WWF King of the Ring 1998 (Version II)

 

Original Airdate: June 28, 1998 

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: Taka Michinoku and The Headbangers v Sho Funaki, Dick Togo, and Men's Teioh: Taka is still the WWF Light Heavyweight champion at this point, for those keeping score. Just trying to help, since they haven’t bothered to mention it on TV in forever. Thrasher starts with Teioh, and a criss cross allows Teioh a dropkick. Into the ropes again, but this time Thrasher wins with a tilt-a-whirl slam, and a powerslam gets him two. Tag to Mosh for a 2nd rope dropkick, and Teioh tags to Funaki. A criss cross allows Mosh a spinebuster, and a corner whip flops Funaki. Mosh with a straddling ropechoke, and Taka tags in with one of his own. Taka with chops in the corner, and a corner dropkick leads to a missile dropkick, putting Funaki on the floor. Taka dives after him, so Togo takes a cheap shot on the way back in, and Kaientai team up on Taka. Taka fights Togo off with a monkey flip, but a charge ends in him getting backdropped over the top, and Togo is on him with a baseball slide into a headscissors on the floor. Tag to Teioh for a big boot, as Kaientai cut the ring in half, working Taka over with quick tags. Taka dodges a double team and hits Funaki with a spinheel kick, and he makes the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! The babyfaces hit Funaki with a combo, and Taka uses a scoop sitout brainbuster to end it at 6:34. This was solid, and a good choice for an opener, but ultimately very surface level work for most of the guys in this match. * ½ (Original rating: * ¼)

King of the Ring Tournament Semifinal Match: Jeff Jarrett v Ken Shamrock: Shamrock comes in hot, hitting a kneelift, and taking Jeff into the corner for a beating right away. Jeff manages to reverse a cross corner whip, but Shamrock rebounds with a lariat, and snap suplexes him for two. Big boot, but Jeff ducks it, and delivers a swinging neckbreaker. Jeff with a short-clothesline, and he plants a dropkick. Ken fires back with a roundhouse kick, and a clothesline sends Jarrett over the top. Ken follows for a smash into the apron, and he drops Jeff on the guardrail for good measure. Shamrock gets tripped up by Tennessee Lee on the way back in, however, and Jarrett goes to work on the leg. Ken throws a spinkick to buy time, and manages to follow up with a jumping backelbow. A powerslam gets Shamrock two, and a nice rana leads to the anklelock at 5:29. That finish felt really abrupt. * (Original rating: ½*)

King of the Ring Tournament Semifinal Match: Rock v Dan Severn: Severn immediately shoots for the leg, taking Rock down, but Rocky has the ropes before Dan can get a proper hold on. Severn with a waistlock takedown, and he looks for a hold, but Rock is in the ropes again. Severn with another takedown, but Rock gets into the ropes before Dan can get a half-crab locked. He tries for another takedown, but this time Rock throws an elbow to block, and he unloads on Severn in the corner. Rock with a cross corner whip, but the charge in misses, and Dan uses a fireman’s carry into an armbar. Rock gets into the ropes, and he throws another elbow on the break, then adds a clothesline. Rock with a vertical suplex for two, but Dan fights him off in the corner, so Rock goes to the eyes. Rock tries grabbing a headlock, but he can’t hold Severn, and they collide for a double knockout. That draws the Nation of Domination out, and as Mark Henry and Godfather distract the official, D-lo Brown pops out of the crowd with a flying frogsplash - debuting his new ‘chest protector’ in the process. That allows Rock to hook the leg, and advance at 4:24. Not a lot going on here, but they at least managed to tell a story with the short amount of time they had. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

