Original Airdate: July 27, 1998
From Anaheim, California; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
WWF Tag Team Champion Undertaker is out to start, and he wants an apology from WWF Champion and co-tag champion Steve Austin. But before that can go anywhere, Vince McMahon comes down, and says he wants an apology from Undertaker. And since Undertaker won’t give him one, he’s booking him and Austin to defend the title against the New Age Outlaws tonight. That draws Austin out (debuting the ‘Smoking Skull’ version of the title belt), and he’ll give Undertaker an apology in the form of a middle finger. Not the most interesting segment, but it was concise
D-lo Brown v Vader: The WWF European title is not on the line here. Brown hammers him into the corner to start, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Vader follows in with an avalanche. D-lo’s chest protector… protects… him, however, and Brown throws more right hands. Irish whip, but Vader reverses, so Brown tries a sunset flip, but Vader sits down on him to block. Brown bails, and he manages to duck a shot from Vader on the way back in, and hit an avalanche of his own. Brown with a cross corner whip to set up a second avalanche, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two. A legdrop gets two, and a corner whip sets up a charge. Brown with another bodyslam to set up a flying moonsault for two, but a bodypress misses, and D-lo flying out of the ring. Vader rips the chest protector off and splashes him on the floor, and Brown gets counted out at 4:16. They were doing a great job with Brown during this period - between him embracing the European title as a gimmick, the chest protector, and D-lo refusing to put the title up in a lot of situations, it all made him look like a star. *
Backstage, Steve Williams and Bart Gunn each warm up
Droz’s World, with Darren Drozdov giving a tour of his home, while vomiting
Brawl For All Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Steve Williams v Bart Gunn: Lawler warns that we shouldn’t underestimate Gunn. Williams with a takedown right away, so Bart tries keeping him at arm's length, which allows him to block another takedown. Steve responds by trying to slug it out, but no one really gets the better of it as the round ends. They keep slugging it out as the second round starts, and Bart actually gets a takedown, with Ross suddenly falling silent mid-sentence. The third round starts with Williams going for another takedown, and Ross is getting really defensive of Steve. Bart manages his own takedown, and Williams is stumbling around now, and Bart capitalizes with some big shots to knock Dr. Death out at 4:42. This was definitely the most entertaining of these thus far. ½*
Owen Hart is out, and he wants to fight someone. Well, why didn’t you sign up for the Brawl For All then, punk? That draws Jason Sensation (as ‘Owen’) out to respond, and he makes fun for Hart, before leading the crowd in a ‘nugget’ chant. That draws Owen out to destroy him, but Dan Severn blocks his path, and it’s on
Owen Hart v Dan Severn: Owen attacks from behind while Severn is getting out of his suit, and he pounds Dan down. If you were channel surfing, you might think you’d tuned into an IRS match. Owen goes for the Sharpshooter, but Severn blocks, and then Ken Shamrock runs in on Hart for the DQ at 0:54. So Ken goes to town on Owen, but Severn saves, and chokes Ken down, until Steve Blackman comes out to break things up. It’s too bad Severn was so short on charisma, he had potential. DUD
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Backstage, Michael Cole tries to catch up with Shamrock, but nearly gets killed
Skull and 8-Ball v Faarooq and Scorpio: Bradshaw is out on commentary for this one. 8-Ball hiptosses Scorpio to start, but Scoprio takes him down, and tags. 8-Ball pounds Faarooq into the corner, but hits an elbow on a charge, and Faarooq dives with a 2nd rope clothesline. Splash, but 8-Ball blocks. Backdrop, but Faarooq counters with a facebuster, so 8-Ball bails. Faarooq chases, but Skull attacks for a double team, so Scorpio dives out onto everyone. Inside, Scorpio looks to keep it going, but runs into a cheap shot, and the DOA double team. Skull with a tilt-a-whirl slam for two, and the heels work him over for a bit, but Scorpio hits a springboard kick to buy the time for a tag - Roseanne Barr the door. Bradshaw, spoiling for a fight, decides to get in on the action, and attacks everyone for a no contest at 3:23. The crowd could not have cared less, but there was legitimate effort in the ring here. ¾*
WWF Intercontinental Champion Rock is ready to take on two DX members, next
