Unforgiven '98: In Your House

Legacy Review

Unforgiven '98: In Your House

April 26, 1998 from the old Jim Crockett Promotions home base, the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

This is the first PPV after Wrestlemania 14 and the Austin Era has officially begun. However, instead of the WWF Title match the opening video focuses on the Undertaker/Kane rivalry and the first ever Inferno Match coming up tonight, classing up the joint with quotes from Dante's Divine Comedy (colloquially known as Dante's Inferno). Also promised tonight, a Vince McMahon announcement that will be "an event of catastrophic proportions". He's taking creative control back from Triple H. Commentary expects it to be some kind of attempted screwjob at Austin's expense.

Ken Shamrock, Steve Blackman and Faarooq def The Nation in 13:32- The long simmering issues between IC champ Rock and Nation founder Faarooq finally came to a head after Faarooq left Rock to die in Shamrock's ankle lock at WM. The group's membership chose to back Rock, and he is now the Nation's new leader. Or "ruler", per Rock. They're also now just The Nation. "Of Domination" has even been edited out of their entrance music, though tonight they're still announced as the Nation of Domination for the match. It's Rock, D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry wrestling for the Nation with Kama Mustafa in the corner. This is also the PPV debut for the oval IC title belt, a very weak looking belt in my opinion, but it'll last quite a while. Shamrock and Blackman do the classic Nation pose with Faarooq on their entrance. Brown and Blackman start. Brown hits a shoulderblock and celebrates with his signature head waggle. Strikes and counters from both guys and Brown hits a snap suplex. Blackman gets a dropkick and armdrag. Shamrock tags in to a bit of a pop. He hits a back elbow. Faarooq tags in and he and Brown stare down. After some not very angry looking words Brown slaps him. Spinebuster from Faarooq. He gets a belt out and whips Brown with it. "Like a government mule!". Thanks JR. Blackman snap suplex on Brown. Brown finally tags out to Henry. Sloppy strikes from Henry and he hits backbreakers. Elbow drop and I think a clothesline. That was badly done on both ends. Brown tags back in with Rock more interested in directing traffic than getting involved. That's what rulers do. Blackman crossbody on Brown for 2. Brown sit out powerbomb for 2. JR mentions that Greensboro used to be an "NWA stronghold". Brown beats Faarooq down and now Rock wants to tag in. He gets some shots in on Faarooq and quickly gets back out. Henry slam and elbow drops. Faarooq fires back and tags Blackman. Henry powerslam. Brown elbow off the second rope for 2. Chops from Brown gets some light "woooooo"s in Flair country. Rock stomps Blackman down in the corner. Short clothesline. Blackman stays face in peril. He counters a Rock backdrop into a small package for 2. Rock setup slam and he hits the still unnamed People's Elbow, which is super elaborate tonight. Brown backbreakers Blackman's ass (literally, his knee hit Blackman's ass) and goes up top. The moonsault misses! Hot tag to Faarooq. He runs wild on everyone. DONNYBROOK! Rock DDT on Faarooq for 2. Faarooq hits a horrible Dominator on Rock and gets the pin. Not great, not awful. **

Glass shatter! Austin is out! JR says this "isn't on the rundown" and no one was expecting him. Incidentally this is also the PPV debut of the Attitude Era modified winged eagle WWF Title belt. Austin takes a mic and physically drags timekeeper Mark Yeaton into to the ring. He says Yeaton screwed him last week when Vince told him to ring the bell. Yeaton says he was just following orders. Austin: "You better put some bass in that voice or I'll whoop your ass right now". He tells Yeaton he better not screw him tonight, or else.

