Revisiting Monday Night Raw 1998

[The Best There Is]

Ok, so after my look back at 1997 seemed to be pretty well received I’ve decided to continue on and do the same thing for 1998. This means I’ll be watching and reviewing every episode of Raw in order for the full year, plus because of its significance I’ll also make sure to tack on the famous January 4, 1999 show, making this a fifty three part series in total. If you want a full refresher on where things stand in the WWF as 98 kicks off, go see the 1997 review thread, or at least the last couple pages of it, because I’m just gonna pick up where that one left off and presume that everyone’s up to speed. Much like that thread I should get to a new episode once a week or so and if anyone has any thoughts, comments, memories or questions regarding 1998 WWF in general or any specific show as it gets posted please add them because I’d love to see more historical discussion going on this board.

Raw Is War – January 5, 1998 (Tape Date: December 30, 1997)
Venue: New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, CT
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-Our first show of the year opens with Stone Cold Steve Austin arriving at the building. We immediately know this is the 90’s because he tells us that everyone in that locker room has a pager and eventually the point will come when each and every one of them will see “3:16” on that thing and then they will know their ass belongs to Stone Cold. So stay tuned and don’t change that channel because tonight he is going to raise Hell as only he can.

Farrooq (w/Kama Mustafa & D-Lo Brown) vs. Ken Shamrock – This is the match that The Rock volunteered Faarooq for last week, but Rock is not out here to start. Both guys, as well as Kama and D-Lo are announced as being participants in the Royal Rumble. Shamrock cleans house early on, but Faarooq takes over with a Samoan drop. The Rock finally appears on the stage just before a commercial, and then when we come back he’s at ringside issuing orders to Kama and D-Lo. Kama then grabs a chair while Rock grabs the ref, but Shamrock reverses the whip into it and Faarooq takes the brunt of it. A belly to belly suplex and ankle lock later and Shamrock is the winner by submission in about five minutes plus the commercial. Rock gets in the ring for what appears to be a showdown with Shamrock as they will be the IC Title match at the Rumble, but out of nowhere Stone Cold Steve Austin runs in and drops both of them with Stunners. The story being that he’s also in the Rumble and is launching a preemptive strike on his competition.


The Rock and Ken Shamrock get face to face before Stone Cold lays them out.

-The announcer hype bit then tells us what’s on tap for tonight. There have apparently been some rumours that Paul Bearer and Kane are having problems and Kane may have even ended his association with Bearer. Bearer will be interviewed later on to explain. Plus we will have Owen Hart vs. Savio Vega, and Shawn Michaels is planning on calling out The Undertaker. As we go to commercial, Jim Cornette is leading two unidentified men in suits out to the ring. Who are they? We’ll find out after the break.


Our Raw announce team for the first hour at the start of 1998.

-We’re back, and Cornette reminds us of his rant from last week on the lack of tradition and competition in wrestling these days. So with that in mind, he’s brought here tonight two men who stand for those things and they are Howard Brody and Dennis Corraluzzo, the President and Vice President respectively of the National Wrestling Alliance. They have agreed to award the NWA North American Championship to the winner of the next match between two second generation stars who have great links to the traditions of the business.


Dennis Coralluzzo (left) and Howard Brody (right) are here representing the NWA.


A closeup of the NWA Noth American Championship that will be awarded to the winner of the following match.

NWA North American Championship Match: Blackjack Windham vs. Jeff Jarrett – Cornette joins the commentary team and puts over the NWA as a big deal historically and not some bogus organization (take that nWo). He then goes on to perpetuate the myth that the NWA World Title lineage can somehow be traced back to Frank Gotch in 1905, William Muldoon in 1887 and even Abraham Lincoln in 1848. In reality it goes back to Orville Brown in 1948. He also goes on about how great it is to see these guys having this clean scientific match, but keeps questioning the officiating. He sends Corraluzzo over to discuss this with the ref as Windham sets up the superplex, then gets in the ring and nails Windham with the tennis racket. Jarrett then gets on top and gets the three count to win the Title in about three minutes. Cornette, Jarrett and the NWA contingent celebrate together in what appears to have been a setup, but before anything can be made clear, Steve Austin is back and he drops Jarrett with a Stunner as well. Obviously they are trying to get you to stay tuned by making you think that this guy is going to be in every segment.

-Ken Shamrock then gets a quick promo in the back regarding the attack by Austin. He understands that they’re both marked men and all he hopes is that the Rumble comes down to the two of them so they can find out who the better man is.

Recon & Sniper (w/The Jackyl) vs. Skull & 8 Ball – Sunny is the guest ring announcer and Jackyl joins the commentary team. Jackyl laughs at his men missing high risk moves because it shows how far they’re willing to go to impress him. He goes on to talk about how his revolution is now one of blood because the WWF has forced him into that position by resisting. The match is mostly a mindless brawl. I can’t tell the twins apart, and Michael Cole isn’t much help as he refers to one of them as 8 Ball and then after that one tags out he calls the other one 8 Ball as well. In any case, one of the twins hits a DDT on Sniper and gets the pin in three and a half minutes. Kurrgan slowly hits the ring and it becomes a three on two beatdown. He holds the deadly claw on one until Jackyl calls him off by slapping him across the face. They said Kurrgan would be in the Rumble, but Austin chooses not to attack him at this point.


The Jackyl converts another follower.

-DX makes their way out next. HHH gets on the mic, and after some more boob jokes about Chyna, he addresses Owen Hart. He admits that Owen put a little fear in him with his words a while back, but after last week it’s obvious that he can’t back it up. Owen went to the plate without a bat, while he always brings the lumber (referring to his crutch from last week), and the ladies need not worry because even though he broke that one, there’s always more wood where that came from (referring to his penis). He challenges Owen to come out right now, saying he’ll call the others off and they can go one on one right here tonight. Owen is at least smart enough not to fall for that as he appears on the screen instead. He says that he wants that leg to be nice and healed so that there’s no excuses, but then when they get in the ring he’s gonna break the other leg. HHH laughs that threat off, and then lets him know that he had better watch his back. Shawn was there, but never said anything and then they go straight from this to letting us know that he’ll be calling out Undertaker later on rather than killing two birds with one stone here.

Savio Vega (w/Los Boriquas) vs. Owen Hart – This takes us into the War Zone and we get a bit of an oddity as Owen uses Steve Austin’s signature Thesz press and punches on the mat early on while taking it to Savio. DX appears on the stage and this distraction lets Savio take over. Owen ends up on the floor where he gets triple teamed by the other Boriquas so a second ref runs out and ineffectively tries ejecting them. Owen hooks the Sharpshooter, but Jesus has made his way around and provides enough distraction for Owen to break the hold. It doesn’t really matter though as Owen then immediately gets a rollup for the win in about four minutes. He tries going after DX, but the Boriquas attack again and then deliver him to HHH who slaps him around for a bit. Shawn then hands them a wad of bills, revealing that it was a setup job all along.

-Up next we have a very disheveled looking Paul Bearer making his way to the ring. He comes out to Undertaker’s music circa 1991 rather than Kane’s, and says that he hopes Shawn Michaels destroys The Undertaker at Royal Rumble because thanks to what Taker did last week he has lost Kane. Taker poisoned his mind by fighting alongside him, so he left and Bearer cannot find him anywhere. He says that he knows Kane is watching, and pleads with him to come home.


Paul Bearer is not looking good after Kane went off without him.

-From there we cut to the locker room where Stone Cold has claimed another victim. This time it’s Mark Henry although we don’t see him take the Stunner. He just lays there selling as Austin walks out of the room. This is followed by a recap of the Marc Mero/Sable/Tom Brandi triangle to lead into our next match.

Marvelous Marc Mero (w/Sable) vs. Tom Brandi – Brandi has no heat for this, but Sable is hugely over of course. Mero lures him in and then uses the classic trap of hiding behind the woman and then shoving her in to the guy to gain the advantage. He’s distracted by the “Sable” chants though and that turns the tide for Brandi. Mero gets elbowed to the floor and lightly wipes out Sable in the process, which just pisses him off. Compared to when Randy Savage and Elizabeth did this spot in 1989, this looked pretty sad, but then I guess they didn’t want it to come across like she was hurt badly here. Brandi tries helping her up, but that gives Mero the chance to attack and the result is Sable getting knocked over again. Mero sets up the TKO and hits it, but then for some reason goes for another. Steve Austin takes the opportunity to make Mero his fifth Stunner victim of the night, and that presumably makes Mero the winner by DQ at the four minute mark although the result was never actually announced. As Austin goes to leave, he and Sable lock eyes, and it’s implied that she approves of what he’s done here.

Flash Funk vs. The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (w/Luna) – Goldust is dressed as a pimpin’ black man tonight. Funk takes offence to this and attacks. He actually controls most of the way until going for the 450 and getting shoved off the top by Luna for the DQ in two and a half minutes. He then takes the Curtain Call, but Vader makes the save to remind us that he and Goldust are wrestling at the Rumble.


Goldust wears yet another wacky outfit.

-After that we get a video package on Steve Blackman. We haven’t seen that much of him since he debuted, but he’ll be in the Rumble match. This is followed by a brief recap of the debut of Chainsaw Charlie from last week.

The Headbangers vs. The New Age Outlaws – This is a non-title match as LOD is still next in line and will get their shot at the Royal Rumble. We start off with a clip of The Headbangers appearing this morning on Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee as they surprise some kid who’s a big WWF fan. Then we get a pretty boring match filled with plenty of armbars and so on and the crowd is into it exactly like you might expect in that case. The Godwinns come out and watch for a bit, but nothing comes of that although JR implies they’re looking for a title shot as payment for helping The Outlaws out lately. Thrasher gets caught for a bit, but after a double dropkick with him and Road Dog he makes the ice cold tag to Mosh. Mosh runs wild and The Bangers seem to be on their way to the win, but Gunn counters the Stage Dive by flipping through the powerbomb and then he ends up on top for the three count in about five minutes. Very boring match.


The Headbangers appeared today with Regis and Kathie Lee.

-Next they recap the announcement that negotiations have begun for Mike Tyson to appear at Wrestlemania including showing some of the press they got for it. We also get comments from Don King who is very excited about all of this. Once he and Vince McMahon cross the T’s and dot the I’s, then Mike Tyson and Wrestlemania will come together for a huge PPV extravaganza. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.


Don King is working with Vince McMahon to make this Mike Tyson deal happen.

-Finally our main event promo is Shawn Michaels making his way back out. He starts out with a shot at Owen Hart by saying that he didn’t have the guts to come after them earlier, but now maybe someone else will. He’s got this Casket Match with The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble, but he’s not scared as he’s beaten Taker before. And to prove that he’s not scared, he wants Taker to come face him right now. The music hits and the druids start wheeling the casket to the ring. It’s the same vandalized one from last week so Shawn remarks that he figured HHH and Chyna were going to come up with something better instead of just repeating what he did. He tells them to come out and get it over with, but then all of a sudden they appear on the stage. Shawn gets the “oh, shit” look on his face before Undertaker pops out and drags him inside to close the show. Not a bad ending as at least someone finally gets some heat on DX.

This was a show almost completely focused on building the Royal Rumble, which is two weeks away on January 19 in San Jose, but none of that build seemed particularly interesting. “Austin is winning the Rumble Match” may as well be flashing on the screen in neon lights as there’s that little doubt about it. But then again, that’s something the fans really want so letting them know they’re getting it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I can’t really say I’m interested in any of the other matches at this point. The Casket Match is screaming “angle alert”, so it’s hard to get excited for Undertaker going for the belt. The go home show is next week so we’ll see how things look then. So no good matches, and no really good angles means the year kicks off here with what I think is only a 2.5/10 show.


Our first PPV of the year is the Royal Rumble, 13 days away.

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.3) Raw (3.3)

Shotgun Saturday Night – January 10
-The Rock defeated Chainz
-Headbanger Mosh defeated Phineas Godwinn via DQ
-The Jackyl defeated Scott Taylor
-Taka Michinoku defeated Pablo Marquez
-Steve Blackman defeated Nick Barberry

Remembering The Week Of January 5, 1998…

On The Billboard Charts (January 3):
5. 3 AM – matchbox 20
4. You Make Me Wanna… - Usher
3. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
2. Fly – Sugar Ray
1. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba

At The Box Office (January 2-4):
5. Scream 2
4. Mouse Hunt
3. As Good As It Gets
2. Tomorrow Never Dies
1. Titanic

In Sports:
January 2 – Nebraska defeats Tennessee 42-17 in the 1998 Orange Bowl and Michigan defeats Washington State 21-16 in the 1998 Rose Bowl. The two winners are considered to have shared the NCAA Division I Football National Championship.

In The News:
January 5 – A massive ice storm cripples Eastern Ontario, Southern Quebec, and parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, doing billions of dollars in damage and leaving thousands of people without power for several weeks.

[Andrew Sheehy]

Can't wait to see you go through 1998.

[tommynorcal]

I loved this show so much. I always revisit it whenever I dust off my attitude era video collection. Austin stunning jarrett and doing the strut was amazing, and any cornette appearance is awesome.

[The Best There Is]

Raw Is War – January 12, 1998 (Live)
Venue: Bryce Jordan Center, State College, PA
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-We kick off tonight with DX in the limo on the way to the arena where they let us know that it’s gonna be a full moon as Shawn hangs his ass out the sunroof. When they get to the arena, they have an announcement regarding The Undertaker’s family. Tonight we’re also going to get more of Steve Austin, and an announcement from Mike Tyson’s camp which is rumoured to be that he’ll be at the Royal Rumble this Sunday, and the drawing of numbers by all the Rumble participants. Plus the announcers acknowledge that this is the fifth anniversary show for Raw, but this was before they made a real big deal out of things like that, so it never gets mentioned again.


Tonight we will get more details on what is going on between Mike Tyson and the WWF.

The New Age Outlaws vs. The Godwinns vs. The Truth Commission vs. The Headbangers – This is a one fall, non-title, four corners match to start things off in the ring. No one except The Outlaws gets an entrance here and they make their way out in Florida Gators shirts to troll the fans over Penn State losing to them in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. In response the fans spend the early part of the match chanting “We Are Penn State” instead of paying attention. The story of the match is The Outlaws avoiding getting in at all costs while the others go at it. Eventually Recon forces a tag on Gunn and he gets destroyed by The Godwinns. Road Dog breaks up a slop drop by Phineas, but gets taken out by Henry and in the confusion Gunn pulls some brass knux out of his tights and clocks Phineas. The Headbangers and Truth Commission are kind enough to stand around twiddling their thumbs while Gunn then gets the pin in four minutes.

