Original Airdate: October 19, 1998
From Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
The entire roster comes out, as balloons and confetti fall from the ceiling. The occasion? Steve Austin’s firing at Judgment Day last night. Vince McMahon rolls out in his wheelchair, but he has more than just celebration on his mind, he has an announcement: he’s sanctioning a tournament for the vacant WWF Title, to take place next month at Survivor Series. But as he writes Austin out of the show, Steve appears on the TitanTron… and he’s got a gun
Backstage, McMahon flips out. And understandably so. He orders his stooges to figure it out, and get him to a safe location
Outside, Austin sits in his truck, cleaning his weapon
Earlier today, DX hung with Motley Crue
Ken Shamrock v X-Pac: Neither the WWF Intercontinental title or the WWF European title are on the line. Ken attacks from behind, and hammers X-Pac down. Ken wins a criss cross with a sidekick, and a suplex follows. He rattles X-Pac with a turnbuckle smash, and a floatover suplex gets him two. Ken with a kneelift, and he works a front-facelock, as police officers arrive, and arrest Chyna. X-Pac escapes the hold, and lands a spinkick, then a spinheel kick. Corner whip, but the charge in gets caught in a powerslam for two. Shamrock with a corner clothesline, but a cross corner whip gets reversed. X-Pac tries the bronco buster, but misses, and Ken delivers a belly-to-belly suplex. Ken with a rana, as Mankind shows up. That distracts Shamrock, and he goes over to beat on Mankind. Mankind fights that off with the mandible claw, and X-Pac capitalizes with a sitout facebuster at 4:11. ¾*
Backstage, the cops take Chyna away, as the New Age Outlaws protest
Out in the garage, two other cops check on Austin, and he shows off his ‘toy’ to them - though we can’t actually see it, since the car door obscures it
Backstage, McMahon fumes that the police didn’t intervene. And even wanted Austin’s autograph!
The Headbangers v Animal and Droz: Mosh and Animal start, and Mosh gets dominated. Mosh manages a 2nd rope clothesline, and he hits a bodyblock in the corner, but gets reversed into the ropes, allowing Animal a powerslam for two. Tag to Droz for a tandem backdrop, but an elbowdrop misses, and Thrasher catches the tag. The Headbangers hit Droz with a tandem gourdbuster, but he manages to counter a backdrop with a sunset flip for two. Droz with a sitout powerbomb on Thrasher for two, so Mosh comes in, and Roseanne Barr the door! Mosh gets cleared out, and it looks like Thrasher is in a bad spot, but Hawk shows up to cheer Droz on - only for that to distract Droz, and allow Thrasher a schoolboy at 1:48. This was going along fine, but was way too condensed to mean anything. ½*
Backstage, McMahon is nervous, but his guys try to calm him down with promises of coffee. With Vince left alone as they go to get coffee, Mankind swings by (with Mr. Socko) to keep him company
Undertaker and Paul Bearer are out, and they’re officially realigned, and forming a ‘Ministry of Darkness.’ Undertaker also reveals that it was he who started the fire that scared Kane when they were kids. This draws Kane out, and he has a casket with him. And not just any casket, it’s a Yokozuna sized one. With the aid of a voice box, he challenges Undertaker to a Casket match tonight
Backstage, Mankind suggests that Vince rehire Austin, since Vince previously fired Mankind, and now they’re ‘the best of friends.’ And since they’re such good pals, Mankind suggests a game of Twister. Of course, Vince is in a wheelchair, so the game amounts to Mankind twisting himself into various positions where his ass is in McMahon’s face. Vince throws him out, even though that means he’ll be alone
Jeff Jarrett v Steve Blackman: Jeff has Debra McMichael with him here, in her WWF debut. It hasn’t been that long since we last saw her in WCW, but she already looks much older. Jeff kick starts the match, but Blackman fights him off, so Jeff bails to the apron, and snaps Steve’s throat across the top. Jeff with a flying bodypress for two, so Blackman throws a spinkick for two. Again, but Jeff ducks, and delivers a swinging neckbreaker - as the crowd chants ‘show your tits’ at Debra. Classy. Jeff with a dropkick for two, and a DDT follows. Jeff tries a dive off the middle, but Blackman blocks, and delivers a knife-edge chop. Blackman adds an elbowdrop, and a jumping shoulderblock connects. Steve with a bicycle kick, but Blue Blazer runs in on him for the DQ at 2:29. After the bell, Jarrett and Blazer double team Blackman, so Al Snow tries making the save, but Jarrett brains him with a guitar. ¼*