Too Much v Al Snow and Head: Jerry Lawler is the special guest referee here, and this is effectively a Handicap match, but technically Snow is partnered with a literal mannequin head. Scott Taylor starts with Al, and Snow initially dominates, but wastes time talking to Head, and gets clobbered. A reversal sequence allows Al an atomic drop, and a pair of clotheslines follow, so Scott tags out. Brian Christopher immediately complains of a hair pull, and, of course, Lawler takes his side. Christopher then actually pulls Snow’s hair, but Lawler magically misses it, and Brian throws a right hand. Christopher goes upstairs, but Al slams him off, and goes up himself, but Taylor crotches him. Christopher goes to superplex him, but Al counters with a sunset bomb for two - complete with a very slow count from Jerry. Snow stays on Christopher with a clothesline over the top, so Scott runs in, but Snow backdrops him over the top. Al follows with a bodyslam on the floor for Brian, and a clothesline follows, but Taylor recovers with a dive into the aisle to slow Snow down. Christopher with a missile dropkick on the way back in, and he passes to Taylor for some double teaming. Taylor with a seated dropkick for (a very fast) two, and Scott goes to a chinlock. Snow escapes, so Taylor pumphandle-suplexes him, but a clothesline misses, and Snow uses a wheelbarrow suplex. Lawler helps Scott make it to the corner for a tag, and Christopher hits Snow with a bulldog. Too Much try a tandem backdrop, but Snow blocks it with a double DDT, and makes a ‘tag’ to Head. That allows Snow to use Head to unload on both guys, and he hits Christopher with a scoop sitout brainbuster, but Jerry refuses to count. Instead, he passes Brian a bottle of Head & Shoulders shampoo, and Christopher attaches it to Head, then covering for the pin at 7:54. Obviously, a lot of this (including the finish) was some silly shit, but it was silly shit rooted in actual good work, so it wasn’t nearly as stupid as it could have been. And, truth be told, I’ve always found that finish funny and cute. * ½ (Original rating: *)

Owen Hart v X-Pac: X-Pac attacks with a baseball slide during the entrances, and he rolls Hart in to hammer in the corner. X-Pac with a cross corner whip ahead of strikes in the corner, but a bronco buster misses, allowing Hart to hammer him in return. Hart with a turnbuckle smash, and a cross corner whip rattles the ring. Again for good measure, and Hart uses a backbreaker, then a spinheel kick for two. X-Pac fights him off, and throws chops in the corner, but Hart slugs him down. Hart with a bridging fisherman suplex for two, and a gutwrench suplex gets him another two. Backdrop, but X-Pac blocks, though can’t follow up, allowing Owen a small package for two. X-Pac wins a criss cross with a backdrop, and a clothesline sends Owen over the top. X-Pac dives with a clothesline from the apron, but Hart reverses him into the timekeeper’s table. Man, X-Pac is bumping like crazy for a guy just coming off of a major injury. Hart with a gourdbuster on the announce table, as Ross wonders if the Spanish announce table has a ‘bullseye’ on it. Oh, just wait. Hart with a missile dropkick on the way back in, and a somersault cradle gets him two. Sleeper, but X-Pac reverses, and uses a sitout facebuster when Hart escapes. X-Pac wins a slugfest, and a leg-freed roundhouse kick finds the mark. Into the corner for a bootchoke to set up a bronco buster, and a bodyslam sets up a dive, but Owen meets him at the top. Both men take bumps (Hart to the mat, X-Pac to the floor) after fighting it out, and Mark Henry runs out to splash X-Pac out there. Vader runs out to attack as Hart gets a Sharpshooter on, but the referee is distracted with the fight on the outside. That allows Chyna to break the hold with a DDT, and X-Pac covers at 8:34. I’m getting so conditioned to the super short matches on this show that I needed to double check the time because this felt much longer than it actually was. While not on the level of their instant classic from four years earlier, it was a strong effort, and the finish was hot. ** ½  (Original rating: *** ¼)

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The New Age Outlaws v The New Midnight Express: The Express are a really random choice as challengers, they haven’t even been on RAW in forever. They’re also the NWA World Tag Team champions at this point, though those belts aren’t on the line. Jesse James and Bombastic Bob start, and Bob gets a standing side-headlock on. Jesse forces a criss cross, and a hiptoss wins it, followed by a clothesline, as Lawler tries to explain why ‘the kids’ are into DX these days. Yeah, tell us why, grandpa. Tags all around, and Billy Gunn catches Bodacious Bart with some jabs. A criss cross ends in Bart countering a hiptoss with a short-clothesline for two, but a reversal sequence sees them trade cradles for two. Billy lands a rocker dropper for two, and a big clothesline allows Bart an oversell. Tag to Jesse, and the Outlaws catch Bart with a combo. James tries a rollup, but Bob throws a cheap shot to block it, and the Express work Jesse over. Bob misses a flying splash, and Billy gets the hot tag, Roseanne Barr the door! Billy looks for a piledriver on Bob, so Jim Cornette whacks him with one of the NWA title belts, and Bob gets a dramatic two. Bob looks for a slam, but Billy counters to a rollup, so Cornette comes in again. This time Chyna stops him, but the distraction allows Bob to recover with a punch. He loses a criss cross to a double team from the champions, however, and Billy pins him at 9:52. Good workers involved, but this match had no build (it was literally not announced until the actual show was on the air), and the weak NWA gimmick didn’t do Bart and Bob any favors, leading to a dead crowd. The actual match wasn’t bad, though, just heatless. ** (Original rating: ¾*)

