Raw History: Episodes 278 and 279 – Rock vs. Mankind vs. Ken Shamrock, More

Raw History
Episode #278
September 21st, 1998 | ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California | Attendance: N/A

WWF Champion: Steve Austin (2) since 6/29/98
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Triple H (2) since 8/30/98
WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws (6 and 3) since 8/30/98
WWF European Champion: D-Lo Brown (1) since 7/20/98
WWF Light Heavyweight Champion: TAKA Michinoku (1) since 12/7/97

It’s the go home show for Breakdown.

RAW! Jim Cornette and Shane McMahon were on commentary instead of the usual JR/King tandem.

We started with The Rock walking down to the ring. Already there were Vince McMahon, Mankind, and Ken Shamrock. Kane and Undertaker guarded the entrance, ensuring no Steve Austin appearance. Vince announced that Austin could find a partner of his choosing to face Kane and Undertaker in a tag match tonight. He turned his attention to the three men in the ring and said their goal should be the WWF Championship. So, he booked them in a number one contender’s Triple Threat match later tonight, so they wouldn’t end up as Austin’s partner. I really like that as a plan from Vince. He comes across as a mad genius here. The winner of tonight’s match faces the winner of the Breakdown main event next Monday. Vince will guest ring announce that one. Good start.

WWF REWIND ~ Jeff Jarrett used his guitar to beat Road Dogg last week.

Billy Gunn w/ DX vs. Jeff Jarrett w/ Southern Justice
Shoutout to Road Dogg for selling his throat after what happened last Monday. Since he couldn’t speak, Billy did the opening spiel with the help of cue cards. Billy took the fight to Jarrett, including some brawling out of the ring. I liked that because he should be pissed about his partner. Why work a traditional match? They started trading surprisingly big offense down the stretch. Billy missed a corner avalanche, leading to a weak ref bump. He was up in time to stop Jarrett from using the guitar, which distracted Jeff enough for Billy to roll him up and win in 7:29. Better than I expected. Serious effort for a taped Raw match. [**½]

TONIGHT ~ Sable vs. Jacqueline for determine the first Women’s Champion in three years!

Backstage, Vince said that volunteer or no volunteer, Austin will be in the ring with Kane and The Undertaker tonight.

Speaking of Austin, he came down to the ring for a promo. He spoke about the Breakdown match, saying it’s a glorified handicap match. He wasn’t whining, but said he didn’t expect help tonight so he has no problem getting an early start for the PPV. Don’t expect Austin 3:16, expect Austin 6:66. Nothing to this promo. It was just to fill time and get Austin out there.

The Headbangers hit the ring for a scheduled match with The Oddities. At least, that’s what it seemed like. But, when The Oddities entered, the Headbangers joined in on the dancing until they sprayed some members in the eyes with a can of spray. They jumped the group and ripped up Golga’s Cartman doll. It wasn’t nearly as sad as when Bad Luck Fale murdered Daryl Takahashi. The Headbangers celebrated the victorious beating. I don’t know why this happened.

Michael Cole interviewed The Undertaker and Kane backstage. Undertaker was the one to speak, guaranteeing a WWF Title win for one of them at Breakdown. He warned Austin to get a partner or he won’t make it to Sunday. Something like that.

WWF Women’s Championship: Jacqueline w/ Marc Mero vs. Sable
Isn’t this the entire division? Well, there is Luna and the soon to officially debut Tori, who was shown in the audience. Jacqueline fared much better here than last week’s Evening Gown Match. Sable came back from a DDT before Mero took a bump off the apron. He then tripped Sable as she tried to suplex Jackie in from the apron and held her feet down for the old cheap win in 2:51. That was something that happened. The crowd was into it at least. [¾*]

WARZONE!

WWF Tag Team Champion Billy Gunn and WWF Champion Steve Austin vs. Kane and The Undertaker
An incensed Vince threw a fit backstage when Billy accepted being Austin’s partner. Stone Cold didn’t seem too thrilled but opened the door for Billy to fight alongside him. As always for a match involved some top stars, the crowd was hot for this. Each time Austin got offense on one of his Breakdown opponents, the fans erupted. Billy was mostly here to get some piece of DX against Vince. He took the heat segment, too. The hot tag to Austin worked well and he immediately hit Kane with a Stunner. I don’t think Billy became the legal man again, but he fell to a Chokeslam for the loss in 8:36. Good tag match that used the formula right in front of a hot crowd. [***]

Post-match, Austin cracked Kane and The Undertaker with a steel chair.

