WWF Breakdown (September 1998)

From Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Opening Match: Owen Hart v Edge: They exchange wristlocks to start (complete with lots of flippy-floppy counters), but Owen's attempt at a monkeyflip is blocked, and Edge dropkicks him. Drop-toehold into an armbar, but Owen powers up, so Edge snaps of a rana, and clotheslines him out. Baseball slide out after him, but a dive off of the apron is blocked with a powerslam on the floor. Hart with a missile dropkick on the way back in for two, and a gutwrench suplex gets two. Backbreaker triggers a 'nugget' chant, which Hart responds to with a standing neckbreaker for two. Belly-to-belly suplex for two, and Owen slows it down with a chinlock. Edge fights out, but Owen blocks him charging into the corner, and hooks a victory roll for two. Spinheel kick gets two, but Edge blocks a cross corner whip with a springboard bodypress for two. Owen responds with an enzuigiri, and he goes to the top, but Edge brings him down to Earth with an electric facebuster. Edge follows up with a flapjack, and adds a swinging neckbreaker for two. Owen tries to roll out of the way of a 2^nd rope legdrop, but Edge sees it coming, and DDTs him instead for two. Northern lights suplex gets two, but Owen escapes a vertical version, and German suplexes him for two. Dropkick in the corner misses, however, and Edge tries a superplex to capitalize - only for Owen to knock him off. Sharpshooter, but Edge blocks, and cradles him for two. Spinheel kick puts Edge in control, but a 'fan' jumps out of the crowd (Christian, in his debut), and the distraction allows Owen to double-underhook cradle Edge for the pin at 9:17. Edge was still very noticeably green at this point (especially noticeable in taking some spots, where you could see him working with Owen too obviously), but this was still a very good opener from the Canadians - fast paced, and filled with nearfalls. *** ¼

Too Much v Al Snow and Scorpio: Scott Taylor starts with Scorpio, but unfortunately Scorpio has lost the '2 Cold' in his name at this point, but Scott hasn't become '2 Hotty' yet, so there's no climate warfare. They trade wristlocks, though. Scorpio wins the exchange with an atomic drop and a spinkick, but takes a head-and-arm suplex out of a criss cross. Both guys tag, and Snow works a headlock on Brian Christopher, but gets decked, so he unloads the trapping headbutts. Tag back to Taylor, and he charges right into a backdrop before Al passes back to Scorpio. Scorpio with a pair of cross corner clotheslines, and Al springboards off a chair with a leg lariat. Nasty spot follows, as Scorpio tries to do the same on both guys, but slips, and falls into a heap - Christopher's head hitting the chair as he trust-falls onto what he assumes is canvas. Ouch. He looks to be fine, though, thankfully. Scorpio bodyslams Taylor to set up a flying splash, as Snow brawls with Brian on the floor. Scorpio tries a flying moonsault, but Brian crotches him on the top, and pulls him out to the floor for a suplex. Scott dives out after him as well, and back in, Too Much cut the ring in half. He dodges a double-team to get to Snow, and Al comes in unloading on everyone with Head. And by 'everyone,' I mean EVERYONE - as he accidentally hits Scorpio as well. Four-way brawl, and Al Snowplows Taylor for the pin at 8:05. Very ECW-ish match, but they couldn't fully commit to the style. Decent stuff, outside of Scorpio's usual sloppiness, though. *

Marc Mero v Droz: Mero unloads at the bell, but takes a flapjack out of a criss cross, and Droz dropkicks him out of the ring. Marc decides to bail, but Droz chases after him, and whips him into the steps. He gets distracted by Jacqueline, however, and Mero nails him on the way back in, then hits a kneelift. Backdrop puts Droz on the floor, and Mero follows with a somersault plancha! Slingshot splash on the way back in, but Droz blocks with his knees, and he follows with a diving backelbow. Inverted atomic drop sets up a powerslam for two, so Jacqueline runs interference again, and Mero clotheslines him. Jacqueline adds a shot with her shoe for good measure, and Mero finishes with Marvelocity at 5:12. Ugh, that last spot looked nasty, as Droz was way out of position, and Mero could have easily broken his neck. He made it work, though. Strictly filler. ½*