 

WWF European Championship: Triple H (c) (w/Chyna) def Owen Hart in 12:26- What's the PPV after WM without WM rematches? This is Triple H's first PPV as the new leader of DX following Shawn Michaels' (temporary) retirement with a severe back injury. He immediately brought the New Age Outlaws and the WCW returning X-Pac into the group on the Raw after WM. After being handcuffed to Commissioner Slaughter at WM but still getting involved, tonight WWF is getting out an old NWA/WCW gimmick here in Crockett country and putting Chyna in a cage that'll be suspended above the ring. The heels do the usual arguing, then gentleman Trips gets in the cage first to make sure it's......safe? To code? Slaughter tells him to get out and gently pushes Chyna in, then bolts and locks the door with padlocks and a very thick chain. While that's going on Owen jumps HHH from behind! Beatdown up the aisle. JR gets his "Triple H's nose" line in. HHH gets run into the cage. Owen suplex on the aisle. They get in the ring and the bell rings to officially start the match. Owen immediately clotheslines HHH 360 out on the other side! The cage gets raised. HHH is overselling all over the announce table area. Owen backbreaker back in. Chops. We go to the cage cam and see Chyna is trying to push the door open with her legs. Mounted punches from Owen. HHH counters by dropping him on the top turnbuckle. Speed run, Owen ducks clotheslines but HHH hits a high knee. Crotch chop. HHH suplex and kneedrop for 2. Chyna is trying to bend the cage bars. HHH inverted atomic drop and clothesline for 2. He hooks on a dragon sleeper and gets a couple of near falls with it. Chyna pulls out what looks like a file that was hidden in her kneepad. HHH reverses a corner whip and Owen does a huge Bret bump. Cover for 2. Chyna dropped the file! A camera closeup shows it's some kind of knife sized saw. Owen sunset flip and he pulls HHH over with a tights pull for 2. HHH swinging neckbreaker. The dragon sleeper is on again. JR mentions he's "seen this hold before", never actually naming it, but this is the first time HHH has ever used it. Chyna goes back to trying to pull the bars open again. HHH dodges in the corner and Owen posts his shoulder. HHH runs him face first into the opposite middle turnbuckle. Think Owen might have meant to go though to the post again but missed. Facebuster and the dragon sleeper is on again. More near falls. Owen flips out and hits a German suplex! 2 count. Chyna has bent a bar open! Owen belly to belly suplex. Enzuguri for 2. Inverted atomic drop and spinning heel kick for 2. Piledriver from Owen. Elbow off the top. Owen sees Chyna escaping the cage, but she's still 20 feet in the air. HHH knocks him down to the floor. After some maneuvering Owen knocks HHH off the apron and one of Trips' legs gets trapped in the ropes. Chyna dangles off the bottom of the cage, too high to drop down. Owen counters a powerbomb into a DDT. Sharpshooter! The cage is lowering! Who's doing that? Chyna drops down when it's safe. We get a quick glimpse of Road Dogg in the control area, so that answers that question. Slaughter grabs Chyna in a bear hug to keep her out of the ring. Owen slingshots HHH into the post. Owen hits a Pedigree! Cover but no ref, he's distracted by all the nonsense going on with Chyna. X-Pac runs in, hits Owen with a fire extinguisher, and HHH puts an arm over for the pin. After the match Michael Cole tries to get a word with Owen about losing to DX "yet again". Owen says "Enough is enough! This bullshit (unbleeped) has to stop!", foreshadowing his coming heel turn. Owen and HHH were capable of putting on a classic, but this match was way too overbooked to be anything other than OK. **1/2