The DOA w/ Paul Ellering vs. Southern Justice
Jeff Jarrett doesn’t have the time to come out with his team. This match didn’t matter. It was only here so they could tell us Vince had an announcement to make shortly and for Jarrett to show up and use his guitar. He broke it over Ellering’s head. No bell or finish. [NR]

Vince McMahon was asked if he was surprised that Austin found a partner. He said he disappointed and claimed Billy made a bad choice. He’s upset Kane and The Undertaker.

VIGNETTE ~ Steven Regal shaved in the woods, like a MAN.

Boot Camp Match: Al Snow vs. Sgt. Slaughter
What? Apparently Slaughter was annoyed by Al and booked this. If Al won, he’d get reinstated. Commentary wasn’t on the same page here. Cornette said it was Falls Count Anywhere, but Shane believed Slaughter was making those rules up as he went along. Slaughter bumped surprisingly well throughout. Snow missed a key moonsault and ended up in the Cobra Clutch. However, Snow used Head as a weapon to break free. Snow avoided a shot with Sarge’s boot, hit a low blow, and used Head to win in 6:08. Way better than it had any right to be. Especially way ahead of the Sarge/HHH match in 1997. Wacky fun. [**¾]

The Stooges hit the ring to jump Al Snow, only for Scorpio to make the save.

In the back, The Rock said that he only agreed to this main event because he wants to one day be the best damn WWF Champion there ever was. He ran down Mankind and Ken Shamrock, saying he was ready to lay the smackdown on them. Oh, baby. The Rock has arrived.

Owen Hart vs. Val Venis
Dustin Runnels was on commentary, saying he’s a changed man and that Val was going to hell. He’s still upset about Terri sleeping with Val, yet hasn’t spoken to Terri or his daughter since the incident. Not much gets to happen in the match, as commentary egged on Dustin until he hopped in the ring to attack Val. That gave us the DQ at 2:23. [NR]

Val turned the beating around and tied Dustin up in the ropes. He made him watch another video with Terri, where she admitted Val was the better man. I know Dustin’s preachy stuff made him a heel, but Val was clearly the heel in this one.

WWF European Championship: D-Lo Brown [c] vs. X-Pac
Surprised there aren’t any DX or Nation members at ringside. Both men brought energy to this one. Though they weren’t given a ton of time, they seemed to try and cram a lot into it. Bronco Busters, Sky Highs, and some other big stuff. The fans were invested, too. D-Lo made the dumb move of trying a dive that was kind of a flying nothing, only to get caught in the X-Factor. That gave us a new champion in 5:15. This felt like only a bit of what they were capable of. Plus, I hate that finish as D-Lo tried a nonsense move only so they could do the contrived spot. Their Judgment Day match in October rules, though. [**¼]

Backstage, Mankind cut one of his strange promos. He hilariously admitted he had no way of escaping a Ken Shamrock hold.

Number One Contender’s Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Mankind vs. The Rock
Mankind was widely popular and Shamrock had his fans, but the audience was clearly behind The Rock here. Everything he did felt like a big deal and the crowd ate it up. From the People’s Elbow to the smack talk to his mannerisms. It’s amazing to watch his rise to the top. Mankind was kind of the odd man out here. He hadn’t done a lot with either man in the past, so he hadn’t developed that chemistry yet. Rock interrupted the Ankle Lock and hit Ken with a Rock Bottom but Mankind broke up the pin. Undertaker and Kane strolled out with Vince and got involved. The brothers jumped Mankind, leaving some Shamrock vs. Rock action. As soon as Ken was thrown outside, he also took a beating. Of course, The Rock was next, resulting in a no contest around 11:00. The match itself was pretty solid up until the lame no finish. [**¾]

With all this going on, Austin was able to sneak out and attack Vince in the aisle. He got away, leaving a beaten and furious Vince to scold Undertaker and Kane for not having his back.

