Raw is War - June 1st, 1998

The WWF Championship

Opening video package decrying Austin’s “shallow” victory at Over the Edge as people were really concerned about the health and well being of Mr. McMahon, attesting that Stone Cold may have won the “gruelling but fair” match but he is the most heartless, gutless and undeserving WWF champion of all time. Why is this funny? Because the whole thing is narrated by Vince himself.

The show opens properly with Mick Foley (as Mick Foley) sitting in the ring with a mic. His face is badly swollen and bruised on his left cheek. It looks pretty nasty. He says he’s been listening to the wrong people. He is still referring to himself as The Dude. He wants to apologise to Mr. McMahon and calls him out. He apologises and basically wants another shot at Stone Cold once he’s ready to wrestle again. Vince calls him a miserable failure as a WWF superstar and as a human being and demands Mick get down on his knees. He barks it at him too. We’re getting a lot more of the Vince we’d come to know. Mick refuses to get on his knees and be embarrassed on national television in front of his kids. Vince calls Mick an embarrassment already to himself, the WWF and his own family. Mick admits he enjoyed hitting him with the chair at Over the Edge and then Vince dares him to do it again. As Foley picks up the chair, he begins implying that as soon as he does it, he’s fired so Mick backs down and sadly takes a seat while Vince continues to berate him. He acknowledges that he hasn’t fired Austin because he makes him richer, but all “Dude” does is make him sick. He fires him, and then Dude Love’s music plays so Vince dances at Mick too.

After appearing suddenly during a previous segment (see Other happenings) The Undertaker comes out and talks about how Vince used to give people “who were a little bit different” the chance to be themselves. He talks about how Vince has always used him as “the slayer of dragons” and that he was happy to “keep the kingdom safe” for him and his hand picked champions. He has been patiently waiting for his opportunity. This is quite good actually, it’s part shoot but it works in character too. He says he’s remained loyal even though his title runs were short because Vince didn’t want him to represent the WWF. All Vince’s golden boys left but he remained loyal. Vince thanked him by making him fight his brother, and by giving Paul Bearer an open forum to discuss his family tragedy “for ratings” He’s got nothing against Steve Austin and respects him, but he is sick of staying loyal and waiting his turn and he wants his shot. He wants to be WWF champion. This is easily the best Undertaker promo i’ve ever seen. Vince comes out and calls Undertaker ungrateful. He says Undertaker can become number 1 contender tonight by defeating his brother Kane.

We see Vince talking to Paul Bearer and Kane backstage and Vince shakes Kane’s hand as Bearer cackles.
Brief interview with Paul Bearer. He claims that Kane has beaten Undertaker before. No he hasn’t. Not on TV anyway. 

Stone Cold arrives and marches to the ring which Vince is not happy about. He joins the desk so we have both Vince and Stone Cold on commentary for this number 1 contenders main event. Taker and Kane start fast and furious and Taker takes a moment to quickly flip outside and sock Paul Bearer with a big right hand as Stone Cold calls him a fat piece of garbage. They’re moving so fast here. It’s going to be a short one so there’s no filler or rest spots because they don’t have time to get gassed. Vince doesn’t care which one of these men wins as long as one of them beats Austin. Stone Cold doesn’t mind who he has to fight but does seem to be a bit more pro Undertaker. They exchange big slams and chokeslams back and forth. Vince and Austin bicker and argue a lot on commentary which is a bit distracting. Taker spikes Kane with an awesome looking chokeslam and Kane gets back on his feet before the camera has even changed angles. They’re throwing bombs at each other. Ref bump. Tombstone on Kane. Undertaker has the victory with no referee to count. Mick Foley runs out wearing his Mankind mask and gear, but with the same red-shirt from earlier over the top. He mandible claw’s Undertaker! Mankind keeps getting involved and Kane tombstones and finally defeats his brother The Undertaker. Kane is the number 1 contender for the WWF title. 

The crowd pops huge for Austin taking his headset off and getting in Kane’s face. Kane signals his ringpost pyro and Stone Cold looks legitimately concerned as his new challenger leaves with Paul Bearer. Mankind brawls with The Undertaker at ringside as Vince says that he’s changed his mind and Mick Foley can have his job back. You’d have to assume that’s what he was going for with this attack. Annoyingly the crowd chants for Austin instead of focusing on what we’re seeing. 

King of the Ring 1998

First qualifying match for the 1998 King of the Ring - Steve Blackman vs. Marc Mero. We see the whole bracket. Mero brings out Jaqueline as “the new and improved Sable” He describes her as “knowing her place” and “black” which is all a bit uncomfortable. She comes out to the generic “woman’s theme song” music they’d use for everyone for the next 3 years. This would eventually be Terri, Ivory, BB and a bunch of others theme songs too. Michael Cole is a fan of Jackie. Jackie helps Mero win. He’s using the shooting star press as a finish again.

