In Your House

[air_raid]

3 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I think, realistically, Bret would be on the wane as a top attraction anyway, and assuming that Bret sticking around after Survivor Series wouldn't have affected Shawn Michaels' creative direction all that much, Shawn would still go down to the back injury and be out of the picture. Maybe that means pivoting back to Austin vs. Bret, or maybe it means the Harts staying DX's natural opponents for a little while longer. But I can't really picture a WWF of 1998 into 1999 where Bret is being gradually transitioned down the card into midcard programmes, unless business got shaky enough to hotshot the belt back on to him - and with Austin on top, that seems unlikely. 

It’s interesting isn’t it - with the early November route to Mania as laid out by Vince to Bret, you have Shawn occupied by Bret for most of those months and explicitly not working Taker at the Rumble so likely not doing his back in - you could have several new main event scenarios with the fresh presentation of Steve Austin as champ, with the various combinations of Bret/Shawn/Taker. Knock on effects, it’s interesting to think how the Taker vs Kane saga intertwines with the WWF title and the existing Bret/Shawn soap opera as opposed to just Austin (and Mick Foley) as we actually saw in 98. You can still run DX vs The Nation which leads to the elevation of both HHH and The Rock but can you if Shawn being still there necessitates DX staying heels, if Bret and Bulldog are still there you don’t get Owen turning back by joining the Nation and you lose the reason (Owen/HHH enmity) for the two factions to feud anyway, and if HBK is still there, does Hunter vs Rock lose some allure if both aren’t leaders of their respective groups?

On the other hand… if Bret stays, it’s to take a pay cut, transition into an “ambassador” role (and probably agent) and “ride off into the sunset” after he drops the title to Austin anyway…. as laughable as it sounds today for them to retire a main eventer at the age of 40. Shame, I’d have enjoyed Bret/Owen/Smithers vs HBK/Hunter/X-Pac.

If Bret stays, maybe Starrcade gets a decent finish too.

Edited December 3, 2025 by air_raid
Break it down! - sentence structure, that is.

[Tennessee Moltisanti]

11 hours ago, The Gaffer said:

It shows how powerful the screwjob altered the course of the business that I'm having trouble effectively imagining Bret as the corporate champ. 

It doesn't square, for me. Bret's anti Attitude Era but even as a heel there's still an intrinsic integrity to his character that'd be anti the bosses corporate champion as well. It doesn't help that he's already pretty much turned on Vince on screen in early 97 when he pushed him down in that cage. 

He could do WrestleMania sort of shadow-backed by Vince but anything beyond that would be watering down the character for me. Bret's either got to be standing alone or de-facto leading whatever faction he's in. 

I meant in a way that Bret is the representation of the old guard, and that Vince would rather side with tradition.

Also, this reads like an excellent podcast, would make a great SCG Radio episode. Rebooking The Montreal Screwjob.

[BarryOVega]

Put D-Generation X on this morning as it’s the last one I’ve never seen then realised I’ve never actually watched all of Survivor Series 97 so stuck that on, absolutely spot on about how good the main event was before it was obviously cut short 

Anyway, DX ppv, great way to start your new division, having the inaugural champ have the shit kicked out of him for 90% of the match before catching him with his finish, standing next to Pat Patterson after the match in his minging fiver down the market jacket won’t have helped either

Shite 6 man tag, shite fake boxing match though it does show how good they were at marketing Sable with her being a (worlds oldest) ring girl the night before 

Shite Hawk promo, Foley was right in his book about LOD going from main eventers to punchlines in about 6 months

Boot Camp match, JR’s ‘yeah right’ when Lawler says he watched Slaughter when he was 6 was pretty funny, decent enough match for what it was

Austin finally getting a mega star pop was worth him slaughtering the Nation

Main event wasn’t much cop but I remember Owen Hart coming back being a big deal

 

[air_raid]

3 hours ago, BarryOVega said:

shite fake boxing match though it does show how good they were at marketing Sable with her being a (worlds oldest) ring girl the night before 

To add context and save you watching the show again, Sable was one of the ring girls for the boxing PPV the night before, headlined by De La Hoya vs Rivera, on which Butterbean also had a legit boxing match.

[BarryOVega]

5 hours ago, air_raid said:

To add context and save you watching the show again, Sable was one of the ring girls for the boxing PPV the night before, headlined by De La Hoya vs Rivera, on which Butterbean also had a legit boxing match.

Apologies but that’s what I mentioned in my post

[air_raid]

11 hours ago, BarryOVega said:

Apologies but that’s what I mentioned in my post

I was adding context beyond ;

20 hours ago, BarryOVega said:

her being a ring girl the night before 

Apologies accepted.

[wandshogun09]

I know I’m jumping way ahead in the IYH timeline here but we were robbed of a surefire classic at the September 98 edition. I forgot this was supposed to happen…

I get that they were going with the ‘Mark Henry fancies the arse off Chyna’ thing around this time so it kind of makes sense as a match. But what a comedown this would’ve been the month after H’s ladder match win over The Rock at SummerSlam. Aren’t you supposed to deal with the lackeys/henchmen of a faction before you take on the group’s leader? Beating Rock then having to piss about with Henry felt all back to front. I was blindly lapping up any old shite the WWF fed me in 98 but I remember even I was completely overcome with apathy when this graphic popped up on my screen on Raw or wherever I saw it at the time. Felt like a real step backwards going from Rock at MSG to the future ‘Sexual Chocolate’.

A Triple H knee injury scuppered this one. I’ve got no reason to doubt it was a legit injury considering he spent a fair bit of late 98 on the shelf. But it would be very on brand for Shawn’s Kliq buddy to get taken out with a bad wheel conveniently right at the time he’s booked in a match that’s really unappealing for him. 

