Wrestlemania 14 - FleetCentre in Boston Massachusetts, March 29th, 1998

The opening video touches on the tradition of Wrestlemania and how that tradition has been “taken hostage by a new generation of rogues”. I like this a lot, and the central message that despite their best attempts to be different and untraditional, Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels are just as traditional as everyone else because they’re here to chase the WWF Championship. Lovely stuff.

In my opinion, while you can make an argument that the Attitude Era started months before this, this PPV and Raw the next night is the true start of the Attitude Era with Stone Cold as champion, kicking off his long-running feud with Vince McMahon.

On my version of the show we jump straight from the introduction to the entrances for the battle royal. It’s jarring to go from the Wrestlemania intro right into the Nation of Domination’s theme song but on the live broadcast the show opened with the DX Band performing their version of America the Beautiful. Why has it been removed? Because it sucked! They performed an alt-rock version of the song that was so poorly received the live audience booed it and Vince McMahon demanded it never see the light of day again. Lads. 

15-team Tag Team Battle Royal with the winners facing the WWF Tag Team Champions at the next PPV event

NWA World Tag Team Champions The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher), The New Midnight Express (Bodacious Bart and Bombastic Bob with Jim Cornette), The Nation of Domination (Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown), The Nation of Domination (Faarooq and Kama Mustafa), Los Boricuas (Savio Vega and Miguel Perez, Jr.), Los Boricuas (Jose Estrada, Jr. and Jesus Castillo), Recon and Sniper, Bradshaw and Chainz, The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre), The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher, Disciples of Apocalypse (8-Ball and Skull), Steve Blackman and Flash Funk, The Godwins (Phineas I. Godwin and Henry O. Godwin) and a final Mystery Team! 

Did you read the full list of participants? That’s ok, I didn’t either and I wrote it down! We waste no time before finding out who the mystery 15th team is - it’s the returning Legion of Doom! Hawk and Animal are back together and have new ring gear, new helmets and shoulder pads for their entrance and a new manager - Sunny, who looks absolutely incredible in her skimpy little black, silver and red outfit to match the LOD. This is the LOD 2000 and it actually says LOD 2000 on their gear and in their titantron video but the name change hasn’t been revealed on TV yet so we’ll just pretend we don’t know that until it’s brought up on Raw. Their return would have been way more impactful if this was the first time we’d seen them since being beaten and hurt at the Royal Rumble but weeks of “losing streak” has taken off the impact of their attempt to get another crack at those dastardly New Age Outlaws next month.

There’s a few little stories in this match; the two Los Boricuas teams have been fighting, Bradshaw has an on-going feud with former partner Barry Windham who does attack Bradshaw during this match as well, the now babyface Rock N Roll Express’s feud with the New Midnight Express. Kurrgan from the former Truth Commission also comes down and costs former teammates Sniper and Recon too. None of this gets any real attention on camera so you’ll need to take my word for it - this is a mess with 30 men in the ring at once. I’ll be honest; I was watching Sunny the whole time. Why is Brian Christopher in this match and not the Light Heavyweight Championship match? Good question, I’ll talk about that later. It’s hard to report on this as the action is thick and fast but the important eliminations all relate to the little mini-stories I mentioned above. The final four teams are the LOD, the DOA, the New Midnight Express and The Godwins. You’ve seen a battle royal so I’m sure you can imagine all the punching and kicking without me describing it. The winners get a WWF Tag Team title match at Unforgiven next month but JR calls the PPV “Forgiven” and Jerry Lawler has to correct him. Get it together, Jim.

The LOD eliminates the Godwins (and throws a couple of final kicks at them for good measure) so like sore losers they come back into the ring and lay out Hawk and Animal with a pair of shots from the metal slop buckets. The Midnight Express eliminates the DOA and now seem to have a big advantage over the LOD and victory in their sights. The veterans fight back and with a string of big slams and then stereoclothesline eliminations the Legion of Doom win, end their losing streak and get themselves a PPV match for the WWF Tag Team Championships. Good stuff. 

Here’s a video all about the WWF’s fan events leading up to Wrestlemania, starting with the D-Generation X public workout where Mike Tyson and Shawn Michaels planted a kiss on his head just to incense him further.