Tennessee Lee. He brings out Double J and after telling us that “those up North” don’t know how to treat a southern gentleman, he brings out the cleaned up Godwins as Southern Justice. They come out to what would become Jeff and then Debra’s theme song. This is another King of the Ring qualifier of Double J vs. Faarooq. Southern Justice distracts the referee and Tennessee Lee hands his belt to Double J who knocks out Faarooq with the big metal belt buckle to win and advance.

Vince McMahon joins commentary for the remainder of Raw just before Mark Henry’s KOTR qualifier against Terry Funk. Vince actually puts Funk over as “the king of hardcore” Vince is trying to stay in character but keeps slipping into the old Vince and accidentally calling some of the action legit. Funk hits Mark with an awesome looking and sounding chair shot right to the head. Stiff and it CLANGS. Funk hits a sloppy moonsault off the middle rope to the outside and clatters the crowd barrier as much as he hits Henry. In the end, Mark beats Funk by just splashing him over and over until the ref counts three. 

The Nation and DX

6 man elimination tag match. The Rock, Owen and D’Lo vs. Triple H and the Outlaws. The Rock seems to have gotten over having his neck broken at the PPV quickly. D’lo goes out first thanks to a gorgeous piledriver from Billy. It comes down to The Rock and Owen vs. Triple H. Everyone has been ejected from ringside but Chyna comes back out when Triple H is working solo. Triple H eliminates The Rock with a pedigree as Chyna has Owen distracted. In the end, Owen wins by DQ as Ken Shamrock makes his return from Owen breaking his ankle and destroys Owen with suplexes. The rest of The Nation runs in to save Owen but Dan Severn comes out to save Shamrock. JR speculates that he wasn’t there to save Shamrock and just had beef with The Nation. After everyone leaves, Triple H attacks Shamrock for costing him the match and they’re pulled apart by the officials. 

Other Happenings

• Droz is outside being interviewed by Kevin Kelly. Droz pukes on command (this is a disgusting gimmick) Droz and LOD are outside for a street fight with DOA. Sunny is still there. LOD fires up about a Chicago street fight. Droz keeps retching and puking on Kevin Kelly in the background. I hate this. DOA arrives on their motorbikes and the 6 men brawl with weapons as a referee meekly tries to control it. Sunny is hovering around, handing weapons to the LOD lads which I do like. The Undertaker arrives during this brawl and beats up everyone, rampaging backstage and grabbing some poor stage hand and demanding to know where Vince is. The undertaker is wearing a dark green tracksuit and sunglasses and looks a bit ridiculous. The promo itself was fantastic, as mentioned above.

• Val Venis defeats Papi Chulo in a squash match.
• Funny advert for supersoaker where DX busts in on a Sable photoshoot and soaks the camera man.
• Another Edge video. He beats up a homeless man.
• Video package about Vince McMahon being an amazing humanitarian and do gooder for charity. 
• Taka Michinoku’s awesome theme song, accompanied by Bradshaw. He’s defending the light heavyweight title against Funaki of Kaientai. JR continues to be really high on him. King compares him to the Godzilla movie (which had just come out to poor reviews and was sinking fast at the box office) During this we see Al Snow - still trying to get Jerry Lawler to get him a meeting with Vince - dressed as a Japanese photographer in a Chinaman hat. Head has one too. That’s super offensive even for 1998. This is a really good match and all the offence looks so crisp. Taka retains with the Michinoku driver and Bradshaw is there to make sure Kaientai doesn't jump him again. Not a huge fan of the gimmick being that Taka is popular because he’s been Americanised but it is what it is. 
• Al Snow argues with Head outside. He does at least acknowledge that they aren’t even dressed Japanese.

Raw is War - June 8th, 1998

McMahon and Austin

Vince and The Stooges come out in tuxedos. He’s been in an amazing mood all weekend, says JR. I pop as the crowd loudly boos Vince and he says “thank you” with a smile. Vince tells us that for his amazing charity work and so on, he will be honoured tonight as Humanitarian of the year. Bizarrely he makes it clear that Stone Cold is invited, but The Undertaker is not.

The Undertaker ruins the finish to multiple matches and appears over and over throughout the show looking for Vince. They’re all mentioned in other matches/the Other Happenings section.
In the main event spot, Kevin Kelly is in the ring and introduces our honouree Mr. Vince McMahon who comes out with Patterson and Brisco to some hall of fame sounding music for this black tie affair and awards ceremony. Kevin next announces special guest Stone Cold Steve Austin who comes out in his cut off jeans and leather vest combo with a black tie around his neck. Massive pop, of course. There appears to be black and silver tinsel all over the ropes and ring posts. Vince thanks Austin for coming. Something is up. Kevin gives a long, lovely introduction to the special guests who are both NFL players or something. King and JR talk over everything and we can’t hear a word any of them are saying. The player does mention that while they thank Vince for his contribution but that it was a lot less than he promised, and it took three attempts for the cheque to clear. This is actually pretty funny. He does hand over the plaque, and mentions that Stone Cold is his favourite WWF Superstar. Austin does a funny “aw shucks” kind of smile and pats Vince on the back. We see the army of police standing in front of Undertaker and stopping him from coming to the ring backstage. The second guy hands over the plaque but admits he doesn’t actually remember Vince giving them a cheque at all. He also says he’s a big Austin fan. Vince gives a long acceptance speech to a chorus of boos. As he speaks, Stone Cold grabs a bunch of cash from Vince’s pocket and counts it out to $1200 before handing it over to the charities. He asks the crowd if Vince should be “jackass of the year” which gets an Oh Hell Yeah. It still doesn’t make any sense that Vince insisted on Austin being here. Where’s the plan?

