Austin101

This review will be my first one that is relatively short so I apologize but I wanted to get this one out of the way. When I resume reviewing and have more time I will do better ones.

Austin101's "Royal Rumble 1998" Review:

Live on PPV from San Jose, California.

Jim Ross and The King call the action.

Mike Tyson is in a skybox above before the whole "Austin-Tyson-DX" storyline took place.


1) Vader vs The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (w/Luna Vachon)

Decent opener, nothing really note worthy other then the ending and Goldust's new character at this point in time. Vader pinned Goldust after a Vaderbomb while Luna was hanging on his back at 7:47. Both men would be back for the Rumble match and Vader at the #30 spot.l

*3/4




2) Max Mini, Mosaic and Nova vs Battalion, El Torito and Tarantula (w/Sunny as Special Guest Referee)

Well Sunny was smoking hot as the red in those small black shorts and The King was HILLARIOUS with "small" jokes. Max pinned Torito with a Cradle at 7:49. Wow it's hard to believe this was 2 seconds longer then the opener, felt shorter but maybe that's because I was looking at Sunny most of the time. She's exhausted after the match...Come on Tammy you likely have more endurance then that given who you were at the time.

* 1/2

(I'll be nice as the wrestling was okay for there size.)



3) The Rock vs Ken Shamrock for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Rock had his nation music but cuts a pretty good promo given the time of his character before the match.

This wasn't as good as there Wrestlemania 14 match, a little slower but still solid and clearly the best match to this point on the evening.

Shamrock originally pinned Rock after a belly-to-belly suplex. However, after persuasion from The Rock, the referee found a pair of brass knuckles The Rock had placed in Shamrock's trunks and Rock was given a disqualification win at 10:53 and then some.

Good ending, my brother was a huge Rock fan from the Nation at this point and called it the best thing on the show the next day when we watched this on my taped VHS.

** 3/4



4) The Legion Of Doom (Hawk and Animal) vs The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) for the WWF Tag Team Championship

NAO were disqualified after Road Dogg hit Animal with a steel chair while Animal was pinning Gunn at 7:56. Second straight DQ title match.

A Decent tag match that never really picked up, Road Dogg had the Brett Favre Packers jersey on in this match.


**




5) The 1998 Royal Rumble Match

The most obvious Rumble of all time as far as a winner goes. However was an important one. During the show, Steve Austin was seen as a marked man with The Godwinns, Nation of Domination and Los Boricuas all kayfabe trying to get him. Before the Royal Rumble match, it looked like Los Boricuas had attacked Austin with nobody entering at #22 but it turned out they attacked Skull (who was supposed to come out at that spot).

Mick Foley entered three times in the Royal Rumble Match. First as Cactus Jack (#1), second as Mankind (#16) and third as Dude Love (#28).

Jeff Jarrett was the only National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) representative in the match.

Owen Hart was kayfabe attacked by Jeff Jarrett and Jim Cornette before he could enter the ring. He did not return to the match until Jarrett officially entered the match later on. Owen was then eliminated by HHH due to a whack to the head from one of his crutches.

The Roster wasn't to great in this Rumble event making the winner even MORE obvious.

The final two participants were Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Steve Austin ended up winning the Royal Rumble after giving The Rock a Stone Cold Stunner and eliminating him at 55:24. The place goes nuts, JR SCREAMS STONE COLD, STONE COLD, STONE COLD!

***





6) Main-Event Shawn Michaels (w/Triple H and Chyna) vs The Undertaker in a Casket match for the WWF Championship

It was during the match, Michaels took a back body drop to the outside, smashing his lower back on the casket causing him to herniate two disks and crushing one completely, leading to his four year hiatus as an active wrestler from the WWF. (You can see him in pain on the outside after this bump at the beginning of the match.)

During the match, The New Age Outlaws and Los Boricuas interfered and attacked The Undertaker. Kane came out to save Taker then turned on him.

Michaels won when Kane chokeslammed Undertaker into the casket and closed it at 20:37.

After the match, Kane and Paul Bearer padlocked the casket with Undertaker inside it. They then poured gasoline on the casket and set it on fire.

**** 1/4

(Good championship casket match especially due to HBK battling through virtually the whole thing after the back bump.)

Still not the best way to end the show though, The Rumble match should have been with Austin as the victor, HOWEVER they wanted the casket "BURNING" thing to end it most likely for that reason.

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Final PPV Rating for Royal Rumble 1998= 6/10

This doesen't hold up to well but it takes place during a time where Wrestling was really picking up again in North America and in the WWF's case thanks to the character of Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was a predictable rumble sure but it was important for his character as for the rest of the show it kind of lacked and doesen't really deserve a better rating then 6/10.

Feedback if you want to discuss as always...

Next up from Austin101: Royal Rumble 2000 (as 1999 was already covered from me you can check the ppv star rating section on wrestlingforums.com for that)