Original Airdate: June 22, 1998 (taped June 16)
From Austin, Texas; Your Host is Jim Ross, with Michael Cole (hour one), and with Jerry Lawler (hour two)
Paul Bearer is watching from home. Not sure if that’s his actual living room, but if so, he has the same taste as an old Italian grandmother
Vince McMahon brings Kane out right away so he can give him a last minute peptalk ahead of King of the Ring, and he announces that the title match will be contested under First Blood rules. And Kane decides to the speak for the first time (with the aid of a voice box), promising to win the title, or set himself on fire if he fails
King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Ken Shamrock v Mark Henry: Ken charges at the bell, but gets clobbered, and Henry cross corner whips him. Avalanche, but Ken dodges, and unloads with a series of strikes. Mark fires back with a powerslam to set up a legdrop for two, and a corner whip sets up a corner splash. Mark with an elbowdrop, and he grabs a bearhug, but Shamrock escapes, and a rana sends Henry to the outside. Vader runs out to attack him out there, and Ken capitalizes with a belly-to-belly suplex at 4:36. This was not good. Afterwards, Kevin Kelly is out to get a word with Shamrock, who promises victory in the tournament. DUD
Edge is hanging around in the crowd, awaiting his debut later
Bearer is getting comfortable, sipping a beverage
Dustin Runnels v X-Pac: X-Pac slugs him down, and delivers a sitout facebuster, followed by a clothesline to put Runnels on the outside. X-Pac is on him with a baseball slide, but Dustin beats the count, so X-Pac stomps him. A corner whip leads to kicks in the corner, but Dustin blocks a bulldog by dropping him across the top rope. Dustin with a clothesline, and a jumping clothesline gets him two. Hammerlock, but X-Pac escapes, so Dustin tries a bodypress, but X-Pac ducks. That puts Runnels on the outside, and Chyna nails him out there. Inside, X-Pac with a pair of lightning legdrops, and he grabs a chinlock. Dustin escapes, so X-Pac spinkicks him down for two, and goes back to the chinlock. Dustin escapes, and manages a bodypress for two, and Runnels adds a vertical suplex for two. Dustin with a turnbuckle smash and a cross corner whip, but Chyna trips him up as he goes for a bulldog. That allows X-Pac to recover with a spinheel kick at 5:23. This was okay, but felt like they were working at half speed. *
Bearer is fuming about Kane’s promise to set himself on fire. I dunno, sounds like a pretty normal day for him
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Edge is still lurking in the crowd
Jerry Lawler is out, and he’s in a really odd purple suit this week. Not one of his usual looks. Anyway, he brings Al Snow out, and speaking of odd outfits, he’s dressed like the woman who decorated Paul Bearer’s house. Anyway, he stole Lawler’s crown, so Jerry is ready to offer him a meeting with Vince in exchange for it back. Kind of strange that the crown they’re using for the segment doesn’t look anything like the one Jerry normally wears. Anyway, Snow gives him the crown back, but it turns out the paper Lawler gives him is not for a meeting with McMahon, but rather a contract to wrestle Too Much at King of the Ring, and he only gets the meeting if he wins. The leads to Too Much running out, but Snow fights them off, and bails into the crowd
Backstage, Kelly awaits the arrival of WWF Champion Steve Austin
King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Marc Mero v Jeff Jarrett: Reversal sequence to start, won by Mero with a backslide for two. Marc adds a powerbomb, and he goes up with a flying moonsault press for two. Irish whip, but Jeff reverses, and tries a powerbomb of his own, but awkwardly drops him into the ropes. Not sure what they were trying to do there, but it looked nasty. Jeff with a corner whip, but Mero blocks a side suplex, and cradles for two. Jarrett cuts him off with a clothesline, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Marc uses a facebuster. Elbowdrop, but Jarrett dodges, so Marc uses a schoolboy for two, but Jeff cuts him off yet again. Jeff with a straddling ropechoke, so Jacqueline trips him up, and Mero capitalizes with a low blow. The TKO looks to finish, but the referee is distracted with Jackie and Tennessee Lee fighting on the outside. That draws Sable out, and the distraction allows Jarrett to recover with a DDT at 4:12. Not bad, not good. Afterwards, Kelly comes out to give Jeff a chance to cut a promo on Shamrock, who he will meet in the semifinals. ¾*
At home, Bearer is moved on from rage, and is now gleeful. What the hell was in that drink?
The Cinn-A-Burst Rewind is Austin brawling with Kane atop the Hell in a Cell last week
Jesse James v Kane: Kane powers him around, so Jesse throws a thumb to the eye, and tries a ten-punch count, but Kane throws him off. Kane with a clothesline, followed by a turnbuckle smash, and a big boot. Kane with a chokehold, and a corner whip rattles the ring. Clothesline, but James ducks it, and uses a series of jabs, then a clothesline to send Kane over the top. Kane lands on his feet, however, and he snaps Jesse’s throat across the top rope, then dives with a flying clothesline. James blocks a charge in the corner, but loses a criss cross, so he goes low to try blocking a chokeslam. Unfortunately for him, Kane no-sells, and chokeslams him anyway, then delivers the tombstone at 4:01. Kane was really terrible early in his run. Much like Undertaker, he didn’t get better until he was able to shake off the restraints of the gimmick. ¼*
Undertaker shows up and beats up Bearer in his own living room. Well, at least maybe the WWF then picked up the bill for the destroyed furniture. Maybe oak. Uncle Vince is an oak man
Edge v Jose Estrada: Jose attacks as Edge climbs into the ring, but Edge quickly fights back with a spear. A dropkick sends Jose to the outside, and he dives after him with a somersault plancha for the countout at 1:10. For the countout, really? Apparently, Estrada suffered a legitimate injury on the plancha, so I guess that explains it. That’s unfortunate all around, though Edge is lucky he didn’t injure an ‘important’ guy in his first match, he’d probably kill his career in the cradle. DUD
Kane trashes a dressing room, as Mankind tries calming him down. He was friends with Estrada?
King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Owen Hart v Dan Severn: “Owen Hart has a history of hurting a lot of people here in the WWF,” notes Ross. You dick. Severn with a takedown, but Owen looks for a counter, so Dan German suplexes him. Hart fights back with a leg-feed enzuigiri, and he uses a pair of kneedrops. Hart with a bridging fisherman suplex for two, and a backbreaker leads to a reverse chinlock. Dan fights to a vertical base, so Owen tries a cross corner whip, but Severn reverses, and catches him with a suplex on the rebound. Slam, but Hart blocks, and uses a swinging neckbreaker. Hart grabs a chair, but purposely passes it to Severn, trying to get him disqualified. While the referee deals with that, X-Pac pops out and drills Hart with a chair of his own, and Severn locks on a submission at 2:59. Some decent exchanges, but not particularly good, and too short to be much anyway. ¾*
The JVC Kaboom of the Week is X-Pac’s chair shot on Owen in the last match
The Nation of Domination are out, and fuming about what just happened to Owen, who is bleeding hardway from the back of the head. Guys were getting hurt left and right here
King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Rock v Triple H: Rock attacks from behind, and turnbuckle smashes HHH, then slugs him down. Into the corner for more right hands, and a backelbow gets him two. Back into the corner for more abuse, and a cross corner whip rebounds Helmsley into a clothesline for two. Rock with another turnbuckle smash ahead of more shots in the corner, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and takes a swinging neckbreaker. That allows HHH to unload in the corner, and a vertical suplex sets up a kneedrop for two. Clothesline, but Rock ducks, and delivers a DDT for two. Rock with a vertical suplex for two, and a bodyslam sets up the People’s elbow for two. Rock with a bootchoke, but HHH wins a slugfest, and delivers a high knee. A kneeling facebuster follows, and a clothesline finds its mark as well, so Rock bails. HHH chases for a smash into the steps, but Rock reverses, so Chyna drops him with a DDT. That allows Helmsley to hook the leg for a dramatic two count, so he tries a sleeper to put it away, but Rock reverses. A distraction from Chyna allows HHH to escape, and he tries the pedigree, but Rock blocks with a low blow. That allows Rock a bridging fisherman suplex to advance at 8:06. You could see that both guys had lots of potential, but there were still a lot of rough edges that needed polishing. Especially with Rock, which makes it all the more surprising that he’d become world champion just a few months after this. But then, whatever he lacked in the ring, he made up for with his character and promos. Afterwards, DX run in to attack, but the Nation are out, and it’s a brawl. * ¼
Backstage, Kane is crying in the fetal position. Main event!
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Billy Gunn v Mankind: Mankind attacks with shots in the corner, and he goes for the mandible claw, but Billy blocks. Mankind responds with a clothesline that sends both men over the top, so Chyna tackles him out there. That gets her ejected by the official, but would have given Billy an opening, only he’s too stupid to take it, instead arguing with the referee, allowing Mankind to recover. Gunn takes trips into the guardrail and steps as a result, but manages to reverse a whip into the steps to save his hopes. Inside, Mankind fights him off with a legdrop for two, but a backelbow misses, and Gunn gets a sleeper on. Mankind drops into the corner to break, and delivers a clothesline as Billy charges at him. Mankind dumps him to the outside for an elbowdrop from the apron, as Ross predicts that he’ll end up in the hospital after meeting Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell. Yeah, about that. Gunn blocks a shot with the steps and lands a rocker dropper on the way back in, but Mankind blocks a piledriver, and uses a catapult into the corner. That allows him the claw, and Gunn is done at 5:40. Pretty weak stuff. Afterwards, Mankind runs to the back to check on Kane, but he’s nowhere to be found. ½*
Sable joins us, and brings Steve Austin out for an in-ring interview. So, I guess she’s a broadcaster now? Austin is over in Austin, of course. Thank goodness he appeared, I’d been waiting all night to get that line in. Really down to the wire there, Steve. You learned a lot from Bret Hart, I see. Austin quickly sends her away, however, teaching her how to hold up her middle finger, and asking her to deliver that message to Mr. McMahon. Steve isn’t worried about the First Blood stipulation, and he’s actually excited if Kane lights himself up, because he’d love a weenie roast. That draws Kane out, and as he stares at Steve from the top of the ramp, a massive amount of blood dumps into the ring, covering Steve, and leaving a giant puddle, as Kane promises to make him bleed at King of the Ring. Good go-home segment here
BUExperience: This worked well enough as a go-home show for King of the Ring, even if it wasn’t an especially good episode otherwise.
Also, what was the point of the Cell that was hanging over the ring for the entire show? It never factored into anything, and I checked the dark match results, and it didn't factor into anything there either.
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