Summerslam 1998 - Madison Square Garden, New York City New York, August 30th, 1998

The 10th annual Summerslam live from New York City. Jim Ross tells us that this show has been sold out for months - that’s true, I’ve been watching all the Raw’s and they first mentioned that it was sold out back in May. 

All the branding and tagline for this show has been the “Highway to Hell '' and this PPV was the first to have a real song licensed to be its theme song - ACDC’s Highway to Hell. Sadly due to copyright issues and the WWE being too cheap to pay for these things, all traces of the song have been erased from the WWE Network version of this event. It kills the vibe somewhat so here it is for you to enjoy!

I love this arena and any long time wrestling fan will instantly recognise the iconic MSG entrance, where the door is in the middle of the stands and remains on the hard camera all night. It’s so unique. 

The show immediately starts with an angle as we learn that on Sunday Night Heat which ended only moments before and was also Live from MSG, Stone Cold Steve Austin destroyed a hearse in the parking lot and we’re awaiting confirmation as to whether The Undertaker and/or Kane was inside it at the time. 

WWF European Championship

D’Lo Brown © vs. Val Venis

D’Lo is announced as hailing from Helsinki, Finland. That’s the first time he’s done this gimmick on TV but would continue to be announced as being from different European capital cities while he was European Champion. This is the first of four championship matches tonight.

This is a huge spotlight for two young guys - D’Lo has been getting quite the push within The Nation, given more in ring time and promo time and a championship and Val Venis being featured heavily in one of the more scandalous storylines recently. 

We see Edge watching from the crowd during this one, which isn’t the last time we’ll see him tonight.

This show is the first to feature the new style ring barriers, where the whole thing is a large black pad rather than the traditional railing style ones they’ve had until now. That feels like a boring thing to point out but they’re still using this same style railing (albeit with LED boards recently) 25 years later so it’s a big visual shift. 

This is a really good match in front of an excited crowd as they trade big moves back and forth. D’Lo focuses on Val’s back and uses a Texas Cloverleaf. 

D’Lo goes for a powerbomb and struggles to lift Val, almost dropping him right on his head but when he does manage to get him, it’s the first appearance of his running powerbomb which would become one of his trademarks.

Val manages to avoid D’Lo’s frog splash attempt and steals his chest protector. JR has been all over Brown during this, saying that the chest protector isn’t needed, is a weapon and has been reinforced for this match. 

Val tries a frog splash of his own while wearing it but the referee protests and accidentally knocks Val’s foot, causing him to fall into the ropes crotch-first. Val then shoves the referee hard across the ring, for which he is disqualified! That doesn’t seem fair! The ref should have taken it on the chin after what he did. D’Lo Brown retains in a really good match and I didn’t even mind the dodgy finish.

D’Lo regains his chest protector and post match, as payback for having apparently cost him the championship, Val bodyslams the referee and hits him with the Money Shot off the top rope. 

Backstage, tuxedo wearing Michael Cole informs us that neither Kane or The Undertaker were in the hearse that Stone Cold demolished on Heat and that in fact, Kane isn’t here yet at all. The hearse belonged to Mankind who says that it was his special Summerslam ride that he borrowed from his friend JoJo Miller to stuff Kane inside later. Mankind is carrying a sledgehammer and hugging it to his chest.

Handicap match

Kaientai (WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, Mens Teioh and Sho Funaki w/Yamaguchi-san) vs. The Oddities (Giant Silva, Golga and Kurrgan w/Luna Vachon and The Insane Clown Posse)

There’s a hard cut to Kaientai making their entrance with The Oddities already in the ring, along with legit platinum recording artists, Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J, the Insane Clown Posse. It’s been removed from the WWE Network version of the event but ICP did perform The Oddities theme song live on the way to the ring which I thought was cool! I’m hardly an ICP fan but I do like The Oddities’ music. I've mentioned it almost every time it's been cut in the Preview so here it is so you can all either agree or disagree with me that it's awesome

Taka Michinoku is dressed in street clothes like the rest of Kaientai now and has a lot more personality as a heel. This is actually Dick Togo and Mens Teioh’s last WWF PPV appearances. 

Golga is in a Cartman t-shirt. South Park was at peak popularity at this time and it’s not the last South Park merch we’ll see tonight either. 

This is basically a fun house show match with lots of comedy spots - Golga steals Yamaguchi-san’s shoe and fills it with soda, Kaientai plays rock-paper-scissors to decide who has to face Giant Silva and Dick Togo says a little prayer before trying his luck. The light heavyweights are thrown around and try to gang up but the finish comes when Luna bodyslams Yamaguchi -san, and then the three Oddities manage to chokeslam all four members of Kaientai so Golga can lay across them and pin all four men to win the match.

