WWF RAW Saturday Night (September 12, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: September 12, 1998 (taped September 1)

From Lowell, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Jeff Jarrett v Edge: I don’t know if it’s a matter of the building being too small, or something else, but they have a weird set this week, with no ramp and no TitanTron. Jeff pulls him out of the ring to hammer at the bell, but takes a leg-feed enzuigiri, as Southern Justice make their way down. Edge with a cross corner clothesline, but a cross corner whip gets reverses, and Jeff manages a powerslam for two. Edge tries a backdrop, but gets blocked, though he manages a northern lights suplex for two to win a reversal sequence. Cue interference from Mark Canterbury, and Jeff capitalizes by clotheslining Edge over the top. Jeff stays on him with a baseball slide, but Edge manages a flying bodypress for two on the way back in. Jeff fights back with a Russian facebuster, and a short-DDT follows, but he gets distracted by the hostile crowd, and Edge schoolboys for two. Jeff cuts him off with a clothesline and a kneedrop, but a dropkick misses, and Edge uses a catapult into the corner to set up a sunset cradle for two. Jeff decks him to cut the comeback off again, and Jarrett delivers a hanging vertical suplex for two. Jeff works a chinlock, but Edge slugs free, and manages a rolling vertical suplex into a gourdbuster on the third alarm. Jarrett responds by grabbing his guitar, but the referee sees him knock Edge silly with it for the DQ at 5:14. This was a very solid match, even without a clean finish. * ½ 

Bradshaw v Darren Drozdov: Bradshaw powers him into the corner for abuse right away, and a cross corner whip works, but the charge in doesn’t. Droz capitalizes with a clothesline, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and takes a matslam. Bradshaw with a side suplex for two, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two. A criss cross allows Droz a powerslam, but he gets backdropped over the top while charging. Bradshaw feeds him the steps before taking things back inside, and Bradshaw lands a cross corner clothesline. Big boot, but Droz ducks, and rebounds with a jumping shoulderblock. Droz pounds him into the corner, and a clothesline connects, followed by a backelbow. Piledriver, but Bradshaw backdrops him to block it, and he drills Droz with a big boot from there. Lariat, but Droz ducks, and delivers a DDT for two. Droz with a jumping clothesline for two, but Bradshaw hooks a leveraged cradle in the corner at 3:58. *

Marc Mero v Miguel Perez: “Why do these moronic people like Sable so much?” wonders Lawler. Luckily Ross doesn’t let that one slide, immediately pointing out that Jerry’s crown nearly blew off of his head at Fully Loaded. Perez dropkicks him out of the ring early, and Marc regroups out there. Inside, Perez grabs a standing headlock, but Mero counters to a hammerlock. Reversed by Perez, so Jacqueline trips him up, and Mero turnbuckle smashes him. Marc with a cross corner clothesline, and a kneelift puts Perez on his backside. Backdrop, but Perez blocks, and delivers a trio of dropkicks to set up a standing moonsault for two. Perez follows with a DDT for two, but Marc recovers with a firemans cutter at 3:21. ½*

Michael Cole catches up with the Oddities backstage, and there is… farting going on…? We’re subjected to the ICP cutting a promo here, and surprisingly, they’re better than a lot of the guys on the roster at it

Kurrgan and Golga v Skill and 8-Ball: Kurrgan and Skull start, and it’s slugfest city. Kurrgan wins that, and throws a big boot, before passing to Golga for a double team. Golga tries running the ropes, but the top rope snaps, and he misses a sitdown splash after recovering. 8-Ball makes the best of the situation by using the loose rope to choke Golga down, which officially makes him a better improviser than Bret Hart. He uses the rope to try and hogtie Golga, so the ICP run in for the DQ at 1:56. I’m tempted to give this something for the unique rope spots, but the work was just so bad that I can’t. DUD

The Pennzoil Rewind is D-lo Brown abandoning Rock with Undertaker and Kane last week

Rock is out and there will be hell to pay for Kane and Undertaker putting their hands on him last week

Lion's Den Match: Ken Shamrock v Owen Hart: From SummerSlam in New York City on August 30 1998. Uh, okay. No idea why this is getting a full replay, but let’s go with it. Ken manages to railroad him into the cage wall first, and he uses a takedown into a cross-armbreaker, but Owen escapes. Owen manages a spinebuster into mounted punches, but Shamrock turns the tables, and adds a side suplex. Ken gets a sleeper locked, but Owen throws an elbow to escape, and a mulekick for good measure. Hart with a headbutt before whipping Shamrock into the cage, but Ken rebounds with a clothesline. Ken with a series of strikes, and a snapmare puts Hart down for Ken to choke with a t-shirt. Ken springs off the cage with a leg lariat, and he uses a hiptoss, but Hart sends him into the cage a few times before Shamrock can continue. Owen hammers him with punches, and a leg-feed enzuigiri connects. Hart with a hotshot into the cage, and a backbreaker leads to mounted punches. Owen tries a piledriver, but Shamrock backdrops him to block, so Owen tags him with a spinheel kick. Hart tries for the Sharpshooter, but Shamrock blocks. Hart tries a rana, but Shamrock counters with a powerbomb, and springs off the cage with a backelbow. Shamrock with a roundhouse kick to the head, but another spring backfires when Hart catches him in a powerslam. Nice spot there. Hart with a belly-to-belly suplex, and this time he gets the Sharpshooter locked. Ken manages to climb the cage while in the hold, forcing Owen to release, but Hart is able to stay on him with a spear into the cage. Shamrock fights back with a tornado DDT, and a clothesline follows. Ken with a spinkick, but Hart blocks a backdrop, and sends Ken into the cage. Owen with a guillotine choke, but Shamrock runs up the cage in the hold, and escapes. He takes Hart down into the anklelock, and Hart has no counter - submitting at 9:13. This was good stuff. I used to think it was great stuff back in the day, and though I’m not quite as enthusiastic about it now, it’s still very unique, stiff, and, most importantly, entertaining. ***

