Breakdown '98: In Your House

Legacy Review

Breakdown '98: In Your House

September 27, 1998 from the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, ON

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The fall of 1998 was the pinnacle of the legendary Steve Austin/Mr. McMahon feud, with every week of Raw being must see TV. The recently reunited Undertaker and Kane were now Vince's #1 hired guns, and as more and more desperation set in after Taker failed to take the WWF Title at Summerslam he had no qualms with stacking the deck against Austin as much as he could.

In ring pyro! This is the annual Canada PPV so the crowd should certainly be lively tonight, right in the middle of one of WWF's hottest periods.

Owen Hart def Edge in 9:16- After making his in-ring PPV debut at Summerslam Edge is having his first PPV singles match tonight. Owen was a great choice to help ring general him through it. Fink announcing Edge's hometown as nearby Toronto gets a good pop. Owen comes out in a Toronto Argonauts (CFL) jersey, I guess to try to pander to the crowd. Doesn't work. The "nugget" chants start right away. Commentary mentions Edge's burgeoning relationship with another WWF newcomer, Gangrel. Arm wringer tradeoff to start. Wristlock fight. Edge uses the ropes to flip over and out. Owen kips up and hits an arm slam. Edge kips up. Owen backs him into the corner and hits a back elbow. Monkey flip. Edge lands on his feet and hits a dropkick. Hurricanrana counter by Edge and he clotheslines Owen 360 to the floor. He teases a dive but Owen gets out of the target area and brags about it. When he gets close enough Edge hits him with a baseball slide. Edge tries coming off the apron. Owen catches and powerslams him! That was a hard splat on the floor. Owen missile dropkick back in for 2. Gutwrench suplex for 2. More "nugget" chants from the crowd. Neckbreaker for 2. Speed run and Owen hits the snap belly to belly (not as good as usual) for 2. Edge comes back and Owen cuts it off with a boot up in the corner. Victory roll for 2. Edge reverses it for a long 2. Spinning heel kick from Owen. Edge hits a springboard reverse crossbody for 2. He goes up to the second rope again, then sees Owen dodging and lands on his feet. Owen, in his classic style, celebrates with his back turned. Edge plants him with a DDT! Counter run and Edge hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Owen slips out of a suplex into a German suplex for 2. Edge dodges in the corner and Owen crashes. They go up top and Owen blocks a superplex, sending Edge down. Owen tries coming off the top rope. Edge gets his boots up. Owen sees, lands away from him, and goes for the Sharpshooter! Edge fights it off. Owen bounces off the corner and Edge small packages him for 2. Spinning heel kick from Edge! Hey, there's some guy at ringside with the same long blond hair that Edge has! Commentary says a fan jumped the rail. The unknown guy and Edge stare down. Edge seems to know him. Owen comes from behind with a clutch and gets the pin! After the bell the mystery guy leaves through the crowd and Edge gives chase. This was the debut of Christian, who would be billed as Edge's brother. Which they're not really, but they might as well be. Damn good match as young Edge continues to acquit himself very well in his early PPV matches. ***1/2

 

