WWF Unforgiven (April 1998)

From Greensboro, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Nation v Faarooq, Ken Shamrock, and Steve Blackman: They're slowly transitioning into the traditional Attitude Era look here, as there are scratch logo banners and graphics, but the turnbuckles are still the old block logo. Anyway, D-Lo Brown starts with Blackman, and tries overpowering him, but gets cocky, and takes a series of kicks. Pair of armdrags set up an armbar, and he tags to Shamrock. Brown tries an eyerake, but Ken walks it off, and muscles him to the mat for another armbar. Tag to Faarooq, and Brown tries to beg off when faced with his former boss - then takes a cheapshot, of course. Faarooq responds with a spinebuster, and he pulls a random belt out (like, from inside of his tights, not around his waist) to whip D-Lo with a bit. Tag back to Blackman for more armbaring, but Brown rakes the eyes (effectively this time), and passes to Mark Henry. Henry with a sloppy backbreaker, and an equally sloppy clothesline before giving up and tagging D-Lo in again. Steve responds by bodypressing him for two, but gets caught in a sitout-powerbomb for two. Tag to Faarooq, but telegraphs a backdrop, and takes a facebuster. And IT WORKS! I guess black-on-black head shots are different? Tag to The Rock, and he unloads on his former boss in the corner, then clotheslines him. Henry adds a bodyslam and a series of elbowdrops, but Faarooq doesn't feel like working a heat segment, and passes to Blackman. Henry quickly powerslams him, and the Nation cut the ring in half. Rock drops the People's Elbow in there, but it hadn't become a finisher level elbowdrop yet, so he doesn't even bother covering. Weird to see. Also, interesting to note his development as a worker, as he hadn't mastered doing it while facing the hard camera yet. Brown looks to finish with a flying moonsault, but Blackman rolls out of the way, and gets to Faarooq. He's a house of arson to trigger a six-way brawl, and Rocky takes the Dominator at 13:35. Henry was looking sloppy as hell, but six-mans are designed to hide weaknesses, and this one did so well - with quick tags, and a fast pace. Good opener. * ½

WWF European Title Match: Triple H v Owen Hart: Chyna is suspended in a shark cage for this. Triple H gives her gentle kisses as they lock her in, but Hart is not a romantic, and attacks. Owen kicks his ass up and down the aisle, and rams the champ into the cage a couple of times before they raise it. Vertical suplex in the aisle, and he drops Hunter across the rail for good measure. Inside, Owen hits a backbreaker, and chops him in the corner, but HHH counters a ten-punch with a nasty looking stungun. Criss cross allows Hunter a high knee, and he adds a snap suplex to set up a kneedrop for two. Inverted atomic drop sets up a clothesline for two, and the he slaps on a dragon sleeper. Owen escapes, and hits a sunset flip for two, but takes a swinging neckbreaker before he can gain momentum. Back to the dragon sleeper, as Chyna works to bend the bars. Yeah, okay, but you're still twenty feet off the ground. What good is that going to do you? That's like wanting to remove the outer wall on a skyscraper, or something. Anyway, Hunter keeps working the sleeper, but Owen counters into a German suplex for two. Owen with a belly-to-belly suplex, as Chyna manages to bend the bars apart. Oooh, the master plan is in motion! Owen with an enzuigiri for two, and an inverted atomic drop sets up a spinheel kick for two. Piledriver sets up a nice flying elbowdrop, as Chyna climbs onto the outside of the shark cage. She's still twenty feet off the ground over concrete and has nowhere to go, though. The distraction allows HHH to knock Owen out of the ring though, but Hart blows him low before he can capitalize. Inside, Hart DDTs Hunter to set up the Sharpshooter, as Jesse James lowers the cage, and Chyna drops. Hart lets off the hold to deal with her, and Hunter grabs the Pedigree, but Owen counters into a slingshot, then hits his own Pedigree. Cover, but X-Pac runs in, and with the referee dealing with Chyna, it allows Hunter to cover and retain at 12:26. Not a great match, but totally solid work from both guys, and exciting for the most part. The dragon sleeper bit went on way too long, though. *

