King of the Ring 1998
Date: June 28, 1998
Location: Pittsburgh Civic Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 17,087
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Ok, so here it is: by far and away the most famous match in both the King of the Ring and in the careers of Mankind, Taker and Kane. It’s the Cell tonight, with Taker and Mankind redefining what hardcore is in both the WWF but in the mainstream wrestling world.
Aside from that, we’re in uncharted waters here as the WWF is finally in the lead in the Monday Night Wars thanks to Hogan vs. Sting being the biggest disaster in wrestling history and Austin being the biggest star ever. The rest of the card is forgotten here for the most part other than the double main event and I think there’s good reason for that. Let’s see if it holds up 11 years later though.
Your main story here is that Kane is getting a shot to “claim his destiny” of being champion by facing Austin in a first blood match. It’s a big part of the Austin McMahon feud. If Kane loses, he’ll set himself on fire. The video opening focuses on the two big matches of course nothing at all about the tournament.
Headbangers/Taka Michinoku vs. Kaientai
Taka is dressed like a Headbanger, meaning a skirt. As for a story, there isn’t one. The announcers say that this is the first of two matches that weren’t advertised and were thrown onto the card earlier in the day. That means I’ll be lighter on them as there’s no hype to lead up to and it’s a bonus. Free extra wrestling is never a bad thing so let’s get to it.
It should be noted that at least part of this is being written during the Little People’s Court episode of Raw so I might sound a bit annoyed and likely will be. Also expect a few jokes about it. Some of these guys were at Barely Legal just over a year before this and they had a decent match. Taka is Light Heavyweight Champion here and is failing in the division as the whole thing failed completely.
He’s split from Kaientai obviously and is feuding with them for no apparent reason. Like I said there’s no story here so we’re going on wrestling alone. Lawler is totally anti-Taka here as he beat his son for the title in the finals of a tournament. Not a lot happens in this seven minutes of a match as the faces win after a Michinoku Driver.
Rating: D-. Wait this was on the PPV? I honestly thought this was a dark match. Nothing at all happened here and there was nothing resembling a story. If nothing else give us a stupid backstage segment or something, but give us a reason for having this. I had no reason to care about it which made the sloppy wrestling even worse.
Sable comes out looking somehow conservative (for her at least). She was brought back after being released in storylines. Her pop is epic. She introduces Vince and the Stooges, who won’t have music for another 8 months. The fans want Austin obviously. Sable slaps the TAR out of Patterson, drawing a semi hidden gay joke from Ross. Vince runs down the crowd and says its their faults that their lives suck. He says he’s preparing the audience for the new champion tonight.
We FINALLY see the brackets for the tournament, nearly half an hour into the show.
Shamrock
Jarrett
Rock
Severn
Maybe they made the right move. So I don’t have to do it later: Shamrock beat Henry, Jarrett beat Mero, Rock beat HHH and Severn beat Owen.
King of the Ring Semi-Finals: Jeff Jarrett vs. Ken Shamrock
This was when Jarrett was the world’s greatest singer or something like that. He has Robert Parker with him and no one cared. Shamrock gets a very solid pop. Jarrett gets…nothing. Apparently Shamrock has an ankle issue which is great irony. In the battle of future TNA Champions (somehow that’s in 4 years), Shamrock more or less massacres Jarrett.
It’s 5 minutes so there’s not a ton of time to do much, but they manage to get in a very decent little match considering the time. In five minutes, they manage to get in Shamrock dominating, the manager helping change the advantage, Jarrett working on the knee and injuring it further, Shamrock botching a move, and the ankle lock.
Considering the length of time they were given, that’s VERY impressive. They put together a nice little match with even a hint of a story in there. That’s not bad at all. Like I said, Shamrock wins easily with the tap out though. Shamrock says he’ll win again later. Thanks for that Ken.
Rating: B. Like I said in the description, the match was good for what it was considering that the match had 5 minutes to work with. They managed to get in some decent stuff and had a little flow to the match. That’s just awesome and very impressive for what would have been considered a short TV match.