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship

Taka Michinoku © vs. Aguila

Poor Aguila didn’t even get an entrance! He was already in the ring when Taka made his entrance. Taka was feuding with Brian Christopher since the Light Heavyweight division debuted months ago so why on Earth is this not a match between those two men? I did a little bit of digging and I wasn’t able to find out why the plans changed. As best I can tell the WWF needed another team for the battle royal and wanted that team to be Christopher and Scott Taylor (who, to be fair, did become a full time tag team after this) and so Aguila was slotted in knowing that he and Taka could have a high speed, high impact match with a lot of offense. They’re right too as Aguila hits an amazing moonsault from the top rope to the floor on the champion and then moments later Taka comes back with a running springboard all the way to the outside too. Jerry Lawler does his best to undermine these impressive moves by making a slew of racist comments like Mexican Aguila loving Taco Bell but thankfully some of the moves are impressive enough that even he is forced to react appropriately.

A nice arm drag off the top rope, a string of springboards into headscissors and armdrags and more impressive dives out of the ring keep Taka on his toes and Aguila hits a nice top rope hurricanarana. Taka is tough and rallies with a missile dropkick but the Michinoku Driver is countered and they keep going back and forth with more counters - a sitdown powerbomb comes close to getting the title for the challenger but his jump off the top rope is caught with a dropkick in the ribs and then the champ follows up with the Michinoku Driver to retain his title in a really good match. I wish this had gone another 5 minutes or so! 

Backstage, “celebrity” Gennifer Flowers interviews Intercontinental Champion The Rock. He cuts her off and corrects her - he’s the People’s Intercontinental Champion. She asks what he would do if he was the leader of the counter and he corrects her again; “leader” is beneath him, he’s the ruler. She asks him some softball political questions and he makes fun of homeless people and criminals. I have no idea who this Flowers lady is and I’m not going to check but this was a good show for The Rock who has really found his niche with his promos and character work.

WWF European Championship

Triple H © (w/Chyna) vs. Owen Hart

Chyna will be handcuffed to Commissioner Slaughter at ringside

I’m surprised this didn’t get a video package but I guess they’d have to acknowledge why DX is feuding with Owen Hart and it's tough to do that without mentioning WCW performer Bret so best to just leave it unsaid. Triple H regained the title two weeks ago thanks to Owen’s legitimately injured ankle but thankfully it wasn’t serious and he’s back in the ring and 100% now; it was essentially a bad sprain. 

Chyna is very reluctant to be handcuffed to Slaughter and gets right in his face but he slips the cuffs onto her when she’s not looking and hilariously she throws a sad, borderline pouty face to Helmsley as she’s led out of the ring. Owen Hart looks confident and is all smiles as he walks to the ring; his Mania record is pretty good as he beat Bret at Mania 10, won the Tag Team titles at Mania 11 and retained them at Mania 12! Owen goes right after Triple H and hammers him with punches in the corner and gets the first nearfall with a hurricanrana. He is limping a little on his bad ankle but it’s not taped up or anything. On the outside, Chyna does take a swing at Owen but Slaughter holds her back and he taunts her, daring her to hit him and then punching at Hunter’s face right in front of her. He goes for the Sharpshooter early which was a mistake as HHH uses an eye rake to stop it and then assumes control with a facebuster, a high knee and a suplex. Jerry Lawler calls for him to go after Owen’s ankle but that’s not his gameplan of course and he focuses on Owen’s head with knee drops and running him into the corner. Owen keeps kicking out so Triple H changes tactics and goes after Owen’s ankle and leg with stomps, knee drops and rest holds all directed at the injured leg.

