What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - May 25, 1998

by Logan Scisco

-Jim Ross and Michael Cole are in the booth and they are taped from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  This is the go home show for Over the Edge.

-Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and two police officers walk out and McMahon gloats that he assaulted WWF Champion Steve Austin at the end of last week’s show and got away with it.  Austin then walks out and gets the police officers to arrest McMahon for assault.  When Patterson and Brisco get into altercations with the officers when they handcuff McMahon, the police officers arrest them for obstruction.  Austin then dumps a beer on McMahon as the crowd goes wild.  THIS is how you give a heel their comeuppance and it fits perfectly with last week’s legal storyline.  The crowd loved this segment and it is one of the better opening segments of RAW ever.  1 for 1

-Opening Contest:  LOD 2000 & Darren Drozdov defeat The Disciples of Apocalypse when Droz pins Chainz after a sitout powerbomb at 4:08

This is Drozdov’s debut and he was LOD 2000’s mystery partner in this contest, something that the crowd finds rather underwhelming.  After watching Beyond the Mat I cannot divorce associating Droz with McMahon screaming “HE’S GONNA PUKE” over and over again.  Droz works in some basic offense that you would expect from a rookie and he gets the winning fall in a bad match.  Rating:  ½* (1 for 2)

-Call 815-734-1161 to get your Steve Austin “Hell Yeah” t-shirt for $25 (plus shipping & handling charges)!

-Austin helps police put McMahon and the stooges into a squad car in the back.

-Dan “The Beast” Severn beats Owen Hart via disqualification when the Nation interferes at 3:14:

This is not a conventional WWF match as Owen and Severn experiment with a quasi-shoot style that you would see in Pancrase.  As a result, the crowd really isn’t sure how to react to it and Cole and Ross aren’t sure how to sell it either.  Owen eventually gets outmaneuvered by Severn and placed in an armbar, but the Nation runs in to save Owen from a submission loss.  Severn eats two splashes from Mark Henry as a result.  I liked what they were going for here, but they did not have enough time to develop it.  Rating:  *½ (1 for 3)

-Steve Austin’s appearance on MTV Celebrity Deathmatch is chronicled.

-Vince McMahon and the stooges are shown jawing with the officers and rocking the squad car backstage.

-Edge is coming!

-Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf and Crackhead Bob, who have been guests on the Howard Stern Show, come out with the Jackyl.  Hank curses a lot about the Internet and Bob says some other nonsense.  The Jackyl introduces more Oddities, which include “Princess” Luna (Vachon), Golga (John Tenta under a mask with knots on his head)), and Giant Silva (billed at this time as “The Largest Man in the World”).  The oddities hug Jackyl and the Headbangers make their entrance for the next match.  This whole thing just screams awkward.  1 for 4

-Golga (w/The Oddities) beats Thrasher (w/Mosh) with a powerslam at 2:55:

Crackhead Bob joins the commentary team with the Jackyl.  Golga works in the old Earthquake-style powerslam to win as a wink to the fans as to his true identity and Giant Silva destroys Mosh after the match, as well as the referee.  You can tell that Ross thinks this is completely stupid by the tone of his voice, but Cole was eating it up (of course).

-Al Snow is shown hanging out in the crowd.

-Steve Austin is shown conversing with the police officers by the police car McMahon and the stooges are held in.

-The interaction between Kane and the Undertaker on last week’s show is the Super Soaker 1500 Rewind segment.

-Vader defeats “Double J” Jeff Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee) via disqualification when Kane interferes at 3:58:

Vader looks much better here than he did a few weeks ago on RAW and he destroys Jarrett for three-quarters of the match.  Kane runs in before he can deliver a Vader Bomb and destroys him before WWF officials intervene.  Rating:  * (1 for 5)

-As a condition for his and his stooges release, McMahon apologizes to Austin and then gives a death glare to the camera to send us into hour two, where Jerry “the King” Lawler replaces Cole.

-McMahon comes out with the stooges, seemingly chastened by his encounter with the law tonight, and says there is not a single WWF superstar that can intimidate him at Over the Edge and make him call the match fairly.  McMahon books Austin to face the Undertaker in tonight’s main event and appears proud of himself.  A second entertaining promo by McMahon tonight.  2 for 6

-D-Generation X is shown at a local airfield and they make some jokes about flying a plane.

-Al Snow comes out of the crowd and gets in Lawler’s face and demands to meet with McMahon.  Lawler insists that Snow met McMahon last week.