WWF Intercontinental Title Triple Threat Match: Rock v Triple H and X-Pac: First fall wins it here. The DX guys gang up on Rock to start, and HHH lands a Pedigree, but X-Pac pulls him off at two. X-Pac makes his own cover, but HHH breaks it up at two, and there’s trouble in paradise. As they argue, Rock recovers, and clotheslines HHH out of the ring. That allows X-Pac a spinheel kick for two, but a whip into the ropes gets reversed, and X-Pac crashes into a recovering HHH on the apron, sending Hunter flying into the announce table. That allows Rock to hammer on X-Pac, and a Samoan drop gets him two. Rock drops the People’s Elbow for two, and a uranage looks to finish, but HHH saves at two. Hunter puts the boots to the champion, and a kneeling facebuster leads to a clothesline for two. Another one, but Rock reverses, only to run into a sitout facebuster from X-Pac for two. HHH punches X-Pac, but X-Pac returns fire, and we have a full on slugfest. Rock responds by grabbing the title belt, and he walks out at 6:48. I know they hadn’t really settled into what Triple Threat matches were yet at this point, but even within the context of this match that doesn’t make any sense. HHH was down on the outside for several minutes, and the referee didn’t care at all, but no suddenly a guy can get counted out? This was okay otherwise, but kind of pointless. * ½
Backstage, the New Age Outlaws vow to regain the tag title, tonight
Brakkus v Jesus Castillo: The ratings must have gone straight through the roof for this one. Brakkus dominates, and a rotating spinebuster finishes at 0:49. Brakkus looked like Brock Lesnar, but had the ring presence of Tom Magee. For example, the finish was delivered with such little conviction that it felt like it was meant to be a transition move. DUD
Val Venis gets out of the shower with Mrs. Yamaguchi
Val Venis v Brian Christopher: Kaientai are out right away, with Mr. Yamaguchi brandishing a fucking sword. That, understandably, distracts Val, and Christopher sneak attacks. He goes to work on Venis, but gets reversed into the corner, and Val delivers both sides of the atomic drop. Val with mounted punches, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Christopher tries for a powerbomb, but gets countered with a whiplash. Val adds a big boot, so Scott Taylor distracts him, and Christopher delivers a DDT. Clothesline, but Venis reverses, and uses a bridging fisherman suplex at 2:09. Afterwards, Too Much attack, but Taka Michinoku makes the save. Once that’s all done, Mr. Yamaguchi uses his sword to chop a salami in half, while yelling about ‘choppy choppy your pee pee.’ So much going on here. ½*
Backstage, LOD 2000 are not distracted. Clearly, whoever was doing Hawk’s face painting was, though
LOD 2000 v Godfather and Mark Henry: Hawk is stumbling around, playing it drunk here. Oh boy, this. Animal and Henry start, and Animal wins a criss cross with a jumping shoulderblock. Tag to Godfather, and he’s got hookers with him now, in another change to his gimmick. And a welcome one, since Kama was a nothing character. Animal looks to tag, but Hawk is nodding off on the apron, allowing the Nation to take control. They work Animal over as the crowd cat calls at the hos, and Hawk is too drunk to tag. Animal manages to dropkick Mark out of the ring, and he gets Henry up for the Doomsday Device, but Hawk falls off the top rope. That allows the Nation to recover, and Godfather finishes Animal with a death valley driver at 3:48. Terrible match, icky angle. DUD
Backstage, Sable gets her hair did
Lawler brings Sable and Jacqueline out to present the trophies for the bikini contest at Fully Loaded, and of course, Marc Mero is out there too. So, Jackie is supposed to get a small trophy and Sable a big one, but Jerry is handed a note from Vince’s office disqualifying Sable for not wearing an ‘official’ bikini, and so Jackie gets the big trophy. Well, this certainly served to make Vince an even bigger heel, if nothing else. So Sable is pissed, but wishes that Vince was at least ‘man enough’ to tell her that himself. That draws McMahon out to call her an ‘ungrateful bitch,’ which Sable responds to by stripping. This felt like classic Vince Russo, though it was still novel enough at the time that it worked
Backstage, Steve Austin paces
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WWF Tag Team Title Match: Steve Austin and Undertaker v The New Age Outlaws: Austin and Billy Gunn start, and someone throws a beach ball into the ring, which Steve promptly punts into the cheap seats. Gunn wins a criss cross to start, so Austin throws him a double bird, and delivers an inverted atomic drop. Another criss cross ends in Steve delivering a clothesline, and a catapult into the corner looks to lead to the Stunner, but Gunn bails. Steve chases, but Jesse James attacks him from behind on the outside, and Billy drops him across the guardrail. Inside, James tags in to try a wristlock, but Steve quickly fights him off, and tags. Undertaker with a cross corner whip and a punch on the rebound, and he delivers a ropewalk forearm. Chokeslam, but Billy clips the leg to block it, as more beach balls get tossed in. The Outlaws go to work on Undertaker, but miss a combo, and Austin gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Steve with a Stunner on Jesse at 8:10. I think pretty much everyone was expecting them to switch the belts back here, but nope. Afterwards, Steve passes Undertaker a beer, but Kane and Mankind come out to attack as we go off the air. *
BUExperience: This was a ridiculously entertaining episode. Though I’m not as much a fan of the Austin/Undertaker saga as some of Steve’s other feuds from the period, it’s still a good top angle, and there’s just so much going on throughout the show that it’s must see TV, even now.
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