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: The New Midnight Express (c) (w/Jim Cornette) def The Rock 'N' Roll Express in 7:12- The "NWA invasion" angle continues to slouch along. You see "Midnight Express vs Rock N Roll Express" on the rundown and naturally get excited. Unfortunately, this is the lame WWF New Midnight Express of "Bombastic" Bob Holly and "Bodacious" Bart Gunn. This is an impromptu match announced by Cornette, and it makes sense having here in old Crockett territory. The RNR come out to the Rockers' old music. Almost zero reaction for either team from the crowd. Old NWA/WCW guy JR tries to push this as a big deal as best he can. Gibson and Holly start. Quick speed run and Gibson shoulderblocks Holly to the floor. Cornette gives him the traditional HP recovery hug. Back in the RNR school the New Midnights some more. To the shock of no one, Lawler wants to talk about Sable's panties instead of this match. RNR outmaneuver an attempted double team. The New Midnights argue and shove each other. Cornette comes in to get their heads back straight. Gunn gets Morton in an abdominal stretch and gets leverage help from his partner. Ref (and 2023 Hall of Famer) Tim White catches them and breaks it up. Cornette doesn't like that and gets on the apron to argue. White gives it right back to him. Cornette gets in the ring. The jacket is off! Cornette wants a fight! They're playing all the hits tonight. WHITE'S SHIRT IS UNTUCKED! HE'S READY TO GO! Cornette quickly changes his mind and hides behind the New Midnights. Cornette's so flustered he puts his jacket back on inside out. Back to the match. Cornette distracts Morton and Gunn knees him in the back to the floor. Face in peril time, what Ricky Morton was born to do. New Midnight double team. Gunn powerslam for 2. Morton dodges a Holly Alabama Jam, rolls and gets the mild tag. Everyone in the pool! The New Midnights get knocked around. RNR double dropkick on Gunn. The ref is distracted. Cornette comes in but Gibson dodges his elbow drop and he hits Gunn instead. Gibson rolls Gunn up. The ref is still distracted with getting Morton out. Holly hits a bulldog on Gibson, and Gunn covers for the pin. This had all the condensed basic beats of a typical classic Midnights/RNR match but not much else. The crowd was completely dead, as they were either 1. Old enough to remember the real Midnights and rightly see this WWF version as borderline sacrilegious, or b. Too young to remember the good old days. *1/2

 

Evening Gown Match: Luna (w/The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust) def Sable in 2:50- Nothing like advertising "we might see Sable naked" to get the teenage boys to tune in. No offense but no one wants to see Luna. This is like an old tuxedo match the men used to have (another gimmick the NWA used to do more than the WWF, I appreciate the fact they're really trying to show off the arena's heritage tonight), to win you have to strip your opponent down to her undergarments. Mero's not out with Sable as he's too "embarrassed" by the whole thing. The crowd is pretty hot for Sable but not as much as WM was. Lawler's in his element. JR goes through all his euphemisms for "this match will suck". After some cat fighting Luna gets Sable's bottom off and exposes her thong. Lawler has an orgasm. JR: "Well....there you have it". Sable snaps and attacks. Mero's out. He argues with Sable, allowing Luna to come from behind and get Sable's top off to win. A pissed off Sable hits the Sablebomb, then chases Luna under the ring. After a minute she emerges holding Luna's underwear. Goldust wraps Luna in his robe and carries her to the back. Exactly what you'd expect. DUD

Vince comes out with Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson, who aren't officially the Stooges yet but are trending very stooge-like. In the same vein Vince was starting to become overtly evil but hadn't completely snapped at the hands of Austin's constant torment yet, he's still a very calm businessman at this point. Vince says something catastrophic will indeed happen tonight, but it's a baseless conspiracy theory that he's here to screw Austin tonight. Like all those COVID "conspiracy theories" that almost all turned out to be true. Vince tries to get the crowd on his side by mentioning that he was born in North Carolina (true) and is a native of the state. Then he says that he will not be responsible for anything that happens in the ring later tonight if "Stone Cold screws Stone Cold". We all know what that's referencing.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws (c) def LOD 2000 (w/Sunny) in 12:13- The Legion of Doom debuted their new LOD 2000 look, and Sunny as their manager, at WM, where they won a battle royale to get this title shot. These two teams feuded over the tag titles for much of the last part of '97 so this wasn't exactly a fresh matchup. Speaking only in terms of at the time this show happened, Sunny > Sable. The Outlaws say they have Dean Smith coaching them for this match then bring out a blow up doll. Stupid. The cheapest of cheap heat that doesn't really work. Animal and Gunn start. Gunn bounces off Animal, tries to shove and gets shoved down. Long speed run, Animal tackle and clothesline. The LOD fight off an Outlaws double team. Hawk powerslam on Dogg. Fist drop. Dogg scurries to the corner to hide. Hawk pushes Dogg's head right into Gunn's crotch, then flips Gunn in the ring. Guess that was a tag. Gunn shouts "oh shit" while being backdropped. Hawk lifts Gunn, loses his grip, then resets and hits a shoulderblock. LOD double back elbow and Animal puts on the neck crank. Powerslam from Animal and everyone's in. The Outlaws are whipped into each other. Dogg is set up for the doomsday device. Gunn comes from behind and clips Animal's knee. Target acquired. Dogg works a good old fashioned spinning toe hold, another NWA nod. The knee is posted and some more knee work follows. Gunn hits the Fameasser and takes his time with a cocky cover for 2. Animal tries to fight back so Gunn eye pokes him. The Outlaws start to lose focus on the hurt knee and start hitting more generic moves. Animal backdrops out of a Gunn powerbomb. Dragon screw from Animal! Gunn 360 sells it! Highlight of the match. Tags. Hawk runs wild and we're donnybrooking. Hawk splash off the top rope on Dogg. Gunn hits him with a tag belt. Dogg covers. Hawk kicks out! The Outlaws try a double team but Dogg hits Gunn with the belt! Hawk German suplex on Dogg! The ref counts 3! The LOD celebrate and get a huge pop. But then Fink says "and.....STILL". It turns out all four shoulders were down, and a tie goes to the champs. Can't have NWA tribute night in Greensboro without a Dusty finish. The LOD take issue with ref Jack Doan for the call. Hawk clotheslines Doan! Doomsday device on the ref! JR: "He's a referee!". Doan gets stretchered out. Another crap match between these two teams. The LOD were clearly past it, worn down by age and injuries. *

