5 Worst Wrestling Matches Of 1997
The year 1997 was marked by a changing landscape in pro wrestling. Two major events occurred, both of which ended up changing the Monday Night Wars forever. The first was that epic match between Bret Hart and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin that led to the ‘double-turn’ and launched the latter to superstardom.
The second event was the Montreal Screwjob, which caused Bret Hart to leave WWE under very real circumstances. Both of these events were historic and have been revisited many times due to how important they were.
However, while those events brought WWE some significant publicity, there were also a lot of bad things that happened in that company as well (and in WCW, too). That great match completely overshadowed the main-event match that followed, leading to one of the worst WrestleMania main events in history.
As for the Montreal Screwjob, that led to Bret going to WCW, which was supposed to be a huge deal. However, as we will see in the entries below, WCW was already in major trouble by the time Bret got there, as the company had already managed to put together some of the worst wrestling storylines of all time.
#5. The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid – WrestleMania 13
This match is not necessarily bad if watched in a vacuum, i.e. without context or without watching anything else beforehand. It’s a decent contest between two superheavyweight wrestlers that defined WWE in 1997. However, when you DO watch this match in context, you can see how subpar it was.
This match took place shortly after the legendary Bret-Austin match that received all the critical acclaim. It was voted the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Match of the Year, was awarded a (back then) rare 5-star rating and has been called one of the best matches in WWE history. This main event that followed it…was a long fall from grace.
While Sid and Undertaker did their best, it was simply impossible for them to surpass such an outstanding contest, much less match it. The problem here was that Sid didn’t have the conditioning to work such a lengthy match against another big man like the Undertaker.
He kept using rest holds, hitting basic strikes and slams and moved around the ring at a glacial pace. The crowd was very much apathetic by this point, barely reacting to anything of note as the match progressed. Their apathy said much more than any chant or booing.
As if the poor in-ring action and almost non-existent crowd reaction weren’t bad enough, there’s also the urban legend that states that Sid defecated in his trunks during this match. If true, then perhaps his body was telling him something about the state of his wrestling at that point.