Okay, so, I’ve been digging into the WWF roster from 1997, and let me tell you, it was quite the trip down memory lane. I started by just trying to remember who was even around back then, which honestly took a bit of brainpower. After a few false starts, I decided to hit up the internet to see what I could find.
I started with a general search, just “WWF roster 1997”. I went to check out what info was popular and what was the best way to sort it all out. There are a lot of people talking about it, and some of them brought up great memories. I stumbled upon some old forum posts and fan pages. Man, the nostalgia was real. It was cool seeing names like Bret “Hitman” Hart, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker pop up. Those guys were huge back then! I also saw some other names too, like Owen Hart, The Sultan, and Yokozuna.
Then I refined my search a bit. I tried a few different keywords, and started to organize the wrestlers by month. I had to figure out who debuted when and who might have left throughout the year. There were a couple of different versions of the roster from May and September, so it was all about sorting out those discrepancies.
I even went down a rabbit hole looking into specific matches. I found out that Jeff Jarrett defeated Blackjack Bradshaw on a Raw taping in December. That’s some deep-cut stuff right there. I mean, who remembers that match specifically? But it helped me piece together the timeline a bit more, which was kind of cool.
Sorting Through the Chaos
It was kind of a mess, to be honest. Lots of conflicting info, and some sites were just plain wrong. There is a lot of discussion about this topic, and it took me a while to figure out which information is reliable. So I decided to compile my own list, cross-referencing everything to make sure it was accurate. I ended up with a pretty solid list of wrestlers, month by month. There are still a few question marks, but I feel pretty good about it overall. Some sites said Dean Malenko was PWI’s #1 wrestler in 1997, but he was with WCW then, so that’s a big mistake from some folks.
- The Big Names: We’re talking Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind. These guys were the top dogs.
- The Mid-Card: Guys like Owen Hart, Goldust, and Ken Shamrock. They were always in the mix, putting on some great matches.
- The Rising Stars: This is where it gets interesting. You had guys like Triple H and Kane starting to make a name for themselves. They weren’t main eventers yet, but you could see the potential. Also, there was Kurt Angle, who would become huge later on.
One thing I noticed was how much the roster changed throughout the year. Guys came and went. Some got injured, some left for other promotions, and some just kind of faded away. It’s wild to think how different things were back then. In the end, I think 1997 was a pretty pivotal year for the WWF. It wasn’t quite the Attitude Era yet, but you could see it starting to take shape. The company was in a real fight with WCW, and they were throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick. That year marked the rise of many WWF wrestlers, including The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Kane, Mick Foley (in various personas), Kurt Angle, and The Undertaker. It was a fun project, and it definitely brought back some good memories.
After this round of review, I feel a lot better about what I learned. It’s a good day to look back to see how much has changed. I will see what I can do more about this topic, it is really interesting.
