is an annual gimmick pay-per-view, produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation since 1987. In what has since become the second longest running pay-per-view event in history, it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, dubbed the "Big Four". The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. The 1997 event was the eleventh event in the Survivor Series chronology and included four 4-on-4 Survivor Series matches.
Storylines
Survivor Series consisted of professional wrestling matches involving wrestlers from pre-existing feuds and storylines that played out on Raw is War — WWF's primary television program. Wrestlers portrayed a hero or a villain as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The Storyline feud between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels began after Michaels became the number one contender to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship by defeating The Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell match at. On the following nights episode of Raw is War, while Michaels, alongside his friend Hunter Hearst Helmsley were blurting out insults to Vince McMahon by the announce table, Hart alongside members of The Hart Foundation appeared with Hart calling Michaels nothing more than a degenerate before challenging Triple H to a match later that night. Hart later lost to Helmsley by count out after Michaels hit him with Sweet Chin Music while he was blocking an attack by Helmsley's bodyguard Chyna.
Aftermath
The controversial ending surrounding Shawn Michaels defeating Bret Hart by submission and winning the WWF World Heavyweight Championship due to Vince McMahon ordering the referee Earl Hebner to ring the bell without Hart submitting would become known as the Montreal Screwjob. Hart left the World Wrestling Federation immediately after the incident and moved to World Championship Wrestling, where during his tenure, he would become a 2-time World Heavyweight Champion, a 4-time United States Heavyweight Champion and a 1-time Tag Team Champion before retiring in 2000 after suffering a severe concussion. Hart would not appear in WWF until 2010 when he and Michaels finally called a truce and buried the hatchet on the Montreal Screwjob, having been inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame four years prior. After Survivor Series, Shawn Michaels began his third reign as WWF World Heavyweight Champion. He entered a feud with Ken Shamrock over the WWF World Heavyweight Championship which culminated at where Michaels retained the title after Shamrock won by disqualification after being attacked by D-Generation X members Triple H and Chyna. Michaels would lose the WWF World Heavyweight Championship to Stone ColdSteve Austin at WrestleMania XIV before being forced into a four-year retirement after suffering a serious back injury during a casket match against The Undertaker at the 1998 Royal Rumble. Michaels would not recover and wrestle again until 2002. After winning the Intercontinental Championship, Stone Cold Steve Austin entered into a feud with The Rock over the title after The Rock stole Austin's title belt after a beat down from The Nation of Domination on the November 17 episode of Raw is War. Austin retained the Intercontinental Championship and regained the belt by defeating The Rock at D-Generation X: In Your House. Austin forfeited the title to The Rock the next night on Raw is War with the sole intention of going after the WWF World Heavyweight Championship before hitting The Rock with a Stone Cold Stunner. Vince McMahon's actions of screwing Bret Hart from the WWF World Heavyweight Championship marked the beginning of the Mr. McMahon character, the tyrannical CEO of WWF. By 1998, McMahon would begin a legendary rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin. The events of the Montreal Screwjob would repeat itself at the following year's Survivor Series when The Rock locked Mankind in the Sharpshooter before Mr. McMahon ordered the referee to call for the bell, screwing Mankind and awarding the then-vacant WWF Championship to The Rock.