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The New Midnight Express v The Rock 'n' Roll Express: Bombastic Bob starts with Robert Gibson, and Gibson wins a criss cross by shoulderblocking him out. Back in, Gibson hits an armdrag, and tags Ricky Morton for a double-team rolling legsnap, as JR diplomatically makes fun of how old they are. Meanwhile, King busies himself talking about panties. Hey, there we go. The Rock 'n' Rolls run through their 80s bits, as JR refers to Jim Cornette as 'Beefy.' Hey, just callin' 'em like he sees 'em. Beefy comes in to run through his 80s heat bits (cuddling his team, threatening a fist fight with the referee, etc), but the crowd just does not care. Cheapshot allows the Midnights to take over on Ricky Morton (I know, I'm surprised too), and Bodacious Bart hits a backbreaker for two. They run through some classic Midnight tandem stuff, but Bob misses a flying legdrop, and Morton tags out. Gibson is a house of arson to trigger a four-way brawl, and the wide camera angle reveals that literally HUNDREDS of fans have left their seats to go take a piss rather than watch this. Beefy gets involved, and Bob bulldogs Robert for the pin at 7:21. I could see why Greensboro might be as good a place as any to try this stuff, but WWF Attitude fans just didn't care, and watching them do a senior circuit version of an 80s match was just way too much of a clash with the product at the time. DUD

Evening Gown Match: Sable v Luna Vachon: Wow, what a way to bookend that horrible NWA match. Sable goes right after her, but gets rammed into the corner, and gets the bottom half of her dress ripped off - revealing a nice little thong. Sable spears her, but Marc Mero joins us to complain, and Luna rips her dress off at 2:36 - popping the crowd big. Eh. I never wanted to see Luna naked to begin with, and (with all respect to Brock) the bloom has LONG been off of Sable's rose. It was quick, though. DUD

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The New Age Outlaws v LOD 2000: Gotta say, LOD Sunny was a brilliant look. I know people were all about Sable at this point, but DAMN. Billy Gunn starts with Animal, and tries a headlock, but gets shoulderblocked. Animal tosses him around a bit, and gives Jesse James the same treatment when he tries double-teaming. Animal with an armbar on James, and Hawk hits a 2^nd rope axehandle, followed by a powerslam. The challengers manhandle both Outlaws for a while, and try the Doomsday Device on James, but Gunn clips Animal's knee. That finally leads to the heat segment, and the Outlaws cut the ring in half while working on Animal's knee. Fameasser gets two, but Animal escapes a piledriver with a backdrop, and tags. Hawk is a house of arson to trigger a four-way brawl, and he hits a flying splash on Jesse, but Billy whacks him with the title belt for two. Another try backfires, and Hawk German suplexes James for the pin at 12:22 - to a surprisingly big pop for such a dull match. However, it turns out it was a double-pin, and the Outlaws retain. Some decent psychology with all the knee work, but it didn't really build to anything, and it was very slow. Technically not bad, but a chore to sit through. ½*

