WWF Sunday Night Heat (August 23, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: August 23, 1998 (taped August 11)

From Des Moines, Iowa; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Shane McMahon

WWF Intercontinental Champion Rock comes out and places a ladder at the top of the stage, and just leaves it there

Southern Justice v Kurrgan and Golga: Dennis Knight starts with Kurrgan, and gets thrown around. Tag to Golga to unload in the corner, so Knight tries a turnbuckle smash, but Golga no-sells. Tag to Mark Canterbury, and he manages to get a little traction on Golga. Mark with a vertical suplex for two, as Dustin Runnels makes his way through the crowd with his religious sign. Justice work Golga over, but Knight gets caught with an avalanche. He tries a running sitdown splash, but Dennis dodges, and tags Mark. Mark barrels in with a clothesline, and an inverted DDT looks to finish, but Kurrgan saves at two, and Roseanne Barr the door! Luna ends up running in to attack Mark during the brawl, drawing a DQ at 4:08. John Tenta actually looked pretty good… he slimmed down, and looked like he was making an effort. Afterwards, Jeff Jarrett runs in to try and cut Luna’s hair off, but Giant Silva saves, and the crowd is surprisingly into the Oddities’ act. ¼*

WWF European Title Match: D-lo Brown v Animal: Hawk is out in street clothes, trying to take the match from Animal, but Mark Henry takes him out. Brown and Henry double up on Animal, and Darren Drozdov makes the save with a chair, as we don’t get a match. 

The Headbangers v Owen Hart and Dan Severn: Edge is lurking in the crowd here. Thrasher starts with Owen, and wins a criss cross, so Hart passes to Severn. Dan takes Thrasher down, but loses a criss cross, and Mosh tags in with a dive. Mosh hammers on Dan’s arm, then switches to the leg, working the part. The Headbangers work Severn over, but he manages a blind tag to Owen, and Hart nails Thrasher with a spinheel kick. Hart with a snap suplex, and a corner whip sets up a charge, but Thrasher dodges. Tag to Mosh, and he pops Hart with a backelbow. Mosh adds a backdrop, and an avalanche leads to a bodyslam. A powerslam gets two when Dan saves, and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on! As Dan dumps Thrasher out of the ring, Owen gets Mosh in a guillotine choke for the submission at 3:48. No crowd reaction at all here, but at least the match had a purpose (establish that Dan has taught Owen a new submission hold ahead of the Lion’s Den match with Ken Shamrock at SummerSlam). ¼*

Rock is out, and he brings the ladder down to the ring, where he officially accepts Triple H’s challenge for a Ladder match at SummerSlam

WWF Light Heavyweight Title Match: Taka Michinoku v Scorpio: They trade wristlocks to start, with Scorpio getting the better of it, and Taka begging off in the corner. Scorpio stays on him with a shoulderblock, but a clothesline misses, and Taka knocks him to the outside with a spinheel kick. Taka with a springboard moonsault press into the aisle, but interference from Mr. Yamaguchi backfires, and Scorpio hits Taka with an avalanche on the way in. Scorpio with a powerbomb, and a superkick follows. A death valley driver sets up a flying moonsault, but Mrs. Yamaguchi is distracting the referee, and there’s no count. That allows Taka to recover with a scoop sitout brainbuster at 2:31. This could have been something, but at two and a half minutes, it didn’t really have enough time to get into proper gear. ¾*

Mario Lopez had a great time when he attended RAW

Jeff Jarrett v Darren Drozdov: Jeff attacks before the bell, and puts the boots to Drozdov. Jeff with a Russian facebuster, but a backelbow misses, and Drozdov catches him with a jumping version. Drozdov clotheslines him over the top, and follows for a whip into the post, but Jeff reverses. Jeff goes in to try for the countout victory, but while that’s happening, X-Pac sneaks in to attack Jarrett for the DQ at 1:36. Afterwards, X-Pac trims off a bit of Jeff’s hair, before getting chased off by Southern Justice. DUD

BUExperience: Definitely not must-see TV, but an easy watch, with quickie matches that advance or namecheck the various storylines.