Somewhere in the midst of this attack Owen takes a shot to the bridge of his nose which opens him up and a trickle of blood runs down to his mouth. Gross. Triple H gets over confident and tries a running big boot in the corner but Owen blocks it, takes him down and yanks him crotch-first into the ring post followed by a missile dropkick. Owen throws Helmsley with an overhead belly to belly and then connects with a spinning heel kick and each pin gets closer and closer to the three. He connects with the enziguri which might end it but Owen hurts his own ankle on the kick and that gives Helmsley time to recover and kick out. His hurricanrana is turned into a powerbomb but he blocks a superplex and gets another heartbreaking nearfall with a crossbody off the top. Owen counters a Pedigree attempt into a Sharpshooter attempt but he's kicked off into the corner - Owen falls out of the corner and his head collides with HHH’s groin! Chyna continually keeps yanking on Slaughter to try and get to the ring and get involved in this match but the Commissioner holds her firm. More counters back and forth lead to Owen locking in the Sharpshooter and Chyna manages to get close enough to the ring to reach out and help pull her man to the ropes and break the hold. That gets a lot of boos from the crowd who are solidly behind Owen! Chyna picks her moment and with the referee distracted by HHH she throws powder in Slaughter’s face and gives Owen Hart a swift and brutal low blow from the outside! Triple H follows up with a Pedigree and just like that, he’s still European Champion. Another good match.

As Helmsley celebrates with her title belt, Chyna gets uncuffed from Slaughter and then beats him up with forearms and throws him into the security railing! 

Mixed Tag Team Match

Marc Mero and Sable vs. The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust and Luna

This match gets a video package and that’s fitting as it’s received the third most build of any match on this show with multiple main event segments of Raw! This is Sable’s official in-ring debut and she has become arguably the second most popular person in the company behind Stone Cold. Of course her popularity is for deeply unwholesome reasons (she’s gorgeous and has big fake boobs, sorry Sable)

Amazingly one of the big selling points of this match on the final Raw was “what is Sable going to be wearing for her first match?” She is fired up and wants to start with Luna but sensibly the two actual wrestlers in Mero and Goldust start things off. Luna is a good wrestler too. This is the third mixed gender tag team match in Wrestlemania history. The first was at Wrestlemania VI (Macho Man and Sensational Serri vs. Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire) but the last one was at Wrestlemania X and included Luna! (she and Bam Bam Bigelow beat Doink and Dink, remember that?)

Sable desperately wants a tag to chase Luna but when Goldust actually tries to tag out because he’s struggling, Luna jumps off the apron and refuses to come into the ring! She’s scared of Sable who spends this match relentlessly screaming and shouting at both her and Goldust - Sable does not have a nice voice. The fans chant for her anyway because she’s hot and the only babyface in this match. The men go down with a double clothesline and crawl to a pair of tags - the crowd goes nuts for Sable being legally in the match and she tackles Luna and wails on her with punches and kicks before throwing her across the ring by her hair. She clobbers Goldust too and then clotheslines Luna out of the ring - she is pumped up! I’m sure the other three people in this match carefully coached her through all of this for her first match. Goldust tags in but Sable shows zero fear and rocks him with a big forearm before tagging out to Mero. The two men go back and forth with the TKO countered into a DDT and then the Curtain Call countered with a knee lift. Mero hits a sloppy springboard moonsault onto a standing Goldust for a near fall and follows up with a top rope hurricanrana. Sable is SCREECHING on the apron demanding to be let back into this match and it’s very offputting. Mero sends Goldust into Luna and hits the TKO but Luna breaks the pin. Sable is tagged in and tries to pin Goldust who is still down. Luna tries to jump on Sable who moves! Sable gets a huge pop for a powerbomb on Luna but she kicks out. The women go back and forth a little more and Sable connects with a TKO of her own on Luna and gets the victory for her team. This wasn’t anything special but the crowd was red hot for it. Marc Mero brings Sable back into the ring to celebrate with him and she seems very angry at him despite the victory - she doesn’t look even slightly satisfied with her victory. 

Before this match, Tennessee Lee gives an introduction to Double J and Gennifer Flowers who come out so she can act as special guest ring announcer for this next match. Jerry Lawler says something about Bill Clinton falling out of his chair; they mentioned infamous sex pest-turned-President Clinton previously in relation to her too. Again, I’m not searching for the news story. 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

The Rock © (w/D’Lo Brown, Mark Henry and Kama Mustafa) vs. Ken Shamrock

If The Rock is disqualified, he loses the Intercontinental Championship

The Rock has most of the Nation with him for backup but notable by his absence is Faarooq. Shamrock rushes the ring and hammers The Rock, bouncing him around and knocking him down with a big kick to the chest. He bails out of the ring to get a breather but Shamrock follows and continues to beat on The Rock in the entrance aisle and then back into the ring. Kama, D’Lo and Mark are powerless to help because if they get Rocky disqualified, he loses his title. 

