Dark Pegasus Video Review: Mayhem in Manchester

Mayhem in Manchester ’98 by J.D. Dunn This is the WWF Home Video version that is clipped down to about an hour. It’s not like you have to run out and see the full version because it’s so good. April 4, 1998 Live from Manchester, England. Your hosts are Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly. Clips of Jeff Jarrett beating Brakus with the figure-four. [**] Clips of the Godwinns beating DOA. [3/4*] Sable profile. Please don’t feed the monster. Clips of Bradshaw def. Marc Mero (w/Sable). [*] Funny blooper in the match between Shamrock & Owen Hart against Rock & D-Lo Brown: Shamrock grabs a wristlock on D-Lo and does that taunting move where he offers it up for Owen to tag in. The problem is that Owen is Shamrock’s partner. Rock yells, “Bring him to me, dumbass!” This match is pretty close to intact. D-Lo taps to the Anklelock, which is a finish I think anyone could have predicted at the time. [**1/2] Clips of Luna helping TAFKA Goldust def. Cactus Jack. Sable and Luna brawl after the match. [*] WWF Tag Team Titles: The New Age Outlaws (w/Chyna) vs. LOD 2000. No Sunny, which is disappointing. LOD cleans house, and Billy asks for a timeout. Roadie offers a massage. Hawk rams Road Dogg’s head into Billy’s little gun. We’re clipped to the Outlaws taking over on Animal. He hits a Dragon Screw on Billy and makes the hot tag to Hawk. Hawk powerslams Road Dogg and avoids Billy’s attempt to break up the cover. Chyna low blows Animal for the DQ at 7:06 (shown) to allow the Outlaws to save their titles. ** WWF Heavyweight Title: Steve Austin vs. Triple H (w/Chyna). Austin had just beaten Shawn Michaels and (we thought) ended his career, so Hunter is the next logical challenger. Austin frustrates Triple H early and pokes him in the eyes. Hunter takes over and shows that he didn’t have a lot of progression from 1997 to 1998. Instead of hitting a move and then bowing, he hits a move and then yells, “suck it.” Austin comes back with the Thesz Press and goes for the Stunner, but Hunter hops to the floor. Hunter clips Austin’s notoriously bad knee and goes to work. Austin shoves him into the buckle, but Hunter goes back to the knee. Hunter works in the rope-assisted figure-four. Austin reverses, and they clothesline each other for a double KO spot. Chyna takes a cheapshot. Hunter goes for the Pedigree, but Chyna hops up on the apron for some reason. Austin catapults Helmsley, taking out the referee in the process. Austin hits Chyna with a Stunner and gives another one to Helmsley at 13:27. **3/4 The Undertaker vs. Kane (w/Paul Bearer). DX attacks the Undertaker in the aisle. Taker has adopted the BikerTaker look he’d go back to in 2000 during his comeback from injury. Kane uses the DX assist to control Taker early. Taker suddenly just comes back and hits the Tombstone out of nowhere for the win at 3:40. Nothing match that only served to get the Taker out in front of the crowd. 1/4*

The 411: These UK shows are generally useless (outside of 1999), so you won't see PPV caliber effort from the wrestlers and there's no angle advancement. This is just a glorified house show. Austin versus Helmsley is okay, but not worth buying the whole show for. Thumbs down.
Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]