WWF King of the Ring Tournament Final Match: Rock v Ken Shamrock: Triple H is out for guest commentary, in perhaps the most tryhard performance of his entire career. He’s just so desperate to sound cool, and Lawler trying to piggyback on everything he says just makes it worse. A big criss cross to start, won by Shamrock with a kick, so Rock bails. Inside, Rock hammers Ken into the corner, as Chyna joins the Spanish announce team, leading to the magnum opus of tryhard HHH lines, “there’s a lot of things I’m bi… lingual ain’t one of ‘em.” His slow realization at what he just said is pretty hilarious to experience in real time, though. A criss cross sees Shamrock dump Rock over the top, but Rock goes after HHH instead of focusing. Hunter spits water in his face, and Shamrock shows up to attack, smashing Rock’s face into the commentary tables. Rock throws a low blow to shake him off, and Rock tries a vertical suplex on the way back in, but Ken reverses for two. They spill back to the outside, where Ken whips him into the rail, but Rock rebounds with a lariat on the floor. Rock drops him across the rail before taking it back inside for a swinging neckbreaker for two. Rock adds a DDT for two, and he goes to a chinlock from there. A bodyslam sets up the People’s elbow for two, and it’s back to the chinlock. Shamrock fights free, so Rock uses a floatover DDT for two, but Ken comes back with a side suplex, and both guys are left looking up at the lights. Both guys stagger up, and Rock tries a clothesline, but Ken ducks, and goes on the comeback trail. A powerslam gets him two, and a bridging fisherman suplex is worth two. Rock fights back with a powerslam of his own for two, but Ken counters another floatover DDT with a bridging northern lights suplex for two. Ken tries a corner whip, but Rock counters with a short-clothesline for two. Shamrock with one of his own for two, but Rock drops him across the top rope to block a rana, and he hooks the leg for two. Rock looks for a follow up, but Shamrock is ready with the anklelock at 14:10. Like most of their efforts together, this was a pretty dull match, though  it got pretty good in the final few minutes. Good booking too, finally allowing Ken to get a win over the Rock after feuding for half of the year, but without having to switch the WWF Intercontinental title in the process. * (Original rating: *)

Hell in a Cell Match: Undertaker v Mankind: Mankind makes the fateful decision to climb to the top of the cell during his entrance, thus forcing Undertaker to do the same. Mankind is ready at the top, but fails to knock Undertaker off on the way, and they slug it out on the roof of the cell. You can see the mesh flexing and sagging so much compared to the more steady modern day cells. Mankind gets a chair and unloads a few shots, as Undertaker’s foot nearly goes through the roof because the mesh is sagging so much. Undertaker fights off the chair shots, and then casually chucks Mankind off the roof of the cell - Mankind crashing through the Spanish announce table, and triggering one of the more famous calls in history from Ross. Yeah, so, I guess that’s that at about two minutes. I mean, obviously, right? So Undertaker just kind of hangs out on the roof as Terry Funk and officials come out to make sure Mankind isn’t a paraplegic, and even Vince McMahon is out. We talk about the insane risk Mankind took here, but it’s worth noting that another few inches and he could have taken out the announcers seated at the table with him. It’s kind of a miracle he didn’t… not like he warmed up the jump, he just sort of did it. So Mankind gets taken out on a stretcher, but half way up the aisle, he pulls himself off… and the psycho climbs back to the top of the cell. Undertaker meets him up there with a headbutt, and he grabs the dazed Mankind with a chokeslam - right through the roof of the cage, and all the way down to the mat. And that’s enough to trigger a second legendary soundbite from Ross. The story is that they weren’t actually expecting the thing to collapse, and on top of the unexpected bump, the chair that was sitting there came down and hit him in the head on the way. Again, somewhat miraculous that he didn’t die or get very severely injured. Everyone comes into the cage to see what’s going on, but Undertaker hops down, and gets rid of them all. He tries the ropewalk forearm, but Mankind blocks, and we get the famous shot of him ‘smiling’ with his tooth sticking out of his nose. He tries to grab the steps, but he’s so battered that he can’t even lift them (probably legitimately), so Undertaker beats him with them instead. Yeah, pile on, why not? Mankind fights him off, and somehow delivers a piledriver on a chair for two, then delivers a chair-assisted legdrop for two. Mankind with a double-arm DDT to bust Undertaker open, and Mankind decides to scatter a bag of thumbtacks on the mat. He gets Undertaker in the mandible claw to weaken him for a trip into the tacks, but Undertaker manages to drop him into them instead! Undertaker adds a chokeslam onto the tacks, and the tombstone finishes at 17:37. This is a really tricky one to rate, in the sense that it’s one of the most famous (and infamous) matches of all time, one of the most talked about of all time, and certainly something of a must see… even though the actual ‘work’ is mostly shit. It’s two really insane bumps (and a bunch of just ‘regular insane’ bumps), but there’s very little else beyond the gaga. And, sure, a lot of that is just plain the physical limitations (Mankind was literally knocked out at one point), but everyone has certain limitations in every match in history. And it’s worth keeping in mind what ‘work’ is - how do you rate ‘selling’ when the guy is truly severely injured? It’s not really ‘selling’ at that point, is it? So what are we rating, exactly? It’s also worth discussing how insane this got over the gimmick match itself, as the first Cell match was a classic, and then this one. So, of course, now, it’s just another match they do every year because the calendar says it’s time to. But, at the time, the WWF had never presented anything like this before, really, nor had anyone else in a mainstream North American environment, for that matter. It was stuff usually reserved for the most hardcore promotions in Japan, and if you did see it in the States, it was at some backwater independent show. This is one that exceeds its star rating. It certainly wasn’t boring. ** (Original rating: ***)

