Original Airdate: September 28, 1998
From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
We hear Steve Austin’s music to start, but instead of Stone Cold, we get Vince McMahon and his entourage - complete with a police escort to the ring. Vince is proudly holding the WWF Title belt, and to add insult to injury, it’s Steve’s custom ‘Smoking Skull’ version to boot. Vince immediately informs us that, unlike after King of the Ring, this time there will be no rematch for the former champion. And what’s more, a new champion will be crowned tonight, and they’ll be presented with the official version of the title belt, not this custom version. No, that’s Vince’s now. This was a strong opening segment
WWF Tag Team Title Match: The New Age Outlaws v Southern Justice: Lawler hypes a confrontation with Jim Carrey later on, which I’m pretty sure is not something that is going to happen here. Billy Gunn starts with Mark Canterbury, and a criss cross ends in Mark delivering a wheelbarrow facebuster for two. Tag to Dennis Knight, and they do some double teaming, but Mark loses a criss cross when Billy throws a knee for two. Mark goes to the eyes, but Knight misses a clothesline, and Gunn drops him with a neckbreaker for two. Tag to Jesse James, and he takes Knight down with a snapmare to set up a kneedrop. Irish whip, but Knight reverses, and Mark takes a cheap shot from the apron. The challengers abuse Road Dogg, but Knight misses an avalanche, and Billy gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Gunn hits Knight with a rocker dropper, so Jeff Jarrett comes in with his guitar. Jesse gets it away from him before he can use it, though, and James blasts Knight with it for the DQ at 2:58. The Outlaws were in control when Jesse decided to tee off, but I guess his desire was revenge over a clean win. Gunn gets pissed, however, and starts shoving Jesse after the bell, so X-Pac comes out to try and settle things down. Gunn shoves him away, however, and walks out. That draws Triple H out (in a wheelchair), but Billy blows him off as well. Looks like they were firmly teasing a heel turn, but thankfully they backed off on it, because it would have been remarkably stupid to break up these hot acts this early. DUD
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Outside of the building, police keep watch for Steve Austin
Backstage, Michael Cole is outside DX’s dressing room, where there’s a ruckus
Submission Match: Owen Hart v Dan Severn: Severn walks out with both the NWA World title and a UFC belt, which is an odd thing to see in the WWF, no matter the era. Severn catches a charging Owen in a trapping suplex, and they spill to the apron as Dan goes for a takedown. Dan pounds Hart with mounted blows as they get back into the squared circle, but Hart manages a takedown of his own, and he holds a sleeper. Severn snapmares free, and uses a belly-to-belly suplex, then a running powerslam. Hart fights back with a spinheel kick, and a belly-to-belly suplex of his own follows. Hart had the best belly-to-belly around. But Dan is unimpressed, and goes for a guillotine, but Owen escapes, and uses a seated tombstone. And suddenly Severn can’t move, and Owen is looking all concerned as the referee stops the match at 2:41. Oh, fuck right off. I get what they’re going for here, but this is in bad, bad taste. The match was on track to be something good before getting cut off by the dumb finish. Afterwards, Severn does a stretcher job, as the announcers sit silently to put over how serious the situation is. I get that they did this angle with Owen even before the Austin incident, but after that happened they should never have gone there again. And it feels especially icky now considering how Hart would meet his end just a few months after this. Not to mention that Villano IV just got legitimately hurt in similar fashion a week earlier on Nitro. ½*
Vader v Al Snow: Vader is being backed by Sgt. Slaughter here, who is still upset that Snow beat him last week to win a contract. Vader knocks him around to start, and an elbowdrop allows Vader to go to a leglock. Vader with a bodyblock and a belly-to-belly suplex for two, so Al jabs him in the mouth, and throws a series of clotheslines to knock the big man off of his feet. Al with a leg-feed enzuigiri for two, so Vader tags him with a forearm, but Snow gets hold of Head, and blasts Vader for the pin at 2:36. This was just kind of there. ¼*
Backstage, a still angry Billy Gunn storms out of the building. Still in his gear. What was he doing for all that time?