We see the brackets because we can’t remember one of three matches.
King of the Ring Semi-Finals: Dan Severn vs. The Rock
Either one of these would work, but that would involve Severn actually wrestling twice in one night. Although if there was anyone on the planet that could get anything decent out of him, it’s Shamrock. Severn had been NWA Champion for about three years now. What does that tell you about that company? The Nation is sent to the back. Rock had already broken through the ceiling and it was realized that he would be a big deal, but like Austin two years earlier, no one knew how big.
Oh and D’lo has been injured by Severn here and is channeling his inner Bob Orton with his chest injury. I think Servern’s mustache could take Kama in a good match. Severn’s tights are swallowing him whole I think. Sever keeps using various submission holds that never work. About two minutes into the match we get the graphic telling us that this is the semi final match. Severn likes to use joints apparently.
Make your own humorous lines here. After a relatively boring 4 minutes, Henry comes out and D’Lo debuts the chest protector with the frog splash to let Rock get the pin. Well that was short at least.
Rating: D. This was just a waste of time. It was sloppy and boring and everyone knew Rock would win. Oh and the IC Title is apparently superior to the NWA Title. Brown’s interference made sense at least so I can’t complain about something like that. The match was boring though. We’re really just treading water before the main events.
Too Much vs. Al Snow/Head
Yes Head, a mannequin head, is Snow’s partner. Too Much would later be known as Too Cool. We kept hearing about Snow wanting to stay but it wouldn’t work. Snow kept getting in trouble but blaming it on Head. That’s smart at least. This is in the video recap but I don’t feel like going back and editing this to make it right. Head stole the crown and they get a meeting with Vince if they win tonight.
Scotty looks weird with short blonde hair. Christopher looks stupid no matter what. Snow is in the back and Lawler talks to them and he makes fun of them and it goes nowhere. This is pre cool music but post peak of Snow’s powers. There are however a bunch of guys with Styrofoam heads bobbing them back and forth though. Jerry is announced as the guest referee to make it three on one. Oh sorry. Three on two.
Snow’s talented enough to count I guess. Oh oddly enough, Snow used to be a character called Avatar, a genie. How sad is it that Snow is more talented than all three heels combined by about 100 miles? Taylor tags in Christopher, only a master sexay at this moment I guess. Lawler has his crown on by the way. More or less this was designed to let Snow show off, which really was a good idea and something they needed to do more often.
Snow reaches for a tag and Christopher bites his hand. I’m not sure if I want to see him in the indys or not. He was terrible in the mainstream so how bad were they in a territory based company. Ross wonders who picked Lawler as the referee. My guess would be a combination of the writing team and Vince McMahon but what do I know?
I love that wheelbarrow suplex that Snow likes to use. Snow tags in Head and Ross has lost it. Snow covers Taylor as Lawler goes to the announce table and grabs something. Christopher covers head with a bottle of Head and Shoulders for the pin. Oh it was to make sure that the shoulders were down.
Rating: D+. Well it was a cute idea I guess and Snow got to show off out there, but seriously, Too Much being on my screen more than 5 minutes just makes my head hurt so this just failed completely for me. This wasn’t much and it was really just a comedy match so take it for what it is I guess.
We recap X-Pac vs. Owen. That translates to DX vs. Nation in their never ending feud. Ok so it ended at Summerslam 1998 in the ladder match but whatever.
Owen Hart vs. X-Pac
Well these two had a 4 minute CLASSIC at the 94 show so let’s see if this is even close. Something tells me no as this is around the time where Pac sucks. Ross complains that Lawler has no refereeing license. That cracks me up. Ross, of course, is ticked off. Yeah I’m right as it’s just decent. Hart never clicked in the Nation but they ran with it anyway.
Anyone that says Owen never would have gotten the world title is an idiot to me. He was consistently working hard and was talented. Owen apparently is a big deal in South Africa. Ok then. Pac takes a GREAT throw through the timekeeper’s table. That looked awesome. He freaking destroyed that thing. We go back in the ring and this is quite a physical match.