Al Snow and Scorpio (w/Head) def Too Much in 8:03- After months of being in limbo Snow was finally officially reinstated to the full WWF roster after defeating Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter the previous week on Raw. JR mentions Snow's earlier gimmicks, and that he and Scorpio were in ECW together (letting Lawler get his "Extremely Crappy Wrestling" line in), which is why they're teaming up here. Scott Taylor is now Scott "Too Hot" Taylor, getting closer to his most famous name. Huge "Head" chant after the face's entrance. Canada loves Head. Everyone loves Head. Well, except for Taylor, he doesn't like the chants at all. He and Scorpio start. Shoving and Taylor hides in the ropes. After some back and forth Scorpio hits an atomic drop and swing kick. Pumphandle slam from Taylor, followed by a kip up and moonwalk while Christopher brays from the apron. I seriously think Brian Christopher, as a wrestler, might be the most annoying human being alive. He's like a tropical skin disease made flesh. Both sides tag. Speed run with Christopher doing a leapfrog that Snow apparently wasn't prepared for and they have to quickly recover. Snow traps Christopher's arms and headbutts him. Taylor runs into a backdrop. Scorpio hits corner clotheslines. Snow throws a chair in. Scorpio distracts the ref and Snow launches off the chair and heel kicks Taylor! That ECW experience coming in handy. Now Scorpio goes for a chair launch. He almost slips off the chair and barely gets in the vicinity of hitting the kick he was going for. Everyone sells it anyway. .8 Sabu botch. The match breaks down with everyone fighting. Scorpio hits Taylor with a splash off the top, but then pulls him up at 2. On the floor Snow hits Christopher with a moonsault off the barricade. Much easier to do with those new giant padded barricades now. Back in Christopher cuts off a double team, sending Scorpio to the floor. Christopher suplexes him on the floor and Scorpio goes in peril. Double backdrop that Scorpio does an awful bump off of. Bulldog from Christopher. Another double backdrop and this time Scorpio lands on his feet. That might have been what he was going for the first time. Scorpio double dropkicks the heels and tags. Snow comes in swinging Head everywhere and wildly. Everyone takes a shot, including Scorpio. Christopher breaks a pin up with a legdrop off the top rope. Then Scorpio breaks a pin up with a splash from the top rope. Snow hits the Snow Plow and gets the pin. There were a whole lot of big moves in this match, but very few of them felt like they mattered. Spotty and sloppy. *3/4

 

"Marvelous" Marc Mero (w/Jacqueline) def Droz in 5:12- Jacqueline had just won the revived Women's title, which had been deactivated for nearly three years after Alundra Blayze (Medusa) left for WCW and dumped the old belt in a trash can. She was quickly becoming the second woman to be Mero's valet and completely overshadow him. I suppose before going any further I should say RIP Droz, who passed away just a few days before I sat down to write this. Mero gets the quick jump after the bell. Droz responds with a slam and clothesline. A dropkick sends Mero to the floor. He walks and Droz attacks him in the aisle. Back in Mero hits a kneelift. Jacqueline gets her shot in. Tackle from Droz and another clothesline. Mero backdrops Droz to the floor. Somersault plancha! Mero's boot landed right on Droz's head but he was a football player, he's good. Droz gets his knees up on a slingshot splash. Kind of tackle/diving back elbow combo from Droz. Inverted atomic drop. Powerslam. Jacqueline gets Mero's foot on the rope. Droz yells at her and Mero attacks from behind. He takes his tape off and chokes Droz. The ref sees it and gets all over Mero. But it's a RUSE. On the other side of the ring, Jacqueline comes off the top rope and nails Droz with her Shoe of Deadly Pointiness +1. Mero set Droz up and goes up top. Shooting star press! Guess he's healthy enough to do that again. He's calling it the "Marvelocity" now. That gets the pin. 3/4*

 

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Bradshaw def Vader in 7:56- I don't remember exactly what the beef was here, other than Bradshaw recently turning heel and being pissed off at the world, and deciding to take it out on Vader's beef. Bradshaw's lost his mustache in the heel turn. He's all business going in. The basic visual of this definitely brings you back to the Vader/Stan Hansen classics in Japan which I'm sure was intentional. Lockup stalemate. Bradshaw gets Vader in the corner and goes into stiff beatdown mode, including a wicked hard chop. Huge corner clothesline. Slam and elbow drop for 2. Vader flat RUNS OVER Bradshaw with a tackle! Big splash for 2. Bradshaw gets a big boot and 360 clotheslines Vader to the floor. Post shot for Vader and another clothesline. Bradshaw gives him a couple of bell shots. Clothesline and cover on the floor for 2. Vader ducks and Bradshaw punches the post. Vader headbutts him and drops the steps on Bradshaw. They get back in the ring with Bradshaw taking control back and hitting a Saito suplex. Vader ducks a charge and Bradshaw goes over the top to the floor. Low blow from Vader in the aisle and cover for 2. Vader takes Bradshaw back in the ring and sets him up in the corner. Splash off the second rope. No cover. Vader points up. But which move is he thinking? The Vader Bomb hits! Bradshaw kicks out! Another huge clothesline from Bradshaw. Vader kicks out! Another, as JR is now calling it, clothesline from hell. Bradshaw wraps Vader's arm, hits a neckbreaker, and gets the pin. It certainly didn't take advantage of the stipulation as well as it could have but it had the moments of crazy stiffness you'd expect from these two. Crowd didn't give a damn either. And that, folks, is Vader's last WWF PPV match. He'd put Edge over on TV on his way out, then head back to Japan (though All Japan and NOAH instead of New Japan) for his last full time run and close out the career of the greatest big man of all time. **1/4