-At the Royal Rumble, The Outlaws will be defending the Tag Team Titles against The Legion of Doom, whom we have not seen since they were laid out on the December 15 Raw. Instead of them being here, we get a video package showing all their WWF triumphs as well as their recent problems with The Outlaws. Good stuff here.


LOD returns this Sunday for revenge on The New Age Outlaws.

-As we go to break, Steve Austin pulls into the arena and looks like he’s in the mood to raise Hell like he did last week.


Austin taped a promo for MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch at Madison Square Garden over the weekend.

-And he wasted no time in starting as they show us that during the break he’s already dropped The Godwinns with Stunners before driving into the arena for an interview with Michael Cole. He says that last year he won the Rumble fair and square but the office stole his WWF Title shot away from him. This year that ain’t gonna happen when he wins because he’s not taking any of that BS from anyone in the office including Vince McMahon anymore. Cole asks him how he feels about being a marked man on Sunday, but Austin says that makes no difference to him. He borrows a marker from Cole and draws a target on his chest to emphasize that he’s not hard to find and anyone who wants to take a shot at him is welcome to try. This was another good segment hyping up the PPV.

-Meanwhile, the DX limo arrives at the building, but one of the WWF semi trucks is blocking the entrance. Shawn and Chyna get out to investigate what’s going on.

Kurrgan (w/The Jackyl) vs. Jimmy Cicero & Lance Diamond – This is a handicap elimination match, which we find out is what Jackyl asked for in order to prepare Kurrgan for the multiple opponents he’ll face in the Rumble. This isn’t quite that level of competition though. Anyways, he just destroys the jobbers at will. Cicero is pinned with the Paralyzer and they play the music forgetting that he has to beat the other one too, which he does a few moments later with a suplex. Then he rips apart a Penn State football helmet they had on the announcers table for some reason. He’s definitely getting quite the buildup.

-Back at the limo, the injured HHH has been left inside alone, so Owen Hart leaps in through the sunroof and attacks him. Shawn and Chyna jump back in and it pulls away. The announcers tell us that the camera they had mounted in there has conveniently gone dead and so they have no idea what’s going on.

Marvelous Marc Mero vs. Vader – Mero starts off cutting a promo, but his mic is out so we have no idea what he’s saying. Eventually Sable’s music hits, but coming out instead is Goldust, who they say is dressed as Sable, but his outfit is much more revealing than what Sable usually wears. Goldust helps Mero gain a brief advantage, but the real Sable comes out and confronts Goldust with a kick to the gut. Mero intervenes but that lets Vader lay him out from behind. The Vader Bomb is hit, but Goldust attacks with a coconut that he was using to fill out his chest for the DQ in three minutes. This was crap, but it reminds us that Goldust and Vader have a match at the PPV.


Goldust, playing the role of Sable tonight.

-From there we cut to the back where the DX limo has returned. Shawn, Hunter, and Chyna get out, but Owen has disappeared. Elsewhere, Steve Austin has gotten to Vader and added him to the list of Stunner victims.

Rocky Maivia & D-Lo Brown (w/Kama Mustafa) vs. Ken Shamrock & Mark Henry – They show a clip of Shamrock making the save for Henry from a NOD beatdown on Shotgun a few weeks ago to set this up. Henry then comes out wearing a “Rocky Sucks” shirt, which pisses Rock off. He cuts a promo saying that he’s gonna rip it off, but only after being the third heel this hour to go for the local sports cheap heat. He claims that Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart called him yesterday for advice on his playoff game, but before The Rock could call him back, he decided to call Joe Paterno instead and now they’re both losers, unlike The Rock who is still the Intercontinental Champion. The match then gets underway with Shamrock faring well for himself while Henry remains on the apron. Rock takes over for a bit, hitting his former finisher the shoulderbreaker as well as the People’s Elbow, or “the big elbow” as it’s called at this point. Shamrock makes his own comeback without tagging, hitting rana and belly to belly suplex. He goes for the ankle lock, but now Henry gets in the ring and turns on him with a clothesline. A four on one beatdown ensues and then true to his word, Rock rips the shirt off of Henry to reveal a Nation of Domination shirt. Faarooq comes out on the stage as they make their way to the back but as Rocky presents his new recruit he gives the impression that he didn’t approve of this so their tension continues to build.


Mark Henry, in the last moments of his memorable first babyface run.

-After the break we get a backstage promo with the now five man Nation. Rock says that this is the second best day in Nation history after the day that he joined. He’s brought them gold and now he’s brought them the World’s Strongest Man. And he did it all for Faarooq. He then mugs for the camera while Faarooq mulls this over.


Rocky brings Mark Henry into The Nation without the approval of Faarooq.

-DX then comes out to kick off the War Zone. HHH brags about flushing Owen like the nugget that he is and then goes on to make some dick jokes. Shawn then has words for Mike Tyson, telling him that he ain’t the baddest man in his universe and if he gets in his way this Sunday then he is going to dance all over Tyson’s face. Next, he doesn’t have to talk about how he’ll be beating Undertaker at the PPV, because that’s a given. Instead, his announcement has to do with Kane. But before he can go on, a bloodied Owen Hart appears on the screen and says that they will never get rid of him and he will make their lives Hell from this day forward. HHH challenges him to come out, which Owen obliges, but a bunch of referees get in the way and hold them apart. We go to break not knowing what Shawn had to say about Kane, but stay tuned.


DX will never get rid of Owen Hart.

Skull & 8 Ball vs. The Rock and Roll Express (w/Jim Cornette) – Cornette brings out his longtime rivals as a surprise addition to his NWA group, which has JR shocked, but he still manages to go into hyper history mode about them. They come out to The Rockers’ old theme music and are put over by Cornette as the reigning NWA Tag Team Champions. They don’t fare very well against DOA until a trip from the floor gains them the advantage. The one twin comes back with a double clothesline and makes the tag which leads to a four way brawl. Cornette then hits the ring and nails a twin with the tennis racket, but the ref turned around in time to see this and calls for the DQ in two and a half minutes. They try a beatdown, but Chainz makes the save and runs them off. Definitely not a great debut for the R&R’s, not that they were going to be in line for a big push or anything at this point in their careers.


Jim Cornette recruited his old rivals to help bring tradition back into wrestling.

-JR then goes into the hotline plug, which I usually don’t mention, but this week he’s got the story on rumours of Hulk Hogan appearing at the Royal Rumble. So just get your parents’ permission and call 1-900-737-4WWF (or 1-900-561-WWF1 in Canada) and you can hear JR tell you that those rumours are false and Hogan remains under contract to WCW.

-Earlier today, Cactus Jack cut a promo over at Beaver Stadium. He notes that this has been the site of wars and he’s been in many himself, but the greatest warrior he has ever known is a man by the name of Terry Funk. They splice in clips of their various death matches while Jack talks about how mutilating each other led to mutual respect and friendship, so when he needed a hand he knew exactly who to call. If Funk wants to wear pantyhose on his head and call himself Chainsaw Charlie, that’s fine because whatever he’s called, there is no way that the New Age Outlaws can prepare themselves for the brutality that is to come.

Mankind vs. The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (w/Luna) – Goldust has changed clothes and is now dressed as Dude Love complete with a wig and fake beard. They must be up against it time wise or something because Mankind immediately hooks the Mandible Claw and then Steve Austin runs in and drops them both with Stunners. Presumably a no contest at the thirty second mark or so.

-Then we have Vince McMahon appearing on the screen to discuss what’s going on with Mike Tyson. He acknowledges the crowd booing him and then lets us know that Tyson has been invited to the Royal Rumble this Sunday. He hopes that they will finish the negotiations there because Tyson will also be here on Raw next week so that they can make the official announcement about Wrestlemania. This could be big.


Vince McMahon announces that Mike Tyson has been invited to both the Royal Rumble and Raw next week.

Savio Vega & Jesus Castillo (w/Miguel Perez & Jose Estrada) vs. Taka Michinoku & Scott Taylor – Taylor handles Jesus pretty well early on while the announcers mostly talk about Tyson. JR brings up the Bam Bam Bigelow/Lawrence Taylor incident from 1995 as a not so subtle way of suggesting that someone is going to try and make a name for themselves like that at Tyson’s expense. Taka gets worked over for a bit, but makes the tag. The match breaks down into a four way with Taka trying a moonsault on Savio on the floor, but Savio catches him and drops him. Meanwhile, Jesus hits Taylor with an inverted superplex and that gets the pin in four and a half minutes. The kiss of death for any lighter weight division in wrestling is when they’re used as job guys for the heavyweights. And this was such a pointless match too. A Boriqua beatdown follows, but Owen Hart makes the save and runs them off with a crutch as revenge for last week.

-They then show a clip of Bam Bam Bigelow shoving Lawrence Taylor at the 95 Rumble to really hammer the point home, with JR all but guaranteeing we’re going to see something similar this Sunday.


Three years ago, Bam Bam Bigelow went after Lawrence Taylor. Buy the PPV on Sunday to see who goes after Mike Tyson. Spoiler: No one did.

-DX is back out now so that Shawn can finish his announcement from earlier. We all heard last week that Kane has wandered off from Paul Bearer, so Shawn would like to give Kane the family he never had and introduces him as the newest member of DX. The lights go out, but we get Undertaker’s music instead. He comes to the ring and tells Shawn to keep his family out of this and instead think of the beating he’ll be getting on Sunday. He then grabs Shawn by the throat. Chyna intervenes, so Taker sets her up for a chokeslam to a big pop, but HHH whacks him with his crutch to stop that. He goes for HHH now but that distraction lets Shawn nail Sweet Chin Music. The beatdown goes on until the lights go out again and this time Kane appears. He makes the save and chases off DX, then he and Taker do their hand gestures at each other in a show of respect. So with Kane watching his back now, it sure looks like Taker is walking away with the gold on Sunday.


Kane and The Undertaker salute each other.

-Then our main event segment is the Royal Rumble drawing. Obviously this is just a reason to get everyone out there for the big brawl because it would take away half the fun if they gave away the order of entrance in advance. Ken Shamrock goes after Mark Henry, but it gets broken up. Austin is the last guy out and he comes in through the crowd so that he can surprise Phineas Godwinn with another Stunner. He heads out as the rest of the guys in the ring start going at it, but as he hits the top of the ramp, The Rock, Savio Vega, and D-Lo Brown catch him from behind. So his raising Hell has finally caught up with him and he takes a beating to end the show.


Austin's Hell raising has finally caught up with him.

Well, this was a definite improvement over last week as far as building the Rumble goes. Austin is still the pretty obvious winner of that match, but I like the twist of Kane appearing to be on Undertaker’s side and Mike Tyson appearing at the show is intriguing as well. There was nothing stand out in the ring or anything, but the promos and build are good enough to make this a 7/10 show.

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.6) Raw (3.4)

Shotgun Saturday Night – January 17
-Owen Hart defeated Brian Christopher
-Faarooq defeated Mark Shrader
-Jose Estrada & Jesus Castillo and Sniper & Recon went to a double disqualification
-Steve Blackman defeated Al Phillips
-Tom Brandi defeated Jimmy Cicero

Remembering the week of January 12, 1998…

On The Billboard Hot 100 (January 10):
5. 3 AM – matchbox 20
4. You Make Me Wanna - Usher
3. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
2. Fly – Sugar Ray
1. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba

At The Box Office (January 9-11):
5. Tomorrow Never Dies
4. Wag The Dog
3. As Good As It Gets
2. Good Will Hunting
1. Titanic

In Sports:
January 11 – In the NFL, Green Bay defeats San Francisco 23-10 and Denver defeats Pittsburgh 24-21 in the conference championship games to advance to Super Bowl XXXII.

In The News:
January 8 – Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for his role in orchestrating the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

[The Best There Is]

1998 Royal Rumble Results:
-Vader defeated The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust via pinfall
-Max Mini, Nova, & Mosaic defeated El Torito, Tarantula, & Battallion via pinfall
-The Rock defeated Ken Shamrock via reverse decision to retain the IC Title
-The Legion of Doom defeated The New Age Outlaws via DQ so The Outlaws retained the Tag Team Titles
-Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble match last eliminating The Rock
-Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker in a Casket Match to retain the WWF Title when Kane chokeslammed Undertaker into the casket. Afterwards, Kane and Paul Bearer lit the casket on fire, presumably killing The Undertaker.
-Mike Tyson was in attendance for the show and will also be appearing on Raw tonight.

Raw Is War – January 19, 1998 (Live)
Venue: Selland Arena, Fresno, CA
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-We open with a recap of Kane making the save for Undertaker last week, seemingly putting them on the same side. But then last night, Kane revealed that it was all part of a plan as he and Paul Bearer trapped Undertaker in the casket and then lit it on fire.

-So we then have Paul Bearer coming out to gloat. He gets some big time heat for this as he says that his performance two weeks ago should have won a Golden Globe. Then last week when Kane and The Undertaker gave their hand gestures to each other, and we all saw Taker smile for the first time ever, he knew that he had us all fooled. The Undertaker is now gone, and we are never going to see him again. Taker’s music then hits and we have some druids wheeling out the battered and burnt casket from last night. While this is happening, JR fills us in on what happened after they went off the air last night, which was that the fire was put out and the casket was opened, but Undertaker was nowhere to be found. I guess they didn’t look under the ring. Anyways, the casket makes it to ringside, but Kane pops out instead giving Bearer another chance to have a hearty laugh. A good start, but it took way longer than it needed to.


Paul Bearer's plan to eliminate The Undertaker seems to have worked.

-Coming up tonight we will hear from Mike Tyson regarding his major announcement, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Degeneration X.

-And we hear from DX right after the break as HHH brags about taking Owen Hart out of the Rumble last night and tells him that he may as well pack his bags and go South because he’s just proving Owen doesn’t belong here. Shawn then proved why he’s the Showstopper, the Icon, and the Main Event by beating Undertaker in his own match. But he’s feeling kind of guilty about what happened afterwards. So to show they’re not all bad, they are going to find The Undertaker and bring him back.