Inferno Match: The Undertaker v Kane: The ring is surrounded by pyro, and the first man to knock his opponent into the fire wins. Why yes, Vince Russo is booking, why do you ask? Slugfest to start, and 'Taker hits the ropewalk forearm - causing the flames to shoot up, in a neat bit that happens every time they do a big move. Stinger splash, but Kane blocks by backdropping him - 'Taker hanging on to avoid falling into the fire. Kane pounds on him for a while, and tries to push him into the flames, but 'Taker rakes the eyes to block, so Kane powerslams him. Another slugfest goes Kane's way, as this match is just falling apart. I mean, there's just nothing going on for long stretches here, punctuated by choking. 'Taker manages a Russian legsweep, but Kane reverses a chokeslam. Tombstone, but 'Taker shoves him into the corner to block, and chokeslams him. Kane no-sells, and they work a double-knockout spot off a big boot. Kane with a sidewalk slam, and he heads to the top rope, but 'Taker crotches him up there, and hits a superplex. UT tosses him out of the ring, but now Kane has no way to get back in, and 'Taker is stuck inside. Smart. Vader comes out to brawl with Kane, but 'Taker gets impatient, and dives out onto both of them with a tope suicida. 'Taker hits him with a chair out there, but Paul Bearer runs interference (aligned with Kane at this point, for those Bearer tracking), and 'Taker chases him around for a while. He beats him up with some musical instruments (there was a Sawyer Brown concert earlier, that I skipped for obvious reasons), and then back to ringside, where Kane has helpfully covered his arm in a special coating for 'Taker to shove into the flames at 16:01. You'd think a match where the ring is surrounded by flames, and it can only end when one man literally catches fire would HAVE to be entertaining. You'd be wrong. Thankfully, this was pretty much the first and last time they tried this match type, save for SummerSlam fifteen years later, so a whole new generation could feel ripped off. DUD

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Steve Austin v Dude Love: Dude attacks from behind, but Austin quickly turns the tables in the corner, and unloads. Backelbow knocks the challenger out of the ring, but Austin quickly chases him back in for a Thesz press. Pointed elbowdrop and a spinebuster, and Austin knocks him out of the ring. Dude decides to head home, but Steve chases him up the aisle, and blasts him from behind with a clothesline. Onto Sawyer Brown's stage, Steve slams him, then casually launches him off - right onto the exposed concrete. Ouch. Steve beats him all the way back to ringside so he can beat him there too, but Dude manages to get out of the way of a straddling ropechoke, and he bulldogs the champion. Dude stomps a mud hole in the corner, but Austin doesn't appreciate the gimmick infringement, and takes his head off with a lariat. Dude quickly knees him down before he can turn the tide though, and he slaps on a bodyscissors as Vince McMahon makes his way down to ringside. He gives the timekeeper a knowing look, but Austin breaks the hold, and wraps Dude's knee around the post a few times for fun. Steve with a piledriver on the floor, but Dude backdrops him to counter, as Ross and Lawler discuss TV ratings. Dude destroys Austin with rail shots, but McMahon doesn't want a count out, and DEMANDS Stone Cold get back in. That doesn't work out for him, so Dude attacks for a brawl on the floor, and he snaps Steve's neck across the top rope. Vince orders the referee not to count him out, and inside, Dude hooks an abdominal stretch - Vince shouting at the timekeeper to ring the bell. Austin reverses in short order, however, and McMahon hilariously backpedals. Dude tries a suplex on the floor next, but Austin reverses - right onto the steps. Into the crowd for a moment, and Austin beats him back inside, but takes a swinging neckbreaker. Sweet Shin Music (the stupidest of all the stupid Attitude Era finishers), but Austin blocks, and Dude ends up clobbering the referee. Stunner, but Dude counters into the Mandible Claw, but there's no referee. Vince tries his darndest to wake him up, but he's selling more off that move than Kane did in the whole last match. That allows Austin to backdrop Dude out of the ring, but McMahon wrestles a chair away from him, and Dude uses it. Second try backfires, and Austin whacks Vince with the chair for good measure, then rolls Dude back in for a Stunner. Cover, but there's no referee, so Steve counts it himself at 19:00. Unfortunately for him, the decision is overruled since Austin hit McMahon (a WWF Official), and Dude wins by DQ. Good brawl. A little angle heavy, but then that was the MO at the time, and they hadn’t beaten it into the ground yet, so it was still very entertaining. **

BUExperience: You know, for an era that was all about pissing on the past, a lot of this felt like a ten year old WCW show. From the venue, to the shark cage shenanigans, to the Dusty Finish, to a fucking Rock ‘n’ Roll Express match, this had a very old school feel, in many ways.

Overall, a fun show. Far from perfect, but it’s a breeze to sit through, and the main event is really fun stuff.

**