Main Event: WWF Title First Blood Match: Steve Austin v Kane: Steve charges in with a Thesz-press to set up mounted punches, and he uses a pointed elbowdrop, before nailing Kane with the title belt a couple of times. Steve exposes the top turnbuckle, but Kane blocks a smash into it, and pounds the champion down. Tombstone, but Steve blocks, and sends the challenger over the top. Yeah, I’m thinking Austin is not too keen on taking tombstones at this point. Steve with a few smashes into the steps outside, as the cell suddenly started descending. Kane drops Steve across the barricade and whips him into the steps, and he sends Steve into the cell as it comes down. Kane tries to trap him underneath the descending cell, but Steve manages to avoid it, so Kane smashes his face into it again. Steve ends up getting scraped, and he’s bleeding a little from the back, but luckily Ross is quick to point out that the referee stated during the Free For All that he wouldn’t stop it over a minor cut, it would need to be ‘significant.’ Jim was at the top of his game on this show. The cell starts raising, so they brawl up the aisle, where Steve tries a piledriver on the floor, but Kane backdrops him to block. Kane with a suplex on the ramp, and he throws a piece of guardrail at the champion. Back to the ring, Steve manages to smash Kane into the exposed buckle a few times, but the mask is blocking a lot of the damage. Steve with a straddling ropechoke, and he goes back to the floor to smash Kane into the rail and various tables. Austin pops him in the face with a cooling fan, but Kane gets sick of him, and shoves him hard, taking the referee out in the process. Kane with a flying clothesline on the way back inside, but a second one misses, and Austin puts the boots to him. Steve uses the exposed buckle again, and he stomps a mudhole. Mankind somehow runs out with a chair, but Steve fights him off with a stunner, and Kane gets one as well. It’s insane that Mankind was able to make it out there, and equally insane that anyone let him. Undertaker comes out with a chair of his own, hell belt on stopping Mankind from interfering, but he accidentally brains Austin instead, and Steve is busted open! Undertaker then pours a can of gasoline on the downed referee, but before whatever the fuck that’s supposed to lead to can happen, Kane takes him out with a chair. Steve steals it away and brains Kane, but the referee recovers, sees Steve bleeding, and calls for the bell at 14:55. This was not great, but it was entertaining, and certainly felt like it adequately delivered as a main event. Austin’s psychology was surprisingly weak, though. He didn’t even make a token attempt at taking Kane’s mask off to expose something he could make bleed! * ¾ (Original rating: * ¼)

BUExperience: Like the Hell in a Cell match, this is a hard show to rate. On the one hand, it’s filled with really short matches, lots of padding, and still didn’t even come close to the three hour mark. In some respects it felt more like an episode of RAW than a proper pay per view. But, on the other hand, it was a really entertaining show regardless of the individual star-ratings, and the Cell match is one of the most famous in all history, and a must see.

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