Legacy Review
Judgment Day: In Your House
October 18, 1998 from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, IL
Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
The fall '98 peak of Austin/McMahon continues, with the weeks between the last PPV and this one providing one of the most iconic and famous run of episodes in the history of Raw. Among the legendary segments from these episodes were Austin filling Vince's car with cement and Vince's trip to the hospital with Austin whacking him on the head with a bedpan (several times during taping to get just the ring DING), which also saw the debut of no less a legend himself, Mr. Socko. Truly must see TV every week as WCW continued to be left further and further behind. Following the controversial finish of the WWF Title match at Breakdown between Austin, the Undertaker and Kane, and Vince's later frustration with Taker and Kane not playing ball just how he wanted, a match has been set up for the vacant title tonight between just Taker and Kane. Austin's role? He's the special guest referee, and per Vince's edict if he doesn't raise the hand of a new not him champion tonight and "humble himself", he will be FIRED.
Al Snow (w/Head) def "Marvelous" Marc Mero (w/Jacqueline) in 7:12- Probably no one on the roster better suited for a show open pop right now than Snow. Before the match Jeff Jarrett, who'd had some recent issues with Snow, makes his way down and tries to convince the ref to replace Mero in the match with him. Mero's not interested and instead jumps a distracted Snow from behind. Jarrett takes his leave to have it out with Snow another day. Speed/duck run and Snow hits a powerslam, followed by a series of clotheslines. Mero responds with short jabs to the body and a flying back elbow. He turns his back on Snow and decides to stalk Head. Snow rolls him up for 2. Mero responds with a clothesline. Long series of dodges with Snow doing a fake out and hitting a DDT. Snow hits the moonsault! Jacqueline (who is also currently the revived WWF Women's champion) distracts, allowing Mero to hit a low blow and DDT. Cover for 2. Both Mero and Jacqueline choke Snow on the ropes. Kneelift from Mero. He hits his own moonsault for 2. Snow traps Mero's arms and pummels him with headbutts. Another Mero clothesline counter. Snow hits an enzuguri and a spinebuster. He goes up top again. Jacqueline pulls Mero out of the landing zone and Snow plants himself with another moonsault. Mero magistral cradle for 2. Samoan drop. He goes up top. Snow dodges the Marvelocity! He covers but Mero gets a foot on the rope. Mero goes for the TKO. Snow counters into the Snow Plow! That gets the pin! Decentish match with a pretty nice stretch run. *3/4
Earlier tonight, Austin arrived at the arena and naturally headed to the wrestler's locker room. The Stooges cut him off and instead shepherd him into the referee's changing closet. Austin physically tosses Mike Chioda out for some privacy.
LOD 2000 def The Disciples of Apocalypse in 5:04- This is a six man match, with Paul Ellering getting in the ring with the DOA and Droz joining LOD. In fact, right now Droz was more a regular member of LOD while Hawk was more an "alternate" following a layoff. This is during the controversial angle where Hawk's real life issues with pain killer addiction was brought on screen. The angle would lead to Droz being revealed as Hawk's pusher and Hawk getting tossed off the Titantron on Raw before it was all quietly ended because everyone hated it. Hawk definitely looks pudgier than ever in this match. Both he and Animal have full heads of hair too, a very strange look for them. Droz makes up for it with just a small patch of hair on the top of his head with a braid coming out of it. Not much of a Chicago pop for LOD either, even at home they were wearing thin as age continued to take its toll. Even with everything going on this is yet another LOD/DOA match so you know what to expect and I'm not getting deep into it. Both Animal and Hawk get runs before DOA get Droz LOD in peril. Ellering only tags in when its safe. Droz gets a hot tag to Hawk, who tosses Ellering out, kicking off the DONNYBROOK. Hawk and Animal hit the DoomsdayDevestation Device on one of the DOA twins, but Droz runs in and takes the pin for himself, which Hawk is none to pleased about. 3/4*