 

D'Lo Brown def Gangrel in 7:46- JR calls the PPV debuting Gangrel a "strange son of a gun". Putting it mildly. Yes, Brown is still wearing the chest protector. He lost the European title to X-Pac on the most recent Raw and is extra ornery tonight because of it. Gangrel charges before the bell but Brown avoids him. Back elbow from Gangrel. He blocks a Brown hiptoss into a belly to belly suplex and hits elbow drops. Brown responds with a spinning heel kick and classic Brown head waggle jawing. Brown goes into beatdown mode for a bit. Gangrel dodges an elbow off the second rope. Brown gets a sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero) low blow in. Huge Ligerbomb from Brown! He gets up on the ropes to play to the crowd before covering and Gangrel kicks out. Gangrel dodges in the corner. Brown blocks a DDT. Suplex for 2. More Brown jawing. Gangrel hits forearms and a clothesline. Brown jackknife cover for 2. Gangrel fights Brown off the second rope for 2. Samoan drop from Brown for 2. They completely blow a hot shot as Mark Henry makes his way down. Gangrel hits a clotheslineish move off the top for 2. Henry pulls the top rope down and Gangrel tumbles to the floor. He runs Gangrel into the post. Brown plants Gangrel with the Low Down spinebuster and gets the pin. After the bell Gangrel gives Henry a face full of blood mist and DDTs Brown. I won't fault the effort, both guys were definitely trying, but like the tag match it was spotty with no glue to hold any of it together, and sloppy in parts. **

On a previous Raw the Rock, Mankind and Shamrock had a triple threat match to determine the #1 contender to the WWF Title that was completely ruined by the Undertaker and Kane, so tonight they're doing it again inside a steel cage. Hey, it's the blue bar cage still! And it's being lowered from the ceiling! Guess it wasn't too heavy after all. Weird to see the blue bar cage with that hanging apparatus on the top of it we're used to seeing on the more "normal" chain link cage. While the cage is being prepped all three guys get promo time. It's a good thing they let Shamrock go first, because the other two verbally leave him in the dust. Mankind even does a bit of fourth wall breaking, saying he refuses to sell that "abortion of a move", the People's Elbow.

 

