He claimed that he attacked Johnson because Johnson was not "from the streets", as Faarooq claimed to be. On July 22, 1996, Faarooq Asad made his WWF debut by attacking Ahmed Johnson, the Intercontinental champion. Marc Mero, who had dropped the WWF Intercontinental Championship to Helmsley, blocked Helmsley's path, but the distraction was enough to cause Goldust to be counted out. Helmsley came to the ring and tried to carry Marlena away.
The feud escalated on the Decemepisode of Monday Night Raw during a match between Goldust and Jerry Lawler. Goldust responded by attacking Helmsley during matches in the following weeks.
During the free broadcast prior to In Your House 12, Helmsley attempted to seduce Marlena. The feud between Goldust and Hunter Hearst Helmsley centered around Goldust's manager, Marlena. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, with storylines produced on their weekly television show, Raw.
The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters to build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The 1997 event was the 10th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 19, 1997, from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. For 1997, the winner earned a match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13. The match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring.
The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. 4.1 Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations.During this time, the WWF was working with the Mexico based Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA) promotion, and had several wrestlers from that company participate in the Royal Rumble match, as well as in a number of undercard matches. The attendance of 60,477 is the highest recorded live crowd in the Royal Rumble's history with the 2017 edition of the event held at the same venue being the second largest. Additionally, Vader defeated The Undertaker, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Goldust to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship. The main match on the undercard were the 1997 Royal Rumble match, which Stone Cold Steve Austin won after last eliminating Bret Hart. The main event saw Shawn Michaels defeat Sycho Sid to win the WWF Championship. For the 1997 event, the winner received a match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. It took place on January 19, 1997, from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The 1997 Royal Rumble was the 10th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). Promotional poster featuring Shawn Michaels