WWE Royal Rumble: 5 Most Impressive Performances in Match History
By Tim Sherry
WWE.com
5. Steve Austin – 1997
Most people will remember the 1997 Royal Rumble match as the one that Steve Austin stole from Bret Hart. Austin, forever the opportunist used the referee’s distraction to sneak back in the ring and eliminate Vader, The Undertaker, and Hart after he had already been eliminated by The Hitman. So, of course, Austin’s win was voided and he was forced to partake in a battle royal style match for the WWF title after Shawn Michaels lost his smile and vacated it. The Hitman would go on to win that match and the belt but it was here that the rise of Stone Cold really began to set shape.
So with all the controversy and aftermath to the 97 Rumble, one thing that could’ve been forgotten was the performance of Austin who absolutely stole the show. He entered number 5 and over the course of the next 46 minutes Austin was vicious and calculating, eliminating a record 10 men, a feat that held up until 2001 when Kane managed 11. It was tough to ignore Austin throughout the contest as he battled his arch rivals in Hart, his brother Owen, not to mention former foe Savio Vega, eventually being the man to eliminate all 3.
Although the win was tainted, Austin would make good a year later when he won the 1998 Rumble and would be a fixture in the world title scene for the next 5 years. He proved on this night that even in his mid-30’s with close to a decade of wrestling under his belt, his best stuff was still yet to come.