If you’re ever looking for a working definition of chemistry, this is a good place to start. After some more hard hitting stuff, we have Mark Henry, because this match was begging for a run in of course. He hits a splash on Pac on the floor to crush whatever he had in his ribs. Chyna comes out and looks hot and gets in Henry’s face.
This results in Vader of all people jumping Henry. Vader would be gone in a few months and was worthless here but whatever. In the ring Owen has the Sharpshooter on Pac who of course taps to further his tough guy image but Chyna hits a DDT for him to get the pin with. We get a nice thong shot out of that if nothing else.
Rating: B. More good stuff from this pair as they never fail to have a solid match. The ending was overbooked but that’s what happens in stable feuds I guess. This wasn’t bad, but it was nothing compared to what they did four years prior. It was more about the Nation and DX than the guys, but that’s the point I suppose.
And here’s Paul Bearer for no apparent reason. He somehow got more annoying than he was last year. He was beaten up by Taker in his house on Raw and is here to see Taker get beaten up. Oh and he wants Kane to win the title.
Ad for Mania.
Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. New Midnight Express
The New Midnights, a remake of perhaps the best heel tag team of all time, are comprised of Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart. In other words: Bob Holly and Bart Gunn. God save us all. The Outlaws are insanely over here. The heels’ theme music sounds like a theme song from a bad 80s cartoon. Naturally Cornette is with them and they’re the NWA tag champion. Oh I got their names backwards.
It’s Bodacious Bob and Bombastic Bart. I hate my life. They leave out the brotherhood of two of the wrestlers here. Oh they both also have long mullets. This is the other unadvertised bonus match. Oh dear. We get a South Park reference which was in I think its second season at this time. Lawler goes on a REALLY long rant about how this is what’s in today and it’s nothing that no one hasn’t heard before.
Apparently this match already happened on Shotgun Saturday Night once. The announcers more or less try to avoid talking about the match itself, with my guess being over boredom. What’s with the Outlaws’ and DX’s fascination for that matter by being orally copulated by men? Somehow Road Dogg is the best worker in this match and that’s a scary thought. We haven’t even been told which Midnight is which and we’re five minutes into this.
Yeah even Ross isn’t sure who is who out there. The names suck too. How did we go from Lover Boy to Bombastic? Cornette is freaking loyal to that freaking NWA man. Lawler tries to keep track of the names as I’m guessing Vince said something to them along the lines of talk about what I freaking want you to talk about or you’re fired. Either that or I know they suck but we were short on time.
Apparently the Outlaws didn’t know about this match until this morning. Why do I find that stupid? Ross finally gives up and calls him Bob, who drops an F Bomb on Billy. Cornette finally does something and the match is starting to get better as a result. Billy goes for a piledriver and gets a belt to the back of the head from Cornette for two. He tries it again but Chyna hits him low for the save. Outlaws win with a hot shot. Chyna should have worn her hair up more.
Rating: C-. This was just painfully bad at times but for some reason I kind of liked it. If it was thrown on there, you can only get so mad at it. The Outlaws were ok here and far better than their challengers. This got them another successful title defense which is never bad for champions. It’s not bad but I’ve seen far better matches.
HHH comes out to do commentary on the finals as last year’s King. Better than no reason at all I guess. He feels the need to rip his shirt off too.
King of the Ring Finals: Ken Shamrock vs. Rock
HHH hates Rock here as you likely guessed as it’s sometime between the beginning of their careers and the present. Shamrock is in his zone as HHH is far less obnoxious than he is now. Lawler doesn’t like Rock for some reason. Rock is still having the name Maivia thrown around. Oddly enough, Chyna does the Spanish commentary. That’s rather cool.
HHH says this is a family show. What the heck isn’t a family show then? Rock has the character and personality down but he doesn’t have the in ring stuff down yet. HHH spits water in Rock’s face to tick him off but Shamrock gets the advantage because of it. HHH threatens Rock for later. Two months from now, they certainly would in the awesome ladder match at Summerslam. Shamrock’s leg is allegedly hurt but he’s showing no signs of it.