MVP: The Rock
LVP: Dustin Runnels

WWF Breakdown Results
Owen Hart def. Edge in 9:16
Al Snow and Scorpio def. Too Much in 8:03
Marc Mero def. Droz in 5:12
Falls Count Anywhere Match: Bradshaw def. Vader in 7:56
D-Lo Brown def. Gangrel in 7:46
Number One Contender’s Steel Cage Match: The Rock def. Ken Shamrock and Mankind in 18:49
Val Venis def. Dustin Runnels in 9:09
DX def. Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice in 11:17
WWF Championship: Kane and The Undertaker def. Steve Austin [c] in 22:18

Raw History
Episode #279
September 28th, 1998 | Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan | Attendance: 14,517

WWF Champion: Vacant since 9/27/98
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Triple H (2) since 8/30/98
WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws (6 and 3) since 8/30/98
WWF European Champion: X-Pac (1) since 9/21/98
WWF Light Heavyweight Champion: TAKA Michinoku (1) since 12/7/97

THE MASTER PLAN VIDEO PACKAGE! It’s such a good video package.

RAW is WAR! Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler were on commentary.

Stone Cold’s music hit, but instead, we got Vince McMahon. He was flanked by the Stooges and a bunch of security, and had the WWF Title on his shoulder. Vince said Austin would get no rematch for the title. Tonight is “Steve Austin Night” and security was there to make him feel welcome. He also announced that a new champion would officially get crowned tonight. However, it would be the original championship, since Vince was taking the Smoking Skull one to put on his mantel. Lastly, Vince invited Austin to join him in crowning the new champion tonight. The segment ended with Vince having the title put around his waist. This was fun because Vince is fantastic.

TONIGHT ~ X-Pac defends the European Title against Val Venis! The New Age Outlaws put the Tag Team Titles up against Southern Justice!

WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws [c] vs. Southern Justice w/ Jeff Jarrett
Not much from this one to be honest. JR’s focus was on how much Billy Gunn has been doing for DX, since the rest of them have kind of dealt with injuries. Gunn got the hot tag and did his thing, showing off that athleticism JR loved to gush about. Just when he set up for a piledriver, an angry Road Dogg broke Jarrett’s guitar over Dennis Knight’s back, getting DQed in 2:58. More of an angle than a match. Billy was working hard, though. [½*]

Post-match, Billy Gunn shoved Road Dogg for giving up the match. X-Pac ran out to play peacekeeper, but Billy hit him in his injured eye. Triple H wheeled himself out, followed by Chyna, but Billy ignored them as he stormed away.

Submissions Match: Dan Severn vs. Owen Hart
This stemmed from Dan walking out instead of helping Owen during the Lion’s Den match at SummerSlam. That’s a long time to wait for payback. How was this not the Breakdown match last night and instead, they went with Owen/Edge that had no build? Anyway, this ended in short order when Owen hit Dan with the piledriver that ended Austin back at SummerSlam 97. Ref stoppage finish around 2:15. [NR]

BUY STRIDEX AND GET A TRIPLE H POSTER!

Dan Severn did a stretcher job. Pretty tasteless move, WWF.

Al Snow vs. Vader w/ Commissioner Slaughter
This Snow/Slaughter rivalry is a weird one. It led to Sarge accompanying Vader. The big man used his power for the upper hand but was just here to advance another angle. Damn shame. A failed Slaughter distraction allowed Snow to use Head to pick up the win in 2:36. [¾*]

A furious Billy Gunn left the building.

Number One Contender’s Elimination Match: D-Lo Brown vs. Droz vs. Edge vs. Gangrel vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Marc Mero
It’s billed as a Four Corners Match. Interesting. Lots of energy in this one. It got off to a fast start and featured a lot of moving parts. However, a lot of it didn’t work. There were points where this just felt like a mess. What mainly worked were the things done by D-Lo and Edge. Edge beat Gangrel with relative ease and that set the tone for plenty of quick eliminations. Classic Russo TV. It came down to D-Lo and Edge. A distraction from Gangrel and Christian, who was still unnamed and debuted a night earlier, led to the Sky High and a D-Lo win in 5:10. Too rushed to be that good. A big mess with some fun spots here or there. [**]

WAR ZONE!

Vince McMahon came out to award the WWF Title to someone. The ring was set up with a red carpet and he was surrounded by security and the Stooges. He brought out both The Undertaker and Kane. They both pinned Austin last night. As Vince began to put them over as being worthy champions, the cameras cut outside where Austin drove a Zamboni into the arena. He knocked over lights and drove straight to the ring. He ran over the Zamboni and attacked Vince, beating on him with lefts and rights. Hilariously, The Undertaker and Kane don’t do anything to help Vince. The cops get to Austin and arrest him. This is one of the most iconic moments in Raw history. “I AIN’T THROUGH WITH YOU VINCE. I AIN’T THROUGH WITH YOU, NOT YET BY A LONGSHOT!” Great, classic Stone Cold.

