Fully Loaded: In Your House - Selland Arena, Fresno California, July 26th, 1998

The PPV opens with Jerry Lawler backstage asking Sable for a sneak peak of her bikini for the bikini contest tonight. She lets him see it behind a partition. I think this was probably a home video exclusive but they do acknowledge it on commentary so maybe it wasn’t? Very odd - this actually airs before the WWF signature! 

The opening video package for the PPV proper focuses on The Undertaker. Is he in cahoots with Kane? If he is, can Stone Cold survive? Will Mankind be adopted or abandoned by the brothers? Can Vince McMahon control them? They don’t know and neither do I!

Val Venis vs. Double J, Jeff Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee)

This match wasn’t mentioned at all during the build up so it has that “bonus match” vibe announced just to get both guys on the card. That’s old school WWF (check out the card for the first few Wrestlemanias and Summerslams - half those matches didn’t have any stories going into them) and something Vince Russo did a lot in WCW too. Double J hasn’t been on TV much this past month and Val Venis is feuding with Yamaguchi-San and Kaientai. Tennessee Lee interrupts Val’s attempt to expose himself to introduce “the world’s greatest lover” (because he’d know) Jeff Jarrett. They seem to be phasing out the Double J name and calling him Jeff Jarrett more. Jeff has grown a bit of a goatee. The evolution continues. He’s got Southern Justice - Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight - with him as his muscle. Before the match starts, Yamaguchi-san and Kaientai - Sho Funaki, Dick Togo and Mens Teioh - come to the ring waving Japanese flags. The crowd chants “USA”. The referees stop Kaientai and send them to the back but Yamaguchi-san gives them the slip and joins commentary for this match. He sounds like he probably speaks English very well and might even be American, but he trips over his words like he’s putting on a “me no English” accent. Yamaguchi-san promises Val Venis a big surprise on Raw tomorrow night. 

This is a short back and forth match where they play to the crowd. They’re both strong wrestlers so it's certainly technically proficient but nothing especially interesting. Tennessee Lee tries to help Jarrett but it backfires and he gets rolled up by Val Venis for his first PPV victory.

Post match, Val gets on the mic and makes a short joke directed at Yamaguchi-san (i.e. a joke about his height, not a joke that isn’t very long) and some more comments about his wife. Yamaguchi-San reiterates his promise that he has something planned for Val tomorrow on Raw. As much as the crowd seems to like Val’s lewd behaviour and, no other way to say this, hate the foreigners for being foreign, Val Venis is CLEARLY the heel here. He slept with another man’s wife and then bragged about it, and showed video evidence of it to the world. I’m team Yamaguchi, personally. 

X-Pac (w/Chyna) vs. WWF European Champion D’Lo Brown (w/The Godfather)

D’Lo’s newly won European title isn’t on the line in this one. That’s fair, he didn’t have it when the match was originally signed. This starts slow but these two will work together a few times over the rest of 1998.

I mentioned this in my preview article covering the Raw’s leading up to this show but Chyna is so popular! A spontaneous Chyna chant breaks out from the crowd when she’s just standing not doing anything at ring side. 

The crowd is hot for this and it builds nicely. They work slowly and gradually ramp up. X-Pac hits a spin kick and the bronco buster but after a distraction from The Godfather, D’Lo hits his sit out spinebuster/powerbomb which they’ve finally named the Sky High to win the match. I think it’s an awesome looking move.

D’Lo celebrates as if the title was on the line which honestly, why wasn’t it? If D’Lo was going to win anyway? Decent but short match, and D’Lo’s push continues. 

Another shot of Edge in the crowd, ominously watching on. This is all he’s done for the past few weeks now.

We join Kevin Kelly backstage for WWF.com. He’s with Tom Prichard and they’re discussing “a developing situation” where The Undertaker hasn’t shown up yet. This sort of “WWF.com reports” segment is new. I think the website had only just launched. Or at least, this was the start of them throwing some real effort into promoting it. It is only 1998 to be fair.

Bradshaw and Terry Funk vs. Faarooq and Scorpio

As Faarrooq and Scorpio make their way to the ring first, JR informs us that these men have racked up a few wins on Shotgun Saturday Night. This isn’t the first or last time Shotgun Saturday Night is mentioned on this show. I’d watch those too for the preview articles but they’re not on the WWE Network sadly. It sounds like a good bit of build for the undercard happened on that show. 