This was good fun but was maybe a couple of minutes longer than it needed to be. 

Hair vs. Hair match

Double J, Jeff Jarrett (w/ Southern Justice) vs. X-Pac (w/Howard Finkel)

In the build up to this match, Double J has been cutting people’s hair after beating them and even clipped a little of X-Pac’s on Raw last week. 

Earlier tonight on Heat, Double J and Southern Justice shaved ring announcer Howard Finkle’s hair and so while Tony Chimmel handles the duties on this show, Howard comes out with X-Pac wearing a DX t-shirt over his tuxedo. He does his best to join in with X-Pac and gets to shout “suck it” into the mic before the match. 

Jerry Lawler is pretty mean about poor Howard which is another one of those insider things - he could take a joke but people have been picking on Finkle on air for years. 

This is another really good match as they go back and forth with big counters and moves and near falls. They’re so smooth together. 

There’s a weird audio glitch in this one as halfway through the match, King and JR’s commentary comes out of the arena speakers briefly. 

Double J picks up X-Pac and drives him crotch-first into the ring post on the outside and uses a long figure four submission to almost win this match but in the end, it’s Southern Justice who made the difference.

They distract the referee for Jeff to use his guitar but X-Pac ducks and blasts Jarrett himself to win the match via pinfall. 

After the match, The New Age Outlaws come out with chairs to hold Southern Justice at bay, as Droz and The Headbangers come out to hold Jeff in position for X-Pac to shave his head. Sadly the hair clippers break pretty quickly and so he has to use a pair of scissors and - in Jerry Lawler’s words - shear him like a sheep. His hair looks a mess by the time they’re done with him. Honestly? This is a pretty big deal, this is the first time Jeff Jarrett hasn’t had long bleach blonde hair since his debut as a wrestler in the late 80s. 

We join Do Hendrix in the theatre which is attached to Madison Square Garden. In that smaller venue, the Lion’s Den cage has been set up and this is our first look at it. This was actually genius business as by hosting that one match there and showing the rest of the show on cinema screens, they were able to sell a few hundred more full price tickets to an event that was already sold out 

Michael Cole interviews Intercontinental Champion The Rock who promises victory in his classic style. He doesn’t actually say anything of note but what is noteworthy is that earlier tonight on Heat, The Rock hit Triple H in the knee with the IC title belt. That’ll be important later. It was all kicking off on Heat, wasn’t it? 

Jacqueline and Marc Mero vs. Edge and Sable

As Sable makes her way to the ring, the fans all reach out to touch her/for high fives. They’ve been doing that to everyone all night but for Sable it feels oddly sinister? She keeps her eyes fixed on the ring and blanks them all. I’d say it’s because she doesn’t care about the fans but honestly these late 90s crowds are so gross to her most of the time, fair enough.

Her mystery partner is revealed to be Edge. He’s been in the crowd all night and hustles to the ring. JR and King make a big “oo er” fuss about them exchanging a meaningful look but there’s really no explanation given here. He is undefeated. Maybe she fancies him? It doesn’t go anywhere after this so we’ll never know. 

I’ve mentioned it before but the way Sable screams and screeches when she’s angry is so shrill and off putting.

She’s a terrible wrestler and exchanges sloppy moves when she’s in the ring - the crowd is very excited for her.

They don’t really care about Edge but he gets a big pop for putting Jackie across his knee and spanking her. 

Sable gets a loud Sable chant after a top-rope hurricanrana onto Marc Mero and she pins him with an assisted splash by Edge to win the match for her team.

This was just a big crowd-pleasing house show match which is fine considering that Sable is basically a non-wrestler. 

They seem to have removed this from the WWE Network too for some reason but back at ringside after a harsh edit, JR and King discuss that The Undertaker has just promised us that Kane will not get involved in tonight’s Undertaker/Austin main event.

Michael Cole catches up with Mankind who’s lost his sledgehammer. Mankind doesn’t want to face The New Age Outlaws on his own. This whole interview and segment is absolutely amazing but I’ll do my best to recap it. I’ll never do it justice. Cole tells Mankind that the people want their money’s worth and Mankind sarcastically says that “by God, if the people want their money's worth” when why doesn’t Mankind go and play in the traffic? He’s given so much and he doesn’t want to get killed again. The people don’t want to see you get killed either Mick - he’s still technically a heel I think but the fans have really taken to him. His death defying performances in Hell in a Cell and other matches, plus how funny and sympathetic he is - no one wants to see Vince manipulate him but when Vince McMahon does show up that’s exactly what he does. He convinces Mankind that if he can single handedly defend the tag team titles tonight, he’ll be in the hall of fame by tomorrow. It’s subtle but the gist here is that Mankind is gullible and trusting and believes that Vince McMahon does care about him. He does what Vince says because he trusts him but the reality that’s obvious to the rest of us is that Vince just wants to see Mankind put his body on the line - he’s a ruthless promotor and cares more about ratings and ticket sales than his star’s well being. This is all brilliant.

