House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[Infinity Land]

Definitely not Armageddon. I remember the battle royale from WM14 fairly well. This is the first i've heard of them being used under that gimmick. Learn something new everyday.

 

[Chili]

They wear the Armageddon gear at Wrestlemania 14 but listed as the Truth Commission. 

Steve Blackman and Flash Funk is a team in that match I assume only existed for that battle royal. Poor Tom Brandi was a real spare prick there, not even booked. 

[Infinity Land]

22 minutes ago, Chili said:

They wear the Armageddon gear at Wrestlemania 14 but listed as the Truth Commission. 

Steve Blackman and Flash Funk is a team in that match I assume only existed for that battle royal. Poor Tom Brandi was a real spare prick there, not even booked. 

Never noticed that before. Going by the comms they're only referred to as Sniper & Recon. When Kurrgan interferes to eliminate them they're just referred to as former team mates. Truth Comission never gets mentioned.

Going by Cagematch they don't debut as Armageddon (Buchanan & Poirier) until the next night's Shotgun taping which does the heavy lifting in explaining the split and rebrand.

[air_raid]

16 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

Going by Cagematch they don't debut as Armageddon (Buchanan & Poirier) until the next night's Shotgun taping which does the heavy lifting in explaining the split and rebrand.

“Explaining” is a term we should use loosely in this regard! The split was virtually non-executed and barely explained. On the 14th March Shotgun, during a multi team, Kurrgan and Jackyl came to ringside and convinced Recon to abandon Sniper to defeat. On the 23rd Raw, Recon and Sniper (together, still a team, still looking Truth Commission) came out at the end of Skull/8-Ball vs Holly/Bart to join in the big pre PPV “battle royal participants” schmozz they like to do. At Mania they’re dressed differently but still callled Recon & Sniper, Jackyl and Kurrgan cause their elimination with the flimsiest allusion possible to a “parting of the waves” by JR and King, then on 4th April Shotgun BAM! they’re Armageddon. There were 80s interview podium turns with more thought put into. Those lads didn’t stand a chance.

Anyway.

JUNE 1998
THE MAIN EVENTS 

Steve Austin & The Undertaker VS Kane & Mankind immediately starts up as a tag main, often no holds barred, to predictably good gates. 19,500+ is a sell out at MSG and if our numbers are to be believed, that’s squeezing about 1500 more into the building for a 5th June house show without a WWF title match than they did at Mania X. In Albuquerque (9000) Dallas (10,000) and Houston (15,500+ SELL OUT) Kane’s in singles so it’s Austin vs Mankind for the belt.

In Corpus Christi and Tyler TX Austin and Taker get a couple of days off so it’s Vader vs Kane on top.

THE CARDS
The Undertaker vs Kane is support in Dallas and Houston, Kane’s with Vader in Albuquerque and that’s the big guns mostly covered. When it isn’t New Age Outlaws vs LOD 2000 Vader is mixed up with DX ; it’s often a six man or eight man involving Triple H, X-Pac and/or Droz. Yes, as of 13th in Albuquerque Sean is back in the ring. MSG and Minneapolis it’s Vader and Hunter for the Euro belt ; booking sheet still has DX as heels mostly.

Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart is every night, usually a submission match. Steve Blackman vs Double J is still on. Usually a bad night for the Nation - it’s Farooq vs Mark Henry, Bradshaw vs Kama and Scorpio vs D’Lo Brown. New regular team Terry Funk & Dustin Runnels are beating two Boricuas, and at last Too Much are on the road with sometimes the Headbangers and sometimes natural enemies Taka Michinoku & Papi Chulo. Albuquerque and Dallas are blessed with a bonus of Skull & 8-Ball vs New Midnight Express.

The Rock is nursing an injury.

VARIATIONS 
On the two Texas cards he’s not with Austin, Mankind works old mates - Funk in Corpus Christi, Scorpio in Tyler. Also in those towns a little shuffle - it’s Farooq vs Kama and Runnels/partner vs Sexual Chocolate & D’Lo. In Corpus Christi Bradshaw fills in for Terry in the tag and Scorp beats a double-duty Mizark, in Tyler nobody works twice and Bradshaw has a night off but he’s back Houston to beat Marc Mero with a surprise distraction from - you guessed it - Sable. Bradshaw was also a home state exception in Dallas - he pinned D’Lo and they forewent the usual tag.