We get a short interview backstage with Terry Funk and Bradshaw. Weirdly, they don’t acknowledge that Funk and Scorpio had been a tag team previously. The 54 year old Terry Funk breaks the news that this will be his last match in the WWF for a while and that he’s going to take “6 months off” which was news to Bradshaw who seems furious about it. 

Bradshaw has changed his theme and it's not as good as his previous one. It’s slower - heel turn incoming.

Weird bedfellows in this match because as I mentioned, Funk and Scorpio were a tag team which has been dropped with no mention, and Bradshaw and Faarooq would go on to shortly become one of the best known teams on the roster. 

Mention of the Brawl for All by JR and King - Scorpio and Bradshaw have both advanced to the next round. There’s a lot more about that tournament in my preview article and it’ll continue right up to the last episode of Raw is War before Summerslam.

The crowd is very quiet for this match. It’s back and forth but the only real story is that Funk and Bradshaw seem uncoordinated and argue with each other between spots. 

It does eventually draw some “boring” chants but the fans do pop for Scorpio’s 450 splash onto Terry Funk for the victory. 

Post-match, Bradshaw starts shouting at Funk, slapping his head. Funk tries to calm him down and gets clobbered with a clothesline and stomps. Scorpio makes the save (because he’s a nice man, they still don’t mention his recent partnership with Funk) and gets a clothesline from hell on the outside for his troubles! Bradshaw wallops him. Faarooq now comes back to help his partner and gets a hard chairshot to the back from the big Texan. Bradshaw has left everyone laying. 

Vader vs. Mark Henry

The bulk (lol) of the build for this one was prior to the King of the Ring where after The Nation attacked Vader, they kept interfering in each other's matches but JR says that Mark Henry beat Vader in a tug of war on Shotgun Saturday Night last week. 

This is a big bulky hoss match. It’s very impressive when they slam and lift each other, the novelty of which keeps the fans invested. They trade big shots back and forth. 

After kicking out of a middle rope splash from Vader which gets a strong reaction, Mark hits a big slam and splash combo of his own for the three count. The Nation is having a good night.

We get a shot of the live satellite link to The Hart Family compound where later, Owen Hart will face Ken Shamrock in a Dungeon match, officiated by Dan Severn. This PPV is from 1998 but this footage looks like it’s from the 80s.

Another WWF.com update about the whereabouts of The Undertaker is interrupted by Kane’s theme music and back in the arena, Paul Bearer is leading the WWF Tag Team Champions Kane and Mankind to the ring. JR and King have been talking about the fact that The Undertaker hasn’t arrived yet on and off all night so far. JR calls Mankind and Kane “posterboys for pestilence” which i’m not 100% sure I get but i guess “vague four horsemen of the apocalypse reference” 

Bearer crows about how The Undertaker is a coward and the reason he doesn’t want to face Kane isn’t because of any cahoots, but because Kane would destroy him. Stone Cold is in trouble because The Undertaker won’t be here to help him tonight.

They’re interrupted by - of all people - former WWF Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws who are not dressed to compete. Roaddogg demands his music be cut and calls Paul Bearer “Gomez”. He says that since Bearer is so sure they’ll have no problems beating Stone Cold tonight, they can accept their challenge for a tag title rematch on Raw tomorrow night and then start a brawl. Kane shouldn’t be selling for Billy Gunn or Roaddogg. It is nice that they’re trying to elevate this team and the tag titles in general by putting them in the ring with all these main eventers. 

King and JR talk a bit about whether The Undertaker will be there. JR refuses to believe that Undertaker has gone cowardly.

The DOA (8-Ball and Skull w/Paul Ellering) vs. LOD 2000 (Hawk and Animal)

They discuss the segment on Raw where Hawk wasn’t there for Animal and was late to the ring and that there are lots of “rumours” about where Hawk was. This will develop mostly off of PPV but this is the start of them turning Hawk’s real life issues with alcohol and pills into a storyline where he’d show up for matches drunk. That’s so not ok anyway, but you’d think if they’re making a storyline of it Hawk must be clean in real life now? Nope. Was still an addict and I guess too worried about his position in the company to turn down any storyline - even one as awful as this. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

LOD 2000 are out and amped up. I miss Sunny. This whole repackage was doomed to fail but Sunny was a great performer and even when she was out of it and running at about 30% was still twice the talker and character that Sable is. But this will be the last time I talk about Sunny because the person she’s become and the path her addictions lead her down are just sad. Whoever she was in the 90s is a far cry from the person she is now.

