20 YRS AGO – WWE Live Event in St. Paul, Minn. (10-4-07): Brian Pillman’s last match, Undertaker vs. Bret Hart, Dude Love vs. Owen Hart

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT
OCTOBER 4, 1997
ST. PAUL, MINN. AT THE CIVIC CENTER
REPORT BY WADE KELLER, PWTORCH EDITOR

(1) Flash Funk pinned Rockabilly in 10:00. The crowd was into the match early on, even when Rockabilly went to a chinlock. Flash escaped and applied a sleeper, but Rockabilly dropped down and applied a sleeper himself. Rockabilly gave Funk a hangman’s neckbreaker and went for a half-hearted cover for a two count. Rockabilly stayed on offense for a few minutes, playing to the crowd. He missed a corner splash and took a Flair face-first bump to the mat. Funk hit a nice springboard roundkick for a two count. Rockabilly took over with a legdriver. Funk eventually won with a sunset flip. Decent opening, but nothing special. (*1/2)

(2) The Blackjacks beat The Truth Commission. Pretty uninspired opening few minutes with lumbering offense. Windham got a hot-tag at 5:00 and bashed the Commission’s heads together and hit a dropkick. A four-way brawl broke out at 7:00. (*3/4)

(3) Goldust pinned Brian Pillman. Goldust attacked Pillman at the bell. At 2:00 Goldust tried to steal Marlena, but Pillman went after Goldust and attacked him. Pillman remained on aggressive offense throwing Goldust into the railing and then using a chair. Goldust returned to offense at 5:00. Pillman eventually applied a chinlock and used his legs on the rope for leverage. Goldust popped the crowd with a big uppercut. The action spilled to ringside. Pillman used Marlena as a shield. After the match Pillman got his heat back by bashing Goldust with a crutch and then dragging Marlena out of the arena.(**1/4)

(4) The Head Bangers beat Miguel & Savio (of Los Boricuas) to retain the WWF Tag Titles at 10:00. Mosh popped the crowd with a top rope huracanrana. Pretty much a basic tag match. Nothing special, ending with a false title change, a restart by a second ref, and a quick roll-up for a Banger win. (*1/2)

(5) Marc Mero (w/Sable) beat Sultan at 9:00. The bald-headed Mero didn’t play to the crowd and was met with total indifference by the fans. He seemed to be playing a heelish role, but since nothing has been established on TV yet regarding his character, and given his opponent who also has absolutely no character development, the crowd heat was nil for the match. When they brawled at ringside Sable kicked Sultan which got the crowd’s attention. There were no pops for near falls, in part because the pinfalls were applied in such a half-hearted, lazy way. They went to a long sleeper which prompted the first sustained “boring” chant of the night. A bad match. (1/2*)

(6) The Legion of Doom beat The Godwinns in a cage match at 6:00. Hawk hit a top rope clothesline at 1:00. A few minutes into the match both Godwinns and Animal were all bleeding. The Godwinns used their slop bucket as a weapon, but the LOD got it and used it against the Godwinns. Hawk and Phinneous fought on top of the cage while Animal and Henry fought inside. Animal struggled to stop Henry from escaping the cage while Hawk dropped to the floor. Pretty much what you’d expect from these two teams, and not a lazy match, but all four were definitely going through the motions. Too short for a cage match. (**)

(7) Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) pinned Jim Neidhart at 6:00. Neidhart worked the crowd before the match over the house mic, talking about wanting revenge for what Hunter did to him at King of the Ring. Hunter took a really nice looking Flair flip over the top turnbuckle, but otherwise a very unmemorable match. (3/4*)

(8) The DOA beat The NOD in 7:00. Just the usual nondescript, lumbering eight-man tag match with no discernible or relevant storyline. The only thing noteworthy from the match was how much heel crowd heat Rocky Maivia had. (*1/4)

(9) Dude Love pinned Owen Hart (w/Jim Neidhart) in a falls count anywhere match. Steve Austin came to the ring to be guest time keeper. The crowd anticipated his entrance and chanted his name loudly before he came out and popped big for him. Austin sat in a chair at ringside and behaved himself until the end. A good match from the start. They brawled at ringside and down the aisle. Mankind came back with a plastic trash can and used it against Owen. When the ref got knocked down, Neidhart ran in to interfere. Austin stopped him and then gave Owen the Stone Cold Stunner which led to Dude scoring the pin. After the match Austin gave two “cops” (local indy wrestlers) Stunners for big pops. (**1/4)

(10) Undertaker beat Bret Hart via DQ so Bret retained the WWF Title. Shawn Michaels was guest ring announcer, but his appearance barely qualified as a cameo. They wrestled a very conservative match, but kept the action at a pace that made it passable for a main event match. Both wrestlers were really over with the crowd which made the match seem better than the action otherwise called for. Very little athleticism in the match. Bret applied the figure-four around the ringpost. A minute later Undertaker came back and the crowd popped. He reached up with his hand and choked Bret. He gave him a chokeslam and a legdrop for a two count. Owen then tried to interfere, but hit Bret instead of Undertaker which popped the crowd. Neidhart came out and distracted Undertaker. Bret rolled up Undertaker from behind for a two count. Undertaker came back and set up another chokeslam at which point Neidhart and Owen ran into the ring. Undertaker gave Tombstones to Bret and Owen after the match. (**3/4)

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