Original Airdate: March 2, 1998
From Cleveland, Ohio; Your Host is Jim Ross, with Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly (hour one), and with Jerry Lawler (hour two)
DX join us to start, and apparently tonight the road to WrestleMania officially begins. In what way? Triple H cuts a promo on WWF European Champion Owen Hart, and as usual, he’s good when focused on the program at hand, and super awkward and dorky while trying too hard to sound cool. Meanwhile, WWF Champion Shawn Michaels has no issue on that front when calling out Steve Austin. That draws Stone Cold out, but before he can confront DX, Kane comes out to distract him, and Steve just kind of forgets about DX. This was a weak, unfocused segment
WWF Tag Team Title Match: The New Age Outlaws v Skull and 8-Ball: I think this is the debut of the WWF logo tunnel underneath the TitanTron, which was a great addition to the set design. The Outlaws come out in neckbraces to try to get out of the match (as a result of last weeks attack from Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie), but Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter isn’t buying it. The challengers win a brawl to start, so Billy Gunn lays 8-Ball out with one of the title belts, and the Outlaws whip Skull into a dumpster they’ve brought to ringside. That draws Jack and Charlie out of the dumpster, and the Outlaws take off running - getting counted out at 1:23. This was all angle. DUD
Backstage, Sable applies lipstick
Marc Mero v Tom Brandi: Mero sends Sable to the back during the entrances, but makes a mistake charging in on Tom, and gets stomped. Brandi with a flying bulldog to set up mounted punches, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Marc sitout powerbombs him for two. Bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two, as Luna Vachon shows up at ringside. Marc with a snapmare, so Brandi tries an inverted atomic drop, and adds a sitout gourdbuster for two. Russian legsweep gets him another two, but Luna trips him up during a cross cross, and Mero finishes him with a TKO at 2:42. These two were always reliably solid together. I’ve said it before: they should have done more with Brandi. Their roster was incredibly thin during this period, and he was a good hand. Sure, he had the stink of a bad gimmick on him, but they’ve polished nastier turds. Afterwards, Goldust runs out to attack Mero for associating with Luna, but Sable returns to help Marc chase them off. Mero shows her no appreciation, but Sable has had enough, and shoves him down. *
Backstage, Mike Tyson arrives
WWF European Title Match: Owen Hart v Mark Henry: Slaughter sends the Nation of Domination to the back, allowing Owen to attack a distracted Henry before the bell. “Owen is the most competitive European champion ever,” the announcers note. Yep, in the whole year that the lineage has existed. Owen sends Henry to the outside with a spinheel kick, and he adds a baseball slide, as Chyna wanders down the ramp. That distraction allows Henry to attack from behind, and he unloads on Hart in the corner. Cross corner whip sets up an avalanche, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two. Clothesline, but Hart ducks. He tries a bodypress, but Henry catches him in a backbreaker - only to miss an elbowdrop. Sharpshooter, but Henry blocks. He pounds Hart in the corner ahead of a belly-to-belly suplex, but a sitdown splash misses, and Hart tries the Sharpshooter again - blocked again. Henry misses a second avalanche, allowing Owen a flying dropkick to set up a 2nd rope elbowdrop for two. Hart with a leg-feed enzuigiri, and he gets the Sharpshooter on this time, but gets distracted by Chyna. He goes to the top rope, but Chyna shoves him off, right into Mark’s arms for a bearhug. Owen fades, but Chyna comes in with a low blow to cause a DQ at 5:39 - saving the title for HHH. Not surprisingly, an elite level worker like Owen Hart could get a decent match out of anyone when he felt like it. **
Backstage, Vince McMahon chats up Tyson
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Taka Michinoku and The Headbangers v Barry Windham and The Rock 'n' Roll Express: The NWA team get the Rockers’ old music, which is a weird choice. Like, we’re supposed to not like them, why make an association to one of the most beloved tag teams of the last ten years. Mosh and Robert Gibson start, and a criss cross leads to a reversal sequence, won by Mosh with a monkeyflip for two. Tag to Taka for a dive on Gibson, but Robert manages to tag out to Ricky Morton. Windham comes in for a triple team on Taka, but they fail to cut the ring in half, and Thrasher gets the tag. Powerslam on Gibson gets two, and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on! Taka does a crazy springboard dive on Windham into the aisle, and Thrasher pins Gibson at 1:41. Nothing to this whatsoever, but Taka’s dive on Windham was pretty cool. ¼*