DOA vs. Faarooq, Kama Mustafa, & D-Lo Brown – This is a boring match that the crowd is way into for some reason. I guess they’re just a hot crowd in general to be into this. They all trade off for a bit before Skull ends up as face in peril. D-Lo misses a moonsault and Chainz gets the hot tag, but it immediately breaks down into a six way. The crowd goes nuts for this again but that quickly turns to boos as the double DQ is called for at the five minute mark. The Rock and Mark Henry run in for a beat down but Ken Shamrock and Ahmed Johnson make the save. Shamrock and The Rock still have unfinished business from last night.

-As we go to break, a hearse is seen entering the arena leading to speculation that Undertaker may be inside. Then we get Vince Russo (as Vic Venom) on TV as he does a promo for WWF Magazine and Raw Magazine. He was the editor-in-chief of both at the time, and would also be on the booking team by this point.


Everyone's favourite guy wants you to subscribe to his magazines.

Tom Brandi vs. Marvelous Marc Mero (w/Sable) – Sable is allowed at ringside this week, but Mero makes he wear a robe that reads “Property of Marvelous Marc Mero” and hold the ropes open for him. Brandi attacks, but the crowd is way more into Sable than his offence. Someone delivers her a bouquet of flowers, which serves to piss Mero off. He tries sending her to the back, but Brandi attacks him again and she ends up sticking around. Brandi gets a few nearfalls that the crowd does get into, but in the end Sable distracts the referee and that lets Mero hit the low blow and the TKO for the pin in three and a half minutes. Not that bad for the time given and having to fit the Sable angle in too.


Sable is forced to let the world know who she belongs to.

-DX investigates the hearse, but they just find it full of rats. Women that is, not rodents. Chyna has a great “oh, you guys” look on her face as she just shuts the door after Shawn and HHH get dragged inside.


Chyna reacts to Shawn and HHH getting dragged into the hearse.

-After the break we have another vehicle pulling in, but this time it’s Mike Tyson’s limo. We see that Shane McMahon was travelling with him as they and the rest of the entourage make their way inside.

The Quebecers vs. Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie – This is the return of The Quebecers, although they get no entrance, which also denies us their awesome music, but in the end they don’t use that music on this run anyways. Cactus and Chainsaw take it to them early on, but eventually Charlie ends up isolated. He takes a piledriver from each guy and then they setup a spike piledriver, but Cactus saves and cleans house. The ref orders him out, but Cactus just gives him the Mandible Claw which draws a DQ in three and a half minutes. The brawl continues on with Charlie hitting a pump splash to the floor on everyone and later Jacques backdropping Pierre over the top onto Cactus. Cactus eventually grabs the barbed wire bat and clears everyone out. This was a fun match and I liked The Quebecers in their initial run so I was excited to see them back, but in the end they don’t amount to much here.


This show featured the surprise return of The Quebecers.

-The investigation continues as DX questions the minis about Undertaker. They’re torn between using short jokes and Mexican jokes before giving up.

NWA North American Championship Match: Jeff Jarrett (w/Jim Cornette & The Rock and Roll Express) vs. Blackjack Bradshaw (w/Blackjack Windham) – Bradshaw gets jumped but makes a quick recovery and takes it to Jarrett. The announcers put over Bradshaw lasting over 45 minutes in the Rumble last night and how he’s got a great future ahead of him. Morton and Gibson trip him up from the floor and then work in some more cheap shots to help Jarrett out as the ref is continually distracted by all the other folks at ringside. It’s noted that Windham isn’t doing much to help his partner even the odds here. After a powerbomb by Bradshaw, Cornette takes the ref again and the R&R’s get in the ring. Bradshaw clears them out but now Windham is in the ring and he ends up accidentally hitting Bradshaw with a lariat. Jarrett gets the pin off of that to retain the title in just under four minutes. A beatdown follows with Windham slow to make the save. When he does get in, he completes the turn by dropping Bradshaw with another lariat. He then celebrates with his new NWA buddies as the announcers speculate on who else Cornette may be recruiting. The Blackjacks never really went anywhere as a team, but they seem to be pretty high on Bradshaw, even this early, so the breakup makes sense to get him started on going somewhere.


Barry Windham returns to his NWA roots.

-DX is discussing their unsuccessful quest to find The Undertaker with Shawn claiming to be disappointed in breaking his promise to the fans that they would find him. HHH then points at something off camera and the lights go out so we have a cliffhanger going into the War Zone.

-Which indeed starts with Undertaker’s music and we can see someone descending from the top of the arena in the darkness. Of course it turns out to be Shawn Michaels dressed in Undertaker’s coat and then we have HHH and Chyna bring out a BBQ and a bunch of supplies for a cookout. HHH asks if Shawn got the coat at a fire sale. Shawn takes all the credit for finishing off Taker for good, and asks if we want him rare, medium, or well done. HHH, who is wearing an apron that reads “S*ck The Cook”, then moves on to talking about Owen Hart. He makes fun of him for tripping over the ramp last night, but also has an opportunity for him. Next week he is graciously going to put the coveted European Championship on the line against him, because he only needs one leg to beat him anyways. For the ladies, they can forget about Space Mountain, because that’s old and broken down. If they want a ride to see the stars, he’s got the rocket for them right here, which he says while holding a large salami that they brought with them. Then the comedy segment ends, and without missing a beat Shawn goes right into serious mode by asking who is next in line. Well we have the winner of the Royal Rumble, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin has been Tag Team Champion, and Intercontinental Champion, but Shawn has been there and done that. Austin may have quite the winning streak going, but the one mountain he has never been able to climb is winning the WWF Championship and not only is Shawn at the top of that mountain, he owns that mountain. Austin can talk to everyone back in the locker room, and he can talk to everyone that Shawn has sent packing down South, and they will all tell him exactly the same thing: Shawn Michaels lays down for absolutely nobody. The comedy was kind of amusing, but when Shawn got serious at the end it was great so good segment overall.


DX has some fun with what happened to The Undertaker last night.

Los Boriquas vs. Owen Hart, Taka Michinoku, & The Headbangers – That’s kind of a strange babyface combination, but whatever. Honky Tonk Man is on commentary here for no apparent reason. It’s not much of a match either as it ends up breaking down into an 8 way brawl and in the chaos Owen hooks the Sharpshooter on Jose and gets the submission win in about three minutes. Michael Cole then interviews him about the challenge from HHH. Owen says that he smells a setup, but he’ll take any opportunity to get his hands on HHH so of course he accepts.

Rocky Maivia vs. Ahmed Johnson – This is a non-title match. Ahmed doesn’t look good here as he seems to have let himself fall way out of shape, although his long list of injuries certainly doesn’t help with that. He gets stomped charging in and clearly screams “fuck” after taking a suplex. Rocky hits the People’s Elbow, still unnamed and with no fanfare at this point, for a 2 count. Ahmed makes a comeback so Mark Henry joins us at ringside. As Ahmed goes to hit the ropes, Henry clocks him with a chair and that lets Rocky hit the Rock Bottom for the pin in three minutes. Speaking of Rock Bottom, that’s where Ahmed’s stock is at this point. This actually ends up being his final match on Raw as he is gone following the next PPV.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: The New Age Outlaws vs. The Godwinns – I don’t know if it’s the first time they’ve been there, but this show is the first time I’ve noticed the wacky double letters in their Titantron video so from this point on I will change the official spellings of the Outlaws’ names to the familiar “Road Dogg” and “Badd Ass”. The Outlaws wear overalls as a tribute to The Godwinns and try to talk things out, but quickly get attacked. We have two heel teams here so there’s not much heat, and then they proceed to have a strange match where The Godwinns do nothing but absolutely dominate Billy Gunn. Gunn doesn’t even get in so much as a punch. It gets to the point where the fans start cheering The Godwinns for kicking so much ass. In the end, the ref puts Henry out after a double team and Road Dogg, who never even got in the ring, tosses Gunn a stuffed pig that they brought with them. Gunn nails Phineas with it and gets the pin to retain in five minutes. The pig is then revealed to have been loaded with a brick.

-Ok, so now we come to the really well known part of this show. All night they’ve been hyping that Mike Tyson will be out in the ring, and that Steve Austin will be as well, and now there’s only one segment left so you can put two and two together on that. Vince McMahon comes out to some slight booing. He introduces Tyson, who makes his way out with his entourage to a mixed reaction. He’s not heavily cheered or booed, but there’s definitely some of both in there.


Iron Mike Tyson has come to Monday Night Raw.

-Vince says it’s a pleasure to have him here and asks who some of his favourite wrestlers are and Tyson’s answers are Bruno Sammartino and Nikolai Volkoff. Vince, who I’m sure was hoping for a little more current names to be dropped there, jokes that he’s probably a fan of Don Leo Jonathan as well and quickly moves on to why we’re here. And that is to make the official announcement that on March 29 at Wrestlemania XIV, Mike Tyson will be… But before he can finish it, Steve Austin’s music hits. All the refs and officials follow him out as he goes through his routine until Vince demands to know what he’s doing out here. Austin says that all night he’s been watching Mike Tyson shake hands and make friends in the back and it’s making him sick. He respects what Tyson has done in the boxing ring, but when you step in this ring you’re messing with Stone Cold Steve Austin. To make it short and sweet, Austin wants a piece of Mike Tyson’s ass. He can call himself the baddest man on the planet all he wants, but right now he is looking at the world’s toughest son of a bitch. Can Tyson beat me? Hell no. Can I beat him? Oh hell yeah, any day of the week and twice on Sunday. If his hearing isn’t good enough to understand any of that, then Austin also has some sign language for him, and he flips Tyson the double bird.


Stone Cold flips off Mike Tyson.

Tyson gives him a shove and they try to get at each other but are held apart by the twenty or so guys in the ring. As they try and drag Austin out of the ring, Vince famously screams at him “You ruined it! You ruined it, damnit!” JR is awesome in selling all of this on commentary too. We take a quick break and return with a recap of the pull apart, and then close off the show by cutting to the back where Vince is profusely apologizing to Tyson, who is completely pissed off. What a great angle.


"You ruined it, damnit."

“It’ll get people talking” as a reasoning for doing something in pro wrestling is usually derided, and rightly so in most cases, but this is the prototype that they’re following. The next day, the clip of the Tyson/Austin angle was all over the mainstream and it was the spark that set off the boom period that was to come. The WWF had a lot of other good things going for it at the time which meant that when new or retuning fans tuned in to see what was going on with Tyson, they became hooked. Wrestlemania goes on to be a huge success, and the ratings war turns around soon after that and this right here got the ball rolling. The rest of the show was very forgettable, and the build for the next PPV four weeks away was almost non existant but when you have an angle this big that’s completely forgivable. For the long term impact it had, I don’t see how I can give this show anything other than a 10/10.

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.5) Raw (4.0)

Shotgun Saturday Night – January 24
-The Legion of Doom defeated The Rock and Roll Express via DQ
-Mark Henry defeated The Black Phantom
-Steve Blackman defeated Bob Bradley
-Max Mini defeated El Torito
-El Pantera defeated Chilongo

Remembering the week of January 19, 1998…

On The Billboard Charts (January 17):
5. I Don’t Want To Wait – Paula Cole
4. You Make Me Wanna… - Usher
3. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
2. Fly – Sugar Ray
1. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba

At The Box Office (January 16-19):
5. Hard Rain
4. As Good As It Gets
3. Fallen
2. Good Will Hunting
1. Titanic

In Sports:
January 18 – Team North America defeats Team World 8-7 at the 48th NHL All Star Game in Vancouver. Teemu Selanne is the game’s MVP.

In The News:
January 15 – NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space aboard the shuttle Discovery later in the year, 36 years after his initial space flight.

[The Best There Is]

Raw Is War – January 26, 1998 (Tape Date: January 20)
Venue: Recreation Hall, Davis, CA
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-We open this week with a recap of the Tyson/Austin confrontation from last week including several clips of the mainstream press that it got. We also find out here that the announcement that was never made was that Tyson was going to be named a guest referee for Wrestlemania. But the word now is that Tyson wants a fight with Austin instead. Tonight we will hear from Don King regarding what happened last week, as well as Shawn Michaels, who is tentatively scheduled to defend the WWF Title against Austin at Wrestlemania, unless things change.

Mark Henry (w/The Nation of Domination) vs. Ken Shamrock (w/Ahmed Johnson & DOA) – Out first match for No Way Out, which is on February 15 in Houston, is announced here and it’s a ten man tag team match dubbed “The War of Attrition” involving all these men. If that name has any meaning as far as a stipulation goes, it’s not mentioned here. But for now it’s one on one with Shamrock taking on the man who turned on him two weeks ago. Henry is very green, so most of the early part of the match is spent in a bearhug after he overpowers Shamrock. Shamrock eventually escapes and nails a belly to belly suplex, but The Nation runs in for the DQ just past the three minute mark. Shamrock’s buddies then make the save and clear the ring. Not a very exciting opener.


Ken Shamrock will lead his team against The Nation at No Way Out.

-After a break we get some exclusive footage from after the Royal Rumble went off the air. The officials put out the fire and break open the casket only to find that The Undertaker was not even inside. They should have checked under the ring. That’s followed by a recap of Paul Bearer’s comments from last week.


After the fire was put out, The Undertaker's casket was revealed to be empty. Could he be alive after all?

Jeff Jarrett & Barry Windham (w/Jim Cornette & The Rock & Roll Express) vs. The Legion of Doom – Windham, who has shaved his moustache since last week, gets an inset promo to explain turning on Bradshaw. He says that he’s tired of the clown show that is the WWF, and he’s tired of carrying around a worthless partner, so as the greatest NWA Champion of all time he is returning to his roots where wrestling still matters. Cornette rants on commentary about how he’s going to bring the outlaw WWF back under the jurisdiction of the NWA while Windham, and later Jarrett are handled easily by LOD. Eventually the R&R’s provide the distraction and that lets them take over on Hawk for a bit. After a collision with Jarrett, he makes the tag to Animal, who cleans house. Hawk ends up going after Morton and Gibson, which draws the attention of the ref, and that allows Cornette to toss the tennis racket to Windham, who nails Animal for the three count in five minutes. I’m still not buying them as a big time heel group though.

