Judgment Day: In Your House - Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont Illinois, October 18th, 1998

The first PPV since Wrestlemania that doesn’t have Stone Cold Steve Austin entering as WWF Champion, it’s Judgment Day: In Your House! (the spelling of Judgment is bothering me, Judgement with an “e” is correct too. Must be the American spelling)

Opening video package which you can see here;

I like the graphics for the event. The missile silo and “end of the world” aesthetic. There are five (5) title matches tonight JR excitedly explains. Jerry Lawler is very focused on Steve Austin - he will raise the hand of the new WWF Champion tonight as referee, or he will be fired! Austin doesn’t think Vince has the guts to fire him and says the only arm he will raise is his own. We shall see! 

Marc Mero (w/Jacqueline) vs. Al Snow

Al Snow is super popular! King is all over him as a weirdo but JR seems to quite like him, despite his weirdness. Al gives a fun little pre-match promo but I think production messed up as Marc Mero’s theme music starts playing while he’s still talking and the camera cuts to a wide shot of the entrance and misses it. It’s nice that Jacqueline has an actual title belt now. It’s the first WWF Championship belt to feature the new scratch logo - the others all have the classic blocky WWF logo on them still, even the ones introduced after Wrestlemania. 

Before the match starts, Jeff Jarrett comes out - he has a “budding rivalry” with Al Snow as Al left Head in Jeff’s guitar case on Raw which ended up distracting Jeff and getting him eliminated from the Intercontinental title tournament, but also he cost Jeff a match against his tag partner Scorpio on Sunday Night Heat earlier tonight. 

Jeff doesn’t get his way as Marc needs this - he doesn’t have a lot of appearances left.

King makes a “retard” joke about Al Snow which I am shocked didn’t get edited off the WWE Network. 

This match is a slow start with Jackie interfering every chance she gets but the fans do pop for Snow’s kick outs and odd flurry of offence and chant for “head”.

Mero goes for Marvelocity which honestly would have missed even if Al hadn’t rolled out of the way, and then Snow counters a TKO attempt into the Snow Plough for the victory! 

This was fun and I’m happy to see Al pick up another win. King ruins this nice segment with a blowjob joke about Mero and Jacqueline which I’m not going to type out because it wasn’t funny anyway.

Backstage, we see that earlier tonight, Patterson and Brisco stopped Stone Cold from going into the locker room and made him go and dress with the other referees. An attempt by the establishment to humiliate him, says Jim Ross. Kind of mean to the referees. I’d hang out with Mike Chioda. Not Earl Hebner though. I hate that guy.

LOD 2000 (Hawk, Animal and Droz) vs. DOA (8-Ball, Skull and Paul Ellering)

It is insane this feud is still technically going but I guess Hawk was distracted with his “inner demons” storyline. He showed up on Raw “drunk” a bunch of times and went to rehab. He confirmed on Raw this past week that he’s addicted to pain pills which is WAY too close to real life, and is now “the alternate” for the team as Droz has stepped in and officially joined the LOD. They do seem to have dropped 2000 from their name and are introduced as just plain old “Legion of Doom”, but not their tights. 

Paul Ellering looks jacked, and I do think that this is DOA’s last PPV appearance, thank goodness. They both suck and are awful people in real life. Full on nazis, which isn’t a joke or slander as it’s easily verifiable.

This match is slow and nothing but the finish comes when Hawk and Animal hit the Devastation Device and Droz steals the pin, which Hawk seems to mind. The commentators don’t draw attention to it though. 

The real story of this match was King making some really classless comments about Hawk’s substance abuse issues and laughing at him being “just an alternate” now, which wouldn’t be cool even if it was just a storyline, rather than heavily based on fact. 

Weird edit as we cut to King and JR talking and making a joke about how Head has an eye for the ladies? They’ve obviously removed a little backstage skit that featured Al Snow. Must have been especially offensive (or advertising something that doesn’t exist anymore) if they’ve taken the time to remove it.