LOD works fast, and there’s no sign from Hawk of his reported “personal demons” King and JR spend most of this match talking about Paul Ellering so I guess I will too. He’s the man who put the LOD together back in the day and managed them off and on for years. LOD 2000 brought him back to be their manager again as, in their own words, times were tough. He instantly betrayed them and partnered up with the DOA to continue this feud that’s been going for three months now. He has “Mr. Dot Com '' on the back of his jacket because he’d vaguely talk about “the web” and “the future” to come across as super smart and a “finger on the pulse” type. It’s very “how do you do, fellow children? I am also a youth” 

LOD hits the Devastation Device on Skull (or 8-Ball, like it matters) but the illegal twin breaks up the cover. DOA then uses twin magic to win the match. (because they’re identical twins, they swap places and the referee nor their opponents can tell)

As LOD 2000 are leaving, they pass Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, Gerry Brisco and Sgt. Slaughter on the ramp. These mid-show promos have become a staple of these PPVs.

Vince says that he’s not to blame if The Undertaker doesn’t show up tonight. Stone Cold is to blame. Vince says that in the programs for the event it does say “card subject to change” and then gets out his reading glasses and a copy of the program and reads the little disclaimer about “a suitable replacement” and reveals that if The Undertaker doesn’t show up, his suitable replacement as Stone Cold’s partner will be The Brooklyn Brawler who comes out looking very excited. “I thought he was in jail,” says Jim Ross. The Brooklyn Brawler has been around the WWF for years and has a legendary win-loss record - he’s lost every match he’s ever had. 

Dungeon Match

Ken Shamrock vs. Owen Hart

Special Referee: Dan Severn) 

What is the Dungeon, I hear you ask? Basically, it’s Stu Hart’s basement. It’s where Owen’s dad has trained his entire family (with Owen and Bret being the only two successful ones) as well as most of the successful wrestlers to come out of Canada in the 80s and 90s. There’s other graduates too like Steve Blackman and ironically Ken Shamrock spent some time there too as he was friendly with Bret (but that isn’t talked about here) Stu’s training technique was renowned to be very brutal and involve a lot of mat grappling, stretching and submissions which is why most wrestlers coming out of it have that style. And so that’s where this match is taking place. The famous “Hart family dungeon”.

This feud has been going since Owen Hart turned heel and joined The Nation right after Unforgiven. He broke Shamrock’s ankle and when Ken returned, after a quick detour to win the King of the Ring, wants his revenge. 

Before this match starts, JR talks about the pedigree of the people who’ve been trained there and stretched by Stu Hart. Owen Hart is waiting in his dungeon which looks a bit grim. Dan Severn is there to be the referee who in theory should be fair because he hates them both. This is obviously pre-recorded and is pretty slickly edited. This match can only end by submission. They trade some fast grapples and try hard to lock each other up in holds. This is really good! It’s physical and fast paced as they trade stiff shots and get slammed into the wooden board walls and slammed on the floor. It looks really brutal when they slap each other’s heads into the wall. This is intense! Shamrock runs Owen into the shelves of weights. After an intense back and forth, Shamrock accidentally clips Severn with a heel kick and while he’s down and recovering, Owen hits Shamrock in the back of the head with a dumbbell. He locks an unconscious Ken in a crossface type hold and makes his own limp arm tap out which Severn does see and calls the match. Owen wins by “submission”.

I loved this! 

I wonder what happened when Shamrock woke up? He’s still in the basement of Owen’s parents house. Is Owen waiting upstairs? Did he leave and Shamrock has to say an awkward goodbye to the family as he leaves? Funny to think about the logistics of this. 

2 out of 3 falls match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

The Rock © vs. Triple H (w/Chyna)

Both men bring their entire stables out with them but Sgt Slaughter appears with an army of referees to escort everyone but Chyna to the back. She’s the only one who has a manager's licence. Originally this was 2 out of 3 falls because both of their titles were set to be on the line but The Rock cost Triple H (and I guess himself really) the European title to D’Lo Brown on Raw. JR has mentioned the 30 minute time limit a LOT in the early going. 

This feels like proper main event stuff as the two men trade the advantage back and forth before ending up on the outside. The Rock hits a great looking vertical suplex on Triple H on the floor and tries to take a count out win. While he has the referee tied up in the ring, Mark Henry comes to the ring and splashes Triple H out on the floor but before he can do any more damage, Billy Gunn appears with rabbit punches and chases Mark to the back. The Rock throws Triple H back in the ring and while Chyna protests and argues with the referee about Henry’s interference, The Rock hits him with the IC title belt. This feels like it’ll be the first fall for sure but Triple H amazingly kicks out. 