Finally the People’s Champion gets a breather reversing Shamrock into the ringsteps on the outside and slows things down with stomps and a People’s Elbow in the middle of the ring. He’s been doing it for a few months now and it finally gets a bit of a reaction from the fans and from Jerry Lawler - it’s officially a trademark move. 

Shamrock fights back and gets fired up, going out of the ring to get a steel chair? His anger has taken over his logic. The referee scuffles with him and with him knocked down The Rock cracks him hard in the head with the steel chair. Shamrock kicks out of that which honestly should have gotten a way bigger reaction than it did. Shamrock shakes it off and takes The Rock down, putting him in the ankle lock and getting a submission victory in less than 5 minutes! Ken Shamrock is the new Intercontinental Champion. D’Lo, Kama and Mark rush Shamrock one after another and each of them is taken down with a belly to belly suplex and then he goes back to the ankle lock on The Rock. Faarooq runs down to try and help but stops short and…leaves. He’s had enough of The Rock’s ego and walks out on him. With blood pooling from his mouth, screaming in pain, The Rock is held in the ankle lock for a long time until finally referees and officials fill the ring to try and control him. I’ve never seen any of these referees or officials before. Why? It’s a bunch of local indy wrestlers dressed as referees. Shamrock is in the zone and has snapped, taking them all down one after another with belly to belly suplexes! Shamrock doesn’t even seem to realise that he’s won the Intercontinental Championship and with a bloody rock loaded onto a stretcher and the world’s most dangerous man finally settling down in the ring, the ring announcer declares that as a result of his actions the referee has reversed their decision and is retroactively disqualifying Ken Shamrock! The Rock is still the Intercontinental Champion. Hilariously there were some audio issues and Howard Finkle just declared The Rock as the champion, then had to go back and clarify what he meant for the confused fans, wrestlers and commentators.

The fans aren’t happy with that outcome and neither is Shamrock who runs after The Rock and dumps him off of the stretcher, beating him up on the stage where the band played earlier and body slamming him on the wood and then on the concrete. Shamrock is a man possessed and celebrates with the Intercontinental title belt - which isn’t his - and throws it at Rocky. I hate this finish BUT, the post-match stuff and the way it made Shamrock look like the biggest bad ass on Earth saved it. The crowd totally bought into it all too, loudly booing The Rock keeping the title but loudly cheering for Shamrock’s continued assault. 

Dumpster Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship

The New Age Outlaws (Roaddogg and Bad Ass Billy Gunn) © vs. Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie

This is the first ever dumpster match and the rules are straight forward enough; to win, you need to seal both of your opponents in a dumpster and close the lid. Basically, it’s a casket match. Chainsaw Charlie has dropped the tights on his head and comes out in a Terry Funk t-shirt. He looks way better. The New Age Outlaws have been great in the past few months; obnoxious, juvenile assholes who badly need an ass-whipping but they keep escaping by the skin of their teeth! 

In Mick Foley’s book he shared that the original plans for this match were for he and Funk to have a brutal hardcore match with each other, “broadcast live” from Funk’s ranch in Texas where they’d use barbed wire, fire and beds of nails just like they did in Japan. Thanks to Mike Tyson bringing in such huge media attention, Vince rightly thought that kind of match on the world stage wouldn’t go over too well. I’m happier with this outcome anyway, even if Cactus Jack is my least favourite of Mick’s three alter-egos. 

It starts with a wild brawl around the ring and the dumpster immediately factors in with Cactus slamming Roaddogg into it and running his knee into the challenger’s head. Since the name and gimmick change, Jesse Jammes has been known as Road Dog but here he has it spelt Dogg on his t-shirt so I think it’s fair for me to now update it to the way I know he spelt it for the rest of his career. The four men break out the weapons and use a baking sheet and a stop sign and the Outlaws backdrop Funk up and into the dumpster. The Outlaws have some fun slamming the dumpster lids on Cactus and Chainsaw’s heads and look like they have an easy victory in hand. Funk hilariously forgets where he is and shouts “come on you motherfucker” at Billy Gunn as he keeps throwing chops at the Funker’s chest. This type of hardcore match was very new to WWF audiences in March of 1998 so every shot with a cookie sheet or baking tray gets a loud gasp from the crowd. 