[Supremo]

Not much can be said about Canadian Stampede that hasn’t already been repeated a million times before, but man.

A lot of people owe the best night of their career to Bret Hart, don’t they?

This had to be Brian Pillman’s favourite night in the business. You’ve never seen a man having more fun. Brian is a complete rascal all night long, being the most amazing heel prick, spitting in his opponent’s faces, cheating his arse off, getting building-shaking cheers for everything, with the biggest shit eating grin throughout. Fucking incredible.

It’s such a shame Brian Junior is so shit. Imagine if he’d inherited even the tiniest amount of what his Dad had.

Edited January 30 by Supremo

[air_raid]

13 hours ago, Supremo said:

 

This had to be Brian Pillman’s favourite night in the business. You’ve never seen a man having more fun. Brian is a complete rascal all night long, being the most amazing heel prick, spitting in his opponent’s faces, cheating his arse off, getting building-shaking cheers for everything, with the biggest shit eating grin throughout. Fucking incredible.

 

HE’S TAPPING OUT!!

[wandshogun09]

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

HE’S TAPPING OUT!!

One of the often overlooked highlights of that match is Pillman pulling that shit with Shamrock. Cracks me up. Anvil trying his luck at some Muay Thai with Kenny, with predictably bad results, always raises a chuckle as well.

Class.

One of the all time great WWF matches for me easy. It had a bit of everything. The action, the story behind it, the continuation of the Bret vs Austin rivalry which was the hottest thing in the company by miles at the time, and all in front of maybe the reddest hottest crowd in WWF history. A real ‘all timer’ if there ever was one. The entrances alone are better than most PPV matches. I must’ve watched the Hart Foundation entrances bit at least 30 times over the years. Just perfect.

And to think, as great as it was, the Yank team almost certainly weren’t the original lineup in the plans. You have to assume the originally planned team was likely gonna be something like Austin, Shawn, Sid, Shamrock and Mankind maybe? Or were the last two always gonna be LOD? Either way, I don’t think Goldust would’ve been in there. He was fine and played his part well but I find it hard to believe he was in the US squad when the idea for a big 10 Man Tag main event in Calgary was being concocted. As incredible as the whole thing was, imagine also chucking Shawn and Sid into the mix? Fuck me. That would’ve then added another storyline layer in the Bret vs Shawn beef, along with Bret vs Austin. And adding Big Sidney to anything is a plus. I’d love to have seen how he’d have played off the rabid Canadian crowd that night.

As it was though, pretty much perfect pro wrestling. The card as a whole is fantastic. I don’t remember loving the Mankind vs Triple H opener but it was OK and I enjoyed the brawling through the rest of the show. Sasuke vs Taka was obviously ace. And even Taker vs Vader, I remember enjoying that a lot more than their match at the Rumble and Taker actually getting Vader up for the Tombstone was a sight to behold. Brilliant show but, to be honest, if the card was literally just one match with the 10 Man Tag it wouldn’t lose any points for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Edited January 30 by wandshogun09

[AshC]

22 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

And to think, as great as it was, the Yank team almost certainly weren’t the original lineup in the plans. You have to assume the originally planned team was likely gonna be something like Austin, Shawn, Sid, Shamrock and Mankind maybe? Or were the last two always gonna be LOD?️

Didn't they do a segment with the first four of those coming out, as well as The Patriot? Maybe they decided to hold off on Del for another month or two, that match where he upset Bret was right before Summerslam, wasn't it?

Anyway, Canadian Stampede is one of the best shows they ever did. With the main event and how it's bookended being in the very top tier of things they ever presented. As an aside, Bash at the Beach 97 from the same month is one of the best ever WCW PPVs, as well. What a time to be a fan of north American pro wrestling.

[wandshogun09]

44 minutes ago, AshC said:

Didn't they do a segment with the first four of those coming out, as well as The Patriot? Maybe they decided to hold off on Del for another month or two, that match where he upset Bret was right before Summerslam, wasn't it?

They did yeah. I think it was Austin, Shawn, Sid, Patriot and Shamrock and they all came out on the ramp on Raw. I did initially mention that in my post but edited it because I’d wrongly remembered that being before Canadian Stampede. Turns out The Patriot didn’t debut until mid July about a week after Stampede.

I definitely think Shawn and Sid were most likely supposed to be in the 10 Man Tag but they were both in and out around that time, Shawn with ‘injuries’ and Sid probably with softball. Pretty sure Sid was gone altogether by about July or August. I think that bit when he came out on the ramp with Shawn and Austin and them lot might actually have been the last time he was on WWF television until that Heath Slater match all those years later. 

Edited January 30 by wandshogun09

[Dai]

Along with Raven/Goldberg, the entrances and up until Bret stomps Austin in the corner, and you see what looks like the actual building shaking, is probably my most watched 5-10 minutes of wrestling ever. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

5 hours ago, Dai said:

Along with Raven/Goldberg, the entrances and up until Bret stomps Austin in the corner, and you see what looks like the actual building shaking, is probably my most watched 5-10 minutes of wrestling ever. 

Yeah one of my favourite parts this, Austin gets nuclear heat for his, Goldie and Shamrock are so so, they tried desperately to not cheer for LOD then the Foundation come out, Pillman gets a good pop, gets a bit bigger for Anvil and Davey, Owen gets a massive pop then the roof comes clean off for Bret. Proper goosebumps 

[Chili]

I'm gonna say it again, the ONE extremely minor nitpicky annoyance I have with that whole Canadian Stampede 10 Man, is Neidhart coming out to Alundra Blayze theme instead of that sweet New Foundation theme that was already his solo theme anyway. Always crinkle my nose at that... Anyway the match isn't that bad, is it.