It’s Triple H vs D’Lo in Albuquerque and Houston even though Hunters mates are heeling it up with LOD. Albuquerque also had a one-off Taka/Papi title match.

TVs
1st Raw is huge, coming the night after In Your House. Jacquelyn debuts at Mero’s side, and he (re)debuts the Marvelocity in beating Blackman as we start King of the Ring qualifiers. Southern Justice debut, Shamrock returns from injury, Kane beats Taker in the now monthly contenders match. Dustin over Golga and Edge winning a squash are dark, Chris Daniels works a tag for Shotgun, Austin vs Rock is the dark main. Next night in Rockford Dan Severn beats D’Lo and Shamrock saves his rival from a Nation mugging, Chainz actually gets on TV and beats Droz, and the Outlaws memorably win a triple threat match by beating themselves, (temporarily) instigating “The Outlaw Rule” to be in force prohibiting the act for tag triple threats.

15th at San Antonio Raw there’s an utterly bonkers sounding 10 man but given half the field was ill or injured, it probably didn’t go long - Austin, Taker, Shamrock, Funk and Farooq over (how did this team get on??) Rock, Owen, Kane, Dude Love and (babyface) Triple H. Raw has X-Pac back wrestling on TV, Jarrett actually loses to Droz (remember what I said about his “level”?), Severn tags with Kenny against the Nation, a battle royal crowns Kane & Mankind as new tag title top contenders and they have the forgotten Austin/Taker v Kane/Mankind Cell match where all the fighting is around or on top of the cage. Next night in Austin, Tiger Ali Singh (remember him??) beats Bill Irwin (yes) dark and for Shotgun the Texas trio of Funk, Dustin and Bradshaw beat Too Much & The King, which went over very well. For Raw Edge makes a best forgotten debut cut short when Jose sustains an injury and Kane and Mankind beat Dogg and Gunn in singles matches, then after air hometown boy Stone Cold makes another successful defence against Mankind.

I touch on King of the Ring only to mention Sables return to TV after her (very) successful reduction on storyline reasons of Vince bringing her back - this SHOULD have put Mero at odds with the chairman but they never went down that route. Next night in Cleveland Rhino Richards (yes) wins a dark squash trial, and on Shotgun Funk/Dustin beat the Outlaws by DQ but that goes nowhere. Live (packed) they start Val Venis’ feud with Kaientai over allegedly checking out Mrs Yamaguchi, Steven Regal has a forgotten first debut, not as the Real Man’s Man but in his gown, his lordship in all but name, beating Droz. Kenny wins an “all King of the Ring” triple threat over Owen and Hunter, Paul Ellering returns and immediately betrays LOD for DOA (great move…) we start the Brawl For All (Christ) and Austin wins the belt back from Kane. Next night at State College PA Regal is dark with Tiger and the most 98 tryout imaginable- Steve Corino does the honours for Reckless Youth. On Raw - Brakus sighting! He’s losing to Savio in the Brawl For All. Shamrock beats a one night returning Mabel as they put him over as many former Kings of the Ring as possible, and Undertaker pins Mankind while wearing Kane’s mask to earn a WWF title shot - it’s unclear why this is for (eventually) SummerSlam and not Fully Loaded, and this is the start of a months-long “are Taker and Kane IN CAHOOTS” storyline… cahoots being a word Vince clearly likes as there’s no chance half the roster and the commentary team all started saying it organically.

DEPARTURE 
For some reason the office decides DOA functions best as just a tag team and parts ways with cousin Chainz. He never stayed anywhere long, did Brian. Conversely it’s more paydays for Ron and Don. Huh.
 

[air_raid]

JULY 1998

THE MAIN EVENTS
The champ is still recovering from a staph infection. Prior to a run of The Undertaker vs Kane in No DQ matches, 1st in Wheeling it’s a big six man with Vader & Farooq and The Rock & D’Lo Brown added in. The brothers draw over 10,000 in Edmonton and near 13,000 in Vancouver, then 10th at the FleetCenter 10,000+ again for a reprisal of Stone Cold & Undertaker vs Kane & Mankind. Steve defends against Mankind in Atlantic City (Taker/Kane too) then the modest 6K arena in Bethlehem sells out for Austin/Taker/Vader vs Kane/Mankind/Rock. We get the non title tag match in Columbus and Austin v Mankind in Dayton and Lexington before Fully Loaded - the latter draws 15,000. Louisville there’s no Taker so Vader partners Austin - which makes sense as a night either side the Mastodon works Kane.