Every time Triple H mounts a comeback, he’s unable to string a couple of moves together before The Rock shuts him back down with a big clothesline or a sleeper hold and the fans are at fever pitch waiting for Triple H’s big comeback.

Jerry Lawler keeps talking about Sable and the bikini contest which is openly getting on JR’s nerves. And mine.

It’s weird to me to see Triple H playing the babyface in peril here. This is the first proper singles match he’s had since his match with Owen at Unforgiven and he was a heel there. 

The Godfather comes out to try and get involved again but this time both New Age Outlaws rush to stop him. As The Rock distracts the referee, D’Lo climbs the top rope with the European title belt. Triple H cuts him off and sends him packing but the distraction allows The Rock to hit Rock Bottom on Hunter for the first fall. The Rock goes up 1 - 0 by pin fall and Triple H gets a 60 second rest period. 

Triple H is knackered and can hardly stand and once they’ve rested, The Rock goes right back on the offensive. 

The Rock hits the People’s Elbow for a close two but Triple H finally regains some control with a big double clothesline. D’Lo is still at ringside and as he climbs back onto the apron, Chyna runs around the ring and beats him up. This distracts the referee and X-Pac runs in and lays out The Rock with the X-Factor which amazingly when Triple H is able to make the cover, The Rock kicks out of it! I was sure that would even the score.

The Rock tries to use a chair and accidentally hits the referee in the back. While he’s down, Chyna comes in with a blow blow and a DDT on the chair. The referee recovers amazingly quickly from a full on chair shot to count the three. Triple H evens the score to 1 - 1. Both men are exhausted. 

After the one minute rest, Triple H goes right into another cover but the referee is out of the ring looking to switch out due to the big chair shot. A second referee - Earl Hebner -  eventually runs down to take his place but The Rock kicks out.

It’s now that Howard Finkle announces that there are only two minutes left of the 30 minute time limit. (Knew that would be important)

Triple H hits the pedigree and covers but Earl Hebner botches the finish, waving it off and refusing to count just before the bell rings. He should have just started counting and trusted the time keeper to ring the bell before three. The outcome is the same though - this is a time limit draw at 1 - 1 and The Rock keeps his Intercontinental title. 

This was a great match and the constant interference by both factions kept the fans engaged and meant there was lots happening at all times. I don’t think these two guys needed it - they could have done this one on one and still made it brilliant. Letting them go a full 30 minutes was definitely a trial by fire to see if they were capable of carrying big main events. Both men passed with flying colours for my money, I thought this was really good.

It’s confirmed - The Undertaker has arrived at the arena. He’s here and Brooklyn Brawler has the night off. 

Bikini Contest

Sable vs. Jacqueline (w/Marc Mero) 

Master of Ceremonies: Jerry “The King” Lawler

The video package for this match is focused on Sable and Mero’s sex life, and now Jackie and Mero’s sex life. Lots of them calling each other skank, and hoe, and bitch. This is so trashy and Jerry Springer which to be fair, is exactly what they were going for and the fans are into it so who am I to criticise? Judge for yourself;

The “story” here is that Mero brought in a new woman to make his ex jealous and Jacqueline is now determined to embarrass Sable and talks a lot about how she’s not a real woman etc etc. It's hard to recap it in any meaningful way. 

Before the ladies make their entrances, Dustin Runnels is in the ring with his born again preacher gimmick. He promises us that “He is coming” and asks for God to forgive all us sinners for what we’re about to see. 

Jacqueline goes first and when she disrobes is basically naked, in a tiny red string bikini. Even JR is flustered and King loses his mind. She looks great, obviously. Her nipple actually slips out of her top multiple times which is blurred on the Network and she does adjust and cover up.

Sable is second and removes her t-shirt to reveal a thong and jumper, which the crowd boo. According to Sable, Vince McMahon asked her to be “conservative” but she’s decided to ignore Vince and give us what we want. She pulls off her jumper to reveal that she isn’t wearing a bikini - she has a couple of black body paint handprints covering her nipples. 

The crowd goes ballistic as she struts around and Jerry Lawler acts like he’s never seen a woman before. Sable is declared the winner based on the highly scientific “the crowd made noise” technique.

