- Originally broadcasted on Pay-Per-View on November 9th, 1997, from the Molson Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Jim Ross and Jerry "the King" Lawler are calling all the action, with Vince McMahon unusually absent from the broadcast role. In fact, the PPV prior to this, In Your House: Badd Blood, marked the last time Vince McMahon would be featured calling the action from ringside. For whatever reason, we don't have the Fink tonight, and instead have a French-speaking ring announcer.
Mosh comes in, putting the boots to Phineas. He goes to work on the arm, and surprise surprise, the crowd is dead. Mosh with a dropkick and drop toe hold before settling into an armbar. Billy funally tags in, and puts Mosh down with a double elbow. The crowd with a chant for Gunn, which sounds like it might rhyme with "Maggot." Whip to the corner, and Mosh nails him coming in with a boot to the face, followed by a clothesline. Mosh goes for a bulldog, but Gunn counters with a face plant, and that's good for the three count at 8:45. Thrasher grabs a headlock on Phineas, then thumbs the eye. Lawler and J.R. speculate where McMahon is.. "he's busy" is all Jim Ross can muster. Thrasher with a roll up for two. Lockup, Thrasher grabs a headlock. He takes Phineas over with an arm drag, then the two exchange mule kicks until Thrasher grabs an armbar. Phineas goes for a slam, but Thrasher rams him face-first into the canvas, heads to the top, and hits the Stage Dive for three at 12:39. What an action-packed 4-minutes that was. Road Dog attacks from behind, and gets his arm worked over for his cowardly efforts. Bradshaw tags in and lays into him with chops. Bradshaw with a short-arm clothesline, followed by a gutwrench powerbomb. Gunn with a cheap shot from the apron, allowing a cheap roll up for three at 13:46, despite Bradshaw kicking out. BRADSHAW GOT SCREWED! Funny tidbit: Bradshaw blew his elimination spots two years in a row, and both times involved Brian Armstrong. Weird. Mosh gives it a go, but the odds are not in his favor (the booking odds, that is), as the tag team efforts of the New Age Outlaws are too much, and things come to a conclussion following a diving leg drop from the top rope by Billy Gunn... only problem is he clearly missed the target, but still gets three from it at 15:27. I can't say this didn't get enough time to play out, but all it did was play out how bad 8 men could work together. I can't think of anything nice to say about it, so we'll just hope for better with our next match.
Mero and Bulldog start. Mero tosses his head band at him, so Bulldog wipes his ass with it (it had the American flag design, making him just as much of a dick to someones flag as Shawn Michaels). Mero bum rushes, but gets sent to the floor quite easily. Crowd with a mild "Sable" chant, ticking Mero off. Back inside, Vader comes in and lays the Bulldog out with a short-arm clothesline. Vader to the second rope, and Bulldog turns whatever he was trying into a powerslam, then follows up with the delayed suplex to a big pop. Lafon tags in, and almost blows being sent to the corner. Mero in with a boot to the midsection, followed by a running knee lift. Whip to the ropes, and Lafon comes back with a spinning heel kick, followed by a clothesline for two. Neidhart tags in, gets a few shots in, then tags back out. Lafon goes for a suplex, but Mero escapes and tags in Blackman. He pounds away on Lafon and throws a dropkick. Blackman with a goofy elbow drop for two. Lafon with a knee to the midsection, followed by a DDT for two. Whip to the ropes, and Lafon with a crucifix for another two count. Blackman ducks under a roundhouse and puts Lafon down with a double thrust to the chest. All of Team Canada gets into the action, and we spill to the floor, where Blackman gets Counted-Out at around 5:50, reason being "he's not a wrestler or aware of the rules." Back inside, Mero pounds away on the Anvil, but that doesn't last long. Mero avoids a charge and rolls him up for two. Neidhart with a charging clothesline, but a splash misses. Vader tags in and gets wiped out with a clothesline. Neidhart runs into a brick wall, and Vader follows with a splash for three at 7:31. Lafon in with a series of crescent kicks, and a spinning heel version sends Vader to the floor. Vader tases some of the steel steps, and Furnas gets a few shots in to fil ltime. Whip to the corner, and Lafon blows it again, somehow. Vader with a belly to belly suplex, and a second rope splash kills him dead at 9:08.