24th in Phoenix Steve’s off so they put a cage on Taker vs Kane atop a fantastic card with ICT, submission and no holds barred matches plus the girls arm wrestling segment you’ll read about below. And then the night before the PPV touching distance of 11,000 at the Cow Palace for Steve Austin vs Undertaker vs Kane with a rare night off for Mick - with three nights in a row of 10k+ gates, I suspect they wish they’d booked a bigger venue than the Selland Arena, Fresno for Fully Loaded.

THE CARDS
The Rock vs Triple H for one or two belts goes on often, usually non finishes. Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart is most nights, often a submission match. X-Pac works exactly half the month with D’Lo Brown before moving on to Jeff Jarrett. Jeffs finished with Steve Blackman now. Disjointed month for the New Age Outlaws but they do get in two early defences with Savio & Jose then end of month work D’Lo and Godfather (now they’re using that). Vader vs Mark Henry is fairly regular. LOD 2000 vs DOA is common with either pinfalls or double count outs but Hawk and Animal never win. A lot of guys are all over the place but Scorpio vs Marc Mero happens a lot before TVs as does Headbangers vs New Midnight Express on and off all month plus Farooq vs Godfather and Bradshaw vs Savio happen more than once or twice. After TVs there’s a few of Bradshaw v Godfather, Scorpio v Mizark and Blackman v Mero. The two big shows in Phoenix and San Fran and further enhanced (pun intended) by Sable and Jacquelyn doing the old arm wrestling angle.

VARIATIONS 
Hunter doesn’t make it to the first two Canada shows and Billy misses Vancouver too, so it’s Rock vs Road Dogg in Winnipeg and Edmonton, and Dogg & X-Pac vs Godfather & D’Lo in Vancouver. Dogg misses Columbus through Lexington so in two towns it starts as Rock vs Billy then becomes a tag when HHH and Owen interfere. The nights Kenny doesn’t have Owen, he beats Godfather, and in Columbus and Louisville in the regular Rock/HHH and Owen/Shamrock matches happen so Billy beats “brother” Bodacious Bart (with Bombastic Bob in his corner). That no holds barred match I mentioned in Phoenix? Mankind vs Vader. X-Pac has one exception, beating Dustin Runnels in Wheeling.

The rest? In Wheeling it’s Droz vs Savio and Bradshaw vs Henry plus Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher, in Columbus and Louisville Farooq vs Mero, in Dayton and Lexington it’s Bradshaw vs D’Lo and Midnights vs Farooq & Scorpio (both non title) and Pac misses Louisville so D’Lo beats Drozdov. Finally it’s Bradshaw v Mero and Henry beating Dustin in Phoenix, and at the Cow Palace Bradshaw tags with Terry Funk against the Midnights in another non title match, rather more successful than the PPV ends up for the Texans.

TVs
13th at a sold out Continental (Meadowlands), there’s dark tryouts for Steve Corino v Julio Sanchez and (yet again) Ace Darling vs Devon Storm. Live, Kane and Mankind relieve the Outlaws of the belts and there’s a chaotic rematch end of show with Austin and Taker as the ringside refs and bonus commentary from a wasted Shawn Michaels. Next night in Binghamton Droz goes over Tiger Ali Singh and Taka Michinoku vs Papi Chulo for the belt would have been a decent Coliseum exclusive. Weirdly Vader pins Henry for Shotgun which will air the night before they meet at Fully Loaded, and on Raw Dr Death debuts in the Brawl For All beating Pierre, D’Lo takes the Euro title from Triple H but X-Pac fails to beat Rock for the ICT, this the title for title match announced for Fully Loaded is now only for Rockys belt.