-In one of the lesser known WWF crossovers from this period, we get a clip of Shawn Michaels appearing on the game show “Pictionary” hosted by Alan Thicke. It’s a short clip, but Shawn still manages to work in a dick joke.


SHawn Michaels appeared on Pictionary with Alan Thicke this week.

-From there we go to the DX locker room where Chyna is wrapping up HHH’s knee as he winces in pain. He promises that Owen Hart will see HHH tonight like he’s never seen him before, and while he may not be 100%, even at 50% he’s still more man than Owen ever will be. Tonight will be the final flush that ships Owen down South where he belongs. Shawn then talks about how embarrassed he is to have seen what happened with Tyson and Austin last week. After all the hard work he’s done building this company up, Austin has to go and throw it away like that. But, if they want at each other so badly, he is in fact willing to step aside from his match with Austin at Wrestlemania in order to allow it to happen. HHH says that’s great and all, but the Icon, Showstopper, and Main Event has to be involved in Wrestlemania somehow. They toss around ideas like handling Sable or managing a mini, but then he takes his jacket off to reveal a striped shirt, so Chyna suggests that he referee the match. Everyone is happy with that idea, and you can just ask The Undertaker how great he is at it.


Tonight, Owen Hart will (supposedly) get his hands on HHH.

The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (w/Luna) vs. Vader – This is a rematch from Royal Rumble which Vader won clean. They claim that Goldust is dressed as Vader here, but other than the fact that whatever he’s wearing is black and red, there’s no similarity whatsoever. Vader dominates the match except for a brief period following a low blow by Goldust. He hits a powerbomb and the Vader Bomb, but before he can cover, the lights go out and here comes Kane. They go at it and Vader hits a piledriver, but Kane just sits up. He then impressively picks up Vader and drops him with a Tombstone. With Undertaker MIA for the time being they needed an interim program for Kane and so here it is. No decision was ever announced, but presumably it’s Vader by DQ at the four minute mark.


Kane drops Vader with a Tombstone to setup their match at the PPV.

The New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie – The Outlaws are out in baseball catchers gear which we find out also includes cups as Road Dogg no sells a low blow. This is where they announce that the main event for No Way Out will be an eight man tag team match with Shawn Michaels, HHH, & The New Age Outlaws against Stone Cold Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack, & Chainsaw Charlie. Charlie gets worked over for a while, but eventually manages to stumble his way into a tag. Jack runs wild, dropping Gunn with a double arm DDT, but Dogg makes the save. Charlie starts tossing chairs in the ring, including one that lands right on Gunn, which must have felt great. Dogg grabs one, but gets it booted into his face by Jack, who then pulls his cup out so that he can give Dogg a low blow. He nails Dogg with the chair and then drops an elbow with it on to Gunn whom Charlie has laid out on the floor. This is all happening right in front of the ref and as I’m wondering if I missed this being announced as no DQ, he does indeed call for the bell and awards the match to The Outlaws at the five minute mark. The ref then takes the Mandible Claw before the beating continues, including Charlie doing a moonsault onto Gunn, who is buried in chairs. That was quite the intense beating, but nothing is settled yet in this feud.


Chainsaw Charlie moonsaults onto Road Dogg, who is under the pile of chairs.

-A nice little video package puts Taka Michinoku over as the top dog in the Light Heavyweight Division. That leads into this next match to find a contender for him.

#1 Contenders Match: Brian Christopher vs. Pantera - Honky Tonk Man is the guest ring announcer for this, and the winner will challenge Taka at No Way Out. Ross again accuses Lawler of being Christopher’s father and asks him to remain unbiased, so Lawler says that regardless of who wins, he is going to go in that ring and shake their hand. Christopher controls him early on with a German suplex. Pantera comes back with a dropkick to the floor and suicide dive, but gets caught on a handspring elbow back in the ring. Pantera gets a quick rollup for two after getting the boots up as Christopher comes off the second rope, but can’t capitalize. Christopher sets up the Tennessee Jam, but ends up missing and that gives Pantera the opening for a Magistral cradle to get the surprise win in four and a half minutes. Lawler gets in the ring and offers his hand, but ends up laying him out with a couple of kicks to make our new top contender look like a joke. The match wasn’t any good, and no one cared about Pantera. They should have just done Taka and Christopher again since that was the feud that had been built up all this time.


Pantera is the new number one contender for the Light Heavyweight Title.

-We then go backstage for a promo with Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie, but before we can get anything out of them, DX crashes the scene. The claim they don’t want any trouble, but of course it’s really a distraction so The New Age Outlaws can charge through the set and attack. A 4 on 2 beatdown follows as Owen and Austin are nowhere to be found for the moment.

The Headbangers vs. The Quebecers – This was a short match that just went back and forth with no real highlights. Pierre goes up top looking to setup a finisher, but Thrasher knocks him off and Mosh then gets a rollup on Jacques for the three count in about three minutes. The Quebecers then attack again and lay out Mosh with the Boston Crab/second rope legdrop combo. This wasn’t really a good showing by either team.

European Championship Match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Owen Hart – Or so we were led to believe. Instead we have TAFKA Goldust coming out dressed as HHH, complete with fake nose and blonde wig, and with Luna as Chyna. Owen yells at HHH to quit being a coward, so Goldust attacks and the match is on. Goldust controls the first few minutes and works a chinlock while Owen works in a few quick nearfalls.


Goldust is here to wrestle on HHH's behalf.

We take a commercial and then return with Owen making his comeback. He nails a spin kick, ensiguiri, and missile dropkick, but Luna trips him up after that. Goldust sets up a Pedigree, but Owen counters and hooks the Sharpshooter for the submission in five minutes plus a commercial. DX then appears on the screen to gloat about pulling one over on Owen yet again and call him an idiot for believing he was getting a Title shot tonight. Commissioner Slaughter then comes out and applauds their efforts. They really had him fooled too. In fact, they did such a great job of fooling him into signing this European Championship match that he is going to consider it official and declare Owen as the new champion. Owen celebrates with the belt as Shawn and HHH rant about how this is garbage. Obviously HHH wasn’t about to do a job for Owen under any circumstances, so this was probably the only way he was ever getting that belt.


Owen Hart wins the European Title.

-From there we get more clips of the mainstream coverage that the Tyson/Austin angle got last week, which leads into Don King sending in his comments. He says that while it is clear that Austin and Tyson want each other, Tyson is currently suspended from fighting by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Nevertheless, he and Vince McMahon are going to get together and do what they can to make this thing happen at Wrestlemania.


The WWF got a lot of press for last week's big angle.

-Stone Cold Steve Austin then comes out for our main event promo. JR plugs that Wrestlemania tickets are going on sale next Monday which is less than two months out from the date of the show. This year’s tickets are going on sale November 16 for a comparison. And I’m sure it’s not coincidental that they’re pushing the possibility of Austin vs. Tyson hard in the week leading up to the on sale date rather than what we will end up getting in Austin vs. Michaels with Tyson as enforcer. It certainly would have sold out anyways, but still comes off as kinda sleazy. Anyways, Austin keeps it pretty short here in saying that if Tyson thought that he was going to get away with shoving him like that then he’s got another thing coming. He’ll find out pretty fast that you don’t mess with Stone Cold and he doesn’t care if they’re in Tyson’s backyard, his own backyard, or the backyard of anyone in this audience because wherever they meet again, Tyson is gonna get his ass whipped. Austin says that on February 15, he will be in Houston, Texas and challenges Tyson to be there as well so that he can knock his ass out. This promo was fine, although it was hyping up something that they were never going to deliver.


Steve Austin wants another piece of Mike Tyson.

This show was definitely a letdown after last week, but that’s to be expected after the high of last week. Nothing was that good in the ring, although we did get a title change so there was at least one noteworthy thing. We got a few matches setup for the next PPV, which is shaping up to be a pretty pointless show. All in all, this was pretty much just a placeholder show meant to let our big angle settle in. On its own it gets a 5/10.

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.7) Raw (3.5)

Shotgun Saturday Night – January 31
-Jeff Jarrett defeated Chainz
-Taka Michinoku defeated Jesus Castillo
-Kurrgan defeated Michael Modest
-Bradshaw defeated Donovan Morgan
-Nova & Mosaic defeated Tarantula & Batallion

Remembering The Week Of January 26, 1998…

On The Billboard Charts (January 24):
5. You Make Me Wanna… - Usher
4. My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion
3. Fly – Sugar Ray
2. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
1. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba

At The Box Office (January 23-25):
5. Fallen
4. As Good As It Gets
3. Good Will Hunting
2. Spice World
1. Titanic

In Sports:
January 25 – The Denver Broncos defeat the Green Bay Packers 31-24 in Super Bowl XXXII at San Diego. Terrell Davis is the game’s MVP.

In The News:
January 26 – US President Bill Clinton cuts one of his most well known promos, declaring “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” in reference to the Monica Lewinsky scandal which had broken publically earlier in the week.

[The Best There Is]

Raw Is War – February 2, 1998 (Live)
Venue: Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-We start the show with DX holding a press conference to respond to the network drawing the line on their antics. They understand this, and will now present the new code to which they will adhere in the future. Between 9 and 10 pm they will only use the words “ass” “damn”, and “hell”. They then list six words they will not say, which are all bleeped, nor will they use any other sexual or racial slurs. From 10 to 11 pm they will continue to say “ass”, “hell”, and “damn”, but one additional word is now acceptable as well. We don’t know which one though because it’s not 10 pm yet and they still have to bleep it. The other five words will remain off limits and so will all other sexual and racial slurs. They also promise that there will be a reduced number of references to their enormous genitals. Shawn closes off with a Bill Clinton joke, saying that he did not sleep with that intern because they were up all night. This was crudely amusing, but had nothing to do with anything in the end.


DX addresses network concerns over their recent antics.

-After the opening, we then get DX coming out to the ring with Shawn and HHH dressed as Uncle Sam, demanding that justice prevail so that Steve Austin and Mike Tyson can fight each other at Wrestlemania. JR notes here that tickets went on sale this morning and sold out in 90 seconds. Some bunches of balloons were dropped from the top of the arena as they came out and so the crowd becomes obsessed with poppimg them for the next few minutes. They do end up getting the crowd to chant “let them fight” before Austin comes out. He’s thankful for the support because he can whip Mike Tyson’s ass anytime. But winning the Royal Rumble means that at Wrestlemania, it’s Shawn’s ass that belongs to him. Whether they do it then or right here tonight, that belt is coming over to him, and that’s the bottom line. Now that the tickets are sold, we can start focusing on our real main event instead of the fantasy one, I suppose. Cynicism aside, this was a really good promo from Austin and shows you don’t have to drone on for twenty minutes to get people excited about a match. Coming up later on tonight, we’ll have three matches involving our No Way Out main eventers as Austin will face Road Dogg, Owen Hart will defend his newly won European Title against Billy Gunn, and up next it will be partners against each other as Cactus Jack faces Chainsaw Charlie.


Steve Austin lets Shawn Michaels know that he's coming for the belt at Wrestlemania.

-Earlier today, JR sat down with both Mick Foley and Terry Funk to discuss why they’re fighting each other in a hardcore match tonight. Foley tells a story about how ten years ago there was a World Champion who told him that nobody cares about him or his style and he’ll be in a wheelchair by 30. Well he’s 32 now, so he’s on borrowed time, and while being Dude Love may be fun and all, it’s his exploits as Cactus Jack that he wants to be remembered for. If he’s gonna go down, he’s gonna go down swinging. Funk says that the winner tonight will be considered the King of Hardcore and since he’s been a hardcore wrestler all his life, he wants to make sure that’s his moniker. He doesn’t have much time left to cement himself, but he could very well do it tonight. Foley then jokingly suggests that they may end each other’s careers right here.


Earlier today, JR sat down with Mick Foley and Terry Funk to discuss why they are wrestling each other tonight.

Chainsaw Charlie vs. Cactus Jack – This is an anything goes, falls count anywhere match, with Charlie wheeling down a garbage cart full of weapons to start. Cactus then gets on the mic and says that he’s got a real garbage can for him, and proceeds to wheel out a large dumpster, also full of weapons. Charlie tries attacking with a chair to start, but gets thwarted. Jack hits a double arm DDT for a 2 count. An inside cradle attempt sees them roll down the ramp. They get in the ring where they exchange garbage can shots including a bit where they both insist that the other guy hit them. After a commercial break they’re fighting on the stage again with Charlie doing a helicopter spot with a ladder. He then sets up a table and they get on it, but Cactus backdrops him into the dumpster. After putting Charlie down with the Mandible Claw, Jack climbs onto the scaffolding of the Titantron and drops an elbow onto Charlie in the dumpster. Then we get the part that this is well remembered for as The New Age Outlaws appear. They tie the dumpster shut and after a bit of a debate on what to do with it, they decide to roll it off the side of the stage. There were some tables setup down there to break the fall, but it looked impressive. JR is awesome, of course, in calling this as he screams “THERE”S PEOPLE IN THERE” as the dumpster rolls over the side.


The New Age Outlaws trap Cactus and Charlie in the dumpster and then roll them off the stage.


The locker room empties in a show of concern.

-Now we go into serious injury mode as the officials and a bunch of wrestlers pour out of the back to check on Cactus and Charlie. We have heels and faces out there together showing their concern to sell this as legit. Vince McMahon is out as well and we see him chastising The Outlaws, who claim that they never meant to hurt anyone like this. The ambulance pulls into the arena as we go to a break. When we return, Cactus and Charlie are being placed on stretchers. JR says that The Outlaws have gone too far in their attempt to get over by going into business for themselves like this. A few of the guys are trying to get at them, Flash Funk in particular, and a brief brawl breaks out, but the officials are there to keep them separated. Kevin Kelly speculates that this is going to end up in wrester’s court later on. We see Sunny crying as they are loaded into the ambulance and taken out.


The Outlaws plead their case to Vince McMahon.


Foley and Funk are loaded into the ambulance.

-After another break, they recap what happened again, and then we have The Outlaws backstage. JR asks if they are that desperate to get over. Dogg says that they don’t get a lot of opportunities, so when they see one they are going to take it, although they are looking distraught over what they’ve done. DX then comes in and tells them to suck it up and stop worrying about it. We are all constantly being asked to outdo ourselves, rise above the bar, and do things that are going to draw the ratings. You need to start thinking about yourselves and use people to get over like this because if you don’t do it to them, they will do it to you. After one more recap, JR lets us know that Michael Cole has been dispatched to the hospital and will send us an update on Cactus and Charlie’s conditions when he has it, and that brings the first hour to an end. All in all, about forty minutes was devoted to this, so they certainly gave it the time it needed to sink in as a big deal. The angle as a whole was really good.