HHH makes me stop the match by saying it doesn’t matter who you kiss up to but rather who can go in the ring. Note that he hadn’t married Stephanie yet, but that’s just absolutely hilarious. Rock gets the People’s Elbow. I haven’t talked about the match much, but HHH is far more interesting than the in ring stuff. It’s not bad, but you can tell that things aren’t really being focused on these matches as they’re saving for the two main events.
That would likely be the best thing in the long run. Ross says that the handicap that Lawler refereed earlier in the night set the business back 20 years. That would work as Ross is 20 years behind us anyway. We get a double count as Ross suggests that would mean overtime, which would mean the count out means nothing at all since there has to be a winner.
Rock counters a rana into a hot shot which was a cool looking spot. Just after that though Shamrock hooks the ankle for the tap out and the crown. We hear about how tough he is for the 100th time tonight.
Rating: B-. This wasn’t that bad. HHH was hilarious as the incredibly tough sounding guy. They had a good match here but Shamrock should have won. Rock was already the IC Champion so that’s fine. I don’t think Rock has ever beaten Shamrock clean actually. This wasn’t great or anything, but it did what it was supposed to do.
The Cell is lowered and we get the sound bytes that are now famously associated with the Cell itself. This is one of the most quotable matches ever, right up there with Hogan and Andre. They don’t even bother with a recap as it’s just known that these two hate each other.
Undertaker vs. Mankind
Now this was an interesting case for several reasons. First of all, this had been done once before so people knew what it was like, but instead of having Shawn who would run from Taker in there, Foley was crazy and no one knew what he would do. Foley brings the chair to the ring, and in his own words or as close to his book as I can remember, makes his first big mistake of the match and starts the match on top of the cage like Terry Funk suggested.
That should have been a bad omen right there. In case you don’t like insane violence, I would advise you to leave. Once you go that, I would advise you to get over it and grow a set of balls. You’re a wrestling fan blast it now act like one. Even 11 years later I’m uneasy watching this match. There’s an eruption for the gong and when the lights go out the lighters go up which is always cool.
This was right around the time when Taker was becoming demonic thanks to Vince, leading to the Ministry period which Taker wasn’t incredibly fond of. And there goes Taker and you know what’s coming next. Foley punches him on his way up there, which is dangerous in its own right. Foley has a chair up there with him. The wide shot of this is just awesome looking.
Taker is grabbed by Foley and steps through the Cell a bit, which is bad sign number two. That gets a noticeable gasp from the audience. You could feel that something huge was coming and they’re setting up for it. And there it is. Taker grabs Foley from behind and throws him off the Cell where he falls 15 feet to land, actually make that crash, onto a table and then to the concrete.
Ross’ legendary shouting of As God as my witness, he is broken in half and They’ve killed him make the moment that much better. This bump changed wrestling forever, as this easily becomes the biggest bump in history and is still to this day the standard that everything tries to live up to. No one saw this coming and it scared the heck out of a lot of people, myself included.
I mean seriously, he got launched 15 feet to the floor. He does that even slightly wrong and he’s dead. Not injured or out of action. Dead. Taker legit thought he had killed him for a bit there and I can’t say I blame him. Ross and Lawler are STUNNED. You have to remember that Foley isn’t a small man. He’s about 6’2 and 300lbs going easy on him. That’s just completely mind blowing when you think about it.
Terry Funk is here and he takes the table off of Foley as Taker is still standing on top of the cage. I’ll even excuse Ross’ stupid line of this might be the shortest Cell match ever, as it’s the second of all time due to the situation at the moment. On the constant replays you can see the crowd rising up for it and it’s a completely awesome sight. Now something that isn’t notmally taken into consideration is Taker during this part.
Think about what he’s going through here. His character is that of an emotionless killing machine, and he’s possibly just killed a man or crippled him. He now has to stand up on top of the Cell and wonder what he’s just done. They raise the Cell to get Foley out as Taker is going even higher up in the air. To scare me to my core, Taker gets cheered for this. Attitude Era fans were bloodthirsty man.