Night after Fully Loaded at a sold out Arrowhead Pond, its a fucking massive taping. We sew the seeds for Taka turning as Kaientai make their first threat to Val Venis to "choppy choppy your pee pee", the first awful part of the "Hawk's drunk" saga as LOD lose to the Nation, Brakus beats Jose in a match that doesn't go a minute but still manages to be boring, Bart finishes Dr Death's WWF career before its even started in the Brawl For All quarters, and Austin/Taker retain the tag belts over the Outlaws. They also tape the first Sunday Night Heat where there's some more build for Shamrock vs Dan Severn which never happens and Rock & Owen beat Kane & Mankind to earn a tag title shot "tomorrow night on Raw." Which does actually happen next night, but its Tuesday after Monday as opposed to next Monday after Sunday! In San Diego (touching 10,000 again) a dark match which will be huge in New Japan about five years hence - Minoru Tanaka beats Chris Daniels. Fot Shotgun, Tennessee Lee goofs one time too many costing Jarrett a loss to Droz which ears him a verbal from Jeff and a shoeing from Southern Justice. There's a forgotten Taker/Mankind match for Heat (really strong early episodes) Sable accompanies Golga in a win over Mero as we turn the Oddities into faces (waiting on a new plan for Jackyl), sober Hawk beats Jarrett, after Severn vs D'Lo there's more tension with an interfering Shamrock and Edge attacks D'Lo (which goes nowhere), and finally Austin/Taker beat Rock/Owen to retain followed by a huge brawl also involving Kane/Mankind and the Outlaws. Briefly, EVERYONE wants the tag belts!!

DEPARTURES
You might have guessed that this is the end of Robert Fuller/Tennessee Lee. He was a perfect part of the package when "Double J" was the direction for Jarrett, but as soon as it wasn't, there wasn't a role for him. This is also at long last the point they give up on Brakus ; he isn't booked again.

[wandshogun09]

I loved that summer 98 of WWF TV. The old ‘Highway To Hell’. I don’t know how well it would hold up if I watched it now but at the time it was amazing. At the time I was 13 though. I do remember enjoying that kind of round robin for the tag belts between Austin/Taker, Kane/Mankind, Rock/Owen and the Outlaws.

On the Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart stuff, I wish we’d have got some ‘normal’ matches between them on a PPV or two before they went into the gimmicky Dungeon and Lions Den matches. Could’ve had some really good matches, I reckon. 

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

I loved that summer 98 of WWF TV. The old ‘Highway To Hell’. I don’t know how well it would hold up if I watched it now but at the time it was amazing. At the time I was 13 though. I do remember enjoying that kind of round robin for the tag belts between Austin/Taker, Kane/Mankind, Rock/Owen and the Outlaws.

Indeed, we’ll get onto the 4way tomorrow.

Have a reminisce:

https://twitter.com/IANdrewTheGiant/status/1566497242709630976?s=20&t=wXpeiX-_zRKcMNJAbIYH-w

[air_raid]

AUGUST 1998
THE MAIN EVENTS

We’re laughing our way to the bank with Steve Austin vs The Undertaker vs Kane at the SkyDome (14,600), in Montreal (11,200) and Kansas City (16,700). Steve’s off twice so it’s Taker/Kane in a cage in Cedar Rapids and a near 10,000 sell out at that old WCW favourite, the Mark of the Quad in Moline. After those the title triple threat sells out the Rosemont (nearly 17,000) and Kiel Center in St Louis (over 18,000). Taker misses Columbus so it’s Stone Cold vs Mankind and Kane vs Vader then 21st at Nassau we have the triple threat to 13,600 with Pat Patterson ref. There’s over 12,000 in Albany and 14,000+ sell out the CoreStates for TVs six days before SummerSlam.

One B show in Scranton 23rd sells out for all three midcard titles and Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart.

THE CARDS
Triple H vs The Rock rolls on for the ICT as does Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart, as well X-Pac still with Jeff Jarrett and Vader getting revenge on Mark Henry. Half the month D’Lo Brown defends the Euro belt against Road Dogg because Billy is off but after that D’Lo interferes in the ICT match prompting an Outlaws save and impromptu tag against Brown and Rocky. LOD 2000 lose to DOA for another three weeks then start winning when Droz replaces Hawk.

Farooq & Scorpio beat Too Much for weeks on end then start losing to Southern Justice. Taka Michinoku vs Scotty, Edge vs Pierre (Toronto only), Scorp vs Tiger Ali Singh and Val Venis vs Kurrgan are just for the Canada shows, thereafter Vals beating Marc Mero and Tigers going over Dustin Runnels, plus the Sable/Jacquelyn arm wrestling is on most shows.

VARIATIONS 
There’s a no holds barred match between Mankind and Terry Funk in Toronto and Montreal, at Nassau and Albany Micks with old pal Vader. Owen misses Cedar Rapids so Shamrock is added to the ICT match making it a triple threat. Nassau of course has to be different so Kenny works Jarrett and all four of DX go in a cage with Rock, Owen, D’Lo and Kama, which sounds awful crowded. The New Age Outlaws finish their run with Godfather and Mizark in Canada and Kansas City (in Montreal it’s a triple threat with the Quebecers), the latter also has Bradshaw over Mero. My mention of all the titles in Scranton? Kane and Mankind actually defend against the Outlaws.

