PPV Club #3: WWF One Night Only 1997

I own this VHS and have watched it many, many times over the years. Sadly, as I have the North American VHS, Bret vs. Taker is absent. Thus, I will not include that match in my retrospective/grading.

There's something about this particular PPV that always stood out to me. I guess a part of it has to do with it being in England (Birmingham, specifically). The way it factors into the atmosphere and commentary is awesome, especially the "King's English" stuff with Lawler and the subsequent confusion (or outright statements calling The King ridiculous). Just priceless. JR was always a hero of mine, and work like what he does on here is exactly why. Fucking love JR. Especially played off of King. Expanded my grasp of what commentary can be, and my vocabulary, to boot.

Beyond that, the matches themselves are generally excellent, and I feel, somehow, a different vibe/atmosphere in the ringwork at this event. Some good mat-based and catch-as-catch-can stuff. Possibly purposeful, as they're performing for an English crowd? Whatever the case, it works for me. I'm quite sick with the flu, otherwise I'd be getting into more detail and do a proper review. On to the matches...

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Dude Love
I love this match. This one, more than any other, sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of style, pacing... something about the crowd (and their air horns), Chyna's interference, etc. As noted before, there's more mat work and the like on this show, and it's really odd to see Dude Love pulling out this kinda stuff. Helmsley has some of that element, too, but it's rather less jarring. A big factor I've always loved about this match is just how well Dude and Hunter, respectively, each play up their face / heel statuses. Dude is having fun, slapping fans' hands and doing the Charleston. That little promo he cuts ahead of time, with its certainly-not-dated Austin Powers references and lame teeth joke is also decent Dude Love fare. HHH plays out the actions and attitude of a classic heel. He's cocky, disrespectful, and cheating for cheating's sake. The latter of which leads, of course, to that awesome exchange between referee Mike Chioda and Helmsley, with Chioda getting fed up with Helmsley's apparent (he's not quite "caught in the act" yet) underhanded tactics and finally catching him in the moment, holding the top rope for leverage with an abdominal stretch. Still love this moment. Good ringwork. Decent ending. There's also some great commentary on this one, including some great King's English bits—though I will likely say similar for all matches.

It appears that, in addition to Bret vs. Taker, Tiger Ali Singh vs. Leif Cassidy is absent from my VHS. So, too, is Patriot vs. Flash Funk. Yep—there are only 5 matches on the VHS I have, as you can see here:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ … 027126740/

Headbangers vs. Savio and Miguel (Los Boricuas)
This match runs just a bit longer than I feel it should. Other than that, I consider this a solid outing for both teams, and is the only match I can really recall Miguel Perez from. To this day, I can't help but chuckle at King's commentary on this one, especially King's endless quips about Miguel's excessive body/arm hair and his ragging on the Headbangers. I'll likely never forget the quick backstage bit with the Headbangers, not because it's worthy of remembrance but rather because it's remarkable that anyone thought these guys should ever talk. I grew up a huge Headbangers fan, and a fairly standard mark, but even I could see that. In retrospect, this is probably a fairly standard match, on the whole. Everyone runs through their usual paces, with few surprises. Savio and Miguel lack personality, but they work well enough here (Savio mainly, of course) as to not keep me caught up on the fact. They are all in top form at this event, though. The ending to this one is odd and clumsy, but I like it. Actually, I can't really imagine it any differently. To this day I don't know if Miguel legitimately lost grip on Thrasher (scary in retrospect—consider Droz) during the powerbomb, or if he really was supposed to stagger and subsequently walk right into the Mosh Pit. Considering the obvious overshoot of his diving senton earlier—hastily made up for with a standing moonsault (decent save, actually)—I lean towards "legit screw-up". Love the commentary by King there (paraphrase):
[Miguel catches about 1/8th of a corkscrew senton]
King (bluntly): Missed him.
[Miguel pops up, spins around and hits a moonsault]
King: Got all of that one, though!

Legion of Doom vs. Godwinns
I always liked these two teams, overall. I like a fast pace, but once in a while it is fun to watch the big bruisers come out and have a, ugly, hard-hitting outing. More to the point, I like the work they did together in their (fairly standard) feud at this juncture in time. This match doesn't quite stack up to the retirement match that took place (I think) a month later. But it is an excellent tag match. Always loved Phineas (Mideon) taking that big piledriver and getting back up, with King quipping that dropping Phineas on his head wouldn't make any difference to him. Not to mention the endless "If you (insert lame hillbilly joke), you might be a Godwinn" bits. Again, commentary on this show is strong, and JR telling The King to behave himself and remarking how ridiculous he's being is equally priceless. I believe (this is all from memory) this is the event at which one or the other Godwinn gets dropped, more-or-less, on his head in the Doomsday Device. In the words of Ron Simmons, "Damn!"