European Championship Match: Owen Hart vs. Badd Ass Billy Gunn (w/Road Dogg Jesse Jammes) – This kicks off the War Zone. Road Dogg skips the mic work during the entrance after they get heavily booed coming out. Owen then charges in and cleans house, sending both to the floor and taking it to Gunn out there. JR tells us that information regarding Wrestlemania will be released this Thursday during a press conference at The All Star Café in New York with Mike Tyson, Steve Austin, and Shawn Michaels in attendance. Other than that the commentary is mostly talking about Foley and Funk. Owen rolls through a sunset flip and hooks the Sharpshooter, but Road Dogg hits the ring for the DQ in about five and a half minutes. DX also comes out and so we have a five on one beatdown. They drag Owen up the ramp and then Shawn and HHH demand that The Outlaws top what they’ve already done tonight by throwing Owen off the stage as well. They seem unsure of this, but are eventually convinced. As they set him up though, a bunch of refs and officials show up to prevent it.

-Michael Cole then calls in and reports that the ambulance has arrived at the hospital and Foley and Funk are being worked on as we speak, but there is no word as to their condition.

Mosh (w/Thrasher) vs. Marvelous Marc Mero (w/Sable) – Mero demands that Sable put on her robe and then berates her and sends her to the back. He even suggests that she hit the Stairmaster because she’s put on a few pounds lately. They also seem to be teasing a secret admirer deal with her as she was brought a box of chocolates here (which Mero promptly tosses away) to go with the flowers she was brought a few weeks back. So with her gone, Mero has someone who can really watch is back, and it turns out to be Goldust, dressed tonight as Marilyn Manson. Mero handles things early on, and Goldust helps out by dropping Mosh on the barricade. Mosh gets a bit of a comeback going, but Goldust grabs his leg from this floor. Mosh and Thrasher work together to lay him out, but this just gives Mero the opportunity to hit a low blow on Mosh and get a rollup for the pin in two and a half minutes. This is setting up a tag match at the PPV, but that’s not official yet.

-Backstage we have Bradshaw and the NWA on a split screen and JR asks Barry Windham when he’s going to man up and face Bradshaw in the ring. Windham says that he has a better partner right here in Jeff Jarrett than Bradshaw ever was, so if Bradshaw can find someone willing to team with him they can go at it tonight. Bradshaw says that’s just fine with him and he’ll drag a broom handle or Bozo The Clown out there if he has to just to get his hands on Windham.


Bradshaw can't wait to get his hands on Barry Windham.

-After that we have a Tiger Ali Singh promo video. It’s claimed here that he’s said to have the potential to be the Asian equivalent of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, but he wants any movie career or endorsements he might receive to be put on hold for now. He wants nothing to get in the way of his primary goal which is to be recognized as the greatest fighter in the world. Well, we’ll see how that goes for him, I guess.


Out of the blue here we get a Tiger Ali Singh video package.

Faarooq (w/The NOD) vs. Chainz (w/Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson, Skull, & 8 Ball) – As they go back and forth, we get another report from Michael Cole at the hospital and he lets us know that Funk is now conscious, but it’s still touch and go for Foley. He’ll get back to us again if anything changes. Back in the ring, Kama sets up to trip Chainz coming off the ropes, but the whip is reversed and he grabs Faarooq instead. He was clearly looking at what he was doing though so I suppose we have the question of whether or not he did it on purpose although the announcers don’t bring that up. Faarooq is pissed though and goes out to argue the point with the rest of The Nation having to hold them apart, but this leads to him getting counted out in three and a half minutes. Faarooq teases walking out on everyone, but ends up making peace and then ordering them to stand at his side and salute in a show of solidarity. Clearly all is not well within The Nation.


The Nation stands together... for the moment.

Jeff Jarrett & Barry Windham (w/Rock & Roll Express & Jim Cornette) vs. Bradshaw & Flash Funk – The story of course is that Bradshaw wants Windham for turning on him a few weeks back, but that gives Jarrett the chance to attack him from behind. Funk and Bradshaw take control, but with the ref distracted, the R&R’s lay out Funk and drop him on the guardrail. Some refs come out and help him to the back as we go to commercial. We come back with Bradshaw still dominating in spite of having no partner. More interference finally gives Team NWA an advantage, so Windham finally wants the tag and he takes hit to Bradshaw for a bit. After a tag back to Jarrett, Bradshaw connects with a double clothesline out of nowhere, and gets the pin on Jarrett, to a pretty big pop actually, in about four minutes plus the commercial. It’s mentioned in passing here that Bradshaw will be challenging Jarrett for the North American Title at No Way Out. After the match, Bradshaw no sells a racket shot from Cornette and goes after him, but the four on one odds catch up with him and he’s beaten down. Jarrett hooks the figure four and Windham splashes the knee while JR puts over that a knee injury ended his football career. Some good heat for the NWA group here and the people were definitely behind Bradshaw too, so this was pretty good overall.

-Back to Michael Cole at the hospital again as he tells us that there is now a big disturbance going on. Security is everywhere and police have been called, but before we can get much more than that, the phone goes dead.


Michael Cole reports that all Hell has broken loose at the hospital.

-Then we have the return to television of Wink Collins, who you may remember as the guy who gave us the clues in the Summerslam million dollar contest last year. He also played a game show host in one of the Billionaire Ted skits. I have no idea who this guy is by the way. Presumably he worked in the office or something, but I really don’t know. Anyways, he makes the announcement that Wrestlemania tickets went on sale this morning and sold out in 90 seconds. But this is just a setup for the lights to go out so that Kane can make an appearance. Wink sticks around, obviously hoping that Kane is not in a fighting mood, but he’s wrong. Fortunately for him though, Vader makes the save. He gets the mic and says that Kane drew first blood last week, but he wants him in the ring for revenge at No Way Out, so we have another match setup for that show. For tonight though, he’s going to start putting the fire out, and then he sprays Kane with an extinguisher to chase him off.


Wink Collins nearly becomes Kane's latest victim.

Road Dogg Jesse Jammes (w/Badd Ass Billy Gunn) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin – JR tells us that an ambulance has arrived at the building, be we are not sure if it is the same one that took Funk and Foley to the hospital earlier. Gunn does the mic work on the way to the ring here and says that while a lot of people may hate them tonight, when the ratings come in tomorrow they are going to have a lot of fans over at Titan Towers. Due to his neck injury, this is actually Austin’s first official match on Raw since July 28 of last year, although we are very nearly out of time so there probably won’t be much to this. Sure enough, Austin charges in and goes after Gunn, who then returns the favour after Austin turns his attention to Dogg and the match is thrown out in like thirty seconds or so. DX comes out and we have a four on one beatdown on Austin. They tie time him in the ropes and Shawn taunts him with the belt, saying that this is as close as he’ll ever get. Returning from the hospital to make the save we have Cactus Jack, complete with an IV still hooked to his arm, and Chainsaw Charlie in a hospital gown, but still armed with his chainsaw. They run the heels off to close the show.


Shawn tells Austin that this is as close as he will ever come to the WWF Title.

The first hour here was obviously dominated by the big angle and I thought that part of it was great, but it kind of loses a lot of its effectiveness when Foley and Funk make their return an hour later. We’re definitely reaching the point here where other concerns are taking a backseat to the ratings (which were mentioned several times on the show tonight). I thought that the rest of the show was pretty decent to good. No Way Out is setting up to be a pretty meaningless show, but the things being built for beyond that are coming together well. I’ll call this one a 7/10.

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.9) Raw (3.5)

Shotgun Saturday Night – February 7
-Rocky Maivia defeated Tom Brandi
-Savio Vega & Jesus Castillo defeated The Godwinns
-Brian Christopher & Flash Flanagan defeated Taka Michinoku & Pantera
-Miguel Perez & Jose Estrada defeated The Quebecers

Remembering The Week Of February 2, 1998…

On The Billboard Charts (January 31):
5. You Make Me Wanna… - Usher
4. Fly – Sugar Ray
3. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
2. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba
1. My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

At The Box Office (January 30-February 1):
5. As Good As it Gets
4. Spice World
3. Good Will Hunting
2. Great Expectations
1. Titanic

In Sports:
January 31-February 1 – Martina Hingis and Petr Korda win the women’s and men’s singles tournaments at the 1998 Australian Open.

In The News:
January 28 – Ford Motor Company purchases Volvo Cars for the price of $6.45 billion.

[The Best There Is]

Raw Is War – February 9, 1998 (Tape Date: February 3)
Venue: Roberts Municipal Stadium, Evansville, IN
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-We open tonight’s show with Sunny doing a Marilyn Monroe impression as part of a celebration for Classy Freddie Blassie’s 80th birthday, which was the day before. This was a very nice tribute.


Classy Freddie Blassie received a very nice 80th birthday tribute on this show.

-After that we move on to a recap of the main event angle from last week where Shawn Michaels taunted Steve Austin with the belt. Austin then comes out carrying a bag and says that what Shawn did to him last week is something that you just do not do. This Sunday there will be No Way Out for him because he is gonna get a piece of his ass. But now he doesn’t want to wait until Sunday, so he calls Shawn out right now. DX appears on the screen instead with Shawn bragging about how he knows exactly how to pull Austin’s strings. Austin claims to be the baddest SOB in the WWF? Well last week I punked you out like a dog. I call the shots around here, not you, so you will get a piece of me if and when I say so. But if you can give me a good reason to, I will come out there and slap you around again. Austin tells Shawn that he’s got his belt, and if he wants it back he’ll have to come get it. Shawn calls him on that and goes through his stuff, but all he can find is a toy belt. Austin opens his bad to reveal he has indeed stolen it, and tells Shawn that he will be here all night long, so if he wants the belt back he can come out and just ask for it politely. This was a good bit here to start building an issue between these guys.


Steve Austin dares Shawn Michaels to come and get his belt back.

The Legion of Doom vs. Jeff Jarrett & Barry Windham (w/Jim Cornette & The Rock & Roll Express) – Sunny is the guest ring announcer for this match, which is surprising considering there is a Light Heavyweight match later on. This is a rematch from two weeks ago where Team NWA got the win by knocking Animal out with the tennis racket. Hawk takes care of business early on, but after h makes the tag, Animal gets nailed from behind and isolated. The announcers spend most of the match talking about how LOD is going to have to up their game if they still want to compete for the Tag Team Titles here in the WWF. Kelly talks about how he’s heard other teams talking about how LOD has lost a step and suggests that they aren’t able to intimidate their opponents like they used to. Hawk gets the hot tag and it quickly ends up as a four way, but then Hawk is sent to the floor where he gets taken out by the R&R’s. They roll him back in and Jarrett hooks the figure four, but Bradshaw runs in and goes after the entire NWA. They all flee, but are nonetheless awarded the DQ win in about five minutes.

-Meanwhile, DX is putting together a plan to get Shawn’s belt back.

Pierre (w/Jacques) vs. Henry Godwinn (w/Phineas Godwinn) – The Quebecers now have generic music, so all hope of hearing “We’re Not The Mounties” during this run is gone. They show clips of each team costing the other one a match over the weekend on Shotgun which has setup a tag match for the PPV, but tonight it is one on one. Jacques has brought a slop bucket of his own to counteract that of The Godwinns. Pierre is in control to start and he connects with a suicide dive and top rope legdrop, but misses the Cannonball. JR takes a moment to brag about No Way Out selling out the Compaq Center in Houston, while two Rolling Stones concerts in the same building earlier in the week still have tickets available. Henry works over Pierre for a while, but then gets tripped up by Jacques and nailed with the bucket behind the ref’s back. Phineas gives chase, but when the ref goes to put Jacques out of the ring, he nails Pierre with his own bucket and puts Henry on top for the pin in five minutes. Thrilling.

-Chyna interrupts a Los Boriquas card game to ask for their assistance in getting the belt back. This is the first time we’ve ever heard her talk, but she only speaks in Spanish. They end up agreeing to help her.


Chyna recruits Los Boriquas to help get Shawn's belt back.

Brian Christopher & Pantera vs. Taka Michinoku & Aguila – Over the weekend on Shotgun, Taka teamed with Pantera, but in an effort to build some heat for their title match at No Way Out, Pantera turned on him. So now we have them on opposite teams here tonight. Aguila and Pantera start with some Lucha spots before both of the heels are sent to the floor. Aguila nails a corkscrew plancha, and Taka then follows that with his springboard plancha onto both guys. Back in the ring, Aguila misses a moonsault and gets isolated through a commercial break. We come back with the tag to Taka, who takes both guys down with ranas. Christopher goes into his tights for a foreign object, but Taka is able to knock it away. Pantera gets it though so he loads up the mask and knocks Taka out with a headbutt off the top for the pin in five and a half minutes plus the commercial. This was decent, but the fans weren’t into much except for a few to Taka’s spots.


Pantera cheats to win going in to his Light Heavyweight Title match at No Way Out.

-The announcers discuss Chyna trying to find Austin with help from Los Boriquas and speculate that Austin and Michaels will run into each other at some point when the lights go out and we have Kane and Paul Bearer making their way to the ring. Bearer reminds us of the setup for the match on Sunday with Kane Tombstoning Vader two weeks ago, and then Vader attacking Kane with the extinguisher last week. This Sunday will be Vader’s time alright. Vader’s time to be snuffed out that is. And for all the Leeches of the Night who think that their Undertaker may be showing up, they can forget it because he is gone for eternity.

Ken Shamrock & Chainz (w/Ahmed Johnson, Skull, & 8 Ball) vs. Faarooq & Rocky Maivia (w/The Nation) – The crowd starts with a loud “Rocky Sucks” chant so he grabs the mic and says that it’s obvious they all want to know his feelings on human cloning. Well, he’s fine with it as long as it is done selectively, and that means no one here in Evansville should ever be cloned. The teams go back and forth until Chainz is caught outside and takes a beating. Back in the ring Rock drops the still not yet named People’s Elbow for a two count. Faarooq then gets crotched and the leads to a tag to Shamrock and a four way brawl while everyone on the floor goes at it as well. Shamrock gets Faarooq in the ankle lock, but Rock comes in and clocks him with a chair to give Farrooq the pin in four and a half minutes. Shamrock goes nuts afterwards as he goes after ref and even nails Chainz with a suplex, but his teammates eventually calm him down. This is all leading to a ten man tag team match this Sunday.