Scotty ends up helping train developmental guys mid month (including Andrew “Test” Martin and Kurt Angle) so Farooq vs Brian Christopher is a one on one in Chicago and St Louis.

TVs
10th Raw taping in Omaha (sold out) Kane and Mankind regain the tag belts in a bonkers 4way with Austin/Taker, Rock/D’Lo and the Outlaws. Really weird weekend matches, on Shotgun Bob Holly (still dressed as a Midnight) pins Jesus with Bobby Eatons Alabama Jam and Cole/Kelly chitter about the Brawl For All and how Holly might soon come to a crossroads in his career (which turns out to be true) then on Heat, Bart Gunn still wearing Brawl For All shorts wrestles Vader (actually suplexes him) which goes to a no contest when Godfather interferes. Vader - a babyface - beats Bart up afterwards. They’ll meet again more than once in All Japan before the year is out. Also on that Heat Gangrel debuts, making crisp work of Scotty. Next night in Des Moines, former WCW Tatanka rip off Charlie Norris has a try out, on Raw Dan Severn turns on Shamrock during their triple threat with Owen leading to a bizarre Owen/Severn vs Headbangers for Shotgun. 

On the live go-home Raw in Philadelphia, Bart wins the Brawl For All by knocking Bradshaw on his arse and Kane vs Mankind goes to a no contest in a forgotten but brutal Hell In A Cell (tag team champions, remember) when Austin interferes. Mick takes a terrifying blind backwards fall off the Cell wall through a table which I probably saw more times than the King of the Ring ones that summer. Night after the big one in New Haven for a Saturday Raw (US Open?) Taker and Kane finally start openly helping other and we plant the seed of The Rock turning face as he stands up to the “Brothers of Destruction” when they try to attack D’Lo. Oh, and here’s some Russo bullshit for you - the Oddities manage to beat Animal and Droz when “drunk” Hawk interferes and manages to get pinned by Silva. Yes, the ref counted a pin on someone who wasn’t in the match. Fucking WCW.

DEPARTURES
Montreal is the last date for the Quebecers and I’m still stunned they were picked back up in the first place.

I'm not sure exactly how to frame this but Bart Gunn wins the Brawl For All then disappears again short of a September training camp. They haven't got a fucking clue where to go from here. After previously vanishing for nine months, he disappears again. He earns a crust in All Japan off the back of his win over Dr Death, wrestling there between October and January. We'll pick this up again, Bart's is low key one of the oddest careers ever in the WWF.

[Infinity Land]

58 minutes ago, air_raid said:

 Night after the big one in New Haven for a Saturday Raw (US Open?)

Looks to be as the 98 US Open started on August 31st. There's also the subsequent Saturday Raw that aired on 12/09.

[AshC]

August was meant to have that 'FootBrawl' super house show at Foxboro Stadium as well... the card for that looked stacked!

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Undertaker vs Kane

Steel Cage Match
Triple H & X-Pac vs The Rock & Owen Hart

Falls Count Anywhere in the Stadium
Mankind vs Terry Funk

No Disqualification
Vader vs Mark Henry

Lumberjack Match
LOD 2000 vs DOA

Arm Wrestling Match
Sable vs Jacqueline

Ken Shamrock vs Jeff Jarrett

Faarooq vs Marc Mero

The New Age Outlaws vs Southern Justice

[wandshogun09]

5 hours ago, air_raid said:

Gangrel debuts, making crisp work of Scotty.

I see what you did there. 

[air_raid]

BONUS TRACK - WCW, AUGUST 1998
Since yesterday’s was pretty late getting published, thought I’d share what the opposition was doing during one of the hottest times in wrestling history.

1st in Little Rock (8000), advertised Bret Hart vs Lex Luger non (US) title goes to a non finish when the warring Outsiders interfere leading to Hart & Scott Hall vs Luger & Kevin Nash. 16th in Providence (7000)  is monstrous with Bret going to a non finish with Sting when The Giant interferes then because Goldberg missed his flight the Stinger pulls double duty and bests Giant - all this atop Diamond Dallas Page vs Hall. 