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Vader v Bradshaw: Bradshaw hammers him in the corner early on, and adds a cross corner clothesline to take Vader off of his feet. Bodyslam and an elbowdrop are worth two, but he walks into a bodyblock, and Vader drops an elbow to the knee. Splash gets two, but Bradshaw fires off a big boot, and clotheslines him out for a shot into the post. Bradshaw whacks him with the ring bell next, and adds a short-clothesline on the floor for two. Vader ducks a punch against the post to comeback, and he whips Bradshaw into the steps, then drops them onto him for good measure. Back in, Bradshaw escapes a headlock with a side suplex, but Vader ducks a lariat, and Bradshaw goes out over the top. They fight in the aisle for a bit, and back in, Vader hits a 2^nd rope splash. Vaderbomb follows for two, and Bradshaw comes back with a lariat for two. Another one, and Bradshaw adds a standing neckbreaker to finish at 7:55. Decent power brawl, but not quite nailing the Vader/Hansen vibe they were obviously going for. ¾*

D-Lo Brown v Gangrel: Brown tries attacking, but Gangrel ducks him, and snaps off a diving backelbow. Trapping suplex sets up a pair of swift elbowdrops for two, so D-Lo nails a leg lariat to stop the effort. Running sit-out powerbomb for two, but a blind charge misses, and Gangrel unloads lightning kicks. DDT, but Brown blocks, and snap suplexes him for two. D-Lo with a somersault cradle for two, and a headbutt downstairs softens him for a superplex, but Gangrel shoves him off for two. Brown shrugs it off with a side suplex for two, but Gangrel fires back with a stungun - which misses the top rope. Ugh. Backdrop sets up a flying clothesline for two, but here's Mark Henry with a cheapshot, and D-Lo finishes with the Sky High at 7:50. Good effort, but they just didn't click. ½*

#1 Contenders Triple Threat Cage Match: The Rock v Mankind v Ken Shamrock: Mankind chills in the corner as Shamrock destroys Rock, and he goes for the door as Rock starts coming back, but Rock cuts him off. Rock/Shamrock slugfest leaves them both weakened, and Mankind gives Ken a running kneesmash, but walks into a lariat from Rocky. Everyone trades off, and Shamrock gets Mankind in an abdominal stretch, and Rock sneaks up to put HIM in one at the same time. Nice variation on the tired triple sleeper spot there. Everyone hiptosses out of that one, as JR shares Ken's sob story childhood with us. Rock must have heard it, too, because he shows Ken who his daddy is with a beat down in the corner. Rock and Mankind double-team Shamrock for a bit, and with him beat into mush, Rock swiftly turns on Mankind with a clothesline. Shamrock comes over to protest, so Rock makes him a partner, and they destroy Mankind together. Anklelock for Mankind, but Rock hits Ken from behind to break it up. It backfires on him, however, as Mankind convinces Shamrock to team, and beat the hell out of Rocky. Mankind ends up screwing it up, and he takes a DDT. One for Shamrock too, and Rock drops a double-Peoples Elbow to pop the crowd huge. He climbs, but Shamrock and Mankind both stop him, and Rock gets crotched on the top rope. Shamrock wants to double-team him some more, but he ends up getting blown low, and Mankind takes a Rock Bottom. Huge 'Shamrock sucks' chant from the crowd as Ken belly-to-belly suplexes Rock, with Lawler bringing up the 'Canada is Bizarro World' stuff, which I didn't think started until after X8. Anklelock, so Mankind climbs, but gets caught. He tries to salvage it with a flying elbowdrop off the top of the cage, but misses, for a huge bump. Ken crawls for the door in the aftermath, but Mankind grabs his ankle to stop the effort. Ken drags a chair in with him though, but ends up getting DDTd onto it by Mankind, and then whacked with it for good measure. With everyone down, Mankind climbs instead of covering, but it backfires when Rock throws an arm across Ken's chest and gets the pin at 18:46. Fun match! Really well paced, filled with neat triple threat and cage psychology spots, and all in front of a really hot crowd. ***

