Royal Rumble (1997)

The 1997 Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 10th annual Royal Rumble event and took place on January 19, 1997, from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The event was based around the men's Royal Rumble match, a modified 30-man battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time and the winner received a WWF Championship match at WrestleMania 13. The main event saw Shawn Michaels defeat Sycho Sid to win the WWF Championship. The main match on the undercard was the 1997 Royal Rumble match, which "Stone Cold" Steve Austin won after last eliminating Bret Hart. This was the third Royal Rumble event in which the titular match was not the main event, after the inaugural 1988 event and the 1996 event. Additionally, Vader defeated The Undertaker, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Goldust to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship. The attendance of 60,477 was the highest recorded live crowd in the Royal Rumble's history until the 2025 edition of the event. In addition to hometown hero Shawn Michaels going for the WWF championship, the WWF was working with the Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and had several of its wrestlers participate in the Royal Rumble match, as well as in a number of undercard matches. Later on in 2025, WWE acquired AAA, with a select few of its wrestlers subsequently appearing in the annual Royal Rumble match.