vader (w/Paul Bearer) at 12:36 to retain the WWF Title. Undertaker attacked Vader at the start with a legdrop and an early near fall. Undertaker walked the ropes and came off with a forearm smash. At 4:00 Vader rammed Undertaker into the stairs at which point Bearer yelled at Undertaker. A minute later they brawled at ringside again. A fan held up a sign directed at Undertaker that said, "Murderer!" At 7:00 Vader hit a second rope clothesline for a two count. Undertaker's kick out got a good pop. At 8:00 the match slowed with a lame nerve hold by Vader. At 8:45 Undertaker punched his way out of it. At 10:00 Undertaker set up a chokeslam, but Vader kneed him in the crotch. Undertaker reversed Vader's reversal of his tombstone and, in a flubbed up move, ended up on top for a two count. At 11:15 Vader set up the Vader bomb, but Undertaker got up and low-blowed him from behind. He followed up with a chokeslam for a two count. And another chokeslam for another two count. Ross said no one has ever kicked out of two successive chokeslams before. Having that pointed out was Vader's compensation for doing the clean job next. Undertaker gave Vader the tombstone for the three count. Good crowd heat throughout the match, although the action was nothing different from their previous bouts. A decent match due to hard work by both. (**1/2)

(4) The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Owen Hart & Brian Pillman & Jim Neidhart & British Bulldog) defeated Steve Austin & Ken Shamrock & Goldust & The Road Warriors when Owen pinned Austin at 24:26. The crowd popped big-time for the individual ring entrances of each of the HF. They also booed the ring intros of their opponents. Before the bell there were five staredowns and trash talking sessions going on. Eventually everybody went to their respective corners except Bret and Austin, who continued jawing. The bell rang and off they went. Bret pummelled Austin in the corner and got a huge crowd response -- 100 percent cheers. Austin reversed positions with Bret and kicked at him to a huge crowd response -- 100 percent boos. Bret took over offense for a minute until a low mule kick by Austin. They teased their Survivor Series cobra clutch, push-off-the-ropes bridge finish for a two count. Neidhart then tagged in, followed by Shamrock. Shamrock threw a vicious kick that sailed over Neidhart's ducking head, but landed a second kick. At 4:00 Pillman tagged in to face Shamrock. Pillman bit at Shamrock's face, then chopped him in the corner. When Pillman gave Shamrock a backbreaker and scored a one count, Pillman yelled at the ref, "He's tapping out!"

When Shamrock went on offense, the fans booed. Owen, sporting another new buzz cut, tagged in at 5:30 as fans chanted, "Owen, Owen." Goldust tagged in for the first time. Meanwhile Austin worked the crowd and they returned with a thundering "Austin sucks" chant. At 6:30 Hawk tagged in for the first time and hit a salto suplex, legdrop, fist drop, and top rope splash for a decent series of opening offense. At 7:30 Bulldog tagged in for a huge pop. He hit a powerslam and covered Shamrock, but Goldust made the save. At 8:00 Bret and Animal both tagged in, then at 9:30 Owen and Goldust faced off. Animal then tagged in against Owen and quickly took over offense. He and Hawk gave Owen the shoulder clothesline, but when they went for the cover, Neidhart dove to make the save, hitting the ref in the process. A ten-way brawl broke out. Austin wrapped Owen's leg around the ringpost and swung a chair at it (hitting the post, not the leg). Owen writhed in pain and Bruce Hart, in the crowd, went after Austin. The rest of the HF dragged Owen to their corner so they could legally tag in. Fans chanted, "Austin sucks." Austin dove right into the HF corner and got a five-on-one pounding that electrified the already loud crowd. At 13:00 Austin yanked on Pillman's tights providing a full moon for a full 10 seconds. Bret tagged in and ended up wrapping Austin's legs around the ringpost. He then bashed Austin with a fire extinguisher and applied the figure-four around the post. Hawk made the save.

At 14:20 Hawk and Bulldog tagged in. Austin limped to the locker room. At 15:30 Animal faced Neidhart. A minute later Bret tagged in, followed by Shamrock. This anticipated match-up didn't go entirely smoothly. Shamrock set up a leghold, but paused too long before Pillman jumped in for a save. Shamrock then allowed Bret to stand as if to suggest he wanted a stand-up fight. Bret took over right away with a knee to the mid-section. He threw Shamrock to the crowd, then outside the ring he threw him into an announcer desk. Several brawled at ringside. At 19:34 Goldust tagged in and bulldogged the Bulldog. Pillman stopped a possible three count. Bulldog then gave Goldust a shaky looking top rope suplex. At 20:45 Austin returned to the ring and within seconds he and Bret were going at it again to more incredible fan heat. Bret applied the sharpshooter, but Animal broke it up with a weak-looking save. Austin then applied the sharpshooter, but Owen made the save. Owen tagged in, a brawl broke out, and during the confusion involving two non-wrestling Hart brothers at ringside next to Helen and Stu Hart, Owen rolled up Austin from behind and with a yank of the tights scored a three count.

Post-match, a big brawl broke out, but eventually the HF cleared the ring of their foes except Austin. Austin was handcuffed by security. As Austin walked to the back, he leaned over and gave fans the finger from behind despite his handcuffs. Over a dozen other members of the Hart family then entered the ring to celebrate their victory as fans cheered. The match was never spectacular from a technical standpoint, but the wrestlers and the feud, especially Bret vs. Austin, are so over that it energized the wrestlers and even basic moves and redundant save routines seemed special. All of the personalities had a chance to shine a bit during the 25 minutes. (****)

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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