I'm in the midst of downloading the entire 1999 series of RAW is WAR and I really don't remember a heap of what happened in 1998 considering I was like. 3 maybe. A fill in would be great!
The start of the year revolved around Shawn Michaels leading D-Generation X as the WWE champion and was feuding with The Undertaker heading into The Royal Rumble in a Casket match and it looked like Kane had joined forces with The Undertaker but turned on him during the actual match. Stone Cold Steve Austin had a bounty on his head but still won The Royal Rumble match thus becoming the number one contender whilst The Rock was feuding with Ken Shamrock over the Intercontinental title.
Going into WrestleMania 14 the main feuds and matches were Austin/Michaels with Mike Tyson as special enforcer/referee, Undertaker/Kane, Rock/Shamrock, Triple H/Owen Hart and The New Age Outlaws/Foley and Funk which were all good matches and the best WrestleMania for many years.
Following WrestleMania 14 Shawn Michaels had to retire so Triple H took over D-Generation X and added Sean Waltman and The New Age Outlaws whilst Austin/McMahon really began and began with Mick Foley turning heel and Undertaker/Kane continued. After that Stone Cold Steve Austin went on to feud with Kane heading into King Of The Ring in a First Blood match whilst Undertaker/Mankind restarted their feud, Ken Shamrock won the King Of The Ring tournament beating The Rock in the final to end their feud and shortly after Triple H and The Rock began feuding over the Intercontinental title.
Vince McMahon began causing tension between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker which started their feud going into SummerSlam with Kane and Mankind still involved whilst Triple H and The Rock really began to heat up as a long term rivalry. Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock were feuding with each other and had back to back gimmick matches against each other if i remember right which saw Dan Severn introduced to WWE fans.
Following SummerSlam the only notable feuds were Austin/Undertaker/Kane with Austin/McMahon still at the forefront of it all as Vince McMahon was desperate to take the WWE title off Stone Cold Steve Austin and the other feud was Rock/Mankind/Shamrock which saw a great Cage match for the Intercontinental title. D-Generation X were feuding with Jeff Jarrett and The Godwinns who had changed their name but i can't remember what to and whilst some people say 1998 was a truly great year for WWE it really wasn't.
After The Undertaker and Kane had both pinned Stone Cold Steve Austin at the same time the WWE title was declared vacant and Undertaker/Kane for Judgement Day was set up with Stone Cold Steve Austin as special referee. The Rock had left The Nation and began feuding with the remaining members whilst Vince McMahon had declared war on The Rock and Shamrock/Mankind were feuding over the Intercontinental title. The Tag Team title scene had began to be built up again with The Hardys, The Road Warriors, The New Age Outlaws and The Headbangers all around.
A tournament for the WWE title was made due to there being no winner in the match between The Undertaker and Kane and Vince McMahon was helping Mankind to win so he could be his "corporate champion" but this all turned out to be a ruse as The Rock turned heel again in the final and won the WWE title when Vince and Shane McMahon screwed Mankind by ringing the bell. They had screwed Stone Cold Steve Austin and he came out at the end and began fighting with The Rock.
After that the WWE title feud was Rock/Mankind whilst Austin/Undertaker restarted and had a Buried Alive match at the final PPV of the year in which the winner would qualify for The Royal Rumble match and the only other thing of note was Triple H returned after a knee injury that forced him to give up the Intercontinental title. Basically the whole year revolved around Stone Cold Steve Austin who was white hot whilst The Rock was still being built up as a major star with Mick Foley doing a brilliant job of putting him over.
^ Agreed. 1999 was still entertaining, but that whole year was just balls deep in whacky Vince Russo booking. The whole Ministry/Higher Power thing was fun to watch but ultimately didn't make a damn lick of sense. '98 was significantly more coherent.
Although its not important Severn debuted in March as a part of the Jim Cornette NWA angle. Severn who while apart of the NWA was being hinted as Ken Shamrock's advisary but nothing came of it untill he left the NWA in late April when he assulted The Rock and Roll Express. Although I cant nessasarily remember the attitude era since I was 5 in 1998, from what ive picked up 1998 was a better year than 1999 largely due to the fact that 1999 was all over the place. 1998 was basic wrestling. Matched were better and the storylines where more structered and simple. The storylines had depth but they where more believable storylines that culminated in competitive matches.
1998 was such a great year for wrestling (WCW was still strong and the WWF was strong as well). Lots of great angles. Stone Cold was at his best this year as his feud with Mr.Mcmahon really took off. 1999 was a good year for wrestling as well but I think it was a step down from 1998.
1998 was such a great year, wrestling had become so popular that my friends that never watched it started watching it. I can still pull out an episode of Raw from that year and be entertained.
They really did a great job of moving the rock up the card throughout the year.
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