They lower the cage and it hits the steps because they’re kind of stupid but whatever. And now just to blow whatever remains of the minds of everyone on the planet, Foley gets up and while smiling, climbs the cage again. His left shoulder is completely out of socket or he’s a great actor, and here we go again.
Taker is STUNNED. And now in the spot that allegedly did the majority of the damage to Foley and was COMPLETELY unplanned, Taker chokeslams Foley through the Cell to the mat and the chair falls with him, slamming into Foley’s head on the mat and knocking him completely out cold. Foley has said that the cage was loosened but not to that extent.
The idea had been to have it sag in the middle but not break and then have him fall from about 8 feet instead of what happened here. He also said he doesn’t remember most of what happened after that and didn’t remember it until he watched it on tape and still doesn’t remember all of it. Those two bumps both made Foley famous but also ended his active career eventually as he never completely healed from them.
Ross and Lawler again make the match with their calls of That’s it he’s dead and Will somebody stop the match! Again, remember that Taker didn’t expect his. Taker hops down to the mat and beats up Funk and then goes after Foley. They were supposed to end it almost immediately after that but Foley refused. Now somewhere in here, Taker breaks his ankle or he had it broken coming in so he goes really slowly.
Granted that helps Foley a lot because Taker goes a lot more slowly than usual so Foley can try to get something together. We get the famous shot of Foley with his tooth in his nose and him trying to put his tongue through the hole in his lip for some reason which makes him look like he’s smiling in probably the defining shot of the Mankind character.
Foley is somehow on offense here and knocks Taker to the floor, which I think is where he breaks the ankle. Somehow that’s a tiny injury. No he’s still walking around fine.
Taker’s shirt is ripped to pieces here. Taker dives through the ropes for Foley but Foley collapses and Taker eats cage and now he’s bleeding. Yeah the foot/ankle is messed up now. Foley hits a piledriver on a chair for two. Foley’s arm might have popped back in as it’s looking better. Since this match hasn’t been insane enough, Foley goes under the ring and gets out a bag, comtaining thumbtacks.
You can hear in Lawler’s voice that he thinks this is insane. You also have to remember that this was something that hadn’t been done before. Abyss hadn’t made this a standard thing yet so this truly was shocking at the time. Taker counters into the Tombstone but Mankind counters into the Mandible Claw. Somehow Taker stands up with Foley on his back and there they go as he goes back first into them.
You could see a slight bit of padding under Foley’s shirt, but none over his arms. After the match in the locker room when they were being looked at, Foley asked if he got to use the tacks. Taker replied “Mick, look at your arm.” Then he gets a chokeslam on them. In a moment that’s overlooked, Foley more or less no sells the chokeslam and is up in about 3 seconds. The Tombstone mercifully, at least I guess you could call it that, ends it.
Jerry says that just after I type it so I win there. Foley’s wife more or less insisted that he retire after this but of course that didn’t happen. To say this was insane would be an understatement. It’s the most violent mainstream match in history and I don’t think it’s ever going to be topped. Yeah there’s more violent stuff in indy companies and in Japan, but that’s designed to be like that.
This was the WWF more or less saying screw WCW, we can go to a place that no one is ever going to top and then they went out and did it. Also, the fans cared and weren’t in it for a freak show. That’s why this is different. Foley WALKS OUT. There’s being tough and being stupid and he passed stupid a few miles back. The fans give him a standing ovation and Foley is a legend.
Rating: A-. Now I’ve heard a lot of people criticize this match and say it’s garbage and what not, and the reply I always give is the same. Look at the name of the match: Hell in a Cell. Hell. Does that sound like a pleasant, old school, Lou Thesz vs. Dory Funk special? No not really. It sounds completely insane and violent. That’s the point of this and that’s what it was.
It was supposed to be completely over the top and crazy. You can’t grade this on the same scale you grade a traditional match on. Violence like this is effective as all hell when it’s in moderation, which is what ECW never learned. The violent matches are fine, but they need something to balance them out. Anyway, this was a classic in a sense, and it made both men all the more famous.