Next up is a special Jeff Jarrett concert, accompanied by country band Sawyer Brown. Jarrett is clearly lip syncing. I don't know if it was intended to be obvious, but it is. After the song is over Jarrett is attacked by Steve Blackman! Jarrett gave Blackman his first WWF loss a few weeks back. Tennessee Lee saves Jarrett with a guitar shot on Blackman and Jarrett puts Blackman in the figure four. That was a Raw segment on PPV.

Lawler has a hot dog and marshmallow to roast in the Inferno Match! OK, that's funny.

 

Inferno Match: The Undertaker def Kane (w/Paul Bearer) in 16:00- The rules of this first ever Inferno match are the entire ring is surrounded by fire, and the only way to win is to set your opponent on fire. You can see the morbid appeal for '90s teenagers. We get a special orange "flame" light on the ring for this as well. It's much more subtle and not as bright as Kane's old red light and works fine in conjunction with the fire. The match starts with the fire trenches around the ring on low simmer. Corner back and forth to start. Taker hits an avalanche. He goes for old school and hits it, setting off the first burst from the flames. Kane lifts Taker up in the corner and drops him on the top turnbuckle. Slow beatdown from Kane. The flames spurt again on a Taker bump. Taker gets a finger in Kane's good eye. Powerslam from Kane. The spurts are coming more often now to make the fire look more interesting and dangerous. Bearer throws a chair in the ring. Taker gets it and whacks Kane in the head! He tosses the chair back out. Spurts are coming in conjunction with every strike in the ring now. Taker gets a boot up in the corner and hits a Russian leg sweep. Legdrop. Taker goozle. Kane goozles back. Kane wins the leverage fight and hits a chokeslam! He scoops for the Tombstone but Taker fights out. Taker chokeslam! Kane sits right back up! Simultaneous big boots! Kane ducks a flying clothesline and Taker almost rolls into the fire. Side suplex from Kane. He goes up top. Taker shakes the rope to crotch him, goes up and hits a superplex. Kane's up first again. Taker tosses Kane over the top rope to the floor! He just avoided the fire. But now Taker's trapped in the ring and Kane takes a walk up the aisle. Vader attacks Kane! He pounds Kane back toward the ring. Taker over the top tope on both guys! They've both escaped the flame surrounded ring. Bearer gets a chair and whacks Taker. No dice. Taker takes the chair and hits Kane in the head. Kane ducks under the ring apron to get himself set up for the finish. With Kane down Taker stalks Bearer all the way up the aisle and onto the concert stage. Taker tears the drum set apart and puts the bass drum over Bearer's head! Then hits him with a mic stand. Taker heads back to the ring and we see Bearer is bleeding. Taker hits Kane with the chair again. Kane's arm goes into the fire and is set alight! He quickly retreats to the back with his arm on fire. Taker wins. Realistically, that was as much fire as we were going to get. Not nearly as good as their WM match, but that was to be expected with the match's gimmick. The visual of the flames around the ring was really cool, the match itself was an OK spectacle. **1/4