Furnas comes in, unloading with kicks. Whip to the ropes, and he connects with a dropkick. Whip to the ropes, and this time Vader avoids it. Mero tags back in, and dishes out a series of jabs and right hooks. Mero heads to the top rope, and a moonsault connects (quite ugly looking) for a two count. Furnas responds with a spine buster, and tags out to the Bulldog. He sends Mero to the corner 10 times (thanks for counting, crowd). Whip to the ropes, and a sunset flip is blocked and turned into a Powerslam attempt, but Mero slips free at the last second. Whip to the ropes, and Mero with an elbow. Furnas tags back in for a slugfest. Whip to the corner, Mero goes for a sunset flip, but Furnas counters for three at 12:00. Vader pummels Furnas in the corner with his signature blows. Whip to the ropes, and Furnas takes Vader down with a diving clothesline. Bulldog works Vader over as we talk about Goldust and his interesting paint job with "F U" on his face, Freedom on his cast, and "Alive Again" on the back of his head. Vader tries to tag, but Goldust short arms him. Vader brings Furnas down with a tear drop suplex, and again tries to tag, with no luck. Furnas goes low and gets a two count from it. Furnas with an over-head belly to belly suplex for another two count. Furnas with a hurricanrana for two. Goldust walks away from yet another tag, so Vader finally says fuck it, bitch slaps him, and brings him into the ring himself. Goldust chooses to walk away, taking the Count-Out at 16:57. INSTA-FEUD! Vader and Furnas trade blows again, with Vader winning that exchange. Vader with a slam, and the Vader-Bomb finishes Furnas at 17:34. Bulldog sneaks in with the ring bell, bops Vader with it, and that finishes it off at 17:46, making Davey Boy Smith the sole survivor. Pretty good match, with a few exceptions here and there from sloppy work. Pretty much the last time we saw the entire heel side in WWF (some for different reasons than others, of course), and we kicked off a pretty bland program with Vader and Goldust immediately afterwards.
Mankind attacks in the aisle, but Kane no-sells and choke throws Mankind into the ring steps. Then he does it again, just because he can. Into the ring, as the match begins, proper. Mankind offers an assortment of rights and headbutts, then takes it back to the floor with the Cactus Clothesline. Kane lands on his feet, of course, and lays Mankind out with a clothesline of his own. Kane with the steps, and he throws them into the face of Mankind. Kane's got to have some major lifts in his boots. He's looking way, way bigger here than in coming years. Mankind yanks his hair out for motivation, and runs right into a boot. Into the corner, and Kane with some clawing of the face. Kane with choking, as Lawler and J.R. hype the Superstar Hotline. Whip to the corner, and Kane with a sidewalk slam. Lawler shoots "as stupid as Dude Love is, I thought that's what Mick Foley would be from now on." Back to the floor, and Mankind gets sent to the steps. Mankind fights back, and flapjacks Kane face-first into the steps. Mankind with rights, and a chair shot goes bonk on the skull. Back in the ring, and Mankind wins a slugfest. He connects with the piledriver, but it doesn't keep Kane down for long, as he resurrects himself in time to save Paul Bearer from the Mandible Claw. Mankind somehow positioned himself onto the apron, allowing Kane to choke throw him off, and through the Spanish announcers table! Kane with remains of the table to the back of the head of Mankind, as I wonder how awesome a job Tito Santana, one of the spanish PBP men, would do putting Kane over. Mankind goes blatantly low to escape a choke, and plants Kane with a DDT on the concrete. He heads to the apron, and comes off with an elbow. Mankind heads to the turnbuckles to come down with another elbow, but Kane pops up, and slams him off, onto the very same floor. Someone is dead. Back in the ring, and the Tombstone Piledriver is all there is left to do, and it's more than enough for the three count at 9:31. A little long-ish, but it's a fun brawl, with some great bumping from Foley to put over Kane as a monster. Note, Kane's first match was a extended squash of Mick Foley, not some scrub people had little investment in.