-Then we have extended highlights from the Wrestlemania press conference held last Thursday at the All Star Café in New York. It seems odd at first that they’re doing this in New York for a show in Boston, but I guess that with the show already a sellout it’s much more important to get national coverage than local. Vince McMahon, Mike Tyson, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and DX are all in attendance and we have official confirmation of the main event, which will be Shawn Michaels defending the WWF Title against Austin with Tyson as the enforcer. We get plenty of soundbites from everyone involved and as usual it sounds weird seeing wrestlers cut their promos in front of an audience of serious journalists. Naturally it ends up getting physical with Shawn and Austin getting in each other’s faces, so Tyson gets in between them for the big photo op. This is followed by a montage of all the coverage they got and overall it did a great job of building Wrestlemania up as a big deal so thumbs up to them.


Tyson gets between Austin and Michaels at the Wrestlemania press conference last Thursday.

Steve Blackman vs. Recon (w/Sniper) – As the match begins, The Jackyl descends from the top of the arena on a pulpit and cuts a promo on the WWF and how they fear him and his revolution. He details all that he has done to take Kurrgan, Recon, and Sniper from obscurity to turn them into the men that they are today while the crowd chants for him to “shut up”. Meanwhile, in the ring, Recon misses off the second rope and gets caught in an armbar for the submission in five minutes. Jackyl stops suddenly and gets in the ring to confront him, calling him a disappointment to everyone. Recon apologizes for letting him down, so Jackyl slaps him. Recon gets pissed, but Jackyl calmly turns his back and smiles knowing that Recon won’t actually do anything about it. He drew some good heat here and I think this was very good overall.


The Jackyl brings his message down from above.

Next we have The New Age Outlaws coming out for a promo. Road Dogg says that being on this stage gives him chills as he thinks about what they did here last week. They then roll out another dumpster, or the Cactus Jack Condo as they call it, and decide they’re going to reenact it. The dumpster gets rolled off the stage again and out falls a couple of blowup dolls dressed as Cactus and Charlie that they proceed to give CPR to. This was pretty lame and didn’t really get over at all either.


The New Age Outlaws tend to the dummy Chainsaw Charlie after he took another ride off the stage.

The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (w/Luna, Marc Mero, & Sable) vs. Thrasher (w/Mosh) – Goldust is dressed as Marilyn Manson again. The Headbangers vs. Mero/Goldust tag match is made official for the PPV here while Mero gets some heat by ordering Sable to the back. Goldust controls this boring match most of the way, with Luna getting in a couple of shots as well. Sable then returns to confront Luna, and when Goldust gets in her face about that, she smacks him leading to a rollup by Thrasher for the pin in four minutes. Sable and Luna then go at each other afterwards with Sable getting in a good shot before they’re separated.


Sable and Luna want a piece of each other.

-DX is then out for the main event promo. Shawn says that while Austin is gonna get his ass whipped this Sunday, he is not waiting that long to get back what is his. Austin asked for him to come out and get the belt, so here he is, and he will even ask Austin politely so get your ass out here, please. Austin obliges and chases them out by charging in swinging the belt. The Outlaws appear to make this a five on one situation, but Austin fends them off long enough for Chainsaw Charlie to cut through the mat so that he and Cactus Jack can come up into the ring. Owen Hart joins them and the two teams that will face each other at No Way Out end the show staring each other down. Chyna did manage to grab the belt after Austin dropped it at one point so Shawn does get it back in the end. There has been no acknowledgement so far of Shawn’s injury and other then that he’s done nothing physical since Royal Rumble there’s been no indication anything is even wrong with him. But this was a fine closing to setup the main event of our throwaway PPV.


We end things with a standoff between our two main event teams for the PPV this Sunday.

As a standalone show, I thought that this was good. On the other hand if I’m grading it based on how interested I am in seeing No Way Out, then it’s not so good. It’s not even that the build for it was terrible, it’s just that the matches themselves seem so pointless. It’s very clear that Wrestlemania is the big show coming up and that No Way Out exists for no reason other than that we need a February PPV. Split the difference and call this episode of Raw a 5/10

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.6) Raw (3.2)

Shotgun Saturday Night – February 14
-Owen Hart defeated Jesus Castillo
-The New Age Outlaws defeated Tom Brandi & Flash Funk
-Kurrgan defeated Lance Jade
-Skull & 8 Ball defeated The Rock & Roll Express via DQ
-Bradshaw defeated Mark Kyle

Remembering the week of February 9, 1998…

On The Billboard Charts (February 7):
5. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
4. 3AM – matchbox 20
3. Tubthumping – Chumbawumba
2. Truly Madly Deeply – Savage Garden
1. My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

At The Box Office (February 6-8):
5. Great Expectations
4. Blues Brothers 2000
3. Good Will Hunting
2. The Replacement Killers
1. Titanic

In Sports:
February 7 – The 18th Olympic Winter Games open in Nagano, Japan

In The News:
February 3 – In Cavalese, Italy, twenty people are killed when a low flying US Marine Corps aircraft severs the cable of a cable car which subsequently plunges over 80 metres.

[The Best There Is]

No Way Out Of Texas: In Your House Results:
-The Headbangers defeated Marvelous Marc Mero & The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust when Thrasher pinned Mero
-Taka Michinoku defeated Pantera via pinfall to retain the Light Heavyweight Title
-The Godwinns defeated The Quebecers when Phineas pinned Pierre
-Bradshaw defeated Jeff Jarrett via DQ so Jarrett retained the NWA North American Title
-Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson, & DOA defeated The Nation of Domination when Shamrock made The Rock submit
-Kane defeated Vader via pinfall
-Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack, & Chainsaw Charlie defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley, The New Age Outlaws, & Savio Vega when Austin pinned Road Dogg

Also on February 15, Louie Spicolli, known as Rad Radford in the WWF, died of a drug overdose. He was in WCW at the time and is not acknowledged in any way on tonight’s Raw so I will at least give him a mention here.

Raw Saturday Night – February 21, 1998 (Tape Date: February 16)
Venue: Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show makes its annual appearance on USA Network this week, so the result for wrestling fans is that Raw is relegated to late Saturday night. Given that, expectations here are pretty low since they aren’t likely to give much away in this timeslot, but we’ll see if they can at least be entertaining.

The Legion of Doom vs. The Quebecers – There’s more talk from the announcers about LOD struggling to remain competitive here in 1998. LOD is in charge early on as Hawk hits Jacques with a neckbreaker and Animal powerslams Pierre. The Quebecers eventually get in a cheap shot on Animal that turns the tide. The New Age Outlaws appear on the ramp with a dumpster that they wheel down to the ring. Hawk tries going after them, but he gets caught and put into the dumpster with The Outlaws then sitting on top to keep him in. Animal eventually gets free and sees this, so he grabs a chair, frees his partner, and they chase The Outlaws off. This gives The Quebecers the countout win in about six minutes.


LOD may be struggling lately, but they will get another shot at The New Age Outlaws on Monday night.

-We then get a video package on Chyna showing the path of destruction that she’s been on since coming into the WWF about a year ago. She hasn’t been afraid to get in anyone’s face, but at No Way Out that came back to bite her as she confronted Steve Austin and got dropped with a Stunner. This was the first time a man took a shot back at her and he got a huge reaction for doing it. They don’t show the Stunner in the video package here, but let us know that because of it, DX is contemplating filing a lawsuit against Austin for “emotional distress”. We’ll hear more from DX regarding this next Monday night.

Ken Shamrock vs. Sniper (w/The Jackyl & Recon) – It’s announced here that Shamrock will challenge Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania based off of Shamrock making him submit at No Way Out. Jackyl joins the commentary team and stresses that there are no problems in his camp. Shamrock controls easily until Recon trips him up from the floor and takes it to him. Sniper then works Shamrock over but can’t put him away. Shamrock makes the comeback, hits a powerslam, and then hooks the ankle lock for the submission in five and a half minutes. Jackyl again confronts his man about the loss and like last week smacks him and turns his back. Sniper shoves him, much to Jackyl’s surprise, but then he leaves while Jackyl laughs about it. After the break JR questions Recon from backstage about the problems in the group. He says that everything is fine and there are no problems. Sniper then barges in and says there sure are problems and the biggest one is them letting Jackyl do all the talking while they do all the listening. Recon tries calming him down, but Sniper is pissed and says that he is through with The Jackyl.


The Truth Commission is also havings its troubles lately.

-We then get a clip from the PPV where Marc Mero and Sable were arguing and it culminated in Sable shoving him down, as well as a recap of the gifts Sable has been receiving lately from a secret admirer. They then come out for an interview with Jerry Lawler, who asks about what appears to be the beginnings of a breakup. Mero says that he’s tired of being painted as the Badd Man in this situation. It all started when he was on the shelf last year with his knee injury and as he rested at home, Sable was nowhere to be found. Instead of being by his side, he would turn on the TV to find her on Raw modeling Austin 3:16 shirts. That’s when he realized that she was trying to steal his spotlight and to make herself the star. But Mero has this under control now. From this point forward, Sable will do what he says to do when he says to do it because she belongs to him. Lawler then asks about the shove at No Way Out, but Mero says that’s not what it was at all. He merely tripped because Sable would never lay her hands on him unless he tells her to. At this point someone is out to deliver her another bouquet of flowers, and Mero demands to know who is behind this. Sable doesn’t know, but says that it’s nice to see someone thinking about her for a change, and then she leaves with Mero following her to the back. This angle is going along well for the time being, and I actually can’t remember how (or if, I guess) the secret admirer thing pays off so I’m interested in where it goes.


Marc Mero is not going to stand around and allow Sable to steal his spotlight.

-Next up we have comments from Jim Cornette who says that everyone applauded him when he resolved to bring tradition back, but now that he’s produced just that, things have changed. He’s brought us legends like Barry Windham and the Rock and Roll Express, and a future legend in Jeff Jarrett, but all you people do is boo and spit on them. You people disgust me with your fickleness, but we don’t care because either way we are gonna show you what real wrestling is, we are gonna make you like it, and you are gonna sit there with a smile on your face if you know what’s good for you. Tonight the Rock and Roll Express will be defending the NWA Tag Team Titles against The Headbangers and to ensure that there are no WWF shenanigans, NWA President Howard Brody has sent in Tommy Young to be the referee. He will call it fairly and down the middle. Cornette then has a message for Vince McMahon which is that there is more NWA talent on their way, and unlike the War of 84, things are not gonna go the WWF’s way this time.


Jim Cornette promises more NWA members to come and that this time it won't be so easy for Vince McMahon to get rid of them.

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Rock and Roll Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Headbangers – Tommy Young is indeed here to serve as referee. The Headbangers take it to them to start, but eventually Cornette distracts Young and that allows Morton to clothesline Mosh on the ropes. Cole foreshadows things by noting that the WWF and NWA have some subtle differences in rules that may come into play with an NWA ref in there. After being isolated for a bit, Mosh comes back with a double DDT and makes the tag. Thrasher cleans house and then they nail a double flapjack which gets a 2 count when Gibson saves. They then hit the Stage Dive for what appears to be the win, but when Gibson goes to make the save this time, Thrasher throws him out over the top rope. That, of course, is a disqualification under NWA rules so Young stops the count, calls for the bell, and awards the DQ win to the R&R’s just past the four minute mark. The match was not good and had no heat as the R&R’s are just not convincing heels.


Tommy Young was brought in to officiate this NWA Tag Team Championship Match.

-Into the War Zone we go with Stone Cold Steve Austin coming out for a promo with JR who asks why he gave Chyna the Stunner at No Way Out. Austin says that no matter who you are, when you step between these ropes, your ass belongs to him, and she’s lucky that he was in a good mood and only got one. Regarding Shawn Michaels not being in the main event last Sunday, he’s not concerned because he knows that Shawn is getting ready for Wrestlemania, and he wants him to be at his best. Tyson is the enforcer and as long as he sticks to that it’s fine. If Tyson gets in his face though, he’ll knock his gold tooth out and turn it into whatever kind of jewelry suits him. On March 29, the shit is on and that’s the bottom line because Stone Cold said so. This was a great money promo building up Wrestlemania.

European Title Match: Owen Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett (w/The NWA) – We get the announcement here that if Owen is successful in this match he will go on to defend the title against HHH at Wrestlemania. The ref orders everyone except Cornette to the back, so Jarrett tries attacking but gets thwarted. Owen works him over and gets a crossbody for 2, but then gets tripped up by Cornette and knocked down by Jarrett who takes over. After a collision, Owen makes the comeback with a missile dropkick and the ensiguiri. He hooks the Sharpshooter, but Cornette gets in the ring. Owen breaks it, but then grabs Cornette and puts him in the hold. Jarrett tries attacking, but Owen sees it coming and runs him off. Owen retains the title with the DQ win in five and a half minutes of a decent match, so he will in fact be defending against HHH at Mania. For now at least.


NWA (North American) Champion Jeff Jarrett.

-Next we get a video package on Michael P.S. Hayes, consisting nearly all of World Class footage that they did not own the rights to at that point. Why are we getting this? Well, we’re here tonight in Reunion Arena, the site of many of his famous battles with The Von Erichs back in the 80’s, so let’s give him a moment in front of the crowd. Chimel introduces him as “Formerly known as Michael P.S. Hayes, Dok Hendrix”, and he gets a decent reaction although not what you might expect for a legend of the area. Theoretically he’s here to be the guest ring announcer, but Kane and Paul Bearer have something to say about that. Dok tries defending himself with his boot, but ends up chokeslammed and Tombstoned. “The Freebird is grounded”, Bearer says. JR goes off about how he wishes The Undertaker could be here to put a stop to this.


Michael Hayes had many memorable moments in Dallas back in 1983.


And he returned to his old stomping grounds in 1998.