 

WWF Championship: Dude Love def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) by DQ in 18:49- Mick Foley was not an expected choice for Austin's first feud as champion, much less in his Dude Love persona. Following Austin's title win at WM Vince tried to force Austin to go more corporate, even getting him into a suit for one night only. Despite all his attempts, Austin remained Austin. Vince was able to manipulate Love into turning on Austin and becoming one of his corporate stooges. Love jumps Austin as he's handing over the title belt, a flip of the usual Austin script. Austin quickly turns it around. A back elbow sends Love to the floor. Thesz Press back in. Austin gives Love the double finger and drops an elbow. Love tries to fight back. Austin plants him with a spinebuster and hits another elbow. Austin is moving as well as he has at any point since his broken neck at Summerslam, flying around the ring at times. Love tries to get away and Austin nails him with a running clothesline from behind. They go onto the concert stage. Love is slammed on the stage. Austin tosses Love off the stage onto the concrete floor! Foley bump. Austin gets whipped into the apron but pops back out with a clothesline. Back in Love dodges a charge and Austin crashes into the ropes. Bulldog. Corner beatdown from Love. Austin comes back with a clothesline. Love knee to the gut. He puts on a bodyscissors as Vince and the stooges make their way out. Vince takes a seat ringside and shares a very meaningful nod with Mark Yeaton. Austin fights out and sees Vince. Double bird at Vince. Love rolls Austin up for 2. Austin hits another clothesline and posts Love's knees right in front of Vince. And his arm. Continued Austin beatdown with more looks at Vince. Love backdrops out of a piledriver on the floor and runs Austin into the guardrail. Vince walks over and mocks Austin. Austin gets up and stalks Vince up the aisle. Love runs and hits Austin from behind. Was that a deliberate setup? Apron suplex fight. Love switches gears and cutters Austin over the top rope. More Vince mocking. Love puts on an abdominal stretch. Vince points at Yeaton to ring the bell! But Yeaton's not looking. Austin reverses. Vince quickly belays that order. Austin blocks a suplex on the floor and suplexes Love onto the steps! Foley bump 2. Love hits a swinging neckbreaker back in. The band tunes up! Austin blocks sweet shin music. He ducks and Love clotheslines the ref! Love blocks the Stunner. Mandible Claw! Austin tries to fight out so Love low blows him. He puts the Claw back on while Vince tries to revive the ref. Austin backdrops Love to the floor. He gets a chair. Vince fights with him over it. Love pushes the chair into Austin. Austin back elbows the chair into Love's face. Vince tries to help Love get up. Austin gets another chair and nails Vince right in the head with it! Stunner on Love! Still no ref. Austin counts 3 himself, and his music starts up like the match is over. Not a fan of that at all, wrestlers can't count their own falls. Austin takes the belt and leaves. A stretcher is brought out for Vince. Brisco has some words with Fink, and Fink announces that Love wins the match by DQ. That's a bit better. The last few minutes of air time is medics slowly putting a neck brace on the still unconscious Vince and prepping him to be stretchered out while commentary floats the idea of Austin being stripped of the title or even fired over this. The match was fantastic, as Austin and Foley worked superbly together. The overbooking worked in this instance too, as it all fit into the evolving Austin/Vince story that would carry pretty much the entire year for WWF. ****

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A typical B PPV of the era for WWF, with a lot of OK to crap matches before a fantastic main event, but still with some good storytelling and angle work throughout. I did appreciate the attempts to subtly honor and homage the arena's rich NWA history even if the results were hit and miss. JR and Lawler are really getting into a groove at this point too and add a lot to the show, even with Lawler's penchant for bad one liners and acting like a horny 15 year old over every woman on screen.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C