WWF RAW Saturday Night (September 5, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: September 5, 1998 (taped August 31)

From New Haven, Connecticut; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Vince McMahon is out, and immediately offers a promise that Steve Austin will no longer be WWF Champion by the time Breakdown rolls around. He then turns his fury towards Undertaker and Kane’s failure to take the title at SummerSlam. He starts running them down, but then decides to call them ‘pussies’ - not once, but twice. That’s the line, and the brothers storm down, so McMahon bails into the crowd. Not a great segment, but how often do you hear ‘pussy’ thrown around on a wrestling show?

Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman v Skull and 8-Ball: Ken and Skull start, and Ken dominates. Ken with a short-heel kick, and he passes to Steve, but Blackman takes a corner whip and a corner clothesline. Steve manages to win a criss cross, and a dropkick connects, but a second one misses. Skull tries an elbowdrop, but Blackman dodges, and deliver a series of pointed elbowdrops. That draws 8-Ball in, but Kane and Undertaker storm down and attack everyone for a no contest at 1:32. Or, well, they mostly just beat up Blackman. But, you get the point. DUD

Backstage, Val Venis is fucking someone in a toilet stall 

Vader v Val Venis: Val slugs him at the bell, as we spot Dustin Runnels walking around in the crowd in support of Jesus. Vader unloads in the corner, but Val comes back at him with a bodypress, but Vader reverses a series of mounted punches. Vader with a cross corner whip, and a belly-to-belly suplex is worth two. Vader with a slam to set up a 2nd rope splash for two, and a short-clothesline finds the mark, as Bradshaw shows up. He gets in Vader’s face, but before anything goes down, Undertaker and Kane are back for another no contest at 3:33. Well, at least they remembered to actually attack both guys this time. DUD

Backstage, Michael Cole catches up with Rock and Mark Henry ahead of their challenging the New Age Outlaws for the tag title tonight. Not much here, just basic hype

Cole tries to catch up with the Outlaws, but they push him out, and cut their own promo on Rock an ‘Mizark’

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The New Age Outlaws v Rock and Mark Henry: Billy Gunn and Rock start, and Rock grabs a standing headlock. Gunn forces a criss cross, allowing him a hiptoss, and he wins an exchange in the corner, before passing to Jesse James. James grabs a headlock on the mat, but Henry catches a tag, and knocks Jesse’s block off. The Nation work James over, until Gunn catches a hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door. Everyone brawls, and Chyna runs in to attack Henry for the DQ at 6:41. Not one pinfall or submission yet tonight. Forget a clean one, none period. DUD

Tiger Ali Singh offers any woman in the crowd $500 to come in and make out with his servant, who has had nothing but sardines to eat for the last few days. Some girl take the offer, and seems more than happy to do so. Once it’s done, Undertaker and Kane show up to throw chokeslams on the heels

The Headbangers v Southern Justice: The heels attack before the bell, and the dust settles on Mosh and Dennis Knight. Mosh fights him off in the corner, dumping Dennis to the outside, and hitting a dive out there. Inside, that gets Mosh a two count, so he passes to Thrasher for a combo, as Ross throws shade at the US Open. Oh, calm down, pretty boy. Tag to Mark Canterbury, who catches Thrasher with a powerslam, then a wheelbarrow facebuster for two. Justice work Thrasher over, until Knight misses a charge in the corner, and Mosh catches a tag. Mosh runs wild, but stupidly goes after Mark for no reason, and Knight recovers with an inverted DDT at 4:42. This sucked, but at least it had a finish. DUD

Backstage, Undertaker and Kane break into Vince’s office, but he’s not in there

We get a backstage split screen of DX and the Nation warming up

WWF European Title Match: D-lo Brown v X-Pac: They trade wristlocks to start, and Brown takes control, hitting a pointed elbowdrop for two. Brown with a cross corner whip, and he throws a few clotheslines. X-Pac fires back with a spinkick, and he wins a criss cross with a jumping clothesline. X-Pac with a bronco buster, but a second one gets blocked. A reversal sequence ends in X-Pac hitting the sitout facebuster, but Jeff Jarrett runs in on him for the DQ at 3:20. That draws Undertaker and Kane out again to make their point, so Rock runs in to try and protect D-lo. They end up beating up Rocky, as Brown runs away. I have a feeling that will not end well for that gentleman. ¼*

Marc Mero v Edge: Mero dominates early, as Ross congratulates a little league championship team from New Jersey. Only notable because Diamond Dallas Page gave a shout out to that same team on Nitro. Kind of an odd tidbit, but there you go. Edge dumps him to the outside, and follows with a dive, but Gangrel comes out to attack him for the DQ at 2:02. And then Undertaker and Kane are out to beat up Mero afterwards. Is this show over yet? Almost? DUD

Earlier this week, Ross conducted a sitdown interview with Al Snow, and we take a look back at his earlier failures in the WWF, as well as his successes in ECW

Backstage, the Oddities are hanging out with the Insane Clown Posse

Backstage, Undertaker and Kane are still looking for Vince. Maybe try writing him a letter

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Animal, Hawk, and Darren Drozdov v Kurrgan, Golga, and Giant Silva: Drunk Hawk tries to dance with the ICP, but they reject him, and he beats them up on the outside. The whole thing quickly turns into a brawl, and Silva powerbombs Hawk at 1:27. DUD

Backstage, Undertaker and Kane beat up some random stagehand 

Too Much v Miguel Perez and Jesus Castillo: Wait, is this the guy Runnels was out stumping for earlier? Too Much try kick starting the match, but it goes badly for them. The dust settles on Scott Taylor and Castillo, but Brian Christopher quickly interferes. That allows Scott to dropkick Castillo out of the ring for Brian to suplex on the floor, and Scott uses a pumphandle-suplex as it goes back inside. Scott with an elbowdrop for two, and Too Much cut the ring in half on Castillo. Castillo manages a tag, and Roseanne Barr the door. A tandem powerbomb on Taylor looks to finish, but Brian makes the save, and Scott pins Perez at 5:04. This was easily the match of the night thus far, at a whopping ½*

Jeff Jarrett v Scorpio: Scorpio with a few takedowns early, and he grabs a hammerlock, but Jeff throws an elbow to shake him off. Jeff with a powerslam for two, but Scorpio comes back with a bridging German suplex for two. Jeff with a backdrop and a standing dropkick to knock Scorpio out of the ring, but Scorpio uses a slingshot to pop back in, and he cradles for two. A superkick knocks Jeff to the outside to set up a baseball slide, and Scorpio chops him out there, but gets nailed on the way back in. That allows Jarrett a pop-up flapjack, but Scorpio hooks a sunset cradle for two, so Jeff throws a clothesline. Scorpio tries a rana, but Jeff counters to a powerbomb for two, and he grounds Scorpio in a chinlock. Scorpio escapes, and lands a kick for two. A bodyslam allows Scorpio a flying moonsault, but Jeff rolls out of the way, and gives Scorpio a superplex. Cover, but X-Pac runs in for yet another DQ finish at 4:53. This didn’t really tell much of a story, but it was energetic, and they were trading moves that actually had a hope of engaging the crowd. Would a finish have killed them, though? Really? And then Undertaker and Kane arrive to beat up Scorpio, since of course. And Vince arrives at the top of the entrance set, looking pleased, as apparently the whole thing was a motivational tool to get them back on track. * ¼ 

BUExperience: It was the night after SummerSlam, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring. 

This was horrible. I get that it was preempted by tennis, and took place not only on a different day, but at a late night timeslot (it started at 11:00pm on the east coast), but they weren’t trying at all here.