WWF Championship #1 Contender Triple Threat Steel Cage Match: The Rock def Mankind and Ken Shamrock in 18:47- Face Shamrock gets almost zero reaction from the Canadian crowd. Face Mankind gets an OK pop. Heel Rock almost blows the roof off the place. Don't look now, but that poster child for "too much, too soon" Rocky Maivia is in serious danger of becoming popular. It's pin/submit or escape rules tonight. Rock goes right for old rival Shamrock but Shamrock was ready for him. Rock does the ol' eye poke to take control. Mankind takes advantage to try to sneak out the door while no one's looking. Rock intercepts him. Mankind lets Rock and Shamrock go at it a bit more before picking his spot to dive in. As Mankind's shirt comes undone we see he's wearing his Dude Love shirt underneath, but the Dudester doesn't come out in full for this match. Mankind running corner knee on Shamrock. Rock clothesline on Mankind. Shamrock pummels Rock with knees. He puts an abdominal stretch on Mankind. Rock sneaks from behind and puts Shamrock in an abdominal stretch! Double stretch! Both of them are hiptossed out of. All three guys reset and stand off. Rock tries to make a deal with Mankind to team up....then attacks Mankind! Mankind has the first climb attempt of the match. Rock stops him. Shamrock gets half out the door and Rock stops him too. Both Rock and Mankind finally get Shamrock down for an extended period. Shamrock takes the first cage shot. Not a lot of that in this match. The blue bar cage is kind of juryrigged up there, they're probably playing it safe to make sure it doesn't collapse. Rock and Mankind hit some nicely coordinated double teams. They might make an OK tag team one day. Eventually Rock has enough and attacks Mankind. That's going to be a recurring theme between them for years. Now Rock and Shamrock strike a truce to team up on Mankind. Shamrock puts the ankle lock on. Rock quickly breaks it up. Now Shamrock and Mankind double team on Rock. The crowd does not like that at all. Double backdrop. Double suplex. Clotheslines all around. Rock DDT on Mankind. Spinny DDT on Shamrock. Setup slam. And a setup slam for Mankind! They're both set up! The elbow pad comes off as the crowd comes completely unglued! Double People's Elbow! Hey, Mankind sold it after all. Rock starts to climb. The other two pull him back in and Rock gets crotched on the top rope. He comes back up with a low blow on Shamrock. Charge from Mankind....right into a Rock Bottom! Rock covers but Shamrock breaks the pin up. Huge "Shamrock sucks" chant as commentary starts to refer to Canada as Bizzaro World for I think the first time ever. Certainly won't be the last. Shamrock belly to belly on Rock! Ankle lock! Rock fights it and Mankind breaks it up to a big cheer. Mankind climbs again. Rock goes up to stop him. Mankind gets over the top and dangles while Rock hangs onto him. Rock gets him back up and they slug it out while sitting on top of the cage. Shamrock joins in and he and Rock go down in the ring. Mankind is all alone up top! But he doesn't go down to win. Instead he stands on top of the cage! JR says Mankind thinks he's Jimmy Snuka. Cactus Elbow off the top of the cage! Rock dodges and Mankind splats on the mat! Rock is bleeding right on top of the People's Eyebrow. Not sure when that happened. Shamrock goes for the door. Mankind crawls over and stops him. Somehow Shamrock gets a chair (clearly planted for him) and brings it into the ring. Mankind dodges and Shamrock hits the cage with the chair! Double underhook DDT! Mankind chairshot to Shamrock's face! He starts climbing. But while he does, Rock crawls over and covers Shamrock! While Mankind is halfway down the cage, Rock gets a 3 count and wins! Mankind is confused at first and thinks he won by escape, then hears Fink's announcement and loses it. Tremendous finish. The match started a bit slow, but once they got going they got going great. They're starting to figure this triple threat thing out. Put this performance and crowd reaction together with the ladder match from Summerslam and Rock has pretty much punched his ticket to the main event, though with all the shenanigans that were about to go down with the WWF Title he wouldn't get the title shot he won here. ***3/4

Ad for the next PPV, which will be the first ever Judgment Day. While commentary tries to hype up the next match Shamrock is completely losing it in and around the ring.

 

