VIP AUDIO 1/14 – Pro Wrestling Then and Now w/Frank Peteani: Kelly Wells joins Frank to look back on the 1997 WWF Royal Rumble. Goldust vs. Helmsley, Undertaker vs. Vader, Michaels vs. Sid, 30-Man Royal Rumble, more (114 min.)

SHOW SUMMARY: PWTorch.com contributor Kelly Wells from the “PWT Talks NXT” Dailycast and “NXT Eight Years Back” returns to “Pro Wrestling Then and Now” to look back on the 1997 Royal Rumble event. Frank and Kelly discuss the entire card, which they agree is disappointing, but have a very interesting discussion on the historical nature of this event. It features Goldust vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the Intercontinental Championship, Ahmed Johnson vs. Farooq of the Nation of Domination, Undertaker vs. Vader, a six-man tag match featuring AAA wrestlers, Shawn Michaels challenging Sycho Sid for the WWF Championship, and the Royal Rumble itself won by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in controversial fashion. Topics of focus include:

• The characterization of Goldust and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) at the time.  Would Dustin Rhodes have been anything if not for the Goldust character?
• The potential and demise of Ahmed Johnson.
• The matchers that suited Undertaker and Vader best, just not with each other.
• How the AAA wrestlers appearing in WWF could have been handled better.
• Shawn Michaels’ issues at the time and what got in the way for Sycho Sid.
• WWF “lucking” themselves into big business with stars they may not have realized they had at the time including “Stone Cold” and Rocky Maivia (the eventual Rock).
• The “butterfly effect” of Shawn Michaels “losing his smile” and relinquishing the WWF championship because (let’s be honest) he didn’t want to job to Bret “Hit Man” Hart at WrestleMania 13.  What if he did the right thing and jobbed to Bret?  Would Bret and Stone Cold have ever had their historic match they had at that event?  Would there have been a Montreal Screwjob?  If there was no Montreal, would we have ever had a “Mr. McMahon?”  If there wasn’t a Mr. McMahon would Stone Cold have ever been as big as he got (would there have even been a Stone Cold without the match with Bret)?

Warning: Some language on this show may be NSFW.

DIRECT LINK:  VIP AUDIO LINK

NOT VIP? NO PROBLEM… CLICK HERE FOR VIP SIGN UP INFO