Lion’s Den match

Ken Shamrock vs. Owen Hart (w/Dan Severn)

This one gets a video package and I’m glad because I’ve enjoyed this whole feud. It’s gone for a while but the action has been intense and enjoyable. I loved the Dungeon match at Fully Loaded;

We don’t see too much of the MSG theatre but the Lion’s Den cage looks cool. It’s a 10 - 15 foot tall pit, with Dan Severn - Owen’s trainer - watching on. 

Shamrock debuts his electric blue tights and boots which makes me happy because this is the look I know him best for. This is what he was wearing when I started watching wrestling at 10 years old. 

This is really hard hitting with some cool spots like Shamrock running up the cage wall and coming back with a clothesline, and Owen catching Shamrock mid-dive for a scoop slam. The slams bang on the floor and it doesn’t seem very forgiving.

When Owen locks Shamrock in the sharpshooter, Ken climbs the cage with his hands to force a break and when he locks in the ankle lock, Owen calls for Severn to throw in the towel for him. Dan walks off in disgust which forces Owen to tap out but he seems to instead pass out from the pain.

Owen Hart is unconscious and Ken Shamrock wins! This was really good, but I don’t think I liked it as much as the Dungeon match. 

Michael Cole interviews the WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and, at odds with the story that has been told and his apparently attempted murder on Sunday Night Heat earlier, says he respects The Undertaker. He does also say that he will cheap shot whoever he has to, and do anything it takes to keep the WWF Championship.

Falls Count Anywhere match for the WWF Tag Team Championship

Mankind and Kane © vs. The New Ages Outlaws (Roaddogg and Bad Ass Billy Gunn)

Mankind comes out solo to defend he and Kane’s tag team titles. Kane demolished Mankind on Raw along with The Undertaker and seems done with him so the commentators speculate that if Mankind does retain, he’d be tag team champions by himself too. 

Both Roaddogg and Mr. Ass are wearing custom South Park t-shirts that they’ve graffitied a bunch of their own DX slogans on the back of. 

The Outlaws have wheeled a dumpster full of weapons down to the ring and parked it in the entrance way. Mankind goes hard on offence with weapons and uses chairs and cookie sheets to batter the challengers around the ringside. He even gets a couple of near falls on the outside. There is a moment which gets a “you fucked up” chant from the New York crowd as the Outlaw’s music mistakenly begins playing after a near fall, but is cut quickly because it was only a two count. In the end, the two on one advantage is too much and after brutalising him with slams, an assisted powerbomb through a couple of set up chairs and finally a spike piledriver onto one of the tag title belts, The New Age Outlaws are once again the WWF Tag Team Champions. This was more of an angle than a mach.

Post match, The Outlaws act like villains as Roaddogg barks for their music to be cut and Billy angrily screams in Foley’s face. They drag him out of the ring and dump him into their dumpster, slamming the lids behind him. Only moments later, the dumpster lid flies back open and Kane stands up - back in his original ring gear with one of his arms exposed - holding Mankind’s missing sledgehammer from earlier! How long has he been hiding in that dumpster? The Outlaws were obviously unaware as they slipped past and ran to the back. Kane drives the sledgehammer down into Mankind, presumably badly injuring him. The crowd reacts strongly to it as does JR. Poor Mankind. Kane hops out of the dumpster, re-closes the lids and wheels it backstage. 

Ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

The Rock © (w/Mark Henry) vs. Triple H (w/Chyna)

This one has an awesome high intensity video package that is legitimately one of my favourite ones they ever did and..it’s missing from the WWE Network version of the event because it has clips of D-Generation wearing black face to dress up as and taunt The Nation on the July 6th Raw. That segment was completely removed from that episode too. Watch it here;

We do get the DX band performing Triple H’s entrance live. It’s better than their Wrestlemania performances and Triple H smashes up the drum kit afterwards. How very rock and roll. 

The ladder is bright yellow which I do like because it looks like a real ladder rather than a gimmicked, WWE-made one like the black and silver ones they use now.

During his entrance The Rock stops to climb the ladder and pose with his IC title held high and he looks awesome. The New York crowd is pretty split here - The Rock has been gaining fans for a while now and can’t stay a heel forever. He is just too damn entertaining. 