The Undertaker’s theme music plays and some druids carry a casket to the ring. Stone Cold loses the tie and seems very wary. Is this The Undertaker coming to get Vince? JR and King are good here selling confusion as to what’s going on? If it is The Undertaker, why hasn’t Vince done a runner yet? Does he know something? We get our answer as Mankind comes from under the ring to jump Austin, and Kane comes out of the casket. Mankind and the number one contender seal Austin in the casket and Kane stands on top of it to trigger his pyro and end the show. 

King of the Ring

Ken Shamrock defeats Kama of The Nation in a KOTR qualifier. Post match, Severn saves him again from another Nation beat down. Severn is just making the save because he has his own issues with The Nation dating back to before Over the Edge. Shamrock and Severn do not like each other.

Scorpio comes out to Cactus Jack/Terry Funk’s music. He’s facing former King, Owen Hart in a KOTR qualifier. This is really good because both of these guys are really good. It gets a little bit of time too. During this match, Michael Cole really casually mentions that Undertaker vs. Mankind has already been announced for the King of the Ring PPV in Hell in a Cell. That was….underwhelming as an announcement. Took me aback a little. Owen wins clean with a sharpshooter. He is a lot more focused and intense.

Another KOTR qualifier as D’Lo Brown takes on Dan Severn. Dan is no longer carrying his other title belts and the NWA connection hasn’t been mentioned which makes me happy. This match ends up having storyline ramifications for the next 6 - 8 months! It’s ok but I don’t think Severn’s style has translated that well to the WWF. It’s a bit dull. D’Lo is improving week by week especially for someone so young. The finish comes when Dan ties up D’Lo in a laying down stretch hold and “tears D’Lo’s chest muscles” He’ll be wearing a gimmicked chest protector for a hilariously long time because of it. 

D-Generation X

Footage of DX in New York promoting the fact that Summerslam 98 will be at Madison Square Garden. They talk to people on the street which includes them asking a basic looking girl to show her boobs to them (she does) and putting on racist accents to talk to Japanese tourists and an Indian or Pakistani looking gentleman at a newsstand. 

Another DX in New York skit. Roaddogg adds Irish to the list of offensive accents when he goes into an Irish bar. Then he shouts “freedom” because he doesn’t know the difference between Scottish and Irish. I swear to God he’s just done another dodgy foreign accent to a shopkeeper. And Triple H makes it a trilogy when he asks a man in a turban - using an accent - if he can pull on it to start his motor. They ask a taxi driver for a flat rate to Pakistan in another accent. This is insane. We do see Chyna smile for the first time ever during this. Oh, Chinese accent. And they get another girl to show her boobs to them. This was, in theory, fun but all of these DX in New York segments were loaded with casual racism and misogyny. It’s astonishing how many times they approached a foreigner and mimicked their accent to ask them a racist question during these segments.

DX came out to the ring. X-Pac’s promo style has settled on “screaming” They run through the classics and just as Triple H is ready to call out The Nation, they’re interrupted by LOD 2000 and Sunny. LOD wants a tag team title match. Triple H is funny telling Animal to stop screaming and calm down before he has an aneurysm. He says they can have a tag title match but then DOA comes out. DOA gives their own loud, screamy promo where they trip over their words. Jesus Christ. Triple H says that none of them can have a title shot. Sgt Slaughter then comes out (also in a Tux) and books a triple threat tag team match tonight for the Tag Team titles. He says that it will be “called a triple threat match” which makes me think this might literally be the first triple threat in history. 

The triple threat tag team title match is the last match of the show before the McMahon awards ceremony.. Sunny is with LOD and the commentators speculate on what Sunny may have done to reunite the LOD and they again imply its sexual. I hate that. They’re babyfaces. The Outlaws are popular because they’re in DX but still feel like heels compared to the rest of the group. He does say that neither of these “ice cold tag teams is leaving with these red hot tag straps” which is a little near the bone. Triple H and X-Pac sit at the top of the ramp with signs which are all really funny. “Where’s Rocco?” popped me. (LOD’s short lived ventriloquist dummy from 1992. Yes, seriously) LOD and DOA don’t sell for each other. The match is fun when The Outlaws are on offence but slows right down when the big men take over. At least Sunny looks great. Billy and Roaddogg both end up getting tagged in by different teams and are forced to wrestle each other. Roaddogg lays down and lets Billy pin him. So Roaddogg loses but Billy scored the winning pin so…The New Age Outlaws retain? It’s a funny finish but it’s beyond stupid. Makes everyone involved look dumb...apart from The Outlaws I guess which is what they were going for.