Vince McMahon gets himself some loud boos from the crowd by coming out and wrapping Sable up in his suit jacket and leading her to the back as she looks like she’s in trouble. 

WWF Tag Team Championships

Kane and Mankind © (w/Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker and WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin

Watch the video package before we get to my thoughts;

I’ve loved the story going into this one. “Who’s side is The Undertaker on?” is such a simple story. In theory, he and Kane spent the first few months of the year trying to kill each other but they’ve hit so many clever little plot points now that I’m invested. To recap;

• Undertaker helped Kane win the WWF title at the King of the Ring. He’s confirmed this was intentional because he didn’t want to see his brother set himself on fire.
• Paul Bearer has given multiple interviews about how when Kane was little, all he wanted to be was like his big brother.
• The Undertaker has outright said that if not for Bearer poisoning Kane’s mind, the brothers may have never been at odds to begin with. 
• The Undertaker was disguised as Kane when he became number 1 contender for Austin’s title at Summerslam. How did he get Kane’s ring gear and mask?
• He openly tried to help Kane and Mankind win the WWF tag titles, and to retain them later that same night.
• The Undertaker has refused more than once to say if he and Kane are together one way or the other. He won’t confirm or deny. 
• When Paul Bearer denied it, Kane was behind him with his head down, seemingly not agreeing with his father. 
• The Undertaker abandoned Austin to face Kane and Mankind in a handicap match on Raw and swung a chair that may have hit Kane, but seemed to be aimed for Austin himself. 
• Undertaker is the next challenger for Stone Cold’s title at Summerslam and so it's in his best interest to see Austin destroyed here. 

There’s LEVELS to this. The Undertaker certainly isn’t in collusion with Paul Bearer…but it seems very likely he is with Kane! 

The tag team champions enter first, then Undertaker (to a new version of his theme music) and then the WWF Champion Stone Cold. Taker goes out to confront him on the way to the ring but before things get nasty, Kane and Mankind jump the challengers and the four men brawl until the bell finally rings. The match settles down to Austin and Mankind starting it as legal men, with Taker and Kane in their corners. 

This amazingly is only the second time in WWF history that the tag team titles have been on the line in a PPV main event (WWF In Your House 3: Triple Header, in a match where the Intercontinental and WWF titles were also at stake)

The tension of the situation is seemingly removed early as Undertaker and Kane both do get tagged in and wrestle. Taker gets the advantage and gives Austin the finger which actually makes him laugh. 

Foley suffered injuries at Hell in a Cell last month that would put most people on the shelf for months but here he is in another PPV main event battling Undertaker. He wrestled two weeks after that event. 

Undertaker gets worked over by the champs but as he manages to knock down Mankind and goes for a tag, Kane is tagged in and he doesn’t so much hit Undertaker from behind as push him to Austin to allow the tag so he can fight Stone Cold instead. After some more action, Austin hits a big brutal chairshot on Kane behind the referee’s back and it feels like the finish but Kane kicks out to everyone’s shock and seemingly shrugs off the chair shot to continue to dominate the WWF Champion. Now Kane and Mankind are tagging in and out and working over Austin. Kane is a big scary silent monster but apparently a very proficient tag team wrestler. 

As Austin crawls for a tag, Undertaker makes no attempt to reach for a tag himself. Kane does give his brother a light blow but Undertaker no-sells it and makes no attempt to retaliate.

When he does step into the ring, it is to stand and emotionlessly distract the referee so that Kane and Mankind can work over Austin. There’s some really brilliant spots here where Kane and Undertaker could so easily be together. Kane chokeslams Austin and goes for the tombstone but he counters out into a stunner. Mankind rushes in for a mandible claw and gets a stunner too. The Undertaker just stands and watches with the same look of utter disdain on his face. Austin is clearly within range for a tag but Undertaker doesn’t reach for one. The crowd boos and so Taker finally reaches out and tags in.

He hammers Mankind and Kane with punches. Chokeslam to Kane. Low blow to Mankind. Chokeslam to Mankind, Tombstone to Kane. Austin runs over with a clothesline to Mankind as the referee counts The Undertaker’s cover on Kane to three. The Undertaker has pinned Kane. Stone Cold and The Undertaker are the new WWF Tag Team Champions!

This is Austin’s third tag title reign (one with Shawn Michaels and one with Dude Love) and The Undertaker’s first. 

The Undertaker takes both tag team title belts with him when he walks up the ramp, leaving Austin looking furious in the ring to end the show.