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship

Taka Michinoku © (w/Yamaguchi-san) vs. Christian (w/Gangrel)

This is Christian’s debut match, and sadly Yamaguchi-san’s last PPV appearance. I thought that Kaientai could have done so much more than they did. This is also Taka’s first PPV singles match since Wrestlemania and the first time the Light Heavyweight title has even been mentioned in a couple of months.

They have now fully explained Gangrel and Edge’s issues - Christian is Edge’s little brother (kayfabe) and Edge believes that Gangrel has brainwashed Christian and doesn’t like that he follows him and his “gothic lifestyle”. Fair enough then.

JR speaks highly of the light heavyweights and that he’d like to see more of this division. You and me both, Jim. 

Edge is watching on from the crowd and gets a little “Edge” chant when the fans notice him which is nice this early in his career. 

The action is really good here as they go back and forth, trading big dives to the outside as well as some really crisp exchanges and moves in the ring. Christian even hits a fall down powerbomb on the smaller Taka for a near fall. 

The commentators speculate that the rest of Kaientai aren’t at ringside because this is Christian’s first match and they’re taking him lightly and don’t see him as a threat which is quite a nice little character thing. 

Taka hits a beautiful asai moonsault springboarding off the middle rope to the floor and taunts the fans - he has a lot more personality as a heel and I’m a huge fan. 

Taka hits a nice tornado DDT and taunts for too long before going for the Michinoku-driver which lets Christian counter into a small package for the victory!

Christian becomes the answer to the trivia question “which WWF superstar won a title in his first ever match?” The fans were pretty quiet for a lot of this but did pop for the big dives and spots and did react to the finish.

Another thing clearly removed from the network as we jump cut to Jim Ross reacting to a segment we didn’t see. 

Val Venis (w/Terri Runnels) vs. Goldust

This one gets the same video package as their match at Breakdown got (lazy) but we do see that Dustin’s warnings that “He” is coming didn’t refer to Jesus but did in fact refer to his alter ego Goldust who we’ve not seen properly since November 1997. Dustin Runnels is a solid wrestler but a terrible character no one cares about. The fans seem properly enthusiastic about having Goldust back as a big babyface with a score to settle. It does make Val the heel in this feud properly too, which in my mind he has been all along (I know, I know, I keep saying it) 

Earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat, Val Venis was out doing commentary (next to a ridiculously dressed Shane McMahon) and was delivered a gift-wrapped, golden protective cup. 

Val’s pre-match promo is interrupted when his mic is cut and Goldust instead tells us that it’s showtime. The fans are EXCITED for Goldust and you know what? So am I.

Terri looks deeply troubled by her estranged husband’s antics and Val consoles her before attacking viciously. He is very aggressive but Goldust is a little bigger and seemingly stronger and cuts him off with a shot to the ring steps. 

Val does hit a really nice diving crossbody from the top rope to the floor which hits with a lot of impact.

The match goes back and forth and is really proficient as you’d expect from these guys. The fans come alive for Goldust’s offence but are otherwise quite quiet.

The commentators pay a lot of attention to the fact that both Terri and Goldust are wearing their wedding rings. 

The finish comes when Terri tries to distract Goldust but it backfires and Goldust kicks Val down low hard while the referee has his back turned and then pins him to win the match. I guess Val wasn’t wearing the cup he was gifted. 

More footage from earlier tonight on Heat as after Triple H awarded the Intercontinental title belt to the new champion Ken Shamrock and made some off-colour comments, Shamrock attacked Triple H backstage, slamming his car door on his knee and badly reinjuring him, apparently. I’ll talk more about Ken Shamrock’s recent attitude changes during his match later. You’d think this angle would set up a feud between Shamrock and Triple H over the IC title when he returns and I’m sure that was the plan but it doesn’t end up happening.

X-Pac takes a moment to call Shamrock a “jack off” before heading to the ring to try and regain his European title. 