Other Happenings

• The show opens with a moving video tribute to the Junkyard Dog who had sadly been killed in a car crash that week. 
• The actual Raw opening badly needs an update as it still has multiple shots of Shawn Michaels and you can even briefly see Bret Hart in the “brawling in a warehouse” parts. Psycho Sid too and he’s been gone for even longer! 

• Double J and Marc Mero - opponents in the KOTR tournament quarterfinals - team up against Steve Blackman and Faarooq who they respectively beat last week. I feel like I've been watching Double J and Steve Blackman feud and wrestle since the beginning of time. Blackman wins with a roll up on Double J while Mero is busy macking on Jackie at ringside. Double J and Marvellous Marc get into it post match. Mero’s new win streak didn’t last long. 
• The Undertaker arrives, again in his street clothes. He walks right into Vince’s office (which is really small and unimpressive so its like a shoot office)
• We cut right to Droz vs. Chainz in a singles match. They’re both already in the ring - no entrances. They do at least talk a bit more about the Undertaker/Mankind Hell in a Cell match on commentary. This would be only the 2nd Hell in a Cell in history and at this stage, Mankind has the best win-loss record against Undertaker of anyone in history after their series of great matches in 1996. As Chainz beats Droz, Undertaker arrives and chokeslams Chainz and then Droz before dumping them both out of the ring. 
• Returning from an ad break, Undertaker is still in the ring demanding to speak to McMahon. We see Vince engaged in chit chat with some big wigs backstage, smiling and laughing so Undertaker leaves and charges on off after Vince.
• Undertaker is destroying things backstage. It looks like it’s a bunch of tables and chairs set up for a function.
• Another Edge video. He is lost. Scared. It's the sound bites that would be part of his theme song going forward. It sounds like this ghostly woman is going to be controlling Edge but he debuts as a singles guy with no manager.
• Mark Henry vs. Vader is next. I really like Vader’s theme song. I’m surprised to see him - I thought he’d disappear for a while after Over the Edge. Mark hits a really impressive stalling bodyslam on Vader. He is so very strong. Vader returns one of his own. This is quite good. The crowd is popping for these massive slams. It ends abruptly when The Undertaker comes out again and chokeslams both men. They both look awesome to be fair despite their size and weight. He STILL wants McMahon. 
• Moving tribute to Sable because she’s “gone forever” thanks to Marc Mero at Over the Edge. It’s a mix of footage of her doing moves and posing in bikinis set to slow, emotional music. This works fine for the storyline but it’s kind of poor taste to have aired this the same night as the show opened with a much shorter version of this for Junkyard Dog who had actually died.
• Dustin Runnels is in the ring - guess his knee is all healed up - and he’s facing Val Venis. JR describes this match as controversy vs. controversy. He gives us a promo laced with innuendo which I won’t recap because it's all American sports references. JR reminds us that Dustin is wrestling for free here because of that match he lost to Dude Love just after Unforgiven. This match is decent but is ruined when The Undertaker comes out again and slams both men with chokeslams. 
• Returning from an ad break, we see The Undertaker beating up Sgt Slaughter. We’re told during the triple threat that he has been taken to the hospital with a suspected concussion.
• We see an army of police officers arrive.
• Al Snow comes out in a tuxedo t-shirt to speak to Jerry Lawler. King says to Snow that Vince is about to come out so he can speak to the boss then. Al and Head argue over whether they can trust King and then a couple of security guards come out and escort Snow out through the crowd.

Raw is War - June 15th, 1998

Austin in the Bearer family dramas

The recap of last week’s main event shenanigans show a couple of details that I missed/weren’t caught as the Mankind and Kane ambush was so quick and the show ended 90 seconds later. Specifically that Vince was all smiles and laughs in the ring during it, and that Mankind kept hugging Paul Bearer. 

In the arena, the big obvious question is - why is the Hell in a Cell hanging above the ring?!