In the ring the carnage continues and Cactus sets up a ladder and with he and Bad Ass fighting at the top of it, Roaddogg knocks Funk into it sending them both crashing from a height all the way down into the dumpster! Billy recovers first thanks to Roaddogg and the New Age Outlaws hit an assisted powerbomb off the ring apron into the dumpster! He lands with a loud clang and that bump badly messed up Terry’s back leaving him with some deep, nasty bruising. 

Cactus somewhere in the middle of this managed to get out of the dumpster and so he and both Tag Team Champions fight up the aisle and disappear backstage. 

Cactus fights them both off with a steel chair and then flattens Billy with a double arm DDT onto a wooden pallet! Chainsaw arrives just in time and with both Tag Team Champions laid out on the pallet of a forklift, Funk raises it up into the air and deposits both Roaddogg and Billy into a second dumpster in the backstage area! Cactus closes the lids and Funk uses the forklift to pin it closed! Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie win the WWF Tag Team Championships in a fun but messy brawl. Will it matter that they used a second dumpster and not the “official one” at ringside? Find out tomorrow night on Raw! 

Slightly out of sync for the order it took place on the show but before the next match begins, Pete Rose comes to the ring to serve as special guest ring announcer. Pete Rose was a baseball legend but to non-Americans he’s better known for his WWF appearances beginning with this one. Pete has some fun with the fans in Boston, reminding them that HIS team kicked their ass and they’ve never won a World Series. I don’t get any of his references but after getting the audience riled up with “your sports team sucks” material, the lights go out and Kane makes his entrance. The big red demon led to the ring by Paul Bearer turns his attention to Pete Rose and much to the delight of the fans in attendance he drills him with a Tombstone Piledriver! Kane has attacked a lot of non-wrestlers but this is probably the best one.

The Undertaker vs. Kane (w/Paul Bearer)

No messing around, this event is tightly edited on Netflix presumably to cut out a lot of advertisements in between the matches. This is the match I personally am most excited for after having watched the months of build to get us to this point. Incredible video package too, they have made Kane look like the devil himself in human form.

Kane’s entrance was awesome, as described above and I didn’t even mention all of the extra pyro charges on his walk to the ring but The Undertaker steals the show. Oh Fortuna plays and druids come out first, lining the entrance aisle with flaming torches. The ONLY criticism I have? The druid’s robes weren’t big enough so we could see their faces. They’d be cooler if we couldn’t but yeah, maybe don’t blindfold people and then send them out walking with flaming torches. The Undertaker debuts a new entrance jacket here with a huge, stiff collar and that looks pretty gothic too. I’ve seen a thousand Undertaker entrances by now (including in person at Wrestlemania 32!) but this one gave me goosebumps. 

The two of them trade big blows and go back and forth with punches; Undertaker has never sold like this for anyone and makes Kane look like his true equal and maybe his better! They both show off some impressive athleticism with Kane springboarding off the top rope with an axe handle and Undertaker leaping up onto Kane’s shoulders before being dropped to the mat. They go outside the ring and Kane dominates the deadman, slamming the ring steps down onto his back and then his ribs and then, back in the ring, spikes him with a chokeslam! Kane pins The Undertaker but then actually breaks his own pin! Kane had Undertaker beat but chose to keep the match going to inflict more punishment, grinding him out with a chinlock. JR actually messes up his trivia here, saying Undertaker made his Wrestlemania debut at Mania VIII against Jake Roberts. He actually made his Mania debut the year before against Jimmy Snuka. 