Backstage, Tyson paces
Vince McMahon brings Mike Tyson out for an in-ring interview, and Vince wants to know who Mike thinks is going to win in the main event of WrestleMania XIV. But before Mike can answer, DX march out, and you can see Shawn just itching to get his piece of the Tyson mainstream pie. Shawn challenges Tyson to a fight then and there, with Mike accepting. All the seconds and officials clear out, and they get in each other’s faces, but instead of fighting - Tyson reveals a DX t-shirt. This wasn’t as big or memorable as the scuffle with Austin the night after the Royal Rumble, but this was a good segment nonetheless
Backstage, Tyson and DX celebrate their ruse
Kama Mustafa v Steve Blackman: Slaughter boots the Nation again for this one. They do some martial arts based posturing to start, and they measure each other some. Reversal sequence ends in Kama landing a clothesline, but Blackman fires back with a dropkick. Kama hammers him with punches, but Blackman hammers with kicks, and Kama goes over the top. Blackman is on him with a plancha, and he rolls Kama back in to dive at with a flying bodypress for two. Criss cross allows Kama to come back with a rotating spinebuster, and a savate kick finds the mark. Bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope dive, but Steve gets his boot up to block. Blackman unloads in the corner, and a backbreaker follows. Bicycle kick puts Kama down, and Blackman goes for the submission, but the Nation run in for the DQ at 3:03. They were trying, but the crowd wasn’t giving them anything here. Afterwards, the Nation do a beat down, but Ken Shamrock makes the save. ¾*
Backstage, Austin is suiting up
Flash Funk v Jeff Jarrett: Jarrett suddenly has Tennessee Lee with him, and he’s reverted back to his Double J gimmick. He notes that he’s done with the NWA, though no real explanation is given, nor is anything said about what happened to his NWA North American title. A quick check shows that he forfeited it to Barry Windham the day before this, and then the NWA stripped Windham of it a day after that. Funk charges in to kick start the match, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Jeff bodyslams him. Jeff with an elbowdrop, but Flash wins a criss cross with a pair of jumping shoulderblocks. Backdrop, but Jarrett counters with a swinging neckbreaker, and a straddling ropechoke follows. Funk comes back, and he tags Jarrett with a corkscrew kick for two. Side suplex sets up a dive, but Lee knocks him off the top rope. That allows Jarrett the figure four for the victory at 3:34. These two had no chemistry, and Jeff suddenly acting like it’s 1995 again was a very weird deal. Especially since he tore into how stupid the gimmick was when he came back from WCW only a few months before this. ¼*
Gennifer Flowers sends in pre-taped comments hyping her appearance at WrestleMania
Cole catches up with Tyson on his way out of the building, but Mike doesn’t offer much of an explanation for why he’s joined up with DX. Kind of stupid of them to show Tyson leaving before Austin’s apperance, since Mike was such a ratings draw, and any confrontation with Steve would have been big news
Legion of Doom break up video package
Steve Austin v Kane: This doesn’t happen, as DX attacks Austin before he can make it to the ring. So, with that out of the way, Paul Bearer decides to do something else with the segment, telling Kane to bring the time keeper into the ring, and then forcing the guy to ring the bell ten times in memory of Undertaker. He complies, but Kane still wrecks him afterwards. Paul wants more destruction, and threatens the commentators, but before anything can happen, the lights turn purple, and Undertaker’s gong starts ringing over and over again. That all builds up to lightning striking a casket that’s suddenly sitting on the stage, and Undertaker sits up - back for the first time since the Rumble. He finally accepts Kane’s challenge to fight, at WrestleMania, and he cuts a promo that sounds like something Jules would have said in Pulp Fiction
BUExperience: There was very little actual wrestling (approximately nineteen minutes total, on a two hour show), and not every angle stuck the landing, but this episode just flew by. And no one even pointed at a WrestleMania sign!
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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