We’re joined by Sable? But she’s gone, and they aired that touching tribute to her last week! The crowd give her their usual “drunks at a strip club” reaction. She brings out “the man responsible for my return to the World Wrestling Federation, Mr. Vince McMahon” who gets loud boos. They’re in Texas tonight so the crowd is going to be even louder than ever for the WWF Champion. Vince forces Sable to read a prepared statement for Vince. She doesn’t look that happy to be there. She seems surprised by the line “humanitarian of the year” which tells me that she doesn’t watch the show and didn’t see last week. The prepared statement is a denial that he set up last week to see Austin being jumped during a charity event. He gives Sable a kiss on the cheek as they leave and she’s not into it. I’m not convinced that her lowering herself like this to get her job back was a smart character move. It’s hardly feminist. Austin’s music hits and Vince jumps out of his skin which made me laugh. Stone Cold does help Sable out of the ring so she doesn’t get caught in the crossfire. He calls Vince "chicken-shit" and goes after him. Vince implores Austin to listen to reason and not react in a physical and violent way. Stone Cold chases him around the ring as Vince tries to explain himself. He eventually spits out that The Undertaker was behind it! That doesn’t make any sense - he’s been feuding with Kane and Paul Bearer for 8 months and Mankind cost him the number 1 contendership. Vince does at least concede that it doesn’t make any sense but tries to explain it anyway. As Vince continues to blame Undertaker, the Deadman does eventually come out. At least he’s in his ring gear this week. Undertaker says that he respects Austin and the gold but that he will always challenge Stone Cold like a man. Vince is obviously lying. Or is it so obviously a lie, it might be true? Austin hasn’t taken his eyes off the Deadman as he speaks. He is amused by Undertaker’s promises to kill Vince McMahon. He promises that he will never be able to manipulate him. Next, Kane, Paul Bearer and Mankind come out to Kane’s theme music. Mankind is now in the gear I know him for best - his white shirt and black tie on top of his classic brown Mankind gear. He’s Mankind again, but he holds onto those vestiges of his corporate life.

Bearer calls Taker a liar and says that he and Bearer hatched the whole plan together and that Vince is telling the truth. He says he’s gone as far as he can with Undertaker and that he refuses to be party to his conspiracy anymore. He challenges Undertaker and Stone Cold to a tag team match with Kane and Mankind tonight…inside hell in a cell! Paul says that this is the entrance ramp to the Highway to Hell, which is funny because the highway to hell ends up being the theme and tagline for Summerslam where Austin and Taker finally wrestle for the title so he’s spot on. JR cries conspiracy because how on earth would they know to have the hell in a cell here and hanging from the ceiling if Vince wasn’t in on it all?

Kevin Kelly asks The Undertaker if he can trust Stone Cold tonight. He says he can’t trust Austin but that Stone Cold can trust him. He’s made his intentions clear and has nothing to hide and no sneaky plan. He just wants a title shot man to man with Steve Austin.

Interview with Austin who’s honest - he doesn’t trust Taker and Taker probably shouldn’t trust him seeing as he’s just said that he wants Stone Cold’s belt and Austin will do anything to keep it. 

Returning from a commercial, Kane and Mankind are still in the ring after their previous victory (see a later section). Mankind nursery rhyme promo which I enjoyed. He calls Bearer Uncle Paul and gives him a hug. Stone Cold comes out. Undertaker’s music plays but he doesn’t appear. Austin goes to fight Kane and Mankind anyway. Bearer locks himself inside the cell to keep himself safe as Austin fights Kane and Mankind on the ramp. Undertaker busts up through the ring and goes after Paul Bearer. Kane and Mankind can’t get inside to help him. Kane climbs the cell to try and find a way in as Mankind and Stone Cold brawl up the ramp. Undertaker is destroying Paul Bearer in the ring. It’s chaos. This match never officially started. The brawl on the outside continues as Austin hits brutal chair shot after brutal chairshot on Mankind. It awkwardly feels like they’re killing time. I think Kane is legit struggling to get into the cell so they’re having to kill time. Stone Cold climbs the cell to fight with Kane on the roof! It makes me so nervous to see the mesh ceiling of the cell bounce and move under Kane and Austin’s weight! The show goes off the air with Mankind out on the floor, Undertaker still hitting Bearer inside and Austin and Kane fighting on the roof of the Hell in a Cell! What a visual.

On the WWE network, this episode has 10 minutes of additional footage from where the cameras kept rolling after the show. The cell gets opened and Austin stuns Mankind in the ring to officially win the match which I didn’t realise had started. So officially Austin and Taker won the hell in a cell tag team match. 

King of the Ring

The Rock vs. Vader in a KOTR qualifier. Cole and JR again talk about Vader’s physical condition and how he’s still working on his condition. Man this poor guy. This is decent. Mark Henry runs in and splashes Vader on the floor behind the ref's back. The Rock wins with the Rock Bottom.

Funny little pre-taped video from DX talking strategy. Triple H is facing X-Pac tonight in a KOTR qualifier. X-Pac’s heel kicks can’t possibly miss Triple H’s nose. We get a few of these with the final one them getting serious and saying they won’t lay down for the other.

X-Pac vs. Triple H in a KOTR qualifier. First time we’ve heard X-Pac’s theme. He’s in the red and black gear (why not green for DX?) This is his first match in about a year after a serious neck injury and is his first match since returning to the WWF the night after Mania 14. The crowd is really quiet for him. I’m sure they’ll perk up a bit when Triple H comes out to the real DX theme. I love the way the European title looks. They’re wrestling straight up. Chyna comes out mid-match. There’s a weird vibe here. The crowd is really quiet for this and I feel like everyone is expecting a swerve or someone to turn. X-Pac isn’t as smooth as I’d expect from him - ring rust probably. It has been about a year. As the match continues, we hear The Rock over the house mic. He’s up on the balcony with a mic. He claims that he let Triple H win a couple of weeks ago (when he pinned him off the pedigree in that 6 man elimination. I think that’s what he means). While we were all distracted, Owen Hart chop blocked X-Pac on the outside. Triple H is tending to his friend but X-Pac demands he get in the ring and take the count out victory so at least one of them will advance in the KOTR. Hunter seems very upset to be doing so. DX all rushed out to check on X-Pac. Even the commentators didn’t see Owen’s sneak attack. We do see a replay and it wasn’t a chop block - he crotched him on the ringside barrier. Ouch. 