22nd in Green Bay is a bit “B” but still sells out for Kevin Nash vs The Giant and Luger & Konnan vs Curt Hennig & Wrath (?), 23rd in Rockford it’s Nash, Luger & Konnan vs Giant, Hennig & Mike Enos (??) after Konnan vs Enos non finish … that’s all the house shows WCW ran in August!!

Rest of cards?
Chris Jericho is making them laugh losing non (Cruiserweight) title matches to Brad Armstrong in Little Rock and non (TV) title to Dean Malenko in Providence and Rockford. Raven vs Saturn happens in Little Rock, Wrath vs Kanyon was probably decent in Green Bay and Rockford. Steve McMichael vs Stevie Ray is close to an all “superstar” match, Mongo gets disqualified in Providence but wins in Green Bay and Rockford. Terry Taylor actually wrestles Ernest Miller in Little Rock as he had in Shreveport LA the night before!

Hacksaw Duggan (with Kendall Windham) and Fit Finlay (with Chris Adams) are the next biggest names in Little Rock, Providence has Miller with Billy Kidman and Public Enemy vs Disco Inferno & Alex Wright (now you know the whole card), otherwise it’s pretty dismal. Lizmark Jr & Silver King vs Damien & Ciclope in Little Rock, Malenko works Enos in Green Bay, Enos beats Adams in Rockford, and those last two shows reach a nadir with Horace Boulder swapping wins with Barry Dawsow.

As you can tell, there’s a stark contrast between how the Big 2 valued gate receipts ; house shows weren’t a priority for WCW which was a wrestling company second and a TV show first, where all that mattered was ratings, ad revenue and sponsorships. To be fair by this point in 98 the financial pressure was already on Bischoff and he wasn’t really allowed the outlay to take the setup on the road much despite what they could have brought in at the ticket offices. Good job really, since with the guaranteed money contracts clearly it was difficult persuading half the (extremely bloated) roster to go on the road for their extra slice.

Edited September 20, 2022 by air_raid

[wandshogun09]

6 hours ago, air_raid said:

Konnan vs Enos non finish … 

WCW all over. They couldn’t get one of these two to look at the lights for 3 seconds on a house show? 

[air_raid]

14 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

WCW all over. They couldn’t get one of these two to look at the lights for 3 seconds on a house show? 

Match existed to set up Enos being in that six man main… because not enough nWo guys were present to have one. LOL.

WWF SEPTEMBER 1998
THE MAIN EVENTS
We have Steve Austin vs Undertaker vs Kane vs Mankind for the title in Calgary (13,000) Seattle (15,000 sell out) and Anaheim (10,000+) before more monster business for Cali TVs, then near 9000 sell out in New Orleans and a combined 15,000 for an Oklahoma City/Tulsa double on 20th.

The month actually started without Taker and Austin with three shows in small music halls in Warwick RI and Mass (hello old friend Cape Cod Melody Tent) with New Age Outlaws vs The Rock & D’Lo Brown on top and Vader beating Kane by DQ before the Springfield Civic where the tag title match goes on last again but Kane’s beating Vader in a cage. Grand Rapids on 30th is our only house show post-Breakdown, it’s Rock vs Mankind vs Kane in a cage.

THE CARDS
Triple H vs The Rock for the ICT (Chyna DQ) continues in Calgary, Seattle and Anaheim then Rock vs Vader is an unexpected program as Hunters done his knee. Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart is still every night, sometimes announced as a submission match, Danny Hodge is in Kennys corner for her a few and he wins every night - except Calgary. X-Pac vs Jeff Jarrett is every night, New Age Outlaws beat DOA before TVs and Southern Justice after.

Before the TVs most common are Farooq, aimless on TV but beating Mark Henry on the road, Scorpio beating Dennis Knight, Val Venis pinning Marc Mero and Dustin Runnels doing more jobs for Tiger Ali Singh. After TVs Mero is losing to Bradshaw (a heel on TV), Farooq & Scorp do jobs for DOA, D’Lo Brown defends the European title against Dustin and the Sable v Jacquelyn arm wrestling is back on.

VARIATIONS 
On those B shows there’s also Headbangers vs Too Much in the music halls and on all four shows, Bradshaw vs Droz, Giant Silva vs Shawn Stasiak, Luna Vachon pinning Jackie (who has ALWAYS considered herself a wrestler first), Farooq & Scorpio putting over Southern Justice and Kenny beating Mark Henry.

Miguel Perez gets a few paydays, losing to Val in Calgary and Seattle, and to Edge in Anaheim.