Southern Justice v Too Much: Both heels attack, and the dust settles on Dennis Knight and Brian Christopher. Christopher manages a hiptoss, and an armdrag leaves Knight in an armbar. Tag to Scott Taylor, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. That allows the tag to Mark Canterbury, and he tosses Scott around. A big clothesline finds the mark, so Christopher takes a cheap shot from the apron, and Too Much turn it around with some double teaming. Are Southern Justice supposed to be the babyfaces here? Mark catches Christopher in a powerslam during a 2nd rope bodypress, and Knight tags in with a chincrusher. Knight with a headbutt drop to the groin, and he passes back to Mark for a combo. Mark with a cross corner whip, but an avalanche misses, and Taylor catches a hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Christopher misses a bodypress, and goes flying out of the ring, allowing Mark to hit Scott with an inverted DDT at 3:52. ½*

Dustin Runnels v Vader: Vader pounds him into the corner, as Val Venis marches through the crowd with his own, notably not religious message. Vader with a cross corner whip, but Dustin rebounds with a clothesline, and backdrops Vader out of the ring following a barrage of mounted punches. Dustin follows to whip Vader into the steps, but stops to pray, and Vader nails him for two. Vader unloads, but telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. Dustin wastes it by engaging with Venis, and Vader avalanches him. Vader with a pump-splash at 3:24. There was a time, just a few years before this, where this pairing was basically a guaranteed three-star level match. This was not that time. DUD

Al Snow is out, but quickly gets the hook from Vince McMahon’s stooges (Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and Sgt. Slaughter, in this case). It’s crazy that we’re 90 minutes into this show, and this is only the second non-match in-ring segment of the show thus far. In 1998!

Backstage, Cole catches up with the Headbangers, who make (potentially) racist remarks about Mark Henry

The Headbangers v D-lo Brown and Mark Henry: Mosh and D-lo start, and they feel each other out. Mosh counters a powerbomb with a sunset cradle for two, and he takes Brown into an armbar. Tag to Thrasher for a tandem flapjack for two, so D-lo goes to the eyes, and passes to Mark. Henry tries a slam, but Mosh comes off the top with a dropkick to knock Thrasher into a pin for two, and the Headbangers deliver a tandem suplex. D-lo catches a tag and delivers a legdrop on Mosh, then a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Brown with a running sitout powerbomb, and Henry tags for a double team, then an elbowdrop for two. Mark with a bodyslam before tagging back to Brown, but Mosh fights off a sidewalk slam with a headscissors, and Thrasher gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! It spills to the outside, where the Headbangers double up on D-lo, when Chyna runs in on Henry to draw a DQ at 5:23. ½*

Eight-Man Tag Team Match: Triple H, Billy Gunn, Jesse James, and X-Pac v Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, Sho Funaki, and Men's Teioh: Jesse and Taka start, and Taka hammers him onto the ropes, but gets nailed by Billy. Tags to Gunn and Funaki, so Funaki goes to the eyes. Cross corner whip, but Billy reverses, so Teioh runs in, but Gunn throws Taka at him. Tag to HHH to hammer on Teioh, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets nailed. Teioh tries one of his own, but takes a kneeling facebuster, and HHH chops him in the corner. HHH lands a high knee, and Jesse tags in, but Teioh dropkicks his leg. That brings Sho and Togo in to double team, and all of Kaientai are in to blitz Road Dogg. They’re just casually quadruple teaming him, and the rest of DX are just chilling on the apron. Kaientai cut the ring in half on Jesse, but Taka hits a boot on a charge, and X-Pac tags. He runs wild on Taka, and things don’t take long to break down - Roseanne Barr the door! DX pop Taka up into a sitout facebuster from X-Pac at 4:31. This was pretty much a squash. And then afterwards, Chyna casually beats them up to reinforce the point. ¼*

BUExperience: This episode was a complete departure from the norm for this period. It was kind of an afterthought, without a lot of the bigger stars (no Austin, no McMahon, no Undertaker, no Kane), and not a lot of focus on angles and gaga. It was more like what WCW was presenting with Thunder, where it was focused on the in-ring product, and didn’t always feature the A-listers. Kind of a nice change of pace, and the crowd being absolutely wild for the entire evening didn’t hurt.