A Tag Team Royal Rumble

LOD 2000 and Sunny start our tag team royal rumble. Everyone is confused when Kane’s music plays next. It appears he and Mankind are our next team! They potentially have a very busy night. Team number three is Bob and Bart of The Midnight Express. Team four is The Headbangers. Team five is the DOA. The biggest benefit of this match is showing off that the WWF does actually have a tag team division, even if they’re hardly ever on TV. I don’t have much to say between entrants as they’re all just punching and kicking in the corners. Team six is Golga and Kurrgan of The Human Oddities (they drop the Human part soon) Team seven is Too Much (Too Cool before they were Too Cool) Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor. Brian is Jerry’s son. Steve Blackman and Faarooq are team number eight. Somewhere in here, The Midnight Express were eliminated. Team nine is Taka Michinoku and Bradshaw and then the tenth and final team is Terry Funk and Scorpio. Terry Funk eliminated Kurgan! DOA were dumped by LOD. Too Much gets rid of Taka and then the Headbangers send them packing shortly after. It was a mistake to have Kane and Mankind be the second team out - they should have been last. I get that they want them to look strong but the crowd has been pretty quiet as it's been obvious who was winning since the bell. It comes down to Funk/Scorpio vs. Mankind and Kane. The two main eventers dump Funk and are officially the number 1 contenders for the tag team championship.

Other Happenings

• Droz actually gets his entrance this week to face Double J. They’re still calling him either Puke or Darren Drozdov. I’m not calling him Puke. I hate it. As they wrestle, Marc Mero who is still slated to be Jeff’s next opponent in the KOTR, comes out to join commentary and complain about Sable being back. As Tennessee Lee tries it on with Jackie, Mero and Jarrett get into it a bit and Mero low blows Double J letting Droz get the victory. It's a shame he didn’t have Southern Justice this week too.
• Shot of Val Venis’ dressing room door with loud sex noises coming from behind it. 
• Val Venis is wrestling Chainz. “Everything is bigger in Texas” You can see where this is going. He doesn’t have the deep Val Venis voice yet. Are you telling me that wasn’t his real voice? Betrayed. This is much longer than I’d have expected it to be but Val wins with the Money Shot splash. This is Chainz last match in the company. 
• Marc Mero and Jackie next. What have I done to deserve Marc Mero twice in one show? He’s facing Dustin Runnels who I believe is still working for free. Double J and Southern Justice surround the ring. Jeff joins commentary. Between the sunglasses and the meaner attitude, there’s definitely a gimmick change unfolding here. Sable comes out and distracts Mero and Dustin wins with a running bulldog. Michael Cole pronounces Mero three different ways in a row.
• Interview with Dustin who is delighted to have finally won a match and issues a special thank you to “his lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” Indeed. 
• When we see King for the first time tonight at ringside I notice that he’s wearing an ugly as sin lavender coloured suit jacket.
• Al Snow comes out in his old Avatar mask. Jerry Lawler gets in the ring and breaks the news that he’ll never get his meeting with Vince. Al Snow wants to make two citizen arrests. He wants to get Vince for attempted murder for trying to kill his career, and King for lude public conduct. King tells him he needs to stop listening to the head, and that he’s stupid so he starts beating King up. The referee tries to stop so Al Snow hits him with the Snow Plough. He hits King in the junk with Head, and then in the head with Head! He hits a couple of security guards with Head too and then runs off through the crowd.
• Mark Henry and Owen Hart vs. Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock. We see some UFC footage of Shamrock vs. Severn and they were vicious. King promises us that these two guys hate each other. They show footage of him tapping out D’Lo last week and really hammering home that he badly injured him and tore all the muscles in his chest. He didn’t but it makes Dan seem like a killer. During this, JR mentions that tonight we have the first ever Tag Team Royal Rumble and at first i thought he’d gotten confused and meant the hell in a cell main event but no, a legit tag team royal rumble for a shot at the tag team titles. This is decent but ends in another DQ as Owen gets Shamrock in the sharpshooter as DX run down and attack him and Mark Henry. Shamrock goes after Owen Hart up the ramp but Vader clubs him from behind and then rushes the ring to fight Mark Henry. The rest of the Nation run out. DX joins in. Severn’s in amongst it as well. This is just a big wild brawl but there are multiple feuds and story threads. Finally, DX’s theme music plays to signal everyone to stop fighting and end the segment.