Backstage, Vince gets a phone call, and it’s Austin. “I’m coming to get you,” he notes. Vince calls for help, and has his car pulled around. He then heads for the garage, but as he gets into his car, Austin arrives. Vince’s teenaged looking driver is no defense, and Austin violently kidnaps McMahon
The Acclaim Slam of the Week is X-Pac winning the European title last night
Backstage, Austin has barricaded himself and McMahon in a room, and is grilling him about his hunting skills
Rock v D-lo Brown: Rock with right hands at the bell, and he catches Brown with a clothesline. Rock with a turnbuckle smash, and a swinging neckbreaker follows. Rock with a punch to the balls, but D-lo manages to win a criss cross with a leg lariat. Brown adds a bodyslam to set up a legdrop, and a cross corner whip follows, but Rock blocks the charge with a clothesline. Rock charges, but Brown sidesteps, and Rock goes flying over the top. Mark Henry assaults him out there, and he rolls Rock in for Brown to cover for two. Brown uses a bodyslam to set up an elbowdrop, but Rock rolls out of the way. Rock with a Samoan drop, and a DDT gets him two. Rock with a bodyslam to set up the People’s elbow, but Brown fights off the uranage with a clothesline. He tries a 2nd rope axehandle, but Rock catches him in the uranage at 3:40. This had good energy. Afterwards, Henry comes in, and the heels give Rock a beatdown. *
Backstage, Austin shows off his knife, and teases Vince with mock stabbings
Tiger Ali Singh is out, and offers a fan $500 to come in a swallow his servant's kielbasa. So they find some woman in her forties, and she deep throats this thing for the cash. That draws Godfather out, and he’s upset that Tiger is communicating with one of his former ho’s without his consent. But, it’s cool, as long as he gets his cut. That leads Tiger to attack, and they scuffle, until officials can intervene. This wasn’t a great segment, but it’s nice to see them finally go somewhere with these Ali segments
Backstage, Austin continues to taunt Vince by shooting his crossbow at photos on the wall
Mankind v Val Venis: A big criss cross goes to a stalemate, and Val is moving slowly, still suffering from the abuse he took downstairs from Goldust. Val manages a pair of short-knees and a Russian legsweep, then a series of mounted punches. Val hammers him in the corner, and a clothesline connects. Straddling ropechoke, but Mankind dodges, and throws a series of rights. Mankind with a backdrop, and he delivers a legdrop to the groin - nicely sold by Venis. Mankind with a double-arm DDT, and he slaps on the mandible claw. Val is in trouble, so Terri Runnels distracts the referee, and Ken Shamrock hits Mankind with a chair - allowing Venis the pin at 3:29. Afterwards, Goldust appears on the TitanTron, promising to finish the job on Val. Terri tries to calm him by whispering something, but Venis reacts badly, and storms off without her. ¼*
Backstage, Austin has tied Vince to his wheelchair, and is berating him
Casket Match: Undertaker v Kane: Because last night’s match was so good, they just had to run it again? Undertaker goes after the leg early, and he lands a jumping clothesline. They fight over to the casket, and both end up inside, with the lid shut. They scramble inside of the casket, and it literally starts falling apart. They both escape, and Kane goes after Paul Bearer, so Undertaker saves with a chair. And then both guys just kind of walk away for the no-contest at 4:49. -¼*
Austin wheels Vince out to the arena, and throws him into the ring. Steve makes his watch a replay of McMahon’s boasting at the top of the show, as Vince sobs. Austin makes him kneel, and he pulls a pistol out of his pocket. He puts it to Vince’s head, and pulls the trigger - though instead of a bullet, a little sign pops out of the barrel reading ‘Bang 3:16.’ Vince pisses his pants anyway, and Austin gives him a stunner, after making sure he’s completely humiliated
BUExperience: Watching this one as a kid, I remember it being the first time I thought, ‘man, they’re taking things too far.’ It didn’t make me stop watching, but I remember having the thought. Today, it feels kind of tame, actually. The stuff with Austin and Brian Pillman in 1996 was more intense and line crossing.
Anyway, a great episode. It was extremely heavy on non-wrestling stuff, but it wasn’t weaker for it. Great TV.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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