-Non-Title Match:  Taka Michinoku (WWF Light Heavyweight Champion) beats Dick Togo (w/Yamaguchi-San) with a hurricanrana at 3:50:

I have no idea why they did not make this for the title to at least let Michinoku chalk up a title defense on RAW.  This is a fun match as both men exchange fast paced moves and Michinoku scrapes by Togo.  See, if this was for the title they could have worked in a filler match for Over the Edge and made Togo a contender.  It would have also added some weight to the Taka-Kaientai feud.  After the bout, Michinoku tries to go after Yamaguchi-San, but Kaientai demolish him before he can inflict damage.  Rating:  **½ (3 for 7)

-Val Venis hitting the Money Shot on 2 Cold Scorpio is the Gastrol GTX Slam of the Week.

-DX is back at the airfield joking around, but they have no idea where Triple H is.  Road Dogg does work in a funny “Rockabilly” reference that Billy Gunn takes exception to.

-Faarooq beats “Marvelous” Marc Mero (w/Sable) with a clothesline at 2:28:

Sable aggressively disrobes Mero before the match, which further underlies the tension between the two.  The Ross football meter goes to 1:03 for this match and he makes sure to include that Mero was a former Golden Gloves champion.  Sable distracts Mero and causes him to lose another match.  This leads to Mero getting on the mic after the match and arranging a match for Over the Edge between himself and someone of Sable’s choosing.  If Sable’s chosen superstar wins, she gets her freedom, but if Mero wins Sable has to leave the WWF forever.

-Call 1-900-747-4WWF to find out what the newest front office shakeups are in the wrestling world!

-A video package hypes “WWF model citizen” Pat Patterson.

-Triple H is shown “flying” an aircraft and making sexual references.  He paints some anti-WCW and anti-Nation slogans in the sky.  This whole thing was a waste.  3 for 8

-Non-Title Match:  The Rock (Intercontinental Champion w/Mark Henry) wrestles Triple H (European Champion w/Chyna) to a double count out at 7:58 shown:

The Rock gives the audience his opinion on the new drug, Viagra, before the match.  This match is more warmly received than it was a year prior, which shows how adding a few pieces (e.g. Chyna) and flipping the alignments of the characters can overcome some initial booking difficulties.  Chyna and Mark Henry have their first big time confrontation in this match after both of them interfere.  Both men show signs that they are the next big things in the business as they work through a good encounter, assisted by their seconds.  This is a situation where a double count out finish was warranted to deepen the DX-Nation feud.  Rating:  *** (4 for 9)

-After the match, Faarooq comes out and gives the Rock a piledriver by the entrance.  Triple H laughs in the ring.

-McMahon is announced as the special guest referee for the Austin-Undertaker match, but the match never takes place as the Undertaker, who has not been in a good mood lately, takes exception to McMahon flexing his muscles during his entrance.  The Undertaker stares down McMahon and chokeslams him, but before he can give him a Tombstone, Kane runs in and they brawl into the crowd.  As the stooges held McMahon up in the ring, Austin’s music sounds and it’s Stunners galore to send the crowd into a frenzy.  Austin ties McMahon into the ropes and goes to hit him with a chair, but Dude Love runs out and eats the chair shot instead and McMahon gets away.  I miss endings like this.  5 for 10

The Final Report Card:  This is the very definition of a WWF show in 1998:  a lackluster undercard sandwiched between a red hot top angle.  The McMahon-Austin segments steal the show and do a great job setting up Over the Edge.  This show also gave a test run for the Rock-Triple H feud that would dominate the summer of 1998, so it has that going for it as well.  Our next review will cover Over the Edge 1998 and then we will go into the June RAWs.

As an aside, would the readers prefer to have my disguise the results rather than putting them before expressing my thoughts on the match?  I can do whatever, but I just assumed that most readers saw these shows in their youth and remembered a good chunk of them.  Just taking the temperature of the blog in that regard as I continue fine tuning my recaps.

So, here is our Over the Edge card:

WWF Championship Match with Vince McMahon as Guest Referee, Pat Patterson as Guest Ring Announcer, and Gerald Brisco as Guest Timekeeper:  Steve Austin (Champion) vs. Dude Love

Intercontinental Championship Match:  The Rock (Champion) vs. Faarooq

Mask vs. Mask Match:  Vader vs. Kane

Freedom vs. Career Match:  ?????? vs. Marc Mero

The New Age Outlaws & Triple H vs. Owen Hart, Kama Mustafa & D-Lo Brown

Steve Blackman vs. Jeff Jarrett

LOD 2000 vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse

Monday Night War Rating:  4.2 (vs. 4.2 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation:  Thumbs Up