Val Venus (w/Terri Runnels) def Dustin Runnels in 9:09- This is another pure Russo trash TV inspired feud. OK, bear with me here. Dustin Rhodes, the former Goldust, has had another personality change and is now wrestling under his real life name and has assumed the gimmick of an over the top preacher. Venus shocked Dustin and the world by revealing that he's been fucking (WWF won't go all the way R rated and say the word but I will) Dustin's real life wife Terri, the former Marlena who had been away from WWF since her whole also Russoriffic angle with Brian Pillman ended after Pillman's death. Needless to say Dustin was devastated, and here we are. And it gets even crazier after this but we'll get to that when it happens. Venus introduces Terri, who was appearing unannounced. She comes out in a fairly skimpy outfit and she and Venus fondle each other all the way to the ring. Dustin tries to jump Venus when he gets in the ring but Venus dodges and hits a spinebuster. Dustin responds with a faceplant and powerbomb. A sloppy Venus shot sends Dustin outside and Venus clotheslines him in the aisle with an attempt at a 360 sell. Back in Dustin hits a backdrop. Venus hits chops and running knees. Russian leg sweep and hip swivel mock. Venus puts on a camel clutch for a bit. He stays aggressive after Dustin gets out. They go to the floor and Venus drops Dustin on the announce table. Back in Dustin blocks and hits a suplex. Venus dodges a legdrop for 2. The crowd gets distracted by something and Venus kills time with a chinlock. Dustin's comeback is cut off with a clothesline. Dustin maneuvers into a DDT. Venus goes for a superplex. Dustin tries to block it, so Venus drops him down to the floor! Afterward Dustin tosses Venus over the top to the floor. Venus gets distracted by Terri and they go into high school groping mode again with Dustin barely able to stand it. Venus sneaks around and rolls Dustin up for 2. Dustin counters a hiptoss into the bulldog! He's slow to cover. The ref counts two even though Venus doesn't kick out! Someone frakked up big time there. The crowd boos. Venus hits a powerslam, drops some elbows, and hits the Money Shot to finish it. This never came together, with many of the same spottiness issues as the previous undercard matches and that end of match non-kickout was fugly. *1/4

JR: "Remember that time Jeff Jarrett used a guitar?". Are you serious? Jeff Jarrett has broken more guitars than Mark McGwire has crushed home runs. There's a very 1998 reference for you.

 

D-Generation X def Jeff Jarrett & Southern Justice in 11:17- It's new European champ X-Pac and tag champs the New Age Outlaws representing DX tonight. Triple H is out with a legitimate knee injury suffered during or right after the Summerslam ladder match where he won the Intercontinental title, an injury that would force him to vacate that title soon after this. After losing a hair vs hair match at Summerslam to Pac Jarrett now has the short hair look he'd carry for the rest of his career. His persona has also stepped up in edginess, with "Don't piss me off" written on his shirt and guitar. The Outlaws jump the heels from behind in the ring during their entrance. Big brawl and the faces clear the ring. Jarrett sneaks back in and jumps Pac. Slide under and dropkick from Jarrett. Pac powerbomb counter for 2. Dogg tags in and works Jarrett over. Canterbury rakes Dogg's eyes from the apron and SJ pound Dogg down. Dogg tries to come back with his dancing jabs but Canterbury kills him with a clothesline. Jarrett DDT. Corner collision and Dogg gets a tag to Pac. Pac spinning heel kick on Jarrett. He tries one on Knight but gets caught and slammed. Big delayed suplex from Knight for 2. Jarrett powerslam for 2. Big splash from Canterbury for 2. Pac continues as Degenerate in Peril for a bit. Jarrett hooks on a sleeper. They do the arm drops. Pac fights back up, they have some sleeper counters, and Pac hits a back suplex. Tag to Gunn, his first time in the whole match. Gunn takes everyone out. DONNYBROOK! JR calls Gunn the "best pure athlete" in the WWF. The buttering up has begun. Pac Bronco Busters Jarrett. Canterbury takes Pac out. Jarrett tries to bring the guitar in but Gunn takes it away. Ref Tim White then takes it from Gunn. SJ work Gunn over. Jarrett nails Pac with the guitar on the floor! Gunn hits, er, one of the SJ guys (I've probably been getting them backwards most of the match but I'm honestly not too concerned about it) with the fameasser and gets the pin. Gee, I wonder who of this DX group WWF was considering giving a mega singles push to? After the match Pac's eye is hurt from the guitar shot. **1/4