Undertaker fights back up out of the chinlock and sends Kane to the outside. He makes the mistake of trying a big running dive up and over the ropes but Kane sidesteps him and sends Undertaker violently crashing through the Spanish announce table! That looked incredible. Kane seems to be firmly in the driver’s seat and in the ring after more big blows traded back and forth, Kane hits a Tombstone. The Undertaker kicks out of that and rallies with a chokeslam! Kane sits up and walks right into a Tombstone Piledriver. Kane kicks out of that which gets a BIG gasp of shock from the audience and utter disbelief from JR and King on commentary. No one had EVER kicked out of the Undertaker Tombstone. He gives Kane a second Tombstone and Kane kicks out of that too! Paul Bearer grabs his heart and sneers at Undertaker theatrically screaming “damn you to hell Deadman!” The Undertaker hits an awesome looking dive three quarters of the way across the ring for a flying clothesline which Kane also sits up from but a third and final Tombstone Piledriver puts Kane down! Undertaker crawls into a real pin rather than his normal theatrical one and finally gets the three count to win this match. Kane kicks out the second the referee hits three so he only just barely lost. This is, in my opinion, the best match Kane and The Undertaker ever had against each other. Great stuff from bell to bell.

Paul Bearer is furious and grabs a steel chair, getting into the ring to attack Undertaker and he’s punched in the face for his trouble. Kane recovers quicker than Undertaker - this match took everything the Deadman had but Kane has shaken it off quickly. He hammers Undertaker with the steel chair and finishes with a Tombstone onto it. This war is far from over. Kane and Bearer leave and once they’re gone, Undertaker sits up. I like that him sitting up caused Kane’s theme song to immediately stop and Undertaker’s to play instead. Seems like the WWF’s sound technician has a flair for the dramatic too! 

Before the main event there’s a nice black and white video of legends from the WWF’s past talking about how much they love the Attitude era. I like this a lot and as the story goes, when Vince McMahon was shown it for the first time he actually cried. It is nice. 

WWF Championship

Shawn Michaels © (w/ WWF European Champion Triple H and Chyna) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Special guest enforcer: Mike Tyson

The video package for this match focuses more on Mike Tyson’s appearance than either of the men in the match but that’s fair given what a mega star he was and how much attention he brought to the WWF - the weekly TV ratings were up, and the buys for this PPV were too. In the name of fairness however, here’s the video packages focused on Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold from the previous Preview too, so you can spend 10 - 15 mins watching video packages and getting hyped up with me! 

Mike enters first and has great fun crotch chopping at the fans and holding his arms up in an X. He does most of it with his back to the camera though but he’s not a sports entertainer so we’ll forgive him. Austin gets the dramatic walk from the back and gets right into Tyson’s face in the ring. The crowd reaction for the Rattlesnake is epic. Shawn does a full entrance too, all while the DX band plays the theme song live. He dedicates the match to Earl, which is referee Earl Hebner who was hospitalised at the time with a heart condition. Shawn Michaels must have had some conflicting emotions heading into this match knowing his back injury likely meant this was his last match for a very long time. I’d imagine Triple H and Chyna were nervous too; they’d hit it big with D-Generation X and there was no guarantee that it would continue without HBK as the driving force. Michaels dances around the ring and looks very cocky and the two circle each other in a feeling out process. Austin takes a smile off Shawn’s face with a pair of middle fingers. I’ll talk all about the backstage tension around this match at its conclusion. 

HBK keeps his distance and catches Austin with right hands, enraging the Rattlesnake and running away but when he is caught he’s clobbered with a clothesline and bounced around the ringposts. Michaels does his favourite spot - getting his arse out - when Stone Cold grabs the back of his tights to keep him in the ring and then backdrops him up and over the top rope right onto Triple H! Helmsley isn’t happy with that and attacks Austin from behind which forces the referee to eject himself and Chyna from ringside! Mike Tyson isn’t happy either, but it seems like he’ll be happy to mind the fort for DX. Stone Cold actually chases Triple H up the ramp and beats him up a little, throwing him into the DX bandstand but he pays for it when Michaels hits him in the face with  a cymbal. They whip each other around and Austin crashes into the dumpster which is still out there from the Tag Team title match earlier.