Grand Rapids being the start of a new loop, has new matches - Shamrock & Steve Blackman vs Owen & Henry, D’Lo vs X-Pac for the belt, the Outlaws vs Jarrett & Knight, Val & Sable vs Mero & Jackie, Headbangers vs Oddities and Too Much v…. the Hardy Boys.

TVs
1st in Lowell (10,000 sell out at the Tsongas) we tape lots for TV ; Saturday Raw has DOA beat the Oddities by DQ then batter the Insane Clown Posse afterwards, writing them out, all four DX beat all four Kaientai, and Rock virtually turns himself babyface in one promo, scathing in his words about Taker and Kane but making it crystal clear he isn’t intimidated a jot. Shotgun has the Headbangers (still faces) beat Too Much by DQ, and on a fairly packed Heat I’m going to pick out Shamrock vs Vader. 14th at a sold out (13,000+) San Jose, is one of my favourite Raws ever. Rock comes out to a big pop to fight Kane, the interview beforehand sewing seeds of his divorce from the Nation and the reaction to his win being huge, Triple H has his final high profile match with Owen for the ICT, Mankind goes to a non finish with Taker, Edge vs Gangrel starts up, Sable beats Jackie in an Evening Gown match but then to the delight of her public removes her own dress to show off her underwear anyway, and Austin vs Shamrock goes to a non finish when Rock, Mankind, Taker and Kane all end up in the ring. For Shotgun they tape a battle royal loaded with midcarders plus winner Rocky who gets another giant pop, and featuring some hilarious commentary from Cole (“DOA thinks he’s got this one in the bag”) and Kelly (“I like Dennis Knights chances”) when it gets down to 3 men. Dark, Donovan Morgan tries out with future tag partner Mike Modest. Next night in Sacramento is Modest famous Beyond The Mat tryout with Tony Jones (“Modest is ready”), for Heat Owen, D’Lo and Jarrett beat HHH, X-Pac and Billy, and for Raw Al Snow earns a job by beating old Bob Slaughter, Sable and Jackie contest the first match for the revived Womens title, the Headbangers turn heel by destroying the Cartman plush belonging to Golga, Venis and Dustins feud steps up when it emerges via video Terri is with Val, Pac takes the Euro title from D’Lo, and the first Rock vs Shamrock vs Mankind contenders match falls into chaos when Taker and Kane attack them all.

Night after Breakdown in Detroit, we have an Andrew Martin dark match, Edge loses a second consecutive match distracted by the guy we now know to be Christian, they do a hideously bad taste fake injury angle on Dan Severn courtesy of an Owen piledriver, Vader does a job for Snow, they make first allusion to Goldust coming back and most memorably for me, Taker and Kane drop a handicap match to Rock, Mankind and Shamrock when with TV time about to expire (“20 seconds, Rock!!”) Rocky plants Taker with the Rock Bottom. Words can’t do justice to what a big deal I considered that pin. Of note from Shotgun, the Hardy Boys BEAT Too Much by DQ when Too Sexy stops the ref counting after Too Hot absorbs the stereo splash/legdrop.

Finally next night in East Lansing Martin tries out again, Mankind debuts Mr Socko in the hospital skit, Terri Power (Tori) is in the crowd for the first time, Vader does a job for Mero, Pac drops the belt back to D’Lo, Owen “walks away” from wrestling, Shamrock beats Kane(!) and Taker pins Rock and in the build to Judgment Day the brothers aren’t getting on. For Heat - it’s still a big names show, Stone Cold wrestles D’Lo! Plus Too Much and the Hardys team to lose to Kaientai and Vader does his final TV job, to Edge. You might also be interested to know that on consecutive nights for Shotgun in international markets and for Heat, Jackie goes over Starla Sexton who years later will be Molly Holly.

 

[air_raid]

OCTOBER 1998
THE MAIN EVENTS
There’s no WWF Champion after the nonsense of Breakdown but Stone Cold vs The Undertaker vs Kane vs Mankind continues to 10,000+ sellout business in Richmond and Fayetteville and a healthy 14,000 at the Continental Airlines. Sellouts continue with near 16,000 in Pittsburgh, 16,500 in Cleveland and Hershey is a medium sized arena but 8555 there is another sellout. After 3 days of TV more huge numbers 23rd in Charlotte (17,500+) and in Greensboro they put a cage on it - 13,500+. MSG on 25th at 18,000 is down as another sell out if technically they squeezed slightly more bodies inside back in June and 19,000 for SummerSlam, near 9500 each to Tampa (sellout) and San Antonio round off the month. Big difference at MSG? Mankind’s actually in a triple threat vs Vader and Ken Shamrock, the main has a cage involved but it’s Steve Austin vs Undertaker vs Kane vs The Rock.