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship: The Undertaker and Kane def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) in 22:05- Per Vince's deck stacking edict, both Taker and Kane are only allowed to pin Austin, not each other, making this a de facto handicap match. Vince has also ordered that if anyone interferes on Austin's behalf the match will be immediately stopped and Austin stripped of the title. Kane comes out first. While Taker's coming out Austin attacks him from behind with a chair! Kane takes a chairshot, and he and Austin brawl down the aisle into the ring. Once in Kane hits a back elbow and slam. Austin dodges Kane coming off the top rope while Taker is strolling toward the ring with the chair. Austin gets tossed over the top to the floor where Taker is waiting. After some shots Austin reverses a whip and sends Taker into the steps, then he crotches Kane on the post. JR: "Undertaker may never be an uncle now". Stunner on Kane! Taker pulls Austin back out to break up the pin. Austin gets posted. Taker beats Austin down in the ring while Kane is still down from the Stunner. Flying clothesline from Taker and Kane finally starts to stir. Austin Thesz Press! He clotheslines Kane 360 to the floor. Swinging neckbreaker on Taker for 2. Austin keeps Kane on the floor while he works Taker over. Kane grabs Austin and drags him out to the floor. Taker accidentally hits Kane! Uh oh. While they're discussing things Austin pushes Taker into Kane! Austin gets a TV cable and chokes Kane with it. Taker gets some more cable and chokes Austin with it! It's a double layer choke. After everyone untangles Taker and Kane drop Austin on the Spanish announce table. The Taker/Kane double teaming is starting to become too much for Austin. Vince's stooges (Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson and Commissioner Slaughter) poke their heads out to see how things are going. The Austin beatdown continues on the floor and they work up the aisle. Austin gets a comeback flurry up by the stage. Taker backdrops him on the floor. Austin sees the stooges and leaps on top of Brisco! Slaughter and Taker get him off. Kane tosses Brisco aside. Austin gets dragged back to the ring where the double team continues with Austin completely grounded. Kane turns around to intimidate Hebner, giving Austin an opening to attack Taker and start to get his wind back. A Taker throat punch puts him down again. Austin gets another chair on the floor. He nails Kane with it! Cover. Taker breaks it up with a chairshot on Austin. Taker covers. Kane pulls him off! That sets off another discussion. Taker drapes Austin across the top rope and Kane comes off the top to knock him off. Kane covers. Taker pulls him off! More discussion. Taker attacks Kane from behind! Kane and Austin bounce Taker around with punches. After a big boot and 360 clothesline Austin jumps on Kane. Russian leg sweep for 2. Kane hits a headbutt. Taker and Kane get Austin back down and seemingly sort things out between them. Kane beats Austin down on the floor. Back in both guys try for pins with the other breaking it up. Guess it's not sorted after all. Staredown. Taker hits Kane! Slugfest. Double clothesline! The door's open for Austin! He knocks Taker out of the ring. Kane slams Austin but misses an elbow drop. Taker gets crotched on the top rope. Austin goes for the Stunner. After some obvious maneuvering Kane pushes Austin off into Taker's big boot. Double team chokeslam on Austin! Both Taker and Kane cover him, and get the pin! Fink: "The winner of this match, and NEWWWWWWWWW World Wrestling Federation Champion.....".......no one's sure. Vince comes out, tells Brisco to get the belt, and runs off with it all the way into his limo and out of the arena. While that's happening Austin takes the stooges out. The camera follows Austin to the back. Vince's limo is stopped outside the arena. Vince gets out, gloats at Austin that he's lost the belt, flips him off, gets back in and leaves. End show. I see what they were going for, but didn't pull it off quite as well as they could have. Not a bad match, just OK. And once again, PPV is being used to set up TV instead of the other way around because in the Monday Night War days those weekly ratings sheets meant just as much as PPV buys, if not more. **1/2

 

The next night on Raw Vince held a presentation ceremony to name a new WWF Champion between Taker and Kane (which also featured the original Winged Eagle belt in its final official appearance). But before he could, Austin crashed the ceremony driving a zamboni, attacked Vince, and got arrested for about the 47th time that year. Afterward Vince held Taker and Kane responsible for not stopping Austin's attack, so instead of awarding the title to one of them he set up a rematch for Judgment Day. 

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: For an Attitude Era B PPV this isn't too shabby. There's no out and out disasters, a couple of good matches that are tentpoles in the early careers of both Edge and the Rock, a decent main event with important WWF Title developments even if it was the "PPV setting up TV" syndrome, and crazy Russo trash TV stuff like the Dustin/Venus feud is usually worth a laugh.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C