Vader vs. Owen Hart
This one, for me, was a grower more than a shower. That said, once it clicked with me, it really clicked. A huge part of why is that these guys really told a story in the ring together. It's a classic underdog, "Can he? Will he?" kinda match. Vader—naturally—dominates much of the match, taking a lot out of Owen. Owen's return fire is limited, but lethal. Despite going into this match heel, if I recall correctly, the fans do get behind him. Again, that's the power of good storytelling in the ring. Owen repeatedly attempts to scoop up and slam his massive masked opponent, with even King mellowing out and speaking frankly, "There's just no way he's gonna get the big man up, especially not after the damage he's taken." Vader uses his big-man power moves and really works the ribs on this event—again, this will play into the story. Special mention—damn, that samoan drop (as a counter to the crucifix) was nasty! Owen manages to create some space and put Vader on the defense, earning himself a second wind after being punished for so long. And indeed, he does pull off a scoop slam at long last, and the crowd pops, and commentary expresses how impressive it was... great moment. Owen goes up top, with Vader slow to his feet and groggy, but ultimately catches Owen in mid-air and twists him down into a nasty powerslam on his already sore ribs for the win. Great match.

HBK vs. Bulldog
I could write for hours about this match. This bout is burned into my brain forever. Would have to call this a 5-star match. Great action, solid backstory / build-up, incredible story told and, well, gotta give the Devil his due—Michaels delivers one of the best heel performances ever put out on PPV. With some help, of course. This is one of those rare epics in which everything comes together just right. Michaels and Davey were at the peak of their careers, in terms of ringwork and being over. Even the things that couldn't be in any way guaranteed to work right—like Michaels tossing the knee brace from inside the ring to the guard rail, right in front of Davey's wife—I mean, he could've easily under- or over-shot that, or it could've anticlimactically fallen to the floor. But no, it hangs perfectly in place, with Bulldog's wife angrily snatching it off the rail with that look of such hate and hurt. Special attention to that sitout powerbomb by Davey. That was explosive, and what would otherwise have been Michaels overselling it actually worked here. The crowd pops when each guy comes out, Michaels' awesome ring gear, JR's commentary... yeah. Oh, as a side note, I'm possibly one of only a few people who doesn't mind Vince's commentary. Leastways, not on this one. I think he fits in fine here.

That's all I can muster. Basically a solid B grade show, realistically, though I do hold it in high esteem, so I rated it an A. I imagine having Bret vs. Taker on it would elevate it enough to reach an A grade without my bias. Don't care too much for The Patriot, though I did kinda like his tag outing with Vader vs. the Hart Foundation at Badd Blood. I don't imagine I missed anything worthwhile in Leif vs. Tiger, either. But yeah... love this show, overall.

Last edited by Pilgrim Paige (Fri-21-Apr-2017 16:32:26)

So it was an average show.

-Foley v HHH: B
Good opener which was better than most of the matches that were about to follow it.

-Singh v Cassidy: F
Garbage.

-Headbangers v Los Something: D
Boring and went on too long.

-Flash Funk v Patriot: D
Boring and went on too long. Also, weird to hear Kurt Angle's music used by someone else.

-LOD v Godwins: C
Decent tag team match which was quite enjoyable.

-Vader v Owen Hart: C
The first half of the match bored the hell out of me, but they came back with a bang and ended it with an exciting finish, so overall, the match was alright.

-Bret v Taker: A
There's only three matches on this show really worth watching and this was one of them. Good shit and the DQ ending didn't affect the quality of the match at all.

-Bulldog v HBK: A+
By far the match of the night. The match itself was exciting and fast paced and just good stuff. Then, HBK decided to be HEEL OF THE FUCKING CENTURY with some despicable behaviour. This was a fun way to end the PPV although I'm not sure the triggered UK fans in the arena felt the same way lol.

Overall, the show was mostly a DUD, but it had a few good matches that saved it's ass, so I'll give it a C

Singles Match
Dude Love vs. Triple H (w/Chyna)
- Really solid opening match. They got a lot of time and these are two people who can put on great matches when given time. Second week in a row the opener was really good on these PPVs we are watching.

Singles Match
Leif Cassidy vs. Tiger Ali Singh (w/Tiger Jeet Singh)
- Boring.

WWF World Tag Team Title Match
The Head Bangers (Mosh & Thrasher) (c) vs. Los Boricuas (Miguel Perez & Savio Vega)
- Match was meh. Was better than I expected, but that isn't saying much. It is still boring.

Singles Match
Flash Funk vs. The Patriot
- Boring!

Tag Team Match
The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn & Phineas I. Godwinn) vs. The Legion Of Doom (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk)
- Boring

Singles Match
Owen Hart vs. Vader
- Decent match. Picked up towards the end.

WWF World Heavyweight Title Match
Bret Hart (c) vs. The Undertaker
- Great match. Paige if you can, I would find a way to go back and watch this if it wasnt on your VHS. They tore down the house!

WWF European Title Match
The British Bulldog (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
- This match was the best. Shawn Michaels was just a straight up dick. Mocking Owen's sister and also he went over on the show. Man he got nuclear heat. The crowd looked like they were about to riot. Very good match.