Brown comes in to try his luck, but Animal plows through him with a clothesline. Shamrock with a dropkick, followed by rights and lefts in the corner. Whip across the ring, and Shamrock with a clothesline. Brown thumbs the eyes and plants him with a slam. Rock comes in with a very well placed right to the nuts. Sorry, can't be any more blatant than that. Brown covers, but it only gets two. Brown with a snapmare, followed by a leg drop for another two count. Brown slaps on a chinlock. Shamrock fights free with elbows, but runs into a knee. Brown with choking and a back breaker. He goes to the top rope, and misses a moonsault. Animal gets the mild tag and connects with dropkicks on both remaining opponents. Whip to the ropes, and a powerslam on Brown. The New Age Outlaws come to ringside, distracting Animal long enough to throw Hawk's stash in his eyes, and get him counted out at 15:00. Lame! After some stalling, Brown goes to work on Shamrock with rights. Whip to the ropes, and he puts Shamrock down with a clothesline. Rock does the short-arm trick, but eventually relents and comes in, only to have Shamrock run through him with a clothesline. Shamrock with a belly-to-belly suplex on Brown, and the Ankle Lock finishes him off at 17:11. Rocky tries to pull a Bulldog, bashing Shamrock with a chair behind the referee's back, but Shamrock is able to kick out at two. Should've used the ring bell, it's heavier. Rock stomps away on Shamrock in the corner. Whip to the ropes , and Rock with the Layin' the Smackdown DDT for two. Rock with a slam, and the People's Elbow gets no reaction for a two count. I hated that move as a transitional move. Shamrock offers a comeback and counters a DDT with a northern lights suplex. Shamrock with a hurricanrana, and they lay around some more. Shamrock "snaps", brings Rock down with an armbar, and the Ankle Lock forces Rock to tap at 20:35, making Shamrock the Sole Survivor. Decent match for the most part, mostly thanks to Shamrock, D'Lo, and the Rock. Everyone else kind of either brought nothing or dragged things down with their usual boring styles.
The news of Bret Hart leaving was so hot, even Jim Ross made a comment about it during the broadcast, that should Bret lose, it'll probably be the last time we see him in the WWF. The only other time I recall this happening was the Brock/Goldberg nightmare at WrestleMania XII. Anyway, as for the match... according to reports, the agreed upon finish would have been a No Contest/Double DQ with interference from D-X and the Hart Foundation. The match itself was nothing to write home about... it started off with a good 10-minutes brawling in the entrance area and the crowd, with Vince McMahon and other road agents at ringside, a convenient set-up for later. After 10-minutes of the "real" match, there was a referee bump, and Bret Hart allowed himself to be put in the Sharpshooter, a decision he was warned against by fellow wrestlers who have seen workers betrayed in the ring. His only reasoning of going through with it had to be Earl Hebner giving his word not to do anything fishy. Of course, someones word means nothing in business, as Hebner popped up like nothing happened, and signaled for the bell almost instantly. Shawn Michaels was the Champion, and the PPV feed goes black only a few seconds later. Cameras at ringside later revealed it was McMahon who was originally calling for the bell, and one camera did show a quick glimpse of Bret spitting in McMahon's face at ringside, right before the show cut off. Bret remained at ringside after the show, destroying any equipment left behind, before returning to the locker room, where a confrontation with McMahon became physical. As mentioned already, the match means nothing, but everything surrounding it is drama you couldn't script if you tried. Bret would leave, and it would be over a decade before he would make his first live appearance in a WWE ring. Vince McMahon morphed himself into one of the greatest heels of all time as Mr. McMahon, and Shawn Michaels' career changed forever just months later, when a back injury took him out of the ring for over four years, only to return, possibly a better worker, and definitely a better person.
Final Thoughts: Other than the main event changing the course of history for the World Wrestling Federation, this is a complete throw-away show with only one match really worth watching. Outside of the Team USA/Team Canada match, all of the Survivor Series style matches were either average at best or complete garbage, and the remaining matches featured on the card fall under the same range. The WWF title Match is a wash, Austin's inability to take bumps made the IC Title Match nothing, and Kane/Mankind was a watered-down version of an ECW brawl. It had it's moments, but went on way too long. Skip this show. Even the "Montreal Screwjob" isn't worth sitting through this one.
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