Raw is War - June 22nd, 1998

Stone Cold vs. Kane, Undertaker vs. Mankind

Recap of last week and we learn that Paul Bearer isn’t here tonight. He’s watching from home. Apparently Kane will speak for the first time in 20 years tonight. 

The Hell in a Cell cage is hung above the ring again this week too. In reality, that’s because this Raw was taped right after the previous one so they’re still in the same building. Vince opens the show proper and introduces “the next WWF Champion '' Kane who comes out solo for the first time in his career. Vince tells Kane that the KOTR will be the greatest day of his life. Vince seems to know a lot about Kane and his struggles; he must have spent a lot of time with Kane and Paul Bearer since last Monday. It is Kane’s destiny to become the WWF champion this Sunday at KOTR. Speaking for Kane, Vince challenges Stone Cold to the first ever “first blood match” where the first man to bleed loses. This is obviously a hugely unfair match as Kane is wearing a thick leather mask and covered head to toe and Austin is totally uncovered, and regularly bleeds anyway! Vince says that Kane is so confident he will win this Sunday, he's prepared to put something in writing. He holds the mic for Kane who uses one of those electronic voice boxes to tell us that if he doesn’t win, he will set himself on fire. Vince fires up (no pun intended) and says that if Kane doesn’t win the title, he will set himself on fire and breathe his last breath! That is dramatic. Paul Bearer at home via satellite seems very upset. 

Interview with Paul Bearer where he promises to be ringside for Kane’s title match to make sure he wins and doesn’t have to set himself on fire.

Proper advert for King of the Ring this Sunday entirely focused on the Hell in a Cell match between Mankind and Undertaker. Nice to see some promotion but (spoilers) everyone will remember this match forever whether they promote it or not. 

Kane vs. one half of the WWF tag champions, Roaddogg. With Kane and Mankind being the number 1 contenders, it's like he has two stories going on at once now. Kane slowly dominates Roaddogg and no sells a low blow and wins with the tombstone.

As Paul Bearer at home talks about how The Undertaker was the one behind everything and continues to talk trash about him, the lights in his house flicker and The Undertaker suddenly arrives. He beats the absolute piss out of Bearer and smashes his TV and living room up until the satellite feed cuts off. 

Backstage, Kane is destroying his locker room and using his electronic voice box to scream as Mankind practically fights with him trying to control him and calm him down. Mankind continues to keep calling Bearer “Uncle Paul”
We see Kane backstage rocking and screaming (with his voice box) about Paul Bearer and Mankind leaves him to head to the ring.

Mankind vs. the other half of the WWF tag team champions Billy Gunn. Another advert for Hell in a Cell. Mankind sits in the ring with his theme music playing, talking about the civil war as the hell in a cell lowers around the ring. It’s amazing how Mick Foley’s voice sounds so different as Mankind compared to Dude Love, or Cactus Jack. He’s brilliant but that’s not news is it? He thought Undertaker and he would shake hands and be friends one day after their wars and mutual respect but after seeing him attack poor defenceless Uncle Paul like a coward, he wants to inflict his own punishment inside hell in a cell. By the time he’s done talking, the Cell is around the ring and he paces, pushing his face into the mesh promising us that he has a big surprise for us all at King of the Ring. He’s not kidding. By the time Billy gets to the ring, the cell has raised again. King speculates that Mankind keeping the shirt and tie look is him still trying to impress Vince McMahon. This is a brawl that spends more time on the outside than in the ring. Mankind is extra dangerous and JR works hard to put him over. He hits the diving Cactus elbow off the apron on the outside but gets the ring steps dropkicked back in his face. Billy tries a piledriver back in the ring but gets catapulted into the corner and stumbles into the mandible claw for the victory. Mankind immediately gets out of the ring and rushes backstage to check on Kane. We get to hear Mankind’s lovely soothing victory music. The cameras follow Mankind backstage and as he reaches their locker room, finds Kane is gone. 

Sable comes out to the ring which is a surprise given that there’s only about 6 minutes left of this episode of Raw and we’re still waiting on Stone Cold to come out and formally accept Kane’s challenge for their title match to be a first blood match. She introduces WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and she’s apparently going to be conducting this as an interview. Austin comes out to a huge pop wearing some nice new merch. It’s a white baseball top. Austin doesn’t trust this and he sends Sable to the back to give Vince a message, taking her hand and putting it in the middle finger and to stick that in Vince’s face. She seems very amused by it. Austin is suspicious and checks under the ring and is ready to beat somebody's ass. He fully expects to get jumped again here. All this Undertaker and Kane drama has made him paranoid. He accepts and says that when he wins, when Kane sets himself on fire he’ll be there with beer and marshmallows for the fireside and will throw another log on if he starts to go out. Kane comes out and stands at the top of the ramp. He does his arm raise pose for his pyro but instead of flame, a huge torrent of red liquid falls from the ceiling and soaks Stone Cold. The commentators hilariously avoid saying “blood” when talking about this red fluid. (the censors and sponsors were starting to get really upset with some of the more violent and sexy aspects of WWF programming) 

Edge’s debut. Memorable for the wrong reasons

Edge is shown in the area - he's sitting in the crowd shrouded in darkness. His debut is tonight. Returning from an ad break we see him again, standing somewhere else. We’d see him twice more tonight, always in different locations. Maybe he’s a seat filler.

