It’s hard to believe but this week, July 6th more specifically, marks the 14th anniversary of WWF’s (yes that’s not a typo) In Your House: Canadian Stampede Pay Per View. This show is still considered one of the best top to bottom cards that the WWF/E has ever put on. In fact it was the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s 1997 Major Show of the Year. For those that don’t know, I have lived in Calgary for the past 25 years (come to think of it…even if you do know I still live here) and was in attendance for this event.
Rather than going through each match in detail, (if you wanted that you could just read a recap) I thought I would talk about my thoughts on not only the matches, but the various events in the city where the wrestlers were involved.
The WWF had a huge presence in the city that week as they had guys all over the radio and television. I remember a radio contest where someone could win a BBQ with Goldust and Mankind and all the members of the Hart Foundation did television interviews all week. The “Canadian Stampede” occurred during the Calgary Stampede, our annual 10 day rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July and there is a parade every year to kick off the event. The WWF had a float in the parade with all the Hart Foundation and a lot of the Hart family, such as Stu and Diana. The Stampede started on July 4th that year and Dok Hendrix (aka Michael PS Hayes) and Bret Hart were a part of the rodeo intermission on the Friday and Saturday shows.
Now as for the show itself, it’s the best show I’ve been to live and I was at Wrestlemania III. The shear emotion of the Hart family being in the ring to end the show is something that I will NEVER forget. The show had the Hart family (at least those not in the main event) at ringside as was the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein. The Premier is the leader of the province, similar to an American Governor. Country signing group Farmer’s Daughters sang Oh Canada before the show to a huge ovation. This was at the height of the Canada vs USA storyline that the WWF was doing for the second half of 1997 and patriotism was at an all time high for Canadian wrestling fans.
As for the matches themselves, they were fantastic. The Free-for-all match was a match that WWF would put on their pre show in order to get some potential last minute buys and to allow the announcers to plug the show while there was action in the ring. With that said, the Free-for-all match for this show was the New Blackjacks vs The Godwins. At this point the Canadian National Anthem had yet to be sang and the crowd did not care for this at all. Gee, wonder why? It went on about two minutes too long with the Godwins winning and I remember hoping at the start of the match that it would be a wild brawl that ended quickly in a double DQ.
And speaking of that, the next match was Hunter Hearst Helmsly vs Mankind in a wild brawl. I was upset at this match for the reason that I was sitting on the other side of where the brawl spilled into the crowd and didn’t get the close up look that was had by the fans on the other side of the Saddledome. It ended in a double countout and went about fifteen minutes of solid action.
The next match was between two Japanese stars that were brought in to kick off WWF’s attempt to match the WCW Cruiserweight division, the Light Heavyweight division. Just as this match was about to get going, Mankind and Helmsley fought their way back into the arena and then were quickly gone again. In hindsight this match is still great and notable for the reason that WWF brought in The Great Sasuke to be the crown jewel of the Light Heavyweight division. During this match, and also the rematch that occurred in Edmonton on RAW the next night, TAKA was able to really stand out as having a better personality and after these two matches, TAKA became the chosen one to lead the Light Heavyweight division. Great match!
The WWF title was on the line when champion Undertaker met Vader. This was right after Ahmed Johnson turned heel and joined the Nation of Domination by attacking the Undertaker and also during a storyline where Paul Bearer is managing the Undertaker because he is blackmailing him. Paul is keeping quiet about a secret (later revealed to be Kane) in exchange for the opportunity to manager and humiliate the WWF Champion. The match was decent for a big man match as I recall and Taker retained.
The final match of the night was the Ten Man Tag Team Match of the local heros the Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman) vs Ken Shamrock, Goldust, Steve Austin, and The Legion of Doom. Of course the crowd just ate this up!! This is far and away the best atmosphere I’ve been to for a wrestling match live…yes better than Wrestlemania III. The Harts could do no wrong and Owen getting the pin on Stone Cold was a great moment that allowed for an offshoot to the match for Summerslam.
Of course the post match was a moment that can’t be described properly in words. Seeing the whole family there–from Stu all the way down to the Grandchildren–was a tremendous sight and such a piece of Calgarian history that is fading further and further into the sunset as time goes on. Because of Stu Hart and the Hart family, Calgary was always known as “a wrestling town” but the domination and globalization of WWE has really hurt that, much in the same way “mom and pop” convenience stores are less and less prevalent. I look at In Your House Canadian Stampede as Calgary’s last really big moment in wrestling and I also look back at that week in 1997 and smile.