WWF Light Heavyweight Championship: Christian (w/Gangrel) def Taka Michinoku (c) (w/Yamaguchi-San) in 8:35- Following his WWF debut at Breakdown distracting his on-screen brother Edge, Christian is making his in-ring debut tonight. The feud between the brothers is Edge wants nothing to do with Gangrel, while Christian is obviously close with him. He gets the Brood entrance for this match. In fact this is heel vs heel as Taka is still a member of Kaientai. Christian leaves his puffy shirt on to wrestle in. Taka goes in dodge mode early. He hits a spinning heel kick and clotheslines Christian 360 to the floor. Taka springboard dive! He's pretty clearly playing the face role in this match though the crowd never connects with it. We get a shot of Edge hanging out up by one of the mid-level entrances watching the match. Knee off the top from Taka back in for 2. Christian hits a reverse DDT. The crowd chants for Edge. Christian hits a couple of rolling suplexes and a falcon arrow for 2. He low bridges Taka to the floor. Springboard plancha from Christian! Powerbomb back in for 2. Taka dodges a splash off the top rope. A dropkick counter from Taka sends Christian back out. Baseball slide. Taka asai moonsault! He tries to get the crowd fired up after that but they're still having nothing of it. Taka hits some chops in the corner back in. Christian tries to backdrop him over the corner but Taka lands on the apron, goes up top, and hits a crossbody. Christian rolls through it for 2. Taka roll up for 2. Basement dropkick for 2. Christian gets a Russian leg sweep for 2. Taka flips out of a powerbomb and hits a tornado DDT. He calls for the Michinoku Driver but really takes his time about it. Christian counters into a small package and gets the pin and wins a title in his first televised WWF match! Edge continues to watch impassively as the emotionless Christian takes the belt and leaves arm in arm with Gangrel. Taka's "inaugural" (first after the WWF got the belt back and revived the division) title reign ends at 315 days. In a sign of how serious WWF took this title, a month later Christian would drop it to....Gillberg. It's not on the level of Edge's first PPV singles match against Owen Hart at Breakdown but still a decent debut for Christian. **1/2
Goldust def Val Venus (w/Terri Runnels) in 12:05- Venus boinking his wife Terri caused Dustin Runnels to snap so bad he became Goldust again. Goldust uses mic tricks to interrupt Venus' usual prematch promo then jumps him in the ring. Venus responds with a big boot followed by some ground and pound, then tosses Goldust out. Goldust reverses a whip into the barricade and drops Venus on the steps. They go back in just so Venus can toss Goldust out again. Venus dive off the top to the floor! More floor ground and pound follows. Back in Venus tries coming off the top again but Goldust catches him with a gut shot. Inverted atomic drop from Goldust. Slingshot back suplex and clothesline for 2. Goldust does a bit of arm work, then hits Venus with a very Mr. Perfect-like neck snap. Venus dodges in the corner and Goldust posts his shoulder. Venus is immediately all over it. After some arm pounding Venus puts on a short arm scissors. Goldust gets up and we have a forearm exchange. Venus clothesline for 2 and he goes back on the arm. The ref does arm drops on the good arm. The glove on the arm Venus has been working has come off and we can see Goldust is still wearing his wedding ring. Goldust crossbody for 2. Venus pounds him with elbows to the back of the neck, then snaps Goldust's arm over the top rope. Russian leg sweep for 2. Powerslam from Venus. No cover. He goes up top. Goldust meets him and hits a superplex for 2. Venus dodges an elbow drop off the second rope and hooks on a sleeper. Goldust backs him into the corner and hooks on his own sleeper. Venus back suplexes out. Comeback flurry from Goldust. Bulldog! Terri gets on the apron and screams at Goldust that he ruined her life. Venus tries to ambush. Goldust dodges and Venus *just* hits the brakes to stop from hitting Terri. Goldust kicks Venus right in his moneymaker! Cover and Goldust gets the pin! Terri is shocked and furious. Not too shabby. This whole Russo trash TV angle would really go off the rails after this (saying something considering how it started), with Terri faking pregnancy to get out of her relationship with Venus. **3/4
After winning the Intercontinental title in a legendary Ladder Match against the Rock at Summerslam, Triple H had to vacate the title due to a legitimate knee injury. A one night, 8 man tournament was held on Raw to determine a new champion (minus Rock, who already had bigger plans being laid for him), won by Ken Shamrock for his first title win in WWF. Earlier tonight on Heat Trips presented the IC title belt to Shamrock. As he was leaving however, Shamrock snapped as he was wont to do and attacked Trips in his car, "reinjuring" Trips' knee and putting him back on the shelf for a while, which also continued Shamrock's slow burn heel turn.