The 10-10-321 Rewind is Gangrel saving Edge from Kaientai on Heat
#1 Contender's Elimination Match: Jeff Jarrett v Marc Mero v D-lo Brown v Edge v Darren Drozdov v Gangrel: Winner gets a WWF European title shot. The announcers refer to this as a ‘six man four corners match,’ which, no. Tags are enforced here. Edge rushes in on Gangrel to kick start things, and he delivers a powerslam for two, but wipes out while trying a bodypress. That allows Gangrel a corkscrew legwhip, and a Russian legsweep follows. Gangrel misses a 2nd rope corkscrew elbowdrop, allowing Edge a magistral cradle at 1:07. Brown rushes in with a leg lariat on Edge after the fall, and he adds a legdrop. Backdrop, but Edge blocks, and delivers a DDT, before tagging to Droz. Droz nails Brown with a jumping clothesline, and a powerslam follows. A dropkick connects, so Brown tags to Jeff, and Droz hits Jarrett with a vertical suplex. Droz with a jumping backelbow, but a clothesline misses, and Jeff delivers a Russian facebuster, then a dropkick. Droz tries a sleeper, but Jeff escapes quickly, and they go tumbling out of the ring from there. They keep slugging it out on the floor, and both men are counted out at 3:27. Mero and Edge are in from there, and fresh Marc pounds him into the corner for a cross corner whip, then adds a Samoan drop. Marc goes up for a dive, so D-lo shakes the ropes to crotch him, and Edge brings him down with a rana off the top at 4:39. Brown dives in to try and hit Edge, but ends up landing on the outgoing Mero, and Edge dumps D-lo to the outside for a tope. Gangrel and Christian show up to distract him as he rolls Brown back inside, however, and D-lo recovers with a sitout spinebuster at 5:11. This was fine, and hit a few good story points, but it was too rapid fire to really work as a match. This would have been disappointing on pay per view, but worked for RAW. *
Outside, police continue to stand guard
Vince and his entourage and security are back out, and they’re literally rolling out the red carpet for their new title belt presentation. As promised, the Smoking Skull belt is nowhere to be seen, but, shockingly, neither is the Big Eagle. Instead, we see the classic Winged Eagle belt sitting in a glass case at center ring. That’s my favorite belt of all time, and I was so disappointed when they replaced it in 1998. I eventually came to love the Big Eagle, and I completely agree with the decision to replace it as part of the branding of this new era, but at the time I was flipping out thinking they were going back to the classic design. Unfortunately that was not meant to be, and the Winged Eagle wasn’t seen on TV again until Cody Rhodes resurrected it in 2024. Apparently there was some sort of issue with the Big Eagle, and they couldn’t get it for this show, so that’s why they have the Winged Eagle out. Anyway, belt mark observations aside, Vince is ready to announce who our new champion is. He brings both Undertaker and Kane out, and Kane’s pyro fails to go off when he drops his arms, which the announcers immediately save by suggesting he’s playing ‘mind games.’ That pyro has failed a few times lately, I’m surprised they haven’t corrected it yet. But before Vince can announce our new champion, suddenly Steve Austin bulldozes his way out on a zamboni! That the zamboni (which was the Detroit’s Red Wings’ in house one) happened to have a beer ad on it is a great coincidence. Imagine if it had a tampon ad, or whatever. So Steve slams it into the side of the ring, and then dives over the gaggle of cops to hit McMahon with a bunch of fists! The police immediately tackle and handcuff Stone Cold, but, somehow, he still manages to tackle Vince again! They finally manage to eject Austin, but Vince is so busted up that he can’t finish his presentation, and we have no champion announced. This is a pretty legendary segment, and for good reason
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After a break, and once Vince has had some time to compose himself, he’s back in the ring, this time alone with Undertaker, Kane, and the belt. But instead of announcing one of them as champion, the already pissed off McMahon tells them they have to fight for it at Judgment Day. And he’s going to make Austin the guest referee, to make Steve suffer the ‘indignity’ or having to crowd another man as champion after getting screwed out of the title. But Vince is still pissed at Undertaker and Kane as well, and decides to punish them by putting them in a Handicap match against Rock, Mankind, and Ken Shamrock here tonight. Undertaker and Kane take it all, but warn Vince not to cross the line with them. And then he immediately does, throwing up a double bird, and there are very quick repercussions, as they break his leg in brutal fashion using the ring steps. Another great segment. This whole deal kind of gets lost in the shuffle because everybody only remembers the zamboni, but it’s just as good, and did a great job of reestablishing Undertaker and Kane as monsters
Backstage, they try to get Vince medical attention, and luckily Mankind is there with a nice refreshing soda, in case Vince needs it. Also, some hard candy. The looks Vince shoots him throughout are incredible, and this would lead somewhere very, very good