1st in Hampton VA it was the last night off for Austin and Taker with near 9000 for Rock vs Mankind vs Kane. 8th in State College PA, near 7000 for Rock vs Vader and Mankind vs Kane. 21-22 they run Green Bay then Rockford (like WCW did in August!) with Rock/Vader and Mankind vs Ken Shamrock vs Kane.

THE CARDS
The Rock is a busy man. When not in those main events he does a sandwich of singles with Ken Shamrock either side of a reprisal of his series with Vader, and Charlotte, and Greensboro play host to triple threats - that covers Kennys month too, save a run teaming with (abandoning) Steve Blackman against Godfather and Mark Henry. X-Pac is challenging D’Lo Brown with losses and Dusty finishes until IYH then he’s defending against old rival Jeff Jarrett. New Age Outlaws move neatly from Jarrett & Dennis Knight, to D’Lo and Henry. Mark Canterbury never really recovered from the Brawl For All.

Sable & Val Venis vs Marc Mero & Jacquelyn carries on until the PPV, after it Vals with Goldust. Post PPV Legion of Doom vs DOA is back on except now Hawk & Animal are (usually) winning using former manager Paul Ellerings briefcase against his men. Edge vs Gangrel goes on nearly all month and there are two tag team fixtures : Headbangers vs Oddities and Too Much vs Hardy Boys. After Judgment Day Godfather is actually beating Bradshaw in singles.

Triple H is still injured.

VARIATIONS 
First four nights of the month have Owen Hart doing his last (for now) bookings before his “walk out” kicks in, losing to Blackman, and Farooq & Scorpio finish up losing to Skull & 8-Ball. There’s neither Shamrock nor Kama in State College so the Lethal Weapon loses to Sexual Chocolate in singles.

MSG has a small shuffle ; the mixed tag is back leaving Goldie doing a run in only, Edge is with Godfather, Droz is in for Hawk in LODs win and the other two tag matches have swaps - Hardys lose to Mosh and Thrasher, Oddities go over Too Much. By Tampa and San Antonio they’ve decided the Brood (as will be) should be together so Edge and Gangrel are with Matt and Jeff (hmm). Bradshaw misses Tampa so there’s a cheque for Jose Estrada. Those last two shows have Farooq doing jobs for Steven Regal.

TVs
Raw at Nassau Coliseum on 12th has them crown Shamrock new Intercontinental champ via tournament with a suitably heelish streak throughout as well as the start of the Blue Blazer nonsense and a chaotic Austin & Rock vs Taker & Kane where Mizark and D’Lo turn on Rock, and Stone Cold is attacked by a hooded figure who turns out to be Big Boss Man. On Shotgun D’Lo loses non title to Al Snow - wonder who he pissed off. 

Post PPV Raw in Milwaukee the win streak is over already for LOD as Animal/Droz lose to the Headbangers and Debra debuts with Jeff Jarrett, dark Matt Hardy beats Andrew Martin (Test). Next night in Madison Miguel & Jesus actually have a match dark with some tryouts, on Heat Christian makes a defence of his newly won LHW title against Too Sexy and - here’s an odd one - X-Pac & Mankind vs Shamrock & D’Lo. On Raw it’s the first tag title shot for Mankind & Snow - it will only take them a year to eventually win the belts - and Austin bears Shamrock in a submission match with the hilarious sight of Steve making an unconscious Kenny tap out like a puppet.

DEPARTURES
MSG is the last hurrah for The Man They Call Vader. Truly an odd one, he’d always commanded a decent spot on the road and never had there been a more obvious difference in philosophy between the man booking the house shows (JR) and the guys in charge of TV (Vinces) - he’s been cannon fodder on TV since the Kane losses. It’s staggering that a guy with his overall package ended up surplus to requirements for the WWF, maybe it would have all come together if he hadn’t ruffled the wrong feathers (HBK). And washed his gear more often.

Also, this is the last month that Miguel Perez, Jose Estrada or Jesus Castillo are used in any capacity other than for Super Astros.