WWF European Championship: X-Pac (w/Chyna) def D'Lo Brown (c) in 14:37- These two have been trading the European title back and forth the past couple of months, with Brown most recently taking it back on Raw with help from former Nation stablemate Mark Henry. Former as in The Nation was no longer a going concern, but Brown and Henry were still buddies. There's also this whole angle of Henry having a sexual harassment lawsuit out on Chyna, which I won't get into in detail other than it leads to Henry's famous Sexual Chocolate gimmick. Brown's announced European hometown tonight is Milan, Italy. He's got some extra strut and head waggle tonight. Clearly he's happy about getting his beloved title back. Lockup! Brown hits a shoulderblock and celebrates. After another lockup Brown gets a cheap shot in the corner. He tugs Pac's arm and hair pulls him down. Pac bounces back up and hits a swing kick. Speed run, lots of counters and Brown hits a clothesline for 2. Corner chops from Brown. Pac dodges an avalanche. I should note, at this point Brown's chest protector has become such a regular part of his ring gear no one does anything with it anymore. Pac hits a flurry of corner kicks. He goes for the bronco buster. Brown puts a boot up while Pac is in midair and it goes right into his nads! Big time chinlock from Brown. After arm drops Brown cuts off a Pac comeback with a heel kick. Ligerbomb! Slow cover for 2. Pac fights off a superplex. He hits a crossbody off the top but Brown rolls through it for 2. Pac kicks Brown right in the face in the corner. Going the other way Brown dodges and Pac crashes in the corner. Brown elbow off the second rope for 2. Backbreaker for 2. He hooks on a good old fashioned Texas cloverleaf. Pac fights out but Brown cuts him off again with the ol' eye poke. Setup slam. Brown goes up top, but instead of the frog splash he goes for a swanton. Pac dodges! Spinning heel kick from Pac. Flying clothesline. Dropkick. The bronco buster hits this time. Chyna gets a punch in. Pac covers for 2. Ref bump! Pac hits a Saito suplex. Here comes Mark Henry. He gets Chyna's attention. While she's distracted Brown gets the belt and waffles Pac with it. Henry deadlifts Chioda back in. Pac kicks out! Another Brown Ligerbomb for 2. He comes off the top rope again.....RIGHT INTO THE X-FACTOR! Pac covers for the pin and gets the title back! Fantastic finish, and a really good match. All the hours these two have spent wrestling each other have clearly paid dividends. ***1/2
Michael Cole is in the back and reports on a rumor, repeat RUMOR, from WWF.com that Paul Bearer has been seen going into the Undertaker's locker room. Frigging online dirt sheets, they'll never stop publishing unverified crap.
WWF Tag Team Championship: The Headbangers def The New Age Outlaws (c) by DQ in 14:00- The Headbangers turned heel to set this up, and to fulfill Russo's monthly heel turn quota, smashing a boombox over Road Dogg's head to do it. The Chicago crowd is pretty bonkers for the Outlaws. The Hadbangers jump them during their usual prematch promo. The Outlaws take over pretty quick and double team Mosh before things settle in with Mosh and Gunn. Both Gunn and Dogg work Mosh over. Mosh eyepokes Gunn and tags but Thrasher walks into a hiptoss. The 'Bangers work Dogg into a Mosh ambush and Dogg goes Outlaw in peril. After a bit Dogg back suplexes Thrasher and both sides tag. Gunn goes nuts on the hot tag run until Thrasher pulls the top rope down on him and sending him crashing to the floor. Gunn takes a couple of shots into the steps and is now in peril. Lots of double team work from the heels. Gunn gets a flying headscissors for some breathing space. Commentary continues to butter Gunn up something fierce in anticipation of his expected singles breakout coming soon to a ring near you. Thrasher cuts the tag off. More FIP stuff follows with double teams and ref working. Gunn and Thrasher do the sleeper/arm drops/comeback/counter sleeper/back suplex sequence we've already seen once tonight. On the back end of a double team Gunn plucks Mosh out of midair and slams him. The tag is cut off again. Double team flapjack from the heels. Dogg finally has enough, pulls a fresh boombox out of....somewhere, and whacks Mosh with it for a cheap DQ. The match was fine basic tag formula stuff with the 'Bangers working the heel end of it admittedly better than expected, but I'm not sure about that booking. **
Back to Cole, who has seen with his own two eyes Paul Bearer going into Kane's dressing room. Take that, WWF.com hacks. Mankind is here. And Mr. Socko! Mankind and Socko discuss brutality, with Mankind saying Socko hasn't seen true brutality. Socko's response? "I've watched Ken Shamrock's interviews and they are brutal!". Debate point to Socko. Mankind asks to see Socko's underwear (the sick freak) and reveals that he's in black tonight. Mandible Claw black. Have a nice day!
