Yea exactly, the 97' incarnation even involved the Morlocks and Mr Sinister to further solidify the comparison, so it's definitely taking inspiration...
Actually, I'm pretty sure the main motivation was Marvel trying to portray him as wrong during the era, hence "Cyclops was right". It also picked up...
I question exactly how successful, regarding X-Men 97. I haven’t bothered to go looking for viewer numbers, which is the only real measure you can go...