Back down to the ring, Austin hammers on Michaels and there’s an odd tension as Shawn’s face is sort of permanently twisted into a grimace. His back must really be bothering him and sure enough after they fight on the outside - including Michaels taking a gorgeous bump off the apron onto the announce table - he backdrops Austin up and over the railing and struggles with his back, stretching it out. Shawn hits Stone Cold with the ring bell and then in the ring, slowly kicks and stomps away at the challenger now wincing and having to grab his own back after every little movement. He is struggling. The crowd started chanting “Holyfield”, directed at Mike Tyson. HBK has some fun giving the crowd the finger but he pays for that when Stone Cold rushes out of the corner and tackles him off his feet! Stone Cold picks up the pace and throws him up and over the top rope to the floor. That can’t have been good for his back either. HBK tries to focus on Stone Cold’s legs, dragging him to his feet and then wrapping it around the ringpost a few times. The champion slows things down and works on the Rattlesnake’s leg, even trying to get his knee brace off. It’s distracting when you know the real story, watching the way Michaels was selling his very real back injury - he’s not selling, he’s struggling with the pain. Mike Tyson’s one and only physical interaction in this match is throwing Stone Cold back into the ring after Michaels baseball slides him up and over the announce table. Shawn locks him in the figure four leglock and uses the ropes for an illegal advantage right in front of Iron Mike who allows the cheating to go by unchallenged.

Austin gets out of that by rolling over to reverse the pressure and then as they go back and forth in the corner, the referee gets squashed and taken out. Michaels hits the flying forearm and kips up to his feet - amazing considering the condition of his back - and connects with his beautiful diving elbow drop. Shawn tunes up the band and goes for Sweet Chin Music but Austin ducks. Shawn blocks the Stunner, tries again, that’s caught and Austin hits the Stone Cold Stunner! Mike Tyson slides into the ring and counts the three and Stone Cold wins the WWF Championship for the first time! I like this match but both Austin and Shawn have said in the years since that they don’t, believing that Shawn’s back injury hurt it. 

Stone Cold celebrates with Tyson who it turns out was an Austin fan all along and was just leading DX on. He helped Austin win the title fair and square and post match when HBK questions him he is knocked out cold by a Tyson right hand! That gets a monster reaction and with HBK knocked out cold (Stone Cold), Mike lays an Austin 3:16 shirt on the face of the fallen former WWF Champion. Confetti falls, JR delivers many of his infamous soundbites (screaming “Stone Cold!” over and over for example) and we’re out.

I enjoyed this PPV a lot more this second time around! I thought the singles champion matches were all great and I enjoyed the hardcore brawl for the Tag Team titles. Undertaker vs. Kane was an easy match of the night for me, I thought they totally overdelivered on what could have been another slow, plodding big man vs. big man match. 

Now what everyone really came for; BACKSTAGE DRAMA!

As the story goes, Shawn Michaels didn’t want to put Stone Cold over. He was angry and bitter that his back was hurt and he had to take time off but in a bigger sense knew that Stone Cold was the new guy and even if he did come back, it wouldn’t be as the top man anymore. Allegedly, The Undertaker himself threatened HBK physically if he didn’t “do business” and so stood at the curtain taping his fists and making it clear that Michaels needed to do the right thing here. Shawn has said that the story isn’t true but when asked, both Austin and Undertaker have more or less refused to confirm or deny.

So it’s true.

HBK was also pissed off afterwards as during the post match celebration when Tyson put the Stone Cold t-shirt over HBK’s downed body, he felt that this was “too far”. It was a pre-agreed spot and to his credit, HBK didn’t throw it off right away but he felt it unfairly buried him further. I don’t agree, but it’s all part of the personal hell HBK was going through at the time. His substance abuse issues had hit a tipping point and his attitude backstage somehow got worse after Bret Hart left the company. His ego was out of control and he was constantly lashing out at people around him for no good reason. He looked angry during his entrance rather than focused and was visibly in a lot of pain during the match even while on offense. The man was dealing with a lot. 

Next up is Unforgiven and we step into more familiar territory for the Attitude Era with the build to that PPV being very much all about Austin and McMahon. A final thought is that as we come out of this PPV, the main championships are held by Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H and Cactus Jack (Mick Foley). A sign of things to come indeed. Here’s a video recap of the whole event for you to enjoy the highlights.