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Ken Shamrock (c) def Mankind in 14:36- Lockup, corner break and Shamrock hits a couple of hammy kicks. Leg sweep and Shamrock starts going to work on the leg. Then Shamrock does an arm takedown and starts picking that apart. Mankind fights back with knees and a back elbow. Slam and legdrop for 2. He goes for a chinlock but Shamrock takes the arm and counters into a hammerlock. Series of knees to Mankind's face. Mankind does a double leg takedown that's almost a full spinebuster. A roll around brawl follows with Shamrock continuing to outwrestle Mankind on the mat. Shamrock hits a hurricanrana. Mankind gets the Mandible Claw on! Shamrock quickly escapes and bails all the way to the floor. More Shamrock knees to the head back in. Mankind puts on a rear naked choke. He tries to put the Claw on again but Shamrock blocks it, turns over and does some ground and pound. They go outside and Mankind takes an announce table shot. Shamrock gets whipped into the steps. Mankind gets a chair but Chioda tries to take it away. Shamrock kicks the chair into Mankind's face! Chairshot to Mankind's head! Clothesline from Shamrock back in and he covers for 2. He starts working on the Claw hand to try to take it away. Mankind bites out! JR: "Not exactly a technical counter there but it works". Shamrock dodges in the corner and hits a belly to belly suplex. He goes for the ankle lock but Mankind kicks him away. Double underhook DDT! Both guys are down. Mankind gets Shamrock down in the corner and hits the running knee. Then he puts Shamrock in the tree of woe and drops a running elbow in his face. Apron legdrop from Mankind. Cactus Clothesline! Cactus elbow! Shamrock powerslams Mankind on the floor! Mankind's leg landed on the steps. They get back in. Ankle lock! Mankind gets to the ropes. Shamrock puts it on again! Mankind fights and fights but has no way out, so he does the only thing he can think of.....he puts the Mandible Claw on himself! Mankind passes out! Chioda calls it. Per Fink, "The winner of this match, as the result of the Mandible Claw....". That sets Shamrock off. Mankind knew he'd lost so he denied Shamrock the satisfaction of winning with his own hold. Brilliant. Shamrock snaps and the usual ref violence ensues. While that's going on Mankind gets Socko out. Socko Claw on Shamrock! Good stuff. ***
Cole tries to get a word with Vince but is stopped in his tracks by the freshly WWF returned Big Boss Man, Vince's newest Stooge/personal security.
Mark Henry def The Rock in 5:06- This is very much a placeholder match for Rock, pretty much wrapping up the Nation before moving him on to newer and bigger things. Before the match Henry has a "poem" for Chyna. The Genius he is not. Pretty good Rock pop for Chicago, famously one of the first cities to turn on him during the Rocky Maivia disaster. Jump start by Rock, knocking Henry around for a bit. Rock suplexes him! After a brawl on the floor Rock hits a clothesline back in to continue the onslaught. Henry hits a back elbow and elbow drop for 2. After some more back and forth Henry hits a legdrop for 2. Rock goes into corner beatdown mode and hits a DDT for 2. He slams Henry! Pose! Elbow pad off! People's Elbow! D'Lo Brown comes out. Rock cuts him off and Henry takes the opening. Big splash! Henry covers, Brown grabs Rock's foot and Henry gets the pin! Brown and Henry get the hell out of town while Rock looks almost amused they pulled that on him. Rock's former Nation subordinates get the last laugh. I don't agree with the booking decision, but in the context of despite everything they still wanted to keep Rock heel for a bit longer it makes a little more sense. It also showed how far Rock had come that he was able to get a halfway decent match out of still green as hell Henry. **1/4
Vacant WWF Championship: The Undertaker and Kane no contest in 17:39- Kane and Taker come out first and have a discussion and handshake before Austin makes his entrance. Austin gives some instructions, then flips them both the double bird and says ring the bell. Taker jumps Kane from behind. Old school hits. Kane does the usual Taker corner toss and beat down. Powerslam. Taker gets a boot up in the corner, hits a clothesline and covers. Austin counts one......thinks.....thinks......what's after one? Taker is none too pleased. Kane gets Taker down and covers. Austin fast counts and Taker just kicks out! Serious Austin mind games. Kane 360 clotheslines Taker out. Taker drags Kane out and they brawl on