WWF European Championship

D’Lo Brown © vs. X-Pac (w/Chyna)

D’Lo is introduced from Milan, Italy for this match. He regained the title on Raw last week thanks to Mark Henry. The Nation has gone their separate ways but D’Lo and Mark Henry are still together as a tag team. 

They talk a lot about X-Pac’s famous neck injuries in this one as D’Lo works it over. They also bring up Chyna being sued by Mark Henry for sexual harassment, which doesn’t make any sense apart from as a nonsense heel move as he’s literally reading her love poems on Raw to try and win her over. 

D’Lo counters the bronco buster by sticking up his boot which gets a big crowd reaction and a lot of laughter from King. He should have worn Val’s gold cup. 

This match is good too, story driven as D’Lo focuses on X-Pac’s neck and keeps countering his hope spots with big power moves, like a hurricanrana into a hard powerbomb. The fans do rally behind X-Pac as we see the first use of D’Lo’s cloverleaf submission which is a good looking move. 

X-Pac finally builds some momentum as D’Lo goes for a big flipping senton off the top rope which gets some impressive height but misses when X-Pac rolls out of the way. 

The referee goes down just as X-Pac finally gets control with a big back suplex and Mark Henry makes his way to the ring to be creepy towards Chyna. She’s obviously concerned about the lawsuit. D’Lo takes the chance to get out of the ring and grab his European title belt and knocks out X-Pac with it. Mark throws the referee back into the ring but to everyone’s shock, X-Pac kicks out! 

In the end, the match has the same finish as X-Pac’s last European title win as when D’Lo dives off the top rope, X-Pac turns it into the X-factor (still just called a facebuster by JR) to become a two time European champion.

Backstage, Michael Cole informs us of a hot rumour that Paul Bearer has been spotted going into The Undertaker’s locker room. Paul made his return to TV last week on Raw after Kane turned on him to side with The Undertaker before Summerslam. 

Cole is interrupted by The Headbanges who make fun of The New Age Outlaws, including a gay joke which gets an “oo” from the crowd. The 90s.

WWF Tag Team Championships

The New Age Outlaws © (Roaddogg and Bad Ass Billy Gunn) vs. The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher)

The Headbangers turned heel just after Summerslam in a feud with The Oddities and the Insane Clown Posse (legitimate platinum recording artists) I really liked The Oddities and they should have been in this match really but they weren’t on TV half as much once ICP stopped appearing with them every week.

The Headbangers were named the number 1 contenders and given this title match but did add some flavour to what would have been a straight tag team match on Raw by smashing a boombox over Roaddogg’s head, busting him open.

It was pretty funny actually as JR made the same joke about four times, that it was “some cheap, nasty, inferior boombox, definitely not a JVC Kaboom box - those don’t break!” because JVC were one of the WWF’s sponsors at the time.

The Headbangers have a pretty well defined gimmick and look but no one is that interested. The Outlaws on the other hand are super over as when The Headbangers jump them during their opening spiel, the crowd actually finished it for them. They did the whole thing again during the match too, and at the urging of bright yellow trunks wearing Mr. Ass, chant “suck it” over and over as Roaddogg gets worked over (standard) by the villains. 

They’ve teased an Outlaws breakup on TV and The Headbangers are riding high off turning heel and beating up some actual famous people so it felt really likely we’d see our third title change tonight during this one. Billy gets the hot tag and uses some really impressive power moves to dominate the challengers but to my surprise, The Headbangers get control again and start working over Billy. His hot tag is usually the beginning of the end of these Outlaw matches. 

Billy has had a bit of a singles spotlight recently, carrying DX during Triple H’s legit injury and Roaddogg and X-Pac’s kayfabe ones, stepping up to team with Stone Cold when he needed a partner a few weeks ago and earning the ire of Mr. McMahon. He’s clearly the better prospect of this team and singles stardom beckoned. 

It feels weird to see Billy Gunn get double teamed and beaten down in a tag match working to hot tag Roaddogg - that's the reverse! 

