Original Airdate: January 12, 1998
From State College, Pennsylvania; Your Host is Jim Ross with Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly (hour one), and with Jerry Lawler (hour two)
DX hang out in their limousine, looking forward to banging all the college chicks tonight, since the show is coming from Penn State. Spoken like two men who have never actually visited Penn State before
WWF Tag Team Title Four Corners Match: The New Age Outlaws v The Headbangers v The Godwinns v Sniper and Recon: First fall wins it. The Outlaws are the only team to even get an entrance to give you an idea of the state of the tag team division at this stage. Everyone gangs up on them to start, and the dust settles on Thrasher and Henry Godwinn. Thrasher with a pair of dropkicks, but a tag to Mosh ends in Mosh setting pounded. Henry passes to Recon, but he takes dropkicks as well, and tags out to Phineas Godwinn. Everyone manages to beat up on Mosh for a while, with some weird teamwork going on considering the first fall wins it in this case. Meanwhile, the Outlaws are the only ones drawing any heat, mostly by taunting the college kids with their Florida Gators t-shirts. Billy Gunn manages to hit Phineas with a weapon for the pin at 4:13. That’s on Recon, who had control of Phineas, and then passed to Gunn for no reason. The booking of this match didn’t make any sense, as it’s one fall, but guys are eager to tag out anyway. All tags should be by force, unless to your own partner. DUD
New Age Outlaws/Legion of Doom video package, ahead of their tag title match at the Royal Rumble
Steve Austin arrives at the building, and he takes out the Godwinns backstage, before driving his pickup truck into the arena for an interview with Michael Cole. He gets a huge reaction, though he doesn’t have much to say beyond hyping the Rumble match. They may call him the marked man, but it’s everyone else that isn’t safe
DX’s limo is parked outside the arena
Royal Rumble ad
Handicap Match: Kurrgan v Lance Diamond and Jimmy Cicero: Jackyl sits in on commentary here. Lance (who would become better known as Simon Diamond later on) and Jimmy attack before the bell, but Kurrgan quickly fights them off, and chokes them down for the pin at 2:28. Funny bit here, as he pins one guy, and they start playing his music, only to remember that he’s supposed to pin both guys to win. And so the match just kind of goes on for the second pin. They’re doing a good job of building Kurrgan up, it’s just too bad that the guy had nothing to offer in the ring to back it up. If he did, they might have had a challenger for Austin down the line. DUD
Owen Hart dives through the sunroof of DX’s limo, attacking them
Marc Mero v Vader: Mero replaces Sable with Goldust in his corner tonight. At least I think so, since his microphone doesn’t work, and we can’t hear a word he’s saying. They had a lot of that going around during this period. Goldust dresses as Sable, though, so there’s that. They box a bit at the bell, just measure one another. Vader takes him into the corner to really unload, but Mero turns the tables. Low blow and a bodypress connect, and here comes the real Sable, looking like Pamela Anderson’s stand-in from Barb Wire. She gets into a fight with Goldust, so Mero has to abandon the match to intervene, which allows Vader to recover with a clothesline on the floor. He whips Marc into the steps out there, and then gets back to unloading on the way back in. Avalanche and a clothesline set up the Vaderbomb, but Goldust attacks for the DQ at 2:55, before a cover can be made. It’s too bad these two never had a match in their healthier WCW days, it probably would have been really fun. This one wasn’t. DUD
The 1-800-COLLECT Slam of the Week is Bam Bam Bigelow shoving Lawrence Taylor at the 1995 Royal Rumble. Interesting choice
DX’s limo finally makes it into the garage of the building
Backstage, someone has laid Vader out in his dressing room, and apparently Austin was seen in the area
Rock and D-lo Brown v Ken Shamrock and Mark Henry: Rock and Shamrock start, and Ken pops him with a jumping backelbow, before taking him down for mounted punches. Roundhouse kick, but Rock ducks, and pounds Ken down. Tag to D-lo, but Ken takes him right down for mounted punches, and he lands a leg lariat. Rock takes a cheap shot from the apron to allow D-lo to turn the tide, and Rock tags in with a shoulderbreaker to set up an elbowdrop with theatrics for two. Still no name or reaction for that one. Rock tries a whip into the ropes, but Ken reverses, and delivers a powerslam for two. Rana and a belly-to-belly suplex lead to the anklelock, but Henry comes in to clothesline his own partner. He adds a powerslam and an elbowdrop, and then Rock, D-lo, and Kama Mustafa join in on the beating to draw a DQ at 3:30, with Mark joining the Nation of Domination. ¼*