the floor. Austin offers Taker a TV cable to choke Kane with! Taker refuses. Kane dodges a Taker chairshot. Back in Taker hits a suplex. Kane sits up and hits a clothesline. Taker comes off the ropes and Kane "blocks" whatever he was supposed to be doing. Big time frak up there. There's an audible "You fucked up" chant from somewhere in the crowd. They turn 90 degrees, go for it again, and mess it up *again*, slightly less bad this time. It ends with Taker kicking Kane's leg out of his leg and going to work on it. After a while of that Kane hits a side suplex and elbow drop. Taker ducks a big boot, sweeps the leg and goes to work on it again. The match really starts to drag here with the Chicago crowd getting restless and some "BORING" chants floating around. While standing in the corner Taker switches gears to a smother. Austin doesn't seem interested in seeing if Kane wants to submit or goes out and Taker glares at him. Kane catches Taker trying an avalanche and spinebusters him. Clothesline and now Kane goes into beatdown mode, leg work completely forgotten. After some corner whip reversals Taker gets run into Austin! Kane chokeslams Austin! The brothers team up to beat Austin down. JR says they're trying to get a new ref in, which is a pretty logical cover. Taker low blows Kane. Kane chokeslam! Paul Bearer is out with a chair. He tells Kane that he wants to hit Taker. I think everyone can see what's coming here. Yup, Bearer whacks Kane as soon as his back is turned. No effect. If you shoot him you'll only make him mad. Taker chairshot on Kane. Bearer offers Taker a quick classic pose before leaving. Taker covers. Austin doesn't budge. Other than to flip Taker a middle finger. Well, he counted to one. Stunner on Taker! Austin chairshot on Taker! Both Taker and Kane are down. Austin gets between them, counts 3 on both of them, and calls for the bell! He gets a mic and declares himself the winner! Classic "phone it in before the big angle hits" match. *1/4
Austin calls Vince out, daring Vince to fire him. No response. Austin says OK, I'll come find you. The camera goes with him backstage. Bruce Pritchard is at Gorilla and directs Austin toward Vince. No luck anywhere. One door Austin opens has Owen Hart inside on a completely legitimate phone call to his family, having no idea Austin was going to be barging in with a live camera. Austin goes back into the arena, gets the mic and calls for Vince again. Now we hear Vince's voice: "Raise this damn thing!". The Titantron screen goes up. Vince is behind it inside in his own private secure box! Well not completely secure, someone in the crowd throws a shirt or a towel or something right on his head. Vince seems reluctant to go through with his promise. At least until the crowd starts chanting "asshole", which sets Vince off. "Stone Cold!......SCREW YOU, YOU'RE FIRED!". Austin asks for clarification. "SCREW YOU, YOU'RE FIRED!". More stuff is thrown at and inside the Vince Mine. Austin says that's fine, he'll start hunting season early. Play my music one more time. The beers come out, Austin salutes the crowd, and we're done. It's not a bad angle at all, it's a very logical progression of the story. The problem is it's on completely the wrong show. All of this should have been done on Raw, leading to Austin's big return on PPV, not the other way around.
Spoiler: Austin didn't stay fired. The next night on Raw would provide yet another all time classic Austin/Vince moment: Austin kidnapping Vince, holding him hostage at gunpoint in the ring to get his job back, then firing what turned out to be a toy gun with "BANG 3:16" inside it. But it turned out it wasn't necessary, because earlier that day a McMahon had reinstated and re-signed Austin to a brand new deal.....SHANE McMahon. As far as the still vacant WWF Title, that would finally be settled the next month at Survivor Series in a Wrestlemania 4 style 14 man one night tournament dubbed "Deadly Game".
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WWF's mostly strong second half of '98 continues with back to back solid B PPVs after a wonderful Summerslam, but this one would have been better if the main event had been up to the level of previous ones this year. Again, the angle was good and the right thing for the overall story, it just should have been on regular TV instead of PPV. Thankfully, the undercard is as good as you'll see on any Attitude Era B PPV.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C
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