Mosh and Thrasher do hit some really nice double team moves on Billy including a double flapjack and in the end, after being denied a tag multiple times and sick of watching The Headbangers cheat, Roaddogg grabs a boombox and returns the favour from Raw, smashing it over Mosh’s head. JR makes the same comments about it not being a JVC branded one as he did on Raw. "There's no way our sponsor, JVC'S Ka-boom box, would break like that when driven into a man's skull!"

The Headbangers win by disqualification but The Outlaws celebrate in the ring with their tag title belts anyway. 

Backstage, Michael Cole has another rumour for us - Paul Bearer was spotted going into Kane’s locker room! It would appear he wants to buddy up to whichever one of them becomes WWF Champion tonight.

Mankind interrupts him and makes fun of Ken Shamrock. Mankind is the funniest man in the WWF.

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Ken Shamrock © vs. Mankind

This match was set a couple of weeks ago as both men kept getting in each other’s way while chasing the WWF title, and the Intercontinental title was added at the last minute this past week because Shamrock won it. Ken Shamrock has naturally transformed into a heel, sick of losing and after the great summer he had, not holding championship gold. His experiences with chasing the WWF title have made him a bit bitter, and he was able to become Intercontinental Champion this past week by winning a one night tournament running through Steve Blackman, Val Venis and X-Pac all by submission. His issues with Mankind are that he doesn’t seem to be able to hurt him - Mankind keeps mocking how the chair shots from Shamrock are the weakest he's ever received. Which probably isn’t true - Shamrock is jacked. He has muscles in places where most people don’t even have places (that’s an old Jerry Lawler joke, enjoy)

This is a classic fighter vs. brawler match, with Shamrock dominating with holds and Mankind fighting back with punches but to everyone’s surprise, Mankind does some actual mat wrestling too which causes them to switch roles and Shamrock starts brawling too, taking it to the outside and slamming Mick into the announce table, ring steps and ring barrier.

It's nice to hear the commentators talk about the mandible claw - how painful it is, how dangerous it is and how they’ve both experienced it. 

Mankind tries to use a chair but Shamrock kicks it back into Mankind’s face, and then clobbers him with it himself right in front of the referee which doesn’t draw a disqualification. That was a brutal chairshot to the head. 

More back and forth and another gross spot on the outside as Shamrock catches Mankind with a scoop slam on the floor which causes his legs to land violently on the ringsteps with a bang. 

Shamrock rolls Mick into the ring and locks in the ankle lock but Mankind gets to the ropes.Kenny is relentless with kicks to the ankle and goes right back to the ankle lock. Mankind screams in pain and locks the mandible claw on himself and passes out. 

The ring announcer declares that “as a result of the mandible claw”, Shamrock wins. This was a good match with some solid, intense brawling but I hated the finish. It didn’t make any sense. How can you put a hold on yourself? Surely the hold stopped being applied when Mankind passed out? Shamrock is furious that he didn’t get credit for the victory with the ankle lock and belly to belly suplexes the referee and snaps. As he paces and threatens more referees, Mankind slips Mr. Socko onto his hand and clamps the mandible claw on Shamrock. Mankind leaves and fans throw socks at Shamrock in the ring.

Michael Cole backstage again, goes to try and talk to Vince McMahon but he’s stopped by a monogrammed leather jacket wearing Big Bossman who informs us that he is now responsible for law and order in the WWF and will keep everyone away from Vince, especially Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The Rock vs. Mark Henry

This marks the end of The Nation. The Rock was still officially a member until this past episode of Raw until D’Lo, who he’d teased issues with in their couple of limited interactions, and Mark Henry attacked him during his main event tag team match. D'Lo and Mark actually made it even more definitive as earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat they interrupted a match between Faarooq and The Godfather - two other former members - and beat them both up before declaring that they were the only members of The Nation now (they dropped the name entirely after tonight though). 

The writing had been on the wall for a while - The Rock has been officially babyface for over a month now and with Kama turning into The Godfather and going off to do his own thing, Owen Hart seemingly retiring due to accidentally injuring Dan Severn, and The Rock growing out of the group, it’s just D’Lo and Mark Henry as a tag team now. 

The Rock makes it more official by removing all mention of The Nation from his titantron video.

Mark Henry gives us a pre-match love poem directed at Chyna. King believes it's beautiful and moving but Jim Ross (rightly) calls it insincere and a load of baloney.

The Rock is still officially the number 1 contender to the vacant WWF title since Breakdown but there’s no champion to challenge. Mark Henry uses his size to bully The Rock but the future main eventer hits the People’s Elbow for a big pop. 

In the end, this match only goes about five minutes as D’Lo Brown runs down to distract The Rock allowing a big splash on the mat and then holds The Rock’s foot allowing Mark Henry to get a massive upset win.

I don’t really understand The Rock losing when he’s right on the cusp of greatness here but sure, ok. As this is the only time they'd ever wrestle on PPV, Mark Henry is undefeated against The Rock. You think he'd mention that more.

WWF Championship

The Undertaker vs. Kane

Special referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Big pre-match video for this one that is entirely focused on Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon rather than either of the men who are fighting for the WWF title tonight. It’s fair in this case - Austin isn’t just the biggest star in the company and referee but he’s coming off perhaps the most noteworthy three weeks of Raw since the start of his main event run. The video has the zamboni, the “bedpan McMahon” in the hospital segment, and him filling Vince’s car with cement.  You can see it in all its glory by clicking here; 

Kane enters first and in a really cool moment, his entrance pyro sets fire to a bunch of mesh fencing. The Undertaker is next with perhaps my favourite entrance of his so far with the awesome theme song, the loud thumping pyro blasts, his mere presence seemingly being enough to put out the fire caused by Kane…it’s amazing to see. The two shake hands in the ring which does surprise me. Finally, Stone Cold Steve Austin - the referee - enters last. That’s…odd. But then his music hits and the crowd comes unglued and it suddenly seems fair enough. 

The two trade big moves and sit up in the early going. Austin first makes himself known by counting very slowly for an Undertaker pin attempt, and then very quickly for a Kane pin attempt seconds later. 

On the outside, he sarcastically offers to hand Undertaker a weapon and when he does use a chair, nods his head approvingly. 

This is a slow Undertaker vs. Kane match which isn’t as entertaining as their much better one at Wrestlemania and both myself and the live crowd paid more attention to Stone Cold.

The Undertaker slowly works over Kane’s leg for a long time and I don’t have much to say about it. In the end, Kane suddenly grabs Austin by the throat and drives him down with a chokeslam. The two brothers get on the same page and double team Steve for a minute but then Undertaker goes back on the attack. He gets a chokeslam from Kane too who then collapses. All three men are down and Paul Bearer makes his way to the ring carrying a steel chair.  He asks Kane to let him hit The Undertaker for him, but then as Kane turns his back, Bearer hits him in the back instead. Kane no-sells it and closes in on Bearer in the corner but before he can do any damage, The Undertaker blasts Kane with a brutal chairshot to the head. He pins but Austin refuses to count!

They exchange words and Stone Cold stuns Undertaker, and then blasts him with a big chair shot too. 

With both men down, Austin counts to three, rings the bell and declares himself the winner! 

Austin demands Vince bring “his crippled ass” out here and dares him to fire him. He goes backstage and does a lap, looking for Mr. McMahon but can’t find him and so heads back out to the ring. He says that Vince is a coward and doesn’t have the guts to fire Austin. We hear Vince’s voice as he demands the titantron be moved and reveals him sitting in the sky box overlooking the arena, guarded by The Big Bossman. Vince does seem hesitant to fire the Texas Rattlesnake because as much as he hates him, Austin being so popular means that he makes Vince money. He does deliver on his promise. “Stone Cold…screw you, you’re fired!”

Vince didn’t want to fire him, and Austin really didn’t really think he’d have the guts to do it.