Val Venis v Dustin Runnels: Criss cross to start, and Val controls with a spinebuster. Backdrop, but Dustin blocks with a facebuster, and he adds a powerbomb. To the outside, Venis clotheslines him in the aisle (with Runnels doing a pitiful version of his spiral sell), and back in, they criss cross again - Dustin backdropping him. Ten-punch in the corner, but a cross corner charge hits boot, and Val unloads a pair of short-kneelifts to set up a Russian legsweep. Reverse chinlock goes nowhere, and they spill out to the floor again for Val to slam him across the announce table. Back in, Dustin reverses a vertical suplex, but misses an elbowdrop, and Venis hooks the leg for two. Chinlock, but Runnels powers up, so Val clotheslines him for two. This is an ugly match so far. Uranage, but Dustin counters into a DDT for two. To the top, but Venis cuts off the comeback by knocking him all the way down to the floor. Inside, a schoolboy gets two, but Dustin bulldogs him before he can follow-up for two. Well, actually, Val forgets to kick out, but the referee still calls it 'two.' Nice guy. Ross and Lawler convince us that he did indeed get the shoulder up, so no one bother to rewind, please. Anyway, Val powerslams him, and hits the Money Shot to finish at 9:08. Both guys did not click at all, and the crowd was too burned out after the cage match to give them anything. DUD

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Degeneration-X v Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice: Southern Justice are dead ringers for Kenny Powers in those outfits, especially Canterbury. Brawl to start, and DX cleans house. X-Pac starts with Jarrett, and gets quickly dropkicked. Jeff tries a rana (really?), but gets sitout powerbombed, and Jesse James tags in. He wastes too much time dancing, however, and gets clobbered. Sounds about right. He still manages an inverted atomic drop, and his dancing kneedrops, but Southern Justice fire off a cheapshot to stop the effort. Tag to Mark Canterbury with a bodyslam, followed by an elbowdrop for two. Jesse tries more dancing, but takes a lariat. You'd think he'd take a hint. Jeff tags with a DDT for two, but a cross corner whip ends in a double-knockout, and X-Pac tags - blasting Jeff with a spinheel kick, but getting nailed by Dennis Knight before he can hit the bronco buster. The heels cut the ring in half on X-Pac, but Jarrett ends up taking a side suplex during a sleeper, and Billy Gunn gets the tag. He's a crack house of fire to ignite a six-way brawl, and Knight takes the Fameasser at 11:14. Nothing really, but everyone involved is competent enough to make this work for what it was. *

Main Event: WWF Title Triple Threat Match: Steve Austin v The Undertaker v Kane: This is another 'McMahon stacks the deck against Austin' match, as this time, Kane cannot beat Undertaker and Undertaker cannot beat Kane. Austin decides to attack 'Taker with a chair during the entrances to give himself a fighting chance, and with 'Taker down, he unloads on Kane in the aisle. Inside, Kane catches him with a backelbow, then adds a bodyslam, but a flying clothesline misses, and Austin hits the straddling ropechoke. Undertaker makes it to ringside, and grabs Austin for a beating on the floor, but Steve reverses a whip into the steps, and posts Kane for good measure. Stunner for Kane, but 'Taker breaks up the count, and posts Steve on the outside. Inside, 'Taker chokes him in the corner, and hits a jumping clothesline for two. Austin pops of the Thesz press to set up a pointed elbowdrop, then adds a swinging neckbreaker for two. To the outside, the Brothers of Destruction double-team, and choke Stone Cold with some cables. Inside, Austin tries to fight back, but gets quickly overwhelmed two-on-one, as McMahon's stooges appear at the entrance area to observe. Back out, the Brothers kick Austin's ass all the way up the aisle, and then all the way back down. Cool visual, as the Brothers literally drag Austin around for a bit, and inside, Undertaker slaps on a leglock while Kane stomps and chokes the champion. Austin manages to fight back long enough to crack Kane with a chair, but 'Taker hits him with that same chair before he can get the pin. The Brothers continue the slaughter, but can't seem to agree over who gets to finish him, and win the title. So much for that master plan there, Vince. They end up turning on each other, of course, and Austin pinfalls 'Taker with Kane before they dump him. That leaves Kane alone for Austin to Russian legsweep for two, but the Brothers get their shit together, and pound him again. Austin makes another comeback attempt by exploiting their family drama, and blocking Kane's Tombstone, then crotching 'Taker on the top turnbuckle, but Kane blocks the Stunner, and the Brothers double-chokeslam him. Both cover, and both get three at 22:03 - thus vacating the title until Survivor Series. A little long for what basically amounted to a punch-kick fest, but the crowd was super into it, and it delivered as entertainment. *

BUExperience: Not an outstanding card, but it’s a fun little show, with a couple of good matches on the undercard, no real stinkers, and lots of energy from the crowd.

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