For his actual debut, he comes through the crowd. There’s a blue and red filter over the camera. He’s officially known as “The Edge” and hes facing Jose Estrada of Los Boricuas. This only goes about 90 seconds. Edge is really intense and aggressive. He is a tormented soul and keeps screaming. Edge throws Jose to the outside and follows up with a somersault plancha over the top rope. The Edge lands hard on the top of Estrada’s head with his right knee. It looks nasty on the replay when you’re looking for it but it seems to be such an innocuous move. Jose lays there and gets counted out so Edge officially wins his debut match. This seems really odd and Edge looks sad, confused and annoyed. The reality of this is very sad - that landing broke Jose’s neck and he never wrestled again. They show a couple of replays of it which I didn’t need to see. 

King of the Ring Quarter Finals

Ken Shamrock vs. Mark Henry in the first of four KOTR quarter finals tonight. Mark comes out with the entire Nation and for the 5th or 6th week in a row, they’re doing this gimmick where Sgt Slaughter comes out with some referees to clear all the managers and accompaniers away from the ring. It makes sense but it's weird in kayfabe. Mark uses his strength and size to bully Shamrock around the ring. Vader does a run in and flattens Mark on the outside as payback for costing him his match with The Rock. Back in the ring, Shamrock wins with a big belly to belly suplex which was very impressive considering Henry’s size.

Marc Mero vs. Double J in a King of the Ring quarter final match. This one has had the most build for some reason. During this match we’re told that a “gag order” has been handed down by Vince McMahon in regards to Sable and no one is allowed to talk about it. She has been employed by Titan Sports which is the WWF’s parent company (at the time) JR and Cole also talk during this match about how brutal Hell in a Cell was last October and that it will not be for the weak of heart. Lads - you have honestly no idea. Sable distracts Mero, Double J wins with a DDT.

Dan Severn vs. Owen Hart in the third KOTR quarter final match. Short match. While Owen is on the outside, X-Pac cracks him in the back of the head with a chair (busting him open too) and Savern slaps the same submission he used on D’Lo onto Owen for the submission win. The Nation runs out but Severn gets out of the ring quickly.

Back from a commercial, The Rock is still in the ring and he’s got final KOTR quarter final against Triple H. The Rock calls him out but as The Rock has the entire Nation in the ring with him Triple H brings out all of DX. Referees and officials hold them all apart and whittle this down to the two men involved. The Rock has this intense look of hate for Triple H on his face which I really liked. Returning from another commercial break, The Rock is alone in the ring and the match can begin properly. Triple H is the reigning King as he won the tournament last year. It's amazing how different the WWF is in 1998 as compared to 1997. Weirdly during this match, JR tells us that he has seen a First Blood match before. Dude, be cool. It’s the first one in WWF history so why not pretend it's the first one ever? Chyna tries to help Triple H cheat but when the ref is distracted, The Rock low blows HHH and wins with a fisherman suplex? How odd. DX runs in, the Nation runs in - another gang fight.

Other Happenings

• Dustin Runnels is in the ring quietly praying with some bible verse printed on his gloves. Oh Jesus. (Pun intended) He’s facing X-Pac who is accompanied by Chyna and wearing a Triple H t-shirt. Hunter’s biggest fan apparently. X-Pac actually hits the X-Factor early on but it's not his finisher yet so Dustin just rolls to the outside. JR tells us that both these men have been IC champions. I’m certain X-Pac hasn’t been and Wikipedia agrees with me. He is a former tag champion as the 123 Kid. Dustin honestly looks like such a jobber in his black jeans and t-shirt combo. He gets distracted by Chyna and walks into a spinning heel kick. X-Pac wins. Dustin offers a handshake after the match but the DX guys don’t care about respect and walk off. Those pesky degenerates. Dustin has another little pray in the ring.

• Jerry Lawler in the ring in the same ugly purple suit jacket as last week. He heard Al Snow was hiding somewhere dressed as a cleaning lady so instead of waiting to be jumped, he called out to Al Snow who did indeed come through the crowd dressed as a little old lady. Head is wearing the King's crown which he stole last week (I missed that). Lawler has paperwork confirming that he will definitely have a meeting with Vince McMahon as long as he promises to give back the crown. Al continually talks to Head. He reads the contract and says that it's for a tag team match with Too Much at King of the Ring. Al and Head argue over whether Brian Christopher is King’s son and he asks Jerry to “settle a bet” which makes JR laugh. King denies it again. Al assumes he’s being paid to lose and lays down saying “pin me, pay me” but King says he has to win to get his meeting with Vince. Too Much runs down and Al nails them both with Head and runs off through the crowd - stopping to tell JR that Head doesn’t lay down for anybody. This all got next to no reaction from the crowd but I enjoyed it.