WWE Rewind: WWF Royal Rumble 1997

Stone Cold making his point to Vince McMahon after the match

In the build-up to the 25th Royal Rumble match, scheduled to be held on January 29th, 2012, we have revisited the first nine Royal Rumble matches over the past few days. Now, let us take a look at the eighth Royal Rumble match that took place on January 19, 1997 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Rightfully so, the ‘Texas Rattlesnake’ Stone Cold Steve Austin rose to the occasion, to win the Royal Rumble match. Moreover, this match is also remembered for sowing the seeds for the famous Austin-Vince rivalry in the years to come. Here are some important facts about this match:

The time interval between successive entrances was once again reduced to 90 seconds.
Both Ahmed Johnson and Farooq eliminated themselves from the match, which was something that had never happened before.
Stone Cold won the match after entering at number 5.
Stone Cold lasted the longest in the match, for about 45 minutes.
Stone Cold was also credited for making the most number of elimination in the match – 10.

You can watch this historic Royal Rumble event in this video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=J9e3XX-c0qM

In case you haven’t watched them yet, relive the thrill of earlier Royal Rumble events at these links: