WWF Over the Edge 1998 (Version II)

 

Original Airdate: May 31, 1998

From Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Opening Match: LOD 2000 v Skull and 8-Ball: Brawl to start, and the dust settles on Animal and 8-Ball. Animal with a jumping shoulderblock, and he works a wristlock, but telegraphs a backdrop, and takes a swinging neckbreaker. 8-Ball adds an elbowdrop, but a corner charge ends badly, and Animal uses a corkscrew legwhip. Animal adds a headbutt drop to the groin, so 8-Ball tags out, with Animal following suit. Skull manages a backelbow and a trio of elbowdrops, then a sidewalk slam for two. Piledriver, but Hawk no-sells, and throws a clothesline. Hawk with a neckbreaker to set up a fistdrop, and he passes to Animal for a double team in their corner. Animal with a snapmare into a chinlock, but Hawk misses a dive, and the heels take control. They work Hawk over, until Animal catches the tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! Chainz distracts him, allowing an illegal switch, but Darren Drozdov nails 8-Ball - knocking him right into a powerslam from Animal at 9:57. This was pretty dull. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

Jeff Jarrett v Steve Blackman: Blackman goes right at him with a baseball slide, and he sends Jeff into the guardrail before pressing him into the ring. Steve with a missile dropkick and a 2nd rope axehandle, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and eats a facebuster. Jeff adds a straddling ropechoke, but a backelbow misses, and Blackman throws a weak bicycle kick. Into the corner for some abuse, and a bridging German suplex gets Steve two. Blackman hangs him in a tree of woe, so Tennessee Lee distracts him, and Jarrett capitalizes. Jeff with a dropkick for two, and a somersault cradle gets two - countered by Blackman with a bridge into a backslide. Jeff cuts him off, and gets a sleeper on, but Steve reverses. Jarrett manages a side suplex to break, and both men are left looking up at the lights. Jeff recovers first, and crawls over with a cover for two. He tries a vertical suplex, but Blackman reverses, only to hit the knees on a slingshot splash. The timing on that one was wonky. A criss cross ends in another double knockout, and Blackman recovers first with a backbreaker. A spinkick follows, setting up a trio of pointed elbowdrops, followed by a standard elbowdrop for two. A bicycle kick finds the mark, so Lee tries another distraction, but it backfires. That allows Steve an underhook cradle for two, so Jeff grabs a weapon, but that backfires as well. Blackman covers, but Jarrett is in the ropes at two. Steve goes upstairs, but Lee knocks him off the top, and Jarrett covers at 10:17. Blackman hadn’t mastered timing, and his execution wasn’t the best, but the overall piece was fine. * ¾  (Original rating: ¼*)

Marc Mero v Sable: If Sable wins, she gets contractual freedom from Mero, and if Mero wins, Sable leaves the WWF. Sable was supposed to show up with a guy to fight for her freedom, but she decides to do it herself. And Mero is so overcome with emotion for her predicament, that he drops down to let her pin him - only to reverse the cradle on her when she does at 0:28. This was kind of a bullshit non-match for pay per view. This should have been a RAW segment. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Handicap Match: Taka Michinoku and Justin Bradshaw v Dick Togo, Mens Teioh, and Sho Funaki: The babyfaces clean house, and Bradshaw press-drops Taka onto Kaientai on the floor. The dust settles on Taka on Funaki, and Funaki throws a dropkick, so Taka tags, and all of Kaientai bail. Back to Taka with Teioh, and Teioh wins a criss cross with a clothesline, so Bradshaw tags back in, but the heels bail again. Bradshaw chases them this time, but he’s too slow, and just ends up frustrated. Jesus, how big was Godzilla in 1998? It feels like every WWF and WCW show has had at least one reference to the movie over the last few weeks. Taka manages a tornado DDT on Togo for two, and Bradshaw comes in to wreck fools. It ends up with Taka diving on Funaki on the floor, but a wheelbarrow bulldog on Togo gets countered with a wheelbarrow facebuster. Tag to Funaki for a hanging vertical suplex for two, and they cut the ring in half, as Ross rants about Lawler’s obsession with the various women. Oh, Jim, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Bradshaw finally catches a tag and runs wild, Roseanne Barr the door! Taka hits Togo with the scoop sitout brainbuster, but Funaki saves at two, and Togo dives with a flying senton on Taka at 9:53. This didn’t really work. Which is weird, since obviously they all have chemistry, and the big guy/little guy team aspect should have been a better play than it was. ¾* (Original rating: ½*)

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Rock v Faarooq: Earlier in the show, Rock came out to run his mouth, and took a piledriver on a chair from Faarooq, so now he’s sporting a neckbrace. Commissioner Slaughter refuses to let him off the hook, however, so here we go. Faarooq jumps a reluctant Rock on the outside, and he crotches him on the rail before rolling him inside. Faarooq takes off the neckbrace and throttles the champion with it, and a pair of clotheslines connect. Rock bails, so Faarooq drags him back in, but Rock manages a clothesline to buy time. Rock with a backelbow, and a bodyslam sets up the People’s elbow - which is getting a bigger pop each time. It only gets two, though, so clearly he hadn’t fully mastered it yet. Rock versus Hogan was truly the biggest match with the two weakest finishers. Rock with a corner whip, but he misses a clothesline when Faarooq rebounds, and the challenger matslams him. Faarooq with a bodyslam to set up a headbutt drop for two, and Ross is criticizing the lateral press like a hangry Gorilla Monsoon. Faarooq with a poorly executed spinebuster for two, and it looked like something got messed up there, because Faarooq looked loopy for a minute there. Faarooq argues the count, allowing Rock to recover, but Faarooq fights him off. Rock manages a leveraged cradle, however, and that’s three at 5:31. This was really weak, these two never had any real chemistry. Afterwards, the Nation of Domination runs in on Faarooq, but DX make the save. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

Mask v Mask Match: Vader v Kane: To this day, I don’t get this stipulation. We’ve seen Vader without the mask about a million times already! Slugfest to start, won by Kane. Kane with a short-clothesline, and he chokes Vader in the corner, but a charge hits Vader’s boot. Vader with a pair of bodyblocks, but a vertical suplex gets reversed. Kane tries to add an elbowdrop, but misses, and Vader tees off on him. Vader with a short-clothesline of his own, and his elbowdrop does not miss. Irish whip, but Kane blocks, and throws a short-clothesline. Kane with a bodyslam, and he goes upstairs with a flying clothesline. Kane adds a big boot and a clothesline to set up a choke. Lots of ‘em. They spill to the outside, where Vader finds a wrench, and unloads on Kane with it a bit. Back in, Vader avalanches him, and a clothesline sets up a flying moonsault, but Kane dodges. That allows Kane the tombstone at 7:23. This was terrible. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Triple H, Billy Gunn, and Jesse James v Owen Hart, D-lo Brown, and Kama Mustafa: Jesse and D-lo start, and they do a reversal sequence, won by Brown with a shoulderblock. Brown grabs a headlock, so Jesse forces a criss cross, but Brown wins that as well, also with a shoulderblock. James manages to slug him down for a straddling ropechoke, and he passes to Billy. Gunn tries a wristlock, but Brown quickly escapes, and tags Owen. Hart charges in, but Gunn clotheslines him, and takes him into the corner for abuse. A cross corner whip rebounds Owen into a press-slam, but Hart blocks a second press-slam, and delivers a spinheel kick. Hart adds backdrop to set up the Sharpshooter, but Gunn goes to the eyes to block. Tag to HHH, and he charges in on Owen with right hands, followed by a high knee. Backdrop, but Hart blocks, and delivers an inverted atomic drop. He tries adding a clothesline, but Hunter ducks, and delivers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Back to Jesse to unload on Owen in the corner, and a snapmare sets up a kneedrop. Back to HHH, but Owen goes low on him, and passes to Kama. He hits Hunter with a cross corner whip to set up an avalanche, but a backdrop gets countered with a kneeling facebuster. The backdrop has not been too lucky in this one. Tag to Gunn, but Kama wrecks him with rights, and shoves him into the Nation corner for a triple team. D-lo tags in with a dropkick, but Gunn blocks, and sends Brown into the corner with a catapult. DX work Brown over for a while, but Jesse misses a charge in the corner, and Kama catches a tag. An assist from Owen allows Kama a lariat, and the Nation have turned the tide, working over Jesse. Brown misses a dive to allow the hot tag to Billy, and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on! DX hit D-lo with a spike piledriver on one of the tag title belts, but Owen saves him from getting pinned, and drops HHH with a pedigree on the belt for three at 17:51. This was okay, but it never quite found a proper groove, and went on for too long. * ¾ (Original rating: *)

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Steve Austin v Dude Love: Vince McMahon acts as the special guest referee here, Pat Patterson is the guest ring announcer, and Gerald Brisco is the guest timekeeper. Patterson’s ring announcing here is the stuff of legend, and I’m especially partial to his incredible plug of Brisco’s auto repair shop. But just before Vince can ring the bell, Undertaker shows up to stand at ringside, presumably to counteract McMahon’s stacked deck. Posturing to start, with Austin as much engaged with McMahon as he is with Love. Steve gets a side-headlock on, but Dude escapes, so Steve uses a matslam - knocking Dude’s dentures out! Love stomps him down in response, as Ross gets a funny line in about Dude ‘losing his smile.’ He and Lawler have been fantastic all evening here. Austin manages a Thesz-press before clotheslining his challenger over the top, and Steve follows to smash him into the rail. Austin tries a whip into the steps, but Dude reverses, and that turns the tide. Inside, Love works him over, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Austin manages a swinging neckbreaker. Steve with a trio of clotheslines, and he takes Dude into the corner to unload on. Cross corner whip, but Love reverses, and gets Steve in the mandible claw on the rebound. Austin dumps him over the top to escape, and he follows to continue the assault, but Love hiptosses him onto the announce table. Vince cues Patterson to ‘remind’ us that this match is no DQ, so Dude celebrates by choking Steve with a wire. Steve sends him into the rail to shake that off, and a clothesline sends Dude into the crowd - complete with the requisite brutal bump. Inside, Steve tries a straddling ropechoke, but the challenger dodges. That allows Love a baseball slide to knock Austin to the outside, and Dude follows for a swinging neckbreaker on the floor. That one was awkward looking, and I’m surprised that they took that kind of risk with Steve’s neck. Patterson ‘reminds’ us that this is a falls count anywhere match, thus allowing Dude to cover, but he only gets two. A backslide on the floor gets another two, and he backdrops Steve onto the hood of a car (part of the set design) for two. Steve responds with a hotshot on a car for two, and he smashes Dude’s head into the trunk for two. Austin tries a stunner on the roof of a car, but he gets shoved off, and Dude dives off the vehicle with a sunset flip on the floor for two. Even when he’s delivering the offense, poor Love is bumping. Love smashes Steve’s head into the car a bunch of times to bust the champion open, but that just fires him up. He tries a piledriver, but Love counters with a backdrop for two. Love adds a vertical suplex, and he climbs onto a car to dive with an elbowdrop, but Austin rolls out of the way. Steve covers for a two count in the aisle, and he chucks Dude into the steps as they get back to ringside. Into the ring for a ropechoke, so Patterson trips him up, and Love capitalizes with a clothesline. Dude adds mounted punches, and he exposes the top turnbuckle to bash Austin’s bloody head into. It’s a pretty good blade job, though not on the level of WrestleMania 13. Love with a running kneesmash in the corner, and he bashes him into the steel again, ahead of a reverse chinlock. Patterson passes Dude a chair to finish him off with, and Love tees off. He adds a double-arm DDT on the chair for two, but a charge with the weapon in the corner backfires. That allows Austin to grab the chair, and he really tees off. Cover, but McMahon refuses to count. Austin argues, allowing Dude to recover, but Steve sidesteps a chair shot, and Love brains McMahon! That allows Steve the stunner, but Vince is out! Another official runs in, but Patterson pulls him out at two. All that allows Love to recover, and he gets the mandible claw on. Patterson comes in to count Steve down, but Undertaker pulls him out, and drives him through a table with a chokeslam! Brisco tries, but gets the same treatment, as Steve fights the hold off. Another stunner, but Vince is still knocked silly, so Steve grabs his limp hand and slaps the mat three times with it at 22:25. This was consistently exciting, and the angle was tremendously well done, but it was mostly just a garbage brawl. The Unforgiven match was a much better overall work, though the final moments in this one were incredible, and beyond anything in the earlier match. ** ½ (Original rating: *** ½)

BUExperience: This was a bad show, with a truly lousy undercard, though it does have a really entertaining main event. It’s also worth noting that there was a significant amount of filler in between the matches here, more than usual, as they pad out the thin roster with segments. It did feel like it delivered, even if the actual ring work wasn’t strong, but overall I’d classify this as a weak show in the middle of a strong period for the promotion.

DUD