Backstage, Cole catches up with the Nation, and Faarooq is none too pleased that Rock brought in a new member without even consulting him first, but Rock is just doing what’s best for Faarooq - like when he joined his group, and brought in the Intercontinental title. Rock is really coming into his own, and becoming more entertaining with each passing week
DX hit the ring, and they’ve got a lot to say this week. First of all, Owen Hart just got flushed down the toilet out on the street somewhere. And then WWF Champion Shawn Michaels calls out Mike Tyson (complete with a pretty funny impression by WWF European Champion Triple H), noting that he’ll knock Mike out with a superkick if Tyson gets in his business at the Rumble. What at all has happened that would even make him think he would? It’s not all about you, Shawn. Next, it’s time to talk about Undertaker, but before they can, a bloodied Owen shows up swinging a crutch around as a weapon, but officials cut him off before he can reach the ring. This was a pretty skippable segment
The Rock 'n' Roll Express v Skull and 8-Ball: Jim Cornette brings the Express in as part of his NWA angle, and they get the Rockers’ old music, in a weird touch. Both guys look totally old, dated, and out of place here. I mean, they looked old, dated, and out of place in early 90s WCW, so you can imagine how that same act (with no change to their look whatsoever, to boot) plays in the Attitude Era. Cornette sits in on commentary, going on a huge rant about the Express, talking about all the teams they beat, and literally all of them had been retired for years at this point. Jim throws a cheap shot to try and help the Express to the win, but gets caught, and that’s a DQ at 2:22. I had to double check that this wasn’t some YouTube video of a guy playing fantasy versions of matches in a 2K game. But then I realized that no one would ever fantasize about the DOA. DUD
Earlier today, Cactus Jack clarified that Chainsaw Charlie is Terry Funk, and he doesn’t know why either, frankly. But no matter the name, his goal is taking out the Outlaws
Goldust v Mankind: Goldust comes out dressed as Dude Love, complete with a bunch of padding to match Mick Foley’s physique. Mankind attacks before the bell, and delivers a backdrop in short order. Mandible claw is applied, but Steve Austin runs in to attack both guys for a quick DQ at 0:25. I’m not sure what the point of this was. DUD
Vince McMahon confirms that Mike Tyson will be a guest at the Rumble this Sunday, and will appear on RAW next week, where they will make a big announcement
Taka Michinoku and Scott Taylor v Savio Vega and Jesus Castillo: Sunny (dressed as a Penn State cheerleader) acts as the guest ring announcer. Taylor and Castillo start, and Scott dropkicks him to the outside right away. Taylor drops him across the apron out there before blasting him with a baseball slide, but a dive misses, and Scott eats the rail. Inside, Castillo tries a backdrop over the top, but Taylor lands on the apron, and dives back in. He works an armbar before passing to Taka, and Take delivers an elbowdrop for one. Tag to Vega, but he gets arrogant right away, allowing Taka a victory roll for two. Vega cuts him off with chops in the corner, and a corner spinheel kick finds the mark. Vega with a nice powerbomb, and he passes to Castillo to deliver a well executed bicycle kick. Corner charge doesn’t work out, however, allowing the tag back to Taylor - Roseanne Barr the door! The babyfaces get control, but Taka’s attempt at a dive on the outside goes badly, and Castillo gives Taylor an inverted vertical sueperplex at 4:26. Best match of the show, though unfortunately it featured workers that the crowd didn’t care about. Afterwards, Owen runs out to save the babyfaces from a gang attack, since ‘Owen Hart: Protector of Jobbers’ is apparently the best they could come up with for the guy. *
The Twix Rewind is Shawn Michaels winning the ‘95 Rumble. They are really obsessed with that show this week, for whatever reason
DX return to introduce Kane as their newest member, but instead Undertaker comes out. He warns Michaels to leave his family out of things, so HHH distracts him, allowing Shawn a superkick to knock ‘Taker silly. DX beat him down, until Kane makes the surprise save, sending them running for the hills. Undertaker gives him a salute in thanks, which Kane accepts. Good segment here, as the layered Undertaker/Kane storyline continues to take us deeper and deeper in
Everyone is in the ring ahead of the public drawing of the Rumble match entry numbers, but it quickly breaks down into a big brawl as the show ends
BUExperience: The wrestling was across the board horrible, but the promotion felt very alive during this period, and that makes for interesting viewing.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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