This is a great match and feels more like a heated grudge match that happens to feature a ladder rather than a match where the ladder is the star.

The Rock works over Triple’s knee and my favourite spot is when he sandwiches his leg between the ladder on the mat and then hammers it with a chair which looks and sounds brutal. We end up with two ladders after a ref bump as the original ladder is battered and bent out of shape from being used as a weapon so much.

The Rock comes up bleeding after Triple H baseball slides the ladder into his face. Later, after being pushed off the ladder he takes one of his silly “stunner bumps” when he hits the top rope and rebounds, which I loved.

Another amazing spot where as The Rock carries the ladder, Triple H hits it with a chair and then with The Rock lying beneath it, hammers it with the chair himself. 

The Rock body slams Triple H on the ladder and hits the People’s Elbow which gets a monstrous reaction from the fans and a “Rocky” chant. 

After Triple H hits the pedigree, Mark Henry throws powder in his eyes which stops him from being able to climb quickly. 

The finish comes as both men slowly climb, Chyna slides into the ring and hits The Rock low, sending him falling off the ladder and allowing Triple H to grab the championship belt and become a three time Intercontinental Champion! This was a brilliant match. 

Afterwards, the rest of DX come out to celebrate and seeing X-Pac with his hair intact and The Outlaws with their tag title belts again it dawns on me what a great night D-Generation X has had at Summerslam.

There have been a few of these throughout these shows on the WWE Network and I’ve mostly ignored them but there’s a really interesting home video exclusive after this match where The Rock makes his way backstage, walking past a celebrating DX and some other people. No one break’s character but we do hear multiple people including Roaddogg and Pat Patterson calling out “where’s Taker?” over and over. He was out next for the main event and I guess wasn’t in position.

WWF Championship

Stone Cold Steve Austin © vs. The Undertaker

This is the collision on the Highway to Hell. The rightful main event. The Undertaker has promised that in spite of all that we’ve seen over the last two months and finding out just before Summerslam that the brothers are indeed united, Kane will not get involved in this match.

There’s no video hype package for this one which seems odd but it probably didn’t need it.

The Undertaker’s entrance is wonderful with his new theme music - my favourite version of his song and top five favourite themes ever. Do yourself a favour and listen! 

Stone Cold gets a special entrance too where the door is covered in a glass panel which literally shatters when his music starts. The crowd is electric for the Texas Rattlesnake but Undertaker has his fans as well.

There’s no messing around as both men instantly trade punches. Sadly this match isn’t all it could have been as very early on, as Undertaker sends Austin to the ropes, he accidentally catches him under the jaw with a headbutt which knocks Austin out for a second or two. In the years since, he’s said that he was seeing stars and had to ask referee Earl Hebner multiple times where he was. Full credit to The Undertaker for walking him through the rest of this and telling him what to do. 

Stone Cold works over Undertaker’s leg as Kane does make an appearance. The Undertaker stops him and asks him to go to the back which he does. The Undertaker wants to keep this straight up. 

As The Undertaker grabs Austin by the throat and chokeslams him back into the ring I’m compelled to share a personal story - this PPV was from before I started watching week to week, but I was given a VHS copy of this show that was taped live off of Sky Sports. The tape wasn’t long enough and it was here that my copy just…ended. Heart breaking. 

The men brawl through the crowd and Austin takes a backdrop on the concrete floor. He loves that spot. He does that all the time. He did it vs. Kevin Owens in 2022 as well. 

Back in the ring, Austin goes for a stunner but is pushed off and catches a chokeslam. He escapes the tombstone attempt and there's a little miscommunication and awkwardness here. Undertaker takes control of the situation with a Russian leg sweep and sets out the final spot. He goes for his old school top rope walk and Austin jerks him off the top into a low blow and then a Stone Cold Stunner. Austin covers and gets the three to retain his WWF Championship is a good-not-great match. 

I’m going to take a moment here to mention something I haven’t found the right point to bring up - I hate referee Earl Hebner. His very slow final three count is dumb, he is constantly in the way during matches and just soaks up a lot of attention. They say that if you notice a referee then he’s doing a bad job - Earl makes it his business to be noticed in every match he officiates. He’s a terrible referee.

ANYWAY, Stone Cold retains! The Undertaker grabs the title belt first and after a long pause, hands it to Austin in a show of respect and “the better man won”. That doesn't really fit the story they were telling but reads as more of a nice, out of character "you're the guy now" moment between these two men. Stone Cold celebrates with the smoking skull belt while Undertaker and Kane watch on together from the entrance way and that closes a brilliant PPV.