Pirata Morgan & Brian Christopher vs. Aguila & Taka Michinoku – Presumably this was the match that Hendrix was going to introduce because instead we get Sunny out to do it. Morgan and Aguila go at it first with Morgan nailing a powerbomb while Aguila comes back with a rana off the top and a corkscrew plancha. After tags, Christopher manages to isolate Taka and they work him over for a bit. JR and Lawler are trying really hard to get the gimmick of Lawler denying that Christopher is his son over, but it never really caught on that well considering how hard they tried in all of his matches. In the end, Morgan misses a top rope splash, Aguila takes out Christopher, and Taka gets Morgan with the Michinoku Driver for the pin in just under six minutes. This was alright, but there was no hint of where they may go for Mania in this division.

Faarooq (w/The NOD) vs. Steve Blackman – Before we get started though, The Rock grabs the mic because he has a few things that he would like to clear up. First of all, no matter what you may have seen at the PPV last Sunday, The Rock is still your Intercontinental Champion. Secondly, there is no dissention whatsoever within The Nation. And to show his gratitude for everyone getting along, he has some gifts to handout. For Kama, D-Lo and Mark Henry, he has for each of them a brand new, solid gold, $15,000 Rolex watch. Then for Faarooq, he wants him to know that there is only one man who can lead The Nation, and that is Faarooq. To show his appreciation and admiration, he has a large giftwrapped present for him. Faarooq opens it and it turns out to be a portrait of The Rock, which Faarooq is none too happy about getting. The match then gets underway with Blackmans’ kicks getting blocked and he gets knocked down. Faarooq works him over and hits the Dominator, but gets distracted by Rock holding up the portrait. He grabs it to use as a weapon, but Rock can’t bear to see his gift used like that and stops him. As Faarooq turns around, Blackman gets him with a rollup and gets the three count at the one and a half minute mark. Faarooq is pissed, so Rock tries making peace by offering the portrait again, but Faarooq just destroys it and walks off.


The Rock is very proud of the gift he got for Faarooq.

-After the break, Michael Cole is on location at The Nation’s locker room from which we can hear a lot of yelling. D-Lo comes out and denies that there are any problems in there. There is nothing but love in The Nation, albeit sometimes tough love. Now according to the Rolex on his wrist, the time for this interview is up.

The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (w/Luna) & Marvelous Marc Mero vs. Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie – Goldust is dressed as Goldust tonight, but Lawler tells us that next Monday, Goldust has promised that he will deliver The American Dream. Sable is not out with Mero here, but there are huge chants for her anyways. Goldust kisses Charlie, which just sets him off. Mero gets the tag, but just gets worked over as well. Goldust comes back in and does the Flip Flop ‘n’ Fly to what seems like a big pop, but it turns out that Sable is making her way out with her bouquet of flowers. Luna steals them which causes Sable to go after her and the ref and Mero to try getting between them. While that’s going on Cactus grabs a chair and nails Goldust which gets the pin in four minutes. Sable and Luna keep trying to get at each other unsuccessfully and we are out of time.

They actually advanced some angles more than I thought they would, but still didn’t do anything that major. I thought Austin’s promo was the main highlight as they’re doing a great job of making a huge deal out of the Wrestlemania main event. This wasn’t the most newsworthy show of all time or anything, but overall was pretty decent. 5/10

Shotgun Saturday Night – February 21 (Running head to head with Raw oddly enough)
-Brian Christopher defeated Tony Williams
-Kurrgan defeated The Cedman
-Pantera defeated Felino
-Barry Windham defeated Tom Brandi
-Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown defeated Bill Irwin & Kit Carson
-Chainz, Skull, & 8 Ball defeated Savio Vega, Jose Estrada, & Jesus Castillo via DQ

Remembering The Week Of February 16, 1998 (We’ll go with the Monday date to keep things consistent)…

On The Billboard Charts (February 14):
5. Tubthumping – Chumbawumba
4. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
3. 3AM – matchbox 20
2. Truly Madly Deeply – Savage Garden
1. My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

At The Box Office (February 13-16):
5. As Good As It Gets
4. Good Will Hunting
3. Sphere
2. The Wedding Singer
1. Titanic

In Sports:
February 15 – Dale Earnhardt wins the 1998 Daytona 500 on his twentieth try at the race.

In The News:
February 16 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes on approach to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan resulting in 203 deaths.

[The Best There Is]

Raw Is War – February 23, 1998 (Tape Date: February 17)
Venue: Heart of Texas Coliseum, Waco, TX
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: The New Age Outlaws vs. The Legion of Doom – LOD charges in and easily wins a four way brawl to start. Road Dogg takes a powerbomb and neckbreaker before being sent to the floor where Gunn sends Hawk to the steps to turn the tide. The announcers talk about the huge pressure that LOD has been putting on themselves lately and for this match in particular as they want to prove that they still have it. The champs work over Hawk for a bit until a collision sets up the tag to Animal, who cleans house on everyone. They nail Dogg with the Doomsday Device and Animal looks to have the win, but Hawk won’t get out of the ring so the ref tries putting him out instead of counting. Meanwhile, Gunn grabs a belt and clocks Animal, and that gives The Outlaws the three count to retain in about five minutes. Afterwards, Animal gets pissed at Hawk for, in his mind, costing them the match. The argument turns to a shoving match and then they come to blows. The officials try pulling them apart, but they keep getting back at each other. Eventually they are separated, but it looks like big trouble in their camp.


LOD argues over their loss before they end up going at it.

-After the break, the announcers let us know that Hawk and Animal are still trying to get at each other in the locker room, but when things calm down they will try and get a word with them.

Ken Shamrock vs. Jeff Jarrett – The announcers hype up that Vince McMahon will be appearing on TSN’s Off The Record in a two part show airing tomorrow and Wednesday, although they naturally don’t get into what he will be discussing on that show. The match is all Shamrock early on until Cornette is able to trip him up from the floor to give Jarrett the advantage. Shamrock ends up coming back with a rana and a powerslam for a two count. The ref then accidentally gets nailed so Jarrett calls for Cornette to get in the ring, but the old heel miscommunication rears its ugly head and Jarrett gets nailed with the tennis racket. Shamrock hooks the ankle lock, but Jarrett is out so the now recovered ref just stops it in five and a half minutes. Cole goes over to talk to Jarrett after he comes to, and Jarrett says that it looks to him like it’s time for he and Cornette to go their separate ways. Everyone is breaking up tonight I guess.


Jeff Jarrett says that he and Jim Cornette are through.

-Jerry Lawler is backstage with Animal who is pissed off and says that as far as he’s concerned he doesn’t have a brother anymore. Bad news for Johnny Ace, I suppose. Hawk charges in and they go at it again, but are quickly broken up various wrestlers. Of note here was that Headbanger Mosh was wearing one of the Wrestlemania 13 hockey jerseys that they couldn’t sell.

DOA vs. Kurrgan & The Truth Commission – Sniper has the sleeves cut off his shirt, isn’t wearing his beret, and refuses to salute to sell that he’s becoming his own man now. Recon goes in and gets dominated while we get the announcement of the fifteen team battle royal for Wrestlemania with the first teams to be announced on Livewire this Saturday. Recon can’t get anything going, so Kurrgan forces the issue and tags himself in. A double team slam from the twins takes him off his feet, but he’s right back up to nail a boot on one of them and then the Paralyzer for the three count in four minutes. After the match, Jackyl confronts Sniper about his refusal to do anything in the match and smacks him. Sniper goes for him, but Kurrgan attacks and put him in the Paralyzer as well while Jackyl just laughs. Recon pleads for him to call the big man off, but he won’t do it and Sniper gets dragged to the back still in the hold, thus continuing our theme of breakups.


The Jackyl laughs as Kurrgan puts Sniper in his place.

-From there we go to DX, hanging out at Shawn’s house in San Antonio. Asked about their lawsuit against Austin for Stunning Chyna, Shawn says they don’t like to talk about things like that, but it’s an open and shut case. He also adds that she’s just fine though, which would seem to hurt their case, but whatever. Moving on, he guarantees that he will be at Wrestlemania to defend the WWF Title, so if you’re worried about another bait and switch main event, don’t be. HHH then says that reason this WWF crew is here talking to them is because they want ratings. And if that’s what they want, then what they are going to do over the next four weeks is going to set the Nielsen books on fire. Starting next week in Cleveland, they’ll be back and they know Owen, Austin, and Tyson are all going to be there too, so tune in to see just what they have up their sleeves.


DX has some big plans to draw ratings over the next four weeks.

Taka Michinoku vs. Barry Windham (w/Jim Cornette & The Rock and Roll Express) – Cornette gets on commentary and brags about how he tricked Taka into signing this match against the much bigger Windham. He also says that while there may have been a slight misunderstanding with himself and Jeff Jarrett earlier on, they’ll get things worked out later on. Windham dominates the match, with Taka getting in no more than a quick moonsault for a 2 count before getting beaten down again. Windham hits a superplex and lariat, but as he goes for the cover, the lights go out and Kane makes his way to the ring with Paul Bearer. Team NWA flees, so Kane drops Taka with a chokeslam and Tombstone to really drive home the point that Taka is useless against a bigger man. Bearer then gets on the mic and says that there is only one superstar left that they have any interest in facing, and that is Stone Cold Steve Austin. Bearer says that if Austin has any guts, then next week here on Raw he will come out here and fight Kane. JR assures us that if Austin were here tonight he’d be out there right now, so there is no doubt these two are going to go at it next week. Obviously it would be insane to give that match away at this point, but it’s clear they are trying to make next week in Cleveland a huge deal.


Kane and Paul Bearer want Steve Austin in the ring next week in Cleveland.

-We then open the War Zone with Michael Cole trying to get a word with The New Age Outlaws as they leave the building. They take credit for the end of The Legion of Doom, saying that they’ve cut their hair, stolen their shoulder pads and now finally driven them to split up. Those two can’t compete anymore because this is a new age and we are The New Age Outlaws. Then, as they get in their car, Chainsaw Charlie and Cactus Jack charge in and go after them. Charlie goes at the car with his chainsaw, while Cactus smashes the windshield with a baseball bat, but The Outlaws are eventually able to pull away.

-Goldust then cuts a promo as Dusty Rhodes while clips of Dusty in action play. This leads into what we were promised last week, which JR claims is Goldust’s most outrageous attention seeking stunt yet.

The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust vs. Bradshaw – Indeed we have Goldust out in the full polka dot outfit, complete with stuffing to make him look fat, bags under the eyes, and fake scars all over his arm and forehead. JR says that earlier today they called the real Dusty about this and he had a good laugh so don’t worry about him being offended. He says this is just another example of Goldust trying to get the spotlight on himself, with Lawler then asking when all the “Internet geeks” are going to figure that out. The match isn’t much of a match as Goldust tries all of Dusty’s signature spots to no effect. At one point he grabs the mic and demands that Bradshaw realize who he is in there with and start bumping around for him. In the end the Flip Flop ‘n’ Fly is no sold and Bradshaw nails a lariat for the pin in three and a half minutes. After the match, Cole goes to interview Goldust who says that he’ll be hanging up these tights for good.


Goldust as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.

Steve Blackman vs. The Rock (w/The Nation) – This is a non-title match with Rock going in to take care of business after Faarooq lost to Blackman last week. It goes well for him early on as he’s in control and drops the still not over or named People’s Elbow. He was obviously really determined to make that thing work because he stuck with it a long time before it became a big deal. Lawler chastises JR at one point for calling him “Rocky Maivia” instead of “The Rock” so the original name is well on its way to being phased out, although he was still keyed as Maivia when he came out. Rock controls most of the way, but has a couple of covers ignored as Faarooq is distracting the ref for no apparent reason. At one point Rock gets run into Faarooq and rolled up, but he kicks out at 2. Meanwhile, D-Lo grabs Blackman’s nunchaku, but can’t connect on the toss to Rock and Blackman ends up getting them. He nails Rock and that gets him the pin in just over four minutes. Rock confronts D-Lo who says that it was Faarooq who told him to throw the weapon in. This leads to another confrontation, but Faarooq couldn’t care less and ends up walking off.

-Kevin Kelly is standing by with Luna Vachon and asks why we did not see her out there with Goldust earlier on. As she tapes up her fists she says that it’s because she’s waiting for Sable to make an appearance so that she can rearrange her face. Trouble is brewing here.


Luna is looking to get a piece of Sable.

NWA Tag Team Championship Match: The Rock and Roll Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Headbangers – This is a rematch from last week where The Headbangers were disqualified for throwing Robert Gibson over the top rope, but this time Commissioner Slaughter comes out and tells Tommy Young that as an NWA referee, he does not have the authority to call a match in a WWF ring. Cornette is pissed and this and threatens a lawsuit, but nonetheless we will have Earl Hebner as referee for this one. The Express have all kinds of problems early on as they keep getting run into each other which nearly leads to them fighting. Cornette makes peace, but ends up getting nailed himself by Mosh. Cornette then trips Mosh up and finally The Express are able to gain control for a bit. After avoiding the double dropkick, Mosh makes the tag and Thrasher runs wild. In the chaos, he tosses Gibson over the top right in front of the ref, but this time it doesn’t get called. Morton gets knocked down, and then with the ref distracted, Cornette nails Mosh with the racket, but he falls right on to Morton and that gets the 3 count in four minutes to make The Headbangers the new NWA World Tag Team Champions. That’s a legit change that you’ll find in the official title history and everything by the way. The credibility of the NWA faction is dropping by the minute.


The Headbangers are the new NWA Tag Team Champions.

-Next we have the big announcement that Pete Rose will be appearing at Wrestlemania XIV. There’s nothing to this other than Rose saying that he’ll be there and then making a joke about Austin 3:16 being a pretty good batting average.


Pete Rose announces that he is coming to Wrestlemania XIV.

-That’s followed by a Stone Cold Steve Austin video package, which is his only appearance on the show this week. It’s actually really great in building up this WWF Title shot he’s getting at Wrestlemania as the culmination of his career.

European Title Match: Owen Hart vs. Marvelous Marc Mero (w/Sable) – Mero sends Sable to the back to start, but she doesn’t stay there long as she comes back right after a commercial. Mero controls at the start, but Owen takes over and nails the missile dropkick and ensiguiri. Mero then shoves the ref down so that he can hit a low blow. He sets up the TKO, but Owen escapes and hits a DDT. He hooks the Sharpshooter, but now the ref gets up and decides that he’s disqualifying Mero for the shove at the four and a half minute mark. Owen retains the belt in any case. Afterwards, Luna charges out with Goldust trying to hold her back. She and Sable want at each other, but everyone gets in between. Sable shoves Mero down, so now Goldust comes over and holds her back, but this pisses Mero off and he attacks Goldust so now the refs are working at holding everyone apart. Sable grabs the mic and gives her famous line of “You get your ass back here you little bitch”. And that closes us off for this week.