Coming back from the break, they recapped what just happened. In the ring, Vince was with Kane and The Undertaker. No cops or Stooges. Vince was livid that Austin attacked him two straight weeks and his insurance policy did nothing to help. Since they didn’t assist, Kane and The Undertaker would now have to compete one on one for the WWF Title at Judgment Day. And Austin would be the guest referee. Undertaker delivered some awesome expressions here. And tonight, the brothers will face Ken Shamrock, Mankind, and The Rock in a handicap match. Vince should’ve stopped there. Instead, he mentioned that they also had a mental handicap. Undertaker threatened him if he ever got out of line again. Of course, Vince can’t help himself. He flipped them off behind their backs and got caught by Undertaker. His reaction was priceless. Undertaker attacked and strangely put Vince in a leg submission for a while. Kane beat up the Stooges outside to keep them away. Then, the cherry on top came when Undertaker and Kane smashed his ankle with the steel steps. Everything about this segment worked. The acting, the crowd, the selling, and everything in between.

Faarooq vs. Mark Henry
Wait. Faarooq is still around? I remember nothing after the Nation and before the Acolytes. Chyna was the special referee, which seems unfair considering how much she hates Henry. She even attacked him on Heat. Henry hit an early powerslam but Chyna refused to count. After a Faarooq low blow, Chyna did a fast count to end this in 1:!4. [NR]

After the match, Chyna was served some legal papers by a random guy. They upset her but we don’t know what they were about.

Vince was loaded into an ambulance.

Ken Shamrock was interviewed about teaming with the men he faced last night. He insulted Detroit and promised revenge on them. Heel turn!

VIGNETTE ~ Steven Regal is a real man.

The Headbangers vs. The Oddities w/ Luna Vachon, The ICP, and Giant Silva
Kurrgan and Golga represented the Oddities. Loud “ICP” chants. 1998 was weird. They caused the finish by tripping Thrasher. Kurrgan splashed him and won in 1:59. [NR]

Michael Cole interviewed The Rock about being the top contender for the WWF Title. He said nothing compares to being the People’s Champ and he’s coming for the WWF Title. Of course, Rock said it with way more flair.

Backstage, Val Venis was apparently getting blown by Terri in front of the camera.

WWF European Championship: X-Pac [c] vs. Val Venis w/ Terri
Due to a guitar shot last night, X-Pac wore a bandage over his eye. These two traded offense for a bit but like most of the stuff on the show, it felt rushed. Terri tripped him up, so Chyna strolled down to reignite the Marlena feud from 1997. Val stopped in Chyna’s way and got shoved by him. X-Pac and Chyna beat on him for a DQ in 3:12. It was rushed, but pretty solid. [*¾]

After Chyna and X-Pac left, Val began making out with Terri in the ring. Goldust’s music hit to a big pop. We heard his voice over the speaker saying, “I told you he was coming back.” Yes! Screw preacher man Dustin, I’m all about Goldust.

Mankind was interviewed in the back, saying he can’t stand the People’s Elbow. However, he thinks they can all work together to beat the destructive force that is Kane and The Undertaker.

Kane and The Undertaker vs. Ken Shamrock, Mankind, and The Rock
Before the brothers even arrived, the other team brawled. Shamrock jumped Mankind during his entrance and they fought. When The Rock came out, he joined in on the fray. Undertaker and Kane finally showed up and this got off to an official start. While everything was rushed tonight, this felt slow. The brothers slowed the pace and took the crowd out of it. It all led to a Rock hot tag that turned the tide and made his team work like a real unit. As Shamrock, Kane, and Mankind fought outside, Earl Hebner seemed to yell to get to the finish. Rock hit the Rock Bottom and pinned Undertaker in 12:52. A bit too slow in the middle, but mostly fun enough for what it was. Rock is a star. [**¼]

MVP: Vince McMahon
LVP: The Oddities

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

#278: A better show than expected. We got a handful of solid matches, some strong segments, and solid build to the PPV. An entertaining episode. #279: Back to back strong episodes of Raw. The Austin/Vince/Kane/Taker segments were memorable and some of the best in Raw history. We got some entertaining matches, the continuation of Rock climbing to the top, and a fair amount more.