We recap Austin vs. Kane which started when Kane beat Taker to become the number one contender. This was around the time when the massive conspiracy was coming out as more or less everyone was against Austin but no one knew what was really going on. It was some combination of Vince, Mankind, Taker and Kane against Austin but no one was sure whose side Taker was on or why Mankind was on one side or another.
The paranoia and the sneakiness were awesome here as it had us all glued to our seats. Vince makes it first blood which helps Kane a lot as he wears a mask. This is reminiscent of Lex Luthor vs. Superman as Vince couldn’t beat Austin on his own so he kept sending his minions after him. It was freaking amazing stuff and is the main reason why they won the Monday Night Wars.
WWF Title: Kane vs. Steve Austin
I remember a buddy of mine once saying he wondered why Austin didn’t come out with a needle or something and poke Kane for the win. They covered that and it’s a good thing they did as it was a great point. Crowd pops like CRAZY for Austin. He had a staph infection in his elbow so it’s incredibly taped up. Austin is in the air for the Thesz Press before the bell finishes ringing. Naturally this is no DQ so the belt shot in the first few seconds is fine.
The only skin on Kane that’s visible is his left hand. I beat Lawler to that line again! This is reminiscent of the tables match with Cena and Sheamus as Kane doesn’t actually have to get a clean win on Austin but he can get the title, which is brilliant. And here comes the Cell. The cage stops about 8 inches above Austin’s throat which is kind of scary when you think about it.
I really hope that’s padding on Austin’s elbow and not a result of the infection as it’s probably the size of a brick or so. Austin’s back is bleeding a bit which is why I think they put in the it has to be a lot of blood clause into it, just in case of something like that. Now the Cell is going up just as Austin is in control. In a cool looking spot, Kane is caught on the door frame and is raised into the air.
That’s really awesome looking. We see Vince in the luxury box with Sable which gets a lot of heat. Dang the crowd loves Austin. Austin is dominating here and he hits Kane in the face with a fan. That has to hurt. There goes the referee which is pointless as it’s no DQ. Kane hits that top rope clothesline to put Kane down. Vince apparently can see from a box perfectly well. That strikes me as odd.
We keep hearing that if Kane loses he’ll set himself on fire, more or less confirming that he’s winning. However, the body suit could say otherwise. Here’s Mick Foley of all people. And here’s the Cell again. Yeah that’s a pad on his arm as some of the tape came off. Kane takes a Stunner and here’s Taker with a chair. He swings for Foley but hits Austin who is also holding a chair, knocking it into his face.
And Austin is bleeding as Taker throws the referee back in. Taker, ever the nice guy, pours the gasoline at ringside on the referee to wake him up. Austin gets a SICK chairshot to Kane and the referee rings it and as the fans see his face they almost go silent. The booing for Kane being announced as the new champion is insane. We cut to Vince who mouths the words I told you so to Sable as we go off the air.
We get bonus footage of after the show and I mean right after it as Kane’s music is still playing when it starts. The referee is out cold, I’d assume at the hands of Austin and Mankind is coming back. The fans voices their disapproval and I mean LOUDLY. Foley gets beaten up even more as Austin’s music plays and he leaves.
Rating: B+. Again, this isn’t something you can grade on a regular scale. It was mainly furthering the conspiracy and on that level it did very well. Obviously Austin would get the belt back the next night as Kane was champion less than 24 hours.
The title would eventually be held up and after a bunch of complicated stuff the Deadly Game tournament happened where Rock became the big heel after becoming the big face over the fall. This was a complete insane fight which was what it was supposed to be. For a gimmick match like this, it came out great and the interference here is fine. The Cell part was a little bit much but it worked very well.
Overall Rating: B. This show is very overlooked due to the Cell and with good reason. The rest of it is pretty good though and the main events both deliver very well, making up for the earlier weak stuff. Definitely check this out as it might play as big of a role in the Attitude Era as anything other than a Mania. This was a good show and is heavy on Attitude stuff, which is what makes it all the better. Definitely check this out, if nothing else for the historical aspects of it.
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