Faarooq v Mark Henry: Chyna is the guest referee for this one. That last half hour was some incredible TV, and I’m surprised they didn’t go with something more low key as a cool down match here. Faarooq attacks before the bell, but Henry fights him off, and they spill to the outside. Mark delivers a bodyslam on the floor to set up a leg drop out there, and they head back inside. Henry with a powerslam, but Chyna ignores his pin attempt. Mark responds by trying some flirting, then goes to press-slam Faarooq - only to have Chyna clip him, and Faarooq topple for the pin at 1:14. Man, Faarooq was a complete non-entity after Rock usurped him for control of the Nation. He’s lucky he hung around long enough to find new life with the APA deal later. Afterwards, a process server hits the ring to serve Chyna with papers, which she looks at, then tears up in disgust before dropping in Henry’s feet. DUD
Backstage, Mankind is still trying to force feed McMahon some candy as he’s getting loaded into the ambulance
Backstage, Cole catches up with Shamrock, and he immediately insults the Detroit crowd. Did he do a heel turn when I wasn’t paying attention? Anyway, he’s not thrilled about having to team with Mankind and Rock tonight
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The Headbangers v Kurrgan and Golga: The Headbangers attack Golga to kick start the match, as Kurrgan just kind of stands there and lets it happen. They double team Golga, and get to cutting the ring in half, until Kurrgan tags, and literally just slaps Thrasher silly for the pin at 2:00. Complete trash. DUD
Backstage, Cole tries catching up with Rock, but gets shoved away so Rock can hold his own microphone. Rock thinks it’s a joke that he has to team with the two jabronis he beat last night, but fuck it, he’s the top contender to the WWF Title, and that’s all that really matters
Backstage, Val Venis is getting a blowjob from Terri Runnels. 1998, folks
WWF European Title Match: X-Pac v Val Venis: X-Pac has an eyepatch on, as a result of the altercation with Billy Gunn earlier. Val dominates a criss cross, and uses a bodyslam, but misses an elbowdrop. That allows X-Pac a spinkick, but Val fights back with a big boot, setting up mounted punches. Val with a ropechoke, and a pair of short-knees sets up a Russian legsweep. Val wastes time gloating, allowing X-Pac to recover, and he lands a spinheel kick for two. A criss cross ends in X-Pac landing a jumping clothesline, and he unloads with kicks in the corner to set up the bronco buster, but Terri trips him up before he can deliver it. That allows Venis a bridging fisherman suplex for two, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two, as Chyna marches out to go after Terri. Val abandons the match to intervene, allowing X-Pac to recover with a baseball slide. X-Pac puts the boots to Val on the outside, and Chyna decides to join in, triggering a DQ at 3:13. Not a lot of meat on the bone here. Afterwards, Val makes out with Terri at center ring, when Goldust’s music starts playing, and we hear Dustin Runnels’ voice telling us he ‘told us’ that ‘he’s’ coming back. Nice pivot. ½*
Backstage, Cole catches up with Mankind, who is ready to do some damage, regardless of who his partners are
Backstage, Undertaker and Kane are on the move
Handicap Match: Undertaker and Kane v Rock, Mankind, and Ken Shamrock: Mankind and Shamrock start fighting before the entrances are even over, and they do a full brawl before everyone is even out for the match. Rock comes out, but Ken wants to fight with him too, and all three guys duke it out. Finally everyone else comes out, and the match officially starts with the brothers picking up the pieces after the brawl. They isolate Rock, and the dust settles on Undertaker and Rock. Undertaker delivers a ropewalk forearm, and he passes to Kane, who promptly loses a criss cross. Tag to Mankind, and he manages to pound Kane into the corner, but Kane turns the tables, then tags. Everyone switches off with quick tags, until Mankind gets a clothesline to send both he and Kane over the top. Mankind dives from the apron with a somersault senton, but Undertaker nails him before he can follow up on it. Undertaker feeds him the steps, allowing Kane a flying clothesline for two on the way back in. The brothers cut the ring in half on Mankind, until Rock gets the hot tag, and hits Undertaker with a DDT for two. Rock adds a People’s elbow for two, so Kane comes in, but Shamrock is in as well, and Roseanne Barr the door. Ken gets Undertaker in an anklelock, but Kane saves, and Undertaker catches Rock with a clothesline. Rock fights back with a uranage, however, and he gets a rare clean pinfall on Undertaker at 12:39. Lots of star power. Not much else. But boy, if you weren’t sure whether they were about to strap a rocket to Rock’s ass, this is proof positive. ¼*
BUExperience: A really enjoyable episode, with lots of storyline twists, and one of the best half hours of television from the era.
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