Sable tells Luna that she can bring it on anytime.

This was actually a pretty decent show for what it was this week. Next week is the one being built up as a big deal as Mike Tyson will be there, DX and Steve Austin will be back, and they’ve also got Kane challenging Austin, but this week did a good job of hyping that up. The angles setting up Wrestlemania that were showcased here were decent to good and all in all it was a pretty entertaining show. 7/10 for this week’s Raw.

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.6) Raw (3.2)

Shotgun Saturday Night – February 28
-Aguila defeated Pirata Morgan
-The Rock & Roll Express defeated The Godwinns
-Tom Brandi defeated Jesus Castillo
-Skull & 8 Ball defeated The Quebecers

Remembering The Week Of February 23, 1998…

On The Billboard Charts (February 21):
5. As Long As You Love Me – Backstreet Boys
4. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
3. 3 AM – matchbox 20
2. Truly Madly Deeply – Savage Garden
1. My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

At The Box Office (February 20-22):
5. Senseless
4. Good Will Hunting
3. Sphere
2. The Wedding Singer
1. Titanic

In Sports:
February 22 – Closing of the XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. Germany leads the final medal count with 12 gold and 29 total medals.

[The Best There Is]

Raw Is War – March 2, 1998 (Live)
Venue: Gund Arena, Cleveland, OH
Announcers: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, & Kevin Kelly (Raw), Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler (War Zone)

-They hyped this one up big last week, so let’s see what they deliver.

-We open with a recap of what has happened between Austin, Michaels, and Tyson so far. All three are going to be here tonight, and it’s gonna get heated as the Road to Wrestlemania continues here in Cleveland.

-DX is out first with HHH announcing that Wrestlemania is officially X Rated. He then says that Owen Hart has been going around for the past few weeks with his European Title, but come Wrestlemania, the belt is going back where it belongs. He’ll be going through Owen like a hot knife through butter, and then after that he’s got a different utensil that the ladies here can put in to their drawers. Shawn then says that when Iron Mike Tyson arrives here later on, they will have an offer for him that he cannot refuse. But should he choose to refuse it, they will make sure that he never forgets DX as long as he lives. As for Stone Cold Steve Austin? Well at Wrestlemania he is going to get his shot at the number one guy in the WWF, and Shawn is gonna prove that the toughest SOB in the WWF isn’t quite tough enough to beat him. He also tells Austin to put on his dancing shoes because tonight he is gonna boogie to some Sweet Chin Music. This draws out Austin, who gets in Shawn’s face, but before he can say anything, the lights go out and Kane’s music plays. Paul Bearer reminds us of the challenge from last week and says that Austin doesn’t have to worry about Wrestlemania because tonight Kane will be sending him straight to Hell. They then leave and as the lights come back on we see that DX had fled as well. Austin says that he couldn’t care less what tricks Kane can do with the lights because he’ll whip his ass in the light or the dark. If Tyson wants to try something with him later on, then the same will go for him as well, then he’ll be on to Wrestlemania to take the WWF Title, and that’s the bottom line ‘cause Stone Cold says so. They’re teasing a lot of big stuff here and it was a really good kickoff to the show.

-From there we cut backstage where Mike Tyson has arrived, accompanied once again by Shane McMahon, so now everyone is here.


Shane McMahon brings Mike Tyson into the arena.

-Next up we have The New Age Outlaws out wearing neckbraces and claiming they were severely injured at the hands of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie last week. There’s a dumpster at ringside, which they say has become almost like their mascot lately. They had a camcorder with them and show the footage they shot from inside the car and then apologize to the fans for not being able to wrestle tonight. Commissioner Slaughter then appears on the screen and calls bullshit on them. He says that not only are they going to be wrestling tonight, they are going to be defending the Tag Team Titles right now.


The New Age Outlaws feign injuries from the attack last week.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: The New Age Outlaws vs. Skull & 8 Ball – DOA cleans house until Gunn clocks one of the twins from behind with a belt. They then whip the other one into the dumpster, but all of a sudden we get Cactus and Chainsaw popping out of it. The Outlaws quickly take off and are counted out at the minute and a half mark. The Tag Title match between these two teams for Wrestlemania has been made official at this point, but the stipulation is yet to be of added.

-Then we go on to a recap of the problems between Marc Mero and Sable, which led into the involvement of Goldust and Luna and then the issue between Sable and Luna.

Marc Mero (w/Sable) vs. Tom Brandi – Mero sends Sable to the back as usual to draw some heat. Brandi takes it to him, but Mero catches him with a powerbomb for 2. Luna then makes her way out and helps Mero out by tripping Brandi up. She then takes the ref and that gives Mero the chance to hit a low blow and the TKO for the pin in two and a half minutes. Luna celebrates and gives Mero a kiss, which confuses him, but it’s just a distraction so Goldust can attack him from behind. Sable returns to make the save by chasing Luna away, but this just pisses Mero off again. Sable makes it clear she’s done with taking his shit by shoving him down again and then stands there looking angry and defiant while Mero walks off. Sable continues to be hugely over. She’s left Sunny in the dust as far as popularity goes at this point because while they’re both hot, Sable has this storyline that’s actually making people care about her on another level, while Sunny seems to be doing nothing other than guest ring announcer spots at this point.

European Championship Match: Owen Hart vs. Mark Henry – This is the third straight show for Owen defending the belt, and the announcers do put him over as being the fightingest champion in the history of the title. Commissioner Slaughter ejects The Nation from ringside right off the bat, so we are one on one here. Owen takes it right to him, but Henry stays on his feet until a spin kick sends him to the floor. The Nation is gone but Chyna joins us at ringside. This distraction gives Henry the advantage and he controls with some basics. Owen gets a few comebacks and tries the Sharpshooter, but Henry is just too powerful for that. On a third try, he is able to hook it, but now Chyna gets on the apron so Owen lets go. She backs off, so Owen goes up top, but now she shoves him off right into Henry’s bearhug. The arm drops twice, but now Chyna gets in the ring and hits a low blow on Henry, which gives Henry the DQ win in five and a half minutes. Cole runs over to ask Chyna why she’s doing this, and her answer is “because I can”. Obviously the story is that she’s screwing with Owen, but also making sure he’s still champion so HHH can win the belt from him.


Chyna low blows Mark Henry to keep the European Title on Owen Hart.

The Headbangers & Taka Michinoku vs. The Rock and Roll Express & Barry Windham (w/Jim Cornette) – The faces work on Gibson for a bit until Taka is briefly caught in the corner. He escapes and tags Thrasher which leads to things breaking down into a six way. Taka nails Windham with his springboard plancha, while Cornette gets in the ring on the other side. Thrasher nails him, gets the tennis racket, and nails Gibson to get the pin in two minutes. Cornette is pissed off and so he tells the Headbangers that if they have any guts, they’ll give the Rock and Roll Express a rematch for the NWA Tag Titles next week. JR noted during the match that the NWA group is sinking like the Titanic, and he sure seems to be right at this point.


Jim Cornette demands an NWA Tag Team Title shot for The Rock & Roll Express next week.

-The War Zone kicks off with Vince McMahon out to introduce Mike Tyson. Vince wonders if at Wrestlemania, Tyson will be the enforcer, or if he will allow Austin and Michaels to enforce their own rules, and then goes on to ask Tyson who he thinks is going to win the match. Before he can answer though, DX makes their way out. Shawn says that they are not out here to disrespect him like Austin has, because when they call people out they do it face to face. So on that note, Shawn says that he is calling Tyson’s ass out right here, right now. Tyson says that if he wants to do it, they can do it right here. They clear everyone else out of the ring as the crowd is really buzzing at the idea of seeing this happen. They get in each other’s faces with Tyson offering a free shot, but then Shawn grabs Tyson’s shirt and rips it off to reveal a DX shirt underneath. JR goes nuts asking how Tyson can be an unbiased enforcer when he has joined the camp of the Champion. It also got a great reaction from the crowd and was a really cool twist in the storyline since you don’t normally see the celebrities willing to play along and go heel like this.


Mike Tyson joins Degeneration X.

Steve Blackman vs. Kama Mustafa (w/The Nation) – Commissioner Slaughter once again ejects The Nation from ringside over their objections. Blackman and Kama proceed to have a boring match that never really goes anywhere. Blackman eventually connects with a bicycle kick and goes for an armbar, but The Nation runs back in for the DQ in three minutes. The beatdown is on, but Ken Shamrock makes the save and clears everyone out. He and Blackman then do the mutual respect thing.

-When we come back from the break, Robert Fuller, formerly Col. Rob Parker of WCW, is in the ring. He would like to introduce to us the world’s greatest singer, the world’s greatest entertainer, and the world’s greatest wrestler, Double J Jeff Jarrett. And out comes Double J to his old music, and complete with the old gear and flashing cowboy hat and sunglasses. He does the same old mic work as well. Then regarding the NWA, he wishes them luck, but it became apparent to him that they were simply not capable of properly promoting a man as multi dimensional as him. Only one man is capable of doing that, and that is the world’s greatest promoter, Tennessee Lee, which is the name Fuller will be going by. You may recall from the 97 reviews that just a few months ago we saw Jarrett return to the WWF with that big shoot promo where he buried this gimmick, but now here is doing it again with a smile on his face. Not that the Aztec Warrior thing was getting over anyways. I’d say this is a real good sign they’ve lost whatever small amount of faith they might have had in him getting over as a top guy.


Tennessee Lee presents...


...The return of Double J Jeff Jarrett.

Double J Jeff Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee) vs. Flash Funk – The guy in the second row who has been holding up a “We Want Flash Funk” sign all night can now die a happy man. Funk actually controls a good portion of it, but in the end he sets up the 450 splash and Lee crotches him. Jarrett hooks the figure four and gets the submission in three and a half minutes. Nothing special here about the match.

-Our next celebrity for Wrestlemania is then revealed, and it is Gennifer Flowers of Bill Clinton scandal fame. What exactly she was bringing to the table for the wrestling crowd I have no idea.


Why?

-Michael Cole then goes to get a word with Mike Tyson as he leaves the building. Tyson doesn’t want to talk to him, but HHH explains what happened by saying that Tyson is a winner and he wants to hang out with winners so that is why he joined DX.

-Then we have a look back at the career of the Legion of Doom. They went from being the most dominant team in wrestling to one that could not adapt to the era of attitude. They have cancelled all of their future WWF appearances, but no one has been able to talk to them and really figure out what is going on. JR says that as more information becomes available they’ll pass it on.

Kane (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin – Anyone think this match is actually gonna happen? Bearer says that Mike Tyson joining DX may have been a shock, but not as much of a shock as Austin will get tomorrow when he wakes up next to The Undertaker in the pit of Hell. Austin then comes out, but HHH is on the stage to distract him and allow Shawn Michaels to come from behind with the Superkick. There’s no match here, to the surprise of exactly no one.


Kane makes his way out for his first match on Raw in our main event.


But DX ambushes Steve Austin, which cancels our match.

-After a commercial, JR reports that Austin is raising Hell backstage in trying to find DX, but they have apparently already left the building. Meanwhile, Kane and Paul Bearer are still in the ring with Bearer saying that there is a piece of business regarding The Undertaker that they never got around to. He sends Kane out to get the bell, but on the way he drags a plant out of the crowd and beats him up for fun. Timekeeper Mark Yeaton gets dragged in to the ring and Bearer orders him to give The Undertaker a ten bell salute. He complies, but then gets a chokeslam and Tombstone for his troubles. Everyone who has gotten in their way has gone down at the hands of Kane, but he has one more Tombstone left to deliver tonight. After threatening Lawler and JR, Bearer demands that anyone come out and try to stop them. Suddenly the lights go out and we hear The Undertaker’s dong over and over again. The ring is now covered in that familiar purple lighting while Bearer keeps reassuring Kane that The Undertaker is gone and this cannot be him. Then suddenly a lightning bolt strikes a casket that has appeared on the stage and The Undertaker rises up from the dead. He says that he is disappointed in Kane for not realizing that you cannot destroy that which does not wish to perish, and when he goes to visit the world of darkness, he does so only of his own accord. He spent this last trip soothing the souls of their parents and explaining to them why he was now going to have to do what he said he would never do. He will now walk through the fires of Hell to face his little brother and there is one thing he wants Kane to remember. When they would fight as children, their parents were always there to pull him off of you. But on March 29 there will not be anyone there to save you and then you will Rest In Peace. This was quite the segment. If you’re looking for reality in your wrestling, then it definitely wasn’t for you but I liked it and Undertaker really had a great comeback promo there. So the match one year in the making is now official for Wrestlemania.


The Undertaker returns and will fight Kane at Wrestlemania.

Well, we had two huge angles setting up Wrestlemania here in Tyson joining DX and The Undertaker returning to say he will take on Kane. They were both really well done and made this a really great show overall. I’ll forgive them for the bait and switch on promising Kane vs. Austin because they did make up for it afterwards with their big angle. All in all I give this episode a 9/10.

Monday Night Ratings: Nitro (4.8) Raw (3.8)

Shotgun Saturday Night – March 7
Aguila defeated Brian Christopher
Bradshaw defeated Marc Mero
Flash Funk defeated The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust
Faarooq & The Rock defeated Tom Brandi & Tarantula

Remembering The Week Of March 2, 1998…

On The Billboard Charts (February 28):
5. As Long As You Love Me – The Backstreet Boys
4. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smash Mouth
3. 3AM – matchbox 20
2. Truly Madly Deeply – Savage Garden
1. My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

At The Box Office (February 27-March 1):
5. As Good As It Gets
4. Dark City
3. Good Will Hunting
2. The Wedding Singer
1. Titanic

In Sports:
February 28 – With a goal against the Ottawa Senators, Mark Messier becomes the fourth player in NHL history to reach the 1600 point plateau.

In The News:
February 26 – Oprah Winfrey is found not guilty of defamation in a lawsuit brought against her by Texas beef producers who claimed that a show she had done on Mad Cow Disease had severely damaged their industry.

[Andrew Sheehy]

Next episode please.