Original Airdate: July 20, 1998 (taped July 14)
From Binghamton, New York; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
Vince McMahon is out to review the last few weeks of Undertaker drama, and he calls Undertaker himself out. Vince tells him that he can be the champion he wants to be, but he can’t get it done without Vince in his corner. But if he wants Vince’s love, he’s going to have to earn it: by facing both Mankind and Kane in a handicap match, tonight. Undertaker responds to that by chokeslamming McMahon. This was a pretty weak segment, it kind of dragged compared to most of Vince’s segments
Backstage, the Nation of Domination prepare for action
WWF European Title Match: Triple H v D-lo Brown: Brown manages a bodyslam right away, but HHH manages a hammerlock, then into a headlock. D-lo forces a criss cross and cracks him with a backelbow, but wastes time gloating, and Hunter clotheslines him. HHH with a cross corner whip, and another clothesline on the rebound. Backdrop, but Brown blocks. He tries a backdrop of his own, so HHH counters to the Pedigree, but D-lo blocks. HHH responds by clotheslining him over the top, where Chyna gets in his face, and puts the challenger on his ass with a punch. HHH comes out to send Brown into the guardrail before rolling him inside, but D-lo fights him off with a sitout spinebuster for two. Brown unloads in the corner, and a leg lariat gets him two. D-lo with a cross corner clothesline, but he wastes time again, and HHH counters an avalanche with a high knee. Hunter adds a kneeling facebuster, followed by a clothesline for two. A vertical suplex sets up a kneedrop, but Rock trips him up from the outside. Chyna takes Rock out, and HHH recovers with a powerslam, as Mark Henry marches out. That distracts the referee, and he misses Rock hitting HHH with a uranage to prevent a Pedigree - D-lo covering to win the title at 5:54. * ¼
Backstage, the Nation celebrate D-lo’s new title
Backstage, HHH fumes, and promises that Rock won’t leave the building with the Intercontinental title. That seems like an odd strategy, since he’s supposed to be challenging for it at Fully Loaded
Barry Switzer is very impressed with Steve Williams. Well, someone should be
Brawl For All Tournament First Round Match: Steve Williams v Pierre: This is Steve’s TV debut in the WWF, following a dark match against Scorpio back in April. Steve really goes at him right away, and he’s all over Pierre. His singlet is way too small on him, however, and makes him look like a plumber. Steve gets a few takedowns, and he’s definitely in control as the first round ends. Steve with another takedown as round two begins, and he continues to take Pierre to school for the rest of the round. More of the same in the third, and Pierre is looking battered here, eventually just hanging out in the corner and letting time run out at 4:28. “No other federation would dare put their talent in a competition like this,” notes Ross. That doesn’t make it a good thing to do. This was one of the more entertaining of these Brawl For All matches thus far, though I’m still not sure how to rate it, since there isn’t a work to evaluate. ¼*
Kaientai are out, and Mr. Yamaguchi wants to give his wife a public spanking for betraying him with Val Venis, but before he can do so, Val runs out and makes the save
The Skittles Slam of the Week is Undertaker chokeslamming Vince earlier
Animal v Skull: Hawk is nowhere to be seen, so both Skull and 8-Ball attack before the bell. They give Animal a beatdown, as Paul Ellering revs up a motorcycle to run Animal over with, but Hawk finally shows up to the make the save. And then he gets beat up as well. No match.
Jeff Jarrett v Steve Blackman: Blackman blitzes him to start, and Jeff goes over the top via clothesline. Back in, Blackman delivers a shoulderblock, and a series of strikes put Jeff on his ass. Blackman with a powerslam for two, but an elbowdrop misses. That allows Jeff to recover with a whip into the ropes, but Blackman reverses, and delivers a backbreaker for two, followed by a jumping shoulderblock for two. Steve lands a spinkick to set up a 2nd rope headbutt drop, but Jeff rolls out of the way. Jeff goes after the leg, and he works a leglock for a bit. Figure four, but Blackman blocks, and lands a kneesmash at 2:10. This was really short, but they went pedal to the medal for the whole two minutes. Though Blackman’s execution was pretty bad throughout. Afterwards, Owen Hart shows up, attacking Ken Shamrock (in Blackman’s corner) at ringside. *
Backstage, Undertaker storms out of the building
Ross brings WWF Champion Steve Austin out, and he doesn’t really care whose side Undertaker is on, he’ll kick everyone’s ass. This draws Vince out, and he has a bit of news for confident Steve: if Undertaker is gone, Austin will have to face Kane and Mankind tonight. And if he doesn’t, he’ll be stripped of the title
Owen Hart v Faarooq: Faarooq attacks from behind, and hammers Hart down. A backbreaker gets him two, and he goes for the dominator, but Owen escapes. Faarooq throws a shoudlerblock to keep control, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Hart delivers a swinging neckbreaker. Hart with a ropeburn, and he takes Faarooq into the corner for a ten-punch. A bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope elbowdrop for two, but Faarooq returns fire with a bodyslam of his own, and a splash gets two. Backdrop, but Hart blocks again, and delivers another neckbreaker to set up a legdrop. Hart uses a backbreaker to set up a Boston crab, but Faarooq powers out, and grounds Hart in mounted punches. Backdrop, but Owen blocks it for a third time, this time using a facebuster. He stops to tell the crowd to stop calling him a ‘nugget,’ and Faarooq recovers, but Owen nails him with a leg-feed enzuigiri for two. Irish whip, but Faarooq reverses, and catches him with a powerslam for two. Faarooq hammers on the back, but Owen takes him down, and delivers an elbowdrop. Hart goes up with a missile dropkick, but he loses a criss cross when Faarooq finds a spinebuster. Faarooq with a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope legdrop, but Owen dodges, and gets the Sharpshooter on at 5:39. This was pretty good action, with lots of back-and-forth, and a clean finish. Afterwards, Shamrock chases Owen to the back. ** ¼
Backstage, Paul Bearer, Kane, and Mankind think Undertaker is a coward… but they’ll happily destroy Stone Cold instead
Marc Mero and Jacqueline are out, but Sable is quick to join them. The women call each other whores, and then Jackie tears Sable’s dress off, and Lawler absolutely loses his mind. “Panties! They’re black! Panties, JR!” He’s hilarious. And then Edge pops out of the crowd, and takes out Mero, as Lawler continues muttering about panties. The pop Sable got when her dress got torn off was insane. The segment didn’t really have a lot of heft in terms of storyline, but the crowd dug it, and it was what worked in those days
We get clips of Scorpio beating 8-Ball in a Brawl For All First Round match earlier, in lieu of the complete match, for whatever reason. Either it was just that terrible, or they were short on time, I suppose
Backstage, Rock laughs off HHH’s promise
The JVC Kaboom of the Week is X-Pac pinning Rock with a sitout facebuster on last week’s show
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Rock v X-Pac: Shawn Michaels is out to do commentary on this one. X-Pac dominates early, but a bronco buster misses, and Rock levels him with a clothesline for two. Rock unloads, but misses a clothesline, and X-Pac throws some rights. A criss cross allows Rock a hotshot for two, and he drops X-Pac across the rail for two. Rock grounds him in a chinlock, and the People’s elbow gets two, but X-Pac fights back with a sitout facebuster for two. Rock blocks him in the corner and manages a powerslam for two, but a criss cross allows X-Pac to toss him over the top. Chyna is waiting out there, popping Rock with the Intercontinental title belt, and X-Pac covers for a dramatic two count. Well, maybe if he didn’t weigh less than a paperweight, he’d have gotten the job done. X-Pac with a spinkick, but the referee is down, and D-lo Brown shows up. He looks to dive at X-Pac, but HHH stops him, and Hunter drops Rock with a Pedigree. Cover, count, but before the referee can count three, a second official runs in to call the DQ on X-Pac at 9:44. This was surprisingly dull. Afterwards, HHH gets a girl in the crowd to flash, in another very 1998 moment. This was such a different time. ¾*
Handicap Match: Steve Austin v Kane and Mankind: Austin storms in, taking on both tag champs with gusto. He gets overwhelmed and pounded down, but manages to clothesline Kane over the top, and then whip him into the steps. He hits Mankind with a clothesline for two, so Mankind goes to the mandible claw, but Steve falls out of the ring in the hold. Austin bashes his head into the post out there to force a break, and he smashes Mankind’s head into the announce table, then the rail. Inside, Steve tries a stunner on Kane, but gets blocked, as Undertaker shows up, chair in tow. Kane puts the boots to Steve in the corner, and Paul Bearer whacks him with a shoe, as Undertaker hangs out on the apron, and apparently it’s a tag match now? Kane dutifully standing on the apron like it’s officially a tag is very funny to me. Steve fights Mankind off and hits a stunner, but Kane breaks the pin at two. Chokeslam, but Austin fights him off. He goes for the stunner, so Undertaker swings a chair, and ends up hitting Kane - though it’s not clear who he was going for. And, speaking of not clear, Austin’s music just starts playing at 5:18, with no decision announced. DUD
